Freedom And The Pursuit Of Identity. From The Beginning

The freedom to hold beliefs of one's choosing and to change them is central to human development. It is the individual's search for meaning and the desire to know who we are as human beings that distinguish the human conscience. Human Development Reports have evolved dramatically from a purely materialist approach centered on wealth and income to embrace the concept of development as the expansion of human freedoms.

When you ask people what freedom is they may respond that freedom is when you can do whatever you want to do at whatever time. Mostly this will be the response of kids and young adults. But this definition of freedom is incorrect. Freedom is when we are allowed to have power of right to act without violating other people's freedoms or rights. The most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom are strong government and constitution. A quote that can help out the claim comes from the Declaration of independence “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

In “Human Freedom and the Self,” Roderick M. Chisholm takes the libertarian stance, arguing that freedom is incompatible with determinism, that determinism is in fact false, and that humans do posses the kind of freedom required for moral responsibility. Chisholm argues that a deterministic universe, where all events, including human actions, proceed from prior events without the possibility that they would proceed differently than they do prevent the possibility that humans are responsible for their actions. To validate his libertarian beliefs, Chisholm sets out to prove that humans are responsible for their actions and also the thoughts that lead to those actions. In order to answer this problem, Chisholm believes we must make some assumptions about the man who preforms the act.

Freedom isn’t given, it’s most definitely taken. There are far more factors playing against freedom than there are supporting freedom such as the greed for power, the countless secrets of multiple governments, and segregation. It may seem easy to some, but freedom is a blood, guts, and glory kind of deal. No country has ever received freedom before battling in a gruesome war or developing an uproar.

In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, individuals desire to change their identity to erase problems and bad memories of their past. The main character, Gene, demonstrates this desire in the novel.

Our world is a rich and amazing environment with a vibrant past, present, and quite possibly future, and hundreds and thousands of years ago, we humans took it upon ourselves to record the events of importance that happen over time. However, each person has their own unique perspective, influenced by experiences, childhood, belief systems and more, and each of these aspects of our personality affect how we view and record historical events. It is inevitable that we will take sides -- it’s what people do. Still for the sake of history, historians try to remain objective. However, sometimes people want opinions. In these cases, experienced persons might publish professional, personal beliefs about an important historical or political event.

An identity is the state of being oneself. Your character is comprised of your past, present, and future. Some individuals are ashamed of who they really are and try to change themselves, or mask their identities. One of the dominant themes that is conveyed throughout The Namesake is the theme of identity. In the novels, everybody is a little lost, or a lot lost, frankly. Practically every individual struggles with his or her identity, because every person feels the tug and pull of different cultures, different traditions, and different dreams. The Namesake is about this perpetual dilemma faced by immigrants as they fight to maintain their identities while trying to shake them off at the same time while The Great Gatsby is about people

The characteristic that I will be discussing in this week’s blog post is the age of identity explorations. According to the book, it is “the age when people explore various possibilities in love and work as they move toward making enduring choices.” As college students, this stage is definitely portrayed by our population. During this time, it is a huge change from what we were accustomed to in our adolescence. In adolescence we cared more about what people thought about us or what group we belonged to. In contrast to college, where the central focus is within ourselves and figuring out what we want to do with our lives. Now we are more independent and are at the age to make big decisions on our own. I feel like during this age it is about

He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to equivocate; to marry, to give up the game, to drag this death weight about with him for years to come. He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being.” In this quotation Sartre explains the meaning of becoming absolutely free.

The chaplain comes to see Meursault against Meursault’s own wishes and the chaplain tells him that he should turn to God for comfort in his final days. Meursault does not believe in God and he tells this to the chaplain. The chaplain seems so sure about everything in life and about everything that will happen but to Meursault, the only certainty is that everybody dies. If it does not happen today, it will happen tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after. Life is indifferent to everybody and nothing in it is important unless the person makes it important. There are no pre-set values that everyone must believe in when they are born. The choices a person makes are what define him because existence precedes essence. If someone chooses to value love, then it is important to him or her and he or she should care about it. If someone chooses to believe in God, then He is only important to him or her and only he or she should care about Him. The reason that he did not cry at his mother’s funeral is because he does not believe that this is the appropriate reaction since everybody dies at one point or another. The reason that he said that he probably does not love Marie and that it is not important, is because he does not have love as one of his values; therefore, he should not care about that emotion. Finally, the reason he did not show remorse for killing the Arab is because he did not feel that emotion. What Meursault does value is the truth. He

In the paper, “Human Freedom and the Self” Roderick M. Chisholm offers his theory of human freedom and defends it against a couple objections. One of the objections we will talk about which is the second objection is connected to the concept of immanent causation, where causation is by an agent, he argues how the statement “the prime mover unmoved” (page 391) has been subject to difficulty. Chisholm explains immanent causation as being an agent causing the event A to happen, but although the agent is causing A to happen the agent is not moved by anything. The argument to this objection is that “there must be some event A, which is caused not by any other event but by the agent” (page 391). Well since A was not cause by another event then the agent couldn’t have produced anything either to bring A about, so “what did the agent’s causation consist of” (page 391). Also another point that was made in the objection was the question “what is the difference between A’s just happening and the agents causing A to happen” (page 391). Chisholm responds by saying that there is a difference between man causing A and an event causing A. The two are not the same because transeunt causation is connected to determinism, which makes the train of events, happen and immanent causation as he explains it is when the agent causes the event. He then sums up his answer by saying the reason “lies in the fact that, in the first case but not the second, the event was caused by the man” (pg. 391) He

This essay will evaluate theories of identity, community and freedom. This will also explore how the three theories influence the homosexualities in Russia. Identifying identity is inevitable theory, various theoretician have different opinions and beliefs about sex and gender. “This is formed through a combination of person’s understanding of how a person see himself and how other react” (Thornes, 2008). The creation of distinguishing an individuals play an enormous role in the society as well as the community they reside. In addition, community is a place where people live with the same belief and characteristics. Functionalists such as Parsons suggests that “community and culture has the function of maintaining the social integration

Liberation is different for everyone. For some it is being, as well as feeling free, being able to express their self, to be able to speak or think to their full extent. Sadly many people have had their “Freedom” taken away.

Throughout history, many trends have risen up and taken over the considered norm of the time. The need for political freedom was a trend that started in the early 1840s and has not diminished since. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in all elections. This granted all American women political freedom and started a movement to end prejudice against females. Before the amendment was ratified women were prohibited from jury service, public speaking, holding office, and attending college ("Nineteenth Amendment" 1). The 19th Amendment was one of the most influential turning points in history; it has led women across the country to fight for freedom and equality.

What is freedom and selfhood? Freedom and selfhood can be related to different topics and discussions. Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants to without a group or individual shutting them down because of what they want to do. Selfhood is having a separate identity and not caring what one cares about the other. In few different written pagers, books, and more. Authors such as: Walt Whitman, Henry D. Thoreau, and lastly John Green, give hints on the topic Freedom and Selfhood. According to Walt Whitman’s usage of one having the freedom to ones work is in the poem called “I Hear America Singing” which describes how the different people of race in America (Indian, Chinese, Arab, Persian, American, and more) makes America,