Articles Category: General - Symposia: The Online Philosophy Journal

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A Basis for Objective Morality By : Gamer Suffering and Negative Mental States as a Basis for an Objective Morality In this essay I aim to show that an objective morality can be achieved through the universalisability of the experience of suffering. In a Godless universe normative value appears mysterious and elusive, it’s origin unknown and its authority finally under question. I aim to show how normative claims earn their authority and why they are important to respect. Some physicalists and determinists may feel short changed by thi A Defense of Moral Objectivism By : Justin Felux The question of whether or not our ethical judgments have an objective basis is a question that has been grappled with intensely since the time of Plato. There has been a great deal of literature produced on the subject and the avenues of argumentation that have been pursued are copious in number. A New Approach to the What am I Question By : Mitchell This essay will attempt to approach the question of What Am I in an holistic way, hoping to reconcile strict materialism and strict dualism by readdressing the problem of mind-body and of the self. It will look at each of the major difficulties faced by an theory of the self and mind-body and attempt to over come them through a synthesis of dualism-materialism as well alternative approaches to the question itself. An analysis of Singer's 'Animal Liberation' By : Ben. Peter Singer’s “Animal Liberation” is an interesting insight on how we should view humans in comparison to animals. The article discusses the tyranny of humans over animals. This article exemplifies Singer’s utilitarian belief. Singer’s belief combines the equal consideration of interests with the idea that the right action is the one, which yields the largest rate of satisfaction. Anguish and Anxiety in Sartre By : Mitchell For all existentialist philosophers and thinkers anxiety or anguish (as I will refer to it from now) is of great significance for two separate reasons. Firstly, it is important because it arises out of the existential ontology of being and, as such, as the natural progression of their conception of what it is for us to be. Secondly, it is significant, particularly for Sartre, because of its ethical ramifications and the concept of anguish is one that underpins his whole (albeit hard to solidly f Are there really Platonic forms? By : Mitchell Plato’s Theory of the Forms comes, in the main, from The Republic as well as, in part, from the dialogues Phaedo, Meno and Euthyphro. Plato never described or set forth a single a universal argument for the Theory of the Forms and so it is something that has to be patched together from various sources. However, from looking at a number of Platonic texts we can construct what appears to be his argument for the Theory of the Forms. Are we morally responsible for our actions? By : Ben What does it mean for someone to be morally responsible for his actions? One could say that someone is morally responsible for his actions if it is appropriate to make a moral assessment of his action. Examples of such assessment might include praise, blame, resent, punishment etc. If it considered appropriate to, for example, punish or reward someone for a given action then they can be considered morally responsible. Aristophanes and Diotima; Two Discourses on Love. By : Mathew Toll A look at two theories of love, one put forward by Aristophanes the other by Diotima. Can Computers Think? By : Kajun Firstly, it should be stated that the interpretation of the question should not be a significant obstacle. Whether or not it is implied in a present or future tense is irrelevant, since the word 'computer' refers to a concept rather than an existing machine - I concur with John Searle, in that 'the nature of the refutation is completely independent of any state of technology. It has to do with the very definition of a digital computer, with what a digital computer is.' Can cooperation every occur without the state? By : Jam Okra In his Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes famously claims that without a central authority, the life of man would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’. In a state of nature in which man is competitive, diffident and vainglorious, cooperation would never be rational and as a result, mankind would be doomed to a perpetual war of all against all. Carnap, Quine and the future of Metaphysics By : the artist Monooq THESIS: This paper will show that as the dust settles over the Carnap-Quine dispute, the double standard concerning meaningfulness for ontological questions and scientific hypotheses that Carnap created has collapsed. This paper will challenge the verification