Case Study - Xerox Essay Example for Free

Case Study Xerox Essay This case describes the visioning process at Xerox Canada. The chairman, CEO and president of Xerox Canada have been meeting with her leadership team since eight oclock in the morning to craft the organizations new vision statement. Three and a half hours into the meeting the team hits a road block. With 30 minutes left in the session, the CEO must decide whether and how to proceed. First let us list what McGarry has done correctly prior to the visioning process meeting: 1. Understanding of the old vision/culture: Here we can say that McGarry has a good insight of the old culture prevailing within the Xerox Canada through her coast to coast traveling in order to meet and learn the concerns of the Xerox Canada employees, during the restructuring period. Her knowledge of the old culture has eased her task of educating the employees about the upcoming new system or culture. (Refer to Mc Garry’s arrival in Canada section) 2. Encourage innovative employees: During the restructuring period McGarry continued to encourage innovative employees and encourage them to impart their ideas to the other members of the group in order to bring out new ideas that would bring changes for the betterment of the Xerox Canada. (Refer to Employees-Inspired-Initiatives section last paragraph). 3. Properly identify the need to call for a visioning process at Xerox? McGarry’s careful evaluation of the situation and her coming to the conclusion that it was necessary to synthesize a vision statement (that would coordinate all of the concepts, initiatives and activities of Xerox Canada) was, I my opinion, a good call. (Refer to The Visioning Process section). 4. Understanding the value of the visioning process and not to impose unilaterally a new vision: McGarry understood the importance of not imposing a new vision. And she went on to gain a common consensus of the group (pre-visioning process meeting activities) before making any changes to the vision of the organization. (Refer to The Visioning Process section). Now let us talk about what, to my point of view McGarry, could have done differently: The half day session McGarry called on June 14, 1994 to craft the organization’s new mission statement, should have been panned over a two day session. In my opinion McGarry definitely under estimated the tasks ahead. As we all know the purpose of identifying the preferred future vision is to gather the strategic planners within the organization (here Mc Garry’s leadership team) around a collective future vision, some of whom (leadership team) will be the core collaborative group and some of whom will be additional stakeholders. The main objective of visioning activity and its process steps is to gather the strategic planning participants (leadership team) around a preferred future vision to help energize them, get their creative juices flowing, get them talking and interacting, and set the tone strategic plan development – a new vision. This was well done during the first three hours. However half a day is insufficient to complete such an activity which is about building a successfully bridge between Xerox’s current state and their preferred future. I strongly believe that this visioning process activity could have been broken into the following sub activities and carried out over the entire day. This activity should have been broken down into the following sequence i) Have participants worked individually or in small group to discuss the Current State of the organization and envisage the Ideal State of the organization. ii) Keeping in mind the first exercise they have completed, have these same groups brainstormed on their preferred future vision. iii) Regroup all teams in order to share the ideas the teams have separately produced during the brainstorming session. The second day should have been broken in the following steps: iv) Discuss with the participants (teams) their insights from what have been shared collectively the previous day. Record any implications for the upcoming vision statement on flip chart and keep these records visible and accessible to the participants as they continue their debriefing session. v) Allow participants, if necessary, to regroup in order to modify/re-align their ideas which resulted from the brainstorming session (previous day). vi) Regroup in order to share any new ideas from the re-alignment session. vii) Select as a team the final vision statement. Here, to my point of view, the key ingredient was time. McGarry should have not expected the visioning process to be completed in such a short time. The old culture is a set of strong beliefs and norms which cannot be altered quickly; McGarry had to be patient in order for the mindset change to take effect within the visioning process.

