Philisophical Background of The Stranger Essay - 1436 Words

Camus’ The Stranger Its Philosophical Background Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger, appealed to a younger European generation that was trying to find its view of life after the tragedies of WWII and Nazism. Though he eventually came to more mature notions of how a human being should act before his tragic death from a accident in 1960, Camus always believed in the ideas expressed in The Stranger that man must find his own meaning in life, separate from religious or political doctrine. While he was brought up a Catholic, he largely rejected religious authority and he opposed any rigid political authority because of his experiences with totalitarianism. Marxism and Communism were popular political ideas in France at the time, but Camus†¦show more content†¦Existentialism emphasized the freedoms that humans have and the need to exercise their individual human will in responsible ways. His philosophy tended to be atheistic and Camus himself rejected all religion. The existentialists borrowed many of their basic ideas fr om the 19th century German Nietzsche, although there also were Christian types of existentialism derived from the work of Kierkegaard. Existentialism reacted against more standard philosophies such as rationalism and empiricism that looked to find some order in the universe and in human affairs. The atheist Mersault’s denial of any rational meaning to his life represents this idea in fictionalized form Camus’ philosophy seems to have come out of his personal experience. He grew up poor in Algeria but seemed to recognize from a young age that even the poor could appreciate the beauty of nature. It has been noted, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica that his early essays were â€Å"intensely lyrical meditations on the Algerian countryside. He valued natural beauty as something even poor people like himself could enjoy.† His early writings also â€Å"contrast the fragile mortality of human beings with the enduring nature of the physical world.† Camusâ⠂¬â„¢ interest in the physical world, as opposed to social life or emotions, is well displayed in The Stranger. In the novel, Mersault is interested in reactions of his own body, his sexual

Why Did Alexander the Great Burn Persepolis

In May 330 B.C., a little over a month before Alexander the Great went after the escaped, last, Great King of the Achaemenid Persians (Darius III), he burned the kings palaces at Persepolis for reasons we will never know for sure. Especially since Alexander later regretted it, scholars and others have puzzled over what motivated such vandalism. The reasons suggested generally boil down to intoxication, policy, or revenge (perversity) [Borza]. Alexander needed to pay his men, so he had allowed them to pillage the ceremonial capital city of Persepolis, once the Iranian nobles opened their gates to the Macedonian king. The first century B.C. Greek historian Diodorus Siculus says Alexander took an amount estimated to be almost 3500 tons of precious metals from the palace buildings, carried away on innumerable pack animals, perhaps to Susa (future site of the mass marriage of Macedonians, like Hephaestion, to Iranian women, in 324). 71 1 Alexander ascended to the citadel terrace and took possession of the treasure there. This had been accumulated from the state revenues, beginning with Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, down to that time, and the vaults were packed full of silver and gold. 2 The total was found to be one hundred and twenty thousand talents, when the gold was estimated in terms of silver. Alexander wanted to take some money with him to meet the costs of the war, and to deposit the rest in Susa and keep it under guard in that city. Accordingly he sent for a vast number of mules from Babylon and Mesopotamia, as well as from Susa itself, both pack and harness animals as well as three thousand pack camels.—Diodorus Siculus Nor was the money found here less, he says, than at Susa, besides other movables and treasure, as much as ten thousand pair of mules and five thousand camels could well carry away.—Plutarch, Life of Alexander Persepolis was now Alexanders property.   Who Told Alexander to Burn Persepolis? The Greek-writing Roman historian Arrian (c. A.D. 87 - after 145) says Alexanders trusty Macedonian general Parmenion urged Alexander not to burn it, but Alexander did so, anyway. Alexander claimed he was doing it as an act of revenge for the desecration of the Acropolis in Athens during the Persian War. The Persians had burned and razed the gods temples on the Acropolis and other Athenian Greek property between the time they massacred the Spartans and company at Thermopylae and their naval defeat at Salamis, where almost all the residents of Athens had fled. Arrian: 3.18.11-12 He also set the Persian palace on fire against the advice of Parmenion, who argued that it was ignoble to destroy what was now his own property and that the peoples of Asia would not pay heed to him in the same way if they assumed he had no intention of governing Asia but would merely conquer and move on. [12]But Alexander declared that he wanted to pay back the Persians, who, when they invaded Greece, had razed Athens and burned the temples, and to exact retribution for all the other wrongs they had committed against the Greeks. It seems to me, however, that in doing this Alexander was not acting sensibly, nor do I think there could be any punishment for Persians of a bygone era.—Pamela Mensch, edited by James Romm Other writers, including Plutarch, Quintus Curtius (1st century A.D.), and Diodorus Siculus say that at a drunken banquet, the courtesan Thais (thought to have been a mistress of Ptolemy) urged the Greeks to take this revenge, which was then accomplished by a tippling procession of arsonists. 72 1 Alexander held games in honour of his victories. He performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and the drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. 2 At this point one of the women present, Thais by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted womens hands in a minute to extinguish the famed accomplishments of the Persians. 3 This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form the comus and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples. 4 Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches a nd passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysius.5 Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole performance. 6 She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. —Diodorus Siculus XVII.72 It may be that the courtesans speech was planned, the act premeditated. Scholars have sought clear motives. Perhaps Alexander agreed to or ordered the burning to send a signal to the Iranians that they must submit to him. The destruction would also send the message that Alexander was not simply a replacement for the last Achaemenid Persian king (who had not yet, but would soon be assassinated by his cousin Bessus before Alexander could reach him), but instead a foreign conqueror.   Sources Fire from Heaven: Alexander at Persepolis, by Eugene N. Borza;  Classical Philology, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct 1972), pp. 233-245.Alexander the Great and His Empire, by Pierre Briant; Translated by Amelie Kuhrt Princeton: 2010.Not Great Man History: Reconceptualizing a Course on Alexander the Great, by Michael A. Flower;  The Classical World, Vol. 100, No. 4 (Summer, 2007), pp. 417-423.The Aims of Alexander, by P. A. Brunt;  Greece Rome, Second Series, Vol. 12, No. 2, Alexander the Great (Oct., 1965), pp. 205-215.

