Truly Living or Merely Existing
The terms existing and living, as they apply to human beings, share some basic similarities; however, closer investigation philosophically reveals a very sharp contrast between the two. The American Heritage Dictionary, 6th ed., defines the word existing as "(1)to have actual being; to be real"; "(5) to be present under certain circumstances or in a specified place," and "to occur." Living, on the other hand, means "(5) to conduct one's life in a particular manner"; "(6) to pursue a positive, satisfying existence; to enjoy life." Men and women must be able to do certain things to exist as well as to live, but because they are endowed with the ability to reason, their individual choices ultimately determine whether they are truly living or merely existing.
To exist, a person depends physically on air, food, and protection from the elements (shelter and clothing). To live, a person must breathe, eat regularly, and sleep periodically in some sort of dwelling where he or she is not exposed to severe weather (wind, rain, and cold). These are basic to both existing and living.
A human being must, therefore, have the means both to exist and to live. If Joe Schmoe is said to exist, there must be some record of him in society such as a birth certificate, immigration papers, a social security number, and so forth. Most adults work in order to make the money necessary to pay the inevitable bills and buy the necessary food, shelter and clothing to survive. This "schedule for survival" is also paramount to anyone's being considered living in this world, but it is colored by people's choices. People must work or have some sort of income and pay taxes. As a ...
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...yed an aspiration to transcend his existence. Furthermore, Robert has had to apply his volition to reach the standard of living he is used to now. Every individual action, from choosing to work hard in school to working hard in his chosen profession, is in accord with his will to continue to achieve "greater heights." Robert has values; he believes in hard work, for example, so he may afford the means to get off the ground-literally. He is a thinking, feeling and growing human being with a spirit.
Finally, one might consider the following: it is necessary for a person to exist in order to live; in other words, existing is a part of living. However, it does not necessarily follow that existing is all there is to living. Living is one step beyond existing; those who are truly alive have used their reason to shape and direct their existence.
Mad Cow Disease, scientifically referred to as (BSE) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, is a disease that affects those humans who eat the meat from infected cows. Mad Cow Disease is one of several fatal brain diseases called (TSE) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. (USDA) There was evidence of a new illness resembling the sheep disease scrapie. It was technically named BSE but quickly acquired the mad cow tag because of the way infected cattle behave. (CNN) In 1997, there was an award given to Stanley Prusiner, for concluding that a distorted protein called a prion was responsible for Mad Cow Disease, noted the long incubation period made it difficult to distinguish (Bryant). Another name for Mad Cow Disease is the new variant Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), similar to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which is a deadly brain illness that strikes about one per million per year (USDA) due to genetic or unknown causes while the vCJD is contracted from eating infected cows (USDA). Both CJD and vCJD are so similarly named because of the similar effects from the illness.
Mad cow disease is caused by prions, "weird mutant proteins that are found in brain and spinal tissue"1. Another name for mad cow disease is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the definition is "a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion"2. It started from what is called a prion protein then it turned into a pathogenic, and then it starts to damaged the brain of a cattle. There's another name for this disease and it's called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease "a form of progressive dementia characterized by loss of nerve cells and degeneration of nerve cell membranes leading to the production of small holes in the brain. It is rare, degenerative, and invariably fatal"3. This disease happen in human causing lapses in the memory, mood swings similar to depression, lack of interest and social withdrawal3. It is said that this disease has no tr...
Without God live is meaningless. We have no purpose for existence except to exist and at the end of life all that is left is death. If there is no life after death and no offer of immortality then life itself is absurd (Craig).
Mad Cow Disease, a disorder well known and well feared, is not as deadly as most
The people in Europe were scared and terrified of the plague coming to their village or infecting them. The villages after some time of having the virus would have a crier announcing the day’s death toll. The people that were infected were sometimes shunned wherever they went, not many people would help them. The people that have already died would be immediately moved to the graveyard. The Black Plague lasted for a longer period than any other disease, leaving behind a huge amount of dead bodies that earth could not decompose quickly. The lives of the villagers were rough just by seeing their relatives dying in their homes but also to seeing people die in the streets. What scared the villagers most was the ghost ship, that was filled with rats and fleas and they were also filled with the bodies of the dead sailors that round it. Some people believed that the plague was a punishment from God for the sins that they have committed or that the infected people have
Thule, P.M. and Liu, J.M. (2000). Regulated hepatic insulin gene therapy of STZ-diabetic rats. Gene Therapy 7: 1744-1752.
