Articles written by Bret Stalcup

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just another meatsack, playing games, waiting to die

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Religion & Spirituality > Religion & Spirituality (Other) Is religion just a crutch: 1 of 19
This paper is to examine the question, "What's wrong with crutches?" The term "crutches" in this instance refers to religions that embody what Nietzsche terms "ascetic ideals", namely poverty, humility and chastity. The position that I am going to take is that, in agreement with Nietzsche, "Every animalinstinctively strives f... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Buddhism Basics of Zen: 1 of 6
What is Zen?"Coming empty-handed, going empty handedthat is human.When you are born, where do you come from?When you die, where do you go?Life is like a floating cloud that appears.Death is like a floating cloud that disappears.The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.Life and death, coming and going, are also like... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Bible Study Paul's ministry in the early Christian church: 3 of 12
THE CONSTRICTION OF LIFE: THE INFLUENCE OF PAULINTRODUCTION The purpose of this article is to examine the views and subsequent impact of the Pauline writings on the development of Christian theology. In particular, I will focus upon three aspects of Paul's doctrines, namely the glorification of weakness and suffering, hatred ... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Bible Study Divine justice in the Hebrew Bible: 1 of 3
The purpose of this essay is to examine differing views of God and divine justice in the Hebrew Bible. I will examine views from Proverbs, Qohelet, and Job, and then compare these to views found in Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Ezekiel. The book of Proverbs provides a very equitable view of divine justice; good actions bring rew... More..
Arts & Humanities > Classical Literature & Mythology Love and immortality in Plato's Symposium: 1 of 2
The subject of Plato's Symposium is one of the most powerful of human experiences, namely love. Of course, love' is a word that has many meanings, and to use it indiscriminately is to court confusion. The word love' in the Symposium is a translation of the Greek eros.' Eros' originally meant "a kind of passionate desire for a... More..
Sciences > Social Science (Other) Onomatology: The names analytical research and forecast study: 1 of 2
The purpose of this paper is to examine Devitt and Sterelny's criticism of what they term the "Millian View"; that is, the view that "the meaning of a name is exhausted by its role of designating its bearer". They term this view as "Millian" because, in the words of John Stewart Mill, "proper names are not connotative: they ... More..
Arts & Humanities > Poets & Poetry A look at Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: 1 of 1
In Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Wallace Stevens, using 13 stanzas and 246 words, manages to create a poem of deep philosophical and artistic value. Here is a work that well demonstrates the power of poetic language; transcending definite interpretation, like myth, it provides a match and a mirror for the engaged r... More..
Arts & Humanities > Philosophical Concepts Assessing Steven Mulhall's theory that films can philosophize: 1 of 1
The purpose of this essay is to examine Steven Mulhall's thesis that films can philosophize and make contributions to the field of philosophy. It is my position that film does have the capacity to do this, and that Mulhall's tripartite model of the ways in which films can exist philosophically is accurate and useful. To begi... More..
Religion & Spirituality > Bible Study The changing faces of God in the Hebrew Bible: 1 of 1
The Changing Faces of God The purpose of this paper is to examine the differing views of God in the Hebrew Bible. These changes, from highly anthropomorphic images to remotely transcendent conceptions and from henotheism to monotheism, provide an interesting look into the relation between history and theology, of the cyclical... More..
Arts & Humanities > Playwrights & Plays Play reviews: Waiting for Godot - En Attendant Godot, by Samuel Beckett: 5 of 9
Though alienation can be transcended to positive benefit, none of this can be seen in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot; instead, we find ourselves confronting perhaps the starkest portrayal of alienation, futility, and ennui in modernist literature. This alienation exists not primarily in relation to environmental factors b... More..