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

Dissatisfaction with Traditional Teachings

Descartes expressed dissatisfaction with the teachings at La Flèche, including scholastic philosophy and Aristotelian science. He sought a more solid foundation for philosophy, a criterion to distinguish true knowledge from falsehood. This criterion, he believed, could be found in non-traditional thinking, specifically the mathematical model of analytical geometry.

Analytical Geometry

Descartes believed that if algebra could solve geometric problems, a general method could be found to solve problems in any science. One of his philosophical objectives was to find this universal method for attaining truth.

The Tree of Philosophy

Descartes saw no distinction between scientific and philosophical knowledge,... Continue reading "Descartes' Philosophy: A Method for Truth" »

The Conditions of Possibility of Science

The problem is, can metaphysics become a science? It would require that metaphysics fulfill the same conditions that both existing sciences, mathematics and physics, meet. For a trial to be regarded as scientific, it must meet two conditions: increasing our knowledge and possessing necessary and universal validity. A trial to increase our knowledge has to be a synthetic view, and the character of necessity and universality could not come from experience. Experience only provides contingent truths of fact and individuals. That is, the necessity and universality of a trial can only be established outside of experience, or a priori. In conclusion, scientific judgments must be synthetic a priori judgments.... Continue reading "Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Conditions of Science" »

Nietzsche (1844-1900)

1. Critique of the Foundations of European Culture

Nietzsche's philosophy departs from the assertion that Western culture is fundamentally decadent. This decadence, he argues, stems from inherent flaws present from its inception. To address these problems, he proposes a critique of Platonic dogmatism and the elimination of the core error: the opposition of culture to life and instinct.

Western culture, according to Nietzsche, is built upon three inverted worlds, the values of which are symptoms of decadence. These are:

• Dogmatic Philosophy
• Christian Religion
• Traditional Morality and Science

1.1. Critique of Morality

Nietzsche's most profound critique targets Western morality, which he views as unnatural and opposed to life. He... Continue reading "Nietzsche: Decadence of Western Civilization" »

"I Think Therefore I Am": Descartes' First Principle

"I think, therefore I am." This text reflects Descartes' discovery of the first principle of philosophy. In the first lines, Descartes expresses doubt regarding the testimony of the senses. This is the first level of methodical doubt, invalidating any scientific certainty and the apparent evidence of external reality to thought. From the third line, the text reflects the second and third levels of doubt: the inability to distinguish waking from sleep, and the risk of error even in the simplest truths of geometry or mathematics. This is the application of methodical doubt to reasoning itself. However, as Descartes reaches this level of depth in implementing doubt as a method, a radical enlightenment... Continue reading "Descartes' Cogito: Understanding 'I Think Therefore I Am'" »

Vitality: Nietzsche's Philosophy

Defending life as the full and real existence of human beings.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a group of thinkers established a philosophy centered on the exaltation of the vital and affective, in contrast to the excessive rationality of Hegel's idealism or the scientific positivism of Comte. They defended irrationalism and the affirmation of life as the fundamental reality of human beings.

Reason is not the exclusive faculty for understanding reality; poetic inspiration, intuition, instinct, prophetic vision, and the unconscious are also important.

A Critique of European Cultural Values

Nietzsche saw 19th-century culture (dogmatic philosophy, religion, and morality) as the decline of a Christian-bourgeois society... Continue reading "Nietzsche's Philosophy: Vitalism and Critique of Morality" »

Classification of Speech Acts

Perlocutionary Acts: This refers to the effect produced by uttering a statement. For example, the recipient's execution of an order. For instance, if someone is told to "close the window," the perlocutionary act is the actual closing of the window.

Types of Speech Acts

Directives: The speaker intends to make the listener perform an action. Examples include:

• Requesting
• Ordering
• Asking
• Requiring
• Resolving

Commissives: In this type of act, the speaker is committed in varying degrees to perform an action. We are dealing with speech acts such as:

• Promise
• Swear
• Gamble

Expressives: The sender expresses an emotion, physical, or emotional state. Speech acts of this type are:

• To congratulate
• To thank
• To complain
• To say hello

Declaratives:

Contemporary Philosophy: The 19th Century Context

Contemporary philosophy extends from the early 19th century to the present day. The most visible feature of this period is the lack of unity in its problems and approaches. Therefore, one cannot speak of a unified vision for this stage of philosophy, as the variety and disparity of interests and philosophical movements, motivated by profound and rapid societal changes, became its only common characteristic.

This article focuses on the 19th century. While historically known as the century of revolutions, from a philosophical perspective, the 19th century is defined by the rise of idealism and the subsequent reactions against it.

This period of philosophy can be broadly divided into two main stages:... Continue reading "19th Century Philosophy: Idealism, Critiques, and New Movements" »

Aristotle's Core Philosophical Concepts

Metaphysics: The Study of Being

Being and Substance

Aristotle observed that the concept of "being" has multiple meanings. However, he argued that these meanings ultimately relate to a primary concept: substance (ousia). Substance is fundamental because it exists independently, serving as the underlying subject for its various properties or accidents (e.g., quality, quantity, relation). Accidents cannot exist on their own but must belong to a substance.

Categories

The Categories represent the different fundamental ways predicates can apply to a substance, classifying the types of accidents and also including what Aristotle termed secondary substance (universal concepts like genera and species, e.g., "human"... Continue reading "Aristotle's Metaphysics, Ethics & Hellenistic Philosophy" »

Descartes' Theory of Substances

The theory of the terms of commonality is the weakest part of Cartesian theory. The Cartesian doctrine of reality is based on the cogito, from which the self is sensed as a substance whose whole essence is to think. Descartes defines substances *a priori* under existing concrete entities, but one that does not need anything else besides itself. He distinguishes three types:

• Res Cogitans: The human being is conceived as a thinking substance; its body does not need thought to exist.
• Res Infinita: The thinking being is imperfect, so it needs a perfect being (God).
• Res Extensa: The thinking being has a body, just like everything else.

Descartes' concept of the thinking substance assumes that the only thing beyond doubt... Continue reading "Descartes' Substance Theory: Mind, Body, and God" »

David Hume

His Impact on Philosophy and the Critique of Causality

David Hume (1711-1776) is one of the most influential philosophers, and exerted a profound impact on Immanuel Kant. Among the most important aspects of his philosophy is his criticism of the principle of causality.

Limitations of Knowledge and Future Events

According to Hume, our knowledge of facts is limited to current and past impressions. We cannot have knowledge of future events because we cannot have impressions of an event that has not yet happened. However, in our daily lives, we constantly assume that certain events will occur in the future. For example, we place a container of water on the fire, expecting it to heat up. But if we initially only feel cold water over the flame,... Continue reading "David Hume's Critique of Causality: Impact on Philosophy" »