UNIT -I

PHILOSOPHY OF LAW AND

ETHICS
 Philosophy

 Origins
 Characteristics
 Nature and Scope
 Relevance to Law
 Philos and sophos-Greeek words

 Love of/for Wisdom-correct application of

knowledge
 Philosopher –seeker after wisdom
 Philosophy-Definition

 ‘philosophy is a resolute and persistent

attempt to understand and appreciate the
universe as a whole.”- Y. Maish

 Science that studies beings in their ultimate

causes, reasons and principles through the
aid of human reason alone.
Contn….

 The discovery of the ultimate

meaning and essence of existence is
the central purpose of philosophy.

 It is the art of the perfect life, the

science of reality, the foundation of
the practice of righteousness, the
law of the attainment of freedom and
bliss, and provides a key to the
meaning and appreciation of beauty.
 Basic Questions in Philosophy

 Why do these things exist rather than not exist at all?-

Metaphysics
 What is the origin of the world of everything that
exists?-Epistemology
 Is there God? If so, how can we justify the goodness of
the God in the face of Evil?-Epistemology
 What is the meaning and purpose of life? Why do we
have to suffer? - Ethics
 If one is suffering from an unbearable pain such as
cancer. Is it morally right to resort to euthanasia or
assisted suicide?-Ethics
 Differences
Indian Philosophy
 Indian philosophy is life-
oriented and practice oriented
 Hindu Philosophy is a
philosophy /way of life
 it divides the society
hierarchically into four groups
(varnas), namely, Brahmana,
Ksatriya,i Vaisya and Sudra,
and divides the life of each
individual coming under each
of these hierarchical groups
into four levels, asramas.
Western Philosophy
 multidirectional
 Western philosophy is
adventurous in the sense that
it is always ready to break
away from the tradition in its
pursuit of a better system.
 Western philosophy has linear
history, i.e. each new school
grew out of its predecessor
 purely academic or theoretical
Contn…
Indian Philosophy Western Philosophy

 According to Indian  Western philosophers are

philosophy in general, if it is interested in knowledge of
not due to our past karmas, external things.
our happiness or
 Western philosophy is
unhappiness could not be
explained.
overwhelmingly scientific
and outward looking.
 The main contribution of
Indian tradition is the
explication of the inwardness
of man, the freedom of his
spirit.
 Major Historical Periods
 Ancient: (7th Century B.C. - 5th Century A.D.)
Pre-Socratic (7th - 5th Century B.C.)
Socratic (5th - 4th Century B.C.)
Hellenistic (3rd Century B.C. - 3th Century A.D.)
Roman (1st Century B.C. - 5th Century A.D.)

 Medieval: (6th - 16th Century)

Medieval (6th - 14th Century)
Renaissance (15th - 16th Century)
 
 Modern: (17th - 20th Century)
Age of Reason (17th Century)
Age of Enlightenment (18th Century)
Modern (19th - 20th Century)
Pre Socratic Greek
Philosophers
Ionian School
 Greek Philosophy

 western philosophical tradition began in
ancient Greece in the 6th century BCE. The
first of these philosophers are called "Pre-
Socratic's" which designates that they came
before Socrates.
 The Pre-Socratic's were from either the
eastern or western regions of the Greek
world.
 Greek Philosophy

 The first group of Greek philosophers is a triad

of Milesian thinkers: Thales, Anaximander,
and Anaximenes. Their main concern was to
come up with a cosmological theory purely
based on natural phenomena.
 Then philosophers tried to answer two basic
questions they were preoccupied with:
i. the first was on the origins of the world
ii. the second was on its structure or form
Cosmological Argument

 Cosmological- The existence of something

requires an explanation. There must be a
cause behind the existence of Universe.
 Pre Socratic philosophers pioneered the
unifying approach for the physical world,
Monism, assuming one element as the basis
for everything in the Universe (this was water
for Thales, air for Anaximenes, infinity for
Anaximander, fire for Heraclitus)
 Thales

 Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - 546 B.C.) was an

early Pre-Socratic philosopher,
mathematician and astronomer from the
Greek city of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day
Turkey).
 He was called as the first philosopher in the
Western tradition.
Contn….

 Called as the first scientist, he was the founder of

the Milesian school of natural philosophy.

 He found natural explanations of the world without

reference to supernatural explanations.

 He claimed that water was the origin of all things,

that from which all things emerge and to which
they return, and moreover that all things
ultimately are water.
Contn…

 In his “Metaphysics”, Aristotle tells us that

Thales believed that everything comes out of
water and that the earth floats on water.

