Gilbert Ryles The Concept of Mind Essay -- Concept Mind Gilbert Ryle

Gilbert Ryle's The Concept of Mind In The Concept of Mind Gilbert Ryle attempts, in his own words, to 'explode the myth' of Cartesian dualism. His primary method in this endeavour is to explain why it is a logical error to describe minds and bodies with semantically similar language; while secondarily, he proposes that even to speak of 'minds' as a second-order ontology is to take the first step in the wrong direction towards intellectual clarity. Thus, with the desire to arrive at this hypothetical locale, the following peripatetic discussion will set out with Ryle at his point of departure, viz. Descartes' Myth; it will then survey the "lay-of-the-land" at Ryle's mapped out midway point, viz. Self-Knowledge; and from there, judge whether Ryle himself is headed in the right direction, or, whether despite the ribbons and fan-fare, Ryle's excursion takes place on a circular track. Ryle begins by seeking to expose the theory of Cartesian Dualism as an absurd logical error. To do this, he accuses it of having an inherently faulty structure; that it exemplifies "one big category-mistake."1 To understand this claim we must first look at what Ryle deems a 'category-mistake.' A category-mistake is committed when one accounts for a concept by placing it in a certain logical type, or category, when in fact it belongs to a different division altogether. So to describe or qualify two items or ideas of dissimilar constitution within the same linguistic framework is to commit this mistake. Ryle provides numerous examples for the elucidation of this error, only one of which follows: "she came home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair."2 The absurdity of this statement shows the category-mistake for what it is: a failure to use langu... ...ons it is my considered opinion that despite Ryle's attempt at intellectual clarity, this clarity is an illusion. NOTES 1 Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind, p. 17.Back to note location in text 2 Ibid., p. 23.Back to note location in text 3 Ibid., p. 15.Back to note location in text 4 Ibid. Back to note location in text 5 Ibid., p.21.Back to note location in text 6 Ibid., p. 23.Back to note location in text 7 I refer to John R. Searle, The Rediscovery of The Mind, in which the author states: "Mental phenomena are caused by neurophysiological processes in the brain and are themselves features of the brain." p. 1.Back to note location in text 8 Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind, p. 149.Back to note location in text 9 Ibid., p. 149.Back to note location in text 10 Ibid., p. 162.Back to note location in text

