The Eighteenth century saw a radical change in the way the church and state cooperated in many European countries.

The Eighteenth century saw a radical change in the way the church and state cooperated in many European countries. This phenomenon formed part of the Enlightenment for both Europeans and Jews and was a movement based on rationality. It was a process many social scientists called 'Modernisation'1 and it affected the Jews more than any other people. Jews in pre-Enlightenment Europe were seen as 'aliens' 2 who lived in one area yet distanced themselves from the wider community. They lived under different rules, paid special taxes and were subject to a range of legal disabilities as well as often being committed to ghettos. This essay will focus on the significance of the prominent figures of the Haskalah and Enlightenment for Jewish-Christian relations with particular orientation towards Jewish views of Christianity. The Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that started in Europe around the 1770s and lasted until the 1880s. This rational movement had a distinctly Jewish nature and was stimulated by the European Enlightenment. The Haskalah increased secularization of Jewish life through studying about secular life, secular subjects, and emphasising European languages and not just Hebrew, this particularly happened in Germany. All this was because of the long for Jewish emancipation and ultimately aided in the creation of the Reform and Zionist movement.

  • Word count: 3606
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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The development of the Enlightenment.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT The Background for the Thoughts One could say that the background for the time of Enlightenment comes all the way back from Antiquity. The cornerstone for the Enlightenment-way-of-thinking could have been placed when Thomas Aquinas recovered the Aristotelian logic in the 13th century. That particular logic was used to defend the dogmas of Christianity a couple of centuries later in the hands of other thinkers as they tried to replace every aspect of faith with logic. These thinkers were known as "scholastics" and Voltaire, one of the most influential philosophers of Enlightenment who we are going to get to know better later, often referred to them as "doctors", by which he meant "doctors of theology". The Course of Politics and Economy During the late Middle Ages peasants had started moving from the rural estates to the towns in search of increased freedom and economic prosperity: this continued during the Enlightenment. The population had increased immensely; the inhabitants had nearly doubled in number since there hadn't been any bigger or more harmful conflicts in the 17th century. The towns became more crowded as people from the countryside, mostly peasants, moved to them and more food was needed. In the 18th century the agricultural revolution started to develop: new machines were invented and the rotation of crops became more

  • Word count: 2045
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Why were the topics of human nature and morality so important in the enlightened thought?

Why were the topics of human nature and morality so important in the enlightened thought? Up to the eighteenth century Western Europe, Christianity was the stronghold and guide for issues concerning life in general. To be more specific, religion was the long rooted base for morality and had its own description of human nature. Diverse factors contributed to the destabilisation of the Church's status quo, thus enabling the expression of individual thought. In fact, Christianity not any longer detained the monopole over human lifestyles, leading to the rise of a vast debate relating to the questions of how to lead a life and man's position in the universe. Naturally, when looking throughout mankind history there have always been discussions and conflicts within the institutions and there have been changes. Nevertheless, what happened during the Age of Reason is incomparable with previous ages as Reason became conscious, and not any longer only accessible to aristocracy and the Church, but also to a rising bourgeoisie. The first part of my essay demonstrates the importance of the religious institution (establishment), as well as some socio-economical factors that have participated in the weakening of Christianity. These aspects are believed to have led to the emancipation of Reason, therefore to the debate of a new society. The question is whether morals and the perception of

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Siddhartha - What message do you think Hermann Hesse wishes to convey by the way he concludes the novel?

