...Notes: John Locke, 1632-1704, Essay on Human Understanding • a British philosopher • Oxford academic and medical researcher • his association with Anthony Ashley Cooper (later the First Earl of Shaftesbury) led him to become o a government official charged with collecting information about trade and colonies, o An economic writer, opposition political activist, and o finally a revolutionary whose cause ultimately triumphed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. • Much of his work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. • This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. • Locke's monumental An Essay Concerning Human Understanding concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to God, the self, natural kinds and artifacts, as well as a variety of different kinds of ideas. • It thus tells us in some detail what one can legitimately claim to know and what one cannot. • Locke also wrote a variety of important political, religious and educational works including the Two Treatises of Government, the Letters Concerning Toleration, The Reasonableness of Christianity and Some Thoughts Concerning Education. Essay on Human Understanding • Locke is often classified as the first of the great English empiricists (ignoring the claims of Bacon and Hobbes). • This reputation rests on An Essay Concerning...
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...The Problem of Evil McCayley Hendricks MWF-2pm #3564 November 17, 2014 One of the most prominent arguments against the existence of God today would be the problem of evil. Not only is it a problem for Christians, who want to provide a defense for their faith, but it is also a problem for Christians, who being faced with suffering and pain on account of evil, and without knowing the thoughts or intentions of God, wish to reconcile the two ideas together. In spite of Mackie’s Logical Argument of Evil proving, some would say, that it is not possible for both God and evil to exist, I believe that it is in fact possible that they exist simultaneously. My reason for believing so stems from the Free-Will Defense, coupled with a deeper understanding and more clearly defined description of the attributes of God and how they work together. I will also highlight scripture that incorporates both the existence of evil as well as the existence of God, who remedies the evil into a greater good, reiterating a point made in premise 4 of Plantinga’s Free Will Defense. In order to walk you through my thought process, I will start with a basic outline of Mackie’s Logical Argument, as well as include why this is a problem for theists. I will then define some ambiguous terms in his argument, and shed some light on the culture-saturated definitions of Christian lingo used in the argument. And finally, I will present the Free-Will Defense and show how this paired with the previous information...
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...Ursula Le Guin, fantasy is not just for children, but for adults too, “Tales of talking animals and fantastical adventure aren’t just for children, argues Ursula Le Guin – we can and should return to them throughout our lives” (Quote page 1 line 1-3). Right from the beginning you know that ULG is a fan of fantasy being a part of everyone’s lives. You can always use your child or grandchild as an excuse to read fantasy, if you don’t have the courage to do it by yourself. Fantasy has always been perceived as being for children only, and fantasy has been conflated with immaturity, which according to ULG is a rather sizeable error. Many of the texts are poetry and it contains different elements from different genres. Many fantasies which actually were published as for children, is often read by adults, “It begins with, say, George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind and runs on through Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, The Wind in the Willows, the Just So Stories and The Jungle Book, the Pooh books, Dr Dolittle, The Hobbit, The Once and Future King, Charlotte’s Web, to my first three Earthsea books and all the serious imaginative fiction that continues to be published “for children” but is often read by adults” (Quote page 2 line 48-52). Realistic fiction does not affect everyone, but only people in a specific age group depending on the theme. Fiction genres as horror, mystery, romance and science fiction are only being read by adults and teenagers...
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...All throughout London, Winston sees the posters of man about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features gazing down the caption ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’ everywhere he goes. Big Brother is the leader of Oceanian and the face of the party. Big Brother symbolizes the party in its public appearance; but to most people he is a reassurance (his name suggest his ability to protect), but he is also an open threat (nobody can escape big brother). Not only does it symbolize public appearance, it also symbolize the vagueness with which the higher ranks of the party present themselves. Which makes Winston think who really rules Oceania, if Big Brother exist, if the government is telling them the truth. George Orwell uses...
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...Arvin D. Medlock Jr. PHIL 201-DO2 Professor R.D. Kuykendall 5 May 3, 2015 McCloskey Response Paper “On Being an Atheist” Does God Exist? That is the question we face! For many years Theists and Atheist have debated this question for many years along with their central views and beliefs that we as human being rely on as it relates to Life and God. The Point of views and debates center around the Cosmological Argument, the Teleological argument (argument from Design) and the most debated argument as it relates to this topic called the Problem with evil? When questioning wither or not God Exist these traditional arguments play significant roles in investigating and proving or discrediting someone’s view or stance on this specific Philosophical belief. As you read McCloskey article “On Being an Atheist” he argues the Theist stance who believe in the Existence of God from the perspective view of an Atheist. McCloskey in writing this Article is not trying to discredit their belief in the Existence of God, but to raise questions, doubts and uncertainties concerning their arguments on which they stand on to prove their belief by ultimately concluding that the Theist arguments are not valid and should be disregarded as evidence to prove their belief in the existence of God. The problem with McCloskey argument against the argument of Theistic View is the Theist argument is not to literally prove their belief concretely on the existence of God, but there view is design to give...
