My personal educational goals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My personal educational goals - Essay Example Last year, when I saw my cousin graduating from UMass Amherst and looking at his groomed personality, I decided to get admission in this University. My main educational goal is not only getting the desired degree but also to attain high grades, which will help me to get a good designation in a multinational organization. I want to get a bachelors degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management because it is my passion to work in the hospitality industry and its future scope is improving with the passage of time. World travel and Tourism Council survey reveals that 8% people who are doing job are working in the travel and tourism industry and it is expected that this percentage will grow because this industry is one of the fastest growing industries of the world. Different factors affecting tourism such as social, economic, and environmental are very important to consider when making a decision about suitable career that also offers good quality of life. I feel comfortable and relaxed while selecting this field as my career because there are various opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industry and I can surely pursue my career somewhere in hotels, commercial food services, tourist destination, recreation, sports management, and airlines etc. This is a dynamic and huge industry in which different fields are growing rapidly giving ambitious and hard working students chance to enter in this industry and make their name. I like this industry because it is working in a very high competitive environment and to me there is a lot of charm working in such competitive industry. I want to gain rich knowledge and build skills of customer service and strong business foundation that will help me to become a successful professional in the hospitality and tourism industry. I believe that the students who have graduated in the hospitality and tourism management programs enjoy the combined capabilities of business and life skills with the hi gh

Ultimate Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ultimate Project - Essay Example Civil projects, on the other hand, are concerned with the study of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and ports. In a construction project, members of a group subdivide themselves into design, financial advisors and legal teams. The three groups must work together to achieve results in the construction projects. When a construction project is taken seriously, and all its recommendations followed, it can lead to substantial achievements. A construction project is, therefore, a strong basis in the foundation of building construction. The following sessions were assistive in the course, and they are listed in line with their importance. In the above classifications, session one to eight had greater impacts on the construction project than the others. Introduction to Project Management The main topics, to begin with section four, are co-operation and togetherness. Co-operation entails offering assistance and having the willingness to assist in situations where possible (Taylor 45). When people work together, their productivity is increased. This is due to the belief that there is strength in numbers. Togetherness refers to the act of keeping closeness towards each other (Muller 43). Togetherness entails being united and acting as a group to boost levels of understanding. Some of the most essential aspects of this quality are in unlocking barriers that hinder teamwork. The importance of cooperation and togetherness cannot be underestimated under any circumstance. This session’s topic bears great relevance to the construction project. In a construction project, a lot of concentration is demanded. The group members need to come up with new techniques that are transformative in the construction sector. Members’ need should have a clear mind so as to note minor sensitive issue and discuss them effectively. This requires full concentration and cooperation. In these types of projects, every member’s contribution counts. Introduction to Finan ce In session five, focus and patience are the main topics. Patience refers to a virtue that enables people to wait for something to happen without hesitation. When a group is working on a project, they expect quality results out of the project. An excellent project requires a lot of time since the members have to execute conclusive and elusive research to determine facts. The members need to be patient in order to discover good results. Patience plays a substantial role in determining the success of any activity. Patience must be advocated every time since it carries the secret to success (Taylor 24). In our day-to-day lives, we encounter a lot. Sometimes we are faced with situations that are hard to manage, but we still make the right choices. When a person encounters something that is not clear to them, how they react to it matters a lot. When they analyze the situation, they can find ways of solving the problem (Taylor 4). The same scenario is faced by people who are handling a project. Construction project relates deeply to these virtues. When members are conducting research and trying to come up with meaningful ideas, they are faced with a lot of challenges that might makethem lose their patience. Members have to search deep into books to find hidden information that will assist then in perfecting their projects. Patience and focus, in this case, will give them perseverance. Business Development Business Developm

Effect of Knowledge Sharing on Personal and Cultural Factors

Effect of Knowledge Sharing on Personal and Cultural Factors Theory of Knowledge With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way in which shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge. In this essay, we are faced with the question as to how shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge. Can the world be improved every time each individual contributes his own knowledge for the benefit of someone else? Is knowledge sharing the key to success? Initially, I will provide definitions of key-notions for better understanding of the difference between shared knowledge and personal knowledge, which is summarized by what â€Å"I know† and what â€Å"we know†. According to the Oxford Dictionaries, knowledge is defined as â€Å"facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject†[1]. Personal knowledge is not certainly the same as community knowledge. What an individual knows or how an individual makes knowledge and what community knows are different matters. Personal knowledge is the knowledge acquired through observation or personal experiences by an individual[2]. Shared knowledge is the knowledge shared between people who exchange through information, skills, or expertise[3]. These definitions are neither the correct, nor only definitions of these terms. The classic general example would be with a patient that has a problem with his leg, where the surgeon would want to operate, the pharmacist would want to medicate, the physiotherapist would want to exercise the musco-skeletal system, the priest would pray and so on. Each of them would take its own approach based on his background and shared knowledge held by profession. However, knowledge sharing encompasses not only the sharing of â€Å"great things†, but equally the sharing of â€Å"little things† with the intention of improving the way things get done.[4] Natural Sciences and History provide plenty of examples which show unique study of the past and influence the present. To begin with, can we use a scientific method to develop personal knowledge from shared knowledge? Darwin’s famed evolutionary theories in On the Origin of Species, where the notion that all life is related and descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers, all are related. The organism’s genetic code is altered as the genes mutate, of which the beneficial mutations remain because they ensure survival, a process called â€Å"natural selection†. Survival and adaption is determined by natural selection. Darwin’s theory became a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the years. Thus shared knowledge led Darwin to concede that â€Å"if it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down†[5]. DNA testing reveals our genetic make-up and, along with genetics, is a means of helping scientists to establish reasoni ng behind how species have originated from a common ancestor. The Human Genome Project, through its sequencing of the DNA, can help us understand diseases including viruses and appropriate treatment, identification of different forms of cancer, the design of medication and their effects, advances in forensic and applied sciences, biofuels and other energy applications, agriculture, livestock breeding, bioprocessing; risk assessment, bioarcheology, anthropology, evolution. It becomes clear that knowledge is perishable, increasingly short lived and to get most things done you need to share with people to achieve your objectives[6]. On the other hand, for centuries people believed that life was created from elements and not from eggs, seeds or other ways of reproduction. The first to believe in this theory was Aristotle who based his thinking on the studies that Anaximander and Hippolytus had previously made and said that life came spontaneously like mud and earth when exposed to sunlight. The theory of the spontaneity of life continued to be believed for thousands of years after Aristotle until 1877, when Louis Pasteur proved that this theory was wrong. He showed that it was not possible for maggots to appear on meat in a sealed container[7]. Pasteur demonstrated that fermentation occurs through the growth of micro-organisms and the emergent growth of bacteria is due to biogenesis (all life from life). Thus the â€Å"personal knowledge† of difference is changing which then affects the whole group/the shared knowledge. Although truth is an objective requirement for knowledge, belief is a subjective requirement for it. Reason gives us greater certainty than perception or belief. What we often hear is said that science has proved something. â€Å"Every scientist knows that science advances only if knowledge is shared†, said Dr. Walt Warnick[8] . If scientific knowledge is not shared, then research may not be done accurately. It is better if scientists share their opinions and thoughts in order to progress and succeed in finding new aspects in several different fields. Every single scientist has to have the incentive to share, use and improve his judgment, disclose ideas or being open to everything is more correct. Scientific progress needs a background of careful observation and imagination plays an important role in the development of new scientific ideas. Thus, part of Copernicus’ genius was that while he saw what everyone else saw when he looked at the night sky, he came up with a di fferent way of looking at it, although this idea did not catch on when the Greek astronomer Aristarchus had suggested that the earth goes round the sun as early as the third century BC . Hence, the vast majority of our knowledge is neither personal nor individual but it is knowledge shared with the rest of the knowledge of the community. Despite the success of the natural sciences we need to keep in mind that they do not have a monopoly for knowledge. â€Å"History is but the register of human crimes and misfortunes† said Voltaire. History seeks to reconstruct past on the basis of evidence that can be found in the present. History is knowledge and â€Å"those who don’t study the past are condemned to repeat it† (George Santayana). The emerging concept of knowledge democracy addresses the relationships between knowledge production and distribution of knowledge. Although the Athenian democracy was based on open deliberation and voting and recognized this as a distinctive way of gaining knowledge about the world and acting upon that knowledge, it was depended also on the willingness of the citizen participants to accept the implicit assumptions they lived by, and the information on the basis of which they cast their votes. Athenian political culture was based on collective opinion rather than on cer tain knowledge and on the assumption that opinion could be translated on practical reality through democratic political process[9]. Thucydides developed what the world described as historical knowledge and he was supported by the majority of Athenians. Thus the personal knowledge of each Athenian became shared knowledge of all the Athenians and vice versa the shared knowledge of the majority of Athenians became personal knowledge of each one of them. History is not simply concerned with describing the past and explaining it. The study of history is something that can give us good judgment about human affairs. On the other hand, history, as a shared knowledge, is a defence against propaganda. One of the best known examples of the abuse of history is from the Stalinist era in the former Soviet Union and the propaganda within Nazi Germany. Communist propaganda in the Soviet Union was based on the Marxist-Leninist ideology to promote the Communist party. Propaganda was part of education, broadcast by any means possible from schools to cinema, with a goal to build a society on the basis of common ownership of the means of production, where the society would be completely under the control of the state. Propaganda is the art of persuasion and Joseph Goebbels was in charge in Nazi Germany of Hitler. His role was to control and censor information available to the German population that could subject the Nazi party to any hostile or damaging opinions. This meant that the pro-Nazi information broadcast to the public was ever more persuasive in nature. Hitler managed to convince 70 million rational people to engage in horrible atrocities and wage war against the world using his speeches and propaganda[10]. Thus history, which is shared knowledge, is concerned with the past and one obvious problem with trying to know the past is that it no longer exists. History is based on primary sources, but since they are selective interpretation of events they cannot always be taken at face value[11] since memory, emotion, sense perception, reason, faith, belief,language play an important role. In conclusion, what are the implications of this shared knowledge for one’s own individual knowledge? Personal experience, vision and inspiration can contribute to shared knowledge when that personal knowledge is communicated to and accepted by the community as it happened with Copernicus’ or Louis Pasteur’s theories. It could also be argued that the relationship between shared and personal knowledge is bi-directional and inseparable. But, shared knowledge of democracy shaped the personal knowledge of each Athenian. History of one’s own nation might give deeper understanding of one’s own past. Day- to- day work of scientists working within the â€Å"paradigm† has made scientists more aware and more receptive to the evolution of the scientific views, as Thomas Kuhn claimed. However, propaganda during Stalinist or Nazi era show that â€Å"paradigm† shifts are more likely in loose shared knowledge and may cause the total controversy of the world.[12] 1 [1] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/knowledge [2] http://thelawdictionary.org/personal-knowledge/ [3] Frost, Alan.Knowledge Sharing. KMT. Retrieved 17 April 2013.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_sharing) [4]  http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/ksculture [5] Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics p.35 [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genome_Project [7] http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-famous-scientific-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-wrong.php [8] http://www.osti.gv/home/ostiblog/knowledge-investment-curve-0 [9] http://web.stanford.edu/group/dispersed_author/docs/ThucydidesCriticism.pdf [10] http://brainblogger.com/2008/11/04/hitlers-guide-to-propaganda-the-psychology-of-coercion/ [11] Theory of Knowledge. Richard van de Lagemaat,p.320 [12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn

Family and Church Essay -- essays research papers

Family and Church: Enduring Institutions I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  General Family Life As a result of myths of white family life, there has been much confusion over the nature of black families. One of the myths of the nineteenth century entails the close- knit white family, which was parallel to that of the European family. Also, as a result of these myths, scholars often ignored the differences of American and European life. For example, women in frontier areas had a much stronger voice in family affairs than most scholars realized, simply because of the shortage of women. Therefore, women exercised a large percentage of authority in the family. In the cities where family was of little importance as an economic unit and the father was often at work, the care of the children was primarily the responsibility of the mother. By 1880, the American family became more democratic. After the second half of the nineteenth century, changes in the nature and functions of the family occurred. For example, changes such as industrialization, improvements in transportation, the weakening of religious bonds, and increased knowledge of birth control, led to more working wives and more premarital sex, downgraded the importance of family. As a result of relaxed divorce laws and a greater emphasis on romantic love, there was an increase in the number of divorces. By the 1970’s, one in every three marriages ended in divorce, the failure rate for new marriages was thirty percent, nine million people were divorced or separated, and twelve million single individuals were heading households with children. There were so many divorces that a large number of whites were practicing serial monogamy, meaning one person having only one spouse at time, but more than one in his or her lifetime. Most often researchers speak of the pathological disorganization of the black family and imply that all black families are matriarchal, meaning the woman is the head of the household. The dangerous part of this myth was popularized by Daniel P. Moyhnihan, who asserted that the pathological weakness of the black family was,† capable of perpetuating itself without the assistance from the white world.† The weakness of the black family may be seen as a direct result of centuries of white oppression of blacks and not as inherent and immutable. The black family grew out of a complex combination o... ... black clergy felt that Afro Americans had a special duty to regenerate the land of their fathers. The African Methodist Episcopal Church established a mission in Haiti in 1827, for instance, to â€Å"aid in making the Haitian nationality and government, strong, powerful, and commanding among the civilized nations of the earth.† VI.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Literary Praise for the Black Church Black poets, less critical of black religion than novelists, captured more of the essential spirit of the church than most scholars could. While occasionally complaining about the excessive humility of black Christians, the poets used the rhythm and message of sermons, prayers and services in celebration of God’s love and promise of deliverance. The black minister, portrayed sympathetically, was also a favorite subject of black poets. Like James Weldon Johnson, many of the poets reproduced the cadences and messages of the folk sermon. They portrayed the minister’s beautiful word pictures. Among the best of them was Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1896 poem, â€Å"An Antebellum Sermon,† which demonstrates the black preacher’s attempt to correlate biblical messages with his flock’s hope of early rewards.

