Mechanics at Its Finest: An Annotated Bibliography Essay

â€Å"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job prospects for mechanics who complete postsecondary education training programs, such as those offered by trade schools and community colleges, should be good, while those with only a high school education will have a more difficult time†. Joseph, Chris â€Å"Benefits to an Auto Mechanic.† Demand Media. Ehow, 15 Aug. 2003. Web. The Bureau of Labor suggests that the benefits of becoming and automobile mechanic are much higher as you proceed to college. A credible and educated mechanic is going to get hired over an aspiring mechanic. College makes the chances of you getting a higher paying career more likely. Being educated in this type of field is critical to the work environment. If you are not educated the likely hood of a mistake is extreme which could cost you or the company that you are working for a large amount of money. College is recommended when going into mechanics but is not always a necessity depending on the shop or company hiring you. â€Å"Mechanics with five to nine years of experience earn between $13.98 and $20.40 per hour. Those with 20 or more years of experience can earn from $17.81 to $24.94 per hour as of 2010. Joseph, Chris â€Å"Benefits to an Auto Mechanic.† Demand Media. Ehow, 15 Aug. 2003. Web. Like any job opportunity the more experience that one has will aid your ability to find a higher paying job. Mechanics pay is off of an hourly wage and the shop fee. If you are a mechanic and you have experience then you can get jobs done quicker which in turn makes you a higher profit compared to an inexperienced mechanic who takes longer to complete tasks. The mechanics field is like a ladder. The faster you get the more money you make so the more equipment you can buy. By having your own shop and high end equipment you will become better known to the community and you will rece ive more clients. â€Å"One of the best things about being a mechanic is that you are doing something new every day†. Cahn, Jeff â€Å"Reasons to Become a Mechanic† List My Five. Auto Repair, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. If you are a person that craves to always be doing something new this is the job for you. Day to day you are always working on cars but you are not always working on the same cars or replacing the same parts on a car. This career choice comes along with a lot of problem solving. If something does not go as planned you have to figure out a way around it but still be able to fix the problem. â€Å"In order to succeed as a mechanic, you have to be constantly learning. This is not a field where you can just sit back and hope for the best. There is always something new to learn. Mechanics have always had to grow and adapt, from carburetors to fuel injection and now to hybrids. Now they have laser ignition systems in the works. If you stop learning, you stop earning†. Cahn, Jeff â€Å"Reasons to Become a Mechanic† List My Five. Auto Repair, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. Cars have evolved over time as mechanics have been forced to evolve. A repair might be presented to you that you have never accomplished before or that you are not familiar with but you still have to fix dilemma that is purposed to you. If you decided that you can’t do the work because you stopped learning or you don’t want to make the mistake you are losing money and some other shop is going to get the business. You have to keep an open mind and learn constantly as cars get more complex. In this field of interest you need to have a good memory on how to resolve predicaments. In turn if you do not remember how to resolve a particular problem, the time you spend trying to remember or trying to learn again is money that you are wasting, because shops basically operate off of a flat rate. This is the amount of money paid by the customer up front, for a certain amount of hours. The only way to make a profit is to finish within or before the set amount of time is up. â€Å"There is a great satisfaction in seeing a car come in on a tow truck and leaving the shop with the customer driving it home because you fixed it. As they say, â€Å"Enjoy what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life†. Cahn, Jeff â€Å"Reasons to Become a Mechanic† List My Five. Auto Repair, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. If you enjoy helping people and making their life easier than this is a good job for you. When you help someone that needs their car for daily activities it is a great feeling knowing that their life was put on hold and you are the one that made if resume. To be a mechanic you need to have good communication with people. If customers come is and aren’t able to pay the flat rate you have to be able to compromise and not lose business or the trust of you custome rs. If you earn the trust of the customers and show them that this is your passion and it’s not all about the money they will most likely come back to you instead of another shop. â€Å"While most shops don’t offer the normal benefits — medical/dental/vision/401K, etc. — you do get the benefit of being able to work on your vehicles at a discount. You pay the shop cost for parts and you are the labor. You can keep your family’s vehicles up and running cheap. Cahn, Jeff† â€Å"Reasons to Become a Mechanic† List My Five. Auto Repair, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. Most jobs come with the benefit of health and medical insurance. Mechanics does not have that option. Although a high risk job of getting injured it is not a complete deal breaker. Mechanics have the advantage to help friends and family out with maintaining their cars to save them money. With the money that you save on car repairs for your family you can buy separate insurance for about the same cost. Perhaps you own your own shop you will have the option of getting and supply medical coverage for you and your employees. Even though mechanics doesn’t have a fantastic insurance plan it is not a deal breaker for people with a passion for cars. Not to mention when you get credibility in the industry, nicer and more expensive cars will come in to be worked on. This job is definitely not the most beneficial but is not the least either. Mechanics make decent money according to how well they work and how fast they get the job done. If you feel like you have to do something different every day or you feel like you need to always be busy this is the career for you. This career is all about learning and fixing. Mechanics is a great deal of manual labor, lifting, replacing, and fixing everyday problems that are presented to you. There will always be a demand for Auto mechanics because of the growing car market. More and more cars are made every day which creates a demand for mechanics. Mechanics is my passion and my love and with all my knowledge I hope to help the community.

Law of the Harvest LDS Talk

My dear Brothers and Sisters, It is so good to be with you today. The warmth and love that each of you have is so good to feel and to be part of the fellowship of the saints. Brother XYZ has asked that I talk to the Law of the Harvest. â€Å"Gallations 6:7 â€Å"Whatsoever a man Soweth , that shall he reap† I wish to first share with you a story. Many years ago when I was working in Sacramento I had to make a trip for work to San Los Opisbo. The funeral was to be in the early afternoon so I could make the trip in one day. I got all my items together. I had maps and directions from map-quest.I knew my direction and I was going to make it there. I got there in no problem but noticed that I took me a little longer then I had planned. Once there service was over I got in the van that I was driving and looked over the map and saw that I just needed to drive on the road I was on and then turn near the town of Avenal and that would get me on I-5. I started out and began driving. Aft er a while I noticed that I hadn't taken the right turn that I had planned on doing. I pulled over and saw that if I stayed on this road I could go into the town of Coalinga and then get I-5 again.But it was going to be more driving on this quite road. I said to myself well I will just have to go faster to make up the time. It felt like forever but I know it was not but I came up over a rise and saw the familiar outline of a highway patrol car. I pulled to the right of the road right as I passed him. His lights came on and over to me and came around behind me. He came over to my window where I had my drivers license and insurance waiting for him. He askeme where I was heading. After a long explanation he saw all my maps and told me that I was going to fast and that I needed to slow down.He let me off but said that if he ever caught me again He would â€Å"throw the book at me† – What did I learn from this lesson of my life. I had made a plan I had the directions and th e path laid our for me. I had a road map but I failed to get on the right road. Then in haste of youth I decided that I would try to race to make up time. Which cost me time. This is like life, Laws are eternal truth that we follow and the direct action of those laws. We can choose to follow the commandments but we CAN NOT CHOOSE the result of that choice. we have the map and course laid out for us to follow. Our leaders guide the way for us to follow.We need to listen to there council and wisdom. We can NOT expect to live a life of sin and of misdeeds and still return back to our Father. But I KNOW that the converse is true. That if we live a life of goodness and of obedience then we shall be welcomed home to our father. Then for life there is redemption. The amazing gift that God has give us through his son Jesus Christ. The way to overcome the consequences of our actions. Like the officer in my story They can grant us forgiveness and met out mercy because justice was served those many years ago in Gessmetine groves and on Calvary's hill.D&C 130 20-21 â€Å"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. † Take time today to reflect upon your life and the things that you have. I know that you will find that it is a direct reflection of the life that you have lived. Before I continue I need to read another scripture as a clarification Alma Chapter 38 ( Alma speaking to his sone Shiblon.He being a rightous man who was great missionary unto the people of Zoramites And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end. I say unto yo u, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering among the people of the Zoramites.For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee. And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day. I share that scripture so that none may think that the trails that they have are a ‘punishment' for sin.Trails act as the refiners fire spoken of in 1 Peter 1:7. Elder Sill said this â€Å"One of the distinguishing characteristics of our world is that it is a place of law and order, and the basic law of creation is God’ s fundamental law of compensation. It says that all work must be paid for, that we can no more do a good thing without sometime, in some way receiving a reward, than we can do an evil thing without suffering a penalty. In everything that we do, including the very thoughts that we think, we are subject to this interesting, undeviating eternal law.It is just as universal in its operation as are the laws of gravity, electricity, light or heat. It is never set aside, it is never suspended or restricted, and it governs in every department of human activity. Nothing is ever denied to well-directed effort and nothing is ever achieved without it. It is a thrilling challenge, that we may have any blessing that we are willing to live for. And the primary law of the universe is this immutable,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. irrevocable law of the harvest that says, ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ’ ( Gala. 6:7 ) ( The Law of the Harvest, p. 1. ) Think of it my fellow saints D& C 82: 10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. You need to make the choice today the kind of person you want to become and then do what is required to become that son or daughter of God. In my calling I work with the young men. I invite them to chart the course they want to take. If you lay out the course and you make your plans the small choices along the way are easier to make. The blessings are real I have seen them in my life and they can happen in your life.Sometimes other people are in your path that make living the gospel hard. I think of a story from my mission days. My mission president would from time to time send me a missionary that needed some guidance. Elder XYZ was one such Elder. He had a sleeping problem. He would sleep until 10, 11 maybe even noon and then get up to work. When I received the assignment. I was told that I needed to help him not by being the school master but by a quite example of love and com passion. Each morning I would rise at the appointed hour and begin my day. I would follow all the mission rules that I could.I tried with all my might to find people for us to teach and the work with. We began to teach these people when Elder Allen would rise we would begin our day. Brothers and Sisters the Lord blessed us with some amazing people to teach and baptize. Elder XYZ knew it I knew it and President XYZ knew that is was obedience to the rules of the mission and to what we needed to do that produced that fruit. The Lord was bound to help these people as a result of simple Elder ABC following the mission rules. Many times we just need to follow the commandments and as a result og our actions people lives are blessed.This most often happens with church leaders or those who are charged with helping people along the path of life. Because of ones faithful discharge then another is blessed Brother CFD was a faithful home teacher he would go out and visit the people that he had o n his route. Most if not all of them never came to church. He had a name on his list of Brother ERD. For four long years he would go to this man's home and talk with him and invite him to come back. He would get the same answer each time. â€Å"Nope not this week† A change started to come over him as he saw this faithful brother.Then one week he came to church. The ward welcomed him back and he became interested in the work that needed to get done. His wife had to be baptized and his grand kids needed names placed on the roles of the church. He came back to the fold of God because one man decided to share his time with another and follow the charge that he had as a priesthood leader. As we serve others two things happen. 1- Lives of the people change and are made easier or they get stuff that are given to them 2- the people giving the service are rewarded for the work they are done.This reward or compensation is both physical and also spiritual. Alpha was the President of his Teachers quorum , I was the advisor, One Sunday about two years ago we heard that brother YTR had a bad accident and would not be able to mow his lawn. In Priesthood we talked about the needs of Brother YTR and the Bishop told Alpha to get the lawn mowed. Alpha a young 15 year old , holder of the Priesthood of God, planned on going to this house. They got rides for the boys that needed them. They got lawn mowers and edgers. Then They called me.Alpha told me that They were going to there on Wednesday and thought I should know. I was surprised that it was planned. I told him that I could be there and would bring a watermelon if they wanted. He said sure and I was there at the home. Alpha and his fellow members of the Aaronic Priesthood provided service and were blessed. I was taught by these â€Å"boys† and they taught each other. These stories are not unique, you all have these same stories of obedience to a law of God and cherish in the blessings that you received . Each tim e that story is shared the blessings are relived and your excitement is filled.I want to warn us all to not think that these blessings are ours and ours alone. Many faithful people of all religions are given blessings and can feel of the Law of the Harvest. The lord is the same yesterday today and forever and when we do a righteous thing we will be blessed. For those of us who have strayed and who need help getting back on the path there is hope. Christ paid the price for our sin and know how to welcome us back. Luke 8 4- 15 Christ taught the parable of the sower And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, wh ich in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Verse 13 tells of the hope that we have for these who fall away for a time. Let us do what we can to bring them back. The atonement of Christ is for all. I know that as a man soweth so shall he reap.

