Modern Science And Materialism Essays (1942 words) - Ontology

Modern Science And Materialism Modern Science and materialism What is real? This question has puzzled many what is really real or what is reality. Reality as I shall explain is one that is according to materialism and proven by science. Materialism is defined, as the metaphysical view holding that matter alone is real. This is what Hugh Elliot proves in his argument Modern Science and Materialism. By use of his argument I will answer the questions of what is real, what humans need to know, if it is possible to know what is real and how, how to distinguish real for non-real, where humans fit in, and how we can benefit from materialism. First, what is real? Reality is only one thing, and it is all principles of matter and energy. When you reach out and touch something it is matter, when you look to the skies all around you sense this reality of matter and energy from the light in the sky to the ground beneath us. Elliot says that the ?universe consists of matter and energy in a state of permanent change.?(Pg. 307 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) What Elliot is saying is matter is all objects being discerned, energy consisting of motion, heat, light, sound, electricity, and etc., and permanent change is real. This permanent change means that everything when you take a look around our universe it never stands still relative to the rest of the universe, and even science has proven this with the second law of thermodynamics it states that all systems will change spontaneously to less ordered. Now this is a scary thought that we wouldn't be able to grasp reality if it always changes on its own. This raises a serious question, how can we understand or live according to reality if it always is changing? Well, there is no need to worry about this fact of change, because we can understand how it works we our not helpless against nature. The universe will change according to Elliot and science, but the universe is not a chaotic place. It has procedures or fixed sequences that is follows it gives us humans' knowledge about events so certain that we can predict the future. Elliot also states this he says that the universe ?it follows certain fixed sequences-usually called laws-which are so definite that even in the present state of knowledge many future events can be prophesied with certainty.?(Pg. 308 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) Yes, now we have something to follow according to reality it is these, as Elliot states, laws. But unlike the laws of the government that are sometimes hard to follow these laws of the universe our ?fixed sequences? that can't be broken, and what a relief. I have already mentioned one of these laws, but there is still others that govern us for our good. One is the law of gravity that states that large masses will exert a pull on other masses, and this is a law for the good of mankind. For if large masses didn't attract we would lose our atmosphere to space and so too we would be blown out into space. Yet, we have these laws that govern reality, but is it possible for us to gain the knowledge of all reality? Well, for us as humans to have knowledge we must have the facts, the ultimate facts of reality. When a mind has a small amount of real facts the reality that he constructs is less real. The more facts that we can accumulate the closer we get to true reality or what is really real. Hugh Elliot knew this he states ?before we can discern the deeper relationships of existence and the universe, we must know about these ultimate facts.?(Pg. 308 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) This is how is we know reality we must construct it out of facts, and as Elliot stated we must know about these ultimate facts. This is what makes Elliots argument so easy to believe because he knew where to go to get these facts he gained knowledge before he gave his argument. To make this easy how many times have you thought that for sure you knew

