Explain the Argument for Legalizing Euthanasia

Explain the argument for legalising euthanasia. (30 marks) The term ‘euthanasia’ derives from the Greek language meaning ‘a good death’. Euthanasia is the process in which a person who is suffering from a painful or crippling ailment or disability decides to end their own life, or a persons life being legally ended by another person. Currently, the laws in the UK make it illegal for a person to assist in allowing a person to commit suicide under the murder Act of 1965 and the Suicide Act 1971.The law states that intentionally ending a persons life, even with their consent, is illegal, as is assisting person to commit suicide. These are both offenses that are seen in the same light as murder. There have been over the last few years attempts to pass bills through parliament to change the laws around euthanasia within the United Kingdom. In 2009, Scottish Parliament tried to pass the End of Life Assistance Bill, which was put forward by Parkinson’s disea se sufferer, Margo Macdonald MSP.The law would allow those whose lives have become ‘intolerable’ due to a progressive degenerative illness, serious trauma or terminal illness to have the assistance of a doctor to help end their lives. Despite a series of proposed safeguards to be put into to prevent abuse of the system should the law be passed, the Scottish Parliament failed to pass the bill, with 85 votes against to the 16 for passing the bill. Similarly, in 2006, the Parliament of the UK tried to pass a bill that would allow a person who has less than 6months to live, suffering unbearably and sound mind would be able to end their life.This law was proposed by Lord Joffe who said â€Å"We must find a solution to the unbearable suffering of patients whose needs cannot be met by palliative care. † Other member of the House of Lords welcomed the bill with support. Baroness David who stated â€Å"If I were terminally ill, I believe I would be the only person with t he right to decide how I died† and also said that allowing euthanasia â€Å"would provide me with an additional option on how to end my life which I would find tremendously reassuring. † This bill was also received with opposition.Other members of the House of Lords who were against the bill included The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor. The ProLife alliance had stated that they would resist any changes in the laws surrounding euthanasia. The bill was eventually blocked by the House of Lord, with 148 against the bill, with the 100 votes for the bill. Mark Slattery from the charity Dignity with Dying, said they will continue to campaign to introduce an assisted dying bill.More recently, Anna Soubry, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health stated â€Å"I think it's ridiculous and appalling that people have to go abroad to end their life instead of being able to end their life at home. † This statement from Ms Soubry came days after locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson lost his right-to-die case in the High Court, and resulted in refusing food which led to his death 6 days. Tony had wanted his wife to help him end his life without her being prosecuted for murder, after a stroke, left him paralysed and unable to communicate verbally.He once stated, â€Å"I am fed up with my life, I do not want to spend the next 20 years like this† There have been other high profile cases, which have shown support for the allowing of Euthanasia within the UK. Terry Pratchett, a renowned author and sufferer of Alzheimer’s disease, is currently campaigning for the right-to-die and assisted suicide. He fears that with his condition, he would not be able to die with dignity, which he wishes. He strongly supports euthanasia, saying that when his time comes, he would wish that he would be able to end his life in the way in which he wants.Terry has produced and presented television documentaries around his argument of assisted dying, where he met other people who wish to have assisted suicide, and showed the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland, where British people could go to legally end their life. There are several arguments in favour of euthanasia. One argument is based around the idea that we all have personal autonomy – the freedom to make choices over our own lives. It is argued that we all have control over our wn lives, so therefore, that should include our right to choose whether we live or die. By not allowing euthanasia would be breaching the persons rights and taking away persons autonomy, as their choice of life would be made by the law and not by themselves. In addition, it stated in the General medical councils â€Å"Good Medical Practice† guide for doctors (2006) that doctors should listen and respond to patients concerns and preferences, furthermore, it is argued that doctors should respect the decisions of their care and treatment.Putting this into context, it is argued that doctors would not be upholding or respecting the patient’s rights or preferences, should they not be able to respond to their wishes, even if it were to die by means of assisted suicide. It is also argued that doctors already can administer involuntary passive euthanasia legally, so what is the difference of them administering active euthanasia. For example, by switching off a person’s life support machine that they are dependent upon to preserve their life, so the doctor is therefore affectively ending the person’s life.In addition, doctors can also administer medication (such as morphine) to relieve a person’s pain, even if they know this could speed up a person’s death. In this case, it is known as the ‘Principle of the Double Effect’ which protects doctors who perform actions in order to achieve a good primary outcome (such as to relieve pain), in case there were unintentional secondary outcomes, such as death. Also, people already have assisted suicide, despite it being outlawed in this country.There have been cases where family members or friends have been imprisoned for assisting in the death of loved ones who could not end their lives independently. It is therefore argued, if euthanasia already happens throughout the country, which includes the actions of medical professional, and it would be the practical idea to legalise it, as it would allow us legalise what already happens and to have the ability to regulate it. Finally, other arguments can also be based around the ‘Quality of Life’ Principle.The quality of life is a condition where a person enjoys a life of independence and physical, emotional and intellectual well-being. Many people who suffer from progressive ailments or disabilities, will often begin to lose their quality of life in one way or another. For example, they may become incontinent, lose the ability to ca rry out every day personal tasks such as cleaning themselves, or unable to feed themselves, and this can be become prevailing throughout the progression of their illness or disability.This can cause people to lead an undignified and unhappy life, which can be distressing to both the sufferer and the family. Many people, such as Terry Pratchett, when diagnosed with progressive illnesses wish they could end their lives before they enter the stage were there quality of life is insufficient to lead a good life. Some people argue that it is wrong to not allow people who do not lead a good quality to end their lives, as it is seen as the more justified and righteous thing do, as it ends the suffering both the family and the sufferer endure by being in that condition.

Alignment of HRM Essay

Introduction Marriott International, Inc. is an American diversified global hospitality company. It was founded in Washington, D.C., U.S. in the year 1927 by J. Willard Marriott with his wife Alice S. Marriott. It facilitates hotels and related lodging facilities. This public company has more than 3800 properties in more than 78 countries in the world. They have many full-service lodging, select-service lodging, Great America Parks and extended-stay lodging. They have always worked and got strength from their core values. Their core values are putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing the change, acting with integrity and serving our world. They have always worked on the base of founding principles and their heritage. Ensuring the HR strategy is in alignment with the business strategy Marriott International Inc. has become increasingly strategic in HR (Halzack, 2013). They are using various innovative practices. This has made them one of the best places to work in hospitality industry. The success of Marriott International can be ensured if stick to their core values and gain strength from their founding principles. They should successfully integrate HR strategy and business strategy to accomplish goals of the company. There should be no compromise in customer services. Marriott’s culture and heritage has always influenced and motivated their business. They should aim at employing talented employees who can recognize the value of guest and serve them to make more loyal customers. HR job positions and responsibilities Human Resources Coordinator: They are responsible for supporting the timely recruitment, administration, training and care of all associates The Human Resources Coordinator is expected to provide assistance to the Human  Resources Management in coordinating and implementing the Human Resources programs and initiatives. Human Resources Manager: They direct and work with Human resource associates to carry out the daily activities. Assistant Training Manager (Casino): The Assistant Training Manager (Casino) helps drive Marriott values and philosophy and ensures all casino-related training and development activities are strategically linked to the organization’s mission and vision. The position assists ensuring effective training is in place to enable the achievement of desired business results. The Assistant Training Manager supervises the needs assessments. It designs and develops training programs and also provides the delivery of both custom and corporate training programs. Director, Personnel Services: They are responsible for assisting the Director of Human Resources for carrying out different strategies which provides attraction, retention, and development of various talent. Preferable job position Human Resources coordinator and Human Resource manager would be more preferable job positions for me because both concentrates on managing administration, recruitment and training needs of the company which interests me. I would like to deliver HR services efficiently and effectively to enable business success. It requires helping management innovatively implementing HR programs and initiatives which interests me. Establishing HRM strategies to improve competitive advantages Marriott International has been using strategic HR practices to gain competitive advantages. They should try to eliminate the barriers to competitive response. They should focus on needs matching so that they could place right person at right place. They should improve their staffing and compensation HRM practices as they are the ones which help in creating competitive advantage for the company (Schuler and MacMillan, 2005). They should concentrate on training and development of employees and introduce more innovative HR policies and programs. Ways to increase company diversity Company has always been focused on increasing their diversity. These ways can be helpful to increase company diversity- Different ad campaigns for different diversities. Organizing summits for different demographics. Increasing their reach through attracting offers. References Bulla, D N and Scott, P M (1994) Manpower requirements forecasting: a case example, in Human Resource Forecasting and Modelling, ed D Ward, T P Bechet and R Tripp, Human Resource Planning Society, New York Randall S. Schuler and Ian C. MacMillan, Gaining Competitive Advantage through Human Resource Management Practices Reilly, P., (2003). Guide to Workforce Planning in Local Authorities, Employers Organization for Local Government, London. Wright, Patrick. â€Å"The 2011 CHRO Challenge: Building Organizational, Functional, and Personal Talent†. Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS). Retrieved 3 September 2011. Halzack , Sarah , At Marriott and other firms, HR becomes increasingly strategic: Published: August 26, 2013 Thewashingtonpost Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/at-marriott-and-other-firms-hr-becomes-increasingly-strategic/2013/08/23/63f0856c-05c0-11e3-9259-e2aafe5a5f84_story.html

