James Joyces Ulysses - Balancing Information in Ithaca...

James Joyces Ulysses - Balancing Information in Ithaca I hold this book [Ulysses] to be the most important expression which the present age has found; it is a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape. T.S. Elliot In the midst of Ithaca, the climactic second to last episode of Ulysses, James Joyce provides the necessary information for calculating how much excrement, in pounds, is produced annually by the entire population of Ireland (p. 718). The type of information offered is not, however, the most shocking quality of the narrative. Instead, it is the amount of information Joyce presents to the reader that comes as a shock. Ithaca is the only episode in Ulysses which offers too much†¦show more content†¦The fact that Joyce titled his novel Ulysses but edited out the episode titles we still use today creates several major dilemmas. To what extent is Ulysses simply a modern retelling of The Odyssey? How important are the links that can be drawn between the two novels? The information-rich narrative of Ithaca helps resolve these dilemmas. As Bloom and Stephen return to Blooms house, a great deal of links are established with The Odyssey. Like Odysseus, Bloom enters his house through a stratagem (p. 668). Stephen is link to Telemachus as he helps lock the door to the house (p. 669). Bloom, like Odysseus, fumigates his house sees that his furniture had been moved (pp. 675, 705). Stephen and Bloom witness a celestial sign as they pee, much like the appearance of Athena in the climax of the battle between Odysseus and the suitors (p. 703). Joyce strengthens the importance of The Odyssey to his novel through these connections, which often employ the same language used in Homers epic. Both Bloom and Odysseus corrugate their brow as they look over the state of affairs before them (p. 675). This is only a partial list of the correspondences one can draw between the two books. The multiplicity of parallels between the two works in Ithaca support The Odysseys importance in understanding Ulysses. However, the information-oriented narrative works in a contrary fashion as well, clarifying that Ulysses is not simply a retelling of The Odyssey. Stephens

