Functionalism

Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a certain type depends on the way it functions, or the role it plays and not on its internal structure. Simply put, functionalism gives utmost importance to the function or role a mental state plays. They also give prime importance to causal relations because according to the follower of this doctrine any form of mental state is â€Å"†¦determined by its causal relations to sensory stimulations, other mental states and behaviors.† (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries). Let me take â€Å"pain† as an example. For the functionalist, pain is a mental state which arose because of a damage of some kind or because something is wrong with the body. For them, the only beings that could possibly experience pain are those who qualified to meet the condition stated above. However, the functionalists did not claim that there are only limited states of affair on which pain can be experienced. For them, various creatures may experience pain through different kinds of physical or mental states and thus the term multiple realizations came into context. Having defined what functionalism is, let me now move on to another important aspect of this paper-dualism. Dualism came from the Latin word dualis which means two. It is the belief that in everything in this world two important concept, which usually oppose each other exist. Just as there is a night then there must be a day. When there is good, there is evil. Such is the basis on which dualism is grounded.   In the philosophy of mind dualism aims to show the great difference there is between mind and matter. There are many differing points of view between the dualists themselves but they stood on the common ground that mind and matter are indeed distinct objects. According to the dualistic point of view where mind is made up of non-physical substance, our body is made-up of physical ones commonly known as matter. The mind and body dualism can be deduced as substance dualism which argues that mind and body are made-up of entirely distinct substances, and by property dualism which asserts that the mind and body may not be made-up of distinct substances but still, they are distinct and thus we cannot reduce one from the other. Now, how does functionalism differ from dualism? Functionalism is different from dualism because functionalism does not adhere to the idea of interactionism unlike that of dualism. Most believer of substance dualism argues for the sake of interactionism or the belief that mind and body, though distinct from each other, are still capable of causally affecting each other. Believers of the identity theory believe that there are at least some kinds of mental states which are completely identical to those of brain states. One known proponent of this theory is David Armstrong who proposed that â€Å"all mental states are identical with physical states†. This theory argues that the mind is indistinguishable from the brain. Due to their approach and beliefs regarding the mind they received numerous objections among which include the argument from multiple realizability. Believers of multiple realizability argues that mental events differ considerably from one organism to another and thus the idea that certain mental events are the same most of the timeis kind of preposterous. Thus functionalism and identity theory is very different from each other. Functionalism is considered to be more superior to other theories of mind such as dualism and the identity theory. Now, what brought about this superiority? Functionalism argues that everything is physical. The functionalists, unlike the other theories of the mind can do away without knowing how the brain came about its consciousness. The functionalists are satisfied to simply say that the function of our brain is to be conscious or consciousness. They do not put great effort in discovering what causes the consciousness of our brain which made them superior from the other mind theory. Another advantage functionalism may have over the other theories is its ability to equate conscious states with the functions of our brain, thus functionalism allows examination of our conscious states which plagues other theories. I said that it plagues other theories because they give too much privacy to matters of mind, believing that mind is a private matter and thus cannot be compared to other minds (such as the problem in Cartesian dualism). Functionalism, on the other hand faces no such problems because they give way to analyzing other minds or other experiences. The ability to test things empirically offered by functionalism shows its edge against dualism and the identity theory of the mind. Another advantage functionalism has over dualism and the identity theory of the mind is that the theory of functionalism offers understanding of the mind. However, no matter how great functionalism may be as compared to other mind theories it still has its drawbacks. It does not entirely solve the problems of the mind. Functionalism does not give us a clear explanation of the obvious distinction of the physical and conscious states. Besides, another objection arose from their claim that we can really differentiate one mind from the other. Surely, no one can fully understand how other minds work. Besides different people experiences things differently no matter how alike their experience may seem. For example, I may feel deep depression upon losing a pet but then I cannot really say that the depression Anne felt when she lost her dog is the same as mine, now could I? Thus, no matter how more advantageous functionalism may be over dualism and the identity theory it is still not wise to go on believing functionalism as a whole. One must still see the pros and cons of certain thoughts or theories. REFERENCES: â€Å"Assess functionalism† â€Å"Dualism and Mind† â€Å"Identity Theory† http://www.utm.edu â€Å"Functionalism† http://plato.stanford.edu/entries   

Chapter 10 is a chapter that attempts to discus

Chapter 10 is a chapter that attempts to discus the seemingly ambiguous concept of equality. It contains a discussion of how equality is realized in law, public policy, and society in general. Furthermore, the discussion focuses on the three different conceptualizations of equality. These are equality under the law, equality of opportunity, and equality of material well-being. The main argument of this chapter is that equality of material well-being has emerged as the dominating factor in the formulation of policies. In order to prove his point, the author discusses each of the conceptualizations and how they are related to each other. The chapter contains a lengthy discussion of equality under the law. It discusses how the laws of a society must disregard various categorizations and consider people as individuals. Basically, this is the backbone of equality as perceived by many. It is with this conceptualization that the evil of inequality such as racism, sexism, homophobia and others are commonly argued with. Furthermore, the author discusses how equality under the law or the lack of it has been demonstrated in U.S history. The author recounts the discrimination that different groups have received and he identifies the presumably dominant group as being white, male, and predominantly Protestant. He argues that it is such group that has used the law in order to maintain its dominance and keep other groups subordinated. The author further argued that equality of opportunity and equality of material well-being are inseparable and dependent on each other. It is because opportunities to rise in the ranks of social mobility are dependent on the resources that one has. The author paralleled the evolution of the conceptualization of equality to the various stages that the civil rights movement has undergone. In its earliest days, the focus of the movement was on eradication of laws that subordinated African-Americans. In other words, this referred to attacks on denials of equality under the law. In the second stage, the civil rights movement focused on fighting for equal access to values and facilities that are supposed to be available to the general public. This constituted their battle for equality of opportunity. Now, the movement is in its third stage, the battle for proportional equality or equality of material well-being. To demonstrate how the focus shifted to proportional equality, the author recounted the laws that were deemed to be in support of the achievement of equality such as the fourteenth amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws were used to generate policies that meant to end inequality on various fronts specifically education and employment. For instance, the fourteenth amendment led to the end of segregation in public schools. On the other hand, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the creation of EEOC which pressed for ending discrimination in terms of employment opportunities. Having read the chapter, it is my view that equality, in all of its three conceptualizations, is all one and the same. Having one means having the others. The achievement of such cannot be the sole responsibility of the government or the law. It requires the concerted effort of the whole society. I agree with the author that today, the battle for equality has shifted to the battle for proportional equality. The achievement of such indeed reflects the fulfillment and realization of the two other conceptualizations. Equality must not only be reflected in the law. It does not only favor those who have long been discriminated. Equality is the right of everyone. Thus, every member of society must make an effort towards the realization of it.

Norm Violation Essay

After doing the three norm violations for my midterm project in Social Psychology, I was really relieved. The entire nervous breaking act as whatever that will draw people’s attention to me made me partly pity myself. I pity myself for making me look like a fool, but nevertheless, it gave me a sense of joy thinking that I really did it not just for the sake of completion and to get good grades, but I did it because of curiosity and for the satisfaction of my inner craving for new adventure. And by doing the three norm violations, I came to conclude that we are all unconsciously controlled by the norms our society sets and that sank into the very depths of our minds making us live like robots. People nowadays are like robots, doing their day-to-day activities in a pattern that conforms to the usual norm in their society. No more thrills and excitement, no more craving for adventure, no more childish acts, and that’s all because we all wanted to fit in and do things aligned to what is tagged as â€Å"normal.† So this project is really a breath of fresh air to me. This has been an eye opener, a bell that wakes every vein in my body, like electricity that flows to my brain that shocks every synaptic activity. Now I’m conscious, conscious enough to make my life more worth living by not conforming to the pattern of norms embroided to every corner of humanity. I apologize for my exaggeration, but I am just inspired. And I like to exaggerate when I’m inspired. Anyways, the bottom line here is that I’m glad I made this project for it made me realize what’s keeping people in coming out of their shell, and that is the idea that if they do something that is not normal even if that’s what they’ve always wanted to do, they’ll be labelled as â€Å"weird.† Based on experience, it’s really self degrading when people look at you with such scornful eyes because of projecting something that does not fit their tastes. So I can’t blame those whose faces are as thick as my psychology book because they have become numb of all the critics and judgments that pass through their tympanic membrane like a steel being dragged out of force in a glass road. I don’t know which part of my four lobed brain all these words are coming from, but I guess I have made my point and I hope it’s clear.

2 Questions Needed to be Ansewered Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2 Questions Needed to be Ansewered - Assignment Example Firstly, they encourage countries to tighten money supply and reduce fiscal stimulus (Friedman 4). Secondly, they advocate privatization of public enterprises (Friedman Web). They also advocates for liberal, free market economy. These institutions also force countries to adopt tax rate that prevail in other countries. They also demands countries to maintain their deficit to GDP ratio to international standards. In addition, they allow the removal of restrictions on the flow of international capital and the removal of barriers to trade (Quiggin 5). Countries are also required to maintain zero tolerance to corruption. In fact, after the 1980’s debt crisis, the IMF required the government to cut public expenditure, sell or close public institution operating at a loss followed by removal of regulatory policies (Quiggin 32). Several benefits exist to countries that follow the Golden Straightjacket. The first benefit is the increased acceleration of the economy and decreased political interference (Friedman 4). The Golden Straightjacket fosters more growth and higher average income (Friedman 4). This happens through increased trading activities, foreign investments, privatization and efficiency in resources used due to the pressure of global competition (Friedman 4). On the political front, the political and economic choices of those in power are limited by the global economic standards (Friedman 4). In fact, the government control on the economy minimizes as it adopts more policies that are liberal. This means the degrees of freedom on fiscal policies are limited (Friedman 101-111). On the other hand, some countries are against the Golden Straightjacket. Consequently, there is a consequence to such countries. Firstly, there is decreased investment. Secondly, there is reduced spending or withdrawing of m oney from such countries. Moreover, such countries are required to pay higher interest rates to borrow from foreign institutions (Chaudhry

Course Work Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Course Work - Coursework Example This is due to what is known as protective factors. This are influences that a person can have which will increase their ability to deal with certain stressors which can increase their ability to influence their mental health. Protective factors lead to a person developing resilience to certain stressful situations. 2) Decriminalization of illicit drugs like marijuana, cocaine will increase drug related social problems. Drugs are not regarded as being dangerous because they are illegal; they are illegal since they are dangerous. Decriminization of illicit drugs help in not regulation of illicit drugs. Decriminization is actually part of a back door effort that will help easy society into accepting the use of addictive drugs; this will include the use of drug related social problems. 3) Children are very sensitive to the issue of HIV/AIDS. Children have many fears regarding this disease. F children are taught about HIV/AIDS they c n make their health choices (Dyk 87). If children are taught about HIV/AIDS this will be an indication that people care about their wealth. At the age of 8 to 10 you can start to teach a child the basic of HIV/AIDs and how it is

