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

David Hume's Critique of Rational Morality

Hume's Criticisms of Rational Morality

Sentiment as the Foundation of Morality

Hume believed that reason can discern whether something is good or bad, but it is unable to influence human behavior. Therefore, reason cannot be the sole source of good and evil. One example Hume provides is that of ingratitude. He argues that ingratitude is considered a significant moral transgression, especially when it harms the benefactor. What condemns such a horrible attitude? It is not merely an argument, but an inner feeling. This illustrates that similar actions in other kingdoms (animal and plant) do not evoke the same moral rejection. For example, when a tree drops a seed and grows into another, often surpassing...

Kant's Critique of Metaphysics

Immanuel Kant posits that the transcendental dialectic functions as the logic of transcendental illusion. Science, he argues, is confined to the realm of experience. Reason, however, is inevitably drawn to questions that extend beyond these limits, questions it cannot ultimately answer but also cannot ignore. This compels reason to venture further.

Metaphysical Objects and Ideas of Reason

The objects of metaphysics are essentially ideas of reason. Kant subjected the three primary ideas of reason—the self (I), the world, and God—to critical examination. These are the traditional subjects of metaphysical inquiry.

The Thinking Subject and Paralogisms

The thinking subject gives rise to four paralogisms concerning substantiality,...

Rationalism: Reason as the Source of Knowledge

Rationalism asserts absolute confidence in human reason. Key aspects include the source and ideal of knowledge.

Source of Knowledge

Rationalists argue that the primary source of valid knowledge is reason itself, particularly through innate ideas.

Sensory experience is often considered confusing and unreliable for true knowledge.

Scientific knowledge is identified with rational knowledge.

Ideal of Knowledge

The ideal is a deductive system, analogous to mathematics, where truths can be deduced from fundamental principles.

Rationalists propose foundational principles not derived from experience but innate to reason.

Mathematics serves as a model for how reason can expand understanding of reality.

The Role of

What Is True Reality?

For Aristotle, being is a unique concept, but it is not univocal; not all things exist in the same way or with the same intensity.

The Difference Between Appearance and Reality

We know that the Earth is in constant motion, yet our senses suggest otherwise because they fail to capture the planet's movement. Therefore, we must recognize that the senses are tools of limited knowledge; they do not reveal the whole truth and provide data that must be reprocessed by the brain. This issue is a central metaphysical debate: the distinction between what things are and how they appear.

Many philosophers argue that reality is hidden behind appearances, and we only perceive a representation of it. Furthermore, the world is highly complex,...

Humans: Theory of the Soul

Both philosophers believe in the duality of human beings. While for Plato, the human meaning is an accidental union between body and soul, for Aristotle, these two elements make up a substantial unity, where the body is matter and the soul is the form (Hilemorphism: man is the unit substantially).

Plato's Perspective

For Plato, the soul is the perfection that belongs to the world of ideas and possesses true knowledge. It has three parts: the rational (Auriga), the irascible (white horse), and the concupiscent (black horse). These three parts are explained in the myth of the winged chariot: when the soul loses control of the other parts, it is represented as a chariot that inhabits the world of ideas. In the world, it...

SAN AUGUSTINE
Its existence is based on three arguments:
1. The testimony of all peoples, since they have always believed in a higher being.
2. The internalization of man, for to look you in you is eternal truths than yourself that can only come from God.
3. The universal order, as there are universal and eternal ideas that are immutable and can not change and its author can only be God.
St. Augustine gives God all the perfections in the extreme. Its main idea is the unity of God and His immutability, which are the higher grades of differentiation with respect God created beings. The ideas of all things are in the mind of God and God has for each of the creatures a "model or example." Accordingly I believe God. This is the theory exemplarism...

Aristotle: The Nature of Society and the Political Animal

Aristotle posited that society emerged not merely to satisfy material needs, but to enable humans to lead a good life—a life shaped by virtue, education, and justice in pursuit of happiness.

The Social Nature of Humanity

For Aristotle, humans are social by nature and possess language, allowing them to develop fully only within a society. He argued that the state is prior by nature to the individuals, families, and villages that compose it.

Hylomorphism and Social Hierarchy

Aristotle viewed society as an organism where form takes precedence over matter. He famously defined the human being as a political animal, asserting that an individual has no meaning outside of the polis (city-state)...

Composition of Science

Science consists of two primary elements:

• Object of knowledge: What is known through science.
• Method of study: The systematic approach used to investigate science.

Ontological Presuppositions

These are the qualities possessed by the reality studied by science. Without these qualities, science would lack a foundation. They serve as the basis for the axiomatic method.

The Axiomatic Method

Formal sciences utilize the deductive axiomatic method. This involves proposing a limited set of truths (axioms) from which all other truths in the system are derived through a deductive chain. Initial truths are axioms (unprovable), while derived truths are theorems. Formal sciences are organized into axiomatic systems.

Scientific Theory

Laws...

author: Front rationalism in vogue, Locke developed an empiricist theory of knowledge, proper English tradition, and it is, so far, its most prominent representative. Locke raised the need, for the first time from an empirical perspective, the problem of knowledge: the origin, validity and the limits of knowledge lies in experience. However, the moderate nature introducing his empiricism led him to continue to accept substances, both material and spiritual, however can not really know. Along with empiricism presents a political philosophy that lays the foundations of political liberalism. Human society came under a social compact by which human beings decided to create a society for the common good. But this agreement implies the consent of...

Descartes' Search for Foundational Truth

Philosophical Context and Epistemological Turn

The context involves economic, political, and artistic aspects, leading to a cutting-edge theme: the search for truth and the **epistemological turn** (a change in the relationship from subject-to-object to object-to-subject fitness). Authors analyzed the ability to know for certain limits, leading to the development of the New Science.

The Necessity of Method

There is a fundamental need for a method to advance knowledge. Descartes argued that without a proper method, it is easy to confuse truth (V) with falsehood (F). This necessity led to a deep reflection on ideas.

Cartesian Method Principles

The Cartesian method involves the rejection of Scholasticism and...