Toward a Postmodern Theory of Law :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Toward a Postmodern Theory of Law* ABSTRACT: Law at the end of the twentieth century is a practice based on legal-philosophical concepts such as the representational theory of truth, neutrality, universality, and legitimacy. The content of such concepts responds to the tradition of the western cultural paradigm. We share the experience of fragmentation in this cultural unanimity: we live in a world of heterogeneousness and multiplicity that upholds the claims of different concepts of the world and of life shared by dwellers in microspaces. The theory of law should be adapted to take this experience into account. We propose a change in direction oriented toward the creation of operational legal concepts: creative justice, perspectivist rationality, a systemic theory of truth and a judicial process that guarantees the multicultural experience. Postmodernity affirms the urgent need for a new form of legal reasoning. The work of a lawyer is commonly understood to consist of searching for and locating in the codes and laws the appropriate disposition to solve a case and apply the legal consequences anticipated by the norm to the situation in controversy. To date, the philosophy of law produced and taught at universities in Venezuela and the rest of the world corresponds to that conceptualization. Philosophical-juridical problems such as concept of law, norm, validity, efficacy, etc.; the sources of law, the interpretation of legal texts, and many others have been approached from that enlightened or modern perspective. This perspective conceives law as the only system of norms legitimized to regulate human social conduct based on the legal conceptions of the world and of life reflected in positive dispositions. This vision of law is a myth; it is extraordinarily powerful, but a myth, nonetheless. Such an affirmation is unreal, but not because law, far from being a complete and static system, is a dynamic system continually being created and modified. This condition of dynamism is already a commonplace in legal theory, yet its acceptance has not resulted in a de-mythification of law. Modification and permanent self-creation of the system of norms always and necessarily takes place according to the mechanisms and criteria of legal assessment included in the code of positive law. The aforementioned vision is a myth because the concepts and ideas that we human beings use to make the world surrounding us intelligible and manageable have changed their content and lost their quality of ethical references that legitimize the law. Toward a Postmodern Theory of Law :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays Toward a Postmodern Theory of Law* ABSTRACT: Law at the end of the twentieth century is a practice based on legal-philosophical concepts such as the representational theory of truth, neutrality, universality, and legitimacy. The content of such concepts responds to the tradition of the western cultural paradigm. We share the experience of fragmentation in this cultural unanimity: we live in a world of heterogeneousness and multiplicity that upholds the claims of different concepts of the world and of life shared by dwellers in microspaces. The theory of law should be adapted to take this experience into account. We propose a change in direction oriented toward the creation of operational legal concepts: creative justice, perspectivist rationality, a systemic theory of truth and a judicial process that guarantees the multicultural experience. Postmodernity affirms the urgent need for a new form of legal reasoning. The work of a lawyer is commonly understood to consist of searching for and locating in the codes and laws the appropriate disposition to solve a case and apply the legal consequences anticipated by the norm to the situation in controversy. To date, the philosophy of law produced and taught at universities in Venezuela and the rest of the world corresponds to that conceptualization. Philosophical-juridical problems such as concept of law, norm, validity, efficacy, etc.; the sources of law, the interpretation of legal texts, and many others have been approached from that enlightened or modern perspective. This perspective conceives law as the only system of norms legitimized to regulate human social conduct based on the legal conceptions of the world and of life reflected in positive dispositions. This vision of law is a myth; it is extraordinarily powerful, but a myth, nonetheless. Such an affirmation is unreal, but not because law, far from being a complete and static system, is a dynamic system continually being created and modified. This condition of dynamism is already a commonplace in legal theory, yet its acceptance has not resulted in a de-mythification of law. Modification and permanent self-creation of the system of norms always and necessarily takes place according to the mechanisms and criteria of legal assessment included in the code of positive law. The aforementioned vision is a myth because the concepts and ideas that we human beings use to make the world surrounding us intelligible and manageable have changed their content and lost their quality of ethical references that legitimize the law.

