The Heideggerian Perspective of Existence Essay Example for Free

The Heideggerian Perspective of Existence Essay As a philosopher of â€Å"Being†, Martin Heidegger is mainly concerned on the very essence of existentialism using a diverse critique of the word â€Å"dasein†, the German term denoting the meaning of human existence of presence. As the German term for existence, Heidegger signifies that human existence should not be taken mainly as a subject or an object that can be defined in terms of consciousness or a self. In this sense, the German philosopher asserts that through an analysis of Dasein, an individual can fully apprehend the meaning of Being. His contribution on the study of the essence and meaning of Being gives a valuable insight on how to reach a total authentic personhood (George 2000). His idea of Dasein tells of human beings as consisting of temporality and that their ultimate goal is the experiencing of Being. According to George (2000), Heidegger says that human beings are â€Å"transcendence by his very nature and has a destiny to goes beyond is everyday concerns† (p. 17). In this sense, it is derived that human beings are not to be called as mere creatures which set foot on the earth because they are yet to give their lives meaning through their destiny. In the fulfillment of their destiny, then human beings will be able to obtain the total authentic personhood. The destiny of human beings can be found beyond their daily chores and its main goal is to open humans to Being. George (2000) stresses that the Heideggerian perspective emphasizes that human beings are â€Å"called to transcend the former and be a being-toward-Being, and in the process experience of Being† (p. 7). Heidegger furthers his explanation of Being by exploring the meaning of a thing. In the fourfold mechanism of being, Heidegger expresses that a thing must be understood in relation to the four aspects of Being, the Earth, the Sky, the divinities and the mortals (George 2000). The Earth and the Sky made up the natural component of Being, the divinities and mortals build up the divine and human components of Being (George 2000). In the Heideggerian perspective, the fourfold of earth, sky divinities and mortals constitute ‘dwelling’ (Guignon 2006). According to the philosopher, ‘dwelling’ is the human essence and to dwell means to belong within the fourfold of sky, earth and gods and mortals because these four elements are what makes a place a dwelling space. Guignon (2006) says that the ‘Earth’, according to Heidegger is the â€Å"building bearer, nourishing with its fruits, tending water and rock, plant and animal† (p. 374). Guignon (2006) tells of the ‘Sky’ as referred to by the philosopher as the â€Å"sun’s path, the course of moon, the glitter of the stars, the year’s seasons, the light and dusk of day, the gloom and the glow of night, the clemency and inclemency of the weather, the drifting cloud and the blue depth of the aether† (p. 374). Humans dwell under the sky. According to Heidegger, the divinities or the gods are the role models who are the messengers of the godhead (Guignon 2006). The role models voice out that which is most sacred and valuable to human beings serve as an inspiration to humans to live right. Heidegger terms human beings as mortals to separate them from the animals which merely perish. Human beings are called mortals not because their lives have an end but because they are capable of good death (Stambaugh 1992). The philosophy of Martin Heidegger concerning the existence of human beings substantiates man’s capacity to interact with the nature, the gods, and their fellow human beings. The moral philosophy of Heidegger, as reflected upon the fourfold, declares that human beings are not mere creatures or objects, they are capable of defining their own destiny and their existence through their interaction with the fourfold. The relatedness of the fourfold is what helps man define their destiny and the meaning of their existence by giving them the choices and options as dwellers of the earth. The Heideggerian perspective tells of the transformation of human beings into people or dwellers by living according to what the gods have commanded. The inclusion of the gods, nature and immortality in defining the existence of mankind supports man’s capacity to advance and to transit to beings (Stambaugh 1992). In the advancement of man and acquaintance with the nature and the gods, man is able to define his being and to take full control of his interaction to nature. In the exercise of freedom, man is given the choices and options on how to assert himself within the relatedness of the fourfold. Man’s advancement is unlimited and so are his options and choices as a dweller. Man is provided with abundant ways on how to reap nature’s goodness such as vegetables, frits and other edible products. It is in the manner of man’s consumption of nature’s harvest and the way he treats the environment that e is able to define his existence as well as his being. The options that human beings choose render an important insight on the kind of existence and being that they have. It is either man chooses to become stewards of nature or become its destruction. Human beings become people through the sense of belongingness to a community of dwellers. As a community, dwellers are guided by rules, ethics and laws which declare what gods want their people to become. As man is given the privilege of free will is obedience and disobedience with the rules and laws define his being and existence. The Heideggerian perspective tells that the experience of Being is the main essence of the existence of human beings and in this, it can be derived that what mainly constitutes man’s being is his experience or interaction in the earth, sky, divinities and the mortals. Even though man’s experience and interaction with the fourfold are guided by rules and laws and the divinities, man has been fully equipped with free will that allows him to advance himself as a dweller and define his existence and being later on.

