12 Monkeys: A Timeline of the Events of the Movie

• June 28, 2003
• James Skemp

Notes: See also my paper titled Pulp Fiction: A Timeline of the Events of the Movie. I brought you the timeline for Pulp Fiction (see my paper titled Pulp Fiction: A Timeline of the Events of the Movie), now I bring you the timeline for the movie 12 Monkeys, another interesting, and time-wise 'weird', movie. As I see it, it's something like this. Well, first, note that this is the timeline in terms of real time, not in terms of movie time.

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On the Saying 'Idle Hands are the Devil's Tools'

• June 2, 2003
• James Skemp

It is said that "Idle Hands Are The Devil's Tools", meaning that when one is bored, one tends to get into trouble. I have a problem, or concern, with this statement however. Let's say I'm bored and I end up setting fire to a kerosene soaked blanket which ends up leading to my home becoming engulfed in flames. Now, if we want to get technical, which is exactly what I want to do, then as soon as my hands are no longer idle - as soon as I begin to do something with my hands - they are not the devil's tools, right?

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Horrific Hair

• May 20, 2003
• James Skemp

So, you're chewing on something, who knows exactly what (well, you know what - use your imagination) when you come to the realization that there is a hair in your mouth. You may not have any idea where it came from, whether it is a hair off of the top of your head, that fell onto your food, or what, but you know that it's in your mouth now. It's a fairly long hair, an inch and a half to two inches long probably. Anyways, one way or another, the hair is now in your mouth. Yet, for some reason, you decide not to take it out of your mouth. Instead, you decide that you don't really want to put your fingers in your mouth, for whatever reason. So, you munch on your food and end up swallowing your food. Yet, for some reason, the hair gets stuck in your throat. You attempt to clear your throat - once, twice - yet ... nothing really happens, other then the hairs focus in your mind. That is, you realize, more and more, that the hair does not seem to be moveable. You clear your throat again and feel a pain, like getting a paper cut. Know what that feels like, when you finally realize that you have a paper cut? It's ... well, let's imagine what that feels like now ...

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On the Saying "The Customer is Always Right"

• May 19, 2003
• James Skemp

One of the most heard sayings in the customer service business is "the customer is always right". The common meaning of this statement is that no matter what the customer says, they are to be treated as though they are correct. Let us take an example. Customer orders a burger with no ketchup and with no cheese. They ask for it to be this way. Then, after getting their burger, they come up to the counter and say that they didn't get the cheese on the burger, even though they asked for it.

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Religion and Medieval Philosophy: Final Text Analysis

• May 14, 2003
• James Skemp

Another version of this, slightly updated it seems, is also available, titled Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and the Question of the Will. Whenever I think about Medieval Philosophy, from this point on after taking this class, I will also think about religion. When I think about religion I think about God and free will. So, since I need to have a topic for this final analysis, I decided that I should probably take one of these topics, and find some writer who would be the best to analysis in this area.

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Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica and the Question of the Will

• May 13, 2003
• James Skemp

Whenever I think about Medieval Philosophy, from this point on after taking this class, I will also think about religion. When I think about religion I think about God and free will. So, since I need to have a topic for this final analysis, I decided that I should probably take one of these topics, and find some writer who would be the best to analysis in this area. After looking at the articles, I decided that I would take Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and look at how he answers the question of what the will is, and whether it acts of its own accord.

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The Analytic and Phenomenological Traditions in Relation to Intentionality

• May 11, 2003
• James Skemp

This semester, we looked at Michael Corrado’s Analytic Tradition in Philosophy: Background and Issues, Tim Crane’s Elements of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, and The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. Through these writings we have learned more about the Theory of Intentionality, from two different perspectives, the Analytic Philosophy tradition – as shown by Corrado and Crane – and the Phenomenological tradition – as showcased by Husserl, or, more perhaps more appropriately, the individuals writing on Husserl.

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Religion and Medieval Philosophy: Final Take Home Exam

• May 7, 2003
• James Skemp

1. Present Algazali’s argument for the incoherence of the philosophers and Averroe’s response to it. Also present your own critique. Algazali, in The Incoherence of the Philosophers, argues that “what is customarily believed to be cause and what is believed to be an effect is not necessary, according to our opinion; but each of the two [namely, cause and effect] is independent of the other.” [1: 283] In other words, while philosophers believe that there exists such a law that if x occurs then y occurs – that there is a system of cause and effect – Algazali believes that there is no relationship between cause and effect.

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Experience as the Central Value of the Age of Reason

• May 5, 2003
• James Skemp

Francis Bacon's New Atlantis was the first chosen source to read for this Age of Reason class. Bacon's work best fits as a beginning reading for various reasons, one of which is the applicability of the book as showcasing the major ideas of the Age of Reason at the beginning of their formation, in many cases. For this paper, I will begin by examining Bacon's New Atlantis, in a specific area, and then pursuing that area's progress, or reiteration, in some of the other readings from this age.

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Epistemology: Paper on Husserl and Logical Investigations

• April 27, 2003
• James Skemp

In this paper, I will be trying to discuss Edmund Husserl’s theory of impossible objects and meanings in the Logical Investigations.  His theories of experience, knowledge, truth, and fact, will also be discussed in an attempt to determine their relation to these impossible things.  By looking at the Logical Investigations Investigation by Investigation, I hope to see where he speaks of his ideas of experience, knowledge, truth and fact.  After looking at these ideas, I should be able to end by speaking of impossible things.

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