IFRS and GAAP Accounting Principles Essay Example for Free

IFRS and GAAP Accounting Principles Essay IFRS is also referred to as International Financial Reporting Standards. They are set of standards of accounting developed by International Accounting Standards Board (IASA). They are becoming the standards in the globe to be used for preparation of financial statements for the public companies. IASB is independent body which sets accounting standards which is based in London (McLaughlin, 2009). This body consists of fifteen members who are from nine countries including United States. IASB started operating in 2001 since it succeeded International Accounting Standards Committee. With desperate laws, cultures, tax regulation and commerce, individual nations, overtime have come so as to develop accounting systems of their own. In United States, Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB), formed in year 1973, was third group which developed the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in U. S, since the formal setting of standards which started in 1939. FASB is the first group in US which employed independently funded full-time professionals to be independent in accounting profession. Sanctioned officially in 1973 December, by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which was federal regulator, FASB up to now continues setting accounting standards for U. S (Subramani, 2009). IASC was formed shortly after FASB had been formed in the same year so as to develop accounting standards which will be internationally accepted. During the early 1970s, economy of the globe was at that time marked by expansion of the cross-border activities. This time seemed to be right in considering whether there was a need to set universal accounting standards to address world which was shrinking (McLaughlin, 2009). IASC in their effort of promoting acceptance of one set standards of accounting globally, tried to write certain inclusive standards. Committee members often had difficult in achieving a common consensus on proper accounting treatment to transactions which were similar or the same (AICPA, 2010). They identified preferred treatments, but accounting which was different with also different results was as well allowed. They considered this as necessary so as to promote the acceptance of complete set for the world accounting standards. If specific standard was much different from that which was accepted generally in an individual country, that nation may not accept all the set standards. It was better in allowing some alternatives in order to bring many nations into the mix. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) replaced IASC after it had issued 41accounting standards to be used internationally in 2001. Since formation of IASB, it has issued around eight IFRS and also they have modified several international accounting standards (IASs). In 2000, European Commission provided the international standards large boost as it announced initiative which required every listed company in the European union to be using IFRS starting the year 2005. Before mandatory introduction for all companies to use IFRS, all countries in European Community regulated separately their standards of reporting (McLaughlin, 2009). The measure of using IFRS did not affect the non-listed companies in Europe. European ministers’ council approved IFRS in 2002. At the start of 2005; approximate of 7000 companies effected the change. Around 6500 of these companies had been prior reporting GAAP in their own country, with almost 3000 of them in UK alone (Ernst Young, 2009). EU however, never endorsed three paragraphs in IAS 39, and these were standards which deal with measurements and recognition of the financial instruments. Volatility potential of the earnings which was related to such paragraphs’ accounting macro hedge as well as option of fair value made the standard setters to go back in the drawing board several times, but there was no appearance of silver bullets. Up to now, EU has not fully endorsed set of the IFRS which was promulgated by IASB (Jermakowicz, Epstein, 2008). Failure of EU to fully endorse these set of international standards is significant issues to several reasons, not the few which is requirement in the IAS1, financial statement presentation that is explicitly stated by a company that their financial statements are complying with the IFRS (McLaughlin, 2009). Companies are further not allowed to state their financial statements as complying with IFRS if it does not fully comply with whole body of the IFRS. The accounting standards so as to gain world wide acceptance, there is a need for them to be universally applied. It is necessary to have comparability. Financial statement set prepared using GAAP of country A is not comparable suddenly to another which is prepared using GAAP of country B since both of them on the top states IFRS (AICPA, 2010). United States key regulator priority is the consistent application of these standards. If to be accordance with the IFRS means the similar and same transactions have to be accounted in same way in every nation, then preparing financial statements according to IFRS will have to add value. Investors will no longer waste their effort and time in reconciling financial information when comparing to companies which are similar but in different countries (Subramani, 2009). Capital will then flow efficiently and at a low cost to companies in many places. Another major boost for acceptance of the IFRS was seen in 2002as the Norwalk Agreement was being signed and was reaffirmed in the Memorandum of Understanding in 2006. IASB in the London together with FASB in the Norwalk agreed to remove the differences in their standard sets and converge it on high-quality standards (Ernst Young, 2009). The emphasis was on high-quality and this meant that if the FASB standards or IASB standard was deemed to be better, then the convergence was would be on the superior one. If neither of them had sufficient standards which would qualify to be used internationally, then the two boards would jointly work together to produce new standards. Work is on progress in