Heidegger In his seminal text Being and Time, Martin Heidegger attempts to investigate the nature of being, and by extension, human consciousness, in an intelligible way that allows one to actually make useful claims regarding the nature of Being de Continue Reading...
Thus, what makes Vatz's view of rhetoric so much more applicable to rhetorical theory today is that it gives the study of rhetoric an actual purpose and a means of expanding knowledge and understanding. Bitzer's view is ultimately reductive, removin 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...
Philosopher Rene Descartes wrote, "I think, therefore I am." While Descartes used this phrase to put into perspective his beliefs on the philosophical debate of existence, this quote resonates to most philosophical layman today as a motto for achiev Continue Reading...
Wiki Controversy The Controversy over Wikipedia and the Democratization of Information In the age of information, few things are more controversial than source validity and intellectual property. The free and easily accessible availability of infor Continue Reading...
His viewpoint is neither traditionally Christian and therefore subject to Church doctrine, nor strictly pagan and therefore subject to strict rationality. Hegel's working out of the thesis and antithesis of life and death, and the synthesis, which i Continue Reading...
Philosophy and Modern Business Philosophical concepts apply to contemporary business issues, especially with respect to the ethical rightness or wrongness of the growing dominance of local markets by mega-conglomerates such as Wal-Mart and Costco. Continue Reading...
Critical Thinking in Nursing Education For far too long nursing has been seen as a profession that requires compassion along with obedience to the orders of doctors who were traditionally considered to be the "real" medical professionals. Nurses wer Continue Reading...
Existentialist thought is not a particularly easy or simple concept for the aspiring philosopher to apply generally while promoting universal principles. Frederick Nietzsche is considered by most as the purest form of an existential philosophical aut Continue Reading...
Social Web and Technology: Moving Humans Into Uncharted Territory The internet has changed the way humans interact with each other in every way. It has helped shape an entire generation of social interactions as well as helped people learn in ways t Continue Reading...
Plato's Republic Plato Republic In Plato's Republic, he states that democracy is second only to tyranny as the worst form of government because tyranny arises from democracy. This goes against what most people believe of democracy. Today, democracy Continue Reading...
Perfection might exist in a more general picture, one that brings together imperfect beings and where everyone contributes to making flawlessness. According to the Meditator, people have to focus on society and the world as a whole instead of only Continue Reading...
The second category of sin punished in hell is violence, as God wants violent people to suffer in seventh circle of hell because of their dedication to ignore their human natures in favor of behaving similar to animals. Hell punishes here people wh Continue Reading...
Knowledge? We are often faced with a thorny predicament when asked to pit fact against faith. Such a delicate endeavor is the one posed in the question above. Reliance or submittal of evidence is most often associated with the pursuit of proof. The Continue Reading...
ontological position of postmodernism exhibits scepticism towards knowledge. This paradigmatic view recognizes that the world is constantly changing and subsequently, no one position or perspective of the world should be privileged over any other (J Continue Reading...
Happiness" and "The Experience Machine" Harvard philosopher Rober Nozick made an interesting observation about happiness. Suppose one was to reflect on two different lives that contain the same amount of happiness. One life begins at a low point, a Continue Reading...
Turning off the brain is no easy task. It seems that once we think about not thinking, our brains travel in every possible direction at once and we are bombarded with a series of thoughts that may or may not have a common thread. Therefore, it might Continue Reading...
Self-Reflection and the Philosophical Mirror In Plato's Socratic dialogue in Apology, Socrates makes the bold declaration that "the unexamined life is not worth living" (Apology 38a). Since I am a great believer in the value of self-examination, thi Continue Reading...
" Bell's article underlines the thinking behind Raphael's masterpiece. It is not simply an imagined portrait of famous people; rather it is a philosophical treatise, in symbolic form, of what it meant to be a great man, as embodied in these differe Continue Reading...
