Thursday, October 31, 2019

Feminism Blog Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Feminism Blog Analysis - Essay Example The main similarity between the two sites chosen for analysis is the responsibility they take on themselves in regard to what they are writing about. In particular, the content of the blogs suggests that both sites consider treating everyone with equal respect important; also, protecting women and standing up against sexism is in the focus. In a narrower sense, the two sites both agree that women’s reproductive rights should not be restricted. They argue that women should have the ability to choose whether, how, and when they have or not have children. The sites also highlight the idea that women’s reproductive rights are affected at different levels, such as economy, medicine, education, criminal justice, government, community, and others. The use of social media has played a significant role in the modern feminist movement as well as in how it is perceived in the society. In fact, social media gives young women an opportunity to use their voices in a larger audience. Social media makes feminist activism more democratic, which means that anyone can participate in it. It removes geographical barriers and, thus, makes it possible for millions to unite as it facilitates public dialogues independent of the participants’ location. One of the examples of the co-called networked feminism is the wide use of hashtags that gives the possibility to groups messages on the issue and, consequently, to make it easier to get the information and check the messages which include it.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Core Theories on Economics Related To Economic Slowdown Essay

Core Theories on Economics Related To Economic Slowdown - Essay Example The intention of this study is economic slowdown as the condition in which the gross domestic product growth tends to slow down but it does not turn down. One of the ways of looking at the slowdown in the economy is through gauging the downward revisions in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economic slowdown can also be identified as the difference obtained in the growth rate between two consecutive years of any particular country. An economic downturn demonstrates that the economy of a particular country is entering into recession. The period in which the country suffers from negative economic growths, declining outputs and increasing unemployment is termed as recession. According to the official definition of recession, when the economy suffers from off-putting economic growth for two consecutive years then it is said to be recession. Prior to defining the economic downturn, it is significant to comprehend the main characteristics of economic downturn. A few of the characteristics of economic downturn are rising unemployment, rising additional capacity, low confidence and falling investment, increasing government borrowing, negative or too low economic growth. Certain problems related to recession or economic slowdowns are evident when there is decline in productivity. In such scenario, the production in the economy tends to be reduced which results to lesser real GDP and lower average income. Furthermore, the wage rates may raise either too slowly or may not rise at all. Unemployment is another problem related to economic downturn. (Pettinger, 2011). Since the production is too less during the times of economic slowdown, the demand for the labor also declines thus leading to unemployment. During the times of economic slowdown, the finance of the government tends to worsen. People are not capable of paying much taxes and their spending on the unemployment benefits tends to rise (Pettinger, 2011). This leads to rise in government borrowing and in the rate of i nterest. With the increase in the bond yields, government is forced to reduce budget deficits via cutting the spending and tax rise. This worsens the recession and it becomes difficult for the economy to come out of it. It is often found that throughout the period of economic slowdown, there is devaluation in the exchange rates because during such period people tend to expect lower interest rates and therefore the demand for the

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Ethics Of Hans Jonas Philosophy Essay

Ethics Of Hans Jonas Philosophy Essay Science and philosophy though are separate disciplines they co-exist with each other. Hans Jonas a prominent thinker not only has succeeded in bridging the gap of science and philosophy but also has taken science especially the Biology to the realm of philosophy. He has constructed Philosophical Biology. He is also known for his ethics of responsibility. As, one of the most prominent thinkers of 20th century, he has written on diverse topics such as the philosophy of biology, ethics, social philosophy, cosmology, and Jewish theology with a view to understand morality as the root of our moral responsibility to safeguard humanitys future. Jonass greatest work, The Phenomenon of Life sets forth a systematic and comprehensive philosophy of phenomenology and existentialism. In this paper I have tried to adumbrate his thought on life philosophy rather thematically with a special reference to Phenomenon of Life. I have also touched upon his most celebrated ethics of responsibility briefly f ollowed by my own reflections. 1. Life and Biography Hans Jonas was a well-known Jewish thinker, an early and influential biomedical ethicist, and an equally early and influential philosopher of technology. Jonas was born in 1904 in Monchengladbach, studied under Martin Heidegger at the University of Freiburg before Hitler came to power and Heidegger became chancellor of the university. He received his doctorate in 1928 from the University of Marburg. In 1933 he fled Germany and, in 1964, publicly repudiated Heidegger because of his Nazi connections. Jonas taught in Jerusalem and Canada before becoming a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York in 1955, where he was chair of the philosophy department (195763) and Johnson Professor of Philosophy (from 1966 until his retirement in 1976).  [1]  He Died in February, 1993 in New York. Jonass career is generally divided into three periods defined by the three works just mentioned, but in reverse order: studies of Gnosticism, studies of philosophical biology, and ethica l studies.  [2]  Jonass major works in English include:  The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God  and  the Beginnings of Christianity  (1958),  The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical Biology  (1966), and  The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age  (1979).  [3]   2. Philosophical Biology in The Phenomenon of Life The Phenomenon of Life is a collection of essays, written over a period of more than fifteen years. The book covers topics ranging from the metabolism of an amoeba to the meaning of immortality. There are discussions of Orphic religion, natural selection, gnosticism, DNA, ancient versus modern mathematics, cybernetics, the relative strengths and weaknesses of seeing, hearing, and tactile-feeling, the being of images, theory versus practice, the images of man and the image of God. In this book he critiques the fundamental assumptions underlying modern philosophy since Descartes, primarily dualism. Jonas is exactly right to argue that life does need a distinct ontological category, and that the neglect of life in the Cartesian dichotomy of matter and mind is an important element in the historical path that leads to modern nihilism.  [4]  The book deals with organic facts of life and self-interpretation of life in human being. The themes dealt are not only of organic world such as m etabolism, sentience, motility, emotion, perception, imagination, mind etc. but also moral and metaphysical themes.  [5]   In the preface of The Phenomenon of Life, Jonas identifies the work as an existential interpretation of the biological facts. This description is significant: Jonas would attempt to carry what was valuable in the existentialist approach forward to interpret an area that philosophers had long neglected: the world of facts about living things; about hunger, about nourishment, about growth and about death. The very proposition that philosophy ought to interpret facts demonstrates Jonass unorthodox orientation. For Jonas, the old division of labor between the natural sciences, on the one hand, which deal in facts about nature, and the humanities, on the other, which concern themselves with values and concepts salient to the mind or spirit-this old division of labor is precisely the problem that must be overcome in order to get nature right. 3. Life, Death and the Body of Being and Philosophical Aspects of Darwinism Jonas says that when human being began to interpret the nature of things he found life everywhere. It means the primitive man found life in everything. Jonas calls for the construction of a philosophy of nature as the Greek philosopher Aristotle did long ago. By this he means that every philosopher must return to fields or to the working land. In this context his questions are: What is the difference between a human being, alive, and a corpse? What is there in man besides chemicals that constitute the human body? Some might be quick to answer, a human being is not just a body; he has a soul. But what is meant by this? Is the soul something to be opposed to the body-a sort of spiritual substance that inhabits a body and lives out its own destiny apart from that body? This was neither Jonass view nor Aristotles before him.  [6]  The position of these philosophers is closer to that which Friedrich Nietzsche expressed with his usual eloquence when he wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Body am I, and soul so speaks a child.  [7]  And why should one not speak like children? But the awakened and knowing say: body am I entirely, and nothing else; and soul is only a word for something about the body. Nietzsche says that the soul is a word for something about the body, we have an idea what that something is-its mortality, its relationship to death. An easy but significant answer to the question what is a living thing? is this: A living thing is something that can and will die. Unlike non-living matter-including the nonliving matter that makes up living bodies-the whole living body has a provisional sort of being. When death arrives, the extinction of an existing thing occurs. What is clearly gone in death is the bodys organization. Extinction of organism equals loss of organization. When the organism is alive, first, it is not a static thing, like the organization of marble into a statue or of wood and iron into a hammer. It is rather, a never ceasing, ongoing pro cess. Biological science calls this process as metabolism. Jonas describes metabolism philosophically: In this remarkable mode of being, the material parts of which the organism consists at a given instant are to the penetrating observer only temporary, passing contents whose joint material identity does not coincide with the identity of the whole which they enter and leave, and which sustains its own identity by the very act of foreign matter passing through its spatial system, the living form. It is never the same materially and yet persists as its same self, by not remaining the same matter.  [8]  Aristotles thought that all living beings nourish themselves, struck the idea of the mode of being as discovered by Jonas. A living thing does not simply exist-it exists by being constantly active, constantly reaching out into the world to capture those material parts it needs to preserve itself. Out of these captured elements, the organism builds itself anew or generates the energy needed for this building. Plants employ roots and leaves, a nimals employ gills, lungs, teeth, stomach-and also, on the hunt, legs and arms, eyes and ears, attention and memory. As Jonas conceives it, life, from the most simple to the most complex, is active and purposeful.  [9]  Organism and environment together form a system which determines the basic concept of life. Jonas remarks that the triumph which materialism achieved in Darwinism contains the germ of its own overcoming. Though by proving Darwins evolutionism it seems that mans metaphysical status is reduced due to his animal descent, in the realm of life as a whole mans dignity is restored. If man was the relative of animals, then animals were the relatives of man, and in degrees bearers of that inwardness of which man, the most advanced of their kin, is conscious in himself.  [10]  But man remains distinct, because of self-consciousness. 4. Is God a Mathematician? The third essay in The Phenomenon of Life considers the meaning of metabolism using the quote of Sir James Jeans. Jonas notes that a living being is one that is never the same from one moment to the next perpetual self-renewal through process. James remarks, From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.  [11]  Two questions can be asked on this statement: What does it mean and is it true? The question regarding the truth gives rise to another question namely, is the great architect of the universe is also the architect of amoeba. He must be both, or he is neither. For the amoeba is part of the universe and must be accountable for by its creative principle. The observation of James is the continuation of the long tradition from Platos Timaeus to Leibniz. Leibniz observes, Thus it is wonderfully made known to us how in the very origination of things a certain Divine mathematics or metaphysical mechanic s is employed and the determination of the greatest quantity takes place.  [12]  When God calculates and employs thought, the world is made.  [13]  Kepler deeply imbued with the Pythagorean faith in the mathematical essence of things and the consequent harmony in the world, said that God, too kind to remain idle, began to play the game of signatures, signing his likeness into the world, with the result that all nature and the graceful sky are symbolized in the art of geometry. Galileo believed that the great book of the universe is written in mathematical language, using symbols such as triangles, circles and other geometrical figures. Philosophy is written in the book of the universe.  [14]  The final answer to the question, Is God a Mathematician? is a distinct No. 5. Animal vs. Plants Jonas considers what differs from animal to plant i.e., motility, perception and emotion. The ability to move using the evidence of perception leads to the idea of freedom. Plants possess immediacy in life between environment and the organism; animals are more separated than this being required to treat the environment as different from them to some degree at least. For the animal the environment is always at a distance, but for plants the adjacent surroundings in one permanent context forms the environment. Motility, perception, and emotion make it possible for animals to have a genuine relation to a genuinely articulated world. These powers are, in fact, all manifestations of a common principle, tied to a common fact about animal life. The common fact is that the mobile animals live at greater distance from their relevant environments; thereforethe common principleanimal life is mediated life, animal life is rooted in the gap between subject and object, which gap is spanned by the distance-disclosing and distance-bridging powers of perception, locomotion, and appetite. Jonas argues, persuasively, that appetite is the heart of animality, prior to the more externally recognizable powers of perception and locomotion. Distance is requisite for desire, but it is desire which drives motion, guided by perception, to turn the over there into here and the not yet into now. It is desire which, while seeking to efface the spatial and temporal gaps, paradoxically, maintains the gaps (and the objects across them) as matters of interest, even as the gaps are spanned under its spur. Jonas concludes: The great secret of animal life lies precisely in the gap which it is able to maintain between immediate concern and mediate satisfaction.  [15]  Wakefulness and effort, want and fear, suffering and enjoyment give depth to the animal soul. 6. Cybernetics and Purpose According to cybernetics, society is communication network for the transmitting, exchanging, and pooling of information. Jonas analyses the ideas of cybernetics and some differences between machines and organisms noting that machines act by feedback mechanisms whereas organism is concerned in existing, this applies also to society where the cybernetic idea of information is empty. He draws out a crucial implication of the passionate nature of animal life. He shows the error in the efforts of cyberneticians and behaviorists to explain away the apparent goal-directed behavior of animals in terms of mechanical inputs and outputs and self-regulating feedback mechanisms. Exploiting the distinction between serving a purpose and having purpose, and using a marvelous example which compares a so-called self-steering torpedo and the same torpedo manned by a human pilot, he shows that all machine models of purposiveness fail because, unlike living things, machines are not creatures of need. It is the concern of life with its own continued existence that qualifies incoming data as messages, and then only if they are relevant to the organisms purpose; it is only such self-concern that energizes the active response as an action fit to the organic purpose. Concern, or, in the higher animals, desire, appetite, and emotion, is more basic than the outward-looking functions of perception and locomotion which it holds together. Animals, no less than man, are teleological beings; animals, no less than man, aim at their own good.  [16]   7. Image-making and the Freedom of Man Hans Jonas sheds light on philosophical anthropology where he shows the specific difference of human being in the animal kingdom. He deliberates on the properties of an object which determines the image. According to him the properties of image include:  [17]   1. The most obvious property is that of likeness. An image is an object that bears a plainly recognizable likeness to another object. 2. The likeness is produced with intent. It is not the natural resemblances like mirror images, shadows, and the like. 3. The likeness is not complete. It is not duplication. The incompleteness of the likeness must be perceptible. 4. The incompleteness of image-likeness includes omission and selection. 5. Incompleteness also involves dissimilarity and alteration of selected features. 6. The object of representation is visual shape. Vision grants the greatest freedom to the mediacy of representation. 7. The image is inactive and at rest, though it may depict movement and action. There is static presence because the represented, the representation, and the vehicle of representation are different strata in the ontological constitution of the image. The properties required in a subject for the making or beholding of images involve the ability to behold something as an image; and to behold something as an image and not merely as an object means also to be able to produce one. The requirement seems to be the ability to perceive the likeness. Animals perceive either sameness or otherness, but not both in one. Human persons have the apprehension of similitude. 8. Gnosticism, Existentialism and Nihilism The similarity and difference between two positions or movements of thought is: one is conceptual, sophisticated and eminently modern i.e., existentialism and another from misty past, mythological, crude i.e., Gnosticism. Jonas wrote on Gnosticism which was a widespread movement in late antiquity in the early era of Christianity. The Gnostics, often understood to be Christian heretics, held the view that the cosmos is a prison for the human soul; that the world is not Gods creation, but the work of lesser deities intent on keeping the soul imprisoned and apart from God; that all attachments between a human being and the world, his appetites, aspirations and conscience, are expressions of ignorance that must be overcome through true knowledge; and that this knowledge only comes as a gift from the savior beyond the world who can show the soul the way out.  [18]   The movement of modern knowledge called science has by a necessary complementarity eroded the foundations from which norms could be derived; it has destroyed the very idea of norm as such. To make his point fully emphatic, Jonas writes: Now we shiver in the nakedness of a nihilism, in which near-omnipotence is paired with near-emptiness, greatest capacity with knowing least for what ends to use it.  [19]   9. Heidegger and Theology This essay deals with how Martin Heidegger understands of Theology as interpreted by Jonas. Originally the Biblical word was equalized with the Greek logos. Philo Judaeus gives a reflection on Christian Theology through the etymology of the Biblical name Israel. It means He who sees God and Jacobs acquiring this name is said to represent the God-seekers progress from the stage of hearing to that of seeing, made possible by the miraculous conversion of ears into eyes. Philos views on knowing God rests on the Platonic supposition the truest relation to being is intuition, beholding. This eminence of sight gazed from the religious perspective enhances ones relation to God and also to the word of God. Philo quoting Exodus, All the people saw the voice (20: 18) comments: Highly significant, for human voice is to be heard, but Gods voice is in truth to be seen. Why? Because that which God speaks is not words but works, which the eye discriminates better than the ear (De Decalogo, 47).  [ 20]  After Philo the Christian Theology underwent a turn from the original hearing to the call of the living in other words the conversion of ears into eyes When we speak of Heidegger there is much secularized Christianity in his thought. The concepts like guilt, care, anxiety, call of conscience, resolution, authenticity-inauthenticity have a purely ontological meaning. Theology is also a primal thinking though it is derived from a revelation. But for Heidegger Revelation is self-unveiling of being. Heidegger adopts many Judeo-Christian vocabularies in his philosophy such as guilt and conscience and call and voice and hearing and response and mission and shepherd and revelation and thanksgiving etc. He says: Only from the truth of being can essence of the holy be thought. Only from the essence of the holy is the essence of deity to be thought. Only in the light in the essence of deity can that be thought and said which the word God should name.  [21]  Heideggers formulation c an be put in this way, philosophical thinking is to being as theological thinking is to the self-revealing God. Hence theology should be primal thinking concerning God.  [22]   10. Jonass Thought on Biology Organisms are, of course, as much a part of the physical universe as atoms and planets and cosmic nebulae. An organism is a whole and not just a collection of simpler parts. Nature is not a place of purposes but rather of bodies filling the void of empty space.  [23]  A living organism including human being-is a being that must always be at-work in order to stay the whole that it is. What Jonas adds to this account is an existentialist philosophers emphasis on the role of death. The existentialists, including Heidegger, think only about the consciousness of death, the anticipation of death that characterizes mankinds existence. But Jonas thought about death as a biological event. Mankind is not the only creature who walks in the valley of the shadow of death. All life is fragile and provisional; all life is wrested moment by moment from the threat of non-being. The key ontological divide is not between human beings and the rest of nature-it is between living nature and that which does not live and, so, cannot die. The essential feature of all life, then, is, first, the primacy of form over matter-the ontological persistence of an individual through material change-and, second, the purposeful action of the living individual to keep itself in being against the threat of non-being. The imputation of purpose to all life processes is perhaps the core of Jonass heresy. It is essential, for Jonas, those categories which modern philosophers and scientists have consistently applied only to mankind-purpose, intention, interest, care-should be seen as present throughout the organic world. To be alive is to exhibit an interest in continuing to be. Jonas formulates this at one point by saying that, through metabolism, life says yes to itself.  [24]  Jonas characterizes the essential property of all living things as a kind of freedom. Living things are free in that they exist independent of, though not apart from, their material.  [25]   11. The Imperative of Responsibility Jonas is best known for his neo-Kantian ethics of responsible caution in the face of the awesome power of modern technology, especially the power of modern biotechnology, including genetic engineering. He offers answer to the question what makes mankind unique?, Man is the only being known to us who can assume responsibility. The fact that he can assume it means that he is liable to it. This capacity for taking responsibility already signifies that human being is subject to its imperative: the ability itself brings moral obligation with it. But the capacity for taking responsibility, an ethical capacity, lies in mans ontological capability to choose knowingly and willingly between alterative actions. Responsibility, therefore, is complimentary to freedom; it is an acting subjects burden of freedom.  [26]  Jonas tells us: Responsibility exists with or without God and, naturally even more so, with or without an earthly court of justice. Responsibility is sown into the fabric of Bei ng. Jonas argues that it does and that we must learn how to think of the planet that sustains our being and the God-like nature that evolution has-wondrously and mysteriously-realized in our species as vulnerable things that must stay our hand and constrain our choices.  [27]  According to Jonas, we must consult our fears and not our hopes when understanding technological ventures that can have a potentially devastating impact on what it means to be human (and therefore ethical). The Imperative of Responsibility centres on social and ethical problems created by technology. Jonas insists that human survival depends on our efforts to care for our planet and its future. He formulated a new and distinctive supreme principle of morality: Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life.  [28]  Francis Bacon states that nature can be commanded only by being obeyed.  [29]   Critical Remarks and Conclusion Hans Jonas, a pupil of Heidegger, departs from his mentors work and reaches out into the depths of the deeply thinking mans way of understanding The Phenomenon of Life . The philosophy of Jonas is more than challenging in this technological era. I found it relevant for many reasons. a. His division of living and non-living beings is a new thinking which goes beyond anthropocentric division of man and rest of nature. This new aspect brings in the terrain of plants and animals to human life. They are nothing less in terms of living beings. Only non-living beings have neither birth nor death. This thinking paves the way for new ethical imperatives, respect for life and deep ecological concerns. b. His application of philosophy to science especially to biology is relevant. He tries to interpret nature in a holistic sense which upholds the meaning to life, proper use of technology etc. He acknowledges that human existence cannot be grasped without acknowledging radically different kinds of relation. c. The philosophy of Hans Jonas found in The Phenomenon of Life is a hard reading and bit complicated to understand in a first attempt. But as one goes or digs deep there are gems of thought and concrete experiences. The life and thought is worth studying for a present student of philosophy. His philosophy is a clarion call to study and do philosophy as well. It places humans as responsible citizens of cosmos to safeguard nature and surroundings. Thanks to his thought.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The High Price of Urban Sprawl Essay -- Urbanization Urban Essays

