Anorexia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Anorexia - Research Paper Example exia is caused by a variety of different factors, including biology, sociological considerations and psychological adjustment patterns that are often driven by youth historical experiences in society and with family members. It is also known to be caused by media representation of what constitutes an ideal form for men and women which alters a person’s self-esteem levels and sense of self-worth in a social context. Such causes of the disease are known to be attributed to body dysmorphia, an unreasonable and rather perverse sense of the self as it pertains to body image as well as youth caregiver attachment problem (to name only two potential causes). Treatment options include cognitive behavioral therapy, clinical interventions, family therapy, support groups, pharmaceuticals, and even more radical psychotherapy methodologies. Hence, there are potential solutions that can reduce prevalence of this mental disorder with many of the aforementioned treatment options sustaining credible and sometimes substantial recovery and success rates. The goal of treatment, as indicated by research, is to change the distorted sense of self that is common with anorexia and improve cognition patterns to develop healthier eating and coping strategies. Anorexia Nervosa is a variety of eating disorder in which the individual radically curbs their food intake and maintains an unreasonable and rather groundless terror of weight gain. It is usually accomplished with a maladjusted viewpoint about their bodies. Anorexia is characterized by extreme weight loss. People who maintain this mental illness begin an extreme regulation of dietary consumption which leads to a variety of health problems. Anorexia is a common eating disorder that affects women and men, however its prevalence is most widespread in the female population. Those that have been diagnosed with anorexia often maintain an irrational obsession with maintaining a thin body figure and become preoccupied and often fanatical

Sweetener Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sweetener - Assignment Example In China people derived it from a grassy plant called â€Å"Saccharum†, in Hindustan Peninsula (India) from palm juice, in Canada from maple, in Poland from birch juice. The sugar that we know today came from India. It is believed that Indians some 3000 years ago invented sugar from cane. The Indians collected juice of cane, boiled it until the formation of brown crystalline grains. These grains in Sanskrit were called â€Å"sarkara†. The name sugar in different languages came from the original Sanskrit name. Thus, in Arabic – Sukkar, in Turkish – Seker, in Latin – saccharum, in Italian – zucchero, in German – Zucker, in Russian – Skhar, and in English – Sugar. In 327 B.C. the warriors of Alexander the great entered the Indian land. Their attention was attracted to the strange white colored solid material with a sweet taste. Onisikrit, the Greek historian of that time, who accompanied Alexander the great, wrote about the fact that in India; a cane produces honey without bees. Seventh century Arab expansion revealed Indian recipe of sugar production. Arabs brought the sugar cane from India and began to cultivate in Middle East. Arab established sugar production in North America and Spain as their expansion spread. West Europeans came to know about sugar during 11th century Crusade. Later West European trade with the East introduced sugar to the Europeans. Sugar was an extraordinarily expensive product at that time. For example, in 1319 in London, in today’s currency it cost $ 100 for one kilogram. In the 15th century sugarcane made its voyage to the New world, thus becoming one of few plants that came from Europe to America. It is recorded that in 1493, Columbus took sugar cane plants to grow in the Caribbean, and thus established a whole period of sugarcane plantation network. Caribbean islands became a real paradise for Indian sugarcane. Plantation supporting required a lot of workers. This also established export of 900,000 slaves from Africa during 1701 to 1810 just to support plantations in Jamaican and Barbados. Massive sugarcane plantation resulted power struggle among leading world powers of that time to take control of West Indies. In 1674, the Netherlands surrendered New York (at that time was called New Amsterdam) to England in exchange of sugar plant ownership in Suriname. In a 1673, France was ready to leave Canada to the UK in exchange for the return of Guadeloupe. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it dictated to find an alternative of expensive sugarcane â€Å"sugar† in Western Europe. Way back in 1575, French botanist Oliver de Serres tried to draw attention to the high sugar content in sugar beet, however, only in 1747, German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf managed to extract sugar from sugar beets. He presented a report about this discovery to the Berlin Academy of Science. During the life of Marggraf, his discovery did not get the ne cessary attention. In 1786, Charl Achard, French by birth, one of Marggraf’ student initiated agricultural experimental work of cultivation near Berlin. His goal was to learn how to grow the most sugary beet that could be used for sugar production. In January 1799, Charl Achard presented the first significant sample of sugar beet that weighed about 4 kg to the Prussian king Frederick William III. In his explanatory note to the King, he mentioned that by replacing sugarcane â€Å"sugar† by sugar beet â€Å"sugar† the country would save a considerable amount of foreign currency and create jobs for the locals. In 1802, with help from the government, Charl Achard, built the first plant in the estate of Kunren of Prussia for the production of sugar from sugar

PYS60 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

PYS60 - Essay Example Python is based on C and will heavily rely on the C libraries that can be imported, though it has a perfect fit with UNIX, POSIX and Linux languages. The program was developed in 1991 by Rossums van Guido based on lessons that he had leant in the course of operating system support and language processes (Scheibe and Tuulos, 2). The main advantage of the language is that it is an open system that offers access to Operating System (OS) services making it possible to create and develop high level solutions based on other already built programs. As such, the program allows a perfect integration with existing applications or programs and perfect processing all together. Some of the features that make the program the choice for many include its security, dynamism, portability, ease of interpretation, multithread, robustness among others. This explains the high performance of mobile phones that use Python, such as the Nokia N97 in image stabilization and improved processor performance to ha ndle AR applications with at a high degree  of  fineness. Python uses in mobile devices Today, as development of the digital gadgets increases, mobile phone penetration has increased tremendously in the last one