Product Lines of Metlife Alico

Abstract Products can be tangible or intangible, physical or logical. Insurance services are logical and considered as intangible product in marketing. Presently it is a familiar term in our day to day life. Many different insurance companies provide different types of insurance services. In western countries adopting insurance services are mandatory. In Bangladesh Insurance services are also getting popular day by day. MetLife Alico is one of the leading insurance companies in Bangladesh. It is well organized and has a wide range of product line.Here the details of the product lines of MetLife Alico will be presented in brief. Firstly, the product concept of marketing will be described. Secondly, insurance services will be introduced as a product. Thirdly, MetLife Alico and its history in Bangladesh will be discussed in brief. Fourthly, the product lines of MetLife Alico will be presented and their features will be discussed. Next, different value added service of the organization t owards its customers will be described. Finally, the report will be critically analyzed and some recommendations to increase acceptability of the report will be proposed.At last a, brief discussion on the product lines of MetLife Alico will be presented. Introduction Product is a good, service, or idea consisting of a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes that satisfies consumers and is received in exchange of money or some other unit of value. The organizations that are production-oriented look at a product basically as a manifestation of resources used to produce it and the organizations that are marketing oriented view a product from the target consumer’s perspective as a bundle of benefits by benefits i. e. functional as well as  emotional benefits.Accordingly they will have to see how their consumers view their products. There is no need to prepare a marketing mix for a product that offers few consumers benefits, because that product will not sell. If we conside r the product from the target customer’s perspective, like the cosmetic companies are combining chemicals to make lipsticks, vitamin manufacturers produce little pills; watch makers produce mechanical devices that keep time. -What marketers are doing is they are basically enhancing their products for their target markets-as lipstick has becomes beauty and hope, vitamins become hope or a healthier life and watches become status symbols. So we can say that, a product therefore is a bundle of physical or logical, tangible or intangible attributes that have the potential to satisfy present and potential customer wants. In addition to the physical goods themselves, other elements include the warranty, installation, after sales service accessories and package. For example a product with warranty and the same product without warranty are not same. Products that are intangible are exchanged directly from producer to user, they cannot be transported or stored, and are almost instantly perishable.These products are called services. Service products are often difficult to identify, because they come into existence at the same time they are bought and consumed. The American Marketing Association defines services as – â€Å"Activities, benefits and satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in connection with the sale of goods. † Some common examples of service that are considered as product are services of a lawyer, Service of a beautician, banking services etc. Insurance services can also be considered as an intangible product.Insurance service as a product Insurance is the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange of payment. It is a form of risk-management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. An insurer, or insurance carrier, is a company selling the insurance; the insured, or policyholder, is the person or entity buying the insurance policy. The amount of mon ey to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage is called the premium.The transaction involves the insured assuming a guaranteed and known relatively small loss in the form of payment to the insurer in exchange for the insurer's promise to compensate (indemnify) the insured in the case of a financial loss. The insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated. An Insurance service is also an intangible product because nothing is actually produced and there is no tangible item being exchanged.The policy, policy booklet, etc. is a contract and terms of the contract, however that is not bought. However with an insurance contract no tangible good is exchanged for the consideration (i. e. premium). What is being exchanged for the consideration is an agreement that the insurance company will indemnify you in accordance with the terms of the contract. Moreover insuranc e services are demandable and have market values. So, it is a product. There are wide ranges of insurance services, they are offered at different conditions and in different packages.A single insurance provider often offers different types packages and also different types of services. For example, MetLife Alico offers total four types of packages in insurance schemes with different types of products in each scheme. Terms and conditions vary from packages to packages and products to products. These services are designed targeting different types of customers. Overview of MetLife Alico MetLife Alico is an affiliate of MetLife, Inc. , a leading global provider of insurance and employee benefit programs. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife serves more than 90 million customers around the world.It provides a full range of Life, Accident and Health insurance products for customers ranging from individuals to large local and multinational corporations. Individual, group, and credit protection products help its customers recover from financial loss due to death, disability, accident, sickness, and loss of employment. Also, individual savings and group pension products help its customers save for education, retirement, or other financial goals. Its products are available through agents, brokers, financial institutions and direct to customer. In addition to, being the largest life insurer in the U.S. and Mexico, MetLife is now a leading competitor in Japan holding advantageous positions in Europe, and is in top-five position in many high-growth markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. MetLife Alico has been helping people and businesses in Bangladesh with their insurance needs since 1952. It have tailored extensive product offering to the unique needs of individuals, families and businesses of all sizes. Presently, it is one of the leading insurance companies in the country, with close to 1,000,000 insured members and over 12,000 agents.The main products of MetLife Alico in Bangladesh are life insurance, saving and retirement plans and accidents and health insurance for individuals and employee benefits, credit life insurance and insurance for non-employees for corporations. In these six categories MetLife supports many services of different terms and durations. Product lines of MetLife Alico Figure 1 : Different services of MetLife Alico. From the figure it is clear that MetLife Alico supports total six types of Insurance services in Bangladesh. It supports three types of solution in each of the individual and corporate solution category.The services offered by the company are Life insurance, Savings ; Retirement insurance plan, Accident ; Health Insurance, Employee Benefits, Credit Life Insurance, and Insurance for Non-Employees. For convenience only individual solutions will be discussed. A brief overview of the Individual services is provided in the next topic. Different schemes and their features The services of MetLife Alico will be discussed in two major categories, Individual solutions and corporate solutions. Individual solutions are services that are designed to meet individual needs.The individual services are designed to meet different types of insurance needs of individuals. Individual plans consists life insurance plan, savings ; retirement plans popularly known as DPS schemes and accident ; health insurance plans. Life insurance Life insurance can take care of family and help them maintain their standard of living if something odd happen to the insured. Apart from taking care of outstanding loans or mortgages, it can also protect children's education or provide monetary benefits to family members. There are two types of life insurance Education Protection Plan (EPP) Plus and Three Payment Plan (3PP) Plus.Education Protection Plan (EPP) Plus The cost of a good education is rising high, and has risen at an alarming rate in recent years. To secure the best possible e ducation for children’s, individuals need to plan ahead. Education Protection Plan is specifically designed to help and can give the reassurance right preparations for children’s future. If some awkward situations occur, insured family members suffers from financial crisis, this plan protects them from financial problems also. The main features of Education Protection Plan (EPP) Plus are: * A flexible plan with terms ranging from 10 to 25 years On maturity, insured persons child will receive the full face amount along with the bonus * In case of insured’s sudden death, the plan protects his child's financial future by paying out a monthly sum of 1% of the face amount every month for child’s education till the maturity of the policy. The policy also provides for a waiver of all future premiums in order to keep the policy active and in-force. * Insured can choose to add a disability protection rider to this plan which will protect in the event of a disabili ty due to sickness or accident. Like in all other life policies, the paid premiums are income tax deductible (subject to prevailing tax laws ; rules). * This EPP Plus plan also provides a personal accident coverage that ensures the financial future of insured loved ones in case of his death, disability or injury due to an accident. Three Payment Plan (3PP) Plus The Three Payment Plan is an innovative policy that provides the ultimate solution in financial planning giving both the protection insured need and the regular payouts he want to meet his financial needs. It has all the security of a life insurance plan and the flexibility of a savings policy.The main features of Three Payment Plan (3PP) Plus are: * This Plan is available for varying terms. * 25% of the face amount is paid at the end of 1/3rd of the term and another 25% at the end of 2/3rd of the term. * The remaining 50% of the face amount is paid along with a bonus at maturity. * In the unfortunate event of the death of th e policy holder, at any time during the term of the policy, their loved ones will receive the entire face amount along with the bonuses – NO DEDUCTION is made for the partial maturity amounts already paid. Loans up to a maximum of 85% of cash value are available, if required. * Like in all other life policies, the paid premiums are income tax deductible (subject to prevailing tax laws ; rules). * The 3PP Plus also provides Personal Accident Coverage in case of insured’s death, disability or injury due to accident. Savings ; Retirement Savings and retirement plans are for saving for future and creating a source of income to be available in future. There are three different plans in this category. Income growth Plan, DPS super and lifeline pension plan.The details of the plans are described below: Income Growth Plan The main features of Income Growth Plan are: * A unique plan that combines protection and savings * Offers a maximum premium payment term of up to 30 years t hereby giving the flexibility of choosing small payments to suit your budgetary needs * The plan is split into 2 phases. The first phase is for a period of 7 years and then the second phase starts (from the 8th year) and includes the rest of the term. * During the first 7 years savings is accumulated and grown and at the end of the 7th year a dividend is declared.This dividend could be up to 40% of the cash value of the plan. * In the second phase, the cash value and dividend are transferred to the Investment ; Protection Account (IPA) * From the 8th year onwards, the policy offers a range of flexible options such as changes to the amount of premium, insurance coverage, etc, subject to the policy terms and conditions. * Maturity Benefits: On maturity, the policy owner can either withdraw the account (IPA) value; or convert it into a life time pension. Like in all other life policies, the paid premiums are income tax deductible (subject to prevailing tax laws ; rules) * Income Growth also provides Personal Accident Coverage in case of your death, disability or injury DPS Super As a sensible and responsible individual, one must be looking for the best possible avenues to grow his hard-earned money. An ideal financial plan for him may be the one that accumulates his money with reasonable returns as well as provides protection to him ; his family against uncertainties. One such a plan is MetLife Alico’s DPS Super offer.MetLife Alico’s DPS Super is a savings and protection plan that provides an attractive Maturity Value and a substantial Accidental Benefit. There are total three types of services in this category. They are: Plan| Features| DPS Super – Gold| Maturity Value + Life Coverage + Accident Coverage + Critical Illness ; Waiver of Premium Benefits| DPS Super – Silver| Maturity Value + Life Coverage + Accident Coverage| DPS Super – Bronze| Maturity Value + Accident Coverage| Table 1: MetLife Alico DPS plans. The terms and co nditions of the plans are given below: DPS Super – Gold Plan Attractive Maturity Value to meet financial planning needs. * Life Insurance coverage equivalent to policy Face Amount. * Double Benefit due to Accidental Death (AD) and Accidental Permanent ; Total Disability (PTD); consequently a total coverage of 3 times the Face Amount in case of AD. In case of Accidental Dismemberment the additional Accidental Benefit may reach up to 2 times the Face Amount depending on the type and extent of Loss * Lump Sum payment equal to 100% or 50% of the Face Amount in case of diagnosis of 8 Critical Illnesses * Waiver of Premium in case of Permanent Total Disability due to Accident or Sickness.DPS Super – Silver Plan * Attractive Maturity Value to meet ones financial planning needs. * Life Insurance coverage equivalent to policy Face Amount. * Double Benefit due to Accidental Death (AD) and Accidental Permanent ; Total Disability (PTD); consequently a total coverage of 3 times the Face Amount in case of AD. In case of Accidental Dismemberment the additional Accidental Benefit may reach up to 2 times the Face Amount depending on the type and extent of loss. DPS Super – Bronze Plan * Attractive Maturity Value to meet ones financial planning needs. Death Benefit equal to account value or premiums paid for the basic policy whichever is higher. * Accidental benefit under which 2 times the Face Amount (Face Amount is defined as the DPS Super annual premium times the policy term) will be paid in the event of accidental death, or accidental permanent ; total disability (PTD). In case of accidental dismemberment the additional accidental benefits may reach up to 2 times the face amount depending on the type and extent of loss. Lifeline Pension PlanLifeline Pension Plan is an opportunity to earn in the post job life after retirement. In life line pension scheme one saves during employment and earns after retirements. The main features of the product are: * It o ffers you a combination of savings and protection. * One can choose a plan that has a payment term ranging between 10 and 20 years. * It have the facility to withdraw the face amount along with any accumulated bonuses any time after the end of the premium payment period. * One can start receiving the pension payment, 1 year after the completion of the premium payment period. One can choose to postpone this pension payment and leave the annual income with MetLife Alico to accumulate further. * This annual pension payment will continue up to the age of 100. * It offer a minimum guaranteed return of 4% with the option to receive an excess form the year of investment performed. * In the unfortunate event of insured’s death, his loved ones will receive the full face amount plus accrued bonuses. * Like in all other life policies, the paid premiums are income tax deductible (subject to prevailing tax laws ; rules). This plan also provides a personal accident coverage that ensures th e financial future of loved ones in case of insured’s death, disability or injury due to accident. Accident ; Health Insurance Solutions MetLife’s accident and health insurance products secure its clients in case of unusual health hazards and accidental cases. There are total eight types of Accidental and Health Insurance solutions available in this category. The features and details of the services are given below. Critical Care No one likes to thinks about serious illness, but it is always a possibility.For example estimation shows that 1 in 8 people aged 30 today will contract cancer before age 65. The Critical Care is the convenient and affordable critical illness protection plan that is specially designed to protect insured and his family in the event of any health crisis that may strike any of us, any time, anywhere. Critical Care can make sure getting the medical help one need. What’s more, the policy can help replace insured income if he is unable to wor k, so the bills are still paid and insured’s loved ones are looked after. The terms and conditions of the plan are given below: Critical Care will provide insured with lump sum payment of up to BDT 500,000 which is payable upon diagnosis and receipt of proof for one critical illness only. * Critical Care supplements ones life insurance protection. * MetLife offer several plans and anyone can select the plan of his choice for him. * The critical illness lump sum payment will be made only after diagnostics and proved with any of the 25 illnesses listed. * There is no deductible amount. Hospital Care Being admitted in a hospital is stressful enough without the added worry of the expenses.Traditional insurance products may not cover all the additional expenses that one will incur or the loss of income may be suffered if one is hospitalized. Hospital Care supplementary policy can give the added finances to cover whatever one feel is important so that he can concentrate on getting well. It pays the cash amount that insured have selected when he or his insured family members are hospitalized, even in a free hospital. The cash income starts from the very first day of hospitalization and continues for up to 52 weeks for each confinement. The product terms and conditions are given below: The Hospital Care supplements insured life insurance protection * These benefits are payable in addition to any other insurance plan that one may have. * One can select the plan that best suits his needs and the needs of his family from the range offered. * The Daily Cash income continues for up to 52 weeks from the very first day of hospitalization. * The Cash Income is paid directly to insured, to use any way he wishes. * The Cash income is payable regardless of expenses, even if treatment is confined in a free hospital. * There is no deductible amount or waiting period.Lifetime Income Policy If anybody wants absolute security in case he is no longer capable or able to handle t he daily responsibilities of his family due to a sudden accident, Lifetime Income policy is for him. It is a protection plan that provides a cheque-a-month for lifetime of his spouse, his children or even himself, with a guaranteed minimum of 240 monthly benefit cheques. Lifetime Income Policy is a unique plan that provides cheques month after month, year after year to meet insured family expenses. With the same reliability one provide to his family.The details terms and conditions of the product are given below: * This is a dedicated accident insurance product specially tailored for the Bangladesh market where the rate of road traffic accident is one of the highest in the world. * It offers coverage for accidental loss of life, permanent partial disability due to accident, and permanent total disability due to accident * Several units are available under this policy and one can pick the number of units that suits him the best. * No health questionnaire or medical examination requir ed. * This plan provides you with 24 hour, 365 days a year worldwide coverage. The premiums that are paid are income tax deductible (subject to prevailing tax laws ; rules). * 20% of the Premium paid will be refunded as a ‘No Claim Bonus' after 3 years, provided that no claim has been made. Circles of Protection With Circles of Protection one can build the ideal protection for him from a range of options; he just choose the ones that are appeared right to him.. The details of the terms and conditions are given below: * Circle 1 offers protection against accidental death, permanent total and partial disability, Double indemnity-common carrier ; flying with guaranteed cash payments to himself or his loved ones. Circle 2 offers a weekly accident indemnity income for up to two years, replacing lost income due to disability as a result of an accident. This option is only available if you take out Circle 1. * Circle 3 offers accident medical expense reimbursement – total prot ection for reasonable accident medical expenses in and out of hospital. Only available if one takes out Circle 1. * Circle 4 offers Hospital Health Care which provides income for insured and his family if he stay in hospital due to accident or sickness. Circle 5 offers a monthly income for Lifetime with a guaranteed minimum of 240 monthly benefits for covering expenses like food ; clothing, rent, school ; university fee, medical ; health, mortgage ; taxes etc. Minimum monthly income: BDT 3,000 Maximum monthly income: BDT 20,000 My Child Special, Good Health Special, Executive 5 Special and Medi-Guard these four services are still unavailable in Bangladesh and will be made available soon. Other features of MetLife Alico Apart from the above mentioned individual insurance offers MetLife Alico provides some value added services also.In this offers MetLife offers a free health card that offers 15% off on physical diagnostics of the insured and his family members at permitted hospitals a nd diagnostics centers. In addition to the health card the company provides a dedicated customer care officer for each client who deals will all insurance related problems and query of the clients. The monthly payment can be made by auto debit system to reduce effort from clients end. Moreover the websites of the company provides a satisfactory description to its services and provides easier contact with its scustomer care officers.Limitations of the Report The report is prepared extensively based on information provided at the company websites and at other web resources. Customer’s opinions are not taken into account during preparation of the report. If customer’s opinions and their feedbacks are added to the report it will be more reliable and authentic. Some customer relation officers can also be interviewed to enhance the report. If some case study and more present statistics are added to the report it will be more accurate. ConclusionsInsurance services are gettin g popular all over the world day by day. It is a logical service related to risk-management. The main policy is saving user’s money for future to resolve accidental crisis. However people in our country are not aware about the policies of the available companies. Necessary campaigns are necessary to make the insurance services popular. Moreover most of the peoples in our country live below the poverty lines, so insurance companies should make easier terms and policies suitable to the poor peoples of the country.But it is ironically true that most of the insurance companies are targeting only the corporate peoples. The insurance companies should change their values to make their services more users friendly rather then treating it as a profitable product only. It is desired that MetLife will design their new services considering these facts. Appendix Appendix A: Personal Accident Coverage If one is qualified for accident coverage, this plan also provides the following addition al benefits in case of his death, disability or injury due to accident within the premium paying period.The Personal Accident Coverage provides a maximum cover of Tk. 20,00,000 and the proportionate amounts are mentioned below: A. ACCIDENTAL DEATH BENEFIT| : 100% of FA  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  | B. PERMANENT TOTAL DISABILITY BENEFIT| : 100% of FA| C. PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY for the following losses:|   | †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Both Hands or Feet or Sights of eyes| : 100% of FA| †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One Hand   and One Foot| : 100% of FA| †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Either Hand / Foot and Sight of One Eye| : 100% of FA| †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hearing of Both Ears| : 100% of FA| †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Speech  | : 100% of FA|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Either Hand or Foot| :   50% of FA  | †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sight of one Eye| :   50% of FA| †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thumb and Index fingers| :   25% of FA| D. MEDICAL EXPENSES REIMBURSEMENT| Max of :   15% of FA| Appendix B: Critical Care Insurance packages and benefits Appendix C: Diseases covered under critical care 1. Stroke 2. Cancer (Except Skin Cancer) 3. First Heart Attack 4. Coronary Artery Surgery 5. Other Serious Coronary Artery Diseases 6. Heart Valve Replacement 7. Major Burns 8. Blindness 9. Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (Primary) 10.End-stage Lung Disease 11. Kidney Failure 12. Surgery To Aorta 13. Aplastic Anemia 14. Major Organ Transplant 15. Loss Of Hearing 16. Loss Of Speech 17. Muscular Dystrophy 18. Alzheimer’s Disease / Irreversible Organic Degenerative Brain Disorders 19. Motor Neuron Disease 20. Parkinson’s Disease 21. Coma 22. Benign Brain Tumor 23. Major Head Trauma 24. Bacterial Meningitis 25. Paralysis| Appendix D: Hospital Care packages and benefits Appendix E: Diseases covered under Hospital care packageThe 9 dreadful diseases covered under hospital care packages are:    * Heart Attack   Ã‚   * Cancer (Except Skin Cancer) * Coronary Artery Disease * Stroke * Renal Failure * Blindness due to Sickness * Paralysis * Major Burns * Major Organ Transplantation| References Information and different data are collected from the following sources: * http://www. metlifealico. com. bd/en/Individual/index. html * Principles of Marketing by Philip J. Kotler ; Gary Armstrong * http://www. adv-ins. com/ * http://www. marketing91. com/product-concept/

