Nagel and Russell on Absurdity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nagel and Russell on Absurdity - Essay Example Thomas Nagel and Betrand Russell wrote about the absurdity that defines life. Many philosophers have focused on the issue of absurdity as it is one of the surging worries that human beings experience continually. This explains why different philosophers have been trying to highlight the causes of the debilitating feeling that every venture in life is absurd. Realizing the causes of the feeling of absurdity has not been enough. There is the ardent desire of understanding the different ways of dealing with absurdity. This paper will analyze the views of Nagel and BetrandRussell concerning the absurdity. Summary of the ‘Absurd’ by Nagel Nagel begins by highlighting the fact that many people often make known their feeling that life presents a lot of absurdity, sometimes in a continuous manner. However, he asserted that few of the reasons used to explain how the absurdities of life result serve as adequate defense to explain why life is that way. He provides examples of the reasons that people have put forward as potential causes of absurdity. One of these reasons is the opinion that whatever transpires in life at the moment does not present evidence that it will matter in a million years into the future. The feeling that current ventures in life do not present any feasibility of being crucial factors in a progression of a million years. Nagel refutes this claim by highlighting that such thinking invites critical thought of analyzing whether things really matter. If one can doubt whether something happening in the current life will matter in the future, then it is only rational to realize that whether that thing is b ringing happiness or misery, it may not even matter (Pojman 555). For other people, the absurdity of life emerges from the realization that human are minute forms in a vast universe. This perception of human life in terms of space and time in comparison with the entire universe does not suffice to explain the cause of absurdity in life. Nagel argues that this reason is insufficient because little would change even if humans occupied a larger proportion of the universe (556). He opined that living a longer life and occupying greater space would imply that absurdity would increase at the same proportion of space and time. Nagel also mentions that some people experience absurdity because they realize that all then justifications used to present life with meaning will eventually diminish. However, Nagel mentions that even if these justifications were reliable enough to define the entire process of life, they would diminish eventually. He further argues that even if a single justificatio n had the potential of defining an individual’s entire life, it would require an additional justification to make it worthwhile (556). According to him, all chains of justifications depend on external factors for their relevance, factor that makes them diminish at some point. With this argument, Nagel highlighted that it was pointless to blame the insufficiency of justifications for the absurdity of life. In the second part, Nagel begins by highlighting the fact that absurdity resulted from the crises and discrepancies between the pretexts and aspirations of an individual in life. However,he highlights that individual often visualize a way of adjusting aspirations. In case such an adjustment is impossibility, the individual tries to avoid the reality of the absurd situation. However, the feeling of absurdity increases when an individual does not find a valid escape from the previously defined aspirations (557). Moreover, Nagel highlighted that a person’s ambitions were possible causes of the feeling of absurdity especially if the person keeps searching changes that present the potential of altering life. This may often result is an individual takes life’s decisions activities too seriously. He highlights that although life needs constant attention, taking it too seriously can be detrimental causing absurdity. Moreover, perceiving others

Women in Greek Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Women in Greek Mythology - Essay Example In Greek mythology, women are seldom considered in isolation from men, though critics consider important exceptions below, and they seldom have scope for action on their own initiative. According to Dillon (2002): Numerous oppositions in the ways in which Women were categorised, often determined by their role in society, and also their ethnic origin, are reflected in the various dichotomies of citizen wife/foreign woman, slave/free, prostitute/wife, girl/woman, and woman priest/woman sorcerer, to name some, all of which could overlap, and influenced how, why, when and where they gave expression to their religious beliefs (5). Mostly, females are either (a) children, (b) nubile maidens or (c) married. What is absent from this female career structure is any stage between initiation and marriage - the stage which allows the male to become a warrior, prove himself and discover himself: men marry later than women (Dillon 2002). Widows are mostly ignored and single women cannot be allowed to exist, except for goddesses like Circe and Kalypso in the Odyssey. For instance, "Hera is most typically a goddess of women, and it is for that reason that she is on occasion worshipped as Maid, Wife, and Widow, the last title giving no little trouble to interpreters of her myths in classical times, seeing that her husband was immortal" (Rose 1991, 103). In Greek mythology, womanhood is depicted through religious ritual and values followed by women characters. It is not surprising that religious dogmas became the code of behavior for women who needed strong arguments to prove their decisions. Gods are supposed to be temperate, diligent, loyal, hard-working, and cheerful. Although the religion women's responsibility for one's destination in the next life and one's fortunes in this, the individuals form a tight-knit and strongly. The above picture is supported with a number of important cases of religious domination remaining important because it continues to serve a variety of important social functions. The realization that a woman has to devote herself to husband and live according to the values was typical for all mortal women. Even if women want to be equal to men they would never talk about this with their husband. Such behavior considered typical for this epoch (Lefkowitz, 1986). A special attention was given to the role of marriage. For instance, Orestes acquires his entitlement to the throne of Sparta by marriage with Menelaos' daughter, Hermione. Menelaos came to the throne through his marriage with Tyndareus' daughter, Helen. Odysseus' winning of Ikarios' daughter, Penelope, has a high profile in the mythology - a myth which Homer, in his characteristic way, replays through the perverted attempt of the suitors to win Penelope's hand in Ithaka. In these cases the succession to the throne passes via a woman. This is not 'matriarchy', for women are not queens in their own rite, nor is it 'matrilinearity' (Rosaldo, Lamphere 1974), for power passes via daughters and wives, not mothers. Indeed the marriage is called into existence precisely because the daughter cannot wield power herself. This belongs in the broader Greek cultural picture of the

