A Concise History of Western Ethics
A Concise History of Western Ethics
San Agustin
Evil is not something positive, a positive reality, but a privation, a lack of good. Evil cannot be attributed to God, nor is it necessary to attribute it to a cause or principle of evil. Moral evil is a product of our free will inclined by original sin, physical evil is the result of moral evil, and ontological evil is the deprivation of perfection as opposed to divine perfection.
Property is a fundamental attribute of God, who possesses all possible
Post-War British Literature: Exploring Social Change and the Novel
Kingsley Amis (1922-1995): The University as Microcosm
The Post-War Shift
The Second World War disrupted the modernist tradition of writers like D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. A new era demanded a different literary approach. Realism and the social novel, reminiscent of Dickens and Fielding, resurfaced. This resurgence aimed to document and interpret the societal transformations brought about by the welfare state. The novel became a lens through which to examine the experiences of the working-
Read MoreThe Cartesian Project: A Framework for Unifying Knowledge
Introduction
Despite having been a student at one of the most celebrated schools in Europe, Descartes recognizes the profound uncertainty that marked the end of his studies. “I found myself lost among so many mistakes and doubts, which I found trying to teach me that there was managed to have discovered another benefit to growing my ignorance.” He held a critical view of the philosophy he had learned, precisely because, as he writes in Discourse on Method, “It would be hard to imagine anything so
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: A Critique of Western Thought
The Dionysian and Apollonian
Nietzsche’s philosophy challenges the traditional Western philosophical view, which he believes has denied and suppressed the Dionysian and Apollonian aspects of life. He argues that this tradition, which devalues life, stems from a specific moral perspective.
Master Morality vs. Slave Morality
Nietzsche identifies two fundamental types of morality:
- Master Morality: Values pride, strength, and affirmation of life. It views what is “bad” as that which is low, mean, and life-
Aristotle’s Philosophy: Logic, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and Politics
Aristotle’s Philosophy
Item 3: Aristotle
1. Logic and Ontology
In Aristotle’s logic, it is not a science but a set of observations “about the logos.” This means that logos is not an arbitrary action subject that makes up words, but the way things are in their truth and being. For Aristotle, there’s no separation between the organization of our thinking and the order of things, as logos relates to both areas. It should make a distinction between logic and ontology, since the logic is ontology.
1.1 The
Read MoreHume’s Critique of Causation, Substance, and Metaphysics
The Problem of Causation and Necessity
No to Causation
Hume denies the principle of causality, which states, “Everything that begins to exist has a cause.” He argues that this principle cannot be proven as necessarily true because:
- It is not a relationship between ideas, which we can know intuitively.
- It is not knowledge of facts based on our current impressions or memories. Knowledge of the future, including cause and effect, is merely a result of habit and custom, not a necessary connection.
Hume contends
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