Materialism Essays (Examples)

Materialism from a Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Some sociologists may center on the family tackling issues, for example, marriage, domestic violence divorce and child rearing. In addition, the sociologists may also try to get knowledge of how different cultures define these issues, and their effect on individuals and institutions. Other sociologists may explore larger social organizations such as businesses and governments analyzing their formations. In addition, other sociologists may focus on divisions within a society. From such a definition, a sociologist may study anything.

Application of Theory

Symbolic interactions comments that the society is in a continuous process of production and reproduction through the individual's interaction with the symbolic representations of the surrounding society. However, materialism raises a controversy on whether it is a positive or negative force in society. Puritanism discourages materialism consumption citing it as the major cause of distraction of society from the spiritual ways. Quakerism condemned the…

Materialism: Appreciating the Real Worth of Material Objects

Of all the material items I possess, the object which I value the most is undeniably my cell phone. It is my constant companion. It is the first thing I use in the morning to check my email and Facebook page and it is the last thing I turn off at night. With my cell phone, I can contact my friends and family. I can ask for help when faced with an emergency. I can take pictures with it; surf the Internet for information; I can even shop and get directions from my phone. A close 'second' would be my iPod. My entire musical life is contained within this small device: the songs that inspire me; conjure up great memories; get me 'revved up' to work out. It also gives me the ability to discover new songs and instantly download songs I…

After the sacrifice, he gave her nothing. The true question is if Torvald would have ever done anything so selfless for Nora. e are left to believe that he would not because she was nothing more to him than a plaything and those can replaced when they break, give out, or leave. The only problem with Nora's love, other than the fact that it might have been immature, was that it was directed at a stranger, which she so eloquently points out. Torvald loves things and this is unlikely to change. Nora realizes this as she decides to walk away.

Materialism motivates much of the action in A Doll's House. It is safe to say that materialism is what both partners in the marriage share and it is what holds their marriage together. hen Nora rejects Torvald, she is actually rejecting the entire notion of materialism. Nora's development throughout the…

Marx cries out that in Capitalism, "That culture... is, for the enormous majority, a mere training to act as a machine." It is this exploitation which persists today and which is far worse than the mere depression of living standards. Capitalism is intrinsically linked with consumerism, and both replace a sacred connection to one's vocation and one's art with a profane connection to one's paycheck and the throw-away products of factories and disconnected drone-workers. Materialism, itself, is the ultimate child of capitalism -- for only in a capitalistic society in which man was disconnected from the land and from the honor and joy of creation would any sane person suggest that wealth and finances were the most important aspects of life. Materialism as a flawed value is what created capitalism, and materialism as a philosophy of comprehending the world is necessary to comprehend its workings for it is, to a…

Karl Marx Historical Materialism.

Marx's materialist theory of history

Marx's theory of history is called 'historical materialism' because of his belief that economics (material goods) determine how history evolves, not ideology, personality, or other popular theories of the 19th century when he wrote. "Most struggles in history are class struggles, even though the participants profess other goals. For example, Protestantism reflects the rising capitalist class" (McCarthy 1995). Marx wrote that history evolves as a series of class struggles between the haves and the have-nots. In his own era, the 'haves' were the bourgeois while the 'have-nots' were the proletariat, or the factory workers. The proletariat lived in a continual state of exploitation by the bourgeois. The bourgeois did not work but rather only owned the means of production. The proletariat slaved away, but did not own the fruits of their labor. They merely rented their labor to the factory owners…

Marx and Historical Materialism

Karl Marx rejected the philosophical Idealism of Hegel and the utopianism of the early socialists in favor of a theory of history thoroughly grounded in materialism. For Marx, ideas, cultures, political systems were all part of the superstructure of society while economics and the social relations of classes represented the base that truly drove history forward. Economic forces were the motor of history, not ideas, philosophies or ideologies, much less spiritual or supernatural forces. Capitalism had already broken up the old feudal order in estern Europe, and the Protestant Reformation, the great peasant rebellions, the English, French and American Revolutions were all signs indicating that a new capitalist political economy was coming into being, and that the bourgeoisie was seizing political power from the landed aristocracy. Capitalism was destroying the old culture of honor, chivalry and paternalism, replacing it with bourgeois values of free trade, the…

Marx posits that a social revolution shall become the people's response to this class conflict, wherein a new system of society (dominated by the proletariat) will emerge (Lusteck, 2001).

In the context of anthropology, Marxist theory is best applied in studying the culture of the modern, capitalist society. Anthropology seeks to identify social classes that emerge within the capitalist system and determine how these classes interact with each other. Furthermore, identifying and understanding the culture of each class is also essential to identify, in order for social scientists to learn how conflict emerges what characteristics of each class's culture ultimately determines who will be the oppressor and the oppressed. The dialectic relationship between these two general classes that Marx identifies in his theory is the most distinct feature studied in Marxist anthropology.

