Constructivist epistemology

Emily Shrem PHIL 2101 Professor Slack November 1st, 2017 Assignment Two: Descartes Rene Descartes was a mathematician, a physicist and most importantly, a philosopher. He was one of the first to spread modern philosophy and did so by using accepted scientific knowledge. He is famous for his proposition, “cogito ergo sum”, which in English translates to “I think therefore I am.” In Descartes’ Meditation on First Philosophy, he takes on a few tasks to come to his ultimate conclusion. He uses the…

1. Introduction Robert Kane believes libertarians, before him, have not done an adequate job of explaining how their view of free will can be reconciled with modern scientific views about human beings and the cosmos. As a result, this causes Kane to address the conflict between free will and its compatibility with modern scientific views. Kane asks the two following questions. First, can a libertarian view of free will requiring ultimate responsibility be made intelligible without appealing to…

Defending Descartes: A Textual and Philosophical Analysis of Descartes’s Cogito Ergo Sum Regarding every fundamental philosophical quandary, including questions of epistemology, morality, ontology, and axiology, there are leaders of the major movements to answer these questions. These are often the most memorable and sound arguments of the time, or the most influential on the ideologies held today. Rene Descartes is certainly one of these aforementioned philosophers. In his Meditations on First…

Doubtful Dreams As any other philosopher, Rene Descartes was driven by the need to find the undeniable truth. He was very upset when he realized as a young man that many of the things he was taught in school was scarcely supported by evidence, if not out right false (Pojman & Vaughn, 2011, p.487). Therefore, when he began his foray into philosophy, he decided would deny and ignore all previously accepted opinions and build an entirely new foundation of truth to build on (Tweyman, 2013,…

For this essay I will explain Plato’s Arguments about the immortality of the soul and why I disagree with his theories. “Argument from Simplicity” is one of Plato’s arguments I will attempt to counter. There is certain weakness that undercut Plato’s argument about the soul’s immortality. I do agree with the thought that the soul is immortal. I do not agree, however, with how Plato debates for the immortality of the soul. In Phaedo, Plato argues for the soul’s immortality and attempts to…

“ ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” Knowledge and wisdom are clearly separated by this statement in the final portions of Hermann Hesse's, Siddhartha. Though stated at the end of the novel, it is clear that this message was intended to resonate throughout the entire literary journey. This book is clearly a representation of Buddhist philosophy, accompanied with hints of other Indo-Asian…

An allegory can use a situation or event in order to reveal a deeper meaning or lesson. Allegories can act as analogies that point out logical inconsistencies and cause one to reflect and even question their own way of life. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato intends to point out the prison-like obedience that humans who are “in the cave” have to their lifestyle, and the difficult choice of giving up this lifestyle in search of something more. This allegory displays the confining nature of…

Wittgenstein, in his work Philosophical Investigations, formulates a paradox that implores the reader to become skeptical of our ability to apply past learned rules to present situations. Specifically targeting the idea that if we do in fact learn rules from a finite amount of cases in the past, how can we be certain that we ought to follow through with said rule for all future cases. Later on, Saul Kripke published a book titled On rules and Private Language, in which he presents a version of…

Plato’s Meno directs a majority of its attention towards what the meaning of what virtue truly is. Meno gives the readers many different meaning of what virtue could be, but Socrates always challenges his definitions. There are various reasons as to why Socrates contests Meno’s answers. Socrates is looking for an explanation of what virtue is that helps demonstrates what the idea of knowledge truly means, and that will show us what we do and do not know. Socrates first challenges Meno with the…

To what extent do you believe that Kirn’s critique of American education is valid? What evidence do you have for your thesis? Lost in the Meritocracy: A Brief Summary: The story “Lost in Meritocracy” by Walter Kirn is memoir about Kirn’s education. Kirn’s memoir shows how America’s Education system has removed value from learning, and awarded those who learned to trick it. He was a student that “lived for prizes,praise, and distinction”, acing the SAT, “only caring about the next report card”.…