WEEK 1 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

WEEK 1 - Coursework Example Laws are necessary because it is almost impossible to put together large groups of people without governing them by a standard set of generally accepted concepts and behavior. Without laws, people will be free to do anything they want without consideration for other people around them. Absence of laws will create inequality, because everyone will merely be governed by â€Å"instincts,† where only the strong and powerful can survive. For example, in history, when the populations of the colonies began to grow, the differences between these colonies grew as well (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 7). These differences, when not contained properly, or channeled effectively, will cause chaos among people and cause deterioration to the structure of a society. The nation was founded on the idea of societal cohesiveness, that is â€Å"one nation, with liberty and justice for all† (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 15). The negative effect of pluralism is the problem of vast differences among people who, despite belonging to different groups, still try to live with each other in peace and order. Differences in ideas, beliefs, and even culture makes it harder to formulate a constitution that is fit and just for everyone involved. Framers of the Constitution recognized that the people are the power (Harr, Hess, and Orthmann 15), and if the people are the power, then there will be several â€Å"powers† to consider when framing the laws that will benefit everyone. From a personal viewpoint, it must have been quite hard to welcome diversity based on the want for equality for all. There must have been a thin line between suppression and exploitation of the differences of each group, and structuring a society that is fit for everyone. In looking at the Boston Tea Party, it could be said that it was a success. It provoke such reaction from Great Britain,which prompted the King to pass â€Å"intolerable acts† to the people. These acts were a) restrictions to town meetings, b)

Portrayals and portraits Essay Example for Free

Portrayals and portraits Essay The processes of public memory in regard to Sojourner Truth already are framed by the multiple figurations that existed in the public consciousness prior to the three specific commemorative campaigns that form the focus of this study. Although some of the specific details vary, the basic outlines of Truths life are accessible. Born as a slave in upstate New York around 1797 and originally named Isabella, Truth was freed according to the dictates of state law in 1827. She adopted the name of Sojourner Truth and began a life of freedom that progressed through three distinct stages. The first stage is marked by her involvement with the Kingdom, an infamous religious community led Robert Matthews, also know as Matthias. After Truth left the Kingdom in 1834 she traveled through New York and Connecticut, speaking at various religious camp meetings. Friends eventually directed her to the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts, a group founded on socialist and transcendentalist ideas. In this second stage, Truths involvement with the Northampton group introduced her to several notable public advocates, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Olive Gilbert, who would later become her first collaborator on her Narrative (Fitch Mandziuk, 1997, p. 16). When the Northampton Association disbanded in 1849, Truth entered her third stage as an advocate for the anti-slavery and womens rights causes. She lived and traveled in Ohio for a few years, finally settling in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1857 where she resided until her death. During this third stage, Truth traveled widely through eastern and mid-western states, often appearing as a popular speaker at conventions and meetings. Among the events in this third stage of Truths life that have become the fuel for her mythic meanings were her famous 1851 speech at a womens rights convention in Akron, Ohio and an 1858 confrontation with a hostile male audience in Silver Lake, Indiana where she bared her breast to prove she was female. In her own time, Truths contemporaries in their descriptions and accounts had transformed her tale variously to depict her as a tragic victim of slavery, a religious pilgrim, a comic caricature, and a fiery orator and advocate for womens rights (Fitch Mandziuk, 1997; Mabee Newhouse, 1993; Mandziuk Fitch, 2001; Painter 1994, 1996). While it is impossible to know how much control Truth actually exerted over the costuming and posing of these images, they do offer a striking alternative to the often grotesque, defiant, or devout descriptions of her that were available in print at the time. In all but one, Truth is seated. In these she is located in settings containing middle-class