Pollution & the Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pollution & the Environment - Essay Example Water may be polluted when pollutants come from point or non-point sources. Non-point sources include those sources that are non-discrete or that do not originate from one discrete source. Non-point pollution arises from the cumulative effect of contaminating agents in little quantities over a large area. When nitrogen compounds found in fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other agricultural products leach out, it can easily cause pollution. Sheet flow over land used for agriculture may lead to pollution of water as the nutrients that were present in soil runoff in storm water. Point sources of pollution are those sources that come from discrete sources. For example, when a manufacturing company discharges hot water from its cooling system into a river, lake or other water body making the water body to become warm, pollution occurs from a point source. There are a wide range of agents that may cause water pollution. Some of these pollutants include pathogens, chemicals, and physical changes to the natural characteristics of water. While some minerals naturally occur in water, when their concentration in the water goes beyond the natural limit, the water is considered to be contaminated. Also, when substances that cause oxygen to be depleted in water such as man-made chemicals, grass and leaves, water pollution occurs. Pathogens or disease causing organisms such as Salmonella, Giardia lamblia, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Cryptosporidium parvum may get into the water when waster water or sewage is not adequately treated (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservatio, 2002). Chemical contaminants of water may include detergents, petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), products used for disinfection and waste from tree logging operations. Inorganic water pollutants include sulphur dioxide that is

Provided in the Doc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Provided in the Doc - Research Paper Example etic technology because it has a lot of drawbacks such as; hair loss, nausea, diarrhea, or death and significant number of the operation to replace the cancer cells without using this technology face failure. Chemotherapy is the principal cancer treatment modality which has decreased cancer mortality rate over the years. Chemotherapy causes setbacks such as nausea, diarrhea, and hair loss. Nanomagnetic technology is a scientific advancement in biomedical engineering that offers a safer alternative to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was unspecific in its action thereby had the risk of damaging healthy cells. Cases where nanomagentic technology was used, recorded fewer risks. Biomedical engineering should, therefore, be recommended as a safer alternative to chemotherapy as a cancer treatment modality According to the worldwide cancer statistics, 14.1 million people were diagnosed with cancer up to the year 2012. Out of these cases, 8.2 million mortality was reported. The United States alone reports more than 5000 cancer incidences every year. Out of this cases 137 occurred among children aged under the age of fourteen years and 59 were leukemia cases (Robert, 2013). Leukemia is an infectious disease where blood-forming organs like the bone marrow produce a large number of leucocytes, suppressing the production of normal blood cells. Nanomagnetic technology is the use of soft magnetic cores with high resistivity for diagnosis (Schulz, 2009). What drawbacks do cancer cells have, and how biomedical engineering helps to treat these drawbacks? Chemotherapy should be replaced by nanomagnetic technology because it has a lot of drawbacks such as; hair loss, nausea, diarrhea, or death and significant number of the operation to replace the cancer cells without using this technology face failure. The replacement of chemotherapy with nanomagnetic technology will reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. The study will use books and articles as the sources of information. The

Electronic Medical Records Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Electronic Medical Records - Essay Example Thus, the EMR has a complicated system which deals with the patient data in the most effective manner. The benefits of the EMR system in health care are several which help the practitioners immensely. "The system enables access to comprehensive, legible, and organized patient data and reference literature at the point of service." (Clayton, 2005). While the benefits of EMR in health care service are numerous, there are some significant disadvantages to the system which offer some crucial challenges to the practitioners. The major concerns about the use of the system are connected with set-up and training, productivity/efficiency concerns, connections to external data sources, privacy concerns, system performance and availability etc. The lack of confidentiality of the individual records which are managed electronically as well as the limitations connected with the software, hardware and networking technologies illustrate the major challenges faced when implementing a universal EMR sy stem. Clayton, Paul D. (2005). "Physician use of electronic medical records: Issues and successes with direct data entry and physician productivity." Retrieved February 09, 2009, from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgiartid=1560588

