Forward To The Past - Feudalism And Communism :: Communism Essays

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The core countries of Central Europe (the Czech Republic, Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Poland) experienced industrial capitalism in the inter-war period. But the countries comprising the vast expanses of the New Independent States, Russia and the Balkan had no real acquaintance with it. To them its zealous introduction is nothing but another ideological experiment and not a very rewarding one at that. It is often said that there is no precedent to the extant fortean transition from totalitarian communism to liberal capitalism. This might well be true. Yet, nascent capitalism is not without historical example. The study of the birth of capitalism in feudal Europe may yet lead to some surprising and potentially useful insights. The Barbarian conquest of the teetering Roman Empire (410-476 AD) heralded five centuries of existential insecurity and mayhem. Feudalism was the countryside's reaction to this damnation. It was a Hobson's choice and an explicit trade-off. Local lords defended their vassals against nomad intrusions in return for perpetual service bordering on slavery. A small percentage of the population lived on trade behind the massive walls of Medieval cities. In most parts of central, eastern and southeastern Europe, feudalism endured well into the twentieth century. It was entrenched in the legal systems of the Ottoman Empire and of Czarist Russia. Elements of feudalism survived in the mellifluous and prolix prose of the Habsburg codices and patents. Most of the denizens of these moribund swathes of Europe were farmers - only the profligate and parasitic members of a distinct minority inhabited the cities. The present brobdignagian agricultural sectors in countries as diverse as Poland and Macedonia attest to this continuity of feudal practices. Both manual labour and trade were derided in the Ancient World. This derision was partially eroded during the Dark Ages. It survived only in relation to trade and other "non-productive" financial activities and even that not past the thirteenth century. Max Weber, in his opus, "The City" (New York, MacMillan, 1958) described this mental shift of paradigm thus: "The medieval citizen was on the way towards becoming an economic man ... the ancient citizen was a political man". What communism did to the lands it permeated was to freeze this early feudal frame of mind of disdain towards "non-productive", "city-based" vocations. Agricultural and industrial occupations were romantically extolled. The cities were berated as hubs of moral turpitude, decadence and greed.

My Life in College Essay

My Life in College BY arce1921 My Life I am attending this college success class due to the fact I had very poor grades in my previous semesters. I have been attending Palo Alto College for about four years now off and on of course. After four years of college I wish my GPA was more worthy to show to others. After the first semester of college I still was undecided on my major and what I wanted to do with my life. I took a liking for the arts when I was in high school. During high school I was attending an art program called Say Si (San Antonio Artistic Youth) I attend this program all through my high school years. After graduating from this program I was offered a Job in their ABC (artist building communities) program. In this program I was able to mentor children that have no art programs in their current school. We also would teach at different types of children shelters and children hospitals. I enjoy teaching very much, I was looking into teaching art in a school district. But after teaching for 4 years I think it takes a special person to teach little kids. I really don’t have the patiences for teaching 2nd and 3rd graders. I current teach but only older kids. Two semesters have passed and I lacked off on my school and I was going through a rough time in my life with my family. I picked up a second Job due to the fact my teaching Job was only two days out of the week. I started working in the learning about cars and how they work. But after awhile my school schedule did not fit into my work schedule. My boss would give me a hard time about my school life all the time. I had the craziest schedule while working with auto parts. I would go to work in the morning and go to school during my lunch break and I would also go to school after work as while. This was everyday for almost a year and six months. It was two uch for me and I had to withdraw from all my classes and it went down hill from that moment on. I current have a new Job still working with kids but its more personal. I started working for a company called Roy Maas Youth Alternative . This organization houses in children taken by cps custody and probational children. I really enjoy my current job it makes me feel great helping these kids . A lot of these kids come from broken homes and bad backgrounds . Talking to these children helped me decide what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to pursue social work as my career. This semester is going to be my new turning point in life. I finally have no trouble with my Job or my family. This is going to be the right time for me to get my grades back up to were I want them to be at . I also will start making more time to study and less time slacking off. Teaching art will still be part of my life and hopefully I can squeeze it into my new career. tutoring department to my advantage . I never did go to tutoring in the past semesters, maybe if I took some time out to go I would have done much better in my classes. I am looking forward to keeping my education on track and not derailing off my prize which is to receive my masters in social work.

