The Flea Essay Example For Students

The Flea Essay Shai Steeck English 2 Essay 1 The Flea John Donne Observe a typical bar; every Saturday night sweat drenched bodies emitting alcohol and pheromones from every pore, exchange conversation, pleasantries, and yes even sex perhaps not directly in view but certainly eluded to. Is this animalistic, barbaric behavior acceptable? Should sex be taken so lightheartedly? Or do we take it to seriously; guarding sex like it was the Holy Grail, or the secret to life itself? These questions may be to deep and pointed for most to approach, yet John Donne in his poem The Flea wades through them like the kiddy pool. In this clever poem Donne uses a flea, blood, and the murder of the flea as an analogy for the oldest most primal exchange, sex. Donne, through symbolic images, not only questions the validity of coveting virginity but also the importance of sex as it pertains to life. The metaphors in The Flea are plentiful, but the symbols repeated throughout the poem are clear, beginning with the most prevalent, and the flea. We will write a custom essay on The Flea specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now This small parasitic creature is chalk full of symbolic meaning. During the time this poem was written the Renaissance the flea was use in many poems about sex. I derive that in this particular poem the flea is symbolic of the act of sex from the speakers remark in the beginning, Mark but this flea, and mark in this, how little that which deniest me is the flea is small and inconsequential, his lady denies him sex, which the speaker believes is also petty. The flea is described as a marriage temple and a carrier of life, but in the next stanza as something insignificant and small. The speaker applies a certain duality to the flea and therefore to sex. The metaphor develops more as it relates to the other symbols. Blood is used more than once as a symbol. The speaker talks of the blood reverently and equates it to honor. Blood in this poem is symbolic of life and the soul. The speaker remarks that in the flea his blood and his ladys blood were mixed, therefore during sex their souls are mingled and become one. This is where the flea becomes a marriage temple. During this part of the poem the he speaks respectfully within the metaphor about sex, noting that it can be a spiritual and important thing. But this is eventually revealed to be only a ploy to prove that if the speakers lady can treat sex so irreverently after he had made comments about how sacred it was, than sex should not be dealt with so seriously. After the speakers lady kills the flea he asks her if she has purpled her nail in the blood of innocence. Using Donnes metaphor as a basis for interpretation the result is that he asks her if they finish the act of sex kill the flea if it will have really diminished her innocence. The speaker is commenting that sex does not have the power to take away innocence or life. The murder of the flea also adds to the overall metaphor. When the speaker and his ladys blood is mixed in the flea the speaker refers to the flea as a marriage, therefore the exchange of life blood during sex forms a marriage between the partners. The narrator asks his lady not to kill the flea, which is symbolic of the end of sex, or orgasm. It was popular belief at the time this poem was written, that every time a man had sex his life was shortened, thus it is reasonable to say that the speaker is also representing the murder of the flea as his own life being taken by his lady during the act of sex. The speaker may feel that if he should have to give a piece of his life to have sex the woman he gives it to should want to accept it willingly and without requiring the man to woo. .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .postImageUrl , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:hover , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:visited , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:active { border:0!important; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:active , .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200 .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u12538db6fa0323b260420c260f4d4200:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Multiple Source EssayConclusively the speaker states that the flea ha not taken hardly any thing of importance from either him or his lad and, just so much honor when thou yeildst to me, will waste, as this fleas death took life from thee. Therefore the act of sex will not diminish either of their lives and his lady will not be giving up hardly anything by yielding to him sexually. The speaker is trying to reason with his lady by lessening the importance of sex in the grand scheme of life. Even today, with every movie and TV commercial screaming sexual connotations, is sex as important and life affirming as we make it out to be? In my view this poem conveys its message loud and clear, but that doesnt mean that I agree with it. This poem has interesting points on which some aspects I agree with. We take sex to seriously, we covet the act of breeding as if it were gold, when truthfully it doesnt affect us as much as we would like to think. Although that is a very valid point it tends to be awfully one sided and testosterone based. While most would agree that we put to much importance on sex, it is an important issue that carries with it consequences, as well as physical and emotional repercussions. Now, this may be more relevant in modern times but sex during the time this poem was written still held most of the same connotations as today. For example disease, pregnancy, spiritual repercussions, and countless emotional issues, all which tend to impact more of the feminine population. In this poem the speaker does not seem to be very respectful of the female he is pursuing. Of course that is conducive to the time but it also says something about the validity of the message of the poem. In synopsis the flea, blood and death of the flea are all used as metaphors for sex; the exchange of life force a very important thing within the act of sex represented as something as insignificant as a flea and then orgasm, which can feel important and significant for a period of time but is really only as important as the death of a flea. The speaker in this poem hopes to convince his lady to sleep with him by trivializing sex and comparing it to something as insignificant as a flea. Meanwhile I say lady, screw the speaker and the flea you would get more of a commitment from a machine than a guy as afraid of human contact as this one.

