India has been described as the "country over our shoulder". To what extent does Arundhati Roy both explain and exploit the culture of Kerala for the English reader in 'The God of Small Things'?

India has been described as the "country over our shoulder". To what extent does Arundhati Roy both explain and exploit the culture of Kerala for the English reader in 'The God of Small Things'? In 'The God Of Small Things', as the reader we are introduced to a culture that we will ultimately struggle to understand because the values within a country such as India are so very different to the principles and ethics that we are brought up upon, as a Western reader. The book itself is written by an Indian, is about Indian culture and therefore it is fair to assume that we will be introduced to new ideas and ways of life throughout the book. One critic believed that "The God of Small Things rapidly reveals its disinterest in trying to encapsulate India" and that it "completely immerses in one community 's, one family's universe."[1] And on the whole it is hard to disagree. Most characters in the novel suffer some form of heartache and pain, which is an attempt by Roy to show that although the death of Sophie Mol, the death of Velutha and the family decay are relatively small things to the rest of the world, their impacts on those surrounding them are far greater and damaging. I believe Indian culture and its constraints do have much more of a bearing on life compared with the western world (a credible generalization), and that prejudices and social bigotry is inherent in

  • Word count: 3014
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Why did Plato think women could be legitimate political Guardians?

Why did Plato think women could be legitimate political Guardians? Melody Richards HS1107 Why did Plato think women could be legitimate political guardians? Plato is often mistaken as a promoter of women's rights. He was not however interested in liberating women from their low status in society although for some women this may have been a consequence of his proposals. Instead, Plato was interested in what was best for his ideal state. Plato thought women could be legitimate political guardians as he reasoned that although they were physically inferior to men, women would be able to fulfil the same roles as men if they were educated in the same way. In book five (449-457b) of The Republic the reader can discern from the reasoning and discussion between the philosophers that Plato did indeed think women could be legitimate political Guardians. For something to be legitimate, it should be lawful, proper and should conform to the standard type. Legitimacy is used when describing a system of government and is based upon whether people accept the validity of a law or type of ruling. If the standard type to become a guardian was for men to be trained based on their natural capacities, then it would be legitimate for women to be trained in the same way if the differences between them was based only upon strength and the natural ability to conceive. The Guardians of the

  • Word count: 3015
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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"The Prologue is the key which unlocks the meaning of the 4th gospel"

"The Prologue is the key which unlocks the meaning of the 4th gospel". Examine and evaluate this claim (20) The Prologue, the first 18 chapters of the fourth gospel was written to show that Jesus was with God and to shoe that he was an important part of God form the very beginning of creation, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.'1 The prologue was able to explain who Jesus was in the first chapters of the gospel, the author managed to establish Jesus as the divine son of God, before conception and for eternity, this was so the readers understood the importance of Jesus. Smalley, said, that 'the prologue...like pillars to support the rest of the gospel...without them the gospel would fall apart.' All of the evangelists try and use an effective way to introduce their gospel; Matthew and Luke begin with the birth narrative, which establishes Jesus' godly identity from his point of birth. However, Mark like the fourth gospel begins with Jesus as an adult preaching in his earthly ministry as introduced by John the Baptist. Within the prologue, the main themes of the whole gospel are spelled out to make the ideas obvious to someone what they are to expect, the first theme is the comparison of light and darkness, in ch.1 v.4-5, 'the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it'2, as the mention of light was good,

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Gerard Manley Hopkins: an atypical Victorian?

Gerard Manley Hopkins: an atypical Victorian? Gerard Manley Hopkins has not generally been considered to be a poet, or indeed a man, of his age, both because of his undoubtedly innovative poetic technique and his ideas about art and religion, which tended to run contrary to the contemporary tide of opinion. Whilst his notions of 'inscape' and 'instress' and the style of his work certainly set him apart from other nineteenth century poets, Hopkins as a man was affected by many of the same concerns and personal crises as his contemporaries - he simply dealt with them in a different way, both in his poetry and in life. The spirit of the Victorian age was itself a shifting thing, almost indefinable in its diversity; perhaps this quality can be said to be one of its only reliable distinguishing characteristics. The rapid progression of science and technology and the changes in society wrought by subsequent industrialisation led to a breakdown of social, religious and intellectual unity as long held certainties of faith, class and value were questioned. Much contemporary poetry addressed contentious issues such as these, whether deliberately or simply through their influence on the author, and poetry maintained its cultural authority in spite of the rise of the popular novel during this period. Much of the work could be described as the poetry of doubt; witness the agonisings of

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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In a very simple form, the ontological argument attempts to show that the very concept of God implies his reality

Outline the Ontological Argument In a very simple form, the ontological argument attempts to show that the very concept of God implies his reality. If a person can clearly conceive of a God, then he or she ought to be able to understand that God might exist. The argument seeks to prove the existence of God. The argument does not contain any evidence, which makes it an a priori argument where no previous knowledge of the world is needed to understand it. The truth of an argument does not depend on experience, but on knowledge acquired independent of experience. According to the Christian theologian, St Anselm of Canterbury we can form the concept or idea of a being than which none greater can be conceived. "He put his argument into 6 stages, which set out to prove his concept of God to exist in his book, Proslogion."(2) The argument can be outlined the following way: · A person can have the idea of a being than which hone greater can be conceived. · Suppose this being exists only as an idea in the mind. · Existence in reality is greater than existence only in the mind. · Therefore, we can conceive of a being that is greater than a being than which none greater can be conceived-that is, a being that also exists in reality. · However, there can be no being greater than that which none greater can be conceived. Thus, the being

