Essays on Absurd

René Magritte's oil on canvas painting The Son of Man (1964) has become a very popular visual text in a short period of time. The symbolism and unusual and enigmatic create a holistic picture of the semantic code that every viewer tries to interpret. Although the canvas contains a fairly small number of different details, as contrasted with Bosch or Rubens' paintings, yet there is a deep consisting of several layers meaning in it. The painting contains a number of visual symbols, which have already become some kind of the archetypes of modern society. The Son of Man (see ...

Since Vietnam, there has been much debate about the effectiveness of a military draft in uniting Americans in times of crisis and keeping the armed forces representative of all of America. Proponents of an American military draft believe that our current armed forces are not reflective of our diverse society because there is no requirement to join the war. While it is true that the armed forces do not actively reflect the American population, proponents of an American military draft are wrong in thinking a requirement to kill or die for country is a tool that can be used ...

Introduction

According to the Cliff Notes critical analysis of the play “Waiting for Godot”, the story has no definite conclusion or resolution. The notes also highlight that the play is not an ordinary traditional play since its setting is a little vague. However, the main aim of the absurd theater is to present something out of the ordinary. The absurd movement sought to move out of the status quo and present literature in its most unique form. In the case of “Waiting for Godot,” the resolution is found within the main themes of the play. The two vagrants resolve to ...

Even if Macbeth and the Tell-Tale Heart, penned by Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe respectively, were written centuries apart, it’s the common theme of guilt expressed so well in the latter that helps us imagine Lady Macbeth’s state of mind (Deighton). In particular, it is the pangs of guilt that she suffers from throughout the play after coercing her husband to commit regicide - to kill King Duncan - who consider Macbeth to be an ally and friend. In the Tell-Tale Heart, the killer suffers from delusions after committing the deed in killing the old man and ...

Court have overtime been at the forefront of provision of justice for those who have been accused and this is achieved through compensation through various remedies. However, in certain instances, the cases that are brought to courts actually have no merit and is basically a waste of the courts time and such cases are referred to as frivolous law suits. Therefore, the thesis of this research is to examine whether the concept of frivolous law suit is accurate or a mere fallacy. First and foremost, it is worth noting that for any person to be held liable for any ...

This paper will look at love, sex and gender within the backdrop of postmodernism, existentialism and orientalism in the novels The Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Assia Djebar, Foam of the Daze by Boris Vian and The Lover by Marguerite Duras. In the novels love/ and sex are shown as something that a woman has no control over, something that destroys due to its intensity, and something that forever changes a person, respectively. While gender is seen as being something that disenfranchises women in a male dominant, unequal society and something that can destroy a man if ...

Faith, being an intangible concept, is almost indefinable. But there are theologians, like Soren Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich, who dared to define faith and its role in everyday life. There are similarities and differences between the interpretation of Kierkegaard and Tillich of faith, and some critics are not contented with or opposed to their ideas, particularly as regards the subject-object division. This paper argues that a thorough, critical analysis of the ideas of Kierkegaard and Tillich regarding faith will demonstrate both theologians remaining devoted to the conflict between the finite world and the infinite, unbounded realm. Kierkegaard often emphasizes ...

Summary of Thinking, fast, and slow by Daniel Kahneman

George Mason University Summary of Thinking, fast, and slow by Daniel Kahneman Introduction The author, Daniel Kahneman, hopes that the readers would benefit from the reading of his book, which is about biases of intuition. According to the author, it can be a tough choice between what we believe and what we want. Friends and colleagues help us in making and evaluating choices. The thinking process is one conscious thought leading to another. The mental work creates impressions and intuitions silently in our minds. We allow our beliefs, feelings and preferences to feel confident about our decision, even if ...

Solutions to the problem

Increasing fees to maintain patents and copyrights on a yearly basis3 Ease the complicated process of obtaining a patent or copyright ..3

Create more patent and trademark offices

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Lower the cost of obtaining a patent or copyright.

