External World Skepticism Essay Example for Free

External World Skepticism Essay ‘’Locke and Descartes have very different ideas about how to defeat external world skepticism.’’ Whose views are more valid about the realiability of sense perception for understanding the external world? The knowledge, the idea of the existence of external world and the way it is perceived by human being has been controvesy issue for centruies. Descartes and Locke also two very important name who proposed some viewpoint, even it can be said some theories, on the issue. The existence of external world and external bodies are true without us? Or do they exist as long as we perceive them? The idea of existence of external bodies, the knowledge of them can be attained through the way they reach us in any form. The most common and the easiest, as it will be discussed later as the only, way is the senses through them we perceive the material objects and arrive at the information they exist or not. Every existential material being has some spesific physical qualities that appeal to our senses, and through this way we experience them. It is an obvious fact that something that does not exist can do nothing to us or can show no quality to be noticed by us. Famous philospher Descartes also, basically based on this perspective, put forward that what we are perceiving through our senses are the external bodies that caused the ideas in us. As the ideas of external bodies caused in us by their perception through our senses, they exists outside independent of us. This means that whether or not we perceive any material being, it keeps to process of existence. Only, the idea of it, in us, begins with our noticing, perceiving and putting in a place in our mind. To be more clear, the part of it, its existence to us is this: our getting the idea of it. And getting an idea of an objects is provided through experiencing it by our senses independent of our will and desire. When we notice an object it has been realized that it reached us with one or more physical qualifications of it; thus we perceived it through our sense organs and have an idea about its existence. So, tt the very moment we perceive an object, its existence accepted by us in my opi nion. However, Descartes claims that sensory ideas must be produced by some substances other than us as we have a passive faculty of sensory perception and only active faculties can use them. It is worth to noting that it is totally wrong as it is possible our having an idea that produced without us. The ideas are produced, no matter what they are about, in our mind. And, ideas of external things comes into being in our minds just because we can notice them in a way. After their idea, their knowledge is reached with the way their qualities are perceived by senses. On the other hand, Locke makes his theory depend on a more assured ground. The Knowledge of the Existence of any other thing we can have only by Sensations. The only way to know any external thing is to experience it through our sensory organs. Because their realization in our minds or their existence in us is created by the testimony of our sensory organs. It can be said that our understanding of the external things pass through our reliability on our sensations. However, it also is worth to note that whenever we perceive something through our sensory organs, a certain quality of them affects us in a specific way. After their perception realizes in our mind, we makes reasons about them and understand that there are material objects that exists outside, independently. So mean, there are external material things that exists without and independent of us. Furthermore, the knowledge of them can be gained only through sensations and perceptions. First of all, when we face with an object, we perceive it through our sense organs. This perception is moved on to our brain, and with its interpretation of the object, an idea of it takes place in us. For instance, my perception of a book, my knowing of a book is provided me with the certain qualities of it. Its shape and color could be an example for this. It has a shape and a color and i can see it with my eyes, so the idea of the book reach me through the testimony of my eyes. In this example the color and the shape of the book helps me to define it in my mind with some specific qualities. Again, let’s consider a flower which has a good odor and pink color. Using our sensory organs we can ascribe the flower color and odor qualities. In a more detailed way, thanks to its odor i know that there is a thing independent of me which has a color and an odor. It already has been there with its color and odor but we were not aware of it before perceive it. Otherwise, because our sensory organs do not have the capability of producing some senses without getting any stimulus from outside, it would be a fallacy to believe that we create the ideas of external objects in our own mind without their existence, even though in some situations stimulus may leads us to have wrong ideas about the reality. Additionally, it is also another possible situation that we may have the idea of an object, without getting any cause from it at the very that moment depending on past experiences. As an illustration, let’s consider a nomad traveler who passing through a desert. The weather is so hot, everywhere is yellow and the tiredness of walking very long time increases the desire to have some water but he does not have. In this while, within this deprivation he sees a puddle. But as far as he gets close to it, the puddle becomes distant, and the nomad realizes that it is not a real, existed puddle but just a mirage. His eyes tricke him and he sees an object which, in fact, does not exist there at that moment. With the effect of other stimulants like hot weather, yellow color etc. the thirst increases to the extend that it