Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Prepping Your Sources Essay Example for Free
Prepping Your Sources Essay Fill in the notes for the amendment and for each of the three categories (multi-media, contemporary cases, advocacy documents). If you need support for the citation, consult the MLA Formatting Guide you printed from the lesson. Amendment for your topic (from the Bill of Rights) Citation: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment What information from this source seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the source. The most important part of the amendment is the right to be secure from unwarranted search and seizures. How does this source support your topic? It shows how the government can bend the will of this amendment in their favor but it also shows how this amendment can severely help the defendants when they are truly guilty. What information from this source would be most useful to include in your informative/explanatory article? The general right of the people to be protected from unwarranted search and seizures in their own homes by police and other law enforcement. One Multi-Media Resource (videos, slideshows, audio files, infographics) Citation: http://www.slideshare.net/jenvogt/fourth-amendment-and-racial-profiling-1 Key Use: I used it to better understand the fourth amendment rights. What information from this source seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the source. How privacy rights are superseded by reasonable suspicion. How does this source support your topic? It helps me have a better understanding on the rights of the fourth amendments and right better able it. What information from this source would be most useful to include in your informative/explanatory article? The fact that your privacy is superseded by reasonable suspicion. Two Contemporary Case Resources (articles on recent case) #1 Citation Information: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/13-132.pdf Key Use: Gives a whole overview of the Riley Vs. California case. Whatà information from this source seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the source. The important information in this source is that a cop search Rileyââ¬â¢s phone without a warranted and he was arrested on those charges. How does this source support your topic? It shows how unwarranted search and seizure leads to bad arrests and criminals get off the hook because of one mistake. What information from this source would be most useful to include in your informative/explanatory article? How the arrests happened and provide details about why and how the cop went about arresting riley. #2 Citation Information: https://www.eff.org/files/2014/06/20/patino_decision.pdf Key Use: Gives a full review of the case.à What information from this source seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the source. How the evidence was once again taken from a cell phone. How does this source support your topic? It shows more examples of fourth amendment rights being violated. What information from this source would be most useful to include in your informative/explanatory article? How the search went, provide details, and references about the whole case. Two Advocacy Documents or Articles (document or article including statements from presidents, politicians, or advocates about the topic you selected) #1 Citation Information: http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/lessons-plans/landmark-cases-and-the-constitution/olmstead-v-united-states-1927/ Key Use: In the Olmstead case Chief Justice William Taft had said the amendment meant physically searches and seizures. What information from this source seems the most important? Note key points mentioned in the source. How Chief Justice William Taft had said the amendment meant physically searches and seizures. How does this source support your topic? It shows how the government still bends the amendment in their favor. What information from this source would be most useful to include in your informative/explanatory article?
Monday, August 5, 2019
The Zero Based Budgeting Accounting Essay
The Zero Based Budgeting Accounting Essay Zero-based budgeting avails a better approach to dealing with the drawbacks associated with incremental budgeting. Unlike in incremental budgeting, zero-based approach does not necessarily start from the previous years budget level; instead, the existing operations are evaluated and continuance of the operation or activity ought to be justified on the basis of its utility and its need to the company. Zero-based budgeting pursues to justify resource allocation within individual budget scheme, irrespective of prior period budgets. The budget in this case is initially allocated as zero unless the manager responsible makes the case for resource allocation. Every plan in this case is justified as per the total cost and the total benefits and past performance is not in any way referred as a building block. The goal of zero-based budgeting is to re-evaluate and re-examine all programs and expenditures for each budgeting cycle by computing workload and effectiveness appraisals so as to verif y substitute levels of financing for each program or expenditure. Zero-based budgeting approach avails some distinctive advantages compared to traditional incremental budgeting such as: it allocates financial resources based on planning requirements and results; and, in order to attain efficiency, zero-based approach encourages managers to search for alternative operation