Environment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environment - Research Paper Example The people hunted animals, fished, herded cattle, and grew food. Hence, nature enabled Man’s survival. Modern years have witnessed an increasingly great divide between nature and mankind in part due to a rational development of language that seems to have made its indigenous roots indistinguishable. So the transformation in our relationship with nature throughout history is marked by a development in newer modes of communication and expression. As mankind made its progress towards civilization, he distanced himself from his primitive roots that sought everything from nature. And they developed language so much to erase its historical roots in the natural context. Hence, although language traces its origination from animism, it cannot be returned to its original form because human developments over the years have contributed to changes that cannot be reverted back to basic pictorial communication. Philosophers have sought to explain the downfall of nature and the human being’s alienation of ecological world around us. Starting from Greek thinkers till the present times, philosophers have attempted to find the reasons for Man’s isolation is his links with nature. It is thought that Man’s changing ideas regarding the world including his emphasis on non-sensorial realm resulted in society’s mistrust of sensory experience thus increasing the distance between Man and nature. The gap between Man and nature is considered to have caused by the mental landscape and context that was created by civilizations in order to harbor the separation of Man from nature. Two of the oldest civilizations that led towards separation are the Hebrew and the Greek civilizations. The Hebrew civilization, according to Abram, planted the seeds of spirituality and religiosity as a dominant concept over nature (95). The Greek civilization on the other hand promoted ideas and phil osophy thereby raising the divide that eventually led to the estrangement

Good, Evil and Ethics in J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings Essay

Good, Evil and Ethics in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Professor’s Comment: This student was very wise not to summarize Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The student’s primary intention was to describe the ethical themes that can be found in the book. The first part of this essay describes Tolkien's view on the nature of good and evil, while the second part deals with his ethics of individuals. Excellent work! Introduction The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, has been called by some one of the greatest books of all time and has recently earned the claim of "greatest book of the 20th century" in a poll by Britain's Channel 4 (O'hehir). Yet at the same time scholars have often dismissed The Lord of the Rings as a fanciful children's story. While the validity of either claim can be equally well disputed, the The Lord of the Rings and related works by Tolkien nevertheless embody a very clear and consistent set of ethical themes. These themes define good and evil in terms of nature and provide a framework on which the ethical decisions of individual characters in Tolkien's stories are based. Good and Evil Good and evil in Tolkien's work are, to put it simply, that which is natural and that which is unnatural, respectively. That is, what is left alone to follow the cycles of nature is good. Any time that the cycles of nature are disrupted (such as the felling of a forest or the enslavement of a free people), there is evil. There are constant references to this in Tolkien's stories, as when Bilbo Baggins' neighbors remark on his mysterious vigor and extreme old age, "It isn't natural, and trouble will come of it" (21). Or when Sam Gamgee says of the Gandalf the wizard, "Don't let him turn me into anything unnat... ...ase one's decisions, it is nevertheless interesting to see how they play out in Tolkien's novel. If there is anything that can be said of The Lord of the Rings in general, it is that it displays an amazing amount of consistency in every aspect of the tale. This consistency extends even to its ethics, a rare phenomenon in a book of "fantasy/sci-fi." One may not agree with Tolkien's view of technology or fellowship, but the ideas are well thought-out and well developed in the story. They make the book worth reading whether you consider it a fanciful children's tale as some do, or a masterpiece of its genre, as do I and many others. Works Cited O'Hehir, Andrew. "The Book of the Century." Salon.com 4 June 2001. 29 May 2002. . Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings. 3 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1994.

