Spinoza’s Moral Realism

2019 ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Youpa Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Moral Realism ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Moral Realist ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Objective Property ◽  
The Way

This chapter shows that Spinoza is committed to a type of moral realism. By “moral realism” is meant a theory of the way of life that is best for us as human beings, a theory based on a view on which good and bad are objective properties. By “objective property” is meant a property whose instance(s) does (do) not directly depend on anyone’s desires, emotions, or beliefs about its existence and nature. The author argues that, for Spinoza, the properties of goodness and badness are objective properties. Instances of goodness do not directly depend on someone’s desires, emotions, and beliefs about the existence and nature of goodness. The same holds for badness. His argument for this reading hinges on the conception of human nature that Spinoza appeals to in his definition of “virtue” (4D8). This conception of human nature serves as the foundation for the objectivity of the properties of goodness and badness, and the author contends that it is this that makes Spinoza a type of moral realist.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Youpa Andrew
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature ◽  
Libertarian Free Will ◽  
The Way

This book offers a reading of Spinoza’s moral philosophy. Specifically, it is a philosophical exposition of his masterpiece, the Ethics, that focuses on his moral philosophy. Central to the reading I defend is the view that there is a way of life that is best for human beings, and what makes it best is that it is the way of life that is in agreement with human nature. I begin this study with Spinoza’s theory of emotions, and I do so because it is one of two doctrines that fundamentally shape the structure and content of his vision of the way of life that is best. The other is his view that striving to persevere in being is the actual essence of a finite thing (3p7). Together these make up the foundation of Spinoza’s moral philosophy, and it is from these two doctrines that his moral philosophy emerges. In saying this I am not denying that his substance monism, the doctrines of mind-body parallelism and identity, the tripartite theory of knowledge, and his denial of libertarian free will, among others, also belong to the foundation of his moral philosophy. Each of these contributes in its way to the portrait of the best way of life, and they play important roles in the chapters that follow. But it is his theory of emotions and the theory of human nature on which it rests that are chiefly responsible for the structure and content of his moral philosophy....

Polis-Dwellers

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-198
Author(s):  
Sara Brill
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

This chapter offers an account of the bios of the human animal in light of Aristotle’s treatment of the lives of non-human animal collectives. This discussion is anchored in Aristotle’s claim that the regime (the politeia) is the way of life of the city, and it is argued that proper attention to the zoological lens informing Aristotle’s Politics requires us to view the relation between human being and polis as an intensified form of the relation between any animal and its proper habitat. Its intensity is due precisely to the forms of intimacy and estrangement made possible by the possession of language. The Politics’s sustained meditation on how to ensure the longevity of a city’s bios—its political ecology—must, then, be read as a necessary complement to its account of human nature, its anthropology.

scholarly journals The Soul’s Need to Connect with God through the Language of Art: Analysis from an Islamic Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Recep Dogan
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Art Analysis ◽  
The Way

Human beings express their emotions through the language of art; it is therefore both the spirit of progress and one of the most important means of developing emotions. Consequently, those who cannot make use of this means are incomplete in their maturation. Ideas and other products of the imagination can be given tangible form with the magical key of art. By means of art, humanity can exceed the limits of the earth and reach feelings beyond time and space. Beauty in the realm of existence can be recognized through art. Moreover, the great abilities inherent in human nature can be understood and witnessed in works of art. However, from an Islamic point of view, there are some restrictions on certain fields such as sculpture and painting. It is therefore imperative to analyse the notion of art in Islam and its philosophy and then reflect upon the need of the spirit to connect to God through the language of art while meeting some religious obstacles on the way.

Xunzi in the Light of the Guodian Manuscripts

Early China ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 113-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Rakita Goldin
Keyword(s):  
Moral Development ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Hubei Province ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Proper Values ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Way

This article discusses the several previously unknown Confucian texts discovered in 1993 in a Warring States tomb at Guodian, near Jingmen, Hubei Province. I believe that these works should be understood as doctrinal material deriving from a single tradition of Confucianism and datable to around 300 B.C. Of the surviving literature from the same period, they are closer to the Xunzi than to any other text, and anticipate several characteristic themes in Xunzi's philosophy. These are: the notion of human nature (xing 性),and the controversy over whether the source of morality is internar or “external”; the role of learning (xue 學)and habitual practice (xi 習) in moral development; the content and origin of ritual (li 禮), by which human beings accord with the Way; the conception of the ruler as the mind (xin 心) of the state; and the psychological utility of music (yue 樂) in inculcating proper values.It is especially important for scholars to take note of these connections with Xunzi, in view of the emerging trend to associate the Guodian manuscripts with Zisi, the famous grandson of Confucius, whom Xunzi bitterly criticized.

Sincere Humans and Insincere Beasts: Cicero’s Politics of Humanity

Antichthon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Lazar Maric
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Conceptual Background ◽  
Political Boundary ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way ◽  
De Officiis

AbstractThis article analyses the ‘politics of humanity’ in Cicero’s philosophical and rhetorical works, the practice of projecting and shifting the moral and political boundary that separates the ‘human’ from the ‘inhuman’, the ‘inept at being human’, and the ‘undeserving of being human’. This practice has many affinities with the relatively modern phenomenon of ‘dehumanisation’. In the first part, the emphasis is on Cicero’s humanism, in particular his ideas on human nature as they appear inDe Officiis. Here I also show the impact of this practice on Roman ideas of self-fashioning, ‘sincerity’ and social performance. In the second part, I observe the way in which Cicero’s political and legal theory fits within this ideological project. I further argue that Cicero’s humanism provided a conceptual background to the rhetorical dehumanisation of his political enemies, that is, to the claims in his invective that these men could no longer be considered as proper human beings. My final suggestion is that the goal of this practice, at least some of the time, was to make a case for excluding these individuals from the state’s legal system and thus depriving them of its protections.