plans. However, despite the outlined advantages, zero-based approach also manifest some disadvantages; first, since the budgeting process is sophisticated, the process can consume a lot of managerial time and may appear to be too drastic a solution for the task at hand; second, short-term benefits may take precedence and obscure long-term planning as the latter is less dominant within the planning process; and, third, since the new budget is launched every year, there may be annual conflicts over budget allocation. In order to circumvent these drawbacks, especially concerning the managerial time required, one alternative may be to conduct a rolling budget every year and carry out zero-based budgeting perhaps three to five years, or in cases where a considerable modification that occurs within operations. This compromise may aid to weed out waste and inefficiency, especially within a period of intense competition and reengineering that is characteristic of the mobile phone industry. Indeed, zero-based budgeting is an effective means of controlling for unnecessary costs since the departments and divisions in Pear Ltd do not automatically receive a distinctive sum every year, each amount of money apportioned to each unit bear a purpose, which keeps waste and discretionary spending to a minimum. Zero-based budgeting minimizes the entitlement mentality with respect to cost increases, and bears the potential to render budget discussions to be more meaningful. Activity Based Budgeting Activity-based budgeting awards financial resources to activities that see the highest return in the form of enhanced revenues for the company. Thus, the organization can be able to translate its vision into a strategy with definable objectives so as to create value. The benefit of adoption of activity-based budgeting is that Pear Ltd can be to accurately link revenues to strategic objectives, which, in turn, may enhance revenue moving forward. Nevertheless, the implementation of an activity-based model demands investment of substantial time and resources, which may not be immediately feasible for Pear Ltd. The most effective performance budgets manifest how the invested resources fund day-to-day tasks and activities, and how the activities are anticipated to generate certain outputs and the outcomes that should be the result. If Pear Ltd adopts a performance-based budget, the company will have a good idea of how money is anticipated to translate into results. One of the drawbacks to this approach is that the budget process must incorporate the review of performance measures and time for discussions of performance against expectations. Performance-based budgeting Performance-based budgeting (PBB) process is a continuum that incorporates the accessibility and utilization of performance grounded in information at each of the varied phases of the budget process. Performance budgets mainly seek to contain information of a number of elements, namely: inputs, outputs, efficiency, and effectiveness. PBB mainly start at begin policy level in which the organization develop goals and explicit policy objectives. Decisions are mainly taken to link budget allocations to the set goals, objectives, and measures. Priority-based budgeting This approach represents an adjustment of zero-based budgeting method whose focal point centers on highlighting corporate priorities and apportioning growth accordingly. This demands a thorough ongoing review of departmental services. Based on the analysis for every unit the elements of spending could be classified as highly desirable or beneficial. Such decisions are supplied to the decision makers. Priority-driven-budgeting is a powerful tool that aids entities to: better manage the expectations of constituents; address present or anticipated fiscal constraints; highlight on the revenues at hand and utilize them in the most productive ways possible; spend within the entities means; and, attain the best results for the invested resources. Flexible budgeting can be employed by Pear Ltd management in planning by indicating what costs will be at diverse levels of activity. In so doing, flexible budgeting can be employed to solve the problem that emanate from employing static budgets for performance evaluation. Whereas the traditional incremental budgeting may not be necessarily flawed, the adoption of flexible budgets can award managers some feel for the impact of both fixed and variable costs. Pear Ltds management could shift from traditional incremental budgeting to zero-based budgeting. The adoption of zero-based budgeting suits the Pear Ltd, especially since in the mobile phone industry competition is rife. This is informed by the fact that it allows every managerial activity to be properly identified and then assessed by analyzing alternative levels of operation for a particular activity. The highlighted alternatives may be ranked and relative priorities laid for attaining effectiveness and efficiency. Alternatives to traditional incremental budgeting offer Pear Ltds management the most ideal characteristics of a budgeting system such as flexibility, responsiveness, and coordination. A move towards a decentralized structure can be critical to easing the drawbacks associated with traditional budgeting process. Critically evaluate alternative methods of product costing and the role of such methods in supporting such areas as the evaluation of strategy and cost control. Costing systems differ along three dimensions, namely: the components being measured; what is included