Author	Feedback	Action
abigail OFFLINE	23/11/2008 Hume, David, 1711-76, Scottish philosopher and historian. Hume carried the empiricism of John Locke and George Berkeley to the logical extreme of radical skepticism. He repudiated the possibility of certain knowledge, finding in the mind nothing but a series of sensations, and held that cause-and-effect in the natural world derives solely from the conjunction of two impressions. Hume's skepticism is also evident in his writings on religion, in which he rejected any rational or natural theology. David Hume lived in the constitutional monarchy of George II under the Prime Ministers Walpole, Pelham and Pitt, a Britain which had thoroughly established a stable bourgeois system of government and was interested in building its Empire. Hume died in the year of the American War of Independence. Hume denied theological doctrines and acknowledged the evils that religion had wrought upon humanity. How was one to develop then a "secular" system of philosophy and morality. What answer could be given to Berkeley's "proof" that the concept of a material world beyond sensation was a "metaphysical absurdity"? How could we get on with science and industry, trade and conquest, without religion? Hume accepted Berkeley's proof, but developed the philosophy of Skepticism, a British compromise, in which, while the knowledge we gain from experience cannot constitute theoretical knowledge or necessity, it is good enough for practical purposes, sufficient for practical life. Hume says: Hume claims that humans are like animals:
carlos OFFLINE	22/11/2008 Hume utilizes intelligence as his method of persuasion; he speaks as if every learned individual will ultimately accept his ideas as correct and attempt to persuade the rest of the population to shy away from religion. With regard to reason, Hume does not agree with Enlightenment thinkers, although he was initially influenced by the writings of John Locke, and disagrees that a relationship between cause and effect can be inferred through the use of reason. The ideas espoused by Hume were extremely controversial at the time of publication, although his proposed ideas are still looked upon in an unfavorable light. Many religious individuals justify their beliefs with arguments opposed by Hume throughout his writings. His comments regarding religion fail to be seen favorably by a public that believes fervently in their religion, yet has no way to prove their faith. Locke's concept of the state of nature, however, is equally questionable with that of Hobbes. When Locke delves into the question of property, he reasons well in his differentiation between the property of mankind and the property of a man. He even skirts on Marx's labor theory of value. It is interesting to compare Locke's theories with contemporary capitalist societies which claim to have a basis in Locke. I see little similarity between the two. Slavery (chattel and wage), exploitation, limited popular access to government, and social priorities which benefit a select part of society all challenge the west's claim to a Locke-style government system.
sean OFFLINE	24/11/2008 The French philosopher Rene Descartes lived from 1596-1650. He was the son of an aristocrat and traveled throughout Europe studying a wide-variety of subjects including math, science, law, medicine, religion, and philosophy. Descartes was greatly influenced by other thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Perhaps the leap from philosophical metaphysics to philosophical pragmatics was too steep for Dewey. Nature changes slowly and so do our values and the way we experience nature. Dewey's pragmatism builds upon a theory by adding meaning and value through empirical experience. Previous philosophers ignored empirical experience, and therefore were stuck being prognosticators, predicting what the results of future events would be, and accepting those predictions as truths. By adding experience, Dewey changed the way we discover and accept facts. Dewey was unable to avoid all the cultural values of his predecessors because it was these values and meanings he wished to make better and more enhanced. He would have been better off scraping previous philosophy and its inherent flaws and starting from current societal and cultural experiences. Rorty criticizes Dewey and uses that criticism toward better and more enhance meaning and value of Dewey's method. Rorty states:
haley OFFLINE	01/12/2008 Dewey set out to show the harm which traditional philosophical dualisms were doing to our culture, and he thought that to do this job he needed a metaphysics--a description of the generic traits of existences that would solve (or dissolve) the traditonal problems of philosophy, as well as open up new avenues for cultural development. I think he was successful in this latter, larger, aim; he is one of the few philosophers of our century whose imagination was expansive enough to envisage a culture shaped along lines different from those we have developed in the West during the last three hundred years. (Rorty, Richard "Dewey's Metaphysics, Consequences of Pragmatism: Essays 1972-1980. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1982, P. 85) Plato's writings were arranged in groups of four. The dialog form used by Plato came naturally out of Greek drama, the Athenian habit of discussion and the use of dialog by Socrates.

