...What is Truth? Without thinking deeply about it, truth seems like a concrete concept. As children, we learn that everything we do, or say, fits in a box of either true or false. A statement or story is correct, real or genuine and anything else is a lie, deceitful or incorrect. The reality is that some stories do not necessarily fit in those boxes, and truth is more fluid than we learn. The definition given by Merriam Webster is “agreeing with the facts : not false : real or genuine.” Understandably, there are some truths that are irrefutable. It is a fact that the sky is blue, and that we breathe oxygen. Storytelling, however, does not have to be so concrete. I believe that truth can be concrete, fluid or ambiguous in certain situations depending on what the speaker is trying to express. There will always be concrete truth. These are details that are told with such certainty that nothing contradicts it. Those details are the ones we can identify as children. We all learned things about ourselves and the earth that are correct one hundred percent of the time and the authenticity is...
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...Nicholas Hamilton Rhetoric 20 Amy J. February 17, 2015 The Irony in Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche writes in his essay “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” about the understandings of knowledge, truth, and morality. Interestingly the translation of the original title for Nietzsche’s work might have been “On Truth and Lie in the Extramoral Sense.” This is interesting because the translated version that is given for readers is “Nonmoral”; however another possible translation could have been “Extramoral” which shows that his writing may either be something not consistent with morality, but it may also be overly moral as well. Kenneth Burke writes in his work “Four Master Tropes”, about the tropes of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. He provides numerous definitions of irony as well as the three temptations of irony. Nietzsche’s writing and ideas about “truth and lies” are “ironic” based on the definition and examples Burke uses as well as the standard dictionary definition of irony. This irony accomplishes incongruity with what appears to be truth and lies and what it actually is; since there is no concrete truth, this is ironic in itself. Individuals often confuse and misuse the term ironic, but Kenneth Burke gives his opinion of what irony is. He says, “Irony arises when one tries, by the interaction of terms upon one another, to produce a development which uses all the terms…they are all voices, personalities, or positions, integrally affecting one another” (432)....
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...Critical Thinking, Linda Elder offers the following definition of critical thinking: “Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, and empathically. They are keenly aware of inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and socio- centric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers- concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, access, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason.” Critical thinking is taking a thought thinking about it, analyzing it, and then elaborating on it with facts and evidence. Based on Linda Elder’s argument critical thinkers use intellectual tools to improve their thinking through numerous skills. The numerous skills used such as intellectual empathy and rationale allow for critical thinkers to reason at a high level of quality. With Linda Elder’s definition in mind the following texts offer evidence to support her definition. In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing he offers the problem of people being subjective. In David Foster Wallace’s essay “Deciderization 2007-A Special Report” he shows...
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...Eastern Philosophy Matrix and Essay Part 1 Matrix: Analyze Eastern philosophy by completing the following matrix. Provide a definition of the branch of philosophy as given in a philosophical source (the readings, supplemental materials, or outside academic sources) and list a minimum of three historical developments, theories, key contributors, and principal issues. Bullet point answers are acceptable. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Historical...
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...that it wasteful to devote time to the study of what has proved to be an archaic and often destructive force in human society. I, personally, am not sure what I think. This series of essays is my attempt to clarify a little bit about the subject: what it is, how it affects people's lives, and ultimately whether it is true, and good, and useful, or not. This first essay will attempt a definition. Merriam-Webster.com has several definitions for religion: "the service and worship of God or the supernatural"; "a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices"; and "a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith." These are general enough, especially the last, to refer to atheists, communists, nationalists, and extremists of all flavors, as well as the more traditionally devout. But what really is religion? Some would say that our distant ancestors invented it as a way to explain the strange and mysterious world around them, and we are simply heirs to the diverse mass of mutually contradictory beliefs that have been invented, rejected, and revised by thousands of subsequent generations. (They then draw various conclusions about the usefulness of these beliefs, but that is for a future essay.) Others say that religion is simply truth that cannot be perceived by ordinary senses. At some point in history, the Supreme Being (God, for convenience, though different religions hold many conflicting ideas about the name and...
