World War Ii Research Report
A Philosophical Perspective of World Wars Week 4 Help
Introduction:
Humanity has climbed mountains – both literal and figurative – to prove that we stand out amongst the animals. We have demonstrated our ability to persevere in the face of adversity; we have constructed certain ideals such as personal freedom, individuality, love, and altruism. Since the beginning of history, we have struggled to find truth and understanding. People like Jesus Christ, Siddhartha Gautama, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Albert Einstein, George Washington (and so many others), have helped to create a model of human ambition, have helped us to better recognize our underlying purpose in the universe. We have in our history the examples of Ancient Greece, the Enlightenment, and the Romantic Movement. We have created music, logic, poetry, art, religion, science, and mathematics in order to assist us in our quest to dissect creation and find some sort of semblance of meaning that might justify our existence. The list of our accomplishments is immeasurably vast. However, man might have proved that he can reach for ideals, but he has not proved that he can maintain them. We may have climbed mountains, but we have not been able to live for long in such high places.
Despite our accomplishments, humanity’s failings have been just as extensive. Our history is also scarred with a long list of wars, injustices, unnecessary deaths, prejudices, hatreds, and disappointments. The pinnacle of our shortcomings, the end-point to our intellectual development as a species, can best be understood in the context of our World Wars. Although humanity has always lived side-by-side with war, never before in our history has so much widespread violence destroyed so many idyllic hopes and dreams. Never before was there such an example of our ignorance as a species, and blatant disregard for our intellectual successes. Both World Wars demonstrate humanity’s ability to ignore our attributes and focus
Introduction:
Humanity has climbed mountains – both literal and figurative – to prove that we stand out amongst the animals. We have demonstrated our ability to persevere in the face of adversity; we have constructed certain ideals such as personal freedom, individuality, love, and altruism. Since the beginning of history, we have struggled to find truth and understanding. People like Jesus Christ, Siddhartha Gautama, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Albert Einstein, George Washington (and so many others), have helped to create a model of human ambition, have helped us to better recognize our underlying purpose in the universe. We have in our history the examples of Ancient Greece, the Enlightenment, and the Romantic Movement. We have created music, logic, poetry, art, religion, science, and mathematics in order to assist us in our quest to dissect creation and find some sort of semblance of meaning that might justify our existence. The list of our accomplishments is immeasurably vast. However, man might have proved that he can reach for ideals, but he has not proved that he can maintain them. We may have climbed mountains, but we have not been able to live for long in such high places.
Despite our accomplishments, humanity’s failings have been just as extensive. Our history is also scarred with a long list of wars, injustices, unnecessary deaths, prejudices, hatreds, and disappointments. The pinnacle of our shortcomings, the end-point to our intellectual development as a species, can best be understood in the context of our World Wars. Although humanity has always lived side-by-side with war, never before in our history has so much widespread violence destroyed so many idyllic hopes and dreams. Never before was there such an example of our ignorance as a species, and blatant disregard for our intellectual successes. Both World Wars demonstrate humanity’s ability to ignore our attributes and focus
Cited: Perry, Marvin, Myrna Chase, James R. Jacob, Margaret C. Jacob, and Theodore H. Von Laue. Western Civilization Volume II. 2004. MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.