Religious language is meaningless Essays - Philosophy Of Religion

Religious language is meaningless Essays - Philosophy Of Religion Religious language is meaningless. Discuss. Religious language is the communication of ideas about God, faith, belief and practice. The problem with religious language is that individuals have different interpretations of these concepts and will result in a difference in the use of everyday language. For some it is deemed meaningless because it is equivocal and the meaning is unclear. Yet, for some philosophers, religious language is meaningful and serves a purpose. Religious language is meaningful because we dont know how to falsify it. John Hick mentioned religious language was seen as believing in something and experiencing something. The logical positivists formulated the verification principle and they were concerned with the meaning of words and the way we use them in the context of God. They believe Gods talk was meaningless as they are metaphysical statements. They believed for a statement to be deemed meaningful we had to be able to verify the truth hood through our empirical senses. Ayer, who was a supporter of the Verification Principle, said a proposition is meaningful if it is known how to prove it true or false. If such verification cannot take place, they become meaningless. He stated there were two types of the verification principle, the strong form and the weak form. The weak verification principle is knowing how to verify a statement. It would become meaningful if you know how to do this. The strong form of the verification principle was being able to prove something true or false through sense experience. Ayer also said to reject analytical statements would be illogical because you cannot try to disprove something that is actually true as you would be contradicting yourself. Many philosophers challenged the verification principle and rejected it. A main critic was John Hick. He said the principle itself is not meaningful because it cannot be verified using the verification principle. Hick argued when we die the truth of Gods existence will be verified either true or false. This is known as the eschatological verification. It can only be verified the day we die. Anthony Flew put forward the falsification principle. Falsification means to prove something true or false. The falsification principle accepts a statement is verifiable if it is known what empirical evidence could count against it and prove it wrong. Aquinas argued that we only have our day to day language which we can use to talk about God. We understand when a word is applied to God; it has a different meaning from its everyday use as we understand God is perfect. Therefore we are using analogies. There have been some critics who argued there has to be a comparative element to any human language used to describe God. This is impossible as God is beyond any true human understanding. Analogies are meaningless in describing God as they are limiting God to what he actually is. Aquinas disagreed. He argued there is a relationship between the world and God. God created the world and sustains it so there is a clear comparison. He went on to develop two forms of analogy to talk about God. Analogy of proportion and analogy of attribution. Analogy of proportion is where the analogy is understood in each case as proportional to the nature of the being. We have to put God in proportion to ourselves to understand how everything works. Analogy of attribution relates to the belief that God created and sustains the world. It is because of this belief we can talk of human qualities. In some way those qualities can be applied back to God. We can talk up to God using the same language. The only problem about the two analogies is they only work if you have previous knowledge of God. If you believe God is omnipotent, omniscience etc, it makes perfect sense to use an analogy. However, without these assumptions it becomes less convincing. Tillich used ordinary language to point to God but spoke of the words used as symbols. He distinguished between a sign and a symbol. A sign is a conventional way of pointing to something, e.g. a road sign. A symbol is something that stands or is used in place of something else. Tillich held God could only be described using symbols

