From November 8th to 11th, Michael Smith, a professor of philosophy at Princeton University, visited the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences. During this period, Professor Smith gave two academic lectures on his latest academic achievements and discussed with the teachers of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences.
On November 9th, Professor Michael Smith made an academic report on “ARE THERE REASONS TO ACT MORALLY” at 1408, Block A, Zhixin Building. Associate Professor Wu Tongli of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences presided over the report. In the lecture, Professor Smith discussed how we can judge our behavior from a rational normative perspective, especially how we approach a particular rational perspective, that is, a moral perspective. Professor Smith believes that the rational perspective is different from the traffic rules. A country's law, even the UN Human Rights Declaration, is a universal, non-specific normative perspective. In other words, he can criticize our behavior by relying only on the fact that we are rational subjects. The subject of reason is the subject that acquires knowledge about the world and the ability to realize one's own desires. In the lecture, Smith also proposed the possible relationship between rational and moral views. He develops a set of criteria that can be used to criticize our inner desires by establishing a concept of modally robust ideals, including the ability to not interfere with any subject's ability to acquire knowledge and desire, and to help others. The subject acquires and maintains the ability to acquire knowledge and realize desires, which is in line with our common sense ethical standards. After the lecture, the question and answer session, everyone had a heated discussion on this issue. Later, Professor Smith held a teacher discussion with the teachers of the Faculty of Philosophy to further discuss his views in the lecture.
On November 10th, Professor Smith gave an academic report entitled "From our knowledge to normative knowledge" to Master Shan. Dr. Ivan V. Ivanov of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences presided over the report. In the lecture, Professor Michael Smith pointed out that one of the motivations for us to acquire knowledge is that we have a desire called "curious." Under its guidance, people began to pay attention to and think about a specific problem to achieve this desire. In the lecture, he tried to abandon the method that Descartes doubted, and still provided a Cartesian a priori foundation for moral normative knowledge. Starting from Descartes's "I think, I am", we derive from our knowledge of our knowledge as a rational actor with the ability to realize desire to pursue knowledge, and point out that we can pass this kind of knowledge about us. The functional facts introduce relevant normative knowledge. After the lecture, the teachers and students who participated in the lecture once again had a heated discussion on the content of the lecture.
Professor Michael Smith is a well-known ethicist in contemporary English. He graduated from Oxford University and is currently the head of the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University and Professor of McCosh. His main research interests are ethics, moral psychology, and action philosophy.
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