Definition and Examples of Maxims

Maxim, proverb, gnome, aphorism, apothegm, sententia―all of these terms mean essentially the same thing: a short, easily remembered expression of a basic principle, general truth or rule of conduct. Think of a maxim as a nugget of wisdom―or at least of apparent wisdom. Maxims are universal and testify to the commonality of human existence. It is often difficult to tell whether a maxim means something, or something means maxim.   -  Robert Benchley, Maxims from the Chinese Maxims, you see, are tricky devices. As Benchley suggests in his comic chiasmus, they generally sound pretty convincing at least until a contrary maxim comes along. Look before you leap, we say with conviction. That is, until we remember that he who hesitates is lost. Examples of Dueling Maxims English is full of such contrary proverbs (or, as we prefer to call them, dueling maxims): The bigger the better / Good things come in small packages.Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. / One mans meat is another mans poison.Birds of a feather flock together./ Opposites attract.Actions speak louder than words. / The pen is mightier than the sword.Youre never too old to learn. / You cant teach an old dog new tricks.All good things come to those who wait. / Time and tide wait for no man.Many hands make light work. / Too many cooks spoil the broth.Absence makes the heart grow fonder. / Out of sight, out of mind.Its better to be safe than sorry. / Nothing ventured, nothing gained. As William Mathews said, All maxims have their antagonist maxims; proverbs should be sold in pairs, a single one being but a half truth. Maxims as Strategies But then, we might ask, what is the nature of proverbial truth? In his essay Literature as Equipment for Living, rhetorician Kenneth Burke argued that proverbs are strategies designed for dealing with situations--for consolation or vengeance, for admonition or exhortation, for foretelling. And different situations call for different proverbs: The apparent contradictions depend upon differences in attitude , involving a correspondingly different choice of strategy . Consider, for instance, the apparently opposite pair: Repentance comes too late and Never too late to mend. The first is admonitory. It says in effect: Youd better look out, or youll get yourself too far into this business. The second is consolatory, saying in effect: Buck up, old man, you can still pull out of this. ( The Philosophy of Literary Form, 3rd edition, Louisiana State University Press, 1967) Maxims in an Oral Culture In any event, the maxim is a handy device, especially for people in predominately oral cultures--those that rely on speech rather than writing to pass along knowledge. Some of the common stylistic features of maxims (features that help us remember them) include parallelism, antithesis, chiasmus, alliteration, paradox, hyperbole  and ellipsis. The Rhetoric of Aristotle According to Aristotle in his Rhetoric, the maxim is also a persuasive device, convincing listeners by conveying an impression of wisdom and experience. Because maxims are so common, he says, They seem true, as if everyone agreed. But that doesnt mean that all of us have earned the right to use maxims. Theres a minimum age requirement, Aristotle tells us: Speaking in maxims is appropriate to those older in years and on subjects of which one is experienced, since to speak maxims is unseemly for one too young, as is storytelling; and on matters in which one is inexperienced it is silly and shows lack of education. There is an adequate sign of this: country folks are most inclined to strike maxims and readily show themselves off. ( Aristotle On Rhetoric : A Theory of Civic Discourse, translated by George A. Kennedy, Oxford University Press, 1991) Finally, we might keep in mind this bit of proverbial wisdom from Mark Twain: It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right.

Positions for and Against Abortion

Many points come up in the abortion debate. Heres a look at abortion from both sides: 10 arguments for abortion and 10 arguments against abortion, for a total of 20 statements that represent a range of topics as seen from both sides. Pro-Life Arguments Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human lifeNo civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different.Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. And with 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles and the chance of a miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant. Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime; instead, it is the perpetrator who should be punished.Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.For women who dema nd complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence.Many Americans who pay taxes are opposed to abortion, therefore its morally wrong to use tax dollars to fund abortion.Those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterward.Abortion frequently causes intense psychological pain and stress. Pro-Choice Arguments Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester when a fetus is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord to the mother. As such, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.The concept of personhood is different from the concept of human life. Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder?Adoption is not an alternative to abortion because it remains the womans choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Statistics show that very few women who give birth choose to give up their babies; less than 3 percent of white unmarried women and less than 2 percent of percent black​ unmarried women.Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women (88 percent) who have an abortion do so in their first trimester. Me dical abortions have less than 0.5 percent risk of serious complications and do not affect a womans health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth.In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made pregnant by this violent act would cause further psychological harm to the victim. Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is ineffective in these situations.Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. Only 8Â  percent of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual carelessness than to the availability of abortion.The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you step onto a slippery slope. If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?Taxpaye r dollars are used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as rich women, and abortion is one of these services. Funding abortion is no different from funding a war in the Mideast. For those who are opposed, the place to express outrage is in the voting booth.Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced.Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Yet the American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.

