Active Versus Passive Mind Debate Essay Example for Free

Active Versus Passive Mind Debate Essay Étienne Bonnot de Condillac an 18th-century French philosopher contended that the senses are the foundation for all ideas and other functions carried out in the mind. Another prominent French philosopher, Renà © Descartes supported the Rationalistic theory; an explanation of behavior based on logic that has nothing to do with the senses. Condillac’s Sensationalism premise and Descartes theory of Rationalism serve as fuel for the classic active versus passive mind debate. The passive mind theory suggests that all learning occurs through the experience of sensations, in the absence of voluntary mind control processes, while the active mind theory claims the exact opposite; that individuals actively focus certain mental processes on the subject matter and the senses play no part in the process. Descartes also believed that sensory data was inclined to be false and was therefore useless, suggesting that mathematical deduction was the only path to the truth. Justin Skirry 2008 I believe that both theories have some validity. The problem arises for me with the use of the word all by Condillac, and the use of the word only by Descartes, which is what takes the theories from the moderate part of the continuum to the extreme. Sensory learning is of course a proven fact, but it is also a fact that active learning occurs as well. It is not unusual for a philosopher to be both a sensationalist and a rationalist at the same time. I tend to trust my deductive powers of reasoning more than my senses, because many outside forces can alter the senses. Take emotion for instance, I am aware of the role unchecked emotions can play in faulty decision-making. I have learned not to make important decisions when I am in a highly emotional state.

Design a computer system for a video hire shop Essay Example for Free

Design a computer system for a video hire shop Essay I have noticed that keeping customer records on paper can be time consuming and neither practical or easy to use. The aim of this project is to create a database for a company or an organization; I have chosen Vinnies videos. My database will include customer information to make organization and customer relations simpler; the new system will be more practical. An electronic database will make life easier as it will be superior to a card filling system and will save time and money. A computer system is better than the old card filing method for many reasons. Example, searches can be carried out instantly rather than many manual records being waded through, customer information for a hundred people can be copied almost instantly to a standard letter. Vinny will be able to keep customer information lists, detailing contact information, stats on the customers videos, lists of regular jobs that need to be performed i. e. check who has videos out; in order that notices can be sent using mail merge. This will help Vinny keep up to data and on top of customer relations and business. A search function for my database will make it simple for letters detailing special offers which are customer specific to be sent out easily. After considering the pros and cons of the two systems I have decided that it is definitely more practical to use a computer system over a card filling system. Strengths and Weaknesses of current system: Vinny currently has a very primitive filling system, It has a lot weaknesses. It takes a long time to find records, as they are stored in a filling cabinet. When editing a record you must remove the entire card and rewrite it, it is time consuming to add new records. To re-sort the records would take a very long time as it would obviously have to be done manually. To search for information is also time consuming, especially if you are looking for a number of customers with similar records for some purpose. However the database is comprehensive and does contain all the records needed. What I need to do is design and makes a new database with all the information from the old one transferred into it. There are also a number of programs that I could consider using, they are Microsoft word, Microsoft excel or Microsoft access. I will need to use a database creation package like MS Access, Fox Pro, DBASE II or IV or Borland Database Explorer to create my database tables, queries, forms, reports and macros easily and also program them with the Visual Basic programming script to make my database into a professional running program. According to the user requirements MS Access is the best one also because it is mostly familiar to people. I will need a word processing package like MS Word, Notepad, WordPad and Word Perfect. MS Word is the best one to use because you can use word art and insert pictures or print screens into the document and also is mostly used by people. Hardware needed: I need a computer that can run Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word just in case I need to use the mail merge. For this I will use a QWERTY keyboard for the manual input of data and the commands for the computer. I will need a mouse or trackball to design the database forms, to navigate the GUI of the OS and to move copy and paste data. I will need to use a 31/2 inch floppy disk and drive or a CDRW disk and drive in order to save my database and to make backups of my database. I will only use a CDRW if the database exceeds 1. 38-1. 44 MB. CDRWs can hold from 500-700 MB of information. I will need a printer to print out the design of my database of for word documentation of the database. The system should have at least 300 MHZ hard drive speed, and 5 GB memory, it should have at least a 128 MB RAM. Problem1: a system management to put the videos in order Form of output: a database Information to be output: video title, video director, main actor, year released, length and genre, how many copies are available and how many are on loan. Data needed to produce the output: video title, video director, main actor, year released, length and genre, which will be provided by Vinny. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: It has to be sorted so you can see a certain type of genre or year. Testing: To see if all the correct records are in the right query. Problem 2: needs a system to store all the members names and addresses Form of output: a database Information to be output: name, address, user number, telephone. Data needed to produce the output: name, address, user number, telephone. This is provided by Vinny. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: members details available so we can contact them if needed. Testing: not needed Problem 3: I dont have a system to see who has what video checked out and who has videos that are over due. Form of output: database Information to be output: name, user number, video rented, date taken out, date due back Data needed to produce the output: name, user number, video rented, date taken out, date due back. This will be provided by Vinny, anyone that rents a new video will be entered into the database. Desired outcomes and performance criteria: a list to see which videos are on loan. When somebody rents a video out all I want to have to do is click on the film name and type their name in. The rental time allowance will be 3 days and automatically entered Testing: see if the people who have taken a video out have a book due on the database Analysis of Strategies for Backup and Security. The system will be backed up on CD-RWs daily and on hard disk drives and a server. The database will have an encrypted modification password and it will be write-protected so it cannot be deleted. If a staff member needs to access the database to modify it, then a staff password is needed. It will not open until the password is correct Information Flow Error Checking To ensure that the information is correct the staff will send the members an invoice with their details they have inputted and attached is another form to fill in the correct information and then collect it and update the database. For the videos the staff will do daily checks on the database to see any obscure looking information in the database and will edit this info by getting the video and re-entering the video data again. Or the staff will do two copies of information identical to each other because the information will be inputted twice and if they are not identical then one or the other or both are changed with the correct information. Skills The user is a competent pc user and will not need any sort of training, he would like it to be user friendly though, so if any new staff join, it will be easy to pick up.

