Evaluate the competing ways in which sociologists have...

Evaluate the competing ways in which sociologists have examined how gender exerts a significant influence over a person’s involvement with sport. Within sport, gender has played a huge role the way it affects one’s involvement in participation. As I will explore sociologically in this essay, there are a great number of reasons why this has occurred and still does occur, and the way in which pre-conceived ideas and stereotypes along with many other things affect sport involvement. One of the key points to evaluate here is the argument that males biologically have an advantage in the majority of sports. In the vast number of cases this is true, however this should not be a reason why females are either discriminated against or feel†¦show more content†¦One way in which female sport is ‘negated’ is the way in which females are sometimes referred to by the media as â€Å"girls† no matter their age and are also constantly described in terms of their physical appearance and the way in which their emotions and their emotional responses are highlighted more than in male sports. One other way in whi ch the media influence gender participation in sport is by the use of images of athletes which could be seen as a form of propaganda. As the ‘Learn’ handout states, â€Å"Dominant masculine images are highly compatible with sport†7. The majority of images in the sports sections of papers are of males, partly because the papers occasionally turn a blind eye to female achievement or simply put it in a small box in the corner of a page but also because they believe seeing more images of male athletes in papers is what the public want. Subsequently, females across the nation have fewer role models to look up to from the female world meaning they will be less motivated to actively participate in a sport because they have very few or even no idols to look up to. Whilst female participation in sport may be at an all time high worldwide, it is still clear to see that there is not a level playing field between the two genders. In some countries, primarily the less develo ped ones, their culture and heritage dictates the roles women have to have in society and there is little room for sport to be played by them here. HoweverShow MoreRelatedQualitative Research and Celebrity Endorsement24767 Words   |  100 Pages    The Effectiveness of Celebrity Endorsement in India Abstract   The practice of celebrities being used for rendering services other than performing their actual job as either an actor or an athlete, such as endorsements has proliferated over time. Despite the cost and the risks involved with this technique of advertising, it is been used quite extensively in the present era. The instrument of celebrity endorsement has nowadays become a pervasive element in advertising and communicationRead MoreCareer Choice Factors of High School Students18925 Words   |  76 Pagesfactors played a role in career choice and which were most important. Data was collected from seniors at Germantown High School, using a survey form. Specific objectives of the study were the following: 1) How influential were factors of personality in making career choices? 2) How influential were factors of the environment in making career choices? 3) How influential were the factors of opportunities in career choice? Career Choice Factors 3 4) Which areas of personality, environment, or opportunityRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagescomprehensive and reliable guide to organisational theory currently available. What is needed is a text that will give a good idea of the breadth and complexity of this important subject, and this is precisely what McAuley, Duberley and Johnson have provided. They have done some sterling service in bringing together the very diverse strands of work that today qualify as constituting the subject of organisational theory. Whilst their writing is accessible and engaging, their approach is scholarly and seriousRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesrequest to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publi sher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robbins, Stephen P. Organizational behavior / Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge. — 15th ed. p. cm. Includes indexes. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-283487-2 ISBN-10:Read MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 PagesSummary Appendix: The drivers of consumer change 6 Approaches to competitor analysis 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 Learning objectives Introduction Against whom are we competing? 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Carl Johnson s Life Matters - 903 Words

Carl Johnson’s life matters. A 90-year-old veteran in Virginia, Carl was the last Tuskegee Airman to graduate from the famed school that produced so many heroic African American aviators. According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the U.S. Army issued Carl a train ticket for a Pullman sleeping car so he could get from Texas to Alabama for his military training in 1946. Carl recalled being told by the station manager that he and his fellow black soldiers were not allowed to use the Pullman. â€Å"You have to go in coach,† they were ordered. Threatened with jail if they resisted, the soldiers rode for 24 hours and were denied the use of the train’s dining car as well. Despite the indignities, Carl would continue to treat his country better than many of his fellow citizens treated him. Carl would extend his military service for another three decades, serving in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He would earn a Distinguished Flying Cross and 10 Air Medals and retire as a colonel. Air Force Staff Sergeant Brian McElroy and Tech Sergeant Jason L. Norton were military police officers. Unfortunately, they are unable to extend their military service. Their lives were tragically taken. Assigned to the 3rd Security Forces Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, Sergeants McElroy and Norton made the supreme sacrifice when their vehicle struck an IED while on patrol near Taji, Iraq on January 22, 2006. Brian always made us laugh and he always knew when to jump into a conversationShow MoreRelatedCompare and Contrast1582 Words   |  7 Pagesassignment for this week is to compare and contrast the results from three self administered tests we took in class. The tests I will compare and contrast are the 16 Personality Factors (16PF), the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (T-JTA). The 16PF is a comprehensive measure of normal-range personality that is used to gather an in-depth, integrated picture of the whole person. It was introduced over 40 years ago and has widely been used for a varietyRead MoreHarriet Beecher Stowe s Uncle Tom s Cabin And Olaudah1728 Words   |  7 PagesSydney Sanders Ms. Johnson American Literature 2301-60 December 1, 2015 American Slave Literature Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Olaudah Equiano’s Narrative of his Life both endeavor to stir antislavery sentiment in predominantly white, proslavery readers. Each author uses a variety of literary tactics to persuade audiences that slavery is inhumane. Equiano uses vivid imagery and inserts personal experience to appeal to audiences, believing that a first-hand account of theRead MoreTheme Of The Orphan Masters Son1845 Words   |  8 Pagesbook by Adam Johnson that details the lives and lies of North Korea. Focusing on a misidentified â€Å"orphan† by the name of Pak Jun Do, The Orphan Master’s Son chronicles the life of Pak Jun Do, as he maneuvers the strict rules of the North Korean government in order to live another day. Throughout the novel, Jun Do endures a tough life under a merciless tyrant and a suffering father, remains loyal to his oppressors despite their torment, learns to accept his position in society no matte r where he isRead More Anabolic Steroid Use by Athletes Essay3169 Words   |  13 Pagespremiere events, the 100 meter dash. The event was set up to be a great race between Carl Lewis of the United States and Ben Johnson of Canada. This did not happen. Ben Johnson blew away the field running a 9.79, a world record. Carl Lewis finished a distant second with a 9.88 (Ben Johnson). That is not the end of the story. Later on, the runners had to take a urinalysis. All of the runners passed but one, Ben Johnson. He tested positive for anabolic steroid use. It was later discovered that hedRead MoreThe Sixties: A Decade of Rebellion Essay1630 Words   |  7 PagesAmericans† (Kennedy 916). With these words, John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1961 described the 1960’s decade. This era in American history encapsulated a belief in the power of young people to change the world, a desire to help others globally and accept their differences, and a war that would eventually destroy all that America stood for. It was a time for new ideas in all aspects of life. This shift in thinking is apparent when looking at the happenings in society, the younger generation, andRead MoreJohn Steinbeck s Of Mice And Men1880 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Everyone always says that anything is possible, but some things in life just can’t be reached. Sometimes you r dreams just can’t be achieved.† (Carl Johnson) All humans living in America have dreams. These could all easily be described as the American Dream. 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Movie Stand and Deliver Essay Example For Students

Movie Stand and Deliver Essay Have you ever wondered what it takes to motivate a group of young, adolescent kids in school, or if the techniques usedwould even work? In the movie Stand and Deliver, Jaime Escalante used many different techniques to motivate hisstudents to learn more and be more successful in math. Overall, his students might have a larger desire to learn moreabout other things in life. Jaime Escalante used many techniques to motivate his students to become more successful inmath, and in life. Mr. Escalante motivated his students to learn better by presenting the material to them in a differentfashion. Instead of lecturing the material to his students, he would find a way to make it easily understood or find a way tomake it relate to things in their lives. One example of how he presented the material to them in a way so that they couldunderstand easier was when he brought in apples for everyone and cut certain sized slices out of the apples. Since thestudents were learning about fractions, he asked them how much was missing from each of their apples. Instead oflecturing to them about fractions, he brought in visual aids to help them see and feel what they were learning about. Another way Mr. Escalante motivated his students to learn better was by creating a close relationship with them. Insteadof having a working type relationship, he got on the same wavelength as them and got to know them and care for them. An example of this could be the night before the exam. He had his students over to his own house so they could all study,and then he cooked dinner for them. By Mr. Escalante motivating his students in a different fashion, the students werevery successful. They were successful not only in math, but in their lives as well. To prove that Mr. Escalantes methodsgave success to his students, one could take the fact that they passed the AP Calculus test, a test that is incredibly difficult,twice. Also, by Mr. Escalante getting his students to pass a test of such difficulty, his students should have a greater senseof self esteem allowing them to succeed in other tasks involved in their lives. Mr. Escalantes techniques workedwonderfully with the type of students he was teaching. One would think that this would go the same for Hartland Schools. His methods would work in Hartland, but it is really up to the students to decide whether or not the techniques will work. If the students are not willing to participate with a certain method, than, obviously, that method will not work. Therefor, itis up to the students to decide whether or not certain techniques will work. As one can see, Jaime Escalante used manytechniques to motivate his students to become more successful in math, and in life. So, next time one thinks that they willbe unsuccessful in something that they are learning, try learning it with a different technique. Bibliography:

