45). With the ideology of the ownership class necessarily becoming the dominant ideology throughout the world not simply through the spread of industry and capitalism but through dramatic changes in international trade and economies brought about by Continue Reading...
Justice in the Republic In Book II of The Republic, Plato attempts to define and describe the role of justice in society by having his characters argue for two different approaches to the topic. While Socrates asserts that justice is good and desira Continue Reading...
Tao In Chapter 29 of the Tao te Ching, Lao-tze raises an issue that is central to Taoism but which a modern American might find difficult to understand. This issue is non-interference. Americans like to be in control. This is not just an American fe Continue Reading...
Philosophy In his writings, Hegel is concerned about the concept of the Absolute. He provides many different definitions of the term Absolute. One of those definitions is that the Absolute is what people normally conceive of as God. However, the god Continue Reading...
Othello as Tragic Hero Othello, the Moor of Venice is a Shakespearean tragedy that focuses on the great war hero Othello and the lengths to which Iago goes to in order to strip Othello of his power. Iago's thirst for power commences when he is passe Continue Reading...
Sociological Theory: What Makes Democracy Work? When it comes to "Classical Sociological Theory" and "Contemporary Sociological Theory" there are numerous sociological theories that try to inspect and interpret why and how society purposes; looking Continue Reading...
Determinism, Compatibilism, Libertarianism Contemporary philosophical debates about free will can frequently resemble the old parable of the blind men and the elephant. Various blind sages are asked to examine an elephant: one grabs the tusk and dec Continue Reading...
This is not to suggest that Habermas' theory is irrelevant for the study of rhetoric, but rather that one must regard it as describing only one small portion of the much larger public sphere which actually contains nearly all forms of non-state, pub Continue Reading...
Nietzsche and Affirmation of Self Nietzsche stands out on the subject of life and self as he aggressively argues in favor of affirmation of self than denial of the same. He actively speaks against self-denial as was proposed by some other philosophe Continue Reading...
Existentialism: A History Existentialism is a philosophical school of thought that addresses the "problem of being" (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2010). Existentialist questions involve the nature of man in relation to the universe, the subjective nature Continue Reading...
Plato on Justice The Greek word which Plato uses to mean "justice" -- dike or dikaios -- is also synonymous with law and can also mean "the just"; as Allan Bloom (1991) notes, Plato uses a more specific term -- dikaiosyne -- in the Republic, which m Continue Reading...
Plato conceived that there were two great causes of human corruption, viz., bad or ill-directed education, and the corrupt influence of the body on the soul. His ethical discussions, therefore, have for their object, the limiting of the desires, an Continue Reading...
Instead of meaning "apology" in the modern sense, I am sorry, it is more a rhetorical device to allow one to defend one's beliefs and actions. Most of the text is written from Socrates' point-of-view, and while there were a number of accounts writte Continue Reading...
Aristotle viewed citizens as the backbone of the state, and considered that they had a clear responsibility to said State. "One citizen differs from another…the salvation of the community is the common business of them all" (Politics, 54). Thu Continue Reading...
In other words, like Plato, the body is inferior and its substance is irrelevant for true and certain knowledge. The intellect with its faculties (judgment, imagination, memory, free will, etc.) is most important. The sixth meditation is the crucia Continue Reading...
For some it may indeed be the contemplation of how to achieve greater virtue, greater intelligence or more knowledge. For others, however, such happiness lies in things such as money. Indeed, I believe that all the faculties can be engaged in the pu Continue Reading...
This is reflected in the document where Jefferson expressly outlines the idea that all men have certain rights and are responsible for their own paths in life (Pilon, 2000). It is a product of its own era, and liberalism was the philosophy that drov Continue Reading...
Our key clue in this passage is the reference to Dionysia, the festival in honor of Dionysus, God of Wine and Pleasure. Instead of philosophical study, this festival is held in the Spring for 6 days of plays, tragedies, feats, and wine. Dionysus, a Continue Reading...
Initially St. Augustine favoured the dualistic view that evil was external and separate from the world and mankind that in evident from the Manichean worldview. However, he was later to reject this strict dualism and taker another view of the natur Continue Reading...
If the soul is immortal, then the perspective upon death changes. Suddenly, it is no longer so scary, since it does not represent an ending but a mere passage to another type of existence. However, there are other implications which we can not affo Continue Reading...
