Christian Music and Chris Tomlin

I would gather to say that when asked if they would rather listen to Christian or non-Christian music that the general population would choose the latter. Christian music is looked upon as having a dry and bland type of style, one that lulls you to sleep rather than the adrenaline pumping and soul shaking music that you get from most alternative bands. A problem that Christian music artists seem to have is trying to gather popularity for their product. Unlike the MTV bands, where sex sells, the Christian band keeps close to its values of clean wholesome music that glorifies God. Unfortunately the general population hardly shares these same views, and attendance for concerts and record sells are always down. Up until a few days ago I was under the category of non-Christian music over Christian, and was like everyone else thinking that no way could Christian artists stand up to those who were not. I have since seen that these thoughts could not have been farther from the truth. Artists like Chris Tomlin and his band not only bring to you the rhythm, beat, and noise that has come to be generally expected at rock concerts, but his type of â€Å"soul shaking† goes much deeper than others and keeps you in tuned with the Lord the entire time. So this brings about the questions, â€Å"What type of style do artists like Chris Tomlin bring to their concerts that intensifies the general perception of Christian music? † â€Å"Where does Christian concerts have benefits over non-Christian? † I was lucky enough to attend a Christ Tomlin concert this past weekend. Needless to say the experience blew me away along with my perception of Christian music. The atmosphere was just incredible the entire time I was there; such a sense of unity and friendship for one common goal seemed to permeate the room. The concert itself took place in the Nokia Center in Los Colinas, Texas, and there was not any empty seat in the room. Everyone there was with a common goal, to praise Jesus with song, and strengthen his or her relationship with Jesus. One thing I found interesting about this concert was that Chris included a guest speaker. This is something you will definitely not see at any other concert. Louie Giglio was the speaker's name, and after and hour of singing he provided a nice change of gears with a powerful message talking about how big God is and how small we are along with our problems. Using the songs just sang, he pounded in a teaching that brought about a whole new meaning to those lyrics. There was a silence that filled that room unlike any I had ever heard before. People were sitting concentrating on the message that had just been delivered to them and trying to understand its meaning and how it applied to their life. You would never hear any type of silence at a non-Christian concert, or be privileged to listen to a guest speaker. Most of the time it's seeing how much beer you can drink, or weed you can smoke and maybe listening to some music every now and then. Never is your attention focused solely on the stage following every word spoken or sung. Even with a room full of people the atmosphere at a Christian concert allows you in your mind to be by yourself with God. The quality of the music and sound was comparable to any rock concert that I had been to, helping erase my prejudice towards non-Christian music immediately. Chris had a tremendous voice, accompanied with his guitar and piano playing he was nothing short of astounding. He had a good group of guys playing alongside with him, all very inept in what they played. If the lyrics hadn't been praising Jesus you would have thought you had bought tickets to see Green Day. If the singing and instrument play wasn't enough, Chris did a great job of keeping the audience into it. He would have the entire crowd do certain things such as flip open their cell phones and hold them up while swaying back and forth. 10,000 people's cell phone lights were swaying back and forth creating and awesome spectacle and a sense of bonding time with God and each other. While singing was going on, pictures would be flashed up on the screen showing nature's beauty and Jesus on the cross. This reminded people of God's creation and the sacrifice that Jesus suffered for us. The clapping almost never stopped as people started to really get into the concert. Others were moving down to the front of the stage and were jumping up and down with the rhythm of the song. Not just teenagers, I'm talking about full grown men and women some in their mid-thirties to forties, jumping and yelling like it was some mosh pit at Ozfest. Instead of screaming profanities though these people were praising God. This type of celebration seemed to carry on for another hour or so, just singing and dancing, all for the glory of God. You could tell then that things were starting to wind down as Chris played a couple slow songs in succession, and people started moving back to their seats. They ended with the song â€Å"Indescribable† and towards the end of the song the stage went completely black and you couldn't hear Chris sing any more only the crowd. When the song had finished the lights came back on and the band was gone. This gesture struck me the most. When do you ever see a band walk off without saying anything, or acknowledging the applause by the audience? It was because it was important to them. All the glory is given to God there. God is the one that makes that concert possible and they made sure that He was the one glorified, not them. I asked my friend that I had went with, if this was the best Christian concert he had been to. He responded with, â€Å"Best? They are all like this. † It is just not Chris Tomlin that runs his concert like that; many other Christian artists share these same views. Though others still claim that Christianity a cult and that its music is just promoting a singular view. Whatever the reason, Christianity must be applauded for the giant leaps it has taken in the music industry and the quality of its songs. Musicians like Chris Tomlin must continue to be a beacon as a quality performer and God-fearing man to those seeking success as Christian music artists.

