Twelve Who Ruled and Robert Roswell Palmer Essay Example for Free

Twelve Who Ruled and Robert Roswell Palmer Essay The book, Twelve Who Ruled, covers a very complex period, the French Revolution. Robert Roswell Palmer; author of the book, brings our attention of twelve men who have a chance to change society, institutions, and political beliefs. Palmer takes our thoughts drawn to the brutality and dictatorship of this time period and shares with us how idealism can conrupt and damage a nation as a whole. Oppression is the sense and theme of emotion I feel when reading this book. How can a man like Robert Roswell Palmer be an author of a well-written masterpiece? Robert Roswell Palmer or professionally known as R. R. Palmer, was born on January 11, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. In high school, he accelerated in his academics. Motivated by his teachers, Palmer competed for a citywide â€Å"Latin prize† and earned a full ride scholarship to the University of Chicago. He received his PHD from Cornell University in 1934, specializing in 18th-century France. Palmers talents brought him an instructorship at Princeton University in 1936. Palmer spent World War II in Washington, D.C., where he put his intellectual skills to work for the War Department. Palmer married Esther Howard in 1942 and had three children. After the war and progressing in his marriage, he was a proud supervisor and contributor of a project that resulted in the postwar publication of two volumes, Organization of Ground Combat Troops (1947) and Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops (1948). After the war he returned to Princeton where he taught for three decades and authored seven of his books, Catholics and Unbelievers in 18th-Century France; published in 1939, Twelve Who Ruled; published in 1941, and The Improvement of Humanity: Education and the French Revolution; published in 1985, Rand McNally Atlas of World History, first published in 1957 and still used today by many college professors. At age 43 he was named Princetons Dodge Professor of History from 1952 to 1963 and he began the latter part of his academic career by assuming administrative duties as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis from 1963 to 1966. Later on he returned to his first passion, writing and teaching. At the age of 60, he accepted a professorship at Yale University, from which he retired in 1977. Palmer returned to Princeton where he was a guest scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study. For the last several years, Palmer and his family lived at Newtown, Pennsylvania and where he would pass away on June 11, 2002. Palmers career earned him many honors. This includes service as president of the Society for French Historical Studies in 1961 and the American Historical Association in 1970. He was an active member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts Sciences. He held visiting professorships at the Universities of Chicago, Colorado, and Michigan, and at the University of Califomia at Berkeley. He was the recipient of several honorary degrees in the United States as well as in Europe. Italys Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded him the Feltrenelli Prize in 1990 in recognition of his lifetime scholarly achievements. R. R. Palmer is a valid source of wanting to know the French Revolution. From knowing his academic background and his well high positive representation, he is a healthy source. Reading his book, Twelve who ruled, seems as if he personally knows the twelve individuals. He brings this time period of great oppression during the French Revolution to life as you progress reading into his book. This book is a great book and a well written masterpiece that will open your eyes.

