Problem of Evil Essay

The traditional problem of evil emerges when people believe in and argue for the existence of a God who is both omnipotent and wholly good. According to Mackie’s study (1955), few of the solutions to the problem of evil could stand up to criticism. Today, someone suggests an alternative: God is not perfectly good, but maximally cool. By cool he means to be free from tension or violence. Since God is maximally cool, he is not so much concerned about either eliminating evil or maximizing goodness than promoting coolness. This God appears to be logically valid, but this essay will show that the existence of such God is impossible. First, we should ask this: if God aims to promote coolness, why would he bother to create evil? It is clear that evil is not cool, given that evil creates tension and violence. It may be replied that God is maximally cool and therefore creates anything based on his will and is not concerned with what happens to his creation afterwards. This reply is arguing that God created some cool thing which later then turned into the uncool evil. Then, the fact that uncool evil exists implies that God cannot make this uncool evil to be cool again, which contradicts with the premise that God is omnipotent. Secondly, good is also uncool. According to most theists, good is defined to be opposite to evil and thus always fights to expel evil (Mackie, 1955), so that good is in constant tension and possible violence with evil. Though the God in argument is claimed to be not perfectly good, this God is still good to a certain degree. Then he will still fights against evil and therefore is not always cool. This leads us to conclude that this God cannot be maximum cool. This guy in defense of the existence of a maximally cool God might argue that uncool is necessary as a counterpart to cool. It seems natural and necessary to consider why there should be uncool things if God is maximum cool. He might argue that if there were no uncool, there could be no cool either, in that if there were no violence or tension to be created and involved in, there could be no violence or tension to be free from. It might be that out of randomness, God created evil that generates tension and good that engages in tension against evil. To detach from involvement in tension or to destroy tension might create another tension and may incur violence. If God were to eliminate uncool things that he created, he would enter a tension between cool and uncool. Then, it would be uncool to make uncool things cool. Because God is maximally cool, he will not enter such tension and therefore he leaves good and evil as uncool as they are. By claiming that cool cannot exist without uncool, this guy shows that God cannot create cool without simultaneously creating uncool. This sets a limit to what God can do, which involves two possibilities: either God is not omnipotent or that omnipotence has some limits. If it is the first case, then we can deny the existence of a God who is omnipotent and maximally cool. If it is the second case, one may argue that these limits are logically impossibility. However, according to Mackie (1955), some theists hold the view that God can do what is logically impossible, while many theists maintain that God created logic. This leads us to the paradox of omnipotence, where we consider whether an omnipotent being can bind himself. According to Mackie, although we can avoid the paradox of omnipotence by putting God outside time, we cannot prove that an omnipotent God binds himself by logical laws. Therefore, it is a fallacious approach to prove the existence of a maximally cool and omnipotent by claiming that cool and uncool are counterparts to each other. To summarize, if a God is omniscience, then he must know the existence of uncool. If he is omnipotent and maximum cool, he will promote coolness to the maximum. However, we observe that there are uncool things which are against God’s will to promote coolness and which God cannot make them cool. Therefore, a God that is omniscience, omnipotent and maximally cool cannot exist. Works Cited J. L. Mackie, â€Å"Evil and Omnipotence,† Mind, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 254. (Apr. , 1955), pp. 200-212. In Pascal’s Wager, Pascal concludes that rationality requires people to wager for god. He bases his argument on mainly three premises. The first premise is his construct of the decision matrix of rewards. The second premise suggests that we are required by rationality to assign positive and not infinitesimal probability to God existing. The third premise states that we are required by rationality to perform the act of possible maximum expected utility. This essay will argue that Pascal’s Wager does not demonstrate solid prudential reasons for us to believe in God, by showing the third premise is not necessarily true. We consider that it is not in all cases that we are required by rationality to maximize