Essays On Philosophy And Science

Article

What is Skepticism?

What is skepticism? In general, skepticism is the attitude of doubt. However, skepticism is far more than just doubt. Depending on where it is being applied, and how it is being used, there are different varieties of skepticism. Let’s discuss

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Philosophy Article

What Is The Münchhausen Trilemma?

The Münchhausen trilemma is a problem in the branch of philosophy known as epistemology; the Münchhausen trilemma, also known as Agrippa’s trilemma, reveals that any theory of knowledge cannot be certain and that all beliefs are unjustified. In other words, justified beliefs, which are beliefs founded on reason and logic, cannot be obtained, as the Münchhausen trilemma demonstrates the impossibility of justified premises.

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Article

Why We Hate Evolutionary Psychology

We hate evolutionary psychology and virtually all applications of evolutionary theory to human psychology. But why? I will explore some of the reasons for our hatred, and try to determine whether all our hatred for evolutionary psychology is warranted or not.

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Article

The Moral Animal

A summary of core ideas from the Moral Animal by Robert Wright. This book explores the foundations of evolutionary psychology and many of the misunderstandings surrounding evolutionary psychology.

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Article

The Conquest of Happiness

Bertrand Russell’s book the conquest of happiness, far from being generic self-help, has a lot of meaningful things to say about the causes of unhappiness and happiness. From family to public opinion, Russell reflects on how many things in life either cause unhappiness or happiness. Here is my book review of conquest of happiness.

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Article

What it Means to be an Honest Person

What does it mean to be an honest person? Well, a common mistake is to presume an honest person is simply someone who lacks dishonesty. In reality, being an honest person is a much more active process than that.

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Article

Population Disaster

Populations Disaster. Will we have one? Many people say yes, and as many people will say no. Here are some important questions I found myself trying to answer while thinking about this.

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Philosophy Article

Power: a New Social Analysis

In Power: a new social analysis, Bertrand Russell tries to establish a new fundamental concept for the social sciences. I have summarized the foundations of the book, and offer my insight as to whether someone should read this book or not. Here’s what I think.

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Philosophy Article

Why Russell Was Wrong About Power

Bertrand Russell believed power would become the new fundamental concept of the social sciences in precisely the same way that energy is the fundamental concept for physics. However, Russell’s arguments fall tremendously short of being persuasive; they are inconsistent, impractical, and absurd. Here’s why.

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Philosophy Article

Peterson and Ideology

In 12 more rules for life: Beyond Order, Jordan Peterson asks us to abandon ideology. Why? Because Peterson believes ideology leads to the oversimplification of problems. Communism oversimplifies inequality, capitalism oversimplifies market performance, and environmentalism oversimplifies the health of our planet. Peterson advises we adopt critical thinking in exchange for ideology. But is he right?

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Philosophy Article

Man and His Symbols Book Review

Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung is a great book. The aim of the book is to be an introduction to Jungian thought, and also a brief exploration of human psychology. In both of those aims, I believe he succeeds; however, there are nonetheless some reasons to not read the book. Here is why.

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Philosophy Article

Jung and Naturalism

Many people reject Jung because they believed his approach to psychology is supernatural or non-material. However, that is. a common misconception of Jung. His views on psychology are indeed non-empirical in many cases, but they fit just fine in a naturalist worldview. Here is how.

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Philosophy Article

The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century

How much of our water is polluted? How much clean water is left? And how many conflicts will arise over fresh water in the future, given that our water sources have become more polluted all while our population has continually grown. Should cities be forced to stop growing? Should water be privatized to encourage more efficient use? That’s what the ripple effect attempts to discuss, and here is a review of how I think it faired.

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Philosophy Article

The Marshmallow Test

The Marshmallow test is a self-help book that doesn’t live up to the hype but remains a good book, nonetheless. For beginners in psychology, the book is filled with tons of new insights; however, for those are more than beginners, the book can be somewhat repetitive and basic. That said, this is a book which I urge people to read, even if they are not into self-help books or are advanced readers in psychology, because the book is easy to misunderstand. The claims made in popular media about this book are wildly inaccurate.

