Descartes - First Meditation Essay Example for Free

Descartes First Meditation Essay In the First Meditation, Descartes presents his philosophical project, and he claims that, in order to complete this project, he needs to put into questions the truth of all his beliefs. Descartes shows that we can doubt of the truth of all our beliefs by two main arguments, the Dream Argument and the Evil Genius argument. In the Dream Argument, Descartes discusses the senses and how it can deceive. Descartes then mentions that when he is dreaming he can also sense real objects, or at least feels he can, causing him not be able to distinguish between being asleep and being awake. This is shown in the quote from the First Meditation, â€Å"I see so plainly that there are no definitive signs by which to distinguish being awake from being asleep. As a result, I am becoming quite dizzy, and this dizziness nearly convinces me that I am asleep† (19, Mediation One). Descartes also discusses the possibility of the universal dream, mentioning that his whole life could in fact be a dream with no actual world that you are awake. Descartes mentions that dream images are images that we already experience in our waking life, they are images that we already know of. The images don’t necessarily have to be something we have seen before because it can be parts of real things we already know that create another image we have not yet seen or experienced. The dream argument that Descartes represents interprets the message that the senses are not always reliable, and we can easily be fooled by them, therefore, we should not rely on our senses to base all of our beliefs on. Now moving on to Descartes second argument, the Evil Genius argument, it implies that everything we think we know is in fact not true and we cannot rely on our senses. In The First Meditation, Descartes presents that God is good, therefore he would not fool the beings he creates into believing false things. If someone were to believe in this suggestion then he would know that he can’t be fooled by anything. This is shown in Descartes quote â€Å"But perhaps God has not willed that I be deceived in this way, for he is said to be supremely good. Nonetheless, if it were repugnant to his goodness to have created me such that I be deceived all the time, it would also seem foreign to that same goodness to permit me to be deceived even occasionally† (21 Meditation One). On the other hand, Descartes mentions that there are some people who believe there is no God, if this is the point of view to be taken then there would be a very big likelihood in us being deceived. The reason for this theory is due to the argument Descartes presents that if there is no good our senses would not be perfect since it would not have been created by a perfect being, such as God. This is shown in Descartes quote, â€Å"But because being deceived and being mistaken appear to be a certain imperfection, the less powerful they take the author of my origin to be, the more probable it will be that I am so imperfect that I am always deceived† (21 Mediation One). In the end of the First Meditation, Descartes sees it as impossible to stop from thinking about these theories, he then tries to believe that his opinions are not true. Descartes does this for the reason to be able to keep thinking as normal without disruptions. Descartes mentions this in his quote, â€Å"Hence, it seems to me I would do well to deceive myself by turning my will in completely the opposite directions and pretend for a time that these opinions are wholly false and imaginary† (22 Meditation One). Descartes then concludes that an evil genius has set out to deceive him so everything he thinks he knows is not true, â€Å"I will not suppose a supremely good God, the source of truth, but rather an evil genius, supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me† (22 Mediation One). With Descartes doubting all his beliefs he makes sure that he is not led to believe in what is not real by the so called â€Å"evil genius† he mentions in the First Meditation. In regards to the question, does Descartes appear to be a sceptic? I would have to say no, the reason I say this is although Descartes does appear to be a sceptic in all his arguments, he demonstrates theories to all his doubts. When Descartes represents a reason for his doubt this cannot be viewed a scepticism anymore as scepticism as defined is the philosophical position according to which knowledge is impossible. Descartes represents knowledge on each topic he doubts, as to why it should be doubted and for what reasons. Descartes does not constantly doubt everything for no reason, a sceptic doubts everything around them for no reason whatsoever. To prove this argument I suggested we can look at the First Meditation when Descartes denies the thought that he might be insane, which is shown in his quote, â€Å"Unless perhaps I were to liken myself to the insane, but such people are mad, and I would appear no less mad, were I to take their behavior as an example for myself† (19 Meditation One). In this quote it proves that all the doubts Descartes is making in the First Meditation are logical, and provide reason. Descartes is not just doubting for the sake of doubting, but for logic that causes this doubt he is experiencing. This concludes that Descartes is not a sceptic, and his arguments in fact to continue to grow, while maintaining logical reason behind them.

Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Escape From an Oppressive

Huckleberry Finn - Escape From a Cruel and Oppressive Society America... land of the free and home of the brave; the utopian society which every European citizen desired to be a part of in the 18th and 19th centuries. The revolutionary ideas of The Age of Enlightenment such as democracy and universal male suffrage were finally becoming a reality to the philosophers and scholars that so elegantly dreamt of them. America was a playground for the ideas of these enlightened men. To Europeans, and the world for that matter, America had become a kind of mirage, an idealistic version of society, a place of open opportunities. Where else on earth could a man like J. D. Rockefeller rise from the streets to become one of the richest men of his time? America stood for ideals like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. People in America had an almost unconditional freedom: freedom to worship, write, speak, and live in any manner that so pleased them. But was this freedom for everyone? Was America, the utopia for the millions of common men fro m around world, as great as the philosophers and scholars fantasized? America, as a society, as a country, and as a leader was not as picture perfect as Europeans believed. The United States, under all the gold plating, carried a burden of unsolved national problems, especially racial. The deep scar of slavery had left a dent in the seemingly impenetrable armor of the country. From the times of early colonization to the late 19th century, Africans had been brought over by the thousands in overcrowded and unsanitary slave ships. They were sold like cattle to the highest bidder, an inhumane and despicable act that America, land of the free and home of the brave, allowed to happen... ...1997. 14-17. Leavis, F. R. "Viewpoints." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1968. 109-11. Mailloux, Steven. "Reading Huckleberry Finn." New Essays on Huckleberry Finn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 107-30. Marx, Leo. "Mr. Eliot, Mr. Tilling, and Huckleberry Finn." American Scholar 22. (Aut 1953): 423-40. McKay, Janet H. "An Art So High." New Essays on Huckleberry Finn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 61-81. Walker, Nancy. "Reformers and Young Maidens: Women and Virtue." Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1968. 76-85. Wright, James. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Great Writers of the English Language: American Classics. North Bellmore, New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1991. 12-17.

Experiencing the Schizophrenia of Christianity Essay

â€Å"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion,† asserts Albert Einstein. â€Å"It should transcend a personal god and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism. † While other physicists and mathematicians love Lao Tzu’s Taoism, most Chinese embrace both and add Confucianism. For thousands of years, these have been the three philosophies of China. While Judaism, Islam and Christianity also made its way to China, these religions did not bear as much fruit because of their schizophrenic nature. Unfortunately, many in the West still suffer from â€Å"split minds† due to Christian indoctrination. There are many factual stories in the news today about the Christian crisis, but fiction writers also have their own adaptations or interpretations of these stories. For instance, in the short story Sixty-five Million Years, Father Hennessey portrays the schizophrenia of Christian clergymen and Christianity in general. Father Hennessey is the main character or protagonist of the story. He â€Å"found himself lured into a kind of salacious appetite for some of the things he was privy to; there were sins his parishioners confessed that seemed nearly attractive to him, not as temptations, but as something close to entertainment, amusement. † He became obsessed with the sexual confessions of Mr. Graham, â€Å"the most popular teacher in the local high school, who taught math along with science. † Graham is also â€Å"kindly, softhearted, resourceful, passionate about his work, a dedicated and devoted educator. † But he is childless with his wife of 25 years, a woman who is â€Å"several years older† than him. After a 15-year old girl, a remedial math student, came to see him regularly, he started to experience sleepless nights with â€Å"sexual tension. † He keeps seeing himself â€Å"reach for her. † She waits for him â€Å"to tell her the answer to a problem,† but he â€Å"can’t do it because† he has â€Å"to use all† his â€Å"mental resources to keep from grabbing her and trying to kiss her and begging her to let† him â€Å"have her. † Father Hennessey finds Graham’s mental anguish â€Å"entertaining,† and Hennessey, in the beginning, always looks forward to Confessionals with Graham. He â€Å"was guiltily aware that this was because of the strange absorption that had taken hold of him concerning the details of the story. † There came a point that it preoccupied his mind so much that he couldn’t administer mass properly anymore. He also couldn’t listen attentively to other confessions since Graham’s story always distracted his mind. There is also a 15-year old boy who regularly confesses to Hennessey. He has â€Å"close-cut blond hair† with a â€Å"crooked nose† and â€Å"a round head. † He also suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis, spending much time in bed, reading books, as a result of his condition. His condition also resulted in fingers that â€Å"were knotted and curved slightly with the arthritis,† but they were â€Å"beautiful†¦in their strange variance from the hands one expected a fifteen-year-old boy to have. † Hennessey finds out much later that he is the twin brother of Graham’s obsession. Their mother is mentally ill and has been confined in the hospital since their father left them. The twin siblings have been living by themselves at home without any supervision. The young boy’s mentally-ill mother keeps asking the boy numerous doubting questions about God, so he goes to Father Hennessey for the answers. But he fails to answer them. â€Å"Father,† the boy asks during a confessional with Hennessey, â€Å"the dinosaurs lived here for millions of years. We’ve only been here for a little fraction of a second in terms of evolution. What was God thinking? † The boy explains that the Bible is ignorant of dinosaurs. â€Å"Saint Peter didn’t know about the dinosaurs, Father,† he says. But Hennessey doesn’t take him too seriously. He feels that â€Å"the boy might be less than sincere, and that this was all at his expense. † But the young boy is persistent. He visits Hennessey regularly at his confession booth; Hennessey not knowing that he is the twin-brother of Graham’s obsession. The boy even calls up Hennessey’s housekeeper to ask about the priest’s character or behavior, which the boy seriously doubts. Unfortunately, Father Hennessey fails to help Graham and the young boy. Instead of healing the mental illness or perversion of Graham, he makes it worse. Instead of answering the questions of the boy correctly, he gives a stock answer—faith. â€Å"There is no perfect answer, son,† Hennessey says, â€Å"except faith. † He considers them as forms of entertainment like watching interactive television. Hence, he makes both of their lives worse. Graham becomes perverted with his student, committing adultery with her multiple times, even on campus, where they are caught in the gymnasium equipment cabinet, and he is terminated from work. He also ends up in jail for contributing to juvenile delinquency and loses his career. The young boy couldn’t help his mother who is mentally ill, and in turn, the mother couldn’t help her daughter, who ends up with a sexual relationship with Graham. Father Hennessey had internal conflicts that split his mind or made him somewhat schizophrenic. Consequently, he also failed himself. One night, he was very troubled, and â€Å"What disturbed him most that night was that he had gone through everything in these last few weeks only in terms of himself. † He also â€Å"began to wonder if he were not becoming unhinged. † These problems are actually consequences or reflections of much more serious problems in the Catholic Church. Sometimes, it isn’t Graham or the young boy who develop such problems; it is the priest himself who develops sexual relationships with parishioners. Sometimes they rape them or molest them, as the thousands of cases broadcasted in recent television news reports. That’s why many Americans are now turning to Asian philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism which are in harmony with science and psychology, unlike Christianity which is in conflict with science. â€Å"For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory,† asserts Niels Bohr, a Nobel-prize physicist acclaimed for the Bohr model of the atom and his contributions to Quantum Mechanics, â€Å"†¦(we should study) those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence. † This is the answer that both the boy and Graham were seeking from Father Hennessey. The elementary questions that the boy asked can all be answered by the three philosophies of China easily. The boy wanted to reconcile science with religion. He needed answers to scientific questions that contradicted the Bible or showed its ignorance. Graham would have had a clear answer from a Buddhist too. Although he visited Hennessey to confess his sexual perversions, he was really seeking a solution to his illness or his obsessive compulsions. He wanted to heal it or get rid of it, along with the suffering that he was experiencing. Buddha’s First Noble Truth asserts that life is dukkha—impermanent, uncomfortable, sometimes even painful and deadly, like riding a wooden cart with uneven wheels or hearing a screeching uneven potter’s wheel turn. Lao Tzu explains that the bumpy cycles of life, moving up and down, are the result of natural forces in the universe, which are now understood partly by physicists as gravity, space and time. It creates polarities in everything—male-female, good-bad, day-night, up-down, mania-depression, life-death, white-black, desire-aversion, happiness-sadness, economic boom-busts and so forth—with infinite degrees in magnitude, along with multiple combinations in proportions. The Chinese call this Yang and Yin, respectively. The Second Noble Truth then asserts that dukkha or the impermanent cycle of suffering is caused by the physical existence of Yin and Yang, such as Graham’s aversion and desire, as stated in Rodney St. Michael’s book Sync My World. Consequently, the Third Noble Truth then says that to manage dukkha, one must â€Å"extinguish† the polarities of Yin and Yang, or in Graham’s case, aversion and desire. Finally, the Fourth Noble Truth asserts that to â€Å"extinguish† these polarities, one must follow the Middle Way or the Eightfold Noble Path. To make a long story short, one of the eight guidelines in this path is meditation. Desire and aversion, for example, are caused by imbalanced hormones and neurotransmitters. By practicing breath meditation daily, Graham could biologically alter his brain chemistry to neutralize the imbalance in his system. There are also many other suggestions that a Buddhist could give to Graham, such as what to think when desires start burning him. Buddhists would also explain to him the concept of karma, or the principle of cause and effect, which explains all the possible consequences of ignoring his problem. As for the young teenager, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, explains that the â€Å"force,† acting as God or nature, creates everything in polarities such that some are monstrous dinosaurs and some are cute lambs. Some are carnivores and some are herbivores. Everything lives and dies and goes around in a cycle. People should never expect anything to last, whether it be marriage (which normally only lasts 10 years), jobs, prosperity, happiness or anything good. Incorrect expectations cause mental anguish, but managed expectations produce relative stability. One must realize also that the darkest period of night is the time just before sunrise, so any bad situation will eventually turn good, even if death itself has to trigger it. In the end, while Hennessey failed, his experience changed him: â€Å"He stood in the shadow of the church, and looked up. It was a building; he had a moment of being frightfully aware of it as mere stone, the work of human hands, stone and brick and mortar and wood. † He became aware or enlightened of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is mortal. It is not the divine house of God. He is not a divine worker. There is nothing supernatural in what he is doing. He’s just human. The doubt of the boy made him doubt himself and the Church. But now he has the chance to change everything. And slowly but surely, America is also realizing that they now have a chance to do the same. Works Cited Bausch, Richard, â€Å"Sixty-five Million Years. † NarrativeMagazine. com. St. Michael, Rodney. (Including citations from Einstein and Bohr). Sync My World: Thief’s Honor GA SK. Raleigh: Lulu, 2009.

