Search

The article focuses on the dualist theories. These theories include French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche's occasionalism on how mind and matter interact by denying that they do so, Dutch philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza's double aspect theory, and German philosopher and writer Gottfried Wilhelmvon Leibniz's psychophysical parallelism which is a variation on the idea of Malebranche. Another version of dualism called epiphenomenalism is also mentioned.

The article discusses the belief of René Descartes that the visible world hides the mathematical reality of things. He believes that the res extensa or the width, breadth and height of matter or the universe is a huge singular thing that occupies space. He also believes that the animal and human body are machines and that screams of pain are just mechanical noises. To study how the animal body functions, it states that Descartes has vivisected various animals and created a doll for his interest in automata.

The article discusses French philosopher René Descartes' life in Holland. He has moved several times and had all his mail directed to his friend's house. At home, he exercised every day and spent at least 12 hours a day in bed, where he did most of his thinking and writing. It notes that he was a compulsive letter writer and wrote several every evening. It states that he claims that prose style must be simple, clear and direct at all times.

The article talks about the early days of science in René Descartes' day. Scholars are said to believe in Aristotle's science without taking the time to see if it were true or not in Descartes' day. Contradicting official Church doctrine in the early 17th century Europe was also said to be dangerous. Descartes is said to have postponed his work, which he began to write in 1629, suggesting that the universe has the sun at its center called "The World" after he found out Galileo Galilei's house-arrest in Italy in 1633 for suggesting the same thing.

Part three of the book "Introducing Postmodernism" is presented. It outlines the genealogy of the postmodern history from the claims of the architecture industry in inaugurating the postmodernism to relieving postmodernism with romanticism. It cites several events, places, and instances that evidence postmodernism in the U.S. It discusses hypermodernism, hyperreal finance, and the introduction of cyberspace. Several caricatures are also presented to illustrate the instances of postmodernism.

Part two of the book "Introducing Postmodernism" is presented. It explores the origins of postmodern theory and its roots that can be traced to the school of formal linguistics, structuralism, which was founded by Swiss linguistics professor Ferdinand de Saussure. It highlights the problems encountered in linguistics and the view of Saussure's that a set of linguistic meanings can be formed through a set of sounds called phonemes that can create different meanings. Defects in structuralism such as dematerialization and formalism are mentioned.

Part one of the book "Introducing Postmodernism" is presented. It explores the history of postmodern art, how it started with Abbot Suger's reconstruction of his basilica of Saint Denis in Paris and called it opus modernum or modern work, and introduced the Gothic architectural style. It highlights the conceptual periods that can be found in the Western culture and the peculiarities associated with the culture such as the belief that history determines how things must be, as well as the alternate strand of postmodernism called anti-modernism.

The article discusses the morality debate concerning euthanasia. Dr. Nigel Cox was sent to trial in 1992 for ending the life of Lillian Boyes, one of his patients who, according to Cox, suffered from intense arthritic pain and asked him to end her life five days before she died. At the end of the trial, Cox was suspended for 12 months. This case illustrates the ethical dilemma of euthanasia, bringing about a gentle and easy death. Most believe that there is something intrinsically wicked about killing people, while some argue that it is an easy way out.

The article discusses arguments concerning animal rights. The article classifies animals as mobile sentient organisms. Many animal activists maintain that animals have moral or natural rights that must be respected. However, proving that animals really have rights is difficult to do. One philosophical way of defending animals is the Utilitarian argument, which favours producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number. The issue of whether animals experience pain is also tackled.

The article offers a brief history of ethics. According to the article, the Greek City State or Polis of Athens in the 5th century B.C. was one of the most impressive examples of group living. The state of democracy in Athens is described, as well as the institution of slavery at that time. The philosopher Socrates believed that the most important thing about human beings is that they ask questions, and also said that real moral knowledge existed and was worth pursuing for its own sake. A discussion of Socratic ethics is presented.

The article discusses ethical beliefs. According to the article, moral understandings about killing are often codified and regulated by religious and legal taboos of various kinds. In Western Christian societies, most people would say that they base their ethical beliefs and behaviour on the ten negative commandments. The philosopher Socrates, however, said that there is more to morality than religious obedience. Assumptions about human nature are also discussed.

