In regards to truly understanding ideas that bombard our lives, a touchstone proposition is essential. Literally speaking, a touchstone is a piece of quartz that can detect fools gold from authentic gold. However, author Graham Cole mentions it to be as, “a gatekeeper to the house of knowledge- or so it is hoped” (Cole, 4). William H. Halverson states that, “at the heart of every view, a proposition lies at the heart of them” (Cole, 3). He goes on to deem this type of proposition as a touchstone proposition. Overall, Cole speaks of four views in particular and points out their true touchstone propositions to give readers more insight. The first view Cole mentions is Naturalistic. The Naturalistic view states that no god or gods exist and that actually, matter is the only thing that does exist. In contradiction to that view, there is Non-Naturalistic. Non-Naturalistic claims that a god or gods do exist …show more content…
This is actually critically important. Some touchstone propositions or frame of references could actually do more harm than good. Meaning that if the touchstone proposition a person could claim is at the center of a certain belief is, in fact, incorrect or not logical, confusion rather than understanding is all that particular person will be left with. In Cole’s work he gives the story example of a man who was convinced he was actually a dead man. The supposed dead mans’ family persuaded him to see a therapist. This therapist assigned him many medical books and documents trying to prove one fact: dead men don’t bleed. After weeks the therapist succeeded ad the “dead man” proclaimed that if he was dead, he could not bleed. Shortly after this revelation, the therapist pricked the man, and as he started to bleed, he cried out “good lord, dead men do bleed!” (4). Bringing that story up to reaffirm that having the wrong proposition can just deceive people from the
“Cullen and Flein Concede that in rare cases, it is permissible for doctors to deceive a patient but only if the deception is for a short while and if the potential gain from the deception is probable and significant. (Cullen Klein
What should I tell him? I refrained from selling him anything, but instead confronted him with a question, “What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive without you?:”” (Frankl 112). Whereupon hearing this query the practitioner morosely responds, “Oh, for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!” (Frankl 112). This anecdote exemplifies Frankl’s proposition that human nature is motivated by the search for purpose in life; Logotherapy is the pursuit of meaning for one’s life. In The Longman Reader, “[A] form of logical thinking in which specific cases and facts are examined to draw a wider- ranging conclusion” (653) is called inductive reasoning which this anecdote exemplifies. With the example of his wife’s death, Frankl clearly presented this anecdote and then examined it to come up with a conclusion that would be applicable to other cases—indicating a process of inductive reasoning. The logical reasoning behind Frankl’s example provides his thesis with logos, or soundness of argument (Nadell 479). Frankl logically questions the practitioner and makes him realize that the death of his wife was far easier to bare whereas if he had passed away first she
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.
In the United States and worldwide people have different culture, beliefs and attitude about death. Over the past years, death is an emotional and controversy topic that is not easy to talk about. Everyone have a different definition of what is death and when do you know that a person is really dead. In the book Death, Society, and Human Experiences by Robert J. Kastenbaum demonstrates that you are alive, even when doctors pronounce you dead.
The imagery of the patient’s lifeless body gives a larger meaning to the doctor’s daily preoccupations. Gawande’s use of morbid language helps the reader identify that death is, unfortunately, a facet of a physician’s career. However, Gawande does not leave the reader to ponder what emotions went through him after witnessing the loss of his patient. He writes, “Perhaps a backup suction device should always be at hand, and better light is more easily available. Perhaps the institutions could have trained me better for such crises” (“When Doctors Make Mistakes” 73).
I have recently examined my latest patient, on OCtober 23 at 10:45 A.M. The patient has been accused with the murder of the old man. The patient admits to what he has done but his beliefs make him think that he is completely sane and not mad. “The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them”(Poe 203).
An example of this is offered when Emily Grierson’s father passes away due to old age. Emily is so attached to her father that she keeps his body in the house for several days after his death, pretending, most likely for her own sake, that he is still alive. In fact, the t...
Guess what? I was right about the air. A few days later, my father said he felt really hot. Over the next few days, black spots and boils started appearing all over my father’s body. I knew that he was soon going to die. As he lay on his deathbed, he told me, “John, once I die, the officials are going to board the house up. I don’t know...
We learn of a case where finding out the truth was a devastating experience for one family. Hag Ali Khalafawy was rich because he had stolen another man’s money. When he was on his death bed he told his son of his thievery and asked that the fortune be returned to its rightful owners. The son didn’t believe it, and his father answered, “It’s the truth, no mo...
In “Should Doctors Tell the Truth?” Joseph Collins argues for paternalistic deception, declaring that it is permissible for physicians to deceive their patients when it is in their best interests. Collins considers his argument from a “pragmatic” standpoint, rather than a moral one, and uses his experience with the sick to justify paternalistic deception. Collins argues that in his years of practicing, he has encountered four types of patients who want to know the truth: those that want to know so they know how much time they have left, those who do not want to know and may suffer if told the truth, those who are incapable of hearing the truth, and those who do not have a serious diagnosis (605). Collins follows with the assertion that the more serious the condition is, the less likely the patient is to seek information about their health (606).
In the following context, the seriousness of the stories and their interpretative breakdowns should only cause a better understanding of how the ever-so-questionable human mind truly works from a professional perspective put into simple words. The story of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" is quite an interesting story that opens the reader of the book into a world of confusion: Dr. P.'s world. The man, described in the story, is an accomplished doctor, in fact a teacher at an accomplished music school who seems to be fine on the outside, but with further analyses in Dr. Sacks' office, he mistakes his foot for his shoe. This is an astonishing mistake that intrigues the doctor and the reader to know why he mistakes objects for other objects. He then later, as he and his wife are preparing to leave; Dr. P. grabs his wife's head and tries to pull it off as if it were his hat.
Coherence is an essential part of the theist’s belief structure. The individual arguments when joined collectively hold just that, coherence. While individually they do not point to evidence together they do. This coherence forms a basis of truth, supporting each other in their claim and not contradicting them. In this manner they establish truth where facts are lacking. If we examine independently the arguments presented by McCloskey they too lack adequacy to establish the nonexistence of God.
...t woman that falls downstairs and she loses her baby; in the hospital when she wake up she sees the doctor and told him “my baby is ok? Please tell me that he is fine”! Here she doesn’t want to know the truth; rather, she wants to escape from it since she’s afraid. Whether the doctor tells her “your baby died” or “I’m so sorry to tell you that your baby died, but don’t be sad you can have another one you still young”, the woman is going to cry in both situations because the truth won’t change and it actually do harm. From these examples we can conclude that people are afraid from knowing the truth, and because what is scary leads to harm and pain. Thus truth leads to harm and not the way it’s told.
In the Christian worldview God is the one and only God. He is the sovereign creator of everything. A wonderful description of the nature of God’s existence that includes the absolute possession of characteristics that have
Bakhurst, David. “Lying and Decieving.” Journal of Medical Ethics 18 (June 1992): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.