Algebra Definition

Algebra Definition Algebra is a branch of mathematics that substitutes letters for numbers. Algebra is about finding the unknown or putting real-life variables into equations and then solving them.  Algebra can include real and complex numbers, matrices, and vectors. An algebraic equation represents a scale where what is done on one side of the scale is also done to the other and numbers act as constants. The important branch of mathematics dates back centuries, to the Middle East. History Algebra was invented by Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a mathematician, astronomer, and geographer, who was born about 780 in Baghdad. Al-Khwarizmis treatise on algebra,  al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr waÊ ¾l-muqabala  (â€Å"The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing†), which was published about 830, included elements of Greek, Hebrew, and Hindu works that were derived from Babylonian mathematics more than 2000 years earlier. The term al-jabr in the title led to the word algebra when the work was translated into Latin several centuries later.  Although it sets forth the basic rules of algebra,  the treatise  had a practical objective: to teach, as al-Khwarizmi put it: ...what is easiest and most useful in arithmetic, such as men constantly require in cases of inheritance, legacies, partition, lawsuits, and trade, and in all their dealings with one another, or where the measuring of lands, the digging of canals, geometrical computations, and other objects of various sorts and kinds are concerned. The work included examples as well as algebraic rules to help the reader with practical applications. Uses of Algebra Algebra is widely used in many fields including medicine and accounting, but it can also be useful for everyday problem-solving. Along with developing critical thinking- such as logic, patterns, and deductive and inductive reasoning- understanding the core concepts of algebra can help people better handle complex problems involving numbers. This can help them in the workplace where real-life scenarios of unknown variables related to expenses and profits require employees to use algebraic equations to determine the missing factors. For example, suppose an employee needed to determine how many boxes of detergent he started the day with if he sold 37 but still had 13 remaining. The algebraic equation for this problem would be: x – 37 13 where the number of boxes of detergent he started with is represented by x, the unknown he is trying to solve. Algebra seeks to find the unknown and to find it here, the employee would manipulate the scale of the equation to isolate x on one side by adding 37 to both sides: x – 37 37 13 37x 50 So, the employee started the day with 50 boxes of detergent if he had 13 remaining after selling 37 of them. Types of Algebra There are numerous branches of algebra, but these are generally considered the most important: Elementary: a branch of algebra that deals with the general properties of numbers and the relations between them Abstract: deals with abstract algebraic structures rather than the usual number systems   Linear: focuses on linear equations such as linear functions and their representations through matrices and vector spaces Boolean: used to analyze and simplify digital (logic) circuits, says Tutorials Point. It uses only binary numbers, such as 0 and 1. Commutative: studies  commutative rings- rings in which multiplication operations are commutative. Computer: studies and develops algorithms and software for manipulating mathematical expressions and objects Homological: used to prove nonconstructive existence theorems in algebra, says the text, An Introduction to Homological Algebra Universal: studies common properties of all  algebraic  structures, including groups, rings, fields, and lattices, notes Wolfram Mathworld Relational: a procedural query language, which takes a relation as input and generates a relation as output, says Geeks for Geeks Algebraic number theory: a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations Algebraic geometry: studies zeros of multivariate polynomials, algebraic expressions that include real numbers and variables Algebraic combinatorics: studies finite or discrete structures, such as networks, polyhedra, codes, or algorithms, notes Duke Universitys Department of Mathematics.

