Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, said "It means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe." Earlier thinkers, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife. The Nasadiya Sukta in the Rigveda is agnostic about the origin of the universe. According to the philosopher William L. Rowe, "agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist". Agnosticism is the doctrine or tenet of agnostics with regard to the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena or to knowledge of a First Cause or God, is not a religion.
Agnosticism is of the essence of whether ancient or modern. It means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe. Agnosticism puts aside not only the greater part of popular theology, but the greater part of anti-theology. On the whole, the "bosh" of heterodoxy is more offensive to me than that of orthodoxy, because heterodoxy professes to be guided by reason and science, orthodoxy does not; that which Agnostics deny and repudiate, as immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which men ought to believe, without logically satisfactory evidence. Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle... Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration, and negatively: In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable.
Being a scientist, above all else, Huxley presented agnosticism as a form of demarcation. A hypothesis with no supporting, testable evidence is not an objective, scientific claim; as such, there would be no way to test. His agnosticism was not compatible with forming a belief as to the truth, or falsehood, of the claim at hand. Karl Popper would describe himself as an agnostic. According to philosopher William L. Rowe, in this strict sense, agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist. George H. Smith, while admitting that the narrow definition of atheist was the common usage definition of that word, admitting that the broad definition of agnostic was the common usage definition of that word, promoted broadening the definition of atheist and narrowing the definition of agnostic. Smith rejects agnosticism as a third alternative to theism and atheism and promotes terms such as agnostic atheism and agnostic theism.
Agnostic was used by Thomas Henry Huxley in a speech at a meeting of the Metaphysical Society in 1869 to describe his philosophy, which rejects all claims of spiritual or mystical knowledge. Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis to describe "spiritual knowledge". Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the ancient religious movement of Gnosticism in particular. Huxley identified agnosticism not as a creed but rather as a method of skeptical, evidence-based inquiry. In recent years, scientific literature dealing with neuroscience and psychology has used the word to mean "not knowable". In technical and marketing literature, "agnostic" can mean independence from some parameters—for example, "platform agnostic" or "hardware agnostic". Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt, he asserted that the fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition.
Strong agnosticism The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities, the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, neither can you." Weak agnosticism The view that the existence or nonexistence of any deities is unknown but is not unknowable. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether any deities exist or not, but maybe one day, if there is evidence, we can find something out." Apathetic agnosticism The view that no amount of de
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God, that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24% of the world's population, most known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 50 countries. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful and has guided humankind through prophets, revealed scriptures and natural signs; the primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the verbatim word of God, the teachings and normative example of Muhammad. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith, revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Abraham and Jesus. Muslims consider the Quran in its original Arabic to be the final revelation of God. Like other Abrahamic religions, Islam teaches a final judgment with the righteous rewarded paradise and unrighteous punished in hell. Religious concepts and practices include the Five Pillars of Islam, which are obligatory acts of worship, following Islamic law, which touches on every aspect of life and society, from banking and welfare to women and the environment.
The cities of Mecca and Jerusalem are home to the three holiest sites in Islam. Aside from the theological narrative, Islam is believed to have originated in the early 7th century CE in Mecca, by the 8th century the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate extended from Iberia in the west to the Indus River in the east; the Islamic Golden Age refers to the period traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century, during the Abbasid Caliphate, when much of the Muslim world was experiencing a scientific and cultural flourishing. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates, such as the Ottoman Empire and conversion to Islam by missionary activities. Most Muslims are of one of two denominations. About 13 % of Muslims live in the largest Muslim-majority country. Sizeable Muslim communities are found in the Americas, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Europe, Mainland Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Russia. Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world. Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root S-L-M which forms a large class of words relating to concepts of wholeness, submission and peace.
In a religious context it means "voluntary submission to God". Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, means "submission" or "surrender". Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the same verb form, means "submitter" or "one who surrenders"; the word sometimes has distinct connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as an internal spiritual state: "Whomsoever God desires to guide, He opens his heart to Islam." Other verses connect Islam and religion together: "Today, I have perfected your religion for you. Still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that includes imān, ihsān. Islam was called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies; this term has fallen out of use and is sometimes said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims' religion, parallel to Buddha in Buddhism.
