Philosophy, the Greek word for "love of wisdom," has been defined in a variety of ways, one of which is the notion that philosophy is the rational attempt to formulate, understand, and answer fundamental questions (Voices of Wisdom). What makes people partake in philosophy? It is philosophy that we turn to when we have the need to seek out a guiding principle for our lives. Therefore, philosophy holds a prominent place in society and in the world. Basically, everyone is a philosopher, but it takes the creative genius and reasoning of brilliant thinkers to bring about world-shattering concepts. Nevertheless, the common man also ruminates about his life and his unique existence to try to find the meaning of his life. Philosophy allows us to live our lives with confidence, because we know that ideas cannot be taken from us. In the United States, we can feel free to express our opinions and beliefs as long as we do not impinge upon other's rights. This is where a common philosophy has been accepted and adopted by a people. There are main branches of Western philosophy that are distinguished by the kinds of fundamental questions they ask, for example, metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics and ethics. The area that most interests me is aesthetics, which deals with such questions as: Is beauty a matter of taste, or is it something objective? What standards should be used to judge artistic work? I wonder, is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? Two philosophers that I will talk about are Plato and Aristotle, both teachings have been among the most influential in the history of Western civilization. Plato being a dualist (thinking that reality is made up of two entirely separate realms which are "ontologica... ... middle of paper ... ...Aristotle also disagreed with his former teacher on the source of knowledge. He believed in empiricism, the theory that sense experience is the only source of knowledge. My opinion on dualism and monism has changed somewhat since I've been doing more research on Philosophy as a whole. I used to think that I was a monist completely, thinking that what you see is what you get. Maybe thinking that seeing is believing, but now, due to more understanding of the subjects that I've been studying, I believe I am actually the opposite. Dualism is beginning to make a lot more sense in my life. To me, I believe that behind this superficial world, there is another one. One that has a blueprint made out for each and every individual. Knowledge is a very valuable tool, as our senses are, but unfortunately our senses can have the tendency to fail us a time or two.
With such great minds and an awesome influence that seems boundless, how can there not be references to the works of Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant. The Fundamental Principles in the Metaphysics of Morality is used by the minority dissenting opinion to reiterate the concepts of the intrinsic dignity of man. While the majority uses the literary work the Leviathan to support their own opinions. Transforming and uplifting the case of Gregg v. Georgia into an arena for a debate of Hobbian and Kant philosophies.
Philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Buber both emphasize how the presence of others in our lives and the bonds which we create with them define who we are and affects our self-perception. Both have their own theory of how this occurs. I will begin by discussing Sartre’s perspective on the subject, and Buber’s stance will follow.
Philosophy originated from the Greek word “Philosophia” which signify the love for wisdom. It was coin by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras around 500 B.C. It deals with a systematic and critical study of fundamental questions that arise both in everyday’s life and through the practice of other disciplines.
The word Philosophy comes from the Greek words of ‘philo’ meaning love and ‘sophos’ meaning wisdom (Philosophy). It is the pursuit for wisdom, to comprehend human behavior, nature and ultimately the meaning of life. Plato was the student of Socrates, influenced by his work, Plato aged to become a great philosopher himself; establishing his philosophy from that of his teacher. Aristotle was the student of Plato, and like his teacher, grew up to ground his philosophy from that of Plato. Although, both Plato and Aristotle criticized their teacher’s works, they were also influenced by them. Both Plato and Aristotle developed their own modes of knowledge acquisition; Plato’s Platonic Idealism and Aristotle’s Analytic Empiricism. In this paper, my objective is to identify the differences in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, which lead to the development of two contradictory modes of knowledge acquisition and their influence on succeeding thinkers.
