Bertrand Russell Essays (Examples)

Value of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is a discussion and analysis of the importance of philosophy to people's lives, vis-a-vis existing sciences and other fields of knowledge. In this essay, Russell contemplates and tries to identify the real meaning and definition of philosophy. In doing so, he compares philosophy to the sciences, where he defines the latter as "definite body of truths," while the former, as a discipline with no definite answer(s). This is because primarily, philosophy "aims primarily at knowledge," and with the acquisition of knowledge, one sets out to look for the truth constantly and throughout his/her life. People who have been acquainted with the sciences, since this field of thought is definitive, tend to think of the realities that we experience as definite also, subject to various answers that are certain.

Indeed, because the sciences are definitive, we tend to think that this is preferable over philosophy,…

Following Aquinas's argumentation, we will reasonably ask ourselves, at a certain point, what the cause of what was considered to be the First Cause is. However, with the temporal cause, we may not assume an extra cause, because there will have been no prior time at which this cause may have occurred. As such, this "definition implies that the universe cannot be caused to begin to exist since there is no earlier time at which the cause could occur."

Resuming, in order to reject the argument of efficient causation summarized by Aquinas, we would need to either assume that all objects are contingent (first of Russell's argumentations) or to assume that there was a temporal cause, in the sense that the First Cause simply could not have existed because there was no prior time.

ibliography

1. Russell, ertrand. Why I am not a Theist. On the Internet at http://jumper52.cjb.cc/russell.htm

2.…

Skepticism

Bertrand Russel and Ludwig ittgenstein's personal and professional relationship is well-known, with Russel having famously sponsored ittgenstein's submission of Tractatus Logic-Philosophicus for PhD credit at Cambridge University. Both philosophers were important early contributors to the theory of logical atomism, and although they would both go on to reject many of the ideas central to logical atomism, their work nevertheless represented an important break from philosophical Idealism and set the stage for the developments of the twentieth century (Hylton 105, 116). However, despite the general agreement between Russel's The Philosophy of Logical Atomism and ittgenstein's Tractatus, the philosophers disagree on the question of skepticism. For Russel, skepticism is an irrefutable position, whereas ittgenstein characteristically describes skepticism as being "palpably senseless" (ittgenstein 187). Fully understanding ittgenstein's meaning requires an analysis of the role of skepticism in both Russel and ittgenstein's work, but ultimately one can say with relative confidence that ittgenstein…

Bertrand ussell on Truth

Can We Be Sure of the Truth of Any General Principle?

In Problems of Philosophy, Bertrand ussell addresses the subject of induction. It forms the basis of his assertions related to knowledge and truth beyond experience or acquaintance. In general, he posits that we draw inferences based upon general principles and expectations to make meaning of our world beyond the range of our immediate experience and formulate truth. In order to draw an inference, it must be known that "some sort of thing, A, is a sign of the existence of some other sort of thing, B" (ussell 35). The existence of night usually signifies that it was preceded by day. ussell offers that we make these inferential judgments on a constant basis, even in situations where they are improbable.

ussell uses the general expectation that the sun will rise as the basis of his arguments…

Although no American would have hoped for war, the complete industrialization of formerly fallow aspects of American industry enabled many Americans to become financially independent again, and proved particularly personally empowering for many women, who were encouraged to work outside the home in nontraditional, better paying factory jobs rather than work at home -- or at non-industrial jobs. A return to industrialization and the expansion of technology empowered all workers, and brought dignity and security to the lives of many Americans, dignity that they had not known since before the Great Depression

After the end of orld ar II, one might argue that fear of new technology, in the form of the prospect of the Soviet Union using the atomic bomb against America, allowed for the rise of McCarthyism. However, it is important to remember that fear of the unknown and the alien, in this case, the Soviet Union, is…

Freud, Nietzsche & Russell

The Discovery and Realization of the Self in the Philosophies of Bertrand Russell, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche

With the emergence of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, human history had been introduced to new philosophies that seek to celebrate individualism and the intelligence of human beings. From the philosophical discourses proposed by Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russell, and Friedrich Nietzsche, it becomes evident that there no longer exists subsistence to religious idols and personalities, which had been the prevalent ideology and philosophy among societies in human history's early history until the 18th century.

