Law for Business Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Law for Business Case - Essay Example The point of perfection in a contract of sale has to be distinguished from the point of perfection in other contracts. For instance, in a pawn or pledge, the owner of the thing has to deliver the personal property to be pawned or pledged as is commonly understood even in layman terms.5 Hence, if X tells Y that the former wants to borrow money from the latter with a pawn or pledge of a gold ring as security, the contract of pawn or pledge is perfected when X physically brings the gold ring to Y. Going back to sale, since it is a consensual contract, any loss of, or damage caused unto, the thing or object is to be borne by the buyer after the perfection of the contract. In the illustration given above, let it be presumed that it was Monday when A makes the offer to sell and when B accepts it. On Tuesday, C steals the car. Under that circumstance, the legal implications will be that B suffers the loss and his recourse is not against A but against C whom he (B) can run after for the car-napping or theft. For further ramification, let it be supposed that B asks A to deliver the car to him (B) and A thus drives the car from his (A's) house to the place designated by B. While on the way, the car is hit by a lightning. In that case, B still shoulders the loss. What if, on the way, A bumps a tree because of his negligence and the car is destroyed Who suffers the loss In that case, A suffers the loss. The reason for the latter does not have any bearing anymore as to whether or not the contract of sale was perfected. Instead, A shoulders the loss because of his negligence in delivering the car to B and A's liability is founded on the principles of common law on torts and damages. In the case at bar, Toys4U Ltd became the owner of the merchandise when Megastores accepted the order. Under the general rule, therefore, Toys4U Ltd should be the one to shoulder the loss of all the three damaged toys. In the present situation, it is not so. Megastores is liable for the loss of the two toys which were damaged by the fork lift truck operator while still in the custody of Megastores. This liability is anchored on the fact that the damage was caused by the negligence or imprudence of the fork lift truck operator of Megastores. Under the legal precept of respondeat superior, the liability of the servant is the liability of the master. That is the universal rule on one who acts through another.6 Stated in another way, the responsibility of the employee is the responsibility of the employer. As to the third toy which was damaged in transit, Megastores is not liable for the same. As mentioned earlier, Toys4U Ltd became the owner of the goods when it placed the order for th e toys and accepted by Megastores. From thence, Toys4U Ltd shoulders any loss or damage. As mentioned above, it has to be noted that the general rule is that the buyer shoulders the loss if the same is sustained after the perfection of the contract. There can however be conditions which the parties may agree on. For example, John offers to sell his gun to Henry. Henry accepts the offer on the condition that John delivers the specific pistol on Monday evening at his (Henry's) residence and that upon receipt of the firearm, he (Henry) pays John.

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay Example for Free

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay In text A, the war is represented as having to have exploited Iraq by the Americans; also the reader accuses Britain of having the same mentality as America and Britain are both allies. This is particularly evident in the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning the Iraq war was all about oil. The modal auxiliary verb was in the past tense makes the writer sound knowledgeable and certain that this was the case and also implies that it was not unexpected from the two super powers, commenting on how they are now returning. The verb exploited and the adverbial of manner used to creates sympathy towards Iraq showing how it has already suffered and been taken advantage of by the allies before. The writer then quotes that a US Federal Chairman, recently admitted. The verbal process verb admitted shows that even parties who are amongst the USA government acknowledge their greedy reasons behind the war on Iraq. The writer used this point to further more persuade that the war was a pointless decision. All three texts refer to Saddams rule in Iraq in correlation to the cause of war in Iraq. Text A expresses how Saddams rule in Iraq was for the benefit of his people and the writer does not blame Saddams dictatorship for Americas invasion of Iraq. Text B, shows a strong opinion against Saddams sadistic regime. Whereas, Text C refers to Saddams regime to be the main cause of war against Iraq. Eric Margolis in Text A, refers to Saddams rule as the benefit of Iraqs national development. The abstract noun benefit ties in with the larger theme of the article Iraq was in a well and stationary position before it was invaded, representing the war on Iraq in a negative way as it almost proves how there was no humane reason for war. However this shows the narrow-mindedness of the writer as Text A offers no criticism of how Saddam tortured his people under his dictatorship, or even explain in what way it increased Iraqs national development. Text B uses the evaluative adjectives tyrannical and sadistic to describe Saddams regime in Iraq. By representing it in this way, the article makes the American forces almost heroic because of their efforts to eliminate him. In Text C, it states how the main goal of the invasion of Iraq was to undermine Saddam Husseins ability to wage war, again using Saddams dictatorship of Iraq as a main reason to war, emphasising the importance and positives of the war. In this simple sentence the word war is first used, as the subject of the sentence is Saddam Hussein, showing how war is only associated with him and not the Americans. To make Saddams actions sound more aggressive the dynamic verb is used to create the alliteration wage war. The three texts use similar methods to represent the war on Iraq in the way that they want to. All three articles are heavily biased, which means one could argue that there could be lack of reasoning behind some of their points. They are also all trying to challenge the representations of the war, both positive and negative. Text A, portrays the war as having no backbone other than greed for oil by the Americans, persuading the reader that this is the ugly truth. Text B, tries to gain some sympathy towards American troops instead of the real victims of the American war against Iraq; however emphasising the good aspects the war on Iraq will bring such as liberating people from Saddams sadistic regime. Text B, uses rhetorical persuasive linguistic features to change the minds of people who are against the war on Iraq by convincing the audience that war on Iraq only has advantages.

