Johnny Got His Gun

A novel and a screenplay. “Johnny Got His Gun”.

Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakes in a hospital bed after being hit by a mortar shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost all of his mobility and his senses except for touch — he has lost his arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, both jaws and all of his face — but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body. He tries to die by suffocating himself but he has been given a tracheotomy of which he cannot remove or control.

He attempts to communicate with his doctors by banging his head on his pillow in Morse code. He has two wishes; one is that he may be put in a glass tube and tour the country, to show people the true horrors of war. The other wish, to die is never granted, however, and it is implied that he will live the rest of his natural life in this condition.As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend, and reflects upon the myths and realities of war. He also forms a bond, of sorts, with a young nurse who senses his plight, one that provides some sort of hope of humanistic love.

The phrase "Johnny get your gun" was a rallying call that was commonly used to encourage young American men to enlist in the military in the late 19th and early 20th century and I guess “Johnny Got His Gun”.

A music video of a song written by Metallica based on the novel and containing many clips from the 1971 version of the film:

Agnostic Epistemology

To start of lets break down the words in the title using simple latin. The prefix ‘a’ means “without” while the ‘gnostic’, derived from ‘gnosis’ means "knowledge".

Now with simple logic and simple mathematics, we can deduce by adding the two affixes together that,

‘Agnostic' = Without Knowledge

Therefore the word ‘Agnostic’,as a noun, is a person who denies, doubts, or is uncertain regarding the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study, often to do with God.

‘Knowledge’, described by Plato, is a a statement that is justified, true, and believed. It must fit all three conditions in order to be knowledge. Use the set below to help better understand:














Moving on to the next word in the title, ‘Epistemology’:

‘Epistemology’ = (episteme + -logia)
‘Episteme’ = “Science, Knowledge”
‘-logia’ = “Study of”

‘Epistemology’ = “Study of Knowledge, Theory of Knowledge”

It is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.

‘Etymology’ = What you have just done.

‘Etymology’ = (etumon + -logia)
‘Etumon’ = “True Sense”
‘Logia’ = “Study of”

Therefore, ‘Etymology’ = "Study of True Sense", or "The Study of the History of Words"

Despite the longer introduction, the philosophy of etymology is not going to be the topic of the post but merely act as the foundation for the understanding of what is to be analyzed in the realm of agnosticism.

Analysis #1:
As the existence of God cannot be proven and therefore does not validate Plato’s definition of knowledge. If we then assume Plato’s definition of knowledge is knowledge, we cannot know that god exists. Therefore we are all agnostic. However we can still believe (theism) or don't believe (atheism) in God.

Analysis #2:
Meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt.The fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition. For example, “all bachelors are unmarried" or "all triangles have three angles".

All rational statements that assert a factual claim about the universe that begin "I believe that ...." are simply shorthand for, "Based on my knowledge, understanding, and interpretation of any prevailing evidence”. "I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy," one is not asserting an absolute truth but a tentative belief based on interpretation of the assembled evidence.