Media & Invasion of Privacy

LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION A TERM PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE: ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTISE (MAC 854) LECTURER: DR. JIMI KAYODE TITLE: MEDIA AND THE INVASION OF PRIVACY BY AKANDE ADEFEYISAYO ADEBOLARINWA †¢ SUBMITTED ON 30th JANUARY, 2010 INTRODUCTION Media practitioners possess the function of gathering, processing and disseminating news item to a heterogeneous large audience which often times not done with sound moral judgement in mind lands them into pool of troubled waters. Celebrities, politicians and other sought-after sources of news have over time expressed justifiable anguish over the diminishing aspects of their lives that are no longer free from prying eyes and publication from the press. They routinely assert that members of the media violates their privacy based strictly on their need to publish any news story that comes their way for the main purpose of profit and simply can not distinguish what type of information is private, public or newsworthy. Journalists, however, often possess diverse concepts of privacy and newsworthiness, and know that the issue is more complicated based on the fact that reporting news stories in a way that serves and informs the public will often require publicizing details or displaying images that will mortify or anger someone. To make privacy issues even more complicated for journalists, courts constantly redefine what is private based upon interpretations of the elusive legal standard of a â€Å"reasonable expectation of privacy. ( www. winning-newsmedia. com/privacy) â€Å"The U. S. Supreme Courts scolding of the media in the 1999 â€Å"ride along† cases for a perceived inattention to the privacy rights of the people featured in the news most likely reflects the current attitude of many judges and lawmakers and, thus, underscores the importance for journalists to be aware of general privacy principles. † (www. associatedcontent. com/topic) The intrusion and publication of private images can expose journalists to overwhelming financial liability if a court determines that a news organization has invaded a person’s privacy. The invasion of another’s privacy is a tort, meaning a civil wrong against another that results in injury. A privacy tort occurs when a person or entity breaches the duty to leave another person alone. When reporters intrude on a person’s privacy and cause emotional or monetary injury, they may be forced to pay damages. To avoid lawsuits, journalists must know how the law operates while seeking to balance the competing interests of the press and the public against the privacy interests of the subjects of the reports. Journalists often run contrary of this tort through the process of gathering information. Actions that may violate this privacy right include intrusion onto private property, concealed observation and the deceptive access into private areas. Conduct that invades privacy may also violate the criminal law. In general, courts have held that journalists must obey all relevant laws. In Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469 (1975) â€Å"the U. S. Supreme Court noted that in privacy tort, claims of privacy most directly confront the constitutional freedoms of speech and press†. www. definitions. uslegal. com) This study provides a universal explanation of each privacy tort and related causes of action. The privacy facts tort presents the unsettling circumstances in which journalists may be liable for monetary damages for coverage of news item. In several cases the Supreme Court has held that â€Å"where a newspaper publishes truthful information which it has lawfully obtaine d, punishment may lawfully be imposed, if at all, only when narrowly tailored to a state interest of the highest order. Florida Star v. B. J. F. , 491 U. S. 524, 541 (1989). Although the Supreme Court has prevented states from punishing journalists who published legally obtained names of juvenile offenders and rape victims, the Court has not absolutely rejected the private facts tort in this context. Although crimes such as rape are newsworthy and newsworthiness is a defence to a private facts suit, not all courts have agreed that the identity of a rape victim is newsworthy. Apart from news story either in the broadcast or in the print medium, photography has also been observed as posing some inimitable problems in privacy law, broadly, the legal analysis for invasion of privacy through images parallels the analysis for invasions through words. Essentially, the scope of this study is simply to analysis the fundamental nature of privacy laws, the various types that a mass media practitioner can run afoul of in the course of his or her duty and its implication for the society as a whole. Emergence of Privacy Laws: Concerns about intrusive newspaper reporting were mainly the beginning of the law of privacy. At that time, metropolitan daily newspapers used a variety of sensational information to attract potential readers. Media practitioners often played out the lives of the affluent and famous on the pages of their newspaper, permitting their readers to vicariously enjoy the wealth and the status of the celebrity. It was the kind of journalism now commonly referred to as â€Å"yellow journalism† that drove two Boston lawyers, Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis to use the pages of the Harvard Law Review to recommend an officially documented right to privacy titled â€Å"The Right to Privacy† in 1890. Thus, their enterprise can be justifiably referred to as the source from which the law of privacy sprouted from. In their words as cited in Pember & Calvert, 2006: To satisfy a prurient taste the details of sexual relations are spread broad-cast in the columns of the daily papers. To occupy the indolent, column upon column is filled with idle gossip, which can only be procured by intrusion upon the domestic circle†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. The common law has always recognised a man’s house as his castle, impregnable, often, even to its own officers engaged in the execution of its commands. Shall the courts close the front entrance to constituted authority, and open wide the back door to idle or prurient curiosity? Warren and Brandeis strongly proposed that people should be able to go to courts to stop such unwarranted intrusions and also to secure monetary damages for the hardship or emotional distress they suffered from prying and from publication of private materials about them. The question of when the coverage and reporting of news became an invasion of privacy is a difficult one, especially for photographers and videographers. Consequently, the combination of a lack of clear definitions of privacy standards and an acceptance of degree of privacy puts media practitioners in a precarious position. In Sanders v. American Broadcasting Cos. , Inc. , 978 P. 2d 67 Cal. 1999, â€Å"the California Supreme Court held in 1999 that even an employee who holds a conversation in an open office space and overheard by co-workers can pursue an invasion of privacy claim if that conversation is recorded by a reporter’s hidden camera. The court rejected the notion of privacy as an â€Å"all-or-nothing† concept and described an â€Å"expectation of limited privacy† as follows: †¢ A subjective expectation of privacy is an opinion of a person that a certain place or situation is private. †¢ An objective, legitimate or reasonable expectation of privacy is an expectation of privacy recognized by society Under different circumstances, however, courts have established that news media are justified in doing what their subjects may feel is invasive. ( wikipedia: 2002) Definitions: According to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights Resolution 219A (III), Article 12 of 10 December 1948 as cited in Malemi (2002: 163): No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Privacy refers primarily to a person’s right to be left alone by the media, not necessarily a physical intrusion into one's private property or personal space. Invasion of privacy charges are usually presented in a civil lawsuit against media outlets that have crossed a perceived line into a celebrity or other public figure's private life, or have used his or her likeness or name in an unauthorized public manner Privacy law is the area of law concerned with the protection and preservation of the privacy rights of individuals. Increasingly, governments and other publics as well as private organizations collect vast amounts of personal information about individuals for a variety of purposes. The law of privacy regulates the type of information which may be collected and how the information may be used. The Right to Privacy: According to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, chapter IV, Section 37 on the right to private and family life says: â€Å"Citizens have right to privacy of themselves, their homes, correspondence, telephone and telegraphic communications. † A violation of this rights amounts to invasion of privacy. Remedies can then be pursued in the courts when anyone goes contrary to the above provisions. The right of privacy is a common-law cause of action that is a recent legal development. The U. S. Constitution contains no direct references to the right of privacy, although the Fourth Amendment states: â€Å"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated†¦ † The right of privacy competes with the freedom of the press as well as the interest of the public in the free dissemination of news and information, and these permanent public interests must be considered when placing the necessary limitations upon the right of privacy. The First Amendment states: â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press†¦ † â€Å"[pic][pic]Invasion of privacy, then is the intrusion into the personal life of another, without just cause, which can give the person whose privacy has been invaded a right to bring a lawsuit for damages against the person or entity that intruded. It encompasses workplace monitoring, Internet privacy, data collection, and other means of disseminating private information†. Photographers’ guide to Privacy, 2003). The wrongful intrusion into a person's private activities by other individuals, the media or by the government has generally been defined as invasion of privacy. Privacy is invaded when one intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon a person's solitude or into his private area or affairs. Invasion of privacy is considered a violation of to rt law and can be litigated inside the civil courts for monetary damages. Recently, invasion of privacy has taken on even greater meaning with recent technological advances. Bussian & Levine 2004 opine that: Whether an article or broadcast is newsworthy, whether the information was gathered in an objectionable fashion, whether truthful information is nonetheless highly offensive — all are considerations in weighing individuals' claims against the news media. Invasion of privacy is a tort, a civil wrong, which can lead to jury trials and potential claims for compensatory and punitive damages. It also places judges in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable role as â€Å"editors† of last resort. Celebrities are not protected in most situations, since they have voluntarily placed themselves already within the public eye, and their activities are considered newsworthy. Categorically, invasion of privacy or the intrusion into the personal life of another, without just cause, can give the person whose privacy has been invaded a right to bring a lawsuit for damages against the person or entity that intruded. Folarin, 2005:155 also agrees that the right to privacy is a legal means by which consumers can control media content through suits instituted against the media in defence of their right relating to invasion of privacy which includes insulation from needless publication of private matters. Also that people can sue any media that uses their names falsely. He asserts that the people who have little or no chance of winning most of the suits are acknowledged public figures who are generally assumed to have lost their to privacy by taking up public office or otherwise become public by being involved in a newsworthy act or incident. In distinguishing invasion of privacy among other claims facing the media, unusual situations involving crime victims and witnesses and also photographs of virtually anything visible in a public place do not give rise to actions for publication of private facts. Also facts that give rise to a false light claim may support a defamation claim while injury to reputation is not required for a false light claim. The false light tort aims primarily to protect against emotional distress rather than to protect one’s reputation. Based on First Amendment of the US constitution concerns, and the similarity between the claims, some states have not been persuaded to recognize the false light tort. However, public personalities are not protected in most situations, since they have placed themselves already within the public eye, and their activities (even personal and sometimes intimate) are considered newsworthy and are perceived to be of legitimate public interest. Dimensions of Invasion of Privacy: ) Intrusion on one's solitude or into one's private affairs includes: †¢ The Home: A person's home gets the highest protection from the courts. Entering a house or apartment without permission of the occupant or, in some circumstances, the police, can be considered as an unlawful intrusion. †¢ Photographs and Tape Recording: Taking photographs of a person or his property in a private place may be an invasion of privacy. Tape recording a person without his consent may also provoke damage awards. ) Public di sclosure of embarrassing private information such as: †¢ Personal Matters: Details about a private person's sexual relationships, the contents of personal letters, private facts about an individual, or other intensely personal matters are off-limits to the news media unless they are considered as absolutely newsworthy. †¢ Newsworthiness: Even truthful accounts are actionable if they contain highly offensive details which are not of legitimate concern to the public. ) Publicity which puts him/her in a false light to the public: †¢ Fabrication: Ascribing quotes or fictionalizing actual events can lead to invasion if a person is portrayed in a false light before the public. †¢ Photographs: Using photographs or films to illustrate a story that implies falsely that a person is involved in a disreputable incident. d) Appropriation of one's name or picture for personal or commercial advantage such as: †¢ Advertising: The unauthorized use of a person's name or photo graph in an advertisement is another immense subject in nvading people’s privacy. †¢ Property Rights: This happens when the press offers to give away unauthorized broadcasts or photographs of a performance. The Supreme Court in the United States has ruled that there is a limited constitutional right of privacy based on a number of provisions in the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments. This includes a right to privacy from media surveillance into an area where a person has a â€Å"reasonable expectation of privacy† and also in matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing and education. However, records held by third parties such as financial records or telephone call records are generally not protected unless a specific federal law applies. The court has also recognized a right of anonymity and the right of groups to not have to disclose their members' names to media agencies. (www. answers. com) Generally, it’s been considered that one ought to have a reasonable â€Å"expectation of privacy†, meaning: i. A place where a reasonable person would believe that he or she could disrobe in privacy, without being concerned that his or her undressing was being photographed or filmed by another; or ii. A place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance. Given the similarity to voyeurism, an adjudicator might find that placing a hidden camera in a certain location may amount to the torts of indignation or deliberate infliction of emotional distress. Invasion of privacy laws are usually broken into four separate categories highlighted earlier including intrusion, appropriation, false light and public disclosure of embarrassing facts. Intrusion of Solitude: Intrusion of solitude, seclusion or into private affairs is an arm of invasion of privacy done by spying on or intruding upon another person where that person has the expectation of privacy. Places that a person ought to have an expectation of privacy are usually in a home or business setting. Consequently, people who have become public figures do not have the same expectation of privacy. A media practitioner, who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability for invasion of privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. To be liable for intrusion upon seclusion or solitude, the plaintiff must prove the following elements: Invasion of a secluded place or privacy: this happens when the defendant is alleged to have invaded the plaintiff's personal or private space. This could be determined by: Physical intrusion into a place where the plaintiff has secluded himself. ) Use of the defendant's senses to eavesdrop or spy in order to oversee or overhear the plaintiff's private affairs or b) Some other form of investigation or examination into plaintiff's private concerns. Objectionable intrusion: this is the type of intrusion that would be highly offensive to the ordinary reasonable person. †¢ Invasion of private affairs or matters: the i nterference with the plaintiff's privacy must be substantial (however, if the event reported occurs in public, there is no expectation of privacy). Other examples of intrusion upon privacy include placing microphones or cameras in someone's bedroom or hacking into their