The Different Faces Of Humanity

Derek Parfit believes that split-brain cases support the Bundle Theory because split brain cases appear to demonstrate two levels of consciousness, rather than suggesting that consciousness is destroyed in people whose sub-dominant hemispheres are destroyed. The suggestion that there are multiple levels of consciousness aligns with Parfit's understanding of Bundle Theory, although his explanation of Bundle Theory does not limit itself to two dimensions of consciousness. On the contrary, under Parfit's explanation, Bundle Theory suggests an almost infinite variety of levels of consciousness, which, when taken as a whole form the experience that one refers to as a human life. Therefore, to have dual experiences of consciousness would not conflict with Bundle Theory.

During World War II from 1933 to 1945 in Europe, horrifying systematic events took place were millions of innocent people were tortured and killed based on their religious views, culture, and sexual orientation. The Nazi’s under the command of Adolf Hitler committed these crimes. These horrifying systematic events that took place are known as the Holocaust. The following texts Elie Wiesel’s Night, Eve Bunting’s Terrible Things, and Martin Niemoller First They Came all convey how the surrounding public during World War II stayed silent and didn't stand up for the people who were being oppressed. All three of these texts explains why it is highly important to stop indifference and inaction. Indifference can lead to horrific actions; those actions can probably lead to the genocide of an entire group, furthermore the inaction of a bystander can not only affect and hurt the victim but can also strongly affect the bystander, and finally inaction against oppression can harm and devastate many lives.

Imagine if you were watching the news and there was an announcement about a mass genocide taking place right now,somewhere in the world.How would you feel?Well,sadly this is a reality to some people in the world. The word genocide itself is enough to strike fear into the hearts of many. The holocaust and the cultural revolution of Tibet were both large acts of genocide which were both handled differently by the victims and by the world as a whole.Genocide is a horrible crime that has been committed many times throughout history and many cases have been ignored by most of the world.

In Genesis one and two, it provides a full understanding of God’s creations and wisdom of human nature because it is free from evil. Human nature is revealed from Genesis one with God creating the Earth and the Heavens and creating the man of his likeness. The Bible explains how God created Adam, from dust and was placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:7). The Bible explains humanity was created to work and serve (Genesis 2:15). Subsequently, Eve was created; “God had created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Adam and Eve would help God because He wanted them to multiply the Earth by taking care of all of his creation (Hiles & Smith, 2014). God is the sovereign ruler, he created humanity as how he should have wanted. The Bible explains about human nature that God created everything to be distinct from animals and all of His creation. God created us in his own image, which is why we all look different; we are unique in His eyes. Also, God created us to be good because we are born innocent of all evil and loving of God. In addition, we were all born pure as Adam and Eve were. The Bible explains that God was pleased with his creations, “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10-21).

In Genesis the word of God leads humanity in the direction of self preservation, urging them to procreate, to ”Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:1), and to minimize hostility and violence among people. As Freud asserted, “Besides the instinct to preserve living substance and join it into ever larger units, there must exist another, contrary instinct seeking to dissolve those units and bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state” (Freud 77). Genesis exemplifies the struggle between the two opposing human instincts, with God acting as a moderator between them. Forms of justice are put into place in an attempt to control these drives, one example being the proclamation that “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). The ethics and laws that develop throughout Genesis seek to “prevent the crudest excesses of brutal violence” but are unable to control “the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” (Freud 70). Since they cannot be completely eradicated, the scriptures instead play into the more negative aspects of human nature, especially narcissism, and manipulate them into a force for conservation rather than annihilation.

Elie Wiesel argues that indifference denies the humanity of victims and urges people to face their own indifference.

During times of war, people's humanity is negatively affected without them even knowing. People cause suffering by doing nothing - by not interfering with bad things that happen, self-proclaimed ‘good people’ allow others to undergo misery. Elie Wiesel speaks about the world’s lack of intervention during the Holocaust in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, angry, “that the world did know and remained silent” (Document B), and goes on to explain how, “neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented” (Document B). Wiesel is anguished that so many people stood by and watched as others were systematically murdered by their own government. Regular citizens were so stricken with horror

Thinking about suffering is pretty frightening, now the minimum event that occurs to someone people call it suffering, but have you thought of how this was even worse in the past with racism, economic problems, and human experimental discoveries? In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot a lot of central ideas are being formed, and one of them is suffering. Suffering is illustrated in Henrietta, Deborah, and Day. First of all, this central idea is formed in Henrietta being used for experiments and with her illness. In page forty-two Skloot states, “Henrietta knew nothing about her cells growing in laboratory.”

