Irreducible complexity Essays

  • The Cosmological and Teleological Arguments

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout much of the short time that humankind has spent on this planet, few questions have been raised and torn apart as often as that regarding the existence of God. Philosophers throughout the ages have tackled this monumental issue, and some of them have gone so far as to try to prove the existence of God from a logical standpoint. Arguments for and against the existence of a Creator abound, but two of these stand above the rest. The first of these is the cosmological argument which while arguable

  • Cleanthes

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cleanthes is trying to argue, using the analogy of the Watch and the Watchmaker, that an intelligent designer must be assumed for the purpose-revealing watch, so an intelligent Grand Designer may be inferred in explaining the purpose-revealing world. Both products, the world and watch, reveal an intricate and positive design; thus, each has to have its own intelligent designer. Also, because the universe is like a watch, we can infer it has an intelligent designer by the fact that it may be proved

  • Complexities of Love Exposed in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Complexities of Love Exposed in The Joy Luck Club In the novel "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan, the ignorance, the disregard of, and the necessity of love are all reveled as the characters tell their life stories and memories. The characters in the novel take love for granted. By ignoring love, concentrating more on material possessions, and hiding their true identities, the characters don't realize love's importance. One character that takes love for granted is Harold, Lena St. Clair's

  • The Emotion, Imagination and Complexity of Wordsworth and Coleridge

    2326 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Emotion, Imagination and Complexity of Wordsworth and Coleridge The 19th century was heralded by a major shift in the conception and emphasis of literary art and, specifically, poetry. During the 18th century the catchphrase of literature and art was reason. Logic and rationality took precedence in any form of written expression. Ideas of validity and aesthetic beauty were centered around concepts such as the collective "we" and the eradication of passion in human behavior. In 1798 all of

  • The Complexity of William Blake's Poetry

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Complexity of William Blake's Poetry Northrop Frye, in his critical essay, "Poetry and Design," states; "In a world as specialized as ours, concentration on one gift and a rigorous subordination of all others is practically a moral principle" (Frye 137). William Blake's refusal to follow this moral principle by putting his poetry before his art, or vice versa, makes his work extraordinary as well as complex and ambiguous. Although critics attempt to juggle Blake's equally impressive talents

  • The Complexity of Mother and Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Complexity of Mother and Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club Since the beginning of time the mother and daughter relationship has been complex.  The book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is a great example of the mother and daughter relationship.  In the book Amy Tan writes about four women who migrate to America from China.  All of the women were in search of a better life since the lives they had in China were not what they wanted for themselves.  Even though all of the women

  • The Women of Absalom, Absalom!

    1896 Words  | 4 Pages

    inhabit the area. The women particularly challenge the reader to an examination of the time of the Civil War, the relation of the war to the South, and the relation of the people to their surroundings. There is a call for recognition of the intrinsic complexities of the South that stem from the mythological base of the gentlemen class and the qualities of hierarchy that so ensue. The women are very much caught in the web that is the South, the intricacies of their lives linked to the inherent social structures

  • Aristotle's Poetics: Complexity and Pleasure in Tragedy

    2113 Words  | 5 Pages

    Aristotle's Poetics: Complexity and Pleasure in Tragedy Aristotle 384-322 BC First, the instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference between him and other animals being that he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the pleasure felt in things imitated. We have evidence of this in the facts of experience. Objects which in themselves we view with pain, we delight to contemplate when reproduced

  • The Flaws and Shortcomings of African Historiography

    5021 Words  | 11 Pages

    monitored and accounted for. Thus, no historian has been able to filter through the many layers they need to in order to arrive at an accurate account of history. What “personal narratives” and “life histories” provide are numerous examples of the complexities and ambiguities that accompany any reconstruction of African history. Each account of history does not offer a different perspective from which one may view a particular event or time, simply because no two accounts have the same concept of location

  • Night Falls Fast Undertanding Suicide By Kay Redfield Jamison

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    violent temperament and also the social class of a person. As stated “ It should not be necessary, at the end of a century so rich in literature, medicine, psychology and science, to draw arbitrary lines in the sand between humanism and individual complexities”. We do know though, what can drive a person to commit themselves to kill themselves to a certain extent. Such as romantic failures, economic and/or job setbacks, trouble with law or authority, illness, a situation that may seem to humiliate

