PHILOSOPHY An introduction

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PHILOSOPHYAn introduction
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LECTURES

• I. What is in a Word?
• II. Virtues and Principles.
• III. Mind and Body.
• IV. Politics in a Globalizing World.
• V. Science and Society.
• VI. The Value of Beauty.

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II. VIRTUES AND PRINCIPLES
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• MORAL REASONING
• What is ethics?
• 2. JUSTICE AND RESPONSIBILITY
• Who must do what for whom?
• 3. THE TRAGICAL SIDE OF LIFE
• Does it make sense to talk about virtues?

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1. MORAL REASONING
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ETHICS

• Ethics gt philosophical inquiry into the right
  actions and the good life, i.e. moral judgments
  and rules of conduct.
• A moral norm gt a rule of conduct or standard of
  evaluation.
• Moral judgments gt not only about peoples actions
  or lifestyle, but also about their motives or
  reasons for doing this or that.
• The object of ethics
• 1. The right actions.
• 2. The good life.
• Moral reasoning gt individual or collective
  reasoning about the moral principles that should
  lead the actions of persons and what they ought
  to do in order to have the life worth living.

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IS AND OUGHT
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PLATO 427-347

• The good life gt a question of control and
  planning.
• One should not be vulnerable (fate).
• Dediction to the good and withdrawal from the
  life of every day.

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ARISTOTLE ( 384-323)

• The good life gt because one cannot control
  everything one should cope with the life of every
  day.
• No withdrawal.
• Find a just balance.

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IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)

• Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781)
• Grundlegung der Metaphysik der Sitten (1785).
• Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788).
• Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790)

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DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICSD

• Deontology gt science or study (logos) of duty
  (deon).
• Question which choices are morally required,
  forbidden or permitted.
• Kant gt free will gt the ability to make reasonable
  choices.
• Categorical imperative gt Act only according to
  that maxim whereby you can at the same time will
  that it should become a universal law.

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CONSEQUENTIALISM

• Whether an act is morally right depends only on
  the consequences of that act or of something
  related to that act.
• Classical utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham, John
  Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick.
• An act is morally right if and only if that act
  causes the greatest happiness for the greatest
  number.

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2. JUSTICE AND RESPONSIBILITY
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JOHN RAWLS (1921-2002)

• STATIONS
• 1921 February 21, birth in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1939-43 studies at Princeton University.
• 1943-45 Military training and service at the
  University of Marburg.
• 1946-50 PhD in philosophy, Princeton University.
• 1962 Professor at Harvard University.
• 1971 A Theory of Justice.
• 1993 Political Liberalism.
• 1997 Honory doctorate from Harvard Univesity.
• 1999 The Law of Peoples and Collected Papers.
• 2001 Lectures in Moral Philosophy.
• 2002 November 24, death in Lexington,
  Massachusetts.

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IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS

• A Theory of Justice (1971).
• Political Liberalism (1993).
• The Law of Peoples (1999).

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NEW HORIZONS

• 19th century gt discussion about the just
  political order vanished, because of marxism,
  positivism and historicism.
• Logical positivism declared normative issues as
  subjective and irrational.
• Norms express the feelings of individuals.

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THE REBIRTH OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

• Theory of Justice caused the rebirth of
  political philosophy.
• Questions about the legitimacy of the political
  order are not subjective and irrational.
• A rational discussion about a just political
  order is possible.

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REALISTIC UTOPIA

• To develop a theory of justice that does justice
  to 1) moral intuitions and 2) reality.
• He defends a Kantian position against
  utilitarianism and intuitionism.
• His normative theory presents intellectual tools
  to criticize the status quo.

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CONTRACTUALISM

• Contractualism in the tradition of Hobbes, Locke
  and Rousseau.
• Three steps
• 1. Sketch of an original position gt conflict.
• 2. Procedure to figure out what the content of
  the contract will be gt rational choice to end the
  conflict.
• 3. Results of the procedure gt the content of the
  contract.

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PRIMARY GOODS

• A conflict about scarce goods.
• Enlargment of the scope 1. Constitutional state
  and 2. Welfare State.
• Justice refers in the case of Rawls to social
  institutions that structure the relations between
  people.
• Institutions are responsible for the
  (re-)distribution of primary goods.
• Primary goods gt basis freedoms the possibility
  to do something with your talents powers and
  prerogatives of offices and self-respect.

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VEIL OF IGNORANCE

• Two basic elements normativity and rationality.
• To figure out what the principles of justice are
  that should be the foundation of a political
  order.
• This can only be done under ideal circumstances
  fair procedures.
• Rationality maximize advantages and minimize
  disadvantages in ones own interest.
• Veil of ignorance people know nothing about the
  particular individual each represents, about the
  citizens gender skin color, natural endowments,
  temperament, interests, tastes and preferences.

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TWO PRINCIPLES

• Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a
  fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties,
  which scheme is compatible ith the same scheme of
  libreties for all.
• Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy
  two conditions first, they are to be attached to
  offices and positions open to all under
  conditions of frair equality of opportunity and
  second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of
  the least-advantaged members of society.

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3. THE TRAGICAL SIDE OF LIFE
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NUSSBAUM

• Main works
• The Fragility of Goodness (1986)
• Loves knowledge (1990)
• The Therapy of Desire (1994)
• Frontiers of Justice (2006)

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FINDING A NEW BALANCE

• Reiteration of the work of Aristotle.
• Virtues are important.
• Looking for a balance between emotions and a
  rational life.
• The importance of literature.
• Life has a lot of tragical sides.
• Defends a cosmopolitan view.

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TRAGEDY

• Stories with an unfortunate outcome.
• Aeschylos gt Agamemnon.
• Offers his daughter Iphigenia to the gods.