Nonviolence: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tich Nhat Hanh

Upon engaging the text of Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s anti-war speech â€Å"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,† one recognizes an undeniable continuity between King's thinking and that of his contemporary Thich Nhat Hanh. It is important to note, however, that King's reflections in this discourse are not entirely beholden to his Buddhist counterpart. The overarching concepts of â€Å"interbeing† and interrelation which drive the speech were evident in King's work and philosophy well before his correspondence with Nhat Hahn. The similarities regarding each man's approach to these notions should be expected given their respective spiritual vocations. Therefore, although King's reflections in this address – which encompass the broader considerations of nonviolence and exhibit a direct rebuke of the war effort – mirror almost identically those made in writings by Nhat Hanh, it is unclear how directly the latter may have influenced the former. Regardless, this speech does reflect elements of Nhat Hanh's nonviolent vision and does so specifically through considering the concept of mutuality in relation to addressing the roots of war, its effects and how to end it. In his address, King makes clear that humanity's failures and the origins of violence stem from the propagation of illusions and artificial perceptions. In particular, King asserts that â€Å"the war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit†¦ ,† whereby Americans suffer from false â€Å"comfort, complacency [and] a morbid fear of communism†¦ † (King). This assertion is clearly reflective of Nhat Hanh's observation that â€Å"thinking is at the base of everything [and that]†¦. ur thoughts can be misleading and create confusion, despair, anger or hatred,† and that â€Å"a civilization in which we kill and exploit others for our own aggrandizement is sick† (Nhat Hanh 68; 120). The societal illness both men perceive is rooted in a proliferation of fear and ignorance, or as King so forcefully asserts, â€Å"legions of half-truths, prejudices, and false facts† (King 14). The influence of these fallacies manifests itself most directly through manufactured notions about our enemies. By reducing our enemies to concepts that we can thoughtlessly abhor, we take no serious deliberation concerning our inherent reciprocity to them, and thus fail to realize the true extent our similarities. Though King had expressed similar sentiments previous to this speech, such as in his sermon â€Å"Loving your Enemies,† one cannot ignore the presence of a comparable position advocated by Nhat Hanh in his 1965 letter to King entitled â€Å"In Search of the Enemy of Man. † In that letter, Nhat Hanh professes that â€Å"[our] enemies are not man†¦ hey are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred and [the]discrimination which lie in the heart of man† (Nhat Hanh). Nevertheless, it is clear that King recognizes this point, going so far as to declare: â€Å"We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation†¦ we must not engage in negative anti-communism [but]†¦ with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism [as social strife] grows and develops† (King). As a result of this revelation, part of King's speech calls for peace through an attempt to understand the enemy and the effects war has had on the Vietnamese people. This call for mindfulness clearly resonates with Nhat Hanh's belief that â€Å"[a]ny nonviolent action requires a thorough understanding of the situation and the psychology of the people,† enemy and self alike (Nhat Hanh 40). King exhibits this understanding when stating that the Vietnamese â€Å"must see Americans as strange liberators† and begins a chronological account of the effects an American presence has had in Vietnam since 1945 (King). Speaking of the National Liberation Front, or what he deems in an ironic manner as â€Å"that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists†¦ ,† King asks â€Å"[w]hat must they think of us in America when they realize that we permitted the repression and cruelty of Diem which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group [in the first place]†¦ † (King). In essence, King is imploring Americans to put their view of â€Å"the enemy† into context, noting that U. S. actions have done little but imbed a â€Å"deep but understandable mistrust† in its enemies (King). Again, almost all of these deliberations are present in Nhat Hanh's work. Nhat Hanh's statement that â€Å"[e]very escalation of the war, every new contingent of U. S. troops†¦ wins new recruits to the Vietcong† reflects each man's belief that the U. S. is undermining is own efforts in Vietnam because it has implanted soldiers there that â€Å"[know] and [care] little about [Vietnamese] customs and practices and [who are] involved in destroying Vietnamese people and property† (Nhat Hanh 50-51). Moreover, King's optimistic position that the United States has the capability to transcend its obtuseness, reorganize its priorities and lead the cause for a peaceful end to war is a sentiment most certainly shared by Nhat Hanh. To this end, each man's suggestions for ending the war are strikingly similar. In Love in Action Nhat Hanh offers five components that he deems necessary toward a U. S. solution to the war: 1) A cessation of bombing in the north and south. 2) A limitation of all military operations by the U. S and South Vietnamese. 3) A clear demonstration of U. S. intent to withdraw from the country. 4) A declaration of American neutrality and support of a popular government. 5) Extensive aid in the reconstruction effort. (Nhat Hanh 55). Likewise, King calls for an end to all bombing, unilateral ceasefire, curtailing military buildup, an acceptance of the NLF's role in a future Vietnamese government, and a definitive U. S. withdrawal date. The proposals in King's address are almost identical as both men call for material support as well as ideological understanding by America toward its enemies. In addition to these provisions, King demands that the American public take into account the effects war has had on our own soldiers and that they take active steps toward ending it. King calls for a movement away from a † ‘thing oriented' society to a ‘person-oriented' society† where the â€Å"business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people, of sending men home†¦ physically and psychologically deranged†¦ † is deemed unacceptable and impermissible (King). This too echoes portions of Nhat Hanh's nonviolent vision, such as evidenced by his observation during the first Gulf War that â€Å"[s]oldiers live in hell day and night, even before they go into the battlefield, and even after they return home† (Nhat Hanh 75). Hoping that the American public can grasp these realities, King demands that â€Å"we must all protest† in order to awaken others to the fact that â€Å"the American course in Vietnam is an dishonorable and unjust one† (King). Again, although King's attitudes here are not surprising given his own previous writings in nonviolence, when referencing the afore mentioned letter from Nhat Hanh to King, one cannot help but wonder whether the former's description of a fellow monk's self-immolation aimed at â€Å"[calling] the attention of the world [to]†¦. he suffering caused by this unnecessary war† in turn caused King to declare – in reference to anti-war protest – that â€Å"these are the times for real choices and not false ones† (Nhat Hanh; King). On the whole, though it is clear that King's â€Å"Riverside Address† reflects both the large and small aspects of Thich Nhat Hanh's nonviolent vision, whether these parallels were intentio nal or not is unclear. By their very nature, philosophies of nonviolence concern themselves with discipline and awareness of the self, as well as with understanding and empathy for the other. As a result, it is not surprising that King and Nhat Hahn, two practitioners of such philosophies, would both express their concerns about Vietnam around the same theme of humanity's interrelated nature. Therefore, it is not so much important whether one's work or ideas may have influenced the other's as it is that both recognize a common bond between human beings and the supreme need to eliminate the conditions which threaten that inherent relationship.

