...Delusions Between Religion and Religious Beliefs Glenn Watkins Park University 3 December 2010 Abstract This paper discusses the results a study conducted by Mental, Health, Religion and Culture regarding a qualitative study examining the relationship between religious beliefs and delusions. The paper discusses the definition of delusions as well as religion and makes a stark comparison between the two. The paper includes many different religions and how each claims having a monopoly to salvation. The study included white males from seemingly the same background who were diagnosed as having symptoms of delusions ranging from ages 34 – 57. The paper also discusses several theories as discussed in class regarding thoughts from Erikson, Sullivan and Fromm. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief historical summary of why the author has contention with religion and religious beliefs. Key words: Delusional, fanaticisms, capricious, analogous, and tantamount. When one person suffers from delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from delusion it is called religion. - Robert M. Pirsig There is a close kinship to the relationship between religious beliefs and religious delusion. Merriam-Webster defines delusion as a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also: the abnormal state marked by such beliefs. Religion is defined as...
Words: 2816 - Pages: 12
...Plato believed there to be a sharp distinction between the world of perceivable objects and the world of forms. A form is what makes something to be that of what it is, or its essence. The form is that in which all members of the same kind have in a common type class. For example; if we were talking about pencils, a pencil would be an individual while pencil would be a form. In the dialogue “Meno,” Socrates opens not with the question of “what is virtue?” but rather “how and if virtue can be taught.” He then attempts to discover an exact definition of virtue because before one can discuss the subsequent questions about it, one must have an exact definition. Plato brings forth the idea of anamnesis, which states the soul is eternal and already knows everything, and in order to learn one must simply recollect what they already know. Throughout the dialogue Meno proposes many definitions of virtue, all of which are turned down by Socrates because he tends to use the word he is defining in the definition. As a result, the question is raised of whether it is even possible to seek for something one does not know yet, attempting to find a definition of virtue. By the end of the dialogue the two come to the conclusion that they still do not have a clear definition; however, they do not now that they do not know. This introduces the objection proposed by Meno discussing the entire definitional search in the form of what has been called “The Paradox of Inquiry.” The argument appeared...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...mother * Lord Higa threatens the village * Many long years ago, there was a cruel ruler who thought old peoples should be banished and should not be lived. So he make a low that is anyone who is over seventy-one must be banished from the village and left in the mountain. The ruler was strict and gives harsh punishment anyone who disobeys him so no one disobeyed him. Except for one. The young man didn't let his mother die in the mountain. He kept his mom secretly. But unfortunately, another ruler went to their village to conquer. Another ruler was also cruel so before he conquers them, he gave villagers three hard tasks. So the villagers thought each other to find the answer but they couldn't. Finally, the young farmer asked to his old mother. Every time he asks, his mother gave him a right answer. So because of the young farmer's old and wise mother, the villagers could be existed and not be conquered from others. In the end, the evil ruler of the village realizes the need for older people and noticed older people are wise and have more experiments then any others. Finally, he deleted his law! Plot: * The Wise Old Woman many years ago the was an arrogant and a cruel young lord who ruled over a small village in the western hills of japan , who thought that the old people are neither useful nor able to work for living so he ordered the villager that the one who's parents turn over the 71 years they have to take them to the mountains to be banished and die...
Words: 2361 - Pages: 10
...Question 1: Vincent says that, my real Resume is in my Cells. What does this mean? How does a paper resume compare to a DNA resume? Answer 1: He means that all the attributes they need to know about him are in his cells considering that they now can read your future strength knowledge and capabilities even when you will die. A paper resume is kind of the same as them reading your DNA only difference is that when you hand out a paper resume you can lie about all your attributes and experiences on a paper resume. In addition, on the DNA resume, they do not need you to turn in anything just your blood and they have everything they need to know about you without the possibility of you lying. Question 2: What is Vincent’s job? What is his dream? Why does it seem impossible to obtain? Answer 2: Vincent’s job is a Janitor. His dream is to be able to get to work with GATTACA and go on a space mission so that he can leave earth. It seems impossible because he was not genetically engineered he was born naturally and that gave him many problems that would not land him in a good job. It seems Impossible because the job he want’s “GATTACA” want’s excellent subjects in great physical form and no Problems what so ever. Questions 3: When Jerome Morrow said to Vincent,...
