...Elvis Dizdarevic Interpretation of Lit 11/17/2011 Frankenstein: The Pursuit of Dangerous Knowledge By: Elvis Dizdarevic Aristotle once said, “All men by nature desire knowledge” and I tend to agree with him. Every human being strives to be more knowledgeable. It is something we all want. In society, it puts people above one another and gives a certain power to the ones who are intelligent. It is revered to be only a good thing to have and to seek but in some situations pursuing more knowledge is, in fact, dangerous. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, two main characters have this obsessive pursuit of knowledge; Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein. Walton, an Englishman, is on a quest to be the first to reach the North Pole. His story is the frame for Frankenstein and the monster’s stories. He is a determined man who wants to possess a knowledge that no one else has. Walton desires to explore uncharted lands and to discover new particulars unbeknownst to the average man. Victor Frankenstein parallels Walton in his obsessive pursuit of knowledge. Most would say Frankenstein is even more obsessive. Frankenstein is a man who is purely driven to learn more. While attending the University of Ingolstadt, Frankenstein learns all that his professors have to teach him. After mastering the sciences he becomes fascinated with life and its creation. So much that he neglects his family and stays in his apartment for months at a time to research. He believes that there is...
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...authority, amounts of force used, and vehicular pursuits that end with serious injuries or fatalities. This essay discusses a case study involving Officer Raymond Ripley of Pineville County Sheriff’s Department, and situations the sheriff is now confronted with due to Officer Ripley’s behavior. Centralized Concerns Within the last year, Pineville County Sheriff’s Department suffered through a lawsuit pertaining to a vehicular pursuit involving a fourteen year old boy who was joy riding in his parents car. During the pursuit the boy was killed when the car crashed. (Peak, 2010. Ch.5) The incident sparked an outcry with the public for better policies, regulations and training. In an effort to appease the public and ease the departments’ scrutiny, the sheriff immediately changed the course of action policy taken involving a vehicular pursuit. Supervisors now call a halt to any vehicular pursuit that does not involve a violent crime, or dangerous situations of possibly ending in a liability. Another change made by the sheriff was that no warning shots are to be fired unless the situation warranted it. Every officer within the department has been appraised and trained in these new procedures. (Peak, 2010. Ch.5) Deputy Raymond Ripley of the Pineville County Sheriff’s Department recently completed his field training within the last six months, and takes every chance he has to engage in a pursuit either on foot or vehicular. Recent reports...
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...The dangers of the pursuit of knowledge is a main theme in the novel Frankenstein. This theme is most evident in the main character Victor Frankenstein. He suffers because of his pursuit of knowledge and his creation ultimately destroys his life. As the novel progresses the creature begins to change as he gains knowledge. The creature at the start is innocent and means no harm. As he gains knowledge, however, he begins to learn that he does not fit in and becomes angry. We will take a closer look at how knowledge hurts these characters throughout the novel. The knowledge that Victor is pursuing and the knowledge the creature is pursuing have fundamental differences. Victor is working to try to figure out how to cheat death. This knowledge pushes the limit of what is accepted by society. This project is an unknown realm of science and the possible consequences of success are a mystery. Victor becomes so involved with the idea, however, that he fails to consider possible consequences. Creating a menace to society had not crossed his mind. His creature is at a different intellectual level. The creature does not understand the language of humans or how human society is structured. He observes and studies human behaviors and interactions. He learns the language and more about how humans work. He is surprised about what he learns and is angered by it. The creature is not accepted in human society, and his knowledge of this changes his personality into an angry outcast seeking revenge...
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...evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins that goes as following: “Scientists disagree among themselves but they never fight over their disagreements. They argue about evidence or go out and seek new evidence.” This quote captures the essence of what this essay is going to cover. Disagreement opens room for questioning and reasoning.. In order to make the knowledge question that entitles this essay easier to understand, the “pursuit of knowledge” needs to be defined. The pursuit of knowledge is a famous term to define the inherent concept of humanity’s constant desire to know more. Personally this topic appeals to me as I have seen the substantial curiosity that children possess, but I believe this thirst for knowledge is very limited. All children want to hear is an answer, but they don’t question the sources or ask to see the evidence. When I noticed this trait in young children, I had an epiphany that if our global society followed this childish outlook on the world, the world and the education system wouldn’t be the same. I will elaborate upon two possible perspectives towards this question; either you believe that disagreement does aid the pursuit of knowledge or you believe that it doesn’t. I will demonstrate both perspectives by analyzing how the roles of logic and emotion help gain new knowledge in the sciences. Ideally the role of logic is applied towards the natural sciences, and the human sciences use emotion as a way of knowing. I believe that disagreement in the natural...
