European society Essay

The eighteenth century saw a revolution sweeping Western philosophy and a simultaneous upheaval and transformation in Western social life. In this period, the west, particularly the European society and state seemed cold and heartless. The dislocations of industrialization and urbanization exposed the weaknesses of the old system and stimulated a need for more innovative political institutions adaptable to the new socio-economic conditions. This desire for change was accompanied by strong nationalist sentiments. Initial Western nationalism was lauded as a liberal form of mass political engagement and allegiance to the secular power of emerging states, consistent with popular rule. Accordingly, its birth was announced with the representation, rights, and toleration of England’s constitutional monarchy and its banner the â€Å"liberty, equality and fraternity† of the French Revolution against absolutism. Many scholars estimate the birth of the American nation from 1750-1775 (see for example, Weeks, 1994). In the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, social, political, and economic turmoil and instability transformed many Western countries into the world’s most chaotic amphitheater of disruption. People who thought that their cultural and political borders were violated waged a series of insurrections and rebellions. This strong feeling and desire to fight violations of inalienable natural rights came to be known as nationalism. Nationalist feelings became a decisive power in the Romantic Era. In nationalism, the individual is â€Å"the very center, the arbiter, the sovereign of the universe† (Kedourie, 1993, p.17). The political implication of this was that self-determination constituted the supreme good. Later political philosophers building upon Kantian ideas proposed that: humanity is naturally divided into nations; each nation has its peculiar character; the source of all political power is the nation; for freedom and self-realization, people must identify with a nation; loyalty to the nation-states overrides other loyalties; and the primary condition of global freedom and harmony is the strengthening of the nation-state (Smith, 1983). In the early years of the twentieth century, the striking similarity displayed by the nationalist movements throughout Southeast Asia derived from their common inspiration in Western ideology and their largely identical economic bases – the former guiding the intellectuals who lead the movements in their respective countries; the latter supplying the driving power from the masses. However, it must be pointed out that nationalist movements in this region did not have the support of more than a very small fraction of the native peoples, who for the most part are not aware that the question of autonomy even exists, and whose major concern is simply survival (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). In Southeast Asia, native nationalism has been the forced growth of a transplanted Western seed. In spite of the centrifugal forces of a plural society artificially bound together solely by the profit motive, nationalism has taken root among the indigenous peoples. It has penetrated most deeply among the native peoples who are united by a common language, pride of race and glorious historical traditions (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). Thus, â€Å"Within each group, nationalism has proved to be a cohesive force, welding people who were until its advent hardly conscious of the existence of compatriots beyond their own village, absorbing disparate religious and regional loyalties, and nationalizing such international influences as they experienced. However, from the perspectives of Southeast Asian countries as individual units, nationalism has proved a disruptive force. It has made each racial group more self-conscious, more prone to assert itself at the expense of other groups, and either tends toward a disastrous break-up of the present mosaic by some vigilant outsider playing upon this grave weakness in the body politic and social, or leads toward the forced assimilation