Critical Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Critical Evaluation Essay The ancient Greek philosopher Thales was born in Miletus, in Greek Ionia. Aristotle the major source of Thales’ philosophy and science identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, for in the sixth century he broke away from explaining the natural phenomena through myths and adopted rational means of explaining it. In explaining the totality of all things, Thales described one primary material substance as the elemental foundation of all things, for he believed that there must be some natural substance either one or more than one from which other things come into being while it is preserved, and he postulated that this primary principle is water. Being an astronomer on the other hand he was believed to have predicted an eclipse in 585BC. It is therefore the purpose of this essay to critically evaluate Thales’ metaphysics in the context of aim, content and method of philosophy then proceed to clearly underscore his unique contribution to the development of philosophy. To begin with, as pointed out earlier on, Thales was the first philosopher to ask questions about the structure and nature of the cosmos as a whole and is known to be the founder of philosophy of physis which is the study of the totality of reality. Being the first philosopher, he affirmed the existence of a unique principle and cause of all things that exist. He said this principle is water because it is wholly from water that life itself comes from and into which it dissolves, he also declared that the earth rest on water getting the notion perhaps from seeing that the nutriment of all things is moist and that heat itself is generated from moisture and kept alive by it, and that from which they come to be is a principle of all things. He got his notion from this fact and from the fact that seeds of all things have a moist nature and that water is the origin of the nature of moist things (Guthrie, 1978: 55). By saying principle Thales meant the reality that remains identically the same throughput the changes in its characteristics and it continues to exist unchanged throughout the process of the generation of everything (Presocratics, 1995: 42). However, despite postulating that water is a principle, he also had two other propositions which came down from his verbatim and these were â€Å"magnet possesses the soul† because it is capable of moving things like iron, and that â€Å"all things are full of goods†. In saying this Thales implicitly implied that his water principle is the source, sustainer and font of all things and that he used the gods in his assertion for the people’s easy understanding of it (Radhakrishnan, 1953: 28). Having looked at a number of Thales’ assertions and their meanings, it is necessary that we clarify the aim of Thales as regards to philosophy. On this point Aristotle states that philosophy has a purely theoretical character, that is, it is contemplation, and that it simply seeks truth for its own sake. Philosophy is not sought because of any advantage that is extrinsic to it, but it is sought just for itself (Reale, 1978: 17). Therefore in this sense, as Thales was explaining the principle of all things he did not benefit any wealth from it and this is why he was mocked for his poverty, insinuating that his philosophy was of no practical use to him (Presocratics, 1995: 45). Since philosophy does not bake bread nor fix gadgets but rather aims primarily at knowledge, we then see that Thales without any practical benefits tries to find the origin of all things just for philosophy’s own sake. With respect to content, philosophy wanted to explain the totality of all things, that is, the whole of reality without the exclusion of any part or aspect of it, thus distinguishing itself structurally from the special sciences that instead are limited to explaining particular sections of reality, groups of particular things or particular phenomena. In trying to explain the whole of reality the first philosophers were asking the question, what is the principle of all things? (Reale, 1978: 17). Thales in responding to this question in accordance to the content of philosophy, he said water is the principle, for him, he did not necessarily consider the importance of water in life but the thought which most likely must have struck Thales’ mind are those which link water with the idea of life. Hence he observes that food and semen always contain moisture and that the very warmth of life is damp warmth. Furthermore, the composition of all things is moist and that seeds of all things have a moist nature and that water is the origin of moist. Therefore the explanation of water being the principle of things is what is contained in the content of Thales’ philosophy. Finally, on the aspect of method, philosophy wanted to explain the totality which is its object in a strictly rational manner. What is of value in philosophy is its rational arguments, its rational purpose or simply its logos. It is not enough for philosophy to confirm and find out the data derived from experience on a factual level, philosophy must go beyond the facts and experience in order to discover the reasons, the cause and the principle (Reale, 1978: 17). Therefore, Thales with a minimum amount of factual information was able by reasoning to devise an ingenious hypothesis to account for diverse things as