Explanation of the research proposal Essay

# central research question: Research questions steer the student’s research, and the central research question should reflect the subject of research in a concise way. # theoretical (desk) research questions: Questions should reflect relevant theoretical concepts that apply to the topic under research by the student, i.e. from marketing, finance, business environment. The theoretical framework should be taken into account when formulating theoretical research questions. New theories will receive extra points! Students can improve the structure and categorize the questions under themes (categories), such as: * Strategic management (Competitive Grid, BCG, Ansoff, Abel, 5-forces, competitive strategy, PLC, PEST, SWOT, etc), * Marketing (4Ps, positioning, targeting, branding, CRM, branding, etc). * Operations & SCM (process strategy, SCM, inventory management, lean systems, forecast & demand driven systems, resource planning , and others). * International business (FDI, strategy & organization of int’l business, entry models, barriers to trade, etc). * Finance & accounting. The choice of topics also depends on how broad or narrow the student wants the research topic to be. # empirical (field) research questions: Students should think about what they want to find out by doing field research, and formulate research questions about these issues. They will need to identify the populations that they want to research and formulate research questions for each of these populations. One way to structure empirical research questions is using the research populations at categories. What is it you want to learn from these populations? But, formulate research questions, not questionnaire or interview questions! Research objectives: Objectives should reflect briefly what the student wants to achieve by the research project. Philosophy: Interpretivism – the view that all knowledge is a matter of interpretation. From the book: â€Å"A People’s History of the United States†, Howard Zinn: â€Å"But there is no such thing as a pure fact, innocent of interpretation. Behind every fact presented to the world – by a teacher, a writer, anyone – is a judgment. The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important.† * Positivism: 1 + 1 = 2 * Interpretivism: 1 + 1 = 3 # research approach: deductive/inductive: * Deductive is applying theories in desk research; * Inductive is developing theories, or new insights, by doing field research. # cross-sectional/longitudinal/exploratory/ descriptive/explanatory studies. * Cross-sectional means studying the here and now. * Longitudinal means studying developments over time by doing * exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory studies. Research strategy # Desk research: * Theoretical research questions drive desk-research. * IP-8 is an academic assignment and presenting issues in a theoretical context is a requirement. * IP-8 requires students to apply theories and models to a ‘real life’ business problem and to organize proprietary original field research. * Desk-research Desk research is done to answer the theoretical research questions and includes selecting and studying the theories and information relevant to the research topic. Students should explain how they will collect quantitative and qualitative data by doing internet, database and literature research. # quantitative secondary data: examples of texts, authors should be given. * # qualitative secondary data: Specific sources should be presented. * # internet research: Specific sources should be presented. Use of school databases is expected. * # literature research: Use of school library sources is expected. * Theoretical framework * Area – field – topic: when selecting the theories that apply to the research topic, students will describe the theoretical framework of their research topic. In the theoretical framework allows students to broaden or narrow down their subject of research. * # The area is the broader context, such as strategic management, marketing, finance, or logistics; * # The field is more narrow, such as for example competitive strategy, customer service, flow strategies of production and distribution, financial performance measurement, etc, depending on the topic of research. * # The topic is usually the central research question. * # primary – secondary – tertiary sources of secondary data: Specific sources should be presented. * # secondary data: document/survey based (CBS): Specific sources should be presented. * # referencing method: IBMS referencing method should be used. Field-research Empirical research questions drive field-research. # case-study: When students work with a sponsor, the research is often called a case study, because they do research that applies to a particular case, the sponsor. The sponsor company provides access to empirical data. # research populations: sampling frames: Students should do the following when they organize their field research: # formulate empirical research questions that will be answered by doing field research, # choose the research populations that can answer these questions, and possibly get a sampling frame (a list with names or items in the population), # select the research methods (interviews, surveys, observations) for each of the research populations that will be used to extract the information, # then select the sampling method (probability, or non-probability sampling) for each of the research populations. # observations/interviews/survey with questionnaires: Student should explain briefly why methods are chosen for each of the research populations. Sampling method for each of the research populations: # probability sampling (simple-random/ systematic/stratified-random/cluster sampling): Student should explain briefly which sampling methods have been chosen for each of the research populations and why. # non-probability sampling (quota/purposive/ snowball/self-selecting/convenience sampling): Student should explain briefly which sampling methods have been chosen for each of the research populations and why. # sample size: Student should explain why sample sizes haven been set, and how. # reliability/validity: Student should reflect on the consistency and representativeness of potential findings from the research populations that have been identified, and the truthfulness of potential findings. Empirical framework # environment of field research: Sponsor company provides access to empirical data. Student should briefly describe the environment of their field research, the sponsor company, and the research populations. # research populations (sources of primary data): Students describe the research populations of their field research which may consist of the sponsor company, representatives of departments, experts, customers, suppliers, competitors, etc. In the empirical framework more detailed information is provided about the research methods, observations, the type of the interviews and the questionnaires used in the survey (if applicable), and the type of data that is expected to be collected. Note: There is redundancy in some of the issues presented in the checklist under field research, research populations, sampling, and empirical environment. Students may refer to earlier parts. # observations: Observation is systematically observing people and/or processes. Observation might be an option for students doing a case study, but is often difficult to organize. # interviews: fully structured/semi-structured/ unstructured: Student should provide details about the type of interviews for each of the research populations. # surveys: self-administered/ interviewer administered questionnaires: Student should provide details about the type of surveys for each of the research populations. # opinion/behavior/attribute data: Student should provide details about the types of data will be collected from each of the research populations. Time table: Is time-table realistic and meeting deadlines?