A Review Of The Enron Code Of Ethics

A Review Of The Enron Code Of Ethics Enron Introduction The Enron code of ethics was well detailed, and all the provisions of the code of ethics were in line with the policies of the company. According to Sims and Brinkmann (2003), Enron policies together with the code of ethics fostered the company reputation of being fair and honest. The company tried to safeguard the interests of its customers by ensuring that it provides the best more than their competitors. The code of ethics specified that all the company employees should not conduct themselves in any manner that would jeopardize the best interest of the company. Moreover, the employees were not supposed to engage in any business that would suggest competition with the Enron. Through the above policies, the company gave room for failure instead of bringing in a perceived success. The policies indirectly forced the top executives as well as the junior employees to engage in unethical behaviors that later made the company failed ethically and subsequently financially. Enron is Synonymous with Ethical Failure Given that Enron’s code of ethics was inclined towards the good ethical conduct of all its cooperate employees, it failed and was declared bankrupt in 2001 (Fusaro and Miller, 2002). The failure of the Enron can be attributed to the failure of the executive and the unethical behavior within the company. The working conditions were and condescension where competition and financial goals were over emphasized. The profit orientation of Enron compelled it to always emphasize on policies that would see the generation of the benefits by all means. The employees were subjected to a rating system whereby 20 percent of the employees were supposed to be rated below the minimum requirements and fired (Marianne, 2009). Enron applied the rating system with a hope of encouraging the employees to work extra harder and avoid low ratings, but the system harmed Enron contrary to the expectations of the management. The continuous evaluation of the employees for performance together with the culture of competition lead to deception. The strict evaluation process compelled the employees to engage in cheating on their work. They were always nervous and feared to lose their jobs due to underperformance. Thus, they resorted to unethical means of surviving for a longer period within the company, for instance, they cheated about their progress even if they knew that things were not all that good. None of the employees felt the shame of cheating since it was becoming a culture. Those who stood by what was right was regarded odd by the cheating employees. Besides cheating, the employees covered errors and could not report errors of their colleges since each of them was entangled in his or her line of duty and focused only their achievements in the places of work. According to Katzenbach (2015), employees in a company help each other by asking and answering questions. However, the competitive environment in the Enron compelled the employees to avoid asking questions since they considered it humiliating. Moreover, they did not like helping each to avoid competition and avoided mentioning their doubts and seeking for clarifications. Moreover, Enron ensured that all its employees did not engage with outside parties that could out-compete Enron in the market. Thus, the employees were not allowed to express any doubts about the financial status and the plans of the company. Olson, a company analyst, lost his job because Olson advised his client not to invest in the company due to the unpredictable status of the business (Marianne, 2009). Conclusion Conclusively, the evil culture in the Enron company that was created by selfish company executives led to the fall of Enron. Both the officials and the employees engaged in unethical practices and they ended up contributing to the downfall of the Company.

Final project (lesson plan ) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final project (lesson plan ) - Assignment Example The whole process is art based as the students will use their artistic imaginations to come up with patterns. â€Å"Mathematics is closely related to art as by showing the students how to work out fractions, some element of art will be visible through patterns that will be used to represent fractions† (Furgerson). Learning Objective: Each student should be able to: Measure and cut square shapes of similar sizes from the printing paper. Systematically arrange the printing papers into a the construction paper Understand the basic division of numbers. Understand fraction and perform simple fractions on the construction paper and on the chalk board. Materials: Two large Construction papers per student. The color should be different to the printing paper and also of varying hues per group. A ream of printing paper per student Sufficient number of scissors or paper cutters Steps: Session one: 1) Start this lesson by giving a brief discussion on fractions and recapping what was learn t on the theoretical class about fractions, equations and division. Test the students understanding of the lesson by asking questions such as: What is a fraction? What is the importance of fractions in Mathematics? 2) Take students through some practical examples of fractions in the real world and ask them to cite others too. This should be repeated until all students show a high level of understanding of the topic of fraction. 3) Divide the class into groups while ensuring that there is an equal number of students per group. In the case where the number of students in the class is a prime number, the tutor should be included in the count and join one of the groups. The tutor will however have to play a passive role to ensure the students take lead roles in their assignment. If the number is divisible in so many ways, that is, there are so many other factors of division, all these division factors should be used at different times to help the student understand division (Furgerson). Session two: 1) Introduce to the class, the materials for the session and walk them through on how to cut the shapes as follows; use a ruler to measure a ten inch by ten inch grid. In this square, measure and mark ten equally spaced rows and a similar number of columns. This step should lead to a ten by ten 100 grids measuring one inch in dimension. 2) Cut the construction paper into a hundred pieces of an inch by an inch using a paper cutter or in the case of a scissor, use a ruler to make straight lines and cut the a hundred pieces of equal dimensions of one inch each. 3) Place ten pieces into the grid or any number that is a multiple of ten and take count together with the students. These colored pieces count will form the numerator of the fraction while the denominator is a hundred, being the total count for the grids. Repeat this process a further two times before engaging the students in their own groups to perform the process. Help out with the cutting out of the constructio n paper into square pieces as necessary and start each group with a uniform number of pieces but ensure it is a multiple of ten; for ease of work, start with twenty pieces for each group. Let the groups play with easy numbers for the numerators like 30, 40, 50, and even 60 before introducing more complex numbers like 47 and 63. Each time the students do this process, ensure that they write down the result in a

History and Laws of Abortion in the US Research Paper

History and Laws of Abortion in the US - Research Paper Example Abortion has always been a controversial but frequently performed practice in nearly all parts of the world whether it is legal or not. Despite all the moral considerations, abortions were performed legally before 1880 in United States of America. After that most of the states banned the practice with the exception of the case for saving a mother’s life. Anti-abortionist movements, politics, and birth control efforts facilitated anti-abortionist or restrictive legislation throughout history. However, the case of Roe v. Wade and Supreme Court’s decision turned the history in favor of abortion forever in 1973.The abortion history before and after Roe v. Wade is entirely different. The law legalized the practice throughout United States considering it the privacy and right of a woman. The paper explores the history of abortion and laws involved with special emphasis on 1973 Roe v. Wade case. According to Webster’s New International Pocket Dictionary 1998,â€Å"The expulsion of a fetus prematurely, miscarriage, the defective result of a premature birth; a monstrosity, and a person or thing that fails to progress or develop normally or as expected† (as cited in Krieg, 1999, p.4).On the other hand, Webster’s New International Pocket Medical & First Aid Dictionary, 1998 refers abortion as, â€Å"The ultimate termination of a pregnancy, either by natural or artificial means† (as cited in Krieg, 1999, p.4). In United States, Abortions became legal after Supreme Court’s decision of the case Roe v. Wade in 1973.But the history of abortions dates back to the time when earliest settlers of this land arrived. In American colonies, English â€Å"Common Law† was adopted that prohibited abortion. It was considered a â€Å"misdemeanor† if performed before â€Å"quickening† while after quickening, it was considered to be â€Å"felony†. In early 1800s, the discovery about conception and

Analytical Measurements Should be Made to Satisfy an Agreed Essay

Analytical Measurements Should be Made to Satisfy an Agreed Requirement - Essay Example b.Prior to making a final judgement the results thus obtained from measurements should be compared to the existing standards already laid down to interpret the lower and upper limits. For example, in determining the level of alcohol in the blood of a driver charged with driving while drunk, there should be an existing standard level of alcohol in blood considered safe for driving and a limit above which it is unsafe to drive. The result obtained from the blood sample of this driver is then compared to the standard limit. (4, 10) c.A valid measurement is the one which does not result in misleading an observer, or the customer of a laboratory making the measurement. That is to say, that if the customer makes a decision relying on the information obtained by a valid measurement then the decision is correct. (4, 10) d.A valid measurement in itself may not be particularly accurate or precise, but if a conclusion is to be reached as to how the result differs from a standard then the measurement will have sufficient accuracy and precision to satisfy customer’s requirement. The correctness of a decision reached by relying on the information obtained through analytical measurement indicates the validity of measurement. (1, 4, 10) e.The aim of the agency making Valid Measurement, normally a laboratory, is to provide their customers with results that are not ambiguous and confusing and meet customer requirements. That is why Analytical Measurement should be made to satisfy an agreed requirement. (10) In analytical measurements the quality of data extracted is all that matters and good information thus gained is an outcome of good measuring techniques applied. For data to be of good quality the technique employed should be validated by being precise, repeatable, reproducible and stable. (8,9) g. A precise technique does not have deviations in the result of same measurement. There should be no change in methodology of measurement and neither should there be a change in what is being measured. The repeatable technique should render the same result when the same object is measured over a number of times. A reproducible technique is the one which when repeated produces the same result. A stable technique does not change over a period of time and if repeated, in times to come, it should be able to give same results as in the past. (2, 5) h. Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) and National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have jointly developed Valid Analytical Measurement (VAM) principles, as part of their VAM programme to sketch a design for laboratories involved in making analytical measurements. Out of the six principles as laid down "Analytical measurements should be made to satisfy an agreed requirement" (4) is the first. (4) i. To realize the importance of agreed requirements consider that there a number of tests which can be performed to carry out a measurement. An analyst, being an expert, must enter into a dialogue with the customer to discuss the quality of results, time and cost of these tests. The analyst must have the knowledge to identify customer's requirements. Moreover, it is important to gain an insight into the criticality of the measurement by virtue of discussion with the customer. As such, it becomes necessary to know for what purpose the result will be used. (4, 5, 6) j. All critical and non-critical issues must be explained to the customer prior