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...In Chapter 1 of the text, Kupperman (2006) makes several introductory cases concerning one’s pursuit for the Good Life through the construct of pleasure. The author goes through the lens of Csikszentmihalyi Flow Theory as well as other beliefs such as Buddhism and hedonism to showcase how pleasure can be obtained through different mediums, such as skill acquisition, doing activities that are pleasurable and comforting, or sacrificing personal desires on the behalf of serving others. From this conversation, the author expresses a few ideas that explain why the constant pursuit for pleasure does not always lead to a life of joy, happiness, or fulfillment for several reasons. One of them involves the issue that the negating of moderation of pleasurable...
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... Knowledge is an extremely powerful thing and it must be used wisely and properly. Carelessly using knowledge can cause terrible consequences. The novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is a novel that has many comparisons of powers in life. It pertains to many themes in society today. Frankenstein contrasts science, technology, life and death, and most importantly knowledge and ignorance. It shows the consequences of knowledge in both negative and positive ways. In Frankenstein, three characters searched for one thing - knowledge. Unfortunately the results of their search differed from what they had anticipated. Walton, blinded by ambition, believed that search for knowledge on the route to the North Pole would bring fame to his name, but he quickly learned that he ended up only with the danger to the lives of his crew. Frankenstein, driven by passion and inability to accept his own limitations, learned that the passion for knowledge harmd his judgment, and the results of his actions lead to unthinkable consequences. The creature driven by unhappiness, believed that knowledge would be the answer to his pain but only found that it increased his sadness. Each of these characters provide examples of successful and unsuccessful pursuit of...
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...10 Things I Hate About You and the Pursuit of Happiness 10 Things I Hate About You is a Shakespearian parody that is based on his literary work, Taming the Shrew, but also pays homage to his other works as well. This film is a loose adaptation that uses modern day teenage problems and settings as well as modern day language in place of Shakespeare’s old world customs and a language that has long since been put to rest. While this film has many archetypical characters, concepts, themes and symbols, one thing sticks out the most and that is the concept of the pursuit of happiness. No matter what day in age we are in this is a concept that we as humans are always trying to obtain. The induction of this film surrounds around the character Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a new-comer that is being shown around by school by his new friend Michael, as he burns, pines and perishes over the sweet, sexy and much adored innocence that is Bianca Stratford (Larissa Oleynik). It is here that you learn that she is untouchable as her tyrannical father will not let her date. At this time, you are also introduced to a few key characters such as Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan), the egocentric king of the popular crowd and Katarina “Kat” Stratford (Julia Stiles), the polar opposite of her younger sister and plays an ill-tempered harridan with cutting wit that is hell bent to not be tempted by the idiocies of teenage life. It is here that the pursuit of happiness starts. Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)...
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...the quotes below: “He Has refused for long time, after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected.” "In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The first principle Popular Sovereignty is reflected within the Declaration of Independence. Popular sovereignty means that the people power the government by electing government leaders to represent the people of this nation and making government decisions. Once the people elect a leader they do not have the power to remove the leader from their government positions and replace them with a new leader. panel 4 Social Contract In the Declaration of Independence social contract was reflected in the quotes below: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life,...
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...perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” To what extent do you agree? On a hot Saturday afternoon, I was walking around downtown in desperate search of a place to buy a birthday card when I came across a small, shabby looking ice cream shop. You could hardly see it from the street, but the inside was nearly packed with people. Curious and exhausted, I decided to enter in order to escape the heat of the sun. When I tasted the homemade ice cream, I immediately understood why it was so busy. The discovery of a delicious treat, while completely unintentional, altered my perspective on how my day was going and the ability to discover things without using the internet to locate the best new dessert place. This new knowledge was not what I set out to find. I originally wanted to find a greeting card shop, but I ended up with a different knowledge – the location of an amazing ice cream shop. I later shared this personal knowledge with friends and family to spread the news of this quaint shop, and it turned into shared knowledge as word spread not only from me and who I told, but as other people discovered it on their own. However, this makes me fallible to cognitive biases, like the confirmation bias. Ignoring anyone who says the ice cream shop I found was only “alright” or “not the best ice cream ever” and only listening to those who told me it was “outstanding” strengthens my preconceived notions about the store. My accidental discovery in the pursuit of a different knowledge...
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...The Pursuits of happiness, as one of movie that will be focused on this paper reflect these Myths. The values of American though can be seen in the movie especially from the main character, Chris Gardner. The movie is based on a true story. It tells about Chris Gardner who is struggling to sell his bones machine. He is abandoned by his wife as the life of the family become harder because Chris can not produce any money. He lives mobile with his son after being driven out of his apartment. Realizing that his expensive bones machine can not change his life, he struggles to find a job. He join a program in Dean Witter stock broker company to be the only who is accepted in the strict competition to be stock broker. Many obstacles he faces in gaining this achievement, but he stays strong and belief that everything will be alright. Although he is strong, he criticizes Thomas Jefferson and his declaration of independence in how he recited the phrase the pursuit of happiness. He just wonders why happiness should be pursued- he compares it with his life in ‘running’ for the happiness. The pursuit of Happiness reflects the typical value of American people and the pursuit of happiness that strongly engraved in the mind of its people. The rights to have a better life in the wilderness of the world support this idea. Chris runs to pursue his dreams for his only son. The strong idea of hard worker and optimistic dominate the character of Chris and most of the successful people depicted in the movie...
