It is only natural in every single human being’s life to ponder the thought about life in depth. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens after we die? All of these are only some of the many questions that we continue to analyze and envision about continuously. Whether some of us are religious, non-religious, spiritual, or maybe do not have the slightest clue about it, we each have a unique and personal idea of what life and afterlife has in store for us. Some might constantly compare their thoughts to famous philosophers such as Aristotle or perhaps the infamous Steven Hawking. In the end, the only philosophy that matters is our own; I personally believe that our destiny is determined by a higher God, and it is up to the countless opportunities that we gravitate ourselves toward our prosperity.
One of the fundamental questions we ask ourselves is how we got here on earth. Who were the first human beings on this planet? While some believe we originated from the apes, or perhaps the big bang theory, I believe in a book; to be more specific, the Holy Bible. Being Christian, I grew up with the same idea of where we came from in my little head. And although some might think it is ludicrous, the Bible, Jesus, and God seem to think so otherwise. God created the universe, and the organisms that inhabit our very earth. As the bible says, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, th...
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...ating new ways of thinking and acting” (Stevenson). I have no doubt in my mind that our true destiny is determined by God, and it is up to the countless opportunities that we can gravitate ourselves toward our prosperity.
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Stevenson, Jay. "Chapter 19: Ideas of Freedom." The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy. New York: Alpha, 2005. N. pag. Print.
Van-Inwagen, Peter. "Freedom of the Will." Feinberg, Joel and Russ Shafer-Landau. Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. 409-418. Print.
Throughout history, western philosophers have vigorously attempted to define the word freedom, to little avail. This is because the word carries so many meanings in many different contexts. The consequences of these philosophers’ claims are immense: as “free” people, we like to rely on the notion of freedom, yet our judicial system relentlessly fights to explain what we can and cannot do. For instance, is screaming “bomb!” on an airplane considered one of our “freedoms?” Martin Luther, in his “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans” asserts that people are free when their actions naturally reflect laws and morality to the point that those laws are considered unnecessary. Immanuel Kant, in his “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?”, articulates a similar view: freedom for Kant is the ability to exercise one’s reasoning without limitation in a public sphere. A deeper reading of these two texts exposes that Kant’s and Luther’s interpretations of freedom are actually more similar than different. Indeed, they are mutually exclusive: one cannot coexist with the other and Kant’s views can even be read as a restating of Luther’s understandings.
Edwards, P. (2010). Existentialism and Death: A Survey of Some Confusions and Absurdities. In S. Brennan, & R. J. Stainton, Philosophy and Death Introductory Readings (pp. 3-37). Canada: Broadview Press.
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John Locke (1632-1704) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) are two important thinkers of liberty in modern political thought. They have revolutionized the idea of human freedom at their time and have influenced many political thinkers afterwards. Although their important book on human freedom, John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government (1689) and John Mill’s On Liberty (1859), are separated 170 years, some scholars thinks that they are belonging to the same conceptual tradition, English Liberalism. In this essay, I will elaborate John Locke and John Stuart Mill view on human freedom and try to find the difference between their concept of human freedom despite their similar liberal tradition background.
1) Barnes, Wesley. "Is Existentialism Definable?" The Philosophy and Literature of Existentialism. Woodbury: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1968
John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all dealt with the issue of political freedom within a society. John Locke's “The Second Treatise of Government”, Mill's “On Liberty”, and Rousseau’s “Discourse On The Origins of Inequality” are influential and compelling literary works which while outlining the conceptual framework of each thinker’s ideal state present divergent visions of the very nature of man and his freedom. The three have somewhat different views regarding how much freedom man ought to have in political society because they have different views regarding man's basic potential for inherently good or evil behavior, as well as the ends or purpose of political societies.
We use the terms 'freedom' and 'liberty' in everyday language without giving much thought to a detailed description of the concept to which these terms refer. It is possible, to a certain degree, to examine why we see freedom as morally good, also without completely defining it. The investigation into a definition of freedom wi...
Berlin, I. (1969). Two Concepts of Liberty. In Four Essays on Liberty. London: Oxford University Press.
Theory of the creation and for some, it is still a myth. However, Genesis introduces the God or Elohim in the Hebrew as the creator of the world, humans, and nature. The tree chapter mainly focuses on how God has created the heavens, earth, animals, and humankind.
Existential Therapy (ET) is based on Soren Kierkegaard’s existential philosophy that was developed in the 19th century (Jones & Butman, 2011). Kierkegaard developed existential philosophy as an impartial path to describing reality, focusing on the need for an approach that was more subjectively aimed, without losing the unbiased feature. Friedrich Nietzsche expanded out existentialism by incorporating autonomy, power, and the value of the person (Jones & Butman, 2011). During the 20th century numerous individuals further developed Kierkegaard’s existential philosophy. Martin Heidegger is noted for having a momentous influence on existentialism developing into a therapeutic approach by influencing Binswanger and May, and concepts of authenticity and inauthenticity (Hergenhahn,
Given the original definition of freedom it can be inferred that while neither Winston nor the proles are completely free, the proles enjoy individual liberties while Winston does not. Our assumptions about human nature lead to the conclusion that we consider freedom to be important as it allows us to progress in our search to protect and promote ourselves.
Kierkegaard, a highly regarded philosopher of the 19th century, put to us the idea of living life in three different stages. He named these stages the Aesthetical, the Ethical and the Religious. He himself passed through each of the stages in his own lifetime and he adopted them as his own philosophy of human existence. The first two stages are characterized by a distinct set of beliefs and behaviors that are easily identified, whereas the last stage, the religious is characterized by a highly personal, subjective and non-rational ‘’leap of faith’’. The ideal is to progress from the aesthetical to the ethical, finally reaching the religious stage but as Kierkegaard himself realized, it is possible to regress or go back a stage. He said that he felt that he had never really left the first two, these stages were always there. He believed that one can move in and out and through all three stages within a lifetime. For the purpose of this essay I will explain each of the three stages in order to give an understanding of Kierkegaard’s philosophical theory of life. Also I will discuss why Kierkegaard considered the religious stage as the best kind of life for humanity and I will present to you some criticisms against Kierkegaard’s third stage.
The Bible points out that God is the origin of life, is the creator of all life forms. The first story of the Bible is called “Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath”. The Bible story of creation made man actually have two completely different versions. First, from the opening to Genesis 2:3 is the first version, talking about the "six days" of creation, the authors used the Jews known to God (called Elohim) said to God, and mention that God made the plants first, then animals, and finally made the man and ...