Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Philosophy - Essay Example he possibility of the program itself, that is, the general program which is what constitutes the context of the picture theory of meaning is ascribe and ascertain a "totality of facts". He claims at the outset of the text that "the world is the totality of facts, not of things"[Tract. 1.1]. So, to take this absurdity one step further, a metaphor is necessary to describe this wider program. Wittgenstein's picture theory, once reduced to being either factually true or factually false, is equivalent to an attempt to draw a map of the world on a 1:1 ratio. That is, a picture perfect image where there is no discernible difference between the difference of the description of things, alongside with the very description itself. This is of course, close to being impossible, the world which Wittgenstein is referring to is a world of "facts", and the picture theory of meaning is one which is not describing the world of the senses, although the senses can often perceive factually true phenomena. To use a metaphor from a fairly obtuse philosopher, Martin Heidegger, there is a distinction between the "earth and world" for Wittgenstein, and if one mistakes his world for the earth (or, that which is perceived by the senses), then, one lapses into viewing the totality of facts as pictured, as achieving nothing less than a map of the earth on a 1:1 ratio. This is of course absurd, which is in a sense why one has to view the Tractatus as a type of idealism., and more importantly a theory of ontology or of the nature of reality. Further, his concern resembles more of a possible world than an actual world in this regard, and one might phrase this program in the following way: supposing one wanted to exhaust the possibilities of truth, what type of formal system along with its... Exhausting the limits of reason concerning reality, perhaps there is another and more ‘silent’ means which Wittgenstein sought in order to establish to fulfil what Max Black refers to as the â€Å"metaphysical obsession†. It is ultimately difficult to ‘transcend’ the ‘otherness’ of social existence, or social life, and therefore, such an attempt can really only provide for a state of alienation, and arguably a form of false consciousness. Heidegger characterizes human existence as 'being-in-the-world'. This expression contains two notions: 'being-in' and 'in-the-world'. Thus, human existence is essentially 'being-in'. It involves the idea of 'there'(Da). So human existence is the 'Da' of the 'Sein' of the world. The main concern, of this section is to dwell on the nature of Dasein by analyzing the way in which Dasein is in his 'there', viz., his 'being-in'. In elaborating this point, we will consider the meaning and modes of Dasein's 'being-in' and knowing the world as a typical mode of Dasein's 'being-in'. concepts which are essentially a private language? The language of everydayness is important because it says a lot about what Heidegger meant by language. That is, even though what was being talked about had a somewhat negative connotation. The line between the social and the individual is one that is at the forefront of consideration. 'Being in the World' is a fundamental fact about human existence, but so too with finitude. Part of being socialised, involves a relationship with language and one of the forms or types of language that Heidegger is most critical of, is the language associated with the throwness of everydayness, which is a mouthful. Our struggle with language as individuals, is a struggle with finitude or our own finitude which stands as a 'fact' about our ontology.

Racial Sensitivity in the Modern World Literature review - 4

Racial Sensitivity in the Modern World - Literature review Example In the research, individuals were asked to maintain their head below water and were promised that the longer they stayed under water, the more money their relatives would get. This was repeated with relatives of differing closeness such as brother, cousin, second cousin etc. The study found that the participants were naturally able to stay longer when doing it for those who were genetically close to them. The results of the study indicated why people are more likely to like those of their own race and distance themselves from those of other races or ethnic backgrounds. While it is not entirely clear whether race is a matter of genetics, it is obvious that people of the same race are more genetically related than those who are from different races. This difference in the race has brought many issues in the past to the point of warranting people to have better racial relations. Racial sensitivity is as a result of the conflict between the natural instinct that drives people to like the ir own race and place those of their own race before everyone else, and the rational part of the brain that tells one that that is no good. As civilized beings, humans are rational enough to know that they should not hate each other based on race, but still have to deal with an irrational, instinctive part within them that says otherwise. This indicates why there is so much racial sensitive in the social arena. At the same time, as a result of many years of activism, racial sensitivity has become very common especially in public life. Racial sensitivity can be seen in everything that people do. For instance, in most Hollywood movies, there is always a black man who in most cases is depicted as having some special abilities. This need to include only one person of the African American ethnic background and making him seem to have some special abilities can be seen as racial sensitive by the producers of the movie. For insane, in the movie Predators, the only black man in the movie wa s the only one who was able to detect the almost invincible predator. At the same time, he was the first character to die in the movie.     

