The Juxtaposition Of Private Witt And First Sgt. Welsch

The juxtaposition of Private Witt and First Sgt. Welsch in The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick is used to illustrate the two ways that a man can view the world, in the most basic sense. John Cottingham also discusses these two ways in his book Philosophy of Religion. Cottingham describes the two ways as the atheist, who cannot see past the â€Å"disorganized concatenation of contingent episodes† in his experiences, and fails to find transcendent meaning in his experience of nature (Cottingham 61). This describes Welsch’s worldview. He has experienced war and from that experience he has concluded that there is no vertical plane that can draw him up. There is only the darkness here and now, all we can do is try to survive as long as we can. However, there is another way of seeing things, the way of the theist, or Private Witt. According to Cottingham, the theist not only can, but must have a sense of joy, reverence, and thankfulness for the experiences we have, because t he theist can see the beauty, or as Witt would say, the glory, that shines through all things. The theist has a transfigured experience of reality. A theist encounters God in a profound way through his experience of nature, art, literature, and the like. The two views are strikingly different, and Mallick uses Witt and Welsch’s interactions, as well as nearly every other moment in the film, to illustrate the two manner of seeing the world. In their first interaction, Welsch spells out his beliefs about self

Vaccination Is The Act Of Receiving An Injection Of Either...

Vaccination, also known as immunization, is the act of receiving an injection of either prepared killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or increase immunity levels to a particular disease (CDC). Vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), human papillomavirus (HPV), and influenza are three of the most controversial subjects in medicine. Over the last few years, there have been strong opinions concerning these vaccines, stirring up an international debate as to their efficacy, safety and reliability. Consequently, a plethora of parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children due to potential negative side effects. In this paper I investigate both sides of the vaccine debate, including the most popular arguments for and against vaccination. I include context for both sides incorporating the history behind immunization, Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s work and the recent SB 277 Bill. In the United States of America, children receive more vaccinations than any other developed country. It is recommended that 26 shots be received by the time a child reaches the age of one year old (CDC). In comparison, Sweden and Japan require only 12 vaccinations. In the 1960’s, there were several new immunizations introduced to the general public for protection against infectious diseases such as DPT, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. Today, vaccines have become far more commonplace, with many being fundedShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagestelephone book, and the problem here is not that you used a telephone book instead of the Internet. High-quality reasoning is called logical reasoning or critical thinking. Logical reasoning skills can be learned and improved. It is not a case of Either youre naturally good at it or you’re not. Rather, every student is capable of reasoning well, and everyone is capable of improvement. The opposite of logical reasoning is uncritical thinking, examples of which are fuzzy thinking, believing what

Essay on Disingenuous Advertising in the American Food Industry free essay sample