Effectiveness of Legal Sanctions

Effectiveness of sanctions in our society today In today’s society we impose sanctions on individuals who break laws of the community. There are many types of sanctions such as; fines, intensive correction, community based, youth training and drug treatment orders, home detention, suspended sentences and imprisonment. Imposing sanctions among offenders is highly successful in our society today as they may deter the individual/ general community from committing/re-committing a crime, to protect the society, to punish the offender, in many cases to rehabilitate the offender and to show that the crime is unacceptable. Imprisonment is a criminal sanction which removes the offender from society by detainment in a prison. Imprisonment is effective in terms of punishment and protection of the society. Imprisonment can also be seen as a deterrence which discourages the individual/general community from re-offending / committing a crime. Many prisoners once released from prison stay on the right path and never go back to prison. This is what one hopes for when imposing the imprisonment sanction. However some prisoners, once released cannot live normal lives. In prisons there is a high amount of violence and sexual assaults, so when people are released the fear going back, therefore they cannot live normal lives. Furthermore prisoners are grouped with other prisoners and they may learn new tricks of the trade. Also it can be argued that deterrence failing in prisons. There is a high rate of individuals re-offending when released from prison. An astonishing 33% of prisoners return to prison within two years of their release. Yet even with on of the major aims of imprisonment failing, deterrence, I still believe that imprisonment is an effective sanction is it is protecting our society because the prisoner is out of the way, therefore the society is safe. An intensive correction order is another type of sanction in our society. It is a sanction involving the treatment and supervision component and a custodial component. There are numerous conditions regarding an intensive correction order. The offender cannot commit another offence while on order; there is supervision twice a week, attendance at a correction centre for 12 hours a week, community work for 8 hours a weekend and counseling. If the individual breaks any of these conditions they can be imprisoned for the remainder of the order. The main aims of an intensive correction order are deterrence and rehabilitation. It discourages the individual from re-offending but also helps the individual change and resume a normal life. The intensive corrections order is highly effective on our society as it not only punishes the individual but gives them every opportunity to get their life back on track. Attendance at a correction centre, supervision and counseling will help the individual get his/her life back on track and as a result the society becomes safer. In conclusion, there are many types of sanctions, each with their own set of potential aims to help the society and the individual. Two sanctions are imprisonment and an intensive correction order. Both are effective to our society in different ways. Imprisonment involves protecting the society and punishment while an intensive correction order involves rehabilitation and deterrence. Even though imprisonment fails in acting as a deterrent I believe sanctions are effective in our society today.