In the texts that follow, this paper discusses and analyzes the philosophies of the three philosophers cited earlier. With references to the following texts, "Thus spake Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Why I am not a Christian" by Bertrand Russell, and "Lecture 35: A philosophy of life" by Sigmund Freud, this paper argues that the philosophers'…

belief -- or idealism -- and the way humans must evolve through a process to become actualized. In essence, we are presented with a dark cave in which there are prisoners who have been chained since birth so they can look only forward. Behind these unfortunates is a fire, the only light in their universe. Behind the fire are people manipulating puppets so that shadows are cast on the walls. So, the only "reality" the prisoners know are the lessons from the shadows -- reality, or their view of idealism. If suddenly a prisoner is freed he notices that the shadows are not real, but the puppets are. Now imagine if this same prisoner is forced out of the cave and into the light. As soon as the pain from the brightness diminishes he discovers that the most real things, the ideal, are those physical outside of the cave (Huard,…

The central ideas about this knowledge may be categorized into four parts: knowledge, wisdom, belief, and opinion. Some are individualized -- some culturally based, some based solely on sensory perception, and some, from consideration. In its most practical state, "knowledge" may be information about which we are aware -- facts, figures, accepted truths, ways of doing things. Wisdom, in contrast, takes that knowledge and allows individuals to make judgments and decisions based on knowledge -- presumably gained through experience or the process of learning. Belief is a culturally (thus cognitively) based make up of what we hold to be true simply because we innately know it without the need of proof or method. Opinion, is a personalized belief of judgment that has no proof, no certainty, but generally takes in information (whether correct or not) and synthesizes it into an idea that allows for individuals to have stands and strong…

Characteristics

Fulfillment in Life

The aim of this discussion to ascertain three of the qualities a person needs so that they can lead a life of fulfillment. The three qualities discussed will be love, integrity and knowledge. These three traits are part of the essence of being human and, combined with other humanistic traits such as sympathy and passion, these traits separate humans from the other, soulless animals in the world.

The first of these qualities to discuss is love. Love is a quality that no life can be without. The ability to build nurturing and loving relationships with another person is integral to our emotional fulfillment. It brings us the greatest joy we can possibly experience. Love can do many things including alleviating loneliness, such as the kind of "terrible loneliness in which one's shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold, unfathomable abyss" (ussell,…

Science

Philosophy Inherent in Science

Explanation in Science

This summary was a review of Carl G. Hempel's "Explanation In Science," which was reprinted from "Scientific Knowledge" and was edited by Janet A. Kovoany. Carl Hempel was well-known for his scientific explanation concept which has become the foundaton of many modern day philosophical discussions on the purpose and logic of science. Hempel's work was insightful and it was founded on the basis that man uses science to continually improve his current situation or 'strategic position' by either prediciting or controlling events and things around us. Hempel professed that we as a species are impelled to satisfy an inner curiosity and need to explain all that is around us and all that is unexplainable. In my researching Carl Hempel I discovered that his peers saw him as a man who was on the level of Socrates and his true genious can has…

.. The actual universe, with all its good and evil, exists on the basis of God's will and receives its meaning from His purpose. However, these two conclusions do not stand in simple contradiction, to one another. The one says that evil is bad, harmful, destructive, fearful and to be fought against as a matter of ultimate life and death. But the other does not deny this. It does not say that evil is not fearful and threatening, inimical to all good and to be absolutely resisted. It says that God has ordained a world which contains evil- real evil- as a means to the creation of the infinite good of a Kingdom of Heaven within which His creatures will have come as perfected persons to love and serve Him through a process in which their own free insight and response have been an essential element."

(Hick, 1978)

Arthur Schopenhauer,…

Gardner, like Emerson, Russell, and Einstein, also criticizes the substantive choice of subject matter and the ineficiency with which traditional educational methods inspire genuine understanding or long-term retention of what is learned that way.

I think that we teach way too many subjects and we cover way too much material and the end result is that students have a very superficial knowledge, as we often say, a mile wide and an inch deep. Then once they leave school, almost everything's been forgotten. And I think that school needs to change to have a few priorities and to really go into those priorities very deeply." (Gardner 3007)

Similarly, Gardner (2007) emphasizes the importance of transforming the educational environment from the accumulative approach of traditional education and the NCL approach to one that mirrors the suggestions of Emerson, Russel, and Einstein:

we need to have the individuals who are involved in education,…

Since this simplifies and organizes our experience of the world, it is wiser to accept the value of truth of this belief.

