Descartes [All page references and quotations from the Meditations are taken from the 1995 Everyman edition] In the Meditations, Descartes embarks upon what Bernard Williams has called the project of 'Pure Enquiry' to discover certain, indubitable foundations for knowledge. By subjecting everything to doubt Descartes hoped to discover whatever was immune to it. In order t

Descartes When I was a child I remember having a vivid imagination. One Sunday morning, when I was but a mere four years old, we learned about the devil at Sunday school. We were taught there was an evil being with incredible power that loved nothing more than for people to do wrong. He was a tyrant of the underworld and if the world was not saved and sanctified then he would possess

Descartes The Meditations are one of Descartes most important works. They consist of his views on sensory perception, God and Nature. He considers the problems of the sources and nature of knowledge; the validity of truth; the nature and destiny of man; the existence of god, and the creation of the universe. Of the six meditations, the third is the most important. In the third media

World Citizenship When I think of the word “citizen” the first thoughts that enter my mind are state, nation, and government. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word: “a : a member of a state b : a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it”. The phrase “World Citizen” is almost an oxymoron in my opinion. This oxymoron, however

Descartes Discourse Descartes' first discussion of scientific method is in an unfinished work of 1628 titled Rules for the Direction of the Mind. The first 12 of the planned 36 rules deal with the general aspects of his proposed methodology, and are considered early versions of principles which made their way into his later writings. In 1633 Descartes prepared for publication a work on p

Descartes Meditations Descartes meditations are based on the epistemological theory of rationalism: that is if someone truly knows something then they could not possibly be mistaken. He provides solid arguments for what his meditations stand for, and how he obtained a clear and distinct perception of "innate" ideas. In his Meditations he comes to terms with three certainties: the existen

Descartes Proof of God Truth is the goal of philosophy. Some philosophers, like David Hume, struggle with eliminating falsity, while others, like Rene Descartes, look for causes to explain effects. A cause and effect argument is called a causal argument. Descartes is interested in logic, one truth progressing to the next. Descartes gives a causal argument for the existence of God in M

Descartes Descartes’ ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’ (I am, I exist) argument is a complex one. In many ways, he constructs a convincing argument for the existence of the self, and for the process of the thinking being, the essence of that self. In this meditation on his philosophy, Descartes on numerous attempts tries to convince both the readers, as well as himself, of his theory that we must reje

Karl Marx "To sell a man a fish, he can eat for a day, to teach a man to fish, is to ruin a great business opportunity, says Karl Marx."Marx and Engels did a great thing when they wrote the “Communist Manifesto”. They tried to liberate the proletariat by educating him. This was and still is an enormous task that they took on. I will try to take a closer look at the “Communist

Capital Punishment Capital Punishment is a controversial topic discussed in today\'s society. There is a heated debate on whether states should be able to kill other humans or not. People that are in favor of the death penalty say that it saves money by not paying for housing in a maximum prison. Those opposed say that it is against the constitution, and is cruel and unusual punishmen

Removing Our Blinders: The Loving Message Of Hanh Removing Our Blinders: The Loving Message of Hanh “A fish living in muddy water has no conception of what clean water is.” Likewise, so many Americans are blinded by our country’s capitalistic mentality that they are trapped from entering Jesus’ loving path. My monsignor at St. Ignatius Parish in Yardley, PA gave a very insightful hom

Philosophy Of Adult Education My Philosophy of Adult Education For the ancient Greeks, philosophy was “the search for what is truly real in a world of appearances (Elias and Merriam 2).” Another definition offered by Elias and Merriam is, “Philosophy is interested in the general principles of any phenonmenon, object, process, or subject matter (3).” If this is true of philosophy in

Ethics Of 9/11 The events of September 11, 2000 have greatly altered the lives of the American people. Today we find ourselves living in a scared nation where people are constantly worried about terrorist activities, and when or where the next terrorist strike may be. Our citizens twitch every time the terror alert level moves to orange. We hesitate when we board airplanes, or even atten

Argument Analysis: Plato’s Tri-Partite Soul Plato argues that the soul is composed of three parts. The argument supporting this claim is obtained by analyzing the conflict in decisions. Plato has observed that an individual will act in different ways to the same situation. Also, the parts of the soul are defined in a way in which they can be derived from the functions in Plato’s ideal st

Destruction of Nature by Humans We as human beings are very fortunate to be living on this planet that we call Earth. We toil over the land, and in return we receive provisions off of which we live. Even though we get all that we need from this bountiful land, we still for some reason feel like we need to alter it. In doing so we also end up ruining the land that we thrive on. We reshape

