The employment relationship is an exchange relationship between labour Essay

The employment relationship is an exchange relationship between labour and capital that tends to be unequal - Essay Example The employees possess an abiding interest to ensure the success and the viability of the firm while guarding against the excessive demands placed upon them. The three recognized characteristics of employment relationships are indeterminacy, unequal and dynamic. Indeterminacy focuses on the logic that a labour contract involves the exchange of money for the capacity to deliver the service required by the purchaser and not material goods and services. This implies that those employers wishing to secure the value of the purchased labour must ensure willingness on the part of the employees (Edwards 2003, p. 14). They force the employees strain to achieve the required standards even if they are not willing. The second aspect on employment relationships is that they are unequal. This is because many workers have no choice other than engaging in paid work; their choice for potential employers is limited. On the other hand, the employers have considerable resources that give them power to re place the unwilling employees with other workers or adoption of a more reliable technology. Although the employee influence varies overtime and between contexts, the overall employment relationship is characterized by subjugation of the employee to the employer. Finally, the employment relationship can be dynamic whereby it can be driven by both conflict and cooperation at different degrees. Many managerial strategies are characterized by deployment and management of workers to maximize production and generate surplus (Edwards 2003, pp. 16-17). Some of these challenges are minimized through the adoption of employment contract. An employment contract is a largely a relational and less formal. Relational contract is... The employment relationship is characterized by power imbalance, which is why the concept cannot materialize without the employment contract. In the labor contract, the worker trades his or her ability to accomplish an assigned task, which should be translated into actual labour in the course of undertaking it. Expectations on performance standards are portrayed during the production stage. The indeterminacy nature of employment relationships makes the employees to be coerced in most situations other than undertaking self motivated tasks and responsibilities. The unequal nature of employment relationships leaves the employees with no choice but to engage in obligations for payment; not willingness. The deterioration in the power imbalance in employment relationships is portrayed by the existence of trade and employer unions purposely formed to solve the inevitable disputes. This suggests that formal contracts are the only remedy through which fairness can be ensured in such relations hips.

Children’s Technology Usage Essay Example for Free

Children’s Technology Usage Essay When was the last time you truly spent time with your child? When was the last time your child ACTUALLY talked to you? Most parents honestly can’t answer that question or have to really think about it. Children nowadays depend on technology to get them through their lives. Spending too much time glued to technology causes kids to have no human interaction skills, it exposes them to inappropriate content and most importantly it poses serious health risks. As parents it is their responsibility to put restrictions on the technology their children are using. Children who are constantly communicating via technology are losing vital human interaction skills. Vincent Nichols once stated; â€Å"Were losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a persons mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point. Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanizes what is a very, very important part of community life and living together†. (Vincent Nichols. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com). This quote is a great summary of the future of our children. Do they know how to hold an actual conversation, how to present themselves, how to read body language? When texting you can’t tell someone’s tone of voice and you don’t have to deal with confrontation. How will children attend job interviews if they don’t know how to interact with people in person? These are the fears that every parent should have for their child. Not to mention that there is a complete absence of family time. Families now are not nearly as close as they have been in past generations. Children will lose the ability to express their feelings, they will not be comfortable talking about problems with their parents and siblings will not be as close. Limiting the amount of time that children spend with technology and enforcing technology free times will help promote family time and interaction with people. To add to the lack of human interaction skills, the amount of inappropriate con tent that can be accessed by children is endless. Parents are aware of what images there are on the internet and how easy it is to access them. Children have rather curious minds and the information they could attempt to access is endless. Most times they don’t even have to search inappropriate content; it is right in front of them through  commercials, pop up ads and friends. Everything from sexual content, to body image, to drugs and alcohol, and even to violence is out there for them to access. Putting restricts on what children search, watch and download will help limit their exposure to such content. Having access to these types of content at such young ages will cause serious health risks now and later in life. Putting restrictions on what children can view is simple to do. Most cable companies, phone providers and internet providers have guidelines and support to help parents place restrictions on what their