Abstract Friedrich Engels assumes an historical materialist mode of analysis to reveal the fundamental contradiction at the heart of capitalism and the social and economic conflicts that stem from this contradiction. This paper will demonstrate how Engels (following Marx) considered that this contradiction would inevitably foster antagonism between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Unbridled competition would, almost paradoxically, lead to monopoly (cf. Microsoft, Air Canada). The resulting crisis would reveal the incapacity of capitalists to manage modern productive forces, leading to proletarian revolution.
Abstract The paper explains how Bell's work, "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" is a direct reflection of the changing society in which Bell lived. The paper discusses how Bell can be viewed as a cultural critic who highlighted the contradictions inherent in capitalism. The paper looks at Bell's arguments and predictions that did not prove to be true.
From the Paper "When reading Bells' book, it is important to keep in mind that it was written in the early 1970s, shortly following the social upheaval of the 1960s. Bell was trying to make sense of these new social changes and what they meant for the newly emerging society. Bell stressed the importance of culture, rather than religion as the basis for society. He states, "today culture has clearly become supreme (Bell, p. 431). Bell stressed the economic principle of rationality as defined in terms of efficiency in the allocation of resources. However, he also claimed that culture is dominated by irrationality. These two principles contradict each other."
Abstract The poetry of John Keats (1795-1821) is representative of the Romantic Movement in Europe during the early 1800s. In this essay, Keats' (1919) "Bright Star" and (1819) "Ode to a Nightingale" are compared as classic examples of Romanticism's interests in the human soul, representations of perfection in Nature, and especially of depicting the emotions, passions, and sensualities of human existence. Both poems contain examples of Keats' own desire to portray the questions of life in contradictions.
Abstract The paper examines the article "Contradiction and Overdetermination" by Louis Althusser where Althusser imparts a complex and insightful evaluation of Marxist thought and ideology. The paper discusses how Althusser sought to reveal that there was a complex set of principles behind Marxist theoretical applications. The paper explains his belief that this complexity causes more empirical factors to be needed for analysis, rather than merely conflicting ideas that existed within single events.
From the Paper "The article "Contradiction and Overdetermination" by Louis Althusser represents a redefining of Marxist ideology within the construct of theories on political and governmental influences on the economy. In many ways, Althusser often disagrees with Marxist theory being used to understand a single event within society as being a casual factor in determining the rise or fall of any particular economic infrastructure. The word "contradiction" was often used to reveal contradicting facets of any particular society that was slowly to erode because of various problems within a purely economic status quo amongst Marxist theoreticians. Althusser sought to reveal that there was a complex set of principles behind Marxist theoretical applications, which had to be considered."
A review of the book "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" written by Daniel Bell in which he presents a picture of the present condition and possible future of Western civilization.
Abstract The paper states that Daniel Bell's " The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" was originally published to critique the dominant American assumption that capitalism promoted individualism. The paper comments that Bell instead believed that capitalism had come to promote standardization and had created corporate bureaucracies as powerful as church or state bureaucracies of the past. The paper continues by relating that Bell also believed that the counter cultural reaction to capitalism was also misguided, as capitalism had begun with the Protestant work ethic, and its spirit of individualistic austerity, puritanism, and freedom from Church institutional authority. The paper concludes that this sense of Protestant freedom and independence had slowly been eradicated, and this value was taken over by the Modernists, and then ineffectually by 'counterculture' as the anti-capitalist youth movement was still called when Bell wrote his work.
From the Paper "The cultural contradiction of capitalism is that capitalism began as a kind of radical, austere Protestantism, with a heavy emphasis on rejecting the collective Catholic dogma of the past. Protestantism developed a new attitude towards wealth. It stressed pursuing excellence and perfect standards with relentless individualism and drive. But this rigidity made the originally radical notion of capitalism eventually become conservative in terms its morality. This evolved to create the uniform, imposed standards of large corporations and state bureaucracies, including, ironically, the Soviet bureaucracy. In response to what came to be seen as bourgeois values, the cultural beliefs of Modernism began to react against capitalist values and celebrate the function of culture as a kind of misrule, not capitalist order. Capitalistic Protestantism came to deny its original individualistic ethos, and this value of individualism was taken over by artists and anti-capitalism."
