Philosophy Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

10142 total results

The Importance of the Soul in the Philosophy of Socrates (379 words, 3 pages)

Socrates believes that the soul is far more important to thephilosopher than the body. Thus, burial of the body is of no concern tohim. This belief kindles a discussion which poses the question, why didSocrates let himself be killed without a fight? Socrates discusses thisprinciple with his students, friends, and ... Read More

A Comparison of Cultural Importance of Art by Susan Langer and Roosts of Wisdom by Helen Mitchell (649 words, 2 pages)

Susanne K Langer, an American philosopher renowned for her theories of art, views linguistics being as vital to conceptual expression. Words are the terms of our thinking as well as the terms in which we present our thoughts, because they present the objects of thought to the thinker himself. She ... Read More

Social Construction of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2271 words, 8 pages)

Social contraction is political idea that society is built upon agreement, and this contraction justifies the governments restraint of the state of nature. Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are political philosophers of social contraction during the period of enlightenment, 17th-18th century Europe. Thomas Hobbes was born in Malmesbury in 1588, ... Read More

A Comparison between Stoicism and the Teachings of the Bible (655 words, 3 pages)

Stoicism teaches that one can achieve happiness only by rejecting material comforts and by dedicating oneself to a life of reason and virtue. This is similar to Christian teachings found in the Bible. The difference being that Christians-particularly Catholics-go a step further and after rejecting material comforts, they dedicate themselves ... Read More

A Comparison of the Old and New Testament and the Teachings of Epictetus (719 words, 2 pages)

The teachings of the Old and New Testament and the Epictetus statement have two main themes. They agree on the fact that the body is just a shell that limits the soul. What matters on the inside of the body is what the bible and Epictetus agree on. What they ... Read More

Aristotle’s Views on Rhetoric as a Counterpart of Dialectic (601 words, 2 pages)

Aristotle defines Rhetoric as the counterpart of dialectic(The Rhetoric and Poetics of Aristotle). This raises the question, what is dialectic? Dialectic is defined as, of, pertaining to, or of the nature of logical argumentation.(Dictionary.com) Rhetoric proves to have many uses including logical argumentation but also the art of persuasion and ... Read More

The Conflict Between the Views of Aristotle and the Beliefs of Christians (545 words, 3 pages)

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believes that the chief endpoint of mankind is to know. He believes that even if something exists, it does not matter at all unless someone knows that it exists. Christians, tend to differ in this point of fact. Christians believe that mans salvation consists in knowing ... Read More

The Definition of Justice in the Republic by Plato and in the Holy Bible (560 words, 2 pages)

Discussed in the Republic,-as one of the most important subjects known to man-is the true definition and application of justice. Generally, it was resolved that justice is every man getting what he deserves. The Bible, however, reveals a different understanding. Biblical justice goes hand in hand with mercy which is ... Read More

The Path to Transcendentalism in the Literary Works of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Jon Krakauer (564 words, 1 pages)

Transcendentalists Transcendentalists view society as evil. In order to transcend the corruption of society, a person must reject material pursuit and social conformity.First of all, a person must overcome their material desires to truly experience the joys of life. Society has developed to where money dominates everything. Transcendentalists view material ... Read More

A Critique of For the Love of Country, a Text by Martha C. Nussbaum and Others (830 words, 3 pages)

The world that we live in is quite large and astounding, yet the amount of people that actually educate themselves in the facts and reality of it is generally small. They live in a bubble and are unfortunately are only reminded by the existence of other people and cultures when ... Read More

An Examination of the Claim that Actions Do Not Always Produce Good Results through the Work of John Stuart Mill (724 words, 3 pages)

In John Stuart Mills work, the author claims that actions are right in proportion as the they tend to promote happiness, wrong as the tend to produce the reverse of happiness. In some cases, actions do prove to lead to a happier outcome, however, in other cases actions do not ... Read More

An Analysis of the Relation between Customary Connexion and Necessary Connexion by David Hume (1846 words, 6 pages)

Rocks, Windows, and PunchesIn his work An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume states that the connexion, therefore, which we feel in the mind, this customary transition of the imagination from one object to its usual attendant, is the sentiment or impression, from which we form the idea of power or ... Read More

An Analysis of Descartes’s Argument in His First Meditation (963 words, 3 pages)

Descartess dream argument is one of the many arguments in his First Meditation aimed at casting doubt as a precursor to discovering the truth. The first stage of Descartess argument occurs when he likens himself to a madman who cannot distinguish his own visions from reality, though soon after he ... Read More

Karl Marx and the Concept of Objectification (2105 words, 7 pages)

Central to Karl Marxs analysis of contemporary economic, political, and social life, is the notion of objectification. For Marx, objectification of labor is the process by which people create things in the world, which are external to them. This is a natural process for Marx, and in some senses this ... Read More

An Examination of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke’s Beliefs in the Relationship Between the State of Nature and Establishment of Property (1747 words, 5 pages)

The Relationship between the State of Nature and the Establishment of PropertyMan has always been fascinated with what came first. From what came first between the chicken and the egg, or what came first between the establishment of property and the establishment of state, man has always sought to answer ... Read More

An Analysis of Morality in Why Contractarianism, an Essay by David Gauthier (2092 words, 7 pages)

David Gauthier explains in his essay, Why Contractarianism how and why contractarianism allows for moralitys existence. He carries the view that moral reasoning is utilized by individuals because of the fact that using morality is mutually advantageous to everyone. He also concedes that there is an inherent flaw in this ... Read More