Socrates was our first Metaphysician. He lived from 470-399 B.C. Socrates focuses on faith, knowledge, and absolutes and how there is only one definition of absolutes.Socrates used justice to explain his idea of absolutes. . Plato was a student of Socrates. Plato was our first moral Philosopher who lived from 427- 347 B.C. Plato was the first Philosopher to have proposed that there is a realm of abstract objects and to have speculated about their nature and significance for human life. Plato elaborates on Socrates ideas and comes up with his own thoughts and ideas. From Socrates knowledge of absolutes Plato created the thought of forms and particulars. Socrates was not focused on the particulars. Plato’s definition of the form could be defined
The word “philosophy” comes from the Ancient Greek word “philosophia”, which means “love of wisdom.” In history, there were thousands and hundreds of philosophers in the world, such as John Locke, George Berkeley. etc. However, why do those people to learn philosophy? Is it worth our time to study it and why? A philosopher named Bertrand Russell shows his answers in chapter XV of his book “The Problems of Philosophy”. He states that philosophy is worth to spend our time to learn it because philosophy can help people learn new knowledge, find new sciences, frees people’s mind and give them pleasure, affect how people think and react what happen to them.
Now really, philosophy is a love of wisdom that guides philosophers to explore the fundamental questions about who we are and why we're here. In philosophy, we are able to explore concepts like the meaning of life, knowledge, morality, reality, the existence of God, consciousness, politics, religion,
Aristotle and Plato were both great thinkers but their views on realty were different. Plato viewed realty as taking place in the mind but Aristotle viewed realty is tangible. Even though Aristotle termed reality as concrete, he stated that reality does not make sense or exist until the mind process it. Therefore truth is dependent upon a person’s mind and external factors.
Philosophy in itself is an unidentifiable subject matter because of the lack of specificity in the fields it touches upon. It is “defined” as a way for humans to strive for ourselves in this reality in which we live. No one person has the answers as to who we are and why we live. The value of philosophy changes in character as history changes, thus the meaning of philosophy is what we as individuals perceive it to be. Though subjective, there are core ideals that unite the beliefs of all philosophy, such as the idea of the self.
The first clear statement of relativism comes with the Sophist Protagoras, as quoted by Plato, "The way things appear to me, in that way they exist for me; and the way things appears to you, in that way they exist for you" (Theaetetus 152a). Thus, however I see things, that is actually true -- for me. If you see things differently, then that is true -- for you. There is no separate or objective truth apart from how each individual happens to see things. Consequently, Protagoras says that there is no such thing as falsehood. Unfortunately, this would make Protagoras's own profession meaningless, since his business is to teach people how to persuade others of their own beliefs. It would be strange to tell others that what they believe is true but that they should accept what you say nevertheless. So Protagoras qualified his doctrine: while whatever anyone believes is true, things that some people believe may be better than what others believe.
Plato is one of the most influential philosophers in western philosophy. He has wrote enormous amounts of dialogue ranging from political issues -what came to be the birth of political science- to issues of the soul and being.
The word “philosophy” is derived from two roots that are “philo” and “Sophia.” Philo means love whereas Sophia means wisdom. Therefore, philosophy means the love of wisdom. In actual practice, philosophy entails study of, pursuit, and enquiry into wisdom. A good number of great philosophers have referred to philosophy as the art of thinking. Others have only defined it as the systematic study of human feelings and thoughts.
...senses are all we got. While Aristotle falls into the absolute trap by arguing that his method is the only way to acquire knowledge, I do not fall into this trap because I argue if there was knowledge attainable to us at this time, then it appears Aristotle’s method for acquiring knowledge is most valid, despite it still having some problems particularly concerning first principles. The reason I think Aristotle’s is the most valid is because of his use of the senses. Aristotle does not come up with some distinct reality when trying to explain the world, rather he observes it through his senses and goes from there when trying to determining the cause of something. This falls in nicely with prryhonist skepticism who still adhere to the senses. I do not have to take Aristotle’s argument as some absolute truth, but rather as a guide for making decisions in my own life.
Plato is one of the most important people in the history of Philosophy. Throughout his life, he had made many contributions to the world of philosophy, but the most important contribution that he is most known for is his theory of the Ideas or Forms. Throughout his many works such as the Phaedo and Symposium, he presented his theory of Ideas by using both mythos and logos in his argument for support.