Reconsidering Ontology’s Relevance

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Moral Claims

This chapter and the next are methodological, focused on how to justify a moral theory. Many African philosophers believe that ethical claims follow immediately from ‘external’, metaphysical ones about human nature that must be established first. For example, Kwame Nkrumah maintains that an egalitarian ethic follows directly from a prior physicalist ontology, and Kwame Gyekye contends that his ‘moderate communitarian’ morality is derived from a certain conception of the self. Chapter 2 shows how these and similar rationales fail to clear the ‘is/ought gap’, as it is known in Western meta-ethics, and also how strategies one might use to bridge the gap do not work. It concludes that a more suitable way to defend a moral theory is to argue ‘internally’ to morality by appealing to intuitions, i.e., by determining which comparatively more controversial general principle of right action easily entails and best explains less controversial particular moral claims.

Vital Force

2021 ◽  
pp. 77-89
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Interracial Marriage ◽  
Vital Force ◽  
Right Action ◽  
The World ◽  
Moral Claims

Chapter 5 addresses the moral theory suggested by the African tradition according to which one is obligated to promote (or honour) liveliness in oneself and others. This sort of principle has been advanced by philosophers such as Noah Dzobo, Bénézet Bujo, and Laurenti Magesa. Vitalism is a globally under-explored approach to right action that deserves much more consideration. However, the chapter concludes that it cannot account for some comparatively uncontroversial moral claims salient in the African tradition. Sometimes settling for majoritarian rule and avoiding reconciliation in respect of criminal justice would best promote (or honour) liveliness, and yet most African philosophers would judge these actions to be wrong to some degree. The chapter also argues that vitalism cannot account for certain intuitions with a global scope; forbidding interracial marriage and deceiving people might best promote (or honour) liveliness, but ethicists around the world would judge these actions to be pro tanto immoral.

Wer täuscht wen?

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Daniel Strassberg
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Narrative Context ◽  
Everyday Knowledge

The insight that human beings are prone to deceive themselves is part of our everyday knowledge of human nature. Even so, if deceiving someone means to deliberately misrepresent something to him, it is difficult to understand how it is possible to deceive yourself. This paper tries to address this difficulty by means of a narrative approach. Self-deception is conceived as a change of the narrative context by means of which the same fact appears in a different light. On these grounds, depending on whether the self-deceiver adopts an ironic attitude to his self-deception or not, it is also possible to distinguish between a morally inexcusable self-deception and a morally indifferent one.

Virtues, Inclinations, and Oneness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Ivanhoe
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Virtuous Action

This chapter develops various implications of the oneness hypothesis when applied to theories of virtue, drawing on several claims that are closely related to the hypothesis. Many of the views introduced and defended are inspired by neo-Confucianism and so the chapter offers an example of constructive philosophy bridging cultures and traditions. It focuses on Foot’s theory, which holds that virtues correct excesses or deficiencies in human nature. The alternative maintains that vices often arise not from an excess or deficiency in motivation but from a mistaken conception of self, one that sees oneself as somehow more important than others. The chapter goes on to argue that such a view helps address the “self-centeredness objection” to virtue ethics and that the effortlessness, joy, and wholeheartedness that characterizes fully virtuous action are best conceived as a kind of spontaneity that affords a special feeling of happiness dubbed “metaphysical comfort.”

A Study of the Relationship between a Personal Philosophy of Human Nature (Good or Evil) and Self-Esteem

1987 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Martin ◽  
Garland E. Blair ◽  
Robert M. Nevels ◽  
Mary M. Brant
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Female Undergraduate ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Personal Philosophy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Age And Sex

The present study was undertaken to estimate the relationship between a personal philosophy of human nature (whether man is essentially good or evil) and an individual's self-esteem, as measured by the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and the Self-esteem scale of the Jackson Personality Inventory. For 19 male and 21 female undergraduate students, correlations of age and sex with self-esteem were calculated. The multivariate analysis of variance indicated a nonsignificant relation between scores on philosophy of human nature of students and their scores on the two measures of self-esteem. Correlations of age and sex with self-esteem were also nonsignificant. The Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory scores and those on the Self-esteem scale of the Jackson Personality Inventory were significantly correlated at .59.

scholarly journals Communicating Returnable Packaging Through Product Labelling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polina Ratnichkina
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Conventional Method ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
The Self ◽  
Product Labelling ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Milk Bottle ◽  
Social Modelling ◽  
The Right

This research seeks to find effective ways to communicate returnable packaging campaigns to consumers through product labelling. This is an important line of inquiry as more and more countries are rolling out regulations that penalize companies for their wasteful practices. Knowing how to encourage people to engage with returnable packaging campaigns will be of great interest to future marketers and sustainability practitioners. This research uses experimental approach with the use of online questionnaires showcasing different label messages. Results show that the conventional method of tapping into the altruistic side of human nature with guilt-inducing messages is ineffective for the population at large. Embracing the self-enhancing, gain-seeking, pain-eliminating side of human nature results in a bigger pro-environmental behaviour change. Making the process of “doing the right thing” easier resulted in the higher willingness to return an empty milk bottle among participants when compared to financial rewards, social modelling, and justification.

Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Tiwald
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Confucian Ethics ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Explanatory Priority ◽  
The Relationship

In this chapter the author defends the view that the major variants of Confucian ethics qualify as virtue ethics in the respects that matter most, which concern the focus, investigative priority, and explanatory priority of virtue over right action. The chapter also provides short summaries of the central Confucian virtues and then explains how different Confucians have understood the relationship between these and what some regard as the chief or most comprehensive virtue, ren (humaneness or benevolence). Finally, it explicates what most Confucians take to be a requirement of all virtues, which the author calls “wholeheartedness,” and concludes by highlighting some neglected implications of the wholeheartedness requirement for ethics more generally. These include reasons for linking conceptions of virtue and human nature, for thinking that good character necessitates that individuals change how things seem to them, and for endorsing automatic as opposed to intensively deliberative judgments and decisions.

Relationality in the Thought of Mary Midgley

2020 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 235-248
Author(s):  
Gregory S. McElwain
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
The Self ◽  
Mary Midgley ◽  
Over 40 Years

AbstractFor over 40 years, Mary Midgley has been celebrated for the sensibility with which she approached some of the most challenging and pressing issues in philosophy. Her expansive corpus addresses such diverse topics as human nature, morality, animals and the environment, gender, science, and religion. While there are many threads that tie together this impressive plurality of topics, the thread of relationality unites much of Midgley's thought on human nature and morality. This paper explores Midgley's pursuit of a relational notion of the self and our connections to others, including animals and the natural world.

A Wojtyłian Reading of Performativity and the Self in Judith Butler

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Franks
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
John Paul Ii ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Power Of God

Abstract Drawing on Hegel, Judith Butler argues that the subject is the product of its desire for subject-ion. The subject, its gender, and even the sexed body itself come into being through reiterating or parodying preexisting norms and discourses of power (“performativity”). Butler rejects the realities of substance and a fixed human nature that would limit the possibilities of performativity. I summarize and assess Butler’s proposals, highlighting both the value and the drawbacks of her theory. I then show how John Paul II’s understanding of meaning and of the body as tasks takes up what is positive in Butler. He escapes the pitfalls of her thought, however, by retaining both metaphysics and revelation. He argues that the subject exists as substance or suppositum, which defends it against the encroachment of power. He also insists on the importance of human nature, which makes the human person to be the kind of substance who can form herself through the God-given task of creative action directed toward meaningful self-gift. Lastly, John Paul II emphasizes that the divine power of God enables the person to transcend the power dynamics of the culture of death.

Looking Forward: Future Directions for the Encounter of Relational Psychoanalysis and Religion

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
The Self ◽  
Relational Psychoanalysis ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Relational Approach ◽  
Psychology And Religion ◽  
Psychoanalysis And Religion ◽  
Religious Material

Contemporary relational psychoanalytic theory provides new opportunities in the dialogue between psychology and religion. This article suggests three examples. First, by seeing the self as inherently interrelated and by underscoring the importance of experience, relational psychoanalysis creates the possibility of a more open attitude toward religious experience. Second, a relational understanding of human nature potentially contains new resources for theological reflection. Third, this shift leads psychoanalysis to focus on how religious forms embody various relational themes. The article concludes by presenting a case which illustrates a contemporary relational approach to religious material.

Theory-Making, Transference, and Anthropology: on D. Z. Phillips’ Rejection of Nonfoundationalist Theorizing

Horizons ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Allik
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
The Self ◽  
Transference And Countertransference ◽  
Psychoanalytic Understanding ◽  
Epistemological Debate ◽  
Human Finitude

AbstractThe article argues that the motivations for Phillips' construal of all theory-making as necessarily foundationalist go beyond the epistemological debate about foundationalism vs. nonfoundationalism and that his construal is rooted in the anthropological assumption that the subjectivity of human persons is inevitably violated by analyses in terms of objective categories that are not derived from the self-understanding of the subjects under study. The article uses the distinction between etics and emics in linguistics and cultural anthropology and a psychoanalytic understanding of the inevitability of transference and countertransference in order to argue that an appreciation of human finitude and contingency should lead Phillips and others to anthropological views in which the inevitability of theory, transference, and the experience of the otherness of oneself and others is construed as not only inevitable but as pleasurable, i.e., as part of the goodness of created human nature.

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