BeckerKevinE2Phil100F2014 Essay Example for Free

BeckerKevinE2Phil100F2014 Essay Empiricism, or the belief that knowledge is achieved through the senses, was a popular belief amongst some of the greatest modern philosophers. Perhaps the most prominent Empiricists were John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume, all of whom are regarded as some of the most influential philosophers of the last 500 years. Each of those philosophers can be considered Empiricists due to the importance of experience throughout their philosophical principles. More specifically, Lockes empirical views can be seen in his idea of the primary and secondary qualities of an object. Berkeleys empiricism is evident in his critique of Lockes concept of abstract ideas. Lastly, Hume can be considered as the most consistent empiricist of the group as he did not waver from experience being the source of knowledge and at the root of reasoning. His views are evident in his concept of humans having perceptions and impressions and his idea of â€Å"self†. John Lockes empirical views are evident throughout his philosophical principles. Locke believed that there were no such things as innate thoughts and that the only way a person could obtain  knowledge about something is through directly experiencing it. This is especially evident in his explanation of objects having primary and secondary qualities. Locke suggests that all things posses two qualities about them: primary qualities and secondary qualities. Primary qualities consist of traits that are completely within the object such as the shape of a ball. This primary quality about the ball will not change even when viewed from a different perspective because that is the physical structure of the ball. On the contrary, a secondary quality is a trait that requires perception by an observer. Secondary qualities are relative to the observer and change depending on the observers perspective or the physical differences between observers. For example, the color of the ball can change depending on the lighting in the room or due to an observer being color blind. In his 4th book of his Essay, Locke writes,â€Å"We cannot demonstrate the certain equality of any two degrees of whiteness; because we have no certain standard to measure them by, nor means to distinguish every the least real difference, the only help we have being from our senses, which in this point fail us. † (Locke, Book 4, Chp 2, #13). In other words, he is saying that the secondary quality of the color white cannot be scientifically quantified because each individuals perception of the color is different which prevents us from being able to determine the true â€Å"whiteness† of the given object. Locke makes this distinction between primary and secondary qualities in a response to the idea of innate thoughts, or thoughts that are naturally ingrained in our minds without having to experience them. Further, Locke is suggesting that innate thoughts are simply  common experiences. Locke also believed that the primary qualities of an object were things that could quantified and measured by the Newtonian science of the time. Lastly, Lockes concept of primary and secondary qualities indicates that he is an Empiricist because they show that he believes that we need past experiences in order to have an idea about different objects. Without experiencing the color red previously, we wouldnt have an idea of how red a ball is. George Berkeleys philosophical methodologies and principles reflect empiricist ideas as well. This is evident in his critique of John Lockes concept of abstract ideas. According to Locke, we can come up with an abstract view of, say a cat, by taking our experiences of many different cats and extracting from them common properties that all cats have. This abstract idea therefore applies to all cats despite their size, breed, or coat color. Berkeley argued that these abstract ideas cannot be thought about in our mind without creating an image of a particular cat in our minds. One cannot imagine a cat that is neither big or little, of no specific breed, or colorless. Berkeley addresses this idea in his book A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, saying, â€Å"Whether others have this wonderful faculty of ABSTRACTING THEIR IDEAS, they best can tell: for myself, I find indeed I have a faculty of imagining, or representing to myself, the ideas of those particular things I have perceived. † (Berkeley, 10). In other words, Berkeley is saying that unlike others who claim to be able to come up with abstract ideas, he is only capable of imagining these â€Å"abstract ideas† with previous particulars that he already experienced at some point. The author of our textbook, William Lawhead summarized Berkeleys critique quite nicely, saying â€Å"We can think of, speak about, and imagine only particular things. † (pg 322). Furthermore, George Berkeleys critique of abstract ideas reflects his empiricist views because they show how important experience is to his concept of ideas. To Berkeley, one cannot come up with abstract ideas because we always draw on previous experiences to give us an idea of what were thinking about. This is a more strict version of Empiricism compared to Lockes. David Humes concept of perceptions are simply the contents of our consciousness, similar to what Locke would call an idea (Lawhead, 336). Hume further breaks down perceptions into two categories: impressions and ideas. To Hume, all original experiences are considered impressions. These impressions remain as â€Å"copies† in our mind and we draw upon them when we have a similar experience later on in life. These â€Å"copies† of the original impression are what Hume calls an idea. In his work, Treatise of Human Nature, Hume says â€Å"When we search for the characteristic, which  distinguishes the memory from the imagination, we must immediately perceive, that it cannot lie in the simple ideas it presents to us; since both these faculties borrow their simple ideas from the impressions, and can never go beyond these original perceptions. † (Hume, Section 5). In other words, Hume is saying that when one is trying to think about a characteristic of an object we always revert back to the original impression that we previously had in our mind from a past experience. Further, Hume is saying that even simple ideas about an object are faint memories of our previous experiences. David Hume can be considered the most consistent Empiricist especially when considering his idea on a persons perception of self (or lack thereof in this case). Lawhead described this simply by saying â€Å"Hume maintains that when we introspect we only find some particular perception of one sort another. If you focus on your experience right now you find puzzlement, tiredness, heat, anger.. What you dont find is a self. † (pg 340). This is an extremely empirical way of looking at ones self. Hume is such a consistent. Empiricist that he goes so far to say that we cannot have an idea of our self, because our minds always revert back to previous experiences of other perceptions. In addition to this, Hume suggests that we cannot even be certain about things such as the sun rising tomorrow. To Hume, the only reason that we know the sun will rise tomorrow is because of all of the past experiences and perceptions that weve had of the sun rising each morning. Therefore, we can only be certain of things that we have experienced. These two beliefs by Hume are evidence that he was the most strict Empiricist of the  group mentioned above. John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume can all be considered Empiricists due to the prevalence of experience in their philosophical principles.Lockes experience oriented principles can be observed in his idea of primary and secondary qualities of an object. Berkeleys can be seen in his critique of Lockes abstract ideas, which Berkeley suggests do not exist. Lastly, David Hume, who can be considered the most strict Empiricist, demonstrates his empirical views in his concepts of impressions and idea and his lack of self perception.

