The magic if drama Essay Example

The magic if drama Essay Example The magic if drama Paper The magic if drama Paper Constantine Stanislavski is a man whom is a great insperation to all aspiring actors. He believes in a variety of techniques which allows the actor to create total realism and focus on stage. I am now going to talk about the Magic If explaining what it is and how it is important for the actor to under-go. If the Magic If were to be studied successfully then as an actor i should be able to make any character I play believable not just to the audience, but to myself. I am aware of the work of Constantin Stanislavski, but Ive never really looked into detail about his System. Stanislavski believed that acting should not be thought of as imitation but as a process. It isnt a matter of external control, technique, and skillfully reproducing an experience but creating and conveying inner life, a sense of being, not playing. As an actor, I have to create organic links between my own personality and the character I am playing. Although I must believe that I am that character, in that time and in that situation, it must be remembered that I mustnt forget who, as an actor, I really am. To help create any role, Ive always found it helpful to attempt many improvisations. In the System this is known as the magic If. The magic If opens up many possibilities for the actor and can no doubt help them to explore new emotions. But to aid the Magic If is the given circumstance. This is the basis for the actor and the role. The given circumstances are: the story of the play, its facts, (the characters in the play, who they are and their purpose); events, (what happens in the play); time and place of action, conditions of life and finally the actors and directors interpretation; the production, the sets, the costumes, the properties; lighting and sound effects. The most important thing needed to create the realism and Magic If is imagination. But of course the most important thing needed to do all this is my imagination. Stanislavski points out: If you speak any lines, or do anything, mechanically, without fully realising who you are, where you came from, why, what you want, where you are going, and what you will do when you get there, you will be acting without your imagination. Some good techniques to develop the imagination are to prepare the body by relaxation and then being taken on a meditation by some else. This can help create a more power imagination, and if you can hold the images and believe them, it can also help in developing your concentration. To aid the imagination of a character i would be undergoing, I would research into the lifestyle he might have had, what he wore, ate, how he may have entertained himself and possibly different aspects of his personality. Relaxation techniques and meditations can also help in focusing and relaxing an actor on stage. Stanislavski created a devise known as Circles of Attention. This can be shown like ripples on a pond. If the actor is in the centre of the pond, the ripples radiating out from the actor in an increasing circumference will eventual embrace the whole pond, or in this case the whole stage. To begin with, I would create a very small circle around me, focusing on myself and character, what Im wearing and what Im doing. Then I would spread the circle farther away, drawing in nearby objects and props or any characters stood by. Finally I would spread the circle around the stage, focusing on everything there and knowing where everything is. To practice this I would stand in a room and go through the procedure of expanding the circle, and being aware of whats in the room Im in. I would practive this in the Art Centre as it is generally a large room and I would have to emphasise my movements and voice so all 3 sides of the stage could hear/see me. Stanislavski also calls for the use of the Emotion Memory; Just as your visual memory can reconstruct an inner image of some forgotten thing, place or person, your emotion memory can bring back feelings you have already experienced. You would think that this would give a more emotional performance and convince the audience that the character is real. However, the use of your emotional memory with a character may end up with you not acting at all, but saying the words from the text as you bring up all your past emotions. I have just recently worked on the Emotion Memory in a workshop. I was called to bring out an emotion at a time when I was at my saddest. This I did, but I dont think that if I was on stage and my character demanded sadness that I could recall that memory I had. I would forget about the character and end up re-living the past. I think that it is important to remember how you felt at that time, without the reasons for it, and then call that up instead. An example of this would be when my character would have to represent sadness on stage. I would think of when my nan was dying from cancer or when my best friend died to bring the required emotions to my head. This would create more realism and make much more sense to the audience on stage. Happiness is easily shown and I feel that so is the sadness. Anger, though, is something that I dont express very often. Im one of those people who bottles everything up and walks away quietly. This is why, when representing anger, I would have to rely on my body movements and voice. Instead of yelling out the words, I would raise my voice but say them slowly, not projecting as far as I normally would do. Id try not to move my body and maybe raise an arm (to reinforce my power over another character on stage. Stanislavski pointed out that all actors need to have a tempo/rhythm in their acting. This tempo/rhythm needed to be external and internal. For example, the character may be worrying about something and could even be panicking and at the same time is in a room where other characters are talking about something as bizzare as the weather. The inner turmoil tends to be conceiled. ase, by a show of calm. This can lead to an interesting performance as the two tempo/rhythms contradict each other and i believe this creates a stronger visual impact on the audience. The whole System was designed to allow characters to become more indepth and Stanislavski spent many years trying to studying and experimenting with his System. Studying it you can initially see where he was heading, the only problem being the length of time needed to complete the system, with a character. Unfortunatly, we havnt got the required length of time available to us, so it is of great difficulty to fully study and complete Stanislavskis techniques. However, Stanislavskis ideas for realism and naturalism were a great influence on this last century, and parts of the System are still used today in rehearsal time when creating a role. The Magic If has had a great impact on all aspiring actors as it has taught us how to develop our roles to create the most realism possible. Stanislavskis techniques are of great importance as they truly indicate to the actor how to portray their characters role by looking at their personality and studying how they move around stage as a person. In conclusion, the Magic If is very important for all actors as all mainstream actors follow the system and Stanislavski has become a big rolemodel to many because of it.

