What is meaning?

Meaning is a trait that we give to an object. Something becomes meaningful only when we make it so and it becomes meaningful only to us. Usually meaning will be given to something when a person either knows about it or thinks about it.
Lets say there were two people walking through a forest. One is an average person and one is a botonist. The normal person would walk through the forest rather quickly not thinking about much and might stop a few times to look at plants he thinks are cool.The botonist would have a much greater appreciation for the forest than the average man and would walk through in wonder and would study almost all of the plants. those people would behave that way because of what they give meaning to. To a normal person, the forest is just like any other but to a botonist, everything is different and exciting.
If the normal person were to stop and think about his surroundings and how different they each were, he might start to apreciate the forest a little more because he would give meaning to it.

Candide’s Punishments, Do They Fit the Crime?

    In order to get a punishment, someone has to do something that people in power don’t like. Throughout the book, Candide has gone through many different punishments. The main reason for why he was punished was because he was innocent and didn't know any better.
    Some of the punishments Candide has received so far because of innocence have been exile from the his castle because he kissed Cunegonde, almost got killed because he took a walk, and was almost killed in an auto-da-fé. I feel that these punishments were all too cruel for Candide’s “crimes” since he didn’t have any idea what he was doing wrong. I think that his crimes should have been explained to him before he was punished.

How do you know what you know?

The question “How do I know what I know?” is another way of saying, “How do I know I exist?”. If this world isn’t reality, then it must be some kind of dream that we are dreaming from another place. Going on that principle, I think that what we are living in is real. The reason I think this is reality is because when I am dreaming, the world is completely different. When I am dreaming, I can do whatever I want, I can control events that occur, I can’t feel emotions or states of being, if I take a good hit to the face I wake up, if I fall I wake up, and if I sleep for too long, I eventually wake up in the middle of my dream. Of all of these reasons I think that the one that shows the most that this isn’t a dream is “I can’t feel emotions or states of being”. After a long and arduous swim practice, I will occasionally will dream about swim practice. I swim in it forever and unlike when I am awake, I don’t get tired after a few laps, I swim on an Olympic level rivaling Michael Phelps. If this was a dream, our lives would be completely different.