12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men Essay Twelve Angry Men is a classic movie depicting how one determined leader can alter an entire crowd. Through dedication, curiosity, and the pursuit for the truth he is able to persuade a group of twelve to second guess even themselves. Within this heterogynous group are a dozen different personalities some of which were leaders and most of which were not. The strongest leader in this movie by far is the Architect in the White Suit. Right off from the beginning at the original vote the Architect stated clearly his position in the matter. Against the rest of the group he strongly held his ground and fought for what he believed. Most people in his position would have changed their opinion immediately after realizing that he was completely outnumbered. However he continued to argue his points and reiterate the reasons why evidence needed to be questioned. His mind was simply brilliant. As he sat there listening to the other jurors reasoning he always found a way to prove them wrong or make them question themselves. Whether it was through logic, mathematical reasoning, or questioning of evidence he seemed to always wow the other jurors. His strength as a leader is that he is a natural born one. He wasnt trying to look smart or impress anyone. He simply was doing what he was born to do. He used both pushing and pulling tactics to influence his peers. His strongest tactic was the usage of rational persuasion. While other jurors were able to dismiss facts without consideration, he immediately noted a potential fault. Through the analysis of facts he was able to convince others to reconsider. One of the most notable discrepancies he proved was that of the witness across the street. Through common noises, known train speeds, and common knowledge he proved that the witness was anything but one. The architect also uses inspirational appeal to convince his colleagues. He makes the other jurors consider the humanity of the situation. A mans life is at stake and he realizes the impact that his decision as well the rest of theirs will have on the man. The importance of values is portrayed. Likewise he keeps his own position non-emotional stating that he will concur with the group about the guilt, but only if they can convince him that he should. Additionally, he uses consultation to try to help the group to come to a consensus. He seeks group participation to make the ultimate decision. Whereas others are set in their opinion perhaps based on the social normality of it (I.e. to fit in with the rest of the group), he is out to find the true belief of the individual juror. As with the inspirational appeal, he expresses his willingness to modify his decision based on what they discuss. Another influential leader is the Angry Father. He acted as the leader for the people who believed the defendant was guilty. He, like the Architect, is a natural born leader. He loudly argued his opinions about the case and refused to back down from his stance. Even in the end when he was completely out numbered he fought for his belief despite the persuasion of others. He couldnt care less what they thought of him. He was there to do his job and wouldnt be easily influenced by others. He perhaps was influenced by the pulling tactics. He used the tactics of legitimating. He tried to convince the group that they were there to protect democracy. A man had committed murder and needed to be punished for it. He was so overshadowed by the rules that he missed the humanity in the situation. He was in effect referencing the higher authority and the rules that needed to be followed. The government says that a murderer must be punished and he was going to see to it. He also uses pushing tactics with pressure. He threateningly reminds the other that a murder has occurred and that the accused must be punished. READ: The struggle for personal identity Essay He makes them feel guilty when they even consider for a moment that the accused may be not at fault. When the jurors slowly change their minds he becomes very defensive and tries to make the .

Critical Thinking Assignment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Critical Thinking Assignment - Coursework Example 2. Consumers’ data will become safer as the bill will preempt organizations from sharing personal information with third parties, without their consent. Thus, firms will be forced to use discretion while exchanging personal data. Besides, it will also help ensure that the consumers are â€Å"informed of the purpose† for which such data are being collected or used. It will also save the consumers from the hassle of having to deal with unsolicited marketing calls (Ramesh, 2012). (71 words) 3. Organizations like telemarketing companies will have to exercise extreme caution when contacting prospective customers. The bill will restrict the availability of personal data as organizations that currently share information will be hesitant to do so in the future. It will also considerably decrease our volume of sales as we will not be able to contact as many customers as we want, with our sales pitches. With the Do Not Call Registry, many people will â€Å"opt out of marketing calls and SMS-es by signing up with the Registry† there by preventing us access to customers (Ramesh, 2012). Thus, we will have to evolve other ways to conform to the regulation. (108 words) 4. The article titled, â€Å"Bill Introduced to Protect Personal Data,† written by S Ramesh, deals with the introduction of a new bill by Singapore government â€Å"after several rounds of public consultation† (Ramesh, 2012). The bill, which proposes penalties including fines for the misuse of personal data, is expected to bring dramatic changes to the concept of personal data protection. It will restrict organizations from indiscriminately obtaining, storing and exchanging personal data of individuals without their informed consent. There will be a separate Personal Data Protection Commission for enforcing this law. The â€Å"key concept of the legislation† will be to introduce a â€Å"Do Not Call Registry† where people can sign up to stop any marketing calls or text messages. This will be a great step towards

CAN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AS A MARKETING STRATEGY CAN LEAD Essay

CAN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AS A MARKETING STRATEGY CAN LEAD AIRLINES COMPANY IN UK TO SUCCESS - Essay Example As per Federal Aviation â€Å"the basic concepts and ideology that make CRM successful with aviation air crews have also proven successful with other related career fields. Several commercial aviation firms, as well as international aviation safety agencies, began expanding CRM into air traffic control, aircraft design, and aircraft maintenance in the 1990s specifically, the aircraft maintenance section of this training expansion gained traction as Maintenance Resource Management† (2000). The deeper the affiliation the airline holds with these customers, the more opportunities there will be for advertising supplementary harvest and services. However, with the appearance of e-business and the innovative economy, the challenges of building physically powerful consumer interaction have become even bigger (Jiang , 2007). Airlines strive to expand market share and maintain productivity recently to meet challenges of aggressive environment, they ought to handle their customer relationships to maximize customer reliability and income (Boland, 2002). Burgoon stated that â€Å"Pilots and flight attendants need to understand the basic psychology of group dynamics and the positive effect that pre-flight briefings can have between groups. Many pilots and flight attendants may have never worked together before and yet both of these groups tend to remain isolated before, during, and after a flight. Some captains are better with an introduction and a briefing than others. But overall, there tends to be a "chill in the air" during pre-flight routines. The importance of an introduction and briefing cannot be overstated; a simple handshake or congenial gesture may be all that is required to build trust and camaraderie† (Burgoon, 1991). Necessitate to magnetize, gain, influence, and preserve customers is still of crucial anxiety to most businesses. Several studies manuscript that the middling company

Rodriguez Summary and Rhetorical Precis Assignment

Rodriguez Summary and Rhetorical Precis - Assignment Example Richard Rodriguez narrates the story of his education and explains how the experience affected him. At the time of the narration, the author is thirty years old. Although he is a now grown man, he remembers once feeling uneasy in front of the classroom (Rodriguez 519). He says that although he is Spanish origin, he underwent an educational system that used English as a primary instruction language. He admits that while he was growing up, people admired his success at school. The education, he received, however, was a scholarship that inspired him towards excelling in classes. He grew so anxious about school that his parents worried about his later trajectory in life. The author realized that moving away from home was the sole determinant of his success at school. This feeling eventually made him uneasy with his parents. Possessing the feeling pushed him towards studying other people and books for answers. He eventually realized that scholarship students of Spanish descent experienced the same feeling. He drew lessons from a book that summarized the paradox of receiving education. The author realizes that the school and home exist at cultural extremes. A student, therefore, pulls away into the rational system of thinking. Besides, the student escapes the intimacy of home thereby astounding the very parents who took one to school. Richard Rodriguez, a writer of Spanish descent, writes an essay, Achievement of Desire, detailing his experiences of education. Although he is old by the time of the narration, he describes his experiences from an early age. It is crucial to highlight that the author bases his arguments on his educational experience as a person from a minority community. The author springs from a Spanish minority in America. His central argument is that education eventually alienates a person from one’s family. In order to acquire education, he

