...class we examined the argument of William Clifford, and William James. In this essay I will simply examine the two opposing sides. Clifford takes the side of Evidentialism. Evidentialism is the standing that for a belief to be knowledge, it must be supported by evidence. According to evidentialism, everyone has a rational and moral duty to believe only those claims that are supported by sufficient evidence. If a belief doesn't fit in with well established scientific beliefs or isn't discovered through normal scientific practices, then it isn't rational and doesn't count as genuine knowledge. On the other side is James, who believes in Pragmatism. In an essay entitled, Pragmatism's Theory of Truth James wrote ' Truth happens to be an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. It's verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its verification. Grant an idea or belief to be true, what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash value in experiential terms?' Clifford says that we harm ourselves and others when we do not question our beliefs. James argues that it is appropriate to resolve particular cases on non-rational grounds, as a matter of choice, passion, or volition. Religious choices are a perfect example. Clifford makes the point we have no right to beliefs...
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...Clifford writes about the “Ethics of Belief” which he tries to prove his point of view about what he believed was the right way to believe in something or someone. The author starts with two examples to illustrate a wrong and dishonorable way of believing in things. The ship owner is the first example presented, in which the owner of a certain ship believes in the soundness of his ship despite of being unsure if the ship would make due to the fact that it was unsafe to navigate with people onboard. As Clifford argues “He had acquired his belief not by honestly earning it in patient investigation, but by stifling his doubts” (144). As for the second example Clifford uses a similar idea which presents the same concept, the story about the accusers who accused a few men of a crime which ends up being false. However, Clifford once again asserts that the accusers were wrong, as he says “They had sincerely and conscientiously believed in charges they made” (145)....
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...topic of controversy for quite some time. Two prominent figures in this respect are William Clifford whose support of doxastic conservatism is outlined in The Ethics of Belief and William James, who defend doxastic liberalism in his work The Will to Believe. Personally, I find Clifford’s position resonates better with my own process of accepting and discarding beliefs, however it is important to note that by saying this I am not rejecting the virtues of doxastic liberalism. Quite the contrary, I do believe that in some instances a liberal attitude can prove worthwhile, I simply find James’ reasons for applying a liberal attitude to be rather problematic. A discussion on whether or not James’ reasons for applying doxastic liberalism may go beyond the scope of this paper, so any such inquiry into this matter will be kept to a minimum. In his defense of doxastic conservatism Clifford offers the following argument: Before accepting a belief, we must ensure that there is sufficient evidence which supports said belief (1,5,10). If after examining the available evidence, we find that it does not support the belief, than that belief must be discarded (2-4). Additionally, there are instances where a belief “goes beyond our experience” and can be accepted based on inferences of similar experiences, assuming that the inference is drawn logically from reliable experience (8-10). Finally, Clifford gives weight to sources of authority, such as writings of history or the words of another...
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...fence, if either, they fall into and their views about the other side. The three philosophers I will talk about are Blaise Pascal, W.K. Clifford, and William James and their views on the whole believing in God thing. Blaise Pascal was for the idea of believing in God. Pascal’s thought were that “having a belief in God was useful even if not supported by the available evidence (Pascal).” His theory basically stated that if “someone fully devoted their life to the ways of Christianity they would soon believe what Christians believe” (Pascal). I personally don’t like this idea because I feel that this is, basically, brainwashing yourself. The next philosopher William James had theory that was along the same line as Pascal’s. He thought if people had the options between two really appealing choices the people have the right to act as their passion decides (James, 1896).” James thought it was pointless for us to permit the fear of holding a false belief to prevent us from losing the benefits of believing what may be true. In short, he thought it was better off to believe (James, 1896). This sounds like an ultimatum is a crazy way. I don’t see how scaring yourself to believe in something seems justifiable. The last philosopher I am going to discuss is W.K. Clifford. His views were completely to the contrary of the views of Pascal and James. He thought that no one should ever believe something that...