Self-Assessment Essays - Education, Writing, Rhetoric, Essay

Self-Assessment : Read / skim the models, and compare the new essay with them. Which of the models is closer to in terms of content and quality of thought, and being organized and understandable? Take synthesis into consideration. The second model (scored a 6) is close in terms of content and quality of thought to my essay. Both essays answered the prompt similarly: advertisements benefit consumers by keeping them informed and showing them what products are out there. Both essays were organized similarly with five paragraphs. Also, at least three sources were synthesized and connected back to the thesis statement. However, I found that my essay was less clear and more succinct than the sample essay; I did not elaborate on all pieces of evidence. Therefore, I would've received a lower grade (4 or 5). About your own essay, what is ONE feature you could improve in the next one that you write? The next time I write the essay, I believe that I would need to spend more time elaborating on evidence and providing a summary of the body in the conclusion. At some points, I did not provide clear, coherent explanations for why certain pieces of evidence connected back to the thesis. I believe these errors are due to time constraints. I only had 30 minutes to write the essay (took too long to analyze sources). Score : 5 Develops a position on the effects of advertising At least three sources are synthesized Argument is generally clear and the sources generally support the author's position: However, the links between the sources and the argument are somewhat strained. Is less developed and cogent than essays earning higher scores Assessment of Peer Essays : Tiki Brown: Score 4-5: Develops a position on the effects of advertising. Attempts to present an argument and support the position by synthesizing at least two sources (synthesizes three sources), but ends up oversimplifying the main argument and sources used. Link between argument and sources is somewhat weak Allah Akbar Duncan Scott : Score 4-5 : Develops a position on the effects of advertising Attempts to present argument; however, it is oversimplified and in some places, misunderstood Link between argument and sources are strong; however, sources are not elaborated upon fully Essay does not seem to be very sophisticated (Peer scores should be up to score 5; however elaboration was missing)

How to Write a Report Without Stress - Successful Tips

How to Write a Report Without Stress - Successful Tips Sometimes students are required to make a report, and they may confuse this task with essay writing. Needless to say, the skills you need for writing wuch a  paper are good knowledge of grammar, the ability to analyze things and find the most important information fast. Writing a report or any other academic paper is a serious assignment, and you need a guide to fulfill this task successfully without stress. In our useful guide, you will find all the needed information about writing a report, what skills sub-sections you need, and how to create this paper without wasting your precious time. Do you need a guide to write a report? In our skills sub-sections guide, students can find all the needed tips on how to write a report without wasting nerves. Of course, if you haven't got all the skills sub-sections we recommend, it's better to ask professionals about writing your document. Our talented specialists have all the skills you need for successful writing. ORDER YOUR REPORT NOW The Skills You Need Guide: The Needed Skills Sub-Sections When you're writing a report, you need strong skills to complete the task perfectly. For students, it's not always clear how to write a good document. Usually, teachers require them to create something without telling how to write this paper and the skills you need to complete it successfully In our how to write a report guide, we're going to share the main skills sub-sections: 1. Managing your time This is not always so easy to manage your time while writing a report because you have to plan a lot of things like researching the subject, making an outline, editing the finished work, etc. How to write papers within a deadline? Time-management is important for students to fulfill their tasks in time. Most students get problems with planning their time while writing a report. We suggest reading our e-books about the skills you need to develop your time-management. 2. Researching When you want to improve your writing abilities, it's critical to learn how to research information before writing a report. It's impossible to create a good paper without reading a lot of information and structuring it well. You have to understand what sources are good to use in your paper, how to cite them properly, and how to analyze information to make your own opinion on the particular things. Our e-books on researching will be a must-have for students who want to make excellent documents! 3. Developing an idea Before you start thinking about how to write a document, it's important to develop the main idea. Spend some time thinking about the key points and the idea of the paper to create a thesis statement. Patience and clear thinking are the skills you need here. If you need a guide to develop an idea, feel free to search for it in our how to write papers blog. 4. Understanding your readers When students are writing any papers, they have to understand their future audience. This helps to create an interesting document for a particular group of people. Before you start to write, think who will read the paper, and what kind of things can make this group of people interested in reading and discussing it. If you need a guide to research your audience before writing, read our e-books about the skills you need, and learn how to write better and improve your abilities without stress! 5. Organizing your future report. It's important to follow the particular format when writing a report Most papers for students must include three main parts: an introduction,   main part, and a conclusion. Make sure you know the required format and read all the instructions on writing. Skills in organization the document help students to make successful manuscripts without problems. Keeping your work well-organized will prevent a lot of problems like repeating things, stress, and time-wasting. Organizing your document and keeping a good structure are the skills you need to finish your task perfectly. Don't hesitate to read our e-books on how to write and organize a report. 6. Clear writing and straight thoughts are the skills you need It's a very important point in our skills sub-sections because every paper should be created with a formal tone and proper grammar. When you need to support the argument or tell readers your own opinion, it's important to write clearly and straight. Include only the information on the subject. Learn to formulate thoughts straightforward without many words. Build simple and short sentences, it'll help readers to understand your document better. If you need a guide to create good manuscripts, our e-books on how to write academic papers will be quite useful. 7. Grammar rules Knowing grammar and punctuation rules are the skills you need to create marvelous texts. When students are writing a report, it's inappropriate to write with errors. We suggest checking the completed paper and correct all the mistakes. If you need a guide to revise documents for grammar mistakes, feel free to use various online programs and read our e-books with detailed instructions. Nobody wants to read articles with misprints and mistakes, so do your best to make papers look professional! Read more articles from our blog to learn how to write excellent texts. What to Do if You Don't Have the Skills You Need? Here are five great reasons why clients keep choosing our team for writing their manuscripts: Talented authors know how to write bright documents. They have all the skills you need for creating a professional paper on the highest level. Experienced editors can review completed texts for errors. They will give no chance to mistakes to appear in your writing. 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Introduction to the Periodic Table of Elements

Introduction to the Periodic Table of Elements Dmitri Mendeleev published the first periodic table in 1869. He showed that when the elements were ordered according to atomic weight, a pattern resulted where similar properties for elements recurred periodically. Based on the work of physicist Henry Moseley, the periodic table was reorganized on the basis of increasing atomic number rather than on atomic weight. The revised table could be used to predict the properties of elements that had yet to be discovered. Many of these predictions were later substantiated through experimentation. This led to the formulation of the periodic law, which states that the chemical properties of the elements are dependent on their atomic numbers. Organization of the Periodic Table The periodic table lists elements by atomic number, which is the number of protons in every atom of that element.  Atoms of an atomic number  may have varying numbers of neutrons (isotopes) and electrons (ions), yet remain the same chemical element. Elements in the periodic table are arranged in periods (rows) and groups (columns). Each of the seven periods is filled sequentially by atomic number. Groups include elements having the same electron configuration in their outer shell, which results in group elements sharing similar chemical properties. The electrons in the outer shell are termed valence electrons. Valence electrons determine the properties and chemical reactivity of the element and participate in chemical bonding. The Roman numerals found above each group specify the usual number of valence electrons. There are two sets of groups. The group A elements are the representative elements, which have s or p sublevels as their outer orbitals. The group B elements are the nonrepresentative elements, which have partly filled d sublevels (the transition elements) or partly filled f sublevels (the lanthanide series and the actinide series). The Roman numeral and letter designations give the electron configuration for the valence electrons (e.g., the valence electron configuration of a group VA element will be s2p3 with 5 valence electrons). Another way to categorize elements is according to whether they behave as metals or nonmetals. Most elements are metals. They are found on the lefthand side of the table. The far right side contains the nonmetals, plus hydrogen displays nonmetal characteristics under ordinary conditions. Elements that have some properties of metals and some properties of nonmetals are called metalloids or semimetals. These elements are found along a zig-zag line that runs from the upper left of group 13 to the bottom right of group 16. Metals are generally good conductors of heat and electricity, are malleable and ductile, and have a lustrous metallic appearance. In contrast, most nonmetals are poor conductors of heat and electricity, tend to be brittle solids, and can assume any of a number of physical forms. While all of the metals except mercury are solid under ordinary conditions, nonmetals may be solids, liquids, or gases at room temperature and pressure. Elements may be further subdivided into groups. Groups of metals include the alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, basic metals, lanthanides, and actinides. Groups of nonmetals include the nonmetals, halogens, and noble gases. Periodic Table Trends The organization of the periodic table leads to recurring properties or periodic table trends. These properties and their trends are: Ionization Energy - energy needed to remove an electron from a gaseous atom or ion. Ionization energy increases moving left to right and decreases moving down an element group (column).Electronegativity - how likely an atom is to form a chemical bond. Electronegativity increases moving left to right and decreases moving down a group. The noble gases are an exception, with an electronegativity approaching zero.Atomic Radius (and Ionic Radius) - a measure of the size of an atom. Atomic and ionic radius decreases moving left to right across a row (period) and increases moving down a group.Electron Affinity - how readily an atom accepts an electron. Electron affinity increases moving across a period and decreases moving down a group. Electron affinity is nearly zero for noble gases.

