...7, 2015 A Moral Realism Believer Ayer claims that any talk about right and wrong, good and bad, is just a matter of “emoting” or expressing one’s feelings while a moral realist would think the total opposite. A moral realist believes that all moral questions are real questions and every answer to those questions can be either true or false. Ayer is labeled as an anti-moral realist due to his fervent claims to his belief. Regardless of anyone’s feelings or emotions, I believe that there is always a reason why the answer should be true and a reason for why the answer should be false. Ayer’s view on moral claim is incorrect because a moral claim is one that attempts to define what is right or wrong. Anti-moral realists believe that emotivism is more influential and moral realists believe that there should be a legit reason behind every answer. The debate between moral realists and anti-realists assumes a variety of claims can be recognized as moral claims. In my opinion, moral realists have common sense. With that advantage, there are a number of powerful arguments on why moral realism is the right way to go which include: the knowledge of a moral realist, the realism/antirealism debate, moral cognitivism and descriptivism, and the truth in moral judgements. “A moral realist believes that there is at least one moral fact, and moral facts are not reducible to non-moral facts. Moral statements are true or false, and at least one moral statement is true. An anti-realist merely disagrees...
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...complicated questions with which the federal government is faced". After his diplomacy in Eastern Europe, Keenan desired to share the truth about Russia and her politics in America. He came to this conclusion after trips to the Soviet Union and conversations with the Russian government and believed "one country could do little to alter conditions in another (particularly a tyranny)." With this idea in mind, Kennan spread his "Long Telegram". His telegram, composed of five parts, expressed a basic understanding of Soviet nature and thinking and "practical dedications from a standpoint of US policy." This telegram actually did very little to change how the United States approached the Soviet Union, but convinced Kennan on a policy of moderation, realism, and containment. Kennan's convictions and deep knowledge of Russian ambitions led him to speak up and kindly push the United States to understand along with...
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...Larkin has been regarded as one of the most pessimistic poets. Larkin surely takes a very dark view of human life. The main emphasis in his poems is on failure and frustration in human life. And then there is his preoccupation with death. In a number of poems he emphasizes the sombre and grim aspects of human life and in many poems he speaks of the cert of death. We are all aware of the facts of failure and frustration in human life and we are all aware of the faith of death. But what makes Larkin a pessimist, and a confirmed pessimist at that, is his repeated emphasis, and over-emphasis, on these aspects of human life. On explanation of his repeated reminders to us of the certain of death, he has been regarded as “a graveyard poet”; and the general and brooding atmosphere of melancholy and despondency in his poems justifies the label “pessimist” for him. A number of poems come to our minds in this connection. The poem Ambulances paints a gloomy picture of human life because of the fact that every street is visited by an ambulance at one time or the other. An ambulance is a symbol of disease and death. Dockery and Son contains the following pessimistic line: “Life is first boredom, then fear”. And this poem concludes with the pessimistic view that there is old age, and that the end of old age is death. Aubade is a poem in which Larkin’s fear of death reaches its climax. Larkin himself described it his “in-a-funk-about-death poem.” The Positive Features of His Pessimistic...
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...They were the most lethal terrorist attacks in history, taking the lives of 3000 American and international citizens and ultimately leading to changes in anti-terror approaches and operations in the U.S and around the globe. (www.fbi.gov). Before 9/11 occurred, the U.S was encountering a period of peace and economic boom. This fostered the illusion that International Relations were of no great significance in the wider arena. The American public and political classes were unconcerned with previous attacks on the World Trade Centre in 94, the attack on the USS Cole, and the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Attacks of 9/11 and the fall of the World Trade Centre’s marked the beginning of the real 21st century. (Brown 04). 9/11 was not simply an act of terror but the most destructive single act of terror since World War 2. Many in the Islamic community saw the attack, as an attack on “the symbolic heart of global capitalism” (Brown 04). 9/11 galvanised the American people, and less then 12 hours after the attacks, president Bush formally declared a “war on terror”. Overnight America’s relationships with Russia, China and India improved. Britain and Australia were also seen as close allies. President Bush and his supporters stressed the need to go on the offensive against terrorists, to deploy the U.S. military, and to promote democracy in the Middle East. (Gordon 07). The U.S is fighting a war on terror and must remain on the offensive. The Bush administration feel,...
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...Iran and Israel have long been enigmatic players on the international stage, belonging to the Middle East but not quite identifying with the majority of its inhabitants. For the sole majority-ethnic Persian state in the Middle East and one of the few Shiite Muslim ones, friction and tension have been constant features of its relations with the predominantly Arab and Sunni Middle Eastern states. If Iran is somewhat of an outcast in the region, this is even more the case for Israel as the only ethnically and religiously Jewish state, not only in the region but in the world at large. Aside from Turkey, which is really the only other significant non-Arab state actor in the region, Iran and Israel represent deviations from the norm of mostly Sunni Muslim and ethnically Arab states in the Middle East. Still, what stands out as truly unique in the modern Middle East is the Iranian-Israeli connection, a facet of international politics unparalleled elsewhere in terms of Persian-Jewish contact and cooperation spanning thousands of years, overall international interdependence, and the abrupt switch from amity to enmity as of 1979. While the international media has cast an ever-stronger spotlight on the Iranian-Israeli relationship in the past five or ten years, it has long deserved closer scrutiny. For two countries to be as intertwined at the political, military, economic and societal levels – like Iran and Israel from the 1950s through to the 1970s – and then to become and remain bitter...
