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

Abortion

Abortion is the interruption of a pregnancy before the fetus can develop independent living. There are two types of abortion: natural and induced.

Methods of Abortion

Methods include:

1. Suction or Aspiration: First trimester.
2. Dilation and Evacuation: Second trimester.
3. Hysterotomy.
4. Pill RU486.

According to the criminal code of 1995, abortion is illegal, except in some exceptional cases:

• Endangerment of the Mother's Health: If the mother's physical or psychological health is endangered, as ruled by two doctors.
• Pregnancy Resulting from Violation: If the pregnancy is a result of a violation, a doctor's note is not needed, but a complaint is required, and the procedure cannot be performed beyond 12 weeks.
• Fetal Malformation: If there is a presumption

Cosmological Doctrines

Cosmological Monism

Thales, Heraclitus, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Parmenides

Cosmological Dualism

Pythagoras

Cosmological Pluralism

Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus

Anthropological Doctrines

Anthropological Monism

Protagoras, Gorgias

Anthropological Dualism

Hippias, Antiphon

Key Figures and Their Ideas

Thales

"The principle of all things is water." Geometry: early (green) → development, conclusion (green). Water, earth, air, fire.

Anaximander

"First of all there is apeiron (indeterminate)" from where the bodies come and where they should return, because things are given mutual satisfaction and reparation for their injustice, according to the order of time. Apeiron (unlimited) ↔ cosmos (loop). APEIRON: Something finite but unbounded....

Humanism

Humanism was the first cultural movement to develop an anthropocentric worldview. It defended that human beings, their intelligence and their love of knowledge were some of the main concerns of humanists, even though they were at the service of the Christian faith.

Empiricism

Empiricism claimed that we should not accept reasoning that could not be empirically validated through observation and experimentation.

Rationalism

Rationalism stated that the truths established by authority and tradition should be criticised, and that reason was the only valid criterion.

Science

Science is knowledge obtained through observation and reasoning, with a systematic structure from which we deduce general principles and laws that can be verified experimentally....

Hypotheses and Scientific Theories

Hypotheses

Hypotheses are educated guesses proposed in response to scientific problems. Their function is to guide the principal research, indicating what causes must be analyzed. The hypothesis is a bridge or link between theory and research. A well-formulated hypothesis serves as a guideline for research and, after verification, generates new knowledge that becomes part of human knowledge. The construction of the hypothesis is supported by a system of organized knowledge, forming a theoretical framework demonstrated through empirical verification, to explain and predict possible events or phenomena if the stated relationship is found.

Inductive Hypothesis

An inductive hypothesis arises from the specific observation...

The Sensible and Intelligible Worlds

Plato's theory of knowledge is intrinsically linked to his ontological dualism, which distinguishes between the sensible world and the intelligible world. In the ever-changing sensible world, we can only attain doxa (opinion), a sensory-based knowledge that, at best, coincides with reality. This inadequate knowledge, based on perception, satisfies only the ignorant.

The intelligible world, characterized by eternity, immutability, and permanence, offers episteme (true knowledge), providing wisdom and understanding of causes. This is the knowledge sought by the sage, who can demonstrate truth to others.

Levels of Knowledge: The Divided Line

In the Republic's allegory of the divided line, Plato further elaborates...

The Foundation of Empiricism

David Hume is one of the leading philosophers of empiricism. He proposes a philosophy that considers something true only if it is based on experience or impressions. One important aspect that characterizes his thought is the negation of the Cartesian philosophy of res cogitans. He denies the res infinita and res extensa.

The Origin of Knowledge

As for the origin of knowledge, experience reduces all to sensitive evidence. For empiricists, experience is the fundamental concept of philosophy, as it differentiates what is true from what is not. No one can say that something is true if they have no experience of it. For this reason, Hume denies the validity of abstract ideas and distinguishes two types of ideas:

• Relationships

Understanding Philosophical Concepts and Thinkers

Inductive and Deductive Methods

Inductive Method

The inductive method is a scientific approach that derives general conclusions from specific premises. This common scientific method involves four key stages:

1. Observation and recording of facts
2. Analysis and classification of facts
3. Inductive derivation of a generalization from the facts
4. Verification or contrast of the generalization

Deductive Method

The deductive method is a scientific approach where the conclusion is implicit within the premises. If deductive reasoning is valid and the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.

Pythagoras: Philosopher and Mathematician

Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, renowned for the Pythagorean...

Aristotle's Four Causes

Because it's the beginning that proceeds an individual being described by four causes:

• Material cause: It is the substratum of which things are made.
• Formal cause: It is the shape and operation of a quality.
• Efficient cause: It is the maker of the instrument and the process by which there is one thing.
• Final cause: The purpose of a thing.

It's not intended to be exclusive of artificial things produced by man. This attribution of a purpose to everything that occurs in nature is called teleologism. Aristotle also says that talks aimed at productive knowledge and practical knowledge have a purpose outside themselves.

Happiness and the Supreme Good

In his Ethics, Aristotle says that the good is the purpose of our action on our practice,...