...THE MIND IN IDEALISM Philosophy of mind is widely considered a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind–body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as one key issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body, such as how consciousness is possible and the nature of particular mental states. One of these issues that do not presume a relationship of a mind and body is the conception of mind in Idealism. Philosophically, idealism is the view that fundamental reality is the make-up of mind and ideas only. This essay will discuss at length what the mind generally means to the idealist especially in the classical sense as espoused by George Berkeley and then proceed to analyse the concept of mind or self in the radical transcendentalism of Joseph von Schelling and conclude with Edmund Husserl, a 20th century philosopher and reputed founder of Phenomenology Idealism is the form of monism that sees the world as consisting of minds, mental contents and or consciousness, according to Stoljar (2005). Idealists are not faced with explaining how minds arise from bodies: rather, the world, bodies and objects are regarded as mere appearances held by minds. According to Stoljar, accounting for the mind–body...
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...transcendental idealism laid out in his Critique of Pure Reason. Written in response to the previous ‘realist’ conceptions of space Kant challenged strongly the view of its ultimate reality and served to shift the scope of the ontological argument from one of ‘absolutism’ versus ‘relationalism’ to a more developed debate of ‘realism’ against ‘idealism’ as he brought the relationship between space and time, and the mind strongly to the fore. In this essay I am going to contrast this Kantian notion of space as being ‘transcendentally ideal’ against the branded ‘transcendental realism’ of Newton and Clarke. Starting with the latter I’ll go on to bring in the former then proceed to analyse the developments Kant forges past his predecessors. I will then conclude by assessing how and why his view holds more metaphysical depth than that put forward in the Newtonian model by looking at how he accounts for the scope and perspective of human consciousness and the epistemological limits inherent within it. To begin however I will now go to the absolutist models put forward by Newton and Clarke. Prior to Kant, the arguments with regards to spaces ontology were primarily orientated around whether space was absolute (i.e. real in its own nature and independent of objects) or relational (merely relations of objects and nothing more). While both of these were seen as transcendentally real perspectives by Kant the particular model I am analysing in the essay (that of Newton and Clarke) is one of...
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...Abstract This essay discusses the mind-body question and the difficulty to explain how these two entities relate to philosophical and scientific inquiry. This discussion includes the difficulty scientists find with dealing with the mind-body question when discussing the conception of reality. The discussion will include Searle’s perception of the mind-body question and conclude with a personal perspective of the mind-body question and what it means to her. The conclusion of the essay after research is that this question is difficult to answer because of different views and perspectives. Mind-Body Questions Paper The mind-body question has been a source of examination for many years. This examination began in the seventeenth-century with the French philosopher Descartes. Many credit Descartes with beginning the mind-body problem. The mind-body question in essence deals with how the physical world interacts and relates to the mental aspects of the mind. Descartes considered that the mind existed only in the mental state with the body existing only in the physical state. He felt that the mind could not exist with the body (Schimmel, 2001). Many others have formed various opinions, including John Searle, which emphasizes consciousness when discussing the mind. This essay is a discussion of the difficulty poised by the mind-body question on philosophical and scientific inquiry. The essay will also include the perspective of Searle concerning the mind-body question and reality...
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...Many people think that urban life in big cities means a happy life, with no worries and just pure happiness. But what is happiness? And what makes us think that urban life is pure happiness? In the essay “Living With Strangers” by Siri Hustvedt, we hear about a woman's move from the countryside of Minnesota, to the Big Apple in New York City. Her move is described with many comparisons with her previous life and experiences, and a lot of humor, which underlines her situation and her attitude to urban life. In the following essay I am going to analyze and comment on Siri Hustvedt’s essay “Living With Strangers”. Part of my essay will focus on the genre, the attitude to urban living and the contrasts between Siri’s life in Minnesota and her new life in New York City. As said, the essay is based on Siri Hustvedt’s own life and experiences. Siri Hustvedt grew up in Minnesota, where everybody knows and greets each other. Now she lives in New York City where nobody seems to care about each other, and where greeting strangers would be “impractical and unsound”. This is a big change for her, and she uses an overwhelming amount of detailed descriptions to describe her situation in the Big Apple. She uses many personal experiences and examples, which characterizes the essay genre. Furthermore, she is very reflective, descriptive, subjective and very personal in her way of writing the essay. “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival in this town (..). This...