expected utility. In Pascal’s Wager, we pay ‘one life’ to wager for God and obtain infinite expected utility. Paying finite amount to play a game with infinite expectation appear to be at our interests and can therefore serve as a prudential reason for us to wager for God. However, in certain cases, this action could be regarded as absurd and alternatively, and to the contrary, taking intuitively sub-optimal actions would actually maximize the expected utility. For example, the St. Petersburg paradox could be representative of this kind of situations. In the St. Petersburg game (Martin, 2011), we keep flipping a coin until we get a coin. The total number of flips, n, yields the prize which equals $2n. There are infinite sum of flips possible, so we have infinite number of possible consequences. The expected payoff of each consequence is $1 and therefore the ‘expected value’ of the game, which equals the sum of the expected payoffs of all the consequences, will be an infinite number of dollars. Then, intuitively we will be willing to play the game as long as we only need to pay a finite number of dollars, given that the ‘expected value’ of the game is infinite. However, Hacking (1980) suggested that â€Å"few of us would pay even $25 to enter such a game. † If we were to pay $25 for the game, half of the time we receive $2 and one quarter of the time the game pays $4, so the probability to break-even is less than one in twenty five. Still, because of the very small possibility of the number of flips to be greater than $25, the expected payoff of the game is larger than the $25 payment. According to standard Bayesian decision theory (Martin, 2011), we should play this game. Then again, because of the very small possibility of getting high enough payment, it is very likely that we will need to flip a coin longer than our physical possibility. In that sense, it will be absurd to pay this finite amount and flip longer than physical constraints for the infinite expected payoff. Therefore, it is not always true that rationality will require us to perform the act that yields maximal expected utility. In the St. Petersburg game we experiment infinitely many trials which yield infinite expectation. In Pascal’s wager, we have a single-trial which also yields infinite expectation. It seems natural for Pascal to assume that expectation is a good guide to solve this decision problem. However, according to Hajek (2012), we need to take variance into consideration to make better decision, because in this one-time shot, a large variance could lead us to an outcome which is much worse than the expectation. When the variance is small, it is probable to get an outcome close to the expectation. However, the further the distribution of outcomes spreads out, the more likely it is to get a bad outcome, and the less compelling the third premise seems to be. Assuming that the expectation of wagering for God is infinite, we can calculate the variance of the outcomes of the wager. Given the infinitely good of the good outcome and the status quo of the bad outcome, the variance is infinite. In the case of an infinite variance, due to our risk-aversion, we might be better off choosing to minimize variance than maximizing our expected utility. Indeed, if f2 is made as low as possible, the variance of wagering for God would be much greater than wagering against God. If the probability of the probability of receiving infinite good, is made as low as possible, the resulted variance might make we deviate much further away from the expected utility in an undesirable direction. Both cases above could happen, and if they do, we would feel less compelled by our rationality to maximize our expected utility because the large variance could lead us to a situation that is much worse than expectation. To summarize, Pascal’s premise three is not necessarily true. This premise says that we are required by nationality to maximize expected utility where there is one available. However, the St. Petersburg paradox suggests that rationality does not always require us to maximize our expected utility. Furthermore, in consideration of large variance, expectation might not be a good measure of choiceworthiness (Hajek, 2012). Without the validity of premise three, we cannot draw the conclusion that rationality requires us to wager for God. Therefore, Pascal’s wager does not solidly demonstrate that we have prudential reasons to believe in God. Works Cited Hajek, Alan, â€Å"Pascal’s Wager†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = http://plato. stanford. edu/archives/win2012/entries/pascal-wager/ Martin, Robert, â€Å"The St. Petersburg Paradox†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . Hacking, Ian, 1980, â€Å"Strange Expectations†, Philosophy of Science 47: 562-567. According to Pollock (1986), you might be a brain floating in a vat filled with nutrient fluid. You do not realize that you are a brain in a vat because this brain