theory of meaning as ultimately self-destructive, that is to say, meaningless under its own criterion. Finally, it will offer a view of metaphysics that may well withstand the pragmatic demands of philosophers such as Carnap and Quine. Cross-Cultural Dilemmas in Abelard’s Dialogue Between a Philosopher, a Jew and a Christian By : Tamela Ice Two of Peter Abelard’s works, Ethics (or “Know Thyself) and the Dialogue are concerned with positioning ethics (i.e., the discipline of morals) in relation to various methods of human assessment, encompassing rules imposed by civil and religious institutions. Dawkins and the Selfish Gene: Just a Matter of Perspective? By : Mitchell Dawkins’ Theory of the Selfish Gene was first explained in his 1976 work The Selfish Gene, which has, since then, attracted numerous outspoken detractors as well as supporters amongst scientists and philosophers alike. In this essay I will be looking at the nature of the Selfish Gene and asking both why Dawkins would propose such a seemingly ridiculous and potentially controversial idea as well as how well it holds philosophically and scientifically. Defining Desires By : Logo. In his book Rationality in Action John Searle asserts, “the single most remarkable capacity of human rationality...is the capacity to create desire-independent reasons for action” (p. 168). This is a strong and somewhat daring claim, for it assumes what a majority of philosophers have long denied: that such desire-independent reasons are even possible. Searle's project throughout Rationality in Action is to rebut what he calls the “Classical Model” of practical reason—a general paradigm that inc Descartes Demon - Can he get past it? By : Krossie "I shall suppose, therefore, that there is, not a true God, who is the sovereign source of truth, but some evil demon, no less cunning and deceiving than powerful, who has used all his artifice to deceive me." (Descartes 1641) Descartes' Sceptical Method By : Shyster In Descartes’ Meditations, he brings into doubt all that he has naively perceived to be real. He claims that “it is a mark of prudence to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once”(14). The conspiracy of one’s senses and emotions can cause the most lucid idea to become indiscernible through the many deceptions that result from their imperfect natures. Love can blind as the eyes can betray, and these things are easily doubted as reflecting what is real. Yet, these many sen Dialogue as a Philosophy of Philosophy By : Logo. I Rich: Ever wonder what the inventors of philosophy thought they were doing? Jack: (laughs) What? Rich: Seriously, what made Plato believe that his work was valuable? I mean, in what way did he think his writings actually corresponded to reality? Discuss the view that Voltaire was a Subversive By : Jon F. Any answer to this question must include a study of Voltaire’s attitudes towards politics, society and religion, each of which we will be examining in turn, and which are likely to reveal inconsistencies in the traditional view taken of Voltaire as a subversive. In doing so we must also offer commentary on sources relevant to this topic. These include Voltaire’s extensive correspondence and works such as 'The Age of Louis XIV', 'Philosophical Dictionary', 'Letters on England', and of course 'Can Does Plato offer a comprehensive refutation of relativism? By : someoneisatthedoor In Theatetus Plato sought to formulate an absolute theory of knowledge, one that is “unerring” or possibly objective. He sought to unify or transcend the presocratic philosophers, particularly the contrast between Parmenides and Zeno’s monism and the pluralism of Heraclitus and Protagoras. Plato’s answer is the dualism of the senses and the Forms, the search for knowledge consisting of the discovery of or participation with innate ideas. Early Greek Philosophy and the Primary Substance By : Mitchell Before Thales, any explanation as to the nature and origins of the Cosmos and the Earth within it was solely from mythological accounts. Hesiod’s Theogony tells us, (116ff) “At first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bossomed Earth…” Eastern vs. Western Metaphysics By : Nesta Smith 1. Prima facie at least, there are differences between the notion of freedom analysed from a first-person’s perspective from that analysed from the third-person’s perspective. But are there really differences between them? If not, why not? If there are, what exactly are the differences? Existance before the big bang By : BG Stroup Existence before the big bang First Principles/Part One By : textman This three-part essay is a commentary and expansion of Descartes' great discovery: 'I think, therefore I am'. It also includes a critique of Russell; as well as a very brief overview of the whole history of philosophy, so as