Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Short Summary: On Libery / JS Mill

"On Liberty" is John Stuart Mill's Most famous work and one of the finest and most moving essay on liberty in English. 

In "On Liberty" Mill thought that the evolution of government from tyranny to rule of the people would not necessarily solve the problem of liberty, because tyranny has less means of escape. Therefore protection against political tyranny is not enough ànd also protection against tyranny of prevailing opinion and feeling.
According to Mill Society is completely free when: absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment is guaranteed.

Silencing the opinion of a minority is wrong and harmful, because the other idea might be true.
“All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility”.
The human brain and human experience/knowledge is limited and can only grasp some aspects of truth. Therefore Mill holds that liberty is not complete unless there is no discussion possible. Every opinion is useful.

Always question and discuss what truth is, never take it for granted to keep truth vital and let it survive.

Three grounds for the necessity of freedom of opinion according to Mill:
1.       Any opinion we silence may be true and when you silence it we assume our own infallibility.
2.       If the silenced opinion sounds completely wrong, it may be partly true, because rarely any pinion is completely true.
3.       If the prevailing opinion is the complete truth, it still needs the challenge of free discussion.

Truth is always unfinished, tentative, and temporary, subject to new data and experiences. = dynamic process of colliding opposites

Liberty: everyone can interpret experience in his own way and moral faculties. This is why Mill thinks that variety is as important as freedom.
Industrial civilization creates a uniformity that makes it difficult for people to remain individuals. “Genius” people who can improve the world will be held back, so liberty is essential to societal progression.

Mill thinks that liberty is needed for a strong state because the worth of a state is no more than the worth of the individuals composing it.

Mill was a  utilitarian and pragmatist He felt he was not qualified to commit himself to any economic perspective. He would base his choice between capitalism and socialism on which one will give the greatest amount of human liberty and spontaneity.

In regards to individual property Mill holds in "On Liberty" that everyone should own property. Ultimate form: the means of production are not property, but the collective owning of the capital with which they carry on their operations. Working under managers they choose themselves and they can remove themselves.

Problem of socialism according to Mill:

Mill saw that socialism would fail if it gave up its liberal heritage and embraced the philosophy of the all-powerful state. In "On Liberty" Mill only regarded British and French socialists. Mill ignored doctrines of revolution and dictatorship ànd idealist socialist.
Socialism would demand a higher moral and intellectual level of the people than capitalism.

Mill thinks that an economically all-powerful state cannot be politically liberal in relation to the individual. Cooperation within working places and competition between working places.
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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Suicide / Durkheim - Summary and Analysis

The one main point of Emile Durkheim's seminal "Suicide" (1987) is that suicide, or any other personal act for that matter, is never a purely individual act bur rather one that incorporates social conditions. Thus suicide for Durkheim is the result of a certain type of relationship between an individual and society. "Suicide" is Durkheim's attempt to create a model case study that deals with what he calls "social fact" (see our summaries of Durkheim's What is Social Fact? or "The Rules of Sociological Method" for more details). These social facts work to determine an individual's life, and in some cases, his death by his own hands.

In "Suicide" Durkheim compares suicide rates of Protestants and Catholics, holding that Catholics kill themselves less. His explanation was that Catholicism offers its followers a stronger sense of social cohesion and a feeling of belongingness when compares with the more individualistic Protestants.

When studying the family Durkheim noted that men commit more suicide than women and that singles kill themselves more than people in relationships, people with children present even smaller rates of suicide. Durkheim also found that soldiers kill themselves more than civilians and that they do so more in peacetime than during war.  
These findings lead Durkheim to argue that suicide is prompted by social factors, and not only psychological ones. The relationship one has with his social world is determinative of his inner experience, and should these ties become problematic people might be driven to suicide. Durkheim feels that social integration and cohesion are important here, holding that the more you are comfortably bound with your social surrounding the less you are likely to kill yourself. One the other hand, being too close to society to the point of losing the self can also lead one to commit suicide.

Durkheim lists four types of suicide (see link for a detailed summary):  
Anomic suicide (see Anomie) is the result of the  destabilization and ultimate breakdown of ties to social reality, like in times of rapid change.
Egoistic suicide happens due to the loss of social ties and isolation from society, like in the case of old age.
Altruistic suicide is when someone willingly gives his life to society with which he indentifies completely. Soldiers dying for their country is an example.
Fatalist suicide for Durkheim is when someone is erased by society, losing all sense of self and agency. A prisoner killing himself is an example.  