The Pentagram A Symbol Of Power - 757 Words

The Pentagram is five pointed star drawn with continuous line and dose not have a circle around it and is used as a religious symbol and some refer to it as the star of life as it dose present all five elements, which make up all things. From Ancient Greek pentagrammon, noun form of the adjectives ‎pentegrammos, â€Å"five-lined, having five lines, it represents, truth, knowledge, understanding, and protection, and holds the elements with makeup all life there for making it the seed of life, and it dose not mean devil worship or anything else crazy like that not even upside down. The earliest now use of the pentagram was around 3500 BC in Ancient Mesopotamia on broken pottery, and has even been found of cave walls by early man. In later periods of Mesopotamian art, the pentagram was used in royal inscriptions as a symbol of imperial power extending out to the four corners of the world. The pentagram was also used by the Hebrews as a symbol of Truth and for the five books of the Pentateuch (The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures) paganspath, History Of The Pentagram author springwolf, http://www.paganspath.com/magik/pentacle1.htm the pentagram has also been found in greece, In early hindu, and buddhist writings, and as well as in pre-Christian, Jewish, early Christian , and Celtic Druids belief systems, there have even been pentagrams drawn on cave walls by early humans, but the meaning of these drawing are use is unknown today. The Early ChristianShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Pentagram 1593 Words   |  7 PagesPentagram The simple definition of the term pentagram is a five-pointed star whose arms are equal length that is drawn with a continuous line. Throughout history, this symbol has been used by religions and has many different meanings. 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Technology and Reading free essay sample

