Political Power, State Formation, and Social Contract Theories
I. Political Power and the State
Power is the ability of an individual or social group to impose its will on others. It is determined by a relationship in which one element is controlled and determined by the other component of the relationship.
When power relations are predominantly social functioning, there is talk of political power. Political power is organized within the polis. Political power is the power exercised in the management, control, and distribution of the commons.
In most modern societies,
Read MorePlato and Socrates: Influence of Pythagoreanism on Philosophy
**Plato’s Context and Philosophical Influences**
Parmenides’ influence on all later Greek philosophy, including Plato and Aristotle, is undeniable. He stated: *”We need to say and think that being is and that it is not.”* Only this way leads to truth. Being is *one, immutable, immovable, indivisible, timeless.* The reasons behind this description are purely logical. Being is **unique** because, if there were two beings, what would differentiate them? Would it be being? No, because that is what they
Read MoreSt. Augustine on Being, Knowledge, and Love in The City of God
St. Augustine on Being, Knowledge, and Love in *The City of God*
Chapter 27: Essence of Being, Knowledge, and Love
This fragment belongs to Chapter 27 of *The City of God*, entitled “Essence of Both,” written by St. Augustine of Hippo. In the text, the author refers to knowledge, which is characteristic of people, unlike animals, and enables them to reach God. Animals cannot come to knowledge, as all elements except the human being are made to be known, not to know. The excerpt also notes that the
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: Key Terms and Concepts
Treachery
In legal language, treachery implies that a crime is committed with caution to avoid risk. Nietzsche acknowledges Kant’s contribution to the demystification of the “real world,” but he believes Kant betrays the impulse to cling to a supposed supersensible world as the foundation of morality.
Appearance
The surface appearance of something, which, according to Nietzsche, is a hoax of the senses, motivated by fear of contingency and perpetual growth.
Artist
For Nietzsche, the most authentic attitude
Read MoreSubstance, Empiricism, and the Limits of Knowledge
Guaranteeing my ideas a reality is extramental: world, extension, and movement. The structure of the three substances of reality: God is infinite substance, thinking substance, I, and extended substance.
Concept of Substance
The substance is anything that does not need anything else to exist (you can only apply this in an absolute way to God).
Body and Soul
Descartes states that the soul, mind, and body are distinct substances. Extension is to safeguard the autonomy of the soul concerning matter.
Hume
Empiricism
English
Read MoreKant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Key Concepts
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Key Concepts
This text is a preface to the second edition of Critique of Pure Reason, written by Kant in 1787. It provides a summary of the main thesis of Kant’s transcendental idealism. In this prologue, Kant exposes the fundamental aspects of his critique of the speculative use of reason, whose power and limits he seeks to determine.
Three Questions
For Kant, the question of knowledge, “What can I know?”, is one of the three big questions of philosophy, along with