Is Giving Good For You - 1489 Words

Is Giving Good for you? People give back to the community through many ways such as volunteering time and donating money. Some may feel a sense of duty to give back to society either in a direct or indirect way. Having more free time can also provide people with the opportunity to volunteer and stay socially connected to others. Volunteering can create an avenue to maintain life satisfaction and psychological well-being (Morrow-Howell, 2010). Research has been completed that indicates helping others has a positive effect on the benefactor (Piliavin, 2003). Through scientific research previously conducted, this essay will argue that volunteering has a positive effect on the psychological well-being of seniors. A 2013 study (Kahana, Bhatta, Lovegreen, Kahana and Midlarsky’s) aimed to investigate the positive and negative effect that volunteering has on the psychological well-being of elders. The correlational study conducted over a five year period, concluded pro-social activities had an influence on positive affect, life satisfaction and other psychological well-being outcomes. 1,000 participants above the age of 72 were randomly selected from retirement communities across the West Coast of Florida with the vast majority (80%) being retired. Respondents participated in an initial face-to-face interview and were asked a series of questions relating to four dependant variables; Life satisfaction, positive and negative affect and depressive symptomatology. Each factor wasShow MoreRelatedDonation Of Human Organs : Organ Donation905 Words   |  4 Pagesto get a transplant? What if you or someone else could donate it for them? As of June 21, 2013 there are 118,617 people waiting on li fe-saving organ transplant. Organ donation is a noble act, and anyone can do it. Most people that donate are the ones that do it after death. The reason for this is to help someone that needs the donation. Organ donation promotes a general principle of giving and selflessness; it would help with medical cost, and can be effective by giving someone a second chance at lifeRead MorePublic Speaking Essay878 Words   |  4 Pagesclass to ask a question can be overwhelming as well as feeling like other students are making fun of you for asking that question. How can someone build the confidence in him or her to be able to overcome stage freight to become a speaker or a leader? For some, speaking in front of a crowd comes natural, but should we prepare our self before giving a speech or does being a natural speaker help with giving a speech with out a rehearsal? Public speaking does not come easy for everyone. For most, it isRead MoreThe Selfless Act Of Charity907 Words   |  4 PagesCharity, the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need, is of course morally right. The act of giving to the people in need, to any organization, let it be through money, clothes, food or your time is a selfless act. But once you are rewarded or urged to commit such a good deed, is it actually charity work? If someone is gaining an incentive for charitable acts then the word â€Å"voluntary† does not apply to what that person is doing. Voluntary means done, given, or actingRead MorePay It Forward Essay923 Words   |  4 Pagescommunication as: the act of mutual giving and receiving. This act of mutual giving and receiving is very apparent in the story told in the movie. In order to communicate it is necessary for both people to, be willing to receive information and furthermore then be willing and able to give information, which is what was necessary for the project Trevor created in the movie. The process is not as quite as simplistic as it may seem. Theres a lot that goes into giving a gift, along with communicatingRead MoreAnalyzing The Ways Are You re Good At Math?1602 Words   |  7 Pages 1. In what ways are you â€Å"smart† at math? Highlight all of the things you’re good at. (Everyone is good at some of these things and no one is good at all of them!) †¢ making observations †¢ making predictions †¢ finding patterns †¢ drawing diagrams †¢ remembering vocabulary †¢ estimating †¢ organizing information into tables or charts †¢ using symbols †¢ visualizing †¢ making conjectures †¢ tinkering with problems †¢ using math language †¢ thinking abstractly †¢ explaining my thinking out loud †¢ explainingRead MorePersuasive Speech : Being Honest And Rude1243 Words   |  5 Pagesme† they can interpret it as giving brutal, hurtful feedback. I hear it way too often; people will insult others and say, Well, I m just honest. But there is a fine border between being honest and rude, when I think of honesty, I think of benefiting someone in a way that will boost their confidence and not bring them down and have to question what they wear or how they look. They should feel better and grow from honesty. Which is the way that it should be, giving your honest opinion should beRead MorePsy 390 Operant Conditioning Essay851 Words   |  4 Pagesconsequence good or bad. A simple example of this might be if you were to reward a child with a cookie for giving a correct response on a math problem. By giving them the cookie it positively reinforces that response into becoming a learned behavior and the child will want to do well at math so they can have the cookies (Olson amp; Hergenhahn, 2009). There are two sides to this coin however, you can condition a person to exhibit a positive behavior by giving them positive reinforcement and you can alsoRead MoreCharity Organization, The Giving Pledge Essay610 Words   |  3 Pages1. Explain what â€Å"The Giving Pledge† is, and give an outline of the different attitudes presented in texts 2 and 3. â€Å"The Giving Pledge† is an organization for rich American people. This charity organization consists of many wealthy people like Bill Gates who is the co-founder of Microsoft. Bill Gates launched this campaign and all the members have different causes. Bill Gates wants to support improvements of the medical difficulties, for example Bill Gates want to make vaccines reach everyone inRead MoreEssay on Aristotle’s Views on Virtue703 Words   |  3 Pagesis talking about how if you are designed to do one thing, it is impossible to do the opposite no matter how hard you force it. He talks about how we gain our virtues by practicing them and using them on a regular basis. That is how we learn everything in life. Just doing nice things doesn’t make you a virtuous person; first you must have the knowledge, then act, and then finally do it with an unchanging character (N.E. II. 4). In doing that you must also have only good will in mind, for any otherRead MoreArg umentative Essay : Risky Giving1317 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"Risky Giving† In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. â€Å"Oh, you shouldn’t have. It’s too nice. It’s too expensive. I don’t deserve it. You shouldn’t have bothered†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"You bought me a present? Why would you do such a thing? Oh, I know you think you’re being generous, but the foundation of gift giving is reciprocity. You haven’t given me a gift. You’ve given me an obligation.† (Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory) And that’s how our world – and our sinful nature – understands

United States Gun Control Problem Essay - 939 Words

United States Gun Control Problem Gun control is hardly a new issue in America, much less in American politics. Ownership of guns is extraordinarily widespread in the United States, and has been for some time. Since the late 1950s, the share of American households reporting at least one firearm has remained fairly constant at just under 50 percent (Gun Control Debate 959). This shift in the character of ownership has taken place against a complicated legal backdrop, the basic feature of which at the federal level is the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Brady Crime Prevention Act passed in 1994 (Cohen). Far outnumbering federal regulations are the various local and state laws that have long been†¦show more content†¦Manufacturers may become more motivated as they start losing lawsuits that find the manufacturers negligent, causing them to pay millions of dollars in damages. Judges are concluding that the manufacturers â€Å"knew or should have known that their guns can operate in a reckless or incompe tent manner (â€Å"Do Guns Mean Crime?†).† As for the demand side of the equation, gun-control groups have called for new laws that would place further barriers in the path of criminals and other people prohibited from buying firearms. At the top of this list, particularly after investigators discovered where the weapons used in the Columbine massacre were obtained, has been closing the â€Å"gun show loophole† (Williams). As it stands now, there are more than 4,000 such events held each year where private collectors and hobbyists do not have to run background checks on potential buyers and as a result, they have become a key source from criminals and the illegal gun trade (â€Å"Gun Control Debate† 962). Those opposed to the notion point with some justice to its arbitrariness, since it would not affect the private sale of firearms at any other venue: to skirt the new law, private sellers could arrange to complete their transactions elsewhere. The â€Å"gun show loophole† illustrates the need to ex tend theShow MoreRelatedSocial Issues Of Gun Control1424 Words   |  6 Pagesissue of guns is one of the most prominent social problems in the United States, and every time after the shooting incident, the voice of gun control became to rise and the debate of banning guns emerge again. What People can do is only to offer their condolences, griefs and protests for gun violence, and stand for moments of silence. People still don’t have any law of gun control in return even if in the face of these bloody statistics. Because this issue is not just a simple social problem, andRead MoreEssay about Gun Control Will Not Reduce Crime1076 Words   |  5 Pagesimplementation of gun control in the United states is a large problem as it will take away the 2nd Amendment rights and would also stop the ability of law abiding citizens to protect themselves from criminals who obtain guns illegally. The right to bear arms is promised to citizens of the United States, and to put gun contr ol into effect is to take away their Constitutional rights. Crime is very high in cities that have few gun control laws. However, the problem will not be solved by taking guns away fromRead MoreGun Control And The United States988 Words   |  4 PagesGun Control Reassessment in the United States Imagine this: you are in World History class at your high school almost falling asleep learning about Ancient China. It is a normal day for you and your classmates, until you hear an announcement from the principal. You expect the typical lockdown drill, but this situation is far from typical. A man with a gun breaks into your school. BANG! Several of your classmates are killed before this man can be controlled. You survive, but live the rest of yourRead MoreGun Control Versus Gun Rights1645 Words   |  7 Pages2017 Gun Control versus Gun Rights Gun control is a controversial topic that is widely discussed in the United States. The call for gun control came during the 1960’s when many famous figures were assassinated. Today Gun Right’s Activist believes we should not infringe on the Second Amendment. While Gun Control Activist believe we should take precautions to protect people from gun violence. The republicans typically are against gun control while democrats are for gun control. Gun control is a hotRead MoreGun Control1192 Words   |  5 PagesGun Control Gun Control is a topic that has been talked about for many years now especially after many tragic deaths and other instances that have happened in past. Gun control has become one of the most important battles of 2013. In a press conference last month, President Obama pushed Congress to ban â€Å"assault† rifes and weapons, setting a limit for magazines to 10 bullets, and to introduce universal background checks for the buyers of firearms.†The debate over gun control and gun ownershipRead MoreThe Issue Of Gun Control1303 Words   |  6 PagesGun control has been a major problem in our society because it’s been in the (Molly)world just know one payed it any attention. In the year of 2014 a young man Travon martin passed away and it became a question of gun control. Gun laws are the cause of much of the violent crime in the United States and it needs to change who Is illegal interactions transportation of guns and mass shootings around the United States. Many people question the guns around our society and people asking the cause of orRead MoreThe Problem Of Gun Control881 Words   |  4 Pagesof gun problem in the United States The ownership of firearm became legally in United States since their second amendment of the constitution enacted in 1791. It seems a symbol of the right to freedom, however, it has also brought a great convenience to criminals. The gun shooting accident are repeatedly happening in United States each year and lots of innocent people get hurt. What more serious is, the number of such tragedies are continuing increase. Many people living in the United States areRead MoreDo you Really Need a Gun649 Words   |  3 PagesOver â€Å"100,000† people are shot every year in the United Stated of America (US News). Every day eight children die from a gun accident, which means nearly three thousands children will die from a gun, weather it could be a murder, a suicide or an accidental death, it was still caused by a gun (It’s Time for Gun Sense). I believe that there should be more gun control in the United States, because the fact that it is so simple to obtain a fire arm makes i t far too easy for it to fall in the hands ofRead MoreGun Control Essay774 Words   |  4 PagesDoes gun control an effective way to prevent mass shootings? In December 2012, 20 years old Alan Lonzon kill 20 children in the Sandy hook elementary middle school. Could gun control prevent this deadly mass murder? Gun control has been a very controversial topic in United States. Our government should care about this issue because innocent people die every year in the United States. Gun control will not prevent mass shooting because guns are accessible to everybody and 3D guns see it his fi, mostRead MoreThomas Sowell The Great Gun Control Fallacy Analysis834 Words   |  4 Pagesopposition of gun control throughout his article entitled â€Å"The Great Gun Control Fallacy.† In the face of the countless shootings that seem to dominate the news constantly, Sowell argues that there is no greater threat to the safety of the masses than the removal of guns from the hands of law-abiding citizens. The piece delves into many different aspects and ideas on the argument, but perhaps most importantly, it discusses statistics and data about high crime rates in areas with a large amount of gun control

