LAW An Overview Essays - International Law, Legal Ethics, Law

LAW: an Overview Human nature consists of three basic components. These are to live, to propagate and to dominate. If Humanity was left without any other parameters, this natural state of existence would govern its behavior. Fortunately, there are parameters that exist. These parameters are law. The topic of this paper addresses the type of law that operates in creating potential boundaries for the behavior of states. This law is called the Law of Nations or international law. Patrick Moynihan, a senator from New York, has written a book on this subject called On the Law of Nations. His book argues that states need international law to monitor their actions and to maintain order. He also notes the frequent departures states do from international law. This essay will reflect his plea to return to the norms that international law provides; it will also discuss and identify the moral dilemmas that are present with international law and its relationship with states. The term "laisser aller" or "letting go" is used by Friedrich Nietzsche to describe this state of nature, in which man resides absently of law. His use of the term represents the struggle morality wages against nature and reason. He equates morality in any form, with "tyranny and unreason." Nietzsche proposes that man's natural existence be, in essence, nihilistic. Logically, the political entity known as the state, created by man will inherit these traits. Thus, the conclusion is that the creation and institution of international law are in direct violation to nature. However, international law exists and states "generally" submit themselves to it. . Since most of this law is derived from codified norms of states, the term submission can be used. There is a disservice committed to humanity when the law is broken, not just to those who are weaker in the global community but to the law itself. A violent raping of the law is committed when it is taken in an a la carte form. The constant shifting back and forth from international law to nature creates an incoherent system and a basis for calling the reversion to the natural state, evil. In this setting "illegal" unilateral action is immoral. Conversely, the adherence to the law is equally immoral. This conclusion is drawn from the virtue of integrity. Either have a commitment to comply with morality or completely abstain from a hypocritical form of servicing the law with words and no conformity. Consistency, is an extremely important factor of a system of law. Moynihan argues that the United State has begun to traverse a path leading away from its adherence to international law. "There is clear evidence that the United States is moving away from its long established concern for and advocacy of international legal norms of state behavior." The implication of the United States' departure is extremely troubling. The decline of universalism in world politics can be seen through the example of the United States. Moynihan has no trouble in finding examples in recent history to support his argument. During the Bush Administration two examples are cited of unilateral action condoned by the United States, which are violations of international law. The first is the precedent allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation apprehend fugitives of United States law anywhere around the world. This violates the principles of sovereignty and jurisdiction. The second example is the United States' raid on the home of the Nicaraguan embassador in Panama. This clearly violates the idea of extraterritorality. These actions are interpreted to be in violation to the very law that the United States constitution promises to up hold. Because of these actions and many others that are frequently taking place all around the globe, an underlying disregard for law in the international community exists. One could conclude that there is no real international law but international suggestion. The moral dilemma does not exist in an isolated location, such as the United States. This is a wide spread enigma that confronts political thinkers of today. The existence of an operational universal system in a predominated arena of nationalism is nearly impossible. The two systems have been shifting since the Treaty of Westphalia, according to Hans Morganthau. He argues that nations are now "the standard-bearers

Modern Urbanization

Modern Urbanization Free Online Research Papers Urbanization is a very real occurrence in our society today. In the world, 50% of the population lives in an urbanized society. Before I continue, I would like to present a clear definition to Urbanization. Urban means, relating to or concerned with a city or densely populated area, and urbanization refers to the conversion of rural areas, to more urbanized ones. A key term associated with the word, urban, is industrial. Big cites, are far more industrialized, and henceforth, provide a greater distribution of the economy. Take New York, as a classic example. New York is a vast economical network, due to the large quantities of businesses and the dense population. Add to this the amount of money needed, to even survive there, and the situations force the general populace to be as productive as possible. The aim of urbanization is, in theory, to provide a higher standard of living. It is true that, to a certain extent, those urban lifestyles are easier on the body than rural living, such as operating a farm. It is also true that urban living provides a higher quantity of diverse jobs. However, often times, the jobs provided, do not produce sufficient