Saturday, September 7, 2019
Advantage of science Essay Example for Free
Advantage of science Essay Science gives us safe food, free from harmful bacteria, in clean containers or hygienic tins. It also teaches us to eat properly, indicating a diet balanced in protein and carbohydrate and containing vitamins. The results is freedom from disease and prolonged life. In pre-scientific days, food was monotonous and sometimes dangerous; today it is safe and varied. It is varied because through improved sea, land and air transport food can now be freely imported and exported. Science has also improved clothing and made it more appropriate for climatic and working conditions. Man-made fibers and versatile spinning machines, today enable us to dress in clothes both comfortable and smart without being expensive. Home, school and office all bear witness to the progress and application of science. Nowadays, most homes possess electric lighting and cooking, but many also have washing machines, vacuum cleaners and kitchen appliances, all designed to increase comfort and cleanliness and reduce drudgery. Science produces the fan which cools the air, the machinery which makes the furniture and fabrics, and hundred and one other features for good living. The books and papers are at school, and again everything from the piece of chalk to the closed-circuit television of instruction are the direct or indirect results of scientific progress. Learning is therefore easier. And clerical work is made far more speedy and efficient by the office typewriter, quite apart from the hundreds of different machines which relieve the manual worker of so much slow and monotonous toil in the factories. The first and the major advantage is that medical science is very progressive and vastly available. Without the needed technology a lot of people would struggle with their health. More complicated treatments are being carried out successfully, by means of science and technology. These include surgeries, heart and kidney transplant, artificial inseminations and many others. These treatments are saving many innocent lives. The point is to spread it, and reach with medicine help to the poor nations of the Third World. Again, advanced technology improves industry by making it more effective and, what is vital today, safer for environment. Modern technology has introduced various sophisticated machines into our industries which is increasing productivity at a very fast rate. Work that required technological advancements have made the world a smaller place to live in Dissemination : whether spreadingà information, broadcasting news, or sharing knowledge, technology has made it faster, easier, and smarter. Education Disadvantageà with the new science and technology developments most people underestimate the damage it gives us. First of all, I would like to say, that with these new science and technical appliances people became to be lazy. They rarely go out to work on foot or by a bicycle. Now there are a lot of modern cars in the cities, which are said to be emitting less gas. But still their emitted gasses damage the environment, so to my mind, that is why pollution of our environment is increasing. Secondly, it seems to me, that technologies are throwing away our free time. For example, these new laptop computer or those touch-screen devices are full of entertaining programs, which are attracting people effectively. Then people forget how to communicate with others in real life, not through international communication systems like ââ¬Å"Skypeâ⬠or ââ¬Å"Facebookâ⬠.
Friday, September 6, 2019
A Study of Trends in Indian Partition Literature Essay Example for Free
A Study of Trends in Indian Partition Literature Essay The Partition of India was the geographical division of colonial India into two bordering nation states of India and Pakistan based on religious demographics.1 It was proposed as an unsavoury but necessary accompaniment to the Independence of India from the British Empire. However, it was not only a diplomatic and administrative exercise but rather had a long-lasting psychological impact on the human population of these areas. Though Bapu2 was firmly against this idea, it was reluctantly accepted by Nehru and Jinnah as the only solution to the growing communal divide between the Muslim and Hindu communities. 3 However, what the political class had never predicted was the unprecedented amount of bloodshed, violence and widespread civil unrest that followed in its wake. Even years after this event, the perpetrators and the victims are still baffled as to the cause of this ââ¬Å"madnessâ⬠4 that gripped civilized society. In the aftermath, historians pretended to ignore it terming it unfortunate but somewhat inevitable while literature tried to come to terms with its bestiality and future implications. The authorial response of the first generation was severely limited however due to a level of emotional attachment and involvement in the subject matter. They lacked perspective and varied in two ways: either they were very brief and lacked empathy or tended to be voyeuristic in nature. The official responses attempted to historicise Partition through statistics, facts and figures while literature, to the contrary attempted to give voice to subaltern perspectives personalising victim narratives. Despite such a movement, it was not until the 70ââ¬â¢s that it was realised that hardly any attention was paid to the experiences of women during Partition. There was a deep reluctance to address the gender atrocities committed during Partition and it manifested itself through the invisibilisation of women voices. Although it had been clear from the start that the worst sufferers of Partition violence had been women5, a stoic silence upon the tragic reality had been maintained. Many of these women had led forgotten lives and their trauma suppressed in an attempt to forget the onslaught upon their bodies and minds. Therefore, renewed efforts began to document and portray the forgotten stories of such women. But it was a complex problem in many ways. Partition had had a multifaceted impact on the women of India and Pakistan that not only defined their coming lives but also impacted the future generations as psycho-somatic memories and construction of familial structures post-Partition.6 Literature took the initiative of this task: there were two major strains of women oriented Partition narratives that emerged in the period thus. One school of thought dealt with Partition as a backdrop to the ââ¬Å"larger narrativeâ⬠. In such stories, the lives of the main characters were highlighted and their lives were allegorised to represent the trauma of the nation itself. The stories of their existence were represented dually: as human beings involved in personal dramas and as social creatures part of a larger mainframe. Their places within the higher superstructure and as creatures dominated by the larger contexts were analysed by writers. A startling example of this was ââ¬Å"The Clear Light Of Dayâ⬠by Anita Desai which never referred to Partition in specific incidents but rather subtle, broken reflections into the people whose day-to-day lives were affected by the growing communal tension and changing socio-political equations. It refers to the ties of family, friendship, kinship and love that were abruptly ruptured by the literal division of the nation. There were novels such as ââ¬Å"Ice-Candy Manâ⬠by Bapsi Sidhwa that looks at Partition from the ââ¬Ëoutsideââ¬â¢. The narrator Lenny is imbued with unique qualities that were highly unconventional for the times. She was a child, hence she had a limited worldview, a Parsee, hence not religiously biased and neither a participant, physically disabled, therefore able to sympathise with the suffering of others and, a girl therefore her narration is unapologetically gender-conscious. What she learns, is all by association. The story is a sharp attack on official discourses that denied the suffering of millions of people. Lennyââ¬â¢s story is not only her own but a mirroring of girl-children everywhere that were faced with questions with identity, sexuality, community and nation as a whole and how they shaped individual lives. A child is brutally honest and spares nobody and nothing. She has no inbuilt prejudices so she can speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. As a result of such experimental tales, women felt ready to finally speak up. But, their attempts were met with more resistance than expected. They were themselves reluctant to speak about they went through; it was too painful but combined with societal pressures, their mouths had been almost sealed shut from fear. For daring to break this unspoken taboo, some of them faced severe consequences