gives rise him to see an unexisted thing as it exists there. The idea of a puddle comes into being in the mind of the nomad at the result of the causes come from the ou tside existed things, but it drags him to be under the illusion of an unexisted thing at that moment. To be more clear, it is not the situation that the nomad sees a never existed thing as existed at that moment; on the contrary, he sees an image of an existed thing which existed in fact on this world, but unexisted there and for that moment. The appearance of a puddle is a consequence of the perception of hot and the vast desert. Perceptions of their being truly creates a false idea of another object. So to speak, her brain plays a game with the nomad and brins up the idea of a previously perceived object. The nomad has the notion of puddle. He has the idea about how a puddle looks like. And at that moment with the wrong association of ideas, he had wrong idea about the puddle’s to be there at that moment. Nonetheless, it does not change the reality that there is a puddle thing outside him and the perception of it realized before, the idea of it comes into being in the mind of the nomad, thus he can recall it among from all the ideas he has thanks to previous perceptions. The perception of the puddle came to existence in a moment his previous life. Consequently, our sensory organs may lead us to have wrong perception in a moment of our life, but it cannot be deniable that this wrong perception also comes from a true perception of the object in another moment, so it exists for another moment even though it does not exist for that moment. Locke has a claim related to this: ‘’ As when our Senses employ’d about any Object, we do know that it does exist; so by our Memory we may be assured, that therefore Things, that affected our senses, have existed. And thus we have knowledge of the past Existence of several things, whereof our senses informed us, our memories still retain the ideas; and of this we are past all doubt, so long as we remember well.’’ We believe the existence of some objects as we have past experiences with them, even though at the moment we think about them we do not have any physical relation with them. Moreover, as another point of view, if it would be thought for things that cann ot be sensed by our sensory organs but material, it can easily be said that it is impossible that there such a being exists, as the material objects are the ones that have some physical qualities that affect us through sensory organs of us. When it comes to abstract things or their ideas in us, the situation is totally different and we cannot be so sure about their existence and we cannot have a definite, true knowledge of them. They are not physical obejcets nor are qualified with the features that can be comprehended through perception. As i agree with him to some extent but do not completely, Locke thinks that the idea of spirits does not make us know that any such thing do exist without us, but Eternal God. And according to him we must believe existence of some spiritual things, even though we cannot perceive and discover them in any way, as God created them and we informed about them with revelation or for other reasons. The spirits or abstracts that we have idea about them are known by us, as some of us experienced them. We are tend to believe in what majority believes. Although we do not perceive them with our own senses, we may be persuaded to have the idea of their existence. It also is related to our beliefs. If God informs us that they exist even though we do not experience them, we may believe as we faithfully trust and obey Him. However, It is not certain that some spirits are around exists. They may be there for the ones who believe in them, and not for the others who do not believe. These kind of knowledge depends on belief and it would not be logical to say something certain about them. Descartes on the other hand, links the knowledge of non-material things to God. According to him, if God had not give us a way to recognize such ‘higher forms’, we has been strongly inclined to believe that bodies produce them. And so if the ideas were transmitted from a source other than corporeal things, God would be a deceiver; and he is not; so bodies exists. This claim again would be true if one believe in God without any doubt, but s/he may not. So it shoul have more logical explanation that do have a common validity for everyone. As i mentioned above, since the ideas of abstracts cannot be thought independent of belief, their existence might be related to the believing them directly. As an example, think about Deism; those who believe in it consider God as the only holly one. They believe in God, but they rejects the religions, reveletion and all the other things which are mentioned in religions as things created by God. So in short, the existence of things other than the material things cannot be known clearly and certainly as they might be accepted by the ones who believe and might not be accepted by the others who rejects. Last but not least, it can be said that having knowledge about any issue begins with knowing and knowing with understanding. To understand something, it is a must that its being left an impact on us in such a way that we perceive it through sensations. Addition to this, it is a fact that an impact comes with a feature that belongs to an object and helps us to perceive the object, thus we comprehend its existence and have the knowledge of it. [ 1 ]. Descartes, Meditations 6 , p 43 in textbook. [ 2 ]. Descartes, Meditations 6 , p 45 in the textbook [ 3 ]. Knowledge of the Existence of other Things p. 630 (in textbook) [ 4 ]. Knowledge of the Existence of other Things (p 636, p 134 in textbook) [ 5 ]. Knowledge of the Existence of other Things (p 637, p 134 in textbook) [ 6 ]. Descartes, Meditations 6, p 45 in textbook.

