Venus de Milo

In Saussure’s, Course in General Linguistics, he conceives of the linguistic sign as a psychological entity with a concept and a sound-image (Saussure, 66). He does this in order to avoid the fallacy of examining only the sound-image, or phonetic pronunciation of the word, for according to him, each recalls the other, and a concept without a sound-image is voiceless, and a sound-image without a concept is meaningless (Saussure, 67). The main crux of Saussure’s argument is that because “because…

In 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville published the first edition of his book De la démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America). Here he made observations on the democracy being established in the United States, and the threats it could face. In this paper I will address and analyze the question: How are we less free and democratic in the United States today? I will use Tocqueville’s insights from Democracy in America and pull from a variety of other authors to back his claims. As well, I will build…

One of the most important development period in human history is the Renaissance. It allowed for humans escape the dark and desolate world of the Middle Ages to enter a society that illustrates the wonders and possibilities of humankind. One of the major cities in the creation of the Renaissance is Florence where influential people such as as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Dante gained inspiration from. However, many scholars have wondered how this one city was able to assumption what…

philosophy where “existence precedes essence” and one is free to act but must face the consequences of their actions wholly for himself and others. It is this freedom of choice that sets the conditions and situations that one might find themselves in. Simone de Beauvoir in Pyrrhus and Cinéas asserts that the freedoms of others often conflict…

The people of Brazil and Bolivia both faced problems unique to their political and environmental climates. Across both countries the poor suffer from specific acute problems, for instance the people of Brazil suffer from issues of housing and environmental loss. The people of Bolivia had a different problem, particularly in the town of Cochabamba who fought for basic necessities against a totalitarian government and a massive international company. Ultimately all of these groups achieved some…

that “With the exception of the question about whether an employed mother can establish secure relations with her child, there is a statistically significant association between the views of the members of couples on these matters.” Once again Simone de Beauvoir will help wrap up this thought by saying that “Furthermore, the women who seeks independence through work has less favorable possibilities than her masculine competitors. Her wages in most jobs are lower than those of men; her tasks are…

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was an author, playwright, teacher, political activist and brilliant twentieth century philosopher. His ideas first became wide spread in the 1960’s, when he became one of the first philosophers to official adopt the official title of existentialism. His philosophy still carries merit today and humanity as a whole can benefit from his wisdom on human existence. To understand Sartre we must first know a little about his biography. Sartre was born June 21, 1905 in…

In the short story, “The Jewelry” written by Guy De Maupassant, the main character M. Latin finds the love of this life and marries her. M. Latin loved this girl, but there were just two things he never found fault with her, her love for theater and fake jewelry. M. Latin was hurt after what he had discovered, he felt betrayed. However, after selling his wife’s jewelry that was worth about 200,000 francs, he is so enticed with all the money that he doesn’t care about anything in the world but…

A Matter of Appearance In the short story A & P, by John Updike the narrator/main character Sammy quits his job at the A & P store after defending three girls dressed in bathing suits from the “stingy” A & P manager Lengel, however the girls leave the store without even noticing Sammy’s attempt at gaining their attention. This then raises the question about why he quit. What was his reason? Was it wrong? Was it right? It is quite possible that Sammy may have had a deeper subconscious reason for…

lifestyle and mental state regardless of her primary sex. The issue of defining womanhood can be through socio-cultural factors that Simone de Beauvoir advocate on or the emphasis on embodiment and sexuality that both Sigmund Freud and Luce Irigaray support. Neither theories on femininity and womanhood are wrong but all take different approaches. Simone de Beauvoir explores the definition of a woman. What is a woman?…