Verified Document

Nature Of Philosophy Essay

Nature of Philosophy In some ways, the nature of philosophy is complex. There are a number of difficult questions which philosophy considers, and which it is applied to in order to answer. In other ways, philosophy is fairly straightforward. It serves to provide a basis for a way of life most suited for the individual who chooses to apply it. As such, different people have different philosophies regarding different facets of life. The nature of philosophy, then, is that of providing a basic foundation from which to approach different situations which one might encounter. In some regards philosophy's nature is amenable, at least in the respect that it is largely applicable to a variety circumstances. However, for the most part philosophy is rigid, since its general principles may impact a variety of situations -- yet those principles themselves do not change.

Ultimately, however, the nature of philosophy is that it is concerned with the truth. Philosophy is a toeing of a line of the sands of eternity; it is man's ambition to draw a conclusion as something immutable and to use that to judge everything one comes across by it. In a less abstract sense, then, it is the nature of philosophy to determine what something actually is, and to use that truth to determine other truths. In this regard the nature of philosophy is much like the nature of science. The only true distinction between these two disciplines is that science is generally used for physical or observable...

The key similarity is that they both utilize the same approaches. Science is widely based on empirical evidence. One may determine a hypothesis, for example, but only by proving such a hypothesis with the demonstration of empirical evidence is something then taken for fact. This same methodology is used for philosophy, although the forms of empirical evidence which are used for science are replaced by whatever tenet of philosophy that one considers the truth.
An excellent example of how the nature of philosophy is primarily concerned with the truth is found in the consequentialism. Consequentialist theory is a branch of philosophy known as ethics. Ethics is the realm of philosophy which is largely concerned with determining what right and wrong is, and what sorts of behavior are assigned to judgments of right and wrong. The major tenet of consequentialist theory that serves as its version of empirical evidence -- the operating principle of this theory -- is the consequences of an action. Consequentialists believe that no action in and of itself alone is either ethical or unethical, right or wrong. Instead, proponents of this philosophy believe that only the consequences of an action determine whether or not it is ethically defensible (Alexander and Moore, 2007). Thus, if the murder of one person enables the entirety of humanity to live whereas not killing such…

Sources used in this document:
References

Alexander, L., Moore, M. (2007). Deontological ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=ethics-deontological

Driver, J. (2009). The history of utilitarianism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Ethics. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/

Wiesel, E. (1998). Adolf Hitler. Time. Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988156,00.html
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Nature in an Episode of the Popular
Words: 625 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Nature In an episode of the popular television show The Simpsons, Lisa tries to talk Mr. Burns into developing environmental awareness. The unlikely duo picks up discarded cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials. On the beach one day, Lisa finds a plastic six-pack holder with a live fish caught in one of the rings. After telling Mr. Burns that six-pack holders are potential death-traps for small animals, she frees the fish

Philosophy Kuhn's Rationale on the Irrationality of
Words: 2831 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Philosophy Kuhn's Rationale on the Irrationality of Scientific Revolutions "Communities in this sense exist, of course, at numerous levels. The most global is the community of all natural scientists." ~Thomas S. Kuhn, from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions To understand Thomas Kuhn's ideas regarding scientific revolutions, one must have a grasp on Kuhn's ideas relating to the history of science in general. Kuhn's perspective on the history of science is that scientific knowledge is

Philosophy Matrix II Ancient Quest for Truth
Words: 1641 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Philosophy Matrix II Ancient Quest for Truth Philosophy Matrix II: Ancient Quest for Truth Use the matrix to analyze Plato and Aristotle's theory of knowledge and apply both to current day practices. In the first column, using the readings about Plato's search for truth and his theories of knowledge, discuss how contemporary people may be living in a cave and which steps, based on Plato's model of the Divided Line, will be necessary for

Philosophy Socrates to Sartre and
Words: 2412 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Berkley stated that because the senses were potentially faulty, everyone's sense perceptions and thus everyone's 'truth' was unique and variable. However, most empiricists like Locke believed that some (few) things could be known with certainty, like shape and color, even if other properties of things could not be known. The empiricists come from the Aristotelian rather than the Platonic tradition of philosophy, and had rigorous standards of truth based upon

Philosophy While There Is Plenty to Criticize
Words: 3858 Length: 12 Document Type: Essay

Philosophy While there is plenty to criticize in the work of Descartes, Locke, and Hume, one cannot justifiably claim that Jose Vasconcelos criticisms of traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge apply to these theorists if only because Vasconcelos' criticisms do not really apply to anything, as his criticisms are largely based on straw men. This is not to say that traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge should

Nature of Truth
Words: 3624 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Nature of Truth We exist in an age swanked by an intense opposition to assertive truth. Truth can supposed to be either a "bond" or an "individual meet." Truth is compared to opinion, discernment, and viewpoint. Truth is compared to personal viewpoint as a person, family, faction, city, country, civilization, and humankind. The doctrines of viewpoint are identical on every social range, but their comparative particulars vary due to their comparative

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now