Intro to Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Intro to Philosophy - Essay Example the individual private conversations with ourselves that we conduct ‘in our heads.† People therefore talk about "making up my mind" "changing my mind" or of being "of two minds" about some matter about which a decision is required. This fits in with the idea that the mind is a very private and personal area to which no other person has access. The etymology of the word in English shows how there is some confusion as to what ‘mind’ actually means. In Old English it was ‘gemynd’, a word used to refer to memory and intention as well as thinking (, Harper 2012), even ‘having the mind aroused’. In Greek the word ‘memona’ referred to both yearning for something and also madness. In Latin, as in Old English, the word was linked to recall and memory. In English by the 14th century ‘to mind’ meant to remember. In French however the word is ‘esprit’ or spirit, and in German ‘geist’ i.e. ghost , both referring to an intangible something. The brain is obviously a physical object, it can be measured, observed, even weighed. With modern imaging techniques it is even possible to see it in action, chemically, neurologically and electronically. The mind however is much less tangible – something we all know exists yet cannot quite explain. It is a separate entity. Our body can be totally relaxed, even asleep, but the mind can be very active. The reverse can also be true - we are running along perhaps, pushing our body to its physical limits, while at the same time the mind is simply ticking over, thinking of almost nothing. The mind can be defined as that part of conscious beings which reasons, perceives, thinks, wills and judges. The Free Dictionary defines the mind as being :- The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory and imagination. It is also described in the same dictionary as :- T he collective conscious and unconscious processes in a sentient organism that direct and influence mental and physical behavior. All cognitive being are born with amazing brains and minds, yet it is something about which humanity in general knows relatively very little. This essay will consider various views on the subject, looking at research, at opinions, secular ideas and religious texts. It is likely that man, from earliest time, has been aware that he is made up of more than physical things, more even than what he perceives through his senses - man is after all a dreamer and also capable of spiritual experiences. Probably the oldest known ideas about the mind come from Zoroaster who may have lived as long ago as 2000 B.C.E.(Parsa, undated), although estimates of his dates vary considerably. According to his biographer Zoroaster, a Persian philosopher and the founder of the Zoroastrian religion taught that :- By keeping the mind healthy and by making use of creative forces, indi viduals can find satisfaction and passion in what they do. In Buddhism the body is compared to a house and our mind to a guest staying there. According to this belief when a person dies their mind moves on into the next life or place , and the house, as houses do, stays behind to be taken care of. (Kadampa 2010). The same article also points out that, as the mind is formless, it is totally unrestricted by physical objects – which explains why it is possible to dream or to consider something without being in its

Othello Essay Example for Free

Othello Essay In the play of â€Å"Othello†, Shakespeare skillfully uses the opposition of light and darkness to express the ironic conflict of race and Othello’s internal conflict propelled by his sense of otherness and jealousy. By doing so, Shakespeare challenges the audience’s traditional associations of light and darkness. He also allows us to see the how internal conflict could lead to one’s complete destruction. Shakespeare uses the opposition of light and darkness to express the racial conflict in â€Å"Othello†. Literally, light and darkness can be represented as white and black. The time period during which the play is set has an Elizabethan audience who made general associations with these two colours. White was generally associated with fairness and nobility; whereas black was usually assigned to negative connotations such as evil and corruption. However in this play, Iago and Othello are portrayed inversely against this traditional generalization. Othello has a black physical appearance but inside, he’s a fair and noble hero at the beginning of the play. This is supported when the Duke of Venice comforts Brabantio about the marriage of Othello and Desdemona by saying that â€Å"Your son-in-law is far more fair than black†. In contrast of Othello, Iago is a white man in the Venetian society with an absolute black soul. He plots against Othello throughout the play for his own benefits and to satisfy his professional jealousy. In his revenge plan, Iago remarks that Othello â€Å"will as tenderly be led by th’nose/ As asses are†. Iago’s duplicity is also proved by his confession to Roderigo. He states he belongs to the kind of people who â€Å"trimmed in forms and visages of duty. Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves†. Through the traditional associations around light and darkness as well as black and white, Shakespeare shows us the ironic contrast between Othello and Iago, while the black-skinned Othello is pure and the white- skinned Iago is corrupt, a Machiavellian, a personality type, someone who was not true to their word, and it’s the one that the Elizabethan audience feared. In this manner, Shakespeare challenged the general ideas of the Elizabethan society which ranked black people racially to be lower. Shakespeare also allows us to consider the representation of appearance versus reality. What we see with our own eyes is not always the truth, so it’s not necessary for anyone to have racial bias. Shakespeare also employs the opposition of light and darkness to express Othello’s internal conflict. Figuratively, light can be associated with love and honesty, whilst darkness can be used to represent suspicion and jealousy. Throughout the play, Othello always views himself honourable, as the light, and so is his love for Desdemona, which is also associated with light. However, after Iago has manipulated him into believing Desdemona is unfaithful, he starts to suspect his wife’s fidelity, â€Å"I think my wife be honest, and think she is not†. His solution to his internal conflict is to kill Desdemona. But the metaphor â€Å"put out the light, and then put out the light† suggests that he still doubts whether his wife is truly unfaithful or not, as he refers to Desdemona as the light. Ultimately, he regrets his commitment of killing Desdemona by referring to her as a â€Å"pearl† and himself â€Å"the base Judean† who throws it away. Yet in his final speech, Othello presents to the audience his insistence that he is â€Å"not easily jealous†. This brings us, the audience, to see the tragedy of the play, the power that Iago wielded, and the great loss of love. Through the use of the opposition of light and darkness, Shakespeare expresses how Othello has kept switching his belief and judgment from rightness to falseness. The fact that Othello is a black man being in a white world is vital. His sense of feeling himself as â€Å"other† exacerbates his insecurity. This dark side of Othello’s character as a result causes him to lose self-control and commit a series of irrational actions. We witness his shift away from his original lightness. Shakespeare therefore shows us that the Moor has become internally darkened through his internal conflict in terms of feeling jealous and his sense of otherness. In conclusion, Shakespeare uses the opposition of light and darkness to show us the racial conflict in the Elizabethan society and the internal conflict of Othello. He inverts Iago, a white man, as evil, and Othello, a black good man who does wrong because of Iago. Shakespeare therefore challenges the Elizabethan audience’s traditional associations of black and white. â€Å"Othello† is the play that allows us to connect with Othello’s action. We are shown how people can complete an absolute destruction when they are caught by their internal conflict, just as the noble Othello has been darkened by his sense of insecurity and jealousy.

