Western philosophy

Greek philosophy is widely considered as the beginning of organized Western thought. Mathematics, science (including biology, cosmology, and physics), political theory, psychology and more were all developed in the Greek era. Ancient Greece’s influence on philosophy is so abundant that the works of Plato are often considered the footnotes of western philosophy. In making such a bold conviction it is only to say that Ancient Greece marked the starting point for Western philosophy. In this paper I will explore the the cultural components of Greek philosophy and how it has impacted and given me a better understanding of American culture. Deep thought began with the Ancient Greeks. Of course that is not to imply that civilizations such as ancient…

Immanuel Kant is a phenomenal philosopher whose works has shaped the nature of western philosophy. He has made profound contributions in metaphysics and ethics through academic articles like The Critique of Pure Reason, which has intense knowledge on topics like what man can possibly know. I. Kant challenged the concept of suicide. a. Kant believed in human autonomy and believed that freedom has paramount importance taking precedence over life itself. i. One should believe the reason, because…

Augustine rejects Skepticism Augustine was a theologian and philosopher; he is known to be one of the most influential fathers in Western Christianity for his various writings. He saw humans as a unity of two elements: soul and body. He was not worried about giving exact explanations about what he thought. Augustine’s theory of knowledge begins with the thought that there is such thing as a thing called truth and this truth is accessible to human reason. He used several arguments against…

Origins of Philosophy What is “stuff” made of? From where and from whom does “stuff” come into existence? These were most likely the types of questions the very first philosophers of the West asked. 6th century BCE is estimated to be the time when early Greek philosophers began to take the first steps forward to questioning topics that were often noted as dogmatic (Stumpf 3). Western philosophy took questions about the universe, world, and everything inside of it and searched for a reasonable…

Western’s a genre with a purpose For almost as long as the medium of filmmaking has existed so too has the Western first showcased in Edwin S. Porter film The Great Train Robbery. Though overall a simple film in retrospect the way in which it pushed the medium forward was revolutionary in containing a narrative. Cowboys are the initial American heroes of filmmaking which all others pull from; Westerns as a male focused genre the central genre trope of masculinity have been constructed on a…

The following essay will compare the cinematic language of the two Western classics Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) while analyzing the claim that both film respectably are pioneers of the Western genre during their times proven on the basis of their original work in editing and narrative, and its influence on other filmmakers. After a brief summary of both movies, I will continue with the analysis of both, in particular with the formal…

The brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and Wes Anderson are known for their distinctive visual and thematic styles of film making. Although their respective films The Big Lebowski and The Royal Tenenbaums both have a unique style all their own they do share a theme. This shared narrative motif is a nostalgic yearning for, or perhaps even obsession, with the past. In The Big Lebowski this obsession with the past can be seen at the very beginning of the film as we follow a tumbling tumbleweed, an iconic…

Western Film “For over forty years, from 1926 to 1967, Hollywood produced more Westerns than any other kind of film” (pg.243). The western film I chose was one of Sergio Leone’s famous trilogies, which included A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. These are known as Spaghetti Westerns. The film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly takes place during the American Civil War and follows three men on the hunt for Confederate gold. Many westerns focus…

The Searchers is a “classic” western. It tells the story of Ethan Edwards who is accompanied by his nephew Martin Pawley and their five-year-long search to find his niece after she is captured and her family killed by the Comanche Indians. Little Big Man is a “revisionist” western. It tells the story of Jack Crabbe, a 121-year-old man asked to tell his story about his life, which includes being captured and raised by the Indians and living in a white society with a variety of jobs leading him to…

coming from the back or the side of the main characters” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, section 6.4). Ultimately, the type of lighting has assessed the impact of high contrast and very deep shadows in many of the indoor/outdoor scenes to establish the western theme. ◦What are the benefits of the style of lighting used? The benefits of the lighting style used to enhance the hardness of life on the Western frontier, therefore, giving the movie viewers a real sense of the western time and its…