Humans, by nature, desire to know.
20th Century Philosophy / Ethics
by Jurgen · Published February 25, 2019 · Last modified February 26, 2019
The following text is a keynote address Heinz von Foerster gave at the “International Conference on Systems and Family Therapy — Ethics, Epistemology, New Methods”, which took place in Paris...
20th Century Philosophy / Ethics
by Jurgen Braungardt · Published June 24, 2017 · Last modified May 23, 2018
If we do not abandon, as ethical relativism does, the search for objectively valid norms of conduct, what criteria for such norms can we find? The kind of criteria depends on the type of ethical system – the norms of which we study. By necessity, the criteria in authoritarian ethics are fundamentally different from those in humanistic ethics.
In authoritarian ethics an authority states what is good for man and lays down the laws and norms of conduct; in humanistic ethics man himself is both the norm giver and the subject of the norms, their formal source or regulative agency and their subject matter.
20th Century Philosophy / Continental Philosophy / Ethics / Metaphysics / Philosophy
by Jurgen Braungardt · Published March 22, 2017 · Last modified March 23, 2017
This essay was published for the first time in “Justifications de l’Ethique” (Bruxelles: Editions de l’Universite de Bruxelles), 1984, pp. 41 – 51. I am quoting here from the English...
The following description was written by Simon Webley, of the British-North American Research Association, who also worked on the text itself. INTRODUCTION A series of Interfaith consultations began in 1984 under the...
17th-18th Century Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophy
by Jurgen Braungardt · Published January 12, 2014
The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a cornerstone of moral philosophy. It was published in 1785, after the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and just before...
17th-18th Century Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophical Topics/Areas / Philosophy / Political Theory
by Jurgen Braungardt · Published January 11, 2014 · Last modified January 22, 2016
One can also approach ethics from the perspective of usefulness and utility. What will produce the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people? The philosopher associated with...
by Jurgen Braungardt · Published December 8, 2013 · Last modified January 23, 2019
The picture above suggests a way to integrate ethical systems on the basis of the structure of action. Ethical reflection can begin with the acting subject, the action itself,...
17th-18th Century Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophy
by Jurgen · Published December 1, 2012 · Last modified March 20, 2017
Spinoza’s Ethics is one one of the most influential books in Western philosophy. It was published by a friend in 1677, shortly after he had died. It was immediately attacked...
Biology / Ethics / Nature, Ecology & Environment / Philosophy of Nature
by Jurgen · Published October 1, 2012 · Last modified January 10, 2016
The field of Consciousness research is rapidly evolving. Abundant new techniques and strategies for human and non-human animal research have been developed. Consequently, more data is becoming readily available, and this calls for a periodic reevaluation of previously held preconceptions in this field. Studies of non-human animals have shown that homologous brain circuits correlated with conscious experience and perception can be selectively facilitated and disrupted to assess whether they are in fact necessary for those experiences
Ethics / Philosophy / Religion and Spirituality
by Jurgen · Published July 4, 2012 · Last modified November 28, 2016
The following excerpt from Lewis’ book “Mere Christianity” describes very well the idea of a Law of human nature, as a foundation for universal ethics. Every one has heard people...
Ancient Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophy
by Jurgen · Published February 5, 2012 · Last modified September 27, 2013
It’s one of the classics of Western Philosophy. You can find the full text at the Internet Classics Archive, here. Quotes from the Nicomachean Ethics (c. 325 BC): We are...
My subject, as you know, is Ethics and I will adopt the explanation of that term which Professor Moore has given in his book Principia Ethica. He says: “Ethics is...
Asian Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophy / Religious Texts
by Jurgen · Published January 23, 2012 · Last modified September 27, 2013
The Analects, or Lunyu, contain the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his students. They were written during the Spring and Autumn Period through...
Asian Philosophy / Ethics / Philosophy / Religious Texts
by Jurgen · Published November 17, 2011 · Last modified February 14, 2018
The following introduction is from the Tao Te Ching, Translation by Gia Fu Feng & Jane English. With Comments and layout by Thomas Knierim: “The Tao Te Ching was written...
