CO Presence of Opposites The Copresence of Opposites in Socratic and Pre-Socratic Philosophy The early pre-Socratic philosopher Heracleitus maintained that the most significant manifestation of the logos of human thought was the underlying connecti Continue Reading...
Rene Descartes "I have never written about the infinite except to submit myself to it, and not to determine what it is or not..." Philosopher Rene Descartes Were he alive and intellectually active in these times of terrorism and uncertainty, of A Continue Reading...
Locke and Rousseau on the Question of Inequality John Locke's Second Treatise of Government argues that "men are naturally free" (55). In other words, Locke believed that humans, in their natural state, and prior to the creation of civil society, wo Continue Reading...
The research too has to be reliable and valid cohering to an internal and external scientific definition of reality that is more physical and eschews the metaphysical and the abstract. Ontological Basis Positivism accepts a certain reality of exis Continue Reading...
Aristotle, of course, acknowledges no such presence. Aquinas's philosophy is largely based on the acknowledgement of this presence as much as, if not more so than, it is on any singular conception of Aristotle's. Aquinas believed that just as much a Continue Reading...
In stark contrast, these things do not happen in the 'waking' world (LaBossiere 2). While there are many other differences, these two standards show that even though I might not be able to know the true natures of these two worlds, there are good re 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...
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...
Technology Responsibility: Reflections on the New Task of Ethics Ethics have been a science, understood and studied, for thousands of years, but as times change so do aspects of this important part of who people are. In the twentieth century it man Continue Reading...
Socrates, in the Meno, states this and follows up this argument with the assertion that only through individual inquiry and growth can a person truly know what virtue is as applied to their own unique and individual situation and life (Plato, 380 BC Continue Reading...
However, the most important argument seems to be the happiness of the city. If responding to an inner need of fulfilling your tasks -- which derive from your very way of being- means happiness for each and every person living from the city, then it Continue Reading...
Many have underlined the importance of the various techniques that he used, mixing painting with writing, collage and adding elements which apparently had nothing in common with the rest of the composition. I believe that the technique itself is ex 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...
Realistically Heidegger was at least vaguely a theist, which is rather contrary to the existentialist mind set of humanism, but his point was still existential and in his early work, at least he attempted to clearly deduce a way of stressing the nee Continue Reading...
Politics is a subject intrinsically linked to philosophy because the way men organize and conduct themselves socially and economically affects their ability and desire to use philosophy as a guiding principle. Aristotle and Hegel both shared strong Continue Reading...
Epistemology Immanuel Kant's explanation on how we gain knowledge is preferable to that of David Hume. The mind can be compared with the computer in illustrating how the mind gathers and processes information or sense-data from generalizations, whic Continue Reading...
Art is also powerful according to Vendler, capable of inspiriting interest and curiosity about other "aesthetic matters" including philosophy, history and other disciplines (Vendler 1). Vendler also states that the arts "are too profound and too fa Continue Reading...
Educational Philosophies Pragmatism Pragmatism emerged from the writings of John Dewey who believed that experimentation was the best approach for educating young minds. For example, pragmatists feel that field trips, educational excursions etc. ar Continue Reading...
Plato's Republic entails the "spectacle of truth" (475 d-e), and the role of the image of the festival in Plato's work. Firstly, the spectacle of truth entails that the concept of truth itself is a kind of festival, and the ultimate goal for which a Continue Reading...
Plato's theory of Being and Becoming, and its relations to the forms, is rooted in the dichotomy between being and not-being. Prior to Socrates the Sophists, from Parminedes to Gorgias, had argued that because it was impossible by definition for Not Continue Reading...
Hume and the Lack of a Causal Link Between Our Known Experiences and the Existence of a Supreme Being The "here and now": That is what concerns David Hume. There is simply no value in discussing such amorphous intangibles as one can infer from "the 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...
Chinese philosopher's point-of-view on Confucius. It has 2 sources. Shu-hsien Liu projects in his article titled "Reflection on Methodology " an understanding of the rational behind Confucius and Chinese philosophy. According to Liu Chinese philoso Continue Reading...
Tom Stoppard's play Jumpers has been described thus: "The Radical Liberal Party has made the ex-Minister of Agriculture Archbishop of Canterbury, British astronauts are scrapping with each other on the moon, and spritely academics steal about London Continue Reading...
Political Philosophy II: Theories of Freedom John Stuart Mill's On Liberty is one of the foundational defenses of liberal, democratic government. According to Mill, there are certain core principles "that should regulate how governments and 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...
Law Enforcement The use and control of one's own mental faculties is of the utmost importance when involved in the serious and important business of government work. The word "government" itself literally translates to "controlling the mind" in Lat Continue Reading...
William James' defense of belief and faith marked the main points of his lecture entitled The Will to Believe. This philosophical treatise is introduced then followed by ten major sections in order to explain his position. Ultimately James' case for 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...
As activists in women's liberation, discussing and analyzing the oppression and inequalities they experienced as women, they felt it imperative to find out about the lives of their foremothers -- and found very little scholarship in print" (Women's Continue Reading...
. . while defending these institutions themselves" (1034-1035). Peled further argues that Rousseau was not able to solve this paradox and it was one of the reasons why he became increasingly pessimistic about modernity. But Rousseau's attempts to re Continue Reading...
Socrates' speech in Plato's Apology. It is this author's opinion that Socrates' position that the unexamined life is not worth living has validity. We will see that this is the case as we examine Socrates' spontaneous oration regarding virtue and ho Continue Reading...
The philosopher differed radically from Descartes in the fact that he believed that every physical manifestation to be found (and evidenced of a body or a sensory perception of something) stemmed from an idea. Spinoza contended that thoughts begot t Continue Reading...
Humanism is an important subject that has been in existence, as a philosophy, since the Renaissance in the 1500's. Yet few know what humanism means, and what it refers to. This paper will provide definitions of humanism, as well as a brief history. W Continue Reading...
Inception and Eternal Sunshine The films Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are both characterized by unique perspectives on the human condition and on the human mind. Neither of these stories is told in a traditional manner. Each u Continue Reading...
Pure Reason underscores the theory of Immanuel Kant that cognition depends on the employment of transcendental processes, which are contingent of the concept of categories. Kant's categories describe the phenomenon of pure understanding. For Kant, p Continue Reading...
If it cannot be effectively proven that God does not exist, then God apparently does exist. In fact, the lack of proof for atheism can be used as direct proof in the existence of God. "It is much easier to be persuaded that ontological arguments are 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...
Plato, Epictetus, & Nietzsche When we discuss how Plato presents the most appropriate human attitude toward bodily appetite and/or passion, it is vital to note that Plato's method of discussing philosophy in dialogue -- as though this were a dra Continue Reading...
Like Plato, More retains the belief in One God in his concept of the perfect society by injecting the foundation of Neoplatonism and blending it with a rather festive or carnival-like quality (Marius 1995 as qtd in SparkNotes 2010). Utopians enjoy Continue Reading...