accoutrements such as bookcases, carved chairs, flowers, and books. In all of the portraits she is dressed in a fringed shawl and wears tailored clothing of heavy, patterned fabrics. In some she holds knitting; in one an open portrait of a young male rests in her lap. In the other portrait she is standing, her right hand resting on a cane with her left arm at her side. In all but two, she wears eyeglasses. In some she looks past the camera, directing her glance sideways or downward; in others her glance is more leveled and direct. The images are striking for their middle-class depictions; as Painter (1996) observes, In none of these portraits is there anything beyond blackness that would inspire charitynothing of the piteous slave mother or the weird Matthias Kingdom, no bared arms, no bodice taken down in public, nothing of Stowes amusing naif. The cartes de visite show a solid bourgeoisie (p. 196). These photographic images have been reproduced ever since on posters, buttons, cards, and t-shirts; importantly, they serve as the primary source material for any other interpretations and representations of Truths physical appearance. Contemporary campaigns to commemorate Truth in material form necessarily draw from these available portrayals and portraits. There is much room for negotiation and advocacy, however, around precisely which version of Truth will be visualized at a particular time and place, as well as who has the right to control and retain ownership of that image. As Painter (1996) concludes, Even today, when Truth can symbolize the angry black woman for most of her audience, others can see her as a kind of pet (p. 129). In the three recent debates over establishing statues of Truth, the ideological implications of the choices made indicate clear differences regarding her symbolic meanings. A preference for the bourgeois, devout, serious image among predominantly white communities marks her as a symbol of accommodation, while African American public memory continues to evoke the mythology of Gages defiant advocate and radical critique of white audiences. In each debate over how Truth would be remembered the concept of character provides an important lens to assess the meaning of each commemoration. From among the available portrayals and photographic records, each representation of Truth selected particular elements while deflecting others. The dimensions included in each characterization of Truth provide a revelatory index to the particular values of the community and the means through which her image was adapted to suit various purposes. Essentially, character provides the window to how questions of identity politics were negotiated in each instance. In the Portrait Monument dispute, the image of Truth in evoked by the National Political Congress of Black Women reference the angry orator first envisioned by Frances Gage in 1863. In this version, Truth symbolizes the defiant insistence on race as a central consideration in public debate and the processes of public memory, an adaptation of this persona often used by black women to challenge white exclusionary tactics. The characteristics depicted in the Battle Creek and Northampton statues invoke the alternative image of Truth as the upholder of principles of equality and faith. These two commemorations replicate the bourgeois aspects of Truths cartes de visite, yet also depict her in safe and comforting ways. The defiant Truth is subordinated in favor of likenesses that reflect abstract values and celebrate conciliation rather than ones that insist on recognizing am valuing difference. Evaluation of the dimension of character in the process of public memory thus reveals the ideological functions served by a particular commemorative representation. These campaigns to re-present Truth in a material form reveal the uncertainties in the process of public memory, as well as the ways in which the practice often accommodates and dissipates political challenges to the values held dear by dominant culture. Among the potential meanings of Truth, her symbolic appropriation as a sign of the ideals of equality and justice easily is reconcilable with our American democratic mythology and frequent delusion that inequities can be solved simply through individual acts of faith and hope. Consequently, Truth is appropriated in her most bourgeois, benign, and reverent form. The Truth commemorated is an image that is ambiguous enough for us to find residues of her race and gender meanings within it if we so desire, but is also abstract enough to be of no threat on either front. (Manziuk, 2003) Genealogical research, when conducted within the context of African-American history using a variety of resources, offers a more encompassing perspective of the African American family in American society. In other words, our individual family photographs can provide a wealth of information about society in general.