income on their own, to afford the standard of living. Therefore requiring another job to just â₠¬Å"pay the bills,† due to the higher prices of living. Urbanized cultures have access to a high number of services, public transportation, museums, arts, churches. It also puts all these things within reasonable distances. There is a problem however, and it has to do with the living arrangements. This is a personal observation more than anything; in cities, the majority residents live in apartments. Now having, a parent as an architect gave me further insight into this. I was told that the reason, that high-rises exist, is in order to maintain the convenience of proximity, to urban services. Also when designing high-rises one must maximize the space that is used. This is done by either clever design, or by having the apartments, as close together as possible, usually both. All of these are superficial attempts at bringing people together, because the obvious truth is that few people, have even a moderate relationship with their neighbors. In fact there are few acquaintances or friendships formed outside of work. Add to this, the average person can only keep track of around 120 people. Yet, in big cities, there may be 120 people living in half of a high-rise. Not to mention that being out in the city, you will see that many people by walking a few blocks. How can we be brough t together if we continuously walk by the same people, that we don’t recognize? I was having a conversation earlier today. In it, I was told that people are around others for their needs and conveniences. If that is true, then our society has no use for the people but for *things* they produce. Yet, those accomplishments mean nothing when we die. We as a society worship tools(idols), and forget that theres actually a consciousness using the tool. We are blinded, the economy is a machine, a tool, used by a few people to keep others in check, and the biggest illusion, is the fact that all we get, is the scraps that they, no longer want, yet we are content with this. Some of us think, Oh at least its better than those lower class people. Its a cascade effect; the majority, at the base gets the least, whiles their needs, is equal to every other human on the planet. Yet, not everyone has equal opportunities. All because we dont understand what love is. Love is not stuff; you cannot attach love to a thing. Love is a state of being, those who love, are drawn to unity, love is expressed by the action of unity. As in science, we can’t measure it directly, we can only feel it, and measure its effects. Doing something loving, requires that you be in the essence of that which is love first. We think its the other way around. Love is the drive in us toward each other, but it must be a natural unification. We cannot love if we are unified under false systems such as government or economy. Yes these artificial systems make us interdependent, that is a law of the universe which cannot be broken even if we didnt have these artificial systems. Just look at nature, we have plants that produce for herbivores, which provide food for carnivores or omnivores, which provide food for decomposers. Hence, the balance of life is maintained by interdependency. Yet we as a society, for the most part, work for someone else. We have created collectively a hierarchy of dependence. Simply, because we give power to the conveniences we have constructed, and because of this, we inevitably give power to those who have power over the conveniences. All the while, we fail to see that it is fear, that drives these people to crave power over the conveniences, we have labeled needs. In conclusion, I believe that cities are unnecessary. Our living arrangements should consist of independent clusters, which freely cooperate with surrounding clusters, without a centralized form government, outside of each cluster. Let us not forget that our early attempts, at having urban societies resulted in disintegration of culture, plagues, and horrible living conditions. Research Papers on Modern Urbanization19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationPETSTEL analysis of IndiaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeTwilight of the UAWPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyLifes What IfsResearch Process Part One

Cognition, language, and brain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cognition, language, and brain - Essay Example As the brain develops, language skills are modified to a significant degree depending on particular outside influences. Therefore, â€Å"both genetic and environmental influences may contribute in varying degrees to the final shaping of the dyslexic brain† (Lishman, 2003). Dyslexia cannot be diagnosed or understood as a specific disorder which has led to misunderstandings within the scientific community and the public regarding the condition which this discussion attempts to clarify. An example of the non-specific nature of dyslexia centers on an argument regarding which part of the brain most affects the condition. Though it is widely accepted that the left hemisphere of the brain controls verbal functions and positron emission tomography scans have confirmed this assessment, others, such as Price et al (1998) hypothesize that â€Å"reading aloud involves a large number of cognitive processes including, at a minimum, visual and orthographic analysis, phonological retrieval, articulation, and hearing the sound of the spoken word† (Price et al, 1998, p. 305). Price went on to say deficits associated with dyslexia â€Å"might be the hallmarks of exclusive reliance on a right-hemisphere†¦the reading of dyslexics rely exclusively on a right-hemisphere† (Price et al, 1998, p. 305). Some type of right-hemisphere mechanism involving reading comprehension is necessary to be able to read aloud if any one of the left-sided functions such as processing s tages, orthographic, semantic or phonological functions is not capable of operating normally. That the emotional and creative side of the brain plays some type of role in reading comprehension can hardly be disputed. For example, if a child is upset or they prefer to draw animal figures from letters instead of pronouncing them, the ability to read coherently may be slowed somewhat as compared to classmates. Dyslexia concerns many facets of brain function. However, it