Gay Marriage Does NOT Destroy Traditional Marriage Essay -- Same Sex Ma

What is marriage? Marriage is defined as the legal union of a man and a woman. According to Psychology Today, marriage is the process by which two people who love each other make their relationship public, official, and permanent. While given the definition of marriage and most of society making same sex marriage nearly impossible; Psychology Today recognizes that â€Å"any† two people who love each other can come together and be united. In 1970, in Minnesota, the first gay couple to apply for a marriage license in the U.S. was Jack Baker and Michael McConnell and they were not allowed to marry. However, on May 2013 Minnesota finally legalized same sex marriage and the law would be effective starting August 2013. They had to wait over 40 years to finally be happy about the wedding they wanted and becoming legally married. In 1975, two men from Phoenix, Arizona were granted a marriage license from their county clerk. Nevertheless, marriage is still banned in more than half of t he United States of America. Why is gay marriage prohibited in most of the U.S.A.? In spite of elected officials not legalizing same sex marriage, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) mentions that gay and lesbian couples want the same rights as married couples and more than half or majority of Americans feel that they should have a legal agreement that gives them those rights. (History of State Constitutional Marriage Bans, 2011-2013). Many elected officials are against same sex marriage whereas the president of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, is the first U.S. president to support same sex marriage. Traditionally, same sex marriage is wrong and morally it is wrong as well. However, we can say that there are a lot of American traditions that are being broken and tha... ...ter. Gale. City Colleges Of Chicago. 12 Oct. 2013 Dinno, Alexis, and Chelsea Whitney. "Same Sex Marriage And The Perceived Assault On Opposite Sex Marriage." Plos ONE 8.6 (2013): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Hallett, Stephanie. "History Of Gay Marriage In The United States (INFOGRAPHIC)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 July 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. "History of State Constitutional Marriage Bans." Human Rights Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. "KidsHealth." Sexual Orientation. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Rich Mkhondo. "Gay Families Are the Same as Traditional Families." Opposing Viewpoints: Gay Parenting. Ed. Beth Rosenthal. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. City Colleges Of Chicago. 12 Oct. 2013 "Traditional Marriage?" Faith in America. Faith in America, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

Gangs and Society

Gangs can have a tremendous effect on society. They have existed for hundreds of years, especially in America. Although gangs are usually created from people who intend to offer safety in numbers, this safety is usually done through acts of crime. This book will explain how gangs and their actions affect society. Chapter one is â€Å"Initiation†. This included getting high with the other gang members, then getting beaten by his new comrades, then going out with a 12 gauge shotgun and ambushing a rival â€Å"set†. Sets are subsets of larger gangs like the Crips or the Bloods.Most gang violence occurs within these gangs between neighborhood â€Å"sets†. For example, Kody's gang, the â€Å"Eight Trays† are Crips and mortal enemies to the â€Å"Rollin' Sixties† Crips. Not only must each set fight their neighboring rivals, but also they are expected to respect the larger scale wars. If a group of sets declare war on another group of sets then your set ma y be expected to take a side. This can result in some very awkward diplomatic situations with Crip sets allied with Blood sets against Crip sets and their allied Blood sets.At one point in the book, the Eight Trays found themselves at war with a previously good ally, because of these larger conflicts. Kody took to the violence. He saw it as the step from childhood into manhood. He was good at it and soon received the gang name, â€Å"Monster†. He willingly and joyfully joined â€Å"Fly†, â€Å"Tray Ball†, â€Å"Huckabuck†, â€Å"Lep†, â€Å"Crazy D† and â€Å"Gangster Cool†. These youths were very much aware of the gangster legends, who had gone before them. This older members were mostly either dead or in jail. They seldom appear in the book, but when they do, there is respect and admiration from the younger members.Kody's goal was to build such a reputation. He even had a three point plan to reach his goal. First, he had to build hi s personal reputation by effectively using violence. Second, he had to build his name in association with his set, so that when his name is spoken his set is spoken of â€Å"in the same breath†. Third, he must establish himself as a promoter of Crip. their activities affect society. Weapons were easily obtained from older members. 12 gauge, . 44, 9mm, . 