PHILOSOPHER AND HIS

GENERAL TOPIC MAIN TOPIC PHILOSOPHY APPLICATION/REFLECTION

BACKGROUND
EARLY MODERN EGOISM Thomas Hobbes - His argument runs as
PHILOSOPHY - Thomas Hobbes, (born April 5, follows: From nature, all
- The early - Egoism is the theory that one’s self is, 1588, Westport, Wiltshire, England humans are equal, so each
modern period or should be, the motivation and the —died December 4, 1679, Hardwick person has a right to
was a very goal of one’s own action. Hall, Derbyshire) everything in the world.
innovative - Egoism has two variants, descriptive or - His argument runs as
period in normative. - Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) is the follows: From nature, all
Western first philosopher who introduces the humans are equal, so each
philosophy. The descriptive (or positive) variant idea that the State is based on a social person has a right to
- New theories of conceives egoism as contract. everything in the world.
mind and matter, a factual description of human affairs. - In this state of nature,
new conceptions That is, people are motivated by their humans constantly fight
of God, new own interests and desires, and they - English philosopher with each other, and
political cannot be described otherwise. - scientist, therefore their lives are
philosophies and - historian “solitary, poor, nasty,
theories of civic The normative variant proposes that - best known for his political brutish, and short.” 
society were people should be so motivated, philosophy, especially - The state of nature is a
proposed. regardless of what presently motivates as articulated in his state of war. In order to
- The period their behavior. masterpiece Leviathan (1651). avoid the consequences of
approximately these human
spanned from - The term “egoism” derives from - Hobbes was not only a scientist in his characteristics, humans
the late 1400s to “ego,” the Latin term for “I” in own right but a great systematizer of agree to form a state. It
the end of the English. Egoism should be the scientific findings of his gets created and finds its
18th century distinguished from egotism, which contemporaries, legitimacy in a “social
(roughly 1500- means a psychological overvaluation including Galileo and Johannes contract”, and this
1800). It is the of one’s own importance, or of one’s Kepler. His enduring contribution is creation of a civil society
time period own activities. as a political philosopher who occurs when everyone
where Descriptive and Psychological Egoism justified wide-ranging government accepts to be ruled by a
philosophers like - The descriptive egoist’s theory is powers on the basis of the self- central authority, which
Descartes, called “psychological egoism.” interested consent of citizens. Hobbes calls the
Locke, Hume, Psychological egoism describes human - “Sovereign.” He argues
Spinoza, nature as being wholly self-centered that the central feature that
Leibniz, and and self-motivated. characterizes the
Kant, published Normative Egoism Sovereign is the
books that would - The second variant of egoism is monopoly of power; this
shape our normative in that it stipulates the is necessary for
modern agent ought to promote the self above overcoming the war of all
understanding of other values.. The general theory of against all.
philosophy normative egoism does not attempt to - Hobbes viewed
describe human nature directly, but government primarily as a
- The roots of asserts how people ought to behave. It device for
early modern comes in two general forms: rational ensuring collective
philosophy can egoism and ethical egoism. security.
be traced back as Political authority is
far as the 1200s a. Rational Egoism justified by
— to the mature Rational egoism claims that the a hypothetical social
and speculative promotion of one’s own interests is contract among the many
heights of the always in accordance with reason. that vests in
scholastic b. Ethical Egoism a sovereign person or
tradition. The Ethical egoism is the normative entity the responsibility
philosophies of theory that the promotion of for the safety and well-
Thomas Aquinas one’s own good is in accordance being of all.
(1225-1274), with morality. In the strong - In metaphysics, Hobbes
Ockham (1288- version, it is held that it is always defended materialism, the
1348) and moral to promote one’s own good, view that only material
Buridan (1300- and it is never moral not to things are real. His
1358) promote it. scientific writings present
emphasized the all observed phenomena
capacities of Conditional Egoism as the effects
human rational - A final type of ethical egoism is of matter in motion.
faculties: if God conditional egoism. This is the theory -
gave us the that egoism is morally acceptable or
faculty of right if it leads to morally acceptable
reasoning then ends.
we shall trust
that through - Scientia potentia est.
such faculty we Knowledge is Power.
can achieve a
full - Hell is truth seen too late.
understanding of
worldly and - The Condition of
divine matters. man….is a condition of
war of everyone against
everyone