Why personal management is important to firms

Why personal management is important to firms Human Resource Management, in simple, is a way of management that links people-related activities to the strategy of a business or organization, which at the same time satisfies individual needs and wants of employees. Over the years, Human Resource management went through lots of changes in its functions, roles, objectives, etc and, in the present day, it has reached a milestone from being just an administrative and operational management (personal management) to a strategic contributor (SHRM). The purpose of this report is to critically analyze the importance for HR management to transform from being primarily administrative and operational to becoming a more strategic contributor. The objectives of this report are to, Explain What is Personal Management and what is Human Resource Management Identify the factors which influenced the change Explain The importance of shifting from Personal Management to SHRM Present real world examples to prove the importance of the change This report will be focusing on the secondary research materials such as Human resource books, business articles, online journals, professional web pages to provide explanations and real world examples for the reader, to support the argument. Personnel Human Resource Management Traditional HRM or Personnel HRM can be defined as handling, directing, and controlling of individual employees rather than of employee as a group. It deals with individual relationships, including employees problems with management with employees as non-organized groups. It covers the acquisition andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (Perfecto S. Sison,2009,p17) Basically personnel HRM is considered as a traditional, routine, maintenance-oriented, administrative function which doesnt involve the higher level managers of the organization, and, maneuver at the operational level of an organization, performing tasks such as dealing with pay sheets, complying with employment law, and handling similar functions, etc. This mainly focuses on the individual person rather than the employees as whole and tries to satisfy the employees using wages, bonuses, compensations, simplified jobs, etc and to ultimately result in achieving organizational success. As mentioned above, the functions of personnel HRM can be broadly classified as employment, development, compensation and employee relations, which involve only the lower level management of an organization, making it a separate function from the main management of the organization. Strategic Human Resource Management Strategic HRM focuses on aligning all the HR functions of an organization with the business strategy that the organization is currently based on. SHRM is generally perceived as a distinctive approach to managing people which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic development of a highly committed and capable workforce (Appleby Mavin (2000) s555). SHRM is about managing the human capital of an organization in such a way as to achieve some type of competitive edge. Having not only a committed workforce, but also having a workforce that is highly trained for the job that must be performed achieves the competitive edge. Moving in this direction is where human resources become SHRM. The starting point for SHRM, unlike the traditional HRM which starts from the people, starts from the organizations requirements and needs about having a suiatable workforce. Also SHRM involves not only the operational level managers, it involves higher level managers such as HR managers and it directly incorporates with the organizations strategy by formulating, implementing and evaluating companys strategies through human resource activities which may involve recruiting, selecting, rewarding and training company personnel. The Below diagram shows how Human Resource Strategy matches the Organization strategy. Managing human resources: personnel management in transition/   By Stephen Bach/4th edition Blackwell bublishin, 2005 The above diagram suggests that modern HRM is not a separated function as it was in past, and clearly shows that it is interconnected with the strategy, culture, current situation, financial resources of the organization. SHRM is focused on the contributions that the HR strategies could make to enhance organizational effectiveness, and how these strategic contributions are achieved and it involves designing and executing a set of internally constant policies and procedures to ensure that an organizations human capital contributes to the core business objectives and strategies. Contrasting Personnel Management with Strategic HRM Personnel management, from name itself suggests that, it is all about managing and developing the people and the skills employed. On the other hand, SHRM is focused on developing employee knowledge, abilities, talents, aptitudes, creative abilities, etc. Personnel management is a more reactive way of managing HR because it only includes administrative tasks that are both routine and traditional only providing a response to demands and apprehends as they are presented. Where as SHRM is more proactive, involving continuous development of HR functions and policies for the purposes of improving a suitable workforce for the company, in present and for future needs. Personnel management is often regarded as an independent function which typically the sole responsibility of the personnel department of an organization, where as SHRM is an integrated function which often involves all the managers of an organization in some manner to develop the skill sets and abilities of different employees in different departments to achieve a main goal of the entire organization. Personnel Management creates high ambiguity in achieving goals and taking decisions as its a separate function from the core management where as SHRM delivers less ambiguity as it is in line with the organization strategy and integrated with other functions of an organization. Personnel management motivates employees through increased salaries, bonuses, compensations, simplified jobs etc, where as in SHRM, the motivation is gained through work groups, effective strategies for meeting challenges, and job creativity. Transition from Traditional HR to SHRM In the modern business world, the key for a successful business is to integrate all the functions of a business to make sure all departments and functions of the business flows in the same direction. To achieve that competency, the traditional HR managing system had to be transformed into a more integrated, top-management-involved, strategy oriented function, known as SHRM. Competition, Globalization, technological advancement, demographic factors are the most possible factors which influenced the change. Competitive advantage When a firm is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors, then it can be said the firm has a competitive advantage (Managing human resources: personnel management in transition/  By Stephen Bach) SHRM system capabilities can contribute to sustainable competitive advantage because they 1) can help exploit opportunities and neutralize threats in a firms environment, (2) are difficult to develop and therefore rare in the competitive environment, (3) are very difficult to imitate, and (4) cannot be easily displaced by strategically significant substitutes. Delta Air Lines, Southwest Air lines, Walmart are good examples for businesses which climbed to the top of the ladder using the competitive advantage. Changing the Mind Set Businesses have to completely change their mind set in the process of making personnel management into a more strategic partner. Personnel managements strong focus on administrative tasks and the inability to directly measure its impact on the outcome was the major down fall of personnel management, limiting its contribution to the business strategy. Therefore, Strategic HRM needed a completely different mind set, which focuses mainly on transformation using change management instead of focusing on administrative and operational activities. Demographic Influence If the business strategy of the organization is to spread the business in different geographic areas or in different cultural backgrounds, the business should use, not personnel management but SHRM to match the business strategy. Using the personnel management will disregard the fact that the employee should culturally match the job, should be equipped with appropriate language skills, match the required gender and the religion, to suit the area that he has to work, and it will only facilitate to achieve the HR strategies like recruiting cheaper people, having basic qualifications etc. This has a negative impact on the business as it cannot effectively serve their customers, so the business has to use SHRM in order to align the HR strategies with business strategies, to consecutively match the business that they are doing. IBM in Australia and New Zealand is made up of many different people from many different cultures and backgrounds. The common thread between us is our commitment to IBMs success in the marketplace and IBMs long-standing values and belief in inclusion http://www-07.ibm.com/au/diversity/cultural_awareness_and_acceptance.html Impact of Globalization In order to grow and prosper many companies are seeking business opportunities in global market. This has affected the HRM management system as well. So globalization is the main component that would affect to the shift of THRM to SHRM. It is the integration of business activities across the geographical and organizational boundaries. Coca Cola Company has 92,400 associates around the world live and work in the markets we serve more than 86 percent of them outside the U.S. In this geographically diverse environment, employees learn from each market and share those learning quickly. As a result, Coca Cola Company culture is ever more collaborative. From beverage concept and development to merchandising, our associates are sharing ideas across departments and markets in new ways. Consequently, Coca Cola Company associates are increasingly enthusiastic about their work and inspired to turn plans into action. Coke website Technology As the rapid change of technology, the companies have to change their human resource management system into more strategic approach. The strategic HRM along with technology; facilitates employees to improve their work life balance, creativity and productivity. For example Motorola is extending human capabilities by providing integrated wireless communication and embedded electronic solutions for the individual, the work-team, the vehicle, and the home. Motorola is committed to providing technology that will increase employee productivity attract and retain key talent and help employees balance their professional and personal lives. Source; http://www.bc.edu/centers/cwf/research/highlights.html) The recruitment goes high-tech in Vietnam; the service is an extension of the Labor Departments website (www.vieclamhanoi.net), where employees can access job information. It is said to be the Departments solution to ineffective and formulaic job fairs in Vietnam. The new service will make it faster and easier for employers and job seekers to connect. As a start, the new online site has employment details from over 1,000 foreign and local companies in Hanoi, and will soon expand to 1,400. Within the first week of its launch, employers had connected with and hired nearly 1,300 job seekers through the service. Current Role of SHRM The business world today uses the SHRM methods and benefits thorough it very effectively. Some businesses focus on HR strategy more than the business strategy sometimes, and in some occasions the HR strategy becomes the business strategy as well. Microsoft is a good example for the HR strategy to become the core business strategy as well. A lot of what we do with the employee value proposition is just win in the marketplace. People want to know theyre with a winning teamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. I tell Lisa still that in some senses our No. 1 HR strategy is our business strategy. When were succeeding and winning and doing great stuff, success breeds success. Business week The following diagram indicates how the Australian Governments Department of Education, Science and Training has executed their HR strategies to be align with the key organizational strategies. This resulted a positive outcome of the departments people management strategies in creating a motivated and engaged workforce and, through this, achieved a strong contribution to the delivery of business outcomes. An emphasis on strong leadership is a key strategic element for creating an environment of respect, support and development for all people in the department. In this way, the department has built and maintained a creative and engaged workforce able to deliver the governments growing and diverse education, science and training agenda. http://www.annualreport2007.dest.gov.au/chapter_eight/people_management.htm During the recession back in 2008, Pepsi came up with a business strategy to cut their cost, and the HR strategy matched the business strategy by laying off employees. According to Pepsi Bottling Groups chairman and chief executive officer Eric Foss, Pepsi Bottling Group Inc is planned to slash about 3,150 jobs across US, Canada Europe and Mexico as part of its restructuring plan. This is expected to result in pre-tax savings of up to $160 million. These moves will allow our business to better deal with the challenging macroeconomic conditions that currently exist, http://www.newsweek.com/id/121095 Coca-Cola has proved that tailoring career development to suit high-potential employees can dramatically increase internal promotions and thereby save the company huge recruitment costs which was a major objective of the finance division to reduce the overall cost. Conclusion Personnel HRM is considered as a traditional, routine, administrative function which doesnt involve the strategic level of the organization, and, creates high ambiguity, tends to be more reactive and works as a separate unit apart from the organization. strategic human resource management is a function which is focused on aligning the HR strategy with the overall business strategy to achieve organizational success and, is considered as a more proactive, integrated, and less ambiguous way of managing HR. Factors such as competition, globalization, economy, demographic factors, improving technology caused the human resource management to change from Personnel management to Strategic HRM Microsoft, IBM, Motorola, South West Airlines, Delta Air lines, Toyota are few examples for organizations who achieved business success through implementing SHRM in their organizations. By critically analyzing all the factors in this report, it can be concluded that it was exceptionally important for the businesses to change their way of managing human resources from traditional HRM to Strategic HRM, in order to face the external factors effectively and lead their business into the top of the ladder.

Weight Management Essay examples -- essays research papers

Weight management has been thought of as only weight loss by many. Weight management covers all aspects of attaining and maintaining optimum weight for a healthy lifestyle. Health professionals now realize that prevention of weight gain as well as weight loss and improving health status are important goals. These goals must be individualized for success. At the outset of treatment, the patient and health care provider should discuss and agree upon goals. The goals must take into account the food habits, exercise behaviors, psychological outlook and support systems of the individual. Realistic expectations, short- and long-term, may be promoted by a discussion of a healthy weight versus an ideal body weight. Features of weight management interventions may include behavior modification, dietary principles, energy balance components, and a sound food plan. In order to create a behavior modification plan that will be successful for the individual, identifying cues, responses and consequences of eating behaviors is necessary. Control of eating behavior, physical activity, emotional, social, and psychological health must all be analyzed and interventions applied. Behaviors related to problems with intake and expenditure of energy must be specifically defined. Recording and analyzing eating and exercise behaviors to develop strategies aimed at learning new behaviors are essential. Dietetic practice in weight management is complex and challenging. Assessment of weight and health should guide weight management goals and outcomes. The weight and dieting history should include age of onset of weight problems, number and types of diets, exercise history, possible triggers to weight gains and losses, and an appropriate range of weight change. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is considered the standard measurement for weight status. The BMI is estimated by weight (kg) divided by height (m2). A BMI of 25 – 29 is considered overweight and some weight loss is recommended. There is debate surrounding how much weight loss should be attained. In considering a weight management plan, it is necessary to incorporate each of the following: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  realistic goals (weight loss average of  ½ to 1 pound per week); †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  energy intake limits related to the energy output of the individual (the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) + activity level shoul... ...he obesity epidemic. Science. 1998;280:1371-1374. 2. Willett WC, Dietz WH, Colditz GA. Primary Care: Guidelines for healthy weight. New England Journal of Medicine. 1999;341:427-434. 3. National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity, National Institutes of Health. Very low-calorie diets. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1993;270:967-974. 4. Stein K. High-protein, low carbohydrate diets: Do they work? Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2000,100:760-761. 5. Jeffery RW, Drewnowski A, Epstein LH, Stunkard AJ, Wilson GT, Wing RR, Hill DR. Long-term maintenance of weight loss: current status. Health Psychology. 2000;1(Suppl):5-16. 6. Byfield C. A lifestyle physical activity intervention for obese sedentary women: Effect on cardiovascular disease risk factors. American College of Sports Med: Indianapolis IN; 2000. 7. Rosen JC. Improving body image in obesity. In: Thompson, JK, ed. Body Image, Eating Disorders and Obesity. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1996: 425-550. 8. Nix S. Basic Nutrition & Diet Therapy, 12th edition. 2005: 268-287. 9. Martini F. Fundamentals of Anatomy & Physiology, 6th edition. 2004: 928-964.