Over Population :: essays research papers

Over Population The world’s population is approximately 5.9 billion, and it is still growing. It has just about doubled in the past forty years. We are now faced with the issue of over population. The problem is very severe, and important. It is controversial how many people this planet can hold. Some are arguing that we have plenty of room, and we could fit everyone on the state of Alaska, if we just put 10,000 people on each square mile. Alaska only makes up about one percent of the earth’s land mass. Other people argue that we need land to grow and supply all the resources we need, and we do not have enough for everybody. Either way the issue is looked at though, many people are being deprived of food, shelter and clothing because of the excess of people. Many countries are reducing their population by family planning. Family planning tries to promote the idea of using some sort of birth control such as condoms, the pill, sterilization, IUDs, or some other method. Over the past three decades, the global percentage of couples using some form of family planning has increased dramatically. It has changed from less than 10, to more than 50 percent. The amount of people who use family planning would increase if everyone had easy accessibility to it. In some rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, it takes an average of two hours to reach the nearest contraceptive provider. Often, people cannot even afford some type of birth control. Also, many governments ban or restrict important methods of contraception. Japan, for instance, discourages the use of birth control pills over the condom. Also, 60 countries require a husband’s consent for all forms of birth control. Even though there are some conflicts with it, I think family planning seems like the best to solve the world’s over population problem. China’s one child policy is generally denounced by a majority of world nations. Many countries feel that it is not right to restrict the number of children a person can have. They believe it is a person’s freedom to choose how many kids they want. China hopes for their fertility rate to be 1 child per woman instead of the 1.85 rate they currently have. Even though China’s policy is very controversial, China thinks this is what they need to do in order for their population growth to drop.

Minority Group Status

A minority group refers to a subordinate group whereby the members do not have enough control over their lives and do not have power to effectively fight for their rights. A minority group is inferior and is usually dominated by the rest, who are usually the majority group. The minority group experiences rather few opportunities to pursue their goals since education, success and wealth is limited to them. Such opportunities are disproportionately very low when compared to their population within the society. (Feagin, 2000) Characteristics of Minority Group Status A minority group has a number of characteristics which distinguish them from the majority group. The characteristics make them stand out from the rest and become easily identifiable. One characteristic of the members of the minority group is that they have distinguishing cultural or physical traits, for example skin color (physical) and language (cultural). A good example is Blacks in countries which are largely dominated by Whites. Another characteristic is that they usually face unequal treatment and have less power and therefore are not in full control of what goes around them. Mostly, the members claim of receiving unfair treatment and are constantly discriminated against. (Peter & Trauttman, 2006) In extreme cases, the members may be denied their rights to access certain resources, for, example, having recreational facilities strictly for majority group and restricting the minority group from accessing them. The third characteristic is that the members do not belong to the minority group by choice. The membership is therefore involuntary and no one can be compelled to remain a member or give up the membership since it is through race, power or even law that a person finds himself or herself belonging to the minority group. The fourth characteristic is that there is usually a high degree of awareness of subordination as well as a strong sense of solidarity among the members. The last characteristic is that, the majority group is high characterized by in-group marriages due to their close association and collaboration. (Jacob, 2005) Different Ways in Which Groups Become Minorities There are various ways in which groups become minorities numerically and socially. Numerically the minority group is judged by virtue of being few in numbers, for example, racial whereby the members are classified on some obvious characteristics, such as skin color. These characteristics are visible. For instance, Racial minority groups in US; American Indian, Blacks, Hawaiians and Asian Americans. Socially, the minority group is judged on the basis of inferior culture, faith, or belief as in gender, ethnic and religion. (Jacob, 2005) Ethnically, the groups are classified on cultural basis, such as food and language. Ethnic Minority Groups in US include Latinos and Hispanics such as Puerto Ricans, Chicanos and Cubans. The Jews are also part of the cultural minorities. In terms of gender, males are usually the social majority and women are the social minority. In religion, the minorities are the members who do not have the same faith as the majority group. For instance, Muslims, Mormons, Roman Catholics and Amish are religious minorities in US. (Peter & Trauttman, 2006) Consequences of Minority Group Status Some of the consequences are pluralism, assimilation, fusion, segregation, secession, expulsion and extermination. In pluralism, this is whereby the minority and majority groups or individuals maintain their different identities, that is, Whites are represented by Whites and Blacks by Blacks. In assimilation, the minority group identifies with the majority group in terms of culture and consequently is absorbed by the dominant group. In fusion, the majority and minority group merge to create a new group. (Feagin, 2000) Their cultures and physical characteristics are synthesized without intermarrying. In segregation, these two groups are physically separated in terms of work place, residence and social functions. In secession, the minority group moves out to create a new nation or join an established nation, whereby it becomes dominant. In expulsion, the minority group may be forced to leave a certain region or even thrown out of the country by the dominant group. In, extermination, the minority group is wiped out through genocide or systematic, deliberate killing. (Feagin, 2000) Conclusion From the discussion above, the existence of minority group status is not healthy though it cannot be avoided. Many divisions result from such differences making it impossible for a certain group to pursue their common goals and encourage vices such as discrimination against tribe, gender and religion. (Peter & Trauttman, 2006) References Feagin, J. (2000) Racial and Ethnic Relations, Palgrave Publishers, US. Jacob, C. (2005) What is a Minority Group, Palgrave Publishers, UK. Peter, Z. & Trauttmann, C. (2006) Distinguishing between Minority and Majority Group,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fireside Press, Washington DC.   

