Yojimbo the Japanese amidst Western World and Archetypes Essay Example

Yojimbo: the Japanese amidst Western World and Archetypes Essay Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese sword-fight film by Akira Kurosawa, featuring Toshiro Mifune as the nameless protagonist. The plot revolves around a ronin (wandering or master less samurai) who gets into a small town. He finds out that the place is being ruled by two gambling warlords, Seibei and Usitora, and he sees this as an opportunity to make some money. First, he hires himself as a yojimbo or bodyguard to both crime lords, and then proceeds to making the two crime gangs face off in a series of bloody skirmishes. He employed manipulative tricks in order to let the two gangs kill each other to annihilation. In the end, he engages in a very bloody battle between the two crimes syndicates, leaving the town in peace as the two gangs are finally depleted. He, in turn, acquires a good deal of money from his conspiracies.This paper will analyze how the film Yojimbo is heavily influenced by Western standards, and how the film portrays a rather distorted view of the Japanese culture and histo ry, with a leaning towards the Western bias and audience.The film’s formal aspectsSet/CostumeKurosawa made a good job in making his set rather realistic and dramatic. The samurai costumes employed are believable and credible and the cast are not overly costumed. Kurosawa depicted a small, dusty Japanese village, and by historical standards, it is accurate and not romanticized.LightingKurosawa employed many Western lighting techniques, such as the occasional emphasis on movement and details. Generally speaking, the film is lighted by natural, bright light that gives it a rather cool ambience. Night scenes, on the other hand, are not given too much lighting in order to accurately depict the Japanese era during that time.SpaceOne rather obvious aspect that makes the film Western-influenced is its use of the wide-lens shots, emphasizing the diminutive, solitary, but purposely heroic nature of the protagonist. This is a direct salutation to the Western man-with-no-name concept, in which a sole wandering character is depicted as the ‘only heroic soul’ in a desolated or corrupted place that he/she will ‘clean up’ by him/herself (Of course, the main character is often depicted as a man, as in Dashielle Hammett’s Red Harvest and Kurosawa’s Sanjuro).Another noticeable camera effect that was employed was the utilization of slow motion and fast-forward effects. For instance, there was a scene where the protagonist is looking at a tree while being asked for his name. The shot was slow-motioned in order to emphasize the calmness of the mulberry tree. From then on, some of his graceful killing moves are also slow-motioned in order to achieve this same effect and to highlight the point that he is, in fact, the calm and solitary mulberry tree that was shot in earlier sequences.   Creative sequences were also employed, as in the scene wherein the character throws a knife to pin a fluttering leaf to the ground. This seemingly nons ense shot (as it has no direct relation to the plot) abounds throughout the film and its only purpose is to highlight the character of the protagonist in symbolic terms.Another salutation was made to the cowboy-themed (Wild Wild West) films, which gives us a hint how the said concept was transplanted in the Japanese context. The sequence wherein the protagonist faces a group of crime goons in a face-off shot (there is a blank space between the protagonist and his enemies) is very reminiscent of the Marlboro films in the West. The spinning dusts and the sound of the wind complete the scene, making a dramatic effect. Moreover, the group of bandits was also depicted as bloodthirsty, dirty and badly-dressed hoodlums, while the protagonist was depicted as the tough-faced, cool Marlboro guy with the heartless look. This archetypal fight scene is very Western-inspired.Although it was not that prominent all throughout the film, Yojimbo exhibits certain special elements of American film noir . The taverns were the crime lords dwell are depicted as dark and decadent in ambience. Nonetheless, the setting stills appear to be more Japanese than American underground.ActingMifune has done a great job in depicting his cool character, his complex characterization ranging from a melancholic solitary man to a raging but intuitive killing machine. However, Kurosawa appears to have taken his characters into boxed Western roles. For instance, the crime lords and goons in the film appear to be direct rip-offs from the gambling lords in Hammett’s The Glass Key, leaving no room for Japanese characterization. There is also a scene wherein the protagonist was tortured. The dramatic scene is almost taken similarly—shot-by-shot—also in the said Hammet film. The acting of the cast in the film is, therefore, patterned. In this case, Kurosawa had certain shortcoming in credibility and cultural accuracy.The fight scenes in the film are numerous and oftentimes gory. In this case, Kurosawa again employed Western techniques in portraying the gory deaths of the protagonist’s enemies. Moreover, the concept of a protagonist facing an unbelievably large number of enemies without acquiring even a scratch is also a Wild Wild Wild West thing. The goons are also very weak and vulnerable, and most of the time their acting is apparently second-rate, almost as if they are pushing themselves to the blade of the protagonist’s sword. Of course, this is again to highlight the strength and epic heroism of the main character, but in this aspect, the fight scene appears mechanical and very unbelievable.Kurosawa and his Western influenceI have been mentioning for quite some time how the film is apparently inspired by many Western