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...© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1997 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA VOLUME 19 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO Publisher’s Note The first series of Essays on the Gita appeared in the monthly review Arya between August 1916 and July 1918. It was revised by Sri Aurobindo and published as a book in 1922. The second series appeared in the Arya between August 1918 and July 1920. In 1928 Sri Aurobindo brought out an extensively revised edition in book form. For the present edition, the text has been thoroughly checked against all previous editions and against the manuscripts of the revised Arya. CONTENTS FIRST SERIES I Our Demand and Need from the Gita II 3 12 20 29 39 47 57 68 81 94 105 114 124 The Divine Teacher III The Human Disciple IV The Core of the Teaching V Kurukshetra VI Man and the Battle of Life VII The Creed of the Aryan Fighter VIII Sankhya and Yoga IX Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta X The Yoga of the Intelligent Will XI Works and Sacrifice XII The Significance of Sacrifice XIII The Lord of the Sacrifice CONTENTS XIV The Principle of Divine Works XV 134 145 158 168 177 188 200 212 224 234 247 The Possibility and Purpose of Avatarhood XVI The Process of Avatarhood XVII The Divine Birth and Divine Works XVIII The Divine Worker XIX Equality XX Equality and Knowledge XXI The Determinism of Nature XXII Beyond the Modes of Nature XXIII Nirvana and Works in the...
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...sum- “I think, therefore I am.” While this phrase does express the final step in his systematic process of “doubting everything,” it is a gross over-simplification of Descartes’ methods. Descartes did use systematic doubt to find the starting point for his theory of knowledge, but his other philosophical inquiries involved several different methods of doubting, from simply imagining that which is contradictory, to carrying logical postulates to absurd conclusions, to the more traditional methods of testing syllogisms and analyzing proofs. In this essay, I will examine Rene Descartes’ various methods of doubt, to show that the philosopher did not rely on the single reductio ad absurdum in his famous proof of his own existence. Descartes, as we will see, employed several different approaches to philosophical proofs, and he was not the mechanistic logician that his mathematical background might suggest. It will be the argument of this essay that Descartes applied different methods of doubt to different problems, depending upon whether the problem was epistemological, scientific or theological in nature. Existential Doubt: Do I Exist? The first and best-known method of doubt employed by Descartes involves reductionism, in the sense that he used a negative or reverse logical path to get to his first most basic principle. In the Meditations on First Philosophy, he first distinguished between the categories of knowledge, arguing that there are some types of knowledge which are subject...
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...Mysticism, according to its history, implies a relation to mystery. Mysticism is the spiritual quest in any religion for the most direct experience of God. Mysticism is widely practiced in Eastern religions and concentrates on prayer, meditation, contemplation, and fasting to produce the attitude necessary for what is believed to be a direct encounter with the spiritual realm (Bouyer, 1981). Typically, mystics, theistic or not, see their mystical experience as part of a larger undertaking aimed at human transformation (Teresa of Avila, Life, Chapter 19) and not as the terminus of their efforts. Mysticism has been an intimate part of human society, as a still-unexplainable part of nature, the divine forces over God’s existences, as well as the supernatural, that has allured and guided many to look as far as into the future for answers and as close as deep into themselves and an exploration of the unconscious mind. The many tools of Mysticism, like the Tarot, numerology, astrology, and dreams, are all used to provide insights into a "deeper consciousness" and a "higher plane of existence," which when properly interpreted could very well shed light into the murkiest situation. In today's societies, Mysticism continues to intrigue, appeal to, entertain and aid people across cultures that force us to question the existence of God and Man and develop a sense of understanding for Man’s relationship to God. Mysticism has made significant changes in reshaping the mines of people towards...