 Although Thales of Miletus is best known as

the first Western philosopher, he actually
became famous for predicting a solar eclipse.
 Anaxemenes

 For Anaximenes, the air is divine and causes life. It is

also the source of life which encloses the cosmos as
well as the first principle that is responsible for the
maintenance of all living organisms.

 As the soul (air) of an individual organism maintains

the single individual organism, so the soul of the
cosmos (universal breath) surrounds and maintains
the whole universe. Hence Anaximenes’ cosmos is
conceived as a huge animate being with divine
origins.
Contn….

 For Anaximenes, in contrast to Anaximander,

the source of all things is not an indefinite and
unlimited “apeiron” but the air (aer): a
definite material substance.

 Air has the qualities like inner vitality,

changeability and mobility
 Anaximander

 Anaximander (c. 610 - 546 B.C.) was an early

Pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek city
of Miletus in Ionia (modern-day Turkey). He
was a key figure in the Milesian School, as a
student of Thales and teacher of Anaximenes
and Pythagoras.
Contn….

 He was opposed to monism (a belief in which the

physical world is explained by the idea that all
objects in the world are composed of a single
element)

 In his cosmogony, he held that everything

originated from the apeiron (the “infinite,”
“unlimited,” or “indefinite”), rather than from a
particular element, such as water (as Thales had
held).
 Heraclitus

 Reality is change, flux and becoming

 He believed that everything is in constant flux.
All is flow and becoming.
 “ No one can step into the same river twice” ,
no man can ever remain the same for even
two moments.
 Sophism

 Sophist-Wise man
 Questions about man, and knowledge not
about object or content- called as first level of
knowledge
 If one cannot know the world outside, why
should not the philosopher turn towards
himself?
 Knowledge is perception
Contn….

 The man is the measure of all things: Homo

Mensura
 The conclusion of Homo Mensura shows
relativism, of knowledge, but also
universality of impossibility- Skepticism
 Momentariness of perception rests on
Heraclitean theory of flux-Everything is in a
flux, thus there is no object to know
Contn…

 Sophists trained men the art of rhetoric and

argumentation for either persecution or
defense. It helped them in law suits.

 They imparted education to the youths who

could pay fee to the sophists in order to get
elected as the member of democracy.
 Sophist Theory of Morality

 Morality consists in pleasure.

 What is pleasant, agreeable and desirable feeling for

one is morally right for him, and what is agreeable
and desirable for another is morally right for him.

 Individual state becomes the measure of morality.

Socratic Period
 Socratic Period

 Socrates (469/470-399 BCE) was a Greek

philosopher and is considered the father of
western philosophy. 
 Oracle of Delphi declared him to be the
wisest man
 He used to hear voices of ‘Daemon’ whom he
believed to be divine, as his guardian angel
 Plat called it as super normality and divine
restlessness
 Socrates v. Sophists

 Sophists pretends to be wise

 He was against the sophist practice of taking
fee for teaching
 Wisdom cannot be imparted externally
 Sophists were not clear about ‘teaching’ as he
believed that the real teacher is one who
helps his pupil to be aware of real knowledge,
lying dormant in him.
 Socrates
 Socrates' greatest contribution to philosophy
was to move intellectual pursuits away from
the focus on `physical science' (as pursued by
the so-called Pre-Socratic Philosophers such
as Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and
others) and into the abstract realm of ethics
and morality. 
 It was his divine mission to question every
wise man.
Contn…
 Committed to know the inner man than sophists:
“Man know thyself”, thereby ignoring scientific
enquiry into the external world.

 I can’t as yet ‘know myself’ as the inscription at

Delphi enjoins , and so long as that ignorance
remains it seems to me ridiculous to inquire into
extraneous matters. Consequently, I don’t bother
about such things, but accept the current beliefs
about them, and direct my inquiries, as I have just
said, rather to myself.”
Contn….
 Socrates believed in truth and morality and universal
validity of knowledge, social and political laws.

 As against sophists, Socrates distinguished between

perception and reason.

 Perception can yield only what is relative with regard

to the realm of becoming. Reason alone can give us
what is universal and valid for all persons. Because
reason is one and the same in all persons. But
perception depends on senses in which all persons
differ.
Contn….

 Perception can never give us knowledge of what a

thing is, but how a thing appears to us in the form of
constantly changing images which a thing keeps on
shredding from itself.
 Morality of Socrates
 Sophists considered the basis of morality on primary
ethical feeling and desires. To them morality is what is
agreeable, useful and desirable to the majority of the
people.The state laws have the principle “Might is Right”.

