Relationships: Now and Then :: Marriage Puritans Essays

Relationships: Now and Then Do we still live in the seventeenth century? It’s very interesting to look back at the differences and similarities in men’s and women’s relationships since then. My husband, Sean, and I were brought up very differently; he was only raised by his mother who provided everything for him food, shelter, and love whereas I had the more traditional family in being raised by both parents. My father was the provider, a construction worker who worked long hours five to six days a week, and my mother, a homemaker, tended the home doing the cooking, cleaning, and also caring for us children. Now that I’m older and have my own husband and children, I find myself using the traditional traits that I’ve seen and learned from my parents. Tending to my husband’s and children’s every need not only seems to be a normal feeling, but it’s a natural instinct for me. According to Edward S. Morgan in The Puritan Family: Religion and Domesti c Relations in Seventeenth-Century New England, â€Å"In each relationship God had ordained that one party be superior, the other inferior†¦.Wives were instructed that woman was made ultimately for God but immediately for man†¦.† In living in the twenty first century, relationships seem to be better now than they were in the seventeenth century. Men and women today are marrying for love and happiness, and also building their lives together as a team whereas the Puritans married because it was a law of God where the husband was in charge of his wife and being happy didn’t exist. Marriage in seventeenth century New England meant that duties were forced upon both husband and wife. It was the husband’s duty to support his wife and family, and the wife’s duty to care for her husband and tend to his home. Morgan states, â€Å"When [a woman] became wife, she gave up everything to her husband and devoted herself exclusively to managing his household.†¦ her duty was to ‘keep at home, educating her children, keeping and improving what is got by the industry of the man.’† Personally, I couldn’t see myself passing anything to my husband and after we got married I didn’t. While the little I did own continues to be mine, whatever we own now became ours whereas being a Puritan wife meant owning nothing and being owned.

From Oppressed Slaves to Champion Soldiers :: American America History

From Oppressed Slaves to Champion Soldiers This is just a small example of the doubt and hatred that was bestowed on the African American soldiers. However, during the war, they proved themselves to be brave and courageous men on and off the battlefield on many occasions. Despite deep prejudices and harsh criticisms from the white society, these men were true champions of patriotism. The cause of the Civil War was tension between the North and the South. The sectional division between the areas began in colonial times, largely resulting from geographical differences. The South was ideal for growing tobacco due to the warm climate and the fertile soil. Plantations brought in black slaves from Africa to provide most of the labor required for growing the crop. In time, other plantation crops such as cotton, sugar cane, indigo, and sugar beets were to thrive in the South. "By the onset of the Civil War, 2.4 million slaves were engaged in cotton production" (Long 16). A rural way of life that supported an agrian economy based on s lave labor was quickly established in the South. The North, however, was a cooler, rockier climate that would not support the development of plantations. As a result, the North's economy came to depend more on trade and industry than on agriculture. This economy supported the growth of cities, although many lived in rural areas during the colonial period. The sectional division between North and South had widened enormously by the mid - 1800's. The United States had expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean and was rapidly becoming a major industrial and commercial nation. However, industry and commerce were centered in the North. The Northerners welcomed modernization and the constant changes it brought to their way of life. Their ideals included hard work, education, economic independence, and the belief that the community had the right and responsibility to decide whether an action was moral or immoral. While Northerners looked forward to a different and better future, Southerner s held the present and past dear. They enjoyed a prosperous agricultural economy based on slave labor and wished to keep their old way of life. By the 1800's, northerners viewed slavery as wrong and began a movement to end it. Even though an antislavery minority existed in the South, most Southerners found slavery to be highly profitable and in time came to consider it a positive good. From Oppressed Slaves to Champion Soldiers :: American America History From Oppressed Slaves to Champion Soldiers This is just a small example of the doubt and hatred that was bestowed on the African American soldiers. However, during the war, they proved themselves to be brave and courageous men on and off the battlefield on many occasions. Despite deep prejudices and harsh criticisms from the white society, these men were true champions of patriotism. The cause of the Civil War was tension between the North and the South. The sectional division between the areas began in colonial times, largely resulting from geographical differences. The South was ideal for growing tobacco due to the warm climate and the fertile soil. Plantations brought in black slaves from Africa to provide most of the labor required for growing the crop. In time, other plantation crops such as cotton, sugar cane, indigo, and sugar beets were to thrive in the South. "By the onset of the Civil War, 2.4 million slaves were engaged in cotton production" (Long 16). A rural way of life that supported an agrian economy based on s lave labor was quickly established in the South. The North, however, was a cooler, rockier climate that would not support the development of plantations. As a result, the North's economy came to depend more on trade and industry than on agriculture. This economy supported the growth of cities, although many lived in rural areas during the colonial period. The sectional division between North and South had widened enormously by the mid - 1800's. The United States had expanded all the way to the Pacific Ocean and was rapidly becoming a major industrial and commercial nation. However, industry and commerce were centered in the North. The Northerners welcomed modernization and the constant changes it brought to their way of life. Their ideals included hard work, education, economic independence, and the belief that the community had the right and responsibility to decide whether an action was moral or immoral. While Northerners looked forward to a different and better future, Southerner s held the present and past dear. They enjoyed a prosperous agricultural economy based on slave labor and wished to keep their old way of life. By the 1800's, northerners viewed slavery as wrong and began a movement to end it. Even though an antislavery minority existed in the South, most Southerners found slavery to be highly profitable and in time came to consider it a positive good.