Deriving from Marx's technique of historical materialism, the paradigm of American materialism in anthropology looks distinctly into the…

Of course Marx and Russell are radically different on certain aspects of materialism in the physical world. Indeed, Russell spent volumes on taking issue with various aspects of Marx's dialectical materialism (Ironside, 1996, p. 26). Russell comes from the perspective of Fabian Socialism where change can be gradual. Marx is a complete revolutionary who believes that change can only come from a violent overthrow of the present order. For Russell,

Such phenomenon under closer scrutiny are filled with very many contradictions. The quest for certainty has to come from present experiences where doubts and personal experiences and those of others that leads directly to the philosophical problem of the real and the unreal. The quest is to know what objects are, and what they seam to be.

hat exists for them is the material world. To concentrate on metaphysics is a waste of time. Indeed, we material beings have very…

Great Gatsby

The Negative Side Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

The Lure of the American Dream

The American Dream is the promise of a better life that brought people from all over the world to the newly discovered continent so that they could populate it and contribute to the development of the land and of their personal lives too. The concept of the American Dream still continues to attract immigrants from countries in Europe, Asia and Africa including North and South America even after more than 400 years. However, the interpretation of the American Dream has changed over the centuries and many people have come to the country with their own expectations of well-being and success. During the early days of settlement, immigrants from Europe were welcomed to create a new life for themselves and for their families. They were attracted by the promise of getting land on which…

MIND THEOY: NAGEL VS. DENNETT

Dualism vs. Materialism

The theory of mind is probably one of the most challenging areas of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience we will ever have to face, because it involves, depending on the approach or view taken, thinking about or quantifying the process of thinking. Neither introspection nor neuroscience has provided definitive answers to what the mind is, although this remains an active area of debate and research.

Dennett's view of mind theory will probably have more in common with the future direction of neuroscience research and therefore be more relevant and testable.

Dualism vs. Materialism

Generally speaking, philosophers can be grouped into dualists and materialists. Dualists believe the mind is an entity separate from our physical nature and even though it is still currently impossible to measure the mind using scientific instruments, this limitation doesn't mean the mind doesn't exist (reviewed by amsey, 2007, Section…

dumpster diving provides insight into the life of the dumpster diver, generally in a state of homelessness and living off of the discarded goods of others. Eighner seeks, through his piece, to not only explain the lifestyle that he lived for many years, but also to offer some commentary about the wastefulness of American culture. There are a few different conclusions that a reader can draw from his essay, and these will be outlined here.

Waste as a Way of Life

Perhaps the simplest way of expressing Eighner's point is that there is enough waste in American society that a person can live with a reasonable level of comfort and security on the discards of others. Eighner describes being able to routinely acquire food by scavenging garbage bins outside of restaurants and food stores. The waste is often perfectly good -- he describes conditions under which a pizza restaurant might…

Based upon these results, Kasser posed the question as to what other values advanced by capitalist society were linked low levels of mental and physical health, such as maintaining a strong social image. He tested the links between aspirations to financial success, the need for social esteem, and image-related concerns in his next study. Social image was measured by ranking such statements high as: "Your name will be known by many people; You will be famous; You will be admired by many people." Valuing an 'appealing' appearance involved agreeing with statements about having an attractive image and successfully hiding the effects of aging as important values. In this second round of surveys, extrinsic drivers such as money, fame, and materialism all seemed to be linked as a 'cluster' of aspirations found in persons who also ranked high in anxiety and depression and low in vitality and levels of self-actualization.

hen…

Sunset Boulevard is a classic film noir produced in 1950 and directed by Billy Wilder. The film begins with the murder of Joe Gillis, a floundering screenwriter who ends up dead in a swimming pool. "Poor dope," the voice over says. "He'd always wanted a pool. Well, in the end he got himself a pool, only the price turned out to be a little high." The voice over, delivered in classic film noir style, turns out to be none other than Gillis himself. Far from being an unreliable narrator, though, Gillis promises "the facts" and delivers. The entire film Sunset Boulevard is the retelling of "the facts" from Gillis's perspective. Wilder's choice of narration is dutifully ironic, as a failed filmmaker becomes famous. The theme of the movie is reminiscent of the Great Gatsby, with its peek at American decadence and lost dreams. Because it offers rich social commentary, Sunset…

Mind:

A theory of mind is basically described as the particular cognitive ability to understand other people as deliberate agents, which imply that it's the ability to interpret people's minds based on theoretical concepts of planned states like desires and beliefs. In philosophy, there is a common notion that the special cognitive ability in intrinsically dependent on individuals linguistic capabilities. The interpretation of the actions and intentions of other people includes a combined credit of complete mental states that enable the understanding of the social world to become logical and intelligible. There are various major theories of mind that focus on explaining the human mind including the identity theory, functionalism, and eliminative materialism.

The identity theory of mind states that the conditions and processes of the human mind are similar to the conditions and processes of the brain (Smart par, 1). Under this theory, identifying mind and brain can be…

Moral Criticisms of the Market

Moral Criticisms Market This assignment requires read article Ken S. Ewert (found eading & Study folder). Note article, Ewert defending free market "Christian Socialists." He states position a rebuttal

Moral criticisms of the market: A critique of Ewert's analysis

It is interesting to read Ken S. Ewert's 1989 criticisms of 'Christian socialists' in light of current debates on other types of economic policies today. Ewert portrays Christian, leftist defenders of socialism as impervious to logic, in contrast to other former critics of capitalism, who grew more acclimated to capitalist principles in light of the failure of the Soviet Union Similar criticisms are made of 21st century religious fundamentalists, who stress the need for private enterprise to address societal problems 'on principle,' even when public regulation might be helpful and who try to define science, including science education, in religious terms rather than in terms of…

Materialistic Teenagers

Are Materialistic Teenagers Less Motivated to Learn? Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

The paper will analyze a paper that focuses on the behavior of materialistic teenagers, as the findings and the conclusion of the paper will help in adding knowledge in the field of clinical psychology. The study "Are Materialistic Teenagers Less Motivated to Learn? Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence From the United Kingdom and Hong Kong" written by Lisbeth Ku, Helga Dittmar and obin Banerjee in the year 2012 has focused on the behaviors of materialistic teenagers and the effects of materialism on the learning behavior.