What Is the JavaScript TypeOf Function How Does It Work

What Is the JavaScript TypeOf Function How Does It Work SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips We’ve all stumbled on a web page that just doesn’t work. You know the type: the links aren’t clickable, the scrolling is all over the place, and sometimes...they automatically play music. (The worst.) When a website misbehaves, bad JavaScript is usually at fault. That’s because JavaScript is the scripting language that controls the interactive elements of a website. In fact, JavaScript is actually a robust, powerful scripting language that automates processes like animating images or providing autofill suggestions. Basically, JavaScript is one of the fundamental coding languages of the web. Like any language, there’s lots you can do with JavaScript. But today, we’re going talk about one specific type of JavaScript command: the TypeOf function. In this article, you’ll learn about the JavaScript TypeOf function, including what it is, how it works, and its most common uses. So let’s dive in! What Is a JavaScript Data Type? Before we start talking about the JavaScript TypeOf function, we first have to talk about JavaScript data types. A data type is a classification given to different kinds of data used in programming. There are seven data types that can be used in JavaScript, and we’ve broken them down in the table below: Data Type Use Number Deals with any number, including decimals. You can also do operations (like multiplication, division, etc.) with this data type. String A string of characters surrounded by single or double quotes. Boolean Sets a true/false (or yes/no) value. Null Indicates the intentional absence of a value. Basically means â€Å"nothing,† â€Å"empty,† or â€Å"value unknown.† Undefined Also indicates the absence of a value. Unlike â€Å"null,† â€Å"undefined† is usually used when a variable is declared but a value is unassigned. Symbols Unique identifiers for objects. Object Collections of related data. Unlike other data types, which can only contain a single thing, objects store collections of data. Why Are Data Types Important? In JavaScript, a data type is basically a category of data that can be stored and/or manipulated within a program. Depending on the type of data you’re using, JavaScript will treat the data differently. So for example, JavaScript deals with an undefined data set much differently than it deals with an object! The other reason data types are important is because they dictate what you can do with the data you provide- and whether that data will work or not. For example, if you try to assign a value to a â€Å"null† data type, it won’t work because null indicates an empty value! Likewise, there are some data types that only do one thing, like the boolean data type, while others can work with collections of data. In other words, data types are one of the fundamental building blocks of JavaScript. What Is the Javascript TypeOf Function? Now that you know what data types are, the typeof function will make more sense: that’s because the JavaScript TypeOf command is used to check the data type of a particular operand, which is a JavaScript array, data type, or object. In order to use the TypeOf command, you would write it like you would any operation that uses a single value (also known as a unary operator). That means the script would look like this: typeof x You can also use the TypeOf operator like you would a JavaScript function. The syntax would look something like this: typeof(x) Using the JavaScript TypeOf function is particularly useful for checking the value of JavaScript expressions! How Do You Use the Javascript TypeOf Function? When you use the JavaScript TypeOf function to check the data type of an operand, it returns a string, or text, that contains the data type! Here’s an example of how you might check to see if an object is undefined: If (typeof object === ‘undefined’) The TypeOf function is an important tool when dealing with complex code. It allows a programmer to quickly check a variable’s data type- or whether it’s â€Å"undefined† or â€Å"null†- without going through the code line by line! Additionally, the TypeOf function can also check whether an operand is an object or not. Depending on the output of the TypeOf function, a programmer can adjust their previous code or quickly pick up where they left off on a project. In other words, the TypeOf function is a quick way to check data to make sure that a script will work. What Are the Possible Outputs of the TypeOf Function? Because the JavaScript TypeOf function is used to check data types, the possible outputs of the TypeOf operator are all data types, too. Here’s a quick summary of the different type of outputs you might see: Value TypeOf undefined â€Å"undefined† null â€Å"object† Boolean (true or false) â€Å"boolean† all numbers â€Å"number† all strings â€Å"string† all symbols â€Å"symbol† all functions â€Å"function† all arrays â€Å"object† native objects â€Å"object† host objects Dependent on implementation other objects â€Å"object† What’s Next? If you’re interested in coding, it might be worth considering a computer science major. But how do you know if computer science is really right for you? Here are five key factors to consider when choosing your major. If you do want to go into computer science, it’s important to get into a good college. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure you’re taking the right courses in high school. Check out this expert guide to the classes you should- and shouldn’t- take before you start your college applications. You might have heard that AP classes look good on your college application. If you’re not sure what AP classes are or how they affect your college admissions chances, take a look at this AP overview.

Leadership Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Leadership Development - Assignment Example From this discussion it is clear that  the Command and Control Methodology which defines the public safety leadership is no longer viable. Such obedience often fostered insubordination and passivity and did not promote creativity. Command and control management style often hampered the full implementation of community policing. The paramilitary approach that was emphasized in the command and control methodology also neglects the distinction between police and soldier developments. Law enforcement departments now emphasize on strategic management and accountability. It helps in periodically assessing how the police agencies can achieve their goals.As the study highlights an effective public safety leader has high standards for safe behavior that are consistently demonstrated while advocating safety. The best leaders make sure that their decisions reflect safety their communications are clear on safety, and that they consistently observe & coach others on the safety standards. They a re approachable and open to inputs. An effective public safety leader always demonstrate ethical conduct and honesty in addition to maintaining responsibility of the trust and confidence of the public, the regulator, corporation, employees, shareholders and community. They are transparent and self critical. Technical capabilities are crucial for every public safety leaders as they are involved in daily technical decisions that have immediate and long term implication.   

The Problem of Relativism and Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Problem of Relativism and Morality - Essay Example The role that religion plays in the shaping of morality can thus, not be underestimated. The fact that these religions were often the mouthpieces of certain political denominations must also be taken into account while looking at their influences. Whether religion which seeks to represent what was for a long time considered the very fountain-spring of morality- God- is biased or not makes the problem of relativism very relevant to the lives of people even today. The emergence of atheistic groups and the rise of existentialist thought in Europe also brought the focus back on relativism and morality. This paper shall seek to look at the different points of view that have been put forth regarding relativism and seek to assert that it is not possible to have a single view of morality in the modern age. Relativisms of various kinds are a part of the theories that are used to talk of morality today. Subjective relativism, a form of relativism according to which morality depends on the subj ectivity of an individual places the onus of deciding whether something is good or bad according to his or her own beliefs and values. The individual, and not a divine or social force, is invested with the power to make choices regarding good and evil. This perspective gained credence with the rise of individualism that reached its height with the rise of capitalism (â€Å"Roots of Individualism in Europe†). With capitalism at its peak, it is necessary for one to understand the role of individual subjectivities. It is also important for the society as a whole to examine the role of overarching frameworks that fail to include the majority of the people in the modern world. The modernist movement that took shape in Europe had as one of its founding principles this very distrust in metanarratives that were imposed on people as a part of religion and history. The fallout of this was that conventional notions of morality were discarded. This was very different from the moralities that were a part of Victorian society which believed in a rigid framework of morality that would then be imposed as a part of social life. As a part of this, people would have to adhere to the rules that were set by the society as a precondition for being a part of that very society. Marginalization was the punishment that was meted out to anybody who dared to deviate from the path that was laid out for the citizens of a particular community. Organicity, thus, is not a part of the social fabric of modern times. The organicity that made possible the unity of earlier societies is not a feature of modern society. A single framework that defines one’s existence and the morality that is a part of that existence is thus, insufficient for an understanding of life as it was during the twentieth century and as it is in the twenty first. Franco Moretti locates the schism between organic and non-organic societies in the Augustan age when Europe came into contact with other cultures in a major way (Moretti 36). Debates about the moralities that are a part of modern times are incomplete without a discussion of the theories that were a part of organic societies-the theories that served to hold people together as a single monolithic entity. Religion was one such body of theories. The Divine Command Theory that places God at the pinnacle of all