Western consumers are amongst the most ignorant and not to mention, rash consumers on the planet. Sadly, American consumers are the poster children for such blind purchasing. How often do you see a quite rotund individual in line at a fast food restaurant, ordering up a triple-stacker bacon cheeseburger, a large fry, and a Diet Coke? Such a meal is no less a contributor to said individual’s slow culinary suicide, than the same order of food with a non-diet variety of soda. The problem is that we love to subliminally associate positive words with positive choices. Doing so causes us to feel better about the decisions we make, especially in the respect of food. This poses quite a serious problem; because the use of positive-word-association in food advertising, many Americans have succeeded in lulling themselves into a false sense of security without even knowing it. Just like the vast predominance of voters go to the polls and vote ignorantly, American consumers of food do the same in the products and brands that they decide to patronize. Despite all this, two conclusions must not be rashly drawn. One: the epidemic of obesity and consumer ignorance, while is largely to blame on the carelessness of consumers, is also partially due to food producers’ mega-capitalistic approach in marketing that has driven them to do literally anything within legal limits to promote their product(s) and ensure that the abovementioned goods are by and large able to deceive the majority of the American consumer base. Two: while one might be tempted to label the widespread deception in marketing as â€Å"false† advertising, this is almost never the case. Food companies (well, all companies, really) are bound by law to not make false claims about the product(s) they sell. So, to remove this barrier, culinary-consumerism based companies tell the one positive thing about their product in giant bold print on the front of their merchandise, while leaving the more undesirable facts printed on the back (or even better, the bottom) of their goods in miniscule print. The old saying, â€Å"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.† is of no greater truth than in this arena (except, of course, for labyrinthine legal documents, which I have found, generally consist exclusively of small print). Bags of potato chips, boxes of doughnuts, and packets of gum and breath mints, all proudly display claims such as: â€Å"NO TRANS FAT!† or â€Å"ONLY 120 calories per serving!† or â€Å"SUGAR FREE!† What these companies fail to mention up front is that while that box of Krispy Kremes ® is trans fat free, each Original Glazed ® doughnut inside packs in a hip widening and artery clogging 200 calories and 12 grams of fat. That bag of chips that claims to have only 120 calories per serving, doesn’t have a single calorie more; the catch is that a serving size is four chips, so by the time you’ve had your snack of say 25 chips or so, you’ve enjoyed 720 satisfying calories and enough sodium to last for 2 days. Oh, and what about that innocent pack of gum, you ask? Well, as you might have guessed by now, it is, in fact, completely sugar free, but veiled in the superfluity of multisyllabic words that comprise the ingredient list, is an ingredient that is above the suspicion of the average consumer: gum base. Well, thanks to woefully lax standards of identity (set, interestingly enough, by the USDA), the words â€Å"gum base† are allowed to mask the fact that the aforementioned component consists of multiple ingredients in and of itself. To list just a few: petroleum, lanolin, glycerin, polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate, petroleum wax, stearic acid, and latex (a possible allergen). Within this list we find even more confounding words, hidden in which are things such as crushed insects, animal fat-derived gelatin, and powder from marble and horse hooves to coat the gum and prevent if from sticking to its wrapper. This poses a serious problem for vegan consumers who could very easily unknowingly purchase products such as the latter and inadvertently be supporting the slaughter and use of animals. Regardless of dietary lifestyle, I feel that most individuals, if they knew what some of the foods they ate contained, would have a serious â€Å"ew factor† to deal with in any future consumption of such. What does all this say? Two things: One, American consumers are abysmally uneducated and apathetic about the ingredients/nutritional value of the majority of the foods they consume on a regular basis. Secondly, the government of this nation (and others as well), specifically the USDA needs to set higher standards for how food products can be advertised. Deceptive advertising is just as wrong as false advertising and should be put to a stop nationwide. ALL ingredients and the source of origin should be required on ALL food packaging made in the United States, of made internationally for consumption here. The USDA should necessitate listing of ALL SPECIFIC food allergens on food packaging as well as information regarding if the product in question is vegan, kosher, etc. This great nation has often found itself last in many arenas throughout history. Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807, while it took us decades before we were able to. We are still the only nation in the Western civilized world without universal healthcare. We are sole country in the west that still uses the death penalty and, aside from Mexico, are still the only ones without full and equal rights for LGBTQA individuals. We need to embrace progressive change instead of succumbing to it. If we lead the way in the regulation of misleading advertisement in the food industry, other nations would follow in the domino effect that we have seen quite often throughout recent history.

