Descartes vs. Spinoza Essay Example for Free

Descartes vs. Spinoza Essay What I will do in this following paper is to discuss two very interesting philosophers, Rene Descartes and Benedictus de Spinoza. I will discuss each philosopher’s perspectives and insights on their most recognized theories and thoughts. I will then evaluate them and then give my opinion on the given topic. By doing this, I will contrast the similarities and differences between the two genius minds. By the end of the paper I will have discarded some ideas and opinions from each of the two and will have my own judgment that consists of thoughts from Spinoza, Descartes and my self put together. Themes On Descartes: Existence of God- Descartes’ View One of the most famous and debatable theories Descartes had was his proof of the existence of God. He had for steps on the ladder to prove this. 1) Everything including our ideas has a cause. 2) We have an idea of God. 3) Nothing less than God is adequate to be the cause of our idea of God. An lastly 4) Therefore God exists. My View Considering the fact that Descartes was a rationalist and a very religious man, you can see why he would desperately try to make sense of everything, including God. I believe his proof that he has laid out for us that God exists is false. What Descartes is trying to tell us is that our idea of God comes directly from God himself and that we cannot create something in our minds that we have not already witnessed by our senses. But I believe we can implant the idea of God in our minds without God planting it for us. Since man has been on this planet, we have been evolving. I believe our idea of God is a collection of thoughts and ideas that has evolved. Ideas such as security, peace, direction, order, separating good and evil, questions to our existence, comfort, space, answers to questions no one has. It is all these thoughts, ideas and more put together in our minds overtime that create this all mighty powerful being who knows all and is all that we call God. The U-Turn- Descartes’ View One of the aspects Descartes strived to find was â€Å"certainty†, searching for absolute foundation. He felt in order to come across certainty; we must first doubt everything we know. To help people comprehend his idea, he created the U-Turn as a visual reference to understand. As we go down the â€Å"U† we first doubt common sense, then we doubt awake/sleep since he believes we can’t distinguish the difference. We continue to go down the â€Å"U† by doubting mathematics because there could be an â€Å"Evil Genius† that tricks us into believing something untrue. At the bottom of this U we reach the point where nothing is certain except one thing according to Descartes, which is our existence. He says â€Å"I think, therefore I am†, which means the only thing we can be certain about is our own existence. He then stops and says if we exist, then there must be a God, and this is where the U takes its turn and moves upwards. He then says if God exists he would not deceive us because he is all loving and caring, therefore we have no reason to doubt mathematics, followed by ourselves (body/mind) and lastly we can then be certain about the physical world, no need to doubt it. My View I find this to be an interesting concept that Descartes has formulated in his mind, one that is most definitely worth thinking about and taking into consideration. But in my point of view, there is a break in his chain. From the moment he mentions we doubt being awake and asleep is where I think his U-Turn collapses. Descartes says we can not distinguish the difference between the two, but that’s only true to a certain point. As humans we have logic, common sense and we are aware of most of the knowledge we obtain. We know that we live a life every day and that we need rest every night; and we know that sleeping is a form of rest which sometimes includes bizarre, twisted, chaotic scenarios which we call dreams or nightmares. The argument he made on this segment of his U-Turn concept was only half true. He was right on the fact that we can not distinguish the difference when in a dream state but wrong on the idea that same goes for when we are awake. As human begins we may not be able to have any reasoning, logic or understand the fact that we are dreaming but when we are not dreaming we can logically know we are awake and be able to know the difference between awake/sleep which means we don’t have to doubt common sense or mathematics anymore. If this is the case then Descartes U-Turn theory is wrong and the idea that the only thing we can be â€Å"certain† about is our own existence is false. Themes On Spinoza: Conception of God- Spinoza’s’ View Spinoza went on a whole different direction when it came to God. Up to his point in time most people believed in a transcendent God, this meant that they believed in a personal God that was all loving, caring and would not deceive us human beings. People would prey to this personal God for various things like comfort and security, but Spinoza had his own belief. His conception was quite different from that of anyone else. His conception of God was non-personal (Non- Transcendent) and was the totality of everything that is immanent. He explained that our infinite Universe is one that has no outside and is also one big web where everything in it is connected. What he is basically trying to say is that God=Nature, God is the totality of everything that is. My View Spinoza’s conception of God is quite absurd. There may or may not be a God but if there is, it is definitely not the totality of everything that is. The meaning of God is a higher supreme being that would have a higher consciousness than humans. There is a difference between nature and God. I feel nature is more on the lines of what he is trying to say but uses the word â€Å"God†. God can not be everything that is because then that would mean we are part of the make up of God and that is absurd. How can everything in the universe that has no conception of God be a part of God? His thoughts and ideas on this subject don’t add up in the end and don’t seem like an acceptable solution to the questions revolving around â€Å"God†. Ethics: On Interconnected Self- Spinoza’s’ View Spinoza said that freedom of choice is an illusion and that everything that happens is part of a necessary order witch is completely rational. My View If freedom of choice is an illusion and everything is already set to happen before it occurs†¦then why are we making choices in the first place? I believe we do have freedom of choice and that we set our own destiny. Everything will be set but is not set yet. We must make choices and decisions to get to where we want to or do not want to. This can be compared to a video game, the programmer and the player. The programmer sets al these scenarios, levels, obstacles, directions and gives the gamer various choices to make. The player goes through these obstacles, and makes choices where many possibilities are presented to him/her. Ultimately the game will finish one way or the other with the choices that the player makes. All these various different possibilities were laid out (each which had its own outcome) but the player made the decision to get to where he/she is now. Overall Comparison: After taking in everything these two philosophers have presented and evaluating their ideas, I have come up with my own thoughts. I believe Descartes had a much more reasonable and acceptable point of view than Spinoza. Descartes thoughts and concepts were easier to understand and coupe with. I disagree a lot with both of the two but my mind has a greater understanding of Descartes perspective. Spinoza was so special in his own way because of his unique ideas but his concepts on God and ethics seemed to far fetch. Descartes seemed to be on a perfect track until he took a couple things too far like God, trying to prove his existence. If we are to gain knowledge through sense experience then technically we have no knowledge of God, jus a compound of thoughts and ideas to create such a being. Overall I like Descartes philosophical way of thinking more than any other philosopher and feel we can learn a lot from him including helping ourselves to think in a more abstract philosophical manner. Sources Of Information: 1) A History of Western Philosophy : Hobbes to Hume (Second Edition) 2) individual. utoronto. ca/mtlin/god. pdf 3) www. utm. edu/research/iep/s/spinoza. htm 4) http://serendip. brynmawr. edu/Mind/17th. html 5) www. trincoll. edu/depts/phil/philo/phils/descartes. html 6) www. connect. net/ron/descartes. html.

Ancient Burials Essay examples -- Cultural Culture Death Essays

Ancient Burials When someone dies in our society we immediately think of ritualistic burial ceremonies, for example a religious service or open casket. Regardless of where you are from or what your cultural background is every culture has its own method and traditions associated with death. Burials dating back to 15,000-27,660 years ago are culturally and symbolically advanced burials. Therefore providing evidence to represent how socially and culturally advanced modern Homo sapiens really were. However there are those individuals including Anthropologists themselves who refute this statement. They do not believe that modern Homo sapiens that date back this far can possibly be as socially and culturally advanced as I believe them to be. These individuals believe that the evidence and examples including the articles of, The Triple Burial of Dolni Vestonice and The Cap Blanc Lady are in fact accidents and coincidences. A radiocarbon date has been labeled to â€Å"The Triple Burial of Dolni Vestonice† to 27,660 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic era. This specific burial site was excavated in Moscow, Russia in 1986. The gracile skeletons found here were of three ancient people. All three lay side by side. In the middle was the oldest of the three and this skeleton appears to be a woman, due to the analysis of her pelvic region. The entire right side of the woman’s body was not fully developed and her skull shape was asymmetrical. Therefore giving Anthropologists insinuation that she must have had scoliosis due to her deformations. To the left of the woman lies a robust (17 year old boy) with his hand atop of hers. And to the right of the woman lies another robust skeleton (18 or 19 year old boy) with both of his arms touchi... ...n 1911, many anthropologists thought the adult skeleton was a 25 year old male. This proves that anthropologists can be wrong within their predictions. Experiments must be tested several times in order for dates to be accurate. Likewise, in reference to the theories of symbolic burials and the advanced culture of these ancient peoples. Theories may be attested, although we do obtain clear evidence that these burials are not accidents. As I have shown you through two pieces of well studied excavated sites. The Triple Burial of Dolni Vestonice and The Cap Blanc Lady are not accidents and coincidences. Burials that date back to 15,000-27,600 years ago are in fact culturally and symbolically advanced for there time. It’s up to you to formulate your own opinion on this subject matter. Just remember to remind yourself of the questions and the evidence I have provided.

