PURITY AND CIVILITY

PURITY AND CIVILITY Both in "The Praise of Folly" by Desiderius Erasmus and "Of Cannibals" by Michel de Montaigne-relating to the common point to which attention is tried to be drawn-inquiry of true civility with regards to the Nature and its necessity according to certain circumstances are substantiated. First of all,Erasmus stating "Truly,to destroy the illusion is to upset the whole play.The masks and costumes are precisely what hold the eyes of the spectators." Aspires to put forward the idea that there is a definite pact between people-which can be rather called as a concious illusion-on wearing veils of wisdom,called roles just as if they were performing a play.Under these veils,probably lies something much more different than what is seen on the stage;a virtuous man may be a wretched being or a king may be a beggar in fact. Just like this case,in "Of Cannibals",Michel de Montaigne implies ironically by the statement: "All this is not too bad-but what's the use?They don't wear breeches." That although costumes or breeches,which are taken as a token for civility,may turn out to be just the opposite.They are veils under which true identities and intentions are concealed.However,then the question what makes a person sensible-in other words both natural and spontaneous in manners is aroused.Montaigne makes his point explicitly on this matter.Regarding the community of

  • Word count: 1370
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The 3 common misconceptions - signs of the manipulative consciousness.

Part 1 - The 3 common misconceptions; signs of the manipulative Consciousness. When people say that you have complete control of your life, and that there is no fate, and that you alone decide what happens and so on....they get horribly confused in what is meant by that. A very large portion of people. Just like a large group of people seem to have no idea what is meant by "equality" and what is meant by "we are all equal". In conclusion, you have all these people raving and flaring about how everyone is equal and there is no discrimination or segregation and all this other horribly far-fetched nonsense. When it is said that "we are all equal", it is meant that in this particular country, we all technically have equal rights and opportunities. This by far, does not make anyone "equal" genetically, mentally, physically, or on any other level. When it is said that you have complete control of your life, it is meant that you have complete control of your life in relevance to what it is, or in relevance to how it was granted to you. If you were at the wheel of a 3-wheeled car, and you have access to the pedals, gas, break, wheel to turn the car...then yes, you are in complete control of the car...which has 3 wheels. Regardless of how hard you may try to steer it accurately, you will only be able to reach the limit of what a 3 wheeled car grants you concerning mobility. It does

  • Word count: 2904
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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scarlet Letter.

scarlet Letter It has been said that Hawthorne condemns the Puritan society of Boston and at the same time presents it as a stable necessary environment for the New England settlers at that time. In the scarlet letter the core of the story line revolves around a movement known as the Puritan. The Puritan movement began when King Henry declared England's independence from the Church of Rome and he appointed himself head of the new Church of England. King Henry did this because he wanted to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. By appointing himself head of the Church of England he was able to grant himself his own divorce that the pope would not give him. At first there was little difference between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic but later with the spread of Protestant reformers such as John Calvin the church began to change. Some people thought the church of England retained too many of the superstitious practises of the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted simpler truths and less structured forms of worship like the earlier Christians, because they wanted to purify the Church of England, they got the name of Puritans. John Geree describes the puritans as "one, that honoured God above all, and under God gave every one his due"! These Puritans followed a very strict code of practise; they were greatly influenced by the bible, their

  • Word count: 20160
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In what sense, if any, can a machine be said to 'know' something? How can anyone believe that a machine can think?

Min Hwang TOK: Period 6 Mr. Cannon September 16, 2003 In what sense, if any, can a machine be said to 'know' something? How can anyone believe that a machine can think? May 1997 marked the monumental achievement of mankind to some, the failure to defend "dignity of humanity"1 to some, or, to others, nothing much at all. In May 1997, the supercomputer "Deep Blue", designed by IBM, defeated Garry Kasparov, the chess champion of the world, in his own game. People believed that this event showed the development increasingly authentic artificial intelligence, and also believed that the development artificial intelligence - even rivaling the intelligence and thought of the human mind, was only a matter of time. This sparked a series of old questions anew - how can a machine be said to have knowledge? How can a machine have thought? A man-made machine can 'think' and 'know', as long as it is able to reproduce the interactions necessary for thought, but its abilities to do so will be limited by the abilities of its creator. Knowledge, simply put, is a belief or claim that is justified with logical analysis of sufficient empirical evidence gathered through perception at one point. To think is to draw logical inferences, through reason and judgment - in other words, to execute a finite sequence of logical extrapolations to arrive at conclusions. Knowledge is, in one way or

  • Word count: 959
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A Day In the Life of…

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... I awake at the buzz of my alarm clock at exactly 7.15,before falling straight back into slumber within the thirty seconds I allow myself to become so much as vigilant to my existence. I lie in my bed half conscious, before my father clambers into the bathroom five minutes after. There is a sudden sense of warmth that surrounds my heart as I am yet again reminded of my whereabouts and finally build up the nerve to step out of bed. I would not consider myself either as a morning person or not, as if I was to say not, I would be lying. When my alarm sounds, I am in between being awake and asleep and often my body gives in to the mere 3 hours sleep I have had. However, if I am satisfied, I will awake with absolute alertness and am almost ready to endure what the day is about to bring. Soon after, my mother bangs loudly on the door as she does not dare to step into my room unless I have not replied within the 30 seconds after. I have a strange understanding with my parents, and had somehow come to an agreement that they were not to step into my room or tamper with my belongings ever since I was the age of 10. Perhaps my mother knew that I was just as ill tempered as my father, which had managed to rub off on me during the last 15 years of my life I have spent with living him. I stumble over to the desk and reach for the lamp. It is yet another dreary