Time and Happiness Essay Example for Free

Time and Happiness Essay Good morning everyone. The topic I have chosen is WHAT IS HAPPINESS. Nowadays, many people think money can buy happiness so that they will work over ten hours to earn more money. They think that if we are rich then, we can do anything such as buy a fat dog, a big house, a grand car or many luxurious things LV bag, DOIR shoe and so on. It cannot be denied that material life is happiness because you can buy the things you want but I think material life can only give me happiness for a short period of time which is external happiness. I think cultural life can give you a long term happiness and this is happiness from heart. There are three simple ways of gaining happiness that I would like to mention about. First of all, good relationship with friends and family are the main points to become happiness. The reason is I can get more love and sense of care from them . When I feel unhappy or I am in a problem, they are the ones who help me solve the problem and give me support all the time. Although they have never tried to make me happy by buying me some expensive things such as i-phone, i-pad, I can never doubt in their support and love for me†¦and that feeling is what makes me happy. Therefore, I love my family and friends and I am very proud to say that I have a very good relationship with them. The next point that I want to focus on is my dream because self-realization can let me gain pursuit of eternal value. I have some small goals as well as some big, I will never let go of these dreams that I have been dreaming of.. In spite of all the difficulties that I will have to face during this phase, I will try my best to enjoy them and tackle them because these steps can let me know and learn how to be mature and independent. Therefore, the pursuit of eternal value will be eternal happiness. The last thing that gives me happiness is helping the needy people. The reason is I can get more meaningful and wonderful time in my busy life. Undeniably, volunteer can not earn money or waste time but I do not think so. When I help the needy people, I will earn more naive and satisfaction in their possession. And I think, for me this is happiness†¦Getting to help others and doing some good deeds To conclude, good relationship of friendship and family, achieving my dream and helping others are the main three points that gives me the exact meaning of happiness. These things not only give me a long term happiness , but also gives me the satisfaction and the feeling of happiness from heart. You see, these are not the material things. I can say the simple cultural life is happiness in my heart because I know ‘Happy is he who is content’. I hope that you can find the right meaning of happiness in Your Life. Thank You!

Free College Admissions Essays: Passion for Economics :: College Admissions Essays

My Passion for Economics    The crucial importance and relevance of economics related disciplines to the modern world have led me to want to pursue the study of these social sciences at a higher level. My study of Economics has shown me the fundamental part it plays in our lives and I would like to approach it with an open mind - interested but not yet fully informed.    Having spent half of my life in India I have direct experience of two very different lifestyles making me more eager and enthusiastic to investigate other ways of life from a macro perspective. After completing my A-Levels, I hope to travel to Germany with a few friends in order to find out more of this culture and improve my German. Due to my different experiences, I am multilingual and can speak fluent Hindi and Gujarati.    In the Sixth Form, I regularly attend the school Debating Society, where I jointly hold the senior most position and organize many school charity events in my Senior Prefect role of Charities Coordinator. In the past, this has included raising nearly  £3000 on the behalf of an Indian Cultural Society Fashion Show for the Indian earthquake. I was involved in the establishing of the first ever Student School Council in which I was Year Representative.    Last year, I was involved in designing a roof for a proposed Tate Modern extension in a project sponsored by architecture firm Ove Arup. For this, I gained a Crest 'Gold' Award but more importantly the opportunity to investigate something from a technical point of view, thus branching away from my mainly unscientific subject base.    The demanding nature of the work has given me an added sense of responsibility but also of pride, fulfilment, and greater appreciation for hard work, ultimately making me more mature and dependable.    My other hobbies are equally varied, including Badminton, Club Cricket, and helping in the production of plays such as Bugsy Malone and The Threepenny Opera at school. Thanks to my love of reading, I have in the past written book reviews for The Asian Age newspaper.    I take pride in and put effort into all my work, whether academic or not.

Instrumental and end values Essay

Values are one’s judgment of what is important in life. One way of considering values is in terms of instrumental and end values. Instrumental values are beliefs about the type of behavior appropriate for reaching certain goals. End values or sometimes called terminal values, are beliefs about the kind of goals or outcomes that are worth trying to pursue. This paper will evidently describe the primary concepts of each value while examining my personal list and rankings of five instrumental and end values most important to me. End vales can be categorized by two different aspects, personal and social. My end vales consist of equality, an exciting life, self-respect, a sense of accomplishment, and wisdom. The end values most important to me lean towards a more personal aspect, even though equality is considered a social end value according to Rokeach. Making necessary life decisions consider these five end values. Equality is definitely one of most important values in my life. Equality among friends and family has always been one of the major values in my life. An exciting life is necessary for one’s happiness and happiness leads to a positive aura surrounding an individual. Self-respect, a sense of accomplishment and wisdom are three aspects that are tied together. An individual needs to have self-respect and a sense of accomplishment to acquire wisdom. Instrumental values, according to Rokeach, fall in two categories as well; morality and competence. The means people use to achieve their goals might violate moral values like honesty, or violate one’s personal sense of competence and capability like become illogical. My five instrumental values include ambition, cleanliness, forgiveness, responsibility, and self- control. The instrumental values most important to me focuses more on competence than morality. These instrumental goals are key aspects that focus on pursuing one’s life goals. Honesty is the best policy. Honesty is one of the most important aspects in pursuing one’s goals in life. Ambition is also one of many important values in a goal oriented person. Ambition is required for one to achieve goals and be successful. Cleanliness and  responsibility are at an equal level of importance in my life. Cleanliness is associated with responsibility in numerous ways. One has to be responsible to keep oneself and one’s surroundings clean which leads to a happy lifestyle. Forgiveness and self-control are two keen values to one’s life as well. Self-control is very important to succeed in life. However, every individual has both instrumental and end values, every person differs in how they order the values into priorities, which accounts for tremendous variation among people. Comprehending one’s own values clarifies what is important, which is essential for effective leadership. Leaders can identify and comprehend value differences to improve communication and effectiveness. Instrumental and end values are both essential in achieving goals and having a successful life whether it is a personal end value and social end value or morality instrumental value and competence instrumental value. This paper described and listed five instrumental and end value and their importance in one’s life. Values are fundamental beliefs that an individual considers to be important that have an impact on attitudes and behavior.

