History of Philosophy

Each chapter answers a new question and causes the reader to meditate on what past philosophers have once thought. Faced with questions like, “How do we know anything?”, “Are we living in a dream?”, and “What is the meaning of life?” Every reader is forced to become a philosopher of his or her own in order to provide an answer for him or herself. Chapter 2

There will always be philosophical interpretations that will create universal truths for many generations to come. In addition, these literary works enriches the audiences’ understanding of these texts as supremely important cultural and historical documents, for audiences who embrace their universal truths. Both generational audiences’ spiritual interpretations seemed to have, collectively, developed a text of extraordinary literary works that are overflowing with philosophical and truth-seeking richness.

Socrates and Aristotle were both Greek philosophers who contributed philosophies. Socrates believed that all people contained real knowledge within them and that self critical examination was needed to bring this knowledge out. Socrates once stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In this philosophical idea, Socrates is suggesting that an individual, who chooses to not think about their own actions, does not truly care about their own life. Aristotle believed in the concept of examining individual objects and being able to perceive their form and establish universal principles. These principles did not exist as a separate higher world of reality beyond material things, but were apart of things themselves. Aristotle has

Thomas the Apostle once said that seeing is believing, and rightfully so. A person consciously chooses to stand firm in his beliefs until given cold, hard evidence that proves a different reality and opens his eyes. Coming to understand these new facts is a vital part of life that man must face in order to better understand the natural world. However, new knowledge can become a double-edged sword when it attributes to man's disillusionment. An individual's mindset falls into the depths of despair when introduced to a harsh reality that clashes with his previous perceptions of right and wrong.

David Hume is one of the world’s most well-known and relevant philosophers, in his time and still to this day. In one of his most famous writings, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, he dedicates a whole chapter to exploring the validity of miracles, based on his own premise (That they defy the laws of nature), a chapter so large, it is separated into two parts. Exploration of Miracles is a large topic for philosophical discussion as it has caught the attention and caused the works of many of the world’s most famous philosophers, such as David Hume, Richard Swinburne and Peter Atkins.

Topic: How does Descartes argue that mind and body are distinct? Is he right? Am I real, or imaginary? In the First Meditation, Rene Descartes presents the main falsehoods in which he believed during his life, and the subsequent faultiness he experienced concerning the body of knowledge. The philosopher considers that it is never too late to rethink the knowledge about his personal being from the very foundations, and builds his thoughts on a certain ground starting from common things. It would be impossible to doubt each thing separately, so he expresses his doubt to the basic principles of knowledge he has already gained, since a conclusion would surely be doubted if its premise was doubted. He starts by doubting basic senses, by comparing feels in reality vs. in dreams. For example, even if I consciously feel warm when I am walking in the sun, I could not claim that I am hundred-­‐percentage sure I am awake, since I would feel it the same way when I was in dreams. Descartes presents this idea to show the doubt of reality and its elements. Also, he concludes that the common things we perceive are fashioned, and knowledge based on that can be doubted, such as physics and astronomy. This category of knowledge are different from geometry and arithmetic, which contain certain and definiteness in the simplest thing. By doubting the sense and knowledge based on it, Descartes argued his approach that the body and mind are two absolutely distinctive things. Descartes mentions God

Renee Descartes is often cited as one of the founding fathers of contemporary philosophy. Descartes wrote one of Philosophy’s most famous essay’s “Meditations”. The essay begins with Descartes declaring he will no longer accept any opinions that can be considered false or untrue. “Skepticism” is an attitude, which doubts the truth of something else. Rather than question the validity of everything he currently knows, Descartes chooses to rid his mind of everything and start from scratch. His idea is to begin with only using things he knows to be true and forming a foundation. The first step it to consider his sense, such as sight, sound, taste, touch etc., as something true. Descartes admits that sometimes even our observations may be different from reality. Descartes says

This paper will demonstrate why Hume thinks accepting testimony about a miracle is unreasonable and why he is incorrect. It will do so by first presenting Hume's argument as to why miracles are improbable. Second it will present Hume's four main justifications for not accepting miracles. Finally it will present how Hume's justifications are incorrect.

If you were to tell me that I would be reading philosophical readings and read about the divine and human nature told by philosophers from centuries ago I would have never believed you. The Humanities program had challenged me to grasp new ideas from the world I live in today but also focusing on the intellectual world that existed in years past. The world back then has so much to do with what I have learned in humanities and there are some key factors that have stuck out to me as an individual and student from this class.

Unlike many other disciplines and ways of studying the world, the philosophical approach can vary from person to person and take many shapes, without restricting itself to one specific method at all time. That quality alone has given enormous freedom and variation to the work of many great philosophers, even on the subject of philosophy. To this end, we now turn our attention to Socrates and Voltaire, two of the great philosophers and their concerns and though on philosophy.

What is real and what is really real? Philosophy is interesting and can be really confusing at times. The film I will be analyzing with philosophical views does a good job on giving examples of the nature of reality and the Methodological doubt. I will show by giving examples of Descartes rule that everything is to be doubted and Plato’s allegory of the cave.

Texts in this module are related to a particular historical period and the diverse philosophy they offer are significant to an understanding of the ways of thinking during that period.

What is Philosophy? Well, by conventional definition, Philosophy is the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. This, while providing a contextual definition of the word philosophy, just scratches the surface of its actual meaning. In this essay we will attempt to answer “What is Philosophy?” by discussing the works of Plato and Rene Descartes. First, we begin by summarizing and comparing the theme of their works for similarities so as to better form a definition. In order to begin answering the question, “What is Philosophy?” we must comprehend each author’s method, themes, and goals throughout their works.

Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something is; they also know why it is what it is, or what causes it to be what it is. People with wisdom, for instance, a master worker understand not only that fire is hot, but also know why it is hot. Those with experience only, who do not know why something works in a certain manner, cannot teach. Say physicians understand that there is a relationship between the medical condition of this class of patients and the ingredients in this particular drug. They are then motivated to learn why the drug works on these

of the east. The works of Aristotle have left many after him to contemplate his