Meaning of life 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Meaning of life 3 - Essay Example Contrarily, the incapability to acquire meaning in life causes distress, addiction, boredom, aggression and even depression. Now this is what brings us to what Frankl describes as the state of meaninglessness. Psychological responses to the worst experiences are never predetermined by any given circumstance, no-matter how strong or weak it is. Meaning of life comes from within an individual in spite of the existing despair. Personal responsibility is always the best way for an individual to gain meaning. And this is considered likely if the person does not surrender to negative mind-set of others and be true to him or herself. Frankl states that it is possible to be frequently exposed to death and misery of Auschwitz, yet still get a way of discovering meaning in this grief. Even while death seems to be unavoidable, Frankl thinks that individuals have the central capacity to reflect positively on the all the good things they have achieved in their entire lifetime and to put in perception the current meaning of their grief (Frankl, Viktor 87). When a fella apprehends that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to consider his grief as his task; his only exceptional mission. And normally this is what is considered to be the state of meaninglessness. A person will have to live with the fact that even during suffering he is alone and experiences a unique situation in the universe. And that no other person is capable of relieving him or suffering for his or her sake. His or her unique opportunity depends on how he or she carries the burden. Frankl describes the diverse phases of psychological response that were common to all the prisoners. These stages are alleged to have ensued in a sequential way, from shock to apathy then to freedom readjustments. He states that he was able to witness the grace even in the worst case scenarios. Frankl quotes â€Å"we who stayed in the concentration camps can never

International Debt Essay Example for Free

International Debt Essay a) What is meant by the problem of international debt? (6 marks) b) Discuss the main policies that a country can use to reduce the problem of international indebtedness (i) in the short run and (ii) in the long run (7 marks + 7 marks) a) The Balance of Payment account shows all monetary transactions between our country and the rest of the world over a period of time. It is made up of the current account (trade in goods and services), capital account (Investments, Saving, Borrowing) and the balancing item, which represents the total of all errors and omissions from the above values, which are estimates. When a country spends more than it earns i.e. it imports more than it exports (Current account), or it saves and invests more abroad than other countries save and invest in that country (Capital account), it is said that the country has a current account deficit and a capital account deficit respectively. The country facing a BOP deficit must take actions to rectify it. It usually borrows money from other countries or international financial institutions. The accumulation of debt from loaning from abroad because of a recurring BOP deficit is known as international debt. International debt developed into a problem for many developing countries, Third world countries, which are the poorer countries of the world. These are countries in Africa, Asia and South America and they represent the largest group of countries in the world both in area and population, but the lowest in income and wealth. The cause of the international debt in LDCs is their chronic balance of payments problems. They owe huge sums of money and they need to pay large sums in interest. As a result, in the world as a whole, there is a net transfer of funds from the poor countries to the rich. b) i) The Balance of Payment account shows all monetary transactions between our country and the rest of the world over a period of time. When a country spends more than it earns i.e. it imports more than it exports (Current account), or it saves and invests more abroad than other countries save and invest in that country (Capital account), it is said that the country has a current account deficit and a capital account deficit respectively. The government of a country may take actions to rectify this deficit. In the short run a country can borrow from financial institutions and other countries to correct its Balance of Payments deficit. An alternative would be to use its reserves (Gold and foreign currencies) to correct its deficit. These are temporary ways to correct the deficit and do not fight the source of the problem, they do not stop it from occurring the following year. ii) In the long run the country can take actions that would eliminate the problem that cause the BOP deficit. A country can use many different policies to correct and reverse the deficit. If the government increases taxes and, or, decreases public expenditure, there will be less money circulating in the economy and the aggregate demand would decrease. People will have less money to spend on imports, imports would decrease and the BOP deficit will be corrects. Nevertheless, a decrease in aggregate demand also affects the domestic industries. Less of their products would be demanded, they will produce less and as a result they will cause unemployment. The government can also decide to increase interest rates. This will attract inflows of Hot money (Short term investments of large sums of money that investors move from country to country in search for the best interest rates) into the country correcting the BOP deficit. The downside of this will be that the high interest rates will make borrowing more expensive and as a result consumers will borrow less for consumption and firms less for investment. Protectionism policies may be applied. These are policies to prevent trade between countries and decrease imports so that the BOP deficit is corrected. Unfortunately some protectionist policies such as import tariffs or imports quotas are usually not in the disposal of countries members of custom unions such as the European Union. A devaluation in the countrys currency will lower its value and make the countrys exports cheaper for foreign countries to buy and at the same time the imports into that country will be more expensive. As a result exports will increase and impost will decrease, thus the BOP deficit will be corrected. This is not possible for members of the ERM of the EU. In the long run a country may decide to improve the competitiveness of its Industries through supply side measures such as regional policies. Nevertheless, these policies are very time consuming and will take a lot of time to work. The country can also demand through the IMF a debt rescheduling and or new loans. This involves lowering the interest rates on existing loans, lengthening the repayment period and, or, canceling part of the debts. The IMF can provide additional loans or arrange so that financial institutions do it, with a guarantee from the IMF. In order for the IMF to do these it sets certain conditions and structural adjustment programmes that the country must follow. These conditions and programmes involve most of the policies discussed above. A further, policy would be to encourage commercial banks to finance private sector development. If governments spend too much they have a budget deficit and their income is less than their expenditure. This deficit is financed by borrowing large amounts from commercial banks and as a result not many funds are left to lend to the private sector. The IMF wants commercial banks to lend more money to the private sector, which is expected to make better use of the funds for development projects.

