Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Philosophy and ethics for Secondary education

Understanding Justice and Social Justice

Defining Justice

Justice is a set of laws and principles that seek to establish good relations and equality among people.

The Emergence of Social Justice

Social justice emerged from the struggle to improve the conditions of the working class. It strives to achieve:

• Recognition and respect for human dignity
• Fair and equitable distribution of economic, cultural, and legal goods
• Development of an equality of opportunities agenda
• Social security for all

The Genesis of Human Rights

Early Declarations of Rights

The first proclamations of human rights appeared in the late 18th century, advocating for the freedom, equality, and dignity of individuals. Notable examples include the Declaration of Rights of Virginia, the...

Naturalism in Literature

Naturalism was a return to realism that attempted to explain behavior. It posits that the passions and actions of individuals are determined by heredity and environment. This movement is based on positivist philosophy and the philosophical theories of Schopenhauer. It is often viewed as pessimistic because it suggests that disadvantaged social classes are determined by biological inheritance.

The Works of Narcís Oller

The Butterfly (1892)

This work describes how an artisan must view Barcelona during the years studied. Luis, the protagonist and a student from the provinces, succumbs to the vibrant life of the city.

The Madness (1898)

This novel studies the personality of Daniel Serrallonga, the protagonist. The narrator,...

The Critique of Christianity

Nietzsche criticizes the Christian religion, arguing that all religion is born of fear, anguish, and needs—the importance felt by the man himself. Therefore, no religion has ever contained any truth. It represents an inability to accept one's own destiny. Christianity constructs an ideal world in which the fostered values involve the herd mentality. Religion involves the alienation of man. Through an unprecedented critique of the Enlightenment, Nietzsche interprets Christianity as a vulgar morality which comes from God. He seeks to reverse anti-Christian values through new assessments, considering Christianity as the mortal enemy of man's higher nature. Anti-Christianity is the transmutation of all values that...

Philosophical Conceptions of Happiness

Section 2: Happiness as the Supreme Aspiration

Happiness for him was the supreme aspiration of all human beings, the ultimate end to which man tends naturally and by which all other things are desired. Happiness was rather a kind of life, a life based on the constant exercise of the most proper and excellent human being. The secret of happiness was to live wisely.

Section 3: Epicurus on Pleasure and Pain

For Epicurus, happiness is reduced to pleasure and no pain. According to Epicurus, all humans seek through their actions to avoid pain and achieve pleasure.

Section 4: Stoic View of Happiness

For the Stoics, happiness was to achieve pleasure and avoid pain; however, these things are not always dependent on us...

Ethical Materials and Formal Ethics

Ethics materials: Bad acts, heterogeneous good acts, and formal ethics with an emphasis on freedom.

Aristotelian Ethics

Aristotelian ethics: All human beings by nature form habits that lead to happiness (felicidad). Two classes: Positive: achieving happiness; Negative: the absence of virtue and happiness. Aristotle says virtue is a mean between extremes; reason identifies the mean and the prudent person (prudente) chooses it. Virtue as a mean is a point between extremes. Aristotle also says a person is happy when they have good behavior and some luck (suerte). Contemplation is the highest virtue and the fullest exercise of the mind.

Scholastic Ethics

Scholastic ethics: Moral ideas developed in Christian schools....

The Ethics of Saint Thomas Aquinas

The ethics of Saint Thomas Aquinas has a teleological and eudaimonistic vision, asserting that the greatest happiness is the ultimate end of life. Aquinas states that maximum happiness is achieved through the contemplation of God; thus, life is directed towards this contemplation. It is a unifying vision that seeks union with God.

Natural Law and Moral Principles

Just as all life has a purpose, human beings also have one. This purpose allows for the inference of moral principles, using reason and principles given by natural understanding. These principles constitute Natural Law, which Aquinas describes as clear, universal, compulsory, and immutable.

Natural Law contains two fundamental principles:

• To do good and

The Copernican Revolution

1. Sensitivity: The Object

• Representations originate from sensible intuitions, transformed into phenomena (matter and form). Breaking down these concepts reveals their true essence.
• This process requires space and time. Space and time are a priori sensible intuitions, not concepts; they serve as the framework for phenomena.
• Universal concepts, such as mathematics and physics, are also derived here.

2. Understanding: Thinking the Object

• Knowledge is conceptual rather than purely intuitive.
• Knowledge is provided by unifying concepts and intuitions (feelings and concepts).
• Pure concepts allow for empirical concepts and the formation of judgments.
• Judgment: The act of understanding.
• Categories of Judgment: Quantity, quality, relation,

The Role of Morality in Human Life

Morality functions in three primary ways:

• First: It acts as a moral compass, clashing with the horizon of our actions and those of others.
• Secondly: The capacity for morality occupies a central role in human self-esteem.
• Thirdly: The collective dimension of this capacity forms the moral basis of social order.

Freedom and Determinism

Freedom is the ability to choose between options. Leeway refers to the freedom to act without external constraints, while choice is the capacity to select among various options without being predetermined by external forces.

Types of Determinism

• Historical Determinism: The idea that history follows a predetermined course where humans play an inexorable, minor role.
• Genetic and Sociological

John Stuart Mill and Utilitarian Thought

London, Avignon, the edge of nineteenth-century debate: Mill, utilitarianism, Origen 1806–1873. John Stuart Mill emphasized freedom and the evaluation of pleasures and pains across species and other fields. Following Bentham, political and moral discussion centers on the utility principle: actions should promote "the greatest happiness for the greatest possible maximum happiness" of people who work and live in society. Mill's key practical writings date from around 1843.

Method, Induction, and the Sciences

Mill defended logical sciences and induction. He argued that the method of empiricism shows that innate ideas do not exist. Knowledge grows from experience, observation, and reasoning rather than...

E.Individual: It addresses the individual's actions in relation to itself and the people with the k maintains a direct deal.
E. Social: a field of thought has a larger reality: consisting of all persons
Moral commitment: Support k everyone feels obliged to give
· From morality to legality: Respect for human dignity is a moral responsibility each of us, but their defense can not rely exclusively on such responsibility.
A moral imperative: It is dependent on the conscience of the person, control of such a requirement is in the hands of each individual.
Legal Requirement: It is imposed on the individual xla force a public authority.
· Human rights as collateral:The human Derex k are the fundamental rights protect our dignity as persons,...