D3 Whistleblower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

D3 Whistleblower - Essay Example These individuals may be in danger after the whistleblowing. The tort law aims to protect individuals against harm from unreasonable actions of other people (Lipman 2011). The law therefore protects the whistleblowers from being hurt legally by those they have blown the whistle against. Intentional tort law protects the whistleblower. Whistleblowers are protected by this tort law because even though their actions intentionally hurt those involved in the organization, they do so with an intention of ending the misconduct hence the action is justified and law offers protection (McBride and Bagshaw 2008). This law protects the special agent because even though the FBI’s integrity was questioned, the action will enable other intelligence organizations to be vigilant in future hence her action was justifiable in court. The Lloyd-La Follette Act is a congressional act that was passed as a way to protect civil servant whistleblowers against abusive or even unwarranted removal of the whistleblower for revealing misconduct or furnishing information. It also guarantees the rights of employees to reveal any inefficiency information about the institutions to the congress or authorized committees. All this is in a bid to improve the integrity of such institutions and organizations and protect their employees at the same

Modernist And Postmodernist Interior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Modernist And Postmodernist Interior - Essay Example Most importantly, this paper will show the connection between culture and interior designs. It will do so by analyzing the changes in different cultures currently experiencing change. As a global village, there is increased cultural interaction that has seen a lot of borrowing between cultures. These kinds of interactions are some of the forces that are responsible for shaping modernism and post-modernism development. The most visible progress from modernism to post modernism is not only exhibited through technology but also through architecture and interior designs (Piotrowsky, 2008, p.116). Withal, in the comparison of the two designs, this paper will also elaborate on the close links that tie together interior design and socio-cultural aspects of the society. It will also assess the interdependence between the two broad dynamics of each of these aspects (Tangaza, 2006, p. 80). It will sustain this by analyzing how a change in one aspect directly or indirectly prompts the other to change. In order to bring a clear understanding on the interconnectivity between these two major contexts, this paper will bases its assessment and comparison on relevant theories of modernism and post modernism. These are theories that explain the concepts of modernism and post-modernism in the context of the society and its culture. ... Some of these actors may be hard to achieve or attain for some regions more than it may be for some regions. Perhaps the best question on should be asking now is what exactly modernism and post modernism mean. After that it will be easier to understand the concept of modern interior designs and postmodern interior designs in architecture. The Concept of Modernism and Post-Modernism Some scholars are of the opinion that the concept of postmodernism is one that has arisen out of a desire and endeavor to move away from the eighteenth century enlightment philosophy. They claim that there was a need for man to come with present and more current ways of defining the present times and living by those standards that befit the current age. While this may be true, there is however a clear attempt or omission that skips one step. Postmodernity cannot come ahead of modernity. This brings us to the debate on whether one can clearly distinguish whether the concept of modernity and postmodernity is actually one thing. Can one sufficiently argue that postmodernity concept is one that man coined to celebrate his immense achievements although these achievements are just slightly above modernism? This may not presents clear distinction. Nevertheless, one can be bold enough to say that postmodernity exist side by side like two faces of the same coin. However, postmodernity presents an understanding of man’s response to humanity and making of great strides in his quest to make life better. Postmodernity therefore appears to be a new way of doing things in the best way possible. One can also say that postmodernism is movement towards decentralizing and dispersing of aspects about life. Call it a great shift to make modernity even better. Other scholars argue that postmodernity is

Personal Jurisdiction in the Internet Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Jurisdiction in the Internet Age - Essay Example It is providing general information, allowing readers to contribute their opinions, and these characteristics are certainly more passive than interactive. A closer examination, however, reveals that this website is quite interactive. At the top of the page there is a "donate" link. Readers are encouraged to support this site financially because it is not a traditional commercial enterprise. Donating online is a form of two-way communication and hardly passive. In addition, there are many advertisements on this web page. While advertisements alone, per se, are inadequate to justify personal jurisdiction, these particular advertisements are related to the conspiracy topic of the web site. There are shirts with the web page logo for sale, advertisements for investments in gold and precious metals to hide from an inevitable economic crash, and a web site store hawking everything from key rings to videos and hats. Most significantly, these products are sold online, through the web site. T he operator of this web site, therefore, must recognize that many states can acquire personal jurisdiction. This web site is not passive. This web site is much more than the "middle spectrum" cases to which Wolf refers.

PERSONAL STATEMENT Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Statement Example mmunications and social marketing and specifically e-marketing; this has me achieve distinctions at the school of Business for Top Athletes in Austria. Further, a degree in +Apprentice for the profession of Retailer as well as a High school Diploma in Business Administration with distinctions. The culmination of my academic qualifications will be later this year at St. Poelten University of Applied Science on acquisition of my Degree in Media Management. With my experience at Bene AG as an intern this year in corporate communications and e-Marketing; my passion for marketing programs and campaigns was realized. Crucial skills in the world of technology were archived that incorporated web page optimization, e-newsletters preparation, e-marketing and e-mails. These gave me great impetus with respect to the contemporary world media skills. This was an extension of what I had achieved in my other placements at NXP for Event Management and Communications in 2009, as well as Camp Echo New York PR. The placement at Camp Echo was also a fascinating one that gave me overwhelming exposure with respect to publicizing and event managements for sports. This was realized alongside organization of trip, Presentation and Moderation of events. To top up on the above, with photography skills incorporating artistic, portrait, commercial and reportage; music and its production, as well as writing scripts, I worked for Hobby Photograph for NOEN particularly covering my hobby sports events. I am also a member of the â€Å"Event, Film and Radio’ team at the university as well as the Campus Magazine- SUMO. These activities have prepared me for the media activities and heightened my passion for further studies. This will make me realise the dream of my interests in social affairs, media and sports, America, forego languages encounter as well as travelling to experience different cultures. Media is a great part of my academic and career achievement and I truly feel that my Masters will

