Spinozas Theory of Emotions Essay Example

Spinozas Theory of Emotions Paper Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 Analysing and synthesizing passions Aspects of Cartesian and Spinozist method It has often been noted that in the third part of his „Ethicsâ€Å" Spinoza follows in his list of definitions of affects to a great extent the one of passions given by Descartes in his â€Å"Passions de lAme† (apart from divergent evaluations of some of the passions1, like Spinoza? s refusal to include admiratio among them). It also appears that both of them are building a taxonomy of passions that introduces some kind of hierarchical order among these. We find both in Descartes as well as in Spinoza a set of passions2 out or by means of which further, in some sense more complex or specific passions are being developed from. What will be my guiding interest in this essay, is to compare and distinguish the two theories of passion according to the sense in which basic or primary passions are named thus and the way they are being discovered or identified and thereby hinting at a difference on the more general level of methodology. I want to begin with what is a starting point in Descartes? and Spinoza? s defining the passions in a general manner. We will write a custom essay sample on Spinozas Theory of Emotions specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Spinozas Theory of Emotions specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Spinozas Theory of Emotions specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It is very interesting and insightful to compare the procedures through which they arrive at their different conceptions of passions and at identifying and defining the basic ones. It is true that they both operate with the notion of causa as a starting point for their distinction between action and passion, but we should draw our attention to what follows and what comes in between their principles of causality and the definitions of the basic affects to rightly appreciate the differ ence in their approaches. In reality, though, we already find important differences in the relational structure between the notions of action, passion and cause. In the very first paragraph of the â€Å"Passions de lAme†, Descartes starts with a very general principle, adopted from other philosophers, which consists in distinguishing within the components of a causal event between two things: an 1 As Spinoza, like Descartes, names several of the defined entities in part III of the „Ethicsâ€Å" „passionsâ€Å", except from those actions whose „adaequata possimus esse causaâ€Å" (see EIIID3), I will subsequently continue to talk about pas sions, without differentiation between their being cartesian or spinozist, where this distinction by Spinoza can be applied. The references in my quotations from Spinozas â€Å"Ethics† I will always abbreviate with â€Å"E†, followed by roman num bers for the respective part, then the letters â€Å"D† for â€Å"definitione†, â€Å"P† for â€Å"propositio† plus the respective arabic numbers, â€Å"Sch† for â€Å"scholium†, â€Å"Cor† for â€Å"corollarium† etc. References to the â€Å"Passion de lAme† will be abbrevi ated by â€Å"P† plus â€Å" §Ã¢â‚¬  and the respective number of the paragraph. Also here it is adequate to speak only of passions in Spinoza`s use or the term because indeed in part 3 of the Ethics we find such affects that are derived from tristitia (which is always a passion) and laetitia only as far as „in nobis aliquid fit vel ex nostra natura aliquid sequitur, cujus nos non nisi partialis sumus causaâ€Å" (EIIID2), which means being passive. Whether kinds of active joy or even such with compon ents of passive joy can be derived from the basic affects is another question and we will shortly come back on this again. Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 active and a passive part in relation to which one and the same event may be called either an action or a passion. So in every single case that falls under this kind of structure we necessarily have one active and one passive component that will determine the perspective on the event relating them and decide whether it is an action or a passion. In Spinoza, on the other hand, we find a completely different structure in the relational field among these notions and we may suppose that this will have consequences on his further proceeding. First we have to consider that for Spinoza it is not enough or even wrong to say of a thing that it is active or acting insofar as it is producing an effect on some other thing. Instead, he is connecting the property of being active to self causality, when he writes in part I that God alone, as a free cause, exists and acts solely out of the necessity of his own nature 3. As God is not only causing all the finite modes but unlike these and primarily himself, it would be absurd to say that he is therefore active and passive at once. Thus, we somehow find the paradigm for activity in God? s self-causation. This also means that we can only define action and passion in their meaning for human beings in a different, more specific sense, namely, characterized as affections (and their ideas) that either augment or diminish some body? s potentia agendi. Compared to Descartes then, we also get a different idea of cause and effect, as they are not in every case identifiable as one active and one passive component connected through some affection that is always action and passion at the same time; rather, insofar as we are the adequate cause of this affection in us it is an action and we can be called active, whereas insofar as we are only an inadequate and partial cause of some affection in us we suffer a passion and are passive 4. So, what is a passion and what an action is less seen in relation to a cause and it? s effect as the one acting on the other, but rather in relation to a contextual or local conception of cause. It seems that one and the same affection can be seen in Spinoza? s thinking as action and passion at once just in case that it can be achieved to conceive of the cause in question (an idea for example) as at the same time adequate and inadequate concerning the scope that the idea of this cause comprises 5. As God can never be conceived of as 3 See EIP17Cor I and II. There is of course a very delicate aspect about the use of the words „inâ€Å" and „extraâ€Å" when Spinoza for example writes: „Nos tum agere dico, cum aliquid in nobis aut extra nos fit, cujus adaequata sumus causa ( )â€Å" (EIIID2). One might ask in what sense there can be effects outside of us insofar as we (our ideas, the affections of our body) have to be seen as their adequate causes without which the effect can not be conceived of nor exist (see EIID2, where „es senceâ€Å" is defined which is not easy to distinguish from an adequate cause). What one can follow along such considerations is a certain expansive trait in Spinoza? s theories of body and mind. 5 Therefor Spinoza writes in EIIIP1: „Further, whatever necessarily follows from an idea which in God is adequate, not insofar as He not only comprises the mind of a single man, but also the minds of other things together with the mind of this man, of this [†¦] the mind of this man is not the adequate, but the partial cause, and therefor (according to definition 2 of this part), insofar as the mind has inadequate ideas, it necessarily suffers some things. (Mind that all the English quotations from primary literature will be my translations from the original language (in this case Latin) with support drawn from the respective German translation, which is due to my lack of English edition at the time of writing this essay. ) 2 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 partial cause of himself, he can only be thought of as active. A changing from passion to action in a mode is not being accomplished then by changing the direction in the relation between cause and effect, but by changing the affective condition of the mode by expanding it and transforming it to an adequate cause of the affect that has been a passion. I would like now to concentrate on the two philosophers proceeding in establishing the basic passions; and here I think we can observe some important features that can help us to recognize the pe culiarities of their methodologies which are commonly referred to as analytic in Descartes? ase and geometrical or synthetic in Spinoza? s. Unlike Spinoza, who gives us a ready definition of affects that already includes the two possible versions of them (actions and passions) in the beginning of part III after not even having mentioned them in the preceding text 6, Descartes first has to go through a long process by employing his general principle of action and passion to the relationship between body and soul to arrive at a defini tion of passions. After distinguishing what we can find as the soul? s and the body? proper functions and he makes us realize that there is a number of mental functions that could rightly be called passions of the soul; namely all those perceptions or cognitions (P §17: â€Å"toutes les sortes de perceptions ou connoissances†) which have the body as their cause and not the soul itself (see P §19). Then he goes on to distinguish different sorts of such perceptions among themselves, relying in every step of analysis on criteria of how their formation dependence from soul or body or if they show a relation to a notable and determinate perceptual cause that has been transmitted to the soul by nerves 7. Among the latter sort of perceptions, he again distinguishes and at last finds to which the name â€Å"passions of the soul†, following an ordinary restriction in the use of the expression, can be applied8, defining them in a general manner as follows: â€Å"After having considered in what the passions of the soul differ from all the other thoughts, it seems to me that one can generally define them as perceptions or sentiments or emotions of the soul which particularly referred to her, and which are caused, maintained and fortified by some movement of the animal spirits. (P §27) 6 Apart from one rather nontechnical occurrence in part one and one very general reference to affects as â€Å"modi cogit andi† in the third axiom of part two. 7 See P §21: â€Å"Or encore que quelques unes de ces imaginations soient des passions de lame, en prenant ce mot en sa plus propre plus particuliere signification; quelles puissent estre toutes ainsi nommees, si on le prend en un e signification plus generale: toutefois, pource quelles nont pas une cause si notable si determinee, que les perceptions que lame recoit par lentremise des nerves (†¦), il faut considerer la difference qui est entre ces autres. 8 See P §25: â€Å"Or encore que toutes nos perceptions (†¦) soient veritablement des passions au regard de nostre ame, lors quon prend ce mot sa plus generale signification: toutefois on a coustume de le restreindre a signifier seulement celles qui se rapportent a lame mesme. Et ce ne sont que ces dernieres, que jai entrepris icy dexpliquer sous le nom de passions de lame. † 3 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 We can already see in this process that, what Descartes does, is a systematic and methodical analysis of notions that we usually do not understand properly. We are aware that there is something in each of us that we commonly call passions. But we do not, until now, really understand what they are, in what they consist, how they come about, etc. So if we want to understand our passions, just like with all the other phenomena that our scientific mind can be concerned with, we in the end need to understand their causes. In his monography â€Å"Expressionism in Philosophy, Spinoza†, Gilles Deleuze characterizes Descartes? analytic method as a process of rendering on the basis of clear and distinct ideas of effects the initially confused ideas of their causes clear and distinct. One can even say that the clear and distinct knowledge of a cause depends on the clear and distinct knowledge of its effect9. Spinoza, opposing these basic ideas in Descartes method, conceives of the right way to attain to real knowledge in an entirely different way in thinking that we always have to proceed from adequate ideas of some causes to adequate ideas of their effects and that the former consist in definitions that are appropriate for expressing the essence of this cause and also involve already the essence of its effects. So we can see how from Spinoza? s point of view the whole procedure of Descartes tries to go in a wrong direction. What has to be done first in Descartes method is not to elaborate a definition that adequately expresses the essence of the cause of the things that we want to explain and get to know, but to attain to clear and distinct ideas of those things whose causes we subsequently want to discover, â€Å"and thence show that the effect would not be what we know it to be, did it not have such a cause on which it necessarily depends†10. In Descartes? iew, the synthetic method is nothing more than a way of demonstrating a proof what has been found by means of the analytic method that has the disadvantage of not demonstrating the concrete way in which we really attained to the demonstrated knowledge, how effects really depend on their causes (which can only be achieved by analytic demonstration) and only has the merit of expositing the strict dependency of the propositions befo re discovered11. So, if Descartes demands starting with elaborating a clear and distinct idea of the effect that we want to examine, we can see now how he attains to this in the first part of the â€Å"Passions de lAme†. Descartes speaks of the causes of our perceptions with a different interest before in part two he starts to develop the particular definitions of the single passions. First his aim appears to be exactly to form a clear and distinct idea of the passions in a general sense concerning which the main prob9 See Deleuze, Gilles: â€Å"Expressionism in Philosophy, Spinoza†, pp. 155-156 10 Ibid. , p. 156. In a footnote to this sentence, Deleuze quotes Descartes third meditation to give an example that is apt to show the extreme difference to Spinoza? method: â€Å"I recognize that it would not be possible for my nature to be as it is, that is, that I should have in myself the idea of God, did not God really exist. † 11 See Deleuze, Gilles: â€Å"Expressionism in Philosophy, Spinoza†, p. 159; Roth, Leon: â€Å"Spinoza and Cartesianism (II)†, p. 161 4 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 lem seems to be that we usually feel our passions like effects in our soul itself, without seeing any proximate (physical or nervous) cause 12. Only by distinguishing them from the other (passive) perceptions we can have a clear and distinct idea of our passions in general. But in part two Descartes explains that for gaining knowledge of the particular passions this knowledge of the proximate physical cause (some particular movement in the pineal gland) will not suffice and that instead we have to ask for their first cause in order to distinguish the single passions. But, having in mind that Descartes wants to proceed from clear and distinct ideas to their causes and render them clear and distinct as well, the question seems to be again: How can we find the causes of the single passions, if we dont have a clear and distinct idea of them yet? And: Do we not need first the causes of the single passions in order