gaseous liquid and solid characteristics of the earth, for he believed that all objects are variations of one basic ingredient-water, for water, if heated becomes steam, thus all entities which are gaseous, in its natural state is liquid, and all things which flow must be made up of it and finally, if cooled sufficiently becomes solid (Popkin, 2006: 336). Having looked at a number of things concerning the principle of Thales, we now have to look at a number of contributions which Thales brought forth to the development of philosophy. Firstly, he is believed to have paved way for materialism in metaphysics, which is simply the view that reality is essentially material, and the materialist held that reality is made up of indivisible material particles which move around in a void and combined together to form all the different kinds of things to be found in the world. In this bold speculation the materialist or atomist in particular were following in the footsteps of earlier thinkers (one of them being Thales) who had posited the key idea that underlying the apparent diversity of the world we inhabit, there is a fundamental unit. Therefore Thales is the man who is credited with being the first philosopher and he believed that this unity consisted in the fact that everything comes from or was in some sense made of water (Horner, 2000: 19). Through Thales we have also experienced the transition from explaining natural phenomena through myths to rational and scientific explanation of the origin of nature. At first when explaining the origin of all things, people in Greece referred to a poem called Theogony, written by Hessiod about 725BC. The Theogony contained myths of the gods and speculates in part about the origin and the order of the universe (Audi, 1995: 595). However, with the coming of Thales, the origin of all things was explained systematically using the method of reasoning. The other contribution of Thales to philosophy is that he began the study of cosmology which is branch of metaphysics. Cosmology is a theory of the process of reality and it deals with the science of ultimate reality as a whole. The study analyses and explains the nature of elements of which reality as a whole is underpinned and it establishes whether there are principles that may give us a fuller explanation of the nature of existence (Audi, 1995: 595). In this sense then, we see that Thales gives an account of his principle in line with cosmology, the branch of metaphysics, this therefore entails that Thales started cosmology as he was the first philosopher. Lastly, on the contributions, Thales was the first philosopher to devote himself to the study and the investigation of nature; he is generally regarded as the first who taught the Greeks the investigation of nature. Although, he had many predecessors as Theophrastus has remarked, he surpassed them all to such a degree that they are forgotten, he is as well considered to be one of the seven wise men to undertake the study of natural philosophy for he declared water to be the beginning and the end of all things (Presocratics; 1995, 42). However, despite an articulate explanation on the reasoning of Thales, his method is likely to be criticized, for the one cause that the reasoning process behind his conclusion that water is the first material principle is unknown, so that it becomes a matter of conjecture. Aristotle had no means of knowing the reasons which led Thales to make his statement and when he ascribes a possible line of thought, to him it makes no secret of the fact that he was guessing (Guthrie, 1978: 54). And when we compare the reasoning of Thales to that of other Milesians like Anaximander, Thales’ reasoning is put to the spotlight that he was just guessing because in Anaximander we clearly see that his thinking goes beyond experience, confirming that he was really contemplating rather than just guessing as Aristotle had put it. Another weakness of his explanation of a single principle that was the cause of all reality, is that he never explained the process into which water goes through to become a component of all things more specifically a thing like fire. Other philosophers like Anaximenes, who said the principle is air, explained that through the process of rarefaction air produces fire and when the air condenses through condensation, it gives origin to wind, the clouds, the water, the earth, rocks and other things. This kind of explanation is what was lacking in the philosophy of Thales. In conclusion, Thales of Miletus was one of the first Greek philosophers to seek natural causes for natural phenomena. He traveled widely throughout Egypt and the Middle East and became famous for predicting a solar eclipse that occurred in 585 BC. At a time when people regarded eclipses as ominous, inexplicable, and frightening events, his prediction marked the start of rationalism, a belief that the universe can be explained by reason alone. Rationalism remains the hallmark of science to this day. BIBLIOGRAPHY Audi, R. (1992). Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, New York. Guthrie, A. (1978). A history of Greek Philosophy. Vol 1. Cambridge University Press, Britain. Radhakrishnan, S. (1953). History of Philosophy, Eastern and Western. Vol 2. George Allen Unwin Ltd, London. Reale, G. A. (1987). History of Ancient Philosophy From the Origins to Socrates. State University of New York, New York.

