Chicano History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chicano History - Essay Example The positive significance of the Southwest can be explained by the fact that the present states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas were at one time Mexican territory. Mexico inherited this vast territory when it acquired its independence from Spain in 18211. Furthermore, these Southwest Mexicans never acquired a strong link to Mexico. Mexicans in some of these regions, in New Mexico primarily, maintained a strong link with their past and a heritage that they traced to the Southwest and to colonial New Spain. Mainstream society promoted a separate identification of Mexicans, even as they were being incorporated into the Union. The positive impact was that Chicano were the only national groups which kept Spanish language traditions in the U.S. territory. Spanish authorities and officials established written traditions in this land before the first English colonies penetrated this region. Also, they established Spanish as a n official language and provided education on Spanish2. Churches and church schools were also crucial vehicles in preserving Spanish. In the nineteenth century, when Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy took control of the Catholic Church in New Mexico, he attempted to wrest control away from local Hispanic leaders; nonetheless, he had to allow the use of Spanish in Catholic schools. Also in nineteenth-century New Mexico, schools newly established by Baptist churches taught Spanish along with English so that future ministers could be effective in proselytizing New Mexicans. In California, mission churches ministered in Spanish, offering a continuity lasting from the colonial period until the end of the nineteenth century3. In the process of these territorial severances, many Southwest Mexicans felt insecure that provisions protecting Mexicans would be honored; others were embittered because they felt Mexico had betrayed them. As a consequence, out of the tens of thousands of Mexicans living in the Southwest, about three thousand took advantage of official Mexican attempts to repatriate marooned Mexicans in the newly acquired American territories. The experience of oppression of Mexicans who remained behind in the U.S. was cited regularly by Chicano Movement activists as a basis for charges of historical mistreatment4. In essence, it is true that, because of an Anglo-American unwillingness to accept Mexicans as equals, they often ignored treaty agreements that gave Mexicans all the rights of citizens. But as Anglo domination increased, Spanish was pushed out of areas dominated by Anglos; at times it was vilified and almost always subordinated by them. Immediately after the war with Mexico, for example, most official and economic activity was conducted in English. In the political arena, Mexican Americans promoted bilingualism in the legislatures of New Mexico and California, yet proceedings almost always took place in English. As Spanish-speaking politicians improved their English or lost their power, Spanish was eradicated. The American acquisition threatened identity and ethical unity of the population, their cultural traditions and values. The Mexican population opposed this influence speaking Spanish language at home and preserving their cultural traditions. The break that immigration brought to the mainspring ideal of the Chicano Movement, a claim to the Southwest heritage, presented movimiento ideologies with a

Saint Augustine of Hippo and his Confessions Essay

Saint Augustine of Hippo and his Confessions - Essay Example Monica. It can be deduced through his works that his main goal is to find the spiritual truth, and due to himself not acknowledging the spiritual presence of God everywhere he had an early life full of sins. He died in 430, just when the Vandals were starting to besiege Calama, where he stayed for the rest of his life.4 As a reformed man who used to live in a life of sin, his book Confessions was able to convey his thoughts as well as his beliefs during and after his conversion to Christianity, as well as the struggles he had to face during the time when Rome was already crumbling and a new era was about to usher in. St. Augustine’s book, Confessions recalls most of his younger life, when he was still living in sin. The first 10 books were mostly his biography, while the remaining books focused on the first chapter of Genesis, mostly dealing with creation and the fall of grace, which he personally experienced.5 While it is not said in the book that he was a very bad child, he found pleasure in committing sins due to his search of love.6 The first book deals with his infancy to his youth, and during which he was starting to question things which he must do, as well as the good and mischievous things that he did in order to gain praise from just about everyone: from his parents; to his teachers and to his peers. However, trying to gain praises from human beings was only to make oneself feel good, and for that he confesses that he only looked for beauty and not the truth.7 The second book tells about St. Augustine’s life as a youth who was sent to Carthage in order to further his studies and become a respectable man. However, due to his relishing of the needs of the flesh, as well as to satisfy the peer pressure from his