Getting cranked up right on time in here. Room is cold. Grandpa is getting his concrete poured today, so I’ll see that when I’m done here.
Some discussion of the previous class’s material. Talk about the Rationalists an not needing observation for a science.
This professor is an odd duck. I keep getting the disconcerting impression that he’s a cleverly designed puppet or a much smaller professor in a costume. Hard to put an exact reason on it; I suspect it’s a slight clumsiness combined with high energy. He is not unique in giving me that impression.
Ethics is concerned with finding “the Good”, if it has a proper object and is therefore a science.
Getting to some meat, now.
Skepticism. In its purest form, skepticism claims that no certain knowledge is possible, and therefore no ethical knowledge is certain. For the skeptic, the good is unknowable. Notable Skeptic: Pyrrho of Elis. Pyrrho maintained that all observation is relative, therefore nothing is objectively knowable. Pyrrho was followed by Arcesilaus and Carneades, who were quite a bit more moderate. They didn’t believe in certain knowledge, but they did believe in probable knowledge. They were followed by Antiochus, who reverted to extreme skepticism. Antiochus said that any statement of probability implies a statement of necessity.
Skepticism leads itself to two competing moral theories. One, the “way of toleration”, is to conclude that since the correct outcome is unknowable or nonexistent, all possible outcomes should be considered with due respect. The second, the “way of tyranny”, is for outcomes to be chosen by whichever faction is willing and able to exert the most force in support of their chosen outcome.
Epicureanism. Founded by Epicurus. Epicureans think pleasure and pain are real, and the moral life involves avoiding pain as much as possible. The Epicurean good life involves the absence of pain. Epicurus had a famous “walled garden”, where he and his followers would retreat from the world. Believed extremes cause pain. Epicureans are moderate in everything. Notable problems include that the absence of pain qualification creates a “best possible life” which doesn’t particularly line up with most conceptions of a good life, and that many activities generally considered immoral are not painful.