Write a 4 page essay based on the question provided

Write a 4 page based on the question provided - Essay Example There are many in the â€Å"hard† scientific communities that argue that philosophy is obsolete as a whole and has been essentially unchanged for 2000 years (Andersen 1). They feel the considerations of philosophy as a science are rendered useless in the face of modern scientific awareness and technological advancements. They no longer see a place for philosophers like, Machiavelli, Socrates, Locke, and Hobbes. However, there are others who feel quite differently. Philosophy is still relevant and perhaps even more relevant in this modern technological age. Each of the philosophers mentioned has contributed greatly to the discussion of the human experience and remains relevant today. Machiavelli, for example, was a reluctant philosopher, perceiving himself as a historian and an academic. All the same his writings, concepts, perspectives, and ideas have sparked many a philosophical debate, be it to support his perspectives or to refute them. The term â€Å"Machiavellian† was coined in his honor to reference someone who cleverly excels in Machiavelli’s preferred areas; ethics, politics, and psychological phenomena (Nederman ). Socrates is a fascinating character of philosophical history; he remains somewhat of a mystery to scholars. He was an oral philosopher who wrote nothing in his lifetime, but developed and changed philosophy forever. Socrates was the first to openly discuss the possibility that the pantheon of Grecian deities might not be responsible for all of the events that occur in the world. This non-theological a pproach to philosophy was considered heretical to the Athenian courts. Socrates was found guilty of crimes against Greece and sentenced to death for his philosophies. It was this sacrifice in the name of free thinking that spawned much philosophical debate and discussion over the years (Nails). John Locke focused much of his

Essay on Worth in Everyday Use -- Everyday Use essays

A Question of Worth in Everyday Use  Ã‚     Ã‚   From the fashionable, expensive clothing that the character Dee in Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use" wears, the girl seems almost immediately to be a person of great value and importance. It may seem, too, at first glance, that Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie, in their tin-roof house and shabby clothing, are of little or no worth in "Everyday Use." The story ironically shows, under more careful thought, that the very outer characteristics which deem Dee the more valuable character are the ones which prove that the mother and Maggie have the more powerful inner worth. In the beginning of the story, Dee is portrayed to be more physically valuable than her mother and Maggie. Dee’s outfit reeks of a money-based society, much different from that of her heritage. Dee wears "A dress down to the ground...There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. Earrings, too, gold and hanging down to her shoulders" (Walker 1151). Dee’s mother even reflects on her oldest daughter’s full figure and nice hair(1150). The mother and Maggie, on the other hand, are given an air of simplicity and unattractiveness. The mother is described as a large, big-boned man-worker whose usual attire consists of overalls and flannel nightgowns. Maggie, referred to as a "lame animal," is thin and shabbily dressed(1150). From the vivid description of Dee and rather bland ones of the mother and Maggie, it may be readily assumed that Dee is of much higher extrinsic value than her family members. Despite the outer attractiveness of Dee and unattractiveness of her mother and Maggie, the differences in the behavior of the groups indicate a turnaround in the presumed value judgments of the characters... ... as well. The first glimpse of "Everyday Use" may suggest that Dee surpasses her mother and sister in value, but closer scrutiny of the work reveals that the mother and Maggie have just as much, if not more, merit than Dee. Works Cited Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1149. Baker, Houston A., Jr. and Pierce-Baker, Charlotte. Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 5. Gale Research Inc.: Detroit, MI,1990. 402. Mickelson, Anne Z. Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 5. Gale Research Inc.: Detroit, MI, 1990. 406. Works Consulted Matriz, Roger, ed. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., Vol. 5, 6, 9, 19, 27. 1991. Draper, James P., ed. Black Literature Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., Vol. 3. 1992.   

