Mozi: the Man, the Consequentialist, and the Utilitarian
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Shang Yang 商鞅 and Legalist 法家 Reform in the Ancient Chinese State of Qin 秦
SHANG YANG 商鞅 AND LEGALIST 法家 REFORM IN THE ANCIENT CHINESE STATE OF QIN 秦 Daniel HAITAS Abstract Legalism has played a major role in the history of the Chinese legal and governmental tradition. One of the major exponents and formulators of this school of thought in ancient times was Shang Yang, an official in the state of Qin. Shang Yang oversaw a program of law reform in Qin in such areas as criminal law and the economic life of the country which aimed to strengthen the power of the state. This can be said to have had long term consequences for both Chinese and world history, in that the strengthening and reorganization of Qin along the lines of Legalist principles helped lead to its gaining preeminence amongst the other states vying for influence in the Warring States period, ultimately leading to the unification of China under the rule of the Qin dynasty. Keywords: Shang Yang, Legalism, law reform, Qin state, criminal law, economic regulation. that would be known among the general population, which included a system of strict punishments to be 1. Introduction applied equally to all. Additionally, he implemented Throughout much of the history of the Chinese reforms that favoured agriculture at the expense of legal and governmental tradition, two different schools commerce. of thought have been portrayed as competing and This study particularly draws on the Book of Lord coexisting at the same time; these are the Legalists 法 Shang 商君書, the earliest surviving and foundational 1 家 and the Confucians 儒家 . Both sought to maintain text of the Legalist school whose authorship is 7 social order, yet differed in the primary methods attributed to Shang Yang . -
Memorial on Annexation of Feudal States and Memorial on the Burning of Books, by Li Si (As Recorded by Sima Qian)
Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs) M E M O R I A L O N A N N E X A T I O N O F F E U D A L S T A T E S A N D M E M O R I A L O N T H E B U R N I N G O F B O O K S B y L i S i ( a s r e c o r d e d b y S i m a Q i a n ) Introduction Li Si (d. 208 BCE) was, along with the Legalist philosopher Han Fei (d. 233 BCE), a student of Xunzi (c. 310-c. 219 BCE) and an official for the kingdom of Qin. When Qin conquered the remaining feudal states of the Zhou dynasty and built a new, centralized empire, Li Si was prime minister to the first emperor, Qin Shihuang. As prime minister, Li Si had the opportunity to bring Legalist political philosophy to bear on the task of uniting and ruling the patchwork of now-conquered feudal states of the former Zhou kingdom. The memorials below are two examples of the policies that Li Si successfully urged Qin Shihuang to follow. The memorials, in the form that we have them, are recorded by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian (145?-86? BCE). They may, therefore, reflect Han bias in either the choice made or the accuracy of the record. However, we have no alternative sources from which to compare the record and investigate the nature and extent of whatever bias may be present. -
1 Unit 4 Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy
1 UNIT 4 ETHICS IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY Contents 4.0 Objectives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Epicurus 4.3 Aristotle 4.4 Thomas Aquinas 4.5 William of Ockham 4.6 Thomas Hobbes 4.7 Jeremy Bentham 4.8 Immanuel Kant 4.9 John Stuart Mill 4.10 Emile Durkheim 4.11 Let Us Sum Up 4.12 Key Words 4.13 Further Readings and References 4.0 OBJECTIVES As Sir David Ross points out, in a classical work Foundations of Ethics, written over sixty years ago, there are, broadly speaking, two approaches to ethics. This is better known as the distinction between deontological and teleological ethics. The Greek word for an ‘end’, in the sense of a goal to be achieved, is telos. Hence, ‘teleological’ ethics comprises all those kinds of ethics which see the criterion of morality in terms of whether an action fulfills the overall total end of human life in general and of moral activity in particular. The word ‘deontological’ was coined by the British moralist, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), from the Greek word, deon, literally, that which is binding. Deontological ethics views the morally good in terms of doing ones duty. Deontology would be the science of moral duties. We shall see that these two approaches differ more in emphasis than anything else; they are not mutually exclusive water- tight compartments. 4.1 INTRODUCTION Let us start with teleological approach. Ever since Aristotle, practically the entire Western tradition of philosophizing has accepted his contention that the ultimate human end is “happiness.” Now this could be understood as either exclusively, or with a strong stress on, individual or private happiness. -
The End of Economics, Or, Is