- Words are the counters of Reflection:

wise men, and the money - Knowledge/learning is
of fools important. Without
learning there will be no
progress
- People often regret the
circumstances of wrong
 doings at the end when
there is no longer time
to change it.
- It is everyone’s
responsibility to care
and think of others.
Everyone’s action
affects the people
around them.
- Words can be deceiving
Altruism Joseph Butler (1692—1752) - He is still read and
discussed among - “Everything is what it is,
- is the opposite of egoism – the - is a well-known religious philosopher contemporary and not another thing.” 
motivation or practice of doing things of the eighteenth century. philosophers, especially
to benefit others, without expecting - Joseph Butler was born into a for arguments against - “Virtue is not to be
any benefit for oneself.  Presbyterian family at Wantage. some major figures in the considered in the light
- Most of the debates about egoism and history of philosophy, of mere innocence or
altruism are not about whether it’s - He attended a dissenting academy, such as Thomas abstaining from harm;
good to benefit others or not, which but then converted to the Church of Hobbes and John Locke. but as the exertion of
almost everyone agrees on, but England intent on an ecclesiastical -  Butler's philosophy is our faculties in doing
whether egoism or altruism are career. largely defensive. His good.”
actually beneficial, or even possible. general strategy is to
- Altruism, in ethics, a theory of - Butler has become an icon of a accept the received
conduct that regards the good of others highly intellectualized, even rarefied, systems of morality and
as the end of moral action. The term theology, "wafted in a cloud of religion and, then, defend
(French altruisme, derived from metaphysics," as Horace Walpole them against those who
Latin alter, “other”) was coined in the said. think that such systems
19th century by Auguste Comte, the can be refuted or
founder of Positivism, and adopted - was an English bishop disregarded.
generally as a
convenient antithesis to egoism.  - theologian, - Butler ultimately attempts
to naturalize morality and
- apologist, and philosopher. religion, though not in an
overly reductive way, by
- He is known, among other things, for showing that they are
his critique of Deism, Thomas essential components of
Hobbes's egoism, and John Locke's nature and common life.
theory of personal identity

- He argues that nature is a Reflection:

moral system to which
humans are adapted via - In life there are things
 conscience.  that we can no longer
change. We have to
- In denying morality, accept situation in our
Butler takes his opponents lives as it is and
to be denying our very appreciate it for that is
nature, which is the reality that we have
untenable.. to face.

- Being a good person

can’t be measured on
- “Everything is what it is, the number of abstaining
and not another thing.”  oneself from doing bad
but it is tested on the
different circumstances
that a person do good
things for others.

- “Virtue is not to be
considered in the light of
mere innocence or
abstaining from harm; but
as the exertion of our
faculties in doing good.”

Reflection:

- In life there are things

that we can no longer
change. We have to
accept situation in our
lives as it is and
 appreciate it for that is
the reality that we have
to face.

- Being a good person

can’t be measured on
the number of abstaining
oneself from doing bad
but it is tested on the
different circumstances
that a person do good
things for others.

Realism Bertrand Russel - Argued that the whole of

- In philosophy, the viewpoint which - was a British philosopher mathematics could be
accords to things which - logician derived from a few simple
are known or perceived an existence or - mathematician axioms that made no use
nature which is independent of whether - historian of specifically
anyone is thinking about or perceiving - writer mathematical notions,
them. - social critic such as number and
- political activist, and  square root, but were
- Realism is the view that a "reality" of - Nobel laureate rather confined to purely
material objects, and possibly of - Russell was born logical notions, such as
abstract concepts, exists in an external in Monmouthshire into one of the propositions and class.
world independently of our minds and most prominent aristocratic families
perceptions. in the United Kingdom. - He got influential in
- In the early 20th century, Russell led logism (the view that
the British "revolt against idealism mathematics is in some
important sense reducible
- He is considered one of the founders to logic),
of analytic philosophy along with his
predecessor Gottlob Frege,
colleague G. E. Moore and - his defense of neutrl
protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein. monism (the vew that the
- He is widely held to be one of the world consist of just one
20th century's premier logicians. type of substance which is
- recipient of the Nobel Prize for neither exclusively mental
Literature in 1950. nor exclusively physical)
- Russell’s contributions
to logic, epistemology, and
the philosophy of
 mathematics established him as one
of the foremost philosophers of the
20th century. 
- He is considered one of the pioneers
of the analytic school of philosphy.