Analyzing Marketing Opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing Marketing Opportunities - Essay Example GVA online defines market demand as the "total volume purchased in a specific geographic area by a specific customer group in a specified time period under a specified marketing program (GVA Online GVA, 2003/2004)." In the case of Qantas market demand is indicated by the total number of travelers and individuals who patronize the services that they offer, having the resources to pay for the bill charged by the company. When assessing the total demand for the company's product and services, the company takes into account only those people who can afford to pay them, excluding those who won't be able to afford those that they offer or those who don't intend to take a trip by plane. Market demand, market potential, and sales forecast are interrelated. It is due to the fact that market demand is utilized to generate an accurate sales forecast and sales potential. As defined above, market demand is the historical demand for a good or service by customers backed by purchasing power. Sales forecasting is a very essential tool in assessing the health of a business entity. The accuracy of sales forecast can also give decision makers in the company the required information to come up with precise and useful strategies that will boost the revenue and profit of the business in the long run. Companies that implement accurate sales forecasting processes reap benefits such as enhanced cash flow, knowledge on timing and quantity of inventory to be purchased, in-depth knowledge of customers and the products that they prefer, the ability to plan production and required capacity, an insight on the trend and pattern of sales, determination of the value of business above the value of current assets, and the ability to determine the expected return on investment (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). These benefits in turn, will help the company maximize its revenue and efficiency, minimized costs and further boost customer retention. In sales forecasting, the company come up with a sales volume which the company expects to generate in the future. Since the forecast is based on past sales of the company, it is necessary to know the dollar sales volume of the firm for the past several years. If not enough sales data have been recorded, it may be necessary to improvise (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). In the case of Qantas, sales forecasting can be done by gathering data on how the company performed during the past years. Historical data of number of passengers should be gathered according to the time-frame needed. In its other line of businesses like food service, it can utilize the historical data on dollar sales. Sales forecasting can be employed to predict the short-term and long term sales of the company. For a short-term forecast, it is usually enough to know the sales for the past few weeks or months in comparison with the corresponding period of the year before. If sales for the past 4 weeks were 8 percent more than the corresponding 4 weeks of the preceding year, sales for the next few weeks can reasonably be expected to be 8 percent ahead of the corresponding period a year ago (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). Adjustments have to be made, of course, for any known or predicted conditions

Nationhood and Nationalism in Henry V Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nationhood and Nationalism in Henry V - Essay Example The literary work is about a king with a common touch in a war situation in which the French greatly outnumbered the English. It depicts a king who is a great war time leader, who, during war, exhibits patriotism - Henry V. Nationalism comes to the fore during wartime, in which participants are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice - giving one's life to one's country. Henry V is all about English nationalism, its very own diversity of love for country and fighting for its glory. Henry V, told entirely from the English point of view, is an almost complete study of the war with France in 1400s, in which the first part looks at the causes of the war, the preparation for it, and the people on the English side. England, led by Henry V was fighting an aggressive war against France for certain territories it wanted to obtain on its side, and staging such war with such intention was the very essence of this English nationalism in this period. During the time of which Henry V lived and reigned, dominant countries like England staged and fought aggressive wars in order to further a certain purpose and sacrificed lives of men to this end. The play's theatrical elements convey a political act, while theatrical interventions are traced in its substantial introduction into conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands.2 Henry V is an epic of English nationalism, considered a knowing and cynical piece of power politics to which its nationalism is primari ly based. One might argue that nationalism and power politics cannot go together, but the very essence of the literature on Henry V shows this distinct character of English nationalism in 1600s. The invasion of territory in order to herald a country as glorious and powerful is what characterised Henry V's nationalism. This nationalism was undertaken by Henry V as a king of the English throne, reaping victories for Her, and Her alone. Due to the emergence of international organizations and laws regarding warship, such the United Nations, today's purpose and conduct of fighting a war have long left the kinds that Henry V launched and fought. Hence, such war depicted in the epic seems to be confined only in movies nowadays, made into an entertainment or a historical saga. The Hollywood uses it as a film genre that expects to target a general patronage and show a historical drama and/or a documentary film, which learning institutions might use for visual aid in literature. Hollywood might be using it also as a heritage film, depicting the previous century in which England was often in a nostalgic approach, such as filming Shakespeare plays like this one and using splendid landscapes.3 They have been criticized for presenting 'heritage' in the background, such as presenting a stately home in the background and using this genre as both a marketable commodity and a romanticized portrayal of the past. 4 However, as pointed out a while ago, Henry V is not in any way an expose' of Hollywood fiction, but is rather a paean to English nationalism, amidst an almost power politics involved in the intent of staging the war. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England, focusing on the events following the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. Shakespeare was able to convey truthfully the events that transpired in

Nordstrom Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nordstrom - Case Study Example This has enabled Nordstrom to be leading in delivery of standard customer loyalty and services, in United States. Despite of its profit being majorly from the retail stores, Nordstrom has extended its credit segment, the multiple boutiques, and the internet sector (Cakir & Canbolat, 2008, pp.1367-1378). Demand purchasing in minimizing leftover inventory Nordstrom uses the demand forecasting in minimizing the leftover inventory. The overall corporate leadership in Nordstrom is based on two goals. Nordstrom integrates purchasing with demand in order to keep the inventory lean. The items in Nordstrom are kept in stock for a remarkably short time to enhance easy purchase by the customers due to the limited time. Normally, Nordstrom keeps the items in inventory for a short time, usually 62 days. Apart from the daily sales, Nordstrom gives discounts on certain goods as well as planning for more productive and profitable sales prices. One of the greatest challenge facing retailers is custom er retention. However, Nordstrom has succeeded in retaining its customers through piercing the insight into the minds of their customers. This has enhanced management and success of its inventory. The web-based system has enhanced monitoring of the demand. Customers check the items from the nearest local store, place an order and the items are delivered to them. The management and stock controllers are, therefore, able to access the movement of certain products to ovoid overstocking or under stocking (Cakir & Canbolat, 2008, pp.1367-1378). Benchmarks used to assess the success of web-based inventory integration The benchmarks used by Nordstrom in assessing the success of the web-based inventory system include monitoring other organizations and incorporate the ideas used by organizations in their normal operations. Nordstrom faces competition from companies like Nike and Macy’s. Taking certain qualities from their competitors and intertwining them in Nordstrom, a great success of the web-based inventory would be realized. Nordstrom uses the web-based inventory in informing the investors and the viewers of the financial statements. The website site, www.sec.com contains any additional information that they may need. Any concerns or questions raised from Nordstrom financials are discussed and addressed in the footnotes (Cakir & Canbolat, 2008, pp.1367-1378). The web-based inventory displays the items remaining in stock online; both from the warehouse and all the other stores. This helps in monitoring of the stock in all the stores from a central point. The web-based inventory enables the online transactions. The inventory to the website resulted in all the stores acting as online warehouses. The percentage of the customers purchasing good online can be used to gauge the success of the web-based system. High percentage of online customers is an indication that the web-based inventory integration was a success. Furthermore, the success of the system can be e valuated through the inventory turnover. Increased turn over indicates a positive response to the system (Spector & McCarthy, 2000, pp. 67-69). Application of participatory planning in product purchasing and groups involved Participatory planning encompasses people affected by the plans and those who are to implement them. Transparency and equitability will enhance increased customer trust in retailing. The interaction of employees with the managers determines the success of the

Project management week 10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project management week 10 - Essay Example Terry should have better prepared the presentation by critically considering his audience. In event that he lacked the technical engineering knowledge on engineering, he should have enlisted help in preparing a highly professional presentation appropriate for his target audience. Terry should have also introduced the main points in the presentation within the first few slides to avoid confusion and questions before the end of the presentation. Gallo acknowledges the role of intelligent responses during a presentation (Gallo, 2009). Terry should have taken a different approach in navigating the audience’s questions. While having answers is essential, a professionally request to get back to the audience following a consultation is acceptable in events where the answer is not readily available (Brusino, 2008). Therefore, Terry should have replaced his anger with professional rationalism. Following Terry’s departure from the room, the team manager should have performed immediate damage control. He should acknowledge Terry’s behaviour and apologise to the audience. The anger should take over the presentation if conversant with the information. However, rescheduling the presentation for a later date is a rational approach. In performing the presentation, I would have focused on a few things to convince the engineering audience. The presentation would be audience centred. The content would reflect technical engineering details rather than business details as it targeted the engineering group. Moreover, the questions would be responded to rationally without any bouts of

Can a torturer be tried anywhere in the world Discuss the concept of Essay

Can a torturer be tried anywhere in the world Discuss the concept of universal jurisdiction of the 1984 Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment - Essay Example Article 1 of the CAT 1984 act contains requirements that the forbidden acts be inflicted to a person with the consent of a public official or any other person acting in an official competence1. The CAT 1984 requires that signatories take appropriate measures aimed at ensuring that they end torture within the jurisdiction in their territories and to term all cases of torture as criminal cases. Unlike other international bodies and agreements prohibiting torture, CAT gives a general definition and description of the term torture2. In the convention, it is clearly stated that each state party is entitled to take judicial and legislative measures aimed at preventing torture within the territories of the state party. The clause also states that no circumstance whether wars or internal political instabilities or any other emergency of political interest shall be cited as justification of torture. This means that a torturer is subjected to trial and must be prosecuted if found guilty of torture irrespective of the state party he or she is residing at that particular period3. It is enshrined in the constitution under 3 that no party can eject a victim of torture to another country/state, instead, cases of torture must be dealt with at the state party where the victim was faced with the case. For instance, it means that law to allow the Germany government, if they chose to; prosecute a U.S official for torture crimes committed in Iraq. The definition of word torture, which emerged in the Torture Declaration, was not considered as precise and was largely criticized by Mach lawyers, researchers and scholars on various points. Various discussions resulted in a more precise and elaborate though more complex. This definition appears in the Torture Convention, article 1, paragraph 1. Torture is thus defined as an act that causes physical or mental pain or suffering when

Characters of Journeys End by R.C. Sherriff and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Essay Example for Free