Language: Effect On Thought And Perception

Language: Effect On Thought And Perception Begley, Sharon. Whats in a Word: Why Language May Shape Our Thoughts. Newsweek. Harmon-Newsweek, 9 July 2009. Web. 7 October 2010. Begleys article investigates various points within psychologist Lera Boroditskys work on language and perception, raising such examples as whether a languages nouns are feminine or masculine have an effect on how speakers of that language view everyday objects and how separate words in other languages for different colors may even affect how we see those colors. Begley also points out that how each languages system of grammar can affect the way we describe similar events. Boroditsky, Lera. How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think? Whats Next: Dispatches on the Future of Science. Ed. Max Brockman. New York: Vintage Books, 2009. 116-129. Print. In her essay How Does Language Shape the Way We Think, psychologist Boroditsky argues that language does indeed play a crucial role in how we humans think and how we perceive the world. Referencing her experiments results for the bulk of her essay, she maintains that language affects the way we think aboutand so describenot only the concrete but also the abstract like special relationships and time. Boroditsky, Lera. Linguistic Relativity. MIT. n.d. PDF File. In an experiment designed to test psychologist Benjamin Lee Whorfs 1956 suggestion that how one analyzes and responds to the world reflects differences in their languagea suggestion long-abandoned by the scientific community, Boroditsky asserts that language has a profound effect on thought and perception. While also describing how language influences perceptions of space and time, Boroditsky demonstrates how differences in grammar contribute to different ways of describing and perceiving amounts, shapes, and other characteristics of objects. Casasanto, Daniel, et al. How Deep are the Effects of Language on Thought? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. n.d. PDF File. From experiments conducted to test whether language affects how speakers experience the world, Casasanto et al. suggest that, through on linguistic and two non-linguistic experiments in native speakers of various languages that our grammar does influence how we mentally envision abstract ideas and that language influences even the most basic of psychological processes. Deutscher, Guy. Does Language Shape How You Think? New York Times. The New York Times, 26 August 2010. Web. 10 October 2010. In his article Does Language Shape How You Think, Deutscher offers a general view of the controversy surrounding the question of languages influence of thought. Deutscher first describes the fallout from psychologist Whorfs proposal about language and its connection to the mind, and then references other noted experiments designed to test the suggestion. He then depicts the general outcome of these experiments as that individual languages do contribute to distinctions in perception toward objects and space. Harms, William, and Robert Sanders. UC Berkeley. 31 January 2006. Web. 7 October 2010. Harms and William begin their review by acknowledging the difficult scientists have in testing whether language plays a direct part in how we see the world. They promote a paper published in the monthly journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that suggests that language does affect perception, but only in the right half of our visual field; in other terms, what we see out of our right eye. Citing experiments based on color conducted at UC Berkeley, Harms and Sanders describe the papers argument that languagewhich is predominantly based in the left hemisphere of our brain, which processes the right visual fieldmay help us recognize colors more quickly in our right visual field but provide slower recognition in our left. Ramachandran, V.S. and E.M. Hubbard. SynesthesiaA Window into Perception, Thought, and Language. 2001. PDF File. In their paper, Ramachandran and Hubbard attempt to debunk certain myths about synesthesia and the people who experience it. Synesthesia is an interesting and strange phenomenon in which a synesthetic person may experience a combination of sensory activity at once, such as seeing the number 7 and viewing it as a dark blue-green or eating an egg and then hearing a high note. A phenomenon not under any serious experimentation for some time, Ramachandran and Hubbard conduct experiments to find links to their twelve overriding ideas and see how synesthesia connects to language and how and why sensory activity is perceived. Regier, Terry and Paul Kay. Language, Thought, and Color: Whorf was Half Right. 2009. PDF File. Through experiments conducted to test Whorfs theory of language and its effect on how we perceive and adapt to the world, Regier and Kays results suggest that Whorf had the correct idea, for the most part. Using color and placement to test how quickly participants recognized a different shade of blue among a circle of other blue squares enabled them to conclude that separate languages that have varying degrees of classification for colors influences color perception mainly in the right half of the visual field. They also suggest that the amount of distinction a language has between individual shades contributes to the speed of color perception. Stafford, Amy. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Minnesota State U, n.d. Web. 10 October 2010. In her paper Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Stafford describes the thought process behind psychologist Whorfs proposal that semantics impact our awareness of the world. She also provides different views on the idea, suggesting methods and studies that offer a more rounded opinion. Stafford then defines how she believes Whorfs hypothesis can affect our understanding of each other and of individual cultures across the world. Thierry, Gullame, et al. Unconscious Effects of Language-Specific Terminology on Pre-Attentive Color Perception. 2009. PDF File. In an attempt to discover whether languages effect on ones perception is driven by conscious, language-based evaluation of the environment or if the difference lies in the psychological processing of speakers of other languages, Thierry et al. conduct color experiments. Using the separate Greek words for light and dark blue (ghalazio and ble), and the English versions, Thierry et al. suggest that Greek speakers can distinguish between shades of blue more quickly than English speakers because of the distinct separate words for each color instead of adding light or dark to the main color of blue. Anne Seeley Professor Yerks Composition 106 11 October 2010 Language and its Effect on Thought and Perception Even with the incredible advances in technology and science, certain areas of the brain remain a mystery to scientists. As scholars endeavor to discover more connections and illuminate reasons for why we humans behave cognitively the way we do, hypotheses proposed in the past that may have fallen out of favor are being reexamined using todays technology. One such proposal, known as the Whorf Hypothesis, attempts to show the link between the uniquely human quality of spoken and written language and the effect it has on our thoughts and perceptions of the world (Stafford). This relatively recently revived proposition provides ample room for ground-breaking questions, and everyone from scientists to philosophers have argued for and against it, for nearly seventy years (Begley). Benjamin Lee Whorf, states Guy Deutscher, author of the New York Times article Does Language Shape How You Think, was the psychologist of disputable reputation that suggested in 1940 that language was not only the medium through which we communicate, but that it defines the way we think and consequently restricts what we are able to think. Deutscher explains that Whorf proposed that different languages have such a profound impact on the way we think that Native American languages impose on their speakers a picture of reality that is totally different from ours, and thus these speakers do not have the same grasp on some of our most basic concepts, like the flow of time or the distinction between objects and actions as speakers of other languages do. Though his theory entranced the scientific community and world at large for a time, gradually the idea that language constricts our ability to see reality faded and was eventually abandoned, especially when, Deutscher quips, it was shown t hat Whorf never actually [had] any evidence to support his fantastic claims. Recently, however, new studies have been conducted whose results suggest that language really does change the way we think and perceive the world. Lera Boroditsky, a noted Stanford psychologist, argues in her essay How Does Language Shape the Way We Think? that language does indeed form the way we think about abstract concepts like space and time as well as concrete objects. The results of her experiments on the connection between language and thought (known as linguistic relativity) are fascinating; for instance, in an experiment examining how speakers of different languages process the concept of time, English speakers (who talk about time in terms of horizontal spatial metaphorse.g., The best is ahead of us [or] The worst is behind us) will point in a horizontal direction (such as behind or next to them) when asked where yesterday would be on a three-dimensional timeline. Mandarin speakers, however, use a vertical metaphor for time e.g., the next month is the down month and the last month is the up month and will most often point vertically to describe the concept of yesterday. Boroditsky offers another thought-provoking ins ight: that the fluke of grammar in many languages where nouns are given genders actually changes the way speakers perceive those objects. In her experimental results, it was shown that while German and Spanish speakers both understood the concept of a key, they thought about and consequently described the key in completely different ways. The feminine Spanish word for keys is llaves, and were described as golden, intricate, little, [and] lovely whereas the German speakers described the masculine Schlssel as being hard, heavy, jagged, metal, [and] serrated This trend continues when describing abstract entities such as death, sin, victory, or time. Boroditsky urges us to look at famous artworks that personify these concepts, and states that it turns out that in 85 percent of such personifications, whether a male or female figure is chosen is predicted by the grammatical gender of the word in the artists native language. Though Boroditsky made no comment of it in her essay, these resul ts raise another question: how would English speakerswho give no gender to nounsdescribe an object like a key or a concept like time? Nevertheless, experiments like these are clearing the path for even more intriguing theories about language and thought, such as those conducted in the spirit of understanding a condition known as synesthesia. Synesthesia, according to V.S. Ramachandran and E.M. Hubbards paper SynesthesiaA Window into Perception, Thought, and Language is an intriguing phenomenon in which an otherwise normal person experiences sensations in one modality when a second modality is stimulated, like reading the word kindness and seeing it as a salmon-pink color or thinking of the concept of hope and tasting an egg. Though many may at first think that instances of synesthesia are in fact metaphors used every day, such as a loud color, Ramachandran and Hubbard propose that it is an actual condition that may [run] in families [and] creative people and is more common in females than males. They also suggest that a synesthetic person are more likely to have more than one form of synesthesia if they already have one, such as seeing words as having colors as well as seeing colors when hearing music. As a synesthetic person, I can attest that it is not an imaginary or imaginative event, but an actual phenomenon. Over y ears, I have encountered constant and various forms of synesthesia in myself, including the word-color association, a letter- and number-color association (as well as a gender association for letters and numbers), and, less prominently, a music-color association. This fascinating condition is an excellent breeding ground for continuing experiments to see how deeply language affects our cognitive behaviors and how we perceive the world. Using language is not something that we often think about during our lives, and yet recent experiments suggest that it has a fundamental influence on how we respond to our environments and view the world. Once an abandoned proposition, the connection between language and thought gains notoriety throughout the scientific community. As scientists strive to understand just how deeply it impacts our mental capacities, our ability to communicate through spoken and written language remains one of our most profound human characteristics.

Comparison between William Blake and Seamus Heaney Essay -- Writers Wi

Comparison between William Blake and Seamus Heaney In this essay I will compare two internationally recognised poets, William Blake and Seamus Heaney. I will discuss their similarities and differences not in only just their writing, but also their everyday lives. William Blake was born in 1757 in London, where he lived practically all his life apart from three years at the beginning of the 19th century, where he lived in Felpham, near Bognor Regis in Sussex. He had no early education, but became student, studying art, at the Royal academy school in the early 1770s. He was, after this, apprenticed by a famous engraver, James Basire. Blake achieved some success with his engravings, but his true talent was held within his poetry, for which he is more famously known for today, along with his artistic work, particularly his large visionary water-colours illustrating the book of Job, and his 102 illustrations of Dante and his colour-printed drawings of biblical subjects. William grew up and lived in a religious background, which was heavily opposed to anything religiously forced, such as church, for example if one did not go to church they were not deemed to be religious at all, but Blake thought that religion was a path to freedom and peace. There is plenty of evidence showing that Blake thought this, although we shall read into more detail later on. Seamus Heaney is still alive today. Born on the 13th of April 1939, Seamus was the eldest of nine children, one of whom died in a road accident. Seamus lived all of his young life on a farm, although he did not wish to be a farmer himself. He went to primary school in Anahorish. Here on he won scholarship to St Colomb's College in Londonderry. From here he ... ...e a forced method of religion and therefore he saw it as a time wasting and pointless experience. Blake also references to the French and American revolutions in the following line with "And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace walls" Perhaps showing that soldiers and innocent people were killed and the people in power did nothing at all about it. Overall, I can conclude that William Blake and Seamus Heaney are both different and similar. Both poets have some sort of sadness or depression in their poems, yet they are expressed in different ways. Two noticeable differences are that Heaney's poems are generally much longer than Blake's, and rhyme far less. Heaney's poetry is more story telling like than Blake's, with Blake using much more rhyming way of making poetry, and he also describes his thoughts much more than Heaney does.