computer. Society does not expect a journalist to place wiretaps on a private individual’s telephone without his or her consent. Opening someone's mail is also considered to be intrusion of solitude, seclusion or private affairs. The information gathered by this form of intrusion need not be published in order for an invasion of privacy claim to succeed. Trespass is closely related to the intrusion tort and may be claimed simultaneously. Intrusion claims against the media often centre on some aspect of the newsgathering process. This tort may involve the wrongful use of tape recorders, cameras or other intrusive equipment. Trespass also can be a form of intrusion. An actionable claim for intrusion may arise whether or not a news story is published or aired. (A photographer’s guide to privacy, 2003) Appropriation of Name, Likeness or Identity: The appropriation of a private person's name, likeness or identity by a person or company for commercial gain is prohibited under the invasion of privacy laws. However, this law pertains to a private figure and not a public figure or celebrities, who have fewer and different privacy rights. The Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 652C (1977) defines appropriation of name or likeness as follows: â€Å"One who appropriates to his own use or benefit the name or likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy. † (Bussian & Levine, 2004) Appropriation of name or likeness occurs when someone uses the name or likeness of another for their own advantage. Action for misappropriation of right of publicity protects against commercial loss caused by appropriation of an individual's personality for commercial exploitation. It gives the individual exclusive right to control the commercial value of his or her name and likeness to prevent others from exploiting that value without permission. It is similar to a trademark action with the person's likeness, rather than the trademark, being the subject of the protection. The appropriation category of invasion of privacy prevents others from using a person's name or identity for commercial gain. Ordinarily, the news media do not run afoul of this form of tort. However, seemingly harmless news coverage or advertisements can lead to lawsuits. This law came into existence from a couple of court decisions in the early 1900's where a private person's photograph was being used without consent for advertising purposes and without them receiving any monetary reward for using their pictures in print. The court recognized that the common law right to privacy including a person's identity had been violated by the unauthorized commercial use. In later cases, a person's voice was also included. Public figures, especially politicians do not have the same right to privacy as regards to appropriation of name, likeness or identity since there is much less expectation of privacy for public figures. Celebrities may sue for the appropriation of name, likeness or identity not on grounds of invasion of privacy, but rather on owning their own right to publicity and the monetary rewards (or damages) that come from using their likeness. False Light: As cited in Bussian , (2004) The Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 652E (1977) provides that: One who gives publicity to a matter concerning another that places the other before the public in a false light is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the false light in which the other was placed would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and the actor had knowledge of or acted in reckless disregard as to the falsity of the publicized matter and the false light in which the other would be placed. Creating a false image for an individual may constitute an invasion of privacy. This is an aspect of invasion of privacy that deals with untruthful publication. In this instance, the offended person is placed in a false light through misleading descriptions, confusion of the person's identity with another, fictionalization of actual events, or photographs taken out of context. Its features are: It gives an individual unreasonable and highly objectionable publicity that attributes false characteristics, conduct or beliefs to him or her. The said material must be published to a third person or publicised to a large audience or to so many persons that the matter must be regarded as substantially certain to become one of public knowledge. The invasion of privacy tort of false light is upheld in court when the plaintiff can prove that the defendant publicize the plaintiff in such as way that it would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. However, it is pertinent to note that this tort shares many similarities with libel and many courts have trouble separating the two. Public Disclosure of Embarrassing Private Facts: Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts becomes an invasion of privacy tort when the disclosure is so despicable that it becomes a matter of public concern and it outrages the public sense of decency. In this invasion of privacy tort, the information may be truthful and yet still be considered an invasion if it is not newsworthy, if the event took place in private and there was no consent to reveal the information. The Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 652D (1977) provides that: One who gives ublicity to a matter concerning the private life of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the matter publicized is of a kind that (a) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (b) is not of legitimate concern to the public. (ibid) The media can also be held accountable for damages for truthful publication. It is considered that the antisocial article or broadcast exposes to public view certain highly offensive matters that are not considered newsworthy. In order for an offended plaintiff to prevail, he must prove that the publication was: a) Extremely offensive to a reasonable person, b) And that the matters were not of legitimate concern to the public. The latter requirement may give the news media what might be called the newsworthiness defence. Though, the legal concern of the public in a matter is not presumed by the matter's publication. Thus, a plaintiff may prove that an article is lacking in newsworthiness despite its publication. Below is a good example: Case study: Publication of Embarrassing Private Facts Nollywood actress and 2005 Gulder Ultimate Search star, Anita Hogan, was reported to have lost a three-month-old pregnancy following the shock caused by the publication of her nude pictures in Daily Sun, an evening newspaper in 2006. Anita, according to her lawyer, was engaged to be married to a white man whose nude pictures were published along with hers in the Friday, August 11th edition of the newspaper. Police detectives in Lagos eventually arrested one Emeka Nwankwo, a computer engineer who allegedly circulated the shocking pictures to the media, after the actress rebuffed his alleged bid to blackmail and extort money from her over the lurid shots. The actress through her counsel explained that the computer where the controversial photos were saved developed a fault and had to be taken for repairs, from where they were allegedly stolen. The shots were said to have been taken by Anita’s fiance and stored on her personal computer. Emeka allegedly approached her to pay him N500, 000 or risk getting her pornographic pictures with the white man published in newspapers. The actress was said to have turned down the request, which she regarded as blackmail, and Emeka allegedly went ahead with his threat to circulate the pictures to media houses. A petition written by Anita’s lawyer, Mr Tony Dania of Dania and Associates, to the Deputy Commissioner of Police SCID, Lagos, actually admitted that the pictures in circulation were those of the actress but stressed that they were Anita’s private pictures with her fiance, stolen and doctored to suit the purpose of blackmail. The aforesaid publication is a criminal invasion of our client’s privacy. From the story the suspects published, it was obvious that there was blackmail and attempts to extort money from our client. They stole some of our clients’ pictures, used the computer to improvise and superimpose further images on them, called our clie nt and demanded for money. â€Å"The white man in the published pictures is a true resemblance of Anita’s fiance who works in a very decent organisation. In fact, they have done the pre-marriage formal introduction. Anita, who lost her dad recently, was actually carrying the baby of the white man, but the shock of the aforesaid inglorious publications made her to lose her pregnancy between Saturday/Sunday, August, 12, 13, 2006,† the petition alleged. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS Misappropriation: There are statutes that govern the right of publicity. These laws have two purposes: 1) To protect ordinary individuals from the mental anguish that may accompany the undesired commercial use of their name or image, and 2) To protect the property interest that celebrities develop in their identities. Under these laws the use of a relevant picture to illustrate a newsworthy article will generally not lead to liability. The unauthorized use of a celebrity’s picture in an advertisement often will. False Light: A photograph or videotape by itself will rarely place a subject in a false light. Rather, the accompanying text, caption, or voice-over could be misleading and portray the person in a false context. However, an accurate depiction of a person in a publication the person finds offensive does not, in itself, state a false light claim. Private Facts: The private facts tort presents unsettling scenario in which media practitioners may be iable for money damages for reporting the truth. In several cases the US Supreme Court has held that â€Å"where a newspaper publishes truthful information which it has lawfully obtained, punishment may lawfully be imposed, if at all, only when narrowly tailored to a state interest of the highest order. † Florida Star v. B. J. F. , 49 1 U. S. 524, 541 (1989) as cited in Bussian & Levine 2004. Although the Supreme Court has prevented states from punishing journalists who published legally obtained names of juvenile offenders and rape victims, the Court has not absolutely rejected the private facts tort in this context. Although crimes such as rape are newsworthy not all courts have agreed that the identity of a rape victim is newsworthy. Intrusion: Intrusion always comes into play through the process of gathering information. Here, the subsequent publication of the information is not required. Actions that may violate this privacy right include trespass onto private property, hidden surveillance, and the fraudulent entry into private areas. Conduct that invades privacy may also violate the criminal law. In general, courts have held that journalists must obey generally applicable laws. Trespass is the illegal entry onto private property. If the owner or person in charge of private property orders a photographer to leave, the photographer should leave or be prepared to face a trespass charge. Photographers who accompany police onto private property are not necessarily immune from liability. Camera operators should also be aware of federal and state laws that govern the taping of oral communications. The federal wiretap statute prohibits the interception of oral communications unless one party such as the journalist consents to the recording. And there have been instances where barring the taping of oral communications exist unless all parties consent to the taping. Privacy and the Internet: â€Å"The US Congress and its state legislatures across the nation have considered or are considering scores of bills aimed at reducing public concern about the ability of Internet users to protect their private lives as they surf the World Wide Web. † (Pember & Calvert, 2006). Despite the positive usage of the internet, the have been growing concern among users about the technology considering the ease with which third parties can collect data bout users and what the data collectors can do with the material they have gathered. However, the Nigerian Government have not woken from its slumber towards the direction of giving adequate protection to its citizens, properties and of course, rights. Defences available to Privacy Suits: Several defences are available to photographers and news organizations accused of invasion of privac y: Legitimate concern: defendant in a disclosure can challenge the plaintiff's proof of the basic elements of intrusion. For example, the defendant may be able to show that the facts that the defendant disclosed were matters of legitimate public concern. If a person is involved in a matter of legitimate public concern, a â€Å"newsworthy† event, the person becomes a public figure with respect to that event, regardless of the person's intentions or desires. If a person is a public official or public figure, his or her reasonable expectations of privacy are dramatically reduced. As a practical matter, a public official or public figure cannot successfully sue unless the invasion of privacy is outrageous or done with actual malice. Consent: it is a voluntary agreement to a publication or permission to enter a private place to gather information. It could be expressed or implied. Allis (2009) opines that a person who accepts money or other considerations in exchange for the invasion of privacy is said to have sold his or her â€Å"rights. † Though some defendants, such as prosecutors and government officials do have immunity if they are acting within the scope of their authority. Anything to be used in a commercial context, whether it is a photo taken in public or in private, must have consent, usually in the form of a model release. Consent must be obtained from someone who can validly give it. Consent to enter a home may not be consent to photograph it. Consent exceeded can be the same as no consent at all. Although oral consent may protect the press from liability for invasion of privacy, written consent is more likely to foreclose the possibility of a lawsuit. However, a subject’s subsequent withdrawal of consent does not bar the publication of the photograph. It simply means that the journalist may not assert consent as a defence if the subject later files suit. Cornwell (2008) sums it by saying â€Å"the more explicit the consent, the better the protection for the press. † Newsworthiness: Is generally defined as what the public is interested in. According to Wulfemeyer (2003), if a story that includes legally obtained private information that is embarrassing to the plaintiff but the subject matter is of public concern, it would be difficult for the plaintiff to win the law suit because courts give wide latitude to the newsworthiness defence. Photographs taken in public places generally are not actionable. Photographs of crimes, arrests and accidents usually are considered newsworthy and immune from privacy claims. Public places: if an event occurs in public view, they are almost always considered public and not private. Though public places defence have been considered not absolute. Public proceedings: Information obtained during public meetings, hearings or trials can be reported by a news organization. Public records: if information has been obtained from a document that is of a public record, it can not be deemed private. ETHICAL OBLIGATION Momoh (2004) opines that as a rule a journalist should respect the privacy of individuals and their families unless it affects public interest in the following ways: †¢ Information on the private life of an individual or his family should only be published if it impinges on public interest, †¢ Publishing of such information about an individual as mentioned above should be deemed justifiable only if it is directed at: 1. Exposing crime or serious misdemeanour; 2. Exposing anti – social conduct; 3. Protecting public health, morality and safety; 4. Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of the individual concerned. SUMMING UP The Right of Privacy is a good measure to check media practitioners on inappropriate media content so a news medium while carrying out its function must at all time be concerned with the welfare of its consumer. A media practitioner must ensure the accuracy of his or her information and must be ready to make corrections and clarifications when necessary after publishing or broadcasting untrue information. A media practitioner must at all time uphold the dignity of his or her profession comply with his or her professional codes and respect the human rights. A media expert must also recognise that gathering and reporting information may sometimes cause discomfort, so must seek ways to minimise the hurt. (Kayode, 2009). REFERENCES Allis. (2009). Invasion of Privacy—Appropriation. Retrieved September 19, 2009, from Lexis-Nexis database. Bussian & Levine. (2004). Invasion of Privacy: The Right â€Å"to be left alone† Retieved September 18, 2009, from Lexis-Nexis database. Cornwell, C. N. (2008). Freedom of the Press: Rights and liberties under the law. Retrieved September 18, 2009, from http://www. abc. clio. com Expectation of privacy (2002). Retrieved September 18, 2009, From http://www. wikipedia. com Folarin , B. (2005). Theories of Mass Communication: An Introductory Text. Abeokuta: Bakinfol Publication Invasion of Privacy (2003). Retrieved September 18, 2009, From http://www. winningnewsmedia. com/privacy Kayode, J. (2009). Ethics and professional practise [Record] . Lagos. Malemi, E. (2002). Mass Media Law: Cases and materials Lagos: Grace Publishing Incorporation Momoh, T . (2004). Nigerian Media Laws & Ethics Lagos : Efua Media Associates. Pember & Calvert. (2006). Mass Media Law Boston: McGraw Hill. Phtographers’ giude to Privacy (2003), Retrieved September 18, 2009, From http://www. rcfp. org Wulfemeyer, K. T. (2003). Radio & TV Newswriting: A workbook Retrieved September 19, 2009, from Lexis-Nexis database.

