Distorted picture Essay Example for Free

Distorted picture Essay Some people regard science as the supreme form of knowledge, because science provides facts. People tend to see science as true, justified, reliable, precise and objective. However there is a significant difference between natural and social sciences. Natural sciences use the basic scientific method to find the facts about the world we live in, the natural events and processes that take place in our world. The basic scientific method or nai ve inductivism follows five stages which include observation, information, generalization, theory and explanation and prediction. However though the basic scientific method seems perfectly reliable, there may be some problems which could challenge science as the supreme form of knowledge. Social sciences study human behaviour, relationships and society. These are very subjective and very difficult to measure. The results can be distorted by the scientists because completely objective observation is even more difficult in natural sciences because seeing what you want to see gives a distorted picture. The famous philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) who was a very radical empiricist and sceptic was concerned with limits to knowledge. According to his theories science cannot give us accurate knowledge and thus should not have such a high status. The problems of natural sciences, basic scientific method and Humes theory of causation that challenges science as the supreme form of knowledge is going to be discussed further in this essay. The social sciences study human behaviour and their relationships. There are several fields of social sciences including anthropology, political science, psychology, sociology and economics. However it is important to note that human behaviour is so inconsistent and influenced by so many variables that it is impossible to measure it precisely. The problem lies also in the social scientists themselves because they are humans as well as the subjects of their attention. It is virtually impossible for them to give a completely objective observation. Firstly they are studying things that cant be measured in human behaviour such as concentration or motivation. Secondly there is the problem that if the subject of their study knows he or she is being watched, he or she can consciously or unconsciously behave in a different way than they would otherwise. Also if the person hears the prediction of the results of the experiments, they might deliberately behave in such a way either to fulfil it or not. That means that social scientists prediction can influence human behaviour. Simply being seen by the unhidden scientist distorts what is seen. Another problem of social scientists is that they see what they want to see. They cannot separate their wishes, what they want to see, from what they see in the reality. Therefore social sciences are very imprecise and unreliable. The natural sciences use the basic scientific method which contains five stages that help the scientists to come to a conclusion. Firstly, they observe through their senses a particular set of events, they record the observation that they have made and after that they make certain generalisations which form a theory. The theory helps to form prediction for the future. Natural sciences are regarded as much more reliable than social sciences because their theories can be tested more easily and the tests can be repeated several times under identical conditions. It is not so easy for the natural scientists to distort the results as for the social scientists. However, there are certain problems with this method that make it seem unreliable too. Firstly, it has to be mentioned that observation comes through our senses. Unfortunately, our senses can be quite easily deceived. It is impossible to make our senses completely objective. We often see what we believe we should see or what we want to see or our hearing can be again influenced by our belief or a wish. This means that we cannot trust our senses completely. Secondly, science as an activity that is supposed to be detached from emotional content, however the scientists doing the experiments and the observations are humans an they cannot detach from their nature. Simply they can observe things that they want to observe because of many reasons such as political, financial, practical and also personal motives. And thirdly there is the problem of the observational statement which means that the scientists have to put their observations into words, which