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Philosophy Article

How Values Can Become Pathologies

We often think of values like freedom, loyalty, and generosity as inherently good and preferable. However, when we take a closer look at these values, we can immediately recognize instances of freedom, loyalty, and generosity which are dysfunctional, unhealthy, and overall pathological. In other words, seemingly benign values can also be incredibly harmful. That is the point of this essay.

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Philosophy Article

The Coming Plague: Book Review

The Coming Plague is a terrific book about microbes and their relationship to human society. The book covers many epidemics and pandemics from the past, as well as explains modern problems around drug resistance and health policy! If you are after a good overview book, I highly recommend The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett.

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Philosophy Article

Why I Use Hunger For Focus

Hunger can train our ability to focus; only because focus and hunger are both states to which we must willfully enter. We are instinctive eaters and easily distracted, so we infrequently endure hunger or focus. By learning how to withstand hunger, we can learn how to focus.

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Philosophy Article

Earning Respect

There are differences between the respect earned from a master and the respect earned from an average person. Both are exciting to earn, yet both are not equal. Let’s discuss that difference.

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Philosophy Article

The Psychology Behind Denying Change and Nature

People have reasons other than the ones which they assert for believing one thing rather than another. And those reasons can at times come from rational or irrational fears. In the case of nature and change, there are specific fears which can make us opt for one over the other. Lets explore those.

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Article

On Disagreement: the Vice Disguised as a Virtue

Disagreement is like a two-sided coin. It is either a virtue or a vice, depending on whether we are the one’s disagreeing or someone is disagreeing with us. For all the acts we commit, disagreement is one which, in regards to whether it is a virtue or vice, we flip-flop around rather frequently. Disagreement, in other words, can reveal our vices.

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Article

On Avoiding Skepticism

One common response I see towards skeptics is dismissal. People often avoid skepticism and the conclusions it brings. There are a few reasons as to why that it is, and they range from psychological and personal to immature and unnecessary.

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Article

Skepticism as a way of Life

Skepticism is both a philosophy and a way of life. But there isn’t one type of skepticism out there, and so there isn’t one type of skeptical life; a point all too often forgotten. Lets discuss that point.

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Article

Are Science and Meaning Compatible?

Science and meaning are nor compatible. Modern science takes a heavily empirical approach to knowledge, and as a result suffers in being compatible with non-empirical things, like meaning. Lets explain.

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Article

Why Skepticism Is Important For Science

Why is skepticism important for science? Because science without skepticism would have too many problems. Lack of innovation, bad dogma, and poor methods are just a few of the reasons why skepticism is important for science.

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Article, Book Review

Building a Story Brand

Not all marketing books should be read, and many should be ignored for being overly generic. However, there is enough good ideas inside this book that I think it is worth a read. Let’s explain some of those ideas.

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Article

On Judging Role Models

Having a role model is a good thing, but it can very easily become a bad thing when we are unreasonable in our judgements about them. Role models are only good if we know how to use them properly.

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Article

I Know Nothing

I know nothing. And that is ok. Why? Because there is not really a good reason why we should know anything to begin with!

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Article

What is Moral Skepticism?

What is ethical skepticism? How is moral skepticism similar to epistemic skepticism? And what are the differences between justified moral action and justified moral knowledge? Let’s discuss.

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Article

A History of Rome

Roman history is a massive area of Research. And as a result, we often don’t know where to start reading. That’s why I suggest reading this book. I found this book to be coherent, informative, and written well all while covering a good introductory range of Roman history.

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Article, Book Review

Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible

Finance often receives bad publicity. People complain that financial tools are used by elites who live lavishly above us all, and that nothing of use can come from finance for ordinary people. And although there is a hint of truth in that sentiment, this book argues otherwise. This book argues that societies in general are only able to occur as a result of financial tools.

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Philosophy Article

On Biographies

There is no need to look up at great figures, for we should instead place them on equal footing. They are more similar to us in both professional and personal affairs than we realize. They are not beyond ordinary people, they are ordinary people who have been fetishized by the media. Biographies can help us see that.

