Hamlet Says Hello

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It is very interesting how humans have perceived reason. Over the centuries, different philosophers and cultures have developed different theories regarding the nature of truth. In Hinduism, Truth is believed to be eternal and ingrained within each individual soul. The process of reasoning, or finding that truth, is through self-exploration and this process is necessary to reach Brahman. The ancient Greeks developed a correspondence theory, propagated by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, which states that the truth of the description of an object is based upon accurately it describes the reality. Between the ancient and modern worlds, medieval philosophers repeated and augmented the ancient ideas. A famous medieval philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, based the truth of the human intellect on the ontological truths. Transitioning into the modern world, two new schools of thought, Rationalism and Empiricism, were developed independently after the revitalization of ancient teachings and scientific methods. Rationalism, founded in ancient classical beliefs with a scientific touch, believes that the path to truth is through reason, and that the ability to reason is innate within all humans. Rationalism concludes that humans can reason all of the truths in the world from commonly accepted facts, including the ancient ideas of syllogism and the Archimedean point. Following a more scientific path, Empiricism states that humans reason the world through sensory experience, and that the truth is perceived through the senses. The impact of the scientific method is seen in Empiricism's reliance on empirical data collected by the senses. Empiricists also believe that all humans are born with a blank mind, or tabula rasa, which is modified when they sta...

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...his is the first nationally televised U.S. Presidential debate, Nixon versus Kennedy, with a television audience of 70 million. Many political observers thought Kennedy did not stand a chance against the more responsible and experienced Nixon. Kennedy, however, on television looked presidential, while Nixon, sweated and had too much makeup on. The famous story is that if the debated was watched on television, Kennedy won, and if the debate was heard on the radio, Nixon won. While the content of the candidates' speeches mattered, how each candidate presented himself on television greatly affected the voter's decision. This trend continues to contemporary politics, where voters take emotional and physically cues from the candidates and factor that into their decision. The bottom line is while policy issues matter, voters choose the candidates who appear presidential.

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