Discourse on Religion: Nietzsche and Edwards Essay -- Philosophy, Chri

Friedrich Nietzsche certainly serves as a model for the single best critic of religion. At the other end of this spectrum, Jonathan Edwards emerges as his archrival in terms of religious discourse. Nietzsche argues that Christianity’s stance toward all that is sensual is that grounded in hostility, out to tame all that rests on nature, or is natural, akin to Nietzsche’s position in the world and his views. Taking this into account, Edwards’s views on Christianity should be observed in context targeted at those who agree with his idea, that G-d is great and beyond the capacity of human reason. Edwards reaffirms for his audience G-d’s Spiritual and Divine Light. This light imparted to the soul by G-d, is of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means (Edwards, 214). Edwards spells out that his sermon was not intended to address the men who believe solely in life’s natural condition and the anger of G-d. Spiritual light is also something that cannot be witnessed by eye, only by â€Å"due apprehension of those things that are taught in the word of G-d.† It is at this juncture that Nietzsche wholeheartedly agrees, affirming that the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is a condition of the heart and is not something that emanates from death or comes ‘upon the earth’ (Nietzsche, Sec. 34). However, Nietzsche debunks Edward’s idea of sin, claiming it as a contrivance used to invoke fear in the believers of Christianity and to denote ruling power to the Priest (Nietzsche, Sec. 49). Nietzsche proceeds to deride the value system of Christianity, spelling out what he sees through the will to power as definitions for happiness, good, and bad (Nietzsche, Sec. 2). For Nietzsche, happiness is the feeling bolstered by power: â€Å"that a resistanc... ...y, according to Nietzsche, still exists as part of certain individuals’ subconscious states. Since that individual has a preconceived notion of it in their mind before they achieve a higher state of being, it provides light at the end of the tunnel to fuel their mental digression. Pity too must be a product of that individual’s emotional state. For people who desire self-pity, the idea of Christianity offers them closure, a rationalized conclusion, at the end of the pathway of the individual’s subconscious. In their eyes, the idea of Christianity affords them some level of higher status within their community, which they would not otherwise be able to attain. Christianity rationalizes for the individual his state of depravity. Had this individual been able to see reality from the get-go, achieve some modicum of societal power, they would not require self-pity today.

Class Struggle and Autonomy in the Communist Manifesto :: Karl Marx Communism Manifesto Essays

Class Struggle and Autonomy in the Communist Manifesto The University of Dayton emphasizes four humanities based themes to describe the essence of the human experience. Autonomy and responsibility, one of these four themes, is defined within the program as, â€Å"The individual person has the ability to make choices; with those choices comes a responsibility for the consequences of those choices.†[1] Although this definition fits well in modern American society since widespread autonomy has been granted by the Constitution to all citizens, Frederick Engels and Karl Marx observed quite a different human situation in the 19th century. The drastic increase in productive development characterized by the industrial revolution of the 19th century brought two major sociopolitical changes to Europe by the middle of the century. First, the industrial revolution gave rise to a middle class that would eventually become the driving political and economic force throughout Europe. Secondly, the industrial revolution demanded productive entities exploit the extensive influx of people into major urban areas in order to maintain competitive advantages and meet rising demand for European goods in domestic and foreign markets; such exploitation created an extensive urban social class that had no political power and little or none economic freedom. As these developments became more and more noticeable, Marx and Engels were prompted to write their now infamous Communist Manifesto in order to inspire what they believed as the inevitable downfall of capitalism and the bourgeoisie thus giving the proletariat something that both had stolen: their autonomy. To truly understand this concept an examination of the two major social classes in Europe at the time is critical. However, properly characterizing the bourgeoisie has been rather problematic for scholars. Pierre Proudhon defined the bourgeoisie as a â€Å"capitalistic aristocracy† who gained their wealth through little or no work.2 Nevertheless, many scholars like Michel Lhomme assert that the bourgeoisie is simply the social class that exists consisting of numerous facets between the landed aristocracy and the lower, working class. Ultimately, what seems to be true of the bourgeoisie is that it consisted of businessmen, professionals, and state officials that were united in ushering in the emergence of a middleclass 19th century society.3 These groups were connected because they shared a set of values that consisted of ideologies that embraced basic capitalistic ideals of economic expansion, increasing the standard of living, and augmenting the complexity of society as a whole; therefore, they were united in their defiance against the traditional, static society where production was limited to habitual consumption and business organizations remained monotonous.

