Summative Assessment for Master of Midwifery Leadership and Essay

Summative Assessment for Master of Midwifery Leadership and Development (topic to be decided) - Essay Example These classical theories do not take into account individual characteristics of each member and each member’s capacity for potential leadership. Newer theories by Taylor and Weber offer more scientific principles and explanations for management and leadership. Through these theories, we can deduce various techniques in leadership. We can also deduce various elements of an effective team. The various elements of an effective team are: a meaningful and clearly defined task; clear team objectives and individual targets; regular meetings; regular feedbacks on individual and team success in achieving objectives; the right balance of people; reflexivity-the ability to reflect on team performance and adapt and change; a good balance of concern for the team task and concern for the team welfare; the experience of full participation; and good leadership. This study aims to establish the student’s comprehension of the subjects and unit topics covered by this course. It also aims to apply the knowledge that the student has learned in an issue related to leadership and management in healthcare. This study aims to apply the different theories on leadership and management which were discussed in the different sessions of this course. Strong leadership and management skills are important tools for members of the health care team. Without effective leadership skills, the implementation of health care services becomes a counterproductive enterprise. In the nursing care process, the nurse is often called on to be a manager, and in some instances, she is also called on to be a leader. Both roles are different from the other. Wywialowski (1993) refers to nursing management as â€Å"the judicious use of resources to achieve identified client goals†. The responsibilities of the nurse manager include directing and controlling. He distinguishes nursing management from leadership by defining the latter as

The Waste of Time Essay Example for Free

The Waste of Time Essay Sonnet 18 is a typical Shakespearean sonnet that hardly departs from the â€Å"classic† rules of an English sonnet. It has fourteen lines in a simple iambic pentameter; although, there are a few strong first syllables in the poem and some lines have eleven syllables instead of just ten. None of the lines flow into the next one. All of them have a distinct stopping place except that of line 9 (as far as punctuation goes.) There are three quatrains in the poem, the third one changes the tone of the poem, that are followed up by a rhymed couplet that ends the poem. The poem also has a typical rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Sonnet 18 is considered to be the first of the group of 108 sonnets written about a young man, however one could easily presume that the person being talked about is a woman, so since there is no suggestion in this poem of a particular sex the anonymous person will be addressed as Shakespeare’s â€Å"beloved.† Shakespeare in Sonnet 18 compares his love to a summers day in a twist, instead of saying how his beloved is like the sun, he tells of how his love is not like what he describes.. In the first line of the poem, the author is asking or just wondering out loud if he should compared his love to a summer’s day. The second line Shakespeare jumps right into answering the question describing his love as â€Å"lovely† and â€Å"temperate† (ln 2.) The word temperate has a few different meanings. It could mean self -restrained, a mild temperature, but also in the time of Shakespeare people would have thought the word meant a balance of the humours. This pretty much means that they believed human behavior was decided by the amount of certains types of fluids in the body. So temperate meant someone had the right amount of those fluids. In the third line it literally is saying the rough winds of the summer can destroy the flower buds, which means his love does not have this particular trait. The fourth line uses the word lease as in a agreement. The point he is making is that summer is destined to end unlike his loves beauty. Lines five and six continue to describe the sun and how it can be too hot at times and how it also can be dulled by the covering of the clouds. The word complexion generally means the look of the faces skin, but here it also goes back to a balance of humours as did the word temperate. Shakespeare contiues on in his speaking of his love but in broader terms  now. He declares that fair (beauty) fades away, eventually, by chance or in the face of natures changes. The word untrimmd (ln 8) referes to beautiful things trimmings being lost or the fading of beauty. However, it could also refer to a term from sailing, meaning adjeust. That would change the meaning of the word completely. It would mean in the face of natures changes beauty of his lover remains unchanged. The ninth and tenth lines of the poem is the turning point in the sonnet. He begins to argue that his love will never go away or lose its beauty. Owst (ln10) means owns and owes back. It means that either the love wont lose their beauty they own or that they would not have to give back the beauty owed that was given from nature. It sort of goes back to line four when Shakespeare speaks of the summer being a lease, or a temporary ownership. Sonnet 18 has many technical devices that lie within the poem. It has repetition of words like â€Å"more lovely and more temperate† and â€Å"every fair from fair† that are used to emphasize the point being made. Shakespeare also put in the poem contrasting words in the poem such as those in lines five and six: â€Å"shines† and â€Å"dimmed.†