Madoff Case

20102004 Thi Ngoc Thuy Do 1. What are the ethical issues involved in the Madoff case? Bernard Madoff was accused of fraud and creation of a Ponzi scheme which lead to a $65 billion investment loss for hundreds of investors in over the world. Bernard Madoff started a legal business by buying and selling over the counter stocks that were not listed on NYSE. He deceived many people into thinking his operation as legitimate, and completely abused his respectable name and position of power for his own personal advances.He lied to his friends and clients from the beginning and as later documented in his allocution, he never invested any of the money he got. He became a thief. Madoff started a Ponzi scheme on levels never seen before. Madoff stole from friends, family and investors. Madoff did not invest the money as he promised; he simply used it to pay off the first set of investors at very high return rates (10-12%), so he could attract more money. There were also jobs given to family me mbers who could have helped the scheme. Madoff’s daughter was also married to a former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney.His company’s financial reports were never made public during the time of the scheme. I wonder how his company passed the tax audition imposed question on the SEC internal system. There is a big question for US government system. 2. Do you believe that Bernard Madoff worked alone, or do you think he had help in creating and sustaining his Ponzi scheme? Would this represent a conflict of interest? â€Å"Speaking as a Jew on Christmas, I would be less shocked if Santa Claus showed up to my house than if Bernie Madoff pulled off this fraud alone,† says Ron Geffner, a partner at law firm.So,I definitely believe Bernard Madoff did not work alone, he had help in creating and sustaining his Poniz scheme for 30 years. Without his accountants, family members, and other employees covering up his tracks, he wouldn't have gotten away with mislea ding so many officials who certified his operation as legitimate. Since these people were satisfied with the constant returns. They all shared in an expensive living condition, nobody questioned was made. Without these people, Madoff wouldn't have held up his operation for so long. Why internal accounting and auditing make no sense or Madoffs action. How Madoff elude investigation of SEC by transfer between his account and his familys account, those questions show that   Bernard Madoff need others help, he could not do these alone. The motivation of Madoff to set  Ponze scheme is very pure which only for money. The conflict of interest exists, the conflict  is between personal interest and public interest, Madoff and his family enjoys their luxury life style by cheating, public interest gets hurt. 3. What should be done to help ensure that Ponzi schemes like Madoff's do not happen in the future?In order to prevent Ponzi schemes from recurring, internal controls and compliance standards that detect misconduct must be implemented. Awareness on these types of crimes needs to be raised as well. Investors should pay closer attention and realize that just because someone may seem to have a perfect resume, doesn't mean they're completely well fit and will act ethically. The market is unpredictable, so no one can ensure 100% for your interest in future. Furthermore, Government should run SEC effectively, so people can trust them before incident occur.

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Astr hw4 - Essay Example With the activities that occur in the volcano that is the first theory, the earth experienced the cooling that made the elements cool. The elements are then exposed to the atmosphere creating a combination of droplets. With the theory water is known to be the found on the earth’s surface. The theory does not fully explain the source since seventy percent of the water sources does not originate from the earth’s surface. In the second theory, water is meant to be formed from the comets and the earth grazing. This means that the water exists in form of the water molecules on the earth’s surface. At the same time, there is a difference between water at the sea and the one on the earth’s surface (Wiegandt, 2008). 3. The snowball theory gives a brief discussion on the coldest part of the earth. The theory suggests that the earth is all surrounded by ice. There is evidence supporting the theory by the fact that Sturtian and Marinoan have isotopes of carbon that is found at the sea water. There are also a number of marine deposits at the bark of the oceans. The irons and oxides formed enable the anoxia to spread into the oceans. There are also proofs that do not support the theory because the deposits don’t have same ages not even the age sets. The Sturtian has ripples while its thickness and characters are found at the base. 4. Europa the moon has liquid that is in form of water and can primitively save living things. The liquid has got characters that will enable the human life by containing molecules that are versatile. The liquid also dissolve the nutrients that are used in the digestion and waste removal by the living creatures. Europa also has the ability to tilt the surface enabling it to have life support. 5. With the origin of life, life is reported to start from the sea because of the structures like carbonate that are found at the vents of hydrothermal. With the formation of hydrogen sulphide, hot

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Structure and Agency in colonial Latin America - Essay Example these articles precisely show that, each individual’s culture influenced his manner of doing things and his reputation but was partly influenced by the environment as well as the authority. Being honored signified dignity, self-control and self-esteem. The Spanish were labeled as honorable and worked very hard to maintain their reputation. The society half accepted the Spanish way of life as ethical and moral. According to Mark Burkholder, following the Spanish culture and being religiously converted was a means of acquiring honor. Spanish men viewed each religious act as morally right otherwise a dishonor. The society at large, accepted maintaining a religious marriage in addition to adopting the new milieu of labor and occupation as norms. The Spanish elite maintained titles which made them more honorable than the natives. Spanish men were either in political positions or masters to their slaves and therefore acted in manner not to lower their reputation. Honor is associated with rank, prestige and allowance to perform some rituals as it was the case of priests. In a common notion, being a priest awarded you respect not only to fellow race members but from other clas ses as well. Honor determined ones political influence and eligibility. Given that it was only the elite group that contained rights to determine political leaders; Ann Twinam and Geoffrey Spurling demonstrate the significance of honor in administrative position eligibility. According to spurling, a priest being accused of sodomy retards his reputation hence causing questions about his leadership. The accusation showed respect to men’s sexual behavior, with the general public viewing sodomy as a sort of dishonor. Men were supposed to remain faithful to and being born out of wedlock was partly considered a dishonor. Twinam examines the disposal of a political candidate based on proscribed birth of his mother. The Spanish not only viewed unfaithfulness as unlawful but as a source of

What were the major features of economic change in Europe in the Essay

What were the major features of economic change in Europe in the period 1500-1914 - Essay Example This period also marks a time of population growth which clearly impacted on the economic developments being experienced by many European nations during this time. This paper shall discuss the major features of economic change in Europe in the period of 1500 to 1914. The economic changes in United Kingdom and on Germany shall be highlighted for this paper. Body In general, from 1750 to 1914, economic changes in Europe included the introduction of railroad use in the transport of goods. These railroads also helped usher in urbanization and a continuity of the imperialism goals of Europe with the spread of their trade with other countries and with the expansion of political linkages (North Penn School District, 2002). Within this same time period, major economic changes were also seen, especially with the increase in commercialized activities ushered in by improved methods in the transport of goods. It also marked a time of improved communication, with common activities involving terri torial expansion and exploration (North Penn School Disrict, 2002). Europe’s economic activities also shifted from imperialistic goals to colonization activities as Europeans were now considering expansion as a means of gaining advantage over their competitors. This period also marked a time where the European economy shifted from agricultural activities to industrial activities. Homemade goods became factory made and more raw materials were transported from their various colonies. This led to a significant increase in their production of food, clothing, and other products. The motivation to expand at this time was a major goal for Europe and these goals also shifted towards the acquisition of more lands. The colonies also became major sources of raw materials for Europe and as such, Europe was able to rise as a major global economic power. Its attention now shifted from imperialistic to colonialist goals. And this shift in goals was seemingly dictated by its access to mercan tile goals (North Penn School District, 2002). Due to these shift in goals, Europe was able to concentrate its activities toward more industrial goals, expanding its economic activities beyond the ability to feed its population. As a result, it became a major player in trading with its neighbours and with the rest of the world. Two major events were seen from the 1500 to 1914 in Great Britain. This period saw the birth of Industrial Revolution and the manifestation of Demographic Transition (Clark and Cummins, 2009). The Industrial Revolution marked a time of rapid economic growth and the introduction of new innovations. Before the Industrial Revolution, the concern of the governments was to increase population, not to improve their lives. Before the industrial revolution, the higher income population had higher overall fertility rates. Without the industrial revolution, an even greater increase in the population would have been seen (Clark and Hamilton, 2006). Eventually, in Englan d, increased rates in marriage became apparent in the 1890s, however, substantial decrease in fertility rates were seen with the introduction of industrial activities. Hence, the focus of the people and of the government was turned towards decreasing population growth. After 1910, the focus also was turned towards improving the lives of the people – their standards of living – and this saw further possibilities for Britain in improving the potential of the population for more scholarly work (Clark and Cummins, 2009). The Demographic Transition Period was seen from 1870 to 1910. This marked a general decline in net fertility. What was started during the industrial revolution manifested during the period of demographic transition (Clark a

Coral bleaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Coral bleaching - Essay Example The coral bleaching was first noticed in the 1980’s and since then the reef has been experiencing frequent and repetitive mass bleaching. Though salinity has been effectively prominent, there is also presence of toxic chemicals, UV radiation as well as reduced temperatures. By the period 2012 to 2040, the experience with coral reef is expected to become more frequent in bleaching. This is seen as the greatest threat to the reef system in the world. The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has forecast that this will mostly be caused by the high summer temperatures which induce bleaching. Other places that will be greatly damaged by the bleaching include areas around the sea for example Indian Ocean where over 90 percent of the coral cover is lost in Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Tanzania. Economists have also predicted mass coral bleaching occurrences in Hawaiian corals as well as warming of the ocean (Dove & Hoegh, 17). According to Raymond (2004), The International Tropical Ecosystems Symposium has therefore come up with ways of strengthening the network of marine managers. This will be achieved through engaging effective political and indigenous leadership in order to achieve sustainable management. Conservation of tropical marine and the costal ecosystems should also be improved in facing out the economical

Evidence-Based Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evidence-Based Management - Research Paper Example Evidence based management is widely applied in the health care sector because doctors and other health practitioners rely on evidences in their field to make decisions. This paper seeks to evaluate the importance of applying evidence-based management in the health care sector and how best it can be used to change the perception of health care workers. The healthcare world experiences numerous problems such as unsuccessful delivery in the maternity department and the overlapping of duties among the health care workers. Healthcare workers need to apply evidence based management to over different challenges they experience in their work stations and provide better services for their clients. This approach should be determined by what different departments in the health sector require. The unit of analysis will be the approach of healthcare workers in reference to treating pregnant mothers. Healthcare workers play a significant role in enhancing a health and safe place for mothers. The use of the evidence-based management in their place of worker is of great importance because babies delivered need to feel the safety, given the best medicine and their mothers treated to the best possible care. There are several variable likely to come up in researching evidence-based management in the healthcare sector. Some of the variables include the knowledge of the practitioners and if it is necessary for a given department to be headed by a healthcare worker. For instance, should the finance department in the hospital be headed by a chief pharmacists or someone with financial knowhow? The health-care field has been applying evidence-based information in the management and practicing of the professional healthcare delivery. However, this management practice is now being adapted in the field of business management. Thus, there is also the need to introduce evidence-based management curriculum in the health-care

