...black canvas with hints of white, or light. Motherwell displays this ‘cave’ in which men were born and raised, only knowing shadows and darkness. This was their reality. They believed this was life, and that it was all the world was about. Until one man was freed from the cave, and saw that it was all a lie. That it was nothing but an illusion. I believe this is what Motherwell is trying to portray in his painting. He is hinting at how our world that we live in is an illusion, just like the shadows on the walls were to the men of the cave. I think he is trying to show that everything we believe about the world is a lie. One thing that I do know is that we are all comfortable of what we know, we like it that way and some of us wouldn’t want to know if this was in illusion. The men in the cave were like this. They didn’t listen to the free man, they were actually mad at the guy who brought him out of the cave. If I was told that my life was an illusion, I’d definitely be intrigued, but I wouldn’t want to know more into it. This is because I am happy and I’ve grown up believing that this is my world, so even if it is all an illusion, it’s my illusion. When the ‘prisoner’ being held behind these cave walls saw the real world for the first time he saw color and at the same time he could touch trees, flowers, and people, and thus, must have felt he had been given a new life. In Plato’s Cave V leaves me with a feeling that it is possible but improbable to change the way we think...
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...In those moments a bright sunny day or even a free moment seems empty to you. Everything that we feel in those moments seems sad to us, all those questions and feeling comes in front of your eyes. All those memories and attachments, in fact, we suffer because we miss those good moments. We try to compare those moments with our present, but no matter what we do, we knew that we would never be able to bring those...
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...Are Choices an Illusion? Section 1 Do I believe that the choices we make are just mere illusions? That we do not really have our own free will in making decisions? Yes, I believe this to be true. Section 2 However, some believe that we do have free will. Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychologist states that we do have free will, and he says: If culture is so successful, why don’t other species use it? They can’t—because they lack the psychological innate capabilities it requires. Our ancestors evolved the ability to act in the ways necessary for culture to succeed. Free will likely will be found right there—it’s what enables humans to control their actions in precisely the ways required to build and operate complex social systems. (Baumeister). What Baumeister is saying is that based on how our ancestor has developed a sense of communication is an act of free will. They have free will because they chose how they want to develop and how it will help them evolve. Baumesiter also states how our self-control "counts as a kind of freedom because it beings with not acting on every impulse," meaning that because of our free will, we don't always act straight away when we see something. We think about it first before we trigger a response. Such as thinking about what we say before we say it, we just don't say the first thing that comes to our mind without thinking about it. Steve Zara, a writer in the Richard Dawkins discussion section of the websites states that ...
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...A2 Ethics “Freewill is an illusion” Hard determinist John Locke believed “freedom is an illusion” as we appear to have moral choices, but we only think we choose freely because we do not know the causes that lie behind our choices. Free will and the importance of this suggestion are highly negotiated throughout history. Many philosophers hold different views regarding this suggestion “freewill is an illusion” and many are questioned due to this. Locke maintained that all actions have prior causes and humans are not free to act, our acts are determined. Everything we do is caused by something we cannot control. He illustrates his point of view by describing a sleeping man in a locked room, awakening and deciding to remain where he is, not realising the door in the room is locked. The illustration suggests that the man believes that he has a choice but he has no choice at all in reality. Hard determinism can be seen as a pessimistic view as events that have changed history such as the holocaust are seen as predetermined events therefore no one can be held blameworthy as Hitler was determined by prior causes to do as he did. Hitler does not have diminished responsibility, as he didn’t have a mental illness but he may have been in an extreme emotional state, he should be blameworthy for what he did but hard determinists appear to think differently. Does Hitler have diminished responsibility? As it could be suggested...
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...Free will is not an illusion. Critically discuss. This essay defends the claim that free will is not an illusion. The first supportive argument for this claim by Aristotle is that we are all responsible for our actions (Aristotle & Taylor, C.C.W. 2006) and also we also responsible to the formation of our character. The second argument to support that free will is not an illusion, whether we like it or not we are free as stated by Sartre arguing that we are condemned to be free (Bernasconi 2007). Together with this view Augustine argue that there is a higher power but we are still free to make choices, those who are predestined to the heaven and those who are not. However this does mean we have free will but it’s a matter of clarification of how this relates to our free will. If determinism were to be right and that some of our decisions are predetermined it is true to say that our decisions are also based upon fate. In a certain aspect, by the person that we are, our gender, race, and religion and status and past experiences, we have been explained that these things do affect our decisions, and that we always have a minimum of two choices for everything we need to do. If someone at any point of time, anywhere was to make a choice that is truly free and voluntary then it can be proved that we have free will. Libertarianism argues that free will is an action involving true devised commands where human beings are free in their action as they are able reason without any physical...
