International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume 1: Philosophy and Metaphysics
Philosophy
International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume 1: Philosophy and Metaphysics
Conference proceedings; Medicine -- Congresses; Science and the humanities -- Congresses; Technology -- Congresses
The chief interest, however, must belong to the logical connections of
those will-acts which themselves have over-individual character. A
merely individual proposition can lead to necessary logical connection,
but cannot claim that scientific importance which belongs to the logical
connection of those propositions which are necessary for the
constitution of every real experience: the science of chess cannot stand
on the same level with the science of geometry, the science of local
legal statutes not on the same level with the system of ethics. The
logical connections of the over-individual attitudes thus constitute the
fourth large division besides the physical, the mental, and the
historical sciences. It must thus comprise the systems of all those
propositions which are presuppositions of our common reality,
independent of the free individual decision. Here belong the acts of
approval--the ethical approval of changes and achievements, as well as
the æsthetic approval of the given world; the acts of conviction--the
religious convictions of a superstructure of the world as well as the
metaphysical convictions of a substructure; and above all, the acts of
affirmation and submission, the logical as well as the mathematical. But
to be consistent we must really demand that merely the over-individual
logical connections are treated in this division. If we deal, for
instance, with the æsthetical or ethical acts as psychological
experiences, or as historical propositions, they belong to the psychical
or historical division. Only the philosophical system of ethics or
æsthetics finds its place in this division. It is difficult to find a
suitable name for this whole system of logical connections of
over-individual attitudes. Perhaps it would be most correct to call it
the Sciences of Values, inasmuch as every one of these over-individual
decisions constitutes a value in our world which our individual will
finds as an absolute datum like the objects of experience. Seen from
another point of view, these values appear as norms which bind our
practical will inasmuch as these absolute values demand of our will to
realize them, and it may thus be permitted to designate this whole group
of sciences as a Division of Normative Sciences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account