Determinism Essays (Examples)

Ethics and Public Policy

Ethical Dilemma

This paper discusses the application of the major ethical theories of consequentialism (utilitarianism), deontology, and virtue ethics to a specific policy question, namely how to improve the nutrition of the nation's poor and to reduce the rise in food insecurity. It also discusses the implications of ethical theories such as determinism and moral relativism. First, the theory is discussed in the abstract, followed by an exposition of how the theory relates to real-world practice. The paper concludes with a more general reflection on the implications of ethical theories for public policy-makers. The specific merits of virtue ethics are stressed vs. The more extreme and polarizing views of deontology and consequentialism.

An ethical dilemma: Food insecurity

One of the dilemmas facing public policy-makers regarding food insecurity and the need to improve the diet of poor Americans is the balance between individual liberties and the need…

References

Athanassoulis, N. (2014). Virtue ethics. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved  http://www.iep.utm.edu/virtue/ 

Alexander, Larry and Moore, Michael. (2012). Deontological ethics. The Stanford Encyclopedia

of Philosophy. Retrieved from:

 http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/ethics-deontological

Enlightenment

Baruch Spinoza believed that humans' actions and activities are not based on free will, but rather humans are moved to action and thought because he believed that nothing happens by mere chance. His rationale for believing as he does is the basis for this essay.

Free Will vs. Determinism

A review of what Spinoza believed is not the easiest thing to accomplish since some of what Spinoza puts forward is seemingly esoteric to the lay person or student engaged in research. But in researching Spinoza's philosophy, looking carefully at his positions, one can come to understand basically why he did not believe in free will. He believed that God, and God alone, is free to make decisions and to act according to His free will. Since God is Nature, and Nature is God, and therefore everything that exists on Earth are there because God decided, of His own free…

The following incident is being used as a metaphor for Spinoza's ideas. He believed that everything in nature takes place by necessity (and mankind is part of Nature). When the enormous section of a hill in Washington State became too saturated (after numerous heavy rains earlier in 2014), and collapsed into a village, killing / burying many people and their homes, that can be used as a metaphor for what Spinoza was saying. Thousands of tons of wet earth roared down into the village with no warning, but that disaster was determined by Nature. The land didn't decide it would suddenly give way and hurtle down upon the village.

In fact, the logging around that piece of land took away the roots of trees that otherwise would have kept the hill in place. And the river below was known to be cutting into the hill, eroding important features of the land -- a definite determination that led to the horrific event. Moreover, the heavy rains in Washington State leading up to the collapse also determined that the land would give way. So, if one can see the hill as a human entity, as part of Nature that has intelligence (which may seem to be a stretch, but it does have value as an example), that entity did not have free will to decide when it would slide down into the village. The existing Natural World realities determined if and when it would roar down into the village.

In conclusion, humans governed by determination, and not by free will. One's will is not put into motion by a decision one makes, but rather one's will acts out of necessity which has been predetermined by God, or Nature, which is also God, according to Spinoza. In other words, there are no should have arguments or could have arguments, or ought to have done arguments in terms of why an action or activity or decision was performed. That is because the behavior in question was externally or internally caused by the person who could not possibly have acted other than the way he or she did.

Yet, when you go beyond the generalities, it is obvious that this a taking a one size fits all approach when it comes to society. Where, you are assuming that everyone will react the same to the various rules / laws that have been established. However, the pessimists argue that such thinking does not take into account how various experiences and personal relationships will determine someone's morals and values. This is troubling because when you apply such thinking to the person who committed the act. They can be able to claim that they are excused from the different forms of punishment, because they qualify for a special consideration. This, the critics argue is the biggest flaw of determinism, where you are assuming that ample amounts of punishment / penalties would serve as a deterrent. Then, once someone breaks various laws you are allowing the special considerations to give them the…

Bibliography

Determinism. (2010). Retrieved April 27, 2010 from Free Dictionary website:  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/determinism 

Linder, D. (2002). The Trial of John Hinckley. Retrieved April 27, 2010 from Famous American Trials website: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/hinckley/hinckleytrial.html

Linder, D. (2008). The Trial of John Hinckley Jr. Retrieved April 27, 2010 from Famous American Trails website: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html

Strawson, P. (n.d.). Freedom and Resentment.

Ethics in Law Enforcement

Ethics are what almost anyone would define as a person's determination between what is good or bad, or more accurately what is right or wrong. Although many of these attitudes can be a product of parenting or other factors in one's maturing environment, ethical decisions could also be a product of environmental factors that are outside of the control of individuals. It is difficult to determine where a person's ethical code, but some professions demand an ethic that is not needed elsewhere.

One such profession is law enforcement. Officers of the law are called upon to "stand in "harm's way" not so much against enemies with bullets, but against enemies skilled in every form of trickery, deceit, feigned ignorance, and deception" (Stevens, 2005). Because of the environment that they must exist in, police officers are constantly deciding whether to make the right decision or take the…

References

Gilmartin, K.M., & Harris, J.J. (1998). Law enforcement ethics: The continuum of compromise. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from  http://emotionalsurvival.com/law_enforcement_ethics.htm 

Russell, B. (1910). Determinism and morals. From The Elements of Ethics. Retrieved November 26, 2010 from http://fair-use.org/bertrand-russell/the-elements-of- ethics/section-iv

Sanford, DH (2010). Indeterminism: Causation and conditionals, ethics and history of philosophy, primer on determinism. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from  http://science.jrank.org/pages/22033/indeterminism.html#ixzz16cFBtAvu 

Stevens, M. (2005). Police deviance and ethics. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/205/205lect11.htm

Free Will

A friend of mine has just offered to give me a well-written paper that he wrote for a philosophy class. It just so happens that the paper topic is just like the one I have been assigned in my philosophy class. His paper got an "A," and I know that he has not sold this paper or posted it on his blog. The chances of my being caught, therefore, are nil. Moreover, I am very busy and because I am distracted, it is unlikely I will do a very good job on my philosophy paper. If I turn my friend's paper in as my own, I will get a good grade without doing much work. I still took the class; I am still learning. This would just alleviate my stress.

