Saturday, November 16, 2019
Ontological And Cosmological Arguments The Existence Of God Philosophy Essay
Ontological And Cosmological Arguments The Existence Of God Philosophy Essay Since the very beginning of human life, man has tried to identify the source of everything. Who am I?, What made me?, Did man create the stars? If not, there must be a higher being than humans, but who? Humans have always felt the need to rely on a higher being, a god, each culture identifying him either as one or many gods working together, but ultimately they provide protection, resources and strength to everyone and everything. But who IS God? Questions such as these prompted philosophers to ponder on the existence of a God; two of the arguments produced in reference to Gods existence shall be discussed. The two approaches of the arguments are based around the a priori and a posteriori reasoning. An a priori argument is one where the truth of the proposition does not depend on prior experience. It relies on knowledge collected outside of our own experiences. This is said by some to be an innate knowledge. The ontological argument is based around this reasoning. The basis of the argument itself depends on ones understanding of the nature of God. The Cosmological argument on the other hand, is a a posteriori based argument [1] . They argue that the truth of a proposition may only be known to be true after empirical knowledge is utilised to prove the statement true or false.  [2] Renà © Descartes, often called the father of modern philosophy, developed Anselms argument, in attempting to prove Gods existence from simply the meaning of the word God. The ontological argument is a priori argument. The basis of these arguments depends upon ones understanding of the nature of God. Anselms definition of God being a supremely perfect being, is the basis of his argument. God must be such a thing that cannot be thought not to exist if he is: Than that which nothing greater can be conceived. (Anslem) Descartes points out that if you imagine a triangle, one of its main properties is that it has three sides and three corners. These are the predicates of a triangle. Descartes expands his point, this time referring to the properties of God. If something perfect is imagined, it must be even more perfect if it was in existence. Furthermore, the most perfect thing has all properties including existence. Descartes, therefore, believes, that a supremely perfect being has all predicates. Hence, if a perfect being has all predicates one of the properties must surely be existence. Therefore, if God is the greatest conceivable being and has all qualities, he must have all predicates, one of them being existence, therefore God must surely exist. Descartes says that trying to imagine God without the predicate of existence is illogical, like imagining a triangle without three sides!    The ontological argument, in whichever version, has been the object of a great deal of philosophical criticism. Traditionally, the objection posed by the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant has been thought to be one of the most decisive. Kant argued that the problem with the argument lay in its claim that existence is a predicate. (A predicate term describes something done by a subject; so, in the sentence John is eating the predicate is eating describes something that the subject, John, is doing.) Kant argued that existence cannot be a predicate because it does not add any new information to an understanding of the subject. To be told that John is bald, that he is eating, and that he is angry is to add three things to the stock of information about him. However, to be told that he exists does not genuinely communicate something about him. Likewise with God; to state simply that Gods existence follows from thinking about him is to have said nothing other than that God exists. Kant argued that nothing of philosophical consequence has been learnt. It is for this reason that many modern-day philosophers have held the ontological argument to be in error. In conclusion to Descartess argument, if the most perfect thing has all predicates, then one of those properties must be existence. God is the most perfect and flawless being, hence, he must exist. Similar to the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, also known as the first cause argument, is a classical argument for the existence of God. However, unlike the ontological argument, it derives the conclusion that God exists from a posterior premise (with evidence), as it is based on what can be seen in the world and the universe. It points the belief that there is a first cause behind the existence of the universe. The cosmological argument is based on contingency (dependent on something else) and points out that things come into existence because something has caused them to happen. The argument also states that things are caused to exist but they do not have to exist and that there is a chain of causes that goes back to the beginning of time. Time began with the creation of the universe, which came into existence about 15 billion years ago. Plato argued one of the Cosmological arguments earliest forms. He argued that the power to produce movement logically comes before the power to receive it and pass it on [3]  This basically means that if there if movement, then something has to have caused this. This could not logically go on for infinity, so there has to be a single solitary being that caused this chain of events. This he calls the First Mover. Aristotle also believed in the Prime mover, the uncaused cause, the original cause. In this respect the two arguments are very similar. St Thomas Aquinas developed the cosmological argument. He developed five ways, the Demonstratio, to prove the existence of God. The first three ways forms the cosmological argument as a proof of the existence of God. These three ways are, motion or change, cause and contingency. In the first way, Aquinas states that anything which is in motion is moved or changed by something else. The object causing this push in movement is also given motion by another object. According to Aquinas, infinite regress is logically impossible, and because of this there must be something at the beginning which caused this motion, without being affected itself. This is God. It is certain, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is moved is moved by another (Aquinas Summa Theologica [4] ) From this quote, Aquinas clearly points out that, an object only moved when an external force was applied to it. He continued that objects only changed because some external force had brought about the change. He spoke of things achieving their potential through an external influence.  