and were even disowned by their own families for besmirching the family name. But such actions often took a huge toll on their mental and physical health and though they had survived, they hadnââ¬â¢t healed. As a result of mass migration, women were abruptly uprooted from their homes to move to a strange and unfamiliar place. They had to build their lives and homes anew, sometimes with no support system. Many of these women were so bereaved at losing their home and hearth, that they could never recover from this sense of loss. Women in traditional society had since ancient days been tasked with looking after the home. Since they were not allowed to venture outside their domain7, the home had been almost personified for them. It was a living breathing space. The only place which they could rightfully stake claim to and which was a source of comfort and solace for them. They were so tangibly attached to their land that family was synonymous with home and her identity came to be defined by her place in the home. Hence when forced to migrate, their sense of unsettlement and upheaval was immense. They could never return to their past lives and change was not so easy for these women who had never been given the opportunity to trespass their comfort zones. Some stories that movingly illustrated the dilemmas of such women are ââ¬Å"Jadeinâ⬠by Ismat Chughtai, ââ¬Å"Sikka Badal Gayaâ⬠by Krishna Sobti Sahni and ââ¬Å"The Thirst Of Riversâ⬠by Joginder Paul . These women had to undergo the process of relocating their selves. Many women like Bebe from ââ¬Å"The Thirstâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ refused to leave their homes assured of its protection from evils outside. However, their families were broken up with some members choosing to stay back and some leaving for a new land. Due to differences in opinion, family members become estranged and refused to talk to each other or had problems meeting each other due to large geographical distances. Often, migrants did not have enough money to travel back and forth and permits were hard to come by. Due to mutual hostilities, communication across borders was sketchy at best. Hence, many a times, a natural void between families occurred. All the while, the matriarch of the family remained a silent witness to events. The family ties that she had spent all her life building up and nurturing were breaking up right before her eyes and she was helpless, unable to act or intervene. Who would listen to her? Partition had served to further communal tension and hardening religious identities than perhaps any event in the history of India or Pakistan. People who had lived together for several millennia with tranquillity were suddenly made conscious of their differences from each other. They who had been friends earlier were suddenly staunch enemies and women bore the brunt of these realizations. In ââ¬Å"Peshawar Expressâ⬠8, one such incident is narrated when at Wazirabad station, where Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had celebrated Baisakhi together for ages becomes a site of base humiliation and gruesome celebration; the women of the Hindu and Sikhs communities were paraded around naked as if they were nothing but objects of gratification for the general public. These women had become mere shells, their souls long dead. In Kamleshwarââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Kitne Pakistanâ⬠, the author ruminates upon the fruitlessness of Partition and the breaking of bonds of families, love and friendships due to its occurrence. It is the story of a Muslim girl, Bano who falls in love with a Hindu boy, Mangal but is not able to marry him because of religious dogmas. She is told that she will cause communal riots. There is a hidden implication in this viewpoint that seems to say that the cause of every mishappening must be a woman somehow. Rules for men and women in traditional dogmatic societies are different It is ironic that men are not chastised for forcibly marrying a man of the other religion but they will not allow their daughters to choose her spouse on her own and he may never belong to another religion. There is rampant hypocrisy and hollowness in societal mores regarding women. Bano is married off to Muneer who unable to provide for his family with his own hard work resorts to selling his own wifeââ¬â¢s body to earn money. The shamefulness of this situation is beyond imagination. These are not falsifications as advocated by fundamental religious leaders but a retelling of many womenââ¬â¢s lives. Another kind of psychological trauma that many women underwent was the loss of a child. Many women were forced to leave their children by their husband and children during flight. Children became a burden during this time. They had to be cared for especially with crucial funds required by the family going for their supplies. Also, escapees with children were more vulnerable to attacks by rioters since they not only had to look after themselves but look after their child as well. There are real life cases documented by Urvashi Bhutalia in her book, ââ¬Å"The Other Side Of Silenceâ⬠wherein women of Muslim as well as Hindu communities were forced to desert their infants that could raise an alarm in the rioters by making noise. Sikh men told tales of killing their children, asking the author, if they should be saving themselves or their daughters? Clearly, manââ¬â¢s inherent selfishness had come to the fore where no one mattered more than the self. Many children were abducted during the widespread chaos to be sold off as domestic help or prostituted in the streets. Women who lost their children during this time were incessantly plagued by guilt and grief. One such woman was Kulsum from ââ¬Å"Paliâ⬠9 who lost her child and along with him, her mental balance as well. She was blanketed completely by her grief and only the return of her child restored her sanity. But meanwhile, Zenab who had taken care of her son, Dilip when she found him lost had developed a motherly bond with him and cannot bear parting with him. She knows that she has no biological claim over him but what the mind knows, the heart does not. Eventually, she has to reconcile herself with the reality of her situation. But her life will forever be shadowed by this sadness. Women who were forced by circumstances to give up their child were forever haunted by their own actions and decisions. They were always in search of redemption and peace and could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their offspring. One example of this can be seen in ââ¬Å"The Abandoned Childâ⬠10. Infant as well as toddler girls were left by the roadside or killed by their families to avoid making them a target. The life story of one such girl is narrated in ââ¬Å"Where Did She Belongâ⬠by Suraiya Quasim wherein the protagonist Munni is not sure of her religious or national identity. She is pushed into prostitution by her so-called ââ¬Ësaviourââ¬â¢11 , who only wants to use her for economic gain. She is deceived by two of her customers who pretend to love her, but leave her bereft when Partition happens. Nobody asks for her or enquires as to her whereabouts. She is deceived by everyone in her life, ultimately. There were also cases of women who were injured and deceived by members of their own community. People who had been their well-wishers and whom they trusted implicitly, took advantage of their vulnerability and preyed on their bodies. Ayeshaââ¬â¢s12 story is the ultimate tragedy of such a ââ¬Ëladyââ¬â¢13. In guise of protecting her and reuniting Ayesha with her daughter, Nurul takes her with him to Pakistan but betrays her trust by prostituting her instead. She is cursed to a life of assault, on her body and her mind. Her saviour turns out to her destructor. She dies a life of desolation, her own brethren refusing to come to her aid and never seeing her child again. Afroz too in ââ¬Å"I Am Gameâ⬠14 falls weak due to her instincts of providing and caring for daughter. Seeing no option left for herself and her child, she agrees to prostitution. This depicts to us the sad state of affairs during Partition, when uncertainty and insecurity reigned supreme. Man, woman or children, all had to protect themselves on their own and women for the sake of their families were forced into professions of exploitation to earn their keep. Besides these atrocities, women were also subjected to particularly vulgar sexual attacks. Writers like Ashis Nandy, Veena Das, and Mushirul Hasan describe the bizarre and horrific nature of sexual violence afflicted on women. It was pornographic in its varied forms. Their bodies were mutilated, disfigured, slogans15 branded on them like they were animals, their wombs sliced open and their foetuses savagely butchered. Women