Key Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub

Key Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub Key Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and San Francisco Disease epidemics are largely caused by specific historic, political, economic, and cultural aspects. In this respect, the infection spread is often regarded as a social rather than biological process. The plague of the twenty-first century is AIDS that have been caused by a complex of cultural, economic and political conditions. Specifically, gender inequalities, genocide, poverty, and many other factors have had a destructive impact on the situation in developing countries (Kalipeni 15).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Key Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and in San Francisco and Church’s Response to the AIDS Pandemic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Due to the lack of resources, consistent infrastructures, and effective governance, these economies have been struck by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and AIDS. The Afric an continent has undergone the worst shifts, particularly its Sub-Saharan region. However, poverty is only one of the key drivers of disease epidemic because there are many cultural, moral, and ethnic determinants influencing the situation. To enlarge on this issue, the rate of people suffering from HIV/AID is significant. Irrespective of local conditions and geographical peculiarities, the reasons for HIV/AIDS emergence are rooted in a complex mix of political, social, and economical factors that drive the epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and San Francisco. The nature of these factors is different, but refers to the common categories. The most tangible of epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa is strongly associated with gender issues. Specifically, such problems as gender inequalities and gender vulnerabilities, violence, and many other gender-related challenges are on the South African agenda (Gender and Inequalities and HIV n. p.). Gender inequalities are more related to masculinity imply ing that males are likely to have more sexual partners. This is of particular concern to men having relationship with much younger women. Further, force sex and violence of physical and emotional character are experienced by women who are less resistant to these threats. What is more threatening is that women have a lesser access to HIV/AID prevention plans causing restrictions to a decision-making process. Poverty and migrations are also among the core reasons for spread of the dangerous epidemic. Specifically, HIV prevention programs are often halted due to the lack of funding. These socioeconomic obstacles prevent the population from receiving sufficient financial, moral, and social support from developed countries (Kalipeni 205). This also explains why AIDS pandemic is still the major threat to our plant (Kelly 26). Despite the fact that many scientific and technological advances directed at preventing the disease have been introduced, the evidence shows that they have little im pact on the developing countries having much lesser access to financial resources.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Cultural believes, morale, and ethics are decisive in defining the underpinnings of increased rates of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. While attaining much importance to cultural forces, it should be noted that educational and information reforms must be introduced to increase the population knowledge and promote generally accepted educational standards (Kalipeni 17). Lack of information and responsiveness explains the inefficiency of prevention plan because cultural constraints determine the results. Although the United States belong to one of the most developed economies, the rate of AID/HIV creates a serious challenge to the US government. The problem is of particular concern to San Francisco region where the epidemic is also on the rise. The contri buting factors involve sexual orientation issues, injection drugs problems, and racial discrepancies. Heterosexuality can be largely associated with psychological, behavioral, and ethical patterns that are strongly associated with homosexuals (Kelly 45). Injection drugs are also toughly connected with the development of AIDS/HIV because they reflect the behavioral and psychological patterns that are typical of citizens (Rao and Svenkerud 86). In this respect, the prevention programs should be culturally sensitive and oriented on shaping new cultural patterns. Finally, racial discrepancies influence greatly the situation with AIDS increased rate as far as immigration issues are concerned. To be more precise, African Americans have higher rates of reported HIV cases among which are such categories as MSM and trans-persons are included (San Francisco HIV Prevention Plan 3). In conclusion, the analysis of social, cultural and political situations in Sub-Saharan region and San Francisco has revealed that that there are a great number of factors contributing to the spread of the epidemic. In particular, the key driving factors of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan African involve gender inequality, poverty and migration, and cultural beliefs. In its turn, San Francisco high rates are largely predetermined by sexual orientation, injection drugs proliferation, and racial discrepancies. All these factors can be embraced into a complex mix of social, cultural, and economical issues. Differences and Similarities of Factors Driving HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and San Francisco The identification of factors triggering the rise of HIV/AIDS in the regions has uncovered a number of distinctive differences and similarities. Before analyzing those, it should be stressed that pandemic is a social process that touches upon many political, ethnic, racial, cultural, and economical issues, which is the explicit similarity related to issue.