(Ng, 1994, p. 93) The philosophy of Confucius was based essentially on that of human relationships expanded to the sphere of the state, and even beyond into the cosmos. Right conduct and proper action among individuals and groups would result in an Continue Reading...
Aristotle & Cicero on Rhetoric As children we are conditioned to a particular form of discourse that is framed by a significantly complex set of variables including our culture, gender, ethnicity, birth order, political identity and power, relig Continue Reading...
Plato: Ok then maybe it does not matter if people are inherently good or bad, but how does all this matter into the things in life that matter? Confucius: But this does matter because the way people act towards each other- the way people govern or t Continue Reading...
That artificial institution would be "endowed with enough power to deter violence and promise-breaking among it's subjects." But, in conclusion, if that "artificial" institution uses violence or repression to "keep disorder at bay" then, according Continue Reading...
So, clearly, a progression of thought has occurred to bring mankind to the brand of reality that Berman endorses; however, he seems unable to clearly delineate or characterize what this progression has been on a historical level. Doubtlessly, he is Continue Reading...
" (Berns, 28). The assertion that these rights are innate places them before the structuring of society and government, and makes the task for a society built out of these principles to find some way to attain them. This broad perspective sets the s Continue Reading...
More especially, neither observation nor reason can be described as a source of knowledge, in the sense in which they have been claimed to be sources of knowledge, down to the present day. (1962, p. 4). Clearly, discerning "the truth" is a complica Continue Reading...
Nietzsche and Nihilism "Nihilism" was the term used by Friederich Nietzsche to describe what he considered the devaluation of the highest values posited by the ascetic ideal. The age in which he lived was viewed by the German philosopher as one of p Continue Reading...
Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, by John W. Dean: Implications for Modern American Education The book Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, by John W. Dean (Little, Brown, 2004) has as its cent Continue Reading...
Hobbes and Rousseau The notion of the social contract -- the concept that human society is fundamentally a human construct -- originated in seventeenth-century European thought and was developed throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, r Continue Reading...
Ring of Gyges: A Retelling Once upon a time, long ago, long before H.G. Wells penned his science fiction classic, The Invisible Man, long before Tolkien created his epic saga of the one ring that would rule them all, there lived a shepherd by the n Continue Reading...
searching for an example that follows Aristotle's principles for creating the perfect tragedy, we need look no further than William Shakespeare's play, Othello. According to Aristotle, a tragedy must possess certain characteristics. These include a Continue Reading...
Plato, Marx, And Critical Thought David Richter's book is absolutely indispensable, as it is one of the few anthologies willing to acknowledge the existence of and include well-chosen examples from the long history of critical thought and how it hel Continue Reading...
Augustine's main problem when it came to conceiving of the spiritual nature of God? What solution did he find? Before answering this question, it is important to clarify what exactly is meant by "spiritual nature of God." Many things could be meant Continue Reading...
evolution of individual rights with various theories, using one source. Why this concept wasn't there in ancient Greece: The central concept behind Greek civilization was to have a political center that does not interfere with the individual right Continue Reading...
Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre on Existentialism and Humanism The Essentials of Essentialism Martin Heidegger's philosophical opus is both deep and complex and a comprehensive examination of it here would be impossible. However it is possibl Continue Reading...
Dialectical method, sometimes referred to as the Socratic Method, is where there are two points of opinion that lie on opposite ends of a spectrum that "debate." Through the process of debate the participants as well as the audience can acquire a dee Continue Reading...
Utilitarianism and Plato Philosophy is an ancient process. Since the times of Ancient Greece and Rome, people have taken it upon themselves to question the reality of their worlds and to postulate what it is that causes people to behave the ways tha Continue Reading...
Sociology Obedience, Authority, & Responsibility There are indeed, problems with obedience, as the reading's title proclaims. One problem with obedience is that if there is more than one person cohabitating in the same area, some form of obedie Continue Reading...