We Read Reading has gone from print to becoming digital in todays world and affects not only the way we read but also the way we communicate with one another. since we are conscience about technology altering the way we read. Remember what a book looks like? Let me show you that by leaving our prints behind, the way we read today has scaled toa digital level, leaving standard books and letters obsolete. Even though you cant furnish a room with Just a single device, Ilke you are able with books, or you cant necessarily fling your e-reader across the room because you risk breaking it. Despite Jabr (April, 2013) stating Before 1992 most studies concluded that people read slower, less accurately and less comprehensively on screens than on paper. , technology has changed the way we communicate with the means of social media, the way we conduct business, and the way we plan for our future by Improving technology even further. The use ot social media has in tact attected us as a society in the way we read now. Facebook has been the most productive social network that has implemented the news and apps together seamlessly. The news has never been easier to be shared mong the world since the popularity of Facebook has developed. News agencies have had the opportunity to create their business pages via Facebook and spread the pages out globally to the active users on this social network giant. News articles are now viewable online and can be shared by a status update through Facebook, along with videos, poll questions, and even customer Input through direct messages or comments on these status updates. The news agency can find out precisely what readers are saying about their content and In most cases the help of their audience sharing the content or article on their own news feed has increased views. MacManus (2011) has said, Media companies such as Washington Post and The Guardian have connected to Facebook so tightly that even the mere fact of clicking on a link to their site sends an update to your Facebook news feed. If this is true, then the Integration of our dally Interests In these pages online and the technology with social media is stronger than ever. Can you imagine what will happen in the next 5, 10, or even 20 years? On the side of social media you have another network in Twitter, which allows people to connect by sharing their thoughts or links within a 160 haracter limit. Twitter has also changed the way we read because of its to the point updates. People now have a shorter attention span than ever with Twitters character limit, the patience people once had has diminished when reading news articles and stories, now all they want Is a summary. Ultimately this can affect an author or Journalist by having to, without a choice, blow people away with their articles or novels. Only time will tell if that will lead to a good or bad thing. Visual representation has been influenced by reading as well, with the likes of Vine videos here the videos are compacted into six seconds. Now when people view longer videos, tney lose patlence, It could De posslDle Decause 0T tne popularlty 0T tne slte for now, and hopefully it will fade away and get back to normal. I doubt it will since naturally, times have changed and have the pace at which we live has increased as each decade passes. These changes in technology have had a positive effect in the way our businesses operate today. Technology has changed the way the world conducts business in the world today. One of the major changes in business has been to conduct business with the use of -mail. E-mail in the business world has had a strong impact because now you can market your business with e-mail with E-mail Marketing much like mailing out flyers however sending out an e-mail is much more cost efficient and happens almost instantly. Speaking of cost efficiency, you can now do business across the world without having to send a hand-written or typed up letter to be mailed out and wait for a response to be mailed all the way back. You can also send out company wide information out to all of your employees to keep them up-to-date with how business is going. According to Kleiman (Forbes, 2013) theres still something to be said for taking the time to hand-write your thoughts. This ultimately means that it is a more formal way of conducting business, it also means you took the time to hand write the letter instead of sending an e-mail, which is said to be informal. Technology has had its impact on advertising as well, when you compare advertisements on print and online. Cost efficiency in advertising online rather than print is tremendously improved, where you can pay for the amount of clicks or hits you get only you are aying for what people already see rather than printing advertisements and risking people not seeing your ad. Statistic track-ability is also a huge plus when you advertise online, an issue you would have if you were to print your advertisements. Everything that has been outlined so far leaves one big question: What does the future have in store for technology and the way we read? The future of technology will affect the way we read and the way we operate knowing how others will read and communicate with us. The applications and devices that already exist for replacing books are expanding such as the Kindle line of products. Kindle is leading the way in innovation, with their newest product, the Kindle Single is where you read an essay or short story rather than a full length novel all published in digital form rather than printed on a book. Now another application is the Type N Walk app where it allows a user to send a text message from their smartphone and be able to see what is in front of them by way of the camera on the smartphone becoming activated. A society where we are constantly on our phones, this is what it has come to. How far will these new innovations go? Maybe biology will be the next big thing. There may come a time where books and devices no longer exist, with everything getting programmed into our minds. There really is no farfetched idea too extreme since technology moves rapidly through the times. The future is here now and it is not crazy to think that one day soon, we will have the ability to Just scan through a database Just by thinking it or speaking it for the convenience and rapid pace that time is going at. We will eventually have everything we search on the internet tapped into our brains for a more efficient society. Our brains can be connected to a glooal network so tnat companles wlll nen Know wnat we Ilke individually, with our privacy being taken away along with it.