Characters of Journeys End by R.C. Sherriff and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Essay The First World War is known to be one of the worst, if not the worst war in military history. The strategies used were often ineffective and repetitive, meaning a lack of movement and years of stalemate on the western front. Soldiers had to live in conditions which were squalid and foul, they had to deal with diseases such as trench foot and millions of rats and lice infestations. These general images of soldiers living in these fetid conditions has become widely known and linked with the huge suffering caused by the First World War. The use of literature can enable us to gain a picture of what trench warfare was really like. Journeys End a play written by R.C. Sherriff in 1928 based on his own life experiences gives a realistic image of life as a soldier in the trenches. However, the novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks which was not written till 2005 gives a version of what Faulks believed trench warfare to be like; it is a fictional idea based on knowledge and understanding of World War One. Also the authors chose different formats with one being a novel the other a play, thus giving them contrasting ways of conveying soldiers experiences of war. A play deals with the actions and reactions of characters using dialogue and yet a novel can go into the heads of characters, giving the reader an understanding of a persons emotions and feelings through description and narrative. The characters presented in both Journeys End and Birdsong are attempting to avoid and deal with the horrors of trench warfare in many different ways including; drinking, violence, and memories of loved ones and trying to use humour as a way of distancing themselves from the horrors facing them. Each character has to find there own way of dealing with the situation, as anyone would when faced with the constant fear of death. In both Journeys End and Birdsong we get a glimpse of what the characters Stanhope and Wraysford were like before the terror of war affected them. In Journeys End although we dont see Stanhope before the war; Sherriff cleverly uses Raleigh to give us an idea of what he was like when he was younger. We see Raleigh as this optimistic, patriotic man excited at the prospect of going into war alongside his childhood hero. His confession to Osborne that he was Keen to get out here is a representation of many patriotic soldiers at the break out of the first world war and could show us how Stanhope may have felt before the realisation of what warfare was really like. The growing sense of conflict between Stanhope and Raleigh just shows how much the war has changed Stanhope, and affected him. Not only do we see Raleigh as a young version of Stanhope but also we hear from him background information on Stanhopes life, he was skipper of Rugger at Barford, and kept wicket for the eleven. A jolly good bat, too. This is not needed in Birdsong as we gain a background on what Wraysford was like before the war in part one of the novel. Novels allow writers to add descriptive back stories through narrative rather than dialogue, we can learn about one persons perspective unlike in a play when we are unable to hear thoughts and feelings these can only be expressed through actors portraying the role. Birdsong can go into depth about the emotional effects war can have on a person, which is a tricky detail to encapsulate in a play and yet I believe R.C. Sherriff uses dialogue and the actions of each individual to show their emotional state. We can see strongly in both, just what the war can do, seeing and living in those conditions certainly would bring about change in a person however it is the way they deal with it that helps them continue on through. An easy escape for many soldiers during the war was drink. For an ordinary private on the front line getting alcohol was hard and they were only allowed a small drop before going over the top, however officers were allowed to drink (as believed responsible enough for it) and alcoholism among officers was common. Both Stanhope in Journeys End and Wraysford and Weir in Birdsong use drink as a method of getting through the horrors in front of them, She doesnt know that if I went up those steps into the front line without being doped with whisky Id go mad with fright. Drink was a way to forget, and maybe for a moment be away from the front line in their heads, although eventually become addicted not needing it for any purpose but for wanting, cast his eyes round hopefully. Stephen reluctantly pushed a bottle towards him. Drink was not the best way to deal with the situation though, it may have clouded their memories but would not have completed erase them if sleep came it was as a gift and was as likely to come after tea as after alcohol. Soldiers on the front line could turn on each other, either because of alcohol consumption or just the fact that these men were pushed together in such bad conditions. Maybe getting angry at one another would give them something other than fighting the enemy to focus on Hibbert raises his stick and strikes blindly at Stanhope. The violence shown in Journeys End could also represent the battles taking place outside, as an audience member you never get to see any conflict between the enemy and therefore Stanhopes arguments and fights with the soldiers substitutes this. The anger Stanhope feels towards Hibbert and also Raleigh, could also show us how he feels and acts in battle situations. Unlike Journeys End in Birdsong we are able to follow Stephen as he goes out into No-mans land, fighting for his life but we also get violence in the trenches too Fuck off, Weir, fuck off out of my way. The use of the word fuck is a powerful one; we can understand Wraysfords fear just through that one word, all his fear for the battle ahead builds up the tension. In Journeys End Stanhope is worried about what Raleigh would write home in his letter, I believe that maybe another matter that Stanhope uses to redirect his thoughts away from memories, it gives him something else to think about. Which again leads to more violence Dyou understand an order? Give me that letter! Despite these small areas of conflict there is a strong theme in both Journeys End and Birdsong, of comradeship. Men on the front line were often forced into forming new relationships with people and often because of this gained extraordinarily strong bonds with men they were fighting alongside with. This is shown by the example of Stanhope and Osborne, and shown to the audience in many scenes but mostly through the touching goodbye scene before the fatal raid and right at the end Stanhope and Raleigh final bond over his death, Stanhope sits with one hand on Raleighs arm they had fought together in the same battles and known what the other men had seen, they understood. In Birdsong the strong relationship between Wraysford and Weir grew throughout the novel and like many soldiers on the frontline Wraysford needed Weir for company and to help his sanity, Weir alone had made the war bearable friendships like Weirs and Wraysfords meant that soldiers could get through the war together. They did not need to be alone. Although Raleigh in Journeys End believed he needed to distance himself when Osborne dies, Raleigh who is first seen as this innocent character in the beginning of the play is opened to this horror after the death of Osborne, he now knows truly just how hard . He eats away from the officers with the other men, he finds it disrespectful that the others are eating and drinking. Maybe some may believe distancing themselves would mean when or if it came to them dying it would not be as hard. Many soldiers needed to be friends, to join together because even though loss is hard the sharing of jokes in such a situation as terrible as this one may have helped. In Journeys End many of the characters particularly Trotters main form of escapism is in making jokes about the war and the Germans I expect a nasty old Germanll cop out of it and say, Ock der Kaiser in doing this they are able to cover up their fear and make light of the situation. In Birdsong the use of comedy is more subtle, the soldiers go down to the pub and watch entertainment and laugh with each other as friends rather than making obvious jokes. Jack performing for the soldiers gave some time for the men to relax and enjoy themselves. If they could shout loud enough, they might bring the world back to its senses; they might laugh loud enough to raise the dead although raising the dead was not possible, the idea that in laughing and having as good a time as you can they could remember their losses and keep them alive in their thoughts. In Journeys End some of the soldiers liked to talk about home and familiar things like rugby and cricket to take their minds of the horrors of trench warfare. Thinking about home would help them to remember how their life was before the war; it would make them want to get out and gave them something to live for. Another thing they might think about is their girlfriends, wives or just women in general, I just prayed to come through the war and and do things and keep absolutely fit for her. Jack Firebrace wanted to survive for his family, dealt with the struggle with the belief he had his wife and child to return to His endurance was for them; the care he took to try to stay alive was so that he would see the boy again. As for Stephen he did not have a family or anyone really he wanted to go home for, he kept on fighting and wanting to survive for the men who had died before, he wanted to win, to continue for their benefit. The idea and hope that the men he had lost had not died in vain. With trench conditions as foul as they were; rats, lice and illnesses such as trench foot one thing that could keep the men going was the idea and the relief of getting food. The importance of food in Journeys End is shown by how many times the men talk about it and bring it up in general conversation. Complaining about inconsequential things like chunks of pineapple instead of apricots take their minds of the war I say, Stanhope, its a terrible business. We thought wed got a tin of pineapple chunks; it turns out to be apricots. The men on the front lines wouldnt very often have the nicest of food, and when Stanhope has to visit the Colonel and is given really expensive foods he immediately thinks of his men but he will eat the food as it is the one thing that he can gain pleasure from A thin stew followed, then ripe cheese and fresh bread. Lunch went on past three oclockStephen smiled to himself, aware that his brief flight from reality would soon be ended. Birdsong touches on the idea of religion and how this can be affected by war. Many soldiers lost their faith due to the mass slaughter or even the loss of a son at home like Jack Firebrace however Stephen seemed to gain a belief in God, the idea that nothing this cruel can be the end. He hoped that when Weir or any other Soldier died they had a better world to escape to and maybe this idea kept him going helped him deal with the death of his friends. Journeys End doesnt really touch on the mens faith or religion, however the idea of hero worshipping used by Raleigh could be linked. The belief in a God and a higher being could also be like Raleigh looking up to Stanhope I believe Raleigh will go on liking you and looking up to you through everything. Theres something very deep, and rather fine, about hero worship. Many soldiers may have used the method of positive thinking like Osborne to cover up just how scared and fearful they were I never knew the sun could rise in so many ways till I came out here. Each soldier on the front line had to choose their own way of escaping and dealing with the horrors of trench warfare. The putrid living conditions and the everyday horror of death meant that it was necessary for them to break out of the truth they were living. Many of the methods used in both Journeys End and Birdsong are similar but their methods were carried out in different ways. Others didnt use methods at all, they just didnt cope; like Hibbert in Journeys End faking an illness to get away. Each character in either Journeys End or Birdsong took on different methods of dealing with their long hardships and suffering. The true horrors of the war however could not be forgotten, the sight of death and the stench in the trenches would not be quickly removed from their thoughts. These literary texts both play and book give us, today, just a brief insight into the lives of men on the western front, the challenges faced by these men were truly horrific and just surviving must have been a hardship. No one now or then on the home front could ever know the true extent of the struggle and the effects it had both mentally and physically, If they could see the way these men live they would not believe their eyes. This is not a war; this is an exploration of how far men can be degraded.

