Two Theories of Natural Justice in Plato’s Gorgias

Elenchos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-228
Author(s):  
Leo Catana
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Natural Justice ◽  
Alternative Concept ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

Abstract In Plato’s Gorgias 482c4–484c3, Callicles advances a concept of natural justice: the laws of the polis must agree with nature, that is, human nature. Since human nature is characterised by its desire to get a greater share (pleon echein), nature itself makes it legitimate that stronger human beings get a greater share than weaker ones. Socrates objects: Callicles’ theoretical approach to civic life poses a threat to the polis’ community, its citizens, and to the friendship amongst its citizens. However, Socrates accepts Callicles’ premise, that the laws of the polis must agree with nature (again, human nature). Still, he disagrees with Callicles about the nature of human nature and proposes an alternative theory of human nature, eventually leading to his alternative concept of natural justice. The article explains the arguments underpinning these two concepts of natural justice, including the conflicting understandings of human nature.

Is Aristotle an Archimedean Naturalist?

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-79
Author(s):  
Sylvia Berryman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Natural Justice ◽  
The Status ◽  
Relationship Of

This chapter examines the evidence of the ethical treatises regarding Aristotle’s use of the appeal to human nature to provide substantive guidance or justification for the demands of ethics. The so-called function argument, the notion that human beings have a natural direction of development, and the references to natural virtue or natural justice are canvassed as possible grounds for believing that Aristotle was an Archimedean naturalist about ethics. The status and relationship of the various ethical treatises is also discussed, together with the place of ethics within the hierarchy of sciences, as necessary background to the examination of Aristotle’s views.

Humean Reflections in the Ethics of Bernard Williams

Utilitas ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
LORENZO GRECO
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Bernard Williams ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Character Formation ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Strong Resemblance ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

In this article I maintain that the anti-theoretical spirit which pervades Williams's ethics is close to the Humean project of developing and defending an ethics based on sentiments which has its main focus in the virtues. In particular, I argue that there are similar underlying themes which run through the philosophies of Hume and Williams, such as the view that a correct ethical perspective cannot avoid dealing with a broader theory of human nature; the conviction that this inquiry cannot be developed in abstraction from the contingencies which are distinctive of the lives of flesh-and-blood human beings driven by passions; and the belief that the notion of character plays a key role in identifying and morally evaluating such lives. Finally, Williams' account of the psychological mechanism of shame in explaining character formation bears a strong resemblance to Hume's treatment of the passion of humility.

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....

Animality in Kant’s Theory of Human Nature

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
David Baumeister
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Universal History ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

This chapter provides an overview of Kant’s conception of the animality (or Tierheit) of human beings. Though human animality is treated in a wide range of Kant’s writings, it has received relatively little attention from scholars, perhaps because Kant wrote no text principally devoted to the subject. With the aim of establishing its systematic unity, I track the status and role of animality across three distinct but interrelated domains of Kant’s theory of human nature—his account of animality as one of three basically good original human predispositions in Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, his account of animality as the target of discipline in the pedagogy lectures, and his account of animality as simultaneously a driver of and hindrance to the progress of history in ‘Idea for a Universal History With a Cosmopolitan Aim’. I argue that these accounts, taken together and in light of the teleological vision of human development that connects them, manifest a distinctively Kantian vision of the human as an actively rational, but at the same time ineliminably animal, being. Far from denying that humans are animals or seeking to repress human animality wholesale, Kant in fact offers a nuanced and robust, though still problematic, defence of the necessity, innocence, and originality of the human’s animal side.

Sociability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Central Factor ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

This chapter examines David Hume's science of man as yielding a science of human sociability, placing his writings in opposition to Thomas Hobbes's theory of human nature and his supervening science of politics. It first considers Hobbes's theory of human nature, which he articulates in his 1642 De Cive, and his arguments about pride, as well as his depiction of humans' natural unsociability in Leviathan. It then discusses the views of Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury, who rejected Hobbes's vision of human sociability, and Bernard Mandeville's claim that human beings were primarily driven by pride. It also analyzes Hume's theory of sociability, showing that it is tripartite in nature: sympathy and imagination must undergird and then supplement utility, even if utility remains the central factor. Finally, it looks at Hume's views on justice and government.

Second Persons

1987 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 357-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Code
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Living Well ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
Moral Decisions ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

Assumptions about what it is to be human are implicit in most philosophical reflections upon ethical and epistemological issues. Although such assumptions are not usually elaborated into a comprehensive theory of human nature, they are nonetheless influential in beliefs about what kinds of problem are worthy of consideration, and in judgments about the adequacy of proposed solutions. Claims to the effect that one should not be swayed by feelings and loyalties in the making of moral decisions, for example, presuppose that human beings are creatures whose nature is amenable to guidance by reason rather than emotion and are creatures capable of living well when they act as impartially as possible. Analogously, claims to the effect that knowledge, to merit that title, should be acquired out of independent cognitive endeavour uncluttered by opinion and hearsay, suggest that human beings are creatures who can come to know their environment through their own unaided efforts. And claims to the effect that knowledge, once acquired, is timelessly and universally true depend upon assumptions about the constancy and uniformity of human nature across historical and cultural boundaries.

HUMAN NATURE THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF STEVEN PINKER

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Farlow Mendrofa ◽  
Chaidir Ashari
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Blank Slate ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

The theory of human nature plays an important role in life. It acts as a trigger as well as a purpose for human life itself. Theories of human nature presented by Religion and Empirical Theory are widely believed to date. Nonetheless, it seems like they have reach an absolute point, thus closed the possibility for new questioners to find novelty in their explanation. This research is made by conducting critical analysis on two classical notions that explained human nature, namely religious explanation and the empirical (the blank slate theory) explanation. Through critical analysis, it is found that new explanations are needed in the conception of the theory of human nature, with the research questions: What kind of human nature theory can embrace human being as of today? Therefore, through the alternative explanation method, the author offers an alternative conception of the human nature. Human Nature is a combination of the innate mechanism and the environment. This conception was born through a critical analysis towards some works with the evolutionary theory perspective, primarily the work of Steven Pinker, who believed that there were innate mechanisms in human beings, as a result of evolution so far.

De Veritate

Grotiana ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Sarah Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Christian Morality ◽  
Religious Controversy

Grotius always claimed that De veritate was not a controversial work, but it was not as innocuous nor as straightforward as Grotius would have his reader believe. It was the theological counterpart to his groundbreaking De iure belli ac pacis and it offered a distinctive version of Christianity which could complement his system of natural and international law. Both works were built upon a particular conception of human nature and natural law, one which was not shared by many of Grotius’ contemporaries. In De veritate, Grotius emphasised that human beings could and should embrace Christianity voluntarily, in response to the revelation they found in the Scriptures. In this way, Grotius provided a way of understanding Christianity which did not appeal to any innate notion of God, and which removed the Christian religion from the sphere of nature and from the shared civic life which was built upon natural foundations. His aim was to shield civic life from the potentially destabilising effects of religious controversy and to promote Christian morality, but his ethical reading of Christianity brought with it important political and theological consequences. This article will show both the novelty, and the instability, of Grotius’ conception of Christianity.

scholarly journals Aggressivity and Violence: An Alternative Theory of Human Nature

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Clark
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Aggressive Treatment ◽  
The One ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature ◽  
Intentional Acts

I open by clarifying the term "aggression" which is used in many contexts besides the one I am discussing (e.g. "the aggressive treatment of disease," or "the aggression of a predatory hunter," etc.). I restrict it to "intentional acts of violence meant to hurt one another, physically or psychologically."

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

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