Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Philosophy and ethics for University

Core Concepts in Social Science

Ethnocentrism: The tendency to prioritize the values and customs of the group in which one is born or raised.

Stereotypes: Unconfirmed images formed during childhood or developed through personal experience.

Specialization: The belief that expertise in one area of science empowers an individual to engage in any other scientific field.

Authoritarianism: The exercise of authority in social relations, often resulting in a lack of consensus, irrationality, and an oppressive social order.

Anthropology: The science that studies human beings holistically, combining approaches from natural, social, and human sciences.

Dogmatism: Doctrines held by religious or authoritative organizations that are not subject to proof, often...

Incoterms: EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP Responsibilities

EXW (Ex-Works) — Ex Works (named place)

Obligations of the Seller.

• Delivery of the merchandise and necessary documents
• Packing and packaging

Obligations of the Buyer.

• Payment of goods
• Internal freight (from factory to the place of export)
• Customs (documents, permits, requirements, taxes)
• Top costs coming export (maneuvers, storage, agents)
• International freight (from the export place to the place of import)
• Insurance
• Top costs coming import (maneuvers, storage, agents)
• Shipping and insurance (instead of importing place)

FOB (Free On Board) — Free On Board (named port of shipment)

Obligations of the Seller.

• Deliver merchandise and necessary documents
• Packing and packaging
• Freight (factory to the place of export)

Definitions of Decision Making

Melinkof's Definition

Defines the faculty of choosing the best and most convenient potential alternative from a set of options.

Terry's Definition

Defined as one or more choices of possible solutions.

Types and Strategy

Types of Decisions

Empirical Decisions

Decisions based on observation or experience.

Strategy and Tactics for Large Decisions

Large decision projections involve finding available resources between decisions that are the same as others. These decisions involve the life of an enterprise, a government, or any other institution.

Certainty and Strategic Decisions

The degree of certainty influences a large majority of the more strategic decisions.

Rules for Decision Making

Intuition (Empirical Rule)

It is recommended...

Language

A system of communication using sounds, symbols, or words that enables people to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. It studies the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.

Pragmatics

The branch of linguistics dealing with language in use and the contexts in which it is used. It studies how context contributes to meaning, considering factors like time, place, and social situation.

Metalinguistics

The study of language and its relationship to other cultural behaviors. It involves using language to talk about language itself.

Thinking

The process of using one's mind to consider or reason about something. It involves forming ideas, mental images, and understanding existence,...

Structuralism and Global System Relationships

Structuralism: The most important aspects are the relationships within the system, rather than individual actors or subjects. It focuses on dependence and domination, originating from Marxism. It maintains an international vision, where the primary concern is the economic base in the sense of domination. Proponents speak of a "unit" because some earn much more than others.

The Rise of Critical Theory and Horkheimer

Connected with structuralism, we find several critical theories. Original Critical Theory: Horkheimer emerged in Germany and wrote a highly influential work in 1937: "Traditional Theory and Critical Theory." This work argued that science does not explain reality, as scientists are not outside...

Understanding Conversational Implicature

This explanation clarifies why and how conversational implicatures originate, using simple examples to illustrate the relationship between conversational implicature and logical implication.

The Nature of Conversational Implicature

Conversational implicatures rely on the possibility of non-literal meaning. For example, when someone asks, "Do you have the time?", they are often seeking a non-literal response. A conversational implicature allows for this non-literal interpretation, provided the listener cooperates in the conversation by addressing the underlying intent of the question.

The Role of Conventions

Grice suggests that for an implicature to occur, there must be a convention among speakers that binds...

Habits: The Foundation of Character

Habit: A habit is a quality acquired freely through the repetition of free acts. Habits can be good or bad, depending on whether the free acts bring us closer to or take us away from happiness. If they are good, we speak of virtues, and if they are bad, we speak of vices.

The Nature of Virtues and Vices

Virtue: A virtue is a good operative habit. Virtues are qualities that we freely acquire through repeated good acts. They allow us to get closer to happiness, to the extent that they are constantly full of intelligence—to see the good that the virtue is concerned with—and will, which desires that good.

Vice: A vice is a bad operative habit. Vices are also acquired qualities gained freely, but through evil...

Liberalism and Its Core Foundations

Liberalism encompasses several branches, including the assumptions of classical liberalism, utilitarianism, social liberalism, and neoliberal ideas. To understand these ideologies, there are three basic pillars:

The Three Pillars of Political Ideology

• Libertad (Liberty)
• Igualdad (Equality)
• Orden (Order)

Ideologies emerge by combining these elements (liberalism, socialism, conservatism, etc.). No doctrine uses only one; they are combined, and depending on the ratio, one doctrine or another arises.

Historical Origins and the Atlantic Revolutions

The first time the word "liberal" was used was in the Cortes of Cádiz (1812). The first stage of these ideas was the English Puritan Republic (1640–88), culminating in the...

Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1828–1910)

Early Life and Influences

Orphaned at age 9, Tolstoy was educated by French tutors and at the University of Kazan. He was significantly influenced by the writings of Rousseau.

Concept of Education

Tolstoy was deeply concerned not to impose adult personalities upon children. This led him to refuse to promote any form of formal instruction. He advocated for universal education, believing that if education were widespread across society, despotism, violence, and injustices would cease. For Tolstoy, education required a common monitor: the people.

Practical Proposals in Practice

• Students had no fixed locations.
• No set tasks were assigned.
• Work was based on exercise and interest.
• Children were not punished.
• Students had the

Plato and Aristotle on the Nature of Reality

For Plato, authentic reality was an immutable and perfect world of ideas. The world around us is only an imperfect and corrupt copy of these ideas; therefore, we know them only if we understand what we see through these forms. For Plato, ideas are what make the physical world intelligible because they constitute the essence of things. Aristotle, however, finds the existence of perfect ideas for everything bad and negative in the world to be inadmissible. For Aristotle, the essence of things and their 'why' cannot be separated from the things themselves.

The Problem of Movement and Change

Aristotle finds a flaw in Plato's ideal theory: it fails to explain or give reasons for what is most characteristic...