Musical Instruments Essay Example for Free

Musical Instruments Essay 1. Do you believe it is still possible that new musical instruments could be invented and widely distributed? Empirically, though the diversity of musical instruments has reached a quite high level, human has never stopped their exploration into music. So, I think it’s highly possible that several new musical instruments can be invented and widely distributed. The musical history has already proved this. Before 19th century, the majority of musical instruments are acoustic, and most people at that time held the opinion that we already have enough instruments. However, accompany with the development of electricity and latter computer technology, electronic music has grown rapidly. Musical instruments are no longer bonded within the acoustic. Maybe in the future, we can even use the photon to make some music. 2. Do you think that existing orchestral instruments will be drastically altered in the future? I think some fine turning may occur on existing orchestral instruments but drastically change may not happen. With hundred years of development and perfection, orchestra has already formed its own system and process. Its requirement to musical instruments is almost fixed. Already some fine turning may be applied in order to achieve better acoustic effect, but the outer shape and essential component of these musical instruments won’t be changed since they have already be a symbol of orchestra. 3. Will the computer and other electronic instruments eventually replace acoustical instruments? Which do you prefer? Definitely not. Diversity is an essential part of music, if all the music is generated by electronic devices, it can be quite boring and people will suffer aesthetic fatigue. Personally, I prefer acoustical instruments, why, just personal taste. 4. Please open YouTube and listen to composition Desintegrations for 17 instruments and computer tape (1983) created by French composer Tristan Murail (1947-). Can you separate sound materials created by the acoustic instruments from the tape material? Are they often fused? Are they created to resemble each other? For those parts in which only one instrument occurred I can figure out the type, while for those with more than two, I can not. Yes, they often fused together, especially in modern music. Yes, they do resemble to each other otherwise the music won’t achieve harmonic sound effect.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cosmetic Surgery Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cosmetic Surgery Essay Introduction Nowadays, many men or women are considering to make themselves looks better so decided to have cosmetic surgery. A lot of cosmetic surgery provider advertising their cosmetic skill and benefit of cosmetic surgery to attract more customer. Cosmetic surgery contain positive and negative morality. Question 1 Teleology theory can be defined as moral consequence position, in which moral behaviour means achieving an ethical consequence without concern over the process by which the end result is achieved. Right conduct with teleology means that which in turn promotes the best consequences or perhaps identifiable good (Craig, 1996). Utilitarianism can say by the phase â€Å"the greatest good for the greatest number† (Mill, 1983). From the view of Chris, Chris decided to have nose surgery is moral because acting accordance with happiness. Nonetheless, Chris are appearing upon a low delight. Even though the surgery will bring Chris several happiness but it is something that become endless pursuit. If there is a propensity for Chris into the future out feeling and looking better, than this surgeon did their own job and there is nothing immoral happening. Where the layaway is acceptable and surgeons do not have permit to practice, in pain and annoyance, there is immoral about the particula r action. After the nose surgery operation, Chris perceive that there was some pain and discomfort after the surgery operation within a couple of week. Besides that, Chris having the second operation to correct a minor. After the operation, Chris satisfy with the result and bring Chris happiness. Based on the Chris’s decision to take action on cosmetic surgery, Chris’s mother was fully disagree Chris to having the nose surgery. Because Chris didn’t know what are the risk will occur during the operation. Chris’s mother keep on recall back the story of famous footballer’s wife which who are the one kept going for cosmetic surgery and passed away because of complication after the operation. From the view of Chris’s mother is based on deontology theory. Deontology define since the rightness as well as wrongness of action by evaluation of particular formal properties of act for instance duty, justice as well as respect a great individual’s autonomy (Stahl, 1996). All of the parents will worry about their child by doing some activities to damage or hurting themselves because of this, parents will have the responsible to avoid the activities happen. Even Chris’s mother also tried to persuade Chris do not have cosmetic surgery i s because Chris’s mother worrying about Chris will have any danger during the operation. In the other way, Kantian ethics believe that consequence could never make right or wrong because an action may bring the happiness but still might be wrong. Because of the prominent nose was bring Chris unhappiness and dissatisfaction so Chris decide to have nose surgery for the beauty and seeking happiness. Question 2 Archie B Carroll said that the definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has four type of classification which include economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethical responsibility and discretionary responsibility (Carroll, 1979). These four type of expectations reflect a view of social responsibility that related to some in the definitions made available earlier although that categorizes the social responsibilities connected businesses within a more inclusive manner. In order to make the Naturea clinic be more profitable, the Naturea clinic have to maintain a strong competitive position in surgery industry. Therefore, the Naturea clinic have to maintain a high level of operational efficiency by providing the best service quality to fulfill customer need and make sure the customer satisfied with the result after the surgery. Naturea clinic employees had been training to help them proceed within a cautions along with measured method, but the employees are being chivv ied with the management team to become more energetic and market-facing to make the clinic more profitable. In addition, the Naturea clinic should perform in a manner consistent with maximize earning per share. Furthermore, Naturea clinic must obey to the law cause of law is the society’s codification of right and wrong. Clinic have to perform in a manner in keeping with the expectations of government along with the law and it is also important to comply with numerous national and supranational laws and regulation. Other than that, Naturea clinic have to meet the minimum legal requirements by providing goods or services. For example, a qualified surgeons provide face or body plastic surgery to satisfy customer need. The rules and regulation for Naturea clinic by not doing illegal activities such as providing fake information about the cosmetics surgery, cheating customer by saying do not have any risk occur during the surgery operation. Ethical responsibility encompass those standard, norms, or expectation that reflect a concern for just what consumers, workers, shareholders and the community consider as fair, just or commensurate with the esteem or protection of stakeholders moral legal rights. The Naturea medical team members complain amongst themselves the company has been hijacked by the team of the managers and the medics feel very pressure to hit the targets pertaining to the number and characteristics of operations are expected to perform. The manager of the Naturea clinic should treat their employees fairly, provide training to surgeons to ensure become a qualified surgeon to satisfy customers and do not give them high pressure when performing their work. Ethical responsibility for Naturea clinic is important to prevent ethical norms from being compromised as a way to achieve corporate objectives. Besides that, ethical responsibility could help clinic to recognize which corporate integrity along with ethical behavior go beyond mere compliance with regulations. Lastly, the ethical responsibility also important to Naturea clinic by recognize and also respect fresh or innovating moral ethical norms used by society. Discretionary responsibility almost like philanthropy initiatives try to be good corporate citizen by doing some community activities, charitable work, donation to good causes and providing day-care centers to create a positive image for company (Blowfield and Murray, 2008). The Naturea clinic should do some charity activities such tend to arrange for teams of volunteer physicians carrying medical supplies to complete the mission. Increasingly, these teams also work to improve medical infrastructures and to train personnel. The manager and employees of Naturea clinic participate in voluntary and charitable activities within their local communities. Cause-related marketing (CRM) occurs when a company forms a strategic relationship with a particular social cause that are mutually advantages to all parties (Kolter and Lee, 2005). CRM are advantage to Naturea clinic such as, increasing the clinic population, increasing the brand awareness and services quality, developing good public rela tions and increasing the customer loyalty. And there are advantages for the social cause by increasing in donations through better exposure. Question 3 For some, plastic surgery is an approach to recover an ordinary appearance after a mishap. For other, plastic surgery is an approach to revise saw corrective blemishes. Despite the purpose behind the plastic surgery, there are serious disadvantages that must be considered before having surgery (Holley, 2013). The first disadvantages of having surgery is medicals risks. Plastic surgery, in the same way as any surgery, convey a danger of medical complications, including death. The absolute most regular dangers connected with plastic surgery are serve bleeding, infection and nerve damage that may lead to dumbness, tissue death, fluid collecting around the site (seroma) and wounding in the range. Blood clusters can profound vein thrombosis are likewise complications of plastic surgery. The second disadvantages of having surgery is about the appearance. Unsightly scarring is also disadvantage of plastic surgery. With these scar, which are called hypertrophic scars, are thick and red. Wounding and swelling for a period of time after the surgery are frequently hard to cover up, particularly when the work was carried out in the facial area. Besides that, Ptosis or drooping and sagging in the surgical area, might be another disadvantage. Furthermore, some of the patients find that the result of the procedure are not what they anticipated. The next disadvantage is cost of the plastic surgery. Numerous plastic surgery procedures are costly. As indicated by American Society for Aesthetic plastic surgery, microdermabrasion was the least expensive procedure which costs an average of $139 per procedure and the most expensive with a costs of $7,976 is a lower body lift. Besides that, there are some fees also will be calculated when considering the costs of plastic surgery which is surgeon fees, hospital fees and anesthesia fees, along with lost wages and medication costs. Cosmetic surgery tourism can be defined as the motion of the patients from one location to another to carry out â€Å"aesthetic† medical procedure, which is the growing area of medical tourism (Reisman, 2010). Some of the activities like sunbathing, drinking alcohol, jet skiing and swimming should be avoided after surgery said by the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) (ASPS, 2008). The disadvantage of cosmetic surgery tourism is that impossible for the patient to meet up the doctors to operate on the patient before travelling, it is required to have a talk with doctor or surgeon to know detail of the surgery and the effect of travelling for operation. Many patient lack of knowledge about the problem of cosmetic surgery oversea. An accident or bad cosmetic surgery can occur. For example, Elliott (2004) reported that a patient had liposuction on her legs and the surgery so radical that the patient leg badly dimpled and require more fat to fill them out. All cosmetic surgery possible present the dangers to patient or tourist health. Some of patient face extra language and culture barrier that obstruct communication with physicians and nurses (Casanova, 2007). When post-operative individual decide in tourism activities will raise the chances of undesirable results and complications. Question 4 From my opinion, I felt that the advertising of cosmetic surgery by clinics such as Naturea should be banned. As of now, cosmetic surgery supplier are free to promote their services without any restriction on content. The advertisement heedlessly trivialize invasive surgical procedures that consist of inherent heath risk. Every people have their own definition of beauty. Genuine beauty lie in your individuality, if one of the boy or girl consider as ugly but they have a good personality which mean there is still have people find them because they are attractive. But the cosmetic surgery trend has misdirect the people into imaging that looks are generally vital. They may duplicate their idols’ looks so they can like themselves and be acknowledge in general. This would be bad for the society. We should respect our parents because our looks are a present from our parents, if we have cosmetic surgery and changed our looks are considered as cheating. Besides that, some of the adver tisement show that cosmetic surgery do not contain any risk and guarantee that the surgeons is a qualified surgeons and have their own license. All of the advertisement is tried to cheat customer and actually cosmetic surgery involves risk such medical risk. Some of the surgeons might not have a license or unqualified surgeons, if you having cosmetic surgery from the surgeons that do not have license and not a qualified surgeons and the end result is not what you expected, you would not be able to do anything on it. Currently, people have no choice, but still exposed the aggressive marketing plot of some cosmetic clinics, whether in the public, social media such as internet, magazines or advertising on TV. Because of these, the advertising will affect everyone that already considering to have the surgery. Conclusion As a conclusion, cosmetic surgery can satisfy what customer need and also will damage to the customer after the surgery. If cosmetic surgery fulfill the happiness of the customer then the action of the surgeon is moral. And there are four responsibility in corporate social responsibility which include economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibility. There is also a disadvantage of having cosmetic surgery and cosmetic surgery tourism. (1946 word) References ASPS, (2008), Warnings of ASPS, [Online] Available from:http://www.plastisurgery.org> [Accessed: 7 April 2015] Archie B. Carroll. (1979). The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 4, No.4 (Oct., 1979), pp. 497-505 Blowfield, M., Murray, A. (2008). Corporate Responsibility: a critical introduction, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK Craig, E. (1998).Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London and New York: Routledge. Casanova, E. (2007) The Whole Package: Exploring Cosmetic Surgery Tourism, [Online] Available from:http://www.allacademicresearch.com> [Accessed: 6 April 2015] Elliott, J. (2004) Do not Rush into Cosmetic Surgery, [Online] Available from:http://www.bbc.co.uk> [Accessed: 6 April 2015] Holley, Casey. ’Disadvantages of Plastic Surgery | LIVESTRONG.COM’. LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 2013 [Online] Available from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/23750-disadvantages-plastic-surgery/> [Accessed: 5 April 2015] Kotler, P. Lee, N. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility: doing the most good for your company and your cause Wiley Publications, New Jersey, USA Mill, John Stuart. The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Gen. Ed. John M. Robson. 33vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963-91. Reisman, D. (2010) Health Tourism: Social Welfare through International Trade. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Stahl DA. Ethics in subacute care—part1. Nurs Manage. 1996;27(9):29-30. Thomas MCElhenney â€Å"The Ethical Issues behind Cosmetic Plastic Surgery. [Online] Available from :http://parenethical.com/phil140sp11/2011/03/07/thomas-mcelhenney-the-ethical-issues-behind-cosmetic-plastic-surgery-and-how-js-mill-and-immanuel-kant-would-view-it/> [Accessed: 8 April 2015]

