Philosophy - Empiricism Essay Example for Free

Philosophy Empiricism Essay Immanuel Kant set about to show that the skepticism of the empiricists was unfounded and that science was possible. How does he do this and is his solution viable (that is, did he actually rescue science from the skeptics)? Through his theory of knowledge, Immanuel Kant provided a philosophical answer to Hume’s skepticism. Kant agreed that knowledge did have a source the humean element of sensory impressions, however he claim that there was an additional element in knowledge, which was not derived from sensory experience. The second element that Kant spoke of was derived from the mind itself. Kant felt that the human mind, outfitted with its own pure concepts was nothing like the human mind of empiricists Locke and Hume, whom claimed the mind was as a blank tablet or empty cupboard. Opposing Hume, Kant proposed that the mind was furnished with twelve pure concepts of understanding broken down into four categories. Additionally, Kant argued that the mind was not passive at all, as Hume and the other empiricists had claimed. Quantity Quality Relation Modality unity affirmation substance-accidents possibility plurality negation cause-effect actuality totality limitation causal reciprocity necessity The mind for Kant, was indeed active, it actively interprets the world rather than simply receiving and recording into memory, what it gathers from the external world through the senses. Through the above-mentioned categories, the mind organizes the sensory flux and gives it meaning as substances. Kant considered that the categories were â€Å"logically prior to experience, presupposed by all experience; and that they are independent of experience;† thus experience could never alter them. Kant deemed the categories were responsible for one’s experiences and knowledge, and ultimately were one’s source of understanding. The categories or priori furnished the necessary component for which Hume believed knowledge lacked. Kant denied Hume’s theory of knowledge, which reduced one’s experience and knowledge to nothing but sense impressions. Kant reduces Hume’s theory to nothing at all, as it did not account for the fact that human posses scientific knowledge outside of animal faith. Kant believed that Hume avoided the key questions of â€Å"How is experience of objects possible†, and â€Å"How is science possible. † For this reason, Kant felt that Hume’s theory failed to distinguish that knowledge consisted of both the empirical element and the categories. Kant’s solution in my opinion is viable, as the categories show that there is a necessary connection between the causes and effects.

Stir The Coffee Essay -- essays research papers

Through the steam of my coffee I could see a miniature set of shiny red shoes swinging back and forth underneath the counter at the diner. A little girl had been sitting atop the red stool since I had arrived, just sitting watching the cook flip pancakes all morning long with a mature sense of fascination. Up and down, and up and down, over and over again, the batter always formed into delicious solid creations, some with blueberries, some with chocolate, some just plain and simple. The cook sported a wonderful apron that looked like it had been around forever, cooked a million pancakes, and still lived to tell its tale of the oils and toppings and syrups it had seen in its day. The old man’s red shirt could be seen through the burn holes in the apron, as if they were war wounds. The cook didn’t seem to mind the heat of the stove, or stir at all when the burning oil from the pan spat at his flesh. He was caked in a film of grease, butter and batter, and only occasionally broke from his cooking rituals to wipe his forehead with the sopping wet rag that was slung over his left shoulder. Each pancake was a delicate creation that the old man prepared with great consideration and effort, making each one perfect, but none the same. Never would the man be compared to any machine- every one was original, every one special. The special of the day was peanut butter pancakes, although I didn’t see anybody order that one. The little girl with the shiny shoes, who had been there sinc...

Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne Rebecca Townsend Hum2235 Dr. Hoover Edison College Fall 2012 Townsend 1 The painting of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne took more than a decade to complete. It was created in the 16th century, in Florence Italy. A young master artist declined the original commission for The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and suggested Leonardo da Vinci. The monks who commissioned the painting, an artifact of Christ’s family tree, gave Leonardo a workroom.The figures in the picture are of Saint Anne representing the grandmother, the Virgin as mother (Mary/Madonna), the Child as Christ, and the lamb as the future sacrifice of Jesus. They are closely intertwined in the painting showing their tight bond in Christian History. Da Vinci could not separate Christianity from his work. Leonardo in his painting as well as in his life seemed to cultivate a sense of mystery (Capra XIX). The monks of the Florentine Santissima Annunziata commissioned Leonardo to pa int The Virgin and Child with St. Anne as an altarpiece for their high altar. In his typical fashion, Leonardo did not complete the work on time.The monks, eager for their altarpiece had to commission another artist to complete the work. The monks approached Filippo Lippi to complete the work Leonardo had started. Filippo Lippi was the artist that painted Madonna and Child with Two Angels in 1465. Lippi was the artist who had initially rejected the commission suggesting the monks give the project to Leonardo. Lippi considered Leonardo to be a superior artist. Lippi agreed to finish the project but died before its completion. After Lippi died, the monks had a young Florence artist named Perugino finally complete the piece.At last, the monks of the Santissima Annuziata in Florence had their painting for their high altar. Some consider the painting to be a treasure of esoteric and occult wonders. Some are fascinated by the sight of St. Anne supporting her heavy daughter on her knee, wi th no visible means of support (Budny36). Townsend 2 It’s hard to find any evidence of Leonardo’s beliefs in his paintings, since there are no written records that have survived if they ever existed. Leonardo believed that a good artist must also be a good scientist in order to best understand and describe nature.The humanistic, naturalistic, and scientific aspects of Leonardo’s life and work are not always clear because he was an original Renaissance man [Leonardo’s art, scientific investigations, technological inventiveness, and humanistic philosophy were all bound] together. During the 16th century he made numerous drawings and sketches with different themes that eventually lead to this famous artifact The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. Various designs still exist of the version painted in 1510. Leonardo could not fuse the two qualities he desired: an abstract formula and the immediacy of life.The final painting now hangs in the Louvre in Paris. The painting is a complex and masterful synthesis of his previous variations (Capra 105). In some research it is stated that this artifact is unfinished, even though he had worked on this painting possibly for eight or nine years (Bramly 321). Leonardo had a habit of never finishing his work. Leonardo had drawn many different cartoons painting and sketches leading up to the final painting of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. One of his cartoon sketches had St. John the Baptist kneeling next to Christ (Capra 105). Leonardo switched St.John to a lamb in the final painting. The lamb (sacrificial animal) represents passion suffering in Christ’s destiny. It is not known why Leonardo replaced St. John, who was Christ’s cousin, with a lamb. He painted the Christ child as being about a year old. It looks as if he is slipping out of his mother’s hands and trying to grab hold of his destiny, the lamb. The lamb, being embraced by Christ has his head bent, while its tail a nd hind legs are clearly indicated to be in a comfortable place (Johannes 86). Townsend 3 Leonardo put his thoughts to paper and painted through, light, shadow, and geometry, using three dimensions.Da Vinci declared, â€Å"There are three kinds of perspective. † The first is concerned with the reason for the diminution of things as they form from the eye. Second contains the way in which colors vary as they form the eye. The third and last declaration of how objects should appear less distinct the more distant they are. Examples, perspective of disappearance (Capra 219). Perspective in painting was his destiny. From the pyramidal construction to the fact that only three feet belonging to the figures are visible, everything in the picture seems to be threefold.In fact in this painting, Leonardo was pursuing a theological meditation on the destiny of Christ, which had begun in his early painting Virgin of the Rocks (Bramly 320). Most research indicates the rocks, mountain strea ms, and escarpments of his childhood made up his private landscape in his paintings (Bramly 86). Leonardo depicts the women as sister like in age even though they are indeed mother and daughter. Saint Anne, the mother of Virgin and Child, sits with her daughter on her lap. The Virgin is half rising from her sitting position and she appears to want to restrain her daughter from separating the Child and lamb (Kemp 273).It is unusual for Mary to be portrayed in her mother’s lap. The painting may have more meaning to it than the Passion of Christ. Saint Anne perhaps represents the Church in this painting. Art critics have admired the unity of the three figures, the freedom of movement, the sweet and melting quality of the faces, and the mountains in the background. The family figures almost blend into each other in their rhythmic balance, with Leonardo’s dreamy mountains, foreshadowing the landscape of the Madonna, in the background (Capra 105). What better way to describe the bond of maternal love uniting three generations?Leonardo had written in a short note in one of his journals, The Virgin and Child Townsend 4 with Saint Anne means â€Å"the glorification of motherhood†. The Virgin and Saint Anne in this masterpiece seem to be about the same age in the painting, with their two bodies merging almost into one. Leonardo gave the child two mothers both graced with the blessed smile of happiness. To the viewer’s eye, the painting may imply to evoke his thoughts on his childhood which the painter wanted our thought as childhood had been divided between his real mother and his stepmother.He may have united them in his mind as he did in his painting, a picture that no one could have painted except of Leonardo De Vinci (Bramly 318). Both women, Saint Anne and the Virgin, have dedicated their lives to God, which had touch Da Vinci. One research source stated that in the painting Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the Virgin is designed first, as she is in so many of his drawing, and the landscape seems to flow from her. The Painting is designed by Da Vinci in a diagonal, where we formerly saw a pronounced swing down from top right at the crown of the tree, through St .Anne’s left arm and elbow, through the successive arm/knee/arm/knee configuration of the Virgin, down to the placement of St. Anne’s feet on the then more brightly â€Å"spotlighted† left section of the rocky foreground. Against that progression, we saw in the earlier state how Leonardo had orchestrated a countervailing upper left to the bottom right sweep through the principal heads and the arms of the Virgin and the Child, down to the rump and tail of the lamb. This movement was decisively echoed and enforced by the parallel diagonals of the Virgin’s right leg and St.Anne’s left leg (Johannes 3). It is stated that Saint Anne’s left arm was painted the same way in another Leonardo da Vinci painting. Townsend 5 Leo nardo’s composition of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is perhaps the one which, of all his designs, he contemplated the longest and in great depth. Perhaps, he felt attracted by the particular formal and iconographical problems presented by the subject. When we were asked to select an artifact to research and write about, the painting of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne caught my eye.The love and compassion in the women’s eyes and their expressions towards the innocent child reminds me of the love I have for my own children. Although much research has been done to discover why Leonardo painted the picture the way he did, it is still unclear. It is unclear why the women appear to be the same age and why he substituted St. John with the lamb for the final painting. Research is still being done on his journals and notes. Leonardo, who was left handed, wrote all his notes in mirror writing, from right to left (Capra, 27).Perhaps further analysis of his notes and sketches will reveal more insight into the painting of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. [pic] Work Citied Bramly Serge. Leonardo the Artist and the Man. Penguin Group. Great Britain. 1994. Print. Budny Virginia. The Art Buletin. Vol. 65, No. 1 (Mar. , 1983), pp. 34-50. Print. Capra Fritjof. The Science of Leonardo. New York. Anchor. December 2008. Print Johannas Nathan. Miteilungen. 36. Bd. H. ? (1992), pp. 85-102. Article. Kemp Martin. Leonardo on Painting. Yale Nota Bene. Yale University. 2001. Print. Marani Pietro C. Leonardo Da Vinci. Abrams Harry N. New York: 2000. Print.