Entertainment Architecture and Disney Design

Entertainment Architecture and Disney Design The Walt Disney Company must be a fun place to work. Even the Seven Dwarfs have smiles on their faces as they sing Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, its off to work we go!   But who knew cartoon characters would be asked to hold up the floors of Disney Headquarters in Burbank, California? Designed by internationally known American architect Michael Graves, this whimsical building is a landmark example of entertainment architecture. Disney Architecture Needs Disney Architects The Walt Disney Company is not just for kids. When you visit any of the Disney theme parks or hotels, youll find buildings designed by some of the worlds leading architects, including Michael Graves. Typically, theme park architecture is as the name implies - thematic. Borrowing popular motifs from history and fairy tales, theme park buildings are designed to tell a story. For example, its well known that the romantic Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany inspired Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle in Southern California. But the Walt Disney Company wanted more when Michael Eisner took over in 1984. Were not about safe-deposit boxes. Were in the entertainment business, Eisner told The New York Times. And so the company set out to find architects to develop an entertainment architecture. Architects Who Have Designed for the Walt Disney Company All architects do not submit to the blatant commercialism behind entertainment architecture. Most notably, when the Disney Company was enlisting architects for their Disney World expansion, Pritzker Laureate James Stirling (1926-1992) denied Disneys advances - the commercialization of Britains Queen, the   changing of the guard, and other regal traditions soured the Scottish-born architect on using architecture for frivolous commercial promotion. Many postmodernists, however, jumped at the challenge of designing an architecture whose purpose was to envelop entertainment. They also jumped at the chance to be part of the powerful Disney empire. Architecture becomes magic, whether designing for Disney or not in the 1980s and 1990s. Robert A. M. Stern may be the most prolific Disney architect. At the Walt Disney World Resort, his designs for the BoardWalk and the 1991 Yacht and Beach Club Resorts are modeled after New England private resorts and clubs - a theme Stern also used for the 1992 Newport Bay Club Hotel at Paris Disneyland in Marne-La-Vallà ©e, France. Even more Disneyesque is Sterns 1992 Hotel Cheyenne in France - conceived in the image of a nineteenth-century American western town, but filtered through the lens of Hollywood....Hotel Cheyenne is the town itself. The meaning of the lens of Hollywood is, of course, what became known as the Disney version and not the 1973 horror tale of robots gone amok in the Westworld movie by Michael Crichton. A New York architect known for his sleek, postmodern urban designs, Stern developed the art moderne Disney Ambassador Hotel in 2000 in Urayasu-shi, Japan - a design that looks back to an architecture that represented the promise, magic, and glamour of a time when travel and movies were a romantic escape. Stern is also a champion of the new urbanism movement. In 1997 Sterns architecture firm, RAMSA, was chosen to design the Master Plan for Disneys planned community known as Celebration, Florida. It was to be a real community, where real people live and commute to nearby Orlando, but modeled after a typical sleepy Southern town of children, bikes, and neighborhood pets. Postmodernist architects were enlisted to design playful town buildings, such as the multi-columned Town Hall by Pritzker Laureat Philip Johnson and the Googie-styled movie theater designed by Cesar Pelli. Michael Graves designed a small post office that looks like a lighthouse, or a silo, or a ships smokestack. Graham Gunds inn is designed for visitors to step into 1920s Florida relaxation, but Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown planned the local bank to look like the old J.P. Morgan vault on the Corner of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan - all postmodern fun. Colorado architect Peter Dominick (1941-2009) knew how to design Disneys Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge - resort rustic based on American Rockies. The whimsical Michael Graves (1934-2015) incorporated swans and dolphins, waves and shells into the architecture of the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin hotels. Charles Gwathmey (1938-2009) designed Bay Lake Tower to look like a modern convention center and hotel, which it was. Disney employees work in Team Disney office buildings, which in a postmodern world are designed to look like cartoons. Michael Graves dwarf-clad headquarters building in Burbank, California substitutes dwarfs for Classical order columns. Japanese architect Arata Isozaki uses sundials and mouse ears within the Orlando, Florida Team Disney building. Italian architect Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) created Celebration Place, an office complex that is a drive-by lesson of postmodernism in the history of architecture. When Rossi won the Pritzker Prize in 1990, the jury cited his work as being bold and ordinary, original without being novel, refreshingly simple in appearance but extremely complex in content and meaning. This is the architecture of a Disney architect. Disney Design Specifications At Disney, architects may (1) strive for historic authenticity and recreate historic buildings; (2) take a whimsical approach and exaggerate storybook images; (3) create subtle, abstract images; or (4) do all of these things. How? Take a look at the Swan and Dolphin hotels designed by Michael Graves. The architect creates a storybook destination without stepping on the toes of any Disney character. Giant sculptures of swans, dolphins, and shells not only greet each guest, but also stay with the visitors throughout their journey. Sculptures are everywhere.   