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...Control Unit: New Left Realism New Left Realism Deviance and Social Control New Left Realism Introduction In the early 1980's, two "new" approaches to the study of crime and deviance began to emerge in Britain and America, both of which focused upon the "realities" of crime (specifically) - but from different ends of the political spectrum. In Britain, the "New Left Realism" started to develop through the work of writers such as Lea and Young ("What Is To Be Done About Law And Order?", 1984), while the "New Right Realism" (confusing isn't it?) developed around the work of Wilson ("Thinking About Crime", 1977) in America and writers such as Clarke and Mayhew ("Designing out Crime", 1980) in Britain. While, as you might expect, the two basic approaches address the "problem" of crime from quite different political starting points, they have a couple of ideas in common: 1. Both view crime as a form of "social problem" - not only for control agencies but also for the victims / potential victims of crime. 2. Both produce ideas that attempt to locate crime within a wider political (albeit different) context - the "New Realism". In this set of Notes, therefore, what I propose to do is: a. Outline the basic elements of each perspective. b. Evaluate their overall strengths, weaknesses and general contributions to our understanding of the phenomenon of crime / deviance. This set of Notes focuses on New Left Realism and a subsequent set focuses on New Right Realism. www.sociology...
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...Mirror Realism Matt Leonard Let’s suppose that spacetime substantivalism is true. In other words, space- time regions exist independently of the objects that occupy them. They shouldn’t be thought of as mere ‘things’ or ‘events’ which happen to stand in spatiotemporal relations.1 Even with such an assumption, there is a lot to disagree about. And so, for the moment, let’s make a few more assumptions: let’s suppose that (1) material objects exist independently of spacetime re- gions (i.e., material objects are not identical to spacetime regions) and (2) material objects are exactly located at certain spacetime regions. Given this setup, it seems right to say that material objects and spacetime regions pos- sess mereological and topological properties, and enter into mereological and topological relations. Now consider the following question about the relation- ship between spacetime and material objects: are material objects a perfect mirror of their spacetime regions? We might ask: if two objects share some mereotopological relation (for instance, if one is a part of the other, or if one is connected to the other), does it follow that the regions of space at which the objects are located, share the same relation? Similarly, if two regions of space are related in some mereotopological way, are the objects located at those regions, related in the same way? If an object x is a proper part of some other object y, does it follow that the location, lx, of the former object is a proper...
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...Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy and greatly influenced both the American and French revolutions. His contributions to philosophy include the theory of knowledge known as empiricism, which addressed the limits of what we can understand about the nature of reality. Locke held that our understanding of reality ultimately derives from what we have experienced through the senses. The political implications of his theories included the notions that all people are born equal and that education can free people from the subjugation of tyranny. Locke also believed that government had a moral obligation to guarantee that individuals always retained sovereignty over their own rights, including ownership of property that resulted from their own labor. We may remark, in passing, that the modern theory of the transmutation of species is nothing but an application of Locke's teaching that species have no objective reality. Let us also note the important fact that this extreme nominalism closely approximates extreme realism. Scholastic nominalism denies the reality of species, and absolutely affirms the reality of individuals to the exclusion of everything else. In this sense Leibniz is a nominalist. English nominalism, from which the theory of transformation takes its rise, denies not only the existence of species, but also the stability of the individuals themselves. All things, says Locke, besides their author, are liable to...
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...TOWARDS A LIBERAL REALISM The student’s name: The course number: The date of submission: The instructor’s name: During the era, of George .W.Bush, a lot of political ambition has taken place. When he got into power, the focus of Bush was to provide an avenue for economic and political prosperity. However, with time because of influences emanating from both the international politics as well as from his own legal advisors, he adopted policies that suited the conditions of the occasion. For instance, during his era, there was the interplay between realism and liberalism. Realism was manifested at the time when his concerns leaned more on his quest to acquire the interests of the nation. However, he seemed to choose a different approach especially after the September 11, 2001 attack. At this time, the interests of the nation were to be abandoned and promote more for the security of the nation. Realism is a theory of international relations which holds the view that the interest of a nation overrides other considerations such as the moral values. Furthermore, actions undertaken by government leaders do not take into account the effect that such deeds may have on other sovereign states. They are therefore, likely to violate the ethical considerations when pursuing their goals and interests from other states. The idea of realism is closely related to the ideas of Thomas Hobbes of people in a state of nature. They are considered to attempt to gratify their...
