Philosophy †Free Will vs Determinism Essay

The dialogue between philosophers over the existence of free will versus the inevitability of determinism is a debate that will always exist. The discussion centers around the true freedom of humans to think and act according to their own judgment versus the concept that humans are intrinsically bound by the physical laws of the universe. Before I enter this chicken and the egg debate I need to quantify my terms: Free will is defined by the great philosopher, St. Thomas Aquinas as â€Å"vis electiva† or free choice. It is the ability of man to contemplate and judge the effects of the actions he is about to take. †¦But man acts from judgment, because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought. But because this judgment, in the case of some particular act, is not from a natural instinct but from some act of comparison in the reason, therefore he acts from free judgment and retains the power of being inclined to various things. † (Aquinas. Suma Theologica) Determinism is a complex notion but is best described by David Hume as the notion that something cannot come from nothing and that all actions have causes preceding them. I conceive that nothing taketh beginning from itself, but from the action of some other immediate agent without itself. And that therefore, when first a man hath an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite nor will, the cause of his will, is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing. So that whereas it is out of controversy, that of voluntary actions the will is the necessary cause, and by this which is said, the will is also caused by other things whereof it disposeth not, it followeth, that voluntary actions have all of them necessary causes, and therefore are necessitated. (Hume. Liberty and Nessessity. ) Philosophy and world religion alike were born of the same origins. Each of the two ancient disciplines arose from the quest for the answers to life’s ominous questions. These human questions, archetypical to people of all geographic locations; where did we come from; why are we here; where do we go when we die; unite us as a race. It is no coincidence that each religion and theology from all four corners of the earth tackles these black holes of human logic. Each religion carves their own individual explanations of these unanswerable questions into their core belief systems, each one centrally different than others. However, they all share one common thought; each shares a belief in an afterlife determined by the choices made in life. Free will is the common denominator in all world religions, because all share the essential concept of morality. The widespread acceptance of the concept of morality implies that there is a choice to be had at each and every juncture or life. The choice comes from recognition of good and evil. For good and evil to exist, then there has to be the ability to decipher between the two and also decide to accept one over the other. The existence of morality alone proves that free will exists, because without the freedom to choose right or wrong in any given situation there would be no qualitative measure of the â€Å"rightness† or â€Å"wrongness† of ones actions. David Hume comments on the origin of morality and its place in our everyday decision making processes, â€Å"Only when you turn your reflexion into your own breast, and find a sentiment of disapprobation† (Hume.  Treatise of Human Nature). In other words, there are no outside stimuli that can decipher good from evil; the line can only be drawn by internal thought. Hume was a naturalist in that his vision of the world and therefore stance of philosophy was based directly through the experiences of the senses. His stance on many issues directly originated from his ability to experience it with the five senses, and on the subject of morality he takes exception. Even he recognizes the existence of morality in everyday life, even though it cannot be explained through the lens of the senses. It would seem that morality’s acceptance must therefore prove that free will exists, but there is one essential school of thought yet to weigh on this topic; science. Science was the latest bloomer of the three major disciplines of existential explanation and in the post modern era is becoming more and more popular. As the world becomes further secularized and the reaches of scientific logic continue to exceed their grasp, many of the world’s intellectuals identify â€Å"truth† on a scientific scale. Science does not support the theory of morality, because it can’t be proven to exist. The notion of â€Å"free-will†, something which world religion and philosophies alike recognize as a fundamental part of our human anatomy, is called into question in a few simple and logical ways. Science supports the theory of determinism as the only logical explanation of the unfolding of the actions of our lives. First off, science has recently developed the discipline known to us as physics, in which the laws of the universe have been defined. In the short time in which humans have been graced by the scientific understanding of the laws of the universe, human kind has yet to fully step back and contemplate the magnitude of this discovery. In generations past, humans believed that we were made special with â€Å"free will†, but now we know that like all things in the universe we are subject to the physical laws. This is a huge step forward in rational thinking because it allows us to understand that our previously God given concept of â€Å"free will† was really a result of a lack of understanding of the deterministic laws of the universe. For instance a law as simple and commonly accepted as â€Å"gravity† challenges the idea of free will. Gravitational pull determines that no matter the size of an object, once separate from the surface of the earth will be dragged back down at the same force every time. This is a simple concept that we take for granted, but it works in the free will v. determinism argument. We are ruled by gravity, and therefore all of our lives activities answer to it. We can’t choose to jump off a building and float in the air because we’ll be pulled back to the ground to our imminent deaths. We can’t choose to stay younger and keep our skin tight to our faces because gravity’s long-term effect causes our skin to droop down towards the ground. The choices I just listed may seem farfetched to some, however, if we examine the notion that we have â€Å"free will† in the empirical sense of the word we see that not all of our decisions are controlled by us, and that we fall victim to the tyrannical rule of the physical laws of the universe. We aren’t truly â€Å"free† to create our own actions in life. Albert Einstein offers a particularly apt synopsis, â€Å"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. † (Albert Einstein) The rule of physical law aside, which hinders us from truly being â€Å"free† to choose our own actions in life, is a much more simple scientific argument that dispels the notion of free will. For example: Say a 20 year old man murders another man in cold blood. They have no affiliation, no prior knowledge of who each other is, or reason to dislike each other. Man A walks up to random Man B and shoots and kills him. Was this action of Man A a result of â€Å"free will†? To examine the notion fully you need to look at his action coming from two sources. Either Man A was born with the moral flaw to allow himself to find killing another human acceptable, or that Man A was influenced during the course of his life by interactions and actions of others and came to that conclusion based on his own experience. There is no other explanation for Man A to willingly choose to open fire on Man B and kill him. If we look at the first option, Man A’s natural moral compass was skewed, allowing for him to conceive the notion that killing another is okay. This speaks to the determinant nature of our chemical makeup. Its possible his DNA made a mistake coding somewhere and he developed overtime and understood that killing another is â€Å"wrong† or maybe that his entire sense of â€Å"right from wrong† was skewed inside his mind. This would lead Man A to lead a life normally on the outside, and yet without regard for consequence, open fire on another man and kill him as easily as he could have held a door for him. This is the idea that he naturally had the capacity to kill, and that he could not control it. Eventually one of his animalistic impulses would finally stick and he’d be in the right place at the right time, and that it was only a matter of time until he killed someone. If you don’t subscribe to that theory and believe that he chose to kill Man B that day, try and consider that the results will still be pre-determined. If Man A killed Man B due to his choice, then his own â€Å"free will† and judgment that he finds reprehensible to kill another man can’t be attributed to truly â€Å"free† will of choice. Not every human kills others as part of their natural lifestyle, as they might kiss or mate with another. In fact a very small percentage of people in the world murder other humans, and this begs the question of why? What makes this small percentage of people â€Å"choose† to kill another person? The answer is that if they choose to do it, and they weren’t previously miswired so as said in the prior paragraph, then they must have been influenced by their surroundings. When Man A was six years old he didn’t choose to murder Man B, the events of his life led him to make this decision about whether or not murder was okay. This is yet another reason that he wasn’t truly free to choose; outside influence hinders the ability to choose freely. Whether he was abused, molested, lost a loved one, or just plain fed up with the monotony of everyday life in society, something pushed him over the edge. Something allowed for him to justify his actions; that something is outside influence. This deterministic train of thought explains why people do what they do, but not when. What makes us actually hit the point of no return, or when will the right opportunity hit the right mood leading the right action? (In our example the murder of Man B) The paradox between â€Å"free will† and â€Å"determinism† exists because of the influence of the different schools of thought. If one aligns his personal truth based on religious fervor, then an understanding of â€Å"free will† can exist logically and on the other hand if one bases his logic around science then â€Å"determinism† seems to be the only answer. So where does that leave philosophy, the great bridge between the two polarized schools of thought? It leaves philosophy somewhere in the middle, examining the validity of both sides of the argument, and helping to shed light on the debate over whether or not we truly are free to make a choice or if we are merely floating along the currents of the universe. Personally, I’m lost somewhere in the middle, hoping that the answer to this time-old question will be revealed.

