Candide by Nate Ziefert Essay -- book critique, French satire novella

Candide is a French satire novella first published in 1759 by Gabriel Cramer in Paris, France, and written by Franà §ois-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire, his pen name, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. This book was chosen to show what life was like in France prior to the French Revolution and to provide an overview of the political issues of that period. Reading the book provided context for discussing various themes, including the importance of reason, the corruption of the church, money and power, inequality, which were all-pressing issues in the time period we studied. The book was useful to our course of studies because it detailed what life was like in France during the middle of the 18th century and provided context for what was taught in class--for example corruption by powerful forces in French society, such as the unfair treatment and pay between serfs and their feudal lords. A number of historical events lead Voltaire to write Candide. The first was the publication of Leibniz's "Monadology", an essay discussing Leibniz’ philosophy of optimism. Two other historical events, the Seven Years’ War and the 1775 Lisbon earthquake, also provided inspiration to Voltaire. The close of the Leibniz’ piece, "Therefore this is the best of all possible worlds", serves as the primary basis for Voltaire’s satire. Things were not so good in France, at the time for the majority of the French people and there was not much reason for optimism. Voltaire rejected Leibnizian optimism because if he was in the best of all possible worlds, a tragic and devastating earthquake should not have occurred. Natural disasters simply do not fit into the philosophy of optimism. Voltaire’s point of view is very logicergy goes into the work, and he stops all of his previous philosophical speculation. Finally, he is content. The text was entertaining, but highly improbable, and provides a good perspective from which to view the culture and politics of Spain and France in the mid-1700’s. The themes—the hypocrisy of religion, the foolishness of optimism, the uselessness of philosophical speculation and the corrupting influence of power and money—are expressed in an wildly entertaining manner. I found the way Voltaire interwove the characters with his themes and used satire most interesting. He made the characters whose opinions he disagreed with look like fools in order to discredit their beliefs, and he made his points through characters that were likable. Candide was definitely worth reading and packed in a lot of history and philosophy into a fast-paced, action story.

Current Nutritional and Nutraceutical Approches for the Treatment of Essay

Current Nutritional and Nutraceutical Approches for the Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome - Essay Example Various diets and nutraceutical supplements which inhibit or significantly arrest the various symptoms will be discussed in this thesis. Metabolic syndrome, clinically termed as â€Å"Syndrome X,† is in fact a constellation of symptoms leading to hypertension, obesity, and lipid abnormalities. The main factor underlying all these symptoms are traced to a resistance to insulin on the one hand and excessive release of insulin on the other. Syndrome X has a history which is of recent origin. The obesity dimension to the syndrome was added on subsequently in order to reveal the interconnectedness of the symptoms. The main causative factors leading to Syndrome X relate to poor dietary habits and lifestyle related factors. These include diets with high fat content, abnormally rich consumption of refined sugar, sedentary lifestyles with low or no physical exercise and a genetic make up that makes an individual susceptible to Syndrome X. The incidence of Syndrome X in the Western world has assumed alarming proportions. For instance, in USA, data from the National Health Nutritional Survey for the years 1988 to 1994 re ports that nearly 50 million Americans exhibited symptoms of Syndrome X (1). In the year 2006 Syndrome X figures may be well past 75 million. Such a wide prevalence automatically qualifies this syndrome as a topic of research. The emphasis of the research is to develop several approaches towards treating Syndrome X. In fact Syndrome X has been defined with limited symptoms in its theoretical construct however its physical manifestations are far and wide. Though, invariably, it is associated as a major cause of cardiovascular disease, it is also acknowledged that the syndrome may be a big contributory factor and accessory in morbidity and mortality in other conditions like non-alcoholic fatty-liver, female reproductive disorders, polycystic ovary

The Impact of Socio-economic Status on Student Achievement and Essay

The Impact of Socio-economic Status on Student Achievement and possible Intervention. Focus Australian education - Essay Example One may ask, why focus on early childhood education? It has been proven in numerous studies that the early years of any child’s life have a formative impact on their learning, development, future health as well as well-being. This forms the justification for this paper. It begins by exploring what exactly ECEC is in various contexts. It then goes on to give a background of the issue, highlighting various theories and schools of thought on the subject. Next, it discusses the Early Childhood Education and Care sector in the Australian context. In this section, the paper also highlights the different ECEC service types, particularly LDC, FDC, OSHC, IHC, preschool, Occasional care as well as the non-mainstream ECEC services. Next, it goes on to discuss the problems hindering the provision of quality ECEC services in Kenya. It then goes ahead to explain the role of Government in the provision of high quality education in general, and in ECEC sector in particular, with a focus on ho w Government intervention affects disadvantaged children. Then, the paper goes into highlighting the specific roles of the Australian as well as State and Territory governments in the ECEC sector, and how regulation can ensure the provision of high-quality ECEC services to all children, regardless of their family background. Introduction The level of student success in today’s education context is determined by a wide range of factors. This paper seeks to focus on the socio-economic status as a factor in student achievement, with a focus on the Early Childhood Education and Care sector in Australia. It is proven that the early years of any child’s life have a formative impact on their learning, development, future health as well as well-being. If the child is exposed to positive experiences in their formative years, it will also have positive outcomes in their future (Waldfogel, 2007). Research has revealed that, despite its importance, the level of quality of ECEC ser vices may not be as high as it ought to be. This is mainly caused by disjointed policy approaches and information asymmetry among other factors. These issues have been discussed in more detail further into the paper. However, the government of any nation has a responsibility to ensure that the quality of ECEC services to all the state’s children, regardless of economic background, as the adequate provision of this has bearing on economic development through adequate workforce participation (Smart, Sanson, Baxter, Edwards and Hayes, 2008). Definition of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Waldfogel (2007) reveals that early childhood education can simply be defined as the process of administering formal teaching and care of children by people who are not part of their family, or is outside their respective home setting. Early childhood refers to the age before normal schooling, that is, between birth and five years of age. However, this definition varies between differen t nations: for example, the United States National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) defines early childhood as before the age of eight (Waldfogel, 2007). Background A child’s needs in the early years are very different from those of older children. This is because early childhood sees the greatest growth and development. The stages are such that the brain develops