Liberalism and Social Contract Essay -- essays research papers fc

Liberalism and Social Contract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Charles Larmore speaks of moral complexity as it exists in a pluralistic sense. The idea of pluralism says that each and every person has their own separate conception of the good as it appears to them. It is I virtually impossible to have to separate entities come up with the same exact concept of the â€Å"Good Life† and what it holds for them. As there are these conflicts ideals that exist in each of us it is possible for our conception of the good to come under attack from competing concepts that are held by others around us. Some one who is Muslim may have a conception of the good that wants to eradicate me and my notion of the good. There needs to exist some centralized thought controlled by the state to protect each individual concept of the good that exists under the people it resides over. If pluralism is true and evident in society then there needs to exist a liberal state to have a manner of political order to protect the differing conceptions of the good that exists within it to protect the personal ideals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main idea that Larmore is trying to set out between the political order and personal ideals is that the Kant’s idea of the right being prior to the good is essential to the protection or cooperation of these two principles. Although this is a theory from Kant it is not a metaphysical like Kant brings up, rather it is a political movement that is necessary for the protection of individual personal ideals. The right of political neutrality must take priority over any individual conception of the good. This justifies political authority as the right of neutrality is more important than the personal good because without any sort of neutrality of the state none of us would be able to keep our own ideals of what the good is and practice it in our lives. This principle of primacy of the right is a political ideal that does not need to extend into all of morality but is necessary in the manner of political order. This primacy is important in the manner that it literally allows for that personal good to exist. For a moment imagine if some one lived in Mooneyville and their conception of the good differs from everyone else around him. It is essential for this mooneyite to give primacy of the right in the political realm so he is able to hold his own conception o... ...king over their own conception of the good. Through this theory I think we have the best chance of holding our individual conception of good without having it attacked for any reason.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This theory of liberalism holds only as far as people in the given society make their own attempts to create and maintain it. The theory engulfing these thoughts are only as good as they are put into practice in society as a whole and by the citizens that live with this inherent pluralism. Most modern societies have made a shift to these liberal states save a few totalitarian states. I am happy to give a way some of my freedoms to shoot another man to allow myself the freedom of worrying about being shot walking down the street. Of course there are always outliers that exist but either they are systematically brought into contract or thrown out of the society by way of prison or in a philosohpy department some where in Ohio. Bibliography Davison & Wolf. The iI dea of a Political Liberalism. Binmore, Ken. Game Theory and the Social Contract, Volume I: Fair Play. Hampton, Jean. Hobbes and The Social Contract Tradition. Larmore, Charles. Patterns of Moral Complexity.

