Which Daughter's the Best? Maria Celeste

Maria Celeste was the daughter of the famous Galileo Galilei and received the name Maria Celeste when she joined a Catholic Convent in Florence, Italy. Despite her humble and difficult lifestyle, Maria was a monumentally important figure in the process of publishing her father's famous book, The Dialogo. She cared for her father with an admirable sincerity, helping him in any way possible.

Galileo was an old sickly man who cared more for his work and garden than his own well-being. Maria would always send him medicine and support from the convent in order to help her father survive even the harshest of times. While writing his book, Maria helped her father by editing his manuscripts, fixing basic errors as well as taking out any excess information. She put it all together and then gave it back to her father to publish it. All seemed well as Galileo waited for his manuscripts to reach the papacy, until the outbreak of the deadliest epidemic in recorded history. The Bubonic plague, or Black Death, swept through Europe like a wildfire and killed over one third of the European population. Worried for her father's health, Maria continued to send medications to fight off the plague. Her father survived the epidemic thanks to her help and support. After the epidemic had passed over, The Dialogo finally reached the papacy. It was not received well and Galileo was summoned for a trial by the Inquisition. Maria Celest just could not leave her father alone. She told her father to simply agree with the demands of the church and convinced him to renounce his works as false. She was more concerned about her father's well being than his works. She saved him from going to his death as a heretic and because of that, he wrote a book on physics and greatly contributed to the scientific field.

Maria Celeste was an amazing person who cared for her father with the utmost sincerity and affection. That affection is what fueled Galileo Galilei's works, and thus changed the world and it's view of the Heavens.

The Peerless Perception of Perfection

Commonly referred to as the Philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas revolutionized the Christian faith as both a simple Dominican priest and theologian. He proposed a concept only observed by the Muslims at the time, and it would shake Christianity all the way down to its roots. He argued that by using reason and logic, one could become a stronger believer of the faith. What?! Isn't science the mortal enemy of Christianity as well as any other faith? Was the man crazy? Although some believed him to be so, his doctrine was eventually accepted and he was canonized as a Saint by the papacy. He made his arguments using his Five Ways. There are faults and flaws within these five ways, but they provide a compelling argument against a church of ignorant believers. The most reasonable argument would be that of the FOURTH WAY: THE ARGUMENT from DEGREES and PERFECTION.

In the Fourth Way, Aquinas makes the argument that because relativity is referenced to a perfection or canon, God, the perfect being must also exist. When people make a comparison, there are always atleast two objects being compared.

For example: That car is better than that car.

Here one makes the argument that one car is better than another. Two objects are compared to one another, however, any comparison entails a concept of perfection. If one can make the judgment that one car is better than another, one must also have a perception of what the best car is. Maybe the best car is totally fuel efficient, perfectly designed, with a 0-60mph time of 0.1 seconds. But where does this concept of perfection come from? No such car exists in this world, so how can we possibly make the judgement that one car is better than another? That is where the perception of perfection that is beyond human understanding comes in.

Christians believe that God is the perfect entity, and the universe he created is perfectly designed. It is God who set, sets, and will forever set perfection for he is the Doryphorus of all Doryphoruses, the canon of all canons. God and his kingdom of Heaven is the equivalent of Plato's World of Forms. Perfection does not exist in this universe but rather in another world. A circle can never be perfect in this universe, but in Heaven, every circle is perfect. Heaven is arguably the essence of everything good and pure in this world so it is a perfection that we cannot grasp unless we take the path that leads through God.

If we can build up a relationship with God, we can reach that higher place and find a peerless perception of perfection.

Let the Holy Ghost Shine Upon You...Through a Pretty Gothic Window

It is a beautiful image; the light is streaming through the windows in an awe-inspiring fashion so that all who see it will be thrown into a witless stupor of sheer amazement. That is the purpose of such an image: to personify the beauty and peaceful nature of the Holy Spirit described by the use of eloquent words in the Bible. But it seems that mere words do not give the full effect of this image as they do not give it the credit that the eyes would provide otherwise.

This is the exact effect that Abbot Suger wanted when people stepped into one of his Gothic Cathedrals. The stained glass in the church would allow light to enter in a gorgeous abundance never before seen in a church. The light would give the believers a further grasp of Saint Augustine's message about the BEATIFIC VISION. The Beatific Vision would come as a result of introspection, where one looks within themselves then up to God and His grace, in order to have an inner experience with God. This hightened state would provide a believer with eternal salvation and happiness.

Did You Fail to See the Fallacy?

Well then let me clear it up for you.

Firstly, a fallacy is a bad form of inductive reasoning that leads to a faulty conclusion. Inductive reasoning is similar to deductive reasoning in that it involves a conclusion supported with factual evidence. However, inductive reasoning requires one to make a "leap" of sorts to get to the conclusion. One must traverse an unknown that they are trying to prove.

There are many types of fallacies that one can find in any argument, but the one I'll be analyzing/ruthlessly tearing apart, is a Begging the Question fallacy from Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. In my opinion Hitler was a very cynical and contemptuous man, and I believe that many of his arguments and doctrine to be equally so.

In a section of the Mein Kampf, Hitler makes his case for the superiority of the Aryan Race above any other. He argues that the Aryan people are genetically better in every single range of life. While we know this to be false, Hitler makes this argument with the impression that we should already consider this as truth. Hitler is Begging the Question by assuming that an idea he argues has been accepted as truth by the entirety of the world. Not only is his claim untrue, Hitler speaks as if he was the only one intelligent enough to possibly fathom this "truth".