concepts, elements and filmmaking techniques. The possibility of Kurozawa copying certain scenes and influence from Western films such as Hammett’s The Glass Key and Red Harvest was also mentioned.I believe that there is noth ing wrong with the incorporation of these Western techniques into a Japanese setting, as doing so is like denying the progress of technology. However, one consequence that Kurosawa committed in doing so is that he neglected other factors of Japanese culture (and even his own creative identity) in favor of the Western techniques. In order to gain a Western audience or, more likely, to gain Western acceptance, he transplanted certain Western archetypes and elements into a Japanese context, thereby creating a ‘Western film in a Japanese setting’ ,made by a Japanese (Richie 2005 p.132). This claim is, of course, not to condemn Kurosawa’s creativity and contribution to the international film industry but rather to highlight how Western standards are becoming ‘The Standard’. This kind of point of view (viewing Western standards as the prime and superior standard) is detrimental to other films, as it forces the films from other countries to conform to the A merican standards and put their own cultural and creative identity in an inferior position.Hence, although the film Yojimbo claims to depict the dark side of life in Japan during the claimed era, it fails in terms of credibility, primarily because the characters and even the situations it claimed to portray as ripped-off from the Western context, and the Japanese setting is the one that was distorted and situated. (This is of course not to say the crime lords and goons are not present in the said Japanese era. The presence of these kinds of people is historically true, and so is to other films from other countries that feature these kinds of social situations). However, the point is not the idea of crime but the depiction of characters and even the archetypal Japanese people themselves.Yojimbo as a portrait of cultural and social deteriorationIt is obvious that Kurosawa wished to depict a picture of the Japan during that time, especially as he included many scenes that tell us how t he Japanese society during that time is on the verge of a moral collapse and how the consciousness and culture of the people are being molded and transformed by the rise of capitalism.For instance, there is a scene wherein a farmer’s son decided to go to the city to look for fortune. The son said that a short exciting life rather than a long life eating rice-gruel†, justifying his act. The scene gives us a picture of how the young Japanese during that time are longing for ‘excitement’ and ‘fun’, two things that are not present in the strict Japanese culture where one eats rice-gruel everyday. This kind of thinking is an influence of the individualistic (and often ‘decadent’) point of view, as traditionalists put it. The need for cheap and fast thrills, in contrast to the traditional and strict Japanese was also put side by side in the same scene wherein the farmer replies to his son: everyone is after easy money these days. The fil m highlighted this contradiction, as even the main theme of the film revolves around this contradiction. The presence of bandits and crime lords in the Japanese culture is not a product of an innate human desire to kill or steal, but a product of the human desire to enlarge his/her property.This fact was highlighted by the film, as it portrayed the crime lords as greedy individuals who are in constant strife and chaos in order to stabilize their power in the society. The film resolves this contradiction in the end, as the protagonist faces the son and tells him that a long life eating rice-gruel is the best (da Silva 2004). This implies that the better life is the peaceful, the stable and, to put it further, the traditional. This tells us how the film rejects the adventurist and chaotic lifestyle that capitalism endows for those who have the financial power. It also tells how the money gives us the illusion that ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence’, as it means the rejection of one’s cultural identity and even one’s own identity in the process. The symbol of ‘rice-gruel’ brings in the symbol of the traditional agricultural lifestyle of the Japanese, of how they are directly connected to land and rejecting it will be like rejecting one’s inherent culture and identity (Richie 2006 p.75). In the film, people such as the farmer’s son chose to live this lifestyle in exchange of the illusionist promise of wealth and adventure in the city.The critique may appear plausible until we see how the film commits the same crimes that it preaches as bad. It is because the film itself is a foreign cultural product. Although the film may be enlightening and true, the archetype and elements that it employed is not necessarily reflective. It is leaned towards a foreign bias, and in this sense, it would be a complete destruction of its credibility.The film utilized these elements in order to gain acceptance in the Western film-making circle. One may question why a film needs to be accepted by Western standards. Directly speaking, the primary reason is to gain profit, which is of course in turn the primary reason of mainstream filmmaking. Hence, the film is also geared towards profit, and it rejected the use of authentic Japanese elements in order to gain these profits (not necessarily in the form of money). The film, therefore, is like the farmer’s son who rejected rice-gruel in exchange of money and adventure that he can gain in the city.ConclusionIn formal terms, the film is good and is acceptable. The different filmmaking elements are given creative attention, and the film was generally executed finely. However, one apparent characteristic of the film is that it