According to Joyce A. Little, the major moral problem that human’s face is that when people attempt to agree upon attacking evil, their different opinions separate their views on identifying exactly what should be right? Little expresses the problem as "we cannot agree on what would be right or good for society...by people whose fundamental views of reality are radically opposed to the Church 's" (23).

Response To Literature: Setting All around the world horrific events have happened and are still happening, but the rest of the world just stands by and watches. How is it possible for nobody to speak out or do anything? In the book Night Elie Wiesel describes a horrific event he was forced through (the Holocaust) and the world didn’t do anything. Why doesn’t anyone do anything? People around the world are keeping silent because nobody wants to get involved, some people just don’t care, and some people just don’t know how to help.

The world of today has been a witness to countless menacing wars, violence, and tragedies, but the amount of sympathy and compassion the people feel towards it has significantly decreased. In fact, it is believed by many that capacity of compassion is limited and so the lack of consideration for other’s suffering is part of human nature. Psychologists such as C. Daryl Cameron and Keith Payne have developed the collapse of compassion theory, described in the article, “How to Increase Your Compassion Bandwidth,” that suggests that people are growing to become indifferent and less empathetic towards major moments in history of inhumane behavior. The apathetic attitude individuals have towards tragedies is not a phenomenon only seen in the recent years, but in fact can be traced to about seventy years ago, in the midst of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was carried out by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi reign, between 1933 and 1945, which brought upon the world a massive genocide that almost killed the entire Jewish population of Europe. For nearly twelve years, Jewish people were isolated from society with discriminative laws, thrown into crowded and unsanitary ghettos, and then shipped into concentration camps where they met their deaths. The Jews were endlessly slaughtered in a cruel manner, but yet hardly any people cried out for its injustice. The behavior of the Nazis was condoned by most of the German people who supported its reign and even the prisoners of the death camps began

The flaws of human nature are many, but one of the biggest is the gullibility, especially in the presence of the supernatural. It is often easy to think that the thoughts or actions of an individual are of their own doing. It is even easier to assume that the range of the mind falls between good and evil. But society is not quite clear and even in fiction, there is always something motivating an action that lingers in the back of the mind of any character. The supernatural in particular is known for its ability to push people to extremes and alter their perception drastically. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is easy to assume the blind ambition that brews within Macbeth and his wife or the guilt that plagues them following their actions is the biggest motivator. But that is just the surface of the complexity interlaced into this tragedy. Dig further, and it becomes clear that these emotions were not always prevalent in the characters, but were instead prompted by a force so powerful, it toyed with fate and provoked deception until the end; it was the supernatural that fueled the emotions and actions that take up much of the play.

Since the beginning of the human race, the ocean has been a major source of food. People near the shores have been taking of advantage of the ocean’s rich and diverse source of nourishment for centuries, both as a source of food and a livelihood. However, since the dawn of the industrial age, humans have begun to take from the ocean more that it can give. As a result, the ocean can no longer provide the human race with the abundance that it once did. As technology rapidly advances, populations skyrocket, and global warming spreads havoc, the ocean’s biodiversity and once abundant supply of fish is dwindling, calling marine scientists and experts to race to find solutions that will restore the oceans health while battling world hunger.

In our history classes growing up we learn the absolute basics of very big and painful moments in our history. We barely scratch the surface of these topics, the simple answer to this is we avoid things that cause us pain. Like many people, I am no different. I do not seek out pain, nor do I enjoy causing others pain. Avoiding is the easiest way to not get hurt. Through this documentary and other strong topics discussed in this class I learned that I am stronger than I make myself out to be. I find myself having very strong opinions on the images and films we watch that show others in pain and being tortured. I am disgusted and confused about how anyone can want to cause others to suffer. I have always thought of myself to be a very happy person, but I am not perfect. Every person has those moments of sadness, or pain. Most people face someone in their lifetime that causes sadness, an emotional form of pain. I like many others, have had someone say something, or do something that has caused me grief. This does not in anyway compare to the gruesome events, but in a much smaller scale that is the only way I could ever slightly relate. Breaking someone down in a twisted way can also build someone up, as messed up as it

Others may argue that humanity is not lost and destroyed in times of injustice and war, but they are definitely wrong. “Before the war Jack had parents, a brother, a grandfather, uncles, aunts, and cousins – eighty one people in all. Now, everyone except Jack’s second cousins, Robert and Arek, Aunt Hinda, Uncle Sigmund, and Jack was dead.” “If I had known this when I was in the camps, why would I have struggled so hard to live?” You cannot just think about the time in the camps. You must think about the after effect and psychological problems that this could and have caused. You can argue that they survived and they still have humanity because they are alive, but would you want to keep living when you know that everyone that you had known before except 4 people are dead? Where is the humanity in all of this?