can influence the effect that the observation makes on people. Then there is the problem of the way we treat and use our knowledge. The process of inductive reasoning that we use in our everyday life follows this pattern: the experience or the observation comes first and based on it a prediction for the future or a general statement is made. There is a big strength about this way of reasoning. Firstly, science is based on this kind of reasoning and most of the people regard science as the supreme form of knowledge. Secondly it is quite obvious that the human race couldnt function without inductive reasoning because most or even all of our thinking processes follow the rules of inductive reasoning. If inductive reasoning was wrong, then human beings couldnt be classed as rational beings. However, there are weaknesses in this inductive reasoning that really raise doubts about human beings as rational beings. It is important to see that there is no necessary connection between the past and the future and also that the observation made could have been mistaken. The unconnected past and future can be very well expressed in Bertrand Russellstory about an inductivist turkey1. This story explains that we cannot make predictions or statements based on our past experience and observations because they are absolutely independent from what will happen in the future. This flaw of inductive reasoning seriously challenges the knowledge obtained through science because science is based on past observations. But if inductive reasoning is really wrong then science is based on very uncertain grounds. The philosopher David Hume created a theory which challenged the idea of causation. Causation means one event causing another, But can we really say that one event caused another? Usually when we see event A and then event B which followed event A, we tend to say that event B was caused by event A. But actually we observed just event A followed by event B, we didnt observe the cause the link between A and B. So to say that event B happened because of event A is not the same as to say that event A happened and then event B happened. We never experience the cause. An example can be day followed by night. In the past, the day was always followed by night and yet the day is not the cause of night. Day and night are both caused by something else (rotation of the earth on its axis as it goes around the Sun). So the connection between these two things can be invariant without either of them being the cause of the other. If this all is right, then science is again put into a very strange position and it seems to be based on very uncertain foundations and we can never talk about anything with absolute certainty. According to Hume, just the reason that we believe that the sun will rise every morning is based on our past experience and though it may be true that the sun has risen every morning of our lives, this is not enough evidence to guarantee the truth of the thesis that the sun will always rise. In social sciences the major problem is the inconsistency of human behaviour. If people regard social sciences as the supreme form of knowledge, they misunderstand the way social sciences work. It is impossible to rely completely on social sciences because there are too many variables that can influence the results. However if people regard natural sciences as the supreme form of knowledge, they misunderstand knowledge very much because there are so many problems and mistakes in human reasoning and the way they process information and deduce conclusions from information that was processed in a wrong way or was inadequate to support the conclusion. This theory can be very much supported by the theory of David Hume, a famous philosopher, who challenged science very much by his laws of causation. 1The turkey found that, on his first morning at the turkey farm, that he was fed at 9 a. m. Being a good inductivist turkey he did not jump to conclusions. He waited until he collected a large number of observations that he was fed at 9 a. m. and made these observations under a wide range of circumstances, on Wednesdays, on Thursdays, on cold days, on warm days. Each day he added another observation statement to his list. Finally he was satisfied that he had collected a number of observation statements to inductively infer that I am always fed at 9 a. m. However on the morning of Christmas eve he was not fed but instead had his throat cut. http://marr. bsee. swin. edu. au/~dtl/het704/lecture3/logfals/node6. html, 20th September 2004