decade. Currently, there is over 50% penetration around the globe, a figure estimated to hit 70% mark by 2010 (Kerr, Thinyane & Foster, 80). As a result, the power of mobile phone hardware has improved in power and usability, which calls for the robust interfaces to complement mobile phone hardware. The mobile phone usability and speeds depend on its processor with faster processors allowing high speed image processing, which is closely related to a variety of other services. These services  include  the ability to detect motions, high speed processing during mobile games and improvement of  processor speeds when handling  demanding applications. Consequently, most phones built on Symbian OS series 60 have the ability to clock a speed of 434MHz, a good example be ing Nokia N97 and some PC’s that can clock a 1GHz speed (Kerr, Thinyane & Foster, 80). The major advantage of Python use in mobile phone platforms is its ability to ensure powerful Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Development of applications is usually a complex task. However, the use of Python as the main language has proved to make the process much easier. Smartphones are today powerful enough to run AR applications and have the ability to undertake threaded processing and have the needed hardware resources, which include connectivity capability and inbuilt cameras. As a result, Python is the best programming language to addresses the development issues that are usually complex in mobile programming when integrated with the mobile software platform (Kerr, Thinyane & Foster, 80). In other words, in mobile phones, Python readily supports object-oriented programming, multiple inheritances, name spaces among other flexible language properties and offers a high level integra ted language despite its simple structure (Soares, 3). Python use in mobile platforms has improved due to the ability to speed up and make simple Virtual Reality (VR) and AR processes in all desktop applications. For instance in the recent development, Nokia Company imported Python to their Symbian OS for the S60 platform (PyS60), an approach that made it possible to extend by C++ and offer the right of access to the S60 native features. The main advantage of the

The Benefits of Home Schooling Essay Example for Free

The Benefits of Home Schooling Essay The education in our public schools has been on the down slope for many years. With the increased amount of drugs, school shootings, and other dementia in these schools, more and more parents are making the choice to home school their children. Although many people claim that public education is better and more suitable for children, many facts and statistics show that home schooling is equally, if not more, beneficial. Home schooling parents have many different reasons for choosing to home school their children. According to the Parent-NHES:1999 (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001033), almost 50 percent of the home schooled students whose parents were surveyed said that the reason for choosing to home school their children was because their child would have a better education at home. Most children would be able to learn better at home because they are able to learn at their own pace while, in public schools, they have to learn at the pace the teacher sets, which may be too fast or too slow for different students. Also, at home, the child is able to have more hands-on activities and be more in touch with nature and the outside world and even include many of these things in his or her studies. Most parents object when someone teaches their children and idea or theory contrary to theirs or teaches them something the parent does not deem appropriate, which occasionally happens in public school. This is also one of the more popular reasons for parents to choose to home school over public school. Home schooling allow the parent to instill upon their children moral and religious values without having anyone else, such as in public school, try to change that. The children can grow up with the rest of the family in the religious and proper surrounding that the parent provides, with no boundaries as to what they can teach. Most children go to school for 7-8 hours a day with 20-30 students in the classroom and only one teacher. It is very difficult for a teacher to have  one-on-one contact with each student each day. Let us say that an elementary school teacher has 20 children in her class for 8 hours a day, and she wanted to have one-on-one tutoring with each student. That would let her have 24 minutes for each student, which is definitely not enough time for the teacher to get a whole days worth of teaching in. when at home, the child can have one-on-one tutoring all the time and it would take them a whole lot less time than 7 or 8 hours to get through with all their work for the day. Just over a quarter of home schooled students whose parents participated in the Parent-NHES:1999 gave the reason of Poor learning environment at school for choosing to home school their children. A good and safe school environment is a place where teachers are able to teach and students are able to learn in a warm environment, without the fear of intimidation and violence. Students who are afraid to go to school because they feel unsafe or unaccepted by their teachers or peers could find it hard to concentrate on their studying, which would obviously prevent them from doing well in school. Health Canada (Trends in the Health of Canadian Youth. 1999) surveys have recorded that bullying victims are more likely to have low self-esteem, matters are made worse when they are harassed by other students. The public schools can try to lessen this mistreatment, but there is really nothing they can do to stop it completely. Some people who have objections to home schooling argue that home schooled students have low self-esteem because they are schooled at home rather than in public school. In 1992, Larry Shyers conducted a study to test the difference between the self-esteem of 70 home schooled children and 70 traditionally schooled children, both groups between the ages of eight and ten. Using the Piers-Harris Childrens Self-Concept Scale, a regularly used way of measuring self-esteem, there was no difference found between the two groups of children. (Larry Edward Shyers obtained his PH.D. degree at the University of Florida in part by conducting the research reported in his thesis, Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Students.) For many parents, one of the better benefits of home schooling their children is that the family can spend more time together. Most families whose children are in public school never get to spend quality time together, because they never have time. The kids leave for school in between 7:15 and 8:15 and do not return until 3 or 4, or even later if they participate in extracurricular activities. Then they come home and they have to do their homework and there is barely any time left for family time. Almost 17 percent of home schooled students are home schooled for this reason. A great benefit of home schooling is the flexible schedule. Vacations