Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Philosophy and ethics

The Purpose of Philosophy

Philosophy challenges common knowledge and accepted wisdom, allowing you to formulate new ideas, evaluate your own perspectives, and analyze the views of others. It involves:

• Identifying basic assumptions.
• Developing a line of reasoning.
• Recognizing steps that lead to a conclusion.
• Determining the validity of arguments and defending against false statements.

Moral Philosophy and Ethics

Moral philosophy seeks to determine right from wrong. While categories like those studied by Aristotle and Socrates have distinct characteristics, they often overlap. Key frameworks include:

Deontology (Duty-Based Ethics)

This theory argues that morality is based on fundamental duties, including duties to oneself and duties to others.

Egoism vs.

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

The Fundamentals of Act-Utilitarianism

Act-utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory. It is the belief that an action becomes morally right when it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is a theory developed by John Stuart Mill, who was one of the most influential figures in the history of classical liberalism. Mill was a proponent of Utilitarianism, which is known as an ethical philosophy or idea in which the happiness of the greatest number of people in society is considered the greatest good.

Consequentialism and the Hedonist Principle

Utilitarianism is also a version of Consequentialism, which is a theory that the moral and ethical rightness of an action depends on the consequences of that action. The moral... Continue reading "Act-Utilitarianism: Ethics and the Greatest Good Principle" »

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:

Pre-Conventional Morality

The pre-conventional level of moral reasoning is especially common in children, although adults can also exhibit this level of reasoning. Reasoners at this level judge the morality of an action by its direct consequences. The pre-conventional level consists of the first and second stages of moral development and is solely concerned with the self in an egocentric manner. A child with pre-conventional morality has not yet adopted or internalized society's conventions regarding what is right or wrong but instead focuses largely on external consequences that certain actions may bring.^[7][8][9]

Stage One: Obedience and Punishment Driven

In Stage one (obedience and punishment driven), individuals focus on the direct consequences... Continue reading "Pre-Conventional Level of Moral Reasoning" »

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

Understanding the Core Characteristics of Academic Writing

Academic writing in English is linear, clear, simple, and direct. It has a clear audience and a clear purpose, and it is also clearly structured. Academic English must be learned through observation, study, and experiment, because no one speaks or writes it as a first language.

There are five main features of academic writing:

1. Complexity

Written language is generally more complex than spoken language. It uses more subordinate clauses, more "that/to" complements, longer sequences of prepositional phrases, more attributive adjectives, and more passive voice constructions than spoken language.

While written texts can be more concise, they often employ longer words or phrases.

Examples of... Continue reading "Essential Features of Effective Academic Writing" »

Descartes' Analysis of Ideas

In this text, Descartes presents his analysis of ideas. First, Descartes states that our ideas, considered as immanent content (internal content) of our mind, cannot be considered false. Then, after recognizing that we can only be wrong when we make judgments, he says that it is a very common mistake to assume that our ideas refer to external entities; otherwise, we would never be wrong. Finally, Descartes concludes by explaining his distinction between the three types of ideas: innate, fictitious, and adventitious.

Locke's Critique of Cartesian Innatism

In this text, John Locke presents his critique of Cartesian innatism. First, Locke states that the goal of this text is to refute the widespread belief in the existence... Continue reading "Philosophical Concepts: Ideas, Experience, Ethics, Reason" »

Elenchus (Socratic Method):

a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.

Philosophy:

An attitude of critical thoughtfulness concerning highly fundamental and general beliefs

Deductive Argument:

Attempts to show that a conclusion necessarily follows the premises

Validity vs. Soundness:

Validity is a deductive argument which the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true, whereas soundness combines both validity and true premises

Inductive Argument:

Attempts to provide reasons for the truth of the conclusion, the conclusion states more than what is contained in the premises, universal conclusion.

Glaucon’s

Cultural Relativism: A Critique

One can only be judged by the standards and morals of their culture because morality is determined by each culture. You can't judge any culture outside of your own because you don’t understand why they believe what they believe. However, if enough people are part of that culture and believe that what they are doing is good, then there must be some truth in that.

If cultural relativism was universally supported and believed to be true, then there shouldn’t be any international governing bodies such as the United Nations or the European Parliament. This is because, under cultural relativism, you should be accepting that each culture has its own opinion on what is good and bad, and from an outside perspective,... Continue reading "Cultural Relativism vs. Universal Morality: Exploring Ethical Frameworks" »