Benjamin Franklin termed himself a pragmatic deist. He believes "there is one Supreme must perfect being," however that this being is distant, and that it is not necessary to build a personal relationship with such a supreme God. He concluded that it was useful and correct to believe that a faith in God should inform our daily actions. However, he did not believe in sectarian dogma, burning spirituality or deep soul searching as a part of religion (Lopez, 87). Franklin's religious views are important in the shaping of his Enlightenment philosophy. His approach to religion drew from reason and careful reflection, he did not believe in the "frivolity" of emotional thought and connectivity, but instead focused on the pragmatic understanding of the divine. His conclusion after careful reason formulates a "Supreme Being that can be manifest in various ways, depending on the needs of different worshipers" (Lopez, 88). In contrast to Franklin's deism, Edwards was a strong Calvinist believer who strongly articulated the concept of God's ultimate determination of our fate. He argued against the Arminian position of self-determination in "Freedom of the Will," by explaining that every choice is determined by a previous act of the will and that every action we take and thus all choices we make are fundamentally determined by God. While their religious views differed strongly, Edwards like Franklin recognized the importance of utilizing reason as a mechanism to interpret his religion (Leon, 32). His logical analysis of Calvinism contributes to the understanding of pre-destination as the logical extension of faith. As a result, Edwards applied logic and reason to his religious determinism. Edwards at the same time recognized that "the knowledge of causation is unknowable and that we perceive only ideas not things themselves" (Fiering, 151-152).
Fundamental to the understanding of his philosophy is that as human beings we can only witness "images of...
The fact that a novel in the sentimental and seduction genre attained such heights of popularity is, in the first instance, evidence its impact and effect on the psyche and minds of the female readers of the novel. As one critic cogently notes: Why a book which barely climbs above the lower limits of literacy, and which handles, without psychological acuteness or dramatic power, a handful of stereotyped characters in
Shelley's Frankenstien Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein Monster Mary Shelley is the author of the famous novel Frankenstein and was born in London, England the year of 1797 (Merriman, 2006). Shelley came from strong genes as both her mother (Mary Wollstonecraft) and father (William Godwin) were considered philosophers and enlightened thinkers (Merriman, 2006). Shelley is credited (believed) to have started the science fiction genre during this time period. As a writer, Shelley
You can't just issue degrees without having the use of force lurking in the background to make sure those degrees have some "teeth" so to speak. But Rousseau rejected that idea. Rousseau also rejected the notion that ties between family members were an appropriate model for relationships between the state and its citizens. In using precepts from what Aristotle had written two thousand years earlier (in Aristotle's Politics), Rousseau -
By connecting the awarding of a peace prize with the concerns of a world in which terrorism has become a constant threat, Obama makes clear the exigency of his message when he says: "I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war." Nobel laureates are given few formal constraints in terms of their responses but Obama faced the more general constraints of trying to
However, the rapid pace of urbanization in Asian, African and Latin American countries has served to stimulate "several studies of water problems in megacities, secondary cities, peri-urban areas, and squatter settlements." (Muir, 2007) That the management of water is emphasized on the state level in the United States is stated to come as little surprise in a country characterized by a federal system of government. This is because "Constitutional authority
Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life "He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the priest establishes a mandate for Christian Living. Historically, at the Last Supper, Christ used bread and wine as a supreme metaphor for the rest of our lives. Jesus was in turmoil. He was
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