The Corner Stone Of Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Essay

The Corner Stone Of Blue Ocean Strategy Marketing Essay To sustain in the market and show high performance formula is not competition in overcrowded industries. The mantra is to create blue oceans of untapped market space. There are two distinct kinds of space, red and blue oceans, in a business environment. Red ocean represents all the industries that exist and perform by the way of competing with the rivalries. Here the industry boundaries are already defined and followed, the competing rules of the game are known. Companies try to surpass their rivals to clutch a larger share of product or service demand. As the market space gets packed, scenario for economic profits and productivity growth are reduced. Products become commodities  or  niche, and the cutthroat competition turns the ocean red as blood. Blue oceans denote a new concept, not the ones that exist today it is the unknown market space, untainted by competition. Here, demand is created rather than grabbing the existing one. There is ample opportunity for growth, both in terms of profit and the speed at which the profit is obtained; competition is immaterial because the rules of the game are not yet framed. Blue Ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.   The logic behind blue ocean strategy contrasts with the traditional model that focuses on competing in an already existing market space. The management is not able to differentiate between red and blue ocean strategy because of the difficulty they face in breaking themselves from the competition. Companies have got huge capacities to develop new industries and re-design the existing ones, a fact that is exhibited in the deep changes that are necessary in the way industries are classified. Blue ocean strategy has been the pioneer in the standardisation, continuity and replacement of the segmentation of the industries. To win in the future, companies mustnt challenge with each other. The only way to overcome the competition is to stop trying to be in the competition. The business atmosphere in which most business strategy and management has been based on is changing, evolving or disappearing. Some of this change is due to technology. Other reasons might be culture, globalization, speed of new information, or the role of demographics in the workplace. There are 3 characteristics that contribute to a Good Strategy. 1) It is focused; it is not diffused across all potential aspects of the market. 2) The shape of the value curve diverges from any potential competitors. 3) It has a compelling tagline. STRATEGIES INVOLVED VALUE INNOVATION The corner-stone of Blue Ocean Strategy is Value Innovation. Instead of focussing on thrashing the competition, the spotlight should be on making it erroneous by creating a bound in the value for buyers and creating uncontested market space. A blue ocean is created when a company achieves value innovation that creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The  innovation  (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market. Value can be identified in the conventional  market segmentation  and offering value  and  lower cost. Value innovation only occurs when organizations have aligned innovation with utility, price and costs. The market must be ready to accept the product, meaning that timing is a major check. The focus is on both differentiation and low cost to provide value to both customers and the organization. Value innovation can be created in a way that the companys actions are favorable for both the company, through reduced cost structure and to its customers through value proposition. Cost savings are made by disseminating and bringing down the factors an industry competes on. In case of buyers value, it is increased by rising and creating elements the existing industries has not offered in the past. Additive costs are reduced further, as scale of economies kick in due to the increase in volumes of sale. THE STRATEGY CANVAS The strategy canvas acts as an indicative and an action framework for structuring a blue ocean strategy. Strategy Canvas seizes the current state in the market by detailing the factors players compete on in product, service and delivery. This enables the company to gain insight into the areas where the competitors are currently investing, the factors on which the industry is presently contending on its deliverables, and the end products the customers receive from the existing offerings from the competitors market. The four actions framework offers a technique that smashes the trade-off between differentiating the products and reduction in cost, thus creating a new value curve. It attends to the four key queries of the issues that an industry takes for granted and issues that need to be eliminated; factors that needs to be reduced below industry standards; factors that needs to be raised above industry standards; and what to offer that the industry has not offered before. The eliminate-reduce-raise-create grid encourages the companies to act on all four areas to form a new value curve. By motivating the companies to fill the grid with eliminating, reducing, raising, and creating actions the grid provides four immediate benefits: it urges them to concurrently adopt differentiation in the products and adopting reduction of costs; identifies companies who are only creating thereby raising costs; makes it easier for the management to understand and comply; and that drives the companies to scrutinize every factor the industry competes on. This is against the Michael Porters Five Force Strategy which implies that an organization should dominate the market in all sectors to attain competitive advantage and gain excellence. Blue Ocean Strategy embeds the concept of slowing down profit attrition with an efficient cut throat strategy for an already existing market, and through the profit made out of it they can increase the financial resources available for new innovative investments and thus their chances of finding an unexploited market with plenty of potential consumers. Figure 1: Four Actions Framework REDUCE Which factors should be reduced well below industry standards? ELIMINATE Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated? CREATE Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered? A NEW VALUE CURVE RAISE Which factors should be raised well above the industrys standard? SEQUENCE OF BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY The essential concept of blue ocean strategy is to get the strategic sequence right. This sequence washes out and authenticates blue ocean ideas. This reduces the business model risk. In this model, prospective blue ocean ideas must pass through a chain of buyers utility, price, cost, and adoption. At each step there are only two options: a yes, in which case the idea may move on to the next step, or no where the company can either park the idea or rethink it until a yes. Figure 2 : Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy BUYER UTILITY Is there exceptional buyer utility in your business idea? A Commercially Viable Blue Ocean Idea ADOPTION What are the adoption hurdles