Paper on Education: A Gift or Not

The term education can mean many things. An education is the collective knowledge a person has, but what does an education mean? Although an education can be paid for, no one can physically give you an education, so it is not a gift. There are societal situations where an education is a necessity, but not many globally. Education is a tool to be utilized differently in every part of the world. Knowledge is power, but some knowledge is more powerful depending on your region. If you are part a primitive tribe in New Guinea, a person that is considered to be educated may be illiterate. Whereas in America, an illiterate person would have trouble functioning at all in society. Education is a tool that is to be developed by a combination of motivation, preparation, support, and society. An education can be offered to someone, but the pupil can only take from it what is put in. A gift is something that can be given to someone regardless of the effort put forth by the individual, therefore an education is not a gift. Although an education cannot be given to someone, and it is not a gift, there are things that can be given to you that contribute to your education. Perhaps the greatest thing that can be provided is support. When a parent or teacher rewards a child for learning, it makes a connection in the child's mind that an education will pay off. When an educated and successful family strongly support a child's education, that child will have a better chance to obtain an education. The child will see that education and success coincide. A person that is to be educated has to be given many opportunities to learn new things. Some of these opportunities are as simple as letting your four-year-old watch â€Å"Sesame Street† or letting your six-year-old make a sandwich. There are cases, however, when parents are not able to promote their children's education. If the parents are poor and uneducated, then a child will most likely be unmotivated towards school. The child might realize that his parents are managing to pull through, and think that he will be able to survive without an education as well. This will withhold the child from opportunities that an education would provide. Allowing that certain educational gifts are given to a person, they can acquire the motivation it takes to receive an education. Once you have made the decision to attain an education, certain virtues must be possessed. You must be motivated by something, weather it be money, power, or just the desire to learn. It is motivation that drives you to learn new things and to expand your horizons. You must prepare for an education. For everything that you want to know, there is something else you need to know first. Before you can be proficient on a piano you must know music, and before you can be proficient on a computer you must learn to use a keyboard and a mouse. Even though these skills may seem intuitive to some, someone from a different social culture may not have been introduced to these ideas at all. You must also have certain resources provided. To learn in an institution, often times you need money, books, and other materials that, sadly enough, cannot always be secured. This situation exemplifies the problems that one can face when an education is desired but outside scarcities disallow. There are some circumstances where special educational aspects are a necessity in a certain region, but education is not global. In most developed countries a lawyer would be considered an educated person, but if a lawyer was sent to a more primitive society he would be lost. A farmer educated in cultivation in Nebraska could nourish himself indefinitely, but take away his farm and he has nothing but the knowledge of farming. There are certain things that a person must know in order to have the power to survive in a chosen society. These things change with regards to the society at hand. In more developed places it is pertinent that you know how to read. Without this skill a person will remained severely uninformed, disconnected, and uneducated. The ability to read is the stepping stone to self-education. A literate person with motivation and knowledge of construction can become successful with very little institutionalized education. This skill, as it applies to American social culture, is the most important attribute of an education. Without the ability to read, a person would have to either settle for an extremely unskilled job, grow their own food, or resort to thievery. In a accomplished society such as this, not many people find the need to do these things. Instead people achieve an education, learn a trade or a profession, and earn money to prosper. However, in some societies it is perfectly normal not to be able to read, and a person will manage to survive on other skills such as hunting. Regardless of where you are or what you do, education is an asset. It