Stability of Characters in to Build a Fire and the Tell Tale Heart

Henry James’ argues that a character is only as interesting as their responses to a particular situation, can be supported by using any written works that a student may encounter, given that the story has at least one character. I intend to prove that the instability of the main characters in each story will ultimately be their downfall. The story â€Å"To Build a Fire† by Jack London is about a man struggle with nature and his inability to trust his human instinct, and In Edgar Allen Poe’s story â€Å"The Tale-Tell Heart† is about a man who proclaims he is not crazy but plans and executes the murder of an old man. In the beginning of â€Å"To build a Fire† the man realizes how cold the weather is outside but he only sees this as a fact and not a threat to his health. Jack London writes â€Å"As he turned to go on, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled in the air. Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below-how much colder he did not know. But the temperature did not matter. † (120) This is one example where the main character ignores his human instinct and doesn’t bring items that would cover his face and cheekbones. Also read The Story of an Eyewitness Essay Analysis Any man with common sense knows to bring the right items for the journey if he’s going to be traveling in weather that will be colder than fifty degrees below zero. While on this trip the man is accompanied by a dog that follows the man on his unadvised journey. The dog uses its natural instinct to outlive the man on this trip. The dog is a native husky and I believe represents pure instinct in this story in which the man doesn’t use at all. The dog knows to bite the ice off of his feet so that they do not become frozen from the harsh conditions. He buries himself in the snow when the man cannot start a fire because his hands are too cold to pull his matches out of his pocket. With the dogs keen since of smell he knows when the man is dying and understands that the man wants to kill the dog so that he can insert his hands inside the dog’s carcass to warm him up. In this environment the dog is actually smarter than the man because he uses his natural instincts to stay warm and keep himself alive. In â€Å" The Tale-Tell Heart† the narrator in which is assumed to be a man takes care of n old man who I perceived to be rich. For some strange reason, the narrator was obsessed with the old man’s eye. â€Å"It was open-wide, wide open-and i grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness- all a dull blue with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, preci sely upon the damned spot. †(414) The old man was going to be murder for his pale blue eye. For seven straight nights at midnight the eye was closed. It wasn’t until the eight night when the narrator accidently woke the old man up and once the narrator saw that blue eye he began to grow furious and knew that that was the night he had to kill the old man. Normal people would have a look of disgust on their face after committing a murder, but the narrator smiled and then would try and convince himself that he was not mad. After murdering the old man the narrator begins to hear voices in his head. Those voices told him the eye was evil, and that he was doing the right thing. He would also hear a groan of terror many nights at midnight. The narrator could also hear the old man’s heart, even after he had been murdered. It is impossible to hear a person’s heartbeat with the naked ear. He also thought the police officers were laughing at his horror of the heartbeat. The voices caused him to murder, and then caused him to give into the police when he easily could have gotten away with it. These two main characters both have obstacles to conquer in their own ways. In â€Å"To Build a Fire† the main character is fighting and resisting the obvious signs that tell him he should not make the trip in that inclement weather but proceeds anyway. I believe that the man is so arrogant that it makes him ignorant. It seemed to me that the man felt like he was bigger and better than anyone on this planet and not even nature could endanger him. For that very reason was why the man could not make it to his destination, but the dog in which he tried to kill not only survived but also made it to the destination. In â€Å"The Tale-Tell Heart† instead of a fight with nature the narrator is fighting with the voice inside his head or yet another personality. I believe that by day the narrator was a normal man who really cared about taking care of the old man, but by night his alter ego would kick in and basically talk control of his mind. That is why the story keeps going back and forth with trying to convince the reader of his sanity. Although both of the stories are different, the main character mind frames are both fragile and unstable. The may not be fighting the same fight but they are fighting something whether it be nature or the voices in there head. Throughout both of the stories the characters do thing that make the reader wonder. It just goes to show how unstable each character is.

The Mountaintop by Katori Hall

The Mountaintop by Katori Hall Great theater can emerge from a simple yet evocative question: What if? Katori Hall, winner of the Blackburn Prize for outstanding women playwrights, asks the question: What did Martin Luther King Jr. do the night before he died? Who did he talk to? What did he say? Her play attempts to answer these questions, albeit in an imaginative rather than realistic way. The Mountaintop took home Englands Olivier Award for best play. In fall 2011, the plays poignant message resonated on Broadway, starring featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett. About the Playwright Born in 1981, Katori Hall is a young, vibrant new voice in modern theater. Much of her work derives from her experiences in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. According to her official website, her major works include: Hoodoo Love (Cherry Lane Theatre)Remembrance (Womens Project)Saturday Night/Sunday MorningWHADDABLOODCLOT!!!The Hope WellOur Lady of KibehoPussy Valley Her most recent work (as of 2012) is Hurt Village; set in a housing project in Memphis it depicts a returning Iraq veterans struggle to find a position in his disintegrating community, along with a place in his daughters wounded heart. (The Signature Theatre). However, Halls most renowned work to date is the historical/spiritual drama, The Mountaintop. The Plot The Mountaintop is a two-person drama about the last day of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The entire play is set in the Lorraine hotel room, the evening before his assassination. King is alone, trying to create yet another powerful speech. When he orders a cup of coffee from room service, a mysterious woman arrives, bringing much more than a late-night beverage. What follows is a reflective, often funny, often touching conversation in which Dr. King examines his achievements, his failures, and his unfinished dreams. Other Plays About Martin Luther King, Jr This is not the first time that a speculative drama has explored Dr. Kings amazing legacy. The Meeting, by Jeff Stetson, explores the contrasting methods and the common dreams of two dignified civil rights leaders (Malcolm X and Dr. King) who sacrificed their lives fighting for justice. Theme Analysis of The Mountaintop: SPOILER ALERT: Its not easy to analyze the messages of this play without revealing surprise elements of The Mountaintop. So, reader beware, I am about to ruin the big surprise in the play. The mysterious woman who seems to be a hotel maid is named Camae (short for Carrie May which might be code for carry me). At first, she seems to be a perfectly normal (beautiful, outspoken) maid, who is in favor of social change, but not necessarily in favor of all of Dr. Kings methods. As a storytelling device, Camae allows the audience to witness a more personal and irreverent side of Dr. King, one that the cameras and public appearances rarely captured. Camae is also willing to debate with the reverend on social matters, strongly and eloquently expressing her own views on racism, poverty, and the slowly progressing civil rights movement. It soon becomes clear, however, that Camae is not what she appears. She is not a maid. She is an angel, a recently created angel, in fact. Her first assignment is to inform Martin Luther King, Jr. that he is going to die very soon. Here the play shifts its focus. What begins as a behind-the-scenes look at one of Americas greatest leaders (in all his frustration and frailty), ultimately becomes a struggle to accept ones mortality and prepare for a journey into what Hamlet calls the undiscovered country. As one might expect, King isnt happy to find out that he is going to die. In some ways, his dialogue is reminiscent to Everyman, the morality play from 15th century Europe. The key difference, however, is that Everyman represents an average person who has failed to live a saintly life. Dr. King doesnt profess to be a saint (in fact, both the angel and King mention his extra-marital affairs), but he does rightly argue that he has been fighting a just cause and that he is the best person to continue the struggle for equality. During the last half of the play, King experiences the different stages of coping with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Arguably the best part of these stages is the bargaining portion when Dr. King actually gets to talk to God over the telephone. If The Mountaintop sounds morbid, theres actually a lot of humor and whimsy throughout this play. Camae is a feisty and foul-mouthed angel, and she is proud to announce that her wings are her breasts and that God is a woman. The play concludes with not only acceptance but joy and celebration for what has been accomplished, as well as a firm reminder of the dreams that have yet to come to fruition.