Man Ju Y13A English What message do you think Hermann Hesse wishes to convey by the way he concludes the novel? "Siddhartha" is one of the famous books written by Hermann Hesse. It is a novel about Siddhartha, the protagonist, seeking for self-realization, inner knowledge and ultimate reality. Although some people might regard this book as a rather uninteresting book, I believe that it is because they have not study the book profoundly. In my opinion, it is a thoughtful book which can make us understand the meaning of life. In the following essay, I would discuss about what Hermann Hesse wishes to convey by the way he concludes the novel. First I would like to talk about Siddhartha's love for his son. In the chapter "Om", the story first deals with the sorrow that Siddhartha is suffering from losing his son. Hesse is trying to emphasize that both the love between parent and child and the love between male and female are important to all of us human beings. Not until Siddhartha has his own son did he understand the love towards one's child. When Siddhartha sees parents with their children, or man with his wife, he knows the feeling they have. But this understanding neither makes his wound heal nor make him forget about the lost of his son. When Siddhartha looks into the river, he sees his reflection staring back. And it reminds him of his father, who must "had

  • Word count: 1272
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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The Cycle of Karma

ID number : 4580175 Due date: 05/02/2003 EC 1 section 2 John McNulty Assignment 1:Narration The Cycle of Karma Buddhism has many teachings. The Buddha teached people to believe in the fact. The Buddha's teaching is really true and never out-of-date. It's always true every era especially the cycle of karma, which is the heart of the teaching. Karma or deed can be either good or bad. Everyone has karma. Some people have sins more than merits but some groups of people do not. In the past, I never realized the story about merit and sin until one day I heard an amazing and unbelievable story from my uncle. It is a true story that happened with my uncle 29 years ago. My uncle's experience is like the cycle of karma. The cycle of karma is believed that what you do is what you will deserve. My uncle was the first lieutenant in 1974. He worked for the government as a commander in Ubonrajchathanee. One day, he got an order to take the army about one hundred people in order to suppressed the terrorists who were the communists at Phoophannoi in Nakornpanom. His army had walked for 2 days to get there. On the way, there was a villager's dog that followed his army. Every soldier had the compassion and took care of this dog according to fate.

  • Word count: 1692
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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J. Bury, The Idea of Progress

J. Bury, The Idea of Progress . Appleby et al. write: 'Before there could be moderns, there had to be ancients'. Did Enlightenment writers think that theirs was a new age or epoch, no longer dominated by antiquity and tradition? How did they distinguish their age from the 'past'? Enlightenment writers believed that to some extent arts are brought to perfection by experience and long labour (i.e. progress) and therefore the modern age must, as a result, have the advantage over that of the ancients. On the other hand, some argued that this was not the case because the same arts and studies are not always uninterruptedly pursued by the most powerful intellects, and so can decline or even be extinguished. In distinguishing their age from the past, Enlightenment writers often spoke of their time as a 'great age', comparable to the Age of Augustus. Few of the Enlightenment writers would have preferred to have lived at any other time. J. Bury states that 'the Enlightenment of the present age surpasses that of antiquity: La docte Antiquité dans toute sans sa durée A l'égal de nos jours ne fut point éclairée'. 2. Appleby et al. also write: 'Progress and modernity...marched hand in hand'. Did Enlightenment writers invent the idea of progress? What did they think progress consisted of? (Did they all agree, for example, about where it was evident, how far it could go, how

  • Word count: 468
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Compare and Contrast the Representation of Enlightenment in "The Matrix" and "American Beauty." How do these films represent enlightenment and what difference does enlightenment make to the characters of Neo and Lester Burnham?

Compare and Contrast the Representation of Enlightenment in "The Matrix" and "American Beauty." How do these films represent enlightenment and what difference does enlightenment make to the characters of Neo and Lester Burnham? Enlightenment is represented in very different forms in both of these films. This is not merely because one is science fiction and the other is about a dysfunctional family in a happy American suburb, but it is also portrayed by various film techniques and the portrayal of the characters themselves. However, there are also similarities between the two characters as they both seek enlightenment, as they are not only insecure but also unsure of what their place on earth is and why they are meant to be here. The answer from each movie is very different to this question but as a result of their enlightenment both characters achieve a state of relative contentment although for how long this will remain is unknown. American Beauty initially pokes fun at suburbia so as to allow the audience to realise the situation that Lester Burnham is facing. It quickly describes the suburban houses and the products their owners have the need to fill them with. Cyril Connolly described suburbia as, "the incubator of apathy and delirium" (quoted in: Carey, 1992: 51). This therefore sets the scene for the dysfunctional family with the male going through a mid-life