Huntington's Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Huntington's Disease - Essay Example This disease can develop at any age, however, it is most common between the ages of 30 to 50. HD was previously known as Huntington’s chorea. Chorea means jerky, involuntary movements. This paper provides a description of Huntington’s disease including its causes, symptoms, and treatment. Causes HD is caused by a genetic defect on chromosome 4. This disease causes part of DNA, known as a CAG repeat, to replicate itself more than it is supposed to (Lawrence, 2009). In normal conditions, this part of DNA section is repeated 10 to 28 times. However, in HD patients, it is repeated 36 to 120 times. Since this is a hereditary disease, the number of repeats tends to get bigger down the subsequent generations. Therefore, children having a larger number of repeats tend to develop symptoms of this disease at early ages. This condition affects basal ganglia that control balance and movement in human beings (WebMD, 2011). In the region of basal ganglia, HD mainly targets neurons of the striatum, especially those in the pallidum and caudate nuclei. There are two types of Huntington’s disease: adult-onset Huntington’s disease, which is the most common, and an early-onset form, which begins in childhood or adolescent stages of development (Lawrence, 2009). How HD is inherited HD is a disease that is passed from parents to children through misspelling or mutation in the normal gene, and it is found in every part of the world. A single abnormal gene can lead to the development of this disease. Genes are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): which is a molecule that exists as spiral ladder (HDSA, 2008). Every strand of DNA is made up of two paired chemicals known as bases. These bases include adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G). Bases usually pair together, and combine with other pairs to form coded messages. Genes, therefore, exist as long strands of paired bases in various combinations. A normal human being has approximately 30, 000 genes, which determine a person’s traits and characteristics (HDSA, 2008). The effect of genes on determining an individual’s characteristics depends on whether it is dominant or recessive. When a gene is dominant, only a single chromosome is needed to produce its effect, and when it is recessive, pair of chromosome copies is required to produce a characteristic or trait. HD is a dominant disorder that is caused by a copy of a defective gene, which is inherited from one parent (HDSA, 2008). The defective gene that produces HD is a sequence of DNA on the chromosome 4, which is made up of several base pairs that repeat themselves many times. A normal gene is usually composed of three DNA bases, made up of the sequence CAG. In HD patients, this sequence normally repeats itself several times, and the number of repeats becomes larger in the subsequent generations. Parents have two copies of chromosomes each, but they only donate one copy to each child (HDSA, 2008). A ch ild born of HD parents has 50-50 chance of developing this disease. Any child, who does not inherit a copy of HD gene from parents, can never develop this condition, and he or she cannot pass it to the next generations. Children who inherit HD gene may not show symptoms of this disease in early ages, but later in their lives. It has also been shown that some people develop this condition even if there is no family history of HD. It is believed that this is caused by a new genetic mutation, a process

Positioning and Differentiation Paper - Health Care Marketing Research

Positioning and Differentiation - Health Care Marketing - Research Paper Example The main objective of the paper is to identify the positioning and differentiation strategies of two healthcare organizations i.e. Cascade Valley Hospital & Clinics and Overlake Hospital Medical Center. The study will also endeavor at finding similarities and differentiating aspects between the two healthcare organizations. Differentiation and Positioning Strategies of Overlake Hospital Medical Center Overlake Hospital Medical Center is a nonprofit regional medical centre that provides its patients with highly developed medical related services. The organization is monitored by a Board of Directors. The company has nearly 2500 employees and has nearly 1000 active as well as courtesy physicians as the workforce (Overlake Hospital, 2012). It can be mentioned that innumerable strategies are employed by the healthcare organizations in order to keep themselves competitive. Overlake Hospital Medical Center situated at Belluvue has commenced a cardiac blog. Through this cardiac blog, the or ganization aims at educating the patients regarding the methods through which heart diseases can be prevented (Overlake Hospital, 2012). ... s been created in order to attract, retain and thus ensure that all the parties involved are satisfied with the policies and the strategies of the company. The company has positioned itself as a liaison between nursing, administration along with human resources, foundation and community in order to collectively influence the resources, associations and policies so that Overlake Hospital can be placed as one of the most preferred hospitals/employers in the domestic market as well as abroad. Health Grades have offered Overlake Hospital with five-star designation on numerous grounds. Overlake Hospital offers high quality of care and support to the patients who are suffering from cancer as well as other emergencies. The integrated cancer care team of the hospital generally has one objective which is to offer the patients suffering from cancer with expert care that has been customized to the unique requirements of each of the patients. The trademark of quality care is compassion, skilled care as well as speed at Overlake’s new Emergency & Trauma Center. The unit is considered to be the only Level III trauma centre on the Eastside (KMPG, 2011). It has been observed that the hospital offers care without charge and at reduced rates to the patients who are capable of qualifying for charity care as per the rules and the regulations of the hospital. During the year 2010 and 2011, the cost of charity was nearly US$5561000 and US$4507000 respectively (KMPG, 2011). Overlake Hospital as a part of its differentiation strategy offers care to the Medicaid patients at a price which is quite below the cost of offering the services. The hospital is also involved in numerous other activities in order to maintain competitive advantage. It has been apparent that the company is involved in