Psych Approach to Othello Essay

Approach of William Shakespeare’s Othello â€Å"Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness,†- Francois De La Rochefoucauld. All people have the seed of jealousy inside them. However, the doubts of one’s self help grow the seed of jealousy. Othello was never what seemed to be a jealous man but when Iago led him to believe Desdemona was being unfaithful, Othello started to show his side of jealousy which ultimately led to his self destruction. Othello’s ego is shown through his indecisive decision and the wavering of his judgement. Othello’s primal instincts take over consuming his ego and superego leading him to his downfall. Finally, Othello superego prevails in his reasonable decisions throughout the play. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello starts off as a rational and moral character. As the play progresses, Othello becomes consumed by jealousy and he deteriorates resulting in his overactive ID and superego leading to his destruction. Othello appears as a fair and reasonable character from what the audience can see. His psyche is initially balanced and he does not seem like a character that would be despicable by Iago. Initaly, Othello’s ego becomes visible when he get brought to court and Brabantio is accusing Othello of â€Å"witchcraft† on his daughter Desdemona, to make her fall in love with him. Othello reacts calmly and says â€Å"hold your hands, both you of my fight, i should have known it without a prompter. Whither will you that i go to answer this your charge. † ( Shakespeare 1. 84-86 )Through the use of words, Othello is able to communicate reason towards the court showing his prevailing ego. In addition, Othello once again reveals his ego, when he’s in the court and allows Desdemona to speak on his behalf, showing his reasonable and mature actions. Othello says, â€Å"And till she come as truly as to heaven I do confess the vices of my blood†. ( Shakespeare 1. 3 124- 125) Othello responds very reasonably as he states his opinions rather than starting an argument. Therefore displaying his ability to control his ID like qualities. Finally, before Othello kills Desdemona, he experiences self conflict as he is trying to decide weather or not to act on this murder, thus displaying his ability to decipher between good and bad. Overall Othello demonstrates his ego because no one is manipulating him in the beginning of the play Othello is his own person, and his love for Desdemona is so strong that nothing is getting in the way. However this changes when Iago starts his lies into othello. Othello started off as the character that compassion could not shake but quickly his character took a turn for the worse and an immense character change occurred. Through out the middle of the play ID has overcome his character which ultimately causes his falling point. For instance, during the last acts of the play,Othello slaps Desdemona and says, â€Å"devil†¦. if that the earth could teem with women’s tears, each drop she falls would prove a crocodile. Out of my slight. â€Å"(Shakespeare 4. 1 231- ) His character looks horrific and this kind of violence was frown upon. Othello striking Desdemona shows his ID like qualities coming out and not being able to control his anger at all times. Towards the end of Othello, after he questions Emilia on Desdemona’s loyalty, Othello says to Desdemona, â€Å"oh, ay as summer flies are in the shambles, That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed, who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet that the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born! † ( Shakespeare 4. 2 69-73 ) Othello is stating that Desdemona is unfaithful and wishes she was never born, nonetheless Othello has lost all of his moral and values through his desires caused by Iago. In addition, Iago dominates over Othello’s psyche creating an ID behaviour by informing the idea that othello should kill his innocent wife. After Iago tells him about Cassio using the handkerchief this prevailed othello into killing him own naive wife, † get me some poison Iago this night, ill not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovided my mind- this night Iago†. (Shakespeare 4. 1 194-196) This demonstrates the ID behaviour for the reason that his desire overpowers his voice of restraint ultimately leading to him killing desdemona. Othello’s id is fuelled by Iago since his reputation and needs to not be seen as a fool are eventually more important to him than his own wife. In the last sense on the play Othello’s ID developed even stronger into an overactive Id this is shown when othello walks into the room when Desdemona is sleeping in her wedding sheets. Othello begins to speak to himself to justify his reason to preform an immoral action, † it is the cause, it is the cause my soul â€Å". ( Shakespeare 5. 2 1 ) Othello reputation is more essential to him because he is well liked in Cyprus ultimately leading him to killing Desdemona. Overall, Othello’s ID grew stronger as Iago fabrications became more believable and forced upon him. Othello’s strong conscience and internalized moral standards begin to take over Othello’s ego and ID which results into his downfall. His sense of morals are processed in the play when his voice of restraint becomes predominate over his desires and reputation. This is seen in the beginning of the play when Othello removes Cassio’s rank in cyprus. â€Å"†¦ Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Cassio. Cassio I love thee, but never more be office of mine† ( Shakespeare 2. 3. 26-28), this is demonstrating his super ego because there is a slight voice of restraint when he says † i love thee†. In particular this proves his superego because although Cassio’s status is important it is the friendship between Cassio and himself that makes him feel guilt. Eventually this leads to his superego becoming more existent when Iago begins to plot that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Othello begins to believe it however, he demands proof showing his sense of right from wrong, â€Å"†¦.. i think that thou art just and think thou art not, ill have some proof† (Shakespeare 3. 3 392-394 ). His superego is shown because he is demonstrating that he has a sense of morals by telling Iago he will not believe it until he has proof. Although there might be slight truth on what Iago is saying he still believes his wife is faithful unless Iago provides him with the proof he needs because ultimately he does not want to believe that his wife would do such a thing. After killing his wife Desdemona, Othello realizes that he will never have her back again, he can’t regain his ego which ultimately leads to his suicide. Before committing suicide othello states, â€Å"†¦. of one that loved not wisely, but to well. Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme. Of one whose hand†. ( Shakespeare 5. 360-363) This eventually demonstrates his overactive superego because finally knowing the truth about Iago’s lies developed a heavy guilt leading to his death. His superego becomes predominant over the others which is eventually grown as a neurosis. Othello’s overactive superego is ultimately shown through his guilt of killing his wife since he now knows the truth of Iagoà ¢â‚¬â„¢s evil schemes. In the final analysis of William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello starts of as a rational and moral character but as the play progresses his ID and superego result in his own destruction. Othello begins to be consumed by jealousy which ultimately leads to his decline within himself. In the beginning of the play Othello’s ego since is able to balance out his ID and superego. As the play continues on Othello’s ID becomes essential to him through Iago’s unethical lies, however at the end of the play it is his overactive superego and guilt that leads to his suicide. William Shakespeare is trying to state that those who have an ego and are able to withhold themselves will ultimately be okay, but if individual allows others to manipulate them it will lead to a downfall within one, this is proven in Othello.

Analysis of the diaper market

Analysis of the diaper market Baby diaper market has been growing at a nominal rate for some time now. Declining birth rates in the developed world has adversely affected the diaper manufacturers’ ability to expand their businesses. As per data provided by Euromonitor International, birth rates among the developed nations have declined by almost 20% during the last 30 years and are now only half the global average. The global market for diapers was worth $22.2 billion, a 2.9% increase YOY. However, the major markets of Western Europe, the U.S. and Japan posted nominal decline. As a result, companies like Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark are relying more on innovation to their rescue. This has also been a major contributor of success for P&G in the past few years. The new found focus is the developing country markets, from which 40% of global diaper revenue is derived. Markets such as China and Russia are providing brands with excellent opportunities for longer term growth. It is also worthwhile to noti ce the trend in the developed markets towards greener products as shown in the chart below Diaper Market in Developing Country There is huge growth potential for these products in emerging markets such as China, Brazil and India, as these markets are still quite underdeveloped and new. For example, China is world’s most rapidly developing nation. While it has taken developed Western economies some time to realise the environmental price of their development this is not the case for today’s emerging nations. In this case even the global recession will enable China to have more time to better make arrangements for considering more sustainable and greener options for its growth. Middle-class consumers are at the forefront of environmental awareness as the environmental consequences of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in countries such as China and India are becoming increasingly apparent Also in countries such as India, the Philippines and Malaysia, levels of cons umer awareness regarding hygiene products are very still very low. Indian Diaper Market In 2009, manufacturers have been now more focused on more categories such as disposable nappies/diapers. With the increasing buying power of Indian consumers, companies are looking for options which are more convenient and safe to use for the children. Increase in awareness about hygiene is a big factor for thus development. Some of the major development last year is as follows: Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Ltd introduced Pampers Magic Nickers Kimberly-Clark Lever Ltd introduced Huggies New Born, a product specifically targeting the mothers of new born babies. With increasing awareness regarding the advantages of using the use of disposable nappies/diapers over cloth substitutes, Indian parents are now spending more on purchasing such products which in turn led to an increase in sales value for the manufacturers. Convenience has been one of the driving factors in this change. Even in ti er 2 towns and cities, parents are willing to spend money on disposable nappies/diapers to use when the baby is taken out of the home, for added convenience. Also as babies get older, some young mothers look to go back to work. This encouraged the use of nappies/diapers, as they are more convenient, and they do not need to spend time washing cloth nappies. Also, as babies become more active, and nappies are a more comfortable and hygienic alternative to cloth nappies. However currently the majority of the sales is restricted to customers in urban India. So the penetration rate of disposable nappies/diapers has been increasing, as more young parents are finding it convenient to switch from cloth nappies to disposable nappies.

Henry the first and henry the second Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Henry the first and henry the second - Essay Example Henry also initiated many reforms by appointing officials who administered justice impartialy and sought to restrict the abuse of power by local barons. He won the praise of the local population for his propotionate use of justice to curb the power by the nobility. His era is also marked by peace with the Church which was in dispute during the reign of his brother. Henry also married from the old English nobility which was a major step towards the unification of English and Norman people. King Henry II was another famous king of England who presided over many political, legal and religious reforms during his time period. One of his reforms was to curb the power of rebellious barons who had created their own castles and refused to provide military assistance to the King. Henry II also initiated the royal control of the church. He also strove to create a fairer legal system which would administer justice for the common people. This paper studies the legal and political reforms of both Kings. Finally the paper contrasts the reforms of these Kings. Henry I ascended the throne of England in 1100 after defeating his elder brother, Robert Curthose in 1106. He initiated many legal and political reforms which transformed England. He passed the Charter of Liberties which restricted the monarch in his dealings with the church and nobility. The charter rectified many abuses which were perpetrated during the time period of William Rufus, the previous monarch. This charter reduced the number of taxes imposed on the barons in order to prevent them from being rebellious1. Other abuses were the crimes of simony which was making profits out of sacred things. The Charter of Liberties also addressed the issue of pluralism in which land was gifted to priests and bishops for the services that they had rendered for the church2. Henry developed an effective and efficient bureaucracy which would rule and operate the kingdom in

Online classes in the University of Dubai Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Online classes in the University of Dubai - Essay Example However, the demand for online degrees is dominant method of attaining knowledge in the world. Online degrees acquired from accredited universities are valuable as a degrees obtained from a campus. The University of Dubai should start offering accredited online courses in collaboration with other international institutions to allow students and working adults attain higher education in a convenient and flexible manner in line with the global education demands. However, the collaboration with other international institutions to offer online courses may expose most students to substandard and unaccredited academic programs since some overseas institutions do not meet the strict conditions for offering online courses in the UAE, which leads to the offering of untestable degrees to unsuspecting students (Swan 1). Indeed, the UAE government has been issuing warnings about substandard and unaccredited degrees where they request the students to confirm with the Ministry before registering for online studies since the ministry does not recognize online courses offered by overseas institutions (Swan 1). After all, the Ministry has established strict conditions for online study in the UAE, which include supervision by a UAE cultural attachà © or embassy staff thus complicating the process of offering online courses in UAE. As such, starting online courses will be a complicated and expensive case for UD that may jeopardize the university’s q uest to offer the  highest standards  in higher education. There are numerous economic hardships in Dubai where potential students focus on professional and personal activities to improve their lives. In fact, many students are either working part time or full time and thus cannot afford energy or time to devotedly study in a semester-like routine applied in the University of Dubai (GCC Scholarships 1). As such, although such students and working

Florence County School district vs. Carter 1993 Research Paper

Florence County School district vs. Carter 1993 - Research Paper Example require better learning opportunities designed according to their needs, and they have the right to get this education from the public sector schools. These issues consequently made the Congress to pass an act in 1975 which is known as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This act assured that all the children, no matter what learning disability they have, are permitted to receive free and appropriate public education. Shannon Carter was a student in the 9th grade at Timmonsville High School in Florence County School, South Carolina. This was the time when her parents were told that their daughter would not be given education in a special education classroom, as she was suffering from dyslexia, rather she would be introduced in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) which would be in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Shannon was way behind her peers in education. When she entered high school, her reading ability was at the 5th grade level. The Individualized Education Program promised that by the end of the year she would be reading on level 5.8, as her current level was5.4, it meant that Shannon would make four months progress in reading after a complete year. This confirmed the fact that she would be left further behind her class mates. This was rather not acceptable to her parents, Mr. & Mrs. Carter. They wanted her child’s reading skills to be on the gr ade level by graduation. The Carters requested the school authorities to take more intensive and concentrated program for Shannon, but the school refused to do so. They requested the authorities a special education due process hearing. There, the parents of Shannon Carter demanded funding for Trident Academy, a school that specialized in imparting education to children with language learning disabilities. But the hearing officer did not accept the Carters request. He was sure that the IEP was the best option for the child and it was rightly designed to meet her

"The Graduate" And "Bonnie and Clyde" Assignment

"The Graduate" And "Bonnie and Clyde" - Assignment Example To make the matter worse, the parents who are funnily involved in infidelity issues are married with children. This production would not have exposed infidelity this much owing to the fact that â€Å"The Graduate† movie targets a larger audience. "Bonnie and Clyde" movie unethically presents a rare reflection of the full range of human life. Movies should ethically be produced as per human nature reflection as in most cases they target human society as the general viewers. "Bonnie and Clyde" movie contemplates human life presentation as a movie revolving around pitiless cruelty, which emerges as an irritant to the audience. This film aimlessly portrays un-forgiveness at this time we are living. Clyde walked into the bank with a major aim of robbery together with the Barrow Gang (Whitehead 23). This movie, through the Borrow Gang, reveals the epitome of violence in American history of exploitation in the mass media production for the first time. The violence and unethical nature of â€Å"Bonnie and Clyde† movie does not make it be grouped as an ideal movie to watch in the contemporary

Research suggests that those organisations downsizing can reduce the Essay

Research suggests that those organisations downsizing can reduce the likelihood of psychological contract violation by ensuring - Essay Example Cooper, Pandey and Campbell, (2012) asserts that today downsizing of employees is perceived to be part of most companies working life. This is as a result of cost cutting and the need to become accustomed to the current changing demands in the market. Most organizations have continually faced steep fall in their revenues and even sales considering the rate and intensity of economic crisis that started in 2007. Hence, most companies had to downsize their employees as one of the ways to reduce on cost. On the other hand, companies conduct downsizing as a component of a wide workforce strategy intended to support business overall plan. Layoff is perceived as being one of the tools utilized to improve the performance of an organization. As for those in the managerial positions, they perceive this as being an opportunity to improve company’s alertness both in the short term and long-term. This is possible only through designed and targeted coaching, and transformation. This essayâ €™s first paragraph consists of psychological contract definitions. The focus here will also be and the impact on individual’s behavior in the organization. The second paragraph focuses on the expectations and perception of both the employer and the employee. In addition to this, it also consists of employee attitude. The third paragraph focuses on a situation where employees are forced leave the organization due to job loss. Employment relationship comprises of various beliefs between an employer and an employee. It mainly concern what the two parties expect from each other. This is also known as psychological contract. Psychological contract is mainly termed as being an agreement that is informal and is between an employee and an employer. The expectation and beliefs involved are not written and are mainly held by both the employee and the employer. Psychological contract exists in all the categories of employment that include; full time, part time, contract work and ev en temporary. It presents proper framework that helps in appreciating and supervising the behavior of an employee. According to Petersitzke (2009), psychological contract is a deal that is open-ended and consists of expectations of an individual and an organization. The expectation consists of what both parties will have to give and what they get in return from the relationship. Over time various expectations arises as the views develop regarding employers dedication. Psychological contract has its foundation on trust and thoughtfulness and varies among the employees. It is based on social exchange theory. This theory clearly highlights that the basis of individual relationships are on the assessment of individual cost benefit and review of other options. In psychological contract, the costs mainly involve time and effort. The benefits on the other hand are; financial achievement, social class and other benefits emotionally that include; job contentment or sense of reason. Cost bene fit analysis result is evaluated with possible alternatives that include one’s accessibility to other available jobs and obstacles to departing from the present job. Hence, the agreement between the two parties focuses on various aspects both social and emotional. The perception of an employee towards employer’s observance of psychological contract greatly influences work and plan to stay in a given organization. Fair treatment of employees and appreciating their work boosts productivity and continuity in a given company. This is

