Abortion Choices :: Essays Papers

Abortion Choices Driving up to the clinic where I worked I did not expect what I saw. There were several protestors outside picketing and shouting their beliefs about rights and murder at me. I opened the door to see a teenage girl standing in panic and fear. She cried, â€Å"I’m only a child myself!† I walked into my room and was preparing to help this young teenage girl when I heard a loud sound and I felt heat coming from the front of the clinic. I ran out front to realize that the clinic had been bombed. If only I didn’t have a controversial job, then there wouldn’t be so many deaths. Abortion is a controversial and political issue that is widely debated. Abortion is a public health problem that affects the entire globe. Since Christianity was established and the Ancient Romans ruled, the concept of abortion was known. However, abortion was not used since the expected age of death for four out of 100 people was 50 years of age. At the time of the Catholic Churches Inquisition, extreme punishment was enforced for the mothers and midwives who aborted babies. These women were thought to be witches. At this time abortion was wrong for a person and also the society in which they lived. Now abortion is legal, but still has affects the entire world. Abortion has become such a large issue over the years that some individual and right to life groups find it necessary to bomb clinics, killing those who perform the abortion procedures (Correa). Abortion is used to save lives in the 189 countries of the 193 countries to save women’s lives. At rates that are 20 times what the United States has registered are the countries of Peru, Dominican Republic and Chile. Material deaths reached 78,000 for unsafe abortions between the years of 1995 and 2000. Complications due to abortion, kills one in eight women. Abortion does not just affect mothers, it affects the entire world. The process of having a child can easily be controlled through the use of birth control and condoms.

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family :: essays research papers fc

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family How would you feel if I told you that I am the new proud owner of you and your family? That is, that I have been granted a United States patent on the DNA sequence particular to your line of descent because I have identified a unique property of your genetic material. A few cultured cells with your genetic makeup, added to lotion and rubbed on the skin, allow one to look younger, wrinkle-free, and be less susceptible to skin cancer. Of course this does not mean that I have control over yours and your family’s actions – only over the application of your DNA to skin care. If you feel like you may have hit the jackpot, then prepare for another disappointment – you are not entitled to any portion of my profits, nor are you rewarded for having such supple genes. Under current patent law, living entities are not patentable in their natural state, which means that you cannot patent your own body1. Other requirements for a patent is that the invention or design is novel – no one else made it public; innovative – it can’t be a development which is obvious; and useful – it has to aid a practical human activity. British woman, Donna MacLean found out that she can’t patent her own body when she became the first person to try to patent herself in early 2000. Her patent application was titled â€Å"Myself† and her reason for trying to do it was as good as any. â€Å"It has taken 30 years of hard labour for me to discover and invent myself, and now I wish to protect my invention from unauthorized exploitation, genetic or otherwise,† MacLean told the British newspaper â€Å"The Guardian.† So Donna and your family will not become wealthy from your respectable DNA, but let’s not discredit our legal system yet. Perhaps the system is accurate after all, and the issues are more complex than they appear at first glance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No matter where your family is from, the US, Britain, or Kenya, the controversial race of biotech companies to own human DNA is having its affect. For example, imagine another family from a third-world country, let’s say somewhere in Africa, and that bioprospectors from the US have isolated an HIV immunity gene from the father’s saliva. The bioprospectors then develop a revolutionary treatment for AIDS, which costthem millions of dollars to research.

Positive Case for Compatibilism and the Free Will Problem

The concept of free will has been a point of contention for philosophers for several decades. One of the reasons for these diverging viewpoints is the debate on how exactly to define the word free. It would be misleading to attribute any one exclusive idea to the concept.However it is agreed neutrally that it is an exercise of an individual’s behavior in order for him to take moral responsibility for his actions. A person who takes on his moral responsibility is one who can chose to make decisions that are morally right or wrong. Thus, the blame or reward for the outcome of the decision falls squarely on his shoulders. It is understood that free will is an essential component of these decisions.Conceptually it can be understood how the pre-determined nature of the universe can casually affect our decisions to such a point where free will is no longer applicable. However the theory of compatibilism states that free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive. That they can exist together without conflict, that an individual can exercise free will when faced with pre-determined factors. This topic will analyze, synthesize and evaluate arguments related to the problems associated with the concept of free will and how compatibilism offers a solution to these problems (McKenna, 2004).In order to understand how compatibilism acts as a solution to the free will problem it is first important to understand that there are several concepts used attributed to free will. When these concepts are conjoined to others they invariably create several contradictions. In order to avoid these problems it is important to consider the classic formulation of free will which informs us of then several key factors associated with it. The first is that the individual has a choice to act in more than one way in a situation.However any action taken by an individual qualifies as an event with various causes that effect the individual’s decision. Thus, the cause is casually determined and the individual cannot act in any way other than what is pre-determined by these factors. It should be noted that the existence of free will is tantamount upon the fact that the individual has no extraneous source compelling him to act. Rather all his decisions making is contingent upon his own compulsion to follow his decisions in the face of alternate possibilities. It is only in such a case that freedom to assume moral responsibility exists (McKenna, 2004).John Martin Fincher is a philosopher who is responsible for refining the viewpoint that suggested that decisions which constitute the free will of an individual can be affected by a number of reasons. This proves why certain people can have different reactions to the same situation and rules out those individuals who have compulsive or neurotic behavior.The refined viewpoint by Martin Fincher is known as the reasons-responsiveness theory which states that even though there are considerations which may affect the d ecisions of an individual. The decision made it can still be considered to be an individual free will since the choice made is rationally based according to the factors affecting the individual (McKenna, 2004).Another concept attributed to Compatibilism is P.F Strawson’s concept of moral responsibility. This is similar to Hume’s concept and says that the practice of holding an individual morally responsible for his or her own actions is formed on the basis of both emotional and societal structures. He said that the existence of these critical responses is part of human nature defined by our basic emotional natures and cannot be abandoned, thus the fact that determinism affects our moral responsibility does not hold ground.However in certain cases an individual can choose to give up their moral judgments in favor of rationalizing the individuals actions can exist as well but only in the cases where the actions gains favors or losses to human life (Kane, 2002 p. 516-521) .There are of course objections to the theories of compatibilism. One of the principle arguments for incompatibilism comes from Carl Ginet. The argument given by him states that the power of an individual to affect change does not extend to factors such as those of nature that are by their very nature unchangeable.And if a certain fact affects a person directly and the consequences of that fact exist than the person will be affected by the consequences of that fact as well. Thus in the face of these facts determinism becomes true and since no one can change the facts that cause the situation, no one can affect the future (McKenna, 2004).

Effective Broadcasting of Channel One

There is a large debate erupting within our nation†s education system. Corporate America is invading our classrooms and campuses at an alarming rate. Corporate conglomerates such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, and US West are making their presence felt in the hallways, gyms and classrooms from grade schools to colleges. Should these companies be allowed to buy their way into the classroom? The answer is no. Corporate restructuring of our educational systems is not the way to solve our schools† funding problems. Big companies want to get into the classrooms as soon as possible. Next year, 53 million American children will make up approximately $250 billion dollars worth of immediate spending (Long, 2000:1). If the children are properly marketed, this figure would rise exponentially in later years, leading to a lifetime of brand recognition. These children are beginning to associate certain products with the brand names that they see and use at school every day. This will then likely cause these children to continue to buy the same products later in life as well. This lifetime of purchasing power could lead to incalculable profits in future years. Channel One is a daily newscast that is offered to students around the country. Nearly 40 percent of American schools tune into Channel One everyday (Manning, 1999:1). A controversial entrepreneur, Chris Whittle, founded this company in 1989. These students are supposedly tuning into this program every day in order to keep up on current events and issues around the world. However, Channel One is now known as the most profitable in-school marketing campaign in the nation. The company gives the schools, which will allot time for students to watch the program, free satellites and television sets. What it also gives them is two minutes of paid advertising (Stark, 2000;1). Nearly all of the 86,000 schools across the country use some sort of program where the schools receive money or equipment in exchange for proof-of-purchase coupons or receipts (McQueen, 2000:2). Is our public education system nothing more than an incentive based purchasing program, or are we trying to teach independent thought and creative thinking? Third grade math is being taught by using â€Å"Tootsie Rolls. † Classroom business courses are being taught by touring students through McDonald†s facilities. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are feuding over multi-million dollar contracts that would ensure student consumption of their products first (Manning, 1999:1). Nike offers free apparel and equipment for sports programs, only if the athletes will become walking billboards, wearing large logos on their jerseys and clothing. US West builds team scoreboards only for schools that will agree to exclusive vending deals. However, there is something else to be said about the commercialism of our nation†s public education system. In standardized testing, our nation†s education system is falling behind the rest of the world. The government has been lagging on education reform, and fewer dollars are being pumped into most areas of public education. Some would say that commercialism is a great opportunity to put money back into the schools. South Fork Highschool In Marlin County, Florida gave Pepsi the exclusive right to to market and sell its beverages to their students in exchange for $155,000 (Stark, 2000:3). A school that was in dire need of funding received compensation and Pepsi, in turn, gets to be the sole distributor of beverages to the school. This is the business exchange. These companies will provide money and services for schools that are lacking proper funding in exchange for what is turning out to be rudimentary corporate brainwashing. This may not be necessarily bad for the students, but it does pose a threat to true consumerism. Another great example of this is The Wal-Mart Corporation. More than 1,800 Teacher of the Year awards are given by Wal-Mart, each teacher receiving $500 that can be turned around and spend at Wal-Mart to purchase goods and supplies for the class (Long, 2000:2). This is where Wal-Mart†s investment begins to pay off. When the students see that Wal-Mart has recognized a teacher of theirs, and has in turn given money for the school, than the students will begin to see Wal-Mart as a good company. This may, in-turn, cause sub-conscious purchase intent in the future for these students. While this may seem like a fair trade, money in exchange for consideration, but there is a deeper issue at bay. Should this potential corporate brainwashing be allowed to occur when our children†s susceptible minds are at risk? If this is allowed to happen, then our entire society could be interpreted as being one large marketplace, where commercialism dominates over everything, even basic public education. There are some people who are fighting back against the onslaught of corporate propaganda, and it can make a difference. A group in Seattle, known as the Citizen†s Campaign for Commercial-free schools (CCC), has been organizing meetings and â€Å"commercialism walk-throughs† in order to raise public awareness of the situation (Manning, 1999:3). In these walk-throughs, groups from the CCC will go and collect as much marketing material in the schools as they can, and send copies of their reports to the appropriate school boards. One schoolboard, with pressure from the CCC and other supporters, issued a resolution stating â€Å"We are opposed to exposing schoolchildren to corporate values in an educational environment where they assume that whatever is presented to them carries the approval of the educational establishment (Manning, 1999:3). After this resolution was issued, members of the CCC were put on a school-community task force responsible for studying the issue and making policy recommendations. Four states have also begun to limit certain types of advertising and other commercial activity from their public schools: California, Florida, New York, Maine, and Illinois (McQueen, 2000:1). According to the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education in Oakland, the Madison School Board in Wisconsin was the first ever to reject renewal of an existing corporate contract when they cancelled their contract with Coca-Cola after months of public debate (McQueen, 2000:2). In closing, it is imperative that this corporate desecration of our education system be stopped now. If this problem is not remedied, then businesses could quite feasibly end up running our public education. People are making a stand, but the results are too far and in-between for any real difference to be seen. Consumerism will eventually take the place of learning as the goal of our schools, and we will fall further behind in terms of international education standards.