I Could See the Man Was Very Unhappy

I could see that the man was very unhappy. As I watched him sitting by himself at the bus stop, a big brown paper parcel beside him, I felt my curiousity perk and was also strangely troubled. I sensed that the old man felt confused and needed someone to talk to. Yet I held back. The party was in half an hour. So I could not make the time for him. Besides, who was I introduced into another person’s privacy? These were my thoughts as I boarded the bus. As the bus drew away from the stop , I looked back at the lone figure on the bridge.A few minutes later, I was back at the same place. He was still there, still alone. I sat down beside him. Other people were ignoring us. I started a conversation with him. At first, he was startled and was silent. As time passed by and he could see that I was sincere, he began to talk. His name was Arthur Tan. Barely, fifteen years ago, he had been a happily married man with two lovely children performing well at school. It seemed that nothing cou ld upset his beautiful life. Then, on one cruise, his family decided to go along with him for a family vacation.It was a hectic time for him, but he thoroughly enjoyed their company. Everything went well until one night, when taking over the wheel, he fell asleep. His ship collided with an oil tanker and both sank. He was the sole survivor of this tragedy. Since that fateful day, Arthur had lived miserable life. With his family gone, his life seemed to lose all meaning. He spent his days in despondency and guilt. His friends shunned him ; hardly anyone spoke a kind word to him, he rarely even saw a friendly human face.He showed me the brown parcel. He had collected all the mementos of his happier life before the tragedy – his uniforms, certificates and his family photographs. He had wrapped all these precious things and tied them up in the big brown paper parcel. As I looked at his collection of memories, I understood his sadness. The people in the photographs were laughing a nd smiling happily. The Arthur Tan in the photographs was so different from the man I could see now in front of me.He started to reminisce, and I let him. I did not care that I was already late for the party. This was more important. He talked for two hours, telling me about his family and the happy times he had with them. Finally, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said â€Å"Thank you†. Then he got up and left. I found myself sitting alone, hardly noticing the trickle of tears on my cheeks, watching him walk away. I was glad I had been there for him as all he wanted was a person to talk to.

Conceptual Foundations of Social Psychology

Conceptual Foundations of Social Psychology University of Phoenix Conceptual Foundations of Social Psychology Often one hears the question, what is wrong with the people in the world today? This question could be asked after watching a news story about a mother murdering her children, gangs terrorizing neighborhoods, terroristic acts committed against large community locations, and riots after a soccer game, or even hate crimes committed due to discrimination. Each of these subjects always brings up questions about why acts such as these occur. Social Psychology can attempt to answer some of these questions.In effect, social psychology seeks to answer many questions. Social Psychology is very different in that this field tries to understand all characteristics of social behavior and the significance on the individual both positive and negative. Some research would suggest that anyone might act in a similar fashion as the person who commits a terrorist act, or the mother who murders h er children if he or she were in the same situation and that the behavior has little to do with the character of that person. This concept is situationism and while it does appear extreme, situationism plays a role in social psychology.In the following pages, what situationism is and how it pertains to social psychology is addressed. In addition, a definition of what social psychology is as well as the main characteristics of it. Last, an explanation of the five core social motives is offered and how they too affect the field of social psychology. Social Psychology Social Psychology covers so many topics that one could not possibly list them all at one time. These topics range from interpersonal relationships to group behavior, from prosocial behavior to discrimination and prejudice and everything else in between.The broad coverage of topics generates difficulty in narrowing the subject down to a strict definition. However, according to Fiske, (2010, p 4) â€Å"Social psychology is the scientific attempt to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings. † Of course as stated by Fiske, this is the traditional definition of Social Psychology. This definition dates all the way back to one of the fathers of Social Psychology, Gordon Allport (Fiske, 2010). In essence, Social Psychology is about how people influence each other.If one can imagine each way, another could possibly influence a person then he or she may achieve a better understanding of how broad this subject is. Because Social Psychology covers a broad scope of topics, broad scope by definition is one of the key characteristics of Social Psychology. The broad scope of topics is only one of the characteristics of Social Psychology; another and very important characteristic is Cultural Mandate. Just as any of field of Psychology needs to stay current so too does Social psychology need to stay curren t.Because of the ever-changing world and the populations within it, cultures change. Because culture affects individual behavior, it is important to keep up with the changes. These changes occur from town to town within the United States, to larger cultural structures across the globe. For Social Psychology to stay current, an accommodation to the changing cultures is mandatory. One reason it is important to keep up with changes in cultures and how they affect individual behaviors is the research involved. This research helps build credible scientific knowledge (Fiske, 2010).Most people today depend on science to present the facts instead of relying on the traditional methods of understanding, which is often only common sense knowledge. Fiske, (2010, p. 34) tells us, â€Å"Social psychology goes beyond common sense to build a scientific understanding of human social behavior. † Therefore, the Scientific Method is the third key characteristic of Social Psychology. What can be more important than proper â€Å"techniques, procedures, analyses, and standards that create scientifically reliable knowledge? † (Fiske, 2010, p. 34) Maybe, one other characteristic is more important, or maybe just as important.The search for wisdom may be the last key characteristics of Social Psychology but being last in this instance does not mean that it is less important. This characteristic is probably the most compassionate aspect of Social Psychology. This characteristic is the search for ways to help improve the circumstances of individuals in certain situations. One already knows that knowledge is important such as that gained from the scientific method, but without compassion and understanding of morals and intellectual concerns Social Psychology would not be the field of study that it is.Perhaps Fiske states it best when she describes it like this, â€Å"Wisdom comprises knowledge about people and the world, combined with enduring moral, intellectual, and societ al concerns that together make sense in the social context of people’s lived experience† (Fiske, 2010, p. 34). Again, it is all about making sense of how individuals influence each other in every way imaginable. Situationism Situationism is a controversial topic. For instance, someone walking down the sidewalk drops money on the ground; the person behind them picks the money up and returns it to the owner.According to situationism this return of the money to the owner is not due to any type of personality trait the person possesses but simply because the situation calls for it. According to Sabine and Silver, (2005, p. 3) â€Å"virtue is not a general disposition to act in a certain way, but a disposition to act in a certain way under quite specific circumstances. † Therefore, the person returning the money may well behave honestly in that particular circumstance but may not necessarily be honest in all aspects of life.This does leave an opening for some broad in terpretation but that is a different point altogether. An individual’s orientation to social contexts, always consist of other people, many researchers even say life is dependent upon social interactions. According to Fiske â€Å"our responsiveness to social situations and therefore their considerable impact results from evolutionary pressures for individuals to survive in groups† (2010, p. 14). If one has doubts about the power of situations all that is needed is some time to revisit the Stafford Prison Experiment.It is possible that given the same situation anyone would behave in a similar manner no matter his or her personality type. Core Social Motives In order for individuals to survive in groups there must be something that drives this need for individuals to be a part of groups. While there are many needs that individuals have, researchers have narrowed down these needs to five core social motives. The most prominent motive is one most people can surely relate t o and that is belonging. Most people are motivated to belong to a group of some type of another.Life is much easier when others are around for many reasons, making the group work easier is one of them, not to mention the feeling of safety one has when they are around others who they believe they can trust (Newman, Lohman, & Newman, 2007). Many people are so motivated to belong they will often change their behavior to become a part of a group. Those who are more socially adaptive and feel a strong sense of belonging, whether that belonging is strong family ties, friends , community, state or nation, belonging is crucial, and has been proven to have some health benefits and those who feel a sense of belonging are happier also.In one study using adolescents and peer relationships â€Å"adolescents who viewed peer group membership as very important to them and had a positive sense of peer group belonging had significantly fewer behavior problems than those who viewed peer group members hip as very important but did not have a positive sense of peer group belonging† (Newman, Lohman, & Newman, 2007, par. 2). While this study used adolescents as subjects, those who feel more pressure to fit in than most other groups the need for belonging is not inclusive to this group.Although belonging is the core motive and a powerful one, it is not the only motive. Another important motive is, understanding. How one understands his or her environment is crucial to the group dynamic. One uncomfortable feeling that accompanies an individual and stops them from feeling as if they are a part of a group is doubt. When people do not understand the environment or situation occurring around them they often believe that other people do have understanding of the situation or at least some knowledge of it.Nothing is more frustrating than feeling that sense of being the only one that does not know or understand or as if one has no control over a situation. Control is the third core mot ive and closely related to understanding. People who understand what is going on in the environment have a firmer sense of control over the situation and are thus happier healthier people (Fiske, 2010). The last two motives neither are cognitive motives nor are they fundamentally the most important but do serve a purpose. A long held belief is that self-esteem is important to the daily lives of individuals.It is true that most people like to hear praise from others for a job well done or be complimented on his or her good qualities but self-enhancement is more about improvement of the self not just the perception of it. Aside from feeling good about the self however self-enhancement is good for the group because those who feel good are more sociable. People who have low self-esteem are more often withdrawn and want to have nothing to do with others. In addition, those who have a low sense of self tend to behave in destructive ways, which in turn creates group dysfunction.Most people in a group do not want to be around someone who commits to negative behaviors. The last motive is trust and although it is last on the list, it would appear to be one of the most important although it does not rank that high. Trust is everything in a group. Who would want to belong to a group if everyone was on guard because no one trusted the other? By trusting, one believes in others to do what is right and not bring harm to those that believe in them, much like faith. There are no guarantees that one may not get hurt but it is important to not live life in a paranoid state.Fiske sums up trust this way, â€Å"Trust facilitates daily life. It makes people both liked and likable, and with good reason. Trusting people deserve trust; they are unlikely to cheat or steal. They are more successful socially, being less suspicious, vindictive, resentful, and lonely than distrusting people† (Fiske, 2010, p. 24) In short trusting people create a trusting environment for others around them. Conclusion Everything people do has social motives. Some researchers believe that life is dependent on social interactions. Without the help from others, life would be incredibly difficult and boring.People often depend on others for love and support. Social rules, help keep individuals on a more positive track and out of trouble, of course there are exceptions to the rule as with anything else. Social Psychology attempts to explain how every interaction affects individuals. With such a broad range of topics, it is amazing that Social Psychology focuses so much on the Scientific Method. However, because the topics are related to human behavior Social Psychology also deals with the more compassionate side as well, and looks to improve the human condition.References Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology (2nd ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Newman, B. , Lohman, B. , & Newman, P. (2007). Peer group membership and a sense of belonging: their relationship to adolescent behavior problems. Adolescence, 42(166), 241-263. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database. Sabini, J. , & Silver, M. (2005). Lack of Character? Situationism Critiqued. Ethics, 115(3), 535-562. Retrieved from SocINDEX with Full Text database.

June 2008 Most Popular Articles

June 2008 Most Popular Articles June 2008 Most Popular Articles June 2008 Most Popular Articles By Daniel Scocco Happy 4th of July to all the U.S. readers. Below you will find the most popular articles of the past month; check them out if you missed any. Nonstandard Usage Detracts from Novel: The English language can certainly be said to be in flux when college professors write such stuff as Using the Active Voice to Strengthen Your Writing: Writing in the active voice means constructing sentences where the subject â€Å"acts†. Email Etiquette: So, being able to write a professional, business-like email is a crucial skill. Daily Writing Tips has already covered the email subject line, but the body of your message also matters. 25+ Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About: Of course, all you really need in order to write is a notebook and pen. But there are lots of software packages that can make life easier for writers. Whatever you want to be able to do, there’s almost certainly some software out there to help you. Pen Names: A reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, uses his real name in his writing for a weekly newspaper, but is considering using a pen name for other work. PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer: If you’ve never experienced the horror of a computer screen turning stark blue and displaying garbled characters while you are working on it, then lucky you. Five Ways to Write Faster: Whether you need to clear a backlog of emails, write an important document at work, finish a short story, or do your homework, spending hours staring at a blank screen and struggling to come up with words won’t help. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business Letter"Replacement for" and "replacement of"Bail Out vs. Bale Out

