Some of the authors of the essays on Chinese philosophers prefer the pin yin system of romanization for Chinese names and words, while others prefer the Wade‐Giles system. Given that both systems are in wide use today, important names and words are given in both their pin yin and Wade‐Giles formulations. The author's preference is printed first, followed by the alternative romanization within brackets.

SummaryThis article studies the impact of the debate about human sociability on the crisis of natural law in the later eighteenth century examining the Untersuchungen über den Stand der Natur of 1780 by the Göttingen scholar Michael Hissmann. It makes the case that this crisis ensued from Rousseau's Discours sur l‘inégalité and a revival of neo-Epicurean trends in moral philosophy more generally. The sociability debate revolved around the question to what extent society was natural or artificial to man. This had (...) important implications for the problem of whether distinctions between right and wrong or just and unjust were natural and inborn, or had developed at a much later stage of mankind's history, reflecting merely the respective needs and utility of different societies and cultures. Hissmann's essay summarises this European debate concisely. His point of departure is Rousseauian premises, yet his political conclusions turn Rousseau upside down. Here, Hissmann's essay opens up several questions regarding the allegedly radical political character of one-substance theories in philosophy. (shrink)

Passmore argues that there is urgent need to change our attitude to the environment, and that humans cannot continue unconstrained exploitation of the biosphere.

Our current moral relativism has blurred the distinction between true and false and even between right and wrong by accepting multiple truths and subjective truths as valid evaluations of reality. Serban documents that man, in the process of pursuing his goals, tends to manipulate others. Adapting through deception, particularly in crisis, is part of our animal heritage. Our thought processes, protective of our emotions and self-image, are perfectly adapted for the task of lying.

The article analyzes the features of poetic reflection in the work of A. Krymsky in the relation "man-nature". Coverage of this problem in the conditions of postmodern philosophical discourse requires appropriate embeddedness in the national and cultural experience. Moreover, the poetry of A. Krymsky manifests the deep experiences of the Ukrainian man's ties with the natural world, which includes the actualization of the inner nature of man. The author seeks to "write out" the laws of the "moral (...) constitution" according to which a person is worthy of his purpose of being in nature "has the right" to love according to the vocation of his convictions, his needs and inclinations. On the one hand, the author seems to call us to abide by these "laws", but, on the other hand, his thoughts divert from such categoricalness into the space of "identity" and confessional repentance. As follows from the above, the dignity of a person consists in the awakening and strengthening of an independent, responsible, formed on the path of enriching the inner life of a spiritual personality and the search for a free egress. And in this, in fact, the highest value of the relevance of postmodern self-communication in the interpretation of the poetic work of A. Krymsky is developed. (shrink)

The paper is aiming to present and analyse the notions used by Adam Smith: ‘instinct’ and ‘ appetites’. They appear in two of the Scottish philosopher’s works: in ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ and in an essay ‘ Of the External Senses’. Smith noticed that there are certain inborn mechanisms that suggest the existence of crucial needs and means leading to satisfy those needs. That concerns, mostly, hunger and thirst, but also sex drive. He regarded the need of self-preservation (...) and of caring for one’s own well-being as crucial for a man’s behaviour. The essay ‘ Of the External Senses’ mentions instinctive correlation of the objects of sight with the objects of touch as crucial for the human survival, basing on George Berkeley’s theory of vision. Smith’s remarks on appetites give a new perspective on how the mechanisms given us by Nature influence moral and social individuals, at the same time completing the philosopher’s theory. The need to care for self ’s prosperity and survival can be regarded not only as an instinct, but also as actions leading to realisation of the virtue of prudence. Moreover, we learn how to fulfil our instinctive needs and appetites within the society, searching for acceptable means. In the paper Smith’s view of instincts and appetites is also being briefly confronted with David Hume’s and Thomas Hobbes’ remarks on the subject. (shrink)

Originally published in 1960, The Future of Man is a chronicle of Professor Medwar's Reith lectures of 1959. The book outlines his predictions about the future estate of man, with the 'process of foretelling, rather than with what is actually foretold'. He asks, can we predict the future size of populations? What is the evidence and theoretical background for the belief that human intelligence is declining? Could human beings become uniformly excellent or is inborn diversity and inequality a necessary (...) part of the texture of human populations? The lectures tried to answer these questions and attempts to end with a definition of the biological standing of man. This book will be of interest to anthropologists, biologists and natural historians. (shrink)

The image of man’s dominion over nature is deeply rooted in Western thought. It first appears, in different forms, in the Book of Genesis. It also reappears as one of the leading images of the emerging ‘new science’ in the 16th century. Francis Bacon puts particular emphasis on this image, which he takes to be the guiding principle of his new vision of science and practical knowledge. It is this vision which, as is widely acknowledged, will open the path (...) to modern science. In what follows I will first sketch some relevant background for the emergence of this image. I will then analyse how the image takes shape in the context of Bacon’s philosophical project, paying attention to the novelties of his project but also to its continuities with tradition (especially Christian thought). It is indeed this mixture of past and future which suggests how natural order and human rule come to speak as one voice in the vision of the new science. (shrink)

