Category: Outlines

How far is religious belief, like art, a matter of changing taste?

Religious belief is a matter of changing tastes in that:

  • belief has adapted itself to the growth of scientific understanding over time
  • denominations and new religions have sprouted like isms in art
  • changing technology has influenced belief, as it has influenced styles in art
  • religious belief and art have both been subject to plays of power and patronage.

It is not a matter of changing tastes in that:

  • certain beliefs/doctrines have remained steadfast over time
  • scripture continues to be the benchmark for orthodox belief
  • the circumstantial details of observance have changed, but not the beliefs themselves
  • art and taste are superficial in comparison with the profound role of religion in our lives.

‘Convicted criminals lose their freedom and that is punishment enough.’ How far do you agree?

  • Discuss the purpose of punishment (eg deterrence and compensation) and prison (eg, incapacitation and rehabilitation)
  • Huge recidivist rates at the moment, so the punishment should get harsher
  • The general idea is that prevention is better than ‘cure’
  • The rights of victims need to be acknowledged and protected
  • The guilty need to undergo a radical social as well as psychological change
  • The public needs to feel protected
  • A violation of social rights should automatically dilute rights of the offender.

Success can only be measured by wealth and power. Discuss.

  • Success is determined in a capitalist society by the amount of wealth one has. In addition, the accumulation of wealth is, for some, the prime motivator in life.
  • Lifestyle choices increase (buying luxury goods or just affording more)
  • and it also influences political power (need money to be elected)
  • Job-status indicates power as many people view janitors differently from judges.
  • Some suggest that suc cess can be measured by achievement of happiness/contentment. Relationships and friendships count as a good indicator
  • Success is subjective and can mean many different things
  • Wealth and power can lead to failure. People may lead an excessive lifestyle and indulge in vices.
  • Other markers can be health or how much one volunteers
  • Media skews the true meaning
  • Many successful people were not wealthy, eg Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein

Read this other essay on success.

Is there still a place for science fiction in today’s world?

This question requires the student to compare to the past.

  • There are many novels from which examples can be obtained.
  • Science fiction has always inspired entrepreneurs
  • We are only at the edge of knowledge
  • The imagination knows no limits
  • Science fiction might drive scientific research, for example the return of the mammoth
  • Science fiction may not focus on the practical needs of people
  • Robotics and fantasy projections only serve the rich
  • Companies will only focus on the science that makes them money

Read this other essay on science; the importance of scientific fact.

Preference for male babies makes a society weak. Discuss.

• Female infanticide has existed for thousands of years
• in Greece (200 BC) authorities did not oppose the killing of handicapped, female and unwanted children
• preference for male babies still persists in areas of South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
• is it justified in a modern, globalised world?
• parents in rural China have a preference for male babies as they are seen as a ‘pension’ for their old age. Similar ideas are found in parts of India and Pakistan where labouring in the fields ensures some income for families
• huge sums (dowries) have to be found to ‘get rid of daughters’ by marriage
• preference for male babies has led to sex-selection; abortion which targets female foetuses almost exclusively and general neglect of girl children
• all this has led to a distorted gender imbalance, e.g. a recent report claimed that some 110 million Chinese males will not be able to find a wife

A sample intro. Add your own scope and thesis.

The gender preference for children has been largely based on two theoretical frameworks that have little to do with each other. One is gender discrimination, and the other is parental investment. Gender discrimination approach focuses on the preference of boys over girls. This is primarily studied in Asian countries. Where parental investment is concerned, no clear factor emerges on why some parents prefer girls over boys, sociologists have opined that care in old-age could be a driving factor for some parents.

Sample paragraph.

Son preference remains common in countries from East Asia to South Asia, extending even to the Middle East and Africa. But what is largely forgotten is that increased levels of crime, anti-social behaviour and violence are statistically proven to come mostly from males. One may be tempted to say that while parents want a male child, they are unable to raise a male child that is worthy of worship.

History is irrelevant for modern times. Discuss.

• an understanding and appreciation of history can be a pointer to future events
• ignoring history runs the risk of shutting eyes to the future
• those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it
• we can learn to understand change and how our society has evolved and will probably evolve
• history can be one-sided since it is often written by winners in conflict or those in power
• history is irrelevant since it did not stop wars, financial crises or even pandemics
• history is irrelevant in a VUCA world; brings up many questions.

Check out this other essay on history.

A suggested intro. Add your own scope and thesis

Historians do not perform heart transplants, improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a society that quite correctly expects education to serve useful purposes, the functions of history can seem more difficult to define than those of engineering or medicine. History is in fact very useful, actually indispensable, but the products of historical study are less
tangible, sometimes less immediate, than those that stem from some other disciplines.

A suggested paragraph

History offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave. Understanding the operations of people and societies is difficult. An exclusive reliance on current data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace-unless we use
historical materials? Some social scientists attempt to formulate laws or theories about human behavior. But even these recourses depend on historical information, except for in limited, often artificial cases in which experiments can be devised to determine how people act. Major aspects of a
society’s operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments. Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies
function simply to run their own lives.

Does it answer the question?