is wired to a computer program that produces stimulation in brain to cause experiences that are qualitatively indistinguishable from normal experiences of being a human being. The problem lies exactly in that whether you are a brain in a vat or not, everything seems to be the same to you. Many philosophers have attempted to prove that you are not a brain in a vat and their approaches seem to be valid. Among those, Moore’s argument and Putnam’s argument are two influential but different approaches. This essay tries to show that you cannot use either of these arguments to prove that you are not a brain in a vat. While going through Moore’s argument seems to be an easy way to show that you are not a BIV (brain in a vat), it is not difficult to show how this approach is flawed either. By Moore’s argument, first you open your eyes and form perceptual knowledge that you have hands. Then you deduce that you are not a BIV which does not have hands and thereby you come to know that conclusion. However, it should be argued in the first place that your senses are not reliable. As Descartes argued in Meditations (1986), while you might form the perception that you are wearing a dress in the dream, you are actually undressed in your bed. The flaw in the logic of this approach can be demonstrated in the following analogous story. You see an empty glass on a table. The glass looks orange and in fact it is. You form perceptual knowledge that the glass is orange. You deduce that it is not colorless and filled with orange juice. You thereby come to know that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. By assuming that there is orange juice in the glass, you establish that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. Here the problem is that there is no orange juice and you are trying to prove there is orange juicy by assuming its existence. For the same token, if you are a BIV, then the hands that you perceive are hands* produced by one feature of the computer program. The premise asserting that you form a perception of hands is assuming that you are not a BIV and therefore can form a perceptual knowledge of hands. This is begging the question because we want to prove that we are not BIV. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are not a BIV by going through Moore’s argument. Another famous discussion is Putnam’s semantic arguments. One problem of this approach is the narrow scope of the arguments. Putnam started his arguments by drawing analogy between the mental image of a Martian and that of a BIV. Claiming that Mars does not have tree, Putnam established that BIV’s utterance of ‘tree’ has a different referent from the referent of a non-BIV speaking of a tree. While it is possible that you have always been a BIV since you come into being, so you have never seen a tree that a non-BIV sees. It is also possible that you have lived certain part of your life as a non-BIV and then at some point you are made into a BIV. For example, if you recall in The Problems of Knowledge (Pollock, 1986), by the time that Margot tells Mike that he is a brain in a vat, he has been a brain in a vat for three months. According to Margot, Henry, or the brain in a vat that Mike sees, receives a fictitious mental life that merges perfectly into Henry’s past life. To merge perfectly, the language and its referents that the computer generates for Henry must be indistinguishable from those before his envatment. Similarly, if Mike has been speaking English up until three months ago when he was envatted, his utterance of ‘Margot’ after envatment must have the same referent as the one he had before. It must be that now his words retain the same English referents to the same contents in order to achieve a perfect merge (Brueckner, 2012). This perfect merge makes brain* in a vat* the same as BIV, which means whether you are BIV or not, you always speak English rather than vat-English. Because there are no differences in the languages between BIV and non-BIV, the semantic arguments have nowhere to start in this case. Unless you know with certainty that all BIVs have been BIVs since they came into beings, you cannot use semantic arguments to prove that you are not a BIV. To summarize, Moore’s arguments appear to be an easy solution to the problem of knowledge, but these arguments are begging the question and therefore cannot refute the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. It seems that Putnam’s arguments are more compelling, but still they fail to rule out all possible versions of the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are a non-BIV by using either of these arguments. Works Cited Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1960. Print. Pollock, John L. Contemporary Theories of Knowledge. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1986. Print. Brueckner, Tony, â€Å"Skepticism and Content Externalism†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = .

Degrading a Famous Work of Art

Degrading a famous work of art. â€Å"As the painting fame spread. It was inevitable that the icon would attract the iconoclast and be debunked. The main pioneer was Marcel Duchamp† (Sassoon, p. 265). Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was known as an artist with a sense of humor, who also claimed that art could made out of anything at all, and getting famous in about 1917. He promoted Dadaist ideas that we can see it clearly through his art style, a little bit violent to the traditional art.He created the new thought on the original one by changing a little bit some figures on the work under the new title and show different point of view. Marcel Duchamp referred L. H. O. O. Q as a readymade or assisted readymade which he did not make it. He transformed Mona Lisa work in about 1919, and titled with L. H. O. O. Q meaning â€Å"She has a hot ass† in French. Marcel Duchamp took a cheap postcard of Mona Lisa, and sketched a beard and moustache on her face with implying meaning that she is man; the one in the picture is portrait of real man.In addition, he really cared about Leonardo Da Vinci's life time. Besides, Duchamp had psychoanalyzed Leonardo sexual life to art, and argued Leonardo Da Vinci was homosexual. As a criticized artist, Marcel Duchamp somehow discovered he hidden self-portrait points on the picture along with his researches about Leonardo Da Vinci's art life works and then disclosed the secrets behind the painting. The other word, Marcel Duchamp considered that Mona Lisa is a portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci.This is the answer why Duchamp gets more famous in his life of art. The idea has shocked a lot of people that they never thought about, and with this later on, Leonardo sexuality had been researched continuingly. Until now, with the modern technology, Lilian F. Schwartz compared Leonardo portrait on Mona Lisa theme in 8 steps variations first from Leonardo turn to become Mona Lisa, we can explore the this idea more closely.However, whatever t he rumors are, in the fact, the paintings fame now has been spreading all over the world. Mona Lisa has been talked about, written about, copied, and even parodied. Positively or negatively, we all agree that all the criticized comments, ideas show that everyone is really cared about this masterpiece, and the mystery behind it. Leonardo Da Vinci is a greatest artist ever who has big influence to the world art and inspire later generation artist. Degrading a Famous Work of Art By angelianl 234

Ethics and Moral Sensitivity

Every person approaches life with a certain perspective or worldview which could be identified with a specific ethical theory. Which ethical theoretical framework best describes your personal worldview? Support your response with examples. The larger community-citizens, patients, inter professional team members, and nursing peers expect and are entitled to more than simply knowledge and competence. They expect good character from us.Virtues related with good character in nursing have progressed over time from those such as cleanliness and self-sacrifice to include several depicted in the framework and considered essential to the process of developing a healthy workplace and generous ethical climate such as compassion, fidelity, veracity, and prudence. Compassion is known as the cornerstone of healthcare providers' practice, a critical trait necessary to the delivery of morally good care.For example, practicing compassion with other members of the acute and critical care team may also contribute to sustaining an ethical practice environment, because it is a component of moral sensitivity. Moral sensitivity is necessary to recognition that an ethical dilemma exists. Without moral sensitivity and compassion, members of the healthcare team may not be able to see that a problem exists or may unknowingly tolerate ethically objectionable acts or conditions.This recognition also involves the ability to appreciate the perspectives of others, including team members, by acknowledging their values, beliefs, and obligations. Compassion and moral sensitivity include awareness of the various courses of action and how each may affect all members concerned, the patient, family members, and others on the inter professional team (Mickey, Catherine, 2009) Reference: Mickey L. Parsons PhD, MHA, RN, FAAN, Catherine Robichaux PhD, RN, CCRN, CNS

Apollo 13 Communication Plan

A Self Reflection: While working on the communication project, we were fortunate to have had Ron Howard’s â€Å"Apollo 13† movie for reference to comprehend the complexity the team faced upon the incident that befell the mission. Both Gene Kranz (Lead Flight Director and Project Manager) and Jim Lovell (Apollo’s commander) maintained absolute control of a chaotic situation. While the team was becoming intractable, Kranz reigned in by channeling the ideas with â€Å"one at a time people† and asking his engineers to â€Å"quiet down, Let's stay cool, let's work the problem† successfully taming an already chaotic situation through effective communications. In this dire situation, the only possible way to get the astronauts home was through extraordinary teamwork and ingenuity, led by Kranz, who was adamant that â€Å"Failure is not an option. † It was an unprecedented display of resolve, inventiveness and above all an exhibition of the utmost emotional intelligence there is. Awed by the interpersonal skills and assertiveness of Gene Kranz, I reflected back on my own life experiences where I could have been on more solid footings had I been able to control my emotions and use them wisely for a better outcome. This assignment really served as a virtual lab where I repeatedly found myself asking what if it were me in their stead? What would I do? How would I behave? What would I say? And above all would I have what it takes to bring the astronauts back home? This exercise asserted that the need to clearly define roles, responsibilities and objectives, and to communicate them to the stakeholders is paramount. We are, each of us, part of the system. We all serve an equally important role, and objectives cannot be achieved without the contribution of all. Aucoin states in chapter nine â€Å"the projects are all â€Å"right-brain† projects†¦Ã¢â‚¬  One can appreciate the value of this sentence after working the communication exercise, as the inspiration it conveyed was truly boundless. Indeed I will put forward and utilize the right-brain capabilities in my own projects moving forward. Applying those right-brain concepts to the information technology sphere of work would definitely put a positive spin on projects as we often manipulate ideas, concepts, and models before committing to the implementation. We frequently fail because we focus on technology ignoring the communication and collaboration piece and rarely utilize the right-brain concepts that can help us align our technology with the common goal.