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Philosophy Article

Explanatory Pluralism

Theories are intended to explain the reality before us. However, we often times have disagreements about which explanation is correct. I herein provide a solution to such disagreements by appealing to a generalist account of human cognition.

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Article

Why Do We Like Others?

We tend to think our views on friendship are rational and well thought out; however, social psychology suggests that is not as true as we would often prefer. There are unconscious forces which drive our choice in who we like and dislike.

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Philosophy Article

Why Selfishness is OK

Altruists are liars and unaware. Altruists are dishonest, deceitful, and manipulative. And egoists are honest, upfront, and self-aware. Despite the common narrative saying otherwise, we are all selfish, and that is ok.

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Opinion

On Being Open

Being open has a challenge unique only to being open. And failure can mean the difference between a terrible or good life. But what is this challenge?

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Philosophy Article

What is Theory-ladenness?

Are all observations influenced by theory? Can beliefs be formed without bias? Is perception laden with theory? These are the questions which relate to the problem of theory-ladenness. And I believe we cannot answer any of them with epistemic certainty.

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Philosophy

Self-Reliance & Unease

We have a choice to be either internally or externally focused in our personhood. And although it is true that many choose to be externally focused, because we reward social conformity, there many reasons to be internally focused, nonetheless; we just have to be willing to tolerate the unease.

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Philosophy Article

What Is A Lie?

What is a lie? Do all lies require an intentional element? How do we distinguish deception and omission from a lie? these questions, as simple as they are, don’t have simple answers. So, lets see what philosophers have to say about lies.

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Law Article

On Legal Precedent

An introduction to precedent that discusses horizontal and vertical precedent; persuasive and binding precedent; and the arguments for and against precedent.

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Book Review

Why We Buy

Why We Buy is a consumer psychology book, written by Paco Underhill, a consultant, who utilizes consumer psychology to increase retail store sales. How does he do it?

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Why People

Why People Change

People change, but why? The answer to why people change comes in many forms, and is often dependent on highly specific circumstances. here are just a few reasons as to why people change.

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Opinion

Is Social Media Cancerous?

Social Media has received a lot of hate. People have said it ruins social life, it interferes with politics, and harms the mental health of our children. And therefore, social media is cancerous. But is that really so?

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Psychology

Delusions: Examples, Definitions, and Theories.

What are delusions? The definition of delusions is that they are idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions that are firmly maintained despite evidence. But the definition of delusions seems to not fit the examples of delusions. So, what are delusions to psychologists and psychiatrists?

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Philosophy Article

Why You Don’t Understand Science

People who argue that philosophy and science are different simply don’t understand science. There are two good arguments for why philosophy and science are the same. One comes from cognition and the other from method; I discuss them herein.

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Humans Are

Humans Are Ungrateful

Humans are ungrateful. Seldom do our sacrifices for others get recognized. We give all the help in the world to others, all so it may go unnoticed. Humans are indeed ungrateful.

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Philosophy Article

Will Asceticism Save You?

How should we live life? For asceticism, the answer is simple. But to see how, we have to discuss: what asceticism is and the reasons to be ascetic, as well as the confusions about hedonism and asceticism. All that and more is discussed herein.

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Celebrity

Celebrities Are Not People

Celebrities are not people. The idea of a celebrity refers to something entirely non-human. Celebrities are synthetic personalities created by marketers, lawyers, and public relations specialists. Celebrities are not people, far from it.

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Politics Article

Social Norms and Social Policy

When dealing with social policy, we have to adopt some theoretical viewpoint. That is, we are either social constructionists or evolutionary theorists. But how do we decipher which one is correct? We do so with political centrism

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Humans Are

Humans Are Distinct

Humans come in a uniform body, society, and culture. Everything is similar enough to be identified as non-distinct. Yet, when we look closer at the individual differences, we can see that each human is indeed distinct. We’re all a bit different.

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Philosophy Article

INFINITE REGRESS

An infinite regress is something used to negate or construct different arguments. Philosophers like Hume, Aquinas, and Aristotle have al used infinite regress arguments to justify things in morality or negate inferential knowledge. So what are they?

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Philosophy Article

Why Take Life Seriously?