Opeartions Humanities †War And Society Essay

‘May God bless our country and all who defend her,’ those were the last few words of Bush’s address to the US public about ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ on the 19th of March 2003. It might sound simple, but whatever was said before this made a difference to the lives of the Iraqis, Americans and the world. What were Bush’s intentions? Was it that simple, or was there a deeper meaning why he attacked Iraq? Firstly, President George Bush said.’ My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people †¦.’ It might be an honourable thought saving the world from the ‘powerful’ Iraq and helping the Iraqis. His purpose was for Iraq’s Self- Interest. He wanted to make sure there were no weapons powerful enough to endanger the world, he wanted to improve the well-being of the country and let the people get free from dictatorship. He wanted to defend the world. It was a noble thing to do for the world, but was it only for Iraq’s Self-interest? Could he have hidden agenda? As the United States and Iraq were involved in the 1991 Gulf War, their relationships were sour. By sending troops over to ‘free’ its people might actually mean to literally invade Iraq for revenge from the view point of some Iraqis. President Bush believed that the Iraqis to be free as they were restricted by their leader here. So if President Bush had achieved the support of the people, Iraq would not look like a country at all without support. In the other light, some of the Iraqis were indeed happy under Saddam Hussein, if President Bush sent troops there to tear the country up and turn it upside down, it would not help in any way at all except causing chaos. President Bush also said, ‘And you know that our forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done.’ President Bush should have withdrawn his troops after invading Iraq and found Saddam Hussein. The rest of the job should be left to the new government of Iraq. He could have supported the new government by providing arms, money food and not US troops after the change of leader. By doing this, he would be indirectly allowing the new Iraqi government to be independent and this would help them to mature and thus helping Iraq. I believed that Iraq’s self-interest did not serve as argument for the invasion of Iraq. It appeared to me that instead of freeing the people, it turned out to be creating more trouble for the country and people. Secondly, ‘Defend the world from grave danger,’ Bush stated. President Bush started the invasion as an act of self-defense. In the past few years, we had seen multiples terrorist attacks and the most major one being the destruction of the Twin Towers. After conformation, it was proven that the Al Qaeda (a terrorist group believed to be responsible for the bombing) was supported by Iraq, and also there were rumours that the Iraqis had Weapons of Mass Destruction in their control. President Bush wanted to find and eliminate the weapons of mass destruction and terrorists. Yes, I agreed that President Bush did not have many choices to choose from. In order to reduce the chances of another attack by the terrorists, and maybe the usage of the legendary Weapons of Mass Destruction, he had to send troops to attack Iraq for self-defense. Yes, I believed that we had to eliminate the two subjects, but was it possible? After losing the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqis were hit severely and thus might not have the necessary equipments and facilities to build weapons of mass destruction. Also, conformations of the weapons should be clear before launching a search of it. The conformation should not be dependable on just what people thought or said. It should at least be seen. Who knows that maybe the weapon of mass destruction might be the Boeing planes that were used to destroy the twin towers, so President Bush should eliminate all the planes instead. Terrorists did not originate from Iraq, they could be found in many parts of the world, so why did President Bush want to eliminate the terrorists in Iraq only? It did not mean that by eliminating all the terrorists in Iraq would bring more peace to the world. Other terror groups might react violently and there might be more destruction. Instead, the US could have increase security and that would act as a psychological and physical barrier against terrorists from attacking the heavily secured areas. This would this deter the terrorists away and less harm would be done to both sides. ‘Prevention is better than cure,’ the US should be prepared at all times in terms of security and not give any chance to the terrorists. President Bush’s argument about self-defense was valid to a certain extend, but I believed that his methods used could be changed and a war might not be necessary. Internal security should be at a high level before considering attacking Iraq. Thirdly, ‘And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment,’ commended President Bush. President Bush wanted to end the Saddam Hussein government and help Iraq become a democratic, self-rule nation. President Bush was using the argument of moral justice. He sent the US troops there to eliminate the leader and wanted to stop extreme tyranny, oppression and sufferings by war, as nothing else might work. President Bush wanted to save the innocent and was using the interest of altruism. War might be needed here but according to the actions of the US troops, the argument did not seem to stand. As altruism emphasizes the value of defending the innocent, the US troops were not doing so. It was part of war ethics not to harm or kill prisoners of war. From sources on the internet, US troops who were stationed at Abu Ghraib ( a prison where POWs are held), treated the prisoners of war in a very unrespectable manner. And tortured to a certain extend. So, did this mean ‘protecting the innocent prisoners of war?’ I know it was quite impossible for President Bush to look at this in a micro manner, but he could have at least educated the soldiers that torturing prisoners of war is a crime. Also, he wanted to help Iraq to become a democratic, self-rule nation, I believed he did not have the right to interfere and thus starting the invasion. The kind of ideology a country believes in should not be depended by other countries. A country should have the right to rule itself and ultimately benefit its people. Going back to the 20th century, we could clearly see how did the US tried to promote democracy and eliminate communism. US even went on to participate in wars that did not affect it as the US wanted democracy to be the worldwide ideology. The US might be fighting the war for a main reason, to promote democracy, and not free the people. President Bush did not free the people but instead tried to lock one ideology in the Iraqi minds. Does that mean ‘freeing the people?’ In addition, the war might be fought to prevent a new ideology from surfacing. Some people believed that a new ideology related to Islam might surface and thus threatening the survival of democracy which originated from United States. Islam is the most widely spread religion in the world. So it would not be difficult to influence the people into believing that there would be a new and better ideology. President Bush might be afraid of the growth of Islam and thus tried to use the argument of moral justice as a puppet. President Bush’s argument looked valid at first, but after reviewing what the US troops did, we could see the soldiers did not seem to bother about the war crimes even though President Bush wanted to free the people. Also, he should let the world have their choice of ideology, democracy or something else? Finally, ‘Millions of Americans are praying with you for the safety of your loved ones †¦.,’said President Bush. From this particular sentence, we could see that the Americans are concerned over the safety of the loved ones (US troops). President Bush wanted to ‘defend the world from grave danger’, and that meant that he loved the world or else he would not have such a thought. According to the argument of individuation and expression of love, the only way to show love is to be willing to die for what you love. If President Bush loved the world, he should been in Iraq, fighting the war as he would be willing to die for the world. In addition, if you love someone, you would not want the person to be hurt. By sending so many US troops into Iraq might cause them their lives. So does President Bush love these troops? Also in his speech he said, ‘†¦, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ From this, we could see that he actually wanted to prevent the civil defense to act but instead the military to do the job. This might mean that he actually loved the civil defense more as he did not want to ‘trouble’ them and thus sending the not-so-loved military over to the danger zones. President Bush’s argument might not be valid here. As we could see that not everyone was treated equally and this might bring harm or even death to a small group that sacrificed their lives. In conclusion, the arguments that President Bush gave in regards to the Operation Iraqi Freedom were invalid most of the time. Some of the arguments looked as if they were to cover up something else. In addition, the speech he made and the actions carried out were not the same most of the time and ‘actions speak louder than words’. Until now, we still did not know why did he attack Iraqi, but we knew he could have made other better choices instead of going for war. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact (article on prison) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/print/20030319-17.html (speech)

Introduction to Italian High Renaissance Neoplatonism

Renaissance Humanism was the most significant intellectual movement of the Renaissance. It was beginning in Italy and spreading to the rest of Europe such as Hungary, Poland by the 16th century. It blended concern for the history and actions of human beings with religious concerns. The humanists were scholars and artists who studied subjects that they believed would help them better understand the problems of humanity. Its influence affected philosophy, politics, science, art, religion, literature and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.The central feature of humanism in this period was the commitment to the idea that the ancient would was the pinnacle of human achievement, especially intellectual achievement, and should be taken as a model by coexistent Europeans. At 15th Century, more detailed observation of man himself and of nature followed in the 15th century with the growth of interest in anatomy, perspective, details of nature, landscape backgrounds, and form and color in li ght. Paintings of the 15th century also reflect the growing curiosity about man’s achievement in Italy’s past.It is this preoccupation with and study of Classic culture and art that gave the Renaissance in Italy its particular character. Humanism asserted the right of the individual to the use of his own rason and belief, and stressed the importance and potential of man as an individual. This concept cana be identified with a belief in the power of learning and science to produce â€Å"the complete man†. At 16th Century, christianity was added to platonic ideal: Neo- platonism.Neo-Platonism in the Renaissance was the philosophy based on the teachings and doctrines of a group of thinkers of the early Christian era who endeavored to reconcile the teachings of Plato with Christian concepts. It a reconciliation of Aristotelian and Platonic ideas with Christian beliefs. The Neo-Platonists, being at the same time both lovers of the pagan past with its Platonic ideals of physical beauty, and being Christians, wanted to fuse this pagan idealism with Christian doctrine.The art and taste during the Renaissance for complicated mythological fantasies intermingled with allegories and symbolisms tried to achieve this fusion of the Platonic idealism with Christian doctrine. The main object of the Neo-Platonic Academy in Florence in the 15th century was the reconciliation of the spirit of antiquity with that of Chrisianity. Neo-Platonism, this philosophy was seen as the ideal balance between the Christian faith and the fresh humanistic concept of man’s advancement through the search for knowledge.This was due to the fact that contemplation of the spiritual rather than the physicala was believed to be the route to both Christian and Neo-Platonic salvation. Many famous renaissance artists were influenced by this philosophy and their artworks demonstrated Neo- Platonic concepts such as the synthesis of classical and Christian ideals, the idealistic po rtrayal of beauty, and the soul’s struggle from physical existence to divine perfection.

The meaning of the great Gatsby essays

The meaning of the great Gatsby essays What is the great Gatsby really about? This is a question that has many solutions, depending in the view of the reader. This novel contains various characters that differ in their life style and perspective. Due to this reason, many points of views are conveyed by this novel that one might accept as the themes. One of the themes that can occur in the readers mind is vision. The authors imagination is primarily visual; he shows interest in the looking going on through out the novel. Another theme projected in this novel is time. the novel displays a search for happiness by looking into the past. Finally, the last theme that will be discussed is the dreams. All of these themes hold a certain level of authority throughout the novel. the dreams take priority over both, vision and time. The vision discussed throughout the novel is not by any means what this novel is really about. It is rather a natural gesture expressed by several characters by using the gift of sight. Many times in the novel vision lead to misconception, one example is when Mytrle saw Jordan in the passenger seat next to Tom and had mistaken her for his wife. Incidents similar to this one occur throughout the play which contribute to the setting but do not describe the meaning of the novel. Actually the great Gatsby is a reflection of many dreams. Gatsby for example does not admire reality; as a result he changed his original identity. He also shapes the world in a way to satisfy his own desire, throws big parties to gain the sense of liveliness and chases an ideal happiness. In other words he chases a dream. Gatsby himself admits that he had paid the price of chasing a single dream for too long. However, the cause of his fall is not having the wrong dream; he falls because his dream is too n arrowly focused. Furthermore, Nick himself happens to be the character in the novel most obsessed with dreamin...