Film Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Critique - Essay Example But when a film resulted to an individual committing heinous crime taking 12 lives and wounding 40 more, can it still be considered as entertaining or more on alarming? The Dark Knight Rises is the last of the Batman trilogy written and directed by Christopher Nolan released under Warner Bros. Picture. Earning $160.9 million during its opening weekend, the film is a mixture of action, drama, suspense, and adventure bringing with it a powerful cast starting from Christian Bale who gave every emotion needed to bring Bruce Wayne and Batman to life. Michael Cane gave justice to the heartwarming role of Alfred as a loyal butler and surrogate father of Bruce Wayne. Anne Hathaway was just right to be the sly cat woman who turned Batman’s ally, and Tom Hardy was very much Bane in the film you would hardly see recognized him. The Dark Knight Rises ties the knot of the previous two Batman movies Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). The film begun with the iconic hero sufferi ng from loss and questioning the value of his existence as a savior of Gotham City and ended with him rising from his own grief fuelled by anger on the chaos and desire to restore peace in the city. The film’s exposition on the characters of Bruce Wayne and cat woman during their first encounters would give away the upcoming relations of the two protagonists in saving Gotham City. The movie offered numerous clues of its plot through expository scenes and dialogues. Some of these are the eulogy for the Mayor that is a hint on the reason of Bruce Wayne’s internal struggle, and Selina’s words to Bruce Wayne when they danced at a party insinuated the looming chaos in Gotham City and her role in the rise and fall of Batman. The rising action was developed by the writers and the director when Batman was captured by Bane and the latter gained control over Gotham City including its assets and people by creating friction and promoting strife. As the chaos continues, view ers are kept interested in the movie by showing Bruce Wayne’s struggle to come in terms with his own pride and prejudice. The character of Blake is a great support in building the action as he continues to build secret alliances with other agents to save the police forces and Gotham City. The film’s climax started when Bruce Wayne was able to settle his personal issues, climbed out of the dungeon, and conspired with Selina to help him free the police forces trapped underground and battle with Bane to free Gotham City. The director’s style is nonlinear narrative using flashback scenes to connect the plot and psychological thriller with the elements of action, mystery, and drama that showcases the emotional and mental construction of his main protagonist and antagonist characters. To keep viewers glued in their seat towards the end of the film, Nolan used flashback technique as with the past two Batman movies he directed. The flashback revealed the story of lead c haracters which explains the oddities in their behavior like when Miranda and Bane revealed to Batman their alliance. The same flashback technique was used when the old man in the prison was retelling to Bruce Wayne the story of the child who was able to climb out of the dungeon. Christopher Nolan marked a difference in this movie by using IMAX form in filming 50 minutes of the movie which makes action scenes and background more vivid because of its better resolution. This however affected some of the short dialogues of the

Assignment 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment 8 - Essay Example Most workplace violence cases are being reported to victimize the women. It has been reported that about 2 million people across the United States. Workplace violence pros a higher risk to some of the workers likes the workers that are dealing with public affairs, law enforcement workers, community workers, medical staff and taxi drivers. However, workplace violence may impact the other workers. The bank workers that exchange money, transportation workers and workers those work alone during night shift may have reduced immunity against the workplace violence (Mediate.com, 2013). Pre-Event aspect of the workplace violence deals with the aspects that are prior to the assault. These aspects include the inequality; improper behavior of fellow workers, potential objects that can become a tool for any assault. Employers can minimize the workplace violence event by minimizing the pre-event aspects of the workplace violence. Placing cameras for monitoring and maintaining high security come i n the pre-event aspects. Event aspects of the workplace violence deal in condition of assault. In case of assault one must be trained to deal with the workplace violence. Enabling alarm bells and maintaining the security staff will reduce the impact of the event of the workplace violence. Easy escape passage should also be provided in case of assault. Post-Event aspects of workplace violence are the punishment of the culprit by the employers and the by the law. There should be tough punishment for the culprits, so that no one in a workplace environment should think to try any act of assault. 