The Concepts Visions and Ethical Behavior - Essay Example

Four Philosophers Table of Contents David Hume Immanuel Kant St. Thomas Aquinas Aristotle Discussion Works Cited David Hume David Hume is worthy from deviating from the rationally-focused philosophers that preceded him, and placed desire at the core of his human philosophy, being a member of the school of philosophy that has come to be known as Empiricism. The focus is on an undertanding of man from the basis of psycholog, and as an empiricist, he made the argument for observation and for direct experience as the basis of human knowledge, countering the assertion of philosophers for the existence of ideas that are innate. In the area of free will, he argued that there are no actions that have no specific causes, and so there are no actions emanating from will that are not caused by prior motives and circumstances, as well as human temperaments. He rejects that man enjoys liberty, therefore, and argues that man instead acts from necessity. As a skeptic, on the other hand, he argues that we must be modest when it comes to making judgments, because of the contradictions inherent in all reasoning of the mind, and when we do speculate on the nature of things, we must strive to stick to the facts and employ such activities on matters that require abstractions of the mind. He extends this skeptical stance to religion. As opposed to adhering to a religion of belief, moreover, he proposed a more natural religion. In matters of morality, moreover, he argues that it is the passions, instinct, and the psychological realities in man rather than rationality that govern the dynamics of human morality. The ultimate ground of his morality is not reason, but something innate in us, a built in moral sense, and that moral sense must have come from God. It is this sense, in the gut or in the human sentiment, that is the true cause of moral virtues in man and not reason (Morris and Brown). Immanuel Kant In Kant we have the first synthesis of rationality and of empiricism as championed by Hume. In Kant the fulcrum of the moral philosophy is that man is capable of being autonomous. Human reason is the primary faculty that allows man to discern what is good from what is bad, from what is moral and not moral. He posits that the basis of all natural laws is the capacity of man for understanding, and from human rationality and human understanding flows human beliefs in the Divine, the eternity of souls, our notions of freedom, in other words the way we perceive and structure our experiences all spring from this ability of man to reason and to make sense of the world thus. This is the essence too of the autonomy of man, to be able to discern all this, and that because science, religion and morality all hinge on this faculty of autonomy in man to, then the three are not mutually exclusive and antagonistic, but in fact all of them flow into each other and are marked by a general consistency. In moral matters, Kant gives us the formulation of the categorical imperative, which is a moral test. That which is good must be applicable and made universal, that is true for all cases and circumstances. Moreover, another aspect of this is that one must do the good, regardless of circumstances, no ifs and no buts. In other words, there is an absolute good and bad, absolute morality, that governs the universe, and again this ability is autonomous in man, or inherent in his capacity to perceive the world. In other words, morality is something that is based on universal laws, and man has the ability to grasp this. Morality is not what is convenient and comfortable (Rohlf). St. Thomas Aquinas St. Thomas Aquinas is a towering figure in western philosophy, and is credited with being able to undertake the marriage of the philosophy of Aristotle and Christianity in his groundbreaking work Summa Theologica. In matters of epistemology, his central tenet is that man has the capacity of intellect to perceive the world and to act out of that perception, but that the foremost principle is the help of God, without which the intellect is useless in perceiving the truth. The emphasis is on the natural intellectual faculties inherent in man. From nature too flows the four primary virtues in man, and those virtues are fortitude, justice, prudence and temperance. In the same manner he distinguishes law as coming either from law that is eternal, natural law, law that is human, and law that is divine. Natural law is divine law that man is able to participate in, and is one that has for its basis the first principles, and that first principles consist in doing what is good and avoiding what is bad or evil. His psychology too includes the affirmation of the soul as something that is separate from the animal body, and is perfected in the body but is not dependent on the body. In terms of theology, Aquinas asserts that there are three fundamental virtues, consistent with Christian virtues, and those are love, faith and hope. It is important to note that Aquinas makes it clear how these virtues are given to man by the grace of God, and not something that can be had from the efforts and strivings of man, as something consciously cultivated (McInerny). Aristotle Aristotle’s influence on western philosophy is large. and rivaled only by the works and influence of Plato. Even St. Thomas Aquinas frequently referred to him in his seminal works, and his work influences much of western thought all the way to the present time. His take on human ethics is that it is something that must have a practical rather than theoretical end, and that it should lead to one becoming good in oneself, and doing what is good, rather than being able to grasp goodness and ethics on a theoretical and speculative level. In terms of virtue, Aristotle that virtue is inherent in the usefulness or the essential quality of a thing, or in other words, that virtue resides in a thing being true to itself and what it is for. For man, virtue is in being human, and that means being ruled by reason, and acting in accordance with the soul. All human acts must spring from an ideal optimal soul work, in the pursuit of well-being and happiness, or what is called eudamonia. On the other hand, well-being is not easily secured, and requires a man to be excellent morally and ethically, to be virtuous and be one that has good character. In other words, the virtuous man who is true to himself is the one that is capable of well-being and happiness. Morality flows from this too, that a man’s morality consists in being true to himself and to the dictates of his soul to live a virtuous life (Shields). Discussion The take from Hume is that rationality must be tempered by something within us that is akin to a moral compass that engages our whole selves, our intuitions, emotions, feelings and our natural inclinations and aversions. This is true when we make moral judgments and conduct our lives in relation to others. We do not have to understand completely for instance that a decent man would be averse to violence and to killing others, and that is a sound basis for morality. He emphasizes skepticism too, with regard to our rational thought processes, and there must be this other, sentiment-based or heart-based faculty that should also govern our way of thinking. This is an antidote to extreme dogmatism and extremism, and an endorsement of becoming a moderate in our thoughts and in our political and ideological leanings. It is also arguably an endorsement for greater tolerance of others who are different from us. These are areas that a person can always improve on, and get better through time, following the philosophy of Hume (Morris and Brown). In Aquinas we again see the same set of principles being emphasized, and the goal here is one where a man, in all aspects of his life, aspires to the virtues that include temperance. This means again not succumbing to extremism and closed mindedness, but recognizing too that rationality and the rational faculty of the mind, the intellectual capacities, are impotent without it surrendering to something higher, and that is divine guidance. In Aquinas it is clear that the emphasis is not on the intellectual capacities alone, which leads one at best to be able to grasp natural law, but there are aspects of law that are beyond this. Divine law and eternal law tell us that in our actions and thoughts, there is much that we can improve in terms of being able to align ourselves with something bigger than us (McInerny). From Aristotle meanwhile we get that the direction of human improvement is towards more humanity and not less humanity, and that virtues are also human virtues, rather than something that is beyond our grasp. That said, being human is not easy too, and requires that for us to be happy and to secure our well-being we must pursue the virtuous life (Shields). The same insights can be had from reading Kant and his ethics, in that after all we are not free to do whatever we want, and that the direction of moral improvement lies in a disciplined exercise of our reasons and our better capacities for moral judgement (Rohlf). 1 Works Cited McInerny, Ralph. “Saint Thomas Aquinas”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1999. Web. 23 November 2014. Morris, William and Charlotte Brown. “David Hume”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2001. Web. 23 November 2014. Rohlf, Michael. “Immanuel Kant”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2010. Web. 23 November 2014. Shields, Christopher. “Aristotle”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008. Web. 23 November 2014. Read More