Essay on The Reality of Divorce in American Society

The Reality of Divorce in American Society As with most life transitions, divorce can be liberating, depressing, frustrating, or traumatic to any person who experiences it. Perhaps the most painful part on the process of divorce is when the children get involved and when they all get trapped in the situation. These children may suffer significant losses in their lives and unless the situation can be handled in a civil manner, they will become prone to the psychological torment that could affect them for the rest of their lives. The issue of divorce however is becoming more and more intense since for the past ten years the divorce rate in the United States has skyrocketed to a record high of almost fifty- percent. It is also believed†¦show more content†¦Counseling is also an alternative. Marriage counselors can be a great help for couples who are contemplating a marriage. Presently, the role of both husbands and wives has changed dramatically since the advent of the technological revolution in our society. Women are now often seen in the professional fields than ever before. Men still remain as the chief provider of the family but because of the involvement of their wives in the professional field, their relationship amongst themselves have also began to drift apart. These differences can sometimes lead to divorce. However, divorce can be easily prevented in this kind of situation. Marriage is all about the understanding and the love for each other. In able for a marriage to become healthy, both parties should come together in combining the effort to strengthen their relationship. Time is the most important thing in a relationship. Husbands and wives should try to compensate the time they lost from each other. Time is very useful in maintaining a relationship. It builds up trust and confidence for both parties thus making the marriage foundation firm. Economic opportunities also seem to be a significant factor in divorce. The rise in divorce closely parallels the increase in the number of women working. Women with a paycheck were less likely to stay in a marriage that wasnt fulfilling to them. Armed with a measure of economic power, many women had less incentive to stay in aShow MoreRelatedMarriage Is The Most Important Part Of Marriage861 Words   |  4 PagesMarriage is a word that has evolved into something else in today’s society. It is an â€Å"old† term that applies to â€Å"old† beliefs. Today marriage is a word used to describe the coming together of two people under a consenting agreement that they will care for each other under any circumstances. Timothy Keller, a marriage expert, describes marriage as, â€Å"to be loved but not know is comforting but superficial. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousnessRead MoreEssay about Divo rce in American Society1338 Words   |  6 PagesDivorce in American Society Whatever happened to the picture that perfect traditional families portrayed? Television has had such an influence over us when we begin wishing we had families like the ones we see on Little House on the Prairie and The Brady Bunch. Families who work together, support one another, and seem to have all of lifes problems figured out. The media is catching up to society and showing more single-family sitcoms with down to earth family relationships such as BlossomRead MoreWhat s Happening Of Marriage?884 Words   |  4 PagesMarriage is a very common thing in today’s society, but along with the popularity of marriage comes divorces that end marriages. With divorce becoming more common, men may second guess popping the question or women might think twice about saying yes. With divorce making an appearance more often in marriage it is a given that today’s marriages have changed, and there is all time high divorce rate to prove it. In the article â€Å"What’s Happening to Marriage?† by The National Marriage Project, providesRead MoreThe Nuclear Family910 Words   |  4 PagesThe idea of the nuclear family was highly valued in the American culture during the 1950s, where romantic love was the central reason for marriage in America; however, love in modern America is not enough to make a marriage last. Likewise, the 1950s was the time for many American marriages to undergo many socioeconomic changes including the rise of the gender minority in the workplace. Due to these developments, marriage is under enormous socioeconomic pressures have given the rise to family structuresRead MoreEssay On The Leisured Gentleman Of Letters By Howells1102 Words   |  5 Pagessubject of divorce provided Howells the opportunity to show himself as a serious-minded author, who focused on matters of social significance. With his democratic philosophy, Howells wanted to disturb a class-bound order that hindered the growth of democracy in the same way he wanted to put a truthful spin on the usual love plot. Howells recognized that divorce carried the potential to do both, in real life and in fiction. However, not without complications. Riley explains how, â€Å"After the American RevolutionRead MoreDivorce Rate Of The United States1021 Words   |  5 PagesDivorce Rate As human civilization advances, the more tolerant society has become to behaviors that used to be regarded as appalling and immoral. One of these behaviors is becoming divorced. According to a recent guidebook for couples who are in the midst of a divorce or considering divorce, 70% of Americans believe that divorce is a morally acceptable choice (Hawkins, 2009). This new understanding of divorce has played a significant role in the choice that many Americans have made to separate fromRead MoreThe Reality Of American Marriage957 Words   |  4 PagesWhat would happen to society if marriage completely disappeared from American culture? Many would consider this an absurd and illogical question at first hearing. After some