2. Discuss three occupations which are among the most vulnerable to workplace violence and why. The three occupations that are most vulnerable to workplace violence are the law enforcement agents or police officers, security guards or security agents are most vulnerable to the workplace violence. As police officers are there to protect the other citizens from any criminal activity, they are like ly come to come across the workplace violence. It is more likely for the professions that deal with the general public affairs and interaction to be in workplace violence situation as compared to professions (Mediate.com, 2013). Visiting nurses are also vulnerable the most. Most reported cases of workplace violence victimize the women. Sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual harassment are some crimes that victimize women the most, when considering the workplace violence. Taxi drivers work day and night to earn bread for the family. Taxi drivers work alone and thus vulnerable to violent attacks (Dol.gov, 2013). 3. Compare the London train bombings in 2005 and the train bombing that occurred in Madrid, Spain in March 2004. The London Train bombing in 2005 and Madrid (Spain) train bombing in March 2004 nominated a terrorist group â€Å"Al-Qaida†. The London train bombing took 39 person’s life and injured about 700 people in the total of four incidents. Three bombs were d etonated in the train at various locations at about 8:50 and the fourth incident of bomb explosion happened after an hour of the train explosions. All of the attacks were done by suicidal bombers that are the permanent citizens of the United Kingdom. The terrorist choose the busiest underground train to attack and preferred busiest office hours to attack the train. All bombers died in the incidents. The terrorists started their journey from Leeds and travelled to Luton where they collected the bombs packed in their back packs. The

ATR vocabulary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ATR vocabulary - Essay Example In other words, casting is a preparation of figures by use of mold to produce castings from an original cast made from clay. Carving is the skillful cutting of a material such as, wood or into a form or a design by use of mechanical tools. Assembling is the incorporation of objects such a piece of mold to form to a cast. Low relief also known as bas relief is a form of art in which figures are designed from a slight height above the ground with barely cut outlines. High relief comprises of round sculpture whose parts are completely detached from the ground. Contrapposto is a form of sculpture with a scheme that involves the figure is poised with all its weight resting on one leg. Earthwork is nature relate art that involves making of large-scale figures by moving a lot of soil to form the shape. Public art is any piece of art created for the purpose of placing it in public areas. Installation is the construction of an art for exhibition on a gallery. Site specific is the ground on wh ich a piece of art is stood. Minimalism is a form art that is characterized by use of simple unornamented architecture. It origin is traced back in New York City. Ceramics are inorganic materials mounding and baking clay. Clay is rigid, sticky, grained earth. Slab is a wide, thick piece of concrete used for construction. A pattern of spiral turn formed by winding material together to each other to form s diagonal effect. Potter wheel is a revolving wheel that is operated by use lever to shape clay. Porcelain is a rigid ceramic prepared by drying clay on fire and glazing it with fusible materials of different colors Glass is an inorganic, impervious material used in ornamental objects. Stained glass is simply colored glass used in the production of decorative windows. Glass blowing is the shaping of softened glass by forcefully passing air into t through a tube. Metal, this is a ductile, lustrous substance usually a good