The Nature of the Soul Free Essays

In St. Thomas Aquinas’ comprehensive Summa Theologica, the work consists of a detailed summary that pertains to the theological explanation on the notion of the existence of God and the relationship between God and man. The summa also tackles the divine reconciliation of man and how it is achieved through Christ. We will write a custom essay sample on The Nature of the Soul or any similar topic only for you Order Now Aquinas also enumerates the nature of God and proofs of his existence through questions supported by arguments and claims. This method adopts several Aristotelian concepts where Aquinas explains the nature, origin, and purpose of the universe and how the totality of all concepts in a universal existence as an integral part in achieving that purpose. Aquinas attempts to explain the totality of universal existence of the soul, the existence of God, and Catholic doctrines through a rationalistic view. Aquinas attempts to explain the nature of the human soul by positing seven questions coupled with several objections in order to clearly define the soul’s nature. These questions ask whether the soul is a body and whether the soul is a subsistence. Aquinas’ inquiry is furthered into the question of the souls of brute animals, if man’s soul is composed of body, soul, matter, and form. The last two questions inquire on the soul’s corruptibility and its comparison to the species of angels. First, Aquinas asks whether the soul is a body and poses the following objections. The soul is a body since the soul is the foremost moving principle and the body cannot act without a soul. Thus, if there is a thing that moves but not moved, according to Aquinas, that thing is the main cause of eternal movement. Hence, Aquinas proves that the soul is a body since the soul is a mover that is moved, and every mover moved possesses a body. To further the objection, Aquinas elaborates that knowledge is caused by likeness that is integral in assuming corporeal things. â€Å"If, therefore, the soul were not a body, it could not have knowledge of corporeal things† (Aquinas 663). The nature of the soul then is defined as the main principle or essence that is present in all things that live, which Aquinas calls as animate, meaning having a soul. The inanimate are those that have no life. Life is separated by knowledge and movement. Furthermore, Aquinas criticizes the ancient philosophers of having to maintain the ideal that the soul is corporeal or specified in the physical aspect. â€Å"The philosophers of old, not being able to rise above their imagination, supposed that the principle of these actions was something corporeal; for they asserted that only bodies were real things, and that what is not corporeal is nothing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Aquinas 663). The ancient philosophers (the pre-Platonics, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle) defined the soul as a material essence as a part of the universal order. If the soul is not corporeal or bordered by physical matter, then it cannot be construed as something real. Aquinas rejects this statement by manifesting the difference between the body and soul. â€Å"For it is clear that to be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, does not belong to a body as such; since of, that were the case, every body would be a living thing, or a principle of life† (Aquinas, 664). Thus, the soul is the act of the body, since the body in itself is the first principle that defines life. Aquinas attempts to differentiate the soul between the animate and inanimate as well as the rational and irrational souls. Unique to human beings, man has will of reason or the ability to conceptualize choice. This will of reason is also the rational appetite of the individual that attempts to fulfill its purpose and attaining the good. In addition, Aquinas answers his first objection through the soul as something that is moved. Everything that moves is definitely moved by something else but not every mover is moved. Thus, certain things remain stationary or permanent as an effect of preceding causes. This explains the nature of the soul as a thing that is not essentially moved but moved accidentally. The body is then a thing that is moved inessentially, contrary to the soul. To be moved means that the soul passes from being a potential to being real or actual. The soul transcends from bodily knowledge through the intellect – immaterial and universal. However, God is the source of understanding and therefore is the only being capable of true understanding. Furthermore, the soul is divided into the cognitive soul, wherein it has the choice of forming understanding and sensation. Contrary to Plato’s Theory of Forms where knowledge is derived, Aquinas argues that real knowledge comes from God: â€Å"Now participated existence is limited by the capacity of the participator, so that God alone, who is his own existence, is pure act and infinite† (Aquinas, 671). Knowledge is then formed through the combination of the potential or passive senses (body) and the active or actual intellect (soul). On the question of the soul’s subsistence, Aquinas equates the soul as an act of understanding, meaning that the soul is the action of the body. Thus, the soul necessarily becomes incorporeal (separate from the body) and subsistent. Man can only understand the nature of all physical things through the body. â€Å"For it is clear that by means of the intellect, man can have knowledge of all corporeal things. Now whatever knows certain things cannot have any of them in its own nature; because that which is in it naturally would impede the knowledge of anything else† (Aquinas, 665). Man’s experiences are then dependent on the body, which is the only avenue in understanding the physical knowledge, different from the understanding of the soul. Similar to the foremost arguments and objections, man’s soul is rational, and thus separates itself from that of animalistic reason. â€Å"The body is necessary for the action of the intellect, not as its origin of action, but on the part of the object; for the phantasm is to the intellect what color is for sight† (Aquinas, 666). Thus, these mental images are essential in acquiring knowledge as well as utilizing the use of sense experience in order to abstract such forms for understanding. On the notion of the soul’s incorruptibility, Aquinas argues that the soul may be corrupted in two ways: per se and accidentally. He argues that any substance that can be corrupted accidentally is impossible since corruption is considered as a thing, along with existence. â€Å"Therefore, whatever has existence ‘per se’ cannot be generated or corrupted except ‘per se’; while things which do not subsist, such as accident and material forms, acquire existence or lost through the generation or corruption of composite things† (Aquinas, 672). Man’s soul is then dependent on the subjective sensual experience that the individual experiences everyday in attaining the ideal since man is created in the image and likeness of God. The passage also implies causal explanations towards the nature of man’s choice—that every actions constitutes a reaction that necessarily ‘corrupts’ the soul of man. This corruption comes from man itself and not from another generation or cause. The soul remains pure while the body experiences corruption because of misleading sensual experiences that does not act as universals. In addition, Aquinas adds that even though the soul may be composed by matter and form, it still remains incorruptible for corruption possesses contradiction. â€Å"Since generation and corruption are from contraries and into contraries. Wherefore the heavenly bodies, since they have no matter subject to contrariety, are incorruptible†¦there can be nor contrariety in the human soul for it receives according to the manner of its existence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Aquinas 673). The attainment of knowledge lies in the nature of man’s soul where the intellectual capability of the individual is a separate entity from that of the soul while remaining a part of the soul. The soul is also the capacity to reason, a similar term used by Platonic philosophers and the like as a means of attaining knowledge. Aquinas shares the same similarities with Aristotle as man’s essence is its rationality. However, Aquinas does not total man’s entirety with rationality, contrary to Aristotle. In addition, Aquinas also rejects the nature of innate ideas of Plato since the physical mind forms ‘phantasms’ that are derived mental images from sensual experience. From this, human being form passive knowledge from experience and the soul forms active knowledge. â€Å"Further, if the soul were subsistent, it would have some operation apart from the body. However, it has no operation apart from the body, not even that of understanding; for the act of understanding does not take place without a phantasm, which cannot exist apart from the body† (Aquinas, 665). These phantasms are not considered as universal knowledge since there is would be subjectivism instead of an objective standard of truth. According to Aquinas, God is the only source of knowledge contrary to a subjective sensual experience which contradicts the notion of an objective truth. The soul is then a reaction, the unmoved object that grants substantial truth as it relates itself to the function of the body. Moreover, the body is also an integral part of knowledge, as it provides sensual experience that directly hands abstractions. Though sensual experience does not necessitate in becoming universal knowledge, the soul’s active intellect filters the passive knowledge of the body into one. However, even though sense experience is necessary in formulation phantasms or mental images of an object as well as a universal concepts that applies to all things, it is impossible to have knowledge of a particular material object because there is already a conception of a mental image of it. Though the way to know the essence of a physical object is through abstraction, we cannot entirely have a real grasp of what that object is. All knowledge then is necessitated as abstract. This abstraction process leads to the use of scientific knowledge where there is an inkling of knowledge through cause and effect. On the other hand, it remains that the intellect has limitations with regard to abstract knowledge. We may have a concept or a grasp of what is sweet or sour through experience but we can never understand the real meaning of sweetness and sourness in itself. How to cite The Nature of the Soul, Papers