developing a conceptual single framework which will guide in setting future standards. Convergence between U. S GAAP and IFRS do not mean accounting standards should become identical. It means that in the cases where the transactions are similar or the same, then the accounting should be just the same, or if not so, the disclosures should be transparent to enable reader understand about the differences (Subramani, 2009). Also the standard setters are putting more effort to reduce the difference which is in the two systems. Three significant differences between IFRS and GAAP. The difference between the two set of standards include the following: in the US GAAP in the income statement, extraordinary items is restricted to some items which are both infrequent and unusual (McLaughlin, 2009). Negative goodwill usually is treated as an extraordinary item. In the IFRS, income statement usually prohibits extraordinary items. In the US GAAP the significant items in the income statement are presented separately at the face of income statement just as component of operation going on, where as in the IFRS significant items in the income statement separate the disclosure of nature and also the amount required, but it can be included in income statement or notes (Ernst Young, 2009). Changes in the equity in U. S PAAF are present in all the changes in every caption of the stockholders’ equity either in separate statement or foot note. Equity changes in IRFS at least, presents components which are related to expense and income recognized as section of separate statement (AICPA, 2010). Other equity changes are disclosed either in notes or presented as a part of one, combined statement in all equity changes. Three similarities between IFRS and GAAP. In both accounting standards, exchange losses and gains on the settled items and also on the monetary items which are unsettled should be taken to loss or profit for that period. When loss or gain on non-monetary items is directly recognized in equity, then that loss or gain is further taken to the equity (Ernst Young, 2009). On the other hand if losses or gains on non-monetary item are taken in loss or profit, then related component of exchange would further be included in loss or profit. Functional currency should be currency of primary economy in environment the business is operating. The other currencies should be treated or termed as foreign currencies. Presentation of currencies should be currencies used in presenting financial statement and is usually matter of one’s choice (AICPA, 2010). Financial statements should be prepared by the functional currency of the entity but may be presented by any other form of currency. Individual transactions should be translated at rate on date of transaction, or at any average rate for period if the rates do not significantly fluctuate. Identify three potential risks of IFRS and GAAP convergence. There are several risks which may affect companies as a result of the convergence. They include that; the convergence may risk tax rate and thus making it not to be effective to some companies, it may also risk the long term financial agreements and contracts, and it may also risk timing of the revenue recognition (Ernst Young, 2009).

The Importance Of Biodiversity And Effects Environmental Sciences Essay

The Importance Of Biodiversity And Effects Environmental Sciences Essay The importance of biodiversity has lack know by peoples. Human is actually relying on the biodiversity to survive because biodiversity provide useful and necessary resources such as food and raw material of medicine. Besides, the biodiversity is important role that working on ecosystem. It is kind of transportation of ecosystem service. The ecosystem provides services such as protection of soil thus the biodiversity loss is related to the reduction of ecosystem services. One of the main causes of biodiversity is deforestation. Deforestation rate increase day by day, the species lose their habitat and lack of food to survive. Human hew the forests to get the resources and also develop the human activities such as agriculture and tourism. More than fifty percent of Asian land area use to develop the agriculture. Human being should find out the solution to improve the biodiversity loss and reduction of ecosystem services. Reforestation improves the rate of deforestation but do not have effects on biodiversity loss. Therefore, human being should understand the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of biodiversity loss to increase the awareness and consideration of human to biodiversity issues. The importance of biodiversity and effects of deforestation on biodiversity loss Biodiversity means the species of life on our mother earth and the ecological processes that support the diversity of ecosystems. The goal of this research paper is to understand the importance of biodiversity and the effects of deforestation on biodiversity. The biodiversity and ecosystem issues compare to other environmental issues, peoples have less consideration to biodiversity issues. As the point above mentioned, the biodiversity is related to the condition of global ecosystem. The species of organisms on earth are facing the threat of habitat loss and extinction. If human do not take any action to improve this situation, we would lose many precious species. There are different areas of species of life in the world such as mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish and plants. Each of the different species of life has few or more species already extinct. For examples, red colobus monkey, dodo, and phantom shiner. There have no scientists or study can tell us how many species of life are in the world because our mother earth is a complex world and the relevant organizations discover new species to science ceaselessly until now. Therefore, we do not know there is how many species we are losing exactly. There are some experts forecast that the speed of biodiversity loss nowadays is between thousand and ten thousand higher than the natural extinction rate. Human may not understand well the influence of biodiversity to the entire human race and global