The Serious Problems Of Climate Change Politics Essay

The Serious Problems Of Climate Change Politics Essay Like everyone know climate change is a very serious problem for all the countries; but how much does it effects on Cambodia as a small and poor country? And how can this country solve the problem? To deeply understand why it is, lets briefly look at the overview of the climate change, why it is a big problem, the response that Cambodia have made, and finally we will examine on those initials whether they effective or not. Firstly, it is important to look at the causes and effect of climate change. Climate change or generally known as global warming is a major issue facing by the globe, and has been addressed since the mid-20th century. In order to go into detail, firstly we should know what global warming first is. Global warming is a change in the statically weather over period of time that range from decades to millions of years. The word global warming and climate change have a little bit difference. In a modern term especially in a context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to the changes in modern climate qualified by anthropogenic (human activities) generally known as global warming or anthropogenic global warming (AGW); whereas, climate change is a consequence resulting from global warming. In other word, climate change is a result from global warming. According to the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC), the global surface t emperature has increased 0.74 degree Celsius to 0.18 degree Celsius during the 20th century, and this prediction will increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degree Celsius by the end of the 21st century. This increasing is caused by many factors but mainly from the human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and land conversion for farming, and its effects on both animals and human health. The global warming causes a serious impact on Cambodia. Naturally, the climate in Cambodia is tropical monsoon characterized by wet and dry, and there are two seasons in a country: rainy season happens from November through May, and dry season happens from June through October. There is usually rain in rainy season, but some months the amount of rainfall is much; some other months in rainy season is less, and there is usually much rainfall in low land areas. In addition, the rainfall is not regularly scheduled according the seasons. Sometimes there is rain even in the dry season. This is the result of human activities affecting to the climate. They rely heavily on the natural resources especially logging wood which release CO2 into atmosphere. Explicitly, the emission of such gases from deforestation is immense. Annual rainfall would increase, as a prediction, between 3 and 35% from current condition. The flood is consequence of this uncertain weather. Some provinces have already suf fered from flood such as Prey Veng which is the most vulnerable one, Takeo, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Banteay Meanchey, and Kampong Thom. Moreover, it also destroys the crops, and infrastructure, and especially the human lives. As indicated in research, Cambodia was most attacked by flood was in 2000 that effected 3,448,629 of people, damaged 317, 975 houses and destroyed 7,068 houses and 347 deaths. Meanwhile, not only the rainy season the people suffer from but also the dry season which results in drought. The annual temperature is naturally between 22oC to 28oC the maximum. However, the rate is expected to increase from 0.7oC to 2.7oC until 2061. As a result some provinces are highly effected by drought such as : Battambang, Prey Veng, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu. Beside flood and drought, the storm also happens but not frequently in Cambodia such as Typhoon. However, once it happened like in 2001, it destroyed 734 houses, 6 schools, two temples, and 1 death, 11 injured. Regarding to this concern, Cambodia has taken several actions so far in the response to those disaster by joining cooperation both nationally and internationally. At the international level, Cambodia has ratified the United Nation Framework on Climate Change on 18 December, 1995 and entered into force on 17 March 1996. Moreover, Cambodia also acceded the Kyoto report on 2 July, 2002, and the Initial National Communication was submitted to the UNFCCC on 8 October 2002. The framework focused mainly on reducing the greenhouse gases emission from deforestation and from factories pollution, in which Cambodia contributes less than other countries. To make this work more effectively, Cambodia approved for the National Adaptation Program of Action on Climate Change (NAPA) in October 2006 with the four main sectors that have to focus on in NAPA such as agriculture, water resources, coastal zone, and human health. To implement these policies, Ministry of Environment is a focal point for NAPA. In addition, National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) was created