to illustrate its evolutionary development and underlying meaning. Skepticism and Logic, and their relations with Reason, are explored, and ultimately deemed secondary to Reason itself. First Principles/Part Three By : textman The conclusion of the essay: On the Utility of Reason, Mind Over Time, Harsh & Brutal Masters, Blessed Relief & Liberty, And Religion Takes the Rest?, Paved With Good Intentions, On Building Solid Foundations, Worlds Within Worlds, Body + Mind = Philosopher, What is Philosophy For?, On the Supremacy of Complexity, Is Philosophy Even Possible Anymore? First Principles/Part Two By : textman The mid-portions of the essay: The Question of Primacy & Supremacy, Descartes' Great Grandson, The Contents Page of 'An Outline of Philosophy', Neo-Sophia: Science's Handmaiden, Philosophy: the Eternal Champion, Much Ado About Coffee, How Brain Works?, The Significance of Documents, On the Primacy of Words, Introspection & Perception Not so Different Half-past Hope By : Albert Brenner The story of utopia is, in a sense, an ongoing saga of the efforts of human Reason to mediate in the struggle between hope and despair that characterizes the human condition and his/her existence in via. Despair is rooted in the stark realization that we find ourselves in a world (Universe) that is not of our making, and that our desperate attempts to find meaning to existence are as much confounded by this arcane world as it is by our alien selves. Hedonism, the highest good is pleasurable. By : Mathew Toll This essay attempts to answer the question, is the only intrinsic good pleasure? Heraclitus' Epistemological Views By : Trix Heraclitus’ ontology can be interpreted as based either on an incorporeal rationality or on material substance. While both are arguable, it is undeniable that both operate on an account that in either interpretation, the human soul and the world operate on a doctrine of flux. How Evil was Apartheid? By : Albert Brenner How does one measure evil? Is there such a thing as a universal 'index' according to which deeds of evil can be judged? If we, for example, take the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the final arbiter of what is evil and what is not, how could we then judge Zimbabwe as being more evil than, for example, China and Saudi Arabia – two countries enjoying marvelous ties with the West despite their abysmal human rights records. Hume's Problem of Induction By : Mitchell Hume’s problem of induction is a problem, which still pervades philosophical thinking today. It is, in essence, a problem of how we may ‘know’ from prior experience, that the past is conformable to the present and future. How, for example, we may know that tomorrow the sun will rise. I Was Nine-Years-Old By : Her Bessiness Story about a young girl Immaterialism Simply Put By : Uccisore Immaterialism Simply Put Berkeley’s Immaterialism was created to address a common issue in philosophy- skepticism, which is to say doubt, in regards to what our senses tell us. A popular view in Berkeley’s time was that what we see, hear, feel and etc. cannot be trusted to be factual. In Defence of van Fraassen By : Hane Htut Maung A Critique of Superempirical Virtues as Indicators of Objective Truth in the Selection of Scientific Theories In Defense of the Analytic-Snythetic Distinction, A Rebuttal of Quine's Two Dogmas of Empiricism By : bannockburn There has been a long philosophical dispute concerning the relation between analytic and synthetic truths. The distinction of these terms goes as far back to at least Leibniz. Leibniz distinguished conceptual truths from factual truths with the distinction between truths of reason, and truths of fact. Simply speaking, truths of reason are those truths that are necessary and its opposite is impossible, and those of fact are contingent, and their opposite is possible. Infinity & stuff By : Alexey Prokofyev I tried to answer some of the greatest questions of mankind by means of pure logic. Is English a Language? By : Jesblath Finger Is English a language? Do "languages" actually exist outside of being political tools? A language is a dialect with an army and navy -- Max Weinreich Is Lucretius right to insist that it is irrational to fear death? By : Jon Vacher It is my thesis that Lucretius is wrong in his insistence that the fear of death is irrational. In his symmetrical belief that we should be as indifferent to the time of our death as we are to the time of our birth he does not have to defend against any accusations that are not born of arguments relating to the self; namely those arguments that attempt to undermine Lucretius’ argument by way of denying the validity of some common epicurean beliefs surrounding this fear of death. Is Medicine a Science? By : Ben. Ronald Munson, in his essay “Why Medicine is not a Science,” argues