Hannah's English 105 Blog

Bacon and Darwin From the beginning of time, humankind has always tried to reason how the world around them came to be. Francis Bacon studied the reasons people use idols to explain their world. Idols are things that people worship as creators of the world and everything in it and ensures everything stays in balance. Idol is an appropriate word to use for this definition. There are many idols in Bacon's works such as the idols of the cave, marketplace, and theater. If we were to place theses in ranking of importance they would be as follows: the cave, the marketplace, the theater. This is due to the things that they believe each idol is in control of. The idol of the cave is over the land where people can grow good and make a living. Next, the idol of the marketplace allows the success and tranquility of all transactions in the market. This idol is the result of social intercourse, or communication. Finally, the idol of the theater allows personal pleasure from art. This idol a

The Social Climb of Women  Virginia Woolf is a well-known female author that wrote of how women should be held to the same standards as men of the time with regard to intellect and talent. One of her most famous works is Shakespeare's Sister , a novel explaining what would happen if Shakespeare had a sister that possessed the same artistic and intellectual strengths. She believes that if this were to occur then she would not have been taken as a successful part of the theater industry. Woolf wrote this originally for the women population at Oxford colleges. One can discern this from the abundant use of common women stereotypes and topics that most women find insulting and the statements of how men wish to be superior to women. The chapter headings from Trevelyan's History of England reveal that historians are concerned that only great women receive credit for their work while average women are continuously left unrecognized. Woolf not only wrote of the suffrage of women b

The Human Mind The complexity of the human mind has always fascinated humankind. It is amazing how our brain is able to process thousands of things at the same time and still command motor functions. The study and hypothesizing about the human mind can be dated back as early as Plato. Plato is a well-known thinker and philosopher from ancient Greece. Being from such a privative time period, many of Plato's assumptions and believes are unreliable in modern science. One of these topics is the dependability of the senses. Senses are how we perceive the world around us, and we must rely on these senses to keep us safe; however, they often may deceive us. When it comes to praising the senses we are materialistic. However, we should avoid relying solely on the materialistic. We can do this by learning more about the science and history of things around us so that we rely more on knowledge instead of sight or hearing. If we can achieve this, we will be able to understand our world full

Social Issues Through the Works of Past Authors In recent years, the stereotypes of people based on their social rank, economical status, gender, and age have been nearly destroyed by the individual in the past and present that have spoken out against these assumptions. (1) The most prominent reasons behind this is because of the lasting negative effects or, as referred to by Mary Wollstonecraft, the pernicious effects left behind by this treatment and stereotyping. Some of these pernicious effects can cause people to lose faith in themselves and continue on as they are and not trying to rise above their current situation to better things by ethical means. (2) In her essay, Mary Wollstonecraft, states her strong distaste in regards to comparing women as property; however, in her time, many women were regarded as this in society by men of all classes. Despite the efforts of many women of the past, some women of high and lower classes alike would not stand up in order to help the ge

Techniques for the Best Education Education is one of the most important thing to instill in a child. However, one cannot force someone to want to learn more about subjects they may not be interested in. It is vital to the future that we not only instill an education, but we must also form a love for the pursuit of knowledge. Therefore, we must make the act of learning enjoyable from the earliest interaction with school. This means that one must study and try to improve the methods of teaching each age groups of children. This was very important to Maria Montessori, a progressive educator from the late 1800s and early 1900s. (1) She believed that if you wish to instill a love for learning you must study the past efforts and create newer and better methods of teaching that will engage even the most excitable children. One of the things that Montessori studied was the effect of school furniture on students. (2) Through her research, she discovered that the furniture used by the school

The Formation of Capitalism and the Role of Agriculture. Adam Smith was known as the "father of economics". This is because he is both credited and blamed for creating modern capitalism. His most well-known work is Natural Progress of Opulence . In this work, Smith writes of how he believes the perfect government should function and how it should handle the goods industry. He states that all societies should be focused around economic trade. He defends his argument by explaining how everything that makes a functioning society is reliant on the production and trade of all goods. I agree with this part of his idea because every seemingly small job has a very large impact on the rest of the country. One industry cannot thrive without the other industries existing. Through this work Smith explained, in great detail, how he believes the country developed capitalism type of functioning. He also explain how more developed countries are much richer than less developed countri

