Empiricism

Rene Descartes, a 16th-century French rationalist, and Hume, an 18th-century Scottish empiricist, were two of the greatest early modern philosophers. Descartes used in his reason and method of doubt to most notably come to conclusions about the nature of the self, mind, and body in his Meditations on First Philosophy. Hume using his senses and experiences to come to views of these things in his work the, Treatise of Human Nature, Book 1. These two philosophy giants came to totally bipolar…

In this article, Pigliucci discusses multiple issues with scientism and he gives a strong argument to why scientism cannot replace literature, art, philosophy and ethics. First, he explains how scientism is appealing by describing reductionism. “Reductionism is a basic and very successful approach common to the physical and biological science, articulated by Rene Descartes (1596-1650) in his Meditations on First Philosophy” (280). What Pigliucci is trying to say that reductionism analysis…

The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, provides insight to scientific development issues in the mid 1900’s through the eyes of the Lacks family, the scientists involved, and the author herself. Three key issues discussed in this book are the ethics of informed consent for research, the ethics of genetic engineering, and how scientists relay information to people who are not experts in their areas of practice. The foundation of this book revolves around the ethical…

Nguyen 1 Randy Nguyen Ancient Philosophy Rev. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J 12/6/17 Metaphysics, What is Metaphysics? In a world where the study of philosophy combines with the principles of things, which includes abstract concepts such as substance, knowing, cause, identity, space, and time. All of these concepts are very important since they are used to determine the real nature of things, and identify the meaning, and how structured thing exist in the world. Aristotle develops what he…

Isabella Stengers is deeply critical of scientific notions of Realism and Rationalism, which states that the real world is described by science alone and deductive reasoning is the chief source of knowledge respectively. Along with this criticism, she is advocating the idea that science should be integrated with other modes of knowledge to form an ecosystem of practices. The modern practice of science is brimful of varying conceptual loopholes. Firstly, the so-called scientific method does not…

2.3. The Moment of Truth However, interpreting Claudius’s interruption is not that simple. At the beginning, Claudius does not react to the dumb show which accurately mimics the actions of which the spectrum accuses him. But once the play has started and the actors have started to talk, he becomes more anxious. Therefore, asking Hamlet “Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in’t?” (3.2.231–32). He is aware that if he hlts the play, it would be to force Hamlet’s hand. For this reason,…

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” This quote was said by Albert Einstein. It is a great quote, and it makes perfect sense. Imagination is what moves this world. Imagination is what brings the making of new and different things. If no one had an imagination, we would not have the things that we have now. There would be no cars, no phones, no televisions. All of these things came about from other people's imaginations. People had…

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been around for thousands of years. Philosophers have been using arguments as an attempt to validate their beliefs. To do this, philosophers string together a series of statements to form different types of arguments, including deductive, inductive, a priori, and a posteriori arguments. Furthermore, a few philosophers use evidential approaches to establish the existence of God. Often, these approaches include pragmatics or direct perception,…

Facing the uncertainty of the natural world, scientists seek to order observable phenomena with structured methodology. Scientific research explains the unknown and provides humanity with a better understanding of the universe. However, the process of decoding the vast unknown is long and arduous; scientists tasked with unravelling the mysteries of the universe must be dedicated to the process and resilient to failure. In The Great Influenza, John M. Barry characterizes scientific research as a…

Descartes’s Realizations During the Enlightenment period, people explored the reality of all things; in the nature of religion, mathematics, or science, et cetera. Often thought of as the Age of Reason, the enlightenment period brought a whole new way of thinking along with it. Before this era, people used to do just do as they were told and not question why they were doing these things, or they were too afraid to ask why. Belief in a concept or ideal seemed to come out of the progressive…