Between Life and Violent Death

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Fred Dallmayr
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Civil State ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The Core

The chapter considers the origin and meaning of “natural law” and “natural rightness,” the core of right conduct, whose origin is sometimes placed in the cogito. This chapter emphasizes, instead, the role of contextual “relationality” in rules, whether “positive” social norms or “divine” rules, such as the Mosaic “laws” which were not imposed unilaterally by a divine potentate but reflected the people’s experience and “common sense” of right conduct. The chapter extends this argument to the work of Thomas Hobbes for whom transit from the “state of nature” to the “civil state” depended on reciprocal and relational “natural laws,” which he called “immutable and eternal” because they originate at the experiential boundary between life and death. Relationality prevails even when human norms are set aside in favor of “higher” rules—as revealed by Antigone of Thebes who appealed beyond state rules to the relationality between brother and sister.

Pirates, Kings and Reasons to Ad: Moral Motivation and the Role of Sanctions in Locke's Moral Theory

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Sheridan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Moral Motivation ◽  
Moral Good ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Moral Rules

Locke's moral theory consists of two explicit and distinct elements — a broadly rationalist theory of natural law and a hedonistic conception of moral good. The rationalist account, which we find most prominently in his early Essays on the Law of Nature, is generally taken to consist in three things. First, Locke holds that our moral rules are founded on universal, divine natural laws. Second, such moral laws are taken to be discoverable by reason. Third, by dint of their divine authorship, moral laws are obligatory and rationally discernible as such. Locke's hedonism, which is developed most fully in his later Essay Concerning Human Understanding, consists in the view that all good amounts to pleasure, with specifically moral good taken to consist in the pleasurable consequences of discharging one's moral duties.

The Radical Demand in Løgstrup's Ethics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Stern
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Practical Reason ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Stephen Darwall ◽  
Ethical Demand

This book focuses on the ethics of the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905–81), and in particular on his key text The Ethical Demand (1956). The first part of the book provides a commentary on The Ethical Demand. The second part contains chapters on Løgstrup as a natural law theorist; his critique of Kant and Kierkegaard; his relation to Levinas; the difference between his position and the second-person ethics of Stephen Darwall; and the role of Luther in Løgstrup’s thinking. Overall, it is argued that Løgstrup rejects accounts of ethical obligation based on the commands of God, or on abstract principles governing practical reason, or on social norms; instead he develops a different picture, at the basis of which is our interdependence, which he argues gives his ethics a grounding in the nature of life itself. The book claims that Løgstrup offers a distinctive and attractive account of our moral obligation to others, which fits into the natural law tradition.

scholarly journals Social Contract: Sovereign Contracted or Created? - Comparative Analysis Between T. Hobbes and S. Pufendorf

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Eriseld Kalemaj
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
The Core ◽  
Legal Forms ◽  
The Relationship

This paper has in its focus the notion of 'Sovereign'. The discussion will be conducted within the "School of Natural Law", which we will focus on two representatives; Thomas Hobbes and Samuel Pufendorf. Through a comparative philosophical analysis, we are going to stop on the basics, the genesis of sovereign power. Political philosophy in the context of finding the source of sovereign power is a problem in the landmark of the unsolvable. ” Scool of Natural Law” referring to the natural condition has the solution to this problem. Compare lines will start from this premise, to know after, how the reason goas towards two different concepts of “Social Contract”. Contract which generates sovreigen person, it defines the nature and content of the power of this person. At this discourse, social contract as the core hub of transition, conversion to the state of nature in a civil context is rolling between the political and juridical character. Discussion, which essentially make us know the nature of the relationship between the Sovereign and members of society, sovereign and state, the member of society between each other. In other words, we will see how the political - legal forms of organization, the way of governing is determined by the nature of initial social contract

The Moral Basis for Healthcare Reform in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
GRIFFIN TROTTER
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Healthcare Reform ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Moral Basis

In speculating on the motives for government, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes identified the pervasive role of fear and the danger of violent death, holding famously that where no government prevails to secure physical safety and property, there can also be no enduring knowledge, art, or civilization—leaving human lives “solitary, poore [sic], nasty, brutish and short.”

