Derek Canino's Blog

"Humanism: A Sound Guiding Ideology or a Failed Attempt at Justifying Speciesism?"    Humanism is a complex and rich ideology that primary focuses on valued aspects of human nature as the ultimate good.  Humanism, in the secular context, promotes the values of autonomy, human rights including the highest value of human life, and civil rights in their many forms.  Humanism can include a spiritual or religious component, but for the sake of this argument I will focus on the secular humanism of the modern era.  While the study and value of these concepts' dates to antiquity, my focus will evaluate the philosophy without an extensive study of the historical background.  The reason for this short essay is to form an argument in support of and in opposition to the use of humanism as a fundamental ideology that people could use or discredit.  One major impetus for this project was based on a stay in a Christian mission in which some of the biblical course...

 " The Great War : A Combat History of the First World War . Peter Hart . Oxford University Press , New York , 2013."       Peter Hart’s, The Great War is an excellent historical account of the Great War or World War 1. Hart wrote a superb narrative that follows the events that led up to World War 1 and the major timeline of the war itself. The book includes accounts of the Western Front , the Eastern Front , naval campaigns , the M iddle East (including Mesopotamia and Palestine .)  Hart utilizes sources from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective of the war.  Thus, he enriches the story telling elements for his readers by making the two elements meet in the middle.      Hart mentions the important players of British , French, and German high commands. He describes  Erich Von Ludendorff , Douglas Haig , Sir John French , Joesef Joffre , and numerous other generals in copious detail.  He provided both criticisms and pra...

" The Glorious Cause : The American Revolution , 1763-1789 . Robert Middlekauff , ( Oxford University Press , New York, NY, 1982.)"       The Glorious Cause , by Robert Middlekauff is a comprehensive popular history following the American Revolution from a political and military perspective. Middlekauff's primary argument in his book is that the American Revolution is inspired by the “ glorious cause ,” which he acknowledges throughout the book.  The term “glorious cause,” is used as an amalgam of religious zeal and rhetoric about liberty that was the motivating factor behind the American Revolution.  The cause is a thematic cornerstone that the author refers back to frequently in the book to create a flowing argument.      The nascent point of his book includes the passage of the various Intolerable Acts by British Parliament  and the Royal Ministry . He constructed an exposition about the causes of the war by political perspectives of...

"Do we have a  prima facie  obligation to obey the law?"         The need for obedience to the law as obligatory, is a cornerstone for a society to function as the world exists.  Any political body or sovereignty requires its citizens to obey the social contract put out before them for there to be order.  This order would create safety and prosperity for citizens who are bound to said law.  The question of this essay is to focus on the need or obligation of every citizen to obey all laws that it’s governing body decrees.  Do we obey because we agree with the law, or for the sake of obedience?       First and foremost, any society needs a means of creating and disseminating its legal practices.   In the United States laws are supposed to be created by an elected body and knowledge is passed onto its citizens by press, word of mouth, enforcement, or legal councilors.  Citizens in this country are in ...

 " The Surprising Complex Ethical Questions Regarding Theft."      The question of what theft is, seems rather easy when taken at its face value.  The simple answer would be to reply, “taking something that does not belong to you.”  While this is, in many forms true, it is worth understanding how complicated such a simple answer actually is.  I will provide a brief example from an anecdote that took place in my life recently, explain the ethical questions therein, and propose a revision of how people consider the dilemmas related to theft.       Recently I was at a hobby shop where I completed my gaming there, and it was time to pick up a pack for participating in the event.  Paying the event cost and playing in the commander night for Magic the Gathering earns the participant a free pack.  I had asked for my pack and promptly picked it up.  It was after picking up my pack that one of the workers in the store said, “h...

  Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI .  Yuval Noah Harari . ( Random House Publishing , New York, 2024.)  Nexus , by Yuval Noah Harari is a book that encapsulates the history of information networks that are used throughout the history of humanity, and the relationship between those networks and the people that created them.  Harari’s book is a well written combination of historical narrative and philosophical perspective, which expounds arguments in both support of and opposition to, artificial intelligence .  Harari creates a philosophical background, generates a narrative about the history of information networks, and makes arguments for how these networks have affected humanity.   Harari’s nascent features of his book elaborate the differences between humans and other animals.  The author concludes that the major difference is the ability for humans to tell stories and then creates distinctions of how ...

"The Continued Complexity of Understanding Theft." In the previous essay I boiled down the idea of theft to a violation of agreements that parties had regarding the ownership of items.  I expounded on the premises in relation to a theft amounting to a violation of agreements rather than a simple movement of objects.  While moving objects with certain intent is considered theft, it is more commonly understood as theft if the presence of  mens rea , or the guilty mind, was found at the time of the event.       What I feel that I must continue to explain is the vast importance of the presence of these agreements in all aspects of life and more significantly, the relationship of agreements and things beyond physical objects.  Since theft is succinctly described as a conceptual violation, one can understand that other concepts can become violated as an act that could be considered theft.  For example, if someone told you that they were going to ...