The Difference Between What is Known and What is Believed Essay

The Difference Between What is Known and What is Believed - Essay Example For one, it occurs logical to acknowledge the truth that she loves me because I am her daughter, her offspring above all. We cannot deny the biological fact that we are related by blood and we share certain traits by genetic transfer so that this evidence altogether constitutes a scientific basis for the natural loving bond between us. Moreover, I should recognize that my mother truly loves me because she had religiously managed serious domestic efforts all through my childhood days. That includes the typical obligation which every other good mother fulfills such as providing for me a safe and comfortable shelter, cooking and cleaning for the household which I am a regular member of, preparing my needs for school, and attending to me diligently for relief from sickness. Besides all this knowledge, I can further attest to the belief that my mother loves me as I constantly sense her affectionate concern. With my mother’s demonstration of concern comes the presence of warmth whic h is something that I could not readily observe as present and spontaneous from my experience of other people’s help approach. ... ter how excruciating, nevertheless, she had endured pains of labor and delivery not only to allow me to live but even to sustain my living in a considerable span of time so that it convinces me to perceive her natural motherly inclination as an utmost manifestation of a more profound level of desire, which is love. As another empirical evidence, I notice that while others exhibit their concern by spending time with me in difficult situations, they often do so yet merely to some extent unlike my mother who would stay and never leave my side until my troubles are all over. Not only does my mother go with me an extra mile, she is sensible enough to feel my specific needs even if they are indirectly conveyed to her understanding. Upon thorough examination of the aforementioned evidences by reason of logic and perception out of experience, I still maintain the claim that knowledge of the material world must hold according to physical evidence. However, love is immaterial though we have ge nerally accepted its truth and this appears to be an exception because the reasons that speak of love cannot help being enhanced and supported by a number of experiences beyond thought. Apparently, these empirical accounts seem to be in harmony with logic where logic alone bears no more capacity of proving how love may be viewed in a material context. I am but a human being who is normally accustomed to associating read or spoken ideas to tangible images of things in order to gain knowledge of the world in which case, it is inevitable to make use of our senses. By seeing, hearing, smelling, or touching concrete objects in repeated patterns over time, we are able to figure what exists and identify it based on color, shape, size, and other essential characteristics. It is part of our nature