The Suffix -strophe

The Suffix -strophe The Suffix -strophe The Suffix -strophe By Mark Nichol Do the words apostrophe and catastrophe have anything in common besides a couple of syllables? What, if anything, does a punctuation mark have to do with a disaster? The words, taken from Greek, share an element derived from the Greek verb strephein, which means â€Å"turn.† Apostrophe, meaning â€Å"turn from,† alludes to the fact that an apostrophe signals that one or more letters in a word have been omitted, or â€Å"turned away.† (The symbol later came to be used to identify possessives- and, erroneously, plurals, though some publications persist in the otherwise obsolete style of apostrophizing plural numerals, as in â€Å"That style went out in the 1950’s,† or abbreviations, as in â€Å"This rule applies to most M.D.’s.† The former style is unnecessary, and the latter approach is rendered unnecessary by simply eliminating periods from capitalized abbreviations.) Catastrophe, meanwhile, means â€Å"overturning,† and refers to a devastating reversal in fortune. (In Greek tragedy, the term applied to the turning point in a play.) Scholar and novelist J. R. R. Tolkien coined an antonym, eucatastrophe, to denote a â€Å"good turn,† or the point at which an unexpectedly favorable outcome occurs, though his coinage is obscure. The term peripeteia, meaning â€Å"turning point† (in English also referred to as peripety), already exists, but it can refer to either a positive or a negative event. (Although a deus ex machina- the term literally means â€Å"god from the machine† and refers to a plot point representing sudden intervention that produces a happy ending- is a form of eucatastrophe, the terms are not exact synonyms.) Several other words contain the element -strophe, which stems from strephein, or elements derived from it. The word strophe itself, and its antonym antistrophe, pertain to elements of Greek tragedy, referring to the part of an ode sung by a chorus while it is turning to face another direction (east to west and west to east, respectively); the concluding movement is called the epode (â€Å"sung after†). Strophe has also come to refer to a part of a poem with stanzas of various lengths, and in the classic Greek era an antistrophe was also a dance. The term boustrophedon, which literally means â€Å"turning an ox while plowing† (the first syllable is related to that of bovine), refers to ancient writing forms in which lines are alternately written left to right and right to left, as opposed to always from the same direction. Anastrophe, meanwhile, is an inversion of normal word order for literary effect, as in the phrase â€Å"forest primeval.† The prefix strepto- is seen in the New Latin term streptococcus, which refers to a type of bacteria with a twisted shape. (The name for the medical condition caused by this bacteria, strep throat, uses an abbreviated form of the term.) The words strap and strop, both referring to a band of leather or other material (and also used as verbs), are also derived from strephein. Check out our latest YouTube video, Prepositions: In vs. On Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the FutureIs There a Reason â€Å"the Reason Why† Is Considered Wrong?Captain vs. Master

Green to Red Color Change Christmas Chemistry Demo

Green to Red Color Change Christmas Chemistry Demo Color-change demonstrations are classic fare for the chemistry classroom. The most common color change reaction may be the Blue Bottle (blue-clear-blue) chemistry demonstration and the Briggs-Rauscher oscillating clock (clear-amber-blue), but if you use different indicators you can get color-change reactions to suit just about any occasion. For example, you can perform a green-red-green color change reaction for a bit of Christmas chemistry. This color change demonstration uses the indigo carmine indicator. Christmas Color Change Demo Materials One of best parts of this demonstration is that you dont need very many ingredients: water (distilled is best, but you can use tap water if your pH is close to neutral)15 grams glucose7.5 grams sodium hydroxideindigo carmine indicatorbeakers or other clear containers Perform the Indigo Carmine Indicator Demo Prepare a 750 ml aqueous solution with 15 g glucose (solution A) and a 250 ml aqueous solution with 7.5 g sodium hydroxide (solution B).Warm solution A to around body temperature (98-100 °F).Add a pinch of indigo carmine, the disodium salt of indigo-5,5-disulphonic acid, to solution A. A pinch is enough indicator to make solution A visibly blue.Pour solution B into solution A. This will change the color from blue → green. Over time, this color will change from green → red/golden yellow.Pour this solution into an empty beaker, from a height of ~60 cm. Vigorous pouring from a height is essential in order to dissolve oxygen from the air into the solution. This should return the color to green.Once again, the color will return to red/golden yellow. The demonstration may be repeated several times. How Indigo Carmine Works Indigo carmine, also known as  5,5-indigodisulfonic acid sodium salt,  indigotine,  FDC Blue #2), has the  chemical formula is  C16H8N2Na2O8S2. It is used as a food coloring agent and as  a pH indicator. For chemistry, the purple salt is typically prepared as a 0.2% aqueous solution. Under these conditions, the solution is blue at pH 11.4 and yellow at pH 13.0. The molecule may also be used as a redox indicator, since it turns yellow when it is reduced. Other colors may be produced, depending on the specific reaction. Other uses of indigo carmine include dissolved ozone detection, as a dye for foods and medications, to detect amniotic fluid leaks in obstetrics, and as an intravenous dye to map the urinary tract. Health and Safety Information Indigo carmine may be harmful if inhaled. Avoid contact with the eyes or skin, which can cause irritation. Sodium hydroxide is a strong base that can cause irritation and burns. So, wear use care and wear gloves, a lab coat, and goggles setting up the demonstration. The solution may be safely disposed of down the drain, with running water.

Operations management Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Operations management - Lab Report Example According to Jones and Lockwood (2001), the industry is a complex assembly of customer processing, information processing, and material processing that leads to process choice of hybrid types inclusive of job shops, batch production, mass customization, and mass production all within the same operation (Jones, Lockwood, 2001), Additionally, the specific content of the industry does not always allow process layout to closely match process type, and the theory of Operations Management becomes difficult to apply (Jones and Lockwood, 2001). It is in this context the operations of Budget Hotels and its Luxury counterpart will be compared, and the results will there lacked the level of accuracy, and absoluteness prevalent in operations like the auto industry and other manufacturing entities. According to Dejong (2010), the difference between Budget Hotels and a Luxury Hotels, is that budget hotels tend to derive more value from operations given the leaner cost structures that are based on lower capital investments, land cost, and the staff to hotel room ratio. They are therefore able to achieve higher operating returns, which facilitate higher contributions to the hotel bottom lines (Dejong, H. 2010). Luxury Hotels on the other hand, according to Dejong (2010), are considered less risky then Budget Hotels in terms of development prospects, in that the entry barriers to new entrants are very high in this segment of the market. Studies have shown that Luxury Hotels are normally established in urban or resort areas, where they are characterized by the low number of available sites for development, compared to Budget Hotels which are found principally along highways, in close proximity to airports, and in suburban areas (Dejong, H. 2010). The strategy in locating these hotels in theses different areas separates and characterize the customers will be attracted to them, and the financial status and satisfaction desire levels of customers will play a critical role in decidi ng who chooses a luxury hotel as against the budget hotel. Economic conditions of the market, is also a key factor on the development choices of investors, and where the loan value ratios are decreasing compare to earlier periods like 2010 versus 2008, lower capital will be required to build budget hotels instead of luxury, and it is in this direction many business entrepreneurs will resort to achieve financial success and stability (Dejong, H. 2010). The hotel Investment climate criteria is one major reason why investors are turning to Budget Hotels in South America, Central America, Asia, especially in Brazil, India, China, and Dubai, instead of Luxury Hotels according to Dejong (2010). The criteria have an investment component and a market related component. Investors look at the investment horizon, the medium objectives, and risk tolerance before looking at the market related aspect which include the maturity of the destination markets being targeted, the supply and demand and t he state of the credit market before deciding whether the cost and returns from luxury and or budget hotels are attractive enough to warrant the investment of their capital (Dejong, 2010). According to Dejong (2010), substantial saving opportunities are available for companies that incorporate budget properties into their managed hotel programs over luxury hotels, and other upscale properties.

Lsweek4rem3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Lsweek4rem3 - Essay Example The arguments put by Kilduff and Mehra (1997) are based on earlier discussions by Rosenau (1992). However they also mention the idea of that postmodernism can be thought of as one of the great 20th century challenges, an idea put forward by Wisdom ( 1987) This particular argument is not only about research in social sciences, but also within areas such as physics (Farney, 1994;) as cited in 1997 by Kilduff and Mehra. Alvensson and Skoldberg (1995) point out that critically evaluating a variety of issues will provide insight for reflective ways to investigate social sciences. The authors focus on the way in which issues are described and articulated which appears to ensue from using the expressions postmodernism and modernism. Their discussion is concerned with the use of postmodernism as being a means used by researchers when they wish to put forward a totally new image. Going back to Kilduff and Mehra (1997), they discuss postmodernism concepts as being linked with the process of knowledge creation. This they do by discussing the writing of Giroux (1992) who stated that within postmodern research the aims are to challenge the makeup and shape of prevailing patterns of knowledge as well as how to create new types of knowledge. This., it is suggested, happens when disciplinary boundaries are broken down and when those who are relatively unrepresented are given their voice. I find myself agreeing with postmodernism. concepts when it comes to knowledge creation. There needs to be a focus upon two things – the way in which postmodernism presents a challenge to older models of knowledge as well as the production of new knowledge. In the work situation there needs to be a challenging of the already existing body of knowledge while at the same time ensuring that new knowledge is being produced. This means that postmodernism can be a successful conce pt when it comes to the creation of new bodies of knowledge. How has

Assignment 3 High School Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment 3 High School - Math Problem Example f '(x) = -2x + 200 = 0 Hence: x = 100 c. Graph the function: Profit The given graph is parabolic. As expected, the profit is positive from x = 20 to x =180 verifying our answer in b. It can also be seen that the maximum profit can be found in x = 100. 2. The population of the country is 50 million. Two months ago, the government required its citizen to purchase an identity card. After one month, 6 million people had it and by the end of the second month, 10 million people had one. a. Model N (number of cards) as a function of t (months) using the form: N = a + b/ (t+c) Given are the following: When t = 1 then N = 6,000,000 hence: 6,000,000 = a + b/(1+c) [eq.1] t = 2 N = 10,000,000 hence: 10,000,000 = a + b/(2+c) [eq.2] and of course, when t = 0 N = 0 hence: 0 = a + b/c or a= -b/c [eq.3] Simplifying eq. 1 and inserting the value of a from eq. 3, we have: 6,000,000 = -b/c + b/(1+c) 6,000,000 = (-b -bc +bc) / [c*(1+c)] 6,000,000 = -b/[c*(1+c)] but -b/c = a 6,000,000 = a / (1+c) a = 6,000,000 + 6,000,000c [eq.4] Simplifying eq. 1 and inserting the value of a from eq. 3, we have: 10,000,000 = -b/c + b/ (2+c) 10,000,000 = (-2b -bc +bc) / [c*(2+c)] 10,000,000 = -2b/[c*(2+c)] but -b/c = a 10,000,000 = 2a / (2+c) a = 10,000,000 + 5,000,000c [eq.5] By equation 4 & 5, we can get easily get the value of a & c: a = 30,000,000 c =4 By eq. 3, a = - b/c or b = -ac. Hence: b = -120,000,000 The model equation is therefore: N = 30,000,000 + (-120,000,000)/ (t +4) b. What is the function called Graph and define its features: The function is of the type Rational function because the equations can be expressed as a ratio of two polynomial...The intersections of the revenue and cost lines represent also the value where there is no profit or loss. In addition, it can be seen that costs and average costs intersect at some point. This can be determined with the following solution: 6. Market research suggests that potential market for a product is 800,000. At year 1, the market penetration has reached 50% or 400,000. At year 2, the market penetration has reached 75% or 600,000. Using the following model below, answer the following questions:

Corporate strategy paper exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Corporate strategy paper exam - Essay Example The other companies make greater use of the vegetable oil, which result in the better shelf life of their product. 4) The other key issue is that the company's chocolates are seasoned. For example the box chocolates show the sales of almost 35% during the period of 10 weeks before the Christmas, a further 10% are for the Easter, including three million Easter eggs. Typically the company sells almost 10m in last 72 hours of Christmas. 5) Chocolates of the company are hand made this makes the process of automated packing difficult for the boxed chocolate. The other companies on the other hand like Cadburys make moulded chocolates, which makes the automated packing easier. 6) Thornton's long-term strategy included vertical integration and product differentiation. This means the top person in the company belonged to a particular family. The product differentiation apart from the taste of the chocolate was also marked by the freshness of the chocolate. the company that has made such a huge selling of their product. Also freshness has been receiving the top priority. It is these factors, which laid strong foundation stone of the company for it future growth and expansion. of Thorntons'chocolates. ... 2) Strong network of retailing stores: For any manufacturing company the most crucial requirement is the excellent network of franchisee. Thornton' has its own retailing outlets, hence there is much more lesser dependency on external marketing strategy or the franchisee. 3) Freshness of the chocolate: Freshness of the product is the distinctive feature of Thorntons'chocolates. However, since the demand of company's chocolates is seasonal this puts extra pressure on requirement of the manpower during the peak season. The requirement of casual staff for packing purposes increases which leads to reduction in efficiency. Also the sales during peak season become almost ten fold hence there is requirement of extra staff at the retail stores also during the peak season. This makes the company more dependent on the casual staff. The casual staffs are quite expensive and it is not easily available. As it is the requirement of the casual staff in general in the market is more during the festive seasons. Also the casual staff is untrained, hence it has to be trained, which requires some of the resources of the company. The casual staffs have lower speed of working thus reducing the efficiency. The other critical issue is that the chocolates have lower shelf life, this makes it difficult for the company to sale the chocolates through alternative retail outlets like the garages, super markets and small shops. This reduces the market of the company, which could help the company during off peak periods. 4) Company's chocolates are seasonal: The maximum sale of the chocolates manufactured by the company is during seasons like Christmas and Easter. Now the company has a huge manufacturing infrastructure. It also has wide

The bad influence of the daily use of technology Essay

The bad influence of the daily use of technology - Essay Example In a fast paced society that characterizes the present age, communication requires speed and brevity due to which message appropriateness and effectiveness have suffered. As a result, a communication effectivity gap has risen which threatens to deteriorate social interactions (McFarlane, 1). Moreover, inter-communication between individuals, peers and families has seen a decline. As a result, the communication crisis has seriously affected social relationships as a result of deteriorating physical interaction, declining patience, augmented exasperation, and plummeting communication skills (Martin, n.pag.). New technology is continuously innovating and occupying a central position in our daily lives, so much that physical interactions have started being put on the backburner. With the changing communication patterns and technological devices, individuals particularly young ones, become so deeply involved in the digital screen that they forget to realize that there is another physical world outside the digital realm. Consequently, in-person interactions and face-to-face communication now seems to be on the verge of obsolescence. Increased gaming, texting, and computing distracts the attention from human individuals to a trivial piece of gadget. As a result, individuals do not get to spend quality time with their friends and families due to which social interaction suffers. The arrival of quicker modes of communication has increased the need to have fast and brief messages. A greater emphasis is now paid on the efficiency of sending and receiving the message rather than the effectiveness of the message. This explains why messages today lack linguistic appropriateness, orderly expressions, and quality. The perception that caring too much about message effectiveness is time consuming inhibits the appropriate impact of the message leading to a communication effectivity gap (McFarlane, 1). Reliance on quicker communication has increased and consequently,

