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

Aristotle's Concept of Substance and Reality

The reality, or substance, to which Aristotle alludes exists by itself; it is not inserted into anything else and therefore does not need anything else to be referred to. Unlike Plato, for whom these entities were ideas, for Aristotle, substance constitutes reality. The first things are the specific individuals.

Primary and Secondary Substances

We can ascribe attributes to individual beings, but these attributes do not exist sufficiently on their own; they do not exist if there were no specific individual beings to whom we predicate them. In summary:

• Individual beings are the primary substance because without them, there would be no world or nothing to speak of.
• Species (which apply to individual beings)

Will to Power

Zarathustra is the prophet of the will to power. The world, man, and life are capable of volition. Nietzsche does not clearly define it, but the expression is frequently used. It is the will of the psychologists. In Schopenhauer, or perhaps where Nietzsche says there is no will, it is voluntary for nothing, or the truth is a volunteer for life. On the contrary, life is voluntary power, and this is to be more, live longer; it is voluntary to create. It is a set force of will to power. Nietzsche is interested in moral values because the will to power is the voluntary creator of values.

Eternal Return

This concept comes from the mythology of the Pre-Socratics. In the 'power volunteers,' Nietzsche attempts to reject the linear view of...

Karl Marx: Value, Profit, and Alienation

Value and Profit

• Merchandise has a use value and an actual exchange value, which is an amount of money that depends on the working time necessary to produce the goods.
• Goods also have a market exchange value, which depends on the law of supply and demand.
• The difference between the market value of the product and its real value (or cost price) is the capitalist's profit.
• There is also a profit that comes from the difference between the actual value of work and the wages paid to workers.

Alienation

Marx believes that alienation occurs particularly within a specific social class: the proletariat. For Marx, there are historical and socioeconomic conditions that cause alienation.

Marx's concept of man is active,...

Cervantes and the Printing of Don Quixote

We recently discovered a request in Cervantes's own hand, addressed to the authorities, in which he authorized the printing of Don Quixote. This discovery is significant for three reasons:

• It provides a new autograph of Cervantes.
• It reveals the title Cervantes himself conceived for his work: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha.
• It offers a key to reading Don Quixote as a celebration of the pleasure of fiction.

Structure of the Quixote

The structure of the work is built upon two pillars: the observation of reality and the symbolic nature of madness, both directly influenced by the literature of the time.

Elements, Qualities, and Temperaments

The work reflects the medical knowledge of the era regarding the...

Foundations of Ethics and Coexistence

Interpersonal Relationships and Socialization

Socialization is crucial for moral development:

• Primary Socialization: Occurs within the family, where children learn social goods and seek union without selfish interests.
• Secondary Socialization: Continues throughout life. Company and society influence behavior, where union and selfish interests often dominate.

2.3 Coexistence: Rights and Legal Compliance

A good life requires the recognition of rights, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone is equal; no one should be tortured or enslaved.

Compliance involves the enforcement of laws equally on all persons, ensuring respect and dignity, and avoiding mistreatment or contempt.

2.4 Violence and Moral

The Human Being as a Person

Defining Personhood: Roman Law and Christianity

Roman law and Christianity significantly advanced the concept of the person. In ancient Rome, people were recognized as subjects of rights and duties. Individuals could operate freely and were responsible for their own actions. A person does not need anyone to dictate their actions; they are the source of duty and morality.

In Christianity, it is believed that every human being is a creature with a soul, capable of receiving rewards or punishments according to their performance. This underscores the value of the person as an autonomous entity with its own identity, especially with a permanence and continuity that does not end in this life. A person is an end in itself....

Basic Propositions of Classical Mechanics (Newton)

• It is possible and desirable to reduce all natural phenomena to the interaction of material particles possessing objective reality.
• Only mathematically quantifiable qualities: extension and motion.
• It is sufficient to describe mathematically the laws governing movements: scientific explanation only needs to express the mathematical relationship between two covariant variables.
• Size and extent in space are objective properties of bodies.
• Mass is a property of all bodies.
• All movements in nature have a cause. In physical reality, there is no freedom. Everything is determined.
• Primary qualities of objects (shape, size, motion, and position) are independent of the observer.

The Problem of Human Freedom

Spanish Grammar: Key Components

Nouns

A noun is a word that refers to animals, people, concepts, and things. Nouns are classified:

• According to their form:
  • Gender: Masculine and feminine
  • Number: Singular and plural
• According to their meaning:
  • Common or proper
  • Concrete or abstract
  • Individual or collective
  • Countable or uncountable
  • Animate or inanimate
• By function: Nucleus of the nominal group

Determinants

Determinants accompany the noun. They are classified as:

• Articles
• Demonstratives
• Possessives
• Indefinites
• Numerals
• Interrogatives

Pronouns

A pronoun refers to the noun and assumes all of its syntactic functions in a sentence. Types of pronouns include:

• Personal
• Demonstrative
• Possessive
• Indefinite
• Numeral
• Interrogative
• Relative

Adjectives

An adjective expresses the qualities...

Plato's Intellectual Framework: Historical Setting

The Decline of Athens and the Crisis of the Polis

The intellectual work of Plato developed during the first half of the fourth century BC. The previous century, the Fifth Century BC, was the period of Athenian greatness, known as the "Age of Pericles," marked by victory in the Persian Wars (or Median Wars) against the Persians.

However, by the end of that century (431–404 BC), Athens had suffered a heavy defeat against Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and subsequently endured a year under the government imposed by the enemy, known as the "Thirty Tyrants." This marked a period of decline that the restoration of democracy in 403 BC could not fully overcome. Ultimately, Athens would be dominated,...

Anthropological Dualism: Plato and Descartes

A key similarity between Plato and Descartes is their belief in anthropological dualism: the concept that humans are composed of two distinct parts, the soul (l'ànima) and the body. Both philosophers argue that absolute truth resides in the soul, while the body is the primary source of error.

Plato's View on the Soul

Plato posits that the soul is perfect, eternal, and existed in an intelligible world of ideas before uniting with the body. He introduces the Law of Reminiscence, suggesting that the soul encountered absolute truth before birth, but the union with the body causes it to forget, requiring a process of recollection to regain knowledge.

Descartes and the Cogito

For Descartes, the soul is defined...