Presocratic Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Presocratic Philosophy Essay Although Aristotle’s statement is too slight to serve as a sure foundation for judgment, it seems more likely that Thales was arguing for the broader presence of life forces in the world than most people imagined, rather than that the real in its totality is alive. Anaximander Thales’ younger contemporary from Miletus, Anaximander, born toward the end of the seventh century B. C. E. , found the explanatory principle of things in what he called ‘‘the apeiron,’’ a word that might be translated as ‘‘the indefinite,’’ ‘‘the boundless,’’ or both. This opens up the possibility that the apeiron is both immeasurably large in its temporal and physical extent and also qualitatively indefinite in that it is without measurable inner boundaries. The apeiron is further described, according to Aristotle, as being ‘‘without beginning,’’ ‘‘surrounding all things,’’ ‘‘steering all things,’’ ‘‘divine,’’ ‘‘immortal,’’ and ‘‘indestructible. ’’ Some have inferred that Anaximander’s barely concealed purpose was Western philosophy’s first attempt at demythologization. Equally striking is Anaximander’s description of the universe as a closed, concentric system, the outer spheres of which, by their everlasting motion, account for the stability of our earth, a drum-shaped body held everlastingly in a state of equipoise at the center. Whatever the inadequacy in certain details (the stars are placed nearer to the earth than the moon), with Anaximander the science of cosmological speculation took a giant step forward. As far as life on earth is concerned, Anaximander offered another striking hypothesis. The first living things, according to him, were ‘‘born in moisture, enclosed in thorny barks’’ (like sea urchins), and ‘‘as their age increased, they came forth onto the drier part’’ (as phrased by Aetius [first to second century C. E. ]). Pythagoras Although we know that Pythagoras was a historical figure, it is difficult to determine exactly what Pythagoras himself taught. He wrote nothing, and the ideas of other members of the community were attributed to him as a sign of respect and as a way of lending weight to the ideas. Plato and Aristotle rarely assign ideas to Pythagoras himself, although Pythagorean ideas seem to have influenced Plato’s philosophy. Pythagoreans asserted that number is the first principle of all things. They were the first systematic developers of mathematics in the West and discovered that natural events could be described in mathematical terms, especially as ratios. To the Pythagoreans, the â€Å"principle of number† accounted for everything. Number was a real thing. Somehow, numbers existed in space, not just as mental constructs. According to Pythagorean doctrine, the entire universe is an ordered whole consisting of harmonies of contrasting elements. The Greek for â€Å"ordered whole† is cosmos. The Pythagoreans were the first philosophers to use the term cosmos to refer to the universe in this way. The â€Å"celestial music of the spheres† is the hauntingly beautiful phrase the Pythagoreans coined to describe the sound of the heavens as they rotate according to cosmic number and harmony. Xenophanes A fourth Ionian philosopher, Xenophanes of Colophon, born around 580 B. C. E. , s the first we know of to overtly attack the anthropomorphism of popular religious belief, in a series of brilliant reductio ad absurdum arguments. His own view has been understood, ever since Aristotle, as pantheistic. Xenophanes was also the first philosopher we know of to ask what degree of knowledge is attainable. In B34 we read: ‘‘the clear and certain truth no man has seen, nor will there be anyone who knows about the gods and what I say about all things. ’’ Several ancient critics took this to be an indication of Xenophanes’ total scepticism. On this basis of moderate empiricism and scepticism, Xenophanes offered a number of opinions of varying plausibility about the natural world, one of which—a strong, evolutionary interpretation of the discovery on various islands of fossils of marine animals—is enough to constitute a major claim to fame in natural philosophy and ranks with his other significant steps in epistemology (the theory of knowledge dealing with what we know, how we know it, and how reliable our knowledge is), logic (the study of rational inquiry and argumentation), and natural theology (the attempt to understand God from natural knowledge). Heraclitus One of the most important and enigmatic of the Presocratics, Heraclitus (fl . 500 b. c. e. , d. 510–480 b. c. e. ), said that ignorance is bound to result when we try to understand the cosmos when we do not even comprehend the basic structure of the human psyche (soul) and its relationship to the Logos. The complex Greek word logos is intriguing. It could and at times did mean all of the following: â€Å"intelligence,† â€Å"speech,† â€Å"discourse,† â€Å"thought,† â€Å"reason,† â€Å"word,† â€Å"meaning,† â€Å"study of,† â€Å"the record of,† â€Å"the science of,† â€Å"the fundamental principles of,† â€Å"the basic principles and procedures of a particular discipline,† â€Å"those features of a thing that make it intelligible to us,† and â€Å"the rationale for a thing. † The Heraclitean capital L Logos is like God, only without the anthropomorphizing (humanizing) of the earlier philosophers and poets who attributed human qualities to the gods. According to Heraclitus’s impersonal view of God, the Logos is a process, not an entity. As such, the Logos is unconcerned with individuals and human affairs, in much the same way that gravity affects us but is unconcerned with us. More radically yet, Heraclitus asserted that even though things appear to remain the same, â€Å"Change alone is unchanging. † Traditionally, it has been held that Heraclitus went so far as to claim that everything is always changing all the time. But whether he really meant that everything is always changing, or that individual things are held together by energy (change), remains unclear. Anaximenes Anaximander’s younger contemporary, Anaximenes, who lived during the sixth century B. C. E. appears to revert to a prior and less sophisticated vision in claiming that the earth, far from being a drum-shaped body held in equipoise at the center, is flat and ‘‘rides on,’’ supported by air. The same might be said of his contention that the basic, ‘‘divine’’ principle of things was not some indefinite entity but something very much part of our experience; namely, air. Anaximenes’ view would also no doubt have seemed to be corroborated by the fact that the universe, commonly understood as a living thing and hence needing a soul to vivify it, possessed in air that very ‘‘breath’’ that for most Greeks constituted the essence of such a soul. Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (fift h century b. c. e. ) radically transformed the early philosophers’ interest in cosmology, the study of the universe as a rationally ordered system (cosmos), into ontology, the study of being. By common agreement he was the giant among the pre-Socratics. According to Parmenides, none of his predecessors adequately accounted for the process by which the one basic stuff of the cosmos changes into the many individual things we experience every day. In his search for a solution to the problem of â€Å"the one and the many,† Parmenides turned to a reasoned analysis of the process of change itself. According to Parmenides, all sensations occur in the realm of appearance. This means that reality cannot be apprehended by the senses. Change and variety (the many) are only appearances; they are not real. If this is true, then our most commonly held beliefs about reality are mere opinions. The senses cannot recognize â€Å"what is,† much less can they discover—observe—it, ever. In other words, whatever we see, touch, taste, hear, or smell is not real, does not exist. Perhaps most unsettling of all, Parmenides â€Å"solved† the problem of the appearance of change by concluding—in direct opposition to Heraclitus’s insistence that everything is always changing—that the very concept of change is self-contradictory. What we think of as change is merely an illusion. The logic runs as follows: â€Å"Change† equals transformation into something else. When a thing becomes â€Å"something else,† it becomes what it is not. But since it is impossible for â€Å"nothing† (what is not) to exist, there is no â€Å"nothing† into which the old thing can disappear. (There is no â€Å"no place† for the thing to go into. ) Therefore, change cannot occur. Empedocles posited, against Parmenides, change and plurality as features of reality, but affirmed the eternality of anything that is real; the sphere-like nature of the real when looked at as a totality and the fact that the real is a plenum, containing no ‘‘nothingness’’ or ‘‘emptiness’’. Anaxagoras likewise posited change, plurality, and divisibility as features of reality, yet also affirmed the eternality of the real (understood by him as an eternally existent ‘‘mixture’’ of the ‘‘seeds’’ of the things currently constituting the world, rather than the eternal combinings and recombinings, according to certain ratios of admixture, of four eternally existent ‘‘roots’’ or elemental masses). Leucippus Leucippus of Miletus (c. fi ft h century b. c. e. ) and Democritus of Abdera (c. 460–370 b. . e. ) argued that reality consists entirely of empty space and ultimately simple entities that combine to form objects. T is materialistic view is known as atomism. Leucippus is credited with being the originator of atomism and Democritus with developing it. Rather than reject Parmenides’ assertion that change is an illusion, Leucippus argued that reality consists of many discrete â€Å"ones ,† or beings. Zeno Zeno, who was born early in the fifth century B. C. E. , was a friend and pupil of Parmenides. In his famous paradoxes he attempted to show by a series of reductio ad absurdum arguments, of which the best known is perhaps that of Achilles and the tortoise, the self-contradictory consequences of maintaining that there is a real plurality of things or that motion or place are real. The prima facie brilliance of many of the arguments continues to impress people, though it soon becomes clear that the paradoxes turn largely on the failure or unwillingness of Zeno, like so many Pythagoreans of the day, to distinguish between the concepts of physical and geometrical space. Zeno’s way of constructing the problem makes it seem that his primary object is to defame pluralists by attacking the logical possibility of explaining how there can be motion in the world. Gorgias Gorgias has achieved fame for the stress he laid upon the art of persuasion (‘‘rhetoric’’), although whether he wrote the baffling On What Is Not as a serious piece of persuasive reasoning or as some sort of spoof of the Eleatic philosophy of Parmenides and others remains disputed. Its basic, and remarkable, claim is prima facie, that nothing in fact is (exists /is the case [esti] or is knowable or conceivable. Any exiguous plausibility that the arguments supporting this claim possess turns on our overlooking Gorgias’s failure, witting or unwitting, to distinguish carefully between knowing and thinking, along with his various uses of the verb ‘‘to be. ’’ If the failure was witting, the document can be seen as a skillful device for the spotting of fallacies as part of training in rhetoric and basic reasoning. If it was unwitting, Gorgias still emerges as what he was claimed to be—a deft rhetorical wordsmith on any topic proposed to him. Protagoras Perhaps the greatest of the Sophists was Protagoras of Abdera (481– 411 b. c. e. ). Protagoras was an archetypal Sophist: an active traveler and first-rate observer of other cultures who noted that although there are a variety of customs and beliefs, each culture believes unquestioningly that its own ways are right—and roundly condemns (or at least criticizes) views that differ from its own. Based on his observations and travels, Protagoras concluded that morals are nothing more than the social traditions, or mores, of a society or group. The details of Protagoras’s beliefs remain disputed. When he said, for example, that ‘‘anthropos [humanity] is a/the measure for all things, of things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not,’’ it is unclear whether he is talking about one person or the sum total of persons; about ‘‘a’’ measure or ‘‘the’’ measure (there is no definite article in Greek); or about existence or states of affairs or both. The Platonic reading in the Theaetetus, which takes ‘‘anthropos’’ as generic and ‘‘measure’’ as exclusive, led to the assertion that the logical consequence was total (and absurd) relativism. ______________________________ References: The Columbia History of Western Philosophy. Richard H. Popkin. Columbia University Press. 1999. Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. 7th ed. Douglas J. Soccio. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2010.