that although medicine may be scientific it is not a science. He provides three main arguments to support his claim and it these arguments that I will focus on primarily to assess whether his claim is successful. I will also supplement his third argument that surrounds the reducibility of medicine to science with arguments from Kenneth Schaffner who provides a slightly different argument to Munson. Ultimately I will attempt to s Is there a natural right to private property? By : Jam Okra “The right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive the people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty.” – Arthur Lee In his “The Second Treatise on Government”, John Locke argues that we do have a natural right to private property and it is this argument that will be primarily focused on. His aim in the text is to defend the right of individuals to own external things, privately and almost without limitation. Is Utilitarianism a suitable ethic for animals? By : Ben. Before this question can be answered it will be important to define a few things. What do we mean by utilitarianism and what does it mean to say it is, or isn’t an acceptable ethic for animals ? On what criteria is ‘acceptable’ being judged? I shall leave the former definition for the opening part of this essay and deal now with the latter. I shall understand the phrase “an acceptable ethic for animals” as an ethic which is rational to apply to animals and one which is practical when applied to Justified True Belief and Critical Rationalism By : Mathew Toll During his trial Socrates argued that human wisdom came from the acknowledgement of human ignorance (Plato, 1969, P. 52), a position arrived at via the traditional account of knowledge as justified true belief. Because of such conclusions this account, which leaves us without a useful “knowledge”, is not without its detractors. Kantian Leaps of Faith By : Impenitent After Immanuel Kant wrote his Critique of Pure Reason, his philosophy was assailed by critics that said Kant’s arguments amounted to nothing more than idealism as advanced by Bishop Berkeley in his writings. Kant was distressed by these claims and in the second addition of his work, he added much more argumentation to give his philosophy more weight. One entire section of the second edition of his Critique of Pure Reason dealt specifically with the charge that Kant was an idealist. This section, LAWS OF MAGNETIC ACTION. By : dechenlau LAWS OF MAGNETIC ACTION. Lost e-mail syndrome By : BG Stroup How lost e-mails effect us Matrix and Plato's Cave Analogy By : AYNAM "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks he the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they." Merleau-Ponty: Reckoning with the Possibility of an 'Other.' By : Trotter The following essai, is precisely that. An attempt, or a try if you prefer, to reckon, or deal with the possibility that even when I am dealing with what I think is my own thought, I am actually already dealing with the thought of another. A rudimentary attempt to deal with the linguisticality of transcendental subjectivity. Nichomachean Ethics By : Nihilistic In the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle sets out to posit what a happy man is. He claims that many things are important to happiness, but the most important thing is Virtue. Thought virtue alone doesn’t make a man happy, it is the main cause of happiness. In the larger since Aristotle defines virtue as that which allows something to do it’s function well, and that which is the good state of something. He means by this, that the virtue of something is to achieve its end; virtue is goal directed. For Nietzsche Interactive Database By : Sagesound This project was originally conceived as being much larger than it resulted; to include all the major contributors to Western Philosophy from Thales to Derrida. This would take months of work to shell out. Given the conditions of gathering the data, editing it and managing it in a presentable format is tougher than it sounds. Then again, it is of no consequence to the project. I caved in to time conditions and the result focused upon one man whom has become more important now than when he lived. Nietzsche, Tragedy and the Sublime By : Simon Strathern In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche dichotomized human nature into two basic elements; the Apollinian and Dionysian. The Apollinian is image that gives form to, or expresses, Dionysian raw emotion. The unity of Dionysian and Apollonian elements in the tragedy ultimately allows the spectator to experience the ecstasy of Primal Unity, as specific images are understood to be universals, and these universals are identified with on a universal, rather than individual, level. Nietzsche’s Sublime Metaphysical Illusion By : Simon Strathern