Design Thinking and Innovation at Ideo

IDEO QUESTIONS. Juan Pallares 1. What is the role of prototyping in IDEO? Is it central to their process? For IDEO, prototyping is the core of its design process, and how they use it is one of their competitive advantages. IDEO believes in explaining anyt design idea with prototypes, which helps people to focus on the same idea, or to find improvements of a single design easily. Prototyping is also a better way to show the customers the design your are thinking of, and helps them to get involved with the design process, aligning both designers and customers mindsets. . Should IDEO accept the Visor Project? Why? Like everything, it depends of the needs of IDEO. Initially I would recommend not accepting the project, unless they were in need of cash. Visor project would require a design process much more tight that the one employed in IDEO, with almost no barriers to creativity and the free flow of ideas. The time and cost requirements would imply designers and brainstormers would have their ideas enclosed to the requirements, that would â€Å"orient† the ideas in one specific direction since the beginning.In a design process, that could kill the project. 3. In case they will accept, what challenges and risks are they facing? First of all, in a company where communication of ideas is key (show and tell is an example), having a secret project would reduce the source of ideas just to the ones involved in it, reducing the possible outcomes. More over, in a company where people involved in a project are the ones that are most passionate about it, forcing some people to work in a project without telling to anyone else reduce the motivation of the design team.Another challenge is the lack of testers. One of the success of the Palm V was the marketing research done by Boyle, which opened their â€Å"designers minds† to different users with broader needs, thus avoiding insider`s egocentric point of view. This would not be possible in this secret project, unl ess considering an outside marketing company for developping the research, with the increase in costs associated. Related to the project specifications, one of the big challenges would be to work with only existing and tested technologies.IDEO design process starts with product designers and engineers, and after the product is designed on its basic form, costs are considered. Working with actual technologies would reduce the â€Å"innovative† spirit of the team, and could possible lead to just a product make-up, a product similar to the existing ones but with a different shape. And the innovative image of IDEO could be damaged because of that. 4. In which cases will you outsource the product development of your company? Only in two situations I would outsource the product development of my company. First, if product design is not a crucial aspect of my industry.If I? m a manufacturer of golf balls, even if there is always room for competitive advantage through innovation, it is not a crucial fact for everyday business. Second, if the company which I will outsource my product development to, is known for its quality in terms of design/ innovation. In this case outsourcing would be a perfect strategy for my company, leaving the design to people with more expertise and recognition (it can be also a marketing tactic). Always of course, with constant monitoring of the aligning between the design and the values/image of my company.

