...Assess the impact of cotemporary ideas of the present state of religion in the world. Clearly, the diversity of religions in the world has been a fact throughout the entire history of all the world's major living religious traditions. Nevertheless, this diversity has been made the basis for contention rather than community in many cases, and the monotheistic religions have often been among the worst offenders on this score. The strong tendency to display hostility toward different religious positions is connected with a strong tendency toward xenophobia and ethnocentrism. The study of religion in the modern world calls for theories, approaches and methods that engage with the issues and processes that have affected the world within the last two hundred years, such as the impact of colonialism and subsequent postcolonial developments, globalization and the rise of global religious movements. For a start, it is worth asking if secular states and their underlying ideology, political secularism, are really under siege everywhere. Secularism was severely jolted with the establishment of the first modern theocracy in 1979 in Iran. By the late 1980s, Islamic political movements had emerged in Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, Senegal, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even in Bangladesh. Movements challenging secular states were hardly restricted to Muslim societies. Protestant movements decrying secularism emerged in Kenya, Guatemala, and the Philippines...
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... greenbacks. There are actually four Englishspeaking countries with dollars of their own; the others are the Canadian loonie and the New Zealand kiwi. And you can learn a lot about the global economy, busting some popular monetary myths, by comparing those currencies and how they serve their economies. All four dollar nations are, if you take the long view, highly successful economies. True, America is still recovering from its worst slump since the Great Depression, Canada is being hit hard by plunging oil prices and Australia is feeling nervous as its markets in China wobble. But we’re all wealthy nations that have weathered economic storms better than most of the rest of the world. While the dollar nations have all done well, however, they occupy very different positions in the world economy. In part, I mean that quite literally: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/opinion/paulkrugmanotherpeoplesdollarsandtheirplaceinglobaleconomics.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fpa… 1/4 9/8/2015 Other People’s Dollars, and Their Place in Global Economics The New York Times Australia and New Zealand are a long way from everyplace, while Canada, most of whose people live near its southern border, is effectively closer to the United States than it is to itself. And the U.S. is, of course, an economic giant around whose gravity smaller economies revolve. These differences in geographic...
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...of certain characters, places, and objects. Plato’s Theory of Ideas and the Myth of the Cave Plato believed that there were two worlds that existed, the world of the senses and the world of ideas. The sensory world was the physical matter, which was always changing and does not last forever, perceived through our senses. The world of ideas is eternal, and consists of patterns which the sensory world was made from. Plato said that we cannot get true knowledge from the sensory world, because it was always changing, and true knowledge lay in the world of ideas, where we perceived through reason, and not our senses. He said that the human being had an eternal soul that existed in the world of ideas before it inhabited the physical body. When the soul sees the imperfect sensory world, it gives the soul a faint recollection of the idea world, and it longs to return and see that idea world again. The Myth of the Cave is another way Plato explained this. He said that a group of humans are in a cave facing the back wall of the cave, and behind them is a high wall blocking the outside of the cave. Some other human-like creatures hold up some figures, above the wall, and all these humans can see are the shadows on the wall. They have been tied up in this position for their whole life. Plato said that the darkness of the cave represents the sensory world, while the world outside is the world of ideas. These ideas are represented in The Matrix. Everyone grown in the fields by the...
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...Greek world and the entire history of Western Philosophy. Plato wrote about many ideas in philosophy that are still talked about today. His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. He was fascinated of the distinction between ideal forms and everyday experience. Plato was a student of Socrates and he thougth that Socrates has a pretty good ideas about the world, particulary when he came to his method of asking questions about established ideas. Since we know that Socrates wrote nothing down everything that we know about him comes in the form of dialogues written by Plato. Plato thinks that there is an explanaition for questions and he can answer "what is virtue ?" or "what is justice ?". Plato comes up with idea of answering these questions, with the Theory of Forms - the most imporant philosophical concept. Plato used his Theory of Forms to link the mind and reality. He taught that the real world consisted of universal ideas (forms). The world that people actually see is given form by these ideas and is thus less real because it is always changing, but the forms are eternal and unchangeable. Plato’s Theory of Forms states, that the physical world is not really the ‘real’ world, instead, ultimate reality exists beyond our physical world. Plato is being realist about universals. He doesn't just believe that there is an idea for example...
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...Berkeley: to exist is to perceive or to be perceived 'To exist is either to perceive or to be perceived.' - How would you explain Bishop Berkeley's idealism to someone who knew nothing about philosophy? This is a good essay. Many students are very puzzled by Berkeley's claim that his theory is intended as a 'defence against scepticism'. I don't know what a 'real' tree is, because I have never met one, and never will. All I know is my perception of this tree and other trees like it. - This seems an open invitation to the most extreme scepticism which denies that the objects of our perception exist. Berkeley's answer is that there is no 'real' tree, in the sense of some object or entity that exists apart from perception. All there is, is the possibility of my perceiving the tree, of enjoying my tree-perception, vouchsafed by God's unwavering attention to all the objects of his creation, which exist as nothing more than perceptions in God's mind. This response differs from another possible anti-sceptical response which avoids the God-hypothesis altogether. Why not say that the 'possibility of my perceiving the tree' is just that and no more? There is a hypothetical statement - or list of hypothetical statements - whose truth is equivalent to the 'existence of the tree'. You know what a 'statement' is, and what 'truth' means. You know what it is for a statement to be hypothetical ('if A then B'). Why not stick with that? The clear advantage of this theory - also...
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...knowledge: Rationalism and Empiricism. Rationalists like Leibniz claimed that knowledge is innate, that is, we are born with all the knowledge and the experiences that we have in this world just help us in uncovering/ remembering this knowledge. Empiricist believed that all knowledge is got only through experience in other words we are born with our minds/souls like a clean slate and the experiences write on them. With this struggle between the two schools of thought enlightenment Europe was striving to find ways to arrive at a consensus about some of these aforementioned central issues of theory of knowledge. And the champion of a philosopher who accomplished with task was Immanuel Kant. Kant borrowed many concepts from both empiricism and rationalism. But he felt that the many of the rationalist ideas were too simplistic and dogmatic and some of the empiricist ideas we too skeptic about the ability of humans to acquire true knowledge. As a part of his critical philosophy, with an aim to resolve this problem of theory of knowledge he wrote 3 critiques: Critique of pure reason, Critique of practical reason and Critique of judgment. Critique of Pure Reason talks about the process of knowledge acquisition in natural sciences, the way in which the structures of our mind influences what we understand about the world and the limitations of our understanding. In Critique of Practical Reason, he addresses the issues of moral judgment and preconditions of our minds to arrive at such judgments...
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...Savannah Morris Faris Honors English IV 09 January 2015 A Maggot-Less World A Utopia is an imaginative place that is beautiful in every aspect and is the author’s perspective of a “perfect society”. Aldous Huxley creates this Utopia in his novel, “Island”. He creates a perfect society with limited technology and a union of all people to work together. Huxley creates this Utopia during a time period of corruption and new discoveries. As the nation enters the literary time period of “the beat period”, Huxley's unconscious idea of a Utopian society is displayed uncensored in “Island” as opposed to “Brave New World” and he provides his personal solution to the world’s problems. In “Island” by Aldous Huxley the main character, Will Farnaby,...
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...mind-independent, external world” basically suggests 1) that the world and other material objects around us – e.g. tables, animals, other people – can exist independent of our perception and 2) that we can actually obtain knowledge about their existence. In this paper, I will criticize this claim by showing that, even if there exist an external world regardless of our perceptions, we can never “know” if they are actually part of our reality by just thinking about it. As a basis for discussion, I will classify the concept of understanding into three levels: believing, knowing, and having certainty about something. To believe is to accept an idea in our mind that could be innate, adventitious and self-produced. To know is to make judgement on what we believe based on experience, while to have certainty is to know without a doubt that an idea or knowledge is a definite truth. At the end of his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes comes up with a conclusion that an external world does indeed exist regardless of his perception. He begins his meditations by doubting everything he sense and experience, supposing that everything he knows about the external world is just a dream. In this state of absolute doubt, he withdraws the mind from the sense and tries to perceive the nature of reality through a purely intellectual perspective. The first thing Descartes realizes he can be certain of is his own existence for he would have to exist to be able to think and have ideas about many things...
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...Reason and Experience DAA March 09 I. Mind as Tabula Rasa The Specification: - The strengths and weaknesses of the view that all ideas are derived from sense experience - The strengths and weaknesses of the view that claims about what exists must ultimately be grounded in and justified by sense experience. This is an analysis of the "empiricist" view: both Hume and Locke are empiricists as they argue that all knowledge depends on experience. Note that the first item asks us to evaluate empiricism as an explanation of the origin of ideas, and the second asks us to evaluate the claim that knowledge must be justified with reference to experience. Locke on the origin of Ideas AO1 Position and its implications: The mind is a tabula rasa or "blank slate" at birth, empty of all ideas and knowledge; it is gradually filled through experience AO1 Detail, Illustration: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1 Locke's definition of "idea" = "the object of thinking" He gives examples: "such as are those expressed by the words whiteness, hardness, sweetness, thinking, motion, man, elephant, army, drunkenness, and others" We might say concepts rather than ideas, the basic mental building blocks of propositions or declarative sentences Ideas are acquired through two processes, sensation or reflection; each is a type of perception, the first of external objects, the second an inward perception of mental processes. Sensation ...
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...Ghadere Salah PHI-101-013 Rationalism VS Empiricism They say : Hume says knowledge comes from the way one’s mind perceived the physical world. 1.Hume claimed that people perceive the world in two ways – through impressions which are one’s senses and through ideas which are one’s thoughts. 2.Hume claimed that there was no such thing as an innate idea, which is an idea present in the human mind that was not created through some sort of experience. 3.Hume asserted that nothing remains the same, but that one’s mind perceives what is similar as being the same if change occurs gradually rather than abruptly. We say/I say: Descartes says knowledge lies in the mind not the senses. 1.Descartes claims that the way we perceive things comes from thinking. 2.Descartes claimed that we often sense things that don’t physically exist in the external world. 3.Descartes claimed if any component of something was in the very least questionable, then any conclusion drawn from it would be at the most questionable. 4.Descartes reasoned that our senses often misinterpret the physical world. 5.Descartes claimed while it’s possible to not sense things, it’s impossible not to think. Conclusion: Descartes wrote, “I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it alone cannot be separated from me”. While it’s possible to not sense things, it’s impossible not to think. Descartes claims that he is just “a thing which thinks”. His proof is that he can question his own existence...
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...WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM NOSTA TANYIDAH GS1145 LAB 3.1 INTRODUCTION English coffee houses were crucial and essential to the spread of Enlightenment around 1650 and according to (Steven Johnson ) from the video coffee houses like “Grand Café” were at the center of where some great ideas came from. Before those years Drinking water was not safe to drink and most of the population was drunk all day from consumption of too much alcohol. Alcohol was the beverage of choice (Steven Johnson) as they drank beer in the morning, Wine for lunch and beer and wine to end their day. But with the transition to coffee and tea that is from a depressant to a stimulant, great ideas sprung up leading to the age of Enlightenment and thus and era of great awareness and creativity in and around Europe and the world. Coffee houses were like an architecture of space were ideas could have sex according to (Steven Johnson) from the video leading to space for creative thinking. There has however been drastic change ever since those years on till today Summary of Key Findings With the evolution of Coffee houses and subsequent involvement of people who would later develop great ideas to accompany their findings, ideas would later became innovations. To follow up with their findings scientist would later be sent around to science labs during weekly lab meetings, conference tables and coffee shops to really find out how ideas are develop to gain a sense of were great ideas really come. And...
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...changing social world. In today's continually more connected and virtual world, it seems that design and design culture as a whole has become more about providing a potential idea or thought about how to solve social problems and issues, while not taking the time to think about how it might be implemented. There are now two extremely different routes people take, hypothetical design for our social world, and then design that may or may not apply to the social world. While each has merits, hypothetical design is being embraced in a fuller sense because of the lack of research it openly requires and its ability to produce hot off the cuff ideas that can be thrown in the trash and never implemented. A major stem in this issue is design education, or lack thereof. As stated by Donald Norman in his "Why Education Must Change" paper, "The uninformed are teaching the uninformed" leading to a great cycle of biased, useless social design that doesn't actually lend a hand to the many problems facing this world. Being able to design is one thing, but implementation of a scientific method and research into design brings your ability to target specific demographics and problems to an entire new frontier. It is important to teach the incorporation of science and method with design, along with research so that problems people face or the improvements we want to make are properly addressed and analyzed, meaning that the solutions will become more viable, and the design world as a whole will...
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...Karl Marx is a German philosopher who famously wrote the communist manifesto and was a very influential thinker in the nineteenth century. His ideas on capitalism lead him to the solution of socialism as a natural result and believed that capitalism would eventually break down. Plato is a philosopher from Greece that lived from 423 BC to 348 BC and was a extremely important figure in the development of philosophy. His theory of the forms and allegory of the cave are well known and respected metaphysical ideas of Plato. These metaphysical ideas however highly contrast Karl Marx's ideas on what is real. Karl Marx's metaphysics are that the universe is all there is and all there ever will be. Which is a materialistic view and states that there...
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...behind the science ... 10 unlikely ideas that changed the world - New Scientist www.newscientist.com/.../zeros-to-heroes-10-unlikely-ideas-that-change... Zeros to heroes: 10 unlikely ideas that changed the world ... these 10 ideas serve as a timely reminder of the value of pure science not only in terms of satisfying ... Great Scientific Ideas That Changed the World - The Great Courses www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1120 In this course you will explore ideas that—when society has been willing to pursue them—have helped form the foundation of modern life. You'll discover there ... 10 Inventions That Changed the World | Stuff of Genius www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/.../blog/.../10-inventions-changed-world/ Jun 24, 2013 - 10 inventions that changed the world are explained in this article from HowStuffWorks. ... Who Judges Genius in Google's 2013 Science Fair? Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself ... www.amazon.com › ... › Science & Mathematics Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science (2nd Edition with Update on Results) [Rupert Sheldrake] on ... 5 Scientific Advances That Should Have Changed Everything ... www.cracked.com › History Nov 17, 2011 - You don't need anesthetic." How It Could Have Changed the World: How does medical science decades ahead of where we are now sound? Meet the scientific accident that could change the world - Io9 io9.com/.../meet-the-scientific-accident-that-could-change-the-world ...
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...Socrates and Plato lived at different times but in the same ancient Greece. Their ideas were different though one drew inspiration one another. But both ideas can be close for today’s man. Socrates was born around 469 BC in Athens and died around 399 BC. He was one of the most important Greek philosophers and for sure the ugliest - he had an ugly face. Socrates was born rather in non affluent family. Before he started philosophising he was a soldier in Greek army. Re to his philosophy: he didn’t create his own school (he taught on the streets), as well he didn’t written down any of his work (the main source is Plato who wrote down most of Socrates works). To make matters worse he was condemned to death because of your set of beliefs. Plato...
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