Philosophical Insights: Mill to Freud

Room to Grow (John Stuart Mill)

- He was a genius, raised on utilitarianism.

- There are different types of pleasure, and some are better than others.

- Anyone who has experienced high and low pleasures prefers the high.

- Paternalism: Forcing someone to do something for their good (acceptable only in children).

- The Harm Principle: Every adult should be free to live as they want as long as they do not harm anyone.

- The more freedom, the happier.

Unintelligent Design (Charles Darwin)

- Everyone has apes in their family tree; we are part of nature.

- His theory explains how human beings, plants, and animals have come to be what they are and how they are still changing.

- You cannot be a Darwinian and also believe that God created all species as they are.

- He became a naturalist and worked on his theory of evolution.

- His grandfather had suggested that plants and animals evolved, but he added the concept of natural selection: the process by which the best-adapted animals and plants survive and pass on their traits.

- Evolution is a mechanical process. There is no conscience or God behind it.

Sacrifices of Life (Søren Kierkegaard)

- Believing in God requires a leap of faith. The duty to obey God is above all.

- Christian. The church is not truly Christian.

Workers Unite (Karl Marx)

- He was egalitarian and eccentric.

- The entire history of humanity can be explained as a class struggle: the rich capitalists (bourgeoisie) and the workers or proletariat.

- Alienation: Workers are alienated or distanced from their authentic essence as human beings.

And? (William James)

- A squirrel is in a tree; a hunter surrounds it to hunt it. Does the hunter surround their prey?

- Yes. Pragmatic philosophy: He is only interested in the practical consequences (the effective value of the thought).

- The truth is what has a positive impact on our lives.

- God exists.

- Believing something that you would like to be true, whether it really is or not.

Death of God (Friedrich Nietzsche)

- God is dead.

- Eccentric.

- Without God, we have no moral foundation. Without God, our ideas about what is right and wrong and good and evil are meaningless.

- Immoralist.

- Übermensch: The next step in the development of humanity.

Thoughts in Disguise (Sigmund Freud)

- The unconscious: Part of what we do is due to desires that remain hidden.

- We hide from ourselves what we really feel and what we want to do.

- Dreams: The royal road to the unconscious.