European wars of religion Essay

The 14th century was an era of great crisis for Europe; disorder in the Catholic Church rattled people’s faith in authorities and religion. In this dark period, Europeans desired a new start, or in other words a cultural rebirth. This cultural rebirth was named † The Renaissance† which gives meaning in French â€Å"rebirth† The people who gave this name also thought there was a clear distinction between Dark Ages and their century. They coined the terms â€Å"modern† and â€Å"ancient† and saw Middle Ages as a long break from enlightenment. In addition to that, according to the City University of New York at Brooklyn, â€Å"immense hunger for learning about classical antiquity was reborn† after the Middle Ages.* During the Middle Ages, there was a mentality that individuals should devote their lives to the church above everything. In that time education was exclusively based on religion. Many scholars were fixated on the idea that faith was more important than mind and reasoning. This situation changed when Renaissance thinkers split from medieval tradition and emphasized individual experience and materialistic approach to life instead of religious duties. This philosophy emerged due to Italians exploration and revision of the ancient Roman and Greek texts and scriptures partly because they were surrounded by the remnants of Roman Empire and they have noticed the disastrous place Western culture has landed on. They greatly expanded the ancient works and innovated new ideas. Intellectual people such as writers, sculptors, architects were valued in the society, unlike Middle Age times. There was now a new worldview called humanism which valued human beings and brought attention to the human ma gnificence in both physical and mental areas. Humanism also brought increased enthusiasm in exploring things and quest of knowledge. Renaissance intellectuals at the time were in awe of these fresh ideas. Almost every institution saw great changes and secular arrangements. Education saw improvements. Pupils were now separated by their age and skills. Art now was interested in human proportions and realistic aspects. There was still some religious paintings but Renaissance artist mostly drew from and inspired by real life. With printing press’s invention by Johannes Gutenberg allowed for far-reaching access to important secular books and literature and most importantly Bible. It became normal for common people to read and think in their own language. This meant vernacular-meaning their mother tongue- literature aided with the spread of humanistic ideas beyond intellectuals of the time. Writers like Petrarch and Dante wrote in Italian and believed everyone should be able to read in their languages. Scientists also began to value observation over religious teachings and viewed everything with skepticism. They examined their theories by evidence. Even sometimes some scientists like Galileo Galilei gathered enough courage to speak out against the Church. But Renaissance didn’t exclusively mean separation from religion altogether, rather abandoning old Middle Age values and bringing new insights to the human perception of life, art, and everything. Rhetoric was born as a consequence of this. Renaissance was possible thanks to the recovery of Roman and Greek literature by scholars of that time. Latin was also used that time but it was more academic and monkish. Upon revisiting Latin texts in a more secular view people began to shift their consciousness and appreciate ancient culture. They thought they were alike in a worldly sense. They believed they had the same delicacy over important matters and they both believed in the humanities power to tackle everything. Then they started to study Greek which inspired Romans. The Greek manuscripts were present in Italy because during the fall of Constantinople many Christian scholars fled to Rome. They brought tales of Homer and many other important books. This spur philosophical inquiries. These maniscruptures made people start thinking about virtues of the human soul. They were also interested in the usage of language its effects itself. Historian Bruni once said â€Å"knowledge alone is not enough, we must add the power of exp ression to make effectual use of what we know† implying rhetoric. Ancient writings had the other function too. They offered practical teachings about life. They consisted of not theological but moral grounds with given answers secular in nature. This was at its most basic, a belief in the identity of the human spirit under its all epiphanies. They found that in classical texts there existed an ideal of human life, both moral and intellectual, by which they can profit now. During the Renaissance period, people’s views on mankind changed drastically. Before this era scholars were generally speaking with a single voice praising a similar human type which was frail, poor, withdrawn from life, quiet and needy. With Renaissance, the focus on God and religion as the main character shifted to human himself. During this era, art showed people as god-like creatures who were in their perfect shape. This made people feel graceful and beautiful in a sense that made them proud of themselves. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa was done to portray the human beauty and inner mystery in realistic ways. There was also inclination for wealth accumulation and striving for better living conditions. Involvement with everyday life and taking care of themselves was becoming the norm. Public duties for common men were often overlooked and praising of extraordinary men with dreamable qualities was taking place. The goal was the manifestation of hu mans unique powers and showing their ability to steer their circumstances using willpower. Their destiny was not up to some higher being rather people with their own being paving their way to achieving the maximum of everything they get their hands on. Individuality was welcomed and people realized they were different on the inside than everyone else and made sense of themselves in the universe and complicated social structures. This obsession with humans can be even seen in almost every art branch of the time. Instead of focusing on traditional illustrations of religious symbols, artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo painted the human frame in every depth possible. With the help of anatomy, they tried to illustrate perfect detail, scale, and dimension. Also to improve upon their realistic values they relied heavily on depth and texture.* Space in their paintings was used to indicate a moving and vivid world with real human beings living ground. They used earthly, meaning tangible, objects to portray a realistic background. While earlier paintings had been 2d objects against white backgrounds and combined many scenes in one painting, Renaissance paintings focused on one particular scene or moment in time in a 3d realistic view like some scenery was localized and frozen in particular time and place. This enabled viewer to enter that artwork. Painters of the Renaissance researched perspective and cre ating the illusion of a three-dimensional area. Art was objectified so every human looking at it can perceive some unchangeable truths about it. It was solidified for the sake of realistic proportions. Artworks represented human as not symbolic or imitation of one another but with their distinct personalities. Architecture and design of most of the constructions had symmetry and ratio to it now. Buildings were built in regarding their luxury and accessibility to aid human use and show off human greatness. Sculptures were made in 3d scale so humans could see it from every direction* Donatello, for example, carved his statues that were meant to stand alone, and be viewed from every angle.* And David created his most well-known sculpture that has the form of the idealistic human body that draws the focus on the individual. In conclusion with Renaissance, Europe, in general, saw a revival of thought, reshaping and secularising every human activity with the wisdom of ancient civilizations and put everything in a realistic, rationalistic foundation. It established human as the center of the universe and found its wonders in this creature. It would change the course of the world for generations to come.

