Motivated You To Study Social Work Education Essay

Motivated You To Study Social Work Education Essay My motivation to study social work comes from my passion about helping people who are less advantaged. Having spent the last five years working in a social care environment helped me to realise that my passion lies in helping the most vulnerable members of our society. I found working as a Care Assistant extremely challenging but also rewarding.   Attending a multi-disciplinary care reviews gave me a great insight  Ã‚   into a social worker role. I found out that social work can help service users maintain their dignity and independence, give wider choices of support, protect from abuse as well as reduce admissions to hospital. I hope that studying social work will give me a valuable skills and knowledge needed for effective professional practice as a social worker. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚   What type of learner are you? Last year on the Access course through the exercise on the class I have identified my learning style [Appendix 1].   Knowing and understanding my learning style helped me to learn more effectively and identify opportunities to improve my learning. According to Honey and Mumford (1982) Learning Style Model I perform strongly as a Reflector.   As a Reflector I learn by observing and thinking about what happened. I like to stand back and observe experiences from many different perspectives. I like to collect information (the more that better), and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusions. I prefer to take a back seat in meetings and discussions. I always listen to others before making my own point. I learn less well when being thrown in at the deep end with no time to prepare and when acting as leader or role-playing in front of others. Having identified my learning style, I now understand that as a reflector I am a slow learner and require more time to study, that is why it is important to plan my study effectively. I also need to try to get involved more in meeting and discussions instead of sitting back and listen. My preferred style of learning was also determined by completing the Learning Styles Questionnaire on C_Space [Appendix 2]. According to the questionnaire I learn best by visual way. Information presented in pictures, diagrams or charts is easily remembered.   I like to watch the lecturer closely and be able to see the teacher body language to fully understand the content of a lesson. I also like to use colours in my studies such as coloured markers to highlight information.   As a visual learner it is important to make sure that I sit always in a position in the classroom where I can see things clearly. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do others perceive your values and abilities? Recently I asked my best friend how they perceive my values and abilities. The feedback I have been given was as follow: You are sensible, cautious, careful practical. I see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone whos extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over if that trust is ever broken. My fellow students see me as confident, open minded and positive person. So far, the feedback form my tutors was always positive, however I am prepared to can take negative feedback. Receiving feedback is great opportunity to gain useful information and insight into what we need to develop or improve in order to grow professionally. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you approach learning? How have you improved your skills for study (including IT)? Having developed a number of strategies and techniques on last year course enabled me to make the most efficient use of my time, resources, and potential. I approach my studies strategically and systematically by working out where to invest my time and energies. Choosing the right place to study is important as I work most effectively in a well organised study area. I like to work in a comfortable and free from distractions place with a good lighting and a room to spread my book and papers. Time management is a vehicle that can carry you from wherever you are to wherever you want to be (Tracy 2007:2) Time management in the key skill to handle my coursework and to get it done on time. Good time management skills enable me to utilise my time in a more effective way and allow me to accomplish more tasks in a shortest possible way. A study time table is an essential ingredient in effective time management. I have created a weekly time table [Appendix 3 ]   to help me organise my day-today tasks, which keeps me positive and focused on my studying, and helps me achieve my targets. I have also learned to prioritise my work by doing the small and easy tasks first and taking them out of the way, before trying to tackle larger pieces of work. I have created things to do list [Appendix 4]. I use it to set daily priorities and to reduce decision making and worry. The ability to make clear and concise notes is another important skill that I have developed through my study. Taking notes helps me to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and capture the essential points of the topic. It also helps to make sense of what is to be learned and to remember it later. Having identified my preferred learning style I know now that I work well with patterned notes, such as nuclear, spider grams, diagrammatic and mind maps. This method was described by Buzan (1992) in his book Use your head. He calls the technique Mind Mapping. Mind maps allow for greater activity when recording ideas and information, as well as allowing the note-taker to associate words with visual representations (Buzan, 1992). Patterned notes involve writing the main topic in the centre of the page, and then write related ideas around it and link them up to show their relationship to the main idea. Pattern