The Ancient Maya and Human Sacrifice

The Ancient Maya and Human Sacrifice For a long time, it was commonly held by Mayanist experts that the â€Å"pacific† Maya of Central America and southern Mexico did not practice human sacrifice. However, as more images and glyphs have come to light and been translated, it appears that the Maya frequently practiced human sacrifice in religious and political contexts. Maya Civilization The Maya civilization flourished in the rain forests and misty jungles of Central America and southern Mexico ca. B.C.E. 300 to 1520 C.E. The civilization peaked around 800 C.E. and mysteriously collapsed not long after. It survived into what is called the Maya Postclassic Period, and the center of Maya culture moved to the Yucatan Peninsula. Maya culture still existed when the Spanish arrived around 1524 C.E.; conquistador Pedro de Alvarado brought down the largest of the Maya city-states for the Spanish Crown. Even at its height, the Maya Empire was never unified politically. Instead, it was a series of powerful, warring city-states who shared language, religion, and other cultural characteristics. Modern Conception of the Maya Early scholars who studied the Maya believed them to be pacifists who rarely warred among themselves. These scholars were impressed by the intellectual achievements of the culture, which included extensive trade routes, a written language, advanced astronomy and mathematics, and an impressively accurate calendar. Recent research, however, shows that the Maya were, in fact, a tough, warlike people who frequently warred among themselves. It is quite likely that this constant warfare was an important factor in their sudden and mysterious decline. It is also now evident that, like their later neighbors the Aztecs, the Maya regularly practiced human sacrifice. Beheading and Disemboweling Far to the north, the Aztecs would become famous for holding their victims down on top of temples and cutting out their hearts, offering the still-beating organs to their gods. The Maya cut the hearts out of their victims, too, as can be seen in certain images surviving at the Piedras Negras historical site. However, it was much more common for them to decapitate or disembowel their sacrificial victims, or else tie them up and push them down the stone stairs of their temples. The methods had much to do with who was being sacrificed and for what purpose. Prisoners of war were usually disemboweled. When the sacrifice was religiously linked to the ball game, the prisoners were more likely to be decapitated or pushed down the stairs. Meaning of Human Sacrifice To the Maya, death and sacrifice were spiritually linked to the concepts of creation and rebirth. In the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya, the hero twins Hunahpà º and Xbalanque must journey to the underworld (i.e. die) before they can be reborn into the world above. In another section of the same book, the god Tohil asks for human sacrifice in exchange for fire. A series of glyphs deciphered at the Yaxchiln archaeological site links the concept of beheading to the notion of creation or awakening. Sacrifices often marked the beginning of a new era: this could be the ascension of a new king or the beginning of a new calendar cycle. These sacrifices, meant to aid in the rebirth and renewal of the harvest and life cycles, were often carried out by priests and/or nobles, especially the king. Children were sometimes used as sacrificial victims at such times. Sacrifice and the Ball Game For the Maya, human sacrifices were associated with the  ball game. The game, in which a hard rubber ball was knocked around by players mostly using their hips, often had religious, symbolic or spiritual meaning. Maya images show a clear connection between the ball and decapitated heads: the balls were even sometimes made from skulls. Sometimes, a ballgame would be a sort of continuation of a victorious battle. Captive warriors from the vanquished tribe or city-state would be forced to play and then sacrificed ​afterwards. A famous image carved in stone at Chichà ©n Itz shows a victorious ballplayer holding aloft the decapitated head of the opposing team leader. Politics and Human Sacrifice Captive kings and rulers were often highly prized sacrifices. In another carving from Yaxchiln, a local ruler, â€Å"Bird Jaguar IV,† plays the ball game in full gear while â€Å"Black Deer,† a captured rival chieftain, bounces down a nearby stairway in the form of a ball. It is likely that the captive was sacrificed by being tied up and pushed down the stairs of a temple as part of a ceremony involving the ball game. In 738 C.E., a war party from Quirigu captured the king of rival city-state Copn: the captive king was ritually sacrificed. Ritual Bloodletting Another aspect of Maya blood sacrifice involved ritual bloodletting. In the Popol Vuh, the first Maya pierced their skin to offer blood to the gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. Maya kings and lords would pierce their flesh- generally genitals, lips, ears, or tongues- with sharp objects such as stingray spines. Such spines are often found in tombs of Maya royalty. Maya nobles were considered semi-divine, and the blood of kings was an important part of certain Maya rituals, often those involving agriculture. Not only male nobles but females as well took part in ritual bloodletting. Royal blood offerings were smeared on idols or dripped onto bark paper which was then burned: the rising smoke could open a gateway of sorts between the worlds. Resources and Further Reading McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. New York: Norton, 2004.Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames Hudson, 1993.Recinos, Adrian (translator). Popol Vuh: the Sacred Text of the Ancient Quichà © Maya. Norman: the University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.Stuart, David. (translated by Elisa Ramirez). La ideologà ­a del sacrificio entre los Mayas. Arqueologia Mexicana vol. XI, Num. 63 (Sept.-Oct. 2003) p. 24-29.

