The Role of Fate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juiliet

Fate. Who would have guessed that this four letter, one-syllable word would play such a big role in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet? Many people believed that it was free choices that led to the tragic ending of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, but it was really fate. When looking up fate using dictionary.com, it says that fate’s something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune, but in Romeo and Juliet, fate is reality. Perhaps the biggest and most overlooked example of fate was in the Prologue. It tells of a death-marked love which proposes the storys concept of the peoples abridgment of control in their own lives. Romeo and Juliet could not expect their death resulting from their cherished love, just as people couldnt control their future, and when Mercutio was dying he shouts â€Å"a plague on both your houses† (III. I. 104). This reminded us of Romeo and Juliets fate. This glimpse of this tragic scene, gives us an example of what fate has in store for Rom eo and Juliet. Mercutio blames his death on both families when he died trying to stop a fight against Romeo, a Montague, and Tybalt, a Capulet. Fate is two-sided, it could bring happiness and joy, while bringing despair and sorrow, too. In the tale of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo attempted to defy his own fate. However, due to his blindness and reckless love for Juliet, his actions backfired and dragged him down to his inevitable fate; a fate that he tried so hard to avoid. Eventually, he would meet his

Aristotle Free Essays

The study question †¢Translate and/or explain the following terms: aesity, arete, endoxa, ergon, eudaimonia, peccatum, telos, virtus, vitium – Arete: Greek for virtue, or excellence – Virtus and vitium: Latin for virtue and vice – Endoxon (endoxa): Greek, reputable opinion(s) †¢Ergon: Greek, function/characteristic activity – †¢Eudaimonia: Greek, happiness, well being †¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Peccatum: Latin, sin †¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Telos: Greek, end, aim †¢Discuss and/or apply the following concepts: doctrine of the mean, the endoxic method, the function argument, omnipotence The Endoxic Method- reputable opinions for ex. Happiness as uniquely human, as under our control, as requiring activity. The Function Argument-To know whether P is a good instance of its kind, you need to know the function (ergon) of P ? A virtue/excellence (arete) of P is a characteristic P needs in order to fulfill its function. We will write a custom essay sample on Aristotle or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Doctrine of the mean-1. For any given situation, there is a specific affectation appropriate to it, e. g. , desire, anger, fear, confidence, envy, joy, pity, etc. 2. For any given affectation, one can exhibit it either too much, too little, or in the appropriate amount 3. The virtuous person always exhibits an affectation in the appropriate amount. -for ex. Truthfulness: virtue regarding telling the truth about oneself? Defect: self-depreciating Excess: phony omnipotence- all power and unlimited power †¢Distinguish goods that are, according to Aristotle, valued for the sake of other things, valued for their own sake, and valued for their own sake and for the sake of other things you want some things that gets you other stuff. or example money so its a sake for other things. valued for own sake-having a yacht gives you pleasure but then enjoying it with more friends and travel the world and give you more pleasure. the one good. happiness is the one thing that every one wants and is valued for its own sake. e †¢That which is valued only for its own sake and for whose sake everything else is desired †¢That which is valued for its own sake and for the sake of other things †¢That which is valued only for the sake of other things Discuss why Aristotle rejects conventional views that identify happiness with pleasure, honor, and virtue, and what he thinks this tells us about the nature of happiness Aristotle rejects three common conceptions of happiness—pleasure, honor, and wealth. Happiness, he says, cannot be identified with any of these things (even though all three may be part of an overall happy life). Pleasure, he says, is found in satisfying desires—but whether or not we can satisfy our desires is as much up to chance as it is up to us. †¢The life of pleasure. Problem: the life fit for a pig †¢The life of honor. Problem: not under our control †¢The life of virtue. Problem: compatible with inaction †¢Distinguish between psychological, somatic, and external goods, explaining how they contribute to Aristotle’s conception of happiness External goods- attractiveness, wealth.. Psychological Goods- mental health.. Somatic goods- â€Å"Nonetheless, happiness evidently needs external goods to be added, as we said, since we cannot, or cannot easily, do fine actions if we lack the resources. For, first of all, in many actions we use friends, wealth, and political power just as we use instruments. Further, deprivation of certain things —for instance, good birth, good children, beauty— mars our blessedness. For we do not altogether have the character of happiness if we look utterly repulsive or are ill-born, solitary, or childless; and we have it even less, presumably, if our children or friends are totally bad, or were good but have died †¢Discuss the roles of habituation and right reason in Aristotle’s analysis of virtuous action function of human beings is knowledge and it what eparates from animals. virtuous action is what a rational person who acts for the right reason. but you also have to feel the correct emotions and feelings to do virtuous actions and be properly affected which means that you find the right things pleasant. and wants to do the right thing. so if you don’t feel like you want to give money to homeless and still give it it does not count as a virtous thing. the teachers ice cream technique- don’t want to do it but do it for ice cream