Heidegger on Technology and Morality: An In-Depth Analysis
Heidegger on Technology
Heidegger aims to find the essence of technology, and to this end, begins by noting that technique is not the same as the essence of technology. He articulates two statements that answer the question regarding technique:
- Technique is a means to an end.
- Art-making is a human activity.
This definition, which considers technique and the human element, is the instrumental and anthropological definition of technology. It is a correct definition, but correctness does not necessarily
Read MorePhilosophical Foundations of Social Contract and Ethical Theories
Social Contract Theories: Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau
Many authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, in order to explain that power was vested in the people, resorted to contract theories.
Thomas Hobbes: Absolute Power and the Social Contract
Thomas Hobbes believed that the absolute power of kings was based on the theory of the social contract. He thought that in a state of nature, man was the absolute master of himself. Humans are inherently selfish, fighting for their survival, even if it means passing
Read MoreGenetic Editing, Biohacking, and GMOs: Impacts and Ethics
Genetic Editing in Humans: Risks and Rewards
Risks for Humans
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Health Risks
- Off-target effects: Unintentional alterations to genes outside the intended target, potentially leading to harmful mutations (may cause diseases like cancer).
- Long-term consequences: Little is known about how edited genes may behave across generations. Effects are largely unknown. Edited genes may interact with other genes in unpredictable ways, potentially causing new diseases that could be passed down to future generations.
Utilitarianism: Happiness as the Ultimate Goal in Ethics
John Stuart Mill’s Principle of Utility
The first question that arises is to clarify the principle which Mill called the principle of utility, or the greatest happiness principle. Mill argued that ethical and political principles had been formulated earlier by Bentham and responded to the name of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the theory that advocates happiness as the moral criterion, and happiness for the greatest number of people as a political criterion. Utilitarianism upholds the principle
Read MoreKant’s Critique of Metaphysics: Is it a Science?
The Problem of Metaphysics
The problem of metaphysics, which Immanuel Kant called into question, is its lack of progress compared to other sciences such as mathematics and physics. These sciences, especially physics, were making great strides in the eighteenth century. However, metaphysics was in the midst of chaos between the dogmatism of the rationalists and the skepticism of the empiricists. That is why the German Enlightenment sought to find out, through critical analysis of reason, what prevents
Aristotle’s Philosophy: Truth, Principles, and Categories
Aristotle’s Five Ways to Stay in Truth
Aristotle states that there are five ways to stay in truth:
- Science: Is able to show from first principles.
- Intuition: In philosophy, it is considered as direct knowledge of the axioms, that is, knowledge is necessary.
- Wisdom: Is the set of all the other ways of being in truth.
- Technique: It is a knowledge produced by rules and is to bring something into existence, i.e., produce anything, not necessarily.
- Prudence: Is a live act to know, is contingent but it is not