Through history, various forms of philosophy have developed. Many have fallen by the wayside but a number have stuck. This is a list of the top 10 schools of philosophy.
10. Solipsism
Nothing exists;
Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it;
Even if something could be known about it, knowledge about it can’t be communicated to others.
- Gorgias (485-375 BC)
Solipsism is the idea that one can only know that one’s self exists and that anything outside the mind, such as the external word, can not be known to exist. Solipsists place emphasis on a subjective reality, and that what we perceive to be true for one person may not be true for another. It was first theorized by Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Gorgias and expounded upon by philosophers such as Plato and Descartes.
Solipsism is often associated with nihilism and materialism.
9. Determinism
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Determinism is the philosophical theory that every event, including human cognition and behaviour, decision and action, is determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. Determinists generally believe in only one possible future, though deny that humans lack free will. Determinism can take many forms, from theological determinism, which suggests that one’s future be predetermined by a god or gods, to environmental determinism, which suggests that all human and cultural development be determined by environment, climate and geography.
8. Utilitarianism
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied, than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Utilitarianism is the ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility. It is a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome – the ends justify the means.
Utilitarianism was first theorized by Jeremy Bentham who declared that ‘good’ was whatever brought the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. However, the philosophy is most associated with John Stuart Mill and his book Utilitarianism (1863).
7. Epicureanism
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
- Epicurus (341-270 BC)
Epicureanism is a philosophy based on the teachings Greek philosopher Epicurus, closely associated with hedonism. Epicurus was skeptical of superstition and divinity, and proposed that the sole meaning of existence was self-pleasure, or more accurately, the absence of pain and fear, the combination of which would lead to happiness in its highest form. For Epicurus, the highest pleasure was obtained by knowledge, friendship and virtue – as well as sex and food.
6. Positivism
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.
- Thomas H. Huxley (1825-1895)
Positivism is a philosophy that states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method. It is closely associated with empiricism and rationalism. It was first theorized by Auguste Comte in the mid 19th century, and developed into a modern philosophy favoured by scientists and technocrats.
5. Absurdism
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
- Albert Camus (1913-1960)
Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail (and, hence, are absurd) because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to humanity. Absurdism pertains that, although such meaning may exist, the pursuit of it is not essential. It is distinguished from nihilism by its subjective view of humanity, theology and meaning. It is best to think of it as the ‘agnostic’ stage between existentialism and nihilism.
Soren Kierkegaard wrote extensively on absurdism in the mid 19th century, but the philosophy is most associated with Albert Camus and his novels The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus.
4. Objectivism
Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice – and the alternative his nature offers him is: rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man – by choice; he has to hold his life as a value — by choice; he has to learn to sustain it – by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues – by choice.
- Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Objectivism is a philosophy developed by Ayn Rand in the 20th century that encompasses positions on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and aesthetics.
Objectivism holds that there is mind-independent reality; that individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perception; that human beings gain objective knowledge from perception by measurement and form valid concepts based on such perceptions. It claims that the meaning of life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness or “rational self-interest,” and that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure, consensual laissez-faire capitalism, or libertarianism.
3. Secular Humanism
There is not sufficient love and goodness in the world to permit us to give some of it away to imaginary beings.
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Secular Humanism is an atheistic philosophy that upholds reason, ethics and justice as the principles of life. Secular Humanism rejects the concept of a supernatural creator, and says that the meaning of life is to be found purely in human terms. It upholds that there is no absolute truth or absolute morality, and that truth, meaning and morality are unique to each person.
Thinkers associated with secular humanism include Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins.
2. Nihilism
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
- Philip Larkin (1922-1985)
Nihilism is a philosophical (or anti-philosophical as some call it) view that life is without objective meaning, purpose, value or truth. They reject belief in a higher creator and claim that objective secular ethics are impossible. Nihilism is often associated with pessimism, depression and immorality. To them, life is literally “pointless.”
Many artistic movements have been associated with nihilism, such as Dadaism, Futurism and Surrealism.
