International management - Ethics - Moral relativism vs moral Essay

International management - Ethics - Moral relativism vs moral universalism - Essay Example This analysis starts with a brief description of the debate between moral relativism and moral universalism. The second section presents an analysis of the case, which is Google in China, in terms of its connection to the ethics debate. Particularly, the analysis tries to determine whether China’s Internet censorship approach is universalistic or relativistic, and, more importantly, whether Google’s response to the impenetrability of China’s culture and ideals reflects a universalistic or relativistic model of morality. Overview of the Moral Relativism and Moral Universalism Debate Moral relativism is the view that moral standards are particular or distinct to culture and personal judgments. It argues that a universal moral standard does not exist. On the other hand, moral universalism argues that morality is valid universally, irrespective of gender, race, religion, culture, nationality, or other unique attributes; in the debate, Universalists claim that moralit y have been concretely delineated in different international agreements and declarations whereas relativists relate to distinct cultural viewpoints (McDonald, 2010). The various morality theories are generated by various view of morality. These theories have built divisions and barriers in human society. The influence of these moral views on people’s lives is considerable. It affects the moral attitude and behavior of individuals. Hence, there are dilemmas of ethical conflicts and double moral standards. Individuals are not certain of the form of morality they should conform to, either moral universalism or moral relativism. This predicament is continuously experienced by Google in their operation in China. Moral relativism, in business, usually becomes traditional morality and unethical decisions are usually defended on the theory of ‘commonly accepted practice’ (McDonald, 2010, 451). A number of scholars in international business have been distrustful of circum stances where moral relativism has been employed as a kind of ‘moral sanctuary’ (McDonald, 2010, 451). For instance, companies may have carried out a decision which generally would be viewed as unethical but have asserted that the decision is ethical, or reasonable, since it falls within a particular cluster of moral norms promoted by the society where in they are in service. In reaction to this argument, which basically reinforces the arguments that deeds are impervious to common moral standards because they originate from a particular set of standards or codes that surpass general norms, Roberts (1986 as cited in McDonald, 2010) has argued that, because of the intricacies of international business, there is a certain extent of excuse for companies demanding immunity from moral censure by sheltering behind premises of moral relativism, particularly because of their need to make room for diverse cultural situations. Unsurprisingly, this argument is controversial. It may be appealing to refuse to believe that there are universal principles that can provide direction to those whose trade has to be carried out on a global arena. Maybe, multinational business firms should recognize and applaud relativism as a principle and proclaim itself in support of an ethic of conduct that is situational, domestic, and local. The strength of relativism in international

The State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The State - Essay Example There are various characteristics of a State that distinguish it from other forms of political organizations that are discussed below (Flint and Taylor 31). The first characteristic is that a State must possess defined land territory that are known and recognized in all aspects. This means that it must inhabit a certain part of the earth’s known surface and the boarders are recognizable. The boarders or limits though recognized they can be indefinite, unclear or disputed. The State territory varies with each country as it is with the population that inhibits within these boarders (Flint and Taylor 31). A State is also recognized when there is an enduring resident population regardless of their size. A place that does not have people who reside there regardless of how large it is cannot be defined as a State. When a place is only crisscrossed by migrants or occupied occasionally by researchers or hunters cannot be quantified as a State. From this analysis, a State denotes a hum an establishment that is generated by people to fulfill and serve parts of their specific needs. The people who make up a State do not have to be necessarily homogenous or sharing norms, customs, same language or an ethnic experience. For instance, people living in the United States are made up of varied cultural background and customs but they form a State (Flint and Taylor 31). In addition, another characteristic of a state is the essence of a government, which is an administrative system which accomplishes the functions desired by the population and governs various institutions. A State cannot exist if there is no political organization and it is important in making and imposing public policies. A government is necessary in a State to ensure that people are safe, free from