Free Essays on Instinct Or Free Will

, what they do is not explainable solely by references to factors that have influenced them. My thesis then, is that human beings are able to cause their own actions and they are therefore responsible for what they do. In a basic sense we are all original actors capable of making moves in the world. We are initiators of our own behavior. The first matter to be noted is that this view is in no way in contradiction to science. Free will is a natural phenomenon, something that emerged in nature with the emergence of human beings, with their kinds of minds, minds that can think and be aware of their own thinking. Nature is complicated. It includes many different sorts of things and one of these is human beings. Such beings exhibit one unique yet natural attribute that others things apparently do not- that is free will. A reason why some think that free will is not possible is because many believe that the only way we know about nature is from observations that we collect. Since observation can not give us a justification of free will, it is easy to think that there isn’t any such thing. Free will may not be something that we can see directly, but what best explains what we do see in human life. This may include, for example, the mistakes that human beings make in contrast to the few mistakes that other animals make. We also notice that human beings do all kinds of odd things that cannot be accounted for. We can examine a person’s background and find that some people with bad childhoods turn out to be decent, and vise versa. Free will comes as a very helpful explanation of this. Another matter that might count against free will is that the beings in nature do not exhibit free will. Dogs, lizards, fish... Free Essays on Instinct Or Free Will Free Essays on Instinct Or Free Will Free Will- A Matter of Perspective I want to argue that there is indeed free will. In order to defend the position that free will means that human beings can cause some of what they do on their own; in other words, what they do is not explainable solely by references to factors that have influenced them. My thesis then, is that human beings are able to cause their own actions and they are therefore responsible for what they do. In a basic sense we are all original actors capable of making moves in the world. We are initiators of our own behavior. The first matter to be noted is that this view is in no way in contradiction to science. Free will is a natural phenomenon, something that emerged in nature with the emergence of human beings, with their kinds of minds, minds that can think and be aware of their own thinking. Nature is complicated. It includes many different sorts of things and one of these is human beings. Such beings exhibit one unique yet natural attribute that others things apparently do not- that is free will. A reason why some think that free will is not possible is because many believe that the only way we know about nature is from observations that we collect. Since observation can not give us a justification of free will, it is easy to think that there isn’t any such thing. Free will may not be something that we can see directly, but what best explains what we do see in human life. This may include, for example, the mistakes that human beings make in contrast to the few mistakes that other animals make. We also notice that human beings do all kinds of odd things that cannot be accounted for. We can examine a person’s background and find that some people with bad childhoods turn out to be decent, and vise versa. Free will comes as a very helpful explanation of this. Another matter that might count against free will is that the beings in nature do not exhibit free will. Dogs, lizards, fish...

Joseph Winters and the Fire Escape Ladder

Joseph Winters and the Fire Escape Ladder On May 7, 1878, the fire escape ladder was patented by Joseph Winters. Joseph Winters invented a wagon-mounted fire escape ladder for the city of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A historic marker was placed in 2005 at the Junior Hose and Truck Company #2 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania noting Winters patents for the fire escape ladder and hose conductor and his work on the Underground Railway. It lists his dates of birth and death as 1816-1916. Life of Joseph Winters There are at least three different, widely varying birth years given for Joseph Winters, from 1816 to 1830 by various sources. His mother was Shawnee and his father, James, was a black brickmaker who worked at Harpers Ferry to build the federal gun factory and arsenal. The familys tradition said that his father was also descended Powhatan chief  Opechancanough. Joseph was raised by his grandmother Betsy Cross in Waterford, Virginia, where she was known as the Indian Doctor woman, a herbalist and healer. His later knowledge of nature may have stemmed from this time. At that time there were free black families in the area and Quakers who were active abolitionists. Winters used the nickname Indian Dick in his publications. Joseph also later worked at Harpers Ferry sanding brick molds before the family moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. In Chambersburg, he was active in the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom. In Winters  autobiography, he claimed to have arranged the meeting between Frederick Douglass and abolitionist John Brown at the quarry in Chambersburg before the historic Harpers Ferry raid. Douglasss autobiography credits a different person, local barber Henry Watson. Winters wrote a song, Ten Days After the Battle of Gettysburg, and also used that as the title for his lost autobiography. He also wrote a campaign song for presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, who lost to William McKinley. He was noted for hunting, fishing, and fly-tying. He engaged in oil prospecting in the Chambersburg area but his wells only hit the water. He died in 1916 and is buried in Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Chambersburg. Fire Ladder Inventions of Joseph Winters Buildings were being built taller and taller in American cities in the late 19th century. Fire crews at that time carried ladders on their horse-drawn fire engines. These were usually normal ladders, and they couldnt be too long or the engine wouldnt be able to turn corners into narrow streets or alleys. These ladders were used to evacuate residents from burning buildings as well as to give the firemen and their hoses access. Winters thought it would be smarter to have the ladder mounted on the fire engine and be articulated so it could be raised up from the wagon itself. He made this folding design for the city of Chambersburg and received a patent for it. He later patented improvements to this design. In 1882 he patented a fire escape that could be attached to buildings. He reportedly received much praise but little money for his inventions. Fire Ladder Patents US patent #203,517 Improvement in fire-escape ladders, granted on May 7, 1878.US patent #214,224 Improvement in fire-escape ladders, granted on April 8, 1879.US patent #258186 Fire escape, granted on May 16, 1882.