Philosophy Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

10142 total results

Normativity in the Views of Aristotle in Book 1 of the Nichomachean Ethics (1248 words, 4 pages)

In Book 1 of the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle describes his thoughts on what makes something good. His views have a foundation of normativity. The adjective normative is used to describe statements that are based on values as opposed to facts a normative statement is a claim about how things ought ... Read More

Achieving Morality through Redefined Values (1444 words, 5 pages)

Charity as Duty Achieving Morality Through Redefined ValuesThe goal of moral reasoning is to determine the right way to act as a member of a community of rationalmoral agents. Although definitions of right vary across different schools of thought, all ideologies have in common the desire to somehow improve both ... Read More

An Examination of Comprehensive Moral Theories as the Right Tools for Ethical Reasoning (1681 words, 7 pages)

Comprehensive Moral Theories as Tools for Particularistic ReasoningIn employing ethical reasoning, we attempt to determine not only what it means to live a good life, but also how to go about living one. But what does ethical reasoning entail? Is there a methodic process that ensures intuitively moral actions? Through ... Read More

An Analysis of the Argument from Illusion in Meditations on First Philosophy, a Book by Rene Descartes (1963 words, 8 pages)

1 Argument from IllusionIn Descartes First Meditation, he poses the Argument from Illusion. This argument is interesting because it is radical, and as such, many have debated the truth of it over time. The argument goes as follows1. My senses have deceived me from time to time.2. It is prudent ... Read More

The Key to Victory in War and Life in The Art of War, an Ancient Text by Sun Tzu (765 words, 3 pages)

The Art of WarThe Art of War by Sun Tzu, is an ancient text which holds the key to victory in war and life. The methods of war that are described in this book seem to be philosophies rather than methods for they can be used outside the regiment of ... Read More

A Response to the Standard of Taste Based on the Teachings of David Hume (499 words, 2 pages)

The Standard of Taste A Response According to David Hume, standard of taste is a rule by which society is able to distinguish between who is a good judge of taste and who is not essentially what this means is that there is a rule that judges good and bad ... Read More

The Parallelisms between Pre-Machiavellian and Post-Machiavellian Government Policies (1004 words, 3 pages)

Is better to be feared than to be loved, or so is what Machiavelli theorizes. The argument, I believe is lacking serious considerations in what constitute love and fear for example, in a intimate relationship, being feared instead of loved will eventually lead to the destruction of the relationship based ... Read More

The Differences between the Sublime and the Beautiful (833 words, 4 pages)

The sublime is something that it is not the highest degree of beauty, but rather a different kind of experience all together. Sublimity can be found in the wild and dangerous ways of nature and beauty is something more pleasant, something which can be found only through the rejection of ... Read More

Is There Room for Mean in a Fated Life? (1937 words, 9 pages)

Is There Room for Mean in a Fated Life?Fate is a perplexing and intimidating concept for most humans to wrap their minds around. Throughout history an individual or character typically believed a version of the following concepts that they have a fated destiny, that they are building their own fate ... Read More

Machiavelli’s Views of the Ruler’s Use of the Abilities of Fear and Love (929 words, 2 pages)

Machiavelli Quote Essay Fear the point in which one may no longer see you as a companion or as an individual who was once a friend but somebody who you must linger under and see to not anger or hurt This was what Machiavelli wanted people to know that if ... Read More

Different Forms of Persuasion: Rhetoric, Logic and Philosophy (1498 words, 5 pages)

PersuasionPersuasion has been around as long as language. Someone will always want other people to agree with them and give them what they want. It is a key staple in democracy and politics since there is always an agenda to push. Persuasion comes in many forms with varying levels of ... Read More

The Recipe for Disaster in Leviathan, a Book by Thomas Hobbes (1881 words, 6 pages)

Thomas Hobbes makes a very persuasive argument throughout Leviathan that in order for the government to work effectively, the subjects, or people in it, must have little to no personal wills. In the natural state of nature, people have all the freedom they want with nobody controlling them. According to ... Read More

Plato’s and Aristotle’s Views on Goodness (448 words, 2 pages)

Plato VS AristotlePlato and Aristotle are both concerned with what is good and what constitutes goodness. However, Plato argues in Platos Republic that there is a single Form of Good in the Theory of Forms. Plato believes that all things that are good are good in the same way and ... Read More

A Discussion on the Notion of Hedonism Bringing True Levels of Satisfaction (947 words, 3 pages)

Hedonism Research PaperHappiness is the one thing people look for. Some people go their whole lives hoping, waiting, or working for it. This brings us to the age old question everyone must answer for themselves what is happiness, and how do we achieve such a thing? Hedonism is the sole ... Read More

An Argument in Favor of the Non-Existence of Neutral Questions in the Areas of Knowledge of Religion and Arts (1709 words, 6 pages)

It is extremely difficult to believe that a neutral question exists. Neutral is synonymous with objective, and being neutral means asking questions without being influenced by personal opinion or emotion. Just asking a question involves bias, which is favor for certain ideas over others, because everyone has different interpretations of ... Read More

