Idealism in Don Quixote free essay sample

In the book Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes, the eponymous protagonist, Don Quixote, explains his reason for becoming a knight in the 16th century, saying as time went on and wickedness increased, the order of knight-errantry was instituted to defend maidens, to protect widows, and to rescue orphans and distressed persons (Cervantes 52). In the book, Quixote, moved by books of chivalry, dons his grandfathers rusty knight armor and sallies on an adventure in Spain with his squire, Sancho Panza. Throughout Spain, Quixote and Panza meet characters that hinder, help, and challenge the concept of chivalry in a modern world. Quixote epitomizes idealism by becoming a knight-errant when chivalry is considered an outdated moral code. Commentary by Cervantes is both biting and affectionate, but ultimately a criticism of idealism. Quixotism, a word derived from Don Quixote, is defined as the impractical pursuit of ideals. Quixote was once a gentleman from La Mancha, but books of chivalry have corrupted his mind, making him temporarily mad. We will write a custom essay sample on Idealism in Don Quixote or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the book Don Quixote, Quixotes misadventures are described in detail. One of the first indicators of the depth of Quixotes madness is his attempt to fight a field of windmills he mistakes for giants, declaring, Do you see over yonder my friend Sancho Panza, thirty or more huge giants? (Cervantes 36). What ensues is a cartoonish, slapstick-ish battle where Quixote is knocked to the ground by a windmills turning sails, wounded, and nearly killed. In this scene and many scenes after this, Cervantes not only implies that idealism has the ability to make one look foolish, but that it is powerful enough to physically injure. How Cervantes contrasts Quixotes idealism might appear humorous to readers, as it comes in the form of the squire Sancho Panza. Panza is a simple man, whose modest intellect only highlights the reality Quixote gravely distorts. Many misadventures and grievances could have been avoided if Quixote had listened to Panzas advice. After the duos adventuring seemed to have come to a conclusion in Part One, Quixote and Panza are spurred back into action when they hear about the false accounts of their adventures. Soon, Quixote and Panza meet a duke and duchess. The Duke and Duchess exploit and demean the oblivious Quixote and Panza. The humiliation Quixote and Panza face in Part Two makes up the bulk of the story. While Part One plainly condemns idealism, Part Two almost pities it, serving as the inverse of Cervantess original intent. Cervantess personal experience as a penniless and Jailed man after his service in the Spanish army, and an unhappy Christian during the Spanish Inquisition, made him a bitter and Jaded man. These experiences affected and inspired his messages in Don Quixote. So Just what is Cervantes trying to say about idealism and realism? That it is dangerous, often disappointing, but admirable. Idealism will not and maybe cannot hrive in the presence of an ever-oppressive society. Chivalric romances are things of the past and are best lett in the past. Even it realism is much better and much sater, the death of Quixotes idealism is one full of grief. When the sanity of Don Quixote returns and he reverts into the gentleman Alonso Quixano, readers cannot help but feel a certain sorrow for his crushed spirit. It seems Cervantes had conflicting feelings over idealism and realism. At first, Don Quixote is clearly a criticism of chivalric romantic literature. However, at the end of Don Quixote, Cervantes seems to mourn the death of Quixotes idealism. In Samson Carrascos epitaph for Quixote, he writes that Quixote had the fortune in his age to live a fool and die a sage (Cervantes 527). This quote insinuates that Cervantes favored Quixotes sane death over his brief but insane adventure. Regardless of Cervantess intention, many readers seem to view Don Quixote as a celebration of idealism. Instead of denouncing the messages of chivalric romanticism, readers are inspired by Don Quixote to fght giants, battle armies, and dream the impossible dream.

Pretrial Release essays

Pretrial Release essays Nearly every day the newspapers and the television media print stories about serious offences. During the last years, the publication about facts and backgrounds of sexual offenders and child molesters has grown, and the public interest goes along with this. For violent offences, the rate of violent offending in itself has been found to be a good predictor of future offending, though not necessarily of violence. So, I do not believe that some dangerous offenders should never be granted pretrial release. It would obviously depend on the circumstances of the accused and the accuser. Sadly some accusers have been known to lie or are mistaken in the facts. People demand security and prevention systems. Besides police presence or an education giving children advice to protect themselves as practical means to achieve this, the law provides for the theoretical basis to set up punishments in order to prevent offenders from committing crimes. The government reac ts to this public demand by developing new laws concerning the consequences for serious offenses and prevention of sexual crimes. Predicting whether an individual offender is likely to re-offend has been shown to be purely speculative. Some offenders are able to use their time in prison productively; many return to society without committing additional crimes. The state should focus its resources on identifying offenders in need of treatment and providing it, whether in prison or in the community. The Legislature already has drastically increased sentences for sex offenders. The Constitution protects all Americans, even those who have committed crimes in the past. To turn a blind eye to constitutional requirements in the interest of incarcerating people who we think might be dangerous in the future weakens the protection for all of us and undermines the integrity of the ...