1. Existentialism
Be that self which one truly is.
- Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Existentialism is the broad philosophical movement postulating that individual human beings create the meaning and essence of their lives as persons. Walter Kaufmann described Existentialism as, “The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems, and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial, academic, and remote from life”. Human beings are to make their own choices in life and find their own meaning, with or without God. Existential philosophers range from the religious (Kierkegaard) to the anti-religious (Nietzsche).
Contributor: JT
My school is absent.
Apatheism. I should start an apatheist movement.
..
Naaah.
Youre school has a bad name first of all… Apa isnt short for apathy and theism means that it deals with god….but i guess you could care less?
Actually, he couldn’t care less!
Ok one complaint Nietzsche is mentioned on 2 shools here, but is not mention on the one school MOST associated with him, "Nihilism". What's with that?
shutup
yeah, agreed.
Imma go with Juggz on this one, Nietzsche didn’t believe in truth or morality, and if anything, he believed that morality in itself proved Nihilism. Soooo, mos definitely not a humanist.
Yeah, not a humanist. Not really a nihilist either, though, Nietzsche’s philosophical project was to save Europe (the rest of the world could come too) from falling into nihilism as belief in God diminished. He was completely opposed to nihilism, although his work has a nihilistic flavor because he took the threat of it seriously.
ei i have a subject philosophy this semester. i think this will help a lot!
thank you very much for such a great list.
PS i think my teacher is a secular humanist, he just doesn’t know it. he once said that there is no absolute truth. at least now i know what school of thought he believes in.
Now this is a grat list. Kudos to the contributor.
Nice and succinct. I wish my Critical Theory of Literature professor could explain her topics half as clearly.
This is pretty cool.
Taking Quantum-Physics into account (which Einstein always refused to do ), Determinism has a lot of trouble explaining the universe
Juggz: Nietzsche is often associated with nihilism, but erroneously. Nietzsche argued vigorously against nihilism, claiming that empitied the world of any meaning or pupose. He was very much a secular humanist, although the term hadn’t been invented at the time.
JT: I said associated not created. It at least is worth a mention of him in my opinion.
how about trans-humanism aka “bad” (hypermodern) postmodernism (what a mouthful)
try reading some moravec…
i got an exam on this after-tomorrow
haha
# 7 rocks! Food and ***** . . . 2 of my favorite things . . . not necessarily in that order
Great list, jt!
Would any of you consider “theism”, and its many derivatives, a philosophy? It is probably one of the most popular world views. It touches on quite a few of the issues mentioned in the above 10 (existence, meaning, value, etc….). Theism does not equal “religion”.
Juggz: I DID say ‘asscoiated’, read my post again.
“Taking Quantum-Physics into account (which Einstein always refused to do ), Determinism has a lot of trouble explaining the universe
”
Nice point Barabas!
We could go through each of these schools and say why we disagree, but that might not be worth it if doing so wouldn’t bring happiness to most people;)
Jt: no you didnt, you said “associated”
j/k
Bah. So much picking apart of existance…human beings' curse. Just let it be. You could drive yourself crazy!
you sound like an existentialist to me
As if you didn’t mention Jean Paul Sartre. The man wrote some of the best exestentialist works, including Being & Nothingness. I also wouldn’t consider Nietzsche to belong to this school of thaught.
Reminds me of my college days. My minor was Philosophy, and I loved it. I just wish some of those professors could have explain these topics so succinctly. Would have saved me more than a few headaches.
Placing Objectivism on this list is a lot like placing an eight-year-old crippled kid in the starting line-up for the Miami Heat.
I love philosophy! I’m doing it in university next year, along with psychology= )
I’m so excited =P
ChrisG: i have been waiting for you to comment on that
Mila: Excellent – maybe you can come up with a revolutionary new philosophy that everyone likes
Genuinely great list. Thanks, J.
great, that is.
One of the best lists yet. Jamie, you’re doing nothing to help me bring my addiction to this site under control!
Martin L.: Why would I want to do something as silly as that!