utilized (and even ripped-off) certain elements, characters and concepts from Western films. Hence, it highlights how the film is heavily influenced by Western filmmaking canons and techniques.The content of the film is also commendable, as it served as a critique of the Japanese cultural deterioration during the said era, and this deterioration is indeed a universal phenomenon that transcends the eras and even to other countries. However, the film also committed this error as the film in itself is a product of Western influence, and it is apparently geared towards Western acceptance and profit. Hence, although the concept is commendable, the film in itself cannot be considerable credible picture of the Japanese society.Referencesda Silva, Joaquà ­n. Yojimbo: Study of a Disintegrating Society. http://redsiglo21.com/eiga9/articulos/yojimbo.html January 24 2004. Web. Accessed 12 May 2010.Richie, Donald, The Films of Akira Kurosawa, University of California Press, 1996. Print.Richie, Donald. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History. Kodansha International, 2005. Print.

A Writers Bookshelf

A Writers Bookshelf A Writers Bookshelf A Writers Bookshelf By Sharon No-one knows it all, and as a writer I use several sources of research for my articles and ebooks. Aside from the resources I use to research particular topics, there are also several essential books I need related to the craft of writing. Here are the books on my bookshelf which I couldnt do without. Dictionary My top pick for this is the Collins English Dictionary. Its an easy to read, clear format. I used to use the Oxford English Dictionary. I switched to the Collins because I was already using their French and Spanish dictionaries, so when it was time to update, it seemed a good idea to complete the set. Another good option (especially if youre American) is the Merriam Webster Dictionary. I sometimes use the online version of MW if I need to check something when Im not at my desk. Thesaurus Many people rave about Rogets Thesaurus. I find that hard to use, so my favorite is the Merriam-Webster thesaurus. Thats because it is easy to find the words for which I want to find synonyms. Again, MW online is a good option when on the move. Usage Every now and then you need to use a word, punctuation mark or expression, and youre not quite sure how to use it correctly. When this happens, I have two main sources. Ive been using the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors since I started in journalism, and its never let me down. For a more fun approach to usage, theres also a more recent book by R L Trask called Mind The Gaffe. Published by Penguin, its a guide to some common errors in English. Finally, although I dont use it every day, I also keep a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology handy. Its always useful to be able to find the origin of a word or expression. Just call me a word nerd. 🙂 Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Book Reviews category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Idioms About NumbersFlier vs. FlyerComment, Suggestion, and Feedback

Bouns assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bouns - Assignment Example This can be due to not being aware of what is common knowledge and not knowing the range of works that must be cited, such as diagrams, charts, pictures, and other visual works (â€Å"Is It Plagiarism Yet?†). An example is when students think that a statement is common knowledge, when it is not because it is debatable or contestable (â€Å"Is It Plagiarism Yet?†). They engage in accidental plagiarism because they do not intend to copy any work and do not have the explicit will to make it look like they originally own it. Plagiarism is not worth the risk of being caught because it can lead to failed grades and even suspension. At the same time, it can impact the students’ credibility, especially his/her academic standing. It can ruin their image to academic institutions and the public. To prevent plagiarism, it is essential to know proper citation styles and to be sure to clarify when something belongs to other people’s works and when something belongs to one’s own ideas and

How to Write a Thesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

How to Write a Thesis - Essay Example The thesis proposal will show your thesis advisor the soundness (or the lack of it) of the thesis problem that you will pursue, the propriety of a research topic or the feasibility of the entire study, among others.One must never forget that in the whole process of thesis writing, constant communication with the thesis advisor is imperative. This thesis advisor is more in the position to suggest improvements, point out mistakes – in short provide invaluable insights that could increase your thesis’ chance of getting high mark. Moreover, the world may be impressed by outward show – neat typography and pretty layout - but assessors in higher education and professional people in your field should not be deceived by ornament. No amount of embellishments could hide the deficiencies in other respects. For instance, we have the inability to use language confidently and correctly, or from the use of inappropriate headings, or from the inclusion of information or ideas th at are inappropriate, irrelevant or out of place.For more resources about thesis writing, you may visit these pages: It is understandable that sometimes, due to time constraints, academic activities overload, a student could not single-handedly finish a thesis project. It may be a result of mistake in planning or adverse circumstances. However the case is, the consequences are quite unthinkable. For some researchers the thesis statement is the research question formulated in order to narrow a subject and give the thesis a direction.

