Ontology

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…

Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God Philosopher Samuel Clarke introduced a myriad of reasons that are now considered the “Cosmological Argument” that directly attribute reason to the existence of a supreme being we humans consider “God.” Throughout this essay, I will be discussing Clarke’s Cosmological Argument, but I will be using the formulation from Professor Kearns’ notes. Clarke’s Cosmological Argument is founded on four premises and a single conclusion. This essay will analyze…

Chad Dubin Many philosophers have used the ontological argument to try to prove the existence of God. Descartes and Anselm are two examples of philosophers who have done so. Both use the concept of having the idea of God to try to prove his existence. However, the ontological argument for the existence of God is unsuccessful in proving his existence. Descartes uses the idea of existence being a property and an aspect of perfection to try to prove God’s existence while Anselm uses the concept…

This argument seems to be based on an assumption, on the part of Al-Ghazali, that there is a sense of possibility which is external and above God: one that even God must remain bound by. This can be seen in the juxtaposition of the conclusion and the sixth premise. In the conclusion, Al-Ghazali is content with the claim that God cannot have created a better creation since such a creation is not possible. In premise six, however, Al-Ghazali is quite unhappy with the notion that God is not able to…

The third argument against Descartes’ successful refutation is that he admits throughout his meditations that he can in fact be deceived, which means there is no way for him to refute the first meditation in and of itself as explained by the dream argument. “From these considerations it is utterly apparent that, notwithstanding the immense goodness of God, the nature of man, insofar as it is composed of mind and body, cannot help being sometimes mistaken” (140). This statement recognizes that he…

One either believes that there is a God that exists, or there is not. While there are numerous opinions on God’s existence, Blaise Pascal, author of “The Wager”, believes that there is a God. However, according to Pascal, a French philosopher, we cannot fully comprehend God. “The Wager”, which includes a psychological argument, consists of individuals who are willing to risk their own lives and bet on the existence of God. Essentially, the argument of this work is between philosophy and…

Question 1 and 2. Jackson’s knowledge argument is based on physicalism. In this document, he argues about even if you know about the conscious experience that brings about you but you would still be missing that information. This means that whatever that happens in the brain deep to the neuron, when sees red color it can produce the red experience of that color. But physicalist theory of mind would not be able to explain all the facts that account for it. Here in this article knowledge argument…

The idea of a supreme has been around since the beginning of time, and many different arguments have been used in attempt to prove the existence of a god. One of the most well-known arguments for the existence of the Judeo-Christian God is Anselm’s ontological argument. Ontological arguments use natural theology which attempts to prove God existence by using logic, reason, and shared evidence. Scripture, religious experience, and divine revelation are all used as tools. Many great philosophers…

The Roads of Reykjavik “In regard to the horizon, it is nothing that is in between and it is this nothing that you look at when you forget that you are looking out the window. You are not just looking, you are just thinking. But you don’t see anything. This is where you as the observer, create your own image, according to your own knowledge and experiences.” - George Gundi, Horizons. The day began as it ended. Looking through the window of Geocamp, watching the seemingly endless horizon.…

The world isn’t black and white. No one is only good or evil. People are not only one thing and nothing else. They change through their experiences in life that they go through and have multiple conflicting and diverse personality traits. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus is a perfect example of this. He is a hero and a good leader, but sometimes has lapses in judgment and doesn’t always do the right thing. He learns from his mistakes though and changes for the better. He is a…