to be able to distinguish them and see them clearly? How do we, so to say, fill the gap which is lurking here? But, as we can see in  §51, there is really a priority of the knowledge of effects over the knowledge of their causes, as Descartes writes: â€Å"( ) still it can be inferred from what has been said that all of these passions can be aroused by the objects that move the senses, and that these objects are their most common and principal causes: from this it follows that, for finding them all, it is sufficient to consider all the effects of these objects. In the next paragraph Descartes specifies that we have to consider, in enumerating and ordering the effects (the passions) in the soul, nothing than the different manners in which their causes have importance or are useful for us, and these manners we can find in the effects themselves before we can know their exact (physical) causes. After having distingu ished the single passions we then can go on to infer their exact causes and define them in a precise way. It is important to notice that the â€Å"passions principales† that Descartes enumerates in the beginning of the second part correlate to the clear and distinct ideas of the effects through which we want to infer their necessary causes, but that there is an additional step in between. It is actually the conclusion from a reduction along these preliminary characterizations to the six passions that are recurring in these everywhere to the reduction to physical causes through which we will be able to explain especially those â€Å"simple primitives† passions, which gives us the sense in which they are conceived as simple and primitive. According to Descartes, we do not need and will not find an independent, distinct cause for each of the principal passions, but as we saw that some of them are contained in the clear and distinct ideas of others and that those few together cover all of them, it will be sufficient to discover their causes alone. The explanations of the â€Å"passions particulieres† (at least in their physiological part) will depend solely on them. Even more, Descartes seems to infer that these six 12 See P §25: â€Å"Les perceptions quon raporte seulement a lame, sont celles dont on sent les effets comme en lame mesme, desquelles on ne connoist communement aucune cause prochaine, a laquelle on les puisse raporter. † 5 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 basic passions are also â€Å"primitive† in a developmental psychological sense when he is tracing back the specific movements of the blood and animal spirits while feeling love, hate, joy, sadness and desire to first experiences of basic physiological processes in the soul after being connected with the body. Thus, the â€Å"primitive passions† are also more primitive as they occur first in every individuals life (see P §Ã‚ §107-111). And in a third sense they are primitive or simple as they can be conceived as simple or pure when we think of their initial occurrences in an individual and also the possibility of their being isolated from certain inclinations and dispositions or their combination/mixture with other primitive passions 13. So, we can read in  §82 about the different kinds of love that, if freed from all desires to possess, the love of a father to his children is pure, as well as can be (especially) admiratio and the other primitive passions. Thus Descartes â€Å"passions particuliers† are found to be complex, secondary passions as a result of his analytical or reductive method: First, they are explainable by means of the definitions or causes of the simple passions. Secondly, they develop in the process of experiences, in the interaction between body and soul out of the primitive passions. Thirdly, they are always mixed out of simple passions, they are their proportions in addition to certain physical inclinations and provoked by cer tain ideas. So, how does Spinoza arrive at defining primary passions and and how does he relate further ones to them? What are the principles behind his taxonomy? As we know, Spinoza does not use the concept of affect in a significant way before his definition in the beginning of the third part. This seems strange and dissatisfying from the perspective of Descartes` method. Does Spinoza just invent a definition? But as inventing does not at all appear like a methodical step in an inquiry, there seems to be a arbitrary element14. There are no conceptual analyses by means of relevant distinctions and no inferences of proximate or first causes from ideas that we can perceive clearly in our mind. What is rather the source for the general definition of affects in part three, the ground on which it rests, is Spinoza`s theory of mind and body, developed in the preceding part, whose major characteristic is its parallelism and which again has its origin in the metaphysics of substance mon 13 Indeed we find in most of the definitions of the particular passions in the third part of the â€Å"Passions de lAme† either an explanation through a certain inclination or disposition of the soul which are caused by a certain movement of the animal spirits in the brain that leave impressions which in return reinforce certain ideas that we form about an object (like in the case of esteem and disdain: see P §149). On the other hand there are those passion that are defined as mixtures of the movements that cause one or the other primitive passion (like in the case of hope and fear: see P §165) 14 See chapter 4 in Jonathan Bennett? s â€Å"A Study of Spinoza? s Ethics†, where he criticizes Spinozas geometrical method as highly self-referential or idiosyncratic and therefore not well founded. I believe that he is misinterpreting what Spinoza himself saw as the merits of his method, on which his â€Å"Tractatus de intellectus emendatione† can shed some light. 6 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 ism in part one. Contrary to Descartes in the â€Å"Passions†, he therefore does not grasp an idea, like passion, action, perception and the like, to subsequently try through a process of analysis to arrive at an adequate definition of this concept by distinguishing it from other ideas; but really begins from his definition of substance, God, or Nature, from which he attempts to show that everything else follows. In the â€Å"Tractatus de intellectus emendatione†, Spinoza stresses that in attaining knowledge through a right method we can only proceed from causes to effects 15 and that we have therefore to start with the best definitions of what we take as a cause: â€Å"Quare recta inveniendi via est ex data aliqua definitione cogitationes formare: quod eo felicius et facilius procedet, quo rem aliquam melius definiverimus. †16. According to this, Spinoza`s way can be described rather like a productive process of construction (truly reminding of the geometrical sense) in which the developed figures are a posteriori given names that have already been familiar to us, like â€Å"action† and â€Å"passion†, â€Å"joy† and â€Å"sadness†. He is less looking for their appropriate content, but rather encounters or meets proceeding along the axioms, definitions and laws that he establishes by and by, and thus with a method – the true natures of those things of which we have always had only inadequate ideas. We can very well observe this procedure in how Spinoza arrives at his definitions of the basic af fects and we can also try to rightly understand the sense in which they are primitive or primary and the others composite or deduced. The crucial step in developing something that can bear the name â€Å"affect† is maybe, when in EIIIP4 first we find the proof (based on evidence) that a thing can only be destroyed by an external cause and then in EIIIP6, Spinoza concludes that, as nothing contrary to a subject? s existence can be part of it, there has to be a strive for self-perseverance in every thing according to its own nature. It is the conscious idea of this strive which explains our first basic affect: desire (cupiditas). The deduced strive for self-perseverance, named conatus, then also serves as the concept by which our two other primary affects can be understood: an alteration in our mind that conforms to our conatus will be called joy (laetitia), while an alteration opposed to it will be called sadness (tristitia). We should note here that between desire on the one hand and joy and sadness on the other there seems to be a certain difference, as Spinoza calls the latter ones in the same passage where he defines them â€Å"passiones†, whereas the former is first characterized only as affect and in 15 See the â€Å"Tractatus de intellectus emendatione†: â€Å"Nam revera cognitio effectus nihil es, quam perfectiorem causae cognitionem acquirere. (†¦) Sed optima conclusio erit depromende ab essentia aliqua particulari affirmativa, sive a vera et legitima definitione. †, p. 70; and also Deleuze, Gilles: â€Å"Expressionism in Philosophy, Spinoza†, pp. 157f. An important aspect is that Spinoza correlates a legitimate and true definition to an affirmative essence. There we can see that defining a certain thing can not consist in showing difference to another thing, be it even an essential difference, but only in affirming its positive essence. 16 Spinoza: â€Å"Tractatus de intellectus emendatione†, p. 70 7 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 deed it seems difficult to conceive of how desire, as being the conscious idea of our conatus could be a passion. But Spinoza will specify (in EIIIP58 f. ) that joy as well as desire must and indeed only they can be called active insofar as their cause consists in an adequate idea. So, although desire might be taken somehow to follow from the two other basic affects, expressing rather a current condition of our mind than a transition into a different state of perfection, the guiding distinction that accounts for Spinoza? exclusive occupation with definitions of passions in part three, separates active desire and joy from passive desire, joy and sadness. Spinoza tells us in the same paragr aph in which he is introducing joy and sadness that he is acknow ledging only these along with desire as the three primary passions and that he will show how all the remaining originate in them 17. But how exactly does he achieve this? The main means which will allow him to account for a diversity of passions will be certain mechanisms or – better – dispositions of the mind by which it is urged to behave in a certain way and to proceed from one idea or one affect to another. The main enetic principles guiding the deduction of the variety of passions in part three are those of attribution of causality (through which love and hate are being defined), associ ation of affects (we can suffer a certain affect just because it has regularly accompanied another one, by which we are affected now, in the past), similarity (unknown things can cause affects in us simply because of their similarity to things we have already been affected by) and imitation (insofar as we have an idea of something similar to us suffering an affect, we will be naturally brought to suffer the same)18. Of great effectiveness are also Spinoza? s assumptions about how the mind will behave in reaction to certain ideas (for example to exclude the existence of a thing which is thought of as the cause of our sadness). These principles seem to suffice to develop the same variety of passions as have been defined by Descartes. But, as we have seen, there is obviously a significant difference between the two methods insofar as Spinoza, so to say, meets our common notions for passions on the way and annexes or almost usurps them for his purposes. The main focus about his method is on the deductive and genetic force of his concepts and definitions. This is why we often have to realize that, in spite of their relative conformity with how we would intuitively describe what our passions consist in, Spinoza is giving quite unconventional definitions that would maybe not convince us if taken out of the context of their interrelation. It is therefore not surprising that in several passages we find con 17 See EIIIP3: â€Å"( ) et praeter hos tres nullum alium agnosco affectum primarium: nam reliquos ex his tribus oriri in seqq. ostendam. † 18 See Renz, Ursula: â€Å"Spinoza: Philosophische Therapeutik der Emotionen†, pp. 322-327. 8 Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 iderations concerning the relation between his definitions and our common language for emotions, an aspect that is not at all as noticeable in Descartes because of his analytic approach that allows him to use our common language already before att aining to the knowledge of those phenomena we do have words for. Most remarkably, Spinoza admits that in defining the most important passions he does not want or can not (for some reason which might be very interesting to ask for as an explana tion of this fact) detach himself completely from the usual meanings of the names he adopts: â€Å"Haec nomina ex communi usu aliud significare scio. Sed meum institutum non est verborum significationem, sed rerum naturam explicare easque iis vocabulis indicare, quorum significatio, quam ex usu habent, a significatio, qua eadem usurpare volo, non omnino abhorrent, quod semel monuisse sufficat. † (EIIIDef. XX) On the other hand there is more than one passage in which seems to be completely indifferent to wards any affinities between his definitions and common meanings, as he repeatedly asserts that we can find much more affects than we have words for: â€Å"Et ad hunc modum concipere etiam possumus odium, spem, securitatem et alios affetus admirationi junctos; atque adeo plures affectus deducere poterimus, quam qui receptis vocabularis indicari solent. Unde apparent affectuum nomina inventa esse magis ex eorum vulgari usu quam eorundem accurata cognitione. † (EIIIP52Sch) Here again, it is significant that Spinoza talks of deducing an indefinite number of affects, while Descartes talks about distinguishing (see P §68). We also find the awareness in Descartes that he uses the general and particular words for our passions in a different way than we usually do (which seems always to go along with elaborating a theory). It may as well be supposed that Descartes ex pects there to be new combinations of the primitive passions that might lack a correspondent name in our ordinary language. But my comparison should have shown that the idea about generating new passions is of completely different kind than in Spinoza`s theory. Bibliography Beaney, Michael: Analysis, in: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = . Bennett, Jonathan: A Study of Spinoza? s Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1984. Christian Scherrer, student number: 013851259 Deleuze, Gilles: Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza, New York: Zone Books 1990. Descartes, Rene: Die Leidenschaften der Seele, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 1984. Renz, Ursula: Spinoza: Philosophische Therapeutik der E motionen, in: Klassische Emotionstheori en – Von Platon bis Wittgenstein, Hilge Landweer Ursula Renz (ed. ), Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter 2008. Spinoza, Baruch de: Opera/Werke, zweiter Band (Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione/Ethica), Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1978. Spinoza, Baruch de: Ethik in geometrischer Ordnung dargestellt, Hamburg: Felix Meiner 2007. 10

