Why Religion Is Important To A Society Philosophy Essay

Why Religion Is Important To A Society Philosophy Essay Our moral convictions precede us as we find ourselves lamenting a loss or potential loss of something important. How we define what is and is not important is solely dependent upon how choose to grant entities significances and phase out related societal detriments said entities may pose. We have widespread traditions to uphold, which is the consensus throughout all of civilization. Though, the reach and continuity of the upholding remains considerably controversial. The religious-those who have willfully been indoctrinated, mostly-stand as major proponents of the aforementioned conundrum. They bring an matched sense of ambiguity to the table in regards to what we reserve strictly for a sentimental purpose over scientific purpose. A massive case in which this is highly evident is of the Kennewick Man. The Kennewick man dispute raised a bunch of issues regarding how religions have politics and science hogtied to a remarkably unavoidable pillar of contempt. It is a case in which the validity of scientific endeavor is challenged by the sacredness of religious conviction, and as a result of that turmoil, politics were compromised. -The Back Story What is important about the Kennewick Man situation is that among the most obvious problems regarding science and politics is the problem of ranking religious importance in a society. Surely, we can see that religion plays a big role in terms of freedom, but the reason for that is unclear. However, we can draw a number of conclusions in this regard which may rid some of the confusion involved. The Kennewick Man issue stems from the findings of the skeleton of a buried body dubbed the Ancient One on July 1996 below the surface of Lake Washington by two men. The remains instantly sparked controversy. It so happened that the skeleton was regarded as religiously bound in some way, which made it largely a religious issue. There were claims made by Indian tribes, local officials, and some members of the scientific community regarding ownership of the skeleton because of the controversy. As a result of the attention, in March of 1998, the department of Interior and National Park Service agreed to assist the COE in resolving some of the issues related to the Federal case (NPS, 2004) that was filed in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGRA). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were the owners of the land in which the remains of the Kennewick Man were found, so they were responsible for the findings. Therefore, they were targeted by those pushing for the bodys protection using the NAGRA. Naturally, there was a need for investigation, so scientists got involved and conducted research on the remains. For this operation, the Department of the Interior and National Park Service and the Corps of Engineers collaborated. Roughly eighteen highly referenced scholars and scientists conducted a variety of historical and scientific examinations, analyses, and studies. (NPS, 2004) This took place between 1998 and 2004 as the legal proceedings picked up in depth. According to the National Park Service (NPS), the Kennewick skeleton was physically examined, measured, and recorded using current and standard scientific methods and techniques. Sediments adhering to the bones and trapped within the bone cavities were described and analyzed for similarity with the soil sediments in the vicinity of the discovery of the skeletal remains. The stone projectile point embedded in the skeletons pelvis was described and analyzed. These findings were relevant to understanding the origins of the skeleton because they shed a near-full-on light of the reason the skeleton was there. Accordingly, the bones were sampled in order to confirm the ancient date for the remains, according to the report from the NPS. The report claimed that research had yielded five major scientific reports as a result of the separate experiments and tests performed by the researchers. These operations had been drastically exaggerated by the media during the time of the legal issues amid the controversy, with ignorance towards the actual reason for the scientific investigation. Essentially, the media missed the fact that the research had to be conducted because the origin of the man was up for dispute, which was a large piece of the legal issues following its discovery. It turned out that the remains were 9,300 years old, according to the research, which still rolls on into the late 2012. According to anthropologist Douglas Owsley, the conclusion of the age of the remains is important in the quest to understand where the now-famous Paleoamerican came from and who his descendants might be. In October of 2011, Owsley felt that it was extremely important to have a meeting with the Native American tribes of the area regarding the remains and the research regarding the remains because, according to him, [the Columbia Basin, where the remains were found], its their homeland territory, and they feel deep connections and roots. [He] felt it of vital important that [he] have a [face-to-face meeting and give them an overview as to what the scientific evidence was telling us. (Murphy, 2012) -Possible Reasoning for Religious Conviction Using Evo-bio Evidence Religious importance is no shallow issue in the case of the Kennewick man. A fact of relevance to that point is that humans have a considerable obligation to religion due to their biological makeup. The conviction towards the Kennewick man is, therefore, unsurprising since the discovery of the remains were inevitably controversial with the revelation of its Native American roots. We find that this obligation-the religious valuation-is innate to our neurological profiles. Particularly, we find that our brains have developed to process environments and problems within those environments with such an imagination that religion can come about at any moment. In order to understand how religion plays a role in society, we first need to understand why humans find certain objects sacred. For this, we can look at the development of the neo cortex in the brain. The neo cortex is responsible for almost all of which we process logically. As we rationalize, the neo cortex is providing the instructions much of the rest of the brain uses to compute one or more generalities. In the case of the Kennewick man, Native Americans