Articles written by Heath Cleaveland

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Society & Lifestyle > African-American Issues Combating racial profiling of African-Americans in the justice system: 1 of 13
In this article, I will use the recent case of Professor Gates of Harvard to shed light on the problem of racial profiling. The primary question I have is this: how much of racial profiling is simply discrimination and how much is cultural conflict? In affirming the civil rights of all people, we created an environment whe... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Political & Economic Theory Is the US facing another economic depression?: 1 of 13
The difference between a recession and a depression is subjective no matter who tells you, be they government officials, a Johns Hopkins' economics professor, or your friend who lost his job. The difference is one of degree of severity and unarguably the experience of America after 1929 classifies as most severe, therefore... More..
Sciences > Sciences (Other) Does science, by its very nature, undermine its own search for answers and obsolesce itself?: 2 of 17
The beautiful thing about science is that when objective evidence comes into the light that contradicts one of its ideas, it actually addresses the new evidence and adjusts accordingly. Science has made a name for itself by predicting events that will definitely occur well in advance and by challenging old ideas, once held a... More..
Arts & Humanities > Ancient & Biblical Languages How knowing Latin helps you learn Romance languages: 1 of 6
Latin is the precursor to the assorted languages of Europe termed Romance Languages. The major Romance Languages are French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. People consider Latin a dead language and so the question arises, Why study it? For one thing, Latin is the language of Caesar, of the Roman Empire, ... More..
Arts & Humanities > Ethics Beyond the principles of good and evil: 5 of 28
The world was once separated into the Christian duality of white good and black evil. Now we live in a world where science has blurred and widened the division and created a gray area, like so much gray matter in our brains. We have come to realize through extensive accumulation of evidence that most of life happens in tha... More..
Arts & Humanities > Ethics If knowledge is power and power corrupts, does knowledge corrupt too?: 1 of 5
Our language culture is filled with many pithy expressions or platitudes. They do not always correspond in meaning and occasionally they contradict each other. We say that knowledge is power. By this we mean that the more we know about our choices the more likely it will be that we make the best ones. On the other hand, w... More..
Arts & Humanities > Meaning of Life Life's domino effects: Each existence contributing: 2 of 8
One of the great metaphors of Chaos Theory is that (e.g.) a butterfly flaps its wings in China and creates a hurricane in San Antonio. I'm not sure I have the quote right, but you understand the principle. Small changes at one location in an ecosystem can have much greater influences at a different location than you migh... More..
Arts & Humanities > Schools of Thought Is there one right religion?: 29 of 115
As D.T. Suzuki, a Japanese Zen priest, used to say, I believe all the world religions are as "so many fingers pointing to the moon." He used this perspective to justify his beliefs in harmonious living and to play his part in attaining the goal of world peace. Suzuki was not one to choose easy goals. In contrast, those inv... More..
Arts & Humanities > Ancient & Biblical Languages Latin is not a dead language: 6 of 18
Some think of Latin as a language not useful to study at all. They assume incorrectly that because only Catholic priests speak it, then it's pretty much dead. To talk to their friends and communicate with strangers they will never need any knowledge that comes from taking beginning, intermediate, or advanced classes in t... More..
Arts & Humanities > Schools of Thought Why religions exist: 17 of 50
You find religion everywhere and at every time we can find evidence of humans. There are archaeological talismans, there are gods in a pantheon, and the latest one and only God theory. Cultural anthropologists find examples of mystical beliefs in their studies of independent civilizations. Archaeologists discover evidence of ... More..