Social media Essay Example for Free

Social media Essay The power of Web 2. 0 was a turning point for internet. It enabled formerly linear information traffic to become multifaceted and multidirectional. In the process, it also allowed information to be more substantial and concentrated. Thus, knowledge and intelligence became readily accessible to anyone and the readily available information is richer and more substantial to the users. However, there are several points of contention with Web 2. 0. The very definition of the word is a concern. Those who are willing and able to define it came up with a definition too long and complicated o be understood in its entirety. Those who perceived the definitions got lost in the way, while some easily gave up. Without the concise definition for the jargon it will remain difficult to comprehend what it embodies. Secondly, the entertainment industry may feel threatened by this new open media where everyone is instantly getting their ten seconds of fame. Web 2. 0 is taking away the difficult stage of getting screened to become a talent. In fact, it only opens the media more. It embraces performers, regardless if they have talent or if they are simply funny. Privacy is also put into question. Because Web 2.0 entails sharing of information, there is the great chance for information to be accessed despite security measures. Sources agreed that the privacy issues are not exclusive to social websites such as Multiply, Friendster, Facebook, and others of its kind. Even legitimate websites with educational and professional content can fall prey to intrusion. It is also alarming that not all users are very concerned, or careful. Yet given these disadvantages, it should be noted that Web 2. 0 has its advantages too. It enriched publicly available information, creating a massive information framework with data coming from different sources. It also expedited and added quality to editing this available information, because visitors are also users and are able to add or edit information and serve comments and suggestions instantly. Web 2. 0 revolutionized the web and its users and will undoubtedly continue doing so until it develops to something larger. To make this complicated term easier to understand, it is worth noting that Web 2. 0 has several characteristics. On top of all those, one stands through. Web 2. 0 is all about collective intelligence that happens spontaneously and continuously. It is seen in Wikipedia, Blogger, Multiply, and many other networking and enterprise websites. It is seen in Linux’s and Microsoft’s forums, and many other companies who have embraced the power of the consumers. The advantages outdid the disadvantages, and the benefits of the process proved it recommendable for the use of every netizen who needs and uses information. Recommendations To ensure that Web 2. 0 gives more of its benefits than the disadvantages, the users will have to play a crucial role in controlling it. First, the issue of complicatedness should no longer be a problem. The topic of definition is continually being discussed. The jargons used to define Web 2. 0 four or three years ago were now translated into layman-friendly terms. Thus, with a little research, one can get the concise meaning of the word and be able to understand it. The openness of the media should also be regarded as a positive development. Entertainment movers should take it as an opportunity to find hidden talent with less expense and effort. Looking at the situation, Web 2. 0 provides an avenue for creators to meet investors—talents to find promoters, writers to find publishers, and many more similar pairs. In turn, people who have become popular in their respective industries should not feel threatened. Instead, they can opt to provide help for aspirants, or simply serve as inspiration. On the other hand, online performers should note that what they post publicly on the internet becomes available worldwide. In fact, even if one chooses to post something for the consumption of a selected few audiences, there is still a way for intruders to get their hands on these information. Privacy practices should be observed properly and with strict attention. Awareness and monitoring are additional practices that will help alleviate security concerns in the use of social media. Lastly, it is recommended that social websites and Web 2. 0 media organizers maintain monitoring and proofreading of the content being posted in their websites. It should be noted that because Web 2. 0 is an open media, this opens people to the opportunity to put up inappropriate content. Regular checks on posted content and appropriate editing and tagging will help lessen these problems on inappropriate content, which can greatly affect the services of the website and the image of the company behind it. The Web 2. 0 may be a complicated thing, but it should be accepted that it is something that is readily happening today. It is the new internet, the greatest things that has happened to the web so far. While many businesses are still unsure about plunging into the Web 2. 0 trend for their enterprises, it has gone big on an individual level. Having a blog or being a member of a social networking site or contributing to a forum or an online encyclopedia is no longer surprising. In fact, it has become a way of life for most. This proves that Web 2. 0 is more than just hype. It is business, education, and life for its current users and those to come. References Advantages and disadvantages of social media and Web 2. 0. 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://compassioninpolitics. wordpress. com/2008/02/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-social-media/ Anderson, P. 2007. What is Web 2. 0: Ideas, technologies, and implications for education. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://www. jisc. ac. uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b. pdf

