Realism, Liberalism and Marxism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Realism, Liberalism and Marxism - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that according to the theory of realism, self interest is the motivating force behind world politics and hence there exists a competition among various stake holders and parties in the global scenario for safeguarding their self interests. In a society based on the principles of realism, moral values, ideological concerns and social considerations have less importance, whereas the national interest and security of the nation is always given the prime importance. Realism presents a materialistic approach to the working of things and considers the material benefits the ultimate target of all kinds of political and social struggles. The theory of realism has given rise to various other theories of international relations, of which power politics is the most widely studied. Power politics derives its basic ideology from realism and extends the safeguarding of interests of the nation to promoting aggression against other nations. According to po litical realism, there are certain rules and laws which govern the political scenario in society and these laws are deeply rooted in the human nature. Therefore the understanding of laws of human nature is imperative for improving the society. Human nature is perhaps the most consistent trait humans have because it’s the same as it was in old civilizations and thus the theory of politics was developed in ancient times. The various aspects of realism are based on ascertainment of facts and their extensive analysis. A foreign policy based on the principles of realism is never ambiguous and is clear in the consequences and future scenario which it tends to create. Therefore the policies based on realism do not serve long term objectives. Realism defines interests in terms of power with no questions of moral qualities and cultural or traditional preferences; realism presents a very realistic picture of the global political scenario in which the nations and states which have power do not care about the morals and values set by other cultures or the international community as a whole, for them power struggle is the deciding factor in all situations. Therefore the nations should learn to protect their interests by becoming powerful or by siding with the ones who have the power because this is the only way of survival in the world. Realism gives very less importance to moral values and traditions because of the belief that actions are judged by their consequences, therefore an actions which is taken to safeguard the moral values is never justified in realism if it puts the national security at risk. Morals cannot be made a part of the realist theory or international relations because ‘moral values’ is an extensively relative term with different interpretations in different societies and cultures therefore religion, moral values, traditions and culture does not and should not have any sort of involvement in the political dealings of a statesman (Str emmel, 2004). The theory of realism traces its history back to ancient Chinese literature and hence it has influenced the global political scenario from the very beginning of human civilization. Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese scholar in his book the Art of War used realism to defend various war strategies of that time. Greek historian Thucydides is considered as the father of the theory of realism and he for the first time came up with the concept that might is always right and moral and ethical grounds are never considered in war and international politics. Another ancient scholar who based his teachings and writings on the theory of realism is Chanakya, the teacher of the first emperor of united India, Chandragupta Maurya. It is believed that it was the influence of the teachings of Chanakya which motivated Chandragupta to conquer the various parts of subcontinent and form a powerful and united empire in India. The teachings of Chanakya were based on the concept of power politics and he always convinced Chandragupta that the only way of survival in this world is by seizing immense power and maintaining an aggressive stance against

Csr in Foxconn Essay Example for Free

Csr in Foxconn Essay More and more companies are investing in China, to share the incredible profit generate from the 1.4 trillion people. One of the US based company, which its going to invest 35% of its stake, to a fast growing China private-owned timber flooring company. Like most local Chinese company, CSR is not implementing in that company as well as no management working on it. Generally speaking, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrates into business model, in which a company monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of law, ethical standard and international norms. Although this timber company has high growth in the market and generate good profit, it may easily pose a risk to investor if they are not pay attention to social and environmental issues. Below summaries would like to analyst the potential impacts may arise from different parties such as employees, consumers, environment, and communities and how they may be affected by the decision. First of all, its no doubt that employee are the basic component of an industry. By taking measures from the Social Accountabilities 8000 (SA8000), they should consider if the company has employed child labor. Child labor is very popular in China and other developing countries like Guatemala especially industry like involving agricultural and manufacturing that need high working force. It may violate the law and damage the company brand easily. Other than legal extend, an interesting figure showed that (www.DoWellDoGood.net), 83% of the employee will leave the job if their employer used child labor. Obvious, child labor nowadays give more harm than good, instead, providing wellness program for employee and their families create certain shared value that they will love more the company in both mentally and physically. Moreover, its also important that the firm should provide adequate safety working environment as well as organize enough safety training. It will certainly reduce the number of accidents occurs. In the early 80s, China had launched Social Security Fund, all companies must follow closely and provide all kinds of insurances to employees in order not to obstruct from the law and political issue. In addition, the company should encourage workers to form union and those who involve wont be discriminated. Because employee more involve in the discussion regarding payroll, community welfare and company development will surely increase their loyalty at all. The investor has to review all the working hours, salary standard and penalty and make sure its fair to everyone. Secondly, the investor should concern to the consumers feedback in which the company has to create customers satisfaction to their products. However, in this competitive world, many companies like to exaggerated the usage and beauty of their products to attract more customers by means of media as a communication platform. For this reason, the investor should review all these products advertisement that might cause harmful effect to the product brand name. Reputation of the timber flooring company takes years to come to the top five in China can be ruined in hours. One accident always cause in flooring industries may be the level of formaldehyde is so high that cause toxic to human. Heath problems always cause fatal to death of company. One of big scandal happened recently nearly killed AJISEN one of the ramen restaurant in which has been accused of making their broths using soup concentrate and cheap flavoring powders, known for a guarantee that all their soups come from a broth of pork bones simmered to perfection.