Drinking Water and Sanitation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Drinking Water and Sanitation - Research Paper Example The lack of safe drinking water has led to a number of diseases and deaths, especially among infants. A number of goals have been set over the years with various ten year milestones. These milestones have been beset with various challenges. However, there has been some amount of success. Various strategies including the promotion of breast-feeding to reduce mortality in infants have been used as a means of dealing with the effects of the problem. Introduction Drinking water and sanitation are two important factors in the lives of human beings. Water is required not only to drink but also for personal hygiene, the preparation of meals and to ensure that our surroundings are clean. Some people do not have access to piped water and therefore depend on other sources such as rivers and streams. This water is not treated and in a number of cases is exposed to various factors in the environment. Among these factors are the way we carry out various activities including disposal of industrial and household wastes. In addition to that, there is the problem of inadequate and improper sanitary conveniences which also have implications for the supply of safe water. Over the years a number of goals have been set. However, they have not been fully realized due to various challenges that affect these efforts. Previous Goals and Achievements The period 1981 – 1990 was designated as ‘The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade’ by the United Nations (Cairncross 1992). During that period the aim was to increase the supply of water and hygienic toilets so that more people especially the poor could have access to these necessities (Cairncross 1992). A number of organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank were involved in this effort. Since then the drive for the improvement in the quality of life has continued as some of the targets were not achieved. In fact, Cairncross (1992) points out that a lot more needs to be done in order to facilitate efforts to make safe water and proper sanitation available to all people. Risk of Inadequate Drinking Water and Sanitation The problems that arise from inadequate drinking water and poor sanitation are far greater than the problems of war, terrorist attack and weapons of mass destruction but they receive less attention (Bartram et al, p. 810). The lack of proper sanitation and waste disposal facilities can lead to waterborne diseases including malaria, schistosomiasis and legionellosis (WHO). This is a serious problem as it results in the death of approximately 3900 children everyday and therefore threatens the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) (Bartram et al 2005). The developing countries are more at risk as microbial organisms which cause diseases are normally found in drinking water in these areas (Ashbolt 2004). The situation is worst in places like Africa and Asia where a substantial portion of their people live in condit ions of extreme poverty. Sequelae and mortality are the result as the body becomes less capable of providing immunity against diseases that are endemic (Pond 2005). Diseases associated with the intestines are generally more severe because of the high levels of mal-nutrition as well as the non-existence of strategies in these countries to deal with these types of problems. The traditional methods of filtration and chlorination continue to be used. However, these are not 100% effective as there are some chlorine resistant pathogens (Ashbolt 2004). The Millennium Development Goals According to Bartram et al (2005) 40% of the world population does not have access to a pit latrine and almost 20% do not have access to

Language Evolution and Syntactic Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8500 words

Language Evolution and Syntactic Theory - Essay Example Category one and two combine when considering that the "universal characteristics of language may be so because they are aspects that make it more easily acquirable."2 The evolutionary nature of language is a new category of investigation that attempts to determine what occurred in our ancestral lineage that gave rise to a form of communication that is distinct from other species. This category involves genetics, paleontology, and archaeology. However, whereas these studies benefit from a rich fossil record, evolutionary linguistics suffers from a lack of evidence. To overcome these shortcomings, linguists often make use of studies in the four categories already discussed. However, Kinsella's research is unique in that it will not rely on the four categories. Instead, she utilizes evidence from evolutionary studies that will shed a critical light on the theory of linguistics. The essential argument Kinsella makes is that this research is a step in developing a more unified theory of linguistics. This is much like psycholinguistics or neurolinguistics before it, which incorporate diverse disciplines in founding new conclusions. Kinsella frames the current discussion on language within syntactic theory. She criticizes these theories for relying on theories that are based only in linguistics and don't incorporate multi-disciplinary perspectives in their analysis. She contends that syntactic theory needs to be critiqued not merely as a means of recording observable data. In addition, syntactic theory must also be critiqued as a theory of language that must be consistent with theories in other fields. While she acknowledges that there are many competing syntactic theories, the research focuses on the Minimalist Program and contrasts it with theories in evolutionary biology to test its validity. It's notable that the analysis focuses the validity of the linguistic side and not the biological side. This seems to be due to the foundational role evolutionary biology plays in the Minimalist Program. Also, there is a continued view of linguistic philosophy as a 'soft' science. Kinsella is vague in distinguishing the exact specifications of the Minimalist Program. She writes that, "...syntactic theory tells usthat the grammatical structure of language is the mediator between signal and meaning"3 and references Chomsky as privileging the internal aspects of language over the external. While she discusses the MP's emphasis on creativity within syntactic structures, it seems that she is ultimately positioning it as a strongly internal theory of languag

Business Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Research - Essay Example NatWest traces its origin to the year 1968 when the National Provincial Bank merged with the Westminster Bank. NatWest has remained one of the â€Å"biggest four clearing banks† in the United Kingdom and it has opened over 1,600 branches and 3,400 automated teller machines across the UK (Jones, 2012, p.258). The bank currently has nearly 7.5 million customers and over 850,000 accounts specifically tailored for small businesses. It operates through a subsidiary bank known as Ulster Bank in the republic of Ireland. As per the year 2003 NatWest was a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBS. However, it has currently become the ultimate holding company of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS). Basing on this, it is evidently cleat that the shareholders, competitors and interest groups of RBS are directly linked to the National Westminster Bank. The government of the United Kingdom acquired majority of the shares of RBS in 2008 to become the majority shareholder of the bank. Currently, the UK government owns over 67% of the ordinary shares floated by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group in the stock market. OWNERSHIP Government Ownership of National Westminster Bank As already stated, NatWest is the main holding company of the Royal Bank of Scotland. ... The government went further to acquire B shares in December thus making the cumulative government ownership of the RBS Group to stand at 81.15 percent (Waller, 2000, p.31). Stephen Hester is the chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a company which by extension owns the National Westminster Bank. Since the majority of the shareholding comes from the government whose main source of income is the taxpayer’s money, it is also true to say that NatWest is a bank owned by the public (Steiner, 2000, p.18). UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) was then charged with the mandate of overseeing the government’s investments in financial institution including Royal Bank of Scotland Group. In connection to the desire of promoting economic stability and healthy competition in the banking sector, the UK government has given UKFI the duty to manage the orderly but active disposing of government’s shareholding in some of these institutions. Norwich Union is a compos ite insurer and owns about 1.12 percent of the original shares of NatWest Bank. Before the â€Å"takeover† of the company by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the managers of this bank were in full support of the bid presented by the RBS. COMPETITION NatWest, which by extension refers to the Royal Bank of Scotland, faces competition from several banks that include HSBC, Credit Suisse Bank, Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered. About HSBC: It is ranked as the top most banks in the whole world. According to the financial statements of the bank released in the first quarter of 2011, this bank recorded the largest profit of 4,153 billion dollars. It highly trusted in emerging markets such as China. This factor

Child care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Child care - Essay Example Another weakness of mine is not being very orderly with my things. Sometimes, it doesn’t bother me anymore having cluttered books, pens, etc. around me. Lastly, I think I also need to learn to be more wise in my spending habits. I have the tendency to be an impulsive shopper especially when I find novel materials. One goal is to develop healthy work relationships with my co-workers and the parents of my students. Being surrounded with little children all the time makes me happy, but I also need to relate with other adults who may be able to give me wise advise in developing effective teaching strategies. I would also need their friendship and support as a colleague who understands the same things I go through in my work. As a teacher, I would also need to develop warm and congenial relationships with the parents of my students, as it is one of my beliefs that parents and teachers should work hand-in-hand to help the child reach his full potential. Parents are considered partners in education for a better future. Another goal for me is to pursue excellence in my craft. That includes making more effort to improve on my areas of weaknesses. Being tardy may reflect that I take my work and the people there for granted. Especially with young children, they would need a dependable teacher to be with them when they arrive in school. Being a messy teacher will only impart negative influences in the students, as they can model this behavior themselves and think that is the way things should be. Being an impulsive shopper would also put emphasis on a need to resort to buying new things instead of re-using or recycling old, available, inexpensive materials. It will not foster resourcefulness and self-restraint. To be able to fulfill my goal of developing healthy interpersonal relationships at work would require that I initiate social contacts with people. I would make it a point to give attention to the people at

Primary School classroom Essay Example for Free

Primary School classroom Essay These Poets write Honestly about their Experiences. Explore the Memories Expressed in their Poems and consider what Views they are sharing about Growing Up  Carol Ann Duffy expresses her views and gives her true experiences to do with childhood and growing up. She uses a range of techniques in her poems, like similes to emphasize her feelings and emotions and imagery, where she uses metaphors to help create the picture and mood of the atmosphere of each poem. For example, the Primary School classroom. Simon Armitage also writes about everyday experiences, childhood, growing up, changes and regrets. He uses less imagery than Carol Ann Duffy, but in one particular poem Kid, he uses a great more rhyme. They both include experiences towards school life, where Carol Ann Duffy writes about the younger years and Simon Armitage writes about the older years at school. These two poets are similar in some ways, but can be quite different in others. For example, in Duffys Stealing it shares the feelings of a child who steals for no reason and Duffy adds comments from her own experiences. It can make the reader feel quite depressed and sad, whereas in I am very Bothered by Simon Armitage, it is again about a child with regret for something he did at school, but instead of being sad it uses black humour and is more horrible stench of branded skin In Mrs Tilschers Class, Carol Ann Duffy starts with you, which makes it personal and sets the scene travel up the Blue Nile.  She identifies things like Primary School aspects very well with your finger, tracing the route This is a good reminder to what children do when they are little. She creates the picture of the blackboard chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust. This suggests break time and the laugh of a bell swung by a running child creates a jolly, happy time that all the kids look forward to. This gives a comparison between home and school. This was better than home. There are more interesting things to be found at school, like enthralling books, which is obviously what she doesnt have at home.  She uses similes to describe the classroom. The classroom glowed like a sweet shop. This creates the idea of colour that a sweet shop would have.  She tells of a negative memory Brady and Hindley, which faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake. School has so many good memories that it is able to make the bad ones disappear. She uses emotion Mrs Tilscher loved you, and alliteration good gold star, which makes the poem flow easier. It also sounds a bit like a childs expression.  A xylophones nonsense gives the impression of tuneless playing, which kids do in Primary School, they dont care about accuracy, just about having fun. It also appeals to the senses by using sounds as well as visual images.

