Medieval philosophy

The Sorites Paradox, or the Paradox of the Heap is a paradox which comes in two forms; the many-premise version, and the two-premise version. Both versions lead to the same conclusions but offer different ways to reach that conclusion. This essay will focus on the workings of the two-premise version. The paradox arises as a result of vague predicates (Barker, 2009); demonstrating a problem with human language. This is the idea of human language being excessively vague, and that measurements we…

Everyone struggles and whether or not an individual comes through depends on their self. We see others struggle and whether or not we decide to help comes down to our morals. Will Allen is someone who found his goal through his struggles and connections he made. He endured through racist comments, cancer, financial issues, but in the end he focused on what he believed in: to provide and nurture his community, creating a healthy and safe environment for future generation to mature in. Allen…

Shame and Its Prevalence Throughout “The Apology” There is this philosophical endeavor to investigate emotions and how they are applicable to a person’s identity, shame being one of the emotions (“Emotion: Philosophical Definition”). In the chapter “Apology” from 4 Texts on Socrates by Plato, Plato focuses on how Socrates proves to be Athen’s highly intelligent educator, so that Socrates can overcome the shame that he has for the city. Similarly, shame also occurs in this chapter because it…

In his emphasis on virtue and the search for guidance within it, Socrates applies his Socratic method in the Euthyphro, the Apology, and the Crito as a means to alter the fixed mindsets and behaviors of the antagonists that surround him. For example, the individual responsibility of moral obligation is defended by Socrates’ conceptual mode of his philosophical method in his tearing down of his subjects’ preconceived notions on a topic, such as that of ‘What is piety?’ in Plato’s Euthyphro. In…

Inside the story of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” we find prisoners held down by shackles inside a dark den with an only source of light that is fire behind them, as a result, that all they can see are shadows, until one day one prisoner breaks free and escape from the cavern and sees “reality”, but momentarily he gets temporary blindness because he wasn't adapted to light by the cause that all he saw in his life were shadows and darkness, after a while he explores and sees the sun he admires…

The Relativity of Truth Truth, traditionally defined, is that which is “in accord with fact or reality” (Merriam-Webster). Although our personal definitions of the word itself may vary slightly from this interpretation, truth remains integral to our understanding of reality. But, what if reevaluating the traditional definition of truth, could change our perception of reality? In Life of Pi, author Yann Martel challenges the conventional definition of truth with a more abstract interpretation:…

The philosophy of Martin Luther King has six principles of nonviolence. The first is nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. Someone that is non violent only because they are afraid, is not a true form of non violence. Kings second principle of nonviolence is nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. An example is a community that comes together after a peaceful protest or a boycott. His third principle is nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people. In other words…

Part I of Clifford’s “The Ethics of Belief” by W. T. Clifford expresses several of Clifford’s viewpoints in regards to belief (Clifford, 2008). Within his essay, Clifford attempts to convince his readers that when forming our beliefs in a certain way is of real ethical importance (Clifford, 2008). Moreover, Clifford expresses his belief that what we believe is not merely a private matter, but rather, a moral issue (Clifford, 2008). Furthermore, that it is a moral failure to form beliefs based…

Danielle Amar History 3005 Prof. Tunney October 24th Copernicus and Galileo Analysis Analyzing the Primary Sources Context of the Sources The chosen sources are considerably based on Copernicus and Galileo which further reflects the comparison and contrast between both the well-known personalities. However, the first selected source is "Integrated results from the COPERNICUS and GALILEO studies”, analyzed and constructed by Pielen, et al (2017). Whereas, the second source is a book Defending…

theories include utilitarianism, virtue ethics, W.D. Ross’s intuitonism, the categorical imperative, or deontology. Ethics is often used interchangeably with morality so it is not too surprising to learn ethics addresses questions of morality in philosophy. There is, however, a defining difference between morality and ethics. An individual that recognizes the difference between right and wrong and still chooses to do right is moral. Ethics are moral values in action, and this means that…