Philosophy Essays

Difference Between Pacifism and Nonviolent Resistance. This paper differentiates between nonviolent resistance and pacifism. It also explores why nonviolent resistance is justified in the ethics of Islam, but not pacifism. Gene Sharp notes that both of the terms lend themselves to ambiguity and confusion among those who try to understand what the terms mean, owing to the fact that nonviolence was relatively unknown as a concept for a long time in the west, or else the terms come with a lot of emotional and psychological baggage, charged in that way as it were by the experiences and the subjective perceptions of those who have come into contact with the terms both theoretically and in the fie

For this reason, capitalistic system of economy can determine the different ways through which opportunities people have, can improve by engaging them in individual effort to look for the required resources. However, while the view of capitalism from an individualistic perspective is good, in other cases, it will be difficult to differentiate it from the collectivist perspective because of the infrastructures, which are available to promote exploitation of nature.

After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was put into effect, freedom of speech was guaranteed as a basic fundamental liberty. Even before that President Roosevelt’s four freedoms speech spoke of the desired America where people had freedom of speech and opinion. Since then various theories have been presented regarding freedom of speech.

However, just as any other product of art, video games portray the nature of the society since most of the games are on familiar social contexts. Among the common video games, include car racing and violent criminal shootings among many others. The games place a user in a virtual society in which they interact with the authorities just as they would in the real society.

DNA is known to be a “blue print” which passes the characteristics and also some disorders or diseases from parents to their offspring (Lederberg 519) Genetic Experiments Science has modified in the field of genetics and now is able to find out various changes in people and their generations.

Together with his student Aristotle and his mentor Socrates, they played a significant role in laying foundations of western science and philosophy. He wrote thirty six dialogues and thirteen letters (Reeves 21). His writings have been published in various versions hence leading to many conventions regarding the naming and referencing of his texts.

Dualism has over the years been associated with several philosophers, thinkers and religious leaders. Prominent among these are Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, the Hindu religion and Prophet Zoroaster. Each of these personalities and groups take dualism from a different perspective but they all seem to arrive at one major understanding that two all concepts of human existence, there are two forms.

Allan Bloom’s book, Closing of the American Mind, is a powerful mind opener. It provides new dimensions of perception that get formed in the intuitive level of human mind; ideas that are difficult to express in words. This book almost makes a modern university graduate feel the lack of real education.

The idea of truth based on intelligence and truth based on the power of oracles is featured prominently throughout this play. Oedipus is constantly pursuing the truth but refusing to believe or trust in the gods. He uses his own intelligence to get answers to the questions he seeks answers from (Kallich, MacLeish and Schoenbohm 7).

Different philosophers at different times tried to define the concept. St. Augustine said that, as long as he was not asked to define the meaning of leisure, he knew what it was, but if asked about its meaning, then he could not definitely describe it (Toner 1995).

Stalinism, therefore, was much more than a brutal, totalitarian system that reinforced its rule through terror and oppressive police tactics. It induced a kind of mass paranoia that marginalized philosophical notions of moral rectitude. Those for whom survival was a day-to-day concern were faced with a truly inhumane choice: inform on others to save oneself and one’s family, or risk imprisonment, torture and death by following the dictates of one’s conscience.

The main concern is not that it resembles man in physical appearance, but also the way we walk, talk, think and feel. This has earned them the name ' Humanoid Robot'. A good example of the said above is the Honada's As/Mo, a machine that not only resemble man in its looks, but also enjoy virtual humanoid properties such as behavior, visual interpretation and response to human species and gestures in a human manner.

There is lots of proof to this fact that people can sometime seek out something because it frightens. Questions have always been asked on the reason why people get scared by something that they know does not exist. An example is a group of people watching a horror movie and they get scared yet they know that what is taking place is just fiction and nothing serious.

In a similar situation, the Environmental Protection Agency should be given a chance to make an overview of the USS Mazeltov submarine and the radiation that took place. If there has since been an assessment of the information regarding the radiation that has not been exposed to the community, it is the duty of the Mayor to lead in pursuing such an action.

On the other hand, Empiricism presents the argument that innate knowledge does not exist. In empiricism, knowledge encompasses a procedural experience from which that knowledge is derived. The mind or the brain can reason out the knowledge or the five common senses be used to sense that knowledge.

