Quality Answers Essay Samples

1. Three major branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology and axiology. Metaphysics investigates the reality, its value and structure. Epistemology studies the knowledge, its limitations, nature, as well as issues connected with the nature of truth. Axiology deals with the nature of value and determines what is good or bad.
2. Philosophy is an important part of every person’s live whether the person acknowledges it or not. It broadens the knowledge and understanding of the world and teaches to critically assess the reality, values and beliefs. Philosophy investigates the questions that are ignored by other disciplines and helps people to doubt what they perceive in themselves and reality and free their minds from prejudice and preconception of things.
3. Deductive argument presupposed that if the premises are true than the conclusion is also definitely true. Therefore, if the premised are not true, there is no chance for the conclusion to be true. Inductive arguments are more based on probability. Inductive argument is an argument in which if the premises are true, than it is likely that the conclusion is also true.
4. To analyze the argument the premises and the conclusion should be identified. When the premises and the conclusion are identified, the excessive words should be eliminated, as the argument has to be laconic and retain proper form. Then, the argument is analyzed to find out if the premises are true and if there are any presuppositions and opposite examples. The results are interpreted and the argument is evaluated.
5. The two main theories of knowledge are rationalism and empiricism. Rationalism presupposes that the source of knowledge is the mind; the knowledge acquisition depends on the logic and reason rather than experience. Rationalists claim that the mind contains the basic ideas and concepts that are inborn. On the contrary, empiricism sees the source of knowledge in experience and world perception. Empiricists reject the innate knowledge and argue that the mind is a blank slate, and it acquires knowledge through experience.
6. The possibility of knowledge is discussed through three positions: objectivism, skepticism and relativism. Objectivism claims that there is universal, objective knowledge that is independent of subjective factors, while relativism rejects the absolute knowledge in favor of relative and subjective one that depends on the person’s perception. Skepticism doubts the possibility of knowledge, as it requires adequate justification, which is not possible.
7. Descartes’ skeptical dream argument question the reality of our knowledge and perception of the world by referring to the dreams, when a person also perceives the world, and it may seem real. As it is impossible to distinguish between dream experience and waking experience, it is possible that the reality deceives us into believing that it is real, while it is not. Therefore, it is possible to doubt the foundation of our knowledge.
8. Descartes claims that if he is deceived by someone, it proves his existence true, as there should be someone to deceive. Descartes doubts his every belief, but the thinking cannot be doubt and he takes it as a proof of his existence, so it allows continuing his exploration without doubting his own existence.
9. Locke’s representational realism presupposes that external objects exist separately from the mind, and its experience that attributes secondary thoughts and ideas to these objects, so that they are represented in our minds. Berkeley’s idealism rejects representational realism and argues that external objects are the collections of ideas, and as the ideas exist only in the minds of the observers, it proves that nothing exists independently of minds.
10. Berkeley argues the existence of God by referring to the idea that everything is produced and exists in the mind only, but still there are sensations that are not produced by the mind of the observer. Therefore, another mind should produce these sensations, and it proves the existence of God.
11. According to Hume there are two classes of knowledge: relations between ideas and matters of facts. The relations between ideas are discovered through mind’s operation and are independent of reality and objects existing in the universe, while the matters of facts are informative pieces perceived from sensory experience or memory.
12. Hospers’ argument against skepticism is based on the difference between weak and strong sense of know. Philosophers strive for the strong sense of know that is based on absolute evidence, and therefore it is pointless to doubt it. It means that the skeptical view of knowledge is wrong, as the knowledge is possible.
13. Three traditional theories of truth include correspondence, coherence and pragmatic theories. Correspondence theory claims that what corresponds to objective reality is truth. Coherence theory states that the preposition is true if it is consistent with other sets of similar true prepositions. Pragmatic theory accentuates on the useful character of truth, regardless of its relation to reality.
14. Siegel argues that relativism is incoherent, because it contradicts itself. Relativists claim that there are no objective, right truths and views in the world; therefore, this statement is contradictory in its nature, because if it is not making any claims about the way things actually are, but rather just represents the subjective view; consequently, relative truth is self-refuting.