Erasmus and Machiavelli Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Erasmus and Machiavelli - Essay Example l prince in following the will of God: â€Å"though following Him is hard, not following Him is a sin.† Taking the Christian perspective, since God was the creator of the universe, he was then accordingly the source of all power. Since God was the source of all power, following the will of God would most assuredly brought his concept of a prince the most power. For surely, if a person were to ignore the will of God, then God would not protect that prince, or to the more extreme aspect of the situation, God would remove immoral princes from power. In the Christian view, since there was no way to avoid God or to avoid the consequences of ignoring the will of God, this would make the most appropriate way to gain power and to keep this power by merely following the will of God. According to Richard F. Hardin, â€Å"Erasmus thought it possible to dissuade kings and their subjects from the idolatry of power†1 Richard F. Hardin, â€Å"The Literary Conventions of Erasmusâ€⠄¢ Education of a Christian Prince,† Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2, (Summer 1982) p. 152.. They were to hold their power not for their own gains, but they were to try to improve upon the condition of mankind. Anyone in a position of power should attempt to do this, from a Christian perspective, and those who didn’t were guilty of â€Å"unmitigated tyranny.† Erasmus was not concerned with how useful this document turned out to be in the real world. What he hoped to accomplish in the end was to shape the way that the real world functioned. To many, though, this was viewed as â€Å"primitive and simplistic†2

The Abuse of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

The Abuse of Alcohol Essay A large part of the population in the United States abuse or used to abuse alcohol. The health and social problems are enormous, leading to an increase in unemployment, homelessness and even death. Alcoholism can cause a lonely and poor life style. Many people use certain excuses to drink such as; â€Å"it is just one party†; or even â€Å"I will just have a couple† of drinks, but the fact is that they are addicted to alcohol. The Doctors claim that fifty percent of alcoholism is due to genetic inheritance, but drinking habits also are influenced by their environment and lifestyle, such as group of friends or stress levels. There are a signs that we can use to identify alcohol abuse, like problems at school or work (including being late or not showing up) due to drinking. Also, when you cannot control how much you drink, make excuses for your drinking, wake-up in the morning drinking or drink alone and many others signs. Alcohol is a psychologically addictive drug that can provide a new world for some people, a world where they are important and happy. When the alcohol wears off they find they are no different so they need to drink more to again became happy. The reality is, that people drink to forget their problems or to relieve their stress, not realizing that drinking causes more problems than it can solve, but unfortunately it is a legal drug that the society does not discriminate against.

Lamuel Gulliver Essay -- essays research papers

Lamuel Gulliver   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jonathan Swift is one of the best known satirists in the history of literature. When one reads his works, especially something like Gulliver’s Travels, it is easy for one to spot the misanthropic themes, which emerge within his characterization. Lamuel Gulliver is an excellent protagonist: a keen observer, and a good representative of his native England, but one who loses faith in mankind as his story progresses. He ends up in remote areas of the world all by accidents in his voyages. In each trip, he is shipwrecked and mysteriously arrives to lands never before seen by men. This forms an interesting rhythm in the novel: as Gulliver is given more and more responsibility, he tends to be less and less in control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his encounter with the Lilliputians, Gulliver shows himself to be kind, honorable, and generous. Despite the Lilliputians are prideful, greedy, and cruel in response to him; he always manages to be peaceful with them. For example, when the Lilliputians and the people of Blefuscu (the British and the French in reality) go to war, Gulliver ties a knot to each of the Blefuscan ships and brings them together to the Lilliputian king. Then both of the countries negotiate and settle peace. Thus, Gulliver stops the friction between the two countries and establishes everlasting peace. This marks a characteristic of wisdom within Gulliver and the apple on his shield signifies this quality.   &n...

Tested in Every Way Essay -- Christopher Ruddy

Tested in Every Way: the Catholic Priesthood in Today’s Church, written by Christopher Ruddy, is a report and at the same time a reflection on the Seventh Annual Cardinal Bernardin Conference which was held in the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX in 2003 . Ruddy reports the voices of academic and pastoral expertise sharing about the challenges and the identity of being a priest. Besides of giving a report, the book opens up and finishes with the Ruddy’s insightful reflections. Ruddy opens up with an â€Å"examination of the cultural and ecclesiological contexts of the priesthood in today’s church (13)†. In the first chapter of the book Ruddy mentions three challenges the church and priest are facing today: popular skepticism, erosion of biblical and theological literacy, and the impossibility of a genuine diverse but unified moral and religious community. He states that the rise of skepticism contributes to a hermeneutics of suspicion. That type of hermeneutics lead to a construction of narratives of progress and redemption, but sometimes those narratives are held to twist the reality (19) creating divisions among other groups (20). To face the mentioned challenges, Ruddy says: â€Å"the priest are called to model catholicity in the face of pluralism, defend objective truth against skepticism, and to speak about the obstacles to hope†. Finally, Ruddy mentions that there have been many contextual and demographical changes in society tha t have shaped the identity of the priest, but as John Paul II puts it, â€Å" the priest receives his identity and his ministry from the communion he shares with Christ, his bishop, brother priests, his fellows baptized, and the entire human community (48). In the chapters two, three and four... ... see a priest witnessing what he preaches, and a priest that takes into account the gifts, talents and knowledge of all the member of the community. Bevan’s image of the conductor of an orchestra is what people want to see. In other word a priest as a person that leads the community to work in harmony and through that community work lead people to Christ. Tested in Every Way is a book that needs to be read by priests, seminarians and those who are in training for future ministry. The book opens our mind to a broader perspective of what the priest is today and what is expected of him in the future. I see the book as an invitation to reflect on my own image of the priesthood and at the same time to work toward a vision that embraces me in a community which is sustained by the relationship with God and all the members of the faithful community.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