The Progressive Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Progressive Era - Essay Example The middle class, frightened by the economic unrest of the 1890's and the actions of giant business organizations, was more willing to accept progressive reforms than it had been earlier. After the quick victory in the Spanish-American War, there was a new feeling of confidence in the nation=s future. Progressivism had many aims. The general aims of Progressivism were as follows: to extend political democracy by shifting control of government from the political bosses and powerful industrialists to the people; to curb the power of big businessmen, in order to give greater economic opportunities to small business and labor; and to eliminate the social ills of society through needed reforms. Although the aims of Progressivism were shared by all Progressivists, support came from many different groups. Progressives came from both major parties, as well as from minor or third parties. Important political leaders in the movement included Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and Governors Robert La Follette, Charles Evans Hughes, and Hiram Johnson. Support came from the farm, because the farmers wanted their problems to be recognized. Support came from artists and writers, who wrote stories about social ills. Progressivism accomplished many things. Political democracy was extended by initiative, referendum, recall, and the short ballot. The Seventeenth Amendment was passed and provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators. The Nineteenth Amendment gave the franchise to women to permit the selection of party candidates by registered voters. Many limitations and restrictions were placed on trusts. Monopolies were prosecuted and the Clayton Act was passed. The Federal Trade Commission Act was passed as well. Many laws which safeguarded labor and the public were enacted. More adequate factory and building inspection codes were adopted, greater provisions were made for sanitation and public health, and Congress enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act which further improved the quality of foods. Perhaps the most dangerous beliefs of the progressive era may be the uncritical acceptance of the power of state to coerce individual behavior. The idea of individuality, which is vital for democracy, seemed, at times, to be threatened. This acceptance of the government's control over its nation's individuality opened the door for the surge of socialist views. The idea of a 'cooperative commonwealth' began to take it's roots in American society. (Dittmer, 12-22) Such socialist ideas and government control over individual behavior was very easy to sell to the poor working class, which made up a high percentage of America, who had become over-burdened by capitalist oppression. The government's ability to gain strength was looked upon by this class as the only way to control the overpowering private sector, which were the big-businesses. As Wilson stated 'Our duty [government] is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without impairing the good, to purify and humaniz e every process of our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it.' .In the idea of government controlling 'every process of our common life' lies a great danger; the control of government lying in the hands of the people, not the

Should democracies be forbidden to possess chemical weapons Essay

Should democracies be forbidden to possess chemical weapons - Essay Example This paper tends to assert that democracies should be forbidden to possess chemical weapons. Possessing chemical weapons threatens the integrity of a country. Let’s take the example of Iran to figure out how much tension possessing chemical weapons can create for the country itself and for the rest of the world. Iran has already been seeing tense relationship with U.S. and its allies, since the Iranian Revolution that came about in the late 1970s. The threat to Iran’s solidarity increased when President Bush declared it as part of â€Å"Axis of Evil† (WBGH educational foundation 2013, par.2). This threat did not decrease with the election bringing Barrack Obama in presidency. The notion that has further triggered the decision of U.S. war with Iran is Iran’s quest in nuclear technology. Iran’s acquiring chemical weapons, according to U.S., will be a threat to world’s peace. Even the allies of U.S. - England, Germany, and France- are worried ab out this nuclear state of Iran. ... Iran is not becoming a nuclear power (Henderson 2013); and therefore, it will not bear any threats from the external world, still threats prevail because Iran has been making military purchases from Washington and Gulf Arab, and has been making military maneuvers. This shows how being involved in and possessing chemical weapons threatens the stability and integrity of a country. Moreover, possessing chemical weapons creates a sense of hostility among countries of the world. USA has already entered into wars with a number of countries due to this reason, and this has destabilized those countries and has also put damaging effects upon the American economy. Entering into conflict disrupts the peace, not only of Iran but also of U.S., who has already lost the lives of many of its soldiers in military actions against Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans will never tolerate if the correct number of casualties of American soldiers in the war on terror is revealed to them (Nouraee 2010). The envi ronment of hostility brought about by chemical weapons only increases hatred, and encourages the residents of the attacked country to develop rebellious feelings. This does not help decrease terrorism, but increases violence and radical hostility. It only turns into a global hate combat. Also, U.S. has already been suffering from financial burden because of heavy budgets being assigned to war on terror. The sense of confrontation has been prevailing throughout the world because of the possession of chemical weapons by some countries, and this unhealthy environment poses risk to economies and social statuses of countries. Possession of chemical weapons should also be forbidden because it increases the chances of warfare. Let’s understand what the ultimate objective behind the possession of

The Use of Information Technology In the Delivery of Hospitality Essay

The Use of Information Technology In the Delivery of Hospitality Services - Essay Example Impact of Information Technology on Hospitality Firms Without a doubt, in the past few years from entertaining visitors or guests and creating menus to monitoring staff members, information technology has significantly changed and modernized the way the hospitality sector works at the present time (Pandey, 2010). In the past, the hospitality firms have used cards, physically, or paperwork at the front desk with the purpose of keeping up a communication with old and existing customers. In this scenario, hospitality firms were for the most part at the compassion of the needs of guests to get there, as well as on their own efforts and staff to be there for possible surges or extended deficiencies of tenancy. On the other hand, in the absence of IT supported tools and applications hospitality firms were facing serious business issues. In their article, (Nikolis, 2008) outline a variety of significant areas of the hospitality firms where IT tools and applications are being used to offer s ervices. For instance, one of the basic reasons that IT has turned out to be critical is its helpfulness for the billing section of the hospitality firms, which has been significantly improved with the emergence of IT. In fact, manual data entry and traditional paper-based was slow, time-consuming and unproductive, and it did not offer effective support in letting the hospitality firm know what is the current status of their firm. On the other hand, in order to deal with these issues the advancements of IT in the form of state-of-the-art record keeping systems keep in mind a hotel owner to keep up to date with what they have with good grace available, how much investment it will take and how much time it will take (Nikolis, 2008). In addition, in order to make effective use of... This essay stresses that information technology is playing a significant role in every walk of life. Our lives are always surrounded by the information technologies. Seeing the ever-increasing importance of information technologies hospitality industry has started making use of information technologies in different forms. This paper has presented a detailed analysis of some of the important uses of information technologies in the hospitality industry. This paper has summarized the viewpoints of other researchers. At the present, the Internet is playing a significant role in the hospitality industry. The majority of hotels is adopting this tool for marketing purpose. Many hotels use their web sites to communicate with their customers and receive their feedback. The information technology has also helped the hospitality firms to automate their manual or traditional business processes. This paper has also discussed some of the latest technologies which can be adopted by hotels in order to get a competitive edge over other hotels and get the attention of more customers. However, it depends on an organization how effectively it makes use of information technology. A hospitality firm should keep in mind the interest of their customers and offer facilities on the basis of their interests. The use of the information technology has offered a lot of benefits and opportunities for the hospitality industry.

The Treatment of Premarin Mares and Foals Essay Example for Free

The Treatment of Premarin Mares and Foals Essay You may begin by asking â€Å"what is Premarin? † This is a female hormone replacement drug taken by menopausal women (women that have reached the age where their menstrual period ends) to help alleviate symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness (Pfizer). It is a vaginal estrogen medication that can be substituted by a plant-based drug rather than this horrific drug. Now you may be thinking that this may actually be a good drug. Well, there is a dark side to this drug that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and popular drug company Pfizer, doesn’t want women to know about. One of those things is the fact that the name Premarin, actually stands for Pregnant Mares Urine. Women are really ingesting horse’s urine. The goal of these drug companies is to gather concentrated pregnant horse’s urine and put it into a pill, vaginal ring, or cream form to distribute to women, giving them hopes of feeling younger. I will explain in more detail about the drug and its effects, but am going to prove that the treatment of these horses while humans attempt to collect the horse’s concentrated urine is completely unacceptable and 100% animal abuse and neglect. We will start at the point of collecting the urine for this drug. There are farms called Pregnant Mare’s Urine (PMU) farms. If you were to visit one of these farms, you would find a barn full of pregnant mares (horses) that are locked in 38 foot stalls, forced to stand for 11 months (a horse’s natural gestation period) with a â€Å"urine collector† hooked to them. One mare provides approximately nine women with estrogen replacement for one year. These mares are turned out at birthing time to give birth and be rebred. Seeing as the mare must be pregnant to be of use to the farms, if the mare does not rebreed within a month and a half, the mare will be put to pasture along with all the foals that go to the â€Å"last chance corral† where they have the ability to be adopted or they will be sent to slaughter. Approximately 9 of 10 colts (male foals) and 8 of 10 fillies (female foals) are sent to slaughter every year (Springhill). Horses that are unfortunate enough to go to slaughter, are generally used for horse meat in Europe and Japanese areas where it is considered a delicacy. This may sound horrific enough, much like a puppy mill producing 60,000 foals per year; however the really disturbing part is yet to be shared. The urine collectors that are hooked up to the mares are rarely cleaned. Now instead of it just being horse’s urine, it’s dirty horse’s urine. And the horse’s urine has to be concentrated, which means these mares must be deprived of water and food, meaning their urine is deprived of any nutrient there may have been. These horses are skin and bones after only a short while, due to the lack of proper nutrition. The FDA approved Premarin and a few other names of the drug, because it does work. However, if you look at the list of 52 extreme side effects, such as vaginal bleeding, increase in blood clots, and increased chances in uterine and breast cancers, which may, in itself detour you from taking this drug (Pfizer). So, why would doctors prescribe this drug to over 9 million women? Most of them only know that they see results when they prescribe this drug and that it is approved through the FDA. The same as with the general public, they don’t get on simple websites and do their homework about what doctors are asking them to ingest. Some of the other names Premarin goes by are Estrace, Estring, Femring, and Vagifem. Some alternatives are Prempro or Provera, which are both plant based ways to harvest estrogen, which offers far fewer serious side effects and just as much of a success rate in being effective. As you can see, Premarin is a dangerous and disgusting drug, that is a cruel and neglectful way of an attempt to make women in their menopausal stage feel better. This is no excuse for humans to treat horses this way, producing 60,000 foals per year, without enough people to adopt them. If you hear of a woman talking about Premarin, or menopause in general, urge them to look into the drugs their doctors want them to take, and if it happens to be Premarin, tell them the truth about these drugs and do not just let them be blinded like the doctors and Pfizer want you to be.