Extensive Manual on Classic English Literature Research Paper

Extensive Manual on Classic English Literature Research Paper When you’re writing an essay on literature, you use more the skills of a reader. Of course, there has to be some analysis present, deep enough to answer the main question. But that’s the farthest it goes. With the classic English literature research paper, reading skills play a secondary role while your critical and analytical thinking is the main instrument to prove the thesis statement. However, that’s not all. When you choose some literary work to focus on in a research paper, you study it inside and out – you know when it was created and in which circumstances; you explore who supports or opposes the ideas presented in the text; you participate in a discussion that can continue for years and do your best to contribute to it. And that’s the beauty of academic exploration, especially when you are really enthusiastic about getting to the heart of the matter. Here, in this article, you will find out how to write a classic English literature research paper properly and find all the information necessary for literature research paper writing. So, make yourself comfortable and enjoy! How to Conduct a Research for a Literature Paper The research is not all about typing your topic in the Google search bar and flicking through some articles that pop up in the first results. That looks more like choosing a new cafà © to go with your friends to or looking for a gym with affordable prices. If you wish to produce a profound academic paper, you need to prepare a significant base which usually depends on the quality of the initial research. And in order not to make a blunder from the first steps, search for information in the right places which are: MLA International Bibliography. This is an online extensive database with about 3 million works on language and literature. It is regularly updated by the scientist and researchers from all over the world to keep it spot-on. It can be accessed through either your university or library websites. JSTOR. This search engine has a smaller database on literature, but offers more intricate search options – in the MLA bibliography you can search only the titles while the JSTOR gives a chance to search the text. John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory Criticism: This is actually a book that was published in 2004. But an online equivalent lets you search its content by keywords. Its peculiarities is that there are essays and works written by 275 literature scholars, and that’s already a solid reason to consult it. University Library: it is always a good idea to look through the resources of your college/university library. Firstly, there may be relevant academic papers written by the professors from your educational establishment, and if you use them in your research, you will certainly benefit from it. Secondly, there may be a dedicated department for your topic/field of studies. These sources will help you to spot high quality and reliable information without the need to go through hundreds of meaningless articles and waste the precious time. And it’s always best to use them all together because this way you’ll get a broad overview of the scope you deal with in your research. The next step after gathering all the links and books is to process the information. To get the most out of it, it is best to: Read through all the sources in search of relevant data. Mark arguments and statements that spark your interest or any other emotion. Note down everything that comes to your mind during reading – interesting passages, ideas, questions – literally everything, and don’t forget to indicate the places you quote or get your ideas from. Pay attention to conclusions as they contain the essence of every article or book. Define the terms that you don’t know or don’t understand as they can change your perception and the direction of thoughts. Perceive dead ends like challenges – it is quite common that you sift through the sources and find nothing (as it may seem to you). The truth is that you broaden your knowledge of the topic without noticing, and you should just keep researching. Keep these little tips in mind while surfing through the data you’ve gathered. 6 Tips on How to Develop a Working Thesis Statement for a Literature Research Paper A thesis statement is a final destination of your literature research paper. It takes only one sentence, but defines the whole course of your exploration, so it’s necessary to understand the importance of its correct formulation. It is usually included in the end of the introduction and mentioned as a keynote though the whole paper. So, in order to create a provable and valuable thesis statement, you might want to: Avoid summarizing. You should state a specific goal you want to achieve within your research without retelling the plot of a literary work in focus. Answer the questions â€Å"What?† and â€Å"Why?†. What kind of claim are you stating and why should the readers care about it? Make it controversial. Simple and obvious statements don’t need any proving, so make sure your sentence sparks some stirring. Find proofs in the text. Your main argument should be supported and reflected in the text. Otherwise, your supervisor might consider it pulled out from the hat and pointless. Refrain from using vague language. If you want to research the negative consequences consequences of Hamlet’s actions, write it in plain words without any filler text. Add your further course of actions (optional). You may also include how you are going to prove the thesis statement and which aspects you will cover. Despite the fact that this is only one sentence, you must allot a considerable amount of time to work it out. Every word in a thesis statement should be carefully chosen and considered, and the whole sentence should state a complete thought. The last, but not the least – don’t use phrases like â€Å"In my view† or â€Å"I think† in your thesis statement because it will make your words less persuasive and create an impression that you don’t have enough evidence to prove your point. So, be attentive about how you lay out your opinions. The Optimal Structure of an English Literature Research Paper With research papers of any kind it is necessary to remember that everything goes from generalization at the beginning, then to more specific points reaching its climax in the middle, and in conclusion again to more general things. The usual structure of a literature research paper includes: Abstract This part can be one hell of a task because you must squeeze the essence of your whole piece in just 200 words mentioning the main questions, research methods, goals, and discussion. It is essential to remember that the abstract is the first thing everybody will read, thus it will be a point of decision for a reader whether to continue or not. The importance of this part is immense, so you might want to dedicate enough of your time to refine it to perfection. Introduction This is also a significant part of a research paper and it can be regarded as an extended version of an abstract. Here you will need to explain in detail why you’ve decided to take up this kind of research (personal interest, unexplored leads, incorrect perception, etc.) and where it will head throughout the whole piece. Also, don’t forget to communicate a message that your research is really important to the chosen field of studies and provide decent reasons to prove it. The introduction that contains all this information will certainly create a positive impression. Method Do you use analysis or synthesis to research your topic? Have you conducted a survey? What other kinds of methods do you apply to explore the subject matter? All the answers to these questions and things concerning how your research is done should be included in this part. Results Here you need to lay out what you have discovered while proving your thesis statement. This can be figures, statistics, graphs, tables or just plain words that present your findings. It is not necessary to elaborate on them because you will need to do that in the discussion part. Discussion The discussion has to be connected with the thesis statement as well as the whole introduction because here you need to dwell upon not only the results of the research, but also on the aims you have achieved. This chapter must also include the importance of your findings and your own interpretations of the results. Conclusion The conclusion must discuss the connection between your findings and other researches as well as present the perspectives of the further studies. And besides restating your introduction, you can also suggest some improvements to your own research – that would be a good addition to a final chapter. Bibliography There is no paper out there that will be complete without the reference list. Gather all your sources, format your citations according to the chosen style and voila! The writing part is finished! This is an overview of a typical literature research paper structure. But, of course, there can be different variations. So, don’t hesitate to consult with your advisor/supervisor on which elements exactly you need to include and which you can omit. General Writing Guidelines to Improve Your Academic Style We would like to top up our extensive manual on literature research writing with some general writing tips that will be useful both for literary papers and other academic entries. So, here we go: Include opinions that disagree with you together with critical interpretations – they will make your paper more interesting as well as stronger because this will show that you are confident enough in your theory and aren’t afraid of opposing views. Constantly check with your plan/outline because you can easily wander off to the unnecessary direction; unplanned writings can distract you from the main point and waste some of your precious time. Write your introduction while writing the main part of the paper – it will help you to keep it updated and release you from the necessity to rewrite it over and over again. Don’t focus too much on mistakes and punctuation. It is better to dedicate a separate session during which all you attention will be focused on tracking errors and inconsistencies. Separate editing sessions taking into account their purpose. If you want to check grammar, spend an hour or two looking purely for grammar errors. If you wish to review the punctuation, allot time specifically for this matter. These classic English literature research paper writing tips, besides our detailed descriptions of the structure, research process and thesis statement, will make it possible to produce a complete and fully-featured research paper on literature. Just make sure that you spend enough time on each stage of writing – don’t postpone everything to the last month before the deadline because there won’t be any hours for planning and researching so essential to create a great academic piece. So, choose the topic that interests you, follow our guidelines and make all the necessary preparations. This way everything will go smoothly. Writing Hacks from Our Experts: Change the font of your research paper. After finishing the writing part you will get used to how your piece looks and may miss some mistakes just because your eyes will not notice them. But if you change the font, it will create an illusion as if you’re reading a paper written by someone else, and it will be easier to detect mistakes, especially the spelling ones. Always read the biography of the author who created the literary work you concentrate on and research the circumstances in which it was written. These details may help you understand the writer’s arguments better and your perception might change completely! Dedicate one paragraph to one point. Despite the obvious nature of this rule, most students forget about it and try to squeeze as much information in one paragraph as possible. So, be attentive here not to follow the steps of the majority.