Nian, the Chinese Spring or New Years Day Festival

Nian, the Chinese Spring or New Years Day Festival The Spring Festival is the grandest festival for the Chinese. The Spring Festival is also called Nian, but who knows the term, Nian, was once the name of a furious monster that lived on human beings in the ancient time. How the festival has some relationship with the monster lies in a story about the origin and development of the Spring Festival. The legend says, long ago, there was a monster called Nian. It was born to be very ugly and ferocious, which looked like either dragons or unicorns. On the first and the 15th of each lunar month, the monster would come down from the mountains to hunt people. So people were very much afraid of it and locked their doors early before sunset on the days of its coming. There lived an old wise man in a village. He thought it was the panic in people that made the monster so bold and furious. Thus the old man asked people to organize together and to conquer the monster by means of beating drums and gongs, burning bamboo, and lighting fireworks for the purpose of making large noises to threaten the hateful monster. When he told people about the idea, everybody agreed on it. On a moonless and freezing cold night, the monster, Nian, appeared again. The moment it opened its mouth to people, burst out the frightening noises and fire made by people, and wherever the monster went, it was forced to back off by the terrible noises. The monster couldnt stop running until he fell down with exhaustion. Then people jumped up and killed the evil monster. Savage as the monster was, he lost in the end under the efforts from the cooperation of people. Since then, people have kept the tradition by beating drums and gongs, and lighting fireworks at the coldest day in winter to drive the imagined monsters away and to celebrate the victory over it. Today, Nian refers to the New Years Day or the Spring Festival. People often say Guo Nian, which means live the festival. Furthermore, Nian also means the year. For example, the Chinese often greet each other by saying Xin Nian Hao, which means Happy New Year! Xin means new and Hao means good.

