Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Research free essay sample

Their Eyess Were Watching God Essay, Research Paper Doug Wink P-7 2/22/97 THEIR Eyess WERE WATCHING GOD A caterpillar crawls along a desolate subdivision. His many extremities grip the grey bark as he undulates his organic structure along the way in the shadiness. Crawling steadily frontward he is looking for the proper topographic point suited plenty for him to alter his individuality. Upon happening a branchlet sprout where he can acquire bilateral support, he builds his cocoon. After his cocoon is finished the caterpillar crawls in for his metabolism. If one is to see a cocoon on a tree it does non resemble beauty, it is a flat piece of wound yarn like stuff with a hole in the top. When one sees a butterfly they may look twice or halt what they are making all together and trail it around following each of their sporadic motions as the hot Sun illuminates and tickers from above. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Research or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Identity has changed. What one time was a small ugly caterpillar that childs would travel around squelching and people would flick from trees when given the opportunity, went on to be an neglected poke secured to ramify. Cipher pays attending to the fact that beautiful butterflies are the consequences of these common eyesores. As the caterpillar grew older it matured and changed, from being stuck on land to airborne, from being ugly to beautiful, from being immature to old. All living things mature, all things change, wherever clip is a variable individualities are altering. Janie is no different from these things, she excessively has a altering individuality that can be traced throughout four chief parts in the book. Janie is a immature miss who at first docent even cognize her ain individuality. Bing rose by her Nanny in a house full of white people, you could see how this could hold been the start of an individuality crisis. Janie was ever treated like a white individual during her young person, the people Nanny worked for appareled Janie as if she was white, they sent Janie to school with the other white kids, and Janie? s friends were all white. Janie knew no better than to believe she was white. That was her individuality. One clip when a image was shown to her of her and all of her friends, Janie was losing and in her topographic point was a black miss in her frock. She had no thought she was different from the other kids. Black, black as dark and different from her friends, this was a alteration in Janies individuality. Janie now thought different of herself cognizing she was black. Her individuality had changed for the first clip. Janie was sent off to get married, Janie had envisionments of get marrieding for love and love affair she says to Nanny after get marrieding Logan? Ah wants things sweet wid mah matrimony # 8230 ; . ? . Janie had thought to her ego? Husbands and married womans ever loved each other, and that was what marria Ge meant. ? ( both exerts p.20-23 ) this is what Janie wanted, this is what Janie did non acquire. Janie had a bad matrimony with Logan because her individuality had changed. Janie went from being told what to make, to her ain adult female. Now Janie was ready for what she wanted, and now she knew who she is. Peoples position of Janie is a different sort of individuality, but is still portion of 1s individuality. Peoples saw Janie as Logans adult female now, adult male saw Janie as a good spectator, and Logan saw Janie as his object. While outside pumping H2O, Janie noticed a adult male walk by. That adult male noticed Janie excessively. Jody Starks was his name and he was going south to an all Negro town. Jody noticed Janie as a beautiful adult female who should be making nil but sitting on the porch in the shadiness. Jody offered to take Janie along with him to Eatonville to be his bride. Janie Accepts. Her individuality has changed once more, now she is Jodys adult female. Upon reaching to Eatonville, Jody becomes Mayor of the town, buys land, cleans up, builds a shop, and builds a station office. Now Janie is considered the Mayor? s married woman and Store keeper. Except by Pheoby her friend. Pheoby saw Janie as a model adult female beautiful in her ways, and cognition to endorse it up. Janie and Jody didn? t get along for long, shortly Jody was teasing her about the shop and how she should be working harder. Jody besides had a job with the manner other work forces were looking at Janie when she wasn? T looking. Jody made Janie wear her hair up in a hair shred which Janie did non desire to make, this takes off from Janies ain picks which makes her more Jodys Woman. Her Identity changes more to Jodys Woman. After Jody dies many suers try to court Janie into matrimony with them, but she does non wish to acquire married. Janie? s individuality has changed now, she is a individual adult female populating on her ain and making merely all right. Along comes Tea Cake to chat up with Janie and she flirts back. The whole town notices and thinks of Janie as a coquette messing with a no good adult male. Janie marries Tea Cake for love and they live a simple life on the Muck harvest home beans. Janies individuality has one time once more changed to Tea Cakes adult female. Janie and Tea Cake live a really happy life on the simple land. At one point Tea Cake beats Janie merely to demo everybody else who? s foreman. This reinforces Janies individuality as Tea Cakes adult female. After Tea Cakes decease Janie is one time once more a individual adult female, though she dearly girls Tea Cake. Janie returns to Eatonville and moves back into her old house. Janie lives a simple life from so on with a fixed individuality of her ain adult female. All things mature and all things change, individualities change so one can larn and turn old. As you can see Janie has endured her metabolism and turned out as a mature person. 33f

