A Timeless Debate
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
At a lecture given at our own Stony Brook University, Michael Ratner asserts that “Justice is losing its power” . What Michael Ratner, the defending lawyer for many prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, means by this daring statement is that America is losing sight of its foundations....
A Question of Filial Piety
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
Should we publicly accuse our own parents of a crime, which will undoubtedly result in their punishment? This age old question has been debated for millennia throughout the world with varied and countless legitimate arguments swaying people's opinions from one side to the other. It is unclear if...
Ego Trips and Empathy Falls
Essay - 5 pages - Philosophy
Although both drastically different in philosophy, Surrealism and Russian Futurism failed to endure, but in similar ways. Surrealism, as defined by Andre Breton, is grounded in past philosophies while Mayakovsky's Russian futurism floats somewhere in an intangible future. Breton often channels...
My Apologies
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
At first it seems daunting, attempting to fill four to six pages with insight pertaining to just one topic: apologies. However, as I reflect, I realize the true difficult task proves summing up the entire universe a single apology unlocks into a paper. Thomas Scheff begins his section about...
God: Creator or Created?
Essay - 2 pages - Philosophy
Ever since the Renaissance movement, when the question was finally free of its taboo status, there has been widespread and public debate among philosophers, theologians, and scientists as to the existence of God. With the exception of theologians, the debate has been internal as well as external,...
Applying Richards' Relational Theory of Value to Animal Rights
Thesis - 3 pages - Philosophy
The debate concerning the rights of animals has mostly been confined to assertions of absolute moral value. Before Peter Singer, nearly all philosophers declared animals inherently devoid of rights on various grounds. Traditional religious thinkers emphasized the soullessness of...
Pragmatism and idealism in the process of nation-building (1781-1788)
Essay - 7 pages - Philosophy
“Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism.” (Richard Nixon). Were the very first years of the new nation, born of the American Revolution, marked by a “spirit of pragmatic...
The historical specificity and contemporary relevance of the concept of race
Essay - 6 pages - Philosophy
According to Rousseau, there are ‘two sorts of inequality': one is ‘natural or physical'; the other is between social groups. In order to understand an historical specificity of the concept of race, we will study how the second type of inequality was reduced to the first. In other...
Is Cohen More "Jewish" Than Dylan - or vice versa? Why or Why Not?
Essay - 2 pages - Philosophy
During the sixties, which came along with the Civil Rights movement, the diverse ethnic whites in the United States displayed an increase willingness to emphasize their distinct identity. Leonard Cohen and Robert Allen Zimmerman, alias Bob Dylan, were two major musical figures of this era. Both...
Essays on Jewish Culture
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
This paper includes two essays: -A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz, Ivan G. Marcus : Ashkenazic Jews living in Northern and Eastern Europe differ from Sephardic Jews from Southern Europe in their respective relationships with surrounding religions. Whereas Sephardic...
Cultural Persistence: the Jews of New York
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
New York is probably one of the most famous cities in the world because of History but also from the fact that it is the symbol of USA, the country of Liberty, capitalism, the self-made-man... New York is a bit like a compendium of American values and a study of this town is very interesting to...
Unger's Views on Skepticism and Certainty
Essay - 2 pages - Philosophy
Peter Unger applies a unique approach to skepticism. In his essay, “An Argument for Skepticism”, he endorses the concept by insisting that if one is not a skeptic, he/she must be (more or less) dogmatic. The way in which he supports this is by attempting to prove that nobody ever...
Hilary Putnam on Realism and Relativism
Thesis - 4 pages - Philosophy
Perhaps one of the most widely and longest-held issues that have been debated in the study of philosophy, is that of the dispute over the way in which we as humans can accurately describe the external world with regards to our everyday lives. Philosophers range in opinion from a view in...
Divine Flaws
Thesis - 3 pages - Philosophy
The question of whether gods are capable of being flawed has long preoccupied theologists and philosophers alike. The mythological deities of the ancient Greek pantheon possessed a myriad of humanistic attributes, including a wide range of notable character flaws; Zeus, of course, was infamous...
The Road to the Good Life?
Thesis - 3 pages - Philosophy
Today, when people use the word stoic, they often are not referring to the philosophical tradition, but to a type of person who does not show much outward emotion, someone who is strong in the face of tragedy or pain. However, in a culture in which we are encouraged to express our emotions (to...