Should We Balance National Debt? :: Argumentative Persuasive Economics Papers

Should We Balance National Debt? The national debt is a problem that the entire country has to deal with. The questions is whether or not to balance it? Morally the answer is yes. We should not leave this burden for our children to solve. If the deficit was balanced then this country would have more money to spend on other programs such as welfare or medicare. Fifteen percent of national spending is used to pay for the current deficit. With another 15% of our budget to spend on tax-cuts or other issues this could cause an economic boom. Some say that balancing the budget is not the right thing to do. It is said that by balancing the budget at the end of the fiscal year would cause the government to raise taxes therefore slowing down the economy. Some also say that we should not balance the budget because none of the countries that have paid for the bonds will never collect the money owed. They will just let the bonds collect interest therefore we are not responsible to pay back the money. This relies on that the bond holders never collect which we do not know for sure if they won't. We need to be prepared so if the bond holders do collect we can fullfill our end of the deal and pay the money we owe. To balance the budget will take years to accomplish and a little better handling of money than we currently doing. Since the Cold War is over we no lomger need to be spending as much money on defense as we have

Explain the principle psychological perspective Essay

Behaviourist A perspective means a way of seeing things. Behaviourist is the first approach in this criterion. Behaviourist is the study of human minds, they study behaviour. The behaviourist sees the brain as a black box, this is because as they study animals it is easy to experiment, and they think that humans and animals are similar. The behaviourist wanted to become scientist, which is why they carried out the experiment. Although JB Watson (1887) was the founder of this theorist he studied the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov did an experiment once on a dog. The dog salivated every time Pavlov came to the lab with the food. The dog then started associating the time, the bell and the brown coat. This kind of association is called classic conditioning. JB Watson also once experimented on a little boy called Albert. JB Watson taught Albert to have fear of the rats. Albert had a white fluffy rabbit. One day a white rat came pass Albert, but Albert did not seem to be frightened. JB Watson stood behind Albert’s back with metals. Every time the rat went pass JB banged the metals and Albert was startled, JB did this couple of times until Albert was scared of the rat, however Albert was not only scared of the white rat, it was also scared of his white fluffy rabbit as them to animals has the same colour. BF Skinner was also another behaviourist theorist, he did an experiment on a rat in a cage, he put some food on the food pallet for the rat, the rat accidently put its foot on the lever and food came out. So the rat did this few time and knew that if the rat puts the foot on the lever food would come out, this type of experiment was positive reinforcement. On the opposite Skinner experimented on the negative reinforcement. Skinner investigated this by giving the rat a small electric shock whenever it pressed the lever. The consequence of lever pressing was experienced as unpleasant, so the rat learnt to stop pressing the lever. Psycho dynamic Freud ( 1856-1939) and Erikson(1902-194) are two men who came up with the psycho dynamic theory. Freud said that we humans are like animals driven by basic biological natures. He came up with the psyche idea. He said that the psyche idea had three stages, ID means the basic animal instinct, for example, eating sleeping and reproducing, SUPER EGO means morality and EGO means reality and logic. It is said that Freud was the earliest thinkers to bring public attention the idea that us humans are not always aware of some aspects in our lives. He believed that we lock up memories that we do not want to remember or feeling that we do not want to expose somewhere in our brains. He referred consciousness to a tip of an iceberg. He referred pre consciousness at the middle of the ice berg and he also referred unconsciousness as at the bottom of the iceberg. He also came up with defence mechanisms. He knew that when people do not want to remember things, they want to deny it. This mechanism has five stages. Denial is when a person reject the thought or feeling, repression is when we push down the bad memories to the unconsciousness however it could leak at some points. Projection is when a person pushes the social unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else. Rationalisation means making excuses and lastly sublimation is putting all the energies onto something else. Freud also came up with the early experience; he came up with this idea which has five stages. Oral means mouth, anal means anus, phallic is a Latin word for penis, latent which means resting and genital which means private parts. Erikson agrees with Freud however he thought that this continues throughout our life time and were essentially social in nature. Social Learning Theory The theorist of social learning theory is bandura. He is said to be sympathetic towards behaviourist. Although bandura does not criticize, he tells the behaviourist to build up to it. Bandura agrees with the positive reinforcement. Albert bandura said that leaning