Schedual management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Schedual management - Essay Example The purpose of inviting shakers is so as to increase the number of attendees who will be readily interested to come for the event (Rahner 5). ?1000 is the amount of money that is estimated to be the fee that the group will demand as their allowance. ?1000 will be the grand prize for the winning team while the runners up will be rewarded ?500, and ?250 for the third place. ?500 is the amount that has been estimated as the expenses for preparations besides the costs mentioned above. The university is donating ?500 of the estimated ?3500 required. This means that further sponsorship to raise the remaining ? 3000 will be required. However, over 500 students are expected to attend the event where ? 25 will be charged for each ticket. This translates to a total of ?12,500 which is the least amount that is expected to be raised. When costs are deducted, about ? 9000 will be the net profit. Of this, ? 7000 will be used for charity while the rest will go to Alpachino kitty who are the main or ganizers. It is important to state that Alpachino are the organizers but I am the project manager. The ?2000 will continue to support the implementation of the project in the coming years. To ensure that the number attendants is increased, tickets will be sold for one month prior to the main event with emphasis to the fact that the charges is meant for charity purposes. Huge numbers of students are expected to flock in the event where The shakers dancers will perform. Background Information Alpachino is the best dancing group of which I am a member. The club was founded on 1998 by a group of talented students interest in dancing. Every year, the club organizes a concert that is always aimed at giving back to the community. Many welfare projects have been accomplished by the combined efforts and support of the university towards this noble goal. This year, it is not exceptional because on July 21st 2013, the club will hold a major dancing competition aimed at raising funds for the ch arity purposes. The club hopes to serve slum children that are in need by empowering them and encouraging them to come forward and showcase their talents and potentials. Such project has for the last five years rehabitated over 200 street children among many more projects. This year, the officials of the club has approached me and asked me to develop on their behalf, an individual project plan for the planning of the stated dancing completion to be held at the university in July 2013. I will use an initial budget of ?500 but the club will also sponsor the event from their accounts kitty. In total, an amount of ?3,500 will be the budget that I will use to plan the project. However, my project plan needs to demonstrate that any of the ?500 spent – will secure a profit and enable more money to be sent to the charity. Business Case Business Goals and Objectives The business goals and objectives for this project will focus on hosting a dancing concert. Raise money for empowering y ouths in the slums. Facilitate coordination and information among the committee members. The project will enable participants to showcase their potential and talents Will bring together people and facilitate interactivity and capacity building. Facilitate entertainment . Provide high level of event planning skills by organizing the event. Provide an open,

The bad influence of the daily use of technology Essay

The bad influence of the daily use of technology - Essay Example In a fast paced society that characterizes the present age, communication requires speed and brevity due to which message appropriateness and effectiveness have suffered. As a result, a communication effectivity gap has risen which threatens to deteriorate social interactions (McFarlane, 1). Moreover, inter-communication between individuals, peers and families has seen a decline. As a result, the communication crisis has seriously affected social relationships as a result of deteriorating physical interaction, declining patience, augmented exasperation, and plummeting communication skills (Martin, n.pag.). New technology is continuously innovating and occupying a central position in our daily lives, so much that physical interactions have started being put on the backburner. With the changing communication patterns and technological devices, individuals particularly young ones, become so deeply involved in the digital screen that they forget to realize that there is another physical world outside the digital realm. Consequently, in-person interactions and face-to-face communication now seems to be on the verge of obsolescence. Increased gaming, texting, and computing distracts the attention from human individuals to a trivial piece of gadget. As a result, individuals do not get to spend quality time with their friends and families due to which social interaction suffers. The arrival of quicker modes of communication has increased the need to have fast and brief messages. A greater emphasis is now paid on the efficiency of sending and receiving the message rather than the effectiveness of the message. This explains why messages today lack linguistic appropriateness, orderly expressions, and quality. The perception that caring too much about message effectiveness is time consuming inhibits the appropriate impact of the message leading to a communication effectivity gap (McFarlane, 1). Reliance on quicker communication has increased and consequently,

Importance of Being Earnest Essay Example for Free

Importance of Being Earnest Essay The Importance of Being Earnest is a serious comedy about trivial matters The Importance of being Earnest is a play that satirizes the Victorian upper classes. In the play, Oscar Wide makes fun of the upper class in many ways. Most commonly, Wilde does this by using comic irony, humor, and witty statements. However, if we look deeper into the text, a lot of the trivial matters characters discuss have a serious side to them. Wilde uses these matters to satirize the Victorian upper even more. The seriousness of death is taken light-heartedly in the play. Rather than associating death with sadness and suffering and grief Jack and Algy portray death as a method of conveniently eliminating unwanted people, whether imaginary or not. When Algy confesses that Bunbury is â€Å"Quite Exploded† something comical arises however, his amusing phrase also has some serious implications. Although at first the fact that Bunbury has exploded may be hilarious, it is also shocking to some of the characters in the play, as Bunbury was â€Å"supposed† to be very close to Algy. Furthermore, Algy talks about his death so lightly, that it makes it seem as if Algy couldn’t care less about losing a close friend. The worst part about the way Algy communicates Bunbury’s death, is that he never admits that Bunbury never existed and lies to all the characters who felt truly sorry for Bunbury. Jack also tells Algy, If Gwendolen accepts me, I am going to kill my brother because Cecily is a little too much interested in him. Another trivial moment is when Jack admits to smoking in front of Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell’s replies with: â€Å"Every man should have an occupation of some kind†. Although the audience may laugh at this moment, Wilde shows how the Victorian upper class had absolutely no work to do – and therefore categorized smoking as an occupation. Cucumber sandwiches also are also used to criticize the British upper classes. â€Å"No cucumber sandwiches! † shows the absurdness of the upper classes. The scene and dialog is certainly comical, however, it shows how dramatic and over- the –top the British upper class was. Moreover, in the Victorian Era, The Importance of Being Earnest was watched by middle classes as well was the upper class; the scene must have told the Middle classes a lot about the upper class, especially when they were dramatizing trivial matters like not having cucumber sandwiches. The Name â€Å"Earnest† is also very important in the play, as this too is an example of triviality and seriousness. Gwenolden states that her â€Å"ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest†. Cecily says she pities married woman whose husband is not called Ernest. The name Earnest in itself is a very trivial thing. Although the name Earnest â€Å"inspires utter confidence† Wilde makes fun of the fact that both Jack and Algy are very unhonest men. A name does not define the persons personality or values, however the triviality of the name Ernest is taken out of proportions and treated very seriously in the play. In conclusion, Wilde satirizes the Victorian upper class by making fun of their trivial matters that they treat seriously. Wilde almost swaps seriousness and triviality around so that serious issues are treated trivially and trivial issues are treated seriously. Although back in 19th Century the Victorian classes may have found the play hilarious, today we have a broader view and are able to understand Wilde’s message about the Victorian upper classes more. In fact, Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest â€Å"A Serious Comedy for Trivial People† but changed that to â€Å"A Trivial Comedy for Serious People†. – Isn’t that the same thing though?

Socrates Contribution To Ethics Philosophy Essay

Socrates Contribution To Ethics Philosophy Essay According to Nehamas (1999), Socrates is accredited as one of the main pioneer of western philosophy and an enigma mostly recognized in the accounts of later writers of classical, especially the writings of his learners Xenophon and Plato, and through Aristophanes. Initially, it is known that Socrates utilized his time learning the nature of reality (cosmology) but later dropped the study so that he could entirely focus on ethics. Socrates has emerged as a recognizable figure due to his contribution to the area of ethics through his depiction in dialogue of Plato. He was later convicted for corrupting minds of youth by educating them to question anything and for being atheist. On the other hand, ethics as a field starts with the efforts of Aristotle. As a Greek philosopher, Aristotle is also a vital pioneer in western philosophy where his initial writings developed a system of comprehensive western philosophy covering morality, politics, science, logic, aesthetics, and metaphysics. E thics of Aristotle are founded on ancient thought of Greek, specifically that of teacher Plato of Aristotle and teach of Plato, Socrates (Gottlieb, 2009). The major goal of philosophical method of Socrates is at all times ethical. Socrates held the belief that the appropriate way for individuals to live was to point on self-development instead of material wealth. At all times he welcomed others to attempt to focus more on sense of true community and friendships because he had a feeling that it was the appropriate way for individuals to develop together as a population. He lived up to this and it was revealed when he was condemned for corrupting youth and atheism. Even though his death sentence was procrastinated for a month and this presented a good chance to escape, Socrates did not escape since he felt it would be opposite to his principles (Nehamas, 1999). The concept that individuals have particular virtues created a common thread in teachings of Socrates. According to Socrates, the virtues represented the paramount qualities for an individual to posses, firstly of which were the intellectual or philosophical virtues. Socrates main tained that the greatest of all valuable possessions is virtue and the ultimate life was used up looking for the good. Socrates accepted as true that if an individual knows what the good is, one will all the time do what is pleasant. Hence, if a person justly comprehends the meaning of justice, self-control, or courage, one will act in a just, self-controlled, and courageous way. The consequence about this would be that every vice must be as a result of ignorance. Ozden and Elcioglu (2004) argued that Socrates believe is that no one does wrong knowingly but most of the times they think what they are doing is right. This means that even the individual who commit the most atrocious deeds always have a thought that he is acting for some good cause. This resulted to Socrates not to buy the idea of Aristotle called moral weakness where good is recognized and yet committing the evil. The one committing evil acts does not recognize what is good and he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t choose the ev il intentionally. In addition, Socrates had a belief that the virtue life was all the time in best interest of a person and no one could be leading happy life if he was not good morally. Aristotle held the perception that virtues of moral are conditions of character placed at the middle of extremes of deficiency and excess (Gottlieb, 2009). He suggested that intellectual virtues and moral virtues are distinguishable entities. Moral virtues are related with choosing, acting, and feeling good. The moral virtues are developed via practice and every individual is capable of nurturing these virtues via habit. From Aristotle, intellectual virtues are superiorities of the mind like judgment, understanding, and wisdom. He also argues that an individual is born with these virtues and they can only be cultivated but not taught. Also Aristotle believed that virtue is a thing that a person can attain and not a thing which is present when person is born. Various persons are not initially bad or good but result to be bad or good via habits they nurture in them. Therefore, virtue can only be attained by acting it. He also indicated that doing virtuous things is not enough and an in dividual must have the appropriate motive to act in a manner that a Virtuous individuals would. Aristotle indicated that the appropriate method to learn virtues is to follow the illustration of a virtuous person. He also suggested that a virtuous person could be a perfect type by tracking the example of how a virtuous man would act. These kinds of persons are Martin Luther King, Socrates, Mandela, and Jesus and by tracking such persons and continuously learning habit to handle our feelings we might start to contain these feeling at appropriate periods, towards the appropriate persons, on the appropriate grounds, in the right way and for the right motive (Gottlieb, 2009). Aristotle view is more plausible because he shows that moral virtues are developed via practice and every individual is capable of nurturing these virtues via habit. He has also indicated that virtue is an entity that an individual can achieve and not an entity that is hereditary. It is also appropriate for an individual to learn virtues by emulating persons with virtues. Socrates view would fall short in the society because he suggest that individual who commit the most atrocious deeds always have a thought that he is acting for some good cause. Aristotle accepts that there is moral weakness where a person knows the good but still commit the evil. Therefore, the Socratesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ view that the person doing evil doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know what is good and he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t choose evil intentionally cannot hold in moral of the society especially when searching for justice.

Pizza: A Brief Historical Overview and American Culture Essay

2005 will mark the 100-year anniversary of the first pizzeria in America. Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, which is about 350 slices per second. According to an American Dairy Association random sampling survey, pizza is America’s fourth most craved food behind cheese, chocolate, and ice cream. American’s obviously love pizza; we have even designated the month of October as National Pizza Month. But whether you bake your pizza in your kitchen oven, in a wood-burning stove, eat it in a restaurant, or choose delivery, there is no denying this phenomenon has become as American as apple pie. Although we love our modern-day version pizza pie, where did it all begin? In my research, I found several opinions of the origin, but there is a consensus that this baked goodness is over one thousand years old. Ed Behr of Art of Eating newsletter states, â€Å"The written record of the word pizza, in the sense of foccacia, goes back to the Codex Cajetanus of the year 997.† And there is speculation that even Plato spoke of pizza in his Republic: â€Å"They will provide from their barley and flour from their wheat and kneading and cook these†¦ they (the cakes) will also have relishes – salt†¦ and of olives and cheese; and onions and greens.† Although this is probably not the case, it is interesting to imagine one of our great minds of history philosophizing about something so miniscule. Behr continues to suggest that â€Å"pizza is an alternation of the Greek word pitta, which was int...