Critical Analysis of Convergence of the Twain Thomas Hardy Essay

â€Å" Not even God can sink this ship† –is the infamous line that refers to the Titanic, one of the largest most immaculate man made inventions of its time, and the catastrophic accident that led to its sinking has been a historical bookmark, noted for decades. Thomas Hardy’s perception to this disaster is rather pessimistic; creating a sense that fate was destined to cause the failure of Titanic. Hardy presents a philosophical poem about fate’s inevitability and indifference through the eyes of nature, portraying the disaster by presenting the accident as a sinister sexual meeting between these two lovers—the Titanic and ‘a Shape of Ice’. The title of the poem alone demonstrates that this catastrophe was planned in advance, a dramatic sensual meeting. The use of such a title lends itself to the interpretation that this disaster was meant to happen, and was something that destiny, ‘the Spinner of the Years’ had planned. This is further developed in the diction that hardy uses in this poem. The two were ‘intimate’, their history had already been developed and determined; they were to be ‘weld[ed]’ together, to be one another’s ‘sinister mate’. See more: how to write a critical analysis outline This sexual, ominous meeting of ship and ice creates a very pessimistic and portentous understanding of what happened. Furthermore, through the use of depicting the iceberg and Titanic as lovers, it leads to the reader understanding the iceberg as the dominant, powerful male lover. This presents another theme of nature being able to overpower man’s ‘vaingloriousness’. At the ‘consummation’ of the two, the iceberg is left unharmed, where as the ship is sunk under the ‘solitude of the sea’. Hardy’s poetry has always had nature’s beauty and power as a theme, therefore it is no surprise that he believes that nature is superior and timeless as compared to the Titanic, that had been so immaculately described and honored just to have sunk under the natural beautiful sea. In this poem, nature seems to witness the events of this meeting, however the images of nature are eerie and representative of death. The ‘dim-mooned eye fishes’ question the presence of the Titanic in the sea’s depths, recognizing it as a vain intruder into their world. Also the ‘sea worm crawls’ over this foreign invader, ‘indifferent’ to the fact that this vessel was a monumental figure of human development and innovation in 1912. Hardy uses nature witnessing this romantic convergence as a tool to mock the things that humans are proud of and the vanity that is the Titanic, as well as disassociate itself from it. In the poem, Hardy does not undermine the Titanic’s sheer beauty, but it is linked with images of death and destruction. It is first connected to the ‘Pride of Life’, which is human innovation and vanity, and it is a remarkable creation that was ‘planned’. However, her ‘steel chambers, late the pyres/Of her salamandrine fires’ is the next description that we are given. ‘Pyre’ is a word definitely associated with death and funeral rites, where as ‘salamandrine’ and ‘fires’ both have connotations to death as well, and the end of matter. These descriptions create an ominous mood to the ship and of its imminent meeting with the iceberg. Hardy’s disapproval to technology, development and modernization is evident not only in other poems such as Where the Picnic Was and The Darkling Thrush but is also evident in this one, and he uses the catastrophe to mock the vanity of man, the things they find superficially