Social Psychological Theories On The Film Of Kill A...

The film â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† is an extraordinary illustration of the Southern United States stereotypical racial injustice that were exist in the American history. The main highlights of the film is the innocent black man was falsely accused of raping a white girl. There were many social psychological theories and phenomenon were found such as mass delusion, confirmation bias, self-serving bias, conformity, group influence, traditional gender roles throughout the movie. By providing strong evidences from the film there paper will discuss these social psychological concepts in detail. An important psychological concept named mass delusion is observed in the film. A mass delusion is when a large group of people all hold the same false belief. In the film, all the whites hold false belief about the blacks. The white folks typically sees the blacks as criminals, rapist etc. That is why when the black guy Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white girl, none of the white folks tried to find out the actual truth. They totally believed that the black guy was the rapist. However, the defendant lawyer Atticus believed that Tom did not commit the crime. In spite of being a white man, he decides to take Tom’s case and get justice for him. Confirmation bias is noticed in the movie among the white folks. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions. The whites had the wrong perceptions of blacks for many years. Therefore, all theShow MoreRelatedTo Kill a Mocking Bird1008 Words   |  5 PagesBased on the novel written by Harper Lee, the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird was directed by Robert Mulligan and released in 1962. It has won an abundance of awards and is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. Set in the 1930’s in Maycomb Alabama, the film focuses on the main characters of Atticus Finch and his two children, daughter Scout and son Jem. Atticus is a lawyer who decides to defend an African-American man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping the whiteRead MoreLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 Pages[ˈbÉ ªldÊŠÅ‹s.Ê oËÅ'maË n]; German: novel of formation, education, culture),[a] novel of formation, novel of education,[2] or coming-of-age story (though it may also be known as a subset of the coming-of-age story) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age),[3] in which character change is extremely important.[4][5] Contents [hide] 1 Origin 2 Plot outline 3 Examples 3.1 Precursors 3.2 17th century 3.3 18th century 3.4