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

Freedom and Human Nature

Humans, though possessing instincts, are not determined by nature. Thanks to our rational capacity, we can choose among a number of possibilities. This capability is known as freedom.

However, certain factors in our behavior do not depend on us. No one chooses their birthplace, gender, or skin color. These are given to us and constitute what Ortega y Gasset called circumstances.

To be free means to be responsible for our actions and accept the consequences of our behavior. Responsibility involves attributing success to our work and accepting failures or errors. If we make a mistake, we must rectify it and accept the punishment.

Moral Norms

A norm is a pattern that governs our behavior, a rule about how we should act. For... Continue reading "Freedom, Responsibility, and Moral Norms: A Philosophical View" »

DFA for Strings with Odd 'a's and Even 'b's

This section details the construction of a Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA) to accept strings composed of 'a's and 'b's, specifically those with an odd number of 'a's and an even number of 'b's.

Language Characteristics:

• Odd number of 'a's: At least one 'a', and the total count must be odd.
• Even number of 'b's: At least zero 'b's, and the total count must be even.

Examples of String Acceptance:

Let L be the language of accepted strings.

• abbaabbaabb → Reject (Odd 'a's, Odd 'b's)
• aabaabaab → Reject (Even 'a's, Odd 'b's)
• ababab → Reject (Even 'a's, Odd 'b's)
• bababa → Reject (Even 'a's, Odd 'b's)
• bbaaabbaaabbaaa → Accept (Odd 'a's, Even 'b's)
• aaabbaaabbaaabb → Accept (Odd 'a's, Even 'b's)

DFA for Decimal

Early Hominid Origins and Evolution

Definition of Hominid

• Bipedal: Walking on two feet.
• Non-honing Dentition: While humans have non-honing chewing, primates such as gorillas have a honing complex, in which their very large canines cut food. The upper canines are sharpened against the lower third premolars.

Skeletal Evidence for Bipedalism

Foramen magnum, pelvis, knees, feet: seven steps, position of the foramen magnum, shape of the spine, shape of the pelvis, length of the leg, valgus knee, longitudinal foot arch, opposable big toe.

Behavioral Advantages of Bipedalism

This helps to identify what species they were because not many can be bipedal.

Pre-Australopithecines (7-5 mya)

Example: "Ardi"

They have provided critically important information about... Continue reading "Early Hominid and Homo Evolution: A Deep Dive" »

Scientific knowledge (Overview and Basic Concepts)

Common sense knowledge is important, is generalized. Scientific knowledge has many steps that must be applied to determine if the hypothesis is true or situción. Do not generalize from one case.

Knowing is an intellectual process by which a relationship between the knower (actor) and the known object (reality).

There are glances of psychology:

1) Positivists: You must show, watch for it to be valid, measure, quantify, and so on. (It is science based on evidence).

a) Post-positivist Probalan is added, it may be or not. Deductive (general to particular).

2) Phenomenology: Is the experience, emotions, phenomena. Study what is not necessarily observable. Inductive method (particular to general)

Valuation of Ways

These passages are not original; Thomas organized and developed them. There are different reactions to these routes by commentator groups:

• Radicals: Exclude the possibility of new ways.
• Moderates: Support the possibility of new tracks.
• Thomists: Divided into "hard to validate separately" (think the demonstrative value comes from the set of all the evidence) and those who "prefer any route".
• Non-Thomists: Discard anthology, return to the argument of St. Anselm.
• Kant denies the value of things and proposes a practical way to justify rational faith.
• Atheists and agnostics reject the tract differently:
  • Atheism denies the existence of God.
  • Agnosticism denies the possibility of proving the existence of God for several reasons:
    • Skepticism

Philosophical Critiques of Descartes' "Cogito Ergo Sum"

Huet's Challenge to Cartesian Evidence

A critique, often attributed to Pierre Daniel Huet, questions the Cartesian "Cogito ergo sum." It posits that we cannot accept the existence of reason as self-evident if its establishment as the rule of evidence could have been manipulated by an evil genius.

Descartes' Answer: Descartes counters that reason is an intuitive truth that reveals itself; it does not merely validate a rule of evidence established on a provisional basis. On the contrary, finding that the existence of reason is an irrefutable truth is, in fact, legitimized by the rule of evidence (though, Descartes concedes, ultimately legitimized only by God).

Hume's Empiricist Critique of the

Defining the Security Dilemma

The Security Dilemma is a situation where the increase in one state’s security (e.g., military strength) leads other states to fear for their own security. Consequently, it can lead to an escalation of tension (war/conflict) involving one or more parties, producing an outcome which no party truly desires.

Butterfield: Fear as the Ultimate Source

Herbert Butterfield argued that “the greatest war of history can be produced without the intervention of criminals; it could be produced between two powers.” He mentioned several propositions:

• The ultimate source is fear leading states to protect themselves, deriving from the “universal sin of humanity.”
• It requires uncertainty over others' intentions.
• Its origin is

Doxa: In Plato's theory of knowledge, doxa is the lowest level of knowledge. Through the five senses, we obtain information about the Physical World in which we live. Episteme: In Plato's theory of knowledge, episteme is the highest level of knowledge. Through the faculty of reason, we gain knowledge of the Forms in the World of Forms. Allegory of the Cave: A metaphor used by Plato to explain how, through knowledge and education, we can escape the Physical World and reach the World of Forms.

Aristotle's Knowledge

Sensory knowledge (Aristotle): Through the knowledge provided by the five senses, we understand the accidental characteristics of beings: position, colour, weight, etc. These characteristics are related to matter (hyle). Rational knowledge

OECD Corporate Governance Principles

Contemporary discussions of corporate governance tend to refer to principles raised in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports.

• Rights and Equitable Treatment of Shareholders

  Organizations should respect the rights of shareholders and help shareholders to exercise those rights. They can help shareholders exercise their rights by openly and effectively communicating information and by encouraging shareholders to participate in general meetings.

• Interests of Other Stakeholders

  Organizations should recognize that they have legal, contractual, social, and market-driven obligations to non-shareholder stakeholders, including employees, investors, creditors, suppliers, local communities,

Definition:

a) Nominal:

• Etymological: "philosophy" "love of wisdom".
• Homer (Sophia): ability, skill or technique
• Herodotus (Sophos): anyone who outstands because of the perfection and quality of his works
• Heraclitus (Philosophus): a philosopher is a good researcher of many things
• Pythagoras: disinterested effort that leads to the quest for knowledge
• Plato: Philosophy is a participation of Wisdom. It's a tendency.

Synonymic:

• Stoicism: philosopher is the calm, patient person, who never loses control
• Scholasticism: philosophy is the supreme human natural science
• Positivism: philosophy is reflection with no foundations

b) Real:

"Science of all things through ultimate causes, attained by the light of natural reason alone".

B. Formal object (point of view)

a. Infra