To better understand the attack on Pearl Harbor we must first go to the origin of the problem. Japan had little resources and they depended on trade, trade was the only thing keeping them going as a nation. According to Conroy, author of Pearl Harbor reexamined: Prologue to the Pacific War, â€Å"The fundamental causes of the pacific war go back to the turn of the century. International relations were then characterized by politics, aggressive nationalism, and western colonialism. These forces worked to enlarge the empires, glory, and wealth of the individual nation-state. Japan wanted to expand into Indochina so that they could salvage the oil resources from Southeast Asia and make their nation more powerful. One very important trade resource that Japan relied on was oil. Without oil Japan’s army would be useless. Japan wanted to expand because they wanted a more powerful united Asia. When the U. S. found out Japans plans to expand they wanted to take action and put an end t o it, but they didn’t want to start another war. So the U. S. peacefully asked Japan to stop trying to expand themselves into Indochina.But, Japan didn’t want to because they were desperate and needed these resources to make their nation greater. The U. S. , Britain, and the Netherlands then took action and restricted Japan from being able to buy oil and other resources which would make Japans army and navy weak and meaningless. Japan was furious about this restriction and so they only saw two options one to try and get the oil restriction lifted and still allow them to take what territory they wanted or two they were going to go to war. Japan knew that if they were to go to war with the United States that they would lose so they made one last attempt with the U.S. Japans Prime Minister, General Tojo Hideki made one last attempt to negotiate a settlement without resorting to war on November 29, 1941, but the U. S. felt that Japans attempt to dominate other territories to make their nation stronger and more resourceful was cruel, so they kept the embargo on Japans oil and other resources. Now Japan started making preparations for war. Hideki knew the attack on Pearl Harbor would cripple the U. S. Pacific fleet and make it possible for Japanese to carry on with their plans of creating a stronger empire and expanding into China and other nations.Hideki and other leaders of Japan sought out the perfect plan to attack Pearl Harbor. Their Plan was to sneak attack Pearl Harbor on a beautiful morning with clear weather. Zuber expresses Japans urge to move in on Pearl Harbor he says,† Yamamoto’s Pearl Harbor attack was at cross-purposes with years of Japanese strategic planning and preparation, and was so illogical that if it succeeded in delaying the US counter-attack by six months, it would force the US to adopt the long-war strategy that spelled certain Japanese defeat.Readers will be astounded to learn that Yamamoto was so intent on sinki ng obsolete American battleships, estimating that this would fatally demoralize (! ) the United States, that he was willing to sacrifice a large part of his carrier force and strike aircraft to achieve that objective, indeed was willing to conduct the attack even if the Japanese were detected 24 hours out. † Canfield states† By 6 December 1941, warnings of war in the Pacific had been, percolating, and Japanese Ambassadors Kichisaburo Nomura and Saburo Kurusu were still negotiating in Washington ,†so if they were to attack now the U.S. wouldn’t detect them. On November 26, 1941 Japanese set sail for Hawaii with a fleet of 33 warships, an auxiliary craft, and 6 aircraft carriers. They took a northern route and cut off their radio so that they wouldn’t be detected by the U. S. Hanyok says, â€Å"Japanese radio intelligence discovered that the British monitoring site in Hong Kong had identified and tracked the large ships. (It is not known if the Japanes e realized that American naval radio intelligence had done so as well. Alerted to the vulnerability of its communications to foreign RI, the Japanese naval command was compelled to devise a counter plan. † On December 7, 1941, The Japanese fleet had reached their destination. The first wave of fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes had departed at 6 a. m. to the entrance of Pearl Harbor. They even made preparations for five mini submarines to abide submerged below Pearl Harbor until the attack took place. Burlingame states, â€Å"At first, Yamamoto banned their use, because he feared that they would be spotted by American patrols prior to the attack.The designers and crews of the midget submarines, however, devised an underwater method of launching the midget submarines from the backs of â€Å"mother† submarines, and Yamamoto reluctantly approved  their use. † Then they were instructed to do as much damage as possible from below with their torpedoes. A little be fore 7 a. m. Opana point detected a signal of massive air flight heading their way from the north. But they were assumed to be aircraft flights from the carrierEnterprise or a scheduled flight of the B-17s from mainland, so no actions were taken.Vice Admiral Nagumo  was given orders to attack Pearl Harbor by Yamamoto at 7:55 a. m. It is said that the attack lasted for almost three hours but it is hard to define the actual length of the attack because Japanese attacked many different airfields of the base. The locations included Hickam, Wheeler, and Bellows airfields, Ewa Marine Corps Air Station and many more. The ending results of the attack on Pearl Harbor included four U. S. Navy battleships sunk, caused another to capsize and severe damage to four more.Japan also sank and damaged three cruisers and destroyers, one minelayer, and 188 aircrafts. The attack injured 1,282 and killed 2,402 U. S. servicemen. America tried to fight back but only little damage was done to the Japanese . The Japanese only loss four midget subs and 29 aircrafts, with about 65 Japanese men killed or severely injured. In the end Japan came out of the attack on Pearl Harbor victorious. They crippled the U. S. Pacific fleet like they planned and crushed America’s pride.Although Japan came out victorious things only got worse for them, little did they know that the attack on Pearl Harbor was only opening the door to their own self-destruction. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Conroy, Hilary. 1990. Pearl Harbor Reexamined : Prologue to the Pacific War. n. p. : University of Hawaii Press, 1990. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost  (accessed September 30 , 2012). [ 2 ]. Zuber, Terence. 2012. â€Å"Book Review: Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions By Alan D. †Ã‚  War In History  19, no. : 257-258. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost  (accessed Septemb er 29, 2012). [ 3 ]. Canfield, Eugene B. 2004. â€Å"ALL SIGNS POINTED TO PEARL HARBOR. †Ã‚  Naval History  18, no. 6: 42-46. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost  (accessed September 30, 2012). [ 4 ]. Hanyok, Robert J. 2009. â€Å"How the Japanese Did It. †Ã‚  Naval History  23, no. 6: 44-50. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost  (accessed September 26, 2012). [ 5 ]. Burlingame, Burl. 2011. â€Å"Setting a Trap. †Ã‚  Cobblestone  32, no. 9: 20-22. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost  (accessed September 26, 2012).

