The Body of Human Philosophy and Evolution - Essay Example

Running Head: OPINION Three opinion pieces: Articles about significance of literature in regard to expressing human existence Article A multi-faith compendium of religious literature The philosophical frameworks of the human condition are multi-faceted, thus choosing one type of body of works to represent what mankind has accomplished, and how they have intellectually evolved is a difficult task. However, no body of works represents the body of human philosophy and evolution in thought as does a collection of the religious materials that have framed daily life through multiple cultures. Works such as the Christian Bible, the Koran, Zen , Tao, and as many religious texts as can be included would provide any alien race with enough information to understand the common and extraordinary variations of the human system of thoughts on life. While scientific accomplishment, as well as artistic accomplishment has something to say about mankind, their representations providing examples of the best (and sometimes the worst) of human existence, religious works express something of everyone who has existed. Science explains what can be proven, the framework of life that is defined by actions and reactions. What is known gives human beings comfort on those things that can be explained, but religion has provided explanations for those aspects of life that could or cannot be explained. In his writing, Worrell (2003) suggests that science and religious belief are not compatible, that to have one is to discredit the other. He states “science and religion (are) two conflicting ways in generating beliefs about our world” (p. 69). The stark truth of that statement is that science is about belief as much as religion is about belief. The scientist observes and then believes how the event proves his or her theory. An example of this is the atom. Science has yet to find a way to see an atom. It can be detected in groups, the evidence of it can be seen through the energy that is expelled when it is split, but the atom itself, a single atom, has yet to be seen (Saunders, 2007, p. 4). Therefore, the atom exists because it is believed that it exists. God exists because it is believed that He exists. Therefore, in bringing forward the works of religious materials as a resource of representing how the human race existed, the nature of human kind will be explored further than can be found in any sort of other resource. What is valued, how belief was developed, how nature was perceived, and how daily life was framed is available through examination of the belief systems of religion. Providing texts that speak of these things will give any being that finds them a reality of the cultures of humanity, their wars, their loves, and what they held dear, far better than any other text. Excerpts of religious content will provide the best of average human life, and in the process, provide those that read them evidence of the kind of people that lived in the world of Earth. Article 2: An encyclopedia of science When the Earth dies, as it is an impending probability, as a race, the best resource for giving an alien society information that frames the nature of human existence would be an encyclopedia of science that has peer-reviewed articles that represent the best of the scientific work of humanity. Through a piece of work that explained the nature of human scientific discovery, an alien can assess the evolution of intellectual thought that has occurred throughout the existence of human kind. The nature of science is to describe, explain, and give context to the natural world, and to use it in order to advance the nature of life. Through explanations of how human kind has developed their knowledge and used it, an alien race can discover the nature of human existence. According to Peter Atkins (1987), “science has never encountered a barrier that it has not surmounted or that it cannot reasonably expected to surmount eventually” (p. 349). Scientific discovery and the innovations that have come from that discovery show human kind for the nature of what it holds important, the nature of how humans observed those things, and the uses for which that knowledge was then used. In seeing science, an alien race sees the nature of human kind for its search to overcome what it does not know with knowledge gained through experimentation. As suggested by Burbour (1997), “the influence of the process of observation on the system observed is crucial” (p. 94). Through the information that is available to send out into the cosmos, the infinite space in which other races are also developing, the nature of human kind, as it blinks out of time, would be best explained to others through the revelations of scientific pursuit, and through seeing how those pursuits were framed, measured, and assessed. As well, the nature of science as a foundation to understand the human race can be used as a warning against misuse of discovery. Through many advancements, the human race has been benefited, but there is also information that will allow for an understanding that in its flaws, humanity has also found humility and worked towards righting some of its wrongs. As well, the pride that has caused some cultures to fall can also be seen in some of the uses of scientific discovery. Through a medium that provides both positive and negative points of view, science can inform alien cultures of a great deal about the human race as what has been valued and studied comes to light within scientific texts. Article 3: The complete works of Shakespeare and other works of poetic literature As the world is coming to an end, as all that was human kind hangs in the balance and the nature of being human and telling others in the cosmos what that has meant through some literary legacy that is shot out into the heavens, there is only one set of works that would give context to the human condition. A beam of information that included the complete set of Shakespearian works, along with other critical works of poetry, would give an alien race the best possible overview of what it meant to have lived in human skin on Earth. Shakespeare manage to best relate the emotional lives of human beings, the ways in which the genders relate to one another and the ways in which passion, war, and murder have played central parts in the creation of the human emotional landscape. Through these works, through the stories, the moments of beauty, and sorrowful wickedness that is explored in the poetry of life, and more specifically the works of William Shakespeare, the nature of human life is revealed. Relationships are the core of the plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare. The way in which people interacted through actions and response are central to the works within his catalogue. Human nature is revealed for the complexities of emotions that motivate actions. The concepts of the differences in the genders is made clear within the works as “his female characters have been shaped and reshaped in relation to changing ideas about women” (Kemp, 2010, p. xiii). While the complexities of men are well represented, so are the complexities of women, thus creating context for the division within the human world. Even in his Sonnet 130, he reveals women as being off of the pedestal and stil loved, when he says “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Shakespeare& Steevens, 1854, p. 520). Shakespeare is directly confronting the “rhetoric of false compare”, providing a version of realism in life (Fineman, 1986, p. 179). Therefore, it is realistic to believe that a race advanced enough to pick up the signal sent into space, could see the human race for the context given to it by Shakespearian works. References Atkins, P. Purposeless people. Found in A. Peacock and G. Gillette. (1987). Persons and personalities. Oxford: Blackwell. Burbour, I.A. (1997). Ways of relating science and religion. Historical and Contemporary Issues. 777-105. Fineman, J. (1986). Shakespeares perjured eye: The invention of poetic subjectivity in the sonnets. Berkeley: University of California Press. Kemp, T. D. (2010). Women in the age of Shakespeare. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press. Saunders, N. (2007). Exploring atoms and molecules. New York: Rosen Central. Shakespeare, W., & Steevens, G. (1854). William Shakspeares complete works, dramatic and poetic: The text from the corrected copy of the late George Steevens, Esq. With glossarial notes and a sketch of the authors life. Copiously illustrated. In two volumes. Vol. I[-II]. Hartford Conn.: Silas Andrus and Son. Worrell, J. (2003). Science discredits religion. Contemporary Debates in the Philosophy of Religion. 58-72. Read More