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Key Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and in San Francisco and Church’s Response to the AIDS Pandemic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another common feature refers to the sexual orientation problem, particularly to homosexual males who have greater risk of being infected by the disease. Hence, due to male gender prevalence in South Africa, men are more likely to be sexually promiscuous. Despite similarities, there are obvious distinctions predetermined largely by economical and political conditions. Specifically, the level of poverty is different and, as a result, the causes of pandemic differ as well. South African region refers to developing economies whereas San Francisco in much more advanced in these terms. In addition, there are also discrepancies in cultural beliefs and perceptions. Lack of education and deficiency in understanding the problem prevents African people from embracing the seriousness o f the issue. Church’s Response to AIDS Pandemic Today, African religious institutions are primarily considered as healing ministries. This tendency has come to the forth when it comes in Christian traditions in African region as far as the problem of AIDS spread is concerned. The analysis of religious background of churches in Zimbabwe and other countries of Southern region have revealed that religion considers AIDS as a deviation of behavior and rejection to follow the main principles of religion (Dube 27). The church reaction on the epidemic, therefore, can be considered through wider applications of religion to AID/HIV problem. Judging from the above, Churches in African places an emphasis on moral dimension to eliminate spiritual and physical suffering that people endeavor because of the disease. In this respect, the Christian communities are more presented as mentors and teachers encouraging people to fight with the pandemic and resort to pre-caution methods. Their actio ns are directed at increasing people’s awareness and promoting specific educational programs based on the Biblical principles. The reforms concern both the infected people and the one who face this threat. Dube, Lilian et al. African Initiatives in Healing Ministry, South Africa: UNISA Press, 2011. Print.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More â€Å"Gender and Inequalities and HIV†. Gender, Women and Health. World Health Organization. 2011. Web. Kalipeni, Ezekiel, et al. HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology, New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Print. Kelly, Michael. HIV and AIDS: A Social Justice Perspective. Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications, 2010. Print. Rao, Nagesh, and Peer J. Svenkerud. Effective HIV/AIDS prevention communication strategies to reach culturally unique populations: lesson learned in San Francisco, U. S. A and Bangkok, Thailand. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 22.1 (1998): 85-105. Print. San Francisco Prevention Plan. Introduction. SFHIV. 2010. Web.

House Calls - The Metaphors of Dr. Gregory House

House Calls - The Metaphors of Dr. Gregory House Before you can ask if theres a metaphor in the house, Dr. Gregory House will oblige: Have you guys heard any of my metaphors yet? Well come on, sit on grandpas lap as I tell you how infections are criminals; immune systems the police. Seriously, Grumpy, get up here: itll make us both happy.(Dr. Gregory House in the Mirror, Mirror episode of House, M.D.) Over the course of several years, the names of a dozen writers have appeared in the credits to the Fox TV program House, M.D. Each, it appears, owns a well-thumbed copy of the Merck Manual of Medical Information. And by now all must be collaborating on a new edition of the Dictionary of Metaphors. As regular viewers are aware, the shows deeply disturbed protagonist (played by Hugh Laurie) is inclined to deliver inflammatory eructations of festering figures of speech. Houses Medical Metaphors At times House relies on metaphors to translate complex medical conditions into language that his colleagues (and other true idiots) can understand. Cervical lymph node is a garbage dump. Very small onejust one truck comes, and it only comes from one home. Al Gore would be appalled. (97 Seconds)Saying there appears to be some clotting is like saying theres a traffic jam ahead. Is it a ten-car pile-up, or just a really slow bus in the center lane? And if it is a bus, is that bus thrombotic or embolic? I think I pushed the metaphor too far. (Euphoria, Part 1)Dr. House: You know, when the Inuit go fishing, they dont look for fish.Dr. Wilson: Why, Dr. House?Dr. House: They look for the blue heron, because theres no way to see the fish. But if theres fish, theres gonna be birds fishing. Now, if hes got hairy-cell, what else are we gonna see circling overhead? (Role Model)Dr. House: As far as youre concerned, the patient is Osama bin Laden, and everyone not in this room is Delta Force. Any questions?Applicant #11: Were protecting Osama bin Laden?Dr. House: Its a metaphor. Get used to it. (The Right Stuff)The tumor is Afghanistan, the c lot is Buffalo. Does that need more explanation? OK, the tumor is Al-Qaeda. We went in and wiped it out, but it had already sent out a splinter cella small team of low-level terrorists quietly living in some suburb of Buffalo, waiting to kill us all. . . . It was an excellent metaphor. Angio her brain for this clot before it straps on an explosive vest. (Autopsy) The liver is like a cruise ship taking in water. As it starts to sink, it sends out an SOS. Only instead of radio waves, it uses enzymes. The more enzymes in the blood, the worse the liver is. But once the ship has sunk, theres no more SOS. You think the livers fine, but its already at the bottom of the sea. (Locked In)Dr. Cameron: Idiopathic T-cell deficiency?Dr. House: Idiopathic, from the Latin meaning were idiots cause we cant figure out whats causing it. Give him a whole body scan.Dr. Cameron: You hate whole body scans.Dr. House: Cause theyre useless. Could probably scan every one of us and find five different doodads that look like cancer. But, when youre fourth down, 100 to go, in the snow, you dont call a running play up the middle. Unless youre the Jets.Dr. Cameron: I hate sports metaphors. (Role