Cleveland Not Cleaveland :: History, City Life

Cleveland, Ohio wasn’t always what it appears to be today. Cleveland is a very progressive culturally diverse city. It is steeped in history and culture and its residents have had a great impact on American culture and the way we live today. Cleveland is nothing but exciting. Cleveland is filled with great structure, history, and has wonderful attractions. Cleveland is an extraordinary city. Cleveland contains one of the oldest neighborhoods and has some very interesting ones at that. The Tremont neighborhood is one of Cleveland’s oldest and most historic neighborhoods. â€Å"Tremont is known for its numerous and varied restaurants† (Mitchell, â€Å"Tremont Neighborhood† 1). The â€Å"St. Augustine’s Catholic Church† is located in the Tremont neighborhood and is of Victorian Architecture. The â€Å"St. Johns Cantius is favored by the polish community and is also located in Tremont neighborhood (Mitchell, â€Å"Tremont Neighborhood† 2). Tremont can be exciting. Throughout the year, a variety of events take place in Tremont, such as, monthly art walks, Taste of Tremont Festival, Tremont Art and Cultural Festival, Church of the Assumptions Greek Festival, and the St. John Polish Festival. Another great neighborhood in Cleveland is North Coast Harbor. Lake Erie is simply beautiful. Lake Erie is u sed for recreational activities (Mitchell, â€Å"Best Things About Living In Cleveland† 1). There are two trolleys downtown. There are two lines for the trolleys (Mitchell, â€Å"Get on Board the New RTA Downtown Trolleys† 1). Cleveland is an awesome city to live in and is very diverse. Cleveland has a long and rich history. Cleveland was founded in 1796 (â€Å"Cleveland† 161). The first steamboat on Lake Erie was used for trade during the 1820’s. John d. Rockefeller started the Standard Oil Company during the 1860’s (â€Å"Cleveland, Ohio† 1). During the Civil War, Cleveland was part of the underground railroad (Usa Cities Online† 3). Cleveland is the world’s first city to be electrically lighted in 1879 (â€Å"Ohio Facts and Trivia† 3). America’s first traffic light was in Cleveland on August 5th, 1914 (Ohio Facts and Trivia1). The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918 (Gale 172). The Cleveland clinic is one of the best hospitals in the United States. â€Å"The Cleveland clinic was established in 1921 by three WWI surgeons George Washington Crile, Frank Bunts, and William Lower (Mitchell, â€Å"About The Cleveland Clinic† 1). In Cleveland Harbor, The U.S.S. Cod is a WWII submarine in which visitors c an climb in (Pearson 2). It also contains aspects of what Cleveland’s society is today.