Philosophy and Knowledge in Nursing Essay

According to Kim (1999), â€Å"knowledge development in nursing is obtained through descriptive, reflective, and criticizing ourselves. We strive to correct and improve ourselves and practice through self-reflection and critiquing. This develops our nursing knowledge about practices and helps us to engage in shared learning. We do this by generating models of good practice and theories of application. We reflect by looking back at ourselves and learning what has just occurred and having a self-awareness of our practices.† Kim (1999), also describes descriptive and critical phases. During the descriptive phase, â€Å"descriptions of practice are examined for genuineness and comprehensiveness (Kim, 1999). Kim (1999), also states that â€Å"critique of practice regarding conflicts, distortions, and inconsistencies† also increase a nurse’s knowledge. McCurry (2009), states that â€Å"nursing as a profession has a moral mandate to contribute to the good of the society through knowledge based practice. Knowledge is built upon theories and theories together with the philosophical bases and disciplinary goals are the framework for practice.† According to Grace and Perry (2013), â€Å"philosophical inquiry remains critically important for nursing education, practice, and knowledge development. This is attained through three levels. Level I is cultivating and attitude of critical consciousness related to all nursing situations and actions. Level II is the analysis and application of philosophical perspectives to nursing problems and level III is generating new knowledge such as theories.† And according to Gillespie and Paterson, (2009), â€Å"knowledge acquisition and utilization is reflected in the use of knowing rather than knowledge.† In using our previously obtained knowledge, we can reflect in our practices an d grow. References Gillespie, M., Paterson, B.L. (2009). Helping novice nurses make effective clinical decisions: the situated clinical decision-making framework. Nursing Education Perspective, 12, 164-170. Grace,P.J., Perry, D.J. (2013). Philosophical inquiry and the goals of nursing: a critical approach for discipline, knowledge development, and action. Advances in Nursing Sciences, 2, 64-79. Kim, H.S. (1999). Critical reflective inquiry for knowledge development in nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29, 1205-1212. McCurry, M. K., Hunter-Revell, S.M, and Roy, C. (2009). Knowledge for the good of the individual and society: linking philosophy, disciplinary goals, theory, and practice. Nursing Philosophy, 11, 42-52.