Belly Dancing in Popular Culture: Shakira

Belly Dancing in Popular Culture: Shakira Popular culture introduced certain dance forms as art is very subjective, a particular persons approach to dance is different in many ways especially in how one sees and explains a piece of dance. A particular dancer puts it in a way that each dance step has a sensation and each of these sensations becomes the object of a separate perception of the mind. Ones approach to dance is different, its source is ones emotion. Ones emotion affects a dance piece if it was danced with a different approach. Even if two or more people are performing the same step in a particular dance, the effect on is different depending on their style and how they make a particular movement big. For example Beyonce Knowles or Shakira, famous singers worldwide are well known for their dancing in addition to being blessed with great vocals. People like them have to adapt to many dance styles by different cheographers. As many of us know, Beyonce attempted a familiar dance style by Bob Fosse in her Single Ladies m usic video. Jacquel Knight, the 19 year old cheographer for this music video interpreted Bob Fosses dance style using the follow-the-leader and canon technique. Shakira on the other hand attempted dance the Arabic belly dancing which is seen in many of her music videos and concerts. Her approach to dance influenced people especially young artists and teenagers worldwide. Belly dancing had the certain uniqueness which shakira portrays and danced beautifully. Her approach to belly dancing was much more influential compared to beyonces follow-the-leader style in dance. Belly dancings exact orign is anticipatorily debated with dance enthusiasts. Belly dance was based on the social dance native to the Middle East. This dance is a fusion of many dance styles, there are many origins and many form of ethnic folk dances, which are usually performed for celebration and fun events like weddings or social gatherings. Traditionally, movements in belly dancing are utilized to demonstrate or ease fertility or childbirth. Outside of Middle East, belly dancing was popularized during the Romantic Movement in the 18th and 19th centuries as oriental artists characterized their interpretation of harem life in the Ottoman Empire. In the early 1900s, it was a common belief among the people in America and Europe that dancers were women of loose morals. This assumption drew criticism for its immodest dancing and was usually banned form the publics view which lead to an overall misunderstanding of the true nature of belly dancing. Belly dancing use movements in every mus cle group of the body and is usually an improvised dance with its own range of dance vocabulary, which is fluidly integrated with the music rhythm. Belly dancers express the emotions that are stimulated by the music. Belly dancers communicate to the audience the emotions and the rhythm of the music especially obvious during the drums solo section of a performance. Basic movements remain the same but the dance continued to grow and expand. The most important Egyptian forms of belly dance are the Lebanese and the Turkish. For Lebanese culture, this form of dance holds the same regard as ballet and opera in European countries and music is often based around the artists of Egypt. Shakiras Lebanese heritage was a great influence on her belly dancing style and music. Hip movement in lebanses is similar to that used in other belly dancing methods. The focus of attention is on the stomach area. Shakiras her intensive training in belly dancing has afforded her a fluidity in her body movement. she oftens performs barefoot however, foot movements are not considered important. The upper body and hand movements are used in a snakelike form throughout the dance routine. Shakiras music relates to the Arabic belly dance style which produces a great effect works very well. She recently cheographed a dance for her song La Tortura in collaboration with Jamie King. Shakira was influenced in the belly dancing industry not only through her background as a part lbranse. She was influenced by Miles Copeland from the pop group The Police. Miles formed the most famous belly dance troupe, Bellydance Superstars. This dance troupe tours internationally, introducing belly dance to different parts of the world by performing hundreds of shows throughout the globe. These performance had created new stars of a few dancers in the industry. Music in the middle eastern countries were the main influences which brought Shakira into becoming a performer. Shakira started writing poems since young which eventually turned into songs. Typical arabic music are usually accompained by belly dancing. Shakira enjoyed singing and performing for her schoolmates in her catholic school. She was known as belly dancing girl as she would perform when she learns a new move. Shakiras influence, especially her part labanese background shows her style and it made popular belly dancing in pop culture. as pop culture greatly influence the young genration these days through music and especially MTV, many teenagers of all age groups tends to imitated unique and popular music either by dancing or singing. They would join competitions like personal impersonation, dance competitions of all genres and even multi talents competition which usually includes singing and dancing for entertainment. The new age are usually attracted to the amazing way the body works in different movements in a certain dance and would imitate exactly from music videos if that certain dance is in a popular song a particular artist made popular. Some teens will abstarct the certain ways the artist move and improvise for certain competitions. Not only do teens perform only in competitions these day, they do perform at celebration places like weddings, social gatherings or even at clubs. The enthuism of these teenagers renewed history and belly dancings true nature. The dance which brought people together in the early days, a celebration dance. This brings a greater influence as not only teenagers would attend functions like weddings and social gatherings, older people who are not influenced by watching popular culture like MTVs or listen to the radio, gained knowledge about this particular dance style and genre by watching these teenagers dance. This have a huge impact on the particular artist who made the dance popular and thus expanding the industry of what he or she made famous. R and B artists and actresses like Ciara, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Yvonne De Carlo, Jessica Simpson, Aaliyah and Hilary Duff were influenced by shakira in a way that they used techniques like belly rolls as signature moves on stage. By influencing artists in certain ways like this allows the industry to expand even more and shakiras style slowly and eventually rose up internationa lly. The more popular artist who was influenced by Shakira is Beyonce. Despite having her own style in music and in dance, Beyonce explored and attempted different dances. Her dances are more of an abstraction like Bob Fosses movements, and the recent collorbration in 2007 with Shakira, spread belly dancing worldwide as the song and music video made it up the billboard in the music industry. Shakira choreographed the dance in the music video and taught beyonce some of her belly dancing moves. This learning process where they collaborated, influenced beyonce in her concert tours and music videos where she did belly dancing on stage and in front of the camera to her singles which have a strong rhythm to express the sexy lyrics and emotion of the song. Both Beyonce and Shakira have their own style and approach to their music just like in their own styles of singing. They are both concious of their own dance movements as they uses particular dance styles from centuries ago to express emotions new age music which brings a particularly amazing spark to their music like a signature movement and style. This signature movement and style lead to a great support with their audience as people remember and know them vividly because of the influences they appeal to the world and which expend and introduced the belly dancing industry.