fear, violence, and dangerous encounters with other countries (Flint and Taylor 31). Organized economy is a characteristic of a State which denotes the way people are able to trade with one another. A State has the duty to perform various economic activities regardless of how small or large. This economic system ensures directive of money and supervision of foreign trade even in a situation where activities are organized badly. In addition, a State needs a circulation system which ensures that goods, people, and services are transferred from one location of the territory to the other. This circulation is inclusive of all types of transportation and communication while modern States have sophisticated equipment (Flint and Taylor 31). The other two characteristics are not geographic but within the concept of political science as well as international law and they are sovereignty and recognition. A State must be sovereign which means it holds the highest and complete power within its own boarders and therefore, can make its own foreign and local policies. In essence, it is not inferior or accountable whichever other parts of authority or power. When a State is sovereign it can decide its for m of governance, structure an economic system, and direct its foreign programs. For instance, the states within the State of the United States cannot be sovereign since each one of them is accountable to the Constitution of the country (Flint and Taylor 32). Recognition is an important part of a State since it ensures that it is acknowledged as an international personality or as part of the international community. This means it is nominated into the

Protecting the Polar Regions From Melting Ice

Protecting the Polar Regions From Melting Ice Should We Protect Environment from Climate Change in The Polar Regions? Kiwoong Lee Thesis Statement: We should protect environment from melting ice in the Polar Regions because if the glaciers of Polar Regions keep melting, we will lose the earth’s ecosystems. These days, reckless destruction of nature by human being has brought ecological catastrophe. For this reason, the Earth has gotten many problems such as destruction of the environment. Melting ice in the Polar Regions is the most important among other problem. Many people are not particularly concerned about melting ice in the Polar Regions because it is too huge. A lot of people out of apathy increase the problem that present the Polar Regions condition. Causes of melting ice in the Polar Regions are destruction of the environment. Thus there are several phenomena like greenhouse and increase carbon dioxide. This situation bring bad thing that increase the temperature, rapid sea-level rise and destroy wildlife habitats. We should protect environment from melting ice in the Polar Regions. Glacier is that polar and alpine regions of the compressed stack of them are a long time ago to move lower by gravity and weight. Ice shelf ice is made up by large chunks of ice. 10persentage of the entire area of ice in Antarctica are labeled as ice shelves. The present Arctic condition is not good because of climate change. â€Å"The Arctic is one of the places where conditions are changing the fastest of any climate system in the world,† says Edward Blanchard-Wriggles worth, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences. â€Å"Current trends are so strong that it takes five years to establish a new mean† (Science Teacher 16). The Arctic is melting so many animal lose their habitation because the Arctic is made up enormous masses of ice. Thus many Polar animals can move possible. However according to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), North Pole glaciers are melting down very quickly. They are losing their resting area so several kinds of animals is die from a drowning accident. And global warming is also contributing to the rise in sea levels by melting the glaciers of Polar Regions, and inhabitants of coastal area are losing their homes. Some scientists predict the area could be largely ice free in sum mer within years. In response, the Antarctica is not different from the Arctic. The Antarctica is more serious than the Arctic because Antarctica is a continent of land, surrounded by seas. â€Å"Melting at the base of Antarctica’s fimbul ice shelf is driven by warm surface water, as well as intermittent pulses of warmer, deeper water ( Brown 143). Why is melting the natural and anthropogenic factors are factors. The Earth’s axis of rotation is about 20.5 degrees, this is now always constant, but gradually changes to that. Earth’s orbit is an ellipse rather than a circle, do not schedule too. In other words, changing the amount of incoming solar energy the Earth’s temperature may increase did not. Anthropogenic factors are global warming. Of course not cause global warming, environment al issues, but it is not melting because of environment pollution. Melting of glacier is caused by factors that did environmental problem. Global warming emissions from human sources of gree nhouse gas such as water vapor, carbon solar rise in global temperatures is as a result. â€Å"The research involves the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers on the West Antarctic ice sheet, two of the five largest glaciers in Antarctica. Those two glaciers are important because they drain a large