Strategic Management D3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Management D3 - Essay Example The New Recipe case study showed how the firm reacted to the effects of Martha Steward Wall Street scandal and restructured its operations afterwards to change the firm’s public image and operating procedures. The firm expanded its outbound logistics setup by adding other major retailers other than K-Mart to solidity its distribution network. The company’s operations were reorganized as far as its human management function. Martha Steward leadership role was reduced, she stepped down as CEO of the company and took a more passive role within the organization Along with a new management team the company implemented a corporate strategy that divided its business into four divisions: publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and internet. An internal audit an advisory activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations (Vt, 2008). Among the key areas included in the internal audit are risk management, control and corporate governance. At Martha Steward Living Omnimedia the company had to access the risk associated with the brand image of the company which required actions to achieve collateral damage. The company suffered heavy financial losses for a couple of years after Martha’s conviction. Between 2002 and 2006 the firm was not profitable, with 2005 being the worst year due to a $76 million corporate loss. The results had a detrimental effect in the value of the company’s stock value. Corporate governance structure of a company specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among the different participants such as the board, management and shareholders (Encycogov, 2008). The corporate governance of the company changed to separate the power and interest of the founder from the company’s objectives. Prior to Martha’s conviction the fact that she played such an instrumental role in the entire operations

Reflection about nursing home visit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflection about nursing home visit - Essay Example In order to improve on my verbal communication skills, as I am not a native English speaker, I think I need to improve my English speaking skills through practice and by enrolling in an English language course. Non-verbal cues include eye contact, touch and use of space, gestures, body posture and presentation, and use of voice. Non-verbal cues reflect the real emotions and feelings of individuals involved in the conversation. Such was the case in my conversation with the patient. By establishing eye contact, I was able to assess the sincerity of her words. I also paid attention to her gestures which told me if my questions were getting uncomfortable for her to answer. And if she got uncomfortable answering, I changed my questions. I noticed that she gestured with her hands a lot; and being a former teacher, I understood why she has this habit. When I first approached her, I maintained a respectful distance between us. Since it was my first time to meet her, I respected her personal space. I asked if I could move my chair closer to her, and she agreed. I maintained a 3-feet distance from her; it was close enough for us to hear each other, and far enough to avoid invading her personal space (Rhode Island Health Literacy Project, n.d). I think I need to improve my non-verbal communication skills by increasing my interaction with patients. Through increased interaction, I will be able to improve my interpretation of patients’ non-verbal cues (Earp, et.al., 2007, p.197). Establishing rapport is seen in how we relate and perceive our patients. It also involves genuine concern and empathy for our patients (Travelbee, 1963). Upon meeting my patient, I immediately set out to establish rapport by greeting her by her first name, shaking her hand, and introducing myself. I asked permission to converse with her and when she agreed, I sat

No to same-sex marriage Essay Example for Free

No to same-sex marriage Essay Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up. I Corinthians 10:23 Against Same Sex Marriage The Six Point Case Each of these six points against same sex marriage will be explained in detail in the following articles. Click on each link for more explanation. Natural marriage is the foundation of a civilized society. Homosexual behavior is inherently destructive. The law is a great teacher, and it encourages or discourages behavior. Government-backed same-sex marriage would encourage and normalize homosexual behavior, and it would harm natural marriage, children, adults, and homosexuals themselves. The law should promote behaviors that are beneficial and prohibit (or at least not endorse) those that are destructive. Therefore, the law should promote natural marriage, and it should provide no option for government-backed same-sex marriage or civil unions. Against Same Sex Marriage The Executive Summary Same-sex marriage is a very emotional issue for many people. However, when one separates emotions from facts, it is clear that the state has compelling reasons to endorse natural marriage and not same-sex marriage or civil unions. Natural marriage is the immune system of civilization. When our marriages are strong, our civilization is strong; when they are weak, individuals and communities suffer. Legal endorsement of same-sex marriage would destroy the institution of marriage, resulting in negative effects on children, crime rates, health and health-care costs, tax rates, and religious freedom. Same-sex marriage activists want to redefine marriage as simply a personal relationship between two committed parties, but marriage is much larger than the two parties involved in a marriage. Marriage is a social institution of long-established rules (based on the natural design of the human body) that provides society with the very foundation of civilization—the procreating family unit. That is, marriage is fundamentally about children and the civilization of society both now and for the future. Only natural marriage can procreate and consistently provide a nurturing and stable environment for the growth and maturation of children. In this sense, the most basic and effective â€Å"form of government† is the natural two-parent family. Statistically, children and adults inside of natural marriage are much better off socially, physically, financially, mentally, and emotionally than those outside of natural marriage. Those outside of natural marriage are not only worse off personally by those measures, but they cost society billions of dollars in social welfare and law-enforcement expenses. The law is a great teacher—it encourages or discourages behavior. Since the law is a great teacher, government-backed same-sex marriage or civil unions would put society’s stamp of approval on same-sex relationships and behavior. This endorsement would fundamentally change the institution of marriage to our detriment. It would do the following: Equate same-sex marriage with natural marriage, thereby teaching citizens the socially disastrous ideas that natural marriage is no better than any other relationship and that marriage is not a prerequisite for children. Disconnect marriage from childbearing by making marriage just about coupling. This will result in soaring cohabitation and illegitimacy and painful costs to children and society. Encourage more homosexual behavior, which is medically destructive to those who engage in it and financially burdensome to the public in general. Result in higher medical, health insurance, and tax costs to the general public. Provide legal grounds to  restrict or prohibit religious freedom and free speech. Much of this is already happening in countries that have government-backed same-sex marriage. Natural marriage is weakest and illegitimacy strongest where same-sex marriage is legal. Most homosexuals are not interested in marriage—approximately 96 percent of homosexuals in countries with same-sex marriage do not get married. They want government-backed same-sex marriage because it would validate and normalize homosexuality throughout society. (Homosexuals can already marry privately and many of them do—what they want is government endorsement.) Some homosexual activists admit that they would like to destroy natural marriage by legalizing same-sex marriage. Since they refuse to live by society’s standards, they will only feel validated if they beat down those standards to the level of their own behavior. If they succeed, everyone in our country will be harmed in some way. This House Bill may seem to be very good in its outward appearance but it will simply gave way to the Promotion and Acceptance of Homosexual Lifestyle in the Philippines. If this bill will be approve in Congress who knows whats next. Lets Fight Against this Bill to protect the Divine and Natural Institution that God himself Pre-ordained ever since the beginning of time. Lets make sure that the Philippines will be secure from any danger of accepting a Culture that will go against the Balance of Nature and propagate a lifestyle that will be harmful both today and the Generation to come. A Culture that will be a potential Treat to the Divine Institution of Marriage and the Family. Lets be vigilant and make sure this Bill will not be approved by participating in this Signature Campaign.

The Mae Enga Essay -- Culture Cultural Essays

The Mae Enga Over the centuries the Enga people of Papua New Guinea have adapted certain cultural characteristics to cope with varying environmental and social changes. Some aspects of the Enga peopleà ­s lives that have shown the most cultural adaptation to the surrounding ecosystem are their horticultural practices, system of tribal warfare and clan organization. Through these adaptations, the Enga have gained ways to regulate their population, reduce their risk, control, communal resources, and regulate the environment through rituals. In our paper, we will look at each of these aspects of Enga culture and how they allow the Enga people to live within the environment constraints they are faced with. The western highlands of Papua New Guinea are home to a group of people called the Enga. The Enga speaking people make up a population of over 100,000 people. The Enga people are sub-grouped into two large groups, the Central Enga and the Fringe Enga (Meggitt, 1977). The group that we will focus on for the majority of our paper is the Mae Enga. The Mae Enga inhabit the western highland region of the Enga providence (Meggitt, 1977). The Enga people have adapted various aspects of their culture to deal with the changes in the natural surrounding environment and the social climate. The western highlands of Papua New Guinea are mainly composed of rugged mountains, high plateaus, and valleys. Most of the province is 2,000 meters above sea level (PNG ON LINE). This higher land is less populated than the valleys, making the valley lands densely populated with almost no region of unclaimed land. Grasslands cover the majority of these valley regions and also the swamp basins located throughout the Enga t... ... Work Cited Feil, D.K. "Beyond Patriliny in the New Guinea Highlands." Man. March 1984: 50-76. Meggitt, Mervyn. Blood Is Their Argument. Los Angeles: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997. Kennedy, D.M. 1991. "Papua New Guinea." Mining Annual Review. 22:78-82. Kohan, John. 1984. "Mi Lanikim John Pol: Tom-toms and couch shells welcome a missionary." Times., May 12, 1984, 69. The Papua New Guinea Information Site. "Enga Providence Information." February 1997. March 31, 1999. Available<http://www.datec.compg/png/htm Papua New Guinea Online Facts and Statistics. Online. March 25, 1999. Available http://www.niugini.com/pngonline/ Ross, Marc Howard. "The Limits To Social Structure: Social Structure and Psychocultural Explanantions for Political Conflict andViolence." Anthropological Quarterly 59 (1986): 171-76