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...Animal Farm is a novel that appears at first glance like a children's book metaphor to represent Russia, but it's much broader than that, it's the mistakes of all men with absolute power. Animal Farm is a historical novel that illustrates the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely and with corruption comes lack of equality among the people. George Orwell uses: metaphors, fables, satire, illusion, and characterization to convey the ideas that men make mistakes with too much power. Animal Farm, like a metaphor, conveys a deeper level of meaning beneath the children’s story about animals on a farm. One main point Orwell was trying to show his audience is too much power can corrupt any government. This can be viewed through the character Napoleon. As the story progresses, the pigs gradually obtain more power, which they used to take advantage of the less intelligent animals on the farm. When the animals were weeding the turnip field, "They worked diligently, hardly raising their faces from the ground, and not knowing whether to be more frightened of the pigs or of the human visitors" (Orwell, p.52). This shows how Orwell was trying to warn the audience that no matter what the person's intentions are, power can corrupt anyone. Animal Farm can also be a fable that is used to teach lessons on morality. One lesson can be that greed brings out the worst in everyone. For example, the pigs were driven by their own personal interests until they became just as bad as their enemies...
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...questions the human race has ever tried to answer was that of fate and free will. Do we have control on our life? We are so attached to it but does it really exist? Do we have the possibility to make our own choices or do we follow a predetermined path? I believe that the existence of free will mainly depends on many factors. First and foremost is how we define free will. I think it is the ability to choose any possible course of action without earlier determination by divine or physical forces. one of the major argument that can be made about this definition is the so called “Standard Argument Against Free Will” which considers determinism and randomness to be the only two logical alternatives. Divided in two parts, it states that if determinism is the case our will is not free, and if randomness is the case will is not under our control and therefore we cannot be held responsible for our actions. Thus it results fundamental in the debate to consider the belief in destiny, karma, God or every other creed that has a deterministic component in it, because free will appears totally incompatible with them. However my conjecture is that the other part of the argument, the one which concerns randomness, does not clash with it. I think that it is true that all events occur at a random moment in a random way but what makes the difference in our lives is how we react to these random events. Yet this definition of free will is still not complete. If we consider, for instance, Professor Libet’s...
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...Introduction to philosophy Borislav Tsankovski - 09046631 Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud (1912) The teachings of Sigmund Freud have had such a tremendous impact on contemporary culture, but the opinions regarding his doctrine are dualistic and vary from total reject to faithful followers. Between those two poles are some people who try to keep a critical distance and try to identify what is really important and significant in his ideas. Freud’s ideas have a profound effect on modern men’s self-esteem and identity, because the modern man gets angry and bitter when someone touches their identity. On the other hand Freud show’s us deep spiritual movements or “currents” inside ourselves. Freud created a doctrine that meets the most typical modern desire – the desire to build the new image of man. I believe that Totem and Taboo is exactly one of those works which can teach the reader a lot of things about his inner and outer self. And that from that entire information one can derive a blueprint on how to read and recognize the basic truths which were there when human kind made its first steps and will stay with us till the end. That one should really think upon in order to fill in the bits of lost puzzle in time, space and matter, so that one day we actually know who we are and why we are. Throughout his whole scientific work Freud supported the understanding that man evolved from his animal state, because of the cultural and social conditions that came along with...
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...1.From the research I have done the question that comes to mind dose freewill exist. Science has contributed to the free will problem in at least three ways. First, physics has addressed the question whether nature is deterministic, which is viewed as crucial by incompatibilists (compatibilists, however, view it as irrelevant). Second, although free will can be defined in various ways, all of them involve aspects of the way people make decisions and initiate actions, which have been studied extensively by neuroscientists. Some of the experimental observations are widely viewed as implying that free will does not exist or is an illusion (but many philosophers see this as a misunderstanding). Third, psychologists have studied the beliefs that the majority of ordinary people hold about free will and its role in assigning moral responsibility. 3. According to my research it’s hard to say that freewill exist, but according to my belief and religion we are taught that every human being has freewill. I firmly believe in freewill because I was raised too. I also believe that our choices are influence by past and current conditions. Philosophers who distinguish freedom of action and freedom of will do so because our success in carrying out our ends depends in part on factors wholly beyond our control. Furthermore, there are always external constraints on the range of options we can meaningfully try to undertake. As the presence or absence of these conditions and constraints are not...