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...RUNNING HEAD: Book Review Dilemmas, Challenges, and Ethics of Humanitarian Action: Reflections on Médecins Sans Frontières' Perception Project’ – Book Review [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Dilemmas, Challenges, and Ethics of Humanitarian Action: Reflections on Médecins Sans Frontières' Perception Project’ – Book Review Introduction Ethics comprises key organisational elements in today’s world regardless of the job responsibility that describes oneself and this is why its evaluation is done and relevant implication studied in each sector and industry. Whether it is the provision of humanitarian aid or it is the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs, there are certain ethical boundaries that are important to be mindful of so that they are not breached as it comes attached with severe negative consequences. In the light of this argument for the purpose of strengthening it, a book edited by Caroline Abu-Sada named ‘Dilemmas, Challenges, and Ethics of Humanitarian Action: Reflections on Médecins Sans Frontières' Perception Project’ will be reviewed. Discussion As obvious from the book title, Médecins Sans Frontière s' also known as ‘Doctors without Borders’ is used as the case study for the purpose of enlightening the audience of the ethical challenges and moral dilemmas in addition to the ethics that revolve around humanitarian action (Kramer, Soskolne, Mustapha and Al-Delaimy, 2012, a299-301). The prominent theme that characterises...
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...Juliet Le THRS 200 Experiential Essay Suffering and Science: The Possibility of a Loving God Before enrolling in a theology course, I was biased about the views of the possibility of a Christian God. I’ve seen far too many people say that God is their savior and everything they do is because of him, or for him. It was always to some far-fetched point, where I was unable to comprehend where their views came from. I never had the evidence or background to fall back on for a reason to have a foundation for the belief in God. Taking into consideration the numerous contextual readings from the arguments for the pros and cons for the existence of God, I still come to a conclusion that God does not exist in the human experience. Denis Edwards is the most notable author that I was able to relate to. By beginning with the nature of experience, we first encounter an individual and then we have an interpretation and understanding of that individual. Therefore, experience involves both encounters and interpretation of that encounter. We can have similar encounters, but different interpretations. This is where I was able to understand that the interpretive stage of experience can be biased, whether it may be because of emotional blockages, or unconscious motives. Edwards’s claims made me understand why I was unable to grasp the possibility of a God. Throughout my childhood, I was brought up in a Buddhist religion, never having even heard one thing about the Christian God....
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...Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are By: Marlene Zuk Book Report By: Alex Strickland What made me choose this book? Growing up learning about the precedence of keeping clean and remaining germ free to prevent diseases, I was intrigued, when reading through the book list descriptions, that this was a book based solely upon the usefulness and signification of diseases and how they are really living organisms partner in this world. The odd and unique title caught my attention and after I read more into Riddled with Life I was set on learning just how diseases could possibly have a positive impact on life itself. I figured this book was enriched with so many interesting facts that I could learn from and hopefully benefit from and after reading this book I found out that I had made the right decision! This book had me hooked beginning to end with interesting facts and concepts I had never even fathomed being true. Synopsis of Riddled with Life Marlene Zuk does a great job in this book describing not only how parasites are not a bad thing to live amongst and we should not be focused on the unreasonable act of destroying them but also just how much they benefit organisms human beings and flies alike. All living things benefit from parasites, they are part of what makes us who we are. However, diseases and germs are not necessarily short-term beneficial for one personally due to chronic diseases and illnesses...
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...Aristotle was the first to bring the term transcendental to the context of the attributes of being. Plato offered valuable insight regarding the four transcendental attributes of being. [1] Aristotle shaped the transcendentals in a specific manner and refined his own perspective. Later philosophers also expanded the discussion surrounding the transcendental attributes of being. These transcendentals become significant in the context of theology because they possess a link with Christian theology and unfold in the form of what man desires. For explicating the four transcendental attributes of being, it becomes significant to first explore the definition of an attribute. An attribute falls under the category of that aspect which does not exist in the form of the embodiment but originates from the same. As regards ‘being’, it can only give rise to what is also being and thus, a ‘being’ cannot spawn attributes or properties while discussing these terminologies in a firm manner. Nevertheless, while approaching the subject in a broader manner, an attribute can be defined for a specific perspective on being as long as it applies to each instance of being and overall entities that fall into the category of being. [2] The four transcendental attributes of being and their explanation follows below: The First Transcendental: Unity or Oneness One of the transcendental attributes of being accentuates that its count of one and every being is required to possess the fundamental...
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...1984 Literally Analysis By: Sam Palmer In 1984 by George Orwell, there are many different themes from the point of view of Winston Smith. The main theme of the book is being in control. Two of the major themes, which are explained in the novel, are the control of information, history, and language as mind control. These are two forms of control, which are practiced by the Party and the citizens of Oceania. The topic of control of information and history in the novel, through many different ideas. One main ways this theme is brought out is through the Party's slogan "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past", which is repeated in this novel. This theme is also, the fact that the Party controls every source of information and history. This is shown through the "Ministry of Truth", it manages and rewrites the pages of history for its own benefits. The final way in which the Party controls information and history is through not allowing people to keep their own memories of the past, such as their own pictures or documents, which means that the only true knowledge of the past exists in their memory. One of the main ways in which this theme is brought out is through the idea of Newspeak, so that it would be impossible "see" thoughts, because there is no words to even express them with. Another way in which language is used as mind control is the Party's slogans, which are taught into the citizens of Oceania from the moment they are born...