Platos Cave Analysis

Platos Cave Analysis Imagine a subterranean cave in which humans are shackled by their necks to a single place. They have been held there all of their lives. Fires placed behind the group by unseen forces have left these prisoners to see their own shadows play upon a screen. Those held are not even aware that the images and shadows that they see are themselves. Yet, these shadows hold sway; the prisoners are fascinated. The illusion so effective, that the prisoners do not recognize their imprisonment and are satisfied to live their lives in this way. What would happen if one of these prisoners would be set free? The prisoner would be helpless, his eyes would be overloaded, and he could not stand up on his own. Inundated with sensory information, his mind would refuse to accept what the senses were submitting as true. It would not be surprising if anyone released from such a prison would wish to stay. Stay with the known. Stay with what is comfortable. Not for our prisoner though. Our prisoner, forced to turn away from the fire, begins a long uncomfortable journey through a tunnel toward a blinding light coaxed by the liberator toward the uncomfortable. The light is blinding. Finally emerging from the cave, eyes burning, senses raging, the prisoner soon finds a new, unimaginable world. No longer fascinated by shadow, the prisoner is free to learn about the world, and more importantly, themselves. This paper will explore how this story has been translated to modern audiences through the film, The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999). Platos cave myth has been a wonderful allegory for the quest for knowledge for 2,400 years. Plato published this cave myth in The Republic; the allegory of the cave is arguably the most famous section of this work. What may come as a surprise to many is that there are parallels to the cave myth in many of todays contemporary stories. One of which, is the tale of Neo in The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999). Who can forget the image when Neo wakes to find himself bound in a tube, he struggles free, released from his prison, he is made to grasp the truth of his life and the world. He finds that all of his life up to that point has been an elaborate illusion created for him to hide him from the fact that he been held prisoner his entire life. This paper will show that both of these stories reflect a Socratic search for knowledge and a deeper understanding of the good. The myth of the cave is an allegory in which we follow our prisoner on his quest for what Socrates, Platos teacher, referred to as the just life (Plato: The Republic). Socrates primary concern was that our souls be in the best condition possible (Plato: Phaedo). The way in which this is accomplished is through examination and questioning ones place within the world. The cave myth gives a literary account of the Socratic Method, as well an example as to the logic and approach of Socrates relentless questioning. In this way, we have a view into Socrates methodology, and furthermore, into Socrates notion for care of the soul (Plato: Phaedo). Socrates care of the soul is comprised of these four elements: beliefs in meaning, admission of ignorance, questioning of reality, and hope in an answer, or to put it another way, trust in the knowledge of the good (Plato: Phaedo). On this subject of care of the soul, there is a deep comparability between The Matrix (Wachowski Bros 1999)and Platos a llegory (Plato: The Republic). We can make a closer examination into the comparison between Neo and our prisoner on his quest for the care of the soul. Like the allegory of the Cave, The Matrix dramatically conveys the view that ordinary appearances do not depict true reality and that gaining the truth changes ones life. Using the ideas of care of the soul, we are asked to examine belief in meaning. Saying this differently we are asked to believe what we hold to be true. The prisoners can differentiate shadows and sounds, apply names to the shadows depicting things and even discern the patterns in their presentation. To this extent, they have some true beliefs and some false assumptions, but before the discussion regresses into a metaphysical exercise; whether or not a thing is a thing because we name it so, or whether or not the thing has its own inherent thingness it is safe to say that we can all hold some things to be true. However, there are things that are mysterious to all in the case of the cave and in The Matrix. In both stories, there is omnipresent image of the unseen hand at work; those who are responsible for the structure of the cave and the world in which the matrix exists. In an online posting, John Partridge, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College, explores the correlation between these two stories. He suggests that, Many contemporary readers recoil at the awful politics of the Cave. Who, after all, are the puppeteers? Why do they deceive their fellow cave dwellers (Partridge)? It is only through the understanding and realization that there is an unseen hand, or truths with which we had been oblivious, that we can fully come to learn the truth. For the prisoner, it is through his release that he comes to realize that his notion of truth is skewed. For Neo, he had been suspicious of his reality for some time and seeks understanding. The fascinating thing for Neo is that when his situation comes to a head and he finally meets Morpheus, his liberator and teacher, he is informed that he cannot be told what is untrue, he must be shown. Interestingly, Neo is afforded a choice, the path of ignorance in the form of a blue pill or the path of knowledge in the form of a red pill. The taking of the red pill is an admission of ignorance. In this way, the notion of admission of ignorance is forced on him in the form of a choice. The prisoner and Neo are similar, they must be brought into the light of knowledge, and into the admission of their own