Concept and Nature Essay

1. Introduction Chapter 1. Concept- a notion or statement of an idea 2. 1 A concept is a fundamental category of existence. 2. 2 Ð ¡oncepts as mandated by a particular mental theory about the state of the world. 2. 3 A concept is a common feature or characteristic 2. 4 The notion of sense as identical to the notion of concept 1. A general idea derived or inferred from specific instances or occurrences. 2. Something formed in the mind; a thought or notion. See Synonyms at idea. 3. A scheme; a plan: â€Å"began searching for an agency to handle a new restaurant concept†(ADWEEK). 1. an idea, esp an abstract idea the concepts of biology 2. (Philosophy) Philosophy a general idea or notion that corresponds to some class of entities and that consists of the characteristic or essential features of the class 3. (Philosophy) Philosophy a. the conjunction of all the characteristic features of something b. a theoretical construct within some theory c. a directly intuited object of thought d. the meaning of a predicate 4. (Engineering / Automotive Engineering) (modifier) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise to demonstrate the technical skills and imagination of the designers, and not intended for mass production or sale [from Latin conceptum something received or conceived, from concipere to take in, conceive] A notion or statement of an idea, expressing how something might be done or accomplished, that may lead to an accepted procedure. concept noun idea, view, image, theory, impression, notion, conception, hypothesis, abstraction,conceptualization She added that the concept of arranged marriages is misunderstood in the west. World English Dictionary concept (? k? ns? pt) | | — n| 1. | idea, especially an abstract idea: the concepts of biology| 2. | philosophy a general idea or notion that corresponds to some classof entities and hat consists of the characteristic or essentialfeatures of the class| 3. | . philosophy| | a. the conjunction of all the characteristic features of something| | b. a theoretical construct within some theory| | c. a directly intuited object of thought| | d. the meaning of a predicate| 4.| ( modifier ) (of a product, esp a car) created as an exercise todemonstrate the technical skills and imagination of the designers,and not intended for mass production or sale| | [C16: from Latin conceptum something received or conceived, fromconcipere to take in, conceive ] A. In general usage the term mainly denotes ‘idea’ or ‘notion’. It is envisaged as an abstract or psychological thing presupposing conscious minds which at least potentially ‘have’ the concept, i. e. , understand it, operate with it, apply it, etc. In philosophy and the social sciences (and other sciences too) concepts enter as (a) the most general tools of inquiry as such and as (b) the content or object of some specific inquiries, notably in comparative studies. What follows refers principally to (a) rather than (b). The nature of concepts, and their relation to the things ‘of which they are the concepts’, and to the minds which use or contemplate them, are among the most hotly disputed subject in philosophy. The present definition is not intended to prejudge or settle any of these issues, even if limitations of space make it appear to do so. B. Defined as an aspect of thought, a concept is a kind of unit in terms of which one thinks; a unit smaller than a judgement, proposition, or theory, but one which necessarily enters into these. In an assertion, something is predicated of a concept, and the predicate itself can generally be re-described as a concept. At the same time, however, the concept is by no means an ultimate or indivisible unit, for concepts can be augmented or diminished by addition or subtraction of some feature. (For instance, one may say that someone’s concept of social class does, or fails to, include the notion of differences in material rewards. ) Moreover, while concepts occur within assertions or theories and are thus distinct from them, a proposition or theory or thesis as a whole can in turn be referred to as a further concept. For instance, R. Firth writes that ‘some of Dr. Leach’s concepts are of a special order†¦I refer to his thesis that seeking for power is the basis of social choice’ (Foreword to E. R. Leach, Political Systems of Highland Burma, London: G. Bell, 1954, p. vii). C. Concepts correspond to or ‘are the meaning of’ all meaningful words, with certain qualifications: (a) only one concept corresponds to two or more words with the same meaning; (b) there is a tendency to speak of concepts only with regard to words which do, or at least can, refer either to something that can exist or be imagined or to an operation that can be performed, and not in connection with words whose role is grammatical rather than designative (for instance, one may speak of the concept of sovereignty, of infinity, of addition, but not of the concept of ‘and’ – though one must add that the drawing of the lines beetween these kinds of meaning is difficult, unsettled, and controversial part of philosophy: (c) there is a tendency to speak of concepts in connection with general rather than singular terms (one is unlikely to speak of a ‘concpet of John’ or of a ‘concpet of London’; in those cases the term ‘conception’ is more likely to be used. There are, however, exceptions, e. g. , ‘the concept of God’). The fact that concepts may be seen as the meanings of terms should not lead one to suppose that concepts are in some narrow sense linguistic entities: although concepts may be defined in terms of the rules governing the use of the words said to designate them, those rules determine (a) what things in the world are classed together (as ‘falling’ under the same concept’), (b) what features are grouped together (as ‘being various characteristics of the same thing’), (c) what operations of measurement, classification, discrimination, etc. , are performed by the man ‘using the concept’, and so on. D. Discussions of concepts in the social sciences tend to be a matter of the choice of terms and, more importantly, of their definitions. One may talk both of discovering and of inventing concepts; also of changing and developing concepts. In as far as given theories require certain concepts, and in as far as concepts can be said to incorporate theories, there is no sharp line between choice of theories and choice of concepts. Nevertheless, whole theories are thought of primarily as true or false, concepts are more naturally described as applicable or inapplicable, valid or invalid, useful or useless. Taken from A Dictionary of the Social Sciences eds. J. Gould and W. Kolb, Free Press, 1964. Concept From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In metaphysics, and especially ontology, a concept is a fundamental category of existence. In contemporary philosophy, there are at least three prevailing ways to understand what a concept is:[1] Concepts as mental representations, where concepts are entities that exist in the brain. Concepts as abilities, where concepts are abilities peculiar to cognitive agents. Concepts as abstract objects, where objects are the constituents of propositions that mediate between thought, language, and referents. Concepts were born out of the rejection of some or all of the classical theory,[4] it seems appropriate to give an account of what might be wrong with this theory. In the 20th century, philosophers such as Rosch and Wittgenstein argued against the classical theory. There are six primary arguments[4] summarized as follows: It seems that there simply are no definitions – especially those based in sensory primitive concepts. [4] It seems as though there can be cases where our ignorance or error about a class means that we either don’t know the definition of a concept, or have incorrect notions about what a definition of a particular concept might entail. [4] Quine’s argument against analyticity in Two Dogmas of Empiricism also holds as an argument against definitions. [4] Some concepts have fuzzy membership. There are items for which it is vague whether or not they fall into (or out of) a particular referent class. This is not possible in the classical theory as everything has equal and full membership. [4] Rosch found typicality effects which cannot be explained by the classical theory of concepts, these sparked the prototype theory. [4] See below. Psychological experiments show no evidence for our using concepts as strict definitions. [4] Prototype theory Main article: Prototype theory Prototype theory came out of problems with the classical view of conceptual structure. [1] Prototype theory says that concepts specify properties that members of a class tend to possess, rather than must possess. [4] Wittgenstein, Rosch, Mervis, Berlin, Anglin and Posner are a few of the key proponents and creators of this theory. [4][5] Wittgenstein describes the relationship between members of a class as family resemblances. There are not necessarily any necessary conditions for membership, a dog can still be a dog with only three legs. [3] This view is particularly supported by psychological experimental evidence for prototypicality effects. [3] Participants willingly and consistently rate objects in categories like ‘vegetable’ or ‘furniture’ as more or less typical of that class. [3][5] It seems that our categories are fuzzy psychologically, and so this structure has explanatory power. [3] We can judge an item’s membership to the referent class of a concept by comparing it to the typical member – the most central member of the concept. If it is similar enough in the relevant ways, it will be cognitively admitted as a member of the relevant class of entities. [3] Rosch suggests that every category is represented by a central exemplar which embodies all or the maximum possible number of features of a given category. [3] Theory-theory Theory-theory is a reaction to the previous two theories and develops them further. [3] This theory postulates that categorization by concepts is something like scientific theorizing. [1] Concepts are not learned in isolation, but rather are learned as a part of our experiences with the world around us. [3] In this sense, concepts’ structure relies on their relationships to other concepts as mandated by a particular mental theory about the state of the world. [4] How this is supposed to work is a little less clear than in the previous two theories, but is still a prominent and notable theory. [4] This is supposed to explain some of the issues of ignorance and error that come up in prototype and classical theories as concepts that are structured around each other seem to account for errors such as whale as a fish (this misconception came from an incorrect theory about what a whale is like, combining with our theory of what a fish is). [4] When we learn that a whale is not a fish, we are recognizing that whales don’t in fact fit the theory we had about what makes something a fish. In this sense, the Theory-Theory of concepts is responding to some of the issues of prototype theory and classic theory. [4] Issues in concept theory A priori concepts Main articles: A priori and a posteriori and Category (Kant) Kant declared that human minds possess pure or a priori concepts. Instead of being abstracted from individual perceptions, like empirical concepts, they originate in the mind itself. He called these concepts categories, in the sense of the word that means predicate, attribute, characteristic, or quality. But these pure categories are predicates of things in general, not of a particular thing. According to Kant, there are 12 categories that constitute the understanding of phenomenal objects. Each category is that one predicate which is common to multiple empirical concepts. In order to explain how an a priori concept can relate to individual phenomena, in a manner analogous to an a posteriori concept, Kant employed the technical concept of the schema. Immanuel Kant held that the account of the concept as an abstraction of experience is only partly correct. He called those concepts that result from abstraction â€Å"a posteriori concepts† (meaning concepts that arise out of experience). An empirical or an a posteriori concept is a general representation (Vorstellung) or non-specific thought of that which is common to several specific perceived objects (Logic, I, 1. ,  §1, Note 1) A concept is a common feature or characteristic. Kant investigated the way that empirical a posteriori concepts are created. The logical acts of the understanding by which concepts are generated as to their form are: comparison, i. e. , the likening of mental images to one another in relation to the unity of consciousness; reflection, i. e. , the going back over different mental images, how they can be comprehended in one consciousness; and finally abstraction or the segregation of everything else by which the mental images differ †¦ In order to make our mental images into concepts, one must thus be able to compare, reflect, and abstract, for these three logical operations of the understanding are essential and general conditions of generating any concept whatever. For example, I see a fir, a willow, and a linden. In firstly comparing these objects, I notice that they are different from one another in respect of trunk, branches, leaves, and the like; further, however, I reflect only on what they have in common, the trunk, the branches, the leaves themselves, and abstract from their size, shape, and so forth; thus I gain a concept of a tree. Embodied content Main article: Embodied cognition In cognitive linguistics, abstract concepts are transformations of concrete concepts derived from embodied experience. The mechanism of transformation is structural mapping, in which properties of two or more source domains are selectively mapped onto a blended space (Fauconnier & Turner, 1995; see conceptual blending). A common class of blends are metaphors. This theory contrasts with the rationalist view that concepts are perceptions (or recollections, in Plato’s term) of an independently existing world of ideas, in that it denies the existence of any such realm. It also contrasts with the empiricist view that concepts are abstract generalizations of individual experiences, because the contingent and bodily experience is preserved in a concept, and not abstracted away. While the perspective is compatible with Jamesian pragmatism, the notion of the transformation of embodied concepts through structural mapping makes a distinct contribution to the problem of concept formation. [citation needed] Ontology Plato was the starkest proponent of the realist thesis of universal concepts. By his view, concepts (and ideas in general) are innate ideas that were instantiations of a transcendental world of pure forms that lay behind the veil of the physical world. In this way, universals were explained as transcendent objects. Needless to say this form of realism was tied deeply with Plato’s ontological projects. This remark on Plato is not of merely historical interest. For example, the view that numbers are Platonic objects was revived by Kurt Godel as a result of certain puzzles that he took to arise from the phenomenological accounts. Gottlob Frege, founder of the analytic tradition in philosophy, famously argued for the analysis of language in terms of sense and reference. For him, the sense of an expression in language describes a certain state of affairs in the world, namely, the way that some object is presented. Since many commentators view the notion of sense as identical to the notion of concept, and Frege regards senses as the linguistic representations of states of affairs in the world, it seems to follow that we may understand concepts as the manner in which we grasp the world. Accordingly, concepts (as senses) have an ontological status (Morgolis:7) According to Carl Benjamin Boyer, in the introduction to his The History of the Calculus and its Conceptual Development, concepts in calculus do not refer to perceptions. As long as the concepts are useful and mutually compatible, they are accepted on their own. For example, the concepts of the derivative and the