The Affluent and Government Help To be affluent means to have a great deal of money. People that fall into this category are often referred to as the upper class. Some people in this group are known to be selfish and uncaring; however, as in every group, there are people that are compassionate toward others. “An affluent society that is also both compassionate and rational would ensure a decent standard of income for all its members. Such a policy would prevent parents from passing on poverty to their children.” (Galbraith). With this in mind, there are people in the American society that hold true to this definition of affluent, but there are also those that are selfish. There are many signs to signify affluence, but the most prominent one is wealth. Often times this can cause a psychological disorder known as affluenza. This often occurs in young wealthy teenagers. They may display symptoms such as lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and isolation. It can cause them to act

Rich vs Poor: How Can We Help? Karl Marx was a philosopher and intellectual thinker from Germany during the 1800s. He, along with a group that shared his beliefs, published The Communist Manifesto, a book that stated their ideal government. Marx opens the paper by stating that every new form of government needs to be properly introduced to the minds of society, so that they can be informed when they make their decision on the effectiveness of the government type. He then continues the book by demonstrating two different classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. While the bourgeoisie are the upper class and are receiving the most credit and capital from the ventures of the city, the proletariat class are workers and live only by the jobs they acquire. While the working class is being overwhelmed trying to keep up with the growing demand for their products, the upper class still moves the industry faster and further. This expansion of the world market for goods may lead to the working

Government Through the Centuries Aristot le was a forward-thinker from ancient Greece that learned from the famous philosopher Plato. He often taught on subjects such as ethics, government, and freedom. From his teachings, one could assume that he would respond to the painting by Howard Chandler Christy with questions of the type of government being formed and the priorities the new government would hold. He would also push toward forming a democracy as compared to an Oligarchy. This is because he believed in the need for variety in leadership to provide the best government for society, not just the privileged members. He would say that the only way for the country to prosper is for the rich and poor to live in harmony. This would mean that capital would not dictate if a person should be a leader; therefore, the majority, the poor, would be happy because their wishes are considered despite not being able to buy influence. During the late 1760’s and 1780’s, the Unite

            Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is an extremely well known civil rights leader during 1950-1960’s. He was originally a pastor of a local church, and he felt moved to speak and take non-violent action against the mistreatment of African Americans at the time. He lead many non-violent protests and presented numerous motivational speeches until his assassination on April 4, 1968. One of his best known works of Dr. King is his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Throughout this work, Dr. King speaks of his beliefs surrounding the unjust treatment African Americans were forced to endure. He states that “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” ( A World of Ideas, 255). By this he means that where ever injustice is the people willing to fight it should be there. In order to do the most good in a situation one must be near the actual place of the events. This helps draw greater attention to the people directly afflicted. Dr. King feels that every injustice needs to be fought agai

Thoughts on Civil Disobedience and the Mexican War             Henry David Thoreau was a citizen of the United States of America from 1817 to 1862. He was a very opinionated and passionate man. If he believed in something or that a citizen should have a right, then he felt as though everyone should know. In his work, Civil Disobedience ,   Thoreau’s main topic was his discussed with the multitude of taxes being imposed upon the citizens of the United States. He first discusses the immorality of the governments actions surrounding the various taxes. He believes that “The government is best which governs the least”. This means that he thinks the best action for the government is to leave the people alone. This would allow room for the citizens to be held fully responsible for their own actions. However, he does not think that government should be fully removed, but it should be improved upon by the input of the citizens. Thoreau believes that the current government treats any

Government Through the Eyes of Some of History’s Best Minds             Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher whose thoughts helped influence the French revolution. He enjoyed inquiring of his government because it helped him understand and even come to love it more the more he learned about the interworking’s of his government. He also believed, as citizens, everyone has rights and should be knowledgeable of the way their government operates.   Near the beginning of his work, Rousseau debates the comparison of slave to master and citizen to ruler. His main argument is that they are not similar because while the slave relinquishes his rights for subsistence from the master, the ruler relies on the people to provide for him. Rousseau is concerned with the sovereignty of the people and he believes that the individual is separate from the state. For example, in times of war, if the “enemy” lays down their arms then you should not kill them because the fight is with the country as a

Lau-tzu and Machavelli are great political minds from two different time eras and cultural backgrounds. Lau-tzu has a much more “laissez-faire” type view of the government and the role of political leaders, while Machavelli would rather keep the people in check to avoid any mutiny that would arise from any excessive show of compassion. Lau-tzu wrote his thoughts on what makes a great leader in a work known as Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching. Throughout the text he points out that virtue should be at the center of a master’s, as he refers to the ruler, mind. He believed that all masters should not allow the people know that they are actually being ruled, “When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit. Act for the people’s benefit. Trust them; leave them alone.” ( Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching , stanzas 58 and 59). With this statement Lau-tzu is meaning that people are more willing to do the morally correct thing if they believe that it is of their own choos