This paper addresses the contradiction of slavery and egalitarian politics in colonial America, particularly the arguments surrounding the Virginian economy.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 1 source, 2002, $ 35.95
Abstract This paper addresses the contradiction of slavery and egalitarian politics in colonial America, particularly the arguments surrounding the Virginian economy. These arguments are put forth in Edmund Morgan's classic text on the subject: American Slavery, American Freedom. The essay answers the question: what are Morgan's views on the contradiction stated above? It concludes that historical remove from the events lends us much more perspective on the issue than the slave-owning Founding Fathers.
Tags: AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES / SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, virginia shift slavery
Abstract This paper explains that the title of Heller's novel refers to the contradictions of war itself and inherent contradiction of this code, "Catch-22,' a code of military ethics stating that one does not have to fight if one is crazy, but one is not be crazy if one does not want to fight, suggesting that it is insane to want to die fighting a war. The author applies this code to contemporary military terms, saying that a similar Catch-22 is evident in the rhetoric of leaders who justify the need to stay in Iraq to sustain the peace, even while the American military presence creates more conflict. This paper relates that, in war, the military deprives a person of his or her private language and life, creating its own system of values; in this way, the military is similar to many other spheres of society, which create insular cultures of their own, locking in participants who, once entrapped within a particular system, cannot escape.
From the Paper "Yoassarin, the paranoid hero of the novel desires to leave service, especially after dealing with the death of one of the men of his unit. He too, he finds, is subject to the Catch-22 clause that to be excused from military duty by reason of insanity, one must be insane enough to want to fight on, rather than to live and opt out of armed conflict. Thus, the central problem of the novel is not only the insanity of war, but also how to opt out of a system that demands a clear yes or no--either one must validate the war and insanely agree to armed combat to be excused, or one must validate the war by continuing to fight on, while sanely refusing and saying that war is death, thereby proving one's own sanity and proving one's fitness to fight."
Abstract In this article, the writer demonstrates that epistemology is by its own nature problematic and that this problematic nature is only resolved by introducing morality. The paper relates that the problematic nature of epistemology is because it is studied merely as in investigation into knowledge, and is severed from action. Thus, human beings come to understand the world but do not obtain final knowledge and that the resolution to this contradiction in human understanding can only come through action. The paper concludes that it is the moral act that is capable of resolving contradiction in understanding.
From the Paper "Epistemology is the study of knowledge, and as such its object is to verify claims to truth. In the strict sense truth is said to be objective, so that if something is true for one observer it is necessarily true for all observers. But epistemology becomes problematic if we insist on such a strict notion of truth. Almost all investigators of the question have sought only partial knowledge, deeming that absolute knowledge is the strict domain of God. An exception to this rule is the school of Rationalism, which followed the seventeenth century French philosopher Rene Descartes, and which maintained that absolute knowledge is possible. Descartes' ontology, which serves as the basis to this school, will be considered in due course, and its error exposed. But partial, or subjective, knowledge cannot be the basis for any rigorous study, and therefore epistemology in inherently problematic. Indeed the historical verdict is that epistemology only leads towards resolution when knowledge is taken to be the basis for action, or in other words, when knowledge becomes the substrate to morality. When not leading to morality, epistemology inevitably leads to the doors of skepticism."
Abstract This essay explores how the doctrine of Islam faith reveals a history based not on tolerance and equality, but instead on tyranny and abuse. The author contends that the basic tenets of Moslem faith still incorporate fundamental contradictions and tensions between primary beliefs and the requirements of human rights.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Islam's Prescriptions & Treatment Concerning the Dhimmis
Conclusion
From the Paper ?The religious group known as the Muslims, who have followed the doctrine of Islam faith since the seventh century A.D., profess that the legal prescriptions of Islamic law concerning the dhimmis in both medieval and modern times attests to the fact that Islam is a remarkably tolerant religion and civilization (Abdelmoula 1). A closer examination of this practice and treatment, however, contradicts this profession, for it reveals a history based not on tolerance and equality, but instead on tyranny and abuse. This history, along with a continued persecution of non-Islamic people by modern Muslims, leads to the conclusion that the basic principles of the Moslem faith are in direct contradiction to modern concepts of tolerance and human rights, therefore negating the claim that tolerance underlies the framework of Islamic religion and civilization.?