Media and Gender Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Media and Gender - Research Paper Example With the advent of media and information technology, sweeping changes has manifested itself on women. Today, women spend all their time and resources on media, and are willing to anything in order to be beautiful or change their natural outlooks. This clearly shows that women use media as a tool of educating themselves as a way of seeking freedom from the yoke of women folk, which has enslaved them for long (Joo, 2012). It is evidently clear that most of the media houses take considerable airtime to advertise what appropriate appearance a woman should have in the modern world. This includes the likes of â€Å"figure eight†, tall and slender and less body weight women. Some of these ideal desirable body structures are may not be attainable practically by some of the women. This creates a negative mindset of dissatisfaction from such women should they fail to attain such desirable qualities (In Carter et al, 2014). Therefore, they start a voyage of events that will see them modify their natural bodies in order to pose those deemed desirable by the society. The main problem associated to most of these processes and operations women have to go through may bring adverse lifelong damages in health of victims. The worst outcomes arise where the desired body appearance fails to happen, or the desired characteristics become abnormal, the likes of the various cases that have been documented. Several w omen are on record to have for instance, applied breast enlargement cream only for one of the breasts to be extremely larger than normal and fail to match with the other pair. The main problem is that, some of these outcomes remain unchanged forever and hence a permanent scar of psychological dissatisfaction rules the entire life of a woman in question. Scholars have cautioned on negative results of female objections in the media. It is not, therefore, miracles to find women in the society who are bed-ridden after suffering the negative images that are

Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 16

Question - Essay Example The study by Rabinowitz et al. (2005) offers a systematic review of the literature of animal sentinel to identify evidence that relates such events to the health of human beings. A weakness of this study was that it could not assess the factors causing failure of the animal sentinel studies to use cohort and case-control methods more. Such approaches prove time-consuming and expensive compared to such other methods as the aggregate and cross-sectional study designs. Funding limitations may possibly have influenced the choices of study methods of animal sentinel. Another weakness of this study is that its small sample size affects its capacity to offer valid evidence. The strength of this study is that the authors have suggested a set of linkage points which are helpful for the assessment of evidence to bridge an event of animal sentinel to the human health. The research recognized gaps in the existing knowledge like shared outcomes, inadequate shared exposures’ documentation, and the relative vulnerability between humans and animals for the hazards of

Role of Heuristics in Social Cognition

Role of Heuristics in Social Cognition Tracy L. Rawlins Discuss the topic of social cognition and in particular the role of heuristics in the way we process information. Briefly describe two different heuristics and give examples of how and when they might be used as well as problems connected with their use. Our capabilities of interpreting, analyzing, remembering, and using information about the social world is referred to as our social cognition. It is believed that our thinking of the social world is quick and effortless; in other words, automatic (Baron Branscombe, 2012). It is our own way of encoding information, storing it in our memory, being able to retrieve it from our memory, as well as processing any information in our brains. Social cognition focuses on the manner in which individuals apply any information about social situations. As humans, we are only able to handle a particular amount of information at any point in time. When we are faced with information that goes beyond this point that we are able handle, we enter a state of information overload. In these situations, we are presented with alternate ways of stretching our cognitive processes, especially in times where the logically right answers are not easily known or would take an immense amount of effort to figure out. These alternate ways are called heuristics. Heuristics allow us to quickly deal with amounts of information that go beyond our own social cognition capacity. These processes contribute to the reason why a majority of our social thought is occurring on an automatic basis. More or less, heuristics are considered a mental shortcut that one may