Philosophical Theories Essay Examples and Topics

It is possible to note that Rawls' philosophy can be applicable in the contemporary world as it addresses major issues associated with unequal distribution of resources.

These principles are the principles of social justice; they provide a way of assigning duties and privileges in the basic institutions of society and they define the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of [...]

The positive legal norm which does not correspond to the high-frequency behavior of the living law is the one that ought not to be.

The article "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" by Rachels explores the issue of ethics. According to Rachels, cultural relativism fails to support the existence of universal moral standards.

It confirms the close relationship between certainty and doubt, namely that the absence of one gives rise to the other. To conclude, the concepts of certainty and doubt are close and intertwined in many things [...]

It is a unique way of philosophical understanding of reality, the general idea of which is the fundamental category of the process.

The first aspect of Aristotelian defense of justice, which is crucial to discuss, is the fact that, according to the philosopher, justice is relative to others.

In this passage, Confucius addressed the role of the family in the growth and development of a nation. Being the smallest unit in the nation, the family plays a vital role in ensuring the stability [...]

Without the body of the argument, the title expresses that there is a form of lying that is not considered immoral.

Theories such as rationalism the Intuition/Deduction thesis and Innate Knowledge thesis which support the notion that there is the existence of intrinsic or instinctive knowledge or the subsistence of a priori knowledge, knowledge of necessary [...]

One of the basic virtues of a human being is to be rational, and it enhances all other virtues. A human being must have the ability to select his actions, goals, and values carefully for [...]

The feeling of empathy comes up when there is a clear difference between the person being empathetic and the one who is the subject of empathy.

I have seen that Rene Descartes contribution in philosophy and natural science stood the test of time; therefore, he became a hero' on the other hand, Karl Marx's contribution in social science did not stand [...]

The contribution of Immanuel Kant to the modern philosophy made him be considered as one of the greatest and the most remarkable philosophers existed in the 18th century.

Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to discuss theory of Forms as one of the main contributions of Plato.

On the other hand, the teleological ethical perspective states that the results for all actions matter in determining the nature of the undertaken decisions.

The essence of the avocado vs.artichoke debate lies in the dynamic of opposing ideas of essentialism and proteanism in philosophy. Both views present quite polarizing extremes and have outdated pre-conceived notions, as in the case [...]

Although Barthes had not contemplated anything of the sort, his efforts and the efforts of others led to the establishment of the structuralism movement in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Therefore, it seems that the Glorious Revolution was more of a revelation for the people of their power to choose and to change.

Kant explains genius as the ability that is bestowed upon producers or artists of fine art whereby the origin of the idea of creating the work cannot be explained such as a scientist's discovery path.

According to the Bible, a tree of life was created by God in the middle of the Garden of Eden. In the Iroquois Creation Story, a tree was growing in the middle of the floating [...]

Yao reacts against the constricted view of the philosophy, which comes from failure to open into the historical development of the philosophy and the role of the Confucian tradition as a whole in advancing Confucianism.

It is necessary to underline the fact that the thinker strived to clarify common features of his Divided Line and the allegory of the Cave; the analysis of his philosophy gives an opportunity to realize [...]

According to Locke, the state of nature is a state of perfect freedom and a state of equality that is only bound by the law of nature.

Inception has a philosophical argument in the plot which resonates with Rene Descartes' reasoning on the nature of reality and the mind's interpretation of its experience.

According to Holinger, a world class citizen relates well with other groups, and all human beings: Cosmopolitan is about justice, which should be evident in all aspects and it must be the one governing the [...]

1 This is a classless principle calling for justice equality promoting mutual understanding; nevertheless, taken the way it is, this principle would confuse people on some issues and this is why Rawls compliments it with [...]

Main Kant's idea was in the necessity of both reason and experience for human beings. In his opinion, Synthetic judgments are opposite to analytic and are not sufficient to decide the importance of proposition.

Also, his philosophy conveys the importance and the beauty of the life of faith in the midst of a discouraging world.