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...In metaphysics a question that is well thought out is the difference of a thing coming into existence vs existing. In this paper I will examine Avicenna’s work “The book of healing” specifically focused on book six. While contrasting through Aquinas’ work, chapter titled “The Special Effects of the Divine Government.” Avicenna no doubt has a presence of religion, specifically God, yet seems to go into great detail. Avicenna presents that we assume in an act of being. In order to distinguish between a cause of becoming and the being itself we must look at the existence of a thing itself. Aquinas, argues for a greater presence of God. That God controls all of the things that come into existence. Except for angels and heavenly bodies. By the end of this paper I...
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...faith, especially those with very strong beliefs. We as Christians believe that God is almighty and there is really no need to believe in any other being or even question that he exists. In this article from McCloskey, he talks about God’s existence and if there truly is a God, then why is there evil in world? This essay will have my findings on the questions we were asked as class about McCloskey’s thoughts and the thoughts from the book, Philosophy of Religion. When believing in anything, people like to have proof as to why something exists. Christians might show proof in God’s existence or Atheists might show proof in that there is no God. We all have reasons as to why we believe in certain things and sometimes its can be hard to prove. McCloskey talks about proofs in his article, saying that there are proofs to the non-existence of God. In a presentation titled “Approaching the Question of God’s Existence”, the author is quite the opposite of McCloskey. He doesn’t believe that we should try proving anything; it is a word to steer away from. We shouldn’t try to find proof that God exists, but find a best explanation to why he exists. McCloskey says that proofs cannot actually make a case that there is a God. In the presentation, though, it is explained that we can make our best case for why he exists. The author says, “There are certain things we see within the universe, the best explanation is God.” (Approaching the Questions of God’s Existence) So in conclusion to the idea...
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...Does God Exist? No, in my opinion from all of the information that I have been exposed to, I can easily state that there is no all powerful being that created each and every one of us, and that knows all and watches us at all times. Throughout my life I have been feed Bible verses and told many a stories about how God is always there for you, if you pray he will listen, he will help you with all of your troubles; however none of this can be proven with any amount of facts whatsoever. Ask a devout Christian how God does it, or how they know he exists, and their answer is very simple “It’s called Faith, if we believe he will help us, then he will”. For the first 15 years of my life I was brought up as a very strict 7th Day Adventist (Sub-section of Christianity), I was told that God was perfect and we were to strive to be just like him in every aspect of our life, we were to go to church on the 7th day and refrain from any other activities. They use the Bible daily to try and justify their beliefs…a book that could have been written by anyone, at any time throughout history, think of it as a game of “The Telephone” where a group of kids sits in a circle and a story begins with one person, who then whispers it to the next and so on until the circle is complete. The final product is almost always completely different than that of the original story, and we have been told that the Bible is over 2000 years old and has been translated hundreds of times into different languages...
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...relationships help us get through many obstacles we can face and really make great influences. Each friendship we develop throughout our life has a unique but distinct love; the love that exists empowers the extents and the actions of each person apart of the relationship. A quote by the Grecian poet Homer that says, “The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.” explains this but how difficult it may be for us to form one’s that motivate us to perform some of the greatest deeds. Throughout The Help by Kathryn Stockett friendships and other special relationships are evident. They play an important role in the main subject of the novel and appear all throughout. They appear in this novel to display how powerful and necessary friendships are. This theme is also evident in many artifacts of popular culture; one for example is the hit song “Umbrella” by pop star Rihanna. This song was created to express her loyalty to her friends and guarantee their protection no matter the circumstance. In both The Help and “Umbrella” the use of the theme of friendship was used to communicate the immense love and loyalty that exists within friendships and express the true power both this love and loyalty holds. In The Help relationships constantly appear like the one that exists between Aibileen and Skeeter, Minny and Aibileen, and Johnny and Celia. All of the relationships that existed between these people asked for great amounts of support and sacrifice....
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...Roger Logan Professor Garvin English 1010 Paper #3 Comic Book Boys Peter Middleton’s essay “Boys Will Be Men” begins with simple anecdotes about the relationships between boys and men of different ages. Middleton then changes his focus towards comic books, where his focus remains all the way through the rest of the paper. Circling back to his original thoughts, the focus on comic books leads to an analysis of comic books in regards to children and their development into men. In his conclusion to the essay, Middleton states, “Nevertheless, action comics for boys are certainly damaging because they offer false solutions to the difficulties of growing up which both sexes face” (Middleton 141). Often Middleton points out that the reason that little boys read such comic books is that their true role models, their fathers, are not home. So in their absence, the children latch onto the traits found inherent in the superheroes they read about. However, the newly found role models, and superheroes, do not represent that which should be portrayed to our children. Throughout many comic book series there seems to always be portrayed a sense of masculinity gone wrong or hypermasculinity. Along with others, though primarily in the comic series of both Batman and of Spiderman, this specific form of masculinity being shown to the children is expressed through a relationship between the superhero, and the law. In the end, comic books become what is essentially a display case for the extremes...
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