Why Philosophy Essays - Belief, Humanities, Philosophy, Thought

Why Philosophy? Why Philosophy? Aaron R. Nino Religion Philosophy is simply his effort to avoid doing this in the dark, says Robert Johann. He is referring to using his freedom to take his personal stand on everything and be responsible for the stand he takes. So what then is Philosophy? Is it to throw some light on the meaning of life as a whole, to give man some idea of what he is about. You could say so. But understanding the positive side of philosophy might just seem impossible! Philosophy is for you, the thinker to involve himself on his own free response. It is not only meant to take a standpoint involving looking deeper, past the outward appearance of the proposed question. A philosophical view is judged over and over again, until you ultimately end up having to judge yourself. To me philosophy is a way to interpret things that sometimes seem like there is no apparent answer. Although Philosophy is supposed to mean interpretation some perceive it as a na?ve way to pursue wisdom. Now people of the new age are posed with the deep impending question of its future. Is there a future for Philosophy? Many think not. And that is only because some people cannot open their minds to unexplainable views about the way life sometimes is perceived. Although philosophy may consist to you as some what of a religion to believe or impede in, it also represents the hopes and praises of all. Poetry Essays

Everything You Need to Know About Shakespeares Plays

Everything You Need to Know About Shakespeare's Plays William Shakespeare is best known for his plays, although he was also an accomplished poet and actor. But when we think about Shakespeare, plays like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing immediately spring to mind. How Many Plays? A remarkable fact about Shakespeares plays is that scholars can’t agree on how many he actually wrote. Thirty-eight plays is the most popular hypothesis, but after many years of wrangling, a little-known play called Double Falsehood has now been added to the canon. The main problem is that it is believed that William Shakespeare wrote many of his plays collaboratively. Therefore, it is difficult to identify the content penned by the Bard with any accuracy. What Were Shakespeares Plays About? Shakespeare was writing between 1590 and 1613. Many of his early plays were performed at the building that would eventually become the infamous Globe Theatre in 1598. It was here that Shakespeare made his name as a budding young writer and penned such classics as  Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Taming of the Shrew. Many of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s and would have been performed at the Globe Theatre. Genres Shakespeare wrote in three genres: tragedy, comedy, and history. Although this seems very straightforward, it is notoriously difficult to categorize the plays. This is because the histories blur comedy and tragedy, the comedies contain elements of tragedy, and so on. Tragedy Some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays are tragedies. The genre was extremely popular with Elizabethan theatergoers. It was conventional for these plays to follow the rise and fall of a powerful nobleman. All of Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists have a fatal flaw that propels them towards their bloody end. Popular tragedies include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet,  King Lear, and Macbeth. Comedy Shakespeare’s comedy was driven by language and complex plots involving mistaken identity. A good rule of thumb is if a character disguises themselves as a member of the opposite sex, you can categorize the play as a comedy. Popular comedies include Much Ado About Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice. History Shakespeare used his history plays to make social and political commentary. Therefore, they are not historically accurate in the same way we would expect a modern historical drama to be. Shakespeare drew from a range of historical sources and set most of his history plays during the Hundred Years War with France. Popular histories include  Henry V and Richard III. Shakespeare’s Language Shakespeare used a mixture of verse and prose in his plays to denote the social standing of his characters. As a rule of thumb, common characters spoke in prose, while noble characters further up the social food chain would revert to iambic pentameter. This particular form of poetic meter was extremely popular in Shakespeare’s time. Although iambic pentameter sounds complex, it is a simple rhythmic pattern. It has ten syllables in each line that alternate between unstressed and stressed beats. However, Shakespeare liked to experiment with iambic pentameter and played around with the rhythm to make his character’s speeches more effective. Why is Shakespeare’s language so descriptive? We should remember that the plays were performed in daylight, in the open air, and with no set. In the absence of atmospheric theater lighting and realistic sets, Shakespeare had to conjure up mythical islands, the streets of Verona, and cold Scottish castles through language alone.

Ethical Issue Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethical Issue Case study - Essay Example There are existing statutes that cover the case of patients like the Somali immigrant. Several cases have already been resolved by the American courts with regards to treatment to forced treatment of people with contagious diseases. This coerced consent, according to Scutchfield and Keck, is not obtained as a sham of an informed consent, but as a way to obviate the need for physically forcing the treatment on the patient (72). I can also, as an alternative, resort to outright coercion. While this is extremely rare, this is not something that is unheard of. The case is quite extraordinary. First, the patient refuses treatment because tuberculosis is supposedly a death warrant in Somali culture. Secondly, her family also acceded to her wishes and supported her decision. Finally, there are no other medical alternatives left that would accommodate the cultural beliefs of the patient. Asking for legal advice to this action is crucial as well. But this is a matter of life and death and the fact that there is the danger of to the public variable. The civil authorities are always found to rule in support of healthcare decisions made in emergency situations that are dispensed with in good faith. The patient can only contest a forced treatment if they could provide evidence that: 1) the patient’s decision was contrary to what it would have been considered consequence of the involuntariness; and, 2) the treatment resulted into harm for the woman. I am basing my decision out of the principle of Act-Utilitarianism which argues that an action is right or wrong according to the consequences it resulted. If the result is good, then the act itself must be good as well and vice versa. Put in another way, the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its utility or those that are intrinsically valuable under the utilitarian’s theory of value (Thomas and Waluchow 19). One may argue that Act Utilitarianism is just another version of the-end-justifies-the-me ans argument but such is not the case. Utilitarianism is not really about instances like fraud being committed in order to achieve some higher purpose. Instead, there is a moral dimension, which requires a moral agent to decide for the achievement of happiness and benefits for all. The decision-maker under Act Utilitarianism always makes the following claim: An act is right and only if there is no other action I could have done instead which either (a) would have produced a greater balance of utility over disutility; or (b) would have produced a smaller balance of disutility over utility (19). There is the need to decide in a forward-looking manner with an emphasis on the examination of the impact of such decision to those affected individuals. It is ethical because, first, it is unselfish. The decision-maker makes the decision for the good of all. Secondly, it promotes happiness, well-being or positive benefits to those affected. In moral theology (from where most of our concepts o f goodness and evil comes from) there is always a concept of the unavoidable evil in order to achieve good results if that is the only way to do so. This rationale is expressed in a duty-based morality that a doctor can use in order to address the problem posed by the woman refusing treatment. I would like to discuss the behavior of the patient from the utilitarian perspective. She is suffering from a