THE END OF ECONOMICS, OR, IS UTILITARIANISM FINISHED? By John D. Mueller James Madison Program Fellow Fellow of The Lehrman Institute President, LBMC LLC Princeton University, 127 Corwin Hall, 15 April 2002 Summary. According to Lionel Robbins’ classic definition, “Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means that have alternate uses.” Yet most modern economists assume that economic choice involves only the means and not to the ends of human action. The reason seems to be that most modern economists are ignorant of the history of their own discipline before Adam Smith or Jeremy Bentham. Leading economists like Gary Becker attempt to explain all human behavior, including love and hate, as a maximization of “utility.” But historically and logically, an adequate description of economic choice has always required both a ranking of persons as ends and a ranking of scarce goods as means. What is missing from modern economics is an adequate description of the ranking of persons as ends. This is reflected in the absence of a satisfactory microeconomic explanation (for example, within the household) as to how goods are distributed to their final users, and in an overemphasis at the political level on an “individualistic social welfare function,” by which policymakers are purported to add up the preferences of a society of selfish individuals and determine all distribution from the government downwards, as if the nation or the world were one large household. As this “hole” in economic theory is recognized, an army of “neo-scholastic” economists will find full employment for the first few decades of the 21st Century, busily rewriting the Utilitarian “economic approach to human behavior” that dominated the last three decades of the 20th Century. -
A Confucian Defense of Shame: Morality, Self-Cultivation, and the Dangers of Shamelessness
religions Article Article Article A ConfucianA Confucian Defense Defense of Shame: of Shame: Morality, Morality, Self-Cultivation, Self-Cultivation, A Confucian Defense of Shame: Morality, Self-Cultivation, and theand Dangers the Dangers of Shamelessness of Shamelessness and the Dangers of Shamelessness Mark BerksonMark Berkson Mark Berkson Department of Religion,Department Hamline of Religion, University, Hamline St. Paul, University, MN 55104, St. USA;Paul, [email protected] 55104, USA; [email protected] Department of Religion, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN 55104, USA; [email protected] Abstract: ManyAbstract: philosophers Many and philosophers scholars in and the scholars West have in the a negative West have view a negative of shame. view In muchof shame. In much of Abstract: Many philosophers and scholars in the West have a negative view of shame.of post-classical In much ofpost-classical Western ethical Western thought, ethical shame thought, is compared shame is negativelycompared negatively with guilt, with as shame guilt, isas shame is asso- post-classical Western ethical thought, shame is compared negatively with guilt, asassociated shame is asso- withciated the “outer”, with the how “outer”, one appears how one before appears others before (and othe thusrs is (and merely thus a is matter merely of a “face”), matter of “face”), and ciated with the “outer”, how one appears before others (and thus is merely a matterand of “face”), guilt is and associatedguilt is associated with the “inner”with the realm “inner” of therealm conscience of the conscience and soul. and Anthropologists soul. Anthropologists and and philoso- guilt is associated with the “inner” realm of the conscience and soul. -
Philosophy Course Offerings – Spring 2019 –
PHILOSOPHY COURSE OFFERINGS – SPRING 2019 – 200-level Courses (Tier Two) PHIL 272: Metaphysics | Andrew Cutrofello In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates suggests that physics—the study of the physical world—can only tell us so much. There are things that physics cannot tell us about, such as the nature of justice or whether we have immortal souls. These topics belong to what we now call metaphysics. The prefix “meta-“ means “after” or “beyond.” Traditionally, it was the job of poets to deal with metaphysical topics. One of Plato’s goals is to explain the difference between poetic and philosophical approaches to metaphysical topics, while maintaining the difference between metaphysics and physics. Ever since, philosophers have struggled to articulate the relationship between physics, metaphysics, and poetry. Some have argued that as physics has become more sophisticated, it has swallowed up metaphysics. Others have argued that all metaphysics – even that of Plato – is just a kind of poetry. Still others have followed Plato in trying to carve out a special domain for metaphysics. In this class we survey various approaches to this problem. We will begin with Plato and then move on to Immanuel Kant, Kitaro Nishida, Susan Howe (a poet, writing about the philosopher Charles Peirce), and Werner Heisenberg (a physicist, writing about the relationship between physics and metaphysics). PHIL 274: Logic | Harry Gensler This course aims to promote reasoning skills, especially the ability to recognize valid reasoning. We'll study syllogistic, propositional, modal, and basic quantificational logic. We'll use these to analyze hundreds of arguments, many on philosophical topics like morality, free will, and the existence of God. -