Aquinas used the example of fire making wood hot. When fire is applied to wood, it changes the wood to achieve its potential in becoming hot. Aquinas, in relation to the fire, stated that in order for a thing to change, actuality is required. If it did not, the thing would have to start the change itself, hence it would require both actuality and potential. However, Aquinas saw this as a contradiction, i.e. if wood could make itself hot then it would be hot already. Wood cannot be hot to beginwith, otherwise it would not change and become hot. Therefore, Aquinas is emphasising the fact that wood is not hot already is its actuality. Moreover, something must have made the fire change and come about, hence each change is the result of an earlier change. However, Aquinas reported that these early changes did not go on to infinity, so there must have been a prime mover He concluded this first mover to be no other but God. In the second way, Aquinas says that God must be an uncaused causer, because if God were the efficient cause, and physically giving the object a push, rather than being The Final Cause, the push would affect God, meaning it would be contingent rather than necessary. To help explain this argument of motion, Aquinas uses the idea of dominoes. One force knocking domino causes the whole line of them to fall. For the objects to go from Potentiality to Actuality there needs to be something in the beginning which has already possessed Actuality. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other; and this everyone understands to be God (Aquinas) In the third way, Aquinas brings up the point of contingency of matter in the universe. He identifies that things come in to existence but then stop existing. He states that there must have surely been a time when nothing existed, however, for these to start existing, the universe must have always existed. Aquinas states: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to existà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦therefore we cannot but admit the existence of some being having of itself its own necessityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Furthermore, there must have been a necessary being to bring about this existence, this being God. He evaluated that if God did not exist, then nothing would exist. In conclusion, Aquinas presents in his three ways of proving the existence of God that nothing could have existed without the existence of another. Moreover, something else must have caused the existence of this cause. Hence, a chain of causes is brought about. However, Aquinas emphasises that there must a beginning to the chain of causes. If the chain of causes is finite, then it means that this being does not have to rely on anything else to come into existence. There is only one such beingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦God.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
To Kill A Mochingbird: Trial Of Life :: essays research papers
Trials of Life      Life is all about experiencing, learning, and growing up. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shows many examples of growing up during the Great Depression. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the South during the 1930’s. The novel is a summary of the lives of the Finch family and their learning experiences. Atticus Finch, a single parent and lawyer, informs and advises his kids as well as many others about the realities of life. Jem and Scout, his children, encounter many growing experiences throughout their childhood. Dill, Jem and Scout’s friend, visits his Aunt Rachel during the summer. He too encounters growing experiences along with Jem and Scout. These four characters lives are prime examples of the trials of life.      Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus teaches many lessons about people, society, and life, especially to Jem and Scout. In Chapter 11, Atticus says to Jem, â€Å"...I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what...†Atticus tells Jem this after Mrs. Dubose, their neighbor, dies. By saying this, Atticus is teaching Jem that courage comes from within oneself and takes mental strength and maturity.      Atticus teaches Scout to fight with her head instead of her fists in Chapter 9, p. 80 when he says, â€Å"...you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let them get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change...it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning.†Atticus teaches this concept using himself as an example. He is always calm and fair to everyone.                                                                       2 â€Å"But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup,†I protested, â€Å"He’s poured it all over.-†In this quote during the beginning of the book, Scout shows a lot of immaturity. She shows immaturity by making fun of her guest, which is something that is normally done by people who don’t know better, or are too young. Scout shows signs of immaturity similar to this throughout the book. It is not until the middle and latter parts of the novel that Jean Louise starts to show signs of growing up and maturing.