Kristin Landeros Essays - Islam, Terrorism, Violence, Free Essays

Kristin Landeros Essays - Islam, Terrorism, Violence, Free Essays Kristin Landeros PROF. DIL SOC M01 07/17/17 Media ISIS is a terrorist group in Islam. They are also known as ISIL or IS. Only to prove it's approaching theories (due to their religious supremacy), this group has caused problems around the world. Islam, being the foundation of this group highly believes that ISIS will serve their God by accomplishing his wishes by their actions to improve mankind. If one does not serve their God as he wishes, they believe in brutally punishing those of ISIS who do not follow. ISIS has become heavily active and stronger than before and causing so much damage even in the United States. (Decoding Daesh: Why is the new name for ISIS so hard to understand?, by Alice Guthrie, 19 of February, 2015) The term ISIS means Islamic state. It is also known to mean Islamic State in al-Sham which is the name of their region in Arabic. ISIS has been a name that brings upon an issue with big companies, also being the name of an ancient Egyptian Goddess. ISIL means; Islamic State in Iraq the Levant. ISIS figured that ISIL was an appropriate name for the organization based on the geographical area they were in. Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan were all in Levant ( Para. 9 TERROR SAVAGESISIS - What does Isis stand for, what does Daesh mean and what's the correct name for the terrorist group, TheSunnews.uk, June 16, 2017)". Regardless of the name, they all had the same goal. That goal was to create a state that will be ruled by strict rules brought upon Islamic Laws to every boarder. This radical group in Syria and Iraq used terrorism to take over land. Since the US are allies to Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It is a big concern if ISIS targets these countries because if they were to have a war, that means we as the US would too. (Decoding Daesh: Why is the new name for ISIS so hard to understand?, by Alice Guthrie, 19 of February, 2015) There is a term that non supporters call ISIS / ISIL / IS and that is Daesh. This term means "Dwala al-Islamiyah fi al-Iraq", which mean can a list of things like; Thatdaeshis an Arabic word in its own right (rather than an acronym) meaning a group of bigots who impose their will on others' That it can be differently conjugated' to mean either the phrase above or to trample and crush' That one of the words in the acronym also means to trample or crush' That it is an insult or swearword in its own right That is has different meanings in the plural form (Decoding Daesh: Why is the new name for ISIS so hard to understand?, by Alice Guthrie, 19 of February, 2015) Parenti states that the mainstream media mixes up stories on purpose so that the news can be "industry friendly." Media, almost never take on stories that are subject to differing opinions. "The corporate mainstream media seldom stray in territory that might cause discomfort to those who hold political and economic power including those who own or advertise in it (METHODS OF MEDIA MANIPULATION, BY MICHAEL PARENTI para 3)." From what Parenti says, suppression by omission is a strategic way used by the mainstream media sources. Suppression is usually done to get the public away from the topics in question. Sometimes a story can be covered by mainstream sources without correctly telling the story to the public. These strategic ways are used to maintain profit. For example Parenti uses is " The Tylenol poisoning of several by a deranged individual was treated like big news, but the far more sensational story of the industrial black lung poisoning of thousands of factory workers by large manufacturing (METHODS OF MEDIA MANIPULATION, BY MICHAEL PARENTI, para 5)". I believe that we are influenced by what we are not told just as we are told. Being told repeatedly told that we are beautiful or anything in those terms would make us feel good. As opposed to not telling someone that repeatedly would make them feel oposit. We are definitely influenced by society from what we see a and hear. It seems like today that the media takes celebrity lines a

