David Hume: Causation, Substance, Morality, and Society
Hume on Causation, Substance, and Morality
An idea will be true if it comes from an impression, but it can also be a fiction. Thus, knowledge is limited to our impressions and ideas. The cause-effect relation is based on experience. We can never find in it a necessary connection between the facts, but only that an event (cause) is regularly followed by another (effect). The necessary connection would imply that this relationship would always hold, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Hume applied his analysis
Read MoreThe Foundations of Modern Thought: Philosophy, Politics, and Science
Philosophical Shifts and Political Thought
William of Ockham and the Decline of Scholasticism
The doctrine of William of Ockham defended empirical knowledge of facts. With him began the decline of Scholasticism. This period marked the start of major conflicts between religious and political power. Ockham’s approach paved the way for encouraging empirical thinking and science. Philosophy began to separate from theology.
Niccolò Machiavelli: Politics and the State
Machiavelli sought to explain the nature
Read MoreAncient Greek Philosophy: Pythagoras, Atomism & Religion
Pythagoras: Numbers and Geometric Philosophy
Arjen: numbers. Pythagorean numbers and geometric shapes can be conceived as the primary principles; the notion of identity leads to zabaltzeara. Pythagorean entities are equal in a formal sense: they are mathematical objects with identifications. Their theory is not merely a technique but a set of exercises concerning eternal beings and mugagaitzak asmakintza and new constructions.
Physical beings, insofar as they are geometric, are elements within a consistent
Read MoreCore Theories of Justice and Ethical Application
Section 1: The Three Approaches to Justice
Justice concerns the distribution of income, wealth, rights, duties, powers, opportunities, offices, and honors.
- Welfare: Utilitarianism
- Freedom: Libertarianism, Kant, Rawls
- Virtue: Aristotle, MacIntyre, Communitarianism
Section 2: Quick Theory Identification (MCQ Clues)
Utilitarianism
- Focuses on consequences.
- Maximizes total welfare or happiness.
- Motto: “Greatest good for the greatest number.”
- Uses cost-benefit analysis; emphasizes efficiency and overall outcomes.
Essential English Literature Questions and Answers
The Portrait of a Lady
17. The Evolving Bond with the Grandmother
Question: Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother.
Answer: In childhood, the author and his grandmother were very close; she took care of him completely. When they moved to the city, their closeness reduced because he attended an English school and she could no longer accompany him. Later, when he went to university and stayed in a hostel, their relationship grew even more distant. However, the emotional
Read MoreThe modern subject is the subject of the sciences.
Kant
Marco historical, socio-cultural and philosophical at the time:
Enlightenment is the period from the English Revolution (1688) and the French Revolution (1789).
Kant’s life passes, almost entirely, in Prussia, where four kings govern:
– Frederick William I, which makes the nation in a state Prussian militaristic and bureaucratic.
– Frederick II, King enlightened despotism model.
– Frederick William II, who faces Kant, censoring his work Religion within the bounds of reason, considered as