is a tool that you add to every day, and that no one can take from you. Once you have truly learned something, it will be with you forever, and you will be able to put that information into use whenever it applies. Your education is something you truly own. It cannot be taken away in a bet, by a bankruptcy, and it cannot be stolen. Once you are educated in a particular field, you have job security. If you are a programmer, and your company goes under, you will be able to find another position as a programmer. When you are educated you make more money and have the better jobs, because it shows that you are dedicated to learning. You will not age as fast as someone with a labor intensive job, and chances are you will not have a career ending injury on the job. It is education that gives you options, keeps you connected to the world, and keeps you informed. Although an uneducated person has the resources to inform themselves, they rarely have the ability or motivation it takes to utilize these resources. An education can be achieved by anyone who has the motivation, support, and resources it takes too receive an education according to their perception. This education is a made up of support, motivation, and the necessity to survive. This education cannot be taken. This education means survival and success.

Religion in Japan and China Review Essay

Religion in Japan and China Review Essay Religion in Japan and China Review Essay Example Religion in Japan and China Review Essay Example Nowadays, the study of Chinese and Japanese cultures is not only of academic interest. The Far East has a special and unique place in today’s world permeated by the processes of globalization and modernization. The technological civilization of the West has penetrated the East, changed a lot in the cultural sphere, and realigned social relations that have been taking shape for thousands of years. However, the East remains a bastion of tradition in opposition to the totality of modernization. These transformations have affected mostly external aspects of life such as the sphere of science and technology, but they are unable to shake the depth of culture, namely paradigms, laws, and principles underlying the human existence in the East. China and Japan have not lost their identity while borrowing the Western achievements. The diversity of the Chinese and Japanese cultures manifests itself mostly in the variety of religions of these countries. The comparison of the traditional religious systems of China and Japan shows that they both are based on similar religious and philosophical paradigms. Japan as an Independent Culture Japan was initially treated as a carrier of the Chinese culture and did not stand out as an independent cultural-historical type and civilization. This point of view existed in the cultural sciences until the second half of the 20th century. It appeared not only in the early historical and typological concepts, but also in the works of the later researchers. For example, Arnold Joseph Toynbee described the Japanese culture as a â€Å"filial† in relation to the Chinese culture, but he did not pay attention to the identity of the Japanese culture (Earhart, 2013). However, modern science recognizes the ethnic identity of Japan and comes close to the recognition of its cultural identity. The research thought has moved from trying to ignore the uniqueness of the Japanese culture to the recognition of the ethnic autonomy of China and Japan. The basic religions of China and Japan – Taoism and Shinto – are the basis for arguing that both countries are autonomous in the r eligious and cultural way. Taoism and Shinto as the Original Religious Paradigms Both Taoism and Shinto are national religions. However, if Shinto is inalienable from the Japanese culture, then Taoism has a certain missionary enthusiasm, through which it has spread in most countries of the Far East region. Shinto is characterized as a more archaic religion than Taoism. There are certain obvious manifestations of its archaism. Firstly, it is the lack of philosophical and theoretical formation. Secondly, Shinto has no formations at all, i.e. it has an immensely large integrity as compared with Taoism (Aston, 2015). The latter is a religion as well as a philosophy, but Shinto is a religion only. However, the division of religions into more or less archaic implies existence of some general timeline that is common to all phenomena of this kind. The phenomena, which are preserved as archaic or primitive ones, are usually compared with the early stages of the existence of complex phenomena. If one speaks about Shinto’s archaism based on the absence of theoretical constructs in this religion, then it would assume existence of some common law, according to which every traditional religion is obliged to give rise to its own philosophy sooner or later. The next significant difference is a distinction not