portion of the ice sheet. As they melt from below, they also gain speed, draining the ice sheet faster and contributing to sea level rise. Eventually that could lead to global sea level rise of as much as 6 feet, though that would take hundreds to thousands of years† (Vince Stricherz). It is serious situation because melting of Antarctica is getting faster and faster. Now the Antarctica area is remaining 40persentage of the previous area. Global warming is the biggest cause of melting ice in the Polar Regions. It is kinds of environment pollution. Thus what is the global warming? It means that Earth’s average temperature is about 15degree in the ground to maintain controlled from solar radiation energy. Over the past 20 years, there were 0.5degree a rise in temperature but the mid-21st century predicts 1degree a rise in temperature. This is called global warming. The global warming generates to increase carbon dioxide. Increased carbon dioxide not only warms the climate but it also dissolves in sea water making it more acidic. The global warming has been made, as increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb radiant energy released to outer space. This is the greenhouse of short-wavelength, which come from outside as the greenhouse effect is long wavelength of light reflection off from the surface, but passage is by absorbing the light of the internal temperature. Carbon dioxide can be called as a main ca use of the greenhouse gases, but Chloro Fluoro carbons, nitrogen oxides, and methane gas are also other causes of them. Due to destruction of the Antarctic ozone, global warming continues to accelerate, so that the glaciers are being melted at the high speed. Because ozone is the thing made by sunlight, the ozone density over the South or North Pole is lower than other latitudes, especially circulation of atmosphere in the winter stratosphere of the southern hemisphere makes a circle around the South Pole. This circulation of atmosphere prevents the middle stratosphere’s air containing lots of ozone from flowing into the center of the South Pole. This phenomenon is similar to that the eye of typhoon is separated from the outside. At the air of Antarctic stratosphere separated in this way, formation of ozone stops during winter without solar energy. Therefore, climate changes; and ecosystem is destroyed gradually. Increased carbon dioxide is one of the problems causes of melting ice in Polar Regions. Carbon dioxide has increased by 1.5ppmv every year; and it seems that the rate of increase also has risen noticeably since 1980. In other words, average degree alteration of the concentration of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was in less than 10% before industrialization for one hundred thousand years, but almost increased by 30% in two hundred years, compared before with after industrialization after 19th century. As the change of the world population, economy, technology, and social trend, it is expected that the concentration of greenhouse gases will be changed considerably for many years to come. According to forecast of PCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), regarding Carbon dioxide which influence mostly on the atmosphere, under a condition that the world population becomes double by 2100, and that economic growth rate be retained 2~3%, seventy hundred million tons of total carbo n dioxide emissions in 1990 will increase by two hundred million tons in 2100; the concentration in the atmosphere will be more than double by 2030, more than three times by 2100. Moreover, if the carbon dioxide emissions freeze like the level of 1990’s, the time when the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is double can be postponed, but it was reported that the concentration will increase continuously for next two centuries. Due to this growth of carbon dioxide, the air temperature already increased by 0.3~0.6degree from 1860’s to 1990’s; sea level also grew 10~25cm. Furthermore, it was expected that this changes is getting more noticeable exceedingly, compared with earlier 1900. In accordance with IPCC’s prediction, the air temperature will have increased by 1~3.5degree averagely; sea level will have grown by 15~95cm approximately from 1990 to 2100. Given that the air temperature changed in less than one degree for ten thousand years before industrialization, it can be said that this seriousness of the climate change caused by global warming is so big. As trade winds is getting weaker, the sea surface temperature in the middle pacific ocean near the equator is higher than the normal temperature (23~27degree); so that it is known that the frequent occurrence of El Nino phenomenon is also deeply related to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Depending on whether preconditions is realized or not, there might be a change of accuracy of results; but as this abnormal temperature and the growth of sea level are significant changes, numerous changes that a human-being has never experienced can be brought down by destroying the physical and ecological balance which have been retained so far. As global warming and carbon dioxide are increasing, glaciers have collapsed from every quarter. The melted ice is flowing into the ocean at transcending speed. The reason why sea level grows is that glaciers are white; white