Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Reason, Compassion, Happiness

In Kant's system, Happiness, defined as a totality of satisfactions, is an Empirical concept.  Hence, his inclusion of Happiness in the Highest Good of Pure Practical Reason, even conditionally, is problematic, at best.  Likewise, the ascription to Pure Practical Reason of the Duty to promote the Happiness of others is groundless, i. e. promoting their Rationality would be consistent with the principle.  Similarly, it would seem to follow on the basis of a principle of Self-Denial that one should promote the Self-Denial of others.  But, instead, Schopenhauer advocates Compassion, the exercise of which consists in the alleviation of the specific causes of the suffering of others, which as such, only reinforces their Selfishness.  In contrast, Spinoza has no such difficulty.  For, in his doctrine, Happiness is Health, Health consists in the active exercise of one's powers, and the active exercise of one's powers is grounded in Knowledge, either Reason or Intuition.  Thus, the promotion of the Happiness, no matter whose, is entailed in the Rationality of Spinoza's doctrine.  He does not share the problem with his peers because while their, and most other, concepts of Happiness is that of a passive condition, his is active.

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