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

Criteria for Determining Truth

A criterion of truth is a procedure by which we distinguish truth from falsehood. The following criteria are commonly mentioned:

• Authority: A statement is accepted as true because it comes from someone who is granted credit for their knowledge in a subject.
• Tradition: That which has been accepted as true over time and enjoys popular support is taken as true.
• Correspondence between Thought and Reality: What we think will be true if it matches empirical reality. This criterion establishes the adequacy or consistency between what is said and what it is.
• Logical Consistency: This involves checking that there is no contradiction between statements belonging to the same system, and that these statements are necessarily derived

Definitions

Nature: A term used in several ways: the essence or substance of being, regarded as a principle or origin of operations (in the nature of man is growing, talking, etc., not roasted fly), all external things as opposed the subject's interiority, the world itself as everything tidy and created by God.

Cosmos: The world as an orderly universe. It opposes Chaos, which, according to the ancients, preceded it.

Environment: Everything that affects a living being's circumstances and the special conditions of the life of people or society.

Culture: In one sense, culture refers to the potentialities and personality of a human (to be a cultured, educated human). In another, it is the higher feature set of a people, period, or civilization. In... Continue reading "Understanding Key Concepts: Nature, Culture, and Society" »

Medieval Property Rights: The Plurality of Real Situations

In medieval law, the concept of dominium (a right over a thing) was not necessarily unique. It allowed multiple rights holders over the same asset to coexist. In reality, things, even if a single substance, possess various utilities and are susceptible to various consistent levels of use. Each of these levels may not represent an absolute right for a single individual.

The Divided Domain Theory

While the dominium over all profits of a thing (property) represents the most comprehensive real right and occupies the highest level, the ability to enjoy or utilize any specific value, if sufficiently rooted in the asset, still constitutes a form of ownership with equivalent connotations.

This... Continue reading "Medieval Property Rights: Plurality & Divided Domain" »

Descartes' Methodical Doubt and the Three Certainties

The Quest for Indubitable Truths

Descartes' attempt to exercise universal doubt aimed not at skepticism, but at establishing a foundation for true knowledge. His methodical doubt sought to identify truths immune to skepticism. Through this process, he established three indubitable certainties.

First Certainty: The Existence of the Thinking Self (Cogito)

Descartes realized that even if he doubted everything else, he could not doubt his own existence as a thinking being. This is encapsulated in his famous phrase "Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am").

Second Certainty: The Existence of God

Descartes reasoned that his own imperfection implied the existence of a perfect being, God. He argued... Continue reading "Descartes' Three Certainties: Foundation of Scientific Philosophy" »

Etymology of Logic

From the Greek word logos, meaning 'proposition' or 'reason'.

What is Logic?

It is the study of methods and principles for distinguishing good reasoning from bad.

Central Problem of Logic

The central problem of logic is the distinction between right and wrong reasoning.

Premises and Conclusions

Proposition

A proposition is a statement that can be true, false, or indeterminate. It is usually the expression of a judgment.

Structure of a Proposition

• Subject
• Verb (Copula)
• Predicate

Distinction: Questions and Exclamations

Unlike propositions, questions and exclamations do not assert something that can be true or false.

The Notion of Inference

Inference is the process by which one arrives at a conclusion or statement based on other propositions... Continue reading "Foundations of Logic: Concepts and Reasoning Principles" »

Text commentary. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher. It is considered one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe, the last period of enlightenment and universal philosophy. Currently, Kant continues to have ample force in various disciplines: philosophy, ethics, law, aesthetics, science, politics, etc.. A sustained meditation on the various phenomena of human action takes us necessarily to Kant, who along with Plato and Aristotle is, as a large majority, the common theme of the great contributions to knowledge humano.El Booklet on "Perpetual Peace" Kant deals with the political system of international law founded on a Federation of Free States. The book argues for perpetual peace as the ultimate goal of progress... Continue reading "Immanuel Kant's Philosophy: Key Concepts and Perpetual Peace" »

Kant's Theory of Knowledge in Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason presents a foundational theory of knowledge, marking a significant development in epistemology—the branch of philosophy concerned with human knowledge. Kant proposes a revolutionary idea: instead of our knowledge conforming to objects, objects must conform to our cognitive structures. This is often called his "Copernican Revolution" in philosophy.

The Faculties of Cognition: Sensibility and Understanding

Kant identifies two primary faculties involved in human cognition:

• Sensibility: The passive faculty through which objects are given to us via sensations. Its operations are called intuitions. For Kant, intuition is always sensory, never purely intellectual.

Stoicism is a philosophical current from the Hellenistic period. It is named after the Stoa Poikile, a painted portico in Athens where its founder, Zeno of Citium, taught.

Core Concepts: Logos, Fate, and Determinism

Stoic ethics is based on their cosmic determinism. For the Stoics, the law governing the universe is the Intelligent Fire itself, or the divine Logos (Reason). Given this cosmic determinism, the only wise attitude is to accept fate, as everything is governed by the providence of the Logos.

Stoic Ethics: Virtue and Living According to Nature

According to Stoic ethics, to achieve happiness (eudaimonia), one must practice virtue. Virtue lies in the intention to live according to Nature, and because our nature is rational, this means living... Continue reading "Understanding Stoic Philosophy" »

The Scientific Revolution

Several factors contributed to the Scientific Revolution. These include the rediscovery of classical Greek texts and the supersession of the ideas of Archimedes and Aristotle. However, an even more crucial factor was the introduction of mathematical methods in experimental research. Investigating phenomena with a mathematical mindset was key.

Philosophical Implications of the New Science

The consideration that mathematics represents true and objective reality, coupled with the exaltation of human reason as an autonomous source of truth, changed man's image of the world and of himself.

The Reflection on Method

There were attempts to apply the same scientific method to philosophy. The scientific method includes both empirical... Continue reading "Scientific Revolution: Causes, Impacts, and Methods" »

Nietzsche on Tragic Art and Life Affirmation

Tragedy vs. Philosophy

For Nietzsche, philosophers often seem to hate life, killing everything they touch. Artists, with their fiction and lies, manage to be faithful to reality, expressing truth better than philosophers, especially tragic artists.

Affirming Life's Pain

In an original and profound way, Nietzsche sees tragic art as the antithesis of the decadent attitude, which is both pessimistic and nihilistic. Nietzsche maintains, against common opinion, that the tragic conception of the world is not pessimistic. Pessimism, for him, is indicative of resignation and regret, a sign of spiritual weakness.

Tragedy, however, is clearly a vigorous affirmation of reality. It teaches that one must always say... Continue reading "Nietzsche's Tragic Art and Dionysian Life Affirmation" »