Philosophy Essays

Critical thinking can be considered as one of the most important skills both in studying and in the application of different knowledge in jobs and professions.  The need for critical thinking can be considered to increase significantly on the basis of different reasons.  One is the increasing amount of data and information.  

Bacon’s description of what the value is of the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom can be summarized in a passage from his utopian romance New Atlantis: “to have light, I say, of the growth of all parts of the world”. A look at Bacon’s biography would reveal that the publication of his treatises and books was spurred on by a desire to create a world which would be vastly different from the one that he inhabited.

The government would be responsible to resolve mutual quarrels among human beings provision of bare essentials of life. Fame and glory would, thus, be achieved and people would live happily under one sovereign with peaceful coexistence allowing commonwealth to prosper and progress with astounding rapidity. 

One's life is not dependent on fate since a simple action can change our entire future. Life is full of opportunities from day to day that we should learn to take no matter the aftermath.

However, it can be broadly defined as values and ideas that are important to you. For me, they are what I believe in and shape my everyday life, regardless of where I am and hold close to my heart.

His reasoning fathoms the fact that the world exists in a state of anarchy at all times, notwithstanding whether good or bad. This means that there is a state of perpetual global anarchy and one that can shake off the best of situations. It also accounts for the differing and changing circumstances which can take place in such an anarchic regime that the world is seeing.

This proof is characterized by a rational inquiry, purporting to prove through the faculty of reason that God must necessarily exist. In his letter to the Faculty of Theology of

Civic relationships are constituted on a number of elements as proposed by Aristotle. The concept of civic virtue is one of the most important concepts in this regard. Civic virtue refers to promoting habits and activities of individuals who take the community’s good in view. Civic virtue is related to the concept of morality and gives rise to righteous behavior for citizen’s contributions to society and community matters.

The reaction of the audience implied that the movie had touched on issues that were common in the 1940s to 1970s. The film seemed to be trying to define and shape the evils that dominated the era in the political, social, and cultural arena. The people who fought for public morals received the film with mixed reactions.

Critical thinking is expressing in a very critical way. An element of critical thinking is the usage of different elements within the decision-making processes. Decision making requires tact, intellect and a sense of understanding related to the significant elements which play a huge role in the eventual decision and all of which come under the critical thinking exercise.

Like Roland, he considered a myth as a form of speech that could be used to identify a language. Thus to him, there was high similarity among cultures, and for this reason he studied the fundamental characteristics of the concept of myths. This led to the belief that there is no one definite definition of the mythical concept.

Yet it is debated that why end with Ibn Rushd to perpetuate the false belief that Islamic philosophy died with him. Khalidi's answer is that: "Despite the survival of philosophical activity of some kind in the Islamic world, I would argue that a 'style of reasoning' did indeed decline after Ibn Rushd" (Khalidi, 2005). 

Befоre beginning, it seems necessary tо define the main term in the discussiоn - Liberalism. The wоrd itself means many things tо many peоple, but fоr the purpоses оf this essay Liberalism refers tо an ecоnоmic apprоach that values market autоnоmy, meaning the market shоuld be allоwed tо functiоn freely, withоut the interference оf the state

An individual can be ethical without being overtly religious, but the religious stage must include the ethical stage within its fold. As a person lives in the ethical stage, he has relationships with the community and his family members, while being committed to ethical values and an ethical absolute.

Locke’s analysis of primary and secondary qualities brings up an important distinction between primary and secondary qualities. Primary qualities are “intrinsic properties of all material things” while secondary qualities are “the power of objects to produce certain ideas in us”. And that this power is basically founded on the internal constitution of the primary quality itself.

No society can thrive without public opinion. Nobody can ever imagine prosperity without public opinion. If everybody had a similar view about the issue of ‘death sentence’ the result would have harmed several people. Therefore differing opinions and interests are essential for society. Public opinion on issues is very important to society. 