Essay on Euthanasia and Doctor-Assisted Suicide -- Euthanasia Physicia

Understanding Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide    This paper will address some of the more popular points of interest involved with the euthanasia-assisted suicide discussion. There are less than a dozen questions which would come to mind in the case of the average individual who has a mild interest in this debate, and the following essay presents information which would satisfy that individual's curiosity on these points of common interest.    Euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in the state of Oregon and in the country of the Netherlands; these are the only two jurisdictions in the world where laws specifically permit euthanasia or assisted suicide. Oregon permits assisted suicide.(Oregon) The Netherlands permits both euthanasia and assisted suicide.(Review) In 1995 Australia's Northern Territory approved a euthanasia bill.(Rights) It went into effect in 1996 but was overturned by the Australian Parliament in 1997. Also, in 1997, Colombia's Supreme Court ruled that penalties for mercy killing should be removed.(Republic) However the ruling does not go into effect until guidelines, still to be drafted, are approved by the Colombian Congress.    The difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide is seen this way: One way to distinguish them is to look at the last act - the act without which death would not occur. Using this distinction, if a third party performs the last act that intentionally causes a patient's death, euthanasia has occurred. For example, giving a patient a lethal injection or putting a plastic bag over her head to suffocate her would be considered euthanasia. On the other hand, if the person who dies performs the last act, assisted suicide has taken place. Thus it would be assisted suicid... ...1 Medscape. Available at http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/psychiatry/clinicalMgmt/CM.v03/pnt-CM.v03.html, citing Jamison K.R., Night Falls Fast, New York, NY: Alfred Knopf; 1999. Accessed 3/19/01. Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" (ORS 127.800-897) passed in November 1994 and went into effect in 1997. Republic of Colombia Constitutional Court, Sentence # c-239/97, Ref. Expedient # D-1490, May 20, 1997. "Review of cases of termination of life on request and assistance with suicide" was approved in April 2001. "Rights of the Terminally Ill Act," Northern Territory of Australia (1996). Wanzer,Sidney H. M.D. et al., "The Physician's Responsibility toward Hopelessly Ill Patients: A Second Look," 320 The New England Journal of Medicine (March 30, 1989), p. 848. Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second edition (1976).