However, after some deliberation I decide that I will write my own paper. I was tempted, but I…

The popular media's negative coverage of the insanity defense in contested cases when a defendant claims not to have the rational capacity to commit a crime or has a diminished capacity to conceptualize a criminal intent has caused the public to dismiss forensic psychiatry as providing rationalizations or excuses for bad behavior, rather than possessing a real scientific method. The use of the insanity defense is clearly subject to sociological and societal factors, such as the statistically greater willingness to believe a man who kills his child is competent vs. A woman. However, the authors contend that this ignores the many cases where the defense and the prosecution both agree that the criminal in question was not competent and was operating upon a different schema of 'reality' that affected his or her ability to judge circumstances in the same fashion as a sane person. (It might be argued, in the…

Airs, Waters, Places

A close reading of "Airs, Waters, Places" by Hippocrates will show that it was the first instance of climatic (environmental determinism. Climatic Determinism is based on the idea that the climate, the natural resources, and the land itself determine the nature of the habitants (which includes the physical nature, the cognitive ability, the moral compass, ethnical-being, intellectual being, etc.). Climate determines the physical nature and then the intellectual being of individuals living on the land, which in turn forms the culture of the group. It has greatly contributed to the development of the "Greek vs. Barbarian Antithesis" and the development of racism. However, how would culture affect the argument? Would the culture itself also influence the characteristics of the people on the land? We will examine these questions as well as how absolute the cultural determinism is in Hippocrates and whether or not is permeable, that is…

References

Adams, Francis, ed. "Airs, Waters, Places." Wikisource.org. Wikisource.org, 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 30

Mar 2012. .

"Environmental determinism." Sccs.swarthmore.edu. Sccs.swarthmore.edu, 2010. Web. 30 Mar 2012. .

The indetermistic coin-toss can plausibly be seen as the essential foundation of your pronouncement; however, it is not under your command.

Theories and Critiques of Determinism

To begin with, I visualize that when it comes into a man's intellect to carry out or not to carry out some firm deed, if he has no point on purpose, the responsibility of it or refraining automatically follows the current consideration he had of the first-class or wickedness corollary thereof to him. As for illustration, in abrupt antagonism, the deed shall pursue the deliberation of vengeance; in hasty fear, the contemplation of fleeing. Besides while a man has time to plan, however plans not, for the reason that by no means whatever thing appeared that possibly will make him qualm of the end result, the act follows his estimation of the integrity or mischief of it.

These proceedings I entitled intentionally my Lord;…

References

Thomas Hobbes: Causation Itself, Determinism, and Their Compatibility With Freedom Retrieved online on 20th January 2008 at  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwVariousHobbes.htm

Media

How Technology Shapes Society

A society is a conglomerate of people who, for some reason, are throw together in a particular bounded region. The group has to make laws that will govern their actions and they also determine how they will live together in the most productive manner. But, there are events and devices that some say can change the way this group of people behaves and what laws they will make for one another. For example, an early hunter-gatherer society subsisted on what they could kill and find. Then someone invented the hoe, and they became cultivating societies (Keel, 2011). This meant that the people did not have to roam so far afield to find they needed to exist. Thus they could stay closer together and build up societies. Small events sometimes shape great changes in society without the people within the society realizing that the invention will…

References

Anderson, P., & Tushman, M.R., (1990). Technological discontinuities and dominant designs: A cyclical model of technological change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(4), 604-619.

Beals, G., (1997). The biography of Thomas Edison. Retrieved from  http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html 

Carlson, W.B., (1992). "Artifacts and frames of meaning: Thomas A. Edison, his managers, and the cultural construction of motion pictures," in W.E. Bijker and J. Law Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, pp. 175-198.

Chandler, D., (2002). Technological or media determinism. Retrieved from  http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/tecdet/tdet01.html

Technology has certainly had an impact on the history of man. Not only have the devices and processes that have emerged from advancements in technology had their effect so has the relationship of technology to politics, economics, science, and the arts. Technology has affected how man interacts with man and as history is a record of man's interactions with each other technology has affected history.

Not surprisingly, historians have adopted different approaches to examining the effect that technology has on history. Essentially, two approaches have emerged to dominate the field: technological determinism and social constructionism.

The essence of technological determinism is that it is the introduction of new technology changes society and that these changes are often unexpected. For example, proponents of technology determinism would argue that the introduction of printing changed society from one driven by oral communication into a society driven by writing and literacy or that the…

Critics of technological determinism have gained recognition in recent years. Their chief argument is that such approach is far too simplistic and ignores the interrelationship between society and technology. In response to these criticisms has emerged the social constructionism approach. Social constructionism views technology as developing in response to societal needs but it cautions the observer to take a critical stance toward how one understands or view the world. It warns that one should be suspicious of assumptions and how the world appears. In applying such theory to history, social constructionists see that how matters develop during a specific period are dependent on the social and economic circumstances in existence during such period. In understanding history, therefore, it is important to understand the factors affecting society at any given moment in time and that it is a combination of relative factors that determine how history develops as opposed to the simple introduction of new technology as the technological determinists would argue.

Which approach provides a clearer and more accurate understanding as to how technology impacts history is difficult to assess. As with all theories, there are compelling arguments on both sides but as one examines how rapidly society has changed in the past two centuries it is difficult to argue that technological determinism does not have the stronger position. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the multitude of ways that such technology changed society and affected how individuals interacted with one another and continuing through the various major technological changes that have occurred since technology has seemingly been the driving force behind societal changes. As society changes, so does its history. How different would the world be today without electricity; atomic power; computers; or the internet? As technology has changed so has society. Those living in early 20th Century America would hardly recognize life in 2012 America and the basis for this change has to be attributed to technology. It would appear that the technological determinists have it right.

