Understanding Will and Freedom: Determinism vs. Indeterminism
Will and Understanding
The will is the faculty by which humans can act beyond mere sensory input. It allows us to control instinctive tendencies without external stimuli. It is a uniquely human faculty, distinct from understanding or intelligence. Ethics identifies two objectives: 1. The collective good along with individual happiness. 2. The imperative to act correctly regardless of the ends.
Understanding involves conceiving an order sought by the subject and deliberating whether or not to act,
Read MoreSocrates’ Defense: Analyzing Plato’s ‘Apology’
The Apology of Socrates, written between 393 and 389 BC, is a Platonic dialogue that gives a version of the defense of Socrates, who was accused of corrupting youth and despising the gods. The Apology of Socrates reflects the defense before the jury of the city of Athens. The word apology is the original meaning of formal defense of one’s views, from the Latin “apologia” which in turn comes from the Greek apologia, meaning “defense”, “justification”, and also “praise”. The text, part of the early
Read MoreLegal Subjects and Personality Attributes
Derexo Subjects
Individuals holding derexo, obligated to fulfill a legal duty.
Natural Persons
All individuals of the ESPC, any age, sex.
Natural Existence
Starts with conception, representing the difficulty in establishing the exact moment. The Civil Code establishes the presumption of derexo to determine the time.
Legal Existence
Begins with birth: (a) complete separation of the infant from the mother, (b) survival of at least 1 minute after separation.
Termination of Existence
Legal
Ends with death, including
Read MoreHume’s Empiricism: Knowledge, Causality, and Morality
Hume: Theory of Knowledge
- Hume was the most radical empiricist, taking the limits of Locke and Berkeley and extracting from them what their predecessors did not dare say.
- Unable to refer to an outside world until we have proved its existence, Hume believes that we only know that some representations in our consciousness are sharp and intense, and others less so. The first impressions are known and can be of sensation and reflection, and the latter are ideas.
True to the empiricist principle of not
Read MoreHume’s Empiricism: Knowledge, Reality, and Society
David Hume
Historical and Socio-Cultural Context
Empiricism emerged in Britain during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, influenced by the philosophical environment of Oxford University. In the Middle Ages, Oxford and Paris vied for intellectual dominance in Europe. Oxford focused on natural and physical works, aligning with Aristotelian thought and emphasizing observation of nature. Roger Bacon, William of Ockham, and Francis Bacon were precursors to modern empiricism.
England underwent
Read MoreNine Ethical Perspectives and Existentialist Ethics
1 – Aristotelian Ethics
According to Aristotle, we must always act avoiding exaggerations and extreme attitudes. Virtue is in a fair compromise, a balance. For example, courage is good and is right in the middle of cowardice and irresponsibility.
2 – Stoic Ethics
The most important is doing your duty; we must put aside feelings and emotions.
3 – Hedonistic Ethics
According to this ethic, it is nature that tells us, through pleasure or pain, what is good and what is bad. Everything I like is morally good,
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