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Philosophers, Philosophy
SOCRATES
469-399 BC
Considered father of Western
Philosophy
Never recorded any of his
thoughts
Most of his life has been written
by Xenophanes
Socrates Belief
Wisdom is awareness of own self
ignorance, especially through the
acquisition of self-awareness and self
knowledge
Self-awareness and self-knowledge
were key to becoming an individual
who can think and analyze for
himself/herselfFor Plato, the
philosopher has a duty to enlighten
the uneducated.
Socrates Virtue
Humility-the quality or state of being
humble (not arrogant/proud)
Frugality-characterized by or
reflecting economy in the use of
resources
Simplicity-uncomplicated
According to Socrates
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.”
“False words are not only evil in themselves,
but they infect the soul with evil.”
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we
realize how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.”
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
PLATO
427(?) - 348 BCE
Lived about 200 years after Pythagoras.
“Plato” means “the broad” – possibly his nickname.
Son of a wealthy Athens family.
Served in the Athens army during the Peloponnesian War.
Plato was Socrates’ student.
Almost all we know about Socrates is from Plato’s writings.
After Socrates’ execution for corrupting the young and neglecting
the gods, Plato left Athens in disgust and travelled widely.
In Italy, Plato met the Pythagoreans
Plato’s Belief
For Plato, the philosopher has a duty
to enlighten the uneducated.
Believed in order
Political Liberty was disorder
Only wise and good should rule
Believed in the truth, had to search
long for it
The Academy
Each section
can also be
divided into
two
subsections.
At the bottom
the division is
between
objects and
mere
appearances.
The Divided Line, 4
In the upper
section, the
lower part
represents
matters
understood by
deductive
reasoning
Deduction
implies valid
arguments
from an
assumed
starting place.
The Divided Line, 5
Understanding
the forms is the
highest goal of
philosophy.
The Divided Line, 6
Knowledge is
possible only of
what lies in the
Intelligible World.
Opinion is all that
is possible for the
Sensible World.
Therefore true
knowledge
depends entirely
on the mind.
Plato’s Virtue
If you know goodness, you will be
good.
The philosophers ‘assimilates’ himself to
what he envoys, wiz. The form of the
good
How does such abstract knowledge
help practically? Plato never says
Plato argues that philosophers are
prone to corruption, influenced by
praise
So philosophy only produces virtue in a
virtues society.
St. Augustine of Hippo
Born at Tagaste, in Numidia, Northern
Africa, in A.D. 354
His mother, Saint Monica, was a Christian
but his father, Patricius, was a pagan
Augustine’s baptism was delayed until he
was in his thirties, though he was reared as
a Christian
At 17, he went to Carthage for higher
education
Though he was a good student, he
continued to practice evil habits he had
already begun
He took a mistress, and soon had a son,
Adeodatus
St. Augustine of Hippo
He lost what Christian faith he had, and when he finished his
education he became a Manichee – a disciple of Mani, who taught
a mixture of Christian and pagan thought
He followed his faith for nine years while he was teaching in Tagaste
and Carthage
His Manicheeism was then replaced by his personal mixture of several
Greek and Roman philosophies
In 383, he went to Rome to teach
384, he moved to Milan, then the capital of the Empire
He fell under the influence of the bishop of Milan (Saint Ambrose), the
teachings of the Platonists, and the letters of Saint Paul
He lost his skepticism and was convinced that he should become a
Christian
St. Augustine of Hippo
But his will was unable to take the step; he could not give up his
mistress
It was only because God gave him the strength (miraculously, it
seems) that he was able to make the decision to leave his past life
behind and start afresh
He and his son and some of his friends were then baptized
Augustine decided to return to Africa in 387, but his mother, who
had accompanied him to Italy, died at Ostia, the port of Rome, on
the return journey
He then remained in Rome for another year before returning to
Africa; his son died soon after his arrival thereHe entered the
monastery
Later he became a priest in the town of Hippo and in 395, he was
made its bishop
As the bishop of Hippo, he spent the next thirty-five years preaching,
leading a religious community and writing
Augustine’s Belief
Being a person means having multiple
relationships with other persons
Having multiple relationships is what
distinguishes a person from an individual
Our will is responsible for developing
these relationships
We are therefore responsible for who we
are The moral life is a struggle
Humans are truly free only if their
freedom is limited
The will, not what it wills, causes evil
What is most truly ourselves is our will
Augustine’s on God
“Saint Augustine is the first great Christian philosopher”
This intellectual giant exposes his philosophical genius in
maintaining his dogma of God
God is Absolute Spirit, Absolute Will, Absolute Intelligence,
Absolute Freedom, Absolute Good, Absolute Power, Absolute
Holiness, cannot will evil, no beginning and no end (Eternal)
and Transcendent
Augustine asserts that God is Creator
God created the world out of nothing
But creation is not indispensable on the part of God, because
for Augustine, God created the world out of love
And “man is part of this creation”
Augustine on Human Person
Saint Augustine is the real founder of the study of the person
“the first thinker who brought into prominence and undertook
an analysis of the philosophical and psychological concepts of
person and personality”
Augustine worked to understand God by using the human mind
as an example, but he ended up understanding the human
person by using God as an example
Augustine believed that the human person, through his or her
mind, is an image of God
Augustine saw that in the Trinity there are relations, for example,
relations of fatherhood and sonship between the Father and the
Son
The very notion of a divine person is a relational notion
Augustine on Human Person
A person is not just a substance that simply possesses
intellect and will, in its deepest reality, related to other
persons
He saw human person as essentially a relational being
A human being is “constituted a person only insofar as he is
related to other persons”
“Augustine teaches that the person, while being an
absolute, is also and essentially a being related to others,
open to others, and defined as person by this very relativity”
To be a person is to be “for others.”