in product cost; and, the manner in which the cost are accumulated. The differences in costs emanate from the urge to incorporate or exclude certain forms of information in product costs. The differentials manifested between the approaches stem from the timing of the cost recognition whereby the core issue centres on when the fixed production costs become expenses. Eventually, both methods produce the same merged appraisal of total profit; nevertheless, there may be differences in short-term phase profit measures and stock valuations. Basic approach to product costing normally incorporates assigning direct costs to products and allocating manufacturing overhead costs to products. The core product costing methods in this category include job costing and process costing. Job costing encompasses the transfer of outlays to a certain manufacturing job and may include contract costing and batch costing. Overhead is allocated to jobs and the approach is utilized when individual lots of products are distinctive, especially when the entities are billed directly to customers. Process costing infers the accumulation of labor, material, and overheads outlays across whole divisions or entities whereby the entire production cost being allocated to individual units. Process costing incorporates aspects such as operation costing, unit costing/output costing, service costing, and multiple/composite costing. Alternative Product Costing There is an overall concurrence as to the accounting treatment of key aspects such as product costs and of period costs; however, there is constantly a debate centering on what item costs should be billed as product costs. This is largely a case of designation of absorption costing (AC) and variable costing (VC)/ marginal costing) that embodies diverse approaches to product cost description and dimension, and consequently profit measurement. Absorption costing embodies the traditional approach that deems all production costs to be product costs. The accounting treatment of fixed production costs varies as per each approach. Hence, all the approaches deliver varied periodic stock valuation whereby in absorption costing, stocks remain valued at full cost of production while under VC; the stocks remain valued at variable production cost. Similarly, the methods may also yield to diverse periodic profit measurements. Variable costing system incorporate direct material, direct labour, and the variable constituent of overhead within product cost. Fixed overhead, in this case, is treated as a period cost. Absorption costing system incorporates direct material, direct labour, and both the inconsistent and rigid elements of overhead in product cost. Factory overhead, in this case, is absorbed into the product cost. Job order costing Job order costing explores and establishes the outlay of individual jobs/batches. The direct material employed and the direct labour hours are accumulated for each job whereby manufacturing overhead is mainly applied as per the direct labour hours. One of the advantages of employing this approach is that the outlays of every job can be independently analyzed. If the actual cost was extremely high, the manager is at liberty of reviewing the actual material and labour costs to establish the reason for the surge. While job order costing can be an effective tool for some companies, it can create additional work tracking costs that may not necessarily add value. Activity-based costing Activity-based costing represents a managerial accounting method that approximates the outlay of products and services by apportioning overhead costs to direct costs. Activity based costing system represents a modified absorption costing system whereby the indirect outlays are outlined to their cost pools to reflect resource exploitation of indirect reserves by the cost object. Activity-based costing (ABC) represents a two-stage product costing method that first allocates costs to activities and then allots them to products based on the products consumption of activities. Activity-based costing mainly incorporates four steps: first, identifying the activities that consume resources and assign cost to them; second, outlining the cost drivers connected with every action; third, computing a cost rate per cost driver unit/transaction (each activity should possess multiple cost drivers); fourth, establishment of output metrics and conveying outlays to products in multiplying the outlay dr iver fee by the quantity of outlay driver units registered in the manufacturing of the product. Since product mix has grown more diverse, activity based costing has evolved to become a useful tool. Activity-based costing allows managers to arrive at decisions by employing product outlay constituent that only covers those actions that add to the manufacturing of the product. Nevertheless, ABC demands more detailed analysis of the activities within the plant that require additional resources from the company. The key benefit of this approach is the potential to approximate the outlay of entity products and services precisely. ABC helps to underline wasteful or non-profitable ventures that impact on the productivity of the production processes. Marginal costing Marginal costing is an approach that employs variable costs. Variable costs, in this case, embody those outlays that stay the identical per unit, but vary in sum as per the overall quantity of units manufactured. Fixed costs essentially remain the same in total irrespective of the number of units produced. Since variable