...years, would have helped me with the development of this paper. At first, I thought this essay would be the hardest thing that I would have to do within my college career. However, as I’m coming close to the end of my college career I realized I was wrong. Nonetheless, looking at my freshman essay now, I do see how I’ve grown within these past for years. Within my freshman year, I realized didn’t take the time to actually analyze my topic to where I could have understand it more. Therefore, it didn’t come out the way that I’ve envisioned it to be. The topic of evil is a widespread and extensive topic. If I was to approach this topic now, I would have done more extensive research on the nature of evil. This would have made me more knowledgeable about the topic at hand and helped me determine how to start this paper. In addition, before beginning this essay, I should have created an outline to help guide me throughout my paper. The outline would have given me the opportunity go through the research that I’ve gathered and helped to be more critical on how I wanted to present evil and it’s different levels. Doing this would have help me to develop this essay within a more critical and organize matter. While reading my freshman essay, I find myself coming up with more ideas of how I could have develop my point of view of the branches of evil, hence making an stronger argument. For example, I should have went into more deal of the ways evil is view within religion and our society....
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...In 1964, the United States of America became involved in the Vietnam war in order to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. In If I Die In A Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, author, Tim O’Brien writes his experiences within the Vietnam war and his aspects of it. If If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, author Tim O'Brien describes the events of the Vietnam War as evil and unfair through depictions of his morals, how the war was inhumane and the soldier's experiences in throughout war. Author O’Brien lays out his beliefs on the war as wrong and evil describing it as the result in people dying. O’Brien was drafted into becoming a soldier by the US military. He also saw the was as unfair because of the way...
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...March 11, 2016 Guilty Until Purged God and evil, they both lie within us all. The duality of man is a major topic that has been discussed for centuries. Throughout the story of “The Strange Case Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Stevenson presents his idea of the duality of man- where we all have a demonic side within us. Evil is held within waiting to surface, but we ignore our impulses, we act as if it does not exist. Stevenson presents this idea by using two characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who are essentially the same person. One of these characters, Dr. Jekyll, symbolizes the good side of man, and the other, Mr. Hyde, signifies the purest of evil. Conscience, the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's motives, it’s what refrains us from fulfilling all of our impulses.Without a conscience, all hell would break loose and everyone would abandon the moral laws of life. The theme of good and evil is a topic that is talked about in length in books, movies, stories, and in real life. Good vs. evil is referred to in “The Bible" many times. “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:17-19). This quote from “The Bible” relates to the idea of the duality of man laced within “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. This quote talks about how the evil within himself overpowers the good. In the beginning...
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...It is destined for me to become king. However, if I take matters into my own hands rather than just letting events play out as they will), and that disrupts fate's system. it was fated that I would kill Duncan and that's what the witches were predicting when they said I’ll become king. Who on earth dislikes power, pelf and fame. Seeds of these aspirations enters into our physic and grow bigger and bigger. When it the ripe time, we all act for fruit. There, inside of me existed the seeds of aspirations embedded in my heart. As soon as the witches predicted (my long-life-desires) those grew up and finally longed intensely for fruit. I couldn’t but work it out my way. If I had left it to natural circumstances I am a man accused of being an ambitious man, one who plotted to murder his own cousin, so that he could lay claim to the title of the crown. I didn’t deny I murdered the deceased. This fact is not disputed. I wasn’t of sound mind when I committed this act. In fact, I was the victim in this...
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...their own death. Another big influence on people (quite similar to religion) is superstition. Witches especially where a big superstition during the Shakespearian period, they were seen as evil an unholy. Whether or not it was Shakespeare’s intension while writing the play, he created controversy within the audience by integrating scenes that go against religion and the foundation of society- like when Macbeth confronted the witches and partook in an unholy ritual for his personal gain. In Shakespearian times, women were seen as the fairer sex and an accessory to men, which was why it was so unusual for the public audience when Shakespeare presented ‘Macbeth’. It portrays the only female character in the play as having power and influence which women back then where not supposed to have. Women should be powerless and gentle whereas Lady Macbeth is shown to be in control. Shakespeare’s characterization of lady Macbeth was genius because people did not know whether to sympathise or detest her. At some points in the play she was depicted as vulnerable which made you understand her situation and feel sorry for her and at others she was shown to be doing heinous things women back then should not have even thought about. Her carefully crafted character is shown throughout the play within her dialect. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” Her use...