and other outings can be planned for times when the family is ready and oftentimes when the crowds are smaller and the costs are lower. The children do not have to worry about missing school and having to make up work because they can easily take their work along with them or just make it up later. Also, with the flexible schedule, the children can learn at their own pace. If they understand something completely, they can just breeze right through it. IF they do not understand something else very well, they can take as much time as needed for them to understand. In the same year that Larry Shyers completed his doctoral degree thesis research on home schooling socialization, Thomas Smedley completed research for a masters degree at Radford University in Virginia with a similar experiment (Socialization of Home School Children A Communication Approach. http://www.members.aol.com/to Msmedley/smedleys.htm). Smedley states that John Dewey, the Father of modern public education, emphasized the fact that socialization is the primary goal of the educational process. Smedley referred to Deweys Moral Principles in Education, stating that if Deweys conviction was summarized as a research hypothesis, it would read: Public education aims for, and will result in, great social competence for children On page 11 in Deweys book, he said that, Apart from participation in social life, the school has no moral end nor aim. In Smedleys thesis, he investigated the assumption that public school  teaches students socialization better than home schooling. The subjects of this experiment were 33 children, 20 home schooled and 13 public schooled. He evaluated the childrens socialization and daily living skills using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. The scores the children received when combined, reflected their maturity levels. After all data was processed using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences, it was shown that home schooled children were much better socialized and more mature than the public schooled children. The overall conclusion we would come to is that home schooling parents are providing the adequate social needs for a child. Socialization is the big opposing factor when people are considering home schooling their children. Many people think that home schooled children do not have many friends, but that is only true if that is what the parents choose for their children. Since home schooled students do not have friends in school with them, they find other places to socialize, such as church, Scout groups, athletic teams, home schooling support groups and other places. They also find other ways to spend their time, such as volunteering in the community, like working at nursing homes or the libraries. By participating in the community, home schooled children are around many different people of different backgrounds and ages, so they are very comfortable with just about anyone. For most home schooled children, doing their work for the day only takes a few hours compared to the 7 or 8 hours in public schools; there are no questions from the parents about whether the learning environment is safe or whether the children are being taught something contrary to what they believe; the schedule is very flexible; they have better speaking skills and are more comfortable with being around a variety of people rather the public schoolers; and there are many more benefits than those discussed in this report. But hopefully, those examples will be enough to show that home schooling really is equally, if not more, beneficial.

19th Century English Architecture Essay Example for Free

19th Century English Architecture Essay Introduction * The 19th century heralded the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, which wrought unprecedented socioeconomic and technological changes in England, transforming it into a modern industrial society. This essay examines the impact that these changes have had on the design and construction of two new building types, namely the railway station and prison. * This essay argues that the design and construction of railway stations in England had to be adapted to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, such as widespread rural-urban migration, rapid urban growth and rising affluence in English society. On the pragmatic side, station builders also had to look for alternative materials resistant to corrosion from steam and smoke emitted by locomotives. This essay also examines the social changes and penal reforms in 19th century England which caused a shift in societal perspectives towards crime and punishment, and how these impacted the design of three major prisons at that time. See more: Examples of satire in adventures of huckfinn essay Railway Stations Due to the rapid economic growth and development resulting from the Industrial Revolution, many urban areas expanded at a dizzying rate as people in the countryside flocked to towns and cities looking for employment. Historian Eric Evans notes that Glasgow grew by 46 percent in the 1810s and Manchester by 44 percent in the 1820s. Social problems such as overcrowding, congestion and crime soon followed. These changes resulted in new functional needs and requirements for buildings. * Prior to the 19th century, trains were primarily built for transporting cargo. At the turn of the century, railway stations had to be adapted to cater to the increase in passengers travelling through England for work and leisure. They served as terminals and interchanges for many trains from the different rail companies, as well as waiting areas and temporary accommodation for passengers. From an architectural standpoint, they were important buildings because their * construction incorporated all the major architectural movements of the 19th century, in terms of materials, style and structure. * The first English railway station at Crown Street, Liverpool (fig. 1), like all railway stations, was built mainly to provide shelter for its occupants passengers and trains. In addition, the preceding modes of transportation – the canal and the century-old turnpike system – had specially catered architecture for its passengers; inns were used instead as departure points, relay stations and terminals. As there was no precedent for this building type, most early railway stations, including Crown Street, had their shelters constructed based on the design of sheds built for cattle and wagon. However, the style of railway station evolved in the mid-19th century, due to unprecedented urban growth in cities in England, the increasing social significance of stations and opposition to railway construction. As railway companies began to expand their networks, more people started moving to the cities. Growth in traffic and migration led to overcrowding and congestion in the cities and soon there was a need for a re-evaluation of the station designs. * Railway stations bore social significance in 19th century England as they were iconic landmarks. Driven by the idea that â€Å"the station was to the modern city what the city gate was to the ancient city†, the station’s design was the