I had a substitute teacher who tried to teach us Solipsism but she did it in a very absurd way. everyone thought she came to school high.
JT, this was a really written list. I like that you included quotes, explanations, and sample authors. The better explained a list, the more I like it. I hope you keep writing more lists.
I once got into an argument with a person who was sure that Solipsism was the only “true” philosophy, and that no matter what I tried to do I would never be able to validate my absolute existence to them as a seperate entity that “actually” exist.
I retorted with a Nihilistic-Empiricism argument; I kicked him in the balls and punched him in the face as he bent over.
JT, Nietzsche’s position on religion has been challenged by Julian Young. See his book Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion. I recommend it.
Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nietzsches-Philosophy-Religion-Julian-Young/dp/0521681049/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196157409&sr=1-1
Perhaps this list should be called “Top 10 schools of Western Philosophy”. I see no mention of eastern philosophy here, which is a shame as they teach an entirely different take on life.
chrisG, loved that comment on objectionism. id say this is a perfect list because it’s based on its impact in the philosophical world, not necassarily the validity of each school of thought.
the only problem i have with existentialism is the fact that it’s a contradiction. if it’s based on not belonging to any school of thought, then how can anyone be an existentialist, which is a school of thought itself?
Thank you!
This is really interesting stuff. Unfortunately, I’ve heard that 100 level philosophy courses are really dry. I’m wondering what everyone here considers themselves at this part of their lives. Personally, existentialism looks quite appealing and fairly positive.
Dave: iirc, Existentialism was not necessarily called that by those that “founded it” (for lack of a better term). In a sense, it’s the most Zen-like of Western philosophies, because by the very act of defining it, you destroy it; only by refusing to define it, will you truly understand it.
I remember a favorite definition of French Existentialism (more like Solipsism):
Everything that is real is not real, and everything that is not real is real.
Therefore, emotions, thoughts and philosophy are real.
Escargot is not.
Hey! Where’s Aristotelianism (sp)? What about Thomism?
Before y’all jump to conclusions…..
There is lots of disagreement between objectivism and libertarianism.
There is also lots of disagreement between either of those, and Ron Paul.
But there’s also lots of agreement.
Perhaps someone more expert than I
can elucidate further….
Missed the biggest one upon which many of the schools of philosophy are build upon inculding all but one of the schools you listed. Immanuel Kant’s Transcendential Idealism. Most of the philosophies you listed here did not have anywhere near the impact of Kant’s ideas at the time which formed the basis of much of all modern philosophy and law. Kant deserves, easily imho to be number one.
STRUCTURALISM!
Nietzsche belongs to the school of his Ubermensch
not secular humanism
not nihilism
and not existentialism
First, very good list. It is not perfect, but it is by nature subjective and still quite informative and decent.
Second, you really ought to consider adding the two most influential philosphers of all time to your list: Aristotle and Kant. No serious discussion of philsophy is near complete without these two. They are definitely not my favorite, but they are giants that cannot be ignored.
Third, move nihilism WAY down the list, for a number of solid reasons. It is not a view esposed by many people in any society, nor many influential intellectuals now or at any time. It deserved mention, no doubt, but I would move it to #8 and bump the rest up. Also, ALL systems of philosophy AND religion are opposed to it, as they ALL have some system of value and purpose, while nihilism has none.
Fourth, people can be classified into schools which they did not know existed, did not invent, or were even around when they wrote and thought, and being in one school is not necessarily mutually exclusive to being in another. Case in point: Nietzsche. He is not in the “school of Ubermensch,” lol. He is generally regarded as an existentialist, but does have significant crossover with secular humanism.
You know whats awesome? I’m having a little break from studying philosophy- I have an exam on it tomorrow.
I come to listverse, click random list, and what pops up? Exactly the sort of stuff I’ve been studying
Except so much more succinct and easier to understand! So thanks, JT!
Nice list. I get more and more interested in philosophy as I grow older.
By the way, how would you relate the Oriental philosophies like Taoism and Zen Buddhism to the ones in the list?