(Patrick Keefe) Stock price of AJISEN drops from HK$17.82 to HK$9.32 (51.7%) within 2 weeks just right after the scandal and never climb back up until now. Indeed, customer are all likely the same, they only purchase goods they fell confidence by faith as choices are not the only one. Above example shows a warning signal that in case the company has listed in the stock market in the future. They have to take care much more than now on the CSR issues as media can spread out news within one day. Thirdly, the company should put more efforts not to interfere the environment. Recently, Chinese government has set up many laws to preserve environmental friendly after enter the WTO, ISO14000 standard is basic management standard that has to follow. Due to their factories including plantation, chemical working for production and raw material importation, there are a lot of chances may encounter to environmental dispute. As an investor, other than make sure correct documentations and license for environmental issue, they also have to study all the process in terms of energy use and logistics. Considering the firm has 50% of timber source globally and 10% of their customers are overseas, excess packaging of products and greenhouse gases are not just costly to the environment but also costly to the business. By reducing its packaging and cutting 100 million miles from the delivery routes of its trucks, Wal-Mart lowered carbon emissions and saved $200 million in cost. (Harvard Business Review). Above example shows typical how mutual benefits if we re-arrange business decision and enhance regulation reforms even just simple as logistic. Besides, China has a lot of tax reduction and funding approaches to achieve government supports by encouraging people to protect the nature. Furthermore, the investor should also pay attention to their suppliers. Not only to check if the imported products are fulfill the regulations but also review the availability and the ease of transportation as 50% outsourcing of the company is not a small figure to ignore. Above all, CSR is not a short term objective, the investor should set up a CSR team in the company for promoting and working for long term prospective. Its clearly that CSR is helping to build up the company brand far more easily than performing marketing and sales on timber flooring only. According to Harvard Business Review, Not all profit is equal. Profit involving a social purpose represent a higher form of capitalism, one that creates a positive cycle of company and community prosperity, its no doubt that customer will purchase more if the timber flooring shows green and if the company anticipate more social welfare activities. To conclude, the investor should immerse CSR into each employee and the community in order to enhance share value to form a mutually beneficial society.

Definition And Classification Of Humor

Definition And Classification Of Humor Humor is a common phenomenon, which plays an important role in many aspects of our daily lives. Over thousand of years humor has been extensively studied in many fields, such as psychology, physiology and philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. Until recent times, it has been studied within the scope of linguistics. The English term humor derived from the Latin word for liquid, fluid or moisture. As time went by, the word humor lost its original meaning and came to be used in its present sense. As to the definition of humor, no agreement has been reached yet. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, it is defined as (1) capacity to cause or feel amusement (2) a persons state of mind. In Longman Dictionary of English Language Culture, it is defined as the ability to understand and enjoy what is funny. Although the definitions are not completely the same, we still can find something in common: Firstly, there should be human participants in the act. The speaker and the hearer play an important role in the humorous utterance. Secondly, the occurrence of humor should refer to the ability of people who are capable of producing and receiving what is funny and laughable. Thirdly, in any case something must happen in a humorous act, which refers to something people have seen, heard or thought. As to the classification of humor, Pocheplsov (Pocheplsov, 1981: 25) divided humor into two kinds. One is situational humor, the other is linguistic humor or verbal humor. Situational humor is situation-oriented, such as Monkeys mimic human beings behavior, and little babies learn to walk. Both of their awkward and vivid postures are situational humor. Verbal humor refers to text-oriented humor, both written and spoken. It is realized by languages. In this paper, verbal humor will be mainly discussed. 2. Humor created by flouting the cooperative principle In the next part, the theories will be briefly introduced and how the humorous effect is achieved will be discussed in details. 2.1 A brief review of cooperative principle In the process of communication, participants must abide by some basic principles, especially cooperative principle to ensure that the conversation goes smoothly well. We know that quite often a speaker can mean a lot more than what is said and the hearer can arrive at the speakers meaning. A philosophy and logician, H. P. Grice believes that there must be some mechanism governing the production and comprehension of these utterances. He suggests there is a set of assumptions guiding the conduct of conversation. This is what he calls the Cooperative Principle (CP). He then formulates the principle and its maxims as follows: Make your conversational contribution as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the exchange in which you are engaged. To put it more specific, there are four maxims under the general principle. The maxim of quantity Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange ) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. The maxim of quality Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack the adequate evidence. The maxim of relation Be relevant The maxim of manner Avoid obscurity of expression Avoid ambiguity Be belief Be orderly (Grice, 1969: 58, cited in Wen Liu, 2006: 154) Grices CP is, with no doubt, one of the most important pragmatic principles ever existed and also one of the focuses of this thesis. However, not everyone obeys these maxims in the process of communication. Although speakers sometimes may violate these maxims intentionally or unintentionally, they are still cooperative and the communication can be successful. Humor is one of the cases like this .In the pragmatic study of verbal humor, violation or flouting of the four maxims has frequently encountered. In the following parts, I will talk about how humorous effect comes out on flouting of CP maxims in details. 