A brief outline of some of the basic tenets of the main figures in the Philosophy "case" of Hobbes & Darwin et al. V. Kant & St. Paul is as follows.
From the Hobbes, Darwin team:
Thomas Hobbes has two positions: 1) Man is the sum total of his drives and desires, what Hobbes calls "conatus" (this is an elaboration of Aristotle’s description of man as a “human animal” and is thus a theory of both human “identity” and freedom), and 2) An overwhelming force of government, “The Leviathan” of law, is needed to curb the will of the individual to create and preserve order.
Charles Darwin: the theory of “survival of the fittest”. This had been extended by many recent philosophers to mean that the strongest use of reason, one of the unshakeable principles of human reason, is found in the phrase “kill or be killed”.
David Hume has two positions: 1) Real knowledge is based in the empirical sciences- in “impressions made by objects on the senses”, emotional experience is “unreliable” and “deceptive” and 2) Morality is a social convention, and is not something “existentially” grounded in man.
This group made the claim that the theory of knowledge of the other team was merely formalistic, based in an idealism that had no foundation in empirical reality.
From the Kant, St. Paul Team:
Kant is the pillar of this team. His Philosophy is the secular expression of St. Paul’s combination/paradox of law and grace in Romans 5:20 "Moreover, the law entered... grace did much more abound." Kant’s formulation of the basis of law is found in the depiction of freedom through law as “autonomy” based on “respect”. It is expressed In Kant's work through the categorical imperative in ‘Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals’ and ‘The Critique of Practical Reason’. A secular/borderline religious treatment of grace is found in ‘The Critique of Judgment’ in Kant’s treatment of the “beautiful” and “the sublime”.
This group of thinkers takes the position that it is only through the limit provided by respect for others and the order of law that there opens a realm for the experiences of life that “enrich” life: love, fulfillment, value, beauty, joy and happiness. Both realms, I argue, combine to comprise the full spectrum of the normal human experience of life. The religious consciousness expresses these experiences as “grace”, and some in this group in the past, like Ricoeur, have incorrectly described this realm as being a “higher” category of experience or existence.
‘The Kant Variations’ addresses the arguments in this case in the following 7 ways:
1) The essay ‘Contest and Justification’, limits the Darwin dictum to a “logic of contest”- confines it to “contest”, rather than extending it to a wider principle of all reason;
2) The expression of Adorno, “The physical moment says that suffering “ought not to be”, in ‘Theodor Adorno and Negative Dialectics’, as an expression of Kant’s notion of the “Common Sense” (sensus communis), provides an existential ground for morality and thus natural law;
3) ‘Making and Comparison’ demonstrates that the derivation of respect in Kant is in our “pathologically affective nature”- i.e.- the senses ;
4) ‘Unity in the House of Reason’ and ‘Emmanuel Levinas and the love of Knowledge’ depict what is called ‘Active Identity’, which is a theory that the identity of the individual is expressed through his or her acts, and describe a theory of forgiveness that uses the will to “make nothing” of suffering;
5) The depiction of 'Active identity' in 'Unity in the House of Reason' also takes position against the implications that Hobbes' theory of "conatus" has for human freedom, by demonstrating (this is in Ricoeur's work) that man acts contrary to fear, and thus contrary to his drives..("man fears, but loves anyway")
and equally importantly, my arguments limit the emphasis/efficacy of the religious consciousness aspects and expressions of the Kant & St. Paul Group the following ways:
1) As stated, the religious consciousness expresses the "enriching" experiences of the realm opened through law as “grace”. Some in the Kant & St. Paul group in the past, like Ricoeur, have incorrectly described this realm as being a “higher” category of experience or existence.This is INCORRECT.(Ricoeur described it spatially as an "arch - like a cathedral").
The dynamic is correctly formulated rather as a realm of experience that is opened through mutual respect and law that completes the full spectrum of normal human experience.
This viewpoint is expressed in ‘Synthesis in Kant’s Aesthetical Idea’ where the experience of beauty is something we ALL know, and is thus COMMONLY experienced. Example: There is no music, or vista, or painting so beautiful that noone else but a few people appreciate it.
The argument of the Kant group is that without the foundation of mutual respect and law, the blatantly instrumental use of others as a means does not open this other dimension of experience, results in a life devoid of those experiences which enrich human life, and leads to an incorrect overly dark view expressed in the Schopenhauer and Nussbaum quotes on this blog.
