Inconsistencies in Humes Empirical Thought Essay -- Philosophy Religi

Inconsistencies in Hume's Empirical Thought    In his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume attempts to uncover the ultimate truth about where our knowledge comes from.   This leads him to suggest that all our ideas and knowledge arise from outward experiences and sensations.   He attempts to prove this by solving the "problem of induction."   I disagree with Hume's ideas, and in this essay I will explain why.   I shall begin by explaining the problem of induction, and the sceptical doubts Hume raises concerning the inductive process.   I will then explain how Hume solves the problem.   Finally, I will conclude by offering a critique of Hume's doctrine, and explain why I find it to be inconsistent. In order to understand Hume's problem of induction, it is first necessary to understand the principles upon which it stands.   At the outset of his work, Hume declares that "all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones."1   He justifies this statement by two arguments.   Firstly, he analyzes the roots of our knowledge, and discerns that all knowledge has its origins in "a precedent feeling or sentiment"2   To Hume, even the idea of God is derrived from a prior sensation.   He argues that we can have an idea of God simply by augmenting our ideas of wisdom and goodness.   Essentially, we can multiply the goodness that we sense or experience up to infinity, in order to have an idea of God.   Secondly, Hume states that all knowledge must come from sensations.   To illustrate this, he uses the example of a blind man.   A blind man will have no idea or impression of the colour blue.   Since he has never seen blue, let alone colour, there is no possible way for him to know what blue is.   Thu... ...tions, Iran;   [no date available] Steinberg, Eric [ed].   David Hume:   An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.   Second Edition.   Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis; 1977 De Sousa, Ronnie.   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sousa/PHL100/hume1.html   As of Friday April 9th. De Sousa, Ronnie.   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sousa/PHL100/hume1.html   As of Friday April 9th. 1 Steinberg, Eric [ed.]   David Hume:   An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.   P. 11 2 Ibid.   P. 11 3 Ibid.   P. 14 4 Ibid.   P. 15 5 Hume must be referring to a perfect 360-degree circle or 180-degree triangle 6 Ibid.   P. 15 7 Ibid.   P. 16 8 Ibid.   P. 16 9 Ibid.   P. 17 10 Ibid.   P. 19 11 Ibid.   P. 21 12 I'm assuming here that no one has been able to sustain self-propelled flight. 13 As-Sadr, Muhammad Baqir.   Our Philosophy.   P. 52   

Improving The Literacy Of America Essay -- Illiteracy In America

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reading and writing are two of the most important functions performed on a daily basis by individuals. One problem in America is that a significant amount of the population cannot perform one or both of these tasks. These two tasks are commonly referred to as literacy. What encompasses a literate individual is a controversial topic. For example, if someone can read a sentence and decipher what it means does this mean the person is literate. Or should the individual be able to interpret a sentence as well as write and respond to a given situation to be considered literate. Due to this vagueness in what encompasses a literate individual, I will not state statistical information about the state of literacy in the United States. The statistical information is not important, rather the way the literacy rate can be risen in the U.S. is what is important. A general situation that has to occur to raise literacy rate is the situation where an individual has the desire to r ead and write and does not do so solely because of instruction from authority figures. This certainly is not occurring today, as exemplified by the event that â€Å"even a best-selling book in this country might reach 5% of the population† (Castell 38). Perhaps a better way to influence the literacy in America is to examine the classrooms where primary education geared toward literacy takes place. This refers to elementary and middle school classrooms. An examination of what processes in a classroom context help develop literacy in individuals is an important aspect of the literacy of the children in America. Three aspects of a classroom that affect literacy are: the power of the teacher, community with peers, and access to tools of literacy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Power, in this case, refers to the power of the teacher and the extent to which this person expresses this power. The teacher serves to regulate the activities of children. One of the most important things that he does is to foster the interest and learning of the pupils. In this way the teacher has infinite power over his subjects. He can assign work, manipulate exactly what the student has to know for his class, and alter his teaching styles for different subjects. Traditionally little power is given to the student in the classroom setting. Often times students regurgitate memorized information in order to perform in a well in a given class. Th... ... learning literacy desirable to the student, which obviously increases learning. The United States has to move toward implementing better literacy-directed learning in our school’s classrooms. In the long-run, this will help the U.S. compete on the national level with other countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But the advantages to a more literate society are obvious even when viewing the issue on a more personal level. Literacy is the key to the social world as well as the job market. Individuals who benefit from the increase in literacy rate will be more successful in life and maybe even have higher feelings toward themselves. The vision of a totally literate America is certainly a very promising and positive one. Works Cited Bloome, David. Classrooms and Literacy. New Jersey: Ablex , 1989. Castell, Suzanne De, et al., eds. Literacy, Society, and Schooling. New York: Press Syndicate, 1986. Harris, Karen, and Barbara Baskin. â€Å"Toward a Culturally Literate Society.† School Library Journal 35.12 (1989): 29-32. Wells, Gordon. â€Å"The Zone of Proximal Development and Its Implications for Learning and Teaching.† Sep. 1996. http://cite.ped.gu.se/network/zpddiscussion.html (31 Mar. 1999).

