Free «Philosophy Discussion» Essay Sample

Question 1

A promise is the assurance given to a person that one will do a particular thing, undertake or declare that something will happen at a given time. In the moment when a promise is made, the person to whom the it was given anticipates for that time knowing that the promise was bounding and that nothing must get in between the pledge. Therefore, it becomes morally wrong not to perform the act that one promised since it is going against the will and anticipations of the other person. Even in the event of an unavoidable circumstance, the person, to whom the promise was given, will be hurt as it does not involve him/her.

Morality is recognizing the difference between good and bad, right or wrong, respecting and obeying the rules set to guide.According to Kant, distinguishing between what is good or bad is relative. What one person views as being bad, may be good to another person. Likewise, what is right to one may be wrong to another. Therefore, the issue of morality is one that is guided by reason and not passion. Kant suggests that reasoning will help a person to distinguish between what is wrong and what is right. Besides, reasoning will enable one to have the view of the effects that his/her actions are going to do to other people. Passion, on the other hand, focuses on one's emotions. Emotions often mislead since reasoning is impaired when the feeling of love or hate takes a center stage.

Question 2

Collingwood considers that the work of art is an imaginary object as opposed to a physical object. To him, art is not about what people see. Art comes from the inside of an artist hence the richness of art is imaginary. It is from the imagination of one that comes out the beautiful piece of art that attracts other people. Without the artist, who visualizes something, there is no art to be appreciated. Besides, it is right to say that the works of art are physical. Art is only as good as it attracts other people other than the artist him/herself. When an artist does a job that does not appeal to the public, the work remains only a piece of his work. However, when the art is brought out in such a manner that it appeals to other people, it becomes a beautiful piece and can be recognized as an incredible work. Therefore, the work becomes an art of physical object.

Collingwood cannot defend his views successfully since we cannot say that those who view art as a physical object are wrong. Therefore, art will have both aspects. It can be an imaginary object and at the same time have a physical object character depending on the recipients. Works of art cannot be purely imaginary as it depends on the recipients, who will judge the piece of art. The same applies to works of art as being purely physical object. Somebody must take the initiative of bringing out the best from his imagination so that other people can appreciate the beauty therein.

Question 3

The issue about going for a date is the one that is viewed differently between the two genders. What a man or a woman expects entirely depends on the reason why he/she has agreed for the date. A woman will be interested in what a man says apart from the setting and the way the man has dressed. It is from what the man says that the woman will judge his intentions and ultimately agree on anything. The woman knows that a man can fake his intentions hence she has to be careful in every word that the man uses. Besides, she will wait for specific words that will truly show the man’s character before making a decision.

Furthermore, the woman will be interested in the actions of the man. The way the man will receive her for the date is something that will be of her interest. The way the man talks and eats will be essential as well. Does he interrupt the woman when talking or listens first then contributes or disagrees with her in a polite way? In addition, the woman will take an interest in the way the man behaves with regards to touch. Is the man touchy?

The above attitudes have an effect on the woman’s view of the man. If the man uses offensive words to her or people around, she will have a bad faith on the man. The same applies to the man’s actions. She will be confused if the man tries to do things that are unethical.

Question 4

In the paper illustration, when one looks on a sheet of paper placed in an open place, they can see clouds and a beam of a sunshine on it. Hanh suggests that the clouds are one of the elements responsible for the existence of the piece of paper. Therefore, without the clouds there will be no rain, hence no trees, and without trees paper cannot be manufactured. Besides, the sunshine facilitates the growing of trees which a logger will be able to fall and produce the paper. In addition, Hanh argues that if there were no clouds, sunshine, trees, and loggers, the piece of paper woud not exist. Hanh represents human perception explaining that the existence of a sheet of paper depends on the non-paper elements, such as mind, sunshine, clouds, and a logger. The illustration explains that human beings should not fear death since its imminent upon birth unless there was no birth, death would not exist.

In detail, the illustration has managed to explain what transpires to the human body and mind when they die. Hanh clarified that a human needs to understand what happens to them while alive to figure out what happens to their body when they die. According to Hanh, when the human being is alive, their body undergoes growth since one cannot be the same person between today and tomorrow in terms of growth. Hanh perceives the change of growth as a slow death because every day a human cell dies and another one reborns. The above statement indicates that the transformation of human from birth to adulthood is an agreement to death. Therefore, during death, a human body has to decompose. Thus, the answer the question about what happens to human minds when they die is borrowed from the paper illustration. Therefore, if there is no birth, there is no death and no mind as well. However, since, there is birth, there will be death, and the mind will die as it grows while one is alive.

Question 5

The field of art, like any other human enterprise, is fuelled by unscrupulous behaviors of the artists and art dealers who have the quest for wealth and recognition. Such a condition has made artists to collect works through forgery and imitation for their intrinsic advantage. A notable example is the Dutch forger of Vermeer’s artistic work, which had been secretly shammed by Han van Meegeren and it took more than a decade before it was discovered. Meegeren achieved to fool the experts in painting with his exemplary brushing techniques and stylistic pigment formulae. In addition, Meegeren managed to protect his fraudulent activities intentionally and made money from it before he could reveal the actual identity of the authentic artist. In the 19th century, Meegeren attained both wealth and recognition but at the expense of humiliating the authentic value of art.

Now, the controversial question seeks to determine how forgery affects the value of art upon its discovery. Dutton argues that an act of forgery cannot attenuate an aesthetic value of art and it is immaterial to verify the real artist hence there is no difference between the original work and the copy. Thus, if Meegeren provided a product close or exactly similar to Vermeer’s work, which satisfied both the experts and the public, then the painting’s value should hold. Dutton seems to support the opinion since it will be an expression of hypocrisy and pretentiousness to assert an art with a high value, and then he came to deny it upon the discovery of the forgery. Dutton’s metaphysics concludes that if one cannot spot the difference between an original art and a replica, therefore, there is no artistic difference between the two.

Question 6

Alienation is the primary issue, which has dominated in Sartre’s philosophy. According to Sartre, the problem of others can trigger an alienation feeling to an individual. Sartre states that he cannot stand the interference of others to his life who keep on reminding him about his existence. He argues that when an individual is made as an object of other’s look, it deters a person from noticing the presence of other hence triggering the feeling of alienation. In other words, Sartre believes that the look of others renders him as an object. In addition, Sartre discovered that the existence of others prompted him to imagine what and how they think about him. He continued to be perturbed by the fact that others might see him as different and choose to dislike him instead. He summarizes the statement through his metaphysics, which asserts that seeing others makes one failing to realize their existence and instead feel like someone else hence creating a feeling of alienation.

Therefore, Sartre suggests love as the solution to mitigate the feeling of alienation, which has proven to be an obstacle to human endless search for freedom. In contradiction with Sartre’s argument that the encounter with the others tends to create alienation for one to find love, they have to build up consciousness, which will structure the being-for-the-other relationship. Consequently, the being-for-the-other facilitates individual realization hence concentrating love. In love, humans incline to accept themselves and oblige the others to love them. However, Sartre noted one obstacle in the premise. He argues that, as much as love can boost the clearance of alienation, love is destined to fail as it involves the encounter of the others in the being-for-the –other relationship which is probable to present conflict.