of the weaker minorities by the most powerfully placed group. † (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942, p. 144) The establishment of national unity through was essential ingredient in the emergence of democracy. According to Marx (2003), nationalism is an essential prerequisite to democracy, since â€Å"it establishes the boundaries of the community to which citizenship and rights are then accorded, without which democracy is impossible† (p. 31). And the birth of nationalism was related to the political baptism of the lower classes whose empowerment helped bring democracy, with both nationalism and democracy thereby relatively and impressively inclusive (Marx, 2003). While many have witnessed nationalism and democracy going together, for the past few years, nationalism has been largely considered a disruptive force on the prospects for democratization. For one, national unity gives rise to the question of the state and its boundaries, which is believed to be more fundamental than that of regime type and that can disrupt debate about appropriate political forms. Nationalism in this sense is a disruptive force because it gives rise to issues regarding religious beliefs, language, and customs. Moreover, nationalism is largely seen as being potentially disruptive to achieving democratic outcomes since it stimulates mass mobilization which frightens authoritarian rulers, causing them to suppress activities that may stop the progress of the whole process of political change. The argument that nationalism is a disruptive force is validated by the experiences of southern Europe and Latin America. The disintegration of all of the federal Communist states along republican lines adds force to this argument; however, it is not as clear-cut as this in the post-Soviet experience. According to McFaul (2002), ten years after the collapse of communism, only Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are democracies, while the other republics are under regimes that are either facade democracies or nondemocratic. Nationalism was also seen as a disruptive force on the eve of the First World War. It played an important role in the rivalries between superpowers: Germany vs. France (revenge for 1871), Russia, vs. Austria-Hungary (expansion into Balkans), and Germany vs. Great Britain (control of seas, arms race). Nationalism was also a disruptive force regarding the emergence of unsatisfied nationalities: Poles, Irish, Serbs, Czechs, and many others In Poland, following the 1830 uprising, conservatives began to drift away from nationalism. By the 1850s, only few on the right were interested in talking about nationalism, which came to be seen as a dangerous term signifying disruption, disorder, and even revolution (Porter, 2000). Within Poland itself many nobles may have shared the hopes of the Czartoryski circle, but since they could do little to further such a cause, they retreated to apolitical lives (Porter, 2000). Not only were the conservatives uncomfortable with the politics of the patriotic activists, but they found it difficult to speak the language of national romanticism. â€Å"They might appreciate some of the poetry of Mickiewicz or Slowacki, but they soon discovered the disruptive force of the progressive historiosophies to which the concept of the nation had been so firmly linked. † (Porter, 2000, p. 31) References Emerson, R. , Mills, L. A. , and Thompson, V. (1942). Government and Nationalism in Southeast Asia. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations. Kedourie, E. (1993). Nationalism, 4th expanded ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Marx, A. W. (2003). Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press. McFaul, M. (2002). The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World. World Politics 54(1), 212-44. Porter, B. (2000). When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth Century Poland. New York: Oxford University Press. Weeks, W. E. (1994). American Nationalism, American Imperialism: An Interpretation of United States Political Economy, 1789-1861. Journal of the Early Republic, 14, 485-495.

