St. Augustine's Just War

In class, we discussed St. Augustine, a philosopher during the Middle Ages, and his ideas about war. He believed that war was necessary in order to achieve peace. Furthermore, that war is a sin, but i he knew that it was inevitable. He thought the only rationalization for war was to hope to achieve peace. His seven rules for crusades were:

1. Last Resort
- A just war can only be initiated if all other non-violent options have been used.

2. Initiated by the government or a higher power
- A war is only just if an authoritative figure approves it as justified

3. Chance of success
- A war can only be fought if there is a chance of success deaths and injuries that occur during a just war are morally justified. Therefore, you cannot kill out of your own enjoyment, but those deaths that are being caused must have a valid reason

4. Right Intentions
- A just war can only be fought in order to redress a wrong suffered.
- The only objective of war is to solve the problem.
- Self-defense against an armed attack is always a just cause.

5. Re-establish peace
- The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace.
- War should improve peace that existed before the war or would exist if the war had never
been fought.

6. Proportionality
- You must use the minimum amount of force to obtain peace, your objective.

7. Don't Attack Civilians
- Civilians never target war, and all measures to avoid killing them should be used.
- Civilians deaths are justified only if they're unavoidable victims of an attack or a military target.


From these seven rules, we are able to justify a connection to Pope Urban II, hwo was responsible for initiated the Crusades. Pope Urban II qualifies as a higher power, and an authoritative figure, and therefore, the Crusades were justified.

Hitlers Book - Mein Kampf

At the beginning of chapter 8 of Hitler's book, he stated, "There are some truths, which are so obvious that for this very reason they are not seen or at least not recognized by ordinary people." By this, he meant that sometimes the truth is so painfully obvious and it is just right there, and they are everyday things that people don't pay attention to. By stating this quote, he is claiming that these people are ordinary people and that ordinary people are stupid but he isn't because he is the only one smart enough to see them, and it completely distracts us from the real argument which is about the obvious truths. These are called Ad Hominems.

Evolution vs. Intelligent Design

Even though I, for the most part, support the evolution idea, I am still not putting down intelligent design. The only reason I still think that it might of been intelligent design is because the earth just happened to turn out a little to perfect for evolution. However, I still support the idea of evolution because of adaptation. Many supporters of the intelligent design idea use the example of how humans breathe out carbon dioxide and that's what the plants breathe in, of which they exhale oxygen, which humans breathe in. However, this can also be used as an example of evolution because its shows how we adapted to breathe in what the plants breathe out, so we never run out of air. Furthermore, the first humans might have been breathing in something else, such as carbon dioxide, but eventually we adapted over time to breathe in oxygen, which is similar to other adaptations that most people believe in. For example, the change from cavemen to humans today, we eventually adapted and there is no way that this could be an example of intelligent design. This is no different from the idea of the plants and humans that give off what the other one needs to survive. However, this still does not mean that I am completely throwing out the idea of intelligent design, but more of just I find it a little more evident of the idea of evolution.

Affirmative Action

I fully support what i stated today in class. Because I feel that there shouldn't be a need for affirmative action, however, maybe just more financial aid towards the minorities, because minorities have the same exact potential as the whites and Asians(that is if Asians are not considered a minority in this situation). I understand that minorities mainly come from a typically poorer area than rich white people, but that should be factored into their application essays, and that they came from a school containing less-experienced teachers. Despite that, they still have the exact same potential to get at least a 4.0 and do some extra curricular activities. However, there is also the conflict of time, where minorities with less money have to work to help support their families while going to school, or they have to take care of younger siblings, and they don't have any extra time for sports, clubs, community service, or other activities. In that case, colleges consider that into your application. I even went to the college awareness thing last night and the college counselor talked about that, and if you don't have time for extra activities for certain reasons, she said to put that on their application and the colleges fully consider that factor. Furthermore, an example of my point earlier, is my brothers friend who graduated from the magnet program at Cleveland three years ago, and she was Guatemalan, with not that much money. However, she ended up getting over a 4.0 every year and was even the president of few clubs, and this bought her a full-ride scholarship to Harvard. This shows that despite where you come from, and despite what your parents do for a living and how much money they have, you can achieve this same experience and there is no excuse because everyone has the same potential.

Deductive Reasoning

SYLLOGISMS, MODUS PONENS, AND MODUS TOLLENS

A Syllogism consist of three statements and two terms in each statement. The first statement is known as the major premise, which is more general, where as the second statement is the minor premise, which is more specific, and then the conclusion states the result with an original term of the first statement along with a different term from the second statement.

For example:

minor premise: All humans need food.
major premise: Greg is a human.
conclusion: Therefore, Greg needs food.

A modus ponen is very similar to a syllogism in a way that they both have three statements, each of which containing two terms, however, modus ponens contain all positive statements.
The rule for this is:

If p, then q.
p.
Therefore q.

An example of a modus ponen is:

If it rains, then I will wear a sweatshirt.
It rains.
Therefore, I will wear a sweatshirt.

Along with syllogisms and modus ponens, a modus tollen also has three statements with two terms each, however, all three statements are negative. The rule for this is:

If not p, then not q.
Not p.
Therefore, not q.

An example a modus tollen is:

If Myles is good at basketball, then he will play in the game.
Myles is not good at basketball.
Therefore, Myles will not play in the game.