...Century Philosopher INTRODUCTION - Well-known philosophers have influenced the lives for many centuries. Jacques Derrida was a twentieth century philosopher who was one of the most contemporary philosophers of modern (contemporary) times (Philosophy basics, 2011). Jacques Derrida was born on July 15, 1930, and died October 8, 2004 of pancreatic cancer. Derrida left behind a wife and two sons named Pierre and Jean. Derrida was the founder of Deconstructionism. What is Deconstructionism? IDENTIFY AND EVALUATE THE KEY CONCEPTS AND ANALYSES THAT COMPRISED THE PHILOSOPHER’S THEORIES –Deconstructionism or Deconstruction is a philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning ("Deconstruction"). According to C. John Holcombe (2007), “Derrida has been called philosopher, anti-philosopher, literary theorist, literary subverter and intellectual joker. But his central tenets are clear. Once we use language (speech or writing) to refer to reality, that reality is linguistically formulated and therefore indeterminate. Meaning is not something preexisting in the mind that we struggle to express. Like the main analytical schools of language philosophy from Hume onwards, and contrary to Saussure, Derrida does not regard words as the expression of ideas” (6, para. 1). According to (2011), “Derrida had always been involved in various (generally leftist) political causes, including...
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...and non-linguistic expressions. As a theory of interpretation, the hermeneutic tradition stretches all the way back to ancient Greek philosophy. In the course of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, hermeneutics emerges as a crucial branch of Biblical studies. Later on, it comes to include the study of ancient and classic cultures. With the emergence of German romanticism and idealism the status of hermeneutics changes. Hermeneutics turns philosophical. It is no longer conceived as a methodological or didactic aid for other disciplines, but turns to the conditions of possibility for symbolic communication as such. The question “How to read?” is replaced by the question, “How do we communicate at all?” Without such a shift, initiated by Friedrich Schleiermacher, Wilhelm Dilthey, and others, it is impossible to envisage the ontological turn in hermeneutics that, in the mid-1920s, was triggered by Martin Heidegger's Sein und Zeit and carried on by his student Hans-Georg Gadamer. Now hermeneutics is not only about symbolic communication. Its area is even more fundamental: that of human life and existence as such. It is in this form, as an interrogation into the deepest conditions for symbolic interaction and culture in general, that hermeneutics has provided the critical horizon for many of the most intriguing discussions of contemporary philosophy, both...
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...N/A N/A Comparison Essay The three main types of philosophy, also known as schools of thought, are continental, pragmatic, and analytic philosophies. With analyzing these three types of philosophy, we can compare and contrast them and see what they are and how they are used. The first school is continental philosophy. Continental philosophy is a general term, which is supplementary with the philosophical opinions that originated on the continent of England in the 20th century (Moore & Bruder, 2011). It has numerous theories for instance, there are critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (Moore & Bruder, 2011). The schools of thought accompanying continental which are the most important the two are existentialism and phenomenology (Moore & Bruder, 2011). The best known philosophers associated with continental philosophy are Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre (Moore & Bruder, 2011). Some themes of existentialism are traditional and academic philosophies are from the uncertainties of real life, the world is irrational, and the world is absurd in the sense that there are not explanations that can be given for the way that it is. These are not all the themes for this school of thought nonetheless these are the most fascinating (Moore & Bruder, 2011). The second type philosophy is pragmatic. Pragmatic philosophy is a type of philosophy that rejects the idea that there is such a thing as absolute...
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...Architecture has become in today’s society too dependent on the visual experience. The excess of images both in quantity and speed that afflicts our society has been observed by writers and philosophers and called “the unending rainfall of images” by Italo Calvino, “image addiction” by Richard Kearney, the civilization of the image” by Roland Barthes and “the society of spectacle” by Guy Debord. The critique of the dominance of visual aspects in architecture and the excessive rationalization of the design process is the ongoing work of a group of architects that somewhat loosely adapted the principals of phenomenology to architecture. The philosophical principals were partially applied to architecture at the beginning of the twentieth century, but reappeared as a viable alternative for architectural thought as a response to modernity and have gained a following in recent times. Juhani Pallasmaa has written: “In our time, architecture is threatened by two opposite processes: instrumentalisation and aestheticisation. On the one hand, our secular, materialist and quasi-rational culture is turning buildings into mere instrumental structures. devoid of mental meaning, for the purposes of utility and economy. On the other hand, in order to draw attention and facilitate instant seduction, architecture is increasingly turning into the fabrication of seductively aestheticised images without roots in our existential experience and devoid of authentic desire of life. Instead of being...