Competition From Foreign Producers On American Consumers

Competition from foreign producers affects American consumers in a number of ways. They affect the way we, as Americans, pay taxes, the way we trade with other countries and the limitations of that trade. These trade barriers protect us in order to keep specific industries of the United States safe and to protect parts of our economy. Trade barriers include tariffs, quotas, and subsidies and are a part of our economy because they are necessary for the success of our country. There has been a dual view of trade since the time of the ancient Greeks. The two sides of these philosophers views are the recognition of the benefits of international exchange, but that there is concern that certain domestic industries would be harmed by foreign†¦show more content†¦The policies that were developed in Western Europe took different forms. For example, domestically, governments would provide capital to new industries, exempt new industries from rules and taxes, establish monopolies over local and colonial markets, and grant titles and pensions to successful producers (LaHaye, n.d.). Then, the government would assist local industry by imposing tariffs, quotas, and prohibitions on imports of goods that competed with local manufacturers (LaHaye, n.d.). A tariff is a tax on imports, while a quota is a legal restriction on the amount of a good coming into the country (Guell, p. 204). The economic strength of the United States provided the stability that permitted the world to leave behind the chaos of war and grow into a new, more prosperous era (LaHaye, n.d.). This is when The Marshall Plan comes into play. The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951 (Foner Garraty, 2009). The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ (Foner Garraty, 2009). This coincided with the United States goals to rebuild devastated war regions, to remove trade barriers, to