Free Essays on Inez’s Manifestation Of Self-Deception

Inez’s Manifestation of Self-Deception The essay on Self-Deception and his play â€Å"No Exit† show Jean-Paul Sartre as a great thinker and an able writer. His essay outlines his thesis on self-deception while his play brings it to life. The character Inez is the pivotal character in the play. Her actions can be directly correlated with Sartre’s texts. As we will see, Inez’s behavior stems from her cynicism towards others as well as her loss of identity and her conscious drive towards suffering. Sartre strikingly points out that companionship is both a blessing and a curse. Sartre defines consciousness as â€Å"a being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being†(K 299) . This implies that our nature is to realize that our consciousness is nothing, that we are nothing. This is not to say that everything is nothing. On the contrary, the very idea of humans having a consciousness leads one to believe that consciousness is the very thing that saves us from damnation, that a higher being would not endow the human race with consciousness if it were not ultimately destined to transcend its own nature and fully employ all the realms of his own consciousness outside of the human body. I interpret Sartre’s definition of consciousness as nothingness of the ego. The ego is what blocks one from identifying their consciousness as nothingness. This said, humans must decondition themselves from the lies and untruth that plague this world. If we are to deny our conditioning; that is, deny what we are or what we perceive o urselves to be (i.e. a chef, a baseball player, a man/woman) we are deceiving what we were. To fully transcend, we must deny those impulses and states of being which naturally define us as human. In this process towards transcendence, we come across two obstacles: self-deception and sincerity. Sartre says, â€Å"the one who practices self-deception is hiding a displeasing truth or presenti... Free Essays on Inez’s Manifestation Of Self-Deception Free Essays on Inez’s Manifestation Of Self-Deception Inez’s Manifestation of Self-Deception The essay on Self-Deception and his play â€Å"No Exit† show Jean-Paul Sartre as a great thinker and an able writer. His essay outlines his thesis on self-deception while his play brings it to life. The character Inez is the pivotal character in the play. Her actions can be directly correlated with Sartre’s texts. As we will see, Inez’s behavior stems from her cynicism towards others as well as her loss of identity and her conscious drive towards suffering. Sartre strikingly points out that companionship is both a blessing and a curse. Sartre defines consciousness as â€Å"a being, the nature of which is to be conscious of the nothingness of its being†(K 299) . This implies that our nature is to realize that our consciousness is nothing, that we are nothing. This is not to say that everything is nothing. On the contrary, the very idea of humans having a consciousness leads one to believe that consciousness is the very thing that saves us from damnation, that a higher being would not endow the human race with consciousness if it were not ultimately destined to transcend its own nature and fully employ all the realms of his own consciousness outside of the human body. I interpret Sartre’s definition of consciousness as nothingness of the ego. The ego is what blocks one from identifying their consciousness as nothingness. This said, humans must decondition themselves from the lies and untruth that plague this world. If we are to deny our conditioning; that is, deny what we are or what we perceive o urselves to be (i.e. a chef, a baseball player, a man/woman) we are deceiving what we were. To fully transcend, we must deny those impulses and states of being which naturally define us as human. In this process towards transcendence, we come across two obstacles: self-deception and sincerity. Sartre says, â€Å"the one who practices self-deception is hiding a displeasing truth or presenti...

Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941”