History Technology

Another important aspect of observational learning is retention. For effective classroom management to take place it is important the students understand and retain the few classroom management rules that will be set out in the beginning of the year.

aise hand to speak

Treat others with respect

If you don't know then please ask

The retention factor with regard to classroom management will be reinforced each time the students witness another student having to suit out for five minutes of recess because they failed to respond appropriately to the clapping signal for attention. In addition we will have a weekly short discussion about classroom rules and why they are important and how the students can help themselves and each other to remember what they are.

The production step in the path to observational learning with regard to effective classroom management will be easily found in the response of the class…

References

Horner, Sherri L (2001) the EFFECTS of OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING on PRESCHOOLERS' BOOK-RELATED BEHAVIORS and ALPHABET KNOWLEDGE.(Statistical Data Included) Child Study Journal

Houseal, Ana (2003) Self-efficacy, standards, and benchmarks as factors in teaching elementary school science. Journal of Elementary Science Education

Newman, Jean (1999) in the Trenches: Increasing Competency of Teachers-in Training by Having Them Conduct Individualized Interventions.

Journal of Instructional Psychology

hat is needed, then, is a concept of free will that can effectively counter the claims of naturalists that there is no physical basis for free will. It requires a different kind of free will that permits moral responsibility to be leveled squarely at the individual without ignoring the reality that sometimes there are external causes to internal decisions. In fact, some philosophers have even used the conceptual tools of the naturalists to make the argument that free will can exist in a deterministic world. Daniel Dennet argues that the deterministic universe provides the reliable framework of reality by which informed, individual choices can be made (Bailey par. 14-17). ithout some determinism in the universe, it would be impossible for free will to functionally exist, because no one would ever be able to make a rational choice in a purely chaotic world. So free will requires some level of determinism.…

Works Cited

Bailey, Ronald. "Pulling Our Own Strings." Reason May 2003. 3 Mar. 2007  http://www.reason.com/news/show/28782.html .

Clark, Tom. "Is Free Will a Necessary Fiction?" Naturalism.org. Nov. 2005. 3 Mar. 2007 http://www.naturalism.org/fiction.html.

D'Holbach, Baron. "We Are Completely Determined." In Philosophy: The Quest for Truth. 6th ed. Ed. Louis P. Pojman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006: 333-338.

Frost, S.E. Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers. New York: Anchor Books, 1989.

Narrator

In many ways, the literary movements and philosophies of determinism and individualism are opposites of one another. Determinism is one of the facets of Naturalism, and is based on the idea that things happen due to causes and effects largely out of the control of people and that choice is ultimately an illusion. Individualism, however, is widely based on the idea of free will and the fact that people can take action to control their surroundings and their fates in life. Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie provides an excellent example of determinist literature and is based on the critical ideas of amorality and environmental factors controlling a person's fate, while Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of individualism and illustrates the idea that a person can take action to make his or her own fate.

Dreiser's work chronicles the rise to wealth and social prominence of…

Works Cited

Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. www.archive.org. 1900.  http://archive.org/stream/sistercarrie01drei/sistercarrie01drei_djvu.txt 

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. www.archive.org. 1884.  http://www.archive.org/stream/adventureshuckle00twaiiala/adventureshuckle00twaiiala_djvu.txt

Moral Luck" by admitting defeat: he informs the reader that he will be assessing "a fundamental problem about moral responsibility to which we possess no satisfactory solution" (450). The problem is essentially one about ethical judgment, and he begins it with an illustration from Kant. Kant's view of the ethical will, in the quotation offered by Nagel at the outset, is one in which goodness is not determined by "what it effects or accomplishes or because of its adequacy to achieve some proposed end" (449). In other words, goodness is to be located in process, rather than in results. The reader may find it ironic, then, that Nagel begins his paper by promising us no solution whatsoever -- in his critique of Kantian ethics, Nagel seemingly requires the reader to measure Nagel's own work as a philosopher by the Kantian criterion, of admiring Nagel's will to philosophize without judging him…

Works Cited

Nagel, Thomas. "Moral Luck." In Feinberg, Joel and Shafer-Landau, Russ (eds.) Reason and Responsibility. 12th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2004.

If all of the events the world could be understood by examining a mathematical model, if there was essentially no free will on a macro level -- probably very little would be changed on a micro level. Even today, people are more and more aware of how genes affect their emotional behaviors and physical health, and how economic and social circumstances shape their character. Yet they still approach the questions of their daily lives as if they have freedom of choice, and the criminal justice system has been loathe to refuse to punish people, simply because of defendant's unavoidable previous circumstances. Politicians pass legislation that suggests human behavior can be changed, such as anti-smoking laws. Even if determinism exists on a 'macro' level, on a 'micro' level the perception of choice prevails and that is how we behave -- hence the timelessness but also the futility of Max's quest. The…

Dee:

The Shape of Things, a play by Neil LaBute, (A) expands on the central themes of society's distortional emphasis on appearances, and art as a potentially limitless and human-sculpting instrument. Linearly structured in three acts, the plot closely follows the problematic evolution of a student couple from a Midwest university. Starting as a discrepant match, Evelyn and Adam develop an oddly unequal relationship, as the former increasingly impacts major changes in the apparel and psychological onset of her partner, who complies with every single suggestion out of innocent devotion.

