Bøger af Valery Berthoud

Academic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Philosophy - Miscellaneous, grade: 2,3, Humboldt-University of Berlin, course: Wittgenstein¿s Über Gewissheit, language: English, abstract: The relationship between knowledge and certainty varies according to conception. I argue that knowledge and certainty are usually equivalent, but there are cases in which certainty is possible without knowledge and knowledge is possible without certainty. The connection between knowledge and certainty does not change much when considering René Descartes¿ philosophy because methodological skepticism consists of doubting beliefs that are uncertain. That there exist external objects is uncertain because a malicious demon could be deceiving us by creating the illusion of an external world.Although Descartes suggests that we can doubt all of our beliefs, his conception of science consists of secure insight: ¿Omnis scientia est cognitio certa et evidens¿ (Descartes 1907). This means that all science is certain and evident knowledge, or a high degree of certainty. Three centuries later, G. E.Moore had another reasoning when writing ¿A Defense of Common Sense¿ and ¿Proof of an External World.¿ He suggests that doubting that the world exists is unnecessary; we must trust that the universe exists. He is against George Berkeley¿s suggestion that matter does not exist; everything is just ideas of the mind of God, and to be is to perceive. This is similar to propositions from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was an idealist because he claimed that all possible worlds lie in God, and we are substances observing the best alternative (Leibniz 2014, §43-46).Moore suggests that it is irrational to believe such premises. He held intuitions that a person has in everyday life, the common sense philosophy. We cannot be certain yet we claim to know many things. Moore also purports that the external world is real and he tried to prove it (Moore 1993a).His argument goes as follows:P1: Here is one hand.P2: Here is another.C1: There are at least two external objects in the world.C2: Therefore, an external world exists.He argues that he had the experience of observing his hands and reiterates that at least his hands offer the sum of two objects, which at a specified time existed (Ibid.).

Academic Paper from the year 2017 in the subject Philosophy - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, Humboldt-University of Berlin, course: Ungleichheit und Macht, language: English, abstract: Many Mexicans accept that life is not fair. A family guy, who lives from hand to mouth, does not care about changing the power structure. He rather thinks: ¿what do I win by fighting? what would give me the sacrifice? I earn money so that my daughter can go to school, and to buy one kilogram of tortillas.¿ He cannot take a chance. My original question was how Mexicans can tolerate an oligarchy. The answer is we do not want to have conflicts. We rather evade conflicts in exchange of accepting that life is not fair, that we live in a society with enormous moral and political problems such as discrimination and corruption. The brave Mexicans who try to rebel, get killed.In this paper, I deal with recent research about inequality and power. By inequality, I understand that individuals do not have the same opportunities. People are treated badly for all kinds of unfair things: skin color, intellect, finance, ideals, gender, and everything else that makes who they are. To define power is very difficult. Power is a necessary means for the fulfillment of any goal. The more goals you set, the more power you need. Platös conception is different. In his dialogue, Gorgias, Socrates believes that the tyrants have little power. According to Socrates, someone possesses power if and only if he or she does the good because we do things for the sake of the good. Accordingly, if someone does not do the good, then he or she is powerless.The aim of my work is to extend current knowledge of the power structure of Mexico. If we want to transform our society, we need to understand how it works. Inequality and power are the important issues that need to be studied in order to improve the standard of living of the population.This paper is divided into three parts. The first part gives a brief overview of different approaches explicating inequality and power. Second part describes the case of Mexico. Third part analyzes the relation between the different approaches and the case of Mexico. The first part has eight sections that match with the eight sections of Part III. So Section 2.1 matches with Section 4.1, 2.2 with 4.2, 2.3 with 4.3, and so on, respectively.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Philosophy - Theoretical (Realisation, Science, Logic, Language), grade: 1,7, University of Stuttgart, language: English, abstract: The concept of possible worlds is useful because it defines the four modalities ¿ possibility, necessity, contingency, and impossibility ¿ but a challenge lies in defining it. The polemical hypothesis from David Lewis (¿genuine modal realism¿ as it is called) succeeds in it. Lewis¿ modal realism stirred controversy because he maintains that a plurality of worlds exists. Some philosophers suggest that the Lewisian view is a violation to the law of parsimony, also known as Ockham¿s Razor, that is to say not multiply entities beyond necessity.While avoiding a circular definition, Lewis constructs an inflated ontology. Is it worth it, and if we do not want to assume too many Lewisian worlds, what alternatives remain? Actualist modal realism and modal antirealism are the most relevant alternatives because modal abstentionism simply will not progress in this direction. This thesis evaluates theories of possible worlds.