2.2 Humor created by flouting of the maxims 2.2.1 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of quantity On the one hand, when the information is not as informative as is required, the sense of humor can be felt. For example, 1) That is not my dog An old lady was strolling through the park when she saw Jamie with a dog. Does your dog bite? she asked. NO. said Jamie. When the lady tried to pet the dog, it almost bit her finger off. I thought you said your dog does not bite! screamed the old lady with blood dripping from her hand. That is right, answered Jamie, my dog does not bite -but that is not my dog. In this story, Jamie violates the CP in that she does not answer the ladys question without adequate information. But the lady takes it for granted that that is Jamies dog. So when she complains, Jamies smart answer causes this humorous effect. On the other hand, when the information is more informative than is required, the humorous effect can also be felt. A good case in point is the conversation between The Soprano and the Contralto. 2) S: Did you notice how my voice filled the hall last night? C: Yes, dear. In fact I noticed several people leaving to make room for it. This humor lies in the over-loaded information of the Contraltos answer. The Soprano is proud of her voice and she wants to get others affirmation. So she asks the Contralto. In fact the first part of her answer is enough. From the extra part we can deduce the implication that the Soprano sings so badly that some audience can not bear it and start to leave. The contrast between the Sopranos expectation and the results she gets produce humorous effect. It is not hard to imagine how embarrassed and lost she was at that moment. 2.2.2 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of quality We have mentioned that the quality maxim requires the utterance to be true and reliable. The following story will fully explain how the humorous effect will be achieved by flouting the quality maxim. 3) The Barbers Explanation Once a boy went into a barbers shop and he asked for a shave. The barber told him to sit down, soaped his face and then left. The boy waited and waited and at last he lost his patience. Well, he shouted, why are you leaving me here for all the time The barber replied, Im waiting for your beard to grow. In this humorous story, the little boy is probably too eager to become an adult. So he asked for a shave, but the humorous barber did not refuse him directly .Instead, he left the boy waiting there and explained when the boy lost out of his patience. Obviously the barber violate the maxim of quality for it is known to us all that it will be many years before the boy grows beard. His real purpose is that he wants to tell the boy that there is no need for him to shave. His humor exists in disagreement between his utterance and actual objective facts. The following story will produce the same effect. It is about a horse or a mistress. The following is the story. 4) A horse or a mistress A woman came up behind her husband while he was enjoying his coffee and slapped him on the back I found a piece of paper in your pant pocket with the name Marylou written on it , she said ,furiously, you had better have an explanation. Calm down, honey! the man replied, Remember last week I was at the race? That was the name of the horse I bet on The next morning his wife sneaked up and again slapped him, what was that for? he complained. Your horse called last night. In this story the husband explained that Marylou was the name of his horse. Obviously he lied and violated the maxim of quality- Say something you believe to be false. The next morning when he asked why his wife beat him. His wife deliberately violated the maxim of quality and said his horse called last night. From this we can feel the wifes anger and her humor. Another aspect about deliberately flouting the maxim of quality is saying something lacking of evidence. For instance, 5) She: how old do you think I am? He: you dont look your age. In this piece of humor, the mans answer is vivid and humorous in that in western culture age is a taboo for ladies in a conversation. You dont look your age is quite a good answer for however old the lady is, it will not embarrass her. The violation of quality maxim is actually lying. In order to achieve humorous effect, speakers often apply rhetorical devices, such as personification, irony, hyperbole. Hence the hearer infers that the speaker meant something informative instead, for example, 6) Tom has wooden ears, this sentence can be interpreted that Tom do not appreciate classical music so we should not invite him to the concert. 2.2.3 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of manner In Grices cooperative principle, the maxim of manner requires the addresser and addressee to avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity, be brief and orderly. However in our daily life, it is easy to break one or two, thus producing some unexpected humorous effect. Firstly, humor is created by intentionally saying some obscurity of expressions. 7): Lady (standing in the middle of a busy street): officer, can you tell me how to get to the hospital? Policeman: Just stand where you are and you will find how to get to the hospital. In example 7), the policeman did not answer the ladys question directly but indirectly warned her not to stand in the middle of road. This kind of conversation will make the seemingly boring transportation a little interesting. Secondly, people achieve humorous effect by making use of ambiguity of words. The following dialogue is the oral test to American registered electorate. 