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However, in Machiavelli's time, as it is today, the States whole reason for being was to serve the citizens, not vice versa. Machiavelli believed the only purpose for a ruler was to make war, and protect its citizens from attacks by other states. The ruler, therefore, is justified in doing whatever is necessary to maintain the country, even if it is unjust. Plato argues a ruler can never be unjust.
Descartes later claims this allows him to verify other things. He says he may be dreaming and his senses may be deceiving him, but: the imaging, qua active power, is none the less really in me, as forming part of my thinking. Again I am the being who senses, that is to say, who apprehends corporeal things as if by the organs of sense, since I do in truth see light, hear noise, feel heat. . . .this is what in me is called sensing, and as used in this precise manner is nowise other than thinking (Descartes, P. 94).
22/11/2008 The Bhagavad Gita's essential philosophy is very similar to the essential philosophy behind Christianity and, in fact, Plato's Republic as well. It is interesting to note the unity in the essential philosophies of all three works. By essential philosophies I mean without all the trappings of ritual and small details for theistic explanation. Only the core values and manifestation of these values in society and the world view are to be considered.
Modern times have obviously proven Marx' assumptions of the self-destructive tendency of capitalism to be much more latent and controllable. The dynamic and destructive capitalist economy which 1) replaced exploitation veiled with religion with blatant exploitation and 2) destroyed its own means of preventing future crises has again become a more veiled form of exploitation and has proven to have a much greater capacity to prevent crises through human constructions such as the federal reserve board and government crisis monetary backing. Things such as these show capitalist society to be more tenacious than Marx thought. How does this effect his claim to scientific status? Marxism is still a very exact and penetrating critique -- but what level of science can it claim?
01/12/2008 Two of Socrates' students attempted coups and failed. According to I.F. Stone, in his book Gadfly's Guilt: The Trial of Socrates, "Bloody political coups led by two of his best-known students, Alcibiades and Critias, overthrew democratic government in Athens in 411 and 404 B.C. the threat of a third coup in 401, triggered Socrates' trial, which took place two years later"(Stone, I.F. Qtd. in Elson, John. Books: Gadfly's Guilt: The Trial of Socrates. Time, 01-25-98, p.66). Stone, however, also argues that Socrates was "in reality a coldhearted, elitist, pro-Spartan snob who was openly contemptuous of Athens' Democracy and favored totalitarian rule by a philosopher-king"(Stone, I. F. Qtd. in Elson, John). That is not the intent of the paper. Plato's goal could not have been a Philosophical Monarchy, because the teachings of Socrates require the intellectual participation of many, or a Democracy. Plato's goal is a political philosophical change in the way the future rulers of the government think, not to over throw the government by force.
The Socrates Plato describes refuses to accept payment for formal instruction, and had no school. Socrates taught by asking questions and inducing debate. The truth can only be discovered by eliminating what is not true. His goal was to teach the younger generation to think clearly, reasonably, philosophically.
23/11/2008 Descartes later claims this allows him to verify other things. He says he may be dreaming and his senses may be deceiving him, but: the imaging, qua active power, is none the less really in me, as forming part of my thinking. Again I am the being who senses, that is to say, who apprehends corporeal things as if by the organs of sense, since I do in truth see light, hear noise, feel heat. . . .this is what in me is called sensing, and as used in this precise manner is nowise other than thinking (Descartes, P. 94).
Plato in seeking the truth, figured a military coup would never succeed in over throwing the government that killed his teacher, and tried to silence his teacher's teachings. The best way to implement a change in the government and influence they way people viewed the world was to write a series of dialogues directed at the youth—even in the time of the Greeks, just as today, the youth always wish to implement change. Writing from Socrates first person point of view allows Plato to gain the most sympathy for Socrates while making a mockery of Socrates' accusers. He demonstrates the ignorance and hypocrisy of the governing senate for all to read and hear. The senate, rulers of the Democracy known for free speech, sentences a man to death for free speech.
01/12/2008 Matters of fact, which are the second objects of human reason, are not ascertained in the same manner; nor is our evidence of their truth, however great, of a like nature with the foregoing. The contrary of every matter of fact is still possible; because it can never imply a contradiction, and is conceived by the mind with the same facility and distinctness, as if ever so conformable to reality. That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction than the affirmation, that it will rise. We should in vain, therfore, attempt to demonstrate its falsehood. (Hume, David S. "Concerning Human Understanding" Section IV, Part I, 20)
Mill believes a person should never be punished because his actions set a bad example or because the public feels they can not act responsibly concerning their own being(76).
