CHAPTER 9
Bentham
"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereigns - pain and pleasure."
Maximise happiness = Maximising pleasure
Pleasure is a sensation - eating, drinking, sex, wealth, kindness to animals, belief in Super Being
Quantification of pleasure and pain - Utilitarianism - The greatest happiness for the greatest number - Democracy
Principle of asceticism - Approving of actions to the extent that it diminishes happiness
- Can't be pursued by a living creature - why chase something that's bad for you?
Principle of sympathy and antipathy - judges things as good or bad in accordance with own feelings
- Moral sense & Common sense
John Stuart Mill
Foolish to deny that people have desires and pleasures greater than animals
Happiness = Contentment and dignity
Difference between what is moral and what is just
Difference between justice and moral rights - legal rights can be unjust and just claims can conflict with the law
Equality - "Everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one" shares with Bentham
Schopenhauer
Will is not affected by birth and death
It is only a phenomenon that one individual is distinct from another
Will is a thing in itself and is separate from nature and human nature, which is a necessity
The only way to escape will is renunciation - Reduce egoism - the idea that you are the centre of everything and the world revolves around you
Kierkegaard
The ascetic person is deluded to think their existence is one of freedom, it is limited
A despairing person is someone who has no hope higher than what they have in their current life
Self - creating your own characteristics. Aesthete's are always in a state of pregnancy, waiting to give birth to their new 'self'
Nietzsche
Master morality - noble birth, bravery, candour, blondness
Slave morality - humility, sympathy, benevolence, the underdog
Transvaluation of Values ^^^^^ - blamed on the Jew - revolt of the slaves was successful
'The weak and failures shall perish: that is the first principle of our love of man kind" - Antichrist
Ascending and Descending people - only Nietzsche could tell who was who
Supermen - Highest form of life, Will to live (power)
Humanity is a stage on the way to the Supermen - "Man is a bridge and not a goal"
Doing away with yourself almost earns you the right to live
Analytic Ethics
G. E. Moore
Highly values goodness
Goodness - not a natural property but could be a property of natural things
R. M. Hare
Make room in ethics for Logic - Moral reasoning
Value statements - 'Good boy' etc - Giving something (object or person) a label of quality
Philippa Foot
A judgement cannot be treated as a moral judgement because of universalisability and prescriptivity - cannot make actions 'good' or judge someone with red hair as 'good'. Everyone has different opinions on matters of what's good or bad. Good for me could be bad for you.
CHAPTER 10
Aesthetics of Schopenhauer
Art influences desire, which influences will
Disinterested Contemplation liberates us from tyranny - scene absorbs attention without effort - beauty
- threatening scene - sublime
Kierkegaard on Music
Aesthetic people devote their life to seeking immediate pleasures
Music expresses sheer sensuality - most abstract of arts
Nietzsche on Tragedy
Origin of art is to cheer up humans and tell misery where to go
Apollo and Dionysus
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