Aristotelian Phronãªsis, the Discourse of Human Rights, And
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PHIL 269: Philosophy of Sex and Love: Course Outline
PHIL 269: Philosophy of Sex and Love: Course Outline 1. Title of Course: Philosophy of Sex and Love 2. Catalogue Description: The course investigates philosophical questions regarding the nature of sex and love, including questions such as: what is sex? What is sexuality? What is love? What kinds of love are possible? What is the proper morality of sexual behavior? Does gender, race, or class influence how we approach these questions? The course will consider these questions from an historical perspective, including philosophical, theological and psychological approaches, and then follow the history of ideas from ancient times into contemporary debates. A focus on the diversity theories and perspectives will be emphasized. Topics to be covered may include marriage, reproduction, casual sex, prostitution, pornography, and homosexuality. 3. Prerequisites: PHIL 110 4. Course Objectives: The primary course objectives are: To enable students to use philosophical methods to understand sex and love To enable students to follow the history of ideas regarding sex and love To enable students to understand contemporary debates surrounding sex and love in their diversity To enable students to see the connections between the history of ideas and their contemporary meanings To enable students to use (abstract, philosophical) theories to analyze contemporary debates 5. Student Learning Outcomes The student will be able to: Define the direct and indirect influence of historical thinkers on contemporary issues Define and critically discuss major philosophical issues regarding sex and love and their connections to metaphysics, ethics and epistemology Analyze, explain, and criticize key passages from historical texts regarding the philosophy of sex and love. -
Thomas Aquinas: Soul-Body Connection and the Afterlife Hyde Dawn Krista University of Missouri-St
University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Theses Graduate Works 4-16-2012 Thomas Aquinas: Soul-Body Connection and the Afterlife Hyde Dawn Krista University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://irl.umsl.edu/thesis Recommended Citation Krista, Hyde Dawn, "Thomas Aquinas: Soul-Body Connection and the Afterlife" (2012). Theses. 261. http://irl.umsl.edu/thesis/261 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thomas Aquinas: Soul-Body Connection and the Afterlife Krista Hyde M.L.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 2010 B.A., Philosophy, Southeast Missouri State University – Cape Girardeau, 2003 A Thesis Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri – St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Philosophy April 2012 Advisory Committee Gualtiero Piccinini, Ph.D. Chair Jon McGinnis, Ph.D. John Brunero, Ph.D. Copyright, Krista Hyde, 2012 Abstract Thomas Aquinas nearly succeeds in addressing the persistent problem of the mind-body relationship by redefining the human being as a body-soul (matter-form) composite. This redefinition makes the interaction problem of substance dualism inapplicable, because there is no soul “in” a body. However, he works around the mind- body problem only by sacrificing an immaterial afterlife, as well as the identity and separability of the soul after death. Additionally, Thomistic psychology has difficulty accounting for the transmission of universals, nor does it seem able to overcome the arguments for causal closure. -
7 Aristotle on Greatness of Soul
7 Aristotle on Greatness of Soul Roger Crisp n the recent revival of interest in Aristotelian ethics, relatively little attention has been paid to the virtue of greatness of soul (megalopsuchia). This is partly Ibecause of the focus on the more structurally central concepts of Aristotle’s theory, in particular happiness (eudaimonia) and virtue (aret¯e). But in fact a study of greatness of soul can reveal important insights into the overall shape of Aristotelian ethics, including the place of external goods and luck in the virtuous life, and the significance of “the noble” (to kalon). Further, Aristotle describes the great-souled person in more detail than any other, and calls greatness of soul a “sort of crown of the virtues” (NE IV.3.1124a1–2). Many have found aspects of the portrait of the great-souled person in the Nicomachean Ethics repellent or absurd, but that is no good reason for the student of Aristotle to shy away from it. In this chapter, I shall elucidate Aristotle’s account of greatness of soul, addressing some puzzles internal to that account and bringing out its place in, and implications for, the ethics of Aristotle and of those modern writers influenced by him. Greatness of Soul as a Virtue To understand greatness of soul as an Aristotelian virtue requires first understand- ing Aristotle’s conception of virtue itself. Aristotle distinguishes virtues into two classes – intellectual virtues and virtues of character – corresponding to distinct aspects of the human soul (NE I.13). Greatness of soul is a virtue of character, though, like all such virtues, it requires its possessor to have the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom (phron¯esis; NE VI.13). -
5. What Matters Is the Motive / Immanuel Kant