takes place in social situations, such as in the family or with friends and other people. How Skinner came up with positive reinforcement, Albert came up with vicarious reinforcement, this means when people observe and get affected. For example, Barbara is good to her mother and the father praises her, her sister is observing it but she gets affected by how she is getting treated by her parents, Barbara’s sister was vicariously reinforced. The other idea bandura came up with was role model and modelling. The people we learn from are our role model but the process of imitating the person is called modelling. Modelling has five stages, attention, which is when a person is attracted to a celebrity or a person they reall y like. Retention is when the person is keeping the likeness inside them, reproduction is when he person copies the behaviour, motivation is when the person is tempted to do what the celebrity does and lastly self efficacy is when the person is confident in one area. It is said that we do not imitate all behaviour we observe and remember. Humanistic This approach has been found by two theorist called Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham Maslow. Carl Rogers (1902-1087) theory is based on clinic and it is also based on the years he has been dealing with different clients with different problems. Rogers sees people as good and he thinks that â€Å"good mental health is a natural progression of human development†. This quote shows that he is stating that human being instinctively know what is bad and what is not. Rogers came up with an idea of an actualisation theory. This is the natural motivation that every human being has. For example, we as human beings try to do very risky things, such as flying to the moon. Some of our hobbies is to create music and paint pictures, we do all because we want to be the best we can, achieve and become successful in the future. He also came up with the idea of unconditional positive regard; he said that this is when people like you, because of who you are regardless of your performances and conformity. The opposite of this is conditional positive regard, which simply explains when someone likes you if their expectations are fulfilled. In other words, Rogers believed that some of the people feel wanted and belonged when they fulfilled other people’s expectations and that is when they develop conditional self regard. Cognitive Approach Cognitive approach is found by three theorist, Jean Piaget, Kelly and beck/Ellis. With the invention of computers and other aids brain activities was like the operation of a computer. Loads of researches have been devoted to understand the process of cognitive, such as attention, memory information processing and problem solving. Jean Piaget came up with an idea related to how people develop throughout their lives. He came to a conclusion that cognition develops through a series of stages. There are four stages that Piaget has mentioned in the theory. The first stage is called the sensory motor, it means that babies from 0 to 2 are experiencing through motor and the sense. stage 2 is the pre operational, this is when children from 2 to 7 develop languages along with the memory, stage 3 is the concrete operational which means that the child can now understand conservations but cannot solve problems yet. The last stage is the formal stage, this is when the children can abstract thought s and present problems of their own and other people. Biological Approach The theorist of this theory is called Arnold Gessel (1880-1961), Gessel came up with the idea is that people are born with a set of genes and the genes carries different personalities, so the theorist is stating that behaviour does not to do with environment and what can of people you socialise with but it is to do with the genes the person is born with. This is quite different to the humanistic approach where the effectiveness of nurture is paramount. Gessel believes that as the baby is being formed in the womb of the mother, for example, the heart being first to form. As the child develops the genes allows to flower over the person. The theorist came up with the genetic influences on behaviour idea. He thinks that genes effect behaviour in many ways, some illnesses such as Huntingdon’s disease is caused by the genes caused by the parents genes or the genes from the family. This disorder will change the person’s behaviour, for example, they will speak in appropriately and they will become aggressive.

Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most influential Americans of the 19th century. His writings played a major role in the development of American literature, and his thought impacted political leaders as well as countless ordinary people. Emerson, born into a family of ministers, became known as an unorthodox and controversiall thinker in the late 1830s. His writing and public persona would cast a long shadow over American letters, as he influenced such major American writers as Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. Early Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803. His father was a prominent Boston minister. And though his father died when Emerson was eight years old, Emersons family managed to send him to Boston Latin School and Harvard College. After graduating from Harvard he taught school with his older brother for a time, and eventually decided to become a Unitarian minister. He became the junior pastor at a noted Boston institution, Second Church. Personal Crisis Emerson’s personal life appeared