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

7. Structure and Function Meet Human Faculty. For Kant, knowledge is a synthesis of concept and experience. When we expect to know by pure concepts, knowledge is empty. When we reduce everything to experience, knowledge is blind. Within the faculty of human knowledge, Kant distinguishes three functions: sensitivity, understanding, and reason, each with a peculiar formation and a particular role in the development of knowledge.

The sensitivity supplies knowledge through the senses. Understanding processes these materials and makes judgments. The reason argues and follows its base.

Sensitivity is the faculty by which humans have cognitive contact with reality. It is the world of the senses, providing the matter of knowledge. Through awareness,... Continue reading "Kant's Philosophy: Sensitivity, Understanding, and Reason" »

Plato's Life and Political Context (427-347 BC)

Plato (427-347 BC) was born into an aristocratic family and was initially interested in politics. His philosophical development was significantly influenced by the political turmoil of his time.

The Rise and Fall of Athenian Democracy

After periods of aristocracy and attempts at reform, followed by tyranny, democracy emerged in Athens. This democracy began with the reforms of Cleisthenes, which included:

• Isonomy: All men are equal before the law.
• Isegoria: All men are entitled to speak in the Assembly.
• Ostracism: Exile by vote for any citizen who might become a tyrant.

The Persian Wars and the Golden Age of Pericles

The Medical Wars, where the Greeks faced the Persians, were a pivotal moment. The Greek... Continue reading "Plato: Life, Philosophy, and Influence on Athenian Politics" »

Conflict: It is a clash of positions arising among several people or groups of people because of some behavior damaging the achievement of the objectives of another.

Types of Disputes

People Involved

1) Group (Collective):

• It occurs among workers in a company, taken together, and the company as such.
• The goal of conflict is often a general discrepancy in working conditions.
• Its solution globally affects all involved.

2) Individual:

• Occurs between a boss and a subordinate.
• The goal is usually a claim of a personal/family nature.
• The solution only affects the worker and the employer.
• Can occur between two persons of the same hierarchical level.

Features of Interest

• Standards: It is produced by different interpretations of labor standards.
• Economic: The economic

Kantian Ethics

Moral Ideals

Moral ideals address the question: What should I do? Morality offers guidance to achieve the ideal of happiness. However, defining happiness and identifying what truly brings us happiness remains a challenge.

Material Ethics

All material ethics share the acceptance of a supreme good that guides human behavior and moral norms.

Material ethics are heteronomous, meaning they are derived from external sources outside of rationality. They are based on the feeling of satisfaction derived from external objects beyond our control (the will is not autonomous).

Therefore, the mandates of material ethics are hypothetical: not valid in themselves, but dependent on achieving the desired goal.

Material ethics cannot formulate universal... Continue reading "Kantian Ethics: Moral Ideals and Duty" »

Descartes' Method (Meditations)

Introduction

Descartes sought a reliable method for attaining true scientific knowledge. He aimed to establish a foundation for reasoning and certainty.

Depth

The method needed to be simple, error-proof, and conducive to expanding knowledge. However, relying solely on the senses proved insufficient for acquiring genuine knowledge. Descartes' method analyzes ideas rationally, prioritizing the reliability of innate ideas over sensory experience. Inspired by mathematics, it involves four key rules:

1. Accept only clear and distinct ideas as true, grasped through intuition (immediate knowledge).
2. Analyze complex ideas by breaking them down into simpler, clear, and distinct components.
3. Reconstruct the analyzed idea through

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Introduction

This text will discuss a fragment from the introduction to Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Before analyzing the text, it's necessary to briefly introduce the ideas and present the central problem.

Kant's Requirements for Scientific Propositions

According to Kant, a proposition must possess universal, necessary, and real character to be considered scientific. This corresponds to knowledge-dogmatic assertions. Empiricism posits that the form and content of ideas are contributions of the object. Critics of this theory of knowledge raised concerns about the validity of science, questioning whether an idea is true when based solely on sense perception.

Rationalism vs. Empiricism

Rationalist theory... Continue reading "Kant's Critique: Synthetic A Priori Judgments Explained" »

Ethical Criteria of Truth: Evidence and Errors

Evidence is the ultimate criterion of truth, but how do we measure the strength of evidence? Ethics is the most terrible and most glorious aspect of being human. The pattern of life, truth, and values, namely the need to distinguish truth from falsehood to avoid tragedy. Values are at stake as fundamental as peace, freedom, equality, and justice. This is very serious. Some say we cannot agree upon the formulation of ethical principles valid for humanity. Although in some cases there are violent disputes, often there is no disagreement on the fundamentals, but on how to accept or interpret the accepted principles. All these problems that ethics will have to resolve, but should not hide the fact that... Continue reading "Ethical Criteria of Truth: Evidence, Values, and Universal Principles" »

Philosophical Perspectives on Mind and Reality

Physicalist Reductionism or Identity Theory considers that mental states are neurophysiological states.

Functionalism: Mental processes are not reduced to neurophysiological processes. Instead, a phenomenon is defined by the function it performs or the outcome it leads to.

Property Dualism: This perspective posits the existence of two types of properties (mental and physical). It contrasts with Monism, which considers that humans are formed by a single substance or reality.

Personalism: Claims the unity of the human being as both body and spirit.

Understanding Human Behavior

Defining Behavior

Behavior is the observable way individuals react to reality.

Types of Reactions

• Instinctive Reaction: An identical

Reasons to Doubt

• Senses: Doubts about the senses and sense knowledge obtained from external reality. Senses can be misleading.
• Sleep and Wakefulness: The problem of distinguishing between sleep and wakefulness. Sometimes, dreams are so vivid that we feel things as truth. The inability to discern if one is living in a dream or in a waking state.
• Knowledge: Doubt in one's knowledge and reasoning processes. One can make errors in reasoning.
• The Hypothesis of the Evil Genie: It is possible that there is an evil genie deceiving me, even about what appears to me as obvious.

Conclusion of Methodical Doubt

After carrying out doubt on all these points, the only thing that remains is the doubt itself. The object of doubt is a reaffirmation of the indubitability... Continue reading "Descartes' Philosophy: Doubt, Existence, and Innate Ideas" »

Introduction: The Need for Language

Humans require language to gather information necessary for survival and communication. Communication enhances knowledge of life science and human culture. Language arises to avoid gaps in communication.

Ordinary Language

Ordinary language refers to the languages commonly used by humans to communicate with each other.

Functions of Ordinary Language

• Representative: To affirm or deny a predicate of a subject.
• Expressive: To express one's own attitudes, desires, and emotions.
• Appellative: To provoke actions in the receivers.
• Performative: To perform a linguistic act and an extra-linguistic one simultaneously.
• Metalinguistic: To speak about the language itself.

Problems with Ordinary Language

• Equivocal terms: Terms that