This paper addresses five questions from the views of classic philosophers. Human nature and human advantages can be investigated according to the theories of various philosophers, yet in many respects the views of a specific philosopher can best be used
1,150 words (approx. 4.6 pages), 5 sources, 2002, $ 44.95
Abstract This paper addresses five questions from the views of classic philosophers. Human nature and human advantages can be investigated according to the theories of various philosophers, yet in many respects the views of a specific philosopher can best be used to define and describe a particular circumstance. This paper first presents the five questions and then addresses these questions according to the two theories that best suit that given circumstance.
Tags: PHILOSOPHY / COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY, five question philosophers
Abstract In this paper, the writer describes the meaning and symbolism found in Hans Christian Anderson's "The Philosopher's Stone". The author examines the allegorical meaning behind the garden motif and blindness in the story. The paper also considers the intellectual times in which Anderson wrote this work, including the problems facing the 19th century. Despite these problems, Anderson concludes with encouraging his audience to have faith in humanity.
From the Paper "The mid to late 19th century was a time of questioning and change. It was the period that saw the prominence of revolutionary thinkers like Freud, Marx, and Darwin and literary innovators like Dickens and Zola. Thinking people of the period questioned what had come before them, but more importantly questioned what life had become. Social commentary and revolutionary thinking took center stage in this period (Morris). Hans Christian Andersen's tale "The Philosopher's Stone" comments on what has become of life by seeking the answer to one of the most important questions for humanity: What happens after death? Andersen uses this question to guide his tale. As Andersen has the characters search for the Philosopher's Stone, he weaves social commentary into the tradition of fairy tales in this piece from 1859."
Tags: Hans, Christian, Anderson, Philosopher's, Stone, allegory
Abstract This paper examines how major philosophers treat major philosophical questions by looking at the basic concepts, logic and reasoning and ideas of each philosopher. The philosophers under discussion are Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Lucretius, Anselm, Aquinas and Descartes.
From the Paper "Socrates reaches ethics social and political philosophy and logic in the Apology in part because of the circumstances that the text deals with and in part because of the way that Plato presents the structure of Socrates' arguments."
The paper discusses the development and character of philosophy, beginning with the intellectual Lonian thinkers and leading up to the most important philosopher before Socrates, Parmenides.
1,710 words (approx. 6.8 pages), 7 sources, 2001, $ 55.95
Abstract This paper is about Greek philosophy and the thoughts of the philosophers particularly during the flowering of Greek civilization. The paper tells the importance of the Greek philosophers between 600BC and 200 BC, and how they moved from myth to science to form the basis of all philosophical speculation in the Western World. The author discusses how the first philosophers looked for reality and truth, away from the traditions of mythology and religion.
From the Paper "Greek philosophy, particularly during the flowering of Greek civilization between 600 BC and 200 BC, comes to form the basis of all philosophical speculation in the Western World. The word philosophy comes from two Greek words "philo" and "sophia", which together mean ?love of wisdom.?. Experts are not really sure why the Greeks were the first to come up with the concept. To them it is a way of looking for reality and truth, away from the traditions of mythology and religion. ?Aristotle suggested that philosophy arose out of "wonder" or "puzzlement"? (Browning 17). Due to the Greek alphabet and its simplicity, literacy was widespread. Trade was the way of life that involved dealing with all sorts of novel peoples, cultures, practices, and ideas. The Greeks lacked professional priests and palace bureaucracies whose interests and teachings could have hindered their own speculative thought (Zeller 42)."
Tags: ancient, civilization, history, homer, philosophers, world
Abstract During the course of his discussion of synchronicity, Jung makes references to the philosophers Leibniz, Kant, and Schopenhauer. This paper gives a brief description of the traditional philosophical concepts of mind, reality, and meaning and then looks at each of these philosophers in detail. One finds that as Jung discusses each of these philosophers? contribution to the understanding of meaningful coincidences, he accepts the terms of the discussion, resulting in an unworkable understanding of synchronicity.
From the Paper "What we perceive will be unitary things, but in reality each of those things are aggregates of monads (simple, unextended substances) and known to us as such only through philosophical analysis. Furthermore, what we perceive in the phenomenal world will be subject to mechanical causality, but each monad is unique in that all changes and developments occur on the basis of each monad's potentialities ("entelechy"). Recall that these substances do not interact with each other, but their individual changes mirror the changes of other monads in perfect harmony. Each monad functions in each of their own ways, perceive things in their own ways, and reflects the infinite universe in their own ways?this entirety operating in harmony, pre-established by God."
