The Ontological Foundation of Ethics, Politics, and Law
, by Belfiore, FrancescoNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780761836667 | 0761836667
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 1/26/2007
This extensive collection develops the philosophical content of sections from the previously published The Structure of the Mind (University Press of America, 2004). Dr. Belfiore begins from the basic ontological conception that considers the human mind" or "spirit" as an evolving, conscious triad composed of intellect, sensitivity, and power, each exerting a selfish or moral activity. Through this approach the author develops new concepts about ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. Dr. Belfiore poses these and other concepts under the opinion that issues concerning human beings can only be discussed by referring to what humans are as ontological entities, Thus, the notions of good and norms of morality, law, and society are derived from the structure and function of the mind. It follows that the solutions Dr. Belfiore presents are the results of a discovery and not the consequence of a conscious choice. Otherwise stated, ethics, politics, and law are given an ontological foundation. For each topic considered, Dr, Belfiore shows how his thought can reinterpret the views of other philosophers. The result of this is an innovative and highly stimulating text, which is of interest to graduate students and scholars in the philosophical branches of ethics, politics, and law
Francesco Belfiore was Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Catania, Italy.
Figures | p. xv |
Tables | p. xvii |
Preface | p. xix |
Premise: The Basic Ontological Conception | p. 1 |
A New Ontological Conception: The Mind and Its Components | p. 1 |
Expanding the Meaning of Descartes' "Cogito" | p. 1 |
Critical Analysis of the "Cogito Ergo Sum" | p. 1 |
The Mind, Its Components, and Its Products | p. 3 |
The Intellect and the Products of Its Outward Activity: Ideas, Projects, and Fantasies | p. 4 |
The Sensitiveness and the Products of Its Outward Activity: Sentiments | p. 5 |
The Power and the Products of Its Outward Activity: Actions | p. 5 |
The Inward Mind Activity (or Consciousness) and Its Products: Moral Events | p. 6 |
The New Ontological Conception in Four Propositions | p. 6 |
The Judgment Criteria for the Products of the Mind Components | p. 7 |
Judgment by "Specific Criteria" | p. 7 |
Judgment by the "Value Criterion", Valid for All Mind Products | p. 8 |
Judgment of Ideas and Projects by the Value Criterion | p. 8 |
Judgment of Sentiments by the Value Criterion | p. 12 |
Judgment of Actions by the Value Criterion | p. 12 |
Judgment of Moral Events by the Value Criterion | p. 13 |
Synopsis of the Mind Components, Their Products, and Their Judgment Criteria | p. 14 |
Private Ethics: Consciousness and Moral Thoughts, Feeling, and Acts | p. 19 |
Consciousness: The Inward Mind Activity That Produces the Moral Events | p. 20 |
Moral Events (Moral Thoughts/Projects, Moral Feelings, and Moral Acts) | p. 20 |
Moral Thoughts and Moral Projects/Decisions | p. 21 |
Moral Feelings | p. 22 |
Moral Acts | p. 23 |
Defining Moral Events: Consciousness versus Selfishness | p. 23 |
Moral Events versus Other Mental Products | p. 24 |
Moral Thoughts and Moral Projects-Decision versus Selfish or personal Ideas and Projects-Decisions | p. 25 |
Moral Thoughts (and Moral Conception) versus Selfish Ideas (and Scientific Theories) | p. 25 |
Moral Projects and Decisions versus Personal (or Selfish) Projects and Decisions | p. 26 |
Moral Feelings versus Personal (or Selfish) Sentiments | p. 26 |
Moral Acts versus Personal (or Selfish) Actions | p. 27 |
Features of Personal (or Selfish) Actions | p. 27 |
Features of Moral Acts | p. 28 |
