Waiting for gusfman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Waiting for gusfman - Essay Example The form of the ‘mockumentary’ not only allows for this type of satire, but it also creates a satire of the form of the documentary as well. The film Waiting for Guffman provides for a look at the idea of community as seen through the social interactions that are required to develop an event that celebrates the uniqueness of the community, while that uniqueness is revealed for its absurdity. Waiting for Guffman (1996) is a film in which the genre of the ‘mockumentary’ as developed by Rob Reiner through the innovative and classic film This is Spinal Tap (1986) is used to satirize a cultural event. Christopher Guest, who co-wrote and starred in Reiner’s film, creates the work Waiting for Guffman as a way of examining the concept of the a local theater group as they attempt to put on a production as a way of celebrating the town’s sesquicentennial. Guffman refers to a man named Mort Guffman who is reported to be Broadway talent scout who will be attending the event. The production is based on the history of the town which has parallel details of the type that might be found in many small towns, crossing the line to the absurd as the town is proclaimed to be ‘The Stool Capital of the World’. Christopher Guest plays the character Corky St. Clair whose visions are often beyond the capacity of his small theater to achieve. The film utilizes the suspension of natural laws through explorations of the absurd as they relate to the truths of many small towns across America. As Guest’s character presents himself as an over the top and flamboyant theater director, he embraces the idea of homosexuality within a small town atmosphere as being represented by extravagance and eccentricity. Through a stereotypical portrayal, he comments on the avant guarde as it is explored in less than sophisticated surroundings, missing the mark and flying wide into an absurdity of his

Technical Support And Information Sources Computer Science Essay

Technical Support And Information Sources Computer Science Essay Technical support is a team which is responsible to support for individuals and organisations in a variety of ways. They also describe and explain to the customers all information about technology of their products or their services that they provide. Technical support team has people who have a good knowledge about electronic systems, computer systems which included software and hardware. They are able to troubleshoot related problems. In general, technical support provides technical support to organisation, customers and end-users. Source of information can be used for a variety of hardware and software related faults? The information can be gathered from a number of sources such as direct questioning, consulting a fault log or using diagnostic and monitoring tools. Finding out information: Direct questioning If the organisation, customers or end-users has any problems with the product or service, they will contact to get some helps from technical support. They will contact by phone or face to face and the technical support specialists need to find out as much as possible what the problem is. Then they can make decision how they can resolve the problem. But before accepting the calls from customers or users, they may need to check that the customer or user is entitled to their support services. They may require the customer or user to give correct username and password, account number or some personal details. They also can ask the customer some question for clarification, or further questions to ensure that they have a good understanding of the problem. In general, direct questioning is an important technique which is used in information gathering because it is flexible. Fault logs Fault log is a record of events that occurred and it may include the information about how the fault was fixed. Most business organisations have the computer rooms that can be used by many different users, so they need to have a written fault log that is regularly checked by technical staffs. The technical staffs will identify and remedy any faults that have been reported by users. A log should be maintained for each computer system. When the computer system is broken down, the technical staff will need the information from the fault logs such as when the equipment was obtained, when the software was installed or what setting have been used. Fault log will record what happen with computer system and how it was fixed. A fault log may be kept manually or it may be create automatically by software. Diagnostics and Monitoring tools Another way that helps the technical staffs to define a particular problem is using diagnostic and monitoring tools. The technician can ask the system directly by using diagnostic and monitoring tools such as the POST (Power on Self-Test). When the computer system is turned on, the POST will check the hardware to make sure everything is working correctly before the OS is loaded and run. There are three types that the problems can be occurred. They are following: If there are problems before the screen is functioning, a sequence of beeps is used to indicate the nature of the faults. If the problem is occurred after the screen is functioning, an error code will be showed on the screen. This error code will show which device is not working properly. If the problem is occurred while computer is running, the user or technical staffs can use Event Viewer. The Event Viewer is monitoring tool that is included with OS window. It can be used to manage and view these events. It also can be used to track security events and identify possible software, hardware and system problems. The event viewer interface will contain a series of event logs that can be viewed by either a user or a technician. This particular log contains a series of entries that consist of information, warnings and errors. Checking the problems: Some informations sources are more reliable than others. So when processing the information, the user or technical staff needs to make sure that the information is valid. Cross-reference checks with user When the technical staffs are talking with the users or customers about the problems, they can call up data on their computer system which is including the current information and configurations of the users computer. The technical staff also can check that other users are experiencing the same problems on a particular system. Confirmation from a number of users that a particular fault exists or that the fault is of a particular nature will give