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...Main article: Logic Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is when, given certain statements (called premises), other statements (called conclusions) are unavoidably implied. Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then B”, then “B” must be concluded. A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism. An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not, while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true. Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions, which are declarations that are either true or false, while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables. These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier (always apply) or the existential quantifier (applies at least once). Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning. For example, if “90% of humans are right-handed” and “Joe is human” then “Joe is probably right-handed”. Fields in logic include mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and philosophical logic. Metaphysics Main article: Metaphysics Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship between...
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...Random House, Inc., New York. Cartoons by Sidney Harris, copyright © Sciencecartoonsplus.com BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. eISBN: 978-0-553-90707-0 www.bantamdell.com v3.0 The Grand Design The Grand Design The Grand Design The Grand Design E EACH EXIST FOR BUT A SHORT TIME, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe. But humans are a curious species. We wonder, we seek answers. Living in this vast world that is by turns kind and cruel, and gazing at the immense heavens above, people have always asked a multitude of questions: How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? How does the universe behave? What is the nature of reality? Where did all this come from? Did the universe need a creator? Most of us do not spend most of our time worrying about these questions, but almost all of us...
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...Essay Title: Is Global Civil Society an answer to War? Introduction War is not a modern phenomenon but as old as human existence itself. Wars are not like natural calamities or phenomenon but are very much part of human existential dynamics that seeks both peace and ability to survive acknowledging its natural competitive behaviour which unlike realist assumptions is conditioned and not natural. However, realism has dominated the field of international relations since the end of World War 11. It dominates political thinking, with exclusive emphasis on the state as the primary actor in world politics. Realists display a very overt pessimistic view of human nature, advocating with religious conviction that selfish human nature drives international relations into conflicts subjugating state to resort to organized violence and wars in order to gain upper hand and to always resort to wars to resolve international conflicts. Thus resulting in a system framed to maximize state’s military power in a predominantly anarchical environment. As a distinct school of thought, Realism emphasizes separation from domestic to international with little or no democratic structures within its sphere. Consequently, warfare has remained an institutionalized social order against the predatory behavior of others and consequently a legitimate instrument of survival. Moreover, growth in the size of armies and the development of weapons technology has led to an increase in the frequency of wars resulting...
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...Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Theories of International Relations This page intentionally left blank Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Material from 1st edition © Deakin University 1995, 1996 Chapter 1 © Scott Burchill 2001, Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater 2005 Chapter 2 © Jack Donnelly 2005 Chapter 3 © Scott Burchill, Chapters 4 and 5 © Andrew Linklater, Chapters 6 and 7 © Richard Devetak, Chapter 8 © Christian Reus-Smit, Chapter 9 © Jacqui True, Chapter 10 © Matthew Paterson 2001, 2005 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright...
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...I-Introduction: The term "realism" was first used to formulate the philosophical doctrine that "universals exist outside of the mind" (Freyberg-Inan, 1). Yet, in political theory, "realism" represents a school of thought that analyzes the political process as it is or as it is disclosed by historical forces " ... that the able political practitioner takes into account ... and incorporates ... into his political conceptions and his political acts "(Ibid, 1-2). In the field of international relations, realism became the dominant analytical paradigm mostly after the start of the Second World War, when it displaced idealist doctrines, promising "to provide more accurate information, more powerful, and more relevant answers" to the roots or causes of peace and war (Brecher& Harvey, 54). At the same time, many features of the current realist paradigm can be traced back to the time of Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Among contemporary thinkers recognized as major writers and contributors to the realist tradition are Hans Morgenthau, Edward Carr and Kenneth Waltz (Freyberg-Inan, 8). What are then the basic tenets or common features of a realist thinker? Machiavelli would acknowledge that to be a realist one has to look at history as "a sequence of cause and effect whose course can be analysed and understood by intellectual effort, but not directed by imagination" (Carr, 64). Hobbes would persist in the same train of thought and insist that to be a realist thinker...
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...resonated across the centuries mostly via philosophical thought. In the last two hundred years, however, the debate had become increasingly interwoven and complicated by newly-developed and derivative theories (sometimes polar or diametrically opposed) through the complex entanglement of modern societal development and socio-political thought. Insodoing, unpacking and defining the etiology of crime has proved to be a noteworthy adversary. This essay would seek to examine this unfolding drama of etiological proportions by addressing one of these key modern-day ideological polarities: right realism and left realism. It would critically discuss the relational polarity between these two theories by first examining and then comparing their respective etiologies. Second, it would examine and critique the interplay between ideology and British crime policy. Left Realism (LR): Etiology. “Left realism was explicitly, although not exclusively, concerned with the origins, nature, and impact of crime in the working class” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2007: p.191). It was a radical criminology and a very British development (Newburn, 2007). It was ‘Left’ as crime was envisaged as endemic owing to the class and patriarchical construction of advanced industrial society, and ‘realist’ in its aetiology and appraisal of crime (Young, 1997). Its theoretical and criminological roots could be traced back to neo-classicism and social positivism as epitomised by Cesare Beccaria and Adolphe Quetelet...
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