Belgian Neutrality in the mid 1800s Essay -- essays research papers f

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A bond between two nations is like a serious relationship between two people who are soul mates there is nothing that can be done to break up their passion or alliance. This is the best way to describe the selected cartoon from Punch Magazine that will be analyzed in this essay, â€Å"Trust Me!† August 13th, 1870. This essay will discuss England’s support of Belgium independence and neutrality from a political and diplomatic viewpoint from the mid to late Nineteenth Century. Accordingly this essay will predominantly focus on the build up to the Franco-Prussian War, English diplomatic actions during the Franco-Prussian War in defense of Belgian independence and neutrality. Also, to understand England and Belgium’s relationship, the Treaty of London signed in 1839 will be analyzed and discussed. Thus, this essay will cover or touch on events from 1830 to approximately 1872 and explain why England had to get involved between the belligerents of the time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To accurately describe the situation at hand during the late nineteenth century in England that is depicted in the selected cartoon one must go a bit further back to understand decisions and actions that have happened in the past which would be effecting England and its decisions in the time period being discussed. To do this one must consider the Belgian Revolution of 1830. The cause of the revolution was brought upon the nation in La Monnaie opera house in Brussels on August 25th, 1830 . A previously banned play about Neapolitan insurrection against Spanish Rule managed to work the crowd into revolution through a song lyric, â€Å"My country gave me life, I shall give it liberty!† The revolt was a huge success for the Belgian people as they took the royal authorities by surprise with their intensity and rapid spread of rebellious activity that pushed Dutch troops out of Belgium. By September 27th, 1830 the Belgians had managed to set up a provisional gove rnment, proclaim Belgian independence, ordered an early election of a national congress, and finally drafted and proclaimed the proclamation of independence for Belgium by October 4th, 1830. Given the short time frame in which the Revolution of 1830 occurred, it didn’t give England and the other super powers much time to make a decision on what had to be done. The situation was best describe by the British P... ...cessful in her efforts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography Barker, Nancy and Brown, Marvin L. JR., ed. Diplomacy in an Age of Nationalism: Essays in Honor of Lynn Marshall Case. Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971. Beck, James M. The Evidence in the Case as to The Moral Responsibility for the War. New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1915. Howard, Michael. The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870-1871. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1962. Millman, Richard. British Foreign Policy and the Coming of the Franco-Prussian War. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1965. Raymond, Dora Neill. British Foreign Policy and Opinion during the Franco-Prussian War. New York: AMS Press Incorporated, 1967. Thomas, Daniel H. The Guarantee of Belgian Independence and Neutrality in European Diplomacy, 1830’s-1930’s. Rhode Island: D.H. Thomas Publishing, 1983.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Censorship :: essays research papers

Censorship My life has been nothing but censorship since the time I was born. When I was very young and lived in Chicago there were all sorts of interesting things around to play with. My parents physically censored me by putting me in "baby prison." They felt that certain things needed to be censored from me because of their potential danger. So I was kept out of harms way in the playpen or crib. As I grew older and was no longer watched by my parents 24 hours a day, I realized that I was censored by others. In school, it was constantly no to this and no to that. All that negativity is not good for children, all day long. It was always interesting to me as to why we recited the pledge of allegiance in school, what if you are not American? I also was not allowed to watch the news. My parents felt it was "real violence", and not appropriate for me, that was parental censorship. When I was old enough to go out with my friends I became confused when my parents said I could see an "PG-13" rated movie but the theater wouldn't let me in. When I argued that "my parents said I could go see it!!", the theater management always said things like I need to be 13 or must be accompanied by a parent and so on. I then proposed this question, my parents said I could see it, now why can't I see it? The answer to that question is the government doesn't think I am old enough. My mom said live with it, there is nothing you can do. I think that made me more inquisitive. That was just the beginning, I was too young to go on certain rides and too young to go into stores like Sharper Image and I was too young to purchase the music that I really enjoyed. When I was able to get my hands on a Compact Disc I had wanted, it sometimes had a "Explicit Lyrics" warning sticker on it. I would go home, listen and enjoy only to get lectured by my parents. They said things such as; you can't have anything that contains profanity, or any type of objectionable material. "Then again I am only going to encounter it in the real world!!!", I would reply. Obviously there are many different views to take on this issue, and I knew there was a long and difficult battle ahead of me until I was 18. I contend that censoring music is a necessary evil but, it should be

Speech Analysis -- essays research papers

This short paper will discuss my analysis of the Informative Speech I gave in class. I will cover posture, voice – volume and distinction, eye contact, and overall analysis. Posture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the beginning of my speech I think my posture was good. However, I do think it had is weaknesses. I stood straight and didn’t move around for example. I could have used my movements and better posture to get a more knowledgeable perception to the audience. I had my back towards the audience on the left of me when I was pointing at things on the slide show. I know this is a big NO-NO but I guess I didn’t realize at the time that I was doing it. Voice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have always felt like I possess a loud voice, but people tend to tell me that I am very soft s...

History of Bloodletting Essay

Hans von Gersdorff: Feldbuch der Wundarzney (Field book of surgery) (Page 16V), 1517 The above diagram is from a medicine book published in 1517 by a German surgeon Hans von Gersdorff, showing the points of bloodletting, we can see that there are nearly 50 points of bloodletting distributed in all parts of the body. The diagram also shows a dissection of a male human body with most of the organs shown, it seems that people at time or before that time already did a lot of experiments and dissections on human body trying to understand their own body and how to treat different illness by bloodletting. It can also be conclude that bloodletting is a very scientific way to treat illness at that time as it appears in a published medicine book, the diagram shows a quite accurate human dissection and there are so many points of bloodletting for treating illnesses. Bloodletting is a medical practice of withdrawing blood from our body by bleeding, the history of bloodletting started at the ancient times and found in many countries, its idea is to remove the excessive or the bad humours in our body in order to maintain health. This idea come from the menstruation of female as people at that time though that menstruation is a process of removing bad humours. The idea of bloodletting is reinforced by the humoral theory and research of Galen. Galen states that blood is produced in the live and is consumed in body parts, blood is not circulating and so will stagnate in different body parts. And the humoral theory of Galen state that the healthiness of our body is maintained by the humoral balance. So if there is excessive humours, we should remove them in order to maintain health. If blood is the excessive humour, bloodletting should be performed. These two idea combined together and contributed to the development of bloodletting. There are so many points of bloodletting shown in the diagram is possibly because of people at that time though that different diseases are caused by excessive blood stagnate in different body parts, so they perform bloodletting in different body parts in order to heal different illnesses by restoring the humoral balance. The idea of bloodletting lasts for almost 2,000 years and was disproved by William Harvey. From my point of view, William’s research disprove the theory of bloodletting in two ways. Firstly, William founds that blood is not produced in liver then used up in body parts as Galen said, but is circulating all around the body and so it will not stagnate in the body parts. Therefore bloodletting in different body part will get the same result and the theory of performing bloodletting in different body part to treat different illness is disproved. Secondly, as blood is not produced then used up, so the production rate of blood is not as fast as Galen thought. Actually, the production rate of blood in our body is quite slow and so the amount of blood is relatively constant. As the procedure of bloodletting is to remove quite a large amount of blood, so this will weaken our body and sometimes maybe even fatal. This disprove the idea of using bloodletting to treat illness. Despite of this, the practice of bloodletting still quite common until the 1900s because of its own long history. Nowadays, bloodletting is seldom use as a kind of scientific medical treatment already as most of the people knows about the side effects of it, but it still appears in some folk healing practice. Reference: 1. Wikipedia – Bloodletting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting 2. Wikipedia – Galen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen 3. Wikipedia – William Harvey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harvey 4. The Medieval Period’s Most Painful Medical Procedures And Instruments http://all-thats-interesting.tumblr.com/post/35561937226/the-medieval-periods-most-painful-medical-procedures 5. Top 10 Bizarre Healing Treatments http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-bizarre-healing-techniques.php 6. CCST9024 Blood, Beliefs, Biology Lecture 2 PowerPoint 7. CCST9024 Blood, Beliefs, Biology Lecture 3 PowerPoint

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Essay

  In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote details the social arena that molded Dick Hickock and Perry Smith into criminals and killers.   The author wrote of how Hickock was brought up in a loving home with a stable family but suffered from mental illness.   Perry on the other hand, had alcoholic parents in a very unloving atmosphere, uneducated and suffered from depression.   Each was influenced by society differently but the result was the same.   The author details their stories from the beginning of their criminal history up to their execution for the murder of the Clutter family.   The question is, was Perry a â€Å"natural born killer†. In an article in Psychology Today there is evidence that activity or lack of in the prefrontal cortex of the brain region are associated with acts of murder.   This prefrontal cortex activity is also associated with a wide range of behaviors such as risk taking, rule breaking, aggression and impulsivity that can lead to violence.   This evidence has a great value in maybe creating a way for society to possibly point out problem individuals and possible treatment or prevention of criminal activity such as murder.   The article goes on to say that perhaps this is a way to point to biological differences or the possibility of natural born killers (Raine 10). In some ways Truman Capote could relate to Perry because both had terrible experiences growing up. The author was intrigued as to why Perry would go on to kill and he didn’t. Capote wrote that possible social consequences made the difference possibly grooming Perry to be a killer and some professionals agree sociologist are not satisfied with the explanations that are rooted in biology and personality.   They point to the perspective of symbolic interaction that each of us interprets life through symbols that we learn (Henslin 133).   Sociologist Edwin Sutherland stressed that people learn deviance.   He uses the term differential association to indicate that we learn to deviate or to conform to society’s norms mostly by the people we associate with.   But if this is correct then why does some with the same interaction kill and others do not?   In my opinion there are people who are born natural killers.   It is something that is innate within some individuals and is nurtured by society to its final display.   In my belief some individuals will be born a killer and some will not.   Society takes this innate trait and shapes them even more, or even less, towards the direction of their innate features.   The degree of their actions is my proof.   Take hunting some individuals can hunt and some cannot.   This is an example of the innate trait for killing expressed in killing for food rather than killing another human. Degree is how society grooms each killer, the hunter and the murderer, to their final â€Å"ends†.   Because traits are passed from parent to child that is why some societies are prone to have more killers than others and what degree the acts are committed is influenced by each of the societies they live in.  Ã‚   The degree of the trait is what society uses for determining how wrong the act is and how that individual will be punished.   Evil is solely influenced and decided by the society one lives in.   Killing is inevitable for some individuals; it is to what degree that makes the difference. Reference: Capote, Truman.   In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its    Consequences.   New York: Signet Books, 1965. Henslin, James M.   Essentials of Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach.   Boston:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Raine, A.   Natural born Killers?   Psychology Today 28(1), p.10, 1995 Jan/Feb.