integral are not considered to refer to spatial or temporal perceptions of the external world of experience. Neither are they related in any way to mysterious limits in which quantities are on the verge of nascence or evanescence, that is, coming into or going out of existence. The abstract concepts are now considered to be totally autonomous, even though they originated from the process of abstracting or taking away qualities from perceptions until only the common, essential attributes remained. Etymology The term â€Å"concept† is traced back to 1554–60 (Latin conceptum – â€Å"something conceived†), but what is today termed â€Å"the classical theory of concepts† is the theory of Aristotle on the definition of terms. [citation needed] The meaning of â€Å"concept† is explored in mainstream information science, cognitive science, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. In computer and information science contexts, especially, the term ‘concept’ is often used in unclear or inconsistent ways. When writing on the idea of nature as both stable in meaning and of the exchangeability of nature for other conceptualizations in written works, one should probably define nature in a definite way as to allow for comparisons in meaning. When seeking to define nature, whether it be of a human sort or any other, one must consider the parts to fully understand the whole. Everything must have a nature. If nothing had a nature, would that mean nature as we think of it would cease to exists? Or would we have another name for it? When seeking to define â€Å"nature†, there are a few routes to consider. Does a bear have a personality or a nature? Or both? When a bear frolics and plays, is that personality or nature? When it hibernates, is that personality or nature? For the sake of this argument, we shall say that when a bear happens to be frolicking and playing, he is doing so in a certain style, or way that is unique to that bear that sets him apart from his fellows, but not so much so that it alienates him from all bears. From there, we will assume this is because its personality allows it to. When it hibernates, it is because nature forces it to. Nature therefore is uniform; it has no uniqueness within bear kind. So establishing that a bear has a personality and a nature, what does this mean for criticism? Often in our readings we see references to nature, such as Mother Nature, human nature, the nature of plays and poetry, and so on and so forth. The question then, is what does a critic refer to when he says â€Å"nature†? Is he referring to hibernation? Or has he meant that nature is all-encompassing, referring to all actions of the bear as nature? As we have defined an instance of personality and nature within the inner workings of the bear, likewise must be done within the workings of criticism. In An Essay of Dramatic Poesy John Dryden states that a play â€Å"ought to be, a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humors, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject; for the delight and instruction of mankind. † When he mentions â€Å"human nature† here, he is referring to many things at once. He is connecting the emotions one feels (passion and humors), that could easily be said to be part of an individual’s personality, as well as the commonality we all share in that there are no unique emotions to any one person. No one person has only felt happiness their whole life, nor has anyone not experience happiness at all. Dryden’s mention of â€Å"the changes of fortune† requires the alteration of the definition of â€Å"nature† we have thus far defined. When considering the bear, we didn’t count events in the bear’s life as part of his nature or personality. One can, however, predict what the bear will do in a life-changing event based on what we know of his nature. When it beings to get colder, a bear, as mandated by his bear nature, will forage for food to prepare for hibernation. When winter comes he will find a cave and hibernate. So when Dryden says â€Å"the change of fortune to which it is subject,† it can be assumed he means that human nature will react in a certain and specific and mostly predictable way to changes in the fictional character’s life. This means we can add an element of predictability and stability of actions to the definition of nature, with any variation given to personality. Dryden then turns to the notion of imitation. He speaks of imitating the ancient Greeks, who were imitators of nature. He speaketh: â€Å"Those Ancients have been faithful imitators and wise observers of that nature which is so torn and ill represented in our plays[. ]† This statement leads us to believe that nature is something to be observed and imitated. Therefore if one wanted to correctly portray a day in the life of our bear, he would watch the bear play, fish, sleep, and ect. The artist would then consider all of this as the bear’s nature, and imitate it on the stage or on paper in a story. The same process is therefore used when seeking to observe human nature. The poet, the playwright, the artist and novelist must be vigilant, claims Dryden, when observing so that when it is time to imitate, he can do so accurately. Aristotle, of the aforementioned Ancients, also discussed at great length the importance of the imitation of nature in art in his essay Poetics . Aristotlestates: Speaking generally, the origin of the art of poetry is to be found in two natural causes. For the process of imitation is natural to mankind from childhood on: Man is differentiated from other animals because he is the most imitative of them, and he learns his first lessons through imitation, and we observe that all men find pleasure in imitations. Imitation is considered here by Aristotle to be natural to mankind, even being so bold as to claim only humans learn from imitation. This natural tendency to imitate therefore leads us to find pleasure in observing imitations as well the act of imitation itself. Aristotle then incorporates â€Å"imitation† as a part of human nature, meaning that the action of imitation and the enjoyment of imitation is something all humans participate in, much in the way all bears hibernate in the winter. Aristotle continues by saying: Since imitation is given to us by nature[†¦]men, having been naturally endowed with these gifts from the beginning and then developing them gradually, for the most part, finally created the art of poetry from their early improvisations. Poetry then diverged in the directions of the natural dispositions of the poets. At this point, Aristotle’s notion of â€Å"nature† gets a little vague. First he states that imitation comes to mankind naturally. As he continues, however, he states that imitation is then developed, like a skill not an instinct. This concept evolves further to say that only the likes of poets become masters of imitation. Poets are unique in their ability to portray the observations of imitations they see. This uniqueness removes them from our definition of what is natural and applies to humans as a species, as Aristotle claims earlier. What Aristotle is applying here is another version of nature that is microsphere-ish to an individual, hence personality. Aristotle does not make this distinction what-so-ever. If imitation comes naturally to mankind as a whole, yet poetry only comes naturally to the disposition of poets, what exactly does that mean when defining nature? It means the terms â€Å"nature† and â€Å"naturally† in this passage needs footnotes. Perhaps when looking at this passage in terms of the way the words â€Å"nature† and â€Å"naturally† are used, Aristotle first uses it to refer to a universal characteristic shared by all humans: imitation. When refereeing to the poet, however, the definition changes slightly to refer to only poets, as though they are their own sub-species. An equivalent statement would be â€Å"All bears hibernate, but black bears hibernate the best. † Longinus also had an opinion of nature in his work On The Sublime. A lofty tone, says one, is innate, and does not come by teaching; nature is the only are that can compass it. Works of nature are, they think, made worse and altogether feebler when wizened by the rules of art. But I maintain that this will be found to be otherwise if it be observed that, while nature as a rule is free and independent in matters of passion and elevation, yet is she wont not to act at random and utterly without system. Further, nature is the original and vital underlying principle in all cases, but system can define limits and fitting seasons, and can also contribute the safest rules for use and practice. Longinus starts his argument out by saying what others have been saying: that the ability to write well comes from a persons’ natural talent; one that is born and not cultivated. Moreover, art is less sublime when confined to rules of art. Longinus argues this point, saying that if one truly observes an artist, they will find that while a natural born talent is a key principle, there is a system and structure to what is considered good art that is outside of nature’s control, which is contrary to the believe stated first. Longinus continues his argument by saying: This we may apply to diction, nature occupying the position of good fortune, art that of good counsel. Most important of all, we must remember that the very fact that there are some elements of expression which are in the hands of nature alone, can be learnt from no other sources than art. Longinus argues that ultimately nature is a catalyst for creation but does not play a role when judging if what has been created is worthy enough to be considered art. Yet in the next statement, he gives nature, the credit for the elements of expression that are observed and imitated in art to gain a better understanding of nature itself. When it comes to critiquing art, Dryden’s argument in An Essay of Dramatic Poesy is that in order for a work of art to be art, it must be the closet to actual nature. â€Å"Ancients have been faithful imitators and wise observers of that nature which is so torn and ill represented in our plays; they have handed down to us a perfect resemblance of her; which we, like ill copiers, neglecting to look on, have rendered monstrous, and disfigured. † When plays or writings don’t give an exact replication of nature, or even what is considered human nature, it loses value. It cannot be considered good art. The Greeks gave us examples of what good art is with their philosophies and ideas about nature and human nature. One advantage Dryden mentions his time period has over the Greeks is the advancement of science. He says: Is it not evident, in these last hundred years (when the study of philosophy has been the business of all the virtuosi in Christendom) that almost a new nature has been revealed to us? That more errors of the school have been detected, more useful experiments in philosophy have been made, more noble secrets in optics, medicine, anatomy, astronomy, discovered, than in all those credulous and doting ages from Aristotle to us? O true it is that nothing spreads more fast than science, when rightly and generally cultivated. As far as Dryden is concerned, that while many virtuous men have been focusing on philosophy, the times since Aristotle have changed. The invention of the microscope and the discovery of cells have altered how the natural world is viewed. There is more to everything in nature that meets the eye. He notes that worthy experiments in philosophy have been made, but that the rapid expanse of information generated by science has eclipsed those of philosophy. As there are no such references to science in regards to philosophy in Aristotle’s time, the philosopher of today must make his own way in regards to managing the way sciences has changed our view of nature. But what does science have to do with philosophy and art? The answer lies in the nature of art to reflect and imitate nature. Now that the secrets of optics, medicine, anatomy, and astronomy have been revealed, our human nature takes these secrets in. Philosophy now must contend and compromise with how these advancements fit into the human condition. The â€Å"new nature† must be negotiated with in terms of how it affects our lives. And of course science gives imitators a new genera in which to work. Painters can now paint the surgeon at work, perhaps teaching pupils. Once something becomes a natural experience, including that of science, it is to be imitated by poets. Nature, in its ever shifting meanings, does seem to have one consistent idea contributed to it, despite the technicalities. It can refer to the literal, organic substances that make up the vegetation, animals, and mankind in the world around us. It can also mean the behavior exhibited by said organic beings, such as the hibernation of bears. It has also been used to describe the emotions and other commonalties experienced by humans as a whole. Aristotle and Dryden have made it clear that within mankind there are certain characteristics attributed by nature, such as the observation and imitation of that which is around us. Simply put, it is in our nature to imitate nature. However, this definition of nature is refined when it comes under the consideration of art. While all of mankind takes delight in imitation, nature has endowed the artist, like say the poet, with a more natural and superior sense of imitation. When it comes to critiquing art of any sort, knowledge and a developed set of skills replaces nature according to Longinus. The act of imitating and creating may have natural causes, but the ability to ascribe worth to these creations can only come from a refined sense of what is makes good art, something that is not obtained from nature. In Dryden’s opinion, only the closest of imitations of nature are art. He also relies on the philosophy and insight into human nature of the ancient Greeks to guide what is valuable when it comes to art. Dryden makes the effort to include science in his argument by stating that science has discovered a â€Å"new nature† that will be observed and imitated and philosophized that the Greeks had no knowledge of. Nature, therefore, is still evolving, as will our concept of the many definitions of Nature. The idea of nature is one of the most widely employed in philosophy, and by the same token one of the most ill-defined. Authors such as Aristotle and Descartes relied on the concept of nature to explain the fundamental tenets of their views, without ever attempting to define the concept. Even in contemporary philosophy, the idea is oftentimes employed, in different forms. So, what is nature? Nature and the Essence of a Thing The philosophical tradition that traces back to Aristotle employs the idea of nature to explain that which defines the essence of a thing. One of the most fundamental metaphysical concepts, the essence indicates those properties that define what a thing is. The essence of water, for instance, will be its molecular structure, the essence of a species, its ancestral history; the essence of a human, its self-consciousness or its soul. Within the Aristotelian traditions, hence, to act in accordance with nature means to take into account the real definition of each thing when dealing with it. The Natural World At times the idea of nature is instead used to refer to anything that exists in the universe as part of the physical world. In this sense, the idea embraces anything that falls under the study of the natural sciences, from physics to biology to environmental studies. Natural vs. Artificial â€Å"Natural† is often used also to refer to a process which occurs spontaneously as opposed to one that occurs as the result of the deliberation of a being. Thus, a plant grows naturally when its growth was not planned by a rational agent; it grows otherwise artificially. An apple, would hence be an artificial product, under this understanding of the idea of nature, although most would agree that an apple is a product of nature (that is, a part of the natural world, that which is studied by natural scientists). Nature vs. Nurture Related to the spontaneity vs. artificiality divide is the idea of nature as opposed to nurture.