were reduced to spoils of war who were never allowed to unburden themselves or be free. They were reduced to a part of the multitude, just one of many. Many victims had been traumatised to an extent that they lost themselves to insanity. They could not cope with their reality. Many underwent derealisation16 wherein after the superficial wounds had mended, they started to deny that anything had ever happened to them. It became something of a nightmare, horrific but fantastical. Literature becomes a cathartic medium for many such women, a chance to narrate their tale. Such memoirs also provided a base for Partition scholars to analyse the feminine subject in social and historical contexts of that time period. Partition has often been termed as the dark underbelly17 of Independence but what it really exposed was the base attitudes of patriarchal Indian society, be it any religion. It revealed how women were equated with the community they belonged to. Though the violence was inter-religious in nature, the modes of inflicting violence were one and the same. All ethics were forgotten in the frenzy of religious vendetta. Revenge was used as an excuse to inflict wounds. They were the contested sites between two opposing factions and were devoid of any agency. One example may be an incident in ââ¬Å"The City Of Sorrowâ⬠18 , where a man is forced to strip his sister naked by someone of the other religion. When given a chance to retaliate, he forces his tormentor to strip his own wife naked. Hence, the revenge is complete but ironically, in both cases, the women were the innocent parties who became the medium of exacting justice. They were expected to uphold familial and communal honour and were sacrificed at the altar of ââ¬Å"izzatâ⬠19 if they were in danger of being captured by the enemy. The concept of honour was internalised20 hence any stain on it was beyond tolerance by patriarchal society. Therefore, to insult and hurt communal sentiments, it was natural that in order to debase the enemy and shed him of his honour, women of his community were targeted systematically. There were also women who had been indoctrinated to such an extent by religious propaganda that they committed suicide, misled into thinking that they were fulfilling their duty as women. This tradition dates back to the time of ancient Rajputs whose women committed Johar21 to sustain their honour. Hence, it has been a concept propagated throughout the history of religions, Hinduism especially. Bhishma Sahni in ââ¬Å"Tamasâ⬠and Jyotirmoyee in ââ¬Å"The River Churningâ⬠present such incidents where women of Hindu and Sikh communities drown themselves in wells in order to ââ¬Å"saveâ⬠22 themselves. Women of the family were the most precious possessions and were to be protected at all costs. However, when they presented an obstacle in the escape of their family, they were brutally ââ¬Å"martyredâ⬠23 without compunctions by the family itself. The men of the family did it all in order to save themselves first and to prevent dealing with the hassle of looking after these women. Such people had no conscience in them. This is demonstrated in Shauna Singh Baldwinââ¬â¢s novel ââ¬Å"What The Body Remembersâ⬠where the daughter-in-law of a Sikh family, Kusum is mercilessly killed by her father-in-law and furthermore chopped into pieces to prevent her from being ââ¬Å"contaminatedâ⬠24 by Muslims. Her womb is also removed as a symbolic gesture to signify her being pure25. We can therefore read into the implied fear and repulsion of a child born of an inter-religious union. Hence, Kusum is a victim of her own familyââ¬â¢s moral code. Such incidents are not hyperbolic in nature but rather fictionalized accounts of reality. Women who were misfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the ââ¬Å"otherâ⬠26 and raped by them could never again return to their roots. They were dirtied and treated as untouchable because they had lost their chastity to the enemy. In ââ¬Å"The River Churningâ⬠, the protagonist, Sutara is treated as a lower caste untouchable would be27. Though never raped, even staying in a Muslim household had damned her. She had become polluted like Sita. Like Sita, she became a victim of ââ¬Å"social moralityâ⬠.28 If women had become pregnant somehow, it was even worse for them. They were miscarried forcibly and if the child was born somehow, he or she was never accepted as a part of the family. Women themselves had to come to terms with their reality. They had to learn to let go of their self-loathing which often took root in their minds. They had to live with a child who was a constant reminder of their suffering. Yet, women learned to let go and forgive but their families could not move past this situation. The woman was given the choice of either abandoning her children or her family. Therefore, she was kept trapped in overlapping identities of woman, mother and daughter. There was no time to consider the interests of the self. The children of such women were often physically, mentally and verbally abused all throughout their lives. They were the victims of religious hatred. It left deep scars on their psyche that could never be repaired. They were often castigated for having lived and their mothers looked at with contempt for not having died in order to preserve themselves. Women often started hating their own selves when faced with a constant stream of disgust and repulsion. It is said that ââ¬Å"Rape is the only crime where the victim is held guiltyâ⬠and these women were the prime examples of this adage. They were made to feel guilty, demeaned and dehumanized to such an extent that they often felt that dying would perhaps have been a better option. Women were at the highest risk of being abducted during migration across borders. These women stranded on the wrong side were forcibly converted and married off to their abductors. They were raped repeatedly or sold off as entertainment. Women were objectified as commodities and their bodies became alien to their own selves. They were not their own persons but mere belongings. Anis Kidwai in her novel, ââ¬Å"Azaadi Ki Chaon Meinâ⬠writes starkly about these girls who were nothing but stuff to be shared among the men who were, but slaves of their lust. In his short story, Open It!, Saadat Hasan Manto further elaborates upon the savagery doled out to these women. The main protagonist, Sakina had been ravaged to such an extent that she had lost her personality and her sanity. She was alive only physically, but emotionally and mentally dead. She knew nothing but what she had been forced to go through again and again. Her senses had been so wrecked that she only expects men to want one thing from her i.e. her body. This story presents a horrifying picture to the reader who is compelled to question if Sakina will ever recover from her trauma. Other women were forcibly married off to their abductors and underwent alienation of the self. They were conflicted as to their identities. On one hand, they felt abhorrence for their abductors. On the other hand, such marriages often bore children which caused these women to war with their motherly instincts. Ultimately losing all hope of rescue or restoration, these women had resigned to their life but, again, they were expected to return at the behest of the respective governments of the two countries. Women had become mere tools of diplomatic manoeuvring between the hostile governments who were under immense political pressure to retrieve the population of women that had been left behind or abducted during Partition. One such womanââ¬â¢s tale is narrated in ââ¬Å"Exileâ⬠29 where the woman narrator is forcibly married to her abductor, Gurpal, a man who regards her as nothing more than a maid that he brought to serve his mother (Badi Ma). What is even more poignant is the fact that Badi Ma, a woman herself is not able to empathise with her Bahu30 or show kindness towards her. She is merely there to serve their needs, like a tool. Ironically, Gurpal who is clearly devoted towards his mother evidently has no guilt about ill-treating a woman of another community. We can see here the oppressive influence of patriarchal society that does not allow for women to exercise an opinion of their own. The narrator has never been able to accept Gurpal as her husband. In nine years she has never able to understand why her brother, whom she dearly loves has not come to rescue her. She feels lonely and abandoned by her loved ones. She longs for her home and wants her life to end at last so she can be at peace. When the soldiers arrive to rescue her, she knows that she cannot return since she will not be accepted back as a ââ¬Ëmotherââ¬â¢. And she cannot leave her children. Hence she hides from the soldiers. Her apprehension