Concepts Of Knowledge, Reality And Existence - 2582 Words

The word philosophy derives from Greece, meaning â€Å"love of wisdom† and is the study of the basic concepts of knowledge, reality and existence (Dictionary.com, 2014). Someone who studies philosophy is called a philosopher; generally they are an individual who loves wisdom (Price, Lecture 6, 2014). Often said to be the study of questions philosophy raises, what human beings label as â€Å"life’s big questions,† which leads to them pondering life on a bigger scale. Philosophers ask a lot of questions and they are looking to answer questions they, personally, have about life. People study philosophy because they want to discover and understand the truth about themselves as an individual, the truth about the world that they live in and their relationships relating to the world and others in it. Philosophy is broken up into three concepts; â€Å"an activity, a set of attitudes and a body of content† (Knight, 2006). The body of content concept of philosophy is known as â€Å"epistemology, metaphysics and axiology† (Cohen, 2014). Epistemology is the study of â€Å"the nature of truth and knowledge† (Knight, 2006). Metaphysics is the study of questions relating to reality. Axiology is â€Å"the study of questions of value† and also includes the concepts of ethics and aesthetics (Knight, 2006). Ethics studies moral values and conduct aiming to answer questions about what an individual should do, what is a good life and what is good conduct. Aesthetics is the study of beauty focusing on what art is but notShow MoreRelatedEssay about Descartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence1382 Words   |  6 PagesDescartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence In Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is seeking to find a system of stable, lasting and certain knowledge, which he can ultimately regard as the Truth. In his methodical quest to carry out his task, Descartes eventually arrives at the proverbial fork in the road: how to bridge the knowledge of self with that of the rest of the world. Descartes’ answer to this is to prove the existence of God. The purpose of this essay willRead More Descartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence Essay1370 Words   |  6 PagesDescartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence In Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is seeking to find a system of stable, lasting and certain knowledge, which he can ultimately regard as the Truth. In his methodical quest to carry out his task, Descartes eventually arrives at the proverbial fork in the road: how to bridge the knowledge of self with that of the rest of the world. Descartesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ answer to this is to prove the existence of God. The purpose of this essay willRead MoreOntological Argument For The Existence Of God1083 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout this paper I will discuss the argument of Anselms ontological argument for the existence of god. His basis of his argument being an analytical breakdown for the reason fot gods exsistence. While also establishing that Anselms inferences found with his use of deduction and logical means to prove the existence of a higher being are indeed true. In addition I will defend Anselms argument by depicting other people’s objections again st his argument. Specifically the argument made by GauniloRead More The Ontological Argument Essay1446 Words   |  6 Pages The Ontological Argument nbsp; The Ontological Argument, put forth by Saint Anselm in his Proslogium, attempts to prove the existence of God simply by the fact that we have a particular concept of God - that God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived. Saint Anselm presents a convincing argument that many people view as the work of a genius. It is also quite often considered a failure because, in William L. Rowes words, In granting that Anselms God is a possible thing weRead MoreWhy Is Graham Hess Is The End Of The World Essay1507 Words   |  7 Pagesvery relevant and important question if you consider the fact that it so closely relates to our curriculum in PH-231-C, The Introduction to the Philosophy of Knowledge. Over the course of the semester, we learned and discussed about many people and their corresponding beliefs; some of which included the concept of God and his possible existence. Prior to this semester, I think I would have considered myself to fall under one of Graham Hess’ cate gories, one that I do not consider myself to be in nowRead MoreRene Descartes s Meditation On First Philosophy802 Words   |  4 PagesDescartes objective in Meditation on First Philosophy is to construct philosophy as a solid methodical study and discipline alike the sciences. To do so he must first suspend belief in all things doubtful and from their go about verifying the true concepts of the world. In meditation II he verifies that he is a thinking thing and finds that the certainty of the cogito â€Å"I think therefore I am† lies in the distinct perception of what he affirms. From this he generates a general rule of evidence, statingRead MoreDescartes s Theory Of God1490 Words   |  6 PagesDescartes concludes that we as humans are considered as a ‘res cognitas’ in which we are recognised as a thinking thing. However due to humans being known as the ‘res cognitas’ that means God is the ‘perfect being’. Descartes uses this to prove the existence of God, because it takes his view that anything with an effect must have a cause, in terms that we as humans are the affect concluding that God is the cause. The argument entitles that God is not a deceiver but instead he is perfect in every wayRead MoreEssay on Descartes Meditations1018 Words   |  5 Pagesare created in pursuit of certainty, or true knowledge. He cannot assume that what he has learned is necessarily true, because he is unsure of the accuracy of its initial source. In order to purge himself of all information that is possibly wrong, he subjects his knowledge to methodic doubt. This results in a (theoretical) doubt of everything he knows. Anything, he reasons, that can sustain such serious doubt must be unquestionable truth, and knowledge can then be built from that base. EventuallyRead MoreArguments For The Existence Of God1137 Words   |  5 PagesArguments for the existence of God come in many different forms; some draw on history, some on science, some on personal experience, and some on philosophy. Descartes offered two arguments towards the existence of God: an informal proof in the third meditation and the ontological proof in the fifth meditation. Descartes believed that with the employment of a rational method of inquiry which applied some of the methods of analytic geometry to the study of philosophy, our ability to attain certain tyRead MoreThe Main Elements Of Plato s Cave1152 Words   |  5 Pageswrote in his dialogs about his beliefs about reality. His theory of forms was meant to answer metaphysical questions such as what exists; what is real? According to Ian Bruce â€Å"the theory basically postulates the existence of a level of reality or world inhabited by the ideal or archetypal forms of all things and concepts. Thus a form exists for objects like tables and rocks and for concepts such as beauty and justice.† Plato discusses how objects and concepts change over time (what our senses perceive)