 Morality is knowledge of goods through concepts.

Conception is universal idea of a class. Morality issues
from rational insight into good.

 Reason is one and the same for all, so moral laws are
universally valid. Moral laws are not based on feelings
and desires, but on rational thought.
 Epistemology of Socrates

 Knowledge for Socrates is universal and eternal

Knowledge is gained through conception.

 Conception is a class of particulars. The notion of

class is obtained by comparing a number of
particulars under that class and by abstracting
from such comparison that which is common
and essential attribute by neglecting the variable
and accidental features of the particulars.
Contn…

 But formation of knowledge is not outlined

by comparison or abstraction.

 All knowledge is dormant and teaching

simply means the recollection or the recovery
of the forgotten knowledge.
Contn…

 Knowledge is not in the impressions of senses, but

reflection on them. Senses are more of hindrance
than help in the realization of universal ideas.

 “Surely, the sole can best reflect when it is free of

all distractions such as hearing or sight or pain or
pleasure of any kind-that is when it ignores the
body and becomes as far as possible independent,
avoiding all contacts and associations as much as
it can, in its search for reality.”
 Ethical theory of Socrates

 The interpretation of knowledge or concept

will also be found in Socratic theory of
morals.
 To sophists Might is right. A law is backed by
majority. It is the right of the strong man to
rule over the weak
 Morality is the knowledge of the Good
through Concepts. Morality issues from
rational insight into the Good.
Contn…

 As reason is one and the same for all, so moral

laws are universally valid. Hence, moral laws are
not based on feelings or desires, but on rational
thought.
Three Propositions of Socrates on Ethics
 Virtue is knowledge through concepts. So nobody
does wrong knowingly. Therefore, vice is
ignorance.
 As virtue is knowledge, it can be taught
 Virtue is one.
 Virtue
 There is one supreme good, he claimed, and possession
of this good alone will secure our happiness. This
supreme good, thought Socrates, is virtue. Virtue
is defined as moral excellence, and an individual is
considered virtuous if their character is made up of the
moral qualities that are accepted as virtues.
 Virtue is the chief business of life and the greatest good.
 “Knowledge embraces everything that is good, we shall
be right to suspect that virtue is knowledge.”
 Courage and temperance are good and will lead to
happiness when they are guided by wisdom and evil if
the are controlled by folly.
Contn…

 Virtue is a kind of knowledge which controls

the will and necessarily issues in action. It is
not an intellectual achievement.

 Virtue is one. Virtue follow from the health of

the soul. Health of the soul follows from the
order and arrangement between the different
functions of the soul.
Parts of Soul

Reasoning • Wisdom

Temper • Courage

Desire • Temperance/soberness
Contn…

 Wisdom commands, temper assists in the

execution of these commands and desire
furnishes the material basis of action.
 A successful functioning of the harmonious
activities under the regulation of reason
yields happiness.
 Self of a good man is an organic unity of all its
functions.
Contn…..

 Charges against Socrates

i. For denying national Gods
ii. For setting up of new Gods
iii. For corrupting the youth
“It is easier to escape death, but the real
difficulty is to escape from doing wrong.”
 Plato
 Ideal realism/the doctrine of ideas
 The whole of Western Philosophy is nothing
more than ‘the series of footnotes to Plato.’
 Nature of philosophy of Sophists belonged to
the realm of darkness.
 Perception results from double movements;
one from the side of objects and another
from the side of the percipient. Nobody
knows what the perceived object is in itself.
 Universals and Particulars

 Cowness is an essential quality of the cow which is

Universal and cow comprising of the class of cow is
particular.
 Realism is the doctrine which believes that Universals
have their own independent existence in their own rights.
 Ideas as universals are the real originals which can be
copied by perceptible, but no perceptible can even be the
original idea.
 Ideas can be thought but not sensed, and percepts can be
sensed but not thought.
 Ideas cannot be found in becoming, it is to be found in
their own being in the realm of reality.
Ideas and Forms
Ideas and Forms
Contn….
Contn….
 Ethics of Plato

 Idea of the Good is the ‘source of knowledge and

truth’ Pleasure is momentary and based on
feelings and desire but the Good is eternal and
timeless.
 If the pleasure be the good, there will not be any
distinction between good and bad and this will
led to moral chaos.
 ‘Pleasure is good’ , ‘pain is bad’ will leads to
imprisonment of the soul by being chained to
the body.
Contn…

 “….every pleasure or pain has a sort of rivet with

which it fastens the soul to the body and pins it
down and makes it corporeal, accepting as true
whatever the body certifies.”
 Ethics is good means that the idea of the Good is
wholly non-sensuous and incorporeal and
should be contrasted with any satisfaction of
desire and appetite which are considered bodily
functions. Hence, happiness should not be
confused with pleasure.
Contn….