of the other option can be justified by reading ââ¬Å"Lajwantiâ⬠31 whose tragedy is shrouded by complete silence. She was treated abominably by her husband, Sunderlal who asserts his domination over her body and mind by beating her like an animal. She bore it all as part of her wifely duties clearly adhering to traditional norms of domesticity. But when she is abducted during Partition chaos, her husband, perhaps, feeling remorse for how he had treated her, became a campaigner for the rights of abductee women. He advocates their rehabilitation and reacceptance into society but when his wife, Lajo is restored to him, he distances himself from her and sets her on the pedestal of a goddess. She feels alienated, lonely and longs for her old life where she could at least interact with her husband. In the present, her husband wants her to forget her sufferings and not to speak of them. But can the past really be forgotten as easily as he wanted it to be? Many women who had built new lives for themselves post-Partition often came face to face with their pasts when their lost loved ones returned back to them. In this situation, what was the woman to do? Should she abandon her present life to return to her past happiness? This is obviously a problem to which there is no clear-cut solution. But it was often expected of women to move on from their pasts and not look back but even they are living, breathing human beings with feelings and emotions. These may be unwanted but cannot be so easily banished from the mind. Women end up feeling conflicted all throughout their lives. One text that accurately depicts one such situation is ââ¬Å"A Visitor From Pakistanâ⬠32 where the protagonist Saraswati is trapped between her first husband, Baldev whom she had thought dead; and her husband at present, Sunderdas who had saved her and her parents during the riots. Her own mother chastises her for even talking to Baldev so then who will understand her predicament? She is blamed for something that she is not even responsible for. Partition left a long-lasting impact on the women who witnessed and suffered through it. They passed on the lessons they learned to their daughters hoping for a better future for them. It is an important part of womenââ¬â¢s history and it should be analysed carefully to change the conservative thought processes of Indian society to avoid women from becoming subjects of patriarchal oppression and break the repetitive patterns of history. END NOTES : 1. India and Pakistan were divided along the Radcliffe Line with Muslim majority areas seceded to Pakistan and Hindu-Sikh majority areas to India. 2. Mahatma Gandhi was deemed the ââ¬Å"Father Of The Nationâ⬠and hence affectionately called Bapu by the general populace. 3. J.L. Nehru and M.A. Jinnah were leaders of the Congress party and Muslim League respectively. They were not agreeable to sharing power in the united govt. of sovereign India and hence the only option was to divide the country with both parties ruling over their majority vote areas. 4. The metaphor of madness was used by many Partition writers like Saadat Hasan Manto in ââ¬Å"Toba Tek Singhâ⬠to describe the religious hatred that changed normal people into rioters, rapists and murderers. 5. J.L. Nehru stated this in The International Womenââ¬â¢s Conference in 1947 alluding to the extreme violence perpetrated upon women in North India. 6. Ideas postulated by Carl Jung and supported by Freudian theories. 7. Women were kept under purdah and not allowed to meet with people outside the family. Women lived in separate quarters of the house called the ââ¬Ëantahpurââ¬â¢ which was solely in their control. 8. written by Krishan Chander 9. written by Bhishma Sahni 10. written by Gurmukh Singh Musafir 11. Ironic since Munniââ¬â¢s saviour is herself a victim of circumstances and Munni is just a way to earn more money. 12. ââ¬Å"A Grave Turned Inside Outâ⬠by Ibrahim Jalees 13. Ayesha was the lady of a noble family but debased to the level of a common prostitute. Shows that societal hierarchies were suspended during Partition. 14. written by Sultan Jamil Nasim 15. The slogans Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad were carved onto their bodies as validating gestures of the victimiserââ¬â¢s own national identity. 16. Derealisation is a psychological condition where the subject deludes himself/herself into thinking that their present reality is illusory and unreal and that reality is different. 17. Independence was achieved after a long struggle, so there was jubilation among the people but at the same time, this happiness was marred by the grief of Partition and its aftermath. 18. written by Intizar Hussain 19. Izzat is one of the basic concepts of Hindu womanhood where a womanââ¬â¢s honour is defined by her chastity and any outrage of her modesty stains her honour as well as her familyââ¬â¢s. The familyââ¬â¢s honour is an extension of the womanââ¬â¢s honour. 20. Internalisation is the process of integration of certain values as part of the self-identification. It becomes a part of oneââ¬â¢s self-image. 21. Johar is the ancient Rajput tradition of women jumping into huge fire-pits to save their honour from the enemyââ¬â¢s army if defeat seemed imminent. 22. Women jumped into wells to protect themselves from rape and mutilation. Dying chaste was preferred to living a life of humiliation. Hence, they were saved in the eyes of society. 23. Women who committed suicide were venerated because they were believed to have died for a noble cause. Hence, their deaths received social sanction and appreciation. 24. If women were raped, their bodies no longer remained solely of their religion. And, hence, inter-religious taboos were applied to such women. Hence chopping of the bodies signified that no one of the other side had had sex with her or would be able to. 25. The womb was removed to signify that it did not carry a Muslim bastard child and her ability to do so is removed from her. 26. During conflict, the opposing faction is alienated and presented as someone strange and unfamiliar to the minds of the mob. This requires dehumanization of the people from the other side so that they do not evoke emotions of sympathy. 27. The taboos associated with untouchability are not allowing them to eat and drink from the same vessels and prevent from touching them. 28. Sita was banished from Ayodhya because even though she was pure, the people of Ramââ¬â¢s kingdom did not believe her. Doubts were cast on her character since she had lived in Ravanaââ¬â¢s Lanka for a long time. 29. Written by Jamila Hashmi 30. When a bahu arrives in her marital household, she is bedecked with jewels, dressed in finery and serenaded by shehnai. She is full of happiness and hope. Here, the narrator is exactly opposed to this situation and yet, ironically she has become the bahu of a family. 31. written by Rajinder Singh Bedi 32. written by Ramlal BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. ââ¬Å"Partition In Fiction: Gendered Perspectivesâ⬠, Isabella Bruschi, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.,2010 2. In The Heat Of Fratricide: The Literature Of Indiaââ¬â¢s Partition Burning Freshly (A Review Article)â⬠,Jason Francisco 3. ââ¬Å"Stories About The Partition Of Indiaâ⬠, Vol. 1.,Ed. By Alok Bhalla, Delhi,Harper Collins, 1994 4. Re-Membering Woman: Partition,Gender And Reorientations, ââ¬Å"Narrating Partition:Texts, Interpretations And Ideasâ⬠, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Indialog Publications,2004
Thursday, September 5, 2019
The issue of poverty in Vietnam