These ideas run in separate directions, but each seeks to provide a better understanding of what a human life is and why we should or should not serve a greater power than ourselves. In conclusion, we see that the Leviathan is an important piece of Continue Reading...
I Ching Classical Understand vs. Aleister Crowley Any belief, whether it is a self-made system or is bestowed upon us from above, can be taken as a religious view, for how does one define religion except as a system which sets upon humans a certain Continue Reading...
Such events must be political in nature. The author alludes to the utilitarian aspect of monumental history with this quotation. Of what use, then, is the monumentalistic conception of the past, engagement with the classic and rare of earlier times Continue Reading...
Plato held that a just state would be run by philosopher guardians. Plato thinks that, given their education, talents, virtues and the way their lives would be controlled in his Republic, such people are the best possible rulers. Is he right about th Continue Reading...
By avoiding extremes, a sage can avoid conflict. "Therefore the sage: Eliminates extremes Eliminates excess Eliminates arrogance" (Chapter 29) Sage prefers Non-action: This is the most vital attribute of a sage. The sage doesn't seek to impose Continue Reading...
This intervention may damper the feedback spiral" (2005, p18) Dean G. Pruitt and Sung Hee Kim's theory suggests that at the moment of problem solving "the parties or their representatives talk freely to one another. They exchange information about Continue Reading...
The first principle of existentialism is subjectivity, in the sense that existence is subject to every man's desire. There are things which man can not control in his life, but he can assume his past and change himself if what he is does not corres Continue Reading...
As someone might say today, the lack of knowledge as a result of not willing to search for it is no excuse. How can anyone be sure to do right since the truth remains hidden? Socrates thinking was aimed at making his fellow humans who were willing t Continue Reading...
The Sovereign can only demand from the citizens those services that serve for the purpose of the community (Rousseau, 15). Rousseau explains why the general will "is always in the right" in a civil society (idem). The society is always conditioned Continue Reading...
Attitudes Towards Work in Progressive America The Progressive Age in the United States was a time of redefinition in American thought and politics. During a time of global restructuring in which European imperialism was entering the first phase of i Continue Reading...
Knowing the character of the principality the prince had acquired, and tailoring his use of repression and forms of coercion, and the degree, was essential -- a lesson that has proved, one might argue, quite difficult for the United States in its in Continue Reading...
This, then, is what takes us to the argument that false rhetoric is the greatest danger to democratic rule. Imagine what kind of leaders we would have if only false rhetoric existed? False rhetoric allows for the use of lies, manipulations, "spin" Continue Reading...
Certainly, rhetoric lends itself to the discovery of truth, as truth (Aristotle suggests) always makes more intuitive and intellectual sense compared to falsehood, and so equally talented rhetoricians will be more convincing sharing the truth than s Continue Reading...
Morality Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about the natural nobility and inherent goodness of the savage, whom he saw as the earliest human being who was differentiated from lower animals and already possessing free will and a basic sense of perfectibili Continue Reading...
Plato and Machiavelli can be considered theorists of the ideal state, and each gives a high position to the military and military arts in achieving and maintaining order in society. However, they do have different views of the ultimate place and pur Continue Reading...
Second Treatise of Government," by John Locke is a revolutionary philosophical work that directly opposed the idea of absolutism. Absolutism held that the best form of government was autocratic, and was based on both the belief in the Divine Right Continue Reading...
Jose Ortega y Gasset, once a "Liberal" legislator in the doomed Spanish Republic, wrote Revolt of the Masses 70 years too soon. This elitist book, although seriously flawed, makes numerous excellent points, demands to be read in these opening years o Continue Reading...
Nietzsche's Twilight Of The Idols Nietzsche mischaracterizes the Christian tradition when he states that "the Church fights passion by cutting it out." The Catholic Church has never dogmatically opposed passion, but it has opposed sin. Nietzsche is Continue Reading...
