Logic of the Sea Essay Example for Free

Logic of the Sea Essay The article The Duty of Inquiry comes from the book The Ethics of Belief by William Kingdon Clifford. The author, William Clifford is a notable English philosopher and mathematician of the 19th century. This article talks about belief and how it necessitates responsible inquiry. It asserts that belief should be accompanied by reasonable investigation rather than baseless assertions. Also, we are the ones responsible for our belief regardless of the consequences (Clifford). These arguments were delivered using hypothetical situations pertaining to belief and the importance of inquiry. The author’s main argument is that our beliefs precede our actions and even the result of these actions, which is why we have to take full responsibility of these beliefs through appropriate means of inquiry. The author starts by presenting a hypothetical situation of a ship owner and his vessel. The ship owner’s vessel is about to set sail across the ocean with a lot of emigrants aboard. However, the owner thinks that the ship may have some problems, and perhaps it is not fit to set sail at all, however, he thinks that it is all too expensive to repair. He gives it some more thought, clearing his mind of the doubts, establishing a firm idea that his ship is still capable of sailing. He has convinced himself and he clearly disregarded his prior suspicions, and he finally permits he ship to set sail. The inevitable happens, the ship sank, and all those aboard died or were lost at sea. The ship owner collects the insurance, but deep inside him he is guilty of what happened to the passengers. The ship owner may be sincere with his admission of guilt; however, this is already irrelevant in this situation. It’s because the belief that he conjured were not made from careful investigation, rather it was from stifling his doubts, from disproving by himself whatever thought of uncertainty he had in the first place. In this situation, the ship owner’s guilt is from the fact that he was the one who knowingly and willingly created the frame of mind that made him to believe that his ship can still sail. He had doubts in the beginning but he was able to convince himself, though his decision is made out of preference rather than what is real. He didn’t do anything to check up on the ship, to see whether his doubts may hold true or not, instead he just thought about it, thought that it was alright, and made up his mind that it was indeed all right. He is guilty because he didn’t do the appropriate inquiry to verify or disprove his thoughts. Rather than acting upon it, he just thought about it, which if we look at it carefully, it’s a bit careless since a lot of lives are at stake. The author then asserts that the ship owner’s guild is actually determined regardless of its effects, so whatever the consequences of his beliefs, he is still responsible for it. After giving it some thought, even though the ship may have successfully sailed at that time or even for many more times, the mere fact that he has somehow believed that the ship was unworthy of sailing, he is still responsible for it. His guilt is already determined whether or not the ship survives. It is not about the consequences of the action, but about the belief he had already conjured. From the moment he thought about it, he is already responsible for his belief, so it is his task that to know about his thoughts, to take appropriate means of inquiry in order verify or confirm it. The author then presents another hypothetical situation, this time regarding religious teaching. It is about a prominent personality who is constantly attacked in an organized way, only to find out after further investigations that the accusations made about him were all false. Because of this, the accusations were immediately discredited. This situation is important because it proves that any reasonable effort to know the truth or reality of situation given could indeed disconfirm or disprove any of the accusations initially made. This means that because of the effort exerted to know what’s real, the accusations made in the first place are already disconfirmed. Even though the charges directed towards the person were sincere, they are still irrelevant to this situation. The basis of this is that the beliefs presented initially were just based on preference; the accusations made towards that person were the result of their prejudice or perhaps their passion without really giving any attention to factual evidence. So based on this, they really had no right to believe on whatever is presented before them. So when effort is made to verify any of this, it could be regarded as an act to disprove the accusations, and supports the author’s argument that the morality of the question is already settled even though the consequences are known. The author employed the steps in this order so that the reader could build up on the assumption that indeed beliefs should correspond to the appropriate inquiry. Without inquiry, these beliefs were just worthless, and it wouldn’t be justified by whatever consequences. By carefully analyzing the hypothetical situations posed by William Clifford, we can see that indeed, belief should be accompanied by reasonable investigation rather than baseless assertions, and that we re responsible for these beliefs. We can achieve this by through appropriate means of inquiry. Work Cited: Clifford, William Kingdon. The Ethics of Belief. 1877. December 12 2009. http://ajburger. homestead. com/files/book. htm#ethics.