costs are mainly controlled costs, marginal costing enables mangers to make decisions devoid of being swayed by uninhibited statistics such as fixed outlays. Marginal costing also embodies a valuable device to utilize when the entity business environment is extremely competitive. The product pricing can be engineered to recover the changeable outlays of the products. However, disregarding fixed outlays may modify the proceeds to recover overall outlays of the business. The Role of Alternative Methods of Product Costing in Supporting Evaluation of Strategy and Cost Control Alternative methods of product costing are critical to the evaluation of company strategy and overall cost control. In the contemporary competitive business environment accurate product costing is essential to a business survival. Such methods are critical in supporting such areas as the evaluation of strategy and cost control. The approaches are critical in shaping precise divisional and product outlays as a foundation for estimating the cost effectiveness of divisions and the productivity of diverse products. Cost allocation plays a strategic role in shaping competitiveness, especially in informing the effectiveness of the decision-making. Alternative methods of transfer pricing The rapid advances in technology, communication, and transportation have yielded to a large number of multinational enterprises that bear the flexibility to place their enterprises and activities anywhere in the world. The main rationale of transfer pricing is to render most favourable decision making within a decentralized organization so as to maximize the profit of the organization. A transfer price integrates the cost one sub-entity of a corporation charges for a given product or service supplied to the next sub-entity within the same corporation. The sub-entities may be profit centres, cost centres, or investment centres. Pear Ltd central managements adoption of alternative transfer prices may possess significant impact on aspects such as motivation, performance indication and autonomy across the range of Pear Ltds responsibility centres. Motivation in this case combines goal congruence and effort and includes the aspiration to achieve a given goal outlined by the management merged with the search of those goals. Ideally, alternative transfer prices should possess properties such as promoting goal congruence, motivating management effort, useful in evaluating subunit performance, and preserving an enhanced level of subunit autonomy in decision making. The advantages of transfer pricing across Pear Ltds range of responsibility centres include better, timely decisions owing to the managers proximity to local conditions; the managers are not diverted by regular, restricted decision difficulties; managers motivation increases since they have better control over results; and enhanced decision making that avails better training for mangers for enhanced level positions within the future. Some of the disadvantages that can be cited include lack of goal congruence among mangers within diverse parts of the organization; inadequate information available to top management; and, lack of coordination among managers in diverse parts of the organization. Alternative methods of transfer pricing Market-based transfer pricing Market-based transfer pricing details when the outside market for the product is well-defined, competitive, and stable, organizations frequently tend to institute the market price as a benchmark for the transfer price. This approach, however, attracts some concerns, especially when the outside company is neither competitive nor stable. This may distort internal decision making for relying on market-based transfer prices that mirror distress prices or a variety of special pricing strategies. Market-based pricing overall leads to finest decisions, especially when: a) the marketplace is perfectly competitive; b) there is low interdependencies of sub-divisions; and, c) there is lack of extra costs or gains to the association in its entirety from buying or selling within the external market rather than transacting internally. Using market prices for transfers in certain conditions leads to goal congruence. Division managers will be acting in their own best interests to arrive at decisions that may be within the best interests of the organization as a whole. Nevertheless, one can argue that computing transfer prices grounded in cost will most probably make Pear Ltd to pay little attention to mitigating outlays since all expenditures incurred amid production will be recovered. Negotiated transfer pricing This approach features a firm identifying regulations for the computation of transfer prices. Divisional managers, in this case, are persuaded to settle or jointly agreeable transfer prices. The exact transfer price in this case hinges on the negotiating powers of the divisions. The bargained transfer price manifests a number of properties: attainment of goal congruence; critical for evaluating division performance since the transfer derives from express bargaining between the set divisions; motivating administration endeavour given that once bargained, the transfer price is autonomous of real costs of the subunit (the subunits in this case manifest every reason to direct the organization resourcefully to increase profits; and, safeguarding subunit independence since the transfer pricing flows from express negotiations between the two subunits. Cost-based transfer pricing In the lack of perfectly developed