Democracy in Ancient Athens and Democracy Today

Democracy in Ancient Athens and Democracy Today While wars today are fought in the name of democracy as if democracy were a moral ideal as well as an easily identifiable government style, it is not really that black and white. The inventors of democracy were the Greeks who lived in small city-states called poleis. Contact with the wide world was slower. Life lacked modern conveniences. Voting machines were primitive, at best. The people the ones who put the demo- in democracy were intimately involved in decisions that affected them and would be appalled that bills to be voted on now require reading through thousand-page tomes. They might be even more aghast that people actually vote on those bills without doing the reading. What Do We Call Democracy? The world was stunned when Bush was first named the winner of the U.S. presidential race, even after more U.S. voters had cast ballots for Gore. How could the U.S. call itself a democracy, yet not select its officials on the basis of majority rule? Well, part of the answer is that the U.S. was not established as a pure democracy, but as a republic where voters elect representatives and electors. Whether there has ever been anything close to a pure and total democracy is debatable. There has never been universal suffrage and Im not talking about voters disenfranchised by corruption or improper balloting and tallying. In ancient Athens, you had to be a citizen to vote. That left out more than half the population. Introduction Democracy [demos ~ the people; cracy kratos strength/rule, so democracy rule by the people] is considered an invention of the ancient Athenian Greeks. This page on Greek democracy brings together articles on the stages democracy went through in Greece, as well as the controversy Greek democracy caused, with passages from period thinkers on the institution of democracy and its alternatives.​ Democracy Helped Solve Ancient Greek Problems The ancient Athenian Greeks are credited with inventing the institution of democracy. Their governmental system wasnt designed for the enormous, spread-out, and diverse populations of modern industrialized countries, but even in their small communities [see Social Order of Athens], there were problems, and the problems led to inventive solutions. The following are roughly chronological problems and solutions leading to what we think of as Greek democracy: The Four Tribes of Athens: The ancient tribal kings were too weak financially and the uniform material simplicity of life enforced the idea that all tribesmen had rights. Society was divided into two social classes, the upper of which sat with the king in council for major problems.Conflict Between Farmers and Aristocrats: With the rise of the hoplite, non-equestrian, non-aristocratic army, ordinary citizens of Athens could become valued members of society if they had enough wealth to provide themselves the body armor needed to fight in the phalanx.Draco, the Draconian Law-Giver: The privileged few in Athens had been making all the decisions for long enough. By 621 B.C. the rest of the Athenians were no longer willing to accept arbitrary, oral rules of those who lay down the law and judges. Draco was appointed to write down the laws.Solons Constitution: Solon redefined citizenship so as to create the foundations of democracy. Before Solon, the aristocrats had a monopoly on the govern ment by virtue of their birth. Solon replaced the hereditary aristocracy with one based on wealth.city,coast, andinland. Cleisthenes and the 10 Tribes of Athens: When Cleisthenes became a chief magistrate, he had to face the problems Solon had created 50 years earlier through his compromising democratic reforms foremost among which was the allegiance of citizens to their clans. In order to break such loyalties, Cleisthenes divided the 140-200 demes (natural divisions of Attica and the basis of the word democracy) into 3 regions: Cleisthenes is credited with instituting moderate democracy. The Challenge - Is Democracy an Efficient System of Government? In ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy, not only were children denied the vote (an exception we still consider acceptable), but so were women, foreigners, and slaves. People of power or influence werent concerned with the rights of such non-citizens. What mattered was whether or not the unusual system was any good. Was it working for itself or for the community? Would it be better to have an intelligent, virtuous, benevolent ruling class or a society dominated by a mob seeking material comfort for itself? In contrast with the law-based democracy of the Athenians, monarchy/tyranny (rule by one) and aristocracy/oligarchy (rule by the few) were practiced by neighboring Hellenes and Persians. All eyes turned to the Athenian experiment, and few liked what they saw. Beneficiaries of Democracy Endorse It On the following pages, youll find passages on democracy from some of the philosophers, orators, and historians of the time, many neutral to unfavorable. Then as now, whoever benefits from a given system tends to support it. One of the most positive positions Thucydides puts into the mouth of a leading beneficiary of the Athenian democratic system, Pericles.

Mythology Greek Hero Theseus Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mythology Greek Hero Theseus - Research Paper Example grandfather, Pittheus , king of Troezen, got to know, with the oracle’s help, that authority in the Athens would belong to the Aegeus? descendants , so he had lubricated Aegeus ( who was deemed a childless) and let him to sleep with his daughter, Aethra, who had an intimacy with Poseidon that or the previous night (Graves). Theseus grew up as a fearless and courageous boy. When he had reached the 16-years age, his mother Aethra brought him to the place, where was the stone, under which his father, Aegeus, leaving his wife many years ago, left his things – a sword and sandals. He did so, because he was afraid taking Aethra with him, forasmuch as at the Athens there had been foreshadowed the mine against him by his nephews pretending on his throne. Aethra unveiled her son the secret of his birth and Theseus, taking his father?s things, started out for the Athens. But before this by cutting the strand of his hair he dedicated himself to the Apollo, making a deal with him ( Price). It is worth to say it wasn’t the easiest way he had chosen, not by the sea, but overland, through the Corinthian Isthmus. On his way Theseus had met and vanquished many brigands, and each of them he lynched how they did to their victims. English proverb quotes: â€Å"A hero is a man who is afraid to run away†, and he never did so. ... Theseus punished Sinus in the same way, and this act had laid the foundation for the Isthmian games. Then he killed the wild boar of Cromyon. Also Theseus met the Periphetes, son of Hephaestus, who was killing wayfarers with his brazen stick, and the brute Cercyon, making people to fight till death. And, of course, there was Procrustes, also called Damastes, who wanted all the travelers to try on his bed: those, who were tall he was putting on the short bed and cutting their legs off and those, who were short , he was putting on the long bed and stretching. Theseus: (after killing Procrustes): â€Å"So you have done to travelers, so shall you endure; you've made your bed, now lie on it†( Graves). Theseus came to the Athens on the eighth day of hetacombeon month as a juvenile hero, victor of the monsters, but till the moment he had been accepted by Aegeus as his son, he had to pass a few tests. According to the one version, Aegeus at first sent him to hunt the Marathon bull, an d when Theseus successfully came back, his father offered him a bowl with the poisoned vine, as he has been told by his wife, the witch Medea. But when Theseus drew out his sward to cut meat, Aegeus realized all. He casted down the bowl and banished Medea away (Price). Theseus saved his father and himself of the Palatines, he had made an ambush and blitzed them entirely. But the most well-known myth is about the Theseus And the Minotaur. The king of Crete, Minos, whose son Androgeus was killed during the Marathon in the Athens, every year demanded Aeugeus to send him seven the most beautiful girls and seven boys for the monster Minotaur, half-man and half-bull, born as a result of forbidden love of charmed by Poseidon Minos? wife and the white sacrificial bull. Theseus