Rubanyi, G. (2001). The Future of Human Gene Therapy. Molecular Aspects of Medicine. 22,3, pp. 113-142.
Gene therapy is a relatively simple process. First, the mutated gene at fault for the cause of the condition being treated must be identified. Second, the site of the unhealthy cells in the human has to be found. Then, a health...
Since its inception, gene therapy has captured the attention of the public and ethics disciplines as a therapeutic application of human genetic engineering. The latter, in particular, has lead to concerns about germline modification and questions about the distinction between therapy and enhancement. The development of the gene therapy field and its progress to the clinic has not been without controversy. Although initially considered as a promising approach for treating the genetic of disease, the field has attracted disappointment for failing to fulfil its potential. With the resolution of many of the barriers that restricted the progress of gene therapy and increasing reports of clinical success, it is now generally recognised that earlier expectations may have been premature.
What is the purpose of life? This is a question that has been argued since the beginning of time. Countless honorable and wise men have pondered and made conclusions about what our true purpose is in life. Aristotle and al’Ghazili are two philosophers that studied this purpose of life for almost all of their human existence. Their two proposals about the purpose of life and the ethics that are required to accomplish this purpose share some common ideas, while also having serious contrasts.
The state of feeling alive is one that is broad and varies from person to person. When thinking about what makes people feel alive you are going beyond its literal meaning and instead figuring out what makes the person the way they are. Simply asking a person what makes them feel alive can catch them off guard. Every person is a unique individual with different mind sets. One person might feel like having control in their life is what makes them feel alive, while another person may feel that doing what they love is what gives their life meaning and makes them feel alive. Akaky Akakyevich and Hamm are both complex characters with very different mind sets and wants. Hamm is controlling and wants others to feel his pain, while Akaky wants to belong and feel valuable. These are both very different wants, but they could be brought upon by the same feelings and emotions. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves if this is the best outcome for them, and think about why they want this out of their lives.
If there is no point to living why do we continue to live? If this reality is absurd why don’t we recognize that and commit suicide? Taking one’s life shows the lack of will or reasons to live and also the needlessness of suffering. So what is living? Living is the Absurd. Living is hopelessness. Living is keeping the absurd alive. To keep the absurd alive you only have to live the absurd. 'Life will be more fully lived in so far as it has no meaning.' is a quote from Camus that shows this. Camus shows that you can “hope” for the best without hope. “Hope” is not the same as hope. “Hope” is optimism. Freedom from hope is freedom to your soul. You can no longer hurt yourself by living. It is hard to believe that being hopeless leads to living but living is an imprisonment. We try to be the best we can be but does not life limit us?
That is not true for me. When a person lives, it is when he/she does not worry about something far from your own concerns, it is when he/she loves to live a life helping others, but not all the time, sometimes being selfish and still ask for forgiveness. These are simple things that make us a living human being. There is a saying “Cogito Ergo Sum” by Rene Descartes which means “I think therefore I am”, it is true but life is not always about thinking. Sometimes overthinking leads to a person to do indecisive actions such as committing crimes, or even suicide, which deletes the meaning of the saying. For me, existing as a human person is simply just living life like a normal person, because that is what the society demands us to do as of now, if you do anything differently then you will be judged and criticized which is not a good sign because, again, it could lead to indecisive
Many individuals wonder what is the meaning of life, and if the life that they are living has some sort of meaning to it. Before determining what the meaning of life is one has to know what the meaning of meaning is. Meaning has to do with how a word represents something or communicates something. Life is not the kind of thing that that can just represent or communicate, and so it doesn’t make sense to ask about the meaning of life, but what if the question to ask about the meaning of life does have an answer? Most things have a clear definition, but is life that simple to have a definition that all individuals will accept?
If something follows one or just a few of the rules listed above, it does not necessarily mean that it is living. To be considered alive, an object must exhibit all of the characteristics of living things. For example a virus can be seen as a living thing because it has the capacity to make someone very ill, but in reality viruses are not living things. Viruses don’t reproduce have no energy and they don’t respond to stimuli. (Audesirk T. 2011)