And, of course, others are likewise “for us”
Augustine’s Virtue
Human beings are not meant to live in an impersonal world but in relation
to other persons
“We are, it is true, little absolutes, and yet at the same time always related,
correlated, and interrelated with other persons and personalities. We are
not meant to live in a depersonalized world”
Since other human persons are relational also, we must recognize that we
are “for them” as much as they are “for us”
Human beings are made for each other, for I-Thou rather than I-It
relationships
John Locke
John Locke
Humans therefore invented government
Purpose of government:
Protect liberty (freedom)
Protect private property
Capitalism is ethical on rights grounds
Based on liberty and private property
Government regulation unethical
Infringes on liberty and private property
John Locke (1632–1704)
Rights perspective
Humans have “natural rights”:
Liberty (freedom)
Private property
Why? Without government, humans would be in
a “state of nature”
Freedom: Free of all human-made laws
Property: Resources combined with work
Common fear: theft of freedom or property
John Locke
But Descartes rejected the method. He stated, “In our search for the direct
road to truth, we should busy ourselves with no object about which we
cannot attain a certitude equal to that of the demonstration of arithmetic
and geometry.”
Therefore, he was determined to does not believe in anything to be true
unless proven.
The single sure fact from which his investigations began was expressed by
him in the famous words Cogito, ergo sum, ‘I think, therefore I am.’”
(Encarta, 2004)
Rene Descartes on Philosophy
Hume contends that all our ideas are related one to another (in our
thinking or ‘train of thought’) in one or more of the following three
ways:
a) resemblance
b) contiguity in space or time
c) cause/effect
Q: what is the proof that these are all the ways in which ideas can be
connected?
The argument against the idea of the
self
By “self” we mean a single thing which is the subject of
all our experiences and which continues the same over
time
If we do have such an idea (thought or concept), then it
must be possible to show the impression (experience or
perception) upon which this idea is based
We have no experience which could give rise to such an
idea [why not?]
Therefore, we have no such idea (i.e. the term is
meaningless, in the sense that there is nothing to which it
refers)
What do we do with the term “self”
then?
If, as Hume contends, we have no meaningful idea of a
thing which is the subject of the experiences we have,
then who/what are we (what idea do we have of the
self)?
“I may venture to affirm of…mankind, that they are
nothing but a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with
inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and
movement.”
Why do we believe that we do have
an idea of the self?
We confuse “identity” with “diversity” when
successive perceptions are perfectly resembling
(and presume a something which connects
these perceptions)
Small changes (either proportionally or
incrementally) don’t undermine or destroy the
association between related ideas or
impressions
Where a common effect or end is produced by
distinct impressions, we suppose a unifying or
common principle
What is the connection between or
among our experiences?
Resemblance: our present thoughts resemble our past
experiences, and we suppose that because they are
resembling, they proceed from or belong to the same
thing
Cause & effect: our concern for the future &
nostalgia/regret for the past leads us to suppose a
causal connection between past & future (e.g. I feel
bad about some past event, therefore that past
experience really is me)
What are some consequences of this
view?
There is no exact standard for identity (either
personal identity or any other kind); therefore
some puzzles about it are insoluble (but that’s
ok, because they don’t really need to be
solved)
Certain views about the persistence (or
preexistence) of the self must be false (e.g.
reincarnation, survival after death)
Immanuel Kant
(Born 22 April 1724 -- died 12 February 1804,
two months before his eightieth birthday.)