His202 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

His202 - Essay Example This movement aimed at destroying the political power of the saloons’ based local bosses. It promoted suffrage of women to a more pure female voting in the arena. The activists involved in this movement came together to reform the local government. During that period, corruption during made politics a very dark activity and the nation responded by having a progressive movement. The cities were overcrowded with very many laborers who were very poor as a result of very poor working conditions. There were growing issues or challenges such as very fast economic changes and social changes which resulted from the revolution in industries in the entire America. This movement established itself outside the government and later on forced the whole entire government to take control and deal with the vital challenges facing America. This movement started in the year 1896 and this was before America entered into the World War 1 which commenced in the year 1917. The people in the middle class social ladder and supporters such the lawyers, business persons, teachers, ministers and physicians were the main people where the movement drew its support from. The people namely the progressives who were the activists supported scientific methods of operating the economy. These scientific methods involved applied economics, schooling, theology, education, finance, industry and the families also. The progressives felt that this way of operation was the best and more efficient and saved on time unlike the traditional way of operation which was a waste of time and a ground for inefficiency. The commitment of the progressives focused on changing the manner in which the state operated, changing the society’s lifestyle and finally improving the economy. Investigative journalists also referred to as Muckrakers type of journalists were among the people who helped in making the movement a success were. Muckrakers were those journalist who

Labour Law Group Project ( ADCO ) + WorkSheet + Case Study Assignment

Labour Law Group Project ( ADCO ) + WorkSheet + Case Study - Assignment Example ployment contract with no ‘Probation Period’ but 30 days annual leave, monthly salary of aed 35,000 Free Accommodation and Annual Tickets for Bob, his wife and 2 kids. First of all, ASCONCO must deal with the immigration authorities and ensure that they secure a valid permit for Bob to stay and work in the UAE. After that, the contract ought to be in writing and it must show the commencement date of Bob’s employment and termination date, which will be 3 years from the current period. The wages payable, which is AED 35,000 and other benefits including accommodation and ticket must be stated on the face of the contract. The nature of contract, which is a fixed contract must be disclosed. This will also include the nature of work to be carried out by Bob, the duration and location of employment. This should be signed by Bob and a representative of ASCONCO, which could be Abulaziz or a person in a sufficiently high position and lodged with the labour office at the Ministry. They could fill out a standard form which will be in English or Arabic which is available at the Ministry. However, if they draft their own agreement which has terms they have prescribed, (1) the terms must not be contrary to UAE laws, particularly the Labour Law and it must be in Arabic only before being filed at the labour office. Once this is done, the contract between ASCONCO and Bob is valid. Abulaziz will not need to make an immigration application in the name of ASCONCO for Bob. He will also not need to put the employment contract in writing. This means that he can orally tell Noura that she is hired and there will be a valid employment contract. In terms of enforceability, forms of employment that are not written ought to be in a form that can be proven. Therefore, Noura will need to show evidence of her employment and all the relevant features including remuneration and other terms of the employment. However, the key difference is that it could be unwritten whilst Bob’s contract

The Power of Persuasion Essay Example for Free

The Power of Persuasion Essay I. â€Å"If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.† These are wise words spoken by Benjamin Franklin, whom we all know for his roles in American History as a writer, scientist and politician. II. In this quote, Benjamin Franklin speaks of how to persuade. But why would it be important to know how to persuade? III. I always have to ask my child to pick up his toys after he done playing with them and my husband to take out the trash. Of course, they never want to do it so I must persuade them into doing so. At some point in life, we all have to persuade someone into doing something. IV. Tonight, I will tell you about the how powerful persuasion is, techniques for persuasion, how to not be persuaded. Body I. One could say that most of the things that people do, they do them on their own free will. Up to certain point this is true; many individuals act and do things based upon their needs and wants, others need to be persuaded, or if you will, motivated into doing something. a.Persuasion is a skill that most business people such as, marketers, salespeople and advertisers must have or acquire in order to succeed in today’s business world. b.For example, a company like launches a new line of hair care products that promise to do wonders for your hair, but you have been using a type of shampoo and conditioner for as long as you can remember, because it works for your hair. c. You have developed brand loyalty for these products and probably you wouldn’t think of changing to a new line of products. d. But this company’s campaign and offers of free samples for you to try are so alluring that you decide to try and after trying you decide to switch. e.You have not only been persuaded to change products, but your perception of the products you used for years has also changed. (Transition: This case illustrates one of the â€Å"six basic tendencies of human behavior that Robert B. Cialdini mentions In his article â€Å"The Science of Persuasion†, published in the Scientific America: Mind magazine in 2001.) II. The following tendencies play an important role in the decision making process of an individual and lead to the use of persuasion techniques based on each of them are: a.Reciprocation: one could also refer to this as â€Å"quid pro quo† or â€Å"this for that.† Most individuals agree to do or contribute to a number of things if they see a profit or a benefit from it in most cases, in other cases they might do it just for goodwill. Technique: Free samples at food stores, free at home inspections from exterminators, free workout sessions with gym membership. Customers are exposed to the product or service and also indebted. b.Consistency: â€Å"public commitments, even seemingly minor ones, direct future actions.† Technique: Restaurants ask customers who make reservations to call and cancel if they have a change of plans. This simple request asks the customers to make a public commitment. c.Social validation: society has also an impact on an individual’s actions and decisions, because actions and tendencies that have a positive impact in society are most likely to be replicated. Technique: A fund raiser shows home owners a list of the neighbors that contributed to the building of a new library; the longer the list, the greater the effect. d.Liking: â€Å"people prefer to say yes to those they like† Whether a product, an individual or an organization, individuals tend to act and make decisions upon what they like. Technique: Companies that offer at home parties like Tupperware, Mary Kay and Pampered Chef are a success because people buy from a familiar person â€Å"a liked friend† rather than an unknown salesperson. e.Authority: â€Å"we usually want the opinions of true authorities. Their insights help us choose quickly and well.† One could say that this tendency goes hand to hand with social validation and recognition. The opinions of those who have dedicated years to study and explore a specific filed often influence an individual’s decision. Technique: Phrases like â€Å"Four out of five doctors recommend†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Dentists’ favorite toothpaste†¦Ã¢â‚¬  attempt to harness the power of authority. f.Scarcity: â€Å"a great deal of evidence shows that items and opportunities become more desirable to us as they become unavailable† Technique: Often in store one sees â€Å"limited time† and â€Å"limited supplies† offers but in most of these occasions, this is nothing more than a marketing strategy. (Transition: These tendencies and techniques can persuade individual into doing or acquiring a number of things.) II. Unfortunately, there are some people who use unethical persuasion techniques. Some of these are: a. The â€Å"by all means necessary† approach to obtain the results they want; they usually violate businesses ethic codes. b.An example of these are the well known pyramid scheme, vapor advertising (advertising of a product that does not exist) and scams, all of these are based upon making individuals buy or commit to do things they wouldn’t normally buy or do. c.Another well known form of persuasion is â€Å"peer pressure.† d.It is possible that at some point in one’s life, one has done something due to peer pressure. e.This is commonly seen among high school and college students where one of the needs of the students is to be liked and socially recognized on campus. f.It can also be seen within organization; among employees. g.A moderate amount of peer pressure can be beneficiary for an individual when it motivates the individuals to act toward becoming a better student, employee, or just a better person in general. h.Peer pressure can be dangerous when the only goal is to be socially accepted; in this case most individuals would do â€Å"whatever it takes† to be accepted. Conclusion Persuasion is a powerful tool that can be used to motivate individuals to do good things for society and for themselves, but it can also be used to do harm. Based on the tendencies upon which people act and make decisions, it is up to the individual to determine when and how they allow themselves to be persuaded, because as strong and powerful as persuasion can be, there is also another powerful tool that individuals tend to lean on when they have to make a decision and that is intuition.

Whose Reality Essay Essay Example for Free

Whose Reality Essay Essay The brain is a crucible: a melting pot of intersecting ingredients that forges a reality that is de- ceptively the same, but often vastly different for each individual. That reality is a construct is a fashionable term these days; it means that we tend to see reality from a particular frame of reference. There is always a context, whether it be political, social or cultural. For those who are unable to construct a satisfactory reality, it is then that they are forced to create an alterna- tive reality, perhaps that fulfils their dreams and meets their views and values. In the words of cognitive neuropsychologist Kaspar Meyer, â€Å"what is now clear is that the brain is not a stimulus-driven robot that directly translates the outer world into a conscious experi- ence. What we’re conscious of is what the brain makes us be conscious of, and in the absence of incoming signals, bits of memories tucked away can be enough for a brain to get started with†. Reality for each individual differs according to their past experiences and memories, as well as what they choose to perceive to be true. Those with weaker frames of minds such as individuals suffering from mental disorders, or solely living under delusion tend to create alternative realities in order to escape the harsh truth. Consider the materialism of the post-war United States. Motivated by prosperity and wealth, all Americans were expected to achieve the profound ‘American Dream’, of which Arthur Miller critiques throughout his play ‘Death of a Salesman’. The play’s lead character Willy Loman struggles to face the true reality, but instead, chooses to believe he is leading the life he had always dreamt of. Willy believes himself to be the best salesman of his company, claiming he is â€Å"well liked† by all, and â€Å"vital in New England†, when in fact, his true reality proves to be quite the opposite. Willy struggles to pay his mortgage, as well as fails to support and provide for his family. Despite his favourite son Biff finding the words to call him out to be what he truly is â€Å"(a) fake†¦ (a) big phoney fake† and â€Å"a dime a dozen†, Willy remains ignorant towards the truth. Willy’s alternative reality provides him with the motivation to continue his life, despite the loss of his job and loss of respect from Biff. Alternative realities provide tem- porary relief from the harsh truth of reality, which is sometimes necessary for those who are considered mentally weak. It is often easier to support the alternative realities created by the mentally weak. Due to their mental state, disregarding what they believe to be true can carry several consequences. In ‘Death of a Salesman’, Willy’s wife Linda remains supportive throughout her husband’s delu- sion. He claims she is his â€Å"foundation (and) support†, which is simply conforming to the ex- pected role of a 1950’s housewife. Another example includes the 2010 movie directed by Mar- tin Scrosese titled ‘Shutter Island’, which clearly highlights the importance of accepting the al- ternative realities created by the mentally weak. The film’s protagonist Teddy Daniels believes himself to be a U. S marshal assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Bos- tons Shutter Island mental institution. However, in true fact, Teddy is actually Andrew Laed- dis, one of the institution’s most dangerous patients they have because of his delusions and his violence towards the staff and the other patients. Andrew (or Teddy’s) delusion created an alternative reality in which he was able to escape the truth about his murderous past. In order to support his alternative reality, the staff at the institution developed a scenario in which Andrew was able to live out his delusion, therefore preventing the otherwise dangerous psychological effects of his true nature. If An- drew was in fact exposed to his true reality rather than living as his alter ego, he may have not been able to survive, hence proving the importance of supporting a mentally weak individual’s alternative reality. Alternative realities may not always be negative. In these cases, the alternative reality protects the individual from harm or negative attention due exposing their true self. Consider the death of Whitney Houston, or the even more recent Robin Williams. Despite their true reality con- sisting of depression and substance abuse, these two renowned celebrities developed and maintained an alternative reality to allow others to portray them as role models and success- ful artists. In the case of Robin Williams, his severe depression led to his suicide. As a come-dian and successful actor, Williams was perceived by the majority to be a motivated happy man. In true fact, despite working to ensure other people were laughing, he was diagnosed with severe depression, to the point where he eventually took his own life. Robin William’s al- ternative reality forced others to see him as he was not, but without the negative attention of showing who he really was. In Whitney Houston’s case, despite her perception as an iconic successful singer, her alternative reality consisted of a cocaine addiction to the point where she drowned in a hotel bathtub. Following their deaths, the public was finally made aware of who they truly were, regardless of what we had previously perceived them to be. Alternative realities such as these can be crucial to ensure happiness and satisfaction for the individual, without highlighting their true selves to the world. Those who are mentally weak tend to create alternative realities in order to avoid their true selves. Whether they are living within a delusion such as Willy Loman or suffering from a mental condition such as Andrew Laeddis, (otherwise known as Teddy), alternative realities may be beneficial for the individual, however difficult for others to accept. Due to individual differences in realities due to social, emotional, cultural and political factors, each person must construct a reality that is most suitable for their views and values, even if that results in alter- native realities being created. In the words of author Mignon McLaughlin, â€Å"a critic can only re- view the book he has read, not the one in which the author wrote†, and therefore we cannot judge an individual’s choice of reality or alternative realities without experiencing it ourselves first hand.

