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

How Ethics are Defined

Ethics are a branch of philosophy that reflects on what is right and wrong.

Ethics vs. Morality

Ethics involve analysis, while morality is putting ethical ideas into practice.

Ethical Values

Guiding ideals like justice, freedom, honesty, love, and respect.

Ethical Principles

General rules guiding proper behavior.

Two Ethical Principles

Confucius: 'Don't do to others what you don't like done to you.' Christian: 'Love others as yourself.'

Ethical Virtues

Habits aiding correct behavior and moral actions.

Ethical Vices

Bad habits leading to harmful actions.

Ethical Codes

Set of values, principles, rules, duties, and responsibilities guiding behavior.

Requirements for Ethical Reflection

• Reason
• Freedom
• Knowledge
• Responsibility
• Universality
• Education

Applied

Human Needs and Abilities

• Humans develop abilities because of their needs and the opportunities to fulfill them.
• The need to experience is central to human existence and is never fully satisfied.

The Systematic Nature of Existence

• Everything in the human body is considered a system.
• Humans interact with both physical and conceptual realities from the moment they are created.

Defining Human Systems

• A system is a group of elements working together to create a complex whole.
• Examples of human systems include hand and face development, language, and the shift from orality to writing.

Layers of Systematic Reality

The Natural Layer: Biological & Psychological

• This layer includes biological and psychological aspects that can be verified scientifically.

The

Understanding Share Forfeiture

Share forfeiture occurs when a shareholder fails to pay the required call money (either in part or full) on the shares issued to them. When this happens, the company may forfeit the shares as a means of canceling the unpaid shares and reclaiming the unpaid amount. This process is crucial for maintaining the integrity of a company's share capital.

The Share Forfeiture Process

1. Failure to Pay Calls: If a shareholder does not pay the call money on shares within the prescribed time, the company can initiate the forfeiture process.
2. Board Resolution: The company's board of directors must pass a formal resolution to forfeit the shares due to non-payment of calls.
3. Notice of Forfeiture: A formal notice is sent to the defaulting

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

While some argue that zoos help protect endangered species, their conservation efforts are often *ineffective*.

Ineffective Conservation Efforts

• Only a small percentage of animals in zoos are part of genuine breeding programs for endangered species.
• Even fewer are ever released back into the wild.

If zoos truly wanted to protect endangered species, they would focus on reintegrating animals into their natural habitats instead of keeping them in enclosures. In many cases, zoos prioritize popular animals that attract visitors rather than those that need urgent conservation efforts.

Prioritizing Profit Over Protection

Instead of keeping animals in captivity, resources should be directed toward:

• Protecting their natural habitats.
• Enforcing anti-poaching