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According to Thomas Hobbes, men institute a contract between themselves to elevate an authority – the sovereign –, who will act as their judge, reason, and decider, in order to remove themselves from the “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”(1) life that is the State of Nature. In this paper, I will argue that the [...]

When Forest Gump ran through the jungles of Vietnam to save his friends and fellow soldiers, was he being courageous? Can you make a decision and/or a choice if a dagger is held to the back of your skull? Can a person with no knowledge of right or wrong make a virtuous decision? When contemplating [...]

How is it that man can feel one emotion, yet keep himself in check from acting on it? How is it that conflicting desires and concepts exist within our soul, yet do not destroy us? How can one thing have competing wants and need? In his treatise The Republic, the philosopher Plato examined these exact [...]

In today’s society, we are interjected with two mutually-exclusive beliefs: those of faith, and those of reason. The far left argues that reason triumphs over faith. The far right, on the other hand, argues that faith triumphs over reason. Both, however, agree that the two belief systems are mutually exclusive, and that you can not [...]

Most people know of the great Marcus Aurelius, one of the older emperors of Rome. Most, however, do not know of Hadrian, the man who handpicked Aurelius. While I would love to discuss Hadrian, I know that I have neither the room nor the time to do so. Instead, I want to briefly talk about [...]