About Chloroform As An Anaesthetic Agent

About Chloroform As An Anaesthetic Agent Surgical procedures are painful, no doubt. Even with the advancement of medicine in the field of anaesthetic, certain complications are to be expected among patients who were receiving anaesthesia (regardless of types) such as bradycardia, post-puncture headache, hypotension and feeling pain despite an adequate dose of analgesia. How do we know exactly whether the patient who is being operated is in pain? Most of the indications were clinical (there is no machine which can tell you with an absolute certainty that the patient is in paint) and often judged based on the patients vital signs which can be quite suggestive of pain, for example, increase in blood pressure and heartbeat could indicate that the amount of analgesia being given to the patient was inadequate. Eventually, an anaesthetist in-charge will increase the analgesics/any other drugs dosage to achieve stabilisation which will provide a less painful experience for the patient. Being sedated during surgery is the main principle of anaesthesia (although some procedures dont require sedation; local anaesthetic for example) coupled with other agents which could alleviate pain and reduce movement to provide surgeons with optimal surgical conditions thus reducing post-operative complications. There are a lot of fine arteries, veins and nearby organs that can potentially be damaged during operation if patients were moving thus usage of muscle relaxants (either depolarising or non-depolarising) are justified to facilitate certain procedures. Even though nowadays, there are a lot of chemicals which can be used as anaesthetic agents, back in the day, the number of options to alleviate pain is quite limited. In 2250 BCE, most of the toothache cases experienced by Babylonians were treated by giving Henbane, a type of plant which is quite poisonous, often being used to treat some medical conditions such as asthma, cough, nervous system-related diseases and sure, a toot hache. If you were thinking, sedation before operative procedures are only practised after we discovered modern medicine, you were wrong. In 650 BCE, most of the priestesses utilise ethylene fumes to induce sedation among patients before any kind of procedure. In 400 BCE, Assyrians discovered that they can induce unconsciousness temporarily by compressing the carotid artery to carry out a few simple surgical procedures such as cataract surgery and circumcision without too much fuss. In the year 160, Hua Tuo performed surgery after patients have been induced with a method resembles the general anaesthesia by utilising a mixture of wine and herbs called Mafeisan. People generally understand the importance of putting patients in an unconscious state before starting an operation but as there were a lot of complications (including death) which have been documented in a lot of journals associated with certain types of anaesthetic agents, people grew restless. There are a lot of modern anaesthetic agents which are not being used anymore due to their fatal complications but people in the past dont have much choices on that matter, really. In this article, we will discuss regarding one of the anaesthetic agents which have been held in high regards in the past after it was used to ease up Queen Victoria, during her childbirth. Lets talk about @chloroform. Exploring A 170 Years Of Controversy Even though chloroform was discovered by three independent researchers in 1831, people are not aware of its anaesthetic properties until it was eventually demonstrated in 1847 by a Scottish obstetrician named Professor James Simpson. He tried to search for an ideal anaesthetic chemical that can be used to anaesthetise patients during operation while imposing minimal side effects (pain, for most of the parts). His determination stemmed from his bad experience of witnessing a breast-removal operation that was carried out in 1827 when he was a medical student. Back then, reliable anaesthetic agents were yet to be discovered thus surgical procedures were usually carried out with speed and precision to reduce patients suffering. Feeling pain was considered inevitable so patients depend heavily on surgeons skills while they were held down by devices to prevent movements. Throughout the surgery, Simpson felt traumatised as he had to witness suffering from the patient as surgical cuts were made. Her movements were restricted by both leather straps and a few other attendants, so it was pretty much messed up gores that had to be dealt with as soon as they were able. Its not a sight that you would have admired or cherished and he nearly quitted medical school because of that; fortunately, he didnt. Instead of quitting, he pledged himself to find a suitable anaesthetic agent that could alleviate suffering among patients especially in a surgical setting. Most of the answers he acquired from his professors when he was a medical student were discouraging and only when he was a full-pledged medical officer that he could experiment with a number of chemicals and procedures to test their efficacies on his patients; he ever tried mesmerism! People often used the word mesmerism and hypnosis interchangeably, but both of them induced trance (an altered state of consciousness) through different methods. Mesmerism focused on using non-verbal cues like gaze, strokes etc. while hypnotism used verbal cues. Of course, mesmerism is not a good choice when it comes to medicine, even its founder, Franz Anton Mesmer was chased out from Venice for practising it, but Simpson was willing to try anything for the sake of improving the current state of surgical protocols; still, none of it works. In 1846 he heard about a chemical called ether which can be used as an inhaled agent to alleviate pain during dental procedures. He tried to use it in his medical practice but he soon realised that there are a lot of side effects caused by that particular volatile agent, not to mention back then, a huge portion of the medical community opposed to the usage of volatile agents as anaesthesia. Despite the frustration, he learned a considerable amount of experience and knowledge regarding volatile compounds. Exposure to all kind of volatile compounds brought him to chloroform in 1847, a year after his failed attempt at using ether as an anaesthetic agent. Mind you, volatile compound is a hot topic since the discovery of chloroform in 1831, but their potential benefits were regarded less than what they deserved. On November 1847, he revealed chloroform as a potential anaesthetic agent that can be used to induce patient pre-operatively. His discovery is so significant to the point that he was credited for discovering it and responsible for saving Queen Victoria during her childbirth from suffering; neither of which is true. According to the history press, although Simpsons works after the discovery of chloroform can be thought as significant or probably greater than chloroform, it received less attention by the medical community and public alike; everyone wanted to celebrate or hate him for the discovery of chloroform; so unfortunate. He recognised the fact that chloroform is a powerful agent that can be used to sedate people during surgery and at the same time, took lives if the dosage applied to an individual were excessive. There were a lot of debates, quarrels and confusion regarding the usage of such agent which requires a careful consideration of patients condition which can ultimately cause death if it was to be miscalculated. It is, however, worth noting that, the usage of chloroform has revolutionised battlefield medicine due to its quick onset of action, ease of use and high rate of success which has been documented on numerous occasions during wars. In the war in the Crimea, the British used chloroform almost universally in their operations; the French also exhibited it very extensively, and Baudens, one of their leading military surgical authorities, declares that they did not meet with one fatal accident from it, although it was given to them during the Eastern campaign, thirty thousand times at least. In America, however, chloroform was only recognised as one of the most effective anaesthetic agents after a civil war in 1861 thus being used by physicians for routine surgeries. It was kinda appropriate to start using such inhaled agent after it was documented in the records regarding the use of chloroform as a preferred agent to treat 80,000 people (through surgical methods) without too much fuss; they either used chloroform alone or mixed it up with ether to enhance its therapeutic effects. Even though the success rate seems high, there were a lot of deaths that have been documented as a part of the consequences caused by chloroform, starting with a child in 1848, a year after Simpson started using it as a preferred anaesthetic agent. Miscalculation or overextending the exposure of such chemical to patients can cause cardiac arrest and thus death within 2 minutes. When Simpson first discovered the anaesthetic property of chloroform, he tried it on himself, putting him in a deep sl eep. Fortunately, he woke up the day after or the world will be deprived of such anaesthetic agent a few decades after his announcement. Chloroform In Criminal-Related Activities I think people are quite familiar with the idea of chloroform being used by criminals to induce their victims into an unconscious state so that they can be abducted or killed with ease. Even though this idea is quite popular, most of the papers out there seem to agree with the fact that applying chloroform to a handkerchief and such is considered a poor tool to be used in abductions and any related crimes that are required unconsciousness of non-consenting individuals. There are a few cases that can be given as evidence but most of the popular press seems to hate if this fact proved wrong; they still believe that in any criminal activity which used chloroform, the chemical itself is the reason for people to be unconscious. Well, the method of inducing victims seem to resemble the act of inducing patients before an operation but there are a lot of factors that can be considered before saying chloroform is the root of all evils. In 1850, an elderly clergyman stayed in Temperance Hotel located in Kendal, Cumbria, England. He was on a mission of collecting donation for the needy and successfully collected eleven gold sovereigns which are considered a lot. Unfortunately for him, a young man who travelled alongside him planned to steal those sovereigns so he soaked a towel with some chloroform and hid inside a closet while the clergyman was busy doing something else. When the clergyman about to go to sleep, he tried to lock the door by using a chair since the lock is broken and a few seconds after, the young man attacked him while covering his face with the towel, attempted to knock him down. It will be easier for him to hit the clergymans head rather than using chloroform, the clergyman scream and fight violently and the other guests from other rooms came to see what happen. The young man was arrested and he was sentenced to 18 months of jail time. There are many cases which resemble this one but none of it was accepted as the truth by the public presses in 1865. People wanted to hear that chloroform can actually be used to commit crimes. In 1854, an ophthalmic surgeon named William Wilde began treating Mary Travers for a few years until later in 1862, she claimed, allegedly, that she was raped under the influence of chloroform by the surgeon himself. The thing that was interesting regarding this case is, although she claimed that she was raped in 1862, the report which was written by her to the presses was submitted in 1864 when William Wilde was awarded a knighthood for his contribution in Irish census. She was treated by him for those 2 years and this accusation seems suspicious. Moving on, William Wildes wife submitted a letter to Mary Travers whos at the time working as a professor of medical philosophy in Dublin. When Mary Travers found out about this, she sued Lady Wilde for defamation. Mary Travers won that case but the penalty imposed on William Wilde was so low that it wouldnt affect his reputation at all. People started to become suspicious as to why this was the case. This case was then discussed by two jo urnalists which favoured Sir William Wilde and they were sued for defamation by Mary Travers too; only this time, she lost. There are a few possibilities that could have influenced Mary Travers as of why she behaved that way. The rape accusation might be alleged but when we are talking about the truth, Mary Travers might have spoken it, I mean the truth; only it never happened in the first place. A lot of this kind of accusations have been received throughout the years and some research which are conducted much later proved that chloroform can induce sexual hallucination. This effect, however, is not specific to chloroform but also the other inhaled anaesthetic agents. Apart from making you happy, it can strengthen sexual emotions which lead to hallucinations that can be considered erotic. In 1888, a paper written by Buxton DW described a case whereby a patient achieved sexual orgasm during induction with an inhaled anaesthetic agent. Quite interesting, isnt it? Oh yeah, chloroform also is quite addictive. There is some documentation (quite old) which described patients who are addicted to inhaled anaesth etic agents to improve sexual performances. Conclusion Even though chloroform was proven to be a great anaesthetic agent in the past, it was replaced by much better gases that would be able to maintain unconsciousness with fewer side effects. If someone said they were being raped under the influence of chloroform, that case needs to be investigated first. Even though chloroform is a poor tool to be used by a criminal, people can be knocked out by it; they just need to be still for a few minutes as the concentration of the chloroform used might have been mild than what have been calibrated for surgical uses.