A Discussion on the Meditations of Rene Descartes in Relation to the Existence of Sensory Perception (1531 words, 7 pages)

Descartes Account of PerceptionIn Rene Descartes, Meditation I, it is argued that the only thing that we are granted proof of is that we are nothing but a thinking thing. The existence of our body cannot be proven because at any moment we may be subject to the will of ... Read More

Contextualism and Its Place in Practical Knowledge in View of Skepticism (3569 words, 14 pages)

Contextualism and Its Place in Practical KnowledgeThe purpose of knowledge is to further the advancement of humanity through the practical world. If knowledge is considered in any other form, meaning it is irrelevant to the practical real world as in the case of skepticism, then it is of no use ... Read More

A Comparison of Coping up with Emotions in the past and Today (838 words, 4 pages)

Emotions have always been a very tricky subject for humans to tackle. While vital to our basic mortality, they are very messy and difficult to regulate and deal with. In the past, emotions were something to be stifled they were shameful and it was considered weak to succumb to them. ... Read More

What Is Pious in Religion Based on Plato’s Euthyphro (1355 words, 4 pages)

This semester, the topic that was discussed that made the greatest impact on me was when we read Platos Euthyphro and we examined the dilemma of what is pious pious either because it is loved by the gods or is it loved by the gods because it is pious. It ... Read More

An Analysis of Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person by Harry Frankfurt (471 words, 2 pages)

In Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person, Harry Frankfurt begins by lamenting the popular usage of the word person as inclusive of non-human animals. He then defines a person as en entity that is capable of both first-order and second-order desires. It is thus conceivable that ... Read More

Empiricism and Rationalism in the Enlightenment Period (777 words, 2 pages)

Topic 1The Enlightenment period was marked by a revival of interest in determining the nature of reality and knowledge. In the pursuit of this understanding, philosophers expounded ideas that aligned with either of two theories empiricism or rationalism. John Locke was one of the more prominent philosophers of the time ... Read More

The Character of Human Nature in Chapter Thirteen of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (336 words, 1 pages)

In chapter thirteen of his book, Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes addresses the character of human nature in the absence of a governing structure to shape it towards productivity. He describes such a scenario as one of savagery in which every individual is pitted against the other, and no one is due ... Read More

Defining Virtue in Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle (324 words, 1 pages)

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle concerns himself primarily with defining virtue and what makes an action virtuous. He first divides virtue into two sorts intellectual virtue and moral virtue. He asserts that intellectual virtue is the kind that is fostered by learning from someone teaching the virtues, and moral virtue arises ... Read More

Can or Kant We Kill Ourselves? A Kantian Perspective on Assisted Suicide (1648 words, 6 pages)

Can or Kant we kill Ourselves?Closely considering the value of your own life will hopefully not be an obstacle that you will have to endure. However, if it came down to a debilitating disease or an inescapable amount of suffering and pain, do you think you could make the decision ... Read More

The Relevance of Philosophical Discussion in the Article Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility by Susan Wolf (461 words, 2 pages)

Susan Wolf begins her article Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility by discussing the relevance of philosophical discussion regarding responsibility to real life apparently nonphilosophical applications of responsibility such as are encountered by lawyers, judges, and parents. She explains that philosophers writing about responsibility have traditionally approached the subject in ... Read More

John Stuart Mill’s Interpretation of Utilitarianism (1487 words, 4 pages)

Essay 3John Stuart Mill predicates his interpretation of utilitarianism as a mechanism for determining the morality of an action on the Greatest Happiness Principle That actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. In Mills view, happiness ... Read More

Being Morally Responsible For One’s Actions in The Deep Self View by Harry Frankfurt, Gary Watson, and Charles Taylor (964 words, 3 pages)

The Deep Self View espoused by Harry Frankfurt, Gary Watson, and Charles Taylor in various forms holds that an individual ought to be held morally responsible for his action when and if that action is accurately translated into being from his will. The Deep Self View further contends this is ... Read More

The Definition and Importance of Love According to Milan Kundera (928 words, 3 pages)

What is LoveWhat is love? Why is it so important in our daily lives? According to Milan Kundera, Love is the longing for the half of ourselves that we have lost. Kundera is implying that without love you are just half a person. This is a hypothetical definition though. Physically ... Read More

The Actions Required to Be an Individual in the Books Four and Five of Friedrich Nietzche’s The Gay Science (1775 words, 6 pages)

In Books four and five of Friedrich Nietzches The Gay Science, Nietzche discusses the actions needed to be taken to become an individual.He begins by explaining the need for one to break free from the social norms for true happiness, and for morals. To do so, he says one must ... Read More

An Analysis of the Morality of Using Chemical Weapons (1699 words, 5 pages)

As humanitys understanding of Chemistry continues, so does a new type of weapon. This weapon has revolutionized the infrastructure in which warfare is conducted, and the extent to which just how far scientists, political leaders, and military leaders should go in managing the resources needed to make these weapons and ... Read More

Philosophy Essay Examples