The Role of Emotion Focussed Theory in Functional Assessment Essay Example for Free

The Role of Emotion Focussed Theory in Functional Assessment Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this essay , I am elaborating on the types of psychotherapy which have persisted for generations and which have undergone favourable changes over the years, conforming to the opinions of great psychoanalysts who have written a large amount of literature from their experience and research. I am concentrating on functional assessment and emotion focussed theory and an integration of the two. I have quoted from a few studies by psychotherapists and researchers.   The advantages of the approaches would be obvious from the essay. How an integrated approach scores over the earlier functional assessment is described here with the support of researchers’ views. The Role of Emotion Focussed Therapy in Functional Assessment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The humanistic or experiential traditional psychotherapy included the Gestalt therapy, client centred therapy and the existential therapy which were practised for a long time. The Gestalt therapy is a holistic, process oriented and field theoretical approach to human change.(Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). The factors of awareness, contact, personal responsiveness and responsibility are built into it. Primacy is ascribed to the uniqueness of the individual. The person is treated in whole rather than in parts. Biological maturation, environmental influences, interaction of the individual and the environment and creative adjustment play a crucial role (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). Fritz Perls,the founder, considers the method as a congruence of many theories. Freud’s psychoanalysis had an influence on Gestalt therapy. Perls used Freud’s developmental sequence in his theory. The four major concepts are biological field theory, theory of the organism, the need for making contact and relationship and the capacity for making wholes. Biological field theory states that an organism can be understood only in its organised, interactive, interconnected and interdependent totality (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). The second theory considers that an organism has physical, cognitive, emotional, social, economical, spiritual, aesthetic and interpersonal dimensions; each of equal importance. The third says contact or building of relationships is essential for survival. (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). A person who cannot make contact with his surroundings or has a blockade requires intervention. The fourth speaks of the human being as having the capacity of organising and reorganising his bodily functions, perceptual functions, cognitive and behavioural aspects. Gestalt therapy is aimed at assisting the client in restoring his own ability to self-regulate as an organism and have successful and fulfilling contact with others in the environment as well as be familiar with one’s own faults. The person is led to cope creatively with himself and the environment (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation) What is normal human nature?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The psychologically healthy human being whose organismic self-regulation is functioning well is a normal person. He is able to respond properly to his wants and needs and the environment (ID functions). He is able to respond to situations realistically according to his behaviour (Personality functions) (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation ). He is proactive instead of reactive, recognised by his ability to respond immediately and his willingness to take responsibilty. He lives with awareness in the present, is very aware about the past and is looking forward to the future (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). When do you call a person abnormal?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In psychological dysfunctioning there is a loss of awareness of needs, wants and desires. Free flowing and flexible contact with the environment is blocked or distorted.   (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation).   He becomes reactive and simply unable to gauge events in their correct perspective. He is unable to take responsibility. His self –support is limited and he seeks help from outside. His ID and personality functions are disturbed. The style of contact changes (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). The work of the Therapist   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The therapist focusses on improving the client’s contact and relationships. He establishes a dialogic relationship with the client. Limitations of Gestalt therapy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It lacks a distinct, elaborate and well defined theory. The developmental causes of psychological suffering are not addressed. There are no definite and constructive theories on how to effectively bring about a change in the client ( Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation). Psychoses and personality disorders are not represented. It has a reduced potential in treating acute cases with suicidal tendencies. The therapist needs to be present for the sessions for maximum benefit to the client. Many a time this may not be possible due to limitations in time. The client suffers then (Gestalt, Gestalt Global Corporation) Client centered therapy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The client-centered approach defined feeling as the union of emotion and cognition. The concept of experiencing and everything that is occurring within an organism at any given moment that is available to awareness are important. (Gendlin, 1962; Rogers, 1959). Extending deep understanding, empathy, congruence, caring are the various manners that a therapist can offer a client. Existential therapy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This takes into consideration the human condition. It has many similarities to the psychodynamic, humanistic, experiential and relational approaches to psychotherapy. Rollo May is considered the Father of Existential therapy. Yalom in his book, Existential Psychotherapy, 1980, speaks of 4 themes: death, freedom (responsibility), isolation and meaninglessness. These four issues are central to the human experience (Existential therapy, Hoffman) Functional Assessment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The philosophy behind functional assessment has been linked to the behaviourist tradition. It is an assessment-based approach to psychological therapy Functional analysis, behavioural assessment, antecedent consequent assessment, contextual assessment are terms used in it. Sequences form the basis of this therapy used by psychotherapists Cognitive behavioural assessment, systems focussed models, emotion focussed therapy and psychodynamic therapy are utilised to bring the mentally disturbed back into reality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The presenting problem, precipitating factors, predisposing factors, perpetuating factors and protective factors are taken into consideration for functional assessment. The precipitating factors may instigate a problem in the presence of predisposing factors. The presenting problem takes the patient to a psychotherapist who sees him with the problem. What predisposed and what precipitated the problem have to be investigated into by the psychotherapist.   The therapist studies the case and comes up with an idea about the perpetuating factors and the protective factors. Emotions are not given much consideration here. The Emotion focused theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Emotion research has come out with positive ideas on emotion. This kind of research has been done by many psychotherapists. Emotion theory and research say that emotion awareness, regulation and transformation are 3 important principles of emotional change. Recognising the part of the brain involved in the distress, the type of affect dysregulation and the type of change process that could be used form the basis for therapy (Greenberg, 2002). An integrated approach with stress on affect, cognition and behaviour is what is recommended by most psychotherapists. This approach affects the system at a desired level; cognitive, emotional, behavioural or interactional. Emotions are given their due importance as a fundamentally adaptive resource. They are a primary signalling system from birth and regulate our selves and give life its meaning (Greenberg, 2002). Healthy adaptation requires learning to be aware of, to tolerate and to regulate negative emotionality (Frijda, 1986) as well as to enjoy positive emotions (Frederickson, 1998).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Response to a fight-flight stimulus is said to be mediated by two pathways for producing emotion in the brain: a fast emotional response to a distress signal and a slower thinking-brain response which is usually unable to stop the reflex emotional response (Le Doux, 1996). The earlier response occurs based on previous experience. Similarly we can expect two kinds of learning; one a more conceptual one and the other a more perceptual, associative one (Pascual-Leone, 1987). Two types of memory too are described: one factual and the other emotional (van der Kolk, 1994). So two levels of processing are also possible: a conscious conceptual system and a tacit experiential system. Two systems of knowledge are thereby spoken of: knowledge by description and knowledge by experiencing (Greenberg, Rice and Elliot, 1993).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scientists agree that the emotional response to an event is a constructive sequence of events (Greenberg, 2002). They could be described as stimulus appraisal, physiological appraisal, expressive behaviour, impulses to instrumental behaviour, interpretation, subjective feeling and visceral and motor responses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Freud purported the theory of excess energy being discharged as affect and its dysfunction. Modern psychoanalysts have discarded this idea. Psychodynamic analyst, Stolorow (1994) believes that the dynamic unconscious consists not of repressed instinctual drive derivatives but of affect states that have been defensively walled off because they failed to evoke attuned responsiveness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Behavioural and cognitive theories state that negative emotion is seen as a disturbance and disorganisation that interfered with behaviour (Greenberg, 2002). These negative emotions are seen as symptoms and therapy is directed towards them Behaviourists and cognitive behaviourists seem to be increasing their focus on automatic-unconscious, cognitive-affective structures in theory and treatment (Young, 1990) Beck (1996) believes that the fight-flight mode involves a whole range of systems in its response; perception of threat (cognitive system), feelings of anxiety or anger (affective system), that motivates the person to act (motivation system), the action itself (behavioural system) and physical mobilisation (physiological system). An orienting schema is activated to trigger off the rest of the sequence and that too rapidly. Therapy aimed at the dysfuntional modes has 3 parts; deactivation, construction of neutralising adaptive modes and changing the structure and content. Beck believes in the third method. Beck’s theory has seen changes but his combination of behavioural and rational intervention persists. Emotion in experiential therapy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Emotion has always been part of the humanistic or experiential therapy. In the Gestalt therapy, emotion was a vital regulator (Greenberg, 2002).   Gestalt therapy may be seen as a form of training in emotional awareness. Blocking was interpreted as fueled by the wish to avoid painful or unwanted emotion. Feeling, in the client centred therapy, was defined as the union of emotion and cognition which were experienced inseparably. Emotion in the experiential therapy is now understood to be a biologically adaptive, rapid action tendency and a meaning system that provides feedback on the states of body and mind. It forms the basis of an adaptive growth system in the organism (Greenberg, 2002). The process of symbolisation creates conscious meaning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Greenberg has classified emotion into primary adaptive feelings which provide the information behind the problem, maladaptive emotions which need to be evoked and modified and secondary adaptive emotions which need to be investigated to reach the primary (Greenberg, 2002 ). Cognitive emotion schemes form the personality characteristics. They are focussed upon in therapy. The maladaptive ones are to be changed in therapy (Greenberg, 2002). Theories that have met concurrence among psychotherapists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is recognition that emergence of emotion is an important signal that material being discussed is significant to a person’s well-being. The second point is that awareness of emotion and attention to it in therapy are important to access the information in emotion ( Greenberg, 2002).   