A Defense of the Capabilities Approach
Essay - 8 pages - Philosophy
There is no country in the world where women are treated equally to men. Women are consistently fed less than men, given fewer educational opportunities, and fewer freedoms. Situations in developing countries are often more overtly detrimental to women, for example in India, it is estimated...
Transcending the Fallacy of the Binary Through Ambivalence
Thesis - 6 pages - Philosophy
A thought process that appears to be common to all humans is that of setting up binaries. It is a tendency that exists across cultures and since “the beginning of time.” This may be because it is easier to define what something is not than what it actually is. The opposition of a...
Alatiel and Helen: War Caused by Beauty?
Thesis - 7 pages - Philosophy
Few storylines are more familiar than that of the woman so beautiful that men cannot resist her and will stop short of nothing, even murder or treachery, to possess her. The most famous of these women is of course, Helen, with “the face that launched a thousand ships,” many of which...
The Problematic Third Speech of the Phaedrus and Ficino's Neoplatonic Reinterpretation
Thesis - 7 pages - Philosophy
There has been much scholarly debate concerning the relative merit of the three speeches in Plato's Phaedrus; the third speech, in particular, is much contested. While the first two speeches are undeniably mired in self-contradiction and materialism, the third speech, though mythical in content...
"The French lost the language war", argues John Kay. Do you agree?
Essay - 1 pages - Philosophy
Language has become an important issue due to globalization. Previously if a person spoke only one language it did not matter much. However the situation is completely different in the modern world. Learning English has become mandatory for every individual to surive in the globalized world. John...
What is the function of representation in Hobbes conception of political power as presented in the Leviathan?
Essay - 5 pages - Philosophy
The notion of Representation is a key feature in democratic regimes. More stable than the direct participation of the people into political life, it supposes that the institutions of the State reflect the composition and the wishes of the people. A simple look at the title of the book-the...
What are the differences between Locke's and Hobbes' notions of the "state of nature"?
Essay - 6 pages - Philosophy
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are probably the most famous political thinkers of the 17th century. The generally accepted view asserts that these authors were poles apart, the first one advocating an absolutist regime and the latter recommending a stable civil society where powers are separated....
What are the differences between Locke's and Hobbes' notions of the "state of nature"? - publié le 11/04/2007
Essay - 6 pages - Philosophy
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are probably the most famous political thinkers of the 17th century. The generally accepted view asserts that these authors stood poles apart, the first one advocating an absolutist regime and the latter recommending a stable civil society where powers are separated....
The French cultural exception: Exception or exclusion?
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
In a bit more than one decade, culture has become a crucial issue of the globalization process. In fact, the IT revolution along with the development of transport, the increase of the international commercial exchanges and foreign investments, and the constitution of multinational conglomerates...
Republicanism and constitution-making in the young American Nation
Essay - 8 pages - Philosophy
When the first colonists settled on the Atlantic coast of America and built the towns of Plymouth and Jamestown at the beginning of 17th century, they were looking for a better life than their homelands could provide them with. However, a century later, the descendants of the first settlers can...
Is it conceivable that you might survive the death of your body?
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
If somebody thinks thoroughly about life, he will naturally come across the thought of death. We see death as a natural consequence of life. Everyone is not agreeing on the meaning of death though. Some see it as the end of everything, a total annihilation; others see it as the start of a new...
Descartes' version of the ontological argument in the light of Kant's criticism
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
God has always been a subject of debate and it will probably always be so. One of the reasons leading to this perpetual debate is that people have never agreed on the concept of God. Some religions (e.g. Hinduism) believe that there are several Gods whilst others (e.g. Christianity, Islam,...
How (if at all) do you know that you are not dreaming?
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
One big philosophical question is to know whether we know anything or not. Knowing in a sense is quite different from its everyday use. As a matter of fact everyone claims to know various things all the time, but the conditions that are required to say that we know in everyday life are quite...
How (if at all) do you know that you are not a brain in a vat? - publié le 05/04/2007
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
Our whole life (attitudes, reactions, actions) is based on knowledge. Depending on our present state of knowledge, we react to different situations in different ways, give different answers to different questions. To do that, one has to know something. Even though we do not tend to question our...
How (if at all) do you know that you are not a brain in a vat?
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
Our whole life (attitudes, reactions, actions) is based on knowledge. Depending on our present state of knowledge, we are going to react to different situations in different ways, give different answers to different questions. To do that however, one has to know something. Even though we do not...