market-price, majority of the companies base their pricing on the manufacturing cost of the supplying sub-entity. The most prominent methods employed include: full cost, cost-plus, variable cost plus lump sum charge, dual transfer prices, variable cost plus opportunity cost. One possible restraint of full-cost-based transfer prices derives from the fact that they can yield to suboptimal conclusions for the organization as a whole. Transferring products internally at incremental cost possess the following properties: attains goal congruence; not useful for evaluating subunit performance since transfer price fails to exceed full costs. Transferring products internally at incremental cost fails to preserve subunit autonomy since it is rule-based and some divisions have no say in and, thus, no capability to set the transfer price. However, transferring products internally at incremental cost will motivate management effort if based on budgeted costs (actual costs are comparable to budgeted costs). If, however, the transfers are grounded are based on actual costs, Pear Ltd possess little incentive to control costs. Although, neither approach can be cited to be perfect, negotiated transfer pricing possesses more favourable properties compared to the cost-based transfer pricing. Both transfer-pricing approaches attain goal congruence; however, bargained transfer pricing assists in the estimation of subunit performance, stimulates management action, and conserves subunit autonomy, while the transfer price remain based on incremental costs fails to attain these objectives. The benefits of utilization of alternative methods of transfer pricing between responsibility centres is that the operating managers possess the incentives to closely weigh and conduct cost-benefit analysis prior to requesting groups services or products. Similarly, the operating managers possess an inducement to pursue the job and the development undertaken by the responsibility centres. Decentralization would encourage plant managers to enhance output so as to achieve the highest profitability, and inspire plant managers to track cost cutting measures that would increase margins. Manufacturing managers would be equally motivated to design their operations as per the criteria that satisfy the marketing managers approval, hence enhancing cooperation between the responsibility centres. The problem that emanate from adoption of alternative transfer pricing by Pear Ltds central management is that the contract may necessitate extensive internal negotiations with regard to cost, time, and technical specification. Similarly, Pear Ltds divisions need to consistently sell their services or products to the operating division and this could possibly result in loss of morale. To the degree that the focal point of the responsibility centres is on short-term schemes stipulated by the operating divisions, the current arrangement would lead to goal congruence and motivation. Goal congruence is attained since both the central management (operating divisions) and the responsibility centres are motivated to work the organizational goals such as enhancing the environment. The operating divisions would be highly motivated to utilize the services of the responsibility centres so as to attain the objectives outlined for them by the administration.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Heart of Darkness Essay -- essays research papers
When considering a work of literature, the title can be just as important as the context of the story. Literary devices such as contrast and repetition help develop the symbolism of Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness. The use of contrast can be seen within the differences between the black and white people along with the differences between the civilized and uncivilized. The phrase "Heart of Darkness" itself is repetitious to describe certain places, events, and people. Joseph Conrad successfully relates his title to the African continent, the people, how the people were treated, and the soul of Kurtz. The title can relate to the wilderness in the center of Africa where Marlow is headed. In the story, the commander sees England as many men viewed Africa. It is a "sea the colour of lead" and "sky the color of smoke" which conveys the place as dark and gloomy. Furthermore, Englishmen wanted to colonize Africa and they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the journey. Marlow shows that wilderness really isn't a place for men to be. The sheer size of "darkness" makes the people powerless, despite the fact that they feel that they can make improvements in Africa. Through it all, the darkness provides many challenges for the civilizers and as a result, their conditions become worse, causing them to achieve very little. Wilderness is a very significant symbol becau...
The Sin of Hypocrisy in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays
The Sin of Hypocrisy in The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about the trials and tribulations of Hester Prynne, a woman living in colonial Boston.Ã Found guilty of adultery,Ã Hester's punishment is to wear a visible symbol of her sin: the scarlet letter "A."Ã Through the book, the reader comes to know Hester, the adulteress; Dimmesdale, the holy man Hester had the affair with; and Chillingworth, the estranged husband of Hester who is out for revenge.Ã The Scarlet Letter examines the interaction of these characters and the reaction of these characters to Hester's sin.Ã However, the greater sin that Hawthorne deals with in The Scarlet Letter is hypocrisy.Ã Hypocrisy is the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess.Ã All three main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, commit the sin of hypocrisy. Hawthorne shows that hypocrisy is indeed a sin by punishing the offenders. Hester Prynne is a strong, independent woman who deals with her sin of adultery very well.Ã Instead of running away from it, she lives with it and accepts her punishment.Ã However, while succumbing to the will of the court, she does not for an instant truly believe that she sinned.Ã Hester thinks that she has not committed adultery because in her mind she wasn't really married to Chillingworth.Ã Hester believes that marriage is only valid when there is love, and there is no love between Hester and Chillingworth.Ã In the prison, defending her actions against him, she declares, "Thou knowest, thou knowest that I was frank with thee.Ã I felt no love, nor feigned any" (74). Then, later, speaking to Dimmesdale, Hester further imparts her belief that she has not sinned, saying, "What we did had a consecration of its own.Ã We felt it so" (192).Ã Therefore, Hester, in her mind, has not committed a sin. The fact that she accepts the courts decision so meekly and wears the scarlet letter denoting her as an adulteress is the first way in which she is hypocritical.Ã Hester, although she does not believe she has sinned, portrays herself as a sinner by wearing the scarlet letter without complaint.Ã Over the ensuing years, Hester endures the shame and ridicule brought about by the scarlet letter.Ã However, the true source of
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Descartes Proof of God Essay -- essays research papers
Rene Descartesââ¬â¢ arguments in ââ¬Å"Meditations on First Philosophyâ⬠are questionable to exactly how valid and sound they really are. His proof for the existence of God in the fifth meditation is an example of one of his invalid and therefore unsound arguments. à à à à à Throughout the meditations Descartes refers to clear and distinct ideas. Descartes first introduces doubt to the reader by saying that one cannot trust these clear and distinct ideas. ââ¬Å"I have noticed that the senses are sometimes deceptive; as it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those that have deceived us even once.â⬠(Descartes, 60) He introduces doubt through the senses, dreams, and through the possibility of an evil genius at work. For instance he states that ââ¬Å"There is no sure sign that I can tell that I am awake. If there are no sure signs that I can tell that I am awake then there is reason to doubt I am awake. Therefore there is reason to doubt I am awake.â⬠(Descartes 60)This is how Descartes shows that we may be dreaming even though during these dreams we can experience authentic truths. He also he goes on to state that, ââ¬Å"If there is reason to doubt that I am awake then there is reason to doubt that I am sitting by the fire. So then there is reason to doubt that I am sitting by a fire even though I see and feel a fire.â⬠(Descartes 60)This Descartes believes could be true because there may be an evil genius at work, whose sole purpose is to put his entire effort...
Friday, August 2, 2019
Psychology Project Essay
Final Output: The Person in Me (An Autobiography that uses Psychological Concepts) Objective: The purpose of this final output for all General Psychology classes is for you, our students, to be able to identify the role of psychology and various psychological concepts in your lives using a lifespan approach. This activity aims to help you understand that psychology can be applied on a daily basis and that the field can: help explain who you are as a unique individual and as part of the social environment help you internalize how building good relationships are essential in life assist you in handling your challenges and choosing your direction in life How to go about writing your story: 1. Think about your audience and try to see things from their perspectives. Aside from the person who will evaluate the quality of your autobiography, who else will you be sharing it with? Is it your friends, family members? What type of readers are they? Do they prefer stories with humor? Do they like reading facts and itty-bitty details? 2. Think about your capacity ââ¬â can you easily express yourself in prose or in poetry? Do you need to include pictures so that you can tell your story? 3. Think of the direction of your story. Will you be doing Flashbacks? Will you be writing in Chronological order? 4. After deciding on the above, start writing your story. Let the words flow since your first work will most likely be your draft. 5. When you have written your story, read it again. This time analyze which parts of your story can be connected to psychological concepts. 6. Once you have identified these parts, insert the psychological concepts into the story. E.g. ââ¬Å"I can remember that when I was 7 years old, I lied to my mother about not getting money from her wallet. Although this was deliberate deception and although I regret the day that I did it, I do understand now that what had transpired was actually part of my cognitive development. You see, the Theory of Cognitive Development of Jean Piaget states that a child who is becoming less egocentric comes to understand the perspective of other people. I lied to my mom because I knew she would be annoyed and that she would punish me. I understood that she would have gone berserk over my behavior and I, being the mischievous child that I was, had no intention of allowing my buns to get spanked.â⬠7. Underline all psychological concepts that you use in your story. You are to use at least 25 and this should span all l of the chapters. 8. Your autobiography should be exactly 10 pages with 1.5 spacing and the default font size of 11 and font type of Times New Roman. 9. The last day of the submission of your autobiography is the first day of the Final Exams Week. We, at the Psychology Department, hope that you have enjoyed the journey of learning more about yourselves, your peers, others and life in general. Good luck in your endeavors and and weââ¬â¢ll see you around.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Kant the Sublime Essay
