MODERNISM

Aniceta, Angela
Buag, Kenneth
Desales, Marton
SOL-JD1A
Jingco, Alyanna
Santiago, Christian

SUGGESTIVE TIMELINE

CLASSICAL PERIOD
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Etc.
Nature of Man; Man is amongst and
conforms to nature so much so that he
is part of a greater whole / order
Man is capable of reason
Christianity has not been established

SUGGESTIVE TIMELINE
Medieval Period / Middle Ages (roughly 5th
century to 15th century)
Empires had been established
Enhancement and widespread of Christianity
Influence of Aristotles works & Philosophy
Knowledge of the world through our senses
Divine Law and Aristotelian Ethics in daily lives
Attempt to reconcile Christian Theology & Classical
Philosophy (Scholasticism)
1348 to 1350: Black Plague (in France)

SUGGESTIVE TIMELINE
Renaissance (14th Century to 17th Century)
Re-birth & Revival (Florence, Italy)
Return to / Rediscovery of the Classical Influences
Man is measure of all things Protagoras (greek
Philosopher)

Self-Awareness (as a Cultural Shift)

Manifested in Arts, Architecture, Politics Science &
Literature

Influence spread throughout Europe

Pursuit of knowledge through education;
Shift towards Humanism (Homo Universalis)

SUGGESTIVE TIMELINE
Age of Enlightenment / Age of Reason
(17th Century to 18th Century)
Reason as primary source of authority &
legitimacy
Period of Skepticism & Scientific Revolution
Arguments were made against society being based on
Catholic Doctrine & Faith

Early foundations of which is championed by

modernist views

MODERNISM
Meaning of Modernism in the
Dictionary:
a style of art, architecture,
literature, etc., that uses ideas
and methods which are very
different from those used in the
past
modern artistic or literary
philosophy and practice;
especially a self-conscious break
with the past and a search for
new forms of expression.

What features of the past did

this period (modernism) depart
from?
Classical to Medieval: How does
man conform with nature /
world / GOD?
Modern: How can we even
know that man and the world are
meant to fit?

MODERNISM
RATIONALISM
EMPIRICISM
LIBERALISM
(TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM)

REN DESCARTES (1596-1650)

Born on March 31 1956 in La Haye,
France
Generally considered the Father of
Modern Philosophy
Sent to a Jesuit College of La Fleche
(1606 to 1614)
Baccalaureate and License in Canon
& Civil Law at University of Poitiers
(1615-1616)

REN DESCARTES (1596-1650)

Authored an unpublished book
titled, THE WORLD, which adopted
heliocentric Copernican model
(1633)
1st book published: Discourse ,
Related to the development of
Cartesian System (Cartesian Plane),
Published the books 1) Principles 2)
Passions
Most popular work/book: The
Meditations

Discourse on the Method (1637) &

The Meditations (1641)
Departure from Perceiving the world through the Senses
Employed methodological skepticism / method of doubt
Doubt everything which cannot be certain
Doubting Perception through the senses
Dream Argument & Deceiving God / Evil Demon Argument, Wax
Argument

Man exclusively has reason, this is something of pure of

certainty
COGITO, ERGO SUM I THINK, THEREFORE I AM / EXIST

Reason & Deduction is only reliable method of attaining

knowledge (RATIONALISM)

Discourse on the Method (1637) &

The Meditations (1641)
Dualism (Mind-Body Problem)
Mind / Consciousness is a Separate Entity
from,
The Body (which is subject to Physical Laws)
Of which both have a mysterious 2-way
interaction

Discourse on the Method (1637) &

The Meditations (1641)
Reason = Man and the senses cannot be
trusted as there is doubt, how then, does
man connect to the world?
God - He must be perfectly good, and being
such he would not deceive me by giving be a
world of illusion, so I can be sure that the world
exists

Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan
Social Contract Theory

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

developed the social contract theory of
political institutions, employing
commitment to some form of
psychological egoism.
Hobbes rejected medieval scholastic
philosophy, preferring the new,
modern, scientific ways of thinking on
the rise in England and Europe.

Leviathan
Hobbess major work is
titled:
Leviathan
Or

The Matter, Forme, and Power of A

Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall
and Civil

Right is the frontispiece

of the book, as it was
published in 1651.

Human Nature
Hobbes views human beings as complex machines,
material objects, and, in the beginning of Leviathan,
gives mechanistic descriptions of the operations of our
mindsemotions and reasoning.
Liberty is defined as freedom to do as one wishes, but
ones wishes are determined by mechanistic laws
governing matter in motion. How Hobbes retains his
belief in God became a problem for him politically; he
was exiled from England for his views occasionally and
feared for his life regularly for heresy.

Hobbes Tries to
Hobbes wants us to consider the relations that emerge
Modernize
Ethics
among human beings in light of our common human
nature, prior to there being any society or government
imposing rules upon us. In doing this, he hopes to show:
why we need government
the character that government must have
what our duties are to our government

In doing this, Hobbes is rejecting the Great Chain of Being,

and with it, the Divine Right of Kings, as the rational basis
for governmental authority.

Equality
Apart from any government, nature has made
us equal, according to Hobbes, in the sense
that even the weakest among us can, by
forming associations or devious planning, kill
the strongest.
Anyone, or any group, can move into anothers
place and take their property, products, life, or
liberty. And those who might do this can expect
the same might be done to them.