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Congress ought to pass laws to deal with copyright theft by large companies

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Conclusion 4

Work Cited.5 PROBLEM: Restricted competition and creativity WHO HAS THE PROBLEM: Technology companies AUDIENCE: US Congress DELIVERY: Letter SOLUTION: The solutions lie with the government; they need to make better legislations that would make the playing field a little more even. They should require just enough proof to grant a patent or copyright, lower the absurd cost of getting one, and increase fees for maintaining granted patents on a yearly basis. The best solution ...

Mass Shootings: How we can deter potential mass shooters in the US? List some major mass shootings in the US and identify some major similarities and major differences among them. Mass shootings have become an issue in the United States. There are ways mass shootings can be deterred. One way is strict gun regulations. By making it hard for people to possess firearms, it makes mass shootings less likely. Also strict screenings and regulations can be put in place so people with mental health issues are not able to purchase a firearm. Also another more extreme example of a ...

Insights into German’s History on the example of the movie “Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler”

In the 20th century, Germany was troubled, because long term warfare, which made the German citizen exhausted, crumbling social system and the high costs of war put enormous pressure on the people. In spite of the above-mentioned situation and the horrible consequences of the two World Wars, in which Germany was the main participant, at that time, German cinema was developing, German films dominated in the Central Europe, and the number of companies and filmmakers was increasing. The German government realized the importance of film in terms of publicity, so that it has set up a special agency under ...

Introduction

Gay marriages have been a controversial issue in the recent past. Quite interestingly, it has received mixed reactions from different people of different nations, religions, and cultures. It is essentially a marriage between individuals of the same sex (ProCon.org, 2016). This is a contradiction of many religious and cultural beliefs since traditionally, marriage is meant to be between people of different genders. On the contrary, times have changed, and people have been brought up under different circumstances. Some people have an attraction towards people of the same sex, and this has led to same-sex marriages. The differences in opinions ...

English 200

Success in Meditation Meditation is the mind training, developing the strengths and skills that are needed to solve mind problems. Such as there are many different medicaments for the various illnesses, there are different types of meditation for the different mind problems. Alhough the mind desires happiness, it still controls to weigh itself down with mental depression. As the matter of fact, that depression comes from the mind’s attempts to search out for happiness. Meditation helps to understand the causes for why the mind “acts” like this and, in revealing them, helps you to treat them. In treating ...

Two of the most important existential philosophers have been Albert Camus, well known for both his novels and his philosophy, and Jean Paul Sartre, who, is aligned with the ideas of existentialism more than any other philosopher. In addition to sharing some ideas about existentialism (although both men also developed very different systems of this philosophy), both thinkers were atheists, and developed their systems of philosophy, from their belief in a world, or a universe without god. For Camus, the absence of god was one of the reasons why man could find the nature of existence meaningless, and his ...

Both Satre and Camus, important and famous French philosophers of the middle of the 20th century explored various facets of what may be called existentialist philosophy. Sartre grounded his work by focusing on the concept, and practice, of human freedom, While Camus approached existentialism from a tension between absurdity and the meaning of making choices and commitment. While both philosophers worked in very different areas of the wide branch of philosophy known as existentialism, both Camus and Sartre build their systems on the foundation of a life, or universe, without any divine force, and certainly without the idea of ...

The movie, Woman in the Dunes, is a Japanese movie that was directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964.The movie was drawn from Kobe Abe’s novel, with the same title used in the movie. The movie explains the life of a teacher, Niki Junpei, who gets lost in a new environment full of sand dunes. Niki faces challenges trying to understand his identity and the new life he finds himself in after he was abducted by the sand dunes residents. He is forced to live with a widowed young woman, Kyoko Kishida, who has been condemned to dig sand ...

I would like to see the movie "The Great Gatsby", filmed in 1974 by the director named Jack Clayton from the standpoint of psychoanalysis ("The Great Gatsby (1974)"). I will consider the film through the prism of the basic tenets of the theory, developed by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. I will make out a few key points that define psychoanalysis as a theory and show how these postulates are related to the main character of the book by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Jack Clayton’s film, Jay Gatsby. Immediately, it should be noted that this film is not ...

Contained within the satire essay ‘A Modest Proposal, Johnathan Swift not only entertains with a backhanded and witty criticism of the privileged and hypocritical wealthy, the ridiculous uselessness of the politicians in Ireland, and the dreadful conditions that the poor in Ireland must endure. Swift ridicules those who have the financial means to help, but refuse to help the situation in a positive way, as well as the horrid cruelty of the English that makes the whole thing absurdly incompetent on the part of those who refuse to help themselves. (Swift & Fabricant, 2011) When Swift wrote this piece, in ...

Part 1: Research Proposal

Introduction The Constitution has always protected the privacy of citizens, but the increased advancement of technology is becoming a threat. Technology is threatening to redefine the privacy of individuals for it to operate efficiently. One of the inventions that have collided with the individual expectations of privacy, which are protected by the Fourth Amendment, is drones. These devices can be used for surveillance (especially against terrorism) and aid in the achievement of the requirements of the Patriot Act. The drones can capture high-resolution images and videos from a distance and transmit them to the source. The American citizens fear ...

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Introduction This perennial question about the existence of God has always been the favorite topic in many debates. It seems that this issue has never been laid to rest yet. This time, the debate was hosted by Birmingham University, in October 2011, and the protagonists were Professors William Lane Craig, who defended the issue on the existence of God, against Professors Peter Millican, a skeptic and atheist himself, who believes that God does not exist. Both were top calibers in their own field of expertise and they presented their position thoroughly well. I agree with Professor William ...

Theater of the absurd is an idea that started gaining relevance in the 1950s. The concept is essentially informed by the ideas of absurdism and existentialism. Their prominent trait includes having irrational plots that feature characters who seem to lack peace with their existence. This new style in the playwrights came out as controversial and amazing. Authors embracing this style mainly present the human’s state as futile. This is in line with the philosophical perspectives such as the ones presented by Albert Camus that insisted human being can only be in the position of exploiting their full potential ...

The film describes a group of employees of a fictitious company «Initech». Shortly after the start of the film the company hires two consultants named Bob (namesake) in order to help the company reduce its costs. These two Bobs basically interview employees to determine who need to be fired.

CORE ISSUE

Peter is in stress. His work in office reduces his effectiveness because of his stress. Peter knows that he risks being dismissed in the list compiled by Bobs. An absurd accident comes at a time when his girlfriend takes him to the medical hypnosis therapy. The physician-hypnotherapist dies of a ...

With a sophisticated yet obviously distinguishable flavor of absurd, the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner features a deeply philosophical worldview of the man that was openly rejected by the society. Franz Woyzcek, apart from being the main character and driving force of the plot of the play, stands out to symbolize controversy and peculiarity of human nature, which is most vividly embodied in his unstable psychic condition and stormy social behavior. On the whole, the play is given the perspective of depicting Woyzeck’s social and family life, with each of the scenes contributing to the thematic growth ...

The novel "The Stranger" by Albert Camus is one of the most important and popular of his works. It has a direct connection with the philosophy of existentialism and the absurd like most of the works of the author. The writer once again demonstrates the human and social relationships, as well as the internal conflict of the man himself by the example of the protagonist's life and feelings. The problem of the story touches upon many issues, but one of the main problems is the existence of God. The life of the protagonist Meursault is the way to truth ...

With the growing popularity of hip hop in the youth culture, there can be noticed a growing number of films appearing in the cinematographic industry depicting the in-demand sub-culture. Being more than just a music genre, hip hop can be fairly called a way of life that thousands of young people found close to their spirit. So the ways it looks like in real life and in movies really differ and thus hip hop is usually a controversial topic for discussion. This paper is thus going to reflect on how authentic hip hop is represented in cinema in terms ...

Introduction

National security does not only involve safeguarding the borders on land but it also includes security of the state through implementing measures resulting in ensuring that nobody from outside comes into the country with dangerous weapons and other materials. A number of terrorist activities are carried out in US through material brought by passengers through commercial airports and airlines by simply dodging the existing security equipment and practices of airport security.

Requirement of New Security System

Recommendations have been released by TSA (transportation security administration) in order to improve the security systems within the airports. In this context, few of the resources have reported ...

Rule and Approaches used by Judges when Interpreting an Act of Parliament

The statutory interpretation might be necessary in the case of complexity and when uncertainty concerning the Acts made by Parliament is required. The complexities that might occur as a result of an Act of Parliament include the "what section provides" and "within the provision" complexities. As a result of these complexities, the judges are called upon to interpret the Acts of Parliament before becoming laws to clear the mischief concerning such acts of parliament. When the judges interpret the acts of parliament, it makes the public have trust in such enacted laws. There are several instances that might be ...

Philosophy Questions

Philosophy Questions

Compare and contrast the views of John Searle and Rene Descartes on dualism.

For Rene Descartes’ dualism is Spiritual; for John Searle, it’s Physical. Descartes believes the mind has consciousness and with that power we can say that the ‘seat-of-intelligence’ belongs to the brain. He also believes that through this we acquire self awareness, but for Searle, consciousness is not only because of the brain. Though brains cause consciousness, he points out that the brain is not the only thing that can produce consciousness. He even states that if ever we built an artificial machine that has consciousness. it further proves the point. He also says that the relationship ...

“A Serious Talk” by R. Carver covers the themes of separation, jealousy and identity crisis through the conflict development between protagonist Burt and his antagonist Vera with the help of limited narration, extensive symbolism, dramatic irony and absurd actions. The third-person point of view seems objective at first, but later clearly hints that the narration is limited to protagonist perspective, which shows how the main character is unable to let go of his wife. Moreover, it is seen in Burt’s attitude to Vera’s house, as if it is his own, and in his mention of multiple Vera’ ...

Waiting for Godot was written precisely after the World War II, and it is a commonplace to link the Theatre of the Absurd with the postwar trauma and disgust, a somewhat attempt to get rid of an acute sense of shame. However, the main themes of the play are rather controversial and questionable. We may admit that, among other things, Beckett thoroughly focuses on the subject of power. More precisely, it is about power and interdependence -- the complex relation between master and slave (it is clearly evident on relations between Pozzo and Lucky). Who suffers more master or ...

Waiting for Godot

The years after the Second World War are considered to be ill-fated for the theatre arts. However, over the course of time, interests as well as endeavors were carried towards undiscovered subjects and to those which are not openly acknowledged or displayed in the traditionally established forms and uses as well. Therefore, in gradual mode, without any ostentatious manifestation, another type of theatre appeared. In the 50s it was obtruded upon large audiences, which consisted of students and academics searching for something neoteric. Absurdism is regarded as philosophical standpoint which asserts that the aspirations of humanity to detect meaning ...

The genre of dark comedy is a fascinating subset of the standard comedy film, combining elements of drama and dark subject matter with comedic elements of the absurd and ironic to create unique works that poke fun not only at the foibles of mankind, but the inherent silliness of extremely serious things. Dark comedy can take many forms, and both American and English sensibilities in particular have their own attitudes and characteristics in their own examples. Two of the most well-regarded dark comedy films of recent years are 1996’s Fargo (directed by the Brothers Coen) and 2008’s ...

In Bebe Moore Campbell’s, Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, there are fictional stories about several people. The stories are set in rural Mississippi where there are clear forms of racial segregation. A good example is the killing of a poor fifteen year old black boy, Armstrong, on racial grounds because he spoke French to a white woman, Lily. Perhaps the most pitiful person in the text is Lily because of how she is treated by her husband. First of all, she is a school dropout. She then goes on to get married to Floyd, a young man who owns a pool hall ...

Many an argument has been proposed on the topic of divine omniscience, determinism and free will. It has been said that God has foreknowledge of all future events, and nothing he knows can be false, it is then difficult to conceive that something that has been previously known by a higher being, could be changed by an arbitrary decision of an individual in the present or future. This argument has been exposed by Pike in a very logical and clear way.

Supposing that God, say 80 years ago, knew that a person would watch a movie on Friday; and if God is omniscient ...

