Ethics of Business or Ethics for Business? Two Models for Teaching Business Ethics Essay

Business management Introduction                   The art of managing a business, means coordinating the various efforts of the staff with the aim of accomplishing goals and the set objectives with the aid of available resources effectively and efficiently. Business management generally comprise of organization, planning, leading, staffing, and controlling organization activities to achieve the prospected goal. Many organizations are viewed as systems. It therefore dictates that management is a human action, which includes designing, facilitating the production of important outcomes from the system. This then present a picture people being able to manage themselves is a prerequisite in trying to manage other people (Ananthan, Appannaiah, & Reddy, 2010).                   Theoretically, business management includes manipulating of human capital in an enterprise to enhance the business success. An enterprise must therefore include humans, positive communication, and endeavors that are positive (Ananthan, Appannaiah, & Reddy, 2010). Other factors such as psychological motivational tools, plans, goals, measurements, and economic measures at times can or cannot be important components of business management. Critical business functions                   In the current tumultuous business world economy, enterprises must adjust to fit.. It is necessary for the business to be aggressive in finding means of remaining competitive in the current economy of the world. One of the critical things to do is to restructure its functionality mode (Sen, 2008). Many times some of the enterprises that try this are faced with failure due to existence of stumbling blocks. Therefore, it is worth for the business to come up with well structured plan to go through these radical changes. The best way of doing this is by fully including their staff prior to and after making a decision that impacts change in the operation of the business (Ananthan, Appannaiah, & Reddy, 2010).                   Companies that are willing to understand some of inextricable that might occur within the time of preparing the workers to welcome the new changes and the effective and efficient new initiatives implementation, then, are likely to notice that their efforts make an extra mile. Through careful planning and top leaders’ support will help the workforce to adjust to the changes- therefore the business will hence remain at its competitive edge (Sen, 2008). Individuals and systems integration for effectiveness in an organization                   In the dynamic technological advancement, any business corporations need to be in line with the ever changing business operation systems. Aggressively, all the individuals are supposed to accept the role played by these systems. The most crucial system is that of passing information, all the workers are deemed to be aware with any new implementation at any particular point. Communication keeps the business running, internally; the workforce will be flexible if and only if, the information passed is clear. Externally; information coming will enhance the enterprise to be aware of the competition level of their competitors and then adjust appropriately. Effective integrations will subdue the full utilizations of the employee’s abilities (Sen, 2008) The ethical and social responsibilities bestowed on a business                   In terms of ethical issues the business is faced with great challenge of remaining a loft with its initial target of servicing their prospected customers. Some of the ethical issues are quality service and quality productions. Any business that has been in the market for long and their service and goods have gained a brand, should not start lowering the quality and quantity of service and goods production. They also need to run their business in relation to the demand of the general public and the requirement the state (Kwarci, 2012).                   Socially, businesses have the responsibility of playing a great partnership with the state and the general public at large. They need to be part and parcel of the major operations of the society in such a way that take part of society development. Environmental protection is also their great responsibility in ensuring its prosperity. In regard to the state, business need to be aware of the need to pay taxes in advance to avoid being in conflict with the state (Kwarci, 2012). The aspects of business management                   The following will be some of the very crucial aspects that any business manager ought to be equipped with to facilitate the process of business management. Human resources, is one of the most crucial aspects of any business. It involves looking after the well being of your staff, it is the staff that determines your way as business. Another aspect is that of marketing, sales and promotion. Once the products and services have been produced, it is the responsibility of the sales marketing department. A well strategized plan from this department will see the business go up in the total sales (Ananthan, Appannaiah, & Reddy, 2010).                   These aspects are very crucial because they really give out the clear picture of the business from within and outside business environment. In conclusion, they help the enterprise to furnish their business outlook before the eyes of the customer and very importantly to those of their competitors. References Ananthan, B. R., Appannaiah, H. R., & Reddy, P. N. (2010). Business management (Rev. Ed.) Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House. KwarciÅ„ski, T. (2012). Ethics of Business or Ethics for Business? Two Models for Teaching Business Ethics. Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, 3(116), 42-49. Sen, M. (2008). Business management. Jaipur, India: Oxford Book Co Source document

Karl Marx Essay

Karl Marx did not believe in god. He was well known for his ideas about alienation. He believed everyone was born with a creative spirit, i.e. species being. Conflict is to fight or to battle, Karl Marx was the founder of conflict theory, according to sources conflict theory argues that the competition of groups and individuals for power and wealth is a fundamental process shaping the social structure. Conflict is manifested through Marx by who gets what and why, Marx argued that the labor market was shaped by class conflict. The capitalist class, which owned the means of production, promoted division of labor to maximize their profits and to disempowered workers. Karl Marx did not believe in god. He was well known for his ideas about alienation. He believed everyone was born with a creative spirit, i.e. species being. Conflict is to fight or to battle, Karl Marx was the founder of conflict theory, according to sources conflict theory argues that the competition of groups and individuals for power and wealth is a fundamental process shaping the social structure. Conflict is manifested through Marx by who gets what and why, Marx argued that the labor market was shaped by class conflict. The capitalist class, which owned the means of production, promoted division of labor to maximize their profits and to disempowered workers. Karl Marx did not believe in god. He was well known for his ideas about alienation. He believed everyone was born with a creative spirit, i.e. species being. Conflict is to fight or to battle, Karl Marx was the founder of conflict theory, according to sources conflict theory argues that the competition of groups and individuals for power and wealth is a fundamental process shaping the social structure. Conflict is manifested through Marx by  who gets what and why, Marx argued that the labor market was shaped by class conflict. The capitalist class, which owned the means of production, promoted division of labor to maximize their profits and to disempowered workers. Karl Marx did not believe in god. He was well known for his ideas about alienation. He believed everyone was born with a creative spirit, i.e. species being. Conflict is to fight or to battle, Karl Marx was the founder of conflict theory, according to sources conflict theory argues that the competition of groups and individuals for power and wealth is a fundamental process shaping the social structure. Conflict is manifested through Marx by who gets what and why, Marx argued that the labor market was shaped by class conflict. The capitalist class, which owned the means of production, promoted division of labor to maximize their profits and to disempowered workers. Karl Marx did not believe in god. He was well known for his ideas about alienation. He believed everyone was born with a creative spirit, i.e. species being. Conflict is to fight or to battle, Karl Marx was the founder of conflict theory, according to sources conflict theory argues that the competition of groups and individuals for power and wealth is a fundamental process shaping the social structure. Conflict is manifested through Marx by who gets what and why, Marx argued that the labor market was shaped by class conflict. The capitalist class, which owned the means of production, promoted division of labor to maximize their profits and to disempowered workers. In sociology the word culture means the totality of learned, socially transmitted knowledge. It can be defined as the ways of thinking, the ways of acting and material objects that together shape a persons way of life. Material culture refers to physical culture artifacts, i.e. things that you can touch, cars, handbags and clothes. Non-material culture refers to artifact that exists in a culture, e.g. norms, values, religion rules,  moral language and knowledge. In sociology this is referred to several processes that a culture uses to shape its member’s members thoughts, feeling and behaviors. Abortion is considered part of non-material culture because it is an artifact that exists in cultures its something that can’t be touch. Many religions view abortion as a sin due to the fact that abortion is the termination of an early pregnancy by various methods; religions view it as the killing of a life. Others just view it as moral issues despise the legality of abortion. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of a fetus from the uterus. It can occur in two ways purposely which is the term abortion refers to or it can occur unexpectedly, which is considered a miscarriage. It is done in two ways medically in a clinic or with pills. Abortion falls into values and religion rules because many people believe it is something that shouldn’t be done because who are we to take a life away, and as I previously stated others view it as murder because a fetus is consider a life from the moment it is conceived. According to Julie Cline in the article â€Å"Teen Abortion† from the Chicago Tribute, the controversy over abortion is incredible still until this day; people against abortion are trying there best to change the fact that abortion is legal. But according to Cline others believes abortion has its benefits. Studies show teen pregnancy has gone up in the last few years and that more than 300,000 teens receive abortions, that is equal to 1/3 of the abortions performed yearly. This article states abortion should stay legal because it keeps unwanted children from coming into this world and teens from ruining their futures.