Urban sprawl is a social pattern describing the way cities continue to grow outward uncontrollably. People who do not want to live in an urban atmosphere often seek refuge in suburban areas that have access to metropolitan areas. As more people follow this trend the suburban areas slowly become developed and new areas must be sought for people to inhabit. This leaves some city workers commuting in trains, cars, or even buses for hours. Urban sprawl is not the luxury that it seems to be but actually a social pattern with a great deal of costs. Although people who submit to urban sprawl believe they are getting the best of both worlds, working in the center of development while also living away from it, they also suffer great losses. Land is used improperly, the environment is damaged, and a long and expensive commute is created. While it seems that living away from the city is worthwhile to people in the present, the benefits come with some very high costs. Some people who deal with urban sprawl in the northeast United States make very long commutes from New Jersey to New York City. It is not uncommon for people to commute up to one hundred miles one way to get to work. No matter the form of transportation this proves to be a very long trip twice a day five days a week. Traffic is inevitable with many other people going across the George Washington Bridge, or taking major highways such as the New Jersey Turnpike into New York. According to the 2000 US Census Bureau Statistical Abstract, miles driven to work has been on a slow rise in the United states since 1969. Info from Census Bureau: 1969 1990 1995 MILES Home to Work- 4,183 ... ...me than others but still present for all. Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that undoubtedly comes with many costs, however benefits also exist. In terms of a cost benefit analysis, the answer to the question, â€Å"Is it really worth it?† lies in the individual. Works Cited Ciscel, David H. The Economics of Urban Sprawl: Inefficiency as a Core Feature of Metropolitan Growth. Journal of Economic Issue, Jun 2001, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p405, 9p Gordon, Peter and Richardson, Harry. Critiquing Sprawls Critiques: Policy Analysis, January 24, 2000 Mckee, David and Smith, Gerald. Environmental Diseconomies of Urban Expansion. American Journal of Economics and Sociology Sheehan, Molly O’ Merar. Cars Drive Up the Costs of URBAN SPRAWL. USA Today Magazine, 20020101, Vol. 130, Issue 2680 US Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States; 2000, p631, 632

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Speckled Band Essay

One character that is physically strong and commanding, also with some knowledge, is Dr. Grimesby Roylett, who appears in the story â€Å"The Speckled Band†. Unlike Irene Adler, he doesn’t outwit Sherlock Holmes in the end, but he does make life difficult for him to actually solve the case. For one, he has some strange pets that he keeps, and he is made out to be the bully. For another, he makes Holmes go to the extremes to solve the case. The characters that are introduced in these stories have different characteristics, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses, but deciding if they appeal to the modern day reader could be down to a matter of opinion. I think that if somebody who was interested in all the high-tech gadgets and latest technology would not find the characters in this very appealing and attention-grabbing, as they, especially Holmes, do not use any gadgets to do things or solve the case. Likewise, the characters may also not appeal to a modern audience because they would not be considered â€Å"cool† by the public. This may be the case, but I believe that a great deal of people would find these characters appealing; because of the way they do things. For example Sherlock Holmes would definitely be appealing because he doesn’t use any gadgets to solve his cases, he uses his brain power. London at the time of Sherlock Holmes was made out to be a rough, crime riddled place, where men where more superior than women. The description of London that is anticipated by the reader makes Sherlock Holmes stands out, as he is a successful person who doesn’t resort to crime; he fights against it. This was unlike any other detective in those days, as they were known to be unintelligent and ineffective with cases, most predominant being the police force. Detectives in the past didn’t have any technology to solve crime, so they had to rely on two main concepts: The brain power and the will power. In the time many considered that the police force were failing because they didn’t have either. Sherlock Holmes used both to solve his crimes, and he always prevailed, excluding â€Å"A Scandal in Bohemia†.  These factors may have an impact on today’s reader, because as people are becoming consumed with the usage of modern technology, I believe that many people would adore somebody who does not need such equipment; only his brain. In conclusion, to the question â€Å"Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories were written over a hundred years ago. They are antiquated and out dated and have nothing to offer a modern day reader.† I think that for some aspects of the story it is true, but for some aspects it isn’t true. The stereotypes that are used in the stories have changed as time has gone by so the same effect cannot be created, and also because of the lack of technology a modern day reader may not be interested. Despite of all this, many still believe, including myself, that the Sherlock Holmes stories can still be relevant to a modern day audience. The techniques that are really the foundations of the techniques that are used in today’s detective stories, arguably even better. One thing that many people ask to themselves is† would a modern Sherlock Holmes story be better than the original one?† My answer to that: No.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Walt Disney Biography

