A great man who stayed true to his principles

Spinoza was a Dutch Jew of Spanish descent, whose parents had come to Amsterdam to escape persecution from  the Catholic Church due to the plight of the Jews in 16th-century Spain. Yews were forced to become Catholics or flee the country. Spinoza as a youth, studied the Jewish philosophers , but the most abiding influence […]

“I am cautious therefore I am!!”

Descartes turned philosophy on its head and started again. First, he had to find out what he knew for certain. he did this by doubting everything. Could he believe what he saw with his eyes, when big things looked small in the distance? How did he know that he really existed? May be he was dreaming. […]

“To take away the cause is to take away the effect”

Thomas Aquinas was the son of an Italian nobleman. He was educated in a monastery, like many children during Middle Ages. This 13th century friar said that faith and reason were often two paths to the same end.  He combined the philosophy of Aristotle with the Christian religion. He argued that without God there would be […]

Stoicism: Go with the flow!

  Stoics believed that they were part of a divine plan and that whatever happened was meant to be. Stoics got their name because Zeno taught from a porch (stoa in Greek). To the stoics, a good life meant a virtuous one. They refused to be ruled by their feelings, because emotions just got in the way […]

Epicureanism: Don’t worry! Be happy!

 ATOMISM & HEDONISM Epicureans thought human existence was just a random groupings of atoms that fell apart after death. Their motto was “don’t worry, be happy”. Epicurus tries to construct a system of simple, coherence, and plausible principles. he is a hedonist who regards the fear of death as the most dangerous source of fear, […]

An interesting “Puzzle”

One Friday a professor announced to her class that on one of their five meeting days during the next week, she would administer to them a surprise quiz. The class would not know which of the five days it would take place until the morning in which it was actually to be given. One of her […]

Aristotle’s big mistake

Its relation with the Church Aristotle studied with Plato for twenty years. He thought that Plato’s world of perfect forms was perfect nonsense and these perfect forms were part of life, not apart from it. Studying nature convinced him that everything was striving towards its own unique form of perfection.he knew that all acorns were potential […]

The fate of Sicilian philosopher, “Empedocles”

Empedocles came from Sicily. He disagreed that there was one basic ingredient to the universe. He said reality boiled down to the simplest parts of the four elements (fire, air, earth, and water). all change could be explained by the coming together and falling apart of these elements.He said that there are two basic forces […]

Is a computer virus alive?

Many philosophers use issues like computer viruses to question what life really is. there are many similarities between a computer virus and a human virus. a computer virus can spread from computer to computer, just as the flu, for instance, can spread from person to person. A computer virus can lie in a computer without […]

Book Summary: A short history of Chinese philosophy, by: Fung, Yu-Lan

CHAPTER 1  THE SPIRIT OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY The Chou dynasty (1122?-256 B.C.) is the golden age of Chinese philosophy. Philosophy is the systematic reflective thinking of life. Religion also has something to do with life. In the heart of every great religion is a philosophy. In fact every great religion is a philosophy with a certain amount […]