Gang Violence and Biker Gangs :: essays research papers

Gang violence is a major problem in our society today. Gang violence could take place in our neighborhoods and corrupt the young children easily influenced by the violent behavior as well. In the two poems, ?Leather-Jackets, Bikes and Birds? by Robert Davies and ?Street Gang? by H. Webster, the two poets write about gang related issues discussing the ill-mannered bikers who cause these problems to other around them. These poems discuss the violence, death and illegal activity in which a number of people participated in, which like reality is the problematic truth. Both poems are similar because their main intention is gang related violence issues in society today and the distinctive character of the darker side in human nature which causes the harmful consequences of a corrupt humanity. The communication strategies used by both poets are able to grasp the reader?s interest due to the fact that both poems have similar methods of word selection which is diction and are able to describe the psychological minds of aggressive behavior. The poem ?Leather-Jackets, Bikes and Birds? has sentences that describe the type of characteristics gang members have and illustrate their overall presence around others. For example when the poet writes, ?pretending they are looking for trouble demonstrates that the individuals of a gang gather not to enjoy themselves but to cause excitement among themselves for the wrong reasons. Another quote from the poem that describes the psychological mind of gang members is ?because you?ve got to be hard to be a leather-jacket this quote shows that gang members have a mind set that they must be tough, strong and overall powerful to gain their respect. Similarly, the poem ?Street Gang? the description of violence used and the defeat against law is well detailed by the actions caused by aggressive behavior. For example when the poet writes ?the law overthrown describes that the street gang members do not consider the law at hand and make a choic e based on their psychological mind structure and use forceful actions upon their victims. Furthermore, literary devices such as imaginary, alliteration, repetition, oxymoron, onomatopoeia, simile and parallel structure used in both poems displayed a greater understanding towards poetry and defined both as comparable poems. The poems ?Leather-Jackets, Bikes and Birds? and ?Street Gang? are not in rhyme and I believe both poets have formed the poems without rhyme because the tone of seriousness towards this issue was to be brought out to the reader?

Green Lantern and Mythology Essay

Green lantern is a long running comic book series. The early years the story of a prophecy that had been handed to Abin sur, an alien, who eventually dies from fear of this prophecy and his ring is given to a human the first human from earth to possess a power ring. This prophecy comes to be in the series called blackest night. It is a tale of evil trying to take over the universe. Black Hand is main Black lantern when a person is killed there body basically becomes a zombie possessing a black power ring. The green lantern corp is the original police forces of the universe there were created by a group of immortals that could be seen as gods possibly. The rings give normal beings great powers to create anything they can image with a solid light it is powered by their will power and lack of fear. But they are not the only heroes (lanterns) in the universe that is needed to stop this growing evil force. There is group for each of the colors of the spectrum. Each is powered by a different emotion. Red is rage, orange is greed, and green is will, blue is hope, indigo is mostly compassion, and finally violet is love. To destroy a Black lantern takes more than one colored power. So they have to learn to work together and give over their own personal differences. This shows how many cultures have to work together. But in a way it shows that you can’t allow only one emotion to rule over you because it will lead possibly your doom, because in the story to face the evil lantern alone is definite doom and you will be consumed by the evil and become that which you had been fighting against. It also shows that sometimes you just can’t do something’s alone that you need to rely on others to succeed. No matter how strong or smart you are that it can take more than one person to do the job right. I see it as a way of showing children that no matter how different we are, whether we are from different worlds or different countries no matter how different we look we can work together. Kids now days are very interested in comics or the movies based on comics so these stories are becoming the new myths of our time. These people are the heroes our children look to for role models nowadays. In the movie Green Lantern it shows the determination to show that no matter what others think of you if you have the strenght and determination you can prove that you can be a hero or anything you set your mind to.