Determinism DETERMINISM The modern philosopher in the quotation argues that Modern science is experimental because it uses the experiment to understand nature. According to him, this is true because nature can be explained by the cause-effect relationship. Modern science uses the experiment to prove events that are assumed to be true in advance. Before conducting the experiment we ha

Comparing Human Lives “Fiat justitia et pereat mundus.” This is a quote from Emperor Ferdinand I that’s translates, “Let justice be done, though the world perish.” Although this was quoted over 500 years ago, the message that it portrays can still be applied today. In William Godwin’s “Comparing Human Lives,” he constantly refers to the word justice when discussing whether or not the li

Abortion ABORTION Even before the1973 Roe vs. Wade decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, abortion has been highly debated. In almost every other nation of the world, abortions were rarely performed because they were considered to be criminal acts. The debate hinges on a mother’s right to choose whether or not to abort the baby versus the baby’s right to life. I will argu

Descartes I am going to discuss Descartes’ first and second Meditations concerning doubt. I will first summarize what Descartes was trying to say and prove, and explain why he was unsuccessful in his search for a foundation in which he could build knowledge from. In Descartes first meditation he discusses that he has come to the conclusion that many of his beliefs and opinions he had

Dewey John Dewey Reaction Paper “The correlate in thinking of facts, data, knowledge, already acquired, is suggestions, inferences, conjectured meanings, suppositions, tentative explanations:--ideas, in short.” --John Dewey Out of the authors that I have read this year, Alfred North Whitehead and John Dewey are the two that I have found the greatest commonality with in the subjec

Direct Command Theory Of Ethics In order for one to be truly omnipotent there of course must be no limits on ones power. Any constriants what so ever render omnipotence a meaningless term. To say that an omnipotent beings power is in accordance with or follows a guideline law or any similar requirment is to limit the power of that being . To say that an omnipotent being acts in accordan

Guardians Guardians have to have education. Education creates experiences that are crucial in developing a person’s morals and characters. As a person is educated on right from wrong, he will cautiously do such actions that give him either right or wrong because that is what he learned. Guardians can be taught to do the right thing for citizens and they will. Education also creates cons

Filiality In this article on filiality, Confucius’ perspective is being expressed. Filiality is the foundation of what most people would describe as being a good person. It is also the reverence and loyalty in which we serve our parents. From the time we are born to the time of our death this service is to be performed. While our parents are alive we are to respect and honor them and

Helping The Impoverished If I were to win the Lottery, I believe that I have a moral obligation to share some of my winnings with the Darfurians or others less fortunate than myself. I was raised with the moral values that it is the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do because impoverished people, such as the Darfurians, need it more than I do and it would make them happier th

Descartes “I am something real and really existing, but what thing am I' I have already given the answer: a thing which thinks.” Rene Descartes was a modern European thinker. Throughout his meditations he constantly implies that we are “things that think”. Our bodies, these things, are just a jumbled mess of flesh, blood and bone. It is thinking that creates the person. Thinking

Minimum Wage A public outcry over wages and working conditions led to the first minimum wage policy in the United States. A national minimum wage was created in 1938 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The basic goal of minimum wage was to guarantee workers a “fair wage”. In recent months, there has been much controversy and debate over ra

Kantian Ethics Kantian Ethics If philosophy should serve as an instrument of guidance for implementing our own morality, than Kant presents the driving factor as rationality behind such moral distinctions. In The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morality, Kant states that there is no need to perceive whether moral law should be truly regarded above everything else, for it is only th

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Philosophers recognize the harmony and duality of the universe with symbols like Ying and Yang. The title character in T.S. Eliot’’s poem, ““The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,”” has not. The poem is an internal monologue where Prufrock reveals himself as lonely and timid. Prufrock is a man in conflict with his duality, the society he has to live in,

English As The Official Language Of The US There is a continuing debate among politicians and political groups about whether or not English should be made the official language of the United States. This change would mean that all government services and documents (ballots, driver’s license tests) would be available only in English. Supporters of this policy are anxiously waiting to see

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche, a unique philosopher had some very interesting ideas about people’s human values and personality types. In this essay I will explain what I like and dislike about his "Master Morality" & his antithesis to this, "Slave Morality". According to Nietzche, all morality is a manifestation of the will to power. The other is driven by the will to power bu