Why take life seriously? Despite common beliefs, the answer is not obvious. Do we really have a good reason to take life seriously? And if so, are there any good reasons to not take life seriously? Lets think this through

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Celebrity

Elon Musk: He Drives Manual

As humans, we have a tendency to follow cultural autopilots, even when they are detrimental to our well-being. That’s not a fruitful habit. And we can learn how to stop doing so by looking those who don’t do so: Elon Musk. We can learn to drive manual.

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Humans Are

Humans Are Conversational

Humans delight in discourse; we derive immense pleasure from the particular sounds of others. As each word reverberates through our eardrums, a sense of familiarity and security sweeps broadly overtop our being. Like a young child who frolics merrily through fields of blossomed daisies, conversation is a means by which we obviate the vicissitudes of life and indulge our inner sense of play.

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Celebrity

Steve Jobs: The Character Of An Artist

Some chairs have three legs rather than four. Some vehicles have two wheels rather than four. And some humans traits are artsy rather than social. But, as with the three legged chair or two wheeled vehicle, artsy traits are uncommon, and that makes Steve Jobs all the more interesting.

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Philosophy Article

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Beauty, the a marvel to ponder and a sight to see; beauty can be found in nearly everything. From mathematical formalisms to poetry of all sorts, beauty resides in multiple forms. But of the vastness of it all, beauty can be boiled down into two broad categories, of which I shall expound upon.

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Humans Are

Humans Are Terminally Sick

Humans have a terminal illness that plagues them throughout their lifespan. It plagues them in their social life, robbing them from friends; it plagues them in their private lives, robbing them from memories; and it plagues them from a decent living, as it likewise robs them from health. What is this terminal illness?

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Celebrity

3 Reasons Why Kanye West Gives Me Anxiety

Kanye West is a modern day celebrity who causes me great anxiety. He causes me anxiety for three reasons: he has incoherent beliefs, he has delusions of grandeur, and he’s socially unaware. These cause me anxiety because we all have them, even if we are unwilling to admit it. And so, Kanye is a walking billboard that obsessively reminds me about the shortcomings of not only my self but also humanity.

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Humans Are

Humans Are Change

Life is cyclic. Our daily routines and habits are circular; we repeat each throughout the days of the week, the weeks of the year, and the years of our life. But does life change? Yes. Life changes, and there are 3 ways how people respond to change. We can resist, ignore, or participate in the changes of life. Which we choose is up to us, but life indeed changes; and so, choose we must.

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Humans Are

Humans Are Ugly

Humans are ugly; both men and women are ugly. We can know that humans are ugly, all without asking the question: am I ugly? The reason why humans are ugly is because our value systems have clear contradictions within them. That is, evolutionary standards of beauty and higher-order standards of beauty conflict with one another, a conflict which leads can lead us to conclude humans are ugly.

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Celebrity

Beyoncé Noels: Will She Die?

Will Beyoncé Noels die? The question cannot be answered as straightforwardly as one thinks, as modern transhumanist movements seem to think digital immortality will become a viable option in the near future when it comes anti-aging. Indeed, it seems she might very well become immortal, as she has become digitally distributed across the entire planet. So, will she die?

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Celebrity

Kim Kardashian Is Ugly

Kim Kardashian is ugly, and so is Kant. Yet, both have perfected two distinct forms of human beauty: namely, external and internal beauty. Herein, I explained the distinction between external and internal beauty, and how they relate to Kim Kardashian and Kant. Then and only then can we see how ugly and beautiful the two of them really are.

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Philosophy Article

On Anxiety

Anxiety can be understood from numerous perspectives, but some of such perspectives fail to adequately characterize the experience of anxiousness its self. As such, I herein offer a literary analysis of anxiety, so that some may more thoroughly understand its nature.

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Philosophy Article

Your Masochistic Tendencies

To be alive is to not only want fulfillment but is likewise to want pain. We lovers of life are lovers of pain as much as we are lovers of joy; we have a sickness. We willingly subject ourselves to periods of anxiety and pain, those dreadful low points of our lives, all so that we may experience the euphoric high of happiness. We are drug addicts.

