...philosophy. This is clearly seen in the modern university where the highest degree granted in all of the science and humanities is the Ph. D. the doctor of philosophy. But the children began to leave home. The first to leave was physics and astronomy. As they begun to develop experimental techniques of their own. This exodus, led by Galileo and Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler created the first of many great family crises. Eventually psychology left home. The divisions that came through the exodus are what are structured as the thematic within the study of philosophy. In this work, I intend to escalate on some of these divisions in the study of philosophy. Philosophy of History Abstract In this discipline of philosophy it uses the philosophical...
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...Name: Nguyen Tu Anh Student ID: 570009C First Year Seminar Debate paper 1 Topic: Is it ever right to try to create a superior human being? - aye When asking the question “Is it ever right to try to create superior human being?” we are actually raising two issues: whether it is justifiable to attempt to create superior human being in the first place and whether the being created is the right cause for that attempt. In this essay I would like to argue in favor of this argument, firstly by pointing out some benefits of creating a superior human being, followed by responding to possible oppositions against each of the two interpretations of the original question. In my opinion, a superior human is a being with higher capacities than present human. Physically this may equate stronger muscles, enhanced senses, immunity against diseases, ability to shape body according to desire (Bostrom, 2005, p6). Superior human beings also have greater intellectual ability, emotional control and higher morality. With those enhanced abilities, superior humans may actually achieve what we have always thought impossible due to the limitation of our lifespan and our human mind, such as finding the answer to all philosophical questions or discovering the ultimate scientific truths (Bostrom, 2005, p5). They can help us solve the problems existing in our world nowadays, such as poverty, racial and religious conflicts, environmental problems… It should also be noted that if being superior means to...
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...Exam Essay: What is Philosophy? By definition, philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. I think philosophy is the understanding and reasoning for the things we do. People question the fundamental truth about themselves and the world they live in. Generally philosophy can be divided into four major areas of study, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic. The subject matter and methods of philosophy can relate to the reasons we inherit ideas generation after generation. The subject matter and method of philosophy can be split into different explanations, examples and reasons that in turn make up the understanding people have for philosophy. Philosophy proposes many different questions about beliefs and everyday ethics but it also guides people to solve the questions they have come up with. Some questions may be answered very differently depending on the person, but the goal is not merely the answer or arguments but whether or not the arguments are good and answers are true. Going more into detail about the subject matter of philosophy which is closely connected with the sort of questions that have dominated philosophical investigation. Everything in existence is the subject matter of philosophy, for example some topics may be art, beauty, cause, desire, family, god, nature, one and the many, and reasoning just to name some. The method of philosophy is the study of...
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...Oracle. Socrates replied saying “he was wise because he admitted his ignorance.” Sadly Socrates never wrote down any of his thoughts however, Pluto wrote dialogue that reflected his views. His method is a good way for students to learn because it helps them develop critical thinking skills. It helps students improve their skills in analysis and opening up to thoughts and ideas. This method helps provide a foundation for answers we are looking for and puts those answers into perspective. 3. Explain how critical thinking can be used to analyze a philosophical issue. Critical thinking can be used to analyze a philosophical issue because it helps with understanding the issue at hand and comprehending those issues. Being able to think critically means that you are able make rational evaluations to investigate facts and reasons to philosophical issues. Philosophy itself is a thinkers game. It is a way to evaluate arguments in the world and critical thinking is...
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...ethical and religious philosophy which placed supreme value on intellectual activity (Bauzon, 1994:10). TYPES OF PHILOSOPHY Pure Philosophy (Speculative Philosophy) Cosmology is the philosophical study of being as being while taking into consideration that essence and existence are constitutes of being. A philosophical treatise of the physical universe in its final analysis. Theodicy is the philosophical study of the material world with regards to its order in the universe. Also called Natural Theology, is a study of a Supreme Being and his relation to his creatures. Anthropology is the philosophical study of man with regard to the union between body and soul. PURE PHILOSOPHY Rational Psychology is the philosophical study of the immaterial soul and its faculties with consideration to it as the life principle of every living being. Logic is the science and art of correct thinking. It is the study of the principles and laws that govern the process of reasoning and inferences, ensuring validity and truth of arguments. Epistemology is the philosophical study of human knowledge with regard to certainty and truth. PURE PHILOSOPHY Metaphysics is the science of beings, their nature, beyond physical appearance. Ethics is the philosophical study of the morality of the human act that distinguishes...