In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche contends that we live under a “sublime metaphysical illusion.” This illusion was introduced into the world by Socrates. The illusion consists of faith in knowledge, in the belief that knowledge is virtue, and “that thought, using the thread of causality, can penetrate the deepest abysses of being.” This illusion is like a mirage of water in the desert, leading the scientist toward the false promise of knowing, of mastery of this world. On Kierkegaard’s Pascalian Wager By : Tamela Ice In this paper, I will examine Steven Emmanuel’s reasons for denying that Kierkegaard’s affinity with pragmatism can be established by way of a comparison with Pascal (rather than, or in addition to, James). These reasons are (1) although there are important similarities between Kierkegaard and Pascal, Kierkegaard does not present a straightforward Pascalian wager-style argument; (2) he does not argue that it must be rational to believe in Christianity; and (3) Kierkegaard emphasizes sin and red On the Impossibility of Real A Priori Knowledge By : Dean Railton In this paper I will be arguing that true a priori knowledge is only possible in a way such that any belief formed totally a priori will be merely trivially true. Parfit and Identity - does really not matter? By : Ben. The original question set was "What does the claim that “identity does not matter” mean? Present a critical discussion of this view", but to be honest it turned into more of a criticism of Parfit's interpretation of the term "personal identity". There were the constraints of a 2,000 word limit and that it was a uni essay so I had to demonstrate that I had looked at several angles. Section III could have been left out in my opinion but markers don't really like you saying "I'm not going to discus Preservation of Truth as a Methodology By : Ryan Smith An approach to philosophical examinations that regards preserving existing truths as more important than avoiding falsehood, and this implications this has on the power of skepticism as a motivating force. Realistic Solipsism in Wittgenstein's Tractatus By : Athunley Essay on the issue of Solipsism in the earlier work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Ring Determinism Solves Problems of Materialism By : Ravil Kalmykov As soon as the speech in the philosophical debate starts to touch diverse aspects of the autonomous life of separate natural formations, the behaviour of living organisms, a man, his psychics and consciousness, the materialism simply cannot sustain carefully argued talk as these things have no any the fixed basic ontological status in its framework. Practically from the very beginning of the existence of materialism it was charged (and quite is reasonable!) with objectivism. Russell, Descartes and the Sceptic By : AAAAaaa- correct author! As Russell asks: “Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no rational man can doubt it?” A definition of knowledge, first given by Plato in his ‘Meno’, states that knowledge has three criteria. He claims that one only knows something if one believes in it, if it is true and if the belief that it is true is justified. September Scholar By : Coberst Introduction I am a retired engineer with a good bit of formal education and twenty five years of self-learning. I began the self-learning experience while in my mid-forties. I had no goal in mind; I was just following my intellectual curiosity in whatever direction it led me. This hobby, self-learning, has become very important to me. I have bounced around from one hobby to another but have always been enticed back by the excitement I have discovered in this learning process. Carl Sagan is quo Should the Practice of Promising Be Discarded? By : Tamela Ice Joseph DeMarco and Richard Fox say that a promise is an assurance that whatever has been promised will be done. DeMarco and Fox make the further claims that this assurance is “either illusory or immoral,” and thus “the practice of promising should be discarded.” In this paper, I will explicate the argument DeMarco and Fox provide in support of these claims. I will argue the DeMarco and Fox do not prove as much as they claim and that the problem they have with promising does not damage the p Simone de Beauovir’s Challenge to Cultural Feminism and Post-Structuralism By : Tamela Ice Linda Nicholson says that the “major theoretical debate of the 1990s” for feminists is identity politics, or “essentialism.” Linda Alcoff explains that the current status of this debate is between cultural feminism, a form of essentialism, and a post-structuralist alternative, which emphasizes sexual difference. It is my contention that Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and her notions of freedom and bad faith in The Ethics of Ambiguity offer the