Beginning of the study is strong as many facts in relation to the topic have been given. It has been reported that within the period of three decades, there has been an increase of more than 20% students from UK and Hong Kong who believe that…

lobster festival in Maine for Gourmet magazine and another comments on the human tendency toward materialism, both James Twitchell and David Foster allace share an appreciation for the written word. Their writing styles are engaging, using colloquial and familiar language to explore meatier topics. A use of naturalistic language prevents Twitchell's "Two Cheers for Materialism" from falling into the trap of making scholarly writing inaccessible to the masses, and likewise prevents allace's "Consider the Lobster" from being as trite and trivial as most articles written for mainstream magazines.

The similarities between these two articles are remarkable considering their different subject matters and themes. In terms of both tone and style, allace and Twitchell use just enough sarcasm to keep the reader interested, but neither permits their wit to be weighted down by cynicism. Both authors use neologisms judiciously, as when allace coins the term "yachty" to refer to Camden, Maine,…

Barbie doll top ten viral commercials as of 2013 rely mostly on You Tube, Dailymotion, Facebook and Twitter.

The third doll brand, subject to this study is Bratz. As evidenced from the four commercials assessed in the course of this study, Bratz deploys a slightly different mode of advertising, which involves marketing adult entertainment to kids. Social psychologists have argued that this strategy is very effective within the realm of modern-day material culture. Adult entertainment, which often involves depiction of violence, sex, strong language and obscenity, has become very popular among children

. For Bratz, one of the most popular commercials involves cowgirls in Texas fighting crime modelled along the risque film group Charlie's Angels. The use of guns to depict violence is central to this commercial, which has since increased the brand's digital reach through pervasive advertising on TV and in the internet. In a similar commercial, Bratz acquired…

Mrs. Mooney's choice of a husband was made according to a concept that worked very simple: her father's foreman was the best possible solution to continue the successful business. This proved to be wrong in the end because no one could have predicted his later alcohol addiction and his alienation. Although, psychologically speaking, a scientist might find the causes in the very marriage. The historical conditions Mrs. Mooney lived in were also determinant for her seeing only one viable solution that should have guaranteed her economic well being. Later, she could have decided to run the butcher shop herself, but that option was not available by the time she got married.

By the time her daughter came to the age of marriage, this was still the only option in her mother's views in order to assure her daughter's material means of existence. The words used by Joyce are economic terms…

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…

Weber, on the other hand, did not agree that social and political class could really be considered one and the same. For him, the material inequality observable in society was the source of power and stratification, and not merely the result of the system (Davidson 2009). While still uniting the concepts of ideology and materialism, Weber's view can in some ways be seen as a reversal of Marx's; the material inequality was the means by which the ideological and political inequality could be perpetuated (Davidson 2009). The greater opportunities available to those who had greater wealth allowed for their continued dominance.

Briefly describe how two different theorists might analyze the economic climate of today and what brought it on? How would each of them understand how it would happen and what will happen in the near future.

There are many similarities between the sociological theories of Emil Durkheim and Max…

Finally, Marx supports the idea that the elements of the market economy are each and everyone determinant for the eventual outcome of the society.

3. What is the significance of the term dialectics in Marxist thought -- and how might this be relevant for the study of social change?

The term and the technique used are rather important for the way in which Marx created and supported his arguments. In this sense, dialectics includes a technique of arguments and counterarguments which are meant to underline the strength of one point or another. In this attempt, Marx uses for instance Aristotle's argument in relation to the man being a social animal. Another example of the use of dialects is the presentation of Proudhon's arguments in relation to the idea of social and of society.

4. What does Marx mean by describing "the production of life" as a "the production of life…

45). ith the ideology of the ownership class necessarily becoming the dominant ideology throughout the world not simply through the spread of industry and capitalism but through dramatic changes in international trade and economies brought about by capitalist/industrialist changes in single countries, the bourgeoisie acquires (or acquired) dramatic power to shape global events and politics through their shaping of the thoughts that can be had and the modes by which they can be expressed -- through their control over rhetorical interpretations and expression, in other words.

Implications of Marx's Rhetorical Theory

Using a Marxist approach to rhetorical theory has a variety of benefits and drawbacks to theorists and critics working from many different perspectives. The benefits to such a perspective are clear, if somewhat ominous -- they give concrete and measurable ways in which to develop an understanding of thought itself, and of how thoughts are created and expressed (and…

Dressed in T-shirt that says 'Life is slum' and frayed jeans.

Oh yes! His beating was intentional. The way they kicked and stomped him -- over and over again. Though beats me why 20% didn't think so. Bigoted idiots.

Three LA Police officers stomped, kicked and beat King with metal batons. The scene was video taped by George Halliday, manager of a plumbing company, from ninety-feet away.