employ to allow them to solve issues and make their own judgments in a quick and efficient manner. They work by drastically cutting down thinking time and allow one to proceed in their situations without having to think about their next actions. Heuristics are used when we often need an expeditious solution to a problem. While they may be useful in some decision making cases, they may also be erroneous. Thus, it is safe to say that the fact something worked in the past, does not guarantee that it will indeed work again in the future. Seeking the same heuristic outcomes as previous experience makes it all the more difficult for an individual to come up with alternate ideas or solutions to th eir problems. One of the most common heuristics of the three that I see on a daily basis would be the availability heuristic. This shortcut relies mostly on examples that we have experienced or have previously been aware of. When we retain information from past experiences, it is highly convenient for one to relate any future similar experiences. When trying to yield a decision, we might immediately think of past events and we may very well judge those events more possible and more frequent than others. I believe individuals ten to declare things that they remember more important than the things that they do not. An example of when it would be helpful would be when referring to your relationships. Your relationship suddenly begins to grow because your significant other comes to mind more easily, even after leaving their side; this leads you to assume that this person must be of importance to you and worth your devotion. However, every heuristic possesses the chances of having errors in processing. As an example where this heuristic causes errors, we see multiple news reports about kidnappings, we might declare that kidnappings are more common in our area than they are in reality, leading us one believing that these events are more typical than they really are. In another example, the lottery has been seeing more winners closer to where you live. You start buying more lottery tickets than you should because you think your chances of winning are increased due to the frequency of jackpot winners close to where you live. On the other hand, I also see the representativeness heuristic on a daily basis as well. Every day, people are categorized into certain stereotypes, whether it is by their looks, their lifestyle, or simply how they act. Robert and Nyla, authors of Social Psychology, explain â€Å"You would base your judgment on the basis of a relatively simple rule: The more an individual seems to resemble or match a given group, the more likely she or he is to belong to that group† (Baron, Branscombe,2012, p. 38). This heuristic is our own estimation of the likelihood of an event by just comparing it to an existing prototype or category in which already exist within our minds. By prototype or category, I mean the things we think as the most typical or relevant object or event. While this heuristic can sometimes be handy, we may be more likely to overestimate the likelihood of something occurring, or more likely to make more errors within our judgments. One thing to remember is something is n ot more likely to occur just because it fits the category. In an example of which this heuristic might come in handy is when you go for your job interview. You see that the boss’s body language is welcoming and they offer warmth while communicating with you. He’s wearing a polo shirt, and khaki shorts. You feel more comfortable to disclose some personal experiences and share some laughs with them. You offer him to join you in a golfing tournament, assuming he likes to play golf by evaluating his attire. You two hit it off immediately and you are hired on the spot. However, the outcomes are not always correct. To explain how representativeness can cause errors, this example portrays an insight to the possibility of being wrong. You’re walking in New York City and see a group of African Americans wearing baggy clothes sitting on a stoop and immediately think you’re in danger because your perception of these particular individuals is that they are crime comm itting thugs based on their appearance. You couldn’t be farther from the truth; these men were actually undercover detectives scoping out the area for the actual crime committers, keeping the streets crime free. Since you related their appearance and race to a certain stereotype, you used the representativeness heuristic, and this caused your conclusion to be erroneous. Lastly, an example I am passionate about; pit bulls. A majority of society declares all pit bulls are dangerous and deadly because they know of them attacking people. They base their decisions on how pit bulls are portrayed to society, yet they do not take into account that the pit bulls who attack are almost always abused, fought, used as bate, or was put through traumatic events. Most pit bulls do not attack, do not bite, and are full of love and warmth, but since our society associates pit bulls with being attacked, they are deemed detrimental by many. Discuss schemas: their effects, how they are activated, the perseverance effect, and their tendency to become self-fulfilling. Schemas are frameworks which assist us in organizing social information and guide us during the processing of information (Baron Branscombe, 2012). The best example that I can use is describing concert goers. If you’re a concert goer, the chances are that you’ve been to one or more concert in the past. You know the entire process from being through it before. When arriving at the venue, you have to find