Bacon's Idols

Idols of the tribe: Everyone understands and interprets situations and ideas differently, therefor they react differently. This then distorts the information that they are supposed to understand because their preconceived notions are in the way. 

Idols of the cave: There are biases in education. Everything that is taught is someone's opinion or interpretation of data. 

Idols of the marketplace: The message of a writer is sometimes overshadowed by the words and expressions being used. Wording and such is effected by who the reader is because if they are lost then the message of the text cannot get through.

Idols of the theatre: most people tend to only promote the things that would benefit and assist them in some way. Everyone does something for a reason. There are no selfless good deeds, so its important to look where people are coming from before you jump right into believing what they are telling you. 

Mini Midterm Outline

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Mini Midterm Outline

Maria Celeste - Galileo's Daughter

While Most people know a fair amount about Galileo Galilei and what he accomplished and discovered. They dont know about the person that really made it all happen. Her name was Maria Celeste and she was Galileo's Daughter. She was a nun who was very busy with her work for the church but she still managed to take care of her father both while he was and wasn't under house arrest. She made sure that he was well fed, she did his laundry and she created herbal remedies for his ailments. She monitored him making sure he didn't overwork himself or drink too much. Basically she kept him in tact. But in addition to all the domestic work she also professionally assisted him as well. She was basically the editor of his book. She would read through it and edit and check everything. And through that she learned a great deal about science. It must have been very difficult for her because she was basically caught between two world because her father was discovering and writing about things that went against the beliefs of the church that she was so closely tied to. When her father was placed on house arrest she kept him alive and allowed him some happiness because he was so frequently around the daughter that he didn't see too often in the past. Maria Celeste took her place as the traditional Italian daughter and because of that it can be said that she is the reason Galileo lived long enough to discover all the wonderful things that he did.

Evolution vs. Intelligent

For thousands of years there has been a question of what to believe. The church says one thing and science says another. So what do we believe? Do we have faith, or do we follow the hard facts. This topic is a touchy one for most people because it seems that everyone struggles with  which way they should go. Science says that man evolved and was created through the course of evolution. It claims that the big bang is what started the whole process. But the problem that most people have with this is that no one knows what started the big bang. So people tend to turn to the religious side of it because it basically tells them that not everything needs to have a logical explanation. Sometimes it is necessary to have faith. So here i am. I am stuck. Not quite sure i believe in god but not entirely sure about the science side of it either. Everyone wishes they knew the answer but the thing is most likely, no one ever will. So the real choice we have is whether or not we want to spend our days wondering and hypothesizing or we just want to give up thinking about and just accept that life is what it is and live it without questioning why we are here or how we got here. 

5 ways of Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas developed 5 ways in which he believed entirely prove the existence of God. His argument appear to be incredibly sound and cannot be disproved but he makes some faulty assumptions and without them his arguments wouldn't make nearly as much sense. He assumes that God is the unmoved mover. How does he know that God is unmoved. What if there was a mover before god. HIs 5 ways don't answer the question of how God became himself in the first place. Because Aquinas makes it appear that God basically placed himself there. So he didn't exist yet he made himself exist. That neither makes sense nor is it rational. He says then that God is the uncaused first cause but how is that possible. If he proceeds to say that nothing can be the cause of itself. Then lines down he says therefore their must be an uncaused first cause (GOD). So what makes God the exception to the rule. Aquinas' message is clear but not valid. He makes some enormous assumptions that he is in no place to make. He doesn't know God so how can he assume that he is and unmoved mover. 

St Augustine and Gothic Architecture

One of St. Augustine's primary believes was that we should the holy beauty within by removing the faulty impressions of sensory knowledge to attain divine wisdom. Basically he thought that our bodies were a faulty dark cage and our souls were the light inside. The goal was to allow that light to travel to heaven. He thought that 'by looking inward (introspection) and then upward (for grace), on can achieve salvation and happiness.' The idea that inside their is light that will allow us to get closer to heaven. That believe soon got applied to the Gothic Architectural style that evolved at the time. The outsides of the churches were dark representing our bodies that are cages. But when you enter inside the church it is filled with light from the beautiful stained glass clerestory windows. People like Augustine can experience the heavens and God's power without these windows but the poor aren't saints and they could never  have a beatific vision. The stained glass serves that purpose. As gothic architecture became more and more ornate the windows got larger and larger. Representing God and Jesus coming it the church or cathedral. The stained glass windows allowed the heavenly light to reach those within who were seeking God. 

Affirmative Action

The fact that Obama is now president makes clear that affirmative action is no longer relevant. It shows that those who are of color or ethnicity dont lag behind the rest. If you have the drive to succeed then that is all that matters. President Barack Obama came from a poor family but he succeeded without getting special assistance because of his color. He was able to succeed so why can't the rest of us. By saying that people of color need assistance to get by and giving them an advantage over everyone else just because of their ethnicity and place in society, it causes 3 significant problems. First of all, it makes them feel like they are less than everyone else who can exist without the help and survive on their own. Secondly, if people feel as if they have something to fall back on then they wont necessarily succeed and try their hardest. If they are insured that they won't end up on the streets without money then they won't try so hard because the risk of failure isn't as high as it would be without assistance. And lastly, by giving special assistance to those who supposedly need it, we are taking away from the others that might be more deserving. What I am referring to in this matter is school acceptance. If a school has some sort of quota to fill that means that they will fill up each quota with the best students within each ethnicity range. But if there is a white person that is better qualified for the position in the school they would loose out on the spot if all of the spots for white people were already filled. So there could be a hispanic of black student who isn't as qualified as the white student but they do get into the school because the quota for their racial group has yet to be filled. If we continue on like this then opportunities will be take away from those who truly want them. Race is not something we can control. We weren't born with a decision of what color skin we have. So why should we be compensated for something that we were born with and didn't even choose ourselves. Those who make successful and wise decisions to try hard in school and excel in all parts of their lives, those are the people that should be accepted into schools and receive benefits in life, regardless of race or financial situation.

Mein Kampf (11)

When hitler writes "every animal mates only with a member of the same species". he is not referring to animals and there mates but rather to races. He is saying that people of different races should not mate or even associate with "animals" of a different race. He is in this statement taking the human species which is supposed to be the superior species, and separating it and changing the qualifications. No longer are other races not superior people but now in fact they are being demoted down to animals who the superior race should not associate with. Obviously this is a false statement and there is no evidence found to back it up. It is a poor analogy because the other races are not AT ALL like a different species no matter how you look at it.

3 Types of Deductive Reasoning (examples)

Syllogism: basically if you know two facts you can combine them and infer something else

All blondes are stupid

Sophie is a blonde

Sophie is stupid

Modus Ponens: If when something is happening it results in something else. then when you are doing the something the something will always result 

If today is thursday then i watch tv

Today is thursday, therefore i will watch tv

Modus Tollens: If you do something therefore something results. But if you dont get the result then you didn't do the original something

If you listen to your ipod loud you will go deaf

If you dont go deaf then you dont listen to your ipod loudly 

Ghiberti Doors Assignment

*How was he chosen to create the doors?

- Ghiberti won the second competition in 1403 for a commission to create gilded bronze doors for the east side of the Baptistery of Florence Catherdral.

* What is the style of cathedral in which they reside?

- Renaissance

*What story is on each panel?

- Panel 1: Adam and Eve

  - Panel 2: Jacob and Esau

- Panel 3: David and Goliath

* How are they paired?

- I DONT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION BEING ASKED HERE