Q. What were your reactions?

Scandalized. I remember thinking it impossible that such acts of police brutality -- Police of all things! You would think they would be above that -- were happening today. In America. In Los Angeles.

California is oen of the most civilized states. This isn't the South after all. Here's where we're supposed to, like, love everyone else and against prejudice. Especially the police. Couldn't get to grips with this at the time. Scary.

That riots started a few…

Geology was one of the sources of Marx's views about social system and it's structure (the idea of formation). Among the biological discoveries that influenced on Marx's sociological views were the discovery of cell, cell theory of the organism's structure and the most important was evolutionary teaching of Darwin that was stated in work "The origins of species." Marx saw biological analogue of his theories in Darwin's work and it was a stimulus for further work as well.

The basic question of sociology is a question about interaction of material and spiritual values in the life of society.

Marx introduced a new and independent variable in this process, which plays a key role in the relations that exist in society and it was a mode of material production. Besides he supported the views about the initial role of being in relation to society's consciousness, but not in the sense of…

Talented Mr. Ripley

The titular character of Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley is driven by what might be called a pathological desire for commodities. Tom Ripley has essentially bought into the promise of post-war capitalism to the point that he is willing to kill for it, thus undercutting the hegemony of capitalism itself by demonstrating the powerlessness of wealth in the face of simple physical violence. hen examining Tom's desire for commodities, consumer goods, and material pleasures, it becomes clear that this desire, which is the main symptom of a dedication to capitalism, serves to repress the unconscious, unexpressed knowledge that money is ultimately meaningless, an ephemeral stand-in for other commodities, which are themselves ultimately stand-ins for real power, which is to say physical violence. Thus, Tom's murder of Dickie represents a kind of psychological trauma resulting from the violent eruption of the unconscious, a trauma that can…

Vietnam and the Two-Sided American Dream

The Vietnam era began under a cloud. Kennedy had inherited a government neck-deep in covert operations and rather than check the rate at which the U.S. exercised military might in foreign countries, he accelerated it. The American Empire had been doing so for nearly two decades since the end of WW2. With the Cold War in full force, the ay of Pigs fiasco behind him, and the Cuban Missile Crisis causing panic worldwide, the last thing Americans wanted was more war. With the assassination of Kennedy in 1963 and the installation of pro-ground forces Lyndon Johnson, Americans were stripped of the carefree innocence of the 1950s. Camelot was ended. The 1960s and the 1970s became decades of radicalism in which American youth would rebel against the authoritarian tone of American foreign and domestic policy. They would rebel in their dress, in their speech, in…

Karl Marx begins as an interpreter of the prior philosophy of Hegel, extremely popular in Marx's youth. Hegel espoused a philosophy known as "absolute idealism," which entails a complicated re-interpretation of Kant in order to arrive at a process which Hegel refers to as dialectic. The Hegelian dialectic proposes an original idea, thought or condition which Hegel calls the "thesis," this conjures its own opposite "antithesis," and the struggle between these two contraries eventually resolves itself in "synthesis." The result of the synthesis eventually emerges as a new thesis, and thus Hegel proposes a forward-moving philosophy of history, which Hegel saw as "unfolding the Absolute Idea of God."

Marx's philosophy is usually known as "dialectical materialism," which indicates his debt to the Hegelian dialectic. Hegel had after all proposed that the driving force of this unfolding historical process was essentially the "spirit of the age" (a sort of mystical atmospheric…

Your answer should be at least five sentences long.

The Legend of Arthur

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 9 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7A: Honor and Loyalty

1. Consider how Arthur's actions and personality agree with or challenge your definition of honor. Write a few sentences comparing your definition (from Journal 1.6A) with Arthur's actions and personality.

2. Write a brief paragraph explaining the importance or unimportance of loyalty in being honorable.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 10 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7B: Combining Sentences

Complete the Practice Activity on page 202 of your text. After completing this activity, read over your Essay Assessment or another journal activity you've completed.

* Identify three passages that could be improved by combining two or more sentences with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. Below the practice activity in your journal, write the original passages and the revised sentences you've created.

* Be sure to…

hile his modes of achieving his money might be questionable, he can know that he did become successful and he did not need the help of anyone else to do it. For this reason, Gatsby deserves a certain amount of respect. In fact, we can almost bet that Gatsby worked harder and longer than Tom ever did. If we are to hold any grudges against Gatsby, it must be in his foolishness toward Daisy but that is what makes him a romantic at heart. Gatsby is torn between the life he lives and the dream he wants. There is nothing wrong with the dream; however, what Gatsby chooses to do with it proves to be the biggest mistake of his life. Gatsby is living in the past and believes that it can be relived. Nick writes, "He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to…

While in Durkheim's concept of moral density, competition is a pre-existing condition, rationalization and social change in Weber's terms is determined by the enhancement or development of humans in their ability to adapt to their social environment. Competition, although a factor in the individual's social environment, did not become the focus of Weber's process of rationalization, as compared to Durkheim's conceptualization. Marx's dialectical materialism is likened to Durkheim's concept of competition in that through this concept, human society is illustrated to be part of an ongoing history of social change premeditated by class conflict, which emerged out of the unequal control of the mode of production or technology. The relationship between the forces (elite and working classes) and mode of production determine the existence of a class stratification and conflict in the society. This class conflict led to differentiated roles in the society, resulting to formal rationality, and ultimately, after…

On some level, all art tells the viewer something about its sociological context. A painting by Vermeer says much about gender roles and norms in Flemish society; just as a painting by arhol says much about consumerism in American society.

