The Evil Genius in Descartes Meditations and its Role in Philosophy

Discussion Descartes meditation on First Philosophy starts with a radical doubt program where he questioned every uncertain belief. This element of doubt was further enhanced when Descartes contemplated possibility of being under control of an evil genius. This doubt endeavored to deceive Descartes maximally.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Evil Genius in Descartes’ Meditations and its Role in Philosophy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Descartes meditation on First Philosophy proposed thought experiments to facilitate his methodic doubt. In one of the experiments, Descartes posited that if there was an evil genius, then he could have made what was a lie look obviously true. If there was an evil genius, even most plausible beliefs could be in default. At that point of inquiry, Descartes could not prove the existence of such a powerful and malevolent creature. Descartes assumed the worst and worked from there. This strategy was extraordinary. In conducting practical affairs, Descartes attempted to channel his doubts in a fabric of beliefs that remained more or less fixed. However, the myth of malevolent genius deprived him of normal procedure (Descartes 50). The myth of evil genius demanded too much. Descartes thought experiment recommended universal doubt of all previous opinions and principles. It also recommended universal doubts of faculties whose veracity must assure a chain of reasoning deduced from some original principle which cannot be deceitful. The design of the myth on the evil genius indicates something about the extent and limits of our knowledge. Meditations on First Philosophy were written against the background of extravagant and conflicting claims about the nature of the world. The skeptical strategies Descartes employed were meant to deescalate the debate and to bring the discussion back to foundations (Descartes 50) Descartes Methodogical doubt and its Role in Philosophy The doubt strategy Descartes exhibited in the First Meditation was not an ordinary spontaneous doubt people experience in everyday life, nor was it an argument for global skepticism (Cottingham 12).Descartes methodical doubt was a thought experiment, which he used to clear his mind of preconceived ideas and determine foundations for his new philosophy. Descartes attempted to doubt everything he ever thought was true by attacking the sources of knowledge, such as; the senses, the mind and our imagination.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In view of these three sources of knowledge, Descartes provides three reasons for doubting: one, the possibility that we are deceived by our senses leads him to conclude that we can never trust anything we learn through senses; two, the possibility that we now dream led him to conclude that we can never trust the content of our consciousness ; and three, the most hyperbolic doubt at the end of the First Meditation was the introduction of Malicious evil that deceives us about existence of the world (Cottingham 15) Conclusion In sum, Descartes did not blame God, whom he considered supremely good and the source of truth. Rather, he blamed some malicious evil of utmost power and cunning which used all energies to deceive him. He thought that the air, earth, colors, shapes, sounds and all external things were mere delusions of dreams which he had devised to ensnare judgment. This hypothesis implies an all encompassing doubt for it denies people trust on their senses, content of their consciousness and their ability to reason. The malicious evil causes all these illusions without any connection to a world outside our minds. In order for Descartes to lay the skeptical hypotheses to rest and find a foundation for certain knowledge, he needs to overcome malicious evil (Cottingham 13). Works Cited Cottingham, J. Renes Descartes M editation on First Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Descartes, R. Discourse on method and the Meditations. Harmondswort: Penguin Books, 1968. This essay on The Evil Genius in Descartes’ Meditations and its Role in Philosophy was written and submitted by user Ian U. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

