Modernistic theories of elevation and society
Dissertation - 2 pages - Philosophy
To be remembered by history as a “thinker,” one must think some fairly formidable thoughts. Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Foucault, some of sociology's most seminal thinkers, tackled one of the most complicated human problems: what is modern society, and what makes it tick? In Manifesto...
Modern theories of culture and society: Marx's relevance
Dissertation - 2 pages - Philosophy
Although Karl Marx's philosophies were formed in and about industrial Europe in the late 1800's, his fundamental ideas are still relevant to capitalist countries today, both on microscopic and macroscopic levels. The Marxist interpretations of how the capitalist system affects global trade, the...
Buddha and Buddhism
Dissertation - 5 pages - Philosophy
Buddhism is the faith that has changed the lives of millions of people over the world. It all began in a small kingdom in North East India, in Sarkya. The founder of Buddhism was the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, now called Lord Buddha. Buddha means ‘enlightened one'. Siddhartha in his young...
Understanding and living of Plato and Descartes'
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
Both Plato and Descartes have a lot to say about human nature. One aspect of the subject that stands out most for me are the discussions of how a person knows and understands things, or one might call it, "what is the nature of understanding?" Related to that is the subject of what a person is...
Moral philosophy: Moral and immoral actions
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
Morality is a difficult concept to even define. At its heart, it is an attempt to determine the correct way to act. Of course, the difficulty in this is that we must deal with the idea that people do not agree upon what constitutes moral and immoral actions. From here the main problem is to...
God and advertisement
Dissertation - 6 pages - Philosophy
The image I have chosen to critique is the atheist bus advertisements in Britain These advertisements caused much controversy and created a stir because they promoted anti-Christian statements. What these advertisements carried on them was “There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and...
Socialism and Islam
Dissertation - 10 pages - Philosophy
Socialism is the term used in many countries. This word has come from the word society. Some Muslims think that the Socialism is fundamentally the same as Islam. They say it is just another name of social justice. They have this opinion on the basis of the fact that: it stands for the...
Christianity: From realism to modernism
Book review - 5 pages - Philosophy
The aspect of Christianity is often a theme that is woven into literature. Lessons about the power of God and the miracles of Jesus Christ provide evidence for readers of the importance of God in a person's life. One specific author, Gustave Flaubert, wrote three short stories, “A Simple...
Nietzsche's superman
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
The idea of the superman in Nietzsche's works is a crucial element as he uses it as a foundation from which to attempt to challenge the ingrained values of society. These values behind what is considered to be good and evil, he asserts, having been founded on the Christian faith serve only to...
Know Theirself: Is knowledge of self a prerequisite to a successful life?
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Socrates believes that in order for one to live a successful life, they must be able to “Know Thyself”. When Socrates made this statement, he was in a time when doing good deeds which would make God happy was considered a successful life. In today's world, it is material wealth which...
Agamemnon vs. Abraham: Universality vs. individuality
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Throughout Soren Kierkegaard's book, Fear and Trembling, there is controversy over whether the religious mindset or the ethical mindset should be used as the outline by which a person lives their life. These conflicting views are depicted by the decisions which Abraham and Agamemnon encounter...
Equiano: The African Bishop Hovius
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
In regard to religious ideas and practices, Equiano is the only main character from the last three books and movie that Bishop Hovius would agree completely with. After analyzing the main characters in A Bishop's Tale, Equiano's Travels, The Unredeemed Captive, and The Black Robe, there were many...
The Pauline Trust
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Forced isolation is rarely a good thing. Throughout human history, isolation has been a cardinal expression of punishment. Even a brief consideration of our literature and film arts will reveal our obsession with this dangerously powerful condemnation: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Great...
'Tis a Gift to Be Faithful, 'Tis a Gift to Have Doubt
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
So. It's the week after Easter. Jesus is risen; he is appearing to his disciples; they're getting reorganized after the chaos of the crucifixion—they're getting the band back together. This can mean only one thing is starting to take shape: the church. Yes, you should definitely be...
The religion of the social contract defining and denying civil religion
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
Throughout his work On the Social Contract, Rousseau attempts to describe a societal system in which sovereign rule is found within the collective will of the people. Within this system, he argues, freedom is linked to morality and essentially humanity. This freedom exists as a civil freedom in...