Exploration of To the Lighthouse :: essays papers

Exploration of To the Lighthouse In Virginia Woolf's fiction, the breakdown or breaking open, of traditional literary forms in the light of the twentieth century querying of perception, reality and linguistic meaning, is recorded as a reconceiving of the novel-form. Throughout the course of her novels she lays down a challenge to official ways of measuring proportion, light, time and human character. Abolishing chapter and verse, Woolf creates a rhythmic, wave-like form of undulating passages as in music, where the structure of parts within an individual movement is a continuous flow rather than a series of stops and starts. She identifies language itself as a volatile and indeterminate system of mirroring suggestions; reality as potentially unknowable, and the novel form itself as inclined to substantial change to accommodate these perspectives. Virginia Woolf renounces the narrative persona as a sort of privileged extra character testifying to indisputable mental and physical events and evaluating their significance. She shifts significance to the act of mediation itself as a primary subject to be investigated "*. To the Lighthouse "*develops a system of passing the baton of interior monologue from one character to another by its eavesdropping of the self-sealed consciousness of a group enwrapped in meditation through the round of two life-encapsculating days. In "*To the Lighthouse"* the proportion of direct speech to indirect speech is minuscule, and, indeed rudimentary. If we reduce the first section of the novel to its dialogue, the following structure emerges:'Yes, of course, if it's fine to-morrow,' said Mrs Ramsay. 'But you'll have to be up with the lark'...'But,' said his father . . . 'it won't be fine.'*'But it may be fine - I expect it will be fine,' said Mrs Ramsay . . . 'It's due west,' said the atheist Tansley . . .'Nonsense,' said Mrs Ramsay . . . *'There'll be no landing at the Lighthouse to-morrow,' said Charles Tansley . . . 'Would it bore you to come with me, Mrs Tansley?' 'Let us all go!' she cried . . . 'Let's go,' he said. 'Good-bye, Elsie,' she said. (pp.3-16) Inconsequent voices demur about the weather: typical English conversation implying an apathetic form of communion, signifying little - so we might assess this dialogue if it were presented to us as I have transcribed it, dissecting it from its root-network in the complex matrix of the narrative voice which recounts the soliloquies of the persons from whom these extracts of conversation are gathered.

Professor D. Philip Kotler Essay

Philip Kotler is widely acknowledged as the father of modern marketing and the world’s foremost expert on strategic marketing. . His writing has defined marketing around the world for the past forty years. He is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Chicago’s Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. The Management Centre Europe has labeled him â€Å"the world’s leading expert on the strategic practice of marketing.† Early Life Kotler was born in Chicago on May 27, 1931. Both Kotler’s parents emigrated in 1917 from Ukraine and settled in Chicago. Education He studied at DePaul University for two years and was accepted without a bachelor’s degree into the Master’s program at the University of Chicago (1953) and his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT (1956), both in economics. He studied under three Nobel winners in Economic Science: Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, and Robert Solow. He did a year of postdoctoral work in mathematics at Harvard University and in behavioral science at the University of Chicago. Professional Life Kotler started teaching marketing in 1962 at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Kotler moved into marketing which he believed is an essential part of economics. He saw demand is influenced not only by price but also by advertising, sales promotions, sales force, direct mail, and various institutions (wholesalers, retailers, agents, etc.) operating as distribution channels. Kotler is the author and co-author of over 55 books and 150 published articles. His other textbooks include Principles of Marketing and Marketing: An Introduction. He has authored several books on all aspects of marketing, including the most widely used marketing textbook in graduate business schools worldwide, Marketing Management, (originally published in 1967 is the world’s leading book in  marketing, and is translated into over 25 languages. It has educated millions of students. In 1996, it was judged to be one of the top 50 best business books of all times) now in its 14th edit ion. He has published more than 150 articles in leading journals, including the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Marketing, Management Science and the Journal of Business Strategy. His first research in marketing was in mathematical modeling of marketing processes and impacts. In Journal of Marketing on January 1969, he extended the concept of Marketing. This article proposed the thesis that marketing concepts apply to non-commercial activities as well. Not-for-profit organizations can apply marketing analysis and concepts to advantage. He has consulted for IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Honeywell, Bank of America, Merck and others in the areas of marketing strategy and planning, marketing organization and international marketing. He has also advised governments on how to develop and position the skills and resources of their companies for global competition. He was voted the first Leader in Marketing Thought by the American Marketing Association and named The Founder of Modern Marketing Management in the Handbook of Management Thinking. Professor Kotler holds major awards including the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) Distinguished Marketing Educator Award and Distinguished Educator Award from The Academy of Marketing Science. The Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) named him Marketer of the Year and the A merican Marketing Association described him as â€Å"the most influential marketer of all time.† (2008, Leaders in London Conference).