2) ‘Contest and Justification’ attacks the danger in the formulation of religious consciousness as a “higher” category of existence, by demonstrating parallels between Kant’s arguments for the “Universal Church” in 'Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone', with the arguments of fascism.
This is critical to both sides in the debate as history has clearly demonstrated the danger, abuses and falseness of the thinking of religious moral superiority in religious fanaticism in the consecration of violence by the justification of religious “righteousness”. The examples of course abound: the crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch trials, and other examples in James Morone’s Book ‘Hellfire Nation’, and throughout history.
Some Philosophy "Inside Baseball"
Like many fields of professional endeavor, the people in some Philosophy "groups" have their own Professional informal jargon. Here is some jargon gathered from attendees at a major Heidegger conference attended at Loyola University in Chicago in the fall of 1989. The papers presented at this conference are/were in the book 'Reading Heidegger: Commemorations' edited by John Sallis. Presenters included Jacques Derrida, John Sallis, William Richardson, Charles Scott, Robert Bernasconi, Jacques Taminiaux and many others. I met most of these people at the reception for the main speaker- Derrida.
1) Charles Darwin survival of the fittest translated to "kill or be killed" was known among Heidegger devotees as "budweiser" because, according to two attendees- "b. u. dead(rather than me) is wiser". For this group it was considered the strongest principle of human reason and philosophical "brew"- the "king of beers". So Philosophers of this group had budweiser at the reception for Derrida, and also Guiness, because it was the darkest beer.
2) According to the attendees Hobbes was known in the group as "Will Smith" because "the Leviathan" bends the will of the individual through force- like a blacksmith.
3) The project of ending the influence of the Michel Villey interpretation of the german school of natural right, depicted in Taminiaux's 'Dialectic and Difference', was referred to as "Michelob".
4) The Kant & St. Paul team was referred to as "The Salvation Army".
5) St. Paul and St. John were referred to as "The Beattles".
6) Paul Ricoeur had two nicknames, both based on this group's assessment that Ricoeur's 'Freedom and Nature' imitated/mocked work already done by his mentor Gabriel Marcel. The first nickname was "Marcel Marceau", and the second was "The Mockingbird". The second basis of the nickname "The Mockingbird" was Ricoeur's illustration of his concept of "perspicacity" in the nervous wariness of birds.
7) Harvard's Christine Korsgaard was known by this group as "heart-guard".
but...
So, in the spirit of collegiality...let us respond and "coin" some Jargon of our own...
1) It appears now that there is a "new balance" in the argument, with stronger "arch" support. So I hereby declare that "New Balance" is the official exercise shoe of the Kant- "New Balance" team.
2) With this reinterpretation of Kant, new members of the team can be added with the limitation of extreme religious consciousness, so now both the early John Dewey and Adorno are now squarely on the "new balance" team.
3) With the reinforcement of Kant through new interpretation, the Michel Villey interpretation of the german school of natural right has not been "killed". And now there are 2 new Michelob beers- Michelob Ultra, and Michelob Amber Bock. So, I hereby declare these new Michelob beers the official beers of the "Kant- New Balance Team".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQPd1RFwDgo
&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY1Bl4nfpdA&feature=related
& so here is Music of the 'Salvation Army' Philosophers...
Saints John and Paul:
The Beattles- Let it Be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67J_66hdN-I
St. Thomas Aquinas teleological argument/design argument "as the archer directs the arrow":
Aerosmith- Sweet Emotion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yGCHPmfqT0
Walk this Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UKMyhId1co
Christine Korsgaard:
Elvis Costello- Alison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4tFwmoZ0eg
Allison Krauss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4l1b0KR3M
Christina Aguilera (eagle)- Beautiful
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNthqC2fsVw
Paul Ricoeur:
The Byrds- Turn Turn Turn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNopQq5lWqQ
St. Paul scholar Wayne Meeks & Southern Illinois University Professor Garth Gillan
Wayne's World
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/waynes-world-aerosmith/275020/
Kant (for the 'Critique of Judgment'):
Sublime- Santeria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrLJ6Saq7u4
What I got
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEXN0RNY5ps
Kant & General music of the "Salvation Army"
Heart- (I LOVE this band- the Wilson sisters rock 2nd to none...)
Crazy on You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5PKULglde8
Battle of Evermore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oxcC18xE4Y&feature=related
Magic Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvr3dmptvg
Barracuda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyR-HmJS2qQ
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