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...Allan Pinkerton was born August 25, 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland. He began working at an early age as a cooper and very active in the Chartist movement during these years as well. When the Chartist movement was at a slow down, Pinkerton immigrated to the United States. (Biography Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency: PBS, (2009). Pinkerton settled based his new roots in Chicago around 1842. And at that time, he decided to join the law enforcement agency. During his law enforcement career, he was promoted to Deputy Sherriff. While in office, he organized a force of detectives. Who focused on the capture of thieves, who were stealing railway property and this was how his organization developed as; The Pinkerton Nation Detective Agency in 1852. (Clifford, (2004). Some major events that occurred during Pinkerton’s detective years were; in 1961 Pinkerton was investigating the Confederates sabotage of a railroad in Maryland, which had planned on assassinating the then President-elect, Abraham Lincoln on his way to the inauguration in Washington, D.C. (National Park Service: U.S. Department of the Interior: Allan Pinkerton, (2013). Pinkerton convinced Lincoln to revise his plans and saved the Presidents life and supervised the successful journey to Washington for the Presidents Inauguration. Pinkerton was also asked by a friend, General George B. McClellan to help gather information on the enemy for Union, and was dubbed as; “Secret Service”, until he was...
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...Land Without Bread by Luis Bunuel There are numerous ethnographic surrealist films that have an intriguing relationship to aesthetics and politics. A film that exemplifies this relationship is “Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan” (Land Without Bread). This film is only 27-minutes and is directed by the infamous Luis Bunuel in 1933. Bunuel was a Spanish filmmaker of the 1920’s to the 1970’s. He is often attributed to being one of the major contributors to the surrealist movement of the 1920’s. “Ethnographic surrealism is a utopian construct, a statement at once about past and future possibilities for cultural analysis.”(Clifford, 119) ‘Land Without Bread’ has a clear connection between politics and aesthetics. It uses many techniques, specifically the narrator and soundtrack, in order to enhance the ostensible political meaning of the film as well as link it to the ethnographic surrealist movement. Many ethnographic surrealist artists turned their attention to the problem of representing otherness. “Bunuel identified what he saw as a Surrealist tendency to “use” bourgeois society’s ‘other’s’ to negate the cultural status quo while never giving these others their due”(Lastra, 55). Land Without Bread is considered one of the earliest forms of ethnographic surrealism. Fatimah Rony describes Ethnographic cinema as “above all a cinema of the body: the focus is on the anatomy and gestures of the indigenous person, and on the body of the land they inhabit”(Rony, 111). While many film scholars...
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...” - Richard Dawkins Many other philosophers and professionals of academia criticize religion for its reliance on faith. More specifically, they condemn the act of using faith to reason –rationalizing actions based on something other than evidence or proof. My argument does not necessarily confine itself to the focus frame of religion, but more generally, I argue that it is justified to form beliefs that are not grounded in sufficient evidence. I will use my initial motivation for this topic as an appropriate introduction for this argument. Throughout the semester I was genuinely intrigued by the atheistic arguments of astounding philosophers –most notable and influential on my own beliefs were the ideas of Hume, Dawkins, Clifford, and even Nietzsche. In light of this and the logically superior option to argue against the existence of God, … I did. In fact, I was four pages into what was shaping out to be the best paper I’ve written since my secondary school thesis on underwater basket weaving. At some point, however, I could not continue writing. I had no passion, desire, or any sense of purpose while trying to grind out the final couple pages. I did not believe in what I was writing. I tapped into the revolutionary texts of the aforementioned philosophers and used them as secondary sources to a paper that lacked its most important primary source: my own motivation. And it was in light of this, that I discarded the progress I had made and began writing on something...
