The concept of freedom is not a skill to be learned, practiced or improved upon. Nor could it be utilized or withheld upon volition. It is only optional either in its existence or in its exercise. It can either be increased or diminished by wish or labor. The idea of being free begins when we ...

The two Chinese philosophical doctrines propose two opposite theories with regard to human nature: Mencius believes that human nature is inherently good whereas Xunzi argues that it is inherently bad. Both philosophers base their theories on the comparison they make between human beings and animals...

As I entered English this year it was with a knot in my stomach and a sense foreboding lingering in the back of my mind. I was not exactly keen to return to a subject that for me, personifies my inadequacies on paper. At a point somewhere around the second day of class we began a discussion on what ...

Humanism during the Renaissance During the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in the arts, and the traditional views of society came into question. People began to explore the power of the human mind. A term often used to describe the increasing interest in the powers of the human m...

It has been well-established that every individual personality is the sum total of her or his life experiences. Since a person's life experiences usually represent a mix of influences such as family upbringing and values, religious teachings, and social culture, it follows logically that ea...

In the first two sections of the Old Testament, Genesis and Exodus, you can plainly see the significant role that God plays in human history. Although he was supposed to be thought of as the Supreme Being of all that is good, in the Bible he is not always depicted in this manner. But whether...

In order to properly critique the quote "Reason is the slave of the passions", by renowned philosopher David Hume, we must first examine the definitions of what we perceive as reason, slaves, and passions, and why we perceive them as such. Each term takes on an automatic, assumed quality by most ...

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE What is artificial Intelligence? Are machines intelligent? And if so, are machines capable of consciousness, emotion, or even aesthetics? For several years now, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether computers are intelligent or not. Currently, no computers exhibi...

Who is the real monster? The term "human" is usually associated with acts of kindness, thoughtfulness and sympathy. Being human can sometimes even require risking one's own life in order to help someone in danger. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley examines the question of w...

Perfect Misunderstanding: As Understood by Epistle I of "An Essay on Man" Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man" is a crowning achievement, as it enjoys, simultaneously, the arching comprehensiveness of a distinguished volume, and the judicious simplicity of poetry. Bri...

Pascal builds his argument in "Man and the Universe" out of a series of paradoxes, seemingly contradictory truths. In writing, "Man and the Universe," Pascal reflected his views on what is our place in the world as human beings. Pascal's writing shows a harmony be...

It has been said that as long as the human species is in a living state conformity shall be part of how human society functions and part of man's natural tendencies. The more people already agree upon or share a particular idea, the more easily a newcomer will in turn be converted to that id...

Through the passage of time, one can look back and reflect on the mistakes of the past, filled with misjudgment and pride. Because of these mistakes, man takes an undulated path of untold horrors and tragic flaws such as that of WWII. WWII is a tragedy in a sense that it was caused by man's in...

Robert Frost The Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines the term attitude as the following: "manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc. with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind." (Random House, 1967) This definition is seen in e...

Questioning the Rules of Life and Poverty The English author and early feminist Virginia Woolf said, "Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works." Writer's Nikos Kazantzakis and Frank McCourt employ thi...

Thinking about Ends and Means I do not have an automobile and I want one. The automobile I want costs more money than I have available. It is necessary for me to get the money needed to buy the car. There appear to be a number of ways in which I can get what is needed without violating the law. For...

My religious consciousness is different from my ordinary consciousness. There are a lot of actions that some people consider to be acceptable and ordinary, but religious people consider to be a sin. There are also certain objects, places, and times of the year that a non-religious person would...

Before dreams were a science they were used in literature. Before Sigmund Freud there was Fyodor Dostoevsky who used dreams to give a point of view of his own regarding Raskolnikov and his opinion that he was superior to other humans, as well as to show the dual nature of the character Raskolnikov i...

James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues", has a narrator that attributes to the story its unique pulse. The story consists of two brothers who haven't seen each other in sometime. Sonny, one of the two brothers, gets incarcerated for selling and using heroin. Sonny's brother fin...