children can search and watch. Finally, excess time spent using technology can lead to serious health risks. Often obesity is the only risk that people associate with too much time spent on technology such as video games, TV, and cell phones. However, the health risks go far beyond obesity. While it is true that too much screen time is known to decrease the amount of physical activity a child partakes in it is not the only risk. Young girls who are already self conscious of their looks can find entire internet societies that brainwash them into thinking they need to be a picture perfect twig and teach them how to become one through anorexia and bulimia. Also, dependency on technology and always being in the now causes sleep disorders, stress and anxiety. Lack of sleep can cause mood disorders and the affects of stress and anxiety in young children can carry with them into their teenage and adult years making it more difficult to recover from. Drugs and alcohol and often glorified and young teens think that they need to do them to be cool causing addiction, overdose, and even death. Making sure that their children are healthy and safe should be a parent’s main concern. Placing restrictions on technology will help ensure that their children stay alive. As parents it is their responsibility to put restrictions on the technology their children are using. What kind of future do parents want for their children? Parents now are already at a disadvantage of raising their children in an era full of technology. They have their work cut out for them to make sure that their children are not dependent on technology and that they learn human interaction skills. Keeping their children protected from the inappropriate content and ensuring that their children do not suffer from mental and physical health problems as a result of technology should be every parent’s priority. Every parent should be placing restrictions on when and what their children are using technology for. References: Vincent Nichols. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vincentnic532641.html

The Qualitative Or Quantitative Processes Psychology Essay

The Qualitative Or Quantitative Processes Psychology Essay Development on the whole is a complex teleological concept; it constitutes a direction and an end it involves various stages and is certainly not as simple as it seems. The view of development is used to provide meaning and order to changes that occur over time in childrens development. Development involves biological, emotional and psychological changes that take place in humans between the period of birth and towards the end of adolescence, as they progress from dependency to autonomy. During prenatal stage, developmental changes are strongly influenced by genetic factors and other events. There are various different concepts embedded in the view of development that, upon watching it closely does not seem so obvious. The idea of development is clear but the directions, mechanisms and ends of development are not so obvious. The aim of this essay is to discuss a controversial issue in developmental science enflamed by nativists, that is whether it is qualitative or quantitative proce sses that assist us in different developmental aspects. With the perspective of dynamical systems theory this essay defends qualitative change by briefly discussing dynamical systems theory briefly due to word count limit provided for this essay. This essay also shows that qualitative and quantitative changes should not be considered in opposition as they are aligned phenomenons that they very much work hand in hand across different time scales and play a fundamental role in developmental processes. Qualitative change refers to when individuals progress in developmental stages results in them becoming different than how they were earlier or continuous gradual accumulation of small changes e.g. the way children behave, think and perceive the world in a different manner as they mature or after acquiring language children look at the world in a completely different manner, as now he/she is able to give names and now have the ability to think about abstract objects that do not have concrete reality. Whereas quantitative change occurs as a result of continuous acquisition of novel information and experiences. Children grow physically stronger and bigger and acquire sophisticated knowledge for instance a child who after being two years old has grown few inches and has gained 12 pounds, so growth in weight and height indicates quantative differences. Essentially big sudden changes in development, as simple as they seem are actually result of a accumulation of gradual various miniature changes, that are even hard to notice sometimes for instance it might seem that children start walking suddenly, but is a result of rather series of small changes in development which involves steady growth and strengthening of muscles that can assist the child to lift the body weight. Child development shows a mixture of both types of qualitative and quantitative changes in processes and they are equally important. Children advances in cognitive abilities in terms of processing of information, younger children are unable to hold a number of objects in their memory in compare to older children (quantitative change). The memory of older children is qualitatively different as they are capable of using various strategies e.g. organization of information and practice to improve the number of information they can hold in their memory but younger children do not use these strategies (quantitative change) as they are not aware of them. Between 4 and 10 months in children, qualitative change shows how categories are learned and represented possibly because of the onset of language emergence in children. The idea of transformational change and continuity in development has been popular points of controversy in the history of science. In