Nursing Documentation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nursing Documentation - Term Paper Example The term records is used in this periodical to mean any written by electronic means generated information about a patient that describes the service or duty of care provided to that client. Health records may be paper documents or electronic documents, such as images, electronic medical records, faxes, e-mails and video record or audio. Body Via documentation, nurses converse their explanations, decisions, procedures and consequences of this deed for clients. Records used as exact explanation of what happen and when it happened, hence they give clear information on them. From documentation, information given to individual clients or groups of clients according to the nature of the individuals relates to the consequences of observation. For individual clients, documentation provides entire statement of the status of the client, the proceedings of the nurse, and the client results. Nursing documentation clearly describes an evaluation of the client’s fitness status, nursing inte rventions carried out, and the result of these interventions on client impacts. From nursing health chart, care plan records client’s requirement such as goals of clients and wishes. If care plan, needs any change nurses usually report the information to other health care or physician on behalf of client. For groups of client, this document provides information about therapy groups and public health programs service records hence nurses record overall observations pertaining to the group (Carpenito, 2009). Reasons for nursing documentation Nursing documentation usually help in facilitating communication, it provides good nursing care and it meets professional legal standards. Facilitation of communication Nurses usually communicate with other nurses, client and family members of client. In addition, documents usually show interventions that nurses used and outcome from them and care provided to the client by health team (Lippincot & Wilkins, 2007). Promotion of good nursing c are Documentation is used as a source of fund and it gives management a good picture on how to pay their nurses hence carrying out nursing resources on how nurses produced their job such as if the quality of work given is low or high. Nurses also make decision on work based with outcome information and they make changes from base evidence (Treas, & Wilkinson, 2013). Meeting professional and legal standards Documentation helps management to acknowledge nurses skills and knowledge via nursing client relationship. In a court of law, the client’s health record serves as the legal record of the care or service provided. Measurement of Nursing care and the documentation of that care measures according to the standards. Tools for documentation Documentation has tools such as flow sheets, worksheets and checklists, Care maps and client care plan are some of tools used to describe health records (Treas, & Wilkinson, 2013). Worksheets Nurses use worksheets to classify care provided to manage their time and many rights of the client. They also communicate surgeries, upcoming test and available orders in the clinic. Client care plans Client care plan are outlines of individual care and they make permanent health record I hospital. They also used to record clearly the wishes and needs of client. Flow sheets and checklists Flow sheets and checklists are also used in document routine care, observations and records kept on a regular basis, and there are permanent health

Male and female consumer buying behaviours Essay

Male and female consumer buying behaviours - Essay Example Two California companies, Jan Stuart and Inner-Face also launched men’s lines during the 1980s that flopped. â€Å"Skin treatment lines for men have come and gone, because the population just wasn’t ready.† Said Pamela Baxter, VP-Marketing at Aramis. But the expanding number of over-35 men led Aramis execs to believe that there is now a legitimate men’s market. Aramis recently launched Lift Off!, an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) product for men. The overall men’s cosmetic market is now too tiny to count, Baxter said, but Aramis estimates Lift Off! could eventually account for as much as 12% of sales. However, it is still undecided on an overall marketing strategy. â€Å"It’s easier to sell a man if a woman is with him,† said Baxter. Aramis has two radio commercials in test in Kansas City, Dallas, and Miami. One targets men, and the other is aimed at women (Campbell, 2000). Men are often introduced to skin lotions by their wives or girlfrien ds. When Beauticontrol, a Dallas-based direct-sales cosmetics company, introduced an AHA product called Regeneration last year, â€Å"We had wives writing to us saying their husbands were using the product and loved it,† said Ed Hookfeld, director of product marketing. The company packaged the same lotion in a gray and black box, shot a new ad campaign featuring CEO Dick Heath, and renamed the product, Regeneration for Men. Wendy Liebmann, president of New York-based WSL Marketing, said there is a potential for growth in men’s cosmetics, but cautioned against expecting dramatic sales increases.† You’re talking about educating somebody who washes their face with soap and shaves,† she said (Campbell, 2000). Chad Schexnyder of New Orleans remembers how it used to be; approaching the counter of a local drugstore with a bottle of Noxema in his hand, the cahier accosted him. â€Å"This is for women,† she said with a dismissive air. â€Å"I’v e never seen a man buy Noxema.†

Managing organisational behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing organisational behaviour - Essay Example As a result of developing and implementing management practices to successfully manage human resources is critical for organizational achievement. The highly competitive global environment of the 21st Century demands managers to use proactive practices and methods to managing behavior for the purpose of creating a competitive advantage (Bhattacharya & Wrights, 2005). Theoretically the science of managing organizational behavior has the responsibility of using human resources to fulfill an organization’s goals and objectives. This premise and the development of the capability of the human resources aids in accomplishment of goals. Certainly not without challenge managing people (human resources) effectively is the process of comprehending human behavior, knowing how to motivate, and enable others to become what he or she is capable of becoming with the intention of fulfilling the group’s strategic objectives. The purpose of this paper is to offer suggestions as to the at tributes and necessary skills an effective manager/leader needs to proactively manage human resources. ... is not a release of control and power by management, but is a method in which management gains additional control over behavior in the organizational culture as a result. Organizational Behavior Understanding organizational behavior enables managers to use human capital and other resources more effectively. The ability to understand his or her relationship with workers and the significance of the interaction is foundational in understanding how to effectively manage organizational behavior. The interaction between managers and workers in the culture directly influences the outcomes of behavior within the culture. Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn (2003) assert â€Å"Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of individuals and groups in organizations† (p. 4). Kreitner and Kinicki (2003) declare â€Å"Organizational behavior is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work; organizational behavior is both research and application oriented † (p. 12). The two descriptions or definitions include the understanding of coordinating people in structured settings for the purpose of accomplishing specific goals. Kreitner and Kinicki (2003) offer that the task of managing people requires knowledge and the ability to apply the principles of the social disciplines of psychology, management, sociology, statistics, economics, human stress management, and others (p. 13). The list of disciplines reaffirms the depth of knowledge of human behavior that is necessary for managers to manage successfully. Effective managers comprehend how to interpret human behavior applying the appropriate principles from the tools of the applicable social science. By using the tools managers are able to resolve conflict within the environment, motivate workers to higher

Details of the European Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Details of the European Crisis - Essay Example The critical issues that shaped the crisis include; competitive weakness, weak and actual growth and large debt-to-GDP ratios. Other important issues are liquidation of banks and sovereigns, considerable liability stocks both in private, government and non-private sectors (Arestis & Sawyer, 2012). The crisis was complicated making it difficult for European nations to refinance or repay the debts of their governments without the intervention of a third party such as IMF or ECB. In addition, the banks within the Euro zone were undercapitalized and, as a result, were influenced by debt problems and liquidity. Due to the crisis, the rate of economic growth was slow in the entire region. Similarly, the economic growth was unequally distributed across the member states (Lynn, 2011). The governments of the nations that were ruthlessly affected coordinated with "the troika". The troika is a committee formed by three international organizations namely, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund. Virtually, in 1992 the EU signed the Maastricht Treaty. The agreement regulated their debt levels and the limit deficit spending. Nonetheless, at the onset of the year 2000, some of the member states defied the criteria of the treaty. These countries instead decided to analyze government revenues to minimize their deficit or debts. Therefore, evading the desired practice and not being able to follow the international standards (Arestis & Sawyer, 2012). This gave the sovereigns a chance to mask their deficit and debt levels by embracing a combination of approaches such as off-balance-sheet transactions, inconsistent accounting and the use of complex credit derivatives, as well as currency structures. The low-interest rates resulted to excessive government spending and borrowing primarily in member states like Greece during the decade lead. Since

How Much is That Kidney in the Window by Bruce Gottliebs Essay

How Much is That Kidney in the Window by Bruce Gottliebs - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Gottlieb was able to provide sufficient evidence that the loss of one kidney does not pose as much health danger as it is being made out to be; recipients of donated kidneys do not really care whether it was sold or given as long as it extends the life of one’s loved one; it would actually be more economical both for the government and all people concerned if kidneys were sold; and, the feared slippery slope disaster that some people for see will not happen in this case because the act of selling kidneys is neither inevitable nor unconscious. Gottlieb first points out that statistics do not support the common notion that the loss of one kidney may lead to a significantly less healthy life for the organ donor. This fact is actually supported by accounts from the website of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD), which mentions that people are still able to live a normal life even with one kidney as many people a ctually donate their kidney to friends or family members. Next, he points out that friends and family members of a person who needs a kidney transplant do not really care much about how the organ was acquired, as long as it is able to save their loved one’s life. And indeed, their perspective on the issue is the most important one to be considered. Surely, family members themselves would give up their own organ for their loved one if and when needed. Unfortunately, the twisted irony of genetic lottery sometimes disqualifies a person’s closest kins and thus leaves the family with a great sense of helplessness. Gottlieb then proceeds to discuss the economic benefits behind the act of kidney selling (Gottlieb). At first glance, it may seem insensitive to discuss the selling of body parts as part of an economic activity but the cold hard facts indicate that such a flow of reasoning cannot be simply ignored. Some researchers have gone to the extent of actually quantifying t he economic benefits presented by organ-selling (Kolnsberg). However, with the way things are going in the current economic climate, people are still going to end up dead with two kidneys intact if they are not able to put food on the table. Such a view is supported by Malek, who points out that kidney selling is one’s personal decision and so people should not be prevented from doing something that may be profitable for them, as it is their basic right to a better means of living (Malek). Finally, Gottlieb contradicts the unfounded fear of the slippery-slope phenomenon in the case of kidney-selling (Gottlieb). He stresses that since the act of kidney selling is not inevitable, nor is it unconscious, there is no reason to fear that such a practice will be abused. In fact, this further strengthens the reasons behind specifically legalizing kidney-selling and banning the selling of other body organs that are much more needed to enjoy normal living by a human person. Without suc h legislation, the act of kidney-selling will remain a dangerous trade and will pose greater danger in people’s lives. As one can see, Gottlieb was able to solidly structure his thoughts and ideas in supporting the stand to legalize the selling of kidneys. By presenting a valid and logical flow of arguments and by stressing that the loss of one kidney does not pose as much health danger as it is being made out to be, recipients of