on 24 April, 2006 under the sub-degree to coordinate, monitor, and implement the policies related to the UNFCCC. Beside these, Cambodian government also created the Cambodian Climate Change Office (CCCO) under the ministry of environment on 23 July 2003 as an institutional body to work closely with the relevant organizations working on the climate change issue in term of GHG emission. At the local level, on the other hand, the government has also tried hard to initiate some programs such as training and development the awareness of climate change at the local villages, the plantation program in the climate change prone provinces such as Prey Veng, and Battambang, and a technique of using the animal mature as a stove gas instead of wood fuel. Also, the government funded by the donors tried to construct the infrastructure bridges, and roads damaged by the flood as a part of preventing further damages. Treatment and education about the health care are essential. Moreover, the National Committee for Disaster Risk Management was created in 1995 to provide the relief and preventive measure from losing lives and properties in the disaster in the district level. However, because of lack of finance support and technical assistance makes the plan difficult to be achieved Four, meanwhile Cambodia is a poor country; therefore, we cannot implement or initiate any policy by its own for several reasons. First, it is the challenge from the gap of people in Cambodia. Well, it is hard have jobs worked smoothly because people still have low level of education; thus, they seem not to understand and see the results of the climate change. In addition, the most people that suffer most are those who live in rural areas rather that in the city, yet those people in city are hard to understand about the effects very clearly. Second, as a poor country we dont have enough financial resources on combating on the various projects; we depend almost on the international assistances. Therefore, it is hard for Cambodian government to initiate any project on combating the issue as we have to convince the international donors to agree on our project before they provide fund. Third is that we still lack of human resources and experts to run the project smoothly; this is mainly because very few people are interested in learning about the climate change. Finally, by looking at these obstacles Cambodia faces, especially the fourth one, it is believed that it is impossible for Cambodia to combat the climate change issue alone; there must be some contribution from outside because the problems are also too large for Cambodia to solve by itself. Furthermore, it is even more impossible because the international approaches also fail to regulate and enforce the policies on reducing the climate change issues, especially the failure of Kyoto Protocol, so is Cambodia. I will elaborate about its failures to link with Cambodia. First reason that it failed is that it failed to enough the US as the member. The United States has never ratified any policy the Kyoto Protocol set for the reason that those policies are seriously harm the United States economy. Based on this reason, the Kyoto Protocol lacked of the effective leadership and the large amount of financial support especially from the United States, that is one of the big problems for Kyoto P rotocol. Even, in addition, the already members of the Protocol, Protocol itself cannot be assure that its members implement the policies set effectively. Like the Canada, it promised to reduce the emission 6 percent below the 1990 level until 2008 and 2012; however, it increased above 30 percent higher that than the target. Moreover, the Kyoto Protocol also failed to get its parties to take the substantial actions. The Canada, for instance, did not implement what the Kyoto required because all of those actions required Canada to reduce its emission much more than the other countries; the problem is also similar to the New Zealand, and Japan. So, the fact that the internally approaches taken to imitate the problem of climate change is such failed like that especially the big one, the Kyoto Protocol, how Cambodia, a small and poor country, can tackle the problem if it depend mainly the international aids? Well, it is really impossible then. In conclusion, the climate change issue is not the alone single countrys responsibility but the whole world because it effects all, and a country like Cambodia would be the most affected one for the reason that it is poor, lack of expertise to initiate technical mechanisms, and especially the financial supports, yet it is the less polluting country for it is a developing country. Even although being the most affected one, Cambodia still tries to solve the problems by national and internationally even sometimes it failed. Through the new mechanism and its efforts to tackle the problems, the problem of climate change can be reduced substantially, and it is unpredictable that it would be completely solve this problem in the future.