the technician confidence in how to approach a formal diagnosis and remedy. But the information may be out of date because the users or customers may have upgraded the equipment or installed a more modern OS. So the technical staffs should confirm the information with the user during the initial conversation. When the users and customers may not be able to answer the questions, the technical staff should help and direct them to how they can find out the answers. Problem reproduction After asking the customers or users some simple direct questions to indentify who they are and what the problems are, the technical staff need to find out exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. The users or the customers may jump to conclusions and suggest things that are wrong with the computer rather than just giving the technical staff facts. So the best way for a technician to identify and diagnose a fault is to see the problem. If the fault is intermittent, it may prove difficult to reproduce the fault in the workshop. In this case, the users or customers need to takes screenshots of any error messages and prints these to be used as reference material as and when the system is being repaired. The problem reproduction is a useful strategy. Asking the users or customers to talk through what went wrong can reveal important information that the user may not told the technical staffs. One more important fact is the date when the problem was first noticed. If any new hardware or software was installed immediately before the fault appeared, this might be to blame. To fix this problem, the technical staffs can take the users back to a time when the computer was working. This way will help the users to think through the events that led up to the problems and exactly as it happened. This may reveal vital clues but it is still important to keep an open mind and to consider alternative sources of the problem. Manufacturers website Manufacturers websites are a valuable source of information. If an application fails to work, the user or customer can search the manufactures website for the latest information about known bugs in the system. The information is accessed through an open forum which is clearly going to be significantly less reliable than a manufacturers own website. Individuals providing technical advice of any kind must make sure that they are doing so supported by accurate and valid information. Further sources of such information are discussed in the following section. Source of information: Product specifications and manuals Most products are sold with a product specification and a technical manual. Product specification is written by the manufacture of the product. It contains all the information and details of products technical. A manual also is written by the manufacturer but it is used to explain how to make the best use of a hardware or software. Some manufacturers store product specifications and manuals in CD or DVD as PDF file. The CD or DVD will have all information about the main features of the product, or a video on troubleshooting. Colleagues with specialist expertise This is the best source of information because the users or technical staffs can get the technical information from people around them such as colleagues and friends. Those people can offer their experience in solving problems, but they must to find right people to ask. If they ask to wrong people so it means that they get wrong information and these information can not be used. The advantage of this source of information is the users can ask further questions if they are unsure that they fully understand a process, an answer or an explanation. Knowledge bases Using a knowledge base may involve searching for information which is relevant to the problem that the users want to try solving. The technical support can draw on a knowledge base to help them decide on a course of action. There is a range of knowledge bases that are available on the internet, but the technician support or the users must be very careful about relying on information that may not be valid or correct. Fault records showing previously found solutions A fault log is most useful when it lists not only the problems that were encountered but also the way in which they were solved. A fault log that includes the name of the technical support that solved a particular fault will allow the users contact them if they have encountered a similar fault and need specialist help. The historical information of previous faults and remedies will be essential for the technician support that will effectively be able to learn from other peoples experiences. Internet source (e.g.: FAQs and technical forums) The internet is the very useful source of information which helps the user or technician to resolve technical problems. There are two main informations sources on the internet which are FAQs and technical forum. FAQs stand for Frequently Asked Questions which can solve the most common problems for users with minimal effort for the help desk staff. The manufacturers websites usually contain FAQs about their products or services. This is where they use to list the information. This is also a place that the problems will be resolved and the questions of users about the product or service will be answered. The technical forum is a place where the users and technician can talk and discuss about the product or service. Technical forums can be a useful route to finding answers to both simple and complex problems. What hardware and software related questions could you be asked by users requiring technical support and how would you handle each of these questions? Question 1: My computer may be hacked by virus and my anti-virus software is not working? How can I fix it? As a technician, I tried to turn on their computer and I can see their computer being attacked by a virus. I have checked the current anti-virus software that they use. Their computer is currently using Norton anti virus software and this software is expired. So the customers should renew the software if they want to use it to protect their computers. Question 2: What can I do if the virus still in the computer system even that anti-virus software is working? In this case, I will tell the customers that they should format the hard drive and install new OS software. But before formatting, they should back up all important data and information to external storage devices. Question 3: My computer would boot up but then after 5-10 mins, it would shut itself down. What is this problem? Firstly, I will ask some question to the customers get more information about what happen with their computers and then I give them my opinion. I think that the computer may be attacked by virus because this problem is a symptom of virus attack or the hardware of computer may be faulty. If the problem occurs by virus, I will use the newest version of anti virus software to find and delete the virus. If the problem occurs by hardware faulty, I open the computer system and check the hardware of computer. I think that problem is electrical faults which can lie within a hardware component, in the cabling that connects these components or in the connectors between the cabling and the components. The hardware that I will check are: motherboard, PSU, CPU, RAM, etc†¦

