Human Purpose Exam 3

What makes Scotus different from thinkers who give priority to the intellect (such as Aquinas in a stronger intellectualist reading)

Aquinas: the intellect presents the good —> the will follows

Scotus: the will is not determined but the intellect

What does Scotus mean but the will is a rational appetite?

a power that desires, but not blindly. It operates with awareness and reflection

Why is the will no determined by the intellect?

even if the intellect judges something as “best,” the will can still accept it, reject it, or choose something else

What does it mean to say the will is self-determining?

the will is not forced by anything outside itself—not even reason

The will’s ability to choose between oppsites

do something or refrain from doing something; choose what reason says is best or reject it

Why is ability essential for freedom?

freedom requires real alternative, if you cannot otherwise, you are not free

Why does Scotus reject the idea that the intellect determines the will?

the intellect judges what is best and the will follows that judgement necessarily so, if you truly know what is best, you must choose it. Scotus thinks that this makes human action too automatic

What would be lost if the will were determined?

no real responsibility, no genuine moral praise or blame, human action would become mechanical

What does Scotus mean by indifference?

the will is open to multiple real possibilities

How is indifference different from randomness?

random = no control

Scotus’ freedom = controlled openness

What is freedom not?

chaos but the real possibility of alternatives

What is contingency (things could be otherwise) essential to moral life?

if actions were necessary, they wouldn’t be moral choices

How is contingency different from necessity?

contingency: could be otherwise

necessary: could not be otherwise

Affectio commodi

desire for advantage, happiness, benefit; self-interested inclination

Affectio iustitiae

desire for justice, goodness for its own sake'; can override self-interest

Why are affectio commodi and iustitiae distinct inclinations?

humans sometimes can pursue self-interest and sometimes an act against it for moral reasons

How does affectio iustitiae allow us to act beyond self-interest?

it is an independent inclination toward justice itself, enabling the will to choose what is right even when in conflicts with personal advantage

Why would morality collapse into self-interest without affectio iustitiae?

without it all actions reduce to self-interest and morality composes into egoism

Where does Scotus locate moral goodness (not primarily in consequences)?

the will (intention), not the outcome

Right willing

and action is morally good if it is will rightly

Why does external success not guarantee moral goodness?

morality likes in the will’s intentions—specifically whether one chooses what is right for its own sake—rather than outcomes, which are often beyond one’s control

What is the role of intention?

a bad intention + a good result doesn’t equal morally good

a good intention + a bad result can still have moral worth

God establishes moral obligation

moral laws depend on God’s will

Some moral truths are not arbitrary

some truths are necessary, for example: loving God or basic logical/moral principles

Why is Scotus not a simple relativist?

although he allows that some moral laws are contingent on God’s will, he maintains the fundamental moral principles are necessary and that God’s commands are grounded in rational goodness rather than arbitrary choice

How are natural law can be partly necessary and partly contingent?

its fundamental principles are grounded in unchangeable truths about God W goodness, while its specific moral manna's depend on God’s free will and could have been otherwise

Which moral principles could not be otherwise?

because moral principle is grounded in God’s nature, logical consistency, what it means for something to be good at all so denying them would involve contradiction

Which could God have commended differently?

those that do not involve contradiction if changed, cancer the ordering of human life, not God as the highest good, depend on God’s free (but rational) will

What does it mean to say that Scotus is a voluntarist?

the will has priority over the intellect in moral matters

Why does the will have a kind of priority over the intellect in moral matters?

means that knowing the good is not what makes action moral; choosing it is

How does morality connect to freedom and responsibility?

knowing the dood is not enough; choosing the good is what matters

Why is freedom required for responsibility?

you must be able to do otherwise

Why does coercion or ignorance affect moral evaluation?

coercion reduces freedom and ignorance reduces accountability

What does Heidegger mean by Dasein?

means “being there”; refers to human existence as aware and engaged

Why is human existence always situated?

we are never isolated or detached observes; we always exist in specific world, context, and set of relationships

Why are we never detached observers?

we are always involved, acting, and interpreting

What does it mean to be involved in a world of meaning?

we never encounter things as isolated, neutral objects—we always experience and interpret them through their significance in our life and context

How we normally encounter things infuse (ready-to-hand)

things we use them; ex: hammer while building

How things appear when we step back and observe (present-to-hand)

things as we observe them; ex: analyzing the hammer

Which comes first: practical engagement or theoretical observation?

practical engagement comes first, not theory

What does it mean the we “find ourselves” already in a world?

human existence is not self-created or chosen from scratch—we’re always born in pre-existing context

Why do we not choose our starting point in life?

we are “thrown” into existence, born into a time, culture, situation we didn’t choose

How does “thrownness” differ from determinism?

you don’t choose your starting point but you still choose how to respond

Why is death not just a biological event?

it is the possibility that ends all possibilities

How does awareness of death shape existence?

forces you to confront your life dn pushes you toward authenticity

How does morality relate to authenticity?

shapes how we take responsibility for our existence

Living according to oneself vs. conforming to “the they”

at the heart of authenticity vs. inauthenticity

What does “the they” (das Man) represent?

social norms, expectations, conformity

Why is conformity a problem for Heidegger

it leads to inauthentic existence, here individuals fail to take responsibility for their own lives and drift passively in the world of “the they”

Why is care not just an emotion?

care is the structure of existence, you are always concerned, invested, oriented toward something

Why is care the basic structure of human existence?

not just an emotion, it’s your whole way of being

Fear vs anxiety

fear has a specific object

anxiety has no specific object

Why does anxiety reveal something deeper about reality?

the inability of meaning and the “nothingness” behind everyday life

Why does anxiety not have a specific object?

it is not directed at something particular in the world, but at the structure of existence itself

What does it mean to absorbed in everyday directions?

we tend to get lost in directions, follow routines, conform

Why is fallenness not necessarily moral failure, but existential drift?

it is a default human existence

Scotus and Heidegger: freedom vs. authenticity

Scotus: freedom as power of the will

Heidegger: authenticity is existential ownership

Is Heidegger’s view of freedom the same as Scotus’?

no because Scotus is moral psychology and Heidegger is existential structure

Scotus and Heidegger: will vs. being

Scotus: focuses on moral agency (decision-making and morality)

Heidegger: focuses on the structure of existence (what it means to exist at all)

Scotus and Heidegger: Metaphysics

Scotus: operates within a classical metaphysical framework

Heidegger: critical of traditional metaphysics