This chapter examines the simultaneous rejection and endorsement of natural theology within Protestantism, focusing on two contentious issues representing the tensions within Protestant perspectives on natural theology. Firstly, it considers the historical theological question of the attitude to natural theology amongst the Reformers and the post-Reformation Protestant Orthodoxy. The chapter engages with the established consensus that the increasingly positive evaluation of the possibility and value of natural theology within Protestant Orthodoxy represents a regrettable discontinuity with the ‘original’ rejection of natural (...) theology by the early Reformers. Secondly, it explores the place of natural theology within contemporary Protestant philosophical theology, looking in particular at Alvin Plantinga's ‘Reformed objection to natural theology’. The chapter disputes Plantinga's argument that the Reformers' rejection of classical foundationalism, in favour of a Reformed epistemology in which belief in God can be properly basic, entails a Reformed objection to natural theology. Rather, it suggests the possibility of an alternative Reformed natural theology consistent with the epistemological framework characteristic of Reformed dogmatic theology. (shrink)

Gunnar Broberg’s The Man Who Organized Nature is a unique biography of the life of Carl Linnaeus, “a scientist but also much more—an international celebrity, the first ecologist, a visionary, a uni...

A Thomistic analysis of human nature which attempts to show how modern discoveries in physiology and physiological psychology are consistent with St. Thomas' teachings. The author indicates in the preface that he has written this book to show that modern forms of empiricism and materialism are not logical consequences of modern science. Unfortunately, the text itself ignores the challenge of recent trends in philosophy rather than engaging them in critical encounter.—R. J. W.

This slim volume can best be characterized as a condensed reworking of the theme of The Phenomenon of Man. Of course, as more and more of Teilhard's work becomes available, it becomes clear that everything he wrote is an earlier transcription or later reworking of the themes of "corpusculization," "biogenesis," "noogenesis," in short, Teilhard's dominantly stated theme of "anthropogenesis." To these teleologically generated levels of emergence of the primordial unity of spirit and matter-categoreally expressed in terms of the internal relatedness (...) of "inner" and "outer"—the theologian, and indeed Teilhard, would want to add Christogenesis—what St. Paul terms "the filling out of Christ's body." It seems hopeless to expect that Teilhard's sweeping synthesis will ever be able to meet the logical tests required by even the broad consensus in contemporary philosophy of science. Perhaps this consensus will have to be adjusted. But insofar as Teilhard claims to have presented a scientific theory, some criteria of meaning and truth will have to be met. But this is a challenge, not a rebuttal.—E. A. R. (shrink)

Kant distinguishes “natural ends” as exhibiting a part-whole reciprocal causal structure in virtue of which we can only conceive them as having been caused through a conception, as if by intelligent design. Here, I put pressure on Kant’s position by arguing that his view of what individuates and makes cognizable material bodies of any kind is inadequate and needs supplementation. Drawing on Spinoza, I further urge that the needed supplement is precisely the whole-part reciprocal causal structure that Kant takes to (...) be distinctive of natural ends alone. (shrink)

In this collection of closely interrelated essays, Robert Young emphasizes the scope of the nineteenth-century debate on 'man's place in nature' at the same time as he engages with the approaches of scholars who write about it. He is critical of the separation of the writing of history from writing about history, historiography, and of the separation of history from politics and ideology, then or now. Dr Young challenges fellow historians for reimposing the very disciplinary boundaries that the (...) nineteenth-century debate showed were in the service of ideological forces in that culture. Rather, he proposes that the full weight of the contending forces should be made apparent and debated openly so that neither nineteenth-century nor contemporary issues about the role of science in culture should be treated in a narrow perspective. (shrink)

보편적이며 필연적인 도덕률은 모든 사회 구성원들에게도 복종이 요구되는 당위성(當爲性)과 규범성(規範性)이 인정되는 인격의 기본적인 요건으로, 각자의 이해(利害)관계에 따라 좌우되는 것이 아니다. 그러므로 그 능력에 따라 어느 분야에 종사하거나간에 각자의 보편적이며 필연적인 도덕률에 따라 각자의 임무를 완수하기 위하여 최선을 다하는 인격의 공공성(公共性)이 요구된다. 공공성이란 단순히 사사로운 식견이나 이익이나 가치를 중시하는 것이 아니라 공공의 식견이나 이익이나 가치를 중시하는 것이다. 유학(儒學)에서는 성숙한 인격자나 지도자를 가리켜 군자(君子)라고 부른다. 군자는 자신의 도덕률(道德律)을 기초로 자신의 행위나 정치의식에 있어서 공공성을 표방한다. 군자의 인격은 경(敬)을 통하여 내면적으로 성숙하고 의(義)를 통하여 (...) 외면적으로 완성하는 동시에, 안인(安人)과 안백성(安百姓)으로 국가․사회에 이바지함으로써 군자 인격의 공공성을 드러낸다. (shrink)