I think Zen is a mixture of Solipsism and Nihilism in a positive sense..”no mind”, and the world is an illusion.
In response to all of the people mentioning the lack of eastern philosophies, that might have something to do with the strict definition of philosophy requiring that it involve only logic, in contrast to a teaching, which can draw on any source of information. I'm bad at explaining this, so here's a link to the piece I got this idea from: http://faculty.virginia.edu/consciousness/
go to the section titled "The teaching of nonduality"
Jamie,
Nice list, that’s my favorite Nietzsche quotation of all time
- me
Most fascinating. It is altogether appropriate too, that Existentialism should be at number one, as we will all make of the world what we will.
#6 … yeah, science has flaws. Lots of them.
@The Skepsis
I might join your Apatheist movement. If I can be bothered.
Way to be Eurocentric in your *****ysis of philosophy. Nice to see that the only people who can do it are white.
I’d reject this description of secular humanism – “It upholds that there is no absolute truth or absolute morality, and that truth, meaning and morality are unique to each person.”
While it’s debatable as to whether rationally-derived morality is objective, I wouldn’t say that moral relativism is a fundamental tenet of secular humanists.
But for the suggestion that we don’t believe in absolute truth, that’s just a misunderstanding of the relationship between epistemology and theistic belief. Russell was a mathematician and Dawkins is a scientist so neither are exactly subjectivists
“It upholds that there is no absolute truth or absolute morality, and that truth, meaning and morality are unique to each person.”
The two ways of acquiring knowledge
I hope that this small essay a description of the -Two ways of acquiring knowledge- will be interesting and enlightening for your research for SALVATION knowledge Unchanged.
This is an acknowledgment of the Greek Orthodox Church that I hope will give you the “know how” needed that can determine the Life Saving knowledge, from knowledge that it is not.
The man centered way (Philosophy).
In the man-centered way in acquiring knowledge, man himself has the first word because he acquires knowledge through his own mind, his own logic. Mans logic and thinking process have the first word in formulating ideas in order to express ideas opinions or visions, or in order to further benefit man kind in medicine and science. However this type way of acquiring knowledge” philosophy”, can be very damaging when used for spiritual matters because it becomes very illusive when used in trying to give meaning especially to verses of the Holy Bible that are Divine begotten. This is because philosophy is a thinking process that is usually used alongwith imagination (fantasia). It is the “fantasia” in philosophy which in essence is damaging, because it has the “ability” to confirm at will “self begotten knowledge” as True. The existence of hundreds of denominations of Christians Churches in the world today, proves the presence of “fantasia” in a Christian Church that was ordained by Lord Jesus His Self to exist as a SINGLE (ONE) Church alone. (Ephesians 4, 5) One Church, One Faith and One Baptism.
The reading of the Word of God and the practice of Christian life can cure the mind of man up to an extent (better behavior or goodness), however it cannot provide the necessary purity needed for the ill begotten heart that it is in need of therapy. (Matthew 15:19) “For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander and others.” The Holy Fathers teach that the –heart-, which is the center of the soul, reflects the condition of the eternal self, the one that leaves the body at the moment of death. That is why, the purification of the heart is considered to be the up most significant precondition for accepting the Holy Spirit within (Salvation) as revealed in (2 Corinthians: 4:6). “God makes His Light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ. In other words if our heart is not purified (using the Holy Sacraments of the Church Divinely begotten) God will not allow (shine) the Holy Spirit (His Light) in our hearts in order to bring us the knowledge of His Glory not now, not for all times to come. Goodness is good… however IT DOES NOT SAVE! Remember all the prophets of the Old Testament were good but -in the absence of the Church- that could provide remission from sin they were not saved! Lord Jesus who is God and also the Church Himself (Colossians 1:18) “He is the head of his body the Church; He is the source of the body’s life”, went down to Hades and “brought” them out!
For scientists: To study the laws of the universe (science) is to know the Winston and Creativity of God but NOT God Himself. If a scientist was given a ball for instance, they are limited to studying and learning about the type material and maybe the laws governing the way the ball bounces…however it would be impossible for them to learn (know) anything about the person who designed or constructed it. Correct?
