CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

The Industrial Revolution was a period of dramatic change in the technological, social, political and cultural conditions in the mid-
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The revolution started in Great Britain because it had the technological means.
Government support and trade network to support the growth of industry.
In England, between 1750 and 1830, transforming that country from a rural agricultural based economy to a town centered.
Manual labor was replaced by industry and machinery.
By the mid-nineteenth century, more than half of the people in the industrialized countries lived in the cities. Revolution
produced a new class of working poor forced to live in a crowded city.
Children often entered the factories as young as nine years old and worked 12 hours a day.
In England, the laboring class began the long fight for reform. With the growth of industry and the increase in the city
population problem with individual landowners arose. We see two principle here: the first principle is that individual rights, the
landowner’s right to compensation (fair) for his land should be protected. The second principle is that the good of the majority must
have priority over the good of any individual. This principle is the philosophy of UTILITARIANISM.
Happiness for most people, the good of the majority must take precedence over the good of any individual. The utilitarian’s
greatest happiness principle was born from the Industrial Revolution and British philosopher Jeremy Bentham first introduced it.

The second principle is that the good of the majority Philosophy needed to take a different direction-the way of the
must have priority over the good of any individual. This INDIVIDUAL. It wanted to stress the idea that individuals are
principle is the philosophy of UTILITARIANISM free to choose their own paths. Human create their own
nature by the choices they make.

JEREMY BENTHAM JOHN STUART MILL SORIN KIERKEGAARD FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

-He saw the greatest -He coined the term -He said, we exist in the -The death of God was the
happiness principle as Utilitarianism and refined world because we have fallen fault of the churches; people
the principle of utility (an Bentham’s principle of from our essential self, which became part of the “herd
action is best which utility. Pleasure differ in is our immortal relationship mentality” by looking to the
produces the greatest quality and in quantity. We to God, a condition of authority of the church for
happiness for the experienced both the anxiety, and death, which is their answers to life. The
greatest number). He quality and quantity of our alienation from God. The noble Man of Master on
reasoned that pleasure experience. Happiness is only way to regain our Morality creates his own
and pain are motivating the most desirable goal of relationship with God is value out of the abundance of
factors in all human all human beings, and it is through the leap of faith. The life and strength. Herd
beings. Pleasure is the our duty to pursue it for Three Stages in Life: mentality of Slave Morality
consequence that others and ourselves. Aesthetic stage represents inferior life,
confers the quantity of Morality is the Or sensuous stage is the descending life, and
morality of an act. “conscientious” feeling of lowest stage in life. The degeneracy.
Society punishes those mankind. He advocates individual lives for selfish
who inflict pain on unlimited freedom of pleasure and refuses to make The Will Power –
others. On his calculus of expression to discover commitments. Will to power expresses itself
felicity, he said, we can truth. everywhere and everything.
calculate which causes of Ethical stage
action would produce Life becomes more serious, The Superman –
the greatest amount of accepts rules set by society. The ideal person, masters of
happiness. Reaching beyond our selfish themselves and controlling
pleasures, we develop strong their passions.
opinion on moral issues, we
consider our duty to follow The Eternal Recurrence
moral laws. suggests that this world will
occur over and over again
Religious stage with no personal salvation.,
Calls for the deepest only the strongest could bear
commitment a person can this heavy weight and only
make. Only in religious stage superman can say “yes” to
can the leap of faith take into eternal recurrence
our essential self in a only the superman could truly
relationship with God. love and affirm with joy Earth
and his life.
Philosophers after Kierkegaard and Nietzsche began to PROCESS PHILOSOPHY
look deeper into the value of human life and the
importance of making decisions.
PRAGMATISM
Was a unique American brand of philosophy that began
at the end of the nineteenth century. It holds the ideas
are only useful if they can be put into action.
The term pragmatism comes from the Greek pragma
Meaning action
Philosophers Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead became
enthusiasts of the theory of evolution by natural selection, Yet,
they disagreed with Darwin that the life process is the result of
random chance. Bergson set out to show that the force or
principle directs the course of evolution and Whitehead believed
that everything is connected with everything else. There is a unity
in the life and that everything is interrelated in the evolutionary
process, no part of the world is static, nor can any part work
totally on its own.

WILLIAM JAMES JOHN DEWEY HENRI BERGSON ALFRED NORTH WHITHEAD

James looked for what he Is more interested in the There must be some force or He wanted to replace static
called the cash value of problem of society than with principle that guides the scientific views with dynamic,
statements or the inner religious experience. course of the changes to be active views, nothis is is isolated,
practical pay off. For Education is the only way we directed and have a purpose. everything is interrelated and in
anything to be can remake society. His philosophy is dualistic, “process” for nature is a living
meaningful, it must some Educational Laboratory, meaning that the world organism. Part of the process of
way relate to our where students could contains two opposing change is death. Because
personal experience. For challenge different ideas and tendencies everything is in the process of
ideas to be true, they evaluate the consequences - The life force or elan evolving, nothing can be totally
must make an actual vital understood because it is always
concrete difference in - Matter’s resistance changing. The only permanence
our lives. Ideas are against the life force in the world is in the realm of
always changing; they Through our intellect, we possibility, and those
are true only when they formulate system of science possibilities are eternal objects.
relate to our own And see things as separate God’s nature is consciousness
experience. Truth is a units in space. In the faculty of and eternal goodness. There is
process in which we intuition, intuition gives us that creative process that is
make ideas become true insight into the life force that orderly because of eternal
when we experience directs all growth and objects or possibilities and these
certain events. changes. It sees the whole possibilities exist in God as his
Freedomis a process of picture. For Bergson, reality is nature. When humans choose
consciousness. in a constant state of change God’s possibilities, we have
James said, “Act for the in which nothing is order and harmony.
greatest good for the permanent. The elan vital is a
greatest number of “Current of consciousness”.
people.