Model) But House is generally more intent on frightening than on edifying. As he once said: The point of metaphors is to scare people from doing things by telling them that something much scarier is going to happen than what will really happen. God, I wish I had a metaphor to explain that better. (All In) At other times the House metaphor is nothing more than a comic exercise in doctor-patient incivility. Once, after discovering that a young man had attempted self-circumcision with a utility knife, House snapped, Stop talking. Im going to get a plastic surgeon. To get the Twinkie back in the wrapper. House Metaphors About Life in General Of course, House himself is a walking, or rather limping metaphorhis crippled leg an emblem of his deformed spirit. And his acerbic metaphorical remarks may be read as symptoms of an undiagnosed malady. No, there is not a thin line between love and hate. There is, in fact, a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every twenty feet between love and hate. (Occams Razor)Dr. Wilson: Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.Dr. House: And triteness kicks us in the nads. (Occams Razor)Lies are a tool: they can be used either for good orno, wait, Ive got a better one. Lies are like children: hard work, but theyre worth it because the future depends on them. (Its A Wonderful Lie)Dr. House: Nothing matters. Were all just cockroaches, wildebeests dying on the river bank. Nothing we do has any lasting meaning.Evan Greer: And you think Im miserable?Dr. House: If youre unhappy on the plane, jump out of it.Evan Greer: I want to, but I cant.Dr. House: Thats the problem with metaphors. They need interpretation. Jumping out of the plane is stupid.Evan Greer: But what if Im not in a plane? What if Im just in a place I dont want to be?Dr. House: Thats the other problem with metaphors. Yes, what if youre actually in an ice cream truck, and outside are candy and flowers and virgins? Youre on a plane! Were all on planes. Life is dangerous and complicated, and its a long way down. (Living the Dream) You know me. Hostility makes me shrink up like a . . .. I can’t think of a non-sexual metaphor. (Spin)You know its all nice when people start to dig these holes, but then they start to live in these holes and get angry when someone pushes dirt into those holes. Come out of your holes, people! (House vs. God)Dr. House: Im a night owl, Wilsons an early bird. Were different species.Dr. Cuddy: Then move him into his own cage.Dr. House: Wholl clean the droppings from mine? (Sleeping Dogs Lie) Every now and then, however, House finds himself on the wrong side of a metaphor, as in this exchange with a young patient: Dr. House: Are you going to base your whole life on who youre stuck in a room with?Eve the Patient: Im going to base this moment on who I am stuck in a room with! Its what life is. Its a series of rooms, and who we get stuck in those rooms with, adds up to what our lives are.(​ One Day, One Room) And how does House respond to the womans metaphor? As he must, by silentlyand literallywalking out of the room.

Exemplary Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exemplary Research - Essay Example These two papers have been used to demonstrate how a management strategy can be built on the basis of intellectual capital for better performance in the goal achievement arena. To begin with, traditionally, organisations have been seen to work on the premise of three basic factors of production – land, labour and capital. These three factors have been hailed as equally important with labour always having occupied a special place of importance. In this regard, the three factors of production were enough to nicely and simply sum up the requirements of an organisation. (Nahapiet et al, 1998) The modern day organisation used four factors of production or four basic categories of resources: land, labour, capital and expertise. With the advent of various technologies and trends like globalisation, there has been a strong emphasis on the growth of manpower development along the lines of securing employees as long term assets in whose hands the growth of company lies. This is where the term expertise comes in. (Lumpkin et al, 1996) Expertise means many things to many people due to the sole reason that it includes a lot of elements that contribute to the organisation strength when it comes to the achievement of goals. This has basically been used in Non governmental organisations, but has recently been added to every corporation’s list of priorities. This brand of expertise gives rise to intellectual capital through a strategic growth and development process of the organisation’s human capital. These two papers deal with the study of intellectual capital as a form of social capital within the corporate sphere in terms of its brand asset relevance aspect. In this respect, it has been realised that intellectual capital needs to be measured to chart and track the course that is being followed by the organisation and the people within it, as far as reaching and achieving goals is concerned. (Nahapiet et al, 1998) Whether it is in the Research

Reseach Designs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reseach Designs - Essay Example are real life or assumed scenarios of any situation in which the readers are asked to access and understand the real problem in that situation and then to implement the best possible way to solve that problem. Case studies or case histories can be used to effectively study behavior of many individuals. Case histories are real life situations therefore; others can take the lead and try not to make the same mistakes again as the ones made in the case history. Another example would be that they can be used to evaluation of the people who have the similar kind of personalities like Type A, and Type B and Type C present will react in different situations. So companies and organizations can use these cases to understand how different kinds of people will react in similar situations. For example, if there is a case history present about how a type personality person will react when faced with failure, it can be used to estimate how others will the same personality traits will be reacting in similar situations. 