Famous quotes

- I would never die for my

beliefs because I might be
wrong. Reflection:

- Fear is the main source of - People should not settle

superstition, and one of on wrong thoughts.
the main sources They must see the truth
of wisdom in all aspects and
reasoning to prove its
- It's easy to fall in love. validity to avoid
The hard part is finding conflict.
someone to catch you. - Fear teaches us many
lessons, it is through
fear that we learn our
limits and capabilities. It
is also through fear that
people think of the
possibility of impossible
things.
- There is always a way to
love but not the love that
lasts.

- Rationalism is René Descartes  - Descartes' influence in

the epistemological view that ( March 1596 – 11 February 1650) mathematics is equally
"regards reason as the chief source and apparent; the Cartesian
test of knowledge or "any view - was a French philosopher,  coordinate system 
appealing to reason as a source of - mathematician, and  - He is credited as the father
knowledge or justification". More - scientist. of analytical geometry,
formally, rationalism is defined as - A native of the Kingdom of
 a methodology or a theory "in which France, of the United Provinces. - He was also one of the
the criterion of the truth is not sensory key figures in
but intellectual and deductive - He is generally considered one of the the Scientific Revolution.
most notable intellectual figures of
- In an old controversy, rationalism was the Dutch Golden Age. - His best known
opposed to empiricism, where the - French philosopher, mathematician, philosophical statement is
rationalists believed that reality has an scientist and writer of the Age of "I think, therefore I am"
intrinsically logical structure. Because Reason. (French: Je pense, donc je
of this, the rationalists argued that - He has been called the "Father of suis; Latin: Ego cogito,
certain truths exist and that the intellect Modern Philosophy", ergo sum
can directly grasp these truths. That is - He was a pioneer and major figure in
to say, rationalists asserted that certain 17th Century Continental
rational principles exist Rationalism (often known as - Descartes' philosophical
in logic, mathematics, ethics, Cartesianism) method was his refusal to
and metaphysics that are so - His contribution to mathematics was accept the authority of
fundamentally true that denying them also of the first order, as the inventor previous philosophers,
causes one to fall into contradiction. of the Cartesian coordinate system and even of the evidence
and of his own senses, and to
- The rationalists had such a high - The founder of analytic geometry, trust only that which was
confidence in reason that empirical crucial to the invention of calculus clearly and distinctly seen
proof and physical evidence were and mathematical analysis. to be beyond any doubt
regarded as unnecessary to ascertain - He was also one of the key figures in (a process often referred
certain truths – in other words, "there the scientific revolution of the 16th to as methodological
are significant ways in which our and 17th Centuries. skepticism or Cartesian
concepts and knowledge are gained doubt or hyperbolic
independently of sense experience". doubt).

- He outlined four main

rules for himself in his
thinking:

- Never accept anything

except clear and distinct
ideas.
- Divide each problem into
as many parts are needed
to solve it.
- Order your thoughts
from the simple to the
complex.
- Always check thoroughly
 for oversights.

FAMOUS QUOTES: A person who sees things

- An optimist may see a positively never run out of ways
light where there is none, and reasons to keep going and
but why must the negative thinkers do not.
pessimist always run to
blow it out? If you start doubting everything
and you quickly find that the
- I think; therefore I am. very act of doubting belies your
true presumption - you must
suppose you yourself exist, for
you cannot not if you are to
engage in doubt.
Baruch Spinoza (
- a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese
Jewish origin who lived and worked - His first published work,
during the Age of Reason. the "Principia
- He is considered one of the great philosophiae
Rationalists of the 17th Century, cartesianae" ("Principles
although the breadth and of Cartesian
importance of his work was not Philosophy") of 1663,
fully realized until years after his was a systematic
death. presentation of the
- Spinoza is nowadays respected as philosophy of Descartes,
one of the definitive ethicists and as to which he added his own
a harbinger of enlightened suggestions for its
modernity. improvement, and it
- His metaphysical views were already contained many of
essentially monistic and pantheistic, the characteristic
holding that God and Nature were elements of his later
just two names for the same single work.
underlying reality.
- Spinoza was born on 24 November - His major work was the
1632 in Amsterdam, Holland, to a monumental "Ethica
family of Sephardic Jews Ordine Geometrico
- At the age of 17, when his father died Demonstrata"
in the wars against England and ("Ethics"), an abstract
France and the family fortune was
decimated, Spinoza was forced to cut - Spinoza had subscribed to
short his formal studies to help run Descartes' belief in
the family business Dualism, that body and
- In 1656, Spinoza was issued a writ of mind are two separate
"cherem" (the Jewish equivalent of substances.
excommunication) for the apostasy
of how he conceived God, and for - Spinoza argued that God
various positions contrary to exists and is abstract and
normative Jewish belief and his impersonal.
criticisms of the Talmud and other
religious texts.
- Spinoza's view of God is
what Charles
Hartshorne describes
as Classical Pantheism

- The philosophy of Baruch

Spinoza is a systematic,
logical, rational
philosophy developed in
seventeenth-century Euro
pe.