Teaching ESL Writing (Final Paper) -- Education Learning Essays

Teaching ESL Writing At times the plethora of professional journals and the myriad subjects treated therein seems like little more than a dizzying exercise in redundancy and a forum for education professionals to justify their worth in a competitive job market; however, I would like to think that there is a hidden value for those of us whose brains seem to operate in what some might call a â€Å"spiral† rhetorical pattern, that as we work our way around and around certain issues related to composition instruction, we are moving gradually upward toward broader understanding and better practice. Some studies seem to do little more than show the need for more studies, their authors falling back on such standard phrases as, â€Å"clearly more research is needed,† but that at least is evidence that we’re moving toward something – we’re trying to pinpoint the exact gap between educational practice as we know it and as we sense it might exist in an improved state. So, it is with this hope in mind that I’ve undertaken yet another literature review, consuming the writings of others in order to find a specific gap in (at least my own) understanding of educational practice as it relates to college-level ESL composition students in general, and to college-level ESL students with learning disabilities (LD) specifically. For the purposes of this paper I shall borrow Skinner and Gilespie’s definition of learning disabilities as follows: [Learning disabled persons are those] of average or above average intelligence who have difficulty mastering skills in reading and spelling (often in the form of dis- lexia), and /or writing, or math. ... ...es. March/April 2001, 34, 2. 136-152. Munro, Murray J. and Tracey M. Derwing. â€Å"Foreign Accent, Comprehensibility, and Inteligibility.† Language Learning. June 1999, 49, 2. 285-111. Poon-McBrayer, Kim Feng and Shernaz B. Garcia. â€Å"Profiles of Asian American Students with Learning Disabilities at Initial Referral, Assessment, and Place- ment in Special Education.† Journal of Learning Disabilities. Jan/Feb 2001, 33, 1. 61-71. Skinner, Louise and Phyllis Gillespie. â€Å"The Challenge of Adult Literacy: Students with Learning Disabilities in the ABE Classroom.† Adult Basic Education. Fall 2000, 10, 3. Spack, Ruth. â€Å"Student Meets Text, Text Meets Student: Finding a Way into Academic Discourse.† Reading in the Composition Classroom: Second Language Perspectives. Ed. Joan G. Carson and Ilona Leki. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1993. 183-196.