2. Meta-analysis and traditional literature reviews are two different research techniques. Meta-analysis is used to analyze a wide variety of questions by amalgamating and summarizing and reviewing of a previous quantitative research. Certain parts of the research already done are entered into a database where it is analyzed to give another comprehensive view of the research. In the database, all the similar kind of information is gathered to give a common review that might be difficult to interpret meaningfully. Traditional literature review on the other hand, provides an overview of the research findings done by an individual. It is written by actually examining a body of published work and writing a critical ceremony of the body of the text. Literature reviews are usually used to put up different policies forward and indicate future research directions. One of the major advantages of traditional review is that if properly done by an expert, valuable unique

Business Process for Amazon.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Process for Amazon.com - Essay Example Running business is not only keeping organization's website on Internet and driving it simply; It has a full modus operandi that shows the business to consumer; compel them to make business to hat organization, upgrading the site as required, etc. Tamba Internet (1994 - 2007), clearly says in their website "All successful e-commerce sites follow two vital rules: Goods are clearly and attractively displayed for maximum visual impact; and the customer experience is simple and pleasurable." This statement perfectly fits upon the website commonly known as Amazon.com. The basic work flow of the business is known to be the business process. There are number of different activities from buying a product from the vendor to selling it to the customer; from finding out the vendor to advertising to attract customers; from settling up the prices to buy stock to gaining the profit. All of these basic activities when define in a flow collectively, business process is specified. Business is the name to purchase and sell the product in a manner to earn profit. For, e-commerce the business, CEO of the company shows up the structure of the business by drawing different boxes following each other. Each of the box at that time represents the task or activity perform by the workers or equipments, as an essential step to perform business. This is what the CEO is drawing called as Business Process Diagram. These activities take the input and produce an output which is the input of the other activity. This is known to be the flow of business where internal inputs are shared to produce different major productive outputs. Business Process For Amazon.Com Amazon.com is a real world wide famous website, diversifying its business in many directions using a single web site. This is one of the major e-commerce website doing the biggest business with number of customers and variety of stocks. It is a online shopping e-commerce website. According to David Forbes in his review to Spring Time for IT (2003) told that to implement the whole Amazon.com on to the technical grounds it was a difficult task. As people didn't understand the requirements of the technical industry. Though, employees weren't appreciatively contributing to explain their views and ideas to the designer. However, IT itself is nothing to start of some business process management but its only what designers made it to process at best and it can only be possible if people get cooperative. Leaving decision making upon IT system from the beginning level wasn't good idea as IT may help taking decision but it can only possible if the System is known with the past up and down facts of the business and though in beginning the Subject Matter Experts should come forward and tell each and every functionality they requires to have in the business process management system. Furthermore, cost for making this IT system may gives a hard time but after noticing the Kodak who spent 1billion dollar for its ERP system then to spend much for IT system is worthy enough as later it saves many cost and will help to get many customers to cover the loss. Though, Amazon has converted his whole business in IT in form of Amazon.com. The real meaning while defining the word business is specified to buy and sell something in regard to earn profit. Now, Amazon was online and can be accessible to the entire world just by few clicks

Underdetermination, Instrumentalism and Realism

Underdetermination, Instrumentalism and Realism Understanding Underdetermination in conjunction with realism and instrumentalism The present essay is about the understanding of under determination thesis in conjunction with the realism and instrumentalism. As we know that realism and instrumentalism are two opposite views in philosophy of science, so by explaining the two it would be much easier to grasp the concept of under determination thesis, which is one of complex doctrine. The intended audiences of this essay are science students and people who are interested to know about the philosophical issues in science. I divide the essay into four of parts. The first part explains the realism and instrumentalism concepts, second part explains the under determination thesis in detail and then the third part will state the views of different philosophers about three schools of thoughts. The fourth and the final part conclude the whole argumentation Realism The word realism in the dictionary means the tendency to view or represent things as they really are. [dic]. In philosophy of science it can be defined as â€Å"the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names†. It can be explained as an approach in philosophy that considers objects as they are in the universe as real things and their characteristics as a secondary thing. The advocate of realism are called realist and it is important to differentiate the realists. A person can be realist about the different kinds of things i.e. mountains, physical objects, numbers, universe etc. but in the case of a philosopher, it is required