Discussion of end of life issues can be quite complex. Arguments on both sides of the issue can be extremely passionate due to the presence of deeply held emotional beliefs among opponents. This characteristic of the debate is fully inescapable in instances such as these. Despite the natural ...

Would you help an old lady across the street? Would you help her out of the goodness of your heart? Would you help her for $5 tip? Would you help her because a plethora of beautiful women are watching sans-boyfriends? Immanuel Kant, unlike previous philosophers before him, defined an action as being...

Morality in Today's Society Morality has been questioned, honored and revered by people since the beginning of time. Yet, even today not one person can say what is universally morally right or wrong. Morals can be defined as the distinction between right and wrong or the rules of right con...

Of Gods and Romans The Romans during the time of their Republic relied on their advanced technology, social structure, leadership and politics to achieve as much as they did. To these people, their gods affected all of these factors and the relationships mankind had with them. The contractual r...

There is a growing trend in America today that something drastically needs to be changed in our school system. The public is scared to send their children to a place where they could potentially be shot, stabbed, beaten, or be subjected to drugs on any given day. The morals of this country's youth ...

What is the fundamental difference between robots and humans? A robot follows a program; a set of rules programmed in its core memory. This memory completely dominates the robot, affecting its every action. Like robots, humans adhere to certain rules, programmed in a small desolate place in their br...

Spirituality is both personal and communal. An integration of the personal and communal will bring forth an authentic sense of the struggle to understand ones relationship with the Divine. It is only when a person is aware of the love relationship that exists between the Divine and themselves that t...

A man dies. His community's culture deems that he be buried in holy ground lest the community suffer some catastrophe. He, having always been at odds with his community on this point, has left a provision in his will that he be cremated and his ashes scattered into the ocean. The body waits in the h...

It is quite often said that Pontius Pilate, the man who asked: "what is truth", never stayed for an answer. This is from the mere reason that if he would have stayed he would have been waiting until this very day. The truth is constructed of many parts of our existence including language, ...

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (p925) describes morality as: '1) Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior; a system of value and moral principles. 2) The extent to which an action is right or wrong'. What is morally right in relation to one moral framew...

Last month, members of the Appropriations Committee of the North Carolina House of Representatives voted to use the power of the state budget to block the assignment of a book to all freshmen and transfer students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Approaching t...

The movie Do the Right Thing, a group of people in the district of Brooklyn, have had enough and tensions are growing in this black ghetto area. The only local businesses are a Korean grocery and Sal's Pizzeria. Mookie, Sal's delivery boy, manages to always be at the center of the action. The movie ...

Ethical theory aspies to an articulation of the principles and motivations underlying our intuitive moral judgements. A sufficient theory must, therefore, account for the character of morality as we view it. We regard morality as aspiring to truth, and our intuition dictates that our moral judgeme...

The Facade of Tattoos In "Parker's Back" by Flannery O'Connor, the tattoos O.E. Parker receives are crucial to the reader's understanding of him. Furthermore, O'Connor suggests them as major symbols throughout Parker's life. Parker, the main character in this story, goes through the acti...

IN SERCH OF PEACE What the world needs today is a civilization based on love and compassion, and not on competition. A civilization that is not dying to be victorious, but which is keen to live with peace. Nowadays terrorism, war and human killing are in vogue. Powerful nations control the le...

Socrates believes that the everyday world is an illusion compared to the world of knowledge. People are often too distracted by money and materialistic things to appreciate truth and reality. Socrates says, "the capacity for knowledge is innate in each man's mind." This exemplifies th...

What is a Human Being? There are three main viewpoints in argument on what a human being is. Those viewpoints are empirical, rational and metaphorical. Empiricists base their views on observation and experimentation. Rationalists rely on reason as the best guide for belief and action. A me...

The Similarities and Differences Between Parents and Their Children The transition from childhood to adulthood is a journey undergone by all, but all in a different way. While some people believe that the maturation process is a time for one to develop one's individuality and uniqueness from o...

Preaching Prayer The topic of prayer in schools is a contradicting subject. Many people argue their opinions about it: either for prayer or against it. The people making the decisions should consider all of the pros and cons for each side. The action of prayer in schools should be motivated to...

Euthanasia is clearly a deliberate and intentional aspect of a killing. Taking a human life, even with subtle rites and consent of the party involved is barbaric. No one can justly kill another human being. Just as it is wrong for a serial killer to murder, it is wrong for a physician to do so...

Symbolism is the practice of investing things with a symbolic meaning, or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations; in other words, discussing or explaining a broader, more general topic by linking it symbolically with a specific event in a literary w...

Religion: Building Blocks of our Society Religion is the expression of man's belief in and reverence for a higher power. Each religion consists of a basic, common structure with unique beliefs and ideas. These differences constitute the evolution of a variety of religions in modern society....

The goal of Life Since the beginning of life people have always believed in a higher power. Whether it is God, moksha, karma, or jina every religion has a goal in life for its followers. Everyone is searching for the meaning of life, the greater picture, their destiny, but many people have no cl...

Animal Rights Throughout recent history, although mostly in contemporary American society, a general topic for moral discussion is the ethical treatment of animals. Much debate has resulted from this topic, with the major question being, "should animal life be given the same respect as hum...

Taoism Throughout history, Taoism has been one of the most influential religions of Eastern culture. This is certainly one of the most unique of all religions. Many Taoists, in fact, do not even consider it a religion; and in many ways it is not. Taoists make no claim that the Tao exists...