parking. From there you must join the line to enter the arena, go through the security check, present your ticket, and find your seat. Every time you go, it is the same process. This means you have become familiar with the process and have since built up a mental framework, otherwise known as a schema. Schemas influence social thought processes including attention, encoding, and retrieval. â€Å"Attention refers to what information we notice. Encoding refers to the processes through which information we notice gets stored in memory. Finally, retrieval refers to the pro cesses through which we recover information from memory in order to use it in some manner – for example, in making judgments about other people† (Baron, Branscombe, 2012, p. 44). Schemas assist us in processing information efficiently, which is why they are likely to be utilized when we receive a lot of information at one point in time, particularly regarding the attention aspect. Though, when speaking of the decoding aspect, we rationalize the situations which capture our attention, becoming the main focus, are more likely to become stored information within our long term memory. Contrarily, when we receive information that goes against our expectations in situations may also be stored in an entirely different sector of our memory. When something goes against what we expect, it is thought to capture our attention, and force us to encode the information in our memory. Lastly, when speaking of the retrieval process, I am referring to the information that is most readily available. It doesn’t matter if the information goes along with our expectations or not – either way, inconsistent information may very well be remembered just as well as the information that is consistent. Furthermore, activating a schema is commonly known as priming. As our recent experiences employ some schemas to be active, it certainly affects our current thought processes. A schema is able to be accessed temporarily due to something we just experienced, or something that just happened. For example, you’re in your living room watching a horror movie and you get up to get something to drink. You wanted milk and cookies but you realize you have no milk. The store is right up the road and it would be a quick trip, so you jump into your shoes and start walking with your friend to the corner store. You approach the wooded area down the street and suddenly feel frightened from the crinkling of leaves nearby. Every step you take, you are more on edge and every time you look over your shoulder, you think someone is following you. The scary movie caused you to have an increased sensitivity to a schema due to a recent experience. Thus, the process in which an experience or an exposure to stimuli brings a particular schema in the very front of our mind and starts to influence our decisions and judgments, this is priming. Although such experiences are thought to have a lasting effect, schemas can be unprimed as well by the individual expressing the schemas; the influences of the primed schemas vanish. However, if one does not express a primed schema, the effects may last for a longer period of time. Additionally, in regards to the perseverance effect, schemas tend to keep their original framework even while new information is presented in which clearly defies the original information. The perseverance effect may take part in any position of a situation. This leads to the schema becoming self-fulfilling, whereas the schema influences our actions and responses within the social world in a manner that makes it consistent with the schema (Baron Branscombe, 2012). Fully explain the difference between automatic processing and controlled processing of information and provide an example of each. In regards to automatic processing of information, it is a cognitive process in which requires very little cognitive effort, is fast, and efficient. This type of processing can be the result of completing the same training on the same task, and once learned, the automatic response is not easy to ignore or modify. The automatic processing of information does not require the attention or awareness of the initiation or operation of the process. Therefore, these processes are effortless, involuntary, and unintentional, often occurring when we are not aware that they are occurring. For example, sometimes when we lose things and can’t imagine exactly where we put them, we can turn our attention to something different, and sometimes we suddenly remember where we placed the items in question. Another example of automatic processing would be when we have a busy schedule and don’t always remember what we were supposed to do. Often, we feel like the information is right there in t he back of our head, it just is not presenting itself. Our mind goes to something else that grabs our attention, and soon we remember the errand we were supposed to run. Controlled processes are cognitive processes in which require intentional control from the individual. The individual is aware and their effort is held by the amount of attention serving resources that are available at that given moment in time. When our attention is required to complete a given task, we are in control and aware. These processes require that we evaluate, think about situations, and base our decisions upon the information that we gather. Since controlled processes require our effort, they are thought to be slower than automatic processes. This places limitations on us having the ability to multitask, and on the speed of processing. In other words, the more tasks that we take on at the same time, the more our