color reflects heat very well, so that the heat which the glaciers absorb will be decreased if the glaciers are melted. Therefore, thermal expansion happens because seawater absorbs the heat. For instance, if all of the Antarctic glaciers melted, sea level would increase by 60m. However, this old great ice wall has withstood offenses of global warming many times. Few years ago, scientists thought that the glaciers were so huge and dense that it was not too dangerous forthwith. Nevertheless, according to recent research, it can be predicted how high sea level becomes by simple calculation. The ocean will be wide with a growth of sea surface temperature for next one hundred years. If the entire world mountain glacier melted, sea level would increase more than 30cm . Thus, it is predicted that sea-level will increase by about 1m for the next one hundred years. It seems that the increase is not very noticeable, but more than one hundred million people are still living in lower than 1m’s sea level altitude. Many cities should invest an astronomical expense to establish a line of shore defense. According to climate change receive threat the Polar Regions ecosystem. Animals and microbial receive the highest damage. For example, polar bear lost their rest area as glaciers disappear. The polar bear will die out because it is getting more difficult for them to hunt prey. The microbial in Antarctica not differ because they decrease their number of an individual. If food chain is broken by environment, the Earth ecosystem will have a great damage. In conclusion, the Polar Regions is damaged their ecosystem by people out of apathy. We should protect from climate change in Polar Regions because our place to find peace is on the road to extinction. So that’s problem we will solve in the future. Many people participate to protect from climate change in Polar Regions. There is some several remedy such as conserving electricity, planting a tree in order to reduce carbon dioxide and using transportation, etc. we can protect our hands. We should have interest in this problem. Works Cited â€Å"Arctic sea ice (Headline Science: Current News in Science Research)(climate change and the condition to the Arctic sea ice).† Science Teacher. 78. 8. (2011):16-16. Print. Brown, Culum. â€Å"Climate Change: Why Antarctica is melting.† Nature. 487. 7406. (2012): 143-143. Print. Melbourne-Thomas, and Andrew Constable. Etc. â€Å"Testing Paradigms of Ecosystem Change Under Climate Warming in Antarctica.† PLoS ONE. 8. 2. (2013):1-9 Print. Philip L. Munday, Mark I. McCormick and Nilsson Goran E. â€Å"Impact of Global Warming and Rising CO2 levels on Coral Reef Fishes: what hope for the future?† Experimental Biology, 13 August 13: 1. Web. 1 June 2014. Vince Stricherz. â€Å"Tropical Sea Temperatures Influence Melting in Antarctica† LexisNexis Academic. 6 June 2011: 1. Web. 29 May 2014.

Partial Birth Abortion Act November 5, 2003 :: Government Politics Abortion Essays

Partial Birth Abortion Act November 5, 2003 On November 5, 2003 President Bush placed a national ban on partial birth abortions. This was an act that many felt was outdated. The same proposal was brought upon President Clinton in 1995, but he vetoed it saying it was a birth mother’s right to choose the fate of her unborn child. A partial birth abortion is the process of removing a fetus from the mother just prior to its birth. This procedure is not painless for the mother, or the fetus. The actual procedure involves removing the child limb by limb from the womb. After the initial limb removal, scissors are forced into the child’s skull and a suction tube is inserted to remove the brains of the child. President Bush’s press secretary, Hatsuhisa Takashima, wrote this speech. The author utilizes the problem/solution argument structure and the rhetorical appeals within his speech. The problem/solution that is apparent in the text of this speech is obvious from the very beginning. The President says, â€Å"that the American government has looked away from this violence, but now the government has confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child.† The partial birth abortion was once seen as a medically necessary procedure, but the President points out it is, â€Å"not only cruel to the child, but harmful to the mother, and a violation of medical ethics.† The elected branches of government have worked together to prevent this practice as a means of a solution to the partial birth abortion situation in this country. The signing of the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 shows a major solution by not allowing the problem to continue. In addition to the problem/solution argument structure this speech has ethos mixed in it also. Hatsuhisa Takashima, the author of this speech, held many high titles in his years working in Japan. Just before being appointed to be the Press Secretary of the United States of America he was the General of Administration and Broadcasting Corporation in Hong Kong. Before being appointed to that title he was the Director of United Nations Information Center in Tokyo. He has been involved in a journalism career for most of his life and his writings have been well acclaimed. In the speech he says many facts that lead one to believe that the banning of partial birth abortions is the best solution to the problem.

