Plato’s Dualism, Knowledge, and Descartes’ Doubt
Platonic Dualism
Platonic dualism posits that man is composed of two independent entities, and neither can be reduced to the other. Its most important representative was Plato:
- The Body: A material reality derived from the sensible world and is mortal. It is only alive because it possesses a soul, and its death occurs when the soul separates from it. The body is considered a prison, and life is conceived as a punishment from which the individual is released only after death. The body is merely an
Aristotle’s Philosophy: Key Concepts in Metaphysics and Ethics
Aristotle: Context and Knowledge
Athens experienced profound development after the Persian Wars. Greek hegemony continued until 431 BC when the Peloponnesian War began, which Sparta, a militarily renowned culture, would win. At the end of this war, a tyranny was established in Athens, after which democracy returned, but with a notoriously corrupt character. Aristotle studied at the Academy of Athens with Plato and was later charged by King Philip II of Macedonia with the education of his son, Alexander
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: Vitalism, Apollo, and Dionysus
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: A Philosophical Overview
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844, in Prussia and died in August 1900. His philosophical work is included in a movement he called vitalism (philosophy of life), which stresses the importance of character in the history of philosophy.
Following the death of his father, Nietzsche grew up in a predominantly feminine environment. At the age of 14, he began studying classical literature, and by 25, he was already a Professor of
Read More18th Century: Transformations to the Modern World
Historical Background
The eighteenth century represents the culmination of all the transformations that led to the modern world and set the stage for the contemporary revolutions at the end of the century. From the fifteenth century, national governments were organized as absolute monarchies. A stratified society persisted, and the economy remained largely agricultural. Political tensions in the Old Regime were accentuated with the rise of the bourgeoisie as a class. The development of mercantile
Read MoreUnderstanding Ethics: Foundations, Dilemmas, and Origins
Understanding Ethics
What is Ethics?
Etymologically, the word “ethics” has roots in two Greek words:
- Ethos, meaning custom, habit, or use.
- Another word meaning dwelling or usual place of residence, but also character, way of being, feeling, and thinking.
Its meaning is equivalent to “moral” (as often done). In a narrower sense, we understand the ethical way of being human, of living in the world, to be at the core of our existence. In this manner, we differ from all other beings in the world in at least
Read MoreUtilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, and Rawls’ Theory of Justice
Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill
The normative principle that gives legitimacy to the laws is happiness, understood as pleasure, for as many people as possible. The difference between the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill is that while Bentham considered all forms of happiness at the same level, Mill argued that pleasures related to moral and intellectual development were superior to other forms of physical pleasure.
Utilitarianism raises two objections:
- It is conceivable that, sometimes, the happiness