Monday, November 11, 2019
An Essay on the Views of Booker T Washington
Born a slave, Booker T. Washington rose to become a commonly recognized leader of the Negro race in America. Washington continually strove to be successful and to show other black men and women how they too could raise themselves. Washington†s method of uplifting was education of the head, the hand, and the heart. From his founding of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 to his death in 1915 Booker T. Washington exerted a tremendous influence on the people that surrounded him. With his emphasis on industrial education Washington†s approach gave African-Americans hope of accomplishment and success. Growing up in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker was a young slave living on a plantation in a cold, dismal cabin with his mother being the plantation cook. He struggled through the hardships not unlike all the other slaves in the country. Booker T. Washington did not know his own father, which sounds very terrible, but was nothing unusual to young children of enslaved mothers. However Booker†s thoughts and feelings were different from what you†d suspect. Booker states, †I do not find especial fault with him (his father). He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at the time. â€Å"(4) Booker T. Washington was engulfed in labor throughout his adolescence and young boyhood days, joining his step-father in working in salt furnaces and coal-mines after the civil war. Of course the labor force in this country was predominately slaves, and after the civil war black people were paid little money to do some of the same work. The whole machinery of slavery was constructed as to cause labor, as a rule, to be looked upon as a sign of degradation and inferiority. The slave system took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of white people. Again, Booker T. Washington†s thoughts about the labor of black people differ from a traditional view. Washington feels that many white boys and girls never mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry. All the cooking, cleaning, everything was done by slaves, so when freedom came blacks were well off to begin a life of their own. Except for book-learning and ownership of property, Washington felt positively of the long term investment made from all that hard labor. Washington envisioned a future for Black America where their hard work would earn them the respect of whites and pave the way for equality between the races. Washington had success on his mind for his whole life. There is not a moment in his life where he did not think of achieving a goal that would make him more successful and a better person. He used to picture in his mind how he would climb from the bottom of the ladder and one day be on the top, despite his race. He did envy the white boy as you would think in his early part of his life, but once again his view changed from what is considered normal in my opinion. Washington states, †I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. â€Å"(27) Washington felt that a Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition, and in that also gaining more strength and confidence than a white youth. Booker T. Washington was infatuated with learning ever since his childhood slave days. His intense desire to learn enabled him to master a Webster â€Å"blue-back†spelling book, and even led him to move ahead the hands of a clock at work so that he could get to his night school on time. Washington had a goal to go to Hampton where he can get a descent education, and his hard work and long journey paid off when he got admitted their due to his cleaning abilities. This was an example of what I had stated earlier in that some of the labors he had done in his life as a slave and a worker paid off. At Hampton Washington met the principal, General Armstrong, and because of Mr. Armstrong, Washington saw the ideal he was to strive for, Washington said, †the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been my privilege to meet. â€Å"(36) Washington was inspired by educational work and felt that General Armstrong was one of the men and women who went into the Negro schools at the close of the war to assist in lifting up his race. The greatest benefit in my mind that Washington received from Hampton was his attitude toward education which changed form the common idea that education would free one from manual labor, to love of labor, self-reliance, and usefulness, an unselfishness that strives to do the most to make others useful and happy. When Washington experienced this himself, he could take what he learned and lead others through more practical education. The Reconstruction period from 1867-1878 helped fuel an urge that Washington had to educate his race. He felt that blacks throughout the South looked to the Federal Government for everything, just like a child needing its mother. Also, that the Reconstruction policy, so far as it related to blacks, was in a large measure on a false foundation. Washington states, †In many cases it seemed to me that the ignorance of my race was being used as a tool with which to help white men into office. â€Å"(56) He felt that â€Å"general political agitation drew the attention of our people away from the more fundamental matters of perfecting themselves in the industries at their doors and in securing property. (56) In July of 1881, when the Tuskegee Institute for colored people opened, Booker T. Washington was asked to be the principle. Washington tried to expand as much as possible during the years of the school, he wanted to accommodate as many kids as possible and in order to do that the school needed to be bigger, so he put the kids to work, building the school and stressing the importance of work to the kids. Washington felt the value of this work for self-confidence, esteem and disciplined conduct was immense. How likely would a student write his initials on a wall if an older student next to him told him that he had built that wall. Washington felt Industrial education was a foundation. From it would come the professional positions of responsibility, wealth, and leisure. His way was to combine industrial training with mental and moral culture. He observed that the need to take care of one†s body and property and to have an economic foundation was more important than memorizing facts and readings of Latin and Greek. That†s why Washington stressed cleanliness, personal neatness, also housekeeping and mechanical skills. Through