to specify that for what object/thing the philosopher is realist [book]. An American philosopher name Hilary Putnam stated that â€Å"A realist with respect to a given theory holds the following: What makes them true or false is something external that is to say, it is not in general our sense data, actual or potential, or the structure of our minds, or our language, etc. Furthermore he says that the positive argument for realism is that it is the only â€Å"philosophy that does not make the success of science a miracle†. [Book]. Generally, in science established scientific theories are treated as a true fact, but according to realist these theories would be treated as a successful explanation of the whole scientific process or its relation to an object, and not as a whole truth. [Book] An example is that sun, mountains, building etc. exists in this world, but the attributes like length, width, colour etc. are either dependent or independent of the environment. For example the sun is spherical in shape, so it is independent from any material thing of this universe. But in case of a building, its shape and size, all depend upon the person who designed or built it. So it can be said that reality is related to mind and environment. In general, Realism is supposed to be a term that relates to number of subjects i.e. ethics, aesthetics, causation, modality, science, mathematics, semantics etc. When we talk about the realism in the context of science then the intention is to elaborate the scientific realism which has a number of dimensions i.e. metaphysical, epistemological and methodological. Besides this it is also the truth that there is no single version of scientific realism which is being accepted by all the scientific realists. The doctrine of scientific realism states that â€Å" the world studied by science exists and has the properties it does, independently of our beliefs, perceptions, and theorizing; that the aim of science is to describe and explain that world, including those many aspects of it that are not directly observable; that, other things being equal, scientific theories are to be interpreted literally; that to accept a theory is to believe that what it says about the world is true, and that by continually replacing current scientific theories with better ones. Science makes objective progress and its theories get closer to the truth†. Realism has two schools of thought, first one is called Extreme realism, represented by William, a French philosopher; according to him â€Å"universals exist independently of both the human mind and particular things†. The second one is moderate realism and according to which â€Å"universals exist only in the mind of God, as patterns by which He creates particular things†. The main proponent of this view was St. Thomas Aquinas and John of Salisbury. According to epistemological view of realism, things exist in this universe, independent of our understanding or perception. This point is totally opposite to the theory of idealism, which states that â€Å"reality exists only in the mind†. By having a brief explanation of realism, instrumentalism will be discussed, which is the opposite view of realism and most of time called Antirealism. Antirealism is a doctrine that rejects realism, and includes instrumentalism, conventionalism, logical positivism, logical empiricism and constructive empiricism. Instrumentalism Instrumentalism is treated as a doctrine that states â€Å"theories are merely instruments, tools for the prediction and convenient summary of data† [Book]. In other words it can be defined as â€Å"concepts and theories are merely useful instruments whose worth is measured not by whether the concepts and theories are true or false, but by how effective they are in explaining and predicting phenomena†. The point is that in order to make predictions from theories, logic is required, so it can be hard to say theories have no truth values. In view of this instrumentalists admit that theories have truth values, but do not accept this argument that theories should be treated as accurately true. In view of this T.S. Kuhn said that â€Å"Theories may have truth values but their truth of falsity is irrelevant to our understanding of science†. [Book] In other words instrumentalism evaluates the significance of a theory with respect to empirical evidence and did not require the understanding of the actual phenomena. For example Newton gravity model is understandable and working fine, but it has no theoretical foundation [Answer.com] The another aspect of instrumentalism is that it relates closely to pragmatism and this point of view opposes the scientific realism because according to this, theories are more or less true in nature. Moreover, instrumentalism refutes that theories can be evaluated on the basis of truth. Theories will not be perceived as air plane black box which gives output on the basis of observed input. The point is that there should be a clear distinction between theory and observation that further leads to a distinction between terms and statements in each type. Like in science for statement of observation there is a specific meaning for an observable truth, for example if the litmus paper is red, so the observation terms have their meaning fixed by their referring to observable things or properties, e.g. red. Theoretical statements have their meaning fixed by their function within a theory and arent truth evaluable, e.g. the solution is acidic, whereas theoretical terms have their meaning fixed by their systematic function within a theory and dont refer to any observable thing or property, e.g. acidic. Though you may think that acidic refers to a real property in an object, the meaning of the term can only be explained by reference to a theory about acidity, in contrast to red, which is a property you can observe. Statements that mix both T-terms and O-terms are therefore T-statements, since their totality cannot be directly observed†. There is some criticism of this distinction, however, as it confuses non-theoretical with observable, and likewise theoretical with non-observable. For example, the term gene is theoretical (so a T-term) but it can also be