Waiting for the Barbarians Essay -- Literary Analysis, J.M. Coetzee

Many of us have heard of the â€Å"dysfunctional relationship† characterized by the twists and the turns of emotion and the outrageous behavior of two self-destructive individuals. However, we never envision ourselves in that situation, playing either the stereotyped role of the crazy woman or man, both blinded by love or another passionate emotion. However, in Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee creates an eye-brow rising, head-tilting relationship between the old and pedophilic magistrate and the damaged barbarian girl. The transformative relationship between the two individuals is based on torture, guilt, atonement, and power. Didactically, through their relationship, Coetzee intends for the reader to understand the effect of moral idleness and also to see himself reflected in the idea of the true barbarian. Quickly into the novel, torture can be discerned as an important theme which shapes the transformative relationship between the magistrate and the barbarian girl. The magistrate views himself as â€Å"a responsible official in the service of the Empire† who carries out his routine duties in a remote tranquil town, just â€Å"waiting to retire† (8). His remarkably quiet and content lifestyle is disrupted as a result of Colonel Joll’s arrival and quickly after nonsensical imprisonment and torture commence. Initially, by abstaining from the investigation and torture the magistrate perceives himself as the opposite of the evidently villainous man with â€Å"discs of glass suspended in front of his eyes† (1). Without directly causing the bruises and subsequent scars, the magistrate is still a participant in the torture by his association with the Empire. He is aware and even states that many of the prisoners, like the fisherman, are innoc... ...inistration’s desire to preserve its ideals of what is good and evil by creating a nonexistent enemy and a war. If the soldiers under Colonel Joll â€Å"could never catch them [barbarians],† were they even there to begin with? Creating problems with no valid foundation is equivalently as injurious as waiting for an evil deed to occur and waiting for others to solve the issue. Coetzee uses the odd relationship between the magistrate and the barbarian girl as penance to intellectually display the effects of guilt due to moral idleness. If empires, governments, and administrations are committing wrongful acts, as a citizen and most importantly, as a human, one should react and voice his opinions, instead of crouching in fear or helping when the damage has already been done. The novel makes us question whether we will be a another facilitator of the bystander effect.

Heideggers Reading of Descartes Dualism Essay -- Dualism Essays

Heidegger's Reading of Descartes' Dualism ABSTRACT: The problem of traditional epistemology is the relation of subject to external world. The distinction between subject and object makes possible the distinction between the knower and what is known. Starting with Descartes, the subject is a thinking thing that is not extended, and the object is an extended thing which does not think. Heidegger rejects this distinction between subject and object by arguing that there is no subject distinct from the external world of things because Dasein is essentially Being-in-the-world. Heidegger challenges the Cartesian legacy in epistemology in two ways. First, there is the modern tendency toward subjectivism and individualism that started with Descartes' discovery of the 'cogito.' Second, there is the technological orientation of the modern world that originated in the Cartesian understanding of the mathematical and external physical world. Descartes stands at the beginning of modern philosophy and Heidegger accepts Descartes' role in the history of metaphysics. Descartes is the first thinker who discovers the "cogito sum" as an indubitable and the most certain foundation and thereby liberates philosophy from theology. He is the first subjectivistic thinker in the modern philosophy and he grounds his subjectivity on his epistemology. The orientation of the philosophical problems with Descartes starts from the "ego" (the "subject") because in the modern philosophy the "subject" is given to the knower first and as the only certain thing, i.e., the only "subject" is accessible immediately and certainly. For Descartes, the "subject" (the "ego", the "I", "res cogitans") is something that thinks, i.e., something that represents, perceive... ...icture", The Question of Technology and Other Essays. Trans. by William Levitt. (New York: Harper and Row Pub., 1977.), 127. (27) Bernard Charles Flynn, "Descartes and the Ontology of Subjectivity", Man and World, (Vol. 16, No: 1, 1983), 10. (28) Ibid., 10. (29) Ibid., 14. (30) Ibid., 14. (31) C. D. Keyes, "An Evaluation of Levinas: Critique of Heidegger" Research in Phenomenology. (Vol. II, PP 121-142, 1972), 131 and Martin Heidegger, Being and Time 46. (32) Ibid., 131. (33) Martin Heidegger, Basic Problems of Phenomenology, 119. (34) John Richardson, Existential Epistemology: A Heideggerian Critique of Descartes Project, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), 91. (35) Aristotle, Physics Book IV The Basic Works of Aristotle. Ed. and Intr. by Richard McKeon. (New York: Random House, 1941.), 219b. (36) Martin Heidegger, Being and Time , 376.