Importance of Science

Not only this due to scientific knowledge, man has been able to reach to the moon and in outer space. With scientific inventions in manure, seed and means of agricultural productions with the help of tractors and tube-wells, food production has been increased. As such with the help of increased production, man has been able to provide food to growing population. With the help of science, man has been able to control famines and floods and epidemics. With the help of scientific development in medical field epidemics like plague, cholera and malaria and influenza etc. ave been eradicated. Now even change of organs and parts of body is possible. Now with the advancement of science, it has become possible to change the sex and make man, a woman and woman, a man. Telegraph, telephone Fax, Telex Mobile phone and wireless have made it possible to talk with a person living at a long distance and in a far off foreign country. Radio, Television, V. C. P. , V. C. R. and cinema have become our m ain means of comfort. Electricity provides us light and fans and other means of comforts. Science has further provided us ordinary amenities of daily life Science such as gas, fridge, heaters, coolers, tape-records and other articles which have made life worth-living and comfortable. Science has produced microscope, telescope, photography, Photostat machines and computers. It has brought into existence global market so that goods and inventions of one country may benefit whole world. It has invented atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, missiles and other destructive weapons which may bring disaster. As such Science has invented machines and instruments and other things which provided necessities of daily life such as gas, electric fans, colors, fridge and heaters etc. Science has increased production, controlled famine, flood and diseases and in this way it has lessened sufferings of mankind. It has provided us quick means of transport through steamships, Railways, cars, buses and aero planes etc. It has provided quick means of communication through telephone, telegrams and wireless. Science has provided means of comforts and recreations as stated above but it has failed to provide us peace of mind. It has made man greedy and selfish and power hungry and to gain wealth and power. Science has invented destructive weapons which cause disaster. Thus Science is useful, if it is used for producing food and good and other necessities of life and for convenience and comforts but it may cause disaster if destructive weapons may be used in future. Thus scientific weapons may also cause harm.

Comparison Essay

Schools of Thought Comparison By: Amanda Szyszkowski There are three main types of schools of thought that are noted in the field of philosophy. The three schools are continental, pragmatic, and analytic philosophies. We are going to take a look at all three of theses and compare them, and see which one most appeals to me and why. The first school is continental philosophy. Continental philosophy is a general term that is associated with the philosophical views that originated on the continental England in the 20th century (dictionary. om staff, 2012). It contains many theories such as critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (dictionary. com staff, 2012). The two schools of thought linked to continental that are the most important are existentailism and phenomenology (Moore & Bruder, 2011). The most influencial philosophers related to continental philosophy are Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre (Moore & Bruder, 2011).Some th emes of existentailism are traditional and academic philosophies are sterile from the concerns of real life, the world is irrational, and the world is absurd in the sense that there are not explanations that can be given for the way that it is. The above are not all the themes for this school of thought but there are the most compelling (Moore & Bruder, 2011). The second type philosophy is known is pragmatic. Pragmatic philosophy is a type of philosophy that rejects the idea that there is a such a thing as absolute truth (Moore & Bruder, 2011).Instead in this philosophy they think the truth is realtive to time, place, purpose, and is ever changing in the light of new data (Moore & Bruder, 2011). Pragmatism roots primarily are located in the United States. It is also know as American pragmatism. The main school of thought for pragmatism is that there is no absolute or fixed truth. The founding fathers of this type of philosophy are C. S. Pierce and William James. James however would not take the credit for the invention of pragmatism that starting in philosophy clubs that the two men set up. He gives all the credit to Pierce.The final type of philosophy that I am going to cover is analytic philosophy. Analytic philosophy is the learning through experience. The mind of a person catorgorizes experiences. The main school of though for analytic philosophy is that the only thing that we know for certain is that we learn through experience (Moore & Bruder, 2011). Analytic philosophy has ties to both England and America, but it is mostly is used in America. The main philosopher for this type of philosophy is Russell. Russell and his wife set up many schools in England and America that proposed a new way of learning philosophy (Moore & Bruder, 2011).All three types of philosophy have strong and valid points and strong ideals. Which one do you think is the strongest one? References 1. Dictionary. com Staff. (2012) â€Å"Continental Philosophy† retrieved from http ://dictionary. reference. com/browse/continental-philosophy on September 2, 2012. 2. Moore, B. N. , & Bruder, K. (2011)  Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas. (8th  ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 3. Farlex. (2012) â€Å"Pragmaticism† retrieved from http://www. thefreedictionary. com/pragmatism on September 2, 2012. 4.