One irony that Bennett points out is, "Art collectors have paid millions of dollars for some of arhol's pieces, but shoppers at Target, where the limited-edition soup cans are on sale, will have to shell out only 75 cents for a 10.75-ounce can." arhol's art is the ideal bridge between "low" and "high" art, evidenced by this differential in pricing. The "authentic" painting by arhol is worth millions, but the authentic item that arhol depicted on the canvas is only worth 75 cents. Consumers place a high demand on something that is deemed valuable and irreplaceable, but not as high of a demand on food.

Andy arhol's "100 Cans" points…

arxist or Neo-arxist Research

Theorist

Theory Summary

Critique of Theory

ax Weber

According to ax Weber the state is a special entity that possesses a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Weber believes politics is a required activity of government used in order to influence and control the relative distribution of force and power in the country.

Weber wrote of three main types of authority and political leadership domination that is present in society. These three types are charismatic, traditional and legal domination.

Weber also developed a theory of stratification where he explained and used such ideas as class, status, and party. According to his theory class is determined by an individual's economic situation. The notion of status is similar to prestige and honor. And the main purpose of parties is to gain domination in certain spheres of life. Like Weber, arx saw society as the struggle for class…

Commodities Are Inherently Morally ad

Karl Marx (1844), imagines of a society where relationships are valuable than money and goods, claiming that this would be a supeiror society. The world today has been preoccupied with acquisition of wealth leading to growth of a materialistic generation. Materialistic people who are considered to be greedy for money and have the tendency to get riches quickly without regard to morals. They possess the desire to live in lavishly in plush homes, wearing expensive jewelry and cloths moving in fancy automobiles. Materialism creates the urge for one to live an extravagant life.

Materialism has a negative impact on the society; it is deeply rooted in greed and personal satisfaction. It is obvious that the real cause of the current world economic problems is greed due to materialism, the acquisition of wealth and power abiding in corruption. The world is currently witnessing an increase in…

Both Taoism and Buddhism encourage meditation as a means by which to liberate the mind and achieve emptiness. One of the Buddhist practices that encourages emptiness is mindfulness meditation, or vipassana. However, there are numerous specific methods that be used during the meditation practice. Some are more Tibetan in origin as those espoused by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the Vajrayana tradition. Other meditation practices are like those I learned at the Hsi Lai Temple, which combine Ch'an (Chinese Zen) Buddhism with Buddhist humanism. Taoism, unlike Buddhism, also offers ancillary spiritual practices such as Tai Chi and Chi Gung. The teachings of Buddhism and Taoism go neatly hand in hand.

Therefore, I am continually growing from becoming more open to spiritual teachings. The spiritual journey is like a flower blossoming. I do not believe that religious dogma or ideology are necessary, and in some cases they can be harmful. As Chogyam…

Descartes

Cartesian dualism emerges from Descartes's approach of radical skepticism. Wanting to know what can be determined to be absolutely true, Descartes begins by doubting all sensory perception as fundamentally external and liable to interference. Just as we understand that hallucination exists as a real phenomenon -- whereby we might "see" an object that is not really there -- we may come to understand that all the evidence obtained from eyesight may not necessarily be a valid representation of the external world. Indeed, we do not even have to refer to the pathological category of hallucination to understand what it would mean to find sensory evidence to be deceptive. In his recent book on hallucinations, the noted neuroscientist Dr. Oliver Sacks (2012) makes reference to "dreams, which one can argue are hallucinations of a sort" (xiii). Anyone who has had a vivid dream knows that they contain visual, auditory, and…

values that drive human societies change over time, and in many instances the political environment will reflect those changes. By the early 1970s, scholars were recognizing that there were significant shifts in the values of the world's most advanced industrial societies (Inglehart, 1971). The basic values of generations, he notes, change based on the "changing conditions influencing their basic socialization." The way that these changes are reflected in politics will often come in the form of conflict. This need not to open, violent conflict, but a conflict between ideas. Younger generations view the world as theirs to inherit, and want to begin setting the tone for the world they want to see as soon as possible. Peak generations see themselves as running the world in their image, an opportunity for which they have waited, while older generations wish to maintain relevance, and in many cases still retain significant formal power.…

He argues that the exact thing happened in the case of paintings. The aim of the book "Superfluous things: material culture and social status in early modern China" (Clunas, 64) was simply to examine Chinese art in the light of material culture. This shows that Craig Clunas was of the view that evolution of art in China was deeply linked to materialistic and opportunistic needs. This train of though could be observed in all his writings. In this book there is a comparison of luxuries with the eighteenth-century England as well as the development of the society which is consumer focused. (Clunas, 67)

The arguments on art and commoditization of art are not without merit. The argument that as luxuries are demanded the tendency to mass produce for the market cannot be entirely brushed aside. The arguments of the consumption of luxuries are not unique to Culinas. Many other authors…