Using social media for advertising Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Using social media for advertising - Coursework Example By seeing the growing reputation of these social networks among public, now advertisers are also choosing social networking sites to advertise their products and services. This paper discusses how advertisers take benefits of social networks to advertise their products. At the start we will discuss about social networks, after that we will discuss why people use social networks, and in the last we will discuss the role of social networks in advertising. According to (Boyd & Ellison, 2007), social media based sites or social networks are one of the most attractive web-based applications or tools which individuals/users use to perform the following actions: In this scenario, the basic objective of these social networks is not that they help individuals communicate and make relationships with unknown persons, but, it helps individuals create, maintain, and make identifiable their social networks or profiles. In other words, it can be said that this results in communication with individuals that would not in other ways be possible or done, even though that is not the main goal, since these communications or relationships are usually among "latent ties" the users having some offline links (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Presently, the trend of social networking is growing everywhere and the social networking websites have turned out to be a family name. In spite of the fact that, it is an individual’s private or professional existence, they are in actual fact magnificent procedure for making new relationships online and communicating with friends, colleagues (Sedycias, 2009) because a social networking web site is a kind of website where individuals and groups are able to build up an online profile, after that they enter their interests in the profile, as well as they can add or insert connections to other profiles. In addition, the people using social networking sites are able

Dubai Hotel Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words - 1

Dubai Hotel Industry - Essay Example Jumeirah Group tries to stay ahead by offering unique and innovative services through its STAY DIFFERENTTM theme while Rotana’s GET IT RIGHT dictates that every investment must be managed strategically to ensure success before moving to new projectsTatweer has no particular rallying cry but it is responsible for implementing large-scale projects. Industry issues range from an oversupply of hotels, reliance on government support, one-year entertainer visa extension to three-star hotels and terrorist threats. However, all these threats and its effects are mitigated by the initiatives employed by the government which ensures that there will be three times more visitors coming to Dubai by 2010. Analysis indicates that Jumeirah, Rotana and Tatweer will still be largely successful in the future. The degree to which they may differ in success is largely subject to speculation. Nonetheless, all of them will still be enjoying remarkable profits. Dubai, also known as Dubayy, is a city on the northeastern coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the capital of the emirate of Dubai. The city is divided in half by Dubai Creek, which is actually an inlet of the Persian Gulf. The eastern side of the creek, the traditional city centre, is called Deira (or Dayrah), and the western side is referred to simply as Dubai. Dubai is the chief port and commercial centre of the UAE, and the principal shipping, trading, and communications hub of the Persian Gulf region. Port Rashid, a large artificial port, lies within Dubai on the western side of the creek, and Jebel Ali, the largest artificial port in the world, is located 37 km (23 mi) down the coast to the southwest. Sometimes referred to as â€Å"the Venice of the Gulf,† Dubai is a bustling, cosmopolitan city and a popular tourist destination with a wide selection of upscale shops. In the famous Gold Souk, in Deira, more than 200 shops sell gold jewellery and bullion. Extravagantly designed luxury hotels, some built on artificial islets, line the city’s shore. Dubai hosts an annual high-stakes horse race and major tennis and golf tournaments.     

