Cult of Reason

Reason is not necessarily the means to the better life, or towards procuring ‘the good,’ from the view of these latter thinkers. It seems that Nietzsche would problematize the allegory of the den, in this respect, to no end. From a Nietzschean perspective, the relativity of our values, and the ways they merely reflect the power dynamics and social and political undercurrents of our age, begs the question of their effect on our reason (Nietzsche, 1989, p.46-47). The supposed ‘good’ or ‘moral…

A young boy runs screaming down a long dark hall; afraid of the monster that he just witnessed coming from his room. As he runs towards his parents room he thinks of the his mother telling him that there is “no such thing as monsters”, however the fear overshadowing him right now tells him that his mother’s words were clearly false, and as he opens the door to their room he screams “Monster! Monster!”. Calmly the boy’s mother takes him down the dark hall, back into the room where he first…

Also, a man only by the fact that he is searching for the truth is wise because he frees his mind and makes full use of his reason. This is how he enjoys human happiness, and when he dies he can enjoy divine happiness. Finally the last definition found in Book 1 is that wisdom is not only knowledge but the search for knowledge of the human and divine matters that are relevant…

The literature review article I researched examined the parallels between moral judgment and modal judgment. The article described the methodology of the experiment that was administered on freshman college students taking an entry-level psychology course. The experiment included a series of physically possible events and morally permissible actions, and the students were to judge on a yes/no scale of what they deemed to be either morally acceptable or unacceptable. At the conclusion of the…

The disinclination of humans to question the information they perceive is a timeless phenomenon. This concept dates back to 380 BC, when Plato wrote the short story, “Allegory of the Cave”, in his magnum opus, The Republic. The allegory depicts humankind as prisoners, bound so they can only see what is directly in front of them: shadows cast by various objects passing behind them. However, as they have only ever been exposed to the shadows, the prisoners believe they are the true forms of each…

“Don’t Be Sorry for Yourself,” a thought-provoking essay written by A. J. Cronin. It deals with the problems of anxiety and trepidation in our life. In this age of competition and rush, everybody seems either afflicted or knows someone who is afflicted. The highly competitive and material culture undermines our nerves. Anxiety and self-pity are due to the fear of failure and doubt in various professions, different relationships, achieving success and other materialistic things which may lead us…

As time passes, knowledge becomes more complex and philosophers start to develop different theories regarding how people come about this knowledge. There is a distinct difference between both Rationalism and Empiricism and both Descartes and Locke have found ways to discredit and support both views. Descartes argument towards Rationalism is much stronger than Hume's argument towards Empiricism. There is quite the distinction between both empiricism and rationalism. The major difference…

Most people think that humans have evolved from their primitive selves and that savagery is not part of human nature, but the truth is that civilization is just a shell that hides those characteristics of people. In Golding’s allegorical novel Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys crash land on an island and any semblance of order and civilization slowly degrades until they turn into savages. What causes the boys to revert back to this primitive way of life, is their fear of this evil…

Introduction Regardless of the type of state one speaks of, the concept of human nature is a prerequisite for state formation. There lacks a consensual definition for the state, but it is agreed that “states vary based on who holds power, who elects the empowered, and how authority is managed” (Boundless). Following the previous agreement, one may question: whom is power wield over? In political terms, power often denotes domination over, or management of another- the general population. Then,…

understanding the situations. Also, it implies that all outside forces are ineffective in trying to persuade the real actual conscience of a person. This agrees with the idea of rationalism, which is defined as the belief that "we have to rely on reason itself as the basis for determining whether our opinions are justified true beliefs." It's clear that this is what Harper Lee had in mind when she wrote her novel To Kill A Mockingbird. This has correlation with the ideas of philosopher Spinoza,…