attractive, their ‘jewels in joy designed†¦ lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind, and the ‘mirrors meant’ to have been used to perceive all this human vanity is crawled over by ‘grotesque’ creatures who are the are the ones that are using these ‘opulent’ items. Fate, however, is the most blatant theme in the poem; Hardy recognizes fate and the will of God as the reasons why this ship had to have sunk. It is illustrated in the personification of ‘Immanent Will’ and the ‘Spinner of the Years’; this personification is a vague reference to God as well as showing their power and command over human life. These presences ‘urge everything’ to happen, and give imperative commands that must be followed. The poem seems to be representative of Hardy’s feeling that fate’s plans are inevitable and are unstoppable despite whatever has been put in place to prevent what is happening. Hardy’s theme of the vulnerability of human destiny is present in many poems and is connected to his loss of faith, the poems Intenebris, and the Darkling Thrush evidently presents Hardy’s reluctance to see the beauty in fate, or God’s will, he doesn’t reconcile with this, and therefore there is a pessimistic and gloomy take on the unavoidability of it all. Fate bring these ‘two hemispheres’ together to witness the result of their vanity and recognize that there is a higher power that is ‘fashioning’ the world’s events, and because of all of he things that have occurred in his life—such as Emma’s death—it has led to this pervading theme of negativity towards fate, God, as well as the passage of time—which is briefly hinted at concerning how the Titanic lost its beauty during its sinking. The construction of this poem is complex and intricate, the numbering of the stanzas makes the reader understand each stanza individually, and consider it a unique unit. This emphasizes the message in the stanzas and makes it all the more powerful. However, there is enjambment in the sixth and seventh stanza, making it as though they were meant to be one stanza. These stanzas also happen to concern the creation of the ship, and the creation of the iceberg, which are meant to become one in the end—in their sexual meeting. Furthermore, the poem is written in rhyming triplets, along with a tidal rhythm, which manages to capture the feel and movement of the sea in the rhythm of the poem. It can also be noted that the poem is somewhat split into two, the first five stanzas focus on the sunken Titanic, the waste of all the vanity that was put into it, where as the last six stanzas focus on the inevitable fate of the two having met. It is interesting that Hardy possible constructs the poem this way because the tragedy was so well-known and famous that he is able to begin with the focus on the ships already sunken state before delving into the issue of fate and God’s will. One very intriguing element to Hardy’s construction of The Convergence of the Twain is that the stanzas look as if they are tiny ships. This creative device adds more artistic flair to the poem and adds motion to the poem, as well as being a visual aid. The Convergence of the Twain is a philosophical dirge by Hardy that also happens to illustrate most of his quandaries of life, fate and human vanity. As Hardy using an atypical presentation of the tragedy also manages to make the reader recognize his cynicism and negativity towards human technologies and the Titanic. His poem shows the tragedy of mans overconfidence, and illustrates the importance of recognizing the power of nature as well as fate on our lives.