38 were common. A â€Å"banger† seldom moved about without being â€Å"strapped† with his â€Å"gat†. The war was financed by thievery and drug sales.This was before crack and its associated money made full automatic the weapons of choice. Kody would patrol his neighborhood on his bicycle carrying a loaded hand gun. They shot their enemies on sight. I was frightened at times by the fearlessness, heartlessness, and cold bloodedness of some of the armed guiltless homicides. Avenging assaults, initiation attacks and a peppering of random acts of murder accompany this proclaiming of manhood. One gang member, c hallenged to a private duel, responded, â€Å"I'm a killer, not a gunfighter. † Monster's reputation built quickly. He was a very effective killer.Kody found himself the target of older gang members who wanted him dead. He was ambushed, shot six times. He survived and went right back to banging. It all seemed quite normal to him. He couldn't imagine living life as a â€Å"hook†, a civilian, a victim. He was at war for control of the civilians, the hood, their turf. Killing civilians was frowned upon. There was no glory in civilians, too easy. Some civilians even welcomed and protected the hood's bangers as defenders. Later in the book, while in prison, Kody was recruited into an army of bangers, the Consolidated Crips Organization.That's CRIPS, as in Clandestine Revolutionary International Party Soldiers, defender of the C-Nation, unifier of the warring sets with claim to the Crips name. The older gang members were very aware of the need for more unity between gang mem bers to reduce the crippling infighting. There is much talk and effort placed in creating a Gang. The primary motivation to such unity was surviving the larger scale wars. The Crips were allied with gangs of Southern Mexicans against the Aryan Nazis with their Northern Mexican allies. California prison reads like a race war.This causes me to have nightmare visions of a possible Earth, where the racial and tribal lines of loyalty and disloyalty exists on a bloody worldwide scale. I took comfort in the fact that this book is the story of transformation, from a boy killer to a mature man. Gangs of all levels and types usually have a negative effect on society. Gangs, gang violence and gang wars typically suck up a city or town's police resources because of the sheer number of people involved, lack of witness cooperation and types of crimes connected to gangs.Higher-level gangs that are investigated by the FBI sometimes force the agency to utilize very risky and very expensive resources like high-tech surveillance, informants and witness protection programs. Gangs also can bring down the property value of neighborhoods from the violence and vandalism involved with gang life. Big money investors may shy away from places where they feel that their properties and resources will not be used for fear of gang crimes. Gangs can also drive up prices of local groceries and commodities via their intimidating schemes that force businesses to pay them sums of money in exchange for â€Å"protection. Gangs have been threatening the progression of our society due to the fear that has been put into everyone’s eyes. In my own hometown of Fairfax Virginia, now whenever people hear the police car sirens, the first thought that comes into their mind is someone got shot. Gang violence is not just an issue in Fairfax; gang violence is known to be an issue all over the world. Gang violence seems to be increasing all over the world throughout the years, and it’s becoming a major issue. Many people agree that innocent live get taken due to terror and violence that gangs bring to our society.The lives of young people are being put in danger because most gangs recruit young people as members. The younger members are the ones being sent to kill each other just to gain respect by the older people in the gangs, and the gain reputation in the gang too. Innocent’s people’s house get shot at because of the gangs trying to kill a gang member, and sometimes they end up killing an innocent person. Some people feel the criminal justice system is failing to control the growth and strength of gangs in communities and prisons alike.In today’s society, the age of gang members continues to decrease while the number of them continues to increase. As youth continue to age the chance that they will end up in prison increases. There will be focus on the relationship between prison and street gangs and how society is affected as a result of these gangs . It is important to look at how gang violence can be reduced if not prevented all together Mike Torbert â€Å"The Autobiography Of An L. A GangMember† By: Sanyika Shakur Sociology Paper 3/22/12

Substance Abuse In Native Populations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1167 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/08/16 Category Health Essay Level High school Tags: Substance Abuse Essay Did you like this example? Alcoholism and drug abuse are things that I grew up within my family. My grandparents smoked, my mother and father smoked along with many other family members, many of which started before they hit Oregons previous smoking legal age of eighteen. I havent lived with my father in a long time, but what I remember from when he did live with me was that he was drunk. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Substance Abuse In Native Populations" essay for you Create order A lot. It wasnt just him either. His parents drank a lot, and so did their parents along with many of my tribal family members. I didnt grow up on the reservation, or with my tribal family, but I do know that many families are like mine in my tribal community. I dont want you to read this and automatically assume that all Native Americans are alcoholics and they all use drugs and smoke, because thats just not the case. Alcoholism is prevalent in all races and ethnicities, but is higher in White and Native American/Alaskan Native communities. With the current US population, 74.27 percent of white males and 65.10 percent of white females drink. Native Americans/Alaskan Natives arent too far behind though (Chartier and Caetano). 65.48 percent of Native males and 51.66 of Native females drink (Chartier and Caetano). The percent of weekly and daily heavy drinkers is higher in Native men and women than it is in any other ethnicity or race. Native population is a very small percentage of the US population, it being 0.9 percent of the overall United States population. That is 2.9 million Alaskan Natives/American Natives. 