Nietzsche said it first: Socrates is an ugly pleb (2).  He "was the buffoon who got himself taken seriously" (2).  That sounds a little ad hominem to me, but my immediate query would be: what's Nietzsche's beef?  After all, Western philosophy wouldn't be a thing without him, right?  As a Christian and because I like a lot…

This week, we read part of David Hume's Origin of Ideas.  Whilst Descartes's philosophy hinged on finding undoubtable fact from doubting everything, the main idea in Hume's writing is our experiences and observations allow people to make cause-and-effect relationships, and those observations are the basis of human knowledge.  According to Hume, "our reason, unassisted by experience,…

This week's reading was not something I easily connected with.  The way I am wired just does not appreciate Descartes's style of writing.  The layout of a statement followed by an explanation reminds me of SAT science prompts, and that really takes me out of the readings.  Personally, I would prefer a narrative or an…

"[h]uman history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." --C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity One unique characteristic to human beings is our desire to reach for higher things, for higher knowledge.  While I was reading Boethius's writing, I kept in…

During this semester in English 125, I have not seen very much improvement in my writing process or in the quality of my writing; however, I have noticed some issues in the way I handle English classes, and I am currently seeking to make changes to the ways in which I think about English-specific papers…

Jane Eyre I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jane Eyre and discussing it with my peers, and I also enjoyed writing the literary analysis.  I am proud of the essay not only because I liked the topic, but also because it was a major improvement compared to the first literary analysis I wrote for the class.  Had I…

Last weekend, I attended the second annual honors research retreat and had the opportunity to listen to the seniors' research projects and glean ideas for my own future project.  The presentations that resonated with me the most were Elisa Klaassen's presentation on the connections between Tolkien and Beowulf and Marlena Kalafut's presentation on dystopian fiction.…

The Eyre of the Beholder: A Literary Analysis of Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is a novel written by Charlotte Brontë during the mid-nineteenth century.  The story centers around Jane Eyre and follows her life from her troubled childhood to her complicated adulthood and relationship with her employer, Rochester.  From the very beginning, Jane shares her thoughts…

"The most important thing is not to live but to have a reason to live." --Chloe, Detroit: Become Human Earlier this year, the video game Detroit: Become Human was released.  The cinematic, story-driven game tackled the questions of AI, morality, and free will.  In the game, the androids the player controls must make choices that affects the entire…

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will." Jane Eyre was a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed.  The ideas that it presented were interesting to delve into, and the sophisticated way of addressing them was quite brilliant.  I sort of read this like…