A Summary Of The Movie Jarvis Lorry

A Summary Of The Movie Jarvis Lorry In the movie Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellsons Bank, was sent to find Dr. Manette, an unjustly imprisoned physician, in Paris and bring him back to England. Lucie, Manettes daughter who thought that he was dead, accompanied Mr. Lorry. Upon arriving at Defarges wine shop in Paris, they found Mr. Manette in a very bad state and took him back to London with them. In 1780, five years later, Lucie, Mr. Lorry and Dr. Manette were called to testify against Charles Darnay, a tutor who made constant trips between France and England and was thus accused of treason, but Darnay was acquitted when a lawyer, named Sydney Carton, looked much like him and an eye witness faltered to positively distinguish between them. Carton loved Lucie but he was a drunk. Knowing that their relationship was hopeless, he stated that he would sacrifice himself for her or anyone she loved in an emotional conversation. Darnay ended up marrying Lucie. Darnays uncle, the Marquiuis St. Evremonde, was assassinated by the father of a child he ran over and Darnay inherited the title, Marquiuis St. Evermonde, Now along with this title came power. Darnay would not take it because he did not want to exploit the French people as his uncle did. Around 1790, while the French Revolution was in full swing, Darnay decided to go to France to save a family servant. Upon his arrival, he was i mmediately jailed. Lucie and Dr. Manette soon showed up in Paris at the doorstep of Tellsons French office, where Lorry already was present. Dr. Manette managed to get Darnay released after a year, yet he was re-jailed the same day by Madame Defarge because his family, the Evremondes, had previously killed off her family. Darnay was tried the next day and sentenced to death. Manette went back into his demented state with hopelessness. Carton arrived in Paris and heard a plot to also kill Lucie and Dr. Manette. Quickly, he made his way into the prison with the help of spies and, with his close resemblance, switched places with Darnay. Carton had arranged for the escape of Lucie, Darnay, and Dr. Manette. Madame Defarge had been killed by Miss Pross, a sort of nanny to Lucie, and escaped with Lucie. Carton sacrificed his life for Lucie, her father, and Darnay at the guillotine and then died in victory. Dickens attempted to show his readers the power and dangers of a revolution in the origonial novel, and it is even shown more in the movie. He had a clear underlying theme that oppression and exploitation by an aristocracy will cause a revolt by those being miss treated, a fact that made the French Revolution inescapeable. Throughout this movie, it was visible that Dickens drew a connection between cruelty and disorder. Yet the power of love and sacrifice wer e, in the end, linked with a renewal of society. The harsh treatment of the aristocracy towards the poor was constantly shown. In one case, the Marquis St. Evremonde ran over a peasant child and just through a few coins at the father to make up for this loss. The anarchy of the revolution was shown by the many mobs that roamed the streets of Paris. Many nobles had left France and there was no powerful government. Therefore a direct connection was drawn between the cruelty by the high society and the outbreak of revolution turning quickly into chaos. Dickens was biased with a sympathy for the fooled, especially for children. The idea that the victimized, when forced for long enough, would revolt was a central idea behind this Dickins plot. The unjust imprisonment of Dr. Manette tore him apart. He could never truly escape from his prison experience and in moments of great stress he went back to the insanity which Mr. Lorry and Lucie had found him in at Book report.. 12thgrade. A tale of 2 citiesDefarges. Darnay had been tried often and came close to conviction a number of times all due to the past actions of h is family. He was a mere victim of the past. Dickens clearly showed strong support for Darnay and Dr. Manette not only in the outcome, where they successfully escaped France, but also throughout the story. When the peasant child was run over by Marquis St. Evremonde, Dickens showed a great deal of contempt for Evremonde, when he merely offered a few coins as his remorse, and created a sense that this was a terrible act. I have learned a great deal about life during the early French Revolution and viewed the anarchy with much inner thought while watching this movie. Members of the upper aristocracy were, in general, more conceited that I had previously thought them to be. The numerous mobs were more unstable then I had expected. They roamed, destroying at random, and went on to a new task with little persuasion. Many mobs cheered in joy for Darnay when he was acquitted at his first trial in France but were just as excited when he was condemned to death the second time. Society in general during the French Revolution has become much clearer to me. The movie it self was originally a little difficult to understand until I became aware of the plot, and with help from you. At that point I had no problem following the plot, which actually became quite interesting. The French Revolution was very well displayed in all of its violence and anarchy. The underlying ideas of oppression and anarchy made it enjoyable to see how the characters interacted. I found Carton especially interesting. He knew that Lucie would never seek after him, before and after her marriage to Darnay, yet he devoted his life to her and gave it up in the end for her. Despite all of the depressing aspects of the movie, Dickens theme of renewl became much more visible towards the end and actually was quite inspiring. As Carton gave his life for Darnay and Lucie, his final vision of a better society,wich was stated in the origonal novel left me with a hopeful attitude and seemed to be an v ery good way to close.