in actualizing your business idea? Are you addressing them up front? COST Can you attain your target to profit at your strategic price? PRICE Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers? LG ELECTRONICS A CASE STUDY LG ELECTRONICS, wanted to implement Blue Ocean Management to make competition irrelevant. Their strategy was to redefine industry boundaries by focusing more on high end products and entering new segments of emerging markets like China, India and Middle East and Africa and thus create uncontested market space. They shifted their focus from increase in volume to increase in value through high-end product innovation in all of its four product divisions: Mobile Communications, Digital Appliance, Digital Display and Digital Media. Each domain of the company planned to establish high end value added products. In the mobile phone division, LG Chocolate and the Black Label series are LGs Blue Ocean operational strategy in action, which are expected to generate around 30 per cent of sales and 50 per cent of profits by 2010. LGs Chocolate became best selling product through intensifying research capabilities and high-end design which was in the midterm strategies for the company. The Digital Display Company was the leading producer of digital TVs in LCD and Plasma modules. In the increasingly competitive digital TV market, LG Electronics had cutting-edge products through innovative products. Digital Display division was formed in joint venture with Philips to produce LCD TV and plasma TV in 2001. The digital display division had earned $ 2.77 billion which constituted 28% of their global sales in the year 2005. Their business goal being becoming the dominant leader in digital TV and plasma TV, the division had undergone breakthrough innovations and products under the blue ocean strategy. The Digital Appliance, another SBU of LG Electronics, was a leader and pioneer in home appliance products, like air conditioner, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, microwave oven, and other home appliances. They had developed the worlds inbuilt TV, refrigerator, ARTCOOL air conditioners, steam washing machines and many more core technologies for home appliance parts and products. Building on successful home appliance operations, the company was also expanding their business scope to have a greater emphasis on new product sectors such as commercial air conditioners, built-in kitchen appliances and home networks. The digital media segment, with their global sales of $5.7 billion generated synergy with its audio and video (home theatre, DVD recorder), digital storage (super multi DVD rewriter) and personal computer (desktop and notebook PC) divisions65. Through continued technology innovation, the company had developed the worlds first Satellite DMB notebook66 in 2005. In particular, the company was actively penetrating multimedia product markets with mobile technologies, such as PDAs and MP3 players, and with composite products, such as super-multi drives and super-multi DVD recorders. They were also focusing on its Car Infotainment business.

The Case Study Concerning Joelle Essay -- Business Ethics

Ethics plays a very important role in one social system and basically on how the people will make their actions or decide on a particular thing on whether it is the right or the wrong thing. Ethical consideration is very important. It helps a person or a group of person understands whether the actions are right or wrong. Ethics is a very critical factor most especially when considering where the ethical standards are to applied. Aside from it, weighing results of actions or decision is also another major concern because of the fact that a person has critically analyze whose side is needed to satisfied. There are instances that moral obligations are also considered, in which moral is defined as a universal accepted personal human behavior that allows a person to decide whether an action or decision is good or bad. In the case of Joelle, this study will significantly identify the different ethical principles that can be applied in the case. In addition to it, the study will also arrive in one ethical theory that Joelle can be applied in her situation in order for her to effectively determine what she will do and if her decision and action can be considered ethical or the right thing. UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism is an ethical theory in which determining the rightness or wrongness of action or decision is based on determining whether the greatest benefit or happiness will be provided in the highest or greatest number of population. This simply means that action or decision must be based on the highest amount or number of beneficiary (Martineau, 2006). However, this ethical theory has two major types. First is the â€Å"act utilitarianism† and second is the â€Å"rule utilitarianism.† Act utilitarianism specifically adh... ... the pollution, it can be concluded that total external population has the most number of population that will benefit from the decision. Generally, the position that Joelle must take is to mention the illegal dumping modus operandi of her company. Works Cited Dooley, D. (1996). Equality in Community: Sexual Equality in the Writings of William Thompson and Anna Doyle Wheeler. Ireland: Cork University Press. Frederick, R. (2002). A companion to business ethics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Gardiner, S.M. (2005). eVirtue Ethics, Old and New. New York: Cornell University Press. Kaufman, A. (1999). Welfare in the Kantian State. New York: Oxford University Press. Martineau, J. (2006). Types of Ethical Theory, Volume 1. New York: Cosimo, Inc. Reese, C.D. and Eidson, J.V. (1999). Handbook of OSHA construction safety and health. Boca Raton, FL. CRC Press

Florences Market in the Renaissance Essay -- Mercantile Economy

THESIS STATEMENT During the Renaissance, Florence profited from a mercantile economy due to the guilds, the quality and variety of goods and the style and management of the market place. PURPOSE STATEMENT Through historical and economic data this research paper will express how Florence flourished from a mercantile economy in the Renaissance. INTRODUCTION The Renaissance was the rebirth of Europe and it all started in the city of Florence. Florence and everything that made a standard Renaissance city: painters, sculptors, writers, architects, and a vivid culture. Soon all of Europe would follow in Florence’s footsteps and â€Å"the setting is so rich, varied, rambunctious, and inventive as Italy in the Renaissance† (Cohen 1). The painters and sculptors defined Renaissance culture and could actually make a living because they were being sponsored. The Renaissance was the age of the merchants and because of the merchants the economies and culture rose. The Renaissance is remembered by many people for the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael. What many people do not know about the Renaissance is that the textile industry was more famous and profitable than the painter industry. Florence was the place to get any of your goods because of its location. Merchants went to Florence to sell their unique