Stephen L. Carter – The Separation of Church and State

1) What is the Establishment Clause?

I found that his read by Stephen L. Carter was a bit difficult for me because I don’t really pay any attention to politics. I found the “establishment clause” to be more based on religion, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” (Carter 103). This is backed up then by the “Free Exercise Clause”, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Carter 103). From my understanding this clause doesn’t try to prompt or put one religion before another by supporting it as being a state religion. It also makes a boundary line between the government and state. I think that this then allows the people to chose and practice a religion of their type. Meaning it puts the state away from interfering with them. “The Establishment Clause has been understood as the protection of the religious world against the secular government…celebrated the clause as the Magna Carta of religious freedom” (Carter 104). This means that the government can’t make any laws based on religion. This is important because it doesn’t limit our freedom in the United States. So far I think the interfering of the government hasn’t been a problem for the United States and if it continues to be, then the country is golden. But once interfering and or supporting the majority religion takes place many issues will raise. Overall I think that Stephen L. Carter was trying to get the point across about how the continuation of this separation must stay in order to have religious liberty, “the principal task of the separation of church and state is to secure religious liberty” (Carter 104).


Works Cited

Carter, Stepehen L. "The Separation of Church and State". A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins,2006 pp 102-110.

Hannah Arendt - Total Domination

3) What happens to human beings in concentration camps?


In this piece of writing, Hannah Arendt really pressures the idea of human concentration camps. The people who enter the concentration camps are then used for experimental purposes and there not just meant to eliminate people. “The camps are meant to not only to exterminate people and degrade human beings, but also serve the ghastly experiment of eliminating…” (Arendt 88). The types of conditions that are present in these camps somewhat stimulate the conditions in war and are scientifically controlled (Arendt 88). As stated in the reading these camps originated from totalitarianism governments. So these camps become a separator between the “real” world and “artificial” world, which is the concentration camps.
There was one statement in particular that really caught my attention. “The real horror of the concentration and extermination camps lies in the fact that the inmates, even if they happen to keep alive, are more effectively cut off from the world of the living than if they had died” (Arendt 94). I thought that this statement of Hannah Arendt really summed up what was going on in these camps. What she’s saying is that, the only way to describe the dreadfulness of these camps is to experience them yourself. She describes the environment as being so terrible and insolated that its worse then being dead, in another words you would be better off dead. Overall I thought that this piece of writing was well written in terms of it expressing Hannah Arendt’s views towards totalitarianism, and the views show that Hannah Arendt is against totalitarianism.



Works Sited

Arendt, Hannah. “Total Domination” A world of ideas: Essential readings for collage writers Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: Bedford St. Martins 2006 pp 85- 96

Niccolo Machiavelli - The Qualities of the Prince

1) Why does Machiavelli praise skill in warfare in his opening pages? How does that skill aid a prince?

In this piece of writing The Qualities of the Prince the author Niccolo Machiavelli really stresses and admires the skill of warfare. Within the first few paragraphs he begins to talk about how being armed is the way to go because without any sort of fire power it may make you despised. “… being disarmed makes you despised…” (Machiavelli 38). I find this to be a bit disturbing because to me this seems to evoke violence. But I think this quote is used to describe the safety required for a prince and his superiority. “…this is one of those infamilies a prince should guard himself against….for between armed and an unarmed man there is no comparison whatsoever” (Machiavelli 38). I think Niccolo Machiavelli is trying to get to the point that once you’re a prince, you put your self in great dangers and for these reasons warfare is a must. This skill of warfare then aids a prince because “…it is not reasonable for an armed man to obey unarmed man willingly, nor that an unarmed man should be sale among armed servants….” (Machiavelli 38). In general warfare will only aid a prince if he himself is equipped with the same. “… a prince who does not understand military matters, cannot be esteemed by his own soldiers nor can trust them” (Machiavelli 38). I think overall the way the warfare is described in this piece of writing is some what extreme because you can’t just say that you don’t trust someone who is armed without you, yourself being armed (ex: cops).

Works sited

Machiavelli, Niccolo. “The Qualities of the Prince” A world of ideas: Essential readings for collage writers Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: Bedford St. Martins 2006 pp 35 - 50

LAO-TZU - Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching


3.) According to Lao-tzu, why is moderation important in government?

Lao-tzu who is a very pronounced Chinese’s writer explains the meaning of moderation in this piece of writing Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching . The government in today’s world seems to be very different to the way that Lao-tzu explains it. He talks about the control of the government on the people of the society and if they were kept under less control then the natural way of life would be seen. The way of life will be accepted by the people as time goes on because their desires begin to disappear leading to peace, “when there is no desire all things are at peace” (Lao-tzu 25). Another thing is that if moderation is used then the “master” who governs or leads is hardly noticed by the people because he/she is just doing their job and not trying to takeover. As stated “…. Is a leader who is loved” (Lao-tzu 22), meaning running the government with moderation will help increase a better and more loveable relationship between the people and government. Lao-tzu does show an importance in moderation of the government but I personally think that the type of self-control which is used is a bit too unrealistic. “If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it” (Lau-tzu 24). I agree and also degree with this quote, it can go both ways. I degree because the world does need to be tampered with and altered in order to keep the present existences of humans and keep future developments going. On the other hand I agree because as seen in the past if nature is altered by humans from its natural state then problems and big issues can arise from these alterations. Overall I think that Lao-tzu did a fairly decent job in providing an explanation of why moderation is important in the government by showing simple ways of life leading to big achievements.

Works sited

Lao-tzu. “Thoughts from the Tao-te chin” A world of ideas: Essential readings for collage writers Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Trans. Stephen Mitchell, 7th ed. New York: Bedford St. Martins 2006 pp 22 - 31.