Power of Communication Essay

Communication is the basic human need to share meanings and express ideas and thoughts and that can be achieved by the exchange of information between the society members. The process of communication is defined by the technology available, culture and protocols of communication. Political scientists are interested in political communication through studying the interaction communication between the political system and the political process generally and they confirmed the importance of the fundamental relationship between them, they called for re-examination and analysis of political science based on communication theories. Politics is difficult to be found without communication because there must be a link between the public and the ruling elite (decision makers), and this applies to the political system too. Citizens must be able to communicate their wishes and demands to the government, and the government should be able to communicate its decisions to citizens and justify them to win their satisfaction. Political parties and politicians needs huge public support, Where it can be said that political communication is the most important means of communication that must be followed by a party in order to gain such support. It is well known that the objective of any party is to access power or participate in it and this cannot be reached without large public support. This political communication can take various forms depends on the technology available such as press, radio, television and digital networked media. The political communication is the proper way of any party members to open dialogue with the masses of the people for establish the doctrine of their party to them, and gain popular support for the policy and programs of the party, where they listen to note of the public towards some situations and impressions towards it, and the members of the party again, during their partisan meetings to discuss the various social and economic problems in the community, and that need solutions, ranging proposals of different party members to fixing these problems through the hierarchical organization of the party until it reaches the level of leadership and integrate in the various party programs. thereby ensuring this party kind of interaction with he public surrounding it, so that lead the response to the wishes and requirements of the public in the general policy of the party, to achieve a great deal of compatibility between the party and street folk, and this goes back to the party with a grea t benefit in elections times, When the public find the investigator to them ambitions and expectations, and This causes at normal conditions for arrival (the party with compatibility larger with the popular will) to rule the country. Communication was and will continue to be the most important activity in human life through interacts with others to express ideas, needs and feelings and dreams, and has expressed their personality, culture and freedom and the idea of an activity that can be embodied the meaning of human dignity and values. So this make this activity one of the most activities accountable of various standards, pressures and the laws that are on the whole a fundamental question about the nature of the relationship between the media and the ethics and other aspects of human life. Communication science benefited and interact with all the of Sciences and knowledge, humanitarian, technical data and the science explain to us at this time to what affect the means of mass communication in the minds of the people and what is the size of this effect and how it is affecting. No one can deny the importance of these theories of communication that formed the communication science which had experimented in communities that adopted and tried to apply. The communication tools play an important role in political life, whether internal or the outside, not only political professionals are attach importance to their communication strategy, but governed also gaining most of their information through the communication tools. The means of mass communication possesses the characteristics and capabilities of multiple distinct from those when its counterparts from groups or opinion leaders, are in any case means mass communication addresses the daily huge cross sections of the population with one voice. The means of communication and media are necessary and important to make effectively communication links and interactions are always open between the ruler and the governed. Definitely, mass communication has evolved technically accompanied by the technological development happened to human societies in all fields, in ancient societies (Greek and Roman society), political community was limited and number of citizens who can be covered by ruling messages was known, so it was direct speeches and forums in public places established in open air r in the theaters of the city that was one of the most forms of political communication, so it was politicians highly dependent on rhetoric and the ability to inference to convince they governed, This free space for debate and political communication that helped to create direct democracy known as the Athenian democracy, But with the development of human societies and the expansion of political activity field appearance regimes of modern political became not possible to rely solely on speeches and seminars, which includes a limited number of citizens, but became necessary to find a communication to spread and includes a wide segment of the public. (Karl W. Deutsch, 2006) Literature Review: Denis McQuail, 2010 â€Å"Seen these arguments written, visual and audio as a tool of direct democracy, and as a court of public opinion open day and night put the law for everything all the time, not a substitute for institutions, but such ray of light detector that keeps moving here and there, revealing always talking about the depths of darkness† Jacques Gerstle, 2004 â€Å"One of the basic properties of the twentieth century is the communication tools revolution, and the appearance the community of communication. We saw the appearance of new techniques for political communication, these techniques that contributed in dissemination and sharing the information, ideas and communities in conditions limited time and across a wide geographical. † Since the advent of printing, which contributed historically in the advancement of the theory and practice of democracy through journalism written is the court of public opinion, as well as with the emergence of radio, which was the most important means of communication used in the second world war propaganda by politicians, through well television, which affects more than other means of mass communication. Various categories divergent public and geographically, does not follow some of the obstacles faced by other means such as the written press such as distribution problems and an individual’s ability to read all the way to satellites to broadcast dimensional networks of electronic communication global movement of information and ideas and comply with the limits of regional and geographical, with the development of all these means and which was called some people name new technologies for information and communication find that the process of political communication has evolved is also no longer this process takes place using the means of communication like a traditional speech, for example. Gabriel A. Almond, 2004 â€Å"That everything in politics is communication, system of communication is one of the main channels for the flow of information from the elite to the masses and also to transfer the problems of the masses and their aspirations and their perceptions to the elite. † Robert Wiener, David Jerison, I. Isadore Manuel Singer, Daniel W.  Strook, 1997 â€Å"If we realized politics is system so communication system is the nerve that controls the system, and the system’s ability to exercise command and control linked to its ability to deal with the information, so that communication and control are two synonymous of same meaning, every time we call we also control. † Karl W. Deutsch, William J. Foltz, 2010 â€Å"The nerves of government political Communication and Control† â€Å"is proposed similar political regime system Cyber zonular, describes the relationship between the political system and its surroundings under shape or environment Cyber zonular, which imagined that communication as a system of decisions based on the flood of diverse information, and is communication and media the most important issues in political science, and confirms it is wrong to neglecting or underestimation the role of other changes. † Dr.  Schwatzenberg, 1990 â€Å"Political communication is the path that moves the political information one part to another parts of the political regime and between this system and the social system, it is path continuously to exchange of information between individuals and groups at all levels, It is especially the exchange of information between rulers and ruled that will ensure the agreement between them, each governor seeks to accepting his decisions, and all governed trying to structured and their needs are taken in the consideration, and compatibility and harmonization be realized only through the communication and through exchange. † Harold Dwight Lasswell, Peter de Leon, 2009 â€Å"Political community like the pyramid, where rulers are elite at the top of the pyramid and the masses of people at the base, and between them there experts and specialists in the middle between the top and the base, and being communication processes on the basis that each nation have political ystem specific consists of elite, They are responsible for the decision and supervision on the state’s economic resources and human resources, to achieve the goals and programs of the State, the ruling elite and using tools of communication specialized experts believing they are the ones those can be in the process of communication between the elite and controlled groups, and staff working in this area have their role in attracting public attention to social issues. † Alvin Toffler, 1984 â€Å"That there is a relationship substantially between communication process and the political process, if the world of politics is based on power, the desires of those who have power must be transmitted to the expect they will respond to it, and if the world of politics is based on the legitimacy of the highest authority, the matter requires a means by which based the symbolic expression of values and procedural standards for such systems, and if the world of politics based on participation, this means finding channels transporting the interests and demands of the citizens to decision makers. † Kenneth E. Boulding. 989 â€Å"The political process, such as the decision-making process, it is also a test of the roles of power in society, and in response to the images Stereotypes formed by political means of communication in society, The means of communication change of images Stereotypes of individuals, and political behavior based on images Stereotypes. † Theories and Models of Communication (Difference Job Title and convergence of concept and function) Studies in Communication Sciences provided us science of communication in the framework is not clear in terms of mixing in some of the concepts and nomenclature may be the reason in that transfers of these sciences at the hands of a Type is not specialized and qualified in the field of media and communication. So still confusion exists between science communication and science media and between theories and models in communication process but after multiple studies in the field of media, communication and development study of media and communications at universities and institutes in the third world and after a significant increase in who have advanced degrees in media from Western universities appeared a new generation of communication scholars provided us this real science in its context where they ruled for differentiating between the media and science communication and science and have sacrificed the relationship between them, and provided us both models and theories on the units and they ruled for differentiating among them.

The Main Eras of Ancient Jewish History