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Kant's Arguments for His Formula of Universal Law

Derek Parfit

in The Egalitarian Conscience: Essays in Honour of G. A. Cohen

This essay considers the structure of the argument for duty in the Kantian context, in which it was most influentially formed. Kant notoriously argues that the supreme principle of morality must be ... More

This essay considers the structure of the argument for duty in the Kantian context, in which it was most influentially formed. Kant notoriously argues that the supreme principle of morality must be purely formal, by which he means that it does not direct us to act in order to achieve certain ends. Thus, any principle directed to the realization of certain ends must be merely hypothetical in character, and its motivational grounds subjective. It is shown that Kant overlooks a third possibility, namely, that there can be substantive categorical principles that objectively require us to realize certain ends regardless of our inclinations.Less

Traditional Political Realism and the Writing of History

Roger D. Spegele

in International Society and its Critics

Part Two of the book begins with a discussion of realist and English School of International Relations approaches to writing international history, in which the author argues that the appreciation of ... More

Part Two of the book begins with a discussion of realist and English School of International Relations approaches to writing international history, in which the author argues that the appreciation of history that underpinned early English School thinking was reminiscent of that which also framed ‘traditional classical’ realist approaches to the subject. The author refutes D. C. Copeland's (2003) structuralist critique of the English School and argues that the School's early thinkers may provide a teleological account of agent‐led historical change that could enable traditional realists to regain ground lost to the structuralists in the past few decades. Focusing on the conceptions of history of two distinguished members of the English School, E. H. Carr and Herbert Butterfield (although their views are in some respects diametrically opposed), he argues that both implicitly accepted different renditions of a teleological view of history. He advances a case for treating human actions as directed to the agent's – both individual and collective – goals and purposes, an idea that scientific empiricism would be obliged to reject but which may unite the English School and traditional political realism. In addition, he suggests that the mix of English School and political realism provided by Carr and Butterfield offers an understanding of history that can challenge dominant neorealist and neoliberal accounts in two principal ways: first, in that it offers an account of history that focuses on the intentional actions of actors, and second, because it provides a convincing method for identifying the causes of historical change by focusing on the reasons for change.Less

Aristotle on Teleology in Nature

David Bostock

in Space, Time, Matter, and Form: Essays on Aristotle's Physics

This essay begins by approving Aristotle’s general argument for teleology in Physics II.8. It then explores his use of teleological explanations in the biological works, distinguishing his practice ... More

This essay begins by approving Aristotle’s general argument for teleology in Physics II.8. It then explores his use of teleological explanations in the biological works, distinguishing his practice when actually giving explanations from his theory of how these explanations work. It is argued that while the practical instances usually make good sense, the theoretical explanation which identifies telos with form is wholly misleading. This brings the discussion back to the very puzzling chapter 9 of Physics II, and thence to a consideration of the idea that absolutely everything in nature is for some purpose. There are places where Aristotle seems to endorse this, although a more sober view would also assign a role to what may be called ‘laws of matter’, independent of teleology. The essay ends with some general reflections on Aristotle’s view of explanation in the natural sciences.Less

Kant's Account of Freedom

Michelle Kosch

in Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling, and Kierkegaard

This chapter outlines Kant’s theory of freedom, his approach to the problem of freedom and determinism, and his account of the unity of reason.

Retrospect and Prospect

BRENT WATERS

in The Family in Christian Social and Political Thought

This chapter summarizes the analyses and criticisms of the preceding chapters, and identifies the key themes to be developed in the following chapters. The chief argument to be developed in ... More

This chapter summarizes the analyses and criticisms of the preceding chapters, and identifies the key themes to be developed in the following chapters. The chief argument to be developed in subsequent chapters is that the failure of late liberalism to adequately preserve the nature of the familial association is the result of an inadequate theoretical account of social and political ordering. To correct this inadequacy, the following chapters develop a theological and teleological account of the family, and its normative implications for the tasks of social and political ordering.Less

Alternative Conceptual Themes

BRENT WATERS

in The Family in Christian Social and Political Thought

This chapter initiates the book's constructive task by developing alternative philosophical, theological, and moral themes to those offered by late liberalism. The first section uses Herman ... More

This chapter initiates the book's constructive task by developing alternative philosophical, theological, and moral themes to those offered by late liberalism. The first section uses Herman Dooyeweerd's concept of sphere sovereignty to examine the relation between nature and history as two related spheres of human activity. It is argued, however, that this philosophical concept has severe limitations which must be corrected by employing theological themes. The second section uses the work of Oliver O'Donovan to develop the theological themes of a vindicated created order, relation between providence and eschatology, and dominion and stewardship. The third section, drawing upon the work of George Grant, develops a series of moral themes regarding the family as a form of human association. These themes include the household as a place of timely belonging within the temporal confines of created order, an unfolding and enfolding familial love that orients family members toward broader forms of human association, and the teleological ordering of the familial association toward its destiny in Christ.Less