8) Where is Washington? He is dead. I mean the capital of the United States. They loaned it all to Europe. Now do you promise to support the constitutor? Me? How can I? I have got a wife and six children to support. In this conversation there are many words easy to be misunderstood for they have multiple meanings. Washington not only refers to one of American cities but also can refer to the first president of United States. Capital also has two meanings, city and money. Support can be used to agree with somebody and it also mean raise somebody. The questioned skillfully make use of polysemy to produce ambiguity. Thus, he can avoid answering the questions directly. It not only vividly reflects his sense of humor but also criticizes American politics. Thirdly, another way of producing humor by violating the manner of maxim is not to be brief. There is an old story which can best illustrate this point. Example 9): There was a man who played the chess for three times continuously. Later when he was asked how it was .He winked his eyes and answered: I did not win in the first time, the second time I did not lose and the third time I wanted to draw, but he disagreed. In actual fact, the man lost three times but he did not want to admit it. So he answered in the way that violates the third rule. However, this clever answer not only save his face but also left a deep impression on people who wanted to know the answer. Last but not the least is that the speaker deliberately says something random, illogical but the hearer can sense the humor by inferring from what he says. There is an example, 10) Her files of pins extend their shining rows; puffs; powders; patches; bibles; trifles; billet-doux. From this sentence the author put pins, make-ups of women and love letters sacred bible together. It is hard not to laugh when you get the pragmatic meaning that the woman was not loyal to God and Christian briefs. 2.2.4 Humor created by flouting of the maxim of relation The relation maxim requires us to speak something relevant. But in a conversation something completely irrelevant to topic maybe underlying something deep unsaid. Sometimes ridiculous words can also achieve humors effect. Example 11): There is a bug in the bottom of my cup! howled a customer in greasy-spoon cafà ©. What does this mean? Listen, mate, growled the owner, if you want your fortune told; go to find you a gipsy. In this example the customer needs a reasonable explanation about the bug, but the owner answer totally different thing irrelevant to his question. It violates the relation principle but achieve humorous effect .another example is listed to illustrate this point. A young man pretended that his eyesight was very poor when examined, so he was not called up for army service. That evening he went to a movie only to find that the doctor who had examined him was sitting beside him. Immediately he said to the man doctor, Excuse me, maam, but doesnt this bus go to Main Street? The young mans question has nothing to do with the context. He deliberately flouts the relation maxim to make the doctor believe that he is indeed short-sighted. In this way he covered his lie but it adds into the whole story a humorous effect. 3. Humor created by flouting the speech act theory 3.1 Theoretic review of speech act theory The speech act theory is one of the important theories in pragmatics; it is initially put forward by the British linguistic philosopher John L. Austin in his lectures at Harvard University in 1955. It is a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer the question What do we do when using language? According to Austin, a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. Locutionary act: the act of saying the literal meaning of the utterance. Illocutionary act: the extra meaning of the utterance produced on the basis of its literal meaning Perlocutionary act: the effect of the utterance on the hearer, depending on the specific circumstance (Liu Wen, 2006: 149). 3.2 Humor created by misunderstanding illocutionary act Example 12): Teacher: what is the shape of the earth? Jonny: it is round. Teacher: How do you know it is round? Jonny: All right, its square then. I dont want to start an argument about it. From the teachers question, How do you know it is round? We can infer the teacher didnt blame the students answer, but wanted the student to tell him the evidence or causes for his answer. However, the student thought the teacher suggested him that the answer was wrong, so he changed his answer. Example 13): Waitress, shouted the impatient diner, do I have to sit here and starve all night? No, sir, we close at nine oclock. It is obvious that the customer is dissatisfied with the restaurants slow service, and he expressed his complaint. But the cute waitress deliberately understood the complaint on the locutionary act, and she hinted the customer she wont make him stay too long for his business hour was not all-day round. In the above two examples, humor is produced by misunderstanding illocutionary act. 3.3 Humor created by understanding illocutionary act In the following example, the seeming unconnected conversation between husband and wife is very coherent on a speech-act level on the condition that both of them understand the illocutionary act. 14) a. Husband: Thats the phone. b. Wife: Im in the bathroom c. Husband: Ok. This is an exchange between husband and wife when the telephone rings. In (a) The husband is not describing something it is a thing that needs no description to his wife .In (b), the wife is not describing her action either people do not usually need to assert that they are in the bathroom. Its illocutionary act are a refusal to comply with the request and issuing a request to her husband to answer the phone instead .In (c) the man accepts his wifes refusal and accepts her request, meaning all right, I will answer it In this piece, the humor lies in getting implied meaning from the seeming unconnected conversation. They both can understand each other without saying something directly. 4. Presupposition and humor Presupposition can be defined in linguistics as any kind of background assumption against which an expression or utterance makes sense or is rational. Presuppositions refer to the conditions that must be met in order for the intended meaning of a sentence to be regarded as acceptable (Yang, 2008: 177). Presupposition can be divided into semantic presupposition and pragmatic presupposition. Semantic presupposition can be easily figured out with presupposition triggers. However, pragmatic presupposition is the presupposition of the speaker or those directly involved. It concerns not only knowledge (whether true or false), but also concerns expectations, desires, interests, claims, attitudes towards the world, fears etc. The presupposition in linguistic is affected by some factor or the context. Pragmatic presupposition is the background knowledge of the two parties of communication, and the mutual knowledge is an important factor involving the construction of context. When the mutual knowledge is negated, the presupposition of the previous utterance is cancelled. In some situations, the speaker may deliberately make use of the defeasibility of presupposition to create humorous effect. The following examples are good cases in point. Example 15): If youre going to work here, young man, said the boss, one thing you must learn is that we are very keen on cleanliness in this firm. Did you wipe your feet on the mat as you came in? Oh, yes, sir. And another thing was we are very keen on is truthfulness. There is no mat. In this story, when the boss asked the young if he wiped his feet on the mat when he came in, the presupposition is that there is a mat on the floor. For this question, not only the young man, anyone would think that there is a mat on the floor. In fact, the boss set a trap to the candidate through a false presupposition to test whether the candidate is honest. 