performance and quality of the results will suffer the consequences. An example of controlled processes would include efforts in the work place. While working, many people face the reality that they have more on their plate that they think they can handle. When th is occurs, they often try to get the job done to gain approval from their superiors. The work requires the focus and the attention of the individual’s cognitive processing in order to adequately get the job done. However, when having to complete multiple tasks at once, the quality of the work will not be as great as if they were handling only one task at a time. Another example would be when a student is given a test and they are unsure of the answer, they are forced to think long and hard about what selection they are going to choose on the multiple choice exam. They try to reflect on the information that they were learning during their course, and eventually remember the answer; it just took a little while longer to get there. Discuss the phenomena of persuasion and the cognitive processes that underlie it. In regards to the phenomena of persuasion, it is an influence from our social world in which an individual is encouraged to adopt or allow an attitude, idea, or a course of action. We are often encouraged to adapt to an individual’s suggestions if we determine that person is of authority or a trusted friend. We are inclined to follow these guidelines because they tend to lead us to selecting the right choice in certain situations. On the other hand, we accept persuasions and influences so much without much thought, we are often found letting ourselves being taken advantage of. This happens a lot on television as there are products being sold with promises that are not delivered within the warranty return policy time frame. Central route to persuasion or systematic processing is the first type of processing that we can employ, in which individuals pay close attention to the message and consider the relevant ideas and logic in detail (Baron Branscombe, 2012). Individuals are more likely to seek this route when the ideas are relevant to them, or when the idea gives a sense of personal responsibility. In this route, individuals are more influenced by messages that are of higher quality. Next, the second approach would be heuristic processing, or the peripheral route to persuasion, in which requires less effort. It enables an automatic response from us to persuasive ideas. The response occurs to cues in the situation in which various mental shortcuts are employed. Individuals employ this route when there is a lack of motivation, ability, or time to entertain the deeper meaning of the message. The most modern approach is the elaboration-likelihood model of persuasion, in which can work in one of two ways wh ich require different amounts of elaboration or cognitive effort. How important the message is to an individual, or the motivation and ability to process the message are the factors that decide which route is to be employed. The target of the message, the content of the message, and the source of the message are all components of the elements of the persuasive process (Baron Branscombe, 2012). References Baron, R. A., Branscombe, N. R. (2012). Social psychology (13th ed.). Boston, MA:  Pearson.

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Greene I Never Promised You a Rose Garden takes place in the late 1940s. The main setting is in a mental hospital just outside Chicago. But it also goes back and forth between the hospital and the main character’s home in Chicago. This book is about a girl named Deborah who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. She is sent to a mental hospital after trying to commit suicide. Deborah lives in her own world of Yri and has lost touch with reality. In fact, she wants no part of the real world. During her life she feels that she has been deceived in so many ways and has become cynical. She has no friends except for the secret Gods and Goddesses she makes up in her head. In the beginning of the book Dr. Fried is introduced. She is a doctor that is going over Deborah’s papers and speaking about how she may succeed in making Deborah better. This foreshadows how important she will be in Deborah’s life. Also how influential she will be to Deborah strengthening her health situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After cutting her arms, Deborah is moved to the Disturbed Ward or â€Å"D† ward. There she finds many interesting people. She continues to open up to Dr. Fried and tells her more and more about Yri. This in turn makes the Gods of Yri upset and makes Deborah go into these spells where she become unresponsive. The Gods also criticize her and put her down which makes her do things such as burn holes in the arms with cigarette butts. Dr. Fried finally gets to Deborah by telling her that she shouldn’t quit trying to get healthy and really gets to her. After that Deborah begins to realize how important living is and she begins to let in the real world. She finally is moved back to a B ward and is allowed off the grounds. She stops letting the Gods rule her and goes back to school to get her life back together. Deborah’s conflict in this book is an internal conflict. Its whether to let the world in and live in reality or to continue living in the self hating, but comfortable life she’s made up inside her head. Deborah would like to be live in the real world, but she somehow doesn’t feel she fits in and that her world Yri is above the real world. She however does eventually choose the real world with the help of her hospital friends and Dr.