promising, as he fell in love and married Ellen Tucker in 1829. His happiness was short-lived, however, as his young wife died less than two years later. Emerson was emotionally devastated. As his wife was from a wealthy family, Emerson received an inheritance which helped sustain him for the rest of his life. The death of his wife and his plunge into misery led Emerson to have severe doubts about his religious beliefs. He became increasingly disillusioned with the ministry over the next several years and he resigned from his position at the church. He spent most of 1833 touring Europe. In Britain Emerson met with prominent writers, including Thomas Carlyle, which whom he began a lifelong friendship. Emerson Began to Publish and Speak in Public After returning to America, Emerson began to express his changing ideas in written essays. His essay â€Å"Nature,† published in 1836, was noteworthy. It is often cited as the place where central ideas of Transcendentalism were expressed. In the late 1830s Emerson began to make a living as a public speaker. At that time in America, crowds would pay to hear people discuss current events or philosophical topics, and Emerson was soon a popular orator in New England. Over the course of his life his speaking fees would be a major portion of his income. The Transcendentalist Movement Because Emerson is so closely linked to the Transcendentalists, it is often believed that he was the founder of Transcendentalism. He was not, as other New England thinkers and writers actually came together, calling themselves Transcendentalists, in the years before he published â€Å"Nature.† Yet Emerson’s prominence, and his growing public profile, made him the most famous of the Transcendentalist writers. Emerson Broke with Tradition In 1837, a class at Harvard Divinity School invited Emerson to speak. He delivered an address titled â€Å"The American Scholar† which was well-received. It was hailed as â€Å"our intellectual Declaration of Independence† by Oliver Wendell Holmes, a student who would go on to be a prominent essayist. The following year the graduating class at the Divinity School invited Emerson to give the commencement address. Emerson, speaking to a fairly small group of people on July 15, 1838, ignited a huge controversy. He delivered an address advocating Transcendentalist ideas such as love of nature and self-reliance. The faculty and clergy considered Emerson’s address to be somewhat radical and a calculated insult. He was not invited back to speak at Harvard for decades. Emerson Was Known as The Sage of Concord Emerson married his second wife, Lidian, in 1835, and they settled in Concord, Massachusetts. In Concord Emerson found a peaceful place to live and write, and a literary community sprang up around him. Other writers associated with Concord in the 1840s included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller. Emerson was sometimes referred to in the newspapers as The Sage of Concord. Ralph Waldo Emerson Was a Literary Influence Emerson published his first book of essay in 1841, and published a second volume in 1844. He continued speaking far and wide, and it’s known that in 1842 he gave an address titled â€Å"The Poet† in New York City. One of the audience members was a young newspaper reporter, Walt Whitman. The future poet was greatly inspired by Emerson’s words. In 1855, when Whitman published his classic book Leaves of Grass, he sent a copy to Emerson, who responded with a warm letter praising Whitman’s poetry. This endorsement from Emerson helped launched Whitman’s career as a poet. Emerson also exerted a major influence over Henry David Thoreau, who was a young Harvard graduate and schoolteacher when Emerson met him in Concord. Emerson sometimes employed Thoreau as a handyman and gardener, and encouraged his young friend to write. Thoreau lived for two years in a cabin he built on a plot of land owned by Emerson, and wrote his classic book, Walden, based on the experience. Involvement in Social Causes Emerson was known for his lofty ideas, but he was also known to get involved in specific social causes. The most notable cause Emerson supported was the abolitionist movement. Emerson spoke out against slavery for years, and even helped runaway slaves get to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Emerson also praised John Brown, the fanatical abolitionist who many perceived as a violent madman. Though Emerson had been fairly apolitical, the conflict over slavery led him to the new Republican Party, and in the election of 1860 he voted for Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation Emerson hailed it as a great day for the United States. Emerson was deeply affected by Lincolns assassination, and considered him a martyr. Emersons Later Years After the Civil War, Emerson continued to travel and give lectures based on his many essays. In California he befriended naturalist John Muir, whom he met in Yosemite Valley. But by the 1870s his health was beginning to fail. He died in Concord on April 27, 1882. He was nearly 79 years old. His death was front-page news. The New York Times published a lengthy obituary of Emerson on the front page. It is impossible to learn about American literature in the 19th century without encountering Ralph Waldo Emerson. His influence was profound, and his essays, especially classics such as Self-Reliance, are still read and discussed more than 160 years after their publication. Sources: Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. The Death of Mr. Emerson. New York Times, 28 April 1882. A1.