What Happerned to Forever The Consequences of Divorce in...

Most couples get married in hopes of their marriage lasting forever. Many couples recite vows to each other during the wedding ceremony in which they vow to love each other â€Å"in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do them part.† Unfortunately, statistics show that as many as 50% of couples seek to end their marriage through the process of divorce (â€Å"Children and Divorce†). Once a divorce has occurred, there can be negative consequences for the couple, any children that are involved, and society as a whole. No one gets married with the expectation that it will end in divorce and this leaves those involved wondering what happened to forever. Divorce is the legal termination of marriage between two people. There are many†¦show more content†¦For couples that have children, there are negative consequences that directly impact their children and their success. Children tend to have feelings of anger, sadness, and anxiety while exhibitin g behaviors such as changes in school performance, peer relationships, restlessness, and moodiness. In rare cases, some children have reacted with extreme behaviors such as substance abuse and suicide (Lebowitz 697). Children process events in their lives differently than the way adults process those same events. A child may feel angry when they find out that their parents are divorcing and they are unsure of what that will mean for their lives. The child likely has concerns over whether or not they will have to attend a new school, move to a new home, or experience changes in their parent’s financial resources (Lebowitz 697). Sadness is another normal felling that a child of divorce experiences. A child feels the loss of a parent as they have to have primary residence with one parent and hopefully secondary residence with the other parent. Sometimes, during the process of divorce a child loses contact with one parent all together. Anxiety is another feeling that is common fo r children to feel as their parents get divorced. Their anxiety is usually due to worrying about themselves, their parents, and their siblings (Lebowitz 697). Many of