first impression that travellers got of the city/town. Rising affluence among the English due to the industrial boom meant that the public would also use the station’s design to get a feel of the city and gauge how attractive it was to live in or travel to. One such example is Euston station, universally lauded by the English public for its majestic Doric Arch entrance. As rail travel quickly became affordable for the masses in the 19th century, the design of railway stations also had to take into account class differences in English society. Therefore, the Crown Street station, and many other stations after it, also had different booking areas/waiting rooms designated for first-class and second-class passengers. * The wide-scale construction of railways throughout England faced much opposition from many locals, who criticised the pollution, noise and encroachment it made to rural landscapes. Therefore, builders used design and local building materials to absorb railways into the rural scene. Country stations were designed to look like cottages, gate lodges and farmhouses, using materials such as red brick in the Midlands, golden limestone in the Cotswolds and pale grey in Derbyshire. In the mid-19th century, station builders sought to achieve architectural feats due to increasing competition between companies. One such example was Paddington (fig.2) which boasted of having the widest single-span train shed at that time to cater to the technical demands of the changes in occupant load and social identity. This became an example for other railway stations which were built after it. At the turn of the mid-19th century, due to a significant increase in new building material production, iron became increasingly available and was more frequently used in architecture. At the same time, railway stations were expanding in size due to increasing demand. Wider-span train sheds were needed to accommodate the growing occupant loads on trains. With the previous completion of works demonstrating the potential of iron in achieving wider-span roofs, railway builders started using it. Wide-span roofs allowed greater flexibility in accommodating the growing crowd and the alteration of track and platform beneath it. In addition, iron was regarded as the most suitable choice for railway sheds. As timber (the common material used before iron) deteriorated rapidly under the exposure to sulphurous steam produced by trains, iron, which was more resistant, was used as a substitute. This is a clear example of station builders adapting their materials to peculiar conditions in rail stations. Prisons Prisons in England before the 19th century were places of temporary custody, where inmates regardless of age, gender or offence were locked together in a method known as congregate confinement. Such confinements were overcrowded and had poor ventilation, lighting and sanitation. Among the inmates, there were ill people, drunkards and lunatics. Due to lack of public funding, prisons were also poorly staffed and inmates’ welfare was usually neglected. Official statistics show that crime rates rose in the first half of the 19th century, before eventually falling in the second. The rise coincided with the rapid urban growth in the early years, which led to a demand for more prisons to be built, especially in the cities. In fact, 90 prisons were built or added to between 1842 and 1877. Notable prisons during that time include Millbank, Newgate and Pentonville. The design of these three prisons were affected by ongoing social changes and prison reform movements. The 19th century also saw major reforms to the prison system in England, namely the mass building of large prisons and changes to the treatment of prisoners, due to a shift in societal perspectives. Firstly, severe punishment, often through public execution, became less favoured compared to calibrated punishment proportional to the crime. Secondly, thinkers like Foucault saw prison as a tool for disciplining the offender, for correction and reform. Social reformers like John Howard lobbied for prisoners to be separated according to their gender, crime and health, by solitary confinement and imposition of silence to encourage reflection and penitence among the prisoners. Another social reformer, Jeremy Bentham, conceptualised the â€Å"Panopticon† scheme for a model prison, which consisted of prisoners occupying cells in the circumference of a circular building, allowing fewer guards to survey them from a central observation point. While the design was never implemented in its whole, the key idea of surveillance did take hold in certain prisons. Millbank prison incorporated this idea by building small storey surveillance towers for its staff from which they could receive and give information. To deter potential offenders, the architecture style of prisons was adapted to ensure maximum secrecy and communicate the severity of crime. For example, in Pentonville, the imposing Gothic style was used to great effect, with a portcullis entrance and castellation around the walls, which featured in subsequent prison building. Such barriers kept the public fenced out and sent an implicit message about what went on inside. Another example would be the felons’ door in Newgate which was also ominous and foreboding with â€Å"overpoweringly grim character†. Such designs gave prisons their own peculiar appearance, which eventually became recognized by the public. Prison architects also sought to enforce the separation/confinement school of thought in their design of internal arrangements. Large rooms for congregated confinement were replaced with smaller individual solitary confinement cells. Partitions were erected in spaces whereby prisoners were gathered, such as chapels and workshops (fig.X). These designs were imposed to prevent interaction among prisoners and to emphasise penitence. At Newgate, the chapel was designed such that male felons, debtors and women would enter it through isolated corridors. The chapel feature was novel for its time, adhering to reformers’ belief that moral penitence could rehabilitate offenders. In Millbank, prisoners were separated in silent cells and could only graduate to work together in groups through good behaviour. Conclusion The 19th century is widely seen as the era in which England developed into a modern state, owing to the Industrial Revolution which saw the inception of important inventions such as the steam engine and the development of the railroad and iron industries. Such technological changes also gave rise to socioeconomic changes in England, which affected the style, structure and materials of buildings. Railway stations had to be designed to cope with population growth in urban areas driven by economic development, but also be aesthetically pleasing – some became iconic landmarks embedded in the public consciousness. The use of materials also had to take into account the practicalities of rail operations. On the other hand, prisons were more affected by social changes and penal reforms arising from public debate over crime and punishment. Prisons were expected to incorporate elements of rehabilitation