The Vietnam War's impact on the United States both economically and Essay

The Vietnam War's impact on the United States both economically and politically - Essay Example It takes money to fund wars but neither financial nor military dominance guarantees victory. The political dynamics that result from war, particularly the Vietnam War, produce a myriad of varying effects. The U.S. lost political capital from within South Vietnam when it continuously bombed North Vietnam, a surprising development that was harmful to the war effort. The ‘hawkish’ neo-conservative ideology was born in this era. Those of this political philosophy did not believe the U.S. should withdraw from Vietnam and are the ones who took control of the White House in 2000. The ‘neo-cons’ are the group that, a quarter century after the fall of Saigon in 1975, involved the U.S. in the Iraq war debacle and refuse to withdraw. Many parallels can be drawn between these two conflicts that are separated by a generation. The generation of people who lived through the Vietnam period evidently did not learn the lessons from that war. Congress made what they believed w ould be a lasting political statement following the Vietnam war by passing the War Powers Act in hopes of preserving the separation of powers as guaranteed by the Constitution. The most evident and memorable political fallout during the Vietnam War was student protestors who, through great sacrifice and courage, were instrumental in ending U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. The U.S., because of its involvement in ‘nation building’ that began in Korea and continued during the Vietnam era and is in full effect today, has lost political credibility throughout the international community. From the end of the Cold War in 1989, as symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. was undoubtedly the world’s greatest power militarily, economically and therefore politically. However, this time in which the U.S. operates as the only superpower and therefore the world’s dominant force, known as the ‘unipolar

Ontological Argument criticism by Kant Critique of Pure Reason Essay

Ontological Argument criticism by Kant Critique of Pure Reason - Essay Example Kant vehemently reaffirmed the intelligibility of the world as demonstrated by common sense and science. He has had immense influence in the world of philosophy and continues to be a great source of inspiration for all. Despite rejecting some of his core ideas, the subsequent generation that lived under German idealism has widely adopted his work. His prime objection was that existence is not a predicate. The foundation of the ontological argument was the existence of a God that is greater than a God who does not exist. Thus, the very foundation was baffling and questionable. Kant advocated that existence could not possess or lack properties and, therefore, it is not a predicate. His criticism fundamentally targeted Descartes and Leibniz. Kant drew a clear line of distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments. Analytic judgment denotes a predicate that conveys a point that is already a part of the concept, and, therefore, it constitutes a tautology. On the other hand, in a syn thetic judgment, the predicate implies a point not already contained in the concept, and, therefore, it expresses new knowledge.... The judgments regarding nonexistence nullify both the subject and the predicate; therefore, this does not give rise to a contradiction. Based on these arguments, Kant refuted the notion of a necessary being. In addition, he contends that if existence is considered as a fundamental component of the definition of something, then affirming that it exists constitutes as tautology. Therefore, while making the analytic judgment that existence is a characteristic of God, we are reiterating that God exists. Thus, no synthetic judgment is made to annex novel information with regard to existence to the theoretical definition of God. Moving on, he criticizes the concept of being by pointing out that it is not a real predicate; thereby, it cannot be used to define a concept related to something. In plain terms, saying that something exists does not indicate anything in relation to the concept; instead, it denotes the existence of an object that matches with the concept. To say that objects of se nse exist does not imply an extra property related to the concept; instead, it is to be discovered outside the thought and we have an experiential awareness of it in space and time (Kant 89). A thing that actually exists does not possess properties which could be predicated; therefore, it cannot be distinguished from the concept of it. The distinguishing factor is then experience concerning that something, for instance its shape, site, time. To say that something exists requires spatial-temporal experience of that thing in order to know that there exist objects that correspond to that concept. Hence, a demonstration concerning the existence of something like God, which involves predicating a