...Man is born freeBut everywhere he is in chain. - J. J. RousseauDiscuss the meaning and importance of freedom in the light of this quotation. | | Every animal including man is born free. All animals in their natural state, except man who is precluded by civilization to be in his natural state, are free. Some animals lose their freedom only because of man's needs and deeds. The world is 'open' and not 'closed' in its natural state; every animal - man is not exempted - desires novelty, spontaneity and genuine creativity, which are the hallmarks of freedom.Man, though born free like other animals, is in chain everywhere. This is because of the restrictions and restraints which he imposes on himself and which are imposed on him by others. For example, no one is expected to appear naked in public in the name of freedom. There are social norms to be followed. Different occasions demand different customs. Man, living in a society, has to follow certain customs, conventions and traditions in the interest of harmonious existence; he cannot take the stand that he is absolutely free and that he can do things in his own way.Man, in the process of his change from primitive tribalism to civilized existence, has chained himself more and more to rules and regulations. Unlike other living creatures, he is capable of thinking and is intelligent to devise ways and means of exploiting his fellowmen. This exploitation leads to his keeping them subdued and enslaved. Imperialism in the past and...
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...Every animal including man is born free. All animals in their natural state, except man who is precluded by civilization to be in his natural state, are free. Some animals lose their freedom only because of man's needs and deeds. The world is 'open' and not 'closed' in its natural state; every animal - man is not exempted - desires novelty, spontaneity and genuine creativity, which are the hallmarks of freedom. Man, though born free like other animals, is in chain everywhere. This is because of the restrictions and restraints which he imposes on himself and which are imposed on him by others. For example, no one is expected to appear naked in public in the name of freedom. There are social norms to be followed. Different occasions demand different customs. Man, living in a society, has to follow certain customs, conventions and traditions in the interest of harmonious existence; he cannot take the stand that he is absolutely free and that he can do things in his own way. Man, in the process of his change from primitive tribalism to civilized existence, has chained himself more and more to rules and regulations. Unlike other living creatures, he is capable of thinking and is intelligent to devise ways and means of exploiting his fellowmen. This exploitation leads to his keeping them subdued and enslaved. Imperialism in the past and neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism today have only been instruments of suppressing the aspirations for freedom of the exploited. A classic example...
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...For many years there were many slave narratives coming from slaves that were born into slavery and found their freedom either through emancipation or escaping. These narratives personified the harsh and cruel reality of slavery while also justifying their escape. Never was it know the true unbiased good and bad of slavery until 1853 with the publication of 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup a free born man of Saratoga, NY that was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and escaped to his freedom and how he viewed and survived slavery based on what he experienced as a slave and what he knew as a free man. Once Northrop regains his freedom he begins to travel and lecture about his time of bondage and writes this novel with the purpose of gaining the attention of people in the north more specifically white people in the north that have no true understanding of the south, the institution is slavery in the south, and the treatment of slaves in that area. Due to his appeal to those with little to no prior knowledge of the south and slavery in the south he has to write and speak in a way that everyone can understand. He must give explicit details of his life before slavery living as a free man in New York making wages by playing the Violin and doing other skilled work, and his life as a slave such as picking cotton and being a victim of whippings and abuse at the hands on an angry master. Northrup is also speaking to anti- slavery groups and abolitionists to prompt them to work more in their...
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...Jean-Paul Sartre claims that man is completely free. To understand what this statement means, this essay will look at Existentialist philosophy and evaluate the central concepts namely freedom, anguish, abandonment and despair. Through analysing Sartre’s lecture entitled ‘Existentialism and Humanism’ and his book, ‘Being and Nothingness’ this essay will explain what he meant by this statement and will argue that while man is free to a certain extent, he is not completely free. Sartre delivered his lecture in a time of guarded optimism and unrest. The truth about the Nazi power and Auschwitz had just become known and the first atomic bomb had been dropped. People were becoming aware of how evil others could be and were looking for answers. There was a need to re-examine life as they knew it and Sartre, through Existentialism, offered a new approach to life. While Sartre himself later repudiated parts of his lecture it still remains his most widely read writing. (Philosophynow.org, 2016) Sartre used the word, ‘freedom’ which would have appealed to the people of that epoch having just been freed from Nazi occupation, however he says man is condemned to be free as he believed freedom came with great responsibility. The main reason for Sartre’s lecture was to defend Existentialism against its critics who thought it would lead to ‘quietism of despair’. They thought it was contemplative and would discourage people from taking action. Due to the words he used, namely anguish, abandonment...
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...Should Homosexuals be allowed to Marry? Kelsey Laird PHI 103: Informal Logic Prof. Gloria Zungia y Postigo July 16, 2013 Marriages are said to be a legally recognized relationship, established by civil or religious ceremonies, between two people who vow to love one another till death do them part. Usually, marriages take place between a man and a woman, in love. However, the world is changing and more people are coming out to be homosexuals, who cannot make this legal vow to love their partner till death do them part. The United States is called the land of the free for many reasons, but if it is supposed to be free then it should be free for everyone, not just selected people. This argumentative paper will discuss both sides of homosexual marriage and reasons on why it should be legal and why it should not be legal. Every person born in the United States is born with civil rights which may include: race, religion, and sex. Having the option to marry the person you love is a right given to you at birth. Homosexuals, however, are being discriminated against due to their relationships with people of the same sex. Ferguson (2007) quotes “So, one common argument for gay marriage is that government denial of the legal right to gay marriage deprives gays and lesbians of access to the social sanction and status that marriage confers, and hence to full adulthood, rights to familial or joint property and inheritance rights, and full citizenship” (p. 40). To summarize...
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...Determinism and Free Will: To What Extent Are Humans Free? Recently, the issue of free will is much concerned to a point where a wide discussion has been sparked. Free will, on any layer, has been considered as the ability of agents to make choices unimpeded by certain factors. It is obvious that humans have a strong sense of freedom, which leads people to believe that they have free will (Caruso 8). On the other hand, there is a scientific view assumes that physical world can be predicted by physical law including human consciousness, which is also known as determinism. Following those debates there comes a moral dilemma: How are we to assign responsibility for our actions if they are caused totally by external environment and passed events (Baer 128)? The underlying problem is, do humans actually have free will? If so, to what extent are humans able to control themselves? The fundamental controversy of free will and determinism, which represents the question of whether freedom of human mind exists, has been debated by numerous scientists and philosophers. This essay will firstly have a brief review on the arguments and viewpoints of free will and determinism of several philosophers, including Blatchford, Hospers and Taylor. Following this, it will compare those assumptions to each other. Finally, the essay will give the author’s own thoughts and debates on this issue. 1. Blatchford’s Arguments Against Free Will Blatchford claims that human will is not free, and is something...
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...Bruce Springsteen “Born in the U.S.A” album cover Bruce Springsteen album "Born in the USA" is written in a heartland rock style and it is not only an entertaining music but has social purpose. Songs are touching and defending a rural and blue- collar values. In the 70's and 80's, Bruce Springsteen’s music spoke to the masses, but it was particularly targeted to the working class; If the American Dream could be reached by working hard and watching all of your dreams comes true, Springsteen showed that, people who spend their lives in the pursuit of happiness, but never quite get there. The cover of the album “born in the U.S.A” - a close-up of a rear Springsteen in front of an American flag, became one of the most recognizable images in American popular culture and it represents the everyday American. Exploring the image and its meanings, we can see the connection of the two main images: flag and body, which relates to the concept of masculinity, patriotism. The cover of the album captures what this album is about. If the title didn't already reveal it, this is an album about an American man. The color scheme is red, white and blue. The background features the stripes of the American flag. In the foreground is Bruce in the all-American uniform: blue jeans, a white tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a worn-down red baseball cap hanging out of his back pocket. The image on the cover of the album represents a working American man from any place. The flag on the background...
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...reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a contradiction as any artist of his time, as is evident in his poetry, drama, and criticism. But the prevailing of his contradictions involves two major themes in his poetry: history and faith. He was, in his life, a self-described "Anglo-Catholic," but was raised a Midwestern Unitarian in St. Louis. Eliot biographer Peter Ackroyd describes the relThomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete...
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...13th Amendment stated by the federal government that blacks were guaranteed the right of citizenship, overruling the Dred Scott case. The 13th Amendment help abolish slavery in the United Sates, including involuntary servitude. Before the 13th amendment, slaves were sold, mistreated, abused discriminated etc. With the new law passed, they were sought to be as equal as the white man. This Amendment expanded the idea of the Emancipation Proclamation throughout the nation to prevent and illegalize slavery. Martin Thayer spoke for his fellow antislavery advocates when he asserted, “We have wiped away the black spot from our bright shield and surely God will bless us for it.” Every person was equal before the law so no person can hold another person as a slave because each person is at the same level as the other person. No one is higher or lower. Since the 13th was approved by the House and Senate, when people heard the previous quote from Martin, the House broke out in cheers; the Blacks in the audience were moved by the reaction of the whites surrounding them. The 14th Amendment states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny...
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...right To Claim That Man Is Completely Free Although Soren Kierkegaard is known as the godfather of existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre was a French philosopher who popularised it. This essay will look at his claim that man is completely free and try to draw a conclusion on whether he was right, wrong or maybe even a middle ground to this assertion. To understand his claim that man is completely free, it will be necessary to look at what existentialism is and what it says about the notion of freedom. According to Sartre we are condemned to be free because we are ontological beings (Sartre, 1973 p.29-30) Sartre described humans as a being-for-itself because they have an awareness of themselves, their existence and are able to change by manipulating different factors and making decisions that suit them. He then went on to describe innate objects as a being-in-itself meaning they have no consciousness, and cannot change; they cannot manipulate the environment for better or worse (Bochensky, 1974, p.175) Sartre stated that existence precedes essence. By this he meant that we exist first and only after that occurs do we start making sense of the world and ourselves. This view is an atheistic approach to existentialism because he believed that God does not exist, but Christian existentialists like Kierkegaard and Heidegger would disagree with this approach. According to Sartre we are born tabular rasa and thrown into existence without our will. By arguing that we are born tabular rasa (blank...
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...Calvinism and Arminianism The purpose of this paper is to compare two theological positions, namely Calvinism and Arminianism. These are two positions on either side of the extreme concerning free will and predestination. There are those who believe that we have the free will to love and obey God or deny God, and there are those who believe that God, in his sovereignty, has predetermined who will be saved or who will not be saved and neither group is willing to budge. Both sides claim to have the support of Scripture, and both have specific verses that are twisted and manipulated to show support and reasoning. The problem is that both sides appear, on some levels at least, to be right. The question that can be answered from a comparison of these two views is this: What are the basic differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, as well as, their relation to theology, biblical evidence and worldviews? This research paper covers the five key points or articles of Calvinism and Arminianism, as well as, the history, view of God and biblical evidence or support for each position. History The history of Calvinism and Arminianism dates back to the 16th century, where a man named John Calvin was born in 1509. John Calvin was a son of a lawyer and born in Noyon, France where he developed a love for theology and literature. In 1523 he went to the University of Paris where he studied theology, yet in 1528 he went to Orleans and a year later Bourges to study law. With Calvin’s...
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...1791-1856 Thomas Jennings, born in 1791, was the first African American to be given a patent, on March 3, 1821. Thomas Jennings was awarded his patent for a dry cleaning process (U.S. patent 3306x). At the time, he was operating a dry cleaning business in New York City, and was heavily involved in abolitionist activities. The patent was for a dry-cleaning process called "dry scouring", and he used the initial money he earned from it to purchase freedom from slavery for his family. In 1831, Thomas Jennings became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia, PA. Thomas Jennings was a free man when he took out his patent, otherwise he might have had trouble obtaining the patent in his name. For instance, in 1857, a slave-owner named Oscar Stuart patented a "double cotton scraper" invented by his slave, Ned, arguing, "the master is the owner of the fruits of the labor of the slave both manual and intellectual". Initially, he U.S. patent office changed the patent laws in favor of Oscar Stuart, but in 1870, the U.S. government passed a patent law giving all American men, including African Americans, the rights to their inventions. Most slaves in the Southern states of the USA were denied education. The slave owners were afraid of slave rebellions occurring if slaves had access to texts based on enlightenment thinking, like Thomas Paine's "the Rights of Man". Even if African American inventors were free, like Jennings, they had severe...
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...revolutionary voices during the Atlantic Revolutions to show how they contributed to the political and social transformations in Europe and in the Americas and what their limitations were. The 18th and 19th centuries marked the beginning of dramatic social and political change. There were 3 main ideals have made the largest impact today. The first principle is the ideal of equality. It stemmed from Enlightenment thinking, but quickly grew to become believed by more than just the educated elite. One famous example of this is in the Declaration of Independence where it says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Another example is from The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The first point it makes is that, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights; social distinctions may be based only upon general usefulness.” The first part of the sentence says that men are considered equal in their rights as people but not necessarily equal in...
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...Aristotle, a man whose beliefs were that non-greek people were barbarians and that slavery was the key to our society. There was also an english philosopher go by the name of Thomas Hobbes, his beliefs about society was that every man was naturally equal. His belief of society are humans coming together and living in peace. John locke was also an english philosopher. He agured that everyone have rights, such as life, liberty, and property. His thoughts were that men were born free and naturally equal. Each of these philosophers have their own beliefs of natural law but in this case, laws will be laws. In the beginning of civilization, there was three important philosopher, each had a different perspective about the laws of nature. To each person they are right, but also wrong in some cases. Aristotle, who believe that society should have slavery, why? Because Aristotle say "rulers will be rulers and men shall be slaves" (Reading). To him it's natural, you naturally become slaves or you naturally become a ruler or master. Society can only do so much as slavery took over civilization. Mr. Thomas Hobbes, what would civilization do without him. His beliefs are straight forward, every man were born equally. He said that there is no natural law, as time comes for war, every man is for himself. A man will be your enemy, the only security that you would have is your own strength. No man will be your ally, you will have no friends and therefore no society. John Locke, the man that believe...
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...contract Government be formed by a contract that laid basis for social order and individual happiness Power must remain with ruled Humans are natualy equal, free, and capable through reason of defining the common good Humans are born without pre-existing qualities, natural state one of perfect freedom People have, by their nature of humans, the right to life, liberty & property Believed if a ruler is oppressive, people have right & obligation to rebel. Served justification for “Glorious Revolution 1688” & revolutions in American and France toward the end of the 18th century Believed in the notion of government as product of social contract between ruler & ruled. Idea has become dominantly of modern western, Eastern European & Asian political life Jean-Jacques Rousseau Believed humans may be good by nature but corrupted by society & institution, "God makes all things good, man meddles with them & they become evil" Safeguard individual liberty from a contract among yourself, "man is born free & everywhere he is in chains" General will done can direct the state according to the object for which it was instituted that is the common good. Whoever refused to obey the general will should be contained to do so by whole society; that is all humans should be forced to be free As nature gives each man absolute power over all members the social contract give the body politic absolute power over all members also --- Might have contributed to newly developed...
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