If Russell questioned the existence of matter, Aristotle was concerned with its nature. According to him, all the things which come into existence must come from a substratum (which is the very nature of matter). Nevertheless, should this underlying matter of the universe come from another, already-existing underlying matter, this judgement results self-contradictory. On the other hand, nothing can be generated ex-nihilo, therefore, it can only be concluded that in order to exist, matter needs to be possible. However, possibility can not exist in itself, but must be conceived as residing in something else. And here one could bring Spinoza's conceptions into discussion. In his opinion things can exist or in themselves or in something else. Since God is the only one who can exist through himself and…

Meanwhile, it is the high-earning but consumption-oriented under accumulators of wealth (UAWs) who patronize luxury car dealerships, high-end country clubs, and so- called "high fashion" clothing manufacturers. In this regard, one of the most powerful influences motivating such irresponsible consumption is the concentration of media attention on relatively few wealthy celebrities whose model of ostentatious consumption is simply not representative of the habits of most Americans with equally high net worth (Stanley & Danko 1996).

Whereas many PAWs earn substantially less than some of their UAW counterparts, they invest a substantial portion of their salaries into long-term stable investments that translate into a secure financial future. Conversely, the typical UAW, many of whom are so-called "successful professionals" earning very high salaries, increases spending to match any increase in income. As a result of continually "trading up" to the most expensive car, home, and clothing they can afford at any given…

Victims Become the Aggressors

The process of dehumanization is one that is repeated quite often in literature. Unfortunately, if we look at the history of mankind, we find that it is part of human behavior that regularly appears -- typically as some type of process in which one group asserts their superiority, whether moral, racial, physical, or all -- over another group. This paradigm of dehumanization occurs in covert and over ways, may be focused on a group of people (religious or ethnic minority) or against behaviors that are considered anti-societal (the disabled, homeless, etc.). Looking at history, one can find numerous examples of this sort of behavior -- the "other" taken to the extreme so that individuals are identified as being inferior, incapable of actualization, or barbaric. Sometimes this is an excuse for colonialism, sometimes for war, sometimes simply to subjugate people for organizational or state interests (Keen).

hat,…

Philosophy & Science

The Subjectivity of Science: The role of philosophy in explaining the nature of science

James L. Christian, in his book "Philosophy," centers his discussion in providing a philosophical perspective to the nature of science. In his discussion of science in a philosophical context and its relation with human society, Christian asserts, " ... In general there is so much mathematical inconsistency to our experience of nature's operations that we have arrived at the point of accepting a naturalistic world-view of nature." In this passage, the author elucidates on the point that despite science's objective nature, its root and origin is still determined by human nature, which is inherently objective. This thesis is reflected in the works of Carl Hempel, Bertrand Russell, and Richard Feynman, men of philosophy and science, who have expressed their understanding of science's nature as human society experiences it in the contemporary society.

Carl…

" (7)

Chomsky warns of ideological motivations of some scientific paradigms, just as with the aforementioned racial emphasis of early anthropology. Here, Russell espouses a Platonic episteme by enunciating the expectations of behavior between different classes. While Plato philosophized that persons are born with the characteristics fitting of their caste, Russell envisages a society in which "ordinary" men and women are expected to be collectivized and, therefore, devoid of individual expression.

Jean Jacques Rousseau paid his respects to the philosophy of Plato, although he thought it impractical, citing the decayed state of society. This sort of romanticism has been downplayed by the modern scientific establishment, who denounce the noble savage theory of human nature. Humans are not born purely good, modern science maintains. Instead, evolutionary traits are promoted at the biological level, thereby giving rise to how people are. It is not society that corrupts, but rather an interrelationship between…

"

(Einstein, 1954)

The other universal concept shared among so many human religions relates to the fate of the individual (or of the individuals spirit or "soul"). Judeo-Christian religious traditions generally teach that a soul survives physical death and the eternal fate of that soul is substantially determined by the behaviors and choices of the individual in life (agan, 1997). Eastern religious traditions generally reflect a more general belief in the cycles of life and in multiple successive lives sharing a fundamental kernel of identity even if not exactly in the same form of soul as described in Western religions (Armstrong, 1993). Contemporary objective moralists would (again) suggest that any energies or thought in life about perpetual existence in another spiritual form of any afterlife is a waste of time.

ources Consulted

Armstrong K. (1993). A History of God. London: Heinemann.

Egner RE and Denonn LE. (1992). The Basic Writings…

This is the problem of induction in a nutshell, and it is something that has alternatively been seen as one of the most severe limitations on true knowledge about the world or as a non-issue in any practical terms. If inductive reasoning cannot be trusted, then all past experience and even experimental data is essentially meaningless in predicting the future and there is no logical reason to assume things should occur one way simply because they have occurred that way before. Many have pointed out how silly it would be to go through the world without inductive reasoning -- not being sure if the door would open when the handle is turned, etc. -- but this does not actually address the logical problem of induction.