extend their hand of conviction towards the remains and they and the remains combined stand as a good reason to look first how religion came about in the biological evolution of human beings. According to Robin Dunbar of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford, religion is adaptive. According to her, nothing as costly as religion could possibly be maladaptation or a mere by-product. She explored the significance of religion by evolutionary anthropologic findings in scientific research. She found that from we have discovered about the biological significance and origin of religion, there are four functions of religion: it 1) provides an explanation (provisional, however) for the complexities of the world; 2) causes psychological well-being, more or less; 3) triggers socialization; and finally, 4) it enforces conformity, which is actually a key characteristic of religion that we see vividly throughout the case of the Kennewick man. Since we have evolved to solve biological problems, part of our sophistication as organisms is structural, social belief systems. According to Dunbar, those who are actively religious usually live longer, are more content/happier, are less stressed, suffer fewer psychological problems, and recover faster from surgery. Dunbar claimed (with evidence) that multi-level social systems are common in mammals and that when sociality involves an implicit social contract, fitness accrues at the level of the individual, but through benefits generated by the ground. In other words, the combined conformity of each socialite equates to more efficient human beings and heightened, beneficial human instinctiveness. Dunbar, as other scientists have proposed, harped on the social brain hypothesis. According to the hypothesis, religious thought is attributed to brain sizes in primates. It has been reasoned that the size of the neo cortex is inversely relational to the magnitude or involvement in and of religious thought. It is also logical to conclude that the size of social groups are greatly based on the size of the neocortex. According to Dunbar, group size [and many aspects of smart behavior] are a function of neocortex volume. This is conspicuously evident in primate societies. This finding contributes to the fact that all primate societies are based on an implicit social contract, which is essentially cooperation. -Arguments Against Scientific Proceedings -Arguments For Scientific Proceedings Arguments against the ownership of the Kennewick mans remains by those other than the Native American tribes are significantly touch to come by. This is mainly because the Native Americans have almost no objective base for an argument against it. Accordingly, the Native Americans had absolutely no case against those who wanted to do research on the Kennewick man because the findings regarding the specific details of the remains are ambiguous. Therefore, the Native Americans cannot argue that the remains have tribal relevance. The courts concluded this and denied the Native Americans ownership rights over the remains. From there, the scientists were free to do as much research as they felt they needed to do without the consent of the litigating group of tribesmen (Doughton, 2006). The core reason for the scientific proceedings is quite common. In essence, the research would yield a clearer look into our existence as organisms, even sufficing as clearing up confusions regarding terrain and even territories. According to researchers, the North American and South American continents were once empty of people. Contrary to Indian religious beliefs that they have been here since the beginning of time, it is a fact that all humans, including the ancestors to modern Indians, came from Eurasia. (Jantz, 2005) The remains of the Kennewick man actually extends this fact tremendously by giving scientists and the public glimpses of the variety of people who were [in North America] prior to modern Indians. (Jantz, 2005) The study of the Kennewick man helps us figure out how humans spread throughout this region. The studies also show how we have adapted to changing weather conditions (in the most drastic of the sense) and regional obscenities having to do with other animals, food shortages and excess, and other elements. These discoveries have clear applications to our modern world. -How The Scientific Proceedings Are Important -How the Social Proceedings Are Important The question of what makes something important to a society is raised with the scientific proceedings and religion-related controversy. It is probably most wise to consider economic impact religion has in a society since religion has had a history of swaying governmental politics, particularly in judicial issues. However, by merely examining that our past scientific proceedings have constructed what we now know as survival mechanisms, we can rationally conclude that anything resulting from experimentation and deep analysis plays a role in the sustenance of human life. On the other hand, the metaphysical speculation involved in religion gives way to scientific dealings, which is why issues like the Kennewick man are considerably important. If the Native Americans had not disputed the issue, such research performed on the Kennewick man may not have been done, especially within the 2-year span (1998) that it took to file the suit and make a federal case out of it. -Conclusion Sum up the importance of Religion in Society Relate the Kennewick man to the sum What is apparent about the Kennewick man is that the remains held significant anthropological research data. Moreover, it sparked enough controversy to cause rapid development in the science world. It is that sort of ingenuity that religion causes, which makes religion one of the most important aspects of society-at least, this is the case for now, until we figure out how to spark research interest without subjective takes on reality. That said, we can rightfully blame doctrines such as religions as relevant to the solutions we need in order to survive as an adapting species. Without imaginative ideas and emotional charges, we are left with brute logic, which has its constraints and is never consistently sound, as far as we have come to know as experimenters. Therefore, we owe religion the respect it deserves as a sparker of new ideas and new efforts. Without it, our ideas remain unchallenged, and without challenge, we fact a stifled perspective.

