Illusion of free will Essay Example for Free

Illusion of free will Essay In our society, free will is something that is ingrained in our set of beliefs that every citizen of the world should possess. We generally believe that we possess free will because of the choices we make on a day-to-day basis that is generally not forced upon by any direct outside force like in a totalitarian society out of a science-fiction story: the decision of whether or not to go to school in the morning, or finishing an essay at the last minute or allowing the grade to drop for an extra day are excellent examples of my view of free will. In Paul Halbach’s â€Å"The Illusion of Free Will†, he systematically attempts to debunk the debate between the combating theories of free will and hard determinism. He conveys his argument by stating that determinism and free will are incompatible with one another: one cannot exist if the other is true. If he can thoroughly prove that determinism is true, then free will would be deemed incapable with the human condition which we must accept. Holbach breaks down his strategy into two parts, the first of which he explains how the thought process and decision making of human beings are complex, yet mechanical, which boils down to the fight of competing desires. Lastly, he attacks different views on actions people would normally view as explanations of free will. Holbach believes that the human mind makes decisions based on the laws of nature governing the person’s environment; the upbringing, culture, surroundings and countless situations a person has experienced are what determines his or her way of thinking. The causal effects of everything around a man is always what governs every decision he makes, as Holbach states that â€Å"he always acts according to necessary laws from which he has no means of emancipating himself† (Holback 439). He uses the example of presenting a parched man being presented with a fountain and wants to drink from it. Upon realizing that the water in it has been poisoned, the man can still choose whether or not to drink from it. Not drinking the water upon realization of its impurity is a voluntary choice to resist the urge to quench his thirst, although it still stems from the same desire of self-preservation. Regardless of if he does or does not is not of importance because of the prevailing motive behind making either decision, proving that every action one takes is predetermined by an impulse involuntarily generated based on the man’s upbringing and experiences which creates his sense of morals, beliefs, and self-worth, none of which he has any power of influencing. If this is the case, then determinism is true, and free will is only an illusion.

The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans Migration to the United States :: History Historical Puerto Rico Essays

The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States Some people are inclined to view the Puerto Rican experience as a historical repetition of earlier migrations to the United States. However, the migration experience of Puerto Ricans to the United States is more complex, as well as one of a kind. Similarities do exist between the migration of Puerto Ricans and that of other groups, however, no other ethnic group has shared the tribulations of the Puerto Rican population. Their experience is different from that of anyone else. When Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States they did it in two major waves. The first wave of emigration occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The second wave occurred from the 1940s to the present. The workings of Bernando Vega and Jose Cruz deal with the different generations of Puerto Ricans that these two waves brought to the United States. While Vega discusses the early emigration of Puerto Ricans to New York City, Cruz discusses the later emigration of Puerto Ricans to Connecticut. Each author describes a different Puerto Rican experience in the United States. The experiences differed in most aspects; from the context in which each wave of emigration occurred to the type of politics that was practiced. After the Spanish American war of 1898, the United States took control of Puerto Rico. In the initial state of US ownership, the Puerto Rican population faced a major dilemma. The island belonged to but was not a part of the United States, and as a result Puerto Ricans held no citizenship. They simply lingered as citizens of nowhere. It was not until the Jones Act of 1917 that Puerto Ricans were granted statutory citizenship which was not equivalent to constitutional citizenship. Not granted full American citizenship by the United States, Puerto Ricans were, on the other hand, granted the right to be drafted into the armed forces during WWI, and also to be recruited as cheap labor for the defense industry during the time of war. Such inequality was not the only thing early Puerto Rican migrants experienced on the island. They also experienced severe economic set backs. Under the domination of the United States, Puerto Rico did not have control over their means of production. Instead, the United States possessed that power and transformed their island into a metropolitan economy. Workers were subjected to the changing demands of US capital expansion, and their migratory movements were shaped accordingly.

