...« When someone achieves greatness in any field – such as the arts, science, politics, or business – that person’s achievements are more important than any of his or her personal faults?” When someone attains greatness in any field – such as the arts, science, politics, or business, should we judge the individual by his or her personal life or by the achievement only? In my opinion, focusing on the achievement is far more important and relevant than on personal faults. Personal mistakes are part of human life, if they have no link with your accomplished work, we should not take them into consideration. Many great individuals succeed despite some personal flaws or missteps. I will illustrate this statement with several examples of memorable men. Winston Churchill was a British politician, officer, historian and writer during the 20th century. He served as prime minister twice; he was recognized as one of the greatest wartime leaders of his century and received the Nobel Prize in literature. His weakness was to appreciate alcohol at any time of the day. Nevertheless, the fact that he appreciated alcohol is irrelevant to judge his accomplishments, especially in difficult time of war, in the field of politics. This statement is available for any field. For example, in the Arts, let’s take the case of Roman Polanski. He achieves greatness as a film director, a producer and a writer. His films received multiples awards and nominations. However, he has a legal history, arrested...
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...Therefore, the general welfare of the people of a nation is definitely an indicator of the greatness of a nation. A nation marches ahead on the path to progress with support from the contributions made by its people. The citizens need to be employed, literate, healthy, satisfied and happy in order to assist the nation on its way to progress. A nation plagued by poverty, famine, slow economic growth, unemployment will have to deal with several related problems that will make it difficult for the nation to progress and to be known as a great nation. People who are below the poverty line will resort to unscrupulous means to make money. Unemployed youth can easily be lured into carrying out criminal activities because of the probability of high monetary gains. Corruption would be rampant and we all know the effect that corruption has on the well-being and progress of a nation. Living in the country would no longer be safe either for the citizens or for the tourists visiting the country. The nation may boast of several well-known scientists, artists and rulers, but will the achievements of these people help in improving the image of the nation in the eyes of the world? The answer to this question would be a definite, "No". People judge the greatness of a nation by the living conditions of the nation and the greatness of some of its citizens makes little or no contribution to the greatness of the nation....
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...Essay Prompt: When someone achieves greatness in any field—such as the arts, science, politics, or business—that person’s achievements are more important than any of his or her personal faults. Student response:1 When individuals attain greatness, their achievements are more important than their personal faults. While historians should not whitewash the personal foibles of great individuals, the impact that these mortals have had in their fields should tower over any personality defects. To focus on the personal weaknesses of great individuals is to miss the importance of their achievements. The course of human history is decorated with individuals able to rise above their peers and reach the zenith in their fields. These individuals are often the subject of intense scrutiny from contemporaneous skeptics and later historians. But no one can lead an exemplary private life all the time; no human being is able to withstand such surveillance and historical scrutiny without personal faults coming to light. Great individuals are no exception. However, it is misguided to focus on their personal faults rather than their achievements. To do so is to miss the importance of their work, without which our culture would be worse off. For example, Abraham Lincoln was arguably one of the greatest Presidents the United States has ever had. He managed to bring the country through a substantial revolution and to end slavery despite powerful economic and social forces working against him...
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...In the city of Omelas, between the ages of eight and twelve the children of are taken to see a child which is secluded from the rest of the population and forced to live in harsh conditions. The sight of this child is both shocking and sickening; however, it is known that the secluded child cannot be released into society. By each child in the community being introduced to the child in the basement, they are all forced to be aware of the conditions which the child is living its life in. For the majority of the people of Omelas it is this awareness that is instilled into all of them that helps them make Omelas a seemingly utopian community. Instead of using their awareness of the child’s poor living condition to help it they try to justify its condition with their own actions. On the other hand however, those who choose to walk away from Omelas use their awareness of the child as a reason to leave the community. It is their ethical decision to do the only thing they can to help the child in the basement and that is not be a part of those who keep it there. In a non bias way the text allows you as a reader to observe two different ethical viewpoints on the treatment of the child in the basement, and ultimately make your own ethical decision regarding the issue of the child’s mistreatment. In the beginning of the story the text focuses mainly on the people and the seemingly perfect living conditions of Omelas. The people who live in Omelas believe that their lives depend...
