movie The Matrix‚ the cave analogy of Plato‚ and Descartes’ Meditation‚ is that all of these works doubt the reality of the world around us and call into question the validity of our sense perceptions. “Let us suppose‚” says Descartes‚ “that we are dreaming‚ and that all these particulars – namely‚ the opening of the eyes‚ the motion of the head‚ the forth-putting of the hands – are merely illusions” (Descartes‚ 1641‚ Meditations on First Philosophy). Likewise Plato proposed an interesting hypothetical
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The Three witches in the tragedy Macbeth are introduced right at the beginning of the play. They tell Macbeth three prophesies‚ he will be Thane of Cawdor‚ Thane of Glams and King. These prophesies introduce him to ideas of greatness. Macbeth will eventually follow through on killing king Duncan. This brings into the play‚ idea of fate and the role with which it has in the play. The witches could foretell the future‚ they can add temptation‚ and influence Macbeth‚ but they can not control his
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Essay 3: Descartes on the Method of Doubt In the Meditations on First Philosophy‚ we find Descartes at a point trying to suspend all beliefs that he held from his youth by destroying his unstable house of knowledge to build a more concrete foundation of certainty. In an attempt to rid himself of skepticism of his own beliefs‚ Descartes devises the method of doubt to eliminate all his current beliefs that could not possibly be true‚ leaving him only with the things in which he could be certain
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2419657 Mr. Zimmerman Philosophy 201 Aristotle Paper 1 Moral virtue‚ according to Aristotle‚ is formed by habit. This means that you begin to decide your moral virtues in the early years of your life‚ and continue to form them as you age‚ depending on the habits you form during your lifetime. In Aristotle’s mind‚ moral virtues are a characteristic not decided by nature‚ but by the individual himself. In Aristotle’s‚ Nicomachean Ethics‚ Aristotle states‚ "This shows‚ too‚ that none of the
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Plato/Descartes Reading Response In both Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Descartes’ The Fourth Meditation‚ they discuss truth; what it is‚ where it comes from and how to differentiate it from falsehood and error. Plato’s paper is more metaphorical and uses imagery to paint a picture of his idea of truth‚ while Descartes’ is more straight forward‚ and uses examples. These papers are written very differently but are‚ at the same time‚ very similar when it comes to content. Although it’s not word
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Essay Question #1 Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote the Nicomachean Ethics‚ portraying the significance of studying the realms of ethics and political science. In his work‚ Aristotle focuses on the theme of how human beings can attain the chief human good—happiness—at which everything aims. Aristotle argues that ethics‚ the study of moral character‚ and political science‚ the branch of knowledge and analysis of political activity and behavior‚ must be closely studied together in order
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“All men by nature desire understanding.” This is how Aristotle opens his famous Metaphysics‚ one of the greatest philosophical works ever produced. The thirst for knowledge has always occupied Western man at least since the time of Thales‚ and even though many different views and opinions about what knowledge is and how it can be gained have abounded throughout Western philosophy up to this very day‚ the fact that so many men have dedicated their lives to seeking knowledge on all sort of different
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Descartes was the first mathematician to use the notation where the letters at the beginning of the alphabet represent data and the letters at the end of the alphabet to represent variables or unknowns. Descartes’ understanding of algebra was deep. He stated that the number of distinct roots of an equation is equal to the degree of the equation. Descartes was willing to consider negative (he called them false roots) and imaginary roots. He developed a rule for determining the number of positive
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By studying Plato’s views on the soul‚ virtues‚ and forms‚ one can understand his outlooks on the individual and natural purpose‚ or telos. Plato had a teleological worldview‚ so he believed everything in nature had an end‚ or purpose. In his famous Allegory of the Cave‚ along with the Sun and Line analogies‚ Plato outlines the spiritual and intellectual journey of a human from ignorance into goodness and knowledge‚ which symbolizes a human reaching his or her purpose. This essay will evaluate Plato’s
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Modern Phil. MW 2pm Garber on Descartes: Rejection and Retention In Daniel Garber’s article‚ “Descartes against his teachers: The Refutation of Hylomorphism”‚ the metaphysics of the early scholastics is presented to show the similarities and differences between what Descartes was taught through scholasticism and what he came to refute. Through analysis of the article I will present what Descartes considered to be the central ideas of scholastic metaphysics‚ as well as show what he chose
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