Defend a position on free will and determinism Free Essay Example, 2250 words

Frankfurt relates his theory ‘hierarchical mesh. ’ The idea is that an individual can have conflicting desires at a first-order level and also have a desire about the various first-order desires (a second-order desire) to the effect that one of the desires prevails over the others. A persons will is to be identified with her effective first-order desire, i.e. , the one that she acts on. The theory has been criticised, as it does not explain how the various levels of desire in the hierarchy work together (Wegner, 2003). Dennett has another reasoning for truth of compatibility. By excluding God, who is all-knowing and powerful, we shall put the future in chaos for all the finite beings, due to our inadequate knowledge of the current state of the world. He further says because individuals have the ability to act differently from what anyone expects free will can exist. Incompatibilists oppose the idea by their argument that we may be mere robots responding in predictable ways to stimuli in our environment". Therefore, all of our actions are controlled by forces outside ourselves, or by random chance (Wegner, 2003). INCOMPATIBILISM One of the traditional arguments for incompatibilism is based on an "intuition pump": if a person is determined in his or her choices of actions, then he or she must be like other mechanical things that are determined in their behavior such as a wind-up toy, a billiard ball, a puppet, or a robot. We will write a custom essay sample on Defend a position on free will and determinism or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Because these things have no free will, then people must have no free will, if determinism is true. This argument has been rejected by compatibilists such as Daniel Dennett on the grounds that, even if humans have something in common with these things, it does not follow that there are no important differences (Kane, 2001). "Causal chain" is another argument for incompatibilism. It asserts that free will means that man must be the "ultimate" or "originating" cause of his actions. To be responsible for ones choices is to be the first cause of those choices, where first cause means that there is no antecedent cause of that cause. The argument, then, is that if man has free will, then man is the ultimate cause of his actions. As per determinism, on the other hand, all of man’s choices are caused by events and facts outside his control. So, if everything man does is caused by events and facts outside his control, then he cannot be the ultimate c ause of his actions. Therefore, he cannot have free will (Kane, 2001). Carl Ginet in the 1960s gave a third argument for incompatibilism.

Analysis Of The Book The Hunger Games By Scott Westerfeld

Freedom of choice, the transference of power away from and to the oppressed, and rebellion against societal norms: these are some of the many ingredients of a book that hailed a new approach toward writing, trailblazing a whole subgenre of fictitious works. This book, a book which will stand the test of time, embodies the female struggle in an oppressive society. This book, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, will survive as it became a beacon in the new style of young adult dystopian novels with female protagonists. This book, much in the same way that Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre inspired writers like Jean Rhys to write Wide Sargasso Sea and Gilbert and Gubar to pen the first edition of The Madwoman in the Attic, opened the path for Suzanne†¦show more content†¦This name, while not as dehumanizing as Rochester’s other signifiers of choice, diminishes Jane to the level of a child, once again placing Rochester in a position of power over Jane. The concept of naming as a tool to shape relationships is a time-tested literary tool, which in addition to being employed in Jane Eyre, also features as a major discourse in Uglies. â€Å"Uglies’ slang is†¦ugly. It’s all about giving people nicknames that highlights their ugliness-Skinny, Squint,† the difference between Uglies’ use of naming and Jane Eyre’s use of naming is that in Uglies the young adults impress upon each other these oppressive names rather than a more privileged individual bestowing the names, which lower their own self esteems(Wilkinson 10). This tactic of encouraging self-depreciating names is a practice which internalizes the need in the young citizens to live for the day in which they turn sixteen and can be â€Å"reprieved† of their undesirable traits, their skinny frames and squinty eyes. Stylistically, the two books can be compared on the use of character foils to indirectly characterize the main protagonist; character foils, a subtle, indirect characterization formed by comparison of characters, appears in the foil of Jane Eyre and Bertha Rochester and the foil of Tally Youngblood and Dr.Cable. In The Madwoman in the

