To the things themselves. Husserl’s demand, and the founding instruction of phenomenology: set aside theory, assumption and inherited interpretation, and attend to what is actually there.
The most abstract philosophical movement Germany produced began by insisting on the concrete.
Sittenwidrigkeit. Section 138 BGB voids a legal transaction that offends good morals, and specifically one where a party exploits another’s predicament, inexperience or weakness to obtain a conspicuously disproportionate advantage. A German contract can be void because the bargain was too one-sided. Not misrepresented, not coerced — just too unequal.
Pacta sunt servanda is quoted in German legal education as the foundation of contract law, and German civil law treats the binding force of agreement as a starting premise rather than as one consideration among several. An agreement is not a statement of current intention that both sides revisit. It is the thing that was settled.
American contract law will not enforce a promise unless something was given in exchange for it. The doctrine is called consideration, and the Restatement defines it as a bargained-for exchange.
A promise to drive a friend to the airport for nothing is not enforceable, however clearly and unequivocally the promisor expressed a wish to be bound. A promise to pay a taxi driver is.
An American yes, on its own, carries no legal weight at all. The question is always what came back the other way — which is why a yes can be given freely and why its reliability has to be established some other way.
Although Americans strive to be analytical, objective, scientific, what most persuades them is experience. For Americans experience is fact, real data, empirical, irrefutable. Theory, logic, rigorous analysis are seldom more convincing than hearing a person say: “I was there. I saw it with my own eyes” or “We tried the approach and it worked”.
Empiricism is the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. As a philosophy, it emerged with the rise of experimental science and was developed in the 17th and 18th centuries by thinkers such as John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. The idiom “seeing is believing” signals the belief that people can only really believe what they experience personally.
Americans do not engage in a discussion about the essence of a decision to be made. If a discussion does takes place about the decision in and of itself, however, it is strictly for the purpose of defining who and/or what is to be served by making a good decision.
Americans invest less time on identifying how a particular decision fits into the broader picture. Their approach to all decisions is primarily motived by pragmatism. Decisions lead to actions, which in turn lead to further decisions to be made. Americans avoid getting weighted down in what they view as over-analysis. Forward movement is of priority.
Gottfried Wilhem Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German philosopher and polymath (someone with expertise in many different areas). He is considered one of the strongest proponents of rationalism, a school of philosophy which stresses that knowledge is accumulated primarily, solely through thought.
Rationalists did not believe that authentic knowledge could be gained via the senses, through empiricism (experience). Cogito ergo sum – I think, therefore I am – as Descartes put it, the founder of modern rationalism.
The historians of philosophy contrast rationalism with British empiricism, led by David Hume, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. These empiricists argued that knowledge is gained first and foremostly via the senses. Simply stated, experience is more important than (informs) pure thought.
Although such overly simplified characterizations are questioned by today’s experts, they show a fundamental difference between continental philosophy (German and French) on the one side and British, and later British-American, philosophy on the other.
The competition between rationalism and empiricism is in the end a battle between deduction and induction.
Inductive: Latin inducere, from in + ducere to lead. To induce means to: move by persuasion or influence; call forth, effect; cause the formation of. Inductive reasoning begins with observing particulars.
Should the particulars indicate a pattern, a conclusion might be drawn or inferred. The particular is the starting point. To infer means: to derive as a conclusion from facts or premise; guess, surmise; involve as a normal outcome of thought; point out, indicate, suggest, hint.
Deductive: Latin deducere, to lead away, from de- + ducere to lead. To deduce means to: infer from a general principle; trace the course of. Deductive reasoning draws a conclusion about particulars based on general or universal premises. The general is the starting point. A premise is something assumed or taken for granted, presupposed, believed.
Empirical: Originating in or based on observation or experience; relying on experience or observation alone often without due regard for system and theory; capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment. Latin empiricus, from Greek empeirikos, doctor relying on experience alone, from empeiria experience.
Jennifer leaves for school at 7:00 a.m. Jennifer is always on time. Jennifer assumes, then, that she will always be on time if she leaves at 7:00 a.m.
Every windstorm in this area comes from the north. I can see a big cloud of dust caused by a windstorm in the distance; so, a new windstorm is coming from the north.
Bob is showing a big diamond ring to his friend Larry. Bob has told Larry that he is going to marry Joan. Bob has bought the diamond ring to give to Joan.
The chair in the living room is red. The chair in the dining room is red. The chair in the bedroom is red. All chairs in the house are red.
The concept of objective pricing aligns closely with Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, which emphasizes rationality, structure, and universal principles. Kant argued that truth can be determined through reason, and that objective reality is knowable through structured analysis. Kant’s emphasis on universal principles suggests that there is a correct or just price that can be logically deduced, independent of market forces or subjective negotiation. Kantian ethics also emphasize duty and moral principles over personal gain. Thus, establishing a fair, objectively justified price is considered a moral obligation, rather than a transactional opportunity.