Human Nature: Reason, Language, Unconscious
Rational Animals?
Intelligent Beings
One of the earliest definitions of the human being is the “rational animal.”
This definition was proposed by Aristotle over two thousand years ago and, after all this time, still holds.
While science tells us that mammals are primates, the result of a long evolutionary history that has made us Homo Sapiens, the thinking being, the philosophical definition of “rational animal” also highlights intelligence.
Both perspectives highlight intelligence.
The human being is
Read MoreDoctrina Social, Hobbes y Rousseau: Ideas Políticas
Doctrina Social de la Iglesia
El conjunto de reglas y principios relativos a la política social y económica de la humanidad basados en el Evangelio y el Magisterio de la Iglesia Católica. Sus principios son:
- Dignidad humana
- Bien común
- Destino universal de los bienes
- Principio de subsistencia
- Participación social
- Solidaridad
- Valores fundamentales de la vida social
- Calidad de vida
- Amor y cultura de vida
La encíclica Rerum Novarum apoya el derecho a formar sindicatos, apoya la propiedad privada y regula
Read MoreDavid Hume’s Empiricism: Causality, Ideas, and Critique
Hume: Causality & Ideas Not From Reason
Why is the principle of causality not knowledge derived from relations of ideas? This knowledge is not a truth achieved by reason either intuitively or demonstratively. Reason cannot intuitively link cause and effect, as they are distinct and separable ideas. Furthermore, this knowledge cannot be reached via demonstration because the opposite (i.e., an effect not following its supposed cause) does not involve any logical contradiction or absurdity. The
Read MoreUnderstanding Argumentation Structure & Types
An argument is a variety of discourse used to defend an opinion and persuade a receiver using evidence and reasoning. It relates to different disciplines:
- Logic: laws of human reasoning
- Dialectic: procedures used to prove or disprove something
- Rhetoric: the use of linguistic resources to persuade and evoke affections, emotions, suggestions
Key Components: Thesis & Body
An argumentative essay has two elements: the thesis and the body argument.
- The thesis is the fundamental idea to reflect upon and
Plato’s Philosophy: Ideas, Soul, and the Just State
Plato’s Core Philosophical Concepts
Disappointment with the political situation in Athens and the death of Socrates marked the beginning of Platonic philosophy. On one hand, contact with the Pythagoreans made Plato aware of the importance of mathematics and familiarized him with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and reincarnation. On the other hand, his disillusionment with the dictatorship of the Thirty Tyrants, and later the Athenian democracy, led him to propose a model of society where
Read MoreRené Descartes: Life, Philosophy, and the Rationalist Shift
Descartes’ Early Life and Education
René Descartes was born in March 1596 in La Haye. At an early age, René entered college as an intern at La Flèche, a newly founded institution established with the help of Henry IV to form a nobility as a weapon against the Protestant Huguenots. Once he left school, he decided to join the troops of Maurice of Nassau in the Thirty Years’ War to see the world and strengthen his character.
The Turbulent 17th Century Context
This war was perhaps an event caused by
Read More