Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Example for Free

Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Those who think Transcendentalism is just a literary movement that took place in the early 1800s are only half correct. Transcendentalism is indeed a literary movement; however, it is much more than that. It is meant to challenge people to think for themselves and cause change. Authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee taught the importance of non-conformity and civil disobedience through short stories such as â€Å"Self Reliance† and â€Å"On the Duty of Civil Disobedience†, and the play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. Transcendentalism is based on the belief that knowledge is derived from experience and personal reflection as opposed to reason. Transcendentalism promotes self-revelation because it encourages people to form their own opinions and then voice them in a way that will promote change in society. Transcendentalists ground their philosophy with the idea that every persons inner self is where knowledge is gained. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s â€Å"Self Reliance†, he says, What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think†¦It is easy in the world to live after the worlds opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Emerson realizes that it is easy to conform to society, but there is value in forming one’s own opinion. What makes a person great is if he or she can stand out in a crowd of people. While in a crowd, one can see the overall ideas of the group but never the individual thoughts that made up these ideas. Emerson is saying that to be great, one must be able to be with the crowd physically, but mentally remain one’s own person with their own ideas. Because Transcendentalism values individual opinions, it is also important to people such as Henry David Thoreau that everyone, especially the government, is open to other peoples’ opinions. In â€Å"On the Duty of Civil Disobedience† Thoreau says, â€Å"There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power†¦ and treats him accordingly. † Thoreau understands that citizens should be able to influence the government and cause change. To do this, the government needs to treat its citizens with respect. Politicians and other government workers need to do away with their pride and listen to what is really important- the citizens. When people can form their own opinions, respect others’ opinions, and voice their opinions, there will be harmony. In Transcendentalism, people are encouraged not only to form their own opinions, but to voice them as well. Thoreau tells everyone to â€Å"make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it† (Thoreau). He supports transcendentalism by encouraging people to stand up and talk about their opinions. Thoreau understands that change, especially in government can only occur when individuals make their opinions heard. During his life, Thoreau challenged the idea of slavery, government corruption, payment of taxes, and the Mexican-American War. In The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Thoreau is talking to his old professor about how he should voice his discontent with the Mexican-American War. When Thoreau’s professor asks when he should voice his opinion Thoreau yells, â€Å"‘NOW! A year ago was too late! I’ll get you an audience. This afternoon. At Concord Square! †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lawrence and Lee 89). In the play, Thoreau expresses that opinions are no good if they are not proclaimed to the world. If opinions are not voiced they cannot be heard. Transcendentalism values individual opinions and acknowledges that voicing them is crucial if they are going to spearhead change in their society. Transcendentalists agree that self-revelation is wasted if it is not voiced and then heard and thereby causing change. During The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Thoreau spends a small amount of time as a schoolteacher. While Thoreau is a schoolteacher, he gets into trouble with the schoolmaster because he lets his kids â€Å"Huckleberry† in order to come to a conclusion in a class discussion. After he gets in trouble Thoreau sarcastically tells his students, ‘â€Å"You must not listen to a cricket or smell a flower that has not been approved by the School Committee. You’d better close both ears and hold your nose- though you may have to grow an extra hand to do it†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lawrence and Lee 20). In this instance, Thoreau is trying to speak out against the strict policy of the school committee. He sees that the policy is unfair and that students should be able to learn in a way that is effective for them. By speaking out against the school committee, Thoreau is opening up the possibility for a reform in the education system. Thoreau sees that there is an opportunity to promote change so he takes it and speaks his opinion. According to Thoreau and other transcendentalists, the government needs to be ameliorated. Thoreau says, â€Å"The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it† (Thoreau). Transcendentalists agree that the government usually does not work for the people it is protecting. However, they do realize that it is necessary for the survival of the United States. Thoreau is encouraging people to take a stand against the current government, which he hopes will lead to a reform that will empower people to demand more influence in politics. Transcendentalism emphasizes that individuals need to voice their opinions if change is going to occur. According to Transcendentalists, promoting change in society occurs through self-revelation. There must be free thinking people in the world who are willing to make their voice heard if change is ever going to occur. Today many people think that the American school system is something that needs to be reformed. There is a problem if most students are no longer engaged and excited to go to school. Transcendentalists would say that students should be learning things that are interesting to them and cause them to think beyond what is being taught. Students should be encouraged to investigate and debate ideas in order to come up with their own. If America were still in the Transcendentalism time period, people would be insisting on these types of changes. They know that if they do not speak out, nothing will happen.

