Ontology

In this guided response paper, I will attempt to answer the following questions regarding the Evolution of Spartan Strategy during the Peloponnesian War using the ends-ways-means-risk construct: 1. How much did Spartan strategy change and why? And, 2. How did Sparta adapt its strategies as the realities, risks and length of the war changed, and why? After extensive readings of The Landmark Thucydides and discussions in seminar, I have come to the conclusion that while the Spartan’s strategic…

The influential work of Michel Foucault has provided academic literature a unique theoretical understanding of the self and its relation to subjectivity and power. As Abercrombie, Hill, and Turner (1986, p. 43) stated, Foucault’s work has greatly contributed to the studies on the self, specifically targeting its history. This paper will explore the criticisms regarding Foucault’s ideas about the subject and power. More specifically, this paper will discuss his claims about disciplinary power and…

In his essay “Discourse on Method,” Descartes argues that the reason our conclusions vary in knowledge is that we do not have a systematic or methodical way of thinking. Therefore, in his essay he tries to provide such a method which could conduct our minds to achieve a complete and certain truth. Though, I wonder, how could one single person be able to come up with a method that could be used by everyone, and function for everyone in the same way. though Descartes was an intelligent philosopher…

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been around for thousands of years. Philosophers have been using arguments as an attempt to prove 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, some philosophers use evidential approaches to establish the existence of God. Often, these approaches include pragmatics or direct perception, such…

In this stage people rely on supernatural agencies to explain things that are unexplainable. It is believed that the universe is “not governed by invariable law of sequence but by single and direct volitions of beings, real or imaginary, possessed of life and intelligence”(Maheshwari, 2013). People believe that all phenomena are created and influenced by gods and supernatural forces. According to Comte “all theoretical conceptions, whether general or special bear a supernatural…

Much of the world can be seen through the lenses of dualities. Phenomena such as dark and light, life and death, and day and night are important to understanding the world. Both parts exist in the same whole, and both are important for sustaining the world we live in. In the sacred Hindu text The Bhagavad-Gita, dualities are put on a unique pedestal, where they are both praised for being how the cosmos function and criticized for their tendency to lead to worldly obsession. A reflection of both…

In his work, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume creates an entirely new approach to human knowledge. Using this novel method of philosophy, Hume strives to apply the rigor of scientific methodology to philosophical reasoning. He achieves this through a crucial distinction between matters of fact and the relations of ideas, in which he asserts that experience alone is the only certain way to gain substantial knowledge of the world since ideas can be altered or manipulated by…

The views of these philosophers on the existence and nature of external objects are distinct based on their views. You have Leibniz and Spinoza believe in Monadology meaning they believe everything in the world is made up of monads. While Locke, Descartes, Hume, and Berkley are Imperialist with their views. Descartes believes that the existence and nature of an external object is that an existing thing needs nothing but its self in order to exist. We do not perceive the substances but just…

In his book On the Plurality of Worlds, David Lewis introduces his counterpart theory. Lewis presents this as a solution to the concerns of possible world theory – namely the claims that possible worlds exist as concrete objects, “entering into spatiotemporal relations with each other and nothing else” – consequently making concrete possible worlds exist. However, one possible world cannot interact or affect another possible world, making them ‘spatiotemporally closed off’. This description is…

Beyond creating the self-moving Beest, the materials and methods of which Jansen described are fundamental to what makes him an artist, and more specifically, a kinetic sculptor. Within his Beest sculptures, Jansen employs several of the elements and principles of art. Through his ever-present use of tubing, Jansen creates several vertical and horizontal lines, these come together to form geometric shapes, and the overall structure is a form composed of several smaller forms, often cubes. Both…