...into sections where he gets into detail on the aspects of determining good and evil. Harris and the Jedi have very little in common when it comes to their views, and that is obvious after a comparison of the two. Sam Harris begins this chapter with an introduction to an explanation of what good and evil is and each can be achieved. In our world today there are many different understandings of what is good or evil depending on what particular group of human beings you belong to. Among some groups of people, certain activities that bring people happiness are frowned upon by different groups of people. What makes these groups of people right or wrong in their understanding of good and evil? Harris understands the act of being evil or good as a result of causing either happiness or suffering. He states that everyone has an ethical responsibility, which becomes present as you find yourself in a position that can determine ones happiness or suffering. To develop an understanding of what is ethically right or wrong you should do it based on the views of the present, not views from the past or future. Contrary to popular belief in our world, Harris believes religion is not necessary, especially in the sense of it being the source of are ethical intuitions. When determining if something is right or wrong it should not be necessary to look to religion for guidance, answers should come naturally. One’s experience in the world alone is all that is needed to differentiate between good...
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...The discourse on whether or not money can buy happiness has been perpetuating itself for centuries. William Hazlitt, author of “On the want of Money” is among those who believe that money has the power to grant happiness. In the excerpt, Hazlitt utilizes a variety of rhetorical devices to express his position on money, and he makes his argument, that money can buy happiness, through the usage of pathos, diction, and tone. In his writing, Hazlitt potently makes use of pathos to strengthen his argument: money can buy happiness. Throughout the passage, examples of life without the comfort of financial stability and opulence are given. For example, Hazlitt argues that without money one would be, “scrutinized by strangers, and neglected by...
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...Pursuit of Happiness Stacy A. Figg PSY/220 June 22, 2014 Christopher Crimson Pursuit of Happiness What does happiness mean? It depends on the person, the cultural influences, and the part of the world in which they live. It also depends on the traditions and the individual’s way of thinking. For many, happiness can mean being loyal to their country, the ability to provide and contribute to their household. Others may be starting their lives and graduating from high school and going to college. There are many factors to how each person will influence and is influenced by those around them. In the United States we are taught about the American Dream. It’s the portrait of the perfect family, the perfect job, and the home with the white picket fence. Studies have shown that when American people were asked what the meaning of happiness is, their responses were going to school, finishing college, getting married, and self-success. These responses are evident that in American culture, self- determination and looking out for their wellbeing, and achieving their goals create positive self-esteem and confidence. “The influence of culture is suggested by the different relationship between income and SWB across countries” (Baumgardner & Crothers, 2009, p.11). These factors were the main target of what people in America have in mind of what happiness means to each different person. For others it could be to help those in need, serving their country, or be...
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...Foundation of life to approach happiness It is no more infrequent that every time people look at the newspaper in the morning, terrible news dominates the cover and headlines. As a matter of fact, we all notice that the violence is dramatically growing in this world. This is not a new modern issue but already becomes a common topic in both the world of laypeople and that of social scientists and spiritual leaders. Hence, there is an urgent calling for a solution to the security of every individual and the whole world as well. Nevertheless, tragedies that people have been suffering, are still taking place. They are not natural but sadly man-made catastrophes. The root of cause is not in external and top down factors such as security measures, laws, and policies, but it is originated from consciousness of human. Unquestionably, the issue should be solved at the root. Hence, mindfulness, which could help people to deal with the causes, would be a solution for this problem. As an ancient notion that was taught as the heart of Buddhism’s teaching, mindfulness was proved as a valuable practice in health care and life that help people deal with their suffering and reach happiness. Religion In Buddhism’s position, mindfulness means awareness moment-by-moment in the present without forming attachment and making judgment. Mindfulness is comprised of consciousness and awareness. The motivation of Buddhism is practice that can help people to reach the enlightenment and happiness. Mindfulness...