Accost, Assail, Assault, and Attack

Accost, Assail, Assault, and Attack Accost, Assail, Assault, and Attack Accost, Assail, Assault, and Attack By Maeve Maddox The other day I noticed what I view as a nonstandard use of the verb accost in a news article about a man who â€Å"accosted† his wife when he returned home from prison. Because the woman received bruises in the incident, accost seems to me to be the wrong word. The literal meaning of accost is â€Å"to travel along the coast.† The verb was used to describe the practice of drawing up alongside an enemy coast or ship with the intent to invade or to board. The verb developed the meaning, â€Å"to approach and speak to a person.† An additional connotation implied that the approach was made in â€Å"a hostile or importune manner.† Although assail, from which we get the word assailant, is sometimes offered as a synonym, accost does not usually connote physical contact. Here are typical examples of the use of accost in the sense of hurling verbal abuse: Angry Christian Protester Accosts Katy Perry’s Preacher Dad for Raising a â€Å"Wicked† Daughter Anti-war protester accosts Rice at House hearing Accost is the usual word to describe the approach of a beggar or a prostitute: New Yorkers are used to being  accosted by beggars. He read the law pertaining to soliciting, accosting, or inviting to commit prostitution or an immoral act. The Variety writer responsible for the following headline exhibited a sense of humor by applying the act of accosting to the police: â€Å"Django Unchained’ Actress Says She Was Accosted By Police After Mistaken for Prostitute Accost in the sense of â€Å"to speak to someone in a determined or aggressive manner† is especially frequent in reviews and summaries of the television drama The Good Wife: Alicia accosts Cary and demands to know if he’s â€Å"organizing something.†Ã‚   â€Å"No,† he lies, [saying that] he and the fourth years trust the partners will eventually honor their commitments. Dubeck accosts Peter’s ethics advisor, Marilyn Garbanza, on the street and tries to convince her to cooperate with his election fraud investigation.   Diane accosts Alicia as she exits the elevator in the Lockhart/Gardner lobby. â€Å"Okay. How’d it go?† Both assail and assault can be used to mean â€Å"to make a violent hostile attack by physical means.† In current usage, assault retains this meaning, but assail seems to have become more common in figurative use to describe â€Å"a verbal attack with hostile, opprobrious, or bitter words†: Citizens’ group assails rules targeting farm sales German man whose wife left him assails Kasper proposal in new book Nashville Chief Assails Judge [for] Releasing Man Who Beat His Girlfriend When the act being described is a physical attempt to injure or kill, the most common verb by far is attack: Police were forced to draw their guns this morning after a man attacked two pedestrians with meat cleavers in Sai Ying Pun. Chelsea fans attacked by masked thugs in Kiev A settlement was attacked in the early morning hours. Both assail and assault derive ultimately from a Latin verb meaning â€Å"to spring† or â€Å"to leap.† At one time, assail could mean â€Å"to leap on† or â€Å"to mount,† as in the mating of animals. Shakespeare plays on this meaning of assail, as well as on the earlier, nautical meaning of accost, in the scene in Twelfth Night (1601) in which Sir Toby urges Sir Andrew to offer his attentions to the attractive maid Maria. Sir Andrew, severely vocabulary-challenged, at first thinks that Accost is the woman’s name. When Toby corrects him, Andrew, who apparently does know at least one meaning of the word assail, is mortified: Sir Toby: Accost, Sir Andrew, accost. Sir Andrew: Whats that? Sir Toby: My nieces chambermaid. Sir Andrew: Good Mistress Accost, I desire better acquaintance. Sir Toby: You mistake, knight; accost is ‘front her, board her, woo her, assail her.† Sir Andrew: By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company. Is that the meaning of accost? Use assault or attack when the intended meaning is physical aggression. Save accost to mean approach, confront, or importune. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withPeople versus Persons1,462 Basic Plot Types