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...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Jada Schmal CJS/250 January 11, 2015 Vernon Hale III Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton did not start out in law enforcement but changed after finding a gang of counterfeiters. Began a detective agency which focused on railroad theft cases. Later, in Pinkerton’s career Allan moved to bank robbers, but still dealt with railroad thieves. Pinkerton began with a small group of night watchmen to offer protection for the night. Allan Pinkerton did not start out with law enforcement but helped support the family as a barrel maker. Allan Pinkerton settled in America in 1842, to set up a cooper shop in Chicago. (West’s Encyclopedia of America Law, 2005). After moving, Pinkerton discovered and captured gang of counterfeiters and this changed and soon became involved with police work. Allan Pinkerton became sheriff in 1846 in Kane County. Suddenly after the position was moved with headquarters in Chicago. In 1850, Pinkerton, quit as deputy and began the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The agency focused on railroad theft cases that became the most famous group of its kind and soon after opened more branches in other cities. (West’s Encyclopedia of America Law, 2005). In 1851 and 1853, Pinkerton inspected fabricating issues for the U.S. secretary of treasury, and William Church, the region sheriff asked Pinkerton to save two captured girls from Michigan stated to be going through Illinois. The following year Pinkerton turned out to...
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...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Gregory Williams CJS/250 Introduction to Security Mr. Jeremy Busch June 24, 2013 Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton is the name that is often associated with private security in the annals of police history. With his private detective agency, he left an unforgettable mark regarding the private investigation not only in America, but across the globe as well (Dempsey, 2007). This was reinforced by the company’s logo of the all-seeing eye. Pinkerton was born in 1819 in Scotland, and his father was a known police officer. He was not destined to be a law enforcer, as he opted for other careers, but following the political upheavals that manifested in Scotland, he was forced to change his mind. His family had no option but to flee Scotland, and settled in Illinois where he ran a cooperage—a profession that had never crossed his mind. Later on he became a deputy sheriff and was mandated to pursue the counterfeits products that were being transacted in the region. His investigative career commenced when he was transferred to Chicago after his efforts were recognized. He was given a job in the Treasury Department from which he formed a private police investigation unit that dealt with railroad crime. In 1857, Pinkerton’s Protective Police Patrol was developed and it contracted out private security services to local businesses. The agency grew and covered an area encompassing five states. After some successful...
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...TH 502 Social Sciences Winter Semester 2013 Prof Anne-Marie Willis Office: C3 114 anne.willis@guc.edu.eg Lectures: Wednesday 12.30 – 14.00 in H18 Course Description Social Sciences research phenomena of social interaction and investigate them empirically. Social sciences analyze structure and function as well as the interdependence with action and behavior processes of individuals. The lectures introduce social science thinking and methods that are useful for designer’s research. Students will be able to use methods as interviews, questionnaires, case studies, participant observation, and evaluative techniques. The course seeks to demonstrate the significance of the social sciences (sociology, psychology and anthropology) for design. It does this by describing and analyzing specific examples of the use of social science thinking and methods in design practice. Additionally, the social sciences are contextualized historically, especially in terms of the modes of thinking that underlie them. Learning Outcome, Competences • Detailed knowledge in the fields of design research and social science method • Ability to apply problem-oriented scientific working methods • Ability to comprehend fundamental concepts upon which social sciences are based Assessment Coursework (assignments) 30% Mid-term exam 30% Final exam 40% Assignments will be announced and guidelines given in Lectures 2 and 7. Attendance To complete this course successfully...
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...Guide to Preparing Your Essay Outline (N.B. This guide is to be read in conjunction with the ‘Introducing Philosophy’ booklet handed out at the beginning of the course) An essay outline for this course comprises two components: • A thesis statement • A section-by-section summary of the developing argument. • References A thesis statement Your essay should be a good philosophical argument. Such an argument, at minimum, provides good reasons in support of a conclusion. Thus, the first step in writing a good essay is to be clear of the conclusion, i.e. the claim that you are going to be defending. It should be possible to present the claim in no more than a sentence or two that tells the reader what it is that you will argue, and why and how. This is what is known as a thesis statement, and your essay outline should begin with this. A good thesis statement should: • Be no longer than a sentence or two • It should be something philosophically controversial (though not necessarily sensationalist), in that it should not merely be a statement of fact, nor of style, nor of context. • It should include a reference to the target idea or text. Examples: “Pascal’s (1632-62) famed defence of religious faith by appeal to the utility of believing in God rather than the truth of the belief is unsatisfactory since, although it professes to start from a position of metaphysical ignorance, in practice it smuggles in unwarranted assumptions...