Assimilation of Sephardic Jews Into European and Ottoman Cultures Research Paper

Assimilation of Sephardic Jews Into European and Ottoman Cultures - Research Paper Example However, the question here is whether or not they were better received, more welcomed, and assimilated into the Ottoman Empire as immigrants as a welcomed people while being turned away from other European nations because of their non-Christian beliefs and their refusal to convert to Christianity. The books and journal articles relied upon in this paper helps piece together the information needed to begin to answer the questions posed. Those works are by Avigdor Levy, The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire (1992),1 Bernard Lews’ The Jews of Islam (1984),2 Henry Kamen’s journal article titled The Mediterranean and the Expulsion of Spanish Jews in 1492, appearing in the Oxford University Press publication Past and Present (1988),3 Benjamin Ravid, in his article titled The Legal Studies of the Jewish Merchants of Venice, 1541-1638, appearing in the Economic History Association’s publication The Journal of Economic History (1975),4 Diane Owen Hughes, whose research on the subject can be found in the collection titled Medieval Renaissance Texts and Studies: Persons in Groups, Social Behavior as Identity Formation in Medieval and Renaissance Euro;5 there emerges much in support of the notion that while a significant number of Jews whose lives were interrupted by ex pulsion from Spain in 1492, successfully resettled into other European states, they were not welcomed into those European states as readily and openly as they were received into the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Bayezid II (1481-1512) Reliable information derived from studies that can be considered valid in support of the locales into which the displaced Jews were received and resettled, derives from records stemming from the practice of Jewish traditions like Passover, the need for and preparation of Kosher foods, and written works that suffice to make the connection between the descendants of the immigrants within the societies to which they immigrated. In each of these cases, there is sufficient evidence to suggest the existence of a Jewish community.

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices - Essay Example The company started as Choc Express and in 2003 rebramded to be the known Hotel Chocolat Company. The firm’s founders have the required knowledge and skills to run the business. For instance, Angus went through the Business Growth and Development course at Cranfield School of Management. Amazingly, today Hotel Chocolat Company operates in more than 33 locations in England with 70% of the customers trading from the firm’s website (Barrow & Molian, 2005). The following is a report on the major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat Company as well as the potential future strategic position of the firm. The report also provides specific recommendations in respect to the Hotel Chocolat Company. The report achieves these objectives through three main parts; A, B, and C. Part A The major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat As a company's business, Hotel Chocolat is faced with many options that can steer up expansion of the company and that of the market sales (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). I will discuss these options one after the other and give an explanation of the same on how they work, when should they be implemented. The result of this is that it is going to propel the company to a potential future strategic position. ... ducts in a unique way than their competitors and providing their customers with their need, wants and desire more effective than others (Bertoldi, Giachino & Marenco, 2012). This model works with the assumption that a customer accepts any product offered based on the apparent value for money. The model is based on the a number of perception of the product and service offered against a price tag such that the same product or service can offer different price depending how it is perceived by the customers. I recommend the strategic clock model because it combines a low price, low perceived benefit with focus given to a price sensitive market segment. However, there may be price sensitive customers with low purchasing power and who cannot afford to buy better quality products but most customers do not differentiate or value the difference in the goods offered. Also to build on the customer loyalty, the executive group of the Hotel Chocolat Company can introduce loyalty cards which will contain customers with the products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company only (LeBoeuf et al, 2011). This is achieved by offering frequent customers with loyalty cards and proving them with incentives and discounts when purchasing at any of the stores, outlets and supermarkets particularly selling products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company. Another option that the Hotel Chocolat Company can implement is production differentiation (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). This aims at offering benefits that is completely different from those of the competitors. Of course the Hotel Chocolat Company also faces competitions from other beverage companies which either acts as substitutes or complements to their products such as tea among others. Therefore, to achieve a competitive advantage than other companies,