Arguments for and against Death Penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arguments for and against Death Penalty - Essay Example However, a common opinion in regard to the use of death penalty has not been accomplished. This essay is an argument regarding the use of death penalty. It presents some reasons why death penalty should be abolished, while on the other hand it presents several reasons why the application of death penalty is right. There are certain situations whereby I have reasoned that death penalty should be applied on some of the crimes against humanity. For example, there are situations whereby people hire killers to cause the demise of those whom they feel are a barrier to their prosperity. Others do this as a result of disputes. The most amazing thing is that those who carry out such murders would never like to be faced with a situation whereby they can lose their life. The big question is why anyone would want to terminate another person’s life while he/she would not like his/hers to be terminated. This is selfishness that does not need to be supported under all the circumstances. Case y (2000) argues that once a person kills for the first time, it is likely that he is going to take the life of another. Human beings are vulnerable to death caused by fellow humans in many cases. This is because a person with the intention of killing another is intelligent enough to way lay the unsuspecting victim regardless of the living environment. I disagree with the people who argue that assassins should be sentenced to serve jail terms whereby they get rehabilitated with a situation whereby.

Assessing The Impact Of Over Fishing Environmental Sciences Essay

Assessing The Impact Of Over Fishing Environmental Sciences Essay Nowadays the demand of marine resources constantly grows. The growing demand stimulates the development of fishery and other marine resources exploitation. However, the unreasonable use of marine resources can cause the fatal damage to some ecosystems and to the global ecosystem of the world ocean. The over fishing is a main concern. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, provides the statistics about the global production from capture fisheries in the world. Within the recent two decades (starting from 1985) the reported landings of marine capture fisheries have fluctuated between 80 and 86 million tones per year (DKNVS report, 2006) However, the constantly increasing contribution of developing countries and China leads to the progressive growth of captive fisheries volume. At the same time, the overfishing in some regions has already led to ecosystem degradation and some species extinction. Analytics think that at the nearest future the fish will stay the inc reasingly high-value commodity, and the global demand to the fish and marine products will continue to grow. The usage of other marine resources, like energy resources, minerals, and gene pool, also grows and can lead to overuse and ecosystem degradation, too. In the aggregate the human exploitation of the marine resources and other factors of human influence, like the water pollutions and coastal agriculture, can lead to the irreversible changes in the ecosystem of the ocean up to the total degradation. Nowadays the technological potential of humankind doesnt have the technologies of marine ecosystem resurrection. The thesis of this paper the following: the human exploitation of the marine sources has to be controlled to prevent overfishing and other kinds of overuse, or the ecosystem of the global ocean can be irreparably damaged. Human exploitations: earth vs sea Humans are the link in the food chain so the human activity has an impact on ecosystems. Even early human societies changed the surrounding ecosystems. Nowadays the growth of human population and its impact on the environment escalated the problem on the global scale. Sure, the exploitation of the land resources is more active than the exploitation of the marine sources. There are many terrestrial ecosystems damaged and ruined with human factors. However, the lower speed of marine life cycle causes harder resurrection of the pelagic sources. The principal difference in the human exploitation on the land and on the sea is the following: on the land the humankind rebuilt the structure of terrestrial ecosystems and replaced the wild species with the domestic species. In the sea the important species werent replaced. They became extinct and the extinction of some marine species led to the degradation of marine ecosystems. Despite the existing fisheries regulations, the last majority of t he fish stocks throughout the ocean are overfished. Not only fishes but marine animals like turtles and whales and some species suffer from population reduction up to 40% comparatively to the population volume a century ago. Some popular species are almost approaching extinction, for example, blue-fin tuna. There are three types of overfishing, or three kinds of direct effects of captive overfishing. To make the maximal gain per recruit the fish should grow to the proper average size. The fishery of the smaller fish is a growth