observed (so an O-term). Whether a term is theoretical or not is a semantic matter, because it involves the different ways in which the term gets its meaning (from a theory or from an observation). Whether a term is observable or not is an epistemic matter, because it involves how we can come to know about it. Instrumentalists contend that the distinctions are the same, that we can only come to know about something if we can understand its meaning according to truth-evaluable observations. So in the above example, gene is a T-term because, although it is observable, we cannot understand its meaning from observation alone. The explanation of realism and instrumentalism above has provided us the capability to understand the topic with much insight. Now, I switch to under determination thesis. From the above discussion we have the knowledge that instrumentalism is related to pragmatism and this point of view is in contrasts with the scientific realism, which states that theories are often more or less true. Here, I refer to Quine, who said that theories can be underdetermined by all possible observations [23], and Newton Smiths, treat this as a threat to realism. He said, realism in his sense has to be rejected if there can be cases of under determination of theories. Under determination As we know that under determination is a thesis that is â€Å"used in the discussion of theories and their relation to the evidence that is cited to support them†.[1] Arguments from under determination are used to support epistemic relativism by claiming that there is no good way to certify a theory based on any set of evidence. A theory is underdetermined if, given the available evidence, there is a rival theory which is inconsistent with the theory that is at least as consistent with the evidence. Moreover, under determination is treated an epistemological issue about the relation of evidence to conclusions. Historical background The subject gets its first attention by Renà © Descartes, a French philosopher and mathematician in the 17th century. He presented two arguments related to under determination. â€Å"While dreaming, perceived experiences (for example, falling) do not necessarily contain sufficient information to deduce the true situation (being in bed)†.[2] As we know that it is not always possible for a person to separate dreams from reality and the theory that what is real or dream at a certain time is underdetermined. The second argument of Descartess is called demon argument â€Å"which is a variant of the dream argument that posits that all of ones experiences and thoughts might be manipulated by a very powerful being (an evil demon) that always deceives. Once again, so long as the perceived reality appears internally consistent to the limits of ones limited ability to tell, the situation is indistinguishable from reality, one cannot logically determine between correct beliefs from being misled; this is another version of under determination†.[2] The second person who talks about under determination was David Hume, who does not use the word under determination specifically but an argument about the problem of induction. I will discuss the induction later in the essay while explaining the under determination types. The Under determination thesis gets the recognition in the twentieth century through the work of Thomas S. Kuhn, who is a famous theoretical physicist and philosopher. He was very much prominent due to his work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that offered an alternative to linear models of scientific progress. According to Kuhn the under determination has a place to for argumentation against theories in the philosophy of science, and scientific realism. According to Khun the under determination can be divided into two types the weak and strong under determination. The both could be stated in the following words: Weak underdetermined is that the currently available evidence is not sufficient to prove the argument, but some evidence that will be available in the future might do this. Strong underdetermined is to claim that it is principally impossible to get evidence that could fully resolve the argument between the opponent theories. Besides strong and weak underdetermined theory there are two other attributes called deductive and inductive under determination. The two rival theories could be deductively underdetermined when the available evidence does not completely deny either theory. The theory is inductively underdetermined when theories are compatible with the available evidence, but still tries to determine, which theory could be a better failure A weak under determination can turn to a strong one if it avoids the attainment of future evidence that turns it into deductive under determination. A counter argument is that it is not possible for a theory to be accurately strong and inductive. In general weak under determination arguments are focused on the availability of evidence for an explicit set of theories, and strong under determination mostly entails common epistemological arguments that relates to the type of evidence and its viability for a particular or general theory. Furthermore, it is generally acknowledged that all theories are weakly underdetermined, but in case of some specific purpose all theories are strongly underdetermined. Explaining the types of under determination thesis, Ludan said that â€Å"for any finite body of evidence, there are indefinitely many mutually contrary theories, each of which logically entails the evidence†. So in other words it can be said that deductive under determination is under determination of selecting theory through a logical method. Finally, the term under determination as thesis is associated with two respectable names Pierre Duhem and W.V. Quine in philosophy of science, â€Å"that neither the truth nor the falsity of any scientific theory is determined by evidence†. According to Duhem-Quine Under determination is a â€Å"relation between evidence and theory. More accurately, it is a relation between the propositions that express the (relevant) evidence and the propositions that constitute the theory. Evidence is said to underdetermine