Located near EPCOT in the Walt Disney World ® Resort, the hotels architectural theme not only takes storybook-like figures, but also environmental elements as their theme. Like the swans and dolphins, water and sunlight are everywhere. Waves are painted as murals on the hotels facade. The hotel itself is an entertainment destination. What is Entertainment Architecture? Entertainment architecture is the design of commercial buildings with a focus on amusing themes. The approach has  been loosely promoted and/or defined by the entertainment industry, with the Walt Disney Company leading the way. You might suppose that entertainment architecture is the architecture of theaters and amusement parks, and structures exclusively designed by Disney architects. However, the term entertainment architecture can refer to any building or structure, regardless of its location and function, provided that it is designed to stimulate the imagination and encourage fantasy and whimsy. The Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in California may be a hall for entertainment, but its design is pure Gehry. Some works of entertainment architecture are playful recreations of famous monuments. Some feature enormous statues and fountains. Entertainment architecture is often considered postmodern because it uses familiar shapes and details in unexpected ways. Examples of Entertainment Architecture Perhaps the most striking illustrations of entertainment architecture are amusing theme hotels. The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, for example, is designed to resemble a giant pyramid filled with over-sized imitations of ancient Egyptian artifacts. In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the Fantasyland Hotel stimulates make-believe by decking out rooms in various themes, like the Old West and ancient Roman splendor. You will also find many examples of entertainment architecture in Disney World and other theme parks. The Swan Dolphin Hotels may be considered entertainment architecture as guests discover giant birds lurking through windows into lobbies. It is a destination in and of itself. Likewise, the exaggerated pediment at Disney Headquarters in Burbank, California is not supported by Classical columns but is held up by six of the Seven Dwarfs. And Dopey? Hes at the top, within the pediment, unlike any other symbolic statuary youve ever seen. Building a Dream One of the best sources for in-depth information on buildings at Disney resorts world-wide is Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture by Beth Dunlop. Dont let the Disney name in the subtitle fool you. Building a Dream is not a travel guide, a childs storybook or a sugarcoated romanticization of the Disney empire. Instead, Dunlops picture-packed book is a careful study of the imaginative and often-revolutionary designs found in Disney theme parks, hotels, and corporate offices. At over two hundred pages and with a focus on the Michael Eisner years, Building a Dream includes interviews with architects, drawings and color photos along with a helpful bibliography. Author Dunlop has written for numerous architecture, design, and travel magazines, as well as being the architecture critic at the Miami Herald for fifteen years. In Building a Dream, Dunlop approaches Disney architecture with the care and respect of an anthropologist. She examines original concept drawings and historic photographs and she conducts extensive interviews with architects, imagineers and corporate leaders. Architecture enthusiasts will be fascinated by the inside story of how the trendy architects Eisner hired managed to incorporate Disney motifs into complex and often abstract designs. Building a Dream is a book studded with anecdotes: We learn about the heated competition to build the Swan and Dolphin hotels and the oriental philosophies expressed in Isozakis striking Team Disney building. We make dizzy and sometimes disorienting leaps from Disneyland to Walt Disney World to EuroDisney. An occasional technical term, such as scuppers along the parapet may leave some readers baffled, but overall Dunlops tone is relaxed and conversational. Devoted Disney fans may wish Dunlop had spent more time on Cinderellas castle and Thunder Mountain. Even in its early days, the Walt Disney Company pioneered imaginative building styles. Dunlop traces the evolution of the first Disney Main Street, Future World and the original corporate offices. For Dunlop, however, the most exciting architecture was created when Eisner took over the company in 1984. When Eisner commissioned prize-winning architects to create new designs for Disney worldwide, the ideas baked into modern architecture were brought to the masses. This is the importance of the Disney architects. Sources Disney Deco by Patricia Leigh Brown, The New York Times, April 8, 1990 [accessed October 2, 2015]Additional photo of the Team Disney Building in Burbank, California by George Rose/Getty Images; additional photos of the Swan and Dolpin Hotels courtesy Swan Dolphin MediaWDW Architecture, magicalkingdoms.com/wdw/more/architecture.html [accessed January 25, 2018]RAMSA, Hotel Cheyenne, ramsa.com/project-detail.php?project451 and Disney Ambassador Hotel, ramsa.com/project-detail.php?project453langen [accessed January 28, 2018]Pritzker Prize, https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/1990 [accessed January 26, 2018]