Literary Comparison Of A Clock Essay -- essays research papers

A Literary Comparison Of A Clockwork Orange and The Crucible   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The existence of evil in the world is a universal question that is often contemplated. Anthony Burgess and Arthur Miller in their novels A Clockwork Orange and The Crucible address this question of evil. One of these stories is set in the future, and the other in the past confirming the belief that the human struggle between good and evil is timeless and applies to every person in society. Throughout history numerous examples of leaders have attempted to control the nature of people within their society through systems of punishment and reward. This system had failed continuously to control the entire population because people still retain their ability to choose. It is said that once a person loses his free will, he ceases to be a person. This is the struggle confronting the protagonists in both A Clockwork Orange and The Crucible. The fifteen-year old rebel Alex and the respected farmer John Proctor refuse to conform to the rules of their oppressive societies, a nd as a result are denied the freedom to choose between good and evil, therefore becoming less than human.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Alex and John Proctor live in highly oppressive societies from which they feel alienated, and therefore decide to rebel against. The futuristic setting of A Clockwork Orange is one of a constructive, depersonalized society where the government has far too much control over people’s lives. They are forced to live in strictly regimented communities, and their daily life is dreary. “Alex’s England is a socialized nightmare.'; (De Vitis, 106) It is because of this meaningless life that Alex chooses to rebel against his society, committing so many brutal acts of violence that he soon becomes desensitized to the horror he is creating. When questioned by his correctional officer as to why he acts this way, Alex replies “…badness is of the self, the one, the you or me. They of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow badness because they cannot allow they self… what I do, I do because I like to do it. (Burgess, 34 ) Alex fully Bisson 2 realizes that the controlled society he lives is one that tries to eliminate all individuality. This causes him to act out in violence against authority as a means o... ... since it is the only way he will be allowed to remain true to himself. Proctor realizes that life without free will is a subhuman existence and not worth living. Both Alex and john, unable to choose between right and wrong for themselves, cease to have a normal existence, and both choose death over a life without choice. This is the only way they have of affirming their humanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Anthony Burgess and Arthur Miller believe that it is more important to remain true to oneself then to always choose good over evil. They show a person must maintain their free will in order to function properly as a human being. They prove this in their works A Clockwork Orange and The Crucible by showing the negative things which befall the protagonists when their right to choose is taken from them. Basically, a free will is essential to every human being, and to take it away is to dehumanize an individual. The two novels function as notable warnings to those that would sacrifice their individuality to please authorities. In addition, they remind the reader that what makes a person is their ability to choose, and so it is necessary that people be allowed that choice.

Insomnia :: essays research papers

Insomnia Insomnia Almost everyone experiences insomnia now and then. When one believes he must be in bed by a certain time every night or that he needs a certain number of hours of sleep, it may be the very thing that is preventing him from going to sleep (Munson 21). It is unfortunately true that many people still suffer from poor sleep but do not know that there are numerous programs that can help them. Insomnia, which is due to various causes and includes a vaiety of symptoms, can be reduced or eliminated in a number of ways. Stress is one of the main causes in determining insomnia. It is a fact of every day life and can be defined as any event which causes a significant emotional response. Happy occasions such as getting married, promoted, or going on a vacation can cause stress reaction, not only because because participation in the event is occurring but also in the preparation. More obvious events that occur throughout one's life are the loss of a job, a loved one, or the need for surg ery. In such major life changes, the sources of the emotional response is much more easily identified (Shapiro MacFarlane Hussain 49). There are two types of stress: bad stress or negative stress which destroys your ability to operate at capacity, mentally and physically and good stress which improves your performance (Shapiro 49-50). There are different ways to reduce stress. One should try to find a job he really enjoys. It is not the stress of work that wears one out but the stress of frustration and failure. Two big causes of stress on the job are not knowing what is expected and not having adequate facts or tools. Escaping for a while is another method to help eliminate stress. One can visit a friend, go to a movie, or shop. When he returns, he can attempt to cope with the problem. However, it does not help to keep escaping, the individual should try to cope with problems as promptly as they arise (Hauri 111). Even though it is often difficult to make changes in lifestyle, the effort is worth it. Exchanging stress for a sense of control can lift a heavy weight from one's shoulders. The more control one has over his life during the day, the more likely it is that his night time sleep will become satisfying again (Hauri 113).

