Philosophy Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

10142 total results

An Analysis of Immanuel Kant’s Different Theories and His Ethics (1584 words, 5 pages)

In this paper I will thoroughly speak about Immanuel Kant and his Ethics. I will bring the theories of Categorical and Hypothetical Imperative, Formula of Universal Law, and Formula of the End in Itself and will specify what each theory means to Kant and why these theories work. I will ... Read More

The Differences between Moral Objectivity and Realism According to Pojman (639 words, 2 pages)

The natural law account for morality describes why there is moral objectivity. It states that a humans biggest weapon is reason itself. As a result, humans, who are Gods creation, have this Divine Spark that leads them to discover objective moral laws. Natural as a result according to Aquinas are, ... Read More

The Voltaire’s Underestimation of the Lies’ Power Among People Who Are Striving to Preserve Their Existence (1409 words, 7 pages)

When nationalistic writers describe ones country, they bring about a sense of passion for the reader. Regardless of the time period or the country that is being described, nationalistic documents are able to instill the emotions of the author to their audience. Feelings of pride and anger are emotions one ... Read More

The Real Meaning of Dignity and Virtue as Forms of Pleasure in the Philosophy of John Stuart Mill (661 words, 2 pages)

When one thinks about pleasure sex, alcohol, partying, and money are the first things that come to mind. Throughout the reading Mill argued against this as people have misinterpreted pleasure and utilitarianism of being this kind of pleasure. I find myself convinced by Mill when I find the real meaning ... Read More

The Use of Aristotle’s Account of Virtue Friendship and Some of John Rawls’ Ideas in Order to Argue the Affirmative Action (2809 words, 8 pages)

An Evaluation of Affirmative ActionThe case for and against affirmative action draws upon important points regarding the fair treatment of underrepresent populations in society. The debate between apposing sides can be defined as whether society has the duty to enhance the position of some group who are the beneficiary population ... Read More

The Meaning of Freedom from Oppression in Ancient Literature and Modern Times (2444 words, 8 pages)

The truth is that humans have never been, nor will they at any point in time be free, but we like to think we are. In fact we are so proud of our so-called freedom, due to the extreme measures we have endured to obtain it from tyrannical rulers of ... Read More

The Connections between God, Morality, Ethics and Metaphysics (681 words, 2 pages)

A strong proponent of the thesis one, which dictates that religion is irrelevant to ethics, is Nietzsche. It is a very radical view that has some important points, but I find myself having a hard time accepting. This thesis makes a good point in saying that because of advanced rational ... Read More

An Argument Against Aristotle’s Definition of Virtue (497 words, 2 pages)

Aristotle argues the only way one can be happy is thorough finding a middle ground between ones characters. If one takes courage as an example, one can see things that one considers as good, can also be bad. Aristotle states this by saying that courage can be a vice if ... Read More

An Argument in Favor of Pojman’s Views on Morality (694 words, 3 pages)

The question of morality is quite complicated and as a result, has many different points of views. One point of view that the majority of people think of is religion. Religion will always argue that being moral is always good, but a lot of people would be dissatisfied with this ... Read More

The Disagreement of Galileo and Descartes with the Theories and Explanations of Aristotle (2574 words, 8 pages)

One of Aristotle's philosophical theories described all entities aspossessing two components one, the substance, or matter of which it iscomprised and two, the form, or essence. He referred to the form of anentity as the "soul," although not in the same quasi-religious regard inwhich we consider "the soul" today. According ... Read More

A Discussion on Various Views on the Necessary Conditions for Moral Responsibility (1852 words, 5 pages)

There have been many arguments about the conditions necessary for moral responsibility. Deterministsargue that absolute control of the will is necessary for moral responsibility. Determinist claim that we dont have absolute control our will because if we did, then every decision we make would be left up to random chanceand ... Read More

Understanding the Modern Man and Various Forms of 21st Century Mental Disease in Philosophy (822 words, 3 pages)

Simply put, the purpose of my collection is to understand the modernman and the various forms of mental disease in the 21st century. AsNietzsche so rightly puts it, we really are "unknown to ourselves". In aneffort to trace and understand the complex tangles that lie within ourbrains, we have to ... Read More

An Analysis of the Chinese Military Training Text, The Art of War by Master Sun Tzu (750 words, 3 pages)

The Art of War, written by Master Sun Tzu, is an ancient Chinese military training text dating from the fifth Century BC. Composed of thirteen chapters, this archaic document has set the standard for the fundamentals of military training and strategy for 2,500 years. However, it did not reach the ... Read More

Herrigel’s Struggles with the Buddhist Notion of Active Attachment and Non-Attachment in the Book, Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel (708 words, 3 pages)

The problem lays buried not in the complicated but in the simple. AsAlbert Low mentions, "the sickness of being human is the sickness ofwanting to be unique" (Low 92). In Zen and the Art of Archery, Herrigelgreatest obstacle to obtaining awakening lays in sacrificing uniqueness togive off a shot "that's ... Read More

An Idea of Moral Judgement Gives People Reasons to Justify What is Right and Wrong According to Mackie (1563 words, 5 pages)

According to Mackie, if moral facts were to exist, they would have tobe both objective and action guiding. This would seem to require that, inorder to perceive and sense that an action is wrong, one would need a sixthsense an extra perceptual system that tells a person that the action ... Read More