The public clarification scene from the third act has a great potential for theatricality due to the fact that it comes across as a bitter surprise and a ruthlessly planned humiliation, yet admittedly it challenges the cultural and ethical boundaries concerning art and the human being as object for art. The reason why a large part of the audience exhibits…

References

Allen, James Sloan. "Tolstoy's Prophesy: "What Is Art?" Today." New Criterion, December 1998: 14-17.

Antakyalioglu, Zekiye. "Chaos Theory and Stoppard's Arcadia." Journal of Istanbul Kultur University, March 2006: 87-93

The philosopher argues that no matter his final decision, its character will be a determined one.

If he does not jump, it is because he wants to live and in this will to live we can read the instinct for survival, which is a print that has been put unto us by nature. If he decides to jump in order to prove his total freedom, his action will be equally determined by the need to demonstrate something.

This latter need is another characteristic that the individual was not born with but probably acquired during his life. A man who commits suicide may be considered man and madness can be connected to passions and not reason. However, no matter if one is a slave to his reason or to his passions, he is still a slave.

Happiness on the other hand is another concept which we all build in time, according…

Nonetheless, this does not make philosophy any less important in the field.

Philosophy today can be seen as a manifestation of the workings of the human mind, while psychology studies the mind itself. Philosophy is therefore a very important aspect in helping the psychologist understand the human mind. Philosophy is indeed responsible for the birth of psychology as a discipline in itself, as mentioned.

While the early philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, are responsible for many of the ideas in both philosophy and psychology today, the 17th century philosopher ene Descartes is known as the "father of modern philosophy" (Consciousness 9). All these philosophers made a specific point of studying what it means to be human and conscious.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung built upon the work of all the above philosophers in order to develop his theories of the conscious and the…

References

Consciousness: Section PS13D

Holism, Reductionism and Four Theories: John B. Watson; B.F. Skinner; Jean Piaget; Gestalt Psychology

Nature vs. Nurture: Psychology 4012 Recitation Section T54B, Fall 2008.

Psychological Assumptions of the Cognitive Revolution: Psychology 4012 Recitation Section T54E, Fall 2008.

Starting from 19th century psychology, school of thought of behaviorist shared commonalities and as well ran concurrently with the 20th century psychology of psychoanalytic and Gestalt movements, however it was different from Gestalt psychologists' mental philosophy in significant ways. Psychologists who had major influences in it were Edward Lee Thorndike, John B. atson, they opposed method of introspective and advocated to use of experimental methods: Ivan Pavlov, investigated classical conditioning, but he was not to the idea of behaviorists or behaviorism: B.F. Skinner, he did his research on operant conditioning.

During second half of the 20th century, it was widely eclipsed that behaviorism was due to cognitive revolution. Even though behaviorism as well as cognitive schools of psychological thought tends to disagree in terms of theory, they have gone a head to compliment one another within applications of practical therapeutic, for example, cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown utility in treating some…

Work cited

Arntzen, E., Lokke, J., Kokke, G. & Eilertsen, D-E. (2010). On misconceptions about behavior analysis among university students and teachers. The Psychological Record, 60(2), 325- 327.

Chiesa, M. (2004).Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Science ISBN

Claus, C.K. (2007) B.F. Skinner and T.N. Whitehead: A brief encounter, research similarities, Hawthorne revisited, what next? The Behavior Analyst, 30(1), 79-86. Retrieved  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2223160/?tool=pmcentrez 

Diller, J.W. And Lattal, K.A. (2008). Radical behaviorism and Buddhism: complementarities and conflicts. The Behavior Analyst, 31(2), 163-177. Retrieved  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2591756/?tool=pmcentrez

Technology and Social Change

The Industrial evolution completely changed the way that human beings live and work. Before the Industrial evolution, society was dominated by agrarian economies. The Industrial evolution created a new way of life in which an increasingly large percentage of the population either owned or worked in factories involved in mass production. Populations became increasingly concentrated in urban areas; fewer people worked on farms or owned farms. Instead of making their own goods and services, people now bought the majority of the items they needed in stores.

The current Knowledge evolution is technologically driven, just like the Industrial evolution. It is fueled by the Internet and radically expanded accessibility of information to everyone who has an Internet connection. In some ways, like the Industrial evolution, it is extremely democratic -- just as many people made their fortune through capitalism, the knowledge economy of World Wide Web has…

References

Gouras, M. (2003). Bulking up for a hardware battle. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved:

 http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/26/business/fi-hardware26 

How women use the web. (2013). Mashable. Retrieved:

 http://mashable.com/2010/07/28/women-on-the-web/

Societal Collapses

Environmental determinism has long been out of favor among historians and social scientists, although well into the 19th Century even the majority of Westerners were highly dependent on the climate and environment for their survival. Since the entire world economy was based on agriculture, a shortfall in harvests meant famines, epidemics and death for those who were at or below subsistence level. Such famines were a primary cause for the overthrow of the monarchy in France in 1789, for example, and they led to rebellions, riots and instability wherever they occurred. As late as the 1840s in Ireland, the great potato blight led to the death or immigration of half the population, and the near-destruction of Irish society. In the case of Easter Island, Norse Greenland and the Classic Maya civilization, climate change combined with deforestation and agricultural practices that destroyed the environment led to the total collapse…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Penguin Books, 2006).

Demarest Arthur A.. Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Fagan, Brian M. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History (Basic Books, 2000).

Gill, Richardson B. The Great Maya Droughts: Water, Life, and Death (University of New Mexico Press, 2000).

Gender and Identity

Perhaps the most important question facing any human, be they male or female, is that of the discovery of their own identity. The majority of child development theories, from Freud onward, have dealt with the way in which children must learn to disengage their own identity from that of their parents (mothers in particular) and discover who they are as adults. Yet this process is far from over when one reaches physical maturity, and one may even see many other psychological theories, from Maslow to the existentialists, as exploring the stages through which one continues to define one's true identity as distinct not only from one's parents but also from one's biological and social circumstances. It is somewhat ironic that the word identity which was originally used to note categories of same-ness and unity (Connell 2002) is now so vitally bound up with defining distinctness. At the…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bessant, J. And Watts, R. (1999) 'Sex and Gender in Australia' (Chapter 7) in J. Bessant and R. Watts (eds) Sociology Australia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, pp. 164-193

Connell, R.W. (2002) Gender, Oxford: Blackwell. (Chapters 1, 2 and 5).