International Business morality Essay Example For Students

International Business morality Essay Societys general conception of the fundamental marketplace has dramatically changed within recent years. Throughout most of history, commerce has existed primarily (and, at times, solely) in the domestic realm, only on rare occasions interacting on an international level. However, with major technological advances occurring within the past century (and even more so, during the past decade) concerning both transportation (air travel, better seafaring and larger ships) and communication (telephones, the Internet), almost all business conducted by a mediocre to major firm operating from within a semi-industrialized to industrialized nation can be (and most often is) considered multinational. With the everyday business arena now expanded to include a variety of cultural and moral norms which are dependent upon their respective nations (and their intrinsic ideologies), corporations are currently forced to deal with an important issue; how should they conduct their affairs in foreign marke ts (When in Rome, should they do as the Romans do?) (ETB 514)? Broadly speaking, there are two paths which may be taken: either a company can (a) adhere to both the universal and domestic moral modes of business which they would regularly apply in their affairs at home or (b) they can conform to the ethics and morals of the host country (the country in which they are conducting the business). In this essay I will seek to provide two arguments, one which concentrates on supporting path a and another which refutes a and supports b. In Defense of Retaining Domestic Practices in Foreign Markets As American modes of ethical business standards continue to evolve and become increasingly better, it becomes more and more obvious that it should be regarded as the model for all markets, foreign and domestic. Despite criticism from other nations, our multinational business policies should reflect what we hold true in our affairs at home. Two maxims of American ideology rebuke the opinion of When in Rome, do as the Romans do. First, no one, including businesses, should morally be permitted to freeload (simply put, freeloading is the practice of accepting advantages offered by a certain situation while not accepting its disadvantages) (EDB 531). When placed in a situation where freeloading is a viable option, many businesses are eager to take advantage of it due to its profitability (most often this is in the case of bribery). There is something essentially wrong with this practice in our society, however. Most modern societies function on a system of benefits and burdens. Each member of society is expected to accept both the benefits and the burdens adherent to their situation and actions. For example, when you steal money you are attempting to acquire a benefit without the adjunct burden (earning it). When such a person is caught doing such, they are almost certainly prosecuted and made to accept the burden (usually in the form of jail time or fines). When a business receives a bribe or a kickback, they are essentially accepting a benefit of the laws against those practices while not suffering the burdens associated with those laws (EDB 531). The second idea which American morality supposes is that of inalienable human rights. Presently, it can be assumed that there is (in most cases) international standards of human rights as designated by the signatories of the United Nations Declaration of Universal Human Rights and by various treaties addressing the issue (EBD 516). Unfortunately, often times, the differing business and social standards in foreign markets/countries allow for firms to take advantage of that countrys populace in ways which are not available (or even legal) in our society. While companies certainly should not be required to provide aid for the people of the countries they are dealing with, they should be aware of the people in these nations that they are affecting by means of their business within those borders. A clear example of the all-to-common disregard for the welfare of those of foreign countries is that of the Nestl corporation and its profit maximizing techniques in third world nations. Because of declining sales of infant formula in industrialized countries, Nestl (and other c orporations) made a decision to aggressively market its product in developing nations and thus open up new arenas in which to become profitable once again. Despite .