Communication Style Case Study Essay Example for Free

Communication Style Case Study Essay Communication style is definitely very important in a work environment especial in the health care setting. Finding the right way to communicate with other staff members will keep an open communication channel with everyone. Which in return make other staff members feel respected and provide a much better work environment and the best quality of care for the patient. Now I will go over the scenarios from Checkpoint 8-4 and my own personal experience at work. Scenario number one, is about Robin, a psychiatric nurse that expressed aggressive communication. That led to Rashed to respond passive, by planning to be passive-aggressive with robin in the future when he would have an opportunity. Robin way of speaking to rashed in a firmed and raised voice, only made rashed feel hurt, angry and revengeful toward robin. The fact that rashed needed his job kept him quite but did not stop him from thinking of revenge towards the future with robin. This type of passive communication does not solve and problems are not solved. It might even become less cooperative during work. Rashed even stated that maybe he would not do anything unless he told to do so. Which in return can only mean that the nurse will end of doing more work unless he asked for help that he needs. Scenario number two, Pamela a school nurse was using nonassertive communication. When in doubt about anything communication is the best way to clear up anything. By taking matters into her own hands know she created double the work and in return increased her stress by retesting everyone. A nonassertive person when try to delegate end up doing more work. By not approaching Bridget regarding her concerns, she became a passive person and did not say anything due to the concern of displeasing others. Nonassertive behavior can also cause, anger, confusion and irritation to others. Nurses can sometime feel overworked because they are passive and accommodates others and in return have a poor functioning team. Scenario Number three, Rosa was a manager of the ambulatory care surgical center that was using assertive communication. Mabel one of the surgical technicians used aggressive communication with Rosa. Rosa was very forward about wanted to work together as a team to solve problems for the best quality care for the patient. Rosa used aggressive communication when she told Mabel that she was the granddaughter of the chairmen of the board  and would get her head served in a platter. Mabel expressive words only showed that she had anger, annoyed, stressed, angry and impatient. Knowing how to express your needs in a positive manner can help relate and resolve any problem that arises. Using assertive communication is a good way to be confident, addresses problem without belittling oneself and other staff members. Improving the way we express ourselves can have a positive effect and outcome at work with better harmony. My Scenario, took place around 8 years ago when I started working a unit called â€Å"1202†, surgical and nonsurgical unit. Six trauma beds and six nontrauma beds. We all worked pretty much in a team. Took report on all patients in order to know what was going on with every patient in case anyone needed help or anyone of us took a break or lunch break. We also rotated being charge nurse. And like always had to divide that patients according to severity and try to balance out the possible admits. Being in charge meant that we were in indirect way responsible for the patients and would be the last one to get the admit in case we had to jum p in and lend a helping hand. It was finally my turn to be in charge and of course that typical older nurse with more years always companied about having to many hard patients and need to trade off one of his patients and when it came to his admit asked if I could take it and he would take the next one. I found myself being nonassertive and took the admit in order to keep peace and not hear him nagging all night. To make the story short the following patient he took but was taken to the operating room, two patients got discharged and only left him with two stable patients. While I was still in charge, ended up with six patients and no discharges. And still responsible for overseeing everyone else’s job. At the end of the day I was tired, mad and overwhelmed. All this gave great experiences to be more assertive in a positive way, explain my rational for how I divided the assignment and offered as much help as needed in order to work as a team for the best patient care. Effective communication is very important not only for the staff members but also with the patient and family member in order to achieve a positive outcome for the patient and for a positive work environment with stress free workplace. Always keep in mind that no matter how much effective communication we might have we are bond to run into conflicts, it just the way we decide to delegate and resolve problems for a positive environment. Aggressive communication can only  bring more problems instead of solving them. Assertive communication is always the best way to go because we show confident, respect and ability to work in a stress free workplace. Reference Hansten, R., Jackson, M. (2009). Clinical delegation skills: A handbook for professional practice. Jones and Bartlett Learning, 4(4th), 279-292.

Study On A Skills And Learning Statement

Study On A Skills And Learning Statement The purpose of this statement is to summarize and reveal what I have learnt from working on this project and the skills gained from it. This statement is to conduct a self assessment of my research work and to show my strengths and weakness on my findings. The skills and learning statement is also important because it shows how RAP is prepared and it is necessary in order to achieve BSc. (Hons) graduate degree. The SLS is based on four questions: What I learned from the meetings with my Project Mentor, including the presentation that I gave to my Project Mentor. Before I made the decision to work on the research and analysis project, I made sure that I went through the other topics carefully. The main reason for my decision was because, I found that, the research and analysis project was straightforward. I learnt several things from the meetings with my mentor but the most positive of them all was that I realised I am a self-directed learner. The First Meeting Before walking into the first meeting with my project mentor, I made sure that I had with me a pen and a journal. The benefits of a journal are countless but the main reasons that I decided to keep one at hand were so I could write down any questions I may have to ask my mentor and jot down brief notes from discussions or conversations that we would have. From the very first meeting, my mentor introduced and emphasised on self-directed learning. He explained the impact it would have on my development, knowledge and skills and because of this; I decided to find out what my learning style is. Throughout all the meetings, I worked alongside other students; we discussed the importance of time and different ways in which we could use the time we had in meetings usefully. The discussions I had with my mentor were mainly based on my thoughts and ideas. He asked me how I felt about my ideas, how would I incorporate my ideas into my project and if I thought they were of a high-quality. One important issue that I learnt about was time. When I walked in for my first meeting I was a few minutes late and because of this, my mentor started working with another student. I realised from this incident that I would have to manage my ACCA studies. My mentor made clear the importance of time management and how it would affect my report if I did not allocate my time correctly. Because I was not always punctual, I lost a lot of time and a lot of my research ended up being conducted in a small space of time. Another point that my mentor constantly stressed upon throughout the meetings was critical evaluation and critical analysis. To give myself an idea about critical evaluation, I took it upon myself to read material that was critical. Once I had read the material, I read through my own report and found that it needed critical analysis aspects. I found myself modifying it on countless times and was very aggravated when I realised I hadnt referenced it accurately either. I decided to read up on some research books and began adjusting my report. The Second Meeting The second meeting consisted of discussions about my ideas and research. Throughout the meeting my mentor encouraged me talk about my ideas and this helped me make informed judgements. I believe researching information is a lot more beneficial because I felt like I was doing everything myself instead of having handouts and websites in front of me. The Third Meeting By this meeting, I had almost finished my project. I approached my mentor to organize the third meeting. In that meeting, the mentor identified my mistakes and other weaknesses in the report. I asked him how I could remove those mistakes and improve on the weaknesses. When he explained those to me, I noted down the points to ensure my projects was perfect. This helped me to improve the RAP further. The Fourth Meeting The Fourth meeting consisted of a PowerPoint presentation; I was excited about it as I had not done a presentation like that in the past. Before I started preparing the presentation, I checked up online how to use Microsoft PowerPoint and prepared a practise presentation. Overall, I feel like I learned a substantial amount of information from the meetings with my mentor. They provided me with different opportunities to discuss my ideas and thoughts and let me experience something new. The fourth and final meeting ended with my mentor asking me what I would say to prospective students about the research and analysis project. What I would say to prospective students would be that when I started this project, I wasnt very eager about independent learning but by the end of it I found myself appreciating it more and more. I value learning new things and like discussing new ideas with others and from the meetings, I feel a lot more confident and ready to take on other projects. How well I felt I answered the research question? I believe I answered the research question very well however it is important to understand that because I only had secondary data and no primary data, my analysis and evaluation was solely based on that. I do believe though that if I had access to Morrisons intranet and was able to evaluate both customer and employee opinions then my answer would have been in more depth and my data would have also been more reliable. It is important to take into account that if I did have approval to access the companies intranet, to collect primary data, that it would have taken me a lot more time, time that I could not really lose. Moreover, I believe that at the moment my skills of acquiring primary data and conducting primary research are not quite satisfactory. The main source of information that my data was based upon was Morrisons and J Sainsburys plc Annual reports of 2008, 2009 and 2010. In order for me to have answered the question in more depth, I would have needed multiple sources of data from one particular source that would have established my findings to be correct. I believe that with time I will improve my skills however it is important to remember that there will always be limitations when it comes to collecting information. In general, I believe that my answer was reasonable and that my research report was informative. How I demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills during the project work. I demonstrated my interpersonal and communication skills in many different ways during the project work. When writing my report, I made sure that it was clear and concise. I read through it to take care that it had a rational flow of arguments and that it was logical. One important point that I kept it mind was that I only included relevant facts as there was a word count that needed to be adhered to. I found this a little difficult as I had a tendency to write on about unrelated facts that didnt answer the question. When speaking in front of my mentor and fellow students I felt that no-one had any difficulties understanding me and I had no trouble understanding the feedback given by my mentor to me. One problem that I found was that, when asked about my feelings and ideas, I wouldnt express myself effectively, to resolve this issue I started writing questions in my journal so that I could ask my mentor and get the answer that I needed. By doing this, I got the answer that I needed and my ideas and thoughts were cleared as well. From the discussions with my mentor and students, I realised that it is very important to ask the right question as this helps obtain more information for both the other students and myself and helps the mentor understand that everyone understands. Another way in which I demonstrated my interpersonal and communication skills was by showing that I was listening to both my mentor and other students. I believe that by listening and giving everyone a chance to voice their opinions helps build good relationships with others. Listening is all about decoding and receiving information. Through my mentor meetings, I learnt that effective listening not only helps reduce the effect of noise distortion, but it resolve problem by encouraging understanding from someone elses view point. However I did realise that by not showing that I understood verbally may have gave my mentor the idea that I did not understand the answer he gave me, in order to prevent this I started to give him eye contact and replies rather than nodding my head. The PowerPoint presentation was the next stage, I was very excited about it however as it was my first I practised it many a times in front of friends, family and also by myself as I decided to memorise the whole presentation. I realised that this was very difficult later on as I started to forget some points, however I remembered that when I looked through the websites for help that they had recommended speaker notes for referencing. This helped a lot and I was able to give an informative presentation to my mentor. I believe that the other students had no trouble understanding me as I had no trouble understanding them. If any of the students had a problem then we were able to discuss our concerns and help each other. I demonstrated my interpersonal skills by showing respect to the other students and to my mentor. I know I can further improve my skills and by doing this it will benefit my academic studies and employment position. How has undertaking the RAP helped me in my accountancy studies and my employment role? I have found many differences in the reflective and analysis project and my ACCA studies. ACCA is formerly based on lectures and giving an exam which is based on the knowledge acquired on a particular subject. RAP on the other hand only required me to use the knowledge and skills that I had and use them accordingly. By becoming an independent learner I have realised that I can obtain information without attending lectures. As my mentor never instructed me to do anything I was forced to research and use my already acquired skills and knowledge. In my past ACCA studies I was to memorise concepts and ideas and then apply them where necessary but now that I have completed this report I am able to combine my own knowledge and skills with it. This is very important and also a very useful to skill to behold, one which I will be using in future exams. Finally, I believe that the knowledge and skills I have acquired from completing this report will not only help improve my career prospects by opening avenues which were previously outside my realm of opportunity but will also help in my personal life.