E-Marketing study notes

Owned Media: carry communication megs from the org to net users on owned channels(our site) Paid media: properties owned by others who are paid to carry promotional megs (advertising) Earned media: when Individual's conversations become the channel (WHOM) Media type Definition: Examples: The role Benefits Challenges OwnedChannel a brand controls Web site, mobile site, blob twitter account Build for LET RSI with existing potential customers and earn media Control, cost efficiency, longevity, versatility, niche audiences, build B image No guarantees, company communication not trusted, takes time to scale Paid Brand pays to leverage channel Display ads, paid search, sponsorship Shift from foundation to a catalyst that feeds owned and creates earned media In demand, immediacy, scale, controlClutter, declining response rates, poor credibility limited control Earned When customers become the channel WHOM, Buzz, viral Listen & respond – earned M Is result of well executed & coordinat ed owned/pall media Most credible, key role in most sales, transparent and lives on No control, can be negative, scale, hard to measure Owned media: Content marketing: strategy involving creating & publishing content on sites and in social media.Having content available to inform ,entertain and engage users when eek the company Companies organizing themselves as media publishers online All owned media is content Sell digital content on media (music software), accept Google Ad Sense and recover payments when click on ads. Websites: Marketing public relations (MR.) brand related actively & non paid, 3rd party media coverage to positively Influence market. DVD for using W to publish plus Info: low cost alternative, Info updated, can reach new prospects. Entertain, build communities, communication channel, provide info and

Americans Are Wasteful People

Americans are wasteful people How much do Americans waste? What a good question. Americans generate 30% of the world’s garbage. Americans waste many different things over 10 years. However, the government is taking measures to fix the problem, and Americans are contributing to reduce this problem. The wastefulness of the population is a major problem in USA. A wasteful person is one who is inclined to waste. Thus, recycling is not part of their daily routine. A wasteful person is characterized by useless consumption.Americans have become increasingly wasteful since mid-1990s. In the 1990s, the American population was wasting significantly high amounts of several goods, and no one was recycling. In 1990, less than 2% of America total waste was recycled. Americans were annually wasting 130 million dollars of energy and 165 million dollars of food. In addition, each American wasted an average of 2. 3 million liters of water per year. The most dangerous items wasted by America are : water, paper, energy, glass, food and plastic.For example, by not turning off the water while showering, Americans wasted 130 million dollars of energy and over 2 million liters of water. Americans often left their lights on when not needed. Trees were being unnecessarily destroyed to produce paper because only about one third of the paper produced was being recycled, and only to 37% of glass and 7% of plastic were recycled. Thus, resources were wasted unnecessarily. America started facing this big problem. Of course, the government wanted to reverse the problem and implemented measures.These measures were implemented to promote everyone to recycle. Recyclable trash receptacles were put all over the cities. TV and posters advertisements were made to encourage everyone to recycle. Investments in the recycle industry increased. Resources that were not recyclable were used to produce final goods and were replaced with recyclable goods. For instance, pickles used to be sold in jars; h owever, now there are sold in plastic jars. Other measures are going to be implemented; however, the ones already implemented are solving the problem.As Americans started to see these measures being implemented, they were really encouraged. Americans started to be less wasteful. Home-recycling increased, and energy consumption decreased. For instance, those unnecessary lights were turned off. Useless water consumption decreased, so Americans had water running only when needed. Although many actions are needed, 77% of all Americans are now recycling. The government measures were successful, and certainly waste will decrease as time goes by. The environment is clearly better. Americans are wasteful people, however they are wasting less.

