Reductionism

of Gilead. This government is categorized as such for its “regime that reduces its female subjects to mere voiceless, childbearing vessels [in the name of God] … vividly display[ing] the dehumanizing effects of ideological rhetoric, biological reductionism, and linguistic manipulation.” (Jeffrey and Hunter 1) In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the importance of…

differences between their respective ideas. The first question seems obvious enough: how did Eliade/Lincoln define or interpret religion? Eliade essentially saw religion as human’s fundamental relationship with the sacred. Eliade was strongly opposed to reductionism, the practice of oversimplifying religion and saying religion isn’t really religion but rather something else in disguise. Religion, to Eliade, was simply a way for human beings in any time period can connect with the sacred.…

In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Swift portrays the differences of state religions as a comedic spectacle, directly contrary to his personal viewpoints in favor of a state religion. In Louis XIV’s Versailles, religion, specifically Catholicism, was intertwined into the French government. As an absolutist king, Louis controlled the entire state of France and ensured all of France was Catholic. At Versailles, Louis displayed his power over France through religion. Both Swift and Louis XIV…

Introduction Han Kelsen’s critique of John Austin’s Pure Theory of Law, has attracted attention among many legal theorists. This essay will begin by discussing John Austin’s Legal positivism. It will then discuss Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law. This essay will also distinguish between John Austin’s theory and Han Kelsen’s pure theory. Legal Positivism With a long history and broad influence, legal positivism, is discussed in mediaeval legal and political thought. Its roots lie in the…

In Thomas Nagel’s paper— “What Is It Like to Be a Bat”— the inconceivability of physicalism as “a position we cannot understand” is born out of a discussion of the mind-body problem, and in particular, a discussion of objective and subjective experiences. Rather than positioning physicalism as false, Nagel maintains that physicalism is that which is presently incomprehensible because of the “subjective character of experience”— the conscious experience— which not only clouds our understanding of…

One – Consilience One of the most pertinent and seminal works written on the relationship between the fields of science and literature within the modern age is irrefutably that of E.O Wilson’s Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. Whilst being a biologist, with a speciality in myrmecology, his discussion of methods to unite the sciences, social sciences, and humanities – to describe the synthesis of knowledge across all fields has been hugely influential in literary criticism and theory. Wilson…

Developing dietary guidelines (DGs) for a country plays a significantly important public health role as it impacts to different population groups of the country. Over the evolvement of dietary guidelines, the emphasis can be seen shifting from prevention of nutrient deficiencies to prevention of chronic diseases (Mozaffarian and Ludwig, 2010), however, evidences suggest that in much of the history DG’s were driven by focusing the nutrients (Webster-Gandy et al., 2011) rather than foods, meals…

"Psychology" derives from the word 'psyche ' meaning 'soul, mind, spirit ' and 'logos ' meaning 'study or science '(etymonline, 2014). Psychology involves the study of complex and abstract things such as emotions, drives, memory and behaviour therefore, psychologists have always shared disagreements over the correct approach to study Psychology thus, a variety of psychological schools were founded. Specific conditions in society created favourable or unfavourable conditions for the…

What is the name of these subjective experiences? Anti- reductionists believe that subjective experiences is not reducible to objective characterizations. Nagel states that subjective experiences is referred to pour-soi which is french for subjective. Subjective is described as “for- itself” and are based of feelings and emotions. b. How does his bat example illustrate Nagel’s argument that these experiences cannot be objectively understood? Nagel states objective as en-soi which is…

The mind and body are entities whose characteristics are strictly exclusive, yet together, they form a relationship that is the basis of the existence of humankind – and, by consequence, is one of the most classic and debated dualisms in philosophy. This dualism is described as the mind-body problem. The mind indicates one’s mental faculties such as thoughts, emotions and sensations, while the body indicates the physical processes and entities that allow one to function physically. While both…