Tradition and Individual Talent by T.S Eliot: Analysis

Tradition and Individual Talent by T.S Eliot: Analysis T.S Eliot Tradition and Individual Talent and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Tradition and individual talent Eliots essays actually map a highly personal set of preoccupations, responses and ideas about specific authors and works of art, as well as formulate more general theories on the connections between poetry, culture and society. Perhaps his best-known essay, â€Å"Tradition and the Individual Talent† was first published in 1919 and soon after included in The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920). Eliot attempts to do two things in this essay: he first redefines â€Å"tradition† by emphasizing the importance of history to writing and understanding poetry, and he then argues that poetry should be essentially â€Å"impersonal,† that is separate and distinct from the personality of its writer. Eliots idea of tradition is complex and unusual, involving something he describes as â€Å"the historical sense† which is a perception of â€Å"the pastness of the past† but also of its â€Å"presence.† For Eliot, past works of art form an order or â€Å"tradition†; however, that order is always being altered by a new work which modifies the â€Å"tradition† to make room for itself. This view, in which â€Å"the past should be altered by the present as much as the present is directed by the past,† requires that a poet be familiar with almost all literary history not just the immediate past but the distant past and not just the literature of his or her own country but the whole â€Å"mind of Europe.† Eliots second point is one of his most famous and contentious. A poet, Eliot maintains, must â€Å"self-sacrifice† to this special awareness of the past; once this awareness is achieved, it will erase any trace of personality from the poetry because the poet has become a mere medium for expression. Using the analogy of a chemical reaction, Eliot explains that a â€Å"mature† poets mind works by being a passive â€Å"receptacle† of images, phrases and feelings which are combined, under immense concentration, into a new â€Å"art emotion.† For Eliot, true art has nothing to do with the personal life of the artist but is merely the result of a greater ability to synthesize and combine, an ability which comes from deep study and comprehensive knowledge. Though Eliots belief that â€Å"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality† sprang from what he viewed a s the excesses of Romanticism, many scholars have noted how continuous Eliots thought and the whole of Modernism is with that of the Romantics; his â€Å"impersonal poet† even has links with John Keats, who proposed a similar figure in â€Å"the chameleon poet.† But Eliots belief that critical study should be â€Å"diverted† from the poet to the poetry shaped the study of poetry for half a century, and while â€Å"Tradition and the Individual Talent† has had many detractors, especially those who question Eliots insistence on canonical works as standards of greatness, it is difficult to overemphasize the essays influence. It has shaped generations of poets, critics and theorists and is a key text in modern literary criticism. According to Eliot, Every nation, every race, has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind (page 47 ). And herein lies the impossible task of defining tradition. All we do is based upon this creative or critical turn of mind, based upon our religions or our morals or our art; and this has been true throughout all of history. And this is on one side tradition. But when a nation rises and falls, when a kingdom expands or a city dies in a cloud of flame, tradition is lost. I would add to Eliots words that every city, every family, every individual has his or her own tradition. Habits, ideas, though process these are all part of this turn of mind that Eliot speaks of in his essay. Thought process is tradition; although Eliot says, Yet if the only form of traditionconsisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before ustradition should be positively discouraged, still my claim is this: tradition is in ones own critical and creative turn of mind, within ones self the masses have no place in this tradition, no place in its creation, its encouragement, or its defining. And so this word, as many others, goes forever undefined; it eludes the human mind as something invisible and impalpable eludes our fingers, as a scent eludes our grasping hands. This is tradition. And beyond this, we can only speculate. Criticism is an inevitable as breathing, and that we should be non the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel and emotion about it. (T. S. Eliot Tradition and individual talent, 1920, page 48) I really never thought about how much we criticize authors and poets. When we read a book we compare it to another author of the same genre or we compare it to another book by that same author. In almost every single one of Literature classes in my secondary school, we compared one writer to another one. Whenever you read a book or a poem there is some kind of criticism going on inside your head. When we criticize a poet, author, or some other writer we always look at their history, we have to find out every part of their background because that may explain why they wrote this or that. I have to ask, why do we do this? Im sure there are times where the author/poet/whoever is not writing about their life and general experiences but something they are interested in. It is a tradition in schools, that we have to learn not only the poem or a novel, but also we have to know everything about the writer. In my opinion is that, when we getting older and older we realize that we do not need t o look after the writers life to understand his or her work. Without knowing these facts we can enjoy the book and understand it. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock This poem, the earliest of Eliots major works, was completed in 1910 or 1911 but not published until 1915. It is an examination of the tortured psyche of the prototypical modern man overeducated, eloquent, neurotic, and emotionally stilted. Prufrock, the poems speaker, seems to be addressing a potential lover, with whom he would like to â€Å"force the moment to its crisis† by somehow consummating their relationship. But Prufrock knows too much of life to â€Å"dare† an approach to the woman: In his mind he hears the comments others make about his inadequacies, and he chides himself for â€Å"presuming† emotional interaction could be possible at all. The poem moves from a series of fairly concrete (for Eliot) physical settings a cityscape (the famous â€Å"patient etherised upon a table†) and several interiors (womens arms in the lamplight, coffee spoons, fireplaces) to a series of vague ocean images conveying Prufrocks emotional distance from the world as he comes to recognize his second-rate status (â€Å"I am not Prince Hamlet). â€Å"Prufrock† is powerful for its range of intellectual reference and also for the vividness of character achieved. C. S. Lewis once stated, Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one. To love is to be vulnerable. Throughout T. S. Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a mans characterization explains why he hides his true self behind an impenetrable shell, unintentionally stunting his personality. This poem uses J. Alfred Prufrock, a nervous and obsessively introspective man, to show readers that only open vulnerability, not fantasy and dreams, can serve as a bridge to meet emotional needs and provide meaning to life. References B.C. Southam: A Students Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot (Fifth Edition, 1990) T.S Eliot: The Sacred Wood Essays on poetry and criticism ( Seventh Edition 1950) George Williamson: T.S. Eliot (1980) Jay Martin: A collection of critical essays on â€Å"The Waste Land† (1968) B.C. Southam: T.S. Eliot: ‘Prufrock, ‘Gerontion, Ash Wednesday and other shorter poems (1994)