 Nobody does wrong knowingly. Knowing

means transformed or purified will under the
influence of contemplating on the Idea of
Good.
 “A soul meditating on the idea of Good secures
immunity from its desires by following reason
and abiding always in her company, and by
contemplating the true and divine gets rid of all
human ills and get restored to its pristine glory.”
Contn…

 Moral excellence lies in the effort of the soul

in realizing the purification of the soul by the
knowledge of the Idea of Good. Good is light
and ethical has to be seen in this light. Like
sun is not vision but helps in visibility. All
ideas are drawn by it and shines by its light.
 Soul has 3 parts reason, high spirits and
appetite
Contn…
 Happiness results from the harmonious functioning of all
three parts of the soul and happiness results form the
harmonious functioning of all three parts of the soul and this
harmony means rational life by regulating the desires and
appetites and by being able to contemplate the Idea of Good.

 This contemplation gives an insight and glimpse into the Idea

of Good towards regaining pristine existence belonging to the
realm of the intelligible. Hence for Plato the true well being of
the soul is the ultimate standard of morality.

 View about morality can be clearly seen if the individual

morality is magnified into the Ideal of the ideal Republic. This
larger form is the city government.
 Aristotle

 He emphasizes the role of habit in conduct. It

is commonly thought that virtues, according
to Aristotle, are habits and that the good life
is a life of mindless routine.
 Aristotle uses the word hexis to denote moral
virtue. But the word does not merely mean
passive habituation. Rather, hexis is an active
condition, a state in which something must
actively hold itself.
Contn….

 Virtue, therefore, manifests itself in action. More

explicitly, an action counts as virtuous, according to
Aristotle, when one holds oneself in a stable
equilibrium of the soul, in order to choose the action
knowingly and for its own sake. This stable
equilibrium of the soul is what constitutes character.
 In the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle repeatedly
states that virtue is a mean. The mean is a state of
clarification and apprehension in the midst of
pleasures and pains that allows one to judge what
seems most truly pleasant or painful.
Contn…

 This active state of the soul is the condition in

which all the powers of the soul are at work in
concert. Achieving good character is a process
of clearing away the obstacles that stand in the
way of the full efficacy of the soul.
 moral virtue is the only practical road to
effective action. What the person of good
character loves with right desire and thinks of
as an end with right reason must first be
perceived as beautiful.
Contn….

 Hence, the virtuous person sees truly and

judges rightly, since beautiful things appear as
they truly are only to a person of good
character.
 It is only in the middle ground between habits
of acting and principles of action that the soul
can allow right desire and right reason to make
their appearance, as the direct and natural
response of a free human being to the sight of
the beautiful.
Contn…

 In Book VII of the Physics, Aristotle says much

the same thing about the way children start
to learn: they are not changed, he says, nor
are they trained or even acted upon in any
way, but they themselves get straight into an
active state when time or adults help them
settle down out of their native condition of
disorder and distraction. (247b, 17-248a, 6)
Philosophy of Nature

Higher Nature

Man

Animals

Plants

Nature

Formless Matter
Contn…

 At the bottom there is the formless matter. At

the apex there is the matter less form, called
Prime Mover. In the pyramidal scheme there
are higher and lower forms.
 For Aristotle higher form is the criterion for
placing a species in the ladder. Aristotle takes
recourse to the elements of reason by virtue
of which man is higher than all other animals,
plants and other things.
Contn….

 To Aristotle reason is passive and active

reason. Passive reason means registering the
experiences of objects. Active reason is
contemplating on God (Plato)

 On death active reason returns to the God.

Reason is one and the same for all human
beings.
 Nicomachean Ethics

 The highest being or the attainment of

goodness or a life of virtue which is content of
goodness or God’s Goodness.
 The pursuit of the highest rational end of man
means the control of appetite by reason. The
habitual control of appetite and passion by
reason is known as virtue. Virtue creates a
good disposition and character.
Contn…

 The character is an inward organization of a settled

habit of will which pertains to a good moral life.
Appetite should not be expatriated or satisfied rather
it has to be regulated by reason. This regulation of
appetite is called moderation or insight into
reasonable desires. This is known as Golden Mean.
 This regulation by a rule of adopting a mean is
assisted by the cultivation of virtue, a settled habit of
will in the choice of the mean by a rule which a wise
man in his practical life would adopt.