ignorance. The similari ties continue, they both share a common path to understanding that their notions of truth have been given to them and that reality itself is not what it seems. Conversely, there are some differences between the two stories by way of the coming to admission of ignorance and the understanding of truth. Neos path to understanding truth is one that starts out with him living comfortably with the sneaking suspicion that there is a something not quite right with the world. His quest to understand what is wrong with the world leads him inexorably into a very dark and dystopian reality filled with conflict and misery. Their only purpose is as food for the machines. Furthermore, it is a world with people forced underground. His quest literally leads him into the cave. By contrast, we have the story of the prisoner. The prisoner is released from bondage. He/She did not actively seek to understand their world or acquire new knowledge. He/She would have been just as happy watching shadows on the screen. The path to understanding may have been difficult and uncomfortable, but in the end, the prisoner is lead to the light of knowledge, a utopian world wi thin which the prisoner is now truly free. Neo, knowing what being a prisoner means, has his greatest fears realized when he discovers that he has always been a slave and is now relegated to a fearful existence. The prisoner, on the other hand, comes to the realization of what being a prisoner means, and is delighted with his/her new life. Thus, we have the juxtaposition of the objective versus the subjective. The next tenet of understanding Socrates care of the soul is the questioning of reality. Released from the illusory world, our prisoner is lead down the path of understanding. Socrates states, and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, what will be his reply (Plato: The Republic)? What would his reply be? He would be drawn into questioning everything after he now believes that he had been mystified all this time. This is where we would find Neo brought back into the matrix for training by Morpheus, again we have an inverse of realities but the aims are the same. The prisoner is coming to question and understand the real world. Neo is coming to question and understand the unreal world of the matrix. Now we are diving into the world of the metaphysical. Discerning whether we can determine reality in either of these two worlds is a real problem. Partridge states, Since the real world and the simulated world are worlds in which the senses receive information, the practical problem is not that they are discontinuous, but that they are indiscernible (Partridge). This is a real problem for Neo; as we find after his kung fu training with Morpheus, when his teacher questions Neos understanding of reality, You believe your really breathing? He is later told, coming upon a child bending spoons with his mind in Yuri Gellar fashion, that he will only come to understand the real nature of the matrix once he comes to understand that in the matrix, there is no spoon (The Matrix). It seems as though the differences between the two tales on a metaphysical level does not inhibit them from sending a similar message. They both send the message of the unreliability of the epistemological information gathered through the senses. They stress a need to disconnect from the senses in order to attain genuine knowledge. The stories also wonderfully illustrate the psychological hardship that is placed on the characters having to do so. Thus, the question, by what means does Neo come to discover hope in an answer or trust in his knowledge of the good. For our prisoner, the question is answered very succinctly, Last of he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him (Plato: The Republic). For Neo hope in answer comes in a much more personal form. After many trials, the film climaxes with Neo coming to grips with the fact that he has been The One all along. Coaxed into questioning his reality by Morpheus, he is left to follow the path of self-realization on his own. In this way, he can develop his own care of the soul. He overcame the introduction of self-doubt in the form of the oracle. He overcame the overpowering force of the agents to become reborn, phoenix like, to the understanding of himself. This revelation would prove to be extremely transformative. Clearly, he has come to grips with his knowledge and belief in the good. Partridge claims, There is a single item the knowledge of which makes the knower more integrated and more powerful, and for Neo it is self-knowledge. The same message holds true for our prisoner. It is through the knowing of the true self, which causes the prisoner to become productive, a savior of himself and others. After the prisoners revel ation of the good, his first thoughts are of the others in the cave. They both have come to know of Socrates primary concern of care of the soul, trust in the knowledge of the good. Finally, we look to ourselves concerning what these stories tell us. It is the path of knowledge that is placed before us and the stakes are for the care of the soul. For Neo, his quest was to take him through the trials and hardships of self-realization that he would have to endure so that he might come to know for himself that he was indeed The One. Our prisoners quest mirrors this. Ultimately, we are drawn to Socratic questions; in what ways are we living diminished lives? Are we resting on our own ideas of knowledge? Are we even asking the right questions? It is through the stinging realization of our own ignorance that we are finally able to start our own paths toward the understanding of the good. Plato makes it plain when he uses Socrates to tell us that we are all prisoners in the cave. If any doubt this, recall the position we are in when go to see movies such as The Matrix itself. Imagine a dark world filled with people watching shadows on a screenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