This excerpt is from Michael J. Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, pp. 103-116, by permission of the publisher. 5. WHAT MATTERS IS THE MOTIVE / IMMANUEL KANT If you believe in universal human rights, you are probably not a utili- tarian. If all human beings are worthy of respect, regardless of who they are or where they live, then it’s wrong to treat them as mere in- struments of the collective happiness. (Recall the story of the mal- nourished child languishing in the cellar for the sake of the “city of happiness.”) You might defend human rights on the grounds that respecting them will maximize utility in the long run. In that case, however, your reason for respecting rights is not to respect the person who holds them but to make things better for everyone. It is one thing to con- demn the scenario of the su! ering child because it reduces overall util- ity, and something else to condemn it as an intrinsic moral wrong, an injustice to the child. If rights don’t rest on utility, what is their moral basis? Libertarians o! er a possible answer: Persons should not be used merely as means to the welfare of others, because doing so violates the fundamental right of self-ownership. My life, labor, and person belong to me and me alone. They are not at the disposal of the society as a whole. As we have seen, however, the idea of self-ownership, consistently applied, has implications that only an ardent libertarian can love—an unfettered market without a safety net for those who fall behind; a 104 JUSTICE minimal state that rules out most mea sures to ease inequality and pro- mote the common good; and a celebration of consent so complete that it permits self-in" icted a! ronts to human dignity such as consensual cannibalism or selling oneself into slav ery. -
Human Beings and the Moral Law: Moral Precariousness in Kant's Ethical Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2014 Human Beings and the Moral Law: Moral Precariousness in Kant's Ethical Philosophy Bradley Taylor University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Taylor, Bradley, "Human Beings and the Moral Law: Moral Precariousness in Kant's Ethical Philosophy" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1468. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1468 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1468 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Human Beings and the Moral Law: Moral Precariousness in Kant's Ethical Philosophy Abstract ABSTRACT HUMAN BEINGS AND THE MORAL LAW: MORAL PRECARIOUSNESS IN KANT'S ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY Bradley M. Taylor Dr. Paul Guyer This dissertation is an examination of human moral precariousness in Kant's ethics. Human beings are in a state of moral precariousness insofar as they are ever-capable of transgressing the moral law and are often uncertain of the moral worth of their actions. Put another way, in this dissertation I argue that the basic relationship between human beings and the moral law, in Kant's moral philosophy, is, most fundamentally, one of tenuousness and vacillation. This relation is the fundamental characteristic of the human moral condition because such a relation is built into Kant's account of human moral agency. We have a tenuous relation to the moral law because we always have at least the possibility of conflict between our desire for happiness (i.e. the satisfaction of our inclinations) and the requirements of the moral law. -
Love and the Sharing of Ends
Twenty-First Century Papers: On-Line Working Papers from the Center for 21st Century Studies University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee LOVE AND THE SHARING OF ENDS Andrea C. Westlund Twenty-First Century Papers: On-line Working Papers from the Center for 21st Century Studies * http://www.21st.uwm.edu *ISSN 1545-6161 *University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee * P.O. Box 413 * Milwaukee, WI 53201 * 414.229.4141 (voice) * 414.229.5964 (fax) * [email protected] Director: Daniel J. Sherman The Center for 21st Century Studies, a UW System Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee campus, is a postdoctoral research institute founded in 1968 to foster crossdisciplinary research in the humanities. This series of occasional, on-line Working Papers provides a forum for rapid distribution of ideas in texts that are not yet ready or suitable for publication in more formal academic publications, but still offer valuable content. Usually the authors of Center Working Papers will be Center fellows, invited speakers, or others with significant ties to the Center, although we reserve the right to make exceptions. We regret that we are unable to consider unsolicited submissions. 1 LOVE AND THE SHARING OF ENDS Andrea C. Westlund [email protected] Department of Philosophy University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Twenty-First Century Papers: On-Line Working Papers from the The Center for 21st Century Studies University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Number 6 September 2005 © Copyright 2005 by the Center for 21st Century Studies all rights reserved 2 HELMER. But to part!—to part from you! No, no, Nora; I can’t understand that idea. -
Love As a Moral Emotion* J. David Velleman
Love as a Moral Emotion* J. David Velleman INTRODUCTION Love and morality are generally assumed to differ in spirit. The moral point of view is impartial and favors no particular individual, whereas favoring someone in particular seems like the very essence of love. Love and morality are therefore thought to place con¯icting demands on our attention, requiring us to look at things differently, whether or not they ultimately require us to do different things.1 The question is supposed to be whether a person can do justice to both perspectives. Some philosophers think that one or the other per- * The theme of this article was suggested to me by Harry Frankfurt's ``Autonomy, Necessity, and Love'' (in Vernunftbegriffe in der Moderne, ed. Hans Friedrich Fulda and Rolf- Peter Horstmann [Klett-Cotta, 1994], pp. 433± 47). I ®rst attempted to state the theme in a paper entitled ``Frankfurt on Love and Duty,'' written for a conference organized by RuÈdi- ger Bittner in the spring of 1996, at the Zentrum fuÈr interdiziplinaÈre Forschung, in Biele- feld, Germany. Some of that paper is reproduced here. Also contained here is material from a commentary on Henry S. Richardson's Practical Reasoning about Final Ends (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); my commentary was presented at a session of the So- ciety for Informal Logic at the 1995 meetings of the American Philosophical Association (APA) Eastern Division. Earlier versions of this article were read to the philosophy depart- ments at Arizona State University; Harvard; Princeton; University of California, Los Ange- les; University College London; and to a discussion group that meets at Oriel College, Ox- ford, under the auspices of David Charles. -
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. -
The Justice for All Act