iTUnes Essay

Abstract Since April 2003, iTunes Music Store has permitted the consumer to purchase music and digital books over the Internet with success. By 2005 their shares increase significantly as a result of their tremendous success. Their product became a platform for the digital music business to explode into the industry it is today. This also made digital music affordable to the consumer who may have gone to illegal downloads in the past which in turn ensured that the music industry was getting paid for their product as well. The $0.99 cents per song download provided $0.70 cents to be paid to the record companies and the remainder ($0.29 cents) was Apple profit. By August 2005, some of the larger record companies felt that their product was underpriced and requested that flexible prizes were instituted. However, this was not a shared opinion by all, the fear was that the market might not be stable enough to survive a price increase when illegal downloading was widespread. A price increase would encourage this type of activity to continue and no one would be making money. Due to its power, Apple kept the same prices, however by January 2008, Amazon.com entered the market place with a similar product without all of the restrictions that were placed on music in the iTunes Store. Questions 1)Provide an argument for why a variable pricing policy might increase the sales revenue from Apple’s Music Store (compared to the flat pricing policy). Life is complicated, but Apple Computer ‘s iTunes store is pretty simple: Download a song and pay $0.99 cents. In 2009, Apple announced that for the first time would allow beginning implementing variable pricing on the iTunes Music Store. Instead of a absolute $0.99 cent price point, record labels would now have the option to charge $1.29 for more popular songs and $0.69 for less popular tracks. It was not too long before almost every top song on iTunes jumped from $0.99 to $1.29. While most tracks that saw an increase in price suffered a small drop in sales, the $0.30 price difference more than made up for that fact, worked to increase overall revenues. Apples position during the time to increase the price of popular songs was global. Many of Apple’s products such as the iPod and laptops were sold all over the wo rld. The iTunes Music Store was highly successful, and has already  accomplished large user numbers. The change in price did not suggest a complete renovation in the way people downloaded and listened to their music. Also, Digital downloading of music is just one of the many markets that Apple has recruited into. Under a new pricing plan songs would cost depending on how desirable they are considered and having Apple such a market power, the new pricing strategy was another successful for the company. 2)Discuss other potential pricing policies that might increase the revenue from Music Store sales. With the increase in the demand for online-based music, Apple is likely to increase its prices to gain more from its products. The company cannot however enforce high prices on the consumers because the sale of online music is still in a changing stage. Apple could consider other pricing schemes like a bundle pricing where they combine popular and unpopular music or getting the latest popular music across genres. This could expand customer base to different genres and increase the sales of unpopular songs. The bundling strategy will help in increasing profits by extracting additional consumer surplus. They also could offer an entire group of songs, as a group, for a single price. The company could resort to sale of large music files such as MP3s, JPEG and MP4 and other music formats for various consumer needs (Brickley, Smith, & Zimmerman, 2009). 3)What are the risks and potential costs of implementing more sophisticated pricing schemes for the downloaded music? Sophisticated pricing tools are potentially available to provide a contrast to the uniform pricing model that used to implement iTunes. This sophisticated alternative tools may include song-specific pricing, pure bundling, mixed bundling, two-part tariffs among others that could be use to raise revenue. If firms have market power they can raise their prices without losing all customers to competitors. Firms have as ultimate objective to choose the pricing policy that boosts the value of the firm. Managers are trying all the time to devise a pricing policy that captures as much gain as possible catching costumer surplus as company profit. For managers and companies in general, only incremental prices matter in pricing decisions. As this case show, iTunes has certain power on their loyal costumers and confronting the risk of some decreases on sales, iTunes took the risk when they increase their  song’s prices and at the end, the most loyal costumers remained whit the company. The potential costs were evident when iTunes suffered at the first moments a fall in sales. Was very worrying that people were still able to download free music from other sites. Nevertheless, iTunes survived, and the company was still betting on iPods sales at the same time. 4)Is Apple’s pricing objective to maximize the revenue it receives from the sales of the downloaded music? Is this the objective of the major record companies? Explain. (Hint: review the revenue/product data from Apple ’s 10-K) Apple as all companies is interested in maximize its revenues, but it not its objective reach it trough the downloaded music pricing strategies which is the objective of the record companies. Apple is a successful company that has a lot of attractive products that convert all the costumers in loyal fans of Apple. The Company is confronted by aggressive competition in all areas of its business; the markets for the Company’s products and services are highly competitive. The Company’s competitors who sell mobile devices and personal computers based on other operating systems have aggressively cut prices and lowered their product margins to gain or maintain market share. However, Apple is focused on expanding its market opportunities related to personal computers and mobile communication and media devices. The Company believes it offers superior innovation and integration of the entire solution including the hardware (iPhone and iPod), software (iTunes), on line services (iCloud), and distribution of digital content and applications (iTunes Store). The Company’s ability to compete successfully depends heavily upon its ability to ensure a continual and timely flow of competitive products, services and technologies to the marketplace. The Company continues to develop new technologies to enhance existing products and to expand the range of its product offerings through research and development. On the other hand record companies are just interested in gaining the greatest among of money from each company that distribute the music on which they have rights, they matter is to collet the most possible from every song downloaded. 5)Do you think that Apple’s ability to control the pricing of downloaded music is likely to change in the future? Explain. My personal opinion is that Apple has a huge recognition all around the world. Apple has been able to achieve its position with prodigious skills in the market. Nowadays, as we all know, Apple has the most loyal costumers in  the world. Every single time that Apple launches a new product the most loyal costumers excited sleep for nights on the doors of the stores to be the first ones buying the new products that always offer the most cutting-edge advances in techn ology. I would say that Apple’s ability to control its prices related to downloaded music would not change too much in the next future. In deed, Apple has increasingly assumed the control of technological development in the industry. The Company is committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software and services. Apple is pioneered providing its customers new products and solutions with superior ease-of-use, seamless integration, and innovative design, every time getting closer to the wishes of consumers. As part of its strategy, the Company continues to expand its platform for the discovery and delivery of third-party digital content and applications through the iTunes Store allowing customers to discover and download applications and books through either a Mac or Windows-based computer. The Company’s strategy also includes expanding its distribution network to effectively reach more customers and provide them with a high-quality sales and post-sales support experience. As a customer of Apple is very difficult to see that for the near future the company may lose its ability to control the prices of their products. When people become a fan of Apple never more would pay a similar price for another technology more than Apple offers. That is the reality today.