Write a critical appreciation of Senecas Apocolocyntosis Free Essays

Seneca ‘s Apocolocyntosis provides us with one of the richest and most unusual texts to hold emerged from Rome. The Apocolocyntosis covers the narrative of Claudius, emperor of Rome and, while it is likely that the sarcasm was composed for Saturnalia in AD54, and does non incorporate a great figure of historical truths, it does possess important artistic virtue insofar as it is rich with dual entendre and critical argument. The typical qualities to Seneca ‘s Apocolocyntosis have led critics to oppugn the cogency of the text as a work by Seneca himself. We will write a custom essay sample on Write a critical appreciation of Senecas Apocolocyntosis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Indeed, Seneca is most often known as a author of stoic philosophical treatises in a proto-Christian manner ; the Apocolocyntosis is chiefly representative of an entirely different manner. However, although these subjective responses to Seneca ‘s writing have been legion, it ‘s innately subjective nature does non travel so far as to assume that the work was written by person else. In add-on, many of the subjects in the Apocolocyntosis can be traced back through Seneca ‘s old work. Second, the rubric of the text itself is slightly deep, and is a word to depict the transmutation of a adult male into a Cucurbita pepo. Of class, in a actual sense this does non go on, although some critics have attempted to place the literary and the metaphorical togss that may hold warrant this deeply unusual rubric. This debatable rubric has led some critics to reason that the Apocolocyntosis is unfinished, or that the portion of the text where the metabolism occurs is losing. The apocolocyntosis provides a alone chance for us to look at the precise compositional nature of the Menippean sarcasm, a genre of which few texts survive. Menippean sarcasm was developed as a peculiar manner and signifier of sarcasm formulated some 300 old ages therefore by Menippus of Gadara. Its main features include are in its signifier and composing, which include a mixture of prose and poetry. The intervention of its topics is characterised by a â€Å" serio-comic † attack, where the serious implicit in subjects of the drama are obfuscated with comedic overtones. This is important both in portraying the function and the significance of the drama, every bit good as in discoursing its literary virtues. The satiric qualities of the drama focal point chiefly around the Roman province, but other subjects besides emerge and are lambasted by Seneca: historiographers are attacked from the really beginning, possibly imparting creed to the fictional manner employed by Seneca hims elf. Historians are mocked for their nonpartisanship ( 1.1 ) and besides by avoiding citations ( 9.2 ) . The usage of citations is a peculiar point in which Seneca ‘s scathing satirization flows. His usage of Homeric citations in 5.4 besides draw attending to the abuse of citations: â€Å" Claudius was really pleased that there were philologues at that place: he hoped there would be some topographic point for his ain histories. So he excessively said in Homeric poetry: ‘From Ilium the air current transporting me drove me ashore at the Kikonians ‘ † ( 5.4 ) . He continues by adding â€Å" ( But the undermentioned poetry was more true, every bit Homeric: ‘and there I sacked the metropolis and killed the people ‘ ) † The attending Seneca draws to the usage of citations to pull strings and warrant a peculiar position. The ability of Seneca to overreach Claudius is, nevertheless stating, and suggests that Claudius himself came to the throne, in many peoples eyes illicitly, on the shoulders of the Praetorian Guard. Hercules ‘ original inquiry, â€Å" Of what race of work forces are you? Where is your metropolis and your parents? † is answered in a barbed and dry manner to depict Claudius ‘s rise to power. As Fraudenberg suggests, â€Å" the inquiry posed by Hercules has, in the class of the replies offered, go a inquiry about how Claudius came to be emperor ; by ( legal ) heritage, alludes Claudius ; by ( illegal ) force, alludes the storyteller † ( 98 ) . Of class, the dismissive tone in which Seneca attacks his legitimacy via the execution of these narrative â€Å" asides † provides a rich satiric presentation of the humor Seneca was capable of. In add-on, Seneca draws attending to the difference between these two mentions to Homer – the first, a inquiry used to show exactly, is obfuscated â€Å" intelligently † by Claudius, who ab initio appears to win out on the embezzleme nt of citation until the storyteller intervenes with a citation as brash and as purportedly unprocessed as Hercules. This question of the legitimacy of Claudius is both elusive and barbarous, as it invokes attending to Claudius ‘s controversial rise to power, every bit good as the ferociousness he employed during his clip as emperor. By add-on, Hercules, who here assumes the function of the common adult male, is non ridiculed but, furthermore, is celebrated for his genuineness and his stoical attack to the usage of citation. His unfavorable judgment extends to the usage of citation by historiographers, every bit good as offering a elusive deployment of biting linguistic communication against the supposed nonpartisanship of the storyteller, who purports to be a historian despite offering a fictionalised history of Claudius ‘s reign. The complexness of the sarcasm, as to whether Seneca is mocking himself, his characters, or the state of affairss in which he finds them, are skillfully and equivocally negotiated by Seneca, whose rhetorical endowments for obfuscating, lead oning and playing with the purposes of his audience are here demonstrated with all of its biting possible. Equally good as characters themselves, and their usage of citation to add cogency to their ( illegal ) invasions of power, the formalities of argument in the Senate are besides brutally mocked and rendered absurd by Seneca ( 9.5, 11.5 ) . As such, this would impart quality to the reading that Seneca is out to mock the full political system in operation in Rome, instead than the propensities and eccentricities of one peculiar adult male. Of class, these subjects in the context of satirical plants, which lightly mock about every convention and single, can non be separated. The topic of Seneca ‘s sarcasm is Claudius himself, whose inabilit y to go a divinity is brutally and carefully dissembled and made to look farcical. The rubric of Seneca ‘s drama has provoked a ample sum of interesting argument sing its beginnings and its significance. Scholars have debated the significance of Apocolocyntosis in the rubric, and how that relates to the content of the sarcasm. The Apocolocyntosis is a drama on the ideal, with the add-on of Cucurbita pepo or gourd – literally, the word has been taken to intend â€Å" transmutation into a Cucurbita pepo or calabash † . Many have suggested that the calabash referred to in the rubric is a mention to the die box that Claudius is given. While this position has its protagonists, the metaphor seems a small stretched: Sullivan remarks that â€Å" the die box account is far fetched even for a first-century gag, and it does non run into the point about the ‘gourdification ‘ † ( 210 ) . Besides, the statement that the Apocolocyntosis is uncomplete as a text is besides a debatable one ; merely, the sarcasm, although it ends slightly sudden ly and hurriedly, ties up the secret plan and seems to non look to arouse extra scenes. One interesting statement is that the Apocolocyntosis contains a deep copiousness of â€Å" Cucurbita pepos † in the authorship: Creitz ( 1966 ) suggests that the opening sentence of the sarcasm, â€Å" Quid actum sit in caelo ante diem III, idus Octobris anno novo, initio saeculi felicissimi, volo memoriae tradere † may incorporate the concealed Cucurbita pepos in the text: â€Å" Is there any significance in the first missive, Q? Could it non be considered a kinky Cucurbita pepo or melon? † ( 202 ) . In add-on, Octobris draws attending to the missive â€Å" O † , which is a Cucurbita pepo shaped missive. In add-on October is the month for reaping Cucurbita pepos. Symbolic importance of the Cucurbita pepo may besides hold metaphorical significance in the last scene, in which the myriad of cut-off caputs may be taken as representative of Cucurbita pepos. The derogatory position of Cucurbita pepos besides draws attending to the elusive satirical devices employed by Seneca to pull attending to Claudius ‘s regulation. Creitz continues by proposing that â€Å" The sarcasm pictures a individual unwanted and deformed on Earth, undesired in Eden and even undesired in the lower universe, who, figuratively, like Cucurbita pepo seeds, purged many † ( 202 ) . While this provocative reading of the text draws attending to Seneca ‘s gaiety, it is noted that this reading does non trust to supply a historical history of Seneca ‘s existent purposes, moreover it is merely based on â€Å" what his words say to us today † ( 202 ) . Creitz argues that statements that look to show the writer ‘s purposes are likely to be subjective because small exists about Seneca ‘s purposes for the text. Other readings of the rubric of the piece expression alternatively at the nuances behind the existent significance of Apocolocyntosis ; s ome argue that it is a severely represented wordplay, intending non so much Transformation into a Cucurbita pepo and more Transformation of a pumpkin-head, a reading that would make greater analogues with the behavior of Claudius throughout the text. This is moreover given cogency by the common relationship at the clip between the word calabash and empty-headedness or folly. This, Sullivan argues, is â€Å" correspondent to the nineteenth-century association in England and the United States of the Cucurbita pepo with stupidity and ego † ( 210 ) . As such, the reading of Cucurbita pepo as stupidity prevents a actual readings of the text and focal points alternatively upon the metaphorical significance of Cucurbita pepo as stupid. The critical response to Seneca ‘s Apocolocyntosis has provoked many vindicators of Seneca ‘s work into denying that it was written by Seneca ; so, Seneca ‘s work here is radically different from other plants that he has produced, which tend towards humourless and stoical philosophical contemplation ( e.g. Letterss to Lucilus ) . In add-on, the damning of Claudius in this sarcasm does non work good with his old work, notably the Consolatio ad Polybium, which flatters Claudius. Of class, guesss over writing and genuineness of course depend to a great extent upon the given that Seneca himself had consistent sentiments about affairs. In add-on, a reading such as this denies the political function Seneca had ; so, from what is known about Seneca ‘s life, about his expatriate by Caligula and his subsequent poesy keening his expatriate, that these pieces were probably to hold been politically motivated. Sullivan remarks that Seneca ‘s â€Å" philosophical pen was barely of all time unguided by practical or political motivations † ( 212 ) . The premise environing the incompatibilities of Seneca ‘s work assumes that Seneca operated with genuineness himself ; of class, the likeliness is that Seneca himself was composing this drama in order to curry favor or to accomplish his political purposes. Incompatibility in Seneca ‘s work hence, does nil to turn out the cogency of the Apocolocyntosis as a work by Seneca. Critics have besides argued that the stylistic qualities of the Apocolocyntosis, as a visible radiation and satirical piece, appear out of topographic point in Seneca ‘s overall canon, and that the auctorial presence of Seneca is hard to identity as a consequence of this. Of class, the dismissal of the Apocolocyntosis on these evidences mask the serious implicit in political subjects of the work. The discrediting of Claudius, presumptively, satisfied some political purpose at the clip, as power shifted from Claudius to Nero. In add-on, the structural features of the Apocolocyntosis, which strictly employ Seneca ‘s typical and ample accomplishments in rhetoric and poetry, echo that of a Menippean sarcasm, which had been used extensively across Roman literature at the clip. As such, impressions of writing on evidences of incompatibility of manner can be dismissed. It is likely that the Apocolocyntosis was written hurriedly for a choice audience of a few people ; while critics have debated the relationship Seneca had to Claudius, and the incompatibilities of his attack, it is likely that this represents a more realistic portraiture of Seneca ‘s positions on Claudius – while other work flattering of Claudius was written as an effort to revoke his expatriate from Rome, the Apocolocyntosis and its scathing portraiture of Claudius is likely to stand for Seneca ‘s personal hate of Claudius. Despite the haste of its construct, the work employs and efficaciously utilises a figure of devices used by poets at the clip ; many transitions demonstrate Seneca ‘s capacity to satirise the bad poesy used by other Menippean authors ; in add-on, the subdivision praising Nero represents a aside in which Seneca shapes the narrative to include. This Aureate Age suggestion points to a more precise dating of the piece, as it was by and large accepted that the startup of a new emperor brings about a explosion of adulation. Therefore, Seneca ‘s drama can be dated to around AD54, during the clip of Nero ‘s startup. Its purpose, which is evidently an of import factor to see when discoursing Seneca ‘s work, is likely to be to discredit Claudius specifically, although some argument on philosophical evidences have suggested that Seneca was satirising the deification of all emperors instead than merely Claudius himself. The complexness of Seneca ‘s sarcasm has led to a figure of treatments about the purpose and the intent of the drama itself ; it is likely that the new epoch ushered in by Nero provided the footing for Seneca ‘s sarcasm. But there are besides sarcasms of more general, philosophical and political subjects that add grist to the factory. Seneca besides satirizes bad poets, poetic conventions and poetic linguistic communication, and utilises more conversational phrases, and even utilize these conversational phrases for the Gods themselves. The sarcasm therefore satirizes the physical stature of Claudius, but besides goes farther in its satirization of Roman civilization in general. The gaiety of the work makes it distinguishable from Seneca ‘s other work, which focuses alternatively on trying to delight Seneca ‘s many powerful disparagers and enemies. Overall, Seneca ‘s Apocolocyntosis provides us with a alone penetration into the mechanics of the Menippean sarcasm, as it provides us with the lone complete edition of such a drama. In add-on, while the drama is clearly shaped as a fictional history which attempts to jab merriment of Roman society and peculiarly of Claudius himself, it besides provides penetrations into the historical conditions that provoked the building of the drama itself. In add-on, the Apcolocyntosis besides provides us with a presentation of Seneca ‘s typical endowments for pun and elusive sarcasm, which provides us with a rich penetration into the more playful properties of this contradictory figure. While the elation of Seneca ‘s tone is unusual in the context of Seneca ‘s other plants, it besides masks more serious thematic content, notably on the abuse of rhetoric in order to acquire political addition, which is smartly satirized by the usage of Homeric citations and of historical c laims of legitimacy. The voluminous scholarship composed refering this drama has besides focussed on critical facets of the drama, notably in the map of the rubric, the mentions to Cucurbita pepos and calabashs, and of the precise map of Seneca ‘s analysis of Claudius, which radically alters by comparing to his earlier work. Overall, the penetrations offered, the considerable literary virtues of the work, and the critical treatments of this work have sparked a great trade of contention environing this unusual drama ; while argument continues over the genuineness, the quality and the authorization of this work, it besides provides us with alone penetrations into both the building of sarcasms in this manner, of the conversational manner used at the clip of its Hagiographas, and of the historical conditions that surrounded its creative activity. How to cite Write a critical appreciation of Senecas Apocolocyntosis, Essay examples