Words: 643 - Pages: 3
...intelligence was not possible. While the argument itself is flawless, John Searle’s opinion that strong artificial intelligence is impossible is not. The Chinese room argument is really more of a thought provoking experiment. You are asked to imagine an English speaking man in a room, within this room there is nothing but tools to which he can translate Chinese symbols. The man in the room is passed these symbols through a slit on one side of the room, and using his tools he must translate them. Then, he passes the translations through the slit in the other side of the room, and to the people outside the room it looks like he understands Chinese. Searle’s argument is that just because it looks like the man understands the Chinese symbols, and has the tools to translate the Chinese Symbols, doesn’t mean he actually understands the symbols. Within this argument the man represents a computer. The symbols are given to the computer, the computers programming allows the computer to translate the symbols, and the computer gives an answer. At no point does this imply the computer understands the original information it was given. The computer was simply programmed to be able to function as such(Gams 231). Using words and substituting the word Computer for Strong Artificial Intelligence the argument would sound something similar to this. Computers can provide Answers to questions. Computers only manipulate symbols. Manipulating symbols is not sufficient for understanding, thus computers...
Words: 1133 - Pages: 5
... Success doesn't happen overnight. Keep your eye on the prize and don't look back. Success doesn't happen overnight. Keep your eye on the prize and don't look back. I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, But I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it. I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, But I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it. Kegagalan bukan bererti terjatuh tapi menolak untuk bangkit.. Kegagalan bukan bererti terjatuh tapi menolak untuk bangkit.. If you don’t go after what u want, You’ll never have it. If u don’t ask, The answer is always no. If u don’t step forward, u’r always in the same place If you don’t go after what u want, You’ll never have it. If u don’t ask, The answer is always no. If u don’t step forward, u’r always in the same place Do something TODAY that your future self will THANK YOU for it. Do something TODAY that your future self will THANK YOU for it. Your dream will always defeat reality if you give it a chance… Your dream will always...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Discuss whether it is possible to prove we are born with innate ideas An innate idea is an idea, of which, we are born with. I believe it is possible that we are born with innate ideas, although few. However, I do not believe it to be possible to prove this. G.E. Moore, Chomsky, Plato and Leibniz all tried to prove humans to have innate ideas. Alas, they could not do so without flaws in their arguments. G.E. Moore had the idea that morality was an innate idea. This is because he believed ‘good’ could be neither taught nor defined, as everyone has different opinions on good. As some people may say it good to kill a serial killer, but many people would argue that this is not. This means our ideas of what is ‘good’ or not must be innate, as they cannot be taught to us, thus our morality is innate. This is unlike a statement such as 2+2=4, as this is a state which can be taught to us and is definitely correct. It cannot be argued against as it is a necessary truth. ‘Good’, conversely, could be something that is picked up through life. That as we grow up and we are told off for doing wrong and praised for doing right, we could learn our morality. This fits in with ‘good’ still being undefinable’, as every child will have a different upbringing with different experiences and learn a different meaning of ‘good’. They will not definitely be born with the sense the idea of morality but learn it from their sense, as Hume would argue. They also learn this from inward expressions- emotions-...
Words: 843 - Pages: 4
... open format or closed format. Open format questions are those that ask for unprompted opinions. In other words, there are no predetermined set of responses, and the participant is free to answer however he chooses. Open format questions are good for soliciting subjective data or when the range of responses is not tightly defined. An obvious advantage is that the variety of responses should be wider and more truly reflect the opinions of the respondents. This increases the likelihood of you receiving unexpected and insightful suggestions, for it is impossible to predict the full range of opinion. It is common for a questionnaire to end with and open format question asking the respondent for her unabashed ideas for changes or improvements. Open format questions have several disadvantages. First, their very nature requires them to be read individually. There is no way to automatically tabulate or perform statistical analysis on them. This is obviously more costly in both time and money, and may not be practical for lower budget or time sensitive evaluations. They are also open to the influence of the reader, for no two people will interpret an answer in precisely the same way. This conflict can be eliminated by using a single reader, but a large number of responses can make this impossible. Finally, open format questions require more thought and time on the part of the respondent. Whenever more is asked of the respondent, the chance of tiring or boring the respondent increases...
