philosophy as a way of life

Philosophical questions about the “art of living”

Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault by Pierre Hadot

• ancient philosophy aims to change how someone live his/her life through both theory and practice

stoicism

Confucianism

fabric of reality

Crash Course Philosophy

ethics

• metaethics, foundations of morality
  • moral realism, there are moral facts
    • grounding problem
    • absolutism, universal facts
    • relativism, depends on factors such as culture
  • moral antirealism, there are no moral facts
    • subjectivism, depends on personal attitudes
  • ethical theories are based on some starting assumptions
  • moral principles
• normative ethics, how one ought to act
  • virtue
  • deontological
  • consequentialism

ethical theories

• divine command theory
• natural law theory
  • seven basic goods
  • derive natural laws
  • is-ought problem raised by Hume
• kantianism
  • categorical imperatives
  • universalizability principle
  • treat people as ends-in-themselves
• utilitarianism
  • seek pleasure and avoid pain
  • greatest good for the greatest number
  • act vs rule
• contractarianism

existentialism

• there is no essence or inherent meaning
• we imbue meaning by our values and choices