A Study of Narcissism :: Psychology Essays

A Study of Narcissism Missing works cited Spanning back to the era of ancient Greek mythology, narcissism is currently recognized as an â€Å"infatuation and obsession with one’s self to the exclusion of all others†, and as the egocentric pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance and ambition† (Vaknin 1). This egocentric disorder is named after the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus- a man so enchanted by his own reflection that he pined away before it. The origin of narcissism as an acknowledged psychosis is deeply rooted in the mythological source of its very namesake. Narcissus’ obsession with image shows his self-idolization, but also hints toward an insecurity regarding identity and self worth (Alford 3). According to Ovid’s classic account, Narcissus is quoted saying: â€Å"Am I the lover or beloved? Then why make love? Since I am what I long for, then my riches are So great they make me poor.† (Ovid 464) Parallel in character to Narcissus, those diagnosed with his disorder are consumed by an exaggerated drive for supremacy and control. Characteristic also is a predilection toward entitlement. Narcissists tend to the notion that one is worthy of great admiration and esteem, regardless of his or her accomplishments (Vaknin 5). Present psychology diagnoses this sort of self-fascination as a distinctive mental health illness - Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD as documented in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manuel (1994). Common characteristics of an individual afflicted by the disorder include: feelings of grandiosity, desiring a state of unequalled brilliance, the need for constant affirmation, and the â€Å"interpersonal exploitation†(DSM 1994) of others for self- achievement. Narcissism is usually seen as an infatuation with self so acute that the welfare of others is ignored. This is due to the narcissistic opinion that people exterior to the ‘self’ simply serve to mirror one’s own importance. As analyzed by Freud, the story of Narcissus and its resulting condition can be divided into two categories: â€Å"regressive† versus â€Å"progressive† (Alford 35). Freud interprets narcissistic behavior as neither sick nor healthy, but indicative of the normal human condition.