Art After Philosophy (1969) Joseph Kosuth Essay Example for Free

Art After Philosophy (1969) Joseph Kosuth Essay The fact that it has recently become fashionable for physicists themselves to be sympathetic toward religion . . . marks the physicists’ own lack of confidence in the validity of their hypotheses, which is a reaction on their part from the antireligious dogmatism of nineteenth-century scientists, and a natural outcome of the crisis through which physics has just passed. –A. J. Ayer. . . . once one has understood the Tractatus there will be no temptation to concern oneself anymore with philosophy, which is neither empirical like science nor tautological like mathematics; one will, like Wittgenstein in 1918, abandon philosophy, which, as traditionally understood, is rooted in confusion. –J. O. Urmson. Traditional philosophy, almost by definition, has concerned itself with the unsaid. The nearly exclusive focus on the said by twentieth-century analytical linguistic philosophers is the shared contention that the unsaid is unsaid because it is unsayable. Hegelian philosophy made sense in the nineteenth century and must have been soothing to a century that was barely getting over Hume, the Enlightenment, and Kant.1 Hegel’s philosophy was also capable of giving cover for a defense of religious beliefs, supplying an alternative to Newtonian mechanics, and fitting in with the growth of history as a discipline, as well as accepting Darwinian biology.2 He appeared to give an acceptable resolution to the conflict between theology and science, as well. The result of Hegel’s influence has been that a great majority of contemporary philosophers are really little more than historians of philosophy, Librarians of the Truth, so to speak. One begins to get the impression that there â€Å"is nothing more to be said.† And certainly if one realizes the implications of Wittgenstein’s thinking, and the thinking influenced by him and after him, â€Å"Continental† philosophy need not seriously be considered here.3 Is there a reason for the â€Å"unreality† of philosophy in our time? Perhaps this can be answered by looking into the difference between our time and the centuries preceding us. In the past man’s conclusions about the world were based on the information he had about it – if not specifically like the empiricists, then generally like the rationalists. Often in fact, the closeness between science and philosophy was so great that scientists and philosophers were one and the same person. In fact, from the times of Thales, Epicurus, Heraclitus, and Aristotle to Descartes and Leibnitz, â€Å"the great names in philosophy were often great names in science as well.†4 That the world as perceived by twentieth-century science is a vastly different one than the one of its preceding century, need not be proved here. Is it possible, then, that in effect man has learned so much, and his â€Å"intelligence† is such, that he cannot believe the reasoning of traditional philosophy? That perhaps he knows too much about the world to make those kinds of conclusions? As Sir James Jeans has stated: . . . When philosophy has availed itself of the results of science, it has not been by borrowing the abstract mathematical description of the pattern of events, but by borrowing the then current pictorial description of this pattern; thus it has not appropriated certain knowledge but conjectures. These conjectures were often good enough for the man-sized world, but not, as we now know, for those ultimate processes of nature which control the happenings of the man-sized world, and bring us nearest to the true nature of reality.5 He continues: One consequence of this is that the standard philosophical discussions of many problems, such as those of causality and free will orof materialism or mentalism, are based on an interpretation of the pattern of events which is no longer tenable. The scientific basis of these older discussions has been washed away, and with their disappearance have gone all the arguments . . .6 The twentieth century brought in a time that could be called â€Å"the end of philosophy and the beginning of art.† I do not mean that, of course, strictly speaking, but rather as the â€Å"tendency† of the situation. Certainly linguistic philosophy can be considered the heir to empiricism, but it’s a philosophy in one gear.7 And there is certainly an â€Å"art condition† to art preceding Duchamp, but its other functions or reasons-to-be are so pronounced that its ability to function clearly as art limits its art condition so drastically that it’s only minimally art.8 In no mechanistic sense is there a connection between philosophy’s â€Å"ending† and art’s â€Å"beginning,† but I don’t find this occurrence entirely coincidental. Though the same reasons may be responsible for both occurrences, the connection is made by me. I bring this all up to analyze art’s function and subsequently its viability. And I do so to enable others to understand the reasoning of my – and, by extension, other artists’ – art, as well to provide a clearer understanding of the term â€Å"Conceptual art.†9 THE FUNCTION OF ART The main qualifications to the lesser position of painting is that advances in art are certainly not always formal ones. –Donald Judd (1963). Half or more of the best new work in the last few years has been neither painting nor sculpture. – Donald Judd (1965). Everything sculpture has, my work doesn’t. –Donald Judd (1967). The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. –Sol LeWitt (1965) The one thing to say about art is that it is one thing. Art is art-as-art and everything else is everything else. Art as art is nothing but art. Art is not what is not art. –Ad Reinhardt (1963). The meaning is the use. –Wittgenstein. A more functional approach to the study of concepts has tended to replace the method of introspection. Instead of attempting to grasp or describe concepts bare, so to speak, the psychologist investigates the way in which they function as ingredients in beliefs and in judgments. –Irving M. Copi. Meaning is always a presupposition of function. –T. Segerstedt. . . . the subject matter of conceptual investigations is the meaning of certain words and expressions – and not the things and states of affairs themselves about which we talk, when using those words and expressions. –G. H. Von Wright. Thinking is radically metaphoric. Linkage by analogy is its constituent law or principle, its causal nexus, since meaning only arises through the causal contexts by which a sign stands for (takes the place of) an instance of a sort. To think of anything is to take it as of a sort (as a such and such) and that â€Å"as† brings in (openly or in disguise) the analogy, the parallel, the metaphoric grapple or ground or grasp or draw by which alone the mind takes hold. It takes no hold if there is nothing for it to haul from, for its thinking is the haul, the attraction of likes –I. A. Richards. In this section I will discuss the separation between aesthetics and art; consider briefly formalist art (because it is a leading proponent of the idea of aesthetics as art), and assert that art is analogous to an analytic proposition, and that it is art’s existence as a tautology that enables art to remain â€Å"aloof† from philosophical presumptions. It is necessary to separate aesthetics from art because aesthetics deals with opinions on perception of the world in general. In the past one of the two prongs of art’s function was its value as decoration. So any branch of philosophy that dealt with â€Å"beauty† and thus, taste, was inevitably duty bound to discuss art as well. Out of this â€Å"habit† grew the notion that there was a conceptual connection between art and aesthetics, which is not true. This idea never drastically conflicted with artistic considerations before recent times, not only because the morphological characteristics of art perpetuated the continuity of this error, but as well, because the apparent other â€Å"functions† of art (depiction of religious themes, portraiture of aristocrats, detailing of architecture, etc.) used art to cover up art. When objects are presented within the context of art (and until recently objects always have been used) they are as eligible for aesthetic consideration as are any objects in the world, and an aesthetic consideration of an object existing in the realm of art means that the object’s existence or functioning in an art context is irrelevant to the aesthetic judgment. The relation of aesthetics to art is not unlike that of aesthetics to architecture, in that architecture has a very specific function and how â€Å"good† its design is is primarily related to how well it performs its function. Thus, judgments on what it looks like correspond to taste, and we can see that throughout history different examples of architecture are praised at different times depending on the aesthetics of particular epochs. Aesthetic thinking has even gone so far as to make examples of architecture not related to â€Å"art† at all, works of art in themselves (e.g., the pyramids of Egypt). Aesthetic considerations are indeed always extraneous to an object’s function or â€Å"reason-tobe.† Unless of course, that object’s reason-to-be is strictly aesthetic. An example of a purely aesthetic object is a decorative object, for decoration’s primary function is â€Å"to add something to, so as to make more attractive; adorn; ornament,†10 and this relates directly to taste. And this leads us directly to â€Å"formalist† art and criticism.11 Formalist art (painting and sculpture) is the vanguard of decoration, and, strictly speaking, one could reasonably assert that its art condition is so minimal that for all functional purposes it is not art at all, but pure exercises in aesthetics. Above all things Clement Greenberg is the critic of taste. Behind every one of his decisions is an aesthetic judgment, with those judgments reflecting his taste. And what does his taste reflect? The period he grew up in as a critic, the period â€Å"real† for him: the fifties.12 How else can one account for, given his theories – if they have any logic to them at all – his disinterest in Frank Stella, Ad Reinhardt, and others applicable to his historical scheme? Is it because he is â€Å". . . basically unsympathetic on personally experiential grounds†?13 Or, in other words, â€Å"their work doesn’t suit his taste?† But in the philosophic tabula rasa of art, â€Å"if someone calls it art,† as Don Judd has said, â€Å"it’s art.† Given this, formalist painting and sculpture can be granted an â€Å"art condition,† but only by virtue of their presentation in terms of their art idea (e.g., a rectangular-shaped canvas stretched over wooden supports and stained with such and such colors, using such and such forms, giving such and such a visual experience, etc.). If one looks at contemporary art in this light one realizes the minimal creative effort taken on the part of formalist artists specifically, an d all painters and sculptors (working as such today) generally. This brings us to the realization that formalist art and criticism accepts as a definition of art one that exists solely on morphological grounds. While a vast quantity of similar looking objects or images (or visually related objects or images) may seem to be related (or connected) because of a similarity of visual/experiential â€Å"readings,† one cannot claim from this an artistic or conceptual relationship. It is obvious then that formalist criticism’s reliance on morphology leads necessarily with a bias toward the morphology of traditional art. And in this sense their criticism is not related to a â€Å"scientific method† or any sort of empiricism (as Michael Fried, with his detailed descriptions of paintings and other â€Å"scholarly† paraphernalia would want us to believe). Formalist criticism is no more than an analysis of the physical attributes of particular objects that happen to exist in a morphological context. But this doesn’t add any knowledge (or facts) to our understanding of the nature or function of art. And neither does it comment on whether or not the objects analyzed are even works of art, in that formalist critics always bypass the conceptual element in works of art. Exactly why they don’t comment on the conceptual element in works of art is precisely because formalist art is only art by virtue of its resemblance to earlier works of art. It’s a mindless art. Or, as Lucy Lippard so succinctly described Jules Olitski’s paintings: â€Å"they’re visual Muzak.