only between Taoism and Shinto but also between Chinese and Japanese mentalities as a whole. It is about a phenomenal disinclination of traditional Japanese thinking towards abstraction and speculation. When it comes to comparing Eastern and Western thinking, rejection of abstract constructions is considered as the prerogative of the East. However, with regard to the Chinese culture, it would be correct to speak of unity and indivisibility of the theory and practice, the abstract and the concrete, the speculative and the empirical (Mou, 2012). Such integrity of the Chinese traditional thinking, which has been observed by the generations of Western thinkers since the 19th century, makes the Far Eastern mentality so different from the West (Mou, 2012). Even sciences in traditional China represent a relatively holistic and amorphous body of knowledge, which combines quite heterogeneous and diverse ideas and facts in the most direct way. Mythology, astrology, alchemy, and magic are inseparable from cosmology, astronomy, chemistry, and medicine respectively and so on. The treatise, which tells of common categories of the ontological character, may simultaneously be a tool to achieve physical immortality with the help of certain quite specific practices (Mou, 2012). In contrast, Japan just has borrowed similar categories from China since the period of antiquity, namely the Asuka and Nara periods (Aston, 2015). However, such categories have never acquired importance and significance they had in China. As a manifestation of the above regulations, the ancient texts have played an important role in Taoism and Shinto. One of the manifestations of the detachment of traditional Japanese thinking from theory is a pure practicality of all Old Japanese texts. Shinto religion has a collection of myths, ritual prayers, and even secular literature and poetry, which date back to ancient ritual chants (Aston, 2015). However, it has no similar persons to Lao-Tzu, Ge Hong, or Zhang Boduan. It means that Shinto is not familiar with a genre of the theoretical and practical treatise, which is very characteristic of Taoism and combines the ideas of ontological, anthropological, and ethical character. Neither Taoism nor Confucianism has a single kind of Bible, but both Chinese religions worshiped a number of books that make up a more or less universally recognized canon (Mou, 2012). As for the Shinto religion, it has no similar or any other canon (Aston, 2015). Taoist and Shinto anthropological ideas are also different. In the majority of Taoist traditions, a person is thought of as a psychophysical unity. The existence of the spirit depends on the existence of the body and the vital energy (or qi) acts as an intermediary between the two (Mou, 2012). Accordingly, improvement, the ultimate goal of which is achievement of immortality, means the change of moral and ethical qualities of the individual as well as transformation of the body. Classic religious Taoism understands transformation of a human being into the immortal as the preservation and improvement of corporeality (Mou, 2012). Other Taoist traditions represent the final stage of the transformation relating to the release from the corpse (or shijie) and the transformation of a person into a pure spirit (or shen) (Mou, 2012). It is important to emphasize the role of corporeality in both cases. In the first case, a man acquires immortality in the flesh, but in the second case the body acts as a stepping-stone to achieve immortality. In Shinto, the body and the spirit are related somewhat differently. On the one hand, the spirit (or kami) is not always the phenomenon of non-physical nature. For example, kami can be a bizarre wood or stone (Aston, 2015). The Japanese have borrowed an idea of the ki energy (or qi in the Chinese culture) from China (Aston, 2015). As a consequence, a man is thought of as a unity of the spiritual and the corporeal. On the other hand, a person becomes kami after death and the body does not matter in the process. Paradoxically, Shinto does not imply the bodily immortality at all. Eve ry person becomes kami after death according to Shinto religion (Aston, 2015). In contrast, immortality is a destiny of the few in Taoism. Immortality in Taoism is achieved only by individual efforts in both the field of ethics and mystical practices. Thus, one can assume that Shinto is a religion that regulates the life of the community. In turn, Taoism is a religion, which regulates the life of the community on the demotic level and allows one to achieve individual immortality on the elitist level (Mou, 2012). The main virtues of Taoism are the naturalness (or tzu-jan) and the non-action (or wuwei) (Mou, 2012). The meaning of these concepts varied through the ages. The concept of naturalness meant detachment and depersonalization for ancient Taoists. However, it could mean the following to passions and emotions