The ideas which do not resemble the objects that caused them are the ones of secondary qualities: sound, color, odor, and taste.

Hume's argument gets interesting when he postulates that regardless of the number of times we witness a succession of events, we cannot predict the succession of events.

Kant indicates that the goodness has not to contain a meaning of the consequences and results, it is good in itself.

Generally, peace is achieved by creating a government and forsaking individual rights in favor of one entity to ensure humans' chaos-less existence.

This idea is based on the supposition that it is impossible to be the one and the other at the same time.

As opposed to the rational theory, the empiricism theory estimates that the main source of knowledge is the experience which can be based on the "perceptional observation of the world".

Platonic philosophy, precisely the concept of world of forms, had dominated the medieval era that subjected the human body, as a shadow of a real body in the world of forms, to little or no [...]

Socrates and Euthyphro show that the application of justice in different societies is not always fair. Plato's arguments are ambiguous because they do not offer a rational basis about how religion can be used to [...]

As they argue with Socrates on the issue of injustice, Thrasymachus says that justice "is nothing more than the advantage of the stronger". According to them, the cardinal aim of Thrasymachus is to prove that [...]

Kant argues that, "a person is good or bad depending on the motivation of their actions and not on the goodness of the consequences of those actions".

This is the study of value that surpasses the ability of a man to reason over the universe and its state on the whole.

The main aim of this paper is to look into the arguments presented by Rene Descartes and David Hume on the issue of the self.

Can it happen that truth is a kind of agreement between a belief and a real life fact, or is it possible that a true belief should cohere with other true beliefs, or is it [...]

Cartesian developed the Cartesian Dualistic Theory of Pain to explain the relationship between physical and psychological types of pain. Therefore, Descartes developed the Cartesian Theory of pain to explore pain in the context of mind [...]

It would not be an exaggeration to state that Plato's allegory of the cave only makes perfect sense if one views it in the light of the theory of forms.

In the end, both Hobbes and Locke come to agree on a rather plan ground that, in the state of nature, human behaviors are supposed to be guided by the laws of nature.

The only way the truth will be concealed and still lead to happiness is when the truth is substituted with a lie.

The allegory of the cave can serve in revealing some of the key reasons to mistrust the views of the majority.

As Plato recounts the episode "Myth of Er" found in the republic dialogue phaedo and the story of time reversal in the statesman, a clear view of the hierarchical arrangement of the cosmos is illuminated.

Nietzsche in the seventh maxim asks whether man is a result of the erroneous work of God or God is the error of man.

In order to comprehend whether Nietzsche kept to such an idea of the dead God in all his works, and Beyond Good and Evil in particular, it is better to analyze his original works, written [...]

Hobbes' philosophy of morality is based on his knowledge of the social compact and human nature. Hobbes' morality, in contrast, is based on self-interest and the requirement for social order.

Nietzsche regarded that every personality needs to arrange their moral structure: the key point of principles is to facilitate every individual to sublimate and regulate their obsessions, to emphasize the originality inherent in their being, [...]

In his description of the ideal society, Plato explains that people in the society are not advised to act without knowledge such that before a city is erected, full understanding of justice should be known.

In his argument, the writer notes that the Internet is taking over the human mind. The audience is also able to relate the issues in the argument with the effects caused by computers.

The moderate philosophical inclination anchors on the role of reason in the acquisition of knowledge. The extreme standpointthe posits the relevance of reason as the sole gateway to the acquisition of knowledge.

Geertz's and Weber's argument is that religion influences the actions of various group members because it is larger as compared to the actions of any individual in a group.

The Entitlement Theory of Justice is intended to submit an explanation of what justice necessitates in relation to property and is divided into three doctrines which are; the principle of justice in rectification, justice in [...]

The open question argument is an attempt of George Moore, an English philosopher, to prove that natural properties cannot be reduced to moral ones.

The emergence of new transcendental ideas reshaped the American literature introduced in the works by Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman in such a way that it contributed to the excellence and maturity of the literary world [...]