As we have already mentioned, the mood and tone for moral corruption in New York City was prime in the 1920s and while it may seem there are the rich and the poor, class distinction among the rich plays an important role in the novel. Gatsby's success will only carry him so far because of a dividing line that exists between the new wealth and the old wealth. This is best depicted with the est and East Egg sections that divide individuals according to their wealth. Gatsby, regardless of how much money he makes, cannot hold a candle to the old wealth of the community in which Tom and Daisy live. Tom comes from an "enormously wealthy" (6) family and when he moved to the rich East Egg, he "brought down a string of ponies from Lake Forest" (6). The Buchanan's home is "more elaborate" (7) than what our narrator…

The world of matter is real, it is tangible, and it is an essential aspect of our human existence. However, the material universe, according to idealist philosophy, is not absolute; it is not the end. Because metaphysics concerns itself with the ultimate nature of reality, it is impossible for materialism to adequately answer metaphysical questions. There must be some source for all the multiple forms that comprise the physical universe. To propose a materialist metaphysics is to stop well short of the ultimate aim of metaphysics, which is to discover an explanation for material objects. Idealists and materialists both begin with matter but the idealist takes matter one step further, asking from where the matter came and why it exists in precisely the way that it does.

Objects that were created by human beings owe their existence to the human mind, and therefore objects that were not created by human…

In addition, Lett (1987) emphasizes that, "Cultural materialists maintain that a society's modes of production and reproduction determine its social structure and ideological superstructure, but cultural materialists reject the metaphysical notion of Hegelian dialectics that is part of dialectical materialism" (80). Indeed, according to Bradshaw (1993), "the British cultural materialist knows that the 'radical,' 'subversive,' 'marginal,' or 'dissident' perspective is always superior (9). This author maintains that British cultural materialist readings of Shakespeare tend to assign particular characters or speeches a privileged, supra-dramatic significance that may override meaningful analysis if care is not taken (Bradshaw 9).

According to Bate (1994), it has become increasingly common in recent years for scholars to adopt either the new historicism or cultural materialist perspective alone when considering these literary works, particularly as they apply to Shakespeare. In this regard, MacDonald (1994) suggests that the New Historicist camp enjoys a clear advantage because they "define…

birth of the phenomena known as the consumer society is unknown but there is no doubt that, at least in the western world, it has existed since the advent of the Industrial evolution.

In the consumer society a high value is placed on the use and possession of material goods. Prior to the industrial revolution, most of society was concerned about mere sustenance and there was little demand for goods other than those needed to live from day. With the advent of the Industrial evolution mass production became possible and suddenly the producers had an excess of goods and needed to create a market for them.

The concept of consuming more than what one needed did not suddenly emerge with the birth of the consumer society as the ancient omans and Egyptians were well-known for their hedonism but such behavior in those societies was limited to a select few in…

Biological applications are being used in the study of mental process and behavior in term of mechanisms of body that is the study of psychology. The thinking that psychological processes are biologically related to each other is the base of relationship of psychology biology. Through different research on the study of mental processes now scientists are able to better treat any disease both physically and mentally.

Study of relationship of biology and psychology take us back to the time of Aristotle who told that mind and body are correlated to each other and mind is being merely one of the body's function. French philosopher ene Descartes present a theory of dualism according to which both mind and spirit are two separate entities which are connected to each other through human body. Gottfried Wilhelm present a psychological parallism theory in which he said that body and mind are separates things but…

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They are not keeping the day of fasting holy. Verses 4 and 5 give us further information as to how the Israelites are observing fasting. We find that they are fasting to appear pious to other men. They are fasting so that everyone will know that they fasted, not necessarily out of commitment to God. The Israelites are keeping the ceremony of fasting, but they are doing it for selfish reasons. They are "showing off" their religiousness without feeling anything in their hearts. This is what God sees in their actions.

'4 ehold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down…

A reductive explanation of consciousness will explain this wholly on the basis of physical principles that do not themselves make any appeal to consciousness. According to materialism, consciousness is the direct result of brain activity. Nonreductivism admits the existence of consciousness as part of the explanation. Nonmaterialism, on the other hand, views consciousness as an essential but nonphysical part of the human being. In order to emphasize the nonphysical nature of consciousness, Chalmers offers a number of convincing arguments against materialism.

The Explanatory argument holds that at most, structure and function can be explained by physical arguments relating to the brain and its connections, and as seen above, these do not sufficiently explain the manifestations of consciousness. It follows that consciousness cannot be explained by physical account. The conceivability argument holds that entities without any consciousness - such as zombies, for example - could exist. All their physical functions would…

Drug use patterns changed from soft and psychedelic drugs like cannabis and mushrooms to harder drugs like barbiturate pills and heroin. The focus on the hippie movement also dissolved. hat started as a relatively cohesive challenge to commercialism and corruption ended up being a fragmented array of debauch. The death of celebrity musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin triggered the end of the hippie heyday. In spite of its excesses, though, the hippie movement transformed American social values especially among youth culture.

orks Cited

Binkley, Sam. "Hippies." St. James Encyclopedia. 2002. Retrieved Nov 14, 207 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100587

CBC. "Hippie Society: The Youth Rebellion." 2006. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-580/life_society/hippies/

Erowid. "Hippies." 1996. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://www.erowid.org/culture/hippies/

Sayre, James K. "Late 60s and Early 70s anti-Vietnam war protests, social and political background notes and a short discussion of some of the best rock 'n roll music of…

Consequently, physicalism or materialism is seen by some as a form of reductionism of the potential of human mind and consciousness. It is therefore a point-of-view that should be questioned in terms of the modern exploration of the complexity of human consciousness.

eferences

A Case for Physicalism about the Human Mind (the Great Debate). etrieved from http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/andrew_melnyk/physicalism.html

Jackson. F. (1986): 'What Mary Didn't Know'. Journal of Philosophy, 83.

Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy].

etrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/know-arg/

Mandik, P. ( 2004). Physicalism. etrieved from http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/MindDict/physicalism.html

Moral Theology. etrieved from http://www.arthurstreet.com/moraltheology.html

Nagasawa, Y. The Knowledge Argument Against Dualism. Australian National

University. etrieved from http://www.yujinnagasawa.com/resources/dualism.pdf

Pratt, B. ( 2012). What is Physicalism? etrieved from http://www.toughquestionsanswered.org/2012/03/16/what-is-physicalism/

Qualia: The Knowledge Argument. ( 2002). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

etrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia-knowledge/

Sperring P. ( 2004). Should We Give Up on eductive Physicalism? ichmond Journal

of Philosophy, 8 (Winter 2004). etrieved from http://www.richmond-philosophy.net/rjp/back_issues/rjp8_sperring.pdf

Siddhartha

Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha offers a fictionalized version of the story of the Buddha and his quest for enlightenment. Hesse greatly humanizes the tale, making it more accessible for all modern and non-Buddhist readers. The text can be a useful starting point for anyone interested in understanding Eastern religions and applying their tenets to daily life. The novel can also be a blueprint for the universal quest for contentment and inner peace.

The crux of Siddhartha is the Buddhist concept of the middle path: a way of life that neither demands asceticism nor falls into self-indulgence. Many people mistakenly believe that the only way to achieve spiritual awareness is through self-abnegation, fasting, and withdrawal from life. Others assume that only prescribed religious paths, replete with rituals and ceremonies, can teach spiritual wisdom. Siddhartha failed to find lasting truth, contentment, or peace in either the religious traditions of his father…

This does not suggest that one assimilate the ideas of another without having first contemplated those ideas at length, rounded them with individual ideas, expectations, experiences and theories before adopting those ideas and holding the originator of the ideas as a source of ideological guidance.

Engels is described by social researcher Dudley Knowles (2002) as a "Hegelian (20)." As mentioned earlier, Engels took a position in favor of Hegel when the philosopher was coming under fire from the university philosophy professor where Engels attended university. As has been previously mentioned, again, and from the positions Engels took and his manner of expressing his positions that were counter authority and anti-authority in nature, it leaves open to speculation Engels' motivation in backing Hegel; was it sincere agreement in philosophy, or his tendency to follow his young and somewhat immature tendencies to thwart the sitting authority? Given that Engels took a journalistic…

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest."(Johnson, 139) Nevertheless, this only increases his feeling that he does not belong to his own race, and his sense that everything is a bitter irony. As the hero passes as a white man, he is forced many times to listen to unjust commentaries that are made against the black race and he realizes that he himself is ironically a disproof of these unfavorable remarks and an evidence that blackness does not render a man 'unfit': "The anomaly of my social position often appealed strongly to my sense of humor. I frequently smiled inwardly at some remark not altogether complimentary to people of color; and more than once I felt like declaiming, 'I am a colored man. Do I not disprove the…

Consumer Society or Capitalism

Consumer society which evolves out of capitalism has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. But even with its disadvantages, consumer society has now become an accepted from of modern society.

Under the pressure of corporate politics, the commercialization of culture and the influence of mass media, the conventional literary values of Western society are deteriorating. For the public in general, the mixing and transformative experiences of culture have been restored by the joint viewing experience and by contribution in consumer trends. (Cronk, Consumerism and the New Capitalism) George Orwell described consumer society as the air we breathe. High worker output and high general levels of consumption typify efficiently improved societies of late 20th century. Though this prosperity is endorsed with making benefits like raised education and health care, it is also linked with much extended work hours, raised lose-lose social rivalry, uneven communities, economic disparity,…

The mall in Shanghai is not representative of all shopping experiences in China, and the questionnaire and its use of imagery and descriptions lack clarity and precision needed for more extrapolative results. The study however does underscore the role of ethicacy as a key determinant in defining if a person is going to purchase a counterfeit product or not.

Analysis of Counterfeit Luxury Goods Online:

An Investigation of Consumer Perceptions

One of the most rapidly expanding selling channels for counterfeit products are websites and e-commerce sites. On the Internet a counterfeiter can be up and running within a day or less, selling counterfeit items globally using PayPal and other well-known payment processing systems to manage transactions. This area of counterfeit luxury products selling is the subject of the study Counterfeit Luxury Goods Online: An Investigation of Consumer Perceptions (adon, 2012). The methodology is loosely defined as those customers who have…

Dennett says that the consciousness only plays tricks with our minds and makes the experiences to be assumed to be non-physical, which in turn raises the ontological problem of non-physical existence of everything. Dennett, therefore, would seem to offer to take into consideration the small factors in detail, which eventually build up to the bigger picture of the ontological problem of hard existence, to solve the problem. I have come to this conclusion based on the facts mentioned in the intentional stance idea and Dennett's other sayings.