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...19 Essays on the Gita VOLUME 19 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1997 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA Essays on the Gita Publisher’s Note The first series of Essays on the Gita appeared in the monthly review Arya between August 1916 and July 1918. It was revised by Sri Aurobindo and published as a book in 1922. The second series appeared in the Arya between August 1918 and July 1920. In 1928 Sri Aurobindo brought out an extensively revised edition in book form. For the present edition, the text has been thoroughly checked against all previous editions and against the manuscripts of the revised Arya. CONTENTS FIRST SERIES I Our Demand and Need from the Gita 3 II The Divine Teacher 12 III The Human Disciple 20 IV The Core of the Teaching 29 V Kurukshetra 39 VI Man and the Battle of Life 47 VII The Creed of the Aryan Fighter 57 VIII Sankhya and Yoga 68 IX Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta 81 X The Yoga of the Intelligent Will 94 XI Works and Sacrifice 105 XII The Significance of Sacrifice 114 XIII The Lord of the Sacrifice 124 CONTENTS XIV The Principle of Divine Works 134 XV The Possibility and Purpose of Avatarhood 145 XVI The Process of Avatarhood 158 XVII The Divine Birth and Divine...
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...considering his account of human nature as a whole and to examine his account of human nature in general as it emerges in his discussions of the animal and rational natures of the human being including consciousness, self-consciousness, the soul, personality, humanity and character, also the dimensions of what we might call human individuality of human life in relation to the divisions of philosophy. This chapter will therefore provide both a unified survey of Kant's view of human nature, and an introduction to many of the topics which will be considered in greater detail. The Rational Animal: The most direct characterization of human nature in Kant's works appears at the...
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...[Author’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Course Title] Date Georges Bataille George Bataille is a French librarian and writer whose essays, novels, and poetry expressed his fascination with eroticism, mysticism, and the irrational. He viewed excess as a way to gain personal sovereignty. After training as an archivist at the school of paleography known as the Ecole des Chartes (School of Charters) in Paris, he worked as a librarian and medieval specialist at the Bibliotheque National in Paris until 1942. In 1951 he became keeper of the Orleans library. He also edited scholarly journals and in 1946 founded an influential literary review, Critique, which he edited until his death. George Bataille’s “Theory of Religion” is an attempt to sum up religion in as succinct a manner as possible. To be all things to all religions, the book is very vague and difficult to understand. Bataille created a chart or table to explain what he was doing and to give body to the work. ALAS! The chart is not in the book, lost to time. Thus, as it exists, Bataille’s book is a glimpse into the inner workings of a genius mind. It is a colorful attempt to understand “religion,” whatever that is. Further, it is an off-the beaten path romp through the daisies of the study of religion, sweet flowers that often remain unromped. Theory of Religion brings to philosophy what Bataille’s earlier book, The Accursed Share, brought to anthropology and history; namely, an analysis based on notions of...
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...motivation to convey this message. Since our ability to think and reason makes us who we are as individuals, it is odd that Dillard marvels at the value of “mindlessness.” Yet, in Anne Dillard’s essay, “Living like Weasels” she uses her encounter with a weasel to demonstrate how we would obtain more out of life through living carefree and without a worry. This freedom translates to a beauty hard for many to see and we should remain grateful for our conscious ability and the fact that our presence provides this beauty to the world. Dillard evaluates the rodent’s way of life, which in reality is pure freedom. This weasel is free to do as it pleases and is not involved in taking on mental activity. Further, the weasel has no human responsibilities and approaches life with no thoughts other than survival. If we approached each day without being mindful, our actions would not be distorted by our biases or motives. Dillard observes, “I might learn something of mindlessness, something of the purity of living in the physical senses and the dignity of living without bias or motive” (91). When Dillard began her essay, she challenged the reader to consider, "Who knows what he thinks?"(88). Dillard is pondering if a weasel is mindless or if the weasel is able to make choices and live by consciousness. Dillard then shares the sleeping and eating habits of the weasel she does this to support the wildness of the weasel. She describes a weasel as wild because “he...