Preschool Literacy Essay

2 This paper is going to outline the myriad of benefits that high-quality preschool literacy programs will afford families, communities, school districts and the world. Today, numerous researchers are delving into HOW to establish an effective and successful pre-school program. In this paper, I hope to answer several questions: ? What is pre-school literacy? ? What benefits do participants in a preschool program receive? ? HOW do we go about establishing a high-quality pre-school literacy program? I am rather passionate about this area. Being a speech pathologist, literacy skills and communication skills are so interwoven it is difficult to separate them. I have to say that while going to school many years ago, we didn’t learn that much about literacy as it related to speech and language development. It is only recently that researchers and educators have identified the importance of how both developmental areas are linked. I feel that establishing successful and highly effective programs that incorporate family and child directed activities are crucial to the success of our young students. That being said, let’s explore pre-school literacy. What is preschool literacy? Most people hear the word ‘literacy’ and equate that with ‘reading’. This would be an adult analogy. For very young children, we don’t, nor should we, expect them to read! Early literacy skills refer to many different things, none of which is sitting down with Mom at the age of two and reading aloud for her. At the youngest ages, early literacy skills refer to children’s exposure and experience with books. The following list is derived from Schickendanz (1999) and Early Literacy (www. zerotothree. com) . It states that early literacy behaviors include: ? Book handling behaviors – handling and manipulating the book ? Looking and Recognizing- how are they paying attention to the book, pictures, words; demonstrating recognition of pictures, etc. ? Picture and Story Comprehension – Imitation of actions noted in a story, talking about a story ? Story-Reading Behaviors – verbal interactions with the books, imitating a pointing a finger at words and/or pictures. ‘Establishing strong early literacy behaviors is essential to literacy development and should be the focus of early language and literacy programs’ (Early Literacy, 2003) It is suggested that these skills develop naturally and unfold as a result of social interactions with parents and caregivers, rather than direct instruction. I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. Ideally, it is everyday interactions with infants and toddlers that include talking and book reading that help establish the crucial beginning stages of literacy development. I recently heard on a radio program (can’t cite it) that children between the ages of 0-3 years should hear approximately 30,000 words a day to build an effective vocabulary! Amazing. Todd Risley, co-author of Meaningful differences in the 3 everyday Experiences of young American children (Mangione, 2005), states that isn’t an intentional teaching of these behaviors but rather embedded in the social interactions. He believes, as do I, that oral language skills appear to be the basis of phonological processing skills, which is a strong indicator for reading readiness in kindergarten. As children move into the preschool realm, (typically described as ages 3 through 5), prereading skills are developing along a continuum, rather than as a set of discrete and separate skills. In the article Critical Issue: Addressing the literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers (www. ncrel. org), the authors made a very interesting point I’d like to share with you. They discussed the various stages of literacy development that are not relevant to this article, however, an important transition occurs when a child’s â€Å"‘reading’ of a story changes from sounding like oral language to sounding like written language. This demonstrates a change in ideas from thinking of reading as spoken words to understanding that reading is recreated from written text that has special wordings† (McGee & Richgels, 1996;Sulzby, 1991). It is the beginning of the child’s print recognition. With respect to specific pre-school literacy behaviors that we should see addressed in a high-quality preschool program, the most important would be: ? Oral Language- engaging in rich conversational exchange with students, developing oral vocabulary, reading aloud daily, having children develop their own stories by looking at pictures (Tomie DiPola books are excellent for this) ? General Knowledge – what prior knowledge are the student’s coming into school with that they share, encouraging questions and new experiences with in the classroom, ? Print Awareness- being exposed to various written materials, some repetition of early literacy behaviors, point/drag techniques while reading ? Alphabet knowledge – the ABC song, recognizing sounds that letters make, letter recognition. ? Phonological awareness- Increased awareness of the sounds of the letters and how to play with them through rhyme, segmenting, blending, ? Pre-writing skills – later stages of development and exposure to writing mediums (pen, pencil, crayon, markers, paint), using journals with self-made pictures, word walls. (Roskos, K; Christie, J, Richgels, D, www. naeyc. org) How do participants in high-quality preschool programs benefit? I think I could go on for days about the benefits of an excellent preschool experience. For the sake of brevity, I won’t! Numerous studies have been conducted to determine whether preschool programs are beneficial and cost effective. The majority of studies suggest the answer to that is an overwhelming YES. 4 The Chicago Child Parent Center (CPC), the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program and the Abecedarian