A Critical Analysis Of The Constructivism Method Politics Essay

A Critical Analysis Of The Constructivism Method Politics Essay This essay attempts to provide an overview of constructivism in international relations theory; traces back its origins through writings of some scholars ,particularly Alexander Wendt . It sheds light on prominence of constructivism as a challenger to the mainstream international relations. It first lays out the basic tenets of constructivism and examines their implications on opening new substantive areas to inquiry, such as the roles of gender and ethnicity, which have been largely absent from international relations approaches. Having defined some of the core features of constructivism as an approach, the article examines constructivism as theory . This will be conducted through applying theory functions on constructivism. In addition , the essay shows some of the critiques of constructivism from realist and post-positivist point views. Finally . It concludes with the fact that constructivism is not independent and full-fledged theory but a theoretically informed approach to the study of global politics. Key words: constructivism, ideas, identity, norms, culture, beliefs, social construction anarchy. Constructivism provides a good method, but a poor theory. Discuss. Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the debate between Neo-realism and Neo-liberalism has dominated the discipline of International Relations; materialism was the building blocks of mainstream international theory. For neo-realists, the principal determinant of state behaviour is the distribution of military capabilities among states, consequently anarchy and the distribution of relative power drive most of what goes on in world politics. (Copeland 2000:187) .Neo-liberals also saw state interests as essentially material, even if they did posit the importance of international institutions as intervening variables.( Rues-Smit 2001:224). Thus, societal analysis in international relations scholarship has been marginalised. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the writings of Alexender Wendt (1987, 1992), Friedrich Kratochwil (1989) and Nicholas Onuf (1989) established constructivist ideas, a genuinely radical alternative to conventional IR. Although a relatively new approach to IR, constructivism has returned international scholars to the foundational questions, including the nature of the state and the concepts of sovereignty and citizenship. In addition, constructivism has opened new substantive areas to inquiry, such as the roles of gender and ethnicity, which have been largely absent from international relations approaches. (Mingst 20004:74) By reimagining the social as a constitutive realm of values and practices, and by situating individual identities within such a field, constructivists have placed sociological inquiry back at the centre of the discipline. Aided by the momentous changes that attended the end of the Cold War, and also by the ongoing process of globalization, the constructivists interest in the particularities of culture, identity, interest and experience created space for renaissance in the study of history and world politics. .( Rues-Smit 2001:226) Constructivism as an approach Constructivism is about human consciousness and its role in international life (Ruggie 1998). Constructivists focus on the role of ideas, norms, knowledge, culture, and argument in politics, stressing in particular the role of collectively held or intersubjective ideas and understandings on social life. Specifically, constructivism is an approach to social analysis that asserts the following: (1) human interaction is shaped primarily by ideational factors, not simply material ones; (2) the most important ideational factors are widely shared or intersubjective beliefs, which are not reducible to individuals; and (3) these shared beliefs construct the interests and identities of purposive actors (Adler 1997, Price Reus-Smit 1998, Ruggie 1998, Wendt 1999). The core observation in constructivism is the social construction of reality. This has a number of related elements. One is to emphasize the socially constructed nature of actors and their identities and interests. Instead of assuming that actors are born outside of and prior to society, the claim is that individuals are produced and created by their cultural environment. Nurture not nature. (Branett 2001 : 259). In an of-repeated phrase, Alexander Wendt captured the methodological core of IR constructivism: anarchy is what states make of it. There is no objective international world apart from the practices and institutions that states arrange among themselves. In making that statement , Wendt argues that a self-help anarchy is not some kind of external given which dictates a logic of analysis based on realism: self-help and power politics are institutions ,not essential features of anarchy'(Wendt 1992:395) ,(Jackson Sorensen 1999:239) Alexander Wendt argues that political structure, whether one of anarchy or particular distribution of material capabilities, explain nothing. It tells us little about state behaviour : It does not predict whether two states will be friend or foes, will recognize each others sovereignty ,will have dynastic ties, will have revisionist or status quo powers, and so on. (Wendt 1992:395) . What we need to know is identity, and identities change as a result of cooperative behaviour and learning. Whether the system is anarchic depends on the distribution of identities, not the distribution of military capabilities, as the realist would have us believe. If a state identifies with itself, then the system may be anarchic. If a state identifies with other states, then there is no anarchy (.(Mingst 20004:75) A security dilemma , for example , is not merely made up of the fact that two sovereign states possess nuclear weapons. It also depends on how those states view each other; that view is based on shared knowledge. ,(Jackson Sorensen1999:238) In a constructivist analysis, agents and structures are mutually constituted; structures not only constrain actors, they also shape the identities and the interests of them. Thus structures are also defined by ideas, norms, and rules; in other words, structures contain normative and material elements. The challenge, therefore, is to recognize that the normative structure can create agents and that agents can create and possibly transform those structures. (Branett 2001 : 255). According to Alder , constructivisms importance and its added value for the study of international relations lie mainly in its emphasis on the ontological reality of intersubjective knowledge and on the epistemological and methodological implications of this realty. ( Alder1997:322) . Additionally , power can be understood not only as the ability of one actor to do what they would not to do otherwise , but also as the production of identities and interests that limit the ability to control their life. In sum , the meanings that actors bring to their activities are shaped by the underlying culture, and meanings are not always fixed but are a central feature of politics. Constructivism as a theory However, despite of the intellectual vigour that constructivism has fostered, this approach has been criticized. John Mersheimer complains that constructivists put too much emphasis on subjective ideas knowledge: realists believe that the state behaviour is largely shaped by the material structure of the international system. The distribution of material capabilities among states is the key factor for understanding world politics. This means that everything is not uncertain or in flux, says Mersheimer, because the material structure is an objective reality and is not merely intersubjective. (Mearsheimer 1995a:91-92). Although constructivism is deeply concerned with radically changing state behaviour, it says little about how change comes about. It does not tell us why particular discourses become dominant, and others fall by the wayside. And when constructivism trys to point out particular factors that lead to changes in discourse, often argues that material changes drive changes in discourse. So discourse is not determinative , but a reflective of developments in objective world..