Engaging Philosophy Essay Topics and Paper Samples You Can Use for Free

Spellbound (2002 film)

Spellbound is a 2002 film that focuses on the efforts of eight teenagers to win a spelling competition. The movie centres on how culture plays an important role in shaping language skills of the children as well as their parents and teachers. All the children that participated in the competition came from different backgrounds and school and received varying training. The determination they had as well the support they received from their parents, siblings, other relatives and teachers. Apart from the simple fact that the movie is entertaining, it has more of an academic touch whose audience are the

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In order to get a clear picture of how Plato would respond to this dilemma, it is important to establish the facts about this case. A woman named Lisa Krawchuk qualified for welfare assistance because of her low income. The welfare authorities required her to report any changes in her income for the period that she received the benefits. She agreed to that condition, reported an increase in her income after her husband got a part-time job and the welfare office reduced her payments accordingly. Lisa failed to report that she was benefiting from a student loan and the

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St. Augustine Confessions

The confessions of Saint Augustine take us through the life of transformation for a Christian. The time comes in the life of an individual to make crucial decisions for his or her life, which maybe contrary to their previous believes. As a child grows, they learn a lot from their parents and more especially the mother, who happens to be close most of the times. However, as the child brows, he/she is exposed to a different environment with more compounded influences. For instance, Augustine grew up in a Christian background with his mother imparting Christian values into his life.

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Throughout the history of Western civilization, people have asked themselves questions about how to lead their lives and achieve happiness. Major philosophers have debated this idea, arguing for different ways of orienting their lives, commenting and criticizing their precursors in the process. Two of the most important of these thinkers were Aristotle and Immanuel Kant, who both drafted different ethical theories, while staying within the boundaries of what is considered standard in the Western philosophical tradition. Specific differences in their contexts lead to major dissimilarities in their theories. However, both theories have aspects which may be considered correct, and

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A person needs to remember President G. Bush world economic speech when he said, and I quote” Competitiveness does not mean protectionism. However trying to improve quality and productivity at home” to understand the scope of Deming’s philosophy in the success of cooperate life. Traditionally, most companies used to apply performance appraisal practices in order to archive their goals. Thanks to Deming the founder of the current management elements who sometimes is fondly referred as, and I quote the “Messiah of Management”. According to the global economic research studies that have been conducted in the recent years, most

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Both the theologian James Cone and the existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre looked at the world and were unsatisfied with the status quo they experienced around them. This dissatisfaction led them to know ideas and perspectives with which to see the world. These ideas resonated with others, which gained them the notoriety they have today as important philosophical/theological figures. The Public Broadcasting service (PBS) did a profile of James Cone in its series “This far by faith” which explains how the social and political tides at the time shaped his view of the world and his ideas for how he

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The Allegory of the Cave describes the shadows on the cave wall, which was taught to the prisoners as he reality since birth. It also depicts humans as prisoners of their own body.
Plato wants to tell us that the prisoners who were inside the cave believed that what they see on the cave wall is the reality that in fact, it was just the reflection coming from the fire and objects behind them. When one of the prisoners was released and witnessed what the reality looks outside the cave, he realized that shadows were just illusions.
Plato plays

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The civilization of ancient Greece centered on the Aegean Sea, the region that today includes Greece and the western part of Turkey. Ancient Greece was not a single country ruled by one person. Ancient Greece consists of numerous city-states that share a common language and culture. About 800 B.C. Greeks began to form ‘polis’ or city-states throughout the country. Each polis has its own government. Some city-states had a few thousand inhabitants, but some city-states such as Athens have a total population of 250,000. City-states were set up as far from Greece as France and Spain. There were

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Research and nursing are inseparable. Different health issues will arise from time to time leading to confusion among practitioners. Some conditions will only be understood through execution of ample research. Research is mainly carried out when the professionals in a given field are not aware of a given element that arises. Nursing research is usually sensitive, and it requires consideration of unique procedures known as paradigms and methodologies. The paradigms must be defined in line with the cultural safety of the chosen methods. The paradigms address cultural safety in different ways through excellent consideration of philosophical, ethical, and cultural

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Philosophy

Plato has provided several arguments on immortality. He has described the immortality of soul. Most of his arguments are, however present in Phaeodo-Socratic dialogue, The Meno and The Republic. Regarding immortality of souls, there are four arguments in Phaedo. The arguments are known as the Cyclical Argument, the Recollection Argument, the Affinity Argument and the Final Argument. According to the Cyclical Argument, all the things arise from their opposite, as the opposite of life is death so life has must come from the death. Moreover, Plato has explained that this should be the case and anything else would finish