ecosystems. Human obtain many resources from biodiversity, such as food, timber, raw materials of medicine and souvenir. In addition of those basic provisions, the biodiversity play the important roles of maintaining the ecosystem of the world. It provides the important services, such as cleaning water resources, protection of soil, reduction of global diseases and dedication of maintain the stability of climate. Biodiversity also contributes social benefits to us like tourism and entertainment development. However, human pay attention to what and how many benefits they can get from the biodiversity and ecosystem, the value of biodiversity and ecosystem would neglected by human. Nowadays, science has better perceptive to the biodiversity effects and ecosystem services. There are several study of biodiversity effects show that the biodiversity loss is relevant with the reduction of ecosystem services (e.g., Balvanera et al.2006, Cardinale et al.2007, Thompson et al.2009 as cited in Thompson, Okabe, Tylianakis, Kumar, Brockerhoff, Schellhorn, Parrotta Nasi, 2011). Thompson and colleagues (2009) found that seventy six percent of twenty one studies states that there is direct relationship between the richness of species and the production of ecosystem services. Based on all these studies, the biodiversity play the role of transportation of ecosystem services. Therefore, the damage of biodiversity may influence the cycling of species, and the transportation of ecosystem services. When the ecosystem services reduce, the environmental issues such as climate change will be more serious. From the above points of view, we can understand how important the biodiversity are and human could not survive without biodiversity and ecosystem service. One of the main reasons that cause biodiversity loss is deforestation. The animals lose their habitat and the biodiversity of forests are damage when deforestation happens. The area which has the highest rate of deforestation is Southeast Asia. According to a study of land use change in Asia, fifty percent of the Asian land is under the development of agriculture or the development of human activities ( Zhao, Peng, Jiang, Tian, Lei Zhou, 2006) In South Asia, seventy three percent of the land area is used as the development of agriculture. Therefore, the animals have no habitats and enough food to survive. For example, Singapore has ninety five percent of deforestation rate over the past one hundred and eighty three thus there has more than twenty eight percent of species has eliminated. Another country that have high rate of biodiversity loss caused by deforestation is Thailand (Zhao et al., 2006). Brooks, Mittermeier, Fonseca, Rylands, Konstant, Flick, Pilgrim, Oldfield, Magin Taylor (2001) stated that Nearly half the worlds vascular plant species and one-third of terrestrial vertebrates are endemic to twenty five of hotspots of biodiversity, each of which has at least one thousand and five hundred endemic plant species. None of these hotspots have more than one-third of their pristine habitat remaining. Historically, they covered twelve percent of the lands surface, but today their intact habitat covers only one point four of the land. Based on this article, we can know that the endemic of hotspots are facing the problem of extinction because of the habitat loss. When the habitat areas decrease, the species have highest possibility of extinction problems. Discussion As we know that, the biodiversity loss is more and more serious nowadays. Human should find out the solution to reduce the biodiversity loss. To reduce the extinction of biodiversity, we should decrease the rate of deforestation of the world. One of the solutions of deforestation is reforestation. Although reforestation does improve the rate of deforestation, it does not fully renovate the species richness and ecosystem of a forest. There is a study about the value of plantation forests; it finds that the species richness of reforestation is not as abundant as the aboriginal forest (Gardner, Hernandez, Barlow Peres, 2008). In my opinion, the best way to decrease the rate of deforestation is improve the consideration and awareness of human being. Government and the relevant organization should encourage peoples to concern about this topic and let children have the concepts of biodiversity and deforestation. Peoples should know well about the seriousness and consequences of biodiversity loss and the reduction of ecosystem thus they will appreciate and conserve the nature. Besides, Government should be stricter in land management to prevent peoples or some companies over extract the forests to acquire self-benefits. In addition, we can use science to improve the biodiversity loss and reduction of ecosystem services. For example, Sustainable forest management (SFM) is ecosystem management that work on the conservation of environment, such as biodiversity issues. They try to use scientific method to find out the most effective way and translating it into policy to conserve and renovate the biodiversity loss and reduction of ecosystem services (Thompson et al., 2011). Finally, there are also simple solutions such as do not buy the souvenirs that made of animals, less use of air-conditioner and buy timber from the legal company. Although those simple ways look not as effective as scientific method, peoples should make contribution to environmental issues. Conclusion The biodiversity loss has facing the highest rate over the past years. The government and organization of environment should not be the only who responsible to the conservation of environment. Human should have more knowledge about the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem service thus the awareness of human to biodiversity will increase. Human being should be more intelligent to maintain and protect our mother earth. If the rate of biodiversity loss and reduction of ecosystem continue increase, none of us can endure the consequences. Therefore, human being must be more consideration to this issue. Not only the government, should parents play a good role of model to their children to make the better environment for our next generation.