A job opportunity as an engineer in Thailand Essay

A job opportunity as an engineer in Thailand - Essay Example The quickest developing age group in the 1990s was 19 to 25 year-olds. In the 2000s, that age group dropped as an aftereffect of a falling conception rate in the 2000s and expanding essential and auxiliary school enlistment (Yong et al. 2011, p. 751). By 2014, the quickest developing gathering in the work energy in engineering in Thailand is matured, somewhere around twenty five and forty, with expanding interest by females. The extent of ladies utilized went from 66 percent in 2005 to around 70 percent by the end of 2013. Nowadays, female occupation in Thailand is most noteworthy in trade with 54 percent in 2010s, took after by 50 percent in engineering, 43 percent in businesses, and 36 percent in administrations since females are now well educated in Thailand. As far as territorial appropriation, the North has the least rate of work energy development in engineering, with 3growth between 2005 and 2014, emulated by the Northeast, with 3.3 percent as a consequence of restricted job opportunities in engineering, furthermore movement of the individuals from the region. Bangkok has the most elevated work power development in engineering with 6.9 percent due. Provincial development job opportunities depend halfway on the level of edu cation. An expanding number of new contestants in the work power of engineering have gotten an advanced education however not all that numerous. In 2013, the rate of the aggregate work constrains that had a basic education was 90.2. For individuals with lower and upper auxiliary or rather secondary education, but they can give work compel in engineering, has expanded from 4.8 percent to 10.4 percent from 2010 to 2015. The rate of the work energy with professional education has moved from 1.9 percent to 10.4 percent between the year 2011 and 2015. Since Thailand is among the developing countries, implying that its rate of improving infrastructure is so high,

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 22

Assignment Example Mr. McLeod, new general manager of All-Asia Paper (AAP) Company must develop ways of dealing with corruption to increase productivity of the company and save lives of company workers. Key alternatives: Mr. McLeod can introduce professional ethics in the company and ensure that all workers adhere to it. Mr. McLeod can refuse to give bribes and let the government and company officials carry out their threats. In the end, it is cheaper to pay a fine and learn to put things straight than live under the thorns of threats, intimidations and blackmails that will lower efficiency and quality of services. Mr. McLeod can resign if Goh (company owner) fail to support him fight the vice that makes the company perform below par and lose million of dollars. Analysis: The Company is performing below expectations as it produces 21,500 tonnes instead of 43,000 tonnes of pulp. Over ten workers have died within eight months for failing to put on protective clothing. The company is about to loose thousands of dollars in bribes to a government safety and health inspector so as not to have a bad report on the faulty outlet pipe and poor working conditions in the company. Government officials and some company employees use threats, blackmails and frauds to induce company officials to give bribes. Finally, Mr. McLeod knows that some threats of safety and health official is non-factual and may be of little significance if implemented. Decision: Mr. McLeod is angry and worried about the corruption levels in Asia. This is impediment to excellent performance and profitable growth of AAP. He decides to introduce professional ethics and provide necessary skills needed by all workers to do their jobs adequately and reduce work related hazards. Action Plan: Mr. McLeod instructs the human resources department to develop curriculum for training all employees. The curriculum shall cover all job specifications, ethics as well as health

Teachings of Buddhism

Teachings of Buddhism Buddhism is the second largest religion in Asia after Hinduism. Being also a philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, Buddhism is based on numerous teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, who lived between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. Buddhists recognize his enlightenment (‘bodhi) achieved by entering a deep state of meditation and during which Buddha has achieved a total and direct realization of the truth. Exactly Buddhas Enlightenment is the source of the majority of Buddhist teachings and practices and the proof that any human being (not a god) can directly perceive the true nature of reality through ones own efforts. It is the source of endless inspirations for every Buddhist and a sacred dream and aim of all Buddhas followers. The early texts provide somewhat different accounts of Buddhas biography. The major evidence suggests that Gautama was born on the periphery, taught by famous religious teachers of the day, and not finding the answer on how to permanently end suffering attempted an extreme asceticism, underwent prolonged fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain. Not finding any solution again, he chose the so-called Middle Way approach between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification meditation. At the age of 35, he has finally completed his spiritual quest under a sacred fig tree (later to be known as the Bodhi tree, or ‘tree of Enlightenment): During his intensive forty-nine-day meditation, Gautama has achieved the complete and unshakeable state of full enlightenment and so had become the Buddha (â€Å"One who is fully awake†). Some important factors around Buddhas achievement of enlightenment state were finding a suitable place for meditation (the Bodhi Tree), conq uering all distractions (the same as Jesus Christ, Buddha was being tempted by demons and evil forces), and, factually, attaining enlightenment. After this, Buddha gathered followers, instituted a monastic order, and spent the rest of his life travelling and teaching the path of awakening he discovered. Before discussing the teaching of Buddhism, it is important to fully understand what a state enlightenment is. Difficult to determine or properly describe, enlightenment refers to the state of having a direct insight into the nature of reality and into truth. Achieved through Buddhist meditation, enlightenment is a dynamic state of an innate wisdom with its basic nature allowing the mind staying quieted and focused and concentration strengthened. This means, it is far not about an intellectual knowledge, visions, or supernatural experiences, but about wisdom of another kind. Enlightenment releases from negative feelings and experiences like ignorance, worries, sorrow and unhappiness, and allows one enjoying pure being and seeing things as they actually are. It is ‘the hearts release or nirvana and can be achieved both in ones life and after death. All Buddhas followers practice to and strive for achieving the state of enlightenment. At that, the faith is considered the primary condition to enter the sea of Buddhas teachings. Buddhas enlightenment had happened in three stages allowing him to realize the ultimate truth of reality unfolded like a lotus. The first one is calm thinking and a state of removal from everyday consciousness and reality. The second stage is detachment from the chatter of mind and entering the state of exalted rapture. Finally, the third stage is reaching ever purer joy and the final level of consciousness. This last stage makes the mind absolutely peaceful and clear enabling its direct perception into reality. The enlightenment had happened also on three different levels: of a Buddha, of a bodhisattva (a â€Å"wisdom-being†), and of an ordinary person. Shunryu Suzuki in his Zen Mind, Beginners Mind defines enlightenment as â€Å"nothing special. You may say ‘universal nature or ‘Buddha nature or ‘enlightenment. You may call it by many names, but for the person who has it, it is nothing, and it is something.