The President of Psychology’s 2008 Learned Society Essay Example for Free

The President of Psychology’s 2008 Learned Society Essay A day before the new academic year, I just can’t stop thinking about being back in school having new activities for the society and proudly continuing the works that the founders and alumni of the society had started and pursued according to its vision and mission. I was in my stuck in my room, daydreaming, looking forward to the incoming school year and hopefully this time winning for the post I have always wanted to be at ever since I joined the society. The start of the academic year in the university seemed to be a very pleasing scene since the election for new officers had already taken place. At that very moment, the room felt very warm and accommodating, I was rather shocked than pleased with myself. I have won. I have actually won. Now I already have what I have always wanted. The fact that the new president is someone I knew very well made me jump out of my seat, making me stand because the members of society had started grabbing my hand and muttering â€Å"congratulations† to me. And I certainly told myself that this year will turn out to be very exciting and much-looked forward to not only by members but by alumni of the society themselves. In the process of my being the new leader of the society, I think a few of what has been discovered and proven ahead of time will be included and remained. Discoveries and people that might prove to be useful not only to me but to the whole society with a reminder of what is the true essence of the learned group will be used rather continuously. On top of the list is Confucius, a government leader who lived from 551 – 479 BC. An important thing that I have picked up from his reign is that a â€Å"family is a critical social unit†. The family is considered to be the most important unit of the society since here is where a child is nurtured and taught of how to act and communicate when given the chance to meet other people. I certainly believe that the way a given family raises its children is a must. Being young, aged around five to ten is the most critical period of the individual. This is when the children start to realize life’s differences in the perspective of the people around them, the time when they will know what is right from wrong and would have that registered in their minds. So, as to relate this to our learned society, there is a need for every member to show concern to each other in order to understand and properly interpret actions portrayed. Each member has a role or a function in the group that all will be praised for something that they have done very good at and will be criticized if the plans do not work out well. But as a family, there is always a room for suggestion and forgiveness, and also help is always extendable. The next one is during the Ancient Greece Eclectic Orientation which says that â€Å"Sophists believe a person’s knowledge is based on experience. To support the belief that the Sophist possessed is Harry Stack-Sullivan who mentioned that the â€Å"individual is defined as the sum of interaction experiences. † In connection with this, during the 500 – 200 BC, stoicism mentioned that individuals are reactive, which in my opinion is related to what Sophists had to say about people thoughts being based on their experiences. People tend to respond to what the environment had set for them, which made them reactive. Simple explanation is that some of the recent discoveries today will not be present if it wasn’t for the people being curious on what happening around them. Most of the studies done, for example, Mayberry and colleagues having a research abut the coping mechanisms and effects of having a parent with mental illness on children, are mostly based on observations that they actually have. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty pointed out, â€Å"we cannot attend something unless we experience it. † Faith and science will never be at ease with each other for some reason. Honestly, there will always be discoveries that might prove that some of the church’s teachings are quite not right and reasonable, or some may say that science is contradicting the teachings of the church. Looking at an issue that seems to be old and vanishing already, the issue of condoms, has been given a great deal of the church. Religious, let us say, some of the religious people are not favorable of this because they say that it is contradicting what was written in the bible, â€Å"Go and multiply† as God told his people. Well, there is nothing really to argue about this because in the end, people tend to choose which to believe and follow. Choice is always a factor in this world. People always lean on the fact that they have to choose something where the benefit is always greater than the cost. Discoveries in different fields of science have been bursting out juts like everywhere. A certain person discovered a cure for a certain disease that was considered deadly before. A