Axiom

“The old axiom is true, birds of a feather do flock together —and that’s especially accurate in adolescence”(Lehman). Meaning that the people who hang out together do the same things as each other. The people we consider to be friends are the reflection of the person…

they believe before they can justify their belief. In dealing with propositions, a direct belief that “is a necessary proposition such that one cannot understand it without thereby knowing that it is true” (p. 73) is known as either “a priori” or an axiom. The two, however, have different conditions for them to be considered as true. For a proposition to be axiomatic it must “i. [be] necessarily true and ii. it is also necessarily true that if the person believes that proposition, the…

The third chapter discusses three famous paradoxes to illustrate how the mind works the concepts introduced previously. The three paradoxes are: Berry paradox, Richard’s paradox, and the paradox of the Liar. All three paradoxes explore the limits of human languages and how that affects our understanding of mathematical concepts. The Berry paradox is particularly concerned with numbers and their descriptions; there are numbers that are cannot even be named for example. I liked how the author…

Of the 190 countries, 61% have a drinking age of 18 or 19 years old (Drinking Age ProCon.Org). The United States is one of only 12 countries that has a MLDA of 21. It’s hard to think that in the land of the free, when you’re 18 years-old you can serve your country and vote, yet you can’t have a sip of alcohol. We tell teens it’s time to grow up, move out of the house, choose your career, and know exactly what you want to do with your life when you turn eighteen; but they aren’t grown up enough…

the planet. He was born on the ship twenty-five years ago and raised by Martians until he came to Earth. The story focuses on Michael’s adaptation to humans and their culture. In Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein questions and criticizes major axioms of western culture by following Michael Valentine Smith as he explores Earth through fresh, naïve eyes and experiences new-to-him but otherwise normal human concepts such as religion, the opposite sex, and sex itself. One of the most significant…

Although Locke’s “The Second Treatise of Civil Government” is, as the name implies, a “treatise”, it is imperative to remember that he is writing within a historical context (Laslett) which guides his discussion towards his desired conclusion. Therefore, when studying his discussion of property, we cannot assume his goal is pure dialectics; instead, we must review what is seen as the goal of his essay and see if he correctly connects it to his premises. Following this pattern, I want to explore…

Are Mathematics and Christianity related at all? For some, mathematics is simply rules, laws, and axioms that are used to make sense of problems. For others mathematics is the language God used to create universe in its entirety. Either way, certain questions continue to puzzle mathematicians such as: are mathematics invented by human minds to unlock the many mysteries of the world, or are these mathematical truths embedded in God’s nature and henceforth used in the creation of the world?…

This ‘blood for blood’ model of retributive justice propels the plot and action in the Oresteia trilogy, and makes the idea that justice is revenge an axiom in the story. Thus, it is conclusive that retributive justice takes the form of revenge in Aeschylus’s play Agamemnon. Unlike that of Agamemnon, Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor who fell from Grace with the Sea is a novel that shows justice as a form…

Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant in 1785 introduced deontological moral philosophy, having the centralized philosophical concept of the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative states ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law’ – Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Immanuel Kant praised the absolute truth, rejecting at all costs any lie. The dilemma of truth and lying, Kant believed,…

When man becomes aware of the unavoidable freedom to act that characterizes his existence, he experiences a deep sense of anguish. Sartre often communicated using parables. One anecdote he used from his own life to illustrate his axiom “man is condemned to be free” was that of a student of his who came to him for advice during World War II. The student lived with an aged mother, for whom he was the sole provider of care and comfort. At the same time, this student was inspired by…