Knowledge and Plato Essay Example for Free

Knowledge and Plato Essay Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy and has had an impact on nearly every philosopher from all time periods. Alongside his mentor Socrates and his student Aristotle, Plato created some of the most significant works in philosophy; ultimately building the framework for western philosophic education. The dialogues of his works are wide ranging, from focuses on life and reality beyond what we see and hear, and subjects as practical rules, laws, education and punishment. Historians believe that Plato was born between 427 and 429 BC in Athens, Greece. Born in to an aristocratic family, Plato was involved in politics from an early age; however, he did not stay on the traditional political path for long. In Plato’s work The Republic, his ideas were to transform and improve political life, as he knew there was no escaping it. As the result of an early failure, Plato came to the conclusion that political action would not stop violence and greed, which is what changed his philosophic approach. It is believed that Plato met his mentor, Socrates, in his youth and his education under Socrates shaped his ideas about the world. Socrates played a role in almost all of Plato’s works and was a robust influence in Plato’s life and ideas. Plato was a believer in the importance of ethics and true self-introspection. In many of his writings, he references the importance of self-reflection; â€Å"First and best victory is to conquer self, to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and objectionable. †1 Plato was also passionate about music and its importance in education. He stated, â€Å"I would teach children music, physics and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning. † 2 Many of Plato’s later works were profoundly influenced by the idea of the soul and the concept of dualism, meaning the separation of the mind and the body. 3 He believed that the real reality is not what we see or what we hear but is something that subsists in a higher realm beyond our day to day life. Many of his ideas on the soul influence a multitude of religions today as he believed that a human’s soul is immortal and that the soul is separate from our physical being. In 387 BC Plato founded what is credited as the first European university, The Academy, in Athens, Greece. The Academy focused on subjects such as astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. While at the Academy, Plato wrote many of his most significant works, including The Republic. 4 Plato spent his time at The Academy encouraging students to learn through discussion in order to become freethinkers. Plato even felt that his works and dialogues should be used more as supplementary aids and that no one should rely solely on what they read in a book or dialogue. Plato’s dialogues are used to this day to aid in the teaching of subjects ranging from philosophy to math. Plato’s out of the box thinking will continue to be thought provoking and influential for thousands of years to come. Many of his idealisms are still taking place in teachings and the living of every day life. His diverse subjects and desire for equality will continue to bring positive motivation to those study his works. Bibliography Cooper, John M. , and D. S. Hutchinson. Complete works. Indianapolis, Ind. : Hackett Pub. , 1997. Hunt, Lynn , Thomas Martin, Barbara Rosenwein, and Bonnie Smith. From the Classical to the Hellenistic World. In The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 114-115. Richard, Kraut. Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/plato/#PlaCenDoc (accessed September 23, 2013).

Computer Multimedia :: essays research papers

Computer Multimedia Computers have come a long way very fast since there start in the 1940's. In the beginning they were mainly used for keeping financial records by banks and insurance companies, and for mathematical computations by engineers and the U.S. Military. However, exciting new applications have developed rapidly in the last few years. Two of these areas is Computer Graphics and sound. Computer graphics is the ability of the computer to display, store and transmit visual information in the form of pictures. Currently there are two main uses for this new ability. One is in the creation of Movies and the other in Computer Games. Computer visual information is also increasingly being used in other computer applications, such as photographic storage, and the Internet. Computers can also store, transmit and play back sound. When a picture or a sound is stored on a computer it said to be digitized. There are two main ways of digitizing a picture. One is by vector graphics. Here the information in the picture is stored as mathematical equations. Engineering drawing applications such as CAD (computer assisted device) use this method. The other method is by bit mapped graphics. Here the computer actually keeps track of every point in the picture and its description. Paint programs use this technique. Drawing programs are usually vector mapped programs and paint programs are usually bit mapped. Computer sound is handled in two different ways. The sound can be described digitally and stored as an image (wave format) of the actual sound or it can be translated in to what is called midi format. This is chiefly for music. In a piano, for instance, the information for what key to hit, for how long ad at what intensity is stored and retrieved. This is kind of like the way and old player piano worked. Computer graphic applications in the beginning were developed on large computes. The computer hardware and software were developed by individuals and groups working independently. These projects were very expensive and carried on by large companies and investment groups. Applications which only a few years ago would have cost millions of dollars, can now be run on a desk top computer with programs costing under $100. It is the purpose of this paper to research and examine several areas of computer multimedia by using a typical application programs in that related area. These areas are: Paint Programs - Photo Finish -Zsoft 3d Rendering Programs - 3d f/x - Asymetrix Animation Programs - Video Artist - Reveal Morphing Programs - Video Artist - Reveal Sound Recording Programs - MCS music rack - Logitech Midi Recording Programs - Midisoft recording Session - Logitech