Abstract By presenting the works and philosophical ideas of ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates and 1st Century Roman philosopher, Boethius, this paper examines how man seems to find consolation at the end of life's journey. The paper looks at Socrates' "The Apology" and Boethius' "Consolation in Philosophy".
From the Paper "The "Apology" gives rise to a number of arguments and defenses that Socrates and others make on their behalf. One of the first arguments made by Socrates is that of his visit to the oracle at Delphi. There the oracle tells Socrates that he is the wisest man and he decides to check the validity of the claim. With that Socrates does in fact find himself to be the wisest man in Athens."
An analysis of the role of the pre-Socratic philosophers in ancient Greece and their role in shaping philosophy into the discipline that we are familiar with in contemporary society today.
Abstract This paper examines many of the main pre-Socratic philosophers of 6th Century Greece. It explores their main strands of thought and their conceptions of the world around them. The paper also explores the different types of reasoning that were practised by different schools of philosophy, from more speculative angles progressing to critical thinking. The paper describes the philosophical foundations that were built upon by the later great philosophers Socrates, Aristotle and Plato.
From the Paper "Abstract thought about the nature of the world and of human existence began to appear in cultures all over the world during the sixth century BCE, and Greek philosophy expressed its' ideas in three main ways. These were speculative thinking, practical thinking and critical thinking. Speculative thinking expressed human curiosity about the world, and strove to understand in natural (rather than super natural) terms how things really are, what their composition was and how they functioned. "Speculation or speculative thinking designates a knowledge or cognition that transcends experience and is directed at the spiritual, super-natural and divine, fundamental to experience" . Practical thinking emphasized the desire to guide conduct by comprehending the nature of life and the place of human beings and human behaviour in the greater scheme of reality and was "directed at moral, ethical and other practical issues" . Finally critical thinking, (the hallmark of philosophy itself) involved a careful examination of the foundations upon which thinking of any sort must rely, tried to achieve an effective method for assessing the reliability of positions adopted on significant issues. Philosophers in general wanted to simply take part in the "rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct" . Similarly to Kant's critical philosophy, critical thought avoided both dogmatism and skepticism and tried to find a middle path that allowed it on the one hand to consider metaphysical principles as necessary constituents of a holistic philosophy and on the other, to re-think these principles on a different level or from another perspective, in the light of the latest insights in science, as well as in the light of the whole preceding development of mankind."
Abstract The paper discusses Plato's background, his works and contribution to Greek history and states that he was considered one of the most influential and prominent thinkers in the history of two millennia of Western philosophy. The paper reminds us that Platonists, Neoplatonists, and others have emerged, but Plato's influence is perhaps better judged in terms of the significance of the questions he has raised and the problem areas he has noted. The paper highlights that from philosophical points of view, Plato's dialogues are so well formed that even today they serve well as a student's first encounter with the philosophical practice of investigation and debate.
Outline:
Thesis Statement
Background
Historical Setting
Influence Of History
Plato's Profile
Life's Work
Influence of Plato's Work
Place in History
Significance
Conclusion
From the Paper "Besides being born into an illustrious family, Plato was born into an illustrious city. He was born in the stir of Athens's Golden Age, the period that had witnessed Athens's surfacing as the strongest Greek power (particularly through its leadership in repelling the invasions of Greece by the Persians), the birth of classical Athenian architecture, drama, and arts, and a florescence of Athenian cultural, cerebral, and political life. By the time of Plato's formative years, however, the military and cultural flowers that had bloomed in Athens had already begun to fade. (Tarrant, 289) A few years before Plato's birth, Athens and Sparta--its rival for Greek supremacy--had affianced their forces and those of their allies in the Peloponnesian War. "
Abstract This paper presents an overview of Plato's philosophical dialogues. The author examines of some of Plato's main philosophical beliefs on human nature, the importance of morality in a society, and that gaining knowledge for the sake of having knowledge would help people lead more truth filled and moral lives.
From the Paper "Since the beginning of our history, we have had many great philosophers guide us along the path of our societal evolution. Some were religiously based while others were secularly based but they all had something to contribute. Few of them though could compare to Plato when it came to understanding human nature and the ways of society more than Plato did. Plato is considered one of the greatest philosophers of all time. He had knowledge of the workings of the human mind and heart that kept him light years ahead of his time. Plato taught many things that can still be applied to today's society. As one of the heavyweights in the field of philosophy Plato covered more ground in his teachings than many others have ever done since."
