Descartes Descartes states that God exists, God is good, and God is not a deceiver, as proven in his arguments within The Meditations. Through his works one concludes that there is no possible deceiver who can prevent me from discovering the truth. The truth for which we all strive to attain in order to understand the meaning of life and that of which is made possible by surpassing and

Descartes In Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene’ Descartes discusses the existence of external objects, primarily in the First Meditation. Descartes doubts the existence of external objects based upon the idea that an ‘evil genius’ exists instead of an ideally good God. This ‘evil genius’ strives at deceiving Descartes. Descartes now assumes that all external objects- “the heavens,

Descartes Meditation III And IV Summary of Descartes Meditation III and IV Meditation III was quite difficult to decipher, but I was able to understand that Descartes was using his methods of doubt and analysis. He talks about certainty, earth, the sky, and his senses. His meditation contains a very difficult proof of God’s existence. He claims that things, which are ‘clearly and disti

Descartes The Principle of the Indiscernibility of the Identicals is a property that is very important when we try to prove the validity of the arguments made by Descartes. It says that any two things that are identical have the exact same properties. Descartes uses this property to defend his argument of the mind and body. Descartes believes that since the mind and the body have diffe

Beauty and Women Beauty and Women Since the beginning of man and through the rise and fall of many different civilizations there have been differences of opinion on what makes someone beautiful, or more importantly what characteristics of women are attractive to men. The answer to this question is perhaps the billion-dollar question. I say this because the answer to this question i

Difference Between Libertarianists And Determinists In this paper I will examine the differences in the beliefs of libertarianists and determinists. A libertarianist believes that one can decide one's own fate, while a determinist believes that all of our actions are pre determined for us. I will explain why determinism has more of a scientific backbone than libertarianism and why the

Discourses Chapter I: The Various Kinds of Government, and the Ways By Which They Are Established. Machiavelli begins The Prince with a crucial distinction of political categories. There are, he writes, only two ways in which a state can be organized: as a republic, or as a monarchy. After making this distinction, Machiavelli immediately, without a pause or comment, simply drops the d

Doctrine Of The Mean In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he expresses his opinions on the basis of thought through eudaimonia and arete. Eudaimonia is the goal of human conduct, or telos in Greek. In English, Eudaimonia translates into happiness, but Aristotle uses it as a well being through prospering and flourishing. To achieve this “prospering and flourishing,” one needs satisfactio

Does A Monster Rule Your Life' What is the human soul' What does it consist of' How does justice or injustice effect the nature of the soul' These questions are what have been plaguing people for centuries. Plato attempts to answer these questions in his book Republic. Throughout the book, he utilizes many analogies to try to explain his point of view on this topic. However, the one

Culture Shock Cultural Relativism: Is truth defined by our culture or our culture by truth' In his article “Cultural relativism and cultural values”, Melville Herkovits defines the principle of cultural relativism as “judgments are based on experience, and experience is interpreted by each individual in terms of his own enculturation” (26). This is the basic premise of cul

Does God Exist EXISTENCE OF GOD Does God Exist' This is one of the questions in todays society that does not have any true answer. Fortunately, there are some of us who tend to question the who’s and how’s one actually came before us. People’s opinions on the existence of God may differentiate, because of the church they attend, their parents teachings, and the religion that t

Does God Exist Existence of God God exists or he doesn't. There is no middle ground. Any attempt to remain neutral in relation to God's existence is automatically considered unbelief. It is far from a controversial question, for if God does exist, then our actions in life matter, if he does not exist, then our faith does not matter at all. In my belief system, God does exist. My

2nd Treatise of Government Tim Thurn The Second Treatise November 6, 2001 Darrell Moore The Second Treatise of Government Chapters five and six After reading John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government chapters five and six, there are many important ideas and viewpoints that deal with property and paternal power. Due to the fact that I am at a loss for knowledge in these sub

Druidic Religion This research paper is, to begin, not a historical review, not a theological discussion of the character of the Gods, not a mystical talk about ley lines and earth energy. In short, it is going to get very un-mythical. Having said what it is not, I can go on to what it is: a philosophical inquiry, a logical puzzle, into what the moral principles of the ancient Celts mi

Dude Second to none but perhaps Karl Marx, Adam Smith was the philosopher who gave the first accurate picture of the workings of capitalism. This is the economic system which can be described as one "run by the free market and competitive forces for selfish economic gain." Smith wrote one of the most compelling arguments to disband government barriers against the economics of capital a