Why fashion is important

Some, of us were born loving fashion and some just weren't. Whether you love it or hate it your personal style and fashion is very important to whom you are as a person. Why? Because it reflects you as an individual; beside when you look good, you feel good! Fashion can transform your personality I mean isn't it amazing how clothes can make a person? Have you, ever heard the phrase â€Å"you are what you wear†? YES! Yes because more than 20%of us hare this phrase on a day to day bias. Our clothes tell us who we are in a society and tell others about our personalities, our wants, needs, talents, dispositions and destination. It has been said by Mrs. Rosie Montage, professor of social psychology that 98% of what we say does not come from our mouth. If so then clothing is a very silent but tremendously powerful communicator. It can camouflage or cover up; it can build or destroy an image, it can say â€Å"I am as good as you†, â€Å"I have the same interest†, â€Å"I am important†, â€Å"I am not important† or even â€Å"I take myself and work too seriously! But by judging someone based on their appearance makes them feel inferior. Why? Because you are assuming that you know them better than they know themselves; that's just deceitful as every single human sees the world through different eyes! Never the less appearance is all so essential as it is the only visible clue to individuals, individuality, which has now become a mean for us humans to evaluate others. We simply do this by assessing the outfit the person is wearing the moment they enter a room. The majority, of you properly think that fashion is all about fancy clothes, long snake skin stilettos hills and gorgeous models. But to be honest it is an industry that provides a form of earning and future for more than 25% of people in our society. As we all know fashion is an enormous industry which contributes the economy y by providing employment for people like textile workers, designers, manufactures, shopkeepers and models. Bar braking into the industry is remarkably hard due to this most workers at the base of the hierarchal chart do not gain as much income over the years. For instance we often see on TV models looking luxurious and wealthy but that's far from reality as 5% suffer from eating disorders as they try to fulfil the designer's demands and also compete for the number one spot of top model! One thing that really irritates me about our society today is the atrocious attitude that some individuals have towards the fashion industry. You do know that fashion is not all about clothes, shoes, and make up and that there is a scientific side to it; your properly wondering how? Well new materials such as nylon, Orlon and Dacron were found by fashion designers. These materials are known used in most product processing industry all over the world! Although fashion designers got to the new materials first many argue that scientist would have properly discovered the source first if fashion did not interfere! Fashion. Well what is it? It's a sweet demon deep inside every single one of us which fills our lives with exotic colours and out of this world creation! But why do I want you to believe its so important, because it send out a message of permutes importance to not just our peers but to other individuals we do not talk to directly; Believe it or not statistics show that being well dressed is psychologically important because confident in our appearances leads to confident in our success in life and if your that one person who doesn't care about fashion and style then your really not living to your full potentials!

The Tower Of London Essays - Grade I Listed Buildings In London

The Tower Of London Essays - Grade I Listed Buildings In London The Tower of London The Tower of London, the oldest fortified palace in Europe, was built by William the Conqueror in the late 1000's. It has served as a fortress, prison, palace, and the final resting-place of many people ("Tower of London" Encarta 1). Its history is full of amazing and horrific stories of life and death. To truly appreciate this magnificent group of structures a look must be taken into its history through it's architecture, uses, and those held in the prisons and dungeons. The Tower Of London is not actually one tower, it is a group of 13 towers located on 7.5 hectares of land known as Tower Hill ("Tower of London" Encarta 1). To the south of the tower is the Thames Rivers, which used to feed a moat that was drained in 1830. The general shape of the tower is a square with two lines of defensive walls surrounding it. The outer wall is defended by six towers on the river face, and there are two semi-circular bastions at the northeast and northwest corners (Tower of London Virtual Tour 3). The original tower, also known as the White Tower, is flanked by four turrets (Encarta 1). By looking carefully at the architecture of the tower you can see the painstaking workmanship put into every little detail. The group of thirteen towers collectively known as the Tower of London has five areas, which are especially interesting. One such tower was the Lion Tower, called so because it once housed the royal managerie. Often bear baiting performances were held here (Virtual Tour of the Tower of London 4). The Bell Tower is known by this name because of the belfry located at the top of it. The bell in the belfry was used as a warning system of an oncoming attack from enemies to the English (Virtual Tour of the Tower of London 6). Another building is the famous Bloody Tower, which is called this because it is the location of the murder of Prince Edward V and the Richard, the Duke of York (Virtual Tour of the Tower of London 9). The oldest tower is the White Tower, which is the great central keep. It was once used as the seat of the government and the home of the royal family (Virtual Tour of the Tower of London 10). Another infamous area of the Tower of London is the site of the block w! here a scaffold was erected and all of the executions were performed so that the public could watch (Virtual Tour of the Tower of London 14). One of the most famous uses of the Tower of London was as a prison and final resting-place for many members of the English royal family. One such person was Lady Jane Grey. Grey was queen for nine days until her own father lead a revolution that took her out of power and put the rightful heir to the throne in. Later Grey's father placed her in prison and was forced to have her executed to show his loyalty to the queen (Hamlin 1). Another infamous murder was that of Anne Boleyn. Boleyn was married to Henry VIII, but after a while Henry became tired with her and decided to dump her for his mistress Jane Seymore. So Henry had Anne Brought up on the charges of treason, adultery, and incest, and Anne was beheaded (Hibbert 70). Other famous prisoners killed at the Tower of London include, Edward V, Richard Duke of York, Archbishop Crammer, Bishops Ridley and Latimer, and Sir Walter Raleigh (Tower of London Virtual Tour 9). As you can see the Tower of London is a window into the rich history of England through its architecture, uses, and those imprisoned and executed there. The tower's history shows how different the time of Elizabethan age and the years preceding it are so different from today, through the subtle differences in architecture and quality workmanship. Clearly the Tower of London is a perfect example of a window into the life and times of those living in Elizabethan England.

Dakosaurus - Facts and Figures

Dakosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Dakosaurus (Greek for tearing lizard); pronounced DACK-oh-SORE-us Habitat: Shallow seas of Eurasia and North and South America Historical Period: Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous (150-130 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 15 feet long and 1,000-2,000 pounds Diet: Fish, squids and marine reptiles Distinguishing Characteristics: Dinosaur-like head; primitive rear flippers About Dakosaurus Like its close relatives Metriorhynchus and Geosaurus, Dakosaurus was technically a prehistoric crocodile, even if this fierce marine reptile was more reminiscent of the mosasaurs that appeared tens of millions of years later. But unlike other metriorhynchids, as these sea-going crocodiles are called, Dakosaurus looked like it was assembled out of the bits and pieces of other animals: its head resembled that of a terrestrial theropod dinosaur, while its long, clumsy, leg-like hind flippers pointed to a creature only partly evolved beyond its terrestrial origins. Overall, it seems unlikely that Dakosaurus was a particularly fast swimmer, though it was clearly just speedy enough to prey on its fellow marine reptiles, not to mention assorted fish and squids. For a marine reptile, Dakosaurus has an unusually long pedigree. The type species of the genus, initially mistaken for a specimen of Geosaurus, was named way back in 1856, and before that scattered Dakosaurus teeth were mistaken for those of the terrestrial dinosaur Megalosaurus. However, the real buzz about Dakosaurus began in the late 1980s, when a new species, Dakosaurus andiniensis, was discovered in the Andes Mountains of South America. One D. andiniensis skull discovered in 2005 was so large and fearsome that it was dubbed Godzilla by the excavating team, one paleontologist going on record as saying that this dinosaur-like reptile represented the most drastic evolutionary change in the history of marine crocodiles.