in addition to punishment. Humanitarian reformers like Bentham and Howard also lobbied for the separation of prisoners rather than congregation confinement. These movements changed the way prisons were designed and built in the 19th century. Both building types changed and evolved greatly in the 19th century not merely because of technological breakthroughs, but due to changing beliefs, values and attitudes in English society, which was going through an era of Enlightenment. Given the far reach of the British Empire then, these changes not only impacted England at that time but also its colonies throughout the world and remain visible today. [ 1 ]. Eric Evans, 2001, The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783-1870 by (3rd edition) London: Longman Pearson [ 2 ]. Carroll L. V. Meeks, 1956, The Railway Station An Architectural History, Yale University Press, USA, Pp. 27 [ 3 ]. Christian Barman, 1950, An Introduction to Railway Architecture, Art and Technics, London, Pp. 16 [ 4 ]. * Carroll L. V. Meeks, 1956, The Railway Station An Architectural History, Yale University Press, USA, Pp. 39 [ 5 ]. The Inception of the English Railway Station [ 6 ]. Jack Simmons, 2003, The Impact of the Railway on Society in Britain, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Pp. 122 [ 7 ]. E2BN, 2006, â€Å"Victorian Crime and Punishment from E2BN†. East of England Broadband Network. Web. 5 Oct 2012 [ 8 ]. Robin Evans, 1982. The Fabrication of Virtue: English Prison Architecture, 1750-1840. Cambridge University Press, pp 247 [ 9 ]. John Pratt, 1993. This Is Not a Prison: Foucault, the Panopticon and Pentonville. Social Legal Studies December 1993, pp 373-395 [ 10 ]. Harold D. Kalman, 1969. Newgate Prison. Architectural History, Vol 12 1969. pp.7 [ 11 ]. Harold D. Kalman, 1969. Newgate Prison. Architectural History, Vol 12 1969. pp.5 [ 12 ]. David Wilson, 2002. Millbank, Panopticon and their Victorian Audiences. The Howard Journal, Vol 41 No. 4 September 2002. Pp 369

Evaluating The Banality Of Evil Thesis

Evaluating The Banality Of Evil Thesis The word evil exists in many cultures universally around the world. The word evil was previously, on the whole, limited to religious and secular beliefs. However, although the word exists around the world, the meaning of evil is not collective. James Waller (2002:12) argues that part of the reason for this is because the word has been overused. Waller explains that people replace wrong or shocking with the term evil. Waller notes two types of evil: human evil and natural evil. Natural evil occurs due to natural processes of changes and is not due to human involvement. An example is an earthquake resulting in loss of lives. Human evil occurs as a result of conscious intentions and decisions made by humans. Introduction to Arendt and the book The origin of the term the banality of evil is the caption from the American philosopher, Hannah Arendts book published in 1963 called Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. In 1961, Arendt was present at the Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem whilst working as a reporter for The New Yorker newspaper. She held an interest in the trial as she wished to understand what led an ordinary person to become involved in the mass murder of Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. Arendt examines the actual trial and other issues related to the trial such as; the personality of Eichmann, nature of evil and she also wrote a considerable amount regarding the flaws of the trial. Arendt stated the trial is show trial where the trial was just a formality as Eichmann was already convicted. Arendt mentions throughout the book that Eichmann was not appropriately defended nor was he allowed adequate access to his lawyer. Eichmann was hanged on May 31, 1962 after being found guilty by the I sraeli courts on fifteen counts of crime against the Jewish people and humanity. About BON Evil takes place due to excessive thoughtlessness by those who are not evil as a nature. Eichmann did not possess the ability to think independently therefore he did not question the moral activities of the state (Arendt, 1961). Eichmanns weakness was that he was extremely shallow and therefore he was unable to think from another individuals viewpoint. Due to this, he was unable to understand that by following Nazi orders, he became involved in the bloodbath which ultimately led to his death sentence. Eichmann strived for a work promotion and therefore, Arendt summarised that there were no motives at all. Clarke suggests that Arendt planned to contrast with Kants notion of radical evil and to suggest Eichmanns as a thoughtless individual with no satanic or other shockingly evil aims. Arendts study of the Eichmann trial assured her that Eichmann was ordinary and that his banality was apparent in his thoughtlessness. The phrase the banality of evil is mentioned once in the book and this is during the last chapter of the book. Arendt did not elaborate on what she meant by the phrase but readers can understand what she meant due to hints throughout the book. The banality of evil thesis is the notion that ordinary people commit barbaric acts without realisation of what they are doing. About (thoughtlessness) However, it is clear from Arendts report of Eichmann that he had knowledge, and that he was able to rationalise and showed willpower. Eichmann would face difficulties in common social situations if he did not possess these senses. Due to no known difficulties in using his judgement to will and reason, Eichmann had success in the Third Reich. There is theoretical implication in the claim that Eichmann did not think. This is indeed a fundamental element of her analysis of the threats of modern civilisation. Arendt believed that Eichmann was an extreme illustration of the risks of thoughtlessness. Arendt argued that thoughtlessness was a common feature of this time period and she therefore proposes, that it is important to think what we are doing (Arendt, 1958: 5). Arendt deemed the psychology of thinking, willing and judging as independent components and supports Hume with the view that reasoning alone cannot influence the willing (Arendt, 1978: 70). Arendt commonly treated thought and action as separate components which were a key to understanding her political beliefs. Arendt explained that judging is simply reflecting on thoughts and viewing situations to create judgements but this does not tell you how to act. (Arendt, 1978: 58). According to Arendt, although action is always social and collective, it is the will which is the most unique of all the human capabilities. The will is what presents the foundation for characterisation of the person. This characterisation caused by the will then creates problems for the concept of freedom. According to Arendt, freedom without any barriers is frightening (Arendt, 1978: 195-6). Support for BON Historian Dick de Mildts review supported the banality of evil thesis. De Mildt studied individuals on trial for alleged involvement with the Nazis. He explained that the individuals he studied were not killers by conviction but somewhat