An examination of the Philosophy of Pragmatism as applied by Jane Addams
Essay - 6 pages - Philosophy
Researchers examining the life of Jane Addams argue that she was “the leader and prophet of the settlement movement in America.” While Addams is best known for her creation of Hull House in Chicago's urban center, her work, ideologies and philosophy continue to transcend social...
Gandhi's ideas of western culture
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
In 1929, Gandhi wrote, “The Western civilization which passes for civilization is disgusting to me. I have given a rough picture of it in Hind Swaraj [India Home Rule]. Time has brought no change to it.” Despite the fact that Gandhi openly demonstrates considerable disdain for Western...
The Sage: Don Quixote
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
Don Quixote, titular character of Cervantes' famous novel is certain that a scribe who is recording all of his actions will make him famous in history. Such a scribe, in the Quixotic sense, does not really exist, but Cervantes fulfills the role. If Cervantes had inserted himself into his novel...
Writing Ethically: Essays of John Edgar Wideman and Jane Tompkins
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
The essays “Our Time” by John Edgar Wideman and “Indians': Textualism, Morality and the Problem of History” by Jane Tompkins are both written by people who are telling stories about experiences that are not their own. Wideman is writing about his brother Robby and all of the...
Moral Habits: Aristotle & Immanuel Kant
Essay - 5 pages - Philosophy
People often feel a calling to certain fields because they have an innate sense for it. Sometimes the required characteristics need to be learned, other times they are a result of contemplation in regards to each individual situation. But, what makes them moral? Carl has been a firefighter in...
Eugenic Expectations: The Reality of Getting What You Want
Essay - 5 pages - Philosophy
The advancement of medical technology has encroached upon every aspect of our healthcare system and delivery, yet probably the most sensitive area it has impacted has been our methods of reproduction. Due to the illicit (or at least discrete) nature of conception means, along with the sanctity...
T'ao Ch'ien's Use of Poetic Effects of Distance to Affirm His Daoist Principles
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
At first glance, the poetry of the reclusive scholar T'ao Ch'ien seems like a layman's simple affirmation of Daoist life in the country. But even though T'ao Ch'ien feels he has chosen the right principles for himself, his poetry contains a definite tension: the weather threatens the crops,...
Judgment and Portrayal of Character in the "Love Suicides" and "What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker"
Essay - 4 pages - Literature
The two narratives of “What the Seasons Brought the Almanac Maker” by Saikaku and the “Love Suicides” by Chikamatsu present variegated looks at the complications of love and society and the need for harmony between the two. Both are prime examples of Japanese literature, full...
Power and Sexuality in "Leda and the Swan" and "Goblin Market"
Essay - 4 pages - Literature
Duality and opposition are forces that play beneath the surface of both William Butler Yeats' “Leda and the Swan” and Christina Rossetti's “Goblin Market”, two poems that focus on sexuality while incorporating animal figures as holders of power, both sexual and otherwise....
Knowledge and certainty: limits and value
Essay - 7 pages - Philosophy
Epistemology is a philosophical discourse that is predicated upon understanding the scope, limits and value of knowledge. While one may argue that the scope and limits are quite straightforward in terms of individual understanding and knowledge, the philosophical component of epistemology clearly...
Nehru's ideas in relation to Gandhianism
Essay - 4 pages - Philosophy
A critical reading of Sunil Khilnani's arguments in The Idea of India appears to reflect well on the actions taken by Jawaharlal Nehru in his development of the state of India. As described by Khilnani, Nehru had a number of ideas which appear at the outset to be in violation of the principles of...
All in the Family: The Economics of Interpersonal Relationships in the Gulag
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
The synopsis on the back cover of Alexander Solzhenistyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich claims that it is “the harrowing account of one day in the life of a man who has conceded to all things evil with patience, dignity, and enduring strength.” Like so many others, the author...
Reinforcements for the Free Will Defense
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
Here I shall argue against objections raised by J.L. Mackie and Nelson Pike to the Free Will Defense. These philosophers want to know why an omnipotent and wholly good God could not create a world in which everybody acts freely and rightly. I shall show that this condition is logically...
The Epileptic Loophole: Self-control and the Judiciary in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
Epilepsy and the punitive system—two seemingly unrelated items that Fyodor Dostoevsky juxtaposes in order to make a point about Russia and the futility of the judiciary. In his giant oeuvre The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky exemplifies the tension between rational and irrational behavior by...
The Crucible Character Analysis : Abigail Williams "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
Book review - 3 pages - Literature
In any unfavorable situation, we seek a solution and if there is none, then a way out. When one of main characters of Arthur Miller's The Crucible finds herself in a vulnerable position, she not only manages to escape her problems, but also succeeds in placing the repercussions of her actions on...
