Causality

Stonewall Riots The prominent philosopher Slavoj Zizek breaks down the standard definition of violence into a two-part cause and effect system. In his novel, Violence, he categorizes violence as either being “subjective”, i.e. the more physical and literal examples of violence, such as murder, riots, and similar acts, or “objective”, the systematic or metaphorical violence that has caused the subjective violence, such as systematic oppression by the government or similar controlling bodies. The…

My family has always been the most important thing in my life. I had always thought that family should always be protective and should cause no harm. It was hard for me to think that on October 9th of 2012 when my mother had received the call from my aunt that lives in Chicago who was accusing me of stealing her identity, and information from a case that she said she was supposedly going to get millions of dollars Why would one’s own family would want to cause harm and somehow destroy part of…

A. J. Ayer’s analysis of free will is as follows (611): P1 If you would have chosen to act in a way other than you did, you would have P2 You acted voluntarily P3 You were not compelled to act in a certain way C1 Your action was the result of free will Ayer’s first premise for an act of free will states that if you would have decided to make a different choice, you would have made a different choice. This condition for free will addresses the determinism theory (everything that happens can be…

Chiding Cheating Children Children today are watched especially close for cheating and plagiarism, not because schools trust them less, but because more of them are cheating on assignments than ever before. This is a serious problem that needs to be addresses, as it can cause horrible short and long term consequences. However, there is some debate as to how this should be done. Most of the causes for cheating are well known; laziness, insufficient upbringing, and, believe it or not, stress and…

Procrastination is a problem that people face everyday in tasks both big and small. It is not uncommon to realize that most everyone has trouble with procrastination in some way or another. My client, Madison Waltrip, is no different. Madison came to me to help her bring an end to her continuous procrastination. In order to help her better I felt I needed to do some more research into what procrastination is and what causes us as people to do it. The first article I came across was,…

According to Merriam-Webster.com, a citizen defines as “a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it,” but what defines a good citizen? It is difficult to determine if a citizen is good or bad for one’s community. Each individual has a unique role. Through Aristotle’s four causes in Physics, one is able to determine what qualities are required to be considered a good citizen, while through Plato’s Five Dialogues and Aristotle’s…

Gregor Mendel, a scientist, used pea plants in a study to find out how heredity is passed through generations. He found out through observation and data collection how each trait is passed and came to conclusions no one before him had. Before his studies, we did not know as much or nearly at all about how traits were inherited from parents to their offspring. His study of these plants helped to shape the ideas we have about inheritance today. With his help we have developed a continuously…

California is currently suffering in a major drought as we speak. Due to the climate changes, constant high temperatures and not having enough rain is causing the country to be more aware of how they can save water by limiting the usage of their water supply. This problems leads to water restrictions effecting many businesses, residents, and farms. In this article, author Justin Gillis, wrote "Warming is found to intensify California drought", published in 2015 by the International New York…

Causes and effects of Distracted Driving How many times do drivers take their eyes off of the road while driving? Whether it’s from using your cell phone, music or passengers. Every day, over 16 Americans are killed and over 1,300 are injured in car accidents that involve a distracted driver (Simon). The major distractions are taking their eyes off the road, mind off driving and hands off the wheel. When doing one or more of these distractions, it makes drivers more likely to have an…

Free Will and Determinism have been discussed by philosophers for many years. Free will is associated with moral responsibility, and alternative actions that “could have” been taken over the one chosen. Determinism is the opposite view, and is associated with universal causation, and a lack of free will. Determinists believe that a person’s actions are inevitable, they are dictated by a person’s experiences, they believe nurture, nature, and even a person’s genes determine their future actions.…