A Good Society and the Economy

A Good Society and the Economy Introduction Economics as a discipline focuses on laws that determine how economies work. Usually, this entails looking at a balance between human wants and the scarcity of resources as reflected through goods and services. Economics essentially dwells on tackling these two issues in order to derive maximum satisfaction. Sometimes markets can solve their own problems or government interventions can be made. Economic interventions may appear essential to society’s functioning but their unforeseen consequences make them unreliableAdvertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Good Society and the Economy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The issues Government interventions have not always led to desirable results especially in monetary intercessions. Issues of hyperinflation (a state of exponential decrease in the value of a currency) have affected a number of societies very negatively. One such example was the South African country of Zimbabwe. At its worst economic times, that nation got to a point where citizens could not estimate how much they were going to purchase a kilogram of sugar in one evening even after buying it a certain price that morning. This changed such a society from being a net exporter to net importer and eventual dependant. The country could not feed its people and started relying on humanitarian aid for survival. Continuous government involvement in Zimbabwe’s monetary policies is what led to the problem and contributed to its propagation (Bean, 58). Government solutions may not always work because governments tend to depend on economists to base their decisions. However, economists tend to disagree on even some of the basic economic issues affecting nations. For example, in 1930, the United Kingdom was going through a very tumultuous time. Unemployment was rife and the economy was doing very poorly. Experts and analysts in the Treasury advised the then Prime Minister McD onald to increase taxes and reduce social benefits especially for the unemployed (Boettke (a), 225). The net effect of these actions was that citizens no longer had the monetary ability to keep purchasing commodities and businesses eventually had to close because of low purchasing power. In other words, the economic depression only got worse. It was at this point that another economist came up with his theory of expansionary policies. The theory focused on income, money and the economy. The latter approach served the UK well and put it back on its feet. However, expansion has not always been the ultimate solution that it has been marketed to be because some countries have tried it and failed. The United States has struggled with the revival of its economy even after President Obama set out to inject more investments into it upon his election.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn Mor e This has not worked well for the country and has even led to the waning popularity of the leader (Taylor, 15). The lack of consensus on important matters such as how to handle a recession put into question the ability of the government or its stakeholders to solve some of society’s problems through economic intervention. Some people argue that efficient management of the economy is critical to existence of a good society. However, this kind of management can be done on a micro level and on a macro level. The macro level leans towards government intervention while the micro level leans towards free market economics. Since resources are scarce, a good knowledge of how the economy works allows for optimization of these resources and hence enjoyment of efficiency. Good societies should therefore be those ones that use fewer resources or waste even less; issues that can best be implemented on a micro level. Furthermore, citizens that manage their economies well will allo cate their budgets more efficiently especially as a result of the opportunity cost principle and this will lead to better growth (Financial web, 22). This principle refers to the benefits that have to be foregone by a decision maker when shifting from one opportunity to another one that may be better. To understand the argument, consider a person who had a certain amount of money in the bank, choosing to take this money from the bank into the stock exchange would mean that the person will forego interests in the said bank but will be looking forward to the benefits of owning stock. The opportunity cost would therefore be represented by that decision to change investments. A good society is often run in the same manner. Policy makers cannot always keep recognizing the opportunities that are likely to benefit their citizens so personal initiative by the said members should be advocated. It should be noted that although consumption leads to economic growth, this can only occur when the right choices are made on what to buy and what to save by market players. A well functioning society should be one that produces results for its inputs. In other words, if a society injects certain amounts of cash into the economy then the expected outcomes should be profitable. Once no change is recorded or a negative one arises then such societies will start degrading. Issues such as unemployment and higher poverty rates are common in societies that reported no economic gains. One can therefore say that prosperity is highly determined by a stakeholder’s ability to plan for these gains. Failure to do so may create a breeding ground for a number of social evils.