Immoral or Unconstitutional Government Decrees :: Politics Political Essays

Immoral or Unconstitutional Government Decrees Imagine this scenario and let's do a thought experiment. I'm ordered by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to perform, without compensation, cleaning services at a local senior citizen retirement home. I've not been found guilty in a court of law of a crime for which I'm being punished. I've simply been ordered by DHHS to work at the senior citizen home in the name of promoting the public welfare. Failure to comply means going to jail. I might seek a court injunction against DHHS's edit. But suppose the court ruled that DHHS had the authority to order me to perform cleaning services at senior citizen homes. I might take my complaint all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court only for the Court to rule: yes, under the U.S. Constitution's welfare clause, and the authority it gives Congress, I'm compelled as ordered by DHHS to perform cleaning services. My question to you is now that the courts have ruled, should I simply comply? You might rejoin by suggesting that the question cannot be answered unless additional information is supplied such as: Did Congress properly vote to authorize DHHS to order me to clean senior citizen homes? Did DHHS single me out or are other Americans assigned similar tasks? In other words, was there invidious discrimination? My response to your first set of questions is what does a vote have to do with the rightness or wrongness of the DHHS mandate? Would one determine the rightness or wrongness of rape, murder, theft and slavery by whether there was majority vote? To the second question, I would also ask does the rightness or wrongness of an act depend upon the number of people, a hundred people or millions of people, forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? Was slavery in our country okay because 4 million blacks were enslaved instead of just one? Does equality in servitude make servitude just? One might rejoin by saying, "All those arguments are neither here nor there; the law is the law and people should obey." I say balderdash! South Africa used to have apartheid laws that strictly controlled where blacks could live, work, and eat. Nazi Germany had anti-Semitic laws. In United States there was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Would you have obeyed those laws? Would you have approved of and sought prosecution of white employers who hired black workers in contravention of job reservation laws that were a part of South Africa's Civilized Labour Policy?

The writeup focuses on the lives of individuals

Is a book that describes how low ranking and shy individuals have suddenly become   a public figure And the question will be that of what siginificance is homosexuality history in Africa? And how this information can help in the fight against the scouge of HIV AIDS ,inequality in socal status as well as gender violence in African continent.The writeup focuses   on the lives of individuals who do not comply with the societal conventios   in regards to marriage and love drawing from Epprecht and  Ã‚   books.HUNGOCHANI is a book written by Eppreth on nauthodox and nonconforming sexuality in southAfrica.coupled therefore with intelligent writing from other writers one can get a clear image of individuals who do practice   what their environment expect as core values.Additional material includes several fictionalised accounts of same-sex relationships in southern Africa.The greatest shocker in Africa in the recent period is the emergence of terms like homosexuality,gay legal rig hts and homophobia and lesbianism all to the chagrin and annoyance of many.Ephereth   book also reported incidence of same sex marrage for instance in 1990,GALZ was founded in ZIMbabwe   with the objective   of enhancing interaction among the gay group members.They have moved further at resent by looking for how to form alliance with activist organization such as he womens;s right campaign group , organizations campaigning agaist HIV/AIDS and human rights groups.The aims of GALZ in Zimbabwe is therefore to increase gays rights awareness in a compound forum thereby facilitating the incorporation of this rights along with some of the other fundamental human rights.This is an area that civil organization are yet to have headway in south Africa.Ghana became in 1957 the first country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Lesbians and gays, though, are still waiting to be liberated from a repressive British legacy: sodomy laws.A gay social life exists, mostly in the form of h ouse parties, and a few queer-friendly clubs in the capital, Accra, but there are risks. Because homosexuality is illegal, club-goers, especially tourists, risk blackmail. If they don't pay, social and legal consequences can be serious.The book examines   is   a mix of works in the gay and lesbian   associations and it uses journals and other significant materials   to make new record in this regards.the books gave atreatise on therecords of Lesbians   and gays in the Japanese pacific fight   issues like gayism,trangenderism a and also lesbianism.It delves in to queer roups interface in the growing international community and US ,it argues the meaning attributed to the various queer society and opes the eyes of readers to the development o gays and lesbians in the japan after the war .Mac Clelland article titled the social situation facing gay in japan   demonstreates how the society sees and reacts to Queers and reveals the whole organization of Japanese nation and th e expent of tolerancr to sexual minorities as they have   a strong component of the   Human Rights policies constructed by the â€Å"Tokyo City Human Rights Policy Directive Manual released in 2000†.The promise to protect the human rights was made by Japanese government following resistance from the Japanese public,Queer activist group and human rights organization when the policy of 200 excluded the inclusion of gays

Kathak and Social Communication Essay

Social Science and Communication ‘Kathak’ is one of the most popular forms of Indian classical dance. We have grown up watching it in movies from UmraoJaanuptoDevdas. Most young girls in India even start learning kathak right from the tender age of 5 years. However is kathak just a simple cultural product of the country that can be counted among the artistic treasures of this land or is there a larger understanding to the same? Through this article we shall travel through the journey of time and see how a thing as simple and pure as an ancient dance form can tell us the stories of the cultural, religious, political transformations of the country. The Fifth Veda Traditionally the Hindu society was divided in five varnas – Brahmins (intellectuals), Kshatriya (warriors), vaishya (merchants), shudra (manual labourers), achoot (untouchables). The purpose of this form of division was to have a more organized society by distributing it on basis of the type of work performed. However with time this became a hierarchical division of the society which led to oppression of the lower caste (shudra& untouchables) by the upper caste members. In this entire struggle for power the holy hindu scriptures (the Vedas) remained as the sole possession of the Brahmins or the educated class. Any attempt to even touch these holy texts by members of the lower caste was considered a crime. Even our holy text of Ramayana narrates an incident where lord Ram (mariyadapurushottam) chops of the head of a person from the lower caste when he attempts to read the Vedas. The shudra’s were forbidden to listen to these puranas (holy texts). (Massey, 1999) It’s believed that looking at this state of the society gods asked Lord Brahma to devise something which would be accessible to all and bind this society together. This is how the fifth veda or Natya Veda was born. The Hindu epics have stories of brahma teaching Bharata (the then king of Bharat what we know as India) the Natya Veda and later his 100 sons became the authorities of music, dance and drama. The Bharat NatyaShashtra has been variously dated from 2nd century BC to 3rd century AD. This Veda was common for all sections of society and all genders. Stories and teaching were told through dance. This is where we saw the birth of Kathak as a dance form. Kathak Kathak is derived from the root word Katha which means story. Kathak as a dance form was used to narrate stories mainly mythological stories primarily for the function of educating people. This was the only form in which people of all castes and genders could share their learning. This dance form was spread far and wide through abhinayawhich meaning ‘a carrying to the spectators’. This form of dance contained various components:(Massey, 1999) Kathak Abhinaya Sentiment and Mood Pure Dance Dramatic Element Vachik: poetry, song, recitation, music and rhythm Aharya: costume, make-up, jewellery Satvik: physical manifestation of mental and emotional states Angik: gestures of the body Nritya Nritta Natya Caste Politics The Hindu caste divide that Kathak tried to dissolve eventually took another form of dominations. The Brahmins saw this movement as a loss of their supremacy and power; hence they brought in another angle to the same. According to the Brahmins since dance was nothing but another form of worshiping god they had the supreme say in these matters. The social anthropology of Kathak dancers in history is thus highly fascinating as it got equated to the priestly caste and even the kathak gurus in the northern belt of india represented the Brahmin status.(Booth, 2005) The Brahmins not only separated this form of dance from its core purpose of binding people across various castes but also hit the gender angle by bringing in the concept of devdasi . These were women who were dedicated to dance and sing only for god. These women were neither allowed to marry, nor have have any form of physical relationships. Thus the power game was won by the Brahmins by playing their cards of caste and gender politics. Gender Politics Traditionally Kathak was meant to be a platform accessible to all. It defamiliarises the ordinary sexual and social experience of women and men as people. Indian mythology also reveals various stories exemplifying gender ambiguity, androgyny, sex transformations, male pregnancy, and erotica through some of the metaphorical discourses related to gods, goddesses, heavenly nymphs, and demons, as well as sages, ascetics and yogis. There have been innumerable examples of transcending gender in kathak. Men dressed like women and performed. The concept of gender in the Natya Veda is highly complex. It believes that gender is past our physical being, it is connected with our soul and souls aspire for the realisation moksha which can only be achieved when one can get free from the shackles of bodily existence. As per the Tantric school of thought the Supreme Being is conceptualised as one complex sex, comprises of both male and female (on the right and left side respectively). In order to attain salvation one must be able to transcend these shackles of one’s sex.(Shah, 1998) Even in the Pre-Vedic literature Shiva is known as ardhanarishwara, which means containing the polarities of both male and female force in the form of Shiva-Shakti. Dance is an important means by which cultural ideologies of gender difference are reproduced. Through movement vocabulary, costuming, body image, training, and technique, discourses of dance are often rooted in ideas of natural gender difference However as time passed Kathak also came under the purview of the political game of gender and it’s got labelled with the tag of being a dance form only for the females. Even the stories narrated through kathak like the stories of lord Krishna have got adapted. Earlier it was believed that Radha was Krihna’shladini Shakti and not different from him, hence the dance was performed in a semi-circular manner where the same dancer took the roles of both Krishna and Radha. However, now these roles are performed by different actors.(Chatterjee, 1996) CHANGING DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN The birth of Kathak took place with the Benarasgharana of kathak which was then ruled by the Rajputs. This dance form then travelled to Jaipur establishing the Jaipur gharana of kathak. Though both these forms were highly dominated by females they still had a great respect in terms of an art of telling stories of god and educating others on the powers of truth , righteousness etc. However when the Mughal’s invading our country and the marriage of JodhaBai and Akbar took place two cultured merged together. The Mughals got dancers from Persia and captured women form india and got them trained in kathak. It’s from this time onwards that Kathak got labelled as the courtesans dance what we today call as tawa’if or prostitutes.(Massey, 1999) The costumes changed and the new gharana of Kathak was born which is today the most famous one – Luckhnowgharana. The dressed changed from the ghaghra (like a long skirt) to chudidar. The dresses were tighter at the bust and presented the women as a sexually desirable object. A lot of change took place in the basic hand movements and presentation if the dance and a dance that used to tell the love story of Krishna and Radha at one time became a dance form with movements meant to entice men. In the whole power struggle and caste politics it was the women who suffered the most and were heavily exploited. DURING THE COLONIAL INDIA During the British colonial rule dance became a tool of rebellion and political resistance. It demonstrated unity and power. The dancing women’s position changed from ‘pure and pious’ to ‘fallen and sinful’ and hence either victims or perpetuators of the evil of dance. Women were encouraged to display their beauty, energy, skill, sensuality and seductiveness in dance. Thus for the fear of saving there girls from the being looked on as an object of desire dance became a tabooed activity for members of society especially the upper caste. This mindset exists even today, as we don’t see many girls from the upper class of society taking up dancing. However these mind sets are changing gradually.(Reed, 1998) GURU and SHISHYA As per Natyashashtra an acharya or teacher should have an intrinsic knowledge of vocal and instrumental music, dance, rhythm and movement. He should further have imagination, intelligence, creative faculty, memory, sharpness and capacity to shape the taught. The shishyas, or the taught, on the other hand should be intelligent, retentive, appreciative, devoted, enthusiastic and must have an innate desire to excel. This form of teaching has been continued over time however the essence of the relation has got lost with the loss of the pure and pious status of dance. CULTURAL SYMBOL Today Kathak has been attributed with various new meanings on the global platform like * Traditional heritage of India * Carrier of Indian culture * Indianness * Recounting the significant past Today kathak has become a cultural commodity that gets sold in form of a few dance shows and performances however it has lost its original purpose and ethos(Royo, 2004) KATHAK AND MOVIES Kathak has always been used as an important tool in cinema. In 1955 classic, JhanakJhanakpayalBaje by V. Shantaram the film’s hero, Ghirdar competes for artistic supremacy in Kathak dance against another dancer Ram Prasad. Ghirdar’s triumph is ensured during the last series of rhythmic systematic turns or chakkras which he performs elegantly, however his opponent is left all dizzy. Ghirdhar here is from Varanasi, the birthplace of kathak and the ultimate hindu city and his opponent is from Agra the Mughal capital which is associated with the more popular kathakgharana of lucknow. Thus kathak was used to demonstrate a state of communal tension in the country. This art form was also reduced to mockery when UstadHalimJaffar Khan, who worked on Kohinoor, and other films, with Naushad Ali (Kohinoor’s music director), explains that the singing in this scene was undertaken by Niyaz Ahmad: â€Å"Naushad spoke to him about this scene. He said, ‘Please forgive me Khan-saheb, but for this scene please sing some tans and things, but in a comic way, in a foolish way.’ And Nyaz Ahmad agreed to do that† Even in later films kathak remained as a dance of the prostitutes through movies like umraojaan. And even today when we have become more liberal in our thinking and claim to have crossed these old regressive practices the choreographers still use kathak in a ovie like devdas only for the character of chandramukhi, who plays a prostitute. Also today’s concert stage kathak is more focused of fast, complex, rhythmic footwork and tracing handwork rather than the old ethos of the dance which had its core around freedom, liberalization, unity, storytelling, love and expression of oneself.(Chakravorty, 2006) CONCLUSION A cultural dance form created to unify everybody and give everyone a freedom to expression eventually got used as a tool for playing out caste and gender politics. Whether it was the sufferings of the women or the link of the dance to the Bhakti movement, Kathak has transformed with all these interactions. The various stakeholders of the society have also used this to their convenience as and when required. Initially the Brahmin established their supremacy over this pure and pious form of expression an today they are the ones who have started the movement to label this as a fallen and sinful act. Thus we have seen the journey of nation through one form of dance and the story of Kathak through the nation. Bibliography Booth, G. (2005). Pandits in the Movies: Contesting the Identity of Hindustani Classical Music and Musicians in. Asian Music, Vol. 36, 60-86. Chakravorty, P. (2006). Dancing into Modernity: Multiple Narratives of India’s Kathak Dance. Dance Research Journal, Vol. 38, 115-136. Chatterjee, A. (1996). Training in Indian Classical Dance: A Case Study. Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 13, 68-91. Coorlawala, U. A. (1992). Illustrating Kathak. Dance Chronicle, Vol. 15, 88-93. Lidke, J. S. (2006). DevÄ «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Dance: The Interweaving of Politics, Mysticism, and Culture in Kathmandu Valley. International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 10, 35-57. Massey, R. (1999). India’s kathak dance, past present, future. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Pillai, S. (2002). Rethinking Global Indian Dance through Local Eyes. Dance Research Journal, Vol. 34, 14-29. Reed, S. A. (1998). The Politics and Poetics of Dance. Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol 27, 503-532. Royo, A. L. ( 2004). New Directions in Indian Dance. Dance Research Journal, Vol. 36, 135-138. Shah, P. (1998). Transcending Gender in the Performance of Kathak. Dance Research Journal, Vol. 30, 2-17. WALKER, M. (2010). Courtesans and Choreographers: The (Re)Placement of Women in the History of Kathak Dance. New Delhi: Routledge.

