Mirrors by Lucy Grealy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mirrors by Lucy Grealy - Essay Example While she was 9 years, Grealy suffered jaw cancer therefore forcing a part of her right side jaw to be removed. She underwent 30 surgeries as a way of reconstructing her face and so in her story mirror, she talks about the perceptions and obsessions people have of beauty which demonstrates how the society at large is. She had the belief that if the surgeries would eventually fully reconstruct her face, she could be happy as she would be a normal person just like the rest of the world. In an article written by Michelle Wittle inside the mind of a writer she talks about Grealy’s article. Wittle talks positively about the manner in which Grealy’s article is talking about the challenges people go though in their day to day life as a result of their self image. She puts emphasis on the way people define the lives they live in terms of what they see in the mirror. Wittle is proud of the way Grealy at last is able to face her worst fears and looks in the mirror seeing positive things. â€Å"I am a big victim of this theory† (Wittle, 2010). Wittle can relate to Grealy’s story as she herself has let other people define her according to her looks; or how she should live her life just because they say so. She therefore does not condemn Grealy because of the fears she faced with her self image. She compares herself to Grealy by saying that she herself has learnt of how to soul-search herself and live her life instead of living the way others want to â€Å"Like Grealy, I am learning to look at myself on the inside† (Wittle 2010).

Meditations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Meditations - Essay Example This is after the book was circulated for a collection of objection upon which he provided his replies. Most of the people who read the meditations did not agree with some of the philosophical theories built by Descartes. Therefore, this brings about some kind of disagreement between Descartes and one or more objectives that he raises. As such, these objections and replies will be evaluated to gauge their adequacy. Descartes wrote the meditations to show that he had previously been mistaken in relation to things that he had initially thought to be certain. He, therefore, makes a decision to sweep away all of the perception that he had built in the past by constructing his knowledge from ground upwards. In turn, the only ideas that he was to accept as true were those that had been confirmed to be absolutely certain. It is his senses that helped him to get all that he had thought previously. Although his senses can also be deceiving, it only happens for tiny objects or those that are f ar away. He ultimately realizes that he cannot cast any doubt upon his own existence (Garber, 2003). Position of Descartes in the Meditations In the Meditations Descartes provides a means for first philosophy hence the beginning of modern day philosophy. From the book, he starts by attempting to doubt everything. He also builds up from those things that are likely to be known with certainty. He bases his first mediation on skeptical doubts by defining knowledge in terms of doubt. With this, he makes a distinction between rigorous knowledge or scientia and the other lesser grades of convictions or persuasio. He makes a clear distinction between the human soul and body. In this, he demonstrates the existence of God and the immortality of the soul and questions how certain knowledge is. As such, his position is that people should establish what is likely to be known for sure. In order to make out what is claimed in the sciences and form a firm structure from them, it is important to ma ke a new foundation. This is because of the way he connects with the development of knowledge from the senses. This kind of information is what should be taken as true and certain (Garber, 2003). It is thus important to have a clear and distinct perception in order to secure knowledge. He thus develops a new state of mind conception by stating that the mental states are similar to what it represents. Therefore, the subject of the objections is that there should be no belief in things that are absolutely certain. In particular, the objection being made is that people only think about things that know the mind in a clear and distinct way. He claims that senses are not the source of knowledge but a means through which individuals practically move through the world. This makes the mind of human beings sufficient enough to know God. However, the reply to this objective is that people must work hard to understand their bodies. It is because the mind and body are extremely distinct and hav e nothing in common. With this, there must be the presence of doubt to gain more knowledge (Descartes, 1993). In my opinion, this reply is highly adequate because it appears to take a rational stance. It brings out the two truths that show the philosophical evidence on the existence of God, as opposed to the authority of scriptures. First Meditation: What can be called to doubt: the reliability of senses For the first meditation by Descartes which is about the reliability of the senses, he claims that the human is a complete form of spirituality. According to