The issue of poverty in Vietnam Whenever we talk about beggar, this always link us the problem of poverty. It has been an important issue in Vietnam for years. Currently, there is still a large number of people lives social bottom life. This is particularly noticeable in the background of strong stratification when the income gap between rich and poor start getting bigger and bigger. The process has a dynamic character; the poor are getting poorer and the rich even richer. Moreover, it can create some illegal acts in humanity. In this essay I have considered the following issues: cause of beggary, children as beggars, and its effect to the society. The theme of the essay, which I focused on, was the problem of beggary in Vietnam. The study of which I have highlighted the main groups of poor people especially children being abused for begging act. Body I. Cause of beggary Its very hard to give specific reason or establish any reason for the organization of beggary, as is the case with a crime. There can be a set of causes, including inability to physical, mental derangement, or society, poverty, the custom of giving, unemployment, the collapse of the family business , whether alone or in combination could create a situation that can cause beggary. Although the underlying cause in each case is the familys poverty or underemployment when the family is not in a position to support and disabled people, but at the same time, there are no security measures from the social forces them to beg. a) Economic reasons: The three main causes of economic poverty, job loss or lack of employment and business income. Poverty: One of the major factors that force people to make a miserable beggary. It does not mean that enough to support themselves or their families, many people resort to begging. Unemployment: But poverty alone cannot be held responsible because all those living in poverty are not used to beggary. The lucrative business: Because of easy profits and income from begging, some people can earn enough to make it as a career instead of doing honest labor. Not only that, many people make it as business and exploit others by investing some money in this business. There are group activities in large cities, which force many children to this job. And in the next part I will discuss more about it. b) Social causes: Among the social causes of family disorganization, lack of parental control, disorganized communities, breaking joint family system and social custom. Disorganized family: Family is part of the relationship of our society, which affect our patterns of behavior and activities. Any disruption in our home state, especially in the case of a poor one leads to a breakdown of the family, which do arise in beggary. Lack of Parental Control: The parents do not have the industrial center of control necessary for their children, but mothers also often go to factories to work. As a result children can switch to energy in any direction. If they fall into bad company, they can develop love of travel, can lead to beggary. c) Biological Cause: Among the biological causes may be addressed to illness, physical disability or mental disability and old age. Disability or illness: The physical disabilities such as blindness, deafness or acquired in the beginning had this effect lot of people to beg as economic conditions of their families so as not to afford the maintenance of the disabled. Lack of spirit: There are people who lack mental or insane and unable to earn any living and they are forced to beg. Other reason: Among other reasons may be mentioned those forced to beg. When someone is executed beggary. There are orphans and waifs and touch those who deliberately maimed or deformed to have a guardian or other person can earn their living. Many parents also trade on the normal weaknesses of their children by using this additional source of income. II. Children as beggars 1. What cause children to go on the street? In this part I want to discuss the main features of social work with street children. In Vietnam, there are more than 1700 children under 18 are homeless and living on the street in 2010 (tien phong newspaper, 2010 http://www.tienphong.vn/Thoi-Su/523066/Tre-lang-thang-duong-pho-Rui-ro-nhieu-nguy-co-lam.html). This is mainly orphans; children left without parental care, children runaways. The situation of homeless children is especially painful. Among them there are children-fugitives children run away from home or from an educational institution due to break ties with parents emerged of heavy conflict with teachers, tutors, peers, the deformation value orientation and other reasons that led to a crisis of relations. Rarely, the cause of juvenile runaways presence of mental illness can lead the child to become beggar. Delivered in nursing homes, other institutions of social rehabilitation of such children often commit recidivist runaways. Among many reasons, the loss of family ties or conflicting with family relationships, violent, aggressive, ill-treatment by parents. The reason for the shock of children by the divorce of their parent or a single parent remarries, primarily residing with a child. Additional risk factor was the position and the school, which distanced itself from the teens with a difficult life. Coagulation outside the classroom work in educational institutions, the disappearance of childrens organizations impoverishes recreational activities of children, their upbringing and development. In some cases, children escape from the house a consequence of the pedagogical helplessness of parents, their distorted view of the limits of autonomy of children, lack of control over their pastime. Concerns adults only meet the challenge of natural and material requirements, violation of mutual understanding and trust between children and parents. Strengthening parents employment, forced to combine several jobs to ensure the existence of family members also leads to an increase in child neglect, increase the risk of their escape from the house. Dramatically on the rise of social maladjustment of children: The early alcoholism and drug addiction, vagrancy, immorality teenagers, prostitution, illegal actions. Child runaways become easy prey for criminal organizations, juvenile crime is known for his cruelty and cynicism. Almost all children runaways have lag in mental, physical and intellectual development, weakened health. Sometimes, they are suffering from chronic diseases, feeli ng its uselessness, these teens often prone to suicidal acts. Creating an integrated system of prevention and rehabilitation of socially maladjusted children and adolescents, which include and children a fugitive, is now a problem of national importance. 2. When children become victims of the beggars group. Have you ever wonder why there are many kids beggars on the street? If yes, maybe my story here happens to many others too. When you go to Pham Ngu Lao Street in Dict.1, you will easily being followed by some kid beggar carry a child on the shoulder. To me that picture is very painful and of course for the first few times, I just did as most of people seeing that will do, I gave them money. But one day after giving money, I try to find what that little girl going to do with the money and I saw her run to one woman sit near that and give her money, the money that I just gave her. And for awhile, I read on newspaper, there are like mafia beggars in Vietnam. They hire kids, kidnap some of them and turn them to beggars. In order to go the street and beg for money, all of the kids have to go through the training. The first is a prepared speech when people concern, such as Live in the middle of Vietnam, father just died, they have illness, or little brother or sister needs to be taken care of. The following is to the movements. Kneeling bow is one way, emaciated stinking body rust on others to get in a terrorist .Another way is keep following one person until he has to give them some money. Among the children day after day are probably living in the corner of the street and beg for money now, not because they have miserable life but because they just fell in the trap of beggar business and become a professional beggar. They have been deprived to self love, self-esteem and love when people step into the street beggars. In return, they are taught to be tough bottles, cruel and torment each other hand to contribute. III. Effect of beggars to the society Beggars tend to present a negative image of a particular location. The presence of beggars were seen as manifestations of larger social ills or issues and may cause others to avoid the beggar-area population The effects of street beggars cannot be overemphasized. Beggars into health risk because many of them can transmit infectious diseases in society. Some dealers and armed robbers abducted therefore constitute security risks in society. Looking at the effects of street beggars, I think the governments of the countries in the world have to hold big responsibility about it, no matter where it is, commonly reducing poverty in their country which is one of the factors causing it. The government should increase efforts to control traffic accidents which are making many people disabled. The medical establishment should be improved so that children will not be attacked by patients before and after birth. Above all, the Government should build a special village to beg than to let them roam the streets. IV. Conclusion As can be seen from all the above facts, people with no fixed income or even see beggary is a business- this is a problem whose solution is the mass of the nuances that require special attention. In Vietnam, beggary still legal, even though the government tries to tell everyone that they cannot make children to go on the street and beg for money. The abstract has been investigated not only the essence of social work, but the underlying reasons for the formation of the problem. For all these reasons, we can conclude: the most important in solving this problem is to overcome the systemic crisis in the country, to carry out social policies that would be aimed at ensuring normal living conditions for the majority of the population, especially the so-called most unprotected.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
