Maxim (philosophy)
The maxim ( fr. maxime " mission statement ", from the Latin maxima ( please complete: propositio ) " the largest / highest ( statement ) " ) originally referred to a product derived from the logic concept, which was received at the French in the mores and since then, for the purposes of "supreme personal rule of life, personal principle of volition and action " is used (La Rochefoucauld, Goethe ). In the French moralists Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) and François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) was the maxim to a high form of philosophical statement. Goethe's aphorisms Maxims and Reflections was first published in 1833.
Word history
The noun " maxim" is the expression used by Boethius Maximae et principales propositiones (Eng. " the highest and most general statements") back. When Albert Rickmers village it still possesses the logical meaning ( locorum alius dicitur locus maximus; German " Another topos is referred to as ' top- topos .'" ). In French, this will develop the ethical and practical significance of les maximes. Particularly strongly impacted this de La Rochefoucauld Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales ( 1665) by. But we find the original word usage even later, such as at D' Argens ( † 1771):
" Propositions Evident et générales, telles que sont elles qu'on appelle maximes ou axiom [ ... ] On appelle ces premiers principes of maximes ou the axiom, parce que ce sont of propositions, dont il suffit de le sens concevoir, pour être convaincu de leur certitude. "
" Maxim" in Kant's sense
Maxims are in Immanuel Kant expression of the rational striving for unity and generalization; they are subjective in that they are not hergenommen the object of reason, but are an expression of the interest of reason:
"I call all subjective principles, which are, hergenommen in respect of a certain possible perfection of knowledge of the object is not of the nature of the object, but the interest of reason, M aximen of reason. "
In Kantian ethics, as Kant negotiated inter alia, in the Critique of Practical Reason, obtains " maxim" as "subjective law by which you really are ", as " subjective principle of volition " great importance. Any practical principles are maxims, if they also subjective reasons for the actions, subjective principles, are.
The categorical imperative demands strict generalizability of maxims:
" Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time that they 'll universal law. "
" Act so that the maxim of your will at any time could also be considered as a universal law. "
The moral value of an action is given if a person can think of his maxims by reason considerations contradiction as practical universal laws, that is, if he can want the maxims of his action at the same time a universal law (see categorical imperative ).
Following Kant, Charles S. Peirce has the basic for his pragmatism usually referred to clarify our thoughts as pragmatic maxim.