Sickle-cell anemia and malaria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sickle-cell anemia and malaria - Essay Example In other words, there are some natural selection traits that favor sickle cell-anemia allele in some individuals. Malaria occurs in the tropical zones and is caused by a protozoa transmitted by the anopheles female mosquito. As such, people from an African descent have the sickle cell anemia allele considering that heterozygotes for the allele are protected from malaria while not showing any significant characteristics of sickle-cell anemia. These people can then live to adult age and transfer these alleles to their offspring, which guarantees the transfer of the allele along the genetic line of individuals, leading to a new gene pool. Therefore, for some recessive alleles that are destructive to the recessive homozygotes, natural selection is an important process through which the heterozygotes of the recessive alleles have to survive (Sabeti, 2008). For instance, when an individual carrying the sickle cell allele is in an area where malaria is not prevalent, having the sickle cell anemia allele does not guarantee any survival advantage. As such, in countries such as United States, there are much fewer cases of sickle cell alleles compared to tropical regions such as in Africa. However, the disease is still reported among people of the African descent, though on low frequencies. This is because, the time required for the allele frequency to reduce significantly to negligible amounts has not passed. With the passage of time, the sickle cell anemia may become extinct in these areas. Application of advanced technologies would ensure individuals are in a position to make better and informed decisions on reproduction, which may help in ensuring extinction of a number of genetic diseases from passing through

United States Probation Officer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

United States Probation Officer - Essay Example Further, serving as a witness in criminal court proceedings shows my commitment to justice and offenders’ behaviour modulation. I have also been able to engage in security circulation activities amongst clients and colleagues, acquiring vital verbal and written communication skills in the process. These skills will be paramount in successful execution of my duties as a probation officer. I will be highly honored to use learnt skills, to serve the community, as a probation officer with the United States Probation Department in New York. I am up to the challenge of serving as a proficient social worker capable of handling the wide array of offenders, together with their families whether in court, prisons or even in mainstream community. I will fulfil my duties with diligence, to foster the department’s success in rehabilitating offenders and preventing them from reengaging in criminal activity. I intend to achieve this by challenging offenders’ behavior, and helping them reform their attitude and demeanor, thus protecting the general public from possibly of multiple offenses. I have also committed myself to learning people and their behaviour, as part of my passion for law enforcement and due to recognizing the fact that a probation officer deals with diverse personalities and duties. Even though a career in law enforcement is bound to be challenging, I am confident that being a federal probation officer will give me a unique opportunity to optimally utilize my analytical, academic and immense work experience. I recognize that a principal part of my job will entail extensive interaction with law enforcement agencies and justice establishments like courts of law. For instance, in order to ensure that offenders abide by the law I will need court orders and decrees to set offenders in the right path toward correction. Further, in the course of administering my duties to the community, I will need to advise individuals to seek justice from the courts

The X-Files :: essays research papers

The X-Files The X-Files is generally acclaimed as the television cult hit of the 1990’s. The pilot that aired in September of 1993 introduced FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Together the two work to uncover the truth behind unsolved cases that defy normal investigation, the cases that the government has buried or ignored, labeling them the â€Å"x-files.† The two agents are wonderful examples of modernism and post-modernism world views. First in order to understand the reasons Scully and Mulder portray the two world views, we must understand what modernism and post-modernism mean. Modernism was the era that was dominated by Freud and Marx, a belief that humans are purely material machines, a belief that we live in a purely physical world and nothing exists beyond what our senses perceive. Modernists believe that people should be rationalistic optimists and depend only on the data of their sense of reason. Scully strongly displays the modernist world view throughout the show even after the two agents have been through many fantastic adventures. In the show as a whole there are modernist aspects because both Scully and Mulder are truth seekers. The shows motto is â€Å"the truth is out there† so this produces a strong concept of truth. However the show as a whole is very post-modern because it questions the modernist world view with its themes. It is interesting the show continually suggests that â€Å"th e truth is out there† but it is hidden under many different interpretations and perspectives. Post-modernism rejects the modernist ideals of rationality, virility, artistic genius and individualism, in favor of being anti-capitalist and scornful of traditional morality. Mulder strongly displays the post-modern world view. Scully is the modernist in the show, she is constantly doubting Mulder and always making a new plot or rationalization for what is happening. Scully often makes fun of or laughs at Mulder’s insistence of the existence of the supernatural or paranormal. Scully values science and rationality and even though the events seem to be unbelievable she never gives in and believes in Mulder’s theories. The main reason Scully was assigned to the x-files project was because she was a skeptic, they trusted her to write a clear scientific analysis of the cases. In the pilot Mulder asks Scully if she believes in extraterrestrials, she replies with "Logically I would have to say no. Given the distances need to travel from the of reaches of space the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft's capabilities —".