friends, he has sunk into an even lower state, much to the chagrin of his devout mother. He confessed that during these times, he was doing such things in order to satisfy his need for sinning, and nothing else.8 Concluding this book is St. Augustine admitting that having friends can either be good or dangerous, and that to live away from friends that commit sins should be the best course of action to avoid becoming a sinner even further. The third book talks about St. Augustine’s life in Carthage, how he felt that he desired to love something, but instead fell into the throes of lust.9 He also loved being an audience to theatrical plays, especially those of tragedies since he sees them as a mirror to his own life. Again, just to satisfy his vanity, he committed himself to become an eloquent speaker, to impress people. But upon reading the book Hortensius by Cicero, his whole life goal changed. He now tries to pursue the truth instead of knowledge.10 During this time he was jumping from one belief to another, and he stayed in the Manichean faith for around 10 years. Finally, through his mother, St. Monica, things were starting to become different for him. In the fourth book, most of St. Augustine’ s doubts regarding the Manichean religion as well as his swindling life as a teacher of rhetoric were further

Eddie Carbone Essay Example for Free

Eddie Carbone Essay Whats more, this would make Marcos purpose of the journey, to build a future, pointless. In addition, Eddie cruelly implies that Rodolfo is an inexperienced longshoreman. I seen greenhorns sometimes get in trouble that way. By saying this, Eddie aims to hurt Rodolfos feelings and perhaps make him feel like an unwanted boy. Soon afterwards, Eddie tries to explain how American girls are also strict and that Catherine shouldnt arrive home late at night, till he came here she was never out on the street twelve oclock at night. In affect, both Rodolfo and Marco try to understand Eddies point of view, as if he were a father to them. Eventually, Marco comes to a decision and tells Rodolfo to arrive back home earlier. But the audience knows that Eddie fails to express whats really on his mind. Essentially, Eddie understands that if Catherine is seen with Rodolfo by any of Eddies friends, Eddies reputation would be ruined and hell be the joke just like Rodolfo. It is this urge to protect Catherine, to keep her from discovering her independence which makes him increasingly sensitive to the presence of Beatrices cousins and to Rodolfo in particular, to whom Catherine rapidly becomes attracted. Later on in the scene, Catherine and Rodolfo begin to dance. When they come to an end, Eddie subconsciously twists the newspaper in his hands into a tight roll. The other characters are aware of what he is thinking, but they wait for his answer. Unsurprisingly, Eddie fails to clearly express his thoughts on Rodolfo; during his attempt to mock Rodolfos femininity and expose him as weak, he manages only to tell everybody that with Rodolfos abilities, he wouldnt be on the waterfront he would be someplace else like in a dress store. Here, Miller has explored Eddies prejudice against Rodolfo, who is different. Furthermore, Eddie uses repetition to reinforce his points, He can cook. He can sing. He can make dresses. Seeing that language proved unsuccessful for Eddie and even he cant understand what hes saying anymore, he tears the paper in two and decides to utilize physical action, a skill where he knows he can beat Rodolfo. Miller uses such gestures and stage directions as the tearing of the paper to dramatize the feelings of Eddie. Eddies obsession with Catherine is something he is not able to recognize or understand for himself. Instead he focuses his anger and frustration upon Rodolfo, who has a frivolous and light-hearted attitude to life. It is this that Catherine finds attractive and Eddie finds repulsive and unmanly. Eddie is also suspicious of Rodolfos interest in Catherine, believing that he seeks her hand in marriage in order to gain an American passport. While a degree of realism is appropriate in the design of the Carbone family home, the street itself should also be indicated. Accordingly, throughout the boxing match, the table lamp may well collapse, leaving the room gloomy and obscure. To compensate for the illumination, a red MOTEL light featuring outside the window could remain pulsing on and off. Nonetheless, the men will continue boxing, whilst Catherine switches the main light back on. I assume that merely a few seconds would allow the radiance to take full effect. The word motel indicates the cheap accommodation immigrants require in Brooklyn. In addition, while Catherine and Rodolfo dance, the main light could dim and the motel light could appear flashing on and off to the rhythm of the music. It may encourage the passionate mood set by the music. While the fight occurs on stage, I would recommend that Marco stay solitary in the corner. By separating Marco from the rest of the characters, who are supposedly in the centre of the stage, the audience recognizes his presence, without him having to do anything. Marco has cleverly kept quiet throughout the scene unless asked a question, as he may be embarrassed to display his weak language skills. But when Eddie cracks a punch at Rodolfo, Marco suddenly gets involved. Marco challenges Eddie by