The third says that desynchronies or incongruence among cognition, emotion and physiology can occur and is pathogenic. The fourth point of agreement says that emotion has to be aroused and processed in therapy to bring about change. The final point of agreement says that it is important to promote emotion regulation and emotional experience. (Greenberg, 2002)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An integrated psychotherapy involves the 3 major change processes: awareness of emotion, regulation of emotional arousal and changing emotion with emotion. Maladaptive emotions are changed by using another maladaptive one. Functional Assessment in a school   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Functional assessment has been done to examine the factors related to the challenging behaviours of students. Much literature has been written on this. Whether Functional assessment is sufficient to study the behaviours of schoolchildren who had problems is a question raised by many psychotherapists. Functional assessment is defined as a set of assessment procedures used to identify variables that promote and maintain challenging behaviour and based on this assessment, interventions are then selected to alter some of these variables (Lennox and Miltenberger, 1989). Functional assessment is based on some assumptions a) specific contextual variables are directly related to target behaviour b) these variables are identified by assessing how they trigger and maintain the behaviour c) systematic manipulation of the variables can either reduce the challenging behaviour or support the development of appropriate fuctional skills (Carr and Durand, 1985; Durand and Carr, 1987).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   5 reasonable hypotheses for poor academic performance have been discussed a) the student does not want to do work b)the student has not spent enough time on the work c) the student has not had enough help to successfully complete the work d) the student has not had previously to do the work in the requested manner. e) the work is too hard for the student. If the function of the difficulty is identified, matching interventions can be developed. If the child does not want to do the work, incentives may be offered to stimulate him to work (Merrell, 2006)   The various studies that have been conducted appear incomplete in different ways. Only a few studies have examined their usefulness. Most of the study on behaviour was done out of school and not on the pro-social behaviour in school (Ken, Choutka and Sokol, 2002). Only some studies included class adaptive behaviours like on task behaviour and on task compliance Interviews, observation and hypothesis are useful only for ordinary students. For disruptive behavior other methods have to be adopted. Researchers have suggested that the link between the functional assessment and the intervention implemented are not always clear in the research. Only 16 studies had referenced various procedures that were actually used to form hypotheses from which interventions were planned (Stichter and Conroy, 2005). Of the 16, only 5 could actually verify the hypotheses before intervention. The change agents in the literature were the researchers. Very few teachers or peers participated in the implementation of the functional assessment and interventions. All the reviews discovered that the assessments were done outside the students’ classrooms where the problematic behaviours occurred. Also a standard functional assessment has not emerged (Stichter and Conroy, 2005). The natural conclusion was that they were not adequate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Students with Emotional Behavioural disorders could not be assessed with these used formats. IDEA 1997 which was the legislative impetus for conducting FA in schools did not have the necessary baselines or standard process for this. The reactive policies did not require an assessment unless the child is disruptive or commits an offense. Teachers were lacking the knowledge and skills to perform the functional assessment (Stichter and Conroy, 2005). Originally only individuals identified with severe developmental disabilities (Kahng and Iwata, 1999) had FA. This was conducted in clinical settings. This assessment format was found inadequate for students with lesser disability who lie unnecesarily or indulge in drug abuse or carry weapons or threaten classmates. There has been a general call for appropriate functional assessments to be done differently for normal children, children with mild emotional behavioural disorders and the really disruptive ones. The assessment needs to be done in natural settings (classrooms). Peers or teachers who can assess their own students are the best assessors. Hypotheses are to be derived and the right intervention planned accordingly before it is executed (Stichter and Conroy, 2005)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Structural analysis is the hypotheses driven model that addresses the current challenges (Carr and Carlson, 1993). This method has been successfully used in natural settings with natural change agents to identify instructional variables that contribute to the acquisition of proactive responses as well as specific variables that contribute to problem behaviour. Preventing problem behaviour by supporting instructional and contextual factors that contribute to adaptive behaviour while designing interventions to increase skill acquisition is a practical extension of the functional assessment literature base for students with emotional behavioural disorders (Stichter and Conroy, 2005). Conducting classroom functional assessments will be more reflective of actual activities and naturally occurring environmental variables, providing a clearer assessment of the impact of various change agents. Proposed interventions may be tested in natural settings through implementation of hypotheses to increase adaptive behaviour. The applied nature of the structural analysis helps the teacher see the change in adaptive behaviour (Stichter and Conroy, 2005)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A study conducted by Richard van Acker et al examined the Functional Behaviour Assessments and Behaviour Intervention Plans of current practices developed by school teams in Wisconsin Findings suggested serious flaws (Acker et al, 2005). There was a lack of clarity in the identification of and operational definition of the target behaviour or behaviours under investigation (Acker et al, 2005). There was a failure to identify the efforts taken by the team members to verify the hypothesised function of the behaviour before intervention. Most surprisingly, the team members just neglected their findings on a behaviour when considering the Behaviour intervention plans. Teams with members who had undergone intensive training for the research produced better results. Team based FBA has been found to be a good proposition according to a study by Scott et al, (2005). Emotion focussed therapy Research on couples’ therapy also shows the role of emotional awareness and expression in a satisfying relationship. Expression of underlying attachment-oriented emotions leads to a satisfying marital life in a couple who get the therapy. (Johnson and Greenberg, 1985). Showing more emotional experience in the therapy along with softening of blaming partners, the couple ended up being more satisfied than couples who showed lesser experiencing (Greenberg, Ford, Alden and Johnson, 1993).   Expression of emotion is useful for terminating family conflicts too (Diamond and Liddle, 1996). One study demonstrated that an emotional cycle in the relaxation treatment, increase in arousal, arousal with reflection, more abstract reflection and then relaxation, following one upon the other finally results in a good outcome Mergenthaler, 1996).   All personality disorders described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 1994) are considered as disturbances of affect regulation Descriptions have been included about borderline personality disorder where difficulty to control anger is the problem and schizoid disorder where extreme coldness is the problem. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Psychotherapy has undergone a major change from the days of the primitive man. The days of chaining to restrict their movements and putting them away in far off institutions have gone. The humanistic approach has given way to the integrated approach which includes functional assessment and the emotion focussed theory. Psychotherapists now vouch for this integrated approach as one. Schoolchildren in the United States have come under the legislative impetus whereby their performance in school is assessed based on their behavioural and emotional functions. The lax manner that was assumed earlier for this assessment has now been flayed. Researchers have advised that the children are assessed no matter whether they are disruptive or not and different techniques used for the normal, those with minimal disorder and those with disruptive behaviour. They have opined that teachers are the best people to assess the children in their own surroundings. Teams which underwent training are also recommended. Another advice is that interventions should only be undertaken after reaching a hypothesis based on the assessment of children. Hopefully functional assessment integrated with emotion focussed therapy will turn out the best assessment after upgrading the assessment procedures. References.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Acker, Richard van et al, 2005, Journal of Behavioral Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2005 (C_ 2005), pp. 35–56, Springer Science and Business Media   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beck, A. T. (1996). Beyond belief: A theory of modes, personality, and psychopathology. In P. M. Salkovskis (Ed.), Frontiers of cognitive therapy (pp. 1–25). New York: Guilford Press.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Carr, E. G., Carlson, Jane I. (1993). Reduction of severe behavior problems in the community using a multicomponent treatment approach. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 157–172.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Carr, E. G., Durand, V. M. (1985). Reducing behavior problems through functional communication training. Journal of Behavioral Education, 18, 111–126.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Durand, V. M., Carr, E. G. (1987). Social influences on â€Å"self-stimulatory† behavior: Analysis and treatment application. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 119–132. Existential therapy,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2004,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   11/4/08,  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.existential-therapy.com/ Louis Hoffman 2004-2006 Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Gendlin, E. T. (1962). Experiencing and the creation of meaning: A philosophical and psychological approach to the subjective. New York: Free Press of Glencoe. Gestalt Therapy Overview, Vol 4, No.3, Autumn 2000,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   23/11/03,  Ã‚   10/4/08, http://www.g-gej.org/4-3/theoryoverview.html, Gestalt Global Corporation Greenberg, Leslie S.; â€Å"Integrating an emotion focussed approach to treatment into psychotherapy integration†, Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 2002, Vol.12, 2, 154-189, Education Publishing Foundation Greenberg, L. S., Rice, L. N., Elliot, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change: The moment by moment process.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     New York: Guilford Press. Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2, 300–319. Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., Sokol, N. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behavior: An analysis of the literature. Education and Treatment of Children, 25, 113–130. LeDoux, J. E. (1996).   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life.†Ã‚  Ã‚   New York: Simon Schuster. Lennox, D. B., Miltenberger, R. G. (1989). Conducting a functional assessment of problem behavior in applied settings. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 14, 304–311. Kahng, S.W., Iwata, B. (1999). Correspondence between outcomes of brief and extended functional analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32, 149–160. Merrell, Kenneth W., â€Å"School Psychology from the 21st century: Foundations and Practices†, 2006, Guilford Press, US. Pascual-Leone, J. (1991). Emotions, development, and psychotherapy: A dialectical constructivist perspective. In J. Safran L. Greenberg (Eds.), Emotion, psychotherapy, and change (pp. 302–335). New York: Guilford Press.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rogers, C. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships, as developed in the client-centered framework. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 3, pp. 184–256). New York: McGraw-Hill   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scott, Terrance M. et al, Journal of Behavioral Education, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2005 ( C_ 2005), pp. 57–71, Springer Science and Business Media Stichter, Janine Peck; Conroy, Maureen A., â€Å"Using Structural Analysis in Natural Settings: A Responsive Functional Assessment Strategy, Vol.14, (1), March 2005, Journal of Behavioural Education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stolorow, R. D. (1994). The nature and therapeutic action of psychoanalytic interpretation. In R. D. Stolorow, G. E. Atwood, B. Brandschaft (Eds.), The intersubjective perspective (pp. 42–55). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1, 253–265. Young, J. (1990). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders: A schema-focused approach.   Sarasota, FL: Professional Resources Exchange.