Sigmund Freud Essay Example Essay Example

Sigmund Freud Essay Example Paper Sigmund Freud Essay Introduction After years of observation and the discovery of an alternate domain of human unconscious, the renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud decided to take a chance and appeared before medical professionals to tell them what he had discovered. He modestly revealed some facts that would continuously occur in his patients’ dreams and awaited his colleagues’ acceptance. This acceptance did not surface; rather Freud’s colleagues found extreme humor in his concepts and then labeled him as a crank. The words â€Å"dream interpreation,† a phrase coined by Freud are still met with skepticism. â€Å"They remind one of all sorts of childish, superstitious notions† and those who believe that these mental pictures have meaning are often met with an opposing view. (Freud Tridon, 1920, p. 2) Dreams and their relationship with mental functioning is a study that challenges professionals and the inability to thoroughly study these unconcious occurances has led many researche rs to deem them â€Å"random neuro activity.† (Franklin Zyphur, 2005) However, looking at the characteristics of dreams it is not surprising that some professionals take this stance. We all have different experiences when dreaming, for example, some have dreams that are filled with vivid imagry and emotional intensity, others have dreams that contain confusing events, while many experience smooth story lines. Many individuals can control their dreams while others are merely by standers. It is this variation of experiences that feeds the view opposing the psychological importance of dreaming. (Franklin Zyphur, 2005) Sigmund Freud Essay Body Paragraphs Sigmund Freud, often called father of Psychology, opened the door to the study of dreams during his career. As he delved into the research prior to his studies he found of course the medical theories that defined dreaming as merely a physical reaction without any psychological meaning as well as the various superstitious theories. After spending a lengthy amount of time studying the dreaming process he came to believe that â€Å"the popular view grounded in superstition, and not the medical one, comes nearer to the truth about dreams.† (Freud Tridon, 1920, p. 9) Freud believed that dreams were the attempt of the unconscious to forcefully impose its desires on the upper consciousness and that these mental pictures are vehicles of the human thoughts and desires. (Pillsbury, 1927, p. 448) Sigmund also believed that dreams could be interpeted and that this process could be difficult because the desire could be expressed directly or in reverse as well and mean something different than what it might seem. (Pillsbury, 1927, p. 450) Because Freud believed that the dreamer was not often aware of the dream’s meaning and that often events of the dream were confusing. Interpretation could take place if you â€Å"break up the dream into its elements† and â€Å"search out the ideas that link themselves to each format.† (Freud Tridon, 1920, p. 11) Carl Gustav Jung, another psychologist who actively persued the study of dreams, conducted his research under Sigmund Freud until their opposing views caused tension within their relationship and they parted ways. Jung believed that dreams were a â€Å"manifestation of psychic activity† and that they should â€Å"be regarded with due seriousness as an actuality that has to be fitted into the conscious attitude as a codetermining factor.† (Fordham, 2002) Jung’s theory was similar to Freud’s however the ultimate difference was that Carl saw the unconcious as spiritual. Identica l to Freud, Jung believed that dreams were not entirely cut off from our consciousness and that dreams have â€Å"their origin in the impressions, thoughts and moods of the preceding day or days.† (Jung, 2001, p. 26) Jung took his theory of the psychology of dreams to another level, however. He believed that even though dreams surfaced from a past experience that they also have a â€Å"continuity forwards.† In other words, dreams â€Å"exert a remarkable influence on the concious mental life even of persons who cannot be considered superstitious or particularly abnormal.† (Jung, 2001, p. 26) Carl believed that dreams were difficult to understand because they express themselves in symbols and imagry and he developed a method of interpretation in an attempt to understand the â€Å"dream language.† (Fordham, 2002) The first step to interpreting the psychological meaning of a dream in Jung’s theory was to establish the context, or discover the signific ance of the images presented and the relationship with the dreamer’s life. Each image must be carefully studied and associated with the dreamer as nearly as possible before the dreamer is in a position to fully understand what the dream might mean. A series of dreams offers a more satifactory interpretation than a single dream, as the important images are identified by their reptition and any mistakes can be corrected when the next dream manifests. Jung believed that every dream should be taken as â€Å"a direct expression of the dreamer’s unconscious, and only to be understood in this light.