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay

Invention Of Mass Media Media Essay Introduction Since the invention of mass media, mass media has always view as a big influence to the society and threat for certain group of people. This can be trace back to the 18th century, when the first theory about media- mass media theory was created and talks about how strong media is in directly influence people perception and action. Over the years, there are lots of mass media theories that talk about the power of media and how media is use to manipulate and influence people especially the folk culture or so call ordinary people. When talk about mass media theory, a big point that shouldnt be misses out is the rise of media theory in the age of propaganda. Propagandists rely on mass media very much as media reached mass audience. It is the best way for propagandist to change people action according to their own belief and expectation. One of the successful propaganda that has been widely practice was Nazis propaganda during world war one in 1933 to 1939. There are also others famous mass media theory like magic bullet theory, behaviorism, Freudianism and a lot more. Most of the time media often view as a negative influence especially for the elite group, and they claim that media should be control. There are also some theories that talk about the positive of mass media theory. For example, libertarianism theory says that people are good and rational. So media should have 100% freedom to report on everything and people can able to judge and differentiate what is right and wrong by themselves. Although there are a lots of theory argue about the pros and cons of mass media. However, one thing that everyone cannot denial is that mass media are one of the important things in human history especially the digital era like nowadays. The invention of mass media has brought human life to the whole new era and it has become an essential in human life. It helps human to convenient the process of communication between each other and also government nowadays to spread news and new policy to the people. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), the first media in Malaysia was the English language Government Gazette call as the Prince of Whales Island Gazette (PWIG) in 1st of March 1806 in Penang Island. The last publication was on 21st of July 1827 total duration of 21 years. The first TV station in Malaysia are RTM1 and RTM 2 and then follow by the first privatization TV station which is TV3 in 1984. As mass media act as an important agent between a country and its people or government with the people, there is no exception for Malaysia to use mass media as the change agent for government policies. The mainstream media in Malaysia has always been perceived as an important agent of change for most of the governments policies. The mainstream media include TV stations, radio stations and also newspapers. As a developing country, Malaysias 4th prime minister Tun Dr.Mahathir Bin Mohammad have come out with the policy of vision 2020 which aim to further develop Malaysia into a fully develop country in the year 2020. In the year 2010, Malaysias current prime minister Dato Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak introduced the concept of one Malaysia which mainly focus on unite multi races of Malaysian to view themselves as Malaysian without looking at skin, races and language. It is also focus on economic of Malaysia and development of Malaysia to help Malaysia to achieve the g oal of vision 2020. Since the introduction of 1 Malaysia concept, this concept has been widely promote by the government to the citizen using the mainstream media. As the government realizes that peoples reliability towards media is getting more nowadays, people receive most of their information through different type of media. So media is view as the most suitable way to promote the new 1 Malaysia concept. The messages that promote through mass media are not as simple as audience view. Those ideas and concepts have been carefully defined and structure before reach the target audience. Government has used several type of mass media theory to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia. With the help of the theory, it encourages Malaysian to accept the concept of 1 Malaysia mentally and physically. Political economy theory Political economy theory is mainly focus on the study of how the elite control the economics of a country based on the link between politics and base to maintain the hegemonic culture. In this context, the elite will be the government of Malaysia. Political economy theory also says that to understand the media, ones must look at the whole picture which includes the ownership of media and the control group of media. In Malaysia, although most of the mainstream media are privatization but all the media are closely related to the government and political party. For example, according to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Fleet holding, a company that arm by UMNO which have 80% share of the News straits Times Press (NSTP) and majority share in Utusan Melayu Press sin year 1973. Both of these presses have majority readership and circulation in Malaysias newspaper.Fleet holding also have the share of 40% in Malaysia TV station, TV3. Besides, the other Malaysia main English paper, 58% of theStar newspaper is also own by Huaren holding Sdn.Bhd which link to MCA, one of the political party under the government. Cleary, we can see that there is a tight relationship between mainstream media with the political parties. With this point, it is not hard for the government to promote the idea of 1 Malaysia and gain acceptance by the people. The messages first come out by the elite or government through allocative control. Then the media under government in charge of the operational control which manipulate the word and idea before promote to the public to achieve the goal. It is not a surprise that thestar newspaper report atleast one article about the 1 Malaysia concepts per week. For example, 13 September 2012 thestar report about another 1 Malaysia clinic open. 15 September 2012 is about 175 1 Malaysia clinics by year end.16 September 2012, A truly 1 Malaysia day for both side of S.china sea. 19 September 2012, PM launches books of 1 Malaysia. 