Reflective Account of Child GSA

Reflective Account of Child GSA Recently in our house in the month of May this year a young boy has joined as a day student. I will refer to him as Jake in this reflective account (this is not his real name and all relevant information/personal data regarding exact time of the movement has been changed in order to comply with the CSA Confidentiality Policy). When Jake first came to the house he of course came as a trial period and he has been accompanied by two other care workers from his former placement/school who knew him very well. This was a transition for him and also for us. His placement with our house was a two day a week. These two days were spread apart into Mondays and Fridays. In order to assess his needs I believe it is required intensive observation. The information provided from his previous school, parents and care workers/social worker it is very important but I believe that working hands on with him will allow a better understanding and I could make a proper evaluation of his needs according to the new environment and settings that he is currently surrounded by. When a new student enters our house, everyones vigilance/attention and my own it is much higher in order to understand his needs, to assess him and fully understand him as an individual. I believe that everyone it is unique in their own way and to fully assess someone it takes a lot of care, understanding and information in order to take the right decisions for that person and provide the best care /therapeutic program so that they can grow and develop furthermore. Jake is a very outspoken young man, knows what he wants and has grown a lot in the last months in independence and is more able to deal with changes than when he has first arrived to our house. As an initial assessment it has been taking into consideration all the information gathered from his previous care plans, statements from care workers, discussion with his parents and most importantly by talking to Jake and finding out what he thinks and wants to do. CSA uses a series of therapies and therapeutic activities and they are as follows: therapeutic art, music, speech, movement, riding, play, massage, foot bath and counselling. Every child and young adult that is attending school or it is part of a placement with CSA has the available support to benefit from all these activities. These therapeutic activities happen as a one to one situation unless stated otherwise in the child or young persons care plan. CSA has also a range of workshops available to every student that is in the community. They are as follows: metal, pottery, candle, weaver, felting, green woodwork and garden workshop. These workshops help with the increase of creativity, independence and self esteem which gives the students an incredible sense of achieving once they hold their creations into their own hands and not only also during the creative process. Discussing with Jake, I quickly found out that he likes video games and that he is very technological. Jake is also a very good communicator which helped me understand quicker what and how I should approach a development care plan and properly assess his needs. Also by reading and asking about him from multiple sources provided but not only, especially through daily observation and working with Jake has been equally important. At the beginning like I said his trial period consisted in showing him around the house, estate, programmes and workshops. He got to know everyone else from the house residents, day students and co-workers. He has been accompanied for the first month by other two staff members from his previous school and by me. The input from his parents, the information from his school, reading his previous care plan and the information from previous staff who has worked with Jake has helped me assess and better understand Jakes needs. Jake though has been the one who helped the most in order for us to provide the best care plan and fulfil his needs. After each day that Jake spends with us it has been recorded in a diary which has helped me make his care plan and his individual risk assessment. They are all kept in the office in his personal file. After his arrival to the house there are 28 days in which I have to provide his care plan and the intended approach. Working with my colleagues, the craft masters, parents, former care workers from his previous school and with Jakes input I was able to make his care plan. Speaking with everyone involved gives me a better understanding of the whole situation and gives me the opportunity to take the best decisions. After doing so I made sure that everyone from the house who was involved in his care was aware, read, understood and that we all stand together on a common ground and take the same approach. These have been done through multiple meetings regarding Jake with all the personal that was involved in his care. All observations, assessments and reviews are recorded in his personal file and it is kept in the office of the house and the main office of CSA. Each time he was with us has been documented and recorded his progress in his personal diary which is up to date. His personal file also includes a few incident reports. The first few times that Jake was with us, actually the first two he was outgoing and very communicative. In order to asses a childs needs according to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 under section 24 it is primordial that it is looked upon at the child needs and it is equally important that it is looked at also at the ability of the carer in order to provide the care. Both parties are actually being assessed by the Council in order to provide the best care and the most relevant support that it is needed. Meeting this need for Jake, gives us great responsibility in order to bring his development further. When his transition started with the CSA and the house for Jake it has been done through the proper channels. For example: Permission from his family in order to gather information that will allow us to understand and create a plan in order to meet up his needs, the discussions in the meetings regarding the assessment and most importantly a one to one get to know the child in a safe environment and space are the basic approach that gave us an insight. After all this a copy of the assessment it is handed over to the family once all this is finalized. As a general background Jake is a 7*(not his real age) year old young man and he has been struggling with accessing his education since nursery. He has been diagnosis with ASD and ADHD. When he feels that he is under pressure he has a tendency to present aggressive and violent behaviour. He is also a very chatty young man. After a period of trial which consisted of Jake being in our house on Mondays and Fridays there has been a review concerning Jakes updates which was all about his adaptability to the new settings and if we were going on the right track regarding his development and needs. Clearly something needed to be changed if I wanted that this process to work out. Asking my colleagues and the craft masters about what and how I should best support his needs. An idea came that if these would have to work the space between Mondays to Friday should change. The decision was consulted with his parents and with all staff of our house that Jake will attend every day of the week for a shorter period of time in order to make a difference. I find this method to be very efficient and it has been proven with another student of our house and clearly worked. Less time during the day but on a scale that will include the whole week. Also during this review because of all the disturbing behaviour he was engaging when he was picked up by the taxi and his previous care workers, I decided that this will stop and he should be picked up by his mum or different taxi driver and staff. His mum agreed. After all this changes Jake has shown a lot of more calm and ease to be with us. He started to engage more in the house and with his co-workers and he started to attend more and more workshops that he has dismissed previously. He had at the beginning a two to one co-worker and now after six months he has progressed to a one to one co-worker. There are times still when he acts out but he has also learned to have a time out or a break when he needs it. The staff is focusing on the positive behaviour rather than the bad one and once Jake was calm and ready to listen everything has been explained to him. Everyone from the co-workers does the same thing and we all stand together on a common ground in order to help Jake. Once the plan is set out, everyone is to care it out accordingly. When a set of practice are respected and applicable by everyone in the team as an united front this has proven to give tremendous results in the care of the child/young persons needs. As positive child behaviour methods and techniques CSA, uses a series of behavioural techniques which have been specified on page A of this paper. Through art, baking and always teaching them to ask nicely and to say thank you when they expect something to happen. Counselling and trying to make them understand is also a method that CSA uses which has been very effective with Jake. And lastly the consequences for example when they have less than a great day has been proven to be as equally effective when used as a united front. At home it has been agreed that they should use similar techniques when Jake becomes a little bit less aware/unsettled. For example to keep his bedroom tidy, no video games after 10 and so on. In order to keep and maintain a positive outcome but most importantly a positive behaviour Jake has agreed that he when overwhelmed will take a break/time out in order to collect his thoughts where he will not feel pressure from staff in order to attend the next activity for example. In our weekly meeting we discuss and evaluate all sides. Everyone gets the chance to speak and to offer an opinion, support for the work. Once things are discussed especially on improvements and how to best support that positive behaviour within the program I take the decision to sustain or to cancel something that it is less than that. For example Jake didnt want to have snack with everyone else so instead was offered to have a picnic outside together with 2 other co-workers and another student which seemed to make Jake very happy. This has been later integrated in his program because of the positive impact it had on Jake.

