Renee Descartes (1595-1650) 3.23.2001 Renee Descartes was a famous French mathematician, scientist and philosopher. His views about knowledge and certainty, as well as his views about the relationship between mind and body have been very influential over the last three centuries. Descartes was b...

Although Plato's theory of the ideal world is rather different from Pythagoras philosophy of numbers it shares a lot of the same principles. As Plato came after Pythagoras he took up a lot of Pythagoras's thoughts and believes. What gave rise the Pythagorean sect was the peoples yearnin...

Introduction Rene Descartes was a famous French mathematician, scientist and philosopher. He was arguably the first major philosopher in the modern era to make a serious effort to defeat skepticism. His views about knowledge and certainty, as well as his views about the relationship between mind a...

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...

In Rene Descartes Meditation V, he distinguishes the existence of God, believing he must prove that god exists before he can examine any corporeal objects outside of himself. By proving that the existence of God is not a sophism, he also argues that God is therefore the Supreme Being and the omnipo...

The Question of Certainty We are living in a world where there are various theories, views and opinions about many different issues. These theories, views and opinions are changing, as everyday new scientific discoveries are made and new theories conducted. Consequently, our knowledge and what we ...

MUSIC OF THE MINDS Take a few minutes to reflect on your childhood days in school. Did you sing in the choir or play in the band? If so, do you remember the days of learning your scales by singing "Do Re Mi"? Do you recall your first Christmas concert? Do you remember your foot tappi...

In John Locke's philosophy of mind, all people are born with minds that are a blank slate. As such, we build up a body of knowledge through perceptions as we grow. In this way, all knowledge is received indirectly from outside of the human mind. In this, Locke distinguishes between primary a...

Early in meditations, Descartes says that no clear mark distinguishes dreaming from waking. "But in thinking over this, I remind myself that on many occasions, I have in sleep been deceived by similar illusions, and in dwelling carefully on this reflection I see no manifestly that there are ...

Renee Descartes Meditations Descartes is a philosopher who is very disturb with the happenings of the world around him. Things are changing and he does not know if what he has been taught in the past is true. He has extreme doubt in everything that he has ever known. He feels that everything ...

IS THE BRAIN IS SIMPLY A COMPUTER MADE OF MEAT? The brain is simply a computer made out of meat. First and foremost, what is a brain, and what is a computer? Chambers dictionary (Chambers 21st century dictionary, 1999) defines the brain as \"a highly developed mass of nervous tissue that coordinat...

Does one ever really sit down and question oneself – what are we in pursuit of in life? To begin answering this particular question aptly is a task not easily accomplished and probably takes some serious dwelling in the words of Aristotle. In my opinion, our generation is brought up in a wa...

Descartes' Method of Doubt "I think, therefore I am" (32) is the principle in which Descartes uses to build any foundation for the ideas in his meditations. The human being is in essence a thinking thing in which the mind has the ability to deceive a person. He may in his youth hav...

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. This is one of the most profound philosophical statements ever made. Aristotle was influenced by the short upbringing of his parents, particularly that of his father, who died when he was only ten years old. His father was a doctor. Aristotle was ra...

The Underground Man is a man of consciousness for he thinks but never does. He is undefined for he has no and does not want any identity. He analyzes life from his own corner, he is a critic he watches but never does. No matter what he may know he would never interfere in the life process. He hides ...

The eighteenth century\'s most exciting intellectual movement is called the Enlightenment. It\'s powerful dedication to reason and rational thought that until quite recently the era was sometimes characterized as the Age of Reason. The turn toward what became known by 1750 as the Enlightenment began...

As this should be a response paper that addresses an issue we?ve discussed within the time constraints of class over the last few weeks, I find it to be my need to discuss further the role of perspective within a philosophical affiliation. This is in terms of physicalism, dualism and dual-aspectism...

Over the course of history there have been many great philosophers with different views on reality. Rene Descartes, a renound philosopher of his time, was born near Tours on March 31, 1596, and died at Stockholm on February 11, 1650.Descartes made many contributions to philosophy, although there are...

Lightness in Kafka: How does Kafka lighten each of these stories? How is reality dealt with? What animates these stories (pushes them forward, provides conflict and finally resolution?) How does the title impact our reading of the story? In "Unhappiness," what does one make of the...

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...

Aristotle Aristotle was a famous ancient philosopher and scientist that lived from 384 to 322 B.C. He was born in Macedonia to a physician of the royal court. He moved to Athens when he was 17, to study with Plato, another famous philosopher of his time. Aristotle is said to have loved hi...

In order to discuss what the senses contribute to knowledge, one must first identify the senses used and their contribution to the human learning process. The human senses sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste are all commonplace in our everyday life, one must therefore not forget their initial im...

While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the seminal work of Rene Descartes (1596-1650) [see figure 1], French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body rela...

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...

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...