Literature in contemporary societies Essay

The art of literature in contemporary societies has always led to more critical discussions between man and himself and between man and his neighbor. Literature pushes us to rethink our stance on normal societal norms and beliefs. Sula is such a work of art. It is the based on two women living at the †Bottom† in Ohio, a predominantly black community. Helen Wright is a socially conscious and quite a conservative woman. She has one daughter; Nel. Hannah Peace a beautiful flamboyant and a woman with many men at the Bottom is the mother of Sula. Sula is raised with Eva Peace, her grandmother who does not stifle her granddaughter’s freedom unlike Nel who comes from a restrictive household. Nel and Sula develop quite an inseparable and good friendship, a friendship that does not settle well with Helen who possesses grave misgivings due to the reputation of Sula’s mother however she does not object openly after her realization that Sula is a very polite house guest. After High School these two great friends diverge ways for 10 years. Sula goes to college where she experiences a new wave of sexual promiscuity much like her mother. Nel On the other hand is married by a Bottoms resident, Jude Green. Their separation last for period of three years before Sula comes back from the college and their relationship resumes without any hindrance. However, this relationship is cut short when Nel learns of the relationship between Sula and Jude. This affair ends both the relationship between Jude and Nel as well as that of Nel as Sula who leaves the bottom for three years. Nel is forced to raise her two children alone and she doesn’t communicate with Sula for the three years that she goes away. Their next meeting occurs when Sula is terribly sick and almost dying. Their last conversation before Sula dies constitutes the literary wealth of this masterpiece; it is the discussion between good and bad. She dies and is buried at the Bottom cemetery. Thereafter, Nel visits Eva Peace who is quite old and is kept in a nursing home where she tries to retell the moments she had together before Sula died. While walking home she begins to feel the loss of the relationship with the death of Sula, her single and true friend. Her judgment of Sula as bad begins to haunt her as she recalls an incident that happened when they were friends; the Chicken Little incident. Chicken little was a young boy who also lived at the Bottom. When playing on a tree, Sula lost grip and the child plunged in the river and drowned. They kept this secret for the whole of their lives. These are the memories that unsettled Nel emotionally, she begins to challenge the concepts of good and bad and the choices and sacrifices people make in life. Later on, she kills her drug addict sun as she struggles to raise his family single handedly. Sadly, we see her sitting and crying over Sula’s grave at then cemetery as the story comes to an end. The story questions the decisions that people make in life; the calls for a rethinking of common societal problems. Critics mention the humor in the novel. For example the place called bottom is actually at the mountain top. The creation of binary oppositions in the novel not only makes it too interesting and informative but also lets the reader glance at the depth of common conventions in the community and the effect these societal conventions have on the lives of children who are supposed to be brought up in a comparatively free world where people are supposed to make free will. Satire as a theme is also developed in the story and it fuse well with the binary notion. The complexity of characters in the story conveys an account of human flaws in decision making and in the way we relate to other people in the community. While parents do everything in their power to ensure that their children justifiably lead a good life, little is done in ensuring that the children also get freedom. This makes the children not to acquire their own experiences in life but only proceed to copy the characters of their parents and grandparents. The fact that Sula turned out to be an exact replica of her mother and grandmother is an attestation to this fact. The book is feminine masterpiece and there is also an element of female chauvinism. This can be justified by the fact that all the major characters in the book are women and their actions are affected by men in a very little sense. Jude, Chicken Little and Nel’s son who became a drug addict after leaving the army are all victims of the women’s stereotyped dispositions. Shadrack being physically and emotionally scarred fro the experience of war is disowned and almost excommunicated by the community without the community fully understanding the reasons behind his behavior. Let us now give a critical analysis of Sula, the main character. Sula is the major influence on his friend Nel. Sula has been influenced by her mother leading to the passage of what can be argued to be a bad character trait through generations. Eva is a strong woman. She has endured loneliness, abject poverty but she is proud and unrelenting. Sula is quite an extraordinary woman, she is energetic but she has no suitable outlet to release her energies. This makes her potentially dangerous in that that she has no knowledge of wrongdoing. She does not understand that she sins when she sleeps with men and carelessly tosses them aside. Her sin is unintentional. The community, however do not understand the context of her upbringing or they simply do not care. They despise her but