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

Nietzsche's Critique of Abstract Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche criticizes philosophers who deny the reality of change and the dynamism of real life, replacing them with "mummified concepts" – a substance always equal for all eternity. He vehemently rejected the lack of historical sense, arguing that denying change renders history meaningless. Nietzsche also criticized what he termed "Egypticism," which he saw as a taste for the eternal and immutable, akin to Egyptian mummies.

Nietzsche and Heraclitus: Embracing Flux

Nietzsche's perspective resonates with Heraclitus's philosophy, which recognizes that reality is multiple and in continuous change and transformation. For Heraclitus, this change is caused by the constant struggle of opposites (... Continue reading "Nietzsche's Critique of Metaphysics and the Embrace of Reality" »

Nihilism and the Crisis of Meaning

With nihilism comes the death of God, a profound crisis of meaning and belief. Existence becomes unsustainable, empty, and devoid of purpose. Consider that every value is possible only if God exists, and if God does not exist, it ultimately leads to despair.

Nietzsche's Critique of Metaphysics

Nietzsche accused metaphysics of hating the notion of becoming. He asserted that the only attributes of reality are plurality and mobility. The apparent world of the senses is the only thing that exists, and anything else is unprovable.

Metaphysical Errors Identified by Nietzsche

• Metaphysicians confuse the last with the first. General concepts are the last thing humanity captures through abstraction, beginning with the senses.

Thomas Aquinas and the Existence of God

Thomas Aquinas sought to integrate Christian faith with common sense and empirical observation (confidence in the senses). This approach influenced his quest for a rational demonstration of the existence of God. For Thomas, God's existence lies outside the scope of the obvious and, therefore, necessitates a rational demonstration. He believed that all human knowledge begins with the senses, so the existence of God can only be inferred from sensible objects. God, he argued, must have left significant clues in the world He created that lead us to prove His existence.

Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways

Thomas produced five ways to prove the existence of God. In these five ways, he argues similarly, following the same... Continue reading "Thomas Aquinas: 5 Ways to Prove God's Existence" »

Categories: Unifying Intuitions of Sensibility

Which is a category? All knowledge is to judge, that is, to unify the intuitions of sensibility by means of pure concepts or categories. Categories are the possibilities we have to make claims about what has not affected us. According to Kant, the understanding is capable of making judgments in 12 different ways, and if we are able to do this, it is because, a priori, without obtaining the experience, we have twelve categories or ways to meet phenomenal reality. Kant insists that we know reality itself, that the categories are the way the world is comprehensible to humans. Among the most important categories is that of causality. The categories allow us to make judgments about the physical world... Continue reading "Kant's Philosophy: Understanding, Reason, and Transcendental Ideas" »

Understanding Descartes' Method

We comment that in the Discourse on Method, Descartes seeks to establish a set of rules to achieve true knowledge without any doubt. These rules lead us unambiguously so that the truth is always rigorously applied.

Given that all we know are dubious opinions, we reject anything that is not obviously true. This means that, in the light of reason, we must show for certain what is true, in a clear and distinct manner. Therefore, only the right judgments on the truth of judgments, in any sense, are a source of error.

Breaking Down Problems

Then, we divide any problem into its simplest elements and find the truth by applying the first rule. Finally, we reconstruct the difficulty, progressing from its simpler elements... Continue reading "Understanding Descartes' Method and the Nature of Doubt" »

Transcendental Illusion: Reason and its Limits

The basis of understanding, according to Kant, lies in the application of concepts to general phenomena, drawing upon both a priori knowledge and experience. Thinking involves organizing concepts logically, based on their universality. This process leads to what Kant calls Ideas of Reason:

• Alma (the body of knowledge about internal experience)
• World (knowledge about external experience)
• God (a synthesis of both)

Although these ideas encompass all phenomena, they do not provide us with concrete knowledge. We lack the necessary intuition to grasp them. Therefore, metaphysics as a science is impossible, as knowledge is limited by sensory experience. However, humans have a natural inclination to ponder... Continue reading "Kant's Transcendental Illusion: Reason and Metaphysics" »

The Relationship Between Ideas

Ideas are the materials of knowledge, appearing in a specific order. This order depends on whether it's power, memory, or imagination that brings them to mind. Memory maintains the original momentum and position of ideas, while imagination combines them more freely. We can imagine fantastical creatures, like a centaur, but we remember a horse. Hume identifies a 'soft power' in human nature that associates ideas along three principles: similarity, spatiotemporal contiguity, and causation. "A picture naturally leads our thoughts to the original. The mention of one room in a building naturally introduces a question or comment about the others, and if we think of a wound, we can hardly refrain from thinking about the... Continue reading "Understanding Knowledge: Ideas, Relations, and Facts" »

René Descartes' Philosophy

René Descartes used 'substance' and 'matter' (or res) as synonyms. The characteristic of substance is independent existence – it does not require anything else to exist. Therefore, God is the only true substance, as all creatures depend on God for their existence.

Descartes' Concept of Substance

Descartes identified two primary types of substance:

• Infinite Substance: God's Existence

  Our ability to doubt implies imperfection. But where does the idea of perfection originate? Since it cannot be a factitious idea (created by oneself) nor an adventitious idea (derived from external experience), as neither we nor the things of this world are perfect, it must be an innate idea. This idea, placed within us by a perfect and

Understanding Discrimination

Positive Discrimination: Protection of extraordinary character, which is given to a group historically discriminated against on grounds of sex, race, religion, or language to achieve their full social integration.

Negative Discrimination: Giving inferior treatment to a person or group on racial, religious, political, etc. grounds.

Indirect Discrimination: Launching formally neutral conditions regarding sex but disadvantageous to women, lacking a sufficient cause that is objective, reasonable, and justified.

Infodona aims to provide advisory services to women, women's groups, and other entities, to facilitate their participation, on equal opportunities and conditions, in all areas that give content to the Valencian society... Continue reading "Understanding Discrimination and Labor Rights in Spain" »

Locke's Social Contract: Why Transition to a Political State?

The reason individuals renounce the freedom enjoyed in the state of nature is due to insecurity. People join in partnership to preserve their natural rights.

The Imperative for Society and Government

Human beings come together in society and are subject to government for the preservation of their properties. In the state of nature, this preservation is difficult for three reasons:

• Lack of a positive law (known by all, consensus).
• Absence of a fair trial to mediate disputes.
• No power able to enforce fair judgments.

From Insecurity to Laws and Government

Insecurity and the dangers inherent in the state of nature lead individuals to seek refuge in laws and government for the preservation of... Continue reading "Locke's Social Contract: From Nature to Political State" »