Psychology and the Media Free Essays

In my opinion the media today dilutes down the science of psychology to a simple word used to sell an item or idea, the media also exaggerates the use of psychology to do so. I searched the internet for news on psychology, I chose the internet because it is the easiest news source to access and probably the most popular. What I found was a few scholarly sources, but mostly articles on sex and how to get rich/skinny/beautiful quick, with of course the use of psychology. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychology and the Media or any similar topic only for you Order Now The internet not only distorts the image of psychology but provides a poor education on the topic.When portrayed in the media, psychology is presented more as common knowledge and less as an actual science. In many articles online there is no evidence supporting the facts and statistics presented. For example, an article on dailymail. co. uk titled Redheads ‘have more sex than blondes or brunettes’ the author raves about how redheads have more sex with more partners more often, its psychology! The article though, neglected to provide evidence to such statements. In the end of the article an actual psychologist named Christine Baumanns stated that this may not be the case.Articles like these make psychology look like a simple idea, an idea that doesn’t need to be studied, or verified. I noticed that in most of the articles I discovered online, there were very few actual psychologists and if there was a credible source, they were just in there making a quick note to the subject. In a few articles I read the topic was sex, and in those articles sex was mentioned more than enough. I think this dumbed-down the article and made it more readable to common people, in some cases this could be good but I don’t think it helps save the name of psychology.In this particular article (Why British women go off sex (unlike the French and Germans)) only one psychologist is noted, Dr Petra Boynton. Unfortunately she is only mentioned at the very end of the story, which is where most people usually stop reading, especially when sex isn’t being mentioned anymore. The term psychology is used so much in the media, in news articles, television, blogs, magazines and much more. A lot of the time the word psychology is mentioned in the title of the subject and never mentioned again afterwards.The word is used to appeal to a reader, listener, or viewer and draw them in. Rarely though is the subject matter actually psychological at all for example, The Psychology of stripping, Psychology Major Factor in risk Preparedness, or The psychology of Bullying; all these articles failed to mention anything relating to psychology they shallowly claimed to be psychological and didn’t mention anything scientific afterwards. Like these articles the media does not present the many different fields and types of psychology, in fact they don’t present more than about five if any.The fields of psychology that are represented in the media are usually about celebrities and their drug addictions. Television reality shows constantly flaunt celebrity psychologists who seem to make peoples problems magically disappear and make the world better. Another field that is flaunted is economic psychology, news stations broadcast that they have the new way to save money and the new spending trends they’ve discovered that will save you millions of dollars.I think though, the most overrepresented field is the field of physical health and beauty, articles claim that psychological studies show that this and that will make you happier and in the end make you better looking. Others say that if you make more money you will be skinnier. I think the wrong types of psychology are being overrepresented and over exaggerated. The fields of psychology that are being underrepresented are the fields pertaining to medical and mental health.So many huge breakthroughs have been made in the world of psychology that can help so many people with mental illnesses and disabilities, but people would rat her hear that Lindsay Lohan is going back to rehab. Now a day’s psychology is being used to solicit an idea or product. The media contorts psychology to make an idea sound more reliable. Journalists create stories with unreliable sources and exaggerated facts to draw in readers. Psychology is seen as a simple knowledge and not as the amazing science that it is. Articles are published under the name of psychology containing little to no science.The media stretches the image of psychology with celebrities and make it seem magical, the media fails though, to broadcast the simple amazing breakthroughs. The media more that distorts the image of psychology, it defames it. How to cite Psychology and the Media, Papers

