Descartes: Dualism and Ethics While Descartes Meditations don't actually mention the word 'ethics' his writing nevertheless deals with them to some extent. In his Meditations, Descartes talks about the nature and existence of both God and human bein Continue Reading...
Ethics On the surface, both ethical relativism and ethical egotism are appealing theories. The ethical relativist avoids many of the problems that arise from encounters with different moral codes, and can help to eliminate some of the culture clashe Continue Reading...
Faith: Philosophy Paul Tillich Paul Tillich was one of the most famous theologians of the 20th century. He represented the 20th century movement called neo-orthodoxy. Most of Tillich's work is represented in a series of transcribed lectures. Tillic Continue Reading...
Personal Theodicy Apologetics The problem of evil is something everyone has to face sooner or later. As Schlesinger points out, philosophers want to understand “why there is any suffering in the world at all.”[footnoteRef:2] The problem w Continue Reading...
philosopher Rene Descartes can be regarded as the supreme rationalist. Descartes believed that only through our rational minds could we fully know God and find evidence of God. Empirical knowledge was not sufficient justification to prove the existe Continue Reading...
McCloskey responds to this by asking "might not God have very easily so have arranged the world and biased man to virtue that men always freely chose what is right?" But in that case, humans would not have genuine free will. And God is justified, Ev Continue Reading...
pious is what all the gods love, the opposite, what all the gods hate, is the impious." How does Socrates react to this definition? Why is this not an adequate definition, and why does it fail to reveal the form? Socrates is not satisfied with Euth 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...
Robert Nozick in his book The Examined Life considers in one chapter "The Nature of God, the Nature of Faith," a major philosophical issue that has been addressed through history by many philosophers. Nozick himself cites Descartes in his introductio Continue Reading...
Anselm's Ontological Argument Anselm (1033-1109), philosopher, theologian and church leader, has presented an argument for the existence of God that has been debated by philosophers and academicians for centuries. Anselm presented this argument in t Continue Reading...
If God Exists is Murder Immoral To assert that murder is immoral because God exists is to connect a number of dots, albeit logically, that nonetheless requires discussion in order to be properly understood. As Immanuel Kant points out, God is viewed Continue Reading...
Theology The Theological Message of Genesis Chapter 1 The ultimate purpose of God in His work of creation is to display His glory in its fullness and to fill the earth with it (Krell 2005). All other doctrines and beliefs in opposition to this mess Continue Reading...
Kant's refutation of the Ontological Proof of God's Existence Kant' Refutation In the Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant set out a framework intended to refute the ontological argument. It is said that the critique was directed at Descartes a Continue Reading...
If we were to consider it a philosophical argument, then we would understand that Anselm is trying to convince us of the validity of his thesis. If we were to look at it as a personal declaration of faith, then we are likely to detect no persuasion 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...
Phantom Limbs When we ask ourselves what is knowledge (as we do when we are engaged in the process of philosophy) we are effectively asking what is our relationship with the world. V.S. Ramachandran - as is the norm for philosophers - asks the quest Continue Reading...
Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life "He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the pr Continue Reading...
Ideals of Fantasy and Reality According to Descarte and Hume This paper considers what is real and what is fantasy by understanding the ideals of philosophers such as Descarte and Hume. Bibliography cites seven sources. The reality of croquet and t Continue Reading...
Foundation for Faith Review Summary A Foundation for Faith: An Introductory Study of Systematic Theology with References to the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 by Stanford E. Murrell, Th.D., is a massive work consisting of 6 parts. Continue Reading...
Responding to McCloskey McCloskey conflates argument with proof because theists take the argument as proof—i.e., as something that cannot be refuted. For McCloskey just because they cannot be refuted does not mean that one has to accept that a Continue Reading...
Theology Definition In How to Think Theologically, Howard Stone and James Duke argue that theology works with a distinct template and epistemology or theory of knowledge, as do history, sociology and physics. Each theologian will have a distinctive Continue Reading...
If he had love, he had no pot in which to plant it. And so it stayed trapped in his mind, separate from any object -- for Kant insisted on the gulf between faith and reason. If one had to accept certain truths on the authority of the one revealing t Continue Reading...
After all, if there is an infinite God, then it becomes easy to assume that he is an all-powerful God. If there is an all-powerful God, it is difficult to argue against the idea that he controls every action, which would be an argument in favor of f Continue Reading...
160). Furthermore, Aquinas considers all people as being creations of God and parts of a whole that God represents. God's perfection has been passed on to its creations and thus all humans are perfect in their nature. Aquinas is obsessed with demon Continue Reading...
They argue that the negative approach and terrible political decisions made by Bush as the president have been a circumstance of his religious outlook even if that is not the cause behind any of them. Hence, bush's inclusion amongst the theist has h Continue Reading...
Life After Death Introduction classical point of departure in defining Death seems to be Life itself. Death is perceived either as a cessation of Life - or as a "transit area," on the way to a continuation of Life by other means. While the former pr Continue Reading...
Metaphysical Methods of Inquiry The philosopher Rene Descartes adopted what he called a 'metaphysical' or rationalist approach to understanding the world and the relationship of the human to the divine. In contrast to a physical approach a 'meta-ph Continue Reading...
The seeking of salvation is an admission of ignorance while authority-based communication is an assertion of knowledge. The two are incompatible. Instead, communication has to be understanding-based. All communication should recognize the suffering Continue Reading...
In 300 BC, Jews were again exiled to Egypt by Ptolemy. His capture of Jerusalem led to the deportation of thousands of individuals to Egypt, and still others left of their own accord. Those that were left were often assigned to Ptolemy's garrison, Continue Reading...
Mind-Based Identity: A Problem Impossible to Ignore One of the most basic questions of human existence is essentially "What am I?" Although humans have known in varying degrees throughout recorded history that they are biological beings, there has Continue Reading...
Man as a Manifesto of Rationalism The English Restoration of 1660 delineates a dramatic transition in British literature from writing that is elegant, expressive, and often sentimental to prose and poetry that embraces simple, lucid, classical form Continue Reading...
Ethics-Philosophy In this reading, Socrates is defending himself in the Athenian Court. He was accused of being a cosmologist and a sophist, someone who did not believe in divinity, ancient beliefs and supernatural forces. The reading addresses some 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...
The problem of evil refers to the existence of evil in the world. If God is good, why does He permit evil to occur? Ivan takes the question a bit further by putting it this: he can understand evil happening to those who deserve it, who are not good&m Continue Reading...
Origin Jesus said that God created human beings (Matt. 19:4) and they should worship and obey Him wholly and also love their neighbors, much as they love themselves (Matt. 22: 37-39). He also taught that human beings have immaterial souls that live Continue Reading...
Moby Dick and Nature, How Nature Displays an Indomitable Force Moby-Dick provides different conducts of human beings towards nature. Melville presents a sea animals' world with a white whale as the focus of the narrative and a society represented th Continue Reading...
The question arising from this claim is whether evidence exists to prove that there exists an infinitely good, powerful, and wise God where morality naturally emerges. Humes argues that is hard to imagine that an all-good, powerful God exists in thi Continue Reading...
Alluding to "proofs" that God exists shifts the discussion from attempts to mobilize "Jerusalem" in the service of "Athens" to more religiously motivated projects to justify faith. The goal here may be to assuage one's own doubts, develop latent tr Continue Reading...
Also, men oppose her for reasons of jealousy, he stresses, not because they really think that she is acting in an anti-Christian manner. Thus while Socrates Scholasticus himself never even entertained any point-of-view remotely considered heretic, i Continue Reading...