Why Some Small Businesses Fail Essay -- Economics Business Management

Why Some Small Businesses Fail It is hard to measure the size of a business. According to The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), an SME can be described as a business that employs between 0-49 people. However a company such as a Chemical Plant may employ less than 49 people but have a turnover of  £20 million. So according to the number of employees, the DTI would class it as a small business. However, according to the level of turnover it could be classed as a large business. The size of the firm is generally measured by the amount employed1. The amount of SME’s is forever increasing. There are many reasons for the increase, such as; improved technology, ability to sub-contract part of business and public sector being encouraged to become smaller. There is also Push and Pull factors that help people come to the decision to be self-employed. â€Å"Push factors† include people who are unemployed or made redundant decide to venture on their own. This may be simply starting their own window cleaning service. Another â€Å"push factor† is the â€Å"Pratt factor† this is when an employee finds himself working for someone else less talented and wonders ‘why am I working for you?’ so decides to start up on his own. The amount of SME’s is forever increasing. There are many reasons for the increase, such as; improved technology, ability to sub-contract part of business and public sector being encouraged to become smaller. There is also Push and Pull factors that help people come to the decision to be self-employed. â€Å"Push factors† include people who are unemployed or made redundant decide to venture on their own. This may be simply starting their own window cleaning service. Another â€Å"push factor† is the â€Å"Pratt factor† this is when an employee finds himself working for someone else less talented and wonders ‘why am I working for you?’ so decides to start up on his own. â€Å"Pull factors† include peoples increasing desires to exploit an opportunity, turning their hobby into a business, the motivation to work independently and when people become older they sometimes inherit money; they sometimes put this money into a business venture they perhaps previously couldn’t afford. The failure rate for small businesses is very high. The probability that your new business will make it past the third year is less than 25%. In other words, over three-... ...elves in a whole too deep to dig themselves out of. It was now too late for them to ask for advice and the shop closed down. My advice to my friend was to learn by his mistakes and try again. It is inevitable that small businesses will carry on failing. Sometimes the reason behind the failure cant be helped. However from reading this essay you should gather that the majority of the times, failure could have been prevented. In fact 82% of the time when businesses fail, the owners really could have done something differently to stop it from happening. REFERENCES 1 Business Studies by Dave Hall, Rob Jones, Carlo Raffo. Edited by Ian Chambers.(1996) 2 www.compulink.co.uk 3 www.bcentral.com 4 The Business Environment (second edition) by Ian Worthington and Chris Britton. Published 1997 by pitman publishings JOURNALS USED  ¹ Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol 9, Issue 1.Learning the hard way: the lessons of owner-managers who have closed their businesses. By David Stokes and Robert Blackburn.  ² Journal of Management Development, Vol 13, Issue 7. Managerial Competences in Small Firms. By Graham Martin and Harry Staines.

