Philosophy Papers: Philosophy Essay Help, Term Paper Writing, Research Paper Tips

Life is tough. When we think of our lives, we tend to focus on a broad scale: the years, or decades, that we have been on Earth. Yet, our lives are actually lived one short moment at a time. Every moment is a drop of water, that we make a choice with, and over time, alter the course of our lives. For most people, those tiny decisions they make are not based on rules, laws, commandments, or high philosophy, but by evaluating the situation and applying their morals. Throughout a life, morals may change. Life is fluid, our understanding may widen over time like an old river, and slow down to bend and accommodate to the opinions and values of others that we meet in the course of our lives.

Humans are intelligent beings with self-consciousness, and therefore simply living and surviving is not enough; we require a goal in life. All people, whether great philosophers, priests, farmers or prisoners, have their own interpretation of life, its goals, and how to make the most of it all. Through the ages, the philosophies of people are shared, and shaped to fit the times, the society and the individual’s personality. In my life, I have been able to live in a complex time in history in radically different societies, and through these experiences, I have been able to shape my own individual philosophy. Read more…

In this weeks journal we are discussing the essays of Kucklick, Outlaw, Locke, and West. “The Changing Character of Philosophizing in America”, an essay about the periods of philosophy and how it had an impact in shaping philosophy. “Philosophy, African-Americans, and the Unfinished American Revolution”, an essay reasoning why African American philosophy was suppressed and what this has done to the future of philosophy. “Good Reading”, an essay on the character of philosophy. And “Philosophy, Politics, and Power: An Afro-American Perspective”, an essay on African-Americans having a revolution.

“The Changing Character of Philosophizing in American” started off in the middle of the seventeenth century…the First World War I. Kucklick discusses how during this time early philosophy started off with the Puritans and how priests were considered to be the philosophers. At this time philosophers were considered to be the “public man.” Kucklick says how these thinkers based their ideas off of human, nature, the divine, godly ways (the bible). Later Kucklick goes on to talk about the second period, which was the first third of the eighteenth century, World War II. During this time science was starting to come into play. This is when you have your Newton and Locke stirring up conflict with those who based things on the divine and spiritual truth. Newton came in and had people realizing that science played a role in the development of philosophy. With this you have Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, and Benjamin Franklin coming into the picture and realizing that there was a union between science, philosophy, and religion… Read more…

In the City of God, Augustine attempts to reconcile the ideas of a man; he respects very much, Plato, and his faith in the Bible and the word of God. Also, in On Free Choice of the Will Augustine has a series of conversations, which help him explain his ideas on the type of person that he believes God to be. He actually believes that Plato is a great man and he is in awe with the amount of work that came from him that seem to match the teachings of the scriptures. But while Plato does have a lot of ideas that are easily combined with the Bible he also has some that could make it hard for Augustine to use his ideas with his Christian thought. Because Plato is not really a Christian he has some ideas that Augustine finds unsettling and tries hard to reconcile with his own thought.

In On Free Choice of the Will Book I Augustine is having a conversation with Evodius about the virtues that people acquire (or should want to acquire) that make them better people. People better able to understand God. Augustine is trying to explain to Evodius the idea of good will. He believes that good will “is the desire that a man should have, will to live upright and honorable lives.”. It is not enough that a man has will it must be good. Because will in and of itself is not good. He develops this idea from the idea of the four cardinal virtues. The four virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. They are all virtues that are found in the Bible. It is said that every man should strive to have these characteristics within him. Augustine believes that these virtues are the building blocks of a man’s character and these are the ideas that can bring one happiness. He believes that great wealth, goods, or reputation won’t bring these things. The four cardinal virtues that Augustine holds up with such great esteem were actually the same virtues that Plato had come up with himself. Plato had this philosophy on these traits that a man should strive to acquire a hundred years before the bible was even ever written. Augustine believes that the will is inherently good because God gives it to us and since god is inherently and completely good our will could be nothing less than that. Read more…

Philosophy as defined by Websters is “ theory or analysis of the principles underlying conduct, thought, knowledge, and the nature of the universe.” Philosophy is easily explained as a single persons belief and ideals. Everyone has their own thought process and system of ideals based on their background, such as race, religion, social class, political party, etc. Nowadays it is the “politically correct” way to describe someones beliefs, educated or not. Often the word is taken too seriously and people think that their philosophy has to be some complicated and extensive system of logical beliefs, when in reality it is basically an opinion.

The following is my system of beliefs. I was raised in a bi-racial, Christian, middle class, Republican family. Each of these things highly influences my thought process and opinions. As far as race, my father is African- American and my mother a Caucasian. First of all, almost all politically correct terms annoy me, so my dad is black and my mom is white. My dad is from Alabama and Yonkers, NY, and my mom is from East Kilbride, Scotland. This union has brought me influences from two very different cultures. I got my first name from my mom, and my middle and last name from my dad. I got my athletic ability and height from my dad, and my intelligence from my mom. I got my quiet reserved nature from my dad and my sensitive spirit from my mom. I got chitlins, pork rinds, fried chicken and collard greens with hot sauce from my dad, and haggis, fish and chips, blood pudding, and tea and biscuits from my mom. And I got my good looks from both of them. This cross cultural background is the basis on which I form my opinions on racial issues, such as affirmative action. “Religion” has always been at the center of my life. My dad was raised in the Baptist church, and my mom the Catholic church. I, however was raised in a nondenominational church in Gambrills, MD. I was saved at the age of four. I don’t like to call it religion, because religion is what causes a lot of problems as far as who is right about rituals and things. I prefer to describe it as a personal relationship with my creator, savior, and heavenly father. Unfortunately I am not as outspoken about my faith unless it comes to a debate or bible study, something of that nature. With this “religious” background, I establish my opinions about abortion, evolution, and other religions. Read more…

In the words of Blaise Pascal; ‘One must know oneself, if this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.’ These words continue to be applicable to life and philosophical thinking. When we truly know ourselves, we can begin to discover and understand the truths and realities of the world and of life.

Philosophy is careful thought about the nature of the world, human knowledge and human conduct. It is looking at the world and finding the truths and the un-truths in it and evaluating them to see reality. Philosophy deals with man-kind, nature and the “un-known” of the universe. But how does philosophy change our views on the world? What is the importance of it? These are questions that seem to arise when discussing philosophy. How is this relevant to my life? Victor Cousin, a French philosopher, explains that ‘True philosophy invents nothing; it merely establishes and describes what is.’ Philosophy isn’t teaching, or telling; philosophy is realizing the world around you and applying it to your own life.

By understanding ourselves, we can then apply our ideas of philosophy to our lives. Metaphysicians use observation to philosophically explain reality and the true nature of things. But how do we explain reality? We don’t and we can’t fully explain reality. What we can do, however, is apply what we know about ourselves and what we observe about others t our lives and understanding of the world.

Say that a young girl and her friend went to an ice cream shop. She orders chocolate ice cream, while the other orders vanilla. Her friend asks her why she has ordered chocolate ice cream. Her response is that she likes chocolate; she doesn’t know why, she just does. We can see from a basic standpoint that this little girl is different from the other because of her ice cream choice. Yet when we apply our philosophical understandings, we can closer observe these girls and come to some sort of conclusion about them. Why did she order chocolate while the other ordered vanilla? We cannot assume anything so we will continue on our quest for the underlying truth from what we already know. We know that she “just likes chocolate.” We also know that she doesn’t know why. After some thinking, we can come up with the conclusion that she likes different things, and thus is different, basically, than the other girl. From this we can bring the situation to the broader spectrum and hypothesize that since these girls are different, everyone must be different.

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