31 Results for Plato

Plato's Euthyphro is a complex work that was carefully written and carefully crafted to present and consider a series of arguments, as well as to force its reader to consider broader issues that are not explicitly brought to their attention in the dialogue of the text. These broader issues are ...
Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations; that his illustrations of Ideas are merely empty metaphors; and that they theory uses impermanent abstractions to create examples of perception. T...
Metaphysics The term metaphysics came from the writings of Aristotle that came after his writings on physics. Traditionally, metaphysics refers to the branch of philosophy that attempts to understand the nature of all reality, whether visible or invisible. It seeks a description so basic, so esse...
EssaySocrates was an early Greek philosopher who had many pupils, but even more enemies. In 399 B.C., he was charged with denying the existence of the gods of the state and in turn creating new divinities. By teaching, he was corrupting the youth of Athens. He pleaded his case in Plato's Apology,...
According to the text in the Euthyphro, I do not think that Socrates is a divine command theorist. Although, he speaks of Gods many times in the Euthyphro, he doesn't say that the God's posses the knowledge of what is right and wrong, or in other words, what is pious or impious. The Bhagav...
Philosophy Essay: The Problem of Evil / Dream ProblemThe Problem of EvilSt. Augustine accepted Plato's view that there are two realms: the intelligible realm and the visible realm. I indeed also believe this to be true. Like Plato, St. Augustine believed in the existence of something infinite and et...
Justin Martyr was a Christian apologetic author who eventually sacrificed his life for his faith. He experimented with several schools of philosophy before converting to Christianity. Justin’s philosophy offered a sort of marriage of Greco-Roman philosophy with Christian theology. He was co...
Socrates asks Euthyphro whether actions are good because God commands them or does God command them because they are good? While Euthyphro attempts to define piety, he stumbles upon another great philosophical question. Throughout Plato's Euthyphro, they try to discover what it is that makes actio...
Plato's Phaedo makes a lot of interesting arguments that are worth contemplating about. One of the primary arguments deals with Socrates' views on Suicide. Socrates and his friends, Cebes and Simmias, discuss whether it is wrong to kill oneself. Socrates begins by saying that it is wrong t...
The historical development of religion has taken many turns, ingesting the new ideas of each major philosopher as he questions the ideas put forth by the man or era before him. In this constant questioning and development of ideas, the trend has changed from theism and faith to more rational religi...
Divine Command Theory The Divine Command Theory can be a hot topic for some people to discuss in the field of philosophy. The Divine Command Theory states that an act is permissible or obligatory if and only if that act is allowed or commanded by God. (Class notes 1/12/05) To believe in this th...
There are many objective truths that exist in the world. Among them is one that has been torturing the depths of man for centuries. This is the fact that there is great pain and suffering. How does a God that represents the supreme good allow evil to exist? If he is good and all that he creates i...
Augustine's conversion over a thousand years ago can be very closely related to teenagers today. Augustine's conversion can be related to much more easier than Paul's conversion because it was more developmental and was long, filled with struggles, drawn- out and gradual. Augustine ...
Ontological Hierarchy and Moral Decisions Plato first posited the theory of an ontological hierarchy in his account of human beings' a priori knowledge. He believed that humans gained universal knowledge through the direct contact between perfect, other-worldly Forms and our pre-natal souls...
Zoroastrianism was a relgion that emerged in Persia founded by Zoroaster that resulted in a change in the people's view of god. Previously, the Persians had worshipped natural resources and animals were sacrificed by priests called Magi. Historians traditionally date the time of Zoroaster as 628-5...
In Celsus' On The True Doctrine, I believe that there are four arguments of Celsus against Christianity that, in my view, best represent the Roman philosophical world-view and values. The first of the four arguments I believe to be of importance is that of the virgin birth. Jesus claims to be ...
This paper tells you about the Golden Age of Greece, which is from 500 to 350 BC. It tells about what Greeks did, who they worshipped, and other important things. The thing the Greeks are best known for, is their gods, and stories about them. The stories explained how things became. For instance,...
God, gods and spirits play a central role in The Apology of Socrates. It is no accident that the last word of Socrates' defense is "God" (746). In directly addressing the charge of atheism and corrupting the youth, Socrates makes the accusation seem ludicrous. Plato emphasizes t...
Paul Johannes Oskar Tillich Tillich was born into the family of a Lutheran pastor in the village of Starzeddel, Prussia, on Aug. 20, 1886. He studied at the university of Berlin, Tübingen, Halle, and Breslau. In 1912, at the age of 26 he was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran ...
Evil and Sin The Transgressions Against Godly WillBefore we place me in Hell, we need to look at exactly why people go to Hell. That is because they have directly gone against the will of God. If this were true it would mean that Christianity is the only religion that has any truth behind it since t...
Abstraction of Love In the symposium, Plato discusses the many strong meanings of love through the conversation of characters at a symposium, or dinner party, in which the guests take turns on stating their views on love. Before the discussions begin the guests eat and afterward ...
When questioning the issue of our existence one must go to the basic question of \"If we exist, then who created us?\" Many religious and spiritual people would have a very simple answer: God. So this leads the questioning philosopher to ask how do we know that God exists? This is a question that ...
Whether one believes in God or not, a person must have a reason for his or her belief. There must be a rationale, in some form, that supports the belief or thought process which the individual has. For example, philosopher John Searle does not believe in God, arguing there is not enough avail...
Putting the Allegory of the Cave into my own words seems comparable to the Christian idea of using the lord's name in vain. First, I'd like to introduce a phenomenon I have observed throughout my life time. I call it soul resonance. Bear with me here. When two objects emit sympathetic vibrati...
Life or Anti-Life: Nietzsche vs SocratesNietzsche's charge that Socrates is anti-life appears to be driven merely by disgust and not proven by fact. I say this mainly because the majority of Nietzsche's accusations in "The Problem of Socrates" were either negative statements agai...