the past two decades growing number of theories claimed of continuity amongst infants and older children abilities. Most of these theories come from nativist tradition, by showing infants amazing abilities and their seeming association to forms of cognition (e.g. Meltzoff Moore, 1977; Wynn 1992). Kagan (2008) claims that theories of continuity are exaggerated e.g childrens capability to use complex semantic networks are qualitatively different from infants ability to form perceptual schemata in looking tasks. The empirical evidence of childrens competence is on insignificant grounds as empirical record is based on single measure of infants performance which was the final looking time and is influenced by a lot of factors and has been overlooked in the past by psychologists and researchers interested in revealing early competence in children. This essay uses an example of development of dynamical systems view, theoretical framework in order to understand the two important issues of whether development occurs through qualitative or quantitative processes. The aim is to define qualitative development from a dynamical systems view. I argue that qualitative changes in structural organization of behaviour happens at the time scale of behaviour the second to second time scale of thoughts, actions, emotions. This idea states that the changes that occur over development and learning is due to qualitatively different behavioural states and depends upon the stability and infants or childs flexible shifting from one state to the other state. Dynamical systems theory was introduced to developmental science by Thelen and Smith (1994) with the publication of (A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action). During the past two decades concepts of Dynamical systems theory has been applied to various phenomenas for example motor development (Corbetta Thelen, 1996), socio emotional development (Lewis Lamey Douglas, 1999), cognitive development (Spencer et al; 2007). DST determines that development is a non linear process (Thelen 1989), which states that movement in children is not developed in a continuous steady rate and in a continuous manner, but it goes through lots of changes in a sub system which eventually results in the whole system to be able to shift and consequently results in a novel motor behaviour (Smith Thelen 1993). What does qualitative mean? For various developmental researchers the term qualitative refers to transformational change which is creating something novel that is not associated to something old for instance caterpillars transforms in to a butterfly from a cocoon, what goes in to the cocoon does not really similar to what comes out. Is that a qualitative change? Is it not obvious that there has to be some biological connection between the caterpillar and the butterfly? Is it the transformation or continuity as well as discontinuity or could it be that perceptual schemata might be connected to the appearance of the initial semantic network? In the past abrupt and transformational changes were thought to show qualitative rearrangements in development but when examined at finer levels of detail they tend to be more continuous. (Adolph, Robinson, Young, Gill- Alvarez, in press; Siegler, 1994; Siegler, 1996). DST defines qualitative frame work in a precise manner showing evidence of identification of qualitative change process, and the connection between qualitative and continuous changes. The qualitative transformation with regards to DST takes place when a system shifts from one attractor condition via stability to another attractor condition. Dynamical systems are defined as mathematically modelled systems that use equations which show the rate of change of one system of variable at each moment in time. If the current state of the system and its direction of change which is how fast the system is moving along in a line assists us to use the current state, add the amount of change and then it is possible to predict where the system will be at the next point over time. Successful completion of this process can lead to the possibility of us to learn in detail the development of a child and to predict each step along the way. The issue is that dynamical developmental systems are really complex. We are unable to understand all the details of a complex system, so we have to go for something simple. We have to learn how the system acts around certain specific points known as attractors, which enable the system to gravitate over time. The complication is that these attractors have the capability to change themselves. When a qualitative transition takes place in a dynamical system it shifts from being in the local territory of one attractor to losing that attractor and gravitating toward a new one. The question stands is that how do we learn when one attractor becomes unstable and other one appears this process is known as bifurcation review Braun, (1994). There are three important critical points to be considered. First one is that qualitative change in DST is dependent on the change in the attractor states of the system which is a shift from state of stability through instability in to a different attractor state. Second one is that just by observing the system behave in time cannot explain the processes involved in the system, thirdly there is an important association between continuity and qualitative change within DST. Qualitative changes arise from continuous changes in various aspects of the system e.g. when a neural system is moved through a small change in self excitation from a perceptual state to working memory state. Changes in the dynamics of system are often seen as shifting of attractor wells. Various categories of action appear as infants shift from reaching to crawling to walking and so forth. At specific time in development the collection of wells grasps potential actions. And the depth of different wells grasps the stability of the specific action type. Table no 1 shows various developmental theories and their position with regards to qualitative vs. quantitative changes controversies, (Berk, 2003; McDevitt Ormrod, 2004). DST states that infants can self assemble, novel motor attributes in new situations. It also states that development occurs in individual children solving unique issues in their own ways. Thelen suggests that every child is different with regards to their body, their experiences and nervous system. It is impossible to predict the course of development. The research carries on. Conclusion: This essay discussed whether it is qualitative or quantitative changes that assist developmental processes in human beings. Child development involves both qualitative and quantitative growth processes and the emergence of differentiation capabilities over time. The challenge of dynamical systems is to learn and understand development, how qualitatively novel attractors appear in real time and how they become stable and accessible to promote development. This essay defends qualitative shifts as they play such a vital role as to what emerges over development is all about. The important thing is that qualitative and quantitave (continuous, gradual) shifts or changes should not be held in opposition. The view of qualitative and quantitative changes should go hand in hand. DST provides defence of qualitative development, a frame work to understand the connection amongst qualitative and quantitative development and pushes our learning and understanding of development towards l ocal time scale where continuity and appearance go hand in hand in order to produce novel things from something that is old. Table 1: Seven developmental theories and their position with regards to qualitative vs. quantitative changes controversies, (Berk, 2003; McDevitt Ormrod, 2004) Theory Nature vs. Nurture Qualitative vs. Quantitative Social Learning Interaction of nature and nurture Quantitative Biological Maturational Nature Quantitative and qualitative Ecological Interaction of nature and nurture Quantitative Psychosocial Interaction of nature and nurture Qualitative Cognitive Developmental Interaction of nature and nurture Qualitative Behaviorist Nurture Quantitative Sociocultural Interaction of nature and nurture, with more emphasis on nurture Quantitative

Reflection in Living, Loving, And Learning by Leo Buscaglia Essay

Living, Loving, and Learning: Buscaglia Reflection While reading Leo Buscaglia's book, Living, Loving & Learning, I was able to reflect back on some of the experiences I have had in my life that have helped to make me the person I am today, and I was able to look into the future at what I would like to become. I was able to see how well I know myself and what I have to offer others. I was able to see the things I don't like about myself and determine some of the ways I can make myself better. This is some of what reflecting on my life and looking ahead while reading Buscaglia has taught me. A. "You Cannot give to anybody what you do not have." I went to Juab High School in the small town of Nephi, Utah. Like many other small town high schools, football coaches and P.E. teachers doubled as Algebra teachers and Science teachers. This allowed our school to make full use of the limited teachers and resources that it had. There was a lot of talented people that taught at Juab and some of them made great teachers and coaches, but some of them didn't. Sometimes it ended up that the football coach/algebra teacher cared a little more about tomorrow's football game than he did about ensuring his algebra students knew how to balance equations, and sometimes the P.E./Science teacher cared a little more about the teaching the tennis unit than she did about teaching the four life processes. Those teachers were also the ones that had to relearn the algebra and science lessons a few days before they taught them to us, because on paper they were qualified to do the job, but as far as knowing the material and having an interest in what they were trying to give to us, nothing was there. Have you ever tried to get someone excited about a subject that you knew nothing about? Have you ever had a math teacher that sent you across the hall to get help from someone else because he didn't understand what he was trying to teach you? It can be pretty hard sometimes to get excited about something if your teacher doesn't get excited about it. These teachers tried to give us something that they didn't have. When I was in middle school I had another teacher that tried to give us what she didn't have. She was the health teacher, but because of some addictions to drugs, she really wasn't very healthy. It was sad, because she taught us from the book t... ...t a fantastic one." (Buscaglia 83) I chose this quote from the writings of Buscaglia because it ties up all of his ideas into one little bundle. If you were to give someone a gift and then watched them neglect it, abuse it, or destroy it, your feelings would be hurt and you would be pretty upset. But if you were able to see them show it off to their friends, love it, and take care of it, you would feel like that person appreciated the gift and it would be almost like a gift to you. Upon reading this quote is where I took the opportunity to look into the future. The gift that God gave me is a wonderful one. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing my life as being wonderful because I make so many mistakes. But life is wonderful because life is about making mistakes. It is what we do with them that is important. I know that God always sees me as being wonderful. God loves me. He gave me life. God wants me, and every other person, to become the very best that we can be, and then to become even better. He wants us to nurture life, to love life, and to live it. Let's do our best. Works Cited Buscaglia, Leo. Living, Loving, Learning. Ballantine Books (1985).

