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

Functions of Language

Language serves multiple functions:

• Expressive/Emotive: Expressing the speaker's attitudes and feelings.
• Conative: Capturing the listener's attention, offering counsel, issuing orders, or influencing.
• Representative: Reporting or describing something.
• Phatic: Verifying that the communication channel remains open.
• Metalinguistic: Using language to explain the language itself (e.g., defining terms).
• Poetic: Utilizing the language's own resources, often found in literary language.

Language and Its Varieties

Language exhibits several types of variation:

• Diatopic (Geographical) Varieties: Features of a language specific to a particular place.
• Diastratic (Social) Varieties: Determined by socio-cultural differences.
• Diasphasic (Functional)

European Union Human Rights

The European Union has the European Court of Human Rights, to which citizens can appeal if national courts do not recognize their rights and even to sue their own state. It is located in Strasbourg, France.

Human Rights:

Human rights are a set of powers and institutions that, in each particular historical moment, demand human dignity and equal freedom, which must be recognized positively by national and international law.

Citizen Attitudes and Liability:

• Liability: It means to act knowingly, taking into account the consequences and duties to fulfill oneself and others.
• Solidarity: It's a feeling that binds us to others, recognizing the need for mutual aid and respect.
• Justice: A good citizen has to be fair, impartial, and

Pronouns and Morphemes

Pronouns

Personal Pronoun: Third person, used to replace 'him'/'them'. Example: 'I gave it to him'.

Reflexive Pronoun: Functions as a direct object (CD) or indirect object (CI). Examples: 'They are washed' (CD), 'They wash their hands' (CI).

Reciprocal Pronoun: Functions as a direct object (CD) or indirect object (CI). Examples: 'His and her stick' (CD), 'His and her shots are given' (CI).

Morphemes

Verbal Morpheme: Accompanies many verbs that require a pronominal form (e.g., repent, rejoice).

Passive Morpheme: Appears in the 3rd person singular or plural and can switch to normal passive voice. Example: 'Rooms were rented'.

Impersonal Morpheme: Always appears in the 3rd person singular. Example: 'They were notified of that'.

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Lease of Rustic Property

Villamartin de Campos (Palencia)

Between

Lessor: D. Julian Merino Ortega, DNI: 12628114-X, resident of Sestao

Lessee: D. ____________________________________________, ID: ____________________, resident of ______________________

The parties agree as follows:

1. Property Description

Don Julián Ortega Murphy owns the following rural property:

2. Lease Terms

The parties agree to lease the property under the following conditions:

1. Lease Period: Five years, beginning on ____________________________ and ending on __________________________. The lessee agrees to leave the property at the owner's disposal upon termination of the lease without prior notification.
2. Rent: _______________ euros (__________

Nominal and Real Definitions of Philosophy

Nominal Definition (Etymological): Philo: Love, Sophia: Wisdom. Love of, or tendency towards, wisdom.

Real Definition: Study of entities in their finality. There is no universal agreement on a single definition.

Conditions Favoring the Emergence of Philosophy

1. Geographical Conditions: The barren land necessitated the importation of culture.
2. Eastern Influence: The East provided a stimulus, particularly through the concept of metempsychosis.
3. Absence of Sacred Texts: This allowed for more open inquiry.
4. Political Circumstances: The political climate fostered intellectual discourse.

Mythos and Logos

Most textbooks discuss a transition, or jump, from one form of explanation (mythos) to another (logos). According to... Continue reading "Introduction to Philosophy: Pre-Socratics and Socrates" »

What is an Ethical Theory?

Ethics is the philosophical reflection on morality. Ethical theories provide the rationale for explaining the moral behavior of individuals. These theories represent an effort of thought to understand the human condition and offer a coherent and profound explanation of our actions.

Various Ethical Theories

Ethical theories can be broadly divided into two groups:

• The ethics of conviction: These theories start with the question, "What is the end towards which we direct our actions?" They are interested in the purpose or the consequences that we enjoy if we follow a set of rules.
• Ethics of duty: These ethics do not ask what will make us happy, but what we are obligated to do as human beings endowed with reason. These theories

Vitalism: An Introduction

Vitalism reflects on life in both a biological and biographical sense, encompassing experience and historicism. These philosophies emerged in protest against idealism and positivism, defending irrationality and denying the primacy of reason. They argue that reason cannot grasp true reality. Vitalism posits that:

• Being is absolute and essentially irrational, unknowable by reason alone.
• Claims to know reality solely through reason are absurd, as reality escapes rational thought.

Key figures in Vitalism include Nietzsche, Bergson, and Ortega y Gasset. Vitalism emphasizes that:

1. The vital phenomenon cannot be explained solely by physical-chemical forces.
2. A vital force or "will to power" exists in nature.
3. The study of life encompasses

John Stuart Mill was a key exponent of utilitarianism, building upon the ideas of thinkers like David Hume.

Key Features of Mill's Utilitarianism

• An action is considered good if it promotes collective happiness.
• Mill critiqued monarchies, arguing they don't necessarily lead to collective happiness.
• He also criticized the criminal justice system, deeming it often unfair.
• Mill posited that humans naturally seek pleasure and avoid pain, leading to a 'calculus of pleasures.'
• Politically, Mill believed that collective happiness is the sum of individual happiness. If everyone strives for their own happiness, society as a whole will be happy.

Mill's Ethical Framework

• Happiness is universally recognized as the ultimate ethical goal.
• Happiness equates to pleasure,