Green Revolution Essay

Interaction between humans and the environment has always had a great importance in the development of humankind; according to Marx, what differentiates humans from other animals is the fact that humans can transform their surroundings to suit their needs, through labor. The Green Revolution is not the exception to that. In times of need the human being manipulated its environment to be suitable for its development, however, the question lingers, how efficient was it, how positive? The Green Revolution, from 1945 to the present, was motivated by the need to increase the production of food to supply for the increasing demand as population grew, to promote national self-sustainability in terms of food. However, during that period the effect of the Revolution have been detrimental to the environment and society: they have damaged agricultural diversity and heritage, damaged the lands, and put at risk food security; also, they have widened the gap between the very rich and the very poor, monopolizing the food industry. The Green Revolution originated after an urgent need to promote food security with a growing trend in global population, as a way to promote self-sustainability and independence. As it is clear in the report given by the Food and Agriculture Organization (DOC 2), in the period ranging from around 1929 (great depression) and 1945 (end of World War II) the global food supply index was below the world population. What this means is that there was literally not enough food being produced world wide to feed the world population. This struggle of human kind to stay afloat in supplying the minimum needs for survival meant that a change needed to occur. The answer, as Dr. Norman Borlaug stated in his Nobel Lecture (DOC 4) was not simply planting more in the developing nations, since the lands in those areas were â€Å"tired, worn out, depleted of plant nutrients†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Clearly, what the document refers is that a new, more effective way of growing food had to be developed. In fact, Dr. Borlaug states that the priority of the developments of the green revolution concentrated in the millions that were lurked by hunger, a large problematic that clearly was under the spotlight. As a proof that the world was prioritizing the deficient food supply is the statement given by President Harry Truman (DOC 3). President Truman was the leader of the most powerful nation in the world at the time, the one with the largest technological developments, and his word was the one that would set the course of the world. This particular speech is vital, since it is the inaugural speech, where he was to set the priorities of the government and address the world with what the United States had as a course for the future. In this speech, he clearly refers to the shocking figure that â€Å"more than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery† and says that the United States will help provide â€Å"technical knowledge†¦ to produce more food† In the speech President Truman refers often to liberty, thus meaning that self-sustainability will provide freedom. This speech is the perfect example, the jewel of the trend that the world was seeing with regard to prioritizing food. The mention of â€Å"technical knowledge† is vital in the construction of the green revolution as a response to the lack of food, with technological developments in the agricultural field. Some have said that the Green Revolution has been a success in improving the food industry, and improving living conditions for everyone; nevertheless the numbers today reflect a mediocre success. Indian minister for food and agriculture (1964-1967) states in an interview (DOC 5) that the farmers of the state of Punjab competed to use the technology that was introduced by the green revolution the best. It is stated with a positive connotation, as to refer to the great feats of Punjab. This seems very positive, however, the most likely reason for this to have occurred is the fact that multinational corporations were kicking them out of the market and they were forced into utilizing the technology that those same corporations were imposing on them. If this were true, which it most likely is, as it has happened in many places around the world, it would discredit the great success that the Green Revolution supposedly is. Furthermore, the claim is that the Green Revolution has brought prosperity, however, to whom, to the ones that were rich already? A perfect example of this negative impact of the Green Revolution is the conversation between Mrs. Dula and the United Nations official (DOC 6), which gives a not very realistic perspective of the impact of the green Revolution and is concentrated exclusively in the sector of the very rich. This document is indeed quite revealing, as the speaker is an aristocratic woman of Mexico, probably a housewife who sees the world through the optic of his husband, a man who earns a salary if the revolution which he works for is successful; in fact, she is most likely part of one of the clubs she talks about herself. The occasion of this statement is a simple conversation with a UN official, probably at some sort of a social event, where the high class is all joined together, with perfectly slanted people who are not really analyzing the global impact of the Green Revolution. This document gives a crystal clear proof of how much the Green Revolution has made the â€Å"rich Mexican farmers† richer probably at the expense of making the poor laborers, poorer, however, this document presents only one, very bright point of view to sell the revolution. With regards to India once again, socially, they sell the idea of improvement, like in the report of the State of Punjab (DOC 9) where it says that the Green Revolution has seen with it the â€Å"emergence of middle and rich peasants† a very undesirable euphemism to conceal the actual situation. This document seems to give a perspective of social growth and development, of a population going for education, yet once again, it seems very idealistic in its tone, when in reality India has totally different conditions. With regards to that, India has one of the largest Gini index’s in the world, meaning a huge social inequality, and has one of the smallest middle classes in the world, which has diminished even more throughout the years, meaning that in reality, India may have had a somewhat positive year, but the general trend is of a very pronounced downturn in social progress, all related to the Green Revolution which is destroying the small farmers. The Green Revolution, in truth has brought more ill than it has brought good, in the environmental and social aspects. Regarding environmental harm, the FAO Wheat Yield report (DOC 1) is very good in demonstrating the introduction of massive scale crops that the Green Revolution brings forth with it. The introduction of these crops damages the lands since they are not prone to such production. The graphs show that in both Mexico and India the crop yields were extremely irregular, and as time passed they have become even more, this is due to the fact that they are not proper to those areas and its planting is something totally synthetic and with complete disrespect towards the natural balance. The article by Dr. Vandana Shiva (DOC 8) reveals how much damage the crops, especially Genetically Modified Organisms; do to the land they are planted in. The â€Å"reduced genetic diversity, increased vulnerability to pests, soil erosion, water shortages†¦Ã¢â‚¬  are effect that will leave marked the land for a long time, as Dr. Shiva states, and are a threat to future generations, which will have totally barren land where it will be impossible to plant food. Dr. Shiva also refers to the social problematic that the Green Revolution is planting alongside its seeds. For instance the fight for water to provide irrigation, previously not needed in India, has lead to â€Å"conflict and violence† and as it has become a worldwide trend, the career for water dominance is â€Å"leading to both local and interstate water conflicts. † This clearly shows how disadvantageous the spread of the Green Revolution has been, since it has brought unmeasured changes that have not been made responsibly, but rather abruptly, causing enormous damage. Dr. Shiva is an Indian Physicist, and being from India she probably has had a very direct contact with the Green Revolution, considering that one of its birthplaces was in fact the State of Punjab. In this occasion she is writing for the Ecologist magazine, a publication read by people with primary interest in the environmental issues, including organization leaders and maybe politicians who will probably get concerned, especially due to the tone of annoyance and hatred that she employs in the article. Expanding on social implications, the Guatemalan National Coordinating Committee of Indigenous peasants (DOC 10) gives a different perspective. Although it may sound somewhat as mysticism from indigenous people, saying that they have contaminated the seeds is not a joke, considering the hormones that can be found in GMO plantations. This also acknowledges a vital issue, the loss of diversity and heritage that society is killing with the systematic Green Revolution trends, like the Mayan traditions, which have been present for â€Å"five thousand years. † Furthermore, the social disaster does not stop there, but stumbles over women, which according to the FAO Newsletter (DOC 7) have been forced to change their job. In this case the implications have made woman, traditionally in other roles, have even less opportunities to succeed, as the increased need for cash income made the woman be forced to work. This implies a social catastrophe since it denies the right of woman to equal opportunities, which are stripped off with the Green Revolution, which makes them simply one more laborer forced to work. Additional to the information presented in the documents it would be vital to contain the point of view of a small scale male farmer that has to compete with the multinational corporations, which have been installed after the start of the Green Revolution circa 1945. This would be important since it would show the first hand effects of the monopolies that the Green Revolution has brought, with regards to the social impact it has made, and whether that impact is positive or negative. As discussed throughout the essay, the Green Revolution, which has lasted from 1945 until the present day, was originated with a need to secure food production in a starving world. However its effects were not so positive, since today many starve, and the Green Revolution has damaged the environment and widened the gap between the social classes. The setup of crops that have give no benefit to the places in which they are grown, with complete disregard to the ecological balance that was being destroyed have caused issues ranging from soil erosion to water shortages and crops with pest vulnerability. The Green Revolution has also made the rich farmers richer at the cost of the poor being poorer, since the costs of the new technologies are not easily accessible, but the yields that they provide take the small farmers out of business. In general, although certain governments sponsor the Green Revolution and make it seem positive, it has brought about large changes in the way humans interact with the environment, with a generalized destruction of it to get short-term solutions to the problem of food shortages.

The scene of a beach on a beach on a hot summers day.