Pro Capital Punishment Essay

According to my research there are some people who believe the death penalty is right just because it is safer to end one condemned life than to risk the lives of other innocent people. The death penalty is most commonly legal only for the most extreme cases, such as premeditated murder. Even in the event of murder, out of the 15,000 committed each year, we are only now reaching the 1,000 execution mark after thirty years! This plainly shows that those who may be pro capital punishment still use it sparingly. Also backing up the belief for using capital punishment are numerous stories of murderers who, after being released from prison, simply killed again. One such account reads, â€Å"In 1985, 13-year-old Karen Patterson was shot to death in her bed in North Charleston, S.C. Her killer was a neighbor who had already served 10 years of a life sentence for murdering his half-brother Charles in 1970. The murderer, Joe Atkins, cut the Pattersons’ phone lines, then entered bearin g a machete, a sawed-off shotgun, and a pistol. Karen’s parents were chased out of their home by Atkins. Karen’s mom ran to the Atkins home nearby, where Joe then murdered his adopted father, Benjamin Atkins, 75, who had worked to persuade parole authorities to release Joe from the life sentence.† Other accounts show that a life sentence simply is not always enough to stop a person from repeating their crimes. â€Å"In 1965, Robert Massie murdered mother of two Mildred Weiss in San Gabriel, Calif., during a follow-home robbery. Hours before execution, a stay was issued so Massie could testify against his accomplice. Massie’s sentence was commuted to life when the Supreme Court halted executions in 1972. Receiving an undeserved second chance, Massie was paroled, but eight months later robbed and murdered businessman Boris Naumoff in San Francisco.† From a religious standpoint a religion that does endorse capital punishment under certain circumstances is Islam. According to the Qu’ran in Al’ Ma’idah 5:33 â€Å"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make corruption (Fasad) in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be banished from the land; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement† This shows that they believe in the death penalty for those who simply cause corruption or bring disgrace upon Islam, especially if the perpetrator is a former Muslim. The other justification for the death penalty, according to Islam, is murder. â€Å"†¦If anyone kills a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all people† (Qur’an 5:32). This obviou sly states that murderers should undergo the same penalty as the crime they commited. My personal beliefs about capital punishment are fairly in the middle of the road. On the one hand I do not believe it is sinful for criminals to be put to death, as the Bible clearly endorsed the idea in the Old Testament In Genesis 9:6 it says â€Å" Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.† The New Testament of course contains more of the â€Å"grace† approach and therefore I tend to lean more that way. Although even in the New Testament the Bible states in Romans 13: 4 â€Å" For he ( the police, judges, etc.) is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.† Clearly this endorses capital punishment for evildoers. On the other hand, people in America are judged as guilty by a group of people who do their best but can hardly be 100% sure on their verdict. Human error may cause and no doubt has caused some innocent people to be condemned to death while some of the guilty roam free among us. That makes me uneasy, and is very disturbing. But is that a legitimate reason to do away with the death penalty? That is a hard question to answer, but I believe the answer is no. I believe there are certain cases where capital punishment is absolutely necessary, but I have to say that I would not want to be the one who makes that decision. How do you judge which life is more valuable than another? The other question has to do with whether or not capital punishment is truly a deterrent to others from committing crimes. There are strong arguments on both sides of that question but it is hard to judge when because of the appeals process and other delays and red tape, only a small percentage of those sentenced ever get put to death. I refer back to the fact that only about 1000 people have been executed during the last 30 years when there have been nearly half a million murders in America! So the argument that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime carries no weight to me. Therefore, it is still my personal belief that capital punishment should be used, with discretion, after a fair trial, and in certain cases, but I also believe that once the decision has been made, it should be executed with much greater speed. Death row shouldn’t be a mile long. I believe that once the judge has given the sentence, there should be a much faster process to the day of execution. I hate the thought of an innocent person being executed, but even worse are the hundreds of thousands of victims who are left without feeling that justice was done for their loved ones and the millions who are at risk because of the leniency of our justice system. My partner and I got along quite well. We had an easy time discussing our material and he was not difficult to deal with. He spent the time given researching, and kept in touch with me to review our presentations. When we met the next day, he was there at the time agreed upon and +wasn’t full of complaints, which I appr eciate. Brandon is a good partner and I would work with him again.

