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Showing posts from September, 2020

Selfish Simpathy

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 Oroonoko: Or, The Royal Slave       I am not a historian, but I do like good stories, especially true stories about the history of our world and its inhabitants. I may have some of the facts mixed up and for that, I ask forgiveness but have added a link for you to journey to if you want to know the better of the truth, as far as it is recorded. I find that it is useful to know a bit of the history of the time a non-fictional story is written. It gives us a peek into the lens the author was seeing her world through, and why she might have felt certain ways, or engaged in certain experiences while acting as a high-class woman of her time period. And as the daughter of the colony’s governor, high-class she was.    When Aphra Behn published Oroonoko, the country of England was undergoing some major changes. During the time she was writing about her experience in Surinam, James II was losing power, Parliament was gaining it, and William of Orange was plotting a militaristic takeover. Wi

I Think, Therefore ...

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  Understanding human understanding, according to John Locke. (Throughout this particular post I will refer to Humans as Man, not meaning the male aspect of our species, the counterpart to the female, but as an all-encompassing whole. Man = Mankind, or the Human Race.) Is Man a slave to our circumstances? Are some of us set apart and ‘made for greatness?’ Do some have an unfair advantage over others because of our environment? How do we come to understanding, and by which force is Man able to reason? Up until that age of reasoning, who are we before then, before Man can reason within themselves? Are we born with reason, or simply with the ability To reason? Is it innate, growing in us as we mature, or is it taught through people and experience? These are but a few of the questions John Locke tried to answer in his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” written in 1689.  Locke seemed on a mad pursuit to proving whether or no Man is born with innate reasoning to right and wrong, kno

Mirror Meditations

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 A toast! Writing is not new to me. Connecting words into interesting thoughts of coherency has been a practice of mine since middle school. I, being both my best audience my most feared critic, writing has been quite enjoyable. That is, until college when term papers have become as plenteous as frogs on the street after a rainstorm. Writing for the approval of others has its challenges but has become more rewarding as the semesters roll on.  The once daunting classroom has grown into comfortable surroundings. Classmates are great for bouncing ideas off of and helping with editing before the assignment is completed. Professors are a trusted source for giving constructive criticism and are a final critic of the overall product.  This post is a self-assessment of how I feel I am doing so far with this system. Below is part of the rubric the professor will be basing our grades on. Only the two better options are included because, so far, there isn’t a need to worry about the two lower pos