† 14 Formalist critics and artists alike do not question the nature of art, but as I have said elsewhere: Being an artist now means to question the nature of art. If one is questioning the nature of painting, one cannot be questioning the nature of art. If an artist accepts painting (or sculpture) he is accepting the tradition that goes with it. That’s because the word art is general and the word painting is specific. Painting is a kind of art. If you make paintings you are already accepting (not questioning) the nature of art. One is then accepting the nature of art to be the European tradition of a painting-sculpture dichotomy.15 The strongest objection one can raise against a morphological justification for traditional art is that morphological notions of art embody an implied a priori concept of art’s possibilities. And such an a priori concept of the nature of art (as separate from analytically framed art propositions or â€Å"work,† which I will discuss later) makes it, indeed, a priori: impossible to question the nature of art. And this questioning of the nature of art is a very important concept in understanding the function of art. The function of art, as a question, was first raised by Marcel Duchamp. In fact it is Marcel Duchamp whom we can credit with giving art its own identity. (One can certainly see a tendency toward this self-identification of art beginning with Manet and Cà ©zanne through to Cubism,16 but their works are timid and ambiguous by comparison with Duchamp’s.) â€Å"Modern† art and the work before seemed connected by virtue of their morphology. Another way of putting it would be that art’s â€Å"language† remained the same, but it was saying new things. The event that made conceivable the realization that it was possible to â€Å"speak another language† and still make sense in art was Marcel Duchamp’s first unassisted Ready-made. With the unassisted Ready-made, art changed its focus from the form of the language to what was being said. Which means that it changed the nature of art from a question of morphology to a question of function. This change – one from â€Å"appearance† to â€Å"conception† – was the beginning of â€Å"modern† art and the beginning of conceptual art. All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually. The â€Å"value† of particular artists after Duchamp can be weighed according to how much they questioned the nature of art; which is another way of saying â€Å"what they added to the conception of art† or what wasn’t there before they started. Artists question the nature of art by presenting new propositions as to art’s nature. And to do this one cannot concern oneself with the handed-down â€Å"language† of traditional art, as this activity is based on the assumption that there is only one way of framing art propositions. But the very stuff of art is indeed greatly related to â€Å"creating† new propositions. The case is often made – particularly in reference to Duchamp – that objects of art (such as the Ready-mades, of course, but all art is implied in this) are judged as objets d’art in later years and the artists’ intentions become irrelevant. Such an argument is the case of a preconceived notion ordering together not necessarily related facts. The point is this: aesthetics, as we have pointed out, are conceptually irrelevant to art. Thus, any physical thing can become objet d’art, that is to say, can be considered tasteful, aesthetically pleasing, etc. But this has no bearing on the object’s application to an art context; that is, its functioning in an art context. (E.g., if a collector takes a painting, attaches legs, and uses it as a dining table it’s an act unrelated to art or the artist because, as art, that wasn’t the artist’s intention.) And what holds true for Duchamp’s work applies as well to most of the art after him. In other words, the value of Cubism – for instance – is its idea in the realm of art, not the physical or visual qualities seen in a specific painting, or the particularization of certain colors or shapes. For these colors and shapes are the art’s â€Å"language,† not its meaning conceptually as art. To look upon a Cubist â€Å"masterwork† now as art is nonsensical, conceptually speaking, as far as art is concerned. (That visual information that was unique in Cubism’s language has now been generally absorbed and has a lot to do with the way in which one deals with painting â€Å"linguistically.† [E.g., what a Cubist painting meant experimentally and conceptually to, say, Gertrude Stein, is beyond our speculation because the same painting then â€Å"meant† something different than it does now.]) The â€Å"value† now of an original Cubist painting is not unlike, in most respects, an original manuscript by Lord Byron, or The Spirit of St. Louis as it is seen in the Smithsonian Institution. (Indeed, museums fill the very same function as the Smithsonian Institution – why else would the Jeu de Paume wing of the Louvre exhibit Cà ©zanne’s and Van Gogh’s palettes as proudly as they do their paintings?) Actual works of art are little more than historical curiosities. As far as art is concerned Van Gogh’s paintings aren’t worth any more than his palette is. They are both â€Å"collectors items.†17 Art â€Å"lives† through influencing other art, not by existing as the physical residue of an artist’s ideas. The reason that different artists from the past are â€Å"brought alive† again is because some aspect of their work becomes â€Å"usable† by living artists. That there is no â€Å"truth† as to what art is seems quite unrealized. What is the function of art, or the nature of art? If we continue our analogy of the forms art takes as being art’s language one can realize then that a work of art is a kind of proposition presented within the context of art as a comment on art. We can then go further and analyze the types of â€Å"propo sitions.† A. J. Ayer’s evaluation of Kant’s distinction between analytic and synthetic is useful to us here: â€Å"A proposition is analytic when its validity depends solely on the definitions of the symbols it contains, and synthetic when its validity is determined by the facts of experience.†18 The analogy I will attempt to make is one between the art condition and the condition of the analytic proposition. In that they don’t appear to be believable as anything else, or be about anything (other than art) the forms of art most clearly finally referable only to art have been forms closest to analytical propositions. Works of art are analytic propositions. That is, if viewed within their context – as art – they provide no information whatsoever about any matter of fact. A work of art is a tautology in that it is a presentation of the artist’s intention, that is, he is saying that that particular work of art is art, which means, is a definition of art. Thus, that it is art is true a priori (which is what Judd means when he states that â€Å"if someone calls it art, it’s art†). Indeed, it is nearly impossible to discuss art in general terms without talking in tautologies – for to attempt to â€Å"grasp† art by any other â€Å"handle† is merely to focus on another aspect or quality of the proposition, which is usually irrelevant to the artwork’s â€Å"art condition.† One begins to realize that art’s â€Å"art condition† is a conceptual state. That the language forms that the artist frames his propositions in are often â€Å"private† codes or languages is an inevitable outcome of art’s freedom from morphological constrictions; and it follows from this that one has to be familiar with contemporary art to appreciate it and understand it. Likewise one understands why the â€Å"man in the street† is intolerant to artistic art and always demands art in a tr aditional â€Å"language.† (And one understands why formalist art sells â€Å"like hot cakes.†) Only in painting and sculpture did the artists all speak the same language. What is called â€Å"Novelty Art† by the formalists is often the attempt to find new languages, although a new language doesn’t necessarily mean the framing of new propositions: e.g., most kinetic and electronic art. Another way of stating, in relation to art, what Ayer asserted about the analytic method in the context of language would be the following: The validity of artistic propositions is not dependent on any empirical, much less any aesthetic, presupposition about the nature of things. For the artist, as an analyst, is not directly concerned with the physical properties of things. He is concerned only with the way (1) in which art is capable of conceptual growth and (2) how his propositions are capable of logically following that growth.19 In other words, the propositions of art are not factual, but linguistic in character – that is, they do not describe the behavior of physical, o r even mental objects; they express definitions of art, or the formal consequences of definitions of art. Accordingly, we can say that art operates on a logic. For we shall see that the characteristic mark of a purely logical inquiry is that it is concerned with the formal consequences of our definitions (of art) and not with questions of empirical fact.20 To repeat, what art has in common with logic and mathematics is that it is a tautology; i.e., the â€Å"art idea† (or â€Å"work†) and art are the same and can be appreciated as art without going outside the context of art for verification. On the other hand, let us consider why art cannot be (or has difficulty when it attempts to be) a synthetic proposition. Or, that is to say, when the truth or falsity of its assertion is verifiable on empirical grounds. Ayer states: . . . The criterion by which we determine the validity of an a priori or analytical proposition is not sufficient to determine the validity of an empirical or synthetic proposition. For it is characteristic of empirical propositions that their validity is not purely formal. To say that a geometrical proposition, or a system of geometrical propositions, is false, is to say that it is self-contradictory. But an empirical proposition, or a system of empirical propositions, may be free from contradiction and still be false. It is said to be false, not because it is formally defective, but because it fails to satisfy some material criterion.21 The unreality of â€Å"realistic† art is due to its framing as an art proposition in synthetic terms: one is always tempted to â€Å"verify† the proposition empirically. Realism’s synthetic state does not bring one to a circular swing back into a dialogue with the larger framework of questions about the nature of art (as does the work of Malevich, Mondrian, Pollock, Reinhardt, early Rauschenberg, Johns, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Andre, Judd, Flavin, LeWitt, Morris, and others), but rather, one is flung out of art’s â€Å"orbit† into the â€Å"infinite space† of the human condition. Pure Expressionism, continuing with Ayer’s terms, could be considered as such: â€Å"A sentence which consisted of demonstrative symbols would not express a genuine proposition. It would be a mere ejaculation, in no way characterizing that to which it was supposed to refer.† Expressionist works are usually such â€Å"ejaculations† presented in the morphological language of traditional art. If Pollock is important it is because he painted on loose canvas horizontally to the floor. What isn’t important is that he later put those drippings over stretchers and hung them parallel to the wall. (In other words what is important in art is what one brings to it, not one’s adoption of what was previously existing.) What is even less important to art is Pollock’s notions of â€Å"self-expression† because those kinds of subjective meanings are useless to anyone other than those involved with him personally. And their â€Å"specific† quality puts them outside of art’s context. â€Å"I do not make art,† Richard Serra says, â€Å"I am engaged in an activity; if someone wants to call it art, that’s his business, but it’s not up to me to decide that. That’s all figured out later.