Understanding Ethics: Key Theories and Modern Challenges

What is Ethics?

Ethics is a branch of philosophy reflecting on what is considered morally good and trying to develop a rationally universal morality valid for all cultures.

Major Ethical Theories

Ethical theories represent different ways of thinking about the best way to live and behave. They are often grouped into categories:

Material Ethics Explained

Material ethics affirm a supreme good or ultimate goal that guides our moral behavior and establishes a set of rules or moral standards to achieve it.

Read More

Spanish Language: Origins, Evolution, and Dialects in Spain

Spanish Phonetic Segments

Consonants by Place of Articulation

  • Bilabial: /p/, /b/, /m/
  • Labiodental: /f/
  • Interdental: /θ/ (represented as ‘z’ or ‘c’ before e, i in some descriptions)
  • Dental: /t/, /d/
  • Alveolar: /s/, /l/, /ɾ/, /r/, /n/
  • Palatal: /tʃ/ (represented as ‘ch’), /ʝ/ (represented as ‘y’ or ‘ll’)
  • Velar: /k/, /g/, /x/ (represented as ‘j’ or ‘g’ before e, i)

Consonants by Manner of Articulation

  • Occlusive (Plosive): /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
  • Fricative: /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʝ/, /x/
  • Affricate: /tʃ/
  • Lateral:
Read More

Engineering Ethics: Theories, Evolution & Professional Codes

Engineering Ethics: Evolution and Theories

Evolution of Ethics

  • Early Ethics: Rooted in religion and divine commands (e.g., Ten Commandments).
  • Philosophical Ethics: Shift to reason and rationality in ancient Greek philosophy (e.g., Aristotle’s virtue ethics, Plato’s theory of the ideal state).
  • Modern Ethics: Emergence of autonomous ethics in the Enlightenment (e.g., Kant’s deontological ethics).
  • Postmodern Ethics: Ethics become relativized, where moral values depend on culture, context, and individual
Read More

Aristotelian Physics and the Dawn of the Scientific Revolution

Aristotle’s Physics: A Two-Region Cosmos

In Aristotle’s cosmos, Earth, motionless, occupied the center, and all other known celestial bodies revolved around it in perfectly circular orbits. In this universe, Aristotle distinguished two regions: the sublunar and the supercelestial.

Sublunar Region

This region is composed of lower, less noble matter: the four elements (earth, water, air, and fire). It is the realm of change and movement; only here do processes of alteration, generation, and corruption

Read More

Marx’s Dialectical Materialism: Reality and Alienation

Marx’s Dual Philosophical Aims

Marx aimed to transform philosophy into a science capable of explaining all reality. Simultaneously, he intended his theory to critique the historical reality of his time and thereby help transform it. For this reason, Marx’s philosophy had two dimensions:

  • Theoretical: A scientific explanation of reality, seeking to understand human reality, society, and history to develop a theory of consciousness that illuminates ideological and alienated existence.
  • Practical: Aimed
Read More

Spanish Employment Contracts, Salary, and Working Hours

Contract Formalization

Upon signing an employment contract, the worker agrees to its terms. A contract containing fraudulent or legally unfair terms is considered invalid. After signing, the employer must give one copy to the worker and another to the workers’ representatives. Within ten days of signing, a copy must be sent by the employer to the employment office.

Trial Period

A trial period can be established when signing the contract. If the contract doesn’t specify it, the relevant collective agreement

Read More

Beneatha’s Identity & Walter’s Dreams in Raisin in the Sun

Summary of the Scene

Later on the same Saturday, Beneatha emerges from her room cloaked in the Nigerian clothes that Asagai has brought her. Ruth finds Beneatha’s pageantry silly and questions her about it. Meanwhile, Walter returns home drunk. He sees Beneatha dressed up and acts out some made-up tribal rituals with her, at one point standing on a table and pronouncing himself “Flaming Spear.” Ruth looks on wearily.

Beneatha removes her headdress to reveal that she has cut off most of her hair,

Read More

Medieval Troubadour Culture in the Crown of Aragon

Who Were the Troubadours?

The troubadours were often sons of noble families associated with convents (though not professed as monks) who lived in royal courts, composing songs in the vernacular tongue.

Provençal Poetry and the Crown of Aragon

After the conquest of Valencia by James I, the Valencian lands became part of the Crown of Aragon.

Provençal poetry was the most important in Europe from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. Early authors used this language not only for its prestige but also

Read More

Euro Currency Effects and Spain’s Unemployment Challenge

The Euro Currency Introduction

In 2000, most European countries, except for the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Sweden, started using a common currency called the Euro.

Initial Economic Disparities

At that time, the economic situations of the nations within the Union’s boundaries became quite distinct. The map of Europe, much like centuries before, highlighted the differences between some Southern European states and others ranging roughly from Germany to the Nordic countries.

North-South Divide and

Read More

Interwar Economic Crises, Depression & Rise of Dictatorships

Post-War Economic Crisis (Early 1920s)

In the early 1920s, Europe experienced an economic crisis caused by several factors:

  • The material destruction which had occurred during World War I and the reduced workforce.
  • The end of the war economy, which had been based on the production of military equipment and supplies. There was also a shortage of consumer goods and high levels of inflation, particularly notable in post-war Germany.
  • Investment speculation: People speculated by buying shares, aiming to make
Read More