Formation of the Idea of Natural Law in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-28
Author(s):  
Anatolii P. Zaiets ◽  
Zoya O. Pohoryelova
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
Historical Comparative

The article analyzes the formation of the idea of natural law, which has an important theoretical and applied significance, as it makes it possible to better understand the essence of law, its connection with egalitarian and humanistic teachings. The research is based on modern philosophical worldview approaches, such general scientific research methods as axiological, anthropological, phenomenological, comparative-historical, comparative-legal, system-structural, hermeneutical, functional, institutional, as well as formal-legal method are used. The article examines the works of representatives of the Milesian school founded by Thales in the first half of the 6th century BC, whose analysis of human consciousness, human ability to create, transform the world, formulate ideas and implement them led to the idea of a universal Logos, a universal divine Mind, and the Law of Nature. The article reveals the contribution of sophists to the development of the idea of the natural law who justified the differences between natural and human law, defended the idea of equality of all people, called for not discriminating against citizens, depending on their origin, and denied slavery. The role of representatives of the stoicism school in substantiating the idea of natural law based on awareness of the fundamental difference between human nature and nature, justifying the existence of the unchangeable law of nature (lex naturale) in the form of common sense, equality of all people, recognition of slavery contrary to human nature, the need for recognition of human rights by law to preserve human dignity is highlighted. The article examines the influence of the ideas of the philosophers of Ancient Greece on the development of Roman law, the role of the Scipio group in this influence, and the essence of the then rational understanding of natural law as a true law, namely, common sense, which, in accordance with nature, concerns all people, is unchangeable and eternal

scholarly journals Meneropong Makna Penderitaan Manusia Menurut Konsep Teodise C.S. Lewis

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Esther Gunawan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Direct Response ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Human Responsibility

Ketika berhadapan dengan fenomena penderitaan manusia, kecenderungan yang dilakukan oleh kaum injili adalah meneropong penderitaan manusia tersebut berdasarkan kacamata kedaulatan dan providensia Allah yang tidak terelakkan atas diri manusia. Sikap pasrah berkaitan dengan kedaulatan Allah yang mutlak tersebut, tanpa disadari sebenarnya telah memunculkan konsep “fatalisme praktis.” Akibatnya, relasi erat antara hukum alam dan tanggung jawab manusia pada akhirnya menjadi hal yang terabaikan. Studi tentang konsep teodise C.S. Lewis ini diharapkan mampu memberikan paradigma baru bagi kaum injili di Indonesia dalam memandang masalah penderitaan manusia. Paradigma baru tersebut adalah cara pandang yang aktif dan positif terhadap peran hukum-hukum alam sebagai wahyu umum di balik fenomena penderitaan tersebut. Konteks natural kehidupan manusia dengan hukum-hukum alam yang tetap dan beraturan diharapkan dapat menjadi “kunci” untuk membuka “pintu rahasia” fenomena penderitaan manusia.  Kata-kata kunci: Clive S. Lewis, Teodise, Masalah Penderitaan, Hukum Alam, Wahyu Umum English : When faced with the phenomena of human suffering the default of the evangelical community is to examine human suffering through the lens of God’s sovereignty and providence which are inevitable forces faced by human beings. An attitude of fate, which arises as a direct response to God’s absolute sovereignty, actually leads to a concept of practical fatalism. The close relationship between natural law and human responsibility is ultimately neglected. It is hoped that a study of C. S. Lewis’ concept of theodicy can provide a new paradigm for the Indonesian evangelical community as it pertains to the problem of human suffering. This new paradigm proffers an active and positive estimation of the role of natural law as general revelation underlying the phenomena of suffering by positing the idea about the natural context of human life and the idea of fixed and uniform natural laws as a key to understanding the phenomena of human suffering. Keywords: Clive S. Lewis, Theodicy, The Problem of Suffering, Natural Law, Common Revelation

Does a Ribosome Really Read? On the Cognitive Roots and Heuristic Value of Linguistic Metaphors in Molecular Genetics. Part 2

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-62
Author(s):  
Suren T. Zolyan
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Formal Organization ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
The Core ◽  
Genetic Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Frame ◽  
Effective Instrument

We discuss the role of linguistic metaphors as a cognitive frame for the understanding of genetic information processing. The essential similarity between language and genetic information processing has been recognized since the very beginning, and many prominent scholars have noted the possibility of considering genes and genomes as texts or languages. Most of the core terms in molecular biology are based on linguistic metaphors. The processing of genetic information is understood as some operations on text – writing, reading and editing and their specification (encoding/decoding, proofreading, transcription, translation, reading frame). The concept of gene reading can be traced from the archaic idea of the equation of Life and Nature with the Book. Thus, the genetics itself can be metaphorically represented as some operations on text (deciphering, understanding, code-breaking, transcribing, editing, etc.), which are performed by scientists. At the same time linguistic metaphors portrayed gene entities also as having the ability of reading. In the case of such “bio-reading” some essential features similar to the processes of human reading can be revealed: this is an ability to identify the biochemical sequences based on their function in an abstract system and distinguish between type and its contextual tokens of the same type. Metaphors seem to be an effective instrument for representation, as they make possible a two-dimensional description: biochemical by its experimental empirical results and textual based on the cognitive models of comprehension. In addition to their heuristic value, linguistic metaphors are based on the essential characteristics of genetic information derived from its dual nature: biochemical by its substance, textual (or quasi-textual) by its formal organization. It can be concluded that linguistic metaphors denoting biochemical objects and processes seem to be a method of description and explanation of these heterogeneous properties.

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