Research/argumentative paper about Achilles and Agamemnon Research - 1

/argumentative about Achilles and Agamemnon - Research Paper Example His conflict with Achilles begins when Agamemnon is forced to give up his captured prize, the woman Chryseis who was the daughter of the local priest to Apollo. When Agamemnon refused to ransom her to her father, Apollo sent a plague against the Greek army until the girl was returned. Agamemnon agreed to return her on condition that he got the other girl, Briseis, who had been awarded to Achilles. Its easy to see the argument that takes place after that as childish pouting on the part of Achilles, but this conflict tells us perhaps more about this society than the epic battle between Hector and Achilles. In the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, it is possible to see the social structure of the Greek army as a collection of allies rather than an encampment of a single, unified, cohesive army. Its also clear that the insult to Achilles is not only the lack of respect toward him as also being a leader of men in the taking away of a prize, but also in the over-generosity of Agamem nons later peace offerings which would subjugate Achilles as a servant of sorts to Agamemnon. Through his behavior, Achilles allows us to understand important subtleties of Greek social life and gain insight into important concepts in our own social structure. The ancient Greeks were organized according to a very specific social structure that had many subtleties not necessarily recognized today. Rather than being written as a specific code, these subtleties were contained in various expected forms of behavior and informal codes of conflict. For example, it is often forgotten among Achilles critics that the Greek army was not the single entity we think of today when we think of the American forces. Instead, it was a collection of armies, each led by their own leader as each leader agreed to fight on the side of Agamemnon (Donlan, 2002). This meant Agamemnon owed his

Samaritan Woman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Samaritan Woman - Essay Example Jesus told her that he could offer her â€Å"living water and will never thirst again† and also told her of her life and all she had ever done. She then knew who he was. Leaving behind her jar of water, she ran back to the village and told everyone to go see a man who told her of everything she had ever done. In my opinion, this Samaritan woman seems to be one whose character is questionable and without moral, religious and even cultural standing. Previously, she had five husbands and was currently in an unlawful marriage. In the first century Samaria, such a marriage setup was not acceptable. Marriage and family were held in high esteem and with the utmost respect. Divorce then was not a very common occurrence. Within the family, each had roles. When it came to their cultural taboo, a Jewish man was not allowed to speak to a woman in public. Therefore, just like the twenty-first century, marriage involving the union of a man and woman is highly regarded. It is not to be dissolved indefinitely unless in cases of infidelity. However, despite divorce cases being rampant as compared to the first century, it is not wrong for a man to speak to a woman in public in this era. From a Christian perspective, a man and a woman are supposed to be legally married for their marriage setup to be lawful. Although the Samaritan woman was sinful, Jesus gave her another chance to repent and change her ways just as we today should hearken unto the word of God and change our sinful acts.

Environmental Impacts of the Global Increase in Demand for Oil Essay Example for Free

Environmental Impacts of the Global Increase in Demand for Oil Essay To what extent are the environmental impacts of the global increase in demand for oil acceptable? [15 marks] After the industrial revolution, the demand for oil has been increasing globally. Over 100 million tonnes of oil are transported around the world on average a day. There are countries like the US which consume almost one quarter of global oil output, which must be supplied from oil reserves, usually from countries like Saudi Arabia (Guinness, 2011, p. 245). This shows that the topic of oil consumption is a global issue as all countries need oil to develop and provide for their populations. The issue with this large consumption of oil is the fact that oil is a non-renewable source of energy and therefore has a limit. Oil is formed from the remains of dead plants and animals in underground rock which is found in marine areas and therefore requires technology such as pipelines and drilling machines to extract the oil. The implications of this has caused serious environmental consequences which questions whether extracting oil to supply the demands of the world’s population should be permitted when the environment has to pay the cost, examples being oil leaks into the sea and the effects of that. With a growing global population, energy companies are trying to find sources of energy and are therefore trying to construct pathways and routes to constantly feed people’s needs and demands. This has lead to companies searching and drilling for oil in fragile environments, such as the Alaska pipeline which crosses 3 mountain ranges. The reason why companies are looking into areas full of permafrost is because global warming is causing the ice in the Arctic Circle to melt and oil rich sea beads are now being uncovered. The implementation of the Alaska pipeline has not caused any major environmental problems as many obstacles had been avoided when constructing this project, such as raising the pipeline on stilts so that that the heated oil would not cause the ice to melt. However, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, which occurred in 1989 did take place and still affects the environment, animal species and humans to this day. The oil tanker named Exxon Valdez was carrying 1.2 million barrels of oil when it ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, spilling 240 000 barrels. The oil slick eventually covered 25 000 km2 coastal and off-shore waters and 1700km of coastline (RGS Worcester, n.d., para. 2). A major oil spill like this has resulted in devastating environmental impacts, which has caused social and economical impacts as well. The clean-up process, which included burning the oil (relatively effective as it reduced 113,400 liters of oil to 1,134 liters of removable residue), spraying chemicals on the oil which reached the shoreline and mechanical cleanup methods, did not eradicate the oil fast enough as the environmental impacts are still present after 21 years. 10000 people were involved in the clean up and it took 4 summers and cost 2 billion dollars. This large number of people put their jobs on hold and attended to the effects of the oil spill, which could have caused a decline in the economy in Alaska (Exxon Valdez oil spill, n.d., para. 5). The biggest impact of the oil spill was on the wildlife. Some 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and about 250,000 seabirds died within a few days after the oil spill (Graham, 2003, para. 1). A decrease in biodiversity and the ecosystems in Alaska affect the environment significantly as it disrupts food chains and causes animals like ducks and other marine animals to lose their source of food. The biggest impact, in terms of wildlife, is the herring population and the effect on the herring industry in Alaska. The spill occurred during spawning season that the inlets and bays where herring traditionally laid their eggs were choked with oil. Within four years, the herring population has disappeared. This has affected Alaskans in terms of their jobs and their source of food. Permits to fish herring commercially had been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars before the spill but became worthless, leaving many fishermen facing huge amounts of debt. Farmers used to earn 150000 dollars a year but this has dropped to 5000 dollars, showing the extent of the impact of the loss of herring (BBC News, 2010, para. 9). A weaker economy results in economical problems within the area and a change in employment structure as children of these fisherman can no longer have the opportunity to be a herring farmer. Economic problems can also result in social problems such as domestic violence, alcohol abuse, suicides and divorces, mainly due to massive unemployment. This example shows that the environmental impacts can have their own impacts, which again questions whether the extraction of oil is worth all these consequences. After 21 years, 20000 gallons of oil still remain on the beaches of Prince William Sound (BBC News, 2010, para. 30). Therefore, the clean up hasn’t been very effective. It’s also worth pointing out that maybe all the environmental impacts still haven’t been determined, for example the soil and vegetation could also have been affected by the oil spill as the oil may have seeped through the sand of the beaches. This would affect the growth of vegetation drastically. People don’t know enough to predict how long the effects are going to last as they can range from years to centuries. One wonders how long countries can continue to extract and consume oil when they still don’t fully know the extent of the environmental effects of oil spills and if their chances of occurring are more likely. The production of oil is also a process which causes a variety of negative effects on the environment. An example is the tar sands oil extraction in Canada – the country which supplies the US with the most oil as it doesn’t have issues regarding transport, weather and the fact that there are pipeline installed from Canada to the US. There is enough natural gas to heat 3 million homes from the extraction of tar sands oil in Canada. However, it is expensive to extract the oil out of the sands (120 million dollars over the last 12 years have been invested) which has lead to environmental degradation in the form of excess use of water to extract bitumen. The bitumen is then refined and the toxic sludge (not like conventional oil – mainly nasty impurities) that is left over after separating oil from impurities is usually dumped in ponds and lakes. In some cases, the toxic ponds are so big that they can be seen from space. The Athabasca River in Canada has a large number of toxic ponds, some being 60 km long in length. These companies, like SUNCOR (Canadian energy company), are dumping around 1.8 billion liters of toxic materials like sludge and impurities in these ponds, they will eventually reach water in the delta (Sustainable Guidance, 2011). The effects of these impurities in the water can be devastating to the wildlife. There is a decrease in the number of fish as the sludge clogs up the fish’s gills, making it hard for them to breathe. The change in the ecosystem and food chain will also cause a decline in fish as smaller species like plankton may be affected by the impurities. The fish may also be contaminated and migratory birds which eat these fish will suffer and possibly die as they won’t eat healthy meat. Moose is another species which are affected by the toxic ponds as their source of food is contaminated and decreasing. This has lead to a number of endangered species. There is a 35 million acres coniferous forest (larger than the Brazilian forest) which is full of endangered species. There have also been cases where environmental issues like toxic ponds are not released to the public as these details have been ‘covered up’ by companies like SUNCOR, leaving environmentalists like Green peace in conflict with these energy companies. This example has shown the harmful effects of oil production on the environment, which again makes us question whether this is all worth it (Sustainable Guidance, 2011). To a very small extent, the environmental impacts of the global increase in demand for oil are acceptable. It can be said, with great certainty, that oil production and consumption does not benefit the environment. The environmental consequences may not be frequent but when they do occur, they cause a catastrophic effect, which takes the environment and the people decades or even longer to recover. These impacts are therefore not acceptable, which is why countries should start investing in producing renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines. Governments can’t suddenly start decreasing the amount of oil they consume as the people are already used to living with a high standard of living. The populations around the world should be educated about the problem and should be encouraged to start relying on renewable sources of energy. However, this raises the problem for developing countries and NICs. It will be extremely difficult to develop without consuming large amounts of oil and will therefore cause the rate of development to decrease. This leaves these types of countries at a disadvantage, which questions whether it is acceptable for all countries to consume a smaller amount of oil when there are countries with different levels of development. Clearly the issue needs to be discussed before any strategies can be implemented. References BBC News. (2010, July 6). Alaska town slowly heals after 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10548872 BBC News. (2010, June 17). Examining the legacy of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10324021 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 24, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill Graham, S. (2003, December 19). Environmental effects of Exxon Valdez spill still being felt. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=environmental-effects-of Guinness, P. (2011). Geography for the IB diploma. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. RGS Worcester. (n.d.) The Exxon Valdez – environmental catastrophe in a fragile environment? Retrieved from https://schoolweb.rgsw.org.uk/resource.aspx?id=52612 Sustainable Guidance. (2011, April 27). Tar sands oil extraction – the dirty truth. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwoRivP17A