notes are more visual, and are very active form of learning. For example of m y note taking please see [Appendix 5]. I have also learned how to read effectively by being selective, scanning, skimming and questioning as I read. Computer helps me to study in many different ways. It helps me to research online for information, make structured notes, creating charts, graphs and tables and to organise and keep track of my studies. Although I have used computer in the past there was areas that I still had to improve. Last year on the access course I have learned how to work with spread sheets, databases, and create a power point presentation, which helped me to improve my IT skills. [Appendix 6] 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚   What factors affect your learning? Having many responsibilities as an adult learner I must balance against the demands of learning. Personally, the factor affecting my learning is English as a second language I do find it hard at the times to express myself in the way that I wish to. It also lower my confidence and self esteem. Being subject to jokes about my funny accent in the past made me feel nervous when speaking in front of others. However, my confidence in that area improved dramatically since starting the course. Distractions while studying could be another area that affects my learning. I need a quiet and organised place to study without any interruption. I have learned to minimise distractions while I work by encouraging others to respect my rights to work without interruption. I keep my phone off when I am studying to avoid phone calls that could disturb my learning. Self esteem and lack of confidence.   Before I took an Access Course my self esteem as well as confidence were very low. I did not believe in my abilities and felt very anxious about going back to education after a long break. Having a positive feedback from the tutors as well as fellow students helped me to build up my self- esteem and become a confident student. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you become an effective problem solver in your life? Problem solving is one of the key skills in social work practice. Social workers use a problem solving approach in working with individuals, families, groups and communities. As a social work student, it is very important to me to become an effective problem solver. In my personal life I have learned confronting rather than avoiding problems. I tend to solve my problems using a simple technique. The first stage is to define the problem. To understand why the problem exist and looking at the root cause of the problem. Secondly I explore the problem by looking at how does the problem affect me or others? The next step is looking for possible solutions and selecting a realistic solution that is most relevant to me. Finally I put my solution into action. It is however important to evaluate the effectiveness of my solution. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you become more effective, independent and confident self- directed learner? Self-directed learning is a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes(Knowles, 1975:14). According to Malcolm Knowles (1984) adults learn differently than young people. In his theory of adult learning Knowles pointed that adults are self- directed in their learning.   As a person matures his self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being   (Knowles, 1984:12). As an adult student I take responsibility for my learning processes, such as goal-setting, instructional design and evaluation of my learning process. Being organised helps me to manage my studies effectively. In order to become more independent learner I need to be motivated to learn, able to manage my time effectively, and reflect upon my learning. Effectiveness of learning depend on having your state of mind, space, time, and materials organised in the ways that best suit your learning (Cottrell, 2008:67). 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How did you work cooperatively with others I am a part of a Care team working in a care home for people with dementia. Being a part of the team I have learned how to work co- operatively with my work colleagues. As a team member I have learn contribute to achieving the goal of meeting the needs of clients. Apart from work I also work co operatively with others in group work tasks on classes. We were put to groups to complete specific task. I worked cooperatively by sharing my ideas, being and active listener, respect other people views, work together with the members of group to complete the task successfully. Working in groups gave me a great opportunity to gain confidence and develop interpersonal skills, such as active listening and questioning and communication skills. 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How do you relate your learning to the contemporary context of social work practice? Working in a Social Care as a Carer my role involves providing practical support, and enabling service users to maintain their independence to lead fuller and secure life. I also build partnerships with people I work with, trying to win them trust and encouraging them to cope and get most out of life. I relate my learning to the contemporary context of social work by implementing my current skills and knowledge to my work settings. Skills such as interpersonal skills help me to understand the importance of actively listening and empathising with service users in order to enter the world from their point of view.   I am also more aware about the group dynamics in my work place and importance of effective team working in order to achieve the desire outcomes.   Since doing the degree I also developed an anti discriminatory practice. I started to relate the theories to practice to understand the causes of discrimination and ways to challenge it effectively.