Criticisms Against Ethical Theories

Criticisms leveled against Ethical Theories 1. Criticisms leveled against Consequentialism. Consequentialism is based on the consequences of actions. It is sometimes called a teleological theory, from the Greek word telos, meaning goal. According to consequentialism, actions are right or wrong depending on whether their consequences further the goal. The goal (or, â€Å"the good†) can be something like the happiness of all people or the spreading of peace and safety. Anything which contributes to that goal is right and anything which does not is wrong. Actions are thought to have no moral value in themselves (no rightness or wrongness), but only get moral value from whether or not they lead to the goal. John Stuart Mill was a famous consequentialist. Consequentialists would say that killing people is not right or wrong in itself, it depends on the outcome. Killing an innocent child would be a bad thing because it would decrease the happiness of its family and have no good results. Killing a terrorist would be a good thing because, although it would upset his family, it would make people safer. The main criticism of consequentialism is that it would allow any action in pursuit of a good cause, even actions that most people would say were clearly morally wrong, such as torture, killing children, genocide, etc. 2. Criticisms leveled against Deontology The word deontology comes from the Greek word deon, meaning duty. According to this theory, it is your duty to do actions which are right and not do those which are wrong. Actions are thought to be right or wrong in themselves. For example, killing people and lying are wrong, sharing with others who are in need is right. Immanuel Kant was a famous deontologist. E. g. While trekking in the Andes you come across a guerilla leader who has captured 20 local villagers. The guerilla says if you will shoot one hostage he will let the other 19 go free. If you refuse to shoot, he will kill all 20. In the thought experiment the guerilla leader is telling the truth and you have only two choices: to shoot, or to refuse. Choose to shoot, and you are a consequentialist, motivated by saving the 19 innocent people. Choose to refuse, and you are a deontologist, motivated by the fact that it is always wrong to kill an innocent person. The main criticism of deontology is that it is selfish, a way of avoiding getting your hands dirty (in a moral sense) while still allowing terrible things to happen. For instance, in the thought experiment you would not have shot anybody but 20 innocent people would still die. You could have prevented this outcome if you weren't afraid to take any guilt on yourself. 3. Criticisms of Utilitarianism †¢ Distastefulness By far and and away the most common criticism of utilitarianism can be reduced simply to: â€Å"I don't like it† or â€Å"It doesn't suit my way of thinking†. For an example of this, here's something from someone who might prefer to remain nameless. â€Å"Producing the greatest good for the greatest number is fine as long as you are not hurting someone you really love in the process. For instance, with the trolley situation, I would rather kill 5 people on the main track than my mother on the spur track. Utilitarianism runs into problems when sentiment is involved!! â€Å" Utilitarianism is alleged to be faulty in the way it requires us to think about all kinds of actions – to apply the felicific calculus in disregard to any feared distaste of the result. For example, some issues or potential actions are (to a non-utilitarian) â€Å"morally unthinkable†: Utilitarianism does indeed have something to say on this issue – otherwise it would suggest that the life of this extra individual was of no importance. I suggest it as a virtue of utility, that it does not arbitrarily discount value depending on some detail of the situation: all interests count – imply and fairly. The fact that opponents of utilitarianism admit that they won't even consider some situations seems to me to be most damning to their credibility, and indicative of their general irrationality on matters ethical. The argument from distaste is often expressed as a suggestion that utilitarianism doesn't provide enough support for individuals' rights. But what is a r ight, and what is its justification? If the justification of a right depends on its tendency to promote happiness and prevent suffering, then it is entirely redundant since this is the sole purpose of utility. And if rights aren't justified in these terms, how are they justified – what on earth are they actually good for? Of what use are they? It is generally found that the proponent of ethical rights has very unclear thinking as to what rights are and why they (should) exist – and it is therefore of unclear importance that utilitarianism does not support them. Doesn't utilitarianism imply that, if we found a drug which had the sole effect of producing happiness, we ought to mass produce and consume it? And, since happiness is just an emotion which can be chemically induced, isn't it a bit silly to make it the highest order objective? It is quite strange that many people will accept â€Å"the pursuit of happiness† as one of life's fundamental entitlements, yet should suddenly develop ascetic inclinations as soon as the quarry appears obtainable. It seems they don't have a problem with someone trying to achieve happiness, rather they are only concerned when that someone has a reasonable prospect of success in their attempts. Perhaps their fixation with unhappiness would be satisfied by personally abstaining from joy – but, if it goes further such that they would attempt to prevent individuals from attaining happiness even at no cost to others, then (from a utilitarian point of view) such people are despotical and a menace to society. It is possible that many people's aversion to the idea of everlasting happiness is caused by incomplete consideration of the issue. It could be that people have become so jaded by mistaken claims for the desirability of various intentional objects that they believe that drug-induced happiness simply would not be durably satisfying. Since any notion of happiness worthy of the name includes that of satisfaction, it follows that a truly happy person cannot be dissatisfied, so this problem can never arise. Happiness, in the utilitarian sense, includes the exemption from suffering. A charge of triviality for pleasure can perhaps be made, if our only frame of reference is the knowledge of felicific states currently achievable, but it is altogether less plausible against the depths of suffering currently experienced by the world's less fortunate beings. †¢ Impossibility The second most common criticism of utilitarianism is that it is impossible to apply – that happiness (etc) cannot be quantified or measured, that there is no way of calculating a trade-off between intensity and extent, or intensity and probability (etc), or comparing happiness to suffering. If happiness was not measurable, words like â€Å"happier† or â€Å"happiest† could have no meaning: â€Å"I was happier yesterday than I am today† would make no sense at all – it can only have the meaning which we (or most of us, at any rate) know that it has if we assume that happiness can be measured and compared. one should face the fact that goods are not necessarily intersubstitutable and consider the case, for instance, of an intransigent landowner who, when his avenue of limes is to be destroyed for the motorway, asks for 1p compensation, since nothing can be compensation. † [2] (One is reminded of the story of the mother handing out home-baked coo kies as a special treat to her family. The youngest child, on finding his cookie to be slightly smaller than the others, smashes it up and storms out in tears. In his disappointment, he interprets a fine gift as an affront, and he would rather make things worse than better – but then he's only a child. Adults, of course, have much less obvious and more subtle means of smashing their cookies. ) Initially, it seems very odd that the landowner should ask for a penny. If nothing can be compensation, why does he not ask for nothing? What use is this tiny amount of money? Far from suggesting that the trees are invaluable, it suggests that any money he could get for them is worthless to him! But, we may still ask, why the penny? And then we realize: it's a token; a chip in a psychological game (often called â€Å"Poor me! â€Å"). One can imagine the penny being carried about by the ex-landowner, and produced to evict pity from those unfortunates he manages to convince to listen to his story. That will be his best effort at compensating himself. Now suppose the scenario is amended slightly: imagine the landowner's daughter is dying from a terminal disease; that the motorway's supporters offer to pay for the new and expensive cure (which the landowner could not otherwise afford) in exchange for the land; and that they will not proceed without his permission. Are we still to presume that â€Å"nothing can be compensation† for his trees, not even the life of his daughter? Or will the landowner decide that his daughter's life is more important than his pretty view? It seems likely. But suppose not – suppose he chooses to keep the trees and lose his daughter. Does this show that the value of the lime avenue isn't convertible? Of course not, just that he values the trees more than his offspring. If the two different values were inconvertible, he would have no way to decide one way or the other – no way to choose between them. The fact that people can and do weigh-up and trade-off values, for all types of things, shows that it is both possible and practical to do so. In the original scenario, the sensible thing to do would be to ask for enough money to buy a new bit of land, and to plant a new avenue of limes on it; but, since the principle of utility does not imply the absence of fools, this criticism has no effect, and we needn't consider this matter further. †¢ Impracticality The third most common criticism is that it is too difficult to apply – that we cannot calculate all the effects for all the individuals (either because of the large number of individuals involved, and/or because of the uncertainty). The principle of utility is, essentially, a description of what makes something right or wrong – so in order for it to fail, someone must give an example of something which is useful but obviously wrong. The principle does not imply that we can calculate what is right or wrong – completely accurately, in advance, or at all! It does not harm the principle of utility at all merely to comment that it is difficult for us to work out what is right – it is merely a lament against the human condition. The idea of practicality is often used to suggest a problem exists in the theory, when it fact it does not. For example: â€Å"how far does one, under utilitarianism, have to research into the possibilities of maximally beneficent action, including prevention? † [3] The answer is simple, and entirely obvious: as far as it is useful to do so! That is, far enough so that we get the optimal trade-off between planning and implementing, so that we maximize our effectiveness as agents. The does imply that, in some cases, it may not be best to apply the felicific calculus at all: if the problem is one that we have faced many times before, and always reached the same conclusion; or if the case presents itself as an emergency, and isn't open to extended consideration; we can forego the calculus and act immediately. †¢ Insufficiency (of scope) One argument which some people propose as being more sensible than other criticisms, is that utilitarianism is â€Å"fine, so far as it goes†, but that it fails to consider some sources of value, and that it will therefore produce the wrong results when these different sources conflict. There is potential for confusion here – sometimes â€Å"utilitarianism† is used to specifically for â€Å"hedonistic utilitarianism†; and, sometimes, it means a particular class of ethical theory (something like â€Å"value-maximizing consequentialism†) †¦ under this meaning, an ethical theory which held the existence of plastic forks as supremely valuable, and therefore tried to maximize their number, would be â€Å"plastic fork utilitarianism†. [5] So, theories which have other intrinsic values than happiness and exemption from suffering can be accommodated within a utilitarian scheme. As for those other things that are suggested as having value, there are a few worth mentioning: â€Å"life†, â€Å"friendship†, and â€Å"knowledge† among them. I think it is notable that these things are valued, but that they also generally create happiness†¦ I suggest the reason that they are valued is precisely because they promote happiness. But, if they didn't, would we still value them? Does someone who suffers too much still value their life? Surely not, or else there would be no suicides. Do we value a friendship if we get no pleasure from it? On the contrary, it is more likely that we would define our friends as those people about whom we enjoyed being. And is it worthwhile learning and philosophising, if our knowledge is never of any use at all? Or, rather, is it just so much meta-physical stamp collecting? The case against these â€Å"other† goals is quite clear. 4. A Critique of Ethical Egoism Ethical egoism, like all exclusively subjective philosophies, is prone to constant self-contradiction because it supports all individuals' self interests. It also can lead to very unpleasant conclusions, such as choosing not to intervene in a crime against another. Egoists have difficulty judging anything that does not deal with them, which is one reason why ethical egoism is so impractical for people who are very aware of the world. The very legitimacy of the theory is often called into question because it prevents its own adherents from taking reasonable stances on major political and social issues and cannot in itself solve these issues. 5. Criticisms against Ethical Relativism A common argument against relativism suggests that it inherently contradicts, refutes, or stultifies itself: the statement â€Å"all is relative† classes either as a relative statement or as an absolute one. If it is relative, then this statement does not rule out absolutes. If the statement is absolute, on the other hand, then it provides an example of an absolute statement, proving that not all truths are relative. However, this argument against relativism only applies to relativism that positions truth as relative–i. e. pistemological/truth-value relativism. More specifically, it is only strong forms of epistemological relativism that can come in for this criticism as there are many epistemological relativists who posit that some aspects of what is regarded as â€Å"true† are not universal, yet still accept that other universal truths exist (e. g. gas laws). However, such exceptions need to be carefully justified, or â€Å"anything goes†. Another argume nt against relativism posits a Natural Law. Simply put, the physical universe works under basic principles: the â€Å"Laws of Nature†. Some contend that a natural Moral Law may also exist, for example as argued by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion (2006)[35] and addressed by C. S. Lewis in â€Å"Mere Christianity† (1952). [36] Dawkins said â€Å"I think we face an equal but much more sinister challenge from the left, in the shape of cultural relativism – the view that scientific truth is only one kind of truth and it is not to be especially privileged. â€Å"[37] Aside from the general legitimacy of relativism, critics say it undermines morality, possibly resulting in anomie and complete Social Darwinism. Relativism denies that harming others is wrong in any absolute sense. The majority of relativists, of course, consider it immoral to harm others, but relativist theory allows for the opposite belief. In short, if an individual can believe it wrong to harm others, he can also believe it right–no matter what the circumstances. The problem of negation also arises. If everyone with differing opinions is right, then no one is. Thus instead of saying â€Å"all beliefs (ideas, truths, etc. ) are equally valid,† one might just as well say â€Å"all beliefs are equally worthless†. (see article on Doublethink). Another argument is that if relativism presupposes that â€Å"all beliefs are equally valid,† it then implies that any belief system holding itself to be the only valid one is untrue, which is a contradiction. An argument made by Hilary Putnam,[38] among others, states that some forms of relativism make it impossible to believe one is in error. If there is no truth beyond an individual's belief that something is true, then an individual cannot hold their own beliefs to be false or mistaken. A related criticism is that relativizing truth to individuals destroys the distinction between truth 6. Criticism of Virtue Ethics: According to critics, a major problem with the theory is the difficulty of establishing the nature of the virtues, especially as different people, cultures and societies often have vastly different opinions on what constitutes a virtue. Some proponents counter-argue that any character trait defined as a virtue must be universally regarded as a virtue for all people in all times, so that such cultural relativism is not relevant. Others, however, argue that the concept of virtue must indeed be relative and grounded in a