( Mearsheimer 1995b :42 ). In addition, neo-realists are sceptical about the importance that constructivists attach to norms, in particular international norms. Such norms surely exist, but they are routinely disregarded if that is in the interest of powerful states.( Jackson 2006 ). Moreover, there is no international consensus concerning norms of behaviour in the international system, primary of which is justice and human rights. At the same time, neo-realists are not ready to accept that states can easily become friends due to their social interaction. Such a goal may be desirable in principle, but not realizable in practice, because the structure of the international system forces states to behave as egoists. Anarchy, offensive capabilities, and uncertain intentions combine to leave states with little choice but to compete aggressively with each other. For realists, trying to infuse states with communitarian norms is a hopeless cause (Mearsheimer 1995b: 367). From the post-positivist side, Steve Smith argues that the constructivist view of how ideas and shared knowledge shape the way the actors see themselves in world politics is not sufficiently profound. Furthermore, the constructivist agenda is a rather traditional one, focusing on the interaction of states .There is no place for structure such as capitalism or patriarchy. (Smith 1997:186) Finally, if, as constructivists claim, there is no objective reality . if the world is in the eye of the beholder , then there can be no right or wrong answers , only individual perspectives. With no authoritative texts, all texts are equally valid both the musings of the elite and the practices of everyday men and women. (Mingst 20004:76) Is it a theory? A theory is a based upon a hypothesis and backed by evidence; it presents a concept or idea that is testable. In science, a theory is not merely a guess. A theory is a fact-based framework for describing a phenomenon. In social sciences, theories are used to provide a model for understanding human thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. A social theory has two key components: (1) it must describe behaviour and (2) make predictions about future behaviours. To evaluate a theory, we must verify many conditions: 1- Generalizability: applicability to many times, places, and issues. 2-Empirical validity: accuracy of predictions. 3-Progression: whether it expands to new predictions or degenerates by excessive modification. If we apply these conditions to constructivism, we will find that constructivism is neither specific enough to be testable, nor parsimonious. And it is unclear what factors are cause nor which are effect. It does not prize deductive methods of theory-construction and does not seek to uncover causalities. ( Ruggie, 1998, 52) Constructivism is a different kind of theory from realism, liberalism, or Marxism and operates at a different level of abstraction. Constructivism is not a substantive theory of politics. It is a social theory that makes claims about the nature of social life and social change; consequently it does not, by itself, produce specific predictions about political outcomes that one could test in social science research. (Finnemore Sikkink 2001:393) As such, it is much more and much less than meets the eye. It is much less because it is not properly a theory that can be viewed as a rival to already existing theories. It offers no predictions about enduring regularities or tendencies in world politics. Instead, it suggests how to investigate them. Consequently, it is much more than meets the eye because if offers alternative ways of thinking about a range of issues. (Branett 2001 : 268) However, the debate about basic theory is of course relevant for the constructivist ambition of demonstrating that ideas matter. How exactly is it that ideas matter? Do changes in ideas always come before changes in material conditions? Do ideas guide policy or are they justifications for policy? Should ideas be seen as causes of behaviour in IR or should they rather be seen as constitutive elements that define what IR is all about? Further clarification in these areas is of vital importance for the constructivist research programme. (Jackson 2006). Drawing on what mentioned above, there is scepticism about constructivism .whether it is properly to be seen as a theory of IR theory or as a philosophical category, a meta-theory or a method for empirical research, or whether it is indeed an approach relevant at several levels. ( Zehfuss 2002:9) . In conclusion, constructivism is not independent and full-fledged theory but a theoretically informed approach to the study of global politics. Conclusion Constructivism challenged the disciplines mainstream on its own terms and on issues that were at the heart of its research agenda. (Branett 2001: 268) However, the rise of Constructivism has had several important impacts on the development of international relations theory and analysis; the social, historical, and normative have returned to the centre stage of debate, especially the American core of the discipline. . ( Rues-Smit 2001:225) Constructivisms core assumptions have shaped its empirical research program in several important ways. They have shaped the kinds of questions constructivists tend to ask by opening up for inquiry issues that other approaches had failed to engage. Understanding the constitution of things is essential in explaining how they behave and what causes political outcomes. Just as understanding how the double-helix DNA molecule is constituted materially enables understandings of genetics and disease, so, too, an understanding of how sovereignty, human rights, laws of war, or bureaucracies are constituted socially allows us to hypothesize about their effects in world politics. (Finnemore Sikkink 2001:394). Their claim deserves attention in a world where inflamed passions lead to bloodshed in the name of neither conquest nor class, but instead simply because of who the enemy is: a Muslim, a Serb, a Tutsi, a Hutu, a Catholic, a Protestant, an Arab, or a Jew. Realism and liberalism are not incapable of explaining hatred, but they struggle to account for such widespread violence that serves neither Mammon nor the national interest. (Kowert,Paul 2001). Finally , Constructivism has become a phenomenon in IR not merely because many scholars adopted it , but because a lot of scholars debated and are still debating it .