theory†. From the above it can be said that evidence is not enough to prove the theory, belief or truth. Moreover, only the availability of evidence is not enough to make the theory a credible one. In view of this we can call the first argument a deductive and the second inductive under determination. Hence, according to under determination thesis, both arguments have required some definite epistemic proposition, and belief in a theory could not be justified on the basis of evidence. For under determination types, Duhem, also said that â€Å"logic alone cannot take us from the falsification of a prediction to a refutation of an isolated hypothesis. Importantly, deductive under determination does not mean that theory choice is underdetermined, nor does it mean that there is more than one reasonable conclusion given certain experimental evidence†. Up until now we have a basic understanding of the under determination thesis, so now I will discuss what realism actually is, the theoretical frame and the origin of the concept. Another argument against scientific realism, deriving from the under determination problem, is not as historically motivated as these others. It claims that observational data can in principle be explained by multiple theories that are mutually incompatible. Realists counter by pointing out that there have been few actual cases of under determination in the history of science. Usually the requirement of explaining the data is so exacting that scientists are lucky to find even one theory that fulfils it. Furthermore, if we take the under determination argument seriously, it implies that we can know about only what we have directly observed. For example, we could not theorize that dinosaurs once lived based on the fossil evidence because other theories (e.g., that the fossils are clever hoaxes) can account for the same data. Realists claim that, in addition to empirical adequacy, there are other criteria for theory choice, such as parsimony. In particular, it must not be confused with what Newton-Smith takes to be a minimal common factor among the wide range of philosophers who in recent years have advocated a realist construal of scientific theories. This common factor consists of the following theses: (1) Scientific theories are either true or false and which a given theory is, it is in virtue of how the world is, (2) If a theory is true, the theoretical terms of the theory denote theoretical entities which are causally responsible for the observable phenomenon whose occurrence is evidence for the theory, (3) We can have warranted beliefs (at least in principle) concerning the truth values of theories, (4) The historically generated sequence of theories of a mature science may well be a sequence of false theories but it is a sequence in which succeeding theories have greater truth-content and less falsity content than their predecessors. We may refer to (1) as the objectivity, (2) as the causality, (3) as the decidability, and (4) as the convergence of scientific theories. Newton-Smith uses the name realism for the combination of these four theses, and he also seems to hold that this is the standard use of the term. It is clear that theoretical realism in the weakest sense entails neither objectivity, nor causality, nor decidability, nor convergence. In particular, some theoretical propositions may be true even if no scientific theory as a whole is either true or false. Moreover, it is doubtful whether realism in Newton-Smiths sense entails theoretical realism. For example, if all theoretical propositions are false, then theoretical realism is false, but realism in Newton-Smiths sense might still be true. In any case, one of Newton-Smiths main theses is that realism in his sense has to be rejected if there can be cases of under determination. In particular, he claims that either objectivity or decidability has to be weakened if under determination can occur to give up decidability is what he calls the ignorance response (to under determination). This involves embracing the possibility of inaccessible facts facts concerning whose obtaining we could have no information. To give up objectivity is what he calls the arrogance response. This amounts to holding that if we cannot know about something there is nothing to know about. 36 Notice, that this holds only for under determination in Newton-Smiths sense, i.e. under determination by all possible data. It does not hold for the other kinds of under determination mentioned above. In other words, it is only when an underdetermined theory is empirically viable that we cannot know that it is true or that it is false (either because it is neither true nor false, or because we cannot know, even in principle, what its truth value is). In general, we cannot have under determination (of any kind) together with empirical viability, objectivity, and decidability. If a theory is underdetermined, we cannot know that it is true. This I accept. At first, it appears that Quine would not accept this. He holds that there may be two best total theories which are empirically viable and incompatible, but that we may know, at least in principle, that one of them is true and the other false. However, it seems that Quine is then using true and false in a non-realistic sense; according to him, to call a statement true is just to reaffirm it. He does not seem to assume that there is some objective reality, the world, such that the truth of a statement consists it its correspondence with this reality. Hence, presumably he would reject the objectivity thesis which is part of realism in Newton Smiths sense. Realism/Anti-realism Given the various epistemological difficulties (under determination, problem of induction, rationality, social forces), and the lack of a consensus on these issues, why should we think that our theories are actually describing reality? The apparently large gap between observational and theoretical knowledge inspires worry about realism Metaphysical difficulties come into play here as well—we do not have good understandings of the nature of laws and causation, explanation, so how can we claim that we are discovering the nature of the universe?