...Aaron Mitchell Teacher: Shawn Haake January 18, 2015 PHI101FD0215SP CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Western Philosophy Origins of the word Philosophy: The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom Explain Modes of persuasion Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated. Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. Secondly, persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions. Thirdly, persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question. MYTHOS: a set of beliefs or assumptions about something. LOGOS: Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough. We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing. Who was THALES? Was a pre-Socratic...
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...BROCK UNIVERSITY • DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY • 2014-2015 PHIL 1F94 - Introduction to Philosophy: Problems Essay 2: Existentialism Evaluation: 20% of final grade Length: 1400-1500 words Due: After uploading to Assignment2 students are required to hand in a hard copy of their essays at the beginning of their seminars on March 10, 2015. Late papers will be penalized 3% per day. Students must write this essay in order to complete this course with a passing grade. Choose 1 essay topic from the following list of 16: Sartre Write an essay which explicates and evaluates some of the central claims in Sartre’s “Existentialism” (the first essay of Existentialism and Human Emotions.) You should frame your essay around a particular philosophical claim or theme which you would like to write about in Sartre’s essay. For example: 1. How does Sartre argue that “existentialism is a humanism” and is his argument a good one? 2. What is Sartre’s notion of freedom and how does it relate to ethics? Is this a viable ethics? 3. Explain and evaluate the claim that “existence precedes essence.” What are the implications for living if one accepts this claim? Defend or consider problems with this position. 4. What does Sartre mean when he says that “man is condemned to be free” but also that we are nonetheless responsible for who or what we become? In what way are we free, in which ways are we responsible, and to whom are we responsible? Is Sartre right? If so, why...
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...gratuitous evils exist, is God morally responsible? Gratuitous evil and natural evil appears to bring the most plausible charge that something malevolent has occurred. This paper will critique various arguments concerning evil. Biblical Theology will show that the arguments are missing a key to understanding evil. EVALUATING THE TYPES OF EVIL The complexity involved in addressing evil persuades us to define what is meant by natural and moral evil. It is noted, by Steven Layman, that the distinction between natural and moral evil is not always sharp. It is Erickson who provides very distinctive definitions. Natural evil are the destructive forces of nature. Forces of nature such as earthquakes and hurricanes are out of the control of man, and due to the resulting suffering are deemed evil. Moral evils are those evils committed by free moral agents. Moral and natural evil are at time corollary. Layman suggests that among the losses of natural evil is the loss of moral agency. For...
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...In Hobbes’s Leviathan, he examines man’s relationship with one another in a state of war. Hobbes claims that naturally humans are in a state of “kill or be killed”, pushed to hurt each other by their need for self preservation. But this idea that men are controlled by their fears in a state of nature provides a cynical and faulty view of man. Hobbes fails to take man’s capacity to love into account in his philosophy. Because of this, Hobbes’s belief about man’s state of nature is faulty and untrue. When Hobbes examines man’s behavior, he claims that man is controlled by a need for power. Hobbes argues that each action committed by a man is his attempt to become more powerful. He claims that all of man’s desires “may be be be reduced to the...
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...The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell 8/4/14, 13:49 Project Gutenberg's The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Problems of Philosophy Author: Bertrand Russell Release Date: May 2, 2009 [EBook #5827] Last Updated: February 7, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY *** Produced by Gordon Keener, and David Widger THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY By Bertrand Russell http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm Page 1 of 68 The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell 8/4/14, 13:49 Contents . CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. PREFACE APPEARANCE AND REALITY THE EXISTENCE OF MATTER THE NATURE OF MATTER IDEALISM KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER V. DESCRIPTION CHAPTER VI. ON INDUCTION CHAPTER VII. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES CHAPTER VIII. HOW A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IS POSSIBLE CHAPTER IX. THE WORLD OF UNIVERSALS CHAPTER X. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSALS CHAPTER XI. ON INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER XII. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD CHAPTER XIII. KNOWLEDGE, ERROR, AND PROBABLE OPINION CHAPTER XIV. CHAPTER XV. . BY THE LIMITS...