The Alamo Essay -- History Historical Mexican Essays

The Alamo The events that began on February 23, 1836 have roots that span as far back as 1808. This exploration into the events and carnage that took place before, during and after the Alamo will only go back to the events immediately leading up to the Alamo. Mainly the frame of mind the Mexican government had regarding the Texas settlers and the reasons leading to the confrontation at the Alamo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In times before the confrontation at the Alamo, the Mexican government welcomed settlers into Texas. The motive behind Mexico’s act was to create a buffer zone between Mexican settlements and the Indians. Settlers were able to come to Texas as long as they promised to convert to Catholicism and become Mexican citizens among other stipulations. Moreover, Mexico had further problems, the most noticeable was Mexico’ s financial standing. The independence movement that freed Mexico from Spain also left Mexico â€Å"dead broke;† furthermore, they had no real way of watching or parenting the fledgling Texas. Hence, Texas became accustom to doing things without Mexico interfering. Soon after Mexico opened the door to Texas the population of settlers grew to make up 75 per cent of the whole population. This could be seen as a bad thing to the Mexican government because if Texas became entirely made up of settlers what was to stop Texas from breaking a way from Mexico for good. To add to the pressure pot the settlers were illegally trading, and engaging in illegal slavery, among other illegal acts. According to Walter Lord the American Settlers refused to pay any form of tax, in fact according to Lord’s figures only 1,665 pesos where collected from Texas in Two years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These factors and many more including America herself showing interest in Texas, led Mexico to institute a restriction of the number of settlers allowed into Texas. In addition, â€Å"Mexico suspended all unfilled colonization contracts, and required passports issued by Mexican Consulate at their place of residence,† these policies alone angered the settlers who have been accustomed to a lazie fair approach. In addition troops were now being used to see that the laws were enforced and obeyed. As Myers points out: The North Americans had reason to protest. They had gone through the bad years when fields had to be chopped out of the woods and when an Indian raid was commoner that a square meal. An... ...nd bloody tiger to name a few. Many Americans had been opposed to the Texas cause, but no longer were they thinking about that, now they were thinking about revenge. Mexicans had slain American citizens and this had to be avenged in the mind of most Americans. The call to arms had now been rung, â€Å"Remember the Alamo.† The Alamo had been a total loss on the field of physical war fair, but on the playing ground of the mind the Alamo had seized the minds and hearts of every American and sympathizer alike, to rally to its call. So in the end I believe the Alamo was a total victory for the settlers cause. Works Cited General Antonio Lopez De Santa-Anna, D. Ramon Martinez Caro, General Vicente Filisola,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  General Jose Urrea, and General Jose Maria Tornel; Translated by Carlos Castaneda.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Mexican Side of the Texas Revolution. Dallas.: P.L. Turner Company,1956 General Miguel Sanchez Lamego; Translated by Consuelo Velasco. The Siege and Taking of The   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alamo. New Mexico.: Sunstone Press, 1968. Lord, Walter. A Time to Stand. Lincolon.: University of Nebraska Press.: 1978. Matovina, Timothy. The Alamo Remembered. Austin.: University of Texas Press.: 1995.