killers by circumstances. Eichmann was unable to view the consequences of his decisions. It appeared that he could only understand that he was doing his job. During the trial Eichmann asserted that he simply sat in his office and completed his work, Ich sass am Schreibtisch und machte meine Sachen (Papadatos, 1964: 29). Carnahan and McFarland (2007) note that there is a general understand, that evil only prevails because normal and honest human beings become fiends when they are in egregious situations; particularly, when their judgment is sabotaged by compliance to a more authoritative mass. This view is epitomised in the notion of the banality of evil thesis. Lozowick (2002) notes the banality of evil thesis has become a lasting aspect of understanding in the West, and is therefore a gist of what occurs in the present society. At the same time that Eichmann was appearing in court for his crimes, Stanley Milgram (1963, 1974) was carrying out his studies on obedience. In his study, normal and psychologically stable men participated in a false memory test, as the role of teachers. These men were willing to administer electric jolts of increasing level to another person, who acted as learner, whenever the latter answered incorrectly. Every single participant was ready to deliver powerful tremors of 300 volts. Sixty-five per cent complied with all the experimenters requirements, distributing shocks of the highest voltage at 450 volts. Milgrams conclusion therefore supports Arendts argument that ordinary individuals can be responsible for harmful acts, but also, his reasoning reflected hers too. Milgram explained that when people are faced by authoritative individuals, they surrender responsibility for their actions to those in charge. Critics state that the explanations from Arendt and Milgram are merely coinci dental but further evidence suggests otherwise. Blass (2004) noted that Milgram worked without any influence from previous theories during his 1963 study. Further support comes from the field of psychology in the form of the Stanford Prison Experiment. This experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1973. In this study, participants were randomly allocated to the role of a prisoner or a prison guard. The aim was to monitor the group interactions which developed over a two weeks period. The study had many intricate details, but the main point that is of relevance for this essay is that the guards embraced their positions with violence and therefore the study was discontinued after six days. There were increased fears about the safety of the prisoners, who were restricted by the guards to a continuous cycle of mockery, deprivation, and ill-treatment. As with Milgrams work, the influence of Zimbardos ideas has also been strengthened by their correlation with supports from other academic fields. An example is, Brownings (1992) review of the actions of Reserve Police Battalion (RPB) 101 between 1942 and 1943. Members of the RPB would travel around Poland and gather the groups of people targeted by the Final Solution- predominantly Jews. The battalion was responsible for the murder of at least 38,000 Jews (Browning, 1992). Browning emphasises that the members were not extremist nor anti-Semite who were aware that their action was not obligatory. Browning agrees with Milgram that these ordinary mens moral judgement suspended after entering an agentic state. Browning agrees with Zimbardo that this happened without leadership. Browning uses the Stanford Prison Experiment to suggest that the situation in Poland in the 1940s was adequate to turn ordinary people into mass murderers (Browning, 1992: 168). Against BON Psychologists and medical analysts who examined Eichmann had formerly maintained that he was a man obsessed with a dangerous and insatiable urge to kill who had a dangerous and perverted personality (Arendt, 1963: 21) According to Arendt, Eichmann was merely ignorant of his own evilness. He believed he had neither murdered anyone himself, nor had he instructed anyone to be murdered. Arendt also believed that Eichmann seemed alarmingly normal. Ardent explained that Eichmann was not a serial killer whose intentions were evil but that he was determined to stringently follow rules and obey orders. According to the Israeli investigators who interviewed him, Eichmann showed no dislike for the Jewish people. Although he ordered the death of many, Eichmann did not feel emotionally involved in the incident. Arendt (1963) notes that Eichmann killed people instinctively and obediently. Ardent noted the fact that Eichmann had lost his ability to make moral decisions. Due to a passion with perfecting the practical aspects of the holocaust (e.g. organising vehicles to carry the Jews), Eichmann and his colleagues had no understanding that what they were doing was immoral. Michael Selzer (1977) is an American researcher who sent images drawn by Eichmann to six psychologists. Their job was to analyse the images using personality tests, such as the Bender-Gestalt and the House-Person-Tree Tests. The psychologists were made aware of the age, sex and the importance of the person who drew the pictures. The majority of the psychologists concluded that the subject had a violent and a neurotic personality. Once the psychologists were presented with the name of the person who drew the images, Selzer concluded that the psychologists were not surprised to learn that his name was Adolf Eichmann. Thomas Litwack (1977), however, criticised the study as the researchers may have been aware who they were evaluated. Litwack explained that as Michael Selzer, a renowned psychologist was in charge of the tests, the psychologists who were examining the images may have guessed that the subject may be a figure who is well-known. Furthermore, as a psychometric test was require d, the subject may be mentally unstable or may have committed something inhumane. These hints may have led the psychologists to guess that the subject is Adolf Eichmann. Stephen Whitfield (1981) notes that the results would have been more plausible if the psychologists chose Eichmanns drawing from a selection of other subjects, who may also have also committed atrocities or be alleged to be psychologically unstable. Nevertheless the psychological tests did not create a relationship between his destructiveness and the intolerance towards Jewish people, which the prosecutor ascribed to him (Whitfield., 1981). To challenge the notion that Eichmann was not banal, Cesarani (2004) observes that Arendt only attended the first few days of Eichmanns trial in 1963, in which he gave a statement. Cesarani argues that Eichmann used this opportunity to weaken the claims made by the prosecution team that Eichmann was an evil extremist, thus he purposely appeared ordinary and dull. Due to an early departure from the trial, Arendt did not witness the evidence from victims who indicated that Eichmann was anything but a banal member of the government. Vetlesen (2005: 5) claims that by suggesting that Eichmann was thoughtless, Arendt only believed his portrayal of himself in court. A thorough inspection of evidence from