Reflection 19
1. Editor’s Message 2. Can Animals be Moral Agents? 3. Intersectional Feminism 4. The Millennial Identity 5. A Brief Overview of Buddhist Ethics 6. World Philosophies 7. An Argument for Veganism 8. Philosophy of Language: The Linguistic Turn 9. A Question Concerning Agency of Self-driven Cars 10. Reflections on Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology” 11. Abstraction and Interpretation in Art 12. Artworks and Photography 13. Activity Report 14. Appearance and Reality Greetings! Reflection – the annual newsletter of Department of Philosophy – is an endeavour to celebrate introspective thought in philosophy, and provides a forum to the students to express and share their deliberations on the topics and concerns they feel strongly about. The current issue of Reflection presents a collection of short essays, artworks and photographs, and a glimpse at the events last year. Contributors have presented their philosophical reflections and have raised crucial questions on a range of topics in areas like morality and ethics, philosophy of language, technology and art. We highly appreciate all the contributions and sincerely thank all the teachers for their constant guidance and support. Happy Reading! I hear a woman arguing with the guard about a sign recently placed outside the elevator doors which says “Pets not allowed”. She is holding the leash of her husky, and ardently pleading that it’s not just a dog, “He is her son.” Just like this woman, people of New York found an ingenious way to evade the “pets not allowed on the subway, unless they are in a carrier” rule by carrying their not-so-small pets in huge tote bags. -
Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development from Wikipedia
ECS 188 First Readings Winter 2017 There are two readings for Wednesday. Both are edited versions of Wikipedia articles. The first reading adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg's_stages_of_moral_development, and the second reading is adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics. You can find the references for the footnotes there. As you read the article about moral development please think about you answered the Heinz Dilemma in class, and in which stage did your justification lie. I do not plan on discussing our answers to the Heinz Dilemma any further in class. As you read the ethic article, please think about which Normative ethic appeals to you, and why. This will be one of the questions we will discuss on Wednesday. My goal for both of these readings is to help you realize what values you bring to your life, and our course in particular. Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development from Wikipedia Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Kohlberg began work on this topic while a psychology graduate student at the University of Chicago[1] in 1958, and expanded upon the theory throughout his life. The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor.[2] Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgment far beyond the ages studied earlier by Piaget,[3] who also claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages.[2] Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime,[4] a notion that spawned dialogue on the philosophical implications of such research.[5][6] The six stages of moral development are grouped into three levels: pre-conventional morality, conventional morality, and post-conventional morality. -
The Educational Thought of Confucius
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1980 The Educational Thought of Confucius Helena Wan Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Wan, Helena, "The Educational Thought of Confucius" (1980). Dissertations. 1875. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1875 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1980 Helena Wan THE EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT OF CONFUCIUS by Helena Wan A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 1980 Helena Wan Loyola University of Chicago THE EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT OF CONFUCIUS The purpose of this study is to investigate the humanistic educational ideas of Confucius as they truly were, and to examine their role in the history of tradi- tional Chinese education. It is the contention of this study that the process of transformation from idea into practice has led to mutilation, adaptation or deliberate reinterpretation of the original set of ideas. The ex ample of the evolution of the humanistic educational ideas of Confucius into a system of education seems to support this contention. It is hoped that this study will help separate that which is genuinely Confucius' from that which tradition has attributed to him; and to understand how this has happened and what consequences have resulted. -
Early Confucian Concept of Yi