Marketing Intelligence and Business Research

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Intelligence and Business Research. Answer: Introduction Marketing intelligence is the data, which is reliable to an organizations markets, accumulated and analyzed for the purpose of accurate decision-making for determining the market opportunity and also the market development metrics. This study is helpful to identify what issues faced by the George Armani within the fashion industry. George Armani has a distinctive distrust of groups as well as some definite cyclical attitude towards the society, which may leave the manager feeling out of the step and also not able to participate in the activities or functions with his subordinates. According to Cacciolatti and Andrew Fearne (2013), it can be stated that overcoming a sense of aloofness or alienation from the staffs is considered as an essential task for Armani. Before discussing the issues faced by George Armani, it is necessary to discuss the operations and functions of the organization. The George Armani brand owned and operates by the creator and designer George Armani, who has earn ed much fame within the fashion industry by using its superior design, ideas, themes and also trends. It is known that it maintains a real luxury brand, the Aura. On the other hand, George is not getting the fame but also this is identified as one of the highly values fashion organization across the world with a value of approximately USD 3.3 billion. Industry analysis The industry is suffering from founders dilemma. As opined by Jensenet al. (2016), it can be mentioned that the main competitive advantage of this organization is the founder or the leader himself. In this context, the employees of the organization thought that neither the leader nor the organization would think of life after the founder. Therefore, it can be assumed that as the success of the organization depends on the existence of a single person, the organization requires to take proper action. In this connection, it can be mentioned that George Armani is the major eyeglasses manufacturing brand of Italy. The sales of this organization have added a major amount in the glass industry of Italy. According to Yanget al. (2015), the glass manufacturing industry faced several challenges and the industry faced the downstream bargaining power, energy prices. On the other hand, it can be observed that the glass manufacturing industry also has been suffering from the lack of security of su pply. In addition, Moutinho, Luiz, and Scott McCabe (2014) cited that non-European Union nations with the strong glass production have been enjoying non-tariff barriers like the certification schemes and the compulsory testing. The commission forces for the elimination of peak tariffs in the non-EU nations important for the Italian glass manufacturers. This would directly make a negative impact on the glass manufacturing company, George Armani. Furthermore, the European Union glass industry is represented by large EU based organizations. The production procedure is energy intensive as well as the manufacturers also faced higher startup costs and also tied distribution channels. Production facilities are assumed as the capital intensive as well as also require long investment cycles. In addition, Kanwal et al. (2017) pointed that the startup business would face another problem such as the existence of survival, as George Armani played the role of monopolist in the domestic market; therefore , the other organizations face the problem of survival. The Italian glass industry would face from the existence issue in case of expanding their business in the global market as there are limited investments by leveraging the strong brand equity. Consumer analysis George Armani is the largest Italian designer organization. As per the statement of Guarda and Santos(2015), it can be mentioned that the consumers of George Armani are highly well educated and also wealthier. On the other hand, it can be mentioned that Armani exchange is a brand focused and mainly targets the young generation. They are used to go outside for fun and significantly represent the brand. In the words of Venter, Peet and Rensburg (2014), the targeted consumers are mainly contemporary, modern, focused and fast. Therefore, it can be added that this glass-manufacturing brand is not for all of the consumers. They mainly target the young men, who are belonging from the age group of 18 years to 32 years. Armani exchange is a unique and different brand like the others. The glass manufacturing organization is mainly looking for teenage market, which are used to follow the celebrities or the latest trends. In this context, it can be mentioned that the teenagers are willing the replicate looks, what they have seen on their favorite celebrity. In order to increase the sales of the organization, George Armani used to take the help of social networking sites in case of launching of new products. It is known that the youth are highly connected with the social networking sites; therefore, these would be the best medium for launching of new product. On the other hand, in order to satisfy the consumers, this glass manufacturing company provides offers and discounts to the consumers. Moreover, in order to retain the consumers, George Armani has started consumer loyalty scheme (Heidariet al. 2015). This will be helpful to maintain a long term relationship with the consumers. Furthermore, it can b e depicted that the youth are highly looking for new and updated trends or models; therefore, the organization mainly aims to manufacture fashionable frames and glasses, which attract the consumers willingness to purchase the products (Heo, Jun and Sutherland 2013). The main purpose of this study is to identify the trend of the industry of glass manufacturing of European Union. In this context, this study has also highlighted the major issues or challenges faced by the glass manufacturing industry of European Union. The contribution and the role of George Armani organization into the industry would also be highlighted. To examine the impact of the operations of George Armani on the consumers To examine how the consumers will be satisfied with the products and the services of the glass manufacturing company. In order to identify the effect of the organizational service of George Armani on the consumers, this study has planned to collect both the primary as well as the secondary data. With the help of this technique, it would be able to identify the purpose of the study by using the objective. On the other hand, the research methodology is benefitted to identify the problems faced by the organization. In this purpose, this study has highlighted the targeted consumers and their willingness towards the organization. In order to satisfy the consumers, the organization has used several marketing strategy, which have discussed in this study significantly. In order to complete the study, the researcher has followed the deductive approach as it helps to the researcher to interpret and infer the conclusion of the interview. According to Heet al. (2015), it can be mentioned that the researcher does not need to consider or follow any new theory or approach. More specifically, it can be stated that this technique mainly focused to the research objectives. On the other hand, in order to derive the impact of the organizational operation on the consumers, positivism research philosophy would be considered. This is the highly structured research philosophy. Albayraket al. (2013) opined that in case of the collection of primary data, the researcher requires to collect more realistic and the accurate data. It is known that data collection is a process, which is gathered from several sources. The interviewer would conduct the interview technique in order to identify the review of the consumers regarding the organizational operation and the organizational behavior. In case of primary research, the researcher would make an interview on 2 consumers. They are belonging from the age group of 18 years to 25 years. The consumers are asked 3close ended questions, which would be helpful to derive the impact of the organizational operation of George Armani on the consumers. On the other hand, in case of secondary data collection, the researcher would collect the information from several newspapers, journals, articles etc. The researcher also collects information from the past researches. The previous researches would be helpful to get an idea on the organizational operation of George Armani group. In order to collect information, sampling technique is the best method to conduct the primary resear ch. Moreover, Rani, Jeya and Thangaraja (2016) cited that in order to infer the conclusion, the researcher would follow the simple random sampling technique. In this context, the researcher would not require to be biased and also needs to give equal chances to the consumers, so that they can participate in the interview method equally. In this purpose, the researcher sends 5 respondents through email, however, among them 2 consumers responses. Due to the shortage of time, the researcher would conduct the interview on 2 consumers. Instruments The respondents were bound between three responses. From the first question, it can be inferred that two responses highly agree that George Armani mainly focused to the product designing. As it is known that the targeted consumers of this organization are belonging from the 18years to 25 years and they are willing to purchase fashionable designs, therefore, the organization manufacture the latest designing models based on the latest trend. In this connection, it can be stated that the consumers are satisfied with the designing of the products. Based on the second question, it can be observed that the researcher have identified that the price of the products are comparatively higher from the other organizations. In this point, the consumers are willing to purchase the products in turn of affordable prices. Therefore, it can be assumed that the consumers can purchase products from other resources. In this context, it can be inferred that the total sales of George Armani would be decreased. Lastly, the third question is the reflection of the consumers towards the usefulness of consumer loyalty program of George Armani. After conducting the interview, it can be observed that two consumers are willing to the consumer loyalty program. Therefore, the organization would be able to retain consumers and also able to satisfy the consumers. On the other hand, the consumers are also willing to maintain the long term relationship with the organization. In this purpose, the organization has started several schemes in order to attract the consumers preferences. Secondary data analysis: As per the statement of Tandon et al. (2013), it can be mentioned that this glass manufacturing organization meets the needs of the target consumers by addressing the current product. This organization illustrates the elegance, style and the luxury. As the youth are willing to purchase the products from this organization, therefore, the sales and the revenue of this company has been increasing with the passage of time. This will in turn expand their business in the global market successfully. In this purpose, George Armani expands their business in the countries like India and China. On the other hand, Kursunluoglu and Emel (2014) pointed that Armani sets comparatively higher prices without compromising the quality of the products. Implication After conducting the primary research, it can be observed that the consumers are highly willing to purchase the products from George Armani group. In order to identify the effect of the organization, the researcher would conduct an interview on 2 consumers. In this purpose, it can be inferred that the youth consumers mainly seek to purchase latest trend and fashionable models of glasses. This would increase the sales of the organization. On the other hand, it can be seen that the consumers are also willing to the consumer loyalty program of the company. Therefore, the long term relationship with the consumers would be maintained. On the contrary, it can be mentioned that the price of the products is comparatively higher and sometimes this would make a negative impact on the consumers. Therefore, the managers of the organization require to take a new fair pricing policy in order to satisfy the consumers. References Albayrak, Tahir, ?afak Aksoy, and Meltem Caber. "The effect of environmental concern and scepticism on green purchase behaviour." Marketing Intelligence Planning 31, no. 1 (2013): 27-39. Cacciolatti, L. A., and Andrew Fearne. "Marketing intelligence in SMEs: implications for the industry and policy makers." Marketing Intelligence Planning 31, no. 1 (2013): 4-26. Guarda, Teresa Maria Gaspar dos Santos. "Pervasive business intelligence: a marketing intelligence framework proposal." (2015). He, Wu, Harris Wu, Gongjun Yan, Vasudeva Akula, and Jiancheng Shen. "A novel social media competitive analytics framework with sentiment benchmarks." Information Management 52, no. 7 (2015): 801-812. Heidari, Hasan Ali, Hiva Faroughi, and Mansoor Khaksar. "Examination of the Role of Competitive Advantage in the Relationship between the Marketing Intelligence and Export Performance of the Companies Located in the Industrial Town of Ilam City." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 62 (2015): 53-61. Heo, Jun, and John C. Sutherland. "The Effects of Marketing-Intelligence Gaps on Advertising Agency-Client Relationships: A Survey of US Media Planners." In American Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online), p. 7. American Academy of Advertising, 2013. Trainor, Kevin, Michael T. Krush, and Raj Agnihotri. "Effects of relational proclivity and marketing intelligence on new product development." Marketing Intelligence Planning 31, no. 7 (2013): 788-806. Jensen, Jonathan A., Lane Wakefield, Joe B. Cobbs, and Brian A. Turner. "Forecasting sponsorship costs: marketing intelligence in the athletic apparel industry." Marketing Intelligence Planning 34, no. 2 (2016): 281-298. Kanwal, Supreet, Harsh Vardhan Samalia, and Gurparkash Singh. "The Role of Marketing Intelligence in Brand Positioning: Perspective of Marketing Professionals." Journal of Cases on Information Technology (JCIT) 19, no. 1 (2017): 24-41. Kursunluoglu, Emel. "Shopping centre customer service: creating customer satisfaction and loyalty." Marketing Intelligence Planning 32, no. 4 (2014): 528-548. Moutinho, Luiz, and Scott McCabe. "Marketing intelligence and forecasting." (2014). Rani, R. Jeya, and A. Thangaraja. "The Role of Marketing Intelligence in Green Banking PracticesA Conceptual Approach." Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research 2, no. 9 (2016). Tandon, Deepak, Neelam Tandon, and Shri Havish Madhvapaty. "Marketing intelligence tools amongst Indian banksInternet marketing perspectives." ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research 3, no. 4 (2013): 20-32. Venter, Peet, and Mari Jansen Van Rensburg. "The relationship between marketing intelligence and strategic marketing." South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences 17, no. 4 (2014): 440-4470. Yang, Chin-Sheng, Cheng-Hsiung Chen, and Pei-Chann Chang. "Harnessing consumer reviews for marketing intelligence: a domain-adapted sentiment classification approach." Information Systems and e-Business Management 13, no. 3 (2015): 403-419.

Abu Dhabi Airport Information Technology

This paper aims at describing how Information Technology is helping or can help improve processes in Abu Dhabi Airport. This paper will begin by identifying key functional departments at the airport. After that, it will discuss the information technology employed in each department, and what needs to be done to enhance the current information communication technologies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Abu Dhabi Airport Information Technology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Abu Dhabi is an international airport located in the heart of Abu Dhabi city, and it is amongst the fastest growing airports in the world. (Qatar News, 2011). Statistics have indicated that Abu Dhabi International Airport has a growing passenger turnout, and new airline operators (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). In addition, the airport has realized a tremendous development in its infrastructure, and at the moment, the airport has embarked on an expans ion program that will cost close to $6.8 billion (AIC, 2011). This growth is attributed to the organization’s well structured functional departments. The Airport has a well established supportive services department. This department controls all the supportive services at the airport. Such supportive services include business services, where by passengers are given the opportunity to access internet services, fax and copying machines, and computers. Thus, business travelers can communicate with their business associates while at the airport. Other support services provided include banking, taxi services, medical services, baggage wrapping, catering, parking, and meet and assist services (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). This department relies heavily on the information and communication technologies present at the airport. The airport provides affordable phone services so that passengers can get in touch with members of the supportive team. Abu Dhabi airport also has Air Navigation ser vices department. This is another core department. It is involved in the provision of all the services offered while passengers are aboard (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). Thus, pilots, cabin crew, and the technical team are the key members of this department.Advertising Looking for essay on it? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Pilots take charge of the aircraft while cabin crew members take care of the needs of passengers on board. The technical team provides technical support to the pilots, and they form a link between the pilots, cabin crew and the security department at the airport. Pilots have air traffic control communication gadgets through which they communicate with the technical team within the airplane, and other departments at the airport. The passengers’ seats are fitted with call buttons, which are used by passengers to communicate with the cabin crew. Another department present at the airport is the Strategic and I nternational Affairs department. This department is responsible for the internationalization of the airport’s services (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). As such, the department is responsible for the negotiation of business deals with other airports across the globe. This department ensures that the airport can liaise with other international departments. The department’s personnel often visit selected airports in order to negotiate business deals. The department can enhance its services by embracing internet use. The internet can boost the department’s interaction with the rest of the world. On the other hand, the Safety Affairs department is charged with the responsibility of ensuring general safety at the airport. It is charged with the responsibility of preventing accidents at the airport (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). As a result, the department liaises with all departments at the airport. The department relies heavily on computer information technology. Thus, it is able to monitor all operations at the airport. This includes among others the use of CCTV cameras and sniffer dogs. Another key department at the airport is the Air Accident Investigation department. This department is charged with the responsibility of investigating air craft accidents linked to Abu Dhabi international airport. The airport has not realized any major accidents in the past ten years. Moreover, the airport has Security Affairs department. This department has a very crucial role. It is involved in the maintenance of the safety of passengers and the airport’s personnel (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). This department also manages the delicate role of immigration.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Abu Dhabi Airport Information Technology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, this department plays a significant role in the clearance of all passengers who pass through the airport. In addition, the department is involved with the inspection of all passengers to prevent the transportation of illegal materials. This department has state of the art technology used in the verification of travelers’ passports. The department’s personnel are well trained to detect illegal materials. However, the department should enhance the technology used to monitor the entry or exit of explosives and illegal drugs. Furthermore, the airport has a well established Procurement Department. This department is involved with the management of procurement goods, works and services (Procurement Department, 2012). Tender processes at the airport begin with expression of interest by potential contractors. This is then followed by request for proposals. According to the information on the airport’s website, information regarding expression of interest is usually posted on the airport’s official website, and in the major dailies in the United Arab Emirates. The current information and communicat ion technology used by the Procurement Department can be improved in a number of ways. First, the department should embrace sound online marketing technologies so as to tap international clients. Secondly, the department should provide detailed information on its website with regard to its services. This can be achieved by providing state of the web tools that can be used by potential clients to post their tender requests. Such web tools should enhance the processing of tender requests. Lastly, the airport has established a Planning and Development Department. The department’s core functions include planning the airport’s activities and development programs (Abu Dhabi News, 2012). The department relies heavily on computer technology in the generation of intended airport’s development programs. All stakeholders are involved in decision making before a new program is introduced. The current communication system requires all stake holders to be present before a dec ision is reached.Advertising Looking for essay on it? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This sometimes leads to delays especially when some stakeholders fail to attend the scheduled meetings. Therefore, the department should embrace the use of internet based services such as Skype to organize stake holders meetings. References Abu Dhabi News (2012). Flying from the Best Airport in the Middle East. Web. Airports Council International (ACI). (2011). Abu Dhabi International Airport. Web. Procurement Department. (2012). Procurement and Tenders. Web. Qatar News. (2011). Etihad Airways to Ho Chi Minh City. Web. This essay on Abu Dhabi Airport Information Technology was written and submitted by user Derr1ck to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