Connell, R.W. (1995) 'The Social Organization of Masculinity' (Chapter 3) in R.W. Connell (ed) Masculinities, Sydney: Allen and Unwin. pp. 67-86.

Kidd, W. (2002) 'Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality' (Chapter 11) in W. Kidd (ed) Culture and Identity, New York: Palgrave. pp. 171-189.

Free ill" Exist and if so, to hat Extent does it Exist?

The concept of "Free ill" has been debated by many philosophers over a period of centuries, not only regarding its very existence but also regarding its elements, the extent to which it may or may not exist and its moral implications. Our assigned readings have merely touched on debates that have raged and will probably continue to rage as long as human beings contemplate the "truths" about being. Though an exhaustive review of differing philosophical treatments of "Free ill" would probably take hundreds of pages, this work will briefly examine several major philosophies of "Free ill" and some of their most notable proponents. In reviewing these sources and differing approaches to "Free ill," we can see that philosophers approach the concept of "Free ill" with differing definitions, examining disparate aspects and resulting in somewhat different implications for Morality.…

Works Cited

Chisholm, Roderick M. "Human Freedom and the Self." Eds. Perry, John, Michael Bratman and John Martin Fischer. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford, 2010. 392-99. Print.

Descartes, Rene, et al. Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Print.

Kant, Immanuel. "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals." Eds. Perry, John, Michael Bratman and John Martin Fischer. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford, 2010. 504-20. Print.

Libet, Benjamin. "Do We Have Free Will?" Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6 (8-9) (1999): 47-57. Print.

Empiricism is fundamentally the belief that all knowledge is eventually resultant from the senses and experience, and that all conceptions can be linked back to data from the senses. John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume are considered to be three of the most persuasive empiricists in philosophy. The key aspects that the philosophies of these three empiricists have are that knowledge develops from sensory experience. However, it is imperative to note that each of these three empiricists have their own views (Meyers, 2014).

To begin with, Locke repudiated the prospect of intrinsic ideas and that when an individual is born, his or her mind is blank. Therefore, Locke makes the argument that all notions come from experience and that devoid of such experience, reason does not have a benchmark for differentiating the truth from fallacy. In turn, Locke asserted that the foundation of all ideas stem from sensation and…

This approach can take the focus off of the child, and instead treats the child's environment as a way of holistically treating his or her condition. Also, if time and the nurse's relationship allows for the use of such an open-ended tool, a great deal of information can be yielded about the family system that cannot by other models.

orks Cited

Chen, J.L, C.H. Yeh, & C. Kennedy. (2007, Jun 22). eight status, self-competence, and coping strategies in Chinese children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 22.3:176-85.

Cochran, Jill. (2008). Empowerment in adolescent obesity: State of the science. Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care. 8. 1. Retrieved 19 Mar, 2009 at http://www.rno.org/journal/index.php/online-journal/article/viewFile/159/190

Cox, Cheryl L., Julia M. Cowell, Lucy N. Marion, & Elaine H. Miller. (2007, January 19). The Health Self-Determinism Index for Children. Research in Nursing and Health.

13. 4: 237-246. Retrieved March 18, 2009 at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/114079089/abstract

Skybo, Theresa…

Works Cited

Chen, J.L, C.H. Yeh, & C. Kennedy. (2007, Jun 22). Weight status, self-competence, and coping strategies in Chinese children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 22.3:176-85.

Cochran, Jill. (2008). Empowerment in adolescent obesity: State of the science. Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care. 8. 1. Retrieved 19 Mar, 2009 at  http://www.rno.org/journal/index.php/online-journal/article/viewFile/159/190 

Cox, Cheryl L., Julia M. Cowell, Lucy N. Marion, & Elaine H. Miller. (2007, January 19). The Health Self-Determinism Index for Children. Research in Nursing and Health.

13. 4: 237-246. Retrieved March 18, 2009 at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/114079089/abstract

Revolutions

Ogburn identifies four social revolutions that have occurred as the result of new technologies. The first was the move from the hunter-gathered model to pastoralism or horticulturalism, where people settled either to raise animals or to grow plants for food. Technologies for hunting or agriculture made such moves possible. As we were able to learn enough about food production to remain in one place for extended periods, we chose to do so.

The next step was the move to an agrarian society. Using both animals and machinery, we were able to make significant improvements in food production, not just for food but for other uses as well. This allowed for much greater population density, as well as excess production for winter months. The third social revolution was the development of the industrial society. Machinery that dramatically increased productivity brought about industrial society, which incorporated a stronger division of labor.…

Works Cited:

Boundless.com. (2007). The four social revolutions. Boundless.com. Retrieved April 13, 2013 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-social-change/sources-social-change/four-social-revolutions/

Boundless.com. (2007). Ogburn's theory. Boundless.com. Retrieve April 13, 2013 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-social-change/sources-social-change/ogburn-s-theory/

His career at school and university was undistinguished - his certificate mentioned his "inadequate grasp of philosophy." At Tubingen university he studied not philosophy but theology - and in a sense all his philosophy was essentially a theology, an exploration of the workings of the world-spirit which he identified with God."

He spent time as a family tutor and worked in Frankfurt and Berne. His work as a tutor gave him a lot of free time that he could devote to his private examination of the world and history. His private studies were not impeded by a hard or long houred job.