Words: 1565 - Pages: 7
...Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism is an ethical system that is most often attributed to philosophers such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarianism believes that the most ethical thing to do is to maximize the happiness within a society. Utilitarians believe that actions have calculable outcomes and that ethical choices have outcomes which lead to the most happiness to the most members of a society. Utilitarianism is thus often considered a 'consequentialist' philosophical outlook because it both believes that outcomes can be predicted and because it judges actions based on their outcomes. Thus, utilitarianism is often associated with the phrase 'the ends justify the means.' Deontology: Deontology is an alternative ethical system that is usually attributed to the philosophical tradition of Immanuel Kant. Whereas utilitarianism focuses on the outcomes, or ends, of actions, deontology demands that the actions, or means, themselves must be ethical. Deontologists argue that there are transcendent ethical norms and truths that are universally applicable to all people. Deontology holds that some actions are immoral regardless of their outcomes; these actions are wrong in and of themselves. Kant gives a 'categorical imperative' to act morally at all times. The categorical imperative, in its most widely used formulation, demands that humans act as though their actions would be universalized into a general rule of nature. Kant believes that all people come to moral conclusions...
Words: 666 - Pages: 3
...of arguments in the critical thinking process, what is the term used to refer to a reason provided for accepting a claim? A. Premise B. Conclusion C. Objective D. Belief Correct: The Correct Answer is: A. The term used to refer to a reason provided for accepting a claim is premise. Premises provide reasons for a person to take a certain position on a particular issue. 2. Identify a true statement about the effects of critical thinking on the decision-making process. A. Critical thinking prevents a person from making prudent decisions. B. Critical thinking promotes decisions based on logically accurate conclusions. C. Critical thinking results in reactions based on ill-informed decisions. D. Critical thinking involves forming conclusions through intuition rather than reason. Correct: The Correct Answer is: B. Critical thinking promotes decisions based on logically accurate conclusions. It is also described as thinking about the way a person thinks. 3. Which among the following is a subjective claim? A. There is no life on Jupiter. B. Russia is the largest country. C. Botanically, tomato is a vegetable. D. Bacon is a great breakfast dish. Correct: The Correct Answer is: D. In this case, the claim "bacon is a great breakfast dish" is subjective. The accuracy of the given claim depends on what people think about bacon....
Words: 954 - Pages: 4
...would immediately let you rewrite the test to try to improve your grade. EdX, the nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer courses on the Internet, has just introduced such a system and will make its automated software available free on the Web to any institution that wants to use it. The software uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers, freeing professors for other tasks. The new service will bring the educational consortium into a growing conflict over the role of automation in education. Although automated grading systems for multiple-choice and true-false tests are now widespread, the use of artificial intelligence technology to grade essay answers has not yet received widespread endorsement by educators and has many critics. Anant Agarwal, an electrical engineer who is president of EdX, predicted that the instant-grading software would be a useful pedagogical tool, enabling students to take tests and write essays over and over and improve the quality of their answers. He said the technology would offer distinct advantages over the traditional classroom system, where students often wait days or weeks for grades. “There is a huge value in learning with instant feedback,” Mr. Agarwal said. “Students are telling us they learn much better with instant feedback.” But skeptics say the automated system is no match for live teachers. One longtime critic, Les Perelman, has drawn national...