Financial Analysis

Budget a detailed plan, expressed in quantitative terms, that specifies how resources will be acquired and used during a specified period of time. A budget is a description of a financial plan. It Is a list of estimates of revenues to and expenditures by an agent for a stated period of time. Normally a budget describes a period In the future not the past Purposes of budgeting systems: Planning Facilitating Communication and Coordination Allocating Resources Controlling Profit and Operations Evaluating Performance and Providing Incentives Using a budgeting system companies can:Improve cash flow Optimize product portfolio Minimize salary adjournment Increase the operational level Eliminate breaks In Production process Stabilize debts level Precisely determine the real financing needs In Bangladesh our fiscal year is started from 1st of July and ended 30th June of the next year. Here we wants make a comprehensive analysis of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2014-2015. Th e honorable finance Minister AMA Mitch proposed this budget dated on 05. 04. 2014 in Bangladesh national assembly members for the consideration and approval of the said budget.The annual budget t a glance Total size of the budget TX 250,506 core for 2014-15 fiscal year growth target of 7. 3% of GAP The proposed national budget and the economy (FYI), 2014-2015, provides an account of the government's overall fiscal operations in pursuit of its declared goals and objectives to help promote â€Å"accelerated† and â€Å"inclusive† economic growth. It makes a lot of promises about improving government's performance-related scorecard. But it does not shed enough light on why the promises of the outgoing fiscal could not be redeemed and what wrongs there were about meeting its projected broad targets.The political turbulence or violence that was witnessed in the first half of the outgoing fiscal can not be held solely responsible for it. This is more so when the official econ omic growth figure for the outgoing fiscal that Finance Minister AMA Mitch has, in his budget speech, mentioned tends to defy the predictions and projections that were made by different quarters during the period of political volatility and also subsequent to it, taking in view the possible adverse knock-on effects of the turbulence on the performance of the national economy in all its major sectors.If the official growth figure about the entry's gross domestic product (GAP) in the outgoing fiscal portrays the real state of the economy, then there are obvious reasons to discard largely the links between the polity and the economy in the Bangladesh context. How far this is realistic to assume so, despite some clearly demonstrated inherent shock-absorbing capacity of the Bangladesh economy and also the proven resilience of its main economic actors, remains otherwise questionable.Yet then, the figures and data that the Finance Minister has mentioned about the performance of the economy in fiscal 2013-14 do unmistakably bear out shortfalls in any areas of consequence. This is so, in terms of the targets that were set in the Sixth Five Year Plan (SPY) document. The forthcoming fiscal being the terminal year of this medium-term plan that was approved by the government during its immediate-past tenure, it does not require a pundit to state that its goals and objectives would remain largely unmet.This will certainly further compound Bangladesh problems to fulfill its cherished national hope about reaching the status of a middle income country by 2021. If its existing situation does not change for the utter by a quantum leap, it will be well-nigh impossible to meet the whole set of Millennium Development Goals (Meds), particularly in areas like nutrition, effective health coverage etc. , that are much needed for poverty alleviation. In his budgetary proposals for the forthcoming fiscal, the Finance Minister has projected an aggregate expenditure outlay of about Take 2. 0 trillion, reflecting a rise by 15. 7 per cent over the revised budget of Take 2. 16 trillion for the outgoing one. There is no strong reason to consider the proposed size of the next fiscals national edged over-bloated, in view of the fact that overall public (government) expenditures, covering both current and development ones, will still be around 18. 7 per cent of GAP. The share of the proposed current (revenue and non-development capital) expenditures at Take 1. 7 trillion will be 12. Per cent of GAP while that of public investment (ADAPT) at Take 803. 15 billion will be 6. 0 per cent of GAP in the forthcoming fiscal. Such budgetary expenditures in comparator countries. But two critical questions still arise here: Has the government the capacity to implement the proposed national edged, particularly that part of it which concerns the Annual Development Programmer (ADAPT)? What is about the quality of overall public expenditures, to assess their impact in terms of value-for-mo ney, to link inputs with outputs and to count costs against benefits?These questions are of consequence because it has rather become a routine practice in Bangladesh to downsize the ADAPT in the third or last quarter of every fiscal because of implementation shortfall, on one hand, and the poor quality of overall public expenditures in terms of targeting, coverage, leakage, existing conditions of public service delivery, the nagging problem of cost over-runs of development projects due to procrastination of their execution, on the other. This is the sixth national budget that Finance Minister M.A. Mitch has presented during two successive periods of the Miami League (AL)-led government. The main challenge for implementation of the proposed national budget for FYI 2014-15 will lie in areas of arranging financial resources for its funding, without crossing the limit of the fiscal deficit that has been projected at 5. 