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...Section: Society In Waiting for Godot Beckett proposes the view that happiness can never be enduring; it comes and goes and is subject to chance and change. Whether in postwar 1953 or credit crisis 2009, is encouraging people to think happy thoughts more like a desperate recourse to denial than a therapy struggling to engage with reality? Vladimir: Say you are, even if it's not true. Estragon: What am I to say? Vladimir: Say, I am happy. Estragon: I am happy. Vladimir: So am I. Estragon: So am I. Vladimir: We are happy. Estragon: We are happy. (Silence.) What do we do now, now that we are happy? Vladimir: Wait for Godot.( n1) An outbreak of happiness interrupts the otherwise bleak landscape of Waiting for Godot. Samuel Beckett's play, first produced in Paris during 1953, has justifiably become a classic of modern theatre. Neither comedy nor tragedy, but a mixture of both -- with ample quantities of clowning thrown in for good measure -- the whole becomes a vehicle for dramatic meaning and irony. It would be easy to discount this play as a period piece of postwar angst, belonging to the vanished world of existentialism that marked so much European culture after the Second World War. Following two world wars, mass genocide, and economies geared to armed conflict, happiness may have struck contemporaries in the early 1950s as a luxurious and vacuous entity. There was, for example, an urgent debate about whether any literature, art, or drama was possible after Auschwitz...
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..."Jane Austen: Irony and Authority" Critic: Rachel M. Brownstein Source: Women's Studies 15, nos. 1-3 (1988): 57-70. Criticism about: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817) Nationality: British; English [(essay date 1988) _In the following essay, Brownstein focuses on several of Austen's novels, including Pride and Prejudice, to support her argument that Austen uses irony to convey a "discursive authority" from which women can derive pleasure in a patriarchal society.] It is a truth universally acknowledged, right now, that language is involved in giving and taking both power and pleasure. Whether we begin by asking if the pen is a substitute for the penis, or think about why we read stories of love and adventure, or consider, from any point of view, pornography or psychoanalysis, we end by analyzing ways people please themselves and assert authority over others by using words. (To observe that critics writing about pleasure and power have managed to get what measure of the good stuff they can is to state the merely inevitable.) Claiming that women writers are powerful--i.e. effective and influential--has been a focus of feminist critics concerned to dispute the canon, to rehabilitate forgotten writers, and to revise women's relation to the languages of power. That Jane Austen, unforgotten, canonized, and stunningly authoritative, has been a problem for feminists is not surprising: in the struggle for power between politically radical and conservative critics...
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...Business Ethics: A Discourse on Rights: Moral, Legal, and Human Myriad optimistic forecasts, of what comprises the core of business ethics, have permeated numerous discussions on management and commerce practices in the marketplace today. Global economics and trading across borders nearly demands it. In fact, ‘ethics’ in business has come to represent one of the key buzzwords of our decade, along with ‘sustainability’ and the ideological concept of global warming – seemingly shoved down the throats of people. But what is business ethics anyway, and why does it matter? The discourse herein hopefully highlights a cogent and logically based compilation of answers as required from the rubric of Assignments Four. While this paper is written in essay format, for the sake of clarity and precision for the reader, each section shall appropriately and clearly display the topical area or question being addressed. (1) – Define a right, a legal right, a moral right, and a human right explaining how they are related. The philosophical idea of what constitutes a ‘right’ is an age-old concept that many men of God and theorists have confronted from ancient times. One things seems clear. A ‘right’ cannot be discussed without dividing the premise from a ‘privilege.’ According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a right is simply defined as “being in accordance with what is just, good, or proper” as in conduct (“Right,” 2015). Judge Napolitano defined a right as “a gift from God that extends...