To Study of the Law of the Constitution The WritePass Journal

To Study of the Law of the Constitution Introduction To Study of the Law of the Constitution IntroductionConclusionRelated Introduction A V Dicey described the rule of law as â€Å"one of two pillars upon which our constitution rests, the other being the sovereignty of parliament.† [1] This immediately brings emphasis to the view that ourUK constitution values the rule of law as well as considering parliamentary sovereignty as a supreme component of our Country’s constitution. The question however, lies in whether parliament has the absolute power to ‘legally legislate on any topic whatever which, in the judgment of parliament, is a fit subject for legislation,’ or conversely, a contradictory argument is much more valid. First of all, I will take Her Majesty’s words of enactment into account, which conferred that,   our present assembly of Parliament, has the authority to create legislation with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. This implies Parliament has the power to â€Å"make or unmake law whatever, and no body or person is recognised by the Law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of parliament,†[2] as Dicey well defined in his rule of law theory. Evidently, this supports the basis of my argument that Parliament has the sovereignty of power to create or dismiss law and no Political MP or common man, has the capacity to do so. Furthermore, there is much to support the view that the doctrine of supremacy lies in the hands of Parliament. The courts ascribe Acts of Parliament to have legal force which â€Å"other instruments for one reason or another fall short of being an Act of Parliament.† This superlatively supports Dicey’s statement above â€Å"no power which, under the English constitution, can come into rivalry with the legislative sovereignty of parliament.’ However, in terms of rivalry the courts referred to treaties entered under prerogative powers, by-laws created by a local authority, order in council, the Scottish parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly. Yet, it is justifiable to a very large extent, Parliament has unlimited power in the constitutional affairs of the United Kingdom. The Septennial Act (1715) which Parliament passed to â€Å"extend the life of parliament from three to seven years.† [3] Furthermore, the amendments which Parliament made through the Parliament Acts (1911) and (1949) to hold â€Å"a general election at least every five years.†[4] As well as, amending its own composition and bills as set out in the 1911 Act. These were the initial legal changes which gave rise to Parliament’s supremacy to legislate on any matter which is ‘a fit subject for legislation.’ Additionally, through the Act of Settlement (1701) and the Abdication Act (1936), Parliament made a remarkable change through the succession of the throne. The courts who have a role to interpret and apply Acts of Parliament affirmed that only Acts have legal force. Dicey’s first principle on the rule of law can be supported from above. In addition, Parliament being able to legislate retrospectively strengthens the view that ‘parliament can make or unmake any law it chooses.’ In the case Burmah Oil co v Lord Advocate (1965)[5] Parliament exercised its power to introduce another Act, the War Damages Act (1965) as the decision to overturn the House of Lords decision became crucial to prevent theUK suffering a huge financial drain, at the time of the World Wars.   This exemplifies Parliament being able to legislate with no legal limits as such. Thereby, supporting Dicey’s statement above. Now I will bear relevance to Dicey’s second principle which states â€Å"Courts are constitutionally subordinate to parliament.†Ã‚   The rationale for courts to be constitutionally lower than parliament is that Bills do not have legal force, it is Acts that do. Therefore, the stages that a bill must pass to become an Act clearly imply Parliament has greater supremacy, on the grounds, the courts cannot make law. However, they do have the authority to enforce law which has already been an Act. Moreover, the Enrolled Act rule legally permits the courts to amend legislation which parliament cannot change. The case Edinburgh and Dalkeith co V Wauchope (1842) [6]gave rise to this rule, as Wauchope set out to challenge Parliament as a result of the Private Act affecting Wauchope’s rights against the railway company. Challenge was rejected, as Parliament refused the introduction of the bill into parliament through standing orders of the House of Commons. The legislative authority of Parliament was evident in this case. On the other hand, Lord Reid in the case Madizimbamuto v Lardner Burke [1969] â€Å"it would be unconstitutional for the United Kingdom parliament to do certain things.†[7] The implication of this was clear, it would be unconstitutional for Parliament to legislate for other governments likeRhodesia. However, Parliament may do such things if it wishes to do so, as it is much evident the supreme power remains with parliament. This strongly supports Dicey’s rule of principle. On the contrary, Sir Glanville Williams (1947) argued that, â€Å"no statute can confer this power upon Parliament, for this would be to assume and Act on the very power that is to be conferred.† [8] This implicates statute cannot form sovereignty, opposing the the sovereignty parliament being able to legislate, both ‘prospectively and retrospectively, to be noted from above.’[9] Conversely, the dismissal which took place in the case Cheney V Conn (1968) due to illegal taxes, allowed Ungoed –Thomas J to proclaim â€Å"it is the law which prevails over every other form of law†[10] subsequently, ‘what the statute enacts cannot be unlawful because the statute is the law.’[11] In opposition of Dicey’s statement above, Dicey’s third rule of principle highlights certain limitations on the legislative power of Parliament. In the view that, ‘Parliament cannot bind its successors or be bound by its predecessors.’ Primarily because Parliamentary sovereignty is protected by two doctrines, express repeal and implied repeal.   Implied repeal in context for instance, states that if there were to be a conflict between two Acts, one previous and one repealed, then the rule applies that the last of two Acts passed at separate times, it is the most recent Act which must be obeyed. Therefore, Parliament must cohere to this rule. However, the key limitations which have been argued to challenge the sovereignty of parliament are the Human Rights Act [1998], Devolution ofScotlandandWales, the Treaty of Union (1707) and the European Communities Act (1972). The Human Rights Act [1998] seeks to protect human rights against legislation by later Parliaments. So it could be justified as a limitation for Parliament to pronounce a lawful decision such as ‘all blue eyed babies should be killed.’ Also, since the devolution of the UK Parliament[12], devolving powers toScotland as ruled in the Scotland Act (1998), Northern Ireland Act (1998) and Government of Wales Act (1998), this may contradict Dicey’s statement above. AsWales,Scotland andNorthern Ireland have the power to legislate on certain matters such as Education-student tuition fees; this possibly means ‘Parliament cannot legislate on any topic whatever’ unless, the powers were to be taken away, which could in theory happen. Seeing as,Westminster still holds the supreme power. Yet, the process is likely to be time consuming. Additionally, it could be reasoned that Parliament’s powers have been limited since the Treat of Union (1707) came into existence. On the basis that, the treaty of union was introduced to unite the two kingdomsEnglandandScotland, with the belief that, there was a union of equals.   Implying thatScotlandis somewhat equal toEngland. They could argue, the Treaty of Union is a higher form of law and may prevail over inconsistent Acts of Parliament. In historical context, the sovereignty of Parliament was seen in a different light as it is today. Coke CJ in the case of Bonham (1610) 8 co Rep [13] asserted that, Common Law was a higher form of law than an Act of Parliament. However, this judgment was formed when the monarch had greater legislative and judicial power than Acts of Parliament. Since 1714, there has been a reversal of constitutional affairs; consequently this justifies the power of parliament to ‘legally legislate on any topic whatever, which is a fit subject for legislation.’ Conclusion In conclusion, after evaluating all the limitations above, it would be rightly justified to say that a majority would agree that they were political rather than legal limits imposed on parliament’s sovereignty of power. Thereby, with the supported arguments above, it seems right to agree on A V Dicey’s statement above as there was greater validity.

Morality of Active Euthinasia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morality of Active Euthinasia - Essay Example Active euthanasia is sometimes called mercy killing whereas the physicians end the patients’ life directly, such as by giving lethal injection. The passive one is delivered by ending any life sustaining treatment. The result of both cases is the same, the death of the patients. However, some can argue that the former is caused by the physician while the latter by the disease. The conventional doctrine is that there is such an important moral difference between the two that, although the latter is sometimes permissible, the former is always forbidden. (Rachels 78) In my opinion, the morality of active euthanasia actually depends on the situation. In some rare cases whereas the patient suffers extreme pain and has absolutely no hope of surviving, active euthanasia, although it is illegal, can be seen as an act of kindness. This mercy killing is, in some sense, even more compassionate than passive euthanasia, whereas the physicians forgo the life sustaining treatment and let the patient suffer to death. However, in most cases, active euthanasia is absolutely immoral. When there is a chance for the patients to recover, no matter how tiny the chance is, mercy killing is obviously not the act of compassion. Even if the patient voluntarily ask for it, as long as the chance to recover is there, active euthanasia is still morally wrong. The morality of active euthanasia in individual cases can depend on the situation. The morality in the policy level, however, cannot depend on the situation. The question whether it should be legalized or not should only be answered after considering carefully the potential consequences. If active euthanasia is legalized, it will definitely generate good and bad consequences. Whether the good ones outweigh the bad ones or the opposite should be the main concern to answer the question of legalization. Let’s deal with the good outcomes first. According to Dan W. Brock, if active euthanasia is legalized, it means