Economic Report of the President 2013 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic Report of the President 2013 - Essay Example The report rightly notes that the United States currently enjoys a competitive advantage in business services. However, the service import is growing rapidly while in Advanced Technology it is realized that the country faces persistent trade deficit and this clearly shows a lack of competitiveness on this sector. However, on the part of the labour market, it is seen that only higher education and worker training are given priority while early childhood programs are not addressed. In any case, it is important to have a human capital policy that goes beyond the higher education policy and addresses all concerns in this respect. Indeed, the report is very optimistic about the trade prospects of this country and the potential for growth. Innovation is rightly captured as an important ingredient in the economic process. There must be a shift towards a knowledge based economy. Agriculture is strongly placed as a core aspect in the knowledge based economy. Indeed, the focus on agriculture can greatly benefit the country considering the huge potential in this sector. In any case, this sector can further enhance the development of manufacturing and the service sectors. In this respect, much focus is placed on biological, chemical and other advances in agricultural production. The report places much priority on the stabilization of the economy and the creation of jobs for everyone. The first chapter underscores the commitment of the administration in creating a comprehensive energy strategy in order to enhance energy security, economic growth and job creation. Indeed, the dependence on foreign oil has always been a concern for the country. The report highlights the growing need to reduce the overdependence on oil and by developing renewable sources of energy. It is further noted that there has been much decline on foreign oil and this indicates good

International marketing( optional) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International marketing( optional) - Essay Example An understanding of the nature of rivalry should begin from an assessment of the nature of products that the two companies deal with. Both companies manufacture highly developed smart phones, ipads, and other technology products with internet-aided applications (The Growth Agenda, 2012, p. 54). The inventory of these products consists of rapid innovations and advancements in technology in very short spans of time. Generally, the products range from simple to highly advanced technological gadgets that seek to satisfy different levels of the clientele. Over the times, both companies have attempted to break into new market segments or take over some of the segments held by their competitors. The course of these pursuits has involved suits of violation of patent rights to other matters that relate to the processes of regulation of the ethics of marketing and general commerce. As such, these companies have devised a range of strategies, which are meant to outpace each other in terms of te chnologies and marketing (Doole & Lowe, 2008, p.36). Samsung has sought to create pools of loyal clientele who cut across the various aspects of the market. The marketing strategies adopted are basically meant to show the other companies as weaker and less innovative in comparison to its own products. Some of the issues that affect the relationship between the two firms relates to the need to build a foil of the companies against which the technological strengths of Samsung might be manifest. On the other hand, Apple has sought to demonstrate the fact that it has a highly evolving technological framework that determines the manufacturing processes of the company. Generally, technological markets are some of the most fluid and unpredictable as compared to other markets. This is because of the fast-paced nature of innovations and technological factors create conditions that encourage competition between rivals in the same operational zone. Some of the issues that relate to the questio n of challenges are that it concerns issues of general commercial concern. The emerging patterns and trends of marketing has often related to the question of ethics versus and fair trading practices. There is an evident departure from ethics of marketing because the companies involved have significant control over significant market niches. The competition, rivalries, and conflicts that pit one company over another could be understood within the wider discourse of liberalization of the market economy. In the context of liberalization, some modern marketing practices often involve a determined from conventional and traditional ethics in ways that encourage the private of private interests at the expense of competitors (Hill & Jones, 2012). Malignant aspects of marketing have the potential of swaying the markets in favor of the direction of the companies involves. Such marketing practices often involve direct mention of certain elements that illustrate the weaknesses of the rival (Moo ij, 2009, p. 62). On this score, companies may deliberately choose to malign the weaknesses of their rivals with the overall objective of carrying out some form of a market coup on the competitor’s interests. Generally, marketing strategies are designed to affect the targeted clientele at the psychological level. Packaging of the psychological messages is usually

Liberalism (liberties, human rights, and free trade) Research Paper

Liberalism (liberties, human rights, and free trade) - Research Paper Example Liberty of conscience and freedom of worship. Freedom of speech. Freedom to collaborate or not to collaborate. Individual freedom, guaranteed by the justice, law and administrative body. No gender discrimination. The opportunity to have the varied and full education irrespective of birth. Security from the unfavorable issues such as unemployment, old age, disability and sickness. Free choice of the consumers and to rap the opportunity of productivity of industry and soil. Civil and political rights can only be realized where the right of security and subsistence are recognized. Reorganizations The need to promote and protect the rights of religious, national and ethnic and linguistic minorities. Need to establish and practice a culture that overcomes the issue of discrimination among the people of several groups. Need to abolish the regulations and laws regarding the discrimination. Support and defend the activities of the individuals who have fought with the society in order to get personal freedom and fight for civil liberties and human rights. Free Trade The potential of the free trade is to bring strength and empower in the human being to increase the standard of live in the globe (Huntington, 1993). Free trade in the modern age generally entails the following. Free flow of staffs and employees. Deregulation and liberalization of the economy. End to private and state monopolies. Rule of law and property rights. Human creativity and private initiative of environment conducive. Currency wars and trade disputes. Inter communal violence, political instability, war and dictatorship. Corruption and weakness of government. The modern liberalism has highlighted that; the free trade must be controlled and guided by certain regulations and rules that are... Liberalism is a dominant political ideology. Liberalism is known as the response to the urbanization and industrial revolution in the 19th century. Liberalism was occurred in America and Europe. Classical liberalism was constructed on the basis of the ideas in the 18th century. Liberties, human rights and free trade are the three major aspects of liberalism. In order to discuss every single aspect of the modern liberalism, it is necessary to highlight theme resolution of free trade and human rights. Human rights and Free trade theme was constructed in the year 2011 by the manila Congress that discusses the integrity of the system of free trade and human rights. Human rights are the fundamental and universal rights that determine the virtue of humanity of the human beings. This right has not constructed on the basis of nationality, religion, culture, race, citizenship, social class, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. Human rights and the policies related to the welfare of human being and society need to be exist in every community. This process will help the globe to bring the equality among the several groups of individuals in this modern civilization era. The fundamental conditions and rights are mentioned in the document of international founding. The modern liberalism has highlighted that; the free trade must be controlled and guided by certain regulations and rules that are enforced by the accountability foundations at the national, regional and international levels. It recognizes and understands the effectively and the importance of the free trade recall with several effective public policies in order to sustain the development and overcome the reasons and issues related poverty in the society.