Relationship Between Moral Acts and Personal Actions | p. 29 |
Consciousness as the Generator of Moral Principles, Moral Values, and Moral Norms | p. 30 |
Defining Moral Principles (Moral Thoughts), Moral Values (Moral Feelings), and Moral Norms (Moral Projects) | p. 30 |
Hierarchical Arrangement of the Various "Moral Goods" | p. 32 |
The "Ground Moral Norm" and the Spheres of Decreasing Moral Responsibility | p. 36 |
The Ground Moral Norm: An "Open" (non Dogmatic) Norm | p. 36 |
The Spheres of Decreasing Moral Responsibility of the Individual | p. 37 |
Moral Responsibility Toward Others | p. 37 |
Moral Responsibility Toward Oneself as the Origin of the Rights | p. 41 |
The Limit of Moral Responsibility: The "Evolution-Allowing, Involution-Avoiding Condition" | p. 42 |
The Imprecision in Defining Moral Goods and the Uncertainty in Moral Choices | p. 44 |
Judgment of Moral Events | p. 48 |
Judgment of Moral Events by the Morality Criterion | p. 48 |
Moral Thoughts and Moral Judgments | p. 48 |
The Supposed "Is-Ought Gap" and the "Evolution Toward Better States" as an Intrinsic Property of Mind | p. 50 |
Filling the "Is-Ought Gap" (or Connecting Reason to Morals) | p. 54 |
The Universalizability Principle | p. 56 |
A New Version of the Universalizability Principle | p. 65 |
Treating Men as Ends | p. 68 |
Other Views About the Reason-Morals Relationship | p. 69 |
Moral Feelings and Moral Judgments | p. 70 |
Arguments Against the Role of Moral Feelings in Moral Judgments | p. 71 |
The Notion of "Moral Feeling" in Classical Philosophical Works | p. 71 |
The Notion of "Moral Feeling" in Modern Philosophy | p. 74 |
Further Theories on Moral Judgment, Moral Thoughts, and Moral Feelings | p. 89 |
Neither Utilitarianism nor Kantianism: Categorical Desires | p. 89 |
Self-Interest Theories | p. 90 |
Rawls' Constructivism: The Higher-Order Interests of Free and Equal Persons | p. 93 |
Other Theories | p. 97 |
Refusing Morality | p. 108 |
Nietzsche's Thought | p. 108 |
Moral Skepticism | p. 111 |
Hard Moral Choices and Moral Dilemmas | p. 122 |
General Considerations | p. 122 |
Abortion: A Typical Hard Moral Case | p. 123 |
Other Examples of Hard Moral Cases | p. 129 |
Judgment of Moral Acts | p. 131 |
Good versus Bad Moral Acts | p. 131 |
Promoting the Evolution of Sensitiveness versus Promoting Happiness | p. 132 |
Pursuing Mind Evolution as the Source of Human Rights | p. 133 |
Classes of Good Moral Acts | p. 134 |
The General Class of Good Moral Acts | p. 134 |
The Sub-Classes of Good Moral Acts | p. 135 |
The Selfishness/Consciousness Balance (or Outward versus Inward mind activity) | p. 141 |
Judgment of Moral Events by the Value Criterion | p. 143 |
Super-Normal and Abnormal Moral Behavior | p. 145 |
Supererogation | p. 145 |
Moral Formalism | p. 145 |
Fanaticism | p. 146 |
Human Freedom | p. 148 |
The Claimed Freedom of Human Conduct | p. 148 |
Personal Decisions and Actions, as Determined by the Prevailing Sentiment | p. 148 |
Moral Decisions and Moral Acts as Determined by the Prevailing Moral Feelings | p. 149 |
The Fundamental Moral Choice: Moral Projects versus Personal Projects (The Claimed "Free Will") | p. 150 |
Moral Responsibility in the Absence of Internal Freedom | p. 154 |
The Primacy of Ethics | p. 157 |
Ethics and the Other Products of Mind Components | p. 157 |
Ethics and Religion | p. 158 |
Public Ethics and Political Philosophy | p. 161 |
Human Actions and Moral Acts: Their Judgment by the Value Criterion | p. 161 |
Distinction of Actions into Particular and Universal by the Value Criterion | p. 161 |
Society as the Result of the Universalization of Human Actions | p. 162 |
The Origin of Human Society | p. 162 |
Relationships Between Communities of Different Degrees of Universality | p. 164 |
Public Selfish Actions versus Public Moral Acts as the Binomial Motor of Human Society | p. 166 |