inviting him to raise a chair from its leg. Eddie has underestimated his opponent and his false sense of confidence about his own strength has led Marco to win the test of strength. Clearly Marco knows his adversarys well and is smart enough to avoid talking, but he prevails in a physical battle. You may think of the chair struggle as a battle for primate dominance, whereby both challengers are fighting to become Alpha male. Nonetheless, in both contests Eddies authority is undermined and in his own living room. In brief, I believe that Marco is in control of the situation, even though he stepped in half way through the scene. Eddie considers the challenge and presence of other men to be a threat to his authority. Eddies fear of losing his authority and masculinity serves as a prime motivating force, for him to assert his power. It is Eddies reluctance to compromise with the other characters and Catherines ever increasing appeal to Rodolfo that causes Eddie to fight for his control. Here, the vision Alfieri foresaw at the beginning of the play is in reaching distance. In the final scene, the act of betrayal of members of Eddies own family brings about the final bloody tragedy which Alfieri foresaw at his first interview with Eddie. Despite Alfieris efforts, Marco is intent upon revenge for his betrayal, while Eddie is determined to maintain his reputation and his honour. During the last scene of the play, Marco and Eddie come face to face in full view of the neighborhood. This theatrical scene holds the climax to the play and even though the audience is well aware of what is to happen, they are more curious as to how the other characters will react. In this scene Eddies reputation is at stake and he is prepared to stake his life on the line. By Catherine finding work and her growing attraction to Rodolfo, which leads to their planned marriage brings out an increasingly aggressive reaction in Eddie that starts to break the family apart. Eddie is trying to defend his own innocence so that, when his wife says, You cant have her, he is genuinely disgusted that she could think of him that way. He defends himself against the sexual allegation to the end. But if there is a sexual guilt operating here, it is combined with the social situation he is in. Basically, there is noting more horrifying to the general public than betrayal. It destroys the protection of their society. There is also the political side; because Miller was in the middle of the McCarthy period, the so-called Congressional investigation in America. When Eddie yells I want my name! he implies that he wants his reputation back from Marco. When Eddie handed Marco over to the authorities, Eddie squealed He killed my children. That one stole the food from my children. Eddie believes that Marco is to blame for tarnishing his reputation with this lie. On the other hand, Marco was partially correct for what he had said for the reason that, without Marco earning money for his children, they will be unable to purchase food and could ultimately die. In reality, Eddie cannot face the fact that the reason he lost his name was because he betrayed Rodolfos and Eddies trust; and treachery was considered the worst act in a Sicilian society. Marco refers to Eddie as Animal, which suggests that Eddie was a suck up` to the American law. Resembling an animal, Eddie did anything to get his just rewards. Likewise a dog would do anything when offered a bone. Finally, after realizing what he has done, Eddie is prepared to risk his life in order to save his reputation, his name. Eventually, Eddie dies in the arms of his wife, after Marco had killed him in self defence. In the closing speech by Alfeiri, he declares we settle for half, in which case he is referring to Eddies attitude towards the American and Sicilian law. Eddie has followed the American law, by reporting the illegal immigrants to the authorities. However, he has also pursued Sicilian concepts; such as the last moment, when he was prepared to die for his reputation. This shows that he is half American and half Sicilian. Alfieri recognizes that the death of Eddie Carbone should serve as a reminder to those who must carry on, and to the audience, that it is better to settle for half, it must be. Yet as Alfieri admits, this represents a compromise of peoples hopes, desires and sense of justice which he ultimately regards with alarm. The chorus, Alfieri, is the law. He has the ability to move in and out of the play. He knows the Sicilian way, but understands that the Sicilian way is something you outgrow when you come to America. I suspect that Eddie wants to be more like Alfieri than any other character. He wants to have a foot in both camps. He wants to be defined by his job. Miller implies that Eddie is a tragic hero, since the one virtue Eddie lacks is not being able to settle for half. Eddie cannot accept the presence of other men being something other than a threat to his authority. It was obvious from the beginning that Eddie would get into trouble if he continued what he was doing, but his obsession with not being able to settle for half brought about the event that Alfieri foresaw and which he was powerless to prevent, despite his best efforts. The play is a Greek tragedy because Eddie is led by fate towards a destiny he cannot escape. Through his death, the audience is involved, purged of their emotions by a tragic ending, leaving the theatre sadder but wiser. In conclusion, Eddie is Millers solution that he set himself about trying to write a Greek tragedy in Brooklyn. Shezad Chowdhury 10P Page 1 of 6 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Sms Banking Marketing Plan

Sms Banking Marketing Plan BankMuscat is I well known bank in Oman and consider the best financial organization and the winner of 8 in raw as Bank of the year (Times of Oman 2010). It provides large banking services which fulfills most country demands including consumers, businesses and government. The main divisions of the bank are retail banking and wholesale banking. Within these divisions there are E-channels which are call center, ATM, CDM, cards, Internet and mobile banking. The demand for electronic banking services is increasing since Oman strategic is to convert the conventional system to E-government (e.oman 2010). While these changes in country is ongoing, most of organizations adapting to go electronically in order to compete in the market. BankMuscat is one of the leaders to adapt new innovative technologies which make them step ahead from other banks. An opportunity exists for SMS banking for two reasons: None of other banks yet provided transactions over SMS while BankMuscat SMS banking existing system support this feature. Expand the language to Arabic in SMS banking to cover existing BankMuscat customer of non-users of SMS banking. All other banks local not offering this type of services and they only were providing informative SMS banking rather than interactive transaction (Ecommerce Journal 2009). Our new service in existing SMS banking will lead the market since BankMuscat has a large portion of market share of customers. The current stats show a large usage in electronic services and people become more technology aware. The stats shows also huge increase in the number of registered customers with SMS banking and comparing total registration in 2009 by 110,099 while in 2010 the total registration as of month of November is 134,926 (appendix 1,2). Moreover, the increase also occurs in the usage of the service comparing it by last years and also comparing it with monthly transactions, 1,118,826 request in 2009 and 1,430,399 requests in 2010 (appendix 1,2). With all this increase if we applied the new services like transactions over SMS and Arabic enabled interface we will lead the market for years. This also will increase our commission profit for each SMS sent by customer and will attract more service providers to use our SMS banking service as a channel for bill payment. Our target customers will be all type of customers capable of using mobile phones to send SMS. The rapid increase in cell phone market with cheap prices and good rates of service providers is our key of success. Also the growth in Oman and increase the percentage of roads traffic is changing the habit of customers of paying for their bills and prefer to do all this at their home at own suitable time. Situation Analysis In order to build good relationship with our all stake holders we have to understand our environment forces around all our relationships. In the next section I will describe BankMuscat Internal and external environments along with their analysis. External environment (Mic, Mac) As a bank its obvious other local banks are our competitors and the main force and we will analysis this with Porters Five forces analysis. Porters Five forces Competitive Rivalry: our rivalry banks are HSBC because its an international well known bank and locally NBO which the second successful bank in Oman. Both are very adaptive to the technology and always competing. Threat of entry: misuse of SMS banking services may raise law issues which interferes the service as what happened to the NAWARS tel. bill payment portal shutdown by force of law. Also there is threat of leaks this new service to our competitors before launching will make a bad image of BankMuscat is imitating others initiatives. The power of buyers: Our customer will intend to use the SMS banking service a lot because they are directly transfer amount from their account to utility bills which is easer from withdrawal money from bank and then visiting utility providers outlet to pay their bills. The power of suppliers: since our utility providers are a few companies so there is limited of suppliers which will offer to market for their utility payments exclusively to BankMuscat because of the huge number of customers dealing with. The Threat of substitutes: the major threat is using the other channel which internet banking since its become more popular because the government encourages this initiative by name of E-government. Since we analyzed the microenvironment by using Porters analysis we also require doing another analysis in macro environment by using PEST analysis. PEST analysis Political Factors: Telecommunication Regulatory Authority may set rules and standards in order to protect the users from fraud by which will make the process of using SMS banking more complicated for users. Economical Factors: after the recession which happened during end of 2008 the market growth increases again in 2009 recovery stage and in 2010 most of companies started to gain profits (Oman Observer 2010). This increased the salaries and buying power from customers. In other hand, BankMuscat makes good profit in the three quarters of 2010 by increase in 26% (Sharif 2010) which allowed increasing the budget for department for development. Social Factors: The resist of change is one of the culture factors that are facing the banking developments. Some of interior customers still prefer to pay their bills by visiting the utility providers. But the good thing is our Arabic based SMS banking will capture those who dont want to use other language to do their transactions. The go green campaign which sponsored by many environment organizations and with support of government is focusing in reduce papers in businesses and here comes SMS banking as free papers service which is widely accepted as eco-friendly. Technological Factors: SMS banking has good opportunity because the bank strategies are to change the attention from visiting branches to do banking services remotely (BankMuscat 2009). Most companies prefer to do their transactions without using papers and this good sign change customers behavior towards our new electronic services. The availability of mobile coverage and the range of choice with cheap prices all adding value for using SMS banking as first alternative. SWOT analysis After we captured the information for from external environment we will use it in our SWOT analysis as opportunities and threats. Strengths Current system already has the function for bill payments Current system is the latest in market Current system has the capability to add additional languages Management are very adaptive for new changes Low cost upgrade Weaknesses Limited IT staff for implementation Third party software needs support from vendor Other departments not support in marketing of other products Opportunities Fastest bills payment with one step from account to utility provider. Easy to capture more utility providers because of large base of customers in BankMuscat Gain the market of non-English users Government support and collaboration for new technologies Threats International banks are more advanced in technology Law enforce in case of misuse of this service by customers Internet banking may attract big portion of SMS banking customers Marketing Objective BankMuscat vision statement Over one million satisfied customers by 2010 through continuous enhancement of stakeholder value. In pursuit for customer satisfaction and comply with BankMuscat vision our new SMS banking system will fill the thirst of customers who deserve to get unique services at any time anywhere with no hassle of waiting. Target Market To get deep inside to our target market we will be using market segmentation process analysis. 1-Segmentation Variables Geographic: since SMS banking is mobile technology based service, so there is no limits because it depends on the coverage of mobile network operator even its support international rooming. The Arabic based SMS is targeting customers especially in rural areas which they are not able to deal with English language. Demographics: Targeted market customers with age range 18-65 years old both genders who are working in job or having business with all range of income with small level of knowledge in using mobile devices. Psychographic: Targeted market customers can be any lifestyle orientations with personality open minded Behavioral: Common variables of this segment are customers prefer easy and fast way of bill payment for medium usage in monthly rate and heavy usage for account enquiry. The user status can be ex-user, nonuser, potential user and existing user. 2- Market segment profile After analyzing the market variables we will now gather the common share of who, what and why to build segment profile. Our customer looks like any gender between 18-65 years old living anywhere having account in BankMuscat and using text messaging of our local mobile operators with sufficient knowledge in using mobile devices. Our customers appeals to do their bill payments at any time faster than any service with both local and English languages. Customers who want to make their bill payment easier and faster on monthly basis in case of bill payments and frequently in case of account quires. Our customer needs are to provide them with fastest one-click anytime and anywhere with free of charge bill payments service, also at their convenient language. 3-Targeting strategy Our marketing strategy will use a mix of undifferentiated and concentrated strategy. SMS Bill payment will satisfy any BankMuscat account holders who is having local mobile operator. But also our strategy will concentrate on special targeted customers who want to use SMS banking in Arabic version. 4-Evaluate of market segments Currently the total registered customers for year 2010 are 110099 by comparing to 2009 was 981120 which we estimate the increase by 25% because of the new service and additional language. There is no comparison with other banks because this is new service to market. The cost will only occur in implementation stage because of the system upgrade, Ads, brochures and banners. 5-Selecting target market Based on the overcome of the targeting strategy and along with BankMuscat vision we will use the mix of undifferentiated and concentrated marketing strategies to increase the usage between existing customers and to capture potential customers of our competitors to reach and exceeds the satisfactory levels. 