but over time the kids want to do it because it is the virtuous thing to do. Identify and describe Aristotle’s three requirements for friendship and his three different kinds of friendship Pleasure-friendships- Most common among theyoung, fades easily utility-friendships,- most common among the old and also fades easily. character-friendships- You love a person because of the good qualities she or he possesses. genuine friendship. †¢Explain what Aristotle means when he claims that friends are â€Å"second selves† â€Å"A friend is a second self, so that our consciousness of a friend’s existence†¦ makes us more fully conscious of our own existence. and Friendly relations with one’s neighbors, and the marks by which friendships are defined, seem to have proceeded from a man’s relation with himself. For men think a f riend is one who wishes well and does what is good, or seems so, for the sake of his friend, or one who wishes his friend to exist and live, for his sake† †¢Explain why Aquinas thinks God’s existence is self-evident, why it nonetheless may not be evident to us, and how Aquinas thinks God’s existence can be made evident Not every human realizes the existence of god. †¢Examples of self-evident propositions: A pig is an animal; a bachelor is an unmarried male †¢Being self-evident in itself versus self-evident to us †¢Aquinas: â€Å"I maintain that God exists is self-evident in itself since its subject and predicate are identical†¦[but] the proposition is not self-evident to us† (197). †¢Question 02: can God’s existence be made evident? †¢Perhaps God’s existence is an article of faith, not of reason †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"There are two types of demonstration: those that argue from cause to effect†¦and those that arg ue from effect to cause† (198). †¢Hitting a pool ball, pressing the ‘on’ button, hand on the stove So, from what effects do we infer God’s existence? †¢God’s effects in the world, Mozart and his music †¢Understand Aquinas’ ‘unmoved mover’ and ‘teleological’ arguments for the existence of God and articulate at least one objection to each Argument one of five: the unmoved mover (200). Everything has a cause, but causes can’t go on infinitely. The first uncaused cause is God. Objections: why must it be God? Maybe time is infinite? Telos: the end toward which a thing strives. Everything in nature has a telos. If a thing is non-intelligent, some intelligence must give it its telos. Objection: nature is not telonic in this way †¢Discuss why the question ‘can God create a stone that God cannot lift? ’ is said to be paradoxical and how Aquinas tries to resolve the paradox †¢The paradox of omnipotence: can God create a stone he cannot lift? †¢If God can, there is something God cannot do, i. e. , lift the stone †¢If God cannot, there is something God cannot do, i. e. , create the stone †¢If there is something God cannot do, God is not omnipotent †¢Therefore, God is not omnipotent †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"So we conclude that God’s power extends to anything possible in itself and not implying contradiction. Clearly then God is called omnipotent because he can do everything possible in itself. † (p. 249). because if god cannot lift the the stone he created, he is not omintipitent and also if he cannot create that he cannot lift therefore he is not omnipotent so either way god is not omnipotent so aquinas says that god creates certain laws in the universe that he himself cannot break which is considered absolute possibility and relativee possibility is what he can change. †¢Explain what Aquinas means when he claims evil does not exist because evil does not exit because evil is absence of happiness Understand the weak and strong versions of the problem of evil and discuss Aquinas’ solution to the problem Strong version of the problem †¢If an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good God exists, then evil does not exist †¢Evil exists †¢Therefore, an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good God does not exist Weak version of the problem †¢Evil exists †¢T he non-existence of God is a more plausible explanation of evil than is the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good God †¢Therefore, it’s more plausible that God does not exist If an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good God exists, then evil does not exist Aquinas’ answer to the problem of evil †¢Why is there evil and sin in thet world? †¢Evil is the necessary result of freedom of the will †¢Thus, God does not command sin, God permits sin †¢Does God cause evil and sin? †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"God is responsible for sinful actions but not for sins† 296 †¢Distinguish Aquinas’ conceptions of eternal, natural, and human law †¢Human law †¢Quoting Cicero: â€Å"laws start with what nature produces, then by use of reason certain things become customs, and finally things produced by nature and tested by custom are sanctified with†¦the weight of laws† (420). Eternal law †¢God as divine legislator: â₠¬Å"Clearly†¦the entire community of the universe is governed by God’s reason† (417). †¢Divine providence: ordering of the universe toward good †¢Natural law †¢Non-moral sense: laws of nature. †¢Moral sense: guides the actions of animals †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Since everything subjected to God’s providence is measured by the standards of his eternal law, as we have said, everything shares in some way in the eternal law, bearing its imprint in the form of a natural tendency to pursue the behavior and goals appropriate to it. Reasoning creatures are subject to God’s providence is a special, more profound way than others by themselves sharing in the planning† (418). Eternal law is identical to the mind of God as seen by God himself. It can be called law because God stands to the universe which he creates as a ruler does to a community which he rules. When God’s reason is considered as it is understood by God Himself, i. e. in its unchanging, eternal nature (q91, a1) , it is eternal law. How to cite Aristotle, Essay examples

