Philosophy and Socrates Essay

SOCRATES THE PHILOSOPHER Socrates is a noteworthy and important historical figure as a philosopher, because of his and his pupils’ influence on the development of the philosophical world. His teachings, famous arguments, and ideas began the outgrowth of all later western philosophies. Born in 469 BC just outside of Athens, Socrates was brought up properly, and thoroughly educated. He was raised as most Athenians; developing both physical and mental strengths. Socrates then went on to learn from Archelaus the philosopher. Here he studied astronomy, mathematics, and was introduced to philosophy, which was a new concept at the time. Archelaus taught of explanations for the world with a scientific approach. Socrates, however, turned away from this idea and created his own. He decided that instead of trying to understand the universe, a person should try to understand himself. To express his philosophy, Socrates spent his days in the marketplace of Athens, telling people of his ideas. His voice was heard, and he was soon declared to be the wisest of all men. Socrates’ was skilled in the art of arguing. He developed a method by which he would win every debate. His favorite hobby was going to the marketplace and debating philosophical issues with other men in front of an audience. The result of these debates was that Socrates embarrassed the wise men in front of the crowd. This caused many to dislike him. After being named the wisest man, Socrates attempted to prove that this was not true. He debated with many men in the streets. These debates are some of his most famous argument methods. He started the discussion by stating that he knew nothing. As a result of the debate, he was able to prove that although his opponents claimed that they were wise, they knew nothing either. Socrates concluded that he really was the wisest man because unlike the others, he knew that he knew nothing. Socrates had many ideas and philosophies concerning issues other than the knowledge of oneself. These included explanations of the universe, the belief in god, and life’s goals. Other, earlier philosophers, had many different interpretation for the makeup of the world. Some believed that it was made out of numbers, others thought that it was made of a single substance, or many different substances, while still conflicting philosophers theorized that everything was formed out of atoms, and even illusions. Socrates had his own, different ideas. He believed that the world was made of forms that are not within the reach of our senses, but only of our thoughts. This means, for example, that when we think of characteristics such as roundness, we only picture ideas of it like a ball or a wheel. Therefore, he assumed that we only understand specific things that participate in our lives. In his search for the inner truth of oneself, Socrates theorized the explanation to the question of what the goals of life are. He concluded that everyone tries to find the meaning of happiness and goodness in their existence. This is the purpose of life. However, true happiness comes in many forms and is disguised in a way that people spend their lives looking for goodness, but finding only the evil in which it is concealed. The only way to discover true happiness, goodness, and the right way, is to fully understand oneself. Socrates did not believe in the Greek gods or religion. He had his personal view of god. Socrates felt that there must be some form of divine power because everyone seemed to believe in some kind of god and religion. He also believed in a sort of immortality. He hypothesized that there was an afterlife. His explanation for it was that people who had achieved goodness in their lives knew where they were going afterwards, and that evil people tried to ignore the fact that immortality existed. He preached that the soul was a person’s true being, and that our goodness in life reflected on the goodness of our souls. According to Socrates, each individual should try to make his soul as moral as possible so that it can be like god, which will allow the achievement of an afterlife. Debating in the marketplace of Athens was not Socrates’ only daily activity. He also taught his philosophies to a group of students in a small classroom. These students were much like disciples. They respected and followed in the philosophies of their teacher. Socrates’ most famous pupil, Plato, went on to become a great philosopher like his mentor. Socrates lived through and fought in the Peloponnesian War. After Athens’ defeat, the democracy was replaced by a tyranny. This did not bother Socrates much because his belief in government was a rather simple and apathetic one. He thought that no matter what kind of government subsists; it should be followed solely because a form of law and order must exist in a society to control it. One of the tyranny’s leaders was a former pupil of Socrates and hated his teacher. He tried to make life harder for Socrates by banning the t eaching of philosophy in the streets. Socrates ignored him. In response to this, the tyrant tried to kill Socrates; but the tyranny was overthrown right on time to prevent this. A new democratic government came into power, the leader of which, Anytus, also hated Socrates because his son, who was the philosopher’s pupil, turned away from the family’s business to become a philosopher. Anytus had Socrates arrested on charges of corrupting Athens’ young and turning them away from Paganism, the Greek religion involving a belief in many gods. Anytus announced the death penalty as a punishment for this crime. It was obviously an outrageous sentence for a crime that was not even committed. Socrates was brought before a jury and instead of using his debating skills to defend himself, he did nothing in his own defense because he was convinced that the entire trial was a joke. The jury voted on the death penalty. Now Socrates had a chance to appeal to the court. He was entitled to suggest