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.
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.
He also makes it seem like everything is crumbling around Paul, and destroying all hope of survival and return to normal life for anyone who had experienced the front line. This is very different from pro-war poetry, which makes war seem fun. Something Remarque does either subconsciously or very well, is to make you feel sorry for the German and Central Powers’ soldiers, and to grow a subliminal hate for the allied soldiers, no matter who’s side you came in on. The Textbook also does this well, but in reverse. The Textbook gives off a sense of dislike towards the Central Powers, and made them seem primitive and destructive for no reason.
Vonnegut’s pessimistic attitude is geared harshly to the ideology on how everyone should be the same with no winners or losers, all having to succumb to being merely mediocre. When Harrison Bergeron reveals himself, it is at this point we are seeing Kurt Vonnegut’s voice and opinion being emitted from Bergeron. It reveals that Vonnegut being like Bergeron would die rather than continue to abide by a society sullied by hideous and unnecessary laws of
The Stasi’s blind belief in the GDR, transforms the GDR into a “religion”, preventing many of the Stasi to move on with the future. This religion that has taken a hold of men like Herr Winz, causes the character to seem to be in a world of their own, from his blustering about a second revolution and devotion to the “InsiderKomitee”. Finding comfort in the conversations of other firm believers, he hopeless clings to the “second coming of socialism”, removing any hope for men like him to advance into the future of capitalism. Like Her Winz, for Von Schnitzler remembering the past and changing his perspective is not an option. Von Schnitzler is a man who is “stuck with what he said back then”, even at the age of seventy nine, and having lived in a capitalist state for over a decade, his faith in the regime is steadfast, signifying how caught up in the past he
‘Wall of Separation’ between Church and State vs. The Cancer of Communism The issue of state and church has caused great debate over hundreds of years. Thomas Jefferson believed that the government should have no hold over the church and the church should have no hold over the government. Our founding fathers went to many lengths to ensure our freedoms. Where as Communist countries everything belongs to the state and the individual owns nothing.
The Intro of the essay asserts the notion that the English language has been disfigured by the human race and is on the residual decline as a resultant. Mr. Orwell attributes this downfall to politics and economic causes but goes on to outline his remedy to correct what he refers to as a “reversible” process. George Orwell goes on to cite passages from several prominent essays and articles, concluding on the similarities in their staleness of imagery and lack of precision. He criticizes the passages, stating that the incompetence and vagueness of such political writings desecrates correct English prose- construction. DYING METAPHORS.
If it fails us, we have no more hold on each other, no more knowledge of each other. If it deceives us, it breaks up all our relations and dissolves all the bonds of our society” Montaigne hits upon several points concerning the many reasons why lying, of any kind ultimately should not be condoned. First in foremost, to a man writing during the 16th century the idea of God and religion had somewhat of a different meaning then it does today. In a time when ideas such as religious toleration and scientific discoveries such as the theory of evolution were completely unheard of, the teachings of the church and the fear
Swift’s story portrays his animosity against the way England was changing. In George Orwell’s essay on the examination of “Gulliver’s Travel” he says, “Moreover, it is difficult not to feel that in his shrewder moments Gulliver is simply Swift himself, and there is at least one incident in which Swift seems to be venting his private grievance against contemporary society.” Swift’s critics have argued that he purely hates humankind, and Swift’s reply to these comments is that he only hates humankind’s folly (Chin). “Gulliver’s Travels” is a satire of the society of England during its publish, Swift ridicules the people of the time. This story is like playing a joke on someone, its subtly making fun of its readers, yet it is still popular, and how is that? Because these people were so naive and shallow, they could not see their own flaws.
The main point that Jung makes in relation to communism by actually getting people to literally having self-knowledge, connecting this to religious experience that becomes the only counter-balance to a human being and society, it is the unconscious areas of ourselves that we have absolutely no knowledge about whatsoever, as our only conception for gaining the experience. Jung is stating these kinds of experiences can’t be found plainly, an individual must self-explore create his own weltanschauung. A human being knows and understands his distinction from animals and wild beasts by anatomical and physiological differences, but as an aware and conscious being, lacks all the requirement for his own self-judgement. Humanity does not have another self-aware being to compare to, therefore consciousness will remain an unsolvable puzzle. Without consciousness there would be no world, because we wouldn’t be aware of it “for the world exists for [all of] us in so far a it is consciously reflected by a psyche “Consciousness is a precondition of