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Singapore Management University Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Research Collection School of Social Sciences School of Social Sciences 2-2014 Early Confucian concept of Yi (议) and deliberative democracy Sor-hoon TAN Singapore Management University, [email protected] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591713515682 Follow this and additional works at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Citation TAN, Sor-hoon.(2014). Early Confucian concept of Yi (议) and deliberative democracy. Political Theory, 42(1), 82-105. Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2548 This Journal Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Social Sciences at Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Collection School of Social Sciences by an authorized administrator of Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. For more information, please email [email protected]. PTX42110.1177/0090591713515682TanPolitical Theory 515682research-article2013 Ta n Published in Political Theory, Vol. Article42, Issue 1, February 2014, page 82-105 Political Theory 2014, Vol. 42(1) 82 –105 Early Confucian Concept © 2013 SAGE Publications Reprints and permissions: of Yi (议)and Deliberative sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0090591713515682 Democracy ptx.sagepub.com Sor-hoon Tan1 Abstract Contributors to the debates about the compatibility of Confucianism and democracy and its implications for China’s democratization often adopt definitions of democracy that theories of deliberative democracy are critical of. -
Philosophy of Science -----Paulk
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE -----PAULK. FEYERABEND----- However, it has also a quite decisive role in building the new science and in defending new theories against their well-entrenched predecessors. For example, this philosophy plays a most important part in the arguments about the Copernican system, in the development of optics, and in the Philosophy ofScience: A Subject with construction of a new and non-Aristotelian dynamics. Almost every work of Galileo is a mixture of philosophical, mathematical, and physical prin~ a Great Past ciples which collaborate intimately without giving the impression of in coherence. This is the heroic time of the scientific philosophy. The new philosophy is not content just to mirror a science that develops independ ently of it; nor is it so distant as to deal just with alternative philosophies. It plays an essential role in building up the new science that was to replace 1. While it should be possible, in a free society, to introduce, to ex the earlier doctrines.1 pound, to make propaganda for any subject, however absurd and however 3. Now it is interesting to see how this active and critical philosophy is immoral, to publish books and articles, to give lectures on any topic, it gradually replaced by a more conservative creed, how the new creed gener must also be possible to examine what is being expounded by reference, ates technical problems of its own which are in no way related to specific not to the internal standards of the subject (which may be but the method scientific problems (Hurne), and how there arises a special subject that according to which a particular madness is being pursued), but to stan codifies science without acting back on it (Kant). -
THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952)
Georg Hegel (1770-1831) ................................ 30 Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) ................. 32 Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872) ...... 32 John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) .......................... 33 Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) ..................... 33 Karl Marx (1818-1883).................................... 34 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) ................ 35 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914).............. 35 William James (1842-1910) ............................ 36 The Modern World 1900-1950 ............................. 36 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) .................... 37 Ahad Ha'am (1856-1927) ............................... 38 Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) ............. 38 Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) ....................... 39 Henri Bergson (1859-1941) ............................ 39 Contents John Dewey (1859–1952) ............................... 39 Introduction....................................................... 1 THE PHILOSOPHY BOOK George Santayana (1863-1952) ..................... 40 The Ancient World 700 BCE-250 CE..................... 3 Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) ................... 40 Introduction Thales of Miletus (c.624-546 BCE)................... 3 William Du Bois (1868-1963) .......................... 41 Laozi (c.6th century BCE) ................................. 4 Philosophy is not just the preserve of brilliant Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) ........................ 41 Pythagoras (c.570-495 BCE) ............................ 4 but eccentric thinkers that it is popularly Max Scheler