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Good Society and the Economy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When a country’s economy is poorly operated by specific economic players such as lending institutions then such a society is likely to report immen se levels of instability. This is because a poorly operated economy directly translates to monetary impacts among specific individuals and severely limits their ability to maintain their standards of living. A case in point was the US economic downturn that started in 2007. The lives of Americans were affected directly because they had to forego some of their essential needs such as housing and the like. Statistics show that the amount of foreclosures in that year alone reached an overwhelming 1.5 million (Ivry, 2). Poor decision making amongst market lenders led to the crisis; which was an issue that could have been prevented if the market played by the rules. If governments continued with interventions that were economically inclined then such societies are likely to report greater incidences of negative externalities (outcomes created by businesses that affect communities negatively) compared to those societies that do not make economically based interventions. As such, a governm ent that over stimulates its businesses would result in higher environmental degradation than one that does not bother with these issues. Additionally, a society with too much economic intervention would also have very minimal social goods and services. For example, public transport would be unattractive to investors and may therefore be severely lacking in such kinds of societies. Issues such as universal education and public healthcare would be put at the periphery because they focus on increasing social well being over profitability (Sadowsky, 47). Therefore one can argue that sometimes the way to having a prosperous society is not just to focus on the economy because humans are concerned with other issues as well. The phenomenon of globalization has become a common topic in almost all spheres of life. Staunch economists would argue that globalization favors greater resource efficiency and better production so it should be encouraged. These economists would therefore advise gover nments to perpetuate globalization. However, non economists hold that globalization is unfair because it benefits owners of capital or wealthy nations at the disadvantage of poor ones. Developing nations get stripped further by expanding multinationals and this may not always be a fair way of solving society’s problems. If government interventions endorse it then this could lead to greater income disparities between nations.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Economic policies and interventions may sometimes focus on profitability over the overwhelming social good. Most policies in this arena are likely to lead to greater social inequality; eventually, this may cause social conflict. For example, if there was a developer who wanted to transform a local county by building a shopping mall, he may need to clear play grounds for children and increase traffic in the city. An economist would support such a move even if it would cause pollution and deny orphans or poor children spaces to play. If the government were to make economic decisions, then it would allow such a developer to build his land. When the least disadvantaged are ignored then society only puts itself in a position where clashes between one class and another can result. Matters of accessibility to better opportunities may also be a challenge in the economic arena because here, economic experts often pay minimal attention to matters of social justice yet they are just as importa nt as the economy when handling these challenges. Before endorsing a certain way of doing things, it is always essential to look at the repercussions of using that method on social organization. The manner in which things are done in this realm may sometimes cause controversy on the role of economic interventions in the functioning of a good society. In the discipline dedicated to this subject of the economy, most theories are often made based on a number of assumptions. One of them is ‘putting other factors constant’. This assumption has severe repercussions because sometimes analysts may forget about that assumption or may not seriously take the result of having the other factors in the equation variable. This leads to misleading policies and unwanted results that contribute towards the detriment of society. Matters of the economy rarely have straight forward responses (Boettke (b), 95). For example, one cannot simply say that implementing minimum wage laws will resul t in greater unemployment. This is because if the market wage rate is lower than the minimal wage law then some degree of unemployment may result. However, the degree of unemployment cannot be predicted. Also the effect and execution of that unemployment is difficult to determine as well. Some employers may opt to adjust their wages to the legal requirement while others may not and this could substantially alter the effect that their decisions have on the economy. A government intervention such as the one above is therefore not a guarantee to sound economics or a well functioning society. Conclusion To some extent, economic management contributes to better living standards and better monetary benefits because without it, resource utilization and need satisfaction will be placed on the periphery yet these are essential parts of human living. However, these are best done on an individual level. One can argue that too much emphasis on economic interventions leads to reduced attention o n social issues such as poverty, environmental hazards as well as social inequality. Additionally, experts in this field of economics (who always advice governments) tend to have divergent views on the things that matter the most thus leading to controversial solutions. Boettke, Peter (a). After Samuelson, who needs Adam Smith? Political economy journal, 3(1971), 225. Ivry, Bob. Foreclosures hit 1.5 million in US housing bust. Web. Boettke, Peter (b). Analysis and vision in economic discourse. History of economic thought journal, 14/919792): 90-95. Taylor, John. How government actions caused and prolonged the financial crisis. NY: Hoover institution press, 2010. Bean, Charles. Lessons for monetary policy. Inflation and monetary policy report, (2008): 368. Financial web. Importance of the economy. 2010. Web. Sadowsky, James. The constitution of economic policy. American economic review 77(1987): 47.

