Essays on Thinkers

With specific reference to at least three readings given, explain how the early modern period can be understood as an "invention" or "discovery" of the modern age? The early modern period in the world’s history marks significant changes in culture, religion, worldview and people’s perception of themselves in the universe. Symbolically defined as the period between the fall of Constantinople in the late Middle Ages and the onset of the Age of Revolutions in the late eighteenth century, the early modern period is commonly described as the time of invention, the Age of Discovery and the Age ...

Emmanuel Kant describes enlightenment as a situation of self-awareness where an individual emerges from self-imposed immaturity. Thus, this state marks a transition from darkness to awareness, and it comes with freedom. Moreover, Kant regards immaturity as a complete inability of an individual to use his conscience or understanding without the intervening guidance of another person (Deligiorgi, 2005). A clear lack of resolve and courage precipitates to the denial of personal freedom, but an affliction on others for sole guidance. Principally, Kant’s assertion about enlightenment is entrenched on having the courage to use personal understanding and courage to dispense ...

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Introduction Conscience is one of the most commonly experienced psychological faculty of an individual, but is also one of the least understood. For many years, little attention have been given towards understanding conscience; particularly on how it is shaped and who influenced the modern understanding of this concept. Nevertheless, conscience is an important phenomenon that requires significant attention primarily because it impacts all human judgment. The manifestation of conscience delineates man from other animals species as conscience is proof of man’s self-consciousness; an attribute that is only observable among human species. As a learned psychological faculty, ...

Fostering a Culture of Learning and Critical Thinking in an Organization's constant learning constitutes a fundamental success factor in its knowledge management and learning systems. Promoting a culture of critical thinking and learning in any organization requires an understanding of the concept. Bailin (2002) defines critical thinking as the process through which people test arguments and claims to determine their merit. Basically, the process involves investigation, interpretation and final judgment. Fostering critical thinking and learning in an organization requires incorporating the various aspects of the process in behaviours and interactions of the people. The ability to think critically entails ...

Introduction

Generally, Free Thought can be attributed to almost all developments and advancements in the world. Ranging from innovations and technological developments to religion and political changes, free thought seems to be the main driver of change. Free thought requires that free thinkers hold their positions regarding truth based on empiricism, logic, and reason. This implies that a free thinker should not be influenced by such things as tradition, authority or revelation. Free thought has developed a society of civilized people and advanced technology leading to the end of ineffective and bureaucratic regimes and religions that brought about differences within ...

Management

The first video (Urban), the speaker developed how the mind of a procrastinator works; that is the person waits until the last day (or minute) to make a planned work having a high stress in the execution. Urban says the high stress is accompanied by an innovation explosion. He explains the procrastination process with a "rational" human and an "irrational" monkey. The monkey looks for the short term gratification (easy and fun) and the "rational" human the long term strategy (makes sense). Both worlds are possible to match, but in several cases, students and professionals locate in the excluded ...

Critical thinking is essential to the life of a successful leader. Leaders all over the world must employ critical thinking into their way of leadership to enable them to make the best decisions. Critical thinking can help leaders avoid risky situations and potential loses for the company. Global leaders need to use critical thinking and adapt such skills where they lack so that they can be able to adapt to the ever-changing business conditions. Flexibility in critical thinking is important since the economy and the business environments are ever changing, and business needs to survive these harsh conditions. There ...

Throughout history, there have been many great thinkers. They have sprawled among many disciplines, from philosophy to physics. Nevertheless, some of these have made important contributions to many fields at the same time. One of these cases is that of Blaise Pascal, who was deeply influential in mathematics, philosophy and theology. In a sense, one could say that these three disciplines were intertwined in his work. By studying the loftier aspects of the human experience, Pascal was able to bring together probability theory and his worries about the existence of God. As such, his notorious wager was a turning ...

The Enlightenment period also referred to as the Age of Reason is used to describe the time in history began with the end of Thirty Years War and to the end of the French Revolution. This period marked a significant radical shift in the government, culture, and politics. The period embraced some philosophies to think as well as explore the world (Best 30).. In global enlightened thinkers were considered to think objectively without prejudice. The period was marked by rationalism, reasoning, and empiricism. The argument was advocated as a means of establishing reliable systems of government, religion, and ...