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...A Critique of Classical Apologetics The classical approach to apologetics seeks to use philosophical arguments to reason and prove theism. While they whole heartedly seek to reach this conclusion, theism means that the reality of the personal God revealed in Jesus Christ cannot be approached through this method. If the end goal of apologetics is, “defending the Christian faith,” then one must seek to make the basic tenants of the faith evidenced in the apologetic method used. The classical approach fails to do this. To succeed in presenting a classical apologetic argument would include laying out logical arguments, have the seeker agree with them, and finally reach the conclusion that there is one god. This is the farthest that this method...
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...still in some religion people use the male gender to represent God. God has created every single living creatures and he is the one who knows everything and has full authority on what happens in the world and in everyone’s lives. He is someone who is worshipped by his devotees and the way he is worshipped or the way people believe in his existence is subject to the particular religion that one follows. Over the years, many philosophers have tried to contribute their ideas to come up with the most appropriate definition of God and to justify the relation between God and this world. In this report, those conceptions are going to be discussed and finally comments and arguments will be made regarding one specific conception, which will be deemed better or most agreeable compared to the other provided conceptions or arguments. Religious Conceptions of God In order to classify people based on their belief, religions have been divided into 2 major groups. * Theistic * Atheistic Theistic group of people are the ones who believes in the presence of God and practices a particular religion. Atheistic ones are the non-believers with have no particular religion to follow, for example – Indian religions, Jainism. Theistic group has been further divided into 3 other groups. * Monotheism In monotheism, people belief that there is only God; who is considered to be as the creator, sustainer of...
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...McCLOSKEY PHIL 201-D10 FALL 2011 DR. EDWARD MARTIN BY IVAN DERRICK COOKE Cooke 2 INTRODUCTION In 1968, atheist philosopher H.J. McCloskey composed a strong argument on how being an atheist was far superior to the theistic lifestyle. This imperious article was published in the journal Question and reflects McCloskey’s view that “atheism is a much more comfortable belief than theism, and why theists should be miserable just because they are theists.”1 In his article, McCloskey seeks to disprove many of the arguments that theists believe and often seemingly ridicules or persecutes those who believe in God. Among the arguments McCloskey attempts to minimalize, there are three common proofs that many, if not all, theists lean on for their belief in God. These proofs include the cosmological proof, the teleological proof, and the argument from design. Furthermore, McCloskey speaks on the problem of evil and how the existence of evil disproves the reality of a God. Near the end of McCloskey’s article, he also insists that atheism is comforting, claiming that it is more comforting than theism. This paper will debate the validity and truth of the three claims that McCloskey seeks to discount in his article and will further debate the problem of evil and disprove the idea that atheism is comforting. PROOFS VS. ARGUMENTS ------------------------------------------------- McCloskey often slights the theistic view as one of vagueness and ignorance. He states, when referring to...
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...psychological egoism, how arguments can be justifiably presented and why this theory is commonly appealing to philosophers. Often supporters of psychological egoism will present arguments through theories such as Darwinism and Desire Satisfaction. This essay essentially aims to critically assess the substantiality of these arguments. In order to correctly assess the arguments in favour of psychological egoism, firstly it must be stated what is implied by these arguments. Psychological egoism has many differences to other egoist theories such as ethical egoism, which state we should be selfish. Psychological egoism however states that all human actions are uncontrollably selfish, and that this is part of our human nature. It should be noted before continuing that this essay will be assessing this more radical form of psychological egoism , which identifies that ‘selfishness is’ the only way one can possibly performs actions, disregarding any consideration of others unless this aids their selfish action in some way. Psychological egoism can seem plausible to its supporters for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common include the concept that desires are entirely our own and therefore pursuing any desire or action is selfish, which supports the idea that we pursue desires for our own satisfaction. A state of self- deception of our motives is also recognized as a major appeal of egoism. Finally the concept of morality is also used within psychological egoism arguments, maintaining that...
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...Machiavelli’s is intentional while Plato’s is unintentional. Also both philosophies through their assumptions sometimes contradict each other. Well expressed In discussing his notion above it is important to understand the basic theory and ideas of Machiavelli and Plato. Both Machiavelli and Plato produce arguments for order in the state but they have different notions of how to go about order. Plato obsesses with certainty and has an ideal form of order, while order with Machiavelli is learning to live with uncertainty. Machiavelli believes we need to be able to work with insecurity and not try and produce certainty. He believes we embrace uncertainty by developing our own armour. Knowledge is the basis of leadership for Plato while Power is the basis of leadership for Machievelli. In the Republic the Allegory of the Cave represents Plato's views on philosophy. Basically, we are all in the cave and Philosophy is what brings us out of the cave. Plato believes that Philosophy is the highest form of inquiry, just because it alone involves no presuppositions. I do not believe this to be true because The Allegory presents, in brief form most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions. Meaning of statement is not clear Examples of these assumptions are his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of...