Water: an Overlooked Essential Nutrient

Water: An Overlooked Essential Nutrient| Presented by: Your Name | Today I am discussing the importance of water to encourage this office to provide water as the main beverage choice in this office. Water maintains body temperature, maintains blood volume, blood pressure and supports all cell functions. (Cherif, et al. , 2010)Water is a valuable resource even in an office environment. You may not realize that an air-conditioned office is a very dry environment and will deplete your body of water. Working long hours can cause mild dehydration that will affect mental responses.The brain is 80% water. Loss of water will affect concentration and memory. Dehydration can cause headaches, tiredness and loss of concentration, affecting alertness. (European Hydration Institute)No other drink is as affective in hydrating the body like water. Gatorade and Powerade both have high levels of added sugar and salt. These should only be added to water for athletes, extreme heat situations or a sick p erson. | Daily Recommendations Experts vary on just how much water is required for daily hydration. The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2. 2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.† However, most agree that eight 8 ounce glasses a day is an appropriate daily intake. ( Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER), 2011) Gatorade and Powerade are both sports drinks and they have no daily recommendation. They are designed for â€Å"critical fuel during relatively intense (more than 60% of maximal effort) exercise bouts lasting more than 1 hour. (Cherif, et al. , 2010, p. 299) Both Gatorade and Powerade have no evidence of providing a benefit to those who are not exercising. In fact the only affect they seem to have on an un-athletic person is weight gain. (p. 301) Nutrient Content The content of 8 ounces of bottled water includes 23. 7mg o f Calcium, 4. 7mg of Magnesium, 4. 7mg Sodium. Water contains no calories. Calcium and Magnesium are not only good for bone health but act as electrolytes to help regulate fluid balance and neuromuscular function.Sodium needs replaced in modest amounts because a lack of sodium will cause muscle cramps, nausea and possible other affects. Eight ounces of a sports drink has 78 calories. Sports drinks contain 95mg of Sodium, 15g of sugar, 19g of carbohydrates, 40mg of potassium, 24mg of phosphorus and 2. 4mg of calcium. Keep in mind that most sports drinks are in a 20 ounce bottle so most people consume almost three times the amounts I mentioned above. Varieties Water comes in bottles or out of the tap. Bottled water types include.Spring water is a natural source of water that springs from below the surface of the earth; Purified water is water that has been treated to remove the bacteria and dissolved solids removed by some process Mineral water is water that contains no less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. No minerals may be added to the water. Artesian water â€Å"comes from a well that taps a confined aquifer-a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand-in which the water level is above the top of the aquifer. † Well water is from an underground water source. (Nestle Waters North America Inc. Gatorade The G2 series is bottled Gatorade with only 20 calories per ounce. Original G comes in 19 flavors. G Powder is just that powder that can be mixed with water and comes in four flavors. 01 Prime is in a pouch to drink before exercise. 03 Recover is in a bottle to drink after exercise. G Series Natural Thirst Quenchers are the newest and they are the same as the original but they have cane sugar and don’t have high fructose corn syrup. Powerade Powerade offers the original drink and the Powerade Zero with no calories. The flavors are; Grape Orange Lemon Lime Sour MelonFruit Punch Mountain Berry Blast White Cherry Strawberry Lemo nade Cost Water for a water cooler from Ice Mountain will cost $31. 96 a month for five 5 gallon bottles of water. Buying water bottles to stock a vending machine cost will vary according to how much you buy. One pallet has 1,728 bottles and will cost $779. This will be 45? each. Gatorade bottles come in a case of 24 20 oz. bottles for $15. 68. This is 78? a bottle. (www. samsclub. com) Powerade comes in 24 20 oz. bottles of $12. 48. This is 62? a bottle. (www. samsclub. com) Advantages of consumption WaterWater hydrates your body without all the added sugars and salts that may contribute to high blood pressure and obesity. According to the Mayo Clinic, water protects the bodies’ organs and tissue; it helps prevent constipation and lubricates joints. Water helps flush waste from the kidneys and liver. It helps dissolve minerals and nutrients for the body to use and it carries the nutrients and oxygen to cells. ( Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER), 2011 ) Water is essential to keep focused and on task at work. It is the best way to work at a law office that demands so much time and attention to details.Water will help prevent headaches often associated with sugar and caffeine. Sports Drinks I would be to ones advantage to drink a sports drink to restore electrolytes that are seriously depleted. This means that it is ideal for an athlete, someone laboring in heat or a sick person losing body fluids. Both Gatorade and Powerade have low calorie options. Gatorade has G2 that is a 20 calorie per serving solution and Powerade Zero has no calories. If a person is in need to restore electrolytes that water is not able to do, I believe the G2 is the better drink.The smaller amount of calories would be needed to help quickly restore electrolytes. Safety Choosing water means not having to worry about whether or not it is safe to drink. Only one problem is caused by water, Hyponatremia. , Hyponatremia is only cause by over consumption of water and it flushes too much sodium out of the body. The condition is extremely rare and hard to do. Sports drinks on the other hand do cause a safety concern. With the rising epidemic of obesity and diabetes everyone should be concerned about sugar intake. Calories should be mostly derived from food and rarely in our beverage.The high level of sodium is a concern as well. Sodium in high levels will cause high blood pressure and hypertension. In an office situation the ingredients have no chance of being burned off by the body. If sports drinks are chosen in an office environment the best one to pick is Powerade Zero. The sodium is still too high in this drink but at least the calories have been eliminated. In Conclusion I highly recommend that this office choose water as the beverage of choice for your employees and partners. Water is the obvious choice to keep everyone feeling their best and keeping focused on the work at hand.Water is the best choice when considering the overall heal th of this office. Not only will sports drinks contribute to high sugar and sodium levels but is will ultimately lead to high insurance and health costs for this company. Water is the inexpensive solution. As shown in the cost comparison per bottle water is less expensive. Finally, think about the message you want to send to this office and to guests who visit this office. If you want to make the health conscience decision water is the only choice. For clients who walk in the door that you don’t know their specific health condition water is a beverage everyone can say â€Å"yes† to.

