Throughout many centuries philosophers have tried to explain the nature of reality and the order that exists within the universe around us. The purpose of this paper is to first trace the developments that led up to modernity. Next I will react to the claim made by Fredrick Nietzsche that “God is dead” from a Biblical perspective.
Philosophers have attempted to answer that question of what reality is and how to answer the questions that everyone faced. The first philosopher Thales held that water was the source of life and death. This is how the earliest philosophers explained the cycle of life and death that they saw happening all around them. Heraclitus later thought that fire was the prime element, and Democritus believed it to be atoms.
Pythagerous once said that, “reality isn’t captured in the physical world, it lies in the mind.” He thought that everything could be found in numbers. Pariminides simply explained that true reality was found in “the one.” Plato then added the spiritual realm to the equation of true reality. For Plato, true reality existed in the spiritual realm, and the reality that is empirically observed is only a shadow of the spiritual reality. Life’s goal was to escape the physical reality and enter into spiritual reality, although the spiritual realm could be known about through the use of reason. He added that life was bad because it prohibited the soul from reaching the spiritual level, and death was good because it allowed the soul to escape the body.
Aristotle tried to fix the gaps left by Plato’s assessment of reality by saying that the dual nature of reality was to be explained by form and matter. Plato said that achieving form was the goal of matter. Matter was potential; form was fullness of being. Form and matter existed in pure form only in the ideal world; they could never be completely isolated. Everything existed in some sort of cycle that continually went on between form and matter. Life was good only because it was moving closer toward form. Death was bad because it was moving toward matter and the end of the cycle.
Augustine picked up where Plato left off and incorporated his ideas into Christianity. He claimed God was found in the spiritual world, and one could enter that realm by thinking God...
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...n emphasis on the self, and created two different realms in which we could discover truth about the external world. Nietzsche claimed that to know God you would need to find Him through logic. Since the only way to find God was through the modern world was through logic, there was no need for a god in our culture. The only thing we are left with from Nietzsche’s perspective is the will to power. He even went as far as to say that Jews and Christians made up God just so they would feel better about themselves. I believe Nietzsche’s statement to be true. Our society today is based on the individual rather than the community. Now the culture we live in today is said to be “post-modern.” Post modernity is not just relativistic; it is simply a critical response to modernity. As Christians, we must attempt to answer the questions post-modern thinkers are asking from a Biblical response. The best option is not to become part of it, but to transform. Isn’t that what Paul wrote about to the church at Rome? We shouldn’t just buy into the consumer mentality of the day; we must seek to be salt and light in an ever-changing culture.
Friedrich Nietzsche certainly serves as a model for the single best critic of religion. At the other end of this spectrum, Jonathan Edwards emerges as his archrival in terms of religious discourse. Nietzsche argues that Christianity’s stance toward all that is sensual is that grounded in hostility, out to tame all that rests on nature, or is natural, akin to Nietzsche’s position in the world and his views. Taking this into account, Edwards’s views on Christianity should be observed in context targeted at those who agree with his idea, that G-d is great and beyond the capacity of human reason.
When one considers the extensive degree to which modern philosophy has invested in scrutinizing the subject of morality, the default reaction would perhaps be one of amenable acceptance. After all, the significance of morality is obvious, and questions such as what constitutes as moral and how exactly does one become moral have been matters of contention for maybe longer than philosophy has even existed. It can be said therefore, that philosophy is steadfast in its fascination with everything morality. It is also precisely this almost fanatic obsession with morality that Nietzsche is so critical of. This is not to say the he would reject the importance or even the necessity of morality altogether. He is concerned however, that
Therefore, many of the philosophers disagreed with each other and came up with very different answers for the same concepts. Plato also did not know the answers to all of the questions that arose in the pre-Socratic era. Plato decided to look back on the pre-Socratics era in particular at the philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides. He agreed with Heraclitus who believed our world is constantly changing and with Parmenides who believed that the real world is not the same as the world of our experience. Plato chose to look at materialism and also his theory of Forms in a two-world setting in order to attempt to answer the questions of the universe. The two worlds Plato is talking about are: a world that is in constant flux (the world we live in) and a world that is ever-changing (the real world, otherwise known as Forms). Plato’s Forms distinguishes things that are real from things in our mind that we perceive as real. Plato also made the argument that reality is different than our worldly experience. Plato believed that material objects can imitate the forms because they have order, however, Aristotle’s disagreed. However, Aristotle thought that Plato’s concept of “participation” didn’t make sense. Aristotle believed that the world we live in is our reality and he argued that Plato’s idea of forms
This paper examines the issues associated to the disengagement of students in the health and physical education domain. Typically traditional curriculums have shown to foster anxiety and create undesirable competition amongst students through fitness testing. It is critical to understand the reasons behind the issues of why students are disengaging in the participation of physical education, as the sedentary behavior is becoming a major factor in the obesity epidemic.
Plato believed that the physical world did not matter. It was the form in the ideal
Getting adequate amount of sleep is the basic requirements of every individual. Proper sleep will enable us to function properly and perform our daily activities without feeling lethargic. Sleep is also considered a luxury which you can enjoy after a stressful and hectic day. If you will take proper sleep your body organs will relax and next day they will work properly to fulfil your needs. This is essential to relax your body every day because life is getting tougher with every coming day.