goods, buy, sell, or make cloth, and attend the guilds. Florence was the trend-setter of the Renaissance, whatever they did everyone else wanted to do because Florence was very successful. â€Å"No great city has ever been built far from the water†¦ [Florence] was now more vulnerable, but it had easy access to an important trade route. It had good communications by river to the west, and practicable passes through the mountains ... ...ll come to buy things. The markets still sell the same things like food and clothing but they also sell collectibles, souvenirs, and leather items. Florence’s markets still sell things you never seen before just like the merchant’s did in the Renaissance. Florence’s leather, silk, and cloth items are still popular around the world. â€Å"U.S. importers set a high value on Florence's products, and tourists spend freely in its fashionable shops† (Florence). The quality of goods is has still withstood the years and Florence is still well-known for its leather and silks. The owner’s of the stalls in the markets still like to haggle about the price of their goods and some of them feel insulted if you do not haggle with them. Florence’s start in the Renaissance as the Renaissance city has served them throughout the years and are they still one of the top cities in the world.

What explanations are offered for the development of nationalism?

Introduction The roots of nationalism go back to the middle of the eighteenth century and a movement called romanticism. Affecting art, journalism, philosophy, music, and politics, romanticism was a mood or a disposition that defied rigid definition. It did indicate a revolt against rationalism and a consequent emphasis on sentiment, feeling, and imagination. The emotions of the heart, it was argued, though irrational, should be valued over and above the intellectualizations of the head. So that whereas Rene Descartes had said, â€Å"I think, therefore I am,† Jean-Jacques Rousseau proclaimed, â€Å"A thinking man is a depraved animal.† In this havoc of power and ideas, one familiar face has re-emerged: that of nationalism. For many it is as undesirable as it is unbidden and unexpected. For others its recurrence is regrettable but comes as no surprise. For still others, it symbolizes the only sure way forward after the sudden shatters created by totalitarianism in the de velopmental paths of so numerous societies. For all, nationalism symbolizes a stage in the evolution of humanity to ‘higher forms' of culture, one that should be endured or embraced, but is certainly destined to pass after a few chaotic decades (Smith 1995; Brown, Micheal, 1997).None of these situations seems to accord with the chronological facts or sociological realisms of ethnicity and nationalism. Instead of treating ethnicity and nationalism as phenomenon in their own right, they persist on evaluating them by the yardstick of a liberal evolutionary scheme, overt or tacit, one that is intrinsically problematic and perceptibly irrelevant to the dynamics of nations, nationalism and ethnic conflict.For liberals and socialists dedicated to the view that humanity progresses in stages to greater units of comprehensiveness and higher values, the nation and nationalism can simply represent a halfway house to the aim of a cosmopolitan culture and a global polity. On the one hand, t he nation can be applauded for superseding all those local, inscriptive ties and communities that have controlled innovation and opportunity and enchained the human spirit.Its wider horizons have brought collectively all kinds of peoples with changeable origins, religions, occupations and class backgrounds and turned them into citizens of the defensive, civic nation. Conversely, the nation today has become an obstruction to progress, seeking ineffectively to control the flow of information and the channels of mass communication, and to obstruct and control the great economic institutions–transnational companies, world banks and trade organizations and the global financial and commodities markets.Although the great forces of globalization, economic, political and cultural, have already diluted the power of the nation-state and are fast making all national boundaries and responses obsolete (Schopfin, George, 2000; Hobsbawm 1990: ch. 6). Romanticism rejected the idea of the inde pendence of the individual and stressed identification with an external whole, with something outside of oneself. Quite normally, this outside whole took the form of nature, as marked in the works of such romanticists as Wordsworth in England; Herder, Schiller, and Goethe in Germany; and Hugo, Rousseau, and Madame de Stael in France.Frequently also, the center of one's identification was the â€Å"folk,† the cultural group, or nation. Nationalism, in other words, was a political expression of romanticism (William Booth, 1996, p. A-1). In many ways, the major philosopher of nationalism was Rousseau, whose influence on the French Revolution has been generally recognized. Rousseau's ideal was the small, well-knit community in which each person freely gave himself over, quite literally, to every other person. We should obey the community, Rousseau taught, because in observing the community we obey ourselves.The identity and unity of our wills produce a â€Å"General Will† that is completing, indivisible, infallible, and always for the common good. The individual's commitment and fondness to the community and the General Will are total. French Revolution and Nationalism Following the French Revolution, nationalism spread across the continent of Europe and beyond. In a real sense, the past of nineteenth-century Europe is the history of nationalism or as a minimum this is one way of looking at it. The twentieth century saw the dispersal of nationalism throughout the world.No country has been spared; none is an exemption. â€Å"Some Euro-enthusiasts, have hinted at the prospect of transcending the state and nation by forming a wider federation and a district political identity. Yet the federalists have been continually frustrated by the continuing vivacity of the national idea†. James Mayall, 1990, 94-5 With the exclusion of two brief periods, Western nationalism has continued unabated. For about a decade after each of the two world wars, Western nationalism was in a state of decline, even of ill reputation.It was nationalism, after all, that had set in motion cataclysmic events, leading to appalling waste of human and material resources. But the decline of Western nationalism did not last long. Its renaissance after World War I was much hastened by the fascist and the Nazi movements of the 1920s and 1930s. After the Second World War, Western nationalism owed much of its vitality to the French Gaullist movement of the 1950s and the 1960s. More about this currently. The same world wars that led to the transient decline of nationalism in the West set the stage for the rise of nationalism in the East.The â€Å"new nationalism,† as it came to be called, took place, for the most part, in colonial areas; and it was in large appraise a reaction against the Western policies of imperialism and invasion. At the turn of the century, colonial nationalism (more