forms of punishment other than death to satisfy his crime. Instead of proposing a reasonable penalty, Socrates suggested ridiculous ones which angered the jury; causing them to vote on the death penalty once again. Socrates did not seem to mind at all. He was sent to prison and lived their surrounded by his friends and disciples for his last few days. His life ended by drinking hemlock as his friends cried at his bedside. Only after this scandalous death, did all of Greece realize what they had done; that they had killed one of the greatest philosophers of all time. Socrates’ life achievements were vast. He introduced new ideas and theories into the philosophical world. His pupil, Plato, went on to influence all of the western world’s philosophical development. Socrates began the evolution of philosophy throughout the world. He took the first step toward advancing modern philosophy, as we know it. His theories and ideas were a whole new concept that helped progress the western philosophy through all of later history. In conclusion, Socrates’ historical importance is great, due to his extreme influence on the evolution of the world’s ideas of philosophy. Even though Socrates never made written records of his work, his finest and most successful pupil, Plato, recorded much of his teacher’s accomplishments and deeds. From these history has learned so much as to be able to advance and heighten its entire philosophical viewpoints; and until this day, learn from the ancient philosopher, Socrates. INTERVEIW WITH A PHILOSOPHER: Mark ? Socrates, you were raised and educated in many different fields, why did you decide to spend your life as a philosopher? Socrates ? It is true that I have been educated in the arts, literature, and gymnastics as a youth; but in my continuing education as you may already know, I was taught by Anaxagoras, the famous early philosopher. His theories were not ones with which I would agree; such as those stating that all things were made of tiny substances which contained a little of everything, that the sun was a hot rock, and that the moon was made of earth. For these teachings, he was banished from Athens. Nevertheless, he was a good teacher and allowed me to realize that my philosophies were going to be antiscientific and quite different from his. My following philosophical teacher was Archelaus, with whom I studied mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. I knew that my opinions and theories were strong, I had performing and arguing skills, and my ideas would consist of principles rather than sciences. The simple lifestyle of the philosopher appeals to me. I enjoyed the unusual behaviors that I associated myself with. All that really interested me was the great mysteries of philosophy, and the questions of knowing oneself, which I devoted my life to learning and teaching. Mark ? Your teaching was remarkable and much can be learned from studying it even after your death; why is that you never bothered to record your works for later generations? Socrates ? Many have asked this before and for quite obvious reasons. Most other noteworthy historical figures did keep a record of their works ever since the invention of written language, yet not one of mine exists in writing. I do not exactly know the reason for this. Whether there are records of my work or not, does not matter. I will forever be remembered by my loyal pupils, the Athenian population, and the world. Furthermore, nothing I ever said was of too great importance. And to tell you the truth, I never really wanted to take the time to keep useless records. That nonsense did not concern me nearly as much as most of my other problems as a philosopher. I had to make money somehow, to support my wife and three sons. As you might have guessed, being a philosopher does not exactly bring you riches. One of the reasons I began teaching was to make money. Also, I had to deal with many people’s constant hatred of me, mainly due to my victories in debates against them. Some, with high political positions, even wanted me dead at points of my life. And one even succeeded. So, you see, no matter how simple and easy going my life may seem, there are quite a few difficulties attached to it. Mark ? Your trial and death are quite interesting and famous historical events. They have been interpreted by many and confused some; what caused you to make such drastic and unusual decisions, the consequence of which you knew forehand? Socrates ? This I am aware of. As a matter of fact, some even claim that I was mentally ill, and blame that as the cause for my actions. This of course I deny. The truth includes a mixture between my philosophical beliefs and the thoughts that have occurred to me during my last days. I always believed that there is an after-life. And that must have somehow influenced my decisions. Even though the religious part of this came to me only afterwards. At first many others and I thought that this ridiculous trial was an obvious hoax. Who would have thought that such a crime, which I was evidently not guilty of, be punished by the death penalty. I fooled with the court. They on the other hand were quite serious about it. In the last days, I realized that there was no way out. True I could have argued with the court and won. I could have escaped using the plan devised by my dear friends. But since there was a high-ranking leader who wanted me dead, it was going to happen no matter what. Furthermore, my governmental beliefs stand true in all situations; the law should be followed and that is all. There was not much I was willing to do. After some thinking, I decided to go along with the law, after all, I had lived a happy life. One that I was proud of living, no matter how unusual it may appear to others. I was an old man of seventy. I found and understood myself, and had achieved happiness and goodness. There was nothing more that I desired. I knew what was waiting for me after death and was ready for it. Word Count: 2066.