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Many philosophers have come up with different definitions of tragedy. However, the definition by Aristotle remains the most comprehensive definition of the term. In his definition, Aristotle lays major emphasis on the terms pity and fear. According to him, these are the two main elements of tragedy. Absence of them means there is no tragedy. In plain words, Aristotle’s definition of tragedy was: “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of

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PART A

1 a)
Wittgenstein employs the picture theory of meaning effectively to explain many important things in philosophy. In essence, the picture theory of meaning by Wittgenstein is a theory in which he argued that the state of things or the atomic facts could b pictured by a meaningful proposition. Using this theory, Wittgenstein managed to compare spatial pictures with the concept of pictures. In essence, the picture theory is seen as a correspondence to the truth theory. Wittgenstein’s arguments were to the effect that statements can only be meaningful in the event that they can be easily pictured

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Abstract

This paper presents theory and practice of French sociology in practice after Pierre Bourdieu and the impacts that his work had to sociologist and the society at large, as a preparation for a journal article. It had started by analyzing the life of Bourdieu when young who hardly known in the society who advocated for purely scientific view of sociology and was against sociologically oriented journalism developed by his mentor Raymond Aron. Bourdieu was not known unlike other intellectuals in society of the time. However, him together with his co-writer Jean-Claude Passeron gained instant fame after they wrote two

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Following a philosophy of life is not only a matter of choice, but also a matter of personal conviction. Not uncommonly, a person might be following a certain system of beliefs without knowing it has a name or that it is even regarded as a philosophy in its own right. However, it is still a matter of principles and choices made through life, and one can live under them and learn that said set of principles had a certain name years after one learns it.
It never occurred to me that the set of principles I have always followed

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Book review (The Quiet American Dream)

Ethnic Stereotypes: Americans vs. Europeans.
Greene in his Quiet American Dream is vivid about the disparity between the Americans and the British in terms of their conduct. In this case, Pyle is one character that is used by Greene to establish the unruly conduct of the Americans. They are expressed to be untimely. That is; they are not time observant. On the other hand, they are different from the British people who are stern and concerned about what they do. For instance, Fowler, who represents the British, states that he, is not willing to wait upon a policeman to

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Religious studies

A PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE
Ever since the beginning of time, Man has strived to discover the secrets of the Universe. From Aristotle to Socrates to the modern philosophers, every curious mind has tried to divulge answers from Mother Earth in order to satiate their burning thirst for the knowledge. Philosophy has solely existed to answer questions related to reality, existence, values, reason and mind. Philosophy has been divided into many subcategories. They include metaphysics, ethics, logic, aesthetics and epistemology. Whereas logic is connected with reasoning, epistemology attempts to garner the nature and scope of knowledge. Ethics refers to the philosophy

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TWO PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS OF HUMOR

Aristotle’s Mean and Addison’s Extreme:
Two Philosophical Views of Humor
Humor is one of the fundamental aspects of human experiences; as such, it has been studied by many great philosophers. The use of language to produce a humorous effect is somewhat of a mystery, and its particularities could be thought of as unique to the human species. Thus, the definition and characterization of humor is not unequivocal, with different thinkers conceptualizing it in different manners. Aristotle and Joseph Addison are only two of the most remarkable philosophers to study this philosophical problem. Through the analysis of the

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Rabbi Maimonides is a medieval Jewish philosopher who wields considerable influence on Jewish thought and on philosophy in general. He also contributed significantly to the codification of the Jewish law. His writings and views hold a prominent place in Jewish intellectual history. In the Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides explores the concept of God and explains the plausible description of God according to Torah. Maimonides also spends significant amount of time in trying to understand the structure and characteristics of the universe. To this point, it becomes important that Maimonides wrote the book before scientific discoveries, so he draws

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Opposing view: Aristotle versus Plato in Ancient Greece

Aristotle has made more lasting contribution to philosophy as compared to Plato. This statement can be justified on the basis of facts that Plato has envisioned the concept of just society as consisting of three classes, which are the producers i.e., craftsmen and farmers, the military i.e., warriors, and the rulers i.e., philosophers and kings. According to him, each class maintains justice and every class performs its proposed function (Santas, 2010). Such as the the it is compulsory for the king to rule, the producer should produce obediently and perform all the skills he possessed and the military should

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English

The book written by Waller focuses on ethics and its relation to other subjects such as emotions and reasoning, the importance and advantages of observing ethics. The writer’s primary source of information on ethics is from different philosophers such as Susan Wolf and Catherine Wilson whose argument on morals is the main point of focus.
Wolf discusses that there are two types of saints: loving saints who care about others more than themselves and selfless and rational saints who retain some selfishness and some non-moral values. Other philosophers such as Aristole and Plato suggest that true happiness entails

