Existentialism Essays (1221 words) - Philosophy Of Life, Modernism

Existentialism Existentialism refers to the philosophical movement or tendency of the nineteenth and twentyth centuries. Because of the diversity of positions associated with existentialism, a precise definition is impossible; however, it suggests one major theme: a stress on individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice {3}. Existentialism also refers to a family of philosophies devoted to an interpretation of human existence in the world that stresses its concreteness and its problematic character. Existentialism is often seen as an irrationlist revolt against tradiational phylosphy. Although this may be true to a certain point, existentialism has played a key role in the way people look at the world. Existentialism, for several reasons, rejects epistemology and the attempt to ground human knowledge. First of all,existenalist believe, human beings are not solely or even primarily knowers. They also care, desire, manipulate, and, above all, choose and act. Secondly, the self or ego, required by some if not all epistemological doctrines, is not a basic feature of the prereflective experience. It emerges from one's experience of other people. The cognizing ego presupposes rather than infers or constitutes the existence of external objects. In other words, you are not born with an ego, or thought of ones self, but it is created through experiences with other people. Finally, man is not a detached observer of the world, but in the world. He exists in a special sense in which objects suck as stones and trees do not; he is open to the world and to objects in it. There is no distinct realm of consciousness, on the basis of which a person might infer, reason why project, or doubt the existence of external objects {1}. Most philosophers since ancient Greek thinker Plato have held that the highest ethical good is universal. Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard {4, 333} reacted against this tradition, insisting that the individual's highest good is to find his or her own unique vocation. In terms of moral choice, existentialists have argued that there is no objective, rational basis for decisions; they stress the importance of individualism in deciding questions of morality and truth. Most existentialists have held that rational clarity is desirable wherever possible but that life's most important questions are not accessible to reason or science. The first to anticipate existentialism's major concerns was seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, who denounced a systematic philosophy that presumes to explain God and humanity. He saw life in terms of paradoxes: The human self, combining mind and body, is itself a contradiction. Later, Kierkegaard rejected a total rational understanding of humanity and history, stressing the ambiguity and absurdity of the human situation. Nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche espoused tragic pessimism and life-affirming individual will. Heidegger argued that human beings can never hope to understand why they are here; instead, each individual must choose a goal and follow it with passionate conviction, aware of the certainty of death and the ultimate meaninglessness of one's life. Twentieth-century French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre first gave the term existentialism general currency by using it for his own philosophy. Explicitly atheistic and pessimistic, his philosophy declared that human life requires a rational basis but the attempt is a futile passion {2, 99-106}. Nevertheless, he insisted that his view is a form of humanism, emphasizing freedom and responsibility. Freedom of choice, through which each human being creates his own nature, is a primary theme. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, they must accept the risk and responsibility of their actions. Kierkegaard held that a feeling of general apprehension, which he called dread, is God's way of calling each individual to commit to a personally valid way of life{1}. The twentyth-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger {3} felt that anxiety leads to the individual's confrontation with the impossibility of finding ultimate justification for his or her choices. There are many other themes in existentialism, here are just a few. First, there is the basic existentialist standpoint, that existence precedes essence, has primacy over essence. Man is a conscious subject, rather than a thing to be predicted or manipulated; he exists as a conscious being, and not in accordance with any definition, essence, generalization, or system. Existentialism says I am nothing else but my own conscious existence. {4,21-22}. A second existentialist theme is that anxiety, or the sense of anguish, a generalized uneasiness, a fear or dread which is not directed to any specific object. Anguish is the dread of the nothingness of human existence. This theme is as old as Kierkegaard {5} within existentialism; it