Nineteen Eighty-four and People Essay

Imagine living in a world where politics are everything and all forms of individuality and personal identities are shattered. A world where everybody is stripped of their rights to talk, act, think, or even form their own opinions, simply because they do not agree with the government’s beliefs. These aspects are just a few of the examples of things dictators would have control over in a totalitarianism form of government. Aggressive leaders such as Hitler and Joseph Stalin are examples of such dictators. They used their power for terror and murder, and their motive is simply to maximize their own personal power. George Orwell had witnessed World War II, the fall of Hitler and Stalin’s dictatorships, and the fatal outcomes that have come from these governments. To warn future generations of the harsh effects of totalitarianism governments, he wrote the book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Published in 1946, Nineteen Eighty-Four describes life in a totalitarianism form of government, following the main character, Winston Smith, as he takes risks in discovering how he believes life should truly be. Literary critic Irving Howe states, â€Å"Were it possible, in the world of 1984, to show human character in anything resembling genuine freedom†¦ it would not be the world of 1984† (62). In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government uses its power to suppress individuality among the people. To begin, the author shows how the government abolishes individuality through the use of mind control. First of all, the creation of Newspeak restricts the individual from saying things that he/she wishes to say. More specifically, the task of the Party’s philologists is to regulate the vocabulary and language of Oceania to ultimately be able to control the actions and behaviors of the people. Literary critic Stephen Ingle argues, â€Å"The more vocabulary contracts, the more the Party will be able to control behavior† (124). Since the Party has complete control over how the people can talk and what they are allowed to say, they ultimately have the power to control how they act. Through Newspeak, thoughtcrime will become impossible due to the fact that there will be no terms in which to express it. Furthermore, the Party asserts its control over the mind through doublethink. To begin, doublethink is an example of a thought process in which one simultaneously holds two contradictory beliefs while accepting both of them. For example, while in the Ministry of Love, O’Brien uses doublethink to make Winston believe that he can float. Winston says, â€Å"If he thinks he floats off the floor and I simultaneously think I see him do it, then it happens† (Orwell 278). O’Brien cannot float, however through the use of doublethink Winston can say that it does happen. Moreover, the Party also uses thoughtcrime to regulate the people’s thoughts, speech, actions, and feelings towards the government. The Thought Police use psychology and surveillance such as hidden telescreens to discover cases of thoughtcrime and misbehavior. For instance, a telescreen hidden behind a picture on the wall in Winston and Julia’s secret hideout is the reason they are caught in their illegal love affair. Winston describes, â€Å"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: Thoughtcrime IS death† (Orwell 27). Winston is saying that death is definite if one thinks badly about the government or disapproves of the government’s actions. Thus, due to telescreens, people are forced to keep an expression of optimism at all times; because any other emotion will be considered treason (Ingle 127). Consequently, individuality among the people is destroyed through mind control. In addition to mind control, Orwell also illustrates how the government strips the people of their personal identities though their control over reality. To begin, the party uses its power over Oceania’s history to eliminate all records of the past in order to create a future entirely dedicated to politics. Winston states, â€Å"History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it† (Orwell 155). The Party has complete control over the history of Oceania, and they choose to delete any and all traces of the past, such as memories. Additionally, the Party uses their control over memories to minimize individuality in the people of Oceania. More specifically, the Party seeks to control the memory of the people because without memory, they cannot remember the past. They remove all documents and records of the past through their memory holes. It is one’s memories that keep the past existing and that shape their lives (Ingle 123). The Party succeeds in abolishing the past by restricting the memories of the people. Moreover, the government reduces individuality with their perceptions of logic. In Oceania, whatever the Party says is correct is correct. If one does not agree with what the Party says, he/she is considered insane; a flaw in the system. To explain, when Winston is taken to the Ministry of Love, they torture him-physically and emotionally to make him accept the logic of the Party. Powerful party member O’Brien explains to Winston that their logic is correct, regardless of what Winston knows is right. O’Brien implores, â€Å"Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane† (Orwell 207). O’Brien is saying that the government has the ability to alter aspects of their lives that Winston knows are the real thing; however he has no choice but to accept them. He is considered â€Å"insane† because he knows what is right and what is wrong and is hesitant to believe that the Party’s logic is true. Noted critic Stephen Ingle implies, â€Å"Winston conjectures that in the end the Party would declare that two plus two made five and the individual would be required to believe it† (122). In the future, there will be no other types of logic other that what the Party deems to be true. Thus, the government uses its power to control all aspects of reality for the people of Oceania. Equally important to mind control and reality, Orwell also shows how the government’s control over the people’s emotions suppresses their individuality. To begin, the Party extinguishes all forms of pure love among the people. More specifically, if two people wish to get married, they must be approved. If they wish to marry out of love and affection, they will be denied. In the eyes of the Party, marriage must be handled like business-only to produce offspring that will be loyal to them. Winston implores, â€Å"But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred† (Orwell 105). Every aspect of the people’s lives in Oceania is robotic and systematic, there are no true emotions. Similarly to the Party’s control over love, they also control sex between the people. To explain, the Party believes that there should not be any pleasure from sex; it should only be used in order to reproduce. The people who are faithful to the party transform their sexual energy into political hysteria (Howe 65). All of their energy goes towards the Two Minutes Hate and their hatred for Big Brother in order to bring some form of unity amongst them. Furthermore, the Party also uses emotional torture to abolish individuality. To justify, when Winston is in the Ministry of Love, he endures not only physical torture but psychological torture as well. He says, â€Å"In the end the nagging voices broke him down more completely than the boats and fists of the guards† (Orwell 200). The emotional torture from the questioning Winston undergoes wears him down and makes him into a mouth that simply utters what he believes they want to hear. The questioners transform him into something that is not even human anymore- merely just a robot. Literary expert Stephen Ingle argues that â€Å"the right and capacity to form one’s own judgment on external events†¦a full emotional life, a private world into which one could retire: those were the bastions of identity which Winston Smith sought to defend† (127). Winston is the last individual with knowledge of things outside of what the Party believes to be moral, and eventually he is stripped from that title and made into one of the other brain-washed citizens of Oceania. Consequently, the Party uses emotional torture to suppress individuality among the people. Hence, the government in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has been proven to use their power to strip the citizens of their individuality. For instance, the Party uses their control to take over the minds of the people and restrict what they can/cannot say or do. Also, they have the power to control all records of the past, memories, and the logic they have placed in their society. If that is not enough, the Party also controls their emotions, regulates sex, and forces emotional torture among them to force their logic into their brains. Orwell is â€Å"trying to present the kind of world in which individuality has become obsolete and personality a crime† (Howe 62). Ultimately, if a society allows a dictatorship in which one person or a group of people have all the power over the citizens, the society will transform into an individualized group of robots.