Greatest Good for the Greatest Number

Michael Sandel lectures on justice throughout two episodes. Episode 1 Part one â€Å"The Moral Side of the Murder† has three cases that demonstrate how to recognize moral selflessness and cope with consequences. These cases also show us how they move us to act and the opportunities that exist from those actions. The moral rightness of these cases can maximize consequentiality moral reasoning and can also locate morality in certain duties and rights which is categorical reasoning. In the first case driving the trolley and killing one worker rather than five is not considered an act of murder according to students from Sandels discussions.The majority expressed consequentialist moral reasoning. As an onlooker on a bridge looking at the trolley, some students would not push a fat man over the bridge to save the five workers, they said that the act would be committing murder; therefore the consequences are complex and categorical. When asked about a surgeon removing five organs fr om one healthy individual to save the lives of five other individuals, the majority of the students did not agree to be morally correct. In this example the greatest number was compromised because of moral reasoning.Episode 1 Part two, â€Å"The Case for Cannibalism† is a real life story that asks the question if the four survivors of the Mignonette ship were morally justified. Brooks, Dudley, Stevens and Parker had been on a life boat for 19 days. Parker’s decision to drink the salt water put him in a vulnerable position that ended his life by cannibalism to save the rest. By day twenty-four, Brooks, Dudley and Stevens were rescued and arrested. The majority of the students agreed to try them while the minority asked the question to what degree of necessity would exonerate them.It was discussed if the three survivors would benefit the community or be a danger to society for being cannibalistic. The key point by Sandel and the students was that adding consent would mak e a difference in the trial. Kantian ethics was preferred instead of Bentham’s utilitarianism theory. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill have different proposals on utilitarianism. â€Å"Jeremy Bentham identified good consequences with pleasure, which is measured in terms of intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent.John Stuart Mill argued that pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity and that the highest good involves the highest quality as well as quantity of pleasure. † There is no agreement on which theories count as consequentiality under this definition therefore skepticism will always exist. Episode 2 Part One â€Å"Putting a Price Tag on Life† was focused on Bentham’s theory of act-utilitarian. Cost benefit analysis was a huge focus on this topic. This analysis involves placing a dollar value to stand for utility.The first case took place in Czech Republic encouraging the citizens to smoke. The company Phil ip Morris conducted a cost benefit analysis and had the highest gain which included early death from smoking to benefit the government or other people. Decision to smoke was a qualitative risk factor since there was known probabilities. This objection to utilitarianism fails to respect individual and minority rights and is not possible to total a dollar value on human life. Another study that examined placing a dollar value on human life, was done by psychologist Edward Thorndike.He conducted a survey in the 1930’s for the purpose of placing a dollar amount with various scenarios. The choices of living in a farm in Kansas, pulling off a front tooth, cutting off a toe and eating a worm all had a value. The majority favored as the highest pleasure to live in a farm in Kansas. Episode 2 Part Two â€Å"How to Measure Pleasure† discusses the levels of pleasure. The examples of choosing the highest pleasure between Shakespeare, Simpsons or Fear Factor were based on culture a nd education. Students reasoned that Shakespeare voted the highest because this is presented throughout the school years.But if given a choice between Shakespeare, seasons of the Simpsons as the only pleasure for life, majority ruled I favor of Shakespeare for intellect purposes. The Simpsons for entertaining purposes were voted second and Fear Factor last. To test the highest pleasure, people would have to experience all to pick the very best. John Stuart Mill said that utility is the only standard of morality therefore you must experience both pleasures. The similarities between Episode 1 and 2, was that categorical moral reasoning was preferred.Circumstances dictated those whom decided that the greatest good was for the greatest number. In contrast, more utilitarian and consequential moral reasoning emphasis was found in Episode 1 than in episode 2. The moral of the story that philosopher Bentham suggested was that â€Å"Here in life and in death is a man who adhered to the prin cipals of his philosophy. † References http://www. questia. com/read/1E1-utilitar/utilitarianism http://onbiostatistics. blogspot. com/2010/02/cost-benefit-analysis-put-dollar-value. html