29 September 2012, Lots of goodies under 1 Malaysia schemes. As we know that, newspaper has always acted as a medium for people to receive information and people tend to believe newspaper as it is more accurate and professional. Government take control on the production of media by reporting the positive news about the 1 Malaysia concepts can surely gain support from the citizen. Hegemony Hegemony talks about elite stay their status quo through coercion and consent. Besides, it also states that force cannot maintain the power of the elite. Persuasion, explanation and understanding make people act willing and happily towards order. The best way for government to spread consent was using the mass media, especially the mainstream media that closely related to the government. Through hegemony and media, media act as a way to educate people how to behave and what to do in their life that consistent with the government goal. We can see how hegemony is use by government to promote the concept of 1 Malaysia in mainstream media like TV and newspaper in Malaysia. First of all, the slogan itself for 1 Malaysia concept Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamankan in English it means people first, performance now. This is obviously telling people that the government care about the citizen and the future of the country through the promotion of mainstream media every day. In order to achieve the part of consent that stated in hegemony, one of the main focuses of 1 Malaysia concept is to help Malaysia to achieve the goal of vision 2020 which is a fully develop country. Since the introduce of 1 Malaysia concept, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is introduce by the current prime minister to improve the effectiveness of Malaysian government department for satisfaction of the citizen towards the service and try to shape the positive image of citizen towards the government. Under KPI, a mechanism is provided to evaluate the effectiveness of government agency towards crime prevention, reducing government corruption, increased to quality education, improvement of public transportation, improve the living of low income citizen and rural are infrastructure. Since the election of 2008, electors have lost confident on the government which means Barisan Nasional. It is very important for government to fulfill the need and satisfaction of the citizen which is the part of consent in hegemony. The result of KPI is keep highlight by the mainstream media. In long term effect, people will start to believe that the government did do some changes on the transparency of politic. These help the government to gain confident of the citizen. Besides, mainstream media often cover other news about 1 Malaysia. For example, thestar report an article about the new open 1 Malaysia clinic and grocery shop. This is also a long term effect of persuasion to told the citizen about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the benefit of the citizen, in the other hand, it also means that everyone should support the concept as it only bring benefit to the public. Moreover, the song and slogan of 1 Malaysia are often playing in TV station and radio station. It acts to reinforce people about 1 Malaysia concept are always for the public. Just like the lyrics of 1 Malaysia song. Im 4 U. The use of coercion in hegemony which is law state to control over the content of media towards government report like the printing press and publication act, broadcasting act and official secret act. Combine with the use of consent like ownership of media and control over the content of media. Surely the government can maintain their status quo and spread their ideology to the citizen without the consciousness of the people. People will also accept the concept willing without any force. Marxist Theory Marxist theory talks about that hierarchical class system are the roots of social problem. How base, superstructure and capitalism are closely related to each other. The main premises of Marxism said if the idea of production can be control, people can be control. The ideology of the elite are widely use to dominant public thinking and to maintain the inequality of social class. In human history, social class problem have been discuss generation over generation. However, the inequalities between social classes are still appearing in todays world. For example, riots happened in Malaysia on 13 May 1969 was happen due to the imbalance of economy and social classes between races. It makes Malaysia government realize about the important of economy balance between races. Although the large economy gaps between races in Malaysia are solve through New Economic Policy (NEP), but the problem of social classes are still remain. The government member and royal family of Malaysia are defining as the elite group or aristocrat in Marxist theory. In order for the government to maintain their status quo, the elite own the capitalism with their base. However, for their ideology to spread and accept by people, media are use as a tool by government. According to Wang Lay Kim (2001), Malaysias second privatize TV station Metrovision, the four share holder company was closely related to UMNO. The companies are City television Sdn.Bhd, Melewar Corporation, Utusan Melayu and Medanmas Sdn. Bhd. This can explain how government act as capitalism, own the base which are the media and message production and spread of 1 Malaysia concept which is government ideology to maintain their status quo. In literal, 1Malaysia concept is use to help Malaysian to improve their living condition and upgrade the overall citizen social classes to eliminate poverty. But in the other hand, it is also an ideology to maintain their power. Government realize that to maintain their status quo while achieve peaceful among the bourgeoisie and proletariat or so call Malaysian, 1 Malaysia concept are one of the best way to achieve goal for mutual benefit of the country and the elite. By own the mainstream media and control of the message production, people can be control. Conclusion In conclusion, with the support of political economy, hegemony theory and Marxist theory, I strongly agree that 1 Malaysia concept can be accept by Malaysian with the use of mainstream media. Most of the media theories agree that media have the long term effect on people but not direct effect. When people expose to something for a long term, they tend to believe it. Mainstream media keep reporting the positive news of 1 Malaysian; time by time people will accept it without conscious about it. Besides, mainstream media in Malaysia are directly control by legislative law and indirectly own by the government. With the support of Marxist theory, which says control of the media production, people can be control. It strengthens my opinion towards Malaysian acceptance of 1 Malaysia concept.

The Egyptian Religion :: essays research papers

