Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus of Nazareth(c.4 BC/BCE-CE), also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the messiah foretold in the OLD Testament, and within which most denominations recognize him as the Son of God and as God incarnate. Islam considers Jesus a prophet and also the messiah, where as Judaism rejects these claims. Several other religions revere him in some way.
Noah's Ark
Scripture Reference: Genesis6:1-9:17
Noah's Ark and the Flood -Story summary:
God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favor in God's eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.
God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, along with every kind of food to be stored as food for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.
According to the Bible account in the book of Genesis, Noah's Ark came to rest over 4300 years ago on the mountains of Ararat. Based upon the information which gathered, Noah's Ark does exist on Mount Ararat also known as Mount Judi by some Muslim scholars. It has been preserved all of these years by the hand of god and exists the ice fields on Ararat.
In Genesis6:19-21 it is written: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male &female. of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gathered it to thee; and it shall be food for thee and for them. In Genesis7:2-3, it is written: of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male& the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. There is only one verse in the Bible which gives us a hint of where we the ark came to rest, "the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat."Genesis8:4. Where is Ararat? The length of the ruins of the ark is 515ft.'which is exactly 300 Egyptian cubits (20.6 inches!)Moses was schooled in Egypt and was not familiar with the Hebrew cubit which was not even in existence when Moses wrote Genesis.
Noah's Ark and the Flood -Story summary:
God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favor in God's eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.
God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, along with every kind of food to be stored as food for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.
According to the Bible account in the book of Genesis, Noah's Ark came to rest over 4300 years ago on the mountains of Ararat. Based upon the information which gathered, Noah's Ark does exist on Mount Ararat also known as Mount Judi by some Muslim scholars. It has been preserved all of these years by the hand of god and exists the ice fields on Ararat.
In Genesis6:19-21 it is written: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male &female. of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gathered it to thee; and it shall be food for thee and for them. In Genesis7:2-3, it is written: of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male& the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. There is only one verse in the Bible which gives us a hint of where we the ark came to rest, "the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat."Genesis8:4. Where is Ararat? The length of the ruins of the ark is 515ft.'which is exactly 300 Egyptian cubits (20.6 inches!)Moses was schooled in Egypt and was not familiar with the Hebrew cubit which was not even in existence when Moses wrote Genesis.
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Classification of knowledge
The Classification of knowledge
Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of Aristoteleanism is the classification of knowledge according the objects of that knowledge. The Greeks for some time had been concerned about the nature of human knowledge ; this concern is called epistemology, or the "study of knowledge ."For a long time, Greek philosophy dealt with questions of certainty; how could one be certain of knowledge? Suppose everything was an illusion? Aristotle resolved the question by categorizing knowledge based on their objects and the relative certainty with which you could know those objects. For instance, certain objects (such as in mathematics or logic) permit you to have a knowledge that is true all the time (two plus two always equals four). These types of knowledge are characterized by probability and imprecise explanations. Knowledge that would fall into this category would include ethics, psychology, or politics. Unlike Plato and Socrates, Aristotle did not demand certainty in everything. One cannot expect the same level of certainty in politics or ethics that one can demand in geometry or logic. In Ethics 1.3, Aristotle defines the difference in the following way,” we must be satisfied to indicate the truth with a rough and general sketch :when the subject and the basis of a discussion consist of matters which hold good only as a general rule ,but not always, the conclusions reached must be of the same order For as well-schooled man is one who searches for that degree of precision in each kind of study which the nature of the subject at hand admits: it is obviously just as foolish to accept arguments of probability from a mathematician as to demand strict demonstrations from an orator.”
Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of Aristoteleanism is the classification of knowledge according the objects of that knowledge. The Greeks for some time had been concerned about the nature of human knowledge ; this concern is called epistemology, or the "study of knowledge ."For a long time, Greek philosophy dealt with questions of certainty; how could one be certain of knowledge? Suppose everything was an illusion? Aristotle resolved the question by categorizing knowledge based on their objects and the relative certainty with which you could know those objects. For instance, certain objects (such as in mathematics or logic) permit you to have a knowledge that is true all the time (two plus two always equals four). These types of knowledge are characterized by probability and imprecise explanations. Knowledge that would fall into this category would include ethics, psychology, or politics. Unlike Plato and Socrates, Aristotle did not demand certainty in everything. One cannot expect the same level of certainty in politics or ethics that one can demand in geometry or logic. In Ethics 1.3, Aristotle defines the difference in the following way,” we must be satisfied to indicate the truth with a rough and general sketch :when the subject and the basis of a discussion consist of matters which hold good only as a general rule ,but not always, the conclusions reached must be of the same order For as well-schooled man is one who searches for that degree of precision in each kind of study which the nature of the subject at hand admits: it is obviously just as foolish to accept arguments of probability from a mathematician as to demand strict demonstrations from an orator.”
