Netherlands VWO 5 Philosophy
Chapters: 2
1. Ethics
Key concepts and main views in ethics · Are values universal? · Freedom and responsibility
- Ethics: How to Decide What Is Right – Ethics (moral philosophy) asks what we ought to do and why. Values such as honesty, kindness, fairness and respect guide choices. Three main theories help: consequences (utilitarianism, Bentham and Mill: most good for most people), duty (Kant: act on rules you could want everyone to follow; treat people as ends, never only as means) and virtue (Aristotle: build good character; virtue is the mean between extremes). Conscience is our inner sense of right and wrong. Freedom brings responsibility. Meta-ethics asks what "good" means and whether values are universal or relative. Applied ethics deals with the environment, animals, work, friendship and peace.
2. Theory of knowledge
Key concepts and main views on knowledge · Experience and truth · Context of knowledge
- Epistemology: What Is Knowledge? – Epistemology is the part of philosophy that asks what knowledge is, how we get it and how sure we can be. A classic answer: knowledge is a belief that is true and well justified (justified true belief), although lucky cases (Gettier cases) show this may not be enough. Knowledge comes from reason (rationalism) and from experience through the senses (empiricism); Kant argued we need both. Theories of truth include correspondence (matches the facts), coherence (fits with other beliefs) and pragmatic (works in practice). Scepticism reminds us that senses and reasoning can mislead, so we test, check sources and stay open to correction.