Essays on Metaphysics

Romanticism was a movement of American literature that swept the country throughout the 19th century. Within Romanticism, was the Transcendentalist Era, which began in the early 1800s (Gura 4). Transcendentalism is difficult to define, but its core ideas are embodied in the works of Ralph …

India, an ancient civilization is well known to be the cradle of a rich and perpetual heritage. The pristine land has always throbbed with the vibrancy of the originality, creativity and self motivated activities of its illumined souls. Their deep, original and sublime thoughts have …

Criticisms leveled against Ethical Theories Criticisms leveled against Consequentialism Consequentialism is based on the consequences of actions. It is sometimes called a teleological theory, from the Greek word telos, meaning goal. According to consequentialism, actions are right or wrong depending on whether their consequences further …

Perception – the process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment people base their actions on the interpretation of reality that their perceptual system provides rather than on reality itself. Components of Perception Their experience, needs and …

First, let us examine what it means to act in a deontological manner. Demonology is “the normative ethical position that Judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules” (“Ethics-virtue”, Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy). For someone to act …

Explain Bentham’s Utilitarianism: (30 Marks) A man called Jeremy Bentham had a theory called the ‘Utilitarianism theory’. He was born in London at the time of the great scientific and social change and wrote ‘The Principles of Morals and Legislation’ in 1789. Bentham had the …

Introduction This essay will explain and assess Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), which was originally developed by Haidt, and which he has since worked on with a number of collaborators. The first part of this essay will outline the philosophical background of the theory, especially its …

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived between 384 and 322 BCE. He was deeply interested in the idea of cause and purpose. On the Foundation Paper, you will have explored the ideas of the Four Causes and the Prime Mover. Both of these theories …

According to Richard Taylor, “Pride is not a matter of manners or demeanor. One does not become proud simply by affecting certain behavior or projecting an impression that has been formed in the mind. It is a personal excellence much deeper than this. In fact, …

Outline the Key Concepts of the Design Argument [21 marks] The design argument is also referred to at the Teleological Argument stemmed from the Greek work ‘Telos’ meaning end or purpose. It is an ‘A posterior’ argument (from experience) based on our empirical senses and …

Prior to Edmund Gettier, philosophers believed that knowledge was equivalent to justified true belief.  Since Plato, it had generally been agreed among philosophers that there are three criteria of propositional knowledge, individually necessary and jointly sufficient (Pryor, 2005; Cushing, 2000).  Before the Gettier philosophy, the …

Sigmund Freud was best known, in my opinion, for being the first to use the term psychoanalysis in which he accomplished through his theory of psychological reality: Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the unconscious mind. The Id controls basic urges, needs, and desires. …

Weakness The weakness on which I was working was pessimism. Pessimism is a state of mind in which one anticipates negative outcomes or believes that the evil, hardships, dangers, displeasures in life outweigh or dominate the good, luxuries, securities or pleasures in life. It affects …

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, narrates the story of a group of English boys as they struggle to survive on an uncharted, uninhabited island. The boy’s airplane crashes into the island and kills any adults on board — leaving the boys to fend for …

1. Explain how Locke and Hume view personal identity, or the “Self”. How do you see Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” as exemplifying these philosophical themes? You may choose Locke or Hume or both, or argue why you see neither of their theories as showing up in Kafka’s …

Buddhism begins and ends with Buddha’s enlightenment experience, for this the ultimate source of Buddhist teachings and there are a mean towards moral and spititual development culminating in a Buddha like experience. At his enlightenment, the Buddha gained direct knowledge of rebirth, karma, and the …

Anselm’s Monologion is at first a detailed expansion of his more famous ontology – the proof of the existence of God – as expressed elsewhere. In this proof God is first equated with the most perfect being, and then it is demonstrated that such a …

“Is the ‘philosophy of swine’ objection a telling criticism of Utilitarian theory? Why or why not? ” Philosophy of swine. This was mentioned by Mill criticizing Bentham’s utilitarianism. Before looking at Mill’s criticism, historical background of the birth of utilitarianism should be discussed ahead. Utilitarianism …

Behaviorism is one of the most influential schools of psychology, especially American psychology. The development of behaviorism was spurned as a reaction to structuralism and functionalism. Behaviorism was posited as a revolution in the methodology of the science of psychology (Hothersall, 1995), while structuralism and …

1. What are the possible ethical considerations of banning or restricting the developing world’s access to the same cheaper technologies that made the US what it is today? Current news and politics is full of concern about the environment, particularly as it is related to …

1. Explain what is meant by saying that a value is intrinsic? How are instrumental values related to intrinsic values? A value is said to be intrinsic if an object has the value for its own sake or because of its nature. A value is …

Each of the central characters in “Open Secrets” by Alice Munro and “Paradise Lost” by John Milton are driven and sustained by the relationship between the realities of their existence and their personal ideologies. The conflict between ideology and reality is an important theme in …

The dynamic systems theory in development explicated by Thelen and Smith conceptualized the process of development as a process of change. In the theory, the authors explained how the development of human occurred. The concept of the theory greatly uses the experiments and study on …

Danielle Butler October 16, 2011 English 101/ O. C #2-Machiavelli Though often presented as two ideological opposites, personally I find there to be a lot more similarities between Plato and Machiavelli than usually acknowledged. Obviously there are some sharp contrasts. If one examines the excerpts …

1. What is ethics? What is morality? Ethics is the philosophical study of morality. Morality refers to the belief of right and wrong, good and bad, beliefs that can include judgments, values, rules, principles and theories. 2. In what ways are we forced to do …

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works “Self-Reliance” and Nature esteem transcendentalism as a romantic, individualistic philosophy of life in hopes of establishing contemporary concepts in society which reject traditional institutions and customs. Emerson’s thoughts are generally based on inward reflection, in which the capabilities of one’s soul …

Behaviorism as the third force in psychology have started out as a theoretical proposition of John B. Watson when he came out with “Psychology as The Behaviorist Views It” and have been known as the behaviorist manifesto (Benjamin, 1997). Watson proposed that psychology is the …

Attribution theory is concerned with how people interpret events and relate them to their thinking and behavior. It’s a cognitive perception which affects their motivation. This theory was first proposed in a book called, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations by Fritz Heider in 1958. According …

Lust for Power; Destruction of Humanity “Power”, the literal meaning of this word is “control”. Unfortunately, we are living in a world where the lust for power has resulted in the destruction of humanity. From the lower class clerks to the industrialists of the highest …

For many year time travel was the stuff of science fiction. This is only part of the imagination of the world until recently. Scientists now believe that the current laws of physics allow us to travel in spite of time. They believe that we can …