Philosophy Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

10142 total results

The Role of Doubt in Discerning Truth (823 words, 3 pages)

There are no absolutes in this constantly dynamic world. Within humanity's intricate labyrinth of complexities and varying ideologies, certainty may, at first, seem like the panacea that would remedy an individual's destitutions in life however, certainty serves merely as a deception towards truly surmounting those hardships because without doubt one ... Read More

A Discussion on the Reasons Why Relative Ethics Isn’t Unfair (646 words, 2 pages)

Relativism is the belief that there are no absolute moral truths and that there is a relative value when considerations are made to evaluate a situation. There are arguments about relativist ethics being unfair because the concept is based on the morality of the individual and the circumstances therefore, some ... Read More

Do the Weaknesses of Virtue Ethics Outweigh Its Strengths? (597 words, 2 pages)

The weaknesses of Virtue Ethics outweigh its strengths.Virtue Ethics is a theory which focuses on becoming better people by developing traits which are known as virtues. Because it aims to do this it enables people to achieve their potential and not have to put all of their focus in to ... Read More

A Comparison of John Stuart Mill’s and Friedrich Nietzsche’s VIews on Utilitarianism (1147 words, 4 pages)

When examining morals, Friedrich Nietzsche and John Stuart Mill have different points of view on the matter. John Stuart Mills basis for morality is based off of his stance known as Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism revolves around the Greatest Happiness Principle. The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion ... Read More

A Personal Critique of Life (1779 words, 5 pages)

Critique of LifeReligion is a funny thing. It influences almost every gear and cog of our clockwork society. This obsession, at times unbenounced to the participant, controls even the way we observe humans and weigh their value. Indeed, this element was factual for both my family and the community that ... Read More

Friendship is the Positive Recipe for Happiness (1165 words, 3 pages)

The most important part of life is happiness, it is the main goal everyone strives to achieve. For me i use friendship as a tool of happiness, surrounding yourself with positive people and love guarantees a recipe for happiness. Since I was young, I have been very good at making ... Read More

The Ideas of Aristotle on the Pursuit of Happiness (413 words, 2 pages)

HappinessHappiness What is this? I mean It is an unalienable right given to us by our founding fathers. But the pursuit of happiness isnt just something that was thought up out of nowhere when America was founded. Aristotle, however, presents a theory of happiness that is still relevant today, over ... Read More

The Beliefs That Influences How I Make Moral Decisions in My Everyday Life (550 words, 2 pages)

I do not believe in the traditional Judeo-Christian idea of God, nor the concept of a single (or multiple) deity system that are used in other religions. I do not have a formal religion that I identify or participate with. That being said, I do believe in a sort of ... Read More

An Analysis of The Good, the True, and the Beautiful by Michael Boylan (1072 words, 4 pages)

The good the true and the beautiful by Michael Boylan create a motivatingintroduction to philosophy. It explores all issues regarding knowledge,aesthetics, and ethics. Additionally, the book illustrates how thoseattributes are related to our day to day lives (Boylan, 2008, p. 44).Michael Boylan recommends a uniquely thorough understanding of the good,the ... Read More

War is an Irrational Ritual (333 words, 2 pages)

War is an irrational ritualWar is ever present in every civilisation. It is where people lose or sacrifice their own blood to gain or achieve something, hopefully with a greater purpose. Before analyzing the statement we must first look at the causes of war. Nations and civilisations go to war ... Read More

The Idea and Belief of Pacifism (2177 words, 8 pages)

The belief of pacifism has been followed by some of the most sagacious leaders in the world. We must ask ourselves, is there a reason for this? Pacifism is defined as the belief that any violence, including war, is unjustifiable under any circumstances, and that all disputes should be settled ... Read More

The True Reason and Aspects Behind One’s Belief (675 words, 3 pages)

The Fundamentals of BeliefHowever passive, belief is a choice a commitment to trust, faith, or confidence in something. (Belief) But why do people choose to believe the things they do, especially in the face of established fact? To tackle this question, it is necessary to consider the causes of so-called ... Read More

A Comparison of Plato’s and Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy (1653 words, 5 pages)

Platos Natural Philosophy vs AristotlesWhen it comes to the power of the mind and where truth about the natural world lie Aristotle and Plato have various views of these matters. Plato mentored Aristotle for twenty years, but of course some controversy was stirred by his pupil. At that time was ... Read More

An Analysis of Thomas Aquinas’ Natural Law Theory (514 words, 2 pages)

Explain Aquinas Natural Law theory (25 marks)Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century monk who studied Aristotles philosophy. He developed his Natural Law from these studies. Natural law is an absolute, deontological theory which states that morals are issued by God to nature. It includes 5 primary precepts of which Aquinas ... Read More

An Explanation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative (776 words, 2 pages)

A Question Explain Kants Categorical Imperative (25 marks)Kants theory of ethics is deontological. Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences, they are either right or wrong. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is good will. This means ... Read More

A Discussion on the Ideologies of Thomas Hobbes and Their Credibility (1751 words, 6 pages)