Your Chemical World :: Essays Papers

Your Chemical World In today’s world we rely on many different facets to achieve what we normally don’t even give a second thought. As I am sitting here typing this paper I am simultaneously using the culmination of numerous chemical breakthroughs. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a group of over 150,000 chemists, both academic and industrial. â€Å"Your Chemical World,† a book that the ACS has published, is a biography of sorts, where in the uses and need for a chemical world are shown in an easy-to-understand way. Although chemistry would seem to be just a recently invented and used scientific field, chemistry has been an integral part of our lives for a long time. Our early ancestors, unable to even write, figured out that certain substances could be used for painting, hence the archaic cave paintings found in Southern Europe. Today we use chemistry to build our houses, to drive to work everyday, even toasting your toast in the morning. Because chemistry is our link to the hidden world of the earth’s terrestrial fruits like Silicon or Iron our hands will be forever bound to chemistry. The book starts off with our beginning and the unlikely usage of chemistry in pre-historic times. Our ancestors were more then likely concerned primarily with staying alive. Certain things are needed to do that, like food, shelter, energy, and drink. Once those needs were meet our Neanderthal brethren made some archaicaly beautiful cave paintings. In doing so they applied chemistry in a whole new way, to benefit their lives. In time chemistry became an integral part of society, today we have used it to stretch our lives out by more then forty percent of what it would have been in the start of the century by the use of medicine. Later on in recordable history chemistry was implemented through rusty trial and error methods which allowed many things to be created such as Bronze in 3600 BC or glass in 2500 BC. But it wasn’t until the age of Greek philosophers that the question of these materials components, or made them exist. After many theories by many different people a man nam ed Leucippus came up with the idea that all things were made up of indivisible, small particles. Although we now know that that was the correct theory the age of alchemy started and didn’t slow down until after medieval times. The next remarkable step was taken by Robert Boyle a British chemist who defined and coined the term â€Å"elements† as â€Å"pure substance, which resists all ordinary attempts at decomposition.

Johnny Tremain :: essays research papers

Johnny Tremain a young boy grown up as an apprentice during the 1700’s in Boston was an unfortunate but lucky kid. In the next several paragraphs, I will describe interesting parts in the book and also described the Authors factorial & emotional feeling and not to mention my feelings toward the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of my favorite parts of the book was when Lyte came in and wanted a silver piece made by Mr. Lampham in which he had made one before, years ago, Mr. Lamphem wasn’t quite sure if he he still had it, so he was thinking of not doing it, but Johnny was so brave and sure only as an apprentice, he offered to do it. To me that really showed how enthustatic and dedicated Johnny was to the silversmith, when he did ask to do it, Mr. Lampham doubted very seriously that Johnny could do such a thing, but he still trys and works on it very hard and time consuming.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another good part of the story is when Johnny is basically crippled with one of his hands, and is basically worth nothing, when at one time Johnny was wanted by a lot of masters because he was very talented with his hands. It really makes you think if you were to lose a talent how you would feel about it and act upon it, it made me feel thankful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another interesting part of the book was when Johnny went to look for a job. Johnny was so persistent when trying to find another apprentice job. He didn’t really care about what kind of job it was he just wanted a job, he went from place to place trying as hard as he could to hid his crippled hand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Johnny started his job with the Sons of Liberty as a news paper route boy it came to be a very interesting section of the book. It was interesting because, he was giving a code to all of the Sons of Liberty members saying â€Å" You owe the Boston herald 6 schilling†, meaning that night there would be a meeting at 6:00 PM that night. He was becoming part of the Sons of Liberty and it was starting to get really good, especially when he started trying to find out when the British attacking , posting at, and grouping at. It was also good when John Adams has him blow a whistle to send the Sons of Liberty to