There for all issues concerning the knowledge of God are not philosophical psychological or scientific, they are Spiritual.
The Christ centered way (Revelation).
The precondition of acquiring knowledge the Christ centered way, is that religious Life is practiced according to the Will of the Triad God. The TRUTH is revealed ONLY to those who have properly prepared to receive it, and it is RECEIVED- PERSON to person, meaning that the TRIAD God delivers the knowledge personally to man just like he delivered to Moses the Ten Commandments.
This is where the Church comes in. You see my friends, it is impossible for man to know God with his own mind (philosophy) or with His own logic. The golden rule that has applied from the beginning of Creation of man has been that: GOD HAS TO WANT TO REVEAL HISELF TO MAN! This was the purpose of the coming of Lord Jesus and the creation of His Church in order to “set up” the right circumstances for man to be able to personally know God. (John 17:13) “And Eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus whom you sent” After Pentecost (and the dissenting of the Holy Spirit), the Apostles created the Church around the world using specific rules (given from above) that are known today as the 85 Holy Apostolic Cannons. http://aggreen.net/canons/canons.html. When Paul was writing his epistles to Christians around the world he was writing to people ALREADY BELONGING TO A SPECIFIC CHURCH THAT HAD A SPECIFIC WAY OF DOING THINGS! Proof of the existence of the Church is not only Paul’s greeting toward the Christians in the beginning of his second letter to the Corinthians, but is the personal lives (history) of some of the Apostles and friends of Lord Jesus. Notice here please that in his greeting in his second letter to the Corinthians how Paul also implicates Timothy. 2nd Corinthians 1:1 “From Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by Gods will, and from our brother Timothy- To the Church of God in Corinth, and to all Gods people throughout Achaia: May God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace”. I would like to ad here, that it would be very un wise for anyone to contemplate the possibility that all the rest of Paul’s letters were addressed to Christians that did not belong to that same Church! In studying the lives of some of the Apostles and friends Lord Jesus, will further convince you my honest brothers and scholars of the Holy Bible of the nesseccicty of the presence in our lives of that same ancient Church.
Mark the Evangelist (who had Cypriot parents), who came to Cyprus with Paul (Acts 13:4, 5) became the first Bishop of Alexandria. James the brother of Jesus (the son of Joseph) was at the time the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Lazarus the resurrected friend of Lord Jesus was a Cyprus Bishop in Larnaka for 32 years! His burial place is here in Cyprus. In concluding, the only proud claim that you will get from the Christians belonging to the nations that belong to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy today is that “they have kept everything delivered by the Apostles for the Salvation of man UNCHANGED.
You see the sole purpose of the Church was to serve as a Hospital or a therapeutic institution to clean man from sin in order for him to personally be able to know God! These “circumstances” for knowing God are defined very clearly in (Peter 1, 16). “Be Holy because I am Holy” What escapes the knowledge of most people today, is the fact that the God-man Lord Jesus incarnated into a man in order for mankind, to know…their True POTENTIAL (New Creation) of a new way of being! In other words God became man so man could become god! Lord Jesus is God by NATURE, and man is given now the opportunity (through the Holy Sacraments (therapy) of the Church) to become a god but by the GRACE of GOD, to be (Holy like He is). The Saints SEE the Glory of God and participate in IT according to the proportion of the each person’s purity. This is what is known as Sainthood. In continuing I would like to inform you that Sainthood (holiness) is NOT a moral or an ethical term in the Orthodox Church but a condition that is viewed as an ontological transformation that is verifiable! Five years after the death of the monks in the Orthodox Monasteries, they remove their remains in order to verify a gold colour, or verify the presence of beautiful aroma emanating from them. This has always been the “hands on proof” for the first Christian Church that “during their life time they managed to become worthy to become TEMPLES of the Holy Spirit”. The fact that the Church today is in possession of Holy Remains of even the Apostles, proves the age of this Church Tradition. Here in Cyprus we have the Kara (scull) of Apostle Philip and Remains of others you know and love thought the Holy Bible. The FACT is… that these Saints are YOUR SAINTS TOO! Remember the Apostles where the men that took out demons, and resurrected the dead. This state of Sainthood is also known by the Holy Fathers as the “supernatural condition” or as the «overcoming» of the first way God created man (Adam)
CONCLUSION
Knowledge begotten the Man centered way (Philosophy):
Persons studying the Holy Bible in the absence of the Church as delivered by the Apostles are unfortunately “condemned” to know Lord Jesus only philosophically and NOT Personally. To know Lord Jesus philosophically is to have a love relationship with an idea “philosophy” and not Lord Himself who appears to his Saints in His Divine Light as a PERSON!