Newell Company †Corporate Strategy Essay

How does the corporate office contribute towards Newel’s performance or in other words what value does the corporate office add? †¢Newell had adopted to develop its product line through key acquisitions rather than internal growth. All acquisitions are taken care at the corporate level so that the divisions are not diverted from their core function of generating profit. †¢Potential target firms undergo an intense screening process. They have to be par with company’s existing performance criteria †¢They bring up acquired companies by developing them to become cost efficient through operational strategies and creating profits within a period of 18 months. Some are done with a period of 6 months of time. Newell also have strict control for the time the customers pay, this is within 30-45 days †¢Corporate tightly controls the finances, yet it allows brand and division president autonomy to guide the performance of the business. †¢Corporate office does a good job of seamless linking of its structure, system & processes (SSP) with its businesses and resources. †¢The company attaches great importance to customer relations frequently inviting buyers for plant visits. †¢The companies Newell acquires have potential but undervalued. These companies are suffering because they do not have major clients and there overhead costs are high. †¢Newell focused on good communication within the company and had numerous meetings throughout the year in order for leadership roles to remain informed about other aspects of the company. Division leaders convened several times a year for presidents’ meetings as well as the ability for regular encounters at trade shows throughout the year. †¢Other forms of communication were bracket meetings and the monthly collection of operating figures. Bracket meetings were implemented if there were too many variances within the budget.