I stepped out into a burning oasis. Somehow I suddenly forgot about my home it seemed a world away from where I was standing. My eyes fluttered as a peered at the sun, the grains of sand at my feet began to feel familiar. As I started to wonder over the dunes. In the distance figures darting across the white hills appeared. I stopped quiet abruptly, and turned to the sea. My eyes glittered as I studied the waves. Boats on the horizon seemed like pointless dots on a piece of paper; forgotten but will always purpose. I saw a lilo bobbing in the in the uncharted waves. A body was placed so lightly upon the plastic float with skin so tender the light kissed it. Children playing so innocently by the shore, sand castles scattered about all with a different story to tell. The children were white with sun block as they paddled in the tide. I carried on stumbling over the boiling sand. I noticed some surfers taming the waves, that tossed them carelessly aside. I started to walk closer to the sea, I felt the salty cooling breeze upon my face so pure. I took off my shoes and sat by the shore as I once did when I was a child, now I was no longer alone. The seagulls ‘cooed' gently, then I heard the complete opposite to the seagulls soft voices I heard people, yelling and laughing I turned and saw a busy promenade. The peer was in the distance, the old fun-fair temping me over though now the heat was overpowering me. I carelessly dragged my feet up the cobbled steps to the promenade. Shops piled upon shops, people piled upon people. Shops filled with food as I pushed closer I began to smell all too familiar smells, that all my life had reminded me of this wonderful place, the seaside. Fish and chip bars placed in every other window it was as if I was walking down I hall of mirrors. After looking around for a while I began to feel very hot and tired so I returned back to the beach, boiling and sticky I slipped onto the sand. I lay looking at the clear blue sky, blue like the waves that calmly lapped the shore. A mother and child sat quietly beside me, the child holding a green spade that caught the light and made my eyes squint whilst he dug furiously into the sand. His mother lay perched on a deck chair, sunbathing her eyes fixed on her child. â€Å"Alfie† she called â€Å"be carefully†, the young child covered in a white paste giggled and carried on. I turned over now alone with my thoughts, staring back at me was a huge grey donkey part of a fleet of them that marched like soldiers alone the beach every single day, tens of times. His eyes; seemed tired and weepy. I went on to imagine how thirsty he must be in this intense heat. Volley ball pitches were littered upon the flat open range to my left. The noise of laugher filled the air people were every where to be seen, deckchairs and coloured umbrellas with families around them continued in sequent's as far as I could see down the flat plain of sand. I turned to my right once again, it looked like a untamed world compared with what I had just saw it was much quieter here. There was only the silent mother and her child to be seen. The mother now cradling her child tightly to her chest. The child was now lapping up a ice-cream, it must have been ice cold to touch the child's lips. The sun began to set upon a day full of interest. The tide began to draw near, closer and closer the water came, the light bouncing off the tiny waves. As the water prudently teased my toes. I stood up and walked knowing away from my oasis.

A Babel of Tongues †The Dialectic of Communication and Solitude in Virginia Woolf

