Written response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Written response - Essay Example The author relates this to the natural instinct of caring that man and women develop in terms of provision of basic needs. According to Noddings females have a high instinct of caring especially in the way they take care of their children (Noddings N. , 1989). In addition to this, men also develop some sense of caring by the fact that they are the breadwinners in their families. Noddings is keen to assure us that caring involves two parties. The party that gives the care and the party that receives the care. According to Noddings caring will only be relevant if the party given the care accepts the care and provides a positive feedback. On the contrary I believe that someone can show care and be neglected. This does not mean that the care provided is unethical. However, I cannot rule out the fact that some people show caring that are unethical due to the type of relationship established. For this reason I chose to agree with Noddings that ethical moments falls on how we respond to the intuition on what is right and what is wrong. This means that our interpretation of what is right and wrong determines whether the care we give or receive is ethical. The author further clarifies that there is a difference between caring for and caring about. She suggests that caring about is more general than caring for and therefore needs more attention. Moreover, the author argues that caring about plays the major role of establishing our sense of justice. The author affirms this by saying this, â€Å"Those who care about others in the justice sense must keep in mind that the objective is to ensure that caring actually occurs. Caring-about is empty if it does not culminate in caring relations† (Noddings, 1984). Noddings believe that our sense of morality creates the difference in which we pay attention to human beings and animals. The close proximity that one enjoys with his friend and animal determines how we care about each other. Noddings believe that

Assignment 1 inrenational relation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment 1 inrenational relation - Term Paper Example The letter sent to former American president George Bush by the current Iranian president in 2006 clearly shows that the differences existing between America and Iran are not related to the nuclear issue alone. In fact the nuclear issue between America and Iran has not been mentioned in this letter. On the other hand, America’s efforts to baptize the entire world to Christianity, war on terror, foreign policies, stands on Middle East crisis etc are some of the major issues mentioned in the letter. This paper analyses the above letter and the prospects of diplomatic breakthrough during the Obama administration if Iran's nuclear file is resolved. Iran and America are two extremely diverse nations with respect to politics, culture, economy legal frame works etc. Iran is an Islamic republic and majority of the Iranian population are Muslims whereas America is a secular democratic country, dominated by Christian religion. â€Å"The government refers to a particular set of institut ions and people authorised by formal documents such as a constitution to pass laws, issue regulations, control the police etc whereas the state includes all the institutions and individuals that exercise power† (Hauss, p.8). ... Like most of the other democratic countries, elections were conducted to select the representatives of Iranian parliament; however the influence of religion and religious leaders in Iranian politics cannot be underestimated or neglected. Even though the president of Iran holds the supreme power in administrative matters, he cannot function against the interests of the religious leaders. In other words, religion holds the supreme power in Iranian politics and social life. Religion does not play any major role in the functioning of democracy in America which is evident from the fact that the current American president Obama not only has a black community origin, but also has a Muslim origin. In other words, America values people based on their individual merits rather than their pedigree or cultural history. Nobody can anticipate a person from another religion becomes the president of Iran. The influence of religion in politics seems to be a curse for Iranians. Because of the excessive influence of religion in politics, Iran forced to sacrifice many of the fundamental principles of democracy and caused immense damages to their political and economical growth. The influence of religion on politics is visible in the letter sent to Bush by Mahmood Ahmadi-Najad. In this letter Mr. Najad tries to connect religious beliefs with politics. He has asked Bush to make clear that whether his activities are in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ or not. The following excerpts are taken from the letter. About Israel: Is support for this regime in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ (PBUH) or Moses (PBUH) or liberal values? About massacres against the prisoners: There are prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that have not been tried, have no legal

Scarlet Letter Essay Example for Free

Scarlet Letter Essay The Scarlet Letter There are many forms to degrade a person, some are deep wounds that can leave an imprint forever, and some go through one ear and out the other. There have been many occasions where ones life is played upon, where the only solution is death. But there are two of those imprints I want to focus on; revenge and hatred and how these two abhorrent features can destroy a person physically and spiritually. Revenge is defined as to inflict punishment in return for injury or insult. In Nathaniel Hawthornes novel, The Scarlet Letter, we find that two characters exemplify this theme. Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale have an extensive conflict that portrays an example for us. The clergymans shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme. Roger Chillingworth, however, was inclined to be hardly, if at all, less satisfied with the aspects of affairs, which Providence- using the avenger and his victim for its own purposes, and, perchance, pardoning where it seemed most to punish- had substituted for is black devices. In this quote from the book, it states that Roger Chillingworth, being the doctor of Dimmesdale, will use his medications against him. Chillingworth suspects of Dimmesdale committing a great sin that involves his wife Hester Prynne. Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had even wreaked upon an enemy. To make himself the one trusted friend, to whom should be confided all the fear, the remorse, the agony, the ineffectual repentance, the backward rush of sinful thoughts, expelled in vain! Chillingworth is taking advantage of being Dimmesdale so called friend, so he gets him to confess this reat sin that he is being suspected upon. He will be asking questions that will provoke Dimmesdale or rather make him think in such a way that he will express it physically. The reason why Dimmesdale seems to be sick is because of the secret sin he keeps inside, its destroying him. Making him weak, pale, rather old, and putting him in a position where he believes that medicine will cure it. Dimmesdale being the preacher of the town will have a great spiritual agony that will haunt him through this life and the next, making this the spiritual sickness that will not leave unless he confesses. And the cause of this all would be Chillingworth. Hatred can destroy victim or attacker, being an intense dislike, extreme aversion or hostility. All of these aspects, Chillingworth was putting upon Dimmesdale, slowly making him pay for the sin. In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of a mans faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devils office. He was going through stages of hatred that transformed him into something that he didnt foresee. Chillingworth was turning into a devil within a blink of an eye. Hester said to Chillingworth while talking to him about Dimmesdale, Since that day, no man is so near him as you. You tread behind his every footstep. You are beside him, sleeping and waking. You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart! Your clutch is on his life, and you cause him to Chillingworth is like a dark shadow haunting Dimmesdale every mille-second of the day, and Dimmesdale not knowing what Chillingworths real intensions are. In this case, hatred was destroying both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, one turning into a devil and the other being tortured and pressured. With this I come to a conclusion that revenge, hatred, and a person, dont mix well. Just like oil and water. Think about having the conscience follow you throughout your life, that with a simple act of these implements you completely destroyed a person into pieces. It degrades him or her, self-esteem drops down to a low level, but most importantly you can put that person into a place where death is the only answer to escape. A rattlesnake, if cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. †E. Stanley Jones

Biosensors or enzyme electrodes

Biosensors or enzyme electrodes INTRODUCTION OF BIOSENSORS:- Biosensors or enzyme electrodes invariably refer to such devices that sence and analyze biological informations. A biosensor is a device that detects, records, and transmits information regarding a physiological change or the presence of various chemical or biological materials in the environment. More technically, a biosensor is a probe that integrates a biological component, such as a whole bacterium or a biological product (e.g., an enzyme or antibody) with an electronic component to yield a measurable signal. Biosensors, which come in a large variety of sizes and shapes, are used to monitor changes in environmental conditions. They can detect and measure concentrations of specific bacteria or hazardous chemicals; they can measure acidity levels (pH). In short, biosensors can use bacteria and detect them, too. PRINCIPALS OF BIOSENSORS:- A biosensor essentially comprise of the following two major parts 1- Biological component- For sensing the presence as well as concentration of analyte. In the presence of a certain molecule the biological system changes the environment. The measuring device sensitive to this change sends a signal. This signal can be converted into the measurement parameter. Often the biological system is an actual cell. The key thing to remember is that it is an actual organism that detects the concentration change of the molecule in the media. This organism could be the same one as the one in the media or it could be different. In either case it must be kept separate from the media. This can be done with a membrane that is permeable to the molecule that is being measured but impermeable to the cells and most other macromolecules in the reactor media. 2- Physical component:- Transducer:- A device that converts energy from one form into another e.g., telephone companies use transducers to convert sound energy into electrical energy to be carried long- distance through telephone lines and then another transducer at the receiving end to convert the electrical energy back into sound A biosensor is a sensing device that consists of a biological component coupled to a transducer that converts biochemical activity into, most commonly, electrical energy. Types of Biosensors:- There are different types of biosensors, which have different applications. These are listed below. Calorimetric biosensor Potentiometric biosensor Amperometric biosensors Optical biosensor Acoustic wave biosensors Calorimetric biosensor:- When the physical change is heat, released or absorbed by the reaction it is calorimetric biosensor. It measures the change in temperature in the solution containing analyte Separate thermistors measure the temperature of the solution before entry into the small packed bed column containing immobilized enzyme and also at the time of leaving the column. Calorimetric biosensors are most widely applicable and can be used to measure turbid and strongly coloured solutions. Maintenance of constant sample temperature is the disadvantage of this type. At the transducer surface, an electrical potential is produced due to changed distribution of electrons and this type of biosensors are called potentiometric biosensors. They use ion sensitive electrodes, commonly pH meter glass electrodes for cations, glass pH electrodes coated with a gas-selective membrane for CO2, NH3 or H2S or solid-state electrodes. These electrodes convert the biological reaction into electric signal. Potentiometric Biosensors At the transducer surface, an electrical potential is produced due to changed distribution of electrons and this type of biosensors are called potentiometric biosensors. They use ion sensitive electrodes, commonly pH meter glass electrodes for cations, glass pH electrodes coated with a gas-selective membrane for CO2, NH3 or H2S or solid-state electrodes. These electrodes convert the biological reaction into electric signal. Amperometric biosensors Amperometric biosensors sense the movement of electrons due to redox reactions. The simplest amperometric biosensors are Clark oxygen electrode that function by the production of a current when a potential is applied between two electrodes. The magnitude of current produced is proportional to the substrate concentration. Light, produced or absorbed during a reaction, is measure, by the optical biosensors in terms of change in fluorescence or absorbance caused by the products generated by catalytic reactions. This type of change occurs in catalytic biosensors. In affinity biosensors, change in the intrinsic optical properties of the biosensor surface due to loading of dielectric molecules like protein on it, is measured. A most promising optical biosensor utilizes luminescence due to firefly luciferase for detection of bacteria in food or clinical samples. The bacteria are specifically lysed to release ATP. This ATP is used by luciferase in the presence of O2 to produce light, which is measured by the biosensor. Optical Biosensor A most promising optical biosensor utilizes luminescence due to firefly luciferase for detection of bacteria in food or clinical samples. The bacteria are specifically lysed to release ATP. This ATP is used by luciferase in the presence of O2 to produce light, which is measured by the biosensor. Acoustic wave biosensors Acoustic wave biosensors sense the change in mass of the biological components as a result of the reaction. They are also called piezoelectric devices. The surface of the transducer is usually coated with antibodies which bind to the complementary antigen present in the sample solution. The resulting increase in mass reduces their frequency of vibration. This change in frequency is measured in terms of antigen present in the sample solution. Applications of Biosensor:- 1. Health Care Measurement of Metabolites The initial impetus for advancing sensor technology came from health care area, where it is now generally recognized that measurements of blood gases, ions and metabolites are often essential and allow a better estimation of the metabolic state of a patient. In intensive care units for example, patients frequently show rapid variations in biochemical levels that require an urgent remedial action. Also, in less severe patient handling, more successful treatment can be achieved by obtaining instant assays. At present, the list of the most commonly required instant analyses is not extensive. In practice, these assays are performed by analytical laboratories, where discrete samples are analyzed, frequently using the more traditional analytical techniques. Market Potential. There is an increasing demand for inexpensive and reliable sensors to allow not only routine monitoring in the central or satellite laboratory, but also analysis with greater patient contact, such as in the hospital ward, emergency rooms, and operating rooms. Ultimately, patients themselves should be able to use biosensors in the monitoring and control of some treatable condition, such as diabetes. It is probably true to say that the major biosensor market may be found where an immediate assay is required. If the cost of laboratory maintenance are counted with the direct analytical costs, then low-cost biosensor devices can be desirable in the whole spectrum of analytical applications from hospital to home. Diabetes. The classic and most widely explored example of closed-loop drugcontrol is probably to be found in the development of an artificial pancreas. Diabetic patients have a relative or absolute lack of insulin, a polypeptide hormone produced by the beta-cells of the pancreas, which is essential to the metabolism of a number of carbon sources. This deficiency causes various metabolic abnormalities, including higher than normal blood glucose levels. For such patients, insulin must be supplied externally. This has usually been achieved by subcutaneous injection, but fine control is difficult and hyperglycaemia cannot be totally avoided, or even hypoglycaemia is sometimes induced, causing impaired consciousness and the serious long-term complications to tissue associated with this intermittent low glucose condition. Insulin Therapy. Better methods for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes havebeen sought and infusion systems for continuous insulin delivery have been developed. However, regardless of the method of insulin therapy, its induction must be made in response to information on the current blood glucose levels in the patient. Three schemes are possible (Fig. 1.6), the first two dependent on discrete manual glucose measurement and the third a closed-loop system, where insulin delivery is controlled by the output of a glucose sensor which is integrated with the insulin infuser. In the former case, glucose has been estimated on finger-prick blood samples with a colorimetric test strip or more recently with an amperometric pen-size biosensor device by the patient themselves. Obviously these diagnostic kits must be easily portable, very simple to use and require the minimum of expert interpretation. However, even with the ability to monitor current glucose levels, intensive conventional insulin therapy requires multiple daily injections and is unable to anticipate future states between each application, where diet and exercise may require modification of the insulin dose. For example, it was shown that administration of glucose by subcutaneous injection, 60 min before a meal provides the best glucose/insulin management. Artificial Pancreas. The introduction of a closed-loop system, where integrated glucose measurements provide feedback control on a pre-programmed insulin administration based on habitual requirement, would therefore relieve the patient of frequent assay requirements and perhaps more desirably frequent injections. Ultimately, the closed-loop system becomes an artificial pancreas, where the glycaemic control is achieved through an implantable glucose sensor. Obviously, the requirements for this sensor are very different to those for the discrete measurement kits. As summarized in Table 1.4, the prolonged life-time and biocompatibility represent the major requirements. 2. Industrial Process Control Bioreactor Control. Real-time monitoring of carbon sources, dissolved gases,. in fermentation processes (Fig. 1.7a) could lead to optimization of the procedure giving increased yields at decreased materials cost. While real-time monitoring with feedback control involving automated systems does exist, currently only a few common variables are measured on-line (e.g. pH, temperature, CO2, O2)) which are often only indirectly related with the process under control. Seven requirements for an implantable glucose sensor. Linear in 0 20 mM range with 1 mM resolution Specific for glucose; not affected by changes in metabolite concentrations and ambient conditions Biocompatible Smallcauses minimal tissue damage during insertion and there is better patient acceptability for a small device External calibration and Response time Prolonged lifetime-at least several days, preferably weeks in use Three different methods of controlling a bioreactor are: Off-line distant: central laboratory coarse control with significant time lapse Off-line local: fine control with short time lapse On-line: real-time monitoring and control On-Line Control. Method 3 is most desirable, which allows the process to follow an ideal pre-programmed fermentation profile to give maximum output. However, many problems exist with on-line measurements including in situ sterilization, sensor life-time, sensor fouling, etc. Some of the problems can be overcome if the sensor is situated so that the sample is run to waste, but this causes a volume loss, which can be particularly critical with small volume fermentations. Off-Line Control. Although Method 3 may be the ultimate aim, considerable advantage can be gained in moving from Method 1 to Method 2 giving a rapid analysis and thus enabling finer control of the fermentation. The demands of the sensor are perhaps not as stringent in Method 2 as in Method 3. Benefits of Control. The benefits which are achievable with process-control technology are considerable: Improved product quality; reduction in rejection rate following manufacture Increased product yield; process tuned in real time to maintain optimum conditions throughout and not just for limited periods Increased tolerance in quality variation of some raw materials. These variations can be compensated in the process-control management Reduced reliance on human seventh sense to control process Improved plant performance-processing rate and line speed automated, so no unnecessary dead-time allocated to plant Optimized energy efficiency The use of biosensors in industrial process in general could facilitate plant automation, cut analysis costs and improve quality control of the product. 3. Military Applications Dip Stick Test. The requirement for rapid analysis can also be anticipated in military applications. The US army, for example, have looked at dipstick tests Summary of potential applications for biosensors Clinical diagnosis and biomedicine Farm, garden and veterinary analysis Process control: fermentation control and analysis food and drink production and analysis Microbiology: bacterial and viral analysis Pharmaceutical and drug analysis Industrial effluent control Pollution control and monitoring o Mining, industrial and toxic gases Military applications based on monoclonal antibodies. While these dipsticks are stable and highly specific (to Q-fever, nerve agents, yellow rain fungus, soman, etc.) they are frequently two-step analyses taking up to 20 min to run. Such a time lapse is not always suited to battlefield diagnostics; the resulting consequences are suggested in Fig. 1.7(c). A particularly promising approach to this unknown hazard detection seems to be via acetylcholine receptor systems. It has been calculated that with this biorecognition system, a matrix of 13-20 proteins are required to give 95% certainty of all toxin detection. 4. Environmental Monitoring Air and Water Monitoring. Another assay situation which may involve a considerable degree of the unknown is that of environmental monitoring. The primary measurement media here will be water or air, but the variety of target analytes is vast. At sites of potential pollution, such as in factory effluent, it would be desirable to install on-line real-time monitoring and alarm, targeted at specific analytes, but in many cases random or discrete monitoring of both target species or general hazardous compounds would be sufficient. The possible analytes include biological oxygen demand (BOD) which provides a good indication of pollution, atmospheric acidity, and river water pH, detergent, herbicides, and fertilizers (organophosphates, nitrates, etc.). The survey of market potential has identified the increasing significance of this area and this is now substantiated by a strong interest from industry. The potential applications of biosensors are summarized in Table 1.4. Tuning to Application. The potential for biosensor technology is enormous and is likely to revolutionize analysis and control of biological systems. It is possible therefore to identify very different analytical requirements and biosensor developments must be viewed under this constraint. It is often tempting to expect a single sensor targeted at a particular analyte, to be equally applicable to on-line closed-loop operation in a fermenter and pin-prick blood samples. In practice, however, the parallel development of several types of sensor, frequently employing very different measurement parameters is a more realistic. Advantages of biosensors over other measurement schemes They can measure nonpolar molecules that do not repond to most measurement devices. They are as specific as the immobilized system used in them. They allow rapid continuous control. Disadvantages of biosensors Heat sterilization is not possible as this would denature the biological part of the biosensor. The membrane that separates the reactor media from the immobilized cells of the sensor can become fouled by deposits. The cells in the biosensor can become intoxicated by other molecules that are capable of diffusing through the membrane Changes in the reactor broth (i.e., pH) can put chemical and mechanical stress on the biosensor that might eventually impair it. Future of Biosensors:- Biosensors have the potential to affect many areas. Field application areas including medicine, physical therapy, music, and the video game industry, can all benefit from the introduction of biosensors. Although biosensors are not limited to any group of people, they are particulary useful for the handicapped. Even completely paralyzed individuals have electrical activity in their bodies that can be detected. One biosensor application developed for the handicapped is an electronic instrument that produces music from bioelectric signals. Signal inputs such as eye movements, muscle tensions, and muscle relaxations are converted to MIDI (Musical Instrument Data Interface) and output to a synthesizer. Before being mapped to MIDI, the signals are analyzed for specific intensity and spectral characteristics for the particular individual. For dysfunctional or weak muscles the signals can be amplified according the the level of tension and relaxation. These signal inputs are then interpreted to control volume, pitch, tempo, and other aspects of musical composition. Medical applications are presently seen in the diagnosis and correction of eye disorders . Strabismus is a condition in which an individuals eyes are not aligned properly, and thus do not move in conjunction with one another. This can be corrected by surgery but the current use of prisms to determine the degree of correction necessary is not very accurate. Biosensors tracking the eye movements can determine with high accuracy the number of degrees in both the X and Y planes that the eyes need to be adjusted. Just as biosensors can be used to determine amounts of eye correction, they can also be used to train the eye as they can be an input device to video game exercises to realign eye tracking. This same method of muscle training through a video game could be used for rehabilitation of potentially any muscle group, as biosensors can be individually customized to detect levels of muscle activity for most muscle groups. In the same way that patients undergoing rehabilitation could use biosensors as an input device for their video exercises, the video game industry could use biosensors as yet another powerful input device for entertainment. Also contributing to physical therapy, biosensors can help to create custom exercise programs for injured patients and athletes, can be used by athletes to check muscle condition, and can be connected to a multitude of external monitoring devices. Some Future Goals :- There are future applications that make biosensors ideal input devices. Eye tracking devices that can focus and select objects in 3D virtual environments would couple sight and limb 3D selection creating powerful immersive environments. The laser abilities from the eyes of Superman could be realized by users in a virtual environment. Possible use of prosthetic limbs where just the bioelectric activity to the nerve endings of a missing limb could be used to control an artificial limb. In cases of paralysis, the nerves, prior to loss of transport ability, or brainwaves might be electrically monitored for instructions to control/move a mechanical device attached to the paralyzed limb. When brainwaves can be reliably monitored, we can study relationships between EEG (brain activity) and specific cognitive activities such as sleep behaviors and sleep states. Simple brain wave detection has been successful in early research stages, but breaking through the use of subvocal commands would be perhaps the most powerful input controller we have yet seen. Just picture monitoring brain activity so that when you think draw a circle, a circle appears on your monitor or in your virtual environment.

The Crucial Role of Teiresias in Sophocles’ Antigone Essay -- Antigone

The Crucial Role of Teiresias in Sophocles’ Antigone Antigone is a tragic play written by Sophocles in ancient Greece during approximately 441 B.C. The story is set in a palace in Thebes, a city within Greece. Teiresias is an old blind prophet who claims to be capable of seeing the future, he has yet to tell a prophesy to be untrue; he has immense credibility. A theme within the text is: quality not quantity. In this translation of Antigone, Teiresias has exactly 76 lines of text. Physically this is very little of a role; one could assume Teiresias is not an important character at all; however, this is untrue. Teiresias is a character with an extremely minute role, yet he has immense influence over the resolution of the story, the characters, and the decisions they choose to make. Teiresias’ role in the story is relatively small in terms of stage time, yet what he says is so influential and important that it has an extreme effect over the attitude of Creon. Creon expresses his profound respect for Teiresias when he says, â€Å"I’ve always been attentive to your counsel †¦ So ...

Politics and the Environment :: Environmental Climate Change

The July 9, 2002 release of the World Wildlife Fund’s third â€Å"Living Planet† report - which asserts that the human race is currently consuming resources at a rate 20% percent greater than the Earth’s ability to regenerate - coincided unsurprisingly with the simultaneous release of two counter-dispatches by the Cato Institute. In conjunction with an additional counter-argument published in the Institute’s August 26 edition of â€Å"Policy Analysis,† these two dispatches serve as a fairly accurate example of Conservative/Libertarian criticisms of the environmentalist movement or at least as examples prominent enough to merit scrutiny. The August 26 piece, written by Jerry Taylor, draws heavily on evidence presented by Patrick J. Michaels, a professor of meteorology whom William K. Stevens of the New York Times regards as arguably one of â€Å"the two most persistent and visib!le† scientists skeptical of climate change. The other two dispat ches, written by Reason magazine’s science correspondent Ronald Bailey and the late anti-Malthusian environmentalist critic Julian L. Simon, though both originally published prior to the WWF’s â€Å"Living Planet† report are still relevant because of the prominence of their critique within policy circles advocating free markets and limited government. The Living Planet report, itself, is divided into two distinct parts. The first is the Living Planet Index, which was calculated by measuring population data from 1970 to 1995 for three abstracted categories of wildlife - forest, freshwater, and marine. The data used for the Index was gathered by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). The Living Planet Index is primarily an indicator of ecosystem health as a function of species decline and as such will not be focused on in depth here as it does not pertain directly to the global warming debate. The second part of the report (the WWF’s assessment of humanity’s Ecological Footprint) hopes to measure the amount of the Earth’s biologically productive land that the global population, a nation, and an average member of that nation inhabits in one year. The footprint is measured in Global Hectares: a measurement defined by the WWF as â€Å"one hectare of biologically productive space with world average productivity.† There are currently 11.4 billion hectares of biologically productive land total - one quarter of the planet’s surface. Of these 11.4 billion hectares: 2.0 bil is ocean, 1.5 bil is cropland, 3.5 bil is grazing land, 3.8 bil is forest cover, .3 bil inland water, and .

Andrew Linklater & cosmopolitanism Essay

Andrew Linklater, an eloquent exponent of the promise of this type of cosmopolitanism, says that he is interested in ‘the social bonds which join and separate associate and disassociate’ (Linklater 1998a: 2). He points out that, ‘with the rise of the nation-state, one identity was chosen and made central to contemporary political life. Shared national identity was deemed to be the decisive social bond which links citizens together in the ideal political community’ (Linklater 1998a: 179), and he wants to resist the actually ineluctable linking of ‘political community’ with the state. Thus: ‘Regard for the interests of outsiders can expand in one epoch and wane in another: hence the significance of a cosmopolitan ethic which questions the exact moral significance of national boundaries’ (Linklater 1998a: 2). Linklater offers us two types of social bond beyond the state. The first kind of glue that might embrace people together, he says, is a ‘commitment to open dialogue’: ‘the bond which unites them [members of a society] can be obliged as much to the ethical commitment to open dialogue as to logic of primordial attachments’ (Linklater 1998a: 7). The political undertaking of the cosmopolitan, then, is to ‘create institutional frameworks which broaden the boundaries of the dialogic community’ (Linklater 1998a: 7). The most common condemnation of this kind of thing is that it needs too much of a suspension of disbelief; that obligation to open dialogue’ is a desperately weak candidate for social glue-dom in contrast with the ‘primordial attachments’ of family, history, and culture. The question is: what will ‘open dialogue’ tell us that we do not already know? Dialogic cosmopolitanism’s sustain for open and un-coerced dialogue is obviously aimed at listening to what Linklater and others call ‘subaltern voices’—the voices of the dispossessed, the marginalized, the barred. The cosmopolitan call for more dialogue is so essential to its programme that one could be forgiven for thinking that the expelled, the marginalized, and the debarred were totally silent. Yet they are not. Positively cosmopolitan, as articulated by Linklater and others, shares its non-territoriality with post-cosmopolitan nationality. Both of them are also getting on on ‘the expedition for a new language of politics which challenges the belief that the individual’s inner political obligations are to the nation state’ (Linklater 2002: 317). But on the other hand we have comment cosmopolitanism’s unwillingness to entertain care and compassion as potential citizenship virtues, and this is a key feature of post-cosmopolitan citizenship. in the same way, cosmopolitanism’s non-territoriality seems to be accompanied by the belief that citizenship is carried out completely in the public sphere, a view that is again challenged by post-cosmopolitan citizenship. Yet it is perhaps in considered to the feature that they seem most obviously to have in common that they churn out to differ most—non-territoriality. In this context, Kimberly Hutchings considerately points to two types of conception of non-territoriality, and argues for a citizenship that ‘rather than . . . being incorporated in an ethical universalism which is dormant in concepts of liberal-democratic citizenship . . . becomes located in the actual interrelation and interaction of both individuals and collectives’ (1996: 127). By suggesting that there is no right place to stand, it can take several of the moralists out of our politics. Better still, by doing so it can set free us to pursue a long term procedure of trans-local connecting that is both political and educational at once. And in the middle of the short-term politico-educational crisis where we now get ourselves, it can assign a teaching of culture competent of rallying the energy and enthusiasm of a broad front of people who are not all or even mostly leftists, whatever the right may think. As a practice of contrast, a range of tolerances and secularisms, an international proficiency or mode of citizenship that is the control of no one class or civilization, it answers the charges of â€Å"particularize† and â€Å"loss of standards. † As a constructive ideal of interconnected knowledge and pedagogy, it elevates rather than lowers existing educational standards. It presents multiculturalism as both a common program and a decisive program. Cosmopolitanism would seem to mimic capital in seizing for itself the privilege (to paraphrase Wall Street) of â€Å"knowing no boundaries. † Which is also the gendered privilege of knowing no bodies: of being, in Donna Haraway’s words, â€Å"a conquering gazes from nowhere,† a gaze that claims â€Å"the power to see and not be seen, to represent while escaping representation. † (1990, p. 188) Though, Cosmopolitanism has long been a freedom in international politics, only accessible to elite—those who have the resources essential to travel, learn other languages, and take up other cultures. For the majority of the population, living their lives within the cultural space of their own state, cosmopolitanism has not been an alternative (hence perhaps the popular suspicion of cosmopolitanism). Though, in the contemporary world of international politics, cultural and linguistic diversity is all-pervading, and the capability to communicate with others and to recognize their cultures is available to everybody. Too often, circumstances are not favorable to this. Members of other cultural groups are considered of as threats, undermining recognized ways of life and competing for all too inadequate employment prospects and welfare resources. In these circumstances, the enticement towards closure might be overwhelming: to assert one’s own cultural identity aligned with the real or imagined threat of the other. In a framework of uncertainty, barriers and defenses might well appear to be the simple way to protect one’s own identity. Yet it is also the route towards cultural stagnation. It influences international politics in a means that Cosmopolitanism is the hard won and hard to sustain virtue of living with and understanding diversity. It is perhaps the prime virtue necessary if some appearance of communal social life is to be maintained in the late contemporary world. Cosmopolitanism in this sense is not contrary with the moral cosmopolitan’s persistence on the basic equality of all, nor with the legal cosmopolitan’s project of creating institutional and organizational structures through which this parity can be recognized and protected. It is, though, a significant corrective to the austere universalism to which philosophical cosmopolitans are often drawn, where particular attachments and kinships are regarded as impediments to, rather than essentials of, a global moral order. It is only if the virtue of cosmopolitanism is extensive in the relevant communities that there will be any probability of realizing cosmopolitan ideals. If cultural diversity is the needed outcome of it influence an approach to international politics, then cosmopolitanism is the asset of this necessity. 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