Ancient Polytheistic Religion Compared to Judaism

Ancient polytheistic religion compared to Judaism Ancient polytheistic and Judaism are two of the most opposite beliefs possible. Polytheistic belief is the belief in more than just one god. Polytheism was brought to this world by the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Greeks. The Greek gods often took on the form of being humans while the Egyptian gods were the main cornerstone to their beliefs and religion. Judaism or the belief of Monotheism is the belief in one main god. Monotheism we brought to the world by the Jewish culture. It was originated from the Hebrew bible and is one of the oldest religions still living today.Judaism was a monotheistic religion of the Jews having its spiritual and ethical ideas embodied mainly in the Torah and the Talmud. The Torah and the Talmud are part of the sacred book of the Jews which is the bible. The first civilization appeared to have arisen in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was founded by a group of people called the Sumerians during the fourth mil lennium B. C. E. It lies in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. The Sumerians and their successors were polytheistic which means they worshiped many gods and goddesses. Their Gods and Goddesses were visualized in human form, with human needs and weaknesses.The Mesopotamians believed that the human race was created to serve the gods. The Mesopotamian temples were run like great households where the gods were fed fantastic meals, entertained with music, and honored with ritual. The Mesopotamians had a very gloomy picture of the afterworld. They were confined to a dusty dark netherworld, doomed with hunger and thirst unless someone offered them food or drink. There was no reward in being religious because everyone was in equal misery. Religion played a huge part in the literature and art of Mesopotamia.Poems were told of the deeds of the gods, like how the world was created. Also poems were told of the great hero king Gilgamesh, who tried to escape death by going on a journey to find the sole survivor of the great flood. The religious architecture was in the form of temples in the cities. As the Mesopotamian civilization rose up in the valley of Tigris and Euphrates, the Egyptian civilization was centered on the Nile River. The Egyptians were also a polytheistic religion, in that they believed in many gods. Egyptian Gods have human bodies, with human or animal heads, and wear crowns or thorns.Egyptian Gods were gods of different things such as the sky, sun, earth, and music. The Egyptians worship took place at small shrines; they left offerings to the chosen gods as well as simple prayers. The Egyptians believed that there afterlife was full of dangers, but those dangers could be overcame by magical spells in the Book of the Dead. Also the Egyptians believed in the preservation of the body and that it was essential for the afterlife. The Hittites were an Indo-European, speaking a language that was related to the Greek and Sanskrit.The Hittites adopted Mesopotamian writi ng along with many other aspects of the Mesopotamian culture, including polytheism. The discovery of iron was found in the Hittites region, somewhat before the creation of their kingdom. The discovery led to the making of iron weapons and tools rather than copper ones. The Discovery of the iron led to the beginning of the Iron Age. Other ancient societies that were polytheistic were the Persians, and the Assyrians. The Israelites possessed little worldly power or wealth, but they created a powerful religion, known as Judaism which is a form of monotheism.Judaism was the first and the longest lasting form of monotheism in a world of polytheism. Judaism is a part of two other religions that have played a big role in the history of the world, Christianity and Islam. Monotheism is the belief in one universal god, who was the creator and ruler of the universe. The Jewish God is neither a natural force nor like human beings, or any other kind of creature; he is so elevated that those who believe in him may not picture him in any form. I personally best relate to Judaism and believing in one single god because I practice the religion of Christianity.I believe the words of the bible and how God is said to have created all forms of life and all things. I grew up in a religious family where we attended masses weekly on Sunday mornings and prayed before and after our meals. I believe that the religion you have been raised up into plays a huge role on your worldview that you best identify with. Along with your family I also believe it’s your own personal ethics that play a role in your worldview of religion. Your ethics are based on what you believe is right or wrong.In my religion of being a Catholic, I believe that God created all things and sent Adam and Eve to represent him in man form. I also believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose to heaven and then came back to earth for human salvation and to save us from sin. The reason I don’t believe in Polytheism is because I find it hard to believe that there would be gods for many different parts of our world. I also think that if a God is suppose to be worshipped and treated like an all-mighty that there should only be one person or God treated with the most significant amount of respect.

Research Paper Illiteracy - 9348 Words

Topic: Literacy Statement of the Problem: An investigation into how the level of literacy affects form two pupils’ progress in content literacy at Coryal High School. Background to the Problem This problem began at the primary level where students missed out on basic concepts. These basic concepts were taught at the infant level at primary school. These students operating at the frustration level of reading never understood those concepts. These students proceeded from the infant level to standard five, without having a basic understanding of reading concepts. Since this problem was never resolved at primary level, it is now being transferred to secondary level. Moreover, since the removal of the Post Primary Centres,†¦show more content†¦Think Aloud: An instructional procedure used to aid comprehension by demonstrating the active thinking process of the reader’s mind. Content Literacy: The ability to use reading and writing for the acquisition of new content in a given discipline. Thoughtful Literacy: To ponder deeper meanings, wrapping themselves around the ideas and critiquing the author. Emergent Literacy: a continuum of understandings that lead to a student’s ability to associate letter sounds and meanings to printed words and to read and write successfully. Instructional Level: Teaching Level Frustration level: This level is to be avoided. It is the lowest level of readability. Independent Level: Students read on their own without any difficulty Reciprocal teaching: The investigation of metacognitive and cognitive strategies in the context of dialogue among teachers and students. Delimitation of the Study: The study focuses on students of Coryal High School both boys and girls in form two between the ages of thirteen to sixteen. Basic Assumptions: The researcher assumes that students entering secondary school would be at an independent level of reading and not at instructional level, or even worse frustration level. 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