Mainstream Media hegemony and new media environment Essay

(Ex- Deputy Controller, Head of current Affair National Broadcasting Service Radio Pakistan, Bureau chief mediacon international, member CMA,, Community Media Association, UK), published author ezine and upublish.com) Pakistan’s mainstream media outlets have perhaps misunderstand the meaning of free flow of information under the freedom of press law. Perhaps they are not aware of the consequences which are being faced by top notch mainstream media across the so-called civilized word. In Pakistan many media groups reporting without realizing its impact on our socio-economic environment and deep rooted cultural impact. We have seen in past that misreporting by print and electronic mainstream media regarding shia-sunni conflicts created anger and anxiety amongst different sects led to horrible sectarian violence. Beside, reporting regarding terrorist attacks and rape case are arrogantly presented. Lack of trusted networks for reporting or contribution the most sensitive issue in fair manners and due to less reliance on what traditional media portray in daily business of dissemination of audio video contents, the literate society has started believing on what new media presents in various forms. Equipped with the power of abundant sources of news and information ((via broadband, G3, G4 and web3) about any country or region the new media is rapidly making its footing worldwide. Mainstream media are the most important source, but not the only one. With the development of communication technologies, people now have access to a huge amount of information that was unthinkable 20 years ago. People can watch live proceeding of parliament, or read a transcript of it within hours. One can see press releases from newsmakers published on hundreds of websites, providing submission and distribution services on internet. New-style electronic formats, such as Internet discussion groups and chat rooms, create new public spaces and provide unprecedented opportunities for cultural and political discourse. Ecology of news and the style of passing on information have been changed dramatically. Geographical separation is not a big problem due to network linkage. Using FTP format you can transfer files anywhere in the word it was not possible for main stream media 2 decades ago. Second important characteristics its digital platform which has  enormous space to store audio, video, and Text. In new media environment distance makes little difference in the time, cost or speed of getting information. : Society has changed into families. People can get lot more quality and creditable information using news aggregators. In fact less gated social media have changed the ecology of News, thinking, behaviour and socio-economic environment Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro blogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. The wall of fortress journalism is demolishing but Pakistan print and electronic mainstream media is not ready to adopt the new changes being taken place every passing day in communication technologies. People of Pakistan are swiftly moving toward social media aggregators than ever. This new tool provides reader/ viewers to obtain all required news and analysis on one simple point. The reason for this shift is that mainstream media is violating by keeping the important news with them and deliberately hiding facts from public eyes. Sensationalism in news and to be first in breaking news is considered as pride without knowing its impact on nation al security and integrity. Pakistani media regulators and broadcasters perhaps not aware what the west is doing through media. They must watch reports of PRESS TV.COM AND RT.COM. The West is swiftly and successfully achieving its targets one by one by to destabilize the situation in Syria, recently in Gaza. Author and investigative journalist Webster Tarpley has pointed in an interview at Russian Television (RT.COM) first English language TV that US Intelligence has announced the partition of Pakistan. Another report revealed in foreign media that US Special Forces have conducted secret raids inside Pakistan’s border regions. The operations were conducted between 2003 and 2008, but only one was ever made public. The mainstream media of Pakistan kept quite on these issues. In many cases Taliban refused to take responsibility for some explosions in public places in Pakistan than who is behind these brutal acts. Our investigative reporters are not well equipped to search the truth and report. Our media is highlighting issue base politic and projecting their allocated parties. Critical issues of society which should be the prime priority at present stage are not being suitably covered by any media outlet. Strong reaction in recent past has been seen in UK and USA where  people registered their protest and strongly criticize the biased, planned and narrow coverage of world affairs by the established media giants like Fox News, the BBC and NBS. Media regulators are seems to be helpless and may be part of this wrongdoing. Situation in Pakistan is changing rapidly and people have lost trust on the directed coverage of Pakistan’s media. Pakistan electronic media are being run by the print media journalists with no experience of working in electronic media and producing substandard and distorted facts. Broadcasters are making billions in profits while using the public airwaves. In return, they are not producing programmes that fulfill community needs. Because of above cited problems and the attitude of media groups of Pakistan people have started march against mainstream media using social media as a viable, quick and authentic source. This shift seems to be picking up the pace in near future. ***