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Dear Honourable Judge - creative writing letter from Martin Luther

Dear Honourable Judge, I am Dr Martin Luther and I am appealing to you, to seek a redress against the claims and charges that are pressed against me. I am here to refute the slanders of those who, either incited by princes or others, fictitiously accusing me of destroying the dignity of the Bishops, or that, inflamed by private lust, that I broke the bonds of Monastic servitude1. I had been accused of the fact that the very reason for my defiance of the Pope came as a result of my irascible father with whom I had created an image of God in2. Such an accusation is utterly ridiculous! For despite my father's extreme disapproval, he showed his generosity and wealth by presenting a present of twenty gulden during the celebration of my first Mass as an ordained priest in the chapel of the Augustinian cloister at Erfurt3. My childhood experience had nothing to do with my break with Rome and the denouncement of the Pope, for my childhood had been 'normal' and unsensational. Neither was my father a factor as claimed by many. I would also like to clear the accusation that I had caused the series of Reformations following my attack against indulgences and the rumours of me pinning my thesis on the church door, which had eventually led to the fragmentation of the Latin/Western Christianity. I do admit that I am a reformer but I am not the first reformer nor the "Father" of the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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The phenomenological foundations of Sartrean Existentialism.

The phenomenological foundations of Sartrean Existentialism April 7th 2003 A runt of a pink-feathered boa-wearing Frenchman, an iconoclast of a mid-20th century intellectual movement born out of the ashes of the Nietzschean Phoenix, and a prolific literary connoisseur all rolled into one, Jean Paul Sartre is the existentialist' existentialist. In 1943 he published his chef-d'oeuvre- L'Etre et le Neant,1 an ontological analysis of human existence. Stretching out some 800 pages, this ambitious treatise of a new phenomenology is at first whiff obscure and verbose, unforgiving for the window shopping reader. Yet with a little background on phenomenological jargon, Sartre's book is justified as an erudite attempt at a new philosophy for the human individual in the 20th century. Being born in France with philosophical aspirations, one was obliged to acknowledge the immortal French great Rene` Descartes (1596-1650). Descartes held an ideal of philosophy as a rigorous discipline, complete with all the certainty and infallibility of mathematics. For Descartes, the constant disagreement between philosophers was simply scandalous and disreputable. In formulating an indisputable, unshakable datum of philosophy within the warmth of his bread oven, Descartes concluded the immortal Latin phrase: Cogito ergo sum --I think, therefore I am. For Sartre, as well as the other

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Philosophy of Religion.

Philosophy of Religion Exam II SECTION I 4/(a) The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism can be explained as follows. The first Noble Truth is that all life is Dukkha, the Sanskrit for suffering. As human being we are born into the wheel of Samsara, and as beings living in Samsara we suffer. The Buddha came to this realization when he saw that everyone and everything around him suffered in some form or other. The second Noble Truth is that the causes of Dukkha are ignorance and desire. All suffering can be linked to the human instinct to desire, and our ignorance that causes us to desire. After many hours of meditating, the Buddha realized this next truth. He looked back on his past and remembered that even as a rich and powerful prince, who never experienced suffering first hand, and who could not have wished for anything more to make his life better, still had the desire to leave the palace where he had lived and see what was outside. Through his ignorance he had still desired. The third Noble Truth is that there is a way to the cessation of suffering, and that is the elimination of our ignorance and desire through the attainment of Nirvana. If we eliminate our ignorance and our desire, we can become enlightened. The Buddha developed this part of the Noble Truths as a logical progression from his second truth. The fourth Noble Truth is that you can attain Nirvana by following

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Descartes' proofs of the existence of God.

Descartes' proofs of the existence of God Descartes uses two main arguments to prove that God exists. I have discussed them in the order in which they appear in Meditations, but there is nothing to suggest that either one is more important than the other. In both he moves directly from the certainty of his personal existence to God, leaving the material world aside for the time being. He is looking to avoid doubt by not making references to data received through the senses, focusing on ideas in the mind. In his first argument, known as the 'Trademark Argument', Descartes begins by taking the idea of 'a supreme God, eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent and the creator of all things that exist'. Descartes then looks to identify the only possible origin of this idea to be God himself. He does this by using what is now known as the 'Causal Adequacy Principle'. This states that for any item X with the property Y, then Z, the cause of X, must have at least as much of the property Y as X does. The example Descartes uses is of a stone that can only be produced from something which contains everything in the stone; the cause may contain other things, but it must at least have what is in the stone otherwise 'we shall have to admit that something was produced by nothing'. Descartes extends this to apply not only to material items, but to ideas purely in the mind- this alters the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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The Removal of "Under God" in the National Pledge

Lily Luo The Removal of "Under God" in the National Pledge "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under Allah, indivisible and with liberty and justice for all." Now, I know what you're thinking, there's something different with a part of the pledge. Well, you're right. The word "God" has been changed to "Allah." If you had to recite this pledge and you were not Muslim, you might feel offended. Think about what you would answer to these questions if you had to recite this pledge everyday: Would you repeat all the words? Would you skip the words "under Allah"? Would you feel comfortable being an American, saying these words? Some of you would probably answer no to these questions. And some of the children and students who are atheist, who do not believe in God, agnostic, who are undecided about the existence of a God or Gods, Buddhist, who generally do not believe in a personal God, Deists, who believe God isn't around anymore, Humanists, who believe in secular ideas, Jewish, who oppose government involvement in religion, or others who defend the principals of the separation of church and state would say no to some if not all of the questions above when reciting the pledge with the words "under God" in it. Well, you might say, most United States citizens believe in God, so what does it matter? Well,

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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