Existence of God The philosophical questions I will try to answer and why they are of particular interest to me. Opinions that ordinary people tend to have on the issue The great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam profoundly Continue Reading...
Plato, Descartes, Hume1In Plato\\\'s \\\"Apology,\\\" Socrates defends himself against the charge of corrupting the youth by asserting that he does not claim to teach or have wisdom, unlike those who profess knowledge without truly possessing it. He Continue Reading...
wisdom of Socrates today: The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton The first chapter of Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy is set in an art museum. The author gazes upon an image of David's The Death of Socrates. De Botton co Continue Reading...
Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein is particularly interesting because in Philosophical Investigations (PI) he repudiated all of his earlier work in logical positivism and the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP), along with much of what was tradition Continue Reading...
The logic is simple: the judges here are fakes but the judges in the afterlife are real; and moreover, the one truth he asks the jury to keep in mind is that "…a good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death" (41-c). After all, Socrates Continue Reading...
Happiness is perhaps the most illusive, but most sought after mental state in life. Like all human experiences, happiness is also a very subjective state; different things make different people happy. This is why it is so difficult to say what happin Continue Reading...
Knowledge, colloquially, denotes a familiarity with or an understanding of different ideas, events, objects, or ways to do things. Among the most ancient and venerated traditions regarding the concept of knowledge portrays knowledge in the form of "v Continue Reading...
Here is where Truman gains true knowledge, at the edges of his existence. Philosophically speaking, Truman was unable to understand the world around him until he began to deconstruct it, one moment, and an interaction at a time. This is perhaps one Continue Reading...
Platos Allegory of the Cave1. Do you agree with the claim that everyone can and should seek higher knowledge about reality as Plato proposes? Why or why not?Yes, we should all seek higher knowledge about reality. Seeking higher knowledge allows us to Continue Reading...
Karl Popper and Falsification Karl Popper's Nontraditional Views on Science: Is Falsification Correct? Falsification, also called refutability, is the logical possibility that an assertion, hypothesis, or theory can be contradicted by an observatio Continue Reading...
That is, Aristotle did not reject the notion of falsehood that Plato sees in mimesis and therefore in all poetry -- epic and tragic -- but instead accepts this falsehood and asserts that is not necessarily detrimental in and of itself. This is acco Continue Reading...
Existentialism takes the human subject -- the holistic human, and the internal conditions as the basis and start of the conceptual way of explaining life. Taking idealism From Descartes, Kant, and Hegel, then building upon it, existentialist thinker Continue Reading...
Epistemological Beliefs and Organizational Leadership Epistemological Philosophies: Comparing Plato and Protagoras To understand our quest for knowledge, we often have to go back to some of the classical theories in order to get a full view of how Continue Reading...
SOCRATES' DECISION-defense Before we begin our discussion on Socrates' decision and take a position on this issue, we must bear in mind that philosophy doesn't offer any clear-cut answers to perplexing questions or situations. For this reason, we ne Continue Reading...
Matrix or the Cave? The Matrix (1999) has singlehandedly brought the debate over the epistemology of the Real into popular dialogue. For the first time in centuries --if not in history-- a large section of the common crowd had a metaphor by which to Continue Reading...
Philosophers and Great Leaders Ancient Greek philosophers will always have a distinct place in human history by giving shape to Western philosophical thought (Fieser 2014). That philosophical thought moved away from myth to a method based on reason Continue Reading...
Ancient European History The image of the Greek philosopher, a man who addressed issues both of cosmic significance and of political moment, is embodied in Socrates, a man known largely by the writings about him from his students, such as Plato, and Continue Reading...
Thus, the analytic approach offers the best method of approaching philosophical questions, because it understands and explicates the problems and limitations of human consciousness immediately by intentionally discussing language itself, because no Continue Reading...
Law for Aquinas is God and a True Example of Aristotle's Prime Mover Natural law requires minimal moral content as a prerequisite for viewing something as in contravention of the law, while the positivist school holds that the law is whatever the s Continue Reading...
