... , reasons and is the whole of our being. Bodies are the material extended mass interacting with other things of extension by use of sense perception. While minds by their immaterial nature are indivisible, bodies can be divided and still function according to their purpose. I may lose an ... mind must exist independently so it is possible discern the truth from falsity. Descartes believed because the matter of the body was affected by sense perception it presented a far less clear and distinct picture of what is real. God would not, in keeping with his perfect goodness, allow ... for th...

• Word Count: 1008
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... needs to be understood, and if one can not understand something, then it is not reality to that person. Therefore, each individual's perception of physical objects will result in an individual sense of reality for each individual based on the perception of the same group of physical objects. James" metaphysical conception of reality is based on the idea that there are many ways ... to understand. The reading discusses many areas in which the two concepts can be compared and may contrast. The first comparison was that in the pragmatic point of view common-sense objects are able to be vie...

• Word Count: 976
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... knowledge by finding grounds for doubt leads him into the realm of his own ideas. By using the "Dream" argument Descartes effectively eliminates sensory perception as the basis of knowledge. Even though he eventually overcomes the "Dream" argument in his later meditations he is forced to turn inward to ... realm of our own ideas. If we look into Locke's assertion that our ideas are formed through our interactions with our environment via our sense we see that though Locke did not know specifically, in scientific terms, the mechanism of this interaction his reasoning was not far from wh...

• Word Count: 980
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... material reality because we cannot get to such a material reality. We can never compare them because I could never confront the object independent of my sense data. I can only be aware of appearances and never have any evidence of what is really in material reality. Secondly, the postulation of these material ... lets turn the focus back on the basketball. Although I am doubting the physical existence of the ball, I am not doubting the existence of the sense-data which made me think that there was a ball; all the is psychological is not being questioned. In fact, despite whatever else m...

• Word Count: 3023
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... described as a kind of conscience; the superego is defined by what we feel and think of as God's authority, social morality, or anything else that we sense has a greater power and authority than we do. Not all psychologists follow Freud's model of three parts of the psyche, but almost all of them have ... a concept of the ego which is basically similar to this: a self-concept which is based on a sense of identity that develops throughout life. When a human being is born, it does not really have an ego yet, because it can't yet understand the difference ... I cannot remember the first mo...

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

... behind cause and effect. He critically analyzes the reasons behind those generally accepted ideas. Though the relation of cause and effect seems to be completely logical and based on common sense, he discusses our impressions and ideas and why they are believed. Hume's progression starts with his initial definition of cause, and moves on to his final conclusion in his doctrine ... from the memory. We must first establish the existence of causes before we can infer effects from them. We have only two ways of doing that, either by an immediate perception of our memory or senses, called im...

• Word Count: 2064
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... impractical. The idea that time is stationary and that humans advance through it makes much more sense. Stationary time would mean that the passage of time is an illusion. This idea indicates that human consciousness advances up a timelike direction - that because of human consciousness and perception, time has relevance in people's lives where it would not if humans did not impose it ... ...

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

... to the existing, temporal, and therefore, finite individual subject, it must exist in a state of paradox. How can something eternal be necessarily involved with the finite; necessarily involved in the sense that it would not be truth to the existing subject if eternal truth did not include the existing subject? The picture becomes much more lucid when the argument is examined ... to dedicate that life to the striving which is faith, Climacus' writing presents the only possible path to truth and salvation. Hegel and the subjective philosophers err fundamentally in their perception of the...

• Word Count: 4550
• Approx Pages: 18
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate