Hume’s Empiricism: Causality, Skepticism, and Morality
Cultural and Historical Context
The decline of the nobility and the monarchy led to the bourgeoisie demanding more political power. They proclaimed human rights and equality before the law, weakening the privileges of the ruling class. These principles fueled the French Revolution, marking the beginning of the end for the Ancien Régime in Europe and ushering in the era of 19th-century bourgeois revolutions. The Agricultural Revolution of 1750 and the subsequent Industrial Revolution transformed
Read MoreDescartes’ Criterion of Truth and the Existence of God
Descartes’ Criterion of Truth
One idea is clear when it is present and manifest to mindfulness. If we accept as true only what is presented clearly, we will never be wrong. Different is the idea that my consciousness is well defined in outline, not mixed with any other.
Moreover, we must be careful with the word “think” (and with the proposition “I think, therefore I am”) because with it we now refer to the experience through which we have a conceptual and intellectual knowledge of reality. However,
Read MoreCharacter Analysis: A View of Miller’s “A View from the Bridge”
EDDIE
Eddie is the main character in the play and every significant act in the drama is connected to him. He is forceful, energetic and obsessive. He is capable of self-delusion on a grand scale. He is also, however, a character who can show warmth and some generosity.
He is protective towards Catherine at the beginning of the play and he does not wish her to expose herself to the attentions of the men of the neighbourhood. He comments on her clothes and the way she looks. His interest in Catherine
Read MoreNietzsche’s Critique of Philosophers and Western Morality in Twilight of the Idols
Fragment 1
Summary
This fragment from Nietzsche’s The Twilight of the Idols, beginning with “You ask me …” and ending with “… if it were real,” critiques philosophers’ lack of historical sense and their rejection of change. Nietzsche accuses them of conceptualizing everything as immutable, seeking a false and immoral sense of certainty by creating a “real” world to justify their ignorance. He criticizes their denial of death, the body, and aging, seeing these as sources of deception leading to
Read MoreGlossary of Ancient Greek Philosophy Concepts
Nature (Physis)
The intrinsic principle of motion and rest of natural things. From the Latin word natura, translated from Greek physis. This notion is important in all but the Greek philosophers. Aristotle was the one who studied it in more detail; his whole philosophy revolves around this concept, just as Plato’s does around the theme of Ideas.
Arché
The principle or ultimate essence of all things. The Greek word arché (or arche) is translated into English as “principle.” This concept is very important
Read MoreSartre’s Existentialism: A Comprehensive Overview
Elementary Exposition and Contextual Conception of Human Existence: Sartre
Sartre, along with other thinkers like Jaspers and Marcel, considers human existence as a starting point of his philosophy.
Primacy of Existence
Existentialists accept the idea championed by Kierkegaard: real existence can only be individual. Hence, existentialist philosophies reject the imposition of a universal reality on daily existence and place the human being as a starting point. Sartre expresses the primacy of human existence
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