possibility of a way through the political and theoreti Socratic Justice By : Impenitent In the writings of Plato, one is introduced to the philosophic teachings of Socrates. Socrates is famous not for what he knew, but precisely for what he claimed he did not know. There are many dialogues with Socrates and his fellow Athenian citizens and in the vast majority of them, Socrates maintains a position of ignorance when speaking with others about certain ideas. Socrates’ scheme of argument is one in which he raises questions about the positions that the others may hold to be true. Duri The Absurd Hero and the Ruthless Critic By : Mathew Toll Albert Camus is regarded as the premier illumination of the philosophy known as Absurdism, which is often considered a pessimistic version of Existentialism and sometimes the division is not even recognised. The optimistic existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre was a friend of Camus; the two met during the Nazi occupation of France in the resistance movement. The Cogita, Covert Empiricist By : Dean Railton Descartes argument for existence is now incredibly famous, it claims, “Cogito ergo sum.” The usual English is, “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes uses the cogito argument as a deductive proof of his existence, a method to know that existence is indubitable and certain, and escape global scepticism. This is important as it not only enables knowledge of the self (one serious epistemological problem), but also allows certain knowledge (another serious epistemological problem). It is hardly surpri The Death of the Noble Savage By : Albert Brenner History is pregnant again; ready to foster the future the present is unwilling to bear. A future in which relativism will, yet again, be forced by rationalism to lay bare all miscarriages conceived by its innate inability to rationally nurture ever-expanding life/existence. And first among the stillborn to be exposed will be the Noble Savage – a myth that has, in the West, been the lop-sided smile of cultural relativism. The Dictatorship of the 'I' By : Albert Brenner Somewhere during the late eighties a paradigm shift took place within the field of mass-communication. It was characterized by the warped appearance of the first-person pronoun, the 'I', in mainstream newspapers. Instead of a headline like 'Man assaults wife' this shift in perspective prompted journalists to pen a headline like 'I saw Daddy hitting Mommy'. The Ethical Compass of the Feminine Aesthetic By : Kristalyn Bunyan While I was on an academic study tour in Turkey during the summer of 2004, I was surrounded by fertility figurines, such as Artemis, Cyble, and Aphrodite. I was intrigued by the notion that whole societies were built upon a matriarchal system and that they emphasized certain feminine religious rituals. Upon my return to Mars Hill College this past fall, I began to investigate my own religious beliefs and the presence or lack of the feminine in them and in art. I began to incorporate numerous Ren The Ethics of Removing a Healthy Limb By : Steggles The question of whether voluntary amputations should be performed is a difficult one. Within this essay, I will argue that, given certain conditions, satisfying an apotemnophile’s desire for surgery is ethical. I will first examine the issue of patient autonomy, both doctor and patient initiated, and how it informs the apotemnophilia debate. In discussing the second type of patient autonomy – I will explore the trend towards a service oriented commercialism within medicine and why this should be The Gettier Problem By : Impenitent Edmund Gettier wrote an argument against the idea that justified true belief constitutes knowledge. Gettier’s argument defines knowledge using the form: (a) S knows that P if and only if (i) P is true, (ii) S believes that P, and (iii) S is justified in believing that P. Gettier then claims that this definition of knowledge is not sufficient. Gettier argues that it is possible for a person to be justified in believing a proposition which is in fact false, thus undercutting the ability of that pe The Problem with John Searle's Mind By : John Maes In his 2004 book Mind, philosopher John Searle attempts to provide a solution to Descartes' mind-body "problem". No solution is needed, however, because there really is no problem. The Sophistry of an Objectivist By : Ben. Ayn Rand, as Dr. Bernstein summarizes, stated that man's purpose (read: the meaning of life) is to achieve personal happiness whilst retaining the ideal that man's survival is in everyone (including your own) best interest. He stated that there are no moral dilemmas, but did not elaborate why this is never the case. He merely said that if you run a term by term comparison of the "goods" of a situation, you can derive the proper course