The Existence of God According to Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and Augustine’s Confessions (1818 words, 6 pages)

The Existence of GodIn both Descartess Meditations on First Philosophy and Augustines Confessions, Descartes and Augustine arrive at the conclusion that God exists, but do so in notably different ways. Descartes focuses more on the existence of God based on the soul, whereas Augustine focuses on the existence of God ... Read More

An Analysis of the Story of Zhang Sanfeng in Connection to Tai Chi (923 words, 3 pages)

There are many myths surrounding the origin of Tai Chi, which translates to grand ultimate boxing. One claim is that Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist monk, created Tai Chi in 12th century China with a mix of Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian ideology. However modern research indicates that the first mention of ... Read More

The Dualism between Aristocracy and Democracy in Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (865 words, 3 pages)

Alexis de Tocquevilles work, Democracy in America, is work of sociology which examines democracy in the United States. It is clear that de Tocqueville believed that democracy would inevitably prevail in the Western world. While that is important to note, the reality is, it does not provide an answer as ... Read More

There are evident similarities when comparing ancient thinkers and modern thinkers. One similarity is in terms of their definitions of the truth. Both the ancient consensus and the modern consensus is that truth is impartial, ahistorical, and deciphered through logic. Despite these similarities, there are fundamental differences in each respective ... Read More

A Critical Analysis of Civil Disobedience, an Essay by Henry David Thoreau (619 words, 2 pages)

In his Essay, Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau argues that society functions the most efficiently when it is not ruled by an overpowering monarch, or by a strong central government, but by the people, essentially having self-reliant peoples that do not necessarily need a government, per se, yet are able ... Read More

A Response to The Moral Equivalent of War by William James (1208 words, 5 pages)

In his work The Moral Equivalent of War, William James enumerates the reasons why war is destructive to society, as well as what could be an alternative to the martial lifestyle that the current culture so idolizes and reveres. James begins his publication with the assertion that the people of ... Read More

An Analysis of Callicles’ Arguments Against Socrates in Gorgias by Plato (1325 words, 5 pages)

Callicles is both the most profound and most challenging of Socrates' interlocutors in Plato's Gorgias. Which of the points that Callicles makes do you find most powerful? Does Socrates successfully rebut these points? In Plato's Gorgias, Callicles, a friend of Gorgias, begins to debateSocrates aggressively after finding his positions on ... Read More

A Discussion on Thoreau’ Argument on People Setting Goals and Expectations Without Realizing That They are Actually Searching For Happiness (339 words, 1 pages)

People today constantly set high goals and expectations to accomplish without realizing they are genuinely searching for happiness. In peoples eyes, knowledge, money, and reputation are seen to be the main source of happiness. While Thoreau believes that people chase for things that they dont realize, his quote is accurate ... Read More

The Elements and Characteristics of Contractarianism (1484 words, 5 pages)

Different codes of morality call for different amounts of sacrifice from their followers. Deontology does not require its followers to make huge sacrifices for the greater good unless those sacrifices would be universalizable to all people in a given situation. Utilitarians are morally obligated to make enormous personal sacrifices if ... Read More

A Comparison between the Philosophies of Anne Bradstreet, Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Jefferson (789 words, 3 pages)

Have you ever wondered where we came from? Who or what constructed our complexity? One would say the Creator above designed our physical bodies, as well as our destinies. Others would say we evolved over time after the continents were separated and developed following Pangaea. While we all, in modern ... Read More

The Role of Moral and Ethics in the Progression of Humankind (407 words, 2 pages)

Some people, like Marcus Aurelius, maybe believe that humankind cooperates in order to advance and evolve society. In nature, people cooperate with one another similarly to how body parts depend on each other. While it is ethically correct for people to work cooperatively, Aurelius statement is correct because society in ... Read More

Utilitarianism Advocates for a Morally Incorrect Action in a Case of Convicting Police Officers for Brutality (1605 words, 5 pages)

Consider a hypothetical situation in which you are on a jurydeciding whether to convict four policemen on charges of police brutality. You know that the policemen are innocent, but if you acquit them the general public, believing them to be guilty, will riot and innocent people will die. If you ... Read More

An Analysis of the Spirit’s Quest for Truth in Phenomenology of the Spirit by Georg Hegel (1237 words, 4 pages)

The Role of the Judiciary Georg Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is the story of spirit on itsquest for truth. The spirit puts forth hypothesis of truth and rigorouslytests each one of them. The spirit through this process of examinationdiscovers, at points of contradiction, that its attempts to grasp the truthare ... Read More

An Analysis of the Didactic Tone and Rhetorical Appeals Albert Einstein Uses in His Writings to Explain His Theories (469 words, 2 pages)

Albert Einstein, a renowned physicist, authored many theories that provided insight to the world. His writing clarified and accelerated the advancement of man through the use of critical thinking to study and analyze scientific mysteries that would better civilization. While Einsteins writing was meant to present his analytical thoughts, his ... Read More

The Best Form of Government in to Perpetual Peace, an Essay by Immanuel Kant (1309 words, 5 pages)

In his essay "To Perpetual Peace", Immanuel Kant argues that arepublican constitution is the best foundation for a country because it isthe only rightful way for people to be governed. He asserts thatrepublicanism ensures freedom and equality for all, as everyone isdependent on a central authority and subject to the ... Read More

Philosophy Essay Examples