Nihilism: Active vs. Passive and the Death of God
Nihilism: A Disease of Western Culture
In the Nietzschean conception, nihilism is not a theory but a way of life, a way of feeling and acting. More strictly, nihilism is a disease. It is the broken line of Western culture from Socrates until now. As Heidegger says in the Introduction to Metaphysics, nihilism is the destruction of the earth and of man’s gregarization. We call “nihilism” the unhappy consciousness and lack of ability to create that characterizes Western man. We are all immersed in the
Read MoreUnderstanding Reality: Metaphysics and Human Perception
The Theoretical Rationale
The human being has a unique ability that allows them to interpret and transform reality, which distinguishes them from other living beings. Reason has two functions:
- Theoretical capacity: Human faculty for specific skills, abstract, particular, and universal.
- Practical capacity: Capacity to learn by acting, directing our actions to establish our public and private behavior.
Starting Points
For the ancient Greek thinkers, the theoretical rationale was the ability to think in
Read MorePlato’s Philosophy: True Knowledge and Ideal City Governance
Plato’s Philosophy: True Knowledge and Ideal City Governance
This dissertation will try to explain the relationship between knowledge of the truth and city government. But this raises the question: is there true knowledge? If it exists, can we get to know the truth? The answers to these questions depend on the historical moment and the person you are wondering about, but as Plato says, there does exist real knowledge, and it is accessible to people. But, how does true knowledge relate to city government?
René Descartes: Life, Philosophy, and the Discourse on Method
Historical Context of Descartes
Descartes is situated in the first half of the 17th century, whose characteristics are:
- Political Situation: Concentration of political power and territorial unification. This stage is known as the Old Regime, characterized by the concentration of power (the king controlled politics, economy, and culture) within an absolute monarchy.
- Economy: The discovery of America caused the expansion of maritime trade, giving rise to capitalism. However, the plague, wars, and bad
Ontology, Epistemology, and the Existence of God: A Metaphysical Inquiry
Ontology and Epistemology
The first task of ontology: To clarify terms. Clarifying certain terms can serve as an introduction to ontology. Many of these concepts are so basic that they are difficult to define; what is described are examples. Describing the task of ontology is like a search for the real definitions of certain terms, based on the meaning ascribed to such terms in the language of which they are a part. The terms which ontology tries to give real definitions of are formed largely by
Read MoreAristotle’s Metaphysics and Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Aristotle’s Sublunary Substance and the Unmoved Mover
Sublunary substance refers to the region from the Moon downwards. It consists of a substance that degenerates and wears. Everything is born and dies. With respect to change, in this case, it would be chaotic; things go up, down, colliding, etc. This chaos causes everything to degenerate, to be born and die. To explain the change, Aristotle uses the theory of natural places, based on what Empedocles of Agrigento, a Presocratic philosopher, said.
Read More