Ethics Awareness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Awareness - Essay Example Personally, this test helped me to become more aware of how different people can approach the same situation in different ways. Identification and alertness of the core beliefs underlying ethical decisions is critical to our ability to communicate our position and to realize the desired result in ethical decision making. Thus, the implication of ethical principles is vital in making reasonable choices. First of all, I have decided to work on understanding the principles and processes that I am currently using for making ethical decisions. I want to spotlight the core beliefs that I currently have, even though I know that there is no right or wrong answers, I still want to be able to see the difference between right and wrong and to make important personal judgment about a matter that will have significant impact on the lives of real people. Even though it is obvious that we have to choose what we consider "right" while making tough decisions, it is of high importance to develop a process that will guide our struggle in making ethical decisions. My personal guide that I am currently working on takes into account a variety of aspects that can potentially affect the immediate decision and its effect on other people. The problem I was confronted with while developing this guide was the uncertainty of what ethics and morals entail. The concept of right vs.

Any proposed area of commercial law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Any proposed area of commercial law - Coursework Example A perspective shared among the technology providers and the companies collecting and mining data is that ethical, privacy-respecting practices simply make good business sense. Are there guidelines in developing privacy policies to help organizations in establishing ethical responsibilities of the organization and the data professionals? How does an organization develop a data privacy policy that provides the environment for trust on the part of the consumers? A major focus needs to be the incorporation of fair information practice principles of notice, choice, access, and security. Management and information technology professionals need to develop an understanding of how to manage data ethically and communicate the policy effectively to the consumers (Samuelson, 1999). More information and experience is needed by students and professionals in management and information technology in the development of a data privacy policy. This research project serves to provide the needed informat ion and experience for both students and professionals. Current technology makes the threats to privacy less tangible and less visible. It is difficult to know when and for what purposes individuals are being watched or information is being gathered and used for purposes that are not endorsed by the individuals. While many organizations have the capacity to collect data from consumers, businesses have a profit motive that adds a greater threat to the privacy dilemma. It is not only the continual compilation of data about individuals that poses privacy trepidation, but the ways in which data can be transformed and sold to other organizations. This consumer profiling can be misleading and damaging. If e-commerce is to succeed, businesses must work to develop a trustworthy, secure online environment. Developing a privacy policy is the first step in creating that trust. Incorporating a privacy

Character analysis on young Goodman Brown Thesis

Character analysis on young Goodman Brown - Thesis Example In Young Goodman Brown, the character of Brown changes from faith and innocence to corruption and doubts as the devils distorts the way he thinks and perceives valuable people in his life. The faith and goodness of Brown are seen in the way he treats his father, grandfather, minister, and wife. He looks up to the goodness of his father and grandfather and the minister. Brown believes in the true Christina nature of the minister of Salem because he is a man of God. His wife Faith comes into his life a young immaculate and beautiful woman. He invests all his trust in the life of his wife, and life seems good in his belief that he has found a true partner to share his life happiness and glory. Faith is a staunch Christian, who is an epitome of good and purity but not until the devils come knocking on their doors. Brown’s innocence is lost when the devil visits his home and changes the way he views the valuable people in his life. Brown interjects, â€Å"what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow† (9). His wife Faith is no longer the pious and religious figure, and he hopes that the character would persist for the rest of her life. However, the arrival of the devil elicits doubts about the true nature of faith. He starts doubting her after seeing him in the evil ceremony in the forest. The devil also reveals the two followers, Deacon Gookin, and Goody Cloyse that Brown has known all along that they are staunch Christians (Hawthorne 16). The character of Brown here is seen to shaky because he is convinced to think otherwise about the community he has known his entire life. The arrival of the devil changes the faith and innocence of Brown to corruption. The evil nature of the people around him comes as a surprise, and that convinces him that the entire Puritan society is hypocritical. The revelations that come to him give him a different perspective of the society that he knows professes its Christian faith in