William Crimsworth Essay -- Character Analysis, Monsieur Pelet
To fall in love is a terrifying and confusing thing to most people. William Crimsworth is an excellent example of someone who goes through the trials and confusions of falling in love with the wrong person, falling out of love, and falling into unexpected love. In The Professor, Charlotte Brontà « uses Crimsworth to show the effects of love and loss in a personââ¬â¢s life, but how that loss may be healed. The Professor was told from the first person point of view of William Crimsworth. Monsieur Crimsworth, as he is mostly throughout the novel, is an orphan in England trying to figure out how he would make it through life. He was a smart and thoughtful man; he would often sit throughout the book and meditate on how he should handle every situation. In the beginning of the novel, Monsieur Crimsworth became a clerk for his brother, he served him ââ¬Å"faithfully, punctually, diligently, (13)â⬠but soon found out that working for his brother was ââ¬Å"the most nauseous slavery under the sun (24).â⬠Being so, Crimsworth moved to Brussels hoping to find some hope there as to how he will make it through life. Crimsworth, after being given a recommendation from a friend, is hired by Monsieur Pelet and later hired by the directress, Mademoiselle Zoraide Reuter as an English teacher in their schools. Mdlle. Reuter and Crimsworth soon began to flirt with one another and Mdlle. Reute r later becomes his ââ¬Å"first flame(163),â⬠and shows him what falling in love feels like along with heartbreak, after he learns that Mdlle. Reuter is in love with Monsieur Pelet. After Crimsworth realizes he was led on, he began to feel ââ¬Å"something feverish and fiery had got into [his] veins (65).â⬠and he treated Mdlle. Reuter with ââ¬Å"a look, where there was no respect, no love, no te... ...â⬠and in his case, the ââ¬Å"impulseâ⬠is his love for Mdlle. Henri and his ability to no longer be inside of a shell. He finally told Mdlle. Henri exactly how he felt and how he wished to start a life with her. The product of him stepping out of his comfort zone to tell Mdlle. Henri how he truly feels shows how much Crimsworth really did progress throughout the novel. Crimsworth life was not the easiest of lives; he started out an incredibly confused and scared man about how his life would end up. And just when he seemed to be finding his way, he found that heartache can be one of the strongest and hardest things a person may go through, because it affects every aspect of your life. However, Brontà « uses Mdlle. Henri as the one who repairs his heart, and proves that with love and just believing in himself he can understand and make it through this terrifying life. William Crimsworth Essay -- Character Analysis, Monsieur Pelet To fall in love is a terrifying and confusing thing to most people. William Crimsworth is an excellent example of someone who goes through the trials and confusions of falling in love with the wrong person, falling out of love, and falling into unexpected love. In The Professor, Charlotte Brontà « uses Crimsworth to show the effects of love and loss in a personââ¬â¢s life, but how that loss may be healed. The Professor was told from the first person point of view of William Crimsworth. Monsieur Crimsworth, as he is mostly throughout the novel, is an orphan in England trying to figure out how he would make it through life. He was a smart and thoughtful man; he would often sit throughout the book and meditate on how he should handle every situation. In the beginning of the novel, Monsieur Crimsworth became a clerk for his brother, he served him ââ¬Å"faithfully, punctually, diligently, (13)â⬠but soon found out that working for his brother was ââ¬Å"the most nauseous slavery under the sun (24).â⬠Being so, Crimsworth moved to Brussels hoping to find some hope there as to how he will make it through life. Crimsworth, after being given a recommendation from a friend, is hired by Monsieur Pelet and later hired by the directress, Mademoiselle Zoraide Reuter as an English teacher in their schools. Mdlle. Reuter and Crimsworth soon began to flirt with one another and Mdlle. Reute r later becomes his ââ¬Å"first flame(163),â⬠and shows him what falling in love feels like along with heartbreak, after he learns that Mdlle. Reuter is in love with Monsieur Pelet. After Crimsworth realizes he was led on, he began to feel ââ¬Å"something feverish and fiery had got into [his] veins (65).â⬠and he treated Mdlle. Reuter with ââ¬Å"a look, where there was no respect, no love, no te... ...â⬠and in his case, the ââ¬Å"impulseâ⬠is his love for Mdlle. Henri and his ability to no longer be inside of a shell. He finally told Mdlle. Henri exactly how he felt and how he wished to start a life with her. The product of him stepping out of his comfort zone to tell Mdlle. Henri how he truly feels shows how much Crimsworth really did progress throughout the novel. Crimsworth life was not the easiest of lives; he started out an incredibly confused and scared man about how his life would end up. And just when he seemed to be finding his way, he found that heartache can be one of the strongest and hardest things a person may go through, because it affects every aspect of your life. However, Brontà « uses Mdlle. Henri as the one who repairs his heart, and proves that with love and just believing in himself he can understand and make it through this terrifying life.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
criminal justice Essay examples -- essays research papers
à à à à à The use of deadly force is used throughout the U. S. , and the definition of deadly force is best described by the FBI which states that : deadly force is the intentional use of a firearm or other instrument resulting in a high probability of death. But who determines when itââ¬â¢s okay for a police officer to use deadly force? à à à à à When does deadly force cross the line and when does officer feels his/her life is grave danger and to escape has to use deadly force? What circumstances will justify the use of deadly force? Deadly Force depends on the officer discretion, when the officer makes the decision to investigate suspects. Also it depends on the how strongly the officers follow the Code of Ethics. In the Code of Ethics in paragraph 3 it reads ââ¬Å"I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will , never employing force or violence and never accepting gratuities.â⬠So an officer who truly follows the Code of Ethics I think would be less likely to use deadly force, and the officer probably has a higher tolerance than a officer who doesnââ¬â¢t follow the Code of Ethics so closely. The Bureau of Justice statistics in 2001 reported nearly 400 felons died from use of deadly force. But also when an officer decides to use deadly force they must be thinking if their actions are going to be justifiable through the publics eye and their police department and so forth. So many things come into ... criminal justice Essay examples -- essays research papers à à à à à The use of deadly force is used throughout the U. S. , and the definition of deadly force is best described by the FBI which states that : deadly force is the intentional use of a firearm or other instrument resulting in a high probability of death. But who determines when itââ¬â¢s okay for a police officer to use deadly force? à à à à à When does deadly force cross the line and when does officer feels his/her life is grave danger and to escape has to use deadly force? What circumstances will justify the use of deadly force? Deadly Force depends on the officer discretion, when the officer makes the decision to investigate suspects. Also it depends on the how strongly the officers follow the Code of Ethics. In the Code of Ethics in paragraph 3 it reads ââ¬Å"I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will , never employing force or violence and never accepting gratuities.â⬠So an officer who truly follows the Code of Ethics I think would be less likely to use deadly force, and the officer probably has a higher tolerance than a officer who doesnââ¬â¢t follow the Code of Ethics so closely. The Bureau of Justice statistics in 2001 reported nearly 400 felons died from use of deadly force. But also when an officer decides to use deadly force they must be thinking if their actions are going to be justifiable through the publics eye and their police department and so forth. So many things come into ...