Geography and the Development of Human Civilization Essay

A. Without argument, the most significant geographic or environmental factor of Ancient Egypt to shape early civilization is the Nile River. The Nile has been referred to as life’s blood for the Egyptian civilization. (Fassbender, 2008). To begin understanding how the Nile River was the greatest factor, one must understand a few facts about the River itself. It starts from two separate sourcesÍ ¾ first the lakes of central Africa, called the White Nile, and second the Blue NileÍ ¾ that comes from the mountains of Ethiopia. The Blue Nile and the White Nile come together and flow northward to the Nile delta, starting the 4,000 mile length of the life blood of EgyptÍ ¾ finally spilling into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian climate does not offer much in rainfall, averaging less than 2 inches per year in some areas and non existent in other areas. The early human civilizations were able to farm near the banks of the Nile River with much success compared to the outlying harsh climates of the Sahara and Arabian deserts on both sides of Egypt. Each summer the Nile River would swell as the rain fell and the snow melted in the mountains. Overflowing its banks and lightly flooding the land with fresh water and thick rich deposits of alluvial soil created a land that could â€Å"yield two harvests before winter† (Kreis, 2006)Í ¾ creating an ideal location for early human civilizations to settle and prosper. This flooding of the Nile River did more than create agriculture wealth for the early Egyptians, it also helped create some very early inventions such as the calendarÍ ¾ (Keita, n.d.) created from the expected annual nature of the floods, the end of the second harvest and the 2 winters. The Nile River also gave the people a sense of direction, creating the north, south , east and west concepts we now use. The flow of the Nile is basically south to north and the daily rising and falling of the sun from east to west created a concrete sense of direction for the Egyptians. (Fassbender, 2008). Egypt offered easy access to most of the resources it needed for survival and success which guaranteed the development of a large population. The promise of a harvest climate, new inventions, security of the deserts on both sides, transportation provided by the river into the sea, the Nile River was the greatest factor creating early civilization for Ancient Egypt. B. Tea is the most popular drink in the world, second only to waterÍ ¾ got it’s start in China as nothing more than a mere accident and has since traveled the world, started wars, and created millions of dollars for governments and plantation owners. The origin of tea dates back â€Å"around 4,000 years ago† ( History & Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). According to legend â€Å"the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong discovered tea in 2737 BC while he was boiling water in the shade of a tree† †¦ when a â€Å"light breeze caused some leaves to fall into the water† (Origins of Tea, 2012). The emperor tasted it and thought it was delicious, and so began the tea adventure. At that time, tea was bitter and mostly used for it’s health properties as a medicine for problems such as eyesight and stomach issues. At the end of the fifth century, tea was traded and exported with Mongolian and Turkish merchants. By the eighth century it was exported to far regions like Japan, Central Asia and Tibet. Tea began to spread further west with other foreign traders, missionaries, and ambassadors that were given samples and gifts of it to try and take home for others to try. The first agreement to export and trade tea was between China and 3 Russia. In the mid 1850’s, Chinese immigrants heading to Taiwan would bring tea seedlings, tea growing and processing skills and the tea culture with them. In the seventeenth century, green tea was exported into Europe and was mostly used as a medicinal drink due to the bitter taste and the health properties it offered. The Dutch started to buy tea in Japan and China and then shipped it and sold it in France, Germany, and England. The Dutch also introduced tea to New Amsterdam in the 1650’s. During this time tea was usually only for the very wealthy because it was so expensive, until the 1750’s when it became a more modern drink with more av ailability for larger groups of people. (Saberi, 2010), (Origins of Tea, 2012), and ( History & Future  ­ When did people start having tea?, n.d.). In the eighteenth century tea became popular in countries like North America and EuropeÍ ¾ however, China was the only country selling tea to other countries. China’s tea business was soaring until India stepped into the tea business. When the British started ruling India, they found some tea plants in Assam (found in the North Eastern area of India) and decided that these tea plants had a sweeter taste. Tea plantations started growing in Assam, then Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), Sumatra, Java and Formosa. It was discovered that the plants in China grew 5 meters shorter in height than those in IndiaÍ ¾ so the tea business naturally shifted there. This was very good for the British because their demand for the drink was huge, creating a huge deficit for them with China. The British government now had the surplus of tea, from the plantations in India (and the areas around there) and the trade agreements with China. The British now sold to other countries, like North America  ­ only they levied a sales tax on the tea leaves that they couldn’t sale anywhere else and try to sale to the new American coloniesÍ ¾ this was faced with a fierce resistance  ­ known as the â€Å"Boston Tea Party†. (The Spread of Tea from 4 China, 2012). Tea was first created with a leaf in boiling water, then it was dried and steeped, then as the drink was being traded and sold  ­ tea leaves and buds were dried, pressed and packaged for shipping, including bricks of dried, crushed tea leaves. Each time the seedlings were taken to a new climate or country, new flavors were established and new ways of serving the drink were created. For instance, â€Å"the Chinese sip it from tiny cups, the Japanese whisk it. In America they serve it iced. The Tibetans add butter. The Russians serve with lemon. Mint is added in North Africa. Afghans flavour it with cardamom. The Irish and the British drink it by the gallon with milk and sugar. The Indians boil it with condensed milk. In Australia it is brewed in a ‘billy’ can† (Saberi, 2010). The diffusion of tea may have started as a bitter, medicinal emperor’s drink, yet it has traveled the world, been raised or farmed in multiple corners of the globe, transformed from a drink for the wealthy to a world ­wide drink of choice for all classes and races  ­ from bitter to sweet, from medicinal to being a part of the social sceneÍ ¾ including having restaurants, tea rooms, and clubs created just for the enjoyment of those that want a cup of the world’s most popular drink†¦Tea. C1. One of the environmental factors that contributed to the expansion of the United States was the devastating Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Dust Bowl, also referred to as the â€Å"dirty thirties†, â€Å"Black Roller† or the â€Å"Black Blizzard†, (Buonanduci, 2009 and Baumhardt, 2003) happened when a severe drought in 1930 to 1936 (to 1940 in some areas) caused extreme dust storms over the prairie lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and the border areas of Colorado and New Mexico. When the dust storms hit, visibility was reduced to a few feet or less and millions of farmland became uselessÍ ¾ the storms caused major ecological and agricultural damage to over 5 100,000,000 acres of farmland (Buonanduci, 2009). In addition to a severe drought, the people had over farmed without needed crop rotation or other farming techniques to prevent erosion which then created the inevitable wide ­spread disaster. This coupled with the Great Depression left the government without a lot of options to help the people of the prairie lands who were suffering from extraordinary financial difficulties. In a span of about five years over 500,000 Americans were forced to flee the area. About half of those people headed west to California where many settled into farming the Central Valley and Los Angeles areas. (Simkin, 1997). In response to the devastation of the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office (in 1933), were spent creating government programs designed to â€Å"restore the ecological balance by encouraging diversified agricultural crop production using tested practices and improved tools† (Baumhardt, 2003) The Dust Bowl created expansion of the U.S. when hundreds of thousands moved west to California bringing the lessons learned from farming successes and failures with themÍ ¾ it also contributed to the development of the U.S. as the entire country took the essential agricultural lessons learned and established programs to ensure the same mistakes would not be repeated again. C2. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845  ­ 1849 also cont ributed to the development and expansion of the United States because of the â€Å"nearly a million Irish† that arrived in the United States (Gavin, 2000). The large number of people helped literally develop our county through the blood, sweat, and tears that hard work and desire brings to those making a home of peace and happiness for their families. In the early 17th century, the Irish were quite dependent on food exported from other 6 countries  ­ mainly the potato from America. However, by the 19th century about a third of Ireland was dedicated to potato farming, â€Å"turning this into Ireland’s primary crop†¦the potato supported massive population expansion within Ireland. Within that time, the population doubled from four million to eight million citizens† (Hawkes, 2012). The first report of the potato blight was recorded on August 20, 1845, and by October one ­third of the potato crop was lost to the blight. At first there was still enough food for the Irish people despite the potato blight, the problem for most of those who had the diseased crops was the fact that they didn’t have enough money to b uy other food. The blight reduced the Irish potato harvest by about 30%. This drastic loss caused many farmers to eat the potato seedlings that they were going to plant in the upcoming year. Now the starving people resorted to slaughtering their pigs and cows to keep from starving through the harsh winter, they also knew they wouldn’t have food to feed their starving their animals. The situation in Ireland became grim, by this time the blight wasn’t spreading any longer, but the farmers weren’t planting or harvesting enough potatoes to have enough food to feed the people of their country. Lasting about six years, the Irish Potato Famine had killed over a million people from a combination of starvation and diseaseÍ ¾ causing another million people to migrate to the United States (Smith, 2011), (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants came to America to escape the certain death that they faced there, and for a promised future of the American dreamÍ ¾ however, it was not a welcoming place for many, instead it was a brutally hard, unkind and unwelcoming place for many. Boston might have been the hardest and most cruel place for those comi ng from Ireland, but New York wasn’t that much easier in the end. One of the turning points for the unwelcomed Irish people was the Civil WarÍ ¾ â€Å"over 140,000 enlisted in the Union Army, while those in the South enrolled in the 7 Confederate ranks† (Gavin, 2000) and (Hawkes, 2012). The Irish immigrants provided many laborers needed for the backbreaking work that was needed for the American