Gulliver Travel Theme Essay Example for Free

Gulliver Travel Theme Essay Might vs. Right In Jonathon Swift’s Gulliver’s Travel there are many characters who have power over others, some of these characters abuse it other characters do not. Swift gives many details and examples of how the character uses or abuses his or her power. Swift relates many of his characters to real life people of his time The first occurrence of this theme happens when Gulliver washes up on the island of the Lulliputains after his boat was capsized by a huge storm. Gulliver awakens to his arm, legs, and body tied down and is unable to move. He is surrounded by a abundance of miniature like people. Though Gulliver showed no sign of aggression the Lulliputains, despite their small size, still took full advantage over Gulliver and attack him with arrows. The emperor who rules Luptin thinks he can control Gulliver and has him chained and guarded by soldiers. â€Å"The emperor is both a satire of the autocratic ruler and a strangely serious portrait of political power. †(Sparknotes. com). Swift uses The Emperor to represent King George I. Just like King George, The Emperor abuses his power and hires his ministers on how well he likes them rather then their suitability, wisdom, or virtue. The Emperor of Luptin also loves war and wants to use Gulliver’s size to enslave the neighboring island Blefuscu. Although Gulliver refuses to do so, this can be compared to King George I war on Spanish Succession. The Brobdingnagians could dominate with their superior size if they wished but for the must part they do not. Gulliver is taken by a farmer when he lands on the island of Brobdingnag who Gulliver estimates is around seventeen foot tall. The farmer at doesn’t take advantage of his great size but he eventually uses Gulliver as a display around Brobdingnag for money. In General the Brobdingnagians do not abuse their power. The King of Brobdingnag is offered the secret of gunpowder but he refuses to take this, even though gunpowder could vastly increase the power of his nation. The Queen of Brobdingnag finds Gulliver and buys him off the farmer for a thousand pieces of gold. The Queen finds Gulliver quite interesting and thinks of him not as a pet but as fellow Brobdingnagian. Throughout the story Swift likes to draw questions through his characters on why people hold power over others. A key example of this is how The Laputan King thinks he has the right to hold power over the Balnirbarbians simply because he is more devoted to abstract and theoretical knowledge then they are. A more ambiguous example of this power is how the Houyhnhnms control the Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms are intelligent, moral and virtuous people but it is still questionable on whether they should rule the Yahoos. â€Å"The Yahoos are greedy, beastlike humans who will fight over anything valuable and will eat enough food for ten. †(shmoop. com). Even though the Houyhmhnms are great creatures it is still inhuman that they should take control of the Yahoos who are less fortunate than them. Might vs. ight or, abuse or use of power, is a reoccurring theme in Gulliver’s Travels. Swift uses this theme to draw a deeper meaning into the story. The question of why people hold power over others is one that is asked throughout the novel. Swift puts you into each of leaders shoes and gets the reader to think of what they would do if they were in this situation. Would people use to power that was given to them to do great things or would people abuse their power to control and strip freed om from others.

From Nihilism to Kingdom Come :: Philosophy Theology Religion Papers

The Final Stage of Mankind’s Education — From Nihilism to Kingdom Come ABSTRACT: I give reasons to believe that our present situation is not as bleak as some would have it. I show how the historical process can be understood in terms of a Premodernity (Aquinas), Modernity (Hegel), and Postmodernity (Nietzsche) division of human history. I argue that both Hegel and Nietzsche were fully aware that Modernity was over and that a negative Postmodern condition was to necessarily precede a consummatory positive one. Also since history may be taken to have reached its goal at the end of Modernity (with Reasons grasp of Christianity’s principle), Postmodernity can best be understood in terms of its central task of elevating all humanity into absolute knowing (the knowing of the God within)—an elevation via Reason and Faith achievable only by the abolition of the God outside, i.e., by a negative followed by a positive period of history, which Schelling refers to as the Church of John, a synthesis of Catholicism and Protestantism, the perfected Churc h. Introduction My thesis, in brief, is that the painful "God is dead" period of history we are presently going through can best be understood as a necessary "transitional period"— the immediate consequence of mankind’s intellectual advance, in the preceding period, viz., the Modern or Age of Reason, beyond the Middle Ages, the Age of Belief. With the apotheosis of the development of the principle of subjectivity in Modern philosophy, i.e., with the attainmeUnprioritized— SDO meetingnt of "absolute knowing," or Reason’s "knowing of the absolute," humanity had outgrown its former manner of relating to substance, the divine: — its eyes opened, it could not go backwards but only forward. From the highest standpoint, it can be said that the movement of history is from the God "outside" to the God "inside"— an inversion process involving three distinct and necessary phases: Premodernity, Modernity, and Postmodernity, to be correlated with Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, a nd Nietzsche, respectively. It appears that as a result of Modernity’s, i.e. Hegel’s, intellectual achievement— in which religion was superseded by philosophy, i.e., Wissenschaft or Science— religion had of necessity to undergo a major crisis. That is, a "God is dead" period of (post-) history had to supervene. However this "negative" period is in no way to be regarded as final or terminal, but instead as the necessary precondition for a "positive," consummatory period of human history, its finale, a period in which, in Schelling’s words, the unification of philosophy, science, and religion will be realized.

Outline the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God (21)

Outline the cosmological argument for the existence of God (21) The Cosmological argument is an argument that attempts to prove the existence of God, it is also known as the causation argument which argues that as all events require a cause, if the universe is an event it must have a cause and that cause is God. The argument is a posteriori because its based on evidence that already exists in the universe. The cosmological argument is also inductive because the conclusion is what is most probable, it is also synthetic because the truth can only be determined by experience. Cosmological’ comes from the Greek words ‘kosmos’ and ‘logos’ translated as ‘cosmos’ synonymous with ‘universe’ and ‘Logos’ meaning ‘blueprint’ or ‘plan’. Therefore, ‘cosmology’ refers to the ‘blueprint of the universe’. The Cosmological argument originated from Plato and Aristotle however it was mainly later developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Their arguments both began with the idea that motion needs a prior agency. Plato then identified the first cause of the chain of events as the need for an unmoved mover which started off the chain.Aquinas' main argument is well known as ‘Aquinas' third way'; the argument from contingency and necessity. The first of Aquinas' ways was ‘from motion,' this follows the idea that all objects move and a change of quality is movement. Nothing can move itself, which then leads to the idea of a chain of movement but the chain cannot be infinate, therfor there must be an unmoved mover to begin the chain. This first mover is God. The second of Aquinas' ways was ‘from efficiant causes,' this follows the idea that all things are caused by something else because they cant cause themselves or they would exist before themselves.However this would mean that there cant be an infinite chain of causes, meaning there must be a 1st cause that caused all causes, then this 1st cause is God. The third of Aquinas' ways is ‘from contingency and necessity. This follows the idea that everything is dependant of factors outside itself, therefor everything is contingent. If this is correct then there must be a necessary being upon which everything is dependant on. The necessary being is God.Another part to the cosmological argument is the Kalam argument which was developed by Al Ghazali and recently developed by Craig. The Kalam argument rejects the idea of an actual infinite because an actual infinite past of the universe is impossible. Craig developed the Kalam argument and added that it is logically unsound to propose an infinite series because for this to actually occur we would have to have travelled an infinite length of time and so still wouldnt be in the present yet.However, some would critique Aquinas’ theory, for example; Hick pokes holes in aquinas's ‘three ways. ’ Hick says that Aquinas p resent us with two alternatives; that the universe is either â€Å"a fact†, or there is a ‘first cause’. Aquinas' argument can only be proven if there is evidence of a first cause of the universe. (ii )Consider the view that the strengths are more convincing than the weaknesses (9) Leibniz argued that there had to be a sufficient reason for the universe to exist which supports Aquinas's theory.Leibniz says that even if the universe had always been in existence, it would still require an explanation for its existence so we can establish that there is something rather than nothing. Since there is nothing within the universe to show why it exists the reason must therefor exist outside of it. However Hume disagrees with Aquinas and observes that to arrive at the existance of god from the premises of the cosmological argument, this requires an inductive leap which ineffectively guesses without having actual evidence that allows for the assumption to be made.This then means that you cannot make an inductive leap about the universe because we cannot make conclusions about something outside our exerience. In contrast to Hume copelston suports Aquinas' rejection of infinite regress based on the idea that an infinite chain of contingent beings would only consist of contingent beings therefor meaning they could never be able to bring themselves into existence. However like Hume, Mackie disagrees with Aquinas' inductive leap by stating hat ‘ everything at some time must exist' to ‘at some point sometime everything does not exist' here there is a clear overlap of things that just dont make sense to put after eachother as there is clearly something missing in the middle. Taking these points into consideration we can make the assumption that the weaknesses are in actual fact stronger than the strengths because the strenghts agree with the inductive leap aquinas has made, however the leap clearly looks as if something in the middle is missing a s you just cant make an assumption on something bigger than us that we have no expience of.

Identification Of Social Problem Of Gun Control Essay

IDENTIFICATION OF SOCIAL PROBLEM Gun control in the United States is a very controversial and highly debated topic. Gun control is the regulation, restricting or limiting of the sale and possession of handguns and rifles in an effort to reduce violent crime (Gun control, 2011). Whether you are someone who owns a gun for the purpose of sporting, collecting, personal or family protection or whether you don’t own a gun at all, given the gun violence that has occurred over the last few years and the media coverage it has received, you likely have an opinion on gun control in the United States. Depending on your opinion on the issue, you may view it as gun control or you may see it as gun rights. However, no matter where you stand, all would agree, gun control will affect both sides. Democrats recognize the people’s right to bear arms however believe that Second Amendment rights are subject to reasonable regulations while Republicans believe the people have the right to own, carry and use guns and further feel it is unconstitutional to regulate firearms as it infringes upon the people’s right to bear arms. (Republican Views, 2013). For gun owners and others opposing gun control, gun control is seen as infringing on second amendment rights. They believe owning guns, any type or caliber is a right of the people. People own guns for a variety of reasons such as collection, sport/target practice, and personal protection. Guns are part of the American history and representShow MoreRelatedSex, Drugs, Disasters, And The Extinction Of Dinosaur1006 Words   |  5 Pagesconsequences, if the gun were to fall into the hands of an individual who is not in their right mind. 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