Marketing Consumer Group Child Help Organization Inc. Free Essays

ChiledHelp.org is a foundation that prevents and treat abused children.   ChildHelp. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Consumer Group: Child Help Organization Inc. or any similar topic only for you Order Now org has a mission to, â€Å"to meet the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of abused and neglected children. We do so by focusing our efforts in the areas of treatment, prevention, and research.†[1]  Ã‚   They function on the premises that: every child has a purpose to help the community, giving unconditional love is the beginning of healing, and that these unfortunate children deserve the best that the community can give.[2] This wasn’t always how Childhelp.org was. ChildHelp.org was founded in 1959 by two American actresses, Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson.   It started when they went to Japan after the war to entertain the US troops, a practice to maintain the morale of the soldiers.   While they were there, they noticed 11 desperate orphaned Amerasian children on the street suffering the cold.   Out of the kindness of their hearts, they decided to bring them to an orphanage, later on realizing that these 11 orphans had been rejected by the orphanages due to lack of space and the ethnicity of the 11 children.   Eventually, they found a woman in a hut who was already caring for Amerasian children.   Mama Kin, as she was called, made an agreement with the 2 actresses to take in the 11 children if O’Meara and Fedderson could find financial support. [3] O’Meara and Fedderson did and their efforts were recognized resulting in the establishment of 4 orphanages under their lead in Japan. At that time, they were called International Orphans, Inc. (IOI).   In 1966, they were invited to the White House and were asked to do the same thing for Vietnamese-American children.   They were able to build 6 orphanages, but when the Americans pulled out of Vietnam, the actresses were instrumental in the â€Å"Baby Lift† Operation wherein the Vietnamese children were pulled and were adopted off to very willing and loving American parents.[4] In 1978, the foundation was asked by the White House to put their attention and efforts to abused children in the United States.   This is the point where they changed the focus of their foundation, from orphans to abused children and thus they changed their name to ChildHelp.org.[5] Since then ChildHelp.org has created numerous programs to help abused and neglected children.   They have advocacy centers in 8 regions, namely, Michigan, California, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, Virginia, Washington D.C, and Arizona which houses two centers, one in Phoenix and the other in their headquarters in Scottsdale.   Each center coordinates with other institutions in the area. For instance, in Phoenix, a partnership has been established between Child Help and Safe Child Center at Flagstaff Medical Center to attend to tribal rural areas.   In Georgia, the Good Touch / Bad Touch program, a violence prevention program and now considered a premium educational product, is being endorsed and given to schools by ChildHelp.org so that the children, as well as the teachers and administrators can be properly educated about sexual abuse.[6]   In Tennessee, a foster family program is being endorsed so that sexually abused children can live in a safe foster home. These kinds of programs that involve the community are one of the ways that ChildHelp.org creates awareness throughout the community. Another strategy that they use, which is often used by most people, is that they have Hollywood celebrities to endorse their product.   In the case of ChildHelp.org it is not a product that they are promoting but they are creating awareness by using their celebrity patrons.   Due to the founders Hollywood connections, a movie was created to pay tribute to the work of O’Meara and Fedderson.   This movie, entitled For the Love of a Child, was an immediate eye opener for the whole of America.   With this movie, not only was the problem of child abuse put to the forefront, but also, the mission of ChildHelp.org was advertised to allow people to contribute to and help these abused children. Another way of promoting and pushing the cause of ChildHelp.org is by affiliating companies and corporation to the program allowing the employees to donate via their employers to ChildHelp.org.   Apart from a straight donation, people can buy items from ChildHelp.org, the profits of which will go to their programs or people can volunteer for programs or become a foster parent. [7] ChilHelp.org has gone a long way from Japan and its orphanages.   It cannot be doubted the effort that Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson have put into this foundation, making them extremely deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.   From these two people a lot of children have been given proper futures and families.   It started in a small hut Japan and transformed into a fortress of love and care.   It has also transformed itself numerous times to address the needs of children, whatever they may be, in Asia and in America.   Although, the focus may have changed from orphanages to abused children, the core remains the same – children have a purpose and with enough love from the community they will be able to achieve it. Reference: ChildHelp.Org. 12 September 2007.   Child Help Inc.. 12 September 2007. http://www.childhelp.org/home Good Touch/ Bad Touch. 12 September 2007.   Child Help Inc. 12 September 2007. https://childhelp.6connex.com/event/SpeakUpBeSafe/login â€Å"For the Love of a Child†.   LifetimeTV.com. 12 September 2007.   12 September 2007. https://childhelp.6connex.com/event/SpeakUpBeSafe/login How to cite Marketing Consumer Group: Child Help Organization Inc., Essay examples