32 percent of that population is under the age of 18 (National Congress of American Indians). The Native youth attribute a lot to the stable percentage of alcohol use in Native communities. Native youth have the highest rates of alcohol use disorders. In a school-based survey in 1993, 71 percent of Indian youth from grades 7 to 12 reported having ever used alcohol, and 55 percent reported having ever been drunk. This is a large percentage, especially since the consumption of alcohol in Native youth has stayed relatively the same since 1975 (Beauvais). There are many factors that can lead to, or have lead to the numbers of alcoholism cases in Native populations. Some of these factors include; genetic influences, generational trauma, social and cultural influences, attitudes, poverty, cultural dissociation, oppression and mental illness (Bentley/Beauvais). There are many other factors that can contribute to alcoholism, not just the few that I listed. Some factors that I would really like to dive in to is the generational trauma and genetic influences when it comes to alcoholism in the Native community. A quote from Andrew Bentleys article Alcohol: Its Different for Native Americans that stood out to me was, Often, what people forget about alcohol dependency in Indian Country is that its different for Native Americans than other ethnicities (Bentley). Alcohol is relatively new for Native Americans, and they have a long and difficult history with it (Bentley). Before colonization, very few tribes had alcohol. The few tribes that had a lcohol only had weak beers that had a very low alcohol content(Insert Source 6). The beers were typically used for none other than ceremonial purposes. For them, there was no known way of making the beers stronger like the beers and other alcoholic beverages brought to the US by colonization. Europeans would use the alcohol as items for trade. They would trade it with the Natives for furs and other items that the Natives had and the colonizers did not. Europeans made a huge profit off tribal members. Alcohol runs out, they werent given an endless supply, so tribal members would go back to the colonizers bringing furs and other goods and delicacies with them to trade in for alcohol. This is what started the drinking style called binge drinking (Beauvais). This newly found dependency on alcohol for Native Americans grew and grew. The colonizers began to punish the Natives for the behavior caused by the alcohol, but the tribal members werent acting any differently than any of the colonizers. It didnt stop natives from drinking, though. The drinking has been passed d own for generations and generations. Genetics account for 50 to 60 percent of the risk for alcoholism among men (Beauvais). There are many Native programs in place to help prevent alcoholism in the communities. One program that is in place and is a huge help to Native community members is The Indian Health Service or IHS. A program that branches out of the IHS is The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program. The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Programs (also known as ASAP) mission is, to reduce the incidence and prevalence of alcohol and substance abuse among the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population to a level that is at or below the general U.S. population (https://www.ihs.gov/asap/). ASAP is a tribally operated program that opens up resources for children and adults to help prevent alcoholism and provide support for people and their families who may struggle with alcoholism. On their webpage they provide numerous resources along with a confidential, 24-hour, 365 day, hotline for those who are seeking help. Aside from these Native programs, there are other programs like AAA and Detox/Rehab program s in all communities that have been set in place to help with the alcoholism issue that we have in all communities, not just the Native community. The generalizations and stereotypes for Native people are that we are all poor, we live in isolated communities, we are given government handouts and that we are all a bunch of drunks. Alcoholism isnt something that affects one race or one community of people. It is something that is felt by all communities. Every race, every ethnicity and every gender. As I said earlier, alcohol and alcoholism is something that is relatively new for the Native people, we have a long a dark history with it, and it is something that I feel is very prevalent in all Native communities. It is something that should be fixed, and the history of it, no matter how dark, shouldnt be kept from the community. It should be taught so we can learn from our ancestors and prevent the next generations from taking the wrong path. Sources Alcohol and Native Americans. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans. Beauvais, Fred. American Indians and Alcohol. pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/. Bentley, Andrew. Alcohol: Its Different for Native Americans  « Native American / American Indian Blog by Partnership With Native Americans. Native American / American Indian Blog by Partnership With Native Americans, 2013, blog.nativepartnership.org/alcohol-its-different-for-native-americans/. Chartier, Karen, and Raul Caetano. Ethnicity and Health Disparities in Alcohol Research. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh40/152-160.htm National Congress of American Indians. Demographics. Tribal Governance | NCAI, www.ncai.org/about-tribes/demographics. Riley, Naomi Schaefer. To Solve Alcoholism, Native Americans Must Look inside Reservations. USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 18 May 201 , www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/18/ south-dakota-indian-liquor-alcoholism-column/101484586/.