exactly, anticolonial nationalism) was almost an unknown phenomenon. F ollowing World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires, nationalism began to appear in a few countries, most notably in India.After the Second World War and the dissolution of the German, British, French, and other imperial designs, nationalism mushroomed in formerly colonial countries. Nationalism after Cold War Nationalism takes hold after the Cold war. By 1950, the philosophy of the Nationalism after Cold War had come to control public life in the United States. It was an ideology of American nationalist globalism, in which the United States was seen to be locked in global struggle with forces of international communism, proscribed by a Soviet government intent on world invasion.That struggle was believed to intimidate fundamental American values, most particularly freedom of enterprise and freedom of religion, and the leeway of spreading those values, which were deemed collective, to the rest of the world, which longed for them. Within this i deology, almost all international problems or crises were seen as part of the overarching conflict between the United States and the USSR—between their contending ideologies and ways of life. Within this framework, a threat to â€Å"freedom† anywhere in the world was deemed a risk to the American way of life.This presented a simple, dichotomous view that seemed too many if not most Americans to elucidate the often frustrating and considerably more composite developments of the postwar world. The roots of this philosophy lay in a tradition of belief about America's national mission and destiny, a ritual reaching back to the seventeenth century. Key elements of this ideology were in place at the end of World War II; some developed throughout the war, and others preceded it. The final pieces fell into place between 1945 and 1950.All through those years, the range of U. S. foreign policy discourse grew more and more narrow. Though, American nationalist ideology given the p rincipal underpinning for the broad public consent that supported Cold War foreign policy. Seen through the prism of that principles, the U. S. had emerged from World War II as a completely matured great power, dedicated to comprehending freedom all through the world and prepared to usher in a new golden age in its own image.After the war, the Soviet Union became a relentless foe because it exposed this idea of the American Century. From the late forties through the late eighties, the United States waged cold war against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics not mainly in the name of capitalism or Western civilization (neither of which would have united the American people behind the cause), but in the name of America in the name, that is, of the nation. The potency of the Nationalism ideology that appeared between 1945 and 1950—an principles that dominated U.S. public life at least until the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991—derivative largely from its nati onalist appeal. Yet although the vast scholarly literature on the Cold War, American nationalism remains a little-studied element of postwar U. S. history. Indeed, as Stephen Vaughn noted practically twenty years ago in his study of democracy and nationalism in the propaganda work of the Committee on Public Information during World War I, twentieth-century American nationalism remains a subject deficiently in need of further study.(Vaughn, Stephen, 1980). Involvement of Soviet Empire Since the implosion first of the Soviet empire and then of the Soviet Union itself, nationalism has again affirmed itself as a force on the world scene, one not expected to fade away soon. The scholarly literature on nationalism is voluminous and seems to expand exponentially, mainly in the years since the earth-shaking events of 1989-91. The ideology around which the Cold War consent was forged from 1947 on consisted of three main constructs: national greatness, global accountability, and anticommunism .Anticommunism was the last leg of this ideological triad to fall into place. By illumination why the United States was having such a hard time meeting its global responsibilities while concurrently buttressing the nation's claims to greatness, anticommunism put the entire ideology in working order. The third leg permitted the triad to stand. But the fundamental ideology was one of American nationalist globalism, not anticommunism. In itself, anticommunism was barely new to U. S. political culture in 1947.But with the Soviet Union sitting spanning Eastern and Central Europe, global anticommunism now became a defining constituent in U. S. foreign-policy ideology as signified in public discourse. The perception that the communist threat was worldwide received momentous amplification in 1949, with the â€Å"loss† of China to Mao's army and the Soviet Union's detonation of its first atomic device (William Claiborne, Washington Post, November 24, 1996, p. A-12). Nationalism and Am erican Globalism The idea of the Soviet threat proved relevant precisely because it threatened the idea of the American Century.Global anticommunism fit impressively into the existing mixture of national greatness and global accountability, American nationalism and American globalism—as this mixture had already begun to function as an ideology of nationalist globalism that facilitated many Americans makes sense of their nation's overriding place in the postwar world. Global anticommunism lent increased force to this ideological vision. The appeal of global anticommunism—and particularly the impact of the Truman Doctrine speech of March 12, 1947 should be understood in that context.In 1947 the Truman Doctrine provoked influential debate, though it clearly carried the day. In 1950 the application of that principle to Asia provoked overwhelming support. After the accent of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in the first six months of 1947, and particularly after co ngressional support of the Marshall Plan in the wake of the Czech coup in February and March of 1948, the range of adequate public debate about the basic objectives of U. S. foreign policy had grown gradually more constricted.Fairly, Henry Wallace attempted to make these objectives a central question of the 1948 presidential campaign. But Wallace and the foreign-policy questions he sought to heave were painted with a red brush that left them beyond the pale of adequate public discussion. Certain basics of the civil rights and labor movements attempted to express dissent over U. S. foreign-policy initiatives in planned terms, but to do so they accepted the terms of the debate as recognized by the Truman administration's stated global objectives.In doing so, groups like the NAACP and the UAW sought to gain both government and public support to precede their own domestic agendas. While both organized labor and African Americans achieved certain objectives as a result, their acceptance of the official objectives of U. S. foreign policy put in to the narrowing of public discourse relating to both national and international issues. In late 1948 and 1949, systematic dissidents who forthrightly opposed the fundamental foreign-policy strategy of the Truman administration, such as W. E. B.Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Henry Wallace, found themselves more insignificant than ever. The UE and other left-wing unions that divergent the Marshall Plan were debarred from the CIO, which in effect took away their status as well thought-of American trade unions. These dissenters had stepped outside the boundaries of legitimate discourse as distinct by the established notions of national greatness, global responsibility, and anticommunism. Wallace definitely preached his own principle of national greatness and global responsibility, but his failure to recognize global anticommunism nevertheless placed him beyond the pale.The lack of fundamental public debate concerning the nature and purposes of U. S. foreign policy after 1950 given to the development of an ever more militarized foreign policy controlled by narrow ideological blinders that covered fundamental international realities. â€Å"The so-called Cold War,† in the words of Joyce and Gabriel Kolko, â€Å"was far less the altercation of the United States with Russia than America's expansion into the entire world—a world the Soviet Union neither proscribed nor created. † (Everett Carll Ladd, 1995)The ideology of American nationalist globalism, which distinct international reality in terms of a Manichaean struggle between the U. S. -led â€Å"free world† and Soviet-controlled communist totalitarianism, served to validate the expansion of U. S. power all through the world while obfuscating the enormous complications of a world experiencing the final collapse of European colonialism. It facilitated most Americans to feel pride in being citizens of a great nation that required only to protect its own way of life and to defend â€Å"free peoples everywhere† from totalitarian aggression.The absence of debate about the fundamental assumptions of U. S. foreign policy throughout most of the Cold War era served to reify that ideological commencement. Nationalism has been a momentous theme of the post-Cold War era. Throughout the Cold War, Americans welcomed refugees from the Captive Nations. After the Cold War, refugees either escaping the terror of dictatorial rulers or wanting to stake their claim to the American Dream lost their cachet with voters (accept those fleeing Castro's Cuba).â€Å"The arrival of the greatest number of immigrants as the wave of eastern, central, and southern European ethnics in 1901-1910 caused anti-immigrant commitment to spread† (â€Å"Immigration,† Time/CNN, All Politics, Internet, March 25, 1996). Passions ran high in vote-rich states such as California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, New York, and California . Throughout the 1994 midterm elections, Californians ratified Proposition 187, which banned all state spending on illegal immigrants and requisite police to report suspected illegal to the California Department of Justice and the U.S. Immigration Service. Television sets sputtered with pictures of illegal Mexicans swarming across the border as a presenter intoned, â€Å"They just keep . † (Barone and Ujifusa,1996, p. 81). As the campaign escalated, Republicans Jack Kemp and William Bennett accused the measure, claiming it was â€Å"politically unwise and essentially at odds with the best tradition and courage of our party. † (Dick Kirschten, 1995, p. 150). Regardless of their protestations, Proposition 187 won handily, 59 percent to 41 percent.But whereas whites gave it 64 percent backing, 69 percent of Hispanics disapproved–a sharp demarcation of the new â€Å"us-versus-them† politics. (J. Joseph Huthmacher, 1969) Pete Wilson, the GOP governor who made the vote initiative a cornerstone of his reelection bid, won by an almost equal vote of 55 percent to 41 percent. Two years later, Kemp realigned his immigration stance once he was chosen by Bob Dole to be the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee. ConclusionHowever, the role of nationalism, and particularly the nationalist symbolism of American world power, remains a derelict factor in our understanding of the Cold War's origins. As the Cold War itself recedes into history and the view that the Russians ongoing it and the Americans won it becomes ever more commonplace, it is more important than ever to observe the ways in which the United States contributed to the Cold War's origins, mainly through the universalist pretensions of its political culture.The triumphalism embedded in Francis Fukuyama's view that the end of the Cold War marked â€Å"the end of history† constitutes a new, traditionally contingent variation on the ideology that framed that conflict from the beg inning. In a world growing less rather than more pliant to the dictates of U. S. policy, such ideological thinking is potentially quite precarious. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union two years later, the ideological basics of American nationalist globalism have been loosened but not undone.There is no longer a domineering consensus, because there is no longer a prime perception of a single, overarching threat to the United States. But most Americans are quite sure that their country won the Cold War and that they are citizens of the world's favored nation. As the Persian Gulf War demonstrated, national enormity and global responsibility can activate a potent public consensus behind large-scale intervention without anticommunism playing a role.Until we have a more thorough debate over the nature and purposes of our nation's foreign policy in a multifaceted rapidly changing world, we remain in danger of falling back into an ideological descr iption of international realities. If that should happen particularly if it should happen in combination with declining U. S. global domination, domestic economic travails, and the determination of awesome U. S. military power, it could pose a grave new threat itself, both to the wellbeing of the republic and to the wellbeing of the world. References: â€Å"Immigration,† Time/CNN, All Politics, Internet, March 25, 1996. Barone and Ujifusa, â€Å"The Almanac of American Politics†, 1996, p. 81. Brown, Micheal E., Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict (MIT:1997); Dick Kirschten, â€Å"Second Thoughts,† National Journal, January 21, 1995, p. 150. Everett Carll Ladd, America at the Polls, 1994 ( Storrs, Connecticut: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, 1995), p. 124. Hobsbawm, E.J., Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge:1992); J. Joseph Huthmacher, Massachusetts: People and Politics, 1919-1933 ( New York: Atheneum, 1969), p. 162. Mayall, James, Nationalism and International Society (Cambridge,1990); Schopfin, George, Nations, Identity, Power: The New Politics of Europe (Hurst, 2000) Smith, A., Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era (1995) Vaughn, Stephen. Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1980 William Booth, â€Å"In a Rush, New Citizens Register Their Political Interest,† Washington Post, September 26, 1996, p. A-1. William Claiborne, â€Å"Democrats Don't Have Lock on Hispanic Vote, Latino Leaders Say,† Washington Post, November 24, 1996, p. A-12.

