Abstract
This essay aims to show that there can be no moral distinction made between active and passive euthanasia. The writer presents the arguments towards making such a distinction, carried out by both the opponents and proponents of euthanasia, and exposes such arguments as spurious. The writer also shows how the AMA's criminalization of active euthanasia is riddled with the same incoherent logic. The paper shows why passive euthanasia is usually preferred, where the agents convince themselves that they are less culpable. But this is shown to be a result of muddled thinking, and usually leads to the more cruel option being taken.

From the Paper
"A common concession made by the opponents of euthanasia is that passive euthanasia may be allowed. However, as this essay argues, it is not possible to distinguish morally between active and passive euthanasia. If there is any difference between the two it can only be of interest to lawyers, because the law does distinguish between killing and letting die. The essay also goes on to expose the fallacy contained in the ruling of the American Medical Association which criminalizes active euthanasia, and thereby condones the passive form. It shows how that the same ruling of the AMA defines euthanasia through the mode of intention, and that by this criterion both active and passive euthanasia contain the same intention, that of terminating the life of the patient.
"From purely philosophical considerations, there is nothing to distinguish between the active and passive forms of euthanasia. To emphasize intention we may consider two cases in which a daughter murders her father in order to come into inheritance."

Tags:mercy, killing, compassion, willful, coma, life, support, machine

Abstract
This paper firstly evaluates and engages critically and in detail with Krashen's learning/acquisition hypothesis. Having established that it does not meet the criteria of the scientific method, and having demonstrated where Krashen's assertions are not supported by research or not testable, it concludes that Krashen's hypothesis is invalid. The paper then moves on to consider other theorists that posit a similar distinction, such as Bialystok, Anderson, McLaughlin and others. It discusses concepts of explicit and implicit knowledge and learning, procedural knowledge and automaticity. Finally, the central concepts of cognitive linguistics are summarised and the results of such research examined for implications for the learning/acquisition distinction. Some such distinctions are shown to be valid. Methodological implications are then discussed.

From the Paper
"To test the validity of the distinction between language acquisition and learning, it will be necessary firstly to define validity criteria for such a hypothesis. Several hypotheses discuss different types of linguistic knowledge, but not all do so using the terms acquisition and learning. Therefore we must consider whether any of them, despite the difference in terminology, relate to the acquisition-learning distinction. These hypotheses will then be evaluated in terms of the defined validity criteria. As this distinction can be argued to be cognitive in nature, and as most of these theories take a cognitive approach to SLA, a discussion of the distinguishing features of such approaches will show how they shed new light on the nature of language learning, and on the distinction between acquisition and learning in particular. Finally, we will discuss the implications of the validity of the acquisition-learning distinction for teaching. "

Tags:cognitive, linguistics, explicit, and, implicit, knowledge

Abstract
This paper describes distinctions between narratives through a comparison of Aphra Behn's poem "The Disappointment", and John Wilmot's " The Imperfect Enjoyment." The author argues that influence and utility of different forms of narrative can very well distinguish a work of literature's tone and characterize the work's entire thematic overlay. This can be achieved through reflecting upon the variety of precepts formed by these two works.

From the Paper
"Woman author and poet Aphra Behn's 1680 poem "The Disappointment" is a historically criticized seventeenth century poem characterized by its use of clever and purposeful narration in its depiction of an ambiguously scandalous plot ,offered by Behn in a quasi-acceptable literary form for its time. Utilizing the technique of third person narration within "The Disappointment", Behn enables her reader's the opportunity to become fully immersed within the poem's characterization and interiority, creating a metaphorically intimate poetic mA(c)nage trios between the reader's, Cloris, and Lysander. In order to fully appreciate Aphra Behn's narrative technique, one must take into consideration the alternatives to third person narration employed by the other writer's of the seventeenth century. Upon Juxtaposing Behn's "The Disappointment", with John Wilmot's seventeenth century poem "The Imperfect Enjoyment", a critical mind is afforded the opportunity to draw upon the general advantages and disadvantages of first and third person narratives. With a critical analysis of both works, one will be able to withdraw the narrative characteristics of the contrasting styles used by Behn and Wilmot; and furthermore appreciate the distinct differences that make each poet a master of their craft."

Tags:authorship, Behn, narration, person, poem, rochester, seventeenth, Wilmot

Abstract
Sartre was more concerned with existence before deciding what society to build. Man in the end realizes that he is free. Hobbes would say man realizes he is free and needs something to fear. Rousseau would say man is born in chains and needs to realize his own freedom.

Abstract
"The Contradictory Nature of Distinction 12 of Gratian's Decretum" is a six page paper about The Distinction 12 of Gratian's Decretum. It talks about the contradictory nature and its negation of itself, specifically in the idea of the law of "custom." Through the ancient canons and authorities, Gratian's own magisterial commentary and the ordinary gloss (outlined in the margins of the text), one can take that the laws of Gratian's Decretum were gray, to say the least, despite the authoritative perception of such laws.