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...case of Rodriguez v. Attorney general of B.C, many controversial philosophical and moral issues were challenged. Sue Rodriguez was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), a condition affecting motor neurons of brain and spinal cord. Her prognosis was a short life expectancy that had the prospect of a slow and painful death, and eventual complete paralysis, while remaining mentally competent throughout the process. Therefore, Sue requested the right to participate in voluntary euthanasia to have the option to end her own life with dignity. The law in Canada prohibits physician assisted suicide, so she challenged the law in court. However, the British Columbian court ruled in majority against Rodriguez. Rodriguez then appealed the court’s decision to the Supreme Court of British Columbia but the court had dismissed her appeal to participate in voluntary euthanasia with one dissenting judge and forwarded it to the parliament. The final decision made by the parliament was brought before the supreme court of Canada, which resulted in a 5-4 majority decision in favor of the current law that criminalized physician assisted suicide. Sue Rodriguez case embodies a serious ethical dilemma. It raised many philosophical and moral issues; this essay will analyze the various issues that justify the Supreme Court of Canada’s majority decision verses the dissenting judges. The key arguments that Rodriguez made in court were section 241(b) of the criminal...
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...fields he inquired using a similar method for it. However it would be foolish to use other methods to try and disapprove the existence of God, for God must not be used for an experiment, however he is considered the first cause of all things. When demonstrating God’s existence there are two things there are needed in Philosophical and empirical methods. Having those two methods and combining faith and philosophical reason one can penetrate everything into the Revelation of God. Theology, is a simple science which is based on the Revelation of God, which uses reason to know what exactly God’s revealed. Empirical science and philosophy are both a different method of theology. In today’s society there are Christians and non-Christians that think theology is only used for rigorous or demonstrative arguments this is not due to the Philosophical reasoning, but to the Revelation and Scripture: Christians would simply call this “fideism” and separate sharply real, of faith from the realm of reason. (Albl 40) However the Catholic’s have made it clear that fideism is certainly an error. Since God created himself this shall never be contradicted. Generally there are arguments based on...
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...Religious Philosophers and Speculative Atheists Interpretations of Hume's philosophy of religion are often made against the background of more general interpretations of his philosophical intentions. From this perspective, it is not unusual to view Hume's views on religion in terms of the skepticism and naturalism that features prominently in his Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), his first and most ambitious philosophical work. According to the account that is now widely accepted in the scholarly literature, Hume removed almost all the material in the Treatise that was concerned with religion because he was anxious to avoid causing any “offence” among the orthodox. In his later works, beginning with an Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), Hume began to present his views on this subject in a more substantial and direct manner. This culminates in his Natural History of Religion (1757) and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779; published posthumously) – both of which are entirely taken up with philosophical issues in religion. The linkage between these various works, on this account, is that the later writings on religion are simply an extension and application of the sceptical and naturalistic principles that Hume developed in his earlier writings. While it is certainly true that there is an intimate connection between Hume's scepticism and naturalism and his irreligious objectives and orientation, it is not evident that this relationship should be understood...
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...the most abstract and abstruse of all disciplines. Worst of it is the question “what is philosophy?” which is in itself a controversial question both to philosophers and the lay man. “But though many people have come to think of philosophy as a remote discipline that is far from normal interest and beyond comprehension, nearly all of us have some philosophical view of life. Consciously or unconsciously, whether we accept it or not most of us even as we are vague about what philosophy is, the term usually appear in our conversation.” In this essay review, what is philosophy, by H.S. Staniland, we shall come to discover that philosophy is more practical to life. And that its supposed abstract nature -which may be true due to the engagement of the early Ionian philosophers in cosmological speculation, provides only a distorted image of what professional philosophy really is. In this review, we shall first examine the activities of some people who have since been regarded as philosophers. Next we shall give a definition of philosophy as seen by Staniland. Furthermore we shall highlight, evaluate and elaborate on various arguments in Staniland’s essay. Finally we shall conclude. “At different ages and accross distant places and culture, various people who have been regarded as philosophers, and who have engaged very seriously in philosophizing have had varying aims. Some like Saint Augustine of Hippo have been religious leaders, who have tried in various ways to explain and...
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...Logic Main article: Logic Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is when, given certain statements (called premises), other statements (called conclusions) are unavoidably implied. Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then B”, then “B” must be concluded. A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism. An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not, while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true. Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions, which are declarations that are either true or false, while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables. These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier (always apply) or the existential quantifier (applies at least once). Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning. For example, if “90% of humans are right-handed” and “Joe is human” then “Joe is probably right-handed”. Fields in logic include mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and philosophical logic. Metaphysics Main article: Metaphysics Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship...
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