Writing Effective School Policy and Procedures

Writing Effective School Policy and Procedures Writing policy and procedures for schools is a part of an administrators job. School policies and procedures are essentially the governing documents by which your school district and school buildings are operated. It is essential that your policies and procedures be current and up-to-date. These should be reviewed and revised as necessary, and new policies and procedures should be written as needed. The following guidelines are tips and suggestions to consider when you are evaluating old policy and procedures or writing new ones. Why Is the Evaluation of School Policies and Procedures Important? Every school has a student handbook, support staff handbook, and certified staff handbook which are loaded with policies and procedures. These are vital pieces of each school because they govern the day-to-day occurrences that happen in your buildings. They are valuable because they offer the guidelines for how the administration and school board believe their school should be run. These policies come into play every single day. They are a set of expectations that all constituents within the school are held accountable by. How Do You Write Targeted Policy? Policies and procedures typically are written with a specific target audience in mind, This includes students, teachers, administrators, support staff, and even parents. Policies and procedures should be written so that the target audience understands what is being asked or directed of them.  For example, a policy written for a middle school student handbook should be written at a middle school grade level and with terminology that the average middle school student will understand. What Makes a Policy Clear? A quality policy is both informative and direct meaning that the information is not ambiguous, and it is always straight to the point. It is also clear and concise. A well-written policy will not create confusion. A good policy is also up-to-date. For example, policies dealing with technology probably need frequently updated  due to the rapid evolution of the technology industry itself. A clear policy is easy to understand. The readers of the policy should not only understand the meaning of the policy but understand the tone and the underlying reason the policy was written. When Do You Add New Policies or Revise Old Ones? Policies should be written and/or revised as needed. Student handbooks and such should be reviewed on a yearly basis. Administrators should be encouraged to keep documentation of all policies and procedures that they feel need to be added or revised as the school year moves along. There are times to put a piece of new or revised policy in effect immediately within a school year, but the majority of the time, the new or revised policy should go into effect the following school year. What Are Good Procedures for Adding or Revising Policies? The majority of policy should go through several channels before it is included within your proper district’s policy book. The first thing that has to happen is that a rough draft of the policy has to be written. This is usually done by a principal or other school administrator. Once the administrator is happy with the policy, then it is an excellent idea to form a review committee made up of the administrator, teachers, students, and parents. During the review committee, the administrator explains the policy and its purpose, the committee discusses the policy, makes any recommendations for revision, and decides whether it should be submitted to the superintendent for review. The superintendent then reviews the policy and may seek legal counsel to make sure the policy is legally viable. The superintendent may kick the policy back down to the review committee to make changes, may kick out the policy completely, or may send it on to the school board for them to review. The school board can vote to reject the policy, accept the policy, or may ask that a part be revised within the policy before they accept it. Once it is approved by the school board, then it becomes official school policy and is added to the appropriate district handbook.

Art, Body and Mind through the Works of Marina Abramovic Essay

Art, Body and Mind through the Works of Marina Abramovic - Essay Example The essay "Art, Body and Mind through the Works of Marina Abramovic" concerns the art of Marina Abramovic. The perspective, which Abramovic has built, is based on pushing the limits of space to redefine expressions of the mind. This research paper will examine how Abramovic has changed her physical space to represents the mental aspects of performance and to create a sense of symbolism with the arts used. This will be further explored by understanding the various perspectives and angles that Abramovic has considered with the performances. The external influences and environment that Abramovic is in as well as the ways in which she has approached various performances through time to change her philosophy will then create a specific perspective based on something that moves beyond the culture and becomes a part of expressing the existence of the mind. This paper will first discuss the ways in which Abramovic was influenced, specifically during her earlier years and childhood. This exam ination will be used to understand how Abramovic began working with later performances and what concepts continue to be associated with her works. There will then be an overview of the philosophers that have influenced Abramovic and how these philosophies continue to be a part of the narrative of performances by the artist. The examination of outside philosophers will link directly to the thought processes that are used in each performance. This will lead to an understanding of how Abramovic trains for a performance.... The external influences and environment that Abramovic is in as well as the ways in which she has approached various performances through time to change her philosophy will then create a specific perspective based on something that moves beyond the culture and becomes a part of expressing the existence of the mind. This paper will first discuss the ways in which Abramovic was influenced, specifically during her earlier years and childhood. This examination will be used to understand how Abramovic began working with later performances and what concepts continue to be associated with her works. There will then be an overview of the philosophers that have influenced Abramovic and how these philosophies continue to be a part of the narrative of performances by the artist. The examination of outside philosophers will link directly to the thought processes that are used in each performance. This will lead to an understanding of how Abramovic trains and prepares for a performance and how th is is associated with the end results in each of the performances. There will then be sections based on the philosophies of Abramovic. The first examination will be of the perceptions of the mind and how the challenge of Abramovic is to let go of bodily limitations. The concept will be to understand how Abramovic believes that the body is one which can be pushed outside of what is physically expected, specifically which is dependent on the mind. The second philosophy examined will be the idea of pain and dying that is displayed in the performances by Abramovic. The third philosophy will be the concept of the mirror, which Abramovic incorporates into her performances with interactions from the audience. There will also be a section on the other

