When I was a child I viewed everything from a child's point of view. If I was afraid of the dark it was because I believed that monsters dwelled under my bed and in my closets. If I was afraid of loud noises it is because I believed with all my little heart that they led to danger. As I aged an...

Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, departed to Holland in order to pursue his dream of writing. During this period while he was in Holland, he wrote many works including one of his most known, Meditations on First Philosophy. In this work Descartes uses a specific method, sometimes referred to as...

When I was born, I did not know the difference between right and wrong. Now, I do. The word philosophy means the love of knowledge. One type of knowledge is propter quid, which ask the question why or how. In this paper, I will demonstrate how Socrates, Hume and Aristotle, three well known philo...

Sophie's World Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, is a fantasy novel that explores the history of philosophy. It takes place in Norway in the 1990's. Some of the themes in the book are philosophy and free will. Dreams in the book often foreshadow events that occur later. Sophie is ...

John Locke, the foremost English philosopher of the early period of modern post-Cartesian philosophy, published in 1689 his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In this paper I shall look a little at the life of John Locke and the Essay¾ the work for which he is best known. JOHN LOCKE Not a...

Individuals who possess the ability to lead the thought patterns of the masses shape culture and society and are responsible for the way philosophy is viewed and lived presently. A figure in the history of classical Greek philosophy is Aristotle. Some of his major contributions to Western philosop...

Should I grow grapes? Looking back on the days that I used to have to run into the halls at BJ to get my brother after school, I don't know what I was thinking. As I entered the large front door, I couldn't help but think how amazing it would be when I was in 7th grade, and I got to wal...

Page 1 Plato is one of the most famous and influential philosophers of all time. Writing several books, pertaining to many different topics. He learned his skill from the father of modern philosophy and learned it well. Effecting countless minds of his time, and many more extending all the w...

How God Does or Doesn't Exist from Descartes and Lockes' Point of View Position or Issue No.1. Ever since the beginning of time, man has raised the same questions over and over again; is there a higher being than us? Is there something immense out there? Could there even be a way f...

The 1999 science fiction movie, "The Matrix," is interesting because it addresses some important philosophical questions. The existence of human being, the reality of this world we live and the questions of the reliability of human mind are examined during the movie. When examined deeply, it is fo...

Descartes second consideration on the existence of God relies on his belief of the certainty of clear and distinct perceptions. In the meditations prior to meditation five Descartes emphasized the truth evoked by everything which is clearly and distinctly perceived. Descartes is able to theorize tha...

Nothing has ever progressed without building upon the less advanced that existed before it. Everything needs a step upon which to climb and build the next level, continuing forever an endless staircase. Knowledge is no exception, in that it too requires building upon the fundamentals in order to ...

"The second sort of philosophy, practiced by Aristotle and Locke, among others, is abstruse and accurate. It studies the human being as a reasoner rather than a doer. Its issue is metaphysics, which yields the most general first principles of things. Unfortunately, it is not popular for several rea...

Zen Mind, Beginner's mind is really a book about how to handle every day life. Although the ideas are very abstract, they can be applied to everything we do. Thorough out the book there are several repeated themes such as an emphasis on neutrality and not attaching; and the notion that we are...

Imagine a hostile courtroom filled with hundreds of jurors and politicians who only wish harm upon the defendant. A rowdy audience is present, with only a scattering of supporters of the defendant and in a definite minority. This is what Socrates faced when he was the defendant, refuting charges o...

Alexander Pope's "An Essay On Man": The Paradoxical Nature Of Man As A Paradox In The Clash Of Philosophical Trends. The "Essay" consists of epistles, addressed to Lord Bolingbroke, and derived, to some extent, from some of Bolingbroke's own fragmentary Philosophical writi...

If you take a look up out in the sky on a seemingly clear night, try and ask yourself how the stars, the moon and everything else came to be. Again the question of existence takes over your mind the same way it did everyone else's years ago. How did the world begin? What was the cause? Who was ...

For 2,500 years, the West has progressively developed its philosophical analytical methods to answering questions concerning ultimate reality, the nature of knowledge, and the principles of being. While this approach led to vast scientific advances, global communication , and legal foundations for i...

It has been well-established that every individual personality is the sum total of her or his life experiences. Since a person's life experiences usually represent a mix of influences such as family upbringing and values, religious teachings, and social culture, it follows logically that ea...

David Hume: Knowledge According to WWW.philosophypages.com/philosophydictionary, knowledge is simply defined as, "Justified true belief". One of the definitions for knowledge in Webster's New World College Dictionary states, "All that has been perceived or grasped by the mind...

Divisible Bodies and the Search for Substantial Unity In his meditations, Des Cartes posits that extension is the essential property of substantive bodies. In analyzing of the malleable properties of wax, he claims, "I would not be making a correct judgment about the nature of wax unless I bel...

Descartes and Socrates -- What Knowledge Is Two Approaches to Knowledge The concept of knowledge, what it is, what it means, and how it is gained, has been debated for literally centuries. Philosophers, historians, social scientists have questioned the components of knowledge and its acquisiti...

Ideas of the Parthenon The Greek people of the 5th century BC created a culture that was deeply rooted in philosophy and the arts. Their endless search for their place in the grand scheme of the universe and in nature around them influenced everything in their lives especially their love of th...

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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 ...