Philosophy Paper

Assignment 1: The Nature of Belief

By Saturday, January 31, 2015 respond to the assigned discussion questions and submit your responses to the appropriate topic in this Discussion Area. You should quote or paraphrase from specific pages in the course text to support your claims about philosophical ideas and concepts, using correct APA citation. Start reviewing and responding to your classmates and the facilitator as early in the week as possible.

Address the following in a three-page paper:

1. Identify a belief that you (or someone in your community) think is true.
2. Present an account of at least one metaphysical account of reality from the assigned readings with support from the course texts and online lectures. For example, you might discuss Plato, Aristotle, or the Cartesian method. Make sure that you include an account of reality and truth and discuss how (and/or whether) human beings are capable of knowing reality with any certainty. For instance, is there a difference between a well-founded opinion and a false one? How are opinions/beliefs related to the truth as such?
3. Explain how the account of truth set forth by the chosen theory of reality might apply to the belief you identified in step 1.
4. Identify and explain an additional metaphysical theory that would take a different approach.