overfishing. To replenish the population it is needed the proper percent of mature adults. The shortage of mature adults in the population to the lower the level of reproductive capacity is a recruitment overfishing. The change in the balance of ecosystem caused by fishery and preventing the population growth is an ecosystem overfishing. All three types of overfishing have the negative impact on the ecosystem. Thus, the exploitation of marine resources should be more careful and reasonable because of lower temp of resurrection. Ecosystem effects of overfishing Overfishing as a treat to biodiversity There are also some indirect effects of overfishing, and the decrease in biodiversity is one of them. The loss in biodiversity is a serious treat to the ecosystem in a whole. The cumulative loss of species-from inconspicuous worms to large fish-sharply reduces the ability of sea life to resist diseases, filter pollutants and rebound from stresses such as overfishing and climate change (Blankenship, 2006) The numerous studies show that higher rate of biodiversity is the base of health and stability of ecosystem, as well as its ability to recover. However, the overfishing and the collapse of some the most popular species create the trend, which can lead to the total collapse of ocean ecosystem in 2048 (Blankenship, 2006). The careful fishery management can prevent the total collapse but the strict limits and bans should be implemented without delay. The alternations in the food chains Italian scientist Lorenzo Camerano outlined the dilemma of double-sided regulation in 1880 year. The dilemma is following: the high amount of birds can decrease the population of the insets in ecosystem, however, the number of birds can be high only on those regions were the large amount of food (mainly insects) is available. (Sheffer et al, 2005)This particular example illustrates the top-down and bottom-up mechanism of regulation in the ecosystem. The bottom-up regulation is the main mechanism of natural regulation and the marine ecosystems are no exception. However, the human interference is an important factor of top-down regulation, which changes the natural regulation in ecosystems including marine ones. The nature of food chain is similar in every ecosystem: solar energy and inorganic compounds are transformed by autotrophs, chemotrophs and litotrophs through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis to organic compounds. Then the organic compounds are transformed by heterotrophs into the more complex organic compounds. The predators are the highest link in the pyramid. Usually the number of predators is regulated by the number of low-level organisms. The disappearance of predators from the food chain can lead to the unrestrained growth of low-level organisms population. The marine ecosystems have their specific features. The role of photosynthesis isnt as significant as in terrestrial ecosystems. On the other hand, the majority of chemotrophic organisms inhabit the ocean. The primary producer in the marine ecosystem is phytoplankton and the fish is a main natural predator. Nowadays the top positions in the food web of all ecosystems are occupied with people. The overfishing, or the extinction the main natural fishing, can lead to trophic cascading effects changes in the ecosystems. The recent example of trophic cascading effects caused by overfishing The ecosystem of Canadian East Coast, hardly damaged with cod overfishing, suffers from the particular changes in the ecosystem. The east coast of Newfoundland was historically known as the region of fishery. The article in the Greenpeace archive tells that in 1497 year the explorer John Cabot wrote the huge cod school virtually blocked his ship. Five centuries after the Canadian government totally banned the fishery in this region because of the collapse of ecosystem. After the decrease of large fish population following level of the food web small fishes and large invertebrates, such as northern shrimp and northern snow crab significantly increased the population volume. The growth on this food-web level caused the shortage on its nutritive base, large plant-eating zooplankton (> 2 mm). The decrease of zooplankton, in its turn, became the reason for phytoplankton population volume increase. The unexpected (but natural) consequence was the exponential increase in seal populations. The large fishes like cod compete with seals in the food web for the nutrition base. The extinction of main competitor allowed growing the seal population. The economic consequences of cod overfishing were also significant. Thus, the cod stocks have started to recover in areas south of 44 degrees north. The strict bans can help to recover the cod population and to return the ecosystem to its initial state. However, other areas north of 44 degrees North the cod stock failed to recover despite a nearly complete shutdown of cod fishing. The coastal communities of Newfoundland still suffer from the job loss and struggle to recover. The changes in marine ecosystem lead to the shift in commercial fishery to the low-level of food-web, smaller fishes and crabs. Nowadays the