Book of Sand Essay

1.The book had affected the narrator to a great extent. At first he did not care for the book, until the stranger selling Bibles said â€Å"the number of pages in this book is literally infinite. No page is the first page; no page is the last†. This intrigued the narrator’s mind. After he had bought the book, he began investigating. He noted down things in the book. He began losing sleep from the investigation and when he actually got sleep, his dreams were about the book. As it states in the short story, â€Å"At night, during the rare intervals spared me by insomnia, I dreamed of the book†. He had grown an obsession with the book, which altered his lifestyle and forced him to hide the book in the library. 2.The literary device that the author uses to compare the book and himself to was a metaphor. When the narrator said, â€Å"it was cold consolation to think that I, who looked upon it with my eye and fondled it with my ten flesh-and-bone fingers, was no less monstrous than the book†, this proved that he was comparing himself to the monstrous book. The meaning and significance of this metaphor states that he was no different from the book. His mind was now as dense and endless. The book carried infinite secrets and toyed with its readers. As it stated in the short story, â€Å"I felt it was a nightmare thing, an obscene thing, and that it defiled and corrupted reality†. The narrator felt that the deadly secrets that emanated from the book were all getting to his head. His fear of infinite evil caused him to hide the demonic book and run away from the eternal thoughts. 3.In the short story, â€Å"The Book of Sand† by Jorge Luis Borges, the narrator states that he had become a â€Å"prisoner of the book†. This is evidently shown when he obsessively investigates the book. He barely slept because all he could think about was the book, and he barely left his house. As it’s shown, â€Å"I had but few friends left, and those I stopped seeing. A prisoner of the book, I hardly left my house†. He became isolated and trapped in the secrets and mystery of the book. 4.The salesman’s previous warning to the narrator about the book as he stated, â€Å"Look at it well. You will never see it again†, had come true in this short story. The book was infinite, full of endless amounts of illustrations and had no beginning or end. When the narrator said, â€Å"They never repeated themselves†, this proved that it was impossible for anyone to revisit the same page. Therefore the salesman’s previous warning had come true. 5.The author of the short story, Jorge Luis Borges, illustrates the idea of giving up the things we should have valued but instead take for granted for the sole purpose of pleasing one’s obsession to obtain things that will end up destroying humanity regardless of the fulfillment of curiosity. In the beginning, the narrator didn’t seem to care about The Book of Sand. It was not until the salesman had said that it had infinite pages that caught the attention of the narrator. He now wanted the book and would pay a great amount for it. When the narrator offered a trade, â€Å"I will offer you the full sum of my pension. . . and Wyclif’s black-letter Bible†, it proved that he would give up his valuables to get a hold of that book, which little did he know would actually destroy him. He grew an obsession for the book. As it states in the story, â€Å"At night, during the rare intervals spared me by insomnia, I dreamed of the book†. This provides evidence of the fact that he had been so extremely fixated on the diabolical book that even when his body was asleep, his mind was still obsessing over it. When he realizes the mistake he made, giving into his curiosity, he decides to get rid of the monstrous book. However at this point he had already lost his friends and the things he valued. The book had taken up a great extent of his time that could not be taken back, because unlike The Book of Sand, his life was not infinite. 6.The literary device used is a metaphor. I think this because when the narrator says â€Å"the best place to hide a leaf is in the forest†, he is referring to a way to hide The Book of Sand. At first he considered destroying the evil thing. Although he thought that the â€Å"burning of an infinite book might be similarly infinite, and suffocate the planet in smoke†. Therefore he thought to hide the book in plain sight. Hiding a leaf in the forest is like hiding a book in a library. He hid the book on one of the library’s damp shelves in the basement and tried not to notice where exactly he put it. He did this so he and anyone else wouldn’t be able to find the monstrous book. He didn’t want to be a â€Å"prisoner of the book† anymore. The book had ruined his life and took away time, the most precious thing we have in life. He didn’t want to be trapped by the isolation of the book and so he hid it where it could never be found.

