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

John Stuart Mill: A Pioneer of Liberalism

John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth-century philosopher, was a fresh mind who injected new ideas into England and the history of Liberalism and Social Theory. In his seminal work, On Liberty, he assumes a different angle when looking at the structure of our society, ranging from the modern mindset to government rule.

The Sovereignty of the Individual

John Stuart Mill was a champion of individual liberty. He posited that no human being should play master to another. Furthermore, every human being is considered sovereign over his or her own body. An individual is at liberty to do anything with their body, provided it does not interfere with others. This is deemed to provide utility to the individual and society...

Essential Vocabulary List: D-Words

• Derelict: Neglectful; delinquent.
• Desist: To stop doing something.
• Devout: Deeply religious.
• Diatribe: A bitter, abusive denunciation.
• Dichotomy: Division into two parts, especially contradictory ones.
• Diffuse: To cause to spread out.
• Dilapidated: Broken-down.
• Dilate: To make larger.
• Dilemma: A situation in which one must choose between two equally unattractive choices.
• Diminution: The act or process of diminishing.
• Dire: Disastrous.
• Dirge: A funeral song.
• Disaffect: To cause to lose affection.
• Disarray: Disorder.
• Disclaim: To deny any claim to.
• Discomfit: To frustrate.
• Disconcert: To upset.
• Discourse: Spoken or written expression in words.
• Discrepancy: Difference.
• Discursive: Rambling from one topic to another, usually aimlessly.

Imperialist Reason: Bourdieu & Wacquant's Critique

Note on notation: ≠ means 'is/are not'; = means 'is/are' or 'means'.

Understanding Cultural Imperialism

• Cultural imperialism rests on the power to universalize particularisms linked to a historical tradition. Indeed, nothing is more universal than the pretension to the universal, or more accurately, to the universalization of a particular vision of the world.
• The central focus of this text is **universalization** across philosophical, sociological, historical, and political dimensions.
• This universalization, reinforced by media repetition and broadcast, progressively transforms specific facts into universal common sense.
• Cultural imperialism, whether American or otherwise, imposes itself most

Describing People in Positions of Power

• Charismatic: Someone who has a magnetic character that makes people want to follow.
• Nondescript: Someone who is not recognizable or interesting.
• Inspirational: Someone who inspires others.
• Dignified: Someone who is well-respected for being calm and serious.
• Lacks gravitas: Someone who is respected for his or her intellectual seriousness has gravitas.
• Aloof: Not friendly; cold and distant.
• Approachable: Someone who is easy to talk to and friendly.
• Idealistic: Believes people should live according to high moral standards and principles.
• Down-to-earth: Someone who is practical and direct in a sensible, honest way.
• Tireless: Someone who never stops working because he or she has lots of energy.
• Lacking in drive and energy:

Branches of Philosophy: Knowledge and Science

Gnoseology (Theory of Knowledge)

Gnoseology (also known as Gnosiology) or the Theory of Knowledge defines, from a philosophical perspective, what we mean by "knowing." It aims to clarify the origin, nature, and limits of human knowledge.

Epistemology (Theory of Science)

Epistemology is the Theory of Science or Philosophy of Science, mainly due to the modern identification between knowledge and science.

Historical Context of Knowledge Theory

The Theory of Knowledge deals with issues regarding the reliability of reason or senses to provide true knowledge. This discussion can already be found among the main philosophers in Greece, like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and also in the Modern Age, among philosophers...

1. The main sources of linguistic and lexicologists' data are:

• a. Only corpora
• b. Dictionaries and corpora
• c. Intuitions and corpora
• d. Intuitions, questionnaires, and corpora

2. Dictionaries:

• a. Never include nonce-formations or non-existent words
• b. Are always alphabetically ordered
• c. Answers "a" and "b" are correct.
• d. None of the above is correct.

3. Seal (a sea animal) and (to) seal (to close tightly) are:

• a. Polysemous words one in relation to the other.
• b. Full homonyms.
• c. Partial homonyms
• d. Conversion

4. Substitutability is used as a diagnosis for:

• a. Polysemy
• b. Synonymy
• c. Homonymy
• d. Antonymy

Historical and Applied Linguistics

5. Which of the following statements is true?

• a. Fast and quick have always been synonymous.
• b. Nice was a synonym of ignorant

Philosophy: means love of wisdom from the greek words philia and sophia.

Ethics: the study of morality and what is goos, bad, right and worng human conduct and behavior in a moral sense.

Morality: means what is good or right.

Good or right: should involve pleasure, happiness, and excellence and also lead to harmony and creativity.

Bad or wrong: will involve pain, unhapiness, and lack of excellence and will lead to disharmony and lack of creativity.

Hedonism: the view of what is good traditionally

Excellence: is an important addition to pleasure or satisfaction in that it makes experiences or activities better or worse than they would otherwise be.

Amoral: means having no moral sense or being indifferent to right and wrong.

Nonmoral: means out of the...

The Importance of Having Goals in Life

All humans have goals to accomplish in life. Some are achievable, and some are not, but we should always have hope. It doesn't matter if you can perform it or not. These are the goals that fill us with hope and faith. Also, they guide us and show which path to follow. Without those goals, we could not define exactly where we wanted to go. In this text, I will explain what my goals are and why it is good to have goals in life, and we will realize that life would be meaningless without them.

My Primary Goal: Becoming a Nurse

First, I always thought that having goals in life is good, and I have so many, but today I am going to mention the one which is the most important one. It's something I want to be in the...

Determinism and the Concept of Freedom

According to determinism, everything that happens is determined by prior causes. To say that A determines B is to say that A causes B (given A, B must follow). Determinism holds that every event is the necessary result of the chain of causes leading up to it, a chain that runs back into the past. One implication of this view is that all future states of the universe are completely predictable.

The principle that every event is caused is known as the causal principle. It is presupposed in science and also in everyday life. Most of the astonishing progress science has made over the past four centuries has been made on the basis of a mechanistic and deterministic view of the world. If determinism is right,...

What is a Natural Abortion?

A natural abortion, also known as a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, is the spontaneous death of an embryo or fetus before it is developed enough to survive. This can occur even before a woman knows she is pregnant.

Most miscarriages occur during the first three months of pregnancy, before the twelfth week of gestation. A small number of natural abortions – less than 1% – are stillbirths, occurring after the twentieth week of pregnancy.

Symptoms of Abortion

Many women never even know they have had a miscarriage and interpret it as a particularly heavy menstruation.

Some women experience abdominal cramps, blood spotting, heavy bleeding, abdominal pain and/or pelvic pain, weakness, or back pain. A small amount of...