U.S involvement in Bosnia :: essays research papers

The United States Involvement in Bosnia; is it positive or negative. After a lifetime of war in Bosnia, can the United States really offer positive change? To truly get a feel for the conflict in this region we must first look at the long-standing hatred between the occupying ethnic groups: Serbs, Muslims, and Croats. From 1481 to 1903 the Ottoman Empire was the ruling body over the entire Balkan region. By the early nineteen hundreds the Ottoman Empire had collapsed. In 1918, at the end of World War One, Russia annexed the Balkan region renaming it Yugoslavia. In 1919 Joseph Stalin, Communist ruler of Russia and its satellite states (i.e. Yugoslavia), appointed Tito to be the head of Yugoslavia. Tito quickly became an iron fisted and ruthless dictator. The Machiavellian characteristics exhibited by Tito have given all Serbs a reputation as being strong armed and merciless. With Tito’s death in 1991, Yugoslavia collapsed and split into 3 independent states: Bosnia, Herzegovina , and Croatia. In 1994 Slovadon Malosovitch was elected ruler of the Serbian state. Incidents of mass genocide and several other war crimes became regular occurrences under his rule. The Bosnian crisis has shown the world the worst of human nature. On behalf of the United Nations, in an effort to settle the unrest in the Balkan region, The United States became involved in 1995. The United States involvement includes: the commitment of twenty thousand troops, the troop support of legions of tanks and other vehicles, and the â€Å"full support† of the United States Government. Unfortunately this upset the native Bosnian people. So, although the United States feels obligated to help the Bosnian Cause, they may be worsening the situation with their involvement, both there and in the U.S There are two sides to this story. The first is the opinion that the United States should completely withdraw from Bosnia. The other opinion is that the United States should go headlong and give B osnia their full support, and commit more troops and more supplies to the Bosnian Cause. There are some positive things done by the United States in Bosnia. The presence of U.S troops did bring temporary peace to the area. Although the peace is purely an act, it does give leaders time to talk and plan without worrying about their people dying. Also, the United States presence in Bosnia helped to eradicate the most horrific problem in Bosnia, large Serbian concentration camps and mass Albanian genocide.

Essay --

Due to this impressive growing economy, Turkey is now one of the fastest growing energy market of the world. Only in the last decade Turkey was the second country after China, with the biggest gas and electricity demand increase. According to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Ressources: † between 1990 and 2008 in [Turkey], annual average rate of increase in primary energy demand was realized as 4,3% .†1 As the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs states it : â€Å"Turkey is expected to become one of the most dynamic energy economies of the world in terms of increase in energy demand†.2 The Population increase, the urbanization and industrialization of Turkey as a result of its liberalization and entrance to the globalization gave birth to a continuous increase in the demand for energy and natural ressources. As we have seen the economical changes of Turkey in the last thirty years have lead Turkey to become a big â€Å"energy eater†. However Turkey is not the only one with an increasing energy demand, as the International Energy Agency states that if the current trend goes on, the primary energy demand of the world will increase by 40% between 2007 and 2030.3 Therefore Turkey is not only becoming somehow â€Å"addicted to energy import† it is also becoming so in a future very competitive market. Current energy situation : a big economical dependency stats: The energy imports are one of main cause of the current balance of payment issue in Turkey. The country's energy import have increased a lot more faster than the exports have. In 2010 almost half of the country's foreign trade deficit, or the balance of payment deficit was due to energy imports which costed $40 bilion.4 As the Ministry of Energy and Natural Ressources sources explains it ... ...uted less than 1 percent of Turkey's imports, while exports were about 5 percent of the total. . Description: The traditional important exports of Turkey's economy used to be Textile and agriculuture. However a rising importance of other new and modern sectors has happened, such as in the automotive, electronic industries or the construction sector. This is due to newly born middle-class of entrepreneurs conveying dynamysm to Turkish economy and innovation.. 10 Oil began to flow through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 million barrels per day from the Caspian to market. Several gas pipelines projects also are moving forward to help transport Central Asian gas to Europe through Turkey, which over the long term will help address Turkey's dependence on imported oil and gas to meet 97% of its energy needs

Elizabeth Fernea’s Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Vill

"You arrive at a village, and in this calm environment, one starts to hear echo." -- Yannick Noah The writings of various ethnographers and anthropologists are intended to inform and educate the reader by imparting awareness and understanding of unexplored cultures. The value of such a work is directly related to the author’s familiarity with the culture. For instance, an individual intimately acquainted with a situation have different insights, but also different biases than an outsider. Elizabeth Fernea’s work "Guests of the Sheik" is a combination of the two perspectives. It documents her immersion into the society and culture of El Nahra, a village in Iraq, during the first two years of her marriage to Bob, an anthropologist. Her honest and frank narrative provides a fascinating glimpse at the lives of the men and women living in the village and the relationship Elizabeth, affectionately referred to by the people of the village as Beeja, has with them. Elizabeth begins her journey apprehensively, but not without excitement. She takes many of her western ideas with her to El Nahra, but quickly discovers that in order to be accepted she must embrace the local customs. The practice of purdah, or the seclusion of women, is one with which she struggles immediately and often. Her preconceived notions regarding the veiling and seclusion of women seem to show that she regarded the practice as removing women from society. Upon her arrival, she realizes that, as the only woman without an abayah, she is a curiosity, and reluctantly changes her position on the garment, thinking â€Å"Well, it seemed I’d capitulated; I was going to wear that servile garment after all. I discovered that my principles were not as str... ...e women form a crucial part of this society, and are integral to its maintenance. In spite of her early hesitance and her preconceived notions of the status of women within this society, Elizabeth learns that every member has a place within the social hierarchy. While Elizabeth, or Beeja did not manage to change the society of El Nahra as she thought she might, she was given a place within it and granted respect from both the women and men of the society. Works Cited Fernea, Elizabeth. Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village. New York: Anchor Books, 1969. Joseph, Suad, â€Å"Gender and Relationality among Arab Families in Lebanon,† Feminist Studies 19:3 (1993): 465-486. Pierce, Leslie. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. London: Oxford University Press, 1993. The Holy Qur’an, Al-Ahzab 33:53.