† And this characteristic of an ‘ordi nary mystery is maybe the most valuable about Buddhas enlightenment. Today, the entire Buddhist tradition exists in order to try and share Buddhas insight with others. The following principles, or primary/basic teachings, which are fixed in Tipitaka (the preliminary body of Buddhist teachings, analogous to the Old Testament in Christianity) and are shared by all schools of Buddhism, were revealed to Buddha during his enlightenment: the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Precepts. These teachings explicate the Buddhist doctrines of suffering, the five aggregates of being, refusing the self, ethics, karma, rebirth, enlightenment and Nirvana. The most basic Buddhist teachings, the Four Noble Truths give start to the spiritual path of this religion and encompass all Buddhas knowledge. They present the knowledge and understanding of the self, of karma and rebirth, and of enlightenment and Nirvana. These four are: (1) there is suffering in life; (2) the causes of suffering can be known; (3) suffering can be brought to an end by removing its cause; (4) the Eightfold path is the way to end suffering. The Eightfold Path, logically, includes eight points to cure the suffering of life. These are: (1) right understanding, (2) right intention, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and (8) right concentration. Right understanding refers to the Four Truths about suffering, the fact about changing nature of everything, and the fact about illusive nature of the self. Right intention is about giving up everything wrong and undertaking only good things/deeds as well as abandoning and cultivating the corresponding thoughts along with the deeds. Right speech refers to telling only the truth, avoiding negative statements, impolite and abusive language, babbles and gossiping, etc. as well as practicing kindly, meaningful, harmonious and necessary speech exclusively. Right action includes morally right, peaceful and honorable conduct and avoidance of causing suffering. Right livelihood means living in a right way, without doing any har m to humans, animals and whatsoever, including making of weapons, etc. Right effort refers to fostering good and preventing evil as well as constant self-improvement. Right mindfulness is about wakefulness. It refers to intentional awareness development and fostering right attention. Right concentration is mainly about practicing Buddhist meditation. These eight truth points aim at cultivating wisdom, ethical behavior, and mental discipline. They also are the key way of resolving all possible questions about life, death and oneself and the live guidelines for every Buddhist. The Precepts can be paralleled to Ten Commandments of Christianity. There are five of them: (1) do not kill but practice love; (2) do not steal but practice giving; (3) do not indulge in sexual misconduct but practice contentment; (4) do not tell lies but practice truthfulness and open-mindedness; and (5) practice awareness and mental clarity. In addition, Buddhas enlightenment is about understanding the fact that religious (and any) beliefs should not be taken as such. Buddhist doctrine asserts that one should not believe in something because he/she has heard of it, because there are long-lasting traditions, because it is spoken or written somewhere (e.g. in Bible) or popular, because it is taught so, etc. On contrary, one should believe because he/she has found the reasons to believe and has decided to choose and fully accept this particular way of living. Mysterious and wonderful, philosophic and deep, Buddhas enlightenment can and should be compared to the perfect way of meditation popular at the East. No other religion suggest similar way of perceiving the truth and the reality as well as says it is available for every ordinary person who has faith and who is willing to strive for this perfect state of consciousness. Buddhas revelation and teachings which he has received during his enlightenment makes him special, but he is a more close person (not really God factually) to his followers than any other god in any other worlds religion. In contrast to all other religions, Buddhism enlightenment experience is to figure out, to realize, to understand, to attain wisdom, and not to get the ready doctrines from the Bible, Koran, etc. Buddhism calls to strive for at least partial enlightenment to meditate in order to have at least some enlightenment experience. This is the core of this religion; this makes it democratic and very close to e ach of its followers. Because it is not after enlightenment that the true meaning is attained it is during the enlightenment An ordinary example of a raining weather can help explain Buddhas teachings in simple words. Today it is raining this is Buddhas teaching because he is everywhere. Religion is absolute and independent of somebodys perspective or interpretation; religion is everywhere. Buddhism says there should not be any particular teaching. Instead, people should see teaching in every moment of life, in their very existence this is Buddhas major teaching; this is what he was enlightened about. His enlightenment is not only the source of Buddhist teachings it illustrates the absence of a personal God present in Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the philosophic nature of faith which asserts that God is present everywhere in the world and in the human soul and at the same time transcends the world and the nature.