Monday, September 2, 2019
Good Use in Writing :: Writers Education Teaching Essays
Good Use in Writing I have had extreme difficulty in determining what is good use in writing. My idea of good use, what it is based on, what it is good for, and how do you learn it or engage it in practice are difficult concepts for me to try and give answers to. I do not believe I am any position to judge writings and say what is and isnà t good use. However, I guess I am going to try, for there are some pretty serious issues at hand such as getting along with others, being taken seriously in language and writing, and issues of truth, value, social position, and understanding. This is some pretty serious stuff. If good use is that important then why am I having such a difficult time determining what it is? If good use weighs so heavily on such important issues as socializing with others, being taken seriously, and the ever important issues of truth, value, social position, and understanding, you would think I would know what good use is strictly on the basis of surviving in society. The rules of good use should flow onto the page as easily as the Ten Commandments come to a devout Christian. However, they do not come to me so easily, in fact I do not know the first place to begin in determining what good usage is. Does this mean I am a social banana who does not get along with anyone? That I am never taken seriously every time I speak or write? That I am a liar with no morals, no social position, or comprehension of anything? I should hope not. In my attempt to describe good usage I guess I will focus my efforts on one particular area. Good usage in writing for textbooks. I will focus my area of concern on one single written passage, explain why it is good usage, and then you are free to agree with me, cry out loud in disgust and outrage, or do whatever you want. Robert A. Hall said, "The merit of what a person says or does is not in anyway affected by the way in which they say or do it, provided it is the most efficient way of saying or doing it." The following passage was taken from the textbook Bowling by Charles Edgington: 7. Respect the Alley and its Equipment -- Make sure the pin setting machine has completed its cycle prior to your delivering the ball.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Deontological Ethics and Emanuel Kant Essay
Describe Kantââ¬â¢s theory of Duty as the basis of morality (33 marks). Emanuel Kant was a German Philosopher who lived in the late 18th century and was arguably one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He came up with a guide to morals in direct opposition to teontological or consequential theories. Many people use his ethics as a guide to living a moral life, but what exactly is Kantââ¬â¢s ethics? How did he believe we should face moral problems and how can we apply it in our every day lives? Instead of situation based theories his theory was deontological ethics. This is a very absolute and objective form of ethics, which has been worked out using a rational thinking process. Kant believed that an ethical theory should be universalisable to be morally correct. This means it must be able to be applied to everyone all over the world regardless of situations or circumstances. Kant believed for this to be possible it must contain something that was ââ¬Ëunconditionally and universally goodââ¬â¢. This must me something that is ââ¬Ëintrinsically goodââ¬â¢ which is good in itself, the highest good ââ¬Ëwithout qualificationââ¬â¢. This thing that determines the moral worth of our actions cannot be instrumentally good, something that only becomes good pending the results of the action or like some things such as happiness, which are possible of making a situation morally worse. Kant believed that there was only one thing that is the right thing for us to do in any situation to make us morally correct. He said that ââ¬Ëa morally good man is a man of good willââ¬â¢. Kant said that it was ââ¬Ëimpossible to conceive anything in the world as good without qualification, except good willââ¬â¢. For something to be of good will, it is not dependent on the goodness of what it effects or accomplishes. If it were, then it could not be considered to be of unconditional value and intrinsic goodness for it would become a ââ¬Ëmeans to an end not an end in itselfââ¬â¢. This leads us to therefore conclude that the consequences of any moral action are irrelevant. Kant describes the most important thing as being ââ¬Ënot what the act accomplishes but the motive behind the actââ¬â¢ (Moral Problems ââ¬â M Palmer). However we may ask what exactly is the right motive to have? Kant simply states that ââ¬Ë a good wills only motive is to act for the sake of dutyââ¬â¢. For an act to be universally, intrinsically good in itself, it must not be done because of its consequences, nor from self-interest, fear or as a means to an end, rather only because it is our soul duty to do it. We should always act for duties sake simply because it is the right thing to do. We need to be very clear as to what this specifically entails. Kant is saying that we can not do a moral act because of self-interest. This is understandable because if we are doing it merely because we get something good out of it i.e. a reward or a good name then we are not doing it because we simply know it is the right thing to do. However we also need to be aware that this also includes the idea that we can not do a moral act because it comes naturally to us. We cannot do it because we derive pleasure or enjoyment from doing something we know is right or because we will feel good about ourselves if we help other people. This is because we are doing it indirectly for self-pleasure and this again is wrong, it does not include the presence of good will. Even if duty does coincides with what we naturally do, it does not make the act intrinsically good because we are doing it for another reason besides doing it because we know it is our duty to do so. The fact that we happen to be doing what duty prescribes is just luck. It is wrong because the moment anything that duty says we should do becomes something we no longer enjoy, we wonââ¬â¢t do it. We cannot be for example honest as long as it pleases us to do so. Kant therefore concludes that ââ¬Ëthis will fails to be good will, just as if they had acted from self-interest. So far Kant has told us that a morally good person is a ââ¬Ëman of good willââ¬â¢ and that a man of good will is one that follows where his duty lies. This is done for the very reason that it is the right thing to do and we have a responsibility to do it. It does not come from self-interest, calculating consequences, looking at specific circumstances or from pleasure out of doing something for someone else. However we still need to know ââ¬Ëwhere our duty liesââ¬â¢ and what it is exactly that we are supposed to do to become man of good will who does what duty foretells him to do. We can be sure however that because it is a deontological argument, that we have an absolute principle to follow that does not look at consequences of particular actions