A critical review of 'A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry V. Jaffa
Book review - 5 pages - Literature
A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry V. Jaffa is the long awaited sequel to the author's 1959 book, Crisis of the House Divided. Although the specific objective of the A New Birth of Freedom is to examine Lincoln's development of the Gettysburg Address, what...
The child sex trade in Asia
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
References to Asia often bring to mind the stunning beauty of the Orient. Rich cultural tradition coupled with unique design and architecture make Asia appear to be an almost mythical culture to Western citizens. While it is indeed true that Asia is associated with an exotic culture deeply...
Does race play a mitigating role in the application of the death penalty?
Essay - 2 pages - Philosophy
Over the course of the twentieth century there have been a number of issues that have promulgated debate. Prayer in public schools, gun control and abortion are among the most notable issues to garner attention. While each of these issues has significant ramifications for the development of...
"You are Defined by Those that Oppose You."
Thesis - 5 pages - Philosophy
It is arguable that today it is commonly, if subconsciously, accepted that nationality is the most important aspect of one's identity. Whether it is a national sports team, a national representative at Eurosong, a national author…etc. one's nationality has become the most basic marker of...
Hospitable Hosts, Educated Elites: Relativism vs. Absolutism in the writings of Alberuni and Ibn Battuta
Essay - 4 pages - Literature
In exploring nations and cultures outside of their own, Alberuni and Ibn Battuta encountered ideologies, customs, and practices that stood in opposition to the beliefs and ways of life they personally upheld. Faced with foreign behavior and thought, the authors found themselves in a position to...
The "Marx Brothers":Wallerstein, Chakrabarty, and Appadurai in Conversation
Essay - 8 pages - Philosophy
The anthropological study of capitalism is rendered difficult by the inaccessibility of capitalist subjects as informants, the political legacy of Marxist and socialist movements, and the continuing disagreement over the origins and productions of capitalism, among other things. However, there...
Manifest: To Become
Essay - 3 pages - Philosophy
On the occasion of International Women's Day, I find myself wanting to write about feminism. I don't know what wave I am—4th, or maybe some unknowable iteration in the process of being born and matured. But I do know that I think a lot about what it means to be a woman wielding her power in...
Harold Pinter and the absent 'Center'
Essay - 9 pages - Literature
At the very beginning there is the structure. The structure is a skeleton, the premise, the base on which the flesh is arranged, systematically, so that a body maybe created. It may not always make itself palpable but if there is a structure then there must also be a center. A structure without a...
Nietzsche and the Mother: A Contrast to Kantian Enlightenment
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
To what extent does Nietzsche impose his ideals on the reader or create an open and flexible world-view? Upon closing his arguments in On the Genealogy of Morals Nietzsche imagines a reader asking him “'What are you really doing, erecting an ideal or knocking one down?'” (95). He...
Heteroglossia and Shelly's Frankenstein
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
According to M. M. Bahktin, heteroglossia is the use of different novelistic modes of expression (authorial speech, narrators, inserted genres, speech of characters, dialogue, etc.) to express and represent the diversity of social speech types and a diversity of individual voices. Mary Shelly's...
Langston Hughes's "Trumpet Player"
Thesis - 2 pages - Literature
Langston Hughes's poem, "Trumpet Player", is both a celebration of and reach for a Black identity. The poem's vivid imagery and careful metaphors connote to a theme consistent among Hughes's work. The poem quietly speaks of oppression, of a violent past, of desperation and ongoing...
Fidelity and Infidelity (to Tolstoy's Novel) in Duvivier's and Zarkhi's Anna Kareninas
Tutorials/exercises - 15 pages - Literature
A viewer watching the 1948 and then the 1967 film versions of Anna Karenina (directed by Julien Duvivier and Aleksandr Zharkhi, respectively) for the first time might think that there is much in common between the two films. They look very similar, and this is due in large part to attempts, by...
Society Woman: Days of a Russian Noblewoman
Essay - 5 pages - Literature
The memoirs of Anna Evdokimovna Labzina, a noblewoman during the reign of Catherine the Great, might be expected to contain numerous references to the salon of St. Petersburg and the fashions of the time. Titled Days of a Russian Noblewoman, her account is remarkable for its religious tone and...
Subplot and Plot: The Commentary of the Madhouse on the Castle in Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling
Essay - 5 pages - Literature
In the seventeenth-century Jacobean revenge tragedy The Changeling, Thomas Middleton and William Rowley present two seemingly separate worlds in both location and action. The main plot is characterized by the locale of the castle in Alicante, ruled by Vermandero. This setting is centered on the...
The Absent Wife and Mother as the Source for the Downfall of a Family and Kingdom in Shakespeare's King Lear
Essay - 6 pages - Literature
In King Lear, Shakespeare incorporates a theme that is prevalent in many of his other works, that of family structure, specifically, absent wives and mothers. The nonexistence of King Lear's wife and his daughters' mother also implies the absence of a Queen and a female political figure to...
