Analysis Of Meditation Six By Descartes - 982 Words

The passage selected from â€Å"Meditation Six† contains Descartes’ final conclusion in the Meditations on First Philosophy. The central conclusion in this passage pertains back to his previous dream argument. He concludes that his doubts that he discussed in the previous â€Å"Meditations† were exaggerated and should be rejected. His conclusion states that he was too harshly doubting his memory and his senses for determining whether he was awake or dreaming. But he now realizes by relying on his memory and a combination of his senses he is able to better determine whether or not he is awake. Descartes sets up his argument with three premises. The first premise states that there is a considerable difference between the sensations perceived when†¦show more content†¦Throughout his argument, Descartes utilizes multiple premise and conclusion indicator words. The first example of a premise-indicator-word is in first and second premise with the use of for. à ¢â‚¬Å"For I now notice...† and â€Å"For surely, if, while I am awake†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of for in the first example indicates that the first reason is being presented. The second use of the word for, connects the second premise to the first by providing a continuation of a deeper explanation and an example. Descartes utilizes an example of conclusion-indicator-words in the final sentence of the selected passage with the use of â€Å"I am clearly certain.† The use of these indicator word allows us to separate the premises from what Descartes if really trying to say, that the perceptions he experiences, he can determine that he is awake not dreaming. However, a problem with Descartes’ argument is he relies too heavily on the senses. Descartes previously argued the senses can easily be deceived. He argued that dreams cannot be easily distinguished from being awake because the two experiences we have are very similar. While the senses can help to determine if you are currently dreaming or awake, your senses can be deceived to make you think you are awake when you are not. The only sure way you can know you are dreaming is when you wake up, but you may also â€Å"wake up† while still in a dream. Another issueShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Descartes s The Six Meditations 1272 Words   |  6 PagesThrough the six Meditations, Descartes comes to the conclusion that memories and dreams are deceptive and are not to be trusted. He discusses the existence of material objects, God, and himself. God exists and allows deception and Descartes’ ability to recognize that everything is false proves that he exists as well. He e xplains the difference between imagination and intellect, as well as the idea that the senses are deceptive and that knowledge comes from the mind and reason. 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Karmic Connections Free Essays

The meaning of the term Karma differentiates depending on the school of thought/ religion utilizing it. However, if we try and look at the conceptions closely we could see the resemblances of these meanings. Karma in its simplest sense reverberates the saying, â€Å"What goes around comes around†; it is the belief that whatever we do has an equivocal effect. We will write a custom essay sample on Karmic Connections or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we look at it from a spiritual level, it is said that Karma is a concept that constitutes our deeds, it is a universal law that governs our lives, claiming that for whatever action or decision we commit, it would reap for us a tantamount consequence in our current lifetime if not the next one. Karma does it always have to pertain to something bad, as penance for our wrong doings. We could also look at Karma as simply how our lives work. It is also the case that Karma may happen in order to teach us a lesson we have yet to realize, it may also enlighten us, guide us in our future actions. In accepting the Karmic ways in which our reality works, we come to a better understanding of our free will, in a sense that we come to be autonomously responsible for what we do. The events that may happen in the course of our lifetime would be born out of causal events we have willed into existence. Come to think of it, the most important acts we commit are always towards people, it is an inescapable fact that we would at some point connect our lives with the lives of other people. Karma is present in each and every link we create in our social sphere, even if such links may be perceived as shallow for us, how we react to such connections can be well change and affect other people. This often reminds me of a similar line of thought, the chaos theory; it states that a flutter of a butterfly’s wings may result to chaos on another end of this world. Perhaps this wouldn’t make sense right now but look at it this way. People are connected in a web of networks, at some point two very separate lives would intersect no matter how remote they are from one another based solely on a certain link they share in common. Think of it as the theory of â€Å"six degrees separation†. We could be active or passive participants in these connections, either way we’ll have our actions would have a certain effect on it. In the things that we have direct contact with people, strangers, lovers, family, or friends, we engage in the process of Karma, knowingly or unknowingly, we could change the course of other people’s lives. Connections are so powerful, underestimated to a point wherein we assume that only the closest ones are important. Take for example, not letting a person go before you at the pharmacy, even if your just buying cough syrup, and that person ends up losing someone just because s/he was two minutes late. It could also be that you were able to teach an ex-lover the value of him/herself by dumping him/her. When you meet a stranger in the park, and you offer a smile, you might have just sealed your faith with your future partner in life. The Hotdog vendor, the dime you give him might win him the lottery. There are so many ways in which we can influence and change the lives of people, as Peter Parker said in Spiderman 3, â€Å"Our lives are made of choices, and we could always choose to do what’s right†, or in this case, even if we can’t control the outcome of the things we do, we could always act to touch others with goodness of intent, faith, and will. Perhaps the sartorial indulgence bothers me a lot, simply because I personally don’t see why I worry too much about how I look. There’s always the knowledge that people shouldn’t be judged based on appearances but then again, at some point we can’t help not worrying how others perceive us, even if it’s just the jeans were wearing. Trivialities can hinder the soul. References: Ellen A Mogensen, Past Now Forward Holistic Counseling, (2006), http://www.healpastlives.com/future/rule/ruescape.htm, July, 30, 2007 Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Life and Death: Ways to Overcome Bondage of Karma, in The Global Oneness Commitment, (2006), http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Life_and_Death/id/218227,   (July, 30, 2007) How to cite Karmic Connections, Essay examples

