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Is the state the source of human rights? According to Wikipedia, “Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behavior and are regularly protected in municipal and international law.” We as humans have rights to only three things. These are our life, liberty, and property. A lot of people think that we have rights to other things like food, water, and shelter. Those aren’t rights, they are needs. This is because we need these to survive. You don’t have a right to something unless you own it. If we had a right to food, we could go and get some free food anytime you wanted. If you had a right to shelter it would force the builder of the house to just give it to you. 

Is the state the source of human rights? According to OHCHR, “Human rights are rights we have simply because we exist as human beings – they are not granted by any state. These universal rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. They range from the most fundamental – the right to life – to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.” So no. If the state was the source of our rights they could take it away whenever they wanted. They cannot take our rights away because we are humans and these are human rights. If ours can be taken away, it means theirs can too. 

Would any of Bacon’s essays have been more persuasive if he had talked about his own experiences? According to Wikipedia, “Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC, QC, also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.” He was born on January 22, 1561 and died on April 9, 1626. He wrote several well known essays. According to Wikipedia, “Essays: Religious Meditations. Places of Persuasion and Dissuasion. Seene and Allowed was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic.” According to www.literaturemini.com, “Bacon’s essays are reflective and philosophical. The essay is a series of counsels, It is not an elaborate or discursive development of a particular subject. It is neatly direct and frankly didactic. He is moralist and his essays are meant for men of ambition in the Renaissance, which desired self-realization.” According to www.josbd.com, “His essays suggest us not to seek morality only by leaving practical idea. There is nothing wrong with the mixture of morality and the practical idea together. Just as no ornament is possible with pure gold, some crude metal should be added with it so only morality without practical concept of a thing cannot do.” 

Would any of Bacon’s essays have been more persuasive if he had talked about his own experiences? Yes. If he wrote about his own experiences he could have written better essays because he had those experiences. It would be much easier for him to write about his own experiences. 

Is restitution to victims better for society than jail sentences for criminals? What is restitution to victims? Imagine someone robs someone and they’re caught. They would have to give back to the victim what he stole and more. That is restitution of victims. Jail sentences for criminals is pretty explanatory, but just in case. Let’s say a guy robs someone and instead of paying restitution they go to jail. 

Let’s discuss restitution to victims in more detail. If someone’s caught robbing, but they don’t get arrested, they just have to pay restitution. What does he learn? Parents don’t punish their children, they discipline them. They only do this so they don’t disobey again. It’s the same way here. If the thief doesn’t get disciplined then they just rob again. 

Now let’s discuss jail sentences for criminals in a bit more detail. If the guy goes to jail he learns not to do what he did again. If he does, then he’ll go to jail again and maybe that time he’ll learn.

I believe that jail sentences for criminals is better for society. 

According to Wikipedia “Enlightened absolutism, also called enlightened despotism, refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance their power.”

The constitutional dispute between the colonists and the British government that led to the American Revolution. Whenever the colonists landed in America the British still tried to control them, but of course the colonists didn’t want that. there was a constitutional dispute between the colonists and British. There were many events during the constitutional dispute, one of which was the Stamp Act. According to Wikipedia, “The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London  which included an embossed revenue stamp.” Shortly after this the American Revolution ensued. 

According to Wikipedia “William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”.” Shakespeare was born in April 1564 and died in April 1616. Some of his more famous plays are Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest. He wrote many more plays, poems, tragedies, and sonnets, but these are some more famous ones. Some people even consider him the greatest English author. 

 This past week I have been reading from the King James Bible and it has been very interesting. The wording is very different from any Bible that I have ever read. The King James Bible was an early modern translation of the Bible for the church of England. This is called the King James Bible because it was sponsored by King James IV and I. 

Is it easier to read Shakespeare or the King James Bible? In the past few years I have read some plays by Shakespeare and at first I didn’t know what half of the words meant.  Now I still Don’t under stand a few of the words, but it is easier to read his plays. 

The King James Bible is similar to Shakespeare writing, but much more words are easier to understand. In my opinion the Kin James Bible is easier to read than any of Shakespeare plays. 

Should the group in a legislator’s district that got him elected monitor his votes, and recruit someone to run against him in the next primary if he starts voting wrong? Basically if some people vote for someone to be the president and he does something wrong do the people get to vote someone else to be president next year. YES! Is someone wants to be elected for mayor they can bribe people to vote for him. When people want to be elected, they almost always lie. They say they’ll do something and they get elected, but they don’t keep their promises. They can do lots of stuff to et elected, but it’s the peoples vote, not theirs. 

The French materialists. According to Wikipedia, “French materialism is the name given to a handful of French 18th-century philosophers during the Age of Enlightenment, many of them clustered around the salon of Baron d’Holbach. Although there are important differences between them, all of them were materialists who believed that the world was made up of a single substance, matter, the motions and properties of which could be used to explain all phenomena.” Basically they were a group of 18th-century French philosophers during the enlightenment. 

Adam Smith and the “invisible hand”. Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher and economist. The “invisible hand” is referring to free trade. According to Wikipedia “Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports.” If you are good at making chili, but you need the ingredients. You probably don’t grow the ingredients so you can trade some chili with someone that grows ingredients for the ingredients. 

The War of the Austrian Succession. According to Wikipedia, “The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George’s War in North America, the the War of Jenkin’s Ear, the First Carnatic War and the First and Second Silesian Wars.”

Should the police be allowed to enforce a politician’s verbal restriction against making a video of him at an open meeting? An open meeting is a meeting where anyone can join and talk about any topic. There aren’t many restrictions in open meetings, but video’s are allowed. 

Should the police be allowed to enforce a politician’s verbal restriction against making a video of him at an open meeting? No. For one if someone wants to make sure that they don’t miss anything so they record it. They can always watch the video so they can remember everything. 

How important is the idea of covenant sanctions in the week’s readings? This past week I have been reading from the King James Bible and it has been very interesting. The wording is very different from any Bible that I have ever read. The King James Bible was an early modern translation of the Bible for the church of England. This is called the King James Bible because it was sponsored by King James IV and I. Here are some differences in the wording. 

KJV: Matthew 5:13-16: 13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

ESV: 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

I prefer the ESV because it is easier for me to understand. 

How important is the idea of covenant sanctions in the week’s readings? In what I have read this week, I found out that a broken covenant brings negative implications.

The main ideas we associate with the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment people thought they could do certain things. They thought that human reasoning could be used to discover truths about the world, religion, and politics to make peoples lives better. Another idea was skepticism about received wisdom. Everything had to be tested and proven correct. 

According to Wikipedia “Leonhard Euler was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician, and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, and infinitesimal calculus.” According to csmonitor.com, “Euler was the first to introduce the notation for a function f(x). He also popularized the use of the Greek letter π to denote the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Euler also made contributions in the fields of number theory, graph theory, logic, and applied mathematics.” 

The Ptolemaic-Aristotelian view of the universe. According to Vassar College, “In this cosmology, the earth does not revolve around anything else or rotate around its own axis. It is surrounded by ten concentric spheres made of a perfectly transparent substance known as “quintessence.” These spheres revolve around the earth, carrying the other celestial bodies.” This is very different from what we believe today. We believe that the sun is the center of our universe and eight planets, with their moon revolve around the sun.