Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Philosophy and ethics for Baccalaureate

Anthropological Ideas of the Holy Fathers (Platonism) - Until the 13th Century

These ideas persisted until the 13th century due to:

• The idea that the soul is in the body due to a fall (original sin)
• The idea that the soul, in the body, is subjected to superior and inferior tendencies (battle between the flesh and the spirit)
• Immortality of the soul

Saint Thomas Aquinas (Aristotelian Standpoint)

• The soul is the form of the body.
• The soul does not pre-exist the body; it is created by God at the same time it in-forms the body.
• No transmigration.
• Immortal soul.

Descartes (Plato's Standpoint - Efficient Causality)

Descartes' views aligned with Plato's because:

• He rejects the concept of substantial forms.
• He considers the soul to be a thinking and self-sufficient

Conditional Sentences in Event Planning

It is clear that the event was very badly organized. If I were the organizer, I would confirm the speakers who would be present and those who would not. If I had known in advance, I would have arranged for a speaker. I would ask that there be silence and that everyone turn off their phones during the conference. If I were Emma, I would have anticipated the traffic congestion and I would have organized the schedule well, and if necessary, I would have waited a few minutes until all the delegates were present to start, since traffic cannot be controlled. I would study the space of the venue and the one I need for the conference; if I had known in advance, I could have rented a venue with more space. I would...

What Is Art?

Aesthetic taste should be understood as a person's ability to detect beauty, and an aesthetic experience is the emotional state of someone contemplating an aesthetic object in a disinterested way.

• Art: Art is an activity oriented toward the production of objects that cause an aesthetic experience in people who have aesthetic taste. An object is created with the purpose of provoking this kind of experience in those who observe it.
• Beauty: Beauty is an aesthetic value attributed to various objects. It has been associated with objective qualities — harmony, proportion, goodness, and truth — and with subjective feelings such as pleasure or attraction.

Natural Beauty Versus Artistic Beauty

What is the difference between natural and artistic...

Default

An action that is natural or standard.

Untainted

Not contaminated or polluted.

Aberration

A deviation from what is normal or expected.

Profiteering

The act of making an illegal or unfair profit.

Delusion

A belief maintained despite being proven untrue. Example: "The Miami Dolphins will win the Super Bowl this year."

Placate

To make someone less angry or hostile.

Sop

Something of little value given to appease someone whose concerns are not being met.

Deliverance

The act of being rescued or set free.

Anodyne

Not likely to offend; bland or inoffensive.

Narthex

A room or area at the entrance of a church.

Urbane

(Of a person) courteous and refined in manner.

Longevity

Long existence or service; a long life.

Collaboration

The action of working with someone to produce...

The Shift Towards Organic Alternatives

It wasn't until people realized the harmful practices of food corporations that they began seeking alternatives. This realization sparked a paradigm shift in consumer behavior and attitudes toward genetically modified products. These texts explore this issue, which resonates with the vast majority of the public, from different perspectives.

Organic Food Awareness and Accessibility

The first passage suggests that consumers of naturally processed foods are often unaware of what genetically modified products truly entail. However, it's arguably those who purchase organic food who are most aware of the potential harm in conventional options. This awareness stems not only from concerns about chemicals but also...

1. Introduction

• The scientific method is recognized as the most effective approach for understanding and predicting the behavior of the natural world.
• Scientific inventions have been used to both improve and destroy human life.
• Successful manipulations of the natural world are defined as technology.
• The scientific method represents a significant advancement over previous ways of acquiring knowledge, moving from "truth by authority" to detailed, empirical observations.

2. The Simple View of the Scientific Method (SVSM)

Scientists make observations that aim to be as objective, unbiased, and unprejudiced as possible. They then create a theory to explain the pattern of results.

• Theory: A combination of observations and predictions about future events.

Karl Popper's Falsificationism

The principal topic of this text from The Logic of Scientific Discovery is the vision that Popper has on science, according to his falsificationism method. First, the author argues that science is not certain knowledge and that it is not possible to reach the truth. Instead, we can only elaborate simple conjectures. He affirms that these scientific conjectures must be subjected to rigorous and systematic tests, not to verify them but to demonstrate that the conjectures are false. To conclude, Popper says that the purpose of science is not to reach absolute truth but to provide increasingly deep answers to new problems and to submit them to progressively more complex refutations.

The Doctrine of the Point of View

This

Problems of the Hypothetical-Deductive Method

Hypothesis Formulation

It seems reasonable to assert that in the formulation of hypotheses, some factors come into play that may seem unscientific or completely removed from scientific procedure. For example, imagination, luck, or chance. The inability to respond to this explanatory gap has caused some thinkers, such as Paul Feyerabend, to extend the influence of imagination to the entire scientific procedure.

Hypothesis Validation and Confirmation

Although the formulation of hypotheses assumes a certain amount of imagination and luck, to accept the suggested explanation, the hypotheses have to be checked with the highest scientific rigor. To solve this problem, Karl Popper proposed falsification as...

The Philosophical Problem of Truth

Truth Concerning Reality: Appearance vs. Essence

The term “truth” can be identified here with true reality as opposed to mere appearance. The distinction between reality and appearance has been the subject of a long debate throughout the history of philosophy. This debate has often been dominated by the conception that appearances are concealments of reality.

Things are often not as they appear. For example, objects do not become smaller when they move away, and a stick does not bend when it is immersed in water. Appearances are deceptive and hide the true reality, since we cannot always see how things are in reality.

Truth Concerning Knowledge

The concept of truth can also be applied to propositions and knowledge...