  • Word count: 1424
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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London fire

September 3rd 1666 It was a normally Saturday morning for me, apart from the fact that I was woken up at around 3 in the morning by a friend as she was shouting about a fire she had seen in the city. Shocked, I jumped out of bed and but my dressing gown on, but as a looked out my window I saw that it was quite a way away so just got back into my bed to sleep. I got woken up again at 7 and saw the fire had got a lot worse, where at this point I was told that over 300 houses were burnt down in the City and that at this point it was burning down Fishstreet by London Bridge. So I quickly got ready and rushed out the house. I walked to the Tower, I got closer I see all the houses on fire it was everywhere even to the very end of the bridge. I felt like I needed to do something to help so I went down to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who told me it began this morning down in Pudding Lane. A good friend of mine, Michel his house had already been burnt down to the ground even as far to the Old Swan. In the space of time that I had been down there it already reached Stillyard. All around me people were trying to save possessions. Sadly the poorer people were staying in their houses for as long as possible almost as if until the fire reached them. There was ciaos everywhere! People cramming themselves into boats and people running around not knowing what to do. The sight of

  • Word count: 910
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Adolescence marks the turning point of an individual's life, establishing the foundation of their development.

Adolescence marks the turning point of an individual's life, establishing the foundation of their development. It is during this phase that individuals leave behind the comfort of childhood and enter a reality beset with new perceptions of life. There are many stages of life, each enclosing its own distinct characteristics. As evident in the short story, Master of Disaster, written by Guy Vanderhagae, adolescence involves growth as an individual, both physically and emotionally. Although each phase has its own challenges and difficulties, adolescence proves to be the most difficult stage of life to overcome. Through examination of the situations in the story, it becomes apparent that adolescence involves experiencing emotional conflicts between friends, searching for one's identity amid a period of change and overcoming the negative influence of peer pressure. Adolescence is a stage of life, overwhelmed by emotional conflicts between friends. It is a period of time where emotional instincts are weighed more than good judgement, when making decisions that will alter the outcome of the future. As evident in the story, there exists a strong emotional bond between Bernie and Kurt, "Whatever I withheld from Hiller, whatever would have been unspeakable in the company of the others was confided to Kurt Meinecke." (Vanderhagae, Page 59) It is apparent that trust is the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Do You Have to Succeed to be Happy?

Austin Richardson Bradley - 1 09/19/00 English 2 Do You Have to Succeed to be Happy? Happiness and success are two of the most important things that people strive to achieve in life. There are a lot of good reasons why one is better than the other. The virtue that I believe to be more important is happiness. This could be supported by many ideas and comparisons. First, you do not need to succeed in order to be happy. Id you have a family and are happy, your life is good and worth living. On the other hand, many people who succeed end up not being happy and hurting or even killing themselves. They might also become furious and kill others. There is a story about a king who was wealthy and successful in what he was doing, but he was unhappy. He did not like anything that he was doing, and in doing so, he got involved in drugs and alcohol. He later committed suicide because of his depression and unhappiness. If you are happy, you will not need to succeed in order to have a good life to live. Happiness also means that you probably are successful in doing what you try to accomplish. In order to receive true happiness, you must love where you are and the people around you. In addition, you might also want to be successful but without happiness. Without happiness, success is worth absolutely nothing. Happiness will take you in many places and you will love it.

  • Word count: 319
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A Young Person’s Guide To Being…… A Young Person!

A Young Person's Guide To Being......A Young Person! Hi, In this booklet, you will find out about cultures that do exist in our world today that you may or may not be aware of. You might be feeling lost or not know who your real friends are or who to turn to...Well, by reading this you will find out the truth of some misinterpreted groups. First of all, I would like to point out that this is a personal opinion and therefore gives you the view of only one person. I do understand that some people will not fit into any categories and do not wish to. But, deeper down, do they want to be part of any of the groups in this booklet? Warning: By reading this booklet you will learn some truths that have not been told before and therefore could shock you. The Townie/Scallies Rebellious, Hostile, Violent. Who are aged generally between 9 to 20. Townies like to hang around in large groups as this gives them the feeling of superiority. They are generally seen at weekends or during school hours as they have a tendency to play truant. It could be said that being a townie is a form of 'poor man's rebellion' and this is evident as most of them do come from families that have struggled in some way or another. To become a townie you need very little. You need to wear sports brands (Adidas, Nike, Kappa) or you can choose to wear fake sports brands when you start up but you will need

  • Word count: 1209
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Aspects Of Teenage Life

Aspects Of Teenage Life School is not all bad, except for the teachers of course, but I have all my friends beside me and that is the best thing!! If it was not for school, I would not have known my best friend Janki and we would not experience the adventures nor the hilarity on the way home like we do. Throughout the school day, we are always waiting until it is time to go home, because we know that is when all the gossip begins!! We tell each other of all we know and that is what makes us so good at knowing other people's affairs!! If Janki knows something, which I do not and vice versa, we always tell each other of the news, and if there is something we know only a little of, we try to piece the puzzle together to get down to the gossip!! We think of ourselves as detectives, fine combing all comments and actions of people to get down to the gossip!! The majority of the time, we succeed to do this and there is always a juicy piece of gossip waiting to be tickled by our tongues!! We hate it when people we do not like, come and walk with us. It happened the other day. This girl, called Neena, whom we absolutely hate, came and walked with us. Now even though Janki and me love our walks, and hate Neena, we were not as rude to say 'Bugger off!" So unfortunately, she walked with us the rest of the way home. I remember that I kept on flaring my nostrils, because that

  • Word count: 2055
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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