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...fear of clowns because of their odd, creepy, and evil appearances. In the month of October 2008, that fear drastically evolved into a trauma; Once I watched the movie called, ‘IT’, by Stephen King. From that day forward I found myself screaming and crying at the top of my lungs every time I seen a clown. Imagining that they were evil killers just like the intimidating clown of the movie. The trauma was so intense that when there was a fund raiser event held at my elementary school , Browning Pearce , the clown Ronald McDonald was there to meet and greet every child , including me, and once it was my turn to actually see him I fainted and collapsed onto the floor . As I came to my senses, my mother, Brenda forced me to watch the movie, ‘IT', including a bunch of other clown cartoons. I had to watch them for a whole week nonstop, even before I did my homework or went to church. Watching almost 168 hours of clowns on television; I finally realized that my horror of clowns had vanished into thin air. The next day I told my mother that the anxiety was gone, so she told me to get in the car and she drove us to a local McDonalds where Ronald McDonald was at. She had me meet him again, but, this time I didn't faint; I actually thought he was a funny cool clown. In conclusion, I became indomitable of clowns and with the help of my mother disciplining me to face my trepidation of them; the word FEAR had ceased to exist anymore within me. | | | | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...fear of clowns because of their odd, creepy, and evil appearances. In the month of October 2008, that fear drastically evolved into a trauma; Once I watched the movie called, ‘IT’, by Stephen King. From that day forward I found myself screaming and crying at the top of my lungs every time I seen a clown. Imagining that they were evil killers just like the intimidating clown of the movie. The trauma was so intense that when there was a fund raiser event held at my elementary school , Browning Pearce , the clown Ronald McDonald was there to meet and greet every child , including me, and once it was my turn to actually see him I fainted and collapsed onto the floor . As I came to my senses, my mother, Brenda forced me to watch the movie, ‘IT', including a bunch of other clown cartoons. I had to watch them for a whole week nonstop, even before I did my homework or went to church. Watching almost 168 hours of clowns on television; I finally realized that my horror of clowns had vanished into thin air. The next day I told my mother that the anxiety was gone, so she told me to get in the car and she drove us to a local McDonalds where Ronald McDonald was at. She had me meet him again, but, this time I didn't faint; I actually thought he was a funny cool clown. In conclusion, I became indomitable of clowns and with the help of my mother disciplining me to face my trepidation of them; the word FEAR had ceased to exist anymore within me. | | | | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...Dale Murphy. I also remember one of the most popular and well known players as well, Babe Ruth. Turning away from baseball, I begin to look at things that are in groups of three. I begin to picture groups of people and animals such as, the three musketeers, the three stooges, three blind mice, and the always popular three monkeys of; see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. This lead me to the question of how do I defeat evil? There is so much evil in our world today, it makes me shutter of some of the sights I have laid my eyes on during my life. These thoughts take me directly to the Bible. The Word of God is the single best weapon against evil we can turn to! The most significance of the number three is all knowing, all seeing, and all doing. Yes, I am speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I cannot use these as my three modern estates, for they are in reality, one! This led me to my next question; what do the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do for us? Answer: they love us, they care for us, they forgive us, and they want us to be part of their family. Going through this process of questions and answers, gave me, what I believe, is the ultimate three modern estates: the Truly Saved; the Invisible Saved; and the Unsaved. The Truly Saved are those who comprehend what it means to accept the free gift of salvation through faith, and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior. They are the ones that have turned away from...
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...Imagine what the world would be like if evil always triumphed the good in everything, would humanity cease to exist? Evil within humanity and situations evoked by the character’s actions is reiterated in King Lear through nature. Within each character in the play there is both good and evil, how much of it depends on the character. Shakespeare uses this aspect to foreshadow the tragic events forthcoming. In King Lear by William Shakespeare one of the predominant themes used throughout the play is evil over throwing good in extreme situations. Nature is used throughout the play to describe whether characters are good or malevolent. When it comes to the characters, if they are good hearted, they are described as gullible or clueless (“The Theme...
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...teachings itself within the Hebrew scriptures. Not only that, the Midrash points out and clarifies many things that you may have thought about or that the scriptures itself hint toward. In a huge way, the Midrash is almost a book of clarification for many. Its initial purpose was to help resolve problems and confusion with the biblical stories that goes beyond just what’s written on paper. It seems as though the Midrash has a significant meaning in the culture and the philosopher, R. Gamaliel, took part in writing an interesting and different take on the original text. The process of creating the Midrash was preformed with help from the rabbis. The commentary within the Midrash is basically all the interpretations the people came across and then the rabbis “filled in the gaps” through the assistance of the Torah. This books overall goal is to aid and provide us with answers to many questions we may have come across when reading the Hebrew scriptures. It has been said by many that the Torah does provide the Jewish culture with laws and rules however they are very broad. One of the Midrash’s purposes is to go into further detail on the rules and provide us with further clarification. After reading the Midrash Rabbah on the book of Genesis it really provided me with a sense of how the Midrash portrays a function for the culture. When reading section nine, it gave me a sense of ironies present in the Midrash how they kept stating things such as “I make peace, and create evil” or “I form...
