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Guide to Popular Philosophers

Posted In Lincoln-Douglas

by David Weeks

SOCRATES (470-399 BC)

Ancient Greek philosopher, credited for the development of the foundations of the Western
philosophical tradition.
He forced his students to question their beliefs and problems and develop their own
solutions by using a dialectic method of inquiry. (later known as the Socratic Method)
His most famous student was Plato, although he resisted being called a teacher, and
refused to take money for what he did.
He refused the label teacher, because he believed that he did not transmit knowledge to
passive listeners. Instead, by asking questions that lead people to realize their own
ignorance, he represented a new approach.
PLATO (427-347 BC)

In his early writings, Plato conveyed the spirit of Socrates teaching by presenting reports
of his masters conversational interactions, providing us with our only accounts of
Socrates thought.
Explained the difference between Forms and Ideas. He argued that Ideas (e.g., justice or
beauty) and Forms are different the many objects that we can observe that are called

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 beautiful or just. This bifurcation made possible a distinction between body and soul.
Platos most famous work remains the Republic.
Here, Plato tries to construct the perfect city, based upon justice and successful in
teaching the virtues to its citizens
Plato concludes that such a perfect city exists only in speech
Socrates speaks out against democracy, favoring aristocracy
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

Student of Plato
Although the surviving works of Aristotle probably represent only a fragment of the whole,
they include his investigations of an amazing range of subjects, from logic, philosophy,
and ethics to physics, biology, psychology, politics, and rhetoric.
Argued that moral conduct contributes to the good life for humans, most famously in his
Ethics. Shifts emphasis from justice.
Here, he discusses the natural desire to achieve happiness, describes the operation of
human volition and moral deliberation, develops a theory of each virtue as the mean
between radical extremes, discusses the value of three distinct kinds of friendship, and
defends his conception of an ideal life of intellectual pursuit.
In his Politics, Aristotle contends that the lives of individual human beings are invariably
linked together in a social context and attempts to find the best state.
Argues that politics is important for men but not the highest science-only if men were the
highest beings would politics be the highest science. Instead, metaphysics is, for
Aristotle, most important.
Rejects Platos claims in the Republic and argues that monarchy is the best system of
government.
AUGUSTINE (354-430 AD)

Born as the Roman Empire was crumbling.

Converted to Christianity after studying with Ambrose.
Develops a refined system of linguistics, and reinterprets the concept of sign. Disagrees
with Stoic semiotics
Argues against the Skeptic group of philosophers that genuine human knowledge can be
established with certainty by saying, If I am mistaken, I exist.
In De Civitate Dei (The City of God), Augustine distinguishes religion and morality from
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 politics.
Claims that everything that we call evil must be good on some level, or it could not exist at
all. There is no pure manifestation of absolute evil. It is evil because its disorder and
misdirection cause it to fail to attain all the goodness appropriate to it. Since no absolute
evil exists, there must be different levels of order and disorder, and different degrees of
happiness, justice, and culpability.
AQUINAS (1224-1274)

Joined the Dominican order while studying philosophy and theology at Naples.
Wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotles works.
Summa Theologica represents the most complete summation of his thought.
Encompasses thousands of pages of tightly-reasoned responses to a wide range of
questions about church theology and doctrine.
Attempts to prove that theology is superior to philosophy as theology concerns itself with
knowledge that has been revealed by God and that man must accept on faith, while
philosophy is concerned with only the knowledge that man acquires through sensory
experience and the use of the natural light of reason.
He elaborates this kind of practical reason, and claims that it is only possible if people
are autonomous and exercise free choice.
Articulates the distinction between is and ought.
Delineates distributive and commutative justice.
Aquinas holds that people naturally seek knowledge of that which is their true goal and
happiness, that is, the vision of God.
MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527)

Began as a politician in Florence.

Wrote The Prince in order to gain favor with the Medicis, the ruling family of Florence at
the time. He writes The Discourses in solitude, so some suggest that The Discourses
better reflect his actual beliefs.
The Prince is an intensely practical guide to the exercise of raw political power over a
Renaissance principality.
Focuses on practical success by any means, even at the expense of traditional morals
and values. For him, the highest goal of a leader is to earn a glorious legacy and to be
judged well by history.
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 Argues that it is primarily the skill of the individual leader, rather than his character, that
determines the success of any state. Here, he acknowledges that the common good of
the state should be the immediate concern of leaders, and generally denounces those
who mar social well-being.
HOBBES (1588-1679)