In a certain sense, Hitler is the among the few who could possibly consider this foolishness and claim it as inherently true.

Are We Too Intelligent for Intelligent Design?

THE HISTORY

The war between the church and science has raged on for centuries, and the greatest battle between these two unshakeable institutions has been the one of intelligent design vs. evolution.

There have been countless skirmishes and debates pertaining to these ideas. Numerous theories and doctrines thought up by scientists and clergymen alike. However, none can be proven and none can be disproven.

For example, the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe was created by a spontaneous reaction that resulted in an explosion of matter. However, skeptics can ponder how such a reaction occurred as well as where those reactants even came from in the first place. Were they just there? But isn't it suggested also that God was just there?

On the other side of the argument, creationists can argue that something created everything in the earth the way it was. However, others use scientific, archeological, and historical evidence to provide a contradiction of sorts.

THE ARGUMENT

As a person of the faith, I believe that intelligent design is the doctrine behind the creation of this universe. Science proves a lot, but it cannot disprove the existence of a supernatural being who created the universe ie. God.

Now evolution is what some call fact while others call theory. I myself believe that evolution is true to a certain extent. While I believe that natural selection and the tiny possibility of a positive mutation (0.1%) can alter a species of animal, I believe that the idea that all life on earth originated from a common ancestor is absolutely ridiculous. Scientific evidence can even be used to support my claim.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states:
Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe.

Entropy is another word for chaos or disorder, so the Second Law of Thermodynamics is saying that the universe is crumbling onto itself. As stated before, 0.1% of mutations have a beneficial effect on the mutant, meaning that 99.9% of mutations have a negative effect. Does this not show that the world is in a monumentally greater state of decline than ascent? We can see that this is true in daily life as well. The world is being polluted and destroyed. Global Warming is plaguing the planet as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. So how, I wonder, can one organism evolve and grow more complex when "Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe"? This is one among many arguments made by creationists against evolution.

So the question is, "Are we too intelligent for intelligent design?
I don't think so.

Affirmative Action?

What is affirmative action?

By definition, affirmative action is a policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment.

America has such a policy where minority groups are given a sort of advantage over the "majority."

In terms of education, minority (mainly Black and Latino) students are seen in a more...sympathetic light than white students or asian students. Why is this so? To make things more "equal" by looking at other people unequally. The system is at fault in and of itself as it contradicts the very principle it is trying to advocate.

Here is a scenario of such affirmative action:

• There are two students in the same school
• Both students have a 3.5 GPA boasting a 2100 on the SAT
• Both have the same living conditions, family income, and work ethic
• However, one student (student A) is black while the other student (student B) is Asian
• Both apply to the same colleges and universities
• Student A is given a full-ride scholarship to the most prominent university in the nation whereas student B is merely accepted at a more mediocre school

The problem with this scenario, is that between two students who have identical lives and identical acheivements, one is chosen over the other because of their race. Students should not be pooled into a category in the college board's eyes, nor should they receive the same stereotypical placement when they apply for jobs in the future.

The concept of affirmative action is an admirable ideal, but it cannot be truly fair the way it is now. If students are pooled according to race, not only does it cause controversial issues and debates, but it keeps the people from moving past all the racial stereotypes and "bad blood" between the ethnicities of this nation. How can the people progress and open their minds if the government itself cannot move past the stereotype that everyone considered part of the minority is poor and degenerated.

It is a fact that many monorities do occupy the slums and backwater areas of the nation, and it is true that many of the students of these areas do not have access to a competent education. Many students work jobs and care for their siblings as their parents work two jobs trying to get ends meat. It is assured that the student's academic acheivement will be affected in a negative manner. However, this is not all of the people in the minority, and since it is not, a system pooling all these students together according to ethnicity cannot be seen as fair.

A truly fair system would look not at the student's race, but their background and work ethic. These two things are the deciding factors in who should be the beneficiaries of the affirmative action policy. The college board should see if that student comes from a tough background where academic acheivment would be more difficult. They should see if that student, through the trials and tribulations, would still work to acheive his or her best in academics.

The fault in this system, however, is that with all the students who apply for college throughout the nation, an acceptance board doesn't have the time or the desire to check the student's background in depth and accurately gauge the student's work ethic. Until this can be acheived, a truly fair system of affirmative action will remain an ideal, unreachable with our modern day society.

Deductive Reasoning

There are three types of Deductive Reasoning

1. Syllogism
2. Modus Ponens
3. Modus Tollens

SYLLOGISM

Syllogism consists of a major premise and a minor premise that combine to establish a conclusion.
Each premise consist of terms:

• Major Premise (A and B)
• Minor Premise (B and C)
• Conclusion (A and C)

Ex: B A
Dogs love to play.
C B
Toby is a dog.
C A
Therefore, Toby loves to play.


MODUS PONENS

Modus Ponens is a form of deductive reasoning where if the statement "if p, then q" is valid,
and if p is a positive premise, then q must also be a positive premise. This rule can also be reversed and used in the negative. If p is a negative premise, then q must also be a negative premise.

Ex 1: p q
If he aces the test, then he will ace the class.
p
He aced the test.
q
Therefore, he aced the class.

Ex 2: p q
If he doesn't ace the test, then he will not ace the class.
p
He did not ace the test.
q
Therefore, he did not ace the class.


MODUS TOLLENS

Modus Tollens is a form of deductive reasoning where if the statement "if p, then q" is valid, and q is a negative premise, then p must also be a negative premise. If there is "Not q", then therefore there is "Not p".

Ex: p q
If he washes his car, then it will be clean.
q
It is not clean.
p
Therefore he did not wash his car.