Global Economy Essay

Below is a list of essay questions, the ONE question that you will be required to write on will be chosen from the list below. 1. Identify a current international political or economic issue and write on the cause(s) and impact globally. (500 word limit) 2. Select one project you have worked on in the past and write an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the execution, including an assessment of your own contribution. (500 word limit) 3. Identify a key industry leader in Nigeria today and give reasons why you admire this person and outline the person’s contributions to the economy and society. 4. What is the relevance of the MBA degree in the current business environment? Is the degree necessary for success? If you miss this examination or would like to do the GMAT instead, you have until June 28, 2013 to submit your GMAT score in order to have an interview scheduled for you. For details of the GMAT, please visit www. mba. com I wish you all the best. Regards, Nubi Achebo (Dr. ) MBA Director

No Fear Shakespeare Essay

In English class, everyone lets out loud groans when they hear about their next units: Shakespeare. With the class complaining about the hard language and the difficulty of understanding the plays, the teacher might grow exasperated and let them read the infamously talked about book No Fear Shakespeare. The teachers are doing question thing when they keep a supplementary text with the original. Yes, 15th century Elizabethan era is a tad difficult to understand, but that is one of the beauties of Shakespeare. No Fear has a good translation but is missing a few key elements such as symbolism, poetry, allusions, and other literary techniques. I think the original version is much better than the translated version because it has more appeal. No Fear Shakespeare is a series of translations of the Bard’s famous works to the modern-day language that is used today to make it easier to understand. I must admit that the translation is well written and is a much easier read than the original. No fear should be used for non-English speakers to read along but still have the original. Shakespeare’s language is broken down in the translation and takes away the finesse the original has. In the first soliloquy of infamously â€Å"emo-tastic† Hamlet, his first line in the speech is â€Å"Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! † in the original as opposed to the translated one that says â€Å"Now I’m alone. Oh what a mean low-life I am! † Now compare them and see which sounds more poetic and more passionate. Shakespeare has a way of making such a self-loathing speech sound so passionately powerful and beautiful. The translated version is too literal while Shakespeare was all about the symbolisms and metaphors that was his trademark. In this famous â€Å"to be or not to be† speech is another example. â€Å"To be or not to be? That is the question. † Is destroyed with â€Å"the question is: is it better to be alive or dead? † The point of that line is to be used for a variety of situations it has been taken too seriously. It’s more poetic and a bit dramatic (in a good way) to say â€Å"to be or not to be† rather than â€Å"should I kill myself to end all the hardships or just live with it miserably? † It’s almost as if Shakespeare’s version is a pretty girl who wears a lot of make-up and looks attractive until you see her without the make-up and see what she actually looks like unmasked so to speak when it is taken into No Fear Shakespeare. The last line of this speech is worse saying â€Å"But shh, here comes the beautiful Ophelia. Pretty lady; please remember me when you pray. Instead the original â€Å"The fair Ophelia-Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered. † The allusion to Greek mythology is one of the things that make Shakespeare’s work significant because his world was controlled by the monotheistic Roman Church. He uses a polytheistic religion for his allusions but No fear gets rid of some of it to make it more comprehensible. The No Fear Shakespeare series should not be taught in regular English speaking class because it takes away the symbolism, rhyme, and beauty of the literature. It should be used as a reference outside of school. As one of my friend said â€Å"the teacher is supposed to teach you what it means and if you don’t get that then you can use the book translation. † I agree with this completely. They’re supposed to be teaching Shakespeare to enlighten the students in ways that connects to them. If they have a bad teacher that is when the translator is depended on to teach what Shakespeare is writing. If the language was better understood by students you’d be able to realize that the themes and plots are so relatable. What teenager doesn’t relate to Hamlet with his depression or with his feeling of being misunderstood? As Alexandra Petri’s article â€Å"On the Bard’s Birthday: Is Shakespeare Still Relevant? † it states â€Å"If we want to do a modern staging of his work, we’ll have to stipulate that ‘In fair Verona, where we lay our scene/the cell reception was spotty/from ancient grudge that brake AT&T. † Sure we can’t exactly relate because most teens have cell phones to communicate, but it gives us a feel of if this was to happen in the â€Å"electronically deprived† centuries. It gives a link from the 21st century to the 15th century. The translation’s text book definition of Shakespeare does not give you that link, it just tells a story; it doesn’t have meaning behind it. Shakespeare has great insults as well, so why insult in modern language when you can confuse a fellow peer with beautiful Elizabethan. We shouldn’t fear Shakespeare we should learn to love him. He brings beauty and richness into literature that no other could do, especially in this age. He is thought to be a genius of the theatre. He has this originality that has influenced a lot of famous authors of modern-day literature so I say â€Å"Long live Shakespeare! †