Section Six

Dennett's intentional stance to describe the behavior of non-living objects blurs the important philosophical distinction between the living and non-living systems. Dennett's work states that there is no genuine reason in principle that non-living systems cannot display actual agency, as opposed to the pseudo-agency. If being alive is a necessary condition for having a mind, the argument that if a non-living…

GENESIS HISTORY OR MYTH?

Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It contains incredible stories of the creation of the universe, man's fall from grace, the story of Noah and the great flood, and the stories of the first generations of man. This book is perhaps one of the most controversial as well. The contents of the book are not as source of dispute. However, the interpretation of the content is a source of great scholarly debate for many reasons.

The first source of debate is exactly what type of work Genesis constitutes. Conservative Christians consider Genesis to be a history. Using this interpretation, events in Genesis happened exactly as written. Other more liberal interpretations consider Genesis to be something other than a historical account. There are many liberal viewpoints on how to categorize Genesis. Some believe that Genesis is an allegory, others a myth, and still others compare…

143).

Moreover, the global neglect of women (in terms of science) is reflected in the fact that women have been excluded as experimental subjects in drug research, Rosser continues. Certainly pregnant women have been excluded from experiments with pesticides and radioactive materials, but beyond that Rosser explains that "…these drugs and materials are then used without ever having been tested on women" (1991, p. 143). And yet notwithstanding their exclusion from testing, women's research has led to a vast resource of knowledge vis-a-vis the natural environment.

To wit, Rachel Carson correctly extrapolated the deadly effects on the environment due to agricultural pesticides (DDT in particular), and in fact changed the way the government approached pesticides (1991, p. 144). Indeed, Carson's books ("Silent Spring," "Under the Sea-Wind," and others) had an enormous impact on the nation's grasp of environmental dangers and led eventually to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency…

. . ' Their authority may only be of the order and breadth determined by the Idea of the whole; they may only 'originate from its might'. That things should be so lies in the Idea of the organism. But in that case it would be necessary to show how all this might be achieved. For conscious reality must hold sway within the state." (Marx, 77)

This suggests that independence is a pathway to authoritarian tyranny, whereas the 'might' of the state is accorded only by a collective population supporting this right. this resonates most closely with my own personal perspective, denoting something of a universal order in which central authority is necessary to retain civility but in which collectivism is elevated over materialism as a way of empowering such leadership.

2.

The spread of capitalism as both a chief ideology and an aggressive response to the mores of socialism…

However, unlike Leucippus, Holbach is not simply interested in the science of materialism, and is more apt to entertain different explanations for specific types of matter. There is more to be understood than mere appearance in the rearrangement of material essences: "Determinism is universal, in Holbach's view, but different sorts of bodies may have peculiar properties that require peculiar explanations. Despite his avowed materialism, Holbach does not demand the sorts of reductive explanations of mental events that materialism might ordinarily seem to require (LeBuffe 2002). For Holbach, there is more interesting unpredictability in the behavior of types of matter, and the observation of what Leucippus might call mere surface differences.

orks Cited

Berryman, Sylvia. "Leucippus." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002. April 18, 2009.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leucippus/#2

LeBuffe, Michael. "Holbach." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002. April 18, 2009.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holbach/#2

ishi's loyalty to the Indian states exemplifies the nationalism that gripped the country at that time. oja explores the issues involved in terrorism and the wish for a free Kashmir state, set against the overwhelming love of a wife for her husband. The negative messages in the film serve a purpose and helped to define the issues that faced India at the time of the making of the film.

Shri 420 shows the underground world of the impoverished in Bombay and the swindlers who would take advantage of them. It shows the brothels and portions of the town that would rather remain hidden. However, the story is not about Bombay, or India for that matter. The story is about the corruption that western ideas invoke. It is about how materialism destroys and corrupts, destroying the possibility of achieving the Indian idealistic existence.

Shri 420 promotes family values by contrasting them…

The heartfelt letter denouncing materialism shocks the banker and makes him realize what it took the lawyer fifteen years to discover: that life is meaningless unless filled with spiritual love.

Characterization is strong in both "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" And "The Bet." The peasants, especially protagonist Pahom, in Tolstoy's story are strong characters who work hard to achieve upward social mobility. Their effort is admirable when tempered with wisdom, but pitiable when taken to an extreme like Pahom does. In "The Bet," the two men are equally as strong, their opinions powerful enough to make them willing to enter into an outlandish bet.

Suspense is key to "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" And "The Bet," stories in which both authors build tension. Readers have no idea what will become of Pahom when he walks around the plot of land until the very end of the…

One of the failures of the current system is that it often does not account for cultural and resource differences between nations - instead a one-size fits all economic system is imposed universally. Over time, each society will find its own path. Some societies will fail to adapt and ultimately disappear. That is part of the evolutionary process. The key is that right now all societies are not given the same opportunity to succeed whereas the fundamental principles of capitalism suggest they should be.

As more people realize that happiness is more important than money, we will see profound shifts towards knowledge and culture, and the pursuit of wealth will be taken up by other cultures. As they too achieve the type of sustained comfort experienced today in many estern societies, they too will shift towards the pursuit of happiness over money. There will be a major obstacle to overcome…