expansion that was happening at that time. The immigrants saw this move to America as permanent and â€Å"brought over several hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants during the following decades† (Smith, 2011). Politically the Irish now had the numbers to influence votes, welcome at first or not, the Irish people could no longer be ignored. The Potato Famine started as a deadly killer in Ireland, turning into a large exodus of people immigrating to the United StatesÍ ¾ changing the face of the American laborers and changing who was running and winning political offices. The Anti ­Irish sentiment would be quieted at last when an Irish Potato Famine immigrant’s descendant was elected President of the United States  ­ President John F. Kennedy was that person. â€Å"He is the great ­grandson of Patrick Kennedy, a farmer from County Wexford who had left I reland in 1849† (Gavin, 2000). The Irish are considered the first large group of poor refugees to come to the United States and they paved the way for all the many refugees and immigrants that would follow their footsteps. Today, after years of hard work to overcome numerous amount of obstacles to find freedom, peace and happiness  ­ Americans of Irish descent are the third largest ethnic group in the country. Unfortunately, Ireland stayed a very sad place after the famine for decades. (Gavin, 2000). References Baumhardt, R. L. (2003). USDA  ­ The Official Website for The Conservation and Production Research Laboratory DUST BOWL ERA. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.cprl.ars.usda.gov/ Buonanduci, M. (2009, April 27). Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151818/ Fassbender, M. (2008, September 11). Physical Geography Ancient Egypt by Michael Fassbender | Humanities 360. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/physical ­geography ­ancient ­egypt ­50663/ Gavin, G. (2000). The History Place  ­ Irish Potato Famine. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from 9 http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/ Hawkes, S. (2012, August 28). Fatal Potatoes: The Nineteenth ­Century Irish Potato Famine | US History Scene. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.ushistoryscene.com/uncategorized/fatalpotatoes/ History & Future  ­ When did people start having tea? (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://humantouchofchemi stry.com/when ­did ­people ­start ­having ­tea.htm Irish Potato Famine. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://courses.soomopublishing.com/ Keita, M. (n.d.). Rise of Civilizations and Empires in Mesopotamia. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://history ­world.org/rise_of_civilizations.htm Kreis, S. (2006, October 11). Lecture 3: Egyptian Civilization. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture3b.html Origins of Tea. (2012). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.higgins ­burke.com/About ­Our ­Tea/Pages/Origin ­of ­Tea.aspx PBS (2009, November 15). Video: Surviving the Dust Bowl | Watch American Experience Online | PBS Video [Video file]. Retrieved from http://video.pbs.org/video/1311363860/?starttime=1200000 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 2 China. In Tea: A global history (pp. 27 ­41). Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Saberi, H. (2010). Chapter 5 Tea Comes to the West. In Tea: A global history (pp. 85 ­124) . 10 Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu/provision/8539375 Simkin, J. (1997, September). The Dust Bowl. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://spartacus ­educational.com/USAdust.htm Smith, A. F. (2011). Potato: A global history. Retrieved from http://lrps.wgu.edu/provision/8539677 The Spread Of Tea From China. (2012, September 13). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://thespreadofteafromchina.blogspot.com/

History of the Unification of Germany essays

History of the Unification of Germany essays In 1815, the country of Germany was divided into 39 independent and separate states. The country's main goal at the time was unification, but nationalists (supporters of a small Germany) and liberals (the German supporters) quarreled over whether to unify Germany under Prussia or include Austria in the process. The attempts to unify Germany and make it liberal failed miserably due to uncompromising attitudes between the two groups, which differed in political opinions. The nationalists, who wanted Germany unified under Prussia, refused to accept a liberal with the crown, and only accepted German princes with it (Doc 3). Many of them, like Bismarck, believed unity occurred with war and conquest (Doc 4). The nationalists were pro- nobility, anti-liberal, and believed that the Junkers were the state because their purpose was to defend their country and control the serfs (Doc 7). The Junkers also resolved to defend God and the King aside from the "Prussian Fatherland." (Doc. 15) They display these feelings of defense as they refuse an imperial crown and show no mercy by calling the liberals, beggars with no money and no laws (Doc. 21). It seems apparent that some people, like King William who believed without the Junkers, Prussia would cease to exist, looked down upon the liberals and conveyed this through their words of hate. The documents and their strong feelings of disregard reflected their opposition because of different views of how to unify G ermany (Doc 8). King Frederick IV also believed that the wall between Germany and unification was the threat from the enemies of the Junkers. He believed Austria was not the cause of threat, reflecting opposition towards the liberals (Doc. 18). Similar to these beliefs were the beliefs of the Junkers who did not think highly of their opposition, thought of them as bankrupt cast-offs, and believed that they were not worthy of even a glass of water (Doc. 21). This case also portrays the confli...

