Challenges Faced By Socrates

Challenges Faced By Socrates Socrates developed this philosophy when he himself was facing some challenges as he was facing trial for corrupting young people and undermining the state religion. Socrates once said that the unexamined life is not worth living. In this he was Socrates wanted forward various issues including the independent of mind or autonomy, if an individual does not reflect on their values and life and just living life like they are going through a motion. One behaves like a mere cog in the machinery of that is the human universe. When we have experiences whether good or bad we should think about them and try to find out why they are happening to us. One should always question their personal actions, what drives them, and we should remodel our character into a way we feel it is the most appropriate and not what others or situations think. A life that has not been examined has no author, for the individual did not live his life but mere followed the force of nature or others. Therefore it is very important for an individual to be examined for it helps them to find their place in the society. According to Socrates the human life is supposed to be for one to achieve both personal and spiritual growth. An individual will be able to understand their true nature when they examine and reflect on the life they are living. By having an examination on the life we live we will better understand our pattern of behavior. By deeply contemplation on our life we will better understand our subconscious which is what controls our life. Therefore if we do not make time to understand our subconscious we will unconscious be living a repetitive life with no meaning. Examining our life relates to philosophy as it means we have to take time to study our behavior and find ways of improving this behavior. 2. Plato in the discussion that he made on the myth of the cave, he distinguished on aspects of awareness which are knowledge and opinion. In the myth of the cave he described how one has been deeply chained inside a cave. As they are chained in the cave their cannot see each other and they have restricted vision and what they can only see is the wall in the cave and which shows shadows from statues belonging to animals and various objects emanating from a burning fire. One of the chained individuals escaped from their captivity in the cave to the light of the day. After escaping the person sees real world for the first time and goes back to those still in the cave and informs them that they have only been seeing appearances and shadows and if they fight to free themselves they will see the real world out there. The environment in the cave which has appearances that are shadowy it shows to for Plato is the appearance that is there in the physical world. The escape to the world full of the sun outside of the cave is a symbol of transitioning into a world that is real, where things are full and perfect, and there are real forms, this are the true aspects of knowledge. Plato argued that Forms are arranged according to hierarchy. With the top Form being the form that is good, according to the myth of the cave is the sun. The sun which acts as the form of good helps to explain on how an individual becomes aware of how things they are the way they are or how they came to be. The cave stands for the world which is in our imagination, the in the shadows cave shows of how at passive state that we are at when thinking. Those who decide to learn in the cave are the individuals who have empirical knowledge and are able to make predictions. The knowledge that they have is not useful but a shadow. Educati on is only important if it can be able to free someone from their bondage. Every individual has an ability to think and If does not utilize this it is because he is held by chains. 3. Elizabeth Spelman once claimed that, women have been portrayed as bodily being. By portraying the woman this way she is denied her status that belongs to her as a human being. According to Rene Descartes who is accredited to have developed the theory of Cartesian dualism, he argued of distinction between the mind and the body and they are also separate. Cartesian dualism states that the thoughts of a man are a reflection of his beliefs, values, conditions, experiences, and development. The Cartesian dualism that speaks of the independence and separation of the mind and body perpetuates a sexist beliefs and behaviours. This is because it privileges the cognitive and intellectually is represented. This masculine discourses; Spelman argued that it works in reproducing a disembodied way of thinking which blinds people on how a normal world is. Spelman argued that the viewing of the woman as a property or a sex product undermines who the woman is. Elizabeth Spelman the Cartesian dualism is used to justify why the women are subordination especially in fields such as Politics. The stereotyping of women is a dangerous aspect in the society, judging a woman based on her body is an affront to the women. The theory tends to give certain roles to women, like that they have a certain position in the society and they are field that are specifically for them and others they should not venture into. They are seen as models and not engineers. 