What Contribution Has Science made To the Development of Racism Essays

What Contribution Has Science made To the Development of Racism Essays What Contribution Has Science made To the Development of Racism Essay What Contribution Has Science made To the Development of Racism Essay At the time of writing this essay, the British press is full of stories concerning race within British party politics. Conservative MP John Townend made a statement in which he claimed that post war immigration was a threat to Britains homogeneous Anglo-Saxon culture and was threatening to turn us into a mongrel race. Conservative leader William Hague made him apologise for this, but interestingly enough did not expel him.There was public mud slinging regarding which politicians signed an anti-racist pledge, whilst in the same week, former Labour activist, Marc Wadsworth claimed that Britains African-Caribbean communities are losing out to increased Asian influence in the corridors of power and that they are not given the same opportunities as their Asian counterparts (The Voice, April 30th 2001). With the majority of politicians utilising racial rhetoric, it seems that ideas of race are still held by many. In this essay I will attempt to address the role scie nce has played in constructing notions of race and the consequent racism(s).There is little evidence to suggest that ideas of race were in circulation prior to the Reformation. Ivan Hannaford (1996) states that there were three distinct periods in which contributions were made to the development of notions of race. The first period occurred during the years 1684-1815, the era of the discovery of the New World and the ensuing triangular slave trade. Hannaford claims that in this period major writers dealt explicitly with race as an organising idea and came to understand it as an ethnic grouping rather than as a race and order or course of things or events (1996, p.187). In 1775, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach wrote The Natural Varieties of Man in which he classified modern humans into five broad categories; Caucasian, Mongoloid, Malayan, Ethiopian and American, based mainly on cranial measurements.The period of 1815-70 saw writers, influenced by Barthold Georg Neibuhr (1776-1831), using history and philosophy to evoke notions of blood/soil links. Writers such as Kant believed that temperament, character and soul were inherited through the blood. During this period we see the development of an ideology that the origins of nations and states are not political, but rather naturalised by linguistic and natural criteria. What burst upon the scene in 1842 and 1859 through the works of Spencer and Darwin was a movement that treaded political activity as subject to the same rules of evolution that applied to the natural biological world and thus provided a scientific basis for decrying all those aspects of the Greco-Roman polity and Christian civilisation that were out of step with modernity (Hannaford, 1996, p.p.275-6). Thus where, prior to the Enlightenment, religion had once explained inequalities amongst people(s), ideas of natural laws, evolution and the survival of the fittest replaced religious ideology.What was left to racism was merely to postulate a systematic, and genetically reproduced distribution of such material attributes of human organism as bore responsibility for characteroligical, moral, aesthetic or political traits. Even this job, however, had already been done for them by respectable and justly respected pioneers of science, seldom if ever listed among the luminaries of racism (Back Solomos, 2001, p.218). The fact that these pioneers of science were of European origin and how much this would have compromised their assumed objectivity cannot be overstated. The development of taxonomy, the science of naming or classifying organisms saw Linnaeus describe the differences between the inhabitants of northern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa in the same way as the differences between, say, dogs and cats. He described the former as inventive and orderly whilst the latter were described as lazy, devious and unable to govern themselves (Back ; Solomos, 2001, p.218).Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816-82) is regarded by many as the intellectua l founder of scientific racism. In his work Essay on the Inequalities of Human Races (1853-55), which drew heavily on Blumenbachs 1775 study, he put forward that human beings are divided into observable races and that those races are innately unequal. Using Linneus work as a template, according to Zygmunt Bauman, he did not have to exercise much inventiveness to describe the black race as of little intelligence, yet of overdeveloped sensuality and hence a crude, terrifying power (just as the mob on the loose), and the white race as in love with freedom, honour and everything spiritual (Back ; Solomos, 2001, p.218).Gobineau did not envisage social factors as deterministic in producing inequalities. He believed that the life chances of an individual were determined by inherited qualities and that these qualities were distributed unevenly amongst scientifically observable races. Gobineau believed that the white Aryan race was superior to others and that those others could not improve t hemselves through social organisation because they were programmed to be inferior.The publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species in 1859, lent support to Gobineaus work. Darwin studied the natural world and found that species evolved to meet the criterion of survival within their environment. Species that did not evolve became extinct. This became known as natural selection.The period of 1870-1914 mixed the ideas of Volk with development in the human sciences to become the main era of racialised thought and the development of scientific racism.

Free Essays on Semiotic

Notions of the Semiotic In this paper I will use Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic to evaluate marriage and the everyday life acts that are encompassed by it. Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic and the symbolic provide the magnifying glass, which is needed to see into and beyond the obvious reasons of love, lust, and companionship. Through this analysis the brief emergences of the semiotic will be made apparent in several aspects of married life. I will also attempt to critique her theory by showing its biasness. Marriage is one of the most beautiful phenomenon that any two beings can participate in. It is through this union of two that the semiotic takes form and unveils itself to be noticed. The union of marriage is similar to the usage of religion in today’s symbolic world. In fact, the two go hand in hand and adhere to the different semiotic needs of the individual. Religion attends to the semiotic needs of the self-consciousness. Having a God that will love, understand, and forgive you for each and every mistake or wrong that you commit is a protection that only religion can provide, a consistency that will never fail. Religion also provides a unity with a greater, more divine being, that union is created to replace the bond created between a mother and an infant still in the womb. The infant knowing no language communicates solely through desires and needs, to which the mother responds. The infant at this stage cannot discern itself from the mother and thinks of the two a ! s one or whole. Thus the concept of wholeness is now imprinted in the infant’s mind. This wholeness or unity is severed when the mother can no longer provide the child’s every need and desire. Religion and the union with God are an attempt to replace that severed bond. Marriage is also a response to the loss of wholeness that is suffered in the oedipal stages of a child’s life. Marriage is an action taken to fulfill the so-called... Free Essays on Semiotic Free Essays on Semiotic Notions of the Semiotic In this paper I will use Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic to evaluate marriage and the everyday life acts that are encompassed by it. Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic and the symbolic provide the magnifying glass, which is needed to see into and beyond the obvious reasons of love, lust, and companionship. Through this analysis the brief emergences of the semiotic will be made apparent in several aspects of married life. I will also attempt to critique her theory by showing its biasness. Marriage is one of the most beautiful phenomenon that any two beings can participate in. It is through this union of two that the semiotic takes form and unveils itself to be noticed. The union of marriage is similar to the usage of religion in today’s symbolic world. In fact, the two go hand in hand and adhere to the different semiotic needs of the individual. Religion attends to the semiotic needs of the self-consciousness. Having a God that will love, understand, and forgive you for each and every mistake or wrong that you commit is a protection that only religion can provide, a consistency that will never fail. Religion also provides a unity with a greater, more divine being, that union is created to replace the bond created between a mother and an infant still in the womb. The infant knowing no language communicates solely through desires and needs, to which the mother responds. The infant at this stage cannot discern itself from the mother and thinks of the two a ! s one or whole. Thus the concept of wholeness is now imprinted in the infant’s mind. This wholeness or unity is severed when the mother can no longer provide the child’s every need and desire. Religion and the union with God are an attempt to replace that severed bond. Marriage is also a response to the loss of wholeness that is suffered in the oedipal stages of a child’s life. Marriage is an action taken to fulfill the so-called...

Natural Resources, Conflict and Conflict Resolution Research Paper

Natural Resources, Conflict and Conflict Resolution - Research Paper Example It will also look at how samples will be chose and studied for further deductions that will end up in the formation of an appropriate theory. This paper also contains limitations that are inherent in a research of this nature. The problem statement refers to fundamental problem in society that gives impetus for the enquiry to begin in a research (Harvey 2006). Anyone with some knowledge of the American revolution is aware that colonized population of the 13 states of America were fed up with the British taxes and tyrannical rule that practically enslaved the people. This is a common explanation for the revolt and uprising that followed between 1771 and 1776 when the British were eventually kicked out. However, a practical research can be set up in an attempt to evaluate the exact cause or a single cause of the uprising of the Patriots in this context. There is a wide range of issues that can come up this include the taxes, the justice system, general resentment etc. A research question is seen as â€Å"an explanatory question a researcher asks about variables of interest† (Wrench et al, 2003). In other words, when the researcher has an idea of what the research will be about, s/he can come up with a research question that will suit the situation. However, Wench et al (2003) continue to state that a research question should be formulated after some review of literature. In this case, the researcher needs to go through existing sources like books, journals, articles, websites and other materials written by credible sources to state the factual position relevant to the research. This means that the researcher has to fall on other authorities to find important matters and facts that have been arrived at by other authorities in the field. (Fearon 2005) argues that nations whose economies rely heavily or solely on primary commodity

How the ASUS Company Can Continue To Be an Industry Leader and a Cash Research Paper

How the ASUS Company Can Continue To Be an Industry Leader and a Cash Cow - Research Paper Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the primary strength of ASUS is its strong presence in the market. It could be realized from the fact that it is the world’s number one brand in Asia, US, and Europe. It has outperformed technology giants like Intel, IBS, and Microsoft in many segments. Its strong presence in the market has helped it to aggressively acquire market share compared to many other companies that only have a strong presence in their local markets. The company has the largest market share in MB and motherboard segments selling approximately 22 million pieces in FY09. ASUS is one of the rear technology companies that had made operating profits even though global economy was undergoing a recession. Another Strength of ASUS is its advanced and excellent Research & Development capability, efficient and effective supply chain, and mass production at a competitive production cost. These competitive strategies of ASUS have helped it to beco me a market leader in many products. In 2009, the company came up with first of its kind notebook and motherboard that was compatible with USB 3.0 securing a leading position in the segment. This was a sheer display of Research initiatives of the company. With the use of technologies like e-commerce, the company had created an efficient supply chain which helps it with a seamless flow of information and products among resources. Mass production done by ASUS helps it achieve economies of scale thereby increasing operating profits of the company. Weakness The primary weakness of the company is that it is investing a lot of amounts in restructure activities involving spin-off of certain subsidiaries and disposal of assets. It could be realized from the fact that it spin-off OEM and 2008 and has disposed of several assets since then. In the same year company also recognized impairment charges from such transactions. These activities may be beneficial in the long wrong if executed correc tly but they reduce profit-making capability of the company. The company should concentrate more on the activities involving expansion and research for innovative technologies. Another Weakness of ASUS is its low market share in emerging economies. To be a cash cow for the future every technology company should be in search for opportunities in the emerging markets as they give the advantage of escalated growth compared to developed markets where growth stagnates after a point of time. It should be noted that ASUS has a low presence in emerging economies e.g. India whilst many other companies like Microsoft and IBM are aggressively gaining market share in these countries. To retain market capitalization ASUS needs to expand its operations aggressively to emerging countries. Opportunities Primary opportunity for ASUS is expanding into markets with the help of joint ventures, tie-up, and agreement with other companies.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL, the trial and death of socrates book Essay

