Umm.. hi... I was hoping some of you'll could suggest a few topics on which I could write an essay and give a 10 presentation of it for my "Introduction to Philosophy course". The course mainly concentrates on western philosophy... starting from the greeks so please suggest a few relevant topics. I would be really thankful for the help. Please suggest interesting and/or controversial topics that I could find a lot of material on.

Maybe the levels of perception and how they affect our interpretation of philosophy?

something simple, yet not stupid.

the conception that the greeks had toward geometry and how it shaped their worldview is an interesting topic.

Verdatel: for an extremely controversial topic, try this one:

Do animals have free will?

OR

Is it possible for an animal to have free will?

Probably about half your class will be religious types, possibly including yourself, for which the answer to this will be a resounding NO.

Others will be determinists of one kind or another, and will not believe even that humans have free will, so still NO.

Others will probably believe that it's possible or that they do, depending on the amount of personal experience they have with animals. Dogs and cats have a surprising array of abilities and tactics that make them appear quite intelligent, but whether they have free will is an open question.

What gives free will? A material feature of the human body? A soul? Quantum effects? Superstrings? The participation of a higher power? There are all kinds of theories on why human beings have free will (or not), and very few address the issue of whether other creatures can have free will.

If you want something EASY, on the other hand, I suggest the following:

Can you imagine something that you've never experienced?

This is a funny one, because something like a Unicorn can be imagined, but the Unicorn that you imagine is a composite of other ideas you've already seen... horse, horn, lion tail, and so on.

But on the other hand, let's say you've never seen a certain colour of blue. All other colours of blue you've seen, but not that one, just by chance. Now, if someone showed you a continuum of blue colour tiles, but the shade that you'd never seen was missing (although you could see the ones all around it) would you be able to imagine that blue?

thanks a lot guys.. those last two topics seem very very intersting. I probably might do the piece about imagining something you havent really seen. I think that fits in what socrates and plato thought about that the soul actually knows everything but the material world distorts our perceptions and that birth itself causes the soul to forget what it knew and thus life is basically a process of remembering what we knew.

Could you give me more material or references to other materials that I could read on both hard copy and online for research ? Because I have to write a 5 page essay as well as give a 10 min presentation.

Here are some other topics which I have. Please give your opinions if you have any or references where I can find more information on them

1) What are the grounds for believing in God's existence ?
2) When can I say I know ?
3) What is relationship between mind and body ?
4) Why should we obey the law ?
5) By what principles do I judge right and wrong ?

I would also really really appreciate if you could tell me associate any of the topics with some of the philosophical thinkers so I can review his/her work as I'm just a intro student.

Thanks a lot.

verdatel

The five you listed are great intro topics. I've dabbled in all while I was in University and personally think the last two - Law and Morality - to be the most interesting of them all because even the most elementary philosophical mind can contribute to a discussion. A good place to start is Hobbes "Leviathan" (1651). A good comprehensive book on the topic of Law and Morality would be "Law and Morality; Readings in Legal Philosophy" ed. Dyzenhaus and Ripstein, 1996, UofT Press - that'd be the only book you need.

Good Luck.

thanks guy, please keep the references coming... I really need to get more info on my topics to write a convincing essay

1) What are the grounds for believing in God's existence ?

None. Arguments used are the ontological, cosmological, telelogical

2) When can I say I know ?

When you say "I know I am", if you believe Descartes. You could get the Socratic JTB(justified true belief) dialogue. Could contrast this with Nietzschean scepticism.

3) What is relationship between mind and body ?

Mind is a subset of the body. There is dualism, m/b realism, functionalism.

4) Why should we obey the law ?

Social contract theories. Look at 'The Republic', Hobbes, Rawls, Rousseau. Via divine authority, eg. bible, Locke.

5) By what principles do I judge right and wrong ?

Utilitarianism, Kant's deontological theories, egoism, divine command theories.

Egoism as a moral code would be interesting.