John Locke, the foremost English philosopher of the early period of modern post-Cartesian philosophy, published in 1689 his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In this paper I shall look a little at the life of John Locke and the Essay¾ the work for which he is best known. JOHN LOCKE Not a...

Descartes meditations are based on the epistemological theory of rationalism: that is if someone truly knows something then they could not possibly be mistaken. He provides solid arguments for what his meditations stand for, and how he obtained a clear and distinct perception of "innate" ideas. In h...

In Descartes' meditations, Descartes begins what Bernard Williams has called the project of 'pure enquiry' to discover an indubitable premise or foundation to base his knowledge on, by subjecting everything to a kind of scepticism now known as Cartesian doubt. This is known as foundationalism, where...

Of all the topics that are currently occupying the attention of philosophers, the mind-b`ody problem is at center stage. It is one of the classical metaphysical issues concerning the relationship between that which is mental and that which is physical. The simple question asked is: what are we? Ar...

Nothing has ever progressed without building upon the less advanced that existed before it. Everything needs a step upon which to climb and build the next level, continuing forever an endless staircase. Knowledge is no exception, in that it too requires building upon the fundamentals in order to a...

Descartes and Socrates -- What Knowledge Is Two Approaches to KnowledgeThe concept of knowledge, what it is, what it means, and how it is gained, has been debated for literally centuries. Philosophers, historians, social scientists have questioned the components of knowledge and its acquisition and...