Philosophical Theories Essay Examples and Topics

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435 samples

A Critique of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice

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 [...]
  • 2.3
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2420

Marxist’s Views on Industrial Revolution

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.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1541

The Certainty and Doubt Relationship

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 [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 890

Sense experience is the only source of knowledge

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 [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2164

Divided Line and the Allegory of the Cave

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 624

Nozick’s Entitlement Theory

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 [...]
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  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1969

Immanuel Kant Ethics

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".
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 930

The Theory of Knowledge by Immanuel Kant

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.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 546

Avocado vs. Artichoke: Can Human Nature Change

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 [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 368

John Rawls’ Theory of Justice

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 [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1188

The Two Main Types of Morality Behind Nietzsche’s Theory

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, [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1050

Kant’s Ethics: Objection to Lying

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.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1378

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

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 [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1103

Rene Descartes and Karl Marx’s Philosophy

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 [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 942

Cartesian Dualistic Theory of Pain

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 630

The Purpose of Man

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 [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 814

Transcendentalism in American Literature

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 [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1384

Reflection on Confucianism

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.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 966

Theories of the Creation of the World

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 [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 385

Philosophy: Roland Barthes as a Structuralist

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.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 340

Philosophy Issues: Kantianism and Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism can be explained using the principle of 'the end justifies the means', meaning if the end of a processor action is good, then the means of arriving at that end are also good and [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1370

Kant’s Formula of Universal Law

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 681

The Role of Gods in Plato’s Philosophy

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.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2081

Kant’s Critique of Judgment

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'.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1748

Wilhelm Dilthey’s Hermeneutic Perspective

Consequently, the subject matter, which is the suitability of Dilthey's modes of apprehension to revealing the common ideas of groups of citizens from the perspective of hermeneutics, can be understood by discussing others' views.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 570

Ayn Rand’s Theory of Rational Egoism

The theory of rational egoism developed by Ayn Rand seems an optimal approach to the resolution of personal and societal issues from the moral perspective despite the presence of contradicting opinions in this regard.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 293

Humanism of Renaissance Era

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 [...]
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  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1248

John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice

The first clause calls for distribution economic and social disparities in a way that, "they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society".
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2063

Kant’s Theory of Artistic Creativity and Genius

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.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1120

Epistemology, Rationalism vs. Empiricism

Studying it, obtaining new and new facts, enlarging his knowledge, man started to think not only about the principles of the functioning of the surrounding world, but about the ways his percepts the information and [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 512

Bentham’s and Mill’s Theory of Utility

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 636

The Theory of Good Life

In this theory, Aristotle refers to a good life as being a happy life. Aristotle says that good life, since it is a final end, is explained in terms of human functions.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1452

Heraclitus: Fire Is the Principle of Everything

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 [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1003

Plato’s and Aristotle’s Theories of Human Nature

Chapter five of Kupperman's book "Theories of human nature" looks at great philosophers, namely Plato's and Aristotle's points of view in trying to define humanity. The writer tries to illustrate the complexity of defining a [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 301

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, there is much darkness in the cave and only very little light can be found in this place and it is so hard for a person who is in [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2172

Meno by Plato: Philosophical Ideas

He had the view that individuals naturally possess knowledge and that what they need is a direction for them to come to terms with what they already knew. He seems to be of the opinion [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 547

Plato’s Visions of Beauty and Déjà Vu

From this point, beauty can be discussed as the attribute of things and as the independent form, and deja vu is the example of the reality as illusion because the life is only the reflection [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 812

Rationalism as a Branch of Epistemology

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.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 873

Philosophy: Free Will of Aristotle and Lucretius

The philosopher says that every action having place under the influence of the external force is not a free will, which comes from the inner desire and motivation of an individual. Moreover, the movie is [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 608

Objective Look at the Paranormal and Ghosts

The last example that is the most common comes in the form of residences being haunted wherein objects all of the sudden move for no reason, broken glassware appears, doors open and close, noises can [...]
  • Pages: 20
  • Words: 5599