Devoted much of his life to the development and expression of a comprehensive

philosophical vision of the mechanistic operation of nature.
Lived during the bloody English Civil War, during which he wrote the Leviathan as the
most complete expression of his philosophy.
Is very suspicious of history because it is divisive. After all, historical claims of lineage
fueled the English Civil War.
Begins with physics, claiming that the natural state of objects is disorder and chaos.
Transitions to a materialistic account of human nature and knowledge, a deterministic
account of human volition, and a pessimistic vision of the consequently natural state of
human beings in perpetual struggle against each other that results in a life that is
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. In other words, people will fight over scarce
resources, so the state of nature is a state of war.
In the state of nature, there is no justice because there is no common arbitrator. Justice
only has meaning when there is a common adjudicator.
Because the state of nature is so terrible, people contract into a government. The
government can do whatever it needs to maintain order. Your resistance against the state
is never legitimate, unless it wishes to intentionally kill you.
LOCKE (1632-1704)

Adopted an empiricist approach by arguing that all of our ideas-simple or complex-are

ultimately derived from experience.
Believed that proper application of our cognitive capacities is enough to guide mans
action in the practical conduct of life.
His Second Treatise of Government offers a systematic account of the foundations of
political obligation.
Says that the state of nature is not that bad, but people are bad at being impartial when
judging their own cases, so the state is necessary to mediate disputes.
Contends that all rights begin in the individual property interest created by an investment
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 of labor. Our labor is an extension of our body, so the products of our labor (our property)
must be protected.
The social structure or commonwealth depends on the express consent of those who are
governed by its political powers for its formation and maintenance.
There are natural rights which no commonwealth may infringe upon, such as life, liberty,
and property. These are god-given, so no mortal may violate them.
Dissatisfied citizens reserve a lasting right to revolution. Absolute or arbitrary power must
always be rejected, because they re-create the original state of nature.
ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

Decried the effects of modern civilization because he believed that the pursuit of the arts
and sciences promoted idleness and that the resulting political inequality encouraged
alienation.
Disagrees with Hobbess notion of human nature. Claims that pity and revulsion to
suffering, rather than egoism and self-interest, are primary.
Maintained that every variety of injustice found in human society is an artificial result of the
control exercised by defective political and intellectual influences over the healthy natural
impulses of otherwise noble savages. The state of nature isnt that bad, and his age, with
its rampant appropriation and slavery, was worse.
Explicated an alternative in On the Social Contract as a civil society voluntarily formed by
its citizens and wholly governed by the general will expressed in their unanimous consent
to authority. Emphasizes active participation based upon a notion of positive freedom,
rather than simple non-coercion.
Once the general will is decisive, people cannot legitimately resist it. Even goes farther
than Hobbes, because the state can legitimately kill you if the general will says so.
KANT (1724-1804)

Developed the most comprehensive and influential philosophical program of the modern
era.
His central thesis-that the possibility of human knowledge presupposes the active
participation of the human mind-is deceptively simple, but the details of its application are
quite complex.
The categorical imperative is the central philosophical concept of the moral philosophy of
Kant, and of modern deontological ethics.
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 Morality can be summed up in one, ultimate commandment of reason, or imperative, from
which all duties and obligations derive called the categorical imperative. The C.I. allows us
to know an objective and pure morality, rather than a code of ethics thats colored by
emotion and passion. Claims that a pure moral paradigm is purely rational.
Describes the categorical imperative as an absolute, unconditional requirement that exerts
its authority in all circumstances.
Best known in its first formulation: Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at
the same time will that it should become a universal law. This is different from the golden
rule because of will. For Kant, rational autonomy separates animals from humans.
Rationality, as the unique human trait, is how we formulate our will. For him, everyone is
equally capable of rationality, so everyone would arrive at the same moral conclusions, if
only we could remove our personal passions from moral deliberation. The C.I. is his way of
doing this. In this way, the C.I. differs from the golden rule, because the golden rule
permits non-rational considerations.
MARX (1818-1883)

Above all else, Marx believed that philosophy ought to be employed in practice to change
the world.
Argued that the conditions of modern industrial societies invariably result in the
estrangement of workers from their own labor. Structural and institutional arrangements
trump human agency and the individual.
Partnered with Friedrich Engels to write the Communist Manifesto with the hope of
precipitating social revolution. His other writings are more academic. While Das Capital is
his longest, the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 are more debate-
friendly.
Describes the class struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie, distinguishes
communism from other socialist movements, proposes a list of specific social reforms,
and urges all workers to unite in revolution against existing regimes that prop up the
bourgeoisie.
Capitalism is undesirable, because, while more efficient, it alienates us on several levels.
We are alienated from the things that we produce, our species being (our human
nature), and from other people. Claims that taking pride in labor, rather than rationally
deliberating, is the uniquely human feeling. Capitalism takes this away because capitalist
production is very repetitive; we cannot choose to go be a fisherman if we all work in a
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 factory for 14 hours a day.
Claimed that communism was the last stage of a long economic history. He says
advanced industrial capitalism must happen before a communist revolution. The Mao,
Lenin, and Stalin rejected Marx on this point.
NIETZSCHE (1844-1900)

Wrote critiques of religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science.