Whether an Officer should turn in one of his/her Marines for a minor fracture of the law or should they take matters into their own hands? The ability of people to understand right and wrong is often affected by a series of factors. When having to face the pressure of the social environment, an individual may proceed to false estimations in regard to the measures that need to be developed for handling a complex situation.

However Hume does not wish to level all knowledge and inquiry; he simply wishes to understand the faculties used to gain knowledge at the most fundamental level, which actually contributes toward the quest for knowledge. Peter Strawson seems to offer a solution to the problem of induction, by pointing out that Hume applies rules of deductive reasoning to inductive reasoning, to make it seem they are not rational.

Some people go through similar stages in life before finding peace in God and religion. God allows his people to experience that kind of life so that later in life they can get control of their lives. After becoming religious and having strong faith in God, it is difficult to turn back to the evil ways presented by stage one.

Coerced acts tend to be strictly voluntary; therefore, they never get automatic disqualification from responsibility (Echenique 14). Thus, responsibility is dependent on facts concerning the situation, for instance the gravity of the threat, along with the temperament of the coerced act.

What is the self and how can we know it, or can we know it at all? The philosophical concept of self is the notable essential qualities and attributes making an individual person different from any other person. It can also be asserted that the individual self is mainly the source of consciousness responsible to what a person thinks as well as the decisions made when ascribing to it (Mitchell 25).

However, for purposes of this brief essay, this author will do precisely that and compare and contrast the different views of human nature that both Plato and Karl Marx exhibited within their writings. Such an analysis will necessarily be a bit easier for Plato as opposed to Marx due to the fact that Plato specifically discussed the issue of human nature on a number of occasions as it was one of his favorite philosophical topics in helping to explain the actions and paths that mankind sought to take.

He gives his view for this as in two different ways. First and foremost, he argues, by use of example that the other principles are invalid; since they will leave out people we think should not be left out. For example, people do not think that it would be acceptable to take no notice of the well-being of somebody who is less intelligent than a standard person.

This paper further identifies specific desires that human beings have, and the view of Epicurus concerning these desires. It also identifies the virtues that Epicurus thought an individual needs in order to live a good life and his religious views. This paper has a conclusion which is a summary of the major points found in the text.

People in other countries desire to go and live in the United States because they believe in the idea of an American Dream - a secure and comfortable life with a job that can feed their families. This is one of the main reasons why one can find a significant number of African Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, Filipino, Koreans, etc.

But death is the deprivation of sensation. This therefore means that death is nothing, since it is neither good nor evil because it takes human sensations which are the determinants of good and evil. Epicurus went on to argue that we should never fear death because in life death is not with us, and when we die we will be no more.

I decided to take this program so that I could get some enlightenment in matters environmental conservation and the role of moral ethics in ensuring that the objective of environmental sustainability comes to fruition. In this essay, I reflect on my overall experience as far as sustainable works program is concerned.

The term epistemology was first introduced in philosophy by a Scottish philosopher, James Frederick Ferrier. Philosophers, through epistemology attempt to answer the philosophical question “How do I know what I know?” by examining the various ways through which knowledge can be acquired and the extent to which human beings can know about certain entities or subjects.

The methodology and methods for the research are entailed with the ontological and epistemological bases of the inquiry. In order to conduct a professional research in the domain of social science, the relevance of issue is necessarily required to be addressed in philosophical terms.

The two contemporary schools of thought are from ancient India where Jainism is based on the principle of soul liberation in conquering all forms of desires and senses whereas Carvaka is a sceptical school of thought that is based on a joyful living. The paper will first discuss the facts and underpinnings in each philosophical approach and then give an analysis and comparison to see whether the two schools of thought are compatible in any way.

The duality argument rests solidly on the premises that the essence of the mind is thought while the essence of the body is extension; in this respect, the duality of essences implies the corresponding substances can exist separately and independently from each other.

It basically means being gentle, respectful, considerate, and kind towards oneself and to other people; being moderate in one’s behavior. Stating something non-harming is similar to state and outline what is believed to be good conduct. A good moral and conduct is believed to be a conduct that does not harm any living thing whatsoever.

One of the most imperative reasons behind making an investigation into the topic afore-mentioned includes the evaluation of the political ideology articulated by Marxist perspective while seeking its association with Marx’s viewpoint on historical developments man has observed since the primitive times till the Marx’s era of Industrial Revolution.