Loose/Strict Constructionist Essay

By both definition and widespread perception the Jeffersonian-Republicans were strict constructionists, meaning they closely followed the framework of the Constitution. On the other hand, the belief was that Federalists, who thought the Constitution was open for interpretation, were loose constructionists. Although both the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (Democratic-Republicans) mainly supported these theories, they, like other politicians of the time, often made exceptions to their â€Å"policies. † During Jefferson’s Presidency, he often conveyed his strict constructionist stance regarding certain issues; therefore he followed the ‘defined’ ideals of the Democratic-Republican Party. After just entering office (August of 1800), Jefferson sent a message to Gideon Granger (Doc. A), a future cabinet member. His letter depicted his opposition regarding the idea of a strong, â€Å"single† centralized government in America (a Federalist-minded view). For example, one of the most noteworthy things Jefferson did during his political career was outwardly oppose Hamilton’s plan for a National Bank. This truly demonstrated Jeffersonian-Republican opposition (before 1800) towards any sort of Federalist ideal. Throughout his political career, he also portrayed his belief in the Constitution as it was written, rather than accept views of the Federalists (which, he implied, would lead to a monarchy). During his last year in office (1808), Jefferson is shown to have written another letter (Doc. B), this time to a Mr. Samuel Miller. Here, he re-asserted his desire for a government to follow the ideals of the Constitution, and thus make sure there will be a full separation between church and state (first amendment rights). James Madison, also being a Democratic-Republican, supported, for the most part, the same principals Thomas Jefferson did. As shown by Document H, Madison is depicted as to standing firm on his Republican ideals when affirming his position: that funds cannot be set apart for the development of national transportation because â€Å"such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution. † Not only did he express his anger towards a loose following of the Constitution in Doc. H, but Madison also went as far as vetoing a popular â€Å"Bonus-Bill. Although it was unpopular (especially amongst Federalists), he vetoed the proposed legislation because he believed it seemingly gave the government powers that the Constitution had not granted. Although both Presidents mostly stood firm regarding their strict constructionists views (as explained before), they, along with many other politicians (including Federalists), at times, had acted incredibly hypocritical when it came to their stances. Often it was demonstrated that Federalists became more strict, while Republicans became increasingly loose. First, Federalist Daniel Webster demonstrated this change in political position in document D. In his speech, he opposed President Madison’s position regarding a mandated military draft. He claimed that Madison was acting outside the guidelines of the Constitution, which illustrated Webster’s change from a loose constructionist to more of a strict constructionist. Secondly, Jefferson, a self-proclaimed strict constructionist also joined the group of political hypocrites. For example, Jefferson’s most grand defiance of the Constitution of the United States was his approval of the Louisiana Purchase. Even though the Constitution didn’t necessarily allow for such action, Jefferson made an executive decision to pursue the idea of expanding America, and thus starting a westward movement. Apparently the success of the Louisiana Purchase must’ve altered Jefferson’s mindset, because eight years after his Presidency (1816), Jefferson wrote a letter to Samuel Kercheval (Doc. G), which gave support to exploring some change/further interpretation of the Constitution. Lastly, Republicans also at times slandered Madison for being too much like a Federalist (Webster in Doc. D and Doc. F). In this document (F), Randolph outwardly spoke against his executively proposed tariffs of 1816, which truly angered many strict constructionists. Not only was he slandered for his proposed tariffs, but also his establishment of the â€Å"American System† that favored the re-establishment of a Second National Bank in America. These examples of prominent politicians slightly swaying from their political party, demonstrate the presence of political opportunists even in the 1800s. â€Å"When judged by the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison (for the most part), it would appear that Jeffersonian-Republicans were indeed strict constructionists. It also appeared that both Presidents, along with other politicians, chose certain times to act hypocritical† (Parker); Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase and Madison’s re-establishment of a national bank are two portrayals of those instances. In general, the politicians of 1800-1817 laid the foundation for political opportunists to maneuver their way into power by challenging normal ways of thinking/unpopular philosophies. This precedent is still being followed today, and although it may not be too beneficial at times, it has strengthened democracy and this republic of the United States of America.