Rhyniophytes Seedless Vascular Plants Characteristics

Rhyniophytes Seedless Vascular Plants Characteristics Rhyniophytes are a group of fossil plants, which compose the first land flora, These seedless vascular plants that developed during the early Devonian period and during the Paleozic era, occurred in the Rhynie Chert deposit. Some signs of this appeared as early as in the Silurian period as well. The first land flora is a clasificationof three extinct earlyvascular plant groups (the Rhyniophytes, the Zosterophyllophytes and the Trimerophytes), that flourished around 425to370million years ago. Despite the fact that these were very simple plants containing no seeds, flowers, and were even leafless, they bear a very striking resemblance to the plants we see today. The vascular tissue was comprised of a protostele or of one vascular bundle. A number of unicellular organisms were preserved in this location, such as fungi primitive plants and arthropods, leading researchers to believe that conditions were perfect for the process. The Rhyniophyta are notorious thanks to the prominent fossil record held in the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Rhynia, one of the most notable plant groups, are primarily characterized by their moderately small structure and dichotomous branches, with various lateral branches, most of which was common in all three groups with minor differences in size and location of sporangia. In the Rhynia, the sporangia were located mainly at the top of the main branches, but were usually overtaken by the growth of lateral branches. The sporangia present in the fossils found, contain enough cellular detail to tell which plants are the sporophyte generation. Significant unique features, like reproductive structures, can be seen connected to their parent plants, thanks to the fact the plants were buried in-situ. Fossils also showed first indication of wounding by insects in the form of penetrating wounds, likely by arthropods. Another important characteristic to take note of is homospory, each plant having the same size spores. This gives resear chers more information into the kind of ecosystems these early plants evolved. During the second land flora or the coal age in specific regions of the globe, such as North America and Europe, were covered by shallow seas and swamps where favorable conditions yielded year-round growth with a tropical climate. Given these conditions five groups of plants thrived during this period, three of which were seedless vascular plants ferns, lycophytes, and equisetophytes. The other two dominante plants were of the gymnospermous type, the seed fern and the cordaites. These more complex groups dated from the late Devonian (375 million years ago) through the Carboniferous (290 million years ago). During the carboniferous period plants such as these grow high it the sky producing forests, but became extinct due to a time of increasing tropical drought during the Late Paleozoic. Leaving behind only a few relatives such as the herbaceous, several groups of ferns, and the conifers; some of these plants such as the fern and the herbaceous still exist today. The plants of this pe riod were classified by having more modern characteristics, things like pseudomonopodial branching, monopodial branching, microphyllous leaves, and sporophylls leaf that covered the sporangia. Even ferns, had developed megaphyllous leaves and eusteles. The third flora more commonly known as the gymnosperm flora signifies a sequence of evolutionary lines of seed baring plants. Late into the Paleozoic era the progymnosperms existed, which is considered to be the intermediate between the seedless vascular plants and the gymnosperns that predominantly characterize the later period. The progymnosperms carried some of the traits for their predecessors as well as their successors, with the production of secondary xylem similar to living conifers and reproducing by means of freely dispersed spores, but most importantly the presence of a bifacial vascular cambrium. Progymnosperms became extinct around 340 million years ago in the Mississippian period. Evidence suggests that seed plants developed from similar plants such as these. Gymnosperm, which means naked seed, is a broad expressive term for plants like conifers, which have seeds that are borne naked, the primary characteristic of the classification. They are pollinated by wind. It was the global climate change that brought an end to the Carboniferous Period and the succeeding growth of the third major land flora, set apart by forests of gymnosperms. The extinct gymnosperms existed from Devonian period up until the Jurassic and range from a number of groups and characteristics. The Ptericdospermales or seed ferns and Cordaitles varied in form, from plants that looked like tree ferns to smaller slender branch plants. There are also a number of extinct Mesozic