Immanuel Kant
Essays

relates man's freedom to his immaturity, with a special focus on man in relation to society. In "Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul" Martin Luther describes man's freedom in relation to Christian religion.

Analysis of Kant's views on aesthetics from "The Critique of Judgment" and how they can be applied to music. Also, Hanslick's arguments regarding music and aesthetics. Moreover how these philosophies can be applied to 19th century music and composers from Mozart to Wagner.

Freedom carries so many meanings, both denotations and connotations. Perhaps no concept has been hashed out more by western philosophers throughout the centuries. The ramifications of their arguments are vast: as "free"…

Social psychology is a very broad field that takes in the many varieties of group dynamics, perceptions and interactions. Its origins date back to the late-19th Century, but it really became a major field during and after the Second World War, in order to explain phenomena like aggression, obedience, stereotypes, mass propaganda, conformity, and attribution of positive or negative characteristics to other groups. Among the most famous social psychological studies are the obedience experiments of Stanley Milgram and the groupthink research of Irving Janus (Feenstra Chapter 1).

Every day people must make personal decisions that impact the lives of other people and, in a larger sense, the values of a society. Presently, for example, the country as a whole is looking at the issue of stem cell…

Animal research is a necessity today, and has afforded us the opportunity to create lifesaving drugs and vaccines, new surgical procedures and improved diagnosis of disease. Despite the bad press animal activists have…

From a theological viewpoint, human free will me nor exist at all, since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, the destiny of each individual is determined from the beginning to time. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards all believed this, and before modern times it was the most common position in Christianity. Human life is also determined by certain physical and natural laws that exist in the material world, such as gravity, conservation of energy and chemistry, and perhaps by genetics as well. In addition, unfavorable environments and family life in childhood may also have a deterministic effect on individuals, such as a propensity to be involved in crime and drug abuse. Some people are more obviously constrained than others, such as alcoholics, drug addicts and insane persons, or those locked up in prison or some other institution where their lives are mostly determined by some external coercive authority.

An analysis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In the analysis that is undertaken, it is posited that the true monster in the novel is Victor Frankenstein more so than his creature. Additionally it is argued that it was Frankenstein's nature that influenced his behavior whereas the Creature was motivated by a lack of nurturing and having to teach himself the ways of the world.

Does "Free Will" Exist and if so, to What Extent does it Exist? The concept of "Free Will" has been debated by many philosophers over a period of centuries, not only regarding its very existence but also regarding its elements, the extent to which it may or may not exist and its moral implications. Our assigned readings have merely touched on debates that have raged and will probably continue to rage as long as human beings contemplate the "truths" about being. Though an exhaustive review of differing philosophical treatments of "Free Will" would probably take hundreds of pages, this work will briefly examine several major philosophies of "Free Will" and some of their most notable proponents. In reviewing these sources and differing approaches to "Free Will," we can see that philosophers approach the concept of "Free Will" with differing definitions, examining disparate aspects and resulting in somewhat different implications for Morality. It is fortunate that this work does not require a definitive conclusion about the existence and impact of "Free Will," for review of sources from class reading and independent reading reveals that the only definitive conclusion can be that there is no definitive conclusion. It appears that each philosopher in his turn treats Free Will and aspects of Free Will somewhat differently and arrives at unique conclusions. Descartes takes the most extreme position examined, apparently believing that there is Free Will and that it is completely unrestrained and undiminished by divine grace or natural knowledge. Immanuel Kant believed that there is Free Will but it is based solely in the rational aspect of the human being and is known essentially because we rationally know that we have certain incontrovertible duties. Roderick Chisholm believes that there is Free Will but that it is specifically linked to a type of "agent causation" as opposed to transeunt or "event" causation. Peter Van Inwagen believes that there is Free Will but only in a very small set of circumstances illustrated by "a garden of forking paths," some of which are illusions. Daniel M. Wegner believes that there is Free Will but that much of our supposed Free Will or Conscious Will is actually a simplistic illusion created for our benefits by our minds. Finally, Benjamin Libet believes there is Free Will but simultaneously refutes much of the traditional notion of Free Will through experiments indicating that many of our actions precede our will and that our exercise of Free Will primarily resides in controlling commenced actions by "vetoing" them. In sum, without even addressing the work of philosophers who do not believe in the existence of Free Will at all, we see disparate approaches to Free Will, to its nature, to its extent and to its moral implications. Indeed, some of these philosophers themselves decry the "incoherence" of philosophical treatments of "Free Will" while attempting to contribute their own thoughts on a vital philosophical topic that shows no signs of uniform conclusions.

This paper compares the three major ethical orientations: utilitarianism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics (or 'The Golden Rule'). It compares the strengths and weaknesses of all three theories, and then offers a personal perspective upon the writer's own sense of ethics and how all three perspectives affect his or her decision-making.