Notions Of Epistemic Internalism And Externalism Philosophy Essay

Notions Of Epistemic Internalism And Externalism Philosophy Essay Epistemic justification is the basis for both internalism and externalism as they relate to knowledge. Until the onset of the Gettier problems, knowledge had been commonly held as justified true belief, that is, justification added to true belief makes knowledge. However it is more commonly recognized now that there must be another element to the equation. What kind of justification? It is this question that brings forth the notions of epistemic internalism and externalism, and this question which will be critically addressed in this essay. Epistemic internalism refers to justification as an internal matter of various mental states and their relation to knowledge. Internal matter consists of memories, perceptions, reflections, etc., all of which can give rise to justification irrespective of how they relate to the external world. In other words, if you know some premise (p) then you must also know that you know (p), which is the justification of your belief. To be assessed further in this essay, internalism is supported by the related principles of evidentialism, the conclusive justification theory, virtue epistemology, and the deontological conception of epistemic justification. Inversely, epistemic externalism upholds that a decent theory of knowledge should involve a component of external justification, instead of, or in addition to internal justifications. Justification must come from some form of reliable logical process or cognitive faculty, not merely to be inferred by reflection. You can know some premise (p), if and only if your belief that (p) is i. True, and ii. justified. Again, with further investigation of the externalist foundations of reliabilism, the casual theory of knowledge, and the truth tracking condition of belief, epistemic externalism will be examined and evaluated. Internalism is primarily influenced by appealing to evidentialism as premise. Evidentialists, true to their name, require evidence to support the justification of a belief. As aforementioned, this evidence is of an internal nature, meaning, if a person S is internally justified in believing a certain thing, then this may be something he can internally know just by reflecting upon his own state of mind (Chisholm, 1989: 7) Chisholm means that something must be what he calls directly recognizable, or recognizable upon reflection, and on any occasion. When these two qualifications meet, then they, constitute grounds, or reasons, or evidence for thinking that we know [something] (Chisholm, 1977:17). He takes this theory further and separates his justification requirements into accessibility internalism in which justification is recognizable upon reflection, and in terms of the accessibility of the justification, and mental state internalism, which requires that justifiers must be internal to the mind (i.e. mental states or events). These theories extend a constraint over justification, making it necessarily directly recognizable. Matthias Steup gives the equation example, any time at which S holds a justified belief B, S is in a position to know at T that B is justified (Steup, 2001). This means that because S is able to directly recognize B, then T is the time at which direct recognition takes place. This claim, however, is refuted by external justification and will be addressed in the externalist argument to follow. Some support for internalism includes the deontological conception of epistemic justification, which is a concept of epistemic (not ethical) duties which arise in the pursuit of truth (Pappas, 2005). A equation to exemplify this, S is justified in believing P if in believing P, S does not violate any of his epistemic duties or, if in believing P, S does not fail to do what he ought to in the pursuit of truth (Steup, 2001). According to George Pappas, justification is a matter of epistemic duty fulfilment, making what determines justification identical to what determines epistemic duty. Subsequently, if what determines justification and duty is directly recognizable, then justification is directly recognizable (to ones self). Internalists argue that reliable belief formation is neither necessary nor sufficient for justification or knowledge, when added to true belief (unless supported by adequate evidence). Take the example of Descartes most sceptical theory, the Evil Demon argument, in which one cannot be sure of anything but ones own existence, due to the fact that there is no way of knowing whether or not you are being deceived. To prove that reliable belief production is not necessary for justification, internalists appeal to the possibility of deception by this demon. According to the argument, ones beliefs in the normal world would mirror that of the evil world, thus making it impossible to detect deception. However while beliefs in the normal world would be true, beliefs in the evil world would be false and, according to externalism, thus unjustified. According to internalism however, beliefs in the evil world are also supported by adequate evidence (there is no difference as far as your evidence i s concerned) and so are in fact justified. And so, according to internalists, beliefs in the evil demon world, are also usually supported by adequate evidence and are thus justified. Internalists reject the claim that being produced by reliable cognitive faculties is a necessary condition of epistemic justification (Steup, 2001). In the case of externalism it is important to understand the underpinning theories which comprise this epistemic view. Reliabilism as a theory of knowledge does not require justification, but requires truth and a reliable belief formation, for which internal reflection does not suffice. A defender of reliabilism and thus externalism as well, Frede Dretske argues that justification is not a necessary element of knowledge. By asserting that an animal is able to possess knowledge for example and that by acting on inherent beliefs enables it to know something, what additional benefits are conferred by a justification that the beliefs are being produced in some reliable way? If there are no additional benefits, what good is this justification? Why should we insist that no one can have knowledge without it? (Dretske, 1989: 95). Because of some cognitive origin of the animals belief, a reflection based internal justification becomes unnecessary and obsolete. It is however imperative that th e cognitive origin of belief is reliable. Without the reliability constraint the connection between justification and truth becomes too tenuous. Externalists as a whole believe that it is because of the link between justification and truth being so flimsy, that they demand proof of a strong likelihood of truth. This thing (x) which produces or provides reliability to a belief must, yield mostly true beliefs in sufficiently large and varied run of employments in situations of the sorts we typically encounter (Alston, 1993: 9). It is this truth factor of reliability (absent from the internalist requirements for justification) that rules out a system of beliefs perceived to be justified, but which are in fact being produced by an evil demon who creates falsity within our lives. Since the beliefs held in the evil world would not be true, and thus reliable, then they cannot be known. This proof then begs the question, of what use is internal justification if it is the sort that an evil d eceiver may possess. (Steup, 2001). Externalists refute internal justification as valid, a position that does seem to make sense practically. Simply because someone can perceive of something or reflect upon something in their mind, does not necessarily make that thing knowledge. In support of externalism is the premise of the casual belief theory, which suggests that some extra condition must be placed upon justified true belief solely comprising knowledge. This extra condition is held by externalists to be a reliable cognitive process. The truth tracking condition, developed by Robert Nozick in his 1981 work Philosophical Explorations, claims that knowledge must be true belief plus a truth tracking condition, articulated in terms of a subjunctive connection to the world. To summarize, it seems that knowledge is just a foundational concept to which we can apply various theories to provide justification in certain instances. Externalism as a theory recognizes this and instead of requiring justification by mental evidence, instead simply calls for a logical process of understanding which then leads the subject to the attainment of knowledge. Due to the convincing elements of Dretskes assertion about an animals ability to possess knowledge without the ability to reflect upon it, and the two epistemic notions of Descartes evil demon argument, it does seem that externalism is a more plausible theory of knowledge. The ability to know that you know something in your own mind remains unconvincing in terms of knowledge requirements and true belief. Externalists view justification as an evaluative term of appraisal, meaning that it is used to judge the nature of a belief, not to determine whether or not a belief can be knowledge. Internalists on the other hand require justification, but limit this justification to mental processes. It simply seems illogical to suppose that memories, beliefs, and reflection can be requirements for knowledge, when truth and a reliable external reasoning process is a much more valid and solid approach to gaining knowledge.

