Saint Leo University

Ivan Ilyich’s Downward Spiral into Redemption The way Ivan gains redemption in the story is through a divine process that is able to save his soul. Through this redemption he comes to the understanding that he unwisely devoted his life to a value system that is devoid of actually accepting death as a possibility. He has lived a very simple, ordinary, and terrible life because he lives exactly as the value system of propriety and decorum wanted him to live and did not really live for himself.…

fiction book by Jon Krakauer about Christopher McCandless and his journey as he discovered who he was, independently from his family. For the majority of his youth Chris idolized non-conformist authors such as Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, and Leo Tolstoy who influenced his development and beliefs. When Chris begins his solo voyage, he utilizes their thoughts to guide him, and he discovered who he was aside from those authors he learned from. The character traits that Chris showcases in his…

antithetical to many of his beliefs in presented in Plato’s other dialogues, some continue to misinterpret the Republic as a serious political treatise. Plato’s preposterous construct of a “just” society has led some, such as German political philosopher Leo Strauss to view the Republic as an ironic work. Plato’s Republic should be read not as a political treatise, but instead as an extended city-soul analogy which provides an ancillary…

A current and common reading of Virginia Woolf’s experimental novel The Waves places the character of Bernard against his friends as a dominating force. The novel is noted for its pluralism. The six speaking characters in The Waves express themselves through short monologues, sharing nearly equal space with one another until the concluding section. It is over the final forty-four pages of the novel that Bernard is fully emphasized, the voices of Louis, Rhoda, Jinny, Neville, and Susan giving way…

Thank you for providing me the space to explain why I want to pursue my PhD in Political Science. In this brief statement I will explain my major research interests, why I believe those areas are both academically and politically significant, and why I would like to attend your program. In my graduate studies I would like to pursue research on the role and influence of ancient political thought on early modern political thought and how that has shaped our contemporary political context. I am…

Three Messages From Republic 1-5 In depth analysis of three important messages from Plato’s Republic Philosophical texts are very important to humanity. They bring us to question what exactly what we are doing with our day to day lives. How the world affects us to bring change to our routines and why exactly this change is good or bad. Plato and Socrates are no different. Much of Socrates’ work is through the written texts of Plato, despite many historians believing that the dialogues of…

The Alchemist Essay In “The Alchemist”, Santiago sets on a journey of self-discovery, in his journey he encounters significant moments and experiences that are important. These moments include his meeting with the King of Salem, Melchizedek that helped Santiago set off on his journey to the pyramids of Egypt, meeting Fatima and teaching him how to love, Santiago’s meeting with the Alchemist, who taught him more about omens and how to read them. The Alchemist finished off his journey of…

When learning something new, it is easier to understand a topic or a philosophy when the person learning can feel a connection to what they are learning about. For example, teachers, authors, and philosophers often use metaphors or similes to help their pupil connect with their views, ultimately furthering their understanding. A string of facts behind facts does not register as well as something that can be directly connected to someone. Although both Martin Luther King, author of “Letter From…

The subject of an experiment cries out, “I can’t stand it. I’m not going to kill that man in there” (Milgram 120), as the experimenter compels his subject to administer deadly electrical shocks to another man. The subject clearly expresses his moral objections to these instructions, yet to influence his subject, the insistent experimenter does not lock the door, nor does he hold the subject at knifepoint- he only requests that the subject “Continue, please” (121). And so the subject continues.…

These Christians would have raised the cross as a banner against Saddam, Hitler, or Mao. There are church members who wanted to use preventative war to stop communist china from making atomic weapons before they could use them to endanger the United States. They would also advocate landing marines in Iraq before the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) got a strong foothold. Such anticipatory actions are based on the notion that our cause is consistently good, while that of our enemies is…