Rene Descartes In the 17th century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes came up with "Cogito ergo sum" or "I think, therefore I am". This became the first principle in his philosophy. He formed the "Cartesian Method" which has "powerfully influenced the developm...

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...

1. Plato's Life In order to better understand Plato's philosophy on life we must first learn about his background. Plato was born in Athens, Greece in 427 B.C. He was the youngest son of Ariston and Perictione, who were both from very well respected and wealthy families. When Plato wa...

An unexpected cause happened after the Persian Wars: the Greek flood of new ideas. When the war ended, religious beliefs declined and caused more people to ignore the traditional explanations of the world of nature. The Greeks were dissatisfied with supernatural and mythical explanations of realit...

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...

Socrates is a noteworthy and important historical figure as a philosopher, because of his and his pupils\' influence on the development of the philosophical world. His teachings, famous arguments, and ideas began the outgrowth of all later western philosophies. Born in 469 BC just outside of Athens,...

When discussing ancient civilizations, one of the most prominent has to be the Greek civilization. Under the rule of various rulers, Greece saw a change from a pagan worshiping society that was almost abolished, to an enduring civilization that strived on philosophy, and intellectual thought. As the...

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...

Plato believed in educating the upper class, because they are the ones who will be running the country. He also believed in educating women and children. But he did not believe that children should be kept in a family, but should be raised by the community, put in schools together for the good of th...

Plato's Republic and Machiavelli's The Prince are each hugely important texts in the history of philosophy. Even though they were written approximately 1900 years apart, they represent two of the most valuable commentaries on political philosophy. They are of course, very different in the...

Descartes and Socrates -- What Knowledge Is Two Approaches to KnowledgeThe 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 acquisition and...

Immanuel Kant was born in Konigsberg, which is now Kaliningrad, Russia, on April 22, 1722. He was the son of a saddler. (Copleston, 1960) Kant received his education at the Colleguim Fredericianum and the University of Konigsberg. While attending the college, he studied mostly the classics, and ...

IMANUEL KANT1724-1804Born in Konigsberd in East Prussia on April 22, 1724, Immanuel Kant has been one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western philosophy. His contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics have had a dynamic impact on almost every philosophi...

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...

Almost everyone has heard of the two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. Few people though, know much about their life long achievements. Their own personal beliefs and philosophies. In order to understand them, we must fist examine the background of the two philosophers. Plato was born to...

Raphael\'s \"School of Athens\" is considered by many art historians to be the absolute masterpiece of the Renaissance. It is the perfect pictorial counterpart to the enormous changes in thinking that came about in the 1300s as a result of economic and technological developments. Its rational perspe...

A Comparison of Classic And Contemporary PhilosophersWhy is it so important that young children in our society receive a good education? The answer to that question is very simple; because they are our future. The old saying "the youth of today are the leaders off tomorrow" holds more truth than m...

David Hume was one of the greatest thinkers in Western History. He was an 18th century philosopher who looked at the world in logical terms. He was a realist who, through philosophy, sought to distinguish between the impression of human experience and the ideas, which are changing repre...

In Descartes' meditations, Descartes begins what Bernard Williams has called the project of 'pure enquiry' to discover an indubitable premise or foundation to base his knowledge on, by subjecting everything to a kind of scepticism now known as Cartesian doubt. This is known as foundationalism, where...