the past also approves the negative image of Eichmann. Haslam (2007: 618) points out that Eichmanns views changed after becoming more involved with the Nazi movement. Above all, his views on how to deal with the Jewish people changed from one of leaving the country voluntarily to one of implementing and organising transportation to the death camps. Haslam argues that Eichmann had more involvement in the deaths of many, instead of merely following orders; that is, Eichmann developed new ways to carry out deportations, to such an extent that he was appraised and acknowledged by his superiors. Haslam provides evidence that on an occasion, Eichmann was involved in a conflict with his superior (by the name of Himmler) due to Himmler adopting a more pacific strategy to the one recommended by Eichmann. Haslam concludes that Eichmann was aware of his actions and in court displayed no repentance not remorse as he was not banal. Rees (1997) notes that the orders issue by superiors in the Nazi movement were vague, in terms of what was expected. Therefore, Eichmann had to use his imagination to impress the FÃ ¼hrer. This explanation is supported by Vetlesen (2005) who reviewed evidence showing that Nazi members were consciously aware of what they were doing, believed in the cause and once the orders were followed, celebrations were held. Vetlesen provides an example in Schutzstaffeln (SS) officers ensuring every member was involved in the ethnic-cleansing at least once; therefore administrators working in offices were also involved in the crimes. In this way, previous views of Eichmann, the banality of evil and the holocaust are challenged with evidence suggesting that these incidents are not normal and do not occur due to thoughtlessness. Rather Haslam points out that sheer determination and planning is needed. Further support discrediting the banality of evil is from Lozowick, (2002: 279) who states that, Eichamnn and his fellow bureaucrats worked hard and thought hard, over a lengthy period of time, over how they would carry out their crimes. Goldhagen (1996) questions Brownings (1992) attempts to make the Reserve Police Battalion (RPB) 101 appear banal. Goldhagen (1996: 168) categorises battalion members into three groups: enthusiastic killers, shooters and ghetto clearers and refusers and evaders. Goldhagen notes that the enthusiastic killers were actively looking for ways to receive more involvement in their tasks. Although their acts are not entirely due to the civilisation and group contexts in which they took place, neither Hitlers agents, members of the battalion, Milgrams participants, nor Zimbardos guards became insensitive machines. Therefore, the true shock is not that those involved in the holocaust were unaware of the nature of what they were doing. It is actually that they genuinely believe what they are doing is right. Rees (1977) argues that their actions occurred not due to a mechanical compliance but due to ingenious and fanatical reasons. By arguing that Nazi criminals were not banal, means that there are attempts to disregard Milgrams research on obedience. It is unclear whether the participants in Milgrams obedience and Zimbardos prison study entered in an agentic state due to the presence of an authority. This explanation does not explain why the participants in Milgram study experienced chronic doubts and showed conflicts in their moral judgement as a result of their role as a teacher. Self-categorization theory states that what people learn about particular groups, before deciding to join them, leads them to understand more about themselves. Turner Oakes (1986) use this theory to explain that groups play a role in transforming its members by changing the personality of their members and the way they express particular moods. Therefore when members behave according to group norms, they are less likely to speak out and express their true beliefs. Therefore Eichmann held authoritarian views before being involved with the Nazis but as involvement increased, his views became extreme and to a different depth. However, it is not enough for effective tyrants to be more violent, they need to hold a certain degree of social influence so that individuals holding similar but less radical views do not attempt to interfere or oppose them. As social circumstance change, individuals who were insignificant previously, begin to be seen as symbolising group values. This leads them to take a position where they order other group members on what is right and what (Turner, 1987). From this, they become leaders who achieve the authority to manipulate activities through their control over others (Turner, 2005). Moreover, leaders do not just take advantage of the transformed social context; they actively try to change the social context in order to suit their needs (Reicher et al., 2005). This demonstrates the expansion and the success of the Nazis. Nazi members in the early days made various attempts to weaken the Weimar Republic and to create a civil unrest. Later, they were also able to claim power by providing a solution to a problem created by them. The Nazi regime offered authoritarian solutions promising that such solutions would bring back traditional german values. As Nazism was accepted as the way forward, the political system and the legislative system changed according the Nazism requirements. Ardent initially attempted to explain the banality of evil through the concept of radical evil; this was the highest form of evil. She believed that radical evil was the reason for concentration camps; the victims were treated as valueless not as human beings. Criticism of Zimbardo The key feature from Zimbardos study was that, the acts of aggression by the guards occurred, as a consequence of constantly dressing in the attire of a guard and delivering the authority which is intrinsic to this job. (Haney et al., 1973: 62) note that people do not essentially need the pressure of strong leaders (as Milgram previously stated) in order to stop using their sense of moral judgement and commit atrocities. Alessandra Stanley (2006) agreed with Haney et al. because the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment were instructed to play the role of a guard not to be abusive. Therefore by being abusive, the participants conformed to their own ideas of how a prison guard should behave and of how to hold authority. Similar criticisms have been made of Zimbardos study. It was found that Zimbardo instructed the guards that the prisoners must sense fear and must be under constant surveillance. By doing so, Zimbardo gave ideas to his guards on how he would like them to torment the prisoners. This does not show Zimbardo as a neutral experimenter (Haslam, 2007: 620). Carnahan and McFarlands (2007) conducted a study to understand which types of people are attracted to tyrannical groups. They studied the Stanford Prison Experiment and noted that those participants who volunteered to participate in this study were not necessarily ordinary individuals. These individuals tended to be aggressive and egotistical by nature, than the individuals who volunteered for controlled