The Role of Religion in Presidential Elections

The Role of Religion in Presidential Elections â€Å"The relationship between faith, reason, and fear sometimes resembles†¦rock, paper, scissors (45). † This is the opening sentence in chapter two of Al Gore’s book, The Assault on Reason. In this chapter Gore talks about how fear takes over reason, reason challenges faith, and eventually faith defeats fear. This is the way that our society worked when he wrote the book, and it has not changed for the better since then, although it has not necessarily gotten substantially worse.Today religion is still a huge player in political debate because people are guided, for the most part, by their morals and it is commonly held that morals come mainly from religious teachings. This is a complex subject because that also opens the door to the idea that atheists, agnostics, etc are not moral people because they are not religious. By that logic, only the religious should be allowed to lead our country because they are the only moral people. Do we believe that all religions are good, though? Are some better than others?Ideally, and under our Constitution, no; all religions are equal in the eyes of our laws. However, there are stigmas attached to certain religions, and to many non-religious people there is a stigma on religion itself. So why, then, does religion play such a large role in political campaigns? It’s simple; because we view religion as having a direct correlation with morals, politicians, political parties, and interest groups can use fear to override our reason in order to sway our opinions. Historically, here in the United States, our citizens have elected white Christian men to the office of the President.To go even further, we have elected Protestant Christians to office. It is apparent that, political parties aside, we have a preference as to what our President should be, religiously. We have only had one Roman Catholic President, John F. Kennedy; during his campaign there were fear s that he would follow the wishes of the Bishop rather than the people. To some degree we still hold these beliefs. If we did not, religion wouldn’t be used as a fear tactic. The colonists who came from England were escaping religious repression, and were the inspiration for our freedom of religion.In modern times, we seem to have lost sight of that. Four years ago, Barack Obama was running for office for the first time. Among many other controversies, i. e. whether he was actually born a U. S. citizen, was the rumor that Obama is a Muslim and not a Christian as he has time and time again identified himself to be. In the United States, where we have the freedom of religion outlined in our Constitution, people were worried that someone of a Muslim background would be able to become the most powerful man in the world.A large part of that fear certainly stems from the attacks on September 11, 2001 but surely there is no legitimate reason to fear Muslims other than the combinatio n of our ignorance of Muslim culture and faith, and the fear that is instilled in us not only by political parties but by non-affiliated extremist groups as well, that say all Muslims are terrorists. Barack Obama went on to win the election, which is not surprising because the public could see right through these shaky scare tactics. However, this has not stopped people from trying to use it in the current election.In a ninety second audio clip taken from a call between a Republican volunteer and a constituent, the volunteer calls Obama a Muslim and says that he wants to take away their Medicare (Dixon, 2012). So even though this tactic has not worked in the past, it doesn’t do much to stop people from trying to spread these rumors again. Between the 2008 election and the upcoming election not much has changed, although in this year’s election the religion card will likely play a larger role in who will win the electorate.Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and while the small ou tcry claiming Obama to be a Muslim was never on firm ground, there is no question of Romney’s religion. This is where we fall back to the days of Kennedy’s campaign. People are worried that Romney will place his religious views before the welfare of our nation. The accusation that people are making is that he is incapable of leading our country because he is a Mormon. Some of the big issues on his plate currently involve women’s rights.As a Mormon, he does not believe in abortion and has made it clear that he would try to pass legislation that sets the beginning of life at conception. While there are certainly non-Mormon people who do not believe in abortion, this is being attributed to his religion. Fifty years ago, or even twenty-five to thirty years ago, this would have been a non-issue. Romney’s beliefs would have been more in line with the more conservative nature of the time period. Needless to say Mitt Romney faces an uphill battle on his quest for the White House.Given all of this information, it would seem very apparent that religion plays a huge role in presidential elections. This is true, but not necessarily in the way that one might think. According to an article in the Huffington Post, most Americans say that it is important for the President to have strong religious beliefs, even if the beliefs differ from their own. This information seems to undermine what the media would have us believe. In addition, constituents tend not to know or be confused about the candidates’ actual religion.Only four in ten citizens could correctly identify Mitt Romney’s religion and forty-six percent of American’s said they did not know (Neroulias, 2011). This goes back to the idea of morals; those who have religion are moral and good, while those who do not cannot be moral and therefore should not lead our country. In the end, politics have not done much to change for the better. We still fear religions that we have no need to fear, and this is largely because fear tactics are used every day by political parties as well as extremists who have the ability to make it into mainstream media.Absolutely anyone can start a rumor that a candidate is Muslim and can’t be trusted, and that could catch like wildfire, or it could be blown off for the most part. It is also exponentially easier to take a candidates religion and a single belief, and then convince the country that he should not be President. Another thing that we see is that citizens place a large emphasis on religion itself, but there is still a large stigma on religions that are not traditional Christian. Until we become collectively more knowledgeable about other religions and debates become more informed, not much could possibly change.References Dixon, M. (2012, September 27). Call from clay county gop:obama is a muslim who'll take away medicare. Retrieved from http://m. jacksonville. com/news/metro/2012-09-27/story/call-clay-county-g op-obama-muslim-wholl-take-away-medicare Gore, A. (2007). The assault on reason. (p. 45). New York, NY: Penguin Group. Neroulias, N. (2011, September 24). How religious identity is influencing the presidential election. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/07/25/presidential-candidates-religious-beliefs_n_908858. html