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...Form • Short solos • Smooth- no climax • Doesn't destroy the mood consistency of the piece • User friendly→ pop music • Well- strucutred • “Sing, Sing, Sing”- 1937 • most famous piece by benny goodmand and porbably the entire swing era • most recognizable part of the song is Gene Krupa’s drumming, which exists as a motif throughout the song o gene krupa very specific drumming style- jungle style→ pounding sound • band comes in screaming • very stylize- accurate- used for movie • not entirely written- drum and solos improvisation • drums center of it all o everything else is centered around that • IMPORTANT NAMES: • Benny Goodman (clarinet) • Teddy Wilson (piano) • Hampton Hawes (vibraphone) • Gene Krupa (drums) • Harry James (trumpet) o Duke Ellington- “America’s Greatest Composer” • IMPORTANT NAMES: • Duke Ellington (piano) • Jimmy Blanton (bass) • Sonny Greer (drums) • Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone) • Cootie Williams (trumpet) • Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone) • “Take the A Train” 1941 • jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn • “It don’t mean a thing if it aint got that swing- 1932 • “Black, Brown, and Beige Pt. 1- Work Song”- 1943 • slow in the beginning • bass’ corse tone- suggestive of an unrelieved tension→ this tension in sound and rhythm then produces the image of struggle • the reason this rhythm provodes image of struggele is due to the manifestly tensional nature of slavery • more complicated than AABA form→ leaves dance music to art...
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...Hollinger aligns with James in his admiration for the thinkers who have entrusted their dearest traditions to rational inquiry. His appreciation of James’ ideas is evident from his defense of James when his “tender aspects” were mocked by the heirs of Huxley and Clifford where he referred to them as “pansy (Hollinger...
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...Karl Lakata 9/29/14 Professor Canterbury James P. Johnson Album Review The Original James P. Johnson: 1942-1945 Piano Solos James P. Johnson’s 1942-1945 piano solos, is an extremely nice album to listen to. It can be described as funky, up lifting, impressive, happy, fast, and soulful. His piano techniques are beyond impressive. While his right hand is playing a faster more aggressive melody, his left hand will be playing a smooth cut time melody to compliment the right hand. This is typical of stride pianists but is not always so technical. I also come to find that often times, stride pianists hands will not compliment one another. I mean the melodies do not fit together as well as they could or should. James P. Johnson does an excellent job of making every note left or right hand, fit together in a wonderful fashion. I prefer a piano solo over any other instrument’s solo. This made for a wonderful listening experience. In my opinion there’s nothing like a fast, intense, and intricate piano solo. On very rare occasions, I will find myself fighting the urge to clap after a song is over. I am not talking about live performances either. It takes quite a bit of musical stimulation to feel the need to clap after hearing an mp3. However this did happen to me multiple times throughout my listening of the album. Other than the big band stuff we are now getting into, this album has been my favorite selection of music from the class so far. This is one of those albums that are...
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...The civil rights movements in the USA It refers to the whys and wherefores the Afro-American had to fight for their rights. It reaches its summit during the Civil War. Before it, blacks were considered as animals, slaves… If they tried to fight they get killed. They are free to fight. The Civil War: 1861-1865. In 1860 Lincoln was elected president of the USA, he came to office in 1861. He was a Republican. As soon as he was elected, the Southern states decided that they did not want to be a part of the country led by Lincoln. They seceded from the country in 1860. 11 states seceded from the Union. Lincoln declared a war to gain the states back. It opposed 2 sides: the 11 Southern States = the Confederate States = Democrats = Slave States; the head was Jefferson Davis. So Lincoln wages a war against Davis. He gathered the Union. General Grant was on Lincoln’s side VS General Lee. In 1863 Lincoln decided to emancipate the slaves => for a certain amount of time you must “free” them. He did that to gather more men. He claimed them as “war property”. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union it’s obviously illegal: infringement of the executive he was not the owner of the slaves. He became a slave owner. The slaves did come to fight on his side. 2 battles: * Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: 1863 Lee won the battle. * Appomattox took place in 1865 and led to the end of the war. It is located in North Virginia => it led to the surrender of Lee and to the victory...
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