Philosophical Reflection Essay Sample

The existence of God has been questioned ever since man got his senses. Whether there is God or not, is a debate that looks not to end any time soon. An orthodox theist is one who characterizes God as the absolutely metaphysically ultimate being. If one believes that God is the controller of the activities of the universe, then he/she will have to associate works of nature to Him. When these works of nature look beautiful and harmless, all the praise is showered to Him without any question. It however worries me when these works of nature cause negative effects and often spikes up the question if the providential God is responsible for this.

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In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck leaving more than 1,500 people dead, and leaving thousands homeless. If indeed God was in control, would He have let this number of people perish? I strongly believe that God is aware of every situation and the fact that He gave man an option of choice relates to the causes of some actions such as terrorists attacks of September 2011 and of November 2015 in parts of San Bernardino, or the recent mass shootings in Las Vegas. These attacks were conducted by people who were given the conscience of making decisions. We all have this freedom of our choices of actions. Most of our daily actions depend entire on our choices.

Why then did God not stop them? The free will that is given to man by God brings out a possibility of a change of action by human beings. The freewill present in the murderers from the moment they planned the attack to the moment they carried out the attack meant that there was a possibility for them to change their plan and stop. God makes sure that this action entirely depends on someone. If He stopped the attackers, then their freewill would be said to be taken away from them. This cannot happen because it is the freewill that causes various actions in this world. These actions are the ones that God is keen about, and are the ones that will be used to make judgement in the end.

Why did God allow people to be murdered? If freewill is available, then there are many options available, leading to various actions. The variety of these actions means that there is a number of possibilities on the outcome. Death of innocent people in this case was one of the possible outcomes. Unfortunately, the freewill accorded to the murderers led to the action of committing an attack, which in turn led to death of innocent people. God consoles us in his scripture that there is eternal life after death and this world is but a mere journey. The fact that God does not value earthly things such as wealth shows that there is another place meant for God's people. As much as death means a loss to the world, to the family and friends, it is a way for God to retrieve one of His souls from the world into where He wishes us to end up in.

Tom Wolfe's article titled, 'Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died', talks in detail about the increasing popularity of prescription medications administered to children for some disorders. These disorders include hyperactivity and attention deficiency disorder (ADD). These medications that are administered include Ritalin. Ritalin is a common central nervous system stimulant.

This is a wrong way of offering treatment to our children with disorders such as hyperactivity and ADD.

Ritalin as a drug is associated with some negative effects such as increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, insomnia, nervousness, agitation, loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, vomiting among many other effects. The use of this drug as a treatment for hyperactivity and ADD leads to the many negative effects mentioned. These students are being over medicated. This is because hyperactivity and ADD can be defined as 'pseudo-diagnoses', which means that the diagnosis is based on uncertain scientific principles. These disorders in the past were treated as disciplinary problems and the diagnosis done without scientific principles are intended to medicalize these disorders.

Alan Schwarz, a reporter for the Times, argues that Attention, Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been over-diagnosed. He further states that in bona fide cases, non-pharmaceutical treatments should be considered.

There are different stages in life. There ranges from when one is young and immature to when one is old and mature. Actions are different at various stages in life. Judging someone old by something he/she did when young does not make sense at all. Wilbert Rideau was convicted for a crime that he did when he was still a teenager. He served a total of fourty four years before being released in 2005. This does not make any sense and is not fair at all. In the teenage stage in life, people are often influenced quickly. We all have done stupid things in our teenage that we would rather keep it to ourselves. A few years after the end of teenage and the mind is more mature. This is the time people look back at their actions and how it has affected them. There is often a measure of regret, meaning that the level of thinking has changed. Rideau was convicted for a crime that he did in his teens and made to serve it till he was old. At that age, he was probably acting under influence of various external factors and that he was not fully mature.

Prison is meant to help one to change their ways. The activities and behavior in prison is monitored and used to determine various factors, such as if one may receive parole. Rideau's accomplishments while serving his sentence in prison should have been considered as an extenuating circumstance. This should have made his sentence shorter and should have actually received a parole earlier in his sentence.