economic value of the shrimp and crab fisheries is more than the earlier value of the cod fishery. Other indirect effects There are also some other indirect effects of oversifishing that are not so visible, but they also contribute to the general problem. The loss of macrofauna leads to the loss of ecosystem structure and the rise of pests. Generally pests are the species detrimental to humans. In the case of degraded marine ecosystems pests are the invasive species. With the lack of restrictive factors such species are able to congest the ecosystem and force out almost all native species declining the biodiversity. For example, European green crab, the native inhabitant of Baltic sea and the northern part of the Atlantic ocean, became the invasive specie in the seas of Australia, South Africa and South America. The ghost fishing is effect from fishing nets lost of left in the ocean by fishermen. The nets are almost invisible in the dim underwater light. They can drift for a long distance. Fishes, marine animals, sea birds and even human divers can be caught and entangled with the net. The net restrict movement and can cause the disease, starvation and suffocation. The volume of ghost fishing can hardly be evaluated because the most victims go down the ocean bottom. Methods of overfishing prevention The importance of fishery management increases simultaneously with the fishery development. The most popular methods of over fishing prevention are the implementation of fishing quotas, limits and bans, the development of fishing farms instead of captive fishery, the coastal zone management and some other measures. Fishing quotas, limits and bans Studies and analyses show that in the nearest future the sustainability concerns will increase due to environmental controversy. The growing demand will require the increase of fishery but the protection of marine ecosystems will require the strict bans, limits and control. The developed countries should implement the environmental regulations and institutions first and provide the same norms to the developing countries. The use of fishoil and feashmeal should become the important issue of the national policy. For example, China bans the fishery in the South China Sea for the certain period every year. However, all the quotas and limits cause the protests and resistance from fishermen. Fishing farms The fishing farms are rather new but successful kind of fish production. According to FAO statistics, the contribution of aquaculture to global supplies of fish, crustaceans and molluscs continues to grow, increasing from 3.9 percent of total production by weight in 1970 to 29.9 percent in 2002. Worldwide, the sector has grown at an average rate of 8.9 percent per year since 1970, compared with only 1.2 percent for capture fisheries and 2.8 percent for terrestrial farmed meat-production systems over the same period. (DKNVS report, 2006) the shift to the fish farming from the captive fishing is rather slow. However, the fish farming can help to protect and even prevent the extinction of marine species. Thus, last year in Australia the first land farm of southern blue-fin tuna was established. The blue-fin tuna is very popular fish because of its buttery meat, for this reason this species is almost collapsed. The land farm fishing is a real fishing alternative and should be developed. Coastal Zone Management The Norwegian experience shows that coastal zone plans for every municipality can be very useful. These plans should designate the zones for tourism and recreation, for agriculture; for certain fishery related activities and protected zones. These plans should be revised within a certain number of years according the results of activities. Other methods of fishing control The pelagic stocks should be protected not only from overfishing but form the pollutions and the issue of global ocean environmental protection will receive more attention worldwide. The use of fish products in the terrestrial agriculture (like the use of fishoil as the nutritional supplement) should be reconsidered and reduced. Among the other measures of pelagic stocks protection should be the reduction and mitigation of the environmental impacts of intensive aquaculture. At last, the global institutions worldwide should develop the programs of poverty reduction on the seaside zones. It is necessary to reduce the volume of the captive fishery, both legal and illegal, and shift the fishery to fish farming. Exploitation of other marine living resources The overfishing is in the focus of this research; however, it is necessary to mention other kinds of marine resources exploitation. Besides the biomass resources like fish, plant and marine invertebrates, the marine resources include the raw resources (underwater deposits of oil, gas and minerals and the minerals dissolved in the sea water), the energy resources (thermal energy, wave energy, etc), and the gene pool. The development of underwater oil deposits (offshore drilling) started in the 19s century. For more than a century it became clear that offshore drilling changes the marine ecosystems in the region. The recent accident on