Un Chien Andalou Experimental Movie Film Studies Essay

Un Chien Andalou Experimental Movie Film Studies Essay Bunuel explains that historically the film represents a violent reaction against what in those days was called avant-garde, which was aimed exclusively at artistic sensibility and the audiences reason. In Un Chien andalou the film maker for the first time takes a position on a poetic- moral plane. His object is to provoke instinctive reactions of disgust and attraction in the spectator. He also says that nothing in the film symbolizes anything. The premise for the ideas from the film comes from two dreams, one by Luis Bunuel and one by Salvador Dali. Therefore in a dream-like sequence a womans eye is slit open, juxtaposed with a similarly shaped cloud obscuring the moon moving in the same direction as the knife through the eye, to grab the audiences attention. The French phrase ants in the palms, shown as text on the screen literally, this is meant to show the mans urge to kill the woman, as the phrase means itching to kill. This is based on Dalis dream. A man pulls a piano along with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a dead donkey towards the woman hes itching to kill. Shots of striped objects are repeatedly being used to different connect scenes. The film is an intense amalgam of modernist material drawn from a wider variety of cultural sources. It also includes amalgamates of the aesthetics of Surrealism with Freudian discoveries. It simply answers the general idea of that, which defines Surrealism as an unconscious, psychic automatism, able to return to the mind its real function, outside of all control exercised by reason, morality or aesthetics. The narrative of the film is not continuous, there are non-real jumps in time and space, which make the characters doubt, retract and repeat themselves very much like in a dream and time is non- linear. Surrealist artists used film as a medium because it gave visual expression to their words and ideas and seemed to be closest to dream imagery. The film begins in the present, moves to 8 years later, then 3am, then 16 years before, and finally ends in spring. A very rich and individual cinematographic language is revealed by the use of angles, optical, focus, transitions and also the alternation of long-shots and close-ups. The events that happen are not possible in our everyday reality, for example ants coming out of the palm of the mans hand. Two completely unrelated objects and ideas come together and create a never seen before new idea. Like in the opening of the film, when the womans/ cows eye is slit it was Dalis and Bunuels interest to shock the audience and make them question their own reality and by doing so creating a new one. Man Ray mixed poetry and film to create the cinà ©poà ¨me. He used the same concept as Dali and Bunuel by using completely different and unrelated ideas and objects to create a new reality. An example of a cinà ©poà ¨me is Man Rays Etoile de mer (Starfish), a poem by Robert Desnos, which Man Ray interpreted through film. The film also involved innovative shots and camera angles, such as glimpses through church glass,which created a distorted, unclear view of the scene. Sigmund Freuds influence on European intellectuals resulted in automatic writing and the interests in the dream world. Salvador Dalà ­ in particular set out to simulate mental disturbance with his paranoiac-critical method. These interests manifested themselves in explorations of the illlusionistic rendering of the dream world. Surrealists were tying to challenge bourgeois values and saw themselves as revolutionaries valuing destruction as a way of clearing the ideological landscape. Bunuels film made a key link between surrealism and Freudianism, by revealing the cinema as the true metaphor of the dream state. Atheistic, Dionysian, rebellious and revolutionary, the Surrealist movement thrived on the paradox of filling the moral, ethical and religious vacuum left in the wake of the First World War with another void of guiltness, sinless liberty. As a resolution of World War One the political atmosphere in the 1920s was shaky. The failure of postwar treaties, the economic disaster and the failure of the League of Nations to keep the peace, made it possible for opposing forces to once again emerge. The totalitarian regimes of several European countries used this tenuous ground to grow in the 1920s and 1930s. Benito Mussolini emerged as the head of the fascist regime in Italy which was derived from a staunch nationalism. Joseph Stalin gained control of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union in 1929 and Adolf Hitler in Germany by building the National Socialist German Workers Party into a mass political movement. The questions left from the aftermath of World War One were in need of an intellectual answer. Instead of rejecting everything, as Dada espoused, Surrealism sought a way to improve the society in which it was entrenched. While Dada was a primary rebellion of the individual against art, morality, and society based on chance and with nihilistic intent, Surrealism was based on hope. While Surrealism tended to create instead of destroy, Dada was against everything. Not only in art and literature Surrealism was a ground breaking movement, but also in politics. The strongest years of Surrealism were between1924-38, and these were in many ways characterized by political actions. Breton founded La Rà ©volution surrà ©aliste in 1925 as the voice of Surrealism . By the end of the War, many future Surrealists joined the Dada movement. They believed that the government systems had led them into the war and they insisted that it was better not to have a government, also that the irrational was preferable to the rational in art, all of life, and the civilization. A dream-logic, chance, superstition, coincidence, absurdity and challenging orientation was favoured by the surrealists. They also aimed to recreate links between primal thoughts and emotions in order to recast human needs away from materialism, mass culture and social order towards immersion in the revolutionary hagiography of mankinds dark side. http://lunar-circuitry.net/wordpress/?cat=160 http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1129727 http://www.wasistwas.de/aktuelles/reportage-HYPERLINK http://www.wasistwas.de/aktuelles/reportage-film/filmlexikon/artikel/link//e5d323f0b8/article/lexikon-experimentalfilm.htmlfilm/filmlexikon/artikel/link//e5d323f0b8/article/lexikon-experimentalfilm.html http://www.cinematica.org/archives/u/un_chien_andalou.htm http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Moritz1920sAb.htm Surrealists used all media were to create art or poetic acts. One of the main goals of Surrealism was to force the viewer/reader out of his or her everyday reality to see a new, surreality filled with the potential of changing the world into a place of beauty, love, and freedom, away from the harsh truths of European politics and the control of the bourgeoisie. characteristic of the middle class, especially in being materialistic or conventional. Bourgeois: (in Marxist contexts) capitalist. Freudian: relating to or influenced by the Austrian psychotherapist Sigmund Freud (18561939) and his methods of psychoanalysis. susceptible to analysis in terms of unconscious thoughts or desires: a Freudian slip. Hagiography the writing of the lives of saints. a biography idealizing its subject. Le Cinà ©ma, des origines à   nos jours; prà ©face par Henri Fescourt.

Camaro Essay -- Automobiles Chevrolet Camaros Essays

Camaro The name â€Å"Camaro† came from a French word for friend. The decision on the name came down to the last minute, with most of the world sure the car would be named, â€Å"The Panther.† Although the strange name had to be explained to the public, Camaro fit in with other Chevy names- Corvette, Chevelle, Chevy 2, and Corvair. The main reason the Camaro was introduced was because of the huge success of the Ford Mustang. The Camaro was roughly the same size as the Mustang, a little wider and based more on performance. The Camaro is one of the last remaining muscle cars still in production today. It is only fitting that buyers still expect maximum performance from their Camaros. It is that expectation that has kept the Camaro alive for all these years, while many other cars have faded away, lost in memory. The Mustang GT only only offered the 289- cubic inch or an 390- cubic inch V8 in 1967. The Camaro rolled out with 302, 327, 350, and 396 cubic inch V8’s (Camaro 14) The Camaro’s style was much smoother as well. The introduction of the Camaro threw pony car development into a frenzy. Before the Camaro, the Mustang and Barracuda were not quite considered full muscle cars. Most serious performance enthusiasts still opted for intermediate sized GTO’s or the Chevelle Super Sports (SS). The Camaro changed the image of those sport coupes. (Camaros, Eric Ethan) The Z28 and the stout SS-396 were more than just a stylish ride. Under the hood Camaros were well respected. Such respect helped establish the Camaro as the premier high-performance pony car. Camaro sales increased each year form 1967-1969. To this day, these Camaros are the favorite among enthusiasts. The Camaro brings a bad-boy image to the street and the track. The car has always been based on racing even when the Camaro was not officially involved. â€Å"It’s at home drag racing, and racing away from convenience stores after hold-ups. Because of this, media has given the Camaro a bad boy reputation.†(American Muscle Cars, 47) 1969 saw several noteworthy changes to the Camaro. The grill became deeper set, the taillamps were longer and thinner and broken into three segments. A heavy "eye-brow" crease was added on the both sides of the car extending from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well. A matching crease went from the rear wheel well to the rear quarter panel. Endura rubbe... ...white was perhaps better suited to the older cars, but the look was still striking. Chevrolet even revived the interior with 30th anniversary logos. White wheels added to the effect. 1998 was a big year for the Camaro. It received a major refreshening with body upgrades including a new front fascia, a new hood, composite reflector headlamps, and new fenders. The 1998 model also received chassis upgrades, a new 4-wheel disc brake system and a new anti-lock brake system (ABS). But the biggest upgrade was the all new LS1 V8 engine for the Camaro Z28. This new engine produces 335 horsepower. That’s more than twice the standard horsepower offered in the 1982 Z28, to shine a little perspective on the state of modern high-performance. Although most Camaros sold through the years have not been performance models, it is still the image and reputation of the various Super Sports, Z28’s, Pace Cars, and IROC-Zs that have defined the Camaro and kept the car in the public eye. While other car fashions have changed, Camaro buyers still want powerful V8s driving the real wheels, preferably with a manual transmission between the two. Given the opportunity, they will buy performance.

Production History of Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot Essay

Production History of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Samuel Beckett was forty-two years old and living in post-war Paris when he wrote Waiting for Godot as an exercise to help rid himself of the writer's block which was hindering his work in fiction. Once he started, he became increasingly absorbed in the play, and scribbled it almost without hesitation into a soft-cover notebook in a creative burst that lasted from October 9, 1948, until he completed the typed manuscript on January 29, 1949. After some revision, he offered the script to several producers, but it was refused. Although Beckett himself gave up hope with the script, his wife was more persistent, and, acting as his agent, she continued to approach producers. Finally, she met with actor/producer/director Roger Blin, who had produced a string of four under-funded and under-attended productions of Synge and Strindberg. Blin was immediately delighted with the piece. Unfortunately, money to produce the play was difficult to come by. Years passed betwee n the writing and the actual production of the work. In the meanwhile, while Blin continued to search for backers, he worked with Beckett to flesh out the play in choosing costuming (Beckett had only envisioned the bowler hats), style, and movement. Blin never asked Beckett to analyze the play, noting that "The play struck me as so rich and unique in its nudity that it seemed to me improper to question the author about its meaning." Instead, Blin worked almost instinctively through the three years of sporadic rehearsals. Casting was difficult; even though he was quite certain of his choices, contracts were only drawn up a few weeks before opening. Of necessity he ended up playing the part ... ...ted in Esslin 2-3)    Although it took much of the world a little longer than these inmates to recognize the value of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, there is no doubt that it is now considered a classic. It has been translated into numerous languages, and according to Bair, into more editions than Beckett could recall, far more than all his other plays combined. Waiting for Godot is the play that will continue building his reputation for many years to come. Sources Cited Bair, Deirdre. "Samuel Beckett," in British Dramatists Since World War II . Ed. Stanley Weintraub. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark, 1982, pp. 52-70. Cohn, Ruby. "Growing (Up?) with Godot," in Beckett at 80/Beckett in Context . Ed. Enoch Brater. New York: Oxford, 1986, pp. 13-24. Esslin, Martin.   The Theatre of the Absurd . Rev. ed. Garden City: Anchor, 1969.

Free Essays - The Themes of Oedipus the King (Rex) :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The Themes of Oedipus the King In the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, two themes appear; one that humans have little control of their lives because fate always catches up with them and the theme that when someone makes a mistake, they will have to pay for it. The theme that the lives of humans are controlled by the gods, in Oedipus, show that everything humans do are futile and result in no gain but only loss. This theme is mainly shown by the character Oedipus, king of Thebes. In the beginning of his life, Laius the king planned to kill his son by leaving him on Mount Cithaeron to die. "...at the moment I was your savior." From the very beginning, Oedipus was destined to fulfill Apollo's prophecy of killing his father. Even though King Lauis tries to kill Oedipus to stop the fulfillment of this shameful prophecy, fate drives the Corinthian messenger to save Oedipus. What the gods fortell will come true and no human can stop it from happening, not even the kings. Oedipus is once again controlled by this power when he leaves the place of his child hood after he hears that he is to kill his father and marry his mother. "I shall shrink from nothing...to find the the murderer of Laius...You are the murderer..." Oedipus tried to stop the prophecy from coming true by leaving Corinth and only fate can make Oedipus turn to the road where he kills his true father. Leaving Corinth makes Oedipus lose his childhood by making him worry of such issues young people should not have to worry about and becoming a king of a strange land. Last of all, Oedipus carries the last part of the prophecy out, marrying his mother. " I would... never have been known as my mother's husband. Oedipus has no control over the outcome of his life. Fate causes Oedipus to have known the answer to the Sphinx's riddle and win his marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Had fate not intervened, the chances of marrying Jocasta would have been small since there is an enourmous number of people and places to go. Oedipus loses his sense of dignity after he discovers he is not only a murderer, but also that he had committed incest.

Debate 2nd Speaker LGBT

I’m the second speaker for the proposition team and our stand is transgender should be classified as the third gender. My first point is that transgender should be given a proper recognition in the society. Let’s be honest, there’s a good chance that you have not heard of Transgender Day of Remembrance. How often do we actually think about the â€Å"T† in LGBT? Over the years, there have been far too many cases of hate crimes that have been motivated by an individual’s sexual preference. Often, what prompt these crimes are motivations of fear and ignorance. Human sexuality is extremely complicated – how should one view the sexuality of a transgender person? If he or she are post-op, does that mean they’re still technically transgender? Well, one would have to say that all crimes committed against transgender men and women are motivated by homophobia (negative feelings/attitudes against LGBT). But is this necessarily the right view to view this subject? The Transgender Day of Remembrance started in the late 90s, and it is a day set aside to remember those members of the trans community who have been killed, murdered in the previous years for simply being trans or being perceived to be trans. One such case, being Rita Hester who was 34 years old when she was found dead in her apartment in 1998. This case was tragic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it achieved less national attention than the murder of Matthew Shepard, which happened five weeks earlier (a white male). There are still many more questions that are unanswered, but what is certain is the effect these kinds of crimes have had on the LGBT community and what the lack of attention and action means. In conclusion, my team is clearly right in saying transgender should be classified as the third gender because they should be given a proper recognition in the society.