How Dare a Writing Contest Take Your Rights

How Dare a Writing Contest Take Your Rights After posting the Story Shares writing contest in the newsletter a couple weeks ago, people wrote me, asking what I thought about the fact those who enter give up payment and rights You have read the terms correctly; we are asking writers who enter the contest to give us the rights to publish their stories widely and for free. This arrangement allows us to fulfill one of our core missions for Story Shares, which is to increase the library of materials available to teens and young adults who struggle with reading. If we only displayed the 5 winning stories, the library would not be nearly as big as it will be under the current terms for the contest. Since this is a nonprofit initiative, we are not seeking any financial benefit from publishing the stories. We are simply trying to do as much as possible to fill the need for more high-quality reading materials available to the millions of struggling teen and adult readers who need them. In order to do that, we need to retain the rights to publish stories for free. We understand that these might not be ideal conditions for you to publish and will be sorry to miss out on your story. Folks . . . being a nonprofit does not negate the need to pay your suppliers. They will pay the publisher. I guarantee that they pay the website designer and hosting service for the Story Shares site. They have access to grants and sponsors to fund these writers and all else they do, especially riding on the wave of education. Instead of trying to find the funds to pay the writers, they instead  take the work for free. And trust me . . . their promotion of you is not going to open many doors. In a subsequent email, they went on to say they endorse writers and promote them, though they are not paid. They claim to have great relationships with all their writers, saying, in essence, the organization isnt malicious or gold-digging. However, they are using the contest to populate their program. I get irritated with some literary journals that do the same thing, but at least those markets are selective and state that some non-winning stories may be considered for publication. Here, however, Story Shares states you give up rights upon submission. They are giving $5,000 in prize money. Why not use that money to pay smaller amounts to all writers who submit, calling it a Call for Submissions? I can tell you why. The substantial prize money is bait to gather more submissions that they can use for free. Sorry, but I dont think the Outreach Coordinator (who has published through Story Shares) who wrote me or the founders and CEO of the program are working for free. If they choose to do so, good for them; however, I take issue with the fact they think others should do the same. But somehowI sense they are getting paid. If you feel this is a good charitable cause, and wish to donate your work, feel free. But FundsforWriters was founded upon writers earning a living from their work, and therefore,  FundsforWriters does not endorse storyshares.org/ and apologizes for having listed it in a previous newsletter.

Evolution of the Global Economic Environment Research Paper

Evolution of the Global Economic Environment - Research Paper Example As global trade has grown over the last 20 years, both in terms of global productivity and absolute means, China has sustained their share of global trade and substantially increased their share of global exports of produced goods (Lin 2001). From 1990-2010, at merely more than 10.4 percent (Lin 2001, slide 4), China’s share of global exports was significant. The multinational business is usually perceived as a major motivator for the system of the globalization of production. This is justifiable, because the presence of the multinational business is, in principle, grounded on earlier and major foreign investment (Ostry & Alexandroff 2003). Furthermore, the past two decades have witnessed a dramatic boost in the operations of multinational businesses in China. Recent reports indicate that there are roughly 65,000 transnational corporations at present (Milberg 2004, 45). Their economic effect can be evaluated through varied approaches. Foreign partners, in 2001, comprised more than 50 million workers in comparison to more than 20 million in 1990 (Milberg 2004, 45). According to the UNCTAD (2002, 1 as cited in Milberg 2004, 45), foreign partners presently comprise about one-third of global exports and one-tenth of global GDP. Between the 1980s and the 1990s, FDI’s share in international gross capital formation increased by two-thirds; for China, the rise was by about three-quarters. FDI massively rose in the 1990s, even though it dropped abruptly in 2001 due to the global recession and weakening of stock markets (Lin 2001). Hence the reduction in the flows of FDI was tilted toward advanced nations. FDI to China and other developing nations increased 4 percent from 1980 to 2001, and China’s share of world FDI climbed significantly from the early 1990s to 2001 (Ostry & Alexandroff 2003). Nevertheless, this increase has not been sufficient to make a difference in the share of the developing nations of the global reserves of FDI, which, according to UNCTAD (2000 as cited in Milberg 2004, 46), has changed roughly 35% over the past two decades. China, in the 1990s hardly made it on the international economic scale. However, China was able to improve its status in international trading after roughly two decades, making her the current second most advanced economy in the world (Lin 2001). The trade of China, in the 1990s, was an insignificant presence in world trade. After two decades, the country is presently the biggest global exporter of goods, with a rate of annual export growth at 18 percent (Lin 2001, slide 6). Due to this massive development in China’s role in international trading, trade structure has been altered. It is the contention of this paper that the transformation in trade structure, or with intensified trade in intermediate rather than final products, instead of expansion in the volume of trade that establishes globalization as a relevant occurrence in terms of the development of strategies for economic growth. This transformation in the structure of trade is the outcome of the appearance of global trading systems, wherein bits and pieces of a product are manufactured in various places all over the world.