† Serra, then, is very much aware of the implications of his work. If Serra is indeed just â€Å"figuring out what lead does† (gravitationally, molecularly, etc.), why should anyone think of it as art? If he doesn’t take the responsibility of it being art, who can, or should? His work certainly appears to be empirically verifiable: lead can do, and be used for, many physical activities. In itself this does anything but lead us into a dialogue about the nature of art. In a sense then he is a primitive. He has no idea about art. How is it then that we know about â€Å"his activity†? Because he has told us it is art by his actions after â€Å"his activity† has taken place. That is, by the fact that he is with several galleries, puts the physical residue of his activity in museums (and sells them to art collectors – but as we have pointed out, collectors are irrelevant to the â€Å"condition of art† of a work). That he denies his work is art but plays the artist is more than just a paradox. Serra secretly feels that â€Å"arthood† is arrived at empirically. Thus, as Ayer has stated: There are no absolutely certain empirical propositions. It is only tautologies that are certain. Empirical questions are one and all hypotheses, which may be confirmed or discredited in actual sense experience. And the propositions in which we record the observations that verify these hypotheses are themselves hypotheses which are subject to the test of further sense experience. Thus there is no final proposition.22 What one finds all throughout the writings of Ad Reinhardt is this very similar thesis of â€Å"artas-art,† and that â€Å"art is always dead, and a ‘living’ art is a deception.†23 Reinhardt had a very clear idea about the nature of art, and his importance is far from recognized. Because forms of art that can be considered synthetic propositions are verifiable by the world, that is to say, to understand these propositions one must leave the tautological-like framework of art and consider â€Å"outside† information. But to consider it as art it is necessary to ignore this same outside information, because outside information (experiential qualities, to note) has its own intrinsic worth. And to comprehend this worth one does not need a state of â€Å"art condition.† From this it is easy to realize that art’s viability is not connected to the presentation of visual (or other) kinds of experience. That that may have been one of art’s extraneous functions in the preceding centuries is not unlikely. After all, man in even the nineteenth century lived in a fairly standardized visual environment. That is, it was ordinarily predictable as to what he would be coming into contact with day after day. His visual environment in the part of the world in which he lived was fairly consistent. In our time we have an experientially drastically richer environment. One can fly all over the earth in a matter of hours and days, not months. We have the cinema, and color television, as well as the man-made spectacle of the lights of Las Vegas or the skyscrapers of New York City. The whole world is there to be seen, and the whole world can watch man walk on the moon from their living rooms. Certainly art or objects of painting and sculpture cannot be expected to compete experientially with this? The notion of â€Å"use† is relevant to art and its â€Å"language.† Recently the box or cube form has been used a great deal within the context of art. (Take for instance its use by Judd, Morris, LeWitt, Bladen, Smith, Bell, and McCracken – not even mentioning the quantity of boxes and cubes that came after.) The difference between all the various uses of the box or cube form is directly related to the differences in the intentions of the artists. Further, as is particularly seen in Judd’s work, the use of the box or cube form illustrates very well our earlier claim that an object is only art when placed in the context of art. A few examples will point this out. One could say that if one of Judd’s box forms was seen filled with debris, seen placed in an industrial setting, or even merely seen sitting on a street corner, it would not be identified with art. It follows then that understanding and consideration of it as an artwork is necessary a priori to viewing it in order to â€Å"see† it as a work of art. Advance information about the concept of art and about an artist’s concepts is necessary to the appreciation and understanding of contemporary art. Any and all of the physical attributes (qualities) of contemporary works, if considered separately and/or specifically, are irrelevant to the art concept. The art concept (as Judd said, though he didn’t mean it this way) must be considered in its whole. To consider a concept’s parts is invariably to consider aspects that are irrelevant to its art condition – or like reading parts of a definition. It comes as no surprise that the art with the least fixed morphology is the example from which we decipher the nature of the general term â€Å"art.† For where there is a context existing separately of its morphology and consisting of its function one is more likely to find results less conforming and predictable. It is in modern art’s possession of a â€Å"language† with the shortest history that the plausibility of the abandonment of that â€Å"language† becomes most possible. It is understandable then that the art that came out of Western painting and sculpture is the most energetic, questioning (of its nature), and the least assuming of all the general â€Å"art† concerns. In the final analysis, however, all of the arts have but (in Wittgenstein’s terms) a â€Å"family† resemblance. Yet the various qualities relatable to an â€Å"art condition† possessed by poetry, the novel, the cinema, the theatre, and various forms of mus ic, etc., is that aspect of them most reliable to the function of art as asserted here. Is not the decline of poetry relatable to the implied metaphysics from poetry’s use of â€Å"common† language as an art language?24 In New York the last decadent stages of poetry can be seen in the move by â€Å"Concrete† poets recently toward the use of actual objects and theatre.25 Can it be that they feel the unreality of their art form? We see now that the axioms of a geometry are simply definitions, and that the theorems of a geometry are simply the logical consequences of these definitions. A geometry is not in itself about physical space; in itself it cannot be said to be â€Å"about† anything. But we can use a geometry to reason about physical space. That is to say, once we have given the axioms a physical interpretation, we can proceed to apply the theorems to the objects which satisfy the axioms. Whether a geometry can be applied to the actual physical world or not, is an empirical question which falls outside the scope of geometry itself. There is no sense, therefore, in asking which of the various geometries known to us are false and which are true. Insofar as they are all free from contradiction, they are all true. The proposition which states that a certain application of a geometry is possible is not itself a proposition of that geometry. All that the geometry itself tells us is that if anything can be brought under the definitions, it will also satisfy the theorems. It is therefore a purely logical system, and its propositions are purely analytic propositions. –A. J. Ayer26 Here then I propose rests the viability of art. In an age when traditional philosophy is unreal because of its assumptions, art’s ability to exist will depend not only on its not performing a service – as entertainment, visual (or other) experience, or decoration – which is something easily replaced by kitsch culture, and technology, but, rather, it will remain viable by not assuming a philosophical stance; for in art’s unique character is the capacity to remain aloof from philosophical judgments. It is in this context that art shares similarities with logic, mathematics, and, as well, science. But whereas the other endeavors are useful, art is not. Art indeed exists for its own sake. In this period of man, after philosophy and religion, art may possibly be one endeavor that fulfills what another age might have called â€Å"man’s spiritual needs.† Or, another way of putting it might be that art deals analogously with the state of things â€Å"beyond physics† where philosophy had to make assertions. And art’s strength is that even the preceding sentence is an assertion, and cannot be verified by art. Art’s only claim is for art. Art is the definition of art. NOTES * Reprinted from Studio International (October, 1969). 1 Morton White, The Age of Analysis (New York: Mentor Books), p. 14. 2 Ibid., p. 15. 3 I mean by this Existentialism and Phenomenology. Even Merleau-Ponty, with his middle-of-the-road position between empiricism and rationalism, cannot express his philosophy without the use of words (thus using concepts); and following this, how can one discuss experience without sharp distinctions between ourselves and the world? 4 Sir James Jeans, Physics and Philosophy (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press), p. 17. 5 Ibid., p. 190. 6 Ibid., p. 190. 7 The task such philosophy has taken upon itself is the only â€Å"function† it could perform without making philosophic assertions. 8 This is dealt with in the following section. 9 I would like to make it clear, however, that I intend to speak for no one else. I arrived at these conclusions alone, and indeed, it is from this thinking that my art since 1966 (if not before) evo lved. Only recently did I realize after meeting Terry Atkinson that he and Michael Baldwin share similar, though certainly not identical, opinions to mine. 10 Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. 11 The conceptual level of the work of Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, Ron Davis, Anthony Caro, John Hoyland, Dan Christensen, et al., is so dismally low, that any that is there is supplied by the critics promoting it. This is seen later. 12 Michael Fried’s reasons for using Greenberg’s rationale reflect his background (and most of the other formalist critics) as a â€Å"scholar,† but more of it is due to his desire, I suspect, to bring his scholarly studies into the modern world. One can easily sympathize with his desire to connect, say, Tiepolo with Jules Olitski. One should never forget, however, that a historian loves history more than anything, even art. 13 Lucy Lippard uses this quotation in a footnote to Ad Reinhardt’s retrospective catalogue, January, 1967, p. 28. 14 Lucy Lippard, â€Å"Constellation by Harsh Daylight: The Whitney Annual,† Hudson Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 1968). 15 Arthur R. Rose, â€Å"Four Interviews,† Arts Magazine (February, 1969). 16 As Terry Atkinson pointed out in his introduction to Art-Language (Vol. 1, No. 1), the Cubists never questioned if art had morphological characteristics, but which ones in painting were acceptable. 17 When someone â€Å"buys† a Flavin he isn’t buying a light show, for if he was he could just go to a hardware store and get the goods for considerably less. He isn’t â€Å"buying† anything. He is subsidizing Flavin’s activity as an artist. 18 A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (New York: Dover Publications), p. 78. 19 Ibid., p. 57. 20 Ibid., p. 57. 21 Ibid., p.90. 22 Ibid., p. 94. 23 Ad Reinhardt’s retrospective catalogue (Jewish Museum, January, 1967) written by Lucy Lippard, p. 12. 24 It is poetry’s use of common language to attempt to say the unsayable that is problematic, not any inherent problem in the use of language within the context of art. 25 Ironically, many of them call themselves â€Å"Conceptual Poets.† Much of this work is very similar to Walter de Maria’s work and this is not coincidental; de Maria’s work functions as a kind of â€Å"object† poetry, and his intentions are very poetic: he really wants his work to change men’s lives. 26 Op. cit., p. 82.