tolerate her. One very interesting aspect is that Sula is quite independent in her isolation, she does what she pleases and she simply does not care what everybody else does. She lives her the way it pleases her effectively earning her isolation from the community. After her death the rules shift suddenly, there is a renewed sense of acceptance, of defining right and wrong, good and bad. It is important to try and delve into the reasons why Nel and Sula united even after Sula betrayed their friendship by having an affair with Nel’s husband, Jude. Nel realizes that Sula was neither good nor evil; she was just indifferent to everything and everybody. Wives had to put extra effect in making sure that their husbands do not fall into bed with Sula, children were treated better so that they don’t grow into adults who are indifferent and uncaring like Sula. This is good fortune to the bottom community because they were held together in the rethinking process. Remember the National Suicide day? After Sula’s death the community did not have any productive outlet to channel their energies, they could not just sit and talk and so they become enraged and tear up the tunnel the result of unfocused energy. This eventual realization went a long way in ensuring that the residents of Bottom engaged in productive work for their survival. If Sula would have directed her energy to something else, maybe something a little more worthwhile would have resulted. Racial prejudice is highlighted when Jude is denied a chance to engage in the building of anew bridge, because of the color of his skin; he is denied the opportunity even though he is willing to do something productive. He stands in line for six days while the white boys get an opportunity to build the new River Road, his job at the hotel is demeaning and an insult to his masculinity. The scarcity of job opportunities remains to be the why Eva and Hannah had very little chance of gainful employment. They had to contend with the injustices being meted out on them because they were females and most importantly black. To escape the pangs of hunger in the winter, they have to prepare canned food in the summer. The life of Sula Peace, her childhood and her death in 1941is surrounded by the inability of the environment to shape her into a ‘good’ woman The black community residing in Medallion; â€Å"the bottom† is judgmental but not in any way assisting to solve the crisis within itself. Sula’s life story shows us how the community and family can shape somebody’s identity. She not only displays how children are nurtured but also her later relationship with the same community who natured her. She is a strong independent character but the community does not see her positive potentiality. To go against these societal norms she is not married and she sleeps around. The Peace family has been frowned upon by the Bottom community. This could have elicited an element of antagonism from Sula because she does not follow accepted societal conventions but in this case she is the protagonist and not the community. The novel poses her as the central character and the community constitutes only bits and pieces that seem to knit her life together in a predetermined fashion from the time of her birth to death. If change is to take place the community remains the playing field and Sula undoubtedly remains one of the players in the field. Whether she deserved to be rewarded for fearlessly instigating the rethinking process is not a matter of discussion as it is evident that her one and truly friend had in her own way knowingly or unknowingly lent credit to her stance in life by crying over her grave at the cemetery after realizing what Sula stood for. The character Sula is structure less, that any character interaction with her only invokes an element of structurelessness. This is because philosophically her evil is not her own but a reflection of what had been unknowingly imparted in her. Fortunately, her story is one where what is regarded as evil triggered change in the society. In analyzing one of the important masterpieces in the history of black American writing it is prudent to expunge on the growth of protagonism and non conformism in the society. The society’s vilification of the ‘heroine’ Sula who does not fit into the society’s conformation of a heroine is a classic example of the inability of a people to look within themselves and try to solve the problems within its own structures. Works Cited Daniel Dawkins: A Character Analysis of Sula; Considering Morrison’s Main Character as the Protagonist. 2008 Black Community Racism Racist Essays. Solomon O. Iyasere and Marla W. Iyasere. Understanding Tony Morrison’s Beloved and Sula: Selected Essays and Criticisms of the works of Nobel prize winning author. 2000

Learning From Failure: Biosphere Ii Essay