4. Aristotle refuted Plato Theory of Ideas arguing that, that the existence of various Ideas that contradict themselves and deny there being a possibility of a negation. He also argued that the portraying of Ideas was an empty metaphors and finally that the theory used various impermanent abstractions that created perception. The theory by Plato was meant to establish that the knowledge of reality was. Aristotle considered the argument to be full of inconsistencies and he believed that reality depended on correlations of other elements. These ideas, Plato believed were self contained absolutes and are permanent and they help in establishing what knowledge is and how it is attained by use of human thought. Plato also viewed Ideas as good standards to which it can be used to judge human endeavor and at the top of hierarchy of ideas leads is that of Good. Also the theory argued that that the states of being are based or dependent on the interaction of number of Forms of existence, also the objectivity of knowledge and therefore more real, it also argued that only the processes that are from nature are valid entities. However, Aristotle attacks this theory on the grounds that Platos arguments are inconclusive either his assertions are not al all cogent. Aristotle says, or his arguments lead to contradictory conclusions. Aristotle claimed that the argument by Plato makes one to conclude that those entities that might be man-made and the negation of great ideas can exist like from non good in when in opposition to good. This works in contradicting the belief by Plato which was that only natural objects can be used by unto themselves, that they are independent of the subjective experiences of human. Aristotle argued that Ideas cannot be abstractions but they are duplicates experiences that are witnessed by individuals everyday in their da ily life. Aristotle meant that Platos idea which stated that Ideas are not tangible to the subjective human experiences is perfect entities, has no grounds, since all standards are set by the perception and ordinary human activity. 5. Behaviorism is a theory of that believes that that all human behaviors are learnt or acquired through the process of conditioning. The process of conditioning happens when an individual interacts with the environment. Behaviorism experts believe that behavior can be effectively studied in an observable and systematic way without the consideration of the internal mental states in the subject of which the behavior is being studied. Behavior theorists believe that learning is just but the acquisition of behavior and this acquisition is conditioned by the environment that the person lives in. there are two methods of conditioning, namely the classical conditioning and the operant conditioning. According to dualism there are number a number of uses of thought. The idea of dualism believes that, for everything, there are two options or categories of principles or things. A dualist will believe that there is Good and Evil. The dualist belief that the two things or principles, are independent equal opposing forces in the world. In the mind philosophy, dualism theory believes that the mind and body is radically different thing. It is a theory that tends to say that everything comes from the mind and the body and that both are very different and distinct. The spirit, mind, or soul is thought to be the conscious and it help to show the self using the brain. The computational theory of mind argues that mind of human beings should be seen as a system for processing information. It also argues that thoughts are a form of computation. I prefer behaviorism as I belief that all behaviors that people exhibit are based on the environment that they live in. I strongly believe that behavior is learned by people. 6. Berkeley argued that the position of idealism can be held without any contradiction. Berkeley tried to portray realism as absurd, since it needed some concepts that cannot be conceptualized in reality. Therefore Berkeley made a conclusion that idealism was necessary, and the only theory we should work to understand. Realism is the ontological position which believes that there exists some things that which are neither in our minds or they are ideas in minds and idealism is the ontological position that believes that everything which exists it exists as either as an idea in a mind or a mind. Anti realist believe that what cannot be observed is not real. They insist that people can only understand anything if they come to understand the circumstances it is the way it is. They deny the objective reality that is of entities. They also deny the verifying of statement that are transcendent on a certain entity whether true or false. Berkeley and anti realist have several things in common which include that he did not believe in realism but believed in idealism which he considered to be essential to people. He argued that for a concept to be concrete it has to be observable. This is the same as what anti realist hold. 7. Jean-Paul Sartre, made the phrase that existence precedes essence. In the past it was assumed that nature or essence was more important eternal than existence. The phrase that existence precedes essence means, that humans and reality, exist before there are any morals or values. An individual is born with nothing in their mind. Also human beings do not have any universal or form of predetermined principles that are common to all. Sartre made an argument of there being two kinds of being, being-in-itself which demonstrated as being complete, fixed, and there being no reason of it there, it just is, it works to describe the external objects. The other being is showed as being dependent on the way it previously existed. It is fixed, absolute and works to describe the state of humanity. There being no preformed essence or a clear what to be human is, an individual is tasked to form their own concept about existence this can be achieved by an individual ensuring that they assert control and show responsibility for their choices and acts. Human beings gain their essence by their choices and actions that they make as individuals. It by living that an individual is able to define who truly they are. By life that we experience every day, we are involved in a process that shapes our identity. Since there is no set moral code that has been set for us to abide with, then there people as individuals have a fundamental freedom to ensure that they create their personal system of belief. 