Anarchism

Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave reveal differences and similarities on their outlook on government and solutions to rid their prospective states of certain problems. These solutions focus on freeing oneself from conforming to societal norms in favor of seeking “enlightenment” and awareness. The aforementioned great minds of their times both argue variations of the same views on human existence and an individual 's role in their respective societies. At…

In the pursuit of “a more perfect Union,” it is only expected that there will exist stark, if not polar discrepancies on how we as a nation should go about attaining such an ideal. It is, after all, a large aspect of the fundamentals upon which our nation was founded. What’s more, it takes a certain breed of brave, yet well-spoken individuals to delineate both what this ideal is, and what is necessary to achieve it. Immediately, we are reminded of antebellum America, and the vast divergence that…

Individualist vs Collectivist An individualistic culture is one where individuals value and appreciate their freedom and personal independence (McLean, 2010). Often times the individual will require some assistance, but the outcome still comes from the individual themselves. In an individualistic culture individual rights take center stage, independence is highly valued, dependency is looked down upon, and people are self-reliant (Cherry, 2016). People tend to be strong, assertive, self-reliant…

Maintaining individuality in a society that practices conformism can be a difficult task. Nonetheless, this task is vital to the identity of an individual. It is also vital to the progress of society since without individuality the world would be led by followers rather than leaders that can discern from right and wrong. It is through autonomy and self-exploration that people can strive for change within themselves and our nation. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and “Civil Disobedience” both…

In this passage, Henry David Thoreau expresses his transcendentalist ideas by describing the beauty and perfection of nature and creating parallels to the human body and mind. In describing the physical changes in the environment that occur when winter eases into spring, Thoreau provides the analogy of a “waking man” to describe the pond cracking. He further goes on to question the sensitivity of the pond – and in directly questioning the sensitivity of man. Overall, this passage is…

Two authors, one born in 1812, the other in 1876. Two books, one a reflection of life in nature, the other, the tales of animal decivilization. Even though the two book topics carry strong, distinct differences, they both carry strong beliefs about the laws of nature. Henry Thoreau, the author of Walden, describes a two year stay in nature and how he developed different views on life and nature. Jack London, the author of Call of the Wild, wrote a story about how an animal goes from being a…

In today’s world, people who are egoists are often thought of to be self-centered and selfish. Egoism is the theory that one should use himself to motivate and to achieve goals. Ayn Rand confronts egoism differently in Anthem. She views egoism as an extension to Individualism. Throughout the story Prometheus discovers that ego is not a bad thing and becomes an egoist. By the end of the book Prometheus uses his own self interests to drive himself, putting his own motives above those of his…

All these uses of repetition are very important because they either make the sentence have multiple meanings, or serve as a clue that this is important based on how many times it’s repeated and helps us understand his ideas. For example, the word “we” is constantly repeated until he discovers “I.” And to prove this, the whole book is wrapped around 2 ideas- individualism and egoism. Equality transformed from a confused kid into a man who has strong morals and ideas. While I may not agree with…

Dilip Chitre creates a stark impression of the isolation of old age in his poem ‘Father Returning Home’ by showing his fathers’ estrangement from society and his own family. Chitre conveys this isolation by using literary devices such as similes and repetition, and addressing themes such as modernity vs tradition. The poem begins when a father is waiting outside for a train which will take him home. We know this as it says ‘My father travels on the late evening train’. Already by labelling the…

In Anarchism: What It Really Stands For, Emma Goldman states: “Every fool, from king to policeman, from the flatheaded parson to the visionless dabbler in science, presumes to speak authoritatively of human nature”. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, two of the most influential modern philosophers, presumed to speak authoritatively on human nature. They presumed so much so, that each of the philosophers dedicated the bulk of a novel to discussing their interpretation of human nature. In fact,…