Modern Western though has been shaped by emphasis on scientific thinking and reasoning from the time of Copernicus, Galileo and Newton. The scientific revolution gave birth to a new era of thought, in which observations were made to support an idea. This involved what man could prove through sense, not religion or superstition. Notable ancient Greek historians, philosophers and scientists, such as Thucydides, Socrates, Aristotle, and Hippocrates, laid down the seeds of modern Western thought.
An ancient Greek writer who demonstrated modern scientific objectivity was Thucydides. Over time, this type of scientific objectivity has become a valuable tool of modern Western thought. The vividness and detail of Thucydides’ description of the effects of the plague is striking. A doctor today would be very impressed by the accuracy and detailed description of the plague: “Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor was there any pallor: the skin was rather reddish and livid, breaking out into small pustules and ulcers.” This precise description of the plague would be comparable to any description written today. The scientific objectivity demonstrated by the ancient Greeks had a direct influence on our medical, and non-medical, description today.
Many ancient Greeks such as Socrates used logic, another invaluable tool of modern Western thought. Socrates, by asking simple questions, was able to draw answers from people that supported his argument. By thinking a problem through, step-by-step, Socrates was able to formulate answers to a problem or question. This laid down the foundation for modern logic. “Not at all, my dear Agathon. It is truth that you find impossible to withstand; there is never the slightest difficulty in withstanding Socrates.” This shows that Socrates merely saw himself as a guide to logic.
Aristotle, one of the very first scientists, used evidence to support his claims. Today, any argument made must be supported by evidence. Any argument not supported by evidence is not accepted as fact. Aristotle’s use of evidence made his arguments strong and convincing, even if he was quite wrong. When Aristotle writes “Again, if the earth as a whole is capable of floating upon water, that must obviously be the case with any part of it. But observation shows that this is not the case. Any piece of earth goes to the bottom, the quicker the larger it is” he is able to prove his point by the use of evidence. The method in which Aristotle supported his arguments is constantly used today as it shows that the point one is arguing is true.
Individuals in society experience many changes that can make them feel overwhelm or feel accepted by their friends, family members and the rest of society. But there is times when people feel that they do not fit or feel welcome in their social group. Many people face their difficulties and achieve success others are do not have such luck. The individuals that are not lucky finishes their life committing suicide. Suicide is an act of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally that affects not only immediate family and friends but indicates factors in society that are influencing individuals to commit this act. Is important to understand what aspects in society are making individuals to take their own live? And if
A Triumvirate is a political alliance involving three rulers, who divide the land and power among each other. The first Triumvirate involved Pompey; who was a popular general who crushed the Spanish Revolt. The second was Crassus; he was a wealthy noble with a lot of ambition and was very ruthless. Crassus owned all the fire stations in Rome, when a person needed his services he would let the fire burn until he was paid a sum of money to his likings. Crassus was unsuccessful in his military pursuits. The third was Julius Caesar; he was also a wealthy noble. He was very popular with the lower class. For a short period Caesar was the Governor of Spain, when he returned he was thrown a Triumph. All three men wanted to run for Consul, and all were denied by the Senate. They created the Triumvirate because they all had an Anti-Senate outlook, and by forming the Triumvirates they would all be able to take turns being Consul. They were Anti-Senate because the Senate had lost control over their generals and armies, and had little support from the people.
The Second Punic War, also called the Second Carthaginian War, took place from 218 to 201 B.C between the Roman Republic and Carthaginian Empire. There were three Punic Wars in all, resulting in Roman dominance over the Mediterranean. Rome saw how large Carthage was getting and how much power it was gaining. This, along with the fact that Carthage controlled three islands off the coast of Italy, was an issue for Rome. Rome insisted that Carthage join the Republic, to which Carthage disagreed. The two groups fought for twenty years, ending the wars when Carthage offered Rome the island of Sicily in exchange for peace. Rome took Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. Carthage, lead by Hamilcar Barca, took off to fight Spain. Hamilcar’s son, Hannibal, was nine years old at the time. Before they left Carthage, Hamilcar made his son promise that when he was older he would fight Rome for revenge. Hannibal agreed, thus beginning the legend of Hannibal, military genius. (Second)
Suicide is possibly the most personal action an individual can take upon oneself and yet it has a profound social impact. A large Hungarian population views an act of violence that one commits toward oneself as an act of bravery for freeing themselves and others around them of their misery. It’s also consider to be the least understood crime even though sociologist and psychologist are expected to know the answers to questions such as why people kill themselves but often these questions go unanswered. Emile Durkheim was instrumental in bringing a new understanding of suicide, “when in a sociological study he conceived his theory of suicide, and it 's relationship with society. Perhaps put more accurately, his theory was about society, and
It seems as though ever since the Cold War Europe is still divided amongst those same countries. Although a lot has changed since then the economic standpoint for countries whose gross domestic production rate is high still remains in countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have remained strong.