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...that these rights have inevitably been granted by our founding fathers. That these rights were the building blocks to this nation's success, the motive to independence, the allowance to mass success, and the vouchsafed of contentment. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the rights that have been bestowed upon us; they are the utmost essential rights that have been gifted to us by simply being an American. The works of, “The Declaration of Independence,” drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the self-liberating essay, “Salvation,” penned by Langston Hughes, as-well-as, the continuous resurging classic, “The Great Gatsby,” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald all share a common factor. These analects not only render on how we are entitled to these essential American rights but how we are given the opportunity to practice them freely...
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...it but at the same time we start believing all their word. By the time they are elected our new president of these United States, they have the support of everyone they fooled into believing their blind promises. We fall into their guarantee of topics they claimed they were going to address, and problematic issues they stated would change as soon as they were elected into the White House. As soon as they get inaugurated they still have no idea what is in store for them, the promises made to the public are suddenly pushed to the end of their priority list. Maybe they really wanted to fulfill the people’s demands but were soon faced with the reality that they probably won’t be able to do what they set out to do, due to agendas preset before they even thought about running for presidency. We’re faced with the let down of a broken promise. As a citizen you get promised many things, a lot of those promises are legal promises as in the Constitution of the United States and others that were just promised to get a reaction. In The Promise of America a book with excerpts of different promises made to the American people, Thomas Jefferson’s historical “The Declaration of Independence”, was read on July 4th 1776, and was signed by 56 members of congress. In the “Declaration”, Jefferson states our true promises that defy this great nation that we have the rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson 36). On July 19th 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton a woman’s rights activist...
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...to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which is composed on the Declaration of Independence. A strong statement adopted on July 4, 1776 by the Second Continental Congress had just laid the corner stone of "their" new country named the United States of America. The composers had in mind that all men are created equal and should be able to enjoy the same free and opportunity filled lifestyle. Although, well thought out and detailed in manner, the issue now viewed is what was considered a man at the current time. The introduction of the slave-trade showed a clear divide in the opinion. The thought process at that time has drastically impacted the black community to present. The Declaration of Independence states all individuals are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but does not explain the start dates are different for separate races. Strongly due to slavery and the consequences thereof, which include lack of education and unsupported financial stability have impacted black livelihood for over the past 200 years and also prove that the rights in this document were not meant for all races....
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...How do beliefs about the world and beliefs about what is valuable, influence the pursuit of knowledge A pursuit, by definition, requires a goal or answer to a question that the pursuer is attempting to reach. This end, towards which effort is directed, is based upon previous knowledge that says that it will be fruitful in some way. Any knowledge that is pursued is, logically, pursued for a reason. This reason must be that the knowledge could prove valuable in some way to the acquirer of the knowledge. What is believed to be valuable would thus greatly influence what knowledge is pursued. Since the beliefs about the world help define what is valuable, they too determine the type of knowledge that is searched for and acquired. This type of knowledge, that people think will be the most valuable to them, is the type of knowledge that is searched for and of course attained before the type of knowledge that is unexpected or thought unnecessary. To logically determine the extent to which the values and beliefs of humanity affect its pursuit of knowledge, all types of knowledge must be considered. Empirical knowledge significantly affects the further pursuit of knowledge; as the type of knowledge that is acquired through experiences, future pursuits of knowledge are frequently based on it. Rational knowledge is applicable because knowledge that is found through experimentation is looked for with a preconceived objective in mind. Metaphysical knowledge must be considered because beliefs...
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...Oppositional Culture: The Pursuit of a Decent Life To explain the social origins of the oppositional culture is to explain the why humans seek peace of mind and overall security for their own well-being. The system of oppositional culture essentially represents “two poles of value orientation” (Anderson 2000: 35). Ideally, everyone in society would associate themselves with the upper pole of value orientation, but this clearly is not the case. Society dictates how one is to behave and respond in a given environment; Anderson calls this behavior of decency – cleverly enough – the “decent” behavior which represents the upper tiers of the value orientation scale (Anderson 2000: 35). On the other hand, many people struggle financially and thus have to “hustle” and perform an act of “code-switching” between decent and “ghetto” (or “street”) behaviors in order to secure their lives yet still fit into the ideals of society (Anderson 2000: 35-37). These acts (or lack thereof) create a marker for various individuals as to how high or low on this orientation scale they are ranked; this is the scale of value orientation and how “decent” or “street” one is. According to Elijah Anderson (2000), street families commonly have one set frame of mindset that dampens any advancement. First and foremost, he claims that street parents differ from decent parents in a sense that they “often show a lack of consideration for other people and have a rather superficial sense of family and community”...
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