Stereotype Threat Standard Intellectual and Cognitive Assessment

Question: Write about theStereotype Threatfor Standard Intellectual and Cognitive Assessment. Answer: Introduction Stereotype threat is a term used for its first time by Steel and Aronson (1995) in their theory or study which sought to provide an understanding of African American performance on standardized tests. They defined stereotype threat as a risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about ones social group. It may also be termed as a situation in which an individual may feel that they might be judged negatively because of a stereotype (Moss, 2016). Lastly, stereotype threat may also define as a risk of conforming to negative stereotypes with regard to an individuals gender, racial, ethnic or affiliation to a cultural group. Research has shown that stereotype threat has had some adverse effects such as decreased performance in academic and non academic grounds (Tagler, 2012). It has also led to increased use of self-defeating behaviors, disengagements in different activities and alteration of professional aspirations. This essay will, therefore, focus on providin g an understanding of the role that stereotype threat may play in standard intellectual and cognitive assessment. The Role Played by Stereotype Threat in Standard Intellectual and Cognitive Assessment To understand the role played by stereotype threat in intellectual and cognitive assessment, we need first to understand the terms or the concepts of both standard intellectual and cognitive assessment. According to a research by Williams (2016), a child psychology website, cognitive assessment refers to designed tests which have been standardized to examine the learning capability of a child or an individual by identifying the weaknesses and cognitive strengths. The assessment is administered by the use of standardized psychometric tools such as verbal communication and perceptual reasoning. Standard intellectual on the other side its a concept that allows individuals to make decisions and rational commands for their cognitive processes in order to decide on what is good or bad for them or what they need to accept or reject according to Sparks (2016). It can also be referred to as the standards for thoughts or human thinking and help us determine how best is it to live our lives. The role played by stereotype threat in standard intellectual and cognitive assessment can, therefore, be examined by analyzing some situations where stereotype threats have been used. For example, according to research by Steel and Aronson (1995), the results showed that performance in academic contexts can be greatly be affected by the common belief and awareness that ones behavior might be viewed or judged through eyes or grounds of racial stereotypes (MacInnis, Hodson, 2012). Therefore, it implies that stereotype threats contribute greatly to poor performance among students or groups or any individual who may be characterized by some ideologies or prejudices of stereotypes. Everyone is vulnerable to these effects simply because we belong to at least one of these groups. The fear of students to confirm their identity and sense of belonging to a certain race or gender has had negative impacts on their classroom performance. Research has shown that African American students have continued to fail or perform poorly as compared to their white peers in fields of mathematics and science (Massey Fischer, 2005). Gender identity has also posed a stereotype threat to women and their performance in mathematics and results from research showed that women relatively perform poorly in mathematics tests as compared to men (Elder, Paul, 2013). Although this has recently been challenged, women nowadays perform better in mathematics and science tests on average than men. The major factors which play a role in stereotype vulnerability include; group membership and identification, domain identification and internal locus of control or proactive personality as well as stereotype knowledge of belief (Aronson, 2012). It proves stereotype belief to be situational and hence leading to decreased student performance and played a major role in undermining women identity in the society. Cervone, Shadel, Jenciu (2012) explained that the environmental factors specifically place more emphasis on parents and teachers as the main contributors of gender-related math attitudes by women and ladies. Stereotype threat has also played a major role in the internalization of inferior anxiety among students. Research has shown that these students end up blaming others for their misfortunes, conditions or even their problems (Clark, 201). They also form to themselves a victim identity and may have less control of the situations surrounding themselves. For example, if a stude nt fails a math test she may attribute her failure to the fact that women dont perform well in math tests. Standard intellectual as seen from above definition forms the basis decision making among individuals with regard to what is good for them and what they need to accept or reject. Research has shown that in situations where decisions have to be made under threat, the process is usually dominated or influenced by fear and not by logic or any rational consideration. On the other hand, effective decision making can only be achieved when both emotions and logic are used together in the process (Beasley Fischer, 2012). Therefore stereotype threats influence and undermine the process of decision making, which may then leads to regrets to the individuals involved and other psychological problems. Research has also shown that stereotypes threats not only affect the performance of individuals but also their process of learning (Rydel Boucher, 2010). The results were based on the idea that women believe in the stereotype that they are deficient in mathematics. Whereas there are other women who are not and therefore the beliefs deteriorate their capacity to learn. There is, therefore, a great need of self-affirmation and presentation of role models to help women conquer the effects of this belief (stout et al. 2011). Supporting this idea the fact that seeing or been taught by a successful in-group member who conquered relieves the burden or the weight of representing women personally. Stereotype threats have also played a major role in increasing mental exhaustion and burnout levels among the individuals affected (Hall, Schmader, Croft, 2015). The threat, therefore, results in feelings of social identity threat where individuals think that their social identity is influenced by their social interaction with other people. The individuals end up living in pressure and tendencies of wanting to demonstrate their capabilities with intentions of impressing someone else at the expense of their personal intuitions. In the process of doing so, they lose mental energy and hence increase the likelihood of burnout. On the other hand, positive stereotype threats have shown to boost or lift performance for dominant groups by the virtue of relative advantage of ones own group over another according to Beasley and Fischer (2012). It, therefore, plays an important role in helping those in high domain identification or the dominant group in improving their performance. When individual embrace self-affirmation mechanisms then they build or construct positive strengths and may use the situational stereotype threats to build their confidence and conquer the stereotypes. Individuals affirm their self-worth through self-affirmation, which can be achieved by encouraging individuals to focus on things or values they consider or view important. They may focus on skill development, their personal values or engage in roles which boosting their performance. There is also evidence that stereotype threat contributes to reduced creativity, flexibility, and speed. Individuals experiencing threat may tend to focus on higher performance and enhanced critical thinking in order to mitigate their problems. Individuals under such condition are said to be in a state of vigilance, a condition which kills creativity, openness, flexibility and speed (Serbt and Foster, 2004). Research has also shown that these stereotype threats reduce self-control among individuals (Aronson, Burgess, Phelan, Juarez, 2013). Implying that, individuals find it difficult or are totally unable to direct their attention or efforts and behaviors in purposeful ways. The behavior is a resultant of fear of been judged when he or she makes a mistake based or ethnicity and gender stereotypes. Therefore the individuals can only sit back and relax or engage in minor activities where they feel secure and socially acceptable. Research has also shown that the strength of the stereotype in most cases depends on the task is framed especially in performing cognitive assessments (Aronson et al., 2013). A neutral task will always present a less or unlikely probability of stereotype threat as compared to tasks which are framed in terms of active stereotypes where individuals perform so poorly in them. In the long run continued stereotype threat can lead to the mental health of an individual. When an individual experience continued discrimination associated with a threat in any social group, they become depressed and hence affect their mental health in the long run. Conclusion From the research above, stereotype threat has been associated with negative implications. An individual cognitive development is very important and such threats hinder their development. Stereotypes threats have hence played a major role in promoting ethnic and racial gaps, decreasing students performance in the classroom; affect work performance in working environments, disengagements and self-defeating behaviors. There is also a gap in explaining the prevalence of stereotype threats among different age groups. Parents, teachers and the society form the main environments of exercising these threats; they should advocate the use of positive stereotype threats in promoting individual behaviors and enhancing performance. Cognitive assessment tests should be designed in a way to enhance performance and not promote stereotype threats. References Aronson, J., Burgess, D., Phelan, S. M., Juarez, L. (2013). Unhealthy Interactions: The Role of Stereotype Threat in Health Disparities. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(1), 50-56. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300828. Beasley, M. m., Fischer, M. m. (2012). Why they leave: the impact of stereotype threat on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math and engineering majors. Social Psychology Of Education, 15(4), 427-448. Cervone, D., Shadel, W. G., Jencius, S. (2001). Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality Assessment.Personality Social Psychology Review (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 5(1), 33-51. Clark, J. K., Thiem, K. C., Barden, J., Stuart, J. O., Evans, A. T. (2015). Stereotype Validation: The Effects of Activating Negative Stereotypes After Intellectual Performance. Journal Of Personality Social Psychology, 108(4), 531-552. doi:10.1037/a0038887. Elder, L., Paul, R. (2013). Critical Thinking: Intellectual Standards Essential to Reasoning Well Within Every Domain of Thought. Journal Of Developmental Education, 36(3), 34-35. MacInnis, C., Hodson, G. (2012). `Where the rubber hits the road' en route to inter-group harmony: Examining contact intentions and contact behaviour under meta-stereotype threat. British Journal Of Social Psychology, 51(2), 363-373. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02014.x Sparks, D. (2016).Reducing Stereotype Threat in the Science and Mathematics Classroom: An Overview of Research, Best Practices, and Intervention Strategies.Currents In Teaching Learning, 7(2), 4-17 Tagler, M. J. (2012). Choking Under the Pressure of a Positive Stereotype: Gender Identification and Self-Consciousness Moderate Men's Math Test Performance.Journal Of Social Psychology, 152(4), 401-416. doi:10.1080/00224545.2011.615353. Williams, K. B. (2006). THE EFFECTS OF STEREOTYPE THREAT ON TEST PERFORMANCE OF MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS. College Student Journal, 40(3), 679-684.