Man’s Existence Defined by Being and Nothing Essay

I. Introduction What makes a person alive? Should existence be defined simply by a person’s biological and physical ability to move and breathe? Is existence proven by the mere physical presence of a living person? Philosophers down the ages have advanced many theories of how human existence is defined. Some have advance theories based on the establishment of â€Å"being† after the fulfillment of a life’s purpose. Others opined that a person’s fear or experience of dread and nothingness defines existence. Some however believe that it is a combination of these yin/yang forces that define human existence. II. Discussions on Existence, Being and Nothingness People are defined as human beings in Biology.   It is what separates humans as a specie from animals.   But shouldn’t the word â€Å"human† be enough? What is the significance of the verb â€Å"be?†   Several theories have been advanced to define the tangible things one sees in life but as philosopher Martin Heidegger noticed, they have forgotten to ask what to â€Å"be† really is (Philipse. 1998. p18). The question of what defines human existence has intrigued philosophers over the ages. Theories have gone beyond the basic qualification of life as the simple and obvious ability to move and breathe. Existentialism however, puts forward the more abstract concepts of defining one’s being as influenced by boredom, freedom, commitment and alienation (Warnock.1970.p.4).   It separates the human existence into â€Å"being† and â€Å"nothing.† What makes a human a â€Å"being†? According to Heidegger, a de-constructional view of existence is necessary to include the essence of human’s â€Å"being† as opposed to the classical thought of the obvious and therefore unexplored being (Philipse, 1998.p.3). One of Heidegger’s main influences, Edmund Huserll (Grimsley.1960.p.37) said that philosophy should be described in the context of human experience and goals.   People do and live in accordance with one â€Å"plan† or goal.   Heidegger modified this with his theory of â€Å"care,† (Cochrane. 1956. p112) which, simply stated means that a person’s priorities or what he or she considers important defines their existence.  Ã‚   For him, it is the motivation and the individual needs that define a person’s existence and thus shapes them into what they are. In his work â€Å"Being and Time,† Heidegger created the representation â€Å"Dasein† of the individual that seeks to answer the question as to why he exists.   He states the Dasein is â€Å"thrown† into a world of possibilities and responsibilities, and to account for his existence, the Dasein must take responsibility for all these possibilities (Cochrane, 1956 p. 136). Another philosopher who advances the notion of a reality governed by consciousness, Rene Descartes in his â€Å"Meditations on First Philosophy† states that in human existence, the only thing that cannot be doubted is consciousness.   Reality can have many illusions, but a human being’s consciousness is constant which therefore makes it the only truth (Snooks, 1998.p 26). The famed German philosopher George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Stace,1955. p. 44) summed it up in the statement â€Å"the rational alone is real† which presented the idea that everything can and will only be expressed in rational categories His various works reflected methods predominantly rooted in logic According to Hegel,   the degree of comprehension of concepts is only limited or expanded by the standards of knowledge a person possesses and the level of society he belongs to (Stace,1955. p. 46)   . The ideas of existentialism contradict this. The definition of a person’s existence is not dependent on rational thinking but rather their individual â€Å"beings† in the world they were born in.   Reality in reference to one’s existence is subjective. In Sartre’s â€Å"Being and Nothingness,† he defines the actuality of man’s ideal of completion as the fulfillment of state of â€Å"Being† while nothingness is the failure or lack of this actuality (Schilpp. 1997.p.48) Like Hegel, Sartre also used the concepts of â€Å"Being† in terms of â€Å" in itself†, â€Å"for others†, and â€Å"for and in itself.