Rationalism Essay

Rationalism vs. Empiricism First published Thu Aug 19, 2004; substantive revision Thu Mar 21, 2013 The dispute between rationalism and empiricism concerns the extent to which we are dependent upon sense experience in our effort to gain knowledge. Rationalists claim that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience. Empiricists claim that sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge. Rationalists generally develop their view in two ways. First, they argue that there are cases where the content of our concepts or knowledge outstrips the information that sense experience can provide. Second, they construct accounts of how reason in some form or other provides that additional information about the world. Empiricists present complementary lines of thought. First, they develop accounts of how experience provides the information that rationalists cite, insofar as we have it in the first place. (Empiricists will at times opt fo r skepticism as an alternative to rationalism: if experience cannot provide the concepts or knowledge the rationalists cite, then we don’t have them.) Second, empiricists attack the rationalists’ accounts of how reason is a source of concepts or knowledge. 1. Introduction The dispute between rationalism and empiricism takes place within epistemology, the branch of philosophy devoted to studying the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. The defining questions of epistemology include the following. 1. What is the nature of propositional knowledge, knowledge that a particular proposition about the world is true? To know a proposition, we must believe it and it must be true, but something more is required, something that distinguishes knowledge from a lucky guess. Let’s call this additional element ‘warrant’. A good deal of philosophical work has been invested in trying to determine the nature of warrant. 2. How can we gain knowledge? We can form true beliefs just by making lucky guesses. How to gain warranted beliefs is less clear. Moreover, to know the world, we must think about it, and it is unclear how we gain the concepts we use in thought or what assurance, if any, we have that the ways in which we divide up the world using our concepts correspond to divisions that actually exist. 3. What are the limits of our knowledge? Some aspects of the world may be within the limits of our thought but beyond the limits of our knowledge; faced with competing descriptions of them, we cannot know which description is true. Some aspects of the world may even be beyond the limits of our thought, so that we cannot form intelligible descriptions of them, let alone know that a particular description is true. The disagreement between rationalists and empiricists primarily concerns the second question, regarding the sources of our concepts and knowledge. In some instances, their disagreement on this topic leads them to give conflicting responses to the other questions as well. They may disagree over the nature of warrant or about the limits of our thought and knowledge. Our focus here will be on the competing rationalist and empiricist responses to the second question. 1.1 Rationalism To be a rationalist is to adopt at least one of three claims. The Intuition/Deduction thesis concerns how we become warranted in believing propositions in a particular subject area. The Intuition/Deduction Thesis: Some propositions in a particular subject area, S, are knowable by us by intuition alone; still others are knowable by being deduced from intuited propositions. Intuition is a form of rational insight. Intellectually grasping a proposition, we just â€Å"see† it to be true in such a way as to form a true, warranted belief in it. (As discussed in Section 2 below, the nature of this intellectual â€Å"seeing† needs explanation.) Deduction is a process in which we derive conclusions from intuited premises through valid arguments, ones in which the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. We intuit, for example, that the number three is prime and that it is greater than two. We then deduce from this knowledge that there is a prime number greater than two. Intuition and deduction thus provide us with knowledge a priori, which is to say knowledge gained independently of sense experience. We can generate different versions of the Intuition/Deduction thesis by substituting different subject areas for the variable ‘S’. Some rationalists take mathematics to be knowable by intuition and deduction. Some place ethical truths in this category. Some include metaphysical claims, such as  that God exists, we have free will, and our mind and body are distinct substances. The more propositions rationalists include within the range of intuition and deduction, and the more controversial the truth of those propositions or the claims to know them, the more radical their rationalism. Rationalists also vary the strength of their view by adjusting their understanding of warrant. Some take warranted beliefs to be beyond even the slightest doubt and claim that intuition and deduction provide beliefs of this high epistemic status. Others interpret warrant more conservatively, say as belief beyond a reasonable doubt, and claim that intuition and deduction provide beliefs of that caliber. Still another dimension of rationalism depends on how its proponents understand the connection between intuition, on the one hand, and truth, on the other. Some take intuition to be infallible, claiming that whatever we intuit must be true. Others allow for the possibility of false intuited propositions. The second thesis associated with rationalism is the Innate Knowledge thesi s. The Innate Knowledge Thesis: We have knowledge of some truths in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature. Like the Intuition/Deduction thesis, the Innate Knowledge thesis asserts the existence of knowledge gained a priori, independently of experience. The difference between them rests in the accompanying understanding of how this a priori knowledge is gained. The Intuition/Deduction thesis cites intuition and subsequent deductive reasoning. The Innate Knowledge thesis offers our rational nature. Our innate knowledge is not learned through either sense experience or intuition and deduction. It is just part of our nature. Experiences may trigger a process by which we bring this knowledge to consciousness, but the experiences do not provide us with the knowledge itself. It has in some way been with us all along. According to some rationalists, we gained the knowledge in an earlier existence. According to others, God provided us with it at creation. Still others say it is part of our nature through natural selection. We get different versions of the Innate Knowledge thesis by substituting different subject areas for the variable ‘S’. Once again, the more subjects included within the range of the thesis or the more controversial the claim to have knowledge in them, the more radical the form of rationalism. Stronger and weaker understandings of warrant yield stronger and weaker versions of the thesis as well. The third important thesis of  rationalism is the Innate Concept thesis. The Innate Concept Thesis: We have some of the concepts we employ in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature. According to the Innate Concept thesis, some of our concepts are not gained from experience. They are part of our rational nature in such a way that, while sense experiences may trigger a process by which they are brought to consciousness, experience does not provide the concepts or determine the information they contain. Some claim that the Innate Concept thesis is entailed by the Innate Knowledge Thesis; a particular instance of knowledge can only be innate if the concepts that are contained in the known proposition are also innate. This is Locke’s position (1690, Book I, Chapter IV, Section 1, p. 91). Others, such as Carruthers, argue against this connection (1992, pp. 53–54). The content and strength of the Innate Concept thesis varies with the concepts claimed to be innate. The more a concept seems removed from experience and the mental operations we can perform on experience the more plausibly it may be claimed to be innate. Since we do not experience perfect tria ngles but do experience pains, our concept of the former is a more promising candidate for being innate than our concept of the latter. The Intuition/Deduction thesis, the Innate Knowledge thesis, and the Innate Concept thesis are essential to rationalism: to be a rationalist is to adopt at least one of them. Two other closely related theses are generally adopted by rationalists, although one can certainly be a rationalist without adopting either of them. The first is that experience cannot provide what we gain from reason. The Indispensability of Reason Thesis: The knowledge we gain in subject area, S, by intuition and deduction, as well as the ideas and instances of knowledge in S that are innate to us, could not have been gained by us through sense experience. The second is that reason is superior to experience as a source of knowledge. The Superiority of Reason Thesis: The knowledge we gain in subject area S by intuition and deduction or have innately is superior to any knowledg e gained by sense experience. How reason is superior needs explanation, and rationalists have offered different accounts. One view, generally associated with Descartes (1628, Rules II and III, pp.1–4), is that what we know a priori is certain, beyond even the slightest doubt, while what we believe, or even know, on the basis of sense experience is at least somewhat uncertain. Another view, generally associated with Plato  (Republic 479e-484c), locates the superiority of a priori knowledge in the objects known. What we know by reason alone, a Platonic form, say, is superior in an important metaphysical way, e.g. unchanging, eternal, perfect, a higher degree of being, to what we are aware of through sense experience. Most forms of rationalism involve notable commitments to other philosophical positions. One is a commitment to the denial of scepticism for at least some area of knowledge. If we claim to know some truths by intuition or deduction or to have some innate knowledge, we obviously reject scepticis m with regard to those truths. Rationalism in the form of the Intuition/Deduction thesis is also committed to epistemic foundationalism, the view that we know some truths without basing our belief in them on any others and that we then use this foundational knowledge to know more truths. 1.2 Empiricism Empiricists endorse the following claim for some subject area. The Empiricism Thesis: We have no source of knowledge in S or for the concepts we use in S other than sense experience. Empiricism about a particular subject rejects the corresponding version of the Intuition/Deduction thesis and Innate Knowledge thesis. Insofar as we have knowledge in the subject, our knowledge is a posteriori, dependent upon sense experience. Empiricists also deny the implication of the corresponding Innate Concept thesis that we have innate ideas in the subject area. Sense experience is our only source of ideas. They reject the corresponding version of the Superiority of Reason thesis. Since reason alone does not give us any knowledge, it certainly does not give us superior knowledge. Empiricists generally reject the Indispensability of Reason thesis, though they need not. The Empiricism thesis does not entail that we have empirical knowledge. It entails that knowledge can only be gained, if at all, by experience. Empiricists may assert, as some do for some subjects, that the rationalists are correct to claim that experience cannot give us knowledge. The conclusion they draw from this rationalist lesson is that we do not know at all. I have stated the basic claims of rationalism and empiricism so that each is relative to a particular subject area. Rationalism and empiricism, so relativized, need not conflict. We can be rationalists in mathematics or a particular area of mathematics and empiricists in all or some of the physical sciences. Rationalism and empiricism only conflict when formulated to cover the same subject. Then the debate, Rationalism vs. Empiricism, is joined. The fact that philosophers can be both rationalists and empiricists has implications for the classification schemes often employed in the history of philosophy, especially the one traditionally used to describe the Early Modern Period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries leading up to Kant. It is standard practice to group the major philosophers of this period as either rationalists or empiricists and to suggest that those under one heading share a common agenda in opposition to those under the other. Thus, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are the Continental Rationalists in opposition to Locke, Berkeley and Hume, the British Empiricists. We should adopt such general classification schemes with caution. The views of the individual philosophers are more subtle and complex than the simple-minded classification suggests. (See Loeb (1981) and Ke nny (1986) for important discussions of this point.) Locke rejects rationalism in the form of any version of the Innate Knowledge or Innate Concept theses, but he nonetheless adopts the Intuition/Deduction thesis with regard to our knowledge of God’s existence. Descartes and Locke have remarkably similar views on the nature of our ideas, even though Descartes takes many to be innate, while Locke ties them all to experience. The rationalist/empiricist classification also encourages us to expect the philosophers on each side of the divide to have common research programs in areas beyond epistemology. Thus, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are mistakenly seen as applying a reason-centered epistemology to a common metaphysical agenda, with each trying to improve on the efforts of the one before, while Locke, Berkeley and Hume are mistakenly seen as gradually rejecting those metaphysical claims, with each consciously trying to improve on the efforts of his predecessors. It is also important to note that the Rationalist/Empiricist distinction is not exhaustive of the possible sources of knowledge. One might claim, for example, that we can gain knowledge in a particular area by a form of Divine revelation or insight that is a product of neither reason nor sense experience. In short, when used carelessly, the labels ‘rationalist’ and ‘empiricist,’ as well as the slogan that is the title of this essay, ‘Rationalism vs. Empiricism,’ can retard rather than advance our understanding. Nonetheless, an important debate properly described as ‘Rationalism vs. Empiricism’ is joined whenever  the claims for each view are formulated to cover the same subject. What is perhaps the most interesting form of the debate occurs when we take the relevant subject to be truths about the external world, the world beyond our own minds. A full-fledged rationalist with regard to our knowledge of the external world holds that some external world truths can and must be known a priori, that some of the ideas required for that knowledge are and must be innate, and that this knowledge is superior to any that experience could ever provide. The full-fledged empiricist about our knowledge of the external world replies that, when it comes to the nature of the world beyond our own minds, experience is our sole source of information. Reason might inform us of the relations among our ideas, but those ideas themselves can only be gained, and any truths about the external reality they represent can only be known, on the basis of sense experience. This debate concerning our knowledge of the external world will generally be our main focus in what follows. Historically, the rationalist/empiricist dispute in epistemology has extended into the area of metaphysics, where philosophers are concerned with the basic nature of reality, including the existence of God and such aspects of our nature as freewill and the relation between the mind and body. Major rationalists (e.g., Descartes 1641) have presented metaphysical theories, which they have claimed to know by reason alone. Major empiricists (e.g. Hume 1739–40) have rejected the theories as either speculation, beyond what we can learn from experience, or nonsensical attempts to describe aspects of the world beyond the concepts experience can provide. The debate raises the issue of metaphysics as an area of knowledge. Kant puts the driving assumption clearly: The very concept of metaphysics ensures that the sources of metaphysics can’t be empirical. If something could be known through the senses, that would automatically show that it doesn’t belong to metaphysics; thatà ¢â‚¬â„¢s an upshot of the meaning of the word ‘metaphysics.’ Its basic principles can never be taken from experience, nor can its basic concepts; for it is not to be physical but metaphysical knowledge, so it must be beyond experience. [1783, Preamble, I, p. 7] The possibility then of metaphysics so understood, as an area of human knowledge, hinges on how we resolve the rationalist/empiricist debate. The debate also extends into ethics. Some moral objectivists (e.g., Ross 1930) take us to know some fundamental objective moral truths by intuition, while some moral skeptics,  who reject such knowledge, (e.g., Mackie 1977) find the appeal to a faculty of moral intuition utterly implausible. More recently, the rationalist/empiricist debate has extended to discussions (e.g., Bealer 1999, and Alexander & Weinberg 2007) of the very nature of philosophical inquiry: to what extent are philosophical questions to be answered by appeals to reason or experience? 