C.S. Foresters Lieutenant Hornblower: Success And Failure :: Lieutenant Hornblower Essays

In the novel Lieutenant Hornblower there were a few scenes were Hornblower was a success and a few were he was a failure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In my opinion the first success of Hornblower was when he used all the cannons on one side of the ship to free them from the mud holding the ship. Another success was when Hornblower suggested a landing attack on Samana Bay. The commanding officer agreed with his suggestion, and they put together a landing party. Hornblower had the whole attack planed and the coordinates marked. His surprise attack on the Spanish at Samana proved to be a success. Once the fort was taken over he was successful in firing red hot shot at enemy ships, even without ever using that technique before. Then when the negotiation with the Spanish took place he had a brilliant idea to mount a nine pound cannon at the upper end of the peninsula to prevent the Spanish from escaping. This enabled them to turn down the terms of the proposal that the Spanish wanted and get what they wanted without giving anything to the Spanish. These achievements made by Hornblower is what later earned him the command of the Retribution, although his command of the Retribution did not come until later when the war started again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hornblower had also had a few failures that hindered his successes. Among these was when Hornblower was using the red hot shot to sink enemy ships. This was both a success and failure. It was a failure because after heating the shot for a considerably long period of time the shot began to deform. This deformity of the shot wouldn't allow it to fit into the cannon. Hornblower realized his mistake after one of the shots wouldn't fit into the cannon. This slowed their operation down but didn't cause a defeat to them. The situation with Hornblower gambling is mostly in my opinion a success but it could also be a failure. The way I think it would be a failure is that he lost a lot of his