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Philo Notes
- A being of higher faculties requries more to make him happy, is capable probably of more acute suffering,and certainly accessible to it at more points,than one of an inferior type; but in spite of these liabilities ,he can never really wish to sink into what he feels to be a lower grade existence.
- for the standard is not the agent's own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altgether
- Alternative to happiness : Virtue and the absence of vice no less really than pleasure and the absence of pain. The desire of virtue is not as universal ,but it is an authentic a fact as the desire to happiness. And hence the opponents of the utilitarian standard deem that they have a right to infer that there are other ends of human action besides happiness
- Psychological fact the possibility of its being, to the individual,a good in itself ,without looking to any end beyond it.
- Virtue is part of happiness. The reason people seek for itself is because of the connection to happiness
- There is in reality nothing desired except happiness.
- Virtue: Moral excellence and righteousness;goodness.
- for the standard is not the agent's own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altgether
- Alternative to happiness : Virtue and the absence of vice no less really than pleasure and the absence of pain. The desire of virtue is not as universal ,but it is an authentic a fact as the desire to happiness. And hence the opponents of the utilitarian standard deem that they have a right to infer that there are other ends of human action besides happiness
- Psychological fact the possibility of its being, to the individual,a good in itself ,without looking to any end beyond it.
- Virtue is part of happiness. The reason people seek for itself is because of the connection to happiness
- There is in reality nothing desired except happiness.
- Virtue: Moral excellence and righteousness;goodness.
JOHN STUART MILL
JOHN STUART MILL
Utilitarianism The ethical doctrine that one should always act in a way that maximizes "utility'' which is understood as the greatest good for the greatest number. According to act utilitarianism, one should perform the act that maximizes utility in a particular situation.
- Political parties utilize this philosophy
- Secular ethic
- A theory of human nature
- The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals "utility" or the "greatest happiness principle" holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness
- This theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends! And that all desirable things are desirable either for pleasure inherent in themselves or as means to the promotion of pleasure and prevention of pain.
- Human beings have facilities more elevated than the animal appetites and, when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness, which does not include their gratification
- However, that utilitarian writers in general have placed the superiority of mental over bodily pleasures chiefly in the greater permancy, safety, uncostliness, ect., of the former-that is, in their circumstantial advantages rather than in their intrinsic nature.
Utilitarianism The ethical doctrine that one should always act in a way that maximizes "utility'' which is understood as the greatest good for the greatest number. According to act utilitarianism, one should perform the act that maximizes utility in a particular situation.
- Political parties utilize this philosophy
- Secular ethic
- A theory of human nature
- The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals "utility" or the "greatest happiness principle" holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness
- This theory of morality is grounded namely, that pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends! And that all desirable things are desirable either for pleasure inherent in themselves or as means to the promotion of pleasure and prevention of pain.
- Human beings have facilities more elevated than the animal appetites and, when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness, which does not include their gratification
- However, that utilitarian writers in general have placed the superiority of mental over bodily pleasures chiefly in the greater permancy, safety, uncostliness, ect., of the former-that is, in their circumstantial advantages rather than in their intrinsic nature.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Aristotle: Bio
Aristotle (384-322Bc) was Greek Philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, Music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato’s teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics.
Aristotle’s views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the biological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the nineteenth century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic. Which was incorporated in the late nineteenth century into modern formal logic .In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish Traditions in the middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially Eastern Orthodox theology, and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.
Aristotle’s views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the biological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the nineteenth century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic. Which was incorporated in the late nineteenth century into modern formal logic .In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish Traditions in the middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially Eastern Orthodox theology, and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.
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