Lab 4 Diffusion and Osmosis Essay

1. Diffusion and Osmosis, June 4, 2013 2. Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to help give visual understanding of diffusion which is a solution of high concentration spontaneously (no energy required) moving to an area of low concentration. Also taking a look at osmosis, which is the movement of chemicals across the cell membrane. Osmosis requires some type of energy to be put in for this to happen. After these experiments we should have a better idea and visualization of how chemicals transfer across the cell membrane. 3. Materials: Dropper bottle of water Compound microscope Dissecting needle Carmine powder Slide and coverslip 3 test tubes Transfer pipets 2 400 ml beaker 30 cm moist dialysis tubing 500ml beaker Hot plate Benedicts reagent I2KI solution starch solution Wax pencil 30% glucose solution String or rubber band Test tube rack Slides and cover plates 4. Methods and Procedures: Experiment 1: Prepare a slide of dry carmine and water and cover slip Put under the microscope, examine under the different magnifications, record you findings to later set up your conclusion. Experiment 2: Use dialysis tubing that has been soaking in water, fold it â€Å"accordion style† and use string to close the ends like a bag. Roll opposite end of bag till it opens and add 4 pipettes of 30% glucose into it. Add 4 pipettes of starch solution into it. Mix contents with bag closed. Then rinse with tap water. Add 300 mL of water to a 400- to 500- ml. add a few drops of solution till it turns an amber-yellow color. Leave bag in beaker for 30 minutes. Remove bag then let it dry. Record observations. Experiment 3: Obtain 7 equal size bore hole cylinder from the potato, cut roughly to the same size record the length and weight of each making sure they remain order. Next is to collect 7 cups filled with 100 ml of the 6 different concentrations of glucose (, 0.1 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and water). Record the time and submerge the potato cylinders in the solutions. Let them sit for an hour and half before removing, weighting and recording the final weight. 5. Observations and data: Experiment 1: Carmine powder observation: movement is random, looks like continuous vibrations Experiment 2: Table 1 Benedicts Test Test final color Before heat of Benedicts test After heat Final Color Water (control) Clear Baby blue Blue Bag Slight yellow Baby blue Yellowish green Beaker Gold Baby blue Orange/pink After letting the bag sit inside the bath for 30 minutes the solution inside the bag went from a clear color to a slight yellow color. And after the final results of benedicts test I can conclude the carbohydrates did move from inside the bag out. My observation concerning the size of the potato cylinder in the glucose decreased as the concentration of glucose increased and the potato in water remained the same size. 6. Conclusion: The carmine powder experiment proved the theory of diffusion because with no energy required you can see the movement of particles under a microscope. Again diffusion is the movement of molecules from high concentration to low concentration with no energy required. On the other hand the experiment concerning osmosis were the dialysis bag and the saturation of the potato. Both experiments demonstrated the movement of sugar or water across a cell membrane. On the dialysis bag experiment we could see the slight color change as the IKI did move across the membrane in to the bag but the big surprise was see that after the benedicts test how strong the sugar content was in the beaker solution. Lastly the potato experiment demonstrated through the change in weight how water could pass through the membrane. As we saw the greater concentration of glucose the more shriveled the potato got, indicating the water inside the potato exited out trying to make the concentration equal. The solution containing strictly water made the potato swell as if the concentration inside was lower than the concentration outside.