Adolf Hitler Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Adolf Hitler - Research Paper Example However, his rule ended following the U.S and Russia invasion that led to German defeat and unconditional surrender. After German’s defeat, Hitler committed suicide to avoid being captured and tried for crimes against humanity (Price 35). During his aggressive years, and in the quest to rule over Germany, Adolf left Vienna to settle in Munich but was coerced to return to Austria-Hungary. In the following year, he willingly joined the Bavarian army where he served during the First World War period. His war experiences influenced his thinking about the future of Germany. Following the end of world war one, Hitler took over the German Nationalist Socialist Party, which hoped, would propel him to power. He was an ambitious person who hoped to restructure and rebuild Germany following its humiliation in the First World War. In his program, Hitler aimed to build a racist German that could conquer a series of wars to expand people of German descent to the entire part of world and exclusively take control over it (Toland 51). Hitler believed that Germany had to fight wars all over the world in order to settle German people everywhere on the globe. In his quest for world domination, he started by invading Czechoslovakia, which was followed by a difficult against Britain and France. In his third war, he hoped to fight the Soviet Unions, which he thought would be easy and simple, and would offer raw materials particularly oil for the fourth war against the United States of America. Hitler assumed that the war against the United States of America would be simple because German would use super battle ships and planes that would hit the powerful U.S navy. Once he assumed power in German, all these plans and preparations were implemented but failed to bear fruits since enemies he perceived as weak and feeble fiercely repelled him. In 1938, Hitler invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia as a strategic position to attack France and

Mythology and literature Essay Example for Free

Mythology and literature Essay The definition of mythology is deprived from the word myth. The word itself comes from the Greek word mythos, which means fable, legend or sagas. The word myth is a story that seeks to rationalize the universe and the world around us, passed down orally from generation to generation explaining religious origin, natural phenomena or supernatural event. Mythology is a collection of myths that concerns with cosmogony and cosmology, shared by a particular society at some particular time in human history. Literature is a body of written works of language, period or culture. Literature can be divided into fiction (e.g. fairty tale, gothic, saga etc) and non-fiction (e.g. essays, journal, science fiction etc). There are many distinctive natures of mythology and they seek to describe what a particular person or society believe during that period of time. Myths serves as an charter for their institutions, customs and beliefs. The typical mythology is the explanation of the universe and its ethology. Normally, the setting is set in a previous proto-world (simliar to the current world but also different) and they often revolve around non-human or extroadinary people such as god, goddess, supernatural beings (e.g. zeus, adam and eve, prometheus etc). These story explains why things are and how they became to be. It rationalised our way of thinking, reconcile us to reality and establishes our pattern of life. Apart from the explanation of the creation of the universe, mythologies seek to explain everyday natural phenomena. Certain myths explains way the sun exist and why there is night and day. Some explains the existance of seasons: Spring,Winter,Summer and Autumn while others shows of mother nature providing us with food and shelter. These myth suggest a way of understanding nature and organizing thoughts. For example, structualism recognizes different contrasting aspect (light and dark, good/evil) as centres to myths which charters for social order or value within a society (functionalism). Myth have been created by human beings for many reasons over thousands of years. They are an intellectual product of humanity and a rich resource for the ideas and belief of past generations. Their extroadinary and unbelievable aspect combined with the constant thought that there might be something out their is what keeps mythology functioning and is what keeps literature moving. There are also many differences between literature and mythology. For instance, they were used for different purposes and existed in different times. Myth several purposes, including to socially/politically control society (e.g. to spread a myth about something to control people, to scare people when facts were not available). Literature on the other hand, is more about persuading and informing people. There are also other benefits to mythology that cannot be achieved in literature, such as there is no boundary to the world, there is no such thing as false and there is low risk of anyone challenging your theory. The sets of beliefs also differ and the way they view the world differs. For example, literatures audience are educated modern people while mythologys one is from the old generation where there was not much information about the world and how it works. This would mean that the two different texts have different intended audience which would inevitably show why they differ so much. Both are products of humans but during different time frame. The arrival of the modern era would inevitably mean the death of mythology. The transformation from one to another was the belief that myth was useless, false and outmoded and that it did not work. Science (regarded as a fictional literature) was the objective explanation of how the world around us work while the subjective myth was about faith and believing something unfounded. Scientific rational thought was based on empricial knowledge, a priori (not falsifiable) and our way of thinking is based on facts. Myth is ultimately a different knowledge, an ideology, a set of belief. Systems of myths have provided a cosmological and historical framework for societies that have lacked the more sophisticated knowledge provided by modern science. Myth is related to science, however it only provide basis for a theory, not knowledge. For example the myth of how the origin was created would have lacked modern day rational scientific belief because they would prefer a more true, superior and more authority theory, which is the big bang theory. Our modern rational paradigm thought is based on observation. Scientific rational thinking is based on logic to solve or explain how the world works and as it becomes a part of our everyday thinking, mythology will be inevitable cast aside. Carl Jung invented modern scientific theory and for him, the world of dream, and myth represented the most fascinating and promising road to deeper understanding. The significance of literature in mythology as said We need the stories of myth to make sense of the confusion of our society and our own psyches. Myth voices the truths of our unconscious selves, and the gods, goddesses, and heroes of myth embody aspects of creativity, cleverness, grief, joy, aggression, and ecstasy. Carl Jung believes that even the most sophisticated and important literature requires some mythological aspect. (E.g. the Lord of the Ring depends on mythical characteristic to drives the ideas; horror movies have a message and some urban myth taps into childs fear of a bogyman under the bed) Northrop Frye criticises literature and states the importance of cultural myth underlying literature (E.g. Sea, land and sky, control, creation, decay, regeneration, our fear). Mythology evokes our sub-conscious mind (e.g. dream) which is employed by reference to mythology in literature. Frye states that mythology provided themes for some of the worlds greatest drama, and similar themes can be traced back to the Renaissance literature, through to Shakespeare (E.g. Hamlet, Midsummer Nights Dream) and finally to modern poetry and thus mythology plays a significance role with literature. One could even say that literature is based on mythology. Karen Armstrong book A Short History of Myth is about how literature and mythology were shaped by the problems of the society people lived in. Armstrong states that the existence of Mythology from an early period: Human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value. With the coming of the great revolutions in human experience science was used to explain facts as opposed the theory of myth, which became useless, false and outmoded. Literature, which could explain things that was never thought possible, was regarded as the next step from mythology (from an uneducated society to a civilized society). The relationship between literature and mythology is one of similarities as well as differences. They are both important creation by human beings and will continue to play an important role in the intellectual world. Literature will always include some aspect of myth which will continue to shape our modern world like it did in the past.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses :: essays research papers