The progressive movement in the United States refers to a broad based transformational faction that promoted the ideologies of a rational government action while handling political, economic, and cultural aspects in a bid to improve the society. From the outset, it is important to note that the leaders of the progressive era came from various backgrounds, from social activists to politicians, philosophers to business owners, and reporters to preachers. Some of the well-known progressive thinkers include Woodrow Wilson on the democratic side and Frank Johnson Goodnow. Woodrow Wilson’s progressive views were that the role of government is to ...

BODY AND SOUL RELATIONSHIP FROM GREAT THINKERS

Body and Soul relationship The relationship between body and soul has been the main concern for many thinkers since the beginning of the history of philosophy. In this paper, we will be exploring this relationship from the perspective of three great thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, and Saint Agustin. They were all interested in this relationship, and as they do have common views, they also differ in many areas. The main concern that these three thinkers have is that the humans are made of both body and soul. They can see and touch the body, but they cannot touch the soul. ...

Certainly I heard about Henry Thoreau long ago, and for some time it was for me only the general popular understanding that he was long time ago the great hero of the American history and the founding father of some special kinds of American and world literature, nothing more. I did not put a lot of efforts towards reading his working or just asking about what he was all about. I remember when I was young; however, I used to go to the public libraries where I saw most of his works shelved. One of my real heroes was ...

Liberty or freedom as a primary social, political and economic ideal which should be strived for is a relatively recent development in world history. The idea that the individual should be the primary subject and that individual freedom is a universal good and something which determines the quality of life and the quality or lack thereof of a government.  Freedom is conceived in two different and opposite ways. Positive freedom and negative freedom. The concept of positive freedom is encapsulated by the idea of agency. The idea which a person or subject has agency which means that they have ...

Objectivist Traditions and Application

Philanthropists’ Dilemma The case of two philanthropists who must decide whether their mother (nearing complete brain death and whom doctors believe is in moderate pain) should continue her life is challenging to ponder. She has a 5% chance of meaningful recovery, being ill with terminal cancer and senility. Objectivists stand on both side, all sure of their own moral justification. Deontological theories, split up into agent-centered or patient-centered theories, are useful to contrast their compelling views in the morally hazardous Delshondra situation. These two differ in that the former focuses on each individual agent’s personal morality dilemmas and ...

Inquiry Based Learning in STEM Education

One of the major problems that exists in education today is a need to alter teaching practices to meet the changing demands of our modern world. One way that globalization is directly effecting education is in the creation of a greater emphasis on STEM education. Teachers must find a way of instructing students that makes them more successful in studying and developing professionally in the areas of science and technology. This relies on inquiry based instruction. However, the basic premise of inquiry based, or vocationally focused education runs counter to the classroom setting, and its cultural tendencies to be ...

Abstract

Human mind was always a mystery to humanity. Many thinkers and philosophers tried to solve its puzzles. Plato and Descartes are the philosophers who offer a comprehensive and well-known accounts of human mind and learning process. While both of them value the mind and wisdom the most, Plato considers contact with another very helpful in the process of learning while Descartes does not share his position. Plato's position is explained through his description of the ascent to light in the allegory of the cave while Descartes view is shown from his conclusions about mind and body from the Second ...

One of the most important or interesting ideas I gathered from the article is that there is a difference between being a fair-minded thinker and a thinker. I have learnt that many thinkers tend to pursue selfish goals while fair-minded thinkers are individuals who are not driven by the desire to manipulate other people for their personal interest. I think this is an interesting concept in the sense that fair-minded thinkers are rare in the contemporary society while many politicians fall in the category of thinker who manipulates other people’s thinking for personal gains. The other most interesting ...

The French Revolution was one of the most important moments in world history. The French Revolution symbolized that the ideologies and methods of the Enlightenment were no longer only the work of philosophes, academics and of the salons of Paris. The French Revolution was the moment when all of this theoretical knowledge regarding the way societies and governments should be organized left the pages and entered the streets, the cafes and the political clubs.  The French Revolution was the result of a crisis in France’s ancien regime and its assertion of the division of the state, the polity, ...

W.E.B Dubois Leader in Education Analysis W.E.B Dubois Leader in Education Analysis

A scholar, activist, novelist, leader, author, editor and a public speaker, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was one of the most significant African-American during the period of early 20th century. He was born on February 23rd, 1868 to a poor family in Massachusetts. When he grew up, Du Bois’s teachers nurtured him as a bright student and upon graduating in 1884, was insisted by his school principal to pursue a college degree. He then enrolled in Harvard as a junior in and around fall of 1888 ...