See also: Suicide as a Social Phenomenon 

Additional article summaries by Emile Durkheim:

Suggested reading:   

 
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Sunday, July 16, 2017

Descartes / part 6 of Discourse on the Method - summary

In part 6 of "Discourse on the Method" René Descartes writes that although not feeling a personal need for publishing his work, he feels he must do so in order to further human knowledge in practical fields such as engineering and medicine. Understanding God as the source of natural law and tracing the manner in which this law works can promote great benefit for men. But Descartes also warrants a highly careful attitude towards natural studies. Not causing too much social alarm and controversy and having a very firm basis for one's arguments can prove to be very beneficial for science.
Descartes welcomes criticism of his work by others, but he does note that he cannot see any holes in his theory not already considered by him. Descartes also welcomes people continuing his work from where he left off, though he doubts what else can someone else think of that he himself has failed to write.   
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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


    

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Descartes / part 5 of Discourse on the Method - summary

In part 5 of "Discourse on the Method" (titled: " Physics, the heart, and the soul of man and animals ") René Descartes moves from the metaphysics of part 4 to physical considerations. Descartes was hesitant in previously publishing his thoughts on the matter following Galileo's contamination over his heliocentric views, but now he feels more confidant in their acceptance.
Descartes first discusses light and its natural origins, considering celestial bodies as conveying light and humans as the perceivers of that light. He then discusses matter, saying that God's laws must be perfect and therefore imperative in any possible world (not just ours). These laws separate, according to Descartes, matter into bodies which operate in consistency with these laws. What's important to note here is not so much Descartes' physics but rather the notion to natural law, originating in God, can account for all natural phenomena. If we, let's say, take God out of the equation nothing will change. One way to see this is to argue that Descartes holds up the "God as watchmaker" view, meaning that God has created the laws which govern the world without his interference. Another possible interpretation is much more radical and could at the time come at a very high cost for Descartes who tip toes around the notion of a purely rational, none-religious, account of natural order. Descartes avoids heresy by claiming that while nature can be understood through natural law the capacity of the human soul for reason must be Godly. Reason is what for Descartes separates us from animals. Reason and its subsequent use of language is what makes humans, unlike animals, act on more than just instinct. This, for Descartes, proves that our souls come from God and are in fact immortal.      
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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


 
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Descartes / part 4 of Discourse on the Method - short summary

In part 4 of his "Discourse on the Method" (titled: "Proof of God and the Soul") René Descartes implements his own method of inquiry described in part 2 and part 3. The important part of this chapter is Descartes' methodological doubt, a maxim according to which anything that can be doubted will be regarded as methodologically false. This will insure to truthfulness of everything that survives this severe scrutiny.

Very much like in his later "Meditations on the First Philosophy", Descartes decides to abandon any sensory information on the charge that those have been known to deceive us. He also abandons everything that might come from experience, holding that we can never know if we are dreaming or not (see Descartes' Dream Argument). This pretty much leaves everything we know our but Descartes notes that there is one thing that cannot be doubted and that is that there is someone or something thing which is doubting. Doubt is a thought, and even if that thought is entirely wrong there is still someone performing it. This leads Descartes to his famous conclusion of "I think therefore I am". This assertion will serve as the basis for all knowledge of the world that can now be build upon its certainty. Note that Descartes' existence is only a mental one, at this point of his philosophy the body and anything material for that matter is under doubt and therefore excluded (this is very similar to what Descartes does in meditation 2 and meditation 3 in "Meditations").

After proving that he himself exists, Descartes moves on to ask what else can he be sure of. While doubting objects in reality is very possible, Descartes holds that doubting God in not possible. The reason is that God is perfect, and as such cannot be doubted. Since Descartes is imperfect, it is not possible for him to conceive of something perfect like God on his own (only vice-verse, to perfect can conceive the imperfect). This means not only that God must exist but also that everything he has created must also exist (Descartes later developed his proofs of God in Meditations). After thus establishing his metaphysics in the form of proving the Self and God, Descartes can move on to the physics which is the topic of part 5 and part 6 of "Discourse on the Method".   

More about Descartes:

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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:

 
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Descartes / part 3 of Discourse on the Method - short summary

In chapter 3 of his "Discourse on the Method" (titled: "Morals and Maxims accepted while conducting the Method") René Descartes is getting to ready to dive into the rabbit hole of methodological doubt. Before he does that he makes sure to inscribe for himself a few methodological precautions to complete the rules described in part 2 of the book.

The first rule of chapter 3 is to remain obedient to the law of his country and religion. It's not that Descartes believes that these laws are necessarily true, but his thinks that should he lose everything he knows, these will at least serve as good guidelines to fall back on. Descartes also resolves to follow the actions of those in his country that seam most sensible, for much the same reasons.

The second rule Descartes devises for himself is decisiveness of action. Taking a wrong path is better than no path at all, and making a wrong decision is better that no decision since that latter would keep us in our place. In a sense what Descartes is saying is that over thinking can be stagnating.