Epic of Beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

Significance of Scyld Scefing Scyld Scefing often deprived his enemies, many tribes of men, of their mead-benches. He terrified his foes; yet he, as a boy, had been found a waif; fate made amends for that. He prospered under heaven, won praise and honor, until the men of every neighboring tribe, across the whale’s way, were obliged to obey him and pay him tribute. He was a noble king! (BEO 4-11). At first glance to any reader, the above passage that opens Beowulf may seem perplexing. Why is this poet rambling about some other great ruler? In fact, another 50 or so lines are dedicated to this Scefing character. Wasn’t this poem titled Beowulf? It appears that the poet of Beowulf is rambling, ranting unrelated events and apparently digressing from the main topic. However, even though no concrete conclusions or links are presented between Scefing and Beowulf, the reader learns soon enough that the seemingly digressive poet had in truth, slyly and with all intention inserted some indirect indications in the tale of Scefing. As the poem reaches its finale, the reader recognizes in an epiphany the sophisticated construction employed by the poet in the weaving of Scefing as foreshadowing of Beowulf. In retrospect, Scefing is essentially Beowulf himself. It is stated that Scefing is a warrior, a conqueror, gifted the spoils of his enemies as he defeated them. Beowulf was interested in the spoils and trophies of war in a similar fashion, always mindful to bring a piece or two of any recently dominated monsters back with him for display purposes. In addition, the poet mentions the pure prosperity, praise, and honor of Scefing; and in parallel form, the reader is exposed to the wealth, recognition, and reverence for the hero Beowulf. From the double victories over Grendel and his mother to the final battle against the dragon, Beowulf retains his status and his persona as a hero, a definite king and without a doubt a noble one. As the reader recalls Scefing was also described as a noble king, the pieces and reasoning of the previously digressive tangent rapidly falls into place. “Then Scyld departed at the destined hour, that powerful man sought the Lord’s protection. His own close companions carried him down to the sea, as he, lord of the Danes, had asked while he could still speak'; (BEO 26-30). This is the exact sequence of events which happens to Beowulf, his “destined hour'; being the fatal wound inflicted by the dragon.

Apollonius Of Perga :: essays research papers fc

Apollonius of Perga Apollonius was a great mathematician, known by his contempories as " The Great Geometer, " whose treatise Conics is one of the greatest scientific works from the ancient world. Most of his other treatise were lost, although their titles and a general indication of their contents were passed on by later writers, especially Pappus of Alexandria. As a youth Apollonius studied in Alexandria ( under the pupils of Euclid, according to Pappus ) and subsequently taught at the university there. He visited Pergamum, capital of a Hellenistic kingdom in western Anatolia, where a university and library similar to those in Alexandria had recently been built. While at Pergamum he met Eudemus and Attaluus, and he wrote the first edition of Conics. He addressed the prefaces of the first three books of the final edition to Eudemus and the remaining volumes to Attalus, whom some scholars identify as King Attalus I of Pergamum. It is clear from Apollonius' allusion to Euclid, Conon of Samos, and Nicoteles of Cyrene that he made the fullest use of his predecessors' works. Book 1-4 contain a systematic account of the essential principles of conics, which for the most part had been previously set forth by Euclid, Aristaeus and Menaechmus. A number of theorems in Book 3 and the greater part of Book 4 are new, however, and he introduced the terms parabola, eelipse, and hyperbola. Books 5-7 are clearly original. His genius takes its highest flight in Book 5, in which he considers normals as minimum and maximum straight lines drawn from given points to the curve ( independently of tangent properties ), discusses how many normals can be drawn from particular points, finds their feet by construction, and gives propositions determining the center of curvature at any points and leading at once to the Cartesian equation of the evolute of any conic. The first four books of the Conics survive in the original Grrek and the next three in Arabic translation. Book 8 is lost. The only other extant work of Apollonius is Cutting Off of a Ratio ( or On Proportional Section ), in an Arabic translation. Pappus mentions five additional works, Cutting off an Area ( or On Spatial Section ) , On Determinate Section, Tangencies, and Plane Loci. Tangencies embraced the following general problem : given three things, each of which may be a point, straight line, or circle, construct a circle tangent to the three. Sometimes known as the problem of Apollonius, the most difficult case arises when the three given things are circles. Of the other works of Apollonius referred to by ancient writers, one, On

African Americans in Pop Culture Essay

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