Dominic: Light of the Church Reflection Paper Essay

Dominic was born in a world of turmoil. There was a war and famine was widespread. The conflict between the Christians and the Moors worsens the suffering conditions of the hungry of food and thirsty of hope. Amidst it all, Dominic learned at a young age about love and sacrifice for others. He had a heart for the poor which led him to do selfless acts. He was so selfless that he would give everything to those who asked for his help. He gave away his money and sold his clothes, furniture and even precious manuscripts to feed the hungry. He struggled to find a cure for the despair of the people in his homeland. Dominic was influenced by his mother who was a very pious woman. She was the one who introduced Jesus and Mary to Dominic. Another was Bishop Diego de Acevedo. He was the bishop of Osma and convinced Dominic to come with him to their parish. Dominic happily obliged and the two became very close with each other. A few years later, Dominic accompanied Bishop Diego on a diplomatic mission for Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, namely to secure a bride in Denmark for crown prince Ferdinand. There, Dominic and Diego encountered the Cathars, a Christian religious sect with Gnostic and dualistic beliefs, which the Roman Catholic Church deemed heretical. The Cathari skewed Christian doctrines and they profess it to people of dying hopes. The people, having lost their way, believed in what the Cathari said, distancing themselves from the Church. Thus, Dominic’s mission began. He established â€Å"The Oder of Preachers† or more popularly known as the Dominican Order. There were four pillars of the Dominican life and they are (1) prayer, (2) study, (3) community, and (4) preaching. In the movie, prayer was a very important part of the Order. When they were going to eat supper, Dominic was shocked to learn that his brothers had not yet prayed. One of them replied, â€Å"But, Father, there is nothing to eat.† He answered them, â€Å"Then that is not a reason for us not to pray.† Dominic implied to his brothers that in comfort or in suffering, we must pray. His brothers (followers) were also well educated to prepare them for their preaching outside of the Order. The Order was a community. They prayed together, shared thoughts with each other and respected one another. At times, disputes would arise but they would quickly make amends. Preaching, in the movie, was seen very clearly. There were many scenes that included preaching of St. Dominic. One is when he was teaching children about the Holy Trinity. Dominican preaching always had its edge from preaching of others. Dominicans, like their founder, St. Dominic de Guzman, preached with love and true service to others. They don’t pamper themselves with material things and led very simple lives. They go from one house to another to preach the Good News. As a young person, I could bring and share the Gospel of Jesus to others by being a good role model. I can show to everyone that living a life that follows God’s will is definitely much better than living life the way you want to. I could also bring and share the Gospel of Jesus through counselling my peers whenever they are in trouble. The movie really moved me and my classmates to tears. It was very effective in introducing St. Dominic to the young people today. â€Å"He deserved it.†, said Fr. Christopher Aytona, OP during The Light behind the Scenes. I, too, think that way. Dominic emerged from being a simple man to establishing his own organization. It was amazing how he founded the Order of Preachers. I think he established the Order because he wanted to share to others what the Lord has given him. Of course, he can’t do it himself so he asked for help. He wanted God’s love to reach others through him. Dominic was a very simple, kind, and gentle person. I learned from the movie that you must not take for granted what you have right now. You must also not aspire for more than what you have. I remember watching a cartoon about Abraham and Isaac. In the last scene when Abraham was told by God not to kill his son, he was very happy. Isaac then asked his father what they would offer since Isaac was not really going to be sacrificed. Then, they saw a lamb nearby and Abraham with tears in his eyes said, â€Å"God always provides.† I remembered that while I was watching the life of St. Dominic. He and Fr. Diego called it, â€Å"Divine Providence†. God always provides. Our life is more than enough to be thankful for. I also learned that helping others require sacrifice. You must be prepared of the consequences that may come but you will never go astray if you put your belief and trust in God. And finally, I learned to love myself. God loves me and He wants me to cherish myself. In Cor. 6:19-20, â€Å"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have received from God, and that you are not on your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.†

In Economics

Bush’s actions have placed America in a devastating position by altering its funding to the top 10% households. We, as a nation, must find ways to adapt to the ever-changing effects to the fluctuating income rates of the bottom 90% of households that are strained through his tax cuts. Middle-income families are harnessing a 23% loss of income due to the tax cuts; what will come of their living conditions? The lower ends of households have experienced some unfortunate hits to their income capabilities because of the tax cuts. Now, more of the concern has gone from what is Bush’s real objective in handling these new ventures. In some ways, I feel that Bush has taken the nation by storm by making complementary movements to increase the income of the $1,000,000,000+ households to gain their favor. The motivations behind this economic trivia could be examples of the supply and demand scenario in which he supplies more loopholes for the rich and they will demand his stay in office. This conclusion may seem a bit far fetched, but it accurate considering the changes our nation will undergo if his tax cuts remain permanent. If permanent tax cuts exist, the existence of a constrained economy could harm our nation’s lead in industrial developments. He places younger generations in a bind through reducing funding (the $90 billion lost in tax reductions) from getting a good education. President Bush’s actions are seemingly inappropriate and this has robbed individuals with lower-paying jobs in need of additional benefits. Not to seem negative, but I feel he has done this to keep his ‘friends’ of the wealthy families on the top of their game. Why would a president strip his own nation of their needed funding? Many people will lose out on jobs (reduced budgeting/outsourcing), benefits ($90 billion from taxes), and help (Social Security). I feel that this could hurt our nation in more ways than one. More issues may arise that are unforeseen at the moment, but it is possible that we will endure a long and hard recovery. According to the article, the government has lost $90 billion dollars each year he has been in office. President Bush entered office in 2000; six times $90 billion is plenty of money we could have used to better our nation or the world. For instance, what will happen to financial aid that is available to college students? Will college students have to pay out of pocket fees although the 90% bottom households are losing funds through tax cuts? This could be one issue many economic students and studies should be undertaken to determine the frets it will place on our position as a world leader. In accordance to lost financial aid, some students will not have the adequate qualifications to get the appropriate technical training to excel in a technological world. Our New Economy will lead to an unstable and incomparable society of education-lacked generations. Another issue will be the benefits taken away from lower-paying jobs. Many of these individuals pay high insurance fees in order to secure preventative health care. Certain programs such as Blue Shield as well as Blue Cross will find less funding an appropriate answer for senior citizens and low-income families impossible. Besides these obvious effects of the tax cuts, we have to worry about the future. Should we start bracing ourselves for a turbulent economy with a lack of funding in the bottom 90% who are working hard to contribute to the nation? The answer lies in the equilibrium that will eventually happen within the government. Â  