The Egyptian Religion The Egyptians had a very influential religion that can be analyzed using the five elements of religion. The characteristics of the Ancient Egyptian's religion can be divided into the five elements of religion: authority, faith, rituals, moral code, and concept of the deity. First, the authority of the Egyptian religion. The main authority of the Egyptian religion was the Pharaoh, he had divine right over the people and was considered a god. Also, he could change the religion any way he wanted, for example in the 14th century BC Akhenaton, the Pharaoh outlawed all gods but Aton, who was the sun god, and this became the first monotheistic religion in history, but it was short lived, for when he died the new Pharaoh overruled the law and restored the other gods. The Egyptians Sacred literature was the â€Å"Book of the Dead† which consisted of 42 â€Å"negative confessions† , spells and prayers. Here is a excerpts from the â€Å"Book of the Dead† 1. I have not acted sinfully toward me 2. I have not oppressed the members of my family 3. I have not done wrong instead of what is right 4. I have known no worthless folk (Encarta ‘96) Their were also what we would call "Priests" who sold the people "magical" items that they said would ensure the dead people a way into heaven. Therefore, the authority of the Egyptian religion was controlled heavily by the government. Second, the Egyptians Faith was an important characteristic of their religion. First, they believed that the Pharaoh was a god, and what he spoke became law. The Egyptians worshipped almost every form of life, the worshipped trees, water, animals, and even vegetables. The Egyptians also believed that a person had 2 souls, the ba and the ka, which left the body at death and then returned later to the body. The Egyptians believed that mummification make sure the ba and the ka would find the body when they returned to the body to transport it to the underworld. The Egyptians also believed that they were the ‘ cattle of the gods', and were controlled by them. They also believed that the gods owned all the land, so they sold all their crops at the temples. Furthermore, their idea of heaven was that it was in the milky way, that stood for a fertile Nile and where good crops grew every year. Their belief in a hell was that the soul was devoured by a savage animal called the ‘Devourer of Souls' and then thrown into a pit of fire. The Egyptians believed that what was placed

Signifigance Of Disease And Plauge In Hamlet :: essays research papers

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, poison and disease both plague the state of Denmark. Relations between characters are corrupt, the people are disturbed and people are killed constantly. What the characters do not know is that this corrupt reign of power will end in tragedy. Corrupt minds in Hamlet are provided by Prince Hamlet himself. He portrays an â€Å"antic disposition† in order to gain the advantage inside the castle. Now people in the castle believe that Hamlet is crazy or â€Å"mad† and thinks nothing more of it. Really, Hamlet is just acting this way so that he can spy on other people in the castle. By doing this he finds out who is after him and the identity of the murderer of his father. Polonious is one of the people spying on Hamlet to find the â€Å"source of his madness† and says "That he's mad, 'tis true 'tis pity, And pity 'tis 'tis true" [2.2.97-98]. Hamlet never stops his act and gets his job done. During Hamlets search for revenge, he also sparks the beginning of Ophelia’s demise. This happens because to insure no one knows that Hamlet is acting as if he is crazy, he only tells his most trusted friend Horaito. Ophelia does not know he is only acting for the possible spies, and takes everything Hamlet says seriously. â€Å"Ophelia says I was the more deceived†[III.i.118]. After a while of this, including Hamlet yelling at her, the death of her father Polonious by the hands of Hamlet, Ophelia goes insane. This is very noticeable because she is constantly singing and her appearance is also more ragged and dirty. She does not even notice her own brother, Laertes, when he returns from school. Shortly after this, Ophelia is found, drown in the brook. Hamlet triggers Ophelia’s insanity that then leads to her death. While all of these tragic happenings are occurring relationships are also being torn apart. Hamlets' relations with his mother Gertrude are severed. Hamlet believes his mother is disgusting for marrying his father's brother, two months after his fathers' death. Rightfully so because traditionally then when people were married their families became considered blood related. So this action by his mother was thought to be incestuous and Hamlet did not agree with it at all. Hamlets' relationship with Laertes was also destroyed. During an altercation with his mother Hamlet heard a noise behind a tapestry hanging on the wall.

Empiricism †Science Essay

I have a standard deal with my students that if they recommend a book to me, I will read it. One of my students recommended Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, which turned out to be my least favorite book ever. After the first half, I jotted down some of the reasons why. Here is a list of problems I have with the book, most of which are either logical fallacies or just rhetorical stunts that annoy me. replacing the progress fallacy with the doomsday fallacy Quinn argues against the assumption that things are necessarily getting better, but he commits the opposite error, the assumption that things are necessarily getting worse. It is almost certain that some things are getting better and some worse. If Quinn wants to make the argument that we are headed for an environmental doomsday, he has to make the argument empirically. poisoning the well Pointing out the influence of culture on our thinking, Quinn sets up a ready answer for anyone who disagrees with him: the opponent is blinded by culture! Of course it is important to be skeptical of conventional wisdom, but we are no better off rejecting blindly what â€Å"Mother Culture† tells us than we would be accepting it blindly. the meta fallacy When someone produces a meta-x, they often pretend it is not, itself, an x. For example, when a news story gets hyped out of proportion, some reporters start covering the hype as if it were a story. They think their meta-hype is better than the hype, but it’s not. Similarly, Quinn tries to place himself outside culture in order to create meta-culture, but he can’t. He is just as much a victim of â€Å"Mother Culture† as the rest of us, and his book is just another piece of it. In fact, this kind of work has become a genre! Another book in the category is â€Å"Mutant Message from Down Under,† in which the author uses the rhetorical device of being kidnapped by Australian aborigines to give herself a voice apparently outside the culture of civilization. Quinn uses a telepathic gorilla, but its the same device with the same deceptive intent. the naturalist fallacy There aren’t many ideas in philosophy that are universally accepted. The one that comes the closest is the maxim that you can’t get â€Å"ought† from â€Å"is. † In other words, you can’t derive an ethical system from empirical observation. Historically, there have been lots of people that tried, and the results have been universally disastrous. Quinn attacks this view straight on, arguing that there is a law that all species (except humans) follow, and that we can figure out what this law is empirically. He fails on two fronts: the law he presents is empirically false, and even if it were true, it still wouldn’t make it possible to know what we should do. At best, it would help us predict the consequences of our actions, but that