Technology exists as a creation of people, produced through the various ideas to help make the lives of people easier and more productive. However, technology has become too deeply integrated in people’s lives that they start being overly dependent on it, even to the point of stating that they are not able to live without it. Such an idea, significantly evident in today’s society is the thematic background of E.M Forster’s The Machine Stops, serving as a prescient warning of its implications. The isolation and shunning of human nature and a worship of technology will eventually ...

Herodotus Assessment

In the ancient time period, the recording of history was connected to the activity of narrators and thinkers that did not aim to write historical, but rather literary. At the same time, the history genre belonged to literary prose. The initial works incorporated the features of two different sides of human activity: science and art. Due to this fact, the Greek narrative authors traditionally attracted the attention of readers. A special place in the development of history belongs to Herodotus’s work, which is considered as the first example of both historical and literary prose. In this essay, the ...

Introduction

It’s called a fugue state. A fugue state is characterized by a complete removal from, or interruption of, a person’s identity and a personal history. A fugue state is not always permanent, but during the episode, a person can completely forget who they are, and can assume a completely new identity for themselves. Usually, the fugue state isn’t even diagnosed until a person can recall their identity after the fugue state has ended (Costandi). This is a perfect metaphor for Death Fugue, a novel by Sheng Keyi. In her novel, she explores the events related to ...

Question 1

Negotiations is a significant cultural result of the 1812 war. The two opposing sides, the Americans, and the British saw it best to engage in peace talks after the war had taken its toll on their people. The peace talks took place in Belgium, which was previously referred to as Ghent. The British made a promise to leave the Canadian borders while the Americans chose to give up their demands to end impressment. Negotiations have been practiced in the wars that followed the 1812 war and are still functional today. Many wars which would have caused devastating effects have ...

Brief personality summaries

Dominant: This personality group can be summarized as the ‘Conductor.' People who possess the dominant personalities are regarded as driven, goal-oriented, direct, risk-takers, impatient, desire to take control, fast-paced, aggressive, confrontational competitive and readily embrace change. Influencer: This category is often referred to as the ‘Promoter’. Individuals who are regarded as influencers have traits such as outgoing, enthusiastic, friendly, verbal communicators, optimistic, fast-paced, want to be liked and spontaneous. They are fond of words such as let’s go party! Hoo! Woo! Etc. As such, influencers tend to make impulse, quick-type decisions, usually without necessarily analyzing such decisions through ...

The influx of new cultures during the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution in the middle phase of the 18th century brought radical changes that challenged the rigid social hierarchy, philosophy, and the views of one’s self against the world. According to Macionis et al., one of the most notable impacts created by the Industrial Revolution was the invention of the steam engine. In 1765, the British inventor James Watt pioneered the technology through the use of coal power which resulted to more production compared to the manual labor. Factories spurred and gave way to large scale human employment ...

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 ...

Daoism comprises a mode of traditional Chinese thought that is thought of as both philosophical and religious. Rather than being primarily concerned with this conflict in ideology, however, Daoist thinkers have been primarily concerned with conceptualization of the natural world and the underlying influence that propels it forward in its evolutionary path throughout time. Morality, leadership, and personal development are all fundamental tenets held by Daoist thinkers. Two of the primary contributors to the history of Daoist thought were Laozi and Zhuang Zou, the writers of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi respectively. While these philosophers each demonstrate a variety ...

Islam is a religion, which started in the 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula, precisely in Mecca. Its believers trust in the existence of Mohammad. It is believed to have originated from Prophet Mohammad, who was visited by Angel Gabriel for about 23 years. In this period, he received revelations with which the Quran is composed. In general, the Islam religion is revealed to mean ‘the one who submits to Allah' (“What Is Islam? - Political Islam”). Most importantly, they believe in the five pillars of faith, prayer, giving, fasting and pilgrimage. It is also a monotheistic religion, but ...

The issue of moral community is a hotly debated topic by philosophers, especially in the field of ethics. It is paramount to realize that moral community refers to the beings that are held in high regard by an individual as opposed to a community or grouping of the people who act in a moral way. The “beings” in this context refers to the issues that a person has to consider their rightness before acting in a way that could affect them. For example, a person about to hit a wall may not be concerned whether it is right to ...

