Inner Self and External World
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus talks about the views of multiple philosophers concerning how the inner self encounters the every day reality of the external world.
How Do We Encounter the World: Phenomenology
The philosophical tradition that attempts to describe the world and the way we experience it without relying on abstract theories is called phenomenology. The term took on new significance with German philosopher Edmund Husserl whose work focused o...
Meaning of Life, The
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum is critical of those who contend that life only has meaning if there's some external source of value. Professor Nussbaum favors an approach that focuses on what she calls "everyday questions, like how should one live, wha...
Do We Have Free Will?: Existential View. The
Not swayed by science or psychological motivation, Jean-Paul Satre proposes that people actively determine their nature through their choices and actions. They make implicit free choices that are compatible with their environment, their family or th...
What is Human Nature?: Existentialism and Human Nature
The 20th century existentialist Jean-Paul Satre asserts that man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. There is no human nature because there is no God to have a conception of it. The bond among humans is the universality of condition,...
Human Nature
Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus talks about the ancient view of human nature, which was based on man as a rational animal. Professor Dreyfus describes how that perspective changed in about 1670, when Blaise Pascal wrote that human nature is essentially a...