War on Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

War on Terrorism - Essay Example President Bush’s war on terrorism is counterproductive because it seems that the cost of freedom from terror is the freedom of privacy, It is questionable as to what the war on terrorism actually is. The Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) defined war as, â€Å"A conflict among political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude† (War). Bush stated that war was declared on terrorism, but no specific countries or political groups were actually named in the declaration. The fact there were no specific guidelines set at the declaration of war has lead many to wonder if Bush’s war on terror is even legal. Now, in 2006, Bush’s continuing campaign leads many to wonder is this war on terrorism is to be a repeat of the Vietnam War. U.S. President Bush has utilized a series of legal loopholes and political strategies to keep a legally questionable war and freedom infringing policies going for almost 5 years. Lovinger and Scott (n.d.) stated that Bush’s war is illegal because: If so many aspects of Bush’s war on terrorism are illegal, how does he get away with it? Even though the Bush administration refers to its acts as part of the War on Terrorism, the campaign is not technically a war, but rather a Use of Force Resolution. The key difference in these two terms is the president’s ability to extend military force. In an article from Slate, Lithwick (2001) described the difference as, â€Å"While the wide-open wording of the joint resolution appears to give congressional approval to any act of war undertaken by President Bush, it contains several important checks on his powers† (What Sort of War, n. pag.). These checks were put in place to prevent a repeat of the Vietnam War by requiring the U.S. President to confer with Congress when implementing any new military actions. Before going into the details describing any negative impacts of the War on Terror, it is important to note that if there were no positive aspects, the U.S. would

The Emergence of a Superpower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Emergence of a Superpower - Essay Example He ended U.S isolationism policy by acting aggressively in foreign matters without even the consent or support of the congress (Oakes 89). Roosevelt also developed a powerful and large navy that was significant to the U.S defense since it served as strong restraint to American foes. Woodrow Wilson as the president of the U.S abandoned the imperialist policy implemented by Theodore Roosevelt and came up with a new means of America dealing with other nations. Despite the fact that he believed that it was the duty of America to change the world, he believed that everybody in the globe had the right to self determination in that they were to decide on the type of government they wanted (Oakes 148). In order to increase U.S influence abroad, Wilson aimed to protect democracy. For instance, Wilson was forced to invade Nicaragua in order to assist the rebels who had ousted a totalitarian regime. Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy was overshadowing domestic or local policy because he was more concerned about what was happening in Europe. After refusing to support stabilization of global currency in 1933, he stabilized the dollar in 1934 and started to assist Great Britain and France to stabilize their currencies and keep them from totalitarian nations (Oakes 96). Just like Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt believed that U.S had to develop strong army in order to quarantine aggressive nations such as Germany and Japan. In order, he developed the good neighbor policy, which was a re-examination of the U.S policy in Latin America. During Franklin Roosevelt’s term as president, Latin America was the U.S area of interest, thus, it was significant to make American presence felt in the area (Oakes

