Philosophy Term Paper Topics DescartesChoosing Philosophy term paper topics can be a daunting process. You should not take the discussion of Plato, Aristotle or Descartes lightly. They were some of the most important philosophers of all time and those are usually the ones who get the most attention in a philosophy course.
The debate between Plato and Aristotle goes back to the dawn of Western thought. The two men were among the first to actually think about universals were important because they gave the rise to the categories we see in the language of today. The dichotomy of good and evil in Plato's dialogue 'The Republic' paved the way for other concepts that emerged from this period. In particular, Descartes is an example of a philosopher who influenced Aristotle and Plato. Descartes was influenced by Plato and Aristotle, when he studied them in school. He wrote a series of papers that were found on the pedestal of the ancient statues of Plato and Aristotle in his home library. He also learned from those old books when he traveled to the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. At this point, it was clear that he had the groundwork of the thought that would eventually become his own philosophy. Descartes proposed that there are four principles we can use to distinguish between the existence of good and evil. These principles are the reason, nature, and intuition. Although Descartes never had any experiments to test his theories, he believed that it would be possible to prove that his hypotheses were true or false. Reason states that it is not possible to have something without a reason for existing. He presented this idea by stating that one cannot have a purpose without having a cause for the purpose. In his attempt to disprove the existence of God, he would do well to discard his belief in reason. As a matter of fact, Descartes was not the first philosopher to base his ideas on intuition. The Socratic method was based on an examination of intuition. Plato was an example of an unknown philosopher who was able to convince his fellow Greek-originated thinkers that he was one of them. This is a method that Descartes went on to develop in a short work called 'Meditations.' It became a classic in the form of 'Of What is I and of What is Anything.' Aristotle is another figure that Descartes received assistance from. His student Aristotle came up with the idea that the common good is what the people would desire if they knew what was best for themselves. Philosophers have debated this idea ever since. Descartes believed in it so much that he used it as the foundation for his famous Cartesian dualism. Descartes wrote the famous book 'Discourse on Method' as a means of dissecting one of his proofs that were proof by induction. It was actually his own attempt at proving induction. In this case, Descartes was not trying to prove that it was possible to deduce the truth by reasoning, but that induction is the only means of finding truths.
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