He argues that non-physical forms or ideas represent the most accurate reality. There exists a fundamental opposition between in the world like the object as a concrete, sensible object and the idea or concept of the objects. Forms are typically universal concepts. The world of appearance corresponds to the body. The world of truth corresponds with the soul. According to Plato, for any conceivable thing or property there is a corresponding Form, a perfect example of that or property is a tree, house, mountain, man, woman, Table and Chair, would all be examples of existing abstract perfect Ideas. Plato says that true and reliable knowledge rests only with those who can comprehend the true reality behind the world of everyday experience. In order to perceive the world of the Forms, individuals must undergo a difficult
There have been many different outlooks and theories on how sleep deprivation can affect health. Sleep deprivation is when a person cannot sleep, and does not have enough sleep. This is also known as ‘wakefulness’ (sleep.2014) and not having enough sleep; ‘lack of sleep’. This literature review will cover four main concepts of sleep deprivation. The key ideas in this paper would be the research done and how many hours a person is supposed to sleep, some disorders and what loss of sleep will do to a person.
Majority of these people also happen to be the one’s who do not engage in physical activity and do not consider their health a top priority. These individuals have the preconceived idea that students should be spending more time in classes, such as, math, science, literacy, and history. These individuals basically assume that these are the only classes that matter and are going to help children with their future career. The people who do not support physical education are oblivious to all the beneficial skills that this class teaches children. Additionally, some parents think that physical education activities can be done outside of school, and that students will become too exhausted to concentrate on schoolwork. An article titled “The Pros and Cons of Mandatory Gym Classes in Public Schools”, expresses that a large amount of physical education programs are not benefiting students because they are unorganized(Mueller, 1). This leads students and adults to believe that they would almost be better off without physical education class, and given more time for other studies. Furthermore, the article mentioned that students who spent more time being active in gym class, were less likely to be active after school. This worries parents because they might be paying an excessive
Triple bottom line is defined as “a corporation’s ultimate success or health can and should be measured not just by the traditional financial bottom line, but also by its social/ethical and environmental performance” (Norman and MacDonald, 2003). There are many advantages when it comes to being a triple bottom line corporation. While incorporating the triple bottom line, you are also incorporating sustainability you’re your business. Therefore, becoming a triple bottom line corporation means it is one step higher towards helping save the planet. Becoming sustainable is cost efficient. Although it may cost a significant amount of money to convert, it will pay itself off in the long run. Additionally, it will help reduce expenses while saving
For Plato, Forms are eternal and changeless, but there is a relationship between these eternal and changeless Forms and particular things we perceive by means of our senses in the world. These particular things change in accordance to the perceiver and the perceiver’s environment and this is why Plato thought that such things do not possess real existence. For Plato, onl...
Opponents of physical education in schools state that gym is not the best way to utilize students’ time. Students’ should be given the choice to participate in gym class or not because many students aren’t as athletic and don’t enjoy it enough to want to do it in school. Despite this downfall, PE is important in students’ life and even though some don’t enjoy it as much, they need it in order to be successful in life. If not, diseases and health risks could come up and it wouldn’t be robust. Ultimately, physical education provides superior benefits.
The ideas formulated by Aristotle, and Plato on reality can be found throughout western culture. The most eminent thought on reality in today’s thriving western society were the ideas presented by Aristotle. Numerous scientist in the present day, believe that death is the end of the soul which is connected to the body (an Aristotelian perspective). Plato’s view on reality is still discussed today, but Aristotle has stamped his ideas in the western mind more skillfully than Plato. Nevertheless, Plato is a celebrated figure in the philosophical world.
in the ideal order, not necessarily in the things themselves, but rather above them, in a world by itself” (Chaput, C. p.2). For the concept,therefore, Plato substitutes the Idea. He completes the work of Socrates by teaching that the objectively real Ideas are the foundation and justification of scientific knowledge. At the same time he has in mind a problem which claimed much attention from pre-Socratic thinkers, the problem of change. The Platonic theory of Ideas is an attempt to solve this crucial question by a metaphysical compromise. The Eleatics, Plato said, are right in maintaining that reality does not change; for the ideas are immutable. Still, there is, as contended, change in the world of our experience, or, as Plato terms it, the world of phenomena. Plato, then, supposes a world of Ideas apart from the world of our experience, and immeasurably superior to it. He imagines that all human souls dwelt at one time in that higher world. When, therefore, we behold in the shadow-world around us a phenomenon or appearance of anything, the mind is moved to a remembrance of the Idea (of that same phenomenal thing) which it formerly contemplated. In its deligh...
In the Phaedo, Plato introduced the theory of Ideas which centered on the problem of immortality of the soul, which suggested that true cannot be finding in the sensible world, but in the world of ideas. He talked about the knowledge of equality in the sense world in which it is impossible to have things that are equal. Things in the sense world might seem to be equal, but in reality it is not. Equality can only come from the mind and this equality is Ideas, which has always been in the mind and is unchangeable, universal, and eternal. He lays down that ideas such as beauty itself, goodness itself, and justice itself are itself when they partake in themselves. For example, beautiful object is beautiful because they partake in itself or all beautiful things are beauty by itself. This makes beauty exist forever and not like objects in the sense world which is temporary. He used these Ideas to use as his proof for the immorality of the soul. The body is like objects in the sense world, which is temporary and insignificant. These objects can change from hour to hour and from day to day. They are unreliable and useless. The soul, on the other hand, is in the Ideas world which is unchangeable, perfect and is forever. Just like beautiful thing partake of beauty by itself, the soul partake in the ideas of life which means that the soul li...