16) How often do you cheat in your exam? if you are asked by your teacher, how will you answer ¼Ã… ¸ There is a presupposition that you do, in fact, cheat in examinations. If you simply answer the how often part of the question by saying the words like very seldom, you are behaving as if the presupposition is right, that is, you admit that you have cheated in the exams. In this way we can touch the humorous effect of English. Presupposition is a precondition of an utterance and the implicit information it contains plays a role in normal progression of conversation. Ignoring the presupposition of an utterance, making a false presupposition and contradicting the presupposition to an utterance cause the abnormal comprehension to an utterance between the speaker and the hearer. In this way the effect of humor is produced. It is interesting and important to note that while conversation participants nearly always observe the CP, they do not observe these maxims strictly. Sometimes in order to achieve humorous effect, they will deliberately flout one or two of these maxims. The so-called sense of humor is the ability to produce or appreciate humor. The violation of one or two of these maxims is one of the main reasons to create humor. So many examples have been used to illustrate that violating this maxim could produce humor. But how can we sense it? Another pragmatic principle comes up-Conversation implicature. 5. Conversational implicature and humor Grices basic idea is that in communication, speaker aims to follow the CP and its maxims, and that hearers interpret utterances with these maxims in mind. According to Grice, utterance interpretation is not a matter of decoding messages, but rather involves taking the meaning of the sentences together with contextual information, using inferences rules, and working out what the speaker means on the basis of the assumption that the utterance conforms to the maxims. The kind of meaning that is not literally contained in the utterance is called conversational implicature. Conversational implicature is the key notion to appreciate English humors. In other words, appreciating English humor is no more than getting the implied meaning from the utterance. How can we get the implied meaning and what knowledge do we need? The correct inference of the conversational implicature presupposes the hearers mastery of the following knowledge: (1) the conventional content of the utterance (2) the cooperative principle and its maxims (3) the content of the context (4) some background knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. The speaker can produce the implicature in two ways: observance and non-observance of the maxims. In actual speech communication, it is often the case that speaker do not or can not observe the CP and the maxims. For example, the sentence he is a tiger literally is false, openly against the maxim of quality, for no human is a tiger. But the hearer still assumes that the speaker is being cooperative and then infers that he is trying to say something distinct from the literal meaning. He can work out that probably the speaker means to say that he has some characteristics of a tiger. Thus humorous effect can be sensed by such kind of expression. Metaphor and irony are standard examples of the flouting of the maxim of quality. However, the least interesting case is when speaker directly observe the maxims so as to generate conversational implicature. 15) Husband :where are the car keys ¼Ã… ¸ Wife: Theyre on the table in the hall. The wife has answered clearly(manner)and truthfully(quality),and has given just the right information(quantity)and has directly addressed her husbands goal in asking the question(relation).She has said precisely what she meant, no more and no less, and has generated her conversational implicature. From the above examples we can see clearly that this pattern of conversation of inference can work only on the assumption that the interlocutors share some background knowledge mentioned above. 6. The politeness principle and English humor The cooperative principle alone cannot fully explain how people talk. It explains how conversational implicature or English humor gives rise to but it does not tell us why people do not say directly what they mean. Why, for instance, do people say Could you give me a lift? instead of Give me a lift? The reason has to do with another principle which applies to conversation in addition to the Cooperative Principle Polite Principle (PP). In most cases, the indirectness is motivated by consideration of politeness. Politeness is usually regarded by most pragmatists as a means of strategy which is used by a speaker to achieve various purposes, such as saving face, establishing and maintaining harmonious social relations in conversation. Leech (leech, 1983: 165) looks on politeness as crucial in accounting for why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean. He thus puts forward the Politeness Principle so as to rescue the Cooperative Principle in the sense that politeness can satisfactorily explain exceptions to and apparent deviation from the CP. Following Grices presentation of the CP, leech puts forward six maxims of the polite Principle which run as follows: Maxim of tact Minimize the cost to the other Maximize the benefit to the other Maxim of generosity Minimize benefit to self Maximize cost to self Maxim of approbation Minimize dispraise of the other Maximize praise of the other Maxim of modesty Minimize praise of self Maximize dispraise of self Maxim of disagreement Minimize disagreement between self and the other Maximize agreement between self and the other Maxim of sympathy Minimize antipathy between self and the other Maximize sympathy between self and the other (Wen Liu, 2006: 254) Briefly, this principle requires speakers to minimize the expression of impolite beliefs, give credit to the other person in its positive aspect and not cause offense to the other person in its negative aspect. 