Laissez-faire is a style of leadership in which the leaders leave the workers or their subordinates to engage in their work using their own developed rules and policies. In Laissez-faire style of leadership, the leaders leave the responsibilities for their subordinates to execute them without the involvement of their seniors. Furthermore, the subordinates are left to choose the means in which to accomplish the tasks as there are strict rules, policies and regulations germinating from their superiors. The laissez-faire leadership is characterized by a deliberate abstention from interference or direction, and there is individual freedom of choice and action. ...

Introduction

Karen Warren coined the term “Ecofeminism” in explaining the logic of domination where the notion of people’s control over nature as a whole is wrong and for the same reason that the subordination of women to the will of men is also wrong. According to argument, feminists should object to the idea domination because subordination of women and domination over nature both represents the logic of domination. On the other hand, the asserted claim of twin domination encompasses several issues. In this discussion, Warren’s logic of domination and the concept of ecofeminism will be examined by explaining ...

Arendt and Nietzsche, both of who were political thinkers, in expression of their thoughts have capitalized on the issues of remembrance in their various articles, essays and writings. Though both thinkers have had divergent thoughts on various issues, their expression on the issue of morality in human beings in based on the remembrance of past experiences rather than the study of established laws; Arendt’s praising the significance of memory in politics while Nietzsche considers forgetfulness as a virtue. The experience of totalitarianism in her life is one the major reasons that pushes Arendt to lay her emphasis strongly ...

THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution was known for its blood-lined streets, rioting peasants, and terrifying regime changes. However, all death and destruction aside, the protesters of this time were heavily influenced by the thinkers that had come before them and brought new ideas to light. While the results were bloody, the intentions were lodged in modern thought. The Enlightenment was a time that influenced many historical movements in the future and had a significant impact on the political structure of France before and after the revolution. The driving force behind this movement was the writings of the philosophes and their contributions ...

Hello Dave,

You know, a couple days ago I watch a TV show where the theme of intolerance was slightly noticed. The thing is in this ‘slightly’ – it seems like nowadays only a few people can clearly formulate its origins and reasons it still exists. With it, I also remembered the movie Crash, which also discussed some racial tensions (Crash). It was as if the TV show and movie were pulling me in the same direction. Maybe it is a coincidence, but on our last lecture we had some topics connected with this problem. Thus, in this letter I will try ...

Paul Halsall’s “Emmanuel Kant: What is Enlightenment?, 1784” expounds the meaning of enlightenment to be the freedom from subjugation of the mind. Enlightenment is a process when a man uses his reason to act and not to rely on the instructions of others. Most people, the article mentioned are lazy and afraid to sift information to get the truth. Most men just brush the truths off and believe that they are doing the right thing by obeying their masters or their Lords. It is why only a few thinkers had the courage to break through the dogmatic beliefs ...

In his article, Marx discusses the history of human civilization, what led to the state it was in his days and his projections for future. His main claim is that in each its step, the history of humankind was defined as the struggle of classes – the exploiters and the exploited. In ancient times, they were slaves and masters, in medieval ages – peasants and lords, and in industrial age – bourgeois and proletariat. The proletariat is the workers of the factories and small property owners while bourgeois is the major industrial power and land owners. Marx argues that there will soon ...

Leadership Reflective Plan

Leadership is all about extrapolating one's vision of the future upon others and taking responsibility for the possible mistakes. People usually start following leaders when they have no other option. That is to say, people need a leader when they either have no vision of their own future or they are afraid of taking responsibility for their own mistakes. To this end, leadership studies imply a development of two major aspects such as endless passion that motivates surrounding people and some sort of fatalism that helps to take risky steps in the course of time. As for the theoretical ...

The Renaissance was a period in Europe that happened between the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Most history scholars consider it as the main point of connection between the middle age and the modern history. Renaissance started in Italy, and arrived in the other European countries in the succeeding years. The period of the Renaissance was the first step towards religious revolution, commonly referred to as Protestant Reformation (Tankard, n.p). It is probably the political circumstances of the sixteenth century that led to its success in some places and failure in others. The Renaissance period was a mark of major ...

Thomas Hobbes is a 17-century English philosopher famous for his contributions into the theory of political philosophy. Thomas Locke believed that that the success of any state is in the monarchy and that only people’s full obedience to the sovereign can guarantee them protection and safety. Thomas Hobbes saw a success of a state in the theory of social contract under which people, initially born with rights, relinguish all their rights to the monach who, in his/her turn, protects his/her people and guarantees peace in the state itself. This theory is based on the idea that all people ...