AbstractThis paper is going to discuss the ideologies of Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher of the 17th century. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern-day political and government philosophy. While his book, Leviathan, is considered to be among the foundational texts that inspired modern Western civilization, his ... Read More

How is It That All Humans Possess Conscience But Can Not Reach a Shared, Global Ethic? (1217 words, 4 pages)

This paper will look at how all sane human beings are similar in possessing a conscience, yet due to vast differences in cultures, beliefs, and ideologies, the human race is still not capable of reaching some shared, global ethic (Prozesky, 2007, p. 19). In the process of looking at this ... Read More

John Stuart Mill’s Views on Liberal Values in On Liberty (290 words, 1 pages)

What Is Liberalism?According to John Lockes social contract theory, individuals consent to be governed. In doing so, individuals risk their personal freedoms in order to ensure the greater good. But how are personal ethics and values determined in a society? The a priori assumption, according to the Fundamental Liberal Principle, ... Read More

The Importance of Perspective in Our Pursuit of Knowledge (1761 words, 6 pages)

Without perspective, our world would be rather bland and without much excitement. Funnily enough, this is simply my perspective of the world. Perspective can be defined as a way of viewing the world using our senses and previous knowledge. Those who are more conservative tend to depreciate perspective, as perspective ... Read More

The Theories of Thomas Aquinas on the Four Kinds of Laws: Eternal, Natural, Human and Divine (2017 words, 6 pages)

Law is defined as nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care for the community, and promulgated (Aquinas Dimock, Lecture 1, 2007, p 1). Law is made to protect, nurture and guide people. Thomas Aquinas claims that an unjust law is ... Read More

The Ethical Relationships Between Descartes’ Moral Maxims and Methods (1345 words, 5 pages)

Descartes Moral Maxims and MethodsRene Descartes, scientific and philosophical revolutionary, wrote Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting Ones Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences (1637) throughout the 17th century and delayed its being published in order to avoid condemnation from the Catholic church. As a 'result of ... Read More

The Philosophical Idea of Romantic Love (Eros) by Plato and Irving Singer (1739 words, 6 pages)

Eros Plato and SingerRomantic love (eros) became a subject of wide prominence following the emergent practice and reverence of courtly love in the latter half of the Middle Ages. Prior to this, the topic of choice had been the love between friends, otherwise known as philia. Many definitions, explanations, and ... Read More

Comparing the Similarities and Differences on the Idea of the Nature and Existence of God Between Paley and Collins (1960 words, 6 pages)

Between theists and atheists, there is a lot of debate on whether there is a God or not. Of course, the theists are arguing for the existence of God and the atheists are in favor of there being no God or divine being. Some of the arguments that the theists ... Read More

Understanding Human Behavior, Morality, and the Notion of Mean (331 words, 1 pages)

Aristotle argues that the human behavior and moral virtues is the average of high and low degree of something. The notion of mean is a good standard to evaluate individual behavior since people learn through practice and experience rather than instructions and reasoning. An example given to illustrate the notion ... Read More

An Evaluation of the Views of Machiavelli, Laozi, and Plato on the Qualities of Good Leaders (622 words, 2 pages)

What Makes a Good Leader? Section 1 Machiavellis ideas on what makes a good leader are most accurate. In an ideal world, a leader would only have and show favorable qualities and all of the people they ruled would adore them . This is exactly why Machiavellis ideas are most ... Read More

The Issue of Real Versus Perceived in The Republic by Plato and Laelius De Amicitia by Cicero (1553 words, 6 pages)

Comparing Plato and CiceroPlatos The Republic and Ciceros Laelius DeAmicitia both explore the issue of real versus perceived reality. In his argument, Platos position is that humans are naturally predisposed to reject new realities, and will rarely take the initiative to seek new information for fear that it may contradict ... Read More

An Examination of the Ignatian Concept of Finding God in All Things (1713 words, 7 pages)

The biggest critique of Christianity is pointing out all the evils in this world how could an almighty, righteous God permit some of the horrors we see in everyday life all across the globe? To understand the answer, we have to examine the Ignatian concept of finding God in all ... Read More

A Comparison of the Ethical Theories of Taylor and Schmidtz (623 words, 2 pages)

Taylor introduces his ethical theory as life-centered rather than just human-centered. His thesis is from the perspective of a life-centered theory, we have prima facie moral obligations that are owed to wild plants and animals themselves as members of the Earth's biotic community. We are morally bound (other things being ... Read More

Renewal and Return to First Principles in the Idea of Innovation by Niccolo Machiavelli (1800 words, 6 pages)

"There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful ofsuccess, nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order ofthings." Discuss Machiavelli's idea of innovation why is it so difficult?And yet, why does he talk so much of renewal and "return to firstprinciples"? Innovation. To introduce ... Read More

A Comparison Between the Philosophy of John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant (1135 words, 5 pages)

Morality is defined as beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior. Who tells us what is right or wrong? Parents, culture, religion, etc. But under what principles do these people base their ideas on? When discussing ethical theories, it's hard not to question the moral standards ... Read More

Philosophy Essay Examples