Social Institutions | p. 169 |
The "Principle of the Best Approach to Universality" and the Public Justification of Social Institutions | p. 170 |
Advantages of the "Principle of the Best Approach to the Universality of Public Actions" | p. 172 |
The "Best Approach to Universality" and the Proposal of a "Gradational Democracy" | p. 173 |
The "Voting Act" and Its Meaning | p. 179 |
Making the "Voting Act" Free and Responsible | p. 179 |
The Meaning of the "Voting Act" | p. 181 |
The "Rating" of Actions (and of the Laws that Regulate Them), and the Public Justification of Power | p. 183 |
The Rating of Actions and of Laws | p. 183 |
Publicly Justified Power | p. 183 |
Informal Mini-Communities | p. 185 |
"Arrogance", "Violence", and Publicly Unjustified Power | p. 187 |
Ethics and Politics, Duties and Rights | p. 190 |
The Ethical Aspects of Politics: The "Evolution-Allowing Condition" as the Public Moral End | p. 190 |
Duties as the Source of Rights | p. 194 |
The Imprecision in Defining Public Moral Ends and Norms as Source of Discussion and Diverse (Competing but not Contrasting) Opinions | p. 194 |
Political Concepts and Theories: Critique and Reinterpretation | p. 198 |
General Concepts: 1. The Centrality of the Idea of Class to Understand Men and Society | p. 198 |
General Concepts: 2. Equality | p. 199 |
Equality and Diversity | p. 199 |
Equality of Human Beings: Their Common Properties and Universal Rights | p. 199 |
Diversity of Human Beings: Their Individual Properties and Rights | p. 200 |
Equality versus Diversity of Human Beings | p. 202 |
Theories of Equality: A Critical Analysis | p. 204 |
Overview | p. 204 |
The Analysis of the Concept of Equality | p. 205 |
Equality as Related to Meritocracy, Fraternity, and Friendship | p. 220 |
The Confutation of the Concept of Equality | p. 221 |
General Concepts: 3. Property | p. 226 |
Private Property: Main Theories on Its Origin | p. 227 |
A Justificatory Theory of Private Property | p. 230 |
The Communal Property | p. 234 |
Property, Liberty, and Virtues | p. 236 |
Political Thought of Hobbes, Hume, and Nietzsche | p. 237 |
Hobbes | p. 238 |
Hume | p. 240 |
Nietzsche | p. 242 |
Utilitarianism | p. 245 |
Happiness, Utility, and Welfare as Moral Ends | p. 245 |
"Rule Utilitarianism" and "Government House Utilitarianism" | p. 249 |
Liberal Equality and the Compensation for Inequalities | p. 250 |
Rawls' Theory | p. 250 |
Rawls' First Principle (Equal Right to Liberty) | p. 250 |
Rawls' Second Principle (or Difference Principle) | p. 250 |
Rawls' Rule of the Priority of Liberty (First Priority Rule) | p. 254 |
Rawls' Rule of the Priority of Justice (Second Priority Rule) | p. 254 |
Dworkin's Theory | p. 256 |
Other Views on the Compensation for Inequalities | p. 257 |
Libertarianism | p. 259 |
Communism and Marxist Theories | p. 266 |
Classic Communism and Historical Materialism: The Core of the Theory | p. 266 |
Socialization of the Means of Production | p. 268 |
The Alleged Abundance of Resources and the Need for Justice | p. 272 |
"Exploitation" versus "Just Distribution" | p. 272 |
On the Existence and Nature of the "Surplus Value" | p. 273 |
Transfer of the "Surplus Value" | p. 277 |
Alienation | p. 278 |
Analytical Marxism and Non-Marxist Theories of Socialism | p. 280 |
Communitarianism | p. 280 |
Political Liberalism and Liberal Nationalism | p. 283 |
Political Liberalism | p. 283 |
Liberal Nationalism | p. 285 |
Citizenship Theory | p. 287 |
Citizenship Theory and Civic Virtues | p. 287 |
Civic Republicanism | p. 290 |
Teaching and Learning Civic Virtues | p. 290 |
Multiculturalism | p. 292 |
Feminism | p. 298 |
Other Issues | p. 301 |
Environmental Policy | p. 301 |
Rebellion | p. 302 |
Difficult moral choices in Public Life | p. 304 |