scholarly journals Writing Nature with Darwin, Darwinism and Jung

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Rowland
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Critical Practice ◽  
Major Significance ◽  
Mother Goddess ◽  
Literary Darwinism ◽  
Definition Of

Charles Darwin and C. G. Jung were revolutionary thinkers about the role of human beings in the natural world. While Darwin’s Origins of Species (1859) sought to remove both God and “man” from the centre of the understanding of nature, C. G. Jung, one generation later, aimed to remove the ego from the central definition of human nature. Although both theorists have been explored for their conceptual ideas, neither has been seriously considered as writers, and in particular as writers of nature and human nature. This paper shows how similar these authors are in treating the unknowable in the psyche and history as of major significance. In particular, both writers require the resources of ancient myth, especially of nature as an Earth Mother goddess in order to represent the inconceivable. The paper also looks at the new critical practice of “literary Darwinism,” which, while viable in its own terms, suffers from being neither “literary,” nor “Darwinian.”

The Goals of Philosophy of Religion: A Reply to Ireneusz Zieminski

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Kirk Lougheed
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Epistemic Standard ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Essentialist Definition ◽  
The Way

In a recent article, Ireneusz Zieminski (2018) argues that the main goals of philosophy of religion are to (i) define religion; (ii) assess the truth value of religion and; (iii) assess the rationality of a religious way of life. Zieminski shows that each of these goals are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Hence, philosophy of religion leads to scepticism. He concludes that the conceptual tools philosophers of religion employ are best suited to study specific religious traditions, rather than religion more broadly construed. But it’s unclear whether the goals Zieminski attributes to philosophy of religion are accurate or even necessary for successful inquiry. I argue that an essentialist definition of religion isn’t necessary for philosophy of religion and that philosophers of religion already use the conceptual analysis in the way Zieminski suggests that they should. Finally, the epistemic standard Zieminski has in view is often obscure. And when it is clear, it is unrealistically high. Contemporary philosophers of religion rarely, if ever, claim to be offering certainty, or even evidence as strong as that found in the empirical sciences.

scholarly journals Overcoming educational barrier as social exclusion descension in the way of life of rural youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 12163
Author(s):  
Maxim Kuzhelev
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Rural Youth ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Barriers ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Way

The article deals with highlighting various viewpoints upon the nature and definition of the phenomenon of «social exclusion». Though the author stresses the main accent on the exclusion in the way of life of Russian rural youth, numerous aspects of exclusion impact on different social groups of people in the world have been taken into account. The author makes an attempt to formulate his own terminology on «social exclusion» based on complex application of scientific approaches. The key issue of «social exclusion» arise lies thorough investigation of various social and economic barriers which occur on the way of Russian rural youth to society integration. The outcome of this process results in reduction of life claims within the young people community and deprived socialization. This may lead in the future to insufficient social role acquiring and descending mobility.

scholarly journals Anthropocentrism: Existence against essence

Sociologija ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Slobodan Vukicevic
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Human Community ◽  
Human Essence ◽  
Generic Essence ◽  
The Way

Anthropocentrism apsolutizes existence in relation to human essence. In this, it may downgrade generic essence of human and its primeval need for nature. Principles of sustainable development are challenged. The way of life and work are out of step with these principles. Therefore, central question of sustainable development is: where are the causes of modern man alienation from principles of sustainable development. We have to search for the answers in human nature and nature of human community. Their synthesis can direct socioantropogenesis of modern man in direction of accepting principles of sustainable development, in which principle of need is more important than need itself.

Imagination and Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moira von Wright
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Social Imagination ◽  
Meaning Creation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Self Formation ◽  
Specific Definition

The concept of imagination, with its potential to contribute to education, is attracting increasing interest as humanity faces major challenges such as migration and climate change. Imagination is expected to enlarge the mentality of human beings and help to find new solutions to global problems. However, educational thinkers have different understandings of what imagination and imaginative thought can actually contribute to. Imagination is the mental ability to visualize what may lie beyond the immediate situation and to “see” things that are not present. It is a central element of meaning creation in education—in the relationship between mental pictures and reality, between humans and the outside world, and between the past and the future. Imagination is a way of seeing, a happening in the here and now. No single specific definition of imagination exists, and this term is used in a variety of ways. Because it is so evasive, the idea of imagination has been contested and questioned, so its meaning depends on the theory and context with which it is associated. Many educational theories simply neglect the concept of imagination, or limit its meaning to common fantasizing and playfulness, whereas others give imagination a central role in the processes of understanding and learning. The socially and politically emancipating dimension of imagination has been emphasized, as has its moral significance and relation to self-formation and education. Some thinkers argue that education should not be satisfied with developing students’ ability to think imaginatively, create a narrative and develop social imagination; rather, it needs to intentionally raise young people to “live imaginatively”—that is, to live a rich life with an open mind, being ready to think in new ways and change their habits when former ways of thinking prove untenable for moral and ethical reasons. Despite these differences of opinion, the value of imagination in education is undeniable. Yet questions remain: How does “bad fantasy” differ from “good imagination,” and what are the educational consequences of such a distinction? How can imagination be a common ground in education, and how can it be a liminal space or topos for the different perspectives of children and adults in that area? How can imagination be part of a greater social responsibility and a way of life?

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