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Born in Stagira, Greece (near Macedonia)
Aristotle’s father introduced him to anatomy,
medicine and philosophy – he had a welllearned childhood
Parents died when he was 17
Plato taught and mentored Aristotle
Plato was a leading thinker in Greece
(at Academy)
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Plato
He looked at the abstract, the world of ideas
Man of contemplation and deep thought
Aristotle
He looked at human experiences and the world
of nature
Thrived on hands-on experience, observation
and classification
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Due to political unrest, Aristotle fled
from Athens to Aegean
Fled again to Macedonia and began
to tutor King Philip’s son –
Alexander (later known as the Great)
Aristotle started a school (Lyceum)
He wrote about logic, metaphysics,
theology, history, politics and ethics
and the basic foundations of many
science disciplines
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After Alexander the great died, there was
more political unrest
Aristotle was charged with not respecting
the gods of the state (he was friends with
the King)
Fled again, but died in a year
Much of his work was lost the destruction
of the great library of Alexandria
Only 40 of 360 works survived to today
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St. Thomas Aquinas rediscovered Aristotle in
the 13th century through Arab scholars
His teachings became associated with Catholic
ethical theory
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Aristotle believed that the happiness of a
person (citizen) was found in community
Happiness is an enduring and long-lasting
condition that results when one lives and acts
well
Happiness is not the same as pleasure, as
pleasure is momentary
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Ethics aims to discover
what is good for us as
human beings
It helps us learn what
permits us to reach out
potential
Ethics gives us rationality
and our internal compass
(our conscience maybe)
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All things in this world aim for goodness
This ethics discovers the finality (telos) or
purpose of something – what completes
us?
We are intended to be rational – our
greatest capacity is our intelligence
Acting ethically, is to engage our capacity
to reason as we develop good character
(highest form of happiness)
Good person – one whose actions are
based on excellent reasoning and spend a
great amount of time thinking
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When we have started to reach our potential
and what we intend to be – we develop habits
that make us the best
In other words, when we do things well, we
become better humans (these excellent things
we do well are virtues)
A good person used reason to control desire
We must allow reason to guide our actions,
and only then will these moral virtues
become habit!
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Born and raised in Prussia
(N.E. Germany)
Grew up in povertystricken, but very religious
Protestant family
Family were Pietists –
believed in personal
devotion and Bible reading
Lived near home all his life
(never went beyond 100 km
of his birthplace)
His life was all about
routine – everything was
nearly scheduled
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After university, Kant worked as a private
tutor and teacher
He became a university professor of logic
and metaphysics
Kant wrote books – difficult to understand
Critique of Pure Reason took 12 years to
write and contains the longest sentences
ever written (like in your reflections!)
He greatly influenced Western thought
and philosophy
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Kant wanted to know how humans came
to know things
He also wanted to know what role
experience played in out knowledge
Asked other questions:
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Can we know things that are beyond our
immediate experience?
Can we know and predict the cause and effect?
Theoretical reasoning asked the big
questions and help us understand the laws
of nature and cause and effect, govern
human behaviour
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The moral dimension that guides human
behaviour
Humans act out of impulse (our nature) and
conscious choice (on principle)
Theoretical reasoning tells us what people
actually do, while practical reasoning tell us
what we should do
Kant introduced us to the idea of MORAL
DUTY
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Shared with Aristotle that good is the aim in
life, but in a different way
We need practical principles to pursue the
supreme good:
God – the existence of God allows us to attain
supreme good, as we are limited in our power as
humans
Freedom – to have the duty to achieve the
supreme good, we must have the freedom to do
something. Humans are free beings
Immortality – the supreme good is too large a
task for this life – it goes beyond to the next life,
and so on
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Kant (unlike Aristotle) sees goodness
in the individual (in their private life and inner
conscience)
Good Will – doing our duty, because it is our duty
Kant’s theory is deontological, as ‘deon’ refers to
duty
A human action is morally good if it is done for the
sake of duty
Real worth is measured by the motive behind them
According to Kant, you are the king of your castle –
your decision (and according to your will)
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Duty is determined by maxims (principles)
For something to be ethical, there must be
an objective principle (must also apply to
all)
Ethical maxim – how every rational person
would act if reason was used to decide
actions
Act in a way you would want others to act
also (Sound like anything familiar?)
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Born in Kaunas, Lithuania
Lived during the Holocaust with his Jewish
family
Began studies at University of Strassbourg in
philosophy
Levinas saw a contrast between Western
philosophy and his strong Jewish faith
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He understood that Western philosophy
attempted to overcome difference/diversity
by grouping everything in unity – called
‘Being’
Everything carries sameness
Difference is reduced to being accidental (not
essential)
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This tradition focused on the singular (having
its own identity)
The singularity of things gives them identity
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WWII – Levinas was caught by the Germans
and was a prisoner of war for 5 years.
His whole family died in the Holocaust. His
wife and daughter escaped but lost
communication with him
His war experience made
Levinas
more aware of his
Jewish roots
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Mordachi Chouchani (Jewish teacher) was
Levinas’ teacher at age of 40
He instructed Levinas in the Jewish Talmud
Soon, Levinas also instructed the Talmud to
young Jewish intellectuals in France
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Became chair in philosophy at Univ. of Poitiers
1973 – Became professor of philosophy at
Sorbonne (most prestigious school in Paris)
Became a popular writer and soon retired
Even in lecturing, took his Jewish values very
seriously (No lecturing on the Sabbath)
He wrote and lectured until illness
and death in 1995
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The Good – the central question of all philosophy
The Good goes beyond Being
The Being names what things have in common
(when you remove all the differences)
The Being can be dangerous, because it takes away
from reality, the uniqueness of each individual or
thing
The unique things and persons are called traces of
the Good (a.k.a. God)
Everything we encounter is finite (that is why we
only see traces of God)
God has gone ahead (the infinite)
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The face is the most naked part of the body
We can see the traces of God in the face
(Levinas was against make-up)
In someone’s eyes, we make immediate and
direct contact
When you have an experience looking into
someone’s face, you see their uniqueness
“You shall not murder” – taking away another
person’s uniqueness
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Recognizing the Other’s
hardships in the face
allows good to prevail
by making us act to
help that person –
makes you responsible
The face is a trace of
God who has already
passed by (the infinite
good). The divine
speaks to us through
the face (Ex. Think of
the face-to-face ethical
experience)
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Our responsibility to the face is our calling or
duty – here the search for the Good ends (by
making a good moral decision)
We should be looking out for our neighbour God’s touch
Goodness (with God as the end) is about
responsibility for the other
We will see more of this in the social justice
unit…