Philosophy 024: Big Ideas

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Philosophy 024 Big Ideas Prof. Robert DiSalle
(rdisalle_at_uwo.ca) Talbot College 408,
519-661-2111 x85763 Office Hours Monday and
Wednesday 1130-1230 Course Website
http//instruct.uwo.ca/philosophy/024/
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Freedom, Individuality, Human Rights Some basic
questions Are humans free by nature, or is
freedom a condition made possible by political
institutions? What are the rights and freedoms of
individuals against the will of social and
political groups and institutions? What is the
source of human rights? Do they belong to us
inherently, or are they granted to us by
political institutions? Is individual freedom
more important than equality, order, or political
stability?
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Two opposing views of human rights Positive
rights Rights are created by legislative acts of
institutions that have the power to make laws.
Positivist view of laws laws are constructed
by political and social institutions that have
the power to enforce them Natural rights
Rights belong to human beings by nature, and laws
made by institutions must respect these
rights. Natural law, that there are laws
inherent in human nature that pre-exist and take
precedence over laws created by institutions. The
cheap version Whatever is not allowed is
forbidden, vs. Whatever is not forbidden
is allowed.
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Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Vindication of Natural
Society (1756) Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime
and Beautiful (1756) Conciliation with America
(1775) Reflections on the Revolution in France
(1790)
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Burkes conservative view of politics, law, and
society Sound social and political institutions
are not created all at once by the application of
political theories. Sound institutions evolve
gradually out of traditional practices, and their
success over many generations entitles them to
respect. The wisdom acquired in generations of
experience is more reliable than the most
profound philosophical reflections of a
particular moment. Institutions long established
should be interfered with only as a last
resort. Rights are established not by an abstract
conception, but by long practice of adjusting
individual claims against the claims of society.
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Burke vs. the French Revolution The
revolutionaries attempted to eliminate all
existing social and political institutions. New
institutions would be constructed on a purely
rational basis, eliminating all traditional
prejudice. Political order would be based on the
rights of man. Burke Many longstanding
institutions embody some accumulated wisdom, and
it is foolish to throw this away. There is no
sound rational basis on which to build
institutions, but only practical experience. The
abstract idea of rights does not answer the
need to balance the claims of individuals and
governments. Only long practice can accomplish
this.
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The wisdom of the English constitution, according
to Burke A gradually-evolved system of balances
among the competing claims of different parts of
society monarchy, nobility, Parliament,
people. Unlike the French revolution, English
revolutions have merely restored a balance that
had been lost. No new constitution, based on
abstract philosophical ideas, could possibly
equal the gradually-evolved perfection of the
British arrangement.
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John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) A System of Logic
(1843) Principles of Political Economy
(1848) On Liberty (1859) Utilitarianism (1861).
The Subjection of Women (1869) Autobiography
(1873)
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(Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Utilitarianism Moral
judgment of any action is based on its
consequences. (A form of consequentialism.) (vs.
deontology actions are to be judged by their
inherent moral value) Greatest Happiness The
best action is that which produces the greatest
amount of happiness for the greatest number of
people. The hedonistic calculus Calculation
of the net happiness produced by an action.
The corpse of Bentham, stuffed and preserved at
University College, London,where he continues to
get stellar annual performance evaluations
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Mill The Utilitarian conception of greatest
happiness is incomplete. It lacks an adequate
conception of what happiness is for a human
being. This is why individual liberty, and
individual fulfillment, ought to be valued
independently of the general utility. At the same
time, a utilitarian argument can be given for the
principle of allowing all possible individual
freedom and self-expression. Ultimately it
contributes to the greater happiness of the
society at large.
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On happiness, from Mills Utilitarianism Few
human creatures would consent to be changed into
any of the lower animals, for a promise of the
fullest allowance of a beast's pleasures no
intelligent human being would consent to be a
fool, no instructed person would be an ignoramus,
no person of feeling and conscience would be
selfish and base, even though they should be
persuaded that the fool, the dunce, or the rascal
is better satisfied with his lot than they are
with theirs. It is better to be a human being
dissatisfied than a pig satisfied better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And
if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion,
it is because they only know their own side of
the question. The other party to the comparison
knows both sides.
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A pig, in that element in which pigs are alleged
to be uniquely happy
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The general Libertarian idea Individuals have
the right to act freely according to their own
interest and inclination. The only legitimate
restriction is to safeguard the liberty of
others. No one is free to act so as to infringe
upon the freedom of others to do as they
please. The action of government is, ideally,
limited to protecting this freedom from
encroachment whenever the interests of different
people are in conflict. The free expression of
ideas is an absolute right.
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The utilitarian argument for individual
freedom The restriction of thought and
expression necessarily hinders the search for
truth. Only if all ideas can be freely discussed
can true ideas come to the surface. The
restriction of unusual thought and action by
majority opinion necessarily hinders creative and
original action. The entire society, including
the uncreative unimaginative mass, benefits from
the work of the few creative individuals. Genius
can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of
freedom. Persons of genius aremore individual
than any other people-- less capable,
consequently, of fitting themselves into any of
the small number of moulds which society provides
in order to save its members the trouble of
forming their own character.
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George Orwell (1903-1950) (real name Eric Arthur
Blair) The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) Homage to
Catalonia (1938) Animal Farm (1945) The English
People (1947) 1984 (1949)
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Orwell on freedom and thought-control Totalitaria
n societies do not rely only on physical coercion
and punishment. They need to control thought as
well. In democratic societies, where physical
coercion is unacceptable, thought-control is even
more important. Where governments require the
consent of the people to policies and actions
that the people would instinctively oppose, they
typically distort the truth about what they are
doing by distorting the language. Controlling the
language controlling thought.
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Examples of language designed to restrict
thought Pacification destruction of villages
and dispersal of population Strategic hamlets
concentration camps for peasants forcibly removed
from their farms and villages Collateral damage
death and injury inflicted on civilians Enhanced
interrogation techniques torture Contractors
private mercenary soldiers
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From 1984 OBrien, the Party official,
interrogates Winston Smith, a man struggling to
think for himself. OBrien Reality is not
external. Reality exists in the human mind, and
nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which
can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes
only in the mind of the Party, which is
collective and immortal You are a slow
learner, Winston, said O'Brien gently. How can
I help it? he blubbered. How can I help seeing
what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are
four. Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are
five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they
are all of them at once. You must try harder. It
is not easy to become sane.
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Winston Smith on truth Freedom is the freedom
to say that two plus two make four. If that is
granted, all else follows. Orwell on politics
and language Political language...is designed
to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give the appearance of
solidity to pure wind. In our time, political
language speech and writing are largely the
defense of the indefensible.