During the last meeting of class we were led through a scattered discussion of the various philosophers and philosophies discussed throughout the year. If we are to find a common problem that offers any sort of unity to what we have been studying, it must be that each philosopher wants to discover how to go about experiencing reality. Philosophers such as Pierce, Tolstoy, Camus, Bergson, Russell, and Sartre have attempted to define an unconditional experience with varying degrees of success. To appreciate an experience unconditionally, it must be shorn of that which is sensed and that which is...

• Word Count: 931
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... described the ego, it might appear that I feel the ego is the most important aspect of the personality or the highest function of humanity. In actuality, however, I feel that no philosophy, religion or psychology can be based on pure egoism. There have been many such "ethical" theories of egoism in philosophy, economics, and political science, arguing that self-interest and "looking out for number one ... " is enough to balance all the contradictory interests and ambitions of human beings living in society. For example, in classical economics it is argued that egoistic self-interest serv...

• Word Count: 3556
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... began to write his three famous books, Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy and Principles of Philosophy where his passion for philosophy and mathematics could shine. In my term paper, I will be focusing on specific passages from Meditations on First Philosophy, which was written in 1641. Meditations on First Philosophy is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to ... be originated from a perfect source or God." Another way which Descartes proves the existence of God is through an "Ontological" proof. This states that an esse...

• Word Count: 1700
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... perfection then you are a fool. By this, Gaunilo is trying to criticize the process by which Anselm moves from his definition of God to his suggestion of God's existence. Of course Gaunilo has a point: If the idea that a type of thing "than which no greater could be conceived" must necessarily exist, might this not apply to the most perfect potato or the greatest monkey? Aquinas ... and therefore there are also no sides. He said that in the same way, if you don't accept the concept of God in the first place, it is a useless argument. Further criticism comes from the Empiricist David Hum...

• Word Count: 662
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to unexplained questions, while never providing answers to the questions about God himself. This is evidenced a great deal in the circular argument made by Descartes in the Meditations on First Philosophy. What follows is a brief account of the third and fifth meditations, which provide Descartes' response to the masked question, "What is God?" Can one perceive or confirm the existence ... scripture that has been deemed to come from your god is also the proof that God exists. This is the type of circular definition that Descartes is trying to avoid at all costs. Basically, it's like usi...

• Word Count: 1331
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the present. Time has no history or future because it simply exists. (Humans are the ones that have an origination and termination, not time.) Regardless of the agreed upon definition of time, the philosophy involved in the comprehension of time truly does weigh heavily on the human psyche. Humans regret the past and fear the future because they are swept up and bound by their ... own impositions of time. Humans are forced to admit that time is irreversible and the passage of humans through time is inexorable because they are constantly reminded of impending ... are numerous possible e...

• Word Count: 1525
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... no God. If they were to be referenced to, they would be described strictly in the terms of nature. Materialism is not an empirical philosophy. It rests on assumptions that are metascientific not metaphysical in the Aristotelian sense. The assumptions of materialism reached beyond empirical science, though never beyond physical reality. Materialism can be said to conform to ... three theses: "(a) The identification thesis: Mind is identified as nothing more than physical states and processes of the brain and central nervous ... to treat souls as an exception case. Materialism has many d...

• Word Count: 1640
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... external viewpoints of a reality and expressing it through the symbolical representation of concepts. This, Bergson claims, condemns philosophy to an eternal disagreement between the various schools of thought who adopt differing viewpoints and concepts of a reality. But if we are able to invert the habitual direction of the work of thought towards ... is essential and unique in the person, for what constitutes the person, what is simply his or her self, is internal by definition and can only be experienced by me if I were to be able and momentarily identify myself with the person. Howe...

• Word Count: 2351
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate