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Evil in the World
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Evil in the World
There is no doubting the assertion that evil exists in the world, with a number of writers exploring this old phenomenon. Coetzee in the form of a narration explores previous evils and atrocities that have been committed against humanity. She explores the endeavors of a young woman who in a way encounters and fights evil in her own way. One is therefore forced to ask what it is that brings about the existence of such evil in the world, is it that humans are born evil? Or is it their experiences and interactions that make them evil?
Hannah Arendt in her article “The Banality of Evil: Failing to Think”, presents the dimension that perhaps evil comes about as a result of a failure to think critically before acting. She proceeds to claim that perhaps it is the lack of a conscience in the doers that allow such atrocities to be committed, as an essentially good person would definitely be bothered by a bad conscience. Arendt argues that the moral fabric of the society has become corrupt, even citing Nietzsche who equated this to the death of God. Machiavelli in his work “A Prince’s Virtue: Timely Ruthlessness”, explores a different perspective to the good versus evil argument, claiming that in a way, some degree of evil is necessary in the real world.
Voltaire in a way delves deeper into the perspective provided by Arendt, as he is his article “Conscience and Original Sin”, explores further the issue of having a good or bad conscience. Voltaire brings in the aspect of people being born without opinions or principles, but gaining them as they grow up in the world. This therefore means that as people grow up and interact they develop principles and attitudes of what is considered by society to be morally right or wrong. They therefore chose to do right or wrong, essentially meaning therefore that it is not really they who make the choice on what is wrong, but rather the society, as it defines the boundaries of acceptable behavior, thus helping create a conscience in the individual. If the principles that the society instill in the individual are wrong and not really morally upright, then the individual may decide to engage in an immoral act simply because according to his principles it is the right thing to do. Society is therefore in a sense its own worst enemy when it comes to creating and shaping evil, as it shapes individuals through the various morals in place as well as its boundaries of what can or cannot be accepted.
This therefore makes Machiavelli’s assertion which is in a way backed up by Roberto Bolano in his book By Night in Chile, as he encourages people to confront issues that exist in the society. Similarly Machiavelli argues that evil exists in society, and whereas many people may engage in escapism and wishful thinking, it is necessary and here to stay. Exploring the phenomenon of why it is that people commit evil acts, be it as a result of a lack of conscience or due to the absence of thinking is therefore an issue that is still up for debate, more so if one explores already existing literature on the subject.
Outline for Research paper
1. Introduction
2. Body
Evil as a social construct
Evil due to a lack of thinking
Evil due to a lack of conscience
Evil due to the decay of the moral fabric in society
3. Conclusion
Although there is a characteristic genetical inheritance from parents to their children, certain characteristics of children
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Child Development
Although there is a characteristic genetical inheritance from parents to their children, certain characteristics of children are acquired through external environment. In the development of an individual’s characters, external environment other than genetical environment plays a greater role. The nurture theory promotes the role of non-genetics in personality development. Harris (1998) argues that the nurture theory assumes that among those factors influencing children development, apart from gene, is the way they are brought up by their parents.
A fair comparison of character growth in terms of parental guidance and other external (peer) influences is the different characters of identical twins. In as much as they share a lot in common, even phonotypical resemblances, they social interaction with different children ultimately determines what character they end up having. In the same way, those who grow up in a harsh environment normally end up being harsh and the reverse is also very true. Generally, it is true that parents have big influences on their children, but the ultimate character of a child is majorly determined by his or her peer group. This group consist of those that the child interact with most of the time, at school, church, play grounds and other social places.
Human being is a social animal and normally follows up to the characters of fellows. This aspect of humanity throws its weight behind some claims that people are defined by their peers. Throughout childhood and the progression of adolescence, peer interactions, according to Harris (1998), is very important as well as essential for language, social, and cognitive development. In most cases, children are found to acquire most language components when interacting with others. In this way, they learn how to argue and negotiate as well as resolving conflicts, apologizing, and supporting each other. According to…..peer interaction serves as the foundation for many important aspects of emotional development such as the development of self-concept, self-esteem and identity. In addition to that, it also essential to realize that children learn more about themselves during such interactions with each other and use this information to form a sense of their own selves.
In a recent study, it was found out that children of Chinese ethnicity perform better than others; especially science-related subjects e.g. calculus. This fact may be true when supported with statistical data. According to ….statistics show those children of Chinese ethnicity at GSCE. In line with that statistics, Chinese kids, who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) perform better than the national average for all pupils, rich and poor. All in all, according to ….., the gap between the children from poor homes and the rest is very narrow among the Chinese communities. With the Chinese educational policy, children from all walks are allowed to mingle freely with each other. This policy place upon children high expectation from parents as well as from, most importantly, high support from peers. According to …, a child performs better when there is high expectation and support accorded to that child. This is the Chinese policy hence higher performance in scientific related subjects which require high intellectual capacities.
The experience of teaching children from different social and economic backgrounds is one of the experiences that many teachers live to recount. In her observational research, Lareau (2003) wanted to examine and understand how social class differences affect children lives. In her book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she analyzes the parental differences that every child receives from twelve families that corresponded with specific class distinction. In her findings, Lareau states that whereas the parents of the middle class groups practice a concerted cultivation, the working class and the poor class parents practice the accomplishment of natural growth (Lareau,3).
According to Lareau (p 4), children belonging to the working class and the poor class normally lead a more childlike lives compared to the children from the working class parents because they derive the control of leisure time from their parents autonomously. On the other hand, children of the middle class parenting style experience long and stretched leisure time, child initiated plays, a huge gap between the children themselves and their parents, as well as daily interactions with their parents and relatives (Lareau, p4). Notably, there is an obvious distinction between the two groups of children due to the unequal childhood effects.
The middle class children have a marked advantage when it comes to educational institutions because their experiences allow them to acquire skills which are deemed valuable in the processes of growth and development (Lareau, p 4). Such skills help them and make them be depended upon in places f work, education, and even in sports. In addition, being a child from a middle class parent, there are many lessons that are learnt because from Lareau (p4) findings, they are freely communicate than the children from the working class and the poor families, making them to have a large volume of vocabularies and develop more comfort when conversing with those of higher positions.
In the same way, it is true from her findings that these children from the middle class families have decency of learning the art of shaking hands with adults, even looking them in their eyes (Lareau, p5). Children from the poor class and those from the wrolking class on the other hand they do not look adults in the eye and are not comfortable when conversing with people of higher authority.
According to Lareau (p 5), there is a marked distinction in the cultural set among the two groups of children, especially in America. The middle class parents normally go by the standards ways of converted cultivation. The working class and the poor families raise their children based on the current demands and provide the basic necessities as they are available like shelter, food, and comfort in line with the economic challenges and demands o the child rearing (Lareau, p5). According to them, generally, sustaining a child’s growth naturally is an accomplishment and in the end these different orientations derive different outcomes on children.
According to Harris (p 12), child peer interaction is not an optional situation during childhood and adolescence, but it will come naturally. The social skills that they acquire as they grow are very important for their life long success. In their development amidst others, they develop self-concepts, happiness, and learning. Emotional, physical, survival, and intellectual development that a child undergoes are very critical of whether they would turn out positively or negatively depending on their peers.
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Alternatives to Healing Practices
Alternatives to Healing Practices
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Alternatives to Healing Practices
Alternative healing refers to all healing methods that are different from conventional Western Medicine practices. Majority of the accepted healing techniques that are effective in other nations are yet to be adopted in the Western nations. For instance, Acupuncture is commonly practiced in China, but it is not yet accepted fully as a Western Medicine. Medical services along with how people their sickness is changing rapidly. Majority of western doctors have realized that some patients heal faster and even more efficiently when they take alternative traditional medicine. Doctors have frequently objected to alternative healing. However, at the moment, Western doctors tolerate the use of alternative healing by their patients. A number of people are now learning the available various healing methods so that they can combine them for effective results.
My take on “authoritative knowledge” is that people should stop believing that authoritative knowledge is distributed hierarchically but realize that it is distributed horizontally. This would imply that equally parallel and legitimate systems of knowledge are present and individuals go through and use it in a parallel or sequential manner for a specific reason. Justification of one way of knowing as authoritative dismisses and devalues the other means of knowing. Those people that take up alternative systems of knowledge are considered as ignorant, backward or immature trouble makers. The devaluation of non authoritative systems of knowledge will be a mechanism of through which hierarchical societal structures will be produced, sustained and displayed.
My take on “cultural authority” in relation to healing practices is that I am privileged, as a Chinese to talk about the body and culture. Personally, I come from a culture that detaches the body from the mind. I am now in a culture with an extensive history of uniting all features of human experience. This will give me an opportunity to learn more from you people when I am still here. The world has become a globalized and connected making it essential for different people to understand one another and work closely together to lessen the suffering of all human beings. Human communication has increasingly become more remote, this has invalidated use of face to face and use of words of the mouth leaving only use of satellites. This means that we need to collaborate in order to preserve the physical connectedness of our universe (Frohock, 1995). Many cultures that were previously isolated now can engage with one another. Our rising demand to get connected necessitates for more cooperation. And that teamwork has to start by understanding one another from a bodily perspective. It is my conviction that by mindfully understanding, studying and valuing the bodily life of human beings, we can achieve the goals of humanity.
In summary, the study has shown that alternative Medicine defines all forms of medicine that does not include mainstream of western medicine that is practiced by many doctors in our day. This term is slackly used to refer to all forms of medicine with the exception of allopathy. Existence of all alternative medicine comes in all cultures like traditional medicine, and indigenous medicine that was used to illustrate such practices. Such type of medicines take us a thousands of years based on the culture and country concerned. Acupuncture of Chinese is a perfect example. Acupuncture involves injection of fine needles at specific points to disperse, stimulate, and control the flow of vital energy and restore the balance of healthy energy.
References
Frohock, F. (1995). Healing Powers: Alternative Medicine, Spiritual Communities, and … New York: University of Chicago Press.