of action for any situation. The value of sentience - Does Intelligence Have Any Value Apart From Sentience? By : Clifford Greenblatt Futurists place great emphasis on the technology of artificial intelligence as the key to a bright future. Computers can be very fast and efficient at solving large, complex problems that are far beyond the capability of any unaided human mind. However, the human mind has the property of sentience, which not even the most advanced computers of today have at all. Suppose human brains are eventually replaced with artificial minds that are much faster and far more efficient for development of futur The Wonders of Solitude in Nietzsche By : Slodo The arrival at truth involves considerable personal risk. Herd mentality predominates cultural acceptance and so free thinkers seeking their own truths frequently face ostracization and isolation. Religious conformity and meaningless daily distractions constantly challenge those who seek to discover meaning of emotions, drives, and human will. This article explores the meaning of such a solitude as explained by Nietzsche in "Beyond Good and Evil." Too Much Thought? By : Nena Gabi This article explores whether the amount of thought humans are capable of is too much. Virtue, Spirit and the Enviable Life By : Logo The immoralist poses a serious threat to contemporary ethics. None of the major moral paradigms—Kantianism, Utilitarianism or even the more recent theories of virtue-based ethics—can currently answer the question, “why be moral?” They must all assume that a commitment to morality precedes moral discussion. Was Socrates right to submit to his punishment? By : Dean Railton The Crito features a dialogue between Socrates and Crito, a dear friend, in which Crito attempts to persuade Socrates to escape from prison thus avoiding his imminent death. This is a fictional dialogue based on real events, and it therefore ends with Crito being persuaded by Socrates and Socrates dies from poisoning by hemlock (as records show to have actually happened). It is the case however that the arguments Crito offers for Socrates’ escape are weak “straw-man” arguments and Socrates commo What is the connection between bad faith and angst in Existentialism? By : Mitchell One of the central tenets of all existentialist philosophy is that of freedom and choice. Man, by his very nature, is a free being and he must choose and choose for himself alone. In the existential world, God or No God, one must choose and accept responsibility for that choice. It is this entire and heavy responsibility that is Anguish in existentialist philosophy. In The Fall by French-Algerian existentialist writer Albert Camus the central character Jean-Baptiste Clamence remarks, What is Wollheim's paradox? How is it to be resolved? By : Ben. In, “A Paradox in the Theory of Democracy”, Richard Wollheim explains his paradox using a hypothetical example. He says: “Let us imagine a citizen who feeds his choice for, say, A, into the democratic machine. On the present interpretation, he is to be regarded as thereby expressing his opinion that A ought to be enacted. What of Differance? By : Trotter A short offering dealing with the Derridean thought of differance. When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now. Will you be sending me a Valentine? By : Her Bessiness Poem about age and beauty Why Art is Necessary to Philosophy By : textman The shortcomings of the prevailing paradigm of philosophy originate from a faulty definition of what philosophy is all about. This definition is essentially "scientific" in nature, and thus tends to exclude things that smack of Religion ... and Art. To many philosophers this is taken as a strength, but it may in fact be a weakness. Does Art have an important role to play within Philosophy? According to this article it does indeed! Worldview vs. Perception By : Stephen K. Donnelly In the mundane of everyday life, we rush to and fro, constantly making decisions without thinking twice. These decisions are often made subconsciously, allowing our biases to influence our judgment. Our decisions are always heavily influenced by our overall all view of reality. We call this a worldview; others call it a perception of reality, and still others, both. Interestingly, a worldview is not the same as a perception of reality. Many people consider them to be one and the same thing. More ‘Seeing is Believing’ and The Duck-Rabbit Illusion By : Mathew Toll ‘Seeing is believing’ is a commonly held opinion. This proposition represents “naive realism”, which neglects the active role of individuals in interpreting perceptions (Gal, 2002, p 529). This is akin to naïve psychology where the individual functions without grasping the mechanism behind his/her observations.

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