Though called 'apology' by Plato, the speech is not actually an apology- Socrates was attempting use his wisdom to justify his teachings and beliefs, and not to apologize for his actions.[2] First, his concise and [...]

The concept of social constructivism gives people the power to create and encourages them to create a positive world that they will exist in peace.

In contrast to them, Richards elaborated a theory of phenomenal attraction that falls into the category of sexual concepts but differs from the notion of sexual arousal.

The first doctrine is that the more recondite phenomena of the mind are formed out of simple parts. Associationism is the theory of psychology explaining the connection between thoughts and past experiences.

The ideas of the Polish novelist in the Heart of Darkness aimed at unraveling the issues that faced ivory traders in the Congo basin meaning the author attempted to look beneath the surface.

Aquinas focuses on the intentions of an actor as a basis on which the determination of the level of the permissibility of an action that results in serious harm is made.

Consequentialism is a concept in normative ethics that opines that the goodness or badness of an action is determined by the impacts of the action and not the motive of the doer.

The idea of fleeing the real world that is habitable in the thinking of man, to the desert preoccupied by fear, dangers and uncertainty refers to the need for independence of the spirit.

As a result, a tragedy's focus should be on the heroic deeds of its protagonists and the various factors that contribute to the tragic ending.

Based on this, Karl Marx stated that the products produced by the communally owned means of production should be divided equally to avoid classes and ranks in societies.

Rene Descartes, a French philosopher and the founder of the mathematical rationalism, was one of the prominent figures in the field of philosophy of the 17th century.

He claimed that the sophists were selling the wrong education to the rich people. The methods of teaching that the sophists portrayed in Athens were in conflict with Plato's school of thought.

Compatibilism is closely linked to causal determinism in that it agrees with the fact that past events affect future events. In essence, people are not locked to determinism only but also to the fact that [...]

The author says that the scholar should explore the nature in themselves, and "he shall see, that nature is the opposite of the soul, answering to it part for part.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze critically the concept of the sublime as presented by Immanuel Kant in his work 'The Critique of Judgment'.

He explores the forms of cognition and considers the question of the sources of the formation of ideas and concepts. Locke believes that external experience and perception give ideas of such qualities that belong to [...]

In other words, his theory of utility is based on the principle of moral obligation: the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people who are involved or affected by the action performed by one [...]

The allegory is preceded by the analogy of the divided line and metaphor of the son. Descartes is considered to be one of the greatest rationalists.

However, when it comes to Heraclitus, he believes that fire is the principle of all that exists. In addition to that, Heraclitus further develops his idea by mentioning that the existence of fire is commensurate [...]

Therefore, using several rules of good definitions, the notion virtues is going to be defined with the further explanation of the rules used for this, Meno says that the virtue of a woman is to [...]

Additionally, it has been documented that one of the major virtue of philosophy is its ability to teach not what to think rather how to think.

Through this, he learned that it was impossible for him to deny the existence of God. In the chapter, he argues that the lack of God's existence was impracticable.

It can be noted that in all cases suffering was seen as evil in some quarters of the ancient world as is seen today.

In particular, Diotima deliberates on the concept of love and refers to other related notions, such as wisdom, knowledge, truth, and divinity to define the place of love in the material world.

The test for universal acceptance involve: determining the agent's maxim; imagining that everyone in the same position as the real-world agent observed that maxim; deciding if there is any contradictions generated from the maxim; if [...]

The main concern of Foucault consists in the way technology has influenced quest for power among the ruling class in the society, and also the reason as to why the society is violating the rules [...]

Rawls asserts that for equality to take place, the activities have to better lives of people who are worse off in terms of improvement of living standards and empowerment of disadvantaged members to levels which [...]

To downplay the importance of sense experience, Plato and Descartes show that sense experience can never be a cause of experience since the objects captured through it are vulnerable to change.

Although Leibniz tries to explain the essence of the ultimate reason for existence by the invocation of the presence of a metaphysical reason, he also continues to illustrate the mechanism that relates the metaphysical reason [...]