Title and Description	Posts	Photo	Action
Constructions Reserve Board Author: aaron New He then proceeds to eliminate the body and the senses from being without doubt, until he comes up with the one verifiable truth: Sensing? There can be no sensing in the absence of body; and besides I ...	1		View Bookmark
Monetary Tenacious Penetrating Author: aaron New The best argument against interference of the life of an individual is made by Mill: "the strongest of all arguments against the interference of the public with purely personal conduct is that, when i...	1		View Bookmark

Title and Description	Photo	Action
Creates Utopian Designed Author: aaron New Mill argues that society has control over a person's liberty when they are a child (77). It is society's job to educate a young person and make "them capable of rational conduct" (77). If society fail...		View Bookmark
Warns Honesty Author: aaron New According to Locke, "If one is to act in such a way that appears contrary to the natural laws, it is the right and responsibility of all men affected by these actions to judge and punish the offender....		View Bookmark
Beginners Information Mysterious Author: aaron Featured There are, however, two possible reasons for de Beauvoir's primacy of freedom for others. One is that she has created a value scheme which promotes such values. But if this were simply the case, there...		View Bookmark

Title and Description	Date/Time	Photo	Action
Occur Dispute Attempts Author: aaron New By making a big deal of the charge of corrupting the youth, Plato garners more sympathy from the youth. It is as if their leaders are saying they are not smart enough to think for themselves, and to c...	22/12/2008 18:23		View Bookmark
Still Maintains Surrender Author: aaron New Mill argues that society has control over a person's liberty when they are a child (77). It is society's job to educate a young person and make "them capable of rational conduct" (77). If society fail...	23/12/2008 11:03		View Bookmark
Jewel Serve Degrees Author: aaron Additionally, Hume speaks of miraculous events recorded throughout history and shows that there is no acceptable reason to believe in these miracles because they are never witnessed by a vast number o...	17/12/2008 23:35		View Bookmark
Conceive Heights Author: aaron At the end of Section 9 Hume writes: "But our wonder will perhaps cease or diminish when we consider that the experimental (experiential) reasoning itself, which we possess in common with beasts, and ...	22/12/2008 16:22		View Bookmark

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Possessions Fails Recognize Author: aaron New Featured There are many things to learn from Plato's "Symposium" on love. Love must come from the heart not from lust and wantonness. This is real love. We have all experienced puppy love or what the Greeks ca...		Join Club View Bookmark
Musing Dialectics Author: aaron Featured The discussion in part I on despair and the causes and results of this despair is a fairly scientific description of observable phenomenon in the human psyche. The dialectical method of examination of...		Join Club View Bookmark
Naturally Forms Interesting Author: carlos New Augustine seems to accept this general theory of Plato's, but he then proceeds to extend it to the realm of Christianity. The various forms which Plato believes are the realm of the "intelligible" or ...		Join Club View Bookmark
Seeks Undoubtable Pragmatists Author: hailey New Featured when we analyze our thoughts or ideas, however compounded or sublime, we always find that they resolve themselves into such simple ideas as were copied from a precedent feeling or sentiment. Even thos...		Join Club View Bookmark
Credibility Delivering Union Author: mia New Featured Plato's Apology helps define the philosophy of Socrates. Socrates believed in truth above all else. He wished to change the way in which his contemporaries viewed the world. Socrates believed "the une...		Join Club View Bookmark
Implicit Efficient Manifesto Author: xavier New Featured The prerequisites before embarking on a metaphysical path requires the two following things: a belief in a God and the possibility of an afterlife. If these two concepts are not met, one will have tro...		Join Club View Bookmark
Carries Appearance Dominate Author: hunter New Hofstader, a supporter of Dewey's metaphysics describes "the aim of metaphysics as a general theory of existence. . .the discovery of the basic types of involvement's and their relationships" (Qtd in ...		Join Club View Bookmark
Applicability Assumes Author: lily Featured The integrated unity can not be the starting point, because there can be no starting point in the empirical method except reflection itself and reflection is contingent upon the value and meaning each...		Join Club View Bookmark
Veiled Blatant Author: elizabeth Featured Plato says their performance determines whether the Love is Common or Heavenly. This differs greatly from the materialistic society we live in today. Today people are more concerned with Common Love t...		Join Club View Bookmark
Becomes Facticity Author: elizabeth Featured Locke's assertion that an alien is exempt from the laws of a country to which he is not a citizen is a curious segment of his doctrine. Would an alien then be free to commit crime in a foreign land? W...		Join Club View Bookmark