Edwards Attempted Answer

There have been attempts to address the problem of induction at the fundamental logical level, some of them seeming to come closer…

"It is not just a Catholic and Protestant Debate"(13).

Some Catholic statements, like the 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemn the practice on grounds of the created order, which is thought to be structured in such a way that all sexual expression must be open to procreation. Other statements, notably various declarations issued from 1969 to 1989 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) in the U.S. appeal instead to the nature of the human person and the idea that life begins at conception. Abortion must be rejected, such statements argue, because it terminates a human life. Yet a third subgroup can be identified. Statements like the NCCB's well-known 1983 pastoral on peace and the Catholic bishops of France's 1979 declaration do not emphasize the doctrines of creation and human persons but argue against abortion by granting priority to the gospel.

In addition, in the Protestant Church, several statements…

Conclusion

In principle, it would be entirely possible to replace religious-inspired morality with logically derived concepts of morality in human life. Generally little else would be required besides suspending religious teachings and substituting the rules of organized religion with very basic ideas such as "do no harm." In that regard, the commandment "do unto others" is a perfectly useful and easily understandable ethical principle that could be taught with much better results without the cloak of its religious context.

Instead of teaching that human beings are incapable of ascertaining what is right and what is wrong without divine help and that we are morally tarnished by our involuntary thoughts, we would learn that one ought not to treat other unfairly or cause them harm and that the worse our involuntary desires and thoughts, the more moral credit we deserve for resisting the impulse to act on them. Ultimately, one of…

family, friendship and love are addressed by the collection of authors in the readings. Specifically, these include issues of sexuality, gender, homosexuality, and the relationship between parents and children. All these issues have changed as the world developed sociologically and technologically. Current technological and informational developments for example have a profound effect on the morals and norms relating to the above issues.

In terms of sexuality, Erich Fromm suggests that erotic love is frequently deceptive, as it is mistaken for the phenomenon of love itself, rather than an extension of the emotion. When the union is however achieved, no barriers are left to conquer and the tendency is to crave a new union with another stranger. This urge is however frequently curbed by the ethics of sexuality imposed by society as described by Bertrand Russell. Although the structure of society favors polygamy, monogamy is often imposed by the subconscious that…

Ethics in Law Enforcement

Ethics are what almost anyone would define as a person's determination between what is good or bad, or more accurately what is right or wrong. Although many of these attitudes can be a product of parenting or other factors in one's maturing environment, ethical decisions could also be a product of environmental factors that are outside of the control of individuals. It is difficult to determine where a person's ethical code, but some professions demand an ethic that is not needed elsewhere.

One such profession is law enforcement. Officers of the law are called upon to "stand in "harm's way" not so much against enemies with bullets, but against enemies skilled in every form of trickery, deceit, feigned ignorance, and deception" (Stevens, 2005). Because of the environment that they must exist in, police officers are constantly deciding whether to make the right decision or take the…

During the First World War, the European powers (particularly in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire) succeeded in glorifying nationalism and manipulating young minds toward self-sacrifice for nationalistic ideals. A short two decades later Germany again demonstrated even more convincingly how powerful a role educators play in shaping young minds. The Nazi phenomenon that absorbed German society in the decade preceding the outbreak of World War Two provides an even more dramatic and horrible illustration of both the power of educators and the reason that this power comes with a profound ethical responsibility (Einstein, 1954; Einstein in ooney, 2006; ussell, 1961).

Ethical Considerations

The sheer power of the role of teachers in influencing young minds gives rise to a set of tremendous ethical responsibilities. Among the most important is respect for the boundaries between personal beliefs of the teacher and the autonomous rights of parents to determine what ideas they wish…

It is however as if the United States government was looking for needy terrorists to supply with arms. When Turkey's need was met, Colombia became the leading recipient of arms from the United States. This country is well-known for being an atrocious human rights violator, especially during the 1990s. Chomsky's premise that the United States government is essentially terrorist in nature does not appear to be far from realistic.

Indeed, according to interviews conducted with Chomsky by arsamian (2001), Chomsky elaborates on the more subtle practices perpetrated by the U.S. government in order to coerce its public into obedience. The Reagan administration for example put barriers in place in order to boost the U.S. industry rather than providing its citizens with the best possible products available. Thus, overseas dealers were barred to the point of impossibility while the public funds were put to use in order to keep the local…

, 2005).