since the Han era (Mou, 2012). The first interpretation aims at not only perfection of the individual, but also the benefit of the society. The second interpretation is essentially antisocial. As for Shinto, the ethics of this religion is not so much religious as magical; it is a kind of a set of taboos (Aston, 2015). The belief in the divinity of the ruler and the sanctity of the social hierarchy are among the foundations of the Shinto religion, but they are not the subject of a special ethical reflection. Features of Confucianism in China and Japan The fundamental principles of Confucianism in both China and Japan are patriotism, sacralization of the ruler, rigidity of the social hierarchy, conservatism, and the holiness of tradition. The essential difference between the Chinese and Japanese conservatism is that Confucianism is focused on the development, education, and improvement of the human society, but the autochthonous ethics of Japan is only aimed at preserving the existing order (Yang Tamney, 2011). In addition, it does not imply either individual ethical responsibility or transformation of the society and the individual. The ideas of self-cultivation began to be formed in Japan only under the Chinese influence (Earhart, 2013). Ethics in Confucianism as a unified system is inseparable from epistemology, theoretical knowledge, and development of specific literary, philosophical, historical, and poetic monuments. This unity of ethics and epistemology is expressed in the category of wen (Yang Tamney, 2011). The latter includes appropriate social behavior, appropriate creative-ordering principle, and familiarizing with the literary heritage and a set of books of the Confucian canon in the narrowest sense. As noted above, the Japanese thinking is less inclined to the theory than the Chinese one. Japan had neither â€Å"philosophical explosion† like the one that happened in China in the era of Zhou, nor ideological struggle of various schools of ethics (Kitagawa,1990). Studying of such Confucian literature as canonical books, treatises, chronicles, and poetry for didactic purposes in Japan was local in nature. Actually, the Japanese ethics remained much less connected with epistemology than the Chinese on e, even absorbing a number of Confucian ideas and categories (Earhart, 2013). The role of the theoretical and didactic text remains insignificant in Japan. With respect to both cultures, one can talk about the top-down dissemination of the Confucian ideology, from the aristocracy and intellectual elite to the lower strata of the population (Yang Tamney, 2011). However, there is one important difference. The officialdom was the ruling class throughout the history of China. In Japan, the power was in the hands of the military class, namely the samurai, since the 12th century and until the collapse of the traditional way of life in the 19th century (Earhart, 2013). Thus, Japanese Confucianism was primarily a military ideology. The perception of cultural and military principles is different in China and Japan. They were called wen and wu in China and ben and bu in Japan accordingly (Yang Tamney, 2011). Chinese Confucianism gives an unconditional preference to wen, suggesting wu is a necessary evil. The point of view of the Japanese varied between the recognition of the equivalence of the two principles and the condemnation of the cultural activity as detrimental to the service and fulfillment of duty. One of the key ideas of the Chinese social philosophy is the idea of the â€Å"Mandate of Heaven† (or tianming), which has never been accepted by the Japanese. Chinese Confucianism, despite its conservatism, admits the possibility of insurrection and rebellion even against the supreme power (Yang Tamney, 2011). This aspect is alien to the Japanese mentality. If the Chinese ethical ideal implies submission to a ruler as long as he himself is a carrier of proper ethical qualities, then the Japanese ideal implies absolute submission (Kitagawa, 1990). Hence, it may explain the unity of the Japanese imperial dynasty and the uniquely small number of uprisings of the lower classes throughout the Japanese history. Thus, Chinese Confucianism allows one to climb the social ladder. In turn, the kinship actually does not allow upward mobility in the traditional Japanese society. Both Chinese and Japanese ethics prescribes service and obedience to elders (Yang Tamney, 2011). The immediate environment as family or clan is on the first place for the Chinese. However, the ministry to a lord or a ruler is of higher priority for the Japanese even if it is to the detriment of the family. The specifics of the Chinese prioritization is due to both geographical conditions (large spatial extent of China) and Taoist-Confucian paradigm (Yang Tamney, 2011). Priorities of the Japanese ethics are due to, respectively, the small size of the inhabited territory and the specifics of the