Canterbury tale and medieval art free essay sample

Tale and Art in middle Ages The Middle Ages have been regarded as extending approximately from the end of fifth century AD to 1600s. The Middle Ages were a society significantly more civilized and developed than previous times. Some sections of Italian society had begun to mimic the art and philosophy of ancient Greece, but commonly in Italy and Europe, generally no all-pervading change had occurred. The Canterbury Tale is a story written by Geoffrey Chauser in Middle English. It is the story of a group of thirty people who are all from different occupation. They told each other stories to kill time when traveling to Canterbury. In the Canterbury Tale, an illustration of the Medieval Christian church is presented. When talking about the church, it cant be considered separately. The church has to always be related to social, economic and political context of that period because people in that society gather in groups, make religious and church. We will write a custom essay sample on Canterbury tale and medieval art or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Moreover those people create these tales of a pilgrimage of Canterbury. One of the stories in the Canterbury Tale, The Pardoners Tale, is the story of churchs corruption. The story was made to parody the Western Schism, churchs greed. At the time when the tale was written, the church was corrupted by spread of the unrestricted sale of indulgences by pardoners. Popes sold the indulgences, which were suppose to forgive peoples sins. The Pardoner, the main character in the Pardoners Tale preaches to villagers about sin and collects money. When telling the story, the Pardoner gives an example f three rioters who commit sins and show what happened because of them committing sins. He uses this story to emphasize morals to the audience, however, it is ironic that even if the Pardoner is kind of a bishop who gives sermons to the villagers, he is as corrupted as the rioters. His purpose is to gather money from the villagers, not to correct the sins. Chaucer used a certain character like Pardoner in the Pardoners Tale, to represent one of the many popes who were ruined by greed. I chose this art piece depicting Chaucers Pardoners tale. It is a carved wooden anel made of Elmwood with scenes from the story. It is describing the part when the three rioters found gold. They planned how to divide it but their greed to get it all themselves caused their downfall. The left-hand panel shows a man buying wine and putting poison in it to kill the other rioters, so that he could take all the gold. In the central panel, the other two attack the man who comes with the wine, and stab him to death. In the right hand panel the murderous pair sit down and drink the poisoned wine. Eventually, their greed leads all of them to their death. This art work describes the story so precisely that people who lived in that era, who were illiterate, could have been able to understood what Chaucer wanted to say, and fgure out what was wrong about church by looking at the art works. After they get aware of the churchs corruption and popes they were into, by learning through the story from the artworks, people might have tried to find solution for the corrupted situation. In this way, it can be said that artwork might have succeed in giving people in that period, a new perspective tor what they were believing at.