The Most Dangerous Game Essay

In the short story â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† by Richard Connell, a man named Sanger Rainsford faces a conflict which is being stranded on what he thinks is a deserted island. This island was totally uninhabited with the exception of one man who lives there, General Zaroff. General Zaroff loves to hunt, but he hunts more than just animals. You see, General Zaroff got tired of hunting just animals, he claims it was too easy for him since he was such an outstanding hunter.He wanted more of a challenge. Rainsford finds out that General Zaroff has hunted humans before, therefore making him a murderer. One critic has remarked, â€Å"Ironically, General Zaroff’s belief in his invincibility weakens him and causes his defeat. † I agree with this critic for many different reasons. It is good to be smart and fearless when stuck in bad situation. It can help you get out of it quickly. However, I believe that having too much courage in these situations is not good, and n ot helpful.When you think you are invincible in scary situations, this can weaken you and cause you defeat. This is why I agree with the critic who said this statement about General Zaroff. For example, while talking to Rainsford, General Zaroff reveals how cocky he is about his hunting skills. General Zaroff says he believes that life is for the stronger and the weak people are put here to give the stronger pleasure. He also adds that he is strong and that he should use his gift.You can conclude from what Zaroff is saying that he should be allowed to hunt whomever and whatever he pleases, which includes humans. Having a gift of being an excellent hunter does not give you the right to hunt the more challenging creatures (humans). Because he has a talent, Zaroff thinks he should be able to use it. This is what makes him think he is invincible, when he really is not. He is not invincible because his cockiness led to his defeat. For example, Zaroff thinks that Rainsford commits suicide to end the game.Zaroff thinks this because he thinks anyone would end the game rather to be put to death by an excellent hunter like himself. Zaroff’s invincibility is the reason for his defeat by Rainsford in the game because Rainsford did not kill himself. He pretended to so he could fool the General. Rainsford then attacked Zaroff when he least expected it. In conclusion, General Zaroff’s belief in his cockiness and invincibility was the cause for his defeat. General Zaroff finally understands the feeling of being the prey for once – and not the predator!

The Pepsi Refresh Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Pepsi Refresh Project - Research Paper Example Social media marketing entails using these social media platforms for direct marketing. Corporate blogs have become an important medium for enhancing communication with the internal and external customers (Cox, Martinez & Quinlan, 2008). Viral transfer of messages through corporate blogs reduces advertising costs while disseminating new about products and services (Scammel, 2006). The social media, being interactive in nature, has enabled customer involvement in content creation and value generation, which helps businesses to understand and serve their customers better (Abrahams, 2012). This enhances customer engagement thereby enabling the organization to build long-term customer relationship. Engaging the customer has become important in the turbulent business environment today. Apple or its iPod and iPad, CNN and Starbucks have been extensively using social media marketing for building brand awareness and brand community (Palmer & Koenig-Lewis, 2009). The number of active FaceBook users reached 500 million by 2010 with over 70% users being outside the US. More than 10 million Tweets or messages had been sent by March 2010 since its launch in 2006 (Baird & Parasnis, 2011). These have now reached a state that consumers and their virtual networks drive the conversation, which poses challenges for businesses. Companies are increasingly becoming engaged in social media marketing because they believe they will be â€Å"out of touch† if they do not do so. However, consumers have their own reasons for being engaged in social media platforms. They expect tangible benefits such as discount coupons for sharing their opinions. Thus, while social media marketing has a wider reach and great potential to engage and build customer relationship, it also poses challenges. It is also not known to what extent businesses are ready for using this platform as this is a shift from the traditional marketing media such as advertising through television and magazines. Moreover, the users might be increasing but many use social media merely to connect with family and friends. 2. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media Marketing for business entrepreneurs. Social media marketing has several advantages such as that it allows business to gather information about their clients, create communities and encourage participation (Champoux, Durgee & McGlynn, 2012). Entrepreneurs that have been able to incorporate the social media into their business model have been able to increase brand awareness (27%), boost sales (15%) and improve customer service (11%) (Tuttle, 2010). They use the social media marketing to achieve a high level of search engine optimization (SEO) and natural search generate more sales. Increased brand awareness, increased customer acquisition and spread of information and other links is very fast through linking systems. This facilitates stakeholder communication but the disadvantage here is that the company has no control over t he content (Aula, 2010). Both small and big businesses have been harnessing the potential of social media marketing. Big businesses such as IBM own more than 100 blogs, several official Twitter accounts and a popular forum called developerWorks (Zarrella, 2010).