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Natura non facit saltus [1] [2] (Latin for "nature does not make jumps") has been an important principle of natural philosophy.It appears as an axiom in the works of Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays, IV, 16: [2] "la nature ne fait jamais des sauts", "nature never makes jumps"), one of the inventors of the infinitesimal calculus (see Law of Continuity).
Perfectionism, as a moral theory, has a long history and has been addressed by influential philosophers. Aristotle stated his conception of the good life ().He taught that politics and political structures should promote the good life among individuals; because the polis can best promote the good life, it should be adopted over other forms of social organization.
"A well-constituted human being, a 'happy one,'" he writes, "Must perform certain actions and instinctively shrinks from other actions … [H]is virtue is the consequence of his happiness." [ 1 ] In Nietzsche’s view, that which follows from instinct is marked by being "easy, necessary, free," is good.
Philosophical pessimism can lead to misanthropy if one concludes that human nature is a significant contributor to the suffering and futility of existence. Conversely, a misanthropic perspective might reinforce a pessimistic worldview, as negative experiences with humanity can lead to broader existential anguish.
Its conception of human nature and human good overlooks the need for self-identity than which nothing is more essentially human." (p. 173, see especially sections 6 and 7). The consequence of this is held to be that "Marx and his followers have underestimated the importance of phenomena, such as religion and nationalism, which satisfy the need ...
Plato (c. 428 – c. 347 BCE) teaches in the Republic that a life committed to knowledge and virtue will result in happiness and self-realization.To achieve happiness, one should become immune to changes in the material world and strive to gain the knowledge of the eternal, immutable forms that reside in the realm of ideas.
Negative utilitarianism is a form of negative consequentialism that can be described as the view that people should minimize the total amount of aggregate suffering, or that they should minimize suffering and then, secondarily, maximize the total amount of happiness.
The form drive, in Schiller's view, is a function of the person grounded in itself. This drive is humanity's rational nature, their "absolute existence", and its goal is to give them freedom, so they can bring harmony to the variety of things in the world. Because the form drive insists on the absolute, "It wants the real to be necessary and ...