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL, the trial and death of socrates book - Essay Example t or wrong - acting the part of a good man or of a bad.† (Plato, 48) Socrates believed that danger and fear of death are irrelevant from a moral standpoint and he provides significant illustrations from the Greek epics, suggesting that Achilles never had any thought of death and danger. A man ought to remain in the place which he has chosen or that in which he has been placed by a commander at hour of danger and he should not think of death or of anything, except about disgrace or shame. Socrates condemns danger and fear of death as the source of all unwise deeds and they lead one to disgraceful or shameful deeds in life. â€Å"For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. Is there not here conceit of knowledge, which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance?† (Plato, 49) In shor t, Socrates provides convincing description and illustrations for the â€Å"virtuous life†, danger and fear of death, and â€Å"shame†. According to Socrates, the laws of Athens will be damaged if he escapes his death sentence and he provides striking reasons for claiming so. Socrates believes that a State cannot subsist and be overthrown, if the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and overthrown by individuals. Every citizen of Athens, especially a clever rhetorician as Socrates, should have a good awareness of the evil of setting aside the law which requires a sentence to be carried out. Socrates believes that he has been in an important contract or agreement with the laws of Athens according to which he should abide by the sentence of the State. Thus, he fears the contempt of the state for not obeying this contract. â€Å"Tell us what complaint you have to make against us which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and the State? †¦ Has a philosopher like you failed to discover

Kennedy Tapes Journalism article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kennedy Tapes Journalism - Article Example 22, 1963 in Dallas (John 8). Before and after becoming the president, Kennedy used a recording machine known as Dictaphone, typically for dictating notes or letters. In the given summer of 1962, he requested Secret Service Agent Robert Buck to hide recording devices in the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, and a library in the Mansion. He placed in the given basement of the given West Wing of the given White House two of these machines. This was a room set aside for storing private president’s files. He placed another in the basement of the Mansion (John 13). The West Wing recorders were connected by a wire to two microphones inside the Oval Office and two in the Cabinet Room. The two in the Cabinet Room were on the exterior wall, placed in two spots and covered by drapes. They got activated using a switch near the President’s sit at the Cabinet table easily being mistaken for a signal press. About microphones in the Oval Office, one placed in the kneehole of the President ’s desk and the other concealed under a coffee table athwart the room. Each of them turned on plus off with a given push on an unobtrusive button (John 7). In the paragraphs below are the most fascinating excerpts in these tapes. ... Washington Bubble Even about 50 years ago the president had worries over the disconnection between Washington D.C., from the rest of the nation. â€Å"We have got so mechanical an operation in Washington that it does not have much distinctiveness where these people get concerned,† he said to his aides. ‘Color Is Damn Good’. Kennedy worried on the minutiae in his political campaign too. Discussing the 1964 convention, he held that he wanted videos to be colored. â€Å"Should they be in color?† he asked (Richard Dean Burns 57).  . â€Å"They would come over the T.V in black and white,† (Richard Dean Burns 65).   I do not know if maybe they would come over the NBC 1in color. Perhaps a million watching it colored and it would have a cause. I do not know how much expensive it is. Be rather an effect on the convention. The color is damn good when done right† (Richard Dean Burns 40).   Frustration over Vietnam During an assembly in September 196 3, President Kennedy vented his frustration with contradictory reports about the Vietnam’s civil war. Gen. Victor Krulak was hopeful while State Department counselor Joseph Mendenhall, on the same fact finding operation, said there was extensive military and social restlessness. â€Å"You both went to the same nation,† Asked Kennedy (Richard Dean Burns 76).  . The officials laughed apprehensively. â€Å"I mean how is that you obtain such different—this is a common thing (Richard Dean Burns 76).  . On the one hand, one finds the military saying that the war is going well, and on the other hand, the political (view) with its deterioration is influencing the military. What is the cause for the

Language and Structure in the novel When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo Essay

Language and Structure in the novel When I Whistle by Shusaku Endo - Essay Example Here he encounters a person who seems vaguely familiar but whom he cannot quite place. This man turns out to have been a fellow student at Nada Middle School some forty years before. Their brief conversation provokes an extended reminiscence that transports Ozu back to a simpler, more serene time in his life. Upon seeing boats on the lake, he conjures up his schoolboy friend, Flatfish, and their adventures together in an idyllic time before World War II, when the Japanese educational system sought to inculcate the virtues of pride and industriousness. While his stern teacher tried to build character, Ozu spent his school hours daydreaming about the young women he and his best friend, the unsophisticated but endearing Flatfish, would pursue, literally, once the school day had ended. (Allen 530-531; Updike 94-102) The romance and innocence of his adolescence is captured for Ozu in the enduring image of Flatfish's "tiny head being tossed about by the waves as he swam desperately for the open sea" in pursuit of a girl, Aiko, whom he had met by chance and with whom both were madly in love. While militarism gripped their nation, Ozu and Flatfish preferred the frivolous joys of childish classroom pranks and chasing girls. In When I Whistle , Endo is concerned to draw a number of disturbing contrasts between wartime and present-day Japan while scrupulously avoiding, in translator Van C. Gessel's words, "painting either period in a romantic light." What, Endo asks, is the legacy of the war generation, what kind of Japan has resulted from the devastation of World War II Part of his answer is seen in the life-style of Eiichi, the ruthless young surgeon of When I Whistle; unaffected by the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and unable to see his patients as anything but specimens for his own experiments, he extends the imperialistic impulse of prewar Japan by ignoring the past and worshipping the present. (King 23-24) The accumulation of material possessions is the only source of meaning for the new generation. This striking thematic element in When I Whistle is made more powerful by its pervasive medical and hospital imagery. (Cunningham 527) Chronic heart and lung problems have plagued Endo throughout his adult life and consequently he has spent much time in hospitals; in the early 1960's, Endo underwent a series of major surgical procedures, resulting in the removal of one lung. Japan emerges in When I Whistle as one large cancer ward, the malignancy of rampant materialism uncurable, the placebo of success a momentary distraction in the face of a godless eternity. As a Christian, Endo is an apologist for a set of values he believes is indigenous to the West but foreign to Japanese soil. A convert who recognizes the irony that Japan has become less spiritual as it has become more Westernized, Endo constructs themes which generally revolve around a protagonist confronted with the ruins of a native culture to which he is drawn and by which he is repulsed. Ozu is thus an exemplar of Endo's despairing vision of the postwar era-an open-hearted Japanese seeking answers and finding only the echoes of the past. Endo wrote When I Whistle between his two more celebrated historical novels set in the seventeenth century, Chimmoku (1966; Silence , 1969) and Samurai (1980; The Samurai , 1982). In

Mulholland drive Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mulholland drive - Movie Review Example thor that the reader will gain a more informed and realistic understanding of the mechanisms through which film the noir is presented; even within current film that has seemingly long forgotten the impact for importance of such a genre. Even though the film in question is one that is relatively new, it exhibits many of the same historical realities that early film noir helped to illustrate; thereby making it worth reviewing and understanding to a more full and complete degree. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, Mulholland Drive presents the viewer with a strong and dynamic fin that fit all; within the character of Naomi Watts. The seething, dark, mysterious, and partially â€Å"unknowable† character that is presented to the viewer defines this film perhaps more than any other aspect that will be discussed within this brief analysis. Although it is true that strong and dynamic female leads exist in a litany of different films, the way in which Naomi Watts’ character is portrayed is specifically done as a matter of evoking an understanding of the dynamic femme fatale that was so prevalent and widely used during the heyday of the film noir era. Further, the heavy use of flashbacks and the narrated storyline that is presented at various stages throughout the film, not only helps to further the film noir aspects of Mulholland Drive, it also reinforces the Expressionism that is seen throughout the various points of the movie. Whereas many of the critics panned this particular movie due to the fact that it was too much a deviation from standard filmmaking, what they were noticing was the fact that the Expressionism used within the film was so strong and evocative that it helped to craft the story and build the suspense. A common core element of early film noir was the level and extent to which German Expressionism was referenced with regards to the development of the plot or the individual scene composition; as such, Mulholland Drive does not disappoint with

Kennedy Tapes Journalism article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kennedy Tapes Journalism - Article Example 22, 1963 in Dallas (John 8). Before and after becoming the president, Kennedy used a recording machine known as Dictaphone, typically for dictating notes or letters. In the given summer of 1962, he requested Secret Service Agent Robert Buck to hide recording devices in the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, and a library in the Mansion. He placed in the given basement of the given West Wing of the given White House two of these machines. This was a room set aside for storing private president’s files. He placed another in the basement of the Mansion (John 13). The West Wing recorders were connected by a wire to two microphones inside the Oval Office and two in the Cabinet Room. The two in the Cabinet Room were on the exterior wall, placed in two spots and covered by drapes. They got activated using a switch near the President’s sit at the Cabinet table easily being mistaken for a signal press. About microphones in the Oval Office, one placed in the kneehole of the President ’s desk and the other concealed under a coffee table athwart the room. Each of them turned on plus off with a given push on an unobtrusive button (John 7). In the paragraphs below are the most fascinating excerpts in these tapes. ... Washington Bubble Even about 50 years ago the president had worries over the disconnection between Washington D.C., from the rest of the nation. â€Å"We have got so mechanical an operation in Washington that it does not have much distinctiveness where these people get concerned,† he said to his aides. ‘Color Is Damn Good’. Kennedy worried on the minutiae in his political campaign too. Discussing the 1964 convention, he held that he wanted videos to be colored. â€Å"Should they be in color?† he asked (Richard Dean Burns 57).  . â€Å"They would come over the T.V in black and white,† (Richard Dean Burns 65).   I do not know if maybe they would come over the NBC 1in color. Perhaps a million watching it colored and it would have a cause. I do not know how much expensive it is. Be rather an effect on the convention. The color is damn good when done right† (Richard Dean Burns 40).   Frustration over Vietnam During an assembly in September 196 3, President Kennedy vented his frustration with contradictory reports about the Vietnam’s civil war. Gen. Victor Krulak was hopeful while State Department counselor Joseph Mendenhall, on the same fact finding operation, said there was extensive military and social restlessness. â€Å"You both went to the same nation,† Asked Kennedy (Richard Dean Burns 76).  . The officials laughed apprehensively. â€Å"I mean how is that you obtain such different—this is a common thing (Richard Dean Burns 76).  . On the one hand, one finds the military saying that the war is going well, and on the other hand, the political (view) with its deterioration is influencing the military. What is the cause for the