plants that are included with the gymnosperms on occasion, with seed ferns as well as a series of other Carboniferous and Devonian seed ferns being inclded. There is also some debate as to the lineage of the Bennettitales, which was an enigmatic group of Mesozoic gymnosperms characterized by its palm like leaves that faded out during the Cretaceous period. The four phyla of gymnosperms that came about still have existing representatives, which including the Coniferophyta, Cycadophyta, Gnetophyta and Ginkgophyta. The relationship between the four groups is still uncertain. Gymnosperm forests grew dominate for almost 150 million years, well into the Cretaceous Period where they began to diminish in size, around 145 million years ago. They became overshadowed by the flowering plants that emerged and ultimately rose to dominance around 90 million years ago. What resemble modern day cycads and cycadeoids first emerged at the end of the Paleozoic Era, approximately 290 million years ago and became plentiful in the Mesozoic Era, characterized by the dominate trait of the period the cone. Cycadeoids fell to extinct before the end of the Cretaceous period, but conifers being the most abundant group of gymnosperms, still live on today with around 7 families and ap 600 species. Conifer is a woody plant and most are evergreens. The leaves of conif er are long, thin and needle-like such as pine. Ginkgophyta is a monotypic phylum that lives on through one species, Ginkgo biloba or more commonly known as Ginkgo, which has spanned over 150 million years. It has reproductive qualities like the cycads and vegetative qualities much like the conifers. Gnetophytes are considered to be the closest existing relations to the flowering plant, dating back all the way to the early Cretaceous. Angiosperm, which literally means covered seed, is a broad expressive term for flowering plants whose ovules or seed are covered by the ovary. The angiosperms comprise only a single phylum, while gymnosperms consist of several phyla. The phylum consists of two major classes, Monocotyledones and the Eudicotyledones as well as a much less sophisticated and primitive group called Magnoliids, all of which encompass approximately 235,000 different species of plants. Flowering plants started to appear during the Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago. They are considered to be the most successful vascular plants to evolve, since they are the largest, most widespread, and diverse. Some of the possible causes for the flowering plants success include a range of adaptations for drought confrontation, together with the development of the deciduous habit, as well as, possibly the most important, the evolution of resourceful and specific systems for pollination and seed distribution. The first recognized flowering plant was the Archaefructus, which was only recently discovered. It has many of the major characteristics of angiosperms including slight roots, floral axes with sealed carpels on top as well as sealed stamens at the bottom, and bisected leaves, Angiosperms major characteristics consist of the most concentrated megagametophytes and microgametophytes of the vascular plants, fruits, flowers, ovules with two integuments, and double fertilization. Vessel elements are present in flowering plants xylem and in their phloem there are sieve tube elements. Some plants like the primitive class mentioned earlier lack these cell types. Sporophylls are leaves that folded to enclose the sporangia, which was most likely a defense mechanism to protect the reproductive materials. Different sporophylls undertake different jobs, while some produced male sporangia which became the stamens, others produced the female reproductive structure or pistil and some that dont produce reproductive sporophylls became the petals and sepals. The anther, which are the folded sporophyll that are positioned at the tip of the stalk or filament, are the location of the male sporangia. In the sporangium, spores are formed which divide almost instantaneously to gen erate gametophytes. Once mature, the anthers open to discharge the mature male gametophytes or pollen grains. The pollen grain is carried by wind or by animal to the female gametophyte. When the male gametophytes find a well-matched stigma, a pollen tube develops to reach the female gametophytes, through the pistil and into the carpel. Flowering plants rely predominantly on insects for pollen transfer. Insects get a sweet nectar reward and as flowering plants discharge odors to draw bees, beetles, butterflies, and wasps to their blossoms. Other larger pollinators include bats, mothhawks, and hummingbirds. There has been a co-evolution of flowering plants and their pollinators as modifications of plants and pollinators have been a key factor in the success of the flowering plant, which can be seen with an look at the flowering plant visitors.

Avarice In America :: essays research papers

Avarice In America When the topic of American economics arises, the infamous Robber Barons of the 19th Century often springs to mind. They are often glorified as "Captains of Industry" for their money making strategies and enterprising methods. Those who hold this view probably do not know the evils of the laissez-faire capitalism in which the Robber Barons believed and participated. They wanted an unrestricted system of economics so that they could amass as much money as they could to out do each other and control the power in society. They were not as glorious and generous as some people make them out to have been. In laissez-faire capitalism, there are no restrictions on business so the enterprising capitalists were able to obtain monopolies by combining with other companies or simply buying them out. By doing this, the owners could raise the price of their goods or services to an intolerable amount so that they could gain even more money. This often put the common working people out of a job because the owners could get children and poor European and Asian immigrants to do the same menial factory jobs for pennies a day. This angered the Unions of America because their livelihood depended on the American working class. The Unions then persuaded the government to regulate the business giants and control the amount of money the companies could take in by disallowing monopolies and child labor. The "Kings of Capitalism" disregarded the impact their actions had on the lives of the working class men and their families. Many went hungry because of the lack of jobs available and were f orced to go into debt to the companies that was impossible to be repaid. The Robber Barons would do almost anything to gain more money and more power even putting hard working people out of their houses. It is often said that money is the root of all evil. The Robber Barons of the late 19th century proved this theory without fail. They showed that greed can overtake morals if the conditions are right. It is very evident that the Robber Barons had no qualms about ruining the lives of the people that worked for them and of society in general.