Analysis of an American Trial: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

Today, the Salem village located in Massachusetts in the United States of America is notorious to the world for being the village, where unjustified witch prosecutions and trials took place. The Salem has fallen into such disrepute because of the sad historical events occurred there in 1692. Many women, including little girls aged 4 and 11, were accused of witchcraft without any valid evidentiary material. All of them were considered to be the Devil’s servants, who possessed supernatural powers for the purposes of harming people and pleasing the Devil by doing so. Such women were imprisoned, hanged on ...

1) A. A lot of Thomas Aquinas’s “genius” did not rest in his own thoughts, but in his ability to Christianize the ideas of the ancient Greeks such as Aristotle and Plato’s school of thoughts. In his Summa Theologiae, he presents five arguments that he believes demonstrates logically the need for the existence of God. 1. Aquinas’s first proof for the existence of God was centered on motion. The parallel to the Aristotelian physics is apparent. Under that system, an arrow moved because wind behind it pushed it. Anything moving needed a driving force behind ...

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disease characterized by compulsive obsessions and compulsions interfering normal life. Obsessions are constantly arising unwanted views, concerns, thoughts, images or impulses that the patient cannot confront (Markarian et al., 2010). Compulsions are repetitive actions aiming at getting rid thereof (Markarian et al., 2010). Obsessions often cause anxiety and compulsive behavior or rituals serve to reduce this anxiety. As a result a person's life may be significantly impaired due to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive thoughts or actions can take much time and be so painful that the person is usually failing to have normal life. However, obsessional thoughts differ ...

Question 1

Religion is an overarching theme in the Stranger. The antagonist, Meursault, in this novel is an atheist. He does not believe in the existence of God. He believes that the world is shaped and is as a result of fate. Meursault finds it difficult that there is the existence of a supernatural being that controls the world. The theme of religion is brought about in various sections of the plot in this novel. One of the main sections of the plot where the theme of religion is brought is during the funeral of Meursault mother. Meursault does not show any remorse ...

Existence of God

In the general sphere of religion, there are many conflicting issues pertaining to existence of God. This is mainly caused by the different ways in which religious faiths interpret the existence of God. However some other aspects of the existence of God are universally accepted across the different religious faiths. Some of these aspects are: omnipresence, all powerful, the creator and the Supreme Being (www.existence-of-god.com, paragraph 3).

Looking at some basic facts that are evident across all these arguments, there is a universal acceptance that God has unknown origin to human knowledge. This fact is supported by the fact that ...

Clarissa's relationship with Sally Seton is one of the most interesting and controversial aspects of the novel, as it depicts a latent homosexual desire for Sally on the part of Clarissa. Clarissa and Sally had kissed at Bourton 34 years previous to that, and still remembers that as the happiest she has ever been - it was the "most exquisite moment of her whole life...Sally stopped; picked a flower, kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! The other's disappeared; there she was alone with Sally" (Wolff, 1925).

Clarissa's love for Sally ...

Shot in 2008, “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is a historical drama film by the British director Mark Herman on the Holocaust during the World War II. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by John Boyne. The theme of a fine line between those who happened to be on the aggressor’s side and those on the victim’s side won the audience’s hearts and made the film noticeable among others dedicated to the World War II. The movie stars David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga and Rupert Friend. “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is ...

The meaning of life has been one of the most significant questions that humankind has asked itself. Throughout history, different cultures have given various answers, from myths, to religion and science. After Nietzsche’s proclamation of the death of God, philosophers started asking themselves what they were on this planet for, giving rise to the Existentialist movement. Attempting to answer this question some saw that it did not have a verifiable response, concluding that human life was actually absurd. However, not everyone interpreted this word in the same way. Albert Camus was one of its most famous proponents, believing that ...

In reference to how David has been acting, it is clear that he has continuously neglected his role at home and as husband over the many years that he has been married. Based on his previous behavior, it would be absurd to think that he has suddenly has a change in heart just when he realizes that his marriage is falling apart. This is because his speech regarding his change in nature comes just after his wife requested for a divorce over the phone. It is clearly put that he has been selfish and unsuccessful in his career, which he has ...