Scott Peterson Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder

Scott Peterson Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder Scott Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and second-degree murder in the death of his unborn son Conner. The jury reached a verdict in the case in its seventh day of deliberations, after three jurors were replaced during the trial, including the first foreman. The verdict came only eight hours after Judge Delucchi dismissed the first foreman of the  jury, who was replaced by a male alternate. The new foreman was juror No. 6, a firefighter and paramedic. First, Judge Delucchi replaced juror No. 7, who reportedly did her own independent research or investigation into the case, contrary to court rules. The judge told the jury they had to start over in their deliberations. They responded by electing a new foreman. The following day, the judge dismissed juror No. 5, the former foreman of the jury, who reportedly asked to be removed from the case. The jury deliberated all day Wednesday with the new foreman in place, took the day off Thursday due to the Veterans Day holiday, and deliberated only a few hours Friday before announcing they had a verdict. The total deliberations lasted almost 44 hours  after the jury heard five months of testimony from 184 witnesses. Scott Peterson was charged with the murder of his pregnant wife Laci Denise Peterson and their unborn son Conner Peterson who disappeared sometime between December  23 and December 24, 2002. The badly decomposed remains of Laci Peterson and the couples fetus washed ashore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he went on a solo fishing trip the day she vanished. Peterson was arrested April 18, 2003, in San Diego, the day that the remains of Laci and Conner were officially identified. The Prosecutions Theory The prosecution believed that Scott Peterson meticulously planned the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson because he did not want to give up his lifestyle to be tied down to a wife and baby. They believe that he purchased the 14-foot Gamefisher fishing boat two weeks before she disappeared for the sole purpose of using it to dispose of her body in the San Francisco Bay. Prosecutor Rick Distaso told the jury that Peterson used an 80-pound bag of cement he purchased to make anchors to weigh down Lacis body at the bottom of the bay. They showed jurors photographs of five round impressions in the cement dust on the floor of Petersons warehouse. Only one anchor was found in the boat. Prosecutors also believe that Peterson originally planned to use a golfing outing as his alibi for the day that Laci disappeared, but for some reason dumping her body into the San Francisco Bay took longer than he planned and he was stuck with using the fishing trip as his alibi. The problem the prosecution had was there was no direct evidence proving that Peterson murdered his wife, much less disposed of her body. Their case was constructed totally on circumstantial evidence. The Defense of Scott Peterson Defense attorney Mark Geragos promised the jury in his opening statement that he would present evidence that would show that Scott Peterson was innocent of the charges, but in the end, the defense could not produce any direct evidence pointing to any other suspect. Geragos mostly used the prosecutions own witnesses to offer the jury alternative explanations of the states circumstantial case. He brought Scott Petersons father to the stand to explain that Scott had been an avid fisherman since an early age and that it was not unusual for Scott not to brag about major purchases, like the fishing boat. Geragos also offered testimony that indicated that Peterson used the remainder of the 80-pound bag of cement to repair his driveway. He also tried to explain his clients erratic behavior after Lacis disappearance to being hunted by the media, not because he was trying to elude or deceive the police. The defense case took a major setback when an expert witness, who testified that Conner Peterson was still alive after December  23, did not stand up to cross-examination which brought out that he had made a huge assumption in his calculations. Many courtroom observers, even those with backgrounds in criminal prosecution, agreed that Mark Geragos did an excellent job during the prosecutions case in offering the jury alternate explanations for almost every aspect of the circumstantial evidence. In the end, the jury believed the prosecution proved its case that Scott Peterson premeditated the death of his pregnant wife.

Multivariate analysisand cluster Speech or Presentation

Multivariate analysisand cluster - Speech or Presentation Example This analysis is aimed at investigating the significant difference between the USFOX and BRITISHFOX. In this study, the variables are F1 Height at shoulders in centimetres, F2 body length in centimetres, and F3 weight in kilograms. In this case we will investigate if there is any difference in adult male red fox measurements between the US and Great Britain. The difference between the two populations USFOX and British FOX will also be investigated in this research. In this study, we will investigate if there exists any correlation between the height at the shoulders, and the length of the body (Tunner. D. E and Youssef-Morgar C.M, 2013). The correlation between the height of the body and the weight of the body. The correlation between the length of the body and the weight of the body. We will first explore the population to investigate the univariate normality and bivariate normality, Kutner, M. H., C. J. Nachtsheim, J. Neter, andW. Li (2005). We will also explore the relationship be tween the variables. We use the r-program to do the analysis test for univariate and bivariate normal. Statistics is in every day activities, and its hard to go without any encounter of statistics (Campbell, G, Stonehouse, G & Houston, B 2002). Without statistics, we couldn’t be able to plan our budgets, pay our taxes, enjoy ourselves to the fullest or even evaluate our performance in the various job positions. Descriptive statistics includes qualitatively describing the features of gathering of information. Descriptive statistics aims at summarizing the sample unlike inferential statistics that aim at learning about the population. The descriptive statistics are not obtained on the ground of probability theory. Some of the measures used to define the data are the measures of central tendency and the measures of dispersion (Brue Stanley. & Randy Grant, 2007). The measure of central tendency that we are going to look at include; mean,