Panera Bread Analysis Essay Example for Free

Panera Bread Analysis Essay Panera Bread is a fast food restaurant where many people go to eat a quick, filling meal. Panera appeals to most people because of the amount of options it offers, which makes it difficult to be dissatisfied. After choosing foods to use on our good day and our bad day, we immediately noticed several differences. For breakfast on the bad day we chose a pecan roll; while on the good day we chose a whole grain bagel with reduced fat roasted vegetable cream cheese. The first thing we saw was that the pecan roll was much higher not only in calories, but calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugars. At the same time however, the dietary fiber and protein, essential nutrients, were much lower in the pecan roll. The choices of drinks in the morning also have a great difference between them. The Pumpkin Spice Latte contains 78% more calories than the Hot Coffee. For lunch on a bad day, the large Mac N’ Cheese would be a perfect choice. This meal alone has 980 calories. As if just the meal was not bad enough, Panera offers a side to go with it. For the side of this meal, we chose the French baguette. For the good day we decided that the Classic Salad would be the best choice. It has minimal calories and a great supply of several different nutrients. The side that we thought would best fit this meal is an apple. A drink that would go with the bad day for the lunch meal is a frozen caramel frozen drink. Shockingly, the amount of calories in this drink is more than the amount of calories in our entire breakfast on our good day. Dinner for the bad day at Panera Bread would be steak and white cheddar hot Panini. It contains almost half the amount of kcals the average person should consume in one day! In addition to those 1,000 calories we chose a side of a bag of Panera’s’ kettle chips. For the good day dinner, we chose a â€Å"You Pick Two†, the meals being half of a tuna sandwich on honey wheat and a cup of low-fat garden vegetable soup. The side for the â€Å"You Pick Two† would be a dill pickle that has 5 kcals. The drinks for these two meals would be a large lemonade on the bad day, and a tropical hibiscus flavored iced herbal tea on the good day. If you wanted to have a dessert at the end of both days, the bear claw pastry would be a great choice for the bad day, while the cinnamon coffee crumb cake would work the best for the good day. What we learned from doing this project is that even though Panera Bread comes off as somewhat healthy for fast food, it can be really unhealthy for you depending on what you pick. The meals that we chose for the bad day were so high in calories and sodium that we both will never consider these meals as an option again. An example of this was the Mac N’ Cheese. If you order a large, you are consuming 2470 mg of sodium, which is more than the suggested amount you are supposed to consume in one day and it is only one meal. At the same time, you are only taking in 3 grams of dietary fibers. The steak and white cheddar Panini was very similar in this way, absolutely no bang for your buck! On the other hand, we learned that Panera could be somewhat healthy on what you pick. For example, the â€Å"You Pick Two† was not an overall bad choice. It was just a tuna salad sandwich with garden vegetable soup and the kcals and cholesterol was not too high. The only thing that was high, yet not too shocking, was the sodium in the soup. The classic salad was also something that was surprising healthy, even with the dressing on it. It was only 170 kcals with no cholesterol or sodium. On the good day, you would consume about 1200 kcals in total. In comparison, one meal of the bad day consisted of this many kcals.