- Spinoza's philosophy is a
system of ideas
constructed upon basic
building blocks with an
internal consistency with
which he tried to answer
life's major questions and
in which he proposed that
"God exists only
philosophically.

FAMOUS QUOTES
- “The highest activity a
human being can attain is
learning for
understanding, because to
understand is to be free.” 
- “What everyone wants
from life is continuous
and genuine happiness.” 
 Nothing is less important than
learning. It is only by learning,
that we get at the real meaning
of things and be free.

Gotfried Wilhelm von Liebnez - He devised his rather

- Leibniz (pronounced LIBE-nitz) was eccentric metaphysical
born on 1 July 1646 in Leipzig in theory of monads
Saxony, eastern Germany.
- He remained a devout
Christian throughout his
life and his formulation of
- In mathematics, Leibniz was the first the Problem of Evil in a
(in 1692 and 1694) to employ the world created by a good
mathematical notion of a function God was an influential
explicitly to denote any of several one.
geometric concepts derived from a
curve, as well as the first to see that
the coefficients of a system of linear - He is equally important in
equations could be arranged into an the history of
array (now called a matrix) which mathematics, as the
can be manipulated to find the inventor of calculus and as
solution of the system. the discoverer of the
binary system (the
foundation of virtually all
modern computer
- was a prominent architectures).
German polymath and philosopher in
the history of mathematics and - In philosophy, Leibniz is
the history of philosophy. most noted for
his optimism, i.e. his
conclusion that
our universe is, in a
- His most notable accomplishment restricted sense, the one
was conceiving the ideas that God could have
created,
 of differential and integral
calculus, independently of Isaac FAMOUS QUOTES We all need to work hard for
Newton's contemporaneous - “He who hasn't tasted what we want. Success tastes
developments.. bitter things hasn't earned sweet if we sweat first in getting
sweet things.” it.

“Living in the moment
- “The present is big with means letting go of the past and
the future.”  not waiting for the future.

Empiricism, JOHN LOCKE

- The view that all concepts originate in
experience, that all concepts are about - John Locke was born in 1632 in - John Locke was among
or applicable to things that can be Wrington, a small village in the most famous
experienced, or that all rationally southwestern England. philosophers and political
acceptable beliefs or propositions are theorists of the
justifiable or knowable only through - His father, also named John, was a 17th century.
experience. legal clerk and served with the -  He is often regarded as
Parliamentary forces in the English the founder of a school of
- Empiricism is the view that all Civil War. thought known as British
concepts, or all rationally acceptable Empiricism, and
beliefs or propositions, are a posteriori - English philosopher of the Age of - He made foundational
rather than a priori. Reason and early Age of contributions to modern
Enlightenment. theories of limited, liberal
- Empiricism is a theory of knowledge, government.
- His ideas had enormous influence on
or theory of justification. It views - He was also influential in
the development of Epistemology the areas of theology,
beliefs, or at least some vital classes of
belief— and Political Philosophy, and he is - He offered an empiricist
widely regarded as one of the most theory according to which
influential early Enlightenment we acquire ideas through
thinkers. our experience of the
- He is usually considered the first of world.
the British Empiricists, the
movement which included George
Berkeley and David Hume, and
which provided the main opposition FAMOUS QUOTES
to the 17th Century Continental
Rationalists We are like chameleons. We take
our hue and the color of our moral
character, from those who are
around us.
 REFLECTION:

-We are all children of the

universe, NOT reflections of the
The only defense against the negative things in our lives. WE
world is a thorough knowledge of get to decide who we are and
it. what we will become. The only
way to do that is to find people
who will reflect our beauty in a
way that our lives become a
masterpiece of color and light;
like chameleons always adapting
to the environments they inhabit.