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a complex and disturbing portrayal of the noble class in pre-revolutionary France. Set in the late eighteenth century during the latter part of the Ancien Regime, Les Liaisons weaves a web of cold, calculated betrayal of the most immoral kind. The story unfolds in the form of letters written between the principal characters, giving it a unique literary texture. By using this style, de Laclos is able to give the reader a shockingly intimate look at these people as they divulge their most intimate secrets and bring to fruition their sinister plans. The protagonists, The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, consider it their life’s ambition to sadistically control and dominate those around them through sexual intrigue. These two villains are indeed locked in psychological combat to see who can actually ‘out-do’ the other in stalking, capturing and destroying the souls of others. Taking absolute pleasure in ripping any virtue from the hearts of their prey, Merteuil and Valmont wave their accomplishments in front of each other like spoils of war. The less the chance of surrender, the more relentless is the pursuit. The story begins with the Marquise de Merteuil corresponding with Vicomte de Valmont regarding a luscious new act of ‘revenge’, as she describes it, against the Comte de Gercourt. The young Cecile de Volanges has just come home from the convent and her marriage to Gercourt has been arranged. However, before he can wed the innocent child, Merteuil proposes Valmont ‘educate’ her, thus spoiling Gercourt’s fancy for untarnished convent girls. Valmont is uninterested in such an easy seduction and is far more aroused by the thought of lulling The Presidente’ de Tourvel, the very epitome of virtue, into submission. And so the tale unfolds. Valmont eventually beds the virgin Cecile in order to humor Merteuil, however, the conquest of Madam de Tourvel is his passion and he indulges in this pursuit until he reaches the intended conclusion. Although, it would be a mistake to depict Valmont as anything but the monster that he is, there seems to be a small measure of actual ‘affection’ for Tourvel, however short-lived. Once Valmont shares this strange and unexpected interest in Madame de Tourvel, The Marquise de Merteuil is enraged, considering it an appalling sign of weakness. In order to save face, Valmont returns to his ruthless ways, thus completing the destruction of Madame de Tourvel, who had ultimately fallen madly in love with Valmont.