Tok Presentation

Why did we choose this topic? We think that knowing the past is an important thing – to understand what is happening and to prevent the â€Å"same† mistakes from the past. However, there is a slight problem in our knowledge of past. And that’s why we asked this question: †¦.. Real-life situation You might be thinking†¦why did they choose this topic? Isn’t it obvious that what we know really happened? Are they trying to show us some stupid conspiracy theories or what? So here comes the real life situation. It is no made-up situation because, unfortunately, it happened to me recently. I was reading sources for my EE. The second source I read basically overthrew/contradicted my whole research question. I am writing about a ruler in medieval Japan who brought peace which lasted 250 years and how he accomplished this peace. As I read the second source, it stated that the one that actually established the peace was not this ruler, but the one before him. With this newfound information my whole EE practically fell apart. So, I had two contradictory sources and a load of questions: How it could be possible for such a contradicting sources to exist? And how do we know which one is true and which one isn’t? Sources Okay, now let’s get back to our knowledge of past. Where do we get it from? Well, there are different sources that together help us gather our historical knowledge. We can categorize them into two groups: primary and secondary. Well, I hope you all know what primary and secondary sources are, but if you don’t let me say it really briefly. Primary sources are those that were created by people who witnessed the events that are under study and secondary are sources, which are build upon (analyze and interpret) primary ones. Now, let’s try to make a list of the sources so that we can demonstrate how some of them can become unreliable. PrimarySecondary Diaries Journal/magazine article Pottery (physical stuff)History textbook for schools LettersBook about history InterviewsEncyclopedias SpeechesReviews Documents Photographs Now that we have a list of sources, we need to think about what could possibly affect them. Those can be all four of our tools of knowledge – perception, emotion, reason and language. Using these, we? ll show you how the sources can reflect the past not very accurately. Let’s start with primary sources. What can affect them? Let’s start with written accounts and diaries. First, the writer must perceive the event. What can go wrong in perception? Well, each person perceives things selectively, according to what they expect to see, according to their emotions, culture, traditions and so on. Let’s imagine a soldier named Joe. After surviving a battle he writes a letter to his wife. I believe I do not have to mention that this letter will later become a primary source for us. It consists of many emotional sentences about the death of John, Joe’s friend, who died during the battle and there is only little information about the battle itself and its outcomes. This shows us already, that Joe perceived very little from the battle, but instead concentrated on what was happening to his friend (which is natural, but for historians that are studying the battle rather unfortunate. However, Joe describes something from the battle. He says that their enemy‘s ranks consisted of thousands of soldiers compared to their barely thousand. However, other sources from the same battle state, that the armies were equal in numbers. So, obviously, Joe exaggerated as people tend to under stress situations. But his wife will never know this bit of information Furthermore Joe writes that it was the enemy who actually provoked the battle, while source written by someone from the other side states that is was the exact opposite. So obviously nobody wants to admit to be the aggressor. This was just an example of how perception and reason can influence the given account of an event from the past. Now let’s watch a little video. I hope you know the guy that will be show in it 😉 So, what can we say about some speeches of politicians or propagandistic films or pictures? These also count as primary sources, however I think it is obvious why they cannot be very reliable. Their purpose is to manipulate and distort the truth. For us, and for historians, sometimes it might be very hard to distinguish whether something is a propaganda and manipulation of facts or whether it is not. It is essential for the historians and us to be able to distinguish what is propaganda or manipulation and what is not. Even though such sources contain manipulated information which is useless for historians who want to know the truth, they are still valuable since they help us understand the historical context of that time. Furthermore data and official documents can also