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...NAME: Angela Ferreira STUDENT NUMBER: 543939 COURSE: Archaeology ASSIGNMENT: Hunter-gatherer essay DUE DATE: 5 September TUTOR/LECTURER NAME: Geoffrey Blundell Plagiarism declaration I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and to pretend that it is one’s own. I have used the author date convention for citation and referencing. Each significant contribution to and quotation in this essay from the work or works of other people has been acknowledged through citation and reference. This essay is my own work. I have not submitted this work, or a substantial...
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...Locke’s argument against innate ideas. In Locke’s ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’, he argues for his view of empiricism, concerning the origin of ideas. A conflicting position for this subject is rationalism. According to rationalists, ideas are innate. However, Locke was an empiricist and believed that ideas came from experience. In this essay I aim to explore Locke’s position on the formation of ideas and consider how his arguments may be criticised or indeed supported. According to Locke, an idea is “the object of the understanding when a man thinks” (I.i.8). In his ‘Essay’, Locke argues against the notion that ideas are innate in humans. He argued that ideas were formed from sensory experience rather than being innate. By innate, we mean that we were born with the ideas. Locke mentions the argument for innate ideas being that there are universally accepted ideas, so they must be already present in people when they are born. In the ‘Essay’, Locke said that the existence of innate ideas could be disproved if another way was found in which all mankind could come to agree on a certain truth. I think there is a weakness in this argument. In order for his point to be relevant, he would need to find this truth that is universally accepted and prove that it was born from experience. Therefore, the argument that innate ideas are responsible for universal truths is the best explanation that can be given. Although Locke’s argument does not have a lot to justify it...
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...Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag "Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash. It's very tiny very tiny, content." - Willem De Kooning, in an interview "It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible." - Oscar Wilde, in a letter The earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical; art was an instrument of ritual. (Cf. the paintings in the caves at Lascaux, Altamira, Niaux, La Pasiega, etc.) The earliest theory of art, that of the Greek philosophers, proposed that art was mimesis, imitation of reality. It is at this point that the peculiar question of the value of art arose. For the mimetic theory, by its very terms, challenges art to justify itself. Plato, who proposed the theory, seems to have done so in order to rule that the value of art is dubious. Since he considered ordinary material things as themselves mimetic objects, imitations of transcendent forms or structures, even the best painting of a bed would be only an "imitation of an imitation." For Plato, art is neither particularly useful (the painting of a bed is no good to sleep on), nor, in the strict sense, true. And Aristotle's arguments in defense of art do not really challenge Plato's view that all art is an elaborate trompe l'oeil, and therefore a lie. But he does dispute Plato's idea that art is useless. Lie or no, art has a certain value according to Aristotle because it is a form of therapy...
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...Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, and while it is a much more slender volume, it has had within its sphere a similarly far-reaching influence.[2] In the wake of Fingarette’s work, two other important essays were produced in honor of Fingarette: “Rights-Bearing Individuals and Role-Bearing Persons,” by Henry Rosemont Jr., and “Reflections on the Confucian Self: A Response to Fingarette,” by Roger T. Ames.[3] Each of these thinkers sees Confucius as offering an alternative understanding to the received Cartesian view of the person. In each case, the Confucian stance on the person is interpreted as being overwhelmingly social as opposed to the western view, which is characterized as being impossibly individualistic. Against these three currents, I will argue here that the Confucian understanding of a person is not so alien to western understandings, and I will use the seminal piece by P.F. Strawson on persons to demonstrate this.[4] Since I will refer to it throughout the treatment of the other authors, I will begin by briefly specifying the general outline of Strawson’s approach to persons. I will then take up in some detail Rosemont and Fingarette. This will leave only a little room at the end for Ames. I close with a last look at Strawson. Very briefly, a person on Strawson’s account is not a pure ego in the Cartesian sense, nor does he hold a “no ownership” view of the person in which psychological states are...
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