From the Paper
The Contradictory Nature of Distinction 12 of Gratian's Decretum Distinction 12 of Gratian's Decretum is interesting to me in its contradictory nature and its negation of itself, specifically in the idea of the law of "custom." Through the ancient canons and authorities, Gratian's own magisterial commentary and the ordinary gloss (outlined in the margins of the text), one can take that the laws of Gratian's Decretum were gray, to say the least, despite the authoritative perception of such laws. In this grayness we can look inside a cryptic space that offers us an example of how laws of faith, custom and the politics in between these two words were conducted. Perhaps Distinction 12 of Gratian's Decretum

Tags:philosophy, gratian, decretum

Abstract
In this article, the writer notes that Quebec is unique within English-speaking North America because it is a large, self-contained geographical region that is characterized by a strong, if no longer overwhelming, French-speaking presence and by a culture that is still informed by Roman Catholicism. With this in mind, the writer looks at how the religious and political ties of eighteenth century Quebec (Upper Canada as it was known then) into a distinctive cultural region that remains distinctive even today. In so doing, the paper emphasizes how religion became a means of producing a society that was highly hierarchical even by the standards of its time - and how politics reinforced these unbending class cleavages. The writer explains that to understand why Quebec today is different from its Anglo counterparts, one must understand how religion and politics worked together more than two hundred years ago to create the French Canada of today.

From the Paper
"During the seventeenth century and, by all accounts, into the eighteenth century, as well, these religious orders sought to convert the indigenous peoples to the Roman Catholic faith. As an example of just central the Roman Catholic Church would be to eighteenth century French Canada, it is instructive that the priests actually pre-dated the farmers or habitants who would later be charged with trying to make the inhospitable lands of the area yield sustenance fit to maintain a thriving colony. Be that as it may, one should not be left to think that Roman Catholic French Canada in the eighteenth century was entirely under the sway of the Church and its stern injunctions; to wit, while the people of Lower Canada were, by and large, devout and pious, there were never as many priests around as the Church would have liked and creeping secularism was always a threat to the social fabric."

Tags:class, political, religious, government

Abstract
The paper discusses how the stratified and parochial French Canada against which intellectuals would rebel in the latter-half of the twentieth century was a product of the eighteenth century. Further, the paper notes that language formulated a distinct and enduring French Canadian culture inasmuch as French Canadians clung most tenaciously to their language in the eighteenth century as a means of resisting the imperialist presence of a seemingly hostile Anglophone elite; suffice it to say, the language laws and interminable battles today over the proper place of the French language today in Quebec society is surely rooted in the old eighteenth century belief that holding on to one's mother tongue was a way of standing firm against the cultural depredations of the English. The paper concudes that the strands of language and religion (particularly during the eighteenth century) made a distinctive Quebecois culture possible.

From the Paper
"The following paper will argue that religion and language both played invaluable roles in establishing French-Speaking Lower Canada as a distinctive cultural region. Specifically, the stratified and parochial French Canada against which intellectuals would rebel in the latter-half of the twentieth century (a process which may very well still be ongoing and one which certainly impacted French-Canadian politics in profound ways in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s) was a product of the eighteenth..."

Tags:quebec, culture, language

Abstract
The paper focuses on the Sixth of Rene Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy" where Descartes claims that: "It is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it" (Descartes 2002, p.17). This paper reveals that this claim is made as but one stage in a complex argument that began from a position of radical scepticism, and moved towards a proof for the existence of material things and ultimately God. The premises that underlie this claim are critically examined in order to better understand the dualism that lies at the core of Descartes' thinking.

From the Paper
"In the Sixth of his "Meditations on First Philosophy", Rene Descartes claims that: "it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it" (Descartes 2002, p.17). As this essay will reveal, this claim is made as but one stage in a complex argument that began from a position of radical scepticism, and moved towards a proof for the existence of material things and ultimately God. The premises that underlie this claim will be critically examined in order to better understand the dualism that lies at the core of Descartes' thinking."

Tags:mind, body, thought

Abstract
This paper examines the basic tenets of the transcendental aesthetic which lead Kant to arrive at the noumena and phenomena distinction. What will be outlined in the following, are the analytical arguments which go into constructing the claim that all knowledge has for it, objects which are within space, and are within time. Thus, knowledge is determined apriori by the categories of space and time. However, both space and time are not solely rational in terms of their apriori but also empirical. Phrased in different terms, these categories are also empirical.

Tags:kant

Abstract
This paper explains the way class distinctions in U.S. society continue to have a deletarious impact on individual members of all classes. The author uses two short stories ("Everyday Use" and "Paul's Case") and the film "The Age on Innocence" as examples of the impact of class distinctions.

From the Paper
"Class divisions continue to exist and widen in American society. Traditionally class distinctions include such groups as the poor the working-class, the middle-class and the elite or ruling class. At various times, other distinctions ..."

Tags:gender, race, economics, class distinctions, politics, heritage