Analysing Biopower And Agency Linked To Euthanasia Philosophy Essay

Analysing Biopower And Agency Linked To Euthanasia Philosophy Essay Human life can be perceived as a way of being that ensures autonomy upon the physical body. However, state authority, surveillance and law are moderating this individual freedom and moral decision-making. Nowadays, euthanasia remains a highly controversial and sensitive medical and ethical issue. My research and final thesis for the master will focus on the narratives of people, residing in houses for the elderly in Antwerp, Belgium. Emphasis is placed on whether upcoming media interest in euthanasia influences elderly thoughts and decision making regarding assisted suicide. Wishes about end-of-life decisions, opinions of relatives and law interpretations of medical practitioners are being investigated in this study. And finally the way governments authority influences peoples agency in end-of-life decision making. With this paper, I intend to widen my knowledge of two main anthropological topics linked to the subject of euthanasia, namely biopower and agency. Biopolitics concern the political implications of social and biological facts and phenomena, with political choice and action directly afflicting all aspects of human life. Agency, on the other hand, can be seen as an alternative attempt to maintain autonomy in ones own life and death, under the influence of the states disciplining interference. Both forms of power are studied in this paper, and their interrelationship is critically viewed. Keywords: Biopolitics, Agency, Power, Health, Ethics 2. The history of biopower In Foucaults The Birth of Biopolitics (Lectures at the College de France, 1978-1979), an analysis of liberalism and neoliberalism as forms of biopolitics is presented. According to Foucault, biopower can be perceived as a technology of power, intending to manage individuals as a group. This political technology differentiates because of its ability to control populations as a whole, and is thus essential to the development of modern capitalism (Foucault, 2008). This shift from the managing and micro-controlling of individuals to disciplining a population emerged in the eighteenth-century. Even though this seems as an opportunity to gain more natural rights and liberty for individuals, this liberal government no longer limits state power because of the incompatible tension between freedom and security (Foucault, 2008, McSweeney, 2010). As Foucault argued, liberalism concerns the biopolitical. For liberalism promotes an imagined self-governing of life through a certain capture and disc iplining of natural forces of aggression and desire within the framework of a cultural game, governed by civil conventions and instituted laws (Foucault, 2004). In this conception, life is as much of a cultural construct as is law, although the naturalness of life, thought of as innately self-regulating, is always insinuated. Both in economics and in politics, liberalism rejoice in an order that is supposed to emerge naturally from the clash of passions themselves (Milbank, 2008: 2). Rabinow and Rose seek to enlighten the developments in Foucaults concept of biopower, which serves to bring into view a field comprised of more or less rationalized attempts to intervene upon the vital characteristics of human existence (Rabinow, 2006: 196-197). Foucault distinguishes two poles of biopower: the first one focuses on an anatomo-politics of the human body, seeking to maximize its forces and integrate it into efficient systems. The second pole entails biopolitics of the population, focusing on the species body, the body imbued with the mechanisms of life: birth, morbidity, mortality and longevity (Rose, 2007: 53). Thus, according to Rabinow and Rose, we can use the term biopolitics to embrace all the specific strategies and contestations over problematizations of collective human vitality, morbidity and mortality; over the forms of knowledge, regimes of authority and practices of intervention that are desirable, legitimate and efficacious (Rabinow, 2006: 197). In order to clarify the concept of biopower, three elements must be included. The first one comprises one or more truth discourses about the vital character of living human beings, and an array of authorities considered competent to speak that truth. Secondly, the strategies for intervention upon collective existence in the name of life and health, and lastly, modes of subjectification, through which individuals are brought to work on themselves, under certain forms of authority. Biopolitical analyses also explore how poverty, body commodification, and notions of risk and control are lived and shaped by the intersections of state imperatives, local traditions, and the global reach of medicine (Kaufman, 2005: 320). It is been inextricably bound up with the rise of the life sciences, the human sciences and clinical medicine. It has given birth to techniques, technologies, experts, and apparatuses for the care and administration of the life of each and of all, from town planning to heal th services (Rose, 2007: 54). Nevertheless, we need to be untrammeled by obligations to authoritative states and international bureaucracies, as most crimes against humanity are committed by powerful states (Farmer, 2004: 242). 2.1 Criticism Rabinow and Rose are critical of Agamben (1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2005) and Negri (2000), who suggest that contemporary biopower takes the form of a politics that is fundamentally dependent on the domination, exploitation, expropriation and, in some cases, elimination of the vital existence of some or all subjects over whom it is exercised (Rabinow, 2006: 198). The following fallacies in Agamben and Negris work are mentioned. Firstly, their use of biopower as a totalizing term in which biopower serves to secure the dominion of a global form of domination that they term Empire (ibid.: 198). Rabinow and Rose agree that it is necessary to extend the scope of traditional analyses of economic exploitation and geopolitics in order to grasp the way in which the living character of human being is being harnessed by biocapital. However, this expanded concept of biopower leaves little room for analytical work. Therefore, Rabinow and Rose agree that this version of the concept of biopower is an tithetical to that proposed by Foucault because it can describe everything but analyse nothing. Secondly, Agambens view of the Holocaust as the ultimate exemplar of biopower and use of the obscure metaphor of homo sacer. According to Rabinow and Rose: the power to command under threat of death is exercised by States and their surrogates in multiple instances, in micro forms and in geopolitical relations. But this does not demonstrate that this form of power commands backed up by the ultimate threat of death is the guarantee or underpinning principle of all forms of biopower in contemporary liberal societies. Nor is it useful to use this single diagram to analyse every contemporary instance of thanatopolitics (ibid.: 201). And lastly, Agambens interpretation of contemporary biopolitics as the politics of a State modelled on the figure of the Sovereign, and of all forms of biopolitical authority as agents of that Sovereign. Rabinow and Rose believe that this interpretation fails to notice the dependence of sovereign rule on a fine web of customary conventions, reciprocal obligations and the like in a word, a moral economy [] sovereign power is at one and the same time an element in this moral economy and an attempt to master it (ibid.: 200). States can only rule because of the ways in which they manage to connect themselves to the ever-growing apparatuses of knowledge collection and problematization that formed alongside the state apparatus since the 19th century. Furthermore, in the analysis of biopower, Rabinow and Rose focus on three topics that they believe condense some of the biopolitical lines of force active today. The first one embraces race. At one point, the link between biological understandings of distinctions among population groups and their socio-political implications seemed broken and race was crucial as a socio-economic category, a mark of discrimination and a mode of identification that remained extremely salient socially and politically, from the allocation of federal funds to the manifestations of identity politics. However, at the turn of the new century, race is once again re-entering the domain of biological truth, viewed now through a molecular gaze (ibid.: 206). A new molecular deployment of race has emerged seemingly almost inevitably out of genomic thinking. Funding for research in DNA sequence variations has been justified precisely in biopolitical terms, as leading towards and ensuring the equal health of the pop ulation in all or some of its diversity (ibid.: 207). Rabinow and Rose believe that new challenges for critical thinking are raised by the contemporary interplay between political and genomic classifications of race, identity politics, racism, health inequities, and their potential entry into biomedical truth, commercial logics and the routine practices of health care (ibid.: 207). The second topic entails reproduction. Since the 1970s, sexuality and reproduction have become disentangled, and the question of reproduction gets problematized, both nationally and supra-nationally, because of its economic, ecological and political consequences. Reproduction has been made into a biopolitical space in which an array of connections appear between the individual and the collective, the technological and the political, the legal and the ethical (ibid.: 208). According to Rabinow and Rose the economy of contemporary biopolitics operates according to logics of vitality, not mortality: while it has its circuits of exclusion, letting die is not making die (ibid.: 211). They argue that changes are about capitalism and liberalism and not eugenics. And lastly; genomic medicine. Rabinow and Rose narrate how the first biopolitical strategies concerned the management of illness and health and how these provided a model for many other problematizations operating in terms of the division of the normal and the pathological. This model was popular in liberal societies because they establish links between the molecular and the molar, linking the aspiration of the individual to be cured to the management of the health status of the population as a whole (ibid.: 212). Whether or not genomic medicine will lead to the creation of a new regime of biopower depends on both the uncertain outcome of genomic research itself, and on contingencies external to genomics and biomedicine. If the new model of genomic medicine were to succeed, and to be deployed widely, not only in the developed but also in the less developed world, the logics of medicine, and the shape of the biopolitical field, would be altered. New contestations would emerge over acc ess to such technologies and the resources necessary to follow through their implications. Additionally, as the forms of knowledge generated here are those of probability, new ways of calculating risk, understanding the self and organizing health care would undoubtedly emerge (Rabinow, 2006: 214). It is important to see that in this, the political and social implications are shaped more by the political side of biopolitics than the medical side, which is also mentioned by Vaughn (2010). Milbank (2008) is discussing this topic from an alternative point of view. Laws typically proceed from sovereign power granted legitimacy through a general popular consent as mediated by representation. In so far as such a procedure is taken to be normative, it can be seen as embodying a natural law for the origin of legitimate power from the conflicts in human life (Milbank, 2008: 5). To conclude; within the field of biopower, the term biopolitics is used to embrace all the specific strategies and contestations over problematizations of collective human vitality, morbidity and mortality, and can therefore be linked to the implementation of the euthanasia law. It includes a form of power expressed as a control that extends throughout the depths of the consciousnesses and bodies of the population (Rose, 2007: 54). At the end of life, ethnographers have focused their attention in the distinction between the social and biological death of the person and the practical and ethical quandaries created by the late modern ability and desire to authorize and design ones own death, and the ways in which death is spoken, silenced, embraced, staved off, and otherwise patterned (Kaufman, 2005: 319). The policy of euthanasia can thereby be seen as an array of authorities considered competent to judge a humans quality of life. In one sense, to say that the sovereign has a right of life and death means that he can, basically, either have people put to death of let them live, of in any case that life and death are not natural or immediate phenomena which are primal or radical, and which fall outside the field of power. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] In any case, the lives and death of subjects become rights only as a result of the will of the sovereign (Foucault, 1997: 24). 3. Agency In the previous chapter it has become clear that biopolitics can be perceived as an empowered discipline which reduces humans to mere life and biological statistics and processes. But has a human being no other destiny then to be at the mercy of the puppet master called the state? According to Mahmood (2005), it is quite clear that the idea of freedom and liberty as the political ideal is relatively new in modern history. Nor, for that matter, does the narrative of individual and collective liberty exhaust the desires with which people live in liberal societies? How do we then analyze operations of power that construct different kinds of bodies, knowledges, and subjectivities whose trajectories do not follow the entelechy of libratory politics? It encourages us to conceptualize agency not simple as a synonym for resistance to relations of domination, but as a capacity for action that specific relations of subordination create and enable (Mahmood, 2005, 22). Ortner believes agency and social power are very closely linked. In her article Power and Projects: Reflections on Agency (2006), she agrees with Ahearn that oppositional agency is only one of many forms of agency and that domination and resistance are not irrelevant, but that human emotions, and hence questions of agency, within relations of power and inequality are always complex and contradictory (Ortner, 2006: 137). She also mentions Giddens viewpoint that the concept of action is logically tied to that of power because of its transformative capacity, but that the transformative capacity of agents is only one dimension of how power operates in social systems. Ortner sees agency as part of her theory on serious games. The concept of serious games is grounded in practice theory, because as in practice theory social life in a serious games perspective is seen as something that is actively played, oriented toward culturally constituted goals and projects, and involving both routine practices and intentionalized action (129). However, it moves beyond this in looking at more complex relations, namely power, and more complex dimensions of subjectivity, those involving intentionality and agency. Although agency is considered universal, the agency exercised by different persons is far from uniform and differs enormously in both kind and extent. At the ethnographic level, however, what is at stake is a contrast between the workings of agency within massive power relations. In the most common usage agency can be virtually synonymous with the forms of power people have at their disposal, thereby implying that people in positions of power have a lot of agency. On the other hand, Ortner notes that the dominated too also have certain capacities, and sometimes very significant capacities, to exercise some sort of influence over the ways in which events unfold. Resistance is then also a form of power-agency (ibid.: 144). Thus, Ortner believes that the less powerful seek to nourish and protect by creating or protecting sites on the margins of power. These cultural projects can be simple goals for individuals, related to intention and desire, but many projects are full-blown serious games, involving the intense play of multiply positioned subjects pursuing cultural goals within a matrix of local inequalities and power differentials (ibid.: 144). Agency becomes the pursuit of (cultural) projects, but it is also ordinary life socially organized in terms of culturally constituted projects that infuse life with meaning and purpose. Hence, the agency of projects is not necessarily about domination and resistance; it is more about people having desires that grow out of their own structures of life. Ortner views this as people playing their own serious games in the face of more powerful parties seeking to destruct these. So this is not free agency, as the cultural desires or intentions [] emerge from structur ally defined differences of social categories and differentials of power (ibid.: 145). To Ortner, the point of making the distinction between agency-in-the-sense-of-power and an agency-in-the-sense-of-(the pursuit of) projects is that the first is organized around the axis of domination and resistance, and thus defined to a great extent by the terms of the dominant party, while the second is defined by local logics of the good and the desirable and how to pursue them (ibid.: 145). She considers that the agency which is involved in significant cultural end, is inevitably involving internal power-relations. Consequently, the agency of project intrinsically hinges on the agency of power. 3.1 The free individual? The ultimate purpose of the serious games theory is always to understand the larger forces, formations, and transformations of social life. The way Ortner sees social agents is that they are always involved in, and can never act outside of, the multiplicity of social relations in which they are enmeshed (ibid.: 130). Thus while all social actors have agency, because of their engagement with others in the play of serious games they can never be free agents. This social embeddedness of agents takes two forms; the first one being relations of solidarity among friends and family. The second form involves relations of power, inequality and competition. Ortner emphasizes that agency is never a thing in itself but is always a part of a process of what Giddens calls structuration, the making and remaking of larger social and cultural formations (ibid.: 134). Ortner admits the dangers of overemphasizing agency as this gives precedence to individuals over context and that too much focus on the agency of individuals and/or groups results in a gross oversimplification of the processes involved in history, thereby ignoring both the needs and desires of human beings and the pulse of collective forces and losing sight of the complex, and highly unpredictable, relationship between intentions and outcomes. However, Ortner believes the solution is the framework of practice theory within which neither individuals nor social forces have precedence, but in which nonetheless there is a dynamic, powerful, and sometimes transformative relationship between the practices of real people and the structures of society, culture, and history (ibid.:133). Furthermore, Ortner believes that agency can be said to have two fields of meaning, one being about intentionality and the pursuit of (culturally defined) projects), the other about power, about acting within relations of social inequality, asymmetry, and force (ibid.: 139). However, agency is never merely one or the other. Intentionality refers to a wide range of states, both cognitive and emotional, and at various levels of consciousness, that are directed forward toward some end (ibid.: 134). There exists a continuum between both soft and hard definitions of agency. In soft definitions, intentionality is not taken into account or not seen as being consciously held in the mind. However, what is then the distinction between agency and routine practices? On the other end of the spectrum, and Ortner shares this viewpoint, are those definitions of agency that emphasize the strong role of active intentionality in agency that differentiates agency from routine practices. Pre-modern thought did not conceive of agency solely in terms of individual freedom or else in terms of explicit representative sovereign action leaving a consequent problem of the apparent spontaneous patterning of the unplanned. This was because it did not think of an act as primarily an expression of freedom or as something owned by the individual or the sovereigns will or motivation. Instead, it paid more attention to the fact that every act is always pre-positioned within a relational public realm and in turn cannot avoid in some way modifying that realm, beyond anything that could in principle be consented to by the other, since the full content of any act is unpredictable (Milbank, 2008: 23). In conclusion, Ortner advocates that a distinction should be made between agency as a form of power (agency of power) and agency as a form of intention and desire, as the pursuit of goals and the enactment of projects (agency of projects). While they form two distinct fields of meaning, they are also interrelated as both domination and resistance are always in the service of projects. Thus, agency is a complex term whose senses emerge within semantic and institutional networks that define and make possible particular ways of relation to people, things, and oneself. Yet, intention , which is variously glossed as plan, awareness, willfulness, directedness, or desire is often made to be central to the attribution of agency. Although the various usages of agency have very different implications that do not all hang together, cultural theory tends to reduce them to the metaphysical idea of a conscious agent-subject having both the capacity and the desire to move in a singular historical d irection: that of increasing self-empowerment and decreasing pain (Asad, 2003: 78-79). 4. Conclusion After thoroughly having examined both the subjects of biopower and agency, and following the course Theory and Practice, awareness has grown once again in realizing how much ones been lived. Disciplining of the state interferes in such a wide array of human life; consisting of for example the school system, employment, medicines and ultimately death. It becomes clear that agency, performed in ways we have discussed in class, simply does not exist, because of the dominant and prevailing power of the state. It is not owned by social actors, but interactively negotiated and best seen as a disposition toward the enactment of projects. Despite of this negotiating, individuals never become free agents. This and other research shows that the law and the policy of euthanasia influencing peoples right to determine their own life. Today, most requests for euthanasia to end a life with dignity are denied, because people do not fit into the criteria and the so-called carefully requirements the l aw states. But to what extend do such institutions of power have the moral right to determine and monitor personal decisions of individuals? As Foucault (2003) states: the very essence of the right of life and death is actually the right to kill: it is at the moment when the sovereign can kill that he exercises his right over life. In my opinion people should maintain autonomy over their own life and death, and that the government should not intervene from above into such personal, subjective and fundamental choice. However, apart from the awareness of the fundamental mediation of the state, we remain political animals. In the end, everyone wants to pursuit personal goals in life, and in order to accomplish those, we cannot do much more than just put up with the fate of being obliged well-behaved citizen.