Harriet Tubman Essay

Her deeds not only saved lives during these terrible time’s but also gave other African Americans the courage to stand up for what they believe in and achieve equal rights for men in women in the world no matter what their skin color or gender was. Born to the parents of slaves Harriet Tubman changed the world in more ways than one and will be explained in the essay. Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross to her slave parents Ben and Harriet Green. The specific date of her birth is said to be between the years of 1820 and 1821 but there is no actual record of her birthday. This was a common problem of the time for many of the American slaves born in this era. Being born into an African American slave family during the 1800’s, Harriet took on the task of being a slave during the early time in her life period. Her first task as a child was to take care of her of her younger brother and also was responsible for the care of one of one of the slave owner’s babies. The work that Harriet was assigned was work that the men never had to do but all work that was done on these plantations or farms should’ve been looked at as equal in all ways. During this time even women slaves were being discriminated against, they automatically were discriminated against at birth when they came out as a girl. The women were thought of as less because they didn’t go out into the fields to do the hard work, but without the women doing their work the men’s work wouldn’t have been done. Life was hard for Harriet during these early years as she was responsible for this young baby and had to take care of it day and night. One would perceive that taking care of this baby at such a young age would be a reason for Harriet’s motherly side towards all the slaves she later helped escape from slavery so they could be free. Harriet’s young life was filled with many experiences and hard times during her childhood. She contracted the measles at a young age she had an incident when at a store, a slave owner threw a two pound weight at another slaves head and hit Harriett. The other slave had left their field without out permission and went to the store. The slave owner told her to help restrain the irate slave but she refused to. The slave owner threw the two pound weight at the problem slave but missed and instead hit Harriet. Harriet did not have any serious damage done to her from the weight but one would think this was a key point in her life when she realized she wanted to be free and to also help other slaves become free of these evil slave owners. Women have been oppressed in the world since the start of time. Men have always been looked at as if they are more important or more useful in the world we live in. We can see that in Harriet Tubman’s case, Her work as a child was mainly as a babysitter of the children or used in the house as a slave. Even during the time of slavery women weren’t granted the same rights as their men counterparts. Most of the time the women slaves were used as maids, caretakers, or doing gardening. These were duties that they thought were suitable for the women and without the women doing these duties the farm or plantation wouldn’t run. Men were mainly used to the harder and more physical labor on the plantations or farms. They were sent out into the fields every day to harvest the crops so that the owner could make his money to maintain his lifestyle. The women were kept back to do the chores around the house and this is where the persona that women are supposed to stay home and do housework comes from even today. The sad part is that people that thought the men were the most important workers, but without the women none of the duties would have been finished. They served and equal role in making the plantation work and weren’t given the credit they deserved. Without the women staying in the house and looking after the children or cooking the meals, none of the men would have food or somewhere to sleep when they were done with their work. One can see that every duty should’ve been seen as equal. The women could do the same duties as the men and vice versa either way the duties are all needed to make the system work. Women’s rights have improved drastically since that time but there still is a stigma that men are better than women. This type of view is wrong and shouldn’t even be thought about in the world we live into today. Woman server a great purpose in the world we live in and should be considered equal in all aspects of life. If one were to ponder this idea seriously we can see without out women no children are born. The sad truth is that women still have to fight for their rights in every aspect of their daily lives. The typical women in society makes only . 70 cents for every dollar that a man would make doing the same job. One would think that one hundred and fifty years later women would be considered equal counterparts to men. â€Å"There has been progress toward greater workplace equality, but we still have a long ways to go. In the United States, most occupations are gendered. Many jobs are segregated by sex; there are large wage gaps, and numerous women experience sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. These types of walls are being broken down every day but still need to be dealt with in a faster and more efficient fashion. As we know slavery was a horrible part of the American society until December of 1865 when it was abolished and Harriet Tubman experienced this horrendous travesty of American society. Harriet Tubman experienced this until one day she decided it was enough a nd escaped from her slavery with her brothers on September 17, 1849. This escape was delayed because of her brothers wish to go back to his family, but weeks later Harriet had had enough and finally escaped. Guided by the light of the moon Harriet traveled at night for the fear if she traveled during the day she could be caught by slave catchers, who would’ve taken her home for a bounty. She passed through many conductors’ houses during her travel, conductors of the Underground Railroad, and finally escaped to Pennsylvania a northern state that had already abolished slavery. This escape thus allowed Harriet Tubman to one day become a conductor in the underground railroad herself to allow other slaves to escape to the freedom they deserved. The author explains how and when slavery was finally abolished throughout the whole United States and a cause of the civil war. [ â€Å"The U. S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. It read, â€Å"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude†¦ shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. â€Å"] This single, yet monumental, law would go on to start a bloody civil war of the north versus the south and end with freedom of all slaves throughout the whole United States of America. When the Civil War began, President Lincoln’s professed goal was the restoration of the Union. But early in the war, the Union began keeping escaped slaves rather than returning them to their owners, so slavery essentially ended wherever the Union army was victorious. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas that were still in rebellion against the Union. This measure opened the issue of what to do about slavery in Border States that had not seceded or in areas that had been captured by the Union before the proclamation. In 1864, an amendment abolishing slavery passed the Senate but died in the House as Democrats rallied in the name of states’ rights. The election of 1864 brought Lincoln back to the White House and significant Republican majorities in both houses, so it appeared the amendment was headed for passage when the new Congress convened in March 1865. Lincoln preferred that the amendment receive bipartisan support–some Democrats indicated support for the measure, but many still resisted. The amendment passed 119 to 56, seven votes above the necessary two-thirds majority. Several Democrats abstained, but the 13th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification, which came in December 1865. With the passage of the amendment, the institution that had indelibly shaped American history and had started the Civil War was eradicated. † This excerpt shows that the hard work and dedication of Harriet Tubman had paid off during her times a slave and thus created freedom for all her African American brothers and sisters to become free. Though it did not make an immediate impact for African Americans to have equal rights it started that movement that has caused everyone in the United States to be equal today. The amazing aspect of Harriet Tubman is her knack for always wanting to help other’s in their slavery. In 1851 Harriet decided to go back to her hometown of Dorchester County to get her husband any many other slaves. Even thought this amazing woman was free she decided to risk her own life and freedom to help other have their own freedom. After a short time of being there she helped eleven other slaves escape in the December of 1851. They escaped safely back to Harriet’s new life in Philadelphia and in freedom. For someone to risk there own life just to help others shows the humanitarian she is. Harriet’s life was full of many different stories but the most important one is work in suffragist activism towards the end of her life. She was one of the women who fought for all women’s rights and also the right to vote. Sadly that would not be passed during Harriet’s life time. Harriet was a woman who fought for the freedom of slaves and also showed that a woman can change the world. She was one of the very prominent women who helped to free slaves and help them start their new life’s and even risked her own life doing so.

Book review Essay

Florence Industries, Inc. is a company which provides three entirely different types of products and services through three divisions of the company: consumer products division, industrial products division and professional services. Each division is treated as an entirely different company and the performance evaluation criteria is return on assets in recent years after major shift. Although, the divisions used to be treated as profit centres, this decision meant they are treated more as investment centres. The Company in 2008 & 2009: From the income statement for 2008 and 2009, it is noticed that there is an increase in revenue by 4% and 11% increase in net profit in 2009. From balance sheet for 2008 and 2009 it is noticed that Florence has issued shared and borrowed long term loan in order to invest in project required high asset cost as the company asset has increased by $ 50,460,000 during 2009. The Company has also declared a dividend to equity of $ 12,570,000 during 2009 and keep $ $11,736,000 to meet future expansion and expense of business Issues and Analysis: Rejecting Proposals Just Based On Gross Margin Requirement: CFO Ben Johnson has recently rejected the new product proposal of product development manager of consumer products division Calvin Marone as its estimated return of 13.67%(exhibit 1) per year was less than the 15% minimum gross return % requirement any new investment proposal should generate in order to get approve. The company’s 2007 gross return was 9.3 % and Ben estimated that it should go up easily to 12% and set target for each division to bring new product proposal of more than 15% gross return generating capabilities. Then again, gross return of Company in 2009 after rejecting the Marone’s proposal was 9.4%. Suppose if Marone’s proposal would have been accepted, then the Company 2009 gross return would have been approximately 9.6% (Exhibit 2) which would have been even higher than 2008 gross return of 9.5%. So, rejecting proposals that would have actually been beneficial just based on gross margin estimations seems redundant. Return on Investment Comparatively Low In Terms of Free Cash Flow: As per the balance sheet of Florence, it is noticed that there has been an increase in cash balance of $ 390,000 during the year 2009 as compared to 2008 balance. During 2009, the  Company has generated cash of $ 42,756,000 from operating activities and $ 13,950,000 from finance activities. Further the Company has used cash of $ 56,316,000(Exhibit 3) in investing activities. Company has used its majority of cash flow generated from operational and financing activities in investing activities. However in case of Florence, the free cash flow is less than the amount of investment made by the company in 2009 which indicate that the company is highly dependent on third party finance for expansion. However, the company has taken initiatives to counter this. They have broken down divisions into investment centres as compared to cost centres which will help enhance the performance of the divisions and influence them to get more out of investments made. By converting the divisions in investment units, it become the overall responsibility of division managers to generate the profit to the company not only on the basis of revenue and expense but also on the basis of total asset employed in order to run the division. Same Performance Evaluation Standard for Each Division: There are some negatives that came out of the Investment Center approach. First, it may not be appropriate to use one Gross return performance standard for all divisions of Florence, considering differences in type of service provided, products, operations, risks, and differences in measurement because of asset age. These divisions cannot be compared with the same yardstick. For example, Professional services division does not use much asset so it will be inappropriate to measure its performance on the basis of gross return % (exhibit 4). Also, as division manager of Industrial Products division tried to explain, Consumer Products Division had a lot of old machines in their assets meaning those depreciated assets, whatever return they come up with, are making things look better in terms of return on assets than they are in reality. Moreover, including allocated corporate asset in the computation of gross return figure means that division and division managers are held accountable for costs and assets over which they don’t have any control at all. Recommendations: Have Other Evaluation Criteria Along with Investment Center Approach: The decision to treat divisions as investment center has its benefits. Benefits of this approach include improvement in operational decision making, reduction in cost of corporate administration, increased motivation at  division level, and freeing corporate management up for more effective utilization. However, there are some pitfalls as well. Just having return on assets as decision criteria isn’t enough and they should take other criteria into account. Criteria like Economic Value Added which takes into account costs of financing the capital or even simple Net Profit which judges the division’s profitability as a whole. And, to counter the problem of having too many old machines in the consumer products division compare to other divisions, the company could take out the depreciation and compare to see how it affects ROA as a whole when taken in to account and when not. That should give the company a clearer picture. Developing a Balanced Scorecard: Developing a balance scorecard should go some way to make sure performance evaluation is fair and is illustrative of actual performance as it takes into account different measures for different functions usually. In this case, Florence would of course has to make it about the divisions rather than functions of business. In the suggested balanced scorecard below (Figure-1) we can see a bit modified targets and measures for different divisions as their goals are slightly different. Figure-1 For both consumer products and industrial products divisions, returns based on both net profit and ROA are important and give a fairer comparison. Customer satisfaction (in Industrial products division’s case it’s more the satisfaction based on compliance with specific designs is another evaluation criteria for both and the target for both should be bettering last year’s performance in each measures. For the professional services division, the growth has been rapid in recent years and retaining that growth will be important. Another important measure is corporate social responsibility i.e. environmental impact studies the division performs which not only is required by the law but also helps build reputation for the company and is part of CSR activities. So, it’s important to keep that into context. Develop evaluation criteria for new projects: Florence Industries Inc. needs to change evaluation criteria for new projects as it is noticed they’re rej ected a project that would have been beneficial for them every which way just because it didn’t fulfil ROA requirement. Along with ROA, CFO Ben could also analyse the below mentioned points before accepting or rejecting any new project: 1)Project payback period 2)Project NPV (Net present value) 3)Project IRR (Internal rate of return) Conclusion: Florence’s sales growth has been phenomenal for a new company and now it’s time to make some major managerial decisions that will shape the future. And, they have started doing so by transforming the divisions into investment centers from profit centers. While it is a good way to go, creating a balance is necessity and having a more comprehensive knowledge about how every division is doing based on more than one evaluation criteria will be important. Each division is run in their own way and the dissimilarities are far greater to just keep evaluating them based on the investment approach. Also, they can’t keep rejecting projects based on one simple requirement as it hinders the growth of the company. That’s why we suggest Florence Industries Inc. to be a bit more open-minded and take broader aspects in consideration and make things fairer for the divisions and the upcoming projects as well.

