Irrationality

The question of whether or not a fear of death is rational is the crux of Jeffrie Murphy’s article Rationality and the Fear of Death. He sets out to argue that it is irrational to fear death and concludes that a fear of death is only rational if it helps the person live a meaningful life and irrational in all other cases when it has no real purpose in helping one live the way he wishes to. Murphy’s conclusion however leaves much to be desired in terms of strong evidence for his claim that…

Both as a theme and genre within literature, romance is an undying force, enduring the test of time. Captivating countless generations, writers who remain relevant novelists often focus on a melodramatic and idealistic story of adolescents falling in love, consequently depicting young love inaccurately. Guided by selfish desire, adolescent love is fervent and destructive, unlike mature love which is willing to change and compromise. Novelists scarcely craft successful stories on the darker…

Irrationality is thus defined as that which is inappropriate or not fitting to its object whereas rationality is that which is obviously fitting and appropriate. Murphy then makes the important distinction that what he is investigating is when a person is irrational…

Democracy, in which our Founding Fathers proudly introduced as the foundation of our government, is constantly protected and expanded (or at least attempted) by our Presidents. For example, during the Cold War when communism threatened democratic ideology, the U.S. responded with a “containment” policy to protect democratic peace. Recently, however, the same ideology that our generations of leaders sought to protect, is going through a slow but steady decline, with low voter turnouts and…

The Need for Happiness The simplest, purest aspects of life are often what is desired and valued the most amongst people. However, in many parts of the world, people are oblivious to their privileges and are never satisfied or happy with what they are blessed with. In the graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, the opposite can be seen as regular citizens sacrifice much of the little they have in hopes of achieving happiness. The citizens of Iran lack the right to express themselves freely…

each other. Although Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus, their personalities are completely opposite of each other. Apollo’s personality is represented by reason, order, and harmony. Dionysus’ personality is represented by disorder and irrationality. The Iliad and Agamemnon are two works of literature that includes numerous examples of the personalities of Apollo and Dionysus. In Book One of the Iliad, a Greek epic poem by Homer, there are many…

In his book, The McDonaldization of Society, the American sociologist and Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland in the U.S, George Ritzer, presents us with its criticism of the phenomenon of “McDonaldization” that he defines as “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world” (p 1). Ritzer’s work proposes a real social analysis case rethinking and applying Weber’s…

its complexity and whether or not it can be justified. These ideas are looked at in Jeffrie Murphy’s “Two Cheers for Vindictiveness”. Murphy uncovers the rationality and moral legitimacy of revenge. Murphy’s strongest arguments are against the irrationality of revenge. He does this by exposing the weaknesses of those who oppose revenge and shows how vindictive passions can be justified…

The themes of romanticism included emotions/ irrationality, the dangers of science, and the exotic, occult, and the macabre. You can see these themes present at all points throughout the novel. The big one that is stressed throughout the entire novel is the dangers of science. Opposite to the enlightenment…

states that that, “consciousness is nothing but the expression of historical necessity” (Lukács 1923). This historical necessity of consciousness compels the proletariat to realize the contradictions and irrationality of a given capitalist society. As the proletariat becomes aware of this irrationality, it will seek to transform society as a communist state. Further, borrowing from the Master-Slave dialectic, Lukács argues that the proletariat has more power to end reification while the…