8. The ontological argument is an argument on the existence of God. The argument is based on reason and intuition alone. As per the argument, it states that that one should not look for any physical evidence to show that God exists. But by merely thinking about it we can realize that God exists. In philosophy this argument is referred to as priori argument. According to the ontological argument, human beings are wise enough to know claims false without even by looking into this claims and to find out. The argument claims that the thought that there is no God and does not exist is an absurd thought. According to the ontological argument, human beings can easily be able to decide that it is false or wrong to claim that there is no God; this decision can be made without one spending his time to look at the details of the existence of God. This is compared to one knowing what a triangle is which means it is obvious that it is impossible to have a four-sided triangle. The argument states that by one knowing the meaning of God it would be impossible for one to contemplate of God being non-existence. Descartes argued that it was impossible for people to demonstrating there being or existence of God who he considered to be supreme and a perfect being. Since human beings supposes and conceive the idea that there exists a supreme and perfect being. Therefore because we all have an idea of the supreme and perfect being, it is therefore imperative that we should all make a conclusion that this supreme perfect being does surely exists. 9. There being evil and a lot of suffering in the world poses a big challenge for one to belief in the existence of a God who is perfect. The problem of evil is an argument which argues that a God who is all-knowing, all powerful, and who is perfectly good should not permit any form of suffering or evil to happen. The world today is full of countless aspects of people suffering and there being too much evil.   The facts on the presence of evil and people suffering do conflict with the claim by the orthodox theists that there is a God who is perfectly good. This challenge by this conflict is known as the problem of evil. Some argue that God could have a reason that is morally enough reason for him to allow there being some evils to happen, by doing this he ensures that a big good is seen or comes out of the evil. But those against argue that God should only permit evil or suffering as it should be necessary so as to attain a bigger good. But when people look at the world, there are a lot of prevalent incidences of pointless evils that has no bigger good that comes out as a result. They also argue that the existence of pointless evil provide a strong case that God does not exist. Philosophers and theologians have worked to develop theodicies, which are responses that are meant to explain the argument from evil and help people to still have a belief in a God that is all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect and good. Some state that God allows people to undergo pointless evil for reason that are above human comprehension. 10. Pascal Wager argued that that is safe to believe that there is God since if later you learn that you were wrong you will have lost nothing. Also if one doesnt believe in God and it turns out to be incorrect, they will go to hell. He therefore believed it was not wise to be an atheist. I personally do not believe in this argument as it has several flaws. The argument doe not tell of which religion one should follow. Since there are many religions that are mutually exclusive and contradict each other example is Christianity and Islam. Therefore one might end up avoiding worshiping the wrong God thus avoiding the wrong hell and eventually end up in hell. Example is in both Christianity and Islam they both belief in there being hell yet their practices are very different and they both worship God, which God should one follow? Another flaw is that the argument that the person who the bet losses everything, it might be that he loses nothing. If an individual puts his bet on the wrong god, the True God just may decide to punish the person who bet wrong for his foolish behavior. Also the True God might be an independent God who respects the right of other people believing in what they reason rationally, therefore he does not pick on the bet. I also have a problem with somebody deciding to believe in a god since they think they have made a choice which will offer them a lot of benefits and less danger. This might be a problem as the god you believe in might have a problem in one believing in it so as to benefit by being allowed into heaven or not to be punished in hell. The god might be fair but on the choices that people made, were they selfish choice?

THE EPIPHANY OF DIVORCE Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.† Ambrose Bierce, American Writer, Journalist, Editor 1842-1914 The Epiphany of Divorce   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through much evaluation and reflection I can identify one instance in my life when my perception of the situation was far from the true reality. The ending of my first marriage and the subsequent change in my thought process has allowed me to step out of a perpetual cycle of enculturation imposed upon me by society. †¢ What did you think was going on?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I felt there were no problems with this relationship. The perception was that we were happy, everything was going perfectly or so I thought. We were building a new home, building a future together, and building a better life. I was content and satisfied with life and the relationship I was in. The marriage was idyllic, with little to no confrontation or major crises and ultimately fulfilling. Because we never had any knock down drag out fights or spoke badly of one another there was the perception that everything must be ok. We were financially secure, young and healthy and in love, well at least I was. †¢ What was really going on?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reality of the situation was my marriage was on the rocks. There was a rift developing within the marriage and I was blind to the reality. Blinded because I was working too much in my pro...