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...With little concept of war and death, had I merely been brainwashed by a society driven by hate in order to become the next gen in "homicidal technology"? Whilst we think we can determine our own reality, this may prove to be impossible in the modern world. Wherever we go we are surrounded by technology that allows us to be instantly connected to information from around the world. Where “currency” in the words of Thomas Jefferson is “free flowing information” but how free flowing is it actually? We are continuously kept in the dark by the forces of the media who sift and filter information as they please in order to make our “world a better place”. It ultimately leaves us in complete ignorance of the horrible costs and consequences of war. In order to avoid being lured into a false reality by the spins sold to us by the media, we as a society should aim to seek out alternative independent journalism ... And the ability to question the truth of existing media sources. Most of Western society today has been constantly deceived with illusions of personal freedom, we are so complacent that we just assume that everything that is conveyed to us by the media is true. Hence this is why as technology develops and it becomes easier to access corrupted information, we succumb to the ultimate form of social control. Over the years the names of our enemies have constantly changed although they all still have the same things in common, it is any society independent of western power and...
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...passerby between them. That was their reality. But as he became freed and expose to the world, he learned very quickly that the life they lived did not represent reality. It was nothing more than a mere illusion. We are all born into some way of life; either it be religion, a belief system or a social class but essentially we are born into an identity or one is forced upon us. Like in Douglas’s Narrative of the life where “slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of the slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their...
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...he only has one memory of his father; when he was a toddler and was listening to him play the flute. His brother left him when he was three and only visited twice, while his mother died a long time ago. Blanche is a pretender.wen we meet her at the start of the story, she is dressed in white, a symbol of purity and d innocence. She is seen as a delicate, refined, and sensitive. She is cultured and intelligent. One when she found her young husband in a compromising situation with an elderly woman and later they went for a dance she tells him that he is disgusting. This leads to him committing suicide. She pretends to be a good woman but she is not good. She is hiding her true nature. This is why she flirters with Stanley, creating an illusion of what she are not. Throughout the episodes she plays the role of the ideal person she would like to be. In her pretence she makes very bad mistakes. First it leads to her young husband committing suicide. He does this...
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...The Allegory of the cave was created by Plato a Greek philosopher during 514a-520a. The Allegory of the cave symbolizes a thought and how we see reality. The Allegory of the cave basically came from a conversation Plato describes that went on between Socrates and his brother Glaucon. The conversation Socrates has with his brother elaborates on humanity and society. Everything in the cave has a different meaning when it comes down to describing the cave, the shadows, the escape, and the return. The cave is described as something that looks like a dungeon where there is little light but still very dark to the point where you can’t even see anything. There are people in the cave but the people cannot move because they are supposedly chained up...
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...The Glass Menagerie explores the unique and interesting issues through intriguing characters and events. These Texts are valued due to the quality of their construction and how efficiently the audience can relate to it. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams written in 1941 is a timeless and universal place that defers the boundaries of time and space to explore a range of interesting ideas. Through a range of interesting techniques, this semi-biographical explores themes of escape, abandonment and responsibility to the family through the memory of the narrator Tom Wingfield. Tom States ‘ The Play is a memory’. This is shown through the dim lighting and the settings of the scenes. We can see this by noting the lack of realism; it's overblown and there is too-perfect symbolism, as well as its frequent use of music. The narrator, Tom, is not the only character haunted by his memories. Amanda also lives in constant pursuit of her disappeared youth, and old records from her childhood are almost as important to Laura as her glass animals. For these characters, memory is a hindering force that stops them from finding happiness in the present or potential of the future. But it is also the driving force for Tom, who eventually uses the memory of his father to get away from the trap of his family, to create a life of his own. The plot of this play is based around abandonment, which we see each member of the Wingfield family has experienced abandonment. Mr. Wingfield abandoned...
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...and the rejection of the idea that humankind could achieve a utopian existence as a result. The narrator in this novel also known as the underground man is a pessimistic man who symbolizes what could happen to mankind should endless application of reason take over. Without any care for his health or well being out of spite, he becomes a perfect character for Dostoevsky to illustrate his argument against the enlightenment ideas. The narrator decides upon actions that oppose his interests for the sole reason of proving that he is an unpredictable man who enjoys his own free will and ability to make voluntary decisions of his own, without being restrained by the ideas of rationality and reason. Dostoevsky seems to be making the statement that rationality is indeed useful for analyzing situations but is ultimately damaging if focused on constantly. Reason does not, as many Enlightenment thinkers believed, free man but reduces us to something that can be scientifically explained, forcing us to lose a fundamental piece of what makes us human in the process: “All human actions will then, of course, be classified according to these laws – mathematically, like a logarithm table, up to 108,000 – and entered in a special almanac…with such precision that there will no longer be any actions or adventures in the world” (pg. 24). The Underground Man...
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