0 per cent of GAP. If the limit is crossed, it may destabilize the m acro-economic situation and also have some crowding-out effects on the economic activities in the private sector.The National Board of Revenue (N.B.) that collects the lion's part of government revenues, in the form of duties and taxes, has not been able to fulfill its target in the outgoing fiscal, notwithstanding the fact that it had earlier demonstrated its commendable successes in raising the level of such revenue receipts of the government. The new fiscal measures that the Finance Minister has proposed for the forthcoming fiscal ay provide some cushions to the N.B. for augmenting its revenue collections. But the possible impact of such measures on overall economic activities merits a detailed scrutiny.Meanwhile, the N.B. will need to put extra-ordinary emphasis on widening the tax net, winning the trust and confidence of both the existing and potential taxpayers. It needs a shot in its arm to help strengthen its capacity to do this and that, too, by ensuring transparency of act ions by its field-level officials. Overburdening the existing tax-payers with additional doses of direct taxes and creating additional robbers for economic actors in different sectors by way of any irrational tax structure, are certainly no rational policy choice for the government.Higher tax burden may otherwise lead to a greater degree of tax evasion or avoidance. Tax compliance depends, to a large extent, on the rate of tax and duty structure. So far the efforts for collection of domestic resources are concerned, there are strong reasons for the government to raise the levels of its revenue receipts from non-N.B. agencies or departments and enhance the volume of such earnings other than taxes, duties etc. , from different government agencies, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and all other relevant sources.The proposed budget for the forthcoming fiscal so. Meanwhile, the availability of the projected external assistance that will be required for footing the estimated budgetar y expenditure, particularly on the development (public investment) side, will be predicated upon efforts to help accelerate the pace of implementation of the aided projects. Here, the developments in the recent years do need to be further consolidated and strengthened to a large extent, if the current situation about a bulging aid pipeline is to be improved. This is another daunting challenge.If the government fails to collect or mobiles the financial resources, both domestic and external, at the level projected in the proposed budget, it will be forced to either cut back its development spending in the second half of fiscal 2014-2015 or to borrow more from both banking and non-banking sources than what has been projected. Neither of these two is welcome. If public investments in priority areas fall short of the target, the potential of the economy to move onto a higher growth trajectory will intention to remain unrealized.If the government's borrowings overshoot the projected level , it will entail most unwelcome consequences. The fiscal deficit will then exceed the projected level, causing macro-economic pressures: the private sector may face resource constraints; interest payments on account of domestic public debt may swell further without enhancing the capacity of the economy to foot the related bill etc. At this stage, it would be worthwhile to draw the attention of all concerned to the imperatives for facilitating the expansion of investment activities in the private sector.The real test of the proposed budget for fiscal 2014-15 lies in this particular area. A synergy of actions will be needed to make this happen. The national budget cannot certainly address all the issues that are badly impacting new private investments. But it has to facilitate the forging of such a synergy. If private investments do not rise, the prospects of the economy to generate new Jobs, create more income-earning opportunities and pave the way for its accelerated growth rate, al ong the desired lines, will continue to delude all concerned. Financial Analysis Budget a detailed plan, expressed in quantitative terms, that specifies how resources will be acquired and used during a specified period of time. A budget is a description of a financial plan. It Is a list of estimates of revenues to and expenditures by an agent for a stated period of time. Normally a budget describes a period In the future not the past Purposes of budgeting systems: Planning Facilitating Communication and Coordination Allocating Resources Controlling Profit and Operations Evaluating Performance and Providing Incentives Using a budgeting system companies can:Improve cash flow Optimize product portfolio Minimize salary adjournment Increase the operational level Eliminate breaks In Production process Stabilize debts level Precisely determine the real financing needs In Bangladesh our fiscal year is started from 1st of July and ended 30th June of the next year. Here we wants make a comprehensive analysis of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2014-2015. Th e honorable finance Minister AMA Mitch proposed this budget dated on 05. 04. 2014 in Bangladesh national assembly members for the consideration and approval of the said budget.The annual budget t a glance Total size of the budget TX 250,506 core for 2014-15 fiscal year growth target of 7. 