Guilt, Shame and Community

Guilt, Shame and Community A shame community is described as a society whose main tool for ruling over is gaining having power over children and continued control over adults in the perpetration of shame and corresponding threat of social rejection. A guilt society is described as a society that is maintained by creating control and consistently strengthening the sense of guilt and the anticipation of reprimanding now for predestined behaviors. Raimond Gaita carefully explains that there is moral challenge in the Australian society in the contemporary society. He arguably disagrees that by keenly depriving the indigenous inhabitants their land the Australian government the most important part of their humanity thereby denying them a chance to enjoy their lives to fullest. In report of bringing them home and Mabo are associated to legal and historical symbols that bring back to what was not given to inhabitants of Torres Strait and Aborigal Islands by taking away the land that formed part of their humanity. Professor Raimond also explains that refuting peoples their humanity is terrible and that it calls a change of attitude and language for the society to remain intact. The drawing on Simone Weil Love sees what is invisible, the professoer recognizes that some ideasÂÂ   can only be understood by the heart. Raimond, sees the Australian High court instituting ruling using wild language and describes the judgment as shameful to those who pay attention with their hearts. There is racial discrimination in the Australian society which is depicted by the phrase, Terra nullius, which is used to imply that Aboriginal people are not full human as the invaders. The latest decisions of Australian High court have been done to bring an end to past injustices and the court had affirmed the full and the same humanity of native people. According to Raimond, those people who were involved in refuting indigenous people their humanity felt guilty, and there was shame to all the members of the Australian society. Raimond belives that just as society should be conceited about national achievements in which people have not been directly involved, the society should also express shame for what wronging its inhabitants and develop a method of amendment to manage the nation shame. Raimond views that if there is no shaming and its consequences, then justice cannot be possible. According to Raimond, true shame societies are reliant on outside sanctions for good behavior not as true guilt societies on an internalized fervor of transgressions. Shame is depicted as an effect to other peoples condemnation. Raimond claims that a society is openly scorned and rejected by fantasying to it that make it ludicrous. According to Raimond, when shame is viewed as a heteronymous forced or involved with issues that are deemed morally irrelevant or insignificant it becomes as a subject of psychological evaluation. Raimond views familiarity of guilt to be socially induced or associated to be ethically irrelevant. Raimond believes that torture, should not be applied to human race during interrogation. But he further adds that in circumstance s where there is a potential threat of terrorism then use of torture should be advocated. Raimond believes the fact that many Australians do not understand what has been substantiated in the report of bringing them home requires to be put in a wider social context. The Australian communitys comment that they never cared enough about Aborigines humanity demonstrates the scope of racial discrimination inAustralia.

Essay examples --

Health, Safety and Welfare The Safety, Health and Welfare Act of 2005 came into operation on 1st September 2005. The Safety, Health Authority is a state-sponsored body under the Department of Enterprise. The trade and employment would have the overall responsibility for the administrate side of things and enforcing the Health and Safety in the workplace. There are all protected by law. Therefore the employer must ensure a safe work environment. The work place must have a documented specifics regarding buildings for the safety inspectors on request. These places must have signage in place for the employers safety and these regulation must be carried out. Bullying in the workplace is another health and safety issue that can be challenged under the Safety, Health and Welfare at work Act 2005. The Act applies to all employers and employees both temporary, full time and self employed people in their workplace. The Acts sets out the rights and obligation of both employers and employees and as a result heav y fines and penalties for breaches of the Health and safety legislation. Both employer and employee have duties to here by in the Health and Safety Act 2007. Employers is required to carry out a risk assessment which should identify any hazards that present them selfs in the work place. The employer should also carry out an assessment in relation to pregnant employees. The employer is obliged to report any accident that results in an employee missing 3 consecutive days at work which do not include the day of accident. Protective equipment are available on site for all employees. Employment Equality Employers are legally obliged to abide to the existing equality legislation when hiring and employing staff whether full tim... ...ce Industrial, Professional and Technical union. The most common fought problem with wages. Regulations related to pay A system was set up to determine what the minimum wage would be. Each country set their own minimum wages laws as see fit. The current is â‚ ¬8.65 an hour in Ireland on July 2007. There is a minimum rate for the first year of a job is â‚ ¬6.92 per hour. On request employees are entitled to a written statement setting out their reckonable pay, working hours, average hourly rate of pay entitlement under the Act. This wage may only be paid either weekly or monthly with agreement of employer and employee. The National minimum wage act 2000 sets the minimum rate for all experienced adult employees. The payment of wages Act gives every employee in Ireland a right to a payslip showing the employees gross wages and any details of overtime or deductions.

A Modest Proposal Concerning the Environment Essay -- Environment Envi

A Modest Proposal Concerning the Environment * Based on Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† (1729). It is a melancholy object to those who travel through this great country to see isolated corners of this fair realm still devoted to protecting the environment. The wretched advocators of these ideals are frequently seen doling out petitions and begging at their neighbours’ doors to feed their obsession, which keeps them in the contemptible poverty that they so richly deserve. I think it is agreed by all parties that it is an eyesore to see these people blockading the roads to prime tree-cutting land and bombarding our most respectable government with impractical proposals. It is not so Herculean a task to discourage these self-named â€Å"environmentalists† in their follies by paying them no heed. However, a new generation of them has sprung up. Citing how it is in fact profitable to protect the environment, they try to pull blindfolds over the public’s eyes. Therefore, whoever could find an easy and economically sound method of reclaiming these lost souls would deserve to be made the head of our nation at the very least. But my intention is very far from being confined to converting the people who are currently obsessed with protecting the environment; my aims are much more marvellous, and shall take in the whole number of people capable of falling in love with nature. Now, sustainable development and quality of life are crucial to the well being of our nation. Thus, I have pondered many a year on this very important matter and have consulted a very knowing Canadian of my acquaintance at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The amount of natural resources in this country being usually reckoned infi... ...rs with them. This will lead to the unity of a strong nation. Fifthly, we can achieve our ideals of obtaining sustainable development and a high quality of life; we will also be able to save the lost â€Å"environmentalist† souls from wandering past these ideals. There are many other advantages to my humble proposal, such as having fewer issues to worry about and having the knowledge that we humans can harness Nature. As you all know, knowledge is power. I can no more think of any objections that might be raised against this proposal, but I can assure you that I stand to gain nothing from these necessary suggestions, as I own neither lakes nor rivers, and I do not have any stocks in the biotechnological market. I have no other motive than to bring about the public good of my country, by advancing our trade in the exploitation of nature.

Ozzy Osbourne :: essays research papers

Ozzy Osbourne   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ozzy Osbourne’s music is liked by so many people because of how his lyrics deal with real life experiences. Ozzy writes a lot about what feels or what he has done. Something that has made Ozzy so popular was the fact that he doesn’t care what people think. He always has done what ever he wants. These two characteristics have made Ozzy Osbourne a very popular musician in the U.S and in Europe. Like when Ozzy went to meet the big time record executives at CBS record company, his wife Sharon wanted him to make a big impression so she suggested that he release three doves when he walked into the room. Well what ended up happening is Ozzy came into the office, sat on a women’s lap at the executive table, released two doves into the air and then bite the head off the third one. Another thing helping the situation out was the fact that Ozzy had a little too much to drink that evening as usual. Another thing that Ozzy has done because of the fact that it just made him mad is that one day Ozzy’s wife Sharon came home one day and found Ozzy on the floor underneath the piano with a shotgun in one hand and a bloody knife in the other w ith seventeen dead cats all around him. What happened is Ozzy had drank and smoked and done all kinds of drugs and he didn’t like the cats to begin with so he shot and stabbed every one of them. He just didn’t care if they died or not. If that’s not enough for you to realize that Ozzy doesn’t care about what people think then listen to this. One day Ozzy was in a very expensive motel and once again was drinking heavily, and decided to take a trip down to the bottom floor on the elevator. Well on the way down he must have had to go to the bathroom because he ended up taking a crap in the corner of the elevator. When it got to the bottom floor and the door opened there was a bunch of people at the doors and they saw him and they were all standing there with there mouths wide open.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ozzy Osbourne was born in the small town of Birmingham England in 1948. His Father (Jack Osbourne) was a steelworker and Mother (Lillian Osbourne) worked in a plant building electronic circuits.