6.1 Humor created by abiding the politeness principle It has been mentioned that interlocutors should observe the maxims of Cooperative Principle in order to keep the communication go smoothly. However, in some situation interlocutors would rather sacrifice the Cooperative Principle than appear impolite. Interestingly, sometimes interlocutors abide by the Politeness will also create humorous effect. The following is such a case. The story happened when Regan held the post of the American President. During his first official visit to Canada, the demonstrators against the USA interrupted his public speeches off and on. The Canadian Premier Pierre appeared quite embarrassed. Then, Regan with a smile said to Pierre, Such a demonstration happens quite often in America. I guess these people must be coming from America o purpose to your honorable country. They just want to make me feel at home. (Xie, 2004: 125) Regans humorous speech immediately made Pierre joyful. When he saw the Premier felt tough to deal with the situation, President Regan applied the generosity maxim and the sympathy maxim in due course. His humor relieved Pierre from the embarrassment and at the same time saved his own positive face. Humor aroused by abiding by the Politeness Principle. The other maxims are also very important in explaining why certain forms are more acceptable than others. The maxim of approbation will explain why a compliment like what a marvelous meal you cooked! is highly valued while what an awful meal you cooked is not socially accepted .Thus when criticism is evitable; understatement is preferred as a show of reluctance to dispraise. (Her composition was not as good as it might have been.) The maxim of modesty accounts for the benign nature of utterance like how stupid of me and the offensive nature of how clever of me. A: The book is well written. B: Yes, well written as a whole, but there are some rather boring patches, dont you think. Regulated by the maxim of agreement, people tend to exaggerate their common ground first, even when much difference is to follow. In the following example, notice how much effort speaker B puts into trying to hide the fact that he disagrees with A. A: She is small, isnt she? B: Well, shes sort of smallà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦certainly not very large à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but actuallyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I would have to say that she is large rather than small. Bs answer is better than answer directly. 6.2 Humor created by violating the politeness principle For some special communicative purposes, the interlocutors may violate the maxims of Politeness Principle. Teacher (to a boy slow at mathematics): You should be ashamed of yourself? Why at your age George Washington was a surveyor! Boy: Yes, sir, and at your age he was President of the United States. According to the maxim of Politeness Principle, we can see the teacher firstly violated the maxim to approbation .Faced with the dispraise, the boy struck back the teachers dispraise, and he also violated the maxims of approbation .However, in this example, the student saved his own face by violating the maxim of politeness principle. It is argued that when the CP and PP are in contradiction, it is generally the CP maxims that get sacrificed. When the truth cannot be told for politeness sake, a white lie may be offered. In fact the PP is so powerful that people are often encouraged to violate its maxims in order to ensure a cooperative discourse .Irony is a means to solve the conflict between the CP and PP-when the truth is too offensive to be told, an ironic utterance assumes a polite surface while delivering an unpleasant true message underneath. Conclusion Just as Chinese scholar Lin Yutang puts it, humor is part of life. As a phenomenon peculiar to human beings, it can be found everywhere. The study of humor can help us better understand humor. This paper studies the general knowledge of humor and how it is caused. Conducting a pragmatic approach to the understanding of verbal humor makes it clear why humor is humorous and how to understand and create verbal humor effectively and efficiently. Through the employing of pragmatic theories to analyze the creation of humor, it can be found that the Cooperative Principle has strong explaining force to the analysis of verbal humor. According to Grice, conversational implicatures can arise from either strictly and directly observing or deliberately and openly flouting the maxims, that is, speaker can produce implicatures in two ways: observance and non-observance of the maxims. According to Leech, the politeness principle is not just an addition to Grices CP, but a necessary complement needed for cases where the CP fails to offer a reasonable explanation. Besides, the speech act theory also plays an important role in appreciating English humor. Through the illocutionary act, extra meaning of the utterance can be produced on the basis of its literal meaning. Presupposition is also an important fact in understanding humor and not getting cheated by others. From the perspective of its function, humor can be used to activate atmosphere, get rid of conflict, attack and counter-attack, and save ones faces. In our daily life, people create humor not only for humors sake, but also for some special communicative purposes. Through the study, people can find the power and charm of humor. If more and more people can be encouraged to use humor in their daily life, the whole society will be more friendly and harmonious.

Sun Angel :: Free Essay Writer

Sun Angel â€Å"Sun Angel† by Chris Fisher is a collection of short stories, each one portraying a different character that grew up in the small town of Dolguard. Each story is written from someone else’s point of view, therefore giving us a closer look into the town. We get to see the full picture, and see how the characters shape the way we view life in a small town. The characters in these short stories were all very unique. They ranged from children, young kids just out of college, drunks, and farmers trying to make ends meet. It was interesting to see how each character was tied to the town. Even after moving away to a large city, Muriel, always thought of Dolguard as her true home. When Greg, a young college student, wants to run for mayor, an old farmer named Dick sums up the ways of the town by saying, â€Å"It’s town stuff. It’s working together stuff. It’s Dolguard, and now some young bucks want to tear it apart.†. As i read that it occurred to me that this might also be how some people in Dalmeny feel when they see us young kids trying to organize dances, have parties, or start up a recreation center. It helped me to understand a little where they were coming from. Some characters in these stories were rather shady. In one story there was an Uncle Matt, who seemed rather nice in the beginning. But as the story went on it was evident that he was raping his niece. In the end, she ends up seeking revenge and killing him. As you can see, this small town does have some dark secrets. I liked how this book was written. It may have been a collection of short stories, but since some characters were mentioned in more than one story, it linked it all together nicely. Chris Fisher does a wonderful job of showing the roots of a small town, and how the characters shape this community. Often the stories are told in first person narration, so you can see how the character feels and what they think. It takes it to a more personal level, making it easier to relate to the different characters. The one thing that bothered me about the novel was how certain things weren’t said. For example, in the story of Uncle Matt, it wasn’t directly said that he raped his niece, or that she killed him.