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...Comparison Essay Comparison Essay There are three main types of schools of thought that are noted in the field of philosophy. The three schools are known as continental, pragmatic, and analytic philosophies. Pragmatism and analytic philosophy are uniquely American movements because they are way different in theory to the European pragmatism and analytic philosophy, known as continental philosophy. In this weeks reading, it states that that pragmatism is an American theoretical movement that was made up in the 1870s by C.S. Peirce. Pragmatists refused to believe the idea that there is such a thing as an independent and modifiable truth. “Pragmatists rejected the idea that there is such a thing as fixed, absolute truth, truth is relative to a time and place and purpose and is thus ever changing in the light of new data” (p 206). Pragmatists believed that the truth was constantly changing as new ideas were introduced. Pragmatists also believed that the ideas needed to be researched by several people and agreed upon by the consensus prior to deeming the ideas true. Such pragmatists are C. S. Peirce, John Dewey, and William James. Another form of philosophy is Analytic philosophy, which focuses mainly on the theories of language, truth, and logic. Analytical philosophy is being able to think sensibly and come to a rational conclusion based on facts rather that emotion, communication assessment, and scientific methods in approaching...
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...Alex Pond Phil 4010 Dec. 2, 2014 On the Shallowness of the No Regret Condition I would disbelieve the person who claimed to have never experienced regret. There are so many triggers for this emotion that to have completely avoided it, one may question the authenticity of the social existence of the agent that has managed this avoidance. Bratman initially proposes the no regret condition in an attempt to explain how rational agents may stick to prior plans in the face of a temporary preference reversal. I will argue in this paper that in doing so he makes a positive contribution to practical reasoning theory, but his defense of the condition is contradictory, and highlights underlying commitments he has made regarding what we are ontologically that I believe to be misguided. The working example is that Chrisoula desires to work on a paper, which is to be published, tonight after dinner. During dinner she enjoys a glass of wine, and after she has finished that glass, she genuinely desires another. Knowing fully well that having consumed two glasses of wine, her cognitive and articulative abilities will be noticeably impaired; these two evaluative rankings are mutually exclusive (insofar as Chrisoula values the quality of her work). What should she do? There is a sense that, in their immediacy, evaluative rankings hold equal sway in the decision making process of the decider. The desire Chrisoula had, before dinner, to work on her paper, was equally as strong as her desire...
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...days, weeks, or months, and we assume that we will be around long enough to see them play out. This constant looking ahead is what has caused us to lose who we are now, and in losing this we lose who we are in the future. This seems to be a sickness that has plagued man not only these days but in the past as German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) recognized this occurring in front of him and in an effort to bring a remedy to the situation which he believed was caused by western philosophy’s nihilistic tendencies, so he posed the question, “why are there beings at all instead of nothing?”1 This question seemed more than appropriate as its seems we today, much as man seemed to be when the question was originally posed continue to ignore or lose our sense of being, allowing for the word to simply become muddled in with the rest of our every day vocabulary. Heidegger believed that metaphysics, or all philosophy in general, “aims at the first and last grounds of beings, and it does so in a way that human beings themselves, with respect to their way of Being are emphatically interpreted and given their aim. This readily gives the impression that philosophy can and must provide a foundation for the current and future historical Dasein of people in every age, a foundation for building culture.”2 With this...
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...The Introduction of the book (Art Theory) of Robert Williams is generally refers to the existence of art history and art theory at the same time. As far as the importance is concerned, there is no significant difference between art history and art theory. These two always correlated in every way in one aspect, learning art theory; obviously it will provide you the importance of art history at the same time, in studying, and engagement with art. When understanding art, philosophy attempts to come up with theories about art. This theory is maybe a set of principles that define and explains the full meaning of art. However, sometimes, just because a theory is wrong doesn't mean it has no value, we can describe the importance of every art theory even if it is wrong or right. For that reason, an art theory may satisfy necessary or enough conditions, and it will always find exceptions. As we go to the purpose of studying art theory, history should always be part of it. According to Robert Williams, Studying theory should be approached historically, that it is within a comprehensive history of art that the study of theory has most to offer. For example the contemporary art, that involves multifaceted of artists, artwork, audience, institutions. All of these aspects demonstrate with each other, and changes through history. This complex ideas change through history and produce tension between common and uncommon creativity. Works Cited The Introduction of the book (Art...