Critically assess Thomas Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil The WritePass Journal

Critically assess Thomas Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil Bibliography Critically assess Thomas Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil IntroductionBibliographyRelated Introduction St Thomas Aquinas was one of the most influential theologians to date and his influence on the Catholic faith and understanding of ethics is both vast and undeniable. As a theologian he took great influence from the work of St. Augustine who in turn took influence from the Greek philosopher Aristotle. To understand Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil it is important to first examine the influence he took St. Augustine. I will also look at another approach to the problem of evil given by the modern British theologian John Hick. I will see if this accounts for anything which Aquinas’ account does not. St. Augustine’s work on the problem of evil came as a reaction to the Manicheans’ who believed in a type of ‘cosmic dualism’. Their belief was that there were two opposed forces in the universe; the force of good and the force of evil. The force of evil was responsible for all evil that occurred in the world; be it the death of a relative or a very poor yield of crops. These forces, according to the Manicheans’, were in a constant cosmic battle against each other. This view of the forces of good and evil can be seen in modern literature and film and a good example of this is the book Lord of the rings. In the lord of the rings Frodo and the other members of fellowship can be seen to represent the force of good and Sauron and his dark army can be seen to represent the forces of evil. The Manicheans supported their dualist claim that there were both evil and good forces in the world through quotations found in the book of revelations which state that S t Michael and some angels went into   battle with the devil and his angels (the similarity between this and the battles in the lord of the rings is very apparent). St Augustine did not accept the Manicheans account as he did not believe it was a Christian position; believing that there was a separate force of evil was not a defensible position for a devout Christian. Many religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, state that there is only one God and that one God created the universe and everything within it. From this we can take the position that there can be absolutely no independent or separate power of evil due to the fact that everything that exists was created by an all powerful and completely good God. But how then does one account for evil being present in some form within the world? Surely one must either accept that evil does not exist at all or that the God of which we speak is not utterly good or that god is not omnipotent. Cleverly St. Augustine managed to avoid this problem by introducing some of the philosophy of Aristotle; namely that of his work on absence. Aristotle believed that many things we could view as being a negative force or thing could actually be explained in terms of the absence of something good. Where we may view sickness as being the introduction of a virus or a parasite into somebody’s previously healthy body Aristotle would have viewed it as a ‘lack of health’. So where health is not present there is sickness. Another good example is ‘where there is darkness there is an absence of light’. So, for Aristotle, many negative things can be seen as an absence of something positive. To further illustrate this point Aristotle gave the example of a ship being wrecked. If the pilot of a ship is not on the bridge and the ship crashes into rocks and becomes wrecked it is due to the absence of a pilot. The pilot himself did no wrong; he was not inattentive or inebriated during duty; he merely was not there. It was the absence of the pilot which caused the ship to crash. This illustrates that negativ e things occur when there is an absence of some good which should have been there. St. Augustine took Aristotle’s work on absence and applied it to his own work on the problem of evil, and the idea that something negative was the absence of something positive became a central theme in his theology. Augustine did make some changes to the idea of evil being an absence of good as he believed that not every single absence is an evil; he did this by stating the difference between a privation and an absence. The distinction he made is this; an absence exists when some good is not present that should not be present in the first place whereas a privation (privatio bonni (a privation of good)) exists when some good is not present that should have been there in the first place. To illustrate this a few examples are useful. If a stone does not have eyes then there is an absence of some good but the stone is not intended to have eyes so this seen as an absence not a privation. If a person does not have wings then there is an absence of some good, but the person is not i ntended to have wings so this is seen as an absence and not a privation. Now if we look at privation then the difference should be clear. If a person does not have eyes then this is a privation and not an absence as a person is intended to have eyes, there is something missing which should be there. If a giraffe does not have a neck then this is seen as a privation and not an absence as there is something missing which should be there. In other words; if something falls short of what it is supposed to be then it has suffered a privation. Who decides the way something is supposed to be is God. It is God who created everything to have a certain nature and if something falls short of this God given nature then it is suffering a privation. Furthermore; if something falls short of its God given nature then it is not as God intended it to be, thus, it is to an extent evil. So the person without eyes is suffering, to a certain extent, from an evil (a privation of good). It is important to note here that these privations do not occur from free choice; they are existent because of some ‘natural evil’ which occurred; for example a birth defect. No choice was made by the person to have no eyes; it was not because of a choice they made. So if these types of privation are seen as natural evil then what is moral evil? How does moral evil occur? St. Augustine believed that human beings and angels were different to the rest of God’s creations. What they had, which God’s other creations did not, was free will. Where all of God’s other creations were susceptible only to natural evil (they had no choice over the privations which they may have