While most people are familiar with a number of leading theorists in psychoanalysis, particularly Sigmund Freud, and possibly Adler and Jung, most people would not be familiar with Karen Horney, considered to be the “fist psychoanalytic feminist” (Hergenhahn & Henley 525). Horney disagreed with several concepts introduced by Freud, especially his focus on unconscious sexual motivation and the division of the self into 3 parts: id, ego, and superego. She believed that social experiences had a greater influence on the creation of self. During the Depression, she found that her clients’ problems were caused by unemployment and the inability to ...

Causes of the Revolution

The American Revolution occurred between 1765 and 1783 after the colonists within the thirteen American colonies declined the British aristocracy and monarchical rule. Beginning 1765, the American colonists refused to acknowledge the power of the British parliament to tax the American colonists while the latter did not have colonial representatives in the governments. The following years were marred by protests as American patriots sought to ventilate their disapproval of the authority of the British monarchy and aristocracy over the thirteen American colonies. Religion played an important role in ushering the revolution as the Christian revivalists in the Great Awakening ...

A.N. Whitehead famously claimed that all Western Philosophy was nothing more than footnotes to Plato. But long before Plato or Socrates, there were many Greek thinkers who looked for answers to many of the same questions that Plato had asked. Two of the most famous of these thinkers were Heraclitus and Parmenides. Both of these philosophers were thinkers were pre-Socratic metaphysicians and asked questions related to the nature of reality. Since they were both two of the oldest philosophers in Europe, many of their ideas seem quite strange to modern readers and the fact that their works only exist ...

"On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense”.

Friedrich Nietzsche tries to persuade his audience to view intellect as merely human, and in essence it fabricates the illusion of the truth which is in itself a reflection. He explains his point using analogical reasoning instead of using the empirical evidence, he demonstrates his ideas using the very ideas the text proffers. Truth is something considered creative, not a statement of fact, logic or otherwise. It is a moment of discovery. Nietzsche is able to use dialogic inquiry, the art of illustration and figurative language to actively persuade his readers to agree that the truth is a human ...

There are several strategies that will be used to market the Let’s Move Tonga Style project to the local population. One of the strategies will involve partnering with allies (Newlands, 2015). The allies will include the people of Tonga who realize that obesity is a big problem and are keen on eliminating it. Such people will be very useful in trying to influence the local population to participate in the project activities. It will be easier for the people of Tonga to participate in the project if they see some of their own people mobilizing the project. The ...

Political ideologies are collections of different thoughts that seek to communicate with the best form of government in the society (Heywood 12). According to many thinkers, the society is organized in different forms of governance, which determine how the administrative policies are made. In this precept, some ideologies are right and take the will of the people in structuring the way the government discharges its duties. On the other hand, some government philosophies are so harsh to its people and leave them with nothing to hope for nor to dream. This paper elucidates different ideologies as presented by various ...

The Napoleonic Wars in the 18th and 19th century not only produced one of the greatest military geniuses of all but also revolutionized warfare. Napoleon is regarded as a great strategist who made use of the existing military strategies. During this period, two great thinkers, Carl von Clausewitz and Antoine Henri Jomini, recorded and interpreted the military strategies being employed by Napoleon. Clausewitz and Jomini are probably the greatest military thinkers to emerge from the Napoleonic era. After the Napoleonic wars ended, Clausewitz and Jomini sought to explain the emerging warfare by writing new doctrines and truth about war. ...

Trade played a significant role as a factor of economic growth in the establishment and development of the economy. In terms of emerging economy the meaning of foreign nation’s welfare increases. Such economy evolves under the influence of globalization, which implies a special role of foreign trade. This is due to the fact that the traditional comparative advantages, such as the difference in the allocation of countries of production factors, monopoly on natural resources and geographical conditions, and those associated with innovation processes, new technologies, with the choice of the consumer, its level income. At the same time ...

Abortion

Lee is a female social worker who volunteered to work at a clinic near her home area in Oregon. She is twenty-five years old and not married. She has been a regular social service delivery attendant who aims at enhancing delivery of better services to her community. According to her, the work she does is her passion because she does not receive any salary. After engaging in a sexual affair with her male workmate, she got pregnant. However, she had not decided on the action to take because of various reasons. First, the man responsible for the pregnancy was ...