Project are all examples of highly qualified preschool programs. The CPC is recognized by the US Department of Education as an exemplary early childhood program. A comparison of the benefits of these programs was conducted, yielding what I thought were incredible results. These programs have been in effect since the 1960’s, servicing low-income areas in Chicago and Michigan (Lee, J, www.ccsso. org). In a speech given by Dr. W. Steven Barnett of the National Institute for Early Intervention Research in 2006, three separate studies compared the results of participants enrolled in the above-mentioned preschool programs against a control group that wasn’t enrolled in any preschool program. Their longitudinal studies revealed amazing results, which are credited to the attending of the preschool programs. According to them, participants in the program (as compared with non-participants): ? Were less likely to be enrolled in special education ? Had a higher rate of high school completion ? Demonstrated higher test scores ? Were less likely to repeat a grade ? Had increased earning after completing high school ? Engaged in less criminal activities ? Had a lower incidence of smoking, pregnancy and abortion. These benefits did not stop at the poverty line. They also demonstrated that middle class children benefited from the experience as well. He discussed the well-known fact that disadvantaged children benefit more when they are in class with children from different socio-economic backgrounds. An analysis I found very interesting was that ‘For every dollar invested into the preschool programs described in this paper $7 is saved in public expenditures’ (Lee. www. ccsso. org). WOW, think what that could mean to a superintendent’s budget! When trying to determine whether a preschool program could benefit those in the middle class, the US Dept. of Education, NCES, (1997) article entitled Dropout rates in the United States:1995 determined that middle class children have fairly high rates of the problems that preschool reduces for low-income children. While benefits decrease gradually with an income increase, the overall benefits are greater when ALL children are exposed to PreK. In an evaluation of 5 state prek programs conducted by Barnett,W. S, Lamy, C. and Jung, K. (2005), results revealed that in all programs, whether universal or targeted, students demonstrated gains in language, literacy and math. While all students (various SES backgrounds) gained, the low-income students gained more. Soooooo†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 How do we go about establishing high-quality preschool literacy programs? In an ideal world with unlimited funding, it wouldn’t be too difficult. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and much needed financing is often diverted to other important (or not so important! ) causes. Really, what is more important than education? One resolution could be to emulate the success demonstrated by the Chicago and Michigan programs spoken about earlier in this paper. In Rockland County, some school disctricts already offer a district-based preschool program. This year, all districts were alloted slots to participate in a Universal PreK initiative. However, while that is an excellent start to establishing a much needed entity, a lot of work still exists. During my research gathering I read many, many articles that discussed the family-centered literacy approach. Such as at the CPC, involving the parents and providing them with strategies and useful techniques to help their children empowers them and makes them feel useful and successful. Without parental involvement at the preschool level, literacy development suffers. Since the institution of NCLB, many school disstricts are seeking wasys to provide needed support to their students without it becoming a ‘special ed’ component or target program. Instituting a universal prek program benefits all. Looking at the various achievement gaps that Dr. Barnett identified in his paper, while there is significantly more of an achievement gap at the lower SES levels, there are still marked gaps in the middle class level, thus further justifying why ALL students would benefit from the experience. In an effort to establish successful high-quality preschool programs in Texas, the retired CEO of Texas Instruments was aware of the huge impact the Perry Preschool Program had on its communities and he was eager to replicate that success in Texas. Therefore, after establishing a successful pilot program, the participants wanted to be able to spread the success throughout the state and a handbook â€Å"Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children’ was developed for prekindergarten educators. The authors and editors really were able to target what a high-quality program looks like with suggestions on how to implement them into your existing programs. The following steps are indicated to improve a preschool program: ? Set goals ? Create an improvement plan ? Build a classroom library ? Train the teachers and encourage collaboration? Keep rack of student’s progress ? Inform and involve parents 6 ? Communicate with elementary schools the children will attend ? Measure and document results (Dougherty, 1999) All of these steps are so important to developing a program that is successful. It is hard to determine whether one step is more important than another. Personally, I really feel that if the teachers and the teaching assistants and/or aides are given the proper training, every interaction with a child will take on new meaning. The Margaret Cone Head Start Center in Southeast Dallas has serviced predominantly low-income populations. As part of their language enrichment program (LEAP), each teacher attends six weeks of instruction at the nearby university as well as several workshops a year. Because of these