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...Humanity & Social Sciences Journal 3 (1): 57-64, 2008 ISSN 1818-4960 © IDOSI Publications, 2008 On Defining African Philosophy: History, Challenges and Perspectives Olatunji A. Oyeshile Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria INTRODUCTION The definition of philosophy has remained a perennial philosophical problem and there is little agreement as to what it is. Rather, what many seem to agree on is the descriptions of philosophy, that is, what it encompasses which will provide the basis for our definition. In the same vein, it has been difficult to define what African philosophy is, rather most philosophers have contented themselves in describing what African philosophy is. According to Sogolo, “the controversy over what constitutes an African philosophy tends to dominate sometimes so much that it forms almost the entire content of the course” [1]. In this paper, the attempt is to say what African philosophy is, inspite of the seeming unending polemics in the sphere and practice of African philosophy. In doing this, we shall start by attempting to describe and possibly define what philosophy is. Subsequently we shall be in a position to define African philosophy by looking at the origin of the debate on African philosophy which was as a result of the charge of irrationality leveled against the Africans. Let us recall that many European scholars mostly anthropologists and sociologists in the like of E. Durkheim, Auguste Comte, James Frazer, Sigmund Freud...
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...“What is important about any philosophy is not what is explains, but what it assumes”. Discuss this question critically and provide examples of assumptions which underpin Machiavellian & Platonic philosophies. In this paper I will discuss the assumptions which underpin Machiavellian & Platonic philosophies in reference to The Republic and The Prince. My position is that both Machiavallian and Plantonic philosophies make assumptions in exemplifying their notions. 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...
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...David Hume David Hume Cornelia Roberts-Pryce Cornelroberts@yahoo.com Content David Hume Abstract TCO 4 -Given the intellectual climate of post-WWI Europe, analyze the emergence of the philosophies of existentialism and logical positivism based upon the principles of modern humanism According to lecture 1, the Enlightenment was characterized by a questioning of current beliefs (including religious belief) and customs and a turn towards the benefits of science. People today think that democracy is a direct outgrowth of Enlightenment thinking but Hume, Locke, Voltaire, and others did not think that the general public was able to reason and that it could or should not be educated (Stromberg, 1994). Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contributions of David Hume (1711-76) to the period of history during the enlightenment age developing theories of the doctrine of Empiricism. There are two doctrines which follow this principle. The first doctrine is that most, if not all, concepts are ultimately derived from experience; the second is that most, if not all, knowledge derives from experience, in the sense that appeals to experience are necessarily involved in its justification. Neither doctrine implies the other. Hume belongs to the tradition of British empiricism that includes Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), and George Berkeley (1685-1753). Common to this tradition is the view that knowledge is founded...
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...philosophyIslamic philosophy may be defined in a number of different ways, but the perspective taken here is that it represents the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture. This description does not suggest that it is necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor even that it is exclusively produced by Muslims (see Islam, concept of philosophy in).1 The early years of Islamic philosophyIslamic philosophy is intimately connected with Greek philosophy, although this is a relationship which can be exaggerated. Theoretical questions were raised right from the beginning of Islam, questions which could to a certain extent be answered by reference to Islamic texts such as the Qur’an, the practices of the community and the traditional sayings of the Prophet and his Companions. On this initial basis a whole range of what came to be known as the Islamic sciences came to be produced, and these consisted largely of religious law, the Arabic language and forms of theology which represented differing understandings of Islam.The early conquests of the Muslims brought them into close contact with centres of civilization heavily influenced by Christianity and Judaism, and also by Greek culture. Many rulers wished to understand and use the Greek forms of knowledge, some practical and some theoretical, and a large translation project started which saw official support for the assimilation of Greek culture (see Greek philosophy: impact on Islamic philosophy). This had a...
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...Alcibiades In Plato’s Symposium, multiple accounts of love (eros) are told with many different interpretations to the idea of love itself. Most significantly, the reader sees Plato rejecting the romanticism of sexual love, valuing above all else an asexual and all-consuming passion for wisdom and beauty. Mainly, he determines that the philosopher’s search for wisdom is the most valuable of all pursuits. In the Symposium, he values philosophy, as he shows with the voice of Socrates, over a number of other arts which are prearranged as points of comparison. For example, medicine, as shown by Eryximachus (who is a doctor and guest at the symposium), comedy, as shown by Aristophanes (an ancient comic poet and guest), and tragedy, as shown by Agathon (who invited everyone to partake in this symposium as he is celebrating his first victory in the dramatic festival). Socrates seems to be the last person to really give an account of eros in this story, as well as discussing the most important account of love that was given to him by Diotima. This account slowly puts together the puzzle-piece-like tellings of everyone at this symposium, leading to one final truth about love: that what one must try to do is ascend from loving particular kinds of beauty, as everyone described, to loving Beauty itself. Now, Socrates’ rendition of Diotima’s account seems to end the symposium. But this is not the case as Alcibiades shows up, making a less than sober appearance to the group. Alcibiades...
