Christian philosophers Essays

In the first two of Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes builds skepticism and then begins to dispel it. In the first, Descartes calls into mind three possibilities to prove our inability to trust our senses and what we fundamentally believe to be true. Descartes’ main refutation of this skepticism is known as the Cogito. The Cogito claims that since Descartes’ thinks, he must at a minimum exist as a thinking thing. In the remainder of Meditations, the Cogito serves as the fundamental

In this two Christian philosophers, Richard Swinburne and Tim O'Connor, discussed the concept of neuroscience and the soul. The first philosopher, Swinburne, believed in the idea of substance dualism while O’Conner supported the argument for emergent individualism. Swinburne starts off by saying one’s physical body is simply the vehicle we interact with the world while the real essence of a person lies within their soul. When it comes to Swinburne’s belief on the soul after death I am reminded of

The Allegory of The Cave In the allegory Plato is trying to tell us is that in life we think we know what reality is because of what we see, but what if that is all an illusion? We are never going to be able to see the real things if we are kept inside a box, in this case inside a cave. We got to step out of the cave, our comfort zone. And when we finally step out we will be able to see the real world, we will have a panoramic view. Imagine living in a small town and never going out. What you see

Throughout his masterpiece Things Fall Apart, Achebe accentuates the African cultural existence through heteroglossia. The term heteroglossia was first created by the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin. In his Dialogic Imagination, Bakhtin defines heteroglossia as "the internal stratification of any single national language into social dialects, characteristic group behavior, and professional jargons, generic languages […] language of the authorities, of various circles and of

a time that emphasized individualism and reason in place of tradition. This was also when people questioned religious, economic and social issues, especially the philosophers. Specifically, the philosophers were people who wanted to discover new ways to understand and improve their society. The main idea of the Enlightenment philosophers was to give the individual freedom in all aspects of their

Power is a driving force that can lead to happiness or misery. The idea of someone looking to another for guidance is frightening. When done right, the guidance can lead to major successes. However, when a person is corrupt and power-hungry, those around him are affected negatively. The Tempest serves as a great example of how power can be used to do the wrong or the right thing. The play is a change to most avid Shakespeare readers, as it contains aspects of magic and power that ultimately lead

Plato’s short story the Allegory of the Cave, Plato portrays a scene in a cave to the reader that analyzes human actions. The story is about a group of men that are chained for their entire life. The only thing they are exposed to are shadows on the wall of a fire burning by people behind them. The people exposing these men are hiding the truth of the outside world. Plato reveals that humans are easily fooled into believing what they see. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave the people think that their

Studies show us that babies are born with an innate sense of justice. However, the good and the bad are the product of biological evolution, the child can act good and bad according to the circumstances. Furthermore, according to religion, from the Christian way of thinking, we are all born sin. Sin is a general human problem, it’s something we all do. We may be willing-have the desire to do the right thing but we fail because our resolve is weak. Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they

In Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his peers attempt to define justice. Unlike the definitions that his peers give, Socrates is searching to define justice as a structure, not a set of behaviors. Socrates uses a tripartite city-soul analogy to define justice and show that it is found when there is harmony between the three parts of the city—guardians, auxiliaries, producers—mirrored to the three parts of the soul—reason, spirit, appetite. Although Socrates provides a well-structured account of justice

“Where are you Going, Where have you Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that tells of the horrors that are possible when a child is rebellious and secretive. The story’s action begins when the main character, Connie, secretly visits a restaurant when she said she was in the movies, here she sees a man and he waves at her. Later, the same man shows up to her house when her family isn’t home and is trying to convince her to ‘go for a ride’ with him, and the reader learns his name is Arnold

Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism through colours and religious motifs brings out a critique of the pursuit of the American dream, in how such a pursuit of material wealth and status is ultimately consuming. Integral to this essay is our understanding of a relationship between Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy and Gatsby’s pursuit of status. While both pursuits may be viewed as Gatsby’s goals in life, each may also be understood as a means rather than the end. They seemingly share a circular relationship. Gatsby

community has often been attracted to Christianity, “the religion of their oppressors,” for numerous reasons, including the hope for liberation (Brown Douglas xii). Black people raised in the Christian tradition have also rejected the religion in recognition of its unjust qualities. The challenge facing black Christians and those who deny white supremacy is whether to have faith in the liberating and positive aspects of Christianity, or to doubt the religious institution in light of its history of oppression

Love is the one thing that can bring people together. All around the world, people find love in other people, material objects, or religion. In A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, two Americans stationed in France, Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley, find love in eachother during World War 1. Their relationship is tested time and time again by the war, but their love for eachother is what motivates them to survive. At first, Frederic and Catherine’s relationship is based on physical attraction

David Sedaris’ short story “Jesus Shaves” is a humorous telling of an important message. While he makes the subject seem light, the overall message shows how communication and cultural barriers can prevent us from growing together as a society. He also shows how we do not necessarily try to understand other cultures and often give up in the process. By giving up we allow for our differences to continually divide us which causes ignorance and bigotry. The conflict of this story is language and cultural

. . (57-62) In other words, the Bishop is a true representative of the Renaissance spirit. St. Praxed (also known as Praxedes or Praxedis) lived during the second century. It is said that she, along with her sister, provided burials to many Christians who were persecuted and martyred; they also distributed their possessions to the poor. It is ironic that a bishop affiliated to the church of such a saint should crave for a lavish instead of a modest tomb and concentrate on acquiring rather than

identity has gave me a different perspective in life and I have soaked up some of it as well and I could say it's part of my own cultural identity as well. You know how celebrations make up whom one is like me I am from the Mexican background but as a christian I do not celebrate all the typical Mexican celebrations. Most Mexicans participate in Halloween all my friends do but I on the other hand do not. It is said in Christianity that celebrating Halloween is celebrating the devil's birthday and I agree

There are readers of Manuel Munoz's The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue who may accept and contend that Cristian of "Señor X" and Sebastian of "The Good Brother", battle to proceed onward and locate their future because of their current conditions. Nonetheless, I trust that Cristian's and Sebastian's past and blame are keeping them both away from their future. As Cristian considers himself to be the casualty of his past, Sebastian's adolescence recollections are continually at the forefront of his thoughts

Szymborska systematically undoes the damage inflicted upon Lot’s wife by undermining the smug certainty of moralization in response to the human story. In the first line of the poem we are introduced to the idea that curiosity was reason for her disobedience. Her story is then completely unraveled into a flurry of potential alternatives juxtaposing the simple and tragic moral tale “they” reduced it to in order to communicate that disobedience equates to destruction. In the line “A hamster on its

Literary theory is a new way of looking at everything surrounding us. It frees society from what enslaves it. This essay will elaborate upon how literary theory has enabled readers to have a different notion of the texts they read and their surroundings. I will use the works of Rolland Barthes, The Death of the Author (1967) and Bakhtin, Discourse in the Novel (1975) and feminism more specifically Simone de Beauvoir and part of her book The second Sex (1949) where she talks about woman being the

is no set dogma or principles within the church and that readers can choose how to live their life as a Christian however they please. Liberal theology began in the late eighteenth century and then really went to work influencing theologists on into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This happened because Christian philosophers were beginning to be constrained to not being called philosophers at all, instead they were strictly called theologians. All of this happened because of the existentialist