mpwa's New Writeups

Cosmological argument (idea)

2004-05-02T00:26:32Z

For a start, it should be noted that the unmoved mover, for which Aristotle argues, is not a personal God, like that of Christianity, it has no religious significance, it is simply seen as the ultimate cause of the Cosmos. The concept of a personal God, perhaps, only becomes apparent when Leibniz takes the argument further with his âPrinciple of Sufficient Reasonâ. This states that everything, including the universe itself must have a reason for its existence, and that this must mean that there is an ultimate, uncaused cause â God.

There is a compelling logic in both of these arguments. In fact, they serve to heighten the believerâs understanding of Godâs omnipotence and transcendence. However, the unbeliever may find them less convincing. David Hume said that it was wrong to go from saying that all events in the universe have a cause to saying that the universe itself must have a cause, in the same way that it is wrong to say that every human being has a mother so…

Intuitionism (idea)

2004-05-02T00:15:55Z

At first sighting, Intuitionism appears to offer a basis for ethics immune to the criticisms of other ethical theories, such as Utilitarianism and Natural Law â both of which are guilty of the naturalistic fallacy. However, upon closer inspection Intuitionism appears to abandon the ethical premises of the other theories and yet replace it with nothing. Alasdair MacIntyre said, âTwentieth century moral philosophers have sometimes appealed to their and our intuitions, but one of the things that we ought to have learned from the history of moral philosophy is that the introduction of the word âintuitionâ by a moral philosopher is always a signal that something has gone wrong with an argument.â I will examine to what extent this is true.

The main advantage of Intuitionism is that it is a simple philosophy â good is indefinable. Moore said that âgoodâ was like âyellowâ, in that it cannot be broken down any further â âyellowâ canât be…

April 7, 2004 (idea)

2004-04-07T11:12:55Z

I apologise at once for this rambling daylog, full of disjointed anecdotes. I'm writing because I've had one of those odd days in which I want to cry, but don't know why - like those barmy summer days or a truly jolly Christmas, and inspite of the mood all you want to do is sit down and weep. I feel a bit like that.

I'm beginning to suspect that life is not really poetic after all, or at least not in the way I thought or hoped. The good are not always rewarded; the bad are not always punished; the reader does not always get the happy ending or even a resolution.

I always thought of my life as a narrative, my narrative, which I bumbled through, but that ultimately I would reach the ending I thought I deserved. But I was wrong. Life is more than just my narrative, it's made up of billions of narratives - all competing against each other, no one of more value than another. One man's rejection is another's romantic reunion.

Life seems pointless, but I'm only…

The Cement Garden (idea)

2004-03-09T18:32:16Z

A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Ian McEwan's 'The Cement Garden'

âBy stressing the importance of infantile sexuality and Oedipal impulses, and thereby undermining the concept of the âpristine innocence of childhoodâ, Freud was to provide 20th century writers with new ways of depicting childhood and adolescence. With the removal of Victorian taboos, the child/adolescent in fiction becomes more complex and less lovable.â CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

Freudian psychoanalysis appears to be endemic in the work of Ian McEwan, which regularly explores themes of trauma, sexuality and sexual abuse. His first collection of short stories, 'First Love, Last Rites', is concerned with abuse and sexual deviance. For example, âHomemadeâ retrospectively recounts a teenage boyâs rite of passage, his loss of virginity incestuously with his ten year old sister,…

Katherine Mansfield (person)

2004-02-25T17:42:53Z

KATHERINE MANSFIELD - pseudonym for Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, 1888-1923

ââ¦ What the writer does is not so much to solve the question but to put the question. There must be the question put. That seems to be a very nice dividing line between the true and the false writer.â Katherine Mansfield in a letter to Virginia Woolf, 1919

Katherine Mansfield should be regarded as one of the founders of the modernist movement. A contributor to many modernist publications, including her husbandâs, John Middleton Murryâs âRhythmâ, she and fellow writers were given impetus by movements such as fauvism and expressionism, inflections of post-impressionism, initiated by painters such as Gauguin and developed by Matisse. Therefore, Mansfield was more concerned with expressing a mood, atmosphere or sentiment than with deep character analysis or a detailed plot. However, to state that her…

Wuthering Heights (idea)

2004-02-24T19:36:33Z

âWUTHERING HEIGHTSâ â PROBLEMS OF POSSESSION

âTowering over the romantic fiction of the mid-19th century are the BrontÃ« sisters, in particular Emily and Charlotte, who with Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre set a standard, the first for the novel of doomed love, the second for the novel of the young womanâs climb to moral independence and a passion underscored by equality.â Oxford Companion to English Literature

I find I have an irresolvable problem with âWuthering Heightsâ. The accepted view of the novel, like that stated above, is that it is revolves around the passionate relationship between the two main characters, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Their love for each other is meant to transcend all barriers, be they physical or spiritual. But the nature of this love is destructive â it tears apart the fabric of the landscape around it. Even Catherine…