Pros and Cons of Big City Life

Pros and Cons of Big City Life Cities, especially large ones, offer a lot of opportunities to people who live there. They perfectly suit people with great ambitions and high expectations from life. Still, not everyone who was born and brought up in the city is satisfied with the surrounding atmosphere and longs for life in a village. So, what kind of people prefers city life and why others strive to move to the country? Life in the city is very complicated for those people who have modest ambitions, do not stand stress and hectic atmosphere. They like stability, peace and calmness. The busy atmosphere of cities makes them depressed and unhappy with their lifestyle. That is the main reason why they don’t usually have high salaries and are always grumbling and displeased. To my mind, it is really better for them not to torture themselves and move to the place they enjoy living in. As for me, I don’t imagine myself nowhere else than in a big city. I was born in one of them and when I go to some calm little town for vacation, one week is the maximum I can live there. I just need to see many people walking in the streets; I have to feel the rhythm of life; everything should be dynamic around me – and that’s when I feel well and complete. I want to achieve a lot and I know that it is only possible in a big city. And thus, I am happy with what I have and I am sure to achieve even more. On balance, I think that each person should live where he/she belongs. You shouldn’t move to a big city only because your neighbor did. If you know you like peace – live in your town and be happy. Everyone has only one life and it is no use chasing other people’s dreams and striving to meet their expectations. You and only you should decide what to do, where to live and follow your own recipe of happiness to the dot.