the BP oil platform in the Caribbean Sea attracted the attention of global publicity to the problem of offshore drilling environmental impact and renewed the hot debates regarding the issue. The oil price growth stimulates the offshore drilling development, but the environmental damage of it overweighs the profits from oil trade in the long-term perspect ive. The genetic potential of marine sources also attracts the attention to the marine sources. The biological and chemical diversity of the pelagic sources are well-known. Unique chemical compounds have a great potential for the cosmetic, pharmaceutics, and agrochemical industries. The global ocean also hosts more than 300,000 species of plants and animals, and the scientists claim the majority of deep-water species is still undiscovered. Thus, the gene pool of marine biomass is a field of active research. The observations in Norwegian marine industries provide the information that a relatively small number of marine plants, animals, and microbes have already yielded more than 12,000 novel chemicals. Some of the marine bioactive substances (with industrial applications as technological compounds, laboratory tools or ingredients in cosmetics) are already marketed and generate high benefits to mankind (and investors) (DKNVS report, 2006). Thus, the chemical compounds arabinosides extracted from the sponge, Tethya crypta, can be used in antiviral pharmacology and as the medicine in the acute myeloid leukemia treatment. It has a market potential up to $50 million annual sales. The further research of the marine species and their potential will lead to the additional attention to the marine resources. However, the exploitation of any marine resource can be carefully managed and controlled to prevent the collapse of ocean ecosystem. Summary and conclusion The researches of marine resources discover new and new potential of its commercial use. The gene pool and the variety of chemical compounds in the ocean open new possibilities in pharmacology, industrial chemistry, cosmetics, etc. Modern technologies allow the development of offshore drilling and the underwater mining. However, the overuse of these possibilities can lead to the collapse of marine ecosystem. The example of overfishing shows the possible consequences of marine sources overuse. The fishery exists as long and humankind, thus its consequences are the most obvious and significant. The overshishing causes the decrease of diversity in ecosystems, the tropic cascading effects, and even the collapse of some species. It is the treatment to overall ecological unity of the ocean. The fishery management can slowdown the ecosystem degradation and prevent the irreparable damage. The modern techniques of fishery management include fish quotas and bans, fish farming, coastal zone management and some other global management like the struggle with poverty in the coastal zones. The human factor already created the trend to the collapse of ocean ecosystem, and the immediate measurer are necessary to prevent it.

Anselm’s Philosophy Essay -- Religion Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Anselm’s Philosophy Anselm's definition of AGod starts by saying that God is the greatest being we can possibly think of. When Anselm states this, it essentially means that it is not possible to think of a being greater than God. Anselm also states that if God is the greatest thinkable being, he is referring to the fact that it would be impossible to imagine or to create in ones mind someone or something being better than God. Therefore, it would be impossible to say that God only exists in ones mind because it is much greater to exist in reality than it is to exist only in ones mind. Anselm then suggests that God has many attributes which describe him. Among these being: self-existent, a necessary being, omnipotent, omniscient, completely just and timelessly eternal. After reading the Proslogion by Anselm, it gave me a greater understanding of these attributes listed above. Although, they are all of equal importance, I feel the most prominent of God's attributes is the fact that he is self existent. In essence, that means that God depends on nothing else for his existence, he is uncaused. Therefore, his existence is timelessly-eternal. This means that God cannot stop existing. On the other hand, contingent beings (such as ourselves) depend on something else for their existence. One example of this is, that as a child we utterly depended on our parents for food, clothing, and shelter. Contingent beings therefore can begin to be or cease to be at anytime. They can, unlike God, be here today and gone tomorrow. Anselm uses the definition of God (the ontological argument), in which I have described above, to prove God's existence. As I mentioned, Anselm believes that God is the greatest being we can possibly think of. He does this by first trying to prove the opposite of what he really wants to prove. For example, lets suppose God does not exist in reality. We then could think of something greater, a being that has all the same virtuous characteristics as we think God as having, but also being able to exist in reality. He then tries to prove that this supposition leads to a conclusion which cannot possibly be true. Then the original God would not actually be the greatest thinkable being, this new something else, that actually exists would be. This new God which actually exists would then be able to be seen, heard and touched by the individuals... ...that I have with Anselm's philosophy is that he believes that if you can imagine something existing then it defiantly does exist. In the book Anselm's critics state Athat someone who does not know the meaning of the word, who thinks only of the impression made on his mind by hearing the word and tries to imagine its meaning. (Anselm P. 395) There is no way to use a word such as God as a being or an existence because I believe that everyone has a different definition. I can understand the words Agreatest possible being but understanding this does not necessarily mean that such a being exists. For example, I understand the words Aflying car, but we all know that there are no flying cars. But Anselm argues that AI have the concept of this being in my mind, therefore this being exists. (Anselm p.395) I believe that this is where Anselm takes a giant leap of faith. In conclusion to whether Anselm's definition of God gives actual proof of God's existence, I believe that the only way to believe that God actually exists is by having true faith in him. Although, Anselm gives many possible reasons for God's existence. Most of these reasons are rather vague and unbelievable. Anselm’s Philosophy Essay -- Religion Philosophy Philosophical Essays Anselm’s Philosophy Anselm's definition of AGod starts by saying that God is the greatest being we can possibly think of. When Anselm states this, it essentially means that it is not possible to think of a being greater than God. Anselm also states that if God is the greatest thinkable being, he is referring to the fact that it would be impossible to imagine or to create in ones mind someone or something being better than God. Therefore, it would be impossible to say that God only exists in ones mind because it is much greater to exist in reality than it is to exist only in ones mind. Anselm then suggests that God has many attributes which describe him. Among these being: self-existent, a necessary being, omnipotent, omniscient, completely just and timelessly eternal. After reading the Proslogion by Anselm, it gave me a greater understanding of these attributes listed above. Although, they are all of equal importance, I feel the most prominent of God's attributes is the fact that he is self existent. In essence, that means that God depends on nothing else for his existence, he is uncaused. Therefore, his existence is timelessly-eternal. This means that God cannot stop existing. On the other hand, contingent beings (such as ourselves) depend on something else for their existence. One example of this is, that as a child we utterly depended on our parents for food, clothing, and shelter. Contingent beings therefore can begin to be or cease to be at anytime. They can, unlike God, be here today and gone tomorrow. Anselm uses the definition of God (the ontological argument), in which I have described above, to prove God's existence. As I mentioned, Anselm believes that God is the greatest being we can possibly think of. He does this by first trying to prove the opposite of what he really wants to prove. For example, lets suppose God does not exist in reality. We then could think of something greater, a being that has all the same virtuous characteristics as we think God as having, but also being able to exist in reality. He then tries to prove that this supposition leads to a conclusion which cannot possibly be true. Then the original God would not actually be the greatest thinkable being, this new something else, that actually exists would be. This new God which actually exists would then be able to be seen, heard and touched by the individuals... ...that I have with Anselm's philosophy is that he believes that if you can imagine something existing then it defiantly does exist. In the book Anselm's critics state Athat someone who does not know the meaning of the word, who thinks only of the impression made on his mind by hearing the word and tries to imagine its meaning. (Anselm P. 395) There is no way to use a word such as God as a being or an existence because I believe that everyone has a different definition. I can understand the words Agreatest possible being but understanding this does not necessarily mean that such a being exists. For example, I understand the words Aflying car, but we all know that there are no flying cars. But Anselm argues that AI have the concept of this being in my mind, therefore this being exists. (Anselm p.395) I believe that this is where Anselm takes a giant leap of faith. In conclusion to whether Anselm's definition of God gives actual proof of God's existence, I believe that the only way to believe that God actually exists is by having true faith in him. Although, Anselm gives many possible reasons for God's existence. Most of these reasons are rather vague and unbelievable.