What moral philosophers can learn from the history of moral concepts

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Edward Skidelsky
Keyword(s):  
Moral Concepts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Philosophers

Commerce, Virtue, and Politics: Adam Ferguson's Constitutionalism

1983 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. McDowell
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Thomas Reid ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Francis Hutcheson ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Philosophers

Adam Ferguson was one of several moral philosophers who contributed to the Scottish Enlightenment, a period aptly described as one of “remarkable efflorescence.” The works of Ferguson and his fellow Scotsmen — Adam Smith, David Hume, Dugald Stewart, Lord Kames, Francis Hutcheson and Thomas Reid — were widely distributed, seriously read, and vigorously debated during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The greatest contribution of this Scottish school to the history of political thinking was the refinement of the idea of commercial republicanism, the synthesis of modern notions of polity and economy.

Justice Beyond Borders – Extraterritorial Obligations from Thucydides to Grotius

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-248
Author(s):  
Tilmann Altwicker
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

The article traces the problem of extraterritorial obligations in the early history of ideas, spanning from Thucydides to Grotius. Extraterritorial obligations are defined here as moral obligations of a legitimate authority to perform or not to perform an act vis-à-vis individuals who are not its subjects. The article shows that arguments about justice beyond the border rely on transnational conceptions of the common good. In the early history of ideas concerning extraterritorial obligations, the following questions were central: Can there be a transnational meaning of moral concepts? Are extraterritorial obligations merely negative obligations? Is the extraterritorial pursuit of state interests limited by higher-ranking principles? Under which circumstances is the extra-territorial use of force permitted in order to protect individuals?

Needs and Rights

Dialogue ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Duane Willard
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Strong Impulse

It is not difficult to sympathize with the strong impulse among philosophers to attempt to explain, justify, and even define moral concepts in factual terms. For without some kind of grounding in the facts of human nature, we may be quite perplexed concerning what relevance moral concepts have to our actual decisions, actions, and social relationships. Put another way, without grounding moral concepts in facts we may be quite puzzled as to the connections between principles and practice, between the ideal and the actual. The history of ethical theory contains several serious efforts by various philosophers to provide factual grounding for moral concepts, efforts which we cannot here take up.

scholarly journals Educational Literature in Russia of the 17th–18th Centuries as a Source for the History of Moral Concepts

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-134
Author(s):  
Tatiana V. Chumakova ◽  
◽  
Elena A. Ovchinnikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Society ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
Educational Literature ◽  
Moral World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Philosophical Ethic ◽  
Ethical Significance ◽  
Conceptual Language ◽  
History Of Formation

The article analyses moral concepts in the educational literature and didactic manuals, which were popular in Russia in the seventeenth – eighteenth centuries. The main sources for the research are the following texts: ‘The Citizenship of Children’s Habits’ (translation of ‘De civilitate morum puerilium’ by Erasmus of Rotterdam), ‘The Honest Mirror of Youth’, ‘Iphika and Hieropolitic’, ‘Arithmetic’ by Leontiy Magnitsky, a translation of ‘Orbis sensu­alium pictus’ by John Amos Comenius, and ‘Didactic Philosophy’ by F.X. Baumeister. The chronological frames of the research are defined as a period of and active ‘appropria­tion’ of moral codes of the European good manners, and the shaping of the ethical language allowing to build both the outer forms of the moral life of the society, and its ethical reflec­tion. Taking into account the educational literature of that period, we may not only reveal its moral concepts, but also outline the general volume of new terms and their definitions. Moral concepts captured the rules of behaviour, moral characteristics of persons, the ethical significance of their labour, education, and upbringing. Studying the educational literature allows us to understand the role of the introduction of basic grammar, arithmetic, and other disciplines in the shaping of the new moral world in its integrity and diversity, to trace the history of formation of moral terms and concepts from didactic ethical compositions to the first manuals of the late eighteenth century, where ethic was presented as a specific field of philosophy. Thus, studying such various sources in the context of the ethic analyzes allows us to do a complex research of the basics of theoretical philosophical ethic in Russia, as well as the commonplace moral language of the Russian society of the epoch of Enlightenment. Largely thanks to these manuals, the categorical and conceptual language of morality was formed in Russian culture.

scholarly journals Początki mowy u małych dzieci w koncepcjach rzymskich intelektualistów, Augustyna i Jana Chryzostoma

Vox Patrum ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 245-258
Author(s):  
Juliusz Jundziłł
Keyword(s):  
Parental Consent ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Language Deprivation ◽  
John Chrysostom ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
Speech Defects ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Moral Philosophers

The paper is a preliminary outline of the history of views on the teaching of speech to children in ancient thinkers, especially Aristotle, Romans from the times of Republic and Empire, as well as the Church Fathers, especially Western, inclu­ding Augustine in order to determine what John Chrysostom wrote and said on that subject. All the above-mentioned were not really interested in teaching speech to infants and children but in the physiology of this phenomenon (especially Aristotle) and creating the most favorable environment for the shaping of speech through the selection of nannies and child minders. There were no attempts, as Augustine aptly wrote, to teach speech consciously; it was the child himself that had to associate the sound with its material, meaningful background through ob­servations and repeating experiences. What is more, both moral philosophers and Church Fathers described in a friendly manner (also Chrysostom) talking to chil­dren using a special, childlike language since it pleased and still pleases adults, although spoils the way children speak. The Classic Antiquity, which took care about the proper speech and promoted (like Church Fathers) rhetoric in everyday life and science, forgot about the basics, the process of creating speech, which re­sulted from depreciation of the first stage of children’s life, condemned to contacts with slaves – nannies. It was only the school age that stirred up stronger emo­tions but, as some moral philosophers wrote, children already had speech defects, among others, because of parental consent for the language deprivation.

scholarly journals PEDAGOGICAL VIEWPOINTS OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 579-584
Author(s):  
Bashkim Rakaj
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Art Education ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
History Of Education ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good And Evil

Jean- Jacques Rousseau is one of the most prominent French Pedagogues, who had a tremendous influence that he considered that his influence was extremely great in the French Bourgeois Revolution. He is considered one of the most significant Personages in the history of education, including industrial and practical Art education (Pannabecker, R. John, 1995). He was especially familiar with the natural idea, where the education of children was based on nature; he made a request to go back to nature. Rousseau had dealt with various topics of education, including physical, intellectual, moral and job education. Rousseau, was of the opinion that children should be educated and fed by the Mother rather than the Nurse, and by the age of 2 the main focus should be on their physical education. He considered that by the age of twelve, there is no need for proper intellectual education, according to him this should begin after this age. Rousseau had a different view of men for the education of women, and according to him, girls should be educated to create families, caring for husband and children, and doing housework. Rousseau was against physical punishments, but he was for the natural punishment towards children. Rousseau, very importantly considered the moral education of children, but according to him, this education should begin when the child is mature and is able to understand the moral concepts According to Rousseau, the reason solely teaches us to know good and evil, our conscience, which makes us love one another and hate the other one, it is regardless from the reason but cannot grow strongly without its assistance (Rousseau, J, J.1889 ).

Fundamentals and dominants of poetics by N.S. Leskov

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-79
Author(s):  
Olga V. Evdokimova ◽  
◽  
Elena P. Samoylova
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
Ethical Choice ◽  
Word And Image ◽  
Methods And Techniques ◽  
Memory Experience ◽  
History Of

In the presented article formative foundations and dominants of mnemonic poetics of N.S. Leskov were identified and formulated (based on the research of scientists of recent years). The main ones are considered. As part of the interaction of word and image, the correspondence of verbal and visible, the question was raised about the nature of the image among Leskov — intensely icon-painting, about the dialectics of classical and art-historical ecfrasis; the picture dominates the genre of the novel (in particular, “Bypassed” (1965)), the icon — in small genres (for example, “situation story”). Dialogue as a constructive principle in Leskov’s prose inherits the methods and techniques of philosophy dating back to the experiments of Socrates’ selfconsciousness (469–399 BC) and G.S. Skovorody (1722–1794). These features of the text in turn determine the functions of a word that problematizes specific moral concepts and moves the reader to his own ethical choice. Leskov’s artistic reception is simultaneously turned to legend and is innovative. The text of the Russian classical writer is always located on the border of archaic and modern. This feature of Leskov’s prose is clearly demonstrated by the creative history of the literary and artistic game “Flea” (1924–1931), the text-source of which is the story “Left” (1881). Established — memory, experience, tradition underlie the poetic system of the classic writer.

Seeing What Is Said: Teaching Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince Through Its Images

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 575-585
Author(s):  
Khristina H. Haddad ◽  
Claudia Mesa Higuera
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Civic Humanism ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Cultural Codes ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Concepts ◽  
Supplemental Appendix ◽  
Visual History

ABSTRACTThis multidisciplinary pedagogy offers eight allegorical images in support of a visually contextual reading of The Prince. Responding to the pedagogical problem of students treating the text as an ahistorical manual for action addressed to them, our approach resituates The Prince in its visual cultural context. This allows us to specify Machiavelli’s innovations as a theorist in terms of the importance of plurality and particularity in regard to political action. An online supplemental appendix provides access to databases and additional resources. Exploring Machiavelli’s politicized moral concepts of prudence, parsimony, liberality, fortune, and impetuosity using these images, we show his masterful invocation and redeployment of the cultural codes of his time. In presenting a visual history of concepts, we hope to move students beyond common contemporary ideological biases and literal readings and to alert them to the complex stories and relationships evident in the visual history of civic humanism.

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