Walter Elias Disney was born on the 5th of December, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His father Elias Disney was of Irish/Canadian descent and his mother Flora Call Disney was of German/American descent. Walt Disney had three brothers and one sister. The Disney family were raised on a farm in Missouri, USA where the young Walter developed an interest in drawing and trains. The Disney family moved back to Chicago where Walt attended the McKinley High School and took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. At sixteen years of age Walt Disney dropped out of school to join the army but was knocked back because of his age. Instead, he joined the Red Cross and was shipped to France for one year, where he drove an ambulance. When Walt Disney returned from France he moved to Kansas City where his brother Roy Disney was working at a bank. He began his career as an advertising cartoonist at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio where he created commercial works for magazines, newspapers, and movie theaters. But he was keen to have his own business. Disney briefly started a company with the cartoonist Ub Iwerks, called â€Å"Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists†. The venture did not take off and the pair were forced to seek alternative paths to put food on the table. Disney and Iwwerks would later work together in creating some of the earliest popular Disney cartoon characters, including â€Å"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit† and â€Å"Mickey Mouse†. Walt became a pioneer of the animation industry, working his way through from silent cartoons, to sound, from black and white to Technicolor. He created the first full length animated musical and went on to combine cartoons with live action. A surprising switch of focus led to the creation of Disneyland in 1955, the first theme park the world had ever seen. It was a squeaky sounding mouse with big ears that would go on o be Walt Disney's biggest success. â€Å"Mickey Mouse† was born on the 18th of November, 1928. Mickey first appeared in a silent short called â€Å"Plane Crazy†, but it would be the â€Å"Steamboat Willie† cartoon with sound that made Mickey Mouse famous. Even though Walt Disney gets much of the credit and acknowledgment for creating the famous mouse, it is believed that his friend Ub Iwerks actually created Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney was the voice of Mickey Mouse up until 1946. Mickey Mouse would go on to become a symbol for the Walt Disney Company. The little mouse that started the company appeared in many cartoons, full feature films, comic strips, books, video games, toys, and was made into every piece of merchandise imaginable. Mickey Mouse became bigger than just the Walt Disney Company, and even came to symbolize the country of America. The mouse went on to become a cultural icon. Other popular cartoon characters that the Walt Disney Company went on to create include Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Butch the Bulldog, Scrooge McDuck, Clarabelle Cow, and many more. The company also animated other characters like Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Hercules, and more. The Walt Disney company received many Academy award nominations and was nominated for seven Emmys while Walt was alive. Disney's company had to overcome challenges like the workers strike in 1940, but the company mostly grew forward in leaps and bounds. The company went public in 1957 and continues to be a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange to this day. Disney was working on plans for a theme park when he died from lung cancer complications in 1966. His brother Roy would follow his plans through and the Walt Disney World theme park was opened to the public in 1971. The company continued to grow after the death of Walt Disney and is now one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. II. Problem During his working animated through from silent cartoons, to sound, from black and white to Technicolor and also created the animated musical and went on to combine cartoons with live action, there were some problem that he had faced it. †¢ When he started a company with the cartoonist Iwerks, the Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artist was failure. With all his high employee salaries unable to make up for studio profits, Walt was unable to successfully manage money. As a result, the studio became loaded with debt and wound up bankrupt. Disney then set his sights on establishing a studio in the movie industry's capital city, Hollywood, California. †¢ By 1927, the new series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was an almost instant success, and the character, Oswald drawn and created by Iwerks became a popular figure. The Disney studio expanded, and Walt hired back Harman, Rudolph Ising, Carman Maxwell, and Friz Freleng from Kansas City. In February 1928, Disney went to New York to negotiate a higher fee per short from Mintz who was the distributor animated to Universal Pictures. Disney was shocked when Mintz announced that not only he wanted to reduce the fee he paid Disney per short but also that he had most of his main animators (notably, except Iwerks, who refused to leave Disney) under contract and would start his own studio if Disney did not accept the reduced production budgets. Universal, not Disney, owned the Oswald trademark, and could make the films without Disney. Disney declined Mintz's offer and lost most of his animation staff. III. Analysis There are several things that made Walt became success. Along his journey to make his dream came true, he through up and down in the business. But Disney has a spirit and believes that he could make his dream come true. And there were some character he had that brought Disney become big today and it described as below. †¢ Personality of Leadership Walt Disney was a leader who exemplified many leadership capacities throughout his 43-year Hollywood career. He demonstrated a strong moral purpose and worked hard to make a difference in the lives of everyone who had interactions with Walt Disney Productions. His moral convictions were instilled in him by his parents at a young age. Walt was always