Of Pandas, People, and Propaganda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Of Pandas, People, and Propaganda - Essay Example This holds that the acquisition of knowledge can be explained by justified true belief. Justified true belief was defined by Plato in his work Theatetus. This says that in order for anyone to truly know a thing, that thing: must be true; we must believe it; and there must be sufficient evidence for it (i.e., it must be justified). "If a belief is justified, there is something which justifies it. The thing which justifies a belief can be called its justifier. If a belief is justified, then it has at least one justifier What sort of thing can be a justifier Three things that have been suggested are: beliefs only; beliefs together with other conscious mental states; and beliefs, conscious mental states, and other facts about us and our environment (which we may not have access to)" (Answers.com, 2005). Gettier posed the question: "Is justified true belief knowledge" In his paper, Gettier set forth conundrums which he believed demonstrated a fallacy with justification of belief into know ledge. d. Jones is the man who will get the job, and Jones has ten coins in his pocket. Smith's evidence for (d) might be that the president of the company assured him that Jones would in the end be selected, and that he, Smith, had counted the coins in Jones's pocket ten minutes ago. Proposition (d) entails: Let us e. The man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. Let us suppose that Smith sees the entailment from (d) to (e), and accepts (e) on the grounds of (d), for which he has strong evidence. In this case, Smith is clearly justified in believing that (e) is true. But imagine, further, that unknown to Smith, he himself, not Jones, will get the job. And, also, unknown to Smith, he himself has ten coins in his pocket. Proposition (e) is then true, though proposition (d), from which Smith inferred (e), is false. In our example, then, all of the following are true: (i) (e) is true, (ii) Smith believes that (e) is true, and (iii) Smith is justified in believing that (e) is true. But it is equally clear that Smith does not know that (e) is true; for (e) is true in virtue of the number of coins in Smith's pocket, while Smith does not know how many coins are in Smith's pocket, and bases his belief in (e) on a count of the coins in Jones's pocket, whom he falsely believes to be the man who will get the job" (Gettier, 1963). Gettier demonstrated that knowledge is not acquired as simply or straight-forwardly as philosophers had assumed for over 2000 years. Factual knowledge is not as simple or self-evident as it so often seems to be. Thus, the process of learning cannot be taken for granted. Questions about learning and the acquisition of knowledge need to be posed that can apply to all disciplines, including the natural and social sciences, history, the arts, mathematics, and language. Definitive answers are hard to come by. "'What is Truth' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer," wrote Francis Bacon in his Of Truth, Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral (Theory of Knowledge, 2005). Philosophers have studied the topic of epistemology ever since the time of Plato. Several different theories of the learning process have gained hold in Western

Persuasion and Public Opinion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Persuasion and Public Opinion - Assignment Example However, this time the basic argument revolved around the Obama Care. In order to further understand the real reasons for the shutdown it is important to first analyze the Care Act of President Obama which is primarily responsible to ensure affordable healthcare throughout the nation. As the name indicates the Obama Care is solely based upon providing accessible health opportunities to the American people. It was initiated in 2010 whereas people are required to get their registrations until 2014 (Repeal ObamaCare or Defund ObamaCare?, 2013). Thereafter they would be able to gain extra health benefits including all the preventive services. Additionally it will give the health insurance by simply regulating the existing laws and increasing the rights of the insurers. Obama Care became the main cause of shutdown in October 2013 because the Republicans were aiming to defund it. In fact they insist that the new budget must disrupt the funding for the affordable care act of Obama while in contrast to this the Democrats persist over their position and refuse to accept the bill (Cowan, 2013). Reaction of Republicans and Democrats Although the healthcare law isn’t directly associated with the budget of US government or the financial plans but it has been used as a persuasive technique by the Republicans. For instance, they argued that the President’s domestic policy is going to severely harm the country and its economic position. This was further related with the much deeper ideas of the Affordable Care Act and the Patient Protection which actually requires the American people to go for a health insurance. Consequently, the employers... This essay stresses that on October 1, 2013, America stimulated a fractional shutdown of the government. This primarily happened because the ruling political party was unable to accept the idea of reducing the federal spending. Consequently, the national government had to undergo a shutdown which affected thousands of government officials whereas most of the important government services were delayed. This discussion explores that the healthcare law isn’t directly associated with the budget of US government or the financial plans but it has been used as a persuasive technique by the Republicans. For instance, they argued that the President’s domestic policy is going to severely harm the country and its economic position. This was further related with the much deeper ideas of the Affordable Care Act and the Patient Protection which actually requires the American people to go for a health insurance. Consequently, the employers would be affected and the finances would go beyond the limits of federal government. In addition to this, the Republicans also tried to gain the weightage of public opinion by stating that the burden on employers in form of medical taxes would eventually increase the chances of oversea jobs. Republicans basically tried to persuade the employers so as to gain their consent and support in the entire case. They did so because the medical taxes and i nsurances are largely supposed to increase the expenses of employers.