3% of GAP The proposed national budget and the economy (FYI), 2014-2015, provides an account of the government's overall fiscal operations in pursuit of its declared goals and objectives to help promote â€Å"accelerated† and â€Å"inclusive† economic growth. It makes a lot of promises about improving government's performance-related scorecard. But it does not shed enough light on why the promises of the outgoing fiscal could not be redeemed and what wrongs there were about meeting its projected broad targets.The political turbulence or violence that was witnessed in the first half of the outgoing fiscal can not be held solely responsible for it. This is more so when the official econ omic growth figure for the outgoing fiscal that Finance Minister AMA Mitch has, in his budget speech, mentioned tends to defy the predictions and projections that were made by different quarters during the period of political volatility and also subsequent to it, taking in view the possible adverse knock-on effects of the turbulence on the performance of the national economy in all its major sectors.If the official growth figure about the entry's gross domestic product (GAP) in the outgoing fiscal portrays the real state of the economy, then there are obvious reasons to discard largely the links between the polity and the economy in the Bangladesh context. How far this is realistic to assume so, despite some clearly demonstrated inherent shock-absorbing capacity of the Bangladesh economy and also the proven resilience of its main economic actors, remains otherwise questionable.Yet then, the figures and data that the Finance Minister has mentioned about the performance of the economy in fiscal 2013-14 do unmistakably bear out shortfalls in any areas of consequence. This is so, in terms of the targets that were set in the Sixth Five Year Plan (SPY) document. The forthcoming fiscal being the terminal year of this medium-term plan that was approved by the government during its immediate-past tenure, it does not require a pundit to state that its goals and objectives would remain largely unmet.This will certainly further compound Bangladesh problems to fulfill its cherished national hope about reaching the status of a middle income country by 2021. If its existing situation does not change for the utter by a quantum leap, it will be well-nigh impossible to meet the whole set of Millennium Development Goals (Meds), particularly in areas like nutrition, effective health coverage etc. , that are much needed for poverty alleviation. In his budgetary proposals for the forthcoming fiscal, the Finance Minister has projected an aggregate expenditure outlay of about Take 2. 0 trillion, reflecting a rise by 15. 7 per cent over the revised budget of Take 2. 16 trillion for the outgoing one. There is no strong reason to consider the proposed size of the next fiscals national edged over-bloated, in view of the fact that overall public (government) expenditures, covering both current and development ones, will still be around 18. 7 per cent of GAP. The share of the proposed current (revenue and non-development capital) expenditures at Take 1. 7 trillion will be 12. Per cent of GAP while that of public investment (ADAPT) at Take 803. 15 billion will be 6. 0 per cent of GAP in the forthcoming fiscal. Such budgetary expenditures in comparator countries. But two critical questions still arise here: Has the government the capacity to implement the proposed national edged, particularly that part of it which concerns the Annual Development Programmer (ADAPT)? What is about the quality of overall public expenditures, to assess their impact in terms of value-for-mo ney, to link inputs with outputs and to count costs against benefits?These questions are of consequence because it has rather become a routine practice in Bangladesh to downsize the ADAPT in the third or last quarter of every fiscal because of implementation shortfall, on one hand, and the poor quality of overall public expenditures in terms of targeting, coverage, leakage, existing conditions of public service delivery, the nagging problem of cost over-runs of development projects due to procrastination of their execution, on the other. This is the sixth national budget that Finance Minister M.A. Mitch has presented during two successive periods of the Miami League (AL)-led government. The main challenge for implementation of the proposed national budget for FYI 2014-15 will lie in areas of arranging financial resources for its funding, without crossing the limit of the fiscal deficit that has been projected at 5. 0 per cent of GAP. If the limit is crossed, it may destabilize the m acro-economic situation and also have some crowding-out effects on the economic activities in the private sector.The National Board of Revenue (N.B.) that collects the lion's part of government revenues, in the form of duties and taxes, has not been able to fulfill its target in the outgoing fiscal, notwithstanding the fact that it had earlier demonstrated its commendable successes in raising the level of such revenue receipts of the government. The new fiscal measures that the Finance Minister has proposed for the forthcoming fiscal ay provide some cushions to the N.B. for augmenting its revenue collections. But the possible impact of such measures on overall economic activities merits a detailed scrutiny.Meanwhile, the N.B. will need to put extra-ordinary emphasis on widening the tax net, winning the trust and confidence of both the existing and potential taxpayers. It needs a shot in its arm to help strengthen its capacity to do this and that, too, by ensuring transparency of act ions by its field-level officials. Overburdening the existing tax-payers with additional doses of direct taxes and creating additional robbers for economic actors in different sectors by way of any irrational tax structure, are certainly no rational policy choice for the government.Higher tax burden may otherwise lead to