Combining Philosophers

Ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Niccolo Machiavelli and Gottfried Leibniz

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2 ideas

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / a. Preconditions for ethics

5026	Animals lack morality because they lack self-reflection [Leibniz]
	Full Idea: It is for lack of reflection on themselves that beasts have no moral qualities.
	From: Gottfried Leibniz (Discourse on Metaphysics [1686], §34)
	A reaction: Interesting, but I think this is false. I would say animals do have a sense of their self, because that is the most basic feature of any mind, but what they lack is second-order thought, that is, ability to reflect on and judge their own beliefs and acts.

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility

7569	Humans are moral, and capable of reward and punishment, because of memory and self-consciousness [Leibniz, by Jolley]
	Full Idea: For Leibniz, it is by virtue of possessing memory and self-consciousness that human minds are moral beings, capable of reward and punishment.
	From: report of Gottfried Leibniz (works [1690]) by Nicholas Jolley - Leibniz Ch.4
	A reaction: I like this because it makes no mention of free will (though Leibniz struggled to defend free will). I would add meta-thought (the ability to ponder and evaluate our own thinking), which makes a change of mind possible.