Even within the United States, the education system has proven itself to be extremely vulnerable to the detrimental influence of intellectual corruption by the excessive entanglement of ideology and formal education. Specifically, the infamous Scopes Trial featured the criminal prosecution for teaching evolutionary biology because it conflicted with prevailing religious dogma (Davidson, 1999). Much more recently, a conservative political agenda has dominated the educational systems of individual American states in which educational administrative authorities have sought (in some cases, quite successfully) to promote religious or quasi-religious dogma under the very thinly veiled guise of teaching nonsense such as "Intelligent Design" (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005). Specifically, that approach (in conjunction with renewed attempts to challenge the legitimacy of established evolutionary science) was a deliberate attempt to promote particular religious beliefs in a manner designed to circumvent very explicit constitutional prohibition against that church-state entanglement (Feldman, 2005; Mooney, 2005).

Ultimately,…

However, in principle, the rules and laws of society merely ensure our freedom from unwanted behavior of others. In many cases, in fact, the particular rules themselves are purely arbitrary, such as the simple rules of the road about stopping on a red signal and going on a green signal because the reverse rule would be just as good. The purpose of the rules of the road are simply to protect us from accidents. Likewise, acquiring a drivers' license as a condition of driving is intended to ensure that anybody who drives a heavy vehicle capable of maiming and killing is competent to do so without exposing others to risks.

Other rules of society are much harder to justify because they regulate conduct that affects nobody else. For example, prohibiting driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs have a legitimate purpose of protecting others. On the other hand, prohibitions…

This was followed by the enactments by House of Lords in 1897 in Solomon v. Solomon & Company. The concepts of corporate entity and limited liability were incorporated in English law in the same period. In this case, the head court announced that a company is a separate legal individual completely different from the members or shareholders.

From this announcement, we can say that a company is a separate legal entity having a separate life, different from its members. A company can be an owner of any property, can sue anyone, can be sued by anyone and has a life just as any going concern. It is a commonplace of the law, is a very heavy veil drawn between the two can be lifted in many cases; it seems that only a limited number of changes is based on current judicial thinking.

2.2 Some doctrines about Corporate Veil

The Court…

Components contributing to the library's decision making process include the library per se; its purposes' its structure and organization' its functions and forms/kinds of data; its resources in/for staff/volunteers; its facilities; its equipment.

Management teams and other groups play a key role in strategic decision making," Nancy H. Leonard, Laura Beauvais, and Richard Scholl (2005) relate the importance of involving groups in strategic decision making. "These groups include top management teams (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), boards of directors (Forbes, 1999; Pettigrew, 1992), and planning task forces (Van de Ven, 1980)" (Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl ¶ 2). To effectively manage work groups and decision-making teams, Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl stress, managers must understand that underlying psychological cognitive styles and social interaction of an individual impact them and their decision making. hen mangers better understand the concept of group cognitive style, they may be able to create groups with various strengths based…

This means that, according to ittgenstein, math performs like language, or perhaps more simply language performs like math. There are certain established rules, both of grammar and of meaning, that allow language to be useful as long as statements are true, and anything that is not true or that cannot be spoken of using language (i.e. It does not fit into a logical system) must be discarded (Stanford, sec. 2.4). Mathematics and language are the same thing, then, simply with a different set of representational symbols.

The implications that these statements have on computer science should be fairly obvious. Though humans are capable of creating language, or at least of agreeing on new representational symbols, computers are (as yet) unable to take a creative hand in language development themselves. Far from calling into question the veracity of ittgenstein's claims in relation to mathematics, the practice of computer science shows them…

Part of that includes instilling in students an intellectual curiosity, receptivity to learning through genuine understanding, and definitions of professional success that are motivated by positive aspirations rather than by overcompensation impulses triggered by negative assumptions, messages, or early experiences. In addition to ensuring basic literacy and computational skills required by adults in society, modern primary education must dedicate itself to producing graduates who have discovered their greatest intellectual abilities and developed a genuine interest in a specific academic and/or vocational application of those aptitudes and interests in a manner most conducive to their long-term fulfillment and (ideally) to their optimal benefit to their families and communities in adulthood.

Toward that end, modern education must adapt to the wealth of empirical evidence that traditional methodologies (such as passive lecture and rote memorization, in particular) are comparatively ineffective at achieving the highest goals of education in society. Specifically, as society becomes…

By eliminating supposed purpose and meaning that derives from delusional cultural beliefs in Creators and supposed "Gods," existentialism actually allows individuals to create genuine meaning by defining its purpose realistically rather than supernaturally.