In the realm of political thought, there exists a troubling paradox: how is it that the political elite can continue to lie to the populace with impunity, particularly when the populace is well aware of [...]

This examines the foundation of the position, his understanding of the nature of thought and the body, the essential certainty, and its conception.

Although he makes a strong case for the existence of happiness, the foundation and organization of his article are less strong, which eventually lessens the general effect of his argument.

Partridge investigates the film's fundamental coherence with Plato's text and the numerous superficial connections between Plato's cave-dwellers and the humans trapped in The Matrix.

The world of The Matrix is one of the examples of the precarity of that, which may be called the real world as perceived by the beholder.

The discussion addresses the query of whether continental philosophy considers that sensible human agency has the potential to alter the setting of people's experience.

He asserts that the duration of an activity and the intensity of pleasure are very important in measuring the levels of pleasure.

The fact that there is a long tradition involving the slaughter of animals for food does not justify the killing of animals.

Why? Frankfurt's arguments are very applicable to the case of the 'Amputees by Choice.' His first argument is that of persons and nonpersons.

Locke believes that the world is physical and thus in his account of solving the mind body problem, he says that the mind and body are just one and the same thing and continues to [...]

Crito insists that a person must listen to the opinion of the majority, and Socrates argues that it is impossible to pay attention to the opinions of all the people because it is important to [...]

And as lying is a form of communication, and people know this fact, the only way out in order not to be defrauded is stop communicating.

In philosophical terms, the concept of matter advances the fact that all things are made up of matter and all thoughts are created as a result of the interaction of matter.

Because of his freedom the free man gets the privilege of comparing the two worlds and he is in a position to judge on what is real and what is not real. He insists that [...]

The task of the social leaders is to orient to interests of the majority in order to avoid the opposition of the public which can lead to revealing the negative qualities of people living in [...]

His speech has a somber tone and tells the fabled story of the beginning of love. Aristophanes creates the notion that the earliest humans were androgynous a combination of both male and female using his [...]

The Confucian gentleman is the one who lives by the highest moral standards and aims to help others achieve the realization of this goal.

Real justice, according to Nozick, consists in the appropriation of holdings or their original acquisition, their fair and consensual transfer and the protection of the right to their property.

The straw man fallacy is a type of logical fallacy whereby one person misrepresents their opponent's question or argument to make it easier to respond.

The main problem that makes the difference between nominalism and realism is the question of the existence of properties beyond objects.

Then Moore identifies how the human/nature binary, inherent to the approach, has separated humanity from the web of life and become integral to the current public conversations about the environment. In conclusion, the essay re-contextualizes [...]

For harmony to prevail, human beings have to live in accordance to the two kinds of order; that is nature and convention.

Or to put it the other way around: For the moneymaking, auxiliary, and guardian classes each to do its own work in the city is the opposite.

The framers had in mind the preservation of the public good, and not the promotion of private interest. The notation that the motivation to maintain a position of power can be destructive was addressed by [...]

It tries to unravel the nature of truth and knowledge and to find out the basic values and importance of life.

On the other hand, dualism denies physicalism, or that the physical facts of human bodies do not determine the composition of human beings.

In its turn, this is the direct consequence of the fact that, in order for this civilization to remain on the path of progress, in the linear sense of this word, it may never cease [...]

The Sumerians inspired the Hindus to write the Ramayana and Mahabharata poetic stories on the power of the gods and the ideals on how people should live.

Overall, it is possible to argue that the philosophy of ancient Greece is mostly associated with the names of such prominent thinkers as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Hume disqualifies the existence of miracles, as the Christian religion is weaker and more insubstantial as compared to the evidence that comes with one's experience.

Heidegger concludes that authenticity is temporary as opposed to inauthenticity because we are born with the former and achieves the later after some time Nietzsche on his view argues that authenticity is the elementary mode [...]

The theory is the opposite of utilitarianism in the sense that it considers both the means and the end, as opposed to utilitarianism which focuses only on the end.