Some authors, continue to use the term Muhammadanism as a technical term for the religious system as opposed to the theological concept of Islam that exists within that system. Faith in the Islamic creed is represented as the six articles of faith, notably spelled out in the Hadith of Gabriel. Islam is seen as having the simplest doctrines of the major religions, its most fundamental concept is a rigorous monotheism, called tawḥīd. God is described in chapter 112 of the Quran as: "He is God, the One and Only. Muslims repudiate polytheism and idolatry, called Shirk, reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension and thus. God is described and referred to by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahmān, meaning "The Compassionate" and Al-Rahīm, meaning "The Merciful". Muslims believe that the creation of everything in the universe was brought into being by God's sheer command, "Be, it is" and that the purpose of existence is to worship or to know God.
He is viewed as a personal god who responds whenever a person in distress calls him. There are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God who states, "I am nearer to him than jugular vein." God consciousness is referred to as Taqwa. Allāh is the term with no plural or gender used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews to reference God, while ʾilāh is the term used for a deity or a god in general. Other non-Arab Muslims might use different names as much as Allah, for instance "Tanrı" in Turkish, "Khodā" in Persian or "Ḵẖudā" in Urdu. Belief in angels is fundamental
Hearth tax
A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on each family unit. It was calculated based on the number of fireplaces, within a municipal area. Hearth tax was levied in the Byzantine Empire from the 9th century and England from the 14th century, in England and Ireland in the 17th century. In the Byzantine Empire a tax on hearths, known as kapnikon, was first explicitly mentioned for the reign of Nicephorus I, although its context implies that it was then old and established and it should be taken back to the 7th century AD. Kapnikon was a tax. In the 1340s the King of France's personal expenditure on dowries, the upkeep of the palace, his travels and his wardrobe, consumed the entirety of the royal income; the fouage was assessed on the basis of households and was paid by towns in a pre-arranged lump sum raised in any manner the locality chose to employ. It existed in certain French provinces, became widespread in the 14th century when the royal finances were unable to bear the rising costs of war and state agents.
In particular, fouages were levied in 1342 and 1349. The hearth-penny was an Anglo-Saxon term for Peter's pence. In England, hearth tax known as hearth money, chimney tax, or chimney money, was a tax imposed by Parliament in 1662, to support the Royal Household of King Charles II. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Royal Household needed an annual income of £1,200,000; the hearth tax was a supplemental tax to make up the shortfall. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths than the number of heads, hearths forming a more stationary subject for taxation than people; this form of taxation had precedents abroad. It was supported by the economist Sir William Petty; the bill received Royal Assent on 19 May 1662, with the first payment due on 29 September 1662, Michaelmas. One shilling was liable to be paid for every firehearth or stove, in all dwellings, edifices or lodgings, was payable at Michaelmas, 29 September and on Lady Day, 25 March.
The tax thus amounted to two shillings per stove per year. The original bill contained a practical shortcoming in that it did not distinguish between owners and occupiers and was a major burden on the poor as there were no exemptions; the bill was subsequently amended. Further amendments introduced a range of exemptions that ensured that a substantial proportion of the poorer people did not have to pay the tax. Exemption certificates had to be signed by a minister, a churchwarden, or an overseer of the poor and two Justices of the Peace. From 1664, everybody whose home had more than two hearths was liable to pay the tax if otherwise exempt, changes were made to reduce the scope for tax avoidance. Revenue generated in the first year was less than expected, so from 1663, the names and number of hearths were required to be listed if non-liable; this additional detail has made the relevant hearth tax documents useful to modern historians and other researchers. However, details of householders who were not liable to pay the tax were not recorded for all years of its operation, as they were not needed for audit purposes when the right to collect the tax was "farmed" for collection by contractors in return for their payment of a fixed premium.