proper training of head, hand, and heart, Tuskegee could develop teachers and leaders who would go out to people and change their lives. Industrial education had three functions: First, black students could work to pay their expenses at school. Secondly they could develop skills that would be of economic value when they left school. Third, and most important, was to teach economy, thrift, the dignity of labor, and provide a strong moral backbone. Booker T. Washington had visions of equality for the black and white race, but his visions were somewhat different from that of the norm. He wanted to build up the black race slowly, knowing that equality was not to be achieved overnight. He taught blacks the power of knowledge and hard work to which they could gain a respect from their former masters of this country, and prove to them that they could live together and help out each other. He didn†t want to be better than the white man, he didn†t even dislike the white man, he just wanted to prove to the white man that a black man can have just as good of a heart. Washington took the positive factors out of everything in life, whether good or bad, and paved the way for a non-segregated country. He has no remorse for anything that has happened to his race, infect he says it best when he states, â€Å"Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did. â€Å"(13)
Saturday, November 9, 2019
12 Best Business Writing Books [Updated 2019]
12 Best Business Writing Books [Updated 2019] Because every business person needs to write well at work, there are hundreds of books specifically about business writing. I have a bookshelf and Kindle full of them because I read everything I can on this subject. Many business writing books are meh, and some are good. One problem with a book specifically devoted to business writing is that business writing is comprised of different elements of general writing. A specific business writing book can be formulaic and reductive. â€Å"Use this model†doesn’t work well when the information that goes into that model changes and requires discernment. These 12 books represent the best of the various elements that comprise good business writing. I recommend these books to clients in Instructional Solutions'business writing courses. BOOKS ON WRITING IN GENERAL How to Start, be Organized, and Not Panic 1.Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott This book is the most applicable to business writing and one of my favorite books. Anne Lamott is brilliant, funny, and breaks down the process of writing. Anything Anne Lamott writes is a joy to read. This excerpt reflects the essence: "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'" How to Extract the Essence 2.The Writing Life by Annie Dillard A little esoteric, but no one is better than extracting the essential core of a concept than Annie Dillard. Her advice in this book is the heart of writing an executive summary statement well. She also explores the joy and heartbreak of writing well. BOOKS ON WRITING STYLE Best How-to-Write Book 3.On Writing Well by William Zinsser This book is the classic guide on effective non-fiction writing. If I had to choose only one book to read to improve business writing, it would be this one. It will help readers write better and understand how to improve what they’ve already written. Best Current Style Book 4.The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker Its subtitle is â€Å"The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.†Pinker is a Harvard lecturer and a master linguist. His writing is very entertaining. He takes a â€Å"descriptivist†approach to grammar, rather than a â€Å"prescriptivist,†by advocating clear language and breaking grammar rules when needed. This book is a must read for contemporary business writers, but in business writing I recommend staying with grammar rules unless clarity requires a break. Many business readers might pounce on a grammar â€Å"error,†not realizing that breaking the convention actually improves meaning. The Classic Book of Style and Clarity 5.The Elements of Style by Strunk and White This little book has been the bible of style for over 50 years for a good reason. Be sure to read a later version that is edited by E.B. White, also, as it’s more comprehensive than William Strunk’s first edition. Best Book to Cut Bloat 6.Why Business People Speak Like Idiots by Brian Fugere Published in 2005, this book is still sadly very relevant. Business writing is drowning in jargon and meaningless buzzwords that obscure real information. It identifies four strategies to cut the bloat. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(41482, '39de76fa-b005-4d0a-9136-a9a423513681', {}); Best to Improve Sentence Construction 7.It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences by June Casagrande Strong sentences build strong documents. This book beautifully deconstructs clear sentences. This book is a wickedly funny, no-nonsense guide. Best Grammar Book 8.Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss Who knew grammar and punctuation could be so funny? This best-selling book is an impassioned manifesto, complete with amusing error examples (dead sons photos may be released). Truss leans more to the prescriptivist school of grammar than the descriptivist, which matches business writing requirements. STYLE GUIDES Best for Templates and General Guides 9.The Business Writer’s Handbook by Gerald Alred, Walter Oliu, and Charles Brusaw Very useful for models and overall business writing standards. If You Have a Website or Publish Internal Information to Staff 10.The Associated Press Stylebook 2019 The definitive style guide to use if you publish anything on the web. It is regularly updated. The 2019 version is now available and has an updated section on gender considerations. Best for Current and Evolving Usage 11.Garner’s Modern English Usage, 4th Edition An invaluable desk reference for grammar and usage. It has recently been expanded and covers both American and British usage. It’s especially useful for the evolution of new words and their usage. Most Comprehensive 12.The Gregg Reference Manual, 11th Edition Traditionally, the Gregg Reference Manual has been the style guide of choice for business writers. It’s easy to navigate and depth of coverage is unmatched. The Associated Press Stylebook is now often a business’s standard guide, but Gregg has information not found in other guides. What books about business writing have helped you? Please share in comments!