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Religions of the Eastern World

Jessica Burns November 10, 2003 Religions of the Eastern World Within the Buddhist tradition, lies three 'vehicles', or three main religious ways of life. As a whole, Buddhism is spread worldwide and its patterns of practice and instruction prove to be rather diverse, as they split accordingly into their three respective traditions. The first of these vehicles is the Theravada, or Hinayana, which extended from India to Southeast Asia. The 'Little Vehicle', as it is sometimes called, was thought to be rather conservative and refuses to deify the Buddha or accept scriptures written after the Tripitaka, or three baskets of sacred text. Next is the Mahayana, spreading from India to central and eastern Asia. Whereas Theravada maintained a rather fervent focus on the Sakyamuni of the present age as well as his self-control and spiritual insight, the Mahayana stressed the principle of the aforementioned insight as accomplished by "enlightened beings of past and future worlds." Another difference in these first two vehicles lies in how Mahayana fills the heavens with powers beyond deities or humans, something Theravada doctrine was hesitant to consider. In addition, several other differences between the Theravada and Mahayana traditions exist, however the focus of this paper is to speculate more on the third vehicle, or Vajrayana, and expand on Tibetan Buddhism as seen in the movie

  • Word count: 1851
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Religion is both a problemwhere its structures of dominance have oppressed women, as well as the solution where its vision of liberation has generated powerful movements for social change. (Eck & Devaki, 1986)

Word Count: 2951 THEO:2280 Student Id:200539456 “Religion is both a problem…where its structures of dominance have oppressed women, as well as the solution where its vision of liberation has generated powerful movements for social change” (Eck & Devaki, 1986) Since time immemorial, women have been considered as an oppressed group and have been controlled by patriarchal societies. Less interest was shown towards the rights, needs, and wishes of women in society. Despite the profound role that women perform in society including being a dutiful wife, daughter and mother, little importance has been given to their liberty and independence. Women were considered as inferior and were ruled by male members of the family. There are a number of factors that affect the status of women in any society. Among the numerous factors that contribute towards the change in social lives of women, one major factor is their religion. Eck and Devaki (1986) have described “Religion is both a problem…where its structures of dominance have oppressed women, as well as the solution where its vision of liberation has generated powerful movements for social change.” They pinpoint religion as the main contributor of problems faces by women, which has sometimes led way for future development of social order, this notion

  • Word count: 3314
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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Buddhism: The Concept of Dukkha

Theravada Buddhism 1: What is dukkha? How pervasive is dukkha? What are the causes of and remedies for dukkha? Does this emphasis on dukkha make Theravada Buddhism a pessimistic or realistic philosophy-religion? Dukkha is intrinsic to the Four Noble Truths and stands as its first truth that is suffering exists. In this paper, I will attempt to identify what exactly dukkha is and how it affects the lives of believers of Buddhism and non-believers. I will talk about existence, attachment and impermanence as its cause and elaborate on the Eight Fold Path and one-minded concentration as its remedies. I will try to prove its all-pervasive nature and attempt to establish that it gives Buddhism a realistic rather than pessimistic outlook. The term 'dukkha' is significant to Theravada Buddhism because of its association with the first of the Four Noble Truths - that life is dukkha. To understand what the Buddha meant by the Four Noble Truths, one must first understand what dukkha means. The word dukkha is usually translated to mean suffering but this is an overly simplistic view of dukkha. In the Buddhist sense, it refers to anything that is conditioned that is anything that is not absolute or independent of other things. "When the Buddha said "life is dukkha," he didn't mean that life contains dukkha. He meant exactly that life is dukkha. Life is

  • Word count: 1863
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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