a greater degree of tax evasion or avoidance. Tax compliance depends, to a large extent, on the rate of tax and duty structure. So far the efforts for collection of domestic resources are concerned, there are strong reasons for the government to raise the levels of its revenue receipts from non-N.B. agencies or departments and enhance the volume of such earnings other than taxes, duties etc. , from different government agencies, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and all other relevant sources.The proposed budget for the forthcoming fiscal so. Meanwhile, the availability of the projected external assistance that will be required for footing the estimated budgetar y expenditure, particularly on the development (public investment) side, will be predicated upon efforts to help accelerate the pace of implementation of the aided projects. Here, the developments in the recent years do need to be further consolidated and strengthened to a large extent, if the current situation about a bulging aid pipeline is to be improved. This is another daunting challenge.If the government fails to collect or mobiles the financial resources, both domestic and external, at the level projected in the proposed budget, it will be forced to either cut back its development spending in the second half of fiscal 2014-2015 or to borrow more from both banking and non-banking sources than what has been projected. Neither of these two is welcome. If public investments in priority areas fall short of the target, the potential of the economy to move onto a higher growth trajectory will intention to remain unrealized.If the government's borrowings overshoot the projected level , it will entail most unwelcome consequences. The fiscal deficit will then exceed the projected level, causing macro-economic pressures: the private sector may face resource constraints; interest payments on account of domestic public debt may swell further without enhancing the capacity of the economy to foot the related bill etc. At this stage, it would be worthwhile to draw the attention of all concerned to the imperatives for facilitating the expansion of investment activities in the private sector.The real test of the proposed budget for fiscal 2014-15 lies in this particular area. A synergy of actions will be needed to make this happen. The national budget cannot certainly address all the issues that are badly impacting new private investments. But it has to facilitate the forging of such a synergy. If private investments do not rise, the prospects of the economy to generate new Jobs, create more income-earning opportunities and pave the way for its accelerated growth rate, al ong the desired lines, will continue to delude all concerned.

Objections Arising from Evil in the World Essay

The word evil is a word which can be used very loosely, usually used to describe something we think to be morally wrong, something that when in inflicted on a person causes pain and suffering. However, if an ‘evil’ act is committed by someone who has been in all other aspects good, does this act make this person ‘evil’? There are many different situations where evil acts could be done all with different circumstances and consequences. For example; at Auschwitz, so many guards were involved in the slaughter of massive amounts of Jews but it seems unlikely that all of them were evil. The actions may be considered evil but they were normalised by the sense of responsibility felt by the guards. In their eyes, they were carrying out a duty so the question of whether they are to be labelled evil is indefinite. There are two recognised categories which evil can fall under: Moral evil and Natural evil. Richard Swimburne, a modern day philosopher describes moral evil as ‘including all evil caused deliberately by humans doing what they ought not to do, and also the evil constituted by such deliberate acts or negligent failure’. It is the result of a human action which is morally wrong, such as murder or war. Natural evil is the result of apparent malfunctioning in the natural world, it is according to John Hick ‘the evil that originates independently of human actions. It is in disease, in bacilli, in earthquakes, in storms, and in droughts.’ The fact that evil, or suffering is an undeniable factor in our lives presents an array of problems in today’s world where there is a strong belief by many of a higher power which should in theory, be able to eradicate it from the world or in fact never have let it come to exist in the first place. For believers in the God of Classical Theism, this ‘problem of evil’ as it is often referred to, creates a serious dilemma. Moral evil is an easier problem to tackle for a theist than that of Natural evil, as it can be said that it occurs from the misuse of freewill, but they are still faced with justifying the existence of Natural evil. If God created the world from nothing, then there is nothing beyond His control so for whatever reason, God must be the creator of evil and suffering. A theist can sometimes be faced with justifying both types of evil as natural evils like tsunamis and hurricanes are often the cause of people committing moral evils like looting. The problem is not easily justifiable and is illustrated in ‘The Inconsistent Triad’, which states the points: God is omnipotent and omniscient (A), God is all-loving (B), and evil exists (C). These three statements cannot all be true so it would seem that one of them is false, but since we know evil and suffering exist the inconsistency must lie in one of the other 2 points. The conclusions drawn from this are that either God is not omnipotent and cannot stop evil from existing, or that God is not all-loving and chooses not to stop evil existing, or that in fact God does not exist. This can be used as an argument for the non-existence of God. A quote from Swimburne on the Problem of Evil, ‘There is a problem about why God allows evil, and if the theist doesn’t have (in a cool moment) a satisfactory answer to it, then his belief in God is less than rational and there is no reason why the atheist should share it.’ An example of the problem being used in this way is in Hume’s combat of Thomas Aquinas’ Design Argument (Summa Thelogica) where he labels the Problem of Evil as ‘The Rock of Atheism’. However, whilst being a problem for theists in that it challenges the nature of God, it also poses problems in other ways. It presents itself as a philosophical problem as it compels the believer to accept conflicting claims that are logically impossible to reconcile. It is also a diverse problem; evil manifests itself in many different ways, demanding separate explanations. The problem of evil has proved itself to be a challenging problem, as it is not just going to disappear, evil and suffering are objective realities which are almost impossible to deny. B) Unpack two theodicies and analyse which how successful these are As I said, the justification of God’s allowance for the existence of evil is not easy, but there are many theodicies which have developed that provide strong arguments. A theodicy is a theory that justifies why God allows evil without qualifying the attributes of the God of Classical Theism. Two of which are those of Augustine and Irenaeus. Augustine’s theodicy has had considerable influence over many scholars since it was developed and attempts to provide justification for both moral and natural evil. According to Augustine, the perfect God created a flawless world where evil and suffering did not exist, and that God is not responsible for the existence of evil as it is not a substance, but in fact a deprivation of good. He uses an analogy of blindness to illustrate his meaning, as blindness itself is not an entity but an absence of sight. Augustine claims that evil comes from angels and humans who have deliberately turned against God and abused his gift of freewill. He states that evil is necessary in a created world as only the uncreated creator can be perfect, his creations are susceptible to change. Augustine’s idea on the existence of Natural evil is that it exists as a punishment for the Original Sin, which we are all guilty of as we were all seminally present in Adam at the time it was committed. Natural evil punishes us for the destruction of the natural order by human action. For these reasons God is right not to intervene and the fact that he does save some through Christ emphasises His mercy. God would be justified in sending everyone to hell for being guilty of the Original Sin, the fact that some go to heaven shows God’s goodness. Augustine’s theodicy has some substantial strengths, as is proved by its popularity. Brian Davies is an example of a scholar who supports his claim that evil is only a deprivation of good rather than having a proper existence, he said it is ‘a gap between what there is and what there ought to be’. To criticise would be to say that God should have created more than he did which doesn’t make sense; how is anyone to know how much more should have been created. Augustine’s views on evil being a product of freewill have also been upheld. Despite it’s strengths, Augustine’s theodicy has many holes in it to be addressed, it contains logical, scientific, and moral difficulties. Augustine’s concept of Hell comes under scrutiny; Hell is part of God’s design of the universe, so it was created before the world’s flaws began to appear, which means that God must have anticipated and accepted that the world would go wrong. F.D.E Schleiermacher expresses his logical contradiction to Augustine’s views on the origin of evil and a perfect world going wrong, Schleiermacher informs us that whether evil is a deprivation or not it is still real and it is therefore logically impossible for it to just come out of nothing. This means that evil must be connected to God and he either never created the world perfect or he made it so it was able to falter. Another logical difficulty of this theodicy comes of the capacity to do evil in a ‘perfect’ world and disobey God, as in a perfect world no knowledge of good and evil should exist. The knowledge of them could only come from God. Scientific difficulties stem from the modern world’s concept of evolution; the idea of a perfect world being damaged by humans does not allow for evolution. Moreover, Augustine refers to the Garden of Eden in his theodicy, and this paradise is hard to accept on the basis of evolution. A final difficulty lies with the concept of us all being seminally present in Adam’s loins, this is biologically impossible so we cannot all be responsible for the Original Sin. From comparing the strengths with the criticisms we can see that Augustine’s theodicy ultimately fails. The theodicy of Irenaeus is another which provides a formidable answer to the question of why God allows evil’s existence. As said by Irenaeus, Gods aim when creating the world was to make humans in his likeness, but to do this, humans could not be made perfect but had to develop through free will. It was therefore necessary for God to give us free will and therefore necessary to give us the potential to turn against him. If he didn’t enable this, we could never attain God’s likeness as according to Ireneaus it requires willing co-operation. The natural order had to be designed in a way where humans could cause harm, which they did resulting in suffering, but God still cannot compromise our freedom by removing evil. Ireneaus claims that the evil and suffering will eventually be overcome