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...The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell 8/4/14, 13:49 Project Gutenberg's The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Problems of Philosophy Author: Bertrand Russell Release Date: May 2, 2009 [EBook #5827] Last Updated: February 7, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY *** Produced by Gordon Keener, and David Widger THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY By Bertrand Russell http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5827/5827-h/5827-h.htm Page 1 of 68 The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell 8/4/14, 13:49 Contents . CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. PREFACE APPEARANCE AND REALITY THE EXISTENCE OF MATTER THE NATURE OF MATTER IDEALISM KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER V. DESCRIPTION CHAPTER VI. ON INDUCTION CHAPTER VII. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES CHAPTER VIII. HOW A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IS POSSIBLE CHAPTER IX. THE WORLD OF UNIVERSALS CHAPTER X. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSALS CHAPTER XI. ON INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER XII. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD CHAPTER XIII. KNOWLEDGE, ERROR, AND PROBABLE OPINION CHAPTER XIV. CHAPTER XV. . BY THE LIMITS...
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...Marie Curie was the discoverer of multiple elements, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (twice), and so on. Just because her track record looks good, though, doesn’t mean the path behind her was smooth. Her road to greatness was paved in fire and tragedy. Marie’s life was not full of riches and wonder. After Marie’s father was laid off and lost money due to a bad investment, they began lodging boys in their house to supplement for the income. Because of this, food and water tended to be short. Things got worse after the death of her mother a short while later. Because Marie was only ten years old when her mother died of tuberculosis, her father became the one who would be responsible for her upbringing. Not much else is known about her family’s financial matters after this time....
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...Nicole Price October 3, 2011 English- 1102 C04 Ms. Goldberg Science Is God Science is God, and medicine is His divine hands at work. The achievements of science can be viewed as being Godlike in its scope. Through science, man has discovered ways of creating new life in laboratories. scientists have unlocked the secrets of mapping the human genome and though they have not found a cure for cancer, they have pierced the veil of life and death, prolonging or extending the lives of those whose candle-flames would otherwise be expunged all too soon. Like God, doctors have become the Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Life and Death. Richard Selzer in his essay “The Knife” compares himself to a clergy. He states that his “regalia is not a surplice and cassock, but a gown and mask” (41). He knows that although his profession is priest-like there is a difference in the techniques; a priest uses a Bible, prayer, holy water, the blood and body of Christ. A surgeon uses medical books and journals, surgical instruments and their honed skills to do their work. The forms of cleansings used are different, but, both are meant to rid impurities from the body. The skills of a surgeon are described as posed, elegant, delicate and capable of healing, very much like the way religious believers view their God. Richard Selzer said he still marveled over the power the blade has, but the scalpel is only as powerful as the doctor whose hands it rests in. Many still...
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...It emphasises that it is important that you feel good; the more you feel good, the more you will attract things that make you feel good. This concept is very empowering and motivating. It makes me feel that I can take on the world once I have a positive attitude to life and the endless riches that are available for me. The law of attraction states that it is present in abundance for each person and this is good news for me; I want to manifest greatness in all I endeavour to pursue. In preparation for the gruelling five years ahead of me in medical sciences, I thought it imperative to rejuvenate my beliefs in this life changing “way of life”. I rummaged through my bookshelf looking for the book “Laws of attraction, by Esther and Jerry Hicks and downloaded “The Secret” online. I wanted to ensure that my mind and consciousness in my thought patterns would fully support me as I endeavour to achieve academic success and excellence. After all, I am only following through on the work I had already begun, attracting and manifesting greatness. However, it brings about an awareness of how I must be in tune with the nature of my thoughts as even a negative thought can also...
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...doctor. Sure, people in these professions are given opportunities to shape their world, but that does not mean that people with other careers are not able to affect change in the world as well. I have realized that true greatness does not come from flashy cars or fancy clothes but rather it is found in selfless service to others. For me, I don’t want a college education to I want to run the world or be able to buy everything I want in life, but I believe a college education will help me serve those who are around me better. By learning about the world, we live in I will better be...
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...HZT4U1 Mrs. Faria February 13, 2014 Philosophy Reflection Essay What is Philosophy? Philosophy is more than simply a school subject, it is a worldview that involves complex and contemplative ways of thinking. It can also be considered as a hypothesis, the love of wisdom, law, equation, and major part of it, science and religion. As Socrates once said " philosophy is a quest for wisdom- an unrelenting devotion to uncover the truth about what matters most in one's life." As mentioned above, Philosophy according to Socrates is a process of proving the truth and validity of certain visual ideas. Philosophy branches out. To understand Philosophy, we need to know what makes someone a philosopher, which helps to determine analytic philosophy. Along with this, we need to understand the method of philosophy which leads us to the true value of philosophy. The study of philosophy is a discipline that develops analytic thought and, ultimately, autonomy. To understand philosophy, and how it leads up to autonomy through analytic thought, we must understand what makes someone a philosopher. in the article " What makes someone a philosophy" by Mark Warnock, she helps to define the subject. Warnock clearly defines a philosopher through her articles. She says "Professional recognition is unimportant: what matters is that a philosopher is someone who thinks at a high level of generality, has 'explanatory ambition' and most importantly, provides arguments in support of his or her views. these...