Porosity Architecture in Public Spaces

Porosity Architecture in Public Spaces Introduction The connection between the built and the unbuilt / between the â€Å"indoor† and the â€Å"outdoor†/ between the mass and the void is a very sensitive and debatable topic. The experience of a space can be severely affected by the ways its edges are treated, i.e. by controlling how a person enters/exits the space. Transitional experience plays a vital role in overall feel and experience of spaces. Different types of spaces require different types of treatments on their edge conditions. A city needs to be imagined as a space occupied by diverse sets of people with diverse needs and aspirations. The quality of a city has to be judged by what it offers to its residents the right to live, move around and work with dignity and safety. Porosity is one of the many guiding factors in designing a space, specially public places, which are the key strategic spaces in providing the area/city its character. Not only does careful design of such spaces increase the aesthetic quality of the place, but also plays a major role in increasing the standards of functionality, safety, quality and many such factors under which a city can be categorised. Porosity, is one spatial quality that can definitely benefit the public spaces, specially in places like Delhi, where the individual is getting isolated from the community in his efforts to cope up with the pace of life that the city has to offer. Also, with the increasing gap between the two extreme income groups of the city, the spaces, which are meant to be ‘public’, cater only to a certain section of the society, neglecting those which fail to fulfil the ‘entrant requirements’ . Apart from giving spaces back to all the sections of the society, increasing porosity in community spaces can also act as a measure against increasing crime rates in the city, as it opens up the space to a larger section of the society. Topic: Porosity in public spaces Research Question: How can porosity in public spaces be increased to enhance their utility for the society in general ? Public Spaces Public spaces are an inevitable component of human settlements. Parks, plazas, roads, beaches, etc are typically considered public spaces. They are the common ground for people to interact with others, share knowledge or goods, or carry out their daily rituals, be it daily routine or occasional festivities. By definition, they are spaces that should be accessible to all the members of the society, irrespective of their economic strength. It was stated that: Regarding the criterion of access, public space is a place which is open to all. This means its resources, the activities that take place in it, and information about it are available to everybody. Concerning the criterion of agency, public space is a place controlled by public actors (i.e., agents or agencies that act on behalf of a community, city, commonwealth or state) and used by the public (i.e., the people in general). As for interest, public space is a place which serves the public interest (i.e., its benefits are controlled and received by all members of the society) (Akkar, Z 2005).   Ã‚   Of course, these definitions refer to an ideal public space, while the urban atmosphere is not entirely composed of rigidly public and private spaces; instead, it is an amalgamation of public and private spaces with different degrees of publicness. Accepting that the relation between public and private space is a continuum, it is possible to define public spaces as having various degrees of publicness. Regarding the dimensions of access, actor and interest, the extent of publicness will depend on three categories: the degree to which the public space and its resources, as well as the activities occurring in it and information about it, are available to all; the degree to which it is managed and controlled by public actors and used by the public; and the degree to which it serves the public interest. Life in public spaces, not only has a function in the society as a whole, but it is also a rich source of individual amusement, pleasure and play. One criticism of the prevailing socio-functional approach towards urban public space can be that the individuals perspective is often disregarded. To what extent do city dwellers like to meet other urbanites in public places? Hardly any planner, architect or urban administrator seems to be interested in that question. Planners and city councils are eager to speak about public spaces as meeting places. They find it an attractive idea to conceive of public spaces as a unifying element where all sectors of the urban population meet. With the help of that image they can present their cities as communities, despite all the contrasts and differences. Most social scientists dealing with urban public space also tend to regard processes that take place in the public realm as a contribution to the social organization, as a fulfilment of societal nee ds. This top-down-view, however, neglects the daily users perspective. Do city dwellers wish to get together with all their co-urbanites? Everybody who has ever been in a city knows the answer: no, certainly not with everyone. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that at least some individuals derive great pleasure from being in public. Whether a space will function well depends on a range of aspects that include scale, use, safety and comfort, density and links. In many cases it is the individuals experience of walking or dancing down a street, and the quality of environment, that is the most important element. Design then becomes about maximizing choice and trying to provide for different individuals goals. Mitchell, D (1995) adds another dimension to public space by putting forward the point that public spaces are also, and very importantly, spaces for representation. That is, public space is a place within which a political movement can stake out the space that allows it to be seen. In public space, political organizations can represent themselves to a larger population. By claiming space in public, by creating public spaces, social groups themselves become public. Only in public spaces can the homeless, for example, represent themselves as a legitimate part of the public† Public sphere is best imag- ined as the suite of institutions and activities that mediate the relations between society and the state (Howell 1993). Problems with public spaces Despite the resurgence of interest in public spaces, urban design and planning litera- ture has frequently hinted at the diminishing publicness of public spaces in modern cities. Some researchers have pointed out the threat of recent privatization policies, and claimed that public spaces, traditionally open to all segments of the population, are increasingly being developed and managed by private agencies to produce profit for the private sector and serve the interests of particular sections of the population (Punter, J 1990). Others have commented on the high degree of control now maintained over access and use of public spaces through surveillance cameras and other measures intended to improve their security (Reeve, A 1996). Still others have argued that contemporary public spaces increasingly serve a homogenous public and promote social filtering. These open-access public spaces are precious because they enable city residents to move about and engage in recreation and face-to-face communication. But, because an open-access space is one everyone can enter, public spaces are classic sites for tragedy, to invoke Garrett Hardins famous metaphor for a commons (H, Garrrett 1968, cited Ellickson, R 1996) A space that all can enter, however, is a space that each is tempted to abuse. Societies therefore impose rules-of-the-road for public spaces. While these rules are increasingly articulated in legal codes, most begin as informal norms of public etiquette (Taylor, R 1984, cited Ellickson, R 1996). Rules of proper street behaviour are not an impediment to freedom, but a foundation of it (Ellickson, R 1996) Oosterman, J (1992), in his journal Play and Entertainment in Urban Public Space: The Example of the Sidewalk Cafà ©, points out that since 1989, several cities and towns in the Netherlands have invested millions of guilders in the design and redesign of plazas, streets and parks. These designs are also meant to have a social impact. Many discussion sessions are held about the nature of social life in urban public space and its function in the greater urban society. This is the case in debates among policy-makers and planners as well as among social scientists and architects. Although the concepts used in these sessions do not always deserve a prize for clarity, some characteristics appear through the haze: urban public places should be accessible, or even democratic places. Other participants in the discussion about public space do not share this belief in the possibilities of changing urban society by changing its public spaces. Richard Sennett (1990, p.201) for example is rather pessimistic in his latest book The Conscience of the Eye. People no longer seem to be able to cope with the social and cultural differences of the modern city. They maintain their network of personal relations within physically and visibly segregated social worlds: sealed communities as he calls them. According to Sennett, urban public spaces cannot bridge the gap between those worlds, even though they are supposed to do so. Today one cannot open a book about public space design without coming across a picture of either the Piazza San Marco in Venice or the Campo in Siena: two beautifully designed plazas referring to the romantic ideal of free, accessible public space, where everybody