striving to make people happy. His first priority was always to his family. Although he struggled to balance work and family at times, he was always there for his wife and daughters. Walt also had a strong commitment to his employees. He knew each person by name and insisted that everyone call him Walt. Throughout his life, and since his death, Walt Disney did more to touch the hearts and minds of millions of Americans than any other person in the past century. †¢ Knowledge of the Business After the failure of the Iwwerks-Disney Commercial Artists venture, Walt did not give up and went to Hollywood. Walt realized that creativity and enthusiasm were not enough in the business world and then he went into partnership with his brother Roy and started what would eventually become the Walt Disney Company. His friend and previous business partner Ub Iwerks also came to Los Angeles and played an important role in the success of the company. †¢ Self Concept Walt Disney developed a philosophy that anyone who wants more success would do well to adopt. He was growing through self-criticism and experiment. He admitted that this is not a genius or even remarkable. It is the way people build a sound business of any kind, through sweat, intelligence and the love of the job. Thing that made him success was his ability to come at a problem from different mental perspectives. He developed three distinct mental methods and gave them name that is the Dreamer, the Realist and the Spoiler. o The dreamer represents unrestrained creativity that exemplified what he loved to do. Walt Disney saw the creative dreamer as the starting point for his success. He could never stand still when the ideas come. He might explore and experiment and never satisfied with his work. Walt Disney was motivated by creative achievement and was comfortable in an uncertain business environment. o The realist represents how he made ideas as a concrete reality. And he could be as hard-deaded as any accountant when do something. Walt Disney was aware about technology changed and he was ready to evolve with it. He thought that his business will grow with technical advances. And should the technology advance come to a stop, prepare the funeral and they need new tools and refinements. He was aware of the human factors that drove his commercial success. His success was built by hard work and enthusiasm, clarity of purpose, a devotion to his art, confidence in the future and above all, by a steady, day-by-day growth. o And the last but not the least, is the spoiler. Walt Disney was a critical thinker and perfectionist person. He needed to be because he knew his audience would see the errors from the cartoon movies. He never spared feelings because his interest was in product. If a fellow went off on his own developing an idea that had not been approved, he was asking for trouble, and got it. The spoiler critically evaluated the work of the realist and the dreamer. †¢ Cognitive and practical intelligence Walt Disney understood and embraced the process of change. He knew that in order to continue to progress and find success, he needed to be one step ahead of change. This was evident through his willingness to take chances on innovative technologies as they developed in his field. When others expressed concern over perceived risks, Walt was always optimistic and had faith in his convictions. †¢ Drive Integrity Walt offered the chance for his employees to attend art school, at his expense. Many of his animators took advantage of Walt’s offer, and as a result, their work improved greatly. They were enthusiastic about this opportunity and were grateful to Walt for taking an interest in their futures. Walt always shared his ideas and concerns with his employees. He believed that the company would work best in an environment where a company worked together in all aspects of the business. †¢ Emotional Intelligence Walt had a good Emotional Intelligence. His Relationship Management’s personality could bring him managing other people emotion. Walt worked hard to build relationships, especially with his employees. He wanted his employees to be happy and he worked closely with everyone in his company. One of the best examples of his willingness to develop relationships is evidenced by his eagerness to help his employees learn more about animation. †¢ Leadership Motivation Walt had a profound effect on the people he worked with. His particular leadership skill lay in convincing people they could do thing far above what they thought they could do. Developing talent for the future was Walt’s passions. He himself held evening classes to train employees, teaching his team to embrace the future and strive for perfection. The culmination of his ideas was realized in the creation of the California Institute of Arts, a project he believed would ensure a whole new approach to arts training. IV. Conclusion Coherence making is possibly the strongest leadership capacity that Disney possessed. He was constantly able to bring things together to stimulate conversation. Walt knew how to prioritize and focus his work as a result of his moral purpose. He exemplified all of the capacities needed to be considered a true leader. Perhaps the best example of Walt’s leadership is the fact that over forty years after his death, his company has continued to be a pioneer in the field of animation. After Walt died at the age of 65, his brother Roy promised that all of the plans Walt had for the future would continue to move ahead. As stated by Thomas in 1966, Mickey Mouse will continue to endear himself to children everywhere with his lovable antics, Donald Duck will go on delighting them with his squawks and flurry of feathers; and millions of people the world over will, in Walt Disney’s own words, â€Å"know he has been alive. †