Biosphere II was a project done in Arizona received recognition on 26th September 1991. Eight people; four men and four women were used in the experiment. Biosphere 2 was an air tight structure with its base made of steel pan and surrounded by an above ground structure that was made of glass and steel. Inside the biosphere was all that could be found in the real world. There was a desert, a marsh, a rain forest, a savannah, an agricultural land, an ocean and human Habitat. This was in an effort of creating something close to the earth’s ecosystem. These people were to live on air, water and food produced by plants (Allen & Blake, 2007). The goals of the experiment were to determine the possibility of building an artificial biosphere and the potential of such biosphere surviving. Also incase the biosphere didn’t thrive then the causes would have been established. However, Biosphere II proved to be a great failure which had consumed a lot of resources in its establishment. Trouble started soon as the crew got into biosphere II. First, they experienced a shortage in oxygen supply hindering them from functioning well. The oxygen decreased to low levels such that more of it had to be injected into the system. When the crew were forced to pump in more oxygen into the system in order to sustain them, this indicated that biosphere II was not self reliant. At first they did not figure out what the problem was but they later discovered that was caused by carbon dioxide which had accumulated in the system. The carbon dioxide accumulated at a very high rate especially in the savanna and rain forest regions. This was associated with the presence of high organic matter which the microbes metabolized and in the process consumed a lot of oxygen resulting to high levels of carbon dioxide. It was also expected that the trees would play a very crucial role in regulating amount of carbon dioxide in the air and would have been able to supply the crew with sufficient oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. However, the plants did not seem to accomplish this role instead the level of oxygen kept on decreasing while carbon dioxide kept on increasing a phenomenon that was later discovered to have been caused by concrete that was used to build the biosphere II. Instead of carbon dioxide being used up by plants it reacted with calcium hydroxide a major component of concrete which resulted to formation of water and calcium carbonate. This was confirmed by the scientists after testing the walls and realizing that the inner surface of the walls had calcium carbonate levels which were ten times the level of the outer walls (Alling, Nelson &Silverstone, 1993). While making their selection, the scientists had chosen different species of animals, insects and plants that they thought would survive best in the biosphere II. However, by the end of the project only a few species had managed to survive. The rate of extinction was higher than predicted and most insect species got extinct which had a negative impact on the plants since they were no longer pollinated and thus were unable to propagate themselves. Statistics show that of the 25 species of small vertebrates present in Biosphere II only 6 survived by the end of the mission. However some species were favored by the environment in biosphere II. While others got extinct; ants, cockroaches and katydids flourished together with some plant species such as the morning glory. The morning glory grew vigorously that it almost choked the other plants. The crew had no alternative but invested most of their time working to get food. They experienced a shortage in food supply and faced hunger most of the time. Before the two year period ended the crew had grown 85 percent of the food they consumed and got the remaining15 percent food from their emergency supplies. Since they relied on sunlight which came through the glass to grow food, the winters of 1991 and 1992 affected the amount of food they could grow (Marino, Odum &Thomas, 1999). This proved that the project was incapable of sustaining an ecosystem that was balanced. They also faced various challenges some of which included shortage in clean water. This was as a result of pollution experienced in the water system. Many nutrients accumulated in the water systems therefore polluting it. They had to clean their water using algae mats. Other atmospheric imbalances followed suit where by levels of dinitrogen oxide in the air increased in an alarming rate such that the crew risked brain damage because vitamin B12was synthesized at an extremely slow rate (Allen & Blake, 2007). The experiments shortcomings were also seen when the crew quarreled. The members were supposed to work together as a group in order to bring out the best results but this never happened. Instead they split into groups comprising four members each and got to the point of not talking to each other except when it was necessary to run the biosphere. The lessons that can be learnt from this failed experiment come from the mistakes committed by the scientists. First we learn the importance of taking time to plan whatever we intend to do. Before attempting any thing one should take all measures required for proper functioning of the project. Also another critical factor to consider is the reliability of the materials and equipment to be used in the project (Alling, Nelson &Silverstone, 1993). If proper materials had been used in construction of the biosphere II then the problem of insufficient oxygen could not have occurred. The importance of using qualified personnel also arises. They used an architect who was incompetent this resulted to designing biosphere II with many faults. However what can be learnt from this experiment in general is the importance of relating well with each other. For any thing to succeed then there should be cooperation among people concerned this translates to excellent working conditions which leads to better outcome. References Allen J. & Blake A. (2007) Biosphere 2: the human experiment . New York: Viking publishers. Alling A. , Nelson M. & Silverstone S. (1993) Life under Glass: The Inside Story of Biosphere 2. Oracle: Biosphere Press. Marino B. D. , Odum H. & Thomas M. (1999) Biosphere 2: Research Past and Present Amsterdam: Elsevier publishers.