meets anybody. Comparing their idealistic model of a real public space with the contemporary city makes authors like Habermas and Sennett rather pessimistic about contemporary urban culture. The citys urban territory is too privatized and inaccessible. This pessimism is not surprising. Over time, the scale of society grew, the mobility of the population increased and new means of communication developed and disseminated among the population. These and other conditions led to different claims on urban public spaces Solutions William H. Whyte argues that cities should exert no controls on undesirables, including beggars and aggressive eccentrics. In his words:The biggest single obstacle to the provision of better spaces is the undesirables problem. They are themselves not too much of a problem. It is the actions taken to combat them that is the problem. The people have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives and to petition for redress of grievances. In their study with the Jagori, Kalpana Viswanath and Surabhi Tandon Mehrotra concluded that Womens ability and right to access and use public spaces is dependent on the kinds of boundaries imposed upon them due to nature of the space and its usage. Thus having a mixed usage of space is more conducive to free and easy access. Very strict zoning leads to separation of spaces for living, commerce and leisure. This increases the likelihood of some spaces being closed to women and other vulnerable groups such as children. For example in Delhi, we ( Viswanath, K Mehrotra,S) found that vendors selling everyday items make a space safer, whether in the subway, residential areas or bus stops. The local bread and egg seller gave a sense of comfort to women who returned home at night. Similarly vendors provided light and a crowd around bus stops which tend to become increasingly empty and dark as it gets later. But this phenomenon of safety provided by the hawkers is not understood by all govt authorities. Anjaria, J (2006) tells the story of condition of street hawkers in Mumbai. They are frequently described by civic activists, municipal officials and journalists as a nuisance; and are seen to represent the chaos of the citys streets and the cause of the citys notorious congestion. On the other hand, to others they represent an undeserved claim of the poor on the citys public spaces. This despite the fact that even a cursory look at the citys streets and footpaths shows that parked, privately-owned cars are by far the citys greatest encroachers of public space, and the greatest obstruction to the movement of pedestrians. However. to the self-proclaimed defenders of public space, the civic activists and the NGOs bent on removing hawkers from the citys streets, these facts are irrelevant. Neighbourhood by neighbourhood, the citys footpaths must be reconfigured, disorderly footpaths must be made monofunctional. The crime of the hawker is to contradict this dream. And, thus they have become a public nuisance because, by working on the street, they are engaged in an activity that contradicts the supposed universal ideals of the modern public space. The question may be how do we bring the ethos of privatized space that we have become used to together with the return to more democratic values that many people aspire to for the Millennium? Kath Shonfield in her recent contribution to the Demos series on the Richness of Cities (Shonfield, 1998) focuses on public space and what she calls the new urbanity. She promotes the urban right to roam and suggests change to urban policy that would include urban rights to access, extending public access as a principle of new developments, and re visiting the idea of the arcade as an urban design model to be explored. (cited Jon, R 1999) In order to shape the design, size and form of public spaces in town centres, it is necessary to understand their roles and functions. Public spaces in town centres can be classified in two broad categories: links and nodes. Links are roads, pavements or pedestrianized areas which constitute routes allowing movement between land uses and attractions. Nodes are cross roads where a number of links meet in the form of public spaces such as market squares or plazas. There have been different models of gender conscious planning adopted by cities to respond to violence against women and womens fear of violence. The broken windows approach focuses on zero-tolerance to crime, closed circuit televisions (CCTV) and an exclusionary approach to creating safer spaces [Mitchell, D 2003]. This approach criminalises certain kinds of people and behaviour such as gay men. The safer communities model on the other hand, puts forth a vision of making public spaces safer through activities, land use, social mix and involving users in designing strategies and initiatives for safer public spaces. These are seen to be more conducive to building ownership rather than the top-down approach of the broken windows. The safer communities initiatives emphasise activity, land use and social mix (Whitzman, C 2006, cited Viswanath, K and Mehrotra, S 2007) Stavros Stavrides (2007) says: Instead of thinking of social identities as bounded regions one can consider them as interdependent and communicating areas. In an effort to describe urban space as a process rather than a series of physical entities, we can discover practices that oppose a dominant will to fix spatial meanings and uses. These practices mould space and create new spatial articulations since they tend to produce threshold spaces, those in-between areas that relate rather than separate. Urban porosity may be the result of such practices that perforate a secluding perimeter, providing us with an alternative model to the modern city of urban enclaves. A city of thresholds could thus represent the spatiality of a public culture of mutually aware, interdependent and involved identities. Walter Benjamin, in his essay entitled Naples, explored the idea of vitality and variety in the modern city. The porous rocks of Naples offered him an image for a city’s public life: â€Å"As porous as this stone is the architecture. Building and action interpenetrate in the courtyards, arcades and stairways† (Benjamin,W 1985). Porosity seems to describe, in this passage, the way in which urban space is performed in the process of being appropriated (Sennett 1995). It is not that action is contained in space. Rather, a rich network of practices transforms every available space into a potential theater of expressive acts of encounter. A â€Å"passion for improvisation† as Benjamin describes this public behavior, penetrates and articulates urban space, loosening socially programmed correspondences between function and place. Porosity is thus an essential characteristic of space in Naples because life in the city is full of acts that overflow into each other. Defyin g any clear demarcation, spaces are separated and simultaneously connected by porous boundaries, through which everyday life takes form in mutually dependant public performances. Thus, â€Å"just as the living room reappears on the street, with chairs, hearth and altar, so, only much more loudly, the street migrates into the living room† (Benjamin 1985). Porosity characterizes above all the relationship between private and public space, as well as the relationship between indoor and outdoor space. For Benjamin porosity is not limited to spatial experience. Urban life is not only located in spaces that communicate through passages (â€Å"pores†), but life is performed in a tempo that fails to completely separate acts or events. A temporal porosity is experienced while eating in the street, taking a nap in a shady corner, or drinking a quick espresso standing in a Neapolitan cafà ©. It is as if acts are both separated and connected through temporal passages that represe nt the precarious fleeting experience of occasion. Everyday occasions thus seem to shift and rearrange rhythms and itineraries of use (de Certeau 1984). only located in spaces that communicate through passages (â€Å"pores†), but life is performed in a tempo that fails to completely separate acts or events. A temporal porosity is experienced while eating in the street, taking a nap in a shady corner, or drinking a quick espresso. It is as if acts are both separated and connected through temporal passages that represent the precarious fleeting experience of occasion. Everyday occasions thus seem to shift and rearrange rhythms and itineraries of use (de Certeau 1984, cited Stavrides, S 2007) According to Starvides, Porosity may therefore be considered an experience of habitation, which articulates urban life while it also loosens the borders which are erected to preserve a strict spatial and temporal social order. Thresholds, thus play an important role in materialising the play of connection and sepration between spaces. A study of thresholds can help reveal the actual correspondence and interdependence between spatial identities. In post-colonial Asian cities like Hong Kong similar conditions of urban porosity exist. Hong Kongs urban environment is devoid of the cultural conditions that mark the traditional world cities of the West. There are no memorable public spaces, no refined residential fabric, and no exemplary monuments to religion, politics, art, knowledge or culture. â€Å"Urban life in Hong Kong is traditionally linear in form. The roles of parks, piazzas and gardens in Hong Kong take on functions that change with the time of the day. They are by nature multipurpose spaces, festival grounds, concert sites, and improvised sports arenas. While these open spaces are fully utilized in key times, they lack any identity and are usually barren and lifeless when not in use.† (Lu, L 2005)