The Universe in Essays

Written: February 12th, 2015; revised March 1st, 2015. Prompt: In what ways does Sophocles' Oedipus the King represent the perfect tragedy, as understood by Aristotle? While perfection cannot be tragic, tragedies can be perfect. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is the perfect tragedy. In it, he outlines the events surrounding and befalling the great king of Thebes, Oedipus. Oedipus the King exemplifies at least three features of Aristotle’s perfect tragedy: plot, characterization, and diction.

Written: February 2015 Prompt: Compare and contrast two ancient civilizations. Every civilization on Earth, no matter the distance in space or time, has commonalities with every other civilization. This should come as no surprise, for humans, despite what they may think, are more alike than different. Consider two civilization in particular: China and Rome. Roman civilization came into being in the seventh century B.C. with the founding of the city by the same name, and Chinese civilization developed in the seventeenth century B.C. China and Rome, sharing the same continent of Eurasia, had comparatively similar religious and political systems, but differing economies.

Written: February 2015 Abstract:  There is no surer way to start an argument or end a friendship than by bringing up religion. Religion speaks to the deepest needs of the human heart, so a natural defensiveness results when others question one’s own religious afflictions. Moreover, religion is taken to be a subjective phenomenon, leading to the common belief that all religions are equally true.   It is argued that this under-standing of the nature of religion, and the resulting implication, is fundamentally mistaken. The paper ends with a consideration of how people might come to know which of the world’s many religious traditions is true.

Written: February 2015 Originally Published: Half Measures: Chemical Reactions: Elemental Analysis . As a certain wise man wise once said, elemental analysis is not the sexiest thing around. But is a very necessary thing. Learn it, and then you can move onto more interesting concepts. In short, elemental analysis is the determining of the empirical and molecular formulas for some compound. We'll examine each of these in turn.

Written: December 2014 As daunting as quantum numbers may seem, they needn't be. Simply put, they are a relatively simple method of classifying electrons. Many analogies have been used to help explain what quantum numbers are and how they describe the electron (e.g., comparing them to a hotel, describing them as a city, etc.). The problem with this approach is, each analogy becomes overly complex in order to maintain similarity to the actual situations quantum numbers describe. So, no analogies will be presented here.

Written: February 4th, 2015. Prompt: Is Globalization helping to develop the poorer parts of the world or is it creating a larger gap between rich nations and poor nations? Today, rich nations are getting richer and poor nations poorer. The problem with answering the question of whether globalization is helping the situation is two-fold. First, helping is an ambiguous term. If a country develops economically as a result of globalization, but loses its cultural identity, would globalization still be said to have helped that nation? In other words, are we talking about strict economic help, or broader conceptions of aid and support? Second, the question presents a sharp dichotomy between good and bad; either globalization is good for developing nations, or it is not. But clearly this leaves out the position that globalization helps some developing nations, but not others. It very well may be the case that some "middle path" between these two extremes is the more plausible ...

Written: December 2014. Prompt: Which philosophical and historical foundation most influenced the American political system? Everything that happens does so because it is part of a causal chain, a chain that stretches back to the very beginning of time. The American political system is no exception. Three historical foundations or causes of said system were the English Bill of Rights, the system of thought established by John Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu and his argument in The Spirit of the Laws. Montesquieu takes pride of place as the most influential of the three.

Written: November 19th, 2014. Prompt: How have the principles embodied in the Constitution shaped the structure and roles of the three branches of government? Every nation, power, principality, people, or society can hope to endure only if they are based on a set of principles that unify their respective parts into one whole. The branches of the United States government meet this criterion of hope. The principle of popular sovereignty is exemplified in the legislative branch, judicial review in the judicial branch, and checks and balances in the executive branch.

Written: January 13th, 2015. Poem: Lavinia Greenlaw's "A World Where News Traveled Slowly" - accessible here . Nature has brought with it consequences that threaten to envelope the human heart. In her poem, "A World Where News Traveled Slowly", Lavinia Greenlaw distinguishes three stages in the history of communicating information. First, speaking face to face. Second, circulating information via towers strung along a mountain range (i.e., semaphore). Third, corresponding instantly through technology. From these epochs in information-sharing's history, Greenlaw argues that instant communication promises to bring the world to ruins, indicated by the tone and purpose of the work.