Saint Symeon in his writings goes to great lengths to clarify that the Divine Light is Personal. It is not simply a sensible radiance—an inanimate luminosity such as one might receive from a lamp, or from the sun. Rather the Divine Light is the very ‘person’ of the Divinity Himself: it is not simply a product of God, it is God. ‘Your light, O my God, is You,’ he writes, and to this point of emphasis he often returns.
According to the personal experience of the Saints the heavenly Kingdom is not a place rather a way of being and there are monks in Orthodox monasteries in the world today that are known to enjoy the Heavenly kingdom from this world… they are known by the rest of us who visit them by their miraculous deeds and actions!
Orthodoxy teaches that it has an unbroken Holy Tradition of spiritual knowledge, a way of life that leads to a Mystical Union With God. This mystical union is also known as Sainthood or “being a god by the Grace of God”. The transformed Holy Remains of the Apostles and the Saints of the Church testify to the fact that while alive they were Temples of the Holy Spirit.
http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/ You can download free pages from books here that might interest you. Some titles are: Life after death, On union with God, Orthodox Psychotherapy, How to cure Religion, The history of the Church, est. Sharing this knowledge has -no demands or expectations-, and sharing is not done for reasons of competing in theology. It is only done as an act of brotherly love and respect and the duty to Christ to share the Truth.
Salvation means Salvation from death, and death means our Eternal separation from God.
Respectfully your friend and servant
Constantinos
True Theologians
From the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:4,5).
There are those who live in not so distant places that have a real life person to Person relationship with Lord Jesus!
These humble words that are shared with brotherly love and respect, point out to the kind of relationship man was made to have with our Lord Jesus Christ. The following paragraphs, where taken from the book of Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos Entreaty” (Paraklitika), and it is knowledge that must be shared with all those who have Lord Jesus Christ as their Heavenly Father.
“Those who have made their selves worthy to see God are the True Theologians. Saint Gregorios the Theologian taught that those who saw God like Apostle Paul can safely theologize, because the sight of God cleans them from all fantasy, and renders them true preachers of the truth making them explicitly different from philosophers and philosophies”.
Metropolitan Hierotheos who is member of the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church continues in his book:
“It is with a lot of awe and fear of God that we dare write here that even today there are Saints (that are alive today) who saw and see Christ in the Light, they converse with him, and stay in His Sight for days and even weeks. We have been blessed by God to personally meet such people who saw Christ in His Divine Light, who attest to the fact that Lord Jesus is a True God, the only Savior of man, our only hope for Eternal Life, our only way out of the dead end that we have reached”. (John 17:3) “And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you send”
Saint Gregorios (3rd century) description of his personal experience who saw Christ in His Divine Light is used as an example to describe how the Saints are able (became worthy), to see God in His Divine Glory.
“UNDER CONDITIONS OF CONTINUED PRAYER AND UPWARD EXTENSION THAT HAVE AS CLIMAX THE UNION WITH GOD, MAN IS POSSESSED ENTIRELY FROM LIGHT OF DIVINE GLORY THAT IS SEND FOURTH ETERNALLY FROM THE TRIAD. AFTER THE MIND IS SEIZED FROM THE DIVINE LIGHT AND ENTERS THE LIGHT IT BECOMES ITS SELF-LIGHT. THUS LIKE LIGHT, IT SEES LIGHT”
A notion, which Saint Symeon goes to great lengths to clarify in his writings, is that of the Divine Light as personal. It is not simply a sensible radiance—an inanimate luminosity such as one might receive from a lamp, or from the sun. Rather the Divine Light is the very ‘person’ of the Divinity Himself: it is not simply a product of God, it is God. ‘Your light, O my God, is You,’ he writes, and to this point of emphasis he often returns.