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Psychology Article

What Is Sadism: An Essay On Sadism

We all behave some way or another in our lives, whether it be healthy or otherwise. But seldom ever reflect on these behaviours, which is unfortunate as our behaviours say a lot about our values. Though many don’t, we shall. That is, in this essay, we shall reflect upon the behaviours and values of sadists, and examine how their values relate to their behaviours. Read on to learn more about sadism.

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Philosophy Article

On Being Mature

Life can be many things. But the thing which it be depends on the approach we take towards it. A confident person will take more risks and be more domineering over life, whereas the passive person will be more tranquil and consuming of life. There are also various combinations found in between. But what of a life wherein which we adopt a mature attitude towards being, what would that look like?

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Linguistics Article

Proper Names

Proper names have been hotly debated within the philosophy of language and linguistics. People, in their attempts to account for what proper names are, have constructed numerous theories; in fact, this debate can go all the way back to Mill’s theory of names. Within the modern times, there are two theories, namely, the descriptivist and causal chain theory. In this article, I discuss each theory. As well, I discuss John Searle’s critique of those theories, provide my own critique, and offer a new approach for the problem of proper names.

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Law Article

Moral Luck and Legal Responsibility

Moral luck: when an agent partakes in, regardless of a positive or negative outcome, some some action or is involved in some event that occurred by mere chance or circumstance. In example, when a child is struck by a car because a driver was distracted by some rare event that unfolded on the radio, the driver is said to be morally unlucky. In such an example of moral luck, both ethicists and legal scholars have to think carefully about moral luck and the role it plays in legal responsibility and moral culpability. So how do they do it?

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Philosophy Article

Your Social Life

The future of human social life is going to have more and more social media based interactions. Therefore, we need to develop a philosophy of social media. I attempt to develop such a framework here.

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Law Article

How Laws Benefit Society

How do laws benefit society? What are the advantages of law? These questions, though often taken for granted in public discourse, require some explanation. Why do we have laws?

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Philosophy Article

Soccer: The Philosophy Of

What does philosophy tell us about soccer? Soccer is a sport which involves intentional action, collective intentionality, and culturally bound frames. With these ideas, we can create the philosophy of soccer.

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Law Article

The Different Types of Courts

The U.S. Judicial system is quite complex and full of nuance. There are distinctions between trial and appellate courts, and there are also distinctions between federal and state judiciaries. Learn those differences.

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Psychology Article

Trauma: How it Shows

A warrior knows of his actions and why he commits them, and he is also able to see his wounds and blood. But a trauma victim neither knows their motivations nor their wounds: they are blind to the scars visible to others.

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Economics Article

Is Economics a Science?

The question is asked a lot: is economics a science? And quite frankly, a lot of people show their bias when trying to answer. There are a few simple reasons as to why economics is a science.

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Linguistics Article

The Language of Religion

Thus, it is my intent to analyze religious thought through the lens of cognitive linguistics; to apply the research and theories of that academic discipline to the language and ideas of religion. In particular, we shall consider how image schemas and conceptual metaphors contribute to our understanding of a specific religious idea; that being, the idea that God is everything, an omnipotent mind which is spread throughout all of existence.

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Linguistics Article

How Scientific Language Differs From Ordinary Language

In the study of Psychology, there is a separation between everyday psychological language and scientific language. The difference in these two modes of language stems from the scientific conception of term-meaning and the layperson’s conception of term meaning. Indeed, there is a separation between the two, and many do not realize it because common sense psychology is composed of our natural intuitions about ourselves and others.

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Linguistics Article

Logic Cannot Explain Language

The Philosophy of language, which consists of many schools of thought concerned with the investigation of language, has become increasingly popular over the years. Because of such, the field has already experienced two major paradigm shifts and plenty of contentious debates within the lifetimes of its proponents. However, despite the growth in popularity and rapid introduction of new ideas, the growth in interdisciplinary perspectives inside this area of language investigation has yet to occur. Among the many debates and ideas about language, a lack of consideration about the neural and cognitive processes involved in language is quite evident.

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Philosophy Article

Social Media Herd

Humans, among many, are exemplary models of herd animals; we live in various social groups, assign one another social roles, and often follow a variety social mores and norms.

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