We see things from our personal perspectives and this does not mean that what we are seeing is actually true. We hear what others tell us from their perspective. Thus, we must use our own common sense, perspective, reasoning, language, and emotions all together so as to reach the truth underlying the situation. 

With the proposed theories that have inspired the generations that followed, Americans have been able to manage a life filled with thinking and making individual decisions that eventually influence others in pursuit of cultural, political, and economic goals. Confronting economic regression has barely made an occurrence to the thought of peace. 

Multiculturalism may mean different things to different people. To the British it may mean assimilation of minorities with their unique social systems and values, while to the French it may mean an extension of similar rights and responsibilities to all the citizens, leaving everything else to be superfluous and unnecessary.

To summarize the discussion at hand, it would be fair to suggest that both equality and freedom are very serious and respectable factors within any society of the world. There is a need to get the two together in some form so that maximum benefits for the sake of the people of this world can be attained, yet it does not seem to happen that easily.

The question of whether postmodernity has brought more freedom sounds suspicious for the postmodern reflexive mind (Connor, 1997, 8). An analyst like Foucault may wonder what specific construction of freedom is in question, while such thinkers as Lyotard could dismiss the terms like “freedom” altogether.  

For every last bit of its qualities, Virtue Ethics is not exactly a complete answer for our ordinary good issues. It might be the by being the most agreeable regulating hypothesis, with its accentuation upon a singular's close to a home association in moral choice-making and its non-unyielding, pragmatic way to deal with moral problems.

Dr. Luther King Jr. wrote the letter in defense of his organization’s doctrine of nonviolence while fighting to end racism in America.

This paper will propose an informal leadership development programme that is most suited using the theories of Transformational Leadership and Situational Leadership. An informal leadership development programme is most ideal in this situation as the elements of both theories delve on self-assessment, coaching and modelling.

Aristotle’s definition of citizenship which is a “man [who] has a share in the administration of justice and in holding political office” is directly link to active, participatory citizenship. In the contemporary scenario, this means that citizens play a substantive role in the decision making regarding public policy (Kreibig, 2000).

Generally, the opinion of Rousseau of the civilization can be formulated as follows: civilized people voluntarily and deliberately made themselves subjects for the rule of public opinion where the opinion of a single man had little to no value unless that man did not belong to the small group of high and mightiest.

Therefore there’s no way and justification for cruel attitude towards animals. Basing on the works of great philosophers, Costello raised a question that is often suppressed in modern society: oppression of animals and any oppression is unacceptable in a democratic society as it contradicts basic democratic principles.

Regardless, the death penalty seems like the worst punishment that can ever be given to any capital offender. So it is the most detested punishment anyone could ever wish for.

The author states that Plato’s The Republic is one of the greatest ancient texts that touched on the relation between the individual and the state. Plato’s presentation in the Republic shows us that human beings come together and create a community because they recognized that on their own it will be very difficult to satisfy their needs.

If you bear in mind the concept of "consciousness" created under the influence of Cartesian philosophy, a consistent criticism of it in the analytic philosophy, for example dethronement "Descartes Myth" from G. Riley, of course, relies in its reasoning on the conceptual reasoning and conclusions of Wittgenstein. 

The discussion above exemplifies how ideologies have both hurt and helped civilization. The conservative ideology has served as the foundation of our society. It has helped maintain and sustain the status quo, making possible the stability of civilization as it seeks to progress through subsequent years of development. 

In conclusion, it’s clear that Confucianism is a complex Philosophical System with religious elements. The principal points of Confucian philosophy center on striving for perfection individually, within the family, within the larger society, and in government. These were so-called moral values relating to the state of man. 

According to Kukathas (2003), political liberalism is a modification to John Rawls's theory of justice. He attempted to show that his theory of justice is not the all-inclusive origin of the good. Instead, compatible with a liberal origin of the role of justice that the government should be neutral between competing conceptions of good.

Ideas of wisdom in Plato are also influenced by the theory of recollection. Socrates said that wisdom is a recognition that one knows nothing because he was not very interested in how, but more in why. Socrates was less interested in finding out how things worked than he was in finding out why things worked. 