the unknown essays

the unknown essays Hate, black and thick, blinds and engulfs the mind. Shame pushes him back to the hole from which he crawled. Fear inhibits the mind, body, and soul, rendering the three capable of only bad decisions. In the novel Native Son, by Richard Wright, hate, shame, and fear engulf the livelihood of the main character, Bigger Thomas. Using Bigger and his surroundings, Wright depicts how living under such conditions leads to seeking excesses of sex, religion, violence, and drugs. Furthermore, this lifestyle and its accompanying excesses make it impossible for one to see the sunrise of hope, struggling to break through the black sky. Although Wrights story depicts the life of one man in a very specific time period over fifty years ago, his philosophy of hate, shame, and fear proves equally true in the real world of the past, and in the real world of the present. Fear inhibits the mind, body, and soul like no other emotion can. The study of fear in relation to psychology defines it as the emotional state of the anticipation of danger. How can one lead a healthy life when perpetually anticipating danger? As exemplified in Native Son, and as is true in real life, leading a healthy life while in a constant state of fear proves impossible. Fear paralyzes the mind, rendering it unable to think properly. Bigger makes crucial decisions while paralyzed by fear, and these decisions prove exceedingly illogical. When the reporters discover the remnants of Marys bones in the furnace, Bigger decides in a whirlwind of fear to flee the house, confirming his guilt in the process. However, Bigger could have done a number of things differently and more intelligently to reassure his innocence. Fear inhibited his ability to make a rational decision, and this exemplifies only a single occurrence of Biggers problem with fear- it has been a part of his life since the day he was born. Living in a perpetual state of hate, shame, and fear drives one...

U.S. Elections-Prejudices in Journalism essays

U.S. Elections-Prejudices in Journalism essays The articles used to form our class research project on the U.S. Elections were based on News finding from many different countries. The basis of most of the articles was how President Bush and Senator John Kerry were viewed upon in relations with those countries. A few other things covered were senator elections and voting. I feel that language plays a huge role in Newspaper Articles or any type of journalism for that matter. Several articles never directly take sides on the election but by the writing of certain statements leads the reader to believe in one direction. For example, in the Mexico and NAFTA report it was stated, All the major countries in the region opposed the decision by the US and Britain to attack Iraq without a second UN resolution. Kerry supported this policy, though Democrats are now trying to argue that he did so out of loyalty to servicemen about to go into action rather than because he agreed with President Bush. As the article started to put down carry, they rebutted with a comment to make Kerry appear as if he were making his decisions for the people. This continued throughout the article, continuous support of Kerry and not much recognition of Bush. Most of the articles clearing appeared to be trashing both candidates for our Presidency. The article from the Toronto Star reported in one sentence, Bushs policy, it wont work since he is, indeed, performing like a recruiting sergeant for Al Qaeda. A few paragraphs later they stated, Kerry cannot tell his voters the truth, he tells them only part of the truth, when he says it, he doesnt sound like he really believes it. Which is why Americans-as yet-dont believe in him. Another article from the Middle East reported Dr. Mohammad TabatabaI as saying, As far as Iran is concerned, both candidates in the next United States presidential elections have views which are rath ...