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Modeling DNA - Structure, Function and Replication
Modeling DNA - Structure, Function and Replication Constructing DNA models is a great way to learn about DNA structure, function, and replication. DNA models are representations of the structure of DNA. These representations can be physical models created from almost any type of material or they can be computer generated models. DNA Models: Background Information DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is housed within the nucleus of our cells and contains the genetic information for the reproduction of life. The structure of DNA was discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick in the 1950s. DNA is a type of macromolecule known as a nucleic acid. It is shaped like a twisted double helix and is composed of long strands of alternating sugars and phosphate groups, as well as nitrogenous bases (adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine). DNA controls cellular activity by coding for the production of enzymes and proteins. The information in DNA is not directly converted into proteins, but must first be copied into RNA in a process called transcription.​ DNA Model Ideas DNA models can be constructed from almost anything including candy, paper, and even jewelry. An important thing to remember when constructing your model is to identify the components you will use to represent the nucleotide bases, sugar molecule, and phosphate molecule. When connecting the nucleotide base pairs be sure to connect the ones that pair naturally in DNA. For example, adenine pairs with thymine and cytosine pairs with guanine. Here are some excellent activities for constructing DNA models: How to Make a DNA Model Using CandyCardboard DNA ModelsDNA Jewelry ModelKNEX DNA Models DNA Models: Science Projects For those interested in using DNA models for science fair projects, remember that simply constructing a model is not an experiment. Models may be used, however, to enhance your project.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Anton Chekhov Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Anton Chekhov - Research Paper Example Chekov was born in 1860 in southern Russia and lived in a difficult family. Some say his father, who was physically abusive, became the main influence on later characters who were portrayed as hypocrites.1 Chekov did well in school and studied to become a physician. But a part of him wanted to write too, so he started to do this for a little money. He was recognized and people began to like his work and he took a more experimental approach to literature with this new confidence. He was generally a modest man who was concerned with social issues. For several years he was concerned about prison reform. He even traveled over land a great distant to the island of Sakhalin off the coast of eastern Siberia where he interviewed prisoners about the conditions they lived under. Prisons in Russia have always been a problem, as seen in later years in the writer Solzhenitsyn work about the Russian gulags and the Siberian exiles. For Chekov this was all important to the Russian soul. He covered m any topics with aplomb and brought a clinical eye to the social relations he witnessed throughout his native land. When he died in 1904 he was praised all over Russia and statues were erected to him and prizes named after him. Two of Chekov’s most important contributions or innovations for contemporary literature are his use of stream-of-consciousness writing and also his refusal to declare a moral conclusion at the end of his stories, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusion. In the first case, Chekov would often take the reader directly into the head of the character to show what they were really thinking aboutâ€â€often details not directly relevant to the plot or narrative pacingâ€â€and also how they saw and judged the things around them. This technique later became very popular with writers such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, who used it to make a huge
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Personal Financial Plan - Part IV Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Personal Financial Plan - Part IV - Essay Example Acting in an ethical manner is important when dealing with investments. An example of an unethical and illegal act in the investment world is insider trading. Insider trading occurs when a person receives privileged information and uses that information to gain an advantage in the stock market (Teweles, Bradley, Teweles, 1992). Investing has risk and rewards. Investments that have higher risk also have higher reward. Risk adverse investors avoid risk and are satisfied with a small return on investment. Opportunity cost refers to the opportunity forgone when choosing a decision. For example a person that works as a hot dog vendor has the opportunity cost of the amount of money he could make working for the private industry. Savings and investments are impacted by the time value of money. The time value of money is a concept that quantifies the depreciation of money over time. Money loses value over time due to inflation. The present value of $1000 at a 4% rate after ten years is
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