Mulholland drive Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mulholland drive - Movie Review Example thor that the reader will gain a more informed and realistic understanding of the mechanisms through which film the noir is presented; even within current film that has seemingly long forgotten the impact for importance of such a genre. Even though the film in question is one that is relatively new, it exhibits many of the same historical realities that early film noir helped to illustrate; thereby making it worth reviewing and understanding to a more full and complete degree. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, Mulholland Drive presents the viewer with a strong and dynamic fin that fit all; within the character of Naomi Watts. The seething, dark, mysterious, and partially â€Å"unknowable† character that is presented to the viewer defines this film perhaps more than any other aspect that will be discussed within this brief analysis. Although it is true that strong and dynamic female leads exist in a litany of different films, the way in which Naomi Watts’ character is portrayed is specifically done as a matter of evoking an understanding of the dynamic femme fatale that was so prevalent and widely used during the heyday of the film noir era. Further, the heavy use of flashbacks and the narrated storyline that is presented at various stages throughout the film, not only helps to further the film noir aspects of Mulholland Drive, it also reinforces the Expressionism that is seen throughout the various points of the movie. Whereas many of the critics panned this particular movie due to the fact that it was too much a deviation from standard filmmaking, what they were noticing was the fact that the Expressionism used within the film was so strong and evocative that it helped to craft the story and build the suspense. A common core element of early film noir was the level and extent to which German Expressionism was referenced with regards to the development of the plot or the individual scene composition; as such, Mulholland Drive does not disappoint with

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas A. Khun Essay Example for Free

