Australian Story’s documentary ‘Shadow of Doubt’ gives new insight into the controversial topic of murder while hinting at police corruption, tunnel vision and the real truth. This documentary follows Deb Drummond, the granddaughter of accused murder Reg Brown, in a somewhat biased way positioning the audience in a way to believe that Reg Brown is innocent. Reg Brown is accused of killing Bronia Armstrong at the Wallace Bishop Arcade in 1947. Bronia Armstrong's family did not participate in the documentary. The the lack of thorough police investigation shown and only one side of the documentary positions the audience to view this case with a heavy bias for Reg Brown's innocence.…
The reason these inventors were so significant was because without them there would not be a smooth process in the U. S today. Edwin Drake actually created the very first oil well, if you think about it who knows how long it would have taken to have found that and what we would do if it wasn’t found. Thomas Edison created the photograph, the light bulb and the motion picture. If we think about that also, who knows how our household would be without the light bulb and how our memories would be captured without a photograph. Even Alexander Bell who created the telephone, how would we communicate? The point that I’m making is that a lot of things would not be the way they are if it wasn’t for a lot of these significant people. Our world would be upside down if we didn’t have all these new and old inventions within our world. An also the incentives for the inventors and the U.S was that people were going to buy these things and money would come back to…
You may perhaps recognize Ben Franklin as the man who successfully discovered electricity, was a printer, writer and a scientist. But, you may not know his humble background and the hurdles he overcame to be successful. After all, most of our well-known Founding Fathers came…
Discovery is a crucial element for the future of society. The actions that lead to new advances, however, are questionable. Science and new discovery almost always go hand in hand, and mistakes are bound to happen when they are paired together. New innovations, findings, and advancements happen every day, and whether or not mistakes are key to that fact is in question. The unearthing of the city of Troy, for example, was discovered by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and was said to be one of the greatest historical discoveries in history. The truth was, though, that the city was disturbed more than it should have been due to Schliemann’s mistake. New advances are a crucial part of our world today, but mistakes along the way hardly ever result in good things.…
By juxtaposing the antithetical concepts of “certainty” and “uncertainty,” and by emphasizing the exceptional burdens of the latter, Barry compels his readers to acknowledge the courage that is required of any successful scientists and, indeed, to appreciate the unnatural skills that a scientist must possess in order to “overcome significant obstacles.” He effectively argues that uncertainty, though a weakness, is a cross that all scientists must bear and that, in order to become a successful scientist at all, one must first recognize that weakness and then persevere in spite of it. To the casual observer, venturing into the unknown might seem the more courageous feat of the scientists, but, as the allusion to Bernard’s quote reveals, the most courageous feat, and what science endeavors to teach most of all, is “to doubt” – that is, to be uncertain and to work with the discomfort of that uncertainty.…
who remain unsure will feel insecure and confused about themselves and the future of their…
Gilbert states “uncertainty can preserve and prolong out happiness, thus we might expect people to cherish it” (142). The term uncertainty is followed with a negative connation, such as insecurity. It is believed that certainty can help a person gain knowledge and predict the future. Knowledge and prediction are one of the core reasons for human development. However, knowledge can also have negative connotations to it. When a person is more knowledgeable than others, a sense of control and ego can arise in the person. This pride and control can lead to unhappiness. Additionally, knowledge makes the world seem unexciting and comprehensible, which can lead to unhappiness. Research has proved that mysterious events tend to have a greater emotional impact on a person. This is because mysteries stay longer in a person’s brain as the person keeps thinking about why the rare event occurred. Mysteries do not go on the back burner of the brain like known items do. Therefore, uncertain items stay longer in a person’s brain as the brain keeps searching for an explanation, which can lead to more happiness. Conversely, certainty can cause a person to make a positive event occur more frequently, which with times makes the event less pleasurable. Similar to Thurman’s idea, Gilbert believes that happiness depends on not knowing, which means having no…