Commodity Fetishism in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence :: Edith Wharton Age Innocence Essays

Commodity Fetishism in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence Commodity fetishism is a term first coined by Karl Marx in his 1867 economic treatise, Das Kapital. It takes two words, one with a historically economic bent and another with a historically religious bent, and combines them to form a critical term describing post-industrial revolution, capitalist economies. Specifically, this term was used to describe the application of special powers or ideas to products that carried no such inherent value. In Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, old New York society is dissected as if the book were a study in cultural anthropology. One of the critical elements of this society is its emphasis on material items. From Parisian dresses to brand name cigars, this society is particularly interested in what a member owns. A brief examination of how commodities affect the creation an identity and social order in Wharton’s New York will be endeavored. But first, commodity fetishism will be defined more specifically before we can apply Marx’s ideas to the novel. The comprising elements of this term will be examined to create a general understanding of the economic and social ideas that went into its creation. The term â€Å"commodity† is often considered to be synonymous with a â€Å"good,† any produced item, such as refined sugar or textiles (Spickard). Although this seems a decent, basic definition, a commodity actually refers to something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage. The key point here is that a good fails to be a commodity when it no longer has a commercial advantage. A pile of gold is only a commodity if someone agrees to buy it. The term â€Å"fetish†, despite the prevalent sexual connotations of today, actually has a religious origin. A fetish is any object that is believed to have special or magical powers, often associated with animistic or shamanistic religions. Thus, to make something a fetish is to infuse an inanimate or material object with special powers above and beyond that of its physical self. The concept of commodity fetishism, then, was used by Marx to describe the over-appraisal of commodities in a capitalist economy. What is Marx saying? How can something be â€Å"worth† more than it’s worth? This occurs when the â€Å"use value,† the natural capacity to satisfy a human want, of something is of different worth than its â€Å"exchange value,† the social capacity to be exchangeable for other commodities (Wenning).

Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt :: The Daily Show Perfect Storm

Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt - How Will These Help My Writing? Apt Pupil Psychological thriller Lack of a conclusion Not enough character development Plot didn't develop Daily Show Appeals to a specific audience Comedy and satire of the news and current events Sensationalism Perfect Storm Use of imagery Believable dialogue Suspenseful situations Believable reactions How to Make an American Quilt Complete characterization Plots independent of each but make an interdependent story Believable events and reactions The four works; Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt are all very respectable in their individual sense. Each work possesses a different style and is different in presentation. The difference in presentation is very important when analyzing a specific work. Television for example can deal with changing current events and issues. The Daily Show is the perfect example. The show thrives off of satire of everyday events and needs changing circumstances to exist. Satire is not restricted to television; it has been utilized in books, magazines, and movies for years. Jonathan Swift is a prime example of a satirist of his times. He wrote novels such as Gulliver’s Travels that criticized his era in a mocking fashion. The main differences between the television and a novel are the interaction. The fact that the dialogue is heard and not just read, seen not just imagined. The spectacle of The Daily Show is not wonderful. The set is very simple but it is functional. The Daily Show is a perfect example of how to make the scenery and set functional and not showy. The Daily Show uses it’s resources to make the best show possible, and it succeeds. A similar form of media is film. Films are dependent on good scripts, dialogue and acting. Acting is essential, even if the script is beautiful, if the acting is horrible the film suffers and vice-versa. Apt Pupil is a film that lacks in screenplay. The acting was great, the portrayl of the characters believable, but the dialogue and plot was not well developed and therefore the movie lacked a sense of completion. The spectacle was wonderful, there was great use of light, objects, angles but the work was definitely lacking essential parts. The literary lesson to learn from this work, is that a few good points of a work do not make up for the lacking parts. A film, television show, novel, or essay needs to clear and concise and complete.

The Government Should Make Use Of Revenue Sharing :: essays research papers

The Government Should Make Use of Revenue Sharing Federal grants have become more common over the last 60 years, due to the expansion and retraction of the size of the federal government. The federal government began expanding in the 1930s to deal with the Depression. It used federal agencies to directly deal with problems. As time went on, the tasks were turned over to the states, but the federal government still remained involved through the use of federal grants to states and localities. In the 1970s, Nixon's New Federalism put a heavy emphasis on federal grants. Revenue sharing gave federal dollars to localities and states that had never received very much or any federal money before. This increased local interest in receiving federal money in many localities. In order to deal with the federal bureaucracy and receive federal money, localities and states have to develop efficient and effective bureaucracies of their own. These state and local bureaucracies must understand the federal rules and requirements for receiving federal aid. Some states routinely receive a greater amount of federal money than other states with similar populations due to the differences in state bureaucracies. The state which has an effective grant-writing bureaucracy and maintains relations with federal bureaucrats and leaders is often able to get more money. Federal bureaucracies are often very regionalized. They are staffed by people from a certain region, and they primarily deal with people from that region. They give more federal assistance to these regions too. The overall trend in federal spending in a state may be different from a particular agency's pattern of spending. Some states may get very little overall federal funding, but may get much more than the average amount of money from a certain federal agency's grants. American state-level politics can be divided up into 3 categories: traditional, moralistic, and individualistic. Traditional areas are heavily elitist, and social elites are the primary leaders of society. They have less reliance on government programs, government spending, and government in general. They are not as democratic as in other areas of the country. Moralistic cultures put a heavy focus on government taking an active role in society. There is more emphasis on democratic methods in government, government funding, government programs, and the provision of services. The individualist culture sees government as only being important when it can help the individual succeed. It should never hamper the individual from attaining personnel success. The South is considered more traditionalist. The midatlantic states and other areas which have descendants of the original settlers of the midatlantic states are considered individualistic. The northern states are moralistic. All of these

Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone The Drowsy Chaperone is an interesting show that was performed from October 31st to November 4th at Westminster College. The show is a parody of people in the 1920’s. The story revolves around a middle aged man in a chair who is a theatre fan who plays his favorite record for the audience to hear. The record is The Drowsy Chaperone and from start to finish the audience is in for a unique experience within this play. This play is comedic, upbeat and has a heartwarming story.The whole show mainly focuses on the relationship between the glamorous show girl Janet Van De Graaff and the handsome, poised Robert Martin; the main characters of the show in Westminster’s productions were played by Hannah Timm and Ian Davis. They did an extraordinary job in all of their appearances. Being involved in The Drowsy Chaperone was a special experience for me. This was the first show that I had speaking lines in, acted and performed in and was involved in helping with the construction and deconstruction of the set pieces. I have been involved in musicals and theatrical productions for six years now.Within those six years this year the year I was involved in The Drowsy Chaperone by far was my favorite production. This is due to the fact that I was highly involved in different aspects of the show. I greatly enjoyed being involved within the production of The Drowsy Chaperone as much as I was. I believe by being highly involved within the production of The Drowsy Chaperone, it has given me a better perspective to the work involved other than acting into developing a show. There is a ton of the work that goes into developing a play and I was always highly aware of this.However, now I am much more aware about the set design and it makes me appreciate the actual show much more because of it. At times I thought things were unnecessary when we were producing the set pieces for example the day when we would paint all of the trim multiple times in various colors. First we painted the molding in a bright yellow, then a light brown then dark brown also, an orange glaze may have been added if I remember correctly. I did not understand the point in painting the molding so many times. I vaguely remember thinking we should just have bought dark brown paint and just used that.I was thinking it would save us a lot more time and we could move onto a different more important project. Now, I understand that everything is important when producing a set this includes the smaller details. By repainting the molding numerous times it added depth to the wood. This helped add to the overall look to the set. Every minor detail is important even if it seems unnecessary at the time it reality it is important. Once the whole set was built and completely done I understood why so much time and effort was devoted to the set and how important the minor details were.I have been in numerous productions in the theatre since middle school. I always knew that tim e was devoted into producing a set; however, I did not have a deep appreciation for the set. My opinion has changed drastically since being involved in the production of The Drowsy Chaperone. By being involved with in the construction process and set design I now have a better understanding of what it entails. The set pieces tell their own story within the actual show. Everything that is designed and placed within a set has a purpose.There is a reason as to why it is placed and a reason to why it was designed in the first place. I learned numerous things while working on the set. Some of these things were; learning how to use the power tools, panting techniques, how to putty, building and helping construct certain objects. I had the pleasure of working on various projects I worked on the following things; constructing a door, painting the walls, painting the molding, helping construct the bed, working on the refrigerator, helping hang the mirror, helping hang the curtains, painting the statute pieces, helping with the windows.When the opening night of the show came I became nervous for the audience to see the sets and backdrops, this was the first time that this had ever happened to me. , The Drowsy Chaperone is a unique show that is revolved around the 1920’s. Westminster College did a production of the show this year. The performers within the show did a memorable job. I enjoyed being involved within this show because I was involved in other things besides acting. The time and dedication to put on the show and the effort of the performers, workers, and faculty is shown. The Drowsy Chaperone is truly a memorable experience.

Efficiency Increasing System by Using Preheating Method Essay

EFFICIENCY INCREASING SYSTEM BY USING PREHEATING METHOD METHODOLOGY The concept of increasing the fuel efficiency of a petrol engine in this project, is to pre-heat the intake air which is flowing through the carburetor. The humidity in the atmospheric air affects the petrol vapourisation in the carburettor. Therefore, by pre-heating the inlet air to the carburettor for a considerable amount, the vapourisation can be ease and in turn complete combustion is achieved. Moreover by reducing the water vapour to the engine, the steam formation in the engine can be reduced pitting of the engine cylinder, piston and exhaust pipe. Reference: http://seminarprojects.com/Thread-efficiency-increasing-system-by-using-preheating-method#ixzz2elrJlavP Most of the cars in today’s market give a maximum of 30 to 40 miles per gallon and hybrid cars giving upto 50 miles per gallon. The efficiency of Internal Combustion Engines used for this purpose is very low, about 25%. The heat generated during the combustion of fuel is converted into work to drive the car is wasted to the atmosphere, as anti-freeze(Ethylene Glycol) is used to cool the engine and circulated through a radiator which transfers the heat to the atmosphere. The heat generated by combustion of fuel such as gasoline or diesel is converted into the work because of the pressure created by the combustion process. In this invention, the heat is recovered by pre-heating/pressurizing the fresh air used for the process of combustion. The temperature of the pre-heated fresh air used for combustion is increased to above 1400 degrees Fahrenheit by passing through a heat exchanger to recover heat from combustible gases. Fresh air for combustion is heated to about 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Thermodynamic Laws, by heating the air in a closed space with constant volume at room temperature to 1600 degrees F., the pressure is increased about to 50 psi. In order to have a higher pressure, the fresh air is first compressed upto 100 psi before passing through a heat exchanger. This will give the available working pressure of about 350 psi before

