The perspectives program has played a crucial role in my development as an individual and as part of society. It has given me the means to critically question my cultural influences and has thereby enabled me to strive towards excellence both in terms of becoming a better citizen, capable of contributing to a society of publics, as well as becoming a better human, by seeking excellence through friendship.
Culture can be curse and redemption at once. Growing up in western society we passively gorge ourselves on the ideas of the great thinkers of our past taking their thoughts for granted. The legacy of few men becomes generalized to cultural norms. With little or no understanding we spew forth catchphrases and consider ourselves wise for knowing
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I came to Boston College well familiar with the forms of many shadows and believing to be great at distinguishing and recognizing them. Some I even arrogantly believed to be of my own origin. I had already been exposed to the ideas of many thinkers that I studied in my four years of “doing good and avoiding evil” through my cultural experience, but merely in a lesser shadow form. Although I was raised without religion and even believed myself to be an atheist, my ethical sensitivities were formed by my home life to be essentially eudemonistic. Through my formal scientific and economic education and my exposure to consumerism and an ever growing liberal contingent in Germany I was familiarized with the ideas of the enlightenment and liberalism. I was exposed to Rousseauean, Kantian and Marxian ideas by my ethical and political education and my friend group, who for the most part were conditioned by their cultural environment to be politically quite socially oriented. I also lived with the family of a friend of mine for two years, who have been fighting for a more social Germany for three generations now, despite their experience with the failed revolution of the proletariat in Russia (the grandfather spent more than ten years in as a prisoner of war, first in a Nazi labor camp for being a communist, and later in a Russian one for being a German). …show more content…
The notion that others can only gain at my cost is detrimental to the formation of true friendships. Instead what is formed are temporary bonds of utility and pleasure for the most part void of any care for the excellence of the friends. This lack of friendships, both political and personal is part of a vicious cycle of lack of caring. The isolation and competition brought about by capitalist culture makes the formation of friendships more difficult, while a lack of friendship promotes a narcissistic way of thinking that reinforces the capitalist culture. As Schall implies in his essay on Aristotle and friendship, even a virtuous life lived without sharing one’s virtues with others through friendship loses meaning. People alienated, due to their capitalist culture of narcissism despair at the meaninglessness of solitude, and turn to consumption in order to distract themselves from the
Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest and biggest cathedral in the United Kingdom. It stands at four hundred and four feet. What makes the cathedral the tallest is the spire. A spire is the tower or pyramid structure on top of the cathedral. The cathedral also has the largest cloister in Britain with a total of eighty acres (Darwin, 2013). A cloister is an open space that is rectangular. The goal of the cloister is to separate the monks from the other men or surfs that don’t live their lives in a church. Another amazing thing about this cathedral is that it has world's oldest clock, and it actually works still to this day. The clock does not have a face and it only tells time in hours and not minutes. The clock was originally placed in a bell tower that is no longer there. The bell tower was knocked down in 1792 (Darwin, 2013).
... colorful light (Jones). There are also many windows dedicated to depicting individuals who were performing certain tasks (Fiero, 135). The design of this gothic cathedral was completely original (Jones). The fact that no other country had used this design shows just how much architecture had changed in such a short time. Earning its nickname as the medieval “jewelbox,” this cathedral is truly much more beautiful on the inside compared to that of Notre Dame de Chartres.
The church in the Middle Ages was a place that all people, regardless of class, could belong to. As a source of unity, its influence on art and architecture was great during this time. As society drew away from the feudal system of the Romanesque period, a new spirit of human individualism began to take hold; alas, the birth of Gothic. Here, the Church became a place where humanity became more acceptable, alas becoming the ideal place to visual such new ideals. The beauty and elegance of Gothic architecture is depicted most in the great cathedrals of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries—St. Denis, Notre Dame, Chartres, Salisbury, Durham, Amiens, and more. The experience of looking at one of the great gothic cathedrals is to look up towards God. Indeed, most Gothic structures emphasize the vertical, drawing one’s eyes upwards toward the heavens with the awesomeness of God. These cathedrals were built with towering spires, pointed arches and flying buttresses giving impressions of harmony and luminosity. One of the major accomplishments of the 12th and 13th centuries was to develop the engineering mastery of the ribbed vault, pointed arch and flying buttress to create a great cathedral that is at once taller, lighter, wider, and more elegant than the ones before. Even though the pointed arch could support more weight than its predecessors, there was still the problem of finding a way to support the heavy masonry ceiling vaults over wide spans. In order to support the outward thrust of barrel vaults, vertical support walls have to be very thick and heavy. What makes possible the extensive use of ribbed vaulting and pointed arches to “open” and “lighten” the walls and space of the cathedral is the flying buttress—“an arched bridge above the aisle roof that extends from the upper nave wall, where the lateral thrust of the main vault is greatest, down to a solid pier.”
Culture often means an appreciation of the finer things in life; however, culture brings members of a society together. We have a sense of belonging because we share similar beliefs, values, and attitudes about what’s right and wrong. As a result, culture changes as people adapt to their surroundings. According to Bishop Donald, “let it begin with me and my children and grandchildren” (211). Among other things, culture influences what you eat; how you were raised and will raise your own children? If, when, and whom you will marry; how you make and spend money. Truth is culture is adaptive and always changing over time because
(See Hallam & Everard 2001) The new Gothic cathedral was regarded as one of the first examples of High Gothic architecture. There was a genuine desire, of course, to build places of worship and prayer and to build a cathedral as a way to pay homage to God. However, the catholic...