Ethics on Abortion Essay

There are many ethical issues that are argued over in society. One highly controversial issue however, is the problem faced with opposing beliefs on abortion. Abortion, literally meaning â€Å"the deliberate termination of human pregnancy,† is the issue commonly addressed by the liberals and the conservatives. Each side has its own philosophical theory on the situation. The liberal theory suggests that a women has the right to decide what happens with her body. The conservative outlook would be that an unborn baby, as a human being, has separate rights from those of the mother. The arguments that are generally discussed involve that abortion is a personal choice, human life begins at conception, or that abortion can or can not be justified. The first argument on the ethics of abortion is that abortion is a personal choice. This idea on abortion intends to imply that a fetus is not a human life. The life of the new embryo is not forced to be carried out because of the rights women possess. If new life is growing in a woman, then it should be her decision as it is regarding her own bodily autonomy. Abortion should be in the best concern of the woman pregnant because it does not go out and affect those around her. Also if the women in situations where abortion is an option needed, then who is more correct to go and force them to carry out a pregnancy. The idea that people have some ethical claim to personal, bodily autonomy must be regarded as fundamental to the conception of any ethical, democratic, and free society. Given that autonomy exists as an ethical necessity, the question becomes how far that autonomy extends. The fact that a woman is going to proceed with an abortion does not affect the larger public so it should not be unethical for this action to take place because others think that it is wrong. Many people stand with the idea that abortion is ethically a personal choice because the situations can always be brought to the point where a woman is protecting herself. Mary Anne Warren’s stand on abortion is that of a liberal one. In her article, On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, she concludes that â€Å"†¦a women’s right to protect her health, happiness, freedom, and even her life, by terminating an unwanted pregnancy, will always override whatever right to life it may be appropriate to ascribe to a fetus, even a fully developed one. † (pg. 16, Mappes) Warren believes that abortion is permittable because the fetus is not a fully developed person with moral characteristics; they are human beings that are not yet a person. The opposing argument on the ethics of abortion is that human life begins at conception. The new human life that is growing should now have the right to live. If a woman consented to sex or did not properly use contraception, then she knew that pregnancy might have been a result. Whether the fetus is a human being or not, it is arguable that a woman has some sort of ethical obligation to the fetus. The obligation might not be strong enough to eliminate abortion, but it may be enough to limit abortion if it is morally chosen. Also consider abortion as the murder of a human being. When deciding on what decision is more correct many mothers would decide on having to keep their baby and not killing it. This is because no matter the situation, the actions taken consequently resolved in pregnancy and now the mothers are ethically responsible to care for new life. Abortion should not be an acceptable solution for a pregnancy because human life should not be terminated and the new life should have responsibility dedicated to itself. The final argument on the ethics of abortion is that abortion can or can not be justified. This directly relates to the status of the fetus and whether or not it is considered to be human life. In the early months of pregnancy, when the fetus hardly represents a human being at all, then abortion should be permissible to the pregnant woman if it is in her interests. When taking a step into the middle months, the fetus now comes to resemble a person. The situation changes due to the argument that the fetus may now be human life. Abortion in this case should only be justifiable if any economic, psychological, social or physical health would be presented through continued pregnancy. In the late months however, abortion would just be the wrong concept and unethical because the fetus is near the peak of becoming human life. If any pregnancy lasts into the middle months or later, then abortion should already be out as an option because the decision could have been made in the early months. Moreover, abortion should only be the decision made for a mother totally uncapable of caring for new human life. The idea of abortion is a wide spread ethical issue. Many morals are different among the people who think abortion is right or the people who believe it is completely inhumane. Abortion is right in the eyes of those who follow liberals. The mother has complete rights to protect herself and make a personal choice in keeping a fetus or not. For conservatives on the other end, abortion should not be the decision made due to the new life having full moral status and a serious right to live. There are also cases where abortion might not fall under strict rights the the mother or the fetus, which is why my position is in favor of the moderate way of thought. Pregnancies are in a wide amount of cases unwanted. But it is the situation of the pregnancy that should ultimately lead to the decision of abortion being ethical or not. For any unwanted pregnancies in the very early months, abortion should be acceptable because the fetus does not posses human like traits and it is in the interest of the pregnant woman. This might not be considered ethical because the mothers should have a dedicated responsibility to their baby but exceptions have to be made for situations where rape might have been the cause of pregnancy. The only time abortion should absolutely not be acceptable are for any pregnancies that have reached middle months or later. This is because the mother of the fetus has already allowed the pregnancy to last to the point where the fetus is now a lifelike human or baby. Also if the pregnancy was not aborted in the early months then there certainly should be no reason to change the decision so long after conception. Abortion will be a never ending argument for what is right or wrong to do in the case where a human life or possible human life is at stake. But abortion has many twists and turns that lead to uneasy decisions that have to be made. So there might not be a way to tell what is the â€Å"more† ethically correct decision to make when dealing with such a controversial issue as abortion.

Greece World War II paper essays

Greece World War II paper essays The Greek populace desired to stay out of the war in 1940. They did not have a very strong government. At the time it was a monarchal parliament under King Paul II. General Ioannis Metaxas was allowed to function as a dictator under the auspices of the king. Metaxas was well known as a general, and was able to strengthen Greece against the foreign threat that Italy and Germany posed. Metaxas became somewhat like Adolf Hitler or Bennito Mussolini. He dissolved parliament, declared a state of emergency, abolished trade unions and political parties, made strikes illegal, arrested political opponents, and censored the press. Metaxas was violently anti-communist. He exiled and even tortured communist citizens. After Metaxas death in 1941, a new leader was sought after to rebuild Greece. After the Germans vacated Greece in their slow withdrawal back to Germany, Greece became very unstable politically. The next leader to help unify and restructure Greece was Georgios Papandreou. Papandreou was elected as the Prime Minister and was very republican in his policies. The ensuing instability of the country led many to doubt Papandreou and his abilities. This eventually led to a civil war. This Greek Civil War (1945-1949) was fought mainly by communist leftists against republican rightists. Britain was involved in the beginning stages of the Civil War, but had to transfer the responsibility to the United States when it became too expensive. The United States was very helpful to Greece by giving four hundred million dollars in aid. This aid was a result of the Truman Doctrine. President Harry Truman designed what is called the Truman Doctrine as a way to thwart communism from spreading. The basic idea was to aid countries that were on the verge of switching to communism by giving them enough money to reestablish democracy to the country. Greece came close to being taken over by commu ...