suffered) humans and angels had the ability to choose whether or not they wanted to fall short of God’s intended nature for them. A human being has the choice to be good, to help those who need help or to act in a godly manner and the choice to not be good, the choice to fall short of God’s intended nature. They have freedom; the freedom to act in the right way or in the wrong way. They can choose to act in a manner that makes them fall short of God’s intended nature (as in the story of Adam and Eve). So in other words; moral evil occurs when humans use their freedom to fall short of God’s intended plans for them. Because humans have this fre e choice where all of God’s other creations do not it is humans which are responsible for all moral evil. Augustine also believed that there was a mysterious connection between human’s free choice to fall short of Gods intentions and the occurrence of natural evil; he thought there was a link between choosing to act in the wrong way and the occurrence of natural disasters. He took the biblical account of creation totally literally and from that he assumed that God created the world without any ‘natural evil’ whatsoever. There would have been no earthquakes, there would have been no tsunamis and there would have been no volcanic explosions (in fact there would have been no volcanos at all). He believed that all of these features of the world were brought about by humans and angels using their free choice to rebel against God.   So now the background to Aquinas’ theology has been established we can look at Aquinas’ work in some detail. St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil took much from Aristotle and Augustine. Like Aristotle he saw that many negative things can be seen to be an absence of something else, i.e. darkness being an absence of light. He also saw the need to make a distinction between absence and privation, for he too believed that it was not evil for a stone to not have eyes. He took these ideas and expanded on them to create a much more detailed view of what evil can be seen to be. He states ‘For evil is the absence of the good, which is natural and due to a thing’. He stated that pure evil is totally impossible and this is due to two reasons. If pure evil was possible then it would imply that there was a separate force of evil, opposed to that of good. If this were the case then it would mean that God was either not utterly good, or it would mean that God was not omnipotent. It would also negate the idea that evil is an absence of good. The other reason that Aquinas stated that pure evil was impossible is that for something to be purely evil, by definition, it would have to fall short of its God given nature by 100%. As God created everything that exists then something that fell short of its God given nature by 100% would not exist. Even Satan, according to Aquinas, cannot be seen to be totally evil. Satan was created by God and is evil because he chose to rebel against his God given nature but he is good in the fact that he exists and is one of Gods creations. Another example would be that of Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao was good to the extent that he existed but was bad because he failed to live up to God’s intended nature for him (because he killed around 10 million people). So, for Aquinas as for Augustine, pure evil does not exist. Another feature that Aquinas added to Augustine’s work was the differentiation between evil suffered and evil done. It is evil done that creates moral evil. It is not evil to have a thief steal your wallet; there is evil in the crime and the person who has been robbed has suffered from evil but they have committed no evil themselves, they have done nothing morally wrong and they have created no moral evil. It is the thief who has done something wrong; he has committed an evil act and has created some moral evil. So far it appears that Aquinas’ and Augustine’s approach to the problem of evil are the same (if not for a few revised definitions and differentiations). Where Aquinas really made a difference was with his work on the idea of natural evil. Unlike Augustine Aquinas effectively denied that natural evil exists. He did not believe that volcanoes and tsunamis were brought about by the free choices of angels and humans. Furthermore he did not believe that the world was created without things such as volcanoes and tsunamis, flesh eating tigers and fatal illnesses. He believed that all of things have always existed from the moment of creation and all of these things were created by God for a reason. The things which we may view as evil are only evil from a homocentric perspective; we only see tsunami’s as being evil because they kill other humans. We only see flesh eating tigers as evil because they are a threat to us. These things which we view as evil are only seen as evil from our perspective. Aquinas’s approach does not look at the world from a homocentric perspective; instead he looks at the world from the perspective of god (a theocentric perspective). When the world is looked at from God’s perspective what is seen as evil changes vastly. When a tiger eats a human or even a baby this not evil. The tiger is fulfilling its God given nature perfectly when it kills other beings to eat them. God designed the tiger to eat meat to sustain its own life; if it did not eat meat to sustain its own life then it would not be fulfilling its God given nature and then it would be succumbing to evil (it would be falling short of God’s intentions for it). Even the recent tsunami in Japan, according to Aquinas, cannot be seen as a natural evil. He would say that the tsunami was good in that it was fulfilling its God given nature to the fullest extent. The tsunami did what it was intended to do. It was being a good Tsunami. All of God’s creations are seen to be good if they fulfil their God given nature, if they do what God intended them to do. A volcano that erupts is a good volcano, a sheep that eats grass is a good sheep, and a fox which eats chickens is a good fox and so on.   