In Huemer’s The Problem Of Political Authority an argument is made against the idea of political authority. Political authority is defined as the feature that the government has that makes it morally permissible for them to do things that ordinary citizens cannot. The idea in this argument is that the government should not have rights that citizens do not have. The purpose of this paper is to show that Huemer’s argument fails by arguing a consent-based response to Huemer’s criticisms, which shows
Critical thinking takes consistent behavior in asking the right questions about the subject. In my life, I have come across people who ask many questions and some people who “go with the flow” and believe everything they hear because it is spoken with some sort of authority. Assumptions can be damaging to relationships and without critical thinking and communication, our thought process can assume the wrong idea entirely. When I speak with someone who is a critical thinker, they can be so convincing
Bertrand Russell, a renowned analytic philosopher, argues about the existence of God in his article “Is there a God?” (1952). For most of his life Russell held the opinion that religions are meant to instill distress and helplessness into people’s minds and belief in religion is the major cause for all the deadly conflicts that have occurred in the past. In his article “Is there a God?” Russell discusses how theologians have been presenting their arguments to prove God’s existence and then gives
In this paper I will present two differing views on the topic of the design argument. In particular, I will explain William Paley's view supporting the design argument and Bertrand Russell's view against the design argument. After a presentation of the differing views, I will then evaluate the arguments to show that William Paley has a stronger argument. There are several forms of the design argument. The general form of the design argument starts with the basic idea that certain parts of the universe
The Cove is a film of activism, a film meant to move the hearts of individuals who love and support the rights of mammalian sea-dwellers like that of whales, porpoises, and most importantly dolphins. Produced in 2009 by the Oceanic Preservation Society it offers a unique perspective, when compared with other activist documentaries. In The Cove the producer and co-founder of the Oceanic Preservation Society was actually personally involved in the filming efforts and worked directly with dolphin trainer
Donald Davidson identifies three forms of knowledge which he believes to be irreducible and interdependent: knowledge of self, which is immediately known; knowledge of the outside world, which is simply caused by the events and objects around you, and thus depends on sense organs to be semi-immediately known, yet open to uncertainty; and knowledge of the minds of others, which is never immediately known. The standard approach to philosophy tries to reduce one of these forms of knowledge to one or
In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes illustrates that the objective reality of some of his ideas seems so great that he cannot be the cause of such ideas, thus something else also exists in the world (29). Though Descartes inquires particularly into adventitious ideas to support his claim, he does not offer the definitions of innate and adventitious ideas clearly, nor does he explain the differences of them in any detail. In this paper, I will demonstrate that the ambiguity of innate and
Russell Brand has a newfound fame—not in Hollywood but in the political realm. Brand speaks very elegantly toward social issues, especially to an American ear. Taking command of any interview, he speaks quickly and clearly. However, as with most postmodern thinkers, his points and arguments seem to lack depth or critical consideration of the points made. In this article, Russell Brand comments on the recent events he was involved in at the GQ awards. His comments, entitled “Russell Brand and the
produced by Henry Fonda who played the lead role, Juror #8, and Reginald Rose who wrote the original screenplay. This essay will explore some of the critical thinking elements found within the context of this movie, and will show that rational reason and logic when used effectively can overcome the mostly ineffective rush to judgment that can be prevalent in a population. The juror that seemed interesting is Juror #8, who was played by Henry Fonda. Juror #8, or Davis, is an architect, the first dissenter
For this critical analysis essay, I am writing on the following discussion post: "Rationalism is more via[b]le than empiricism in regards to knowledge. Empiricism may have the data and research to support its claims, but Rationalism strives to prove its evidence through reason. Using the example in our text book, the number 2 can never be greater than the number 3 - it is just plain illogical and does not make any sense to think or state that. Our reason for defending this claim is that using our