Causes Of The Genocide In Bosnia

Causes Of The Genocide In Bosnia In 1980, the president Josip Tito of Yugoslavia died. After the loss of their president, Yugoslavia had political and economic chaos. Slobodan Milosevic became the leader of Serbia in 1987. He was a strong Serb nationalist and encouraged his beliefs in Serbia and in other republics with large Serb communities. The Serbs in Bosnia were not happy feeling like they were now part of Milosevics Greater Serbia. The Yugoslavian Army mostly had Serbs. Radovan Karadzic led Serbs who built their own Republica Srpska in the East, while a Bosnian Serb army was in control of the other  ¾ of the country, driving out most of the Bosnian Croats. Then the European Union tried to help both sides, and failed. The U.N. didnt want to get involved, but helped a little by providing some troop convoys for humanitarian aid. They later decided to help more by providing six safe areas. The Serbs invaded five of the six safe areas and ethnically cleansed them. The Background: Bosnia is one of the several small countries that emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia, a multicultural country created after World War One. Yugoslavia was composed of ethnic and religious groups that had been historical rivals, including the Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics) and ethnic Albanians (Muslims). During World War Two, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany and was separated. Following Germanys defeat, Tito reunified Yugoslavia by merging many countries. Tito, a Communist, was a strong leader who maintained ties with the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, playing one superpower against the other while obtaining financial assistance and other aid from both. After his death in 1980 and without his strong leadership, Yugoslavia quickly plunged into political and economic chaos. Organizers: In the late 1980s, a new leader by the name of Slobodan Milosevic came to power in Yugoslavia. He used religious hatred to control the people by sparking old tensions between the Serbians and Muslims. He took advantage of complaints from the Orthodox Catholic Serbs by taking control of the country Kosovo, where the Serbs were the minority. Milosevic then turned his focus to Croatia, a country with 12 percent Serbs. With the assistance of Serbian guerrillas, Milosevic invaded the small country under the pretenses of protecting the Serbs. Milosevics motives for this genocide were strongly based on retaliation. Many Serbian citizens had been subject to genocide during World War Two and they finally had a chance to get even with their enemies. After 13 years at power, the Yugoslavian nations revolted and a national strike followed. Milosevic was tried on the following counts in 2002: genocide; complicity in genocide; deportation; murder; persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; inhumane acts/forcible transfer; extermination; imprisonment; torture; willful killing; unlawful confinement; willfully causing great suffering; unlawful deportation or transfer; extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; cruel treatment; plunder of public or private property; attacks on civilians; destruction or willful damage done to historic monuments and institutions dedicated to education or religion; unlawful attacks on civilian objects. Mi losevic died on March 11, 2006, at the U.N. war crimes tribunal detention center. Victims: In the Bosnian genocide, hundreds of thousands of people were victimized. About 80% of these people were Bosnian Muslims. After The Yugoslav Republic of Bosnia declared its independence, Bosnian Serbs along with the Yugoslav army attacked the Bosnian and Croatian civilians. Between 1992 and 1995, Serbia decided to ethnically cleanse the Bosnian land by removing all Bosnian Muslims systematically. Many were forced into concentration camps. The Muslims were tortured, starved, and eventually murdered. Over the war, about one million Bosnian Muslims were forced out of their homes. In 1993, the Security Council in the United Nation had Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Goradze, and other Muslim territories in safe areas that were protected by United Nation peacekeepers. At a safe area in Srebrenica, Serbs held a very large massacre. Many of the Muslims escaped the fighting by running away. The men that were able to fight were kept behind and killed. The elderly, women, and children were taken to a Muslim controlled territory on busses. Once the massacre ended, the bodies were moved by bulldozers by the Serbs in attempts to conceal the evidence. World Response: As a result, U.S. President George Bush chose not to get involved militarily, instead recognizing the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. In April 1992, the U.S. and European community recognized Bosnias independence. Even though media showed the secret camps, mass killings, and destruction of historic architecture in Bosnia, the world community remained mostly indifferent. The United Nations finally responded by imposing economic sanctions on Serbia and the U.N. also deployed its troops to protect the distribution of food and medicine to dispossessed Muslims, however, the U.N. strictly told troops not to interfere with military against the Serbs. Through 1993, the U.S. and European Community still hadnt taken any military action until August 30, 1995. On this day, The U.S. led a massive NATO bombing campaign in response to the killings. Aftermath: Top of Form Peace negotiations were held in Dayton, Ohio, and an agreement was signed in December 1995. Bosnia is now divided into a Croat-Muslim Federation and Republika Srpska. A NATO peace-keeping Implementation Force of 60,000 was deployed; it was later replaced by a NATO Stabilization Force. The war in Bosnia led deaths of tens of thousands men and boys that left the country without enough workers to keep their economy stable. Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims who make up the Federation of Croats and Muslins are not getting along because of their political and economic differences. There is a rotating presidency of a Bosnian Croat, Bosnian Serb, and a Bosnian Muslim every three years that many experts consider to be dangerous. The ethnic differences between Muslims, Croats, and Serbs are still keeping the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina from being one, because they all want more governmental control over the other. The effects of the Bosnian Genocide still float in the background for this troubled country. Because there is still ethnic disturbance in Bosnia, there is fear that genocide could occur once more in the torn country. By now, over 200,000 Muslim civilians have been systematically murdered. More than 20,000 are missing and feared dead, while 2,000,000 have become refugees.

What Montag Learned in Fahrenheit 451 :: Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451

Simplicity vs. Reality Above all things, Montag loved to burn. It was pleasurable for him to set aside his ignorance, watching as the little papery ashes shrivel up, and wisp into the air like fireflies. But that was before he took the time to ask why. Montag had to ask himself why he was burning these books, when he didn’t even know what they were. So he decided to take action and read them. Where he lives, this is illegal. Reading these books brought misfortune, like loosing his wife, house, and being forced to become a nomad. But he also benefited from this. By reading these books and ruining his life he also gained many things. A few of these are knowledge, feelings, and understanding. Gaining this knowledge is the very thing that ruined his life, though it gave him a sense of meaning. Through all of this Montag learns the information he finds in the books was what he needed all along. The life he was living was a lie. He was an ant to his society, and it must have come as a relief to finally realize he was no longer being controlled by his lack of intelligence. Throughout this story as I started to become more familiar with the characters I noticed something quite unusual. In essence, the people around Montag only have two basic feelings, happiness and sadness. All these people ever know is that they want to be happy and they don’t care at what cost. They don’t have any knowledge or understanding of the way things work and that’s exactly what their government wants for them, because as soon as you have knowledge and understanding you start having more in depth emotions and begin asking questions, which leads to trying to makes changes. This causes complication, and that’s just the sort of thing they cannot allow in their simple, ant-like society. Montag gets feeling from the books, and the feelings he gets motivates him to do what’s right. Even if everyone else around him is self centered, they only care about their own happiness. In chapter One Clarisse asks Montag if he’s happy. She makes it seem like such an easy question, while in fact it’s one of the hardest questions he has ever had to ask himself. The truth is that Montag doesn’t understand what true happiness is. All he knows is that he needs to make some drastic changes, and Montag doesn’t even know how.

Emilia’s Perspective on Betrayal in Relationships in Shakespeare’s Othe

Emilia’s Perspective on Betrayal in Relationships in Shakespeare’s Othello In Othello, Act IV, scene ii and iii, Emilia, Iago’s wife, reveals her opinion about relationships to the reader as she attempts to comfort Desdemona. She indefinitely believes that many men, as well as women, are frequently guilty of deception and betrayal of their partner. By this part of the play, Othello’s suspicions of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness have greatly increased, and he begins to accuse her of cheating on him. When Desdemona persistently denies his accusations, Othello becomes enraged. He sarcastically asks for her pardon and claims that he took her to be the â€Å"cunning whore of Venice† (Act IV, scene ii, line 88). Desdemona is heartbroken by her husband’s mockery and seeks Emilia’s kind words. Emilia insists that female innocence and chastity is overrated when Desdemona scolds herself for her unworthiness of Othello. Emilia subtly suggests that Desdemona should leave Othello and seek happiness elsewhere. Emilia states in Act IV, scene iii, lines 83-85, â€Å"...’tis a wrong in your own world, and ...