A movement arose in the Western world known as PHENOMENOLOGY set asides questions about objective scientific
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY that rejected the vast western facts and recommended instead that we look within our
system of thought. For analytic philosophers the only task subjective human experience for answers. phenomenology
of philosophy is to clarify the meaning of language and to comes from the Greek word phainomenon meaning how things
“unpack” complex problems arising from the unclear use appear. Phenomenologists set to show that consciousness is
of language. The analytic Philosophers wanted to limit important because all things in life experience it. “All
philosophy to an analysis of language. consciousness is consciousness of something”.
BERTRAND RUSSELL LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN EDMUND HUSSERL MARTIN HEIDEGGER
The logic should form the The structure of language Consciousness shapes reality Heidegger’s unique words:
basis of language through must somehow give us the and how the world reveal itself Dasein, which in German
logic one could accurately picture of the world. to consciousness. means “Being there”. He said,
express everything that The role pf philosophy is to Consciousness “sees” a unity in humans should not be defined
could be clearly stated. describe language and not to things. as objects. To be humans,
Logic is the essence of interfere with the actual use Husserl wanted to make means to wonder about the
philosophy and the of language. philosophy a “rigorous” relation between being and
foundation of science. He took the abstract “Being”, Dasein is the only thing
mathematics. Logical notion of time, and by that shows concern for its own
analysis aims to make bracketing calendars, clocks “Being”. Dasein is aware of the
sure that language and the like, he found that he present moment and its
statements accurately experienced time as eternal existence within us. To
represent the facts of the “now” designate the way of “Being”
world. Husserl said, we need to return that characterizes Dasen,
Morality is merely to the Greek philosophers and Heidegger chose the term
personal, and because it study their view of the world, “existence” Dasein exist.
has nothing to do with they lived a life of true Our uniqueness as human
logic or facts, it has no philosophy which is “the beings is in our existence
place in philosophy. science of the world as a whole because we can chose different
of the universal unity of all kinds of being for ourselves.
things. I am dasein, I am belong to any
existing human and it is what
BY BRACKETING-He wanted to makes me authentic. Authentic
show how consciousness individuals are true to
shapes reality. Rather than themselves and willing to take
doubting, he bracketed all his responsibility.
beliefs about something and Being takes on a definite
looked at it a new. He found character rand they must be
that consciousness “sees” a seen and understood a priori as
unity in things. By bracketing, grounded upon that state of
judgement meant we could Being which we have called
observe consciousness at work. “Being-in-the world” we
Suspension of judgment by humans are in the world as
bracketing, we become wholly “Being familiar with”
detached, we can observe the Dasein always has understood
essential nature of pure itself and always understand
consciousness and called it itself in terms of possibilities.
‘transcendental ego”. Possibility is more basic to our
Consciousness makes up the Being than even the facts about
world because it makes the us because these possibilities
world exist for me. The world are inside us.
cannot be understood Our movement to authentic life
objectively, to understand the is our understanding that we
world we must use are going to die.
phenomenology that holds Death is as commonplace as
scientific facts bracketed and life. Taking death into ourselves
 allow us to view the world free us from living an authentic
intuitively and sees its reality. life. Confronting death free us
Phenomenological ego is a to be ourselves as a whole.
philosophizing ego, a pure ego,
the ‘wonder of wonders” and
considered it a mystery that
the world had a being (we
humans) that could be aware
of its own existence.
The Birth of EXISTENTIALISM
Existentialism began in Paris, France following World War II. Existentialists employed a heavy stress on subjectivity. It
emphasizes that the only route to truth in the sphere of human existence is through the individual person’s own personal
participation.
Existentialism is a philosophical belief that we are responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives.
There are important themes that existentialists would like to stress: 1) the meaning of the individual 2.) Freedom 3.) Living an
authentic life, 4.) Alienation and 5.) Mortality.

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE ALBERT CAMUS

- We are born to an existence that - His belief is that the absurd- life being
has no divine purpose. Life is void of meaning or man’s inability to
often absurd or horrible, and the know that meaning if it were to exist-was
only true values are the ones we something that man should embrace.
create for ourselves.
- The Human Situation-: the most
important human situation is to
live in a world without God.
Without God, it is useless to
search for a universal meaning
of life. Without God we must
decide for ourselves how to live.
- He insisted that besides our
 existence there is nothingness.
- In nothingness lies
consciousness. We exist in
consciousness. It is up to us to
create our essence.