Hume’s Theory of Knowledge and Emotivism
Hume’s Theory of Knowledge
Human Knowledge
Hume’s strategy for analyzing knowledge involved:
- Identifying the elements shaping our understanding of reality.
- Exploring how these elements combine to produce complex knowledge.
- Determining the boundaries of secure and reliable knowledge.
Elements of Knowledge
All knowledge originates from perceptions:
- Impressions: Direct sensory experiences (sensations, passions, and emotions).
- Ideas: Memories or reflections of past impressions.
Key differences between impressions
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: Nihilism, Eternal Return & Superman
Nietzsche’s Philosophy
Nihilism
Nihilism is characterized by the death of the monotheistic God. After his death, we see a man possessing divine virtues: the Superman. His morale is strong, dominant, and possesses superior values. This is what gives meaning to Earth (according to the “old” God). After his critique of values, Nietzsche announces new values, necessitating nihilism. This historical process of Western power in the 19th century influenced Nietzsche’s philosophy in two ways:
- Negative: As
Philosophical Perspectives on the State of Nature and Society
Thomas Hobbes
Human Bestiality
Human bestiality manifests primarily in:
- An inclination to meet unlimited needs (desire for domination)
- Defense of one’s life (survival)
The state of nature describes man before society. Every man is perfectly independent of others, coupled with total distrust towards their peers. This causes a war of all against all, where man’s life is solitary. Hobbes argued that order comes from a higher power, creating a single entity capable of providing religion, politics, and morality,
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Abstraction
The capability by which understanding draws the shape of universal or specific individual things and eliminates the material. Through this process, concepts are formed from sensible experience. These concepts are the effects of the five ways to start.
Events
The realization of what is in power and what makes it so. It serves to explain the move as the passage from potency to act. This is used in the First Way. It has a plurality of meanings, the most important of which are change or movement,
Read MorePlato’s Allegory of the Sun & Theory of Ideas
Allegory of the Sun (Plato’s Republic)
Theme
This text, from Plato’s Republic (along with Phaedo and Symposium), exemplifies his mature dialogues. It presents the Allegory of the Sun, explaining his epistemological and ontological views.
Justification
Plato’s Theory of Ideas governs these dialogues. First, he posits Ideas as the true forms of things, of which physical objects are mere copies. Second, influenced by Parmenides, Plato describes Ideas as immutable and eternal. Third, these Ideas are the
Read MoreHume’s Empiricism and Skepticism: An Analysis of Human Understanding
Hume’s Empiricism and Skepticism
Applying Newton’s Method to Moral Science
Hume’s initial purpose was to apply Newton’s method to the study of man, viewing mental processes as analogous to physical laws. He conceptualized ideas as mental ‘corpuscles’ that attract or repel each other according to the laws of association. This approach ultimately led him to skepticism.
Critical Stage: Matters of Fact and Relations of Ideas
Hume’s critical stage involved developing a new analytical tool to distinguish
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