is not sufficient to derive an ethical system. Why do I say his law is empirically false? Well, one counterexample is trees. Trees are engaged in a internecine competition for sunlight in which they squander resources on preposterously long trunks, deprive other species of their food source, and poison their environments to eliminate competitors. Ever look at the floor of a dense pine forest? Nothing but pine needles. the Lorax fallacy. Quoth the Lorax, â€Å"I am the Lorax, and I speak for the trees! † To which I reply (1) what makes you think you know what the trees want, and (2) what makes the trees so special? It is probably wrong to assume that nature has intent, but in any case it is ridiculous to presume that we know what its intent is. To see how ridiculous this is, consider the unpublished first draft of â€Å"The Lorax,† in which another irritating troll appears and shouts, â€Å"I am the Borax, and I speak for the grass, and I say, chop down those trees — they’re blocking all the sun. â€Å" Then, â€Å"Wait! I am the Snorax, and I speak for the dung beetles, and I say, please breed enormous numbers of cattle. † Then, â€Å"I am the Thorax, and I speak for the slime molds, and I say, please make big piles of decaying organic matter. † And so on. You can see why it wasn’t a big hit. the biocentrism fallacy Quinn argues against anthrocentrism, the view that the universe was made for humans and that we have the right to do what we want with it. The alternative is biocentrism, an ethical system in which animals and other parts of nature have rights as well. It is often (wrongly) assumed that an ethical system that extends rights to more entities is morally superior to one that is more stingy. Of course, we already extend some rights to some animals, and we could extend more rights to more animals, but that does not change the fact that (a) we’re still the ones extending the rights and it’s still our choice, and (b) we would still be in the position of trying to figure out the intent of nature, if there is one. Anthrocentrism may seem self-centered, but there is no sensible alternative.inconsistency regarding the role of humans Sometimes Quinn considers humans part of the natural world, sometimes not, as it serves him. Where this error hurts his argument the most is his claim that all species that follow the law live forever, environmental conditions permitting. What â€Å"environmental conditions† is he talking about? He seems to mean the abiotic environment, but that’s absurd. For every species, â€Å"the environment† includes every other species. I am not sure, but I would guess that of all the species that have become extinct (for reasons that have nothing to do with humans) the vast majority have been wiped out because of other species (too many competitors, too little prey) rather than the abiotic environment. Humans are part of the environment, and every species that has been wiped out by human activity has been wiped out by â€Å"environmental conditions. † Quinn’s distinction in this case between natural causes and human activities is contrary to his argument in the rest of the book that humans are part of nature. identification of science as a form of mythology Quinn stamps the current scientific understanding of the origin of the universe as mythology. He pulls this stunt with a bit of rhetorical slight-of-hand. He offers an anthrocentric story of creation and then rejects it because it is anthrocentric. In fact, the narrator was invited to offer an explanation of â€Å"how things came to be this way† in an environment that was completely surrounded by human artifacts. It was perfectly reasonable to explain such an environment by focusing on the human activity that led this to be â€Å"this way. † In any case, telling and rejecting an antrocentric version of the origin of the universe does not undermine the claim that our scientific understanding is qualitatively different from the stories we usually label mythology. Specifically, if representatives from two culures with different creation myths met, there is nothing one could say or do to persuade the other to adopt a new myth (at least not rationally). By contrast, there is a lot we can do to convince someone to adopt the  scientific view — in fact, millions of people, raised to believe some version of Genesis, have come to adopt the scientific view on the basis of evidence and reason. ignorance of evidence When Quinn bothers to present empirical evidence for his position, it is almost always false. I already mentioned one biological error, the claim that no other species competes with other species the way humans do. I’m not a biologist, but I thought of 10 counter-examples before I turned the page. I already mentioned trees. What about the mold that produces penicillin? Simians that kill members of other species for sport, and members of their own species for social standing or mating priviledge? Beavers that wreak environmental havok to build safe housing? Species evolve mechanisms and behaviors that allow them to survive (more precisely, the ones that didn’t aren’t around). Quinn observes, rightly, that most of these mechanisms are peaceful, but that’s because non-violence is generally a good survival strategy, not because the species are following laws. There are exceptions throughout nature, including some aspects of human behavior. As for the economic relationship between population and food supply, Quinn gives a half-hearted voice to some 19th century ideas, but seems oblivious to a century of subsequent work. His model is absurdly simple and provably false. I don’t know as much about anthropology, but many of Quinn’s claims are contrary to what little I know. Judging by his track record, I am hardly inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt ugly misanthropy The population crisis is a serious and difficult problem. Its central questions are  (a) if we keep doing what we’re doing, will the population grow to a level that is either unsupportable or supportable only with an unacceptable quality of life? (b) if so, is there something different we can do that will lead to a smaller population and a better quality of life? The first is an empirical question. The only way to answer it is by using evidence and reason as best we can. Quinn has no interest in evidence or reason — he just assumes that he knows the answer. The second is an ethical question. Obviously there are a lot of things we can do to reduce the population. The hard part is finding one that actually makes things better. To do that, we have to think about ethics. If there is, in fact, a population crisis, then it makes a lot of traditional ethical problems harder. For example, saving a life becomes an alloyed victory. The problem, of course, is that once the sanctity of human life is off the table, the table becomes slippery and steep in every direction. Finding an acceptable ethical system in that context is a hard problem. Quinn’s misanthropy is a lazy, ugly solution. We can do better.