Obviously from the chicken’s perspective it is a bad thing that the fox eats it but from God’s perspective the fox is being a good fox because it is acting as God intended it to act. If the chickens were not killed by foxes or any other animal there could be a situation where there were too many chickens and this could lead to other problems such as chickens eating all the food and leaving none for other animals. In the same way if there were no disasters such as tsunamis then there could be too many humans in the world and this would leave no food for God’s other creatures. The same applies to things such as the AIDS virus. Although we see it is a very bad thing, in God’s eyes it may be seen as necessary to keep the population at a certain level without overcrowding. Because the AIDS virus was created by God it is not evil if it fulfils its God given nature. It is only from a human perspective that th e AIDS virus is seen as a bad thing. This is a philosophically interesting and attractive position to take on the problem of evil. Aquinas’ approach not only deals with moral evil in an effective manner but also explains what Augustine would call ‘natural evil’ in a much more logical way. Aquinas’ decision to look at the world from a theocentric perspective allowed him to explain things such as tsunami’s and AIDS without turning to mysterious effects of moral evils. In effect Aquinas took Aristotle’s conception of a ‘good man’ or a ‘good carpenter’ and extended it to encompass all of God’s creations and in doing so created a much more philosophically sound approach to the problem of evil. One problem with Aquinas’ approach to the problem of evil is that he does not explain what use evil has. Why is evil allowed to be prevalent in the world? Why does God allow so much suffering to occur? Although Aquinas states that evil is not ‘something’, it is an absence of good he does not explain why God allows man to fall so short of our intended nature and thus allow evil to exist (even if its existence can only be explained in terms of a lack of good). One theologian who does manage to explain why evil exists is John Hick. Hick rejects much of the traditional Christian approach to the problem of evil and states that the ideas which underlie much of traditional Christian theology are false and effectively outdated. It is now useful to look at Hick’s approach to the problem of evil to see how it differs from Aquinas’ approach and to see whether it manages to successfully account for why evil is allowed to exist in the world. John Hick is a British philosopher and theologian who effectively denies much of traditional Christian beliefs. For example he denies that the humans were ever perfect and in doing so he denies the story of ‘the fall’. He does this by looking at scientific research and using this to show that it is very improbable that humans were ever perfect, improbable that the Garden of Eden existed. This is radically opposed to Aquinas’ view as Aquinas was a firm believer in the story of ‘the fall’, from which stemmed all evil. Hick took much inspiration from St Ireneus who believed that human kind was created in God’s image. We were created to look like God but it was our responsibility to become like God. It is our responsibility to grow morally through our own free choices. We must choose to live a way of life that reflects the ‘divine’ way of life, we must choose to act in the way that God would. But how can we do this? How can we grow to become more like God? Hick believes that we can grow to become like God through our own free choices. Through our choice to act in the right way and not commit evil acts or give in to our weaknesses we can grow morally and spiritually to become more like God. Hick goes on to state that the evil which exists in the world is part of God’s creation. The evil which we find all too easy to give into was created by God as a gift. It is through this evil that we can grow into God’s likeness. We can choose not to give in to our base desires an d do the wrong thing. We can choose not to remain in our animal state and accept that ‘we are only human’. We can choose to adopt the features of God such as kindness, compassion and love and if we do we grow spiritually and grow away from our animal state. So Hick believed that evil was put into the world to allow us to make free choices; choices between right and wrong, good and evil. He developed this line of reasoning in an attempt to prove that a belief in an all powerful, all good and all loving God was not an irrational belief. But this still begs the question; if God wants us to believe in him and act in the right way why does he not prove his existence to us? Why doesn’t he show himself to us? It would seem like the sensible thing to do, it would stop all speculation over whether God exists or not and it would be very likely that people would stop acting in an evil way. Hick claims that God does not show himself to us in order to protect human free will. God chooses to remain hidden to preserve our freedom. This allows us the make our own choices and to choose to act how we want. It is this freedom, according to Hick, which allows us to grow morally and spiritually and thus grow into God’s likeness. If God did sho w himself then this would destroy our free choices and thus stunt our moral and spiritual development. So; God cannot show himself as it would destroy human freedom, it would destroy our freedom to act in whichever way we please. Without this freedom we would not be able to grow into God’s likeness. So it is evil which allows us to become more like God. It is evil which makes us more moral beings. This approach to the problem of evil does overcome some of the objections faced by Aquinas’ approach as it manages to explain why God permits evil to exist in the world. The approach devised by Hick’s manages to justify why belief in an all powerful, all good and all loving God is not irrational in the face of great evil. This is something which Aquinas fails to do. Aquinas does manage to explain how there is evil in the world but not why. To conclude I have found that Aquinas’ approach, despite it underpinning much of Catholic belief, fails to account for why God permits evil to exist in the world. Aquinas does manage to explain how it exists and blames this on the bad choices of humans but he fails to explain why it exists. He fails to give evil any purpose unlike Hick who explains why and how evil exists in the world. Hick states that God gave us evil as a gift which will bring about the highest good and he explains this point well. So, although Aquinas does give a fairly good account of how evil exists and makes a good point in stating that natural evil does not exist, he fails to justify or explain why evil is permitted in this world. Because of this I am inclined to reject Aquinas’ pre-scientific theory in favour of the better explained, more scientific and more plausible theory devised by Hick. Bibliography Herbert McCabe. God and Evil: in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Continuum international publishing group. 2010 aquinasonline.com/Topics/probevil.html Peter Vardy. A thinker’s guide to evil. John Hunt Publishing. 2003 Peter Vardy. A thinkers guide to god. John Hunt publishing. 2003