Jade of Peony Essay -- Literary Analysis, Wayson Choy

We have all been in a situation where we have immigrated to a new country for different reasons regarding, better future, or education. In the book Jade of Peony, Wayson Choy describes a struggle of a Chinese immigrant family as they settle in Canada, through the perspective of three young children; Liang, Jung, and Sekky. Each child describes his or her struggle, while settling in a new country. The family struggles to keep their children tied to their Chinese customs and traditions as they fit in this new country. The Chinese culture needs to be more open minded as it limits the future generation’s potential. Chinese culture limitations are seen through the relationship expectations, education, gender roles and jobs. Similarly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. The only daughter in the family, Liang had to hear her grandmothers taunt: â€Å"If you want a place in this world [...] do not be born as a girl child† (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in the family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth, this attitude would really affect the parents from Chinese family preferred boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt t o the new country and they were trying to learn th... ...ulture resists the new generations potential, due to the gender roles and jobs. In conclusion, Chinese cultures prohibition was seen, by examining the relationship expectations, education, and gender roles and jobs. The Chinese culture needs to be more cultivated as it constricts the newer generation’s capability in Canada. In Wayson Choy’s book The Jade of Peony, he describes the struggles of an immigrated Chinese family, as they tried to follow two cultures to adjust in a new country like Canada, but still held onto the old traditions of China, and the kids of the family struggled as they tried to follow these two cultures. We all know the struggles the Chinese immigrants had to face as they embraced a new life in a country like Canada. However, we remember and praise these immigrants for their determination as they, work hard to make a name in this country.

