UTILITARIANISM

A very short exposition of Utilitarianism

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

JOHN LOCKE

Summary of Lecture on the Philosophy of John Locke

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

Soon after Descartes disembarked on the search for true and certain knowledge, philosophy shifted its focus from “being” (Ontology) to “knowing” (Epistemology). What can we know? This unassuming question boggled the great minds of philosophers in the modern era (15^th-17^thc.), proving itself far more complicated than it first appeared to them. As commonly thought, the world is nothing more than everything that the mind ought to know. The world is there, and the mind is bound to know it. But if one thinks deeper, as the philosophers did, the world “as we perceive it” might be totally different from the world “as it objectively is.” We, for example, see tall trees and their green leaves, taste sweet candies, or touch hot objects. But we ask: Are trees “in-themselves” really tall or do we only see them as tall? Are their leaves really green or is it only“our eyes” that see green? Are candies really sweet or is it only “our taste buds” that make them sweet? Are objects exposed to fire really hot or is it “our sense of touch” that projects them to be hot?

The more advances in the sciences, the less likely we admit that what we know are indeed true. The world is more than what it meets the eye. According to the physical sciences, the true nature of matter lies on how its atoms combine together to take a definite formation, and not on our individual perceptions of it. Man’s sensory organs perceive these atomic formations, and simultaneously create mental images of these objects. Thus the object of man’s knowledge are not the objects in themselves but his own mental representations or ideas of these objects. Now, how sure are we that our ideas give us a correct picture of the world?

John Locke (1632-1704), a British empiricist and political philosopher, was confident in saying that the mind can grasp, how crude it may be, the reality outside itself. Although for Locke the human mind cannot know directly the world, his ideas, which serve as link between the mind and reality, represent the world as it is. Yes, there is still a dichotomy between the knower and the object known, but the possibility of the non-existence of an external world and entrapment of man in his mind are implausible for Locke. Let us now see how Locke advanced these ideas.

BENEDICT SPINOZA

Summary of Lecture on the Philosophy of Benedict Spinoza

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

After Rene Descartes, there were other attempts to explain reality and everything within it in the famous geometric method, a method which starts from self-evident principles or axioms and then deduces all truths from the established principles. The discovery of the self-evident principles, from which the method starts, presumes the thinker’s excellent intuitive ability and his deep appreciation of truth. The gargantuan effort of deducing the explanation of everything from these principles is again another thing. This philosophical task is rarely accomplished precisely because of these reasons; it requires natural intellectual endowment and diligent commitment to truth.

In his greatest work Ethics (1675), Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677), a post-Cartesian philosopher, attempted and was for the most part successful in crystallizing, using the geometric method, his philosophical system. He succeeded because he possessed the requirements for the job. The major themes in his Ethics include, first, the demonstration of the existence of God and his properties; second, the explanation of the nature of the (human) mind; third, an account of human psychology; and lastly, an explanation of why man needs to shove himself from self-destructive passions, and how he will control his passions and achieve blessedness, which is the ideal of human nature.

The central tenet that defines Spinoza’s philosophy and from which all his discussions unfold is his monistic assertion that God and Nature are one. This “pantheistic” assertion (God is everything) was radically new in his time. It deviates from the traditional religious teaching that states God is a transcendent being who created the universe and constantly takes care of it. Because of this unorthodox assertion, Spinoza was excommunicated from his Jewish community. Although for him happiness is still man’s union with God, this God is no longer the God in the scriptures, but God as Nature itself. Moreover, for him, man finds happiness by knowing the truth that God is Nature and that he is part of Nature. Using reason, therefore, man must find his definite place in the world.

THOMAS HOBBES

Summary of Lecture on the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

Summary of Lecture on the Philosophy of Niccolo Machiavelli

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

“A prince should… have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his own study, but war and its organization and discipline; for that is the only art that is necessary for one who commands…”

- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

In the epigraph, Machiavelli states with brutal forthrightness the sole requirement for being a ruler: he must be capable of coercing force for the maintenance of the state. Reality is a power struggle. The person’s degree of power identifies his place in the society. Those on top are more powerful than those below. This is the natural order of things, and thus, for a state to exists, the one on top must be the powerful overlord. The ruler need not be moral to lead, all that is required of him is power that could maintain the state.