History of Psychology Essay

I declare that this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another unit, degree or diploma at any university or other institute of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. I warrant that any disks and/or computer files submitted as part of this assignment have been checked for viruses and reported clean. Student signature: __________________________ Date: __________________________ Abstract This paper aims to trace and analyze the historical development of the subjective nature of truth, the sources and reactions towards the theory. The implications of the theory of subjective truth are vast since a position on the nature of truth permeates one’s personal life goals and purposes, cognition, and morality of individual and hence also affects research methodology and psychotherapy. Subjectivism focuses on individuals’ thoughts and feelings as well as the proposition that knowledge of humans can never be separated from the knower. This literature review covers the existence of truth as being subjective during the time of the early Greek philosophers, present within Hellenistic and Roman psychology and persisting within romantic and existential philosophy, humanistic psychology and the approaches of the postmodernists in the mid-1960s. Keywords: subjective truth, history, postmodernism The Subjective Nature Of Truth: A Historical Development The constant tension of whether truth is objective or subjective has long since existed throughout history and continues to pervade in current schools of psychotherapies. â€Å"Science versus Humanism† is the term Conway (1992) gives to the philosophical dimension along which the values underlying the theories of psychologists differ. A scientific approach to psychology is based on the epistemological tradition of objectivism. Mahoney (1989) summarizes objectivism as beliefs that an objective and separate ‘real world’ lies beyond the organism, independent of perception and that valid knowledge is ultimately rendered from our sensory experiences, and can be totally separated from the knower (Mahoney, 1989 as cited in Conway, 1992). In contrast, the humanistic approach to psychology is based on the epistemological tradition of subjectivism which focuses on thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, knowledge of humans can never be separated from the knower (Conway, 1992). Due to different theories on the nature of truth, methodology for observing consciousness and the role of inner experience differ. The human science approach to psychology seeks to explain behavior in terms of a person’s subjective existence (Kendler, 2005). Humanistic psychology and philosophical phenomenology are two schools of thought that employ the human science interpretation of psychology (Kendler, 2005). The implications of the theory of the relativity of truth is seen in the individuals personal life goals, purpose of life, cognitive styles, morality, ethics, counseling goals, research methodology and conceptualization of definitions. Due to the great relevance of the topic to psychology, this essay traces and analyzes the historical development of the subjective nature of truth, the sources and reactions towards the theory. Early Greek Philosophers and Hellenistic and Roman Psychology The Sophists were a group of philosophers who believed that nothing is inherently right or wrong but that believing something is right makes it right and vice versa (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 41). Protagoras (485-420 B.C.) was the most popular Sophist who proposed that man is the measure of all things, meaning that man determines whether something is true or untrue and hence, truth depends on the perceiver not physical reality (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 41). The context of this perspective of the nature of truth is that Protagoras lived in the Periclean democracy where skills for effective communication were valuable to own especially in the political sphere (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 42) where some beliefs were more advantageous to utilitarian harmony than others. Hence, Protagoras was primarily interested in teaching effective argumentation to demonstrate the practicality of the relativity of truth. Socrates (470-399 B.C.) disagreed with the Sophists’ view that no truth exists beyond personal opinion. In the second century A.D., a school of thought named Skepticism promoted suspension of judgment and preferred to say ‘This is how things appear to me† rather than to claim having arrived at irrevocable truth (Hergenhahn, 2009). They were of the view that dogmatists constantly fought amongst themselves and were always agitated unlike the Skeptics who sought a life of peace and lived by two primary guides: appearances (sensations and feelings) and social convention (Hergenhahn, 2009). Displaying a similarity with the Sophists and the Skeptics, the Cynics such as Diogenes (412-323) advocated individualism and that true happiness depended on self-sufficiency and living a life that was natural, rejecting any type of control, be it bodily or social control. The theme of moving away from absolute truth and towards a relativistic conception of truth, individual feelings, opinions, social convention or whatever ‘truth’ brings gain (e.g., political status or living peaceably with others) will manifest itself again throughout history. Instrumental theory of truth: Profitability as criteria for truth William James (1842-1910) was of the view that ideas become true as long as they help people satisfactorily relate with other parts of one’s experience (De Waal, 2005, p. 43). James proposes that it is far from essential for our thoughts, beliefs or in other words, conceptions of truth, to copy reality. Hence, he opposes the singularity of truth and posits that multiple, though different beliefs are acceptable. In contrast, there can only be one truth for the empiricists and the rationalists since truth is the perfect copy of reality (De Waal, 2005, p. 47). Based on pragmatic principles, James proposes that any hypothesis cannot be rejected if there are useful results that come from it. Pragmatism is hence a principle that