According to Albert Camus in his work The Myth of Sisyphus, man is engaged in a futile search for meaning, as the world itself is completely devoid of significant and universal truths. He compares life to the myth of Sisyphus, the Greek figure who was doomed to roll a boulder up a mountain, only to never reach the top. Instead of giving up and embracing oblivion, however, Camus believes that "The struggle itselfis enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy" (Camus 1955, PAGE). Sisyphus becomes the embodiment of Camus’ absurd hero – a man who attempts to persevere in a world that ...

The philosophy of the Medieval ages was closely interfaced to theology, and the perspective was based on the relation God - person. However, thus the philosophy had, unlike religions, the functions related to its main property - doubt (in the validity of religious doctrines). In medieval philosophy, it is possible to allocate two stages of its formation – patristic views (2-8 centuries) and scholasticism (11-14 centuries), so to draw a clear line between them is quite difficult. Patristic views are a set of theology-philosophical views of the "fathers of the church" who undertook Christianity justification, relying on the ancient philosophy ...

Zeno Paradoxes

Zeno of Elea is a mathematician and a Greek philosopher who is famous for his paradoxes that deals with or explains the continuity of motion. He was born during 490 BCE and was a strong devotee of Parmenides who also introduced the Eleactic school of thought in the current southern Italy. He survives in Parmenides, Plato's dialog and from it the origin of paradoxes becomes clear. One of the most familiar paradoxes put across by Zeno states that I cannot walk over you as I need to get there halfway, and in the event that I succeed I must still cover the remaining ...

Moral luck emerges when one is treated well or praised regardless of the fact that the outcome of what has led him or her to be praised is dependent on other factors that are beyond his or her control. (Thomas, N. 1979) & (Williams B. 1993) Thomas Nagel in his article of “Moral Luck” (1979) noted that in our day to day activities, moral blame and moral praise are influenced to a greater extent intuitively. He gave an example of two reckless drivers where one causes an accident and the other does not. The fact the driver who has caused ...

The historical, cultural and scientific events of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries shaped human thoughts and philosophy. The purpose of science and philosophy is to explain the universe, meaning of life and where man fits in. Man has made progress based on the growth and development of science and philosophy. The conventional opinions that were barriers to a richer human experience were attacked by Nietzsche, who disliked liberalism, communism, and socialism. He disagreed to the two-hundred-year-old western intellectual tradition of progress and condemned the morality of Christians. He advocated that the man was living alone in an ...

Donald Barthelme was born in the year1931. So the Barthelme was born nearly a little less than a century later than the time the term feminism was coined. But he died in 1989, a time when the concept Feminism had taken root and was an established movement which has thousands of supporters from both genders.

Work

On the surface his writings were filled with bizarre incidents but there was always an underlying theme or idea that would try to explore the boundaries of the world as people knew it, in that time and age. Barthelme's world has a framework that revolves around a disturbing level ...

“WOMEN ARE PEOPLE TOO”

We all live in 21st century, where almost everyone is talking about democracy and human rights however, those are not followed in each country. Therefore, the question about human rights is to be discussed. There are still some countries, which do not take into consideration the rights of women, who suffer from the patriarchy. In this paper I am going to discuss this issue on the example of Egypt. Egypt has been trying to change their perception in the world in last three years. This country did not want to be “the third world” anymore, so people started ...

Existentialism is a movement in both philosophy and literature that highlights the importance of individual freedom and choices. According to the philosophy of existentialism, some events or occurrences that happen with a person are irrational or absurd having no explanation for that. They believe that there are no universal guidelines to follow as well as there is no objective form of truth. Therefore, existentialism is based on one’s choices, decisions that are unique and unchangeable. The philosophers of existentialism argue that human choice is a subjective matter, because individuals are supposed to make choices without external influence of societal standards (ethical ...