Throughout the semester i only learned few new things but i did improve and solidify my skill of writing. Before my first year of college my skills have always undermined by other high school english teachers and with that came disappointing grades. I am writing this paper as a reflection of the semester and the progress i have made as a writer. I now understand many things that my high school teachers have done a poor job demonstrating and i am grateful that i decided to take my own route in my education instead of their syllabus. I entered the semester with anxiety that i would perform as i did before but i clearly outdid my own expectations by receiving top grades on my essays.
...hed the old St, Paul. In 1669, the new St. Paul was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. He had previously been put in charge of the rebuilding of churches to replace those lost in the great fire. Christopher Wren had begun advising on the repair of the old St. Pauls in 1661 The proposed work included renovations to both interior and exterior that would complement the Classical facade designed by Inigo Jones in 1630. Wren planned to replace the dilapidated tower with a dome, using the existent structure as a scaffold. He produced a drawing of the proposed dome, showing that it was at this stage at which he conceived the idea that it should span both nave and aisles at the crossing.[16] After the fire, It was at first thought possible to retain a substantial part of the old cathedral, but ultimately the entire structure was destroy in the early 1670s to start afresh.
I chose two cathedrals for my post, the Durham Cathedral and the Chartres Cathedral. The Durham Cathedral, my example of Romanesque architecture, was built from local sandstone in 1087-1133 CE (the east wing was replaced in 1242) and is currently located in Nothern England. The Gothic style structure, the Chartres Cathedral (also known as the Cathedral of Notre-Dame), was mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220 CE due to a fire causing it to be rebuilt. Assembled utilizing limestone, this colossal structure is currently located in France and is known for it’s strikingly beautiful stained-glass windows. These structures share a few similarities, like their ribbed groin vaults (the crossing segments on the ceiling of the hallways), the high-placed windows as well as their huge circular window that were added to provide light and a
...just the physical features. This is the same way Gothic Architecture was design to overwhelm and make feel the individual inferior to the institution behind the building. Consequently, the conceptual aspect of the building came as a secondary element in the design of the building. Such as the experience and feeling of the people coming to this building and being inside. The same way Gothic Architecture did it.
Aristotle presents his view of the mutual desire for good in others, or Friendship in his work, The Nicomachean Ethics. He asserts that friendship comes in three types, Virtue Friendship, Use Friendship, and Pleasure Friendship. He distinguishes Virtue Friendship as the perfect friendship, leaving Use Friendship and Pleasure friendship as deficient friendships. C.S. Lewis presents his view of friendship, which is motivated by appreciation love, in his book The Four Loves in a manner seeming to correspond to Aristotle’s concept of Virtue Friendship. Lewis also presents his perception of Companionship, which seems to correspond to Aristotle’s notion of Use and Pleasure Friendships. Lewis presents a more modern and seemingly accurate rehabilitation
During Henry VIII and Edward VI’s reign many significant changes were made to church buildings. One church with notable changes is Glastonbury Abbey which still stands today. In this essay I shall explain many changes in church buildings.
Christian churches as we know them grew out of a number of features of the Roman period. Certain examples of this can be seen in the house church, the atrium, the basilica, the bema, the mausoleum, and the cruciform. When Christianity became the lawful religion, Christians began to express itself in buildings. Christian architecture was created in direct correlation to civic and immoral forms. Therefore the Roman basilica was used as model for churches. As early Christians built communities, they drew on one particular feature, the atrium with a colonnade surrounding it. Although most have disappeared, the Basilica of San Clemente still stands as great example. The bema or raised dais formed part of many basilican churches. This bema extended laterally beyond the main meeting hall, which formed tow arms so the building took on a T shape with projecting apse. This is the shape most of the Western Cathedrals and large churches developed. One heavy influence on church architecture was the mausoleum. The Roman mausoleum was square or circular domed structure. The Emperor Constantine can be credited responsible for the building of a circular, mausoleum-like church which in turn
When assessing my current writing ability, I recognize my ability to efficiently relay a message; however, I struggle with using strong phrases and advanced writing. When I begin drafting a paper, translating my thoughts and ideas into words comes naturally, and I do not get lost in the process. As mentioned previously, the general areas that need improvement include using strong vocabulary to convey a professional level of writing. Also, I believe that I need to work on transition phrases between ideas.
Aristotle wrote on many subjects in his lifetime but one of the virtues that he examines more extensively is friendship. Aristotle believes that there are three different kinds of friendship: utility, pleasure, and virtuous friendships. He also argues that a real friendship should be highly valued because it is a complete virtue and he believes it to be greater than honor and justice. Aristotle suggests that human’s love of utility and pleasure is the only reason why the first two types of friendships exist. Aristotle also argues that humans only set up these types of relationships for personal gain. But when he speaks of the virtuous friendships, Aristotle states that it is one of the greatest attainments one can achieve.
My RIP companion essay was a complete mess with no structure in the first draft. I believe it was because I had procrastinated to complete both the first drafts for the RIP project and essay. I finished my RIP project then moved on to my companion essay, and the transition was vastly different because in the RIP project I was writing for a different audience than in the companion essay, which was an academic audience. In addition, I forgot that we had been given a prompt with specific instructions and guidelines for the companion essay, which gave the structure for the essay. My professor, Delany-Ullman also points out that “For most essays, you should NOT include your textual evidence in your topic sentence. Your topic sentence should make