Imagine that you arrive at a friend’s house. The two of you are about to leave for dinner. He or she is running late but opens the door and invites you inside. You walk around and make yourself at home. You have been here many times before and casually observe the professionally taken family photos, […]
John Calvin and the Case for Refugees
The term refugee, especially Syrian refugee, has evolved to become a societal buzzword beyond the point of being easily defined by those who use it. The West’s fascination with the concept spans politics, religion, economics, and culture. In Britain, many observers claim the desire to control the flow of people to and from the island […]
Love and Sorrow: A Look at Twenty One Pilots’ Tear in My Heart
“Sometimes you gotta bleed to know, that you’re alive and have a soul.” 1 Rolling Stones calls Twenty-One Pilots “one of the hardest acts to categorize in recent memory.” The Columbus, Ohio based musical duo consists of 27-year-old frontman Tyler Joseph and his best friend, drummer Josh Dun. Joseph himself has acknowledged their strangeness; “It’s […]
To Be Free Indeed: The Integration of Modern Psychology and the Philosophical Virtues
The client, a middle-aged woman, sat across from her therapist, clearly uncomfortable with the idea that her every word and movement was being picked apart and analyzed by a man she had just met. The therapist was portrayed as a man consistent in his apparent sympathy for the woman in her current psychological distress. The […]
Blessed are the Poor: Debunking the Protestant Work Ethic
Work hard, play harder. As the “happiest college students” in the nation1, we at Vanderbilt certainly enjoy the latter, while taking immense pride in the former. It’s not uncommon to hear people boast, “I pulled two all-nighters last week!” or “I studied so hard I didn’t eat yesterday!” Nowadays, we live in an increasingly fast-paced […]
The Caring Approach: A Review of Virtues in Modern Patient Care
A deadly disease known as Hansen’s disease, almost nonexistent in the United States, is a major public health issue in other parts of the world, with 662,412 new cases between 2012 and 2014.[1] The disease affects the nerves so that as it progresses, numbness and paralysis develop.[2] Unable to feel external pain, patients do not […]