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

Hume on Moral Emotivism: Feeling Over Reason

David Hume notes that one cannot rationally prove something is good or bad, because moral issues are not relevant to the understanding. Understanding, according to Hume, can only perform two operations: relating facts or ideas. If moral issues could be treated as relations of ideas, one would arrive at absurd conclusions. For example, describing the behavior of any human (rational or irrational) as good or bad, despite their very different purposes. That is, even a computer could evaluate whether actions are good or bad based on specific parameters.

If we treated moral issues as matters of fact, there would be nothing called good or bad, because the quality of good (or bad) does not inherently belong... Continue reading "David Hume's Philosophy: Morality, Knowledge, and the Mind" »

Nietzsche's Superman: The Path to Self-Overcoming

"In another time, to act against God's delight was the highest delight. But God is dead, and with the dead are also those delinquents! Now, the most horrible crimes are against the land, and it entails the most inscrutable way." This challenging statement, echoing themes from the prologue to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, introduces Nietzsche's profound idea that man is something that must be overcome. Nietzsche describes man as a mediocre herd being (the herd representing a moral concept), miserable, resentful, and unable to live fully. He is a weak and ill being who lacks the strength to confront traditional values. The Superman (Übermensch) stands in stark contrast. He is capable of creating new... Continue reading "Nietzsche's Superman & Will to Power: Core Philosophy" »

Structure of the Ways

The tracks are five formulations with a common scheme in four steps: a fact of experience, the application of the principle of causality, the impossibility of an infinite causal process, and the term of the causal process.

1st: Starting from a fact of experience, movement, understood as the passage from potency to act, the application of the principle of causality leads to the conclusion that nothing can be both mobile and motor simultaneously. "Everything that is moved is moved by another."

2nd: In the world of the senses, there are efficient causes, which are subordinate to each other to produce effects (for the birth of a tree requires land, water, electricity, etc.). Nothing can... Continue reading "Aquinas' Five Ways: Demonstrating God's Existence" »

Ethical Principles and Personal Responsibility

Understanding Freedom

We possess the freedom to act, which can lead to both happiness and sorrow. Authentic freedom applies to oneself and to others.

Acting with Good Conscience

We must always act thoughtfully, considering what to do. The first step to developing conscience is learning to listen.

Criteria for Ethical Evaluation

Ethical decisions are guided by established rules and values.

Defining Attitude

An attitude is the habitual disposition to act in a certain way, in accordance with a particular value.

Freedom: Response and Constructive Action

Freedom is also defined as the ability to respond appropriately and constructively.

The Concept of a Standard

A standard is a rule to be followed, as it determines... Continue reading "Ethical Foundations: Freedom, Conscience, and Human Dignity" »

Nietzsche's Revaluation of the Body and Senses

This text examines Nietzsche's profound critique of how the body and senses, which he argues have been despised and suppressed by the philosophical, moral, and religious traditions of Western culture.

The Philosophical Devaluation of the Body

Nietzsche attributes this decline to philosophers' denial of instincts and the body's senses. He argues that these thinkers reject what is inherently tied to change and plurality. This rejection stems from a static conception of being that, originating with Parmenides, Socrates, and Plato, subsequently dominated the Western philosophical tradition up to modern times.

The Static Conception of Being and Overestimated Reason

This static conception of being arises... Continue reading "Nietzsche's Revaluation of the Body and Senses in Western Thought" »

Understanding Key Concepts and Their Synonyms

1. Attributes

Fitness, property, power, ability, character

2. Temperance

Moderation, frugality, prudence, sobriety

3. Testimony

Declaration, revelation, assertion

4. Praise

Flattery, apologetics, exaggeration, exaltation

5. Inhibition

Inhibit, restrain, coerce, refrain, stop, withdraw

6. Premise

Hypothesis, proposition, history, idea

7. Peculiarities

Peculiarity, property, uniqueness, ownership

8. Entity

Being, individual, subject, essence, substance, nature

9. Purge

Evacuate, expel, laxar, medicine, atone for, suffer, pay

10. Contribute

Cooperate, collaborate, assist, subsidize, pay

11. Essence

Nature, substance, existence, character, property

12. Incur

To influence, make, earn, win, draw, fall

13. Avidity

Craving, desire,... Continue reading "Understanding Key Concepts and Their Synonyms" »

Foundations of Rational and Moral Action

Rationale and Rational Action

Rationale: The appropriate use of reason applies to our beliefs, motives, and actions.

Rational Action: Action based on good reasons, i.e., involving the formation of rational beliefs and motives, along with behavior that is reasonable.

Features of Rational Action

• Choosing the best option in every circumstance, considering the elements of each situation.
• Justifying the choice based on objective, universal criteria (i.e., criteria that would be chosen by any rational being).

Dimensions of Rational Action

Individual Rational Action

• Definition: The action of a single agent whose reasons for acting are good reasons.
• Awareness of Purposes: For any rational action, the agent must be aware

Key Characteristics of Enlightenment Reason

• Reason is autonomous and self-sufficient.
• Reason has internal limitations.
• Reason is critical: It critiques external factors that undermine its freedom. It performs a sharp analysis of all reality and engages in careful self-criticism. Reason tends to be analytical and tolerant.
• Reason is empirical: It must relate to experience and the empirical world to find a secular rationality.

Enlightenment Reason and Deism

The application of reason to religion led many Enlightenment philosophers to Deism. Deism defends the existence of God as the supreme being, a creator who set the laws of nature but is not concerned with the world, rejecting revelation and religious rituals.

Kant's Perspective on Enlightenment

For... Continue reading "Enlightenment Philosophy: Reason's Core Principles and Global Impact" »

Descartes' Philosophy: The Nature of Ideas and Reality

The Thinking Self: Res Cogitans

I am a thinking thing: a spirit, an understanding, a reason. I possess an absolutely certain truth: the existence of the self as a thinking subject. This truth does not seem to imply the existence of any other reality, because, though I think, perhaps the world does not exist in reality.

The object of thought consists of ideas; thought does not rest directly on things, but on ideas.

Universal Methodical Doubt and Undeniable Reality

Universal methodical doubt has led to an undeniable reality: the existence of a thinking being, i.e., a substance that thinks, a res cogitans, a soul.

Descartes concludes that I can doubt the existence of a body and the world around... Continue reading "Descartes' Philosophy: Doubt, Self, and the Nature of Ideas" »

Plato's Theory of Knowledge

For Plato, the soul belongs to the intelligible world but resides in the material world. This leads to the Theory of Reminiscence, which posits that knowledge is acquired through experience, but we already possess it within us. We must realize that ideas are tools that help the soul remember what it already knows. Knowledge, therefore, comes from memories; to know is to remember. Socrates believed that truth lies within the soul. We should not seek what we do not know, because everything is already inside us.

There are other ways of knowing, such as the dialectic, which is the true knowledge of essences. It involves dialogue and discussions to understand Ideas. Dialectic is above reason, and scientific discourse constitutes... Continue reading "Plato's Theory of Knowledge, Ethics, and Politics" »