grant hill :: essays research papers

Grant Hill Everybody in Detroit called him â€Å"The Man† because he always was a leader and the to-go person in any tough moment of the game. Some people called him â€Å"The Gentleman† because he was a genuinely nice person with respect for the game and for others. Joe Dumars, a member of the legendary 1989-1990 Detroit Pistons team, once declared â€Å"He is the best player I’ve seen coming into the league for years†. Road to history was wide open for Grant, but luck had some other plans for his career. This is the story of Grant Hill, a story about having faith, patience and love for the game of basketball. Grant Henry Hill was born on October 5th, 1972 in Dallas, Texas but he grew up in Reston, Virginia. His father, Calvin Hill was a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. Even though his family was wealthy, he didn’t the other kids to know about it. He was really proud of his father being a famous professional athlete, but he was also embarrassed about it. When he was in eighth grade, his father gave a speech all the students, but he didn’t go. He faked illness and hid in the nurse’s office, saying that he didn’t want to seem to be better than everybody else. That is how humble he was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grant first started playing soccer, but by twelve, he had grown to six feet. That is when he started playing basketball. He became really good and he led his high-school team to two state championships. He then earned an athletic scholarship to play for the well-known Duke University. He led Duke to back-to-back championships and he had his â€Å"number 33† jersey retired. After he graduated, he entered the 1994 NBA Draft picks. He was picked by the Detroit Pistons as the 3rd overall draft pick.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Everybody had high expectations about him, they were seeing in him a new leader, a new beginning for the Pistons. He didn’t prove anybody wrong. He started at the 1995 all-star game after becoming the first rookie ever to lead all players in fan voting. Along with Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, were co-voted as the Rookie Players of the Year. In the next four seasons, he started in all all-star games and averaged 23.2 Points Per Game, 7.6 Rebounds Per Game and 6.7 Assist Per Game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first shadows in his career appear in 2000.

Case study for Wilkerson Company Essay

1. According to the case, if using ABC, Wilkerson should pool overheads into five activities: machine-related expenses, setup labor cost, receiving and production control cost, engineering cost, and packaging and shipping cost. The cost pool/cost driver information for an Activity Based Costing (ABC) system for Wilkerson has already provided by table 2. Based on the information on table 1 and four exhibit in case, we can figure out that the total cost per unit of valves, pumps and flow controllers are $46.17, $58.20, and $115.38, respectively, by using the Activity Based Costing system. Computation Process shows on table 3. After computation, the gross margin % for each product using ABC shows on table 4. The actual gross margin % for valves, pumps and flow controllers are 46.30%, 33.10% and -9.90%, respectively. 5. The difference in the gross margin for flow controllers when the Traditional Cost System is used and when the ABC Cost System is used is caused by the different allocation approach of overhead, increasing manufacturing overhead from $30.00 to $83.38 significantly. Flow controllers were low volume products, but they required more resource. Due to the fact that flow controllers required not only more components and more labor, than pumps or valves, for each finished unit, but also more production runs and shipments, these operating process contributed substantial overhead costs. These overhead costs, however, were not be allocated in the traditional cost system. Compared to the traditional cost system, in which the overhead costs just were allocated to products as a percentage of production-run direct labor cost easily, the ABC cost system provides more accurate information about overhead costs. 6. In order to maintaining Wilkerson Company’s market share of valves and pumps, they have the room to reduce valves and pumps’ price, although they may do not need to reduce their price. Meanwhile, they should increase the price of flow controllers to increase gross margin of these products. The reason that the company raised flow controller prices recently with no apparent effect on demand because the products were underpriced. They should deal with the negative profitability immediately. For the long run, probably the company needs to review their manufacturing operation process. They may have ability to reduce their production runs by innovation. Moreover, they can increase shipping batch size by negotiating with customers to increase order size, which will reduce the number of shipments to saving costs. These approaches  will reduce their overhead costs, increasing their profitability.