Comparison of the Chinese and American Cultures Essay

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, culture is defined as â€Å"the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.† Culture is an aspect all groups of humans have and even though it is an aspect our species shares, the supposed differences make it seem like we are of different species! Culture is something that both connects and separates us. Culture is something distinct enough to create barriers among us, such as: linguistic barriers and behavioral barriers. And this is especially seen between the American and Chinese cultures. River Town, by Peter Hessler, is a non-fiction novel that depicts Peter’s experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fuling, China. He was sent to Fuling (a poor town on the banks of the Yangtze River) in 1996 and taught English and American literature for two years at a teachers college. This novel, in reading, seems more of a journal and thus, his writing of China puts the people and his experiences on a more personal level. He describes, with immense detail, his observations of the social, political and cultural issues of China and his experience as a waiguoren (foreigner). At his arrival, the people of the teachers college showered him and his fellow Peace Corps volunteer with many gifts and did everything they could to make them feel comfortable and welcome. However, alternately, whenever Peter would walk outside the campus of the school, the people would stare and gawk at him and yell, â€Å"outsider!† and â€Å"hello† out of curiosity and their own amusemen t. This made him dedicate a large part of his day solely to learning Chinese. As he becomes more proficient in Chinese, he develops friendships and connections and begins to feel more accepted. He talks about the troubled history of China: the struggles of land reform, decades of misguided economic policies and especially the damaging effects of the Cultural Revolution. Peter spends a good deal discussing the, then, upcoming  project of the Three Gorges Dam, which has an immense, detrimental impact on the people. The project will require millions of villagers to be displaced and will destroy centuries worth of meaningful history. The author gives a very vivid illustration of the beautiful landscape, history and the people he meets. He also portrays the, especially political, perspectives of the Chinese quite well through learning from his students and teachers. According to Francis Hsu, the two sets of contrasts are: individual-centered versus situation-centered and the prominence of emotions versus the underplay of all matters regarding the heart. He believed Americans are concerned only of themselves and act according to what would be beneficial to them, and that the Chinese acted according to the situation at hand. The Chinese avoid direct confrontation, open criticism and controversial topics to maintain harmony. â€Å"In America, he saw the blind, often excessive pursuit of self-reliance and the inherent, permanent instability of human relationships as the root cause of many intractable social ills, including crime, racial discord, and the sale of influence in government. In China, he saw the traditional narrow focus on kinship based relationships had rendered their society unable to effectively counter Western colonialism, widespread poverty and famine, and even the practice of foot binding of women.† (Tong 2001) One aspect of the book that really interested me was the education system and different cultural differences of how education is looked upon. In the book, the students all had the same thoughts on almost every issue and those opinions would be unwavering. However, â€Å"Perhaps by my standards they were politically brainwashed, but compared to the past they were remarkably free.† (Hessler 2001:23) They would also communicate indirectly to Hessler; often times via their journals. Not only is the learning environment in China highly competitive and demanding, but expectations are high of students, forcing them to simply learn to achieve the highest grade possible. Also, Chinese students do not have electives they can choose from, they are assigned classes that best correspond to their scores on tests. Whereas in America, individualism and self-expression if looked high upon. Thus, in America, the individual student’s abilities and skills determine  where they go in the future, and in China, what society or their parents want determines where they go. This is exactly what Francis Hsu talked about. I believe Peter Hessler was relatively objective in his journaling. Whenever he brought up thoughts or opinions of his students or any of the Fuling people, he briefly gave the history and background of them so we can understand where they are coming from. However, there were a few times where you could sense his extreme bias, but this was never fully evident in his writing. The difference between American and Chinese homes reflects the contrasting patterns of behavior in the family. In the US, children are highly regarded, cared for and have privilege, so far as to have laws and regulations protecting them. In China, children are taken for granted and have little to no reason to expect protection. Pediatrics was not a branch of medicine in China until just recently. In America, what is important is what parents should do for their parents; in China, what is important is what the children should do for their parents. This is a major reason why Chinese students are so focused on getting the best grades, so they can get a good job and take care of their elders. This is the basis for Filial Piety (virtue of respect for one’s parents and ancestors). American students focus on what is best for them and will usually move out the house at age 18 with no regard to taking care of their elders. Another difference between the two cultures is social relations hips. The Chinese have formal, hierarchal relationships in which they feel most comfortable knowing their position. Americans have informal, egalitarian relationships in which they feel most comfortable among their equals and social ranking is not important. Ironically however, the Chinese tend to have a few, very close friends to whom they feel obligated to when it comes to helping them; Americans tend to have numerous â€Å"friends† and acquaintances that changes over time and to whom they feel no obligations. Works Cited 2001 River Town: Two years on the Yangtze. HarperCollins Publishers. Aguilar, Leslie, and Linda Stokes 1996. Multicultural Customer Service: Providing Outstanding Service Across Cultures. Chicago: Times Mirror Higher Education Group, Inc â€Å"CultureAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on One Page.† Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013 Li Qing 1995. â€Å"Face, Guanxi, Houmen(r) & Elastic Rules: Insight into the Chinese Culture.† Presentation at conference of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Tong, William K. â€Å"Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu.† Excerpts from Americans & Chinese by Francis Hsu. Oakton Community College, 2001. Web. 22 Apr. 2013