Explore the techniques used Essay

Explore the techniques used by Carol Ann Duffy to create contrasting â€Å"voices† by comparing two of the persona poems. In the poem â€Å"Fraud†, Duffy takes on the persona of an historical figure and creates a voice for it. She writes from the point of view of this character. In doing so, Duffy portrays the feelings and emotions of that character as she sees them. The character in â€Å"Fraud† is a Jewish man whose family were all killed in the Nazi holocaust. His name was Jon Ludwick Hoch, who later changes his name to Robert Maxwell. This was so that he could escape his past and what he left behind when he left Slovakia and to help him fit in when he moved to England. A way in which a â€Å"voice† is created in this poem is through use of the language, this marks it so you can tell it can only come from this specific character. The language is very direct and factual, giving no alternatives. â€Å"What was my aim? To change from a bum a To a billionaire. † The language exposes a lot about this persona. It shows that he was intelligent and cunning and knows what he is talking about. The character is not self pitying like that of the persona in Havisham,but condsending. The two characters through the use of different voices in each poem are portrayed as once being very vulnerable but now have become hardened by time. â€Å"Poverty’s dumb. Take it from me Sunny Jim. † This quote is from â€Å"Fraud† this shows how the voice is dominating and condescending. When looking at the poem you can immediately see that the line length is generally short, with no more than fourteen words per line and no less than two. This may be a method in which the personas thoughts are expressed, very rapid and direct thoughts. A lot of the lines end with â€Å"M†, for example â€Å"scum, slum. † This â€Å"M† sound is crude and suggests that the â€Å"voice† is similar to that of a whining and spoilt child. Which, in turn, when you research the real life character, says a lot about the person. He Lots of words in the poem are mono syables which gives a heavy beat to the end of the line. The character speaks in colloquial language, using a lot of slang words; this gives us an immediate opinion of the character. There is a frequent use of curse words this gives you the impression that the character is very direct not only in his conversations with people but with his whole out look to life. Words such as â€Å"Mother fucker† are swear words, but when used in this context in the play it gives a depth to the character. Through Duffy’s use of words we as readers can learn more about the character she is portraying/ A device that Duffy has used in this poem and with a lot of previous poems is the use of ellipsis. For example, the man speaks elliptically, his attitude towards things and he doesn’t explain himself. This shows that his character is â€Å"Shady â€Å", he elliptically refers to contemporary things. When he is talking about God, he talks elliptically about a lesbian sex show. â€Å"Then there’s Him- for whom I paid for a butch and femme To make him come. † To create the contrasting voice in this poem, Duffy uses the above techniques. But what techniques are used in another of her persona poems Havisham? Havisham is a character taken from literature and given a voice by Duffy. The woman in question is the tragic Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’s novel â€Å"Great Expectations. † Some history to the character in Havisham is; she was jilted at the alter by her lover whom she was due to marry. She never really recovered from that day. Inside her house she kept the wedding feast as it was, at this point rotting and rat infested. She wore her once beautiful wedding dress, now reduced to blackened rags. The point is, she wanted to keep everything exactly the way it was the day of her wedding, in hope that her lover would come back to her. Clearly from the outset there is still bitterness for the love she lost unsuspectedly. The first literary device used in this poem, in the first line is an oxymoron when referring to her lover. This suggests what she once felt for him, and what she thinks of him now. An oxymoron is a contradiction, so it begs the question, how can he be both of these things? â€Å"Beloved sweetheart bastard. † As in Fraud, there is a use of elliptical language which leaves the reader asking themselves questions about the character and what she is referring to. â€Å"Not a day since then I haven’t wished him dead . Prayed for it So hard I have dark green pebbles for eyes, Ropes on the back of my hand I could strangle with. † Who is he? When was â€Å"then†? To make this more effective and dramatic, Duffy uses a metaphor to try and convey what it feels like. What it feels like when she is saying how much she has longed for him to be dead. Her eyes are compared to â€Å"dark green pebbles†. This has all sorts of connotations, what does a dark green pebble feel like? The first thing that comes to my mind is that it is referring to how she has become cold and almost unhuman. This is what he has reduced her to. Another metaphor is employed in the same stanza when she talks about the ropes on her hands. Of course, she does not literally have ropes on her hands; its connotations are that of veins. The veins on her hands are bulging, through the stress she has been put through. This poem is full of rage and anguish, unlike Fraud where the main tone was demeaning of others. The woman in this poem is extremely self pitying and is completely self absorbed over what this man did to her. She is lonely and lost, grieving for her lost love. This poem is not normally structured; it does not flow as most poems do. In the first two stanzas there are two or three words, then a full stop. This method is to give that line a more dramatic and edgy feel, to set off the enigmas in the poem. â€Å"Spinster. I stink and remember. † â€Å"Beloved sweetheart bastard. † Both of the personas in these poems are not happy or jubilant in any way, they are depressing figures that eventually come to their end. The point is that similar methods are used to create the two contrasting voices. The way in which you use them and the language used is what really determines the creation of a contrasting voice and persona.