On April 22 of this year [1724] Immanuel Kant
was born in Königsberg. The Old Prussian
Almanac associated the name ‘Emanuel’ with
this date. Accordingly he was baptized
‘Emanuel.’ He would later change it to
‘Immanuel,’ thinking that this was a more
faithful rendition of the original Hebrew
‘Emanuel’ or ‘Immanuel’ means God is with
him.’ Kant thought that it was a most
appropriate name, and he was uncommonly
proud of it, commenting on its meaning even in
his old age”1
Getting Oriented: Five Facts about
Kantian Morality
1. There is one moral law and all duties are but particular applications of it.
2. This single moral law holds for ALL RATIONAL BEINGS. (If God is a rational being, then it is
binding for him as well. – No exceptions!)
3. This law is universal, unchanging, the same for all cultures, times and places. It is valid even
if no one were ever to obey it. Indeed, even if no rational beings in fact existed, it would
be true to say that if they did, then it would be the law of their wills.
4. This moral law is valid, not because it is given by God, by a King or by Nature, but because
it is given by US to ourselves. We are individually both author and subject of it, and when
we break it both judge and criminal (in the our “hearts”).
5. The law tell us what actions to perform or omit, but morality is ultimately about seeking to
become “holy”, i.e. seeking to conform our minds and wills (the “heart”) to obeying the
law simply because it commands us to obey it. This is an internal matter having to do with
having a good or virtuous character, or in other words, doing things for the right reasons.
Formulations of the Supreme Principle or
Law of Morality, i.e. the Categorical
Imperative
Formula of Universal Law: “I ought never act except in a way that I could also
will that my maxim should become a universal law.” (4:402) [ Also: “Act only in
accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that
it become a universal law.” (4:421)]
Formula of the Law of Nature: “Act as if the maxim of your action were to
become by your will a universal law of nature.” (4:421)
Formula of Humanity as an End in Itself: “So act that you use humanity, whether
in your own person or that of another, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.” (4:439)
Formula of Autonomy: “Choose only in such a way that the maxims of your
choice are also included as universal law in the same volition.” (4:439)
Formula of the Kingdom of Ends: “Act in accordance with the maxims of a
member giving universal laws for a purely possible kingdom of ends.” (4:439)
Note: Kant claims the first formulation is the central one, but that they are all
equivalent such that any one of the formulations contains within itself the others.
- If the moral law is truly law, it cannot be
empirical; for the empirical is never genuinely
universal and necessary
N
Reality Itself o Reality “as it is in itself”
• Completely Knowable u • Absolutely Unknowable
• Perfect in Itself m • Possibly a realm of free actions
• Unchanging e • Non-sensible
• Timeless n
• Invisible a
P
The Appearance of Reality The “Mere Appearance” of
h
• Partially Knowable Reality
e
• Imperfect • Perfectly Knowable
n
• Changing • Here Newton’s physics is
o
• Temporal true.
m
• Visible • Actions and choices
e
completely determined by
n
physical causes and laws.
a
• Sensible
The Two Worlds as We “Know” Them to be from a Moral Point of View
Plato Kant
N
Reality Itself o Reality “as it is in itself”
• Perfectly Knowable u • Still Absolutely Unknowable, but:
• Perfect m • We must believe for moral
• Unchanging e reasons that in it our actions and
• Timeless n choices are absolutely free.
• Invisible a
Feature 1: According to Kant, Morality (i.e. our sense of right and wrong,
good and bad) is Rooted in Common Human Reason. It is in fact often
known better by the uneducated than by so-called specialists in moral
philosophy.
Feature 2: Everything, including our actions, appears to be determined, but
we must believe for moral reasons that our actions at least are really free.
Feature 3: Freedom is a Necessary Presupposition of Responsibility.
Seven Key Features of Kant’s Moral Theory
Feature 4: Nothing is Good in itself except the Good Will, i.e. the Will whose
Motive is to do Good for its own sake.
Feature 5: Moral Goodness of Will Means Doing Things Absolutely and Entirely
Because They are Good, i.e. for No Other Reason than their Inherent Goodness.
Feature 6: The Content of Morality (i.e. what is good, what we should do, what
we should take as the end of our actions) Must be Derived Exclusively from a
Consideration of Internal Motives and not from a Good Discovered in Some
Other Way. (Kant’s so-called “Copernican Revolution” in Morality)
Feature 7: Genuine Morality is Autonomy or Self-Rule (not Heteronomy, i.e. Rule
by Another). Kant claims to be the first to formulate a truly autonomous moral
principle, which makes him able to claim to be the foremost of modern
moralists
END