Artists & mental illnesses - The mad genius
Dissertation - 6 pages - Philosophy
Plato (427 - 347 B.C.), one of the earliest of the great philosophers claimed in his writing “The Ion” that artists, when creating, went temporarily out of their minds, that the artist was merely the medium used by the Gods to communicate with the audience. Plato used the term...
Socrates and the importance of philosophy and the examined life
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
Those who have studied Socrates know that his thesis is: “the unexamined life is not worth living.” (Plato: 443). This is a statement that he says in his defense after he has been found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens, making the stronger appear to be the weaker, and for...
Nietzsche's genealogy's contribution to ethics
Dissertation - 5 pages - Philosophy
Friedrich Nietzsche is arguably one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th century as he challenged the roots of Christianity and the morality that came from it. He was a believer of life, and the realities of the world, not in the life that was rooted in religion. In other words, he...
Ayn Rand's theory of rights as a serious theory
Dissertation - 15 pages - Philosophy
Ayn Rand is a thinker who has attained notoriety for having a significant amount of influence on contemporary libertarians, especially when it comes to her theory of rights. She is unlike many other prominent theorists, in that she published much of her ideas in works of fiction, and this led her...
Human rights and Islam: A critical review of research on Sudan
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
Many non-Muslim onlookers in places like the West have heard of the apparent human rights violations that occur in the some parts of the Islamic world, and they have come to conclude that women are naturally supposed to take a subordinate position to men. While there might be some good reasons...
Experience reflection mill valley Islamic center
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Understanding the Muslim faith today for outsiders is more important now than any point in recent history. An increasing number of the world's headlines today come from countries with predominately Muslim influence. In an age of such political correctness in use of terminology, it is important...
Mere Christianity: Discussion
Dissertation - 2 pages - Philosophy
Mere Christianity was compiled, and expanded, from a series of radio lectures by C.S. Lewis. They have a conversational style, but they present some very deep and difficult ideas. In his introduction to the volume, Lewis describes how he took these lectures upon himself as a means of joining the...
Abraham Kuyper and John Calvin: Calvinism and Neo-Calvinism compared
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
On November 9, 1891, the Dutch pastor and statesman Abraham Kuyper spoke to the first Christian Social Congress in the Netherlands on a profound and continually relevant subject—poverty. The address was peculiarly relevant to that time, even past-due, as Kuyper himself announced in his...
Lord over logic
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
The seeming necessity of logical principles, such as the fundamental “law of non-contradiction”, has led many thinkers to consider these principles primordial, basic, and uncreated. I can sympathize with the attitude that gives rise to this belief. In my own personal history of studying...
The face of nature in Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
A cruel realization overtakes the sensitive convert to Naturalism. Seldom has there been a more sensitive convert than Thomas Hardy, who, although he flirted with Anglicanism because of his family and with the Baptists because of a friend, ended his days with a troubled faith in the indifferent,...
Bavinck and Vollenhoven on faith
Dissertation - 8 pages - Philosophy
In 1918, Herman Bavinck published an articled entitled “Philosophy of Faith” in the Annuarium of the Societas Studiosorum Reformatorum; thirty one years later, Dirk Vollenhoven presented a paper entitled “Faith: Its Nature, Structure, and Significance for Science” at a Roman...
Autism and Apophaticism
Dissertation - 4 pages - Philosophy
A postmodern philosophy of religion, of the relationship between God and men, is based on a unique set of beliefs about God, language, what it means to be as human, and the way the world is given us to inhabit (including ourselves). Perhaps the profoundest movement within this philosophy occurs...
Discussion on Descartes' meditations
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Descartes comes to the conclusion “that the mere fact that I [Descartes] exist and have within me an idea of a most perfect being, that is, God, provides a very clear proof that God exists” (Descartes 51). He comes to this conclusion through a series of steps. First, Descartes believes...
Origin of oneness: A model of the mystical experience
Dissertation - 7 pages - Philosophy
The purpose of this essay is to both connect and clarify the concept of Oneness present in most every spiritual tradition's mystical realm. Certainly such traditions as Buddhism and Taoism tell, in detail, of a transcendental reality that permeates throughout “all the myriad things.”...
Aristotle's Philosophy of Natural Change
Dissertation - 3 pages - Philosophy
Aristotle was born into a privileged family because his father was the “personal physician to the Macedonian king, Amyntas II.” (Lindberg 45) Since they were always around royalty and high-status people, Aristotle entered into Plato's Academy in Athens when he was seventeen and stayed...