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...Mason & Watson, 2007; Noble, 2008; Rose & Rowland, 2010), with social and emotional wellbeing variously described in terms of mental health, resilience, psychosocial competence and the like. While the discourse of wellbeing is now widely appropriated as a way of capturing our aspirations for children and young people, the term itself is poorly defined and under-theorised (Griffiths & Cooper, 2005; Hamilton & Redmond, 2010; McAuley & Rose, 2010; Noble, 2008). There is a significant instability and ambiguity around the term ‘wellbeing’ both in public policy and popular discourse. Ereaut and Whiting (2008) contend that signals a shifting set of meanings, that is, it represents what is collectively agreed by a group or number of groups constituting the Aristotelian notion of ‘the good life’. In similar vein, Ryan and Deci (2001, p.141) propose that wellbeing is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning, which will of course be somewhat relative to context. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to canvass literature the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of wellbeing it is worth pointing out that the current research on wellbeing has been derived from two broad perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines wellbeing in...
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...the Pali Buddhist Canonical Scriptures of Theravada Buddhism from Burma. This is a unique work, as it is probably the only material that deals in outline with the whole of the Pali Buddhist Tipitaka. The Tipitaka includes all the teachings of the Buddha, grouped into three divisions: the Soutane Patch, or general discourses; the Vane Patch, or moral code for monks and nuns; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka, or philosophical teachings. An excellent reference work which gives an overview of the Pali Buddhist texts. • It is recommended that you download the print version below as it is of higher quality. Print Version (1,314KB, zipped file) This print version is suitable for people who can print the pages duplex and they will have 2 A5 size pages on every Landscape oriented A4 page. This file is of higher quality with bookmarks and a hyper linked series of "contents" pages. (1,815 KB) Daily Readings from Buddha's Words of Wisdom — by Ven. S. Dhammika. For over two millennium the discourses of the Buddha have nourished the spiritual lives of countless millions of people in India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. This book contains extracts from some of these discourses selected from the Pali Tipitaka and also from some post-canonical writings. Rendered into readable English, presented so that one extract can be read and reflected upon each...
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...| | | | Name | Celestine | Gumaj | | Personal Identifier | 65743f | | | Code | Gb45| | | Assignment Number | 780 | | | Part 1. How are people influenced by the society they live in? Dictionary.reference.com defined Influence as the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc., of others while Oxford dictionary defined society as a community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws and organisations. People can be influenced in the society they live in by the role of law that regulates adults as members of the society which includes how civil liability known as law of negligence and criminal liability such as theft could influence people. (The Open University 2013, Block 1, page 87). Civil law is used to settle dispute between individuals, the party at fault would have to pay compensation or comply with another suitable outcome. A judge would have to hear both party and make a final decision. On the other hand, criminal law is about creating laws for protection of all individuals within society and for the punishment of those individuals who break the law. Criminal law sets out types of behaviour that are forbidden, such as theft, and if such behaviour occurs then punishment follows. Negligence could occur as an act of omission which could foresee the injury of a neighbour. In other to guide against negligence, the ‘’neighbour...
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...Ahmednagar, 1945. Copyright © Lawrence Reiter. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. by Sheriar Press, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write: Sheriar Foundation, 3005 Highway 17 North ByPass, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577, U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: Meher Baba, 1894-1969. Discourses / Meher Baba. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-880619-08-3 : $25.00. - ISBN 1-880619-09-1 (pbk.): $15.00. 1. Spiritual life. I. Title. BP610.M43127 1995 299'.93-dc20 94-36972 CIP ISBN 1^880619-08-3 (previously ISBN 0-913078-573) ISBN 1-880619-09-1 (pbk.) (previously ISBN 0913078-584) ________________________________________________ v Contents FOREWORD ……………………………………………………. INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVENTH EDITION ………………......... THE SEVEN REALITIES …………………………………………. THE NEW HUMANITY ………………………………………….. SELFISHNESS ………………………………………………….. GOD AND THE INDIVIDUAL ……………………………………. THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF CREATION ………………….. THE FORMATION AND FUNCTION OF SANSKARAS ……………… THE REMOVAL OF SANSKARAS viii xiii 1 3 10 16 23 32 Part I The Cessation, the Wearing Out, and the Unwinding...