new place wherein artifacts have been discovered connecting it to the people who was born three hundred million years ago. And so on. On the question of what is left for the learned group to discover, well it is not really simply to answer but on top of priority list are more vivid researches on catharsis, the one that makes people speak of everything that they have inside their minds. Researches on the catharsis are assumed to be a great help especially to crime investigations. These can somehow make questioning on people who had just committed something against the law easier that officials or crime investigators will not have to use force on them. Those who were accused of a crime will just consciously tell every single information of the current situation. To be more specific, the question of how to let people tell everything is quite disturbing. Will there be a use of medicines, machines or just talking to that person, trying to lure out information through nice inviting way of talking? It seems like finding something that will let that person talk without hurting him. In connection to this, I would also want to find something that can actually totally stop a person from releasing different or multiple personalities without his knowledge that he can actually be somebody totally different from who he truly is and start ruining other people’s lives and alert somebody if a certain person is just imagining things and saying that he has multiple personalities when he is just actually faking it to get away from something or someone. Honestly, I am not really after discovering complicated things for complicated situations. I just wanted to make everything simple when everything seems to be complicated. A society is just like a fraternity, a brotherhood or say is just like a sorority, a sisterhood that has its own vision and mission. Activities and discoveries are important but the most important of all are its members. How can a group achieve its objectives when there are no people working hard for those? An organization, a society, a fraternity or a sorority needs members to operate and achieve goals. That is why members, people, getting along with each other, unite and organize themselves for certain mission and vision are the most important ingredients in a society. Being a president is a major responsibility. Being a president is not how you dictate people what they should do at a certain moment, it is being open to listen to ideas that members could possibly have in order to improve the current status of the society. A president is someone who can guide each and every person in the society to do things that are of their strengths and most of all, someone who can bring out the best in every person.

mr :: essays research papers

My Grade 11 co-op placement was Sherwood Hunt Law Office. There are two Lawyers there, an office manager, and two law clerks. I usually spent most of my time with the law clerks and began to learn a lot from them right from the beginning. Jim Hunt, the lawyer who was present the most at the law office was whom I had to time to have nice, insightful conversations with about Law, School, and life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I always thought of how hard it was going to be in university and law school. I got to talk to Jim to see just how hard he had to work in school to make him as successful as he is now. He told me about when he was going for his MBA, he had twelve exams near Christmas, and if that wasn’t hard enough, if he got lower than a B on any of them, he was out of the course. These were just a few of the challenges Mr. Hunt had to face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My usual day involved answering the phones, making some photo copies, and doing odd jobs, like opening or closing files, and writing or revising a letter or document of some sort.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being at this placement I learned many things. To begin with, I learned some of the challenges I’m going to have to face in school, and how hard I’m going to have to work. I was talking to Mr. Hunt about my current courses and I mentioned that I was worried that my strengths in Math and Physics would not be useful in the law workplace. Fortunately, Mr. Hunt reassured me that they are plenty useful in the law environment, and in fact, Jim got a 99 in University Physics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also learned specific skills at this work place. Things that will help me out as I become a lawyer, such as, how to write an affidavit, open and close files (although this may change at different law offices) and read a statement of claim or search through files to find one specific point. Also, I learned about serving a defendant / plaintiff in a law suit. This can be a very time consuming process, (or a very simple one) and there is usually someone that is paid to do this. In one case in the law office, they had to hire a Private Investigator to find a person to be â€Å"served†.

