Abuse Of Authority? A Debate In Political Philosophy
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History has a way of repeating itself and it is by understanding the processes of debate within the context of the social paradigm of the past that the future may be better understood. This 7 page paper asserts that by exploring the views of such political philosophers as Jean Jacque Rosseau, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, the student can come to a broader understanding of modern events, such as the murder of Amadou Diallo by New York Police officers. Bibliography lists 11 sources.
Filename: KTamadia.wps

Private Arms Possession And Community
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The debate over the right to bear arms and the need in American society to control guns and violence has reached an apogee since the incident at Littleton, Colorado, High School. The view of Thomas Hobbes, in Leviathan, shows a world where man will fight to the death all those not himself. In order to protect and defend life, man must come together in a new definition of 'self'. To organize into community is to distribute power and to make a commitment to a stated set of rules. This 10 page paper argues that Hobbes' philosophy can be aligned against that of Kant, who set the value of man within their schema of society. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Filename: KTguncom.wps

The Leviathan State of Nature
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A 4 page essay examining how Thomas Hobbes' state of nature is an 'inference from the passions' of human kind. When Hobbes discovered Euclid's methods of logic, he set about examining the need for and the inevitability of the existence of government using Euclid's methods. Hobbes began with three basic assumptions from which to build: (1) justice and morality were products of government, not innate qualities of man; (2) all human motivation springs either from the desire for personal pleasure or the fear of pain; and (3) while there are physical and mental differences between individuals, those differences pale in connection with membership in a group. Under the last assumption, anyone was capable of overpowering any other one at any time. Hobbes concluded that in a state of nature, life would be every man against every man.
Filename: Hobbes.wps

Thomas Hobbes / Metaphysics & Politics
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A 6 page paper that provides an overview of Hobbes metaphysical considerations as they relate to both politics and religion and considers these elements in terms of Hobbes' Leviathan. No additional sources cited.
Filename: Thob1.rtf

Thomas Hobbes And His 'Modern' Notions Of Security
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This 10 page report discusses the ideas of Thomas Hobbes as they applied to the modern dilemma of security. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: Hobmod.wps

Plato, Aristotle, and St. Augustine on a Contemporary Issue: Drug Abuse
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A ten page paper explaining the philosophies of these three seminal thinkers in great detail, and speculating about their opinions on the issue of drug abuse in our own day. The paper concludes that Aristotle provided the best way of looking at the situation from a broad, organizational level, while a combination of the Platonic and Augustinian approaches work best when working with individuals seeking to change their lives. Bibliography lists seven sources.
Filename: KBclssic.wps

St. Augustine and His Role in the History of Philosophy
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A 5 page paper which discusses the role St. Augustine has played in the development and the history of philosophy. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Filename: RAaugphilo.wps

St. Augustine's Confessions
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A 5 page paper which analyzes St. Augustine's 'Confessions.' Also discussed is the relevancy of his work today as it relates to modern life and Christianity. Bibliography lists 4 additional sources.
Filename: RAstconfes.wps

THE RELVEANCE OF ROUSSEAU TODAY
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This essay examines the relevance of Jean Rousseau's "Social Contract" today. Topics covered include the right to vote in a democracy, the admonision against force, and the will of the majority. Topics from current events are used to compare the importance of Rousseau's words, close to four centuries after they were written.
Filename: MTrourel.rtf

Cicero: On the Commonwealth
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7 pages in length. Discusses the great work by Cicero as to the concept of law. Cicero the philosopher assigned to the positive laws of humans an altogether subordinate place by comparison with the law of nature. The mere fact that a measure has been enacted by a commonly accepted method does not of itself entitle it to respect as being just, or perhaps even to the title of ‘law’ at all if it defies higher principles.
Filename: JGAcicro.wps

Renaissance History / The Moral Philosophy of the Humanists
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A 9 page paper that provides an overview of the issue of morality and man's human nature as they relate to the Humanists of Renaissance Europe. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: Renhum.wps

Dworkin, Mills And Rawls: Article Summarization
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5 pages in length. The writer summarizes three articles: Ronald Dworkin's 'Is affirmative action doomed?,' Mills' 'Of the limits to the authority of society over the individual,' and John Rawls' 'A theory of justice.' No additional sources cited.
Filename: TLCrawls.wps