Modus ponens

This paper is an evaluation of the argument put forth by American lawyer and writer Wendy Kaminer in essay 15 of The Power of Critical Thinking. This argument is titled, Is Sluttishness a Feminist Statement. Overall the argument does not rate very highly. Despite Kaminer’s background in a profession in which the main objective is to win an argument, it seems that in the construction of this argument, proper critical thinking skills were not successfully applied. Without going into too much…

Teachibililty and Unteachability of Virtue “Virtue, according to the Stoicism Model of Philosophy, is a single thing, and the individual virtues are its parts.” In Plato’s dialogue Protagoras, Protagoras both begins and ends on the subject of the teachability and unteachability of virtue. Socrates questions Protagoras, the sophist, on the teachability of virtue. The latter in the argument argues that virtue can in fact be passed on, as well as the former arguing the opposition. Initially, it…

Picture a world in which you are the only mind. A world in which you are the only truly thinking being. In this world, you cannot be sure if others are having thoughts because they have a mind or if they are just simply a robot that is physically but not mentally present. This world is thought by some to exist, yet there are also many who oppose this philosophy known to many as the problem of other minds. From concepts coined by philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, P.F.…

In 2003, a German citizen, Armin Meiwes appeared in court for his crimes of murder and cannibalism. Although Mr. Meiwes confessed to these crimes, the case was not as straightforward as it sounds. The major twist to the story is that the victim in this instance, Bernd-Jurgen Brandes, willingly volunteered to take part in these gruesome acts. This case threw the German legal system for a loop. While the prosecution argued that since Mr. Meiwes killed a man and then proceeded to consume the victim…

In true philosophical fashion, the paper will look into the critique of Thomas Hobbes to Rene Descartes’s argument for the existence of God. Descartes argues that he has the idea of the existence of an infinite, perfect and all-powerful being. In the meditations on first philosophy, Descartes presents the proves for the existence of god with the apparent evidence that I am finite and imperfect being but I have this idea of the existence of an infinite, perfect and eternal being in mind which…

Death Death is arguably the most cryptic topic that a person can ponder about; a phenomenon that science will probably never be able to explain, knowing that if a person has experienced death, they’ll never have their soul returned to them. Due to that fact that humanity will probably never know what the true answer is, one cannot help but ponder about what happens to our spirit after it leaves our body. That is exactly what Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius do in On the Nature of Things and…

In 2011, about 1.1 million abortions were performed in the United States which is equivalent to 3,300 abortions per day. Based on these statistics from the article: “Abortion incidence and Service Availability in the US, 2011” it demonstrates how abortion is one of the most controversial issues in today 's society. There are many women who are completely against it, however, there might be others who believe that abortion is a reasonable choice. Under the Constitutional right, a woman has…

In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke sets out to construct his brand of epistemology and refine his definition of empiricism. Rather than contending that the mind is imprinted with information instinctually, Locke argues that not only does all knowledge stems from the subject’s experience of the material world by means of the subject’s senses. The senses, Locke argues, are “infallible” and the sole means by which we organize knowledge. To demonstrate the necessity of the senses…

The question of whether it is better that you feared or loved is very interesting and many people have their own opinions on this matter. One of the people who analyzed this question was Niccolo Machiavelli – one of the most famous Italian thinkers and political leaders of the Renaissance period. When the Medici family gained power in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli, who was back then a civil servant in the Florentine Republic - was accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. To…

When it comes to the subject of education, oftentimes many people are skeptical as to whether an institution is basically going to take their money or give them the instruction they expect. In our society today, we see that the cost of living is rising ever so slightly each and every year. With that, it costs colleges big and small far more to provide students with the educational resources that they need. These resources can consume anything from leisure activities to housing opportunities and…