The Microsoft Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The Microsoft Case - Essay Example Additionally, it will be convincingly argued that Microsoft was indeed not a monopoly at the time of the investigation. Some key points that characterize a pure monopoly are the following: 1) only one firm in the market 2) significant barriers to entry exist 3) lack of substitute goods 4) firm is a price-maker. When one examines Microsoft of the late 1990’s, it becomes clear that although the company had a large share of the operating systems market captured, they were still far from being what could be literally considered a monopoly (Khan, 2004). Based on the previous metrics listed, Microsoft falls short on every single determinant. Additionally, although Microsoft offered a host of products that could tangentially be seen as working to squeeze out competition, they still did not maintain any measurable means of creating barriers to entry for firms wishing to take market share from their products. In fact, the major concern among many regulators was the fact that Microsoft improperly bundled many services that were also offered by competitors. As such, these suggestions were not against anti-trust laws but merely an aggressive form of business outreach and marketing to get consumers accosted to the products of the firm before they would become accustomed to the products of anothe r firm. Furthermore, the market demand for operating systems would have been marked by a downward sloping demand curve if indeed Microsoft had a monopoly power in the market. However, the opposite of this has indeed been proven to be the case. Doubtless, Microsoft as a firm was making massive amounts of profit during these and proceeding years. However, Microsoft could be viewed as enriching itself primarily from the correct application of economies of scale as opposed to having a death’s clasp on the market in a monopolistic way. Furthermore, operating systems are an exceedingly

Self- Reflection Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Self- Reflection - Personal Statement Example eating timetables was a habit that developed in me that was similar to building castles in the air; so much so that my timetables would sometimes have time set aside for the creation of more timetables in the future. The fact that I would make more than one (quite a few in fact) timetables meant that one could easily be changed for the other and I would not need to put in the effort that would be required so as to adhere to a particular timetable. The timetables that I created with the decreasing amount of time at my disposal started to become more and more impractical and thus made me increasingly desperate. This made a certain kind of desperation set into my mental makeup and I started thinking that I would never be able to do well in my studies. This points to another flaw in the strategy that I had drawn up during the last semester. The setting of impractical goals led me to the same point that impractical schedules did. A feeling started to set in my mind that made me feel that I would never be able to achieve my goals. With the passing of time, this feeling started to get worse and paradoxically, my schedules started to get even more hectic and unmanageable. Laziness is probably the root of much of the failure that I encountered this semester. To rectify this problem in most aspects of my life shall be an aim that I adopt beginning with this semester. To cultivate a work ethic that makes me accountable to myself would be one of the things that I would attempt to do this semester. As a result of this, I believe my grades would improve and I would also be able to understand how results are achieved and hence value labor as it should be. This would also prevent me from taking goals and targets lightly. I would be able to become aware of the fact that a victory is achieved through slow and steady hard work. Attempts at finding shorter routes to success cost me last semester and I would advise anybody who is a student to not attempt to find a substitute for hard

Management Skills Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Skills - Personal Statement Example Promotion. Promotional activities include advertising, direct marketing or personal selling, sales promotion, public relations. Based on my personal strengths as well as interests, I am planning to take up a role of junior manager, advertising. Advertising is a mean through which the goods and services produced by an organization are promoted to the target market of the organization. (Petley, 2003). As such advertisement therefore, encompass many activities which combine together to form an effective promotional message therefore, considering its strategic nature and my personal strengths and ambitions, I would aim at becoming the junior manager-advertising in an organization of high repute. Based on the research conducted, following job description is outlined for a Junior Manager- Advertising: (job-descriptions.org, 2008) I am attracted to this job because I am currently pursuing a degree in business education besides I consider myself as an easy going person who can easily communicate with others. I consider myself as a person who likes to meet people and exchange ideas and have the ability to understand the perceptions held by different people in different contexts. Further, this job is also attractive to me because I am creative and have developed an aesthetic sense of appreciating different ideas and works of art. My immedi My immediate concern therefore would be to learn the tricks of the trade under the guidance of those who have already achieved a certain stature in the field. This job therefore will provide me an opportunity to do what I love to do most as I shall be engaged not only with the creative work but also grow myself as a successful manager and a leader over the period of time. Apart from this, I also visualize myself grow to a position where I may develop myself as one of the most creative and successful advertising guru of all