Famously put forward the idea that God is dead, and this death may result in radical
perspectivism or may lead one to confront the fact that humans have always regarded
truth perspectivally. Basically hes saying that we have to either embrace radical nihilism
(or at least a gloomy relativism), or we must confront the fact that there is no absolute
truth. He favors confronting the lack of absolute truth, and so Nietzsche is NOT A
NIHILIST. He actually spends the first chapter of Will to Power talking about with
European nihilism is bad.
Claims that knowledge is an invention, in the sense that pieces of knowledge, fact, or
Truth are not objective or universally true. Knowledge is invented at a particular time, by
particular people. For example, the Kantian notion that people are rational creatures is an
invention inspired by Kants observations about the world around him. He says we should
confront the lack of objective truth by examining the history of the invention of particular
pieces of knowledge. He calls this genealogy.
Applies genealogy to moral philosophy. Distinguished between master and slave
moralities, the former arising from a celebration of life, the latter the result of ressentiment*
at those capable of the former. This distinction becomes in summary the difference
between good and bad on the one hand, and good and evil on the other; importantly,
the good man of the master morality equates to the evil man of the slave morality. In
other words, slave morality claims that being weak is good, and that being strong is evil.
In his genealogy of justice, he claims that justice describes the states violent repression
of ressentiment. This makes him an opponent of social contract theory.
Examined the will to power and eternal recurrence theories, in which living things are not
just driven by the mere need to stay alive, but in fact by a greater need to wield and use
power, to grow, to expend their strength, and, possibly, to subsume other wills in the
process. This will manifests itself in a desire to make ones invented knowledge seem
fixed, objective, and eternal.

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 *Ressentiment is not the same as resentment, because ressentiment expresses not only a
dislike for the conditions that made one weak and vulnerable, but a self-hatred for being weak.
Consequently, we can interpret slave morality as a way to cope with ressentiment. The weak
need a way to feel better about themselves, so they call the strong evil and say that being
weak is a voluntary act of goodness.

FOUCAULT (1926-1984)

Prominent historian and psychologist, but the political influence of his work cannot be
underestimated. Famous structuralist (and later, post-structuralist).
Uses genealogy. Like Nietzsche, he tries to show that a given system of thought emerges
from contingent historical circumstances, instead of some rationally inevitable historical
formula.
Acknowledges that knowledge is an invention, but brings focus to how these inventions
become accepted. Claims that power and knowledge are inextricably linked.
Unlike Nietzsche, Foucault avoids genealogy of concepts like morality and justice in the
abstract. He prefers to examine practices and institutions like sexuality, the prison, and
the mental clinic. His account of the nature of power derives from his analysis of prisons.
Claims that prisons represent the way that modern government make us submit because
they rely on using surveillance to change the way we behave. Just like a prison security
camera, we are not certain that a guard is watching the screen at the other end, but the
notion that someone could always be watching us transforms our behavior. We have
internalized our subordination and exercise it on each other. Everyone is watching
everyone else.
This differs profoundly from how pre-modern systems of power worked, wherein physical
force and restraint motivate compliance. Modern systems rely on surveillance and
behavior modification.
RAWLS (1921-2002)

Advocates a political liberalism under an egalitarian economic arrangement. Concerned

with distributive justice.
Argues that the state must be stable and legitimate, which require that citizens are
reasonable and that those affected by a policy can influence it.
A Theory of Justice is his most famous work, where he articulates justice as fairness, in