I and Thou Essay

Present essay engages in critical examination of basic concepts, observations and ideas, created by famous Jewish writer and philosopher Martin Buber in his book ‘I and Thou’. Buber’s book is often mentioned as one of the major influences in Western philosophical literature of the 20th century. Specifically, the philosophy of dialogue, promoted by Buber resonated with and influenced similar contribution of such philosophers and critiques, as Levinas, Bakthtine, existentialist philosopher (Sartre) and others. Based on the analysis of Buber’s ideas and their general philosophical context of the time, present essay defends the thesis that Buber’s philosophy should be regarded as a utopian project, characterized by the idealist vision of human society and nature and inability to find solution to real social contradictions. I and Thou In his analysis of ‘I’ in contemporary world Buber focuses on classic tradition of the philosophy of consciousness, derived from Descartes and Kant. In this tradition ‘I’ is understood as pure subject of autonomous reason and ethical actions. The novelty of Buber’s contribution is that he tries to dialectically link individual ‘I’ with Other (Thou). Unlike earlier attempts of Hegel and Husserl, Buber’s attempt is characterized by deep influences of Judaism religious tradition. Basically, Buber conceptualizes the binary opposition of I and Thou as the source of any human relationships in the real world. In contrast to ‘I’ relationship with ‘It’ (an object), ‘I’ –‘Thou’ pair is characterized with intersection and exchange between different consciousness, both individual (human) and objective (God). God is referred to by Buber as Eternal Thou, one that constructs the firmest tie with ‘I’. ‘It’ – ‘It’ relationship is regarded by Buber as the relationship which may be measured by the quantity of the objects we have in our daily life (Buber, 34). This relationship is not intimate and conscious. In contrast, â€Å"I†-‘Thou† is a living relationship between people lasting as long as another person is present in physical proximity and consciousness. The presence of an individual near another individual automatically results in the exposition of ‘I’-‘Thou’ relationship even if it not perceived consciously. Spiritual relationship between different subjects (‘I’ and ‘Thou’) is the basic law of human existence in general. Buber tries to interpret this law using hermeneutic method. He argues that even in language, saying ‘Thou’ implies addressing your words and feelings to a given person and hence, ‘Thou’ can not be detached from consciousness – it constitutes its distinct part. Using example of a tree, Buber shows that notwithstanding our perspective, a tree would always be an Object for us, because it lacks consciousness: â€Å"I can subdue its actual presence and form so sternly that I recognize it only as an expression of law. † (Buber, 51). Buber argues that I-Thou relationship can not be properly explained – it is best explicated by the concept of Love, reflected in God. God become ‘Thou’ when he is directly spoken too. According to Buber, God is present in every aspect of human consciousness including arts, culture and music. Therefore, I-Thou relationship finds its outmost realization in the link between God and an Individual. Critique of Buber’s ideas Notwithstanding positive role of Buber’s ideas in the formation of 20-th century existentialism and humanist philosophy of Dialogue, one should point to crucial drawbacks and deficiencies of Buber’s ideas and approach. As it was noted in the introduction, it seems to us that Buber falls into the trap of idealism and utopianism in the explanation of real human relations. Moreover, his use of religious doctrine of Judaism in addressing real world relationships may also seem to modern researchers problematic. First of all, human relationships in Buber’s book are conceptualized through the prism of individual consciousness, an approach that was revolutionary in 18 and 19-th centuries, but significantly fell behind modern developments in social psychology, social and political sciences. Buber treats human relations at the level of individual consciousness, however, it contradicts empirical facts, which argue that individual behavior is mediated and influenced by cultural codes, traditions, institutions, such as family, law, working organization, education etc. To say that human relationships may be reduced to abstract notions of ‘I’ and ‘Thou’ means avoiding difficult issues of social roles, positions other factors. To say it plainly, in Buber’s concept ‘I’ is an abstract notion – it is not a real, historical human being, but rather a certain philosophical concept. Moreover, it seems problematic to argue that ‘I’ is pure in its will and thoughts. Psychoanalytic approach to human subjectivity vividly demonstrated that human consciousness is influenced by sub-conscious destructive forces, often unknown by an individual. There is no denying the importance of the fact, that Buber’s interpretation of ‘I’ –‘Thou’ relations as the concentration of love, attachment is also idealist in essence. Such interpretation fails to see national, class and gender contradiction, which divide different human beings. Religious interpretation of God as ‘Eternal Thou’ also seems controversial from scientific point of view. Buber argues that God is present in every sphere of human life, including literature, music and culture. However, these are created by men and hence, no role of God in their formation is evident. Moreover, it seems problematic to argue that God as perceived in Judaic tradition is the expression of love and intimateness. As Old Testament suggests, God was rather a protector of eternal laws, who punished people for non-abidance, rather than was a center of universal love. Notwithstanding these evident drawbacks and contradictions, one should point to crucial contribution of Buber’s book to Western philosophy. No matter how utopian and idealist, Buber’s philosophy proved to be particularly instrumental in the development of French existentialism and Russian school of literary critique. Buber’s perspective on world as an inter-subjective relationship found its further development in the philosophy of Sartre, Kamu and other French philosopher. Levinas used Buber’s philosophy of dialogue in the analysis oral speech and narrative language. Paralleling this development, Russian literary critique Bakthtine used Buber’s ideas in his analysis of Dostoevsky’s protagonists through the prism of their dialogical relations at the level of consciousness. The last, but not the least, it should be mentioned, that Buber’s concepts were the paramount of humanist philosophy in the 20th century. Notwithstanding their idealist and utopian nature they served as regulative ideas of behavior for several generations of intellectuals, including such renowned as Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse. To sum it up, Buber’s book â€Å"I and Thou’ provides modern researcher with new concepts and ideas, many of which seem controversial and paradoxical. Basic deficiencies found in Buber’s philosophy are linked with his utopianism and idealism and lack of attention to modern developments in social science, social psychology. The unnecessary reduction of human society to individual level makes it impossible to see a broader picture of inter-group relations and general social institutions role in human behavior. Notwithstanding these deficiencies, Buber’s book provides a source of interesting and thought-provocative reading.