Cómo aplicar para no pagar tarifas al USCIS

Dependiendo de la situacià ³n econà ³mica y del beneficio migratorio que se solicite es posible que un inmigrante pueda beneficiarse de una exencià ³n y no tenga que pagar las tarifas migratorias. Asegà ºrate primero de que calificas para no pagar. Si ese es el caso, en este artà ­culo se explica cà ³mo aplicar, quà © evidencia ha que enviar con el formulario y cuà ¡les pueden ser los riesgos de solicitar esta exencià ³n de pagos al Servicio de Inmigracià ³n y Ciudadanà ­a (USCIS), por sus siglas en inglà ©s. Cà ³mo se solicita no pagar por trà ¡mites migratorios Los trà ¡mites son un poco diferentes segà ºn la razà ³n por la que se solicita no tener que pagar el arancel. Si la razà ³n por la que se solicita es que se es recibe ayuda calificada de means-tested Quà © enviar El formulario (forma) I-912.Evidencia de que se recibe el beneficio: carta u otro documento de la agencia que lo paga (Medicaid, SNAP -cupones de alimentos-, TANF, SSI, etc.). Debe incluir el nombre y apellidos de la persona que se beneficia. Quià ©n puede solicitar la exencià ³n del pago migratorio por esta causa Obviamente, el beneficiado de la ayuda calificada de means-tested. Pero tambià ©n el marido, la mujer, los hijos solteros menores de 21 aà ±os o muchachos en acogimiento familiar en esas mismas circunstancias.Tambià ©n si se es estudiante a tiempo completo y se tiene menos de 24 aà ±os y se està ¡ soltero y se vive en el hogar del padre o la madre que recibe ese beneficio. Asimismo, los hijos adultos que viven con progenitores que reciben SSI. Si se recibe algà ºn tipo de ayuda federal o del estado por ingresos bajos y no se sabe con certeza si se califica como means-tested, preguntar a la agencia que paga. Si la razà ³n es vivir en un hogar con ingresos inferiores al 150 por ciento de la là ­nea de la pobreza La là ­nea de la pobreza es una cantidad que establece cada aà ±o el gobierno federal.   Depende del tamaà ±o de la familia, por lo que es fundamental seà ±alar con precisià ³n cuà ¡ntas personas conforman la unidad familiar. Cà ³mo se computan el nà ºmero de personas que forman la familia Incluirse a: Uno mismo, es decir, la persona que quiere no pagar el trà ¡mite migratorio.Incluir el esposo o esposa, a menos que se està © legalmente separado o divorciado.Los hijos u otros nià ±os sobre los que se tiene custodia legal, siempre y cuando sean menores de 21 aà ±os, està ©n solteros y vivan con el solicitante del beneficio de no pagar al USCIS. Tambià ©n se les cuenta si son mayores de esa edad pero menores de 24, solteros, estudian a tiempo completo y viven en el hogar.Los padres del solicitante si tambià ©n viven en la misma vivienda.Los hijos y otras personas sobre las que se tiene custodia legal y està ¡n solteros, con independencia de la edad, si tienen alguna incapacidad fà ­sica o mental que les impide cuidarse por sà ­ mismos. Cà ³mo se computan los ingresos Las personas separadas legalmente o divorciadas deben incluir lo que la ex pareja aporta en concepto de pago de alimentos o alimony. Pero si se aplica para no pagar por la solicitud de un beneficio migratorio relacionado con visa U o T, no es necesario proveer con los ingresos de la ex pareja. Cà ³mo se aplica y quà © documentacià ³n enviar Llenar el formulario I-912Enviar documentos que sirvan como evidencia de tener pocos ingresos: la planilla de impuestos del à ºltimo aà ±o (federal tax returns). Si no se presentà ³, copias de los recibos de la nà ³mina (pay check stub) o una carta del empleador en una papel oficial de la empresa donde describa el salario que se recibe. Si no hay ingresos de ningà ºn tipo, entonces explicarla la situacià ³n en inglà ©s en la seccià ³n 6 del formulario.Evidencia de las personas que forman la unidad familiar. Si se envà ­a el tax return, deberà ­a estar ahà ­ indicado. Si no es asà ­ o se envà ­a otra evidencia entonces habrà ¡ que identificar a los miembros de la familia.Si una de las personas que vive en el hogar familiar aporta mà ¡s del 50 por ciento del soporte econà ³mico del solicitante, enviar la copia mà ¡s reciente de los Federal tax returns de esa persona. Ademà ¡s, si la persona que solicita no pagar los trà ¡mites migratorios es un Inmigrante Especial Juvenil o se aplica a su nombre es necesario enviar evidencia de: Orden del estado o de la corte que establece la custodia de