The History of Comics :: Comic Strips Books Media Art Essays

The History of Comics Comics: In the Beginning The modern comic, as we know it, began in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World on February 17,1895. The comic, drawn by Richard F. Outcault, was based on the life of Mickey Dugan, an Irish immigrant child in the city. Although the strip had no name, people have dubbed it the "Yellow Kid" because the nightshirt worn by Mickey Dugan was the projection for an experiment in yellow ink by the newspaper. Eventually the comic came to be known as "Hogan's Alley." Soon comics were recognized for the selling potential and were published in newspapers all over the world. After the success of the World, a competitor, William Randolph Herst of the New York Journal, hired Outcault to draw Hogan's Alley for Hearst's Journal. The World continued publication of the strip using a new artist, and both papers were featuring the "Yellow kid." This led to people referring to the two papers as the yellow papers. And as the battle between the press lords became more intense, people began calling it yellow journalism which now has come to mean overly sensational journalism. Although Outcault won the battle over the rights of "Yellow kid," the mass marketing began. The cartoon was everywhere. Products were being produced, even cigars, bearing the "yellow kid." Soon the comic revolution began, and strips were published all over. Of these comics, "Katzenjammer Kids" drawn by Rudolph Dirks in 1897, was one of the most popular and first to regularly use voice balloons for dialogue. Outcault also continued drawing, and began a strip called "Buster Brown" which was to be a tie between the comic strip and the comic book. The mass marketing continued, and "Buster Brown" had his own line of shoes (McHam). Until 1907, comic strips ran only on Sundays. In 1907, the first daily strip appeared. "Mutt and Jeff" by Bud Fisher, began being published daily in the San Franciso Chronicle. Following that was "Bringing up Father," in 1912, and soon many others including: "Barney Google"; "Thimble Theater" forerunner to "Popeye"; "Moon Mullins" "Orphan Annie" and "Andy Gump" which was the first comic to tell a continuing story. Hearst pushed comics in all of his newspapers and began King Features, a syndication service, to deliver comics to his and other papers. King Features continues syndicating today along with company's such as Universal Press Syndicate in Kansas City, Kansas.