6-Market positioning We are offering our new service to our main two segments, existing and new customers who will use their mobiles SMS for the first time to do transactions which no other banks in Oman provide such service for their customers. The second segment is to provide existing SMS banking service and SMS bill payment service in Arabic-based for remaining BankMuscat account holders. Like before this is new service which our customers will experience exclusively. 7-Developing marketing mix The next section we will be describing the marketing mix Marketing Strategies, 7Ps -Product: Our product is upgraded SMS banking service for account query and bill payments with both English and Arabic interface. -Place: SMS banking service can be accessed by any BankMuscat accounts holders using their mobile phones through our local mobile operators locally or international rooming. -Promotion: Ads will be announced in newspaper radio stations and BankMuscat web site before launching to keep the customer informed for the new service launching and after launching. Brochures and banners will be distributed to all branch channels and ATM/CDM. -Price: SMS banking will remain free of charge service and only customer cost is for SMS as normal cost rate of sending SMS from mobile phone to another. -Physical evidence: Customer will get confirmation SMS after the transaction with transaction code for reference. Customer can use their account statement as a record for their transactions. -Participants: Customers will get support by direct interaction with call center agents and branch staff. -Process: The service will be monitored by usual function in the bank core system with status of the customer. SMS banking team and billing team will have the access to daily reports of the transactions. Budget The budget for the project will divide into upgrading the system and marketing for the service. The system upgrade will cost OMR 55,000 including support from vendor. The second part is for publishing Ads through media newspapers and radio stations and this will cost OMR 13,000. Last part is for printing brochures and banners, which will cost around OMR 25,000. There will be yearly budget for the rewards of the best selling branch. Part of the budget we will get it after the approval from the management. We have good confidence in our management to support the new project as Sheik Abdul Malik Chairman of Bankmuscat described that BankMuscat is welcoming any opportunity to develop pioneered products and services meeting the market changes (Letha 2010). Implementation The action plan is represented in a timeline schedule in next page and will shows each activity time and assigned department with the managers of that activity Evaluation and recommendation Once we end with timeline of the project we will take deep insight view of how our new system is effectively meeting our goals. As we are providing a service we will have to depend on the reports of the system providing. The system will allow us to see for each branch how much registration they made in point of time. We will compare these reports by same month of the previous year to see the percentage of increase. Monthly we will extract reports of the number of bill payments starting from the launching moth of July and onward to see if the increase is happening from month to month. We will also check the payments of each of bill type and to see where the bill type is needs more attention to boost the sale of it. In case there is system failure easily our IT team are ready to switch the system maintenance mode which will stop any interaction with customers SMS and will send default replay as the system under maintenance please try again later. If the problem is persist in bill payme nt facility then we can disable this feature temporary and keep the normal account query facility working until we fix the problem. The bill payments complaint will be handled by bills team and to update any payments with utility provider. So the customer will not need to contact both the bank and the utility provider since we will do all the necessary actions to solve the customers issue. Reference: Times of Oman (2010) BankMuscat wins top Banker award. Times of Oman [online] 14 December 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]. ITA (2010) ITA Vision [online] available from [23 December 2010] Ecommerce Journal (2009) Electronic banking in the Sultanate of Oman Ecommerce Journal [online] available from [23 December 2010] Oman Observer (2009) Omans economic fundamentals remain strong. Oman Observer [online] 05 July 2010. available from [23 December 2010] Sharif,A. (2010) Bank Muscat Third-Quarter Net Income Increases 26% on Lending. Business Week [online] 14 October 2010. Available from [23 December 2010] BankMuscat (2009) BankMuscat widens reach of easy-to-use mobile banking service [online] available from [23 December 2010] Letha,J. (2010) True leader. Business Today [online] 01 Jun 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]

Cognitive Traditions and Communities in Technological Change :: Technology Essays