21/11/2008 John Locke was the son of a wealthy family who sought to maintain and justify his family's wealth in the chapter "Of Property" in his Second Treatise of Government. Locke believes that the purpose of government is to protect property and that societies were set up to avoid civil or foreign wars that may occur over the dispute of property. Locke attempts to rationalize the right of men having "unequal possessions of the earth" (Locke 29), but fails because he does not recognize that unequal ownership of property does not allow for the basis of his argument that ownership of property is only justified if there is good and enough for others (Locke, 20).
The sovereign (government) according to Hobbes is the glue that holds society together. The sovereign enacts and enforces laws. The sovereign is the power that all men fear if they break the law. The sovereign has the right to execute its citizens if they are found guilty, but the citizen has no obligation to assist in his own execution or death (Hobbes 199). It is against the Law of Nature not to resist death. Hobbes states: "For though a man may covenant thus, Unlesse I do so, or so, kill me; he cannot covenant thus, Unlesse I do so, or so, I will not resist you, when you come to kill me" (Hobbes 199).
A person could argue that yes this makes sense, but how do you explain the different degrees of knowledge people attain. Since we all gather experiences throughout our life, we must actually be ration...
Simone de Beauvoir is obviously trying to address the weakest point of Sartre's philosophical exposition of existentialism -- what sort of value system arises from the existential outlook? De Beauvoir...
Plato was prepared to say that the truly just person, whose soul is ordered, is beyond tragedy, and cannot be harmed. Such a person is leading a meangingful life, as against the immoral person. Moreov...
Thomas Hobbes philosophized about the Nature of Man in the State of Nature. Hobbes believes that man in the State of Nature, in which there is no sovereign, would live like the beasts of the wild. Hob...
However, in Machiavelli's time, as it is today, the States whole reason for being was to serve the citizens, not vice versa. Machiavelli believed the only purpose for a ruler was to make war, and prot...
The young are stronger, but the old more cunning. The older an animal or human gets, the more knowledge they possess. This knowledge is gained mostly through experience. A person can spend years in a ...
Plato's concept of forms raises many interesting questions. The concept that everything in the physical world has a form or ideal theoretical existence seems fairly valid upon a cursory examination. A...
Another rebuttal is that probability theory is a mathematical model, thus it has a form. Probability theory, however, is not an abstraction. It is a concrete consideration of the likelihood of any eve...
But this carpenter was isolated from anything but justice and virtue from birth, making it impossible that he would act unjustly. Does this mean that Socrates' justice is simply doing what you are tol...
These clauses, properly understood, may be reduced to one, the total alienation of each associate, together with all his rights, to the whole community; for, in the first place, as each gives himself ...
Dewey is asking us to accept the selective emphasis of the "inconclusive integrity of experience" as a starting point, but by doing so he is guilty of what he criticizes. How can there be "an empirica...
Plato was Greek philosopher, born into a distinguished family either in Athens or on the island of Aegina where his father had an estate. He received the education in music and gymnastics of a wellbor...
All three works have emphasized the transitory nature of the material world and the transcendence of the realm of rational thought, belief in god, or living in the ways of Krishna. Plato and the Gita ...
Most of Hobbes' conclusions are merely assertions, such as his explanations of what is and is not injustice regarding an individuals acts toward the state. It is ambiguous why certain rights are forfe...
Simone de Beauvoir is obviously trying to address the weakest point of Sartre's philosophical exposition of existentialism -- what sort of value system arises from the existential outlook? De Beauvoir...
According to Plato, the soul consists of three basic energies which animate human beings: Reason, Emotion, and Appetite. Reason is given the greatest value, while Emotion and especially Appetite are r...
Metaphysics is a popular field of science, which explores concepts such as healing, death and the afterlife, the spirit world, tarot, meditation, astrology and the supernatural. When the word metaphys...
Machiavelli, however, was a realist. He was concerned with how things were in reality, not how things could be if the world was perfect. He was greatly influenced by his failures in public life. He ha...
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...
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