The attentiveness that we need to have here is of God Himself. The object and the purpose of our Christian Life is none other than God Himself. The purpose of life is becoming in His Image (Be Holy because I am Holy).
Orthodoxy teaches that it has an unbroken Holy Tradition of spiritual knowledge that was delivered by the Apostles, a way of life (in and out the Church) that leads to a mystical union with God. This mystical union is also known as Sainthood, Supernatural condition, or being a god by the Grace of God. They also teach that it is not possible for this union to become an object of any kind of an academic study that can “discover” or “deepen” in the knowledge, because Christianity is all about Divine Grace.
The people of the Nations belonging to Orthodox Christianity will never claim that they have discovered Christianity or the road to Salvation. However they will tell you that their prime directive and responsibility has always been to keep everything that was passed down from Jesus and the Apostles u n c h a n g e d for these methods and teachings that were put forward for the Salvation of all man constitute or sum up the Divine Will of God.
http://www.holylight.gr An awesome miracle that takes place Orthodox Saturday Easter each year for the past couple hundred years at the spot Lord Jesus was born, in the Temple of Nativity in Jerusalem.
Please allow me to be your servant. Commends welcomed
I belong to no organization and no one pays me. Please pray for me also. God bless us all.
Constantinos
Determinists are not necessarily incompatibilists (people who disbelieve in free will). Hume and Hobbes are both Deterministic Compatibilists, as am I. We believe both in Determinism and a functional notion of free will — that the will can (in varying degrees) be free of proximal oppression.
why is objectivism on this list? and at number four?
ought a philosophical system of thought be at least comprehensive before given consideration among the “top 10?”
Heavy duty.
Ben Koshkin
I have to object to truth being included with meaning and morality in the list of things that secular humanists think are not absolute. I would argue that most secular humanists are also positivists in that they highly value scientific/rational knowledge because it is our best method for discovering truth, and I’m sure that Richard Dawkins, for one, would agree with me. In that sense, truth is absolute, even though our perception of it may be incomplete and often incorrect. In fact, amongst those who don’t believe in God, you probably won’t ever hear someone claim that God’s existence is “true” for religious people. Atheists are pretty sure that God is a myth, and that religious people are simply mistaken/deluded.
To be fair, one might say that truth is not absolute for secular humanists in the metaphorical sense, when it pertains to people’s preferences/judgments (e.g., for me it’s “true” that Avatar was a bad movie, but that may not be “true” for you).
I get out of a three hour philosophy final and then I see this list has objectivism on it.
Face.
Friggin.
Palm.
What no Stoicism, no Marcus Aurelious, FAIL!
Where's Eventuallism?
Your existence invalidates your opinion and you must start over; sorry, them's the rules.
Much love & peanut butter sandwiches,
Spiffy McTankerous
Oh, wait! Your opinion invalidates my existence, I must start over again. Whew! Finally, I get to leave this party; too stuffy anyways. Everybody always talking, talking, talking… Why don't they just shut the heck up and let someon-
-click-
*dialtone*
words are created……subject to acceptance of the will and the path it wants to trail…. subconsciously now choices had been implanted in the mind of people after reading the above
The section on Epicureanism is awful. First you have a quote by Epicurus that basically sums up his idea that the road to the good life is through a lack of desire (not through sensual indulgence), but then you say the philosophy is related to hedonism (a common misconception) and that he thought food and ***** were pathways to pleasure. Epicurus:
1. claimed no one's life was bettered because of an orgasm.
2. asked a friend once to send him a slice of cheese "so that when I want to have a feast I shall be able to do so." (Letter to Menoeceus)