Post-Structuralism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Post-Structuralism - Essay Example Along with Lvi-Strauss, three of the most prominent post-structuralists were first counted among the so-called "Gang of Four" of structuralism par excellence: Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, and Michel Foucault. The works of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Julia Kristeva are also counted as prominent examples of post-structuralism. Legal theory is necessarily involved with question of language, meaning and interpretation. Language has increasingly become a major object of inquiry within diver's range of legal theory. This is partly due to the work of J.L. Austin and his speech language theory, between 1962 and 1973. 2 At that time discussions were very passionate, then, after a less popular period, it re-finds a great interest at the beginning of the eighties. In France, it has penetrated philosophy thanks to the works of Ducrot and Ricoeur. The first publication on this subject dates from 1974. In Europe the situation is quite similar with one remarkable exception in 1962 with the Swedish K. Olivecrona and the Finish G.H. von Wright3. But in 1972, Alf Ross published an article with a signification title:" The Rise and Fall of the Doctrine of Per formatives ", in one hand he rejected following Austin's first distinction between per formatives and constatives, or more generally, between "saying something" and "doing something", but on the other hand, he didn't accept the second version of the theory, with the distinction between the elocutionary, illocutionary, and perlocucionnary act. Alf Ross distinguished only two main types of speech act: indicative and directive, in his book "Directives and N orms". Each of these acts had one or several norms behind to determine its normative consequences. These norms were called "norms of competence". Contribution to the question of the legal language specificity: a frontal attack against basis of the pure theory of law. The theorical reason of the language theory attraction exercised on jurists is that in the sixties legal theoricians and philosophers went to a saturation point caused by kelsenien theory. Thus per formative theory allowed a frontal attack against the bases of pure theory by suppressing grnd norm "hypothesis". In admitting existence of per formative speech acts, which didn't ask existence of superior norms, we could denounce what Mc Cormick called "the imperativist fallacy". But it is also important to stress that speech act theory allowed to oppose oneself to the epistemological rupture, inherited from Hume and Kant applied in our field by Kelsen between Sein and Sollen, Is and Ought. Some jurists had this deep intuition that this radical scission which closed them in the "swollen world", the one of signification of will act, cut them from reality, and deprive legal reasoning from perception foundations signing by its irrationalism. Though, doctrine of per formatives by its theory o f presuppositions reinaugurates the link between speech act and its factual presuppositions. It is the reason why the speech act theory has

Psychoanalysis of Roald Dahl's Matilda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Psychoanalysis of Roald Dahl's Matilda - Essay Example The superego is the opposite extreme of the id and is the force used by the father and the social and cultural institutions he represents to check and drive the person's desires into the id. The superego includes tradition, inherited values, religion and its institutions, education and its peripheries and all forms of authority. The ego is the self that emerges after an on going and continual negotiation between the id and the superego. If the person's superego is weaker than his/her id the result will be a loose, permissive, carefree, easy going or even a mad person. If the person's superego is stronger than his/her id, then that person will become a conformist to the moral and social values of the person's medium. (Douglas, 2007) The process of pyschoanalyzing a text has several approaches. One can read a text and isolate the elements in the text that reveal the inner conflicts, desires and suppressions in the person of the artist. Another way is examining elements that define the psychology of the characters in the narrative. A third way is seeing if the text reveals the collective psychology of the people and the culture that produces the work of art. In any case, the analysis should consider one or both of the two basic assumptions of the theory. The first assumption is the tripartite nature of the manifest self, whether it is the self of the author, the fictitious character, or the collective consciousness behind the work while the second one is the work of art as a dream work that reflects the suppressed content of the id of either the author or his/her characters. (Pope, 2002) In this essay, I shall be concerned in the first assumption which is determining the tripartite nature that is present in the character of Matilda. I will be trying to learn the psyche of Matilda. I would begin by providing a summary of the story Matilda written by Roald Dahl in 1988. When conducting the research, I came to realize that there are elements of the story derived directly from the experiences of the author. While this may be a good topic for psychoanalysis, our focus would be on Matilda and her psyche. Plot Summary Matilda Wormwood has the potential to be a genius but her parents do not care about her as shown by the fact that she is discouraged from reading books and encouraged in watching TV. In spite of this, Matilda perseveres and became intellectually superior in her class. TO combat her parent's being so uncaring, she devises clever pranks such as "the hat and the super glue," "the parrot-in-the-chimney-affair," and "the great hair oil switch." Her great intellect catches her teacher's, Jennifer Honey's, attention and appeal for her to be accelerated. Agatha Trunchbull, the evil headmistress, refuses. Miss Honey learned of how Matilda's parents treat her when she consults them for Matilda being sent to the university. Throughout the story, Miss Trunchbull treats her students in abusive manners such as ploughing straight through children so that they "bounce off her feet like footballs", makes regular visits to classes to "show" the teachers a few tips on discipline, throws students out of windows and even locks them in a contraption known only as "the Chokey." Matilda becomes her primary target when she learned that it was her father that sold her a second car that barely

Bonnie Raitt and the Boom Generation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bonnie Raitt and the Boom Generation - Essay Example In 1945, the number was 2.8 million births; it marked the beginning of the Baby Boom. In 1946, the first year of the Baby Boom, new births in the U.S. skyrocketed to 3.47 million births! A contributing article on about.com further detailed that new births continued to grow throughout the 1940s and 1950s, leading to a peak in the late 1950s with 4.3 million births in 1957 and 1961. (There was a dip to 4.2 million births in 1958) By the mid-sixties, the birth rate began to slowly fall. In 1964 (the final year of the Baby Boom), 4 million babies were born in the U.S. and in 1965, there was a significant drop to 3.76 million births. From 1965 on, there was a plunge in the number of births to a low of 3.14 million births in 1973, lower than any year’s births since 1945! The Boom Generation produced children that would one day become leaders throughout their respective fields and leave long lasting impacts among all who they have come across. Such examples of these people include Ge orge W. Bush and Bonnie Raitt. Bonnie Raitt was born November 8 1949 in Burbank, California, and raised in Los Angeles, in a climate of respect for the arts, Quaker traditions, and a commitment to social activism. The daughter of John Raitt, a famous Broadway star who featured in productions of ‘Carousel’, ‘Oklahoma!’ and ‘The Pajama Game’, and Marge Goddard, a skilled pianist and singer, she was exposed to music from a very young age. As such, she took up playing guitar at the age of eight, when she received one as a Christmas present. (Helium.com, Biography: Bonnie Raitt) While growing up, though passionate about music from the start, she never considered that it would play a greater role than as one of her many growing interests. In the late '60s, restless in Los Angeles, she moved east to Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a Harvard/Radcliffe student majoring in Social Relations and African Studies, she attended classes and immersed herself in th e city's turbulent cultural and political activities. Raitt was already deeply involved with folk music and the blues at that time. Exposure to the album Blues at Newport 1963 at age 14 had kindled her interest in blues and slide guitar, and between classes at Harvard she explored these and other styles in local coffeehouse gigs. Three years after entering college, Bonnie left to commit herself full-time to music, and shortly afterward she found herself opening for surviving giants of the blues. From Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sippie Wallace, Son House, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker she learned first-hand lessons of life as well as invaluable techniques of performance. Each generation views the world with a different perspective. This perspective is often shaped by key events (national catastrophes) in their lives as well as cultural influences (such as music) at the time. Understanding some of these viewpoints can greatly enhance successful communication and working relationshi ps. The Baby boomer generation grew up with the Vietnam War, the space race, and assassinations of Martin Luther King and President John F. Kennedy. Their childhood was typically modeled with very conservative mores. The civil rights movement, women’s liberation, the advent of television, rock ‘n’ roll, and the hippie movement caused them to question and rebel against the establishment. This constant

Death Penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Death Penalty - Essay Example Our main points for the abolition of the death penalty are morality and technicality. The original arguments for capital punishment does not anymore apply but are outdated – deterrence, retribution, etc. The teachings of the Bible – the Old and the New Testaments – tell us one important aspect of creation: protect life and do not allow vengeance. God did not kill Cain for killing his own brother Abel but instead sent him on exile and put a mark on him so that no one would kill him. A passage in the Bible of states: ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. This teaching does not mean taking the life of a murderer or someone who has committed a heinous crime, but it means limiting the retribution for an offense. When Jesus was presented the woman accused of adultery, he did not condemn the woman but told those present â€Å"to cast the first stone†, which means we should not condemn anyone but allow a sinner to reform. Another argument is the ground of technicality. The criminal justice system, a human system, is flawed. I mean, it is not always perfect despite all the bright, legal minds the world has ever produced. Rulings are not perfect. The Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments. Then in another ruling in 1976, Gregg v. Georgia, the Court again contradicted itself by ruling that the death penalty per se was not unconstitutional. (Bedau 2005, p. 23) In Furman, it was ruled that some state statutes were unconstitutional, which allowed that death penalty statutes had to be rewritten. Advocates of the death penalty began proposing new laws for capital punishment. In other words, advocates of the death penalty interpreted this as an opportunity to write new laws so that there would be no more doubts of retaining the death penalty. It was reported that there were 35 states that rewrote their

Media study assignment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media study assignment 1 - Essay Example It has attracted movies like Gran Torino, Up in the Air, and Scream bring more than 8,000 in one year and saved the movies more than $223 million in 2009. It is a testament of how tax cuts from several movies can save so much, an amount that could be reinvested on other movies. Proposed Policy Many movie and TV studios actually openly state that a huge part of their expense goes to taxes. On the other hand, there is another sector that complains about having the right ideas that could progress the quality of the movie and tv industry but not having enough funding to pursue these ideas. If five movies total more than $200 million in taxes, reallocating taxes from two movies of every movie and TV studio to fund independent film. Monumental movies like Memento, Run Lola Run, Primer and Clerks were all made for under $100,000. Many of the movies that Hollywood licensed such as The Eye and Shutter were all made under $10,000. $200 million yearly could easily fund 100 movies that could com pletely turn around the quality of movies coming from Hollywood. Benefits and Disadvantages of the Policy The greatest benefit of providing support to the new filmmakers follows the same model of the commercial market. In the commercial market, when people spend their money on goods and services, it stimulates the economy by increasing the demand. The business owners, in turn, produce more good which offers move jobs to people. This will give people more spending the power. That will start the whole process again. This model will follow the same process. As the government reallocate the money back to the market, it gives more jobs to people which allow them to have more spending power to support more movies. As more movies make money, more movies will be produced. The greatest benefit will, of course, be the probable increase in quality of the movies that are being produced as new talents are discovered. The only disadvantage that is in clear trajectory is the loss that government w ill incur. $200 million worth of tax is a huge cut from government funding. That could very well be going to infrastructure project, funding for Small and Medium Enterprise, education and other essential projects. Political, Social, or Cultural Issues that will be Addressed Art is important. It is, in a sense, the conscience of a nation and it must be nurtured the same way it is critical to nurture the conscience of a country. The film industry is part of art it is, primarily, a cultural issue. Hollywood, movie making, and television is a great influence in American culture, to some it is also a reflection of the American culture. When its growth is stunted, a huge part of the culture also goes away. American movies have served as a great influence in many other countries to pursue the growth of their own industry. The other more obvious consequence is the money that the movie industry contributes to the economy of the United States of America. In 2010, the movie industry contribute d an estimated $10.89 billion in direct revenue alone. The TV industry could easily double that figure. How it Supports Free Speech Giving filmmakers the ammunition to produce more movies is equivalent to providing them more platforms where they can express the messages they will not be able to say otherwise. Memento, for example, was the very first film that brought forward short memory loss disease. It raised awareness about this disease which, apparently, was more common than initially perceived to be. Primer, a

Individual analysis of an organisation of student's choice Assignment

Individual analysis of an organisation of student's choice - Assignment Example Wal-Mart emerged as a global retailing corporation from being a local retailer with the successful implementation of a unique and undisputed supply chain and operations management system within the business. The major characteristics of the operations management of Wal-Mart which have driven the success of the company on a global platform are the unique inventory management systems, non-replicable everyday low pricing strategies, the use of high end technology and integration in the supply chain and a centralized procurement and distribution system. Wal-Mart has become the undisputed leader in the retail segment through the use of the everyday low pricing strategy which has driven high volume of sales and subsequently increased profitability for the company. Wal-Mart is acclaimed for having maintained the highest operating profit margins, inventory turnover and sales per square feet among the retail companies operating in the United States and other countries in the world. The operat ions management of Wal-Mart has played a key role in the popularity of the company and the emergence of the company as the number one retail business among many players in the retail industry. Wal-Mart as a business has both internal and external stakeholders. Both the internal as well as the external stakeholders of the company have much interest in the activities and management of the business. The internal stakeholders of Wal-Mart include the shareholders, the management and the employees of the company. On the other hand, the external stakeholder group comprises of mainly the customers, suppliers, distributors, competitors and the governments of the countries in which the stores of Wal-Mart operate. The most important internal customers are tee employees and the most critical external customers of Wal-Mart are the customers of the business. Wal-Mart is renowned for managing its human resources very well and is currently

Subjugation of Free

Subjugation of Freedom in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest Essay The Subjugation of Freedom in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey’s book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is a multi-faceted work incorporating many thematic elements. One of the most easily addressable themes is that of freedom and its limitations placed upon the characters in the novel. Many types of freedoms are addressed ranging from the tangible and real to the perceived and implied. The setting primarily takes place in a mental hospital on a locked ward which limits the characters’ physical freedoms. The characters are constantly coerced and demeaned by the antagonist Ms. Ratched which limits their mental freedoms. Beneath all is a subtext of sexual repression which is constantly fought against by McMurphy. Individually, each of these subjugations might be tolerated given exclusions to the others, but together they weigh down the men to the point where their complete lack of freedom almost becomes a comfort. Mental hospitals are typically secure facilities intended to provide a place for patients, whose symptoms range from minor to severe, to be secured and not be a danger to the rest of society while treatment is applied. The manner in which the patients are described in the story indicates that they are not severe mental cases but are those who are unable to function in society at large due to idiosyncrasies and minor hang-ups, yet they are housed in a ward where they are kept under lock and key, their movement is restricted to one day-room, and their activities are on a strictly regulated time-table. Most of the men have given up their physical freedom voluntarily with the expectation of treatment, mental healing and the eventual release back into society. McMurphy, on the other hand, was committed by the state and his sentence depends on the opinion of the Big Nurse, though he doesn’t realize this right away. Nurse Ratched does not resort to physical touch herself and instead uses the three ward aides to perform her physical brutality for her. McMurphy’s eventual goal is to get the other men out of the ward as much as possible because they have become too accustom to it. To do so all at once would likely be too great a shock so McMurphy starts inside the hospital with simply moving the group to another day room. Gradually, they are able to spend more time out of the ward with activities like basketball and the pool. The culmination of their unconventional therapy is the fishing trip where the men re-learn what real life outside the hospital can be like. Nurse Ratched doesn’t resort to physicality with the patients. She much prefers mental control and the main focus for her efforts of control. She has become a master of subtlety and misdirection. Before McMurphy arrives she has the men eager and willing to tattle on each other for tiny rewards. This information is then used in group therapy sessions where the idea is that the men can rely on each other for strength and the group will help lift them up, grow stronger and heal. What actually happens is each man takes it in turn to be attacked by the others for their faults. This is all orchestrated masterfully by Nurse Ratched who has but to ask a few simple pointed questions to get the fire burning. When she isn’t using the men’s own minds against them she drugs them to keep their thoughts slow, to keep them unmotivated and to keep them calm. Also in her arsenal is the threat of maximum mental punishment through shock therapy and lobotomy. Her technique is so perfectly insidious that the men work their hardest to please her to the detriment of each other and ultimately their own selves. She is able to perpetually keep the men in a state where they believe they need her and the hospitals help. Sex is used in the novel as a representation of total freedom. Its exercise is almost always portrayed by McMurphy who, through his general demeanor and newness to the hospital, is the most free, sexually, of any of the men. He is so free, that it has gotten him into trouble as he only seems to be able to act on impulse. Society is not able to deal with his complete abandon and he is eventually punished for it by having a piece of his brain removed. The rest of the men are all repressed mostly due to some problem they’ve had with the women in their lives. In fact, it is their inability to deal with women that brought them to the hospital in the first place. Women are portrayed throughout the book as the root of all men’s problems. Nurse Ratched is the penultimate figure of sexual repression. She does not acknowledge her femininity but hides it successfully, but for her bosom, beneath her sterile, pressed uniform. She is cold toward the men offering no real compassion and serves only to aggravate the men’s issues with women in general. Her power is finally stripped from her, quite literally, when McMurphy rips open her uniform revealing her breasts, the symbol of femininity; she is a woman after all. Limiting or removing freedom boils down to control. Those who restrict freedoms wish to exercise control upon those whose freedoms have been infringed. In the story, the restriction of all freedoms is personified and executed by the â€Å"Big Nurse,† Ms. Ratched. She symbolizes all forms of repression and is the face of the societal machine, whose purpose is to remove individuality and replace self-restraint with group shame. The implication Kesey suggests is that when a person isn’t free to move, free to think, or free to love then they cannot be a valuable, functioning member of society. Works Cited Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, a Novel. New York: Viking, 1962. Print.