Hobbes' Theories Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a famous English philosopher and political theorist who profoundly influenced the political events during the so-called English Revolution (1640-1660), a time of great upheaval and disorder. Hobbes wro Continue Reading...
Isocrates: No Sophist A strict definition of sophistry has evolved throughout the centuries, yet sophists are identifiable in every age, whether in Plato's Dialogues, Shakespeare's dramas, or today's politicians and scholars. What then is a sophist? Continue Reading...
If they can change the fundamental beliefs of the tribe, then they can control the natives more easily: "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he Continue Reading...
Thus while he does allow for some Aristotelian influence of the value of sensory experience so he does not fall back into a Manichean divide between good and evil, heaven and earth -- there is some 'good' to be learned with the senses -- Augustine's Continue Reading...
The Mayans believed that a land called Mu once existed above the waves and that when that civilization fell below the surface, the survivors created the Mayan people (Hancock, Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization 73). In their creatio Continue Reading...
Socratic Argument In the Apology, Socrates is being placed on trial by three of his rivals for different activities that he is accused of being involved in. The most notable include: corrupting the youth of Athens and not supporting the same religio Continue Reading...
For Marx, of course, economics and class conflicts were the base of society, and social change proceeded through revolutions, such as the French, American and English Revolutions against feudalism in the 17th and 18th Centuries. In the future, capit Continue Reading...
This then leads Plato to a consideration of how morality can be applied to reason. The basis of morality -- or virtue -- for the philosopher is happiness. Reason dictates that the greatest joy (or the highest good) is in living according to the dic Continue Reading...
Thus, the Form is eternal and permanent, which corresponds with Plato's beliefs on the mind, which he also believed was immortal. Therefore, the beauty of the statue lives on eternally, and it lives on in the minds of the people who view it and are Continue Reading...
This object, though, sets in human consciousness in many divergent ways -- perception, memory, retention, etc. Depending on the manner in which the idea is intentional, the object may be identical but interpreted different and thus a divergent sense Continue Reading...
This can occur without any human intervention. Therefore the issue of permanence becomes incomprehensible to man, regardless of science and logic (or perhaps because of it). As such, we cannot legitimately claim that any object or form is "real" bec Continue Reading...
The second part of this book introduces the more central aspect of his argument's epistemological motive, with the prescription for proper leadership extending from a view that is ethically, intellectually and socially instructed. We can easily det Continue Reading...
Justice Given by the Character Thrasymachus in Plato's Republic Is Incorrect The objective of this study is to prove that the theory of justice given by the character Thrasymachus in Plato's Republic, using only Plato's arguments in Books 1 and 2 i Continue Reading...
The Stoic God was material, and therefore knowable to man, who is also a material being. They believed that all things which were knowable to us were of a material nature. St. Augustine took this idea of becoming close to the divine through knowled Continue Reading...
Mena and Phaedo There are in-text citations from the two Plato sources I used. You cannot get me the text for additional in-text citations. Unless you get me some quotes, the assignment is finished. In a number of Plato's works, there is an inheren Continue Reading...
Absolute reality thus is impossible in the world of Descartes. The way Kant began argument for his form of metaphysics began with the critique of pure reason. That involves the realm of the unknown -- moving to the unknown from the known, and this c Continue Reading...
Greek/Hellenistic Tradition Augustine View In Book XIX of Augustine's City of God, his focus is on the end of two cities -- "the earthly and the heavenly" (843), which he explains while simultaneously illustrating the nature of the Supreme Good. He Continue Reading...
'" (p. 42). This clearly indicates that Thrasymachus was not won and while Socrates ended the argument on a good note but it was more his own approval of his views than Thrasymachus'. We can thus say with confidence that Thrasymachus was also a wise Continue Reading...
Efforts were made to check the power of the majority as well as the minority, for to achieve justice not simply in the perfection of the individual soul but to create a functioning and just government that has effective checks and balances that stym Continue Reading...
Political thinkers throughout the ages have considered the meaning of citizenship and the relationship that does and/or should exist between the citizen and the state. The meaning of citizenship has been addressed in different ways by various schools Continue Reading...