Eastern Philosophy EASTERN PHILOSOPHY Does anybody have any answers to the question of what is our purpose' Is there life after death' What do we need to accomplish while we are alive' What is real or moral' Is there a God' These are main philosophical questions that the human race has been trying to answer. Religion is an explained philosophy and be it divine or a practice, it is a

3 Great Philosophers Three Great Philosophers What makes a civilization great' It depends on the tools, the laws, class structures, religions, and government. However, it also depends on the way an individual thinks and how their way of thinking could contribute to improving society. In ancient Greece, there lived three great men named Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These men were the

Ego-Boundary Thinking Part 1 Ego-Boundary is a form of thought that combines an individual’s moral view with his/her view of the outside world. This combination allows the individual to make uninfluenced decisions. I believe that Ego-Boundary thinking allows you the freedom to slip back and forth from both Interior-Thinking and Exterior thinking. It is hard to limit yourself to one p

Egoism Egoism There is no word more generally misinterpreted than the word egoism, in its current use. In the first place, it is supposed to mean devotion to self-interest, without regard to the interest of others or selfishness. It is the complete opposite to altruism, the devotion to others and sacrifice of self. Psychological egoism is a reflex that every person has to orient t

Egoistic Theory To make any moral statement and to have that opinion be respected and worthwhile, we have to evaluate all circumstances surrounding the event that led to the discoing or action in question. We term this ‘Ideal Moral Judgement,’ because it is all three. It is not a measurable or calculable figure, it is an ideal, and in the respects I will mention, there is no doubt of the

Emile The Emile “Life is not just breathing; it is action, the functioning or organs, senses, faculties, every part of us that give consciousness of existence. The man who gets most out of life is not the one who has lived longest, but the one who has felt life most deeply.” (P 15) Rousseau believes that to raise a child it is best to raise them naturally verse socially. He belie

Robert Frost A comparison of Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” and William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming” The purpose of this paper is to give equal illumination to two poems that contain a similar theme. That theme is the end of the world. They both depict the end of the world, but in very different ways. Frost depicts the end of the world as either being of fire or of ice. On the oth

Enlightened Self-interest Enlightened Self-Interest What are the roles of the Citizen in American Democracy' If one were to ask this question of Alexis de Tocqueville, he would have had quite a lot to say about it. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who lived from 1805 to 1859. In 1831, he came to the U.S. for nine months to observe revisions of the prison system, but he

Enviornmental Ethics philosophy Let me start off by saying that these subjects, environmental ethics, radical ecology, and the many chapters and schools of thought that fall beneath them are very new to me. I will not use this as an excuse for writing a poor paper; instead I will use it as inspiration to explore the basic schools of thought and the differences between them.

Ethics We teach the children only the highest of our ideals, the most virtuous of our values. An integral part of our “code of chivalry” is Immanuel Kant’s Golden Rule: Do as you would be done by. It is taught as a rule to be followed not only in school, but one to live by. Children never fail to imitate the behavior of their elders. This is a beckoning to us, the people of the village w

Ethics Mrs. Jones should not turn in her neighbor, Mr. Thompson, on the basic principles of ethics themselves. Mrs. Jones should be compassionate towards Mr. Thompson and realize that he is the exact model of what prisoners should be when they come out of the prison system. It is clear that Mr. Thompson is sorry for what he had done and is repaying his debt to society in different ways

Epicureanism Philosophy I A Brief Summary of Epicurianism Combining the pleasure-seeking teachings of Aristippus and the atom theory of Democritus, Epicurus’ philosophy answers the questions of how best to live one’s life and approach death. Epicurus’ Principle Doctrines emphasize the school of thought that the natural pursuit of please does not make one an intrinsically evil, corru

Epicureanism And Stoicism The Stoics and Epicureans date from the Hellenistic period (ca. 323 BC - 31 BC), and both schools were heavily influenced by the philosophy of Socrates. The Epicurean mission was to live virtuously in a wicked world. They advocated a simple, quiet, reclusive, sensible life of moderation among friends, avoiding extravagant worldly attractions and bringing no

Epistemology What Does It All Mean' Question #1: Is it a meaningful possibility that the inside of your mind is the only thing that exists -- or that even if there is a world outside your mind, it is totally unlike what you believe it to be' Descartes’ Answer: Decartes would entertain the possibility of solipsism. That is the whole basis for his Meditations, to doubt what he

Essay “We ought then regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its previous state and the cause of the one which is to follow. An intelligence knowing at a given instant of time all the forces operating in nature, as well as the position at that instant of all things of which the universe consists, would be able to comprehend the motions of the largest bodies in the unive