Phelps’ view that “certainty” enables one to “accomplish virtually anything” seems in conflict with Russell’s belief that opinions should be measured with “some sense of doubt”. Upon closer examination what is best when making life decisions is a matter of perspective. When weighing certainty versus doubt in the construct of important choices, it is irrefutable that they are different sides of the same coin; without one there cannot be the other. Absolute certainty comes from successful experiences, and doubts are the aftermath of mistakes. Phelps and Russell are both right. No person is correct about everything regardless of their past and, in the event they are wrong, every person benefits from the opportunity to learn from it. Therefore, juxtaposing certainty and doubt is akin to separating joy and sorrow. To the thoughtful soul, they are inextricably connected.…
The bias of confidence over doubt is attributed to the fact that we all have a lazy System Two that prefers to accept certainty over doubt. Maintaining incredulity requires constant effort and thought, something that System Two is not always willing to put forth, which leads us to choose certainty and therefore belief in patterns and a coherent world, even when it is patterns that run our world. This belief in patterns causes us to be certain that a regularity, such as six girls being born in a row at a hospital, is caused by something and is not random at all. In all reality, though, it is a completely random occurrence; after all, it is impossible for anyone to control the gender of a child being born! Our humanity…
We always want to reduce the uncertainties about our surroundings and the people in it since being uncertain about anything is not a pleasant feeling to have. Berger proposed that there are 3 factors that influence whether people will want to work towards reducing uncertainties about a certain situation.…
Certainty is defined as being free of doubt. In philosophy is there such a thing that we know without any doubt? Do we know anything with absolute certainty? Although we may believe to have genuine knowledge in some cases, there are other cases in which we do not know, but only think we know. Now therein lies the problem, how do we distinguish what is absolutely certain and what is not? This is why the idea of knowledge and certainty is so important. Both empiricists and rationalists have attempted to determine this.…
Student: Vladyslav Nozdrachov Student number: 14504637 Methodic doubt is a way of searching for the absolute truth by systematically doubting everything. A way to do this is by categorizing ideas and if any part of an idea or argument may be doubted, then the idea is narrowed down to the point where the problem may lie, if it cannot be proven to be certain then the entire idea or argument in that category is eradicated. The point of this, is to break down all knowledge to their core foundations and by doing this ultimately finding an absolute certainty. Rene Descartes used methodic doubt to attain an absolute certainty and came to a conclusion “Cogito, ergo sum” meaning ‘I think, therefore I am”.…
The Benefits of Rene Descartes Influences on Critical Thinking Rene Descartes and Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a collection of skills that we use every day for our full intellectual and personal development (Boss, J. A., 2015). People use critical thinking in their daily life to help themselves to understand their surroundings. Logic is part of critical thinking and studies the methods and principles used in distinguishing correct arguments from incorrect arguments (Boss, 2015). Rene Descartes proposed the methods of doubt in which we never accept anything as true without evidence and reason to support our conclusion (Boss, 2015).…
Our lives are affected by both certainty and doubt. Many of us are natural optimists and only see the good in things; by remaining positive, we are certain that everything will resolve itself. However, we can never be certain how every event will naturally play out so we result to realism. By doubting the outcome of an event, we not only remain realistic but prepare ourselves for an undesirable result. Both William Lyon Phelps and Bertrand Russell strongly support their stance on the difference between certainty and doubt. Phelps is opinionated towards certainty; he supports an optimistic lifestyle and believes that “the absolute sense of certainty...can get [anyone] to accomplish virtually anything” (Phelps). On the contrary, Russel has a more realistic view of life; he understands that our world lacks guaranteed perfection and by “[entertaining] our opinions with some measure of doubt” (Russel), we can prevent disappointment. Despite our wavering opinions between optimism and reality, we must all learn how to balance certainty and doubt.…
If no one ever questioned anything, then this world would never have changed. Our world has progressed because people doubted and questioned their surrounds, beliefs, and current knowledge. Thomas Edison questioned that the light bulb could be perfected, and worked hard to create a light bulb that would last for hours instead of just minutes. Alexander Graham Bell wondered if there could be a more efficient form of communication, which…