In 1801 he won his first university post at the University of Jena. After the Battle of Jena in 1806 when Napoleon defeated the Prussians, Hegel saw the emperor riding past."

He soke of this years later and said it had a huge and significant impact on his…

References

HISTORIAN LOOKS at HEGEL PHILOSOPHICALLY:

 http://dave.burrell.net/hegel.html 

CRITICAL EXAMINATION of HEGELIAN DIALECTIC, DETERMINISM, and CONTINGENCY

G.W.F. Hegel: Introduction to the Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1840 edition)

Emanuel Kant Philosophy

Kant on the nature of the mind

Kant insinuated that the intrinsic features of the mind are finally linked to the extrinsic stimuli of the surrounding or environment that it processes. What the mind tells a person or processes is what the surrounding has fed into it and not a noble never seen before phenomenon. He also adds that what the mind projects are only the images or the appearances and not the real things as they are in themselves. He backs his claims by indicating that time and space which are the master definers of all things that we see in real life, are two things that do not exists within the things that they define or describe but are a projection and making of our own sense. This is true since there is nothing to do with time in a car race that is scheduled…

Therefore, they are compelled to choose what they do in order to instantiate God's foreordainment of history. It wouldn't seem to make sense, therefore, for the person to attempt to change their circumstances or to fight against fate. Affliction, tragedy and evil would be just what God wishes to throw at an individual, who could scarcely escape its occurrence. This seems to suggest a response of futility toward life in which all is merely endured and passes almost robotically. At the same time, one might interpret it as comforting, for it eliminates the human's striving and desire to achieve something before the eyes of God. Or if God allows good to enter a life, this good is not deserved or merited, but is purely random. God's character would appear fickle, if not even unjust, for subjecting people to a predestined fate they cannot hope to change. Perhaps the main problem…

Bibliography

Ali, Afroz. Understanding Predestination and Free Will. Mt. Lewis, NSW: Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences and Human Development, 1426/2005.

Cohen-Mor, Dalya. A Matter of Fate: The Concept of Fate in the Arab World as Reflected in Modern Arabic Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Mahmood, Iftekhar. Islam Beyond Terrorists and Terrorism: Biography of the Most Influential Muslims in History. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2002.

Mahmoud, Mohamed a. Quest for Divinity: A Critical Examination of the Thought of Mahmud Muhammed Taha. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2007.

It is argued that teacher are exposed to role conflict, role ambiguity, lack of autonomy, social isolation and lack of self-fulfillment resulting from the special position in the schools bureaucratic system. Coupled with this is the general tendency for the teaching profession to be the least rewarded in the hierarchy of jobs.

The physical education teacher and burnout intersect at two different but related points. Firstly the notion that the teacher's reward is in heaven as some writers argue positions the teaching job as sacrificial for which adequate compensation is not given. The situation among physical education teacher has been exhausted in a lot of research because of specific peculiarities. Parsons (1968) has already discovered that the physical education teacher and the teaching profession's professionalism are highly questionable under the functional theory. Parsons who is the originator of this theory has been one of the forthright analysts of teachers and…

References

Akers RL. (1985) Adolescent marijuana use: A test of three theories of deviant behavior. Deviant Behavior, 6(4):323-346

Akers RL. (1989) Social learning theory and alcohol behavior among the elderly. Sociological Quarterly, 30(4):625-638

Akers RL. (1996) A longitudinal test of social learning theory: Adolescent smoking. Journal of Drug Issues, 26(2):317-343

Akers RL, Krohn MD, Lanza-Kaduce Lonn, and Rodosevich M. (1979) Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory. American Sociological Review, 44:636-655.

Jefferson's Principles and their Impact on Education

Jefferson's radical beliefs in the inherent moral and developmental capacities of humans, and in their capacities to take part to participatory democracy, in turn reinforced his enduring commitment to an education that would be accessible to all. Jefferson was well aware that democracy could only work properly when the people were both virtuous and enlightened.

From these notions that people were naturally virtuous but not naturally enlightened, but that enlightenment was necessary for democracy, it followed that the society had a vested interest in investing in education to provide enlightenment.

In a letter to the Welsh born philosopher Richard Price dated January 8, 1789, Jefferson observed that "wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their government."

uch well informed or enlightened people could be relied on, "whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice," to set…

Sources

Primary

Ford, W. Ed. Thomas Jefferson Correspondence. Boston, 1916.

Jefferson, T. The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Modern Library, 1993.

Public and Private Papers New York: Vintage Books/the Library of America, 1990.

It outlines those programs and benefits to be offered on campuses to help service international students more effectively. Japanese students are here identified. Since they speak English as second language, they have more stress, requiring more time to read their textbooks, receiving the abuse from students that are enrolled with them in classes or who are being taught by them when they serve as graduate assistants. This causes miscommunication and a loss of learning comprehension. The fact is that the native born student may feel resentment about being passed over for assignment to the teaching assistantship when it is given to the foreign born student. A series of programs is suggested to provide cultural sensitivity for the foreign student and then a staged program series to help the foreign student adapt (Lin, & Yi, 1997, 473-80).

Finally, the needs of students with special needs can not be ignored. Unfortunately, many…

References

Asherman, Ira, Bing, John W., & Laroche, Lionel. 2000. Building trust across cultural boundaries . [Obtained from]  http://www.itapintl.com/facultyandresources/articlelibrarymain/ 

Culture communication and language. [Obtained from] 11 August 2010 from  http://www.maec.org/cross/4.html 

Edmundson, Andrea. 2007. Globalized e-learning cultural challenges. Hershey:

Informaiton Science Publishing.

In his novels he focused on characters, motivations, and reactions to the forces around his characters. He realistically examined Spanish politics, economy, religion, and family through the eyes of the middle class, addressing the cruelty of human beings against each another in his novels Miau and Misericordia. Galdos was called the conscience of Spain for his realistic observations of society with all its ills. (Columbia 2005) His plays were less successful than his novels.

