Friday, January 31, 2020

Determinism is the Incompatible with Free

Determinism is the Incompatible with Free Will Essay Free will defined in Webster’s Dictionary is the power of making free choices by outer agencies, and the ability or judgment to choose. In the Christian point of view, free will is what separates us form the animals. It is because we have free will we are able to identify what is good and bad. Free will is understood that all human beings have the ability to due what they want to do, and live there life by there own choices. But how can we know if we truly have free will, what if free will is only an illusion that the human mind has created for us. Do we really make choices in our life because we want to or because we have to? According to Holbach, free will is an illusion that the human mind has created for us. He claims that free will is caused by the environment around us and that motivates our choices in life. These motives can create wish in our mind that can effect our actions. He says that our actions are a result from our choices that we make, and every choice that we make is a result from a cause. He believes that there is no such thing as a pure choice out of free will. He thinks that our actions are made not because we want to but because we need to. These choices can be a result from past experience or motivations from time situations. To give an example a student that goes to school, you could say that the student is going to school because he wants to go, but why would a child want to go to school? The answer is simple It is because there are motives that are making the student want to go to school. These motives can be subconsciously made for the student. This example proves that to make a choice out of free will then the student must make his choice whether he wants to go to school with out any motive, but for the human mind this is an impossible decision. To succeed in life one must attend school, and to succeed in school one must study hard. This leaves the student with no choice but to attend school, so the student’s choice of going to school is not driven by his desires but rather of his motive to succeed in life, and if the student chooses not to attend school then he might be driven the choice not to attend school because he does not like studying which makes the idea of free will false. The student might decide not to go to school because in school he would have to study which he has no desire of doing and if he does go to school he is going not of free will but rather of survival for is own future. , which makes the basic idea of free choice false. In otherwise, the actions of humans are never free; they are always influenced by other sources such as for our own happiness, opinions, past, and daily experiences. Holbach says that having the option of choice does not necessarily mean that one is given free will. Hey says that choices are more like a necessary motive that has been created in front of us, just like the student that goes to school. He is driven by his own desires. Then how can someone say that he is free if his choices that he makes are decided with a reason to it. Men are guided in each step of their lives by their own driven passion, which makes all there choices calculated for a curtain outcome. All of our actions that we make in life are a result form our choices. If a man tried to kill him self what are some motives that will stop the men from killing himself. One will say that if he killed himself then he will die and that would be meaningless. In another situation let say that the men wanted to test his own God given free will and decides to kill himself, this action makes him no different from the man who does not kill himself. They are both driven with different motive that makes them result in their actions. Our actions result in our choices that we make. Every choice that is laid out for us has a motive in the beginning, and in eventually these motives turn into determinations which drives the human brain to respond in curtion ways. The result of the human mind and the illusion of free will is that the human actions are moved by the cause. If all people were able to see their motions carefully they will all discover that there fantasy of free will is only but an illusion. Even though our actions appear to be due to free will, but all actions are actually predetermined factors. They are choices in our heads that has already been made for us. This means that our lives have already been chosen for us even before we decide it. One major objection that I have from this argument is that if people don’t have free will, then that means that all people wouldn’t have any moral responsibility for there actions, but people are morally responsible for their actions. If we did not have free will then that will mean that their will be no good people in the world. If every decision was made because of our own desires then that will mean that we will choose most of the time the bad choices, because most of our desires are self centered. It is because of free will we are able to define what is good and bad. The reasons that we have motives are because they sometimes conflict between what is good and bad. It is because we have free will that we try to due the right things. Moral effort cannot exist without a motive. I believe this to be good objection against the idea that free will is only an illusion created by the mind. If all actions were a result from a cause and motive that we already know of. Then all actions should be predictable, but most actions are not predicable they have many outcomes. If motivation was the only thing that drives us to choose in our lives then their will be no point of living. It is because of the idea of free will we wake up in the morning, knowing that we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. The illusion of freewill talks about the possibility of a deterministic world, but determinism is such a depressing view of the world. Free will is what powers the world, creates societies, and maintains order. Maybe the illusion of free will is for the better for all mankind.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Cloning Essay: Cloneco: Life is Our Business -- Argumentative Persuasi

Cloneco: Life is Our Business    On July 5, 1996, Scottish Scientists shocked the world by creating the first successful clone of a sheep.   With the dawn of this new biotechnology, people have begun to question the ethical ramifications of applying this technology to humans.   Many believe that cloning humans is morally wrong.   As a stockholder in Cloneco, I support their use of this scientific discovery.   However, my position to profit from the use of cloning is not the reason that I believe that there is nothing morally wrong with the practice of cloning.    Once Cloneco and other cloning research facilities have performed sufficient research on cloning, the practice of cloning will have many health benefits.   Currently, there are many genetic diseases for which there are no cures.   These include sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's disease.   Cloning technology could be used to find cures for these genetic diseases in addition to other non-genetic health problems such as heart disease, liver and kidney failure, leukemia and cancer.  Ã‚      Opponents of cloning argue that the technology will be used for the pursuit of unethical goals.   They believe that some people will use cloning as a means of becoming immortal by repeatedly cloning themselves or that people would try to replace others with clones.   Despite the fact that it is impossible to create a clone with the same memories as the original, research has proven that it is impossible to make an exact replica of a person even if the replica is physically identical to the original.   This is because the environment in which he is brought up largely affects a person's development.&... ....   This means that they can make the most knowledgeable decisions based on the immense amount of information that they have gathered through research and experience.   In addition, all Cloneco employees from administrative assistants to scientists undergo a rigorous selection process in which background checks comparable to those used by the government's alphabet soup agencies are made to ensure that they will make moral decisions and will not pursue personal interests while working for Cloneco.      Cloning will usher in a new era in human history as the traditional form of procreation that has stood constant for eras changes.   However, it is important to remember that the purpose of cloning is to create humans, not duplicates.   It is Cloneco's mission to ensure that cloning technology is used responsibly.   Their business is life.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Gourevitch book review Essay

Renowned American author and journalist Philip Gourevitch, presents his 1998 ardent and authoritative non-fiction publication titled We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, stories from Rwanda. New York: Paw Prints. The book chronicles the events in the Rwandan genocide and provides a riveting description of the author’s travel to Rwanda after the genocide and the horrors he encountered. He interviews a number of those who survived the ordeals and gathers the information which he uses to reconstruct their horrifying stories and thus provides a reflection of the genocide. Gourevitch has earned a number of prestigious awards as an appreciation of his highly credible and analytical book. The 1998 National Book Critics Award leads the number of numerous awards that he has managed to scoop. The 1994 Rwandan genocide brought this tiny country in East Africa into the limelight. Gourevitch made follow ups to the 1994 genocide and he gained interest in unearthing the information since he was not getting satisfied by following the happenings from afar. This prompted him to make a number of trips in a period of two years to both Rwanda and its neighbors. It was during his visits to report about the aftermath of the genocide that he published his book. Most of the information that America and most of the western countries have on the genocide is mainly accredited to Gourevitch’s work. The author starts the book by describing Decimation which he describes as â€Å"the killing of every tenth person in a population†. Gourevitch goes further to describe how in the summer of 1994 a series of â€Å"massacres decimated the Republic of Rwanda† (Gourevitch, 1998 p. 1). The author argues that even though the massacre was carried out with machetes, the rate at which it was carried out was staggering. To highlight the seriousness of these killings the author compares them with the Holocaust in which he points out that the massacre was nearly three times deadlier than the Holocaust. He narrates how the government had adopted a new policy in which the Hutu majority was to kill all the Tutsi’s minority with the reasoning being that this would make the world a better place. What followed were cold blooded murders of the Tutsi minority with use of machetes (Gourevitch, 1998). Gourevitch adopts a rather judgmental and snarky tone that is geared towards those who made decisions that in one way or another led to the genocide. He also tackles the root problems that sparked the mass killings in this small country. The author in his logical thinking about the root cause of the genocide argues that the colonial history of Rwanda was a major contributor to the genocide. Gourevitch argues that the tribal rivalry between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority can be traced back to the Belgium regime which colonized Rwanda. The author points out that â€Å"Belgium itself was a nation divided along ethnic lines, in which the Francophone Walloon minority,† ruled the country (Gourevitch, 1998 p. 58). The regime while in Rwanda fostered the minority Tutsi elites and portrayed the Hutu’s as a downtrodden ethnic race just useful as the workforce. This would obviously leave a bad taste to the majority Hutu group towards the minority Tutsi group. The extent for this hate was clearly highlighted at the rate with which the killings took place which the author says were the â€Å"most efficient mass killing since Hiroshima and Nagasaki† (Gourevitch, 1998, p. 1). Gourevitch presents this book in such a way that it is highly critical of the lack of intervention from Western governments and the United Nations forces, who he claims just stood by and watched as the killings took place. The Belgians and the French are blamed for their complicity and also the author portrays these countries as some that aided in reinforcing their own senses of impunity. One of the most disturbing truths in the book that the author reveals is that those who had died knew they were going to die. The author tells of how â€Å"it was announced on radio, it was in the newspapers, people spoke of it openly† (p. 18). This use of the media to propagate the killings is also to be blamed since it acted as a focal point in the genocide. Theda Skocpol a renowned sociologist and political scientist, tries to offer some light as to why violence may tend to occur in a political system. She mainly takes her ideas from the Marxist class conflict in which she mainly argues from the rural agrarian and state conflicts. The author of STATES AND SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China aims to offer some explanations by employing both the â€Å"Marxist scholarship and recent social science theories about revolution† (Skocpol, 2007 p. 35). In her book she argues that France, Russia and China are all successful revolutions and even though they are quite a number of differences there seems to be a pattern that is distinctive of the three revolutions. Skocpol argues that a change in a social system will quite often lead to grievances and thus the emergence of group interests with the effective potential of collective mobilization. This as she points out will lead to the emergence of mass based movements that may have the purpose of overthrowing an entire social order. She argues that this revolutionary movement will fight and in case it wins it will establish its own authority (Skocpol, 2007 p. 14-15). This can be paralleled to what happened in Rwanda where the Hutu had grievances against the minority Tutsi and thus embarked on actions that were geared towards changing an entire social order with the belief that by exterminating the Tutsi people they could make the world better place† (Gourevitch, 1998 p. 6). The author in this book tries hard to prove that it was a genocide and he even asserts his position on the severity of this matter by reminiscing of how he read that â€Å"the United States had decided for the first time in its history to use the word genocide to describe what happened† (Gourevitch, 1998 p. 7). Gourevitch in this book only provides antecedents rather that clear cut answers and therefore the satisfaction of the book is not quenched. Gourevitch’s book is mainly geared towards criticizing the response of the international community in responding and averting the genocide and his anger cannot be hidden and this leads to him only presenting one side of the story instead of being neutral. The book is extremely critical of the west and the United Nation which the author uses sarcasm to depict how the Rwandans never thought the UN soldiers knew how to shoot in order to quell the killings but after a while they were showed their prowess in shooting dogs which were eating corpses in the streets. However, the atrocities that took place in Rwanda are still capable of happening anywhere else and considering the fact that they means used were not highly sophisticated just shows how if such a genocide would ever take place again in the world then the results would be highly catastrophic. The author does a good job in depicting the genocide and his highly analytical technique of even going back to how the two tribes in contention, interacted leaves us with room to understand clearly how the genocide came to be. References: Gourevitch, P (1998). We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda. New York: Paw Prints Skocpol, T (2007). States and social revolutions: a comparative analysis of France, Russia and China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Analysis Of Shakespeare s Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Danna Santillan English H 2 Period 2 22 October 2016 Are Things Truly How They Appear? All things have an appearance, most of the time blissfully untainted or highly corrupt. Dependent upon the appearance something is illustrated to have, we layout our own supposition about it. This idea of equivocation is abundant in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth. In Macbeth, Shakespeare exposes literary devices such as illustrative imagery, sarcastic similes, and dubious diction to unveil one of his many themes: Things are not always what they seem. Shakespeare beautifully illustrates this fact through the duplicity of Macbeth, his wife, the three suspicious witches, and king Duncan . Starting the play, Macbeth is a very much regarded saint who seems, by all accounts, to be an incredible person; On the contrary, macbeth’s hunger for power drove him to be something unlike his â€Å"true self.† Macbeth enters during scene three of act one alongside Banquo, coming from a triumphant fight. He utilizes the theme to depict the day as So foul and fair a day I have not seen (Act I, Scene 3, 38). Whenever Macbeth and Banquo first observe the odd sisters, Banquo is shocked by their ugly appearances. While, Macbeth quickly starts to speak with these all around known evil creatures. In the wake of listening to their prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considers the witches to be reasonable when in all actuality their goals are entirely foul. Likewise, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to look likeShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 1785 Words   |  8 PagesScotland! A man has a great ordeal on his hands. Some might say that Macbeth has a secon d chance or a life long dream that could change his future forever. Deep in the heart of Birnam forest, a castle sits upon Dunsinane Hill, with a man made foundation built from paved bricks that have housed the many Kings that have ruled this Kingdom. Macbeth hears a prophecy from three evil and dilapidated witches foretelling his future. Macbeth, terrified yet surprised, is unsure of his morals and is battling betweenRead MoreAnalysis Of Shakespeare s Macbeth By William Shakespeare1351 Words   |  6 PagesKnown for his tragedy, intrigue, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare extends his boundary of prowess in the play Macbeth. The irony present in the play, the double-meaning of the characters’ actions, and the complexity of setting all contribute to a thrilling story of murder and looking beyond the superficial. Dramatic, situational, and verbal irony greatly contribute to the theme of things are not what they seem in Macbeth text and film. Shakespeare uses the contrast in iro ny to convey this in the character’sRead MoreAnalysis Of Shakespeare s Macbeth By William Shakespeare2081 Words   |  9 PagesShakespeare Essay Shakespeare uses language in his literary creations as a technique to enrich the ideas of his works. In his play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses metaphor as a useful way to enhance language and construct the overall idea. Macbeth revolves around the prospect of ‘power,’ and also focuses on what one is willing to do in order to gain power, and also to maintain it. Throughout the novel, Shakespeare uses metaphors and comparative techniques that link together to develop theRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 829 Words   |  4 Pages10 May 12, 2016 Macbeth Essay Macbeth, by William Shakespeare is a tragedy that happens At the very beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is provoked by the letter she receives by Macbeth and starts plotting the murder of Duncan. She also wishes she were a man such that she could commit the murder all by herself saying so in Act 1 Scene 5, â€Å"Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty† (Macbeth 1.5.36-52). She appealsRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 1668 Words   |  7 Pagesthe meaning of a story. When we first studied Macbeth, I thought that the word â€Å"hand† would be used in a strictly literal manner. Instead, I discovered that through the play the term embodied a rather dark connotation and symbolized Macbeth’s submission to evil instead of the literal meaning. As early as act one, Macbeth prevents â€Å"the eye† from winking at â€Å"the hand† because â€Å"the eye fears, when it is done, to see† (Shakespeare 1.4. 335-336). Macbeth lusts for the throne, but in order to retrieveRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 1169 Words   |  5 Pagesentertainment. Syfy has been around a lot longer than the 21st century though. William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth uses instances of the supernatural to make the main character Macbeth act unorthodoxly, to disquiet and to make him sanguine, by using witches and apparitions. The three witches make Macbeth lean towards acting unlike himself by convincing him that he will become the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. When Macbeth does indeed become Thane of Cawdor, he believes that he will become theRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 1149 Words   |  5 Pagesplaywright, William Shakespeare remains to this very day a man with a past shrouded in mystery. Very few documents provide historians insight on his personal life. In fact, the record of Shakespeare in his earliest years is limited to a mere baptismal record that reveals his birth date to be around April 26, 1564. Fifty-two years later from that day, Shakespeare would be interred at Trinity Church. Born near London in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon as the third child to John Shakespeare, the localRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth1451 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the early 1600’s. Macbeth was written during a time of polit ical unrest in the Jacobean era, political context is a strong theme of the play. It seems that politics have not changed much over the centuries. Although politicians may not be murdering each other for their chance at the throne, the majority are corrupt and committing felonies to get to and stay in a position of power. Political corruption today facilitates numerous criminal enterprises. Macbeth’sRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 1887 Words   |  8 Pagesdisaster. â€Å"Macbeth’’ is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare and is considered one of his darkest and most powerful works. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford -upon -avon, in Warwickshire and was baptized a few days later on 26 April 1566. William Shakespeare was educated at the local King Edward grammar school Stratford and is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time.(Bio.) In Macbeth, William Shakespeare used ambition to show us Lady Macbeth and Macbeth and theirRead MoreAnalysis Of William Shakespeare s Macbeth 2339 Words   |  10 PagesIn this essay I will be analysing in great detail how William Shakespeare the writer of a variety of plays, describes the range of different features and techniques that he has used in both Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2), and Capulet (Act 3 Scene 5), and how he Shakespeare has represented the main characters of each play to be shown as disturbed emotionally, physically, and psychologically during the plays. Firstly, when Capulet is shown he is seen by the audience as being in a good, cheerful, happy, and