Essays on Physical Universe

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[Date Month Year]

A Reflection on Scientology

Introduction The Church of Scientology did not begin as a religion but as a mental health therapeutic theory called Dianetics, which the accompanying book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, came off the press in 9 May 1950, from a science fiction author named Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986), or L. Ron Hubbard (DeChant and Jorgensen 304). The Hubbard Association of Scientologists was established in 1952 (305). It was a new religious movement, with its tax-free claim over revenues, which the American society came to view as a religious cult (Blythe 2). However, as far as the ...

In his Encyclical Fides at Ratio or Faith and Reason (1998), Pope John Paul II maintained that faith and reason were never contradictory but rather complimentary, and that theology was also a rational science in its own right that provided answers to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life. At no time has Catholic tradition been anti-intellectual or hostile to philosophy and science, nor is it based on unreason and blind faith. Even so, as Paul often pointed out, the Revelation of the Bible transcends human reason and wisdom and cannot be arrived at through logic and ...

1. In his Second Meditation, Descartes argues that he knows (with absolute certainty) that he exists. Can he know this statement given his high standards for knowledge? Begin by clearly and thoroughly explaining Descartes’ argument for this claim. Next determine if his argument succeeds by considering a possible challenge and explaining whether or not Descartes can adequately address this challenge. In the Second Meditation, Rene Descartes considers perhaps God, the body and the whole physical universe were dreams or hallucinations, or that his thoughts and perceptions were being manipulated by some evil being. Ultimately, though, he decides that he ...

Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle valued reason above all other characteristics and argued that it separated human beings from plants and animals, and like Buddhist philosophy elevated spiritual truths over material concerns. The Greek idealist philosophy was not as completely divorced from the physical universe as Buddhism, however, even though both agreed that the soul was immortal. They also regarded virtue as being its own reward and defined it as seeking higher spiritual and moral values rather than money, power and physical pleasures. Often their ideas have been misunderstood in that they thought the highest level of ...

Radical skepticism was just a tool in the rationalist philosophy of Rene Descartes, since he wanted to establish clear and distinct proof for the existence of minds and bodies, and found that ultimately he was unable to doubt his own existence. From this he derived the fundamental precept of Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I exist) and from this went on to affirm the existence of God and the physical universe. No sane or rational person could seriously doubt their own existence or the reality of physical objects outside of themselves, no matter how flawed or imperfect human perceptions ...