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Overview
Dewey wanted to be as naturalistic as Locke and as historic as Hegel. This can indeed be done. One can say with Locke that the causal process that go in the human organism suffice, without the intrusion of anything non-natural, to explain the acquisition of knowledge(moral, mathematical, empirical, and political). One can only say, with Hegel, that rational criticism of knowledge-claims is always in terms of the problems that human beings face at a particular epoch. These two lines of thought neither intersect nor conflict. Keeping them separate has the virtue of doing just what Dewey wanted to do-preventing the formulation of the traditional, skeptically motivated "problems of epistemology." (Rorty, qtd, in Cahn P. 82)
The knowledge gained from these experiences is not gathered through reasoning, but instinct.
26/11/2008 Augustine seems to accept this general theory of Plato's, but he then proceeds to extend it to the realm of Christianity. The various forms which Plato believes are the realm of the "intelligible" or the "rational" are the very definition of god for Augustine. In other words, Augustine accepts Plato's theories and then redefines the realm of knowledge and forms as god himself. It is an interesting technique, but not completely in keeping with Plato. Where does this sudden redefinition come from? Does it follow the ideas of man's intellectual capacity for reasoning stressed by Plato?
In order for the for-itself to have a project, especially a project which posits its own freedom, it must choose a grander goal than simply self-liberation and self-satisfying selfishness. Since freedom is the basis of all values, it necessarily places itself as the forebear of all value schemes, thus it is an ultimate value scheme. If this is the case, does not the action of a truly "liberated" and "free" person fall back into the realm of determinism since their ultimate value scheme is a "necessary" and not a choice?
24/11/2008 In response to the skeptics, Plato argues that the tyrant is not therefore truly happy, and that this can be seen in his behavior. Ruled by lower passions, tyrants are known to displace Reason with Emotion, such as the fear of being assassinated, the inability to trust others; or, he will displace Reason with Appetite, such as the unsatiable greed for riches or power. In the end, such a person will be pulled apart by his lower passions, and cannot possibly find happiness with a disordered soul. Plato brings up the ancient figure of the tragic hero in order to illustrate this. Moreover, Plato argues, the suffering saint is happy amid his suffering because he is ruled by reason, and his soul is ordered. Happiness thus springs from inward qualities in the soul, according to Plato, and is not contingent upon external circumstances. When the lower passions are ordered by Reason, there is "psychic harmony," a quality of soul that is not vulnerable to a fatal blow from an external source. A person can therefore suffer externally, and remain happy because there is harmony internally, in his soul.
In response to the skeptics, Plato argues that the tyrant is not therefore truly happy, and that this can be seen in his behavior. Ruled by lower passions, tyrants are known to displace Reason with Emotion, such as the fear of being assassinated, the inability to trust others; or, he will displace Reason with Appetite, such as the unsatiable greed for riches or power. In the end, such a person will be pulled apart by his lower passions, and cannot possibly find happiness with a disordered soul. Plato brings up the ancient figure of the tragic hero in order to illustrate this. Moreover, Plato argues, the suffering saint is happy amid his suffering because he is ruled by reason, and his soul is ordered. Happiness thus springs from inward qualities in the soul, according to Plato, and is not contingent upon external circumstances. When the lower passions are ordered by Reason, there is "psychic harmony," a quality of soul that is not vulnerable to a fatal blow from an external source. A person can therefore suffer externally, and remain happy because there is harmony internally, in his soul.
24/11/2008 Plato's theory of the soul can be found in his major work, *The Republic*, where it is a response to the challenge of the Sophists as to why one ought to live morally. The Sophists in Plato's time were men who used philosophy for profit, inventing moral loopholes to get people out of obligations, or to excuse what would otherwise be considered immoral behavior. The skeptics ask why one ought to be moral when morality is apparently a social device for maintaining order. But if there are no consequences to "immoral behavior," then there is no motivational pressure for morality.
Mill believes a person should never be punished because his actions set a bad example or because the public feels they can not act responsibly concerning their own being(76).