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas A. Khun Essay In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas A. Khun argues that scientific progress is not a matter of the slow, steady accumulation of knowledge over time but, rather, that it is characterized by long-standing beliefs about the world being radically overturned by the discovery of new information that fails to conform to existing frameworks. He also argues that the nature of the progress of science tends to be mischaracterized in textbooks and in educational practices, which typically cast the progress of science as a cumulative acquisition of knowledge where one breakthrough follows logically from the last.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the essay, Khun uses the term â€Å"paradigm† to describe what science at large currently holds to be true about nature. The definition of a paradigm is a temporal one subject to change and any given paradigm only survives so long as it is useful to the working scientist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"These [paradigms] I take to be universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners† (p. ix), he states in the book’s foreword.   This   definition of a scientific paradigm is essential to Khun’s reasoning. Kuhn goes on to deconstruct the process by which revolutions take place, how they are generally brought to be accepted and how they influence the work and attitudes of the scientists that work within their parameters. For Kuhn, a revolution in paradigm equals a revolution in science.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The paradigm is central to the work of what Khun calls â€Å"normal science†   which he defines as â€Å"†¦firmly based upon one or more past scientific achievements, achievements that some particular scientific community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for its further practice. (p. 10)† This is the stuff of text books, the academy and what forms the majority of scientific research. Much of normal science concerns itself with fitting what information is gathered by practitioners into the predefined â€Å"box† provided by the current paradigm. Described by the author as â€Å"mopping up† operations, these endeavors occupy the working lives of most scientist. Practitioners of normal science are not concerned with the discovery of new information that fails to fit the existing paradigm (p. 24).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the workplace, the word â€Å"paradigm† has taken on a much less structured definition than that used by Kuhn. A paradigm may well describe a current consensus of scientific thought and practice or it might describe a series of results expected of the practitioner by they who fund the experiments. It could describe a corporate paradigm—a word that corporations do not hesitate to use and stretch to the point of nonsense-that serves as a working model for how the business at hand ought to be carried out. The use of the word paradigm in the workplace differs significantly from Khun’s. Where Kuhn is careful to offer a clear, concise definition of the term, in the casual language of the workplace a â€Å"paradigm† can refer to almost anything that serves as a model from which something is expanded.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The story of the evolution of science is   a story of one paradigm being replaced by another. For a new paradigm to emerge, it must be so compelling and so better-suited to explaining the observed universe that it draws scientists away from the old paradigm which preceded it. It also must leave enough to be discovered that those who engage in research are compelled to embrace the new paradigm (p. 10). Once the new paradigm becomes the establishment view, the work of normal science becomes concerned with refining the empirical research that necessitated the creation of the new paradigm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The work of gathering factual information about the universe and the influence of the current paradigm on that gathering is a defining characteristic of normal science. Kuhn breaks the process of fact gathering into three distinct categories: the gathering of facts that the paradigm shows to be particularly revealing; the gathering of facts that can be compared to the predictions of the theory; and, the gathering of facts which allow the resolution of ambiguities in the existing paradigm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first type of fact gathering often concerns itself with refining data to a greater degree of accuracy than was previously possible. The accuracy of the data scientists are able to gather using a refractor telescope   is far exceeded by the accuracy of the information they are able to gather with a radio telescope. The pursuit of such refinements takes up a great deal of the resources of normal science. It is precisely because the existing paradigm holds that the accuracy of data describing the position and movement of stellar objects is of the utmost importance that resources are committed to such pursuits. In the field of normal science, a practitioner may become regarded as particularly accomplished through these endeavors. As Kuhn puts it: From Tycho Brahe to E.O. Lawrence, some scientists have acquired great reputations, not from any novelty of their discoveries, but from the precision, reliability, and scope of the methods they developed for the redetermination of a previously known sort of fact . (p. 26) In this instance, normal science seeks not to innovate, but to refine the means by which the paradigm is validated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is also imperative for the paradigm to more accurately make useful predictions and a second focus of normal science concerns itself with this. To this end, specialized equipment is created that allows more precise measurements of natural phenomena which serves to bring data more in line with the predictions of the paradigm. In these cases, the paradigm not only dictates the question, but the methodology by which the answer is to be obtained. The existence of the paradigm sets the problem to be solved; often the paradigm theory is implicated directly in the design of the apparatus able to solve the problem (p. 27).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Kuhn sees it, the machinery, method and the question itself all owe their design, and the nature of their application, to the paradigm they are intended to investigate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kuhn’s third class of fact-gathering endeavors concerns itself with further refining the paradigm itself.   This is the most important class of fact-gathering in normal science (p. 27) and Kuhn divides it into subtypes, being those which seek to establish a mathematical constant, those which aim toward the creation of qualitative laws and those which aim to articulate a paradigm in ways that describe phenomena closely-related to those which the paradigm was originally designed to describe. He describes this third class of data-gathering activities as more closely resembling exploration than the others (p. 29).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kuhn observes that normal science finds itself with a lot of mopping up to be done on behalf of the paradigm. Mopping up can be understood as the work necessary to make findings fit the paradigm.   Mopping up can also be understood by what it does not endeavor to do. Normal science, in its mop up efforts, does not strive to find anomalies and novelties that do not fit within the relevant paradigm, nor does it tend to pay much attention to those anomalies it does discover. Normal scientists don’t concern themselves with inventing new paradigms nor are they particularly tolerant of those who do (p. 24).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While this could be interpreted as an excessively narrow, almost dogmatic, situation, Kuhn holds that such experimentation facilitates advancement within the paradigm and, thus, the advancement of science as a whole. Even though the work may be being done in the service of the paradigm more than in the interest of novel discovery, it still serves a useful purpose. As in many other instances in the book, Kuhn gives an historical example to shore up his argument. †¦ the men who designed the experiments that were to distinguish between the various theories of heating by compression were generally the same men who had made up the versions being compared. They were working both with fact and with theory , and their work produced not simply new information but a more precise paradigm, obtained by the elimination of ambiguities that the original from which they worked had retained(p. 34).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this way, normal science working under a paradigm does increase the accuracy and understanding of the natural world, however inflexible the basis for that work may be. An element of normal science that Khun finds characteristic is that it contains an aspect of   Ã¢â‚¬Å"puzzle-solving†(p. 36).   Puzzles are a category of problems that require one to think creatively to find a solution. What makes puzzles particularly relevant is that there is only one correct answer to the puzzle. While a puzzle-solver may find a novel way to fit together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, it would be judged as wrong if that novelty did not result in the picture offered as the correct solution. Similarly, much of normal science concerns itself with finding answers which are known in advance of whatever effort is made to find them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A practitioner of normal science seldom sets out to conduct an experiment for which he does not already suspect he has the result. The power of the paradigm is to make those predictions accurately and the lure of the puzzle is that it presents a problem where the skill of the scientist can be ascertained by their ability to find answers that may have eluded previous researchers (p. 38). There is a certain addictive property in this, to be sure, particularly to those with the sort of curiosity-driven personality that lends itself to the practice of science.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã¢â‚¬Å"There must also be rules that limit both the nature of acceptable solutions and the steps by which they are to be obtained† (p. 38) .   Again, the box with all its rigidity serves to paradoxically advance understanding the universe through its restrictions. There must be expectations for without expectations there is no way to define what is anomalous; no way to determine what is novel. Kuhn uses the example of a machine that measures wavelengths of light. The machine’s designer must demonstrate that they are, indeed, measuring the wavelengths of light as they are understood by current theory. Any unexplained anomalies that fail to fit with what is expected are likely to be seen as a flaw in the design of the experiment that renders its findings essentially useless (p. 39).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is an obvious workplace connection to Kuhn’s description of how a paradigm functions to at once restrict and advance science. Were an anomaly to become commonplace enough that it merited investigation, then perhaps resources and time will be allocated to that pursuit. However, the tendency of normal science being to ignore or suppress anomalous findings, it is more likely that those anomalies will be disregarded altogether for cause of their adding nothing to the existing paradigm under which the scientists, and thus the workplace, operate. But, in cases where those anomalies cannot be ignored, where they are not truly anomalous but, rather, repeatedly-observed novel facts, the seeds for innovation are sewn.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A novel discovery can shatter a scientific paradigm and bring about changes that could have never been expected. â€Å"After they [novelties] have become parts of science, the enterprise, at least of those specialists in whose particular field the novelties lie, is never quite the same again† (p.52)   .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For a discovery to be truly novel, it must satisfy two criteria: it must not be predicted by the current paradigm and it must be something for which the scientist was not prepared. When this situation occurs, the paradigm cannot simply be added to in order to explain the novelty. The scientist must â€Å"learn to see nature in a different way† (p. 53) before the fact becomes a scientific fact.   Seeing nature in a different way, however, presents a crisis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If the anomaly, upon investigation, becomes recurrent, a process starts where it becomes clear the that the paradigm must change. This cause a great deal of anxiety in the scientific community as a paradigm shift inevitably means that the techniques and foundations of science need rewritten. Kuhn remarks: â€Å"As one might expect, that insecurity is generated by the persistent failure of the puzzles of normal science to come out as they should. Failure of existing rules is the prelude to a search for new ones† (p. 68). This is an important observation for the practicing scientist. While it is easy enough to regard anomalies as a failure of equipment design or of the practitioner, keeping one’s mind open to the possibility that a novel, and potentially important, phenomena has been observed is imperative to the progress of science. Further study within the paradigm may serve to identify the anomalous as the norm and thereby advance the paradigm as a whole. The study of the anomalies within the paradigm is, perhaps ironically, the best way to advance the paradigm itself. â€Å"So long as the tools a paradigm supplies continue to prove capable of solving the problems it defines, science moves fastest and penetrates most deeply through confident employment of those tools† (p. 76).   Khun regards the crisis as an opportunity. â€Å"The significance of crises is the indication they provide that an occasion for retooling has arrived† (p. 76) . Now that the crisis is at hand, what remains to be seen is how the scientific community will act toward it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It may seem that Kuhn is sometimes disparaging toward science for its rather strict adherence to its guiding paradigms. However, there are counterinstances to any paradigm that occur in most any research and, therefore, any research presents crisis (p. 81). Normal science does well to be pragmatic in the face of anomalous data, if only for the sake of saving time and money that can be directed toward more useful research. Scientists generally do not line up to renounce their existing paradigm in the face of anomalies.   Even persistent anomalies that cannot be explained by a mistake do not generally present a crisis (p. 81). Oftentimes, continued work within the existing paradigm will serve to resolve the anomalies. Sometimes these counterinstances are set aside to be resolved later if they prove not particularly disruptive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The process of a paradigm being rewritten has its own historical pattern. â€Å"All crises begin with the blurring of a paradigm and the consequent loosening of the rules for normal research† (p. 84) . When this occurs, science returns to a state similar to that which existed before the creation of the paradigm now in question. There is ambiguity, the opportunity for innovation and creativity but within a small, clearly defined area. This situation, however, is where revolution is fermented.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The construction of the new paradigm is not a slow, cumulative process, it is a complete â€Å"reconstruction of the field from new fundamentals† (p. 85). There will be a period where both paradigms are used to solve problems but the difference between the means by which the problem is solved will be decidedly different in each model. The process of redefining the paradigm is part of extraordinary science. When scientists are confronted with crises, they react by embracing different attitudes toward the existing paradigm. The proliferation of competing articulations, the willingness to try anything, the expression of explicit discontent, the recourse to philosophy and to debate of fundamentals, all these are symptoms of a transition from normal to extraordinary research (p. 91).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After setting up the playing field, Kuhn begins to describe the actual process by which a revolution takes place. He references the nature of political revolution as a parallel. â€Å"Political revolutions are inaugurated by a growing sense, often restricted to a segment of the political community, that existing institutions have ceased adequately to meet the problems posed by an environment that they have in part created† (p. 92) . Possibly more than in any other part of the essay, Kuhn start to flex his intellectual power in this chapter. He uses as one example of the parallel the discovery of the X-ray. For most astronomers, x-rays presented no real problem and were easily enough assimilated into their existing paradigm. For a particular group of scientists, however, specifically those who worked with radiation theory or whose work involved the use of cathode ray tubes, x-rays violated the laws of the paradigm under which they worked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like a political revolution, the new paradigm seeks to replace the old in part because the old paradigm does not allow for the existence of the new. They are not compatible in the same way that ruler by a hereditary monarch was not compatible with the new paradigm of representative democracy that characterized the American revolution. For there to be a need for a new paradigm, the old must be logically incapable of providing an explanation for the anomaly, or anomalies, that served as the impetus for its being questioned.    It follows that the new paradigm must make predictions that are inherently different from those of its predecessor (p. 97). For the new to come into its own, parts of the old must be sacrificed (p. 93). As the crisis deepens, competing camps vie for relevance, each offering its own solution to the problem at hand. They each attract their adherence and the auspices of the old paradigm are no longer sufficient to unite the divided camps. As is the case with political revolutions, there is a freewheeling period where there is no clear authority.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The debate between the new paradigms is essential.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Each one lures adherents with its promises of usefulness and its vision of life under the new paradigm.   Scientists do not leave their paradigms easily. In fact, rather than being left out in the cold, most scientists will not reject their existing paradigm until a viable alternative is offered (p. 77).   Kuhn holds that the study of persuasive argument is as important as the study of logical and reasoned argument in periods during which practitioners are undertaking the process of finding a viable alternative to a no-longer adequate paradigm (p. 94).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kuhn holds that scientific revolutions invariably resolve with the world view of the scientific community having been forever changed (p. 111). What was once familiar is now new, what was once established as accurate is now proven to be something less than that by the new paradigm. Paradoxically, the new perception depends upon the new paradigm just as the old mode of seeing the world depended upon adherence to the discarded paradigm. Without a point of reference, the world becomes incoherent. Where scientific revolutions are concerned, there may be a shift in paradigm but there is always a paradigm, whether it be contemporary or past its relevance. As Kuhn argues in previous chapters, it is from this structure that innovation flows and, therefore, the constant presence of a paradigm is not necessarily a failing on the part of science.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the world of science may have been turned on its ear, one is unlikely to ever get this impression from textbooks and courses. The paradigm, once established, becomes victim to what Khun calls the â€Å"invisibility† of scientific revolutions. This could be seen as a true weakness in the scientific community. Like those that ferment and enable political revolutions, scientists tend to rewrite history in such a way that omits the conflict, controversy and creativity that led to the revolution that gave birth to the current paradigm. †¦scientists are more affected by the temptation to rewrite history, partly because the results of scientific research show no obvious dependence upon the historical context of the inquiry, and partly because, expect during crisis and revolution, the scientist’s contemporary position seems so secure (p. 138).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, this remarkable history of revolution in thought, in practice and in humankind’s knowledge of the universe is glossed over in textbooks. The revolutions that once turned the world on its ear, at least for scientists, become the realm of normal science and the practitioners go back to mopping up reality to make it conform to the predictions of the new paradigm just as they did in the service of the old. Kuhn makes his case mostly by citing textbooks as an example of how history is rewritten but, since text books are the tool of the trade where the teaching of science is concerned, the significance is obvious.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, the way in which the paradigm is regarded has its advantages. †¦once the acceptance of a common paradigm has freed the scientific community from the need constantly [sic] re-examine its first principles, the members of that community can concentrate exclusively upon the subtlest and most esoteric of the phenomena that concern it. Inevitably, that does increase both the effectiveness and the efficiency with which the group as a while solves new problems (p. 164) . Here, again, is the theme of the â€Å"box† of the paradigm allowing scientists to explore beyond its limits. The efficiency with which scientists can work under a shared paradigm and the reliable set of tools with which it provides them are priceless. Perhaps, this is the reason the scientific community works so hard to preserve whatever paradigm is relevant at the time; it is not the fear of the new but the fear of the loss of what has proven itself valuable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is interesting about Kuhn’s essay is that he does not use the word â€Å"truth†-excepting in a quotation from Francis Bacon—a fact that he point out himself (p. 170). Kuhn holds that there may not be a need for any such lofty goal. â€Å"Can we not account for both science’s existence and its success in term of evolution from the community’s state of knowledge at any given time?† (p. 171)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is a powerful idea. Perhaps, a better understanding of the universe is not a goal but a thing better defined-and accomplished-if it is understood to be an ongoing process. Kuhn also provides a powerful question for those who would regard, or characterize, science as a form of dogma: â€Å"Does it really help to imagine that there is some one full, objective, true account of nature and that the proper measure of scientific achievement is the extent to which it brings us closer to that ultimate goal?† (p. 171)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A poignant question, indeed. Is there an endpoint to science? Is there a point where there will be nothing left to learn, nothing left to explore and when the collected work of science will entail all that there is to know about the universe? If history is any indication, such a situation is unlikely. The story of science, and Kuhn argues this convincingly, can be seen as a continuing process without any particular goal in site. There may be the subset of goals toward which the practitioner of normal science works, but these are simple goals relating to the desired outcome for one experiment or another, not goals set for science as a whole. That is to say, to work toward a better understanding of the orbit of Jupiter is not to work toward anything so esoteric as a better understanding of the universe, it is to simply add to the ongoing process of scientific revolution by examining one subset of data within a paradigm. The value of Kuhn’s essay extends beyond what value it may have to practitioners of science. It provides a framework that can help anyone, scientist or not, understand the means by which science determines what is an accurate description of the natural world. Science currently finds itself challenged on many fronts for many reasons, most of them having little to do with science and a great deal to do with politics and theology. Kuhn’s essay provides a potent reply to the casting of science as dogmatic or religious in nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personally, I feel that this book is of the utmost value to anyone engaged in the practice of science at any level. What Kuhn manages to do in this essay is to communicate what amounts to an understanding of understanding itself. The scientific method has proven over and over again to be the most accurate means that humanity has devised to make sense of the universe. But science must strive to understand itself as much as it strives to understand the universe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The only sure protection against dogmatism is the acknowledgement that all theories are temporal, subject to unexpected and radical change and that they function to explain nature as it is currently understood. There is an important distinction between our current understanding of the universe, our paradigm, and the reality of the universe. Our understanding is always limited to the cumulative experiences of scientists past and present, which, along with those significant moments of revolution have provided the best means available to make accurate and useful predictions. The nature of science, however, is one of constant evolution. As Kuhn argues, this evolution is not a process remarkable for its consistency so much as it is a process remarkable for being punctuated by research and discoveries that cause huge leaps forward in understanding. A scientist who does not understand this may well find themselves consigned to a life of puzzle-solving exercises designed to confirm what is already known rather than experiencing what I would submit is the true passion-inducing aspect of science, the discovery of novel facts that turn the world of science upside down and test the limits of the scientific community’s ability to assimilate and understand those discoveries. Probably the most radical contrast between science and dogma is that science, in its best practice, never shies away from examining itself, its conclusions and the accuracy of the beliefs it encourages. It may not submit itself easily to such tests but it will given time and the impetus of novelty. Kuhn’s essay provides a means by which one might acquire much insight into the workings of science and the scientific community and it provides a celebration of the many crises that have pushed science, and therefore humanity, forward in thought and understanding.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I find myself in agreement with Kuhn’s conclusions about the ways in which the scientific community reacts to and eventually assimilates novel discoveries. Science, indeed, has been forced to concede long-held beliefs about the universe in the presence of new evidence which did not fit with old paradigms. The case of the evolution of life, where scientists once worked mightily to ensure that there was some room for theology, is one such instance. In the face of Darwin’s observations, science was forced to accept a new paradigm where the nature of living organisms was changed not by providence but by the environments in which they lived. More importantly than Darwin’s impact on theological theories of evolution, or the lack thereof, however, was the concept that evolution was not a goal-driven process (p. 171). This conflicted not only with the theologians of Darwin’s time, but with the accepted scientific theories, the paradigm, of biology as well. No longer was the march of life seen as a march forward toward any particular destination. It had now been more accurately described as a process dictated by the situations of individual organisms rather than the result of some grand design. There was no particular better or worse aspect to the wildlife on the Galapagos evolving to fit the islands on which they lived, the modifications inherited by way of natural selection simply flowed from the natural environment and, given a different environment, they would change again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From that new paradigm and from the practitioners of normal science who worked and continue to work within it came modern medicine, agricultural practices and many, many more achievements that are directly traceable to the current paradigm where life is believed to have evolved into its present state over billions of years of slow, cumulative changes. Without the flexibility to change the existing paradigm, we may have found ourselves unavailed of the knowledge of the double-helix, the methods by which bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics and the roots of genetic disease. As Kuhn points out, a radical paradigm shift such as that started by Darwin is necessary for a scientific revolution but the work of those practicing normal science, the geneticist working in the lab, the geologist using the paradigm that explains how a layer of rock strata may be assigned a probable age, the physicist whose work allows for technology such as carbon dating, are all as necessary for the acquisition of a better and more accurate understanding of the universe as is the revolution itself. And, further, that paradigm-driven research is the usual means by which revolutions in the scientific paradigm come to pass.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That puzzle-solving work of the normal scientist will always draw some to the practice of science. The allure of finding a solution, of one’s research becoming part of the evidence that defines the current scientific understanding of the universe is a powerful one and one that should be encouraged. Normal science may have its elements of drudgery and it could be characterized as only confirming what is already known but that would be inaccurate. Science forms theories based on facts. The power of science to constantly discover new facts about our universe has for a long time been a source of hope and inspiration to humanity as a whole. However, the work of better refining our understanding is of equal value. Science must keep an open mind while continuing to adhere to the paradigms that have provided the best answers. Kuhn’s observant, thoughtful and enlightening essay provides a means for practitioners to better understand the importance of both. References Kuhn, T. (1991). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd Ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Semantic Derogation of Woman