A Babel of Tongues – The Dialectic of Communication and Solitude in Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf’s answer to Mr. Ramsay’s philosophical pursuits in To the Lighthouse is a reconciliation of both worlds – subjective perception and interpretation, and external objectivity. The first chapter of the novel is entitled â€Å"The Window,† and serves to represent the point of contact between subjective and objective states. This, Woolf believes to be our reality. External facts are arbitrary and meaningless until they are apprehended by a subjective state which gives them form; on a social level, communicating as a participant in society exposes the individual to an incoherent tumult of impressions that have to be reorganized into a coherent whole in solitude. Only then can one achieve peace. The individual is hence continually in search of an equilibrium in the dialectic of communication and solitude. Peter Walsh summarizes this concept in Mrs. Dalloway: For this is the truth about our soul†¦our self, who, fish-like inhabits deep seas and plies among obscurities†¦suddenly she shoots to the surface and sports on the wind-wrinkled waves; that is, has a positive need to brush, scrape, kindle herself, gossiping. However, to re-enter society as a participant entails at least a partial suspension of one’s subjectively constructed reality. Creative organisation is forfeited, and the â€Å"infinite richness† of life that Peter experienced a moment ago gives way to anxiety and a sense that events are spiraling out of one’s control. The city appears to be â€Å"floating off in a carnival,† and the febrile party of life – â€Å"the flare and the glare† – becomes lurid and chaotic. The coherent whole fragments and becomes meaningless isolated elements of reality that wash past Peter in an incomprehensible manner: â€Å"the cold stream of visual impressions failed him now as if the eye were a cup that overflowed and let the rest run down its china walls unrecorded.† The consequence of this is that â€Å"the brain must wake now†¦the soul must brave itself to endure.† Previously, as an invisible flà ¢neur amidst the bustling city, Peter could relax his mind to appreciate the myriad impressions of London life. To join the party would entail shedding invisibility and arresting these mental excursions in order to function socially. He takes out his pocketknife again, as he did when he first went to see Clarissa in the morning. T.E Apter suggests that the pocketknife is â€Å"a tool with which to pare down his perceptions, to preen his identity, and to defend himself against others’ views.† This is observed in Peter Walsh’s proleptic defense constructed in his thoughts against society’s voice, including Clarissa’s. He defends himself against the labels â€Å"Socialist† and â€Å"failure,† asserting that the future of civilization lies in the â€Å"hands of young men like[himself],† a nd diminishes Clarissa’s negative opinions of him by suggesting that she is superficial and snobbish. While Apter feels that Peter Walsh’s pocketknife is not a â€Å"worn-out masculine symbol,† Peter’s self-defensive maneuvers are undeniably offensive. Watching Peter handle his pocketknife, Clarissa imaginatively formulates his self-defense as revealed in his interior monologue – that she was â€Å"frivolous; empty minded; a mere chatterbox.† His self-defense invariably becomes an attack – interaction and communication hence turn into a battleground. Clarissa retaliates â€Å"like a Queen whose guards have fallen sleep and left her unprotected,† and â€Å"summoned to her help the things she did; the things she liked; her husband; Elizabeth; her self, in short†¦to come about her and beat off the enemy (my italics).† Her self, violated by misrepresentation, seeks to validate itself and emerges as the â€Å"indomitable egotism† that safeguards her vanity by overriding Peter’s claims. As a result, both Peter and C larissa â€Å"challenge each other† as in a â€Å"battle.† Clarissa validates her identity through external indicators – â€Å"the things she did; the things she liked; her husband; Elizabeth.† This is because a pattern of symbolic interpretation preexists the objects she names. Husband, daughter and hobbies can therefore be used as symbols representing success and felicity to vindicate Clarissa’s choices in life and challenge Peter’s position. However, these external indicators often make reductive summaries of their characters that they would not accept so easily in solitude. Clarissa chooses to define herself in these terms insofar as they offer her protection against Peter’s accusations; they cannot, however, fully represent her essential being, which explains â€Å"the feeling†¦of dissatisfaction† she often experiences of â€Å"not knowing people; not being known.† On the other hand, using social language to â€Å"preen one’s identity† does scale down the task of defend ing oneself against the whole of society into manageable proportions. One tactic Peter employs is in reproducing the external indicators imposed upon him in a dismissive tone (hence â€Å"preening his identity†), as he does later during the party. This subverts the significance of the criticisms and places him in a more enviable light than the term â€Å"failure† would normally allow. This is done without necessitating a head-on battle against society’s rather ill-founded impositions and labels – a task which would only make him appear insecure and, indeed, even more of a â€Å"failure.† Another means of self-defense is to appeal to another set of external indicators, which Peter does in response to Clarissa’s attack. He draws upon his â€Å"praise; his career at Oxford; his marriage† and tackles society’s implicit criticisms with another implicit social argument, and hence simultaneously defends and misrepresents himself. When one is alone, the self is relieved of the tedious tasks of self-defense and self-validation. The individual is allowed his own subjective understanding of events passing in the world and meets no resistance in his interpretation. Peter, upon leaving Clarissa, can therefore criticize her as having â€Å"something cold,† â€Å"a sort of timidity which in middle age becomes conventionality,† without facing Clarissa’s offensive self-defense. These criticisms are individual interpretations and are expressed in terms that are more subjective and descriptive, though less peremptory (which reduces their defensive power) than the predetermined arguments implicit in reductive and generalized social indicators. While these interpretations would afford a more meaningful debate, their lack of defensive power causes them to be eschewed on social battlegrounds where the more imperious external indicators are favoured. Only in solitude is Peter able to organize a more meani ngful representation of reality based on his own subjective interpretation of the events around him. Social language can be seen to impose frameworks of identity on characters, denying them the validity of their subjectively construed self-representations. It is this imposition of identity that characters in The Hours find unbearable. Cunningham describes his text as a â€Å"riff† on Mrs. Dalloway. Faithfully enough, his text is informed by the same theories of identity as a fluid concept as is seen in Woolf, where the self is constantly foiled and resurrected in an etiology concerning identity shaped by communication and solitude. Richard feels that the party could go on â€Å"with the idea of [him].† His self identity has been subsumed into facile social categorization, and he is defined as the tragic and sick artist who writes â€Å"weird book[s].† It is for this reason that he feels he â€Å"got a prize for [his] performance†¦for having AIDS and going nuts and being brave about it.† The external indicators – his sickness and his lengthy book – once again triumph over the true qualities of the self, here partially represented by the actual contents of his work, which nobody seems to understand. Laura Brown likens her anxieties about meeting her husband to the feeling one gets when â€Å"about to go onstage and perform in a play for which [one] is not appropriately dressed, and for which [one] has not adequately rehearsed.† She is acutely aware of the disparity between her self-perceived identity and the identity society has constructed for her, which she has to assume. She finds social identity – â€Å"the inchoate, tumbling thing known as herself, a mother, a driver† – superficial and meaningless, and liberates herself from the constraints of being a wife in a perfect home by escaping into a hotel. She experiences there â€Å"a sensation of deep and buoyant release,† which is the solace of self-reconstruction in solitude. Having â€Å"slipped out of her life† and escaped social imposition, she experiences â€Å"a sensation of unbeing,† for she has just lost social definition. Formerly, the being and the living had been the existence defined by society – the meaningless performance. The dissolution of the social â€Å"I† in solitude allows her self to emerge and conceive how â€Å"it is possible to die,† how death has a â€Å"dreadful beauty.† The â€Å"neutral zone† of the hotel room is void of socially imposed reality, and it is there, for the first time, that L aura is able to understand the appeal of death. This appeal is Laura’s subjective interpretation of the world (and of death in particular), and is an interpretation that has thus far been suppressed by social definition. Her â€Å"patriotism† for her husband – her civic responsibility to remain by his side and uphold the social tenets of familial duties – previously made such an idea unthinkable. A more insidious aspect of social interaction and communication is highlighted in Mrs. Dalloway and is represented by the two â€Å"Goddesses† of â€Å"Proportion† and â€Å"Conversion.† These are essentially abstractions of social establishments that enforce definitions regarding moral, political, emotional, or aesthetic realities, and which are given a satirical mythological status. They â€Å"smite out of [the] way roughly the dissentient, or dissatisfied† and â€Å"bestow†¦blessing on those who†¦catch submissively from [their] eyes the light of their own,† asserting their blinkered positions to be the only truths. Hugh Whitbread, who kissed Sally Seton to â€Å"punish her for saying that women should have votes,† could be said to be an agent of â€Å"Proportion† and â€Å"Conversion.† He masquerades under the â€Å"venerable name† of â€Å"kindness† and does more harm than â€Å"the rascals who get h anged for battering the brains of a girl out in a train.† Having been converted, he becomes a proponent of the â€Å"Goddesses†: by embodying outward social perfection without real depth of character, he is empowered, under the aegis of society, to stifle imagination, creativity and understanding, and repudiates Sally’s self-conceived reality, which made only the very modest claim that equal voting opportunities are appropriate in a civic moral society. Michael Cunningham, in The Hours, examines Woolf’s â€Å"Proportion† and â€Å"Conversion† in the context of the homosexual identity. By transposing Woolf’s diegesis of anomie onto the postmodern constructionistic concepts of identity, Cunningham is able to intensify the paradoxical tensions concerning the need for validation of one’s subjective experiences and the longing for social acceptance and integration. Walter Hardy, desiring acceptance, succumbs to â€Å"Conversion.† He possesses physical health, wealth and happiness – the touchstones of social success – leaving not a trace of the â€Å"overweight, desperately friendly† child â€Å"able to calibrate the social standing of other ten-year-olds to the millimeter.† But by accepting society’s criteria for judging success, he affirms its truth. Richard is hence justified in saying that â€Å"eternally youthful gay men do more harm to the cause than do me n who seduce little boys.† At least in seducing little boys, these men are affirming their subjective life experiences (which are their homosexual attractions and emotions), whereas men like Hardy, by their outward subscription to the social norm and passive assimilation of society’s ideological truths, allow the cycle of self-invalidation to continue into the next generation, and end up as simulacra of the â€Å"boys who tortured them in high school,† becoming the very forces that convert other individuals into the â€Å"Proportions† of masculinity and success. Oliver St. Ives is another character that embodies â€Å"Proportion.† Sally remarks â€Å"how much Oliver resembles himself.† The Oliver as movie star is almost identical to the Oliver of real life. As a movie star his image on television is defined through popular appeal, through society’s ideals. That his private image should correspond so well with society’s golden standard reveals Oliver’s lack of true self-identity – â€Å"as if all other brawny, exuberant, unflinching American men were somehow copies of him.† He is the face of the American male. Characteristically, his movie panders to society’s â€Å"Proportion†: an action thriller with a guy â€Å"who saves the world, one way or another.† An additional caveat attached reveals that â€Å"this one would have a gay man for a hero.† Unfortunately, saying that â€Å"it’s not a big deal. He wouldn’t be tortured about his sexuality. He wouldn ’t have HIV† is once again to deny the homosexual experience, to insist homosexuals had â€Å"never been strange children, never taunted or despised,† and to reinforce the experiences of society’s heterosexual norm. As David Bergman points out in â€Å"Gaiety Transfigured: Gay Self-Representation in American Literature,† â€Å"the child who will become gay conceives his sexual self in isolation. I cannot think of another minority that is without cultural support in childhood.† This precarious identity developed in solitude is allowed to be stampeded by the need for social confirmation, and Oliver becomes the very force of â€Å"Conversion.† Sally’s anger with â€Å"every optimistic, dishonest being† who denies their subjectively construed identity in favour of society’s brutal misrepresentation is hence vindicated. Such are the perils immanent in social participation that make a retreat into solitude so appealing. â€Å"Our apparitions, the things you know us by, are simply childish† – here, Mrs. Ramsay recognizes that the self is inevitably distorted by and heavily concealed from society. Human relations are â€Å"flawed,† â€Å"despicable† and â€Å"self-serving at their best,† because people inevitably choose to understand the world in a manner most gratifying to one’s vanity. She relishes the solitude wherein â€Å"she needs[s] not think about anybody,† and needs not continually fight for self-validation. â€Å"Having shed its attachments,† her self is free to wander uninhibited, and â€Å"the range of experience seem limitless.† These â€Å"strangest adventures† are not merely Mrs. Ramsay’s escapist fantasies of traveling to Rome and India; they are life experiences that are reorganized and refashioned by the â₠¬Å"unlimited resources† within one, and which form a subjectively conceived coherence – â€Å"a summoning together, a resting on a platform of stability.† Society foists itself on the individual, and it is only through â€Å"losing personality† and escaping social participation – whether as mother, wife or host – that the external world is held back, enabling one to lose â€Å"the fret, the hurry, the stir† and create â€Å"this peace, this rest, this eternity† by and for oneself. In retreating into the â€Å"wedged-shape core of darkness† of her self, subjective experience seemingly overwhelms the external objective world and turns it into a self-referential mirror – â€Å"She (Mrs. Ramsay) became the thing she looked at.† This mirror affords â€Å"peace† because it is the expression of the â€Å"core of darkness,† the moi splanchnique. Seeing the self reflected on the face of the world lets i t conceive of a harmonious unity, as if the essential truths of reality are indeed within oneself. Woolf, however, as a lover of parties, maintained that communication with the external world is not only desirable, but also necessary. Septimus’ decline into solipsistic insanity corroborates the idea that â€Å"communication is health; communication is happiness.† Septimus may also be seen as Clarissa’s doppelgà ¤nger. The tragic force gathers him, the alienated individual, in its nihilist folds and leads him to a premature death just as the comic force in Clarissa repeatedly pulls her back into society’s embrace in an affirmation of the positive and the social order. Shell-shocked after the war, Septimus appears to repudiate the impositions of the objective world – the social and the external – and constructs a reality based almost exclusively on his thoughts and emotions. His preoccupation with Evans conjures up images of him with hardly any objective stimulus – he hears him sing and speak where there could only possibly be birds singing or people talking. The objective world is lost to him, and he reveals: â€Å"I went under the sea†¦ but let me rest still.† He has collapsed into himself; his reality implodes. â€Å"Under the sea† he stays immersed in his own self and society’s call for him to emerge is feverish, lurid and cacophonic: But let me rest still; he begged†¦and as, before waking, the voices of birds and the sound of wheels chime and chatter in a queer harmony, grow louder and louder and the sleeper feels himself drawing to the shores of life, so he felt himself drawing towards life, the sun growing hotter, cries sounding louder His â€Å"doom† was hence â€Å"to be alone forever.† By the end of the novel he turns away from life and his doctors who are â€Å"forcing (his) soul,† committing suicide to preserve â€Å"the thing†¦that mattered.† This is the self which is â€Å"wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured†¦let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter.† â€Å"Closeness draws apart† because social language is inadequate. He cannot survive in this solitude and appealed to death for â€Å"death was an attempt to communicate.† Clarissa does come to intuit his self-identity in the solitude of her â€Å"little room† by imaginative recreation of his death, drawing material from her own experiences and emotions. She feels his â€Å"terror; the overwhelming incapacity,† the â€Å"indescribable outrage† of a â€Å"soul† being â€Å"forc[ed]† and experiences his death vicariously – â€Å"her dress flame d, her body burnt.† She appeals to her own understanding of the world, remembering how she once felt â€Å"if it were now to die, ’twere now to be most happy.† She seeps into Septimus’ consciousness thus by an empathetic subjective understanding. If Septimus’ death is a triumph against Time’s transience and an offering to the epiphanic moments of life, then Clarissa’s quote from â€Å"Othello† would be representative. In solitude, through these references to her subjective world she achieves communication with Septimus. Woolf thus presents a paradox of opposites which is developed further in To the Lighthouse. Lily Briscoe, the artist, finds that â€Å"distance had an extraordinary power.† Distance enables withdrawal from social participation. As she paints, Lily retreats into solitude, going â€Å"out and out†¦further and further, until one [she] seemed to be on a narrow plank, perfectly alone, over the sea,† in order to peer into â€Å"the chambers of the mind and heart† of Mrs. Ramsay. To understand the â€Å"sacred inscriptions† of Mrs. Ramsay’s soul, Lily has to rely on her subjective understanding of the people and places which completed her. As Clarissa Dalloway suggests, â€Å"to know†¦anyone, one must seek out the people who completed them; even the places.† It would hardly be conceivable to accomplish this mammoth task physically. Lily, however, is able to â€Å"make up scenes,† of which â€Å"not a word†¦was true.† While objectively speaking these events had never occurred they are nonetheless completely plau sible, extrapolated hypothetically based on one’s understanding of other people. Fiction, formed by the creative self, is hence a useful tool for exploring human responses to various situations and elucidating their characters. Lily realizes that â€Å"it was what she knew them by all the same,† and views and reviews Mrs. Ramsay from the subjective viewpoints of the Rayleys, of Mr. Carmichael, Mr. Bankes and the other Ramsays. She felt she needed â€Å"fifty pairs of eyes to see with† in order achieve reconciliation amongst the kaleidoscopic representations of Mrs. Ramsay, so that her portrait is not saturated with her limited perspective. Eventually, like Clarissa, she has to experience Mrs. Ramsay’s emotional and intellectual experiences vicariously to achieve understanding. â€Å"What did the hedge mean to her, what did the garden mean to her, what did it mean to her when a wave broke?† – all these questions Lily strives to answer through imaginative enactment of events. She eventually manages to apprehend the world through Mrs. Ramsay’s consciousness and her fear for Mr. Ramsay segues into love and need – â€Å"she wanted him.† This is probably one aspect of Mrs. Ramsay’s emotional response to her husband which Lily has never shared. In this rare instance of human communication, Lily achieves the same unity and peace that Mrs. Ramsay experienced with the lighthouse beam earlier on, for she had become, â€Å"like waters poured into one jar, inextricably the same, one with the object [Mrs. Ramsay] one [she] adored.† The mirror returns, and she solves Mr. Ramsay’s philosophical conundrum – the relationship between subjective and objective worlds – by creating a work of art that affirms the expression of the subjective self using material from the objective world. Her portrait is accurate for the â€Å"odd-shaped triangular shadow† corresponds with the â₠¬Å"wedge-shaped core of darkness† so essential to Mrs. Ramsay’s identity; the finishing stroke scored through the middle of the canvass is also reflective of the severance in human relationships that Mrs. Ramsay has always fought against. Lily, like Woolf herself, rejects the notion of art as mimesis. â€Å"To be on level with ordinary experience† is to experience the phantasmagoric flux of fact and dream, to interweave between objective reality and subjective organization of that reality. Her painting is hence a â€Å"razor edge balance between two opposite forces; Mr. Ramsay and the picture† – the uncompromising facts of objective reality embodied in Mr. Ramsay and Lily’s own subjective understanding of them come together, equipoised, â€Å"clamped together with bolts of iron. Objectivity in society and subjective latitude in solitude soldered together – this is Woolf’s answer to the dialectic of the comforts of solitude and the asperity of communication in external society.