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...NIETZSCHE’S ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE THE TRUTH OF DECEPTION IN LANGUAGE Natalie Andrade Response 1 Nietzsche’s essay “On truth and lying” attempts to define how we as humans perceive the truth. How do we know what truth really is? Deeper into his essay Nietzsche starts to break down on how exactly these “truths” come to existence. Nietzsche brings up the subject of deception and how it plays in language itself. He argues about the extreme nature of language and the fact that language is essentially a man made concept implying that we as humans impose our own explanations and rhetoric on objects, thoughts and theories. From what I seem to understand here is that we as humans need to categorized each word because we have this believe that language is crucial in shaping the truth. But how can man actually ever know the actual truth when it is man who created truth? Further into his essay, Nietzsche considers how concepts are actually born, he states, “each word immediately becomes a concept, not by virtue of facts that is intended to serve as a memory of the unique….every concept comes into being by making equivalent that which is non-equivalent. Here what I think he is stating, is as time goes by words, metaphors are balanced by others implications or additions to the concept. Therefore, the concept is carried through time over and over and basically a “reality” is born? Any idea then would never have is true self, because as time passes, man imposes its own metaphor on that...
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...Definition: What is literature? Why do we read it? Why is literature important? Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction. Generally, most people have their own ideas of what literature is. When enrolling in a literary course at university, you expect that everything on the reading list will be “literature”. Similarly, you might expect everything by a known author to be literature, even though the quality of that author's work may vary from publication to publication. Perhaps you get an idea just from looking at the cover design on a book whether it is “literary” or “pulp”. Literature then, is a form of demarcation, however fuzzy, based on the premise that all texts are not created equal. Some have or are given more value than others. Most forays into the question of “what is literature” go into how literature works with the reader, rather than how the author set about writing it. It is the reception, rather than the writing, which is the object of enquiry. Largely, what we call “literature” is often a subjective value judgment, and naturally, value judgments, like literary tastes, will change. Etymologically, literature has to do with letters, the written as opposed to the spoken word...
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...State your thesis or hypothesis completely. Outline your thesis in Toulmin terms: Despite the negative definition, hacking can be considered both unethical and ethical. -- Claim: Hacking can be ethical. -- Reason(s): There are white-hat hackers who contributed so much to our society. -- Warrant(s): Hacking can be a good thing since there are white-hat hackers. Explain why this argument of definition deserves attention. What is at stake? Why is it important for your readers to consider? When seeing the word “hacker”, the audience automatically picks up the negative vibe. Truth is, not all hackers are bad. The common definition of is that this bad “hacker” gets unauthorized access to someone else’s device. It is this definition that risk ruining...
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...Piety The dialogue for this essay stems from two men meeting in the Kings court, as they were both awaiting trial. While waiting Socrates is astonished to learn that Euthyphro is there to bring charges against his own father for murdering one of the families’ field hands. In this essay I will give my interpretation of piety, and explain how there is no right, or wrong meaning for the term piousness. The conference between Socrates, and Euthyphro was held on the porch of King Archon, Euthyphro was surprised to see Socrates, and inquired why he was there. “Surely you cannot be concerned in a suit before the King, like myself” (Plato). Socrates explains to Euthyphro that a young bearded beaked man is prosecuting him for corrupting young Athenians. One of the accusations that Meletus is holding against Socrates is that he was a great poet, maker of Gods, which the he invented new ones, and denied the existence of the present ones. For his wrongdoing, his actions were grounds for indictment. Socrates asks again of Euthyphro why is he dwelling in the courtyard of the King. Euthyphro explains that he is there to prosecute his father for murdering one of the families’ field hands. He goes on to say that, there was a disagreement between his families’ workers. On this particular evening, the field hand was intoxicated, entered into a quarrel with the houses domestic, and attacked him. My father was fearful for the workers life and he bound his hands, and feet to a wooden plank and...
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...Americans’ worldview, and is no longer just a cultural idiom used to express a difference of opinion. Within a society enthralled by self-satisfaction—seeking to propagate political correctness, tolerance, and an increasing rejection of authority—the concept of subjective truth is preferable to the narrow framework of objective morality. Rather than seeking absolute truth, information that accurately corresponds with reality, many are content reducing the essence of truth to a matter of personal preference. Unfortunately, this dangerous and deceptive philosophy has crept into every facet of the human experience in America, and the spirit of relativism has even infiltrated the Christian Church, an institution founded upon the doctrine of absolute truth and objective morality. This essay will explore the fundamental principles of relativism/subjectivism, showing the philosophy to be logically inconsistent, while demonstrating its incompatibility with Christianity. A Definition of Terms Before conducting a systematic analysis of relativism, a distinction between...