The Teleological Ordering of the Family

Brent Waters

in The Family in Christian Social and Political Thought

This chapter describes the normative contours of the family with respect to its teleological and eschatological orientation toward broader spheres of social and political affinities. The principal ... More

This chapter describes the normative contours of the family with respect to its teleological and eschatological orientation toward broader spheres of social and political affinities. The principal foci of this account includes the temporal and timely ordering of these affinities, the providential movement of the family through history, and the witness of the family within a vindicated creation being drawn toward its destiny in Christ by focusing on the related tasks of procreation and social reproduction.Less

Aristotle's Conception of Final Causality

Allan Gotthelf

in Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle's Biology

Starting from the premise that Aristotelian explanation proceeds via the concepts of natures and potentials (and not, say, laws), this chapter argues that for Aristotle the generation of a living ... More

Starting from the premise that Aristotelian explanation proceeds via the concepts of natures and potentials (and not, say, laws), this chapter argues that for Aristotle the generation of a living organism is not the actualization of the natures and potentials of the materials from which organisms develop, but rather the actualization of a primitive, irreducible potential to produce out of the appropriate materials an organism of a certain form. Each of the major texts in which Aristotle defends his natural teleology is shown to argue for or presuppose that material causes are insufficient to produce such an end. Aristotle's teleology is thus is an empirical thesis and not an a priori one brought to nature. A Postscript articulates various aspects of this view more precisely, showing that a part is for the sake of something only if it has come to be for the sake of something.Less

Function and Destiny

Ronald de Sousa

in Why Think?: Evolution and the Rational Mind

Adaptation of organs to their function, and of organisms to their ecological niches, is a particularly striking feature of the living world. The observation of this, however, often encourages a hasty ... More

Adaptation of organs to their function, and of organisms to their ecological niches, is a particularly striking feature of the living world. The observation of this, however, often encourages a hasty inference to the conclusion that teleology is ineliminable from biology. It can seem undeniable that in order to explain the behavior of every organ and every member of a biological community — organism, hive, or ecological web — we must refer to the teleological aspects of its organization. This chapter examines that presumption of teleology. It argues that although teleology is not entirely banned from biology, it subsists only in what is referred to as a “vestigial” form. In that vestigial or degenerate form, why nature produces such a powerful impression of being pervaded by inherent teleology can still be explained. But teleology in that form is wholly distinct from that which is in question when we speak of the goals, purposes, and values of individual human agents.Less

Grades of communication

Ronald de Sousa

in Sociobiology of Communication: an interdisciplinary perspective

Philosophers interested in meaning have tended to look at the extremes of mere causality on one side and full fledged ‘non-natural meaning’ in human language on the other. But the former (though not ... More

Philosophers interested in meaning have tended to look at the extremes of mere causality on one side and full fledged ‘non-natural meaning’ in human language on the other. But the former (though not simple, as attested by the long and largely vain attempt of philosophers to analyze it) is too simple to count as information, while the complexity of the latter places it far beyond many other forms of genuine communication found in the living world, from bacteria to mammals. Those other forms of communication involve ‘Shannon-information’ but aren't wholly captured by that notion. This chapter looks at some of the work that biologists have done to construct a coherent concept of information able to span a wide spectrum of communication from such phenomena as ‘quorum sensing’ among bacteria to sophisticated infra-linguistic signalling in primates.Less

Judaism and Natural Law: Some Background Considerations

Jonathan Jacobs

in Law, Reason, and Morality in Medieval Jewish Philosophy: Sadia Gaon, Bahya ibn Pakuda, and Moses Maimonides

This chapter describes some of the most important medieval conceptions of natural law as background to considering whether Jewish moral thought involves natural law elements and why that might ... More

This chapter describes some of the most important medieval conceptions of natural law as background to considering whether Jewish moral thought involves natural law elements and why that might matter. It also comments on Stoic roots of natural law and how they helped shape the tradition. Along with the treatment of natural law, this chapter (and the next) fills out the metaethical views of the thinkers being studied. Some of the main approaches to natural law theorizing are sketched out in order to provide a basis for considering whether Jewish moral thought involves similar features. Different interpretations of Aquinas' natural law theorizing are described, as are the chief features of Scotus' approach.Less