Cognitive Traditions and Communities in Technological Change ABSTRACT: Many efforts have been made to discover some paradigm-like changes in mathematics, the social sciences, arts, history, etc. Gary Gutting forcefully criticizes the tendency of over-constraining the original conception that mostly led to insignificant analogies. But some applications may fall between correct isomorphic utilization and insignificant analogizing. The paradigm conception of technological change emerged in the early 1980's. This paper shows how fruitful the analogy has been for developing the idea of technological 'paradigms.' But a technological paradigm shows decisive differences which concern the values (which are not only cognitive ones) of technologies, the hierarchical systemic communities, the partly different nature of crises (through 'presumptive anomalies,' by Constant), and the necessarily integrated nature of technological knowledge leading to successful artifacts linked to goal-oriented research. Technological-paradigms-thinking became an established part of evolutionary economics also. According to this, paradigms rival conceptions that show further changes in comparison to the original Kuhnian approach. I conclude by discussing the nature of scientific change from the viewpoint of technological paradigms. Following Kuhn's seminal work paradigms were claimed to be discovered in many scientific fields including sociology, economics, psychology, mathematics, even literature, arts and history. It is well known that Kuhn himself was astonished to see that, for him unexpected, escalation. Garry Gutting rightly emphasized 198O that most of the applications of the paradigm conception led to nowhere but to insignificant, relatively trivial analogies, to assertions that "supertheories" exist. (1) But some application may have overcome trivial analogies. The story of technological "paradigms" is one case for this. The trial to apply the paradigm conception to technological change came 1O-15 years later then the applications to other fields. (2) In an important case study for history of technology (published 198O), E. W. Constant II set up a general model for technological change. (3) In this model technological change is represented by knowledge change and put into an evolutionary epistemology perspective, overtaken from D. Campbell. Constant exploits philosophy of science, mainly Kuhn's paradigm conception. He finds a community structure in technological practice, traditions of practice, normal technology with its puzzle solving character and technological changes initiated by recognizing two types of failure. He claims that, from time to time, technological changes are technological revolutions. "We define a technological paradigm as an accepted mode of technical operation. . . . It is the conventional system as defined and accepted by a relevant community of technological practitioners.

Heideggers Critique of Cartesianism Essays -- Philosophy Papers

Heidegger is one of the few Western thinkers to have succeeded in going beyond the Western philosophic tradition. Because his radical criticism is believed to have fractured the foundations of modern philosophy, his thinking is usually at the center of the controversy between the defenders of the tradition and those who wish to break with it and start afresh. In the heat of this debate, the question of Heidegger's place in relation to that tradition in general and to Cartesianism in particular has been neglected. I wish to address the question by focusing on the major aspects of Heidegger's critique of Cartesian philosophy and the modern tradition. I will first show that the strength of his criticism lies in its all-encompassing penetration of the foundations of modern philosophy, running through both the ontological and epistemological channels. Ontologically, Heidegger presents a critique of subjectivism; epistemologically, he discredits the correspondence conception of truth and i ts underlying visual metaphor. I will then look at his view of history and the meaning of his concept of "overcoming" in order to show that his aim is not to destroy the tradition, but to provide a wider basis for it by rescuing forgotten elements imbedded in the tradition itself. Finally, I will show that in this process of "overcoming," Heidegger did not really depart from the tradition, but absorbed some of its basic tenets, as his concept of death echoes major elements of Cartesian doubt. 1. The Critique of Subjectivism One of the major features of Heidegger's thinking is his criticism of Cartesian subjectivity. According to Heidegger, in regarding the ego cogito as the guarantor of its own continuing existence and as the basis of all things... ...d: Basil Blackwell, 1980); Abbau can be find Heidegger's Basic Problems of Phenomenology (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982); Verbindung is discussed mainly in "The Principle of Identity," in Identity and Difference (New York: Harper and Row, 1969, pp. 23-41); for Uberwindung see Heidegger's Nietzsche. (4) Nietzsche, vol. 4 p. 97. See Aristotle's words: "that which is called a substance most strictly, primarily, and most of all, is that which is neither said of a subject nor in a subject, e.g., the individual man or the individual horse." (Aristotle's Categories, 2a 11-13). (5) Heidegger, Basic Problems of Phenomenology p.111. (6) Heidegger M., Discourse on Thinking New York: Harper and Row, 1966, p. 7. (7) Nietzsche, vol. 4, p. 106. (8) Heidegger, M. History of the Concept of Time, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992, pp. 316-317.