thought, one may begin to contemplate the reality of American marriage and realize what it has become. Some would agree that marriage is certainly not what it used to be in past generations and has dramatically changed from what it was, even just a few decades ago. The article from â€Å"The National Marriage Project† discusses theRead MoreAmerican Culture : The People s Way Of Life Essay1747 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Culture When American culture is taken into context, comparatively it appears to be an all-inclusive and liberal culture with respect to cultures in other parts of the world. However, American culture has had its fair share of struggles with ethics and morality. Evidence suggests that the American culture somewhat favors the members who are well placed within it and ignores those, the lower class. The problem of segregating people in according to their status looks like a global phenomenonRead MoreSingle Parenting And The Destruction Of Divorce1065 Words   |  5 Pageswill end with divorce instead of death. This paper is devoted to the issue of single parenting and the destruction of divorce. It is a study conducted in a different perspective where we see the cognitive and emotional damage it can do to a child and a single parent. The definition of a single parent is one individual with custody over a child and he or she is responsible for all financial, material and emotional needs. The portrait of the American Dream is for every great American family to buyRead MoreImpart of Divorce on Children1611 Words   |  7 PagesThe Impact of Divorce on Children Abstract This paper will present an overview of the impact of divorce on children and some of the ways that are intended to help children of divorce to successfully function in society. The impact of divorce on children takes many different forms. From mental and physical health concerns to financial instability, children suffer the most in the divorce situation. When a couple, who have children, divorces it affects the whole family. Children of divorced

Law of Multiple Alleles

Multiple alleles is a type of non-Mendelian inheritance pattern that involves more than just the typical two alleles that usually code for a certain characteristic in a species. With multiple alleles, that means there are more than two phenotypes available depending on the dominant or recessive alleles that are available in the trait and the dominance pattern the individual alleles follow when combined together. Gregor Mendel only studied traits in his pea plants that showed simple or complete dominance and had only two alleles that could contribute to any one trait the plant showed. It wasnt until later that it was discovered that some traits can have more than two alleles that code for their phenotypes. This allowed many more phenotypes to be visible for any given trait while still following Mendels Laws of Inheritance. Most of the time, when multiple alleles come into play for a trait, there is a mix of types of dominance patterns that occur. Sometimes, one of the alleles is completely recessive to the others and will be masked by any of those that are dominant to it. Other alleles may be co-dominant together and show their traits equally in the phenotype of the individual. There are also some cases where some alleles exhibit incomplete dominance when put together in the genotype. An individual with this type of inheritance connected to its multiple alleles will show a blended phenotype that mixes both of the alleles traits together. Examples of Multiple Alleles The human ABO blood type is a good example of multiple alleles. Humans can have red blood cells that are of type A (IA), type B (IB), or type O (i). These three different alleles can be combined in different ways following Mendels Laws of Inheritance. The resulting genotypes make either type A, type B, type AB, or type O blood. Type A blood is a combination of either two A alleles (IA IA) or one A allele and one O allele (IAi). Similarly, type B blood is coded for by either two B alleles (IB IB) or one B allele and one O allele (IBi). Type O blood can only be obtained with two recessive O alleles (ii). These are all examples of simple or complete dominance. Type AB blood is an example of co-dominance. The A allele and the B allele are equal in their dominance and will be expressed equally if they are paired together into the genotype IA IB. Neither the A allele or the B allele is dominant over each other, so each type is expressed equally in the phenotype giving the human an AB blood type.

The Business Plan For Actavis Plc - 1413 Words

Actavis PLC is an international business, with generic and brand named pharmaceuticals. This pharmaceutical company is involved in the manufacturing, development, sale, distribution, and marketing of these products (Actavis, 2015). Actavis base operations is located in Dublin, Ireland. When creating a business and developing a strategic plan it is important to start with a solid base. The mission, vision, and values of the business forms this base that leads a business to make future business decisions for the business. Organizational strategic direction is defined in relationship to identify and meet the customer’s needs. The importance of role of values is achieving a competitive advantage. The business plan for Actavis PLC is to improve the research and development division. The research and development division works on frequent breakthroughs of new products that are directed at improving the lives of the population. The RD division strategy will focus on the following product development areas: †¢ Off-patent drugs that may be difficult to manufacture or develop. †¢ The development of drug delivery technologies. †¢ Use technologies to develop new products in-house. 1.1 Executive Summary Watson Pharmaceuticals acquired Actavis Group in 2012. This acquisition is assumed to make Watson Pharmaceuticals the third largest global generics company with estimated revenues of $8 billion (Biosimilar News, 2012). Following the acquisition, Watson Pharmaceuticals adopted theShow MoreRelatedPest Analysis of an Educational Institution19905 Words   |  80 PagesTask 1 Anon (2011) Actavis Pharma: â€Å"Company Profile† [Online] available on http://www.actavis.com/NR/rdonlyres/531352E2-50BE-4485-ADC5-052DBE111BA9/0/Actavis_Company_Profile_FEB_2013.pdf - Accessed 11 March 2013 Anon (2008) Banif Bank: â€Å"Banif Bank (Malta) plc† [Online] available on http://www.banif.com.mt/banif_bank_plc - Accessed 11 March 2013 Anon (2011) Tipico: â€Å"The Company† [Online] available on https://www.tipico.com/en/company/ - Accessed 11 March 2013 (2010) TimesofMalta

