Owen Tanner Final Essay 5/29/2024 The debate between individual freedom and social conditioning is central to contemporary philosophy. Jean-Paul Sartre argues that individual freedom is the fundamental aspect of human identity, while James Baldwin emphasizes the role of cultural and historical contexts in shaping who we are. In this essay, I will argue my thesis that culture and history fundamentally shape our identities rather than individual freedom. This position will be supported by engaging with Baldwin’s views in "Stranger in the Village" and contrasting them with Sartre’s arguments in "Existentialism Is a Humanism." Lastly, I will explore the applicative ways of using my thesis on culture and history shaping our identities to address …show more content…
More reasons consist of cultural, socioeconomic, education, and legal limitations. Educational programs in Elementary, Middle, and High School that teach the history of racism can help students understand the deep-rooted nature of racial prejudices and the historical context behind contemporary racial issues. Education that consists of learning about the historical injustice in our country from the moment it was made to the present day is a key factor. We must educate our people on historical injustices, which include slavery and segregation. This creates empathy and awareness which ultimately leads to an all-around better society, where people come together more and fight for what’s right, as one. This is especially important in America because we are such a divided country. Reforms in the criminal justice system are also crucial for addressing racial bias. Better policies aimed at reducing racial profiling, implementing bias training for law enforcement officers, and ensuring fair sentencing practices can help mitigate systemic racism. Economic policies that aim to reduce differences are also essential. Initiatives to support minority-owned businesses and increase access to quality education and healthcare can address economic inequalities that are often a legacy of historical discrimination. In conclusion, the debate between the primacy of individual freedom and the significance of social conditioning is central to understanding human identity and behavior. My writing has argued that culture and history fundamentally shape who we are rather than individual freedom. But we aren’t only shaped by social conditioning, individual freedom shapes everyone’s
American dream at the expense of the American’s Negros. Debate between Baldwin and Buckley. Baldwin was a superior persuasive and an intelligent man. Although, the audience were white college students who looks life Buckley, Baldwin was speaking confidently. He states about the black free labor in 1960s in America. As he states in the debate, America’s road, ports, cities and the economy was built by free labor of black people. However, they do not have fundamental right as human being. They are murdered, arrested, and suffered terribly by white people. He strongly described that black people in Selma, Alabama were brutally beaten. Therefore, the white people treated black people not as a citizen of the country, they treat
In The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin addressed the problem of racism that existed in the early 1960s. He gives very powerful accounts of his life growing up in Harlem in the 1930s and 40s. Throughout the book he gives accounts of how whites, blacks, Christians, and Muslims all can be blamed for the racial tensions that existed in the early 1960s. While Baldwin spends much of the criticism on whites, Christians, and Jews, and their inability to give up their hold on the political, financial, and religions power of the country, he also holds the Black and Muslim communities responsible for not working harder to make things better. Baldwin does not feel that the Whites are totally accountable for the racial situation that exists in the US at the time he wrote the book, but he does feel that they have the most to give to make things right.
What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with the language we use to justify it. In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don’t. Rather than directly rely on race, we use the criminal justi...
Although the United States have come a long way from slavery, we still have a long way to go where people can begin to feel no prejudices, which will probably never happen. Unfortunately, racism still exist and is still a major issue in culture and politics, it has taken a back seat to intellect and
In the United States, racial discrimination has a lengthy history, dating back to the biblical period. Racial discrimination is a term used to characterize disruptive or discriminatory behaviors afflicted on a person because of his or her ethnic background. In other words, every t...
Since the beginning of colonization, America has been controlled by religiously and ethically diverse whites. The most profound cases of racism in the “United” States of America have been felt by Native Americans, Asians, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Muslims. Major racially structured institutions include; slavery, settlement, Indian reservations, segregation, residential schools, and internment camps (Racism in the U.S., 1). Racism has been felt and seen by many in housing, the educational system, places of employment, and the government. Discrimination was largely criminalized in the mid 20th century, and at the same time became socially unacceptable and morally repugnant (Racism in the U.S., 1). Although racism was
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matter. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question of identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail, and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism. Problems of personal identity generally involve questions about what makes one the person one is and what it takes for the same person to exist at separate times (Olson, 2010).
Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
Throughout the past one hundred and fifty years, race relations have progressed markedly, emanating from the demise of legalized slavery and segregation in America. African Americans today have many rights that their ancestors were denied, such as the right to vote, being paid for their work, and being allowed to use the same restrooms and drinking fountains as white people. However, despite the many strides we have taken toward racial inequality as a country, there are still many ways in which African Americans and other minorities are unfairly treated today. For all the civil rights breakthroughs of the past several decades, racial adversity still materializes through numerous and often times far more insidious methods. It pervades in nearly
When we look at the issue of racism from a politically correct, nineties perspective, evidence of the oppression of black people may be obscured by the ways in which our society deals with the inequalities that still exist. There are no apparent laws that prohibit or limit opportunities for blacks in our society today, yet there is a sense that all things are not fair and equal. How can we acknowledge or just simply note how past ideologies are still perpetuated in our society today? We can examine conditions of the present day in consideration of events in the past, and draw correlations between old and modern modes of thinking. Attitudes of racism within the institutions of education, employment and government are less blatant now than in the day of Frederick Douglass, none the less, these attitudes prevail.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level.
For all the diversity in the world, racism seems to be one of the few shared attributes. Historically, violence and aggression has been open and shameless, however as civil rights legislation has advanced, racism has evolved as well. Charles Mills introduces the idea of a Racial Contract: an unspoken agreement that some people are born with the ability to contribute to the world and involve themselves in decision making, while others are not. Filling in the blanks, it becomes apparent that this puts black people at a distinct disadvantage. If Mills is able to identify the underlying cause, what is stopping change from being made?
The world has lived through generations of racism and racial profiling. After the days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Civil Rights Movement, the American people thought they had passed the days of hatred and discrimination. Although Americans think that they live in a non-racist society, minorities today still live in the chains of oppression and prejudice through sports, schools, and social media.
Racism is still a very prominent yet controversial topic in the United States today. Discrimination in the United States dates back to the 1500s when America was first founded. As generations passed, it has become a social norm to believe that darker skin tones are less desirable to society. The foundation of this country was built upon the false impression that Whites were superior to not just blacks, but all other ethnicities. From this, the idea of white privilege was derived and is still prevalent in society today. Those who are victims of discrimination are sometimes not aware of the psychological effect and the overall impact it can have on one’s life. The persistence of racism over generations has been in correlation to adversely affect the mental health of the victims economically, socially and in turn physically.
For all intents and purposes, the man named Nikolas Wells didn’t exist. In his place were individuals named Jonathan, Brendon, Christopher or whichever name he preferred to be addressed as in any particular moment. For the most part, no one that he came in contact with had been the wiser to his ruse. He kept to himself, conversing with others only when it worked to benefit him. If Nikolas was able to live in a world according to his design, this would be exactly the way that he would keep things. Yet, the world that he was living in could only be considered a utopia to those who were ignorant to the truth. For those like him, erasing yourself from the world was as good of a life as one could ever wish for. Yet, this pragmatic view was held by very little. Those with abilities would look upon the lives of others in envy, emulating them in the hopes that perhaps, their lives could be there own. But, this of course, was never the case. A life whose foundation was lies could never survive, and no matter how the circumstances would play out, they all ended the exact same way. But, Nikolas was one of the few who refused to accept this definition of life.