Personal Constructs:

Personal constructs comprise individual beliefs, responses, and expectations of the behavior of others based on the individual's cumulative personal interpretation of interpersonal relationships and experiences with other people. Personal constructs may differ substantially from person to person even though exposed to many similar experiences because of the influence of hereditary factors, family dynamics, and subtle natural idiosyncratic intellectual and psychological differences.

Constructive Alternativism:

Constructive alternativism is a psychological approach that, in general, rejects traditional models of psychological therapy in which therapists assume a leadership position in favor of a model in which therapists simply assist patients discover the truth by examining the patient's perspective. More specifically, constructive alternativism relies on data in the form of…

The line of legitimacy, separating socially approvable use of force from violence, cannot be effectively drawn without an agreement on what constitutes the optimum amount of force necessary to maintain social order and to protect human rights against encroachment. A society subscribing to infinite morality which condemns all use of force as immoral is doomed no less than a society accepting the absolute pragmatism of tyrants. "

As Oleg Zinam proposes, these two extreme social attitudes to morality are equally unprofitable to the societies that adopt them. The attitude of absolute pragmatism can easily lead to the acceptance of political assassinations, as long as such acts may help the final political purpose. An example of absolute pragmatism can be the regime initiated by Hitler, who ordered the extermination of all Jews in an attempt to "purify" the human race by excluding anyone who did not fill in the Arian ideal.…

If there are people, of whatever nationality, who will be found guilty of creating and scattering MD, will be subjected to penalties and/or punishment which will be imposed by the overall leader o the UN itself. More so, countries which will be proven allowing the research and development and eventual use of MD should also be asked to answer from the call of the UN.

The entire populace can also share their efforts to controlling the use of any form of MD, thereby preventing any possibility of massive deaths or environment destruction. People must voice out their concern. The people should be activist enough in letting their leaders know how they want the use of MD to be abolished. The media can play a detrimental role in airing and showing how the people, across all nations, are against any form of MD. Newspapers, magazines, TV programs, radio stations, are good…

Of the six conflicts (within the fifty mentioned) that resulted in 200,000 or more deaths, three were between Muslims and non-Muslims, two were between Muslim cultures, and just one involved non-Muslims on both sides. The author references a New York Times investigative piece in which fifty-nine ethnic conflicts were reported in forty-eight locations in 1993. In "half these places Muslims were clashing with other Muslims or with non-Muslims"; in thirty-nine of the conflicts groups from different civilizations were engaged, and two-thirds of those were between "Muslims and others" (Huntington, 257).

Keeping in mind this book was published in 1996 -- and updated data employing Huntington's Muslim-violence theme is not immediately available -- it is worthy of note that of the twenty-nine wars (that involved 1,000 or more deaths in a year's time) in 1992, twelve were intercivilizational, and of those dozen, nine were between Muslims and non-Muslims (257). Huntington raised…

philosophy argue benefits / dangers tools.

Philosophy has advanced greatly throughout time and philosophers today have access to a wide range of tools that they can use with the purpose of expressing philosophical thought. From the beginning of time people have put across interest in regard to discovering new things and concerning concepts that provided the world with controversies. Even though there are many domains that refer to particular topics in academic philosophy, there are a series of tools that philosophers normally use in their field of work and these respective techniques are likely to assist individuals in gaining a better understanding about certain concepts. Argument and logic are two of the principal tools used by philosophers with the intention of expressing their convictions.

Arguments are being utilized in contexts where individuals want to provide their audiences with proof supporting their beliefs. Through using arguments, a philosopher intends to convince…

E.H. Carr define a "fact" in What is History? How does it compare with the definitions of Bloch and Becker? Which one do you think is most useful as you begin preparing for your senior research seminar?

According to Carr in the book What is History? He first provides the definition of a fact by citing the oxford English Dictionary, which refers to a fact as "a datum of experience as distinct from conclusions" (Carr, 2008, p.6). Carr elaborates by explaining that this is what is usually viewed as a commonsense perspective of history: "History contains acorpus of ascertained facts. The facts are available to the historian in documents, inscriptions, and so on, like fish on the fishmonger's slab. The historian collects them, cooks them, takes them home, and cooks and serves them in whatever style appeals to him" (Carr, 2008, p.6). This is extremely revelatory regarding exactly what Carr…

Mozart

olfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most respected and revered composers who ever lived. Although he was a part of what has become known as the Classical era of music, it can be argued that Mozart transcended the aesthetic of his timer period and created works which are timeless. During his unfairly short lifetime, he helped create and popularize various musical forms. He has become an icon of genius and the epitome of the child prodigy, showing incredible artistic ability in a very early age. The totality of Mozart's works includes a plethora of symphonies, concertos, and operas not to mention singular musical pieces. Mozart was one of the most prolific composers of his era, or indeed of any era. More than 600 works of Mozart still exist to this day and there are reports which indicated some others have been lost to history. His works have been…

