Ethics, Metaphysics and Epistemology

Ethics, Metaphysics and EpistemologyPoyan KeynejadGroup I Ethics (2)According to Aristotle, human cosmos highest good involves the rocking horse of deriving happiness from living and thinking well. To this end, Aristotle justifies this extra claim through explaining the chief good is evidently something final. Now we c whole out that which is in itself worthy of avocation more final than that which is worthy of pursuit for the sake of something else. Now such(prenominal) a thing is happiness, for this we choose forever for itself (Aristotle 570R/571L). In this light, Aristotles bank line here is that the highest good open fire yet be that which is achieved through actualizing something which is worthy of actualizing in and of itself, and for Aristotle cipher fits this description better than that of happiness, whether such happiness be derived from theoretical or practical pursuits.On the separate hand, the Socrates of Platos Crito thinks a slightly different approach t o the highest goodness. Toward the bugger offning of Crito, Socrates remarks that the good life, the dishy life, and the just life are the same (Plato 42R). To this end, the highest good for Socrates involves living responsibly and thoughtfully at all times and regardless of the context of unitys circumstances. Socrates puts this sentiment of the highest goodness into action by refusing to flee his death sentence in Athens. Socrates makes the transmission line that in being an Athenian citizen, he has taken an chap to follow the rulings of Athenian law, regardless if such a law is utilise to condemn him to death. In defense of his responsibility to the rule of law, Socrates bemoans us to not value either your children or your life or anything else more than goodness, (Plato 46L) or, separate words, living thoughtfully and responsibly.In weighing two of these objects for the highest good against one an otherwise, I mustiness say that while I do not inherently disagree wit h Socratess argument, I surface Aristotles nib of the highest good to be more compelling. This is because in Platos Crito Socrates single vaguely lays out a ordinary philosophical conception of what it means to live a good life, whereas in Aristotles own conception of the highest good he lays out a structured argument for what such goodness entails, namely that the highest good must be something which is worthy of pursuing for the sake of itself, which for Aristotle is embodied in the actualization of happiness. In this light, I find Aristotles account of goodness more compelling than Socratess account because it is structured in a clear and logical manner. Though I will also qualify my remarks by saying that I do generally sympathize with Socratess conception of goodness I just find it less compelling than Aristotles competing conception.Group II Metaphysics (4)Saint Anselm argues for the cosmea of theology on the basis that idol is something of which nothing greater can b e conceived, and thus according to this line of thought such a divinity fudge cannot exist just in the understanding, because we could conceive it to exist in frankness too, in which case it would be greater (Anselm 40R/41L). To this end, Anselm is maintaining that if one accepts the premise that matinee idol is something of which nothing greater can be conceived, then it logically follows that such a god must exist, in that the only thing greater than having the concept of such a god in ones mind is the receivedity that that god exists outside of the mind, in that locationfore fulfilling Anselms premise of god being something of which nothing greater can be conceived (Anselm 40R).On the other hand, Saint doubting Thomas argues for the existence of god on the basis that every cause must switch an action and thus that there must nourish been a first cause that was caused by god, seeing as how, at least(prenominal) in Aquinass eyes, the universe is exhaustible and as such it must have originated from a first cause. To this end, Aquinas maintains that everything has been changed by something else, But this cannot go guts to infinity. If it did, there would be no first cause of change and, consequently, no other causes of change, (Aquinas 43L) meaning that without a first cause there would be no universe in the first place. In this light, Aquinas posits that the only thing unresolved of causing the first cause is god, and thus he bases his argument for gods existence on the idea that such a god would have been necessary to cause a finite universe.From my own unpaid perspective, I find Aquinass aforementioned argument for the existence of god to be stronger than Anselms argument. This is because Anselms argument for gods existence seems grounded purely in rhetoric and semantics, as if his argument were just a word game. On the other hand, Aquinass argument for gods existence is grounded in a problem of physics that, absolutely of modern science, onl y the existence of a god could reasonably resolve. The premise that a finite universe must have had a first cause is a premise that virtually any person could easily accept. Thus on the basis of its premise and its logical conclusion, Aquinass argument for god seems stronger than Anselms argument.With regard to persuasiveness, Aquinass argument for gods existence is certainly persuasive in the sense that one cannot rationally conceive of a finite universe that did not bear a first cause, in that such a universes very finiteness requires an originary causation. Thus, short of having any companionship of the Big Bag, Aquinass contention that god must have caused the first cause is a reasonable one, as it would be vexed to come up with an idea of any other entity that could be capable of causing the first cause.Group III Epistemology (6)Descartes imagines an evil demon at the end of Meditation because he uses this concept to illustrate that most fellowship is dubious and that one mu st start from a position of irresolution if they are to be able to truly find a trusted foundation for verifiable noesis. To this end, Descartes remarks how, in realizing that he would need to start his pursuit of knowledge from scratch, I would need to tear down everything and begin anew from the foundations if I wanted to establish any blotto and lasting knowledge (Descartes 157L). Thus, in devising a theoretical evil demon that can mislead humans into positions of false knowledge, Descartes is beginning to tear down everything and begin anew in his pursuit of firm and lasting knowledge (Descartes 157L).Zhuangzi makes connatural arguments in pursuit of establishing skepticism in his own scholarship. For one, Zhuangzi makes the atheistical argument that knowledge is ultimately impossible because, for him, the divide surrounded by subjectivity and objectivity cannot be overcome. He argues such because he maintains that Everything is merely subjective there is no such thing as objectivity. So there is no such thing as knowledge (Zhuangzi 322). In this sense, he views knowledge as impossible because humans are only capable of having unaccented subjective perspectives. Building off of this contention of ultimate subjectivity, Zhuangzi makes another skeptical argument on the basis of universal variability, with universal variability being the notion that since everyone perceives things differently, There is no way to decide which perceptions ought to be trusted, (Zhuangzi 322) which again provides us with the implication that objective knowledge is impossible.The main similarity between Descartess skepticism and Zhuangzis skepticism is that both philosophers make certain theoretical arguments in order to illustrate how, in many cases (or in all cases for Zhuangzi), what we take to be knowledge is in fact quite untrustworthy. On the other hand, the main difference between Descartess skepticism and Zhuangzis skepticism lies in what both are trying to achieve through their skeptical arguments. Descartess only endeavors in skepticism so that he can weed out all false knowledge from his perspective and thereafter establish a firm foundation for real knowledge. On the flip side, Zhuangzi does not have a constructive end to his skepticism, in that he maintains his skeptical arguments solely for the part of illustrating how there can be no firm foundation for real knowledge. In this sense, Descartess goals and Zhuangzis goals are quite different when it comes to skepticism.