Ethics Awareness Inventory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics Awareness Inventory - Essay Example 1987. pp192-193). In the modern context, an individual's decision would be accepted as ethical if the person has taken all impacting factors into account and considered all those people who would be impacted by the decision. Given the modern complexity of organizational & social systems, it is practically impossible to take a decision that doesn't impact anyone negatively. Hence, all such decisions that are taken in the favor of the larger part of the mass are normally treated as ethical. Overall, the Ethical Decision making orientation of an individual can be judged by the Ethics Awareness Inventory Profile that requires answering a series of questions by assigning the "level of agreement" that are useful in identifying the inclination of an individual towards the four measurable parameters of Ethical Decision Making - Character, Obligation, Results and Equity. In this paper, I present a brief on these four parameters, my own Ethics Awareness Inventory and an ethical challenge that I faced in the pa st at my workplace. [The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management - EAI. (2008)] The Ethics Awareness Inventory takes into account the Ethical orientation... ory takes into account the Ethical orientation of an individual towards four measurable parameters - Character, Obligation, Results and Equity (CORE). The measurements are carried out through a questionnaire that asks the individual to vote at a certain level of agreement against the questions asked - ranging between the extremes of strong disagreement to strong agreement. The orientation against the four parameters is defined as below: Ethics Orientation towards Character - An individual who gives high value to excellent moral principles, integrity, honesty and behavior Ethics Orientation towards Obligation - An individual who gives high value to loyalty towards an individual or organization by demonstrating high levels of responsibility Ethics Orientation towards Results - An individual who gives high value to the results of a decision and hence thinks through every aspect of the impact of the decision on everyone involved Ethics Orientation towards Equity - An individual who gives high value to his/her equity in a decision and believe that beliefs of right or wrong should be changed based on circumstances in order to extract the best benefits out of them. [The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management - EAI. (2008)] My Ethics Awareness Inventory: My Ethics Awareness Inventory assessed against the on-line questions at the portal of Williams Institute of Ethics and Management reveals that my Ethics Awareness profile is more aligned towards Character & Obligation and Least aligned towards Results & Equity. When I map the results with my own thought process, I realize that I have been giving highest emphasis to moral excellence and loyalty to my employer against results & equity. I have never bothered about the results of my decision as long as I was convinced

Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems Essay Example for Free

Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems Essay In Portuguese, R at the beginning of words, at the end of words, or before a consonant is pronounced like H. Many Brazilian students carry this habit into English words, pronouncing â€Å"restaurant† as â€Å"hestaurant† and â€Å"far† as â€Å"fah.† It’s especially common when the English word and the Portuguese word are similar, such as in â€Å"restaurant† and â€Å"regular.† SOLUTION: First, I have my students work on pronouncing the English R sound by itself. I demonstrate the correct mouth position and they imitate me. Then, we work on each word while exaggerating the R sound – so we say rrrrememberrrr, for example. Finally, we practice making that exaggerated R sound shorter and shorter until the student gets used to saying remember with an English R. It feels a little ridiculous, but it works! PROBLEM: Similar words Fortunately, Portuguese and English have a lot of true cognates – words that are similar in both languages, such as area, animal, culture, famous, music, romantic, hamburger, and sports. This makes it easier to remember the vocabulary – but more difficult to remember to pronounce the words â€Å"the English way.† SOLUTION: To show the difference in the sounds, I make comparisons with words that they already know and pronounce well in English – â€Å"The ‘a’ in animal is like the ‘a’ in and,† for example. I also draw attention to syllable stress – popular in English vs. popular in Portuguese. PROBLEM: Final consonants Portuguese doesn’t have letters like D, T, G, P, and K at the end of words, so it’s common for Brazilian students to accidentally add a little vowel sound at the end of English words – so big sounds like bigg-ee and stop becomes stopp-ee. One of the most famous is difficult turning into difficulty which is also an English word, but the first is an adjective and the second is a noun. SOLUTION: I start with words ending in P because they’re the easiest to practice – we practice saying â€Å"stop,† â€Å"help,† and others, and I tell them to keep their lips together for a second at the end, then â€Å"release† them without making an extra sound. Then we move on to â€Å"rock,† â€Å"get,† â€Å"thing,† â€Å"good,† and so on, again, â€Å"holding† the final consonant for a moment before â€Å"releasing† it soundlessly.

How To Get Married And Stay Married To The Perfect Mate!! :: essays research papers

How To Get Married and Stay Married To The Perfect Mate!! This book will talk about the ways and theories of how to stay married one you are married. It will cover stuff like communication, similarity, physical attractiveness, similarity, balance and equity theory, and proximity. Communication is important in relationships. I will cover the aspects of non-verbal and verbal communications. In the book I will convey the differences in the way men and woman think and this will help give a better understanding of each other and will in turn allow them to work out their problems effectively... Another aspect I will talk about is the reinforcement theory. This theory talks about the fact that you will like someone who positively reinforces you. I will talk about how this theory can be used in marriages to keep couple closer together, keeping them liking each other. In my book, I will also talk about the balance theory. The balance theory is the notion that people have the same negative and positive ways of thinking.. When this is not so, you have an imbalance which can disrupt a relationship. I will talk about how a couple can use the balance theory to make sure that they will be happy. Another theory I will talk about is the equity theory. This theory dictates that people will be more attracted to someone that they have a fair relationship with. It states that we will be happier with a person who takes as much as they give to us. Over a long term relationship, like marriage, this is important because both husband and wife feel that they are approximately equal. In my book I will talk about how to use this theory to makes sure that both couples get the same out of the relationship. I will also talk about proximity in my book. Proximity talks about being near to your partner. It is important because if one partner is away all the time, the couple will not become as close. I will deal with the aspect of how to stay in close proximity with your partner and this will lead to a closer relationship between the two. It is also important to start a relationship with someone who is near to you because this will allow the relationship to better develop itself. Also, there must be similarity between the couples. In my book I will talk about finding someone who has similar interests and traits. When two people are similar, the more likely they are to be attracted to each other and the more likely they are to be happy while they are dating and when they are

Quality Assessment Essay

â€Å"Assessment practises have a powerful impact on learning and teaching† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 37). For teachers the focus is on the use of assessment results; how they use those results to inform instructional decision making and whether they provide results that verify students have indeed met the learning targets originally set. Thus, judgements are made about the quality of assessments after the students’ performance. ‘High-quality’ assessments encompass a number of criteria’s and involve a great deal more than simply measuring knowledge (McMillan, 2011) and are outlined below in seven key areas. 1. Clear Purpose – The first decision is clarify the purpose for the assessment. Why is the assessment taking place? What is to be gained from it? Will the teacher be using formative techniques to monitor student progress or will the teacher use summative techniques to establish grades (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009)? â€Å"Knowing the reason for the assessment is crucial because this will determine what the assessment should look like, how it is administered and scored, and how the results will be used (McMillan, 2011, p.10)†. 2. Defined Learning Targets –Are they reasonable and do they ‘align’ with the state standards, student characteristics and overall goals (McMillan, 2011)? Learning targets need to be clear and understandable to everyone (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). Learning targets are important as they define expectations. 3. Assessment Methods – The assessment methods, using either selected or constructed responses, need to align with the chosen learning targets (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results† (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). These also need to practical and efficient so as not to be too time consuming on lessons. 4. Fairness – Fair assessments are unbiased without the influence of discrimination or subjective factors (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"All students should have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their achievement† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 38). 5.Validity & Reliability – Judgements should be based on all information and multiple measures that authenticate the conclusion (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). The assessment is useless unless the inference is appropriate, useful, reasonable and consistent (McMillan, 2011). 6. Criteria – Outlining criteria contributes to students’ learning by making clear the outcomes or goals they are striving for (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). â€Å"The issue of how student responses will be evaluated lies at the heart of any type of assessment† (McMillan, 2011, p.35). 7. Feedback – Feedback should be clear and constructive. Feedback by both by the teacher and self-assessment allows students to take responsibility for their learning and helps students â€Å"identify how they can improve their learning† (Killen, 2005, p. 98) and ensure motivation is high through positive consequences. By ensuring the lessons have a clear purpose, are well planned and allow all students’ to demonstrate their achievements through a fair, valid and reliable process, learning and teaching is improved and achievement is enhanced. â€Å"High quality assessments have consequences that will be positive for both students and yourself† (McMillan, 2011, p. 86). References Chappuis, S. , Chappuis, J. , & Stiggins, R. (2009). The Quest for Quality. Multiple Measures , 67 (3), 14-19. Curriculum Council of Western Australia. (2004). Curriculum Framework. Osborne Park: W. A. Killen, R. (2005). Programming and assessment for quality teaching and learning. South Thompson: Cengage. McMillan, J. H. (2011). Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards – Based Instruction (Fifth ed. ). Boston: Pearson.