Medieval philosophy

In this essay, I outline two similarities of Descartes and Spinoza—belief in apriori knowledge, and God as the infinite substance—as well as two differences—contrasting conceptions of God’s relation to the world, and mind-body relations. Both Spinoza and Descartes subscribe to the rationalist epistemology which claims that knowledge must be self-evident and derived from reasoning, rather than experience. As such, both philosophers believe in apriori knowledge, in which true knowledge is derived…

When entering a career such as Social Work which deals with the general public in times of distress, it is essential to have a solid standing on what is deemed acceptable in terms of providing assistance and support to a client both in a physical and emotional manner. Improper handling of situations can be detrimental to the wellbeing of the client as well as the career of the social worker. A social worker should have immense knowledge of the code of ethics that is provided by the NASW and be…

boundaries of who could be a scientist by stating that women, in ancient times, were treated appropriately and now they are treated poorly. She talked about wanting to open a natural philosophy school, but she couldn’t because she was a woman: “Were it allowable for our sex, I might set up my own school of natural philosophy. … For thought the muses [and] Graces … are all of the female gender, yet they were more esteemed in the former ages, than they are now.” (doc. 9). During this time period…

materialist view believe that the universe just happened to exist and that humanity came into being by chance. The religious view states that there is a mind (not necessarily God) behind the universe that brought everything into existence. The Life-Force philosophy claims that life evolved due to the purposiveness of said Life-Force; however, Lewis simply debunks this view at the end of the chapter. Now that a higher power has come into play, Lewis begins to make the argument that this being…

Immanuel Kant is remembered as the eighteenth century German philosopher who founded critical philosophy. He defined categorical imperative as the absolute or unconditional law that applies to all agents, the claim that does not depend on ulterior motives. The categorical imperative is not a command on people on what they should do or not. Kant formulated it to provide a way in which people would be able to evaluate their actions, measuring their morality and ethics. It is a procedure which any…

The literature review article I researched examined the parallels between moral judgment and modal judgment. The article described the methodology of the experiment that was administered on freshman college students taking an entry-level psychology course. The experiment included a series of physically possible events and morally permissible actions, and the students were to judge on a yes/no scale of what they deemed to be either morally acceptable or unacceptable. At the conclusion of the…

from their cars. Second the values, KU asks students and staff to use the unused parking sports not only cause they are more available, also it costs more money to create new parking sports across campus. Third are the principles, if we use the philosophy of Mills and his idea of utility, it makes more sense for the students and staff to use the parking spots farther away and then simply walk to campus. Lastly where do the loyalties of the KU lie, their loyalties lie with the students, staff and…

Aquinas was a philosopher that used many arguments derived from Aristotle, however, Aquinas was unique in the way he approached the idea of an ethical life by combining arguments of reason with theology and God. Based on rational reasonings such as the four types of laws he defines and the precepts he draws from them, combined with faith in God, Aquinas believes that it is possible and just to judge another person’s actions, ethical character, and conception of life. Aquinas believes an…

Further, I will use the ideas presented in Paul Woodruff’s Socratic Education (2005). Here, the author describes the way in which Socrates would question his pupil’s untested assumptions in order to continually reflect on and improve their ideas. This is critical for a flexible pedagogy because we all have biases and assumptions that shape our behaviours, and especially our reactions. If I were to go through my career as a teacher without critically questioning myself, I would be doing my…

In “The Vice of Snobbery,” Kieran confronts a major concern facing aesthetic knowledge: snobbery. Snobbery is a concern, he argues, precisely because it threatens the very foundation of aesthetic judgments. As a result, it is critical for Kieran to distinguish between virtuous art appreciators – whose aesthetic judgments are legitimate, and snobs – whose aesthetic judgments depend on irrelevant considerations. I will argue that while Kieran’s account of snobbery seems accurate, it brings with it…