Husserl, Language & Consciousness: econciliation of Edmund Husserl's Fourth Logical Investigation and Fifth logical investigation

Husserl's theory of consciousness in the fifth Logical Investigation is reported to be "one of the most profound and one of the most difficult theories of consciousness to have as yet been developed." (Smith, 1977) The account of consciousness given by Husserl is descriptive "in terms of a sensation, an intentional act that interprets the sensation, and an intentional object that is referred to by means of the interpretation of the sensation." (Smith, 1977)

The primary efforts of Husserl are committed to an analysis of the relation between what he refers to as 'matter' and 'quality' of the intentional act, and how these two components can be used to understand Brentano's famous proposal that "every act is either a presentation or is founded upon presentation." (Smith, 1977) It is stated that no matter the "brilliance…

Mathematics

George Cantor

The purpose of the paper is to develop a concept of the connection between mathematics and society from a historical perspective. Specifically, it will discuss the subject, what George Cantor accomplished for mathematics and what that did for society. George Cantor's set theory changed the way mathematicians of the time looked at their science, and he revolutionized the way the world looks at numbers.

George Cantor was a brilliant mathematician and philosopher who developed the modern mathematical idea of infinity, along with the idea of an infinite set of real numbers, called transfinite sets, or the "set theory." In addition, Cantor found that real numbers were not countable, while algebraic numbers were countable (Breen). Cantor's views were quite controversial when he first developed them in the late 1800s, and some mathematicians today question some of his hypothesis ("Transfinite Number"), however, his work is recognized as some of…

Kennedy and Khruschev

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 is widely considered to be the moment when the Cold ar between the U.S.A. And the U.S.S.R. came closest to outright hostility and indeed nuclear war. hat is most interesting about the Cuban Missile Crisis in retrospect is its strategic handling by the two national leaders involved, Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy. I hope by an examination of the correspondence exchanged by these two leaders during the period to demonstrate that Kennedy's handling of the crisis, while marked by some errors, was more responsible than Khrushchev's. In some sense, the Cuban Missile Crisis began as an irresponsible gamble by Khrushchev: if he exhibited some clever statesmanship during the crisis, this does not erase the fact that it was begun by him as an attempt to take advantage of a perceived weakness on Kennedy's part that was not ultimately there.…

value of studying philosophy?

According to Chapter 15 of Bertram Russell's tract The Problems of Philosophy: "The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason" (Russell, Chapter 15). One of the most common objections to studying philosophy is that it is a violation of 'common sense.' Critics state that philosophy has little or no use because philosophical debates do not address 'real' issues. Along such lines of thinking, 'real issues' include feeding the hungry, economic problems, and other materially-related concepts that philosophy's focus on abstraction does not address.

However, Russell's argument is that 'common sense' has…

Philosophy

What makes a Belief True or False

Some of our beliefs turn out to be erroneous, and therefore it becomes necessary to consider how, if at all, we can distinguish knowledge from error. This problem does not arise with regard to knowledge by acquaintance, for, whatever may be the object of acquaintance, even in dreams and hallucinations, there is no error involved so long as we do not go beyond the immediate object: error can only arise when we regard the immediate object, i.e. The sense-datum, as the mark of some physical object. Thus the problems connected with knowledge of truths are more difficult than those connected with knowledge of things. As the first of the problems connected with knowledge of truths, let us examine the nature and scope of our intuitive judgments. (ussell, 1997)

All persons have beliefs. Beliefs are very close to all of us and in…

Philosophy

The Difference between a Particular and a Universal

Language and meaning exist as a result of association. One word does not have meaning without relation to other words and other meanings. We come to have knowledge and understanding with the assistance of particulars and universals. Particulars and universals work in the same way as words and language provide meaning because their association and relative existence among other words and other languages. Particulars are words that have direct and specific relation to an object, concept, etc. Universals rely on the function of particulars to stand as universals. Universals are not disagreed upon while particulars retain a greater degree of variation.

When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals. Pronouns stand for particulars, but are ambiguous: it is only by the context or the…

This type of knowledge requires very little prior knowledge, because it is based on our sensory perception of the object directly as we experience it. There is no need to have knowledge of some greater truth or phenomenon to better understand that the color red is red, and not green. It simply is what it is, and nothing else. This type of knowledge is in direct contrast to knowledge by description, where we need some sort of further explanation to really grasp the concept of the knowledge or phenomenon at hand. A greater depth of knowledge thus comes from knowledge by description, since we must build on our initial sensory knowledge. Such knowledge then allows us to make assumptions and conclusions based on relationships and characteristics that we can build upon from our initial sensory data as acquired through acquaintance.