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...most of the movie, and the actions seem to sync with the music dramatically. This gang was used to routine. Their routine was to go to the milk bar and scope out who they plan to assault next. They would go door to door begging for help as if one of them got hurt, and then force their entry. A writer and his wife were the first victim of the gang and were completely helpless to Alex’s mastermind. They raped his wife as the husband was forced to watch helplessly. They were able to get away on were just looking forward to the next occurrence. The woman of their next plot was a lot cleverer and did not fall for the boy’s begging at the door act. She implied that she was not comfortable letting a stranger in, but the determination of evil that ran in the boy’s mind did not let them give up. Alex simply broke into the home and got into a fight with the woman when she tried to resist. This brawl led to Alex murdering the woman. The other three members of the gang were quick to desert Alex as if he had no meaning. They left him for the police to find him when they arrived at the house and arrested him. Alex switched roles from being a dominant tyrant to becoming a helpless victim of a brutal interrogation. Eventually, Alex was convicted for the murder of the young woman, and was...
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...In Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God , Marilyn McCord Adams uses another kind of defense for theism. In this reading Adams argues that the problem of evil has been directed at theism in general, which in this case has caused readers on either side of the debate to miss how important and how unique Christianity is to the problem of horrendous evils on this view. She argues that Christianity has a variety of unique tools that can meet the problem of evil more effectively when not abstracted into simply classical theism. Adams’ account has the kind of honest, penetrating discussion of real evil in our world about which philosophy would do well to take notice. The little child kidnapped and murdered; the innocent family killed by the drunk driver; the millions murdered by Hitler; these examples all demand answers for the individual occurrences of evil, according to Adams Specifically, she writes that At a minimum, God’s goodness to human individuals would require that God guarantee each a life that was a great good to him/her on the whole… God would have to… [give each person's life value]… by giving it positive meaning through… great enough good within the context of his/her life” (31, emphasis hers). This stunning claim will likely make the theistic philosopher rock back on his/her heels for a moment. Surely, we cannot be called to account for every individual evil! Adams believes that the Christian theist can indeed do so, not by taking the unconvincing route of arguing...
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...Can we be born evil or is it something developed by the environment around us? Researchers have conducted experiments on this very question, and more often than not, have found surprising results each time. Each of those times though, a common consensus being that we all have the capacity to commit the unimaginable, but it takes a certain environment and people to bring it out in us. While some interpret that those who are evil are born that way, evil is something that is developed over time by their individual environment and the people within it. It’s entirely possible to be born with traits that give us the potential to be evil. In William Harms article “Psychopaths are not Neurally Equipped to have Concern for Others” he reports a study done by University of Chicago that took 80 prisoners between ages 18 and 50 and tested for levels of psychopathy using standard measures. The results showed: The participants in the high psychopathy group exhibited significantly less activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and periaqueductal gray parts of the brain, but more activity in the striatum and the insula when compared to control participants. This latter region is important for monitoring ongoing behavior, estimating consequences and incorporating emotional learning into moral decision-making, and plays a fundamental role in empathic concern and valuing the well-being of others(Harms, 2013). The study showed that the parts of...
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...In this paper, I will argue in support of Wykstra’s criticism of the Evidential Problem of Evil’s (EPE) claim that ‘probably, there exist pointless evils’. I will contest the arguments against Wykstra’s criticism and give alternative examples. Wykstra’s Argument Wykstra asserts that man’s cognitive limitations cannot be compared with the omnipotent and omniscient nature of God, and it is unsurprising that the evil in the world is inscrutable to us. To illustrate, he utilizes the good parent analogy. We view the relationship between God, a perfectly loving being, and humans as analogous to that of good parents and their children. Loving parents permit the administering of a painful injection for vaccinations to their young child. The child cannot comprehend this suffering, but this does not allow the claim that the medicine (evil) is pointless, nor does it undermine the love of the parents (God). Criticism of Wykstra Wykstra’s response is deemed inadequate as some argue: A) God should comfort humans, just as you would expect loving parents to comfort their child. B) A perfectly good being would reveal his reasons to you for allowing this suffering, just as a parent would to their child. In response to A, we ask the question: Why does a parent comfort their baby? Not because the baby will understand, but partially because they are helpless to do anything else. These acts can be seen as more a form of ‘self comfort’ for a parent. Subsequently, self-comforting acts are not...
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...The concept of religion itself is extremely complex and has been in existence for ages. Religion has been used as a mode of connection with a higher order being in order to have bliss in life and afterlife. There are different perspectives by many philosophers who argue about the controversial topic- existence of God. Some philosophers believe that due to the existence of evil and suffering in our world, it poses a serious challenge to the belief in the existence of a perfect God. In this paper however I am not concerned with the question whether God exists or not but I rather will be discussing the Western concepts of God as well as the Eastern one, followed by the dual existence of a higher being and evil. I will also emphasize on Immanuel Kant's perspectives on religion and radical evil as his views intrigued me the most among all the other philosophers, mentioning my own belief on religion and God. Western thought about God has fallen within some broad form of theism. Theism is the view that states there is a God, which is the creator and one who sustains the universe and is unlimited with regard to knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), extension (omnipresence), and moral perfection. Western philosophy has interfaced most widely with Christianity, Judaism and Islam has also had some influence. The orthodox forms of all these three religions have embraced theism, though each religion has also yielded a wide array of other views. The western concept of God reveals...
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