views any ‘truth’ as true as long as it profits. In other words, the pragmatist’s notion of truth is that beliefs originating from within one’s self but does not copy anything without the believer will still count as true when these lead people to directions that are worthwhile (De Waal, 2005, p. 50). The theme of moving away from a singular truth independent of the knower and towards whichever concept, idea or belief brings profit is a pattern seen even during the Early Greek Philosophers and Hellenistic and Roman Psychology. A profit-focused approach to handling truth, as proposed by the pragmatists, will strongly permeate and an underlying principle in future philosophies and approaches to psychology such as romanticism, existentialism, humanistic and postmodern psychology. Romantic and existential philosophy: Feelings, human choice and freedom In the late 18th century, an artistic and intellectual movement named Romanticism rebelled against Enlightenment rationality that overemphasized linear and the investigation of causes by trying to add feelings and intuition to rationality (Schneider, 1998). Romanticism emphasized the wholeness of experience via implicit processes such as affect, intuition, kinesthesia, imagination as well as the descriptions of these processes (Schneider, 1998). Rousseau was of the view that facts of history were of less importance than what values can be learned from them and that history should be considered as a collection of fables (Rousseau, 1762 as cited in Robinson, 2008). This type of thinking is seen again in Postmodernist thinking later on in history although to Rousseau, historical facts were not subjective but unknowable because of human error and interpretation. In psychology, romanticism is manifested in orientations of existential-humanistic, hermeneutical, narrative, and transpersonal psychologies (Schneider, 1998). Carl Rogers of the school of humanistic psychology, whose thoughts will be further explored later on in this paper, has much similarity with the romantics since experience is Rogers’ highest authority and makes decisions based on what feels [emphasis mine] right, valuable or worth doing (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 593). Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience. The existentialists (18th and 19th centuries) encourage us humans to consider the meaning of living authentically, in one’s own personal way (Oaklander, 1992). If one chooses freely, one chooses authentically and leads an authentic life. Since there are no objective values for the existentialist, it depends more on how one chooses rather than what their choice is. An existential philosopher, Kierkegaard proposed that each person’s life individually has its own self-determined meaning. Subjectivity is truth, that is, the person’s beliefs define that person’s reality (Oaklander, 1992, p. 577). Though the existentialist philosophers differ in their views in a few aspects of their thinking, one common theme is the emphasis on human freedom and choice and the related slogan of Sartre that ‘existence precedes essence’ which means that humans have no prepackaged nature or essence but that we are is what we choose to be (Oaklander, 1992). In other words, subjectivity must be the starting point (Oaklander, 1992). Sartre also says that â€Å"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism. It is also what is called subjectivity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Influenced by existential philosophy, a brand of contemporary psychology which has the key concepts of freedom, individuality, authenticity and responsibility emerged called existential psychology (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 574). The man who is generally considered to be the bridge between existential philosophy and existential psychology is Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) who is of the view that there is no ‘ultimate truth’ but emphasizes interpretation and that there is no ‘real meaning’ behind a phenomenon (Daitz, 2011). He proposed that humans choose nature of their own existence and it is worthy of notice that Heidegger chose to be committed to Nazism (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 574). The theme of moving away from a singular truth independent of the knower and towards â€Å"personal truth† as self-defined by individuals as well as the unfortunate consequence of individuals freely choosing what they think is right or desirable which may conflict with what society views as desirable. This will manifest itself again with slight differences in humanistic and postmodern psychology. Humanistic psychology: An application of subjective truth In the early 1960s, humanistic psychology, a new human science that would study humans as aware, choosing and emotional beings, appeared in reaction to traditional scientific approaches to psychology (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 571). Unlike the two existing schools of psychology, behaviorism and psychoanalysis, which assume determinism in explaining human behavior, humanistic psychology assumes humans are free to choose their own existence and that subjective reality is the most important cause of behavior (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 571). A basic tenet of humanistic psychology is that subjective reality is the primary guide for human behavior (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 586). Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was of the view that humanistic science should allow the individual to be freer and more inner determined (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 586). What he deemed as self-actualization is what humans achieve when they are true to their own nature (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 587). Carl Rogers (1902-1987) also proposed that a person who is likely to live a fulfilling life is motivated by his true inner feelings instead of beliefs, traditions and values imposed by others outside the individual (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 593). Rogers started the movement of Person-Centered therapy which stress an essential trust in the experiential world of the client and stress three conditions to promote the client’s growth: congruence (genuineness on the therapist’ part), true empathy, unconditional positive regard. A limitation that Owen (1999) notes in his analysis of both psychoanalysis and person-centred therapy is the conflict for the person-centred therapist to both communicate unconditional positive regard as well as congruence with a negative feeling about a client. In other words, prizing the client and also at the same time, being honest with personal feelings towards client. This poses a question of what a therapist should rightly do when being honest also means being non-empathic and withholding unconditional positive regard from the client. This problem of congruency undeniably stems from the theory of truth and its subjective nature since what the therapist believes to be true and what the client believes to be true are both equally ‘true’ if the assumption is that the individual self-defines truth. Postmodernism approaches: Contemporary development of the theory of truth Modernists believe in objective reality that exists independent of any attempt to observe it whereas postmodernists believe in subjective realities that do not exist independent of observational processes (Corey, 2005). Postmodernism is similar to the romantics, existentialists, the Sophists, and Skeptics and aspects of James’ psychology in that there multiple truths and these vary with individual experience, thus paving the way for postmodernism. According to Schneider (1998), the postmodernist were different from the romantics in that postmodernists promote a relativistic chaos when this conflicted with the sensibility of Romanticism (Schneider, 1998). The Romantics assumed knowledge as determinate and argued for the universality of autonomous experience while postmodernism assumes it as indeterminate and relativistic, thus fragmenting knowledge and experience (Webb, 2006). Similar to James’ pragmatism, the postmodernist is of the view that a problem exists only when people agree there is a problem needing to be addressed. Narrative therapy is an application of the Postmodernist approach to psychology and encourages clients to see their stories from different perspectives (Corey, 2005). The client’s reality is focused on without disagreeing whether it is accurate or rational (Weishaar, 1993 as cited in Corey, 2005). Unlike traditional therapists who see the client as the problem, the narrative therapists believe that the problem is the problem (Corey, 2005). This separation of client from problem allows one to take a stance against specific storylines, be hopeful in generating a more positive, healing story and thus reducing self-blame. The therapist searches for times when the client made a choice and times when the client was successful (Corey, 2005, p. 403). Very similar to the assumptions of the Cynics and particularly the Romantics, the Postmodernist approach is based on the optimistic assumption that people are able and that they possess alternative stories that can enhance their lives (Corey, 2005, p. 403). The nature of truth and the approach to psychology: Future research direction Within the United States and internationally, Kirschenbaum and Jourdan (2005) carried out a survey that found an increasing number of therapists who identify themselves as â€Å"eclectic† or â€Å"integrative† amongst Carl Rogers’ client-centered/person-centered therapists over the past 30 years. In his writing on the topic of romanticism’s potential in complementing psychology, Schneider (1998) writes that experimental research, whether in hypothesis-making or verification, cannot fully replace romantic insights and needs to refer back to qualitative data that Romantics emphasize (Schneider, 1998). Hence, there are advantages in employing research as well as therapy methodology that take into account aspects of the intuitive and emotional aspect of human beings that romanticism emphasizes. In view of the advantages, Schneider also writes about the implications for therapists in training. He proposes the provision of rich and sensitive qualitative descriptions of their clients in addition to treatment plans that are problem-oriented or behavioral in focus (Schneider, 1998). Therapists in training should also pay attention to emotional, kinesthetic, and cognitive experiences of clients. Besides just assessing progress toward therapy goals, the meaning of therapy goals for clients should also be considered. Schneider is of the view that therapist with the full range of experiential data about their clients would be in an optimal position to collate essential data for a treatment plan. Hence, research should be done to measure the effectiveness of this approach to therapy in addition to (i.e., eclectic approaches) or instead of traditional approaches. In his comparison of person-centred therapy with psychodynamic therapy, Owen (1999) notes the possibility of conflict that person-centred therapists might face in trying to be congruent to their own personal feelings while at the same time, being non-judgmental and providing unconditional positive regard. Further research should be carried out in the area of long-term consequences to the therapist and to the client as well as strategies that can be employed when there is a conflict in the congruence of the therapist and the therapist’ provision of unconditional positive regard. Research may also include investigating the incorporation of one aspect of the psychodynamic approach which is neutrality (neither making interpretations nor providing unconditional positive regard) towards the client’s sharing of his personal experience or thoughts (Owen, 1999). Neutrality allows for a full range of emotions including negative emotions of the client. Conclusion Whether truth is absolute and independent of the knower and perceiver has been supported and argued against since the period of the early Greek philosophers. Similar themes that focus on the human individual to evaluate and make their own choices, define their own meaning and ultimately, define and act upon what is the nature of truth and the truth itself recur time and time again whether in the form of an emphasis on affect like the Romantics or Postmodernist who selects part of a narrative, whether accurate or true, to put it to good use in helping the individual cope during therapy. The implications of the position taken on the nature of truth have been demonstrated throughout history in major schools of philosophy, psychology and in this paper. Future speculation of this theory of truth is that, after certain negative events that will happen in future times as a result of pragmatic and postmodern thinking, a reaction against relativistic and individualized conceptions of truth that may take a shape of fundamentalism may return to schools of philosophy and the social sciences. References Conway, J. B. (1992). Presidential address: A world of differences among psychologists. Canadian Psychology, 33(1), 1-23. Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy (7th ed.). California: Thomson Learning Inc. Daitz, L. (2011). Understanding, truth or resolve? Considering the ‘aim’ of existential psychotherapy and the approaches of van Deurzen and Spinelli. Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, 22(1), 140-149. De Waal, C. (2005). On Pragmatism. California: Thomson Wadsworth Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology (6th ed.). California: Cengage learning. Kendler, H. H. (2005). Psychology and phenomenology: A clariï ¬ cation. American Psychologist, 60(4), 318–324 Kirschenbaum, H. & Jourdan, A. (2005). The current status of Carl Rogers and the person-centered approach. Educational Publishing Foundation, 42(1), 37–51. doi: 10.1037/0033-3204.42.1.37 Oaklander, L. N. (1992). Existentialist phi losophy: An introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Owen, I. R. (1999). Exploring the similarities and differences between person-centred and psychoanalytic therapies. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 27(2), 165-178 doi: 0306-9885/99/020165-14 Robinson, P. (2008). Jean-Jacques Rousseau and history: Moral truth at the expense of facticity. Rethinking History, 12(3), 417–431. doi: 10.108 0/13642520802193 288 Schneider, K. J. (1998). Toward a science of the heart: Romanticism and the revival of psychology. American Psychologist, 53(3), 277-289 Webb, R. K. (2006). From romantic humanist to postmodern pedagogy: How the alien becomes normative in contemporary education. Radical Pedagogy. Retrieved from http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue8_2/webb.html

Cesare Beccaria & Punishment Essay

Cesare Beccaria was an Italian jurist, enlightenment thinker, and philosopher. In 1794, he wrote On Crimes and Punishment. In this book, he talked against torture and the death penalty, but he was most famous for laying a foundation of penology, which deals with the repression of criminal activities and punishment of crimes committed. Beccaria was most famous for declaring that â€Å"a punishment should fit the crime.† He meant several things by this, but most importantly was his two main points. This first way he said that the punishment should fit the crime is that the severity of punishment should parallel the severity of harm resulting from the crime. This did not mean that if someone was a murderer, that they should be put to death. Beccaria publicly condemned the death penalty because he said that the state does not possess the right to take lives, and that it is not a very useful form of punishment. He stood for a more deterrent function of the penal system. When he sai d it must match the damages of the offense and parallel the harm of the crime, he was more referring along the lines of punishment and incarceration. His second point was that the punishment should be severe enough to outweigh the pleasure of committing the crime. For example, someone might look at sexual assault as pleasurable, therefore the punishment needs to be severe enough for that person to think, â€Å"Wow, the punishment is harsh, it’s not worth committing this crime.† If this wasn’t the case, a rational person would weigh the gain with the consequence, and determine that the crime is worth committing because if that’s only my punishment, then why not. People speed because speeding tickets are simply fines, if you were to be booked and incarcerated, I’m sure people would speed less. Not saying that this is how it should be, it’s just the most blatant example. The problem with this second point is that it only applies to rational thinking people, and it doesn’t really apply at all to a violent criminal with a psychological imbalance and is mentally handicapped who doesn†™t think things through before they do them. Luckily, this is why we, in the United States, have trials; because Beccaria’s theory, all though it does make sense, cannot apply to every single criminal and will not deter every type of crime or offender. This makes one think on how our current laws and punishments line up with the theory of Beccaria.; especially in the terms of drug laws. 55% of criminals in federal prisons and 20% in state are all from drug related crimes. This is an extremely high number of people for a simply, usually victimless offense. If the offender’s only damage done is to him or herself, then is it completely necessary that the county spends on average, $28,000 a year per criminal in the system? At what point do we draw the line and see that privatization of prisons is making people rich because we’re putting far too many criminals in prisons as opposed to other forms of punishment. Would it not make more sense for a commiter of a victimless crime be sentenced to something like parole or house arrest where the only person they’re responsible for is themselves, and they can carry on their every day life instead of being exposed to more hardened criminals and having to conform to prison society? This leads one to question numerous things such as the effectiveness of punishments like the death penalty along with the effectiveness of other forms of punishment and say â€Å"do these really match the crime applied to them?† Intro. to Criminal Justice 5th edition, Bohm/Haley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Crimes_and_Punishments#cite_ref-2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Beccaria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penology