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...characters O’Connor has created, especially the Misfit and the grandmother. * Exercise a variety of critical thinking and analytical skills in order to form ideas and opinions about O’Connor’s story and her writing strategies. * Practice reading comprehension and summarization. * Employ and practice writing skills in an essay assignment. Necessary preparation: The teacher should have familiarized him or herself with Flannery O’Connor’s life and work before the lesson by using the links provided below. It is also important that the teacher review definitions of the terms characterization, irony, and foreshadowing (see below). Students are expected to have read Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” as well as her essay “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction” (1960). This lesson plan is designed to be split into two days of class, but if the teacher judges that not all the material is necessary or that it can be covered in one period, the lesson plan can be done in one day. Introductory activity – Day 1: For today the students should have read both O’Connor’s story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and her essay on the...
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...”Living in Poverty” – Richard Wright The definition of poverty can be a very individual thing, but if you ask people what they think poverty is, I think that most of them would say that it is lack of money. However, I also think that some of them, just a little group of them, would say: “Some people are so poor, all they got is money”. This is just one of the discussions, which involves poverty. It is also discussed whether poverty always will be in someone’s life if they are raised in it – and whether everybody has equal conditions when it comes to having a life without poverty, as a child or as an adult. In the essay “Living in Poverty” by Richard Wright poverty is the main theme. Richard Wright invites us in to the debate with his personal experiences and his story about living in Britain’s poor environment. Through the story Richard Wright get us to think – is poverty something in our mind? And is poverty really the only option for someone? The essay “Living in Poverty” is a creative non-fiction essay. More specifically; a personal essay, so I assume that Richard Wright is the “I” in the story. The essay is focusing on the topic ‘poverty’ through Richard Wright’s own stories and are therefore based on true and personal experiences. The whole story is about Richard Wright growing up – his childhood, teenage years and years as an adult. Richard Wright grew up in poverty, but he expresses that he never felt poor or saw he his family as a poor family. He grew up with a loving...
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...After reading Fish’s essay, I arrived at the conclusion that a conspiracy theorist is an individual who seeks out the truth behind an event. A conspiracy theorist may also be an individual who researches alternative explanations for situations that may not be widely accepted. I think anyone can fit into this category because anyone can do thorough research to uncover the truth behind a certain event and draw conclusions about who or what caused that event. There can be a range of definitions for the term, “conspiracy theorist.” Most of these definitions include some sort of covert or secret planning by either an organization or the government of a country. The term has more negative connotations than positive connotations because most people...
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...With the help of the internet and social media, people can spread rumors around the world, and those who share a similar belief will accept these rumors as fact. Although the web and social media can provide information to discredit these rumors sometimes the truth isn’t as easily accepted as Rodriguez states “we tend to reject theories and rumors -- and facts and truths -- that challenge our worldview and embrace those that affirm it”(1) and Rodriguez defines this as "biased assimilation". I agree with Rodriguez’s idea of bias assimilation as it relates to misinformation to an extent because I have met a few people who no matter what facts I brought to them I can never change their mind but others I can...
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...COMMAND WORDS IN ESSAY QUESTIONS (Sue Cole, an OU Associated lecturer, and Pauline Harris an OU Assistant Staff Tutor, offers the following explanations for the command words that you’re likely to find in essay questions.) Account for Analyse Assess Compare Contrast Explain, Clarify, Give reasons for Resolve into component parts. Examine critically or minutely Determine the value of, weigh up (see also evaluate). Look for similarities and differences between, perhaps reach conclusions about which is preferable and justify this clearly Set in opposition in order to bring out the differences sharply. Make a judgement (backed by a discussion of the evidence or reasoning involved) about the merit of theories or opinions or about the truth of facts. State the exact meaning of a word or phrase. In some cases it may be necessary or desirable to examine different possible or often used definitions. Give a detailed account of… Explain then give two sides of the issue and any implications. Look for differences between Make and appraisal of the worth/validity/effectiveness of something in the light of its truth or usefulness (see also Assess) Look in detail at this line of argument. Give details about how and why it is… Usually involves looking at evidence /arguments for and against and weighing them up. Make clear and explicit. Usually requires the use of carefully chosen examples. Show adequate grounds for decisions or conclusions; answer the main objections likely to be made about...
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