A Postmodern Feminist View Of Political Power Politics Essay

A Postmodern Feminist View Of Political Power Politics Essay Modern political thought can be applied to any number of institutions, communities and situations in contemporary society because of the different range of perspectives that can be applied. One such perspective is especially important in defining the roles and women and the way in which woman can relate to and be situated within the modern word. Postmodern feminism is a particularly interesting perspective because it can be used to examine the gulf between women in various political systems: Many of the new rights that are being claimed by women or ethnic minorities are no longer rights that can be universalized. They are the expression of specific needs and should be granted to particular communities. (Giroux, 1991, p. 1). With this in mind, it is necessary to examine the particular communities in question within the context of postmodern feminism. This essay will examine the role of legal functioning within both a fascist dictatorship and a liberal democracy with a view to concluding that a legal system can most definitely be considered to be much more than a reflection of political power because no political system can be solely defined by its legal procedures alone. Postmodern Feminism Prior to examining the theories of postmodern feminism, it is essential to define and thus be fully able to understand exactly what postmodern feminism is and where it actually comes from. This can be difficult given the sheer number of definitions of this area of political thought that are out there at the moment. As critics and supporters all have their own theories in mind in relation to postmodernism and feminism, as well as the field of postmodern feminism, it is necessary to decide upon a definition in order to complete analysis of various political and legal institutions and systems within the rest of this essay. Taking feminism first: The most obvious way in which current usage is ignored when feminism is defined as an opposition to the sex-based injustices from which women suffer is in itself seeming to count far too many people among feminists. (Richards, 1980, p. 2). This definition is apt because it highlights the oversubscription to the notion of feminism. In fact, many women do not agree with feminist principles but that does not prevent those principles from applying to the individual women, whether they benefit from equality or are discriminated against because of gender differences. Postmodernism, on the other hand, can be traced to a heightened anxiety about what impact intellectuals have on a world that appears increasingly inimical to the values promoted in the arts and in intellectual work. ((McGowan, 1991, p. 1). This anxiety and intellectual perspective of the modern world does provide a unique viewpoint of the political and legal systems, especially when combined with feminism. Postmodern feminism combines the philosophies of postmodernism and feminism theories in order to provide political analysts and philosophers with a brand new perspective on society and a means of differentiating between different societies and communities as well. The definition below is perhaps one of the most apt out there: postmodern feminism does not focus on the category woman. Rather, it focuses on the situated realities of women, plural. Postmodern feminists question earlier feminist attempts to redefine the category woman. Any definition, even one articulated by feminists, is limiting and serves to tie the individual to her identity as a woman. (Weisberg, 1993, p. 243) This particular definition is an excellent one for application to the models of country X and country Y, as defined in the question. However, it can also be applied to numerous other situation and circumstances that women in particular find themselves in because it takes each situation on an individual basis, thus on its own merits and in relation to the collective gender and not the individual. This definition examines numerous factors in a set context with a view to determining just how important the factors are. For example, it examines identity in regards to politics as well as the individuals ability to define his or her own path through life. Feminism obviously implies the exclusion of men but within this particular definition and its theoretical postmodern combination, it can be used to determine the legal standing of an entire society in relation to equality as well. There is another factor that is closely associated with postmodern feminism and that is essentialism: The concept of essentialism, discussed above, is a manifestation of postmodern feminist thought. (Barnett, 1998, p. 195). This clearly defines essentialism as a major element of postmodern feminist thought, although some critics either disagree or fail to acknowledge it as an element. Although this is not always considered in relation to this particular theory, it has a major bearing on the way in which the individual legal system and political system is defined as in the question and so merits a comprehensive definition, which is also vital if one is to fully appreciate the theories of postmodern feminism in relation to various legal and political systems. The best possible definition is perhaps the following: Essentialism searches for the intrinsic nature of things as they are, in and of themselves. (Fuchs, 2005, p. 12). The nature of any political and legal system is incredibly im portant and thus the application of essentialism is vital to the very nature of this particular analytical examination of political power and whether or not the nature of society itself has an impact on the legal system of different countries. Now that all vital elements of this political theory have been examined and defined, the essay will examine the situation of jurisprudence in relation to postmodern feminism and the defined political systems as per the question. A coherent answer will be achieved via the deconstruction of the two distinct societies: Deconstruction, moreover, located originally primarily in the postmodern field of linguistics, becomes an accessible tool for the analysis of law and legal theory. (Barnett, 1998, p. 195) The Context of Jurisprudence Postmodern feminism fits into the context of jurisprudence well because its practical application is relatively straight forward regardless of the nature of the individual or society that is being examined. However, the notion of jurisprudence is often split into two distinct categories the male and the female: feminist jurisprudence demonstrates the need for law to recognise confirm and secure this emancipation. In the context of nurturing work, such law would spread the costs of nurturing work throughout the whole society so that women do not bear them all. (Stark, 2003, p. 127). As the postmodern feminist philosophy of the law in discussed here, it stands to reason that it actively examined the female side of the law in relation to how women function within society, what their roles are and whether or not they sought equality has actually been achieved in some measure. Many individuals argue that females are still considered to be subordinate in the context of dictatorships and t he governmental systems in place. However, whether the legal systems define feminism within the context of jurisprudence or the external factors that contribute to any given society can be questioned, particularly when placed in contrast with liberal democracies and the way in which postmodern feminist thought can be used to examine them. The interaction between postmodern feminism and jurisprudence is an integral relationship that is necessary for the extensive analysis of country X and country Y, and using examples is integral in defining exactly how the power structures interrelate is essential. The Political System, The Legal System And Postmodern Feminism According to Thornham, feminism, politics and theory are interdependent. But feminist politics have engaged as much with issues of culture and representation as in campaigns for social change. (2005, p. 24) However, in order to be able to apply the principles behind the theory of postmodern feminism, it is necessary to delve into particular countries and their legal systems with regards to the specific examples given. According to the question given, country X is a fascist dictatorship in which oppressive legal measures are used to deny people basic freedoms. Country Y, on the other hand, is a liberal democracy in which the legal system upholds capitalism and human rights. In short, the two are diametrically opposed and therefore analysis is vital to form a conclusion as to whether a legal system may be said to be anything more than a reflection of political power. Taking country X first, a fascist dictatorship that is characterised by oppressive legal measures denies its people their freedom, which is of course the whole point of controlling a country so completely. There have been many examples of this in the past century, all of which use a legal system to snatch and maintain political power. However, in the case of postmodern feminism, it is easy to find examples of rebellion that question the political system and its legal enforcement, which in turn affects the status of the legal system as a reflection of political power. A fine example is that of the women in Chile under Pinochet: During the Pinochet era, Chilean women rescripted the passive, non-agent role into which they were being maneuvered [sic] by certain Western feminisms and the Pinochet regime. Based on their particular experiences within the culture of marianismo those situated practices of which they were a part our subject Chilean women asserted their position as political subjects and rewrite the original script to reflect their status as political agents. (Warkentin Daly, 2003, p. 157) This particular analysis highlights the way in which Chilean women did exert their feminist rights as a result of the influences of the outside world, of liberal democracies, that made it through. This is done against pressure from political authorities and thus also the legal system as a direct result of the postmodern feminist principle of agency. Warkentin Daly highlight that the Chilean women embraced agency and thus carved out their own niche within the system despite the level of oppression that was occurring at the time. As such, this points to the fact that the legal system, regardless of how oppressive it is, is only successful should women and men alike choose to accept it. The Chilean women did not and thus completely altered their own role within society at the time. The change in attitudes could not be governed by the oppressive legal system and thus it automatically becomes more than a reflection of political power but also of political challenge as well. The nature of this rebellion against the political dictatorship by the women of Chile fits in well with postmodern feminist theory for a number of reasons. First of all, women became stronger and more coherent a group within society, but they did not try to revolutionise the country itself. Instead, they were aiming for smaller and more localised goals, which is part of the postmodern theory. Big questions and issues do not come to fruition under dictatorships but the smaller concerns that characterise postmodern thought do (Mansell Meteyard, 2004, p. 160). The nature of the people and the external influences that caused unrest are both important factors in explaining exactly why total political control does not always automatically lead to a society that will not grasp empowerment where possible. Furthermore, it is important to note that the feminist movement in liberal democracies is able to filter through all elements of society regardless of the current situation in individual c ountries. The characteristics that define feminism certainly have their own brand of power: conceptual distinctions, criteria of legitimation, cognitive procedural rules, and so forth are all political and therefore represent moves of power and also recognize that they represent a different type of power than is exhibited in, for example, physical violence or threat of force. (Nicholson, 1990, p. 11) Postmodern feminist theory is most definitely applicable to other political and legal systems as well. For example, it can be actively used to examine a liberal democracy, under which human rights are upheld by the legal system. This is the criteria for country Y and can be examined in relation to any number of countries. However, British politics and the relevant legal system are particularly favoured by postmodern feminist critics as a result of the measure of equality allowed to all sections of society at the moment. In this instance, the legal system is not only a reflection of political power but also of the nature and attitudes that are currently present within society. For example, postmodern feminist critics will undoubtedly allude to the level of topics that were previously taboo on a legal and social level but are now in the public eye: feminism has helped to bring a range of new issues, formerly perceived to be essentially private or social, onto the public political agend a, and thence into the purview of policy studies, such as domestic violence abortion, and childcare. (Randall, 2009, p. 146). Liberal democracies do actively consider the needs of every element of society by nature and the legal system is used to reinforce the values and rights that every free individual has, which is a far cry from the legal system within a dictatorship. However, it is the rights that the people demand that are covered by legal institutions. Under postmodern feminism, the relatively moderate issues of domestic violent and abortion are considered to be localised interests and not the big decisions that previous political theories considered. However, that is not to say that the legal system has not been used in order to exert limits on individual rights within a liberal democracy. An example of that is the issue of abortion within the United States, with particular reference to the presidency of George W. Bush. A womans right to choose was repeatedly questioned under the government because of the legitimacy of the human rights of a foetus. According to Crooks and Baur, Congress approved a ban on late term abortion in 2003, which was then signed by the president but several federal courts declared the ban unconstitutional and the ban was not enacted Bushs appointment of anti-abortion Supreme Court justices has given hope to far right anti-abortion forces that the Court will decide counter to all previous federal court decisions and uphold the first ever federal ban on abortion. (p. 305) As Bush could not constitutionally enforce a ban at local and federal level, he attempted to engineer the Supreme Court so that it would be possible to do so, thus removing rights that women had in regard their own bodies and placing them in the hands of men. This does not sit well with postmodern feminist theory in relation to a liberal democracy, but the nature of the system itself ultimately prevented those rights being removed. Furthermore, anxiety over morals within a liberal democracy caused a distinct difference of opinion, but one that the law could not preside over given the fact that the objections were largely religious and relate directly to human rights. In fact, with both sides arguing over human rights in relation to this, the legal system would not be allowed to uphold laws in breach of either side. As Tetreault points out, the most valuable resources leading to authority inhere in the individual. (2003, p. 276) In conclusion, the analysis here proves that it is possible to discount the theory that the legal system is nothing more than a reflection of political power within any given country, regardless of the social and political composition of that in question. The example of the Chilean women fits in well with specific elements of postmodern feminist thought because it actively proves that power to achieve small goals lies with the people, regardless of the pressure they are under from oppressive and somewhat brutal regimes. Furthermore, it implies that, whilst legal systems can be and often are defined in relation to the nature of the political system and the overt freedoms of the people, the individual cannot and thus the legal systems ability to keep attitudes and the evolution of thought in check is not always as straightforward as it seems.

war and suffering :: essays research papers

You have discovered one of the most comprehensive on-line collections of speech texts of contemporary American History. Here you can read the speeches and backgrounds of many of the most influential and poignant speakers of the recorded age. To help put each speaker in historical context, we have also provided a brief timeline of historical events. To learn about the speaker and what he or she was talking about, click on the background link. To skip the background and read the text of the speech only, click on the speech link. To listen to an audio sample, click on the audio link, and to watch a short video excerpt, click on the video link. Additional background stories and audio and video links will be added as each episode of Great American Speeches airs on PBS over the next five weeks. Speeches are arranged sequentially by era. To find a particular speech, scroll down through the page, or you can jump to a specific decade by using the 10-year timebar below. 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 - pre 1900 - Former slave Booker T. Washington founds Tuskeegee Institute to educate black Americans, 1881. Supreme Court overturns Civil Rights Act of 1875 which had guaranteed black Americans equal access to public facilities, 1883. Statue of Liberty is dedicated, Oct. 28, 1886. Workers strike at Carnegie steel mills in Homestead, PA; 18 people killed on July 6, 1892. Financial panic leads to bank foreclosures and four-year national economic depression, 1893. Booker T. Washington speaks at The Cotton State Exposition, Atlanta, GA, Sep. 18, 1895. Speech Supreme Court, in Plessy vs. Ferguson, upholds "separate-but-equal" racial segregation policies, 1896. William Jennings Bryan delivers his "Cross of Gold" at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Il, Jul. 9, 1896. Background - Speech - Audio - Audio Bourke Cockran, Democratic Congressman, delivers pro-Gold rebuttal, New York, NY, Aug. 18, 1896. Speech Spanish-American War begins, April 22. With victory, U.S. wins control of Puerto Rico, the Phillippines, Guam, and Cuba, Dec. 10, 1898. Three year Philippine insurrection against American rule begins, 1889. - 1900s - Albert J. Beveridge, Indiana Senator, speaks on "The Philippine Question," before Congress, Jan. 9, 1900. Speech William Jennings Bryan accepts Democratic nomination for President and condemns U.S. policy in the Philippines, Indianapolis, IN, Aug. 8, 1900. Speech Mark Twain speaks on the "Defense of General Funston," Princeton, NJ, Feb. war and suffering :: essays research papers You have discovered one of the most comprehensive on-line collections of speech texts of contemporary American History. Here you can read the speeches and backgrounds of many of the most influential and poignant speakers of the recorded age. To help put each speaker in historical context, we have also provided a brief timeline of historical events. To learn about the speaker and what he or she was talking about, click on the background link. To skip the background and read the text of the speech only, click on the speech link. To listen to an audio sample, click on the audio link, and to watch a short video excerpt, click on the video link. Additional background stories and audio and video links will be added as each episode of Great American Speeches airs on PBS over the next five weeks. Speeches are arranged sequentially by era. To find a particular speech, scroll down through the page, or you can jump to a specific decade by using the 10-year timebar below. 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 - pre 1900 - Former slave Booker T. Washington founds Tuskeegee Institute to educate black Americans, 1881. Supreme Court overturns Civil Rights Act of 1875 which had guaranteed black Americans equal access to public facilities, 1883. Statue of Liberty is dedicated, Oct. 28, 1886. Workers strike at Carnegie steel mills in Homestead, PA; 18 people killed on July 6, 1892. Financial panic leads to bank foreclosures and four-year national economic depression, 1893. Booker T. Washington speaks at The Cotton State Exposition, Atlanta, GA, Sep. 18, 1895. Speech Supreme Court, in Plessy vs. Ferguson, upholds "separate-but-equal" racial segregation policies, 1896. William Jennings Bryan delivers his "Cross of Gold" at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Il, Jul. 9, 1896. Background - Speech - Audio - Audio Bourke Cockran, Democratic Congressman, delivers pro-Gold rebuttal, New York, NY, Aug. 18, 1896. Speech Spanish-American War begins, April 22. With victory, U.S. wins control of Puerto Rico, the Phillippines, Guam, and Cuba, Dec. 10, 1898. Three year Philippine insurrection against American rule begins, 1889. - 1900s - Albert J. Beveridge, Indiana Senator, speaks on "The Philippine Question," before Congress, Jan. 9, 1900. Speech William Jennings Bryan accepts Democratic nomination for President and condemns U.S. policy in the Philippines, Indianapolis, IN, Aug. 8, 1900. Speech Mark Twain speaks on the "Defense of General Funston," Princeton, NJ, Feb.