Persepolis Assignment - 1402 Words

Satrapi states in the introduction of the 2004 Pantheon version of The Complete Persepolis that Iran, an â€Å"old and great civilization[,] has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.† She expresses that, â€Å"as an Iranian who has lived more than half of [her] life in Iran, [she] know[s] that this image is far from the truth. This is why writing Persepolis was so important to [her]. [She] believe[s] that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists.† Although Satrapi hopes to convince her mostly Westernized readers that not all Iranians are involved in danger and terrorism, Satrapi strays from her initial motive. Not only does she emphasize the repressive regime in†¦show more content†¦She even decides that she wants to become a prophet when she grows up and develops a list of rules for her ideal society including that â€Å"everybody should have a car,† â€Å"all maids should eat at the table with the others,† and â€Å"no old person should have to suffer† (7). Marjane grows into a strong independent young woman who becomes rebellious because of her direct exposure to the harsh Iranian Revolution and her need to escape the repression. Marjane’s family members and her friend’s family members die every day for the country, but Marjane’s parents never explain to the young girl exactly what occurs outside of their home. Marjane begins to embody a personality that she believes is best for her to fit in with her family and friends in Iran. At age fourteen, Marjane is sent to Austria by her parents to try to protect her from the revolution. She lives in Austria for four years and meets many people that are influential in shaping her identity. They teach her their western ways of life. Unfortunately, she gets involved with drugs and boyfriends that are a bad influence on her. Realizing that she needs to return home to her family, she travels back to the repressive Iranian regime where her family welcomes her and finally includes her in on their discussions of the revolution. Everything considered, Marjane never develops her own identity but rather embodies a different identity around each person she meets; sheShow MoreRelatedPersepolis Marxism Analysis1133 Words   |  5 PagesAdam Gasiewski IH 1– Final Assignment December 14, 2017 Analyzing the Effects of Consumerism in Persepolis The Complete Persepolis, an autobiographical novel by Marjane Satrapi, tells the tale of Marjane’s childhood in Iran. In this story, Marjane (Marji) is brought up by communistic parents. Evidence of this Marxist upbringing is displayed several times throughout the book, like early on in the story when young Marji exclaims that â€Å"it was funny to see how much Marx and God looked like each other†Read MoreGraduation Speech : English Class888 Words   |  4 Pagesessays for most of my grade in a class is not what I was looking forward too. When I entered college I knew that it would be one of many challenging classes I would have to take. Starting from the lowest English class to moving on up, the writing assignments became longer and more thought out. The time came when I got into this class that I knew more work was going to have to be put into essays and thus brought out what I had not seen before in my work progress. At the beginning of this class I wasRead MoreWriting Process After English 115 I Thought, Oh Great, Another English Class And I Am Horrible843 Words   |  4 Pagesstructure of the class to seem quite intriguing. It is split up into three sections; project web, project space and project text. Although there were essays for each section, I wasn’t as intimidated because there were projects and online Moodle assignments that went along with them. I was able to use my creativity for the projects which helped me better understand the subject, so I found the essay writing process less stressful. After finishing English 115 I can successfully say that I have becomeRead MoreQuote Essay950 Words   |  4 Pages Leslie Igbo Summer Reading Assignment PERSEPOLIS By: Marjane Satrapi Chosen Quote.. â€Å"I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and Avant-Garde.† Respond and Analyze.. This quote stands out, because it focuses on the character and her personality, which is a young girl who is very passionate about her Read MoreLesson Description Of What You And The Students Will Do Essay1982 Words   |  8 Pagesand ask them to jot down the definitions in their notebooks. I will also review the academic language at the beginning to make sure students are fully equipped and ready to dive into the reading seamlessly. After this, I will provide handouts of Persepolis chapter #4 to students and ask them to read the text on their own and understand the characters. Next, I will ask students to form a group a write a description and construct a picture of a specific word, as a part of the formative assessment. IRead MoreCultural Conflicts : Final Assignment1398 Words   |  6 PagesCultural Conflicts: Final Assignment Have you ever had a traumatic moment in life? If so, how would you feel if you were reminded by it in a setting where you should feel the safest in? Many students around the country are emphasising the need for â€Å"trigger warnings,† alerts that the material students are about to read or see in class might upset them or, cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Why not prevent these feelings of fear and sadness in class? It’s better to prevent these situationsRead MorePersonal Writing : Personal Narrative2064 Words   |  9 Pageswords or of sexual nature, many not being totally age appropriate for a 12-year-old. These only encouraged me to read further into books that were inappropriate for me or â€Å"banned†. The most important one, which I often cite in more recent essays, is Persepolis. By Marjane Satrapi, this graphic autobiography is a dynamic story that explores the authors experiences in war torn Iran and with growing up surrounded by both se xism and racism. In one scene, she writes about a certain period of her life whereRead MoreCultural Imperialism And Iranian Art2292 Words   |  10 PagesGeorge Herbert Mead’s book Mind, Self and, Society â€Å"which argues powerfully that the self is not given at birth, but arises as a result of social interaction.† (Mead, 1934) The same is true with what these women do in art. For example, in the film Persepolis when Marjane is sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant the girls behind her make snide remarks about Iran, which, thus leads her to present her identity as an Iranian women to the girls sitting next to her. This is a strong example her agency toRead MoreAn Evaluation Of Iranian Artist And The Role2283 Words   |  10 PagesGeorge Herbert Mead’s book Mind, Self and, Society â€Å"which argues powerfully that the self is not given at birth, but arises as a result of social interaction.† (Mead, 1934) The same is true with what these women do in a rt. For example, in the film Persepolis when Marjane is sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant the girls behind her make snide remarks about Iran, which, thus leads her to present her identity as an Iranian women to the girls sitting next to her. This is a strong example her agency toRead MoreHow Art Is Affected By Hegemony And Vice Versa2218 Words   |  9 PagesGeorge Herbert Mead’s book Mind, Self and, Society â€Å"which argues powerfully that the self is not given at birth, but arises as a result of social interaction.† (Mead, 1934) The same is true with what these women do in art. For example in the film Persepolis when Marjane is sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant the girls behind her make snide remarks about Iran, which, thus leads her to present her identity as an Iranian women to the girls sitting next to her. This is a strong example her agency to

Religious Exemptions and Discrimination - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 596 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/03/29 Category Society Essay Level High school Topics: Discrimination Essay Did you like this example? Over the last ten years, queer people in the United States have made significant political and legal progress such as the liberty to get married to the parties of their liking. Queer people in this case represent minor interest groups such as the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States. However, every aspect of this progress is not covered or protected by federal laws. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Religious Exemptions and Discrimination" essay for you Create order One such aspect is the prohibition of discrimination directed to queer people in relation to their gender identity and sexual orientation in sectors such as housing, employment and access to needed services. Without protection from discrimination, these people are evidently in lack of a legal recourse to sue for damages in the cases where they are evicted, fired and refused service due to either their gender identity or sexual orientation. One sensitive area of discussion is the recent emergence of service refusal by businesses due to what is perceived as the owners religious beliefs. The question whether service refusal on religious grounds is right or wrong has been posed on several official and unofficial platforms across the country. The proponents of this service refusal definitely deem the act right in its entirety. It is argued that the federal laws are structured in such a way as to create a balance between the rights of these queer groups of people and religious freedom. Therefore, business owners are within their own rights as religious believers to discriminate these people with little to no consideration since the law creates a blanket of exceptions on this regard. In this case, service refusal is deemed inconsequential since queer people could easily invest time and money to get these services in places that are considerate to their plight. As much as there are business owners who feel uncomfortable serving these people, there also exist other businesses that are accommodative. Therefore, it stands to reason that these people should simply take their business elsewhere. However, these arguments fail on a couple of fronts. They fail to completely convince that the action taken by these business owners is right. First and foremost, these arguments trivializes the discrimination being perpetrated on these people. Any type of discrimination is wrong since it hold far reaching impacts. In this case, service denial stands to impact on these individuals and their families negatively. Secondly, these arguments make an outrageous implication that once denied service these people could still simply locate alternative accommodative services nearby. One such notable case of service denial was in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Proponents of service denial have continued to make use of the argument that service are easy to come by in numerous amicus briefs in support of the business owners in this case. These briefs hold anti-queer views that are highly extreme in nature. However, these views act like a one-two punch in the face of queer people in reality. Service denial is a form of discrimination that results to a sought of harm that negatively impacts the peoples physical and psychological health together with their wellbeing. Compounding these effects, experience has shown that on many instances once denied services these people ended up missing these services in alternative places. This implies that denying these people services makes it difficult or rather impossible for them to secure services at all. As a result, the act denies them full participation in the public square. With all these arguments, denying services to queer people on religious grounds is not only right but also inhumane from all possible perspectives and no amount of justification can change that.

Rorty 1984 Truth - 1398 Words

Rorty’s interpretation of the underlying messages of Nineteen Eighty-Four is, to a large extent, consistent with his views on truth and objectivity. â€Å"It does not matter whether two plus two is four is true, much less whether this truth is subjective or corresponds to external reality† (CIS, 176). What Rorty means by this is that it does not matter what one’s beliefs are, or whether those beliefs are true or not†¦ What defines a free society is that people are able to voice their beliefs and opinions without being scared about any repercussions. Winston wrote, â€Å"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows† (1984, 69). It can be†¦show more content†¦He says â€Å"What was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right†. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four?†¦ If both the past and the external world exi st only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable- what then† (1984, 84)? The concept of physical pain is given a lot of importance in 1984. Winston thinks, â€Å"nothing in the world is as bad as physical pain† (1984, 251). It is due to immense physical pain that his process of re-educating himself begins. After being tortured in the dreaded Room 101, Winston set about educating himself in the way the Party wanted. He wrote the Party slogans on the slate they provided him and made himself believe them. He convinced himself that two and two was five; he acquired, laboriously the stupidity required to do that. â€Å"It is not easy to become sane† (1984,263). â€Å"He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him: the horror was that he might also be wrong† (1984, ch 7). Initially, when Conant says that one of Rorty’s doctrines is that â€Å"solidarity should replace objectivity† (Conant, 87), what this seems to imply is that one’s beliefs should be in accordance with that of one’s peers instead of blindly believingShow MoreRelatedThe Perfect Utopia Will Never Be A Reality906 Words   |  4 Pageswarn us about something else we need to fix about today’s society. Thank you so much Atwood, Huxley, Frankl, Wilson, and Freud for your views and have a safe trip back to wherever you might be going. Welcome Foucault, Orwell, Andreas, Burgess, and Rorty. I have noticed that all of your book contain common themes. Some of those themes include forms of discipline and punishment, control of power, and war. That being said who wants to start of the discussion? Foucault: I guess I will start. I thinkRead More Biology, Pragmatism and Contradiction Essay3857 Words   |  16 Pagescontradiction. According to Apel, when we abandon the Universal Philosophy we have to abandon rationality as well, and consequently, Philosophy itself. The performative contradiction appears when trying to think everything as contingent, (including truths and principles that validate the argumentative rationality) we would expect this to be inter-subjectively accepted. Thus, we would be proposing that there are not universal foundations or validations for our statements and simultaneously expectingRead More Equality of Life4144 Words   |  17 Pagesineradicable pluralism as well as cultural diversity. I contend that the defender of religion who argues from the incommensurability of this form of life must also give up all traces of worldview exclusivism, the dogmatic claim to possess the one truth about the world. Finally, I argue that if we are to move into a future of peace, we must acknowledge that various forms of life are lived on a level playing field. That is, all forms have important contributions to make, and none have revelatory advantagesRead MoreChristian Ethics in a Postmodern World Essay example6531 Words   |  27 Pagesin ‘inderterminancy’. French sociologist Jean-Franà §ois Lyotard understands postmodern as the deconstruction of the meta-narratives of the techno-scientism and the capitalism of the modern society because of the â€Å"incredulity toward metanarratives† (1984: xxiv). Paolo Portoghesi (1983) warns us not to treat ‘postmodern’ as a label designating homogeneous and convergent things but rather lumping together different things (including returning to historical and classical tradition) which arise from aRead MoreUnderstanding The World Through The Study Of Knowledge1862 Words   |  8 Pagescentral epistemological interest than the search for elements and justification. However, Traditionalists have replied by challenging the logic of the descriptivist’s assertion to be epistemologists to some extent (i.e Dretske 1985, Kim 1988, Stroud 1984). One method of categorizing out the connection between descriptive and traditional epistemology is to classify their associations as follows: 1. Descriptive epistemology is an opposition to traditional epistemology. Viewing it from this