Creationism Vs. Evolution Essay - 2859 Words

The theory of evolution, as set forth by Charles Darwin in 1859, stated that all plant and animal life evolved over long periods of time from simple to more complicated forms through mutation and adaptation. He also taught that only the fittest of each species would survive. He further postulated that the first living cell evolved in a warm warm little pond and that it took billions of years for the present diversity of living things to evolve. At the time, it was thought that the few missing links in the fossil record would be soon filled.(Darwin, 1927 ). Today, however, there is today a considerable body of scientific evidence that refutes this entire theory. The findings of the last 50 years both deny the possibility of†¦show more content†¦Mendels Laws explain most of the physical variations observed in living things. Genes, the genetic units of heredity, are merely reshuffled from one generation to another, but new genes are never formed. Different combinations create variations, but these variations are limited. Each cow, person, dog, etc. has variations, but the genetic units do not permit dog-people, or cow-dogs. Breeding experiments by competent biologists confirm that these boundaries exist.(Fix,1984). Since mutations are the only mechanism (according to Darwin) by which new genetic material becomes available, then mutations must have occurred regularly to have spawned all our present life forms, and further, mutation must consistently go from simple to complex to have gotten us out of the primordial ooze. However, many noted biologists, including C.P. Martin and Theodosius Dobzhansky (who mutated the fruit fly), consistently report that mutation does produce hereditary changes, but invariably affect it (the organism) adversely.(Salisbury, 1969). All animals are born with complex organs (the human brain has over a hundred thousand billion electrical connections), and further, all animals are born with fully developed organs. If e volution were occurring, at some point peopleShow MoreRelatedEvolution Creationism Vs. Creationism924 Words   |  4 PagesAny point of contact with the scientific world in the 21st century will eventually lead one to the one of the most hotly contested topic in American education, that of evolution versus creationism. While the creationist point of view, as well as the evolutionary perspective, hosts a great variation of opinion amongst its supporters, Christianity is brought to the center stage time after time (Vuletic, 1994). Literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis’ account of creation falls contrary to theRead More Evolution Vs. Creationism Essay1323 Words   |  6 PagesEvolution vs. Creationism Abstract In the history of science vs. religion there have been no issues more intensely debated than evolution vs. creationism. The issue is passionately debated since the majority of evidence is in favor of evolution, but the creation point of view can never be proved wrong because of religious belief. Human creation breaks down into three simple beliefs; creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory, and theistic evolution theory. The complexities of all threeRead More Creationism vs. Evolution Essays1663 Words   |  7 PagesCreationism vs. Evolution This paper will focus on the huge controversy between Creationism and Evolution. I will provide two opposing viewpoints on this subject. First, the discussion will focus on the question of why many people believe that God created the universe and all living things. On the other end of the spectrum, scientific information will be presented that substantiates the evidence against the existence of God. This creationism counter-argument known as evolution has itsRead More Evolution vs. Creationism Essay917 Words   |  4 Pages Evolution vs. Creationism The Evolution vs. Creationism controversy goes all the way back to the Publishing of Origin of Species in 1859 by Darwin laying the foundation for the evolution of life to be understood. Scientists are continuously finding more evidence to support Darwin’s conclusion; that organisms descended from a common ancestor modified by the mechanism of natural selection resulting in the evolution of species adapting to their environment. The following are the main geological topicsRead More Creationism vs. Evolution Essay1158 Words   |  5 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Where we come from is a question as old as mankind itself. There are countless numbers of religions, each with their own twist on the origins of earth and mankind, but one of the most highly visible debates would be creationism vs. evolution. Depending on where your beliefs lie, the Earth has been around somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 years to 4.5 billion years. One would tend to believe that this vast differe nce in time would make it impossible to have 2 â€Å"theories† thatRead MoreCreationism Vs. Evolution1130 Words   |  5 Pages Where do we come from? The creation of the world has been told through many different stories, and from a variety of religions across the world. The argument between evolution and creation has been debated back and forth for years. So how do we know which claim is correct? Has all life evolved from simple bacteria to all the species that appear today, or did life on earth begin with Gods creation of Adam from dust and his partner Eve from adam’s rib bone. As a child I grew up attending church everyRead MoreEvolution Vs. Creationism Debate1265 Words   |  6 PagesIn this paper I will be explaining two sides of the evolution vs. creationism debate. The topics I am going to write about are fossil evidence, the origin of life, and Darwin’s â€Å"theory† of natural selection. I will be presenting a view of both sides of the argument they will be on the creation side and evolution standpoint. I would suggest that you, the reader, would have a previous knowledge of all the topics so that you may get a full understanding of both sides. If there is no prior knowledgeRead MoreCreationism Vs. Evolution Essay1318 Words   |  6 Pagespublished his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which proposed the theory of evolution. This book, along with others that followed, began the long dispute between evolutionist and creationist. Were we created by a supernatural Supreme Being, or did our creation occur purely by chance? 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We reside on the surface of a small superbly crafted, autonomous self regulating space vehicle. Together with survival, conquest and death w e bear witness to beauty, fragrances, love and music. Think about this. Mathematics, philosophy, springtime, depravity, farming, courtship, quasars, and iphones; all came from nothingness?,