A Parenthetical Puzzle

A Parenthetical Puzzle A Parenthetical Puzzle A Parenthetical Puzzle By Mark Nichol Writers sometimes trip themselves up when they try to introduce a parenthetical element in a sentence without ensuring that the main clause of the sentence remains grammatically coherent. Here’s a troublesome example of this type of error, with a discussion of possible revisions. In the sentence â€Å"Smith was one of, if not the first, female members of the organization,† the writer is attempting to communicate two related ideas too early in the syntactical structure: Smith was one of the first female members of the organization, and she may have been the first female member of the organization. The preceding sentence is a possible revision, but the two thoughts can be expressed more concisely. To untangle the original sentence, revise it so that if the parenthetical element what is positioned between the commas (or a pair of parentheses or dashes) is deleted, what remains stands as a coherent sentence. The sentence without the parenthesis, â€Å"Smith was one of female members of the organization,† is not grammatically sound, because â€Å"the first† is expected to bear the responsibility of serving both points of the sentence. With the parenthesis, â€Å"female members† is expected to apply both to â€Å"one of† and â€Å"the first,† but the phrases are not parallel in structure. How about aligning the two points by using â€Å"the first† in each phrase? â€Å"Smith was one of the first, if not the first, female members of the organization† is closer to correct, but the parenthetical phrase still doesn’t agree with â€Å"female members.† (I’ve also seen constructions like â€Å"Smith was one of the, if not the, first female members of the organization.† The sentence is valid if the parenthesis is deleted, but the full sentence, again, is not parallel in structure.) Let’s try moving the phrase â€Å"female members† before the parenthesis: â€Å"Smith was one of the first female members, if not the first, of the organization.† That’s better, but it still reads awkwardly. How about moving â€Å"of the organization† before the parenthetical, too? (â€Å"Smith was one of the first female members of the organization, if not the first.†) The parenthetical is no longer a parenthetical it’s just a truncated phrase tacked onto the end of the main clause that implies the wording â€Å"if not the first female member of the organization† but the grammatical architecture is now sound. Sometimes, as in this case, a sentence is flawed in form it just won’t support a parenthetical element and must be restructured. This post analyzes three similarly impaired sentences. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:25 Subordinating ConjunctionsTop 11 Writing Apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad)Forming the Comparative of One-syllable Adjectives

Managing strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Managing strategy - Essay Example On the other hand, the multi-featured cameras were given a strategy focused on differentiation, with an emphasis on providing high-priced but unique products. This can generally be viewed as a successful strategy because rival companies did not produce such products at such prices, but the marketing could have been improved. Increased competition especially in the entry-level segment demanded more innovation. This was mainly by competitors who manufactured entry-level cameras that offered affordable alternatives. More importantly, environmental concerns from authorities and activists raised the issue of shifting towards clean energy. To survive, the company will be forced to pay more attention to the concerns of environmentalist in order to appeal to consumers in ways that are ahead of competitors. First, this report will present an overview of the photography industry. Then, it will present an analysis of the industry as well as an internal analysis of Company X with a focus on the issues and challenges the company faces from which it will generate strategic growth options. The selected option will then be described in order to clarify its suitability to the company. This section will provide for the understanding of where the industry is heading by giving an insight of the trends and challenges it faces globally. Although Company X is not directly involved with taking photographs since it is not a studio, it is directly affected by trends of the industry because it supplies the key elements of the industry. The industry is agreeably undergoing a lot of change especially in the digital age, where mobile phones, tablets and other mobile devices are creating a new trend with their high resolution cameras. Essentially, this means that selling cameras (and consequentially taking photographs) is not an easy way to earn a living and needs

Technology Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Technology Plan - Research Paper Example Its head office is located at Redmond, WA. The company uses a web based platform to promote its business on the internet. It can be visited on: Clean-n-Brite.com. However, this is a static web site that only presents basic information about the company. In this scenario, the implementation of new technology based system will offer an excellent support and capability for establishing online sales. At the present, company has a large loyal customer base. In addition, Clean-n-Brite Business is basically a supplier of cleaning products to a lot of different companies and commercial areas. In addition, Clean-n-Brite Business provides different grade cleaning products for a number of different sectors. Additionally, Clean-n-Brite Business presently deals with a large number of corporations including hotels, processing industries, hospitals and public organizations, catering organizations such as leisure centers and schools. With the evolution in business, Clean-n-Brite Business has been able to see a lot of new opportunities as well as issues. Though, the greatest opportunity that business has got is in form of increased customer reorganization and business market position improvement. While talking about the problems that Clean-n-Brite Business is facing include handling the information and data gathered from various customers and corporations. As a result, the existing system which was created to manage these areas is not effectively dealing with these operations in an appropriate manner. Thus, there is need for a better system which can effectively and efficiently manage the operations and processes of business in an attempt to improve the organizational performance. For resolving this problem we have proposed the idea of application of a web based business platform. The new web based business platform will make use of the new technology based services for managing the online sales and transactions. The new system for business management will