Philosophical Orientations

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Philosophical Orientations
CIS270 Programming I Kirtland Community
College Instructor Lisa Balbach
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Presentation Overview

• When you are on the job, you may be asked to do
  things that you feel are unethical or immoral
  what you decide to do will be based upon your own
  philosophical orientation.
• This presentation explains different
  orientations and their impact on ethical decision
  making.
• NOTE People often make decisions using more
  than one orientation!

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Components of a Philosophic System

• Philosophic systems are comprised of
• Metaphysics
• Epistemology
• Axiology

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Metaphysics

• Metaphysics is the theory of the ultimate
  nature of reality.
• It asks the question what is real?

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Epistomology

• Epistemology is the theory of truth or
  knowledge.
• It asks the question what is true, and how do
  we come to know that truth?

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Axiology

• Axiology is the formal system of identifying and
  measuring value.
• It asks the question what is good and bad?
• Axiology is made up of two sub-parts ethics,
  which is the theory of the goodness or badness of
  human behavior, and aesthetics, which is the
  theory of the goodness or badness of visual
  appearance or audible sound (expressed in terms
  of beauty or ugliness).

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How the Components work Together

• The parts of a philosophic system must be
  compatible with one another.
• A person's view of reality (metaphysics) must be
  consistent with how that person thinks reality is
  known (epistemology) and how that person thinks
  reality is to be valued (axiology).
• Metaphysics (one's explanation of reality)
  determines epistemology and axiology. In other
  words, the way you explain reality determines
  your view of knowledge and of value.

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Philosophic Systems

• There are 4 basic philosophic systems
• Idealism (or Realism)
• Existentialism
• Naturalism
• Pragmatism

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Idealism

• Reality is spiritual (religion-based) rather than
  matter-based (higher power determines what is
  good).
• Implies a view of life in which the predominant
  forces are spiritual and the aim is perfection.
• Idealists judge solely on the action itself and
  not on the results of the action.
• If an action is wrong then it may not be
  performed even if its performance resulted in a
  great deal of good.
• Sometimes an Idealist might excuse the
  performance of a wrong action because it is the
  "lesser of two evils." Example It is OK to
  break into a computerized database if it results
  in saving a life.
• Attitude that places special value on ideas and
  ideals as products of the mind
• Example Goodness is found in the ideal (at the
  conceptual level rather than at the material
  level)

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Idealists include

• Socrates
• Plato
• Kant (modern idealist)
• Kant believed moral actions are based on a
  "supreme principle of morality" which is
  objective, rational, and freely chosen.
• His moral principle could be summed up in what he
  called the Categorical Imperative.

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More about Socrates (469 - 399 BC)

• Used critical reasoning to set the standard for
  all Western philosophy.
• Possessed an unwavering commitment to truth
• Was the first philosopher to focus specifically
  on the area of VALUES (God, the Good and the
  Beautiful).
• Did not claim an interest in "things beneath the
  earth and in the skies" (i.e., a knowledge of
  nature).
• Left no written record - Arisophanes and Xenophon
  wrote about his life and works.

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More about Plato(427-347 BC)

• Plato began his philosophical career as a student
  of Socrates.
• After Socrates died, Plato studied with students
  of Pythagoras, and established his own school of
  philosophy.
• Plato tried both to pass on the heritage of a
  Socratic style of thinking and to guide the
  students progress through mathematical learning
  to the achievement of abstract philosophical
  truth.
• In his earliest literary efforts, Plato tried to
  convey the spirit of Socrates's teaching by
  presenting accurate reports of the master's
  conversational interactions, for which these
  dialogues are our primary source of information.
  Early dialogues are typically devoted to
  investigation of a single issue, about which a
  conclusive result is rarely achieved.

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Naturalism (or Realism)

• Reality exists in matter (i.e. the physical
  world) rather than in spirituality.
• If you can touch it, it is real.
• Governed by nature
• The universe, is one of natural design and order

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Naturalism

• Goodness will be found by living in harmony with
  nature.
• Evil is a departure from this natural norm either
  in the direction of excess or defect (i.e.,
  having, or doing, too much or too little of
  something which is naturally good).

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Naturalists Include

• Aristotle (see next slide)
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Believed that traditional philosophy and religion
  (i.e. the philosophy of Socrates) are both
  erroneous and harmful for human life
• Believed Idealist philosophy destroyed and
  degraded our native capacity for achievement.
• Karl Marx
• Believed the foundations of reality lay in the
  material base of economics rather than in the
  abstract thought of idealistic philosophy
• Believed that philosophy ought to be employed in
  practice to change the world.
• NOTE Naturalists do NOT all agree on specific
  questions. Some, like Nietzsche, were professed
  atheists, while others accepted God. Aristotle
  attempted to explain phenomena in terms of
  biological processes of perception

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More about Aristotle (384-322 BC)

• Aristotle was the most notable product of the
  educational program devised by Plato
• He spent twenty years of his life studying at the
  Academy.
• After Platos death, he established his own
  school at the Lyceum.
• Aristotle spent his time teaching, writing and
  conducting research.
• His surviving works include his investigations of
  an wide range of subjects, from logic,
  philosophy, and ethics to physics, biology,
  psychology, politics, and rhetoric.
• Aristotle revisits many issues at different
  stages of his own development. The result is a
  complex record of Aristotle's thinking about many
  significant issues.