Duddy Kravitz - Following A Dream :: essays papers

Duddy Kravitz - Following A Dream Reach for the stars, is a common phrase many children hear in their life, whether by parents or role models in their lives. If a person puts their mind to a task at hand they can accomplish it most of the time, but when the goal is achieved and the path is taken to achieve the goal is crowded with hate and lies, the question arises; was it all worth it? In Mordecai Richler^s novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy Kravitz, his uncle Benjy and Jerry Dingleman (The Boy Wonder), are all able to achieve their life long dreams, but we must examine if their sacrifices were worthy of the prize. Benjy strived his entire life to create a profitable business, raise a family, and make his father, Simcha, proud to be his father. Now, Benjy was able to make his business grow and become beneficial to all that were close to him. He was able to provide his nephew, Lennie, with a University education to help him on his way to becoming a doctor, and also gave Duddy a job working at his factory. These sound like descent things to do for your own family, however when Duddy worked for Benjy he never treated him with respect. This treatment towards Duddy did not help Benjy^s reputation with Duddy, who already thought Benjy favoured Lennie. As well, sending Lennie to University was a very thoughtful and expensive thing to do for him, but according to Duddy, ^Lennie never wanted to be a doctor^ You forced him!^(241). This idea of Lennie never wanting to be a doctor was evident when he ran away from school. Lennie could not take the pressure put on him by Benjy, but he wanted to make Benjy proud and by doing so almost got kicked out of school and ruined his life. The reason that Benjy was doing all this for his nephews was because he could not have any children, with his wife due to complications. Benjy started out doing something nice but ended up trying to live his life through his brothers. In the end Benjy attains cancer and is sinking towards death with no one to inherit his life long achievement, his factory. No one will take over his business in the family because Lennie is too busy, Max-his brother- is too uninformed about it and Duddy has a certain disliking for him. Duddy had lost his respect for Benjy due to the fact that Benjy always ridiculed him. Benjy made his father Simcha believe

Los Vendidos: Farm Workers Views :: History Historical Spanish Essays

Los Vendidos: Farm Workers' Views Los Vendidos, the movie that we viewed was performed by El Teatro Campesino, the farm workers theatre. The movie was made to show the views and ideas of the farm workers, who were just regular people who wanted to be heard. They were not extraordinary, exceptional, highly skilled and paid actors. They were just normal human beings who wanted what everyone else wanted: equality. The concept of Los Vendidos was, in my opinion, simple. The movie was a satirical view at how that Anglo-Americans chose to see the Mexican-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Latinos, Hispanos, etc. It was used to incite controversy. Los Vendidos was also used to show how some Mexican-Americans chose to ignore their ethnicity and upbringing in an attempt to separate themselves from their people. The main theme was that the Mexican-American people needed to be a part of society, as a whole. They no longer, and never really, wanted to be separated for m the rest of the country. The Mexican-American people were just as intelligent and prepared for anything, as was everyone else in the U.S. It was used to make the Mexican-American people want to get up and say, "I no longer wanted to be treated like this." The aspects of the movie that were brought out, for me, were the individual characteristics of each of the individual characters. They characteristics are drawn out and over dramatized, some came from generalities made by the Anglo-Americans but some were real aspects of the people. Most of the characteristics that came out were unfavorable but they did what they were supposed to. They told of the generalities that the groups place upon one another. The story opens with Ano Sancho talking about how he previously was a labor contractor and is now a businessman. He now has opened "Ano Sancho’s Used Mexican Lot" This is a strike at those people who have been using the immigrants and the Mexican-Americans for their own personal gain. This brings the thought that no matter the place and time, there will always be someone there to exploit the weaker people. This person is sometimes someone that the people trust ands relate to, one of their own. The next person that we come across is Ms. Jimenez (pronounced Jimmy-nes, not he-me-nez). The way that this lady was portrayed was, as stated earlier in the Introduction, an attack on the "white washed" Mexican-Americans.