particular time and place, but this in no way negates the value of the theory, merely keeps it current. Another objection is that the theory is not â€Å"action-guiding†, and does not focus on what sorts of actions are morally permitted and which ones are not, but rather on what sort of qualities someone ought to foster in order to become a good person. Thus, a virtue theorist may argue that someone who commits a murder is severely lacking in several important virtues (e. g. compassion and fairness, among others), but does proscribe murder as an inherently immoral or impermissible sort of action, and the theory is therefore useless as a universal norm of acceptable conduct uitable as a base for legislation. Virtue theorists may retort that it is in fact possible to base a judicial system on the moral notion of virtues rather than rules (modern theories of law related to Virtue Ethics are known as virtue jurisprudence, and focus on the importance of character and human excellence as opposed to moral rules or consequences). They argue that Virtue Ethics can also be action-guiding through observance of virtuous agents as examplars, and through the life-long process of moral learning, for which quick-fix rules are no substitute. Some have argued that Virtue Ethics is self-centred because its primary concern is with the agent's own character, whereas morality is supposed to be about other people, and how our actions affect other people. Thus, any theory of ethics should require us to consider others for their own sake, and not because particular actions may benefit us. Some argue that the whole concept of personal well-being (which is essentially just self-interest) as an ethical master value is mistaken, especially as its very personal nature does not admit to comparisons between individuals. Proponents counter that virtues in themselves are concerned with how we respond to the needs of others, and that the good of the agent and the good of others are not two separate aims, but both result from the exercise of virtue. Other critics are concerned that Virtue Ethics leaves us hostage to luck, and that it is unfair that some people will be lucky and receive the help and encouragement they need to attain moral maturity, while others will not, through no fault of their own. Virtue Ethics, however, embraces moral luck, arguing that the vulnerability of virtues is an essential feature of the human condition, which makes the attainment of the good life all the more valuable. †¢ Cultural diversity Some criticize virtue ethics in relation to the difficulty involved with establishing the nature of the virtues. They argue that different people, cultures, and societies often have vastly different perspectives on what constitutes a virtue. For example, many would have once considered a virtuous woman to be quiet, servile, and industrious. This conception of female virtue no longer holds true in many modern societies. Alasdair MacIntyre responds to this criticism, by arguing that any account of the virtues must indeed be generated out of the community in which those virtues are to be practiced: The very word â€Å"ethics† implies â€Å"ethos. † That is to say that the virtues are, and necessarily must be, grounded in a particular time and place. What counts as virtue in fourth century Athens would be a ludicrous guide to proper behavior in twenty-first century Toronto, and vice versa. But, the important question in virtue ethics as to what kind of person one ought to be, which may be answered differently depending on the ethos, can still give real direction and purpose to people. †¢ Lack of moral rules Another criticism of virtue ethics is that it lacks absolute moral rules which can give clear guidance on how to act in specific circumstances such as abortion, embryo research, and euthanasia. Martha Nussbaum responds to this criticism, by saying that there are no absolute rules. In a war situation, for example, the rule that you must not kill an innocent person is impractical. According to Nussbaum, it is the virtues that are absolutes, and we should strive for them. If elected leaders strive for them, things will go well. On the issue of embryo research, Alasdair MacIntyre suggests that people first need to understand the social situation in which although many people are negative about embryonic stem-cell research, they are not upset with the fact that thousands of embryos actually die at various stages in the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process. Then, says MacIntyre, people need to approach the issue with virtues such as wisdom, right ambition, and temperance. Thus, some virtue ethicists argue that it is possible to base a judicial system on the moral notion of virtues rather than on rules. 7. Critiques of Normative Contractarianism Many critiques have been leveled against particular contractarian theories and against contractarianism as a framework for normative thought about justice or morality. (See the entry on contemporary approaches to the social contract. ) Jean Hampton criticized Hobbes in her book Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition, in a way that has direct relevance to contemporary contractarianism. Hampton argues that the characterization of individuals in the state of nature leads to a dilemma. Hobbes' state of nature as a potential war of all against all can be generated either as a result of passions (greed and fear, in particular) or rationality (prisoner's dilemma reasoning, in which the rational players each choose to renege on agreements made with each other). But if the passions account is correct, then Hampton argues, the contractors will still be motivated by these passions after the social contract is drawn up, and so will fail to comply with it. And if the rationality account is correct, then rational actors will not comply with the social contract any more than they will cooperate with each other before it is made. This critique has an analog for Gauthier's theory, in that Gauthier must also claim that without the contract individuals will be stuck in some socially sub-optimal situation that is bad enough to motivate them to make concessions to each other for some agreement, yet the reason for their inability to cooperate without the contract cannot continue to operate after the contract is made. Gauthier's proposed solution to this problem is to argue that individuals will choose to dispose themselves to be constrained (self-interest) maximizers rather than straightforward (self-interest) maximizers, that is, to retrain themselves not to think first of their self-interest, but rather to dispose themselves to keep their agreements, provided that they find themselves in an environment of like-minded individuals. But this solution has been found dubitable by many commentators. (See Vallentyne, 1991) Hampton also objects to the contemporary contractarian assumption that interaction is merely instrumentally valuable. She argues that if interaction were only valuable for the fruits of cooperation that it bears for self-interested cooperators, then it would be unlikely that those cooperators could successfully solve the compliance problem. In short, they are likely not to be able to motivate morality in themselves without some natural inclination to morality. Interestingly, Hampton agrees with Gauthier that contractarianism is right to require any moral or political norms to appeal to individuals self-interest as a limitation on self-sacrifice or exploitation of any individual. In an important article, â€Å"On Being the Object of Property,† African-American law professor Patricia Williams offers a critique of the contract metaphor itself. Contracts require independent agents who are able to make and carry out promises without the aid of others. Historically, while white men have been treated as these pure wills of contract theory, Blacks and women have been treated as anti-will: dependent and irrational. Both ideals are false; whole people, she says, are dependent on other whole people. But by defining some as contractors and others as incapable of contract, whole classes of people can be excluded from the realm of justice. This point has been taken up by other critics of contractarianism, such as Eva Kittay (1999) who points out that not only are dependents such as children and disabled people left out of consideration by contractarian theories, but their caretakers' needs and interests will tend to be underestimated in the contract, as well. David Hume was an early critic of the validity of social contract theory, arguing against any theory based on a historical contract, on the grounds that one should not be bound by the consent of one's ancestors. He also questioned to what extent the fall-back â€Å"state of nature† which underlies most social contract theory is actually historically accurate, or whether it is just a hypothetical or possible situation. Others have pointed out that, with an assumed initial position which is sufficiently dire (such as that posited by Hobbes), Contractarianism may lead to the legitimization of Totalitarianism (as Hobbes himself foresaw). Some commentators have argued that a social contract of the type described cannot be considered a legitimate contract at all, on the grounds that the agreement is not fully voluntary or without coercion, because a government can and will use force against anyone who does not wish to enter into the contract. In Rousseau's conception of the social contract, even individuals who disagree with elements of the social contract must nevertheless agree to abide by it or risk punishment (they must be â€Å"forced to be free†). It is argued that this idea of force negates the requirement that a contract be entered into voluntarily, or at least to permit individuals to abstain from entering into a contract. In response, it has been countered that the name â€Å"contract† is perhaps misleading (â€Å"social compact† has been suggested as an alternative), and that anyway individuals explicitly indicate their consent simply by remaining in the jurisdiction. Either way, social contract theory does seem to be more in accordance with contract law in the time of Hobbes and Locke (based on a mutual exchange of benefits) than in our own. Other critics have questioned the assumption that individuals are always self-interested, and that they would actually want the benefits of society supposedly offered by the contract. A further objection sometimes raised is that Contractarianism is more of a descriptive theory than a normative guide or a justification. 8. Critiques of Rights Theory Critiques of rights come in two forms. The first is an attack on the substance of doctrines that give rights a central place. These critiques allege that the content of such doctrines is, in one way or other, malformed or unjustified. Here we find, for example, the criticism that natural rights doctrines are â€Å"so much flat assertion,† and that utilitarian rights tend to be implausibly weak. The second form of critique attacks the language of rights itself. The objection here is that it is inappropriate or counterproductive to express at least some kinds of normative concerns in terms of rights. We should, according to the second form of critique, reduce or avoid â€Å"rights talk. †¢ Critiques of Rights Doctrine Marx attacked the substance of the revolutionary eighteenth century American and French political documents that proclaimed the fundamental â€Å"rights of man†: liberty, equality, security, property, and the free exercise of religion. Marx objected that these alleged rights derive from a false conception of the human individual as unrelated to others, as having interests can be defined without reference to others, and as always potentially in conflict with others. The rights-bearing individual is an â€Å"isolated monad†¦ withdrawn behind his private interests and whims and separated from the community. † (Marx 1844, 146) The right of property, Marx asserted, exemplifies the isolating and anti-social character of these alleged rights of man. On the one hand, the right of property is the right to keep others at a distance: the legal equivalent of a barbed wire fence. On the other hand, the right of property allows an owner to transfer his resources at his own pleasure and for his own gain, without regard even for the desperate need for those resources elsewhere. Similarly, Marx held that the much-celebrated individual right to liberty reinforces selfishness. Those who are ascribed the right to do what they wish so long as they do not hurt others will perpetuate a culture of egoistic obsession. As for equality, the achievement of equal rights in a liberal state merely distracts people from noticing that their equality is purely formal: a society with formally equal rights will continue to be divided by huge inequalities in economic and political power. Finally, these so-called â€Å"natural† rights are in fact not natural to humans at all. They are simply the defining elements of the rules of the modern mode of production, perfectly suited to fit each individual into the capitalist machine. Communitarians (Taylor, Walzer, MacIntyre, Sandel) sound several of the same themes in their criticisms of contemporary liberal and libertarian theories. The communitarians object that humans are not, as such theories assume, â€Å"antecedently individuated. † Nozick's â€Å"state of nature† theorizing, for example, errs in presuming that individuals outside of a stable, state-governed social order will develop the autonomous capacities that make them deserving of rights. Nor should we attempt, as in Rawls's original position, to base an argument for rights on what individuals would choose in abstraction from their particular identities and community attachments. There is no way to establish a substantive political theory on what all rational agents want in the abstract. Rather, theorists should look at the particular social contexts in which real people live their lives, and to the meanings that specific goods carry within different cultures. This criticism continues by accusing liberal and libertarian theories of being falsely universalistic, in insisting that all societies should bend themselves to fit within a standard-sized cage of rights. Insofar as we should admit rights into our understanding of the world at all, communitarians say, we should see them as part of ongoing practices of social self-interpretation and negotiation— and so as rules that can vary significantly between cultures. These kinds of criticisms have been discussed in detail (e. g. Gutmann 1985, Waldron 1987b, Mulhall and Swift 1992). Their validity turns on weighty issues in moral and political theory. What can be said here is that a common theme in most of these criticisms—that prominent rights doctrines are in some way excessively individualistic or â€Å"atomistic†Ã¢â‚¬â€need not cut against any theory merely because it uses the language of rights. Ignatieff (2003, 67) errs, for example, when he charges that â€Å"rights language cannot be parsed or translated into a nonindividualistic, communitarian framework. It presumes moral individualism and is nonsensical outside that assumption. † As we saw above, the language of rights is able to accommodate rightholders who are individuals as such, but also individuals considered as members of groups, as well as groups themselves, states, peoples, and so on. Indeed the non-individualistic potential of rights-language is more than a formal possibility. The doctrine of international human rights—the modern cousin of eighteenth century natural rights theory—ascribes several significant rights to groups. The international Convention against Genocide, for example, forbids actions intending to destroy any national, ethnic, racial or religious group; and both of the human rights Covenants ascribe to peoples the right to self-determination. Such examples show that the language of rights is not individualistic in its essence. †¢ Critiques of the Language of Rights The language of rights can resist the charge that it is necessarily complicit with individualism. However, critics have accused rights talk of impeding social progress: Our rights talk, in its absoluteness promotes unrealistic expectations, heightens social conflict, and inhibits dialogue that might lead toward consensus, accommodation, or at least the discovery of common ground. In its silence concerning responsibilities, it seems to condone acceptance of the benefits of living in a democratic social welfare state, without accepting the corresponding personal and civic obligations†¦. In its insularity, it shuts out potentially important aids to the process of self-correcting learning. All of these traits promote mere assertion over reason-giving. Glendon (1991, 14) here draws out some of the detrimental practical consequences of the popular connection between rights and conclusive reasons that we saw above. Since rights assertions suggest conclusive reasons, people can be tempted to assert rights when they want to end a discussion instead of continuing it. One plays a right as a trump card when one has run out of arguments. Similarly, the ready availability of rights language may lead parties initially at odds with each other toward confrontation instead of negotiation, as each side escalates an arms-race of rights assertions that can only be resolved by a superior authority like a court. One line of feminist theory has picked up on this