Words: 2355 - Pages: 10
...Elbert Avery PHI/105 Nov, 06, 2013 Letter to a Philosopher I am writing this letter to John Dewey regarding his theory of pragmatism. I am choosing this theory because it interests me in the scientific aspect of your thinking. I know that you chose to challenge logicians to answer the question of truth. This is a hard thing to sort out and make real and true. Going up against some of the times most logical thinkers and challenging them to come up with true answers was one of your strong points. I know that you were not totally opposed to modern logic as you have stated “logic based upon the idea that qualitative objects are existential in the fullest sense. To retain logical principles based on this conception along with the acceptance of theories of existence and knowledge based on an opposite conception is not, to say the least, conductive to clearness – a consideration that has a good deal to do with existing dualism between traditional and the newer relational logics.”(Qualitative Thought 1930) This statement to me means that you had maybe exhausted the traditional way of thinking that you had imagined. I believe that you had to reach for more answers and different ways to get those answers. Truth is a hard thing to come by and it is not easily obtained. I know that you were a philosopher of science and that you used this to try and understand the world. From you research you did not stretch the truth but rather examined all of the parts that could be explained by science...
Words: 732 - Pages: 3
...TUTORIAL-7 1. Determine if an entry in Wikipedia is an example of transactional information or analytical information. From the customer’s perspective Wikipedia entries are an example of analytical information. They are using the information to research a topic, make a decision, or perform an analysis. From Wikipedia’s perspective each entry is an example of transactional information since it is their primary business to gain entries from individual contributors. 2. What is the impact to Wikipedia if the information contained in its database is of low quality? If Wikipedia contained information that was inaccurate its customers would discontinue using it as a source for information. It could also find itself in legal trouble if it allows entries stating inaccurate information about people, which is known as defamation of character. This point is demonstrated in the case when Wikipedia had to start restricting access by tightening its rules for submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implicating a man in the Kennedy assassination. 3. Review the five common characteristics of high quality information and rank them in order of importance to Wikipedia. • • • • • Timeliness – Wikipedia’s information must be timely. If users are receiving old and outdated entries, or no entries for a new topic, they will not continue using Wikipedia. An encyclopedia that is outdated is not very useful. Accuracy – Wikipedia’s entries must be accurate...
Words: 715 - Pages: 3
...Basic Beliefs Must Exist The root of knowledge has always been a great question of philosophy. What do we know? Or do we really know what we think we know? What justifies our beliefs as knowledge? It all comes down to the same question, same question asked in cosmology, biology and many others: How did it all begin? Where scientific data is inadequate, epistemology tried to find answers and possibilities and asked their version of the question: Are there any epistemically basic beliefs? In other words, how does knowing begin? Or to some, does knowledge exist at all? Foundationalism suggested that after all there must be an epistemically basic belief at the root of the rest of them, a starting point that doesn’t need justification because it justifies itself. In this essay I will explain that there are epistemically basic beliefs, which has been proven and exemplified by various philosophers of Foundationalism. First I will explain Foundationalism and give examples to epistemically basic beliefs, then I will explain how coherentism refutes the idea of a basic belief and lastly I will examine how both stand in front of the regress argument, proving the existence of basic belief for the existence of knowledge. If there is knowledge it must have a starting point. Foundationalism is an epistemological view that suggests that the chain of justification of beliefs has a starting point, which is called basic belief. All our beliefs are justified by these basic or foundational...
Words: 1180 - Pages: 5
...expelled for cheating, many cheating students escape the consequences. I do not think that it's possible to set consequences based on the reason why a person cheated because the severity of a reason can be relative, but it's more logical to base consequences on the method in which the cheating was done. Perhaps the most classic form of cheating on an exam is taking a quick peek at the exam of the person sitting next to you or in front of you. Oftentimes it's easy to see answers in the corner of your eye and the teacher seldom notices. I believe that this type of cheating should result in automatic failure of the exam, no questions asked. Likewise, if the student tries to cheat again then he or she should fail the whole course. Looking at someone else's exam is extremely unfair because you're putting forth no effort to complete the work, and you're benefitting from someone else's hard work. Students generally do this when they're not confident in their own answers and they want confirmation of the correct answer, but that doesn't make it acceptable. Not enforcing consequences for this type of cheating will result in the student feeling as if he or she never has to study or do work,...
Words: 986 - Pages: 4