Ross thought that all people should be benevolent and so if lying affects one's benevolence, one needs to decide if lying is better for the sake of benevolence. Ross' non-absolutist take to ethics is preferred because is considers what is morally r Continue Reading...
In spite of the fact that it never became as popular as Daoism, Confucianism was important because it was responsible for a series of reforms in the moral and political systems of China. It was only during the ruling of Dong Zhongshu that Confuciani Continue Reading...
Even with the fact that he is well aware of the futility of his struggle; the essay's protagonist does not give in and constantly stresses the importance of his mission. Sisyphus should nonetheless be considered to be happy, as Camus describes, cons Continue Reading...
In the writing, the author explains that: "Metaphysics of morals is therefore indispensable necessary, not merely because of a motive to speculation -- for investigating the source of the practical basic principles' that lie a priori in our reason Continue Reading...
However, the lack of depth and the lack of new thought reduce the significance level of this posting substantially. As a reader, I gain nothing from this post -- no insight and no sense of having learned something new. Ultimately, significance deriv Continue Reading...
Of course Marx and Russell are radically different on certain aspects of materialism in the physical world. Indeed, Russell spent volumes on taking issue with various aspects of Marx's dialectical materialism (Ironside, 1996, p. 26). Russell comes f Continue Reading...
2006; Hursthouse, 1999). Pathos in Car Sales To employ the pathos approach to argument in a presentation in connection with car sales, the salesman would make arguments along the following lines: "This vehicle is the most environmentally friendly Continue Reading...
Finally, logic consists of the study of formal argument and is fundamentally related to other branches of philosophy and to the process of human reason, more generally. The metaphysician might study such things as where the lines are properly drawn Continue Reading...
In addition, he makes several considerations about the machines which have the capacity to learn. He suggests that technological improvements and a learning process associated with rewards and punishments can contribute to having machines learn. Und Continue Reading...
Admittedly, we do not know how it that anything (such as a physical universe) exists, let alone exactly how it came about that life came into existence. It is often suggested that there must be a God since it is impossible for anything to come into Continue Reading...
Without taking into account these factors, strategic planning will not measure up to the requirements of planning adequately for the future. The author also notes that the complexity of strategic planning is increased by the flexibility of the all Continue Reading...
" (Ibid) the term cosmology is derived from the Greek word 'kosmos' meaning order and refers to the world and the universe. (Ibid, paraphrased) the cosmologic philosopher is stated to be on who "contemplates the nature of this order and is concerned Continue Reading...
" By imagining Sisyphus happy, it then becomes possible to find our own happiness in no matter what situation. Camus begins his argument with a powerful statement about suicide, noting that it is the most important of all philosophical problems. The Continue Reading...
' But I am not simply rejecting this: I am demanding an explanation of how it could be so. How could this intuitive process justify something unless the process is empirical? The a priori is mysterious because we do not have even a hint of a satisfac Continue Reading...
Justice equalled virtuosity. The goal was a rather pragmatic one since what the philosopher had in mind was the ideal functioning of the city (where a happy city would mean happy people). It is important to understand the fact that a city can reach Continue Reading...
So I am glad to see something slow this massive reform down. Nietzsche: Piddle! "Man does not repudiate suffering… he desires it" (598). He heaps guilt upon himself as a means of achieving meaning. Why should I pay for anything to benefit my Continue Reading...
Speaking about the order of the universe we can shift the speech towards human nature and essence. In performing actions which support harmony, man is doing nothing more but manifesting his nature and realizing his essence. The tool that the indivi 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...
Knowledge and truth were considered absolute and immutable by these two, though for very different reasons, which is the complete antithesis to the empirical theories of Popper, Peirce, Kuhn, and James. The progression of knowledge in the face of su Continue Reading...
This aspect of the letter is incredibly important because King does not want to appear to be irrational to his opponents. One of the logical appeals King makes in his letter revolves around the issue of just and unjust laws. In his opinion, the off Continue Reading...
