“Each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of the general will” (Rousseau, p. 425).  What is in the best interest of society and who will lead the general will has been debated throughout the history of civilization. Jean-Jacques Rousseau added to the debate by defining the general will and noting examples when variations of the general will can occur.

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It is obvious to many people that our nation is undergoing a change and we are trying to do so at a time of unparalleled debt. This can be a tricky thing to do. How can one manage the budget, fight multiple wars and have socially progressive programs? This seems like a recipe for disaster, bankruptcy and possibly far worse.

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Everyday I get more and more befuddled by the mess that we call the news. I am shocked to see so many people attack science, intellectualism and education. I am shocked to see so many people cling to pre-modern beliefs that are bad ideas. I am not talking about beliefs such as religion or morality; those are for individuals to choose on their own.

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Tomorrow on January 19^th, 2010 there will be a special election in Massachusetts to decide who will get to hold the senate seat that was held by Sen. Ted Kennedy from 1962 until 2009. The two most prominent candidates are the Republican candidate Scott Brown and the Democrat candidate Martha Coakley.

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Existentialism is the philosophy of existence; asking the question ‘why do humans exist?’ And existentialism critiques how humans conduct their lives.  These questions of existence and being are the focus of the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger.  Many philosophers have written and studied existence, but existentialism framed existence into ones own being.

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Throughout the course of human history many individuals have come forth claiming to know the truth about life.  They claim to know why we are here, what our end goals are and where we are ultimately heading.  The philosopher George Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831) is one of those people. “Freedom is for itself the goal to be achieved and the only goal of Spirit” (Hegel, 22). Hegel saw human development through history which was guided to freedom through Spirit, in doing so he identified the importance of individuals, the role of the State and the role of freedom.

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The philosophical arguments that Wittgenstein discusses are based in the subtleties of language.  He illustrates his point by using language games.  These games are used to make the argument that the philosophical problems that philosophers spend their time attempting to solve are superfluous. The problems they are attempting to solve are unnecessary because when one properly analyzes the language used in these problems they realize that there are no problems. The problems that were thought to exist are just the result of linguistic confusion, mostly dealing with the metaphysical world.

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“Our system of criminal justice, for all its protections, is sufficiently fallible that innocent people are convicted of capital crimes with some frequency (United States v. Quinones, p. 466).  The morality of the death penalty has been hotly debated for almost a century in the U.S.

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“The communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order of things” (Marx and Engels, 1848, p. 220). The increasing disparity of income between the classes along with horrendous working conditions created the environment in which communism was formed.

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Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter From Birmingham City Jail, “I guess I should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate yearnings of those that have been oppressed and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action.”

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“What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn’t prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary” (Stephen Hawking, www.woopidoo.com). Humans have always questioned their existence and questioned whether or not there is a God.  Pragmatism is a philosophical ideology that stresses importance in the rational and empirical world.  Charles Sanders Peirce argues that because we can perceive of God a being like God must exist. “I cannot think a thing is black if there is no such thing to be seen as black,” (Peirce, p. 378). Peirce wrote these words in reference to the existence of God.

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The snow has fallen and the daylight has broken through.  Early in the morning we arise, travel for many miles, and hike for many more; all in search of perfection.  It is because of this endless search for perfection that we exist.  We are united as one! The skiers who ski the double-black diamond.  Skiism is an ideology of pride, work and dedication.  We accept the power of the mountain above us, and realize that our brothers who forsake the mountain need our help.
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