Explaining The Iraqi Invasion Of Kuwait Politics Essay

Explaining The Iraqi Invasion Of Kuwait Politics Essay Baram (1994) explains that Iraqs claim to invade Kuwait is based on the argumentation that Kuwait was a district governed by Basra under Ottoman rule and, thus, Iraqi leaders have seen it as historically belonging to Iraq (p.5). Baram goes on to explain that this claim is wrong because Kuwait has long before been under autonomous rule by the Sabah family. Furthermore, she states that Iraqs aspiration to bring Kuwait under its control is partly due to Iraqs need to strengthen and stabilize its regimes legitimacy by uniting the different religious and ethnic minorities of Iraq under Iraqi patriotism (p.5). Iraq opposed the British-drawn borderline between Iraq and Kuwait because it left Iraq with only a short Gulf coastline and gave Kuwait control over the entrance and exit of Iraqs only port (p.6). Even though Iraq accepted Kuwait as a sovereign state in 1963, it did not accept the exact borderline. Iraq was supported by the Soviet Union and because the latter would not support an ann exation of Kuwait by Iraq, Iraq did not act earlier (p.6). Moreover, Iraq received aid from Kuwait during the Iran-Iraq war. Following this war, due to bad economic policies, Iraqi economy stagnated and as a result, Iraq could not demobilize its army which amounted to over 1 million at the end of the 1980s. The reason for this was that Saddam could not risk a high number of unemployed men which might result in social unrest (p.7). However, in order to keep such a high number of soldiers in the standing army, Saddam needed a good reason. Therefore, he started to revitalise the American and Zionist enemy (p.7). Iraq kept on spending on military expenditures which had the intention to turn Iraq into the Gulfs hegemonic power as Iraqs weapons could be used against Israeli offenses which, additionally, would make Iraq the Arabs protector (p.7). The downfall of the Soviet Union was disastrous for Iraq as it lost its biggest supporter in the face of the US. Furthermore, Iraq was alarmed by the Eastern European democratic revolutions bringing the totalitarian regimes down which were equally designed as Saddams Iraq (p.7). Another reason for Iraqi worries in the late 1980s was Iraqs failure to force the Syrian army to leave Lebanon and which was tolerated by the US and other Arab states (p.9). This became, according to Baram, an example for Iraq which saw the possibility to invade Kuwait and which then would be treated by external players like the Lebanon case (ibid.). After the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq invoked the Kuwait crisis two years later by bringing up several issues, such as the border dispute with Kuwait, the Israeli-Palestinian problem, Americas presence in the Gulf, the issue of oil production quotas and Iraqs demand for financial aid (p.9). In order to solve all these issues, Iraq increasingly started to see an invasion of Kuwait as the best solution (ibid.). In 1990, Iraq for the first time publicly offered to take up the role of the Soviet Union as protector for the Arabs (p.10). Additionally, Iraq started to threat Israel in case it would attack any Arab state. These manoeuvres had the purpose to avert the public from increasing economic hardship, as well as the happenings in Eastern Europe and the regimes failure in the Lebanon case (p.11). Iraqs increasing public threats and announcements opened up the danger of Saddam being sucked into a war by his own rhetoric (p.14). Furthermore, this approach showed that Iraq was more and more diverting from a path of domestic policies to external ones in order to solve Iraqs problems (ibid.). Saddam by including the Israeli-Palestinian rhetoric and pan-Arab security, diverted the Arab world with Libya, the PLO, and Jordan being its closes supporters, but also Egypts Mubarak in the beginning supported Iraqs approach towards Arab security by believing in Iraqs good intentions (p.16). After receiving support from at least a fraction of the Arab states for its Arab security approach, Iraq started to accuse Kuwait of stealing oil from Iraq and thus, two strategically important islands in the Gulf should be given to Iraq (ibid.). Iraqi-Kuwait relations further deteriorated when oil prices fell and the OPEC quota was not fully supported by Kuwait (p.17). This in turn led to Iraq starting to mobilise troops and station them at the Kuwaiti border. Iraq shifted its demands whenever it fitted best from economic reasons to territorial claims (p.19). Egypts Mubarak in this period publicly proclaimed that Saddam promised to him that he would not attack Kuwait. The USAs reaction to the build up of the crisis was to send their ambassador Glaspie to talk to Saddam. The ambassador misjudged the situation which had the outcome that diverting and ambiguous signals were sent to Saddam and Washington (p.20). Glaspie did not put pressure on Iraq, instead she followed the approach to ally with it and improve US-Iraq relations (p.20). Glaspie, being in line with the State Departments pos ition, told Saddam that the US does not interfere in inter-Arab affairs such as the Iraq-Kuwait border dispute (ibid.). Seen in this context, the American diplomatic approach was not helpful because it sent the wrong signal to Saddam, namely that America would not use force in inter-Arab disputes (ibid.). Furthermore, in July 1990, the State Department spokesperson announced that the US has no special defence or security commitments to Kuwait (p.21). This made Saddam believe that he could invade Kuwait without US involvement and that it would not make a difference if he took only parts or the entire area of Kuwait (p.21). Taking this risk of invading all of Kuwait was based on the assumption to solve the economic problems of Iraq and to put Iraq into a power position in the Arab region and by doing so mobilise domestic support (p.25). A further explanation of why Iraq invaded all of Kuwait was, according to Baram, Saddams personality treats. Advisors could not interfere in any decis ions already made by Saddam because of his personality. He saw himself as invincible warrior and empire-builder (p.26). Barams text about the reasons of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait is very comprehensive and comprehensible and it looks at the issue in detail and from different perspectives. What was especially interesting was the detailed description of the US diplomatic approach and how a misjudgement can lead to such far-reaching outcomes. Furthermore, Barams text looks in detail at Saddam as leader and how his decisions were very logical and calculating even though they were based on false assumptions and miscalculations. Therefore, Barams text shows that Saddam did not in any way act irrationally or injudiciously. However, it could be looked at in more detail in how far Saddam became able to act in this way after the fall of the Soviet Union, its main supporter. Baram mentions that the Soviet Union would not support an invasion of Kuwait, but she does not go into more detail concerning the timing of the invasion of Kuwait and the downfall of the Soviet Union. I think the question could have been e xplored in more detail in how far that was also a part of the reason for Saddams invasion at that time or Saddams possibility for invasion since the Soviet Union no longer kept Iraq from invasion. Mark Heller (1994) discusses Iraqs army power and Western perception of the strengths of the Iraqi army. His claim is that the Gulf war was a result of Western misperception of Iraqs army strength and capabilities (p.37). According to him, a Western threat to use military force would have been enough in 1990 after the invasion to persuade Saddam to leave, however, the debate in the Western public undercut this option and made it impossible (ibid.). It was argued that a war with Iraq would result in high numbers of casualties and thus, the message that was send to Saddam was that a military US intervention was very unlikely and withdrawal was not necessary (ibid.). Heller argues that the debate about Iraqi army strength completely ignored the armys performances in the past, which had not been able to perform well in wars against foreign powers even if its weapons were plenty and effective (p.38). The reason for this is that due to Iraqs regime type, it had to give more priority to the preservation of the regime than to the military (p.47). This is due to the fragmentation of the Iraqi population and the lack of legitimacy as well as national identity which makes the regime vulnerable and the army less effective (ibid.). For this reason, Saddam had acquired weapons which could be operated by a highly centralised small elite of soldiers in order not to have to rely on the rest of the army which was rather ineffective (p.48). Heller argues that a war might have not been prevented but at least American response could have been more effective diplomacy-wise if the military capabilities of Iraq had not been overestimated by the public (p.38). Thus, Iraq would have withdrawn if the diplomatic messages and pressure would have been more evident. This article shows a very interesting view point which is not taken up by most other texts which deal with the topic. It shows a completely different angle by looking at US diplomatic shortcomings and where these were rooted in. Even though this article is rather short and more detailed evidence should be given about the public debate in the West, this article tries to give a plausible explanation for US behaviour and why the US did not put more diplomatic pressure on Iraq. However, a little flaw that occurs to me in this text is that even tough the military strength of the standing army overall were more limited, the weapons that could be used by a small elitist group could still be as disastrous concerning casualties as a high number of soldiers. Therefore, in my opinion the argument that the public overestimated the military capabilities loses a little bit of its ground. Nevertheless, the end argument still works because Saddam could have been deterred if the US had used more dipl omatic pressure but this was halted due to public discourse. Clawson (1994) discusses Iraqs economic situation prior to the war and the effects of economic sanctions on Iraq. Clawson establishes that Iraq has all the good preconditions for a well-working economy and a prosperous population. This includes that Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world, Iraq has vast and rich agricultural areas and a, to a certain extent, well-trained manpower is available; nevertheless, Iraq has economic problems and the people liver under economic hardship (p.69). According to Clawson, the Iraqi economy has a lot of potential; however, successive Iraqi regimes have put ideology before economic stability and the well-being of the Iraqi population (ibid.). Due to damaging policies, especially the oil and the agricultural sector have been harmed (ibid.). Iraq pursued a confrontational policy towards the oil industry by making claims to Kuwaiti oil fields and it did not pursue closer relations with other oil states as well as developed countries in ord er to profit from efficient technology for oil production. Furthermore, the Baath party completely controlled the economy which halted economic growth (p.70). The government, especially under Saddam, wasted its resources for large-scale projects and investments which did not serve any useful purpose for economic growth. Clawson attributes this to Saddams Nebuchadnezzar complex which means that Saddam wants to build glorious buildings in order to underline his magnificence as a leader (ibid.). In the time prior to the war, Iraq claimed that its financial situation leads it to take action. Iraq, furthermore, claimed that Kuwait is to be blamed for part of its economic situation, which was used in order to distract the Iraqi public from the fact that it was Saddams disastrous economic policies which are responsible for the peoples hardship (p.71). According to Clawson, Iraqs economic situation in 1990 was actually better than it had been the years 1986 to 1989, which could be seen in I raqs ability to repay more debts in 1990 (ibid.). Therefore, Iraqs economic problems are long-term and not due to an allegedly short-term crisis with Kuwait. Saddam was unwilling to cut back on his grand projects for his own glorification and thus, was unable to meet the peoples expectation that after the Iran-Iraq war the economic situation of the population would improve (p.72). Saddams quest for more and more grand projects could only be continued if more money would flow in. At the same time, the argument that many economically important sites have been irreversibly destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war is also not true (p.77). Rather the damage was minor or at least easily reparable and not all economically important places have been destroyed if they were not associated with military sites (ibid.). Therefore, the main obstacle to economic growth for Iraq is Saddams anti-growth policies and the claim that Kuwait is responsible for it or that Iraq would recover with more money floa ting in is wrong. Clawsons article gives a good insight into Iraqs economic situation prior to the war and what the reasons for Iraqs miserable economic situation are. The article invalidates the claim that Iraqs invasion can be justified by short-term economic problems. Rather it is the regimes attempt to divert the attention from its own bad economic policies. Even though this article shows a different perspective on the underlying problems of Iraqs bad economic situation and it does invalidate the claim that Kuwait is in any way involved in Iraqs financial problems, this does not give a satisfactorily explanation why Iraq acted as it did towards Kuwait. The author indeed states that Saddam wanted to disguise the fact that it is his long-term policies that are damaging the economy. However, Saddam could have done that by different means. Therefore, this article should be treated as a one-sighted argument in the context of other arguments. Otherwise, the question could arise why Saddam did not simply spend a little more fraction of the money on the population in order to avoid unrests in the future, or why Saddam did not try to get closer to other states, Western and Arab, in order to receive more aid etc? Thus, overall the articles gives an interesting insight in the domestic economic situation of Iraq but it falls short of giving a complete and satisfactory explanation on why Iraq invaded Kuwait and why not another state or why it did not use other tools to counteract to the economic problems. Halliday (1994) does not approach the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in terms of the reasons for Iraqs decision; rather he describes the invasion and its impact on International Relations theories. Halliday states that the Gulf war in 1990 was one of the most significant international crises of the post-1945 epoch (p.109). Not only was a very high number of soldiers involved but also a high number of international diplomats and diplomacy attempts from various countries. According to Halliday, not enough attention was given to historical events. According to him, the crisis began with the death of Khomeini in 1989 (p.115). Saddam was not able to gain any influence in Iran because it remained stable after the death and therefore, Iraq turned to Kuwait (ibid.). Moreover, Halliday states that the ideology of the Baath party was not taken into account and thus, the outcome was wrongly predicted. Baathism represents the ideal for an Arab nation, a glorification of war and the strong man who figh ts for the Arab nation (p.115). Furthermore, the reason why all the diplomatic efforts that were actually undertaken failed was that Saddam believed that the US would not intervene militarily (p.116). Additionally, Saddam was only expecting sanctions which would have not meant an irreconcilable for him and Iraq (ibid.). According to Halliday, realists see the Gulf war as an interstate-conflict. For transnationalists the economic dimension was most important and the preservation of economic, i.e. oil, interests on all sides (p.120). For Marxists and structuralists, in turn, the war was one of a dominant and a subordinated power and which was justified by Western materialist interests, i.e. oil and which reinforced hegemonic power in the Middle East (ibid.). However, all these theories fail to explain the entirety of the Gulf war. Realists cannot properly explain why Iraq invaded all of Kuwait if it was not seen as one of the biggest miscalculation and misjudgements by Saddam (p.120). Furthermore, Iraqs references to pan-Arabism and Islamic issues cannot be properly explained by realist theory. Transnationalism, in turn, do not have a satisfactorily explanation for the UNs decision outcome which was not based on mutual decisions by various states but rather it was based solely on US ideas (ibid.). Furthermore, Marxists and structuralists theory is not completely applicable either because if the war was of imperial nature then this would mean that Iraq has to display a more progressive level of development in the international arena, which is not the case due to Iraqs Baathist ideology and its brutal regime among other reasons (p.120). As a reason Halliday concludes that such an event as the Gulf war in 1990 means that theoretical approaches have to be revised and thought through again more thoroughly (p.129). However, this does not mean that the existing theories have to be overthrown altogether, rather the war tested the limits of these theories and accordingly they have to be amended and adjusted. Even though this article does not contribute to the answering of the above stated question, it does give an interesting insight into the studies of IR and the reactions of theorists from different strands to this political event. Furthermore, it shows how such an event as the Gulf war can lead to a revision even if of limited degree of the existing theories. The summary of the article above is only a small extract of Hallidays text but it still shows the impact of political events on the studies of IR. The text is well-written and comprehensible, however, one question arises for me and that is how an outcome due to misconceptions and a rational intention are mutually exclusive as stated by Halliday in the context of realist assumptions? Saddam could have had intentions based on rational thinking; however, these rational ideas could have been based on misjudgements. Even tough this point is not clear to me, the overall message of the article, namely that the war presented new realitie s and facts which cannot be satisfactorily explained by existing theories and, therefore, a revision and partial reconsideration has to take place, is still an important conclusion. This shows that IR theories cannot be rigid and that constant improvement is important if they want to be able to explain and discuss political events in a future international arena.