teacher trainings, Cone Center children have produced improved scores on a variety of tests targeting vocabulary, language skills and social skills. I believe that involving the parents as much as possible and having them in the classroom for a half-day a week or twice a month lets them see what is happening and provides modeling they can use at home. Obstacles that I can identify at this point to establishing high-quality preschool programs that ALL children can attend include: ? FUNDING ? Private preschool programs vs. school district based programs ? Consistent participation on the part of the parents ? Difficulty providing quality training programs for the teachers and teaching assistants/aides due to lack of funding, time, resources While I feel there are many excellent examples of qualified and successful preschool programs in Rockland County, we do not meet the needs of all the children of the preschool age. As CPSE chair, I am able to provide special education needs to many children that require it. However, there is great variability between the programs that we recommend students attend. Consistent high-quality preschool programs would be beneficial to ALL students involved, not just the special needs children. In conclusion, it is a well-documented fact that preschool literacy education benefits all children involved. The need lies in our ability to establish high-caliber programs that are consistent, with staff that is well trained and caring. I think if we can distribute the information about the long-term effects researched and prove to the masses (school boards! ) that the bottom line would be cost savings to the community, we might see some change. I look forward to that day! References 1. Schweinhart, L. J. Lasting Benefits of Preschool Programs ERIC Digest. ericdigests. org. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ericdigests. org/1994/lasting. htm 2. Dougherty, C. , et al. Improving Early Literacy of Preschool Children – a Handbook for Prekindergarten Educators. Texas Instruments, 1999. 3. Lee, J. The Benefits of Preschool for High School and Beyond. Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www. ccsso. org 4. Roskos, K. A. , Christie, J. F. & Richgels, D. J. The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Retrieved February 23, 2008, from www. naeyc. org/resources/journal 5. Mangione, P. L. (2005). Creating Language and Literacy Experiences for Infants and Toddlers. PITC Graduate Conference. Berkeley, CA. 6. Johnson, D. & Sulzby, E. Critical Issue: Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers. North Central Regional Educational Library. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www. ncrel. org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading/li100. htm 7. Barnett, W. (2006, Jan. 10). Research on the Benefits of Preschool Education: Securing High Returns from Preschool for All Children. New York, NY. 8. Brain Wonders. Early Literacy (2003). Zero To Three. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from www. zerotothree. org/BrainWonders

Is the ‘Philosophy of Swine’ Objection a Telling Criticism of Utilitarian Theory?

â€Å"Is the ‘philosophy of swine’ objection a telling criticism of Utilitarian theory? Why or why not? † Philosophy of swine. This was mentioned by Mill criticizing Bentham’s utilitarianism. Before looking at Mill’s criticism, historical background of the birth of utilitarianism should be discussed ahead. Utilitarianism arose in the Industrial Revolution period. As nations became industrialized in the eighteenth century, bourgeois: an industrial middle class, appeared demanding new political and economic theory which would support their own interests.In the economic sphere, Adam Smith introduced laissez-faire theory following new era’s request. However, political theory was still remaining at social contract theory of the seventeenth century. Especially, as Britain was enjoying its period of political and constitutional stability after the Glorious Revolution, social contract theory which explains legitimacy of a government didn’t attr act people’s attention any more. Going through the social fluctuations, Bentham came up with an idea called ‘utilitarianism’. Bentham’s theory was remarkably progressive that he was considered as philosophical radicals.In accordance with the bourgeois’ demand for theory appropriate to those days, Bentham’s utilitarianism was based on a very simple premise; every man pursues happiness. A single behavior is determined to be moral or not by whether it creates happiness. This makes utilitarianism solely focus on the consequence of the act. Bentham also insists that every choice should be made toward the maximization of utility. Regarding making political decisions, we should follow the policy that yields ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’.However, Bentham’s theory is denounced by Mill, because it doesn’t acknowledge the objective standard of values. When Bentham deals with the happiness, that only count is the total aggregation of the amount of happiness. The standard and quality of the pleasure is totally disregarded. For example, there is no difference in quality between satisfied satiety after eating delicious food and the feeling of academic accomplishment. However, Mill completes Utilitarianism criticizing and supplementing this quantitative utilitarianism. It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. † This famous phrase denotes that human happiness is inseparable from the question of quality, and there exists much higher level of pleasure. It is reasonable for Mill to criticize Bentham’s utilitarianism as the philosophy of swine. However, not all utilitarian theories should be regarded as the swine philosophy. Mill developed qualitative utilitarianism with this criticism and also established liberalism thoughts on