Communicate Effectively at the Direct Leadership Level Essay

a.Mass communication enables you to communicate information to large numbers of people in a relatively short time. .Identify the principles of interpersonal transactional communication a.First principle – You cannot NOT communicate. i.Each day we receive thousands of behavioral cues to communicate. We choose which are worthy of our attention. We interpret or attribute meaning to each of these cues. We learn to accept some cues and reject others. We select the cue we will respond to and how we will communicate that response. Through this process, we assign purpose to each communication. Communication with purpose cannot be random. This conditioning process begins early in life. b.Second principle – Communication is predictable. i.Whenever you choose to recognize some sensory cue, you must organize the information in some personally acceptable way. The easiest way to do this is  to compare the behavior you now sense to all the behaviors you’ve ever known. As you repeat this process, you come to expect certain patterns of communicative behavior from certain people in certain situations. You learn to categorize people and their responses by paying attention to the feedback you get from people when we communicate with them. In this way, you improve the effectiveness of your communication by learning more about your own and the other person’s communicative patterns. c.Third principle – Communication is a â€Å"chicken and egg† process. i.Think of yourself as a simultaneous and continuous sender and receiver. Because communication occurs constantly in some form, it is difficult to determine whether you communicate first and respond last or vice versa. However, does it really matter? We define the context of our communication through punctuation. Punctuation is simply assigning specific beginning and ending points along the line of the continuous communication process. Human communication, as a dynamic process is best understood as a system where senders are simultaneously receivers and receivers are simultaneously senders. d.Fourth principle – Communication occurs at two levels. i.Communication not only conveys information, but at the same time imposes behavior. All interpersonal communication occurs at two levels: content and process. â€Å"The Dynamics of Human Communication† refers to the two levels as content and relationship while the USASMA model refers to them as content and process. We will use content and process. Content communication conveys information. Process communication (tone, context, gesture, and other nonverbal action) sends instructions to the receiver about how to interpret the message. When the content message does not match the process message, conflict and mistrust form in the mind of the receiver. e.Fifth principle – Transactions are between equals or up–and–down. i.You relate to people as equals or as nonequals. A typical example of a nonequal relationship is that of the mother–infant pair. Nonequal relationships include two different positions: one communicator is in the superior, or one–up position, while the other is in the one–down, or inferior position. Do not equate the words â€Å"up† and â€Å"down† with judgmental terms as â€Å"good,† â€Å"bad,† â€Å"strong,† or â€Å"weak.† Nonequal relationships are often set by social or cultural factors. It is usual for one–up persons to define the nature of the relationship. f.Sixth  principle – Communication is a sharing of meaning. i.This means that what meaning one person assigns to a word or image may not be the same as the meaning assigned by someone else to the same word or image. Each of us has our own system of classification, our own filtration system, by which we assign meaning. When we share our assigned meanings (GUESSES) with others, we expose some of our self–hoping that the other will understand us and interpret our meaning as we do. 4.Identify the relationship between listening and effective oral communication a.The Three Myths about Listening i.Listening is a natural process.- If you believe that listening occurs naturally, like breathing, then it follows that you never need to learn how to do it. Listening is a skill just like driving a golf ball or firing a rifle. You develop the skill just as you would any other skill. ii.Listening is the same as hearing.- Hearing is a natural process, but as we stated above, listening is a skill that we develop. We can train ourselves to â€Å"not listen† or to listen selectively. iii.Listening is the same as paying attention.- Many times we pretend to listen when we really are not. The receiver of the communication must indicate to the speaker that he is being heard and understood. The receiver indicates attention through both verbal and nonverbal indicators. b.Overview i.Let’s look at listening from a different approach, in relation to four types of internal and external responses to spoken messages. These responses range from very casual, almost accidental, to very deliberate and purposeful types of responses. They are not orderly stages that you go through when listening, nor a sequence that must be followed. All or only a few of these may occur within one set of listening transaction, or they may be skipped or types may be applied in any sequence. The four types are reflex, content, relational or active, and introspective listening. c.Type I, Reflex Listening i.A very basic kind of listening involving little more than hearing and a recognition that some noise has come to you. Reflex listening is very common in social settings, classrooms, public settings, and in concerts. Reflex listening involves primarily â€Å"guidance† noises where you can move out of  danger, approach and engage prospective pleasant experiences, but stay tuned to hear other important messages should they occur. d.Type II, Content Listening i.This type of listening is the one most frequently referred to when teachers and managers (leaders) criticize â€Å"poor† listening. Learning in school, receiving instructions on the job, getting information about what to do and how to run your life, are all involved in the content level. You listen to learn and to understand and to somehow retain information. An important dimension of content–type listening is an ability to detect which messages are accurate, useful, sound, truthful, reliable, and relevant. e.Type III, Relational Listening i.Listening is important not only in relation to getting the content of the message called â€Å"deliberative listening† but also in another dimension called â€Å"empathic listening.† This empathic dimension to listening includes active listening. Active listening reflects a whole orientation to life and to people–one which implies that to listen is to have the creative power to imagine how it would make sense to say what the other person is saying. It says that the other person (the speaker) is fundamentally important and worth listening to. How do you â€Å"do† active listening–by listening to a person without passing judgment on what is being said, and mirroring back what has been said to indicate that you understand the feelings the speaker was putting across. Effective communication is free to happen when threats have been removed. By the mirroring process, you help build a climate in which you can be accepting, noncritical, and non–mor alizing. f.Type IV, introspective listening i.Focus in this type of listening is on having something happen to the listener, not to the speaker. It may be the inner enjoyment of hearing poetry or music or spoken endearments. You experience something when you listen introspectively. Introspective listening has the quality of listening with a very open mind, but it also has the uncommon quality of applying your own deep understanding of your personal commitments and of the persuasion process as you evaluate the speakers’ messages.

Writing the supernatural Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Writing the supernatural - Essay Example The appearance or the way the ghost has been launched in the story, â€Å"The Story of Salome† is more mystic and a tone of melancholia pervades or consistently operates throughout the background of the story, which makes it more pleasant and touches the heart with clear and concise effect. The appearance of the ghost in the story, â€Å"The Weir† is comparatively more transparent and soon after the beginning of the plot itself, there are certain clear indications like relentless rain and some elements of mystery such as the priest’s search for the men from Glen for couple of Carrick fellows for digging the grave and the weird smell of the sheep, all these incidents indicates certain sense of continuous foreboding. But in â€Å"The Story of Salome†, the playful display of light and shadow, the sun and the cloud builds a unique kind of background and prepares the different plane for the evocation of the ghost in the story. The evocation of the ghost is equivalent almost to the evocation of a muse in an epic. After the introspection into the evocation of ghost in both the stories, the differences in the studying of the ways the men in both the stories are haunted is also important. There is no doubt in the fact that the story, â€Å"The Story of Salome† is more serene in nature than the story â€Å"The Weir†. The haunted man in the story â€Å"The Weir†, Jim is a young fellow who appears in the story for the purpose of digging grave and help the priest in certain funeral rites. Whereas, the man who is haunted in the story, â€Å"The Story of Salome† appears to be a matured man disturbed and attracted by some unknown occult and weird beauty. Both of the men in the two different stories are disturbed by few unknown facets but again a major difference in the stories can be drawn from the way, the haunted men are represented respectively. In the story , â€Å"The Weir†, J im, the haunted man is