Psychological Inquiry Essay

Discuss the role of the researcher in psychological inquiry, referring to at least two of Heuristic and hermeneutics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The role of the researcher in psychological inquiry has traditionally focused on the manner and means of developing valid and reliable general knowledge about the human realm.   The researcher is concerned with working out a step-by-step method that, if he will follow properly, would assure the correctness of his findings.   The researcher should include using a statistical analysis method that infers the general characteristics of a population by examining only a limited number of its members.   Then, implicit in this kind of psychological inquiry is that the researcher should apply its generalized knowledge in particular situations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition, the researcher should produce valid and reliable general knowledge.   The logic of practice inquiry assumed in this move is that the psychological inquiry consists of determining which set of therapeutic techniques work with the kind of client being treated.   As well be developed, the researcher should based not on a general to specific logic, but on a contextualized dialogic between a particular researcher and a particular client.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the main, psychology has held that psychological inquiry should consist of applying the knowledge that is generated by research inquiries. Psychological research, following models of research developed for the physical and biological sciences, aims at discovering the consistent and regular relations that hold across human behaviors, thoughts and feelings. It produces generalized knowledge claims in a logical form: ‘If a person is a member of a category (e.g. phobic), then he/she will likely respond in a specific manner to an environmental event (e.g. cognitive restructuring).’ This understanding of the researchers` role simply involves determining the category of which the client is an instance (diagnosis) and then utilizing those research-established techniques that have been found to produce the desired outcome for this kind of client.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This traditional role of researcher – the application of research-developed general knowledge to specific situations- misdescribes the way researchers actually work with the research. Researchers work in particular situations with a particular study.   Practice inquiry role of the researcher, is for the most part, carried out without conscious deliberation about what should be done. The researcher should have the role of an ongoing conversation.   When researchers` non-deliberative   activities appear not to advance the study toward their goals, researchers engage in practical problem-solving.   Researchers` performances are informed by their practical knowledge rather than by research-generated generalized knowledge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Researchers consistently report (e.g. Marten & Heimberg, 1995; Stiles, 1992) that they rarely look to generalized research findings in determining what they do with the inquiry.   Instead, their actions draw on their own experiences, their discussions with other researchers, and clinically based literature.   The gap between the traditional model of application and psychological practice has been problematic, if not embarrassing, for the discipline.   The discipline’s call that researchers limit their therapeutic actions to empirically validated sets of techniques (Nathan & Goran, 1998) continues the traditional model of application.   An alternate direction for psychology is inquiry that actually researchers` activity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Two basic philosophical responses, the heuristics and hermeneutics, were proposed to the notion that there can be no certain knowledge. French postmodernists such as Deleuze and Gutari (1987) and Foucault (1979) are heuristics.   They counseled that people resist the constriction of possibilities that inheres in the belief in certain knowledge.   The awareness that knowledge is uncertain provides a release form the restraining power of culturally imposed norms clothed as necessary, natural or universal knowledge (Bernstein, 1992).   The end of epistemology makes it possible for people to destabilize and subvert culturally dominant forces and thereby gain power over their own self-formation.   The concern of the heuristics was a prescription of how to live in a world without certainties (McGowan, 1991). The hermeneutics involved a shift from instruction about how to live without certainty. That is, how     people practically deal with the world and others to accomplish everyday tasks and achieve their goals, even though their knowledge is not certain.   Because of the postmodern rejection of the notion that true knowledge can be methodologically generated, the study of researcher inquiry becomes essential.   If the research inquiry does not produce trustworthy knowledge, the notion that practice should consist of application of this knowledge to a particular situations is undercut.   The philosophical study of how people inquire about what to do focuses on the everyday activities in which people are engaged and not specifically on inquiry in psychological practice.   The two most important philosophers to study people’s everyday inquiry are Heidegger and Gadamer. Heidegger’s Being and Time (1962) was pivotal in bringing Continental philosophy’s attention to everyday inquiry.   Gadamer, who was a student of Heidegger, extended Heidegger’s position to include the study of how everyday understanding takes place.   I am particularly interested in what Gadamer`s hermeneutics to understanding how psychological researchers determine what to say and do. Gadamer mistrusted experimental science, as he understood it.   Weinsheimer (1985) points out that Gadamer`s view of science is of the pre-1960s variety, and that ‘some of his characterizations of the methods of natural science are now no longer tenable’ (p. 20).   Gadamer`s heritage was the continental hermeneutic tradition that reached back to Schleiermacher.     Ã‚  Gadamer advanced from a hermeneutic of text interpretation to a philosophical hermeneutics, that is, a general theory of how people understand and how this understanding informs action. Demonstrate your knowledge of Freud, Jung, Hillman and the philosophical commitments of depth psychology. The term depth psychology is the container for a number of psychologies that concern themselves with the unconscious. Though its existence was known and utilized by mesmerists and hypnotists (Meissner, 2000), the unconscious gained its first scientific foothold in modern times with Freud. However, the psyche recovered its greater depths in Jungian psychology and Hillman’s (1975) archetypal psychology, In all, the rational, intentional human mind, waking consciousness, or gift of reason, is only one player in a much larger field of consciousness. These depth psychologists believe that the ego consciousness, our daytime â€Å"I,† is not the master of the psychological house. They feel this was proven early on by the word association tests (Jung, 1910, 1970), where the individual, after an initial ease with associating words with given prompts, would begin to take extra long for some responses, draw blanks, give answers that rhymed. The unexpected or what went wrong, when taken together would often exhibit a thematic quality, be connected to returning emotions, memories, repressed instincts, which came to be known as the complexes. The word association tests demonstrated that in spite of our intentions, something other, not known to the daytime â€Å"I,† could interfere and participate in our behavior. Over the years, the metaphoric characters and the inner dramas of the complexes led psychologists to call their approach to the psyche a â€Å"poetic basis of mind† (Hillman, 1975, p. xi). Since the appearance of Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams in 1900, the existence of the unconscious has held as a psychological fact. The exact nature of what is in the unconscious is what distinguishes the different depths of the depth psychologies. For Freud, the unconscious contained various forms of instinct and memory in the form of complexes, a personal unconscious that had emotional and somatic/physical attributes. For Jung (1959), that personal unconscious rested upon an even deeper layer, the collective unconscious or the objective psyche, which was far more ancient than an individual lifetime and contained the primordial images, the archetypes. The archetypes featured not only emotional and somatic attributes, but also spiritual and worldly attributes that appeared in vision, dream and synchronicity. Synchronicity is Jung’s word for the meaningful coincidences that are part and parcel of deep psychological experience. For Jung, the objective psyche also contained a guiding, organizing center, the Self, very much like the Hindu Parusha, the God Within. Hillman (1975) wished to keep psychology free from the dogmatism of Jung’s Self. He said that our psychological depths do contain archetypes, but they are best served by an understanding that respects their full autonomy. In other words, for Hillman, the depths are polycentric and if there is a Self, we honor it best by not dictating how it should behave. Hillman pushes archetypal theory to its fullest stature. For him, an archetype and a God, in the classic (e.g., Grecian or polytheistic) sense of the word, are the same. Additionally, he prefers the word soul to the words personal or collective unconscious. Hillman amplified the term â€Å"soul† by using these related words: â€Å"mind, spirit, heart, life, warmth, humanness, personality, individuality, intentionality, essence, innermost purpose, emotion, quality, virtue, morality, sin, wisdom, death, God† (Hillman, 1964, p. 44). Jungian idea of the collective unconscious as the â€Å"most serviceable in the creation of an ecopsychology† (p. 302). Today we call this theory Gala. Earth itself is a living being and through our becoming conscious, she becomes conscious: â€Å"the collective unconscious, at its deepest level, shelters the compacted ecological intelligence of our species, the source from which culture finally unfolds as the self-conscious reflection of nature’s own steadily emergent mindlikeness† (p. 301). Evaluate heuristic and hermeneutics. The heuristic psychology was based on a quite simple idea. The theory was designed to explain the prevalence of cognitive biases in reasoning tasks and the puzzling fact that logical competence demonstrated on one task often failed to be exhibited on another (Evans, 1989). The heuristicanalytic theory proposed that two kinds of cognitive process were involved: heuristic processes, which generated selective representations of problem content, and analytic processes, which derived inferences or judgments from these representations. Biases were accounted for by the proposal that logically relevant information might be omitted or logically irrelevant information included at the heuristic stage. Since analytic reasoning could be applied only to these heuristically formed representations, biases could result. In the revised theory, the heuristic-analytic terminology is retained, with an attempt to define more precisely the nature of the interaction between the two processes and to assist in the generation of experimental predictions about particular reasoning tasks. At the same time, assumptions about dual systems are kept to a minimum. The present account draws heavily on the theory of hypothetical thinking put forward by Evans, Over, and Handley (2003) in an attempt to gain greater understanding of how the analytic (or explicit) system works and how it interacts with the heuristic (or implicit) system. Evans, Over, and Handley (2003) were attempting to advance in more specific terms the idea proposed by Evans and Over (1996) that the analytic system is involved whenever hypothetical thought is required. Hypothetical thinking involves the imagination of possibilities that go beyond the representation of factual knowledge about the world. Examples include hypothesis testing, forecasting, consequential decision making, and (on certain assumptions) deductive reasoning. The relevance principle concerns the generation of mental models and hypotheses by the heuristic system. It refers to the powerful tendency to contextualize all problems with reference to prior knowledge elicited by contextual cues and the current goals that are being pursued. This has been described as the fundamental computational bias by Stanovich (1999), although the term bias should certainly not be taken here in a pejorative sense. Given the notorious frame problem of artificial intelligence, we might describe the fundamental computational bias in computers as the failure to contextualize problems. What Stanovich (1999) is getting at is the fact that we need, in a modern technological society, to be capable also of abstract, decontextualized reasoning, which he believes the analytic system can achieve. Note that the relevance principle contrasts with the principle of truth in the mental model theory (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 2002), in which it is proposed that people represent only true possibilities. By default, I assume that people represent what is believable or plausible (true is too strong a term) but also that this default can be altered according to context. Our attention can easily be focused on hypotheses that are improbable (buying health insurance to cover emergencies on a particular vacation) or most improbable (thinking about the consequences of life being discovered on Mars). The heuristic-analytic theory does not offer an original or profound solution to the problem of how relevant knowledge is delivered by the heuristic system. However, in our proposals about mental representations, we have drawn on the notion that implicatures may be added to our mental models (Evans & Over, 2004). The discipline called hermeneutics has been thriving for more than 300 years. Hermeneutics has played an increasingly influential role in what PoIkinghorne (1983) calls the â€Å"long debate† in modern times over the proper mode of inquiry in the human sciences. Should they emulate the methods of the natural sciences or develop their own distinctive approach? Are human beings different in kind from objects in the natural world: Are they requiring such a different approach? Hermeneutics as a self-conscious procedure arose in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, concerned mainly with the interpretation of the bible and classic texts. Even though these works were consulted for important insights or truths concerning human life, reflective interpretation was often felt to be required because, as the modern world dawned, they seemed to be products of quite different and somewhat alien cultures of the past. Also, the Reformation had, in many quarters, undermined the Church’s exclusive authority to interohmpret the Bible. Friedrich Schliermacher (1768-1834) broadened the scope of hermeneutics and clarified the role of the famous â€Å"hermeneutic circle,† according to which our understanding of any part of a text, work of art, or individual life is shaped by our initial or assumed understanding of the whole of it, at the same time that our understanding of that whole is continually revised by our encounter with and modified understanding of its parts. Some hermeneutic philosophers (Heidegger, 1962; Gadamer, 1989; Guignon, 1983; Taylor, 1989), sometimes termed ontological hermeneutics, might contribute to a more plausible picture of the world and the place of humans in it that would be open to religious claims and meanings. Also, I will suggest a few key ways in which such an ontology calls for a revised understanding of the aims and methods of the social sciences, including psychology. Finally, I suggest that a hermeneutic perspective gives us insights into what might be the most fruitful kind of interaction between psychology and religion. Some view them as essentially in conflict, of course, while others avoid such conflict by sealing them off from another in separate spheres. Neither approach is very helpful, obviously, to religiously inclined psychologists who want to draw in their work on possibly valid ideas from each realm. At this point, the alternative of seeking an intellectually and spiritually sound â€Å"integration† of religion and psychology beckons. From a hermeneutic standpoint, much of the spirit of this approach seems right on target, but still the idea or theory of integrating these fields seems flawed in important ways that call for rethinking the nature of their interchange. Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) expanded Schliermacher’s ideas into a general theory of interpretation for the human sciences. A strictly naturalistic view of inquiry in the human sciences began to harden with the publication of John Stuart Mill’s influential System of Logic in 1843, which presented a philosophical and logical foundation for empiricism and advocated the use of natural science methods in the study of human phenomenon as the only cure for what Mill thought of as the â€Å"backward state of the moral sciences.† However, Dilthey argued forcefully that we simply do not understand our objects in the â€Å"human studies† or â€Å"human sciences† (Geisteswissenschaften) by subsuming them under general laws. â€Å"We explain nature; man we must understand† (Dilthey, 195.8, p. 144). Rather, in these disciplines we need â€Å"to forge new models for the interpretation of human phenomena †¦ derived from the character of lived experience itself †¦ to be based on categories of ‘meaning’ instead of ‘power,’ history instead of mathematics† (Palmer, 1969, p. 103).1 In these fields, according to Dilthey, we immediately grasp the meaning or import of a work of art or historical event in terms of categories of significance, purpose, or value, through a combined exercise of all our powers of cognitive reflection, empathy, and moral imagination. At the start of the twentieth century, a major transformation in hermeneutic thought took place, reflecting the growing awareness that devising rules for interpreting humans is impossible and that the whole fascination with method is a byproduct of the very scientism being called in question. The result was a shift from seeing hermeneutics as primarily epistemological or methodological, where the aim is developing an art or technique of interpretation, to today’s ontological hermeneutics, which aims to clarify the being of the entities that interpret and understand, namely, ourselves (Richardson, Powers, & Guignon, 1999). An essential part of this transformation involves becoming clear that the aspiration to pristine, a historical standards for understanding, or truly an Archimedean point for discriminating knowledge from illusion and error, is not only unattainable but reflects, in part, questionable and, in a moral or spiritual sense, somewhat inauthentic motives or goals for humans. I hope to suggest some possible reasons for this claim and provide glimpses of an ontological hermeneutic alternative to scientism, dogmatism, and relativism in the remainder of this article, in line with the effort by some leading thinkers and theologians today to â€Å"steer a course between Enlightenment foundationalism and postmodern relativism† (Browning, 2004). References Aziz, R. ( 1990). C. G. Jung’s psvchalogv of religion and syn-chronicity. Albany: SUNY. Coppin, J.(2005)The art of inquiry a depth psychological perspective. Evans. J. ST. B. T., & OVER, D. E. (1996). Rationality and reasoning. Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press. Evans, J. ST. B. T., & OVER, D. E. (1989). Explicit representations in hypothetical thinking. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 22, 763-764. Evans, J. ST. B. T., OVER, D. E., & HANDLEY, S. J. (2003). A theory of hypothetical thinking. In D. Hardman & L. Maachi (Eds.), Thinking: Psychological perspectives on reasoning, judgement and decision making (pp. 3-22). 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