Fascism - Alternative Approach Essay -- essays research papers

Fascism. The name of this movement alone provokes thoughts of hate, racism and evil throughout all modern western civilizations. Never before has one word created such a cultural taboo for nearly two generations. As a people, we immediately think of Fascism as Hitler’s methodical destruction of nearly six million Jews during World War II, but as a movement, there is so much more to be learned. It is the aim of this paper to accurately and without judgement look at Fascism from its creation to modern day applications. Benito Mussolini was catapulted into power in 1919 after helping create and naming his movement Fascism. Italian Fascism began on the left but stressed the dire need for strong nationalism with an urgency to industrialize. His style prized violence, idealism and anti-materialism, bonding him with the plight of the socialists of the time. As time went on in Italy, Mussolini merged with many modern corporations, luring him further and further to the right. Benito’s vision of Fascism facilitated national liberation, and racism was never his political nor personal goal. Many of Mussolini’s top aids and elite were Jews prior to his alliance with Hitler in 1937. In 1932 Mussolini wrote a lengthy definition of Fascism for the Italian Encyclopedia. This work shows exactly what it was Mussolini believed he was doing, creating a new wave of change. The definition is lengthy and often repetitive, however it is absolutely essential to the understanding of fundamental fascism t hat some of its points be explained and discussed herein. "Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death.... " This paragraph alone explains the reasons for nearly all modern wars in this century. Mussolini’s founding ideal was that of struggle. He believed war to be the climax of human emotion, believing that peace was not, an... ...bsp;In France, the primarily Fascist party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen gained 29% of the vote. This excerpt not only applies to France, but to conditions that will continue to rise throughout the world. Whenever a group of people go unheard, unrest immediately occurs. What follows unrest is the willingness to be apart of something that will lead you somewhere great. The rising popularity of Fascism is not due to a change in man’s thinking, but due to nations not listening to their people. Thousands of "skinheads" march through the streets of Germany waiting for a time when they will once again stake their claim for the world. It is only a matter of time before the comfort and discipline Fascism offers becomes a reality in the world. Benito Mussolini believed in the power of state and corporate becoming one to best represent the needs of the people. The time has come for the ordinary people of the world to declare what they desire to be known as next, before the choi ce is made for them. Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." — Friedrich Nietzsche

Cystic Fibrosis Essay example -- essays research papers

Cystic Fibrosis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessive trait on chromosome 7. This disorder affects chloride transport resulting in abnormal mucus production. This lifelong illness usually gets more severe with age and can affect both males and females. Symptoms and severity differ from person to person. Cystic fibrosis is the most common fatal inherited disease among whites and the major cause of chronic lung disease in children. 50% of people are expected to live to be 30, but a majority die before age thirteen. 1:2000 whites have cystic fibrosis, 1:17000 blacks, 1:6000 live births, 1:2500 Americans, and 1:20 is a carrier.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The genes are inherited in pairs, with one gene coming from each parent to make the pair. Cystic fibrosis occurs when both genes have mutations. A person with cystic fibrosis receives one cystic fibrosis gene from each parent. The parents of a child, with cystic fibrosis, each carry one nonworking copy of the gene and one working copy of the gene. The parents are called cystic fibrosis carriers, and because they have one working gene they have no symptoms. Carrier parents have 1:4 chance to have a child who is a noncarrier of cystic fibrosis, a 1:2 chance to have a child who carries the gene, and a 1:4 chance with each pregnancy to have an affected child. If you have a son or daughter with cystic fibrosis, then you have a 1:1 chance of being a carrier. If you have a brother or sister with CF, you have a 2:3 chance of being a carrier. If you have a niece or nephew with CF, you have a 1:2 chance of being a carrier. If you have an aunt or uncle with CF, you have a 1:3 chance of being a carrier and a 1:4 chance if you have a 1st cousin with CF.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cystic fibrosis affects the lungs in particular. The secretions are thick and sticky rather than thin and watery. This interferes with the removal of dust and germs. It can lead to lung infections and even chronic lung damage. Air passages become clogged with mucus and there is often widespread obstruction of the bronchioles. Expiration is especially difficult. More and more air becomes trapped in the lungs, which results in obstructive emphysema. Atelectasis can occur leaving small areas collapsed. Eventually the chest assumes a barrel shape. The right ventricle, which supplies the lungs, may become strain... ...gerate and be demanding for attention.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parents may have knowledge deficit and may need a lot of teaching and explanation. One of the misconception parents have is that their child's intelligence is greatly decreased. Intelligence is not affected. Parents often feel guilty, since this is an inherited disease. The child spends the majority of his time at home due to this lengthy illness. The child is also hospitalized for complications although stays are short to prevent exposure to other infections and illnesses. This puts a financial, physical, and emotional burden on the family. When do the parents find time for each other, themselves, or other children? How do they distribute their time and energy equally and fairly? Parents need encouragement and reassurance. They also need explicit instructions. Parent groups can help along with the Nat'l CF Research Foundation and the 1-800-FIGHT-CF hotline. Parents usually need help from a social worker and financial help for special equipment. Insist parents to get help from other family members or friends and encourage them to get away from it all periodically. Alarm clocks can remind them of medication times.