Family Photo Albums

J Lee Matt Schwisow ENGL 101 16 July 2012 Family Photo Albums Every summer on our family vacation my mother would say â€Å"One, two, three, cheese† and snap a photograph. My brother and I always hated being in the pictures and wondered why she still made us be in the picture. So why did my mother insist on making us be in the picture? She wanted us to be able to remember every place we have traveled together and capture the memory. The fact we take photographs is a sign we want to preserve our memories.Memories with family and friends can be remembered by taking photographs. Photographs aren’t just for the sake of taking but they also have great personal meaning and are essential to how we may view our own lives. Naturally a human’s memory does not have the ability to recall all events from the past. Therefore, photographs are representations we use to capture the past and recollect those days. Family albums have played a significant role as a directory of famil y ideology. It is a remembrance of our family history and it holds sentimental ties within us.Viewing photographs of deceased loved ones enables to document their lives as they happened and to remember all the memories they had made. I believe that family photographs are form of cultural and personal artifacts expressing unity or coherence. The unity of my family’s photo album has so much significance clustered into one book. Despite the fact this album may be insignificant to others, it carries so much meaning to myself personally. It is a visual of my past and present life. It shows a way of communication and indicated how my family interacts within each other and our relationship among us.It highlights the most important days of each one of us' lives such as birthdays, family gathering, graduation, wedding photos, and more. Family photo albums represent times of happiness and sadness, but as a whole they are one item that can inform us of our family history in such a signi ficant way. For instance, one can represent something so happy and excited in my life such as birthday party and other one can bring sadness from looking at a photo of past loved ones I lost. One photo that is particularly special to me is a group family shot that was taken at our yearly family gathering back inKorea. Every year we used to go camping in the woods or at least have a big barbeque party for about twenty people gathered up including my aunts, uncles, and cousins. This particular photo symbolizes my family sticking together as one. Although the moments passed me by, these photographs keep the memory alive. I know that whenever I am feeling sad or depressed, I can just look back and remember the good times I had with my family who lives so far away. Nowadays, most people keep their photographs online such as on their personal webpage or Facebook.However, having the photographs printed and keeping them inside our actual real photo albums seems more meaningful and heart tou ching. I believe photographs represent the record of a time offering eyewitness version of history that reflects relationships among people, objects, and events. For instance, before I was born my paternal grandparents passed away and I was never given the opportunity to get to know them in person. I was pleased to see the photos of them in our family photo album that my dad showed me when I was young. Photographs offer proof of past lives and they sustain their power of a personal expression of a time.Family photographs are signifiers of a collective life and it is a constant reminder of a connectedness like kinship or friendship. For instance, in times of disrupted or disconnected relations among people, including times of war, when isolation and displacement become the regulation. At that time the family photograph provides reassurance or encouragement and it reconnects individuals and addresses the lost balance. Personal images, like family photographs, offer an emotional and ev en ideological foundation for memory to remind us of these differences in order to understand the present.I definitely want to share this pleased experience to my own children later in life because I feel that I truly have benefited from knowing about my youth even those events that I do not remember. Even that one particular photo could bring back the memories and that one particular photo could remind us to never forget that event, person, and place and be in my mind and heart forever. Family photo albums may take time and energy to complete but it is worthy and it presents a reward of a book full of memories of your own family. All the events that took place throughout the history of my life are all kept together collectively.It highlights the most important events that have happened to my life so far. Lastly, I believe family photographs are perishable commodities that need to be preserved. After all, you don’t make memories but you live them. A family album is almost a t reasured heritage or legacy that speaks volume about my cherished times and keeping up the unforgettable and valuable memories of a family reunion, a picnic, birthday, get together or any other family celebrations and good times with a well kept family album. Family memoirs, vintage or new, are priceless and cannot be bartered or exchanged for anything.