In 1907 he became deputy of the Republican Party in Madrid. He went blind in 1912, but overcoming this tragedy, he continued to dictate his books until his death. Other works translated into English are Tristana (tr. 1961) and Compassion (tr. 1962) Outside Spain his Novelas Espanolas Contemporaneas are the most popular. Perez Galdos was elected to the "Real Academia Espanola" Real Academia Espanola (Royal Spanish Academy) in 1897. A statue of him was raised in…

Works Cited

The Academy of American Poets" Poets.org. 1997-2007.  http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/348 .

Cole, Toby, (ed.). "Garc'a Lorca" in Playwrights on Playwrighting, 1961.

Hills, Elijah Clarence and Morley, S. Griswold, Modern Spanish Lyrics, New York: H. Holt, 1913.

Jehle, Fred F. Anthology of Spanish Poetry: A Collection of Spanish Poems, 1999. http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/poetry.htm.

Freud's Theory Of Repression

Freud is popularly known as the father of psychoanalysis and the idea of psychological repression of memories and urges, even though he was neither the first psychoanalyst or even the first to posit the existence of repression. His justifiable fame comes both from the way he popularized psychoanalysis, and from his further development of its theories. He is commonly attributed with creating the theory of the conscious and subconscious, of the many sexual complexes and drives which run our lives and our subconscious, and with the idea that things which are not socially acceptable will be hidden away within the subconscious. Freud called this process of burying the unacceptable aspects of life away into the subconscious regression, which he was to eventually succinctly defined thus: "the essence of repression lies simply in the function of rejecting and keeping something out of consciousness." (Rieff, 147) It is…

Bibliography." August 8, 2004.  http://www.usd.edu/~tgannon/jungbio.html 

Matson, Floyd. "Humanistic theory: the third revolution in psychology" The Humanist, March/April 1971. August 8,. 2004 http://web.isp.cz/jcrane/IB/Humcrit.html

Slater, Lauren. "Why Is Repression Possibly Better Than Your Therapist?" New York Times, 23 Feb 2003. August 8, 2004.  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/magazine/23REPRESSION.htm 

Rieff, P. (Ed.) Freud: General Psychological Theory. New York: Collier, 1963

Webster, Richard. Excerpts from Why Freud was Wrong: Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis (1995). August 8, 2004.  http://www.richardwebster.com

Plato and Socrates -- Human Soul

There are a number of philosophical tenets that have been the subject of intense scrutiny since humans coalesced into formal societies. ho are we as a species? here do we fit in with the universe? hat is morality? Do the ends justify the means? Moreover, most of all, why are we here and are we free to act as individuals toward greater good? Free will, for instance, or the idea of that human's make choices unconstrained, has been contested even as a concept. The paradigm that humans may make rational choices and that life is not predetermined from "divine" beings allows one to look at a number of philosophical constructs that are on a continuum between the idea that determinism is false and that of hard determinism, or the idea that determinism is true and free will completely impossible forms the crux of a…

Works Cited

Baird, F. And W. Kaufman. From Plato to Derrida. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

Huard, R. Plato's Political Philosophy. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

MacIntyre, A. A Short History of Ethics, Routledge, New York and London, 2006. Print.

Plato. "The Republic." June 2009. classics.mit.edu. Ed. B. Jowett. Web. May 2013. .

Technology Changes in Work and Education

With the onset of globalization four decades ago, there have been rapid changes in all the sectors that drive the society in a significant manner. The transportation, politics, human interaction, governance, trade and investment trends all changed significantly. However, in the interest and scope of this paper, the most profound technological change that has been experienced in the education and work environment is the shift in communication trends from the traditional mail system to the online-based communication. The online mode that is currently driving the work and education sectors is the video conferencing, which will form the basis of discussion herein.

Video conferencing is a communication mode that is supported on the internet platform and involves use of various telecommunication technologies to enable two or more different locations in whichever part of the globe to simultaneously communicate through voice and video in a two…

References

BBC, (2014). Changing Work Patterns. Retrieved April 3, 2015 from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/implications/2workpatternsrev6.shtml 

Bower J., (2011). 4 Ways Video Conferencing Can Benefit Small Businesses. Retrieved April 3, 2015 from  http://mashable.com/2011/06/02/online-meetings-small-biz/ 

Bruce Bimber (1990). Karl Marx and the Three faces of Technological Determinism. Retrieved April 3, 2015 from  http://web.mit.edu/sts/pubs/pdfs/MIT_STS_WorkingPaper_11_Bimber_2.pdf

Free and Forced Actions Analyzing an Argument

In the article, Is Determinism inconsistent with free will? Walter Stace argues that every action or event is caused; however, whereas free actions are caused by the doer's internal psychological state, forced ones are caused by forces external to the user. This text evaluates the validity of the author's argument in the short story, 'Shooting an Elephant' based on Stace's definition of free and forced actions.

Free and Forced Actions

Stace's Definition of Free and Forced Actions

In the article, Is Determinism inconsistent with free will?', Walter Terrence Stace puts forth an argument for determinism, arguing that it is consistent/compatible with free will. He is of the view that free will exists and every event in the world is caused (Colorado University, n.d.). He illustrates the compatibility of these two views by giving his own definition of what exactly constitutes free will. Stace…

References

Baxter, T. (2004). Frederick Douglass' Curious Audiences: Ethos in the Age of the Consumable Subject. New York, NY: Routledge.

Bulman, C. (2007). Creative Writing: A Guide and Glossary to Fiction Writing. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Colorado University. (n.d.). Precis: W. T. Stace's Compatibilism. Colorado University. Retrieved September 17, 2015 from  http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/robertsm/student_precis3.htm 

Lockhart, J. (2010). How to Market your School: A Guide to Marketing, Communication and Public Relations. Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

147).

