Baima, Nicholas

Biological agents and toxins have been used as weapons offensively as early as 1320 BCE. Modern ability to manipulate and control biological materials has raised concerns as to how wars will be fought in the future. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 and the subsequent Geneva Conventions have clearly determined biological warfare as unethical and illegal due to the devastating effects it has on both combatants and noncombatants. The International Humanitarian Laws, based on the fourth Geneva Convention, are used as guidelines for fighting just and legal wars. Although the use of biological weaponry has been banned for almost a century, government and non-government funded research in this area has not ceased. This highlights the importance of continuing research into the ethics of biological weaponry use according to modern science. After having compared modern biological advancements to these laws, the use of biological weaponry still cannot be justified in war.

The importance of medical virtues has allowed physicians to flourish within their fields as they interact and form relationships with their co-workers, themselves, and, most importantly, their patients. Though much attention has been paid to virtues like compassion and integrity, the virtue of humility has been overlooked. This is unfortunate because humility, I will argue, is deeply important to being a virtuous physician. The humble physician collaboratively works with their patients to understand their concerns and find a solution in the patient’s best interest. In addition, I will argue that humility can indeed be taught and offer how it can be implemented in the medical school curriculum.

In various Platonic dialogues, Socrates appears to discredit myth and fiction. Most notably in the Republic, he seems to argue that poetry is harmful due to its false nature and its relation to imitation which misleads those who experience it about the nature of the good. Yet, in many of these same dialogues, Socrates makes multiple appeals to myths, either using the previously constructed myths of others, or constructing stories of his own. Given that the dialogues themselves are fictionalized conversations written by Plato, a student of Socrates, he himself cannot categorically reject fictional stories. I argue that Plato’s critical examination and restriction of myth and poetry is not an absolute rejection. Rather, Plato is rejecting that poetry which ignorantly depicts falsehoods. This ignorance cultivates mistaken beliefs of what is most important; the good, right, and virtuous, and ultimately causes disharmony and harm in the souls of its audience.

In this paper we attempt to understand how being truthful can bring people to experience depression. While it might cause depression, it also can bring people closer together than when being untruthful. Through this research we discover that realism can lead to depression and in some cases not lead to depression but a sense of bliss. I also review how optimism can lead to happiness and at the same time it can lead to depression due to not being able to reach the goals set out by one’s self. Overall, we discover that being truthful, in many cases, is the best option but at the same time there are cases where telling the truth would be more harmful than beneficial. Taken together, I believe it is best to always take your time to try and understand the situation before making a decision about whether telling the truth is ideal or not ideal.

The historical connections between Marxism and humanism are diverse and at times, contradictory. Contemporary debates within the Marxist tradition continue to revolve around questions regarding the proper attitude toward humanism and its universalizing implications. To state the problem as a question, “If a Marxist Humanism is possible, with what problems, convictions, concepts etc. should one be concerned in order to create a Marxist Humanist project?” This thesis draws out problems and solutions raised by different trends in the history of Marxist thought which attempt to deal with humanism in order to propose a few steps forward for Marxist Humanism.