ese Inmigrante Especial.Carta del hogar de acogida o de la agencia que supervisa la custodia en la que se describe que la persona no tiene recursos para pagar.Notificacià ³n de aprobacià ³n conocida como planilla I-797. Si la razà ³n por la que se solicita la exencià ³n del pago es por estar atravesando una situacià ³n econà ³mica difà ­cil En ocasiones no se recibe beneficios considerados como means-tested ni los ingresos son inferiores al 150 por ciento de la là ­nea de la pobreza. Sin embargo, todavà ­a serà ­a posible aplicar para no tener que pagar por un trà ¡mite migratorio con el USCIS si se està ¡ atravesando por una situacià ³n de dificultad econà ³mica. Por ejemplo, si recià ©n se ha perdido el empleo, o si ha habido gastos inesperados grandes, como los ocasionados por una enfermedad, accidente, etc. Cà ³mo se solicita   y quà © evidencias enviar Llenar el formulario I-912En la seccià ³n 6 describir la situacià ³n de dificultad econà ³mica.Incluir informacià ³n sobre todo tipo de ingresos   y bienes, como dinero en efectivo o en cuentas bancarias, propiedades de bienes raà ­ces, inversiones en bolsa o de otro tipo, bonos del tesoro, anualidades (excepto los de planes de pensiones).   Enviar evidencia de todo ello. Si se recibe ayuda de una iglesia u otra organizacià ³n comunitaria, es necesaria una declaracià ³n jurada (affidà ¡vit) donde se seà ±ala lo que se recibe.Incluir informacià ³n y evidencias sobre los gastos, como es el pago de la renta, de la hipoteca, costo de la comida, cuidado de nià ±os o ancianos, gastos mà ©dicos, facturas a abogados u otras de tipo legal, pagos mensuales como pensià ³n alimenticia, gastos de matrà ­cula para estudiar, transporte para trabajar, etc. Cà ³mo se llena la planilla I-912 Deben seguirse las reglas generales para completar cualquier formulario del USCIS. Es fundamenta no olvidarse de firmar.A la hora de enviar las evidencias, a menos que se pida expresamente el original, es suficiente con una copia que se pueda leer bien.Si algà ºn documento està ¡ escrito en un idioma que no sea el inglà ©s, debe traducirse. No es necesario pagar a un traductor oficial ya que se puede hacerse siguiendo este modelo de carta. Cuà ¡ndo se envà ­a la peticià ³n con la planilla I-912   y las evidencias Al mismo tiempo que se envà ­a el formulario de la aplicacià ³n o solicitud para la que se pide no tener que pagar. Incluirla en el mismo sobre.   Si se aprueba tambià ©n automà ¡ticamente aplicarà ¡ para los servicios biomà ©tricos requeridos para la peticià ³n. A dà ³nde se envà ­a el formulario con la peticià ³n Como se envà ­a en el mismo sobre que la aplicacià ³n o solicitud migratoria para la que se pide la exencià ³n del pago, el lugar al que se tienen que enviar es precisamente la que està © establecida para este tipo de solicitud. Quà © pasa si el USCIS no acepta la solicitud de no pagar Devuelve todo el expediente con una carta seà ±alando la razà ³n. Se puede volver a solicitar si faltà ³ evidencia o se puede enviar la solicitud pero aà ±adiendo el pago completo que corresponda a la tarifa. Es importantà ­simo leer bien la carta que se recibe del USCIS. En algunos casos se establece un plazo dentro del cual es necesario enviar la documentacià ³n. Tips Mentir en un documento oficial del USCIS si se descubre la mentira puede tener importantes consecuencias negativas. Antes de enviar la peticià ³n para no pagar conviene consultar con un abogado o con una organizacià ³n sin fin de lucro de ayuda a los inmigrantes. La razà ³n es que puede tener consecuencias migratorias negativas si: A la hora de analizar la aplicacià ³n o solicitud principal que se hace (no la de la exencià ³n del pago, si no la del beneficio migratorio), si se considera que el inmigrante puede convertirse en una carga pà ºblica se negarà ­a la solicitud.O si se demuestra que el inmigrante se convirtià ³ en una carga pà ºblica en los cinco aà ±os siguientes a su entrada por motivos que existà ­an ya antes. En este caso, podrà ­a dictarse una orden de deportacià ³n.Si el solicitante es residente permanente y una persona firmà ³ por à ©l o ella un affidà ¡vit, el firmante puede todavà ­a ser responsable de apoyar econà ³micamente   y puede ser demandada para reclamar gastos incurridos por el gobierno. Decisià ³n del USCIS El USCIS decide si concederla solicitud de no pagar y su decisià ³n es final e inapelable.