Roots of Conflict and the Social Contract
The Roots of Conflict and the Importance of Coexistence
The root of many wars and conflicts lies in the relegated coexistence of different beliefs within a country. Intolerance breeds violence, both from those in power who seek to impose one religion and from those who resist this imposition.
For example, in the war in the former Yugoslavia, regardless of significant political tensions, intolerance played a role in triggering the conflict and the events that followed.
Religious conflicts are often
Read MorePlato’s Philosophy: Soul, Body, and the World of Ideas
Plato’s Anthropology and the Nature of the Soul
Plato’s Anthropology: For the Greeks, the key problem was not the existence of the soul, but its nature: whether it is material or not, immortal or not. In contrast, modern thought primarily questions the soul’s existence, not its nature. In Greek thought, the concept of the soul is linked to two ideas: life and intellectual knowledge. The soul, therefore, would be the principle of life. For Plato, the soul is essentially the principle of intellectual
Read MoreMarxist Philosophy: Key Terms and Concepts
**Glossary of Marxist Philosophy**
**Alignment**
Also known as *alienation* or *estrangement*. It refers to the circumstance in which a person is not the master of themselves, or ultimately responsible for their actions and thoughts. For Marx, it is the condition in which the oppressed class lives in every exploitative society, in any society that supports private ownership of the means of production.
**Economic Base**
An expression with which Marx refers to the economic structure. He stated that this
Read MoreRationalism vs. Empiricism: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism
Rationalism and Empiricism
Rationalism and empiricism are epistemological positions that seek to understand how we know the world. Empiricism emphasizes the role of the senses, asserting that knowledge originates from sensory experience. Empiricists argue that nothing exists in the mind that was not first in the senses. All that comes to mind comes from the senses, through a process that begins with sensory input. For empiricists, there are no innate ideas, and truth is not universal because it depends
Read MoreNietzsche’s Critique of Platonic Metaphysics
Nietzsche’s Critique of Traditional Metaphysics challenges Platonic concepts of being, absolute truth, and good. He argues that these concepts, used to build a ‘real world,’ are empty and abstract. The idea of two worlds (intelligible and sensitive) is a fiction. Nietzsche proposes that appearance is part of being, and sensory experience is proof of truth. He identifies three negative repercussions of the Platonic idea of good: 1) the invention of a world based solely on reason; 2) the Christian
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: 19th Century Influences
Historical and Cultural Context of the 19th Century
The 19th century marks the beginning of civilization as we understand it. It is a period of great political and social revolution whose origin is French. It is the century of major competing ideologies: liberalism, socialism, Marxism, nationalism, and anarchism, whose struggles come to the 20th century. Nietzsche had prophesied that the 20th century would be the wars for global domination. It is also the century of the second industrial revolution,
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