General Considerations | p. 304 |
Views About Dirty Hands Cases | p. 307 |
Dirty-Hands Cases in Non-Democratic Non-Constitutional (Old and Modern) States | p. 307 |
Dirty-Hands Cases in Modern Democratic Constitutional States | p. 309 |
Dirty Hands and Democracy | p. 309 |
The Alleged Justification of Dirty Hands | p. 313 |
Against Dirty Hands | p. 317 |
Comments on the Corruption in Political Life | p. 322 |
International Politics | p. 325 |
General Concepts and Ethical Issues | p. 325 |
General Concepts | p. 325 |
Ethical Issues in the International Politics | p. 327 |
Ethics in the International Society | p. 327 |
Remarks on War | p. 329 |
Classical Theories on International Politics | p. 331 |
Legal Positivism | p. 331 |
Natural Law | p. 333 |
Kantianism | p. 334 |
Contractarian Thought | p. 337 |
The Cosmopolitan Conception (Cosmopolitanism) | p. 338 |
Public Ethics and Philosophy of Law | p. 345 |
A New Conception of Laws | p. 345 |
Laws as Universal and Collective Projects | p. 345 |
Defining Laws | p. 345 |
Criteria for the Judgment of Laws | p. 347 |
The Value Criterion | p. 347 |
The Specific Judgment Criteria | p. 348 |
The Two-Fold Nature and the Binding Force of Laws | p. 348 |
The Two-Fold Nature of Laws | p. 348 |
Validity, Efficaciousness, and Binding Force of Laws | p. 350 |
Re-Definition of Laws | p. 354 |
Laws and Rights in a Democratic Constitutional State | p. 355 |
Laws in a Democratic Constitutional State | p. 355 |
Duties as the Source of Rights in a Democratic Constitutional State | p. 358 |
Norms, Laws, Rules, and Commands | p. 359 |
Legal Theories: Critique and Reinterpretation | p. 366 |
Natural Law Theory | p. 366 |
Classical Views on Natural Law | p. 366 |
Modern Views on Natural Law | p. 368 |
The Ethical Basis of Law | p. 368 |
Political Obligation (Reasons to Obey the Law) | p. 370 |
Interpretation of "Prior Law" | p. 371 |
Legal Positivism | p. 373 |
Laws as Orders Backed by Threats | p. 373 |
The Internal View of Laws | p. 376 |
The System of Primary and Secondary Rules | p. 378 |
The Distinction of Primary from Secondary Rules | p. 378 |
The Nature of Secondary Rules (Rules of Recognition) | p. 380 |
Laws and Morals | p. 386 |
The "Minimum Content of Natural Law" Theory | p. 386 |
Other Views on the Law-to-Morality Relationship | p. 388 |
Dworkin's Rules, Principles, and Policies | p. 391 |
The Indeterminacy of Law: Legal Formalism and Legal Realism | p. 394 |
Legal Formalism | p. 395 |
The Thesis of Legal Formalism | p. 395 |
Legal Formalism and the Individuality of Judges | p. 397 |
Legal Realism (Rule-Skepticism) | p. 398 |
The Thesis of Legal Realism: Judges as Lawmakers | p. 398 |
Legal Realism and the Binding Character of "Rules" | p. 403 |
Legal Realism and the Internal View of Laws | p. 405 |
Legal Realism and the "Final" Decisions | p. 406 |
The Ultimate Criteria of Legal Validity | p. 406 |
Other Legal Theories | p. 409 |
Kantianism | p. 409 |
Critical Legal Studies | p. 411 |
The Rule of Law | p. 413 |
Law and Economics | p. 415 |
Constitutionalism | p. 423 |
Moral Philosophy and Constitutional Law | p. 423 |
The Nature and Function of Constitution | p. 428 |
The Constitution and the Hierarchy of "Powers" | p. 428 |
The Constitution and the Hierarchy of Laws | p. 429 |
The Ontological Basis of the Separation of "Powers" | p. 429 |
Different Constitutions | p. 433 |
Adjudication | p. 435 |
Defining Adjudication | p. 435 |
Adjudication by Trial and Appellate Courts | p. 435 |
Constitutional Constraint and Judicial Review | p. 440 |
The Constitutional Constraint | p. 441 |
The Judicial Review | p. 443 |
Sanctions and Punishment | p. 445 |
International and Supra-National Laws | p. 449 |
Concluding Remarks | p. 453 |
References | p. 457 |
Index | p. 483 |
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