1. I think experimental fiction is very interesting. I find absurdist fiction most compelling because I think it, in a way reflects real life. Life in a sense is absurd. There are things in the world that cannot be explained. There are many religions of people saying this, or saying that. It is hard to know what to believe, whom to believe and what is real. So absurdist fiction, while it reflects reality in absurd ways, in a way is perhaps an accurate way to represent reality—which is often absurd. 2. I also find metafiction quite compelling, since it is ...

Same sex marriages, which are also referred to as gay marriages, have been among the most significant subjects, heavily debated by the communities all over the world. It is now a fashion to believe gay marriages to be a norm of life. Some people also believe, that gay marriages and their legalization is a step towards mariage equality, as this new aspect of human rights is currently referred to (Merevick, ND). But does it really have to do with human rights? This issue is being discussed by experts on human rights, such as Human Rights Commission in New Zealand (HRC, ND). And ...

Questions

1. What lessons does the reader learn as he travels with Marlow down the Congo River? In Joseph Conrad’s he reader learns the lessons that the line separating “civilization” from “savagery” is much thinner than Marlow suspects in the beginning. The further he goes down the river, the further he moves away from civilization. But while the physical moving away form civilization is obvious, it is the mental, internal moving away which is most interesting to the theme of the novel. Marlow learns that it takes little for a person to lose touch with the civilization that they ...

Abstract

Modernity and Post modernity are the two social, political, economic and cultural phases in respectively 20th and 21st centuries. The initial phase of cinema was much influenced by phase of modernity and the later was influenced by the aspects of post modernity. The paper tries to analyse these modernity and post-modernity in cinematic context. For this comparative analysis the researcher has taken two cinematic works. The initial focus of the paper is the study of the term modernity with its elements. These elements have been analyzed in the context of Charlie Chaplin’s cinematic work. The paper then discusses ...

Postmodernism is a movement of art that emerged in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Among all art movements, this one is considered to be the most controversial (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014). This movement defies definition and is said to have fundamentally introduced an unstable mix of theoretical and theatrical. It was majorly multifaceted and was characterized by elements ranging from the luxurious to the completely ridiculous (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014). This new brand of art is considered to have shattered some of the previously established ideas and styles as well as generally introducing radical freedom to ...

Research Essay on the story "Behind the Law"

According to Jean-Paul Sartre, no God is responsible for creating human beings in tune with a conceptual divination. In his work on existentialism, Sartre wrote, “Existence precedes essence” (Jill, p.6). This basically means that each of us human beings has their philosophy about life. That what we are or become in life is due to the personal choices we make in our lives. We are wholly in charge of our lives, and we cannot just follow the choices and thoughts of others blindly and let them define our lives. Essentially, we define ourselves through our attitudes and perceptions we have ...

Absurdism as a worldview theory is a part of the philosophy of existentialism; and as the fundamental philosophical concept it was firstly developed in the work of Albert Camus “The Myth of Sisyphus”. As a system of philosophical views, it claims the lack of meaning of human life (the absurdity of life existence). According to the absurdism, people have been trying to find the meaning of existence throughout their history. Traditionally, these attempts have ended in one of two ways: man has come to the conclusion that all life is senseless or he has started to understand that everything is predetermined by ...

Absurdity of human existence is a hard philosophical question. The problem of absurdity of human existence arises from the point of view that the universe is meaningless and there is nothing in the world worth living. According to existentialism the tragedy of human existence is that people are like abandoned in the world of physical pleasures. They don't know how to live in the world, aware of the impermanence of existence. In this essay I would like to highlight Albert Camus’, Richard Taylor’s and Thomas Nagel’s points of view on absurdity of human existence. Even though ...

Camus’ “The Stranger” is brilliantly as it crafts Camus’s absurdist view of the world. The novel came out in 1942, and tells the story of Meursault’s , an emotionally detached, but amoral young man. Meursault does not believe in God. Camus shows the main character’s callous nature as he does not cry at his mother’s funeral and he kills a man he hardly knows. Due to his crime, the society sees Meursault as a threat to the society, and as such, he faced death. Nevertheless, he comes to understand the simple coldness of the world. He eventually finds ...