and safer experiments. This explanation fits in with Vetlesens (2005) understanding that the individuals who were drawn to the Nazism or similar extremist groups do so as they feel a connection with the groups principles and believe this will give them an identity. Vetlesen also highlights the importance of tactical issues and career enhancement when analysing individuals who were linked with the Nazis. This explains why doctors and engineers were amongst the Nazi members as they believed it gave them unlimited opportunities to follow their aspirations. Hence he argues that for organised evil to work there needs to be a mergence between individual and institutional factors to work towards a similar goal. Radical Evil Arendt argues that radical evil is perpetrated through a three step process. Firstly, all of the individuals legal right are taken away. Concentrations camps fulfilled these criteria as the inmates held there were not recognised as individuals who hold legal rights. The ability to make moral judgements is the second criteria, which is also taken away. As the person lacks a moral self, he is unable to choose good over bad. The final step to the radicalisation process is spontaneity. According to Arendt the concentration camps depicts how human spontaneity can be destabilised by the occurrence of dictatorship. Conclusion: Arendt suggests that evil is not limited to callous individuals. Cesarani (2004) notes that although on one hand there was nothing from Eichmanns life before the Nazi, which could suggest his reasons for committing crimes, but he was nevertheless different. It was his personal background which attracted him to Nazism; the more involved he became, the more callous his actions were. According to Cesarani this meant he had more role in the Nazis than Arendt understands; he was involved on a creative dictatorial level which demands deeper level of thinking. Looking at tyrarny and group dynamics it can be argued that evil can appear banal in these situations. However, the developments of the groups and their motives are a complex process. Therefore, Haslam argues that the normalisation of evil is not banal. The phrase banality of evil is left to interpretation due to a lack of clarity by Arendt. This has rendered the phrase open to interpretation and attacks by critic. This theory has instilled the view that every human is capable of committing evil. This means that those who commit evil acts are not different from normal human beings. From Arendts work, it is possible to understand that ordinary individuals can commit evil acts depending on the correct circumstances. From this insight it is learnt that the ability to commit evil lies in everyone. However, it does not explain how so people commit evil. Browning (1992) thus assumes that as the members of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were capable to commit mass murders; all other men are also capable to do this under the right circumstances. This theory has powerful and convincing support from multiple disciples (eg., Haney et al., 1973; Zimbaro et al., 1973; Milgram, 1963). To understand the Banality of evil thesis, its important to acknowledge that when humans are banal it does not mean that they are simple. As previous examples (e.g. Milgram; Zimbardo) have demonstrated, humans do not act decidedly and mechanically. For those who do act in an evil way, they are consciously aware and are involved in a moral conflict.

Against Abortion Essay -- Abortion Against Pro-Life Essays Argumentati

Against Abortion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Why is it that by 21 days into the fetal development the baby's heart begins to beat, but yet in most people's eyes the baby is still not 'technically' alive' That heart beat means nothing, it doesn't represent a human person whom God has created in his own image and has had a plan for that baby ever since the beginning of time. To most people that statement isn?t allowing women and their families freedom of choice. And yet that baby isn't given any say in its freedom to live. This paper will give many supporting statistics towards the right to life, I am pro-life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  *Forty-nine percent of pregnancies among American women are unintended, half of these are terminated by an abortion. Each year, two out of every one hundred women aged fifteen- forty-four have an abortion, forty-eight percent of them have had at least one previous abortion and sixty-one percent have had a previous birth. This means that these women understand the joy of a baby being born, and still choose to take away their privilege to live. They?ve carried this children before and know the happiness of seeing their own healthy child in their arms for the first time. Why then, when they know they are creating new life inside of them, choose to deprive their child the right to live and experience everything life has to offer. They willingly decide to kill that child, certainly for their own benefit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each year, an estimated forty-six million abortions occur worldwide. Of these, twenty million procedures are obtained illegally.* Why are there stories on the news everyday of people being murdered and mistreated and the culprit being sent to jail of punished in some way for the crime they?ve committed. Yet I don?t think I?ve ever heard on the news of a women being sent to jail for the murder of her unborn baby. It?s still illegal, it?s the murder of a child, they are given no freedom, and the mother goes unpunished. *On average, women give at least three reasons for choosing abortion; 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they can?t afford a child; and 1/2 say they don?t want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner. A baby would interfere with their ?responsibilities?, one of the biggest responsibilities as a sexually active person is to use c... ...like to make a difference too, but the Supreme Court won?t allow him to. Partial-birth abortion is banned in certain states in the United States, its a horrible image to put in someone's head. However, some of the pictures I've seen really make people wonder how someone could destroy human life like that. Abortion all together should be banned, but some people are more pro-choice than pro-life. Senator John Kerry is pro-choice, if he is elected president there is virtually no hope in the end of abortion, and Roe v. Wade. President Bush is at least attempting to change the law, but is constantly being stuck down. John Kerry will do nothing in our country to stop the murder of unborn children. His concern is in Iraq, where a few people are dying each day, while every third baby conceived in America is killed by an abortion. Kerry wants to raise taxes for the wealthy, I wonder how they would feel about this tax raise knowing that some of it could be contributing to the murder of an unborn child. If Kerry wins the election basically all hope of ending abortion is crushed for another four years. Our worry won?t be on the Supreme Court, it will be on our pro-choice President.