Role of the White House Press Corps in American Democracy

Role of the White House Press Corps in American Democracy The White House press corps is a group of about 250 journalists whose job is to write about, broadcast and photograph the activities and policy decisions made by the  president of the United States and his administration. The White House press corps is comprised of  print and digital reporters, radio and television journalists, and photographers and videographers employed by competing  news organizations.   What makes the journalists  in the White House press corps unique among political beat reporters is their physical proximity to the president of the United States, the most powerful elected official in the free world, and his administration. Members of the White House press corps travel with the president and are hired to follow his every move.   The job of White House correspondent is considered to be among the most prestigious positions in political journalism because, as one writer put it, they work in a town where proximity to power is everything, where grown men and women would forsake a football field size suite of offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a shared cubicle in a bullpen in the West Wing. The First White House Correspondents The first journalist considered to be a White House correspondent was William â€Å"Fatty† Price, who was trying out for a job at the Washington Evening Star. Price, whose 300-pound frame earned him the nickname, was directed to go to the White House to find a story in President Grover Cleveland’s administration in 1896. Price made a habit of stationing himself outside the North Portico, where White House visitors couldn’t escape his questions. Price got the job and used the material he gathered to write a column called â€Å"At the White House.† Other newspapers took notice, according to W. Dale Nelson, a former Associated Press reporter and author of â€Å"Who Speaks For the President?: The White House Press Secretary from Cleveland to Clinton.† Wrote Nelson: â€Å"Competitors quickly caught on, and the White House became a news beat.† The first reporters in the White House press corps worked sources from the outside in, loitering on the White House grounds.  But they insinuated themselves into the presidents residence in the early 1900s, working over a single table in President Theodore Roosevelts White House. In a 1996 report,  The White House Beat at the Century Mark, Martha Joynt Kumar wrote for Towson State University and The Center for Political Leadership and Participation at the University of Maryland: The table was perched outside of the office of the Presidents secretary, who briefed reporters on a daily basis. With their own observed territory, reporters established a property claim in the White House. From that point forward, reporters had space they could call their own. The value of their space is found in its propinquity to the President and to his Private Secretary. They were outside the Private Secretarys office and a short walk down the hall from where the President had his office. Members of the White House press corps eventually won their own press room in the White House. They occupy a space in the West Wing to this day and are organized in the White House Correspondents Association.   Why Correspondents Get to Work in the White House There are three key developments that made journalists a permanent presence in the White House, according to Kumar. They are: The precedents set in coverage of specific events including the death of President James Garfield  and as the constant presence of reporters on presidential trips. Presidents and their White House staffs got used to having reporters hanging around and, finally, let them have some inside work space, she wrote.Developments in the news business. News organizations gradually came to view the President and his White House as subjects of continuing interest to their readers, Kumar wrote.Heightened public awareness of presidential power as a force in our national political system. The public developed an interest in presidents at a time when the chief executive was called upon to provide direction in domestic and foreign policy on a more routine basis than had previously been the case, Kumar wrote.   The journalists assigned to cover the president are stationed in a dedicated â€Å"press room† located in the West Wing of the president’s residence. The journalists meet almost daily with the president’s press secretary in the James S. Brady Briefing Room, which is named for the press secretary to President Ronald Reagan. Role in Democracy The journalists who made up the White House press corps in its early years had far more access to the president than the reporters of today. In the early 1900s, it was not uncommon for news reporters to gather around the desk of the president and ask questions in rapid-fire succession. The sessions were unscripted and unrehearsed, and therefore often yielded actual news. Those journalists provided an objective, unvarnished first draft of history and an up-close account of the presidents every move. Reporters working in the White House today have far less access to the president and his administration and are presented with little information by the presidents press secretary. Daily exchanges between the president and reporters - once a staple of the beat - have almost been eliminated, the Columbia Journalism Review reported in 2016. Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told the publication: â€Å"I’ve never seen the White House press corps so weak. It looks like they are all angling for invitations to a White House dinner.† Indeed, the prestige of the White House press corps has been diminished over the decades, its reporters seen as accepting spoonfed information. This is an unfair assessment; modern presidents have worked to obstruct journalists from gathering information. Relationship With the President The criticism that members of the White House press corps are too cozy with the president is not a new one; it most surfaces under Democratic administrations because members of the media are often seen as being liberal. That the White House Correspondents Association holds an annual dinner attended by U.S. presidents does not help matters.   Still, the relationship between almost every modern president and the White House press corps has been rocky. The stories of intimidation perpetrated by presidential administrations on journalists are legendary - from Richard Nixons ban on reporters who wrote unflattering stories about him, to Barack Obamas crackdown on leaks and threats on reporters who didnt cooperate, to George W. Bushs statement that the media claim they didnt represent America and his use of executive privilege to hide information from the press.   Even Donald Trump has threatened to kick reporters out of the press room, at the beginning of his term. His administration considered the media â€Å"the opposition party. To date, no president has tossed the press out of the White House, perhaps out of deference to the age-old strategy of keeping friends close - and perceived enemies closer. More Reading The Fascinating History of the White House Press Room: Town CountryThe President, the Press and Proximity: White House Historical AssociationThe Press Has Always Been a Guest in the President’s Home: LongreadsHistory of the White House Correspondents’ Association: White House Correspondents’ AssociationThe White House Beat at the Century Mark:  Martha Joynt KumarDo We Need a White House Press Corps?: Columbia Journalism Review

'Rebel Without a Cause' Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

'Rebel Without a Cause' Film Review - Essay Example In order to discern the position, it is important to look at the outstanding question that Jim Stark ask his father while considering the embodiment of manhood; â€Å"What can you do when you have to be a man?† (Ray II). When asking the question, Jim expects a clear and conclusive solution, but the father’s inability to give a precise answer points in a way to the question of masculinity among the characters in the movie. People wonder why there is not one definite answer explaining who a real man is. Is it that Mr. Stark is not sure of what it takes to be a man? Maybe there is more than one way of answering the question. One plausible thing in this scenario is that the society in which the movie is set provides only one standard model of manhood; that of a tough, hyper-masculine male. There seems to be numerous instances in the movie during which this assertion of a hyper-masculine male is ideologically shifted and distorted. For instance, when Jim gets back home, he finds his dad rushing to bring food to Jim’s mother afore she awakens. Jim becomes disgusted at just how diminished his father’s masculinity has become and begged him to stop getting submissive. It is clear that Jim’s disgust stems from his worries regarding the apparent inversion of gender roles. It is plausible in Jim’s character that something urgent needs to be done in order to re-define the true meaning of masculinity, and hence manhood. This explains why he cannot accept his father’s submissiveness to the mother. Out of frustration, he grabs his father and pushes him across the room. This action seems to encompass Jim’s desire to re-awaken the â€Å"man† in his father. According to Jim, the father has become an emasculated patriarch in this matriarchal society. When one turns to Frank’s life in the movie, it is notable that he has control over his activities, leaving him with little room to assert his masculinity. Indeed, his masculinity has

Journal 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal 6 - Essay Example In total, the theories of crime explain that people commit crime because of some social, ecological, cultural or subcultural factors such as financial and social deprivation, bad living conditions, ill social background, people’s assumption that some illegalities are positive and their teaching to their family. In my perception, every city or neighborhood has some forms of organization/disorganization. In my locality, there are very few incidents of delinquency or crime while if I consider the city, there are many forms of disorganization such as theft, mobile snatching, vehicle snatching, murders and many others as no place is perfectly free from crimes. Poverty is the basic reason for making people to commit crime as they are unable to even get their due rights. In our neighborhood, people try to keep an eye on delinquent people or people that are doubted to do wrong so that they can be checked while committing a wrong deed, which is a form of organization. Parents teach their children to follow the law and keep away from bad company even then, there can be some problems such as children fight and small disputes between neighbors, etc. Anderson’s code of the street is applicable on the story of Willie Bosket in All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence because he belongs to a family that can be called street family. While being nourished and brought up in such a family, the protagonist performs such illegal deeds that are previously done by his father and forefather and is unable to consider the aftereffects of his doings. According to Anderson, parents teach children to be aggressive when they try to control their children by punishing them physically or showing violence before them. In Willie Bosket’s life, he has witnessed and listened about aggressive attitudes of his ancestors due to which, he also