Describe the kind of preception suggested in 'A Child's view of Essay

Describe the kind of preception suggested in 'A Child's view of colour' and 'Metaphors on Vision' and relate that to your percep - Essay Example In the essay, â€Å"From Metaphors on Vision,† Stan Brakhage confirms the power and beauty of perception that is unfettered by logic. Like Benjamin, Brakhage asserts that infants, who have not yet acquired human logic, possess the purest perceptions because they have not learned the meaning of fear. These notions of â€Å"perception† are applied on Lynne Ramsay’s 1999 film, Ratcatcher. Ratcatcher demonstrates the different visions of a good life from the viewpoints of the director, children, and the audience because of their varied, potentially conflicting, perceptions of images that are caused by differences in how these three groups perceive, understand, and express the film’s colours, sounds, composition, and sequences. Before going through the claims of the essay, an overview of the film is essential to understanding its elements. The setting of the film is Glasgow in 1973. During this time, Glasgow suffers from poor housing conditions that are worsene d when the garbage collectors go on strike. Because of the strike, garbage accumulates and pollutes the surroundings. The government balances numerous priorities, as it pursues a development program that includes a housing project and seeks to resolve the problem of the garbage workers going on strike. James Gillespie (William Eadie) is the main protagonist of the film, where he and his family are waiting to be re-housed in one of the newly built apartments of the government (Ratcatcher). James’ friend is Ryan Quinn (Thomas McTaggart), who is supposed to visit his father in jail. Instead of going to his father, Ryan plays with James (Ratcatcher). Their rough play has resulted to Ryan’s drowning in the canal. James feels guilty because he has not alarmed the neighbours of what happened, and instead, he runs away. James has other friends, Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen) and Kenny (John Miller), who all have their personal issues. The rough boys in the neighbourhood make fu n of Kenny and Margaret Anne, while also sexually abusing the latter. The military arrives to clean the rubbish in the area, but somehow, James feels that only the outside aspect of their social dilemma is cleansed. He jumps into the canal and commits suicide, while the film ends with the vision of his family relocating to their new house. To begin the analysis of â€Å"perception,† Ratcatcher illustrates the perception of the director of a good life that can be described as limited and delimiting. The difference between limited and delimiting is that limited pertains to the film as it is, a limited view of life, while delimiting pertains to the intentions and biases of the director that affect what can be included and not included in the elements of the film. The director controls the camera, which, as a tool of perception, can only include a semblance of reality. In the bus scene, where James runs away and rides a bus, he sees mounds of trash from the bus windows (Ratcatche r). The bus windows are similar to the camera. It can only catch what is in front of it without fully covering everything and without completely conveying what the presence and absence of images mean. The scene exposes the limitations of the camera as an eye for the director, and in connection, to the viewers. Brakhage states that the camera can only capture so much, as it superimposes images on one another and attempts to cover varied motions and emotions (122). He argues that the camera eye is a limited peek into the world.

Stewart v Secretary of State for Scotland 1998 Appellant's Argument Essay

Stewart v Secretary of State for Scotland 1998 Appellant's Argument - Essay Example Appellant contends that the narrower interpretation of the word â€Å"inability† is â€Å"supported by earlier legislation inasmuch as it produced a comprehensive code for sheriffs principal who demitted or was removed from office because of physical or mental infirmity†. He further asserts that if the wider interpretation is to accrue â€Å"an anomalous result would be reached†. He clarified that the word â€Å"inability† is not intended to mean â€Å"unfit for duty due to behavioral infirmity† as used in his case but to describe the natural consequence of not being able to perform a sheriff’s duty due to health reasons or disability. Appellant likewise assert that the Lord President and the Lord Justice Clerk erred and committed procedural lapses in their investigation. He asserts that he was not properly informed of the actual charges against him and that the charge was â€Å"inability† rather â€Å"than misbehavior† or †Å"defect in character†. He further contends that he was not given the opportunity to face and respond to the allegation of the Lord President and the Lord Justice Clerk’s sources. ... Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1838 repealed this provision in particular by letting the sheriffs continue even after the death of the appointing officer. Under the then new law, the Sheriff has been made eligible to receive an annuity provided that they completed a minimum of ten years. In the same length, the same law also provided for instances where the sheriff was removed from office due to old age or permanent infirmity that disabled them to exercise the demands of their office. In Section 5 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1877 the word â€Å"inability† was first mentioned. The provision of this law provided â€Å"that no sheriff should be removed except by a Secretary of State for inability or misbehavior upon a report of the Senior Judges†. Consequently, â€Å"Inability or Misbehaviour† was used in section 18 of the Small Debts Act 1846 in relation to the removal by Lord Chancellor of a county court judge. Section 38 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) A ct 1853 empowered the Treasury to grant an annuity to a sheriff principal in circumstances where annuity could have been paid to a sheriff under the Act of 1838. Then in section 1 of the Sheriffs Tenure of Office (Scotland), Act 1898 empowered the Secretary of State on a report by the senior judges to remove sheriff principal who was by reason of ‘inability or misbehavior unfit for his office’.

