Core Concepts in Ethical and Political Philosophy
Material Ethics
Eudaimonism: Aristotle
- Aristotle would not agree with the elementary hedonism that affirms that good is simply sensible pleasure; this type of good is characteristic of animals and plants.
- Three Types of Soul:
- Vegetative soul (owned by plants).
- Sensitive soul (characteristic of animals).
- Rational soul (exclusive to human beings): Gives us radically different potentials than those of other living beings. Therefore, only by developing our rationality can we achieve a good human life.
- According
Rethinking Zoos and Championing Pet Adoption for Animal Welfare
The Ethics of Caging Animals for Entertainment
A Childhood Memory and a Moral Shift
I remember when I was much younger, my dad and mom took me to the zoo in Atlanta. I was amazed when I first set eyes on all of the tigers, elephants, lions, seals, and bears. I remember thinking how great it was that someone had brought all these animals from all over the world and placed them in a zoo for my entertainment. Now, as I have grown older, it has become clear to me: animals should not be caged for our entertainment.
Read MoreEarly Greek Philosophy: From Myth to Socrates’ Reason
The Dawn of Western Philosophy
Before the rise of philosophical thought, the Greek mythical way of thinking dominated. Across the world, stories were invented to explain key events and phenomena.
The Milesians: Early Scientists
The Milesians, often considered the first European scientists, began to set aside divine explanations. They sought rational answers to questions about the nature of things, striving to increase wisdom.
Key Pre-Socratic Thinkers
- Heraclitus: Stressed the concept of constant change
The Philosophical Problem of Knowledge and Truth
The Problem of Knowledge
“What is Truth?”, “Is knowledge possible?” and “If knowledge is possible, what is its origin?” are pervasive philosophical questions. Truth has been understood mainly as a correspondence with facts derived from sensation (as synthetic truth) or as a coherence between statements originating in reason (as analytical truth). However, some philosophers have defined truth in many other ways, and some of them have even rejected that truth really exists and that knowledge
Read MoreFoundations of Mexican Constitutional Law and Human Rights
Core Concepts of Mexican Jurisprudence
Human Rights and the Legal Order
Human Rights Definition
Human Rights are those freedoms, faculties, institutions, or claims related to primary or basic goods inherent to any person, simply by the fact of being human, intended to guarantee a dignified life.
Foundation of Human Rights
The foundation of human rights is the social value of human dignity.
Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights
- Natural Law
- Ethical or Moral Foundations
- Legal Positivism
Supreme Court and
Read MoreDescartes’ Philosophy: Existence, Dualism, and the Mechanical World
Descartes: Existence of God and the World
The Ideas and the Idea of God
Descartes realizes that he is a finite and imperfect being, making his own mind aware of its limitations and imperfections. Ideas, according to Descartes, present thought in a double dimension:
- Objective: Ideas are pictures or representations of things.
- Subjective: Ideas, considered in themselves, cannot be false.
Descartes states that there are three kinds of ideas:
- Adventitious: Ideas that come from outside the subject (e.g., sensory