or changes in certain situations. It is absolute and definite and we can be sure that there are no exceptions to the rule. We also know that it has to be universably applicable ââ¬Ëto everyone irrespective of their situationââ¬â¢ (M Palmer ââ¬â Moral Problems). It therefore must contain something that all humans have in common so we can all know where our duty lies in different situations and Kant believed that this was Reason or rationality. He said that humans are rational beings, we are all capable of resolving problems using reason. We all have an innate intellectual power that we are born with which we can use to work out rationally where our duty lies. Kant believed that it was unacceptable to look at consequences of a particular action and then decide if we should do it or not because there is not enough evidence for us to make a proper decision from. Rather we need to look at the actual experience of moral obligation and this is the feeling of what we think we ââ¬Ëought to doââ¬â¢. Following what our duty prescribes involves the idea that what we feel we ââ¬Ëoughtââ¬â¢ to do is what is right. We should all have a feeling of moral obligation; we all know the good and right thing to do so therefore we should do it. Therefore our duty becomes to obey our rational thinking which prescribes what the morally correct thing we ought to do is. However, we still have not established what the ââ¬Ësupreme principle of morality isââ¬â¢. This one rule that we all must follow as a means to our rational thinking is something which Kant calls the categorical imperative. By imperative we mean something that tells us what actions would be good in the form of a command, usually using the words ââ¬ËI oughtââ¬â¢. A categorical imperative therefore is an act that is solely good in itself or intrinsically good. The act is done because of the very ââ¬Ënatureââ¬â¢ of the act itself and not to achieve something else as a means to it. It is done only ââ¬Ëfor its own sakeââ¬â¢ and is free from ulterior beneficial motives. On the other hand we have hypothetical imperatives as an opposite. These acts are done because of a desire to achieve something else. For example if I exercise more I will become fitter. It tells us what acts are good as a means to something else. Palmer uses the example of telling the truth to illustrate the difference between the two. A categorical imperative would be ââ¬Ëtell the truthââ¬â¢ because it is good in itself and always is the right thing to do. The hypothetical imperative would be ââ¬Ëif you want to be trusted, tell the truthââ¬â¢ because we are gaining something for ourselves by doing the right thing i.e. we are trusted. Once we know the distinctive feature of the principle of morality, we can analyse it more deeply so we can specifically know exactly what it is that defines a moral act as being good. Kant said that a morally good act had intrinsic value. This is where something is good and valuable in itself. The very nature of them makes them valuable regardless of anything else. For example Kant believed that Humans were of intrinsic value and therefore should be treated as an ââ¬Ëend in themselvesââ¬â¢. The opposite to this is therefore is instrumental valuable which is when something is good only because of what it can achieve and therefore is treated as a ââ¬Ëmeans to an endââ¬â¢. Kant said this is not how we should treat other humanââ¬â¢s i.e. to use them to gain something for ourselves. He is saying that all humans should be treated equally and the same, we should treat everyone as we would treat ourselves. So for example, racism would always be wrong in the eyes of Kant. This links to the Christian idea of the Golden rule to ââ¬Ëlove thy neighbour as thyselfââ¬â¢ which Jesus, the ultimate example of human goodness, instructed his people to follow. The final and key feature that Kant placed emphasis on when concerning the categorical imperative was the acts ability to be universalisable. A key quote he used was ââ¬Ë I ought never to act in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal lawââ¬â¢. By this he is implying a method we can use to see exactly what laws are good because they have ââ¬Ëmoral worthââ¬â¢. Kant stated that if the law can be applied to everyone in the world without being contradicted then it is good. For example we can universalise the maxim ââ¬Ëdo not murderââ¬â¢ to all of society regardless of any situation without there being contradictions. By contradiction, Kant means one of two things, Contradiction in the Will or Nature. If we cannot universalise an act because of either one of these contradictions then we must conclude that it is morally wrong. By contradiction in the law of nature, Kant is referring to rules that cannot be applied because they are ââ¬Ëstraightforwardly self contradictoryââ¬â¢ ââ¬â (M Palmer ââ¬â Moral Problems). The maxim or rule can not be applied universally because it contradicts the laws of nature meaning it physically is impossible to do. For example the maxim ââ¬Ënever speak until you are spoken to firstââ¬â¢ is not possible to keep because if everyone applied it then no one would talk at all because we would always be waiting to be spoken to. From this we can see that following this maxim would not be the good thing to do. The Contradiction in the will is not when something contridicts itself, rather a maxim that the person involved ââ¬Ëcould not possibly want to see universalisedââ¬â¢ (Palmer). We may find that if it was applied universally we could be in the situation where we would not want everyone to apply it because it would help us if they didnââ¬â¢t. For example the maxim ââ¬Ëdo not give money to the poorââ¬â¢ because we may find ourselves one day, through no fault of our own, poor and homeless and then we would want people to give money to us to help us survive. Kant gave one simple rule to following universalisabiltiy and this was ââ¬Ë Act only on a maxim through which you can at the same time will that it be a universal lawââ¬â¢. With this he prescribed a formula which we can all follow to see if a maxim is universalisable. Before acting we have to ask what rule we would be following if we carried out this act and this is the maxim. Then we are to ask ourselves if it was possible and would we would be willing for it to be followed by everyone at all times in all places. If it cannot then it is a contradiction in either the law of nature or in the will. Then quite simply, if it can be universalised do it, if not then donââ¬â¢t. In conclusion we can see that to follow Kants deontological ethics we must ââ¬Ëact solely in accordance to duty and for the sake of duty onlyââ¬â¢ (Palmer ââ¬â Moral Problems). It has been a very popular theory, which many people follow, sometimes without being aware of it. However we do need to ask is it of practical use in out lives today? Can we honestly say that it is useful, practical and realistic when making moral decisions? In my next section I shall be looking at these questions in a little more depth to see if we can logically come up with an answer.
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