IT'S ALL ABOUT UNICORNS

  Illustration: Anne Geßner     According to the stoic conception, the human being is capable, not only of recognizing the divine world order through reason, but also aligning their actions to it. For stoics, it is good to live in conformity with destiny or nature, through which the world order can be seen. Therefore, the wise man must learn  to control his emotions in a detached way, in order to face the inevitability of his destiny like illness and death. This approach has been used until today as a relevant moral ideal through many Western ethical theories and studies.    There are things in our power and others which we can not control. In our power are things like opinions, instincts and aversion, simply put: everything which is our own work. On the contrary, there are things beyond our power like our body, possesions, prestige and social position, basically: everything which is not our own work. What is in our authority to control, can be prevented by...

   Illustration by Anne Geßner    As always, in August it was very warm. The only place where you could tolerate the heat, was at the seaside. There, between the dunes I felt the breeze touching my skin gently while I could hear voices of children playing on the beach. For days, I kept my mind busy asking myself what makes life a good one. But I wasn't able to find a satisfactory answer, so  I dediced to enjoy the rest of the day doing nothing but having a refreshment at the seafront. Suddently, something caught my attention when I saw the children building sand castles. The way they were playing, made me understand in the blink of an eye, what at first true happiness means. I could see how absorbed they were, ignoring time and surroundings. Thoughts about school didn't come up at that time. Only the sand castles mattered to them. Aristotle suggests that happiness at first can mean different things. To sick people, happiness means health, for poor people, wealth...

  The sun allows all visible things to flourish without becoming part of it. What does this statement mean? According to Plato the real nature of the existence is Eidos, viz. Idea while the material world is the latest and poorest expression of being. The universe is plenty of ideas, each of one is unique, eternal, unalterable and complete. All of them are made of spirit. As a result we can't accept the possibility of evil.  The concept of evil means not only a bad and violent behaviour aiming to destroy life in general but also corruption, decay and finally death. This general understanding of evil contradicts the platonic universe and therefore Platon rejects evil as an idea within the world of ideas. First, ideas are eternal. Assuming that evil exists means also that ideas could decay. Secondly the meaning of evil could imply that ideas participate in nature which is inconsistent with his theory of archetypes. According to Plato although nature can participate in the world ...

Why does the accused go unpunished when the crime was committed under the influence of drugs, alcohol or a schizophrenic attack?  Generally speaking, both moral philosophy and criminal law accept the idea that a subject who commits a crime under such circumstances, has lost his mind. Expressions like being out of your head, losing your mind, or not knowing who you were, show clear examples of how to deny someone's guilt and consequently responsibility for their actions. In moral philosophy and law it is also assumed that a subject takes responsibility for his actions and therefore for his consequences, as long as he admits to being the author and cause of them. Moreover, the belief that we can choose our lives and decide on our actions makes us moral subjects. In Walden Two Skinner claims that human beings do not have a free will just because they feel one. However, this statement is not harmless but is largely a provocation as it compromises the entire institutional buildin...

In his novel Futurum II, Skinner shows an advanced and future society that seems to have found a solution to all social problems. It is a scientific approach to shaping human behavior. These psychologists enjoy a very good reputation among scientific circles because they have found the key to modifying behaviors whose ethical criteria they have previously planned and chosen. With this social and engineering technology, behaviorists plan to increase the happiness of society. They believe that human behavior is a bundle of environmental reactions, either because of their presence or their lack that a person shows in connection with their contextual or environmental variables. Consequently, the concept of free will is an illusion. In fact, for this school, the behavior people show is a consequence of their surrounding and learning stories based on the principle of reinforcement. If the consequences of the actions are bad, then there is a high probability that they will end. However, i...

According to Huxley individuals are primarily determined by genetics and genetic manipulation. For Skinner, the behaviour is determined by the manipulation of the environmental variables. But for Huxley, legal drugs are the only way to provide a way out of the conflict. According to Skinner, there is no conflict between the way citizens think and act, as they are convinced that the life they lead is the best, given the possibilities available. A perfect society is achieved by regulating the genetic material and planning jobs according to their genetic abilities. However, according to Skinner, a harmonious society is achieved through the complete regulation of the external factors that cause a particular behavior. With this in mind human actions are highly predictable and therefore controllable. Huxley's utopia is all about the happiness of the citizens. As long as citizens live happily, they will avoid confrontation and war. Nevertheless, Skinner's utopia tries to persuade...

Self-control, childhood and lifestyle A child of seven years old sits at the piano seven hours a week. After seven years he plays Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 7. What does this remarkable achievement have to do with self-control?  It is generally understood to be the ability to suppress the primary instincts, desires and inclinations through a technique in order to achieve a certain mental or physical performance. The virtue of playing the piano is the reward for a long wait, which is often painful, since waiting is contrary to the inclination of the child's will. Often self-control involves renouncing short-term pleasures. This is then a delay of the present pleasure, which the child sometimes interprets as a punishment, especially with negative reinforcement. The result of enjoying a later and long-term pleasure is a rational motive, which can be incomprehensible to children and contrary to nature. The will of the child tries to satisfy its own wishes here and now. The ...