contain manipulated information and that is even harder for us to see, because we tend to believe â€Å"official† things. To get back to our knowledge issue, knowledge of the past that we gain from primary sources can be inaccurate, since primary sources tend to be very subjective. But there are plenty of orimary sources, which give us an objective and therefore probably accurate account of the past, such as photographs, data and official documents (if they are not manipulated). Excluding the fact that they can be misleading, without primary sources, we would be practically lost, since it is thanks to them that we have got at least some information about the past. Secondary sources: Now let’s move to secondary sources. The most widely â€Å"used† secondary source are historians and textbooks they write. Historians are very important for us, receivers of the knowledge. Why? If we only had primary sources, we would be lost. First, they are sometimes very hard to understand (especially if they are in a language you don’t speak 🙂 and also there can be overwhelming number of them and we then might not be able to distinguish the important ones from the ones that contain no valuable information. That’s where historians come in handy. They gather the information, read through as many sources as possible, interpret the information included and then write books that should be understandable for us. But, there are several problems. The first, maybe not the obvious one, is that historians do not always get all the information they need to give an account of a particular event. It’s like a puzzle. They have many pieces, but sometimes the pieces don’t fit together or there are some pieces are missing. Then they have to throw the odd ones out and they might find out that even more pieces are missing. Then they have to fill in the gaps themselves. This â€Å"filling in the gaps† can be very dangerous, especially if the historians are biased. Quite often historians are nationally biased. They have been raised in one country along with its traditions and culture and therefore, even if they are trying their best, they are going to write the history from their country’s point of view. Another problem comes in understanding the primary sources. The main obstacle in this case is language, which might have been rather different at that time. As much as historians may try, the translation can almost never be perfect. Sometimes those are just minor mistakes that don’t matter, but in some cases, the translation might be fatal. However, we will never know whether the translation was wrong or not. Furthermore, these sources can be further translated, so we basically get a translation of translation and the source can completely lose its original meaning. To conclude and get back to our question, even though (we hope) they are trying to be as objective as they can, historians can make mistakes in â€Å"filling the gaps†, in being nationally biased and in the translation of the sources. However, their role in our knowledge of past is essential, since they put all the pieces of information into a meaningful whole. Now let’s look at us. We are the receivers of knowledge. Since our own knowledge of past is way more limited than the knowledge of historians, we are more prone to making wrong conclusions from primary sources. Because of this same factor, we might also overlook some vital points. Also, have you ever thought about checking whether a certain historian is telling the truth? Or did you just blindly believed everything he said, just because he has the title of historian? This is a typical ad hominem fallacy that we all can make. Lastly, we, similarly as historians, are nationally biased, which also â€Å"clouds† our reasoning. Final Conclusion To conclude our presentation, we should now see that we know our past only to a certain extent. It depends on the reliability and amount of the primary and secondary sources that we have. We also need to be aware of the biases or drawbacks of the primary and secondary sources in order to distinguish the biased or manipulated sources. In the future, we might have a better knowledge of past, since new and new sources are discovered every day. And, what do you think Jarka did with her EE sources? She was kinda hopeless at first, but then she decided to read the remaining sources. The rest, supported her research question (thankfully), so she could conclude (with almost 100 % certainty) which one was the one that was not true. ? Also, primary sources serve the purpose of the writer and were not written to become parts of textbooks in the future. P. S. do not have to reflect truth, but rather a ‘personal’ truth. Often we do not have written accounts from peasants and lower classes, simply because they didn? know how to write, didn? t consider it necessary, useful†¦ CONCLUSION =our knowledge of past is in many cases not the same as the past itself, because it is based on human interpretation of why and how certain events happen = also, new evidence is constantly being found and it might completely change our view of what and why happened = also new technologies are invented =thus we can say that past is stil l alive and changing†¦ = try to gather as much different sources as u can- compare them†¦ do what historians do†¦.