2. The Intuition/Deduction Thesis The Intuition/Deduction thesis claims that we can know some propositions by intuition and still more by deduction. Many empiricists (e.g., Hume 1748) have been willing to accept the thesis so long as it is restricted to propositions solely about the relations among our own concepts. We can, they agree, know by intuition that our concept of God includes our concept of omniscience. Just by examining the concepts, we can intellectually grasp that the one includes the other. The debate between rationalists and empiricists is joined when the former assert, and the latter deny, the Intuition/Deduction Thesis with regard to propositions that contain substantive information about the external world. Rationalists, such as Descartes, have claimed that we can know by intuition and deduction that God exists and created the world, that our mind and body are distinct substances, and that the angles of a triangle equal two right angles, where all of these claims are truths about an external reality independent of our thought. Such substantive versions of the Intuition/Deduction thesis are our concern in this section. One defense of the Intuition/Deduction thesis assumes that we know some substantive external world truths, adds an analysis of what knowledge requires, and concludes that our knowledge must result from intuition and deduction. Descartes claims that knowledge requires certainty and that certainty about the external world is beyond what empirical evidence can provide. We can never be sure our sensory impressions are not part of a dream or a massive, demon orchestrated, deception. Only intuition and deduction can provide the certainty needed for knowledge, and, given that we have some substantive knowledge of the external world, the Intuition/Deduction thesis is true. As Descartes tells us, â€Å"all knowledge is certain and evident cognition† (1628, Rule II, p. 1) and when we â€Å"review all the actions of the intellect by means of which we are able to arrive at a knowledge of things with no fear of being mistaken,†Ã‚  we â€Å"recognize only two: intuition and deduction† (1628, Rule III, p. 3). This line of argument is one of the least compelling in the rationalist arsenal. First, the assumption that knowledge requires certainty comes at a heavy cost, as it rules out so much of what we commonly take ourselves to know. Second, as many contemporary rationalists accept, intuition is not always a source of certain knowledge. The possibility of a deceiver gives us a reason to doubt our intuitions as well as our empirical beliefs. For all we know, a deceiver might cause us to intuit false propositions, just as one might cause us to have perceptions of nonexistent objects. Descartes’s classic way of meeting this challenge in the Meditations is to argue that we can know with certainty that no such deceiver interferes with our intuitions and deductions. They are infallible, as God guarantees their truth. The problem, known as the Cartesian Circle, is that Descartes’s account of how we gain this knowledge begs the question, by attempting to deduce the conclusion that all our intuitions are true from intuited premises. Moreover, his account does not touch a remaining problem that he himself notes (1628, Rule VII, p. 7): Deductions of any appreciable length rely on our fallible memory. A more plausible argument for the Intuition/Deduction thesis again assumes that we know some particular, external world truths, and then appeals to the nature of what we know, rather than to the nature of knowledge itsel f, to argue that our knowledge must result from intuition and deduction. Leibniz (1704) tells us the following. The senses, although they are necessary for all our actual knowledge, are not sufficient to give us the whole of it, since the senses never give anything but instances, that is to say particular or individual truths. Now all the instances which confirm a general truth, however numerous they may be, are not sufficient to establish the universal necessity of this same truth, for it does not follow that what happened before will happen in the same way again. †¦ From which it appears that necessary truths, such as we find in pure mathematics, and particularly in arithmetic and geometry, must have principles whose proof does not depend on instances, nor consequently on the testimony of the senses, although without the senses it would never have occurred to us to think of them†¦ (1704, Preface, pp. 150–151) Leibniz goes on to describe our mathematical knowledge as â€Å"innate,† and his argument may be directed to support the Innate Knowledge Thesis rather than the Intuition/Deduction  Thesis. For our purposes here, we can relate it to the latter, however: We have substantive knowledge about the external world in mathematics, and what we know in that area, we know to be necessarily true. Experience cannot warrant beliefs about what is necessarily the case. Hence, experience cannot be the source of our knowledge. The best explanation of our knowledge is that we gain it by intuition and deduction. Leibniz mentions logic, metaphysics and morals as other areas in which our knowledge similarly outstrips what experience can provide. Judgments in logic and metaphysics involve forms of necessity beyond what experience can support. Judgments in morals involve a form of obligation or value that lies beyond experience, which only informs us about what is the case rather than about what ought to be. The strength of this argument varies with its examples of purported knowledge. Insofar as we focus on controversial claims in metaphysics, e.g. that God exists, that our mind is a distinct substance from our body, the initial premise that we know the claims is less than compelling. Taken with regard to other areas, however, the argument clearly has legs. We know a great deal of mathematics, and what we know, we know to be necessarily true. None of our experiences warrants a belief in such necessity, and we do not seem to base our knowledge on any experiences. The warrant that provides us with knowledge arises from an intellectual grasp of the propositions which is clearly part of our learning. Similarly, we seem to have such moral knowledge as that, all other things being equal, it is wrong to break a promise and that pleasure is intrinsically good. No empirical lesson about how things are can warrant such knowledge of how they ought to be. This argument for the Intuition/Deduction Thesis raises additional questions which rationalists must answer. Insofar as they maintain that our knowledge of necessary truths in mathematics or elsewhere by intuition and deduction is substantive knowledge of the external world, they owe us an account of this form of necessity. Many empiricists stand ready to argue that â€Å"necessity resides in the way we talk about things, not in the things we talk about† (Quine 1966, p. 174). Similarly, if rationalists claim that our knowledge in morals is knowledge of an objective form of obligation, they owe u s an account of how objective values are part of a world of apparently valueless facts. Perhaps most of all, rationalist defenders of the Intuition/Deduction thesis owe us an account of what intuition is and how it  provides warranted true beliefs about the external world. What is it to intuit a proposition and how does that act of intuition support a warranted belief? Their argument presents intuition and deduction as an explanation of assumed knowledge that can’t—they say—be explained by experience, but such an explanation by intuition and deduction requires that we have a clear understanding of intuition and how it supports warranted beliefs. Metaphorical characterizations of intuition as intellectual â€Å"grasping† or â€Å"seeing† are not enough, and if intuition is some form of intellectual â€Å"grasping,† it appears that all that is grasped is relations among our concepts, rather than facts about the external world. Moreover, any intellectual faculty, whether it be sense perception or intuition, provides us with warranted beliefs only if it is generally reliable. The reliability of sense perception stems from the causal connection between how external objects are and how we experience them. What accoun ts for the reliability of our intuitions regarding the external world? Is our intuition of a particular true proposition the outcome of some causal interaction between ourselves and some aspect of the world? What aspect? What is the nature of this causal interaction? That the number three is prime does not appear to cause anything, let alone our intuition that it is prime. These issues are made all the more pressing by the classic empiricist response to the argument. The reply is generally credited to Hume and begins with a division of all true propositions into two categories. All the objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, â€Å"Relations of Ideas,† and â€Å"Matters of Fact.† Of the first are the sciences of Geometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic, and, in short, every affirmation which is either intuitively or demonstratively certain. That the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the square of the two sides is a proposition which expresses a relation between these figures. That three times five is equal to half of thirty expresses a relation between these numbers. Propositions of this kind are discoverable by the mere operation of thought, without dependence on what is anywhere existent in the universe. Though there never were a circle or triangle in nature, the truths demonstrated by Euclid would forever retain their certainty and evidence. Matters of fact, which are the second objects of human reason, are not ascertained in the same manner, nor is our evidence of their truth, however great, of a like nature with the  foregoing. The contrary of every matter of fact is still possible, because it can never imply a contradiction and is conceived by the mind with the same facility and distinctness as if ever so conformable to reality. (Hume 1748, Section IV, Part 1, p. 40) Intuition and deduction can provide us with knowledge of necessary truths such as those found in mathematics and logic, but such knowledge is not substantive knowledge of the external world. It is only knowledge of the relations of our own ideas. If the rationalist shifts the argument so it appeals to knowledge in morals, Hume’s reply is to offer an analysis of our moral concepts by which such knowledge is empirically gained knowledge of matters of fact. Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment. Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt more properly than perceived. Or if we reason concerning it and endeavor to fix the standard, we regard a new fact, to wit, the general taste of man kind, or some other fact which may be the object of reasoning and inquiry. (Hume 1748, Section XII, Part 3, p. 173) If the rationalist appeals to our knowledge in metaphysics to support the argument, Hume denies that we have such knowledge. If we take in our hand any volume–of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance–let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion. (Hume 1748, Section XII, Part 3, p. 173) An updated version of this general empiricist reply, with an increased emphasis on language and the nature of meaning, is given in the twentieth-century by A. J. Ayer’s version of logical positivism. Adopting positivism’s verification theory of meaning, Ayer assigns every cognitively meaningful sentence to one of two categories: either it is a tautology, and so true solely by virtue of the meaning of its terms and provides no substantive information about the world, or it is open to empirical verification. There is, then, no room for knowledge about the external world by intuition or deduction. There can be no a priori knowledge of reality. For †¦ the truths of pure reason, the propositions which we know to be valid independently of all experience, are so only in virtue of their lack of factual content †¦ [By contrast] empirical propositions are one and all hypotheses which may be confirmed or discredited in actual sense experience. [Ayer 1952, pp. 86; 93–94] The  rationalists’ argument for the Intuition/Deduction Thesis goes wrong at the start, according to empiricists, by assuming that we can have substantive knowledge of the external world that outstrips what experience can warrant. We cannot. This empiricist reply faces challenges of its own. Our knowledge of mathematics seems to be about something more than our own concepts. Our knowledge of moral judgments seems to concern not just how we feel or act but how we ought to behave. The general principles that provide a basis for the empiricist view, e.g. Hume’s overall account of our ideas, the Verification Principle of Meaning, are problematic in their own right. In various formulations, the Verification Principle fails its own test for having cognitive meaning. A careful analysis of Hume’s Inquiry, relative to its own principles, may require us to consign large sections of it to the flames. In all, rationalists have a strong argument for the Intuition/Deduction thesis relative to our substantive knowledge of the external world, but its success rests on how well they can answer questions about the nature and epistemic force of intuition made all the more pre ssing by the classic empiricist reply. 3. The Innate Knowledge Thesis The Innate Knowledge thesis joins the Intuition/Deduction thesis in asserting that we have a priori knowledge, but it does not offer intuition and deduction as the source of that knowledge. It takes our a priori knowledge to be part of our rational nature. Experience may trigger our awareness of this knowledge, but it does not provide us with it. The knowledge is already there. Plato presents an early version of the Innate Knowledge thesis in the Meno as the doctrine of knowledge by recollection. The doctrine is motivated in part by a paradox that arises when we attempt to explain the nature of inquiry. How do we gain knowledge of a theorem in geometry? We inquire into the matter. Yet, knowledge by inquiry seems impossible (Meno, 80d-e). We either already know the theorem at the start of our investigation or we do not. If we already have the knowledge, there is no place for inquiry. If we lack the knowledge, we don’t know what we are seeking and cannot recognize it when we fin d it. Either way we cannot gain knowledge of the theorem by inquiry. Yet, we do know some theorems. The doctrine of knowledge by recollection offers a solution. When we inquire into the truth of a theorem, we both do and do not already know it. We have knowledge in the form of a  memory gained from our soul’s knowledge of the theorem prior to its union with our body. We lack knowledge in that, in our soul’s unification with the body, it has forgotten the knowledge and now needs to recollect it. In learning the theorem, we are, in effect, recalling what we already know. Plato famously illustrates the doctrine with an exchange between Socrates and a young slave, in which Socrates guides the slave from ignorance to mathematical knowledge. The slave’s experiences, in the form of Socrates’ questions and illustrations, are the occasion for his recollection of what he learned previously. Plato’s metaphysics provides additional support for the Innate Knowledge Thesis. Since our knowledge is of abstract, eternal Forms which clearly lie beyond our sensory experience, it is a priori. Contemporary supporters of Plato’s position are scarce. The initial paradox, which Plato describes as a â€Å"trick argument† (Meno, 80e), rings sophistical. The metaphysical assumptions in the solution need justification. The solution does not answer the basic question: Just how did the slave’s soul learn the theorem? The Intuition/Deduction thesis offers an equally, if not more, plausible account of how the slave gains knowledge a priori. Nonetheless, Plato’s position illustrates the kind of reasoning that has caused many philosophers to adopt some form of the Innate Knowledge thesis. We are confident that we know certain propositions about the external world, but there seems to be no adequate explanation of how we gained this knowledge short of saying th at it is innate. Its content is beyond what we directly gain in experience, as well as what we can gain by performing mental operations on what experience provides. It does not seem to be based on an intuition or deduction. That it is innate in us appears to be the best explanation. Noam Chomsky argues along similar lines in presenting what he describes as a â€Å"rationalist conception of the nature of language† (1975, 129). Chomsky argues that the experiences available to language learners are far too sparse to account for their knowledge of their language. To explain language acquisition, we must assume that learners have an innate knowledge of a universal grammar capturing the common deep structure of natural languages. It is important to note that Chomsky’s language learners do not know particular propositions describing a universal grammar. They have a set of innate capacities or dispositions which enable and determine their language development. Chomsky gives us a theory of innate learning  capacities or structures rather than a theory of innate knowledge. His view does not support the Innate Knowledge thesis as rationalists have traditionally understood it. As one commentator puts it, â€Å"Chomsky’s principles †¦ are innate neither in the sense that we are explicitly aware of them, nor in the sense that we have a disposition to recognize their truth as obvious under appropriate circumstances. And hence it is by no means clear that Chomsky is correct in seeing his theory as following the traditional rationalist account of the acquisition of knowledge† (Cottingham 1984, p. 124). Peter Carruthers (1992) argues that we have innate knowledge of the principles of folk-psychology. Folk-psychology is a network of common-sense generalizations that hold independently of context or culture and concern the r elationships of mental states to one another, to the environment and states of the body and to behavior (1992, p.115). It includes such beliefs as that pains tend to be caused by injury, that pains tend to prevent us from concentrating on tasks, and that perceptions are generally caused by the appropriate state of the environment. Carruthers notes the complexity of folk-psychology, along with its success in explaining our behavior and the fact that its explanations appeal to such unobservables as beliefs, desires, feelings and thoughts. He argues that the complexity, universality, and depth of folk-psychological principles outstrips what experience can provide, especially to young children who by their fifth year already know a great many of them. This knowledge is also not the result of intuition or deduction; folk-psychological generalizations are not seen to be true in an act of intellectual insight. Carruthers concludes, â€Å"[The problem] concerning the child’s acquisition of psychological generalizations cannot be solved, unless we suppose that much of folk-psychology is already innate , triggered locally by the child’s experience of itself and others, rather than learned† (1992, p. 121). Empiricists, and some rationalists, attack the Innate Knowledge thesis in two main ways. First, they offer accounts of how sense experience or intuition and deduction provide the knowledge that is claimed to be innate. Second, they directly criticize the Innate Knowledge thesis itself. The classic statement of this second line of attack is presented in Locke 1690. Locke raises the issue of just what innate knowledge is. Particular instances of knowledge are supposed to be in our minds as part of our  rational make-up, but how are they â€Å"in our minds†? If the implication is that we all consciously have this knowledge, it is plainly false. Propositions often given as examples of innate knowledge, even such plausible candidates as the principle that the same thing cannot both be and not be, are not consciously accepted by children and those with severe cognitive limitations. If the point of calling such principles â€Å"innate† is not to imply that they are or have been consciously accepted by all rational beings, then it is hard to see what the point is. â€Å"No proposition can be said to be in the mind, which it never yet knew, which it never yet was conscious of† (1690, Book I, Chapter II, Section 5, p. 61). Proponents of innate knowledg e might respond that some knowledge is innate in that we have the capacity to have it. That claim, while true, is of little interest, however. â€Å"If the capacity of knowing, be the natural impression contended for, all the truths a man ever comes to know, will, by this account, be every one of them, innate; and this great point will amount to no more, but only an improper way of speaking; which whilst it pretends to assert the contrary, says nothing different from those, who deny innate principles. For nobody, I think, ever denied, that the mind was capable of knowing several truths† (1690, Book I, Chapter II, Section 5, p. 61). Locke thus challenges defenders of the Innate Knowledge thesis to present an account of innate knowledge that allows their position to be both true and interesting. A narrow interpretation of innateness faces counterexamples of rational individuals who do not meet its conditions. A generous interpretation implies that all our knowledge, even that clearly provided by experience, is innate. Defenders of innate knowledge take up Locke’s challenge. Leibniz responds (1704) by appealing to an account of innateness in terms of natural potential to avoid Locke’s dilemma. Consider Peter Carruthers’ similar reply. We have noted that while one form of nativism claims (somewhat implausibly) that knowledge is innate in the sense of being present as such (or at least in propositional form) from birth, it might also be maintained that knowle dge is innate in the sense of being innately determined to make its appearance at some stage in childhood. This latter thesis is surely the most plausible version of nativism. (1992, p. 51) Carruthers claims that our innate knowledge is determined through evolutionary selection (p. 111). Evolution has