Claudio Monteverdi :: Composers Renaissance Biographies Essays

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Monteverdi was born on May 15, 1567, in Cremona Italy, Monteverdi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and the Early Baroque, and is known as the first great composer of the operas. Monteverdi is often view as a composer of the Renaissance and of the Baroque, there is a similar pattern in that is continuous that is often viewed through his work in both styles. Monteverdi often was known as a dramatic composer, while bringing a tremendous meaning from the text he set that often turned each of his pieces into a believable musical and also produced a dramatic statement. It was an early age when Monteverdi’s career began, he then published his first pieces, and this was based on as a collection of three-voice motets, at the age of fifteen. It was by 1591, when he went to Mantua as a musician for the Gonzaga court, by then he had already published books of â€Å"spiritual madrigals† in 1583, then another canzonettas in 1584, by 1587 and 1590 he published his first two books of â€Å"madrigals.† It was in Mantua he continued writing madrigals, and then in 1607 he produced his first work in the new genre of opera, the setting was of Orfeo. 1613, he was then appointed maestro di cappella at ST. Mark’s Cathedral which was held in Venice. Monteverdi had remained in Venice for the rest of his life, writing music in all different kinds of genres, including his final opera, â€Å"incoronaszione di Poppea in 1642. The style that Monteverdi intended to write in was called seconda prattica, this was a description that he used to separate himself for what was known as the more conservative tradition of Palestrina and his â€Å"Contemporaries.† The main starting point for Monteverdi was the always the words. Whatever his mood was at the time and what the words might suggest, and or whatever a one word needed to express, was mainly reflected on his music. Throughout the century, this was the basic idea of word content; this painting was used in madrigals through out the century. Due to the fact that his music expressed different moods of styles, for Monteverdi it was however isolated effect, and a guiding force. â€Å"This ideal permeated his madrigals and found new expression in the dramatic language or opera.† All Monteverdi’s techniques of work altogether made Monteverdi one of the expertise in the field of Western music.

Reality of Business and HR Strategy Essay

â€Å"Strategic HRM is an approach that defines how the organisation’s goals will be achieved through people by means of HR strategies and integrated HR policies and practices† (Armstrong, 2009). The overall aim of strategic HRM is to maximise the firms’ performance by making sure all employees are of high calibre and committed to achieving the organisations competitive advantage. Within HRM it is not clear how to best link strategic HRM to the organisations strategy. The main argument involves two different approaches; best fit and best practice. The best fit strategy involves organisations tailoring their HR strategies around the organisations strategies and needs. Whereas the latter suggests that organisations will be more successful if they adopt best practices within the work place (Boxall and Purcell, 2008). ‘Best practice’, a form of universalism, is based around the theory that high commitment will reflect the organisations high performance l evel regardless of the firm’s competitive strategy (Torrington et al, 2011). This is demonstrated in Guest’s model (1989) Theory of HRM. The model is built around four main HR goals; commitment, flexibility, quality and strategic integration, the theory being if all goals are achieved then the organisation’s performance will be enhanced. Pfeffer (1998), also a supporter, progresses the said theory by claiming policies such as; high spending on training, high wages directly linked to performance will determine a high level of commitment and performance. Another criticism of best practice theory is that it is difficult to accept that there is an overall best practice for every organisation . One practice may have been successful and effective for an organisation does not mean that it will work for every organisation (Armstrong, 2006). This factor helps show that when analysing business and hr within all organisations best practice is impossible to achieve as every organisations situations are different. Torrington et al (2011), dispute the validity of the theory by arguing that a simple model cannot realistically meet the complexity that comes with managing staff. As well as universalist the approach is also unitarist, as it presumes that all management have to do is follow a set of policies and it will automatically a chieve high performance, and that workers will obey  this without question. In reality this is a lot more complicated to re-enact. Hofstede (1980), as cited by Boxall and Purcell, also argues that it would be extremely difficult to design a set of practices due to extreme differences between countries and cultures. Furthermore, best practice may benefit executives but on shareholders and waged employee’s expense. An example being, it may put in place a generous redundancy package for executives and typically employees lose out. It can be argued that the most sustainable HRM practices are those which benefit the organisation as a whole such as best fit (Boxall and Purcell, 2008). In a addition to these arguments, Boxall and Purcell (2011) cite studies by MacDuffie (1995) and Ichniowski and Snow (1999) which suggest that best practice is impossible to achieve when comparing two industrial firms. Although many theorists would argue that best fit is the most applicable for most organisations, best practice should not be completely overlooked as Becker and Gerhart (1996) state that it may be more †appropriate for identifying the principles underlying the choice of practices, as opposed to the practices themselves† References Armstrong (2009) Armstrong’s Handook of Human Resource Management Practice London: Koogan Boxall, P & Purcell, J (2011) Strategy and Human Resource Management 3rd Edition Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan Becker, B E and Gerhart, S (1996) The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organisational Performance: Progress and Prospects Academy of Management Journal 39 (4), Page 779-801 Hall, L, Taylor L. & Torrington, D. (2008) Human Resource Management 7th Edition London: Prentice Hall

Can You Imagine a World Without a Superpower?