The third rule Descartes proposes in chapter 3 of "Discourse of Method" might sound a bit New-Age, arguing that his intent is not the change the world (on which he has no influence) but rather to change himself and the manner in which he perceives his world (something which in entirely up to him). This is not only modesty on Descartes' part but also a will for autonomy and a desire not to be conditioned by external factors. The one thing we have control over in this world is our thoughts, and we should make sure that it stays that way.

These maxims are not suggested by Descartes as a moral code, but rather as a way of optimizing his method in search of certainty. Part 4 of "Discourse on the Method" will find to such certainties: God and the Soul.


See additional summaries on Descartes' "Discourse on the Method":



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More about Descartes:


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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


 

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Descartes / Discourse on the Method - part 2 - summary

In chapter 2 of his "Discourse on the Method" (titled: "The principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered") René Descartes starts to build his scientific method of thought. After describing in part 1 of Discourse on the Method how his travels has led him to doubt, Descartes now describes how he found himself in a well-heated room withdrawn from the world. This led Descartes to ponder the achievements of the individual compared with that of collectives, reasoning that the former are better than the latter (God, for example, is an individual who created great things). The purest form of thought, Descartes argues, in the one conducted alone.

In order to implement this line of thought Descartes decides to abandon everything he has learned from other people in order to remain with what only his own reason can tell him.

In order to insure the validity of his reasoning, Descartes devices a method build on four principles that will serve as guidelines for his inquiry:
1. not to accept anything as true unless it is clearly evident.
2. To simplify the inquiry by dividing any problem into the smallest possible parts.
3. To start with the simplest questions and move on to the more difficult ones.
4. To be circumspect and self-critical by constantly reviewing and reevaluating the conclusions.

This is not only the basis for Descartes' later considerations in "Discourse on the Method" and "Meditations on the First Philosophy", but can also be considered as the first basic maxims of modern scientific thought and practice. In chapter 3 of the book Descartes will add a few more rules and moral codes that will direct and give form to his philosophical inquiry.          


See additional summaries on Descartes' "Discourse on the Method":


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More about Descartes:


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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


 
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Descartes / Discourse on the Method - part 1 - summary

Descartes opens chapter one of his "Discourse on the Method" (titled: "Various Considerations Touching the Sciences") with an assertion of the equality in all men's capacity for rational thought. All men, according to Descartes, Posses an ability for rational judgment, an ability not denied by the various forms in which they utilize it. The reason we have different judgments and opinions presented by different people is the different application of our intellect. The question to be asked by Descartes is what is, then, the proper application of human rationality that will ensure the best possible judgments of the world? The answer that Descartes offers is that of method, a method he devised as a guideline, a form to be applied on the contents of our thought process.

Part 1 of Descartes' "Discourse on Method" is full of autobiographical descriptions. Descartes says that he has received very fine education that promised to provide him with knowledge of everything important. But Descartes recalls that the more he learned the more he became full of doubts, and that the more he acquired knowledge the more he was made aware of his own ignorance. Concluding that few if any men were given a better opportunity to find the truth than the one he had, which means that this truth is in fact absent from his time. Descartes accounts how none of the things he has learned, despite being very useful in other regards, has provided him with the fundamental understanding of the words that he has sought.

Therefore, to conclude chapter 1 of his "Discourse on Method", Descartes decides not to study any longer and to abandon the things he has already learned which only prevent him from seeking true knowledge. Based on the initial proposition regarding the rational capacity of all men, Descartes decides that instead of relying on his schooling he must rely on his reason.
   

See additional summaries on Descartes' "Discourse on the Method":



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More about Descartes:

Descartes' proofs of God in Meditations         
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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


 
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Descartes / Discourse on the Method - Summary and Analysis by chapter

"Discourse on the Method" (full name: Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences by French philosopher René Descartes may very well be the first book of modern philosophy and a theoretical basis for modern science. It is the predecessor of Descartes' seminal work "Meditations on the First Philosophy" which is considered as one of the most important books in the history of philosophy.   


Descartes' "Discourse on the Method" is groundbreaking in tackling the problem of the manner in which we acquire knowledge and attribute truth to it. Descartes problematizes our relationship with reality by opposing a perceiving subject with a perceived object. This opposition is new to philosophy (at Descartes' times) that never thought of man and the theoretical validly of his judgments of the material world as a problem (philosophy after Descartes has lost its innocence, and not for the last time). This, for Descartes, warrants the consideration of how we know our knowledge of the world to be valid, and his answer is that the validly of our method of acquiring knowledge will ensure the validity of that knowledge. The most basic of the rules of that method is, according to Descartes', "never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such." (Discourse on the Method, Part 2). This, in essence, is what we call today scientific thought which was, to a large extent, born in Descartes' "Discourse on the Method".
"Discourse on the Method" is divided (like Meditations) into six parts. Here you can find short and essential summaries of each of the chapters.

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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:


 



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