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...humanity, the growing disconnection between man and conscience has driven society soulless, effectively eliminating the self-reliance found throughout individualism. Furthermore, not only has man lost inner value, but society externally has altered into immoral majorities and unjust governmental machines. Thoreau fights for the legitimate viewpoint in society, “ but [the] little virtue in the action of masses of men”(847) has created an internal problem of the uncoordinated population fueling and conforming to the government. Within this process of supporting governmental injustice, Thoreau acknowledges the principle root to the problem of the loss of individuality within society. Men are not aware of the surrounding natural world. Consequently, humanity has not...
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...Philip Jones Philosophy 101 Due Date: 2/17 Assignment: Opinion Paper, Critical Thinking Essay 1 Does the senses account for all our knowledge? I do not think that senses account for all my knowledge because first of all, all I am is who I am. I am my own individual in this universe all I have is my own little space and who is to say it is mine. An extremely large portion of what I know is what I accept others have told me the truth. For example: the sky is blue, the Earth is round, and the Sun is the center of the Solar System. I don’t know if these statements are true. I just trust the sources from which they came. “Empiricism is the belief that all knowledge about the world comes from or is based on the senses.”(p.328) With this statement I would like to explore the senses seems that there are only five or at least that is how many I trust there to be because that is what I have been told. First I will start with sight and what it does for me and how I use it. If I just open my eyes and look to see what is there. I will only see what is there, not until someone tells what I am looking at will I know what really is there. I’ve learned through experience how to interpret what I see. Do I really know what I am looking at? In reality I still know I don’t know what I am looking at because every second of every moment anything can and will change. Second I want to discuss smell since my nose is so close to my eyes. The sense of smell I don’t think is that...
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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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...History of Evolution The word "evolution" in its broadest sense refers to change or growth that occurs in a particular order. Although this broad version of the term would include astronomical evolution and the evolution of computer design, this article focuses on the evolution of biological organisms. That use of the term dates back to the ancient Greeks, but today the word is more often used to refer to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. This theory is sometimes crudely referred to as the theory of "survival of the fittest." It was proposed by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species in 1859 and, independently, by Alfred Wallace in 1858—although Wallace, unlike Darwin, said the human soul is not the product of evolution. Greek and medieval references to "evolution" use it as a descriptive term for a state of nature, in which everything in nature has a certain order or purpose. This is a teleological view of nature. For example, Aristotle classified all living organisms hierarchically in his great scala naturae or Great Chain of Being, with plants at the bottom, moving through lesser animals, and on to humans at the pinnacle of creation, each becoming progressively more perfect in form. It was the medieval philosophers, such as Augustine, who began to incorporate teleological views of nature with religion: God is the designer of all creatures, and everything has a purpose and a place as ordained by Him. In current times, to some, the terms "evolution" and...
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...Aristotle Crystal Lancaster Philosophy 105 10/31/2013 Martha Stillman Aristotle(384-322 B.C.E.) Was one of the greatest thinkers of all time? He was the teacher of Alexander the Great and a student of Plato. Aristotle was also one of the most important figures in Western Philosophy. His writings were some of the first to incorporate ethics, logic, science, and metaphysics. His influences on physical science stretched into the Renaissance. In his writings on ethics, he reflected that ethics were practical and not theoretical. He wrote that to achieve morally good ethics one has to be trained by experience, and educators. Logic is the method of how we derive to know anything. He thought that by nature man is blind to morality. He suggests that man is a natural unmoral being. He backs this up by saying that man is born without knowledge. Morality comes from knowledge so man has to acquire this. He suggests that the choices we make after birth determine whether we are immoral or moral. He believed that each man has a unique nature. Aristotle seems to be pretty attacking in his account of human nature since he sees man as totally dependent on others else he is to be useless. I have always found Aristotle to be very intriguing. I can remember reading about Aristotle in high school and it immediately captured my attention. He has many different views...
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