The article focuses on the idea that many 20th century psychologists or philosophers do not accept the Cartesian model of the mind. British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein revealed that both the Cartesian model of the mind and Cartesian doubt are incoherent. It is said that some postmodern psychoanalysts, like Jacques Lacan, believe that the common belief in a private individual self may itself be a convenient illusion.

The article focuses on the death of French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes in 1650 in Sweden because of pneumonia. It is said that Descartes had to walk to the palace every five o'clock in the morning during the winter months to provide the Protestant queen with tutorials. Thirteen years later, Descartes' works were banned by the Roman Catholic Church and put on the Index of Forbidden Books, and his letters only just survived his death.

The article claims that machines such as computers can never understand thoughts and ideas the way people do. It states that part of the reason is because humans are the only beings in the world who have first person perspective which is why people are able to feel pain. It is also suggested that philosophers and scientists still cannot determine exactly the relationship of minds and thoughts to physical brains.

The article focuses on the trialism explanation of sensations which René Descartes views sophistically but never pursued. According to the article, animals and human bodies possess an extension and thought but unexplained sensations in the earlier dualist model. Descartes never pursued this and his view is still the abstract of minds inhabiting the body.

The article focuses on the interaction of mind and body which is considered to be another problem for Cartesian dualism. According to the article, Descartes attempted to explain this interaction. He thinks that human pain is not perceived in a remote way and that there must be a part of the brain where this interaction takes place.

The article states that philosophers of the 20th century like Paul Feyerabend and Michel Foucault emphasized the idea that scientific knowledge is as much a cultural and political phenomenon as other kinds of knowledge. With this idea, the author states that French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes may have been wrong with his belief that people can never acquire certain and secure scientific knowledge.

The article focuses on the legacy of French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes. It is said that Descartes is often called the father of modern philosophy, as he helped to produce the modern age, where magic and mysticism have been replaced by scientific and technological systems of thought and control. It is added that Descartes is partly responsible for the scientific ways of thinking, which emerged in the 17th century.

The article focuses on ethics in the works of French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes. It is said that Descartes has little to say about ethics or politics in his philosophical works, but he was interested in the sort of life that one needs to lead if he or she is to be happy and fulfilled. It is mentioned that in "Passions of the Soul," Descartes maintains that passions and emotions are experiences which arise in the soul but are caused by the body.

The article focuses on the later moments in the life of French philosopher René Descartes. He supervised French translations of his books "Meditations" and "Principles of Philosophy" and wrote his last one "The Passions of the Soul" in 1649 which focuses on ethics and the good life. He lived in the Netherlands countryside the rest of his life, corresponded with friends and in 1648 a scholar named Frans Burman visited him and made an account of all the conversations he had with the philosopher.

The article focuses on functionalism in relation to the issue of whether computers can think and be conscious just like people do. It suggests that there is a possibility that computers could eventually become conscious if it is the software that produces consciousness and disregarding the nature of the physical hardware involved. It is also stated that French philosopher René Descartes believed that such machines could be built, those that looked human and seemed to be able to think.

The article focuses on functionalism in relation to the explanation of what consciousness and thoughts are. It suggests that functionalism is like computer analogy in which human thoughts are the software processed by the hardware which is the human brain. It states that both thoughts and consciousness exist in humans as could very well be in other beings and sophisticated machines emphasizing that it is the software and not the hardware that matters.

The article states that neuroscientists still cannot determine the exact location of where thoughts occur in the brain which could reject the idea that thoughts and brain processes are the same. It claims that individual thoughts do not seem to be measurable in the way that brain states supposedly would be. It also discusses the Token Identity theory in relation to this which states that individual thoughts may be tokens (individual examples) of a type (an identical species of brain state).

The article mentions that as Cogito is a major problem, it does not appear to be as clear and distinct as French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes thought. According to the article, consciousness for most people is like a kind of inner light. It cites that features of consciousness appear to be those of unity which human beings experience everything at the same time when conscious, intentionality or content which is directed at something, and central and peripheral ability which is an aptitude for gestalt perception.