Abstract This paper on Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" focuses on the personality of the "Squire". It discusses his qualities, Chaucer's attitude toward him, his appearance and what it tells of his character. It also explores the ambiguities or contradictions between inner and outer appearance.
From the Paper "In "The Canterbury Tales" Chaucer documents the different social tensions in the manner of the day, moreover, he wrote in the vernacular, the English that was spoken in and around London in his day. The tales are told by a group of people who are journeying from London to Canterbury in Kent so they may receive the blessings of the English martyr, Sir Thomas Becket. The group is a collage of social classes from aristocrats to the poor. It has been proposed that each in the group will tell a tale so the journey may pass more quickly and the best storyteller will be the recipient of an elaborate meal paid for by the other travelers (Chaucer 1976). Chaucer places himself in the story as one of the travelers and straws are drawn to see who will tell a tale first. The Knight draws the shortest straw and so begins his tale, followed by such characters as the Monk, the drunken Miller, the Man of Law, the Parson, the Shipman, the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, and the Knight's son, the Squire (Chaucer 1976)."
Abstract The paper discusses this classic novel as it moves the reader in a charming network of meanings, contradictions and paradoxes. The author introduces the main character, Isaac Kumer, and follows his life in the "Land of Israel". The author says the message of the book is that a man's many highs and lows may be caused by his sometimes ill-fated decisions.
From the Paper "As the book continues to explore Kumer's adventures and disappointments in his life, the reader learns that he always led astray by circumstances. He always ends up in the place opposite of where he wants to be, and the audience will ask the question why. The manuscript ascends to Surrealist-Kafkaesque declines when Kumer drips paint on a stray dog, in a playful manner writing "Crazy Dog" on his back."
Abstract The paper begins by discussing the primary metaphor of the diverging roads and by giving an outline of the plot. It debates whether or not the road was really the road less traveled. The poet's contradictions are pointed out and the poem's tone is studied. The paper concludes by showing how the poem could be misleading.
From the Paper "In Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," there is no stable evidence that the speaker indeed chose "The Road Not Taken." Throughout the poem, the traveler himself is unable to identify with confidence which road was least taken. It is acknowledged that the two roads are almost the same. Yet the end of the poem contradicts the point that the roads were identical. In the future, he decides that the roads were in fact different."
A discussion of the sense of reality in "The Kiss" by Anton Chekhov, "How to Tell a True War Story" by Joseph Conran and "The Secret Sharer" by Tim O'Brien.
Abstract This paper reviews the above novels and looks at how truthful perceptions are hard won by the characters in each case. It examines how the protagonists in each story do not first perceive themselves or the world in a way that is commensurate with reality and how through the juxtaposition of reality and the character's dreams, a sense of truth is created and a sense of a character's final coming to terms with some self-knowledge is created at the narrative's closure. It looks at how all three protagonists swim in a sea of contradictions between a truth that can never be expressed or known to the outer world and to the strife they feel within themselves. In all three short stories, the true depths of the character's inner turmoil are never completely revealed to all. No one ever understands how much "The Kiss" meant to the soldier, O?Brien's soldiers never say quite what happened to their comrades during the Vietnam War and Leggatt leaves the tale a mysterious "floppy" had on shallow water.
From the Paper "Tim O?Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story" also creates ironic juxtaposition between perceived reality and what is actually true. In this case, the juxtaposition is between the characters? real experience of war and the propaganda the characters were fed before they began to fight the war in Vietnam. As in Chekhov's short story, this juxtaposition ultimately proves embittering to the protagonists. The narrator of O?Brien's narrative states that ?in the end, really, there's nothing much to say about a true war story, except maybe ?Oh.? True war stories do not generalize. They do not indulge in abstraction or analysis.? "
Abstract Evil is a key concept in the philosophy of religion, drawing together metaphysical, moral and ethical aspects of philosophy to address one of the most confounding mysteries of human existence. What is evil? Is it a necessary part of the human condition? What are its implications concerning the possible existence of a God? These questions are all addressed in Hume's "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and further analyzed in a group of articles cited at the end of this paper. This paper will be restricted to a discussion of Hume's contradiction - that between an omnipotent God and an abundance of evil in the world he has created.
Abstract This essay analyzes the poem by Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and explores the meanings of the contrasting words, metaphors, and contradictions. The poem is described as a darker description, one that indicates a mood of despair and loneliness, set in contrast to the quiet tranquillity of the scene.