this ground, which still has a significant impact on today’s poli tical theory.Thus, the answer to the given question is partly yes and partly no. This essay will endeavor to explain that utilitarianism is more than just hedonism; utilitarianism completed by Mill, liberal thoughts suggested in On Liberty, and its impact on present society will be discussed further. First of all, Mill introduced the concept of quality to existing utilitarianism. He suggested that â€Å"some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others. † Mental pleasure is much superior to physical and instinctive pleasure, because only human beings can experience the former.For this reason, Mill’s utilitarianism is often called humanized utilitarianism. Another factor that distinguishes Mill from Bentham is that his idea of compatibility between individual utility and social utility. This argument is also used when criticizing Bentham who saw human beings as selfish entities. Contrarily, Mill concluded that men do not always pursue an immediate profit. Of course, human beings are fundamentally self-centered, but they can give up present interests since they can see the future through long-term perspective.For example, volunteer workers who seek for positive change in the future cannot be explained by Bentham’s standpoint. Human beings have an element that enables them to sacrifice themselves and find their lives worth living for social utility. In this way, Mill completed more refined utilitarian theory emphasizing the harmony between individual and society. In his famous work On Liberty, Mill put great emphasis on social liberty as well as individual liberty. He relates human behavior with social utility and stresses again that human beings are not obsessed with immediate interests.He says that â€Å"I regard utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions; but it must be utility in the largest sense, grounded on the permanent interests of man as a progressive being. † What we should take note from t his is that human beings are progressive. This is the distinctive part where Mill’s theory excels Bentham’s. Aforementioned, men can desert present interest since they are progressive entities, expecting future advantages. In a word, Mill upgraded the notion of utility to the means to men’s durable profits. The concept ‘utility’ is used in modern political philosophy in relation to welfare.In this manner, utilitarianism, from the nineteenth century to present days, has worked as a central part of political theories, and has had a great influence on democracy as a foundation of liberalism. Thus, to condemn utilitarianism as hedonistic theory cannot be justified. The last factor defending utilitarianism from such criticism is that it provides a basic ground for securing freedom of thought and speech. This is also closely connected with utilitarianism which formed the basis of Mill’s theory. Individual freedom should be guaranteed under any circ umstances, because it is directly correlated to social utility.Mill particularly gives priority to freedom of thought and speech more than any other freedom. The premise of the freedom of thought and speech is that every opinion has a possibility of being a fallacy. Mill insists that â€Å"If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. † This can be justified from the utilitarian perspective, because every opinion, albeit it is a minority opinion, is possible enough to contribute to the progress of the society. All thoughts and expressions have utility for the development of humanity.The fact known to us as a truth can turn out to be false at any time; the Copernican theory exploded pervading heliocentric theory and Einstein’s theory of relativity reversed existing scientific system. Consequentially, a maximum guaranteed freedom produces increased happiness for mankind. This is a crucial part of liberalism that emphasizes t he minimization of the government intervention in individuals for every person’s freedom. Liberalism established by Mill became the very foundation of western political philosophy until Rawls’ theory appears.From this, the importance of utilitarianism is induced; it is more than just hedonistic theory. So far we’ve gone through some reasons why utilitarianism is not the philosophy of swine that appeals to human instinct, putting Mill’s idea at the center. It is true that early utilitarian thinker Bentham suggested somewhat hedonistic theory. However, his idea of utilitarianism that consequence counts the most has worked as a fundamental root of utilitarianism and was revised, developed, and completed by Mill. Swine philosophy objection is only valid when criticizing Bentham, but it is also ard to deny that Bentham did contribute to the establishment of modern political thoughts by setting up a radical theory of that time. Thus, swine objection seems hard to be an effective critique to utilitarianism. (1,195 words) Bibliography Bentham, Jeremy. An Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907. Mill, J. S. Utilitarianism, Liberty, Representative Government. London: Dent, 1972. Mulgan, Tim. Understanding Utilitarianism. Stocksfield U. K. : Acumen, 2007. Riley, Jonathan. Liberal Utilitarianism: social choice theory and J. S. Mill’s Philosophy.Cambridge England; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Riley, Jonathan. â€Å"What are Millian Qualitative Superiorities? † Prolegomena: Journal of Philosophy 7, no. 1 (2008): 61-79. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Jeremy Bentham, â€Å"Of the Principle of Utility,† in An Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 1-7. [ 2 ]. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, Liberty, Representative Gover nment (London; Dent, 1972), 9. [ 3 ]. Ibid. , 7. [ 4 ]. Mill, Utilitarianism, Liberty, Representative Government, 74. [ 5 ]. Ibid. , 79.