Evaluation and Application of Thesis

MMS DBA Student-Walden University Introduction Christopher and Towill in the article, â€Å"Developing Market Specific Chain Strategies†, developed the thesis that there are three feasible pipeline designs for supply chain (Christopher & Towill, 2002). These designs resulted from the analysis of the relations between, demand, product, supply lead-times, as main factors in global supply chain, and, cost and agility, as results from the market requirements. Christopher and Towill adopted a notion of total cost that reflects more the unit cost than the traditional way of limiting cost to manufacturing cost (Christopher & Towill, 2002). Hewlett-Packard (HP) along with its early integrated process supply chain management has adopted that notion of total cost (Lee & Billington, 1995; Edmondson & Wheelwright, 1989). In fact total integrated inventories with retailers adopted by HP correspond to the quick response model developed by Christopher and Towill (Billington et al. , 2004). The predictable demand model may fit the decentralized incorporated system adopted by HP (Edmondson & Wheelwright, 1989). Analysis and Findings Based on the assumptions that demand is either predictable or volatile, product is either standard or special, and supply lead-times are either long or short, and all are applicable in the global supply market, Christopher and Towill induced eight possibilities for the supply chain based on demand, product, and supply lead-times (Christopher & Towill, 2002). The findings of eight possibilities based on the characteristics of demand, product, and lead-times specified is coherent to the mathematical combination formulae associated, the number of possibilities to combine three sets of two elements each. The analysis of these eight possibilities, in respect with agility and cost effectiveness, led Christopher and Towill to conclude on the representativeness of the three pipelines, lean pipeline, agile pipeline, and quick response model, as supply chain models (Christopher & Towill, 2002). These models fit well the global supply chain for, an expected demand is either predictable or volatile corresponding to the two first pipelines and an unexpected demand requires a quick response, hence the quick response model fits that kind of demand. Christopher and Towill provided in that study examples and tables supporting the findings and developed a concise theoretical basis for the quick response model. The tables may have been supported with more mathematical concepts within the text. The research findings by Christopher and Towill in this study are intended for managers of global supply chain as a whole in order to achieve competitive advantage for their companies. The lean supply chain that applies the lean model to the entire supply may be a modern view of the quick response model developed by Christopher and Towill (Mentzer, Myers, & Stank, 2007, p. 288). Applicability to HP Hewlett-Packard (HP) started to tackle the global supply cost related problems back in late 1980s, and implemented integrated processes (Lee & Billington, 1995; Edmondson & Wheelwright, 1989). HP company leaders continued research for competitive advantage through supply chain models adopting the concept of total cost and resulted in massive cost savings (Billington et al. 2004). The adoption of the total cost of the supply chain framework mentioned shows that the quick response model as developed by Christopher and Towill is consistent to the HP Company supply model at least for pioneering in viewing the cost of a unit not only in term of manufacturing but in term of supply, building and distribution (Christopher & Towill, 2002). The electronic market is changing rapidl y and HP had since 1991 implemented a decentralized and incorporated system that allowed localized divisions to operate more independently (Lee & Billington, 1995). This incorporated and decentralized system adopted by HP leaders is consistent to the predictable demand pipeline developed by Christopher and Towill. Conclusion Christopher and Towill concluded, suggesting that: Generally the preferred solution will be that predictable demand for standard items will be met via a lean pipeline probably fed from overseas manufacturers. Volatile demand for special items will then be met via an agile pipeline probably fed from home manufacturers. A third pipeline design is for quick response to top-up standard products for which there are an unexpected demand for specific colors, sizes, and volume. References Billington, C. , Callioni, G. , Crane, B. , Ruark, J. D. , Rapp, J. U. , White, T. , & Willems, S. P. (2004, Jan/Feb). Accelerating the Profitability of Hewlett-Packard’s Supply Chains. Interfaces, 34(1), 59-72, from Business Source Premier, doi: 10. 1287/inte. 0103. 0054 Edmondson, Harold E. , & Wheelwright, Steven C.. (1989). Outstanding Manufacturing In The Coming Decade. California Management Review, 31(4), 70-90, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 289046). Lee, H. L. , & Billington, C. (1995, Sep/Oct). The Evolution of Supply-Chain-Management Models and Practice at Hewlett-Packard. Interfaces, 25(5), 42-63. Martin Christopher, & Denis R Towill. (2002). Developing market specific supply chain strategies. International Journal of Logistics Management, 13(1), 1-14, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 196608131). Mentzer, J. T. , Myers, M. B. , & Stank, T. P. (Eds. ). (2007). Handbook of global supply chain management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.