About the year of 470 B.C, a man was born in Athens and his name was Socrates. He was a son of a working sculptor and a midwife. Socrates lived in the greatest and most exciting period of his country's history, when Athens developed from a mere city-state to be the head of an empire. He studied problems of Physics, Biology, and other sciences, and learned the art of making the worse argument appear the better. He could easily be involved in public decisions but he did not enjoy politics so he stuck to his interests and life that consisted the qualities of a thinker. He would constantly be thinking about the "ordinary man" and the interests of an "ordinary man". He had many companions, men of all ages and from all parts of the Greek world. This already tells us that he is very pre-occupied with how other people's minds worked and if he could figure out how to teach them rational thinking. Easily most of his ideas would come from talking to other people
Well-known for his significant impact on the philosophical world, Socrates was one of the first people to truly question individuals and take the average level of thinking to a much more elevated level. The Last Days of Socrates, specifically Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, written by Plato demonstrates Socrates’ great use of the Socratic method as well as rhetoric, the art of persuasion. Many people looked down upon Socrates because they viewed his calling, as told by the Oracle of Delphi, to be impious. Although Socrates was put to death for living a life such as his, he was very extremely successful during his time alive. Socrates was successful in both the realm of philosophical truth and in the outside world because humans used rhetorical ways of thinking to find purpose and make decisions without the influence of other members in society.
My first case against Suicide is the pain the victim leaves their family and friends in. According to the article “Rationally Speaking: The Philosophy of Suicide”, Aristotle viewed suicide as a wrongful act towards society not to the person who died because of it. He saw the person ultimately for what they were, they openly consented
The natural end of every human life is death. Some people, for reasons that have never been fully understood, choose to end their own lives. This is called suicide, which means literally ?self-killing?. For all the uncertainty that has surrounded the phenomenon of suicide, this assessment of the problem is probably as accurate as any. The individual seemingly hopeless conflict with the world, decides to end his or her existence in what amounts to a final assault against a society that can no longer be tolerated. In so doing, the person tries to obtain a final revenge on everything and everyone that has caused their feelings of depression.
The Scientific revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries changed the way that people views the world. Scientific philosophers such as Galileo and Descartes threw out the old teachings of the church and challenged them with new ways of thinking. These men sought to prove that rational thought could prove the existence of God. They also challenged that it was an understanding of a series of rational thoughts, not faith, would bring understanding of how the world worked. Traditional ways of thinking were ultimately challenged by logical and sensible rationale.
Western philosophers still tend to think that philosophy, in a sense that they can take with professional interest, does not exist in non-Western traditions. To persuade them otherwise would require them to make an effort that they prefer to evade. I attempt to begin to persuade them by closely paraphrasing a few arguments by the early Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu and a few by the Indian skeptic and mystic Shriharsha (about 1150 CE). One of Chuang Tzu's arguments has some resemblance to Plato's Third-Man argument, another with the impossibility of distinguishing between waking reality and dream, and a third with the impossibility of objective victories in debates. The skeptic Shriharsha, in a way that can be taken to parallel Wittgenstein's attack on conventional philosophy, shows that philosophical definitions cannot be rigorous enough to fulfill the task that philosophers set for them. The rest of this paper is devoted to the problem of commensurability. I contend that philosophies are either commensurable or incommensurable depending on the light in which one prefers to see them. Each way of seeing them involves a loss of a possibility that may be considered precious, but the Westerner who continues to insist on the full incommensurability of non-Western philosophies with his or her own is losing a great deal that might be intellectually helpful.
The modern scientific method which developed in the 16th and 17th centuries affected differ topics of thought. It was believed that all people has the capacity to be rational thinkers, to use observation and logic when trying to understand the world around them. This process was not limited to the natural world but was also applied to political theory. Reason became the way to find Natural Law.
Suicide has become a critical, national problem and the extent of this is mind-boggling. Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among college students. According to Webters dictionary “suicide is the act killing oneself on purpose”. It derived from the Latin sui, meaning “self”, and caedere, which means “to kill”. But this is just a definition, because an actual suicide holds different meanings to people such as tragic, shocking, a relief, a cry for help, a shame, heroic, the right choice, punishment, revenge, protest, anger, a mistake, desperate, hurtful and many more. But why do people, like college students who have their entire future ahead of them, simply give up hope and turn their heads away from life and commit suicide. There are several causes of suicide, recent incidents of suicide on college campuses, warning signs from a suicidal. I blame the Constitution and the United States law for not taking any hard initiative on the subject of suicide. I also impose the choice of the media, which is reflecting and portraying suicide towards a wrong direction. However most important questions remain: can the growing epidemic of suicide be solved, what are communities doing about it and what can they do to help?
Western philosophy has three fundamental eras. These are the ancient era, medieval era, and the modern era. The ancient era mostly incorporates the works of Roman and Greek thinkers, some of whom were influenced by mainly by the developments in Mesopotamia and Egypt. During the ancient period, Greek philosophy was dominant and most creative. The Romans also contributed their part, but they were primarily building on what the Greeks had come up with earlier. The Romans did not add any substantial part that could give them the recognition of Greek caliber. Medieval philosophy was heavily reliant on Christianity. It did have el...
The expansion and endorsement of intellectualism by the many important forward thinking scientists created a desire for social revolution, which, in turn, created an atmosphere conducive to further intellectual study. The Scientific Revolution was, in essence, both a social and intellectual revolution. During the Scientific Revolution, scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, and Christiaan Huygens wrestled with questions concerning God, human intellectualism, and their scientific views of the universe, its purpose, and how it functions. Ultimately, the implications of these new scientific discoveries began to change the way people thought and behaved. People began to question the widely accepted and Roman Catholic Church endorsed Aristotelian views of the universe. This led to the questioning of the traditional views of the state and societal structure. The geocentric Ptolemaic model was no longer blindly accepted. The earth was now no longer easily explainable or thought to be the center of the universe. Beliefs that were hundreds of years old were now proven to be false.