The Sublime In Lyotardââ¬â¢s reading Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime, he explains how critical thought exists within an infinite amount of creativity with no principles but in search of them. Lyotard understands the Kantian sublime as a way to comply with the standards that critically analyze postmodernism using deconstruction. Kant differentiated the sublime between the vastness and greatness and the dynamic sublime. The vastness sublime is so great we canââ¬â¢t just use our senses like we normally do; it requires us to heighten our senses beyond comprehension. The dynamic sublime is the way in which rationalizes things and his perceptions. Lyotard describes the boundlessness of the imagination and reason as a ââ¬Ëdifferendââ¬â¢ and this is ââ¬Ëto be found at the heart of sublime feeling: at the encounter of two absolutes equally present to thought, the absolute whole when it conceives, the absolutely measured when it presents. ââ¬â¢ (Lyotard) Our imagination understands forms and measures while reason understands something without form of an infinite nature of something. There is a separation of imagination and reason and when we use the ââ¬Ëenigmaticââ¬â¢ power of critical thought we can reflectively judge something. Kantââ¬â¢s presentation of the sublime has been taken up by Lyotard and he explores different ways of finding a philosophical understanding of different artworks. Through Longinus and Burke we can explore the pre-modern and modern conceptions of the sublime and through all these critiques we can draw different manifestations of the sublime in art. Kant questions how can someone judge an object before knowing how to properly judge that object and how do they know what proper judging is? Longinus in part of his critique implies that man can go beyond his limitations as a human being by experiencing emotions and language. The art or technical talents was described, as the human while the sublime was something that escaped our experience of art. ââ¬ËSublimity consists in a certain excellence and distinction in expressionââ¬â¢ (Longinus, pg 100). To understand and have knowledge of the sublime, there needs to be a vague understanding of something that is beyond our experience or senses. He explains that there is more to the human ordinary life because we feel this through the senses, but these senses are an incorrect interpretation caused by a physical perception as opposed to a psychological one. If you think about the sublime, it cannot be pictured or imagined but we have translated and suggested through the arts and poetry. Longinus tells us that nature is the creative and the first principle of the sublime and what follows is a matter luck and good mentors. In Goodbye Lenin, a German film directed by Wolfgang Becker, Lenin tries to hide the unification of Germany during the 1990ââ¬â¢s from his mother who was in a coma throughout those months and has to stay in bed. He successfully conned her into thinking nothing had changed by using tricks like old product bottles and filming his own news broadcasts. This film successfully executes the idea of the sublime in what was going on between his mother and the rest of the world. ââ¬ËOur faults spring from the same place as our virtues. ââ¬â¢(Longinus)She believed everything around her was real and time had not changed but the people around her were well aware that this was a deception of reality. The way in which Lenin created the same world and reality his mother had always known is overwhelming to the senses and questions what is really for real? Burke believes that the ideas of pain and pleasure cannot be defined, but pleasure of every kind satisfies quickly. He goes on to say that there are two kinds of pleasure: the first that simply is and has no relation and the second that cannot exist without relation. The film has preserved and stopped time that defies nature and in reality cannot be done. The son is so scared and terrified that his mother will die that he tries to please her by keeping the world exactly the same. This terror is the source of sublime because it creates the most emotion and he imagines the worst. The fear that his mother will die has caused him to be terrified. It explores different areas of the mind by letting her believe this lie. His mother would not survive the fact that everything she has believed in had crumbled while she was asleep and that the world she once knew was suddenly a capitalistic society that now included Burger king, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Lenin did not want to devastate his mother and cause another heart attack so he had to make everything appear, as it always was wile the outside world was growing and expanding at such an accelerated rate. The kitsch setting of the typical