The arrangements for collecting the hearth tax varied during its lifetime: 1662 to 1664: The tax was collected by petty constables, with supervision and administration through the existing machinery of local government. 1664 to 1665: Receivers were appointed to collect the tax. 1666 to 1669: The right to collect the tax was leased or "farmed out" to three City of London merchants, in exchange for a premium. 1669 to 1674: A central government office called "Agents for the Hearth Tax" supervised collection by directly-employed receivers. 1674 to 1684: The tax was again farmed out. 1684 to 1689: A special government commission collected both the excise and hearth tax. The tax fell most on those who occupied the houses with the greatest number of hearths. For instance, in 1673-4 the Earl of Exeter had to pay for 70 hearths at Burghley House. In contrast, most householders who were liable to pay tax had only one or two hearths and a significant proportion of householders were not liable to pay at all.
The hearth tax was much resented because it entailed inspection of the interior of dwellings by the sub-collectors and petty constables, who had legal authority to enter every property to check on the number of hearths. Some people stopped up their chimneys so that the tax was not due on them, but where this was discovered by the assessors the tax was doubled. On 31 July 1684, a fire in Churchill, destroyed 20 houses and many other buildings, killed four people, it was caused by a baker who, to avoid chimney tax, had knocked through the wall from her oven to her neighbour's chimney. After the Glorious Revolution, the hearth tax was repealed by the newly empowered English Parliament and agreed to by the newly installed William III and Mary II in 1689, as not only a great oppression to the poorer sort, but a badge of slavery upon the whole people, exposing every man’s house to be entered into, searched at pleasure, by persons unknown to him. At the end of the Glorious Revolution in 1688, William III and Mary II agreed to and signed the English Bill of Rights 1689 marking a new level co-operation and power sharing between the Par
Meillerie
Meillerie is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Communes of the Haute-Savoie department INSEE
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule, abbreviated FH, or University of Applied Sciences is a German tertiary education institution, specializing in topical areas. Fachhochschulen were first founded in Germany, were adopted in Austria, Switzerland and Greece. An increasing number of Fachhochschulen are abbreviated as Hochschule, the generic term in Germany for institutions awarding academic degrees in higher education, or expanded as Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften. Universities of Applied Sciences are designed with a focus on teaching professional skills. Swiss law calls Fachhochschulen and Universitäten "separate but equal". Due to the Bologna process, Universitäten and Fachhochschulen award equivalent academic bachelor's and master's degrees. Fachhochschulen do not award doctoral degrees themselves. Combined with the rule that they appoint only professors with a professional career of at least three years outside the university system, those are the two major ways in which they differ from traditional universities.
However, they may run doctoral programs. Due to the Bologna process, most German Universitäten and Fachhochschulen have ceased admitting students to programs leading to the traditional German Diplom, but now apply the new degree standard of Bachelor's and Master's degrees. In line with the Bologna process, bachelor's and master's degrees awarded by both types of universities are equivalent. With a Master's from either, one can now enter a doctoral degree program at a Universität, but a graduate with a bachelor's degree from either is unable to proceed directly to a doctoral degree program in Germany. With the master's degree of either of the institutions a graduate can enter the höheren Dienst career for civil servants; the Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences and Arts is a type of German institution of higher education that emerged from the traditional Engineering Schools and similar professional schools of other disciplines. It differs from the traditional university through its more practical orientation.
Subjects taught at Fachhochschulen include engineering, computer science and management, arts and design, communication studies, social service, other professional fields. The traditional degree awarded at a Fachhochschule was the Diplom. Coursework totaled eight semesters of full-time study, with various options for specialization. In addition, there were one or two practical training semesters to provide hands-on experience in real working environments; the program concluded after five years, with the final examination and a thesis, an extensive project on a current practical or scientific aspect of the profession. In an effort to make educational degrees more compatible within Europe, the German Diplom degrees were phased out by 2010 and replaced by the European bachelor's and master's degree; the Fachhochschule represents a close relationship between higher education and the employment system. Their practical orientation makes them attractive to employers. Today, Fachhochschulen conduct research.