After his father’s demise, Gandhi's kin sent him to Britain to pursue legal studies in 1888. There, he developed interest in the idea of peacefulness, as enshrined in the Hindu sacred writings, and in Christian teachings in the Bible (Sudhir, 2012). Gandhi returned to his home country three years later, having received his certification in the discipline, but was not successful in his attempts to establish a career in law in India.

The film “Dead Man Walking” depicts the appeal process faced by a convicted murderer, and how his crime, trial and acts on death row affect himself, a nun who is working with him on his appeal, and the families of the victims. It invokes some of the hardest and most troubling questions facing society today such as: does the state have the right to kill its own citizens?

: Summary: 3 Practical Implications 10 The Author’s Position 19 Introduction The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn is regarded as one of the most significant educational works of the 1900s (Fuller, 2001). Kuhn’s work has influenced virtually all academic inquiries including philosophy, social science, historiography, feminism, theology and the natural sciences (Sharrock & Reed, 2002).

These studies are principally included in the dimension of philosophy which seeks to discover the basic value of life unveiling the nature of truth and establishing the relationship of nature with humanity. Such studies have revealed various interesting, intellectual and diplomatic claims regarding religious thoughts and those aspirations which humans have been cherishing in their life principles since ages.

On the other hand, opponents of Abortion claim that this act is equivalent to killing of a human being an assertion, which the proponents claim is not justifiable. One of the major justifications of the proponents of the act rests in the case of a fetus with a health condition.

In the world of forms, the philosopher is known to have attained the highest form of knowledge available, and can therefore, be able to see the world of ideas in the world immediately. This is the ultimate and possibly, only final form of knowledge that a philosopher would seek.

Such characteristic (lack of necessity for the existence of anything other than itself) belongs only to one substance – God, who is eternal, uncreated, indestructible, omnipotent, the source and cause of everything. In general, Descartes’ dualism has two manifestations.

Some individuals have constantly asked themselves where the world, which they live in, came from or rather how the world is linked to the human race. This paper seeks to raise questions and discuss the ethics that are always involved in a dialogue. Ethics is another word for moral philosophy.

The case that the book Biomedical Ethics presents is an example of a conflict of different principles. The patient, John H, has his personal reservations regarding the treatment that he prefers. He had requested no further treatment on him. John’s condition worsens, which induces him to request his doctor to do something to help him.

In this regard, the paper will base itself on the two cosmological arguments (Thomistic and the Kalam cosmological arguments) to support the existence of the uncaused cause (God). The Thomistic argument will basically be argument from motion and from the nature of efficient cause and there after the conclusion will be drawn.

While these logical fallacies may hold rhetorical appeal for an audience, as they seem to rely on strong knowledge, upon further investigation they frequently demonstrate the propensity to which society is willing to accept erroneous assumptions. In investigating such forms of argument, this essay examines the implementation of five logical fallacies in the popular media.

This argument states that even when people act in helping others, they do so because doing that makes them feel good or because they want to remove some form of pain (usually emotional pain) (Landau, 2012). Psychological egoism is different from ethical egoism which postulates that people should seek to maximize their own personal advantage (Pojman, 2011, p87).

The concept of ethical dilemma has been further elaborated as a dilemma (condition) in which moral principles that could guide the victim to recovery may not be efficient enough to suggest the correct path. The phenomenon of ethical dilemma and approaches that lead to best solutions to resolve conflicting situations can be better understood through different case studies.

He insists that history is a key requirement for life only when the ensuing processes are conducted with caution. According to Nietzsche, the current education on history teaches the youth many concepts that are un-related to the modern perception of life.

Free Will. Free will is a necessary requirement for moral responsibility. A morally responsible individual is a person who does not only do the right thing but also is accountable for his or her moral conduct. Thus, free will is the ability of persons to exercise control over their conduct in a manner necessary for moral responsibility.

Effect of Color on Culture. A given color can carry diverse meanings in different cultures. For example, orange color is a positive, life affirming and spiritual enlightening color in some cultures. However, in the United States, the same color is associated with road hazards, fast food restaurants and delay of traffics.

Understanding ten debates between the Epicureans and the Stoics and determine which of the two arguments is plausible in the understating philosophy of life, it is vital the each of these philosophical aspects are understood well and their applications determined.

With this paper I wish to share my experience of having been at the receiving end of a similar experience. While the incident left me scarred, it also made me realize different techniques that can be used to counsel other women going through a tough phase in their marital life.