SAT Writing - PrepScholar 2016 Students Encyclopedia

SAT Writing - PrepScholar 2016 Students' Encyclopedia SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The Writing section of the SAT consists of multiple choice questions and a 25 minute essay. The Writing section was added to the SAT in 2005, changing the maximum composite score from 1600 to 2400. It was based on, though not directly comparable to, the old SAT Subject Test in Writing. Note: this article is a series in the PrepScholar2016 Students' Encyclopedia, a free students' and parents' SAT / ACT guide that provides encyclopedic knowledge. Read all the articles here! To prepare for the Writing section, students benefit fromfocusing ontwo main areas: their understanding of grammar rules and their ability to present and support their point of view in a 5-paragraph essay. In terms of grammar, students mustidentify specific rules, like subject-verb agreement and dangling modifiers, and fix sentences that containerrors. Students willalsobe called upon toexhibit correct grammar and varied sentence structure in their essays, as well as to provide thoughtful examples to supporta thesis. The Writing section, like the Mathematics and Critical Reading sections, is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. The essay contributes about 30% to the total Writing score, while the multiple choice counts for approximately 70%. In addition to their scaled Writing score, students receive a separate subscore for the essay between 2 and 12. Two readers grade the essay on a scale from 1 to 6. These scores are then added together. If there is significant disagreement on an essay grade, then a third reader is called in to give his/her opinion. The average reader spends less than 3 minutes gradingeach essay, so structure and clarity are key to communicating a point of view and giving a strong impression to readers. An essay score of 0 is possible if the space is left blank or if the essay is illegible, completely off topic, or written witha prohibited instrument (ie, not a Number 2 pencil). Highly scoring SAT essays typically demonstrate a 5-paragraph structure, with an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. The 25 minute essay is always the first section on the SAT. The essay section begins with a short blurb or quote, followed by a question asking for the student's point of view. The following essay prompt was given on the June 2015 administration of the SAT. Sample SAT Essay Prompt While the prompts differ, every essay assignment asks students to develop their point of view and to support it with reasoning and examples from various sources. As in the above example, the prompts are broad and often philosophical or related to a social issue. According to College Board, the essay is graded on several components. The first is the development of a point of view with strong supporting evidence. Graders look for organization, focus, and a logical and smooth flow of ideas. The essay is also graded on the skillful use of language, varied vocabulary and sentence structure, grammar, usage, and mechanics. An essay with a score of 12 will excel in all of these areas, while those that receive lower scores may have weaker development and organization, along with errors in grammar and usage. Despite College Board's claims to the contrary, several SAT critics and tutors have stated that longer essays often automatically garner higher scores. Many of these criticsalso recommend the insertion ofhigh level vocabulary words, like "provincial," "myriad," and "plethora" into essays to increase scores into the 10+ points range. Lee Perelman, former director of writing at MIT, assertedthat longer essays almost always score higher. He also suggested that students "pick a side," rather than argue a moderate opinion, follow a predictable 5 paragraph structure, and not concern themselves with accuracy in order to gain a strong essay score. In 2010, then 14 year old Milo Beckman examined115 SAT essays and concluded that longer essays almost always achieve the strongest scores. In addition to the essay, the Writing section consists of 49 multiple choice questions, divided into one 25 minute section and one 10 minute section for a total of 55 minutes.Both of these are entirely multiple choice, and the 10 minute section always comes at the end of the test. Students may encounter an additional 25 minute Writing section when they take the SAT. If this is the case, then one of the 25 minute sections is the experimental, or variable, section and will remain unscored. Since there is no way of knowing exactly which section is experimental, students benefit from assumingall SAT sections count toward their scores. These questions take three forms: identifying sentence errors, sentence improvement, and paragraph improvement.Writing questions mainly draw on a student's understanding of grammar, sentence structure, and organization within a paragraph or passage. There are 18 identifying sentence error questions on SAT Writing. All of thesesentences are independent of one another. They will have four words or phrases within them underlined, comprising answer choices A, B, C, and D. Answer choice E will read, "No error." Students choose the answer choice that corresponds to an error in grammar, usage, or mechanics or selects "E" if the sentence is correct as is. Sample SAT Question The 25 improving sentences questions test similar skills of grammar and usage, but they take a different form.In each of these questions, answer choices B, C, D, and E present an altered version of an underlined portion of the sentence. Answer choice Amaintains the underlined portion as it is and is the correct answer choice if the sentence containsno error. Sample SAT Question The 6 improving paragraph questions have a similar format, but they refer to underlined portions of an entire paragraph or short passage. In addition to errors within sentences, improving paragraph questions may ask about the placement or order of sentences, along with the organization and sequence of ideas. According to College Board, the Writing multiple choice questionsrequire students to demonstrate the following skills: To communicate ideas clearly and effectively To improve a piece of writing through revision and editing To recognize and identify sentence-level errors To understand grammatical elements and structures and how they relate to each other in a sentence To recognize correctly formed grammaticalstructures To clearly express ideas through sentence-combining and use of transitional words and phrases To improve coherence of ideas within and among paragraphs Most of these skills overlap with the stated expectations for the essay. Students also benefit from having the ability to recognize and revise rules of English grammar. The following include what SAT experts agree are themost commonly tested grammar rules on the SAT Writing: Subject-verb agreement Subject-pronoun agreement Parallel sentence structure Subject/object Proper verb tense Comparative/superlative Number agreement Dangling modifiers Idioms While the Writing section has been a part of the SAT for almost ten years, some colleges do not consider it with the sameweight as they do the Mathematics and Critical Reading sections. Students may research the standardized testing scores of their institutions of interest in order to learn whether it is a significant, or even required, factor in their college applications. Redesign Alert The new SAT starting in Marchof 2016 relocates the essay to the end of the test and makes it optional. The essay will be 50 minutes and will ask students to analyze a given passage. Furthermore, the new SAT will no longer have single sentence questions, instead testing skills of grammar, usage, and mechanics within the context of longer passages. Finally, the new SAT will return to a scoring system out of 1600, combining Critical Reading and Writing scores together on a scale from200 to 800. Read more from the SAT Encyclopedia! Further Reading The 12 Hardest SAT Writing Questions Ever How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step 6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every Prompt

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire - Essay Example It seems like America has forgotten the lesson learned after the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. On March 25, 1911 right before the final whistle called for the end of the day a fire started on the 8th floor of the 23 Washington Place (Schneider). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory occupied the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the building. After the fire started the 8th floor called the 10th floor to give them warning, but no one notified the 9th floor (Stein and Greider 182). The women on the 10th floor either escaped through an elevator or up the stairwell to the roof. The people on the 8th floor went down the stairwell or through the elevator. An elevator ran for a little while to the floors , but soon the cables melted (Drehle 153). Soon people were opening the elevator shaft and jumping to get away from the flames. Women were also jumping out the 9th floor windows as well. The 9th floor girls were trapped due to a locked stairwell that was supposed to prevent theft† (Greenwald 62). As the factory burned people gathered on the street watching the women jump. Fire trucks did not have the water or the ladders to reach the 8th floor. The devastation of human life was enormous. Lives were lost due to an antitheft measure. After the fire workers cried for new safety measures. â€Å"The 146 lives lost in the fire ignited. ... If women tried to strike they were considered bad. â€Å"They were either ‘good’ girls who listened docilely to fathers, employers, and policemen, or ‘bad’ women whose aggressive behavior made them akin to prostitutes† (Orleck 62). Even if the women at Triangle would have protested the unsafe locked doors, it would have been up to management to open them. One of the owners probably would not have listened. Max Blanck was caught locking doors again in 1913; he was only fined $20 (Hoeing). There was a need for the creation of OSHA and unions. Although the Triangle fire was 100 years ago, many lessons can still be learned from the tragedy. However Americans are forgetting about this tragedy and other workplace accidents. Unions are being outlawed by our own congresses. Instead of worrying about lives, the legislators are more interested in budget shortfalls. â€Å"Yet a century later, the laws that could have saved lives had they been in place on March 25, 1911, are being threatened by budget cuts proposed by a Republican-controlled Congressâ€Å" (Schneider). Unions have come to stand for pay raises and benefits. What about the safety issues? It seems like safety issues seem to be a moot discussion. The most famous anti-union legislation is against teachers in Wisconsin. It might seem like a good idea to cut the budget, but what could the possible outcomes be? Teachers might decided to go to different states that still have unions. That could mean the best teachers would leave. If the best teachers leave, then what would the children of Wisconsin be learning? The consequences could reach for generations. Without the union what happens if principals decided to make the teachers work in unsafe conditions?

Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Biology - Essay Example Although there are many definitions of ethics, perhaps the most universally accepted definition regards ethics as an individual or group’s ability to make choices regarding how to behave. Ethical behavior can be broken down into two categories: the choice as it effects the society around the person making the decision, and the decision as it effects the self of the individual making the choice. An individual who is making an ethical decision must think of how the behavior will affect others, in an altruistic manner. There are many different kinds of stem-cells and uses for them, and many people have different ethical perspectives on what science should and should not be able to do in terms of autonomous limits. Forms of therapeutic cloning currently involve taking cells, often stem-cells, to help the individual in terms of rehabilitation and organ transplants. People feel different ways ethically about cloning. These stem cells can be preserved in the individual’s placental cells or other cells and then can used to make replacement cells if there is a problem or disease that comes up during the individual’s life. Therefore, therapeutic cloning uses techniques that are not designed towards cloning an individual per se, but instead using cell growth to help them with possible ailments and therefore improve their quality of life substantially. This process is set to solve problematic The uses of stem cells are broad: they can be used to fight genetic diseases and treat blood disorders, and cord blood carries less risk of infection. There have been studies in which adult patients have received blood cord stem cell units that were only partially matched and grafted successfully. Also, patients with gene disorders have been given stem cell transplants to replace genetic structures, and the exactitude of this measure is heightened

Nursing as a Profession Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Nursing as a Profession - Research Paper Example Nowadays, there are several professions which an individual can select according to his skill and knowledge. According to Michael Plaut, PhD, the assistant Dean for Student Affairs Associate Professor of Psychiatry University of Maryland School of Medicine, a professional is person, with a specialized body of knowledge, set of skills, who beholds certain group mission or identity and maintains a set of standards of behavior and practice (Plaut, n.d.). From this, it transpires that a nurse, whose job involves all these factors and more, is a professional. Thus, it can be argued that nursing is a profession and not merely job or work. A profession is characterized by its traits. Some traits are common to all professionals. The main thing, which is required, is the diligence in one’s own duty. A person, to be called a true professional, needs to conscientiously be aware of her duties as a professional and follow the ethical principles that guide such a profession. He or she should also be highly competent and well-versed with the requirements of the profession and possess the relevant skill sets. Besides, he or she should also be able to understand the feelings of others and have effective communication skills. A professional should be confident in the work and have the quality of integrity. Moreover, a positive attitude along with the willingness to serve the public, are the qualities that are distinct traits of a professional. If one examines the job of a nurse, it can be seen that a nurse needs to possess all these traits, especially in terms of serving others. The American Nurses Association considers t hat â€Å"the depth and breadth of the nursing profession is meeting different health care needs of the population† (Considering Nursing, 2004). Thus, nursing can, unequivocally, be construed as a profession and not a mere job or call. To explain it further, the term nursing needs to

Introduction to Consumer Behavior Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Consumer Behavior - Assignment Example 2. Search engine companies are responding to the capability of apps to limit or exclude identity of the user by using technology related bias that threatens values such as privacy and favor values related with scrutiny and monitoring. The companies tend to manipulate search results by systematically giving prominence to some sites. Search engine companies have also resorted to offering of personalization and customizing features (Johnson 26-9). Security of users, data and the network has been given first priority by the search engine companies through robust security architecture and rigorous security programs. There are flexibility required for open platform such as protecting user data, system resources and offering application isolation. There is secure inter-process communication, application signing and application defined and user defined permissions. 3. Tagging apps users is helpful in grouping customers and the usefulness is evident when searching on a tag. Tagging further assists in identifying users deemed significant for categorizing app users. New methods of tagging app users also play a significant role in driving repeated usage where new products and services can be built. The new tagging capabilities may further help to expand app landscape and making mobile marketing more competitive (Johnson 29-30). The new methods may also help in optimizing strategies for ranking and maintenance of a user-base in the social media and even change the way users discover apps. 4. Facebook’s challenges of transferring its targeted ad to mobile platforms may play reach a huge number of mobile phone users worldwide. Consumers will be able to learn about different ads at their convenience. Many companies will be able to offer their ads information to the targeted customers globally and provide them with variety of products and services. In this case, consumers will enjoy variety of

The Al Qaida Transnational Terrorist Network Essay

The Al Qaida Transnational Terrorist Network - Essay Example But the larger issue revolved around the nature of terrorism itself and its emerging modus operandi. Whether the 11 September attacks in the United States were the delayed manifestation of Oplan Bojinka, as some believe, or whether they were an isolated plan, it is clear that terrorism--and particularly that form of terrorism practiced by al Qaeda --has fundamentally changed. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has achieved significant successes in its war on terrorism. Removing the Taliban government in Afghanistan, thereby eliminating al Qaeda's sanctuary and training camps, has broken an important link in the process that once provided al Qaeda's leadership with a continuing flow of recruits. Toppling the Taliban also demonstrated American resolve and international support, and it underscored the considerable risk run by governments that provide assistance to terrorists. From the summary in above, I would like to gradually come down to particular research of Al Qaeda terrorist organization. I will first discuss the historical and statistical facts about organization, than make the insights into organizational motivations and strategy finally will come out with conclusions as for the possible ways of dealing with future possible attacks. History Al Qaeda was a product of the struggle to reject the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Portrayed as a holy war, that campaign brought together volunteers and financial contributors from throughout the Islamic world. Muslims from Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Southeast Asia, and beyond fought side by side, forging relationships and creating a cadre of veterans who shared a powerful life experience, a more global view, and a heady sense of confidence underscored by the Soviet Union's ultimate withdrawal and subsequent collapse, for which they assumed credit. Instead of being welcomed home as heroes, however, the returning veterans of the Afghan campaign were watched by suspicious regimes who worried that the religious fervour of the fighters posed a political threat. Isolated at home, they became ready recruits for new campaigns. There were ample reasons and opportunities to continue the fight: the Gulf War and the consequent arrival of American troops in Saudi Arabia; the continued repression of Islamic challenges to local regimes; armed struggles in Algeria, Egypt, the newly independent Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union, Kashmir, the Philippines, and Bosnia; the forces of globalization that seemed threatening to all local cultures; and the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Organizational survival, the natural desire to continue in meaningful activity, and the rewards of status and an inflated self-image contributed powerful incentives to continue the fight. The subsequent victories of a like-minded Taliban guaranteed safe haven for the militants and their training camps, which graduated thousands of additional volunteers (Cullison, Higgins, 2001). What Osama bin Laden and his associates contributed to this potent but unfocused force was a sense of vision, mission, and strategy that combined 20th century theory of a unified Islamic polity with restoration of the Islamic Caliphate that, at its height, stretched

TECHNOLOGY Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

TECHNOLOGY - Annotated Bibliography Example This article is highly credible even though it is a main magazine article because the author of this article has used various researches to make their point. The article will be very helpful in performing my research on technology. The content of the article will be helpful in supporting claims including the negative effects of technology on the health of the users. This article was authored by Winterman and in this magazine article the author focuses on how people are using the technological advancement of internet in order to harm themselves (Winterman 1). The author states that the technology of internet is not only used by strangers to harm others, it is used by people to themselves. The author cites a research that was conducted by the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center and in this research it was identified that 9% children who are internet users are cyber bullying oneself. The author states that due to this children experience different health and psychological issues and one of the most common psychological issues is depression. The article is a magazine article and has been authored by an individual who may lack knowledge about technology and its impact. But the author has used various studies to support their claim. The article will be used under the section of the report where psychological harm caused due to technology will be discussed. This is a news article that was published in the online version of ABC News and was authored by Scott Steinberg and this article focuses on the benefits that video game technology has to offer to various stakeholders including adults as well as children (Steinberg 1). The author claims that video game technology is helping children and adults in various walks of life including education and profession. The author even claims that the video game technology even helps an individual in their social life. In order to support the

The Al Qaida Transnational Terrorist Network Essay

The Al Qaida Transnational Terrorist Network - Essay Example But the larger issue revolved around the nature of terrorism itself and its emerging modus operandi. Whether the 11 September attacks in the United States were the delayed manifestation of Oplan Bojinka, as some believe, or whether they were an isolated plan, it is clear that terrorism--and particularly that form of terrorism practiced by al Qaeda --has fundamentally changed. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has achieved significant successes in its war on terrorism. Removing the Taliban government in Afghanistan, thereby eliminating al Qaeda's sanctuary and training camps, has broken an important link in the process that once provided al Qaeda's leadership with a continuing flow of recruits. Toppling the Taliban also demonstrated American resolve and international support, and it underscored the considerable risk run by governments that provide assistance to terrorists. From the summary in above, I would like to gradually come down to particular research of Al Qaeda terrorist organization. I will first discuss the historical and statistical facts about organization, than make the insights into organizational motivations and strategy finally will come out with conclusions as for the possible ways of dealing with future possible attacks. History Al Qaeda was a product of the struggle to reject the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Portrayed as a holy war, that campaign brought together volunteers and financial contributors from throughout the Islamic world. Muslims from Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Southeast Asia, and beyond fought side by side, forging relationships and creating a cadre of veterans who shared a powerful life experience, a more global view, and a heady sense of confidence underscored by the Soviet Union's ultimate withdrawal and subsequent collapse, for which they assumed credit. Instead of being welcomed home as heroes, however, the returning veterans of the Afghan campaign were watched by suspicious regimes who worried that the religious fervour of the fighters posed a political threat. Isolated at home, they became ready recruits for new campaigns. There were ample reasons and opportunities to continue the fight: the Gulf War and the consequent arrival of American troops in Saudi Arabia; the continued repression of Islamic challenges to local regimes; armed struggles in Algeria, Egypt, the newly independent Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union, Kashmir, the Philippines, and Bosnia; the forces of globalization that seemed threatening to all local cultures; and the continuing civil war in Afghanistan. Organizational survival, the natural desire to continue in meaningful activity, and the rewards of status and an inflated self-image contributed powerful incentives to continue the fight. The subsequent victories of a like-minded Taliban guaranteed safe haven for the militants and their training camps, which graduated thousands of additional volunteers (Cullison, Higgins, 2001). What Osama bin Laden and his associates contributed to this potent but unfocused force was a sense of vision, mission, and strategy that combined 20th century theory of a unified Islamic polity with restoration of the Islamic Caliphate that, at its height, stretched