Healthy fear Essay

Fear is a feeling; it is a reaction to something we are frightened of, a natural instinct when faced with something we feel may endanger us. However, fear can be healthy and/or unhealthy; for instance, being afraid of spiders is slightly unhealthy as they can not actually do any harm but if a person is afraid of developing cancer and as a result of this they stop smoking, this is a healthy fear. In biological terms, when any fear is experienced, certain areas of the brain such as the amygdala and the hypothalamus are activated which control the initial, physical response to fear. Chemicals such as adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol are then released into the blood stream causing certain physical reactions such as; a rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, tightening of muscles, sharpened or redirected senses, dilation of the pupils (to let in more light) and/or increased sweating. (Native Remedies) Having a phobia is a fear of something. Whatever this phobia may be, it creates a feeling of fear and causes irrational and sometimes inexplainable behavior. Being afraid of confined spaces can cause some people to avoid travelling in elevators at all costs, others who are are fearful of flying may never travel abroad. There are fears in everyone, a fear of growing old or a fear of dying is possibly an unhealthy fear as ageing and death comes to us all. Fear can present itself when feeling nervous about something, perhaps before an important occasion or a speech in front of people; there may be a fear of forgetting what to say or a fear of embarrassing oneself. Apprehension is fear and sometimes an apprehensive manner is due to the unknown, expecting something bad will happen creates a sense of apprehension. Anxiety is also fear, having experienced something that created dissatisfaction or dislike, there can be a fear in this feeling recurring, therefore an anxious fear is felt. In some people anxiety can control their lives and medication is necessary, normal worries and healthy fear are less likely to make you feel this way. Fear in children is slightly different to fear in adults. As they are unable to rationalize and compare their fears to anything other than the way they feel, a child feels an actual threat by what they are in fear of, sometimes this can cause inconsolable behavior, only rationalized when they are able to understand they are not in any real danger. Fear can be controlled by the mind. It is the brain that gives the message of something to be afraid of; if that fear is an irrational fear (spiders), then it is possible to overcome this fear by thinking logically. Unless you are faced with a wild tarantula, the tiny spider can do no harm. By telling yourself that the spider is more fearful of humans may put your fear in its place. Fear is completely normal and is a useful tool when recognizing and distinguishing danger; how we respond is according to our fear.

Basic Teleological Assumptions of Classical Design Theory Essay

The Old School of Intelligence Design presupposes the existence of an intellectual being behind the creation of the universe. Through inference, it often acts as a proof in support of a theistic God. The Design theory is usually supported on two major points – the complexity of the universe and the teleological nature of all natural organisms that constitute the universe. Traditionally, the old design theory resorts to an analogy of the machine, which is complex with an absolutely immaculate correspondence between the parts and the whole and has a ‘purpose’ or ‘telos’, thus teleological. Using Paley’s now legendary example of a mechanical watch that begins its ‘Natural Theology’, one can say that a watch in good condition comprises a number of devices that are intricately connected to each other in such a way, that if one part moves, it in turn set the other parts into movement, thus making the clock work. The watch is thus a ‘complex’ machine. At a second or higher level, there is a ‘purpose’ behind this entire operation, i. e. the ‘purpose’ of the watch – to tell what time of the day it is to its user. Thus, all parts contribute to the whole leading to a well defined ‘purpose’, thereby making the device ‘teleological’. Paley’s inference, which he extends to include all kinds of being and is developed into the central argument of the Old Design theory, is that ‘there must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use’. (Paley) Old Design theory, following Paley’s formulation, goes on to extend the analogy to include all natural beings to argue that the universe, being so well organized and infinitely more complex, thus presupposes the existence of a much higher intelligence, or a being with a much higher intelligence, who must have created this teleological universe. The general logic that establishes the thesis is: 1. Machines are produced by intelligent design 2. The universe resembles a machine Therefore, 1. Probably the universe was produced by intelligent design. (Rowe, p. 59) As a proof of this line of logical conclusion, we can look at anything of the natural world around us, both animate and inanimate, although the animate makes us understand the logic better. A tree, for example, is sustained by the nourishment that is produced by the leaf. The leaf works like a machine, with its every constituent carefully designed, arranged and contrived in such a manner so as to serve its exact purpose – carrying out photosynthesis and providing the tree, of which it is a part, with the necessary succor. It is thus a teleological unit within a bigger ‘machine’ – the tree. The tree, in its part, has all its constituent parts built and organized in such a way so as to make it serve its purpose – to exist and reproduce by creating more of its like. In order to understand this analogy, we can derive on the example of a car. A car, in itself, is a teleological unit serving the purpose of commuting people from one place to another. However, it is a combination of many smaller teleological units – the carburetor, for