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...SARTRE AND DENNETT ARGUMENTS AGAINST GOD NAME: INSTITUTION: Sartre arguments In the first phase, the philosophical career of Jean Paul Sartre lays emphasis on the construction of a philosophy of existence known as existentialism. Existentialism considers human nature condition as a critical philosophical problem and in which this problem can be shared through ontology (Douglas, & George, 2003). Sartre’s philosophy is explained through his ontology in which he defines two types of reality, which lie beyond our conscious experience: the being of the object of consciousness and that of consciousness itself. He argued that the object of consciousness exists in a non-rational and independent way as in-itself while consciousness is the consciousness of something concerning something else, and it is nigh possible to understand it within one's conscious experience: it exists as "for-itself." A fundamental feature of consciousness is its negative power that human experience nothing less and in which this power is also at work on the self (Douglas, & George, 2003). According to Sartre Jean-Paul (2003), God does not exist and does not exist neither on logical or rational grounds. Be it one believes His existence or not largely depends on the strength of his argument. Many scholars and philosophers commonly feel that Sartre Jean-Paul existentialism is an irrational counterpoint to the enlightenment. Sartre Jean-Paul, at least, gave reasons for his conclusions. He argued that everything...
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...Assignment 1: Exploration of a Professional Journal Article in Psychology Title: The Role and Influence of the Father on his Child Anthony Hunt Professor Carolyn Bird Psy 100 This research article reviews the effects of the father’s influence on his child. It involves interpretative phenomenological analysis of eight participants and the recurrence of information provided in case notes of three men and five women. This research is based on philosophical discipline originated by Edmund Husserl (1913). Husserl developed the phenomenological method to make possible a descriptive account of the essential structures of the directly given. Phenomenology emphasizes the immediacy of experience, the attempt to isolate it and set it off from all assumptions of existence or causal influence and lay bare its essential structure. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012) During my research I have gathered from this information why a father’s personality and behavior may effect a child’s social and emotional adjustment. Particularly, how children obtain and maintain healthy relationships with others in their future. The purpose of this research is to examine the role of the father and his child’s upbringing and to determine whether that role has a positive or negative effect. The findings will support the eight recurrent themes evolving from the 12 master themes of the eight participants. In accordance to the overall field of Psychology, this review relates to Chapter 8, Friendship...
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...Biranchi Poudyal Freelance Writer, Researcher Enrolled in Department of English Tribhuvan University Contact Information: Bhadrabash, Kathmandu Email: bantipd78@gmail.com Contact no: 977 9849447364, 9810009182 Dance In Fire In late 1980s, a person named Chandra committed suicide by hanging himself from peepal tree nearby his house. It was an "ill-timed," "unnatural" or "bad omen" death. Consequently, his family and other close relatives frequently encountered problems of dealing with his spirit; they were uncertain that the appropriate performance of the morgue rituals would be effective in altering his bad spirit (kacho bayu) into good spirit (pako bayu). -—an expert in dealing with spirit was consulted by Chandra‟s brother. As many suspected, the incineration and morgue rituals had failed to alter his spirit into forefather soul and Bayu Utarnu ritual should be carried out to sooth his upset spirit. The Bayu Utarnu for Chandra‟s ghost began under the headship of a prominent spirit consultant. It comprised, nightly ritual during which the religious expert, using heavy mantras and chants, convinced the Bayu to possess intimate male allies, who performed as a spirit agent.. After this, the ritual reached its climax, the ceremony known as ‘khali khane’. On the chosen night, the possessed agent performed dance on burning coals of holy fire, thereby altering the ghost into a Pako bayu who would no longer invite ill luck to his family and relatives. Through choosen agent‟s body, Chandra‟s...