Coined by Dutch-American geo-strategist Nicholas Spykman in 1943, the political term ‘superpower’ is used to refer to a country with the ability to influence events or project power on a global scale. ’ It is difficult, if not impossible to envisage a world without a superpower. There are a number of reasons to support this assumption. We begin with the first and most blaring- It is simply difficult to imagine a world without a superpower because history itself has shown that there has yet to come a time when one or more powers do not rise above its counterparts in terms of economic and/or political factors to the extent that they are able to impact various issues on a global level. From the ancient civilizations such as the Persian, Roman, Mongol, Portuguese and Spanish empires to the Russia during the Cold War and the USSR today, we have yet to observe a period of time when the world has observed an equitable balance of power. It can be argued that just because it has not happened yet, does not mean it will not happen one day. This is a firm basis for a counter-argument, however, it must be understood that in the foreseeable future, with more and more powers working towards this ‘superpower’ status (examples include China, Brazil, India and Russia), a world without superpowers is merely a sanguine, idealistic idea. Another issue that would make a world without a superpower a seemingly utopian concept is the difficulty of administrating such a world. Indeed, if no policing power (such as the USA) had the ability to influence global issues, the world would lack a clear sense of direction. Indeed, major decisions would probably be taken by a representative, multilateral body such as the UN (without a system of permanent seats). In such a scenario, it would be quite difficult to please all the parties involved and a conflict of interest would be inevitable. In a setup such as today, whereby the United States largely acts as the dominant political enigma, at least decisions are made and issues addressed. For example, in 1991, when the USSR was finally removed from its position as the dominant power of Eastern Europe, its surrounding sphere of influence fell into a spiral of economic and political despair. One can only imagine the repercussions if this happened on global level. According to Professor Niall Ferguson at New York University’s Stern School of Business ‘power, like nature, abhors a vacuum. In the history of world politics, it seems, someone is always the hegemon, or bidding to become it. ’ This idea proposed by professor Ferguson, is based on the theory that inherently, every country would like power. It is this elusive pull of power and all that it brings with it that would make a world without a superpower merely a product of idealism.

Digital Natives and Social Media

Abstract  emma  Conference  2013   Bournemouth  University Digital  Natives  and  Social  Media An Empirical Study about the Importance of Social Media and its Impact on   Media Communication Author(s)   Prof. Dr. Mike Friedrichsen Stuttgart Media University Media Business and Media Economics [email  protected]? stuttgart. de (email for correspondence! ) Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Muhl? Benninghaus Humboldt University Berlin Department CulturalAn Empirical Study about the Importance of Social Media and itsImpact on Media Communication Keywords:   Digital Natives, Social Media, Social Networking, Media Communication, Flow of Information, Use of Social Media Digital Natives are the generation born during or after the general introduction of digital technology. While individuals from elder generations recall organizing, planning and interacting withone another without mobile devices, computers or the Internet, Digital Natives have been using these technologies since th eir early years.They  are  the  same,  but   different  to  previous  generations. Digital   Natives   have   an   inherent   understanding   of   digital   technologies,   as   they’ve   been   integrated  into  their  lives  since  early  childhood. They  are  part  of  a  tech? savvy  generation  at   the   forefront   of   technological   progress   and   want   to   be   connected   when   they   wish,   from   anywhere. Now  graduated  from  secondary  education,  the  first  generation  of  Digital  Natives   is  entering  the  working  world  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  and  transforming  it  at  a  fast  pace. Technology   has   been   integrated   into   the   lives   of   Digital   Natives

Is Consumerism needed to make the US economy healthy? Essay

When we define consumerism, we see that it is the protection or promotion of the interest of consumers. In other words it is the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consuming goods,Í ¾ however the theory that an increasing consumption is beneficial. The United states face a colossal challenge, an economic affliction of great proportions. For decades wehave piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, culture, political, and economic upheavals. The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, week, or months, but they will go away. How does the situation appear today? A 2009 report of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development state: â€Å"increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to overburdened infrastructure, inadequate housing, and outmoded health system. In fact the United Nations agency UN ­HABITAT projects that within three decades, one of the three people will live in near total despair lacking sanitation and clean water, exposed to the imminent effects of diseases and possible pandemics. The U.S economy is still not good unemployment at 7.5%, wages for man who do have jobs are stagnating, but the economy is gradually getting better consumer confidence is at a five ­year high and new claims for jobless benefits at a five year low in fact in the past six months, employers have added 200,000 jobs a month. Stock ­market indexes are up more than 15% so far this year.