In his essay "Robust Relativism", Joseph Margolis dissects the theory of cultural relativism in order to answer pressing questions about the status of cultural objects and practices. Can interpretations of cultural objects such as art and music be determined as logically true or false? Even if some...

Bernard is a main character who is not a scientist and has basically no scientific background. From the moment he is introduced, he is portrayed as eccentric and odd. Here Bernard is described for the first time: "Bernard, the visitor, wears a suit and tie. His tendency is to dress flamboyan...

Throughout the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard there is a distinct difference between the characters who have a science background and those who do not. One of the recurring themes is that those characters and actions of those characters which are against science often lead to conflict and disaster...

Catch-22Rationale: A logical basis or reason for something. War: Armed conflict or struggle between nations. War appears to have a rational basis and be logical in its reasons. But war is not, it is crazy and irrational, and leads people to be the same. So is the story of Catch-22. It follows ...

What does it mean to know something is true? - Why is it necessary to differentiate between what you know and do or can not know? - When do you doubt what you thought you sincerely knew? This critical essay of epistemology focuses on skepticism, and why philosophers such as John Hospers challenge a...

Krissy Robinson September 24, 2004 UNIV 3581: Faith Reason & Imagination Essay#1 When I first enrolled in this course I was unsure of what to expect. I was unsure of what Faith Reason and Imagination were; when it came to the educational realm of the word. I say that, because Faith and Rea...

David Hume was one of the greatest thinkers in Western History. He was an 18th century philosopher who looked at the world in logical terms. He was a realist who, through philosophy, sought to distinguish between the impression of human experience and the ideas, which are changing repre...

A WORLD VIEW COMPARISON In breaking down my worldview, I discovered that I am not oriented towards one major view of life but a combination of many. One view that dominates is the Christian theistic view. It is a view that was taught to me from early childhood. I have come to realize and accep...

Plato uses the myth of the cave to address several important concerns of philosophy, the role of the philosopher and his journey to Knowledge. The story presents a group of men living in an underground cave. They are chained to a wall such that they can only see the back wall of the cave. There is...

Descartes second consideration on the existence of God relies on his belief of the certainty of clear and distinct perceptions. In the meditations prior to meditation five Descartes emphasized the truth evoked by everything which is clearly and distinctly perceived. Descartes is able to theorize tha...

"Conscience created or innate"To what extent do you think you are dictated by your surroundings and your up-bringing? Do you claim your opinions to be your own? Do you trust your logic and your conscience? These are questions that are seldom asked by ourselves or by others. In fact, these kinds ...

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...

God and the Platypus In the beginning there was man. That seems like a lofty statement, doesn't it? It is apparent that throughout the course of conscious human existence, people have looked for answers to questions that have ultimately eluded them. However it is in the humble opinion of t...

I bark, therefore I am: The question of rational animals Many individuals look at their dog or cat and wonder what the furry little creatures are thinking or question the reasoning behind a particular action. Here is encountered a very large debate in the philosophical and psychological world...

Story Truths In any story, there are the actual events that occur and things that are placed in a story to fill in missing parts of the narrative. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien uses a narrative type called "story truth," in which the events and the details are fi...

Putting the Allegory of the Cave into my own words seems comparable to the Christian idea of using the lord's name in vain. First, I'd like to introduce a phenomenon I have observed throughout my life time. I call it soul resonance. Bear with me here. When two objects emit sympathetic vibrati...

To Hume, the concept of morality was not a universal concept, but a human construct founded on reason and human sentiment. The fact that individuals dispute whether an action is right or wrong and use a rational form of discussion to reach a conclusion is strong proof in favor of morality being foun...

In order to properly critique the quote "Reason is the slave of the passions", by renowned philosopher David Hume, we must first examine the definitions of what we perceive as reason, slaves, and passions, and why we perceive them as such. Each term takes on an automatic, assumed quality by most ...

Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations; that his illustrations of Ideas are merely empty metaphors; and that they theory uses impermanent abstractions to create examples of perception. T...

Why Conservative Churches Are Growing In this book Kelley addresses the issue that many mainline denominations are drastically decreasing in size and yet there are churches and religious groups that are growing, and the question is what is the difference between the two? The thesis of the book ...

Of Love and Other Demons "Benedictus qui venit in nominee veritatis." Blessed is he who comes in the name of truth Abrenuncio de Sa Pereira Cao declared. Truth is the common thread that ties this story of trial together. The truth that is being sought after is the truth of the Church ...

The Question of Certainty We are living in a world where there are various theories, views and opinions about many different issues. These theories, views and opinions are changing, as everyday new scientific discoveries are made and new theories conducted. Consequently, our knowledge and what we ...

Pre-Socratic Philosophy: ParmenidesParmenides (pronounced as: parmenidz) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and poet, as well as a leading figure of the Eleatic school of philosophy. Son of Pyres, Parmenides was born of an illustrious family in Elea between B.C. 505-515. Elea was a colony locate...

I belief that not everything in this world needs to be proven, God for example.Not everybody believes in God even if people saw him some will still deny. We do not need to prove it, and why should we care if someone doesn't believe it. Believing in God is a personal faith and everyone is free to bel...

William Shakespeare and Sophocles are playwrights that illustrate their keen understanding of human behavior. In the plays Oedipus the King and Othello, we observe man's inability to reliably distinguish between what seems to be and what actually is. Additionally, we are shown how different ...