Biography of John Quincy Adams 6th President of the US

Born on July 11, 1767, in Braintree, Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams had a fascinating childhood. He grew up during the American Revolution. He lived and traveled throughout Europe. He was tutored by his parents and was an excellent student. He went to schools in Paris and Amsterdam. Back in America, he entered Harvard as a Junior. He graduated second in his class in 1787. He then studied law and was a voracious reader his whole life. Family Ties John Quincy Adams was the son of Americas second President,  John Adams. His mother Abigail Adams was highly influential as First Lady. She was extremely well read and kept up an erudite correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. John Quincy Adams had one sister, Abigail, and two brothers,  Charles and Thomas Boylston. On July 26, 1797, Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson. She was the only foreign-born first lady. She was English by birth but spent much of her childhood in France. She and Adams married in England. Together they had three boys named  George Washington Adams, John Adams II, and Charles Francis who had an illustrious career as a diplomat. In addition, they had a girl named Louisa Catherine who died when she was one.   John Quincy Adams Career Before the Presidency Adams opened a law office before becoming a minister to the Netherlands (1794-7). He then was named Minister to Prussia (1797-1801). He served as a US Senator (1803-8) and was then appointed by James Madison as Minister to Russia (1809-14). He became Minister to Great Britain in 1815 before being named as James Monroes Secretary of State (1817-25). He was the chief negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent (1814). Election of 1824 No major caucuses or national conventions existed to nominate candidates for president. John Quincy Adams had three major opponents: Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay. The campaign was full of sectional strife. Jackson was much more a man of the people than Adams and had widespread support. He won 42% of the popular vote versus Adams 32%. However, Jackson received 37% of the electoral votes and Adams got 32%. Since no one received a majority, the election was sent to the House. Corrupt Bargain With the election to be decided in the House, each state could cast one vote for president. Henry Clay dropped out and supported John Quincy Adams who was elected on the first vote. When Adams became president, he appointed Clay to be his Secretary of State. This led opponents to claim that a corrupt bargain had been made between the two of them. They both denied this. Clay even participated in a duel to prove his innocence in this matter. Events and Accomplishments of John Quincy Adams Presidency John Quincy Adams served only one term as president. He supported internal improvements including the extension of the Cumberland Road. In 1828, the so-called tariff of abominations was passed. Its goal was to protect domestic manufacturing. It was strongly opposed in the South and led Vice President John C. Calhoun to argue again for the right of nullification - to have South Carolina nullify it by ruling it unconstitutional. Post Presidential Period Adams became the only President elected to the US House in 1830 after serving as president. He served there 17 years. One key event during this time was his role in arguing before the Supreme Court to free the slave mutineers aboard the Amistad. He died after having a stroke on the floor of the US House on February 23, 1848. Historical Significance Adams was significant mainly for his time before being president as Secretary of State. He negotiated the Adams-Onis Treaty. He was key in advising Monroe to deliver the Monroe Doctrine without the joint agreement of Great Britain. His election in 1824 over Andrew Jackson had the effect of propelling Jackson into the presidency in 1828. He also was the first president to advocate federal support for internal improvements.