Qualifications Or Experience Essay

Qualifications should be given more importance than experience when recruiting staff. Agree or disagree? Recruiting the correct individual for the correct job position is a key factor influencing the productivity of the organization and its success. There are many arguments about the importance of qualifications over experience for job candidates in deciding who to hire. In my point of view, experience is a greater priority than qualifications since the latter is only raw theoretical information without the knowledge of practical application. My opinion can be explained clearly by the following example: if a person, without any swimming experience, would surf the internet and learn many swimming techniques and guidelines would you expect him to jump in the water and swim like an Olympic swimmer? (Chaplin, 2013) Firstly, experienced Workers have know-how of the job. Experienced professionals have the knowledge of what has to be done. This is because they have encountered the usual situations that the job would expose them to, and they know how to deal with them. Furthermore, they are equ ipped with the necessary skills for the job: they have the technical knowledge to use the necessary technology and equipment. In addition, they also have enough work hours to have sufficient knowledge of the work place culture . Secondly, For certain jobs it is essential for managing crises on day to day bases. In such a case, experience is critical. A highly experienced workforce would be better at handling new and pressing troubles. For instance, familiarity with solutions of meticulous scenarios would come naturally to skilled and experienced employees. Also workers that have prior experience would know how to strive under complex situations and would have the know-how to control the circumstances. Thirdly, Due to having an inexperienced workforce the organization would face many employee loyalty issues and as a result, a high labour turnover which in-turn increases recruitment expenditure which consumes a lot of time that could be used more productively elsewhere. Experienced employees have a tendency to stay with their organization for a larger time. This is so that they would have greater stability and to obtain their wish to achieve a high ranking position within the firm. To save on recruitment expenditures and  for efficient time management experienced workers would be  Fourthly, even without proper qualifications employees do get hired. This is due to the fact that large organizations do their own â€Å"on-the-job† training with new employees to increase their job productivity and efficiency significantly. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) informs that under $1500 for each worker was used up for training during 1996. The major fraction of that (49 percent) was used up for technical and expert training. This money could be used for investments rather than training. Besides, even if the employee does or does not possess the qualifications, he/she would undergo the training process to standardize the quality of job performance amongst the workers.   Lastly, experienced employees would bring a lot of knowledge and clientele from rival competitors. This would mean instant revenue for the organization. Moreover, they would be capable of meeting deadlines with greater efficiency and productivity because of their wealth of experience. Furthermore, the experienced employee would be more aware of methods that contribute to a higher customer satisfaction which makes them a worthy investment. Also, there are always quarrels between employees that reduce their focus on the job. This usually does not occur with experienced employees since they are generally more mature in the work place. (Howe and Howe, 2013) Nevertheless, in certain jobs and work environments, inexperience is considered a merit. Employees with low experience would not have hard-wired views established by prior incidents. This would make them ideal for employers who like to mold their workers’ thinking. One might object that, an inexperienced worker might break under pressure and fail in controlling the situation. It’s true that, inexperienced workers   work harder to make an impression using out of the box thinking and come up with distinctive methods to solve problems. However, they would not be efficient in their problem solving because they would not have the skills and experience to apply them. Admittedly, inexperienced workers tend to have smaller salaries this means that they are much less expensive compared to experienced workers. In contrast, the firm would eventually pay high training costs for those workers, which means that it would have been more time saving to employ experienced personnel in the first place. It would be further argued that, inexperienced workers tend to have fresh ideas. Alternatively, an inexperienced worker would take very long to come up with a suitable idea for the situation as he or she would not be familiar with scenario due to lack of experience. In conclusion, I would like to restate the points that show the dominance of experience over qualifications. Experienced workers have a greater know how of the task, they are more efficient and productive. They are better suited for crises situations since they have faced those scenarios previously. Also, they are more stable since they aim for a higher job position in the firm. Lastly, the high cost of the experienced worker would result in a lower cost in the long run since there is no need for training and they would most likely make less mistakes. These arguments show supremacy over qualification since there is added knowledge of practical application. It would be highly recommended to have a balance of both experienced and inexperienced workforce to acquire the advantages of both sides†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Howe and Howe, 2013) Howe, T. and Howe, T. 2013. TODAYS TOPIC – Inexperienced Employees Vs Experienced Employees. [online] Available at: http://wearethomas.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/todays-topic-inexperienced-employees-vs-experienced-employees/ [Accessed: 29 Apr 2014]. Ogunjimi, A. 2014. Advantages of Experience VS Inexperience in Jobs | eHow. [online] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/info_7746182_advantages-experience-vs-inexperience-jobs.html [Accessed: 29 Apr 2014] (Chaplin, 2013) Chaplin, G. 2013. Qualification Vs Experience. [online] Available at: http://garychaplin.com/2013/06/27/qualification-vs-experience/ [Accessed: 29 Apr 2014].