Ap English Literature and Composition Free Essays

string(21) " in our own writing\." AP English Literature and Composition â€Å"Only connect!†¦. Live in fragments no longer! † General Course Information 1. 0 Credits (. We will write a custom essay sample on Ap English Literature and Composition or any similar topic only for you Order Now 5 per semester) Prerequisites: Accelerated English is recommended Course Overview †¢ This class will prepare students for AP English Literature and Composition Exam, as well as the AP English Language and Composition Exam. When registering for exams in the Spring, students will choose which exam to take. †¢ This course is set according to the requirements listed in the AP English Course Description. †¢ The reading in the course will cover a wide variety of genres.You will be introduced to everything from formal literary theory to creative writing. Deep reading, the kind that poses as many questions as it answers, will be expected. We will read for a variety of reasons, sometimes to grasp a thematic element and sometimes to simply enjoy the sounds of words. We will not only identify literary elements, but also why they are used and discuss their effectiveness. We will read across curriculums and relate English literature and its themes to those in philosophy, science, and psychology. †¢ This course also intends to hone your skills as writers.We will learn how to appeal to a certain audience and how vocabulary and structure change depending on the type of writing. We will practice deep revision and constantly recognize that writing is not simply putting thoughts down on a page, but a craft that takes a lifetime to perfect. We will discover our own individual styles as writers and use these to our advantage. Mechanics, citations, and technical writing will all be monitored closely. Above all though, we will see how our own words can excite, persuade, and create understanding. †¢ Finally, the course will hopefully make you a critical thinker.We live in the information age and no skill will be more in need than the ability to interpret information. The critical thinking skills you develop in this class will go on to help you on the AP Exams, the SAT, and in almost every aspect of your life. †¢ This course is divided around the different thematic ideas of conflict in literature, non-fiction, and life in general. While the traditional elements of conflict seem simple, we will explore the motives behind them. Finally, we will attempt to figure out how the characters choose to live (or die) with conflict and find resolution. Through non-fiction, we will explore how conflict has been created and resolved through rhetoric and argument. And how a well-written and polished argument can create a path of possibility even through the most mired of conflicts. Elements of the course: †¢ Writing. Drafts will be submitted to me and returned with comments. All papers will have a first and a final draft. Students may be asked to correct their drafts twice before submitting a final draft. All compositions will be graded on the AP rubric. One Friday a month, students will access their writing from the past month from their portfolio in class.During this time, we will have a writer’s workshop and address specific revision strategies. We will focus on revising sentence structure, organization, rhetorical structures, transitions, detail, imagery, conventions, and grammar. While timed writings are a part of this class, the Friday writer’s workshops will illustrate the importance of constant and careful revision. Students will also sign up for a meeting with me after-school every 2 months. At the first meeting, students will discuss with me their strengths and weaknesses. Together, we will assess their improvement throughout the year. †¢ Wordly Wise Vocabulary book will be due weekly.Periodic quizzes will test students’ knowledge. Wordly Wise is an excellent preparation for the SAT. The class will also have a Word Wall. The Word Wall will function to remind students of past vocabulary learned and encouraged the use of new vocabulary in writing. †¢ One interactive class project will happen for every unit. The project will often involve synthesizing knowledge from the unit and applying it to something outside English class: art, nature, current events, family life, etc. †¢ Reading journals: Students will keep dialectical reading journals throughout the course. These journals will help facilitate deep and thorough reading. he reading journal is also a great place to practice writing and collecting your thoughts cohesively. We will continuously use the reading journal in class discussion and come back to it to get ideas for essays. The reading journal will be counted as a grade underneath the writing category. Grading: |Writing (Journal included) |50% | |Exams |20% | |Vocabulary |10% | |Assignments and Projects |20% | Course Syllabus: Unit 1: Introduction 4 weeksReadings: †¢ Class Handouts †¢ â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† by Plato †¢ â€Å"Good Readers, Good Writers† by Vladimir Nabokov †¢ Excerpts from