perspectiveRead MoreContemporary Management Issues9330 Words   |  38 Pagesunorganized and ‘subjective. This scholarship has attempted to re-evaluate traditional conceptions of resistance and, in the process, de-romanticise it to include what might appear to be more mundane and quotidian aspects of organizational life (de Certeau, 1984). With this in mind, a whole range of employee responses to and experiences of culture engineering should be examined as potentially transgressive activities. Here we concentrate on three so-called subjective and often covert modalities of resistanceRead MoreEssay about Postmodernism, Deconstructionism, and the Ethnographic Text5376 Words   |  22 Pagesrather than creating meta-theories to explain observed cultural phenomenon and argued for the creation of new, temporally appropriate, modes of expression which questions the implied authority of tra ditional theoretical and methodological constructs (1984). Derrida (1976) questioned the relationship of text and author, challenging the dominance of the latter over the former, offering deconstructionism as an answer to the problem of authorship and interpretation of texts. Clifford (1988) viewed the acceptedRead MoreStudents Role in National Development9194 Words   |  37 Pagesdemonstrated that teachers must take these styles into account. Additionally, researchers have shown that students function at various developmental levels of intellectual and moral reasoning (Canella, 1997; Erickson, 1987; Gilligan, 1982; Kohlberg, 1984; Piaget, 1995). Finally, students may also require modifications in instructional methods, materials and environment because of physical, emotional, perceptual or intellectual exceptionalities (Dunn, Dunn Perrin, 1994). This valuable but challengingRead MoreLanguage and the Destiny of Man12402 Words   |  50 Pagesin modern Europe few areas have been left uncharted by the interpreters of the French philosopher. The conservative picture of Descartes - in epistemology (Bachelard), and subsequently in the archaeology of power (Foucault) or even in metaphysics (Rorty) – is matched against the perfectly equivocal (Derrida) or even the revolutionary Descartes who proclaims liberty as the foundation of being (Sartre). The former metaphysician thus becomes a revolutionary that precedes all revolutions. In his analysisRead MoreCompare and Contrast Functionalism and Structuralism14315 Words   |  58 Pagesincluding Rom Harrà © (see Harrà © 1979; Harrà © and Secord 1972) and Henri Tajfel (1972) in the UK and Ken Gergen in the USA (Gergen 1973; Gergen and Gergen 1984). This shift became a landslide by the 1980s (albeit a relatively small and local one). Again there were several inï ¬â€šuential people, including Henriques and his colleagues (Henriques et al. 1984) and Jonathan Potter and Margaret Wetherell (Potter and Wetherell 1987). By the end of the decade Ian Parker – another leading light of the new movement

The Effects of Red Tide free essay sample

The National Institute of Health began studying the problem in 2000. Their study looked first at the effects of the red tide toxins on mice. The mice surprisingly did not show any respiratory effects, but did show signs of immune suppression. This evidence supports recently documented new illnesses in dolphins and other marine animals, and causes concern for the far reaching implications on the exposed human population. The research team also reviewed health records for local emergency rooms, which showed that respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis increased during the red tide events. When the team investigated further they found that while red tide events were thought to mainly affect the respiratory system, research showed that the manatees were also killed by eating sea grasses that contained the toxins long after the blooms were gone. This caused them to believe that humans may also be affected by eating seafood exposed to the red tide toxins. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects of Red Tide or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Although â€Å"Red Tide† has always been thought to affect mainly marine life, these recent studies have shown it to affect the human population also. The far reaching implications could be enormous, especially for the people who live in often infected areas, as well as for the seafood industry. Further research is necessary to determine how the brevotoxins may be controlled, and how they are formed. Humans who are exposed should be cautious, and steps should be taken to prevent further pollutions that may increase the growth of the problem. Works Cited Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. â€Å"Red Tide Impacts Increasing for Endangered Manatees and Humans. † Biology News Net (Feb 26, 2006): 1-3.