Beauty and Deja Vu

The message the speaker was communicating to the audience struck me as familiar; I had a feeling that I had heard it from the same venue before.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1377

Global Injustice in Modern World

It is inconceivable that pastors preach the word of God with respect to the life of Jesus Christ. It is imperative to reduce the rate of death and crying mouths in the world.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1733

Cosmopolitanism

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 790

Ideal Society by Plato

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 [...]
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  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1650

Lessons From Plato’s Book ‘the Apology’

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 [...]
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  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 574

Plato’s Philosophy

The allegory of the cave can serve in revealing some of the key reasons to mistrust the views of the majority.
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  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2719

Performative and Constative Utterances

In the context of marriage as a social institution, the performative statement said to fulfill the action is "I do", which fulfills the action of marrying.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

Louis Pojman’s Ethical Theory

Furthermore, due to the different laws and cultures in our world, it would be seemingly impossible to uphold such a rule According to Pojman, "the idea of rewarding the good and punishing the bad is [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 878

Thomas Hobbes’ Views on Human Nature

Generally, peace is achieved by creating a government and forsaking individual rights in favor of one entity to ensure humans' chaos-less existence.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 298

Berkeley’s and Locke’s Philosophies Comparison

Idealism seems not to be as persuasive as realism for it is not substantial enough to say that everything in this world is operated by the minds of people, whereas saying that the world exists [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1107

Immanuel Kant’s Theory of Knowledge

Basing on this statement, therefore, empirialists have to carry out a rigorous test to determine the relationship between the decisions that individuals make, and the prior knowledge affecting the decisions making.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 944

The Concept of Epiphenomenalism

According to consciousness, the flow of information goes from the mental aspect to the physical aspect, which means that consciousness rise due to the interaction of the physical as well as the mental and cognitive [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1644

Functionalism Today in Putnam’s Perspectives

Nowadays, millions of people are interested in developing discussions about the role of the philosophy of mind in human behaviour, the quality of the relationships between mind and brain, and the way of how the [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1988

Platonic Realism and Counterarguments

Although the Platonic view of value has gained much acceptance since its emergence, it has failed to address some of the underlying issues that deter the universality of things and the need for associative rules [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 556

Plato’s Philosophy in “The Republic”

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.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 772

Inauthenticity and Authenticity Differences

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 697

Michel Foucault’s Subject of Power

Nor that there is, on the one hand, the field of things, of perfected technique, work, and the transformation of the real; on the other that of signs, communication, reciprocity, and the production of meaning; [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1393

The Concept of Justice

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 [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 591

The Utopian Society Concept

It foresees a society whereby gender neutrality will be tenable and that social responsibilities are not subject to the gender of an individual.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 818

The Western Anthropocentric Worldview

The possible way to think about the relationships between consciousness and the physical world is by considering the understanding of the traditional relationship between nature and consciousness.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1941

Skepticism as a Philosophical Theory

In response to the skeptics, it can be argued that although sources of knowledge may be fallible, they are still helpful and allow people to function in the world.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 667

Materialism: Rorty’s Response to the Antipodean Story

This paper examines Rorty's argument that in accepting the material reality of the universe, we can also accept that the physical universe shapes our beliefs and interpretations, and that our understanding of the universe is [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2183

A Defence of a Soul-Making Theodicy

Contrariwise, to comprehend the development of society, culture, and multiple products, one should acknowledge the formative role of religion as the precursor of any non-pragmatic intentions in the sphere of knowledge. The question of its [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1690

Philosophy of Love and Sex

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.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 830

The Philosophies of Heroism

Many expert argue that Socrates was a representative and of "prototype of the theoretical optimist who with his belief in the explicability of the nature of things.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1160

Nature and Convention Relation

For harmony to prevail, human beings have to live in accordance to the two kinds of order; that is nature and convention.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1124
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