Another idea related to this is the idea of predestination which was the view of the philosopher- John Calvin. Predestination is the idea that our lives are set/planned out previous to the start of our lives. Calvin said that man is “inherently evil and is not capable of good as his free will chooses to reject God”. Therefore, this suggests that God has predestined our lives as to those who will be saved and who will not. This further reinforces that we have no choice or influence on our lives and the events that happen, so therefore God will know the ethical decisions we will make as he has already predestined them in our lives.
“Logos” describes a kind of truth that strives for objectivitythrought the use of critical reason, while “mythos” describes a truth whose purpose is to overcome our subjective sense of separateness from the world and other living beings. Though past societies understood the distinction betwwn the two, Armstrong contends that in our time both skeptics and religious people treat mythos as a set of objective claims. After reading “Homo Religiosus,” the concept of keeping mythos separate from logos is impossible to
We should ask ourselves why certain patterns occur and not just accept that it was by “pure chance”. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/determinism Before there was anything called philosophy, religious accounts of man's fate explored the degree of human freedom permitted by superhuman gods. The Making myths often end in ventures of the first humans clearly making decisions and being held accountable. But a strong fatalism is present in those tales that foretell the future, based on the idea that the gods have intuition of future events. Anxious not to annoy the
Rand says “Reality, the external world, exists independent of man’s consciousness, independent of any observer’s knowledge, beliefs, feelings, desires or fears…” (qtd. The Ayn Rand Institute 1). Consciousness, therefore, is to distinguish reality, not to fashion or form it around a personal belief. Consequently, Objectivists reject all forms of a supernatural or any beliefs unfounded in fact. In the quote below Rand explains why she rejects religion outright, and she believes man himself deserves the attention: Just as religion has preempted the field of ethics, turning morality against man, so it has usurped the highest moral concepts of our language, placing them outside this earth and beyond man’s reach.
Camus’ philosophical beliefs are evident throughout his first work, The Stranger. Meursault, much like Camus, believes that many things in the world just exist, with no explanation or reason. The philosophy that our reality is nonsensical and illogical is a reoccurring motif through the story with Raymond Sintes one point exclaiming “It’s just that I’m here, and you are there and I’m shaking. I can’t help it.” (Camus 37). Meursault is also described as being very dismissive to the outside world, “Looking back on it, I wasn’t unhappy.
John Locked firmly believed in the division of civil government and religion because they have separate functions, and should therefore act as independent institutions. Another argument made in A Letter Concerning Toleration is that it is ineffective to gain converts through violence because although it can coerce temporary obedience, it does not truly change one's beliefs. Voltaire explains an idea similar to Locke's in his essay, Of Universal Tolerance. He maintains that no religion is more divine than the rest, and thus no religion has the right to determine what is right and wrong for others. David Brooks's article, Kicking the Secularist Habit, outlines six steps for the modern secularist to realize that religious fervor never declined
Cristal Martinez 10-8-12 English 10h Period 1 Critical Lens Essay Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” This quotation means that men know from right and wrong but only men know what the right action is. This quote is proven true. Two novels that can prove this quotation true are Catcher and the Rye by J.D Salinger and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. We are absolutely not prisoners of fate; we are not in control of our fate we are innocent of what has been decided among us. The protagonist of Catcher and the Rye is Holden.
If the primary basis of an argument is proven false, its entire structure, no matter the degree of its immensity becomes void, allowing for the creation of a new system of understanding. It is this concept of truths fragility, which lays much of the groundwork for many of the existential dilemmas presented in The Matrix. The movie’s hero, Neo, could be considered almost perfect modern embodiment of Descartes himself. Like the 17th century philosopher, Neo once lived an existence in which he blindly followed preconceived notions about the truth and its relationship to society’s organization, however, not unlike Descartes, he soon attempts to achieve a higher understanding of his own relationship with the world around him. In the
Bill Maher is a smart individual but an agnostic can only promote what they know which means not very much when it comes to religion. Bill Maher said “Rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price.” To me having a meaning and a reason to
He spoke about faith, where faith means believing in something unproven. If a person believes in something unsubstantiated, then it is useless to say to him: "Listen, wait, well, here are the facts". This person may say "I will not even argue, it is my faith, I will not renounce it, I will not give up". That is like the terrorists think that they are sinless, that they perform the will of the Lord, according to their point of view they are do good things. According to Richard Dawkins this is the evil of religion.