  • Public Service Broadcasting

    2211 Words  | 5 Pages

    have shown a breakdown to this widespread agreement and the term “public service broadcasting” now seems to exist as more of an amorphous notion than anything with a real concrete description. Perhaps because the term brings with it a number of complexities that serve to hinder the mission of public service broadcasting. How does one determine what someone else should watch? What type of person would be making that decision and does it have the potential to be elitist? Can a single broadcasting entity

  • Thomas W. Lippman's Understanding Islam

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    to the Muslim world in the book Understanding Islam. He has traveled throughout the Islamic world as Washington Post bureau chief for the Middle East, and as a correspondent in Indochina. This gave him, in his own words, "sharp insight into the complexities of that turbulent region." However, the purpose of the book is not to produce a critical or controversial interpretation of Islamic scripture. It is instead to give the American layman an broad understanding of a religion that is highly misunderstood

  • I Like Guys

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become. For David Sedaris, growing up was not the typical fun

  • Barbed Wire By Mary Emeny

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although a great deal of physical effects exist in Emeny’s work, the spiritual consequences of war serve as the most devastating ones. The will and spirit of those amidst the harshness of war diminishes because of the seriousness of war. Prior to the complexities of war, the “spirit flees gleefully to the clouds,” ( ) illustrating the freedom one expresses without repression. As soon as the “wire catches,” ( ) or the war commences, and intervenes with the lives of innocent bystanders, the innocence is lost

  • Prospero’s Magic in Shakespeare's The Tempest

    2110 Words  | 5 Pages

    clarify the ambiguities by distinguishing demonic magic from natural magic, or black magic from white magic. Basically, demonic magic was performed with the aid of spirits and natural magic was not. But even that definition became muddled with complexities during a revival of neoplatonism in England. There was a belief in a world spirit that could be tapped into by magic. Early neoplatonist ideas about magic can be traced to Marsilio Ficino. He developed theories of ways to "attract planetary

  • The Complexity of Arnold-Chiari Malformation

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Complexity of Arnold-Chiari Malformation To the medical doctor, Arnold-Chiari Malformation, which may have a genetic link, is characterized by a small or misshapen posterior fossa (the depression in the back of the skull), a reduction in cerebrospinal fluid pathways and a protrusion of the cerebellar tonsils through the bottom of the skull (foramen magnum) into the spinal canal resulting in a multitude of sensory-motor problems and even some autonomous malfunctions (1). These many symptoms

  • An Obituary For The Progressive Movement Analysis

    2307 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Progressive Movement The progressive movement of the early 20th century has proved to be an intricately confounded conundrum for American historians. Who participated in this movement? What did it accomplish, or fail to accomplish? Was it a movement at all? These are all significant questions that historians have been grappling with for the last 60 years, thus creating a historical dialogue where in their different interpretations interact with each other. The most commonly known

  • Complex Science Essay

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kelly McDonald 04/28/14 Module 7 Complexity Science Looking at the world where we live everything in someway is connected. Our world is not simple and in fact consists of multiple complex systems. Some everyday examples of complex systems are the brain, immune system, insect colonies, and even social networks such as Facebook and twitter. So what exactly do all these have in common in order to be a complex system? First is the fact that each one has a large amount of simple components that work

  • Chaos Theory Essay

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theory Description The chaos theory is a part of the broader Systems Theory. The systems theory simply states that small systems are a part of a larger, complex system. Being that they are open rather than closed, the smaller systems are able to continuously interact with each other making them interdependent. Open systems allow for chaos to exist because boundaries are always changing and being defined and redefined (Bussolari & Goodell, 2009). Chaos Theory is a relatively new theory to the Social

  • Divine Love in The Canonization

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Divine Love in The Canonization Describing the complexities of love, Pascal states that "the heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of" (qtd. in Bartlett 270). Similarly, in "The Canonization" by John Donne, the speaker argues that his unique love obtains reasons beyond the knowledge of the common man. The speaker relates his love to the canonization of saints. Therefore, he implies that his love is a divine love. In "The Canonization," the speaker conveys a love deserving of admiration and