Kant’s Philosophy: Republicanism, Despotism, and Perpetual Peace
Kant’s Republicanism and Despotism
Kant distinguishes two modes of states according to their constitution, that is, according to their governance. This classification is republicanism and despotism. Let’s deal first with republicanism. Kant explores the fundamentals of politics, seeking a principle of sovereignty that is human. This is the republican constitution. For Kant, republicanism is also desirable, indispensable, and achievable. The republic is desirable because it benefits perpetual peace;
Read MoreDemocracy: Origins, Evolution, and Ethical Foundations
Democracy: Differences
- Small-size communities: In Greece, all members were aware of several companies.
- Compact societies: A self-sufficient economy, in part. Slaves were not considered citizens.
- No worked: Without institutional autonomy, every citizen could vote on power; they could even create laws and delegate such power to vote. A different way of life.
- It was difficult to distinguish the public life of a Greek citizen. Politics today are only a small part of our existence.
Resemblances
- Rational argument:
Plato’s Theory of Knowledge: Ideas, Dialectic, and Love
Plato’s Theory of Knowledge
In the theory of knowledge, Plato was greatly influenced by his mentor Socrates, especially in his earlier writings. For Plato, knowledge is based on the duality of two worlds: the sensible (imperfect, changeable, deceptive) and that of Ideas (perfect, imperishable, eternal, immutable). The Sensible World consists of things in flux, as Heraclitus suggested, and the Intelligible World (of Ideas) is permanent and unchangeable and possesses the characteristics of the Being
Read MoreEthical Theories: Kant vs. Hume
Comparison: Kant and Hume
It is interesting to compare Kant’s ethical formalism with Hume’s ethical emotivism. Although they were two Enlightenment thinkers, the differences between them (one German and one English) are notable.
Hume’s Empiricism
Hume’s empiricism led him to believe that reason was not the foundation of morality, as most philosophers had hitherto taken for granted. According to Hume, our rational capacity cannot tell us what is good and bad because “reason is the slave of passions.
Read MoreThomas Aquinas: Ethics, Politics, Faith, and Reason
Thomas Aquinas: Ethics and Politics
Ethics
Saint Thomas leaned on various concepts previously proposed by Aristotle:
- The concept of nature as the foundation of ethics. Considering that human happiness is the aim and objective of ethical and political science. According to Aristotle, happiness is the activity most consistent with the nature of man itself. Saint Thomas, as a theologian, explains the life of the blessed soul. The essence of happiness is the beatific vision, which is the direct contemplation
Marxist Theory: Capital, Labor, and Social Structures
Capital
Marx believes that capital dominates the operating conditions of modern society. The critique of political economy is the fundamental starting point for understanding how the relations of domination between classes, the proletariat and the capitalists, work.
Capital, in common parlance, has the economic significance of loans and interest; capital can earn higher wealth.
In respect of capital, work creates the product and makes capital, making it grow and accumulate.
Therefore, economic capital
Read More