The Old Man And The Sea :: essays research papers

This book takes place in the past and is about an old man that loves fishing in the Gulf Stream. The old man was a thin with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck and had scars on his hands from handling the fishing rope. He taught this young boy how to fish and the boy loved him. He even brought him fishing many times. But the past 84 days the old man had not caught one fish. After 40 days of not catching anything the boy left and fished on another boat. The boy still loved him and brought him food and fresh bait to fish. The old man and the boy always talked about baseball because they both enjoyed it. One day, the old man was out on the water fishing. The weather was beautiful, the currents were perfect, and he saw all birds flying over the water. He knew he had to catch a nice fish today. He saw one of his poles have a jerk so he pulled it in and it was a bonita fish, which he was goin to use for a nice piece of bait later in the day. The day progressed and he saw a real big jerk on the pole. He jumped up and held it, but the fish was not hooked yet. A couple more jerks he felt, but the fish was not taking it. Finally the fish did and he could feel that it had to be a fish of enormous size. He could not pull it up because it was so strong. He had to hold onto it until the fish was tired and decided to come up. Then when it would come up, he would take his harpoon and stab it in the heart so it would die. This fish was taking all the strength out of him and it was pulling his skiff farther and farther out. Now he wished that the boy was here with him to help him pull it up. It was 3 days later until he finally got the fish to jump out of the water. When it did he saw that it was the biggest marlin he ever saw. To regain strength and pull the fish in, he had to eat the bonita that he caught. He ate all of it and it helped his hand that was cut from the

On Education and Human Nature Essay

This paper is a brief discussion of the relationship between education and human nature as seen in two varying viewpoints – that of Callicles (in Plato’s Gorgias) and Protagoras. The author is of the belief that education, albeit necessary in the survival of man in the long run, is a construct that contradicts the nature of man insofar as it restricts certain aspects of an individual. Such an assertion is partly leaning towards Callicles’ view of man as a creature whose appetites, so to speak, have to be met by virtue of a natural law. This position, along with Protagoras’ view of the nature of education – that it is essential in the cultivation of civic virtue – is key to the author’s argument that education is restricting. Callicles and Protagoras are similar in the sense that both are Sophists, with the slight distinction that the former is a student of Gorgias. Protagoras (outside of Plato’s dialogs) is known for his assertion that man is the measure of all things, and with that in mind it can be said that Callicles likewise adheres to that position, but with reservations – i. e. , the â€Å"better† man (discussions on definition aside) seems to be the measure of all things, not all men as they are. Aside from that, however, there is nothing more that links the two characters in Plato’s dialogs together. In fact, the views of the two thinkers with regard to the issue central to the discussion in this paper differ greatly. To begin, Callicles admonishes Socrates in their dialog for remaining to be a â€Å"student† of philosophy even as an adult. For Callicles, philosophy is not meant to be studied extensively nor lengthily; it is supposed to be indulged in by the youth, and only in moderation. He maintains that studying philosophy insofar as it is required by one’s education is acceptable; however, to still be engaged in philosophizing when one is already past the age of schooling is short of appalling since it causes one to deviate from leading a practical life. But what is this practical life that Callicles is in favor of? The answer to this question is implicit in the discourse that followed his expression of dislike towards Socrates’ way of life. Callicles purports that there is a natural justice in existence in the world that is being resisted, or even disregarded, by conventional justice. His notion of what is â€Å"just by nature† revolves around the idea that the â€Å"superior† amongst men is supposed to be a kind of usurper of property (if seen in a negative way) who – by virtue of his superiority – has the right to rule over the inferior of his kinsmen, and is entitled to a greater share in everything compared to lesser men. Such a concept, as seen in his exchange with Socrates, is completely in opposition to what is being forwarded in their society at the time – the idea that all men are essentially equal, and that what is just is for everyone to receive an equal share. This is the conventional justice Callicles is referring to. Socrates, in turn, and with his method of â€Å"acquiring knowledge† (Socratic method), manages to use his opponent’s argument against him. He began his argument with questions that asked for a clarification of definition – what is superior? Better? – and ended with the statement that with Callicles’ own words he managed to show that since many is superior to one, then rules of the many are superior; hence, these rules are rules of the better; hence, the rules of these â€Å"better† people are admirable by nature since they are superior; thus, natural justice is not at all in contradiction with conventional justice. As mentioned earlier, within the aforementioned exchange regarding natural and conventional justice lies Callicles’ perception of the practical life, or the kind of life an individual ought to lead. As with countless other thinkers, his argument is deeply rooted with the idea of happiness as the end to which man should direct his actions. What distinguishes him from Protagoras, though, is his assertion that happiness – and his concept of natural justice – can be attained only by the man who will succumb to his appetites, or in his own words: â€Å"the man who’ll live correctly ought to allow his own appetites to get as large as possible and not restrain them†. As for what he termed as â€Å"contracts of men† – which are to be assumed as the laws that maintain order in the society – Callicles is of the opinion that since these go against the grain with which man is made, they are to be considered â€Å"worthless nonsense†. For his part, Socrates of course attempted to dissuade Callicles by means of his conventional method of discourse and by introducing the analogy of the two men with jars, to no avail. Protagoras’ main point in the discourse relevant to this paper is that virtue is teachable. In support of his assertion, he recalled the account of the creation of man in Greek mythology to Socrates. He recounted that all creatures of the earth are made by the gods out of fire and earth, and that prior to giving them life Epimetheus and Prometheus were tasked to facilitate the distribution of abilities to them. Epimetheus volunteered to do it himself, with Prometheus inspecting the result. Epimetheus balanced the distribution with regard to â€Å"nonreasoning animals†. As for the human race, they were left bare, in the broadest definition of the word. Prometheus saw the problem and solved it by stealing from Hephaestus and Athena wisdom in the practical arts and fire and gave them to man, which proved fatal for him in the end. It is important to note that wisdom in the practical arts is wisdom intended for survival. It did not include political wisdom – needed to be able to establish and maintain the order of a city – as this is kept by Zeus. The result was catastrophic, as evidenced by the fact that later on Zeus sent Hermes to distribute justice and shame to all men for fear that the human race will be wiped out because of man’s inability to coexist in cities they founded to protect themselves from wild beasts that placed them in danger of annihilation. Political or civic virtue then – products of justice and temperance – became a divine law of which every man is knowledgeable, unlike other virtues that stem from other arts (such as architectural excellence). This myth was used by Protagoras to show that inherent in all men are the seeds of civic virtue that only need to be coaxed out with the aid of education and constant admonition from one’s elders (particularly parents). And since this is the case, all men are capable to be taught virtue, because all men are in possession of it. Protagoras made a second, this time stronger point to support his statement that virtue is teachable. He began his argument by saying that the difference between evils caused by natural processes and those resulting from the lack or absence of civic virtue is that the former elicits pity for the person in possession of such an evil. Contrary to that, when society is confronted with a person exhibiting the opposite of virtue – injustice, impiety, etc. – it is not pity that’s felt but anger. Protagoras maintains that this reaction is due to the fact that civic virtue is regarded as something that can be acquired through training, practice, and teaching. He pushes his position further by saying that reasonable punishment – administered to a person who has committed an act that goes against civic virtue – is undertaken as a deterrence, the implication of which is that virtue is and can be learned. To further support his claim, Protagoras went into a brief discussion of how virtue is taught to all men all their lives. As little children, he said, men are taught not only by their parents about civic virtue but also through the education they receive. From the literature they study to the songs they play, teachers are keen on inserting messages meant to teach them what is good and just. For Protagoras, it seems, education is not merely comprised of letters and literature. Music is likewise necessary, as well as sports. Music, as he said, makes people â€Å"gentler† – they become more â€Å"rhythmical and harmonious† with regard to their actions. And this is important because for him, â€Å"all of human life requires a high degree of rhythm and harmony†. As for sports, Protagoras mentions that parents â€Å"send their children to an athletic trainer so that they may have sound bodies in the service of their now fit minds†. Even after one’s formal schooling is over, education on the virtues does not stop. As Protagoras said: â€Å"When [the students] quit school, the city in turn compels them to learn the laws and to model their lives on them. They are not to act as they please. † He ended his side of the discussion with a rhetorical question of how anyone can wonder about virtue being teachable when it is given so much care and attention in man’s public and private life. It is crucial to analyze the discourse both thinkers had with Socrates, albeit briefly, to be able to shed light on the position of this paper that education is necessary but constricting. With regard to the nature of man, it is clear that there is a clear dividing line between the idea of Callicles and that of Protagoras. For the latter, what is good for man is that which is good for the society. In other words, there is no contradiction between natural and conventional justice relative to the nature of man and how he ought to live. For the former, man is essentially a being meant to be governed by his appetites, or desires. The conflict lies in the fact that conventional justice dictates that there be a certain level of order maintained in a society, order which will only come about through the citizens’ willingness to subject themselves to laws that promote equality and peaceful co-existence. For Callicles, such laws are human constructs, designed to restrain his idea of a superior man, and as such should not be observed. The author will go one step further and say that although there is no direct discussion on education in Callicles’ discourse with Socrates, it is clear that since education is a human construct, he sees it as but another shackle his superior man has to bear. Despite the fact that Protagoras is amenable to education – as it teaches civic virtue – there is a single line in the discourse that implies a completely different attitude. Protagoras told Socrates that when a man’s formal education is over, he is still forced to learn the laws and live by them, and that he is not to act as he pleases. This goes to show that despite the eagerness of his version of man to live a life of civic virtue, part of him still needs to be shackled by laws. It is these deductions – from both thinkers – that led the author to believe that inherent in every person is a part that yearns for unbridled freedom and power. Education is an institution that strives to inculcate in man the characteristics needed for him to be able to lead a peaceful life in a society – characteristics that lean towards suppressing one’s desires and call for a sort of balance between fulfilling one’s wants and respecting those of others. Despite the restrictive nature of education, the author believes that it is still a necessary burden people have to bear. Gone are the days when man kept to himself, when he foraged for food and did not maintain a life of permanence in any one place. With the evolution of man came the need for permanence, and with that co-existence with other men. It may be true that at the core of every man is a selfish desire for power – to have everything and more. But if all men were to be allowed to act according to their whims, the stories of old – where Zeus feared that the human race might be annihilated because of man’s inability to restrain his need for power – may come true after all. Survival today does not only entail meeting one’s basic needs. It is also about respecting other men, if one were to be anthropocentric about it. And this – along with other things that will aid the human race to persist for the next millennia – can only be reinforced by education.