The Day of the Week Effect

Bishop’s University Department of Economics The â€Å"Day-of-the-Week† Effect: Analysis of Trends in the Daily Returns of Copper and Aluminum Lucas Zawislak and Jennifer Lee Dr. M. Vigneault Applied Economic Analysis March 15th, 2013 Introduction According to the neoclassical school of economics, asset markets are assumed to be both efficient and random.These two assumptions are the base from which two neoclassical theories are derived: 1) â€Å"The Efficient Market Theory† infers that the market is remarkably adept in its utilization of information; while 2) â€Å"The Random Walk Model† infers that accurate predictions of outcome cannot be made on the basis of historical data. In summation, it is assumed that the price behavior of assets is essentially random, and all relevant information is almost immediately incorporated into price. There are two key elements, in reference to market participants or decision makers, engrained in the neoclassical position .First, it is presumed that the decision maker is rational and therefore makes decisions using the expected utility function. Second, this position reasons that each decision maker has access to, and uses, full information about the fundamental valuations of assets. Consequently, the market should be comprised of distinctly independent, fully informed and rational decision makers. Contrary to the neoclassical belief’s studies have uncovered irregularities, in asset returns, over specific ranges in time, specifically over the days of the week.This observed anomaly is commonly referred to as â€Å"The-Day-of-the-Week-Effect† which challenges the notion of market efficiency and randomness. It proposes that the distribution of returns may vary according to the day of the week. The most distinct characteristic of this anomaly is a pattern of positive returns on Friday coupled with negative returns on Monday, also known as â€Å"the weekend effect†. Purpose and Motiva tion The objectives of this study are to determine if there is evidence of the day-of-the week-effect in the weekly price fluctuations of both Copper and Aluminum.More specifically, we will determine if the assets returns are dependent on the day of the week in which they are generated. If this is proven true, it will have implications on the behavior of market participants in regards to the trading of these commodities. It would be difficult to directly and consistently exploit this effect each week, due to high transaction costs. The situation in which this could be best exploited would be when there are plans to add one of these commodities to a portfolio, due to some strategic objective.In this case it would be advantageous to be aware of the effect and know exactly which day of the week the prices would be at their lowest. As I mentioned above, this anomaly will be tested against two base metals (commodities): copper and aluminum. Copper is the third most widely used metal in t he world, and is highly versatile. It is a base metal used in building construction, power generation, transmission, electronic product manufacturing, and the production of industrial machinery and transportation vehicles. Aluminum is a substitute for copper and is used in many of the same applications.Though the two metals are similar in application aluminum is a much cheaper alternative. When you familiarize yourself with the uses of both metals it becomes evident that they are essential to urban modernization. The demand for base metals is primarily fueled by economic growth, and though economic growth in the western hemisphere has slowed, countries such as China and India are experiencing a significant upward trend. Base metals are vital to this growth. On account of this demand, copper is in decreasing supply and due to uncertainty about future supply; this is likely to translate into price volatility.When making a purchase decision this volatility can be offset by the knowledg e of the price trends. Aluminum is still in good supply and due to its likeness to copper its demand is increasing. Method We have collected data on Copper and Aluminum prices, as reported on the London Metal Exchange, from January 2nd 2009 to February 15th 2013. The standard OLS method will be used to test the day-of-the-week effect in each of the commodities returns by regressing the data of the returns on the five daily dummy variables.The regression model below will be the base from which all analysis will take place. Essentially the commodity prices will be the dependent variables in the regression, while time will be the independent variable. Regression Model I: Ri=the daily yied of the asset D1=1 if Monday;=0 otherwise D2=1 if Tuesday;=0 otherwise D3=1 if Wednesday;=0 otherwise D4=1 if Thursday;=0 otherwise D5=1 if Friday;=0 otherwise **Null Hypothesis of Interest: Daily Return Equation Rt=(PtPt-1-1)*100 Descriptive Statistics The descriptive statistics reflect the fore menti oned metal profiles. On verage copper returns are 43% higher than that of Aluminum. In terms of standard deviation the returns for both are quite similar. Both graphs indicate increasing volatility of returns, yet this is much more prominent for copper. This pattern supports my previous statement indicating decreasing supply and increasing demand as a source of volatility. The large range given by the minimum and maximum returns is another indication of the volatility of returns for both metals Works Cited Berument, M. , and Nukhet Dogan. â€Å"Stock Market Return And Volatility: Day-Of-The-Week Effect. Journal Of Economics & Finance 36. 2 (2012): 282-302. Business Source Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Boudreaux, Denis, Spuma Rao, and Phillip Fuller. â€Å"An Investigation Of The Weekend Effect During Different Market Orientations. † Journal Of Economics & Finance 34. 3 (2010): 257-268. Business Source Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Derbali, Abdelkader, and Noureddine Khadraoui. â€Å"Day Of The Week Effect On Assets Return: Case Of The Stock Exchange Of Casablanca. † Journal Of Business Studies Quarterly 3. 1 (2011): 274-283. Business Source Complete.Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Hassan Chowdhury, Shah Saeed, and Rashida Sharmin. â€Å"Does Cross-Sectional Risk Explain Day-Of-The-Week Effects In Bangladesh Stock Market?. † International Research Journal Of Finance & Economics 93 (2012): 84-94. Business Source Complete. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. Ulussever, Talat, Ibrahim Guran Yumusak, and Muhsin Kar. â€Å"The Day-Of-The-Week Effect In The Saudi Stock Exchange: A Non-Linear Garch Analysis. † Journal Of Economic & Social Studies (JECOSS) 1. 1 (2011): 9-23. Business Source Complete. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.