Philosophical skepticism

Doubtful Dreams As any other philosopher, Rene Descartes was driven by the need to find the undeniable truth. He was very upset when he realized as a young man that many of the things he was taught in school was scarcely supported by evidence, if not out right false (Pojman & Vaughn, 2011, p.487). Therefore, when he began his foray into philosophy, he decided would deny and ignore all previously accepted opinions and build an entirely new foundation of truth to build on (Tweyman, 2013,…

references to wondering. And he the author was writing it to a Meditator which means that he was trying to teach him something that he already knew. Then why he didn’t even mention wondering? Maybe because it’s just a passion and it’s not very philosophical in spite of the fact that it leads to the philosophy. Would it change something if wondering was in the…

René Descartes’ main purpose was finding whether some truths really existed or not. Consequently, he understood that his aim would have been satisfied exclusively by doubting each belief he previously owned and, in order to do this, he had to meet the sceptical challenge of the evil genius. In this essay, I will start by explaining what the sceptical challenge is, examining other possible approaches to discover illusions, and arguing about what one I hold to be the most efficient. Afterwards, I…

with no values. Hume also states that we need to have passion, and that these passions shouldn’t be overdone or underdone. Our passions must be benign, cheerful, nonviolent, and social. Hume also puts a large emphasis on nature. He states, “Such a reflection certainly tends to mortify all our passions: But does it not thereby counterwork the artifice of nature, who has happily deceived us into an opinion, that human life is of some importance?” (Hume, 352). The artifice of nature means that…

otherwise they would not have aided in the survival and been selected for by evolution. The best argument against moral realism does not even need evolution to make us rightfully worry, but the inclusion of evolution weakens the argument, leading to skepticism again. Our disposition to make a distinction without a difference is a serious moral dilemma, but has no bearing on the current discussion since we are addressing the problem of evolution in relation to realism. The problem here is not in…

As you walk into a house you are confronted by one person who believes that “It’s wrong for a host not to offer a gift (beyond refreshments) to a visitor,” and another who believes that “No! It’s not wrong for a host not to offer a gift (beyond refreshments) to a visitor.” From an individual who has studied Harman’s belief in “moral judgement relativism,” and Ayer’s “expressivism,” it is important we understand why both philosophers’ views cannot make sense of this exchange. For context, Gilbert…

I believe that God allows evil to exist for reasons that we do not understand, but I also believe that he was not the one who created it. I believe that God created man, and that man created evil. According to the bible, God The reason as to why God allows evil may never be known, but others have arrived at the conclusion that God must want to teach people a lesson. Another theory is that he literally cannot or will not do anything to stop evil from happening because he gave us free will.…

Descartes has written six meditations on First Philosophy, with some being more important than the other. The third meditation does seem to stand out among the rest as the most important. The goal of this meditation is to find out if there is a God and whether or not God is a deceiver. After reading the third meditation, you take a step back to realize the importance of what the meditation had uncovered. There are different types of Ideas, which might not seem so important to the whole…

Many wonder what is the root of all evil and most conclude that people are simply innately evil or have a darkness in them that is waiting to show itself. The topic of evil and where it really comes from has caused a debate among many people who take a variety of stances. One such person, William Golding, writes a novel called Lord of the Flies to display his position on the topic of evil. Through his character’s in Lord of the Flies, Golding conveys his opinion that humans are born with natural…

In Boethius’s second commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge he discusses and attempts to answer some of the questions Porphyry poses in his work. These questions have according to Boethius “been attempted by learned men, but have not been solved by many of them” (20). The questions were whether or not Universals are subsistent or only in understanding, if they are subsistent are they corporeal or incorporeal in nature, and finally if they are separate from or component in the objects they classify. In…