1000 Search Results for Nature of Philosophy
Frankenstein and Enlightenment
The Danger of Unregulated Thought in Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus, considered by many to be one of the first science-fiction novels written, is rife with anti-Enlightenment under 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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
Moreover, Bacon suggests that such false foundations, if passed in time, can only ruin the world.
"The Four Idols" of Francis Bacon summarizes an observation of how humans form information in their minds; same subject discussed by Plato in his "The 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...
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...
Critical Thinking From a Philosophic Application
It is often said that critical thinking is a way we humans think but not specifically what we humans are thinking about. Philosophers and Psychologists all seem to concur on the fact that we take the 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...
Plato's Republic And Justice
Justice is ultimately an unknowable concept, if we accept Plato's ideas of 'form' or the essential nature of concepts. In the Republic, Plato presents several intelligent and well-thought-out discussions about the nature Continue Reading...
Determinism
FREEDOM OF THE WILL AND DETERMINISM
Contra: Chapter 39. Baron D'Holbach: "We Are Completely Determined"
Pro: Chapter 40. "Corliss Lamont: Freedom of the Will and Human Responsibility" (334-337)
The nature of the freedom of the human w 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...
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 motive should be allowed to exercise within the context of morality otherwise the strongest will flourish at the expense of the weakest. The accommodation of morality within political decision-making is the essence of the central argument 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...
Aristotle: Virtue
Aristotle is considered to be the philosopher of philosophers, he virtually wrote about everything, he pioneered most of the disciplines like psychology, biology, meteorology and political science. For almost a thousand years Arist 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...
Spirituality in Health Care
Spirituality plays a very large part of my personal worldview. As such, it is prudent to define the various connotations and denotations that this term has in my worldview. Firstly, spirituality is a belief in a higher po Continue Reading...
Natural Law
In Apology Crito, Plato presents Socrates a staunch defender law, sense respect legal orders polity a basic obligation citizenship. What important reasons Socrates position defense Athenian law? If accept Lewis' critique emotional subjec 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...
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...
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...
In this case, the modified hypothesis needs to be tested again and if it passes the test, it will be considered a corroborated hypothesis and can be published. The sixth and final step is to construct, support or cast doubt on a scientific theory wh Continue Reading...