Epistemology †Empiricism Essay

Principles like those Parmenides assumed are said in contemporary jargon to be a priori principles, or principles of reason, which just means that they are known prior to experience. It is not that we learn these principles first chronologically but rather that our knowledge of them does not depend on our senses. For example, consider the principle â€Å"You can’t make something out of nothing. † If you wished to defend this principle, would you proceed by conducting an experiment in which you tried to make something out of nothing? In fact, you would not. You would base your defense on our inability to conceive of ever making  something out of nothing Everything we know originates from four sources. The first, our senses, can be thought of as our primary source of information. Two other sources, reason and intuition, are derivative in the sense that they produce new facts from data already supplied to our minds. The fourth source, authority (or â€Å"hearsay,† or â€Å"testimony† of others), is by nature secondary, and secondhand fact-claims are always more wiggly and difficult to validate. Other sources of knowledge are commonly claimed, and it is not inconceivable that there might exist other sources; but if they do exist,  knowledge derived from them is problematic, and careful analysis usually finds that they can be subsumed under one or more of the four known sources and must be seriously questioned as legitimate, separate sources of reliable information. In summary, what is the nature of our knowledge about the real world of objects/events? Our knowledge of reality is composed of ideas our minds have created on the basis of our sensory experience. It is a fabric of knowledge woven by the mind. Knowledge is not given to the mind; nothing is â€Å"poured† into it. Rather, the mind manufactures perceptions, concepts, ideas, beliefs, and so forth and holds  them as working hypotheses about external reality. Every idea is a (subjective) working model that enables us to handle real objects/events with some degree of pragmatic efficiency. However persuasive our thoughts and images may be, they are only remote representations of reality; they are tools that enable us to deal with reality. It is as though we draw nondimensional maps to help us understand four-dimensional territory. The semanticists have long reminded us to beware of confusing any sort of map with the real landscape. â€Å"The map,† they say, â€Å"is not the territory. † An abstraction, by definition, is an idea created by the mind to refer to all objects which, possessing certain characteristics in common, are thought of in the same class. The number of objects in the class can range from two to infinity. We can refer to all men, all hurricanes, all books, all energy-forms—all everything. While abstraction-building is an inescapable mental process—in fact it is the first step in the organization of our knowledge of objects/events—a serious problem is inherent in the process. At high levels of abstraction we tend to group together objects that have but a few qualities in common, and our abstractions  may be almost meaningless, without our knowing it. We fall into the habit of using familiar abstractions and fail to realize how empty they are. For example, what do the objects in the following abstractions have in common? All atheists, all Western imperialists, all blacks or all whites (and if you think it’s skin color, think twice), all conservatives, all trees, all French people, all Christians. When we think in such high-level abstractions, it is often the case that we are communicating nothing meaningful at all. â€Å"The individual object or event we are naming, of course, has no name and belongs  to no class until we put it in one. † Going as far back as Plato, philosophers have traditionally defined knowledge as true justified belief. A priori knowledge is knowledge that is justified independently of (or prior to) experience. What kinds of knowledge could be justified without any appeal to experience? Certainly, we can know the truth of definitions and logical truths apart from experience. Hence, definitions and logically necessary truths are examples of a priori knowledge. For example, â€Å"All unicorns are one-horned creatures† is true by definition. Similarly, the following  statement is a sure bet: â€Å"Either my university’s football team will win their next game or they won’t. † Even if they tie or the game is canceled, this would fulfill the â€Å"they won’t win† part of the prediction. Hence, this statement expresses a logically necessary truth about the football team. These two statements are cases of a priori knowledge. Notice that in the particular examples of a priori knowledge I have chosen, they do not give us any real, factual information about the world. Even though the statement about unicorns is true, it does not tell us whether there are any unicorns in the world. Similarly, the football prediction does not tell us the actual outcome of the game. Experience of the world is required to know these things. The second kind of knowledge is a posteriori knowledge, or knowledge that is based on (or posterior to) experience. Similarly, the adjective empirical refers to anything that is based on experience. Any claims based on experience purport to add new information to the subject. Hence, â€Å"Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit† and â€Å"Tadpoles become frogs† would be examples of a posteriori knowledge. We know the freezing point of water and the life cycle of tadpoles through experience. Thus far, most philosophers would agree on these points. The difficult question now arises: Is there any a priori knowledge that does give us knowledge about the real world? What would that be like? It would be knowledge expressible in a statement such that (a) its truth is not determined solely by the meaning of its terms and (b) it does provide information about the way the world is. Furthermore, since it is a priori, it would be knowledge that we could justify through reason, independently of experience. The question, then, is whether or not reason alone can tell us about the ultimate nature of reality. 1. Is it possible to have knowledge at all? 2. Does reason provide us with knowledge of the world independently of experience? 3. Does our knowledge represent reality as it really is? Rationalism claims that reason or the intellect is the primary source of our fundamental knowledge about reality. Nonrationalists agree that we can use reason to draw conclusions from the information provided by sense experience. However, what distinguishes the rationalists is that they claim that reason can give us knowledge apart from experience. For example, the rationalists point out that we can arrive at mathematical truths about circles  or triangles without having to measure, experiment with, or experience circular or triangular objects. We do so by constructing rational, deductive proofs that lead to absolutely indubitable conclusions that are always universally true of the world outside our minds (a priori knowledge about the world). Obviously, the rationalists think the second question should be answered affirmatively. Empiricism is the claim that sense experience is the sole source of our knowledge about the world. Empiricists insist that when we start life, the original equipment of our intellect is a tabula rasa, or blank tablet. Only through experience does that empty mind become filled with content. Various empiricists give different explanations of the nature of logical and mathematical truths. They are all agreed, however, that these truths are not already latent in the mind before we discover them and that there is no genuine a priori knowledge about the nature of reality. The empiricists would respond â€Å"No! † to the second epistemological question. With respect to question 3, both the rationalists and the empiricists think that our knowledge does represent reality as it really is. Constructivism is used in this discussion to refer to the claim that knowledge is neither already in the mind nor passively received from experience, but that the mind constructs knowledge out of the materials of experience. Immanuel Kant, an 18th-century German philosopher, introduced this view. He was influenced by both the rationalists and the empiricists and attempted to reach a compromise between them. While Kant did not agree with the rationalists on everything, he did believe we can have a priori knowledge of the world as we experience it. Although Kant did not use this label, I call his position constructivism  to capture his distinctive account of knowledge. One troubling consequence of his view was that because the mind imposes its own order on experience, we can never know reality as it is in itself. We can only know reality as it appears to us after it has been filtered and processed by our minds. Hence, Kant answers question 3 negatively. Nevertheless, because Kant thought our minds all have the same cognitive structure, he thought we are able to arrive at universal and objective knowledge within the boundaries of the human situation. Before reading further, look at the highway picture for an example of a classic  experiment in perception. Did you get the right answer, or were your eyes fooled? One way that skeptics attack knowledge claims is to point to all the ways in which we have been deceived by illusions. Our experience with perceptual illusions shows that in the past we have been mistaken about what we thought we knew. These mistakes lead, the skeptic claims, to the conclusion that we can never be certain about our beliefs, from which it follows that our beliefs are not justified. Another, similar strategy of the skeptic is to point to the possibility that our apprehension of reality could be systematically flawed in some way. The story of Ludwig, the brain in the vat who experienced a false virtual reality, would be an example of this strategy. Another strategy is to suppose that there is an inherent flaw in human psychology such that our beliefs never correspond to reality. I call these possible scenarios universal belief falsifiers. The characteristics of a universal belief falsifier are (1) it is a theoretically possible state of affairs, (2) we have no way of knowing if this state of affairs is actual or not, and (3) if this state of affairs is actual, we would never be able to distinguish beliefs that are true  from beliefs that seem to be true but are actually false. Note that the skeptic does not need to prove that these possibilities are actual. For example, the skeptic does not have to establish that we really are brains in a vat, but merely that this condition is possible. Furthermore, the skeptic need not claim that all our beliefs are false. The skeptic’s point is simply that we have no fail-safe method for determining when our beliefs are true or false. Given this circumstance, the skeptic will argue that we cannot distinguish the situation of having evidence that leads to true beliefs from the situation of having the same sort of evidence  plus a universal belief falsifier, which leads to false beliefs. Obviously, the skeptic believes that nothing is beyond doubt. For any one of our beliefs, we can imagine a set of circumstances in which it would be false. For example, I believe I was born in Rahway, New Jersey. However, my birth certificate could be inaccurate. Furthermore, for whatever reasons, my parents may have wished to keep the truth from me. I will never know for sure. I also believe that there is overwhelming evidence that Adolf Hitler committed suicide at the close of World War II. However, it could be true (as conspiracy theorists maintain) that his death was faked and that he lived a long life in South America after the war. The theme of the skeptic is that certainty is necessary for there to be knowledge, and if doubt is possible, then we do not have certainty. We now have the considerations in place that the skeptic uses to make his or her case. There are many varieties of skeptical arguments, each one exploiting some possible flaw in either human cognition or the alleged evidence we use to justify our beliefs. Instead of presenting various specific arguments, we can consider a â€Å"generic skeptical argument. † Generic Skeptical Argument 1. We can find reasons for doubting any one of our beliefs. 2. It follows that we can doubt all our beliefs. 3. If we can doubt all our beliefs, then we cannot be certain of any of them. 4. If we do not have certainty about any of our beliefs, then we do not have knowledge. 5. Therefore, we do not have knowledge. Pyrrho of Elis (360–270 B. C. ), a philosopher in ancient Greece, inspired a skeptical movement that bore his name (Pyrrhonian skepticism). Pyrrho was skeptical concerning sense experience. He argued that for experience to be a source of knowledge, our sense data  must agree with reality. But it is impossible to jump outside our experience to see how it compares with the external world. So, we can never know whether our experience is giving us accurate information about reality. Furthermore, rational argument cannot give us knowledge either, Pyrrho said, because for every argument supporting one side of an issue, another argument can be constructed to prove the opposing case. Hence, the two arguments cancel each other out and they are equally ineffective in leading us to the truth. The followers of Pyrrho stressed that we can make claims only about how things appear to us. You can say, â€Å"The honey appears to me to be sweet† but not, â€Å"The honey is sweet. † The best approach, according to these skeptics, was to suspend judgment whenever possible and make no assumptions at all. They believed that skeptical detachment would lead to serenity. â€Å"Don’t worry about what you cannot know,† they advised. Some skeptics distilled these arguments down into two simple theses. First, nothing is self-evident, for any axiom we start with can be doubted. Second, nothing can be proven, for either we will have an infinite regress of reasons that support our previous  reasons or we will end up assuming what we are trying to prove. Descartes began his quest for knowledge with the assumption that if he had rational certainty concerning his beliefs, he necessarily had knowledge, and if he did not have certainty, he did not have knowledge. The skeptics who came after Descartes agreed with this assumption. However, as we will see in the next section, Descartes argues that there are a number of things of which we can be certain and, hence, we do have knowledge. On the other hand, the skeptics doubt whether Descartes or anyone can achieve such certainty. Lacking any grounds for certainty, the skeptics claim we cannot have knowledge about the real world. Thus, the skeptics think that Descartes’s arguments for skepticism are stronger than his proposed answers. Such a philosopher was David Hume, whom we will encounter later when we examine empir EXAMINING THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF SKEPTICISM Positive Evaluation 1. Weeding a garden is not sufficient to make flowers grow, but it does do something valuable. In what way could the skeptics be viewed as providing a â€Å"philosophical weeding service† by undercutting beliefs that are naively taken for granted? 2. The skeptics are unsettling because they force us to reexamine our most fundamental beliefs. Is it better to live in naive innocence, never questioning anything, or is it sometimes worthwhile to have your beliefs challenged? Negative Evaluation 1. The skeptics make the following claim: â€Å"Knowledge is impossible. † But isn’t this claim itself a knowledge claim that they declare is true? Is the skeptic being inconsistent? 2. The skeptics use the argument from illusion to show that we cannot trust our senses. But could we ever know that there are illusions or that sometimes our senses are deceived  unless there were occasions when our senses weren’t deceived? 