line of criticism, identifying the peremptory and rigidifying discourse of rights with the confrontational masculine â€Å"voice. † (Gilligan 1993) It is not inevitable that these unfortunate tendencies will afflict those who make use of the language of rights. As we have seen, it may be plausible to hold that each right is â€Å"absolute† only within a elaborately gerrymandered area. And it may be possible to produce deep theories to justify why one has the rights that one asserts. However, it is plausible that the actual use of rights talk does have the propensities that Glendon suggests. It seems no accident that America, â€Å"the land of rights,† is also the land of litigation. Another deleterious consequence of rights talk that Glendon picks out is its tendency to move the moral focus toward persons as rightholders, instead of toward persons as bearers of responsibilities. This critique is developed by O'Neill (1996, 127–53; 2002, 27–34). A focus on rightholders steers moral reasoning toward the perspective of recipience, instead of toward the traditional active ethical questions of what one ought to do and how one ought to live. Rights talk also leads those who use it to neglect important virtues such as courage and beneficence, which are duties to which no rights correspond. Finally, the use of rights language encourages people to make impractical demands, since one can assert a right without attending to the desirability or even the possibility of burdening others with the corresponding obligations. Criticisms such as O'Neill's do not target the language of rights as a whole. They aim squarely at the passive rights, and especially at claim-rights, instead of at the active privileges and powers. Nevertheless, it is again plausible that the spread of rights talk has encouraged the tendencies that these criticisms suggest. The modern discourse of rights is characteristically deployed by those who see themselves or others as potential recipients, entitled to insist on certain benefits or protections. Describing fundamental norms in terms of rights has benefits as well as dangers. The language of rights can give clear expression to elaborate structures of freedom and authority. When embodied in particular doctrines, such as in the international human rights documents, the language of rights can express in accessible terms the standards for minimally acceptable treatment that individuals can demand from those with power over them. Rights are also associated with historical movements for greater liberty and equality, so assertions of rights in pursuit of justice can carry a resonance that other appeals lack. Whether these benefits of using rights language overbalance the dangers remains a live question in moral, political and legal theory. †¢ The Critique of Rights The critique of rights developed by critical legal theorists has five basic elements: o The discourse of rights is less useful in securing progressive social change than liberal theorists and politicians assume. Legal rights are in fact indeterminate and incoherent. o The use of rights discourse stunts human imagination and mystifies people about how law really works. o At least as prevailing in American law, the discourse of rights reflects and produces a kind of isolated individualism that hinders social solidarity and genuine human connection. o Rights discourse can actually impede progressive movement for genuine democracy and justice. Right s should not be credited with progressive political advances. In â€Å"The Critique of Rights,† 47 SMU Law Review, Mark Tushnet emphasizes the first theme in arguing that progressive lawyers overestimate the importance of their work because of an inflated and erroneous view of the role of the Supreme Court in advancing progressive goals in the 1960s. That period of judicial leadership was aberrational in American history and also more reactive and pro-active, depending on mass social movements rather than lawyers’ arguments. Legal victories also are often not enforced; judicial victories do not obviate the need for ongoing political mobilization. Legal victories may have ideological value even where they lack material effects; a court victory can mark the entry of previously excluded groups into the discourse of rights which holds ideological importance inside the nation. Nonetheless, legal and political cultures inside the United States can also produce large consequences from judicial losses for relatively powerless groups. Losing a case based on a claim of rights may in some cases lead the public to think that the claims have no merit and need not be given weight in policy debates. Robert Gordon similarly argues that even noted legal victories for blacks, for labor, for the poor, and for women did not succeed in fundamentally altering the social power structure. â€Å"The labor movement secured the vitally important legal right to organize and strike, at the cost of fitting into a framework of legal regulation that certified the legitimacy of managements making most of the important decisions about the conditions of work. † Robert Gordon, â€Å"Some Critical Theories of law and Their Critics,† in The Politics of Law 647 (David Kairys ed. , third edition, Basic Books: New York, 1998). Moreover, rights are double-edged, as demonstrated in the content of civil rights. â€Å"Floor entitlements can be turned into ceilings (you’ve got your rights, but that’s all you’ll get). Formal rights without practical enforceable content are easily substituted for real benefits. Anyway, the powerful can always assert counter rights (to vested property, to differential treatment according to â€Å"merit,† to association with one’s own kind) to the rights of the disadvantaged. â€Å"Rights† conflict and the conflict cannot be resolved by appeal to rights. † Id. , at 657-68. The content of contemporary American rights in particular must be understood as failing to advance progressive causes. Current constitutional doctrine, for example, heavily favors so-called negative liberties (entitlements to be free of government interference) over positive liberties (entitlements to government protection or aid) and thus reinforces the pernicious â€Å"public/private† distinction. That distinction implies that neither government nor society as a whole are responsible for providing persons with the resources they need to exercise their liberties, and indeed, any governmental action risks violating private liberties. Current freedom of speech doctrine accords protection to commercial speech and pornography, limits governmental regulation of private contributions to political campaigns, and forbids sanctions for hate speech. Such rules operate in the often-stirring language of individual freedom, but their effect is more likely to be regressive than progressive. Rights are indeterminate and incoherent. As Mark Tushnet puts it, â€Å"nothing whatever follows from a courts adoption of some legal rule (except insofar as the very fact that a court has adopted the rule has some social impact the ideological dimension with which the critique of rights is concerned. Progressive legal victories occur, according to the indeterminacy thesis, because of the surrounding social circumstances. † At least as they figure in contemporary American legal discourse, rights cannot provide answer to real cases because they are cast at high levels of abstraction without clear application to particular problems an d because different rights frequently conflict or present gaps. Often, judges try to resolve conflicts by attempting to â€Å"balance† individual rights against relevant â€Å"social interests† or by assessing the relative weight of two or more conflicting rights. These methods seem more revealing of individual judicial sensibilities and political pressures than specific reach of specific rights. Moreover, central rights are themselves internally incoherent. The right to freedom of contract, for example, combines freedom with control: people should be free to bind themselves to agreements: the basic idea is private ordering. But the laws reliance on courts to enforce contracts reveals the doctrines grant of power to the government to decide which agreements to enforce, and indeed what even counts as an agreement. Even more basically, freedom of contract implies that the freedom of both sides to the contract can be enhanced and protected, and yet no one stands able to know what actually was in the minds of parties on both sides. Resort to notions of objective intent and formalities replace commitment to the freedom of the actual parties. 3. Legal rights stunt people’s imagination and mystify people about how law really works. The very language of a right, like the right to freedom of contract, appeals to peoples genuine desires for personal autonomy and social solidarity, and yet masks the extent to which the social order makes both values elusive, rite Peter Gabel and Jay Fineman, in Contract Law as Ideology, in The Politics of Law 496,498 (David Kairys, ed. , third edition, Basic Books: New York 1998). Contract law in fact works to conceal the coercive system of relationships with widespread unfairness in contemporary market-based societies. The system of rights renders invisible the persistent functional roles such as landlord, tenant, employer, and individual consumer of products produced by multinational conglomerates, that themselves reflect widely disparate degrees of economic and political power. Contract law is a significant feature in the massive denial of experiences of impotence and isolation and the apology for the system producing such experiences. Similar points can be made about other areas of law. Property rights, for example, imply promotion of individual freedom and security, and yet owners property rights are precisely the justification afforded to the control of others and arbitrary discretion to wreak havoc over the lives of tenants, workers, and neighbors. Contract law artificially constrains analysis by focusing n a discrete promise and a discrete act of reliance rather than complex and often diffuse communications and inevitable reliance by people on others than. Courts and legislatures recognize to some extent the power of these real features of people’s lives but the language of legal rules often leads decision makers to feel powerless to act on such recognition. Workers at a U. S. Steel plant in Youngstown, Ohio and their lawyers tried to buy the plant after the company announced plans to close it. Federal trial and appellate judges acknowledged that the plant was the lifeblood of the community but nonetheless concluded that contract and property law provided no basis for preventing the company either from shutting down the plant or refusing to negotiate to sell it to the workers. Local 1330, United Steel Workers v. United States Steel Corp. 631 F. 2d 1264 (6th Cir. 1980). Gabel and Feinman conclude: â€Å"it was not the law that restrained the judges, but their own beliefs in the ideology of law. By recognizing the possibilities of social responsibility and solidarity that are immanent in the doctrine of reliance, they could have both provided the workers a remedy and helped to move contract law in a direction that would better align the legal ideals of freedom, equality, and community with the realization of these ideals in everyday life. † Id. ,at 509. But the ideology of law made the judges feel they could not do so. [more reading: Staughton Lynd, the fight Against Shutdowns: Youngstown’s Steel Mill Closings (Single Jack Books: San Pedro, CA 1982); Joseph William Singer, The Reliance Interest in Property, 40 Stanford Law Rev. 11 (1988)] Conventional rights discourse reflects and produces isolated individualism and hinders social solidarity and genuine human connection. The individualism pervading American law calls for â€Å"the making of a sharp distinction between ones interests and those of others, combined with the belief that a preference in conduct for one’s own interests is legitimate, but that one should be willing to respect the rules that make it possible to coexist with others similarly self-interested. The form of conduct associated with individualism is self-reliance. This means an insistence on defining and achieving objectives without help from others (i. e. , without being dependent on them or asking sacrifices of them. † Duncan Kennedy, Form and Substance in Private Law Adjudication, 89 Harv. L. Rev. 1685(1976). As implemented in law, individualism means that there are some areas within which actors (whether actual individuals or groups) have total arbitrary discretion to pursue their own ends without regard to the impact of their actions on others. A legal right evokes the idea of a domain protected by law within which the individual is free to do as he or she pleases, and the arrangements ensuring that freedom are fair, neutral, and equitable. Judges must facilitate private ordering and avoid regulating or imposing their own values on the aggregate of individual choices. The state thereby polices all boundary crossings by private individuals and contributes to the pretense that individual, private, self-interested values are all that matter. Yet people need others as much as they need their own freedom. Altruism has roots as deep as individualism, and altruism urges sacrifice, sharing, cooperation, and attention to others. Rights help people deny the equal tug of individual freedom and social solidarity on people’s hearts and assert that legal rules resolve the tension by assuring that people relate to one another through the recognition and respect for each other’s separate, bounded spheres of self-interest. Yet this very mode of thinking renders it more difficult for individuals and for the legal system to act upon altruism, social cooperation, and relationships of generosity, reciprocity, and sacrifice. The legal structure of rules, and the abstracted roles (owner, employee etc. ) upon which it depends makes it more likely that people feel helpless to counteract existing hierarchies of wealth and privilege or any perceived unfairness. Robert Gordon explains: â€Å"This process of allowing the structures we ourselves have built to mediate relations among us so as to make us see ourselves as performing abstract roles in a play that is produced by no human agency is what is usually called (following Marx and such modern writers as Sartre and Lukacs) reification. It is a way people have of manufacturing necessity: they build structures, then act as if (and genuinely come to believe that) the structures they have built are determined by history, human nature, and economic law. † Robert Gordon, Some Critical Theories of law and Their Critics, in the Politics of Law 650 (David Kairys, ed. , third edition, Basic Books: New York 1998). Rights discourse actually can impede genuine democracy and justice. Rights discourse contributes to passivity, alienation, and a sense of inevitability about the way things are. Even when relatively powerless groups win a legal victory, the rights involved can impede progressive social change. The victory may make those who won it complacent while galvanizing their opponents to do all they can to minimize the effects of the ruling. Conflicting rights or alternative interpretations of the same rights are always available. Conservatives can deploy the indeterminacy of rights for their benefit. Using the language of rights reinforces the individualistic ideology and claims of absolute power within individual’s spheres of action that must be undermined if progressive social change is to become more possible. The language of rights perpetuates the misconception that legal argument is independent of political argument and social movements. Through rights language, those in power often grant strategic concessions of limits sets of rights to co-opt genuinely radical social movements. Progressives who use the language of rights thus lend support to the ideology they must oppose. With the notable exception of Roberto Unger, who has proposed an alternative regime with immunity rights, destabilization rights, market rights, and solidarity rights, most critical legal scholars argue that rights do not advance and may impede political and social change. Rights are indeterminate and yet conceal the actual operations of power and human yearnings for connection and mutual aid. Contemporary legal and constitutional practice are less likely to provide avenues for challenging unfair social and economic hierarchies than political movements, and a focus on law reform can divert and disengage those political movements. Criticism: There is some element of truth in this theory, but difficult to believe that all rights enjoyed by people in a state are true to customs and traditions. Human society is dynamic and the custom change from time to time and from place to place. Rights correspond the different stages in the evolution of human society. Rights enjoyed people in a capitalist society, for example, are different from the enjoyed by people in a feudal society. There can be no unanimity opinion as to what historical rights are. Laski says, â€Å"We do not mean by rights the grant of some his conditions possessed in the childhood of the race, but lost in the pr of time. Few theories have done greater harm to philosophy, or m violence to facts, than the notion that they represent the recovery of a inheritance. There is no golden age to which we may seek to return. † References