Popular culture can be seenas a tool for maintaining status quo, discuss this point of view

Marxist school of thought argues that society is structured by and is divided into classes with the ruling one being at the top of the hierarchy. No matter which class takes that social power (hegemony) and becomes the bourgeoisie of its time, there is always a need to maintain it, thus controlling the proletariat by any means at hand. In this essay I will discuss how popular culture is used to achieve this goal according to the Marxist point of view. In the modern times culture and classes are mostly confined within individual states, although interchangeable cultural values and process of globalisation might be developing in our society, they are not yet matured enough to challenge the key capitalist ideology. The state in opinion of such Marxist as Louis Althusser is the kind of governmental formation that arises with capitalism; a state (term ‘nation' can also be applicable in this case) is determined by the capitalist mode of production and formed to protect its interests. It is historically true (whether you are a Marxist or not) that the idea of nations as discrete units is coterminous with capitalism. He sees such political ideologies as democracy for example, as providers of an illusion that all people are equal, and have equal power (and hence masks relations of economic exploitation). ‘Culture is a constant succession of social practices: it is therefore inherently political' (John Fiske) Althusser stated in his works that there are two main ways in which the elite can manipulate lower classes; Ideological State Apparatuses is one of such mechanisms. These are institutions, which generate ideologies, which we as individuals (and groups) then internalize, and act in accordance with. Examples include schools, religions, the family, legal systems, politics, arts, sports and media. As we will see later, popular culture can be used in conjunction with these ISAs. Since the end of 19th century television started to play a major role in our lives. It generates values, ideas and messages that we often do not question thoroughly enough to understand their indented meanings. Thus, arguably it is the tool social elite uses to controls us. Due to the fact that television is often blended into the term popular culture or is defined as significant element of popular culture; I shall base my discussion around its example. According to such theorists as John Fiske and Wiesengrund Adorno mass media promote low cultural concepts (to which all this of popularity are assigned according to elitist point of view) that are meant to keep the members of the lower society classes passive or even narcotized to fuel the capitalist machine. A good example would be a BBC news report that is considered to be trustworthy source of information. Every day before report goes on air its content is carefully edited to fit in with the current government agendas and social norms. Even though issues raised may concern a variety of professional debates within the society, they are simplified and implemented in the standardized language to be easily understood, hence dummed down to the level of the lowest common denominator that is proletariat. Amongst such concepts is commodity culture which links well with the culture industry. First endorses the view that people in modern society are nothing more than a set of branded goods and are easily manipulated. This theory connotes that anything could be purchased in the capitalist society for a certain amount of money that serve as ultimate lever of the classes. John Fiske goes on to expand this idea to suggest that even loyalty, love and friendship values can be corrupted by this type of popular culture. Supporting these statements is a difficult task; however, let us look at some common to all of us things. Non-compulsory military service could suggest purchasable loyalty; it offers good wages and high quality training in exchange for your life (extreme and blunt example yet makes a point). Commodity culture in its turn, as stated by Adorno, keeps us passively satisfied and politically disinterested. It provides us with false needs to take care of and a set of fetishistic desires, which invade our lives. All of this is said to exhaust our economic potential to the point we loose our upward mobility and become an inactive part of the society that poses no threat to the ruling elite's hegemony. Take reality TV shows and property market. Do we really need to know that some of our fellow humans can't sing? Or do we need to keep buying and selling properties until we have large mortgages, high levels of stress and no real power? Yet most of the people master the art of making do that is popular culture values. Finally French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu divided capital into cultural and financial parts. He reasoned that similar to variable access to money and thus power by different classes and social groups, there is a variable possession of cultural and symbolic power. Hence by embracing popular culture we lower our cultural capital that affects our status and meaning within the modern society. Marxist view of the society is quite dated now, yet it still provides alarmingly appropriate to modern day life ideas. Nonetheless, it is important to understand that in its extreme and pure form Marxist view can only lead to wild conspiracy theories and delusional arguments. In my opinion Marxism should be used in conjunction and contrast with its rival theories in order to reach realistic conclusions.