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The Meno, one of Plato’s dialogue, is one of the most studied Meno describes the excellence of humans as he answers Socrates with a list of virtues of a man. Socrates is looking an answer of the definition, but Meno is giving examples of virtue. Many Greek philosophers gave theories about the virtues of human beings; what comprises human excellence, in terms of virtues, of people. They believed that these theories were related to the final objective of human beings on this earth, as well as their intention and what incorporates the great life that everybody wants to

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Introduction

The rule of law (normocracy) is primarily alluded to as the influence and authority of law around a community specifically as a bottleneck upon behavior including behavior of state officials. The origin of the phrase can be traced back to around 16th century where it was familiar to ancient philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Lockes. Definitions of the rule of law fall into two classes: (1) those that underscore the closures that the rule of law is proposed to serve inside social order, (for example, maintaining law and order, or giving foreseeable and efficient judgments),

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Introduction

The purpose of the following essay is to research one of the central ideas of the Heraclites philosophy – the doctrine of flux, and to argue whether that doctrine undermines the possibility of knowledge. The particular attention is paid to the ideas of the Heraclites` follower, Cratylus, which form the main opposition to the doctrine. The theory is also evaluated through its relation with other ideas and doctrines of Heraclites, like the idea of singularity and the unity of the opposites.
“Everything flows” is one of the most famous sayings of Heraclitus which serves as the basis for a so-called

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1. Descartes famously begins his Meditations on First Philosophy by considering so-called “radical doubt.” What is radical doubt, and what are the three phases in the argument that lead him to it? What does he believe is the idea that is fundamentally resistant even to the deepest of doubts? And why does Descartes begin his epistemology like this, anyway?
Rene Descartes propounded his theory of radical doubt where he insisted on the systematic process of doubting one’s beliefs in a bid to determine or ascertain that which is indeed true. Descartes, in his radical doubt, advocated for doubting

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Induction

Induction
The problem facing induction has been a great challenge presented by epistemology to various philosophers, among them David Hume. Since the 18th century, he has raised the induction concern to various philosophers with the aim of finding a solution to the dilemma. Karl Popper, Chalmers among others philosophers played an imperative role in identifying a considerable solution to the induction problem. In philosophy, induction is defined as a form of reasoning that is derived from a particular observation of a phenomenon and draws conclusions from the phenomenon. For instance, it is certain that the sun will rise tomorrow

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Worldview

Worldview refers to a set of suggestions and proposals that a person holds and deeply influences the life of people with similar believes.
- The followers of Christian religion commonly regard their religion as a collection of ideas that may change their life and follow Christianity as a guideline to interact with society. Followers hardly comprehend their religion as a whole conceptual framework.
- Following are the few examples of worldview narrated by different authors.
- According to James Sire, the concept of worldview is just a conventional set of suppositions that one may hold of this world and

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The philosophy of the Medieval ages was closely interfaced to theology, and the perspective was based on the relation God - person. However, thus the philosophy had, unlike religions, the functions related to its main property - doubt (in the validity of religious doctrines).
In medieval philosophy, it is possible to allocate two stages of its formation – patristic views (2-8 centuries) and scholasticism (11-14 centuries), so to draw a clear line between them is quite difficult.
Patristic views are a set of theology-philosophical views of the "fathers of the church" who undertook Christianity justification, relying on the ancient philosophy

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CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE OF PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is drawn from his tremendous works on the Republic. It is literally a conversation that takes place between Socrates and Gaucon. The conversation is categorized into three parts. The first section is the scene within the cave. According to Kernan, the second part of the discourse deliberates on the three stages of liberation and the third creates a picture of the prisoner returning to the same cave.
The scene in the cave is one of gloom and darkness, with prisoner chained and unable to move around, even their heads could only face one

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In his relationship with Socrates, has Alcibiades been made into a true lover; that is, is Alcibiades now a philosopher. To answer this, love must be defined philosophically or otherwise.
Socrates, in his speech, says that love is a feeling for some object. Love is a desire for an object. Eros is the Greek god of love. The Roman god of love is called Cupid. In his speech, Cupid says that love is a feeling for beautiful things. Socrates philosophically says ‘love’ is not good or beautiful’. He goes on and says that if it were the contrary, then

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A critical re-examination of Plato's Phaedo argument reveals that learning involves a recollection of prenatal knowledge. Plato`s thoughts on the knowledge that rests upon recollection is brought out through Socrates, his speaker. Socrates gives too much attention to the case of equal stones and sticks which are in most of the occasions viewed as existing without complete success that resembles a Form. Plato takes two different approaches in handling the theory of knowledge. In both the Phaedo and Meno, he presents this theory of knowledge as a recollection (Sedley, 1992, p 312). Plato presents his theory as a

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Purpose of My Essay

My purpose of writing this essay is to understand the human foundation. Human foundation relates to our choices, our values, and our relationships with the nature and with each other. What does it mean to be human? And, does it mean a free-spirited inquiry? Or. Is it a recognition of the links between what we view in ourselves? Also, human is a concept revolves around economic uncertainty, environmental degradation, striving for democracy and democratic paralysis.
In this essay, we offer a challenge to the person, willing to take this challenge provided with a space. Moreover, we will critically understand

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Introduction

The Socratic argument for reincarnation arises out of a discussion amongst Socrates with Pythagorean philosophers who had gone to visit him while in incarceration. The discussion arose as Socrates faced death through execution. He reasoned that philosophers ought to look forward to death rather than fear it. The ultimate act of death meant that the philosopher would finally rid his soul of the body, which is a major distraction in the soul’s quest for pure knowledge unaltered by the deception of our senses. Since our senses are imperfect and deceive us, Socrates advances the argument that the best

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Zeno Paradoxes

Zeno of Elea is a mathematician and a Greek philosopher who is famous for his paradoxes that deals with or explains the continuity of motion. He was born during 490 BCE and was a strong devotee of Parmenides who also introduced the Eleactic school of thought in the current southern Italy. He survives in Parmenides, Plato's dialog and from it the origin of paradoxes becomes clear. One of the most familiar paradoxes put across by Zeno states that I cannot walk over you as I need to get there halfway, and in the event that I succeed I must

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Socrates and Descartes are some of the greatest Greek philosophers of their time as they greatly impacted western and modern day thoughts or philosophy. They are known as fathers of philosophy as a result of their philosophical inquiry which forms the basis of modern day thoughts. Socrates was an inscrutable individual and one of the philosophers who demonstrated enigma during his lifetime. He changed the manner in which philosophy is conceived, although he did not write anything. The Socratic teaching method or elenctic is one such thought that survived throughout several years. Descartes, on the other hand, started his

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The movie talks about an evolutionary machine that pioneers the next generation of machines. The main issue discussed on this thriller is whether machines with such ability that so closely resembles human beings should be allowed to choose their destiny. The metaphysical problem involves the state of being of Data, which is a next generation machine.
Data is essentially a machine; however, its ability to capture human emotions and to create relationships with people makes it a unique machine. While Data remains a machine and not human, it is very important to realize that he can communicate and express

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Locate one instance where Socrates used untruth and justified it as truth

The Apology
The apology is an account of the Socratic speech made during his trial in Athens in 339 B.C. In this trial, Socrates was charged with failing to recognize the gods that were recognized by the state, corrupting the Athenian youths, and invention of new deities. Nevertheless, these charges against Socrates were untrue. The term apology in this case refers to defense as opposed to the usual apology used in modern English. Socrates was defending himself in his speech. He recognized his ignorance in most of the worldly affairs, and makes a conclusion that he must be the

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Philosophy and Society

Education and philosophy are two closely related disciplines. In some areas, the two disciplines overlap each other. Education is on the dynamic side in philosophy. They correlate in that an individual can never be taught of one and the other left. Education can never be completed without philosophy. Education makes it possible for philosophy to convert others to its values and aims. Philosophy is fundamental to the career goals (Jaspers 32).
The value of philosophy is never self-evident. Philosophy is usually under suspicion of being deprived of any value and useless practically. Philosophy is never useful in the production

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There are not many philosophers in history as influential as Saint Thomas of Aquinas. His works have influenced western philosophy for centuries and found a way to conciliate theological thought and reason. He was a man of his age, one who followed tradition and sought nothing more than to remain faithful to Christ and his church, but knew how to introduce long rejected philosophical systems that were considered contrary to the interests of the clergy. This work is gives an account of the life of Thomas of Aquinas, his academic works, his philosophy and the impact he had on

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China's unbelievably rapid segue into modernization is producing an effect seen in other parts of the world, perhaps very close to home: that of destroying history to encourage progress. Capitalism looms ominously overhead; as it enables China's advancement, it also seems to come with a terrible price to the peoples' soul.
Historical architecture is being eradicated wholesale, but not only is it becoming steadily stamped out; it is being altered to remove entire swathes of Beijing's vibrant past. This isn't a new thing, of course. During the population expansion of the 50s and 60s, an ancient stone bulwark encircling

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The ‘Jesse glass Tree’ is a representation that shows Christ Jesus’ ancestry. It starts with the father of King David, Jesse, in the genealogy. It originates from the book of prophet Isaiah who prophesied about the coming of the messiah. This representation is a symbol used to explain a line of origin.
Christine de Pisan was a French poet and writer born in 1364 in Italy. She was a famous feminist writer during the medieval periods. She strongly stood for women rights. She came out at a time when women were subjugated. The women lived under the control of

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