Abstract This paper looks at the school of analytic philosophy by examining the writings of different philosophers in order to show how they answered questions about human thought. The role of mathematics, language analysis and linguistic analysis in this school of philosophy are examined in detail. The author also looks at the identity theory, and how it is defined by the different philosophers.
From the Paper "Linguistic analysis as a method of philosophy is as old as philosophy itself and was practiced by the Greek philosophy: Several of the dialogues of Plato, for example, examine the ways in which certain terms and concepts may be clarified using a form of analysis that Frege and Kripke would feel perfectly comfortable with. The 20th century revival of these concerns was influenced by the British empirical tradition of John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, and John Stuart Mill and by the writings of the German mathematician and philosopher Gottlob Frege (Munitz, 1971, p. 199). The precision of mathematics and links between mathematical concepts and idealized forms of linguistic expression are thus central to many of the arguments."
Abstract This paper discusses that Aristotle originated the development of logic and logical thinking as related to science and mathematics, independent of the mathematical influence from other Greek philosophers and scientists. The author presents details of Aristotle's life both as a scientist and as a philosopher. He concludes that Aristotle's greatest contribution was his ability to communicate his scientific thoughts that were far beyond his age.
From the Paper "Aristotle based his findings on his knowledge of Greek mathematics at the time, but since he created a new form of mathematical logic, his findings were also completely new and therefore independent of the mathematical influence from other Greek philosophers and scientists. He drew upon his teachings from Plato in his "Prior Analytics," then went on to refine it and add his own explanation for arriving at middle terms in equations and logical thought. "
Abstract The following paper is a literature review which is organized as simply as possible along an organized framework. First is a brief introduction to the present state of debate over educational leadership and its effects on the criteria and methodology used in source selection. The second section deals extensively with an analysis of literature dealing with the philosophy of education. The third section deals directly with the present socio-political state of the crises and the way in which theories of leadership shape the fabric of politics and society. The fourth section deals with the theories of reform which compete for the attention of the leader, and attempts to establish the most useful and important steps which may be taken. It is in this section that the concept of co-regulatory leadership is introduced and found to be superior to all others on not only a philosophical, political, and sociological standpoint, but also in terms of positive results for the school's academic success and the maintenance of a positive environment. An understanding of the different styles of leadership, the current sociopolitical conflict over schools, and the history of philosophical views on educational leadership is important because they have influenced a current proposal for effective schools.
From the Paper "Leadership is undoubtedly the single most important aspect in creating a school environment for success. The quality of leadership in schools has become increasingly important in school reform to improve academic achievement of the students enrolled in school. The school leader (generally the principle) is inevitably held accountable for raising test scores, ensuring quality teacher, and making certain that all children achieve high academic standards. Demands will constantly be made upon his/her person that he/she find a way to "fix" the problems with the system (such as those mentioned in Chapter 1), and unfortunately, just as often as not the more he/she tries to fix the problem, the worse it becomes, or the more other problems crop up to take its place. Certainly some would suggest that leadership is one of those rare disciplines which is best served when it is least practiced, that is to say, the best leaders are those which do not lead too much, but rather create an environment in which the "led" may actually learn to find their own way. (Allen, 1992; Beare, 2001; Gatto, 1992; Freire, 2000; Oyler, 1996) Students which are given the freedom to control their own destinies, guide their own education, and create their own environment, schedule, and society have proven time and again to be better adjusted and more learned than their over-dominated peers in leadership-intensive schools. (Freiberg & Rogers, 1994; Taylor, 1993.) It is in hopes of promoting an understanding of this approach, and facilitating leadership (or one might say replacing it) through power-sharing and democratic procedures, that the following literature review focuses so extensively on the philosophical/moral and the actual practicality of a co-regulatory approach."
Abstract The role of the philosopher in society, with reference to Plato's parable of the cave. It is argued that the philosopher is an observer, explorer and advisor on trends and desirable responses.
Abstract Three essays which discuss how the moral view of Kant differs from the views of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas; what problem is encountered with belief in God in Elie Wiesel's "Night" and Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Grand Inquisitor"; and what role the philosopher plays in society as depicted by Plato in his Apology, "Crito", and "The Republic".
Abstract This paper will discuss the pre-history of thought to the Grecian philosophy that became the central mode of thinking it their times. By analyzing the sense of ritualistic god worship that made created the thought patterns before the great Greek philosophers, we can see how magic and gods played a large role in the 'logic' that people used. How these periods in history have influenced mankind in the present tense will be briefly touched upon as well.
