Philosophy Research Paper

Final Paper Assignment: Ten Major Philosophical Questions

(Choose Three Issues for Argumentation, Discussion and Analysis)

1. Is there a universal purpose in human life? Is there a reason that humans can understand that

explains why they exist?

2. Did the universe have a starting point in time or is the universe itself eternal?

3. Are there any facts about reality that are universally true, for everyone everywhere, for all time?

Or is all truth relative to social and cultural systems of interpretation, to time and circumstance, to

an individual's subjective grasp of things?

4. Is there a rational argument that shows, or at least makes it highly probable, that the universe and

everything in it was created by a Supreme Being?

5. Does each human being have the freedom to choose whatever action she or he wishes to do,

given that it is within the power and capability of the person to do that action? That is, do humans

have free will, or are our actions as determined as any natural, physical event in space and time?

6. Is the conscious mind simply a product of brain parts and processes, or brain-body systems? Or is

the mind identical with the soul, which, although causally connected to the body, is ontologically

distinct from it?

7. Are science and philosophy closely interrelated disciplines, or are they very different in their goals

and methods?

8. What is the best form of government? Is there, or has there ever existed, a type of relation

between the individual and the state that might be considered ideal, or close to it? Could such an

ideal state ever exist in the actual world?

9. Is beauty completely in the eye of the beholder? Is what counts as a work of art utterly subjective?

Are there any universally agreed on standards of taste, beauty, and aesthetic value?

10. Do religion and philosophy serve the same basic purpose in human life and in society overall? Or

are the goals and purposes of each quite different or even at odds?