MODERNITY

BASICS

• "The new and now."
• Term "Modernity" relates to the concept of time.
• The Modern Era.

FOCUSES

• The Problem of Consciousness
• Radicalization of critiques
• Progress

THOUGHT

• Critique- process of emancipation
• Self-reflection of knowledge
• Idea that history isn't arbitrary, has an end that can be anticipated
• Influenced government structures

MAJOR THINKERS

• Kant
• Descartes
• Hume
• Newton
• Galileo

DESCARTES

• Epistemology
• Philosophical examination of knowledge
• Influenced by intellectual Renaissance that surrounded him at the turn of the 17th century

DESCARTES

• Mathematical genius
• 4 concepts of doubt
• 1. I can't trust my senses
• 2. I could be crazy
• 3. I could be dreaming

DESCARTES

• 4. A malicious demon could be out to fool me.
• Res Extensia vs. Res Cogitans
• "I think therefore I am"

HUME

• The self is nothing but a collection of different perceptions.
• Reason-based
• Criticizes non-reason based philosophy

HUME

• Curiosity is the good part of speculative philosophy
• Application of scientific method to philosophy
• Refusal to appeal to the supernatural

HUME

• Mapping the geography of the mind
• 2 principle tasks- descriptive and explanatory
• Both necessary

IMMANUEL KANT

• Born April 22, 1724. Near Baltic Sea.
• The critical philosopher
• Inspired by Newton
• Reacted to rise of science

KANT

• 3 major texts
• 1. Critique of Pure Reason
• 2. Critique of Practical Reason
• 3. Critique of Judgement

KANT

• Autonomy- Main theme
• Sought to rescue metaphysics from Humean approach
• Understanding the extent human reason is capable of a priori

KANT

• A priori- arises out of operations of mind
• A posteori- after sensory experience
• Kant-all knowledge begins with sense experience

HEGEL

• Born in Germany, 1770
• Professor at various universities
• Absolute idealism
• Systematic philosophy

HEGEL

• World Spirit-reason continuously expanding
• Knows itself through 3 steps
• Subjective, objective, absolute

HEGEL

• "If the people no longer accept their nation's rule, 2 things may happen. They may revolt themselves or seek outside help."

HEGEL

• Image of ones self comes through- ideal, perception, and reality
• Need others' perception to form identity
• Hegelian Method- rational is real, real is rational

KARL MARX

• Influenced greatly by Hegel
• Father of Communism, elimination of social classes
• Ideas fostered by future USSR, feared class warfare

CONCLUSIONS

• Modernity shifted the philosophical focus
• Instead of philosophy being a means to understand religion it began to become more scientific

CONCLUSIONS

• Modernity helped fields like psychology
• Self-reflections became a major focus
• We sought to understand ourselves

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CONCLUSIONS

• Philosophical critique took center stage
• Doubt led to theories, theories led to testings
• Testing would lead to results and a stronger knowledge of our world