Sociology and Basic Existentialist Standpoint Essay Example for Free

Sociology and Basic Existentialist Standpoint Essay There are six themes of existentialism; the themes are classified to characterize the mode of thought of those who would call themselves existentialists. The first theme is known as existence precedes essence, which is the basic existentialist standpoint. The values in a persons life are not inherited from the society, but are solely based on their consciousness. The second theme is classified as anxiety. The nature of anxiety is like the dread of being nothing. This anxiety motivates existentialists to make something of their lives instead of embracing the pointless of life. The third theme of existentialism displays absurdity, there is no reason for humans to exist, nothing has a point, and its rather silly. The fourth theme is known as Nothingness, an existentialist feels as if they are defined only by their being but the beliefs and in situations that one lives can also be defined. An existentialist believes theyre born with nothing: no prepositions can create everything for themselves. Therefore an existentialist must have no structures. Death is known as the fifth theme of existentialism. Death is the final end of existence, thus death is a motivating factor in life. Everyone has a natural fear of death, but we should overcome hat fear, live life to the fullest. Let death happen because it is inevitable. Alienation displays the sixth theme of existentialism. Alienation is the isolation from society and social orders. It is present in society, to those individuals who create and pursue their personal desires, also not majority rules. In this theme, they do not connect with social institutions; therefore an existentialist finds their society empty and meaningless.

Causes of World War 1 :: essays research papers

The First World War began in August 1914. It was directly triggered by the assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on 28th June 1914 by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip. This event was, however, simply the trigger that set off declarations of war. The actual causes of the war are more complicated and are still debated by historians today. Causes of the war also dealt with such ideologies as Nationalism, Imperialism and militarism along with the prominent alliance systems and the naval race. One of the main causes of the First World War is Kaiser Wilhelm 11. Kaiser Wilhelm 11 One of the causes of the outbreak of the war was Kaiser Wilhelm 11 ambitious aim. He had many aims but his main aim is to make Germany the superior. The German Kaiser was extremely envious of Britain for having a larger navy than that of Germany's and ordered the production of new Dreadnought-class battleships. Britain responded to the Germans attempt to equal its navy by creating a navy so large and powerful that no other nation's navy would ever contemplate an attack. This head-to-head production period was known as the "Arms Race" and created more tension between the two nations. Navy Alliances a system of military alliances was formed to provide European powers with a sense of security. There were two rivalling alliances The Triple Alliance consisted of the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary that had existed since 1879 when Bismarck had befriended the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the agreement, both countries pledged that they would go to the aid of the other if attacked by Russia. This was done to ensure that Germany would always have an allied nation on its border if war were to occur. Italy later joined this alliance in 1882, which remained in tact until the beginning of World War I. The conditions of the alliance changed after Italy was added and stated that countries would aid any other that was under attack from two or more countries. The other alliance: The Triple Entente, was made up of Great Britain, France and Russia. As a result of Germanys build-up in naval resources, Great Britain was forced to abandon its isolation policy and adopt allies. France joined Great Britain in 1904. Unlike the Triple alliance, this agreement contained no promises of military support, although the two powers began to talk of joint military plans. The Triple Entente was completed when Russia joined in 1907.

Jackson’s Knowledge Argument

Dualism is the theory that our world is not entirely physical but is made up of mind and matter, therefore uggesting the mind is not the brain (brain is matter, the mind is a separate entity). Cartesian Dualism states: Each mind is an immaterial substance capable of independent existence. The characteristic property of this substance is thought. The physical world is a material substance, capable of independent existence. The characteristic property of this substance is extension (taking up space). (Lecture 1, DCT). Monism, in contrast to dualism states that the mind and brain are unified, and that there is no division between the two.Those who support monism believe that there is only one reality. Physicalism is a kind of monism as it is the belief that different approaches to the mind-body problem, let us look at the knowledge argument by Frank Jackson, who theorises that physicalism is false. Jackson describes two thought experiments to support his anti-physicalism theory. The fir st centres around Mary, a brilliant scientist who is confined to a black and white room, who learns everything through black and white, including a black and white television.Mary is an expert in the neurophysiology of vision learns all the physical information about what happens to the brain when we see colour. Jackson (1982, p. 30) states: â€Å"She discovers, for example, Just which wave-length combinations from the sky stimulate the retina, and exactly how this produces via the central nervous system the contraction of vocal chords and expulsion of air from the lungs that results in the uttering of the sentence â€Å"The sky is blue†. When Mary leaves the room, and sees the colour red for the first time, Jackson raises the question of whether Mary will learn anything or not.Jackson claims that yes indeed Mary does, because she is having a new visual experience that she has not had before, despite having all the physical information prior to this. Jackson (1982, p. 130) g oes on â€Å"But then it is inescapable that her previous knowledge was incomplete. But she had all the physical information. Ergo there is more to have than that, and Physicalism is false†. Jackson believes that qualia has been left out of this story. qualia relates to our own subjective experiences.When I see a colour, smell a perfume, I am subjected toa conscious experience that is only relevant to me, no one else can experience these sensations the way I do. The following thought experiment in Jackson's paper explains this further. Fred, presented with a bunch of ripe tomatoes, separates them n to two groups. Fred has better colour vision than anyone else, but manages to separate the tomatoes into two groups, redl and red2. Whilst we may categorise all the tomatoes as simply red, Fred sees clearly two different types of red, in the way we would distinguish yellow from green.Suppose we know all about Fred's physiology and discover is a super ability to separate colours on the red spectrum, it does not actually tell us what it is like to see colour from Fred's perspective, or his colour experience. No amount of physical information about Fred can tell us what it is like o see colours in the same way as Fred does. Furthermore, if we were to implant Fred's brain into another beings body, it still would not tell us anything about Fred's conscious experience of seeing red at this present moment in time.Thomas Nagel's paper What is it like to be a bat? reinforces the theory that physicalism leaves something out. If we look at physicalism objectively, for example, look at the facts about Marys physiology that enable to her to see, we can know what happens to the optic nerve and retina when Mary sees colour, or light, but her experience of seeing he colour red is a subjective one. This experience is told from the first person point of view, therefore Nagel suggests that we cannot be objective about other people's experiences.Nagel (1974, p. 426) describes ho w we can we observe the physicality of bats: â€Å"Now we know that most bats (the microchiroptera, to be precise) perceive the external world primarily by sonar, or echolocation, detecting the reflections, from objects within range, of their own rapid, subtly modulated, high frequency shrieks†. There is nothing about a bat's senses that are like ours, and while we can imagine hat it may be like to be another human being, we cannot imagine what it is like to our imagination.As we do not have experience of being a bat our imagination is therefore limited. It is within my capabilities to mimic a bat's behaviour, eat insects, hang upside down, imagine myself flying, but I cannot share the same experiences as a bat as only a bat knows what it is like to have these experiences. One of the main physicalist responses to Jackson's knowledge argument is to agree that Mary does learn something new when she leaves the black and white room. Physicalists say hat Mary has gained a new abil ity rather than a new fact.Remember that Mary possessed all physical information before she left the room. Another physicalist view is that Mary is experiencing a mental state that is a result of the physical impact on her brain when she sees colour. The mental state that happens to Mary is seen as a brain state and therefore deemed to be physical. She already has the knowledge how to see colour but not necessarily knowledge that. Knowledge that is knowing that Paris is the capital of France, whilst knowledge how is knowing how to play the piano.Mary knows how to recognise colour. There is also the matter of causal closure which relates to every physical event having a physical cause. For example, if you bang your toe, is a physical event, which activates the mental state of pain, and to make the decision to hold on to your toe is also a mental state, however it results in your holding your toe, which is a physical event. This physicalist argument is a strong one, but no matter whic h way we look at the mind-body problem no one can have your conscious experiences.There can be countless thought experiments but each subject will see or feel things differently. Philip Goff (2013) states: â€Å"Physicalism is a grand and ambitious project, but there is a thorn in its side: consciousness. The qualities each of us encounters in our conscious experience – the feeling of pain, the sensations of biting into a lemon, what it's like to see red – stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the physicalist's all-encompassing vision of the universe. Consciousness seems to be the one bit of left-over magic that refuses to be physicalised.And it's all the fault of the zombies†. Goff calls these zombies philosophical (or p-zombies) as they are not supposed to e the zombies that we see in films, it is a zombie that is used in philosophical thought experiments. If your zombie, was opened up, everything about its brain structure would be identical with yours. Th e thing that the zombie would lack is conscious experience. It might scream when it is stabbed with a knife, but it is because it is programmed to do so, its reactions will not coincide with feelings of pain of pleasure.Goff, talking about zombies summarises this point â€Å"However, your zombie twin has no inner experience: there is nothing that it's like to be your zombie twin. It's screaming and running away when stabbed isn't accompanied by a feeling of pain. Its smiles are not accompanied by any feeling of pleasure†. Goff puts forward an excellent argument to those who identify brain states with conscious states. He talks about what happens in the brain when you are in pain.If a brain surgeon was to open you up to see what is going on in your head if you had been stabbed with a knife they would see c-fibres firing, but they would not see that you are in pain and the c-fibres are firing, they could see what is happening physically but your conscious xperience of pain woul d not be visible. Goff (2013) explains: â€Å"to say that the feeling of pain is identical with c-fibres firing in your brain, is to say that pain – the thing you sees when she looks in your head after youVe had the knife stuck in you – are one and the same thing.It is to say that we don't have two things – pain and c-fibres firing – but one thing with two labels† Furthermore, if your zombie was opened up and a brain surgeon wanted to observe their brain activity after being stabbed by a knife, again they would observe the c-fibres firing, but there would be the absence of the onscious experience of pain. If you stab your zombie it will create a physical event, with a physical response but you cannot know what it is like to be your zombie, in the same way that your zombie cannot know what it is like to be you.Your zombie cannot be the same as you physically and consciously as you can only be one person. I do not believe that it is possible to compl etely resolve the mind-body problem. I am inclined to lean towards Jackson's point of view that we cannot perceive the colour red from Marys point of view. Not only can we not perceive things visually, if Mary ad been colour blind but gained knowledge how to perceive colours through touch or other senses, it would still be true to say that her experience would be a subjective one.

A Reflection On Learning Theories - 939 Words

When I first started going to college to become a teacher I thought I would just be able to learn the curriculum, write a lesson plan and teach the kids. Simple right? I figured that how to teach was just common sense. I know now I was so wrong. There is so much more that goes into being a teacher. We need to be reflective teachers who are curious about children and how they play, how they learn language, about their temperaments, about their families and home lives. We need to take time to study work samples and figure out what is significant, document children’s conversations and activities, read literature and continue to learn and to understand child development as all of this ties into learning theories. I believe now that through being a more reflective teacher it has shaped my teaching strategy based on three different learning theories I will reflect on. Behaviorism, constructivism, and cognitivism are relatively common theories used in classrooms as ways to approach student learning. Behaviorism focuses on observable behavior, such as being able to follow two step directions to complete a task. Characteristics of a classroom that uses behaviorism would be a reward system to inspire desired behaviors and decrease undesired behaviors. As I reflect on my classrooms that I go into we do use behaviorism theory. I think that this theory is used most for our students who struggle with behavioral delays. An example would be of a student who refuses to get hisShow MoreRelatedThe Reflection Of Learning Theory1900 Words   |  8 PagesReflections of Learning Theory Learning to Read As someone who struggled with reading, the process I went through in regards to my early reading instruction was frustrating and difficult. I was a public schools student from pre-school through second grade. 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