Philosophical Analysis of a Non-Philosophical Stimulus

The main plot for the story What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky is that a young mathematician, named Nneoma, is the last living or mentally sane, of a dying breed of people, mathematicians, who figured out a formula to be able to take the grief and pain from other people. Nneoma is faced with several problems throughout the story which just make the reader even more curious and more intrigued, because the reader begins to put themselves in Nneoma’s shoes and attempt to determine what they would do if they were in her position. The reader is

The first-person perspective, as presented in the story, is a vital tool used by John Edgar Wideman to plant a seed in our minds. Wideman’s use of first-person perspective, not only allows him to explain his story as the narrator, but also enables him to provoke an argument that is viewed through his perspective. The instigation of evoking thought is possible because we eventually trust Wideman, such as trusting him in the belief that "You begin and right in the eye of that instant storm your life plays itself out for you in advance" (Wideman 570).

In Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, John (referred to as “the savage”) is the voice of freedom in a society ruled by an inexorable pursuit of superficial happiness. In the dystopian setting, the world controllers maintain public satisfaction “but at a very high price—the sacrifice of freedom, individuality, truth, beauty, a sense of purpose, and the concept of God” (Neilson). John’s unorthodox beliefs about monogamy, God, drugs, and freedom clash with that of the overwhelming majority of people in the totalitarian London utopia. This barrier is rooted in John’s natural moral development as opposed to the artificial conditioning of the rest of society and it leads to John’s complete isolation from the people of London.

This text, not just a product of the intellectual musings of an armchair philosopher, was born out of a culmination of extraneous events and systems that were prevalent at the time of its conception.

During the morning of 9/11, everyone thought it would just be a normal day, however, four airliners were hijacked and planes were under attack by terrorists. One plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, another in Pentagon, and the last two planes hit the Twin Towers of New York City. In that moment more than two thousand lives were quickly taken, leaving families and friends devastated. This horrible incident touched so many lives around the world. New York times published the most popular article about 9/11. Serge Schumann the author of this well known piece, interrupted the tragic crisis through ethos, logos, and mainly pathos.

The world has become a scary place where evil runs rampant and bombings and shooting are becoming more common. The act of terrorism puts fear into the average person, and American essayist and social critic H.L. Mencken observes this by writing, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” That concession is certainly true, because in a contemporary society where terrorism reigns American citizens are willing to give up their freedom and rights for the feeling of security.

Wolff (1970) defines a state as a group of persons who have the right to exercise supreme authority within a territory, over a population. He proposes In the Defense of Anarchism, men are autonomous, as higher degrees of autonomy is achieved, a man will resist the claim that states have authority over him. This illustrates the puzzle of Political obligation and can be explained through the appeal to consent.

Glaucon closes his discourse with an endeavor to show that not exclusively do individuals like to be out of line instead of just, yet that it is judicious for them to do as such. The impeccably uncalled forever, he contends, is more wonderful than the consummately just life. In making this claim, he draws two point by point pictures of the fair and uncalled for man. The totally treacherous man, who revels every one of his inclinations, is respected and remunerated with riches. The totally simply man, then again, is despised and vomited.

When one thinks of freedom, bald eagles, black bears, and lions usually come to mind. For Annie Dillard, however, the epitome of freedom is a Weasel. In “Living Like Weasels”, Dillard comments on the human concept of freedom- more so our general denial of it. She promotes a style of living centered around “grasp[ing] your one necessity and not let[ing] it go.” To convey here the aforementioned position on human freedom, she employs the extended metaphor of the weasel as content for her argument.

Throughout history, many people find themselves choosing safety over freedom; perhaps the safety of a stable job, safety from physical harm, or even safety from discrimination. As H.L. Mencken, a social critic, claimed the average man wants freedom over safety, he encompassed the human psyche that favors safety over freedom in society. However, in our modern society, people opt for safety on the surface, but subconsciously wish for freedom from societal propaganda that one must live a certain way to be considered successful.

In his collection of short stories, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie portrays that imagination is necessary in order to break the cycle of failure. By using belief to consider a situation to be better, one will escape failure especially when it seems like the norm. When Native Americans were pushed into reservations, they found it difficult to succeed in assimilating into white culture and everyone trapped in a cycle of failure. While Victor and Adrian sit on Victor’s porch and reflect on the life of their community, Adrian throws an empty in the air. They both “[watch] it with all of [their] eyes.. [Watch] that cup revolve, revolve, until it came down whole to the ground” (53). Adrian’s action is an analogy in order

The concept of freedom has long been a popular tenet for philosophers to explore. From ancient Greek origins to the present day, many individuals have discussed the importance of freedom and the role it plays within society in an effort to define its relationship to the human condition. Two philosophers that have studied freedom in depth are John Locke and Immanuel Kant. Both philosophers viewed freedom as playing a major role in society; however, they conceptualized it in different ways, particularly in relation to its role with the nation. Perhaps the most notable aspect of these stances is Kant’s definition of the relationship between freedom, reason, and morality.

There are many ways to solve problems and ways to make them known to everyone, So how would you do it? In Brave New world by Aldous Huxley and “The Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift both works present a problem in their respective time and exaggerate it differently with the use of diction and language. By using psychoanalytical and new historicism criticisms to compare and contrast both works to reveal the similar reasons for Huxley and Swift writing Brave New World and “The modest Proposal”

Because man himself has been changed in this transition, the loss of his natural freedom is not a loss at all because he can no longer make any use of a freedom that requires only self-interest to exercise, whereas the freedom gained—the civil freedom that gives him a part in all the society’s undertakings—is suited perfectly to his new, moral nature.

Wars, death, and other acts of violence have all been part of a process to attain true freedom. However, what is true freedom? John Stuart Mill and Georg Hegel tackle this notion of freedom. Mills states that freedom is when individuals have unlimited liberty, while Hegel says that is a false freedom. He states that freedom is when the individual’s morals align with external laws within the nation state. Despite what many say freedom is more similar in Hegel’s and Mills than different. We can see this through Hegel’s notion of absolute mind and Mill’s value of liberty and notion of diversity.