Siddhartha Gautama was a son of an elected king of the Shakya tribe by its five hundred families south of the Himalaya Mountains in the realm of influence of the powerful Kosala monarchy. Siddhartha means “he who accomplished his aim”. The meaning of Siddhartha’s name resembles the philosophy and teachings later in his life.
Siddhartha being the son of a king was spoiled. Suddhodana protect his son Siddhartha from the outside world from all forms of danger, sickness, and life. Siddhartha had all the luxuries, with three palaces, finest clothes made from silk, and a servant holding a white umbrella over is head. Siddhartha had everything a prince would want, but he was dissatisfied.
Siddhartha was walking outside the palace grounds and was disgusted the decrepitude and wrinkles of the people. Then for the first time he observed the sick and spent time learning about the nature of the disease. On a third occasion he witnessed a funeral procession and viewed the corpse. He started to think of the value of life. Finally on the journey away from the palace, he came to a religious man who renounced the world to seek enlightenment. Seeking enlightenment was not an uncommon occupation for Kshatriyas. Read more…
A good mystery story is written to tease the readers, never letting them know what will happen next. The readers are constantly misled to make them get more involved in the story. A mystery story should be comforting sending a message that life’s mysteries can be solved and always have an explanation at the end. They can also carry hidden meanings and messages. For example all of life’s mysteries and problems have a solution.
My study is of two mystery stories ‘A Vendetta’ and ‘The Three Strangers’. I will be looking at the way mystery is built and sustained and the purposes of the two writers. The main aim of a writer is to entertain their readers; in order to do this they must use clues, red herrings and twists to prevent their readers from predicting the ending.
I believe that Thomas Hardy is writing a story about the issues that can surround a small and close community. For example the characters willingness to let in complete strangers, possibly suggesting that rural close community’s are naive. While I think that Maupassant is writing about the issue that surround revenge. For instance the widow believes that what she is doing is right. She believes killing Nicolas for murdering her son is justice; she even believes that God would condone it. Read more…
Whether or not I would choose to take the red or blue pill, it is certain that that philosophical aspects of “the Matrix” are clear as day. From the argument surrounding free will and having the right to choose which pill Neo wanted to take, but also knowing the consequences of his decision, and weighing the cause and effect of said decision, it is clear that it has much to do with the aspects of philosophy.
Moving on, Cypher’s choice also delves into the philosophical world, raising such questions as whether knowing the world ahead of you, or living in the Matrix and being nothing more than a pawn in a machine controlled society, is better for a person. Living a planned out existence versus knowing the truth and the true world outside of the Matrix, Cypher raises the question on what is real and who is to say that being free as Morpheus put it really is what is real and really is better than living in the Matrix?
Another important fact I learned thus far and had no clue about until this class was how much the story of Neo is like the story of Socrates, the proclaimed “greatest story ever told”. The simmiliarities that we have discussed in class are astonishing to me, and it really is amazing how watching the movie without this knowledge, than re-watching it with the said knowledge, how differently the movie becomes and what a different role it plays in my understanding of philosophy now that I have learned such information. Read more…
There can be little doubt that Karl Marx is one of the most important and influential political thinkers that has lived. However, Marx was not simply just a political thinker and he would often like to consider himself as a political scientist, methodical in approach and calculation. Yet is often very difficult to simply classify Marx in this way as he would often delve in many other fields and therefore he can be categorised as a historian, philosopher, sociologist or even a controversialist. Marx’s most important works, “The Communist Manifesto” (1848) and “Das Capital” (1867), incorporate aspects from many of these areas.
In terms of history, Marx was greatly influenced by Friedrich Hegel, with whom he had had the chance to study with whilst at university in Germany. Hegel was considered the authority on philosophy at this period and consequently Marx’s views on history were shaped by Hegel’s works. Nevertheless their views on history were crucially different. Marx argues, in “The German Ideology” (1845) that, similarly to Hegel, everything in history is pre-determined and therefore happens for a reason (for example the French Revolution of 1789). Marx puts forward the notion that the end of history will come about with the beginning of Communism. For this to occur, Marx argues, that an advanced Capitalist state will have to progress to a socialist one, via a revolution. After this transformation the progression to Communism will take place and as Marx says “then begins an epoch of social revolution” . Marx relays his prediction of a revolution to economic matters and sees it as a “consequence of an economic structure no longer being able to continue to develop the forces of production” . Read more…
Part I: Positivist Philosopher, or Sophist?
Thanks to the Processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is right before their eyes. “Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things. Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. They will positively make him think about realities he can’t touch or see. There have been sad cases amoung the Physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable “real life.” But best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is “the result of modern investigation.” Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!- C.S. Lewis. Read more…