Sample Examples on Retail Management

Introduction The significance of retailing cannot be undermined. Both developing and developed economies are affected by the retail industry. The concept of retailing as stated by Risch (1991) is the potential ways and means to attract a customer, to purchase the products. Discount retailing and large retail chains have changed the dynamics of the retail industry, but these stores have come into foray after significant changes that have been noted in the dynamics of the industry. The history of retail industry dates back to the year 1800. This was the era where the concept of general stores was prevalent in the close vicinity. The concept of big department and discount stores emerged in the year 1902. Since then there has been a considerable change in the industry (Marc, 2011). Retail industry across the world is divided into two types of stores known as the Department and Discount stores. Back in the 1980s the retail revolution brought the next chain of events. Kotler Kelles (2006) has specifie d that the goods were being differentiated on the basis of males and females, as well as on the basis of the taste of the individual. Consumption took new paradigm similar to culture which was witnessing the transformation. Retail sales are the contributor to the economy as stated by Berman Evans (2006). As stated the retailing is generally divided into Departmental and Discount stores. Department store is a place where non food items such as clothes, products for the day to day use, and footwear are stored. These department stores can have products from multiple brands, while it can have the products of department store brand also. Department stores offer various categories of merchandise which are divided into various departments. These departments have their separate store managers (Britannica, nd). These stores are categorized on the basis of the products they keep. It can be general merchandise stores, kids stores, and fashion stores. Meanwhile, discount stores have been gaining the prominence offlate and are different from traditional brick and mortar stores that do not offer discounts. Discount stores as stated by Britannica (n d) sells the produces at a lower costs compared to traditional stores. The merchandise in these stores can be different. There are some stores that are providing a particular kind of products that are known as category killers. Discount stores are also of certain kind, which offer discounts to selected categories of customers. These stores are called closed door stores. Emergence of Modern Retailing The merchandise of the early retailers was of a single product, this situation continued till the post industrial age. The consumer preferences changed on account of increase in incomes. The location of the retail stores that were governed by few retailers like Sears, and J C Penny among others were based in large cities. The period that started from 1900 and ended till 1945 is marked for its innovation. The innovations in automobiles, and technology provided impetus for the retail stores to emerge. The concepts of one stop shop and optimal pricing emerged. After the era of the World War II, came the stage of the baby boomers and the concept of retailing yet again reshaped itself. Advertisements with the help of newspapers and Television became the part of the retailing. The period that continued till 1975 saw the evolution of new department stores and retail chains (IBM, nd) The late 1990s and early part of the retailing in the year 2000 brought electronic products in the markets. Discount stores gained prominence in that period. E-commerce presence increased and the retailing took a new leap forward as the people found discounts more attractive and comfort of shopping paved way for companies like Amazon (Wrigley Churrah, 2003). Looking forward in the year 2020 The analysis of the future is made on the basis of the past. Witnessing the changes in the environment it is pretty certain that the shoppers of 2020 will give more focus on the quality rather than quantity. Retailers will have to bring products that match the psyche of the changed consumer. The growth in the emerging markets such as China and India will be witnessed with the easing of the barriers. Brick and Mortar retailers that are already facing tough competition from the E-commerce markets will further experience depleting sales (IBM, nd) References Barry, B and Evans J 2006, Retail Management: A Strategic Approach, 10th ed., Prentice Hall. Pearson Education Inc., Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc. Britannica (n d), Department Stores, [Online], Accessed on 18 August 2014. Britannica (n d), Discount Stores, [Online], Accessed on 18 August 2014. IBM nd, Retail 2020: Reinventing Retailing Once Again [Online], Accessed on 18 August 2014. Marc, L 2011, The Great AP and the Struggle for Small Business in America, Hill Wang. Kotler, P and Kelles, K L 2006, Managing Retailing, Wholesaling and Logistics, Marketing Management, Pearson Prentic Hall, Delhi, First Indian Reprint. Wrigley, N and Currah, A 2003, Globalizing Retail and the E-conomy: The Organizational Challenge of E-Commerce for the Retail TNCs, International Review of Retail and Distribution Management.