and everyone will attain God’s likeness and reside in Heaven. This justifies temporary evil, which if complying with Ireneaus’ thought enables the understanding of good. Many philosophers have added to Ireneaus’ theodicy including John Hick (who claims that good developed from free will is better than ready-made goodness), and Peter Vardy who used an analogy of a king to illustrate this – where a king falls in love with a peasant girl but rather than imposing his power on her and forcing him to marry her, he wins her over. They both believe that without development our goodness would be without value, we would be automatons. According to this theodicy, humans had to be created imperfect to be able to go against God, and they had to be created at a distance from God so they could decide for themselves to believe in him. If we were sure he was there, there would be no free will, John Hick called this the ‘epistemic distance’. If God wasn’t separated from humans we would know he was real and would live a good, moral life because we would know that it is in our best interests, it wouldn’t be real goodness. Humans also couldn’t be created in a paradise or else qualities such as courage would not be attainable and there would be no development as good and evil would be indistinguishable. The theodicy justifies natural evil as it makes the world well adapted to ‘soul making’ (John Hick). The Modern Additions to this theodicy claim that heaven is the eventual goal for everyone for three reasons; a future in heaven is the only justification for the suffering of the world. Secondly, if life were to end in death God’s purpose would be unfulfilled since we would not be reaching our goal of becoming God’s likeness. Lastly, nobody can be overlooked as evil acts are carried out in different circumstances for different people. For example, someone who was abused while being raised is much more likely to be abusive as an adult, it is something they are used to and have become desensitised to. There are solid criticisms of Irenaeus’ theodicy as well as Augustine’s: For example, everyone going to heaven defies religious texts as well as making it pointless to live a moral life, why bother if you are going to heaven anyway? It also takes away the incentive to develop into God’s likeness which Irenaeus regarded of utmost importance. Another critique is of the level of suffering needed to make the world adapted for ‘soul making, e.g. Was the Holocaust really necessary? Finally, it can be said that love can never be expressed through suffering, supported by D.Z Philips who said it is not justifiable to hurt someone to help them. To conclude, neither of these theodicies can be considered perfect by any means, but Ireneaus is the stronger of the two. Where Augustine fails to provide room for belief in evolution, Ireneaus manages it and while Augustine cannot provide a logical explanation for the origin of evil, Irenaeus provides a stable reason for it. It is also popular, like Augustine’s for its views on free will.

Opposing forces between Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Free Essay Example, 1250 words

The author intentionally makes the reader to symphonize Brom’s character, revealing him as a strong, manly and handsome guy. The author’s style of writing has also greatly influenced the visualization of contrast between Crain and Brom. The â€Å"Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has a special charm and symbolic meaning. The word "legend" is the key in the story. It is repeated many times in the course of Irvings actions. The sense and charm of this word unwittingly carries the reader into the past and at the same time in the region of dreams and imagination. Sleepy Hollow is a piece of the old world, a piece of the past, which represents loyalty to the traditions. This atmosphere serves as a background for the deployment of outwardly unassuming events - played out over the teacher. It is noteworthy that Sleepy Hollow itself is steeped in slumber. The fast movement is typical only for the otherworldly force. The contradiction between the familiar and new, known and unknown becomes clearer in the novel semantic expression. We will write a custom essay sample on Opposing forces between Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Irving’s irony determines the tone of the novel. The reconsidering of the "gloomy" and "mystical" themes takes place mostly on the ironic level of the story, which also contains a symbolic and romantic plan. The competition of Crain and Brom for the heart of the beauty Katrina Van Tassela adds a bit romance to the plot of the story. Ichabod Crain knew that Broom is the most serious rival among others. He was famous among the citizens of the Sleepy Hollow by his merry mood and chaotic character. Brom’s heroic actions and image of a troublemaker creates a serious threat for his major competitor Ichabod Crain. The methods of their struggle for Katrina are very different in their representation. Brom Bones acts more straightly, he expresses his feelings without any hesitation or fear, while Ichabod Crain tries to act insinuatingly. He often comes to Katrina’s house, explaining this by the necessity as her singing teacher and reveals his feelings without her parents’ concern about it. The image of Katrina is represented by the author as a coquette and intriguing woman, who flirts with both of the main characters. That is why their struggle becomes so fast and obvious. She uses her own charm and feelings of Brom and Crain for her own benefits and self-cognition. It is not surprising, that Brom wants to solve this situation by means of a battle. However, Crain knows his own disadvantages too well and understands that it will not bring him victory.