GEORGE BERKELEY

- born March 12, 1685, near Dysert - Berkeley's earliest publish

Castle, near Thomastown?, ed works were
County Kilkenny, Ireland— on mathematics .
- In 1710, still only 25 years
- died January 14, 1753, Oxford, old, his "Treatise
England), concerning the Principles
of Human
- Anglo-Irish Anglican bishop,  Knowledge" was
published, his first
- philosopher, and exposition of the then
revolutionary theory that
- scientist objects exist only
as perception and not
- best known for his empiricist and as matter separate from
idealist philosophy, which holds that perception, summed up in
reality consists only of minds and his dictum "Esse est
their ideas; everything save the percipi" ("To be is to be
spiritual exists only insofar as it perceived"). The work
 is perceived by the senses. is beautifully written and
- best known for his theory dense with cogent
of Immaterialism, a type arguments, no matter
of Idealism  how counter-intuitive the
system may appear at first
- He is sometimes considered sight.
the father of modern Idealism).
Along with John Locke and David - He called the
Hume, he is also a major figure in theory Immaterialism (con
the British Empiricism movement, ceived as it was
although his Empiricism is of a much in opposition to the
more radical kind, arising from his prevailing Materialism of
mantra "to be is to be perceived". the time),

- He believes that the

position that the mind is
the only thing that can
be known to exist (and
that knowledge of
anything outside the mind
is unjustified) is known
as Solipsism, and forms
the root of the later
doctrine
of Phenomenalism. It can
also be seen as
an extreme type
of Empiricism, whereby
any knowledge of the
empirical world is to be
obtained only
through direct perception. REFLECTION:

FAMOUS QUOTES People tend to create problems

on their own and complain about
We have first raised a dust and its consequences
then complain we cannot see.

Everyone needs truth but the

truth is that only few practice it.

Truth is the cry of all, but the

 game of FEW.

DAVID HUME
- Hume was a thorough-
- Hume was born on 26 April 1711 in going Empiricist, the last
a tenement on the Lawnmarket chronologically of the
in Edinburgh, Scotland. three great British
Empiricists of the 18th
- His father was Joseph Home (an Century (along with John
advocate or barrister of Chirnside, Locke and Bishop George
Berwickshire, Scotland), and the Berkeley), and the most
aristocrat Katherine Lady Falconer. extreme.
He changed his name to Hume in
1734 because the English had - He believed that, as he put
difficulty pronouncing "Home" in it, "the science of manis
the Scottish manner. the only solid foundation
for the other sciences",
- David Hume (1711 - 1776) was that human experience is
a Scottish philosopher, as close are we are ever
going to get to the truth,
- economist and and
that experience and obser
- historian of the Age of vation must be the
Enlightenment. foundations of any logical
argument.
- He was an important figure in
the Scottish Enlightenment and, - Hume was essentially
along with John Locke and Bishop attempting to demonstrate
George Berkeley, one of the three how ordinary propositions
main figureheads of the about objects, causal
influential British relations, the self, etc,
Empiricism movement. are semantically
equivalent to propositions
about one's experiences.
- He was a fierce opponent of
the Rationalism of Descartes, Leibniz 
and Spinoza, as well as an atheist and - He argued that all
a skeptic. of human knowledge can
be divided into two
- He has come to be considered as one categories: relations of
of the most important British ideas (e.g. mathematical
 philosophers of all time and logical propositions)
and matters of fact(e.g.
- propositions involving
some contingent observati
- Even today, Hume's philosophical on of the world, such as
work remains "the sun rises in the East"),
refreshingly modern, challenging and that ideas are derived
and provocative. from
our "impressions" or sen
sations.

- Hume's Empiricism and 
Skepticism was mainly
concerned
with Epistemology and
with the limits of our
ability to know things.

- He freely admitted that we

can form beliefs about that
which extends beyond any
possible experience
(through the operation of
faculties such
as custom and
the imagination), but he
was
entirely skeptical about
any claims
to knowledge on this
basis. REFLECTION:

FAMOUS QUOTES While people are becoming busy

being too serious and
While we are reasoning problematic about living- they
concerning life, life is gone. are already forgetting how to
live and enjoy life.

Nothing on earth is free.

Everything in the world is
purchased by labor.
JESSICA I. LAXAMANA DR. JONELYN B. SANDOVAL
PHILO 601- CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY FEBRUARY 16 & 23, 2019