Category: FAQs

April 10, 2018

What is Non-Cognitivism?

Introduction Non-Cognitivism is the meta-Ethical approach that holds that moral propositions lack truth-value – that is, statements about morality cannot be said to be either true or false. It follows from this assertion that, because statements about morality are neither true or false, it is not possible to have moral knowledge – there are no such things as moral truths precisely because the criteria for knowledge as ‘justified true belief’ is lacking. In a strict sense,...

FAQs

April 9, 2018

What is Intuitionism?

Introduction Intuitionism is a methodological approach in Logic that takes mathematics, its theorems and maxims, to be a mental construct – an activity of the human mind. It is opposed to the view called Mathematical Realism, which holds that mathematics is not just a field of study by humans, but also that it contains truths independent of the human mind or their activity – it is objective in the pure sense of the word. Under Mathematical...

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April 6, 2018

What is Moral Skepticism?

Introduction Moral Skepticism is a meta-Ethical theory that holds that human beings do not have moral knowledge. Some Moral Skeptics hold an even strong position that moral knowledge is not even possible. If we agree that knowledge is ‘justified true belief’, Moral Skeptics would claim knowledge about moral claims can never be justified, and would therefore be only beliefs. In other words, they would make a distinction between what is belief and what is knowledge...

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April 4, 2018

What is Logicism (Brief)?

Logicism was a movement dominant in the early 20th Century. It was advanced by the German mathematician / philosopher Gottlob Frege with a premise that mathematics (and mathematical truths) is but an extension of Logic (and thus logical truths). In other words, Frege thought that mathematics (at least large sections of it) is reducible to logic. That is to say, Frege held that axioms and theorems in mathematics were dependent on Logic and thus logically necessary. For further explanation...

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April 4, 2018

What is Moral Realism?

Introduction Moral Realism or Moral Objectivism is a meta-Ethical theoretical position that holds that moral values are to be understood as objective and independent from human perception. That is to say, moral realists hold that moral values can be reduced to moral facts that are independent of beliefs or a concrete societal entity. Instead, moral facts describe the real/actual world. Moral Realisms thus holds that moral facts and judgements about moral facts can be understood in similar certainty as...

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April 3, 2018

What is Logical Positivism (Brief)?

Logical Positivism or Logical Empiricism was a school of philosophy that became popular in the first half 20th Century. It developed out of Positivism and dominated the early Analytic Philosophy. The core principle of Logical Positivism was to lay logical and scientific foundations to human knowledge. For Logical Positivists, a proposition is only meaningful if and only if it is either formal – that is, based on mathematics and/or logic – or it is possible...

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March 29, 2018

What is Instrumentalism?

Introduction Instrumentalism is a methodological approach in Epistemology and Philosophy of Science. It was advanced by the American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey, who held the view that (philosophical) theories are instrumental – literally, instrumental means that something services only as a means of pursuing an aim. That is to say, the worth of theories is not measured in the binary true or false or even if they are applicable to reality or depict reality accurately. Instead, Dewey...

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March 28, 2018

What is Pluralism (Brief)?

Introduction Pluralism, rather unsurprisingly, is used in a variety of ways in philosophy. Generally speaking, however, it is used to denote that there two or more substances or principles according to which our world view should be based. When speaking of substances, Pluralism is contrasted to Monism and Dualism. Monism holds the view that there is ultimately only one kind of substance in the world (usually either a physical substance, such as water or fire for the Ancients,...

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March 28, 2018

What is Hegelianism?

Hegelianism is a school of philosophy heavily focusing on the works of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegelianism was practiced in Germany around Jena, Hegel’s univerisity, in the period directly after Hegel’s death. Hegel’s immediate followers in Germany were divided into two general categories: the Left/Young Hegelians (Bruno Bauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Max Stirner, and David Strauss) and the Right/Old Hegelians (Johann Philipp Gabler, Karl Daub, Heinrich Leo, Leopold von Henning, and Heinrich Gustav Hotho). Hegel‘s...

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March 26, 2018

What is Deconstruction?

Introduction Deconstruction (or sometimes just Deconstructionism) was initiated by Jacques Derrida in the 1960s as a theoretical approach in Epistemology and Philosophy of Language and philosophy more broadly. Though notoriously misunderstood, mainly due to its initial reception, it is at the core an approach to literary criticism. With this approach, Derrida aimed to put to test traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth more generally. Influenced by the early 20th century French linguists, Derrida asserted that words can only refer...