The Major Stages of A hero’s Journey in Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux

The story is about a young man’s search for a man that he and his father thought could help him to have a good fortune – Major Molineux, cousin of the boy’s father. However, in the end, after all that he went through, he was dismayed, yet another friend encouraged him to stay in the city and see if he could earn a fortune without the help of his kinsman. The story opens with a description of the time when the story took place. This is perhaps important as in epics which seek the reference of the events in the narrative. Here, the introduction gives the readers a clue regarding the time and place, thereby creating a good background for the readers to understand the story even if the reader is from a distant time or place (Hawthorne and Harding 37). It is in the second paragraph where Hawthorne starts the narration of Robin’s quest. Hawthorne describes the scene thus, â€Å"It was near nine o'clock of a moonlight evening, when a boat crossed the ferry with a single passenger (Hawthorne and Harding 37). † This is already the initiation stage of the journey. Together with the description of his clothes that were made to last (coarse shirt, leather boots, etc. , it was obvious that he was in for long journey. He looked the place, clueless of the place where his kinsman could be. So he is left to the last resort of asking for directions from people he would meet on the way (Hawthorne and Harding 38). It can be noted that he asked for help several times, but he found none, except in the later part of the story when he forced an old man and another person volunteered to stay with him to wait for his kinsman. The separation is described in later paragraphs as a flashback through a narrative from the hero – Robin. The separation stage tells us that he and his family had high hopes (Hawthorne and Harding 56). His brother took his placer in plowing the fields and his mother sew for him his clothes, hoping for the best that he could have. This is a very timely part in the story to narrate, because it brings the reason of the journey closer to the dismay that was about to take place, which was to evoke the hero’s return as a failure. It could have been a failure. In fact, he asked his friend twice to lead him back to the ferry, but the return was delayed by an optimistic invitation to stay longer (Hawthorne and Harding 56). The story ends there, but from the hints that he was a â€Å"shrewd youth (Hawthorne and Harding 56)†, we can guess that with guidance from his new friend, he could have a good life in the city and return to his home with success to talk about. Why one should Read Thoreau’s Walden Walden is not a novel or an epic. It was not considered a masterpiece during his time. In fact, his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson was disappointed with it (Alsen 242). Indeed, few of his contemporaries would have presumed that Walden would be treated with as much importance as it is being treated now in Literature. But what is it in Walden that makes it a must to read for anyone studying Literature, Philosophy and American culture? First, we can note that it is a product of a man’s solitude. Thoreau wrote it in deep solitude, that his ideas must have flowed with enthusiasm. As he was a literary genius, a work he wrote in such a state is worth reading. Take for example, the narratives he wrote in Walden about the battle of ants. In the recount, he extensively described what happens in a combat between red and black ants (Thoreau 162). This recount is worth a student’s time because the scenes depicted are not everyday scenes one can see in the city or even in the gardens or woods. He made apostrophes in reference to Homer’s Iliad, which now shows a style that is worth emulating. The learning one can get from this short part of the book is difficult to find, unless one would spend his time patiently in the woods like Thoreau did. To consider things more, many of the things Thoreau wrote, he learned serendipitously. Hence, even if one would spend time like he did, there is no assurance he could come across the same encounters. In all these, his work teaches the younger generations to have respect for life, for nature. The Battle of the Ants is a classic example of primitive life lived by other creatures that co-exist with us in the woods, in gardens and in ponds (Thoreau 162). Like us, they struggle for life and power, so we ought to co-exist with them rather than kill them. Romanticism in Hawthorne and Thoreau Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux and Thoreau’s Walden are two very different genres of literature, but they share elements of romanticism. First, I will define romanticism based on what experts say. Romanticism, according to Peckham in Adams is to have the goal of originating from something that has never existed before (Adams 2). It is therefore not the adherence to existing standards, but the creation of beautiful things based on one’s own standards of beauty and wisdom. So, starting with Walden, we can see the presence of romanticism. It was written not in the form any literary piece has been written before. He wrote based on a keen observation with no conscious consideration of any standards in writing during his time, thus many of his contemporaries did not like his work primarily because it was odd. Hawthorne’s story, on the other hand presents a different kind of plot. In most stories that we know, a hero leaves his home and promises to come home with victory. Usually, the hero fulfils his mission. Not Hawthorne’s Robin. Robin went through the stages of a hero’s journey, but he did not get what he initially wanted. He did not get help from the people he expected would help him and when he found the person he was looking for, he decided to go home in dismay. But life had to go on for him, so instead of going home, he would surely stay awhile and see what the city had in store for a boy as shrewd as he. This makes the story more useful than those with happy endings, for it teaches a reality about life – one does not get all that he wants right away. The romantic element that the two works shared was the novelty of their ideas and concepts. The authors did not adhere to conventions, but created their masterpieces based on what they thought would be beautiful or useful. Transcendentalism in Walden and Self-Reliance Both authors, Thoreau and Emerson, being mentor and student to one another must have had similar philosophies. And indeed, Thoreau is a believer of Emerson’s concept on self-reliance. The term self-reliance itself points out to another philosophical doctrine during their time – transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a reaction against scientific rationalism, thereby teaching that intuition is the only way to understand reality in a world where â€Å"every natural fact embodies a spiritual truth† (Emerson 205). Hence, Transcendentalists discount external authority and tradition and depend on firsthand experience. So, the motto is â€Å"Trust Thyself† (Emerson and Carlyle 47). So how Walden and Self-Reliance live up to Transcendentalism? First, it should be noted that Thoreau’s work was written largely based on his experience in Walden Pond. Next, the ideas put forward by Thoreau in Chapter 1, â€Å"Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength (Thoreau 6). This definitely reflects two things – one, learning based on his experience at the pond; second, the doctrine of trusting oneself, because one is provided with what he needs to survive if he will just work to get it. Walden actually echoes the teachings of Emerson Self-Reliance, where his mentor attacked those who believed in luck or fortune (Emerson and Carlyle 54)) Emerson points out that what we see as luck is actually a result one’s persistence, so when the opportune moment comes, the one wh o did not waste time would be ready to seize the moment. This leads to an extension of Transcendentalist ideas. Trusting oneself does not mean being arrogant, but using one’s time efficiently. It does not mean disregarding religion, for there is one Great Soul above everyone. But as that Great Soul is just, He will give success to those that deserve it, because they worked for it.

