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

Plato's Theory of Knowledge

Plato distinguishes two levels or degrees of knowledge:

• The Scientific Knowledge (Episteme)

  This is the highest level of knowledge, concerning the intelligible region. It is true, objective, and non-relative. To be achieved, we must turn our soul toward the sphere of the immaterial and abstract—i.e., toward the contemplation of the Eternal Ideas.

• The Opinion (Doxa)

  This is the lower degree of knowledge, concerning sensible and material reality. It is dark, confused, unreliable, relative, and changing. Only opinions can be obtained at this level, although through opinion, we are at least somewhat closer to the intelligible realities.

Plato's Objections to Athenian Democracy

Plato's objections against the democracy of his... Continue reading "Plato's Epistemology and the Ideal State" »

Understanding the Mind-Body Problem

The brain-mind relationship, often referred to as the mind-body problem, is intrinsically linked to the problem of perception. It seeks to understand the nature of perceptions and, more generally, all mental contents. Perceptions, sensory experiences, and thoughts are fundamentally mental.

This fundamental distinction often leads to differentiating between physical bodies and mental states:

• Physical Bodies: These are all objects that can be measured and touched, subject to all defined physical laws. Generally, they can be studied with scientific instruments and are accessible to everyone.
• Mental States: These encompass thoughts and the flow of mental contents that, by definition, are internal to each individual.

Christianity and Philosophy: An Interplay

While some early Christian thinkers showed hostility toward philosophy, considering it an enemy of the faith, others saw philosophy and reason as valuable instruments to defend their religious beliefs.

No less challenging was reconciling the Christian notion of truth with Greek philosophy. For Christians, the divine origin of truth made their truth the truth, pure and simple.

Despite these difficulties, Christian thinkers found significant overlap with Platonism, which encouraged them to draw on this philosophical current to justify, defend, or understand their faith.

Furthermore, regarding humanity, the affirmation of its dualistic composition (soul and body) and the immortality of the soul were considered... Continue reading "Saint Augustine's Philosophy: Bridging Faith and Reason" »

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" »

Legitimacy of the State and the Definition of Law

The legitimacy of the state's action is to defend peace, values, and characteristics of democracies.

Understanding Law: Three Perspectives

Law can be understood in three ways:

1. Science: The study of law through its history, philosophy, and sociology.
2. Subjective Power: The effective power a member of society has to possess, make, or demand something, according to the laws and the legal system that protects them.
3. Objective: The set of laws and regulations governing the conduct of people and directing their lives in society.

Key Characteristics of Law

Law has the following characteristics:

1. Rationality: Law must have its foundation in reason, far from any arbitrary whim.
2. Freedom or Tolerance: For equal circumstances,

Understanding Empiricism

Empiricism is the philosophical theory according to which the origin and limits of knowledge are sensory experience. The best-known empiricists include Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, and George Berkeley.

Understanding Rationalism

Conversely, Rationalism is the philosophical doctrine that recognizes no source of knowledge other than reason, thus rejecting revelation, faith, and the senses. In the history of philosophy, rationalism has a more limited meaning, beginning in the 17th century with the figure of the mathematician René Descartes.

Key Differences Between Empiricism and Rationalism

It is interesting to compare Empiricism and Rationalism through their core tenets:

1. Source of Knowledge

   For Empiricism, the source

Ontological Idealism: Plato's Perspective

Plato argues that ideas exist independently, and he defends this position:

• If ideas were merely the product of thought, then thought could invent anything. However, thought does not invent ideas but discovers what already exists, as Plato discovered.
• For Plato, thinking is not merely any mental activity, but a specific understanding of pre-existing truths; one cannot simply think otherwise.
• Experience shows a succession of particular cases, but the idea is universal, encompassing all possible cases.
• Furthermore, there are ideas that do not represent things found in physical reality.

Christian Dualism

Christian dualism posits a fundamental distinction:

• The Creator: Necessary, omnipotent, and eternal.
• The Created:

Medieval vs. Modern Rights: A Fundamental Divide

Medieval practice rarely recognized libertate iura and individuals as such, a stark contrast to the fundamental feature of modern law stemming from revolutionary declarations of rights. Rights and freedoms in the Middle Ages possessed a corporate structure, being the heritage of the manor, place, valley, city, village, or community. Therefore, they belonged to individuals only insofar as they were deeply rooted in these lands and communities.

The Concept of "Positive Freedom"

The concept of rights entrenched in history, and their consequent unavailability to those holding political power, offers an alternative interpretation for advocates of the ideology underpinning modern law. This perspective... Continue reading "Historical Evolution of Rights: Medieval to Modern Perspectives" »

René Descartes: Architect of Modern Rationalism

René Descartes was a prominent philosopher of the Early Modern period. For him, the idea of God is a metaphysical, innate, infinite, and rational concept. As a foundational rationalist philosopher, Descartes initiated modern philosophy by seeking a rigorous method to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Descartes' Quest for Indubitable Truth: The Method

His method had to be universal, objective, and consisted of four rules:

• Evidence: To accept nothing as true unless it is clearly and distinctly evident, avoiding all prejudice and haste.
• Analysis: To divide each difficulty into as many parts as possible to resolve it better.
• Synthesis: To conduct thoughts in an orderly fashion, beginning with the

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" »