Japanese Confucianism, namely the cult of unconditional obedience and self-sacrifice (Kitagawa, 1990). Chinese and Japanese Buddhism Buddhism has had a much greater impact on the formation of statehood in Japan than in China. Buddhism entered China after the reunification of the country around the middle of the Han Dynasty. After the adoption of Buddhism as a state religion in China, it was periodically becoming closer to the authorities, alternating with the periods of disgrace (Schlütter, 2010). On the contrary, Buddhism played a special role in Japan at the stage of the country’s emergence as a political entity. Buddhism in Japan was a way to substantiate claims of the imperial house to the throne. The Buddhist community had the greatest political influence in the early stages of the Japanese history, namely the Nara and Heian periods (Schlütter, 2010). There are also the phenomena of Chan and Zen Buddhism, which are also different. Chan Buddhism is one of the peripheral components of the Chinese traditional culture, but its Japanese equivalent is one of the main paradigms of the Japanese culture. This is due to the fact that Chan Buddhism remains a relatively elitist phenomenon, which has affected only some principles of art on the general cultural level (Schlütter, 2010). In contrast, Zen Buddhism has become the ideology of the samurai, which were the ruling class in Japan (Schlütter, 2010). Thus, it has penetrated almost all levels of human activity in the Japanese culture. The Chinese and Japanese religions not only rely on largely similar religious-mythological and philosophical paradigms, but also differ extensively. The ideas of close connection of physical and spiritual components of human beings and the possibility of achieving bodily immortality are characteristic of the Chinese religions. In turn, the Japanese religions are characterized by an acute experience of the short duration of human existence and, consequently, the lack of practices to achieve individual immortality. The basis of social and ethical ideas of both religions and cultures is unified within the Confucian paradigm. However, Chinese Confucianism gives people the possibility to make assessment of the superior and, as a consequence, the right to an ideologically justified protest. Japanese Confucianism is characterized by humility and submissiveness to a lord or a ruler. Finally, a traditional Chinese religious, social, and ethical ideal is a scientist, scholar, poet, or writer who is capable of climbing the career ladder due to personal talent and knowledge or to go in search of the immortality. Not only Taoist mysticism, but also rationally oriented Confucianism recognizes immortality as an attribute of an ethically perfect person. In turn, a Japanese religious, social, and ethical ideal is a samurai or warrior who is loyal to his lord unreservedly regardless of the moral qualities of the latter.

Affirmatative Action essays

Affirmatative Action essays The attitude that we seek not the "best individual" but the individual who will contribute the most to the whole applies in other walks of life besides sports. Think about the example of college admissions today. Is it constitutional for a school to look merely for the students who individually are the best academically if there even is a way to measure this? Or should it also be concerned about which mix of students will create the environment that can best contribute to the educational experience at the college, and which mix of students will lead to the graduating class that can best benefit society? The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear Grutter and Gratz vs. Bollinger, a case challenging the University of Michigan's racial preferences has refueled the affirmative action debate. The focal point of the debate is whether affirmative action violates civil rights. It's difficult to debate the issue intelligently because we're talking past one another - as we haven't chosen to define affirmative action. Let's look at it. Affirmative action means different things to different people. So allow me to list some of those alternative interpretations. To some Americans, perhaps most, affirmative action means a policy of nondiscrimination. A university or an employer should cast a wide net in its recruitment, admissions or hiring policy by advertising and recruiting in minority schools, social organizations and newspapers. But in the actual admissions or hiring, individuals are treated equally by race. For other Americans, there should be racial preferences. If a white candidate and a black candidate are equal in qualifications for university admission or employment, the preference should be given to the black candidate. For another group of Americans, they reject the first 2 Affirmative Action definitions. In fact, they see those forms of affirmative action as racially insensitive at best, and at wors...