22/11/2008 Jean-Jacques Rousseau makes it explicitly clear in his writings, "The Social Contract and Discourses" that he believes strongly in personal freedom and autonomy. Rousseau believed that a truly free government is one where everyone votes, every citizen. Rousseau argues that by everyone surrendering his or her rights to the sovereign equally they maintain freedom. He believes man has the most freedom in the state of nature, but because man has the ability to rationalize and the desire to be social, he must enter a social contract with others in order to have a free and equal society. Rousseau adamantly defends his belief in autonomy in his Discourses on the State of Nature, the Social Contract, and Sovereignty.
Plato's philosophy was that all learning and all experience are the recollection of idea through the suggestion and association of their imperfect copies in the world of sense: for instance, the aspect of mortal beauty awakens in a lover immortal memories of the soul's earlier vision of the idea of beauty.
Hume's arguments seem directed at Descartes. Hume argues that man gains knowledge from experience and that we should be skeptical of all other knowledge. Descartes believes all knowledge comes from th...
The psychic harmony of the soul, according to Plato, expresses itself in four cardinal virtues, which are each related to the three basic energies of the soul. In relation to Reason, the happy or just...
Descartes develops a correspondence theory of truth. However, for Descartes, truth is always going to have to remain private. He believes we have direct and immediate contact with our own ideas. Whate...
Finally, each man, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody; and as there is no associate over which he does not acquire the same right as he yields others over himself, he gains an equivalen...
Likewise, the soldier going to fight the enemy sometimes has the right to refuse. The soldier has the right to transfer his service by paying another to take his place (269). A soldier may also run aw...
Plato's concept of forms raises many interesting questions. The concept that everything in the physical world has a form or ideal theoretical existence seems fairly valid upon a cursory examination. A...
Most of Hobbes' conclusions are merely assertions, such as his explanations of what is and is not injustice regarding an individuals acts toward the state. It is ambiguous why certain rights are forfe...
Yet no art can deliberately aim at a negative result. The death of a patient is not a triumph of medicine but a failure. The creation of evil is not an accomplishment of justice, but a failure of just...
Animals, therefore, are not guided in these inferences by reasoning: Neither are children: Neither are the generality of mankind, in their ordinary actions and conclusions: Neither are philosophers th...
Locke's concept of the social contract is much more palitable than Hobbes' was. Locke not only delineates the nature and cause of the social contract, but he rationalizes his reasoning better. Locke's...
The Greeks recognized that there were two kinds of love, Common Love and Noble Love. The combination of these two loves will make for an everlasting love. It is the love of mind, body, and soul, not t...
Plato was Greek philosopher, born into a distinguished family either in Athens or on the island of Aegina where his father had an estate. He received the education in music and gymnastics of a wellbor...
Additional terminology is always helpful for the learners of metaphysics. It is important to be able to know what certain words and phrases mean when spoken by a lecturer who is going to go into much ...
By making a big deal of the charge of corrupting the youth, Plato garners more sympathy from the youth. It is as if their leaders are saying they are not smart enough to think for themselves, and to c...
Metaphysics is a popular field of science, which explores concepts such as healing, death and the afterlife, the spirit world, tarot, meditation, astrology and the supernatural. When the word metaphys...
Dewey is asking us to accept the selective emphasis of the "inconclusive integrity of experience" as a starting point, but by doing so he is guilty of what he criticizes. How can there be "an empirica...
Augustine seems to accept this general theory of Plato's, but he then proceeds to extend it to the realm of Christianity. The various forms which Plato believes are the realm of the "intelligible" or ...
Dewey's work helps us put aside that spirit of seriousness which artists traditionally lack and philosophers are traditionally supposed to maintain. For the spirit of seriousness can only exist in an ...
They are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if they are wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced b...
The prerequisites before embarking on a metaphysical path requires the two following things: a belief in a God and the possibility of an afterlife. If these two concepts are not met, one will have tro...
The sovereign (government) according to Hobbes is the glue that holds society together. The sovereign enacts and enforces laws. The sovereign is the power that all men fear if they break the law. The ...
Since Marxism is more a critique of capitalist society and only very rarely a predicative tool, how does it fit in to Popper's definition of science. In other words, when Marx makes predictions, such ...
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