Marxist philosophy

The ontological status of non spatiotemporal entities is often a controversial issue among philosophers. Fictional characters are discussed in particular because of their prominence in our ? culture. Amie L. Thomasson and Alexius Meinong address this ontological controversy surrounding fictional characters found in literature through different positions. Amie L. Thomasson’s paper, “If We Postulated Fictional Objects, What Would They Be?” introduces the artifactual theory in which fictional…

Central to Russell’s “On Denoting” view is the propositional function. The propositional function is an abstract entity that comes about from the extraction of the denoting phrase such that a gap is produced or some variable, x, that is “essentially and wholly undetermined” (“On Denoting”, 480). In the proposition “an Athenian studied with Plato”, the logical form for such a sentence is “there is an x, x is Athenian, x studied with Plato”. Russell’s analysis of the phrase “an Athenian studied…

In Phaedo, Socrates claims, in his second argument, that learning is essentially the art of recollecting things we knew before we were born. He goes on to give a definition of recollection, that states that true knowledge is found in the eternal forms that exists outside of perceptible reality. Socrates insists that the process of recollection works in a way that if you see a “lyre” or an article of clothing of a beloved, you will immediately be reminded of whose lyre or clothing it belongs to.…

In order to tease apart the puzzle, Haslanger defines possible meanings of "should believe" (Haslanger, 73-74). There are two senses of "should believe" involved in this puzzle. There is an epistemic "should believe", where one should believe something because it is the truth; and, there is a moral "should believe", where one should not believe something because of moral reasons (Haslanger, 73-74). Haslanger argues that once these two senses of "should believe" are distinguished, the puzzle…

Aristotle’s Teleology The world teleology has two parts: telos, meaning end or goal, and logos, meaning a reason. For Aristotle, this “teleological” view on nature played an important part in understanding why objects in nature behave a certain way or possess certain characteristics. In this essay, I will discuss the characteristics of Aristotle’s teleological view and its relevance to modern science and understanding. I will also argue that while his emphasis on the importance of function, or…

Epicurus, Lucretius, and Nagel are philosophers with very different views on death, and whether death is bad for the person who dies. Their understanding of life and what happens when it ceases, is the distinguishing factor. Epicurus was a philosopher who understood the universe and life as being composed of matter in the form of small particles. He stated that when one dies, the particles which make up our existence dissolve and our consciousness comes to an end. He considers what he…

Ethics are the moral principles that a person lives their life by, more simply, the individual sense of right and wrong. When placed beside each other, the two main branches of modern philosophical ethics, theological and humanistic, are in stark contrast. Theological ethics stem from a belief that there is a higher power that dictates moral law. The three literary works Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, The Scarlet Letter, and The Crucible, all have themes pertaining to Christian ethics, a…

Moral rightness, or ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies and determines what is right and what is wrong. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies reality in the universe. The question of whether or not an act has to be universally right entails the knowledge of both studies, and in order to answer it you must know the difference…

Moral ambiguity, strategic, and expressive voting can be understood as facets of the “problem of consensus” and the exclusion of religious arguments (or the inclusion of the duty of civility) from PJP. Firstly, he considers the case of Hawaiian voting, from which he argues that since the contribution and reasoning behind a vote are morally vague, the duty of civility is not directly derivable and religious arguments should be accepted. (Gaus 8-9) This is tested by formulating the Shared Reasons…

Final Project - Phase 2 Jamie Rice BMGT 496 Professor Susan Barranca 12/17/2017 Introduction Ethical dilemmas that arise in the workplace must be handled with care, and the best ethical judgment must be made. Specifically, conducting personal business on company time can present an ethical dilemma, and is also a conflict of interest (Common Ethical Workplace Dilemmas, n.d.). This conflict of interest can be presented as an ethical dilemma for a fellow employee that becomes aware of an…