† (Fordham, 2002) Research has been conducted since Freud and Jung created their original theories that support the fact that dreams are a state of consciousness that has continued throughout the development of the human species; therefore, this process is a necessary aspect to the human congnitive development. (Franklin Zyphur, 2005) Though contemporary research exists, th e theory developed by Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s holds true. In his book The Interpretation of Dreams Freud stated in its opening that dreams were â€Å"a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state.† (Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1931) Sleep is made up of â€Å"behavioral, functional, physiologic and electrophysiologic traits.† (McNamara, 2004) The human body has a biological need for sleep and the physical process of sleep takes place through stages. This need accumulates the longer we are awake and can also be determined by the amount of energy used while we are awake. The process of sleep begins with the body’s signal that sleep is required, this signal is realized when the brain releases a neurochemical substance. Once asleep the next cycle is activated, which is the control function that allows the human body to alternate between REM and NREM sl eep stages. Upon sleep, an adult will usually experience sleep onset through NREM and sleep offset through REM. The NREM predominates the first third of the night and REM predominates the last third of the night. (McNamara, 2004) Researchers have attempted to study the brain’s physiological reaction during the act of sleep through a variety of methods, many of which set out to prove that dreaming was merely the body’s reaction to specific chemical and brain activity. The EEG and the H2150 PET scan have been used to measure brain activity during the process of sleep and scientists have determined the brain’s physcial reaction as it transitions to REM sleep as well as other stages. While dreaming, the brain is controlled by the â€Å"meditating influence of the cholinergic system.† (Barbee nd, p. 2) Researchers were also able to determine that the visuo-motor systems were activated as well as the limbic system. (Barbee nd, p. 2) Even though these studies pr oved the brain’s physical reaction to the stages of sleep, it was determined that the â€Å"mind is a mysterious dimension of the self and when coupled with biochemical fulctuations and alterations it becomes an unfamiliar domain.† (Barbee nd, p. 2) Antti Revonsuo’s hypothesis about the psychology of dreaming is that â€Å"Dreaming is a state of consciousness consisting of complex sequences of subjective experience during sleep.† (Revonsuo Valli, 2000) He believes that the biological function of dreaming, when experiencing nightmares, is the human’s ability to simulate threatening events and repeatedly rehearse the threat perception and avoidance responses. In other words, we choose threatening waking events and rehearse these events again and again – even years after the original trauma was first experienced. (Revonsuo Valli, 2000) Revonsuo performed and in depth study of 52 students that produced 592 dream reports that were created and a nalyzed in two stages. Upon completion of the study he concluded that his theory of nightmares was correct. He also concluded that â€Å"dreaming as a phenomenal experience causually contributes to a complex biological process.† (Revonsuo Valli, 2000) Dream psychologists N. H. Pronko and J. W. Bowles believe that dreams are images that are â€Å"being constantly replenished from current experience.† (Pronko Bowles, 1999, p. 4) This replenishing process is unobserved in the dream state and is illustrated by the fact that dreams reproduce elements of our own experiences. Bowles and Pronko believe that in infancy we learn to define our lives through the rapid accumulation of images coupled with emotions. Through this process we develop the tendency to â€Å"create dramatic situations which express past emotional situations.† (Pronko Bowles, 1999, p. 20) Nightmares are merely the expression of someone who disregards anxiety in the waking world. If a person ignore s anxiety issues while awake, then upon sleep the â€Å"emotions we can not project meet us in dreams.† (Pronko Bowles, 1999, p. 32) Many theories surrounding dreams exist and those supporting the psychological importance of dreams are contemporary theories built upon the foundation of psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These studies have sparked many others that focus on the physiological reaction of the brain during the dreaming state and though a physical reaction can be found within the human brain while sleep and dreaming occurs – researchers can not say for certain that dreams are merely a manifestation of some physiological experience. The study of dreams must continue as evidence exists that provides proof of the fact that dreams are a key to our mind’s unconcious state. Sigmund Freud stated in his book The Interpretation of Dreams, â€Å"If I were asked what is the theoretical value of the study of dreams, I should reply that it lies i n the additions to psychological knowledge and the beginnings of an understanding to the neuroses which we thereby obtain.† (Freud, 1931, p. 325) We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer