Abstraction

Markus Zusak has not really written "Harry Potter and the Holocaust." It just feels that way. "The Book Thief" is perched on the cusp between grown-up and young-adult fiction, and it is loaded with librarian appeal. It deplores human misery. It celebrates the power of language. It may encourage adolescents to read. It has an element of the fanciful. And it's a book that bestows a self-congratulatory glow upon anyone willing to grapple with it. "The Book Thief" resembles other, better novels…

Commercialism expressed in society is the exchange of goods and services for a profit. This idea can extend above trading of physical objects into abstractions such as feelings, concepts, wants and ideas. With the concept of Commercialism in mind, resonates an unsettling thought: What known to society cannot be commercialized? And, are there things that exist that should not be commercialized? The theme of commercialism is scrutinized and heavily reflected under two short pieces of science…

What does it mean to be a rational human? Though both are from different time periods, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Aristotle sought out the answer to the latter. Both philosophers had different opinions on the subject. For instance, Aristotle believed that human rationality was entirely primary while Rousseau refused to accept this notion. Despite both philosophers providing valid arguments for their theses, I have to agree with Aristotle’s beliefs. To begin, Aristotle provides an in-depth…

In the world, there are many cultures, so there are different dances that come from those cultures. Some dances can be viewed as similar because they have similar techniques but come from different cultures. Every dance that originated from a different culture is unique and has a different background story about how their dance was created and came to be known around the world. Every dance requires so much time, effort, compassion, determination, and practice that few people will sacrifice it…

how can we differentiate the two? “The idea of the symbol versus the idea of a sign. Signs carry their own meaning and convey meaning straight to the perceiver. But symbols carry meaning for something else. They are intermediaries and they are abstractions from reality.”…

I chose this lesson because I thought the idea of studying goldfish and guppies was a fun, interactive way to address the standards about characteristics and behaviors of animals. Overall, I felt as if the lesson had great potential, but I thought there were specific areas where revision was needed in order to better address the standards, learning theory and student goals. With the help of these various revisions, I was able to take a FOSS lesson and turn it into something more suitable for my…

Furthermore, the personifications are made literal through a set of puns on the names of the cast. In addition, the novel opens with a “threshold text” that introduces a central abstraction (the practical physician touched by the light of science) and sets the stage for the central moral idea of the story: that “insensible rationalism is cruel.” Finally, Dr. Sloper’s trajectory exemplifies and prescribes —as allegories do— in a sequence…

According to Immanuel Kant, conscientious people strive to preserve their moral integrity. This goal requires their external behavior match with their consciences internal dictates what they perceive to be morally right and feel driven to do. In the morally diverse world, conscientious persons may come into conflict with each other and with society’s moral values. Conflicts of conscience are a standard feature of the moral life except for the amoral sociopath. Resolving these conflicts is a big…

The characters in “The Dead” are not actually living at all, as one can see in the narrator’s descriptions of the events and traditions that are continuously brought up, and in how those and the characters are predictably and monotonously described. The first example of monotony is the mention of the dance, “It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan’s annual dance,” (21). The description of the dance indicates that it has been going on for “Years and years” for “as long as anyone could…

“Soldier’s Home” tells the story of Harold Krebs, a Marine who returns home from World War I. While Krebs does not struggle from physical damages, he does suffer mentally. Harold Krebs struggles with post traumatic stress disorder and trying to figure out what he wants in life. The characters and incidents in “A Soldier’s Home” are factual to Ernest Hemingway’s own experiences because like the main character, Harold Krebs, Ernest Hemingway also struggles after returning home from the war. First…