Project team for a fictitious technology-intensive company in the year Assignment

Project team for a fictitious technology-intensive company in the year 2011 - Assignment Example (Solomon, et al., 1993). This manager’s guide contains a repeatable, institution-wide approach for the management of project teams involve in the development of software and hardware deployment projects. The practices contained here in practices are transferable to other types of projects that would benefit from project management. It provide ordered sections presenting the basic steps for formation, management and evaluation of project teams across the organisation. This guide has been developed specifically for the management of Information Technology projects. The processes with are operational do not need to follow these guidelines. The projects which qualify to use this guide should have the following characteristics: it is an independent project; lasts longer than a few person hours; requires a multidisciplinary approach; it is not task oriented; involves less than five specialists; it is meant to accomplish a complex project; may require change management process; level of risk is high in term s of financial and operational, among others (Ahmed, 2007). All the projects in the company have to be approved by the Chief Executive Officer through a justified Project Document. Depending on the type of project, the project document should clearly indicate the title of the project; aims of the project; outcomes of the project; team composition; resource plan; methodology of the project; workplan; project cost and evaluation strategy This section provides basic guidelines on the formation of IT projects .The following guidelines should be followed in forming project teams for developing software and hardware. The first stage of forming the project team is acquiring the project team. The members can be selected internally or externally as consultants. The members must be selected based on list of required skills and criteria as demanded by

The bicycle Thieves Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The bicycle Thieves - Essay Example It should be clarified that the movement began not to highlight the economic decline that followed World War II but because of it. The film-making industry suffered in particular – by the conversion of studios in to military and refugee camps, the lack of equipment and the unreliability of the electrical supply. This lead to the production of films shot strictly on location, capturing the war-ravaged sights of post-war Italy – and focusing on a more honest portrayal of real lives and real people. Neo-realist filmmakers believed that cinema had moral repercussions and should thus be manipulated carefully to draw attention towards some truths. ‘The Bicycle Thieves’, in keeping with traditional neo-realist films casts non-professional actors in lead roles. Indeed, the protagonist of the movie, Antonio Ricci, was played by Lamberto Maggiorani, a worker himself. The character Antonia Ricci is shown to have been unemployed for almost two years at the start of the film before he is offered a job – the sole requirement of which is the possession of a bicycle. Despite knowing that he does not own one, Ricci takes up the job of putting up movies posters around town. His wife, Maria, pawns linen bed-sheets that were a part of her dowry in exchange for money to buy a bicycle. On their way home, his wife stops at an old building, claiming to meet someone. However, Antonio discovers that Maria is actually there to give money to a clairvoyant who predicted that he would get a job soon. Ricci mocks her and tells her off for being superstitious. The next day, as Antonio sets out for work, a young man steals his bicycle while his back is turned and takes off with it. Antonio pursues him frenetically until he loses track of him. He goes to the police to enlist their help but discovers that there is not much they can do. In despair, Antonio takes to walking the streets and scouting marketplaces with his son, Bruno, and his friends in search of his bicycle. Their search leads them to many places and to falsely accusing a man of possessing the stolen bicycle. However, after vainly attempting to find it, they give up. At this point, Antonio decides to treat his son to dinner at a restaurant. The scene that follows is pivotal to the theme of the movie. While Antonio and Bruno are enjoying their meal, Bruno keeps turning around to look at another seemingly wealthier family dining at a table nearby. He exchanges glances with a boy his own age seated at this table. Antonio notices this, and exclaims with frustration ‘To eat like that, you’d have to earn at least a million a month.’ Antonio and Bruno, in the throes of their despair, go to see the clairvoyant that Antonio had mocked earlier on. It is interesting to note that when faced with the prospect of poverty, Ricci turns to the same superstitions he derided his wife for believing in while when at the start of the film, shortly after the acquisition of his bi cycle and a job, he believes them to be associated with irrationality and thus baseless. The clairvoyant gives Ricci vague and unhelpful advice, telling him that he would either find his bicycle today o not at all. Dismayed, Bruno and Antonio leave the building. Soon after, however, they spot the thief who had stolen his bicycle. They chase him down, but are surrounded by hostile neighbors. Bruno discreetly slips away to find a policeman while Antonio accuses the thief of having