“Of Mice and Men”: George’s actions at the end of the novel Essay

Discuss George’s actions at the end of the novel. How can we justify what he does to Lennie? How can we condemn it? Although murder is morally incorrect, mercy killing can be justified as it may prevent a later inevitable and painful death. In the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ written by John Steinbeck, the character George shoots his friend, Lennie. Whilst George’s actions can be condemned, George had good intentions towards the death of his friend. Steinbeck makes it clear throughout the novella that although horrid incidents may occur such as Lennie’s death that it was how it was during the Great Depression. However one may like to condemn George’s actions in shooting his only friend, George had forgivable intentions as to why he chose to shoot Lennie. George’s murdering of his friend was without malicious intent. It is clear from the start in the novella that George cares for Lennie, as he protects and looks out for him. Killing Lennie was not an easy choice.. He also prevented a further painful and torturous death for Lennie, as Curley plans to ‘shoot that big bastard’s guts right outta him.’ This implies that Curley intends no mercy and an excruciating death awaits Lennie. By shooting his friend, George gives Lennie a peaceful death. During the scene where the two men are in the bush, George once again recites their dream which reminds the audience and Lennie of their friendship. He tells George, ‘I got you an’ you got me.’ This conveys in the idea that George truly cared for Lennie and has no vicious intent when he is to shoot Lennie. By shooting Lennie, George gave him a merciful and peaceful death with no intended malicion. The murder of Lennie is justified as Steinbeck shows the audience through the novella, realistic themes that were evident in the 1930s. Steinbeck’s writing style has been described as a naturalist or realist type. It is clear from the start, that in ‘Of Mice and Men’ there is a predatory nature in human existence. Candy says to George, â€Å"I shouldn’t have let no stranger shoot my dog.† Having said that, it foreshadows Lennie’s death and what George must do. It also conveys in the idea that Lennie will face a similar fate to Candy’s old dog who is weak and handicapped. Society does not tolerate the weak as there were limited resources during the Great  Depression. As seen in the scene where Slim drowns the smallest pups, it is clear that Steinbeck is trying to send across the message that only the strongest lived during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck gave the reader a realistic view on what would have happened during a difficu lt time and Lennie’s death is similar to what would have occurred during the 1930s. The final reason that justifies Lennie’s death, is when one ponders the reality of the men attaining the ranch. As evident in the novella, Lennie has no problem killing small animals and even people. If the reader is to imagine Lennie on a ranch with a large group of animals, especially rabbits; no matter how many times Candy calculated the numbers, there would be no possible way for the men to make a profit off the rabbits given the amount Lennie would kill due to his brute strength. By forgetting the reality of the situation, the men forget that the ranch was not even a reachable goal in the first place. As indicated by George, â€Å"I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her.† This supports the idea that there was really no chance of the men actually getting the ranch. By killing Lennie, George puts an end to the unrealistic dream in which Lennie would have created problems in making the dream farm profitable. George’s actions are justified through realism that the ending scene portrays. When George shoots Lennie, he ensures he dies a peaceful death. If George did not kill Lennie, Lennie would have faced a possible torturous death. His actions are also justified as George meant no malicious intent and only wants the best for his friend. Lennie would have made life difficult even on their own land. Steinbeck shows the realism that people in the Great Depression would have faced in situations similar to Lennie and George’s; he shows us a piece of history and the tragedies attached. Although one may condemn George’s shooting of Lennie, mercy killing was the best choice for both of the men. Loved the point about the Depression times. (Paragraph 3) and also the â€Å"unrealistic † dream point in the next paragraph You could also discuss the fact that George also â€Å"loses† something by killing  Lennie. He really believed their relationship was special. ( George tells Slim this). Killing Lennie wasn’t just the easy way out for George. Once again, an original approach. I am sure your exam essay will reflect your mature approach and your hard work.