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office for Victims of Crime A PRIL 2006 The Justice for All Act What Is the Justice What the Justice for (3) The right not to be excluded from any such public court proceeding, for All Act? All Act of 2004 unless the court, after receiving clear and convincing evidence, he Justice for All Act of 2004 (H.R. Contains determines that testimony by the 5107, Public Law 108-405) (the Act) T ■ Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, victim would be materially altered was signed into law by President George Wendy Preston, Louarna Gillis, and if the victim heard other testimony W. Bush on October 30, 2004. The Act Nila Lynn Crime Victims’ Rights at that proceeding. contains four major sections related to Act crime victims and the criminal justice (4) The right to be reasonably heard at process. Some of the purposes of the ■ Debbie Smith Act of 2004 any public proceeding in the district Act are to protect crime victims’ rights, ■ DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act court involving release, plea, sen- eliminate the substantial backlog of of 2004 tencing, or any parole proceeding. DNA samples collected from crime scenes and convicted offenders, and ■ Innocence Protection Act of 2004 (5) The reasonable right to confer with improve and expand the DNA testing the attorney for the Government in The purpose of this fact sheet is to pro- capacity of federal, state, and local the case. vide information about the Scott Camp- crime laboratories. bell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, (6) The right to full and timely restitu- The first section of the Act establishes Louarna Gillis, and Nila Lynn Crime tion as provided in law. -
Deriving Morality from Politics: Rethinking the Formula of Humanity Author(S): Japa Pallikkathayil Source: Ethics, Vol
Deriving Morality from Politics: Rethinking the Formula of Humanity Author(s): Japa Pallikkathayil Source: Ethics, Vol. 121, No. 1 (October 2010), pp. 116-147 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/656041 . Accessed: 13/01/2011 10:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ethics. http://www.jstor.org Deriving Morality from Politics: Rethinking the Formula of Humanity* Japa Pallikkathayil Kant’s Formula of Humanity famously forbids treating others merely as a means. -
XUNWU CHEN/ Global Justice and Duty to Humanity
GLOBAL JUSTICE AND DUTY TO HUMANITY —A PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Xunwu Chen Abstract: This essay is devoted to exploring global justice as duty to humanity. The essay first explores humanity as the universal substance of all humankind, indicating that if a person loses a quality, s/he is not alienated or less than himself/herself; but if a person loses his/her humanity, s/he is alienated and absurd. Second, the essay demonstrates that the idea of humanity as the universal substance of all humankind is necessary to make senses those operating norms and principles of global justice in our time, including human rights, crimes against humanity and toleration. Third, essay indicates that global justice is the way of human living because it is consistent with humanity as the universal substance of all humankind. Therefore, the essay concludes that global justice is giving due to humanity as a substance. We can hardly talk about global justice today without mentioning the concepts of the law of humanity, human rights, crimes against humanity, and global cultural toleration. What are conspicuous also follow. First, we search for global justice of, for, and by all humankind in the globe, not justice for all beings—humans and non-humans included. We aim at global principles of justice that normalize all humankind on the earth, not principles of justice that regulate all beings, humans and non-humans alike. Second, if there should be global justice of, for, and by all humankind on the earth, all humankind must share some commonalities. Third, the global human community formally declares the norms of human rights, crimes against humanity, and cultural toleration as the norms of global justice recognized in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the Rome Statute of International Criminal Courts in 2002. -
Aristotelian Challenges to Contemporary Philosophy—Nature, Knowledge, and the Good
Introduction: Aristotelian Challenges to Contemporary Philosophy—Nature, Knowledge, and the Good The collection of articles presented in this book explores Aristotelianism and its critics from three distinct viewpoints in three historical periods: first, from the point of view of the philosophy of science and epistemology in Antiquity, secondly, from the perspective of the notion of individual rights in medieval philosophy; and, finally, against the background of 20th-century ethical discus- sions that offer alternatives to what can be taken as standard modern ethical theories (such as those developed by Sidgwick, for example). The main moti- vation of the selection is the general observation that, with respect to these specific themes, the influence and critical impact of Aristotelianism have not yet been sufficiently studied. When it comes to assessing central questions of the philosophy of science and epistemology and their relation to Aristotelianism, we argue that there is a danger of making simplified generalisations and attacking Aristotle as a straw man representing tendencies that derive from inaccurate or modernis- ing interpretations. The contributions in Part i focus on clearing up some such modernising misunderstandings pertaining to Aristotle’s theory of science. Secondly, with respect to the history and development of modern ethics with its notion of individual rights, Part ii of the collection addresses the question whether, in the late Middle Ages, there was a radical change in the analysis of rights. The contributors offer contrasting views on this, arguing first that ancient authors lacked neither terms nor concepts for individual rights. Others oppose this suggestion by claiming that the profundity of late medi- eval conceptual change entails that any resembling notions that one might find in antiquity can only be superficially similar to the modern ones.