God’s Existence Can Be Proven a Priori Essay

Trying to prove that God exists is a difficult argument and many people have tried many different ways. The Ontological argument is one argument; at the centre of the argument is the concept of existence. The Ontological argument has been argued from a group of philosophers for the existence of God. â€Å"Ontological† means talking about being and so that being is the existence of God. The ontological argument differs from other arguments in favour of God because of the fact that it is an a priori deductive argument. There are two main arguments for the ontological argument which seeks to prove the existence of God a priori. The first argument is from Anselm; he was the Archbishop of Canterbury and therefore started his argument from a theistic point of view. Anselm believed that no belief in God was absurd and he used a reducio ad absurdum argument, which tries to show that God not existing could not be believed because in not believing you are adopting a nonsensical argument. His starting point was his definition of God, ‘God is the thought than which nothing greater can be conceived’. Firstly Anselm attacks the idea that there is no God, even the thought that there is no God requires the concept of God. The greatest possible being has to exist in reality as well as in the mind to be the greatest possible being therefore we can conceive of the greatest possible being because it also has to exist in reality. A criticism that was raised about the greatest possible being is that we as humans all have different ideas of what it could be but Anselm responded by saying that when we reach the idea of such a high level being such as God then the idea of what it is becomes very similar. Therefore God exists according to Anselm. Also God is considered to be a necessary being, which will always exist, does not rely on other beings and cannot not exist, therefore God must exist if he is to be called a necessary being. The second philosopher to argue the existence of God using the ontological argument was Rene Descartes; he set out his argument firstly by defining God as ‘a supremely perfect being’. From this he tried to prove the existence of God, because God is defined as a supremely perfect being he possess all perfections. According to Descartes the perfect state includes existence as well as the classical attributes of God, he believed that existence was perfection in itself and therefore God must exist. Therefore this is why we as humans cannot have a necessary existence because we do not have complete perfection. Descartes used mathematics and an example of a mountain with a valley to explain that God must exist, the mountain being separate from the valley and according to him it is the same with God, you cannot separate existence from God. This argument however cannot apply to objects affected by space and time, contingent things and can only apply to necessary beings which are perfect. He continues by saying that only God can have absolute perfection and there can only be one absolute. Descartes goes on to point out that Mackie or Russell are trying to establish necessary existence of contingent objects such as unicorns but necessary existence only applies to absolutely perfect beings. A criticism of the argument was put forward by Thomas Aquinas, who had already questioned the important aspect of the ontological argument, the idea that we cannot assign existence a priori to our definition of the idea of a perfect being. Aquinas claimed Anselm was guilty of making a ‘transitional error’, moving from his definition of God to the claim that he exists. Anselm also made the assumption that his definition was shared by all believers of God. The meaning of the term God means he exists in peoples understanding but not in reality. According to Aquinas the existence of God must be shown a posteriori which is what he tried to attempt to show in his cosmological argument. Also David Hume disagrees with the ontological argument. Hume was an empiricist so disapproves the use of a priori to prove existence and believes it should only be used for a definition. A description of a thing can contain every detail possible but we have to go beyond a description to be able to determine its existence, just because we can describe it does not mean it therefore pops into existence. He believed the only way in which you could prove something a priori was if the opposite implies a contradiction, such as x=not x. Therefore if it implies a contraction then it is inconceivable and then everything can be conceived not to exist. Therefore Hume’s believed that nothing can be proven to exist a priori, including God. He came to the conclusion that existence could only ever be contingent. Kant also disagrees with Descartes ontological argument. He used the example of a triangle, if you have a triangle it must have three angles but if you do not have a triangle it will not have three angles. It all depends on whether you agree there is a God or not, if there is a God then his existence is necessary but we do not have to accept the idea there is a God. Descartes according to Kant just gives God existence, however existence isn’t a property. God could have all the classic attributes but still he might not exist. For example a chair, it has many properties which are established a posteriori but whether it exists or not have to be discovered a priori. Using Descartes idea but changing it slightly, â€Å"existence is not predicate†. By adding reality to something does not mean it makes it better, Kant’s example, â€Å"a hundred real thalers does not contain the least coin more than a hundred possible thalers†. We must establish whether something exists or not before we can describe it, not the other way around and therefore if there is a perfect being then he must exist. Kant distinguishes between a priori and a posteriori, a priori are necessary, they have to be so whereas a posteriori can be challenged, such as how many people you think you saw. If something exists and the existence of that tells us about its property then by saying it does not exist you deny it of that property and almost say that it lacks it, however how can you say that something that does not exist lack something? This is a strong argument against the ontological argument which cannot be explained easily. A criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument directly was from Gaunilo, he had the same idea as Kant, that something cannot be defined into existence. Just because we define what we believe God to be does not mean that he actually exists. In Gaunilo’s book ‘On behalf of the Fool’, he describes the Lost Island as the greatest possible island and that no greater island can be conceived. It is logical to say that it is greater to exist in reality than as just an idea. If this island therefore did not exist there could be a even greater island which did exist and so therefore the Lost Island must exist somewhere. The perfect island exists but it may not be what you think of as the perfect island because by imaging it does not mean it exists. Therefore Anselm saying that God the perfect being had to exist cannot work. However, there is a problem with Gaunilo’s criticism, Anselm said he was not arguing about contingent things such as the island which have no intrinsic maximum, he was arguing for the ‘greatest thing that can be conceived’ which has a intrinsic maximum and so can be perfect. Therefore the ontological argument can be used to talk about such things as God which is necessary but cannot be used when talking about contingent things such as an island. The island is limited whereas the notion of God is not. To conclude, to prove the existence of God a priori we need to have knowledge of what God is, before sense experience can be gathered. This is where the ontological argument falls down. How can we understand a being when we cannot see, hear or touch them first if we want to prove the existence using a priori. A priori uses facts which are either true or false to determine things but without ever experiencing God ourselves through a posteriori first we have no facts in which to use a priori. The only way in which we can argue that God exists is if we treat him as if he were an object. God existence is reality in the believer’s world but for someone who is atheistic then he does not. I agree with Norman Malcolm who argued that necessary existence cannot be affected by anything external to itself. It cannot be created or destroyed, therefore God either exists or his existence is impossible. Therefore I believe that he cannot exist because something would have had to bring him into existence at the beginning which therefore means he cannot be a necessary being because he would have always had to exist but there must have been a point when he didn’t. Also if he is a necessary being with all the classical attributes why is the evil and suffering and if he was omnipotent then why does he want to hide himself from us? If he has power in which to be able to show himself then why has he not and then we would be able to prove his existence using a posteriori instead of a priori.