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...Nothing is Free; Everything is Permitted In modern society, people’s involvement with art is in form of an established system that is produced and reproduced by culture industry. Art as a socioeconomic value is subtly described hard to understand and participate and artist is who involve in greatness of arts. Contemporary arts are lacking the Burke’s sublime It is, in my opinion, mostly a medium for so called artist to show and promote his or her own individuality and subjective understanding of reality in a fancy way that has nothing to do with the psyche of aesthetic. Art is becoming much of a personal media of artist instead of representation of seeking beauty in physical or philosophical terms. For example, Pollock promotes a sense of recklessness in a world with massive wars; his personal understanding of world is valuable but not the art works. However, Vitruvian Man of Da Vinci bears its own value independent of the man who made it. Beside, art or being and artists includes a certain amount of privliage; it is true that barriers of participation to art is high but communicating that everybody is great and special and eventually reproducing the idea that real art is beyond human is a structural hypocrisy. Hence, performance arts went down from ballet or theatre to Marina Abramovic who does not perform but processes experience and creates participation to art. Moreover, established system crushes people just the right amount so that some of the artistic people use their...
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...A Great Society A society as a whole is multi-dimensional; therefore, to be considered great, it has to be great on every level. The greatness of a society takes into account many different levels of measurement. Aspects to be measured include the following: Relationships, economy, environment and infrastructure, health, peace and security, culture and leisure, religion and philosophy, education, and governance. All of these aspects combined together give you a society. The greatness of any society rests solely on the ability to make each of these aspects great in their own respect. The downfall of even one of these societal aspects can bring the entire system down in a domino effect. For example, if education is not up to par then the economy will suffer due to lack of a trained workforce. All of the facets of society are closely connected and rely on each other for support. A Great Society is one that recognizes the interrelationships between these aspects and allows for open communication in order to prevent problems from becoming detrimental issues. The ancient Egyptians articulated and practiced their idea of a Great Society through the use of a class system. In other words, everyone had a boss to answer to; who also made sure everything was being done correctly. With this model of workers and overseers, the society was able to prosper for the most part. Through the class system, an individual would be assigned an occupation comparable to where they or their family...
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...life unless they’re planning on becoming a professional; other say that learning about what happened in the past remains irrelevant since it’s in the past, or that bagging groceries are only worth the money they make. However, what about the life lessons that are developed along the way, like pushing yourself to the limit, or knowing how to handle situations based on what others did in the past, and maybe bagging groceries facilitated your interpersonal skills. Nonetheless academics do play an enormous part in a person’s future as well. Nothing in life is useless, cheerleading, being in a health and science magnet program and taking plenty more science courses internships and maybe even going into a pre-vet program are not only beneficial to becoming a prosperous veterinarian; they were and certainly will be worth my undivided attention and time....
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...Tyler mackulin 8th grade Informative essay This years presidential election has been highly contested race.He had a rough but successful life . he is a hard working man with great athleticism. He also has a lot of political experience.He later ran for president for the libertarian party. He also want to make some phenomenal changes. Gary Johnson was born on January ,1 ,1953, He had a rough but victorious life. As a young teen Gary Johnson had to pay his way through college by doing small handyman work. He studied political science. Many years later he started his own construction business, which is the largest business in New Mexico. He tried to run for governor with no knowledge about politics except for political science. Gary...
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...running, without quantity, there can hardly be results that please. Correspondingly is the work of studying. Throughout years of school, students can find that without the repetition of studying, one will not reap the benefits of furthering their education. Lack of practice and efficiency leads to a lack of growth, which is exactly what Bradbury attempted to portray. He tells of how he would write a minimum of one-thousand words a day, simply to allow himself to maintain his talent. Bradbury shares a love for writing that many individuals have trouble finding throughout their lifetime, yet he found his love at a young age and carried it throughout the years. Without writers, such as Bradbury, readers could not have found their favorite science fiction book, they would be reading strictly biographies and nonfiction that they could find on the shelves of a nearby library. Bradbury, as well as others, did not just bring a source of entertainment, but a newfound love for all...
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