â€Å"Why I Write† by Joan Didion †¢ â€Å"Finishing School† by Maya Angelou †¢ Excerpt from Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston †¢ â€Å"My Mother Never Worked† by Bonni e Smith-Yackel †¢ Everything’s an Argument by Andrea Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz †¢ Current articles from the New York Times Discussion Topics: The first few days in class will be spent looking at class policies, organizing notebooks, and receiving helpful information on the strategies we will use throughout the year. SOAPSTone, Dialectical Journal explanation, AP terms list, DIDLS, etc. ) Our first reading will be Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave. † Plato tells us that ideas, not necessarily our experiences, are reality. This argument will encourage us to look deeper into the ideas behind what we are reading and writing. Essays from Didion and Nabokov will give us specific tips on how to begin our journey as accomplished readers and writers. Then, we will switch gears to a short segment on narrative writing where will read 3 excellent examples of narrative in time for us to write our own narrative essay.While studying narrative writing, we will focus on specific examples of excellence in sentence structure, form, organization, and conventions. Finally, we will spend two weeks studying the text Everything’s an Argument, which we will continue to refer to throughout the year. We will learn how to identify successful rhetorical structures and use them in our own writing. You read "Ap English Literature and Composition" in category "Literature" During this examination of rhetorical analysis, we will use current New York Times editorials. Our writer’s workshop will for this unit will focus on varying our sentence structure for emphasis and effect. Assessments: Composition: AutobiographyComposition: Narrative essay over family Timed Writing: 2010 English Language and Composition Released Free Response Questions Argument Analysis: NY Times articles Writer’s Workshop: Sentence structure Unit 2: Person vs. Nature 5 weeks Reading: †¢ Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe †¢ â€Å"The Santa Ana† by Joan Didion †¢ Poetry of William E. Stafford †¢ Excerpts from Maslow’s â€Å"A Theory of Human Motivation† †¢ Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey †¢ Excerpts from Walden by Henry David Thoreau †¢ â€Å"The American Forests† by John Muir Viewing: †¢ Clips from Man vs. Wild Discussion topics: Person vs. Nature is possibly the oldest conflict in the world.Maslow theorizes that we cannot ascend up the hierarchy of needs until our most basic needs are met. Robinson Crusoe is essentially the story of a man having to begin at the bottom of the hierarchy and work his way up. Person vs. Nature is often illustrated with diction and imagery. In Stafford’s poetry and Didion’s essay, we are invited into their personal experience of nature through word and image choices. Finally, we see how the person vs. nature conflict changes as technology begins to take care of our rudimentary needs. In Desert Soltaire, nature maintains little of its aggressor status.Instead, man takes over as the force bent on destruction. Finally, we will end our discussion of person vs. nature by taking a field trip to McKinney Falls State Park. There, we will take pictures to provide visual evidence of multiple points of conflict. Our Writer’s Workshop will highlight organization. We will review our own strengths and weaknesses in organization from our past unit’s writing. Assessments: Composition: Using Maslow’s â€Å"Theory of Human Motivation† to explain Robinson Crusoe Composition: Literary analysis of imagery in Stafford poetry Composition: Compare/Contrast- Abbey and ThoreauTimed Writing: 2002 AP English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions Form B Argument analysis: John Muir’s letter to Congress Project: Field trip to McKinney Falls State Park. Capture visual evidence using cameras that illustrates the conflict of person vs. nature. Writer’s Workshop: Organization Unit 3: Person vs. Person 6 weeks †¢ A River Runs Through It by Norman McClean †¢ â€Å"Speech to the Troops at Tillbury† by Queen Elizabeth †¢ â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Women† by Mary Wollstonecraft †¢ â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin †¢ Excerpts from â€Å"A Room of One’s Own† by Virginia Woolf †¢ â€Å"I Want a Wife† by Judy Brady All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy †¢ Selected poetry of e. e. cummings Viewings: Discussion topics: A River Runs Through It is the perfect bridge between discussion of the conflicts in nature to the conflicts between people. We will explore familial conflicts and traditional family archetypes. After we finish the novella, we will take a look at another reoccurring person vs. person conflict: gender roles. Queen Elizabeth, in her â€Å"Speech to the Troops at Tillsbury† used certain rhetoric to explain herself that was needed at the time. We will focus on how that language changed as women gained more equality. Finally, we will focus on style and the creative use of structure across two genres: novel and poetry. All the Pretty Horses will take us through several conflicts as John Grady Cole becomes an adult. Most striking though is McCarthy’s mastery of prose and creativity in structure. We will then make a comparison to e. e. cummings poetry, which also manages to leave out what we expect in format, in order to open our eyes to the exuberant images the poet provides. Our writer’s workshop will focus on how to add specific and concise, yet eye-opening detail to our writing. We will use our previous work in Unit’s 1 and 2 to revise and add detail. Assessment: †¢ Composition: Jung’s Archetypes in Literature †¢ Composition: The changing language of the women’s movement †¢ Composition: Analysis in style of either Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses or e. e. cummings †¢ Timed Writing: 2004 AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions (Form B) †¢ Argument Analysis: â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Women† by Mary Wollstonecraft †¢ Project: Use Feminist Literary Criticism to analyze a children’s picture book. Writer’s Workshop: Detail Unit 4: Person vs. Himself 6 weeks Readings: †¢ King Lear by Shakespeare †¢ Sylvia Plath poetry †¢ â€Å"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall† by Katherine Anne Porter †¢ â€Å"Fate† by Ralph Waldo Emerson †¢ Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad †¢ â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad ’s Heart of Darkness† by Chinua Achebe †¢ â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† by George Orwell Viewings: †¢ Excerpts from Apocalypse Now Discussion Topics: King Lear will begin with family conflicts but by the end of the play, we will see a new type of conflict arise.Lear will have to grapple with his failing sense of reality and atone for what he now sees as his past sins. Katherine Anne Porter’s short story will also show the failure to grasp reality. Through the stream of consciousness point of view, the reader will feel like they are losing their grip on reality as well. Emerson’s poem will help us to understand if Lear’s problems were fate, or if fate merely took the fall for Lear’s bad judgment. Heart of Darkness is tied very closely to two types of conflict: person vs. himself and person vs. society. We will see how Kurtz’ descent into madness (yes!There will be many descents into madness in this unit! ) was caused by the evils of colonialism. Achebe argues in his essay â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness† that while Conrad was arguing against imperialism, he was doing so from a racist standpoint. We will analyze Achebe’s argument. Orwell will close out the unit by illustrating his own personal conflict with duty and attempt to â€Å"avoid looking a fool† in imperialist times. The Writer’s Workshop will focus on conventions, specifically advanced punctuation and its uses.Assessments: †¢ Composition: Characterization. Choose a character from King Lear, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, or Heart of Darkness. Analyze the literary techniques that are used to illustrate insanity and the onset of madness. †¢ Composition: From the 2004 Exam- â€Å"Contemporary life is marked by controversy. Choose a controversial local, national, or global issue with which you are familiar. Then, using appropriate evidence, write an essay that carefully considers the opposing positions on this controversy and proposes a solution or compromise. †¢ Timed Writing: 2003 AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions †¢ Argument Analysis: â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness† †¢ Project: Using the class copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1994, create a power-point presentation that diagnoses either Lear or Kurtz with a particular mental illness. †¢ Writer’s Workshop: Conventions Unit 5: Person vs. Society 6 weeks Readings: †¢ The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien †¢ Political Cartoons from the Vietnam Era †¢ â€Å"Mutual Deterrence† Speech by Sec. f Defense Ro bert McNamara †¢ War Poetry Selections: â€Å" Dulce Et Decorum Est† by Wilfred Owen; â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† by Randall Jarrell; â€Å"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death† by William Butler Yeats; â€Å"My Father Leaves for Vietnam† by Lenard D. Moore; â€Å"Palestine† by Lorna Dee Cervantes; â€Å"The Daisy Cutter† by Louise Rill †¢ The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner †¢ â€Å"Living Under Circe’s Spell† By Matthew Soyster Viewing: †¢ â€Å"The War in Vietnam- A Story in Photographs† from The National Archives †¢ Excerpts from â€Å"Reporting America at War: The Reporters† from pbs. org †¢ Excerpts from The Fog of WarDiscussion Topics- We will begin studying person vs. society by examining how the life of a soldier is deemed honorable and sometimes necessary by society, but often looks mundane and horrific on an individual level. The Things They Carried will take us to one of the more controversial wars, Vietnam. By looking through collections of war photography from the National Archives and watching evening news broadcasts, we will determine what role the media had on the society’s opinion of the war. By reading a collection of war poetry, w e will look at the emotional toll that war exacts on individuals.Then, we will shift gears and begin reading The Sound and the Fury, a novel where each character struggles against societal norms that no longer fit the family’s reality. Finally, we will read Soyster’s essay on disability and the struggles associated with it. The Writer’s Workshop for this unit will focus on broad, thematic revision by evaluating the effectiveness of our thesis statements in our portfolio. Assessments: †¢ Composition- Research Topic: Choose one form of media. (Some examples could be television, movies, internet, telephones, etc.You may not choose photography. ) Research and examine the chosen media form’s impact on modern warfare. It should include both positive and negative impacts. †¢ Composition- Persuasive essay: Where should we draw the line with war photography? †¢ Composition- Literary analysis of symbolism in The Sound and the Fury. †¢ Timed Writing- 2001, Question 3- the Sontag photography piece, On Photography, 1977. †¢ Argument Analysis- â€Å"Mutual Deterrence† Speech by Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara †¢ Project- We will create a family tree that spans back 3-4 generations.As a class, we will discuss what â€Å"societal values† are family tree puts on us. We will take a particular look at any â€Å"values† that are placed there