ANCIENT PERIOD

Humanism - central idea in Greek culture

Rationality - best characteristic of a human
Fall of Rome is the end of ancient, start of Medieval
Or roman empire
Built for a political or economic purpose

MEDIEVAL PERIOD
- Church was most powerful during that time
- Church
- Theocentrism
- Religion and Faith
- God
Renaissance: means revival or renewal
Humanism was revived but combined with religion
- Artworks were in Greek style, but the themes were about religion: like
Leonardo and Rafael
- Cysteine/Sistine chapel, Madonna in Child, David of Michelangelo
- This created an opportunity for the birth of science
- Sketches of Leonardo was proof that the scientific method was being formed
during renaissance
- Perfected in the modern period
Science is the theme of modern period
Rationalism, inherited by the ancient through the medieval
Empiricism idea that certain knowledge is founded on human experience
Reason is the test of truth for rationalism
- Rationalist, attitude of dogmatic Empiricist, attitude of skepticism
Kant said that it can't be dogmatism because it relies on religion
- believes himself to be a spiritual person, but he still believes in the power of
rationality
- doesn't agree with skepticism because skeptical came from science and
science has a lot of limitations, which was proven by Rene Descartes (many
limitations)

POSTMODERN PERIOD
Kant made the critical theory or critical approach
- said we can't rely on religion because we will never know what religion is
really telling us
- said we can't rely on science because science has a lot of limitations
- But what is really certain that we can't question?
- We must go back to our self
- The self, according to Kant, has the will
- Every person has a will
- There is nothing good unless it is qualified by a good will
- has a strong affinity with Descartes (cogito ergo sum)
- Descartes said, “In order to determine if it is true with certainty, it is
necessary that at least once in our life, we doubt anything and everything. But
after doubting everything, at the end, there is one thing that we cannot doubt,
and that is doubt itself. Because the more I doubt that I doubt, the more
certain that I am doubting, so I cannot doubt doubt because doubting makes it
certain that I am doubting. I cannot doubt if I don't exist and because I must
exist to doubt and since I am certain that I am doubting, I must therefore exist.
I doubt therefore I exist. I think therefore I am.”
- Kant takes that into account
- said desire alone is not enough. This desire to do good needed some guidance.
- Reason guides our will to do good
- At this stage, Kant was already satisfying the rational requirement, reason,
and the empirical requirement, desire.
- Reason gives us certain rules to follow that can guide the will
- How do we know that the rules we follow are actually the right rules to follow?
- Rules have two qualities: it must be categorical (has to be universal or should
be applicable to everybody and it must be an imperative (command) command
is something you cannot not do; you have to follow it.
- Who commands you to do something good? Yourself, your reason