3. Some skeptics would have us believe that it is possible that all our beliefs are false. But would the human race have survived if there was never a correspondence between some of our beliefs and the way reality is constituted? We believe that fire burns, water quenches thirst, vegetables nourish us, and eating sand doesn’t. If we didn’t have some sort of built-in mechanism orienting us toward true beliefs, how could we be as successful as we are in dealing with reality? 4. Is skepticism liveable? Try yelling to someone who claims to be a skeptic, â€Å"Watch out  for that falling tree limb! † Why is it that a skeptic will always look up? Think of other ways in which skeptics might demonstrate that they do believe they can find out what is true or false about the world. 5. Is Descartes’s demand for absolute certainty unreasonable? Can’t we have justified beliefs based on inferences to the best explanation, probability, or practical certainty? Does certainty have to be either 100 percent or 0 percent? The answer is that our reason tells us that â€Å"something cannot come from nothing† and â€Å"material objects do not vanish into thin air. † We will distrust our senses before  we will abandon these beliefs. Hence, our reason seems to have veto power over our sense experience. We often trust our reason even in the face of apparently solid, experiential evidence. The rationalists raise this trust in reason into a full-fledged theory of knowledge. Rationalism is a very influential theory about the source and nature of knowledge. This position may be summarized in terms of the three anchor points of rationalism. These three points are responses to the second question of epistemology, Does reason provide us with knowledge of the world independently of experience? Reason Is the Primary or Most Superior Source of Knowledge about Reality According to the rationalist, it is through reason that we truly understand the fundamental truths about reality. For example, most rationalists would say the truths in the following lists are some very basic truths about the world that will never change. Although our experience certainly does illustrate most of these beliefs, our experiences always consist of par-ticular, concrete events. Hence, no experiences of seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, or touching specific objects can tell us that these statements will always be true for every  future event we encounter. The rationalist claims that the following statements represent a priori truths about the world. They are a priori because they can be known apart from experience, yet they tell us what the world is like. LOGICAL TRUTHS A and not-A cannot both be true at the same time (where A represents some proposition or claim). This truth is called the law of noncontradiction. (For example, the statement â€Å"John is married and John is not married† is necessarily false. ) If the statement X is true and the statement â€Å"If X, then Y† is true, then it necessarily follows that the statement Y is true. MATHEMATICAL TRUTHS The area of a triangle will always be one-half the length of the base times its height. If X is larger than Y and Y is larger than Z, then X is larger than Z. METAPHYSICAL TRUTHS Every event has a cause. An object with contradictory properties cannot exist. (No matter how long we search, we will never find a round square. ) ETHICAL PRINCIPLES Some basic moral obligations are not optional. It is morally wrong to maliciously torture someone for the fun of it. Sense Experience Is an Unreliable and Inadequate Route to Knowledge Rationalists typically emphasize the fact that sense experience is relative, changing, and often illusory. An object will look one way in artificial light and will look different in sunlight. Our eyes seem to see water on the road on a hot day, but the image is merely an optical illusion. The rationalist claims that we need our reason to sort out what is appearance from what is reality. Although it is obvious that a rationalist could not get through life without some reliance on sense experience, the rationalist denies that sense experience is the only source of knowledge about reality. Furthermore, experience can tell us only about particular things in the world. However, it cannot give us universal, foundational truths  about reality. Sensory experience can tell me about the properties of this ball, but it cannot tell me about the properties of spheres in general. Experience can tell me that when I combine these two oranges with those two oranges, they add up to four oranges. However, only reason can tell me that two plus two will always equal four and that this result will be true not only for these oranges, or all oranges, but for anything whatsoever. The Fundamental Truths about the World Can Be Known A Priori: They Are Either Innate or Self-Evident to Our Minds Innate ideas are ideas that are inborn. They are ideas or principles that the mind already contains prior to experience. The notion of innate ideas is commonly found in rationalistic philosophies, but it is rejected by the empiricists. The theory of innate ideas views the mind like a computer that comes from the factory with numerous programs already loaded on its disk, waiting to be activated. Hence, rationalists say that such ideas as the laws of logic, the concept of justice, or the idea of God are already contained deep within the mind and only need to be brought to the level of conscious awareness. Innate ideas should not be confused with instinct. Instinct is a noncognitive set of mechanical behaviors, such as blinking the eyes when an object approaches them. The theory of innate ideas is one account of how we can have a priori knowledge. Other rationalists believe that if the mind does not already contain these ideas, they are, at least, either self-evident or natural to the mind and the mind has a natural predisposition to recognize them. For example, Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716), a German rationalist, compared the mind to a block of marble that contains veins or natural splitting points that allow only one sort of shape to be formed within it. Thus, the mind, like the marble, has an innate structure that results in â€Å"inclinations, dispositions, habits, or natural capacities† to think in certain ways. In contrast to this view, John Locke (a British empiricist) said: â€Å"There is nothing in the intellect that was not first in the senses. † In response, Leibniz tagged the following rationalistic qualification at the end of Locke’s formula, â€Å"except for the intellect itself. † Obviously, in saying that the mind contains rational ideas or dispositions, the rationalists do not believe a baby is thinking about the theorems of geometry. Instead, they claim  that when a person achieves a certain level of cognitive development, he or she will be capable of realizing the self-evident truth of certain ideas. Leibniz pointed out that there is a difference between the mind containing rational principles and being aware of them. Rationalists give different accounts of how the mind acquired innate ideas in the first place. Socrates and Plato believed that our souls preexisted our current life and received knowledge from a previous form of existence. Theistic rationalists, such as Descartes, tend to believe that God implanted these ideas within us. Others simply claim that these principles or ideas naturally accompany rational minds such as ours. THE RATIONALISTS’ ANSWERS TO THE THREE EPISTEMOLOGICAL QUESTIONS Section 2. 0 contained three questions concerning knowledge: (1) Is knowledge possible? (2) Does reason provide us with knowledge of the world independently of experience? and (3) Does our knowledge represent reality as it really is? While differing on the details, all the rationalists give the same answers to these three questions. First, they all believe that knowledge is possible. Generally, we are able to discern that some opinions are better than others. For example, in the discipline of mathematics some answers are true and some are false. We could not know this fact if obtaining knowledge was impossible. Second, the rationalists agree that only through reason can we find an adequate basis for knowledge. For example, in mathematics and logic we are able through reason alone to arrive at truths that are absolutely certain and necessarily true. Third, rationalists agree that beliefs that are based on reason do represent reality as it truly is. In the following sections, I examine three classical rationalists to see how they illustrate the three anchor points of rationalism and  answer the three epistemological questions. Socrates’ answers to the three epistemological questions should be clear. (1) We are able to distinguish true opinions from false ones, so we must know the standards for making this distinction. (2) These standards could not be derived from experience so they must be unpacked through a rational investigation of the reservoir of all truth—the soul. (3) Since our rational knowledge provides us with information that enables us to deal successfully with the world and our own lives, it must be giving us an accurate picture of reality. However, according to Plato, since the  physical world is constantly changing, sense perception gives us only relative and temporary information about changing, particular things. Being a typical rationalist, Plato thought that ultimate knowledge must be objective, unchanging, and universal. Furthermore, he argued that there is a difference between true opinions and knowledge, for our beliefs must be rationally justified to qualify as knowledge. Finally, Plato believed that the object of knowledge must be something that really exists. Plato and the Role of Reason Do mathematical truths, such as those in the multiplication tables, exist within the mind  or do they exist outside the mind? Plato would say both. If mathematical truths exist only in the mind, then why does physical reality conform to these truths? If mathematical truths are only mind-dependent ideas, then why can’t we make the truths about triangles be anything we decide them to be? The world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was created in the mind of Lewis Carroll. He could have made the world’s properties be anything he decided. But obviously, we can’t make up such rules for the properties of numbers. We don’t create these truths; we discover them. Thus, Plato would argue, these truths are objective and independent of our minds. But if they are independent of our minds, then they must refer to something that exists in reality. Although the number seven, for example, has objective properties that we discover, these properties are not physical. We do not learn the truths about numbers by seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling, or touching them. From this concept, Plato concludes that the world of mathematics consists of a set of objective, mindindependent truths and a domain of nonphysical reality that we know only through reason. What about justice? What color is it? How tall is it? How much does it weigh? Clearly, these questions can apply to physical things, but it is meaningless to describe justice in terms of observable properties. Furthermore, no society is perfectly just. Hence, we have never seen an example of perfect justice in human history, only frail, human attempts to approximate it. Because reason can contemplate Justice Itself,* we can evaluate the deficient, limited degrees of justice found in particular societies. Particular nations come and go and the degree of justice they manifest can rise or fall. But the objects of genuine knowledge  Ã‚  such as true Justice or true Circularity are eternal and unchanging standards and objects of knowledge. Plato on Universals and the Knowledge of Reality Thus far, Plato has argued that there are some things that we could not know about (Justice, Goodness, Equality) if experience was our only source of knowledge. The soul must have somehow acquired knowledge independently of the senses. But what, exactly, are the objects of this special sort of knowledge? In answering this question, Plato builds on the distinction he has made between the here-and-now realm of sense experience and the unchanging realm of rational knowledge. He says that in the world of sense experience we find that particulars fall into a number of stable, universal categories. Without these categories, we could not identify anything or talk about particulars at all. For example, Tom, Andre, Maria, and Lakatria are all distinct individuals, yet we can use the universal term human being to refer to each of them. In spite of their differences, something about them is the same. Corresponding to each common name (such as â€Å"human,† â€Å"dog,† â€Å"justice†) is a Universal that consists of the essential, common properties of anything within that category. Circular objects (coins, rings, wreathes, planetary orbits) all have the Universal of Circularity in common. Particular objects that are beautiful (roses, seashells, persons, sunsets, paintings) all share the Universal of Beauty. Particulars come into being, change, and pass away but Universals reside in an eternal, unchanging world. The rose grows from a bud, becomes a beautiful flower, and then turns brown and ugly and fades away. Yet the Universal of Beauty (or Beauty Itself ) remains eternally the same. Plato believes that Universals are more than concepts, they are actually the constituents  of reality. Hence, in answer to the third epistemological question, Plato believes that knowledge of Universals provides us with knowledge of the fundamental features of reality, which are nonphysical, eternal, and unchanging. Plato also refers to these Universals as â€Å"Forms. † The following thought experiment will help you appreciate Plato’s emphasis on Universals and universal truth. Descartes on the Possibility of Knowledge Although Descartes was certain he could not be deceived about his own existence, the possibility of a Great Deceiver cast a shadow over all his other beliefs. Unless he could find something external to his mind that would guarantee that the contents of his mind represented reality, there was little hope for having any knowledge other than that of his own existence. Descartes sought this guarantee in an all-powerful, good God. Hence, Descartes says, â€Å"As soon as the opportunity arises I must examine whether there is a God, and, if there is, whether he can be a deceiver. For if I do not know this, it seems that I can never be quite certain about anything else. †12 If Descartes could prove that such a God exists, then he could know that knowledge is possible. But notice how limited are the materials Descartes has at his disposal for proving God’s existence. He cannot employ an empirical argument based on the nature of the external world, for that is an issue that is still in doubt. So, he must construct a rationalistic argument that reasons only from the contents of his own mind. STOP AND THINK Descartes on the Role of Reason In the following passage from Meditation III, Descartes says the â€Å"natural light of reason† shows him that (1) something cannot arise from nothing and (2) there must be at least as much reality in the cause as there is in the effect. †¢ What examples does he use to illustrate each of these principles? †¢ How does he apply these two principles to the existence of his own ideas? The argument that Descartes has given us in the previous passages can be summarized in this way: 1. Something cannot be derived from nothing. (In other words, all effects, including ideas, are caused by something. ) 2. There must be at least as much reality in the cause as there is in the effect. 3. I have an idea of God (as an infinite and perfect being). 4. The idea of God in my mind is an effect that was caused by something. 5. I am finite and imperfect, and thus I could not be the cause of the idea of an infinite and perfect God. 6. Only an infinite and perfect being could be the cause of such an idea. 7. Therefore, God (an infinite and perfect being) exists. THE THREE ANCHOR POINTS OF EMPIRICISM The Only Source of Genuine Knowledge Is Sense Experience The empiricists compare the mind to a blank tablet upon which experience makes its marks. Without experience, they claim, we would lack not only knowledge of the specific features of the world, but also the ability even to con.