because of our blood and not because of our reality. †¢ Writer’s Workshop- Thesis Revision Unit 6: Resolutions 5 weeks â€Å"Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die. – Howard’s End Readings: †¢ Howard’s End †¢ â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver †¢ â€Å"On Self-Respect† by Joan Didion †¢ Poetry of Kahil Gibran †¢ Faulkner’s Nobel Acceptance Speech †¢ Woody Allen’s â€Å"My Speech to the Graduates† Viewings: †¢ Howard’s End 1992 version †¢ Discussion Topics: We will end the year with a Victorian class study in the novel Howard’s End. With a host of characters, we will see how some are able to overcome the conflicts and others do not. We will also look at â€Å"connecting the prose with the passion† as we reflect on our studies this year.Before exams, we will take a full week to do practice exams an d prepare the final touches on our AP experience. Finally, we will read several writers who focus on resolution rather than conflict. Through emotional experience, logical thinking, and even humor, we will see how characters and people in real life live and deal with conflict. Assessments: †¢ Composition: Analyze the role the house plays in the novel Howard’s End. †¢ Composition: Write a mock graduation speech that includes at least 4 quotes from readings throughout the year. †¢ Composition: â€Å"A picture is worth a thousand words. In our age of information, is a picture/movie/symbol worth more than the written word? Use the Rogerian style to persuade your audience. †¢ Timed Writings: Students will choose 3 timed writings to practice from released exams. †¢ Project: Collage. As a class, we will create a pictorial collage that represents conflict in the literature we have read and in life. We will then put quotes and phrases from the literature and essays we have read that illustrate overcoming conflict. The last part of the collage will show representations of different resolutions in life. 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Plato and Aristotle discussions of moral and ju free essay sample

Morality and justice are two of the most discussed themes in philosophical discussions. Classical philosophers like Aristotle and Plato discuss about these two themes in detail in their respective books. This essay will compare and contrast Aristotle and Plato discussions of morality and justice and determine which philosophy best addresses the consequences of human vulnerability. In general, morality is the principles concerning the distinction between right or wrong or good and bad behavior. Justice is the quality of being fair and reasonable. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle stated the basic questions of moral philosophy, for example, what are the good, virtue, and happiness? Aristotle believes that man is by nature a social and political animal (zoon politikon). Human are sociable because they are always living with other people, or in other words, in a community or polis. He also believes that human is by nature a moral or ethical being, and human rationality is what differs human from other species of animals (Boucher, 2003). In his view, for all human beings a natural life is a life of justice. At the beginning of Ethics it is written â€Å"the good has been aptly described as that at which everything aims’ (Ethics, 1984). If this statement is true, then a life of justice means the ‘good’ for human. Aristotle introduced us to the Greek word ‘eudaimonia’ which often misleadingly translated as ‘happiness’ in English. However, in Greek, it does not simply defined as happiness, it is more about self-perfection, therefore it is not just about our emotional state, but also as a measure of objective success. In contrast, virtue is a state of being and not an activity. It is the disposition to act in such a way as to lead a happy life. Thus, virtues are habits issuing in acts corresponding to those by which the habit was established. Aristotle stated that virtues are those states of character that lie at the mean between excess and deficiency, which are vices; he called this as the Doctrine of the Mean. For example, courage lies at the mean between rashness and cowardice. However, Aristotle does not have a definite formula of this ‘golden mean’, it does not mean that the virtue lies exactly in between of the two extremes, and since every one differs to each other. There are two kinds of virtues. Intellectual virtue helps us to know what is just and admirable, which we learn by instructions. Moral virtue helps us to do just and admirable deeds, which we learn by habit and constant practice. Practical wisdom or phronesis in Greek, means a general sense of knowing the proper behaviour in all situations, which guides us in the correct manner of action. This particular intellectual virtue is closely tied to the rational deliberation and choice necessary to the moral virtue. In his view, men are born with the potential to be morally virtuous, but it is only by behaving in the right way that we train. Aristotle’s notion of virtue as something learned through constant practice rather than through reasoning makes a great deal of practical sense. He claims that reasoning is unlikely to teach us to appreciate virtue if we have not been raised with the right habits (Bonevac, 1996). â€Å"Excellence [of character], then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect. † (Aristotle, 1984) Aristotle focuses his moral theory on virtuous action and argues that virtue is necessary, but not sufficient for happiness. Virtue is needed to lead a happy life, but ultimately, virtue alone will not be enough to achieve eudaimonia. Some other external factors such as wealth, health, family, and good relationships with others are also considered. Aristotle argues that a virtuous person will desire to do the virtuous action, will have the emotion that accompanies doing the virtuous