Essay on Comparison of Troy and the Iliad - 883 Words

Wolfgang Peterson tackles the job of bringing the epic of Homers The Iliad to the big screen in his film Troy. Iliad being a lengthy text, it is impossible to include every detail in a movie. Therefore, there are obvious deviations from the book such as the length of the Trojan War, and the absence of celestial participation in the war. There is also an absence of mortal female characters such as Chryseis, Hecuba, and Cassandra in the movie. In contrast, though, the female characters who are included in the film are developed more elaborately than they are in the book. In The Iliad, the first of many quarrels between Agamemnon and Achilles is ignited by Briseis and Chryseis. Because Agamemnon is forced to relinquish his prize,†¦show more content†¦According to The Iliad, Chryseis is a priestess of Apollo and Briseis is the princess of another land. In Troy, Briseis is said to be the cousin of Hector and Paris of Troy, who has recently committed herself to the worship of Apollo. Hecuba, queen of Troy, is never mentioned nor shown in Troy, and neither is the daughter of the royal family, Cassandra. These two women also do not play vital roles in the book, however their presence is fairly significant. To make up for their absence, the movie Troy focuses more on the three female royalties actually portrayed: Briseis, as already mentioned, Andromache, wife of Hector, and Helen, the cause of the Trojan War. Andromaches character in the movie parallels her character in the book. She is dedicated to her husband and fears for his safety when he goes out into battle. And when she realizes that he has died, the world [goes] black as night before her eyes, she faint[s], falling backward, gasping away her life breath. (Homer, XXII. 547-549) Similarly, in the movie, Andromache is devastated when Hector dies. Diane Krugers rendition of Helen in Troy is a bit unlike Homers Helen. In the movie, Helen is consistently loving and accepting, and when Paris cowers from his duel with Menelaus, she remains supportive of him, claiming that he cowers for the sake of love. In the book, Helen is not so one-dimensional and lashes out at him whenShow MoreRelatedComparison between The Iliad and The Women of Troy Essay903 Words   |  4 PagesThe Iliad by Homer and the Women of Troy by Euripides are both Greek works of literature that look at the Trojan War from different perspectives. Book 6 of the Iliad illustrates that the ultimate glory is to fight for the city with no regard to the impact on the family. The Women of Troy focuses o n the negatives that war causes, especially towards the soldier’s wives and children. Whereas the Iliad focuses on the battle itself and centers on the warriors, the Women of Troy focuses on the wrathRead MoreComparison Between The Odyssey And The Iliad1068 Words   |  5 Pagesdescribes an outcry against death; whereas in the Iliad death is portrayed as an accomplishment., Both were in the times that is also known as Before Common Era, or BCE. It is known that Iliad begins 10 years before the great Seige of Troy and eventually the odyssey had begun a couple years after that(Classical Lit). When Homer had written these novels it is clear that they have numerous lines, and Homer had written both. In the novel The Iliad it consists of fifteen thousand, six – hundredRead MoreThe Iliad Of The Homer s Iliad Essay1475 Words   |  6 PagesThe Iliad ranks as one of the most important and most influential works in terms of world literatures since its establishment. Between the underlying standard to which the Iliad offers us as audience members, along with the plethora of writers that have followed in the footsteps to which Homer’s Iliad paved, the impact that the Iliad has played is remarkable in itself. While the Iliad can be credited for much of present day literature we study today, Hollywood can be created for the plethora ofRead More Troy vs. The Iliad Essays1385 Words   |  6 PagesTroy vs. The Iliad Over the thousands of years that the epic story the Iliad has survived, there has no doubt been some form of alteration to Homer’s original. Last May, Wolfgang Petersen directed a movie based on the Iliad. This movie, Troy, has proven to be a very loose adaptation of Homer’s original, as are almost all stories that are made into movies, unfortunately. 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While many ponder if the war actually happened, or why the gods always seemed to be more human than humans themselves, few ask the key but often overlooked question; why is Agamemnon the leader of the Greeks in the first place? What happened that put him in charge of the Greek forces? Why does there seem to be an underlying resentmentRead MoreThe Epic Of Homer s The Iliad1297 Words   |  6 Pagesof Homer’s The Iliad. Fast-forward to 2004, the age of media, where the epic adventure war film Troy was released, starring none other than Brad Pitt as Achilles; so dreamy. Despite the fact these works of art were executed in different cultures thousands of years apart, as well as in different mediums, their charact ers greatly contrast each other. On the other hand, these different genres are comparable in the fact that Troy follows many of the important plot concepts as The Iliad. 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