Philosophy

Romanticism, a movement emphasizing individual self-expression and emotional power in the arts, has left a profound influence on today's culture. Its focus on individualism and emotional intensity...

A major difference between Socrates's and Plato's philosophy concerns the potentially damaging effect of philosophy on society.

Unconsciously doodling many eyes on a sheet of paper may signify feelings of paranoia or a sense of being watched. While interpretations can vary, and sometimes a doodle is just a doodle, eyes often...

The pre-Socratics were natural philosophers who focused mainly on the natural world and its processes. They refused to believe that something could come from nothing, so they looked for a common...

Differences between Locke's and Rousseau's philosophies include that Rousseau was more extreme in his beliefs on government, believing government to be inherently oppressive and evil, and that Locke...

According to James Rachels, lessons from cultural relativism include understanding that many actions, beliefs, and behaviors are culturally relative. This perspective helps recognize that our...

Enlightenment and Romantic ideals are similar in that both are nonreligious and humanistic. They different in that Enlightenment ideals value objective knowledge and empiricism, whereas Romantic...

Socrates emphasized ethical living and self-knowledge through dialogue. Plato, his student, focused on ideal forms and the importance of a just society. Aristotle, Plato’s student, advocated for...

A "decentered subject" in philosophy refers to the idea that individuals can produce communication effectively by detaching from their personal involvement and focusing on the process. This concept...

The difference here is that moral relativism says that there is no fixed morality whereas moral absolutism holds that there is.  The latter holds that some things are absolutely morally good...

Moral complacency describes an unwillingness to examine one's moral opinions as fallible; it is the belief that one cannot be mistaken in one's moral precepts. People who are morally complacent...

Ultimately, this is a matter of opinion -- there is no way to prove this and only you can decide for yourself what you think. In my opinion, there are things that are simply morally wrong. ...

Plato defines "the good" as an unchanging "form" that cannot be comprehended by sight or other senses. There were other forms, like "truth" and "beauty," but the "good" was the highest of these...

According to St. Augustine, all sin, even infants. As Augustine states, "No one is free from sin in [God's] sight, not even an infant whose span of earthly life is but a single day" (Book I)....

The mind and body are distinct physical entities that can interact with each other. Substance dualism is a philosophical and scientific viewpoint that attempts to explain the relationship between the...

The ontological argument is a form of the cosmological proof for the existence of God. It begins with an a priori concept of God, and then attempts to demonstrate that this being must actually exist....

This is a very personal question, as philosophy asks each individual to examine himself or herself and the world around them and then make a judgment based on what they personally believe. Deciding...

Philosophy affects ethical issues because a person’s ethical framework is partly built upon a person’s philosophical framework. There is a link between philosophy and ethical behavior because...

Ironically, Francis Bacon was an admirer of Plato, seeing the empirical methods of Socrates as a counterweight to the a priori and dogmatic nature of scholasticism, a medieval philosophy that...

Aristotle defines moral virtue as a character trait which enables people to make good choices and to rightfully respond to their thoughts, emotions, and desires, in order to achieve a fulfilling and...

I think that a life without risk would be boring.  Risk is the spice of life.  It makes life more interesting.  If you never took a risk, you would never accomplish anything....

Lugones introduces a great many terms in her analysis of playfulness, world- travelling, and the loving perception. When clarification is sought in the connection between world travelling and...

Rousseau's concept of the social contract involves individuals collectively agreeing to form a community governed by the general will, which represents the common good. Authority within this contract...

This is, of course, a question that can never truly be answered in an objective way.  My own view is that good is a stronger force than evil today, but that may simply be because I live a good...

Of course this is somewhat of a subjective question, but Westerner thinkers (obviously people from other regions of the world could well have their own opinions) generally consider Socrates to be...

I would choose by lot. It is fairer than choosing by age or gender, but it is entirely fair. I think that this is the best decision in this situation and it is entirely moral.

The relationship between language and thought is one widely debated by philosophers. The particular sub-discipline concerned with this topic is often called "philosophy of language." One major...

The single greatest change between what is termed ancient and what is termed medieval philosophy was the rise of Christianity and the concomitant necessity to synthesize Scriptural interpretation...

We can only grow as a self when we stop seeking to answer all questions and understand that answers are not the be-all and end-all of understanding.

In one of the most inexplicably muddled and complicated articles ever written for an academic journal, Ralph Barton Perry coined the phrase “ego-centric predicament” in an effort at understanding...

Cultural relativism is a perspective which holds that beliefs, ethical values, and customs cannot be held to one set standard; in other words, each belief, each custom, and each ethical value is...

Cultural relativism is the idea that there is nothing that is absolutely good or bad.  According to this idea, each culture defines for itself what is good and bad and all definitions are...

I think this quote says a lot of things. In life, the things that are available for free, without your doing anything to obtain it, are seldom given the same importance that things that you have to...

Philosophy is related to life because it is the study of human existence and the best way to life ethically. Moral philosophy is especially relevant to people seeking to live a better life. All of...

It is morally permissible to believe in God just because it is to your practical advantage to believe, but in most circumstances it is not possible to do so. This is the subject of Pascal's Wager,...

Montaigne was skeptical of scientific progress because he was skeptical of human intelligence. He saw science as a set of beliefs created by humans, and he doubted that humans were able to really...

n some ways, one could say that the discipline of ethics has been struggling with that issue for approximately 2,500 years and so finding a simple and quick answer is highly improbable. Very few...

Empedocles and Epicurus both attribute change to elements of nature, but Empedocles also attributes change as a result of forces acting upon the elements of nature.

Accepting a belief without critical examination can offer the pro of providing immediate comfort and a sense of belonging. However, it also has significant cons, such as the risk of perpetuating...

What Socrates is saying in this line is that people should care about virtue more than anything else.  He is expressing this by telling the audience that he would want them to really come down...

Professor Jesse Prinz thinks human nature is far too intangible and unknowable to provide a stable foundation for moral values. Prinz then shows how nature can lead to some rather violent values. As...

Tabula Rasa (literally, "erased slate," although "blank slate/page" is more often heard) is the concept that all minds start out completely empty of knowledge and information, save the animal...

There is a lot of controversy over this -- it's one of the major questions in philosophy, after all. Some, called "consequentialists" believe that an action is good or bad based on its...

Plotinus treatise 'On   that aesthetics, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy, and psychology are all interconnected. Hence, beauty is everywhere and can be summoned in many ways. However,...

Dialectical philosophy is a term used to describe a method of philosophical argumentation in which there is a contradictory process between opposing sides. Sometimes the outcome of the dialectic may...

In philosophy, objective truth claims to exist entirely on its own merits, independent of human awareness and judgment thereof. Science, for example, is based on a vision of objective truth. It...

A major theme in literature, redemption is the salvation of a soul that is lost, usually from human error, such as greed or lust, but also from the devil’s interference in the salvation...

The view that the mind is a separate entity from the brain, and can exist apart from it, is known as dualism. The opposite view, that the mind and body are one, is called monism. Both Descartes and...

This is a very good question. However, as the question stand, it is almost unanswerable, because neither Greek nor French philosophy is monolithic. There is so much variability among philosophers!;...

The idea of induction is to be differentiated from the idea of deduction.  They are opposite ways of trying to prove things or to find truth. Before Bacon, most science was done on the...