Case-Based Environmental Ethics :: Philosophy Essays

Case-Based Environmental Ethics Cases have been widely used in medical ethics and law. In both fields, numerous books and articles about cases have appeared, including book-length catalogs of cases. I argue that pluralistic casuistry provides an adequate approach to environmental ethics. It retains the strengths while avoiding the weaknesses of the other approaches. Importantly, it resolves some broader theoretical issues and provides a clear, explicit methodology for education and praxis. Cases have been widely used in medical ethics and law. In both fields, numerous books and articles about cases have appeared, including book-length catalogs of cases. What I propose to do in this paper is to discuss whether environmental ethics should be case-based as in law and medicine. The relationship of cases to theory has received intense scholarly debate. At issue is which takes priority. A similar situation exists in the sciences, as well as in most other disciplines. There are the so-called "pure" or "research" scientists, and also the "applied" or "practical" scientist. Field biologists, conservation biologists, restoration ecologists, landscape engineers, sylvantologists, and so on, are applied scientists. Which takes priority: theory or application? What I want to discuss is whether environmental ethics, like medicine and law, would benefit from case-based methodology. The long-term aim is to develop an approach to ethics that will help resolve contemporary issues regarding animals and the environment. In their classical formulations and as recently revised by animal and environmental ethicists, mainstream Kantian, utilitarian, and virtue theories have failed adequately to include either animals or the environment, or both. The result has been theoretical fragmentation and intractability, which in turn have contributed, at the practical level, to both public and private indecision, disagreement, and conflict. Immensely important are the practical issues; for instance, at the public level: the biologically unacceptable and perhaps cataclysmic current rate of species extinctions, the development or preservation of the few remaining wilderness areas, the global limitations on the sustainable distribution of the current standard of living in the developed nations, and the nonsustainability and abusiveness of today's technologically intense crop and ani mal farming. For individuals in their private lives, the choices include, for example: what foods to eat, what clothing to wear, modes of transportation, labor-intensive work and housing, controlling reproduction, and the distribution of basic and luxury goods. What is needed is an ethical approach that will peacefully resolve these and other quandaries, either by producing consensus or by explaining the rational and moral basis for the continuing disagreement.