Freedom of the Press Versus Right to Privacy

Privacy has become a big issue in contemporary jurisprudence. The â€Å"right to privacy† is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. But Article 8 is balanced by Article 10, which guarantees â€Å"free expression of opinion†. So what right has priority when they conflict? Under what circumstances, for example, is it right to curtail press freedom in order to protect the right to privacy, or vice versa? The same balance is being sought between the right of citizens to data privacy and government demands for access to personal information to fight crime, terrorism, and so on. Freedom of speech is a fundamental democratic liberty. It is a necessary protection against abuses of power and cover-ups of wrongdoing by public officials. It was never more effectively displayed than in the Watergate investigation, which brought down Richard Nixon in 1974. But one can have too much press freedom. Over the years, the tabloid press has become increasingly intrusive, claiming the right not just to expose corruption and incompetence in high places, but to titillate readers with scandalous revelations about the private lives of the famous. What started off as entertaining gossip about royalty and film stars has burgeoned into a massive assault on privacy, with newspapers claiming that any attempt to keep them out of the bedroom is an assault on free speech. The issue has just been tested in Britain's High Court. In March, Britain's leading scandal sheet, The News of the World, published an â€Å"exclusive† front page story, under the headline â€Å"F1 Boss Has Sick Nazi Orgy With 5 Hookers†. It told how Max Mosley, President of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, the body that oversees world motoring and racing) and son of the former British fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, had, two days earlier, taken part in a sadomasochistic â€Å"orgy† with a â€Å"Nazi theme† in a private apartment in London. The story was accompanied by photographs taken clandestinely by one of the women in cooperation with the News of the World, which readers were invited to download from the paper's website. Max Mosley admitted participating in this (not illegal) happening, but sued the News of the World for breach of privacy; the newspaper argued that it was in the â€Å"public interest† that Mosley's sexual activities be disclosed. The presiding judge, Justice Eady, rejected the newspaper's defense, and awarded Max Mosley 60,000 English pounds ($115,000) compensation for the invasion of his privacy, the highest damages so far given for a complaint brought under Article 8. There is a curious aspect to Eady's judgment. He rejected the News of the World's â€Å"public interest† defense, because he found no evidence that the sadomasochistic party had a â€Å"Nazi theme†. This implies that had there been a Nazi theme, it could have been legitimate to publish it, given Mosley's position as FIA president. But surely the particular nature of Mosley's private fantasies is irrelevant to the case. It is hard to see why I am less entitled to privacy because I am turned on by a Nazi uniform than I would be if I were excited by a pair of knickers. What Eady's judgment did accomplish was to highlight the crucial distinction, necessary for all clear thinking about privacy, between what interests the public and what is in the public interest. So how can this distinction be made effective? France has a privacy law that explicitly defines both the scope of privacy and the circumstances in which the law applies. By contrast, in Britain it is left to judges to decide what the â€Å"right to privacy† means. There is a natural fear that specific legislation designed to protect privacy would muzzle legitimate press inquiries. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged (except by most editors and journalists) that a great deal of media intrusion is simply an abuse of press freedom, with the sole aim of boosting circulation by feeding public prurience. A law that curtails the abuse of press power while protecting its freedom to expose the abuse of political power would be difficult, but not impossible, to frame. The essential principle is that the media should not be allowed to pander to the public's prurience under cover of protecting the public interest. What famous people – indeed ordinary people, too – do in private should be off limits to the media unless they give permission for those activities to be reported, photographed, or filmed. The only exceptions would be if a newspaper has reasonable grounds for believing that the individuals concerned are breaking the law, or that, even if they are not breaking the law, they are behaving in such a way as to render them unfit to perform the duties expected of them. Thus, a pop star's consumption of illegal drugs may be reported, but not his or her sexual habits (if they are legal). The private life of a politician may be revealed if it is expected to have consequences for the way the country is being governed; that of a top executive of a public company if it may affect the returns to shareholders. This should be the only â€Å"public interest† defense available to a media outlet that is sued for invasion of privacy. The media might become a bit drearier, but public life would be far healthier. The author is a professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University