Consumer Questionnaire for Soft Drinks Essay Example for Free

Consumer Questionnaire for Soft Drinks Essay 1.What is your monthly budget for consumption of drinks? Ans- Around Rs 300. 2 .Are you satisfied with the drinks available to you in the market? Ans- Yes, although different flavours would be appreciated, along with aerated fruit drinks. 3.Do you find the price range of these drinks to be appropriate?what is yan approximation of an ideal prioce? Ans- Not really. As it exceeds the budget if you generally eat out more than twice a week as is the case with most people. Rs 15 for 200 ml. 4.Are you willing to make changes to your existing choice of product?what would u like to see in a drink? Ans- Yes, if a new product with my requirements is available. Less sugar , less preservatives natural, no preservatives colour calories etc. 5.What more do you expect from your drink manufacturer that can help you to derive maximum satisfaction? Ans-Healthier drinks are more appreciated as opposed to sugar filled carbonated drinks. Also the pricing can be changed to make it better for consumers to buy on a regular basis. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RETAILERS- MORE MANAGER, SADAKAT PEERZADE 1.What is your approximate profits from the sale of Soft drinks per month? Ans- turnover Around 1-2 lakhs, about 2-3 % . 2.Are you willing to take up promotional activities for a new range of products in this line? What kind? Ans- yes if the product is up to the standards we require and we get some incentives. 3.What is the feedback received from the consumers regarding the available products? Ans- Customers wanted more healthy options, drinks with less sugar, the most popular being Real fruit juices. 4.Do the existing manufacturer provide you assistance for the marketing of their products? Ans-Yes such as discounts on products and special offers offering extra quantity at the same price. Coupon booklets are also used along with leaflets. 5.Do you suggest any changes in the Marketing/Distribution system which can help to save cost? Ans- Providing more coolers and other storage facilities for stock to ensure better distribution. Also better packaging, quick deliveries so extra stock need not be kept. Free samples.

Three Significant Shifts Geography Global Economic Activity Economics Essay

Three Significant Shifts Geography Global Economic Activity Economics Essay Every since the Second World War of 1939-1945, the world has undergone huge changes. At no other period in Earths bright history has change been such a potent force. Technology has changed immensely from year-to-year, so too, it seems, has politics, culture and society. Another huge change has been in global economics and this is the post-1945 change that this essay will be focusing on. Global economics is the world-wide integration of markets for goods, services, labour and capital. Ever since World War Two the individual economies of countries all over the world have become increasingly linked together to form one unit and this essay aims to investigate three shifts that have caused that linkage. Widely considered to be the biggest shift in global economic geography since World War 2 is the growth of Asia, particularly East Asia Japan, the four tigers and, most recently, China (Dicken, 2007). This economic rise can be split into four major processes: The rise of Japan after World War 2 The rapid growth of the four tigers Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan followed by a second tier (the tiger cubs) Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The huge growth of China The potential economic dynamism of India Japans post-war economic growth in terms of manufacturing was monumental. In the 1960s it was ranked fifth in the world economy but by 1980 it had risen to second behind USA. Its rate of manufacturing growth was 13.6% per year two and a half times greater than USA and four times greater than UK. FDI grew from 1% in 1960 to almost 12% in 1990 unveiling Japan as the biggest threat to USA and Europe (Dicken, 2007). This growth, albeit huge after 1945, was not the beginning of Japans surge in the world economy. Japans transformation began under the Meiji Revolution around 1885 in which it underwent a major constitutional change. This change included the revamping of the legal system, the educational system was expanded and a modem banking system evolved. The state also encouraged the creation of a railway network, telegraphs and shipping lines. It supported industries like iron and steel, ship building and textiles. However, there were some fundamental weaknesses in that the country was still heavily dependent on agriculture but because of small holdings, agricultural productivity was not very high (Kennedy, 1989). Therefore, it is evident that the change in Japans economy after World War 2 was not the fact that it started to experience economic growth but rather it started to experience rapid growth as opposed to the slower growth prior to the war. During the late 1980s, Japans growth rate fell almost as dramatically as it rose in the 1960s due to a collapse. Between 1990 and 2003, Japans GDP grew annually by only 1.2% and its manufacturing sector by 0.7%. USAs fear in Japan subsided somewhat although Japan remained the second largest economy globally. Recently there have also been signs of a recovery too, putting pressure back on USA (Dicken, 2007). In the 1960s, around the same time as Japans economy was surging, a small group of East Asian countries emerged with manufacturing growth, especially in labour-intensive industries, that lead to their economic development. Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore were branded the four tigers. For example, Koreas manufacturing sector grew yearly at an average rate of 18% during the 1960s, 16% in the 1970s, 13% in the 1980s and 7% from 1990 to 2003. During the same periods, Taiwans manufacturing sector grew at rates of 16%, 14%, 8% and 6% respectively (Dicken 2007). In the late 1980s FDI for the four tigers grew to a level that overtook Japan. The tigers, although grouped together, all followed their own distinct path of development: Korea has been relatively closed to FDI and relied on a small number of large conglomerates for its industrialization, Singapore relied heavily on investment from large foreign transnational firms, Taiwan depended on locally-owned small and medium-sized firm s and Hong Kongs growth is based on its laissez-faire free market approach (Hobday, 1995). Similarly to the four tigers, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand all displayed high rates of manufacturing growth around the same time. These have become known as the tiger cubs. Along with the tigers, the cubs have increased their collective share of world manufactured exports from 1.5% in 1963 to almost 20% in 1999-despite the East Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 (Dicken, 2007). A possible reason for the growth of these countries could be in the decolonisation prior to the 1960s and after World War 2. For example, Indonesia gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949 nominally and completely in 1954 (Klein, 2003). The most recent and potentially biggest change in East Asian economy is the huge growth of China: Since shifting to a policy of reform and door opening in the late 1970s, China has been undergoing a period of high economic growth while at the same time increasing its presence in the Asian economy. Riding the wave of the IT revolution in recent years, the country has been gaining international competitiveness not only in labour-intensive products but also in some IT productsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Chi Hung Kwan 2002 Between 1980 and 2003, Chinas GDP and manufacturing growth rates were the highest in the world around 10% annually. It is now the worlds fourth largest manufacturing producer, the second largest agricultural, the fourth, soon to be third ahead of Japan, biggest exporter and the fourth biggest importer. Chinas growth, along with the other countries (mentioned above), constitutes to making north-east Asia the most dynamic part of the world, causing problems for south-east Asia Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore in terms of competition (Dicken, 2007). The final process of change that has seen Asia become a huge force in the global economy is the recent, spectacular growth of India. This growth is in one specific activity: the outsourcing of IT services. With its huge population and other similar advantages, there has been much talk about how India could be the next China. However, between 1980 and 1990 Indias GDP growth rate was only around 6% above the global average but only half of Chinas at the same time. India also does not sit with the elite in terms of manufacturing (13th in the world) and exports (outside of the top 15 globally). Indias strength lies in the service sector 51% of its GDP is from service sector-based income, against Chinas 33% but still China generated nearly double the service exports of India. That is the difference to the other fast-growing Asian countries India does not have strong exports. India does have the potential but currently it has some way to go before it can be placed amongst the elite (Di cken, 2007). One of the earliest significant shifts in the geography of the global economy since 1945 was the integration of European countries. Before European integration came into place there were extreme forms of nationalism in the continent, especially during the war and economic activity between the European countries was limited due to tariffs, custom duties and trade barriers. Post war Europe saw many countries still at unease with one another so a form of peaceful integration was needed in order to reconstruct the economies. This all started with the formation of the European coal and steel community (ECSC) which was first established in 1950. The aim of the ECSC was to bring together the French and German coal and steal production in a way that would banish the spectre of war and open the way to European integration (Europa 2005). The treaty of the ECSC was concluded in Paris whereby six nations signed up to it including; Belgium, France, West Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. This was now a form of production and distribution of coal and steel among the six countries and it was the beginning of a united Europe (Allen 2005). The next part of this shift towards European integration was the treaty of Rome in 1957 which was signed by the same six countries and further enhanced the economic activity within Europe. This created two more communities, the European Economic community (ECC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). It also eliminated the customs duties between the countries and created a common external tariff (Dicken 2007) this external tariff removed tariffs on intra-EU trade and meant that it would cost more money for the areas outside of the treaty to import goods to these European countries, therefore it eliminated consumer choice and supported the industries based within the treaty and boosted the overall economy within these countries. The community further enlarged between 1973-1986 with the introduction of Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain and Portugal this helped changed the geography of the world economy as more countries were now involved within this community of economic integration and Europe as a whole was now becoming a dominant economic force in the face of the perceived soviet threat (Dicken 2007). This period also saw the establishment of trading agreements with former European colonies in Africa, The Caribbean and The pacific (ACP countries). This new establishment with the ACP nations was aimed to encourage there exports while stimulating growth and investment in an attempt to integrate these countries into the world economy. (Manchin 2006). This has effectively altered the geography of the world economy as without this link the ACP nations would find it hard to plug themselves into the global economy however the EC offer duty free access to the EC market for most products and offer them preferential access for agricultural products based on a quota system. This helps develop these nations in an attempt to boost there economies. The main developments in economically integrating Europe has occurred in the past 20 years, this period has seen the signing of the Treaty of the European Union in 1991, the creation of a single European market and the introduction of a single European currency in 1999. The creation of a single European market in 1992 eliminated and reduced trade barriers within Europe and enhanced welfare and efficiency within the European community. These reduced trade barriers increased the intensity of competition and reduced prices. This meant that the EU was now more economically competitive within the world markets; therefore it effectively helped change the geography of the world economy. (Allen et al 2005). The formation of the European Union signed in Maastricht in 1991 created the pathway for further European economic integration and Monetary union. European monetary union was created in 1999 with the single European currency; the Euro is currently used by 16 countries in the EU which make up the Euro zone. This has had a massive effect on the economics of the countries involved in the Euro zone. De Grauwe states that: Eliminating national currencies and moving towards a common currency can lead to an increase in economic efficiency as it eliminates transaction costs in exchanging money This elimination of transaction costs means that capital now flows through the European Union a lot easier and it makes FDI investment into these European countries a lot more appealing. The single European currency along with the reduced trade barriers within Europe attracts a lot of TNCs who have chosen to regionalize there production networks within the European Union. It has especially attracted US and Japanese TNCs. Therefore in changing the geography of the global economy, not only is it boosting the economy for the countries within the EU but it is boosting the countries outside of it that are using the EU as a way of setting up there production and manufacturing chains. A final major shift in the geography of global economic activity after the Second World War has been the major role of transnational corporations (TNCs). According to the UN (1978), TNCs are all enterprises which control assets factories, mines, sales offices and the like in two or more countries. In the last 50 years or so the role of TNCs in the global economy has become more and more significant creating a situation now where, without them, the world, in terms of development, would most likely regress. However, Jenkins (1987) said that TNCs have been portrayed as an engine of growth capable of eliminating international economic inequality as well as a major obstacle to development. They are seen as a force capable revolutionising the productive forces in economically backwards areas of the world but also as a major cause for underdevelopment through a massive drain of surplus to the advanced capitalist countries i.e. they take a lot of money and resources from LEDCs and give it to MEDCs, widening the development gap. Either way you look at it, TNCs have made the world economy much more of the unit that was mentioned in the introduction. Chang (2003) wrote that since 1982, FDI from TNCs has been growing four times faster than international trade and, since the 1970s; the combined output form TNCs has exceeded the volume of international trade. International trade had been going on for centuries prior to World War Two and continues to this day but its significance has been shown to be dwindling with the new impact of TNCs. This therefore shows how, through the introduction of TNCs, the geography of global economic activity has changed in its orientation and that it does seem to moving towards one, global economy with countries holding assets in almost every other country not being a reality too far away. According to Chang (2003), TNCs are becoming more and more transnational and therefore stateless. There is proof in the successfulness of TNCs in that countries which have had liberal policies towards FDI like most of the Asian tigers have performed well and become successful developed countries, with stable economies. This shows that it is likely that more and more countries, including African ones where TNCs are still rare, will start accommodating for TNCs and so take the world towards being one, unified economy. The increase in the activities of TNCs since 1945 can therefore be said to have had a major impact in the shift of global economic activity that has occurred since World War Two and will continue to do so. There have been numerous economic shifts that have helped shape the current global economy. However in this essay we have only focused on three. First we focused on the economic expansion of the East-Asian countries over the past 65 years, which most recently involved India and China who could pave the way for future global economic expansion. The explanation for the growth of these countries could be due to the fact that the demographic transition from high rates of mortality to low rates of morality has been more drastic in the East-Asian region over the past century than any other region in the world. This constituted to the economic growth as between 1965-1990 the working population grew at a much faster rate than its dependent population which expanded the per-capita productive capacity of East Asian countries.(Bloom 1998). The second shift we focused on was the Increase in European integration, this has effectively shifted the global economy as it has integrated a whole range o f countries and allowed capital and labour to flow more freely between them, effectively making the EU one of the strongest regions in the present day world economy. Finally we showed how an increase in TNC activity over the post war period has helped shape the global economy and bring about a more unified economy. Many Hyper-Globalists would argue that TNCS help constitute to a borderless world whereby global is the natural scale of economic integration. To conclude this essay these three shifts have effectively changed the global economy over history and there impacts are still present and will continue to be so for a very long time as they have set in motion economic integration on a global level. Considering the economic Hiatus that occurred during the war when many international links were broken and there was a world wide recession, this recovery over a 65 year period where we now live in a world with an increasingly unifying economy has been truly astonishing.

Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown and History Essays -- Young Goodman Br

â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and History  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Q. D. Leavis states that â€Å"perhaps the persecuting aspect of their way of life was peculiarly present to Hawthorne because of the witch-hanging judge and the Quaker-whipping Major among his ancestors† (30). This is a reference to one instance of historical allusion in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† This essay will explore a variety of historical incidences referred to in this short story.    Clarice Swisher in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography† states:    William Hathorne was a colonial magistrate involved in the persecution of Quakers, another Protestant religious group. Hawthorne later described him as â€Å"grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steeple-crowned,† a hard, dark man. His son John Hathorne was well known as a Puritan judge who condemned women as witches in 1692 during the Salem witchcraft trials, and who later expressed no remorse for his actions. . . . Of his ancestors, especially Judge John, Hawthorne later said, â€Å"I . . . hereby take shame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them . . . may be now and henceforth removed (14).    Reference to these forbears of Goodman Brown is made in a notable episode in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† when the devil responds to Brown’s assertion of his family’s Christian past: â€Å"We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the name of Brown, that ever took this path and kept"- The devil then responds:    "Such company, thou wouldst say," observed the elder person, interrupting his pause. "Well said, Goodman Brown! I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; an... ... Derived from New England Living.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† 1835. http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/goodman/goodmantext.html    Leavis, Q.D. â€Å"Hawthorne as Poet.† In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Swisher, Clarice. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.    Williams, Stanley T. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.

We All Scream For Ice Cream Essay -- essays research papers fc

We All Scream For Ice Cream Who in their right mind could say no to the irresistible taste of ice cream? Being one of my most favorite snacks, I will admit that a carton of ice cream never stays in the fridge for more than a week. I can remember always having ice cream as a very special treat when I was younger, mostly chocolate and vanilla. Nowadays there are so many flavors of ice cream from simple chocolate to cola flavored. Ice cream may not be as popular as you think it is so here are some fun facts the show just how much us American’s love this simple dessert. Currently, ice cream is America’s second most favorite dessert according to a 1997 Nielsen survey. About 2.3 billion dollars of ice cream is sold in the America’s per year. Its competition, the cookie, holds 3.6 billion dollars in sales per year. The United States is currently the number one country in the world for consumption of ice cream. Its followers are New Zealand, Denmark, and Sweden, to name a few. I consume a large amount of ice cream, but to discover that each American consumes about 23.2 quarts of ice cream a year I was shocked! Keep in mind this is just an average because in the Northern Central States they consume over 41.7 quarts a year. For myself ice cream is best enjoyed a sunny day when you just cannot seem to escape the heat, this is why ice cream sales are the highest in the months July (National Ice Cre am Month) and August. I do not want any of my readers to try to tell me they do no... We All Scream For Ice Cream Essay -- essays research papers fc We All Scream For Ice Cream Who in their right mind could say no to the irresistible taste of ice cream? Being one of my most favorite snacks, I will admit that a carton of ice cream never stays in the fridge for more than a week. I can remember always having ice cream as a very special treat when I was younger, mostly chocolate and vanilla. Nowadays there are so many flavors of ice cream from simple chocolate to cola flavored. Ice cream may not be as popular as you think it is so here are some fun facts the show just how much us American’s love this simple dessert. Currently, ice cream is America’s second most favorite dessert according to a 1997 Nielsen survey. About 2.3 billion dollars of ice cream is sold in the America’s per year. Its competition, the cookie, holds 3.6 billion dollars in sales per year. The United States is currently the number one country in the world for consumption of ice cream. Its followers are New Zealand, Denmark, and Sweden, to name a few. I consume a large amount of ice cream, but to discover that each American consumes about 23.2 quarts of ice cream a year I was shocked! Keep in mind this is just an average because in the Northern Central States they consume over 41.7 quarts a year. For myself ice cream is best enjoyed a sunny day when you just cannot seem to escape the heat, this is why ice cream sales are the highest in the months July (National Ice Cre am Month) and August. I do not want any of my readers to try to tell me they do no...