Written: January 15th, 2015 Poem: Harold Witt's "The Hawk" - Accessible here  (page 4). Nature guarantees the impossibility of perfect equality. There will always be differences in mental, physical, and emotional capacities. In his poem, “The Hawk”, Harold Witt focuses in on one instance of this inevitable inequality: a hawk and his prey. Through this illustration, Witt implies that, even though the powerful may oppress those underneath them, the weak and impotent can still prevail.

Abstract: This is the second part of my correspondence with my good friend, Mr. L. A. Mitchell, over his original argument for atheism. Read the first installment, "General Relativity Proves What, You Say?: A Response to L. A. Mitchell", for necessary background. Written: September 9th, 2013.

Abstract: A good friend of mine wrote an articulate, well formulated argument for atheism. Given our shared interest in philosophy in general and the philosophy of religion in particular, we decided to write a series of essays discussing the merits of his argument. I began by writing a refutation of his "entailment argument" for atheism, which is reproduced here. Written: August 28th, 2013.

Abstract: Holocaust denial is on the rise, and demands a careful, articulate response. I review the evidence for and against the occurrence of the Holocaust, demonstrating the historical validity of the three major facets of the Holocaust: (1) gas chambers used for murder, (2) the death of 6,000,000 Jews, and (3) the intentionality of (1) and (2) on the part of Nazi Germany. Written:  May 5th, 2014.

Abstract:  The kalam cosmological argument is a profound argument for the existence of God, based on the beginning of the universe. It has been my experience that all of philosophy folds into itself in this one argument. Theories of time, the nature of infinity, scientific models of the universe, quantum fluctuations, and the nature of personhood arise in the narrative of this cosmological argument. Below is a presentation of the argument, in general outline. Written: December 29th, 2014 - January 13th, 2015.

Written: November 2015 Type atom into Google images  and many "facts" are gathered about the nature of the atom:  Electrons, much like planets, orbit the nucleus of the atom. The constituents of an atom are all relatively the same size. All electrons orbit the nucleus from the same distance. The sad truth is, all of these "facts" are false. But this begs the question: if this understanding of the atom is incorrect, why are so many people taught it? The answer is simply that it's a more readily understandable model of the atom than what scientists are now putting forth. But it's time people learn the truth, because the reality of the situation is far more spectacular.

Written: October 8th, 2014. Humanity is separated from most everything else in the universe, not by size or beauty, but by intrinsic value and worth, something that inheres itself in each and every human being. It is on this basis that mankind’s unalienable rights may be founded. Federalists, those who supported the ratification of the Constitution, and anti-Federalists, those who did not, accepted this truth. But one of the many questions debated between them was whether or not the Constitution should include a comprehensive statement of those rights, a Bill of Rights. The anti-Federalists presented stronger, more persuasive arguments for their position, as Congress later came to agree.

Written: October 27th, 2014. Poem: Robert Shaw's "In the Rear-View Mirror" - Accessible here , page 4. Life has given humanity only one guarantee: at some point in time, every individual will have to say goodbye to someone they love. Or so it would seem. In the poem, “In the Rear-View Mirror”, by Robert Shaw, the speaker presents the idea that, even though one is powerless to prevent people from leaving one’s life, they are never truly gone. The circularity and retrospective angle from which the poem is recited, the long, flowing sentence structure and diction of the poem, and the metaphor of a rear-view mirror come together to construct this idea. 

Written: January 25th, 2015 Poem: Alexandra Fuller's "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" - accessible here , page 6. No one is guaranteed success and well-being in the world. Poverty, homelessness, and pay-check to pay-check living prove this. In his fictional work, “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”, Alexandra Fuller describes the typical course of a selling-day for tobacco farmers. Through this description, Fuller implies that such a farmer’s physical and mental well-being is dependent upon their economic success. She utilizes three literary devices to get her message across: tone, imagery, and characterization. 

Written: February 1st, 2015 Poem: Dudly Randall's "Ballad of Birmingham" - accessible here . The most tragic fact about slavery is this: the strongest obstacle to its end is the slave himself. In his poem, “Ballad of Birmingham”, Dudly Randall traces the events that unfold around an African American girl and her mother on the day of Freedom March in Birmingham, Alabama. From these events, Randall suggests that it is better to march for one’s freedom in the face of death, than sit in the House of God a slave. From irony, imagery, and a purposeful structure, Randall weaves this message.