Navigating the Complexities: Science’s Epistemological, Metaphysical, and Ethical Challenges
Problems of Science
Epistemological Problems (Knowledge)
1. Affirming the Consequent
If the hypothesis (H) is true, then certain things happen (C). For example, if it rains (H), the streets are wet (C). If the streets are wet (C), therefore the hypothesis is true (it has rained). This is false because streets can be wet for other reasons.
Therefore, if we have a scientific law and observe the consequent, the antecedent must be true.
2. Verification and Falsification
This applies to universal laws, probabilistic
Read MoreKant’s Social Contract and Transcendental Illusion
The Social Contract According to Kant
The social contract allows individuals to leave the state of nature to enter a civil state. It is not a historical fact but a regulative idea that requires the legislature to enact laws as if these were the outcome of the united will of the people. The social contract entails the total submission of individuals to an authority, similar to Kantian thinking about Hobbes. However, it also implies that the individual is a co-legislator; that is, no law can be adopted
Read MoreHume’s Critique of Causality, Substance, and Self
Hume’s Critique of Causal Indifference
Hume’s critique of the principle of causality is not limited to its application in physical phenomena, but also occurs in relation to our own voluntary acts. Impressions originate ideas; imagination creates in us ideas without sense. The succession or contiguity in time or space of two events creates in us a belief or custom. Laws admit the association consisting of a causal link between perceptions, but will always deny the objective value of said principle.
Read MoreState’s Role in Defending Peace, Democracy & Human Rights
Item 14: The State and the Defense of Peace, Democratic Values, and Human Rights
1. The Legitimacy of State Action
In the exercise of citizenship, people who are granted the rule of law are entitled to promote social cohesion. It is possible to get its institutions to work for the defense of peace, democratic values, and human rights.
Legitimacy is equivalent to the valid procedure for the production of law; legitimacy is the validity of laws enacted to achieve the outlined purposes. These rights and
Read MoreOrtega y Gasset’s Philosophy: Life, Reason, and Historicism
The Meaning of Life
Life is the coexistence of subject and world, and it is the radical data. Life has the following attributes: it is found in the world, and it involves taking care of something—that is, living *for* something.
Life is a continuum of doing. Life is not given to us, but we have to make it, freely.
Life is a problem; it is a clue to thought.
Life is a continuous decision. Freedom and decisions allow us to create our life project.
Life is coexistence.
Vital Reason
Ortega advocates for
Read MoreCivil Society and the State: Origins and Theories
Two Dimensions of Freedom: Public and Private Spheres
There are two dimensions to the deployment of freedoms and interests of people:
- Private Life: The intimate and personal freedom of each individual, free from external interference.
- Public Life: The scenario in which individuals interact as social, political, or cultural actors within society.
To harmonize these two levels, politics emerged, encompassing administrative and coercive power to enable coexistence within organized civil society.
- Civil Society: