Description of the US Citizenship Process

Description of the US Citizenship Process   Jacob Hill   Citizenship isnt as simple as residence. There are many requirements beyond residence to qualify as a citizen of the United States. Some people have lived here for years and still arent qualified to vote because they are not yet citizens. Specific criterion have been set to acquire citizenship that involve things such as knowledge of basic United States history, fluent english, and many other things that will be discussed throughout this paper. Overall, as a born-in citizen, I will be discussing the other end of the spectrum and the advantages that citizens have over aliens. To become a citizen, there are a few processes an individual can take. One way is to be born in the United States, though you cant really choose this option. The other way is through naturalization. Naturalization is the established legal process that allows an individual to acquire citizenship in a new country. The naturalization process is different for every country, but in the United States of America, we like to make the process simple and overall easy. Whether this is a good thing is up to each person on their own to decide. To discuss the naturalization process, we first have to draw the lines as to who is a born-in citizen. Any person born in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Guam is also a citizen from birth. There are a few more rules though. Children born on an American embassy anywhere in the world are also citizens; however, a child born on a foreign embassy on United States soil isnt a citizen. This means that in America we look at both where and to whom you are born to define your citizenship. Therefore, anyone born outside of those boundaries set has to go through the naturalization process before they can enjoy their life as a citizen of the United States of America. To begin the naturalization process an applicant needs to be qualified to apply. This requires a few extra boundaries. First of all, for any of this to matter, the applicant needs to be at least eighteen years of age. This is because before a person is eighteen their citizenship is based on their parents. If a person of age is wanting to file, they need to find out if their are eligible due to their residence or spouse. A person is eligible if they fit under any of these categories for qualification by residence. An applicant must: Have lawfully been admitted for permanent residence, have resided in the states for a minimum of five years with less than one full year of absence (or only three years if married to a citizen), have been physically present in the states for at least 30 months out of the last five years (they cannot be absent for more than 6 months at one time), and have lived in a single city or state for at least three months continually. If someone has achieved any of these, they are eligible to apply for citizenship by residence. To apply based on spousal qualifications, a person needs to follow similar guidelines. They need to have lived on United States soil for at least 3 years while married to a citizen. They need to have a legal union, and the spouse had to be a citizen for the full three years, minimum. They do not have to follow the residence laws if the applicants spouse is employed by any of the following organizations: The United States government (this includes all army, navy, marine corporations, or air force employees), American Research Institutes (must be recognized by the attorney general), a recognized religious organization, or certain public international organizations involving the United States. If an applicants spouse fits any of these requirements, then they are eligible for naturalization. Once they have found out whether they are eligible or not, they need to follow the steps to complete an application for citizenship. These can be acquired through a local courthouse or a public government building. This application needs to be accompanied by two photographs of the applicant, these pictures need to meet the standards set by the USCIS (The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). There are a few documents that are required as well as a fee for application and another fee for fingerprints. After an applicant completes all of these steps, they will receive an appointment letter from the USCIS. This is to get your fingerprinting done. Once this is done, they will set up an appointment for an interview. This interview includes a few questions about your background and about you as a person, to test the good moral character required. If the applicant is passed on, they will be given an English test to see how fluent they are. After completion of that test, they take a civics test. This is a general knowledge test of simple American history, things such as war knowledge, what wars we were involved in and why, what presidents were major models, and other questions along those lines. When the applicant has gone through all of this, they are still a few steps away from becoming a citizen. They first receive a decision. This decision comes from a member of the USCIS looking through the applicants profile and criminal history and seeing if they meet the standards for moral character. Upon examination, if there are any flaws, these will be brought up to the applicant for potential clearing up. After this, the member will look through the answers on the test, grade them, and see if they are qualified to receive a ceremony date. If they pass all tests and their moral character is in tact, they will be scheduled for a ceremony date. The ceremony is where the applicant finally officially becomes a United States citizen. This ceremony usually happens at the nearest courthouse, and includes a few more applicants. These dates are usually spread out so that there can be as many people as possible receiving their citizenship cards at the same time. When the applicant arrives at the courthouse, they are required to turn in their Permanent Resident Card. This is simply because once they are citizens they will not need it anymore. Once they do that, court is in session. In the court, they will all line up, pledge their allegiance to the United States, the usual way, and sit with the other applicants. Each individual will get up and give a speech for those in the court, usually family and friends are there to support them. They will discuss what they have been doing since they found out that they are eligible to receive their citizenship, and why they desired to be citizens of this great country. After everyone is done with their speeches, they move on as a group to the floor. They will all take the Oath of Allegiance. This is the final step to naturalization. It is the last leap to becoming a citizen, and after it is done, there is only one thing left to do, celebrate. It may be a simple process, but it is incredibly lengthy, not including the time that you have to have lived in the States. This process can really take a toll on a person, so it is a glorious time when the applicant finally receives that card. They can finally vote, and gain a United States passport. Above all, they have all the freedoms that a citizen has, and they are protected by the constitution. They can finally get a high end job, and will be respected as any other worker would be. It is difficult to get a job that isnt fast food or shelf-stocking when you arent a legal citizen, so that is a bonus. They finally gain the freedoms listed out in all of the Bill of Rights, and will be tried in court just the same as a born-in citizen would. There isnt any backlash for being a citizen in America, like there would be if you became a citizen of Cuba. The only thing that is an issue is the impossibility of dual citizenship. Here in America, there is a sort of moral code that says we believe a citizen in our country considers us their home, and having dual citizenship doesnt reflect that very well. Of course, in any case that a person truly does want to become a citizen, the process is a little bit more involved than it has been told in this paper. When a person wants to become a citizen, they dont already have the knowledge of what wars America has been in, and they surely dont know all of the presidents. There is studying to do, and along with that, the process nearly requires a lawyer who majors in legalization and immigration. The legal steps to becoming a citizen like finding out whether you are eligible, and how to display yourself to the interviewers. Also getting into the system takes a fine-tuned approach, so the best way to attack that is through someone who truly knows the system. Overall though, being a citizen of this amazing country is worth all the trouble, and the freedoms we have are the greatest we can expect from any country.

Explain the principal social perspective

Functionalism is a structural (macro) perspective that suggests that our behaviour is influenced by the society is organised. They believe that the institutions have a major impact on how we behave in the society. The individuals are constrained by the society, and the functionalists views the individuals in the society as a puppets. Functionalists says we as an individual have little power about what we do and the institution influences us. This can be seen in society in form of laws, norms, values (norm underpins values), beliefs and relationship. This theory suggests that the individuals in the society must behave properly; otherwise, they are regarded as deviant and are punished. Functionalism believes that every part of the society are interdependent with each other, which helps society to keep going. It is almost like a human body, where different parts of the body has a function together, which keep it alive and healthy; this is called organic analogy. For instance, the family helps by bringing up the next generation about the patterns of shared and stable behaviour that are called social order. Different social institution such as, legal system, political system, health system, family system and education system work together to maintain a stable society from generation to generation. For instance, the legal system provides laws, norms that underpin values, safety, discipline and order and the health system provides free health services, family system provides help in reproduction that increases the economy. All of these institutions together to form an ‘integrated whole’ society or social structure. The major function of these social constitutions are to make individual to follow the norms that underpins values and internalize them, which leads to value consensus. According to Talcott Parson, society is based on value consensus where shared and common values and behavioural norms lead to a common culture. Consensus is an agreement in the society about the values, and have freedom, equality, justice and fairness. These values are acquired by passing down from generation to generation, through primary socialisation. These values benefit everybody equally, some the example of values that exist in our society are right for equality, justice and privacy. There are mechanism of social control in the society, like punishment and rewards. Socialisation and social control ensure that there is equilibrium in the society. The process of socialisation achieves equilibrium in the society, whereas family, religion, law and mass media, which are the agents of socialisation, are responsible for maintaining the equilibrium. The functionalist believes that the western societies are meritocratic, which means the system rewards the individual in the society based on their effort and talent and social mobility is possible in this system. They also believe that people in the society can achieve status by working hard and there is equality of opportunity in the society. Talcott Parsons proposed the functionalist approach, which considers health and illness and assumes negative definition of health. He described that illness is a form of deviance that distracts proper functioning of the society, in the same way that crime does. Ill members in the society must perform a social role where sick role consists of four elements, two of which are right and responsibilities. The rights associated with the sick role was to be excused from normal social obligation and be cared for, whereas the responsibilities were to take steps to get better and co-operating with the medical professionals such as doctors. This view suggests that ill must be cared for and must be dealt with as soon as possible in order for the society to run smoothly. 1. Marxism The founder of Marxism is Karl Marx (1818-1883), who was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist and revolutionary socialist. Marxism structural (macro) perspective, where our behaviour is determined by the way society is organised. The social institutions such as laws, rules and norms have big impact on how we behave and we are controlled by the society. Marxists believes that the society is not interdependent, instead it believes that economy is the base or infrastructure of the society, and our behaviour depends upon the economy of the society. Marxists sees the society as a system that operates to make profit for the upper class. Whereas the working class are socially engineered to conform the needs of the upper class who benefit from the societies using capitalist economic system. Capitalists exists all around the world and the economies of industrial societies in the west are based on capitalism. Marxists explains that the capitalists economies compromises two main social class; the capitalists and the workers. The upper class people were the capitalists who were regarded as powerful, whereas the workers or the labours were the lower class people and were seen as powerless puppets. The capitalists exploits the workers since they do not get recognition for what they do as get have minimum wage and make surplus profit by persuading the lower class to buy the goods by advertising. The capitalists are opposite of socialism since the capitalists control what we think and what we do, the working class people are ‘brain washed’ into accepting set of beliefs that benefits the capitalists. These messages are seen to be transmitted through the cultural institutions such as media, which are controlled by the capitalists to influence the workers. The capitalists creates the dominant values that benefits the powerful and disadvantages the powerless. For instance, the monarch claim their position as god gifted and the religion help supports their point, due to which the working class people are convinced to what have to say since they have faith in their religion. Inequality in capitalist societies still exists and is unfair but they do not recognise it because the capitalists convince them that it is their fault for not achieving what they want. For instance, the capitalists would convince working class by saying the GCSE result of upper class is higher than that of lower class because they have been able to provide private tutors for their children, and it would be their fault if their children got low grade, since they were not able to provide their children with private tutors. Marxist believes that the definition of health and illness and the health and social care services provided to the powerless serve the interests of the powerful dominant classes. The capitalists regard people who do not produce wealth as unhealthy. Marxists believe that doctors are the example of agents that work for capitalists interests rather than those of patients so that they can go to work as soon as possible and provide the capitalists with healthy work force. The government allows the capitalists to make profit from the products that cause health issues, such as alcohol and tobacco. The industries that capitalists establish cause to pollute the atmosphere and produce toxic waste that affect the people and get ill. This approach believes that illness is related to difference in the social class. For instance, poverty-stricken areas have higher levels of illness and have lower life expectancy. According to this approach, the government do no handle this issue as this would make people ill, as this leads this money and the capitalists would make advantage of it. 1. Feminists Feminism is a range of movements and ideologies that work towards goal, which establish and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal and social rights for women. Feminism seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in different sectors like education and employment and supports for equal rights and equality of women. The feminists believe that gender inequality still exists in today’s society. Feminism is a perspective that believes that women are disadvantaged in the society and should have equal rights with the men. The feminists are critical of patriarchy. Patriarchy is a social system where the men hold the power and authority. The women have fought throughout the history for their rights and equality, which caused creation of waves of feminism. The first wave was observed in the mid late 19th century, campaigning for the change in rights for the women in early 20th century. They campaigned for two main strategy; right to vote and right to be educated. In 1928, the women were given the right to vote, but only rich women over 30 who owned property were allowed. The second wave of feminism was observed from 1960s, this lead to the formation of Women’s Rights Movement (WRM) and Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). These organisations campaigned for right to equal pay act, domestic violence, sex discrimination, employment, violence services, education, family and health & social care. WRM and WLM were successful in achieving their rights for Equal pay Act in (1970), Sex Discrimination Act (1975) and right to be educated and be employed. Due to variation in opinion of causes of gender inequality and solutions to it, there was formation of three types of feminism; liberal feminism, Marxist feminism and radical feminism. Liberal feminism proposed that gender inequality stills exists in the society because of social and cultural attitudes that is gained by the process of socialisation i.e. primary and secondary socialisation. Liberal feminist helped to promote equality through Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Act. Marxist feminism explained that the capitalists to earn profit using women. They would persuade women to buy groceries such as fabric softener, so that they would spend their money and exploit them. Radical feminism explains that the society is ruled by the men, whereas the female are oppressed, exploited and are regarded as second-class citizen. It states that men exploit women by relying on free domestic labour and men may use aggression to control women in the home. Through the gender role socialisation, wo men are convinced to accept female subordination and see motherhood as a key goal in life. The feminist writers have focused male domination in the medical profession and its effects on women. They are concerned with the way in which pregnancy and childbirth have been regarded as a medical issue rather than as natural process. Feminist writers have protested on the way which the medical professions and related pharmaceutical industries have given low priority about development and promotion of male contraceptives. It explains how women had to face medical conditions such as mental health, anxiety and depression using the contraceptives, due to which their position in the society is exploited. Theorist have been concerned about the impact of social inequality on women’s health and dual role of women. 1. Interactionism The founder of interactionism was Max Weber. Interpretivist describe that the society and the social structure are seen as the creation of individuals. Unlike functionalists, they see individuals of the society as actors not as puppets. The individuals have free will and are able to make choices of their own. Unlike in the functionalism, the power come from bottom to up. They believe that the people’s choices or decisions are influenced by how they make sense of social situations. For instance, marriage means different things to different person; an individual whose parents are divorced might have negative definition of marriage, whereas the individual who have grown up in a good family might have positive definition of marriage. The Interpretivist suggests that people make impression on how you perceive symbols, they make impression on what you wear. For instance, people will make assumption that you are smart, just because you wear glasses. These theorists are concerned with the small or micro scale situations rather than the systems, they focus on the individuals in social interaction situations. Interpretivist believe that our identity is based on how we see ourselves or how other sees us. For instance, if a student in the school is praised and us labelled as smart, then he/she might do better his/her studies as this helps to boost their self-esteem. We get influenced by media, friends and family about how we see ourselves. According to Browne labelling refers to â€Å"defining a person or a group in a certain way-as a particular ‘type‘ of person or a group†. According to Interpretivist people are attached to the labelled and it can actually damage some group of people such as disabled people. The person labelled behaves in the same way expected and they have fulfilled the prophecy and lived up to the label. Interactionist believe that health and illness are the product of social construction that affects people’s wellbeing. They believe that disease is socially constructed†. Disease does not exist as a social phenomenon until it is somehow perceived as existing† (Rosenberg 1989). This approach focuses on negotiation between the patients and medical practitioners. For instance, a female patient would feel comfortable to talk to female doctor about her reproductive health rather than a male doctor. They are concerned with labelling and self-image and social interaction differences affected by class, ethnicity and age. Symbolic interactionism is critical of Marxists and Functionalists as Interpretivist look individual as subjective through doctor and patient exchange. The argument here is that illness is a social diagnosis among actors rather than just a matter of physiological malfunction. 1. Postmodernism Postmodernism is an approach in sociology as well as in other subjects, which believes that society is changing rapidly and continuously, which is marked as an uncertainty and the social structure are being replaced by whole range of different and constantly changing social relationships. This theory believes that modern society was developed at around 1750s and has been replaced by the end of 20th century due to massive social change. The Functionalists and the Marxism perspective might be interested in modernity as they thought that if properly understood, societies could be improved. But the postmodernists argue that there is no longer a place in sociology for these type of theory. This theory suggests that the postmodern society has no progress, predictability (norms that people would predict to behave), order and continuity, due to which insecurities and anxiety has been developed in people living in postmodern society as people do not know how to behave and what is expected from others. Order, predictability and continuity are essential as it gives us routine and reassurance that provides us safety and security. Society has changed as it has gone through different industrial revolution or industrialisation, technological advances, urbanisation and secularisation. Industrialisation is the process of going from agricultural economy to heavy industrial/manufacturing economy. Secularisation is the decline of belief in religion due to rise of science whereas urbanisation means movement of people from rural areas to towns and cities. Postmodernists suggests that modern society no longer exists and we live in a postmodern era or in post modernity, where the society is media saturated. Due to the revolution of technology, globalisation has occurred where the world has become a smaller place to live in. The mass media has dominated our lives to the extent that we confuse media images with reality. This theory concludes that people in the postmodern society can have their own form of identities, how they want to see themselves or how they want to define themselves. There is diversity, choices and ‘pick and mix’ culture in this society. There is no imposition on people on how to behave and there is flexibility in the work. Due to fluidity and flexibility in the postmodern society, people might feel insecure and unsafe. 1. Collectivists and New Rights Collectivists Collectivists believes that their goal are more important than the individual goals because they believe that society as a whole has more importance than the individual alone. This theory focuses on the importance of the society and community and gives priority to the group goals than the individual goals. This approach aims to address the inequalities in the society due to different levels of wealth and status in the society. With an aim to sort out the inequalities, welfare state was established to get rid of five giant evils; want (poverty), idleness (unemployment), squalor (poor quality housing) and ignorance (underachievement). Services were made free after these giant evils were identified. To eradicate disease existing in the society, NHS service was established in 1948 to make sure that the people lived healthy life. The basic principle of collectivism is to provide people with education, health and social services for the individuals in the society who cannot afford it through taxes then access on the basis of rights as opposed to the ability to pay. These helped to provide foundation for the Welfare State which is based on the collectivists principle ‘cradle to grave’ or child to old age pension. This approach was adopted by The Labour Party who represented workers which aimed for the redistribution of wealth through taxes. In this policy, the government would cut off taxes from the wealthy people and share it with the poor (shares some ideas with Marxists). Collectivists believes that we have equal rights and the government should administer responsibility for Welfare State. The New Rights criticises the Collectivism as it creates the dependency culture. They point out that people become irresponsible, lazy and don not work as benefits are demotivating for the people. New rights The New Right was popular during 1980s. They are the political movement with a considerable cultural influence that looks at individualism and distrust of the state as controlling and interfering in what is essentially the private world of the individual. They proposed to cut the public spending and cut taxes. They wanted the rich people to have more money to spend money as they choose. The New rights was critical of Collectivists stating that the rising costs to government of the welfare state were preventing the economic growth and the individuals were becoming dependant on the welfare state. The New Rights were critical of public services owned/controlled by the government and they preferred pro private services e.g. education and health care. The New Right is argued to favour ‘the rich’, but they believe that everybody in the society has equal opportunity, so anyone can become rich. E.g. Alan Sugar. They believe that people must be responsible for their own and their family’s welfare and they should not be dependent on the government. The New Rights are completely opposite to Collectivism. The most radical New Rights would abolish the Welfare State. g) Bio-medical and social models Bio medical Model Biomedical model focuses on the physical or biological aspects of disease and illness. The doctors or the health care professionals are associated with the care and treatment of diseases in this model of health. The bio medical model accept a ‘negative’ definition of health. The negative definition of health explains that the individual believes that they have good state of health and wellbeing because they have absence of physical illness, disease, injury, mental stress, free from pain and discomfort. The bio medical model of is dominant model in our society since it is based on objectivity thus this model has influenced or convinced people in the society. This model emphasises on diagnosis and treatment of the individuals separately from their living condition, due to which this model is not holistic approach. The reasons for illness are not at the centre of biomedical model. This model believes that health is a biological normality and describe that having ill health is deviant. This model believes that the disease is caused by identical factors such as germs, genes and accidents. They can be identified by having examination tests like blood, urine, saliva test, X-ray and MRI. They accept that the professionals diagnose disease then treatment is identified and cure is offered to the patient. The professionals views the human body as a machine and see things very clinically and do not really take consideration to people’s feeling. They often promote the view that disease or illness is temporary. This model indicates that we all have equal chance of getting ill and some people get ill due to weak health, whereas some people get ill due to factors such as weak sanitation. It assumes that medical treatment has had the most important impact on improving the health of individual. For instance, the NHS helps in the prolonged and preserves life, but this can be argued as health of an individual had already started to get better due to access to clean water, exercise and diet. The strength of bio medical model of health is that it is based on scientific knowledge and research and has provided many effective treatments for disease and physical condition. The bio medical model of health has be successful to provide many effective cure and treatments for disease throughout the history of humankind. The weakness of biomedical model of health is that the treatments can be expensive and require training or expertise to deliver and this model focuses on the individual and pays insufficient attention to environmental and social factors, which is not a holistic approach. Social Model The social model accepts the positive definition of health. The positive definition of health can be described as the achievement and maintenance of physical fitness and mental stability. This model believes that health is a relative concept and a social construct. For instance, being voluptuous centuries ago was a sign of good health, but today’s day it is regarded as health issue or overweight. This model claims that ill health is caused due to social factors (including environmental factors). For instance people can get ill because of the unhealthy diet they are consuming, poor living condition or pollution. This model is critical of ‘modern’ medicine, which are elements of biomedical model. E.g. Iatrogenisis medicine caused deformity in the baby consumed by pregnant mother eaten for nausea sickness. It argues with the biomedical model saying that illness is not randomly distributed and are critical of the assumption that medical treatments has had the most important impact on improving health. Social model can explain why population level health improvements were achieved when social conditions improved late 19th/early 20th centuries due to the improvement of sanitation and supply of clean water the health of population improved, and argues it was not because free health services was delivered to the people. The strengths of social model of health is that it focuses population health and takes a broad range of factors into account and it is widely used and understood by health care practitioners in developed countries. This model offers board and flexible and inclusive way of understanding health and illness. Whereas the weakness of this model is they do not have a clear way of identifying or classifying health problems and this model cannot explain illness or many mental health problems where there are no physical signs or symptoms, which can be distressing. The social model cannot be used to address an individual’s health problems, especially where emergency care is needed.

Alexander the Great Essay

Aristotle is a famous Greek philosopher. Given the name â€Å"The Philosopher,† his ideas were of great importance to Greece during his lifetime. Throughout his life in ancient Greece, he gained popularity because of his many teachings and brilliant logic. His early childhood influenced his scientific thoughts, and his time at the Academy in Athens brought him to the study of philosophy as well. Through many observations, he made large amounts of discoveries that are still proven true in modern times. He wrote over 200 treatises covering various topics such as ethics, biology, psychology, logic and physics. His ideas spread rapidly making him a prominent figure in Western civilization. Not only did Aristotle’s thoughts set the foundation for the development of Greek thought, but also impacted the philosophy and sciences beyond his lifetime. Aristotle was born in a small Greek town called Stagira in 384 BC. His town, like many others in Greece, was one which held non-Greek people. Greece during this time was expanding, and gaining culture. The geography of Greece can be described as rich and fertile. The land was abundant with farmland and ideal for growing grain and fruit. The land also provided space for livestock such as horses, sheep, and cows. This caused the economy to thrive. The main focus of Greece however, particularly in Athens, was politics. Athens’ progression from monarchy to democracy made them more advanced in politics than other civilizations at the time, but the sudden change also weakened Greece. Aristotle would later help to encourage the outlook on life of the majority of Greece and help the overall good of society. Aristotle grew up under the care of his father until his later childhood. His father Nicomachus, was a popular physician at a court in Macedonia, which would later be a strong influence to Aristotle’s career because of his relationship with the king and his family. At the age of ten, Nicomachus passed away and Aristotle was then taken under the care of his uncle named Proxenus. He was raised by him for all of his teenage years. At the age of seventeen, Proxenus sent Aristotle to Athens where he joined Plato’s Academy. Plato was another highly respected Greek philosopher at this time. At the Academy, Aristotle was taught by Plato and he became one of the best students. He studied everything there from astronomy, mathematics, literature, and science. When Plato died, Aristotle left Athens. Being one of the prominent figures in Greece by now, and because of his father’s connections with the court in Macedonia, Aristotle was invited by the king of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander, who would later become his successor. During Aristotle’s lifetime, he spent a great amount of time thinking about the distinctions between thoughts and actions. This is called logic. He was the first philosopher to study a formal type of logic and his logic remained dominant until the 19th century. He made clear lines between proof and inferences. His type of thinking later became known as Aristotelian logic, named after him. He also set fundamentals for speech, such as sentence structure. Aristotle said, â€Å"Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience, just as written words are the symbols of spoken words† (Farrington, 65). Along with this came the idea of propositions. He taught that each proposition has to have two parts- a subject and predicate. He thought that to make sense of a sentence, something has to be said about a person, or thing. Use of this language helped writers during his time, and is also how people speak today. It seems like common sense to people now, but Aristotle was the first to notice it and that is true of many other observations he made. For example, he believed that the mind and soul are separate from the actual human body. He also believed that humans’ souls still existed after they died. At the time, it set ideas about the afterlife for many people in Greece. His teachings encouraged people to believe in a good life after death. His logic was very complex, which made him a leader in philosophy during his lifetime. His logic also coincides with his ideas about philosophy. One of Aristotle’s major accomplishments during his lifetime was impacting the study of philosophy. He was the founder of Western thought, and his philosophical thoughts are still studied widely in today’s society. His beliefs on philosophy covered various subjects but mainly ethics and politics. The study of ethics is involved with well-being and how people should best live their lives. Ethics addresses individuals rather than a whole community. He taught that humans main goal in life is to reach happiness. He also believed that life should ultimately be about doing what is best to be fully content. He believed in temperance, and says that unlimited wealth is not needed in life. To have an enjoyable life, he believed that wealth is an obstacle to being happy, and people cannot want it too much. This way of thinking was popular because people liked the idea of being happy. His beliefs influenced some of the best medieval scholars, who also believed in the overall good of humans. As for politics, Aristotle examined the growth of society and came to the conclusion that people should work for the common good of their community, and work towards maximum success. To obtain a successful way of life for all people in the community, laws and rules are required. Aristotle wrote, â€Å"‘Youth will not receive a proper ethical training unless brought up under right laws†¦ Speaking generally, we need laws to cover the whole of life’† (Farrington, 88). This quote is an example of one of the many ideas that influenced the philosophy of whole communities. Even today’s society cannot survive without law. He believed that to achieve a civilness, people must fulfill their responsibilities for the good of the whole. â€Å"He sought intelligible definitions of the virtues and employed in the quest the method of induction† (Farrington, 6). This means that he wanted to prove that society was able to thrive with showing high virtue. His philosophy was later named after him, as Aristotelian philosophy. His basic thoughts about life and the Aristotelian philosophy and logic still remains relevant today all over the world. Not only did Aristotle set the philosophical foundation for Greece, but also had an impact on the sciences. His study of biology is important, because it gives people an idea of the history of science. At the Academy, Aristotle had a major interest in anatomy and examined the cycle of the life of man and animals. Through experiments and observations, he made many conclusions. Aristotle dissected about fifty animals in his lifetime and studied over 500 different species of animals, making many discoveries about living things. â€Å"Aristotle thought of a living thing’s inherent potentialities as guiding and controlling what it becomes in its process of growth and development† (Adler, 47). He noticed that species inherit characteristics from their parents, similar to DNA, which is proven today. Aristotle taught that the mind was separate from the rest of the body, and that the mind was not a physical feature. He also distinguished mammals from non-mammals. In his biological research, he focused on mechanical causation as well. He distinguishes the differences between mechanical and chemical changes. Another discovery Aristotle made before modern times even proved it is the ladder of nature. He came to the conclusion that plants are the least complex living thing and humans are the most complex. In society today, that is called a food chain. His order of society remained prevalent for centuries after his death in the West. His thoughts on nature set guidelines for the progress of biology for the future, as well the fundamentals of physical science. The study of physics is one of Aristotle’s main contributions to Western civilization, and to the modern world. His thoughts on physics were originally provoked by earlier scientists, but Aristotle created his own ideas that disagreed with former scientist’s thoughts. He made major improvements on previous knowledge. â€Å"He is conscious of measuring himself against the older thinkers and refers to them mainly in order to disagree with them or at least, to make clear where he has done better† (Farrington, 72). His ideas to science are primary today. One of the major concepts adopted by later scholars that Aristotle discovered was his laws of motion. He taught that the heavier the object is, the faster it will fall, and that the speed of objects falling depends on the density of the surroundings its falling through. For example, a rock falling through a river will be slowed down by the water. He also said that the speed of an object depends on the force being applied to it. For instance, if you stop pushing an object, the object will stop moving as well. Aside from motion, he also studied substances. He noticed the difference between physical mixtures and chemical mixtures. He discovered that when two ingredients are joined together, it creates a new substance, or chemical change. Aristotle also created four forms, or causes of matter. The first is material cause, which explains the chemical and physical appearance of an object, or what is it made out of. The second is formal cause, and this pertains to the characteristics of an object, or what it will develop into. The third cause is called efficient cause. Efficient cause explains how a change is made when objects are in motion, similar to the idea of kinetic energy which is a main principle in science today. The last cause is called final cause, which analyzes why something exists. His four causes are extremely relevant throughout history because they explain the basics of why things are the way they are. Aristotle’s works in physics also involve the study of the Earth.. He taught that the Earth is made of four elements- earth, water, fire, and air. His approach to the basics of matter differs from Plato’s thoughts on what matter consists of because Aristotle relied more on his senses from actual things. Aristotle’s thoughts were more realistic. He studied how his four elements reacted with cold, wet, hot, and dry things. It provided a better understanding of the natural world. Aristotle influenced many people during his lifetime, but one of the most important people to history that he taught was Alexander the Great, who grew up to become one of the greatest military leaders in history. As mentioned earlier, Aristotle’s father was a personal physician to the king of Macedon. When the king decided his son needed a better education, he picked Aristotle because of his connection to the royal family, and he also came to the realization that Aristotle was one of the greatest intellectual leaders in Greece. During his time teaching, Alexander showed many interests in science and medicines. When Alexander invaded Asia, he brought a number of botanists and zoologists, and together they discovered new species. Aristotle also taught Alexander how to be a good public speaker, and how to debate. He taught him poetry, which Alexander had a big interest in. While studying poetry, Alexander even considered one of the gods in Greek poetry as his role model. Aristotle greatly impacted Alexander’s thoughts on ethics and politics as well. He taught Alexander to love all things Greek. He thought that the non-Greeks that were settling should be enslaved, and discouraged Alexander to accept the new people. Alexander had already been skeptical about Persians, and Aristotle’s advice encouraged this thought. Aristotle also wanted Alexander to have self-control and self honor, which helped Alexander to focus on what he needed to do to gain success not only for himself, but for Greece as a whole, coinciding with the type of philosophy that Aristotle believed in. What Alexander learned during this time with Aristotle he took with him on all of his journeys to conquer surrounding lands. He ultimately conquered most of the known world at that time, and united Greece by the young age of twenty-five. Aristotle provided him with the knowledge and skills to become one of the greatest leaders of all time. Without having Aristotle as a teacher, Alexander may not have been as effective in expanding Greece, which could have led to changing the course of history. The impacts that Aristotle had on the philosophy and sciences during his time was great, and the scientific and philosophic world is still learning from him today. His intellect led him to influence every major subject in the ancient world. His type of philosophy gave people a way to manage their problems, and gave them different ways to look at the world. His ideas reinforced people’s faith yet also supported new ideas about faith. In medieval times, his philosophy was used by the majority of the population. It set the basis for medieval scholasticism, which was the philosophy used throughout the middle ages. His philosophy was rediscovered during the beginning of modern scholarship. His philosophy was rediscovered in the late Middle Ages because it pertained to the values of Christianity. His works were also studied by pre-Renaissance scholars, who were some of the greatest in the world. Pope Silvester II advanced his logic by studying Aristotle’s thoughts and influenced him as pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His writings were so successful that they have been translated into dozens of languages and studied by scholars after his death, and even today. As for science, Aristotle was one of the biggest contributors to the growth of the biology and physics during his time. He introduced scientific theories that no one ever studied in the ancient world. By studying animals, he increased the number of animal species, and explained the growth and development of animals, which even led to many discoveries in human anatomy. His contributions were so great that without his research, Europe’s scientific development would be very delayed. Aristotle also tutored one of the most successful leaders who managed to conquer more than half of the known world. Aristotle’s intelligent mind helped to make the ancient world flourish. The underlying reason to why Aristotle was so successful as a philosopher is because he was one of the first to study logic. He studied real life unlike philosophers such as Plato. This is emphasized in a famous Renaissance painting called The School of Athens which portrays an image of Plato pointing upwards, representing his study of the heavens. Aristotle is pointing downwards, representing his study of Earth. His teachings seemed logical to the people of his time because he believed knowledge should be obtained by observation and reasoning, and this made him very popular. Although much of Aristotle’s work was rediscovered during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, he was incorrect in some areas. For example, he was incorrect about the placement of the Earth in outer space. â€Å"He believed terrestrial elements rise from or fell toward the center of the Earth, which is also the center of the universe†¦ and everything revolves around the Earth† (Langford, 25). The first person to realize Aristotle was wrong was Galileo. He discovered that planets revolve around a physical center other than Earth by studying the moon phases of Jupiter and Venus. He had proved Aristotle wrong. This caused problems with the Church because the christians were so dedicated to Aristotle’s philosophy. They believed that there were no differences between his philosophy and Christianity. When Galileo started to prove Aristotle’s science wrong, people began to believe that Christianity was wrong. This later led to the loss of Roman Catholic authority. Aristotle’s teachings in philosophy was one of his biggest contributions to the world because his philosophical ideas managed to impact the faith of Christianity and also the power of the Church.. â€Å"He was called â€Å"Ille Philosophus† (the philosopher) by his medieval followers, and his work was discussed as the eternal truth† (â€Å"Aristotle of Stagirus†). The Greek philosopher Aristotle was called â€Å"The Philosopher† for a reason. In his lifetime, he made numerous discoveries, wrote hundreds of works, influenced scholars in the middle ages, and taught one of the greatest conquerors in the world. He directly influenced the philosophy of ancient civilizations, and by dedicating his life to his studies and experiments, he set the fundamentals of science. Overall, he built the basis of the philosophy and sciences during his lifetime and beyond.

Is Television Our Utopia Essay - 578 Words

Television is a technological advancement that is contributing to our idea of utopia. Peoples â€Å"Utopia† means that everything is perfect. Television plays a big impact to this view. Mitchell Stephens lets readers know that, â€Å"Since the first television was successfully demonstrated in 1927†¦Ã¢â‚¬  it gave people a little glimpse as to what could possibly happen next. Now, in 2014 it lets everyone have anything from news to entertainment in the palm of their hands. Before the invention of the television everyone had newspapers and magazines to do that. Since 1927, people have had the idea that the television invention was the new â€Å"Utopia†. We now have anything available whenever, wherever, advertisements, positive effects, and emergency news†¦show more content†¦Nixon, the Republicans nominee.† This broadcast was gave viewers a better idea and understandment of the opinions being transmitted. Now a day’s advertisement is a normal thing on T.V. It’s normal to see others on the screen trying to sell you an idea or object and accomplish it. â€Å"The television advertisement first broadcasted on 1st July, 1941 in New York. The advertisement was for Bulova Watch for 20 seconds.† This impacted the whole nation! Now advertisements take a huge role in television. Television has advanced technology wise, advertising contributes to this advancement. Our perfect view of television started there. We now had an idea of what other people where buying and decided to follow along. Advertisement has helped shaped our utopian views. Our perfect views of television were also shaped by the positive affects it had on children and adults as well. Televisions were a huge hit since they first came out. â€Å"The number of television sets in the United Sates rose from 6,000 in 1946 to some 12 million by 1951.† Proven by Grolier Encyclopedia. It’s incredible how in a few years the television investment w ent up in millions. 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