In the paper, there is a detailed discussion on how and why Machiavelli and Hobbes’s concepts on proper political legitimacy would not be parallel to Aristotle’s application of human nature to produce adequate political schemes for each separate society. Aristotle believed political thought was frustratingly struggling between two ideological entities.

The author states that mythology is often thought of as being something that was made up a very long time ago by the Greeks or the Romans and then passed on through generations to become bedtime stories for young children today. The special nature of this narrative is that it is devised to reflect the beliefs of a particular culture.

The author states that in stark contrast, Kant’s theory of international relations emphatically rejects Hobbes’ classic realism paradigm. Indeed, Kant states that “a true system of politics cannot take a single step without first paying tribute to morality. Morality can cut through the knot which politics cannot unite.

Falsificationism is defined as the logical likelihood of a statement that shows not to be true by using specific examination or else physical experimentation. This also shows that if something seems to be not true it does not likely mean it is false instead it signifies that if the report was not true then its deception could be confirmed.

Ethical theory discussion can go on without an end because the theories themselves complicate each other with their different explanations. The reason behind this is that there is a lot of difference in culture as well as interests in different societies. This leads to every society giving its own interpretation to suit their understanding. 

From a concept of character building, as taught by Confucius, the first independent teacher, to his students to raise their moral standard in public life, the neo-Confucianism has grown in all aspects of mind and heart, created by the limited appeal of Confucius concepts in front of the more universal concept of mind, as propounded in Buddhism. 

Keller defines philosophy as a set of beliefs and perspectives regarding the universe and life that an individual holds uncritically. This meaning is categorized as the informal sense of having a philosophy. In this type, it could be reasoned that when an individual may refer to philosophy as “my philosophy” in reference to an informal personal attitude to the subject being discussed.

Ethics is concerned with the study of theories regarding moral values, as well as the concepts used for their identification and assertion. It consists of superlatively significant critical reflection on the values by which humans live, as well as on which humans base their judgment about how they should live and relate with others.

An identity that is stable is based on a person’s life, actions and influences, which make sense to them. It can explain the past and can chart out the future. We can term it lifestyle after a true Gidden style. By lifestyle one understands the luxury choices of the affluent class, but Giddens interprets it according to his theory.

The author states that in his school Aristotle taught his pupils to place the greatest emphasis on what they observed around them. For him, the basis of science was that theory must follow fact. He believed philosophy to be the understanding of the obvious and unchanging first principles upon which all knowledge was based.

The author states that during the second stage of moral development Kohlberg states that people become morally fit by learning to make deals. When one is in this stage of moral development one learns to make deals, such as when one breaks the rules, one makes a deal with the rule keeper. 

The universality of human rights is based on liberal political ideology. As opposed to the cultural nonconformists, who believe that a community is the basic unit of society, universalists assert that an individual is the basic unit of any social set up with inseparable civil and political rights as well as the right to property ownership.

The social contract clearly states that the citizens are required to surrender some of their liberty in exchange for protection and order in the country. However, as much as one may support Hobbes's argument one may feel that the authority should have absolute power but should follow a set of laws that will be able to keep the government under check.  

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) presented his philosophy on the social contract theory. In his theory, Hobbes proposed that rational individuals create a rational government that is based on class. Hobbes stated that have self-interest by nature and it is, therefore, rational for them to have moral behaviors so as to get the best of this self-interest.

Aristotle’s book on rhetoric was one of his longest literary works while Plato’s books were dialogues in form of literary works that were used to portray the impact of human speech when the purposes of a speaker are clear without selfishness. This rhetoric was observed from a speech in political meetings, individual talks as well as courts of law (Herrick, 2005).

A person's motive might be unreliable for a quite different reason, however. For suppose a person's rationale for acting makes no reference to the fact that her action is dutiful. No matter how strong, invariable and available such a motive is, it will still not be perfectly probable that if it motivates a person, she will perform a dutiful action.