German 1989 apartment filled with yellow flowered wallpaper and dark wood furniture brings calmness to his communist mother. The film captures the nature of humans and their strong social beliefs and how it can affect the human psyche. Burke believes that terror is the source of the sublime and that pain is the more powerful than pleasure. Lyotard believes that pain is not the end point, there is the ââ¬Ëmovementââ¬â¢ of pain to ââ¬Ëpleasureââ¬â¢ In Joseph Turners Impressionistic painting titled Slave Ship, he has created a seen of vastness that relates to the Kantian sublime but moreover he has demonstrated the use of color and dynamic composition to create a sense of horror. The brushstrokes give a natural look to the painting and the seemingly unintentional brushstrokes create an organized composition. We are aesthetically pleased when we look at the painting because an overwhelming response is experienced when looking at the picture. Burke believed that the Beautiful was very different from the sublime. ââ¬Å"All privation is great because they are all terrible: Vacuity, darkness, solitude, and silence. Low and intermittent sounds and shadows bring about feelings of the sublime. Above all, the actions of the mind are affected by the sublime. ââ¬Å" The way in which Turner has used rough brush strokes and lots of contrast between moods and contrasting colors creates the Sublime as opposed to the Beautiful. The use of purple and blue shadows that cast over the foggy night, the bloodline skyline, the flaming enraged sea and the insignificant ship create a sense of horror. The Sublime is experienced in this painting because it is detached from the actual danger of being in an actual situation and rather experienced through the visual arts and poetry in its overwhelming vastness. There is a sense of elation and intimidation when traveling through the painting. Thomas Coleââ¬â¢s Landscape with Tree Trunks create a struggle to be able to understand what is being implied. It becomes uninviting to the viewer as the scary tree trunks in the foreground block our path into the painting and we get further into only for our view to be blocked again because of the mountains that come right into the middle part. The painting does not accommodate to human feelings. These are sublime components such as the scary trees, the contrasting light and dynamic sky create frustration in entering the painting make us feel that we are not welcomed and that we are in a wilderness that we cannot control. The overwhelming tree and sky not only creates and unexplained phenomena but also implies that time and power of nature is vast and infinite and these unpredictable forces can in themselves become sublime. The painting composition seems to have been distorted by Cole yet it feels genuine and believable. In the Pianist directed by Roman Polanski we are safe to knowing the reality of the actual circumstance of Jewish victims trapped in a concentration camp but we still enjoy the horrific actions taken against them caused by the overwhelming power of human nature. We are awed, disgusted and in disbelief by the question: ââ¬Å"How can human beings do such things? â⬠ââ¬ËThere is no explanation for the communication of passion, but it is concluded through the experience or premonitions of others. ââ¬â¢(Burke) there is no way to rationalize how the Jews were treated during this time of suffering and we canââ¬â¢t even fathom such events to reoccur, but it still exists today. The pain and suffering that we experience as a witness is subliminal and in cannot be justified. Within the film Szpilman is able to detach from the war and all the pain and suffering he has experienced by playing the piano. When different men have a common faith in the object of admiration we come to the Sublimeââ¬â¢ (Longinus). Szpilman creates his own sublime world through the piano. He creates a stimulus of powerful and inspired emotion and he seems to be dignified and elevated when playing the piano, not guilty or ashamed for being a Jew. His talent brin gs even his worst enemies to respect him and be in completely awestruck by his music breaking all boundaries of human laws and standards and elevating itself to a much higher place that is universal. The unknown and unbound is created in the film when everyone is awestruck and in total admiration of the music. In the end, art has the vastness that allows the mind to be free of obstacles of distraction. Basically, I understand Kant in his way of thinking of art as a way of means to letting the senses experience a feeling far greater than the everyday ordinary life and sublimity only exists in our minds and not in nature, and if we are conscious of this we can become superior to nature within and to nature which does exists without us. Lyotard explains that art should work with no rules and that it therefore cannot be judged and instead be combined and pluralized. Longinus explains that the human is the technical aspect of art while the sublime is the existential part of the human psyche that goes beyond our experience of art. Burkeââ¬â¢s modern view of sublimity in art can only be experienced through actual knowledge an actual experience where things are only recreated and reordered. He thinks that death and fear are feelings of the sublime and that what one might expect is very different to what actual really happens and that expectation creates fear which in turn makes us unreasonable and therefore brings about the sublime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)