Ontology

In both Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Freire’s “The Banking Concept of Education”, the two authors focus on a similar topic: education and delusions. In Plato’s Allegory, Plato discusses a scenario where prisoners, except for one who escapes, are inside a cave that impairs their ability to view the outside world. His writing is an allegory discussing his views of education and false beliefs with the use of the cave and the prisoners. Freire discusses two different styles of education: the…

In this essay I will describe Aristotle’s and Plato’s metaphysics and ethics, and show that Aristotle’s theory is superior. I will argue that Aristotle’s theory is more relatable to the layman. As such, if taught to the masses, will be better understood, and therefore more widely accepted and put into practice. I will also show that while it is a less challenging concept to grasp, it is not inferior for that reason. If the ultimate goal is to better the world, we have to start with what we have.…

In the first meditation, Descartes introduces his usage of the first person, he uses this as a rhetorical device so that the reader can identify with what he is claiming. The meditator comes to realize that he believes many things that are potentially false. He states that through a method of doubt he can rid himself of the false beliefs and build a new foundation based on certainty. If he has any uncertainty about a belief, then he will go after the foundation, instead of a superficial layer.…

When it comes to the existence of God, there are many arguments. Some say that God does not exist while others try to explain how the universe was created. Saint Thomas Aquinas gives a cosmological view on whether God exists. In his article, Whether God Exists, he provides five arguments to support his view. The first article talks about motion. Just like the Myth of the Cave the prisoners used their senses to survive on a daily basis. Your senses prove that things are in motion. This shows…

Felicity, Is it subjective or objective? Do people strive to attain happiness by means of their own understanding of the world? Can it be compared to reality, where we try to base our view of what is real and true as much as we are capable of through own perhaps incomplete reasoning? Likewise for happiness do we all devote our time to obtain that happiness as closely as possible, according to our own understanding or is it all just subjective? Have your heard of a cliché statements such as ‘Mind…

Even though the Meditations First on Philosophy was published in 1641 by René Descartes, he started working on this book in 1639, as revolution of sorts that ended with the Prince of Orange intervening on René’s behalf. This “controversy led Descartes to post two open letters against his enemies” that got him to involve a Prince and Princess, and charges where raised that “stemmed from various misunderstandings about his method and the supposed opposition of his theses to Aristotle,” the things…

Sometimes it is easier to blame other for our wrongdoings, than to admit to oneself and taking full responsibility for our own actions. In the book Existentialism and Human Emotions, the author, Jean-Paul Sartre address the statement, “existence precedes essence” and makes two logical conclusions such as freedom and responsibility that ties to the concepts of anguish, forlornness, and despair. The understanding of “existentialism precedes essence” is an awareness that there is no predefined…

In the first two chapters of his essay “Problems of Philosophy” Bertrand Russell explains an alternative solution to philosophical problems that many other philosophers have answered in many different but often similar ways. Problems such as is sense data a sign of physical objects, is there matter at all and if so, what is the nature of a physical object (Bertrand Russell 12-13)? From these questions he later asks: can we take other people’s perceptions into consideration, and are there…

An integral part of philosophy, and the philosophy of mind, is the study of epistemology. Each of the philosophers studied this term have varying approaches of the study of knowledge. Tyler Burge is no different in this circumstance. In Reason and the First Person, Burge does not clearly state what his idea of knowledge is, nor does he provide much of his opinions on the importance of knowledge. A large part of Burge’s ideas of epistemology are shaped by the philosophy of the mind, and the idea…

Ryle rejects the idea that the mind is an inner cause of behavior. He maintains and critizes the views layed forth in what he calls the “Official Doctrine.” It is an attempt to change the view on the works of Rene Descartes. Rene Descartes believed that the mind and body worked together in a dualist system. Ryle challenges that concept with what he referes to Descartes work as the ghost in the machine. He believed that the mind is separate from the body and that Descartes looked at words in…