Overview of B.F. Skinner's Beyond Freedom & Dignity: Chapter 6

• December 9, 2003
• James Skemp

Note: Mainly, I will be quoting Skinner, interceding my own comments if/when necessary. This should not be taken as something which explains this particular chapter, rather as something which points out some of the things that I found to be important (and that I made notes regarding in the margins). Notes regarding mistyped statements would be greatly appreciated (since I had to type all of these quotes myself). Originally titled: B.

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Can One Find a Philosopher in Nietzsche?

• December 8, 2003
• James Skemp

As with the 19th century figure Kierkegaard, one could quite easily ask whether the 19th century writer Nietzsche is a philosopher. After all, if we compare their writings to the writings of such 19th century philosophers as Hegel and Schopenhauer, we are confronted with quite a difference. Yet, basing our decision of whether someone is a philosopher on the format of their writings is, I believe, flawed. Rather, one should base their decision of whether someone is a philosopher on the content of the writings. For this paper, I will be doing exactly this: I will be looking at the content of Nietzsche's writings in order to show that he is doing philosophy, and is therefore a philosopher.

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On the Saying "A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned"

• December 1, 2003
• James Skemp

It's said that "a penny saved is a penny earned," but is that really true? How can it be that by saving something you earn it? Doesn't the fact that you already have, in this case, a penny prohibit you from earning it, since we usually give something to someone and say they earned it...? After some thought regarding this topic I have come to find a possible answer to the question of what this saying means.

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History and Analysis of Thebes, Greece

• December 1, 2003
• James Skemp

While the exact date of the foundation of Thebes, located 30 miles northwest of Athens in eastern Boeotia, has not been clearly established, ruins have been found dating back to 1300 B.C. (Wiseman, p.624). One of the reasons that so little is known about Thebes is that it doesn't play any major roles in history until the sixth century B.C. However, one myth concerning Thebes' origin does exist that is important to mention due to its inclusion of known figures of Greek tragedy.

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Michael Dawson's Tri-Level Hypothesis and Cognitive Science

• November 30, 2003
• James Skemp

Michael Dawson, in his book Understanding Cognitive Science attempts to provide a basic understanding of cognitive science, specifically by dealing with and using the "tri-level" hypothesis. For this paper, I will be discussing the tri-level hypothesis and what it tells us about cognitive science. One of the major problems in any science is the problem of discussing the findings within a set field with people outside of the field. Because of this problem, time is instead spent on some lesser subjects, such as sports and the weather.

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On the Saying 'Change is Good'

• November 24, 2003
• James Skemp

I recently, while daydreaming yet again in a class, happened upon the phrase residing on the side of a McDonald's cup stating that "Change is Good". I, of course, am quite familiar with this saying, however, I was a tad confused. Because of this confusion, I decided that it would be best for me to go ahead and examine the saying "Change is Good" in order to see just what was meant by this saying.

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Written on a piece of paper: November 17 2003

• November 17, 2003
• James Skemp

January 2, 2009: The following was written on a piece of paper I recently found (again), dated Nov 17th 2003. Might as well type them up and trash the paper ... 'U.S.' versus 'Them' While most people believe that the popular saying "us versus them" means, or says, that it's you with anyone else versus those contrary to you in some regard - the 'thems.' However, it is not so much that is you and your group versus 'them' as it is the United States versus 'them' - namely those that are not the allies of the United States, but sometimes even the allies of the United States.

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Pascal Programming: JRSs Tic-Tac-Toe

• November 9, 2003
• James Skemp

JRSs Tic-Tac-Toe is a simple game of Tic-Tac-Toe programmed with Dev-Pascal. It even keeps a tally of your points (win = +1, loss = -1).

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Guide on Installing Jeskola Buzz, Version 2

• November 7, 2003
• James Skemp

Originally written in February of 2003, but revised in November of 2003. This guide was written based upon an installation with Windows XP SP1, but any Windows operating system that will run Jeskola Buzz follows these procedures.

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Beyond the Biological Imperative

• October 30, 2003
• James Skemp

Quite a few years ago I took a lower level Introduction to Biology course in college. While I did pretty bad in the course, I did learn quite a few things. One of the things that I learned was about the 'Biological Imperative'. The 'Biological Imperative', as I now understand it - whether or not it was taught like this - is that all biological beings are born/created (not in the 'Creation' sense, but rather as a way to express plants, which are not born, per se, and some animals, which are hatched, and are not, per se, born) with certain desires/strivings. These strivings are applicable to any, and all, biological entities. For this article, I'd like to discuss the Biological Imperative in various ways. First, I'd like to describe what I believe the Biological Imperative is, at it's fundamental root - at a level basic, and truly applicable, to any and all biological entities. Then, I'd like to mention how culture appears to fit into all of this, bringing in Philosophy when possible and applicable.

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