Buying Behavior

There are many aspects of life that effect a person’s buying behavior. Buying behavior is the decision process and actions of people involved in buying and using products and services. Influences on buying behavior can be classified into three major categories: situational influences, psychological influences, and social influences. Situational influences include physical surroundings and social surroundings. Depending on who is around at a certain time may sway a person’s decision to buy something. Psychological influences include perception, motives, attitudes, personality, and lifestyles.Although these psychological influences are very much internal they still effect people’s actions on the outside. Social influences include roles, family influences, reference groups, social classes, and subcultures. Social influences are perhaps the most distinguishable influences and contribute to buying behavior in many ways. Influences on consumer buying behavior come from all aspects of life and have major impacts on the type, brands, and kinds of products people buy everyday. One of the major psychological influences on buying behavior is lifestyle.A lifestyle is an individual’s pattern of living based on his or her interests, activities, and opinions. A person’s lifestyle is based off what they need, want and do, this in turn effects their buying behavior. It influences what products people need, which brands they prefer, and how and when they shop. A lifestyle develops into a consistent pattern people follow in their lives. An example of how a certain lifestyle affects a persons buying behavior is the new shift in the United States towards a healthy and natural lifestyle.People who want to become healthier will buy healthy foods and maybe even purchase things such as new running shoes or a gym membership. A person who is not concern with following a healthy lifestyle would not have any motives to buy these things. My lifestyle defin es what I spend my money based on my hobbies, opinions, and interests. Every month I pay twenty dollars a month for a gym membership because staying in shape is something that I value. I also shop as stores such as Forever 21 and H&M because they sell trendy clothes for an affordable price.This suits my lifestyle because I like to keep up with the latest fashion without spending all of my income on clothing. I also spend a lot of money on gas for my car because I commute back and fourth to school. I decide to use my money on gas because getting an education is important to me. A major part of my lifestyle is love for animals. I have recently bought a puppy and now must buy things for him such as food, toys, and medicine. The type of lifestyle a person has, has a major impact on what types and brands of products they buy. One of the major social influences on the buying decision process are the roles a person assumes.A role is the actions and activities that a person in a particular position is thought to complete based on expectations of the individual and surrounding persons. People can assume many roles in life and must buy different kinds of product for each role. The most common example of how a persons different roles effect their buying decisions is the clothes that they wear. A person has different clothes that they wear at home, at the club, at the gym, and at work. They must adapt to the role they are assuming at a certain time and their clothing must suit each of these roles.I assume many roles in my life including daughter, student, girlfriend, friend, and worker. As a girlfriend I decide where what do on the weekends and often spend money on going out. As a daughter I buy food, toilet paper, and essential good for everyone’s use in the house. As a student I buy pens, paper, and supplies that make me successful in doing my school work. Buying behavior is very much based on specific roles in life, and because people’s roles are ever cha nging sequentially so is their buying behavior. One of the major social influences on buying behavior is family influence.Family influence is the different influences each family member assumes in the buying decision process. All family members play a role in the families decision to buy something. There are four major roles that family members can play. The gatekeeper collects and controls information about price, quality, and location. They do the research on the best product, brands, and places to shop. The influencer expresses his or her opinion and tries to influence the family’s ultimate buying decision. The decider makes the actual buying choice.They make the final decision on what product will be purchased. However, they do not necessarily make the purchase that role is assumed by the buyer. These various roles show how different family members contribute to the buying behavior of the family as a whole. In my family my brother is the gatekeeper, my mom is the decider, I am the influencer, and my dad is the buyer most of the time. We all are usually the users, which are the household members who consume or use the product. I always help my mom make the grocery list so I can tell her all of the food I want her to buy.Also I have traveled the most out of anyone in my family and often try to influence where we take our family vacations. My mom does not always take my advice but she always takes it into account when making any decisions. An example of me in the role of the influencer is last year when we were planning our family vacation I kept telling my parents how many things there were to do in Bermuda and how much fun it would be for the whole family. We ended up going to Bermuda much to my persuasion. Family influences can also pass on from generation from generation.For example when I moved into my own apartment I always bought Snuggle fabric softener because that’s what my mom always used and I always loved the way my clothes smelt gro wing up. I am now loyal to the Snuggle brand because my mom was always loyal to the brand. Family members can have many direct or indirect influences on buying behavior. Another social entity that affects buying behavior is reference groups. A reference group is a group that a person identities with so powerfully that he or she embraces the values, attitudes, and behavior of other group members.People often look to others in their reference group for â€Å"conspicuous† purchase, or purchases that will be seen by others. They seek out brand patronage, information on products, and brand comparisons from people in their reference group to help them make buying decisions. Reference groups are usually formed with people that are trusted and thus the information given can affect whether a person does or does not buy a product, buys a specific brand, or buys a certain type of product.Buying behavior can be changed to be more in line with actions of other group members once a member is swayed in a specific direction. A reference group in which I belong to is my three best girlfriends. We are always giving each other advice on the best clothes, nail polish, shampoo, and even hairdressers. We all use the same products and are always sharing positive and negative feed back on brands and services. I think that my reference groups has the most influence on my buying behavior because I have such similar wants, needs, and expectations to the other members.Social class is another social influence on buying behavior. Social class is an open group of individuals with similar social rank. In the United States it is made up of three major social classes Upper American, Middle American, and Lower American. People in similar social classes also develop many similar social patterns. They have similar values, belongings, needs, and wants. The fact that people in the same social classes are so similar, they are influenced by each other’s actions. These influences include which brands people buy, where they shop, and what kinds of products they buy.My family falls into the upper middle class. We are careful with money but still spend it on leisure and entertainment. My parents often ask neighbors for advice when buying things such as a new lawn mower, grill, or car. As a result many of the people in the neighborhood all have John Deer lawn mowers and Toyota cars. Another social influence on buying behavior is subculture. A subculture is a group of individuals whose characteristics, values, and behavioral precedents are comparable within the group and different from those in the nearby culture.Some examples of subcultures are college students, teenagers, Latin Americans, and the West Coast. Subcultures influence attitudes, lifestyles, and beliefs. This affects what people in certain subcultures like and do. For example, people from Japanese culture eat raw fish, and their children learn to like raw fish as well; however, not many children in other pl aces of the world eat sushi. A subculture that I am a part of is college students. College students usually have a small budget so we are looking for quantity over quality.We buy cheap alcohol and fast food because we can get a lot of product for less money. Another subculture that I belong to is commuters. Unlike people who live at school I must spend money on gas and leave extra time to get to class. As commuters we look for the cheapest gas stations and the shortest routes to school. Subcultures influence buying decisions because most of its counter parts have very similar motives. There are many factors that influence the buying decision process. Some of these influences are social, some are psychological, and some are situational.When marketers are trying to market their products they need to keep in mind all of these factors. These categories can help marketers discover whom advertisements should be targeted at in order to be the most successful. They also reveal the reasons p eople buy what they buy which gives marketers key information that they can use to change the marketing mix to suit the buyer’s needs and wants. The decision buying process is a complex process that is affected by many interior and exterior pressures.

Self Reflection On My Writing And Learning Process Essay

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I have learned that to have a good essay, I must revise my papers more than once because there are always flaws that can be fixed or improved. My writing process has evo lved from having difficulties writing down or explaining my thought process to being able to explain and clarify examples to help support my thesis statement. I am good at picking quotes that will support my argument. This skill can be seen through multiple drafts that I have written. For instance, in assignment 1, draft 1, I claimed that Richard Rodriguez is rude when describing his opponents. For my quotes, I pulled negative words that Rodriguez usedShow MoreRelatedEnglish 111 Evaluation Essay623 Words   |  3 Pagesthinking and the fundamentals of academic writing. This is a prerequisite English class for higher-level English education. By the end of this course a student will have gained a great deal of practice in the craft of writing. 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