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...Grendel, the Zodiac, and Western Philosophy Due: Thursday, November 5th! 1. Aries—the Ram: Part One: Zodiac: The sign of Aries marks the beginning of a new cycle of the zodiac; however, there is nothing unique or special about this new cycle, b/c it is just like the cycle that has just ended. According to Grendel, the ram (Aries) acts the same way he did “last year at this time, and the year before, and the year before that.” All has happened before, all will happen again. Part Two: Philosophy: Orphisim. Orphisim is the belief that the body is a prison and that human souls are divine and immortal but doomed to live (for a period) in a “grievous circle” of successive bodily lives (reincarnation). As Grendel stares at the ram in Chapter One, he laments and curses at the interminable cycle of life, that everything (like the ram wanting to mate) has happened before and will happen again. Grendel is frustrated by being trapped in his own “grievous circle” of seasons and life....
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...Continental philosophy emerged from the German Idealists (Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, etc). Some other well known continental philosophers are Heidegger, Derrida, Foucault, Sartre, and Husserl. Continental philosophers generally reject most science and scientific ways of doing anything (even science). They like to look at philosophy from historical approach, combining thoughts from all sorts of philosophers and looking at concepts like context, time, space, etc. They do not analyze philosophy in terms of looking at only one specific text, but instead look broadly at all texts. Continental philosophers also value human experience and human agency (action). Here is an Example: I am who I am because of the choices we made. I’m who I am because I go to college, I have a family and kids, I have a job… Recently development shows us the Pragmatism is likely the theory of a meaning, an inquiry, a truth and an ethics. In that aspect Pragmatism can be declared as cohesion between different opinions. Furthermore Pragmatism can be a bridge which balances those differences and get those theories in to synthesis. It is be against of Preconception, Dogmatism and Authoritative solutions. But in a contrary way, Pragmatism considers importance of pluralism, collective notion and humanism. Thus Pragmatism is being as an evolutionary liberal philosophy. Pragmatism is being developed mainly by Charles Sanders Pierce, William James and John Dewey. In generally Pragmatism considered in...
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...Edmund Husserl Husserl is the acknowledged founder of Phenomenology. Husserl thought that Phenomenology was an exact science whose main drive was to study the phenomena, or appearances of human experience. Yet, he did not thought of it as a science of facts, but rather as an a priori or eidetic science, which deal with essences, and is grounded on the absolute certainty. This sort of certainty was thought to be achieved through examination of consciousness by consciousness itself. Thus, Husserl considered consciousness the main topic for philosophy. And in examining the form of this consciousness, Husserl discovered what he called ‘the natural standpoint’. Husserl said that the world as it is actually lived by individual is the natural standpoint. Yet according to Husserl, it is possible to get behind this natural standpoint to identify an invariant intentional structure. Husserl developed a method of bracketing, which he called epoche. For example, I may look with pleasure at a blossoming apple tree. From the natural standpoint, I can see that the tree exists outside of me in space and time and that I am enjoying my physical state of pleasure. From this standpoint, moreover, there is an assumed relation between me and the apple tree. But I can suspend my judgments about the tree and perform an epoche. This bracketing moves me from a natural to a phenomenological standpoint. By no longer referring to objective existence, by applying the phenomenological instead, I have arrived...
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...The Question of Objectivity in Husserl and Heidegger This paper discusses the question of objectivity in Husserl and Heidegger and their respective views. Husserl addresses the question of objectivity by means of investigating the consciousness, where as Heidegger emphasizes knowing reality means knowing being. The view of each philosopher as well as arguments and counterarguments with respective examples are examined. In order to understand objectivity, Husserl asserts that the answer is found in perception and consciousness. Through investigation of our mind we can know reality. In order to understand reality one must understand phenomenology and phenomenological reduction. Phenomenology is a category of Contemporary Continental Philosophy that rejects the practical Kantian notion that the thing itself cannot be known. Husserl, unlike Kant, believes that the phenomena do reveal things themselves. He believes that by going “back to things themselves,” one can grasp an aspect of a thing’s true essence, and accordingly objective reality. Phenomenology embraces realism, which is the revelation of the existence of an objective reality outside or apart of one’s mind. In principle, Husserl supposes that the world is objectively real and that it is not a creation or illusion in one’s own mind. Thus, Husserl argues that things can be known through the phenomena; the manifestation of things themselves. To counter this argument, Kant may suggest that you cannot know things themselves...
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