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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Pre-Socratic Philosophy: Parmenides Parmenides (pronounced as: pärmenidz) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and poet, as well as a leading figure of the Eleatic school of philosophy. Son of Pyres, Parmenides was born of an illustrious family in Elea between B.C. 505-515. Elea was a colony l...

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...

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...

Why are we born? In my opinion, I view the world as a game nobody can win. For centuries people have struggled to find the answers to decipher our purpose, but really that answer lies six feet underground. I often wonder if we are just born to die, live day to day fighting our own wars to stay al...

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...

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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The term "the good life" is used by both Aristotle and Plato to describe both an internal as well as an external state of living for a given individual or segment of the population (the state). While the two philosophers have some similarities in their definitions, they differ a great ...

Don Miguel Ruiz was born into a family of healers and raised in rural Mexico by a curandera (healer) mother and nagual (shaman) grandfather. The family anticipated don Miguel would embrace their centuries old legacy of healing and teaching and as a nagual, carry forward the esoteric Toltec knowledge...

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 ...

The poetry of Carlos Williams is some of the most intriguing yet odd works of literature that I have ever encountered. Untraditional in nature, Williams awed me with his unique style and at the same time, left me shaking my head with a smile at some of his pieces. In the video we viewed in class, Wi...

The Young Philosophers Tale As you can very well see, I am young and inexperienced in philosophy. I have heard the teachers and read the books, But lack wisdom and profound outlooks. For this reason my story, which I hope will please, Is not drawn from Aristotle or Sophocles, But from p...

As I entered English this year it was with a knot in my stomach and a sense foreboding lingering in the back of my mind. I was not exactly keen to return to a subject that for me, personifies my inadequacies on paper. At a point somewhere around the second day of class we began a discussion on what ...

Psychology in Sports The mind-body connection is a very powerful one. For everything you think in your mind, your body has a reaction, regardless of whether it is real or imagined. For example, have you ever had a bad dream? Usually, you will wake up and your heart is racing, you are sweating and v...

Charlie Classen Philosophy 1210 2/27/01 I find Davidson to be confusing, but yet fascinating at the same time. Davidson analyzes questions that not just anyone can comprehend. Although I do not completely agree with everything he says, I do share some of the same thoughts that he does. Davi...

Anthem By: Ayn Rand Collectivism is when the products and wealth are controlled by the government and supposedly distributed evenly among the people. Socialism, commonly known as Communism is based on this idea of collectivism. The people work knowing that whether or not they produce a great or s...

Philosophy 4390 Zazen Meditation Before addressing what Zazen Meditation is, or how to do it, it's important to examine why one would want to do this in the first place. There are four main reasons...

Dupee, mozilla Philosophy The initial groundwork for Berkeley's position is the truism that the materialist is a skeptic. In the writing of his three dialogues, Berkeley develops two characters: Hylas (the materialist) and Philonous (Berkeley himself). Philonous draws upon o...

The Study of the Mind: Mind & Thinking The objective of The Mind is to provide the reader with a unique overview of the thinking of human kind. Self-understanding is one of humankind's most ancient quests. Who am I? What is my relationship to the world around me? These questions marked ...