The relatives of the individual that Rideau took his life are not justified to still hold a grudge against him. Their desire that Rideau should have remained in prison is wrong. This attitude in general is wrong because that event took place a long time ago, when the person in case, was still a teenager. Years have passed and without a doubt, Rideau is not the same person that entered that prison as a teenager. He has served his time in prison and the fact that the retried and convicted of a lesser charge than the earlier one means that the charges in the first charge were too harsh. The attitude of the relatives towards Rideau is, in the same case, very harsh and should be changed.

Rideau, who was an African-American took the life of a white person. This factor contributed to the fact that the relatives still hold a grudge to Rideau and the fact that they want him back to prison. At that particular time, civil rights and race relations were heated issues. This meant that the relatives could have made a conclusion as to why Rideau committed the act, and these conclusions would be based on the fact that the two were from different races. This would also have a permanent impact on the relatives' view about the African-American people, making judgements of other events and occurrences while relating to this case.

The advancements in biomedical technology have made it possible to extend life in certain scenarios. Ms. Schiavo, for example, was diagnosed of having lapsed into a 'persistent vegetative state' with arguably the only functioning part being her brain stem, responsible for controlling reflex actions. In such a circumstance, euthanasia should be conducted. This is because the condition of Ms. Schiavo can be said to be extreme with very slim chances for survival, and the fact that majority of her body organs were not functional meant that her extended life brought pain and suffering.

At exactly what point can it be said that life has ended?

The proper functioning of the various body parts complimenting each other leads to the survival of human beings. There are some body organs that when not functioning, cannot hinder the full functioning of the human body. There are however some organs and body parts that when infected to a point of not functioning at all, affects the functioning of the being in general. The destruction of these organs leads to pain and minimizes the functioning of the being. Life can be said to have ended when these vital body organs stop functioning.

Should an individual's own wishes regarding whether his/her life should be extended be taken into account?

In most cases that need the option of extension of life, the wishes of the victims in question often cannot be ascertained because of the state of the victim. Assuming that the individual's wishes can be ascertained, they should not be considered. This is because the individual is not in a proper state of mind to make such a decision. An individual in a proper state of mind should make the decision on his behalf. The extreme conditions that the individual goes through influences his/her decisions.

A judgement known as triage is commonly performed in the battle fields whereby medics decline to treat injured soldiers who are unlikely to recover. This is done in order to save the resources for other soldiers who were less injured. The same theory can be applied to the extension of life, whereby the resources used to extend the life of a single individual are enough to vaccinate and help many other individuals. The process of extending one'slife should therefore not occur, and the resources used in developing countries for important uses such as vaccinating and treating people in those countries.

Peter Singer strongly contributes that we should not contribute to the acts, or support whose situation in life is like our own. This situation that Singer mentions, has led to an imbalance of resources in the world. Regions with certain resources are continuously growing while the growth of othe regions is very slow. This is due to the fact that majority of the contributors are contributing to their own regions and regions associated with them, leaving out other regions on their own with minimal contributions made.

Singer further mentions that we should strive to do the most that we can do in terms of saving lives in the poor countries, preserving nature, and preventing human extinction. Our efforts should be directed to factors that affect human life, such as preserving nature. Nature is an important element in ensuring that the human race is maintained. The continuous destruction of nature means that the human race is becoming more and more extinct. The majority of our efforts to help should be directed towards developing countries such as the majority of the African countries. These developing countries need the help of developed countries in ensuring their survival, growth and development. The contributions towards developed countries do not have a big impact such as contributions made towards the developing countries.

The advancements in technology have led to the rise of artificial intelligence. This refers to the intelligence that is demonstrated by machines. The development of artificial intelligence poses a threat to the human race. Even though these machines are built from scratch by humans, they tend to pose a threat to their jobs. These machined, after being built, will be able to carry out various tasks that before, were being performed by human beings. This leads to the loss of jobs and the displacement of workers. These machines have therefore caused many people to lose their source of income. If these rate increases, then the human race will be without jobs because the machines will be designed to carry out all the required tasks simply by programming.

The world today has also become too dependent on technology, which causes human beings to lose their skills. Technology has been replacing these skills over the past couple of years. This is evident in mathematics problems where simple mathematics problems can no longer be solved by human beings without the use of calculators.