What is Communitarianism?

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What is Communitarianism?

Introduction Communitarianism is a political doctrine that emphasises the importance of a given community over its individuals. While the view has existed for a very long time, and is present in, for example, Plato, its articulation as a doctrine has only become prevalent in the 20th century. Communitarianism is particularly opposed to both Libertarianism, a doctrine that places emphasis on the individuals’ independence and liberty (especially in the domain of economics). Elements of Communitarianism is to...

What is Panentheism?

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What is Panentheism?

Introduction Panentheism is a view that Nature and God are one and the same. In this regard, it is similar to Pantheism; however, unlike the latter, Panentheism does not equate the two and instead stresses that God is more than Nature alone. While one can speak of Nature as being synonymous to speaking about God, and just as with Pantheism, to claim that God is present in all aspects of Nature, Panentheism holds that God is more...

What is Pantheism?

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What is Pantheism?

Introduction Pantheism is the theoretical position that God is everywhere and everything; that God not only is present in every aspect of human life, but truly inhabits all that is known. This is to say that not only is God present in our decision-making processes, but that we ourselves, as human beings, are already part of God. Most Pantheists hold that God and Nature are one and the same thing, albeit the meaning of nature is not...

What is Phenomenology (Brief)?

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What is Phenomenology (Brief)?

Introduction Phenomenology is a philosophical approach / method that rose to prominence in the early 20th century, largely developed in Germany by philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, but also took hold in France by Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. The main premise of phenomenology is that ‘reality’ is perceived and understood through human consciousness and is not independent of it – objects in the world as well as historical and other events are ‘phenomena’ that are observed...

What is Non-Cognitivism?

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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,...

What is Intuitionism?

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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...

What is Moral Skepticism?

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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...

What is Logicism (Brief)?

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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...

What is Moral Realism?

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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...

What is Logical Positivism (Brief)?

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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...