Free Essays on Holocaust Experiments

We all know of the millions killed during the Holocaust due to gas chambers, starvation, and being worked to death, but what about the ones who were experimented on with out consent, to them it would have been better to have been sent to the gas chamber. Although doctors are usually the one’s people think of to keep us healthy and to heal us, it is just the opposite in the case of the Holocaust. Doctors conducted many cruel and unusual experiments on Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and many others that Hitler found to be a threat to the Aryan race. These experiments were not conducted on behalf of the human race but for the Aryan race, they were conducted to see how cold a German soldier could get before hypothermia set in or before they died. Many experiments were conducted to see if the cells of one inmates organ or body part would regenerate if it was placed on another’s body, or if they could figure out how to make twins so they could artificially inseminate a woman and spread the Aryan race quicker. One of the most common experiments was the freezing experiment. The freezing experiment was conducted to determine the most effective means for treating German pilots who had become severely chilled from ejecting into the ocean, or German soldiers who suffered extreme exposure on the Russian front (The Experiments). The freezing experiments were divided into two parts. First, to establish how long it would take to lower the body temperature to death and second how to best resuscitate the frozen victim. The two main methods used to freeze the victim were to put the person in an icy vat of water or to put the victim outside naked in sub-zero temperatures. After each victim was frozen the doctors would try and find the best way to resuscitate them. There were many ways used to resuscitate the victims, the Hot Bath was found to be the most successful but the Sun Lamp, Internal Irrigation, and Warming by Body Heat were also used. Wit... Free Essays on Holocaust Experiments Free Essays on Holocaust Experiments We all know of the millions killed during the Holocaust due to gas chambers, starvation, and being worked to death, but what about the ones who were experimented on with out consent, to them it would have been better to have been sent to the gas chamber. Although doctors are usually the one’s people think of to keep us healthy and to heal us, it is just the opposite in the case of the Holocaust. Doctors conducted many cruel and unusual experiments on Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and many others that Hitler found to be a threat to the Aryan race. These experiments were not conducted on behalf of the human race but for the Aryan race, they were conducted to see how cold a German soldier could get before hypothermia set in or before they died. Many experiments were conducted to see if the cells of one inmates organ or body part would regenerate if it was placed on another’s body, or if they could figure out how to make twins so they could artificially inseminate a woman and spread the Aryan race quicker. One of the most common experiments was the freezing experiment. The freezing experiment was conducted to determine the most effective means for treating German pilots who had become severely chilled from ejecting into the ocean, or German soldiers who suffered extreme exposure on the Russian front (The Experiments). The freezing experiments were divided into two parts. First, to establish how long it would take to lower the body temperature to death and second how to best resuscitate the frozen victim. The two main methods used to freeze the victim were to put the person in an icy vat of water or to put the victim outside naked in sub-zero temperatures. After each victim was frozen the doctors would try and find the best way to resuscitate them. There were many ways used to resuscitate the victims, the Hot Bath was found to be the most successful but the Sun Lamp, Internal Irrigation, and Warming by Body Heat were also used. Wit...

Project Management and How it Relates to Purchasing and Supply Research Paper - 1

Project Management and How it Relates to Purchasing and Supply Management - Research Paper Example As depicted in this paper, to ensure the success of a project, managers must ensure timely delivery of quality raw materials and other resources as well as proper planning. To ensure that vendors participate in the procurement process, firms are under obligation to issue request for proposal (RFP).Once the vendors receive the RFP, they should submit their proposals. The proposals are then reviewed by selection committee. This paper analyses two ways of improving the assessment of proposals. These include use of preliminary screening and professional review and assessment. Major stages applied during the selection of the most qualified vendor in a proposal include review of all proposal submitted by the vendors, recording the vendor and business requirements, assigning important value for each requirement, assigning performance value to each requirement, computation of total performance value and lastly selection of the successful vendor. In their efforts to create a strong relationsh ip with their clients and suppliers, it is imperative for firms to implement a contract that covers the delivery terms and conditions, duration of a contract and payment terms. Introduction Project management entails the processes that are undertaken by the project managers to ensure that the specific objectives of a project are attained. The key processes include securing, planning, organizing, and managing the available resources (Harold, 2003). On the other hand, purchasing and supply management encompasses the procurement, monitoring of goods while in transit, storage of raw material, the level and quality of supplies. Some of the major factors that determine the success of a project are the availability of raw materials at the required time and quality, the costs of transportation of the raw materials and effective communication between the project managers and the purchasing and supply manager. In this regard, it is clear that project management and purchasing and supply manag ement have a close link that firms cannot overlook. This paper analyses the crucial aspects that covers project management and how it relates to purchasing and supply management. Procurement management Procurement management entails the process of purchasing inputs and other economic resources from the vendors. Economic resources include capital, labor, technology and land that are vital in the production process of a company (Shaw and Felecia, 2010). One of the primary implications of procurement management is that it enables the organisations to negotiate with the suppliers so as to get the best quality inputs at a discounted price. In this way, firms are able to minimize their costs of production thus increasing their level of profitability. Due to limited business operations by smaller business entities, they do not maintain a specific procurement department. However, large companies who are fond of purchasing raw materials in bulk, emulates a comprehensive procurement managemen t process to avoid jeopardizing the production process. Contract management Contract management involves the administration of the contracts made between companies and the vendors, customers, employees and other partners. Major aspects that are covered by contract management include negotiating the terms of contracts, ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions outlined by a contract, as well as making the necessary changes during

Firewall Technology (Network Security) Research Paper

Firewall Technology (Network Security) - Research Paper Example Security requirements have substantially changed recently. Traditionally, securing a system was provided by preventing access (physical and ethically) to the secure system. However, with the introduction of computer technology, there was a need to develop automated security appliances for protecting the network and data of an organization. Due to vast rise in threats, vulnerabilities, hacking and cyber crimes, firewalls become mandatory as the first choice to implement for securing the network and data for every computer network. Firewalls Computer Security is the general term for a set of resources designed to help protect data and ruin the efforts of hackers. Moreover, it is a set of measures to protect data during transmission over a set of interconnected computer systems. Hence, security is a set measures for deterrence, prevention, detection and correction of security threats that can damage or divulge information either locally or when transmitted. Hence, certain security mecha nisms that are designed to detect, prevent and restore security after an attack. Consequently, many network appliances are invented to secure a network. The most popular network security appliance that is used in almost every small or corporate network to provide security is a firewall. Firewall is defined as â€Å"a combination of hardware, software, and procedures that controls access to an intranet. Firewalls help to control the information that passes between an intranet and the Internet. A firewall can be simple or complex, depending on how an organization decides to control its Internet traffic. It may, for example, be established to limit Internet access to e-mail only, so that no other types of information can pass between the intranet and the Internet† (Firewall.2007). Firewalls are network security devices that are categorized in hardware-based firewalls and software-based firewalls. The hardware-based firewalls are more secure, as they are not dependent on the oper ating system. On the other hand, software-based firewalls are dependent on the operating system that may demonstrate risks. The choice from these options depends on the cost as well. However, a full features firewall may protect the computer network from hackers or cyber criminals. It will detect, block and quarantine viruses and malicious codes that tries to enter in the network. Moreover, configuration on the local area network demonstrates a graphical user interface to ensure that each preventive measure is active and running (Agnitum outpost persona firewall pro 2.0.2004). Benefits Constant monitoring of security is achievable via a firewall implementation. As all modifications and logs are stored in a firewall, that are divergent of distribution on hosts on the network. Firewall also provides the protocol-filtering capability as it filters protocols and services associated with them in order to secure them from exploitation. Moreover, firewall hides inbound communication of the network from the outbound network that is also called a wide area network (ADVANTAGES OF FIREWALL). Furthermore, the use of computer networks and communication lines require protecting data during transmission. In addition, firewalls also provide centralized management for the network. This is an ultimate advantage for the network security staff within an organization as the management and