Semantic Derogation of Woman The Semantic Derogation of Woman In the reading of Muriel Schulz The Semantic Derogation of Woman, the author talks about words in which describe woman in a slang or profound way. The author says this is because men fear womans attitudes and this is the only way they can let it out. Schulzs talks about how words over time which were nice and gentlemanly like or had a good meaning have become rude and slanderous towards woman. I hope by the end of this paper you will better understand what Schulzs point of view was trying to make clear. The main issue the author points out is how the language we use today will carry through to new generations. She says it throughout the paper that men of degenerated all of these words in some way or form to insult woman. For example she says Shakespeare degenerated the word lewd to mean prostitute(Schulz, 45). No matter how small or discrete we are about using slang words sooner or later a new generation will start to use it and unless a generation decides to stop using a part of language it will continue to pass on. Men throughout history have designed the language throughout the generations and have always made unequals. For example, â€Å"all men are created equal† this statement coming from our founding fathers. Two things are wrong with that sentence: founding fathers, not founding mothers, and all men are created equal not all humans are created equal. Though it is true men have wrote the language and laws we currently and had previously used, the future looks brighter and brighter for woman as they infiltrate the government. Not only this, but woman are a huge part of how we are raised. They are not only teaching us in the classroom, but at home too. This I believe disproves the author who states men help women stay out of the office. There is no way woman would be in office if it wasnt for men standing up for woman and voting for them too. This is where I believe Schulz lacks evidence for her case. The next part of the article Schulz talks about is the slander used to describe old or overweight woman. She talks about how men have made words like â€Å"cow† and â€Å"warhorse† to describe these women(Schulz, 43). I believe half of this is true. Ive never heard an old or overweight woman called a warhorse(Schulz, 44). A warhorse or steed usually refers to a young, fast, athletic person. However, she does list other terms that I would have fully agreed upon like â€Å"hag†. Older ladies still today are called old hags and still today its an insult(Schulz, 43). People who are overweight these days are stilled called cows, and old people are called old hags, these are both insults. Once again she lacks evidence and makes a mistake saying that if you called a man a granny he would take it as an insult. If I were called a granny I would just look at the person funny and say do I look like a girl to you. The next issue Schulz talks about is how words like â€Å"tramp† and â€Å"mistress† have degenerated over time to become words that describe woman if they have sex too much or cheat on their man(Schulz, 46). She makes a good point in that things woman do which help pleasure men are made to look degrading, and are looked down upon. Such acts for example are stripping and prostitution. I would have to agree with the author full heartily on this issue. Even though men love skimpy little outfits on girls, I cant help and look back on how hypocritical we are on those girls. Some of these girls are well sophisticated young ladies just trying to make a buck, so they can get through college and become a helpful person to society. A good example would be Lady Gaga who is now a well known pop singer in the country. Even though her parents were well off and could pay for her college, she decided to strip to pay for her college and make herself an independent woman. The final thing the author brings up is why men fear to be inferior with women. She says men just cant stand it that girls are biologically stronger than men during the early stages of life because girls hit puberty faster. Girls also have a longer lifespan and are less likely to get diseases. For this men must say hostile things to woman to make themselves feel superior and make woman feel worthless. The author here is trying to finish off the reader here with a last onslaught against men, but she makes some mistakes. Yes, boys do feel a little weaker when girls start to grow taller than the, so they do say mean things to make themselves feel superior. However, when men in their early twenties are taller than these girls a why do they insult these girls now. Its certainly not because their worried these girls are going to outlast them in life, its because guys think its cool to show off in front of their friends, and see how bad they can insult a girl. I just feel the author really never covers this age group throughout the article. To conclude I think this paper was very well written overall. This feminist really has a passion for what shes talking about and really shows it throughout the paper. However, I do feel that she did lack evidence sometimes during the paper, and this can leave holes in her story. I hope I have helped you understand what Schulzs feminist point of view was trying to make clear. Works Cited King, James. http://thejamkingshow.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/snap-lady-gaga-use-to-be-a-striper/. 7 April 2009. warhorse. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 15 Dec. 2009. .