Research Paper in Communication Studies

Research Paper in Communication Studies Proposal The Role of Blogs in the Media Environment Nowadays, blogs take a more and more important role in the media environment. When they were ? rst considered trends that won’t live long, now even experts ascribe them a major part of todays mass media. But how and in what way do these online platforms actually take in? uence in mass media? What are blogs? „Blogâ€Å" is the short word for Weblog, which is composed of the words â€Å"world wide web† and â€Å"logbook†, so a blog can be understood as an Internet diary.The writer of a blog, named â€Å"blogger† is characterized by writing the â€Å"blogposts†, which are the entries on the blog. He tells stories or gives opinion on something, mostly on a speci? c topic the blog is about. In comparison to a website, a blog as (more or less) regular entries, which are sorted chronically. The newest entry is on the top while the older ones are at the bottom or sorted in an archive. 1 History of blogs The ? rst blogs developed in the late 1990‘s. The word â€Å"Blog† was ? rst used by Jorn Bager, in 1997. He was one of the ? rst people, who regularly wrote something on a web page in the Internet and called this thing a blog.When he was looking for similar sites to his one, he created a list of 23 blogs existing on the web. Within a few years, the number of blogs increased rapidly. According to estimates, there were approximately 173 million of blogs on the Internet in October 2011, with a tendency going upwards. 2 1 2 http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/blog http://www. nielsen. com/us/en/newswire/2012/buzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-more-bloggersand-blog-readers. html Research Paper in Communication Studies The role of blogs Blogs developed from internet-diarys to platforms talking about speci? themes and topics of any kind. Though they basically consist on personal opinion, they take a more and more important role in today’s media. Especially in the fashion world, blogs are taking over. Even the big designers sent out invitations to international bloggers to sit in their front row at the next fashion show. By displaying their own style, fashion bloggers aim to taking the „over-the-top-world of fashionâ€Å" down to earth. This way, they show normal people that fashion isn‘t just hold back for the rich ones but something everybody can achieve and express themselves with.This may be one of the reasons why fashion bloggers became so important. Blog begun as platforms to tell the world what happens in your everyday live but now seem to evolve to some reliable sources to get inspiration or information from the Internet. Maybe this is why running a blog also seems like becoming to etiquette: Almost every company has a separated company blog. Even broadcasting platforms like CNN3 or BBC4. Once you google the word â€Å"blog†, 100 of platforms to start an own blog will pop up. Also at the ? rst page: The company blogs from twitter and google itself.Research questions So what is the big thing about blogging? Does blogs really have an remarkable impact on todays media world? And if so, why? In my research paper, I will try to answer these questions and look behind the facade. Is blogging really more then something hip and cool and a trend you want to follow? Is it possible for them to remain in the quick changing world of the Internet? How is it possible that even big companies started own blogs and update them regularly? Apart from the fact that blogs DO exist and get more and more important, there is the question in what kind of way they do.Is it just extra information or are they as reliable as 3 4 http://edition. cnn. com/exchange/blogs/ http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/ Research Paper in Communication Studies radio and TV are seen nowadays? Does information shown on blogs is comparable to information shown elsewhere? What actual role do they play in t odays media? I will also try to give a forecast about the role of blogs within the media in the near and later future. Will they remain in the media or soon be replaced by some new trend? Research Paper in Communication Studies SourcesPrint: – Nielsen, Jakob (2007): Blogosphere. In: Information World Review, Issue 236, p. 30-30, 3/4p. – Hogg, Nanette; Lomicky, Carol S. ; Hossain, Syed A. (2008): Blogs in the Media Environment: A Content Analysis of the Knowledge Stage in the Diffusion of an Innovation. Web Journal of Mass Communication Research. Internet: – http://www. wired. com/entertainment/theweb/news/2007/12/blog_anniversary – http://www. rebeccablood. net/essays/weblog_history. html – http://www. nielsen. com/us/en/newswire/2012/buzz-in-the-blogosphere-millions-morebloggers-and-blog-readers. html

Improving An Employee s Stress Level Is Through Supervision

Alternatively, one of the most common methods used to manage an employee’s stress level is through supervision. As previously stated, social workers who work within the child welfare system can use daily debriefing based on the critical incidents that occur with this population. For example, from personal experience of being a supervisor over case managers working with children, supervision was crucial not only for myself but for the caseworkers. The caseworkers were able to release their emotions, concerns, and possible fears when dealing with their clients and their family. Huss (2012) shows how employees use supervision to cope and discuss stressful situations, however, it is explained how supervision is beginning to suddenly decrease. Huss (2012) describes how supervision is beginning to decrease, which can be due to the possible lack of supervisory positions or funding. This is an example of why the current practices, i.e. EPA, supervision, and OD, need to change within organizations. Based on personal experience, in order to help manage an employees’ stress, an organization needs to ensure that their staff has the tools needed to work efficiently and effectively. Organizations must be aware of the stress that can be caused by the policies, regulations and conflicting demands of the external and internal factors that influence an employee’s work (Dextras-Gautier, Marchand, Haines, 2012). 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