†   Unlike Hegel however who defined these as organizational thought processes and logic in the individual, Sartre stated these terms with definitions done to identify and qualify the subjective and objective facets of human existence. Regarded as the â€Å"Father of Existentialism,† and one of Hegel’s greatest critics, Soren Kierkegaard (Malantschuk, 2003.p.11 )was a Danish philosopher who proposed that it is an individual’s feelings such as dread and anxiety that lead to making choices that define a person’s life. Kierkegaard believed that the difference between an individual’s self-perception of being and nothingness stems from the â€Å"individuality† of a person and that includes emotions and passions. A person’s existence therefore, is brought about by his fears. He cites a parallel of faith and atheism.   In his theories that were viewed as â€Å"anti-organized religion,† Kierkegaard states that for a person to be able to â€Å"make a leap of faith,† one must first have doubt. Otherwise, one may not be able to differentiate â€Å"faith† from everyday emotions. In the same way, Being cannot exist without â€Å"Nothing† and vice-versa (Malantschuk, 2003.p.90) Kierkegaard also advanced the   paradoxical theory of the Concept of Dread (Ussher, 1968.p. 52). According to Kierkegaard’s concept of Dread, it is only when one has experienced total misery that one can recognize and experience life and living. â€Å"Only by being a sacrificial Isaac would he recognise himself for the beloved of Abraham: and no miracle (he knew in the end) would intervene.† (Ussher, 1968.p. 27). It is not unusual in today’s times to hear the maxim â€Å"You never know what you have unless you’ve lost it.†Ã‚   The misery or anxiety at the thought of losing something makes one realize how much value they have truly assigned to something. The thought of this is echoed in German journalist Helmut Kuhn’s â€Å"Encounter with Nothingness: An Essay on Existentialism† (1949): â€Å"The question of existence is urged upon us chiefly by our interest. We raise it when we care for the existence or the nonexistence of something. When darkness closes down, we do get excited about the existence of light† (Kuhn, 1949) Immanuel Kant presented a style of inquiry that takes to consideration the physiological and empirical facets of a person’s state of Being. Kant believed that an introspective approach was necessary for one to understand and make sense of one’s own being (Kant, 1965). Sartre, one of the strongest critics of Kantian theory argues that the notion that human emotions are insignificant and occasional â€Å"situations† that occur of an individual’s behavior is unacceptable. â€Å"Moreover, emotion must not be considered as a set of empirical facts gained through introspection or as a â€Å"corporeal phenomenon† , but rather as â€Å"an organized form of human existence†Ã‚   (Schilpp, 1997.p.13) As a person’s existence and state of â€Å"Being† are subjective, so is the definition of â€Å"nothingness.† The lexicon meaning of the word â€Å"nothing† is given as â€Å"1 : not any thing : no thing; 2 : no part;   3 : one of no interest, value, or consequence† In philosophy however, despite the many theories that sought to define existence, the definition of the word â€Å"nothing† seems to be universal.   It simply means failure to attain a state of Being through lack of fulfillment and failure at the attainment of purposes or goals. III. Summary The human being and existence is a complex and paradoxical concept.   All the concepts are true in a sense, but were never really complete in describing or pinpointing the meaning of life. Different schools of thought range from describing human existence in a mathematical sense then evolving into the more abstract consideration of complex human emotions. Classical philosophy in its rational and logical basis, says it is â€Å"Mind over matter.† Sartre, Hegel and Heidegger’s philosophies are summed up in â€Å"the End justifies the Means.† Kierkegaard’s neurotic view of the existence as a result of anxiety and dread is summed up in â€Å"You don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it.† IV. Conclusion Given the many points of view advanced, there remains a constant, and that is recognition of the human free will. It is the will that makes a choice that rational, experiential or pessimistic, influences the â€Å"End† that defines and justifies a person’s existence. A person’s experience of past and present in addition to his perception of what the future could be are subjective.   The significance people place on certain things is also subjective.   Reactions are subjective.   Life is subjective.   One can choose to define existence in the manner of different philosophies. However, it is important to note that these schools of thought are not rules that encompass every person’s experience of life.