contradiction.” (Kant‚ 1785‚ 1993). What does this mean? A maxim is the fundamental rule of conduct or your moral belief upon which you chose to act. A universal law is a law that everyone must follow regardless of the outcome. How do we determine if the maxim can become universal? One of the first things to do is to ask yourself if it would be acceptable that everyone do the same thing that you are considering doing in that situation. We were given several examples in The Elements of Moral Philosophy
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Metaphysics shares a breadth of problems concerning ‘universals’. One view that addresses these problems is nominalism. Nominalism is the position that universals do not exist outside the mind. There are different sects of nominalism that expresses various stances about the problem at hand. Austere nominalism‚ metalinguistic nominalism‚ and trope theory are the various types of nominalism that refute the claim of realism. Each of these types of nominalism contain their own respective views towards
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As we delve deeper into Kant’s Metaphysics we begin to get a comprehension of how Kant believes that knowledge of the world can be possible. In this essay‚ I hope to explain clearly the way Kant believes that to be able to understand the world‚ humans’ project certain rules and regulation that objects must conform to so that they can be understood. I also intend to explain that it is through these rules and regulations that we will see two forms of human understanding that will appear with three
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Born in 1724‚ Immanuel Kant became an extremely important Prussian philosopher. His parents were poor as he grew up‚ and were part of a strict religious group – a protestant group known as Pietism. When he was sixteen‚ Kant went to university in Prussia and received the equivalent of a doctoral degree by the age of 31. He taught as a professor of logic and mathematics at the university and was an extremely popular lecturer‚ because people wanted to hear what he had to say. He wrote several notable
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KANT AND EQUALITY Some readers of this essay will have become impatient by now; because they believe that the problem that perplexes me has been definitively solved by Immanuel Kant. It is certainly true that Kant held strong opinions on this matter. In an often-quoted passage‚ he reports a personal conversion from elitism: “I am myself a researcher by inclination. I feel the whole thirst for knowledge and the eager unrest to move further on into it‚ also satisfaction with each acquisition. There
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Instructor Gallup Kant or Mill 14 November 2011 The topic of Kant and John Stuart Mill produces much debate. Both scholars have their own beliefs that they deem to be appropriate point of views in the way man should view a moral life. In this paper I plan on elaborating on both Kant and Mill’s point of views. This paper will first talk about John Stuart Mill’s beliefs on morality and what he deems appropriate. Then in the next segment of the paper‚ Kant views will be dissected and discussed
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1. What moral theory does Craig attempt to defend? 1. If God exists‚ then we have a sound foundation for objective moral values and duties. 2. If God does not exist‚ then we do not have a sound foundation for objective moral values and duties. Craig believes that if there is a God then we have a foundation for what should be considered right‚ and what should be considered wrong. But if there is no God‚ then we have nothing to base our morals off of. 2. What view of morality is held in common
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or maintain social order through the rule of law. It can also be thought of as an agreement by the governed on a set of rules by which they are governed. Two theorists that had very strong views on the social contract were Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant. Although both of these theorists believed in a social contract they both had different views on what it exactly meant. Hobbes was a different kind of philosopher that had a very pessimistic view on humanity. In Hobbes’ book the Leviathan‚ he believed
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The Tools of Philosophy: Socrates- the concept of integrity/ being true to yourself Importance in maintaining a state of virtue Wont compromise his strength of character “To thy own self be true” Attracted young people (energy and enthusiasm) and inspired them to ask questions The Socratic Method- challenged norms (Ex: “The sky if blue”) Challenged people in order to make them more clear in their own thought processes Forced people to stretch their ideas further/put together a base of knowledge
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Of all the plays by William Shakespeare‚ Hamlet deals the most with what lies beyond this terrestrial sphere. In the words of Michael Neil‚ "Hamlet [is] a prolonged meditation on death." It is a study of life beyond death‚ in the metaphysics of the eternal soul‚ the afterlife‚ and the eternal consequences of temporal causes. Characters in the play are obsessed by the afterlife. Hamlet ’s fixation on suicide is possibly the most obvious example of this. In one of his soliloquies‚ he confesses
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