example, with parts to suit its express purpose – of providing the necessary combustion for the car to move. (Rowe, p. 57) Thus, a purposeful machine can be a combination of many constituent purposeful machines, which add up to carrying out the purpose of the whole. Any part of the human anatomy (like Paley’s example of the eye), and its relation to the human body in general can be counted as an example of teleological design in the natural world. Furthermore, Sartre’s existentialism can be taken as a normative school of thought elaborating on teleological renditions. As an existentialist belonging to atheistic principles, Sartre viewed subjectivity as the underlying source of inspiration behind creation. In other words, it is only the subjective understanding of things that he thought to be the fundamental purpose of beginning. The example of a paper-cutter can be aptly suited here to the context of explicating Sartre’s philosophical doctrine. The postulate that Existence precedes essence, as he came upon, can be justified by reasoning with the purpose behind the making of a paper-cutter. As is obvious, there are two sides to it. Firstly, the person who makes a paper-cutter knows what he is doing and what a paper-cutter is. So it directly involves the utility of a thing being made or created. Secondly, the process of making is also known to the maker. Hence, a logical inference can be drawn from these two interconnected preconditions that help assigning a teleological meaning to the whole. Needless to mention, it is unlikely that the person making the paper-cutter should be ignorant of its end-use (Sartre, p. 2) Arguments Old and New Till the end of the nineteenth century, the Design Theory, with certain qualifications, was thought to be adequate as an explanation behind creation and its unsurpassed complexity, through the presence of a super-intelligent being. However, right from the beginning of its existence and even before, serious questions and fallacies have been raised in the logical reasoning that draw correspondence between the mechanical and the natural world, leading to Intelligent Design theory. These criticisms are in fact older than even when the Old design was laid down as a philosophical foundation. Hume was one of the earliest critics, and Darwinism was one of the last and most potent criticisms of intelligent design – almost forcing the point of view to refashion and re-present itself into the New Design theory. The foremost accusation against the Design theory is that it is ultimately an analogy. Although Rowe proves in his article that analogy is necessary to reach the truth, yet he proves the significance of analogy only through another analogy, and thus laying the base of his logical inference weak. However, even if we take, for the sake of argument, Rowe’s formulation to be true and believe in analogy to be a way to reach the truth, there can be serious complaints raised against the way the analogy works itself out. One of the first problems to be thrown up by the machine analogy is that the creator of the watch is himself created by something external to his own self, and therefore the creator, an intelligent agency capable of action, needs to be created. Design theory often quite consciously avoids delving into the nature of the creator, just as it does about the ‘purpose’ behind the universal design. ‘Does intelligent-design theory provide explanatory power? ’ asks Young and Edis, ‘If so, it must provide information about the details of the design and, to this end, about the nature of the designer. ID theory, however, deliberately avoids the answers to this question’. (Young and Edis, p. 193) Even if we take into account the theological connotations of the theory that establishes the creator as a self-created, self-creating being, there are other problems that are foregrounded by Rowe. First, does a universe comprising teleological components itself become teleological? To prove that all natural objects that comprise the universe have a ‘purpose’ does not necessarily prove that the universe itself has a ‘purpose’. All that remains is transference that if the constituent objects have a purpose, then the world itself must have a ‘purpose’ where being constructed by a being that transcends ordinary intelligence, it is impossible to grasp that overarching ‘purpose’ behind creation. Such an argument runs into a danger of fallacy, because if ‘Design Theory’ is propounded to prove the presence of a God (or an intelligent being) behind creation, then we cannot take the presence of the being as a presumption. In that case we take to be proven what we are out to prove. Secondly, we can take into account Hume’s classical criticism of the Old Design theory, which says that it is presumptuous to take the teleology and the machine-like orderliness as the very pattern of the whole universe. Here we run into the danger of taking our argumentative basis as only that small section of the universe that is apparent to our sensory perception as the general model of the universe itself, something that we would never know. There may be, and probably are, other parts of the universe located outside the ken of our knowledge where chaos reigns. The greatest criticism of the Old Design theory comes in the form of Darwinian Theory of ‘Natural Selection’. Darwin started off as a believer in Paley’s theological model of Design theory, but as a result of his experience, defected and put forward his own theory of ‘Natural Selection’. It states that in order to be machine-like in teleology and perfect in construct, nature does not necessarily need a divine and intellectual being. Nature works in spite of such a presence or an absence in order to make its organisms best suited to the environment, whereby only the organisms that manage to suit themselves to the changing environment exist while the other perish. The survivors manage to make anatomical adjustments to survive in the environment, thus combining the part to the whole and carry on the acts of existence and procreation. Darwin’s locating the question of Intelligent