Zeno was one of the most wise ancient philosophers. Zeno used a paradoxical approach to represent his intriguing arguments. Some of his most famous antinomies are against plurality and motion. Zeno’s arguments were preserved by Aristotle in the context of his own discussion. Zeno made 4 arguments related to motion, namely- The dichotomy argument, the achilles, the arrow and the moving rows arguments. The argument that will be given emphasis in this essay is the arrow argument related to motion. In
The Human Function as it Pertains to Happiness Humans have a function, according to Aristotle, and so it would follow that fulfilling that function makes us happy. Before we can establish that fulfilment of purpose results in happiness, we must first establish what the human function actually is, and also what constitutes good and happiness for humans. Aristotle’s arguments for happiness and human purpose help to provide answers to these questions, though as with all philosophical topics there are
In recent discussions of Michael Noer’s article “Don’t Marry Career Women” , a controversial issue has been whether or not Noer’s sources are credible. One contributing factor is that Noer does not include a reference paper. Although it does not necessarily discredit it, in no way does it help strengthen it. In his article, Noer states, “If they [career women] quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy.” This statement is his own interpretation of the studies recorded in the
Philosophy, even with its ancient history and seemingly remote concern applies to your life and your times, and your world. Philosophy achieves this closeness by being many good things at once. It is enlightening, thought-provoking, life changing, liberating, theoretical, and practical. Philosophy is the most powerful instrument that we have for evaluating the worth of our fundamental beliefs and for changing them for the better. Through philosophy, we exert control over the trajectory of our lives
have the strength of fire; consequently, emotion can damage many souls if left to burn. At the funeral of Caesar, Brutus is aware the crowd is burning with passion and mistrust and strategically chooses to fight their raging emotions with soothing logic. This choice defines Brutus' speech. Even though he had the disadvantage of going first and the crowd ultimately sided against him, Brutus's speech managed to best Antony's in the areas of Ethos, Parallelism/repetition, and logos. From the beginning
The Authenticity of Factual Knowledge Intro The prescribed title ‘‘Knowledge is nothing more than the systematic organization of facts.’’ is implying that knowledge is the process by which we acquire knowledge on a given topic, here, on the areas of knowledges mathematics and history. To know the facts we organize them in an orderly fashion. This claim raises the knowledge issue: To what extent is the organization of facts in mathematics and history part of the understanding of the knowledge they
The popular saying “practice makes perfect” has been used for many years encouraging younger generations to strive for success in whatever area they wish to excel in. Success is something everybody in society strides for but some do not know how it is achieved. However, there are many people throughout history who are known for achieving success in many areas. Malcolm Gladwell, a best selling author and speaker, identifies these people as being outliers. Gladwell identifies the word “outlier” in
In “The Return of Martin Guerre,” Natalie Zemon Davis portrays Jean de Coras as a knowledgeable, impartial judge, fully capable of recognizing female intelligence and of looking beyond the status quo in his pursuit of truth. Like any judge, Coras has the discretion to select or omit certain pieces of evidence, the power to shape the official and accepted version of the truth; however, Michel de Montaigne would argue that Coras has a high probability of reaching a distorted verdict. Montaigne’s “Essays”
All piupli ixpiroinci stiriutypis, whithir thi stiriutypi os dorictid et thim ur thiy eri thi uni woth thi stiriutypi. Wholi stiriutypis cen essost on mekong lugocel dicosouns, thi fellecois uf stiriutypong woll onflainci as ell ancunscouasly, cen lievi piupli woth nigetovi longirong ifficts, end elsu mosriprisint thi ondovodael. Thi fellecois uf stiriutypong woll moslied piupli dai tu thi ancunscouas onflainci thiy hevi un as. In midoconi ot os nut ancummun tu atolozi stiriutypis thet eri fect besid
with his complete honestly. His personal tone lets the audience feel like they are a part of the conversation, rather than just receiving it. Wallace successfully conveys his message that society is blind to the world around them through the use of logic, humility and emotional appeals. The speech is arranged into short paragraphs, providing an example in almost every one. Everyone is familiar with commencement speeches. They are usually used to congratulate a group of people and tend to be looking