Essays and Research Papers on Philosophy Of Religion

18 pages in length. John P. Newport was a quintessential examiner; not only did he base his entire life upon finding out the truth of any given topic, delving deeply into its often soft and malleable center in doing so, but he also sought to bring this truth to the people by way of ...

5 pages in length. Was Adam and Eve bound by weakness or were their actions the result of free will? God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Conscience, but they did not heed his admonition. Convinced by the serpent that committing sin would pose them no harm, they ...

This 5 page paper provides an overview of the Mediations. The purpose of the mediations is also explained. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 5 page essay takes a look at Hume's arguments regarding the architect of man (or God) and why there is evil in the world. It is argued that evil is necessary due to man's nature and the nature of the world. No bibliography.

A 6 page paper which examines how gods figure into the work of Homer and Plato. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 10 page research paper on the cosmological arguments for the existence of God as formulated by Thomas Aquinas. The writer discusses Aquinas first three proofs of God's existence and then briefly summarizes Hume's skeptic argument against the classical proofs, before offering a personal take on cosmology and how it fits with modern science. Bibliography ...

A 5 page essay that is a rebuttal to William Rowe's argument on the problem of evil, which states that since God is, presumably, omnipotent, omniscient and wholly benevolent, such a deity would not allow evil that serves no purposes. Since senseless evil does exist, Rowe concludes that God does not. The writer argues that ...

A 6 page paper answering questions such as: (1) will the future resemble the past?; (2) why bother setting and attaining goals?; (3) what are atomic facts?; (4) what is philosophical analysis?; and (5) does a belief in God rescue us from the existential predicament? Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A paper which looks at the philosophical problems associated with the Cartesian circle, and some of the ways in which both Descartes and other thinkers attempted to resolve them. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 5 page essay/research paper that critically analyzes Thomas Aquinas' fourth proof of the existence of God. The writer presents this proof and then argues that Aquinas' argument is weak. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 6 page paper discussing two views of Bishop Butler’s pronouncements of the worth of self love. Joseph Butler (1692-1752) is a pre-utilitarianism, pre-Freud minister who took note of the concept of self-love as not only being morally acceptable, but as constituting a primary impetus for “good works” and benevolence. One of the ...

A 5 page review of Anselm’s philosophical argument purporting the existence of God. This paper explores this argument in relation to the counter arguments of Kant and Gaunilo contending that Anselm’s approach was flawed and that the existence of God had yet to be proven. Bibliography lists 1 source.

This is a 10 page paper presenting an argument about the existence of God from an atheist and theist standpoint ending in favor of the theist. Generally the arguments for the existence of God center on five different approaches: the argument of contingency, the argument from design, the ontological argument, the argument as a presupposition ...

This is a 5 page paper discussing different feminist theories on motherhood and the Goddess. Within feminist theories are different aspects regarding concepts of motherhood and the Goddess among other historical and cultural issues. Some feminists such as Sarah Ruddick see motherhood as an empowerment of women to gain a new perspective on the theories ...

A 3 page essay that discusses Rene Descartes' arguments on the existence of God as outlined in his Meditation III from Meditations on First Philosophy. Drawing on what he intuits to be true of his own mind and perception, Descartes arrives at the conclusion that God's existence is undeniable. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

This 7 page paper takes a look at Descartes' Meditations and discusses how they relate to science. Also discussed is the role of doubt. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 5 page paper uses the film Deliverance as a springboard to discuss freedom. The man against nature theme is explored. Rousseau's Social Contract is discussed as well. Bibliography lists 1 source.

This is a 6 page paper discussing the philosophical concept of “idealism”. The concept of “idealism” has changed greatly over the course of the last several centuries but the most basic premises were on those proposed by George Berkeley in the early 18th century. Basically idealism is the theory that physical things are sensations of ...

This 6 page paper compares and contrasts the major theories of Kant, Descartes, Hume, Hegel and Hobbes. This paper cites many examples from their works as a basis for comparing these men and their ideas. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 4 page paper which examines Kierkegaard’s notions of doing good as it relates to Socrates’ lack of knowledge about sin and Christianity as is presented in “Sickness Unto Death.” Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.

This is a 6 page paper discussing emotions and rational intellect. Traditionally in ancient Greek philosophy as seen in Plato’s Republic, emotions are considered as separate from rational intellect. In Plato, he presents three souls in the human body which consist of rational intellect, emotions and will. For Plato, all three souls must work in ...

This 7 page paper addresses the very complex question of: Can free will and moral responsibility coexist? Calling on such historical figures as Kant, Hobbes, Tolstoy, Spinoza, Hume and Locke, the writer define freedom of action and describes and defines the different models of determinism. The essay suggests that free will and moral responsibility can ...

An 11 page research paper that discusses how Baruch Spinoza (late seventeenth century philosopher) addressed the relationship between the mind and body. An examination of Spinoza's philosophy as expressed in his Ethics Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect demonstrates the value of Spinoza's position, which addresses the classic "mind-body" problem. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 9 page paper that considers the question of the meaning of life. This is a question that has been perplexing man probably since shortly after man appeared on earth. It is a question that has been addressed by physicists, philosophers, theologians, Biblical scholars, psychologists and just about everyone else. It is a question with ...

This 4 page paper discusses the ethical dilemma of a girl pole dancing to pay her way through college, using moral nihilism principles. Bibliography lists 2 sources.