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 that each citizen should have access to the same basic liberties. Any social inequities
should be open to the conditions of equal opportunity, and must not be bad for societys
least well-off.
Uses the veil of ignorance. We can use the veil of ignorance to understand whats unfair.
To apply it, you would ask what you would like society to look like, assuming that you
know nothing about race, ethnicity, gender, age, income, wealth, natural endowments,
comprehensive doctrine, etc. of any of the citizens in society. In this situation, it would be
safest to assume youre least advantaged, so you would seek to raise the minimum social
safety net. This principle of maximizing the minimum level of well-being (ie. Raising the
minimum standard for ones quality of life) is called maximin reasoning. Under the veil of
ignorance, they do know basic facts about human society, such as resource scarcity and
the fact there are multiple conceptions of the good life.
Values tolerance between society and says that toleration is the basis of international
society. He says that human rights should be the limits of this toleration, and that liberal
societies ought to reject ideologies and governments that malign human rights.
NOZICK (1938-2002)

Wrote Anarchy, State, and Utopia in response to Rawls A Theory of Justice. Nozick
rejects Rawls defense of redistributing wealth and defends free-market liberalism.
Emphasizes the Kantian notion that people ought not be used as a means to another end.
People are ends in themselves. As such, there are certain side-constraints on what the
government may do. Side-constraints are absolute, so violating them is never morally
acceptable. He also borrows from the Lockean idea of self-ownership. We own ourselves
and the fruits of our labor, and taking our property is a violation of a side-constraint.
He applies the logic of self-ownership to conclude that the welfare state constitutes a kind
of forced labor. He claims that you must labor to earn money, and that the amount of
money forcibly taken from you in the form of taxes constitutes a kind of slave labor. Taxes
that are used to redistribute wealth mean that every citizen is a partial owner of you, since
they have a partial property right in part of you, ie. in your labor that earned the money
that was taxed and later given to them.
He says the only morally justifiable state is a minimal state that only protects people with
the police and military, from fraud, theft, and violence. The state should also have a court
system. The state cannot legitimately regulate what people consume, read, or talk about.
Public education, welfare systems, and healthcare systems are immoral.
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 LEVINAS (1906-1995)

Explores the meaning of intersubjectivity. Says he studies ethics, but he is really studying
how we relate to other people on a core level. He is very interested with the face-to-face
encounter with a stranger.
Says that when we feel a connection to people because we realize theyre like us. We
feel a sense of commonality with the stranger we walk by along the street, even if we have
not talked to each other. This sense of commonality and relatedness give us a natural
aversion to human suffering. We feel the emergence of an obligation when we see raw
human suffering. This is why we feel revulsion when we see the terrified Darfurian child or
the hungry stranger.
Ethics begins with a responsibility to the Other. We feel this responsibility, regardless of
whether or not a particular other ahs reciprocated this responsibility. The roots of
intersubjecivity lie in this immediate sense of connection to the Other. We feel a
universal fraternity with the other that spawns an obligation. He finds the origins of
language here, in the desire to respond to the other. Thus, first philosophy for Levinas,
starts from an interpretative phenomenology and the face-to-face encounter with the other
rather than God or the world.
LYOTARD (1924-1998)

French philosopher and literary theorist. His most famous work is The Post-Modern
Condition
He claims that the post-modern era is characterized by a disbelief in metanarratives, or
totalizing explanations of the way the world works. Liberalism, Marxism, etc. are totalizing
ideologies in that they assert that certain principles are always true, such as the progress
of history, the verifiability of everything by science, and the possibility of absolute freedom.
He claims that we have stopped believing that these narratives can explain, represent, and
contain us all. We now understand that there are different world paradigms, as so
postmodernity is characterized by many micronarratives rather than metanarratives.
Uses the idea of phrase regimens, or communities of meaning and the separate
systems in which those meanings are produced. It seems that ethics would be impossible
if we did not subscribe to any metanarrative, since justice and injustice would only operate
in terms of specific phrase regimens. In Le Diffrend, he develops a sense of post-
modern justice, explaining that the most flagrant act of injustice would be to use the
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 language rules from one phrase regimen and apply them to another. Ethics is about
paying attention to things in their particularity and not enclosing them within arbitrary
concepts.

DERRIDA (1930-2004)

Described as the founder of deconstruction

Claims that justice can never be completely achieved. It is a horizon towards which we
aspire, but we never quite get there. Justice can never be equated with law.
Argues that every case is unique and there is no freedom in mindlessly applying rules, so
justice can never be achieved because justice is recalculated constantly.
Justice is an analytic tool that we can use to critique the status quo and demand
improvement. Rosa Parks acted illegally, and claimed that the law did not meet the
demands and aspiration of justice.
We can never give someone their due because this would require knowing the entire
horizon of knowledge.
David was a successful high school LD debater earning 2nd place at the 2006 TOC. He is
currently a senior at Swarthmore College.

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