My Beloved Cat

One day, Ahmad go to the Pengkalan Market to buy groceries using my car as usual. After arrived there, Ahmad started to buy all my thing listed in the notes that Ahmad made before. After finished buying, Ahmad straightly walks to the car to go home. However, during my walk, suddenly Ahmad saw a cat that really cute and thus it attract me to go near to it. As Ahmad go near to the cat, the cat makes an action that makes me feel happy and enjoyable.Thus, Ahmad thinks either the cat is someone else pet or not. After think sometimes Ahmad suddenly come up with decision that Ahmad want to take this cat go back with me and to be my pet since Ahmad also never had any pet before in my home. As Ahmad arrive home, Ahmad want to find and give a suitable name to my pet. In about 20 minutes, Ahmad finally found suitable name for my cat that is Bobby. The reason that makes me choose Bobby as its name is because the cat is male (boy) cat.Hence, Ahmad left Bobby for a while in my house and Ahmad quic kly went to the shop and buy cat food (Whiskas) and a cage for Bobby’s. Thus, Ahmad went back to home, take Bobby and put it inside its cage and feed it with Whiskas. Later, Ahmad went to my bed to take my rest. As Ahmad wake up the next day, Ahmad straightly goes to Bobby’s cage to look its condition and to give it Whiskas. However, suddenly Ahmad notice that Bobby’s has gone and Ahmad really shocked.All bad things have play in my mind. Ahmad even thinks that someone has stolen my cat, but†¦.. suddenly, Ahmad hear someone call my names several time and repeatedly. Thus, from time to time the sound being loud and louder and seems near to me. Next, Ahmad found that my boys are on my bed inside my room and actually Ahmad just dream on. Actually my younger sister calls me to wake me up to go to the Pengkalan market. The dream is really wonderful to me and Ahmad won’t forget it ever. My Beloved Cat One day, Ahmad go to the Pengkalan Market to buy groceries using my car as usual. After arrived there, Ahmad started to buy all my thing listed in the notes that Ahmad made before. After finished buying, Ahmad straightly walks to the car to go home. However, during my walk, suddenly Ahmad saw a cat that really cute and thus it attract me to go near to it. As Ahmad go near to the cat, the cat makes an action that makes me feel happy and enjoyable.Thus, Ahmad thinks either the cat is someone else pet or not. After think sometimes Ahmad suddenly come up with decision that Ahmad want to take this cat go back with me and to be my pet since Ahmad also never had any pet before in my home. As Ahmad arrive home, Ahmad want to find and give a suitable name to my pet. In about 20 minutes, Ahmad finally found suitable name for my cat that is Bobby. The reason that makes me choose Bobby as its name is because the cat is male (boy) cat.Hence, Ahmad left Bobby for a while in my house and Ahmad quic kly went to the shop and buy cat food (Whiskas) and a cage for Bobby’s. Thus, Ahmad went back to home, take Bobby and put it inside its cage and feed it with Whiskas. Later, Ahmad went to my bed to take my rest. As Ahmad wake up the next day, Ahmad straightly goes to Bobby’s cage to look its condition and to give it Whiskas. However, suddenly Ahmad notice that Bobby’s has gone and Ahmad really shocked.All bad things have play in my mind. Ahmad even thinks that someone has stolen my cat, but†¦.. suddenly, Ahmad hear someone call my names several time and repeatedly. Thus, from time to time the sound being loud and louder and seems near to me. Next, Ahmad found that my boys are on my bed inside my room and actually Ahmad just dream on. Actually my younger sister calls me to wake me up to go to the Pengkalan market. The dream is really wonderful to me and Ahmad won’t forget it ever.