Transcript A presentation of several different philosophical Philosophies to be discussed:

A presentation of several different philosophical
approaches to the problem of pain and suffering.
Philosophies to be discussed:
Eudaemonism, Epicureanism, Stoicism,
Reactionary Philosophies to German Idealism,
Utilitarianism, Analytic, British Empiricism,
Eudaemonism
• Not a whole philosophical system, only an ethical system
• Eudaemonistic: Directed toward happiness; Spiritual
directedness toward the good
-Eu means good, Daemon means prophetic spirit
• One cannot do evil for evil’s sake, act for a supposed good
• Plato is first to posit a eudaemonistic ethical system
-Knowledge is a virtue that always prevails over pleasure
and everything else for the good
-Decisions should be made with good/evil in mind
because pleasure/pain is bodily
~Decisions based on pleasure arise from ignorance
Eudaemonism
• Aristotle expands upon eudaemonistic ethics
-Final cause of every action is aimed at some good
-Happiness is final end of man
-Happiness is desired in itself and never for the sake of
something else
-Happiness: an activity of the soul in accordance with
perfect/complete virtue in a whole life complemented by
external goods
-By including external goods in definition, Aristotle
allows pain to be the destroyer of happiness
-Virtue for Aristotle is either Moral (the perfection of our
appetites, including the will) or Intellectual (perfection of
the mind and how we think)
Stoicism
• Zeno is founder of the Stoics
• For Stoics, virtue is freedom from both pain and pleasure
-Thus able to retain happiness and virtue even during pain
• Stoicism preaches a resignation (apathea) to fate
-Fate: the rational principle within all things that
determines what is going to happen
Epicureans
• Epicureus is the founder
• Final cause of man is the seeking of pleasure
-Peace of soul/mind: absence of pain through a lifetime
• Two types of pleasure
-Kinetic: actions taken to remove pain
~Natural and Necessary, Natural and Unnecessary,
Unnatural and Unnecessary
-Static: pleasure in and of itself (the greater of the two)
• Highest pleasure is health of the body and peace of soul
• Pain is allowable if it will lead to greater pleasure later
-Thus prudence is the greatest of man’s virtues
British Empiricism
• Influences
-Nominalism of William of Ockham
-Empirical method of Francis Bacon
-Hobbesian epistemology and language
• Three main philosophers: Locke, Berkeley, Hume
• Concern ourselves with David Hume
-Lived 1711 – 1776
-Considered culmination of British Empiricism
-Ethics is one of empirical skepticism
British Empiricism
• Empirical skepticism: the discounting of a thing if there is no
empirical knowledge
-Thus all causality and logical knowledge is denied
• Ethics based on pleasure/pain and feeling
-Question: how to go from “man is…” to “man ought…”
-Answer: individual experience and passions
~The moral quality of all actions is based in
emotions from prior experiences
• Primary motion is sympathy
-Definition: the feeling within us that we must do
something for a fellow human
-Customs and laws result from sympathy, not universal
Reactions to German Idealism
• Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche
• Philosophies were reactions to Hegelian Idealism
• We will focus on Arthur Schopenhauer
-Lived 1788 – 1860
-Fascinated with the Idealism of Plato
-Studied under Fichte
-Opponent to Hegel
Reactions to German Idealism
• Schopenhauer provides the basis for Nietzsche’s philosophy
• Ultimate goal of man is to escape from individual existence and
limitations on universal will
-Through the exercise of the will, we create reality
• Assertion of the will over all things
-Thus suicide is okay because it shows a stronger will
than individual existence
• Pain/pleasure are inconsequential unless they affect the will
-Will should never be limited
Should not act for pain/pleasure but for assertion of the
will
Utilitarianism
• Three main figures: Bentham, James Mill, and James Stuart Mill
• Bentham is considered the father of Utilitarianism
-Lived 1748 – 1832
-Pleasure/pain are the only principles by which we should
analyze our actions
• Hedonistic Calculus
-Bentham’s system to determine how one should act
-Calculation of how to bring the greatest amount of
pleasure with the least amount of pain
-No qualitative difference between pleasure/pain
-Reduce everything to quantity and mathematics
Utilitarianism
• The main factors in Bentham’s hedonistic calculus
-Intensity: How intense is the pleasure
-Duration: How long does the pleasure last
-Certainty: Probability pleasure will occur
-Propinquity: How far in the future is the pleasure
-Fecundity: Probablity this pleasure will lead to other
pleasures
-Purity: How unmixed with pain is the pleasure
-Extent: How many persons are affected by the
pleasure
• Bentham’s equation:
- {N [P(c) (I  D)] + Nf [P(c)f (If  Df)]}
Utilitarianism
• John Stuart Mill formerly defines philosophy of Utilitarianism
-Utility is the basis of morals
• Pleasure for Mill, unlike Bentham, is not all equal
-Pleasure/pain has different amounts, not universal
-Thus rejects Bentham’s hedonistic calculus
• Happiness is the highest good
-Man naturally acts for happiness and is attracted to it
• Must look at what will bring the greatest pleasure, least pain
within society
• Criterion of harm: a person is at liberty to pursue whichever of
his desires causes no harm to his fellow human beings
Analytic Philosophy
• Reaction against British and American Idealism
• Main philosophers: Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and
Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Russell considered father of analytic philosophy
-Rejects unity of reality
~Everything is separate, no universality of things
• Wittgenstein is figurehead
-Writes Tractus Logico-Philosophicus
• Focus on the Principia Ethica of G. E. Moore (1873 – 1958)
Analytic Philosophy
•Principia Ethica
-Ethics of analytic philosophy
• Naturalistic fallacy: attempt to define the good that cannot be
-Impossible because trying to apply rationality to the will,
passions, and emotions
-Thus nothing can be said to be good
• One can act out of pleasure/pain because there is no good
-Everything needs to be treated individually