Socrates as Midwife: Knowledge and the Theory of Recollection
In the Theaetetus, Plato invokes the analogy of the midwife in order to describe Socrates’ philosophizing in Athens; however, the analogy reveals as much about Plato’s theory of knowledge as it does about Socrates’ philosophical inquiry. While the midwife aids in childbirth, Socrates claims to be concerned with the labor of the soul and of testing the minds of men. Socrates insists that he cannot give birth to knowledge because the gods have barred from him participating in wisdom. However, like the midwife, Socrates helps to deliver knowledge in others; he describes its delivery as a painful and exhaustive process. The Meno is particularly exemplary of Socrates’ midwifery; however, Socrates’ discussion with Meno also reveals much about the Platonic theory of knowledge.
“Intention” and “Structure”; an Historiographical Analysis of Nazi Foreign Policy
Historians have taken a particular interest in understanding the course of Nazi pre-war foreign policy.[1] Historical debate has primarily been focused on determining whether such policy was guided by a consistent programme or if it was affected by various “structural determinants”. Concurrent debate has centred on Hitler’s role in the course of foreign policy. According to “intentionalist” interpretations, Hitler not only espoused ideologically-based expansionist aspirations before his rise to power, but he actively directed foreign policy in order to achieve his aims. Most historians have taken some degree of an “intentionalist” interpretation; however, whether Hitler relied on an explicit stage-by-stage programme, or whether he was primarily opportunistic, remains a subject of debate.
Judicial Review in Canada: the Supreme Court of Canada and Canadian Federalism
The Fathers of Confederation were acutely aware of the significant role envisaged for judicial review in the Dominion’s federal system; its uptake was both the result of Canada’s colonial heritage and the influence of American constitutionalism. Although the Supreme Court was established only eight years after the British North America Act of 1867, for much of Canadian history the course of judicial review was set by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The British North America Act favoured a degree of parliamentary supremacy by section 91; however, the Judicial Committee’s provincialist mandate had the effect of protecting provincial autonomy and strengthening powers defined by section 92.
Vietnam and Hollywood: A Popular Culture Examination of 1980s Vietnam War Films
The Vietnam War had a range of consequences in American popular culture. Not only has Vietnam cemented itself in the collective American consciousness, but it has had and continues to have wide-ranging consequences for foreign policy, art and literature, and class- and race-consciousness. The cultural significance of the Vietnam War is perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in the Hollywood portrayals that have spanned the recent decades. Many directors took significantly different approaches to the subject matter.
Thatcherite Economics
Thatcherism [1] is a term attributed to the political career of British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; however, the term also describes the conviction politics of British conservatism during Thatcher’s reign from 1979 to 1989, encompassing the social and economic policies of her government, as well as the more general conservative political culture during the period. Many historians debate whether Thatcherism represented a coherent and distinct ideology, or whether it was a continuation of traditional British conservatism.
Tennyson’s Use of Structure; an Analysis of In Memoriam
Tennyson’s In Memoriam was inspired by the tragic death of Tennyson’s close friend Arthur Hallam. Critical analysis subsequent its first publication has garnered a variety of scholarly interpretations of the meaning text. From theological, philosophical, idiosyncratic, and even psychosexual perspectives, Tennyson’s work has been the subject of a variety of critical interpretations. The structure of In Memoriam has been a consistent point of critical discussion.[1] Since Tennyson’s work was composed over the course of seventeen years, many critics argue that its disconnectedness robs the work of an aesthetic value. Discerning Tennyson’s structural choices is important, because it offers a resolution of what has been often criticized as an irreconcilably disconnected work, and ensures that the work is primarily understood as poetic. By observing the relationship between the intellectual substance of the poem and its poetic base, one can develop a more complete appreciation of the structure of the poem.
Apple’s Spark
In September, 1985, Newsweek Magazine published an article profiling Steve Jobs’ departure from Apple, and hinted at his future and his yet unnamed startup, NeXT. [1] Detailing the rift that divided the company, and the factors that drove Jobs out, he made a telling observation about the state of, and the future of Apple, in his absence:
“To me, Apple exists in the spirit of the people that work there and the sort of philosophies and purpose by which they go about their business. “If I’m a million miles away and all those people still feel those things and they’re still working to make the next great personal computer, then I will feel that my genes are still in there. If Apple just becomes a place where computers are a commodity item and where the romance is gone … then I’ll feel I have lost Apple.”
Chairs; a short story
We’re sitting in chairs. We’re comfortable, but not overly. We’re tired – the lights overhead are just a little too bright.
No one is talking, but sporadic eye contact says enough. In the distance I can hear a woman talking. She sounds muted – my mind is elsewhere.
Consumerism and Masculine Crisis: an Analysis of David Fincher’s Fight Club
Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, is a 1999 film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel by the same name. The events of the film are narrated from the perspective of Jack (Edward Norton), a nameless office worker, profoundly dissatisfied both by his job and by his life. In order to combat his depression, Jack cultivates a consumer identity, filling his condo – the metaphorical representation of his empty life – with IKEA furniture and other meaningless consumer goods. It is only after Jack meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a soap salesman with a radical anti-consumerist philosophy, that Jack begins to liberate himself from his emasculated role as a “white-collar slave”.
Himmler’s Einsatzgruppen and the “Final Solution;” an Analysis of Systematic Extermination in the Warthetagu Territory
On October 4, 1943, Heinrich Himmler gave a speech to SS Officers in Posen, Poland, where he spoke about the difficulties associated with the systematic extermination of European Jews demanded by the Nazi programme.[1] While some historians attribute this “Final Solution” to the intentional outcome of early forms of antisemitism, others postulate its genesis was an undirected outcome in the evolution of increasingly radical antisemitic policies during the latter years of the Reich.