Design within the question of the implicit ‘anthropomorphism’ of classical ID, is obvious when he talks about ‘Man’ and ‘Nature’ and their roles as agencies of creation: â€Å"As man can produce and certainly has produced a great result by his methodical and unconscious means of selection what may not Nature effect? Man can act only on external and visible character: Nature cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they may be useful to any being. She can act on every internal organ, on every shade of constitutional difference, on the whole machinery of life†. (Darwin, p. 53) Till the beginning of the twentieth century, the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection reigned supreme in the field of scientific enquiry, while Design theory was more or less relegated to the recesses of religious and spiritual thought. However, the beginning of the twentieth century saw a resurgence of the Design theory, as Darwinian Evolution was made subject to questions and doubts. One of the most common attacks on Darwinism from the proponents of ID theorists has been from the lines of what is known as the mousetrap theory. The mousetrap is one of the most common and yet one of the most complex devices of our everyday life. However, if any of its component parts: the spring, the hammer or the platform is missing, it would fail to achieve its ‘purpose’, its ‘telos’: that is catching mice. Similarly, the immense complexity of even the most basic molecular organisms is so self sufficient and so ‘teleological’ that it cannot be explained by the theory of natural selection, since they do not appear as the result of any earlier form adapting to suit to the changing environment. It appears created out of an intelligent design. Michael J. Behe criticizes Darwin from precisely this position. New Design Theory: In Search for a Philosophic Co-existence However, Behe’s criticism that Darwinism does not account for the immense complexity of molecular organisms is not the same thing as to say that there is a supremely intelligent, benevolent and perfect being who has designed the universe. In fact, Natural selection can be made to account for the immense complexity of even molecular organisms. Neither does Dempski, who otherwise supports the ID theory, speak about the real nature of the intelligent being in question. Under such a situation where nothing could be proven conclusively, the design theory re-formulated itself in what is now known as the New Design Theory. One of the most significant positions of modern proponents of the intelligent design theorists is to dissociate and distance themselves from the earlier theological imports of the argument. As Manson states ‘the fact that modern ID theory is a minimalist argument for design itself, not an argument for the existence of God, relives it of much of the baggage that weighed down Paley’s argument’. (Manson, p. 277) Thus, much in response to earlier loopholes of ID arguments, a section of modern theorists is looking for a co-existence of Darwinism and ID, stating that they are not necessarily exclusive. The big-bang theory of creation is used very commonly as a point of departure. It states that the conditions conducive to life and existence required too many factors to act in too perfect a combination, and hence they do not look like an accident. Therefore, the presence of an intelligent being is needed in order to present the conditions from where nature could take its own course and get on with its act of existence and procreation. The presence of an intelligent being, whether in the form of a single theistic God or otherwise, is thus established, albeit through a new formulation. Religion, Meaninglessness and the Old Design Theory Questions of decaying morality and faith often encroach upon the spheres of religion. A man’s existence can grossly be measured on two parameters: his belief in the system of religion and other ethical means; and his actual loyalty to what he believes. If a man, out of compulsion or faith, remains loyal to what he regards as the most singular religious creed, he ought to have some degree of propensity to it. So he can be adjudged credible enough to be an individual who does not sway from his internal notions. But in reality, things turn out to be markedly different from the nature of our interaction with the world. Even the sternest believers are compelled to choose a life that hardly conforms to what he believes in and of itself about religion. Religion acts almost as an external element which is unplugged from the course of life and does not have anything to do with controlling man’s destiny (Tolstoy, p. 2). In relation to the Old Design Theory, it can be stated that God’s presence is rather nonessential with regards to the actual ordeal man has to live through in this life. As Rachels (293) argues, the ancient myth of Sisyphus is correspondent to conveying the ultimate meaninglessness of life. Contrary to the seep-seated Christian faiths of Tolstoy, this philosophy is more akin to Sartre’s doctrine of atheistic and nihilistic existence. Even if we go by the conjecture that there is in fact a supremely intelligent being at the heart of every phenomenon in the universe, the scope of redemption in mortal life is nearly impossible and therefore, the influence of a single entity, however powerful it is, is negated. References Manson, Neil A. (2003). God and Design. New York: Routledge. Young M. , and Edis, T. (2006). Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press. Paley W. (1837). Natural theology: or Evidences of the existence and attributes of the Deity†¦ With additions & notes. London: W. & R. Chambers. Darwin, C. (2007). On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection Or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. New York: Cosimo, Inc. Rowe. The Design Argument: Old and New. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism Is a Humanism. Tolstoy, Leo N. A Confession. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Rachels, J. (2005). The Truth About the World: Basic Readings in Philosophy.