Developing a Compensator using Cerrobend Materials

Developing a Compensator using Cerrobend Materials ABSTRACT In external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), dose optimization is achieved by conforming the dose distribution to the shape of the intended target whilst minimizing radiation to normal tissues in close proximity to the target. This is achieved by modulating the intensities of the radiation across the radiation portals forming the irradiation geometry used for the treatment. Compensators may be used to achieve the above effect and can be used to approximate the fluence map by appropriate linear attenuation coefficient of individual beamlets making up the original open beam fluence. This may be done with a treatment planning system (TPS) with inverse planning capabilities or with a bolus placed on the surface of the patient at the beam entrance point. This work describe the procedures for designing, constructing and dosimetric considerations of cerrobend compensator for high energy photon beams, using the bolus option on the surface of the phantom planned with Prowess Panther TPS. Also correc tion factors that account with effects of field size, treatment depth and changes in thickness ratio because of using bolus were introduced. The cerrobend compensator was adjusted to account for beam divergence and reduction in dose contributed by scattered radiation. The correction factors were applied to the thickness ratio for determination of appropriate thickness of cerrobend that mimic bolus. The measurements were done in Theratron Equinox 100 cobalt-60 teletherapy unit using Cerrobend slabs constructed to account for divergence of the beam for the maximum field size considered in this research (3030 cm2). The narrow and broad beam linear attenuation coefficient for cerrobend were determined using simple attenuation model, varying the field size from 44 cm2 to 3030 cm2 field sizes in air, and also varying the thickness of cerrobend from 0.5cm to 4.6cm. The value found was 0.4574cm-1 and also the field size dependence of linear attenuation coefficient were investigated. The sca tter produced by cerrobend was accessed and evaluated. The scatter-to-primary ratio dose contribution was found to be negligible for small field size as reported by Dimitriadis (2002), and can cause error in the final dose calculation up to 13.3% for 3030 cm2 and 4.09 cm thickness of cerrobend. The cerrobend compensator was successful designed and constructed. The dosimetric accuracy for constructed cerrobend compensator was found to be deviating with that predicted with Prowess Panther Treatment Planning System with percentage error ranging from 0.365 to 25%, which is associated with limitations in producing precise thickness of cerrobend with the same accuracy of that generated by the equation 3.04 and limitations in generating flat surface topography and also the presence of air bubble in the cerrobend compensator which was not investigated in thiswork. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND Cancer is a significant health care problem. On average about half of all cancer patients are treated with radiation therapy worldwide (IAEA, 2004). Radiotherapy, also referred to as radiation therapy, radiation oncology or therapeutic radiology is one of the three modalities used to treat malignant disease (cancer) the other two being chemotherapy and surgery (Suntharalingamn et al, 2005). Radiotherapy uses ionizing radiation to eradicate cancerous cells with the least possible damage to normal tissues. The first therapeutic use of ionizing radiation was demonstrated in 1897 by Wilhelm Alexander Freud, a German surgeon before Vienna Medical Society when he demonstrated the disappearance of a hairy mole following treatment with x-ray (Hall, 2000). The first recorded experiment in radiobiology was also performed by Becquerel when he advertently left a radium container in his vest pocket and subsequently described the skin erythema two weeks later (Hall, 2000). The modalities of radiotherapy are divided into two types, tele-therapy and brachytherapy. Brachytherapy is a method of treatment in which sealed sources are used to deliver radiation at short distances by interstitial, intracavitary or surface application (Khan, 2010). Tele-therapy is a treatment modality in which the source of radiation is at a distance from the patient, also called external beam radiation therapy, it uses photons ranging from kilo voltage to megavoltage photons, and electron beams from linear accelerators or Co-60 tele therapy units. In External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT), the methodology of treatment depends on different factors, which may include the shape and size of the tumour to be treated within the patient, sparing of normal tissues within the vicinity of the target from excessive irradiation, financial constraints and the quest of optimization of radiation dose to the target. There are different treatment techniques ranging from 2-D conventional radioth erapy to more advanced Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT). IMRT is a treatment planning and delivery technique that can greatly improve the process of conformal radiotherapy which refers to the process of blocking a beam with irregular shaped beam portal so that the dose delivered corresponds more closely to tumour whilst reducing the dose to normal tissue. In developing countries, most of the centrees are restricted to a Co-60 tele therapy unit with basic treatment planning and simulation capabilities. Patients present irregular surface topographies and tissue heterogeneities. According to Chang (2004), a compensator is a traditional tool for modern application and is an alternative IMRT delivery technique. In IMRT, the compensator is used not in the sense of compensating for missing tissue or tissue heterogeneity but as beam intensifier like dynamic wedges and multileaf collimators (MLC). The goal is to achieve dose uniformity throughout the whole target volume and, more importantly to spare critical structures according to the dose and dose volume constraint prescribed by the clinicians for specific patients (Jiango et al, 1998). Therefore, compensators are designed to produce an optimized primary fluency profile at the patient’s surface. This is achieved by modulating the intensities of the radiation across the radiation portals forming the irradiation geometry used for the treatment. There are various methods by which compensators can be made. According to Williams and Thwaites (2000), the three main types are grid-blocking system, contour system and a system using machined compensator. The first compensators made by Ellis et al. (1958) were constructed by stacking aluminum pillars. Another method reported by Lam et al. (1983) describes the construction of compensators from thin sheets of lead. Today compensators are more commonly made from molds filled with molten alloy or wax. Using molds is advantageous since it results in compensators with smoother surfaces and thus greater accuracy. To make a compensator for an IMRT practice, it is required to calculate the effective attenuation coefficient () of its materials, which is affected by various factors as field size, depth, off- axis distance, compensator thickness (Haghparast et al, 2013). A number of elements have been used to form compensators which include tungsten-epoxy mixture (Xu et al, 2002), Lucite (Khan et al, 1970), gypsum (Weeks et al, 1988), tin-wax (Van et al, 1995), tin (Chang et al, 2000), cerrobend (Waltz BJ et al, 1973), steel (Van et al, 1995), aluminum (Ellis et al, 1959), brass (Ellis et al, 1959; Tess, 2014), lead (Leung et al, 1974; Cunnighan et al, 1976; Andrew et al, 1982; Spicka et al, 1988), coper (Tess, 2014). In this study, a cerrobend compensator will be constructed using a simple attenuation model to determine its effective attenuation coefficient. Film and an ionization chamber will be used for dosimetric measurements and for verification of measured dose distribution and compared with those calculated with the PROWESS Panther TPS software at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. PROBLEM STATEMENT In external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), dose optimization is achieved by conforming the dose distribution to the shape of the intended target whilst minimizing radiation to normal tissues in close proximity to the target. Most dosimetric measurements are done on flat surface and homogenous medium, however patients surface is highly irregular and internal tissues are heterogeneous. The main aim of radiation therapy is to deliver uniform dose distribution within +7 % and –5 % (ICRU report 50, 1993) of the dose prescription without exceeding the tolerance dose of the critical structure around tumor volume. To achieve this goal, the above irregularities should be corrected. Thus different studies suggested and implemented bolus which is a tissue equivalent material placed at the surface of the patient to compensate the missing tissue. However, this technique doesnt spare the skin beneath the bolus. This is because, the buildup region is in the bolus and Dmax (depth of maximum dose) will be at skin surface. To solve such complications compensators have been introduced by different people on different approaches to correct both surface irregularity and tissue heterogeneity which is now done by using MLC based IMRT. Advanced technological innovations in anatomic and functional imaging modalities (CT, MRI, PET, and US) have led to improved visualization and the delineation of tumour. Radiation treatment planning and delivered techniques have also seen a marked improvement. Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) provides a high degree of dose conformity to the planning target volume (PTV) and the conformal avoidance of organs at risk. Therefore radiation field is not only geometrically shaped to conform to the outline of the planning target volume at the beams eye view, but is also intensity modulated. The National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) presently uses paraffin wax for construction of a compensator and cerrobend for shielding blocks, but there is a need to implement physical compensator based IMRT using materials which are available in the Centre and is inexpensive. This research will focus on design and construction and dosimetric considerations of cerrobend compensators to modulate the intensities of the radiation across the radiation portals forming the irradiation geometry used for the treatment. OBJECTIVES GENERAL OBJECTIVE The general objective of this work is designing and constructing a compensator using cerrobend materials. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To clarify the effect of scattered photons generated within the compensator on head scatter factor. To evaluate dosimetric accuracy and dose coverage. To compare and evaluate measured and predicted data. To evaluate the variation of dose distribution by the compensator. SCOPE AND LIMITATION The scope of this thesis is in the area of the IMRT by means of physical compensators specifically using cerrobend which are manually fabricated. In most centres which are practicing IMRT, the construction of the compensator to provide the needed modulation is done by generating a fluency map of the radiation portal needed. This is done with a treatment planning system (TPS) with inverse planning capabilities or with a bolus placed on the surface of the patient at the beam entrance point. The bolus option will be used in this research as currently there is no TPS in the country that can do inverse planning. In this case, the cerrobend compensator will be used to replicate dosimetric effects of the bolus placed on the surface of the patient. According to Jiang et al (1998), the calculation of compensator thickness profile (an optimized primary fluency profile) is straightforward typically using the exponentially attenuation model. With reference to this, the shape of the compensator w ill be adjusted to account for beam divergence and reduction in dose contributed by scattered radiation. Thus the dosimetric considerations is part of the scope of this research. The measurement will be made from a Co-60 tele therapy machine at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT WORK In radiation oncology, a patient should get the best treatment option as much as possible in order to improve quality of patient care. So the expected results such as correction factors to account for reduction in scatter for using the cerrobend compensator to mimic bolus would have immense contribution to scientific and technical knowledge. From this work, it will be possible to implement IMRT delivering technique at National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear medicine of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The clinical implementation of IMRT technique requires at least two systems (Khan, 2010), which are: treatment planning computer system that can calculate non-uniform fluence maps for multiple beams directed from different directions to maximize dose to target while minimizing dose to critical normal structures. This may be done with a treatment planning system (TPS) with inverse planning capabilities or with a bolus placed on the surface of the patient at the beam entrance point. The s econd one, is a system delivering a non-uniform fluence as planned, so each of these systems must be appropriately tested and commissioned before the actual clinical use. The bolus option will be used in this research as currently there is no TPS in the country that can do inverse planning. The cerrobend compensator will be used to replicate dosimetric effects of the bolus placed on the surface of the patient. Similar research was done using different materials by Teclehaimanot (2014) in which the results were not in the clinically acceptable levels, so with this work we are expecting to reach such clinical levels with deviation less than 5%. Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is widely used in clinical applications in developed countries, for the treatment of malignant and non-malignant diseases. This technique uses multiple radiation beams of non-uniform intensities. The beams are modulated to the required intensity maps for delivering highly conformal doses of radiation to the treatment targets, while sparing the adjacent normal tissue structures. This treatment technique has superior dosimetric advantages over 2-dimensional (2D) and conventional 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) treatments. It can potentially benefit the patient in three ways. Firstly, by improving conformity with target dose, it can reduce the probability of in-field recurrence. Secondly, by reducing irradiation of normal tissue, it can minimize the degree of morbidity associated with treatment. Finally, by facilitating escalation of dose, it can improve local control (Cheung, 2006). Compensator based IMRT has a lot of advantages over MLC, many literature reported by Taherkhani (2010), report that the penumbra regions created by MLCs are larger than those generated by cerrobend blocks. Compensators provide more consistent dose, impose no limitations on the dose delivery rate, reduce skin surface doses, and because of the high density of the cerrobend allows improved skin sparing with low production rate of secondary electrons (Gray, 1979; Hine, 1951) reported by Shery (1987). It gives continuous intensity modulation, high spatial resolution, gives room to treat large field size, easy quality assurance (QA), shorter treatment time delivery with some drawbacks which are lack of automation (Chang, 2004), but there are some disadvantages like the therapist having to go to the treatment room to change the compensator in multiple fields and production cost, being labor intensive and time consuming. But now these drawbacks have been fixed in many developed countries by introducing a milling machine which is incorporated with the Treatment Planning System (TPS), and an automated compensator-IMRT technique (Javedan et al. 2008). Other main advantage of using cerrobend in this research are: its low melting point of 1580F (700C) which makes it easy to be recycled. It is readily available, inexpensive, high density (9.8g/cm3) and is used as shielding blocks in EBRT where doses are reduced by 95% or 99% of their initial value. As a material for compensation with high energy photons, cerrobend provides several advantages over tissue equivalent material (Shery, 1987). In the past, Cerrobend had not been considered as an excellent compensator material despite its high density. Recently Chang et al (2004) found that there are cerrobend filling techniques that produce smooth and accurate compensators with consistent density. Solidified Cerrobend in the compensator mold becomes one of the top choices of compensator material. And it can be easily shaped to the intended form with uniform density using the technique described by (Chang, 2004). Chang et al (2004) showed that compensator-IMRT technique has several benefits for delivering continuous intensity modulation and have shown that the finer resolution compensator-IMRT technique can also produce dosimetry that is closer to the ideal IMRT treatment (without any delivery limitation) compared with the segmental MLC IMRT technique. From this work the patients treated at the National Centre of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine will benefit from all the advantages of IMRT techniques mentioned above. Consequently patients will also get a better and inexpensive treatment option.

Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park Essay example -- Literary Analysi

The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park were published at either end of the twentieth century, a period which witnessed the creation of the modern picturebook for children. They are both extremely prestigious examples of picturebooks of their type, the one very traditional, the other surrealist and postmodern. The definition of ‘picturebook’ used here is Bader’s: ‘an art form [which] hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning of the page’ (Bader, quoted in Montgomery, 2009, p. 211). In contrast with a simple illustrated book, the picturebook can use all of the technology available to it to produce an indistinguishable whole, the meaning and value of which is dependent on the interplay between all or any of these aspects. Moebius’s claim that they can ‘portray the intangible and invisible[†¦], ideas that escape easy definition in picture s or words’ is particularly relevant to these two works. Potter’s book is, beneath its didactic Victorian narrative, remarkably subtle and subversive in its attitudes towards childhood, and its message to its child readers. Browne’s Voices in the Park, on the other hand, dispenses with any textual narrative; by his use of the devices of postmodernism, visual intertextuality and metaphor, he creates a work of infinite interpretation, in which the active involvement of the reader is key. Although The Tale of Peter Rabbit is not a ‘modern’ picturebook, and was written to a different concept of childhood than Voices in the Park, it certainly falls within Bader’s description. Susan Hill has described the events of the book as reflecting ‘the world of the Victorian nursery†¦ Naughtiness may be understood... ...h the message is conveyed. Potter’s juxtaposition of picture and word also rewards the reader for trusting the evidence of his or her eyes, rather than simply submitting to the authoritative voice. In comparison, Voices in the Park is infinitely complex and layered with meaning and symbol, wherever the reader should choose to find it. Moebius’s statement is fully realised here as Browne combines all of the technology of his medium - the words as text and picture, use of symbol, intertextuality and space - to portray ideas that remain intangible, and concepts that are infinitely open to definition. In this he displays the complexity of his and his readers’ experience, in the way that Potter, in her own way, did of hers.

Survey of American Literature Essay -- American Literature

As a survey of American literature there are many influential and celebrated authors. Jack Kerouac has become a well known writer whose nontraditional style has led him to fame. In Jack Kerouac’s writings, he used a stream of consciousness, spoke chaotic and randomly, and used long run on sentences. In â€Å"Big Sur†, Kerouac uses run on sentences that reach around 9 lines long. In the conservative 1950s, his stream of consciousness approach to writing was unheard of. Kerouac’s style was revolutionary for his time. Kerouac is, â€Å"regarded as a liberator of prose and champion of idiomatic American expression† (Baym 2542). Robert Frost was a well known, Pulitzer Prize winning author. Frost was known for his realistic style and portrayal of rural life. He used life in New England to analyze the complex social and philosophical themes present during the early twentieth century. Frost found beauty in nature and used it in his poetry. In the gist of Jack Kerouac, â€Å"The Road Not Taken† could be written as this: I came across two roads that diverged in a yellow wood---I was sorry I could not travel both since I was only one traveler; I stood there looking down one path as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth and then I took a look down the other path which seemed just as fair, being all grassy and wanted wear, but really both paths had been worn about the same. That morning both lay equally covered in leaves and I decided to keep the first for another day, and knowing how way lead on to way, I doubted if I should ever decide to come back. As I am I telling this tale, I tell it with a sigh; somewhere a long long time ago while in the woods, two roads diverged in front of me, I decided to take the one less traveled and that re... ... for someone, and finding a means for success. These are important lessons to be learned, which can be applied to in life. Works Cited Baym, Nina, Ed. â€Å"Modernism† Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1260-1262. Baym, Nina, Ed. â€Å"Emily Dickinson† Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1197-1200. Baym, Nina, Ed. â€Å"Jack Kerouac† Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 2542-1543. Baym, Nina, Ed. â€Å"Robert Frost† Norton Anthology of American Literature Shorter 7th Edition. New York: Norton, 2008. 1951-1952. Cahan, Abraham. â€Å"A Sweatshop Romance† Baym 1661-1670 Dickinson, Emily. â€Å"479: Because I Could Not Stop for Death† Baym 1214- 1215. Frost, Robert. â€Å"The Road Not Taken. Baym 1960. Kerouac, Jack. â€Å"Big Sur.† Baym 2544.

Shakespeares Hamlet - Hamlet’s Best Friend, Horatio :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet’s Best Friend, Horatio      Ã‚  Ã‚   A.C. Bradley in Shakespearean Tragedy notes a problem involving Horatio in Shakespeare’s Hamlet:    When Horatio, at the end of the soliloquy, enters and greets Hamlet, it is evident that he and Hamlet have not recently met at Elsinore. Yet Horatio came to Elsinore for the funeral (I.ii. 176). Now even if the funeral took place some three weeks ago, it seems rather strange that Hamlet, however absorbed in grief and however withdrawn from the Court, has not met Horatio [. . .] . (368)    The closest friend of the hero is a fellow-student from Wittenberg (Granville-Barker 93) -- Horatio. He is an interesting and faithful friend, as this essay will demonstrate.    Marchette Chute in â€Å"The Story Told in Hamlet† describes Horatio’s part in the opening scene of the play:    The story opens in the cold and dark of a winter night in Denmark, while the guard is being changed on the battlements of the royal castle of Elsinore. For two nights in succession, just as the bell strikes the hour of one, a ghost has appeared on the battlements, a figure dressed in complete armor and with a face like that of the dead king of Denmark, Hamlet’s father. A young man named Horatio, who is a school friend of Hamlet, has been told of the apparition and cannot believe it, and one of the officers has brought him there in the night so that he can see it for himself. The hour comes, and the ghost walks. (35)    Horatio, frightened, futilely confronts the ghost:    What art thou that usurp'st this time of night,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Together with that fair and warlike form   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In which the majesty of buried Denmark   Ã‚  Ã‚     Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak! (1.1)    Maynard Mack in â€Å"The World of Hamlet† maintains that Horatio’s words to the spirit â€Å"are subsequently seen to have reached beyond their contexts. . . (244). So Horatio and Marcellus exit the ramparts of Elsinore intending to enlist the aid of Hamlet, who is home from school. Hamlet is dejected by the â€Å"o’erhasty marriage† of his mother to his uncle less than two months after the funeral of Hamlet’s father (Gordon 128). Soon Horatio and Marcellus make contact with Hamlet with a strange greeting (Bradley 370) and escort him to the ramparts of Elsinore.

Ehe problem of evil Essay

No matter what you believe, all religions try to prevent evil from happening. Through beliefs of karma, good deeds equal good life and vice versa, or treating others the way you want to be treated the central theme is goodness. Evil is created by people and how we interpret other people’s actions. Not all people believe the same types of things are evil, some find mental disease as a scientific diagnosis others a possession of the devil. Some people define evil as anyone different from their skin, religious belief, or everyday mannerisms. The Holocaust is one major example of evil in action. Hitler thought he was doing a good thing by getting rid of all the Jews and others who were different from him and so did his followers. The rest of the world saw it as pure evil and did everything they could to stop or try to prevent more and more Jews from dying. Many people have different perceptions of evil and its origin. Some question â€Å"If God is all powerful and amazing why would he create evil? Why not just let everyone live in happiness and harmony? † It is hard to answer questions like these because not all people have the same morals or values as other people. Some value separate gods who have different worldly tasks, others one powerful and almighty God creator of heaven and earth, and some who don’t believe in a higher above but still have their own set of rules and morals. From a Christian perspective evil is of the devils work and there are many things in the bible showing what is and isn’t evil. A major topic in today’s society is homosexuality rights such as marriage. In the bible there are many different verses about homosexuality as a bad thing and as a good thing. In the book of Genesis, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are talked about for their wickedness and sin. Eventually God destroys them to prove a point and attempt to get rid of sin. Because many people don’t know how to interpret homosexuality, they throw it into the mix of sin that was in Sodom and Gomorrah. There are many versus in the bible such as â€Å"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. † 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Some argue that the term homosexual offenders are referring to male prostitution rather than two committed same sex partners. Others believe that Paul wouldn’t have written prostitution twice even though the Bible is full of repetition. Different versus discuss that homosexuality is detestable and actors on this should be put to death. Because people aren’t used to the idea of people being happy with someone who has the same gender, people create these titles and make harmless things seem evil. There are plenty of things that the bible condones as evil however society still does it. Premarital sex, divorce, abortion, cursing, using the Lord’s name in vein are all things that are considered evil and sinful yet they’re part of our daily lives. We create television shows to broadcast teen pregnancy and divorces in the courtroom and part of those shows include cursing, defacing the Lord’s name and thoughts of abortion yet we watch them for our entertainment. MTV created Teen Mom other stations created Divorce Court and so many other things like the Bachelor and Bachelorette all broadcasting and encouraging what’s said to be evil actions in life yet no one bats an eye. However when two people who love one another choose to express themselves and vow to love one another forever that happen to be the same gender people freak out and all of a sudden their religion comes out of hiding. People can’t expect evil not to take place when they encourage the behavior. Evil comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. The questioning of its creation shouldn’t be asked why God did it, but why we view things as evil. Why is it evil for two men or two women to lie in bed together and love one another? It doesn’t harm anyone who isn’t directly involved so why stress over it? The Bible also talks about divorce being evil and sinful in which the punishment is for the woman to be stoned. Why aren’t we stoning people today if the same principle is applied? I believe that we all create our own evil as a way to decipher what we believe isn’t morally correct to create a comfort for ourselves. Not to say that killing someone will ever be justifiable but there are different extremes of evil just as there is good. Unfortunately people don’t know the balance between the two, so they pick the battles that they feel they will win. There are evil things out there in the world such as: murder mass or individual, human trafficking and rape, and all forms of abuse. Those are the things that most people will agree to be unjust evil actions in today’s society. Evil’s definition is associated with pain, harmful, wicked, or injurious. It also speaks of being immoral however everyone’s morals are different. Morals are based on perception and religion and since not everyone believes the same religion or has the same perception, people should be allowed to express their own beliefs within reason.