This contrast brings to light the inability for acquaintance knowledge…

Wittgenstein is well-known for his philosophy with regards to the nature of language and the problems thereof in philosophy with regards to the nature of the language barrier. Words, according to Wittgenstein, are mere tools (Moore, 1990). The abuses of these tools create the concern of an imperfect language -- because there is no logically perfect language -- and thus an imperfect philosophy. Language is always "more or less vague, so that what we assert is never quite precise" (ussell, 2010). In this mindset, it explains the caveats of philosophy that concerns Wittgenstein, who sees that without the proper simplistic definitions as prescribed to facts, then philosophy becomes a mere interpretation for every person, owing to the inferences made through the use of language. Traditional philosophy is thus "nonsense" because without the proper regard for syntax and logic's symbolism, truth and facts become easily misinterpreted.

"Most questions and propositions of…

hen it comes to Jim Jones, it is a fact that the declaration of the day of dooms 5th May, 1967 not a reality to any normal person. Jones followers were so much brainwashed to believe that Guyanese Jungle could be immune from nuclear war. Freud's believe that religions grow out of homicide are evident in Madhis movement (Hicks 64). Due to the factor that Sudan was under colonial rule, it is likely that the country experience killing and persecution of those who failed to obey the colonizers rule. This factor contributed eminently to the resign of the Madhi movement. The same is evident in Jim Jones followers. Initially majority of his followers were black and historically, most countries including United States of America were undergoing racialism. This factor made majority of the blacks join Jim Jones movement.

Freud's theory on religion explains that most people join religion because of…

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Kratky (2000) contends that "Students need to take responsibility for identifying and finding the information that is most pertinent to their respective lives." She also notes that the university she explored offers orientation programs for transfer students and transfer information packets. Those students who do not take advantage of the transfer usually regret accepting the offer. Choices, offers, fears, changes and more will at times, challenge and other moments, encourage transfer students. Sea states, "Despite some uncertainty in the beginning that I'm sure all transfers feel, it's the people I've met who have made this experience worthwhile. I do not regret a single step in my college career, whether it was the choice to go to my previous school or the choice to transfer." Those transfer students, who like Sea, reach out to accept the challenges accompanying their change, will likely, as Sea, determine that their favorite thing to…

If the leaders of our national financial institutions had asked 'are these moral actions right, ethically speaking, from the point-of-view of my profession' rather than 'will these moral actions make money,' the world financial crisis would never have occurred.

Utilitarianism also tends to deemphasize minority rights -- but merely because a group is in the minority does not mean that it is engaged in a moral wrong. This can be seen in the current debate over gay marriage. Many people stress that marriage is 'naturally' between a man and a woman, simply because the majority of the population is heterosexual. However, by safeguarding only majority rights, African-Americans and other historically-discriminated against groups would never have been allowed to enjoy the promise of the American dream. Kantian principles demand upholding the moral integrity of all human beings, regardless of perceived consequences. During the American Civil Rights movement, many opponents of integration…

These young men were not immersed in the high modernist traditions of Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot: rather, they were immersed in the experience of war and their own visceral response to the horrors they witnessed.

Thus a multifaceted, rather than strictly comparative approach might be the most illuminating way to study this period of history and literature. Cross-cultural, comparative literary analysis is always imperfect, particularly given the linguistic challenges presented by evaluating German poetry in relation to its British counterparts. Contextualizing the British war poets requires a certain level of understanding how the war was seen by the other side, and by alien eyes. More is likely to be gained than lost by reading the German war poets in translation. Yet reading the German poets in translation allows the reader to appreciate the influence of symbolism and expressionism in their work that was not present even in the harsh…

In such situations, it becomes a necessity to have all the fields of learning and engagement to be within the identified fields for the youth. The society is a diverse avenue or entity that needs a clear pathway for understanding (Clinton 72). If the youth and all the people in the world are subjected to religious teachings without making affirmed considerations of the needs of the society, it becomes a hard way for many people to be successful.

The religious teachings must appreciate the importance of its followers interacting with the other members of the secular society. This establishes a fair ground where the young can grow and develop. If the society becomes very restrictive like within a Christian atmosphere, it becomes hard for the available avenues of growth and development to be executed by the available members. The young will not be at a stable avenue of relaying their…