The Euthyphro Dilemma Essay -- Philosophy Plato Euthyphro

The Euthyphro Dilemma In Plato's dialogue, 'Euthyphro', Socrates presents Euthyphro with a choice: `Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved [by the gods]?' Euthyphro responds by asserting that piety is that which is approved [loved] or sanctioned by the gods; whence impiety is whatever is disapproved of by the gods. However, as Socrates points out, the question poses a dilemma for those who believe as Euthyphro does that Truth is revealed by divine authority alone. Now, a dilemma is an argument forcing a choice of two unfavourable alternatives. The important point here is that the alternatives must be equally unfavourable. Simply to be faced with two alternatives is not to be faced with a dilemma. To appreciate why each of the options set out above are unpalatable for Euthyphro, we need to unpack the import of each alternative carefully. In drawing out the implications of Socrates' argument, I intend to substitute the word `God' for Plato's `gods'; this change will not affect the potency of the argument, and will make the dilemma more topical and relevant to the modern reader. Essentially, the dilemma faced by Euthyphro is this: If it is maintained that certain actions and dispositions are good simply because God favours them, then it seems that the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, is purely arbitrary; for no reason can be given why God should favour one kind of action rather than another. The distinction is solely a matter of God's `taste', just as it is a matter of my taste that I prefer prawns to oysters. As no reason can be given why God should favour, say, justice and kindness, he might equally have favoured their opposites. In which case ... ...d so, the dilemma has not been resolved completely after all. Undoubtedly, anyone holding a theistic conception of morality must find some place for divinely revealed moral commands; but it may be that in so doing the theist weakens their resolution of the dilemma. On the one hand, they want to say that the question of whether an alleged special revelation concerning moral matters comes from God is to be answered in the light of our rationally established criteria of good and evil. This suggests that morality has no need of revelation. On the other hand, they want to say that, for the theist, ultimate questions of good and evil cannot be answered apart from reference to special revelation. This suggests that, in the final analysis, our reason is inadequate as a source of the knowledge of good and evil. It is hard to see how the theist can have it both ways.

Birth: The Beginning of Life Essay -- Birthing Birth Essays

Birth: The Beginning of Life Birth: a definition For all mammals (with platypuses being the exception), parturition is the beginning of life as we know it. More specifically, birth is the means by which non-human primates and human primates alike begin their experience of the world. I am interested in the significance of childbirth the method by which it is carried out, its implications for the birthing mother, and the way that the birthing process is viewed by different societies. Both birth and the postpartum period involve a certain degree of danger for the birthing mother, her nascent child, and her entire family or community. Because childbirth is so dangerous (the average lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy related causes is about one in fifteen in some poor countries, MacCormack 1), most cultures have distinct patterns that determine how the birthing process will be carried out. The birthing process involves different birthing positions; different rules concerning who is allowed to be present during the time of birth; mechanisms for deciding where birth takes place; and different ways by which mother and child deal with labor, birth and postpartum. "As a life crisis event, birth is everywhere a candidate for consensual shaping and social regulation the particular pattern depending on local history, ecology, social structure, technological development, and the like" (Jordan 4). By exploring the original human condition of childbirth one is able to gain insight into the universal biosocial phenomenon known as the birthing process. In addition, I am interested in studying childbirth because, as women's work, it is usually not given enough attention in the traditionally male-dominated field of anthropology. "Unt... ... Peoples. London: J. Cape, 1971. Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer. The Langurs of Abu: Female and Male Strategies of Reproduction. Cambridge, MA:, Harvard Univ. Press, 1997. Jordan, Brigitte. Birth in Four Cultures: A Cross-cultural Investigation of Childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden, and the United States. 4th ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1993. Lawlor, Robert. Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Trad. Ltd., 1991. MacCormack, Carol P., ed. Ethnography of Fertility and Birth. 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1994. National Geographic Society. "Among the Wild Chimpanzees." National Geographic Video, 1984. Pinker, Steven. "Why they kill their newborns" New York Times Magazine 11 Feb. 1997: 52-55. Smuts et. al. eds. Primate societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.