action, and will actually get the pleasure from doing the action. In general, justice is associated with lawful behaviors. Justice, for Aristotle, consists of restoring or maintaining proper balance. Aristotle distinguishes several different spheres of justice. Distributive justice deals with the distribution of wealth among the members of a community. It employs the geometric proportion of what an individual receives is directly proportional to his or her merit, so a good person will receive more than a bad person. This justice is virtuous mean between the vices of giving more than a person deserves and giving less. Rectificatory justice has to do with regulating the social or ethical relationships between the citizens of a particular polis. Rectification may be called for in cases of injustice involving voluntary transactions like trade or involuntary transactions like theft or assault. Justice is restored in a court case, where the judge ensures that gains and losses of both parties are equaled out, thus restoring a mean. In his view, murder, theft, and adultery that are intrinsically wrong fall in rectificatory justice. However, Aristotle did not give us a reason why it is wrong. Aristotle also associated justice with equality as he stated in Ethics: â€Å"Citizens should treat one another as equals and they should all be treated ‘as equals’ by the laws of the polis. † (Aristotle, 1984) In comparison with Plato, Aristotle has an emphasis on relationships, for example, family, kith, and kin. He claims that it establishes habits and affection, and builds harmony in the political community. Aristotle, unlike Plato, is not concerned with creating the perfect blueprint of society, rather he is more likely to improve the already existed society and apply day-to-day practice to reach eudaimonia. Plato, teacher of Aristotle, believes in more abstract ideas. The Republic is the story of what sort of society such a philosopher would produce if he were to acquire political power and become a philosopher-king. Leading to that story is an attempt to establish that justice pays – that we cannot achieve happiness except in a just city. His four main arguments are Justice as the Advantage of the Stronger, the Principle of Specialization, the Tripartite Soul, and the Sun, Line, and Cave. In the Republic, Plato discussed what justice is, first in the community, and then in the soul. He argues that a just state requires three classes of citizens; artisans and laborers to produce the material needs of society; soldiers to defend the state; and rulers to organize its social life. He also believes that one man is better to stick with one job and men are by nature divided up into men best suited for each of these functions. This is also called as the principle of specialization, which restricts each class to the one social role in which it is naturally best fitted. However, this ignores the fact that most people have different capacities, which do not exclude one another, let alone the fact that in existing societies most abilities of most people are often unrealized. But Plato’s beliefs on this point were powerfully reinforced by his doctrine of the tripartite soul. (MacIntrye, 1976). According to Plato, soul is divided into three parts; appetitive, the rational, and spirit. The appetitive ones take happiness to consist in the long-term satisfaction of their appetites; the rational ones take it to consist in satisfaction of desires for truth and the overall good (Boucher, 2003). The spirit is concerned neither with rational standards of behavior nor with bodily desires, but with standards of honorable behavior, and with anger and indignation. In comparison, both philosophers agree that justice is the basis of an ideal state, thus the end of the state is ethical. For Plato, the state and the individual are one and justice is a balance between the tripartite natures of soul. These two philosophers also agree that democracy is the worst form of government. To keep in mind, both also considered slaves as properties of their masters and justified the fact that some people are by nature slaves. Seeing their circumstances, this belief hails from their aristocratic family background. Likewise, as regards the social classifications of citizens, for Plato it is the guardians, auxiliaries, and artisans; and for Aristotle, it is the rich, middle-class, and the poor. Both Plato and Aristotle argue that virtuous character requires a distinctive combination of cognitive and affective elements. Human vulnerability can be physical and personal. Physical vulnerability is an acute distress experiences such as hunger, thirst, fatigue and so on. Emotional distress in anger, fear, grief and their behaviors are also tied in with physical frustrations. Personal vulnerability is a medium of fulfillment of personal needs rooted in capacities for love, understanding and choice, where these capacities have a potential reach for beyond the confines of physical survival needs. Although Plato used to be a mentor of Aristotle, it is obvious their views in morality and justice differ with each other at some points. However, both philosophers aim to improve existing society. We could not say that one of them is best in addressing the consequences of human vulnerability. However, Plato is more focused on the entire society compared with Aristotle that is more concerned with the citizens itself. Thus, Aristotle’s discussion with the consequences of human vulnerability is better than Plato’s as Aristotle stated about the vices and virtues of human beings and how to achieve virtuous virtues. Aristotle’s argument about the need of family and relationships among man is also another reason. However I think that a combination between both of the philosopher will create a just state, which means combination between knowledge and day-to-day application towards eudaimonia.