Economic Crisis in East Asian Country

A large economic downturn in East Asia threatens to end its nearly 30 year run of high growth rates. The crisis has caused Asian currencies to fall 50-60%, stock markets to decline 40%, banks to close, and property values to drop. The crisis was brought on by currency devaluations, bad banking practices, high foreign debt, loose government regulation, and corruption. Due to East Asia†s large impact on the world economy, the panic in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, and other Asian countries has prompted other countries to worry about the affect on their own economies and offer aid to the financially troubled nations (Sanger 1). The East Asian crisis has affected almost all of the Asian ations, but the three hardest hit countries are Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea. The panic began in Thailand in May of 1997 when speculators, worried about Thailand†s slowing economy, excessive debt, and political instability devalued the baht as they fled for market-driven currencies like the American dollar. Indonesia†s economy soon fell soon after when the rupiah hit a record low against the U. S. dollar. Indonesia is plagued by more than $70 billion worth of bad debts and a corrupt and inefficient government. Thailand and Indonesia also suffer from being overbuilt during real estate booms that Reven2 were the result of huge influxes of cash by optimistic foreign investors. South Korea faltered under the weight of its huge foreign debt, decreasing exports, and weakening currency (Lochhead 4-5). Other major countries touched by the crisis are Japan, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Japan†s economy is burdened by $300 billion in bad bank loans and a recession. Chinese banks may carry bad banks loans of up to $1 trillion. The banks lend 66% of China†s investment capital to state-run industries that only produce 12% of China†s industrial output (Manning 2). Malaysia and the Philippines are both faced with devalued currencies and lowered stock markets The implications of the Asian financial crisis are many. A declining Asian economy will reduce demand for U. S. and other countries† exports. The devalued currencies of East Asia will make Asian imports seen cheap and will lead to increased American imports, thus increasing our trade deficit (Lochhead 2). A worldwide banking mergency could result if the embattled Asian economies failed to pay back their loans to the U. S. and other countries (Duffy 2). If the Asian economies fall further, in a desire to raise cash, they might sell the hundreds of billion dollars of U. S. treasuries they now own, leading to higher interest rates and an American recession (Lacayo 2). An article in the Economist reported that the Asian economic turmoil and the layoffs that may result, could instigate increased discontent and possibly give rise to violent strikes, riots, and greater political instability (1-2). Reven 3 Since the financial tumult causes instability in the world market, several solutions have been proposed designed to restore the health of the Asian economy. The International Monetary Fund is offering $60 billion in aid packages to Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea (Lacayo 1). The aid will be used for converting short-term debt to long-term debt and to keep currencies from falling lower in the world market (Passell 2). Lower currency values make repaying loans to other nations more difficult (Sanger 1 ). The aid packages are tied to measures that will ensure that the recipient countries reform their economies. Some of the measures the nations must follow are increasing taxes to decrease budget deficits, ending corruption, increasing banking regulation, improving accounting information so investors can make better decisions, closing insolvent banks, selling off inefficient state enterprises, and increasing interest rates to slow growth and encourage stability (Lacayo 3). Hopefully these market reforms will allow East Asia to improve its economic outlook. Since most of the Asian nations have balance budgets, low inflation, cheap labor, pro-business governments, and high savings rates, the long-term outlook for these countries is very good (Marshall 1). The financial crisis, instead of destroying the Asian tigers, will merely serve as a much needed lesson in debt management, orderly growth, competent accounting practices, and efficient government. Considering the size of Asias contribution to the world economy, a rapid recovery will be greatly anticipated.

Account for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the latter part of Essay

Account for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the latter part of the 20th century - Essay Example However, modern commentators do not agree with this interpretation. The word fundamentalism was first coined in the United States in the early 1900s, where it was applied to religious groups (Rippin 184). It was employed by theologically conservative Protestants, who opposed modernism and liberalism. The members of this group were wont to claim that they were great fundamentalists of their faith. Subsequently, this term was applied to any religious group that demanded the exclusive implementation of their religious beliefs (Rippin 184). The 1970s witnessed a significant amount of political victories by the Islamic fundamentalists. In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran through his Islamic movement. He was successful in his revolution against the westernized politics of the Shah of Iran. The tyrants and dictators of the Arab world lent their support to Islamic fundamentalism, in order to strengthen their position (Palmowski). Some instances of this trend, were the vocal support that was forthcoming from Saddam Hussein, in Iraq; and Muammar Gaddafi, in Libya. In Sudan, Nigeria, and several Islamic nations, the governments made several concessions to the Islamic fundamentalists, by providing them with funds and a number of concessions. This trend had commenced in the early 1990s (Palmowski). In the early 1970s, there were two major developments that enhanced to the growing influence of Islam at the international level. First, the cost of crude petroleum oil increased in an unprecedented manner, thereby rendering the oil producing countries of West Asia, extremely wealthy. Second, the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR in 1979, which created considerable tension in the region. This was accompanied by the Islamic revolution in Iran, which brought the Islamic fundamentalist, Ayatollah Khomeini to power (Ghosh 288). The American hostage crises