On the Waterfront Essay

Kazan does not only use Terry Malloy by establishing him a hero in On the Waterfront to value individual conscience or moral growth above community loyalty or sense of obligation, but also other characters like Edie and Father Barry. Unlike Terry, who has to gain individual conscience, Edie and Father Barry have never been really closely connected to the community, which allows them individual conscience. Their supporting role of Terry’s moral growth is used by Kazan to praise individual conscience, as it also liberates the waterfront. It should not be mistaken that Kazan does support individual conscience in the deaths of Charley and Dugan who had to die for the possession of a sense of justice. Their deaths were portrayed by Kazan as a type of martyrdom and also had a great impact on Terry, which resulted in his portrayal as a hero. Edie Doyle and Father Barry epitomise individual conscience, which Kazan attributes to how they are outsiders and allows this value to waver as both of them become more involved with actions of disruption and protest against the corrupt union on the waterfront. Father Barry was a â€Å"saint [who] hid in the church† believing that â€Å"time and faith were great healers†. It was Edie’s sense of justice which pushed Father Barry out of his passive role to work for social justice, as she bitingly scorned Father Barry’s inability with a close up used so that viewers can tangibly feel her resentment, when Joey had just been pushed off the roof of the tenement. Father Barry had transformed from being a â€Å"potato eater† (demeaning label of an Irish Catholic simpleton), to risk being â€Å"shipped off to Abyssinia† (a pun perhaps as the abyss is death) to break the mob’s corrupt grip on the waterfront. The attack on the church did not faze Father Barry despite the alarming clatter of baseball bats on the pavement and heads being using like baseballs, when the church was under attack by the union. Father Barry’s individual conscience grew as he firmly believed that â€Å"these people (the community) needed help†. This as well as going â€Å"right down to the wire† for Dugan, acted as a catalyst for Father Barry’s growth in individual conscience, which had made him a hero in his own right as he had to triumph over his own inhibitions and the conservative restrictions of and expectations of his role from the church. Edie unlike Father Barry, had already possessed individual conscience (she had contributed to Father Barry’s growth to provide justice), but she like Father Barry refrained from perpetually seeking an end to the corruption on the waterfront. Father Barry had sought to back Dugan as he talked to the crime commissioners so that they could charge the union of corruption, yet when Dugan died from an apparent ‘accident’ Father Barry shied away from taking an active role, preferring to be passive in his involvement, as seen when Terry came to ask for advice of whether he should go testify against the union where Father Barry in a bitter tone said that Terry’s â€Å"own conscience has got to do the asking†. This may suggest Father Barry’s guilt in pushing Dugan to take action which resulted in his death. Edie also refrained from the active role she had taken to find Joey’s killer and unknowingly fighting against the corrupt union, when she realised she loved Terry. Thus not wanting him to die but to â€Å"come to the country, where there is no Johnny Friendly†, who controlled the union, and threatened his life. She may have been trying to protect Terry but she did not consider the impact on those who work on the waterfront, including her own father, Pop Doyle, who would continue to be exploited by the union, thus perhaps compromising her morals to an extent. Unlike Terry, Father Barry and Edie were not empowered to stop the corruption of the union on the waterfront. It is in Father Barry and Edie’s inability to stop corruption that establishes Terry as the hero through his moral growth to individual conscience. Ultimately it is his triumph over the corrupt union to show that individual conscience is valued over community value, when comparing his moral growth to Father Barry and Edie’s. Kazan allowed the audience to follow Terry’s tumultuous moral growth allowing strong connection to form between the bodies. It was loss of Joey that had begun the transformation process that had reignited his bitterness for purposely losing in a boxing final to fulfil Johnny Friendly’s bet. Terry’s relationship with Edie had also contributed to his growth of moral conscience as an individual, as Terry wanted to protect as he confessed she was â€Å"the first nice thing that has ever happened to me† to Father Barry when he was seeking to know whether he should confess to the crime commission about Joey’s death. Father Barry had also encouraged Terry to be truthful to himself to develop individual conscience, allowing Terry to admit he was being used by Johnny Friendly (â€Å"it’s do it or else† when it comes to a favour from Friendly). Terry would not have been a hero with individual conscience if he had not the support from Edie and Father Barry. Terry had to struggle against community loyalty to achieve individual conscience. Kazan uses this struggle to humanise the character making him heroic. Terry had always been â€Å"one of theirs† or part of the union as he was the â€Å"brother of Charlie the Gent†, he was in a sense also an outsider like Edie and Father Barry from the workers of Hoboken on the docks yet he was driven by self-preservation, which led him to adopt the â€Å"D ‘n D† or Deaf and Dumb creed (not speaking up against anything the union did – keeping silent) from the dock workers, which inextricably created a superficial community loyalty as they shared the view that their â€Å"life was not worth a nickel†. It was Charlie’s death that had led to Terry going against community loyalty, as Charlie was his brother and shared a strong connection with each other. Charlie had looked out for Terry as he had sacrificed himself knowing â€Å"10 to 1 they (Johnny Friendly) won’t believe me†. This portrayed Terry as the tragic hero eliciting the sympathy of the audience who will celebrate as Terry topples Johnny Friendly’s position of power, as he stumbled battle worn after violently grappling with Friendly into the warehouse to take his position as the new spiritual leader of the workers, with trumpets in the soundtrack heralding his triumph. His growth to individual conscience had led to Terry’s redemption of Joey and Charlie’s death. Community loyalty would not have achieved this. Kazan valued individual conscience in Edie and Father Barry, but through them has shown that though it may motivate them to defeat corruption they may not be empowered to take action. It is through Terry that Kazan strongly values individual conscience by establishing him as an enduring hero, who had to undergo transformation and go against community loyalty, but also needed support to uproot Johnny Friendly and his corruption.