resulted in our being determined to know certain things (e.g.  principles of folk-psychology) at particular stages of our life, as part of our natural development. Experiences provide the occasion for our consciously believing the known propositions but not the basis for our knowledge of them (p. 52). Carruthers thus has a ready reply to Locke’s counterexamples of children and cognitively limited persons who do not believe propositions claimed to be instances of innate knowledge. The former have not yet reached the proper stage of development; the latter are persons in whom natural development has broken down (pp. 49–50). A serious problem for the Innate Knowledge thesis remains, however. We know a proposition only if it is true, we believe it and our belief is warranted. Rationalists who assert the existence of innate knowledge are not just claiming that, as a matter of human evolution, God’s design or some other factor, at a particular point in our development, certain sorts of experiences trigger our belief in particular propositions in a way that does not involve our learning them from the experiences. Their claim is ev en bolder: In at least some of these cases, our empirically triggered, but not empirically warranted, belief is nonetheless warranted and so known. How can these beliefs be warranted if they do not gain their warrant from the experiences that cause us to have them or from intuition and deduction? Some rationalists think that a reliabilist account of warrant provides the answer. According to Reliabilism, beliefs are warranted if they are formed by a process that generally produces true beliefs rather than false ones. The true beliefs that constitute our innate knowledge are warranted, then, because they are formed as the result of a reliable belief-forming process. Carruthers maintains that â€Å"Innate beliefs will count as known provided that the process through which they come to be innate is a reliable one (provided, that is, that the process tends to generate beliefs that are true)† (1992, p. 77). He argues that natural selection results in the formation of some beliefs and is a truth-reliable process. An appeal to Reliabilism, or a similar causal theory of warrant, may well be the best way for rationalists to develop the Innate Knowledge thesis. They have a difficult row to hoe, however. First, such accounts of warrant are themselves quite controversial. Second, rationalists must give an account of innate knowledge that maintains and explains the distinction between innate knowledge and a posteriori knowledge, and it is not clear that they will be  able to do so within such an account of warrant. Suppose for the sake of argument that we have innate knowledge of some proposition, P. What makes our knowledge that P innate? To sharpen the question, what difference between our knowledge that P and a clear case of a posteriori knowledge, say our knowledge that something is red based on our current visual experience of a red table, makes the former innate and the latter not innate? In each case, we have a true, warranted belief. In each case, presumably, our belief gains its warrant from the fact that it meets a particular causal condition, e.g., it is produced by a reliable process. In each case, the causal process is one in which an experience causes us to believe the proposition at hand (that P; that something is red), for, as defenders of innate knowledge admit, our belief that P is â€Å"triggered† by an experience, as is our belief that something is red. The insight behind the Innate Knowledge thesis seems to be that the difference between our innate and a posteriori knowledge lies in the relation between our experience and our belief in each case. The e xperience that causes our belief that P does not â€Å"contain† the information that P, while our visual experience of a red table does â€Å"contain† the information that something is red. Yet, exactly what is the nature of this containment relation between our experiences, on the one hand, and what we believe, on the other, that is missing in the one case but present in the other? The nature of the experience-belief relation seems quite similar in each. The causal relation between the experience that triggers our belief that P and our belief that P is contingent, as is the fact that the belief-forming process is reliable. The same is true of our experience of a red table and our belief that something is red. The causal relation between the experience and our belief is again contingent. We might have been so constructed that the experience we describe as â€Å"being appeared to redly† caused us to believe, not that something is red, but that something is hot. The process that takes us from the experince to our belief is also only contingently reliable. Moreover, if our experience of a red table â€Å"contains† the information that something is red, then that fact, not the existence of a reliable belief-forming process between the two, should be the reason why the experience warrants our belief. By appealing to Reliablism, or some other causal theory of warrant, rationalists may obtain a way to explain how innate knowledge can be warranted. They still need to show how their explanation supports an account of the difference between innate knowledge and a posteriori knowledge. 4. The Innate Concept Thesis According to the Innate Concept thesis, some of our concepts have not been gained from experience. They are instead part of our rational make-up, and experience simply triggers a process by which we consciously grasp them. The main concern motivating the rationalist should be familiar by now: the content of some concepts seems to outstrip anything we could have gained from experience. An example of this reasoning is presented by Descartes in the Meditations. Descartes classifies our ideas as adventitious, invented by us, and innate. Adventitious ideas, such as a sensation of heat, are gained directly through sense experience. Ideas invented by us, such as our idea of a hippogriff, are created by us from other ideas we possess. Innate ideas, such as our ideas of God, of extended matter, of substance and of a perfect triangle, are placed in our minds by God at creation. Consider Descartes’s argument that our concept of God, as an infinitely perfect being, is innate. Our concept of God is not directly gained in experience, as particular tastes, sensations and mental images might be. Its content is beyond what we could ever construct by applying available mental operations to what experience directly provides. From experience, we can gain the concept of a being with finite amounts of various perfections, one, for example, that is finitely knowledgeable, powerful and good. We cannot however move from these empirical concepts to the concept of a being of infinite perfection. (â€Å"I must not think that, just as my conceptions of rest and darkness are arrived at by negating movement and light, so my perception of the infinite is arrived at not by means of a true idea but by merely negating the finite,† Third Meditation, p. 94.) Descartes supplements this argument by another. Not only is the content of our concept of God beyond what experience can provide, the concept is a prerequisite for our employment of the concept of finite perfection gained from experience. (â€Å"My perception of the infinite, that is God, is in some way prior to my perception of the finite, that is myself. For how could I understand that I doubted or desired–that is lacked something–and that I wa s not wholly perfect, unless there were in me some idea of a more perfect being which enabled me to recognize my own defects by comparison,† Third Meditation, p. 94). An empiricist response to this  general line of argument is given by Locke (1690, Book I, Chapter IV, Sections 1–25, pp. 91–107). First, there is the problem of explaining what it is for someone to have an innate concept. If having an innate concept entails consciously entertaining it at present or in the past, then Descartes’s position is open to obvious counterexamples. Young children and people from other cultures do not consciously entertain the concept of God and have not done so. Second, there is the objection that we have no need to appeal to innate concepts in the first place. Contrary to Descartes’ argument, we can explain how experience provides all our ideas, including those the rationalists take to be innate, and with just the content that the rationalists attribute to them. Leibniz (1704) offers a rationalist reply to the first concern. Where Locke puts forth the image of the mind as a blank tablet on which experience writes, Leibniz offers us the image of a block of marble, the veins of which determine what sculpted figures it will accept. This is why I have taken as an illustration a block of veined marble, rather than a wholly uniform block or blank tablets, that is to say what is called tabula rasa in the language of the philosophers. For if the soul were like those blank tablets, truths would be in us in the same way as the figure of Hercules is in a block of marble, when the marble is completely indifferent whether it receives this or some other figure. But if there were veins in the stone which marked out the figure of Hercules rather than other figures, this stone would be more determined thereto, and Hercules would be as it were in some manner innate in it, although labour would be needed to uncover the veins, and to clear them by polishing, and by cutting away what prevents them from appearing. It is in this way that ideas and truths are innate in us, like natural inclinations and dispositions, natural habits or potentialities, and not like activities, although these potentialities are always accompanied by some activities which correspond to them, though they are often imperceptible. (1704, Preface, p. 153) Leibniz’s metaphor contains an insight that Locke misses. The mind plays a role in determining the nature of its contents. This point does not, however, require the adoption of the Innate Concept thesis. Rationalists have responded to the second part of the empiricist attack on the Innate Concept thesis–the empricists’ claim that the thesis is without basis, as all our ideas can be explained as derived from experience–by focusing on difficulties in the empiricists’  attempts to give such an explanation. The difficulties are illustrated by Locke’s account. According to Locke, experience consists in external sensation and inner reflection. All our ideas are either simple or complex, with the former being received by us passively in sensation or reflection and the latter being built by the mind from simple materials through various mental operations. Right at the start, the account of how simple ideas are gained is open to an obvious counterexample acknowledged, but then set aside, by Hume in presenting his own empiricist theory. Consider the mental image of a particular shade of blue. If Locke is right, the idea is a simple one and should be passive ly received by the mind through experience. Hume points out otherwise. Suppose therefore a person to have enjoyed his sight for thirty years and to have become perfectly acquainted with colors of all kinds, except one particular shade of blue, for instance, which it never has been his fortune to meet with; let all the different shades of that color, except that single one, be placed before him, descending gradually from the deepest to the lightest, it is plain that he will perceive a blank where that shade is wanting and will be sensible that there is a greater distance in that place between the contiguous colors than in any other. Now I ask whether it be possible for him, from his own imagination, to supply this deficiency and raise up to himself the idea of that particular shade, though it had never been conveyed to him by his senses? I believe there are but few will be of the opinion that he can†¦ (1748, Section II, pp. 29–30) Even when it comes to such simple ideas as the image of a particular shade of blue, th e mind is more than a blank slate on which experience writes. Consider too our concept of a particular color, say red. Critics of Locke’s account have pointed out the weaknesses in his explanation of how we gain such a concept by the mental operation of abstraction on individual cases. For one thing, it makes the incorrect assumption that various instances of a particular concept share a common feature. Carruthers puts the objection as follows. In fact problems arise for empiricists even in connection with the very simplest concepts, such as those of colour. For it is false that all instances of a given colour share some common feature. In which case we cannot acquire the concept of that colour by abstracting the common feature of our experience. Thus consider the concept red. Do all shades of red have something in common? If so, what? It is surely false that individual shades  of red consist, as it were, of two distinguishable elements a general redness together with a particular shade. Rather, redness consists in a continuous range of shades, each of which is only just distinguishable from its neighbors. Acquiring the concept red is a matter of learning the extent of the range. (1992, p. 59) For another thing, Locke’s account of concept acquisition from particular experiences seems circular. As it stands, however, Locke’s account of concept acquisition appears viciously circular. For noticing or attending to a common feature of various things presupposes that you already possess the concept of the feature in question. (Carruthers 1992, p. 55) Consider in this regard Locke’s account of how we gain our concept of causation. In the notice that our senses take of the constant vicissitude of things, we cannot but observe, that several particulars, both qualities and substances; begin to exist; and that they receive this their existence from the due application and operation of some other being. From this observation, we get our ideas of cause and effect. (1690, Book II, Chapter 26, Section 1, pp. 292–293) We get our concept of causation from our observation that some things receive their existence from the application and operation of some other things. Yet, we cannot make this observation unless we already have the concept of causation. Locke’s account of how we gain our idea of power displays a similar circularity. The mind being every day informed, by the senses, of the alteration of those simple ideas, it observes in things without; and taking notice how one comes to an end, and ceases to be, and another begins to exist which was not before; reflecting also on what passes within itself, and observing a constant change of its ideas, sometimes by the impression of outward objects on the senses, and sometimes by the determination of its own choice; and concluding from what it has so constantly observed to have been, that the like changes will for the future b e made in the same things, by like agents, and by the like ways, considers in one thing the possibility of having any of its simple ideas changed, and in another the possibility of making that change; and so comes by that idea which we call power. (1690, Chapter XXI, Section 1, pp. 219–220) We come by the idea of power though considering the possibility of changes in our ideas made by experiences and our own choices. Yet, to consider this possibility—of some things making a change in others—we must already have a concept of power. One way to meet at least some of these  challenges to an empiricist account of the origin of our concepts is to revise our understanding of the content of our concepts so as to bring them more in line with what experience will clearly provide. Hume famously takes this approach. Beginning in a way reminiscent of Locke, he distinguishes between two forms of mental contents or â€Å"perceptions,† as he calls them: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the contents of our current experiences: our sensations, feelings, emotions, desires, and so on. Ideas are mental contents derived from impressions. Simple ideas are copies of impressions; complex ideas are derived from impressions by â€Å"compounding, transposing, augmenting or diminishing† them. Given that all our ideas are thus gained from experience, Hume offers us the following method for determining the content of any idea and thereby the meaning of any term taken to express it. When we entertain, therefore, any suspicion that a philosophical term is employed without any meaning or idea (as is but too frequent), we need but inquire from what impression is that supposed idea derived? And if it be impossible to assign any, this will confirm our suspicion. (1690, Section II, p. 30) Using this test, Hume draws out one of the most important implications of the empiricists’ denial of the Innate Concept thesis. If experience is indeed the source of all ideas, then our experiences also determine the content of our ideas. Our ideas of causation, of substance, of right and wrong have their content determined by the experiences that provide them. Those experiences, Hume argues, are unable to support the content that many rationalists and some empiricists, such as Locke, attribute to the corresponding ideas. Our inability to explain how some concepts, with the contents the rationalists attribute to them, are gained from experience should not lead us to adopt the Innate Concept thesis. It should lead us to accept a more limited view of the contents for those concepts, and thereby a more limited view of our ability to describe and understand the world. Consider, for example, our idea of causation. Descartes takes it to be innate. Locke offers an apparently circular account of how it is gained from experience. Hume’s empiricist account severely limits its content. Our idea of causation is derived from a feeling of expectation rooted in our experiences of the constant conjunction of similar causes and effects. It appears, then, that this idea of a necessary connection among events arises from a number of similar instances which  occur, of the constant conjunction of these events; nor can that idea ever be suggested by any one of these instances surveyed in all possible lights and positions. But there is nothing in a number of instances, different from every single instance, which is supposed to be exactly similar, except only that after a repetition of similar instances the mind is carried by habit, upon the appearance of one event, to expect its usual attendant and to believe that it will exist. This connection, therefore, which we feel in the mind, this customary tran sition of the imagination from one object to its usual attendant, is the sentiment or impression from which we form the idea of power or necessary connection. (1748, Section VII, Part 2, p. 86) The source of our idea in experience determines its content. Suitably to this experience, therefore, we may define a cause to be an object followed by another, and where all the objects, similar to the first are followed by objects similar to the second†¦ We may, therefore, suitably to this experience, form another definition of cause and call it an object followed by another, and whose appearance always conveys the thought of the other. (1748, Section VII, Part 2, p. 87) Our claims, and any knowledge we may have, about causal connections in the world turn out, given the limited content of our empirically based concept of causation, to be claims and knowledge about the constant conjunction of events and our own feelings of expectation. Thus, the initial disagreement between rationalists and empiricists about the source of our ideas leads to one about their content and thereby the content of our descriptions and knowledge of the world. Like philosophical debates generally, the rationalist/empiricist debate ultimately concerns our position in the world, in this case our position as rational inquirers. To what extent do our faculties of reason and experience support our attempts to know and understand our situation.