Understanding Ethics: Nature, Problems, and History
The Philosophical Nature of Ethics
The general view of ethics is that it is a philosophical discipline. Several thinkers have weighed in:
- Aristotle: Ethics is the science of ultimate causes.
- Karl Marx: Ethics is the spiritual quintessence of its time, and its function is to criticize forms of human alienation.
- Scheler: Philosophical knowledge is of the essence in order to gain access.
- Existentialism: Philosophy is the theory of existence.
These definitions aim to understand philosophy as a way to investigate
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History
Human life is not merely vegetative or sensitive. It is not a simple fact, chore, task, event, or something that merely happens and develops; it is, therefore, essentially historical. Ortega y Gasset states that “man has no nature but has a history.” Man is fundamentally a project directed toward the future, but rooted in a past. Man is never final but is always becoming.
The historical character of human life implies responsibility and authenticity. To be in the process of becoming is to
Read MoreUnderstanding Logical Conjunctions, Definitions, Divisions, and Proofs
Understanding Logical Concepts
The conjunction is true when both statements are true. The disjunction is false when both statements are false. The exclusive disjunction is true when one statement is true and one is false. The conditional is false if the first statement is true and the second is false. The biconditional is true when both are false or both are true.
Classes can be defined by extension (listing the elements) and compression (expressing their common properties).
Science is an eminently
Read MoreAugustine of Hippo: Humans, Society, Reality, and Knowledge
Humans
The human soul shares a source of life and vital energy with all living beings. What differentiates the soul is that, besides being the beginning of life and a rational and spiritual principle, its ultimate goal is to know God. Augustine of Hippo struggled to explain how the human soul enters a body. His initial idea was that the soul, as a seminal reason, was transmitted through the father’s semen to the children, a doctrine known as “Traducianism.” To explain the idea of original sin and
Read MoreJohn Locke and David Hume: Texts on Tolerance and Morality
Texts of Locke
Author: The letters that comprise *On Tolerance* were published by John Locke between 1689 and 1690. These letters provide the essential ideological basis for the political theory put forward around the same time in his *Two Treatises of Government*. During these years, two decisive events occurred in England: the Glorious Revolution of 1688, reflecting the success of parliamentarism and the limitation of the monarch’s power; and the British Bill of Rights of 1689, which largely reflects
Read MoreAristotle’s Philosophy: Politics, Ethics, and Happiness
Aristotle’s Political Philosophy
Aristotle defines human beings as *zoon politikon logikon*, that is, a rational, social, or political animal. He argues that the essence of human nature, and its rationality, lies in its sociability. Society is not against nature but a development of it. By their very nature (*physis*), human beings have an inevitable tendency to live in society. The distinction between natural and social status is impossible in Aristotelian thought; there is no individual without
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