Political philosophy Essay Example for Free

Political philosophy Essay An English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Lockes theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception. THOMAS HOBBES Hobbes was a champion of absolutism for the sovereign but he also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be representative and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law which leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid. He was one of the founders of modern political philosophy. His understanding of humans as being matter and motion, obeying the same physical laws as other matter and motion, remains influential; and his account of human nature as self-interested cooperation, and of political communities as being based upon a social contract remains one of the major topics of political philosophy. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes also contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy.

Pancho Villa Essay -- essays research papers

Pancho villa Doroteo Aranga learned to hate aristocratic Dons, who worked he and many other Mexicans like slaves, Doroteo Aranga also known as Pancho villa hated aristocratic because he made them work like animals all day long with little to eat. Even more so, he hated ignorance within the Mexican people that allowed such injustices. At the young age of fifteen, Aranga came home to find his mother trying to prevent the rape of his sister. Aranga shot the man and fled to the Sierra Madre for the next fifteen years, marking him as a fugitive for the first time. It was then that he changed his name from Doroteo Aranga to Francisco "Pancho" Villa, a man he greatly admired. Upon the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1911 against the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, Villa offered his services to the rebel leader Francisco I. Madero. During Madero’s administration, he served under the Mexican general Victoriano Huerta, who sentenced him to death for insubordination. With his victories attracting attention in the United States, Villa escaped to the United States. President Woodrow Wilson’s military advisor, General Scott, argued that the U.S. should support Pancho Villa, because he would become "the George Washington of Mexico." In August of 1914, General Pershing met Villa for the first time in El Paso, Texas and was impressed with his cooperative composure; Pancho Villa then came to the conclusion that the U.S. would acknowledge him as Mexico’s leader. Following the assassination of Madero and the assumption of power by Huerta in 1913, he returned to join the opposition under the revolutionary Venustiano Carranza. Using "hit and run" tactics, he gained control of northern Mexico, including Mexico City. As a result, his powerful fighting force became "La Division Del Norte." The two men soon became enemies, however, and when Carranza seized power in 1914, Villa led the rebellion against him. By April of 1915, Villa had set out to destroy Carranzista forces in the Battle of Celaya. The battle was said to be fought with sheer hatred in mind rather than military strategy, resulting in amass loss of the Division del Norte. In October of 1915, after much worry about foreign investments, in the midst of struggles for power, the U.S. recognized Carranza as President of Mexico. When Pancho Vill... ...ur taken prisoners. As a result, Wilson prepared a letter to Congress demanding a full-scale war and an ultimatum was sent to Carranza, demanding the release of all American prisoners, which Mexico had already threatened to kill. Within days, all prisoners were released and all international bridges were seized. Although Carranza was finished, Pancho Villa was not ready to throw in the towel. Thus, he prepared for a series of attacks to come. General Pershing reported to Wilson of Villa’s repeated violence, but Villa continued, capturing many towns held by Carranzista forces. On January 1917, Pancho Villa gathered his forces to capture Toreon. In the end, hundreds of his men were dead and his defeat was seized upon by Wilson as a convenient way out of the problems in Mexico. The U.S. would then prepare to withdraw, declaring the Punitive Expedition a success, although they failed to ever capture Villa. After the overthrow of Carranza in 1920, Villa formed a truce with the new government by laying down his arms in exchange for land and amnesty. He then retired to a ranch near Parral, Chihuahua, where he was assassinated by political enemies in 1923.

Global Warming: Confronting the Realities of Climate Change Essay

Sea level rise is accelerating. The number oflarge wildfires is growing. Dangerous heat waves are becoming more common. Extreme storm events are increasing in many areas. More severe droughts are occurring in others. These are just some of the consequences of global warming, which are already having significant and harmful effects on our health, our environment, and our communities. Unless we take immediate action to address global warming, these consequences will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly, and increasingly affect the entire planet – including you, your community, and your family. GLOBAL WARMING IS HAPPENING NOW. The planet’s temperature is rising. The trend is clear and unmistakable. Every one of the past 37 years has been warmer than the 20th century average. The 12 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998. 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded for the contiguous United States. Globally, the average surface temperature has increased more than one degree Fahrenheit since the late 1800s. Most of that increase has occurred over just the past three decades. WE ARE THE CAUSE. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which traps heat and steadily drives up the planet’s temperature. Where does all this carbon come from? The fossil fuels we burn for energy – coal, natural gas, and oil – plus the loss of forests due to deforestation, especially in the tropics. THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE IS CLEAR. Within the scientific community, there is no debate: An overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that global warming is happening and that human activity is the primary cause. This broad consensus – and the extensive scientific evidence that supports it – is often downplayed or distorted by a small but vocal minority of special interests that have a vested interest in delaying action on climate change. WE HAVE A CHOICE. We can act now to reduce our carbon emissions, slow the pace of global warming, and pass on a safer, healthier world to our children. Or we can choose to do nothing, continue pumping massive amounts of carbon into an already overloaded atmosphere, and suffer the increasingly costly consequences. At UCS, we believe the choice is clear: WE MUST TAKE STEPS NOW TO REDUCE OUR GLOBAL WARMING EMISSIONS. TOGETHER WE CAN TACKLE GLOBAL WARMING. We have the practical solutions and technologies at hand to substantially reduce our emissions, create a clean energy economy, and establish the United States as a global leader in innovation.

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