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...utilitarianism, and deontological studies. Through ethics we share experiences, formulate beliefs, exchange ideas, transmit knowledge, and sustain culture. One must identify with the significance of ethics in order to understand it. Our main beliefs pertaining to ethics usually are pleasant. Common simple ethical terms such as “by virtue” or “useful” help us to develop new senses when we continuously express them within our personal beliefs. Concrete ethics vividly helps us to bring things to life. Based on my research, in a few words I will attempt to explain how ethics connect to show varied ideas, philosophical viewpoints (i.e., Article – “Ethics in Society”), endless possibilities, and how ethics play an important role in our everyday life. Descriptive Differences Utilitarianism has the great virtue of selecting reason as the means of achieving its objectives. It acknowledges that we can rationally determine moral truths. It's primary standard is the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Each person and thing such as an animal has the same value according to a utilitarian thought process. To function effectively, to make the right choices, we need not only the right emotional guidance, but also the conscious knowledge of how to determine right and wrong. (Voss, Peter) Deontology is defined as rightness determined by right actions, not rightness of the outcomes. There is no single deontological theory. Defined as “the moral theory that...
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...Exploring Feminist Identities: Empowerment Through Duality Female writers constantly try to negotiate their identities in a society that exalts male opinion. That the protagonists of Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Chopin’s “A Pair of Silk Stockings” are married women places both discourses within a patriarchal, institutional framework. Immediately, a critique of marriage arises, and we are forced to examine how women are oppressed, either by patriarchy or by stereotypes placed on them as mothers and nurturers. It is evident that both stories serve to highlight the plight of women, though it remains arguable whether a solution is proposed. Gilman’s nameless protagonist goes mad, while Chopin’s “Little Mrs. Sommers” dreads going back to the boring routine of a housewife. The conclusions, as such, do not seem to empower women, but suggests a futility of fighting against patriarchy. Even if the madness of Gilman’s nameless protagonist is seen as a form of transcendental sanity as suggested by some critics, how empowering is it for females to be represented as mad? Besides, her transcendence - if it is interpreted as such – is temporary, for she might be placed in an asylum for further treatment. Consumerism too, is only a temporary relief for Mrs. Sommers’ mundane existence, for her money will run out eventually. The fact that both women are married is an important consideration in this analysis. Marriage inscribes patriarchy into the narrative, because it forces the identity...
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...Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes were 17th and 18th century philosophers with contrasting theories about human nature. Rousseau published first part of his Discourse on Inequality arguing that men in a state of nature are free and equal. In their theories, both Hobbes and Rousseau’s appeal to the state of nature are quite different. This paper will discuss how Rousseau’s understanding of fear of death of human nature differs from Hobbes’s understanding. Hobbes believes that man is always in the fear of being killed in a painful way because everyone is an enemy of each other. Hobbes says life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Hobbes, 76). The fear of a short life that ends badly should be the glue that holds society together....
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...Many people, in their efforts to achieve totalitarian direction, have to contend with many negating forces. Marcus calls for the replacement of exploitation, with freedom, but domination and repression remains. Marcus presents an ideology where the people enjoy some capitalist society where they are falsely presented with a life that is comfortable. However, Marcuse calls this some form of smooth, comfortable oppression that creeps into the people and successfully exorcizes or represses the very evident contradictions. In the year 1972, Marcuse wrote another essay titled “An Essay on Liberation” in which he asserts that voluntary servitude can only be broken through a political practice that goes to the extent of demolishing the roots of containment and contentment (Holman 632). The idea here is that people still have a long way to go to get liberated from false needs (Marcuse 405). The generation of substantial change requires a qualitatively different totality where social liberation goes beyond the economic sphere to touch human existence” (Winters 161). The only way to attain this kind of life is if people think of “the possibility of emancipated subjectivity” (Holman...
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