Rene Descartes and John Locke

Rene Descartes and John Locke Introduction Rene Descartes, a rationalist and John Locke, an empiric have a lot of contrasting and common features. In their philosophical writings, they answer questions about the knowledge of asking, what a man knows and his possibility to know. However when answering these questions, their approach is from different angles. Descartes finds out certainty and continues from this point.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rene Descartes and John Locke specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Locke on the other hand employs empiric thoughts to advance through various levels of truth to arrive at certainty. Through this approach, Locke tries to establish truthfulness with each new step. As Locke argued, applying experimental knowledge without reason makes a person to be stuck. Moreover, rational knowledge is meaningless if not used together with knowledge from the senses. Though their work may contrast on certain aspects, it has been influential even in the midst of scientific advances. Innateness of ideas According to Locke, innate principles do not exist. By arguing in this line, Locke does not oppose Descartes, but targets some of his followers who supported the idea that almost all knowledge in man has basis in innate principles, an approach contrary to the Cartesian approach. In his platonic argument for innate ideas, Descartes puts it that we do not come across things like circularity and justice in actual environment of senses experienced. Descartes’ arguments for innateness in the concept of God is platonic because he points out that the idea of deriving God from experience is impossible because experience does not present us with infinite perfection at any time. Locke on the other hand tries to contrast the platonic rationalistic argument of Descartes regarding circularity and justice. In his abstraction doctrine, Locke asserts that even though man fails to come across perfect circles, circu larity may be common to all objects (Locke I.1.2). By distinguishing between simple and complex ideas, Locke tries to contrast Descartes. Locke argued that man experiences less of God and abstract but more of constituents which are simple in God’s complex idea (Locke I.1.1-3). It occurs as if Descartes expected this response as he (Descartes) puts across the simplicity of God’s idea, an argument which is not sufficient to contrast Locke’s empiric view (Cummins notes). â€Å"Innateness is no guarantee of truth† is an argument which Locke fails to put across but he assumes that â€Å"whatever is innate is true† (Locke I.1.4). Therefore, Locke does not directly argue that innate things are from God, a fact which is true. The above argument implies that to a certain extent, Locke’s argument is similar to the pre-Cartesian argument propounded by rationalists that justification is arbitrary (Hospers 10). Locke’s argument that â€Å"whateve r is innate is true† means that he holds a position similar to Descartes that if innate principles were to occur, then it would be the work of God, a position which is true (Locke I.1.1-3). Furthermore, if Locke were to argue fully against his position, then he would lack the foundation or basis to reject innate principles. However, though Descartes’ argument about innateness of God’s idea is complex, he admits that innateness cannot be self evident (Hospers 13).Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Bank slate Locke points out that structures existing in a child cannot be innate ideas. Therefore according to Locke, man lacks innate ideas at birth but can acquire these ideas by experience through observing things in the environment (sensation) or reflection in the mind. Moreover, the power has ability to repeat, distinguish and unite various simple ideas e.g. taste and texture. The above argument is emphasized by Locke’s writings where he asserts that â€Å"†¦the ideas they produce in the mind enter by the senses simple and unmixed the hand feels softness and warmth in the same piece of wax; yet the simple ideas are as perfectly distinct as those that come in by different senses† (Locke I.1.4). Furthermore, Locke points out that these simple ideas put together form complete ideas (concept of filling a bank slate or tabula rasa). For example the complex idea of a banana in the mind is a result of the mind combining several simple ideas about the color yellow. This is also emphasized by â€Å"Though the qualities that affect our senses are, in the things themselves, so united and blended, that there is no separation between them† (Locke II.1.4). According to Descartes rationalistic perception however, it becomes hard to imagine what has not been experienced in the senses as asserted by Locke. Locke’s empi ric thought unlike Descartes rationalist is absurd because it is absurd and difficult for mental ideas to be connected to objects in the environment (Cummins notes). Knowledge, Reason and Experience While Descartes argues that from the possibility of knowledge being obtained from reason, Locke employs an empiric thought that the sole source of knowledge is experience. Locke also notably criticizes the Cartesian view on knowledge basing his criticism on the fact that at first, the mind is similar to a bank slate (tabular rasa) which is filled through generation of ideas by experience. Locke’s perception of a tabula rasa is in direct contrast with the Cartesian point of view of existence of innate ideas. Therefore, according to Locke’s empiric thought, knowledge can be achieved solely through experience (Locke II.1.7). In contrast to Locke, Renà © Descartes, a renowned rationalist asserts that it is through reasoning that a person can acquire knowledge which confers abi lity to discern true and false. This is in contrast to the empiric thought that the source of knowledge is experience (Cummins notes). According to Descartes, experience can cause deception of sensory organs with the way a person perceives objects hence cannot be relied on as a source of knowledge e.g. the false deception that a pencil inserted in water is broken (Hospers 5).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rene Descartes and John Locke specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Descartes uses the above method to point out that a person should ignore judgement due to experience with objects unless proven beyond reasonable doubt. He uses this method to arrive at his method of establishing doubt (Hospers 77). On the other hand, Locke’s method of arriving at his empiric view is in his work of an ‘epistle to the reader’ where he traces the roots of his philosophical empiric thinking. He uses an anecdote about conversations which showed him that for men to pursue knowledge, they suffer because of failure to determine understanding limits (Locke III.2.6). From Locke’s argument, the origin of knowledge is through introspection and our senses (Locke II.1.3) though Descartes uses the methodical doubt approach of â€Å"I think, therefore I am† or â€Å"cogito ergosum† to refute Locke’s view though he points out that â€Å"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power† (Hospers 31). This approach used by Descartes is however proof of the source of knowledge i.e. introspection. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 6th ed.1689. Institute of Learning Technologies. Web. Cummins, Robert. Notes on Locke: Essay Concerning Human understanding.2009.Print. Hospers, John. An introduction to philosophical analysis. Routledge, 1997.Print.