Analysis of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941† In the poem, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941,† Sharon Olds describes a cemetery during World War II. The 900-day siege on Leningrad began in September of 1941 and there were countless casualties to be buried during that winter. During the winter the ground freezes and makes it next to impossible to dig the graves. The winter of 1941 is described as, â€Å"that winter the dead could not be buried.† The ground is too hard to dig and the gravediggers are over tired and over worked. The war has killed so many people that the gravediggers are too weak to dig and they are also very hungry because food is scarce during war. The poem is vividly describing how horrible war can be. The language used in the poem is strong and descriptive. The corpses are described as being transported by children’s sleds. This description shows how all innocence during wartime is lost. The sadness that this inflicts on the children will never go away, their innocence is lost forever. The poem describes corpses wanting to be brought back alive. â€Å"A hand reaching out with no sign of peace.† That line purely shows how these soldiers were not ready to die; they still had their lives to live. Our sadness as witnesses to the war is nothing compared to the sadness of the dead who cannot witness anything. This poem symbolizes an important time in history. At the same time this poem can be used to describe the horror of all war. The war in Leningrad was a horr ible time and many lives were lost. Sharon Olds is trying to show us just how horrible war can be.... Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941† Free Essays on Analysis Of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter Of 1941† Analysis of Sharon Olds, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941† In the poem, â€Å"Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941,† Sharon Olds describes a cemetery during World War II. The 900-day siege on Leningrad began in September of 1941 and there were countless casualties to be buried during that winter. During the winter the ground freezes and makes it next to impossible to dig the graves. The winter of 1941 is described as, â€Å"that winter the dead could not be buried.† The ground is too hard to dig and the gravediggers are over tired and over worked. The war has killed so many people that the gravediggers are too weak to dig and they are also very hungry because food is scarce during war. The poem is vividly describing how horrible war can be. The language used in the poem is strong and descriptive. The corpses are described as being transported by children’s sleds. This description shows how all innocence during wartime is lost. The sadness that this inflicts on the children will never go away, their innocence is lost forever. The poem describes corpses wanting to be brought back alive. â€Å"A hand reaching out with no sign of peace.† That line purely shows how these soldiers were not ready to die; they still had their lives to live. Our sadness as witnesses to the war is nothing compared to the sadness of the dead who cannot witness anything. This poem symbolizes an important time in history. At the same time this poem can be used to describe the horror of all war. The war in Leningrad was a horr ible time and many lives were lost. Sharon Olds is trying to show us just how horrible war can be....

Moral argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Moral argument - Essay Example Dr. Cox did active euthanasia and it is considered a sin and a crime. Passive euthanasia is legal and is done by withholding life-sustaining assistance, while active euthanasia (physician-assisted) involves acts that will hasten someone’s death (Green 641). Although many people think that active euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, is morally wrong and is a total disregard for the sanctity of life, three reasons why physician-assisted suicide is morally right are that it is a respect for the paramount right of an individual to execute sovereignty on matters that concerns only the self, it is the same as passive euthanasia, and it provides dignity in death (Green 640). First, opponents claim that active euthanasia disregards the individual’s right to life. It is claimed that the aim of medicine is always to look for ways to cure an illness, which is rooted in the idea of prolonging a person’s life. It is claimed that there is also a possibility that an ill p erson may be under pressure to choose euthanasia rather than be a burden to other family members. There is also the possibility of misdiagnosis or miscalculations by doctors, and death can no longer be reversed (Linville 201-2). There is no denying that the logic of these claims have value. However, while people focus on an individual’s right to life, it is forgotten that the individual also has an absolute right over matters that concerns only the person who is involved. This means that to be able to exercise the right to choose life or death is a paramount right for every individual in the event when no intervention or help can be currently applied or given to alleviate the person’s condition. An individual must have the right to decide and choose if the remaining solutions to end the intolerable suffering are merely between miracle and death. Regarding medical misdiagnosis or miscalculations, while it is true that doctors sometimes make mistakes, they are still ofte n correct than wrong. In this matter, the individual is sovereign (Linville 204-5) and that each individual has the right to decide on personal matters. Second, opponents claim that such act goes against the Hippocratic Oath. It is said that doctors are not meant to harm patients, particularly through their profession. Killing them is harming them (Klampfer 7). This claim is understandable. However, there had been so many modifications of the Hippocratic Oath over the years because some of its doctrines are no longer appropriate with the existing society (Klampfer 11). For example, the first paragraph of the oath has been changed because swearing to Greek gods and goddesses may be considered offensive to one’s religion today. Abortion was also prohibited then, but is legal today under certain conditions. The oath also only refers to men, but women today also practice medicine already. Splitting fees with one’s teacher and promising to support their children are also no t practiced today (Antoniou et al. 3075-7). Furthermore, such claim puts the legality of passive euthanasia in question. Passive euthanasia, if defined without any refinement, means allowing one to die by not doing anything to save the individual. Yet this action is