Moreover, how does he justify saying one would rather be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool who is satisfied? His point is obvious - it is better to have brains and not achieve happiness than be dumb and be contented. But Socrates, brilliant as he wa Continue Reading...
but, these entities should normally have equal power. If good encloses evil, this means that good is more powerful than evil. In addition one may wonder if it God's choice to allow evil to continue existing. The answer is no. According to Spinoza ev Continue Reading...
Both orators in some ways blame the White Man for the destruction of his own peoples and remind the audience of the White Man's seemingly unquenchable desire for more land and more power, at the expense of the Red Man. They also diverge in that Red Continue Reading...
Your head aches slight under this barrage of sights, sounds and smells. You try to speak." (p. 2) Pay closer attention to the last line, 'you try to speak'. By saying that McGinn agrees that man's first primary instinct is to "say something." In ot Continue Reading...
In this sense, during the First World War, because of the fact that the governments of the belligerent countries had to have the public support for the waging of the war, they acted in a propagandistic manner. More precisely, "under the name of prop Continue Reading...
The relationship between man and machine has long been a fearful one. From the dawn of industry there have been visions of the machines rising, one day, to destroy us all. For Lang, this was a core philosophical argument. Within the stifling confine Continue Reading...
More precisely, the determinist view considers that actions are in fact a result of previous manifested circumstances and that freedom is not an important factor in the life of the individual precisely because they cannot surpass and avoid the power Continue Reading...
This is a point that many critics miss. One cannot decide if Prospero is a protagonist or antagonistic based on his actions. Neither can we determine whether Caliban is a victim or a foe. Shakespeare raises a very important social question for peopl Continue Reading...
He is impulsive and unscrupulous which serves his purpose perfectly as he manages to persuade both the conspirators of his dedication to the cause, and the plebeians of the injustice of the conspiracy. His duplicity teamed with skilled rhetoric earn Continue Reading...
Question 2: The goals of the philosophies were meant to exercise a set of ideals. Which common tenets of enlightened thinking do writers Mary Wollstonecraft and Denis Diderot advance in "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" and the selection from Continue Reading...
You can't just issue degrees without having the use of force lurking in the background to make sure those degrees have some "teeth" so to speak. But Rousseau rejected that idea. Rousseau also rejected the notion that ties between family members wer Continue Reading...
This is Aristotle's launching pad for his discussion of politics. To him, ethics and politics are matters of rational judgment, stemming from the natural inclinations of individual humans. This notion is reflected in Aristotle's analysis of the con Continue Reading...
In her discourse, "The Treasure of the City of Ladies," De Pizan contemplated how human society had developed the psyche and perception that females are inherently inferior to males. This issue was borne out of the author's observation how literary Continue Reading...
Internet The Great Worm -- an power point presentation script an all black slide with the giant movie logo "REVENGE OF THE NERDS" (available from http://www.supermanfred.it/nerds.htm -- the image will need to be slightly edited to remove "the websi Continue Reading...
Plato vs. De Tocqueville -- The ideal vs. The real vision of the democratic character and the democratic state Both the Greek philosopher Plato and French traveler Alexis de Tocqueville approached different 'lived' versions of contemporary democracy Continue Reading...
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke each formulated notions regarding human liberty in nearly the same social, political, and provincial circumstances. Although their most famous works were separated approximately forty years from one another, they were bot Continue Reading...
..you will find his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, but demand is insufficient for a postcard to be on sale" (Goldie, 2004). But today Locke's writings are used by a diverse assortment of organizations to bolster or justify their positions Continue Reading...
Plato and Aristotle's political theories The most capacious account of Plato's established philosophical views has been published in "The Republic" as a comprehensive handling of the most basic values for the behavior of human life. As it deals wit Continue Reading...
Machiavelli, Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes Under what circumstances is it just (or right, or ethical) to go to war? Why? Compare and contrast how Machiavelli, Thomas More, and Thomas Hobbes might answer this question. Because of the rather negative pe Continue Reading...
Aquinas and His "Five Ways," an Expression of Assumed Faith The Five Ways of the existence of God, penned by the famed Thomas Aquinas are reported to be some of the most practical and real philosophical arguments of the existence of God. Though they Continue Reading...