Agricultural News in BTV Versus ATN in Bangladesh

Among television channels we have 4, 24hour news based television channels (moi. gov. bd). Once upon a time Bangladesh needs to depend on foreign media to know the information. But after 1997 with the permission of first satellite private television station ATN Bangle these rights explore its wings, and in 2000 with the hands of Ekushe Television the Information sector got an energetic change In the country (Akhter, 2003). Following this continuity, the media now enjoying the freedom of press as well as the people are enjoying the free flow of information.But it is found that the sampled television channels are confined only in he capital city of Bangladesh. But we should remember that almost 66 percent of our people are still living in rural area and economy mostly depends on our agriculture. So Media has a huge responsibility to develop the agriculture for better contribution In our economy. But media of our country do not telecast proper and sumclent content Tor tne development 0T our agrlculture. In tne contrary, tney produce the programs and content which only urban based.Even this tendency is also noticed in the content of their prime time news. That is why, the report would be n this issue that the channels are not telecast the agricultural news sufficiently during prime time news.

The Aztec essays

The Aztec essays Rebellion, battle, sickness, triumph, worship and human sacrifice. Thats what one may learn about that Aztec culture if one were compelled too. All of which I have read about in this case study. A history of ancient militia, nomadic migration and some of the earliest conquering of territory in human history. The Aztec civilization was primitive yet genius with their early tools of agriculture and weapons of warfare. Through unity, sacrifice, and kinship the Aztec went on to be one the largest ancient civilizations in all of existence. The Aztec civilization was believed to be formed around 1312. Nomads from northern Mexico, Central America and even native North America formed an alliance in central Mexico, calling themselves mexica. The Mexica began moving south, unfortunately their search for unsettled territory was unsuccessful at first. There was already states with their own form of irrigation and living practices. Although they continued marching south along the way they took knowledge from each state and settlement. Learning tools of agriculture as well advancing in numbers. Along their journey, evidence of dissension and internal rebellion were evident, most likely signs of frustration due to not finding a permanent settlement. This is where many that studied the Aztec believed the idea human sacrifice was derived. Every time the Aztec stopped they constructed a temple for Huitzilopotchtli this was their most sacred deity, he was responsible for providing guidance on their exodus. Human sacrifice was e ssential for keeping him happy and to continue providing safe journey. Finally some 13 years later around 1325 they arrived a Lake Texcoco, it was there that Huitzilopotchtli instructed them to stop and begin to prosper, they named the state Tenochtitlan. For the next 200 years the Aztec flourished as a civilization, highly increasing in numbers as well as military strength. By ...

The eNotes Blog Shakespeare Its in theDNA

Shakespeare Its in theDNA Are you old enough to remember when floppy disks were  actually  floppy? Or maybe when disks were 3 wide? (Yes, kids, thats what that little icon to save your work to your hard drives and flash drives represents, a hard little disk that held approximately two Word files or a half a dozen pictures (but not at the same time). Maybe you think data storage has reached its pinnacle. It is rather startling to realize you carry more technology in your pocket on your smart phone than was available for the moon landing (but with considerably less LOL cats).   But when you understand that there is now over one trillion gigabytes of information in the world, not even the iPhone 204 can keep up with that pace. (Heres what 10 trillion gigabytes looks like in numbers: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. ten plus twenty one  zeroes). Every method of storage we have thus far employed has had long-term storage problems. CDs and DVDs scratch and wear out, as do magnetic tapes. But what about DNA, natures storage system? DNA is compact and durable. We can extract DNA information from bones that are millions of years old. It sounds like science fiction, but its actually science-in-action. Nick Goldman heads up a research team at  European Bioinformatics Institute in the U.K. Goldman and his fellow scientists are studying  DNA data storage and Goldman has written a paper on the process which appeared  Ã‚  in the journal  Nature  last week. In an interview with Ira Flatow on NPRs Science Friday, Goldman explains that DNA utilizes a storage system much like computers use ones and zeroes so [w]e wrote a computer program that embodied a code that would convert the zeros and ones from a hard disk drive into the letters that we use to represent DNA, and then we our collaborators in California    were able to actually synthesize physical DNA. Once the scientists realized this was possible, they decided what they would first try to encode and store: [W]e chose a photograph of our own institute because were sort of self-publicists at heart, I guess, and an excerpt from Martin Luther Kings speech I Have a Dream, all of Shakespeares sonnets and a PDF that contained in fact the paper, the scientific paper by Watson and Crick that first described the structure of DNA itself. All of this information, Golman says, is saved   on the equivalent of a speck of dust. How large of an area would contain all 10 trillion gigabytes of the worlds information? It would fit in the back of a station wagon.