Descartes believes that all knowledge must rest on a priori foundations. This claim is proven through his acceptance in the idea of God as most true and that innate ideas are relearned. Descartes states that his understanding of “God a certain substance that is infinite‚independent and supremely powerful...the more carefully I focus my attention on them‚ the less possible it seems they could have arisen out of myself alone”(Meditations And Discourse on Methods 45-46). Descartes sees himself as a
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Classical Political Thought 12/15/10 Examining Plato and Aristotle’s Political Regimes Structures Plato and Aristotle both understood the importance of wisdom and virtue in founding a good regime. In their writings‚ they suggest the effect they felt a ruler had on a regime and vice versa. Where Plato saw a linear slope of five increasingly misguided and degenerating regimes‚ Aristotle saw six regimes: three true and three corrupt. Each regime has a ruling political good. This will be more apparent
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How Intelligent are Chimpanzees Compared to Humans? A chimpanzee’s brain size is less than ⅓ of a human’s brain size‚ yet they are still so intelligent when compared to humans. Chimpanzees don’t haven’t invented computers or iphones‚ but just a small it of research shows that chimps are actually quite intelligent. Jane Goodall is someone who has spent lots of time with chimpanzees‚ and she herself has experienced the intelligence of chimps. Chimpanzees are our closest relatives‚ sharing lots of
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Throughout his life‚ Aristotle paid particularly close attention to the notion of happiness. In Aristotle’s opinion‚ happiness is achieved by obtaining the highest good by living a good life. However‚ living a good life in accordance with Aristotle’s views can be difficult. He believes that in order to live a good life‚ one must constantly seek to fulfill the bodily needs. To do so‚ one must live with moral and intellectual virtues at all times. Aristotle believed that living with moral and intellectual
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Aristotle – Nicomachean Ethics Book I 1. What does it mean to say Aristotle’s ethical theory is “teleological?” In Aristotle’s world‚ nature‚ which is made up of matter and form‚ is teleological‚ meaning it has an end or goal. For example‚ the telos of an acorn is to turn into an oak tree. At first something has its potential and then it makes the choice in life to actualize that potential‚ by virtue‚ and be the best it can be. There is an aim and purpose to everything and a purpose to everything
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Descartes and God In his groundbreaking work‚ Meditations on First Philosophy‚ the French philosopher Rene Descartes lays the groundwork for many philosophical principles by attempting to “establish a bold and lasting knowledge” (171)1. The foundations for knowledge Descartes established would go on to influence a plethora of other philosophers and philosophical works. Descartes argues in his meditations first from the point of view of complete skepticism‚ using skepticism as a tool in order to
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Examine Descartes¡¦ account of the relationship between the mind and body. Do you find his arguments convincing? Descartes (1596-1650) is generally considered to be one of the most influential philosophers of the modern Western world. He has been called ¡¥the founder of modern philosophy¡¦ as he was the first man of any influence in philosophy to be interested and affected by physics and astronomy‚ as well as refusing to accept views of his predecessors‚ preferring to work out everything for
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not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear (what we call) the catharsis of such emotions” (Aristotle). This is what the great Greek philosopher‚ Aristotle‚ believes a drama must have to be great‚ which he explains in his essay Poetics. Aristotle believed that it was possible to categorize works of art‚ namely dramas‚ as being better than another by the use of his “rubric.” Basically‚ Aristotle says that to be a great drama‚ the drama must: have a clear protagonist that the audience identifies
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Gibbon‚ writing in the late eighteenth century goes as far as calling the Crusades an act of “savage fanaticism.” The Enlightenment was however‚ quickly supplanted by romanticism in the nineteenth century. Prominent romantics such as Francois Michaud compared crusading with the contemporary enterprise of colonialism‚ all the while extolling the civilizing virtues of both. Europe’s preoccupation with imperialism was often even justified by using allusions to its crusading
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Aristotle Virtues Theory talks about doing the right thing because it is rights. Not doing the right thing because it benefits you or because something of your personal is at stake. It is also about understanding right from wrong and applying that knowledge to moral behavior. Aristotle believed that when making a decision morals tend to take over in more cases than none. The decisions that we make has to do with having the knowledge of understanding right from wrong. He also say that the right decisions
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