Equality
Hobbes notes that this equality fosters quarrels due to:
Competition for goods (each having hope of overpowering the
other), making people enemies.
Diffidence or lack-of-confidence leading to defensiveness, and;
Glory as everyone likes to think highly of themselves, and
being equal, each thinks their own honor worth fighting for.
Competition makes an individual or group invade anothers
domain for gain
Diffidence encourages invasion for safety
Glory encourages invasion for reputation

Right of Nature, Laws of

Nature
In the
State of Nature, life is governed by what Hobbes calls
The Right of Nature.

The Right of Nature: The freedom of everyone

to do anything and everything that will, in their
own judgment, preserve their own life.

Right of Nature, Laws of

Nature
In the State of Nature, the Right of Nature

provides everyone the right to everything

even to one anothers body.

as long as this natural right of man to

everything endures, there can be no security
to any man

Right of Nature, Laws of Nature

Hobbes says that a Law of Nature is
a precept or general rule by which man is
forbidden to do that which is destructive of his
life or takes away the means of preserving same,
and to omit that by which he thinks it may best
be preserved.
NOTE: This, combined with the Right of Nature from the
previous slide, suggests we not only are free to do
anything necessary to preserve our own life, but that we

Laws of Nature
1st Law of Nature:
Branch one: Seek peace
Branch two: defend yourself, by all means
2nd Law of Nature:
Be willing to trade freedom for security
In following these laws, especially the
second, we must form contracts.

Contracts
One right that cannot be laid down in forming
a contract is the Right of Nature. Hobbes tells
us that no matter what you say, you cannot
give up your right of self-defense:
a man cannot lay down the right of resisting
them that assault him by force to take away his
life, because he cannot be understood to aim
thereby at any good to himself.

Laws of Nature
3rd Law of Nature:
Keep promises
From this final law, which says to stick to your
agreements when you follow laws 1 and 2, arise
justice and injustice. It is only once a covenant
or promise is in place that we can act justly or
unjustly.
But how do we trust each other to follow the 3rd
Natural Law?

The Sovereign
We cant.
covenants of mutual trust, where there is fear of
not performance on either part, are invalid.
before the names just and unjust can have place, there
must be some coercive power to compel men equally to the
performance of their covenants, by the terror of some
punishments greater than the benefit they expect by the
breach of their covenant such power there is none before
the erection of a commonwealth.

JOHN LOCKE(1632-1704)
Known as Father of Liberalism

August 29, 1632 October 28, 1704

Middle-class family in Somerset, England
Studied at Christ Church in Oxford.
3 main interests: Political, Epistemological, and
Scientific
Most influential works:
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
The Second Treatise of Civil Government
A Letter Concerning Toleration

Two Treatise of
Government

The First Treatise:

Criticism of Robert Filmers Patriarchal;
Divine right of kings; and
Every man is a slave to the natural born
kings.
The Second Treatise:
outlines John Locke's ideas for a more
civilized society based on (1) natural rights
and (2) the social contract theory.
Life;
Liberty; and
Property

Essay Concerning Human

John Locke inUnderstanding
his Essay Concerning Human Understanding
(1690) restated the importance of the experience of the
senses!
* Why is this important to the Enlightenment?

It presents a very positive view of human

nature the idea that people can learn from
experience and improve themselves gives them
the ability to govern their own affairs and look
after the welfare of society!

The State of Nature

MAN exist in the State of Nature in perfect equality and
freedom to do what they want.
A man is this state is bound by the laws of nature, but
he is otherwise able to live, act and dispose of his
possessions.
Natural law and natural rights govern the State of Nature
Duty to respect each other
Life, liberty and property.

Purpose of Government
secure the Natural Rights
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY people found it difficult to
protect their natural rights. So they create government to
ensure that their natural rights are protected.
The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom where there is no law,
there is no freedom.

Government &
Representation

Representation ensures that governments are responsive to the

people the consent of the governed is necessary
a governments use of power is justified and can only
be legitimate if the PEOPLE give their consent to be
governed.
Representation is a safeguard against tyranny.
Government was necessary to promote the PUBLIC GOOD.

Immanuel Kant (1724 1804)

A German philosopher who is
considered the central figure of
modern philosophy.
Major influence on contemporary
philosophy, especially the fields of
metaphysics, epistemology,
ethics, political theory, and
aesthetics.

Categorical Imperative
Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
The central philosophical concept in the
deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
Human beings occupy a special place in creation,
and morality can be summed up in an imperative,
or ultimate commandment of reason, from which
all duties and obligations derive.

Nature of the Concept

Pure practical reason versus Pure
reason and mere practical reason
Right versus Good

The First Formulation: Formula of

Universality and the Law of
Nature
"Act only according to that maxim
whereby you can at the same time will
that it should become a universal law
without contradiction.
"universalizability principle"
Perfect duty
Imperfect duty

The Second Formulation:

The Formula of Humanity
Act in such a way that you treat
humanity, whether in your own person or
in the person of any other, never merely
as a means to an end, but always at the
same time as an end.

The Third Formulation:

The Formula of Autonomy
Thus the third practical principle follows
[from the first two] as the ultimate
condition of their harmony with practical
reason: the idea of the will of every
rational being as a universally legislating
will.

Applications
Medical ethics
Sexual ethics

Animal ethics
Lying

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Swiss-born French
philosopher, writer, and
political theorist
Known to be aninfluential
philosopher during the
Enlightenment in 18th
century Europe.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

June 28, 1712 July 2, 1778
Parents: Isaac Rousseau and Suzanne
Bernard