Major areas addressed by the Traditional Philohers of knowledge and personal response

Essay by siakajoeUniversity, Master'sA-, December 2009

download word file, 6 pages 0.0

Downloaded 14 times

The word philosophy emanates from a combination of the ancient Greek 'philos' meaning love and 'sophia' which means wisdom. In essence, the most common definition of philosophy is the systematic study of the world our and place in it.

This paper will present vivid summation of philosophical views of traditional philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Immanuel Kant as they addressed traditional issues such as the existence of God, knowledge, proof external world, the A priori.

The existence of GodThe traditional concern of metaphysics is to understand theconcept God, including special attributes such as all-knowing,being all-powerful and being wholly good. Both metaphysics andepistemology have sought to access the various grounds peoplehave offered to justify believing in God.

The faculty of pure reason was supposed by Kant to be thefaculty that produced the 'pure' concepts such as God and thesoul. Kant denial that he cannot hope to know any higher truthsabout ultimate reality was so scandalous to metaphysicians andtheologians.

Therefore, all proofs God's existence must fail,along with all attempts to describe ultimate reality in terms ofthat mysterious category substance. If one could not believefor example, that the human soul is free and that ultimatelyjustice will triumph, then one might well lose the motivationrequired for the engagement in the day-to-day world. Therefore,according to Kant, one has the right to believe (but not toclaim to know)that God, soul, immortality, justice exist, not asmetaphysical necessities, but as practical necessities.

Kant added that he has the right to treat these topics as ifthey were synthetic a priori truths if doing will make us betterand more successful human beings. Kant's attempt to distinguishknowledge from belief, placed belief in moral necessity, wasacceptable to many people who were tired of the many claims mademetaphysicians and theologians who were looking for legitimaterole in the modern world. Kant's critics, however, accused...