Therefore, the therapist and counselor should be aware of the subjective view or interpretation of reality of the patient. This has important implications in many fields; for example, in education. Using Adler's theory, "…apparent under-achievement in school is to be understood more in terms of the student subjective interpretations than in terms of standardized test results" (Dunn, 1971, p. 8). This also relates to Adler's emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual. For example he states that, "I have found that each individual has a different meaning of, and attitude toward, what constitutes success. Therefore, a human being cannot be typified or classified ( Adler, 1964, p. 68). This is a crucial aspect of his theoretical stance and the refusal to categorize human beings leads to an open-ended view of personality.

Holism is a concept that has a particularly significant place in the overall meaning of Adlerian theory. This…

References

Adler a. ( 1964) Superiority and social interest: A Collection of Later Writings. New York: Basic Books.

Dunn, a. (1971) an Introduction to Adlerian Psychology for the School Counselor.

Annual Convention of the Canadian Guidance and Counseling Association, Toronto, Canada.

Ewen Robert B. An Introduction to Theories of Personality. 5th ed. Mahwah, NJ:

And the freedom in question is the most harmless of all-namely, to make public use of one's reason in all matters" (Clarke 1997, 53). This added to classical liberalism's support of the freedom of speech and of the press. This all played a part in Kant's desire to apply reason to practical life. In The Conflict of the Faculties, he wrote in defense of the openness of the university as "an institution that exists to serve governments…and [bring about] enlightening ends" (Clarke 1997, 53-54). Thus once knowledge was separated from values, it could be harnessed to serve the human project. One area where Kant had an impact beyond philosophy has been in international relations theory. "According to the classical view of international politics, the international sphere is composed of sovereign states and characterized by anarchy" (Bartelson 1995, 257). People have order in their native land but see the rest of…

Works Cited

Ames, Edward Scribner. "The Religion of Immanuel Kant." The Journal of Religion 5:2

(1925): 172-177.

Bartelson, Kens. "The Trial of Judgment: A note on Kant and the Paradoxes of Internationalism." International Studies Quarterly 39:2 (1995): 255-279.

Clark, Michael. "Kant's Rhetoric of Enlightenment." The Review of Politics 59:1 (1997):

Some jobs will require that a person continue his college education and some will require learning that can take place on the job in order to acquire the needed skills.

on-the-job training can take place in several forms. An outside training firm can be brought in to the company to hold seminars on a relevant topic for the employees. In this environment, the social nature of learning could be one of camaraderie or competitiveness among the adult employees. The adult employee wanted to get ahead may try to excel and outperform his coworkers to increase his chances of advancing. On the other hand, the environment could be more of a friendly social nature while everyone is learning. They may be asked to work in groups, much like in a college classroom setting. This will allow them to collaborate and perhaps learn about new skills they can acquire from their coworkers.…

References

Cameron, David. (2010). Adult learning and the way it inspires people is crucially important. Adults Learning, 21(9), 16-17.

 http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html  (Accessed on June 22, 2010).

 http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/bandura.html  (Accessed on June 22, 2010).

Schmidt, Laurel. (2008). How we don't learn. Leadership, 38(2), 10-14.

One area that was missed in the literature was the effectiveness of various intervention strategies in reducing stress in families with persons with disabilities. It is not known what interventions have been tried and which ones were most effective in helping families to build coping mechanisms and reduce stress. This is the obvious next step into developing a thorough understanding of the topic area.

This literature review revealed several key trends into research regarding families and cognitive impairment. This area continues to be an area of interest. However, the focus seems to be shifting from a psychological perspective into a sociological based approach. There is much more interest in recent years regarding the issues of cognitive disability and its impact on society at large. In the area of persons with cognitive disability, having families of their own, politics will play a factor in the direction of research in the future.…

References

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., & Haritou., M. et al. (2005). Identifying factors contributing to child and family outcome 30 months after traumatic brain injury in children. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 76(3):401-408,

Family Village. (2006). Cognitive Disability/Mental Retardation. Retrieved April 9, 2009 from http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/lib_cdmr.htm

Feldman, M., Varghese, J., Ramsay, J., & Rajska, D. (2002). Relationships between social

support, stress, and mother-child interactions in mothers with intellectual disabilities.

VI. DURKHEIM'S ANOMIE

Another theory in criminology is known as 'Durkheim's Anomie' which was conceived by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist who first introduced the anomie in the work entitled: "The Division of Labor in Society" in which the anomie was utilized in provides a description of a "condition of deregulation that was occurring in society." (Criminological Theory, 2001) This anomie was used to describe how that the mores' of behavior in society was unclear and due to this breakdown in a code of proper social behavior resulting was the 'anomie' or the failure to know what to expect between individuals. It was posited by Durkheim that: "...societies evolved form a simple, nonspecialized form, called 'mechanical' toward a highly complex, specialized form, called 'organic. In the former society people behave and think alike and more or less perform the same work tasks and have the same group-oriented goals. When societies…

Bibliography

Demelo, Diane (2008) Criminological Theory. Online available at  http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/Diane_Demelo/diane.pdf 

Perkins, Douglas D.; Hughey, Joseph and Speer, Paul W. (2002) Community Psychology Perspectives on Social Capital Theory and Community Practice. Journal of the Community Development Society. Vol. 33 No. 1. Online available at http://www.people.vanderbilt.edu/~douglas.d.perkins/JCDS.02.pdf

Cowling Mark (2006) Postmodern Policies? The Erratic Interventions of Constitutive Criminology. Internet Journal of Criminology. 2006. Online available at  http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Cowling%20-%20Postmodern%20Policies.pdf 

Aim of Criminology