General Principles of Good Governance

General Principles of Good Governance 1. Service to Others Service to others allows us to practice doing what Jesus would do and it connects us to those we serve and give us a kind of satisfaction that self-interest can never offer. When we serve others we are reminded that nothing in this life lasts as long as the bonds we form with other people, and there's no better way to connect ourselves to others than by working together for our common good and because everything we have comes from God, we should be willing to share it all. Think how much those talents mean when you share them with someone who needs your particular brand of expertise. Even the little things we do, like helping someone to transfer or positioning them or even feeding them, can make life a little easier for someone else. 2. Professional Competence When we talk of professional competence, we refer to patients' expectations that the professional they come into contact with will be up to the job. Professionals should be able to do that which they profess they can do. The patient simply expects that the healthcare professional has up-to-date knowledge and skills. Professional competence requires a firm educational grounding, followed by a period of formal training to acquire the relevant knowledge and skills in the workplace. Thereafter, continued competence rests on a combination of education, continuous development, confidence and experience. Professionals' competence also depends upon professionals themselves having an honest understanding of their abilities. It is crucial that errors in practice, or gaps in skill or knowledge, are acknowledged as early as possible and used as an opportunity for learning, rather than being suppressed or hidden out of fear of blame or sanction. Learning through mistakes can often be a very effective way of improving competence and understanding. 3. Solidarity and Teamwork Teams work together to problem solve more efficiently, with each team member offering a unique perspective to complex issues. Members recognize a need for each other's expertise, talents and commitment to achieve their goals. For this reason, effective teams value open communication, treat each others as equals, and keep collaboration at the forefront by sharing information. Conflicts are resolved quickly within the group.

Macbeth- Act 1 Journal for Lady Macbeth

Act 1 Journal Jabie H. (Scene 5) Journal of Lady Macbeth: After reading the letter Macbeth sent her. â€Å"Blue Jays play dumb and dumber, with and without Yunel Escobar: Perkins†. Toronto Star Thu Sep 20, 2012. Website.My dear Macbeth is now the thane of Cawdor and has been promised to be ‘the future king’ by the three witches, oh how wonderful this is! ‘Queen Lady Macbeth’ I can already feel the royal power. But wait I do worry if Macbeth really has what it takes to capture the crown, even if he has the ambition he does not have the guts to do things that are foul and get the crown. Macbeth is far too kind and naive to go out his ways, just like he was five years ago when he first confessed his love to me, I told him I needed more time, I knew he would come to good use of mine.I never had the eye for Macbeth but I knew I could get power if I married him, since his father was the thane of Glamis, I knew he would inherit the position when his father p asses away, but I am not good with patience, when there is a chance to get power I want it done as quickly as possible. When I heard the news that the thane of Glamis fell really ill, I agreed to marry Macbeth under one condition that he would poison his father and inherit the position as the thane of Glamis, and of course Macbeth was easy to convince, since he was madly in love with me.When it came to play the game of power, Macbeth plays dumb and dumber, it was time to give his father the poison, I was watching him that night as he was pouring the poisoned water in his father’s cup, that’s when I saw hesitation in his eyes and his eyes started to tear, I knew he couldn't do it and would tell his father the truth, so at that moment I had to decide quickly, and I decided to poison his father with or without him.I entered the room before Macbeth had the chance to speak and assured his father that Macbeth couldn't handle to see him at such ill state, and so I guided Macb eth out of the room and poisoned his father myself. Of course Macbeth wouldn't forgive me so I convinced him that his father would have died anyway, and this just made the process quicker. Making him the thane of Glamis was one thing, but making him the King is now my priority, the power and richness that comes with the title is far too great to miss, I am ready to murder the King if I have to, Macbeth might not agree, but I can do it with and without him.

How important are Dreams in the novel “Of Mice Of Men” Essay

In the novel ‘Of Mice Of Men’ there are many themes which set aside the characters from others, however all of them have one thing in common-they all have dreams. Lennie and George share a dream of owning there own land and later on Candy wants to join them. This shows that everyone in the novel needs dreams to keep them going through life. This shows that the title question applies greatly because dreams keep the novel moving along and make the novel interesting. Everyone has needs but everyone also has wants. All the themes in ‘of mice of men’ contribute towards everyone’s loneliness and then making everyone dependent on dreams. The novel is set in the time of the depression in 1930s America so there is much loneliness which makes people think of dreams. Because of the depression there weren’t many jobs around so there were a lot of migrant workers. These workers travelled all over America to find jobs. Because they travelled a lot they were not able to make any friends, which would make them lonely. This would cause them to have dreams and to constantly think about them whenever they’re lonely. Because depression is around poverty is also present. Dreams always come up in conversations, especially Lennie’s conversations. Lennie is the one who brings up the subject all the time, ‘An live off the fatta the lan.’ Lennie always talks about caring for rabbits, ‘An have Rabbits.’ Sexism is also linked in with dreams because Curley’s wife has a dream of becoming a Hollywood movie star. She is the only woman on the ranch and gets lonely because she has no one to talk to. She has her dreams to overcome her loneliness and she has something to hope and look forward to. Ageism is another factor, which affects dreams because Crooks is old and disabled. Crooks is jealous that George and Lennie have each other to go around. Crooks is alone and gets lonely but Lennie and George can always speak to each other. They all need dreams to cover up their loneliness. They all can think and imagine their dreams. Dreams will make the characters happy and forget about everything else. This is why it is an important theme because it effects all the characters. George and Lennie are the main characters who are not alone and share a dream of owning a farm. They are the lucky characters. Nearly all of the characters in the novel have a dream. Curley and the Boss don’t seem to have anything. George and Lennie have a dream and have each other to look after. Their dream is to have a house, own a couple of acres of land, a cow and some pigs. Lennies also wants some rabbits. ‘ I ain’t no people†¦ I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good.’ This quote shows us that George likes having Lennie around him otherwise he would be lonely like the other ranch workers. The relationship between George and Lennie is sacred because they are more than just friends. Both George and Lennie share the same dream and this makes them more alike because they want the same things. George is a clever, stocky man and Lennie is a gentle giant who can lift heavy objects on his own. They both care about each other because they have been together for a while. George does feel sorry for Lennie but he does sometimes wishes that Lennie wasn’t with him because he drags George down by being mentally challenged. Lennie does say that he can go away onto the mountains, but George doesn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him feel pain in any way. He also feels that he wouldn’t be able take care of himself in the mountains. Lennie is very dependent on George for things and George also depends on Lennie for companionship. Candy has also had a dream of owning a farm where he can be useful again. Candy in very interested in George and Lennie’s dream and thinks it can all really work out because they all have each other and they would nearly have enough money to buy a farm because of Candy’s extra 350 dollars. â€Å"Tell you what – He leaned forward eagerly. ‘S’spose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in.† George and Lennie are very tempted at this offer because it would mean their dream would finally come true. Candy has to have dreams because he has no one to talk to after Carlson shot his dog, † If you want me to, I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with.† Candy’s dog helped him through life because he was lonely and now that he’s dead he needs a dream to look forward to and hope for. That’s why he wants to join with Lennie and George. Candy is old and disabled so he is lonely, which restricts him to doing certain things which makes him lonely. Most of the characters want there dream to come true and then they want to relax in it. Curley’s wife also has a dream of becoming a Hollywood movie star. She wants to become an actress and become famous, but we soon know this doesn’t come true, in fact the death of Curley’s wife brings an end to all dreams in the novel because of how the death happened with Lennie. Curley’s wife is lonely because she has no one to talk too because there are no other women on the ranch and Curley just tells her to be quiet and go back inside the ranch. Curley’s wife plays around and flirts with others to get attention, this attraction was fatal between herself and Lennie and ended her dream of being an actress. Curley’s wife spends a lot of time on her own, hence the need for dreams in her life. She is unhappy with her ranch life and wants a Hollywood life. Since she has nothing to do she gets involved with other characters like George and Lennie which trigger off serious incidents that later happen. Curley’s wife relates to the theme of sexism in the 1930’s. She is treated unfairly by her husband and cannot do any work on the ranch to keep herself occupied because she is a women. The other ranch workers think and have dreams because they are very lonely because at that time when Steinbeck wrote the novel the depression was happening. This meant that workers had to travel around America looking for jobs. This made them very lonely and they thought of the same dreams as George and Lennie but we never experienced any come true in the novel. They have nothing to do and so they just read comics and imagine how they would like their own farm. All the characters have fantasies and live a life in their dreams. In â€Å"Of Mice Of Men† dreams are never achieved because of the circumstances. It is Curley’s wife who puts all stops to dreams and makes George realise that Lennie is no longer useful to him. George feels that nothing will ever be achieved with Lennie around because he will always keep you back because of his childlike manners and actions. Dreams are never achieved at the time all of the characters are set in. Nothing is settled in the 1930’s as the depression has happened. Any character who seems to have a dream seems to get himself into trouble. The relationship between George and Lennie was perfect for a dream to come true, but if only Lennies simpleness did not mean his strength was uncontrollable. If Curley’s wife didn’t flirt with Lennie he would have been ok. Lennie got too nervous that’s why he ended up killing Curley’s wife when she screamed. Dreams are also never achieved because of each of the characters themselves. For example: how Curley acts. If Curley wasn’t such a mean person George might not have killed Lennie. Dreams are very important to the plot â€Å"Of Mice Of Men.† Dreams are what carry people on from their loneliness and there bad times. Dreams are needed for every character who is lonely. When a character in â€Å"Of Mice of Men† gets lonely he/she thinks about a dream which they want to come true. With dreams characters can imagine anything they want to and this will keep them happy if nothing else does. Steinbeck is saying that anybody can get lonely and unhappy sometimes but anyone can have dreams to help them through bad times, it just depends on how deeply that lonely person can imagine there dreams.