An Examination of the Direct Correlation Between Self-Knowledge and Self-Limitation and Socrates’ Methods of Philosophy (791 words, 3 pages)

This man among you, mortals, is wisest whounderstands that his wisdom is worthless. Socrates (p. 27, line 23b)Socrates was a radical. In B.C. Greece, his ideas of knowledge were not widely appreciated or liked. Telling other Grecians, especially Grecians who were thought to be wise men, that they knew nothing, ... Read More

An Analysis of a Prophecy’s Role According to Alfarabi and Avicenna (962 words, 4 pages)

Question 1Alfarabi presented the virtuous regime as a model society which was comprised of virtuous individuals (seeking the truth and happiness). Like Plato, Alfarabi described a virtuous city by offering 3 examples of non-virtuous cities. In these cases, failure was placed on the laws, political systems, and leaders of these ... Read More

The Different Approaches to Defining Religion (1725 words, 6 pages)

As the history of philosophy shows, defining terms is not the easiestpractice to undertake. We frequently find that even our most securely heldnotions of what particular things are by virtue of their characteristicsmistaken in fundamental ways. This is especially true when it comes toabstract concepts like justice, freedom, and religion. ... Read More

An Argument Against the Paradoxical Idea of Plato on a Philosopher’s Ruling as a King (1743 words, 5 pages)

Unless the philosophers rule as kings or those now called kings and chiefs genuinely and adequately philosophize, and political power and philosophy coincide in the same place there is no rest from ills for the cities, my dear Glaucon, nor I think for human kind -Socrates (473c-473d)In this paper, I ... Read More

A Presentation of Descartes’ Meditation on First Philosophy (1205 words, 4 pages)

Today, then, since I have opportunely freed my mind from all caresI will at length apply myself earnestly and freely to the general overthrow of all my former opinions. Ren Descartes (Meditation 1) Ren Descartes lived during the heart of the Scientific Revolution. Taking place during the 16th, 17th and ... Read More

An Examination of the Theories of Nietzsche and Descartes on the Relation of Body and Mind (1518 words, 5 pages)

Life itself has been defined as a more and more efficient inner adaptation to external conditions (Nietzsche, p. 79). Nietzsches outlook on life can seem quite bleak. He writes about the nausea and sickness that humankind has for itself and about the ways we have tried to combat that bleakness.In ... Read More

The Meaning of Happiness in Like Is for Cowards, Go for What Hurts by Jonathan Franzen and There’s More to Life Than Being Happy by Emily Smith (1424 words, 5 pages)

What does it truly mean to be happy? In order achieve true happiness in life, then people need to realize the importance of finding meaning in their life along with an understanding of what it means to truly love something. Author Emily Smith, a columnist atThe New Criterion and the ... Read More

An Investigation of the Meaning of Theory by Comparing the Writings and Intellectual Contributions of Niccolo Machiavelli and Auguste Comte (901 words, 4 pages)

All scientists share a common goal of explaining the world around them. In order to accomplish this, each scientist will establish a fact through observation. Facts are to be understood as observations that are confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent. (Gould 1983 ... Read More

Three Parts of a Human Individual According to Socrates (1533 words, 4 pages)

The Three Parts of the Human IndividualIn Book IV of Platos Republic, Plato describes a discussion between Socrates and Glaucon on the stratification of the human individual and how it is analogous to the stratification of the city-state or polis. According to Platos Socrates, a city is composed of three ... Read More

A Glimpse Into the Life of Socrates, The Enigmatic Greek Philosopher (2668 words, 9 pages)

Like with most ancient figures, Socrates is a man whose life is one partmystery, one part historical and biographical spectacle. He was, in hislifetime, a true enigma-a puzzle for the entire span of the Athens city-state to solve. And like most ancient figures, we should not seek to avoidseparating Socrates ... Read More

The Sociological Thinking of Niccolo Machiavelli, Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau (806 words, 3 pages)

Machiavelli and Classical SociologyIn many ways, Machiavelli was a sociologist before sociology existed as a science. A sociologists goal is to isolate a societal behavior, and define said behavior. Defining the behavior includes answering why it persists and how it continues to persist. Machiavelli examined the way in which princedoms ... Read More

An Analysis of Max Weber’s Views on the Relation Between Religion and Capitalism (486 words, 2 pages)

Max Weber was largely successful in his examination of the positive correlation between the advent of capitalism and the prevailing religious ideals and practices. To understand Webers perspective one must first take into account the definition of capital and how capitalism works. The idea of capitalism and capital acquisition can ... Read More

An Examination of the Science of Gratitude and Its Role in Human Happiness (6692 words, 22 pages)

The Evidence and Theory Behind Making Gratitude a HabitHappiness is a chief human concern because it provides purpose and meaning to our actions. A chief concern of a sub-discipline within psychology resolves around the conditions and prerequisites for human happiness in general. Similar to the philosopher Aristotles notion of virtue ... Read More

A Comparison of the Neoclassical Painting Death of Socrates by David and the Romantic Painting Odalisque by Delacroix (956 words, 4 pages)

MidtermNeoclassical Romantic artists have helped pave the way for modern art in more ways then that of which could be imagined. However throughout time, many people have noted a similarity between the two works of art. Over the course of this essay, I will look at Davids neoclassical painting, Death ... Read More

Philosophy Essay Examples