Research projects sponsored by industry. In Germany the right to confer doctoral degrees is still reserved to Universitäten. In 2016, Fulda University of Applied Sciences became the first Fachhochschule to be conferred this right for its graduate center for social sciences. Several Fachhochschulen run doctoral programs where the degree itself is awarded by a partner university in Germany or abroad. There are a few universities, such as Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and Bundeswehr University Munich, which run Fachhochschule courses in addition to their normal courses; the Austrian government decided to establish Fachhochschulen in 1990. In the academic year of 2010/11, there were twenty-one institutions considered as Fachhochschulen plus a number of other providers of Fachhochschulstudiengängen with a total of over 27,000 students. About a third of the 136 Fachhochschulstudiengänge are organized as part-time courses of studies; the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences UAS are vocational universities established in Switzerland in 1995 following the model of the German Fachhochschulen.
They are called Fachhochschule in German, Haute école specialisée in French and scuola universitaria professionale in Italian. The Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences offer third level education, continuing education, services businesses and institutions, produce applied research activities. In 2013 there are seven public UAS approved by the Swiss Federal Council in 1998 and two private UAS approved by the Federal Council in 2005 and 2008; the public UAS are run by one or more cantons. UAS have the institutional mandate to provide degree programmes, continuing education and training, to conduct applied research and to offer services to companies and institutions. Students with a finished apprenticeship and a Fachmatura and students with the Matura and a practical year in a company can access further education within the Universities for Applied Science; the UAS and their Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees are federally accredited. The Federal Department of Eco
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons. The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities; the minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. After primary schools, the pupils split up according to their abilities and intentions of career paths. 25% of all students attend lower and upper secondary schools leading after 12 school years in total to the federal recognized matura or an academic Baccalaureate which grants access to all universities. The other students split in two or more school-types, depending on the canton, differing in the balance between theoretical and practical education, it is obligatory for all children to attend school for at least 9 years. The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 with a faculty of medicine.
This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. In total, there are 12 Universities in Switzerland. In addition, there are seven regional associations of Universities for Applied Sciences which require vocational education and a special Berufsmatura, or a Fachmatura to study. Switzerland has a high rate of foreign students in tertiary education including one of the highest in the world of doctoral level students. Many Nobel prizes have been awarded to Swiss scientists. More Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel and Kurt Wüthrich have received nobel prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded nine times to organizations residing in Switzerland. Geneva hosts the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. Other important research centers are the Empa and Paul Scherrer Institute which belong to the ETH domain; the obligatory school system includes primary education and secondary education I.
Before that, children go to Kindergarten, with one or two years is required in most cantons. In the Canton of Ticino, an optional, third year is available for three-year-old children. In some German speaking cantons kindergarten and the first one or two years may be combined into a Grundstufe or Basisstufe where they are all taught together in a single class. In French speaking cantons kindergarten is combined into a four-year cycle primaire 1 or cycle 1, followed by a four-year cycle primaire 2 or cycle 2 which completes their primary school; the minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. The cantons Nidwalden allow five-year-olds to start primary school in exceptional cases. Primary school continues until grade five or six, depending on the school/canton. Any child can take part in school if they choose to, but pupils are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At around age 11–12, depending on which canton in Switzerland the child goes to school in, there could be a screening exam to decide how to separate the students for secondary school.
Some cantons have a system of examination in the second semester of the final year of primary school, some cantons have an exam in second semester and continuous evaluation in both first and second semesters. In some cases, parents or legal guardians of the child are asked for their recommendations along with a self-evaluation done by the child. Parents' recommendation in combination with child's self-evaluation is called the third indicator for evaluating the student, the first being teacher's evaluation, the second the results of tests held in first semester; the fourth criteria is the final exam that takes place in the middle of the second semester of the final year primary school. At the end of primary school, pupils are separated according to their capacities and career-intentions in several sections for a period of 2–3 years in either Pre-higher secondary school section, General section or Basic section. Students who aspire for an academic career enter Mittelschule to be prepared for further studies and the Matura.
Students intending to pursue a trade or vocation complete three to four additional years before entering Vocational Educations which are regulated by federal law and are based on a cooperation of private business offering educational job-positions and public schools offering obligatory school-lessons complementary to the on-the-job education. This so-called "dual system" splitting academic and vocational training has its continuation in the higher education system. While the academic training leads to the matura and free admission to univers
