The Universe in Essays

Topic: The role of animal behavior in developing a theme of amorality in Emile Zola’s  Thérèse  Raquin . We wage war against what is evil and go to the gallows for the conviction that our cause is good. But ultimately, does morality exist? Emile Zola addresses this question in his novel, Thérèse Raquin , within which he traces the fate of two murderers as they seek peace from the ghost of their victim, Camille. Zola uses Thérèse, Laurent, Camille, the absence of guilt, and the lack of free will in the text to suggest that humans are nothing more than animals, and therefore morality does not apply to them.

On the third of October, the Catholic Church relieved Vatican priest Krzysztof Charamsa of his post. The decision came after a news conference during which the former priest informed the public of his relationship with another man. The Church explicitly bars any man with deep-seated homosexual attractions from being a priest and requires all priests to live a celibate life, making Charamsa a dual violation of Church teaching. After being notified of the Church’s decision, the former priest wrote a passionate letter to Pope Francis within which he condemned the Catholic Church and its treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Specifically, the Church is “frequently violently homophobic” and that it causes “immeasurable suffering” to homosexual Catholics. The Pope has yet to issue a response.

Prompt: Evaluate the successes and failures of peacekeeping after the First World War.   Cynically speaking – and perhaps realistically speaking as well – peace is an impossible dream, defying all attempts to achieve it. In the case of world affairs following World War I (WWI), peacekeeping was not a successful undertaking. In particular, the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, and Wilson’s Fourteen Points all failed to achieve peace between nations.

Overview: A reflective statement on Ismail Kadare's novel, Broken April . In reflective statements, we are to explain how our understanding of the culture and context within which a certain text was written has deepened as a result of Interactive Oral presentations on the text. Written: October 27th, 2015. From Interactive Oral presentations on Ismail Kadare’s novel Broken April , I have come to a deeper understanding of early twentieth century Albania. Specifically, I now see the connection between Kadare’s view of freedom on the one hand, and the text and its consummation on the other.

A United States drug company – Turing Pharmaceuticals – recently raised the price of AIDS medication by over five thousand percent, having bought the rights to the drug in August. Following public outcry, Turing promised to reduce the price, though not specifying the exact reduction. The ostensible justification for their previous move from $13.50 a pill to $750 was to use that increased profit for medical research. Martin Shkreli, the head of the company, says that his critics do not understand the pharmaceutical industry, implying that his company’s actions were not immoral or selfish, but balanced and prudent.

Question: Why did a general European war break out in 1914? Historical investigation is important because it reveals to us our past mistakes and how we might avoid them in the future. Determining the cause of World War I is necessary for this very reason: we ought to know how it came about so as not to repeat it. Imperialism – the policy of acquiring and holding colonies to extend the authority of an empire – explains why a general European war broke out in 1914. Other causes of war (e.g., nationalism and militarism) did exist, but were not decisive nor effectual on their own.

Philosophical naturalism is the thesis that the physical world is all there is – no God, no angels, and no soul. Literary naturalism is the effort to portray human action in animalistic terms. The latter is likely an outgrowth of the former. From Interactive Oral presentations on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin , I have come to see how literary naturalism developed in nineteenth century France, and how this development shaped Zola’s work in two ways: his characterization of women and his psychology of human beings.