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Pragmatism

• Pragmatism dominated American philosophy from the
  1890s to the 1930s and has reemerged as a
  significant element in contemporary thought.
• States reality is a process. It is neither matter
  nor spiritual.
• Reality is a dynamic coming-to-be rather than a
  static fixed being.
• Reality is an experience.
• Pragmatism holds that truth is modified as
  discoveries are made and is relative to the time
  and place and purpose of inquiry

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Pragmatism

• The Pragmatist believes that value claims must be
  tested and proven in practice.
• Things are value-neutral in themselves. There is
  nothing that is always good, nor is there
  anything that is always bad.
• Moral judgments should not be based on the action
  that is done, but rather on the results of that
  action.
• In answer to the question, "Is that good?", a
  Pragmatist would probably reply, "Is it good for
  what?"
• Pragmatic ethics are relativistic (the end
  justifies the means).
• If something is useful for achieving some end or
  goal, then it becomes good.

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Pragmatism

• Pragmatist looks for guidance from the group
• For the Pragmatist, the whole is greater than the
  sum of its parts. (Which means the whole is more
  valuable than any of its parts).
• Implications include
• the group's collective wisdom is to be more
  highly esteemed than the wisdom of any individual
  within the group
• moral judgments are based upon what is best for
  the greatest number of people.
• This means that the Pragmatist attempts to
  achieve "the greatest good for the greatest
  number."

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Pragmatists include

• Jeremy Bentham
• Decide outcomes based upon amount of pleasure
  over pain.
• In situations with all bad outcomes, choose the
  alternative with the least number of undesireable
  results.
• C. S. Peirce (c.1872) )
• developed the principles of pragmatic theory as
  formal doctrine.
• William James
• held that in vital matters of faith the criterion
  for acceptance was the will to believe
• key figure in promoting the widespread influence
  of pragmatism during the 1890s and early 1900s.
• John Dewey
• developed the instrumentalist aspects of the
  doctrine
• C. I. Lewis (1883-1964)
• Applied Kantian principles to the investigation
  of empirical reality
• Richard Rorty
• argued that theories are ultimately justified by
  their instrumentality, or the extent to which
  they enable people to attain their aims.

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Existentialism

• Doesnt believe reality is fixed and static
  (similar to the pragmatist).
• Believes each individual defines their own
  reality (different than pragmatism which believes
  reality is a process and looks for the good of
  the group).

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Existentialism

• Any meaning that gets into the world must be put
  in it by the individual, and that meaning or
  value will hold only for that individual.
• A person's world and identity are the product of
  their own choice.
• Reality is different for each individual.
• Each person's own identity, is the product of
  that person's own choice.
• Existentialism is not necessarily a "selfish"
  type of philosophy. It is not primarily concerned
  with one's own interests but rather with one's
  own conscience

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Existentialism

• Forces people to make choices (if you choose not
  to decide, you still have made a choice).
• Forces individuals to express preferences
• Forces individuals to accept responsibility for
  actions. If the choices were freely made, then
  responsibility for them must be accepted.
• While heredity, environment, and society might
  influence what choices an individual makes, the
  Existentialist believes there is a zone of
  freedom within each individual that cannot be
  conditioned or predetermined.
• Evil, for the Existentialist, is being false to
  self. It is a breaking of one's personal law.
• An Existentialist is not necessarily a
  non-conformist, but if an Existentialist conforms
  to the values of a group it will be because that
  person has freely chosen to do so - not because
  that person has been pressured to do so by the
  group.

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Existentialists include

• Soren Kierkegaard
• His fundamental insight was the recognition of
  the concrete ethical and religious demands
  confronting the individual. He saw that these
  demands could not be met by a merely intellectual
  decision but required the subjective commitment
  of the individual.
• Jean-Paul Sartre
• Believed existence precedes essence.
• For Sartre there was no God and therefore no
  fixed human nature that forces one to act.
• Man was totally free and entirely responsible for
  what he makes of himself. (It was this freedom
  and responsibility that, as for Kierkegaard, is
  the source of man's dread. )
• Gabriel Marcel
• French christian existentialist who developed his
  philosophy within the framework of the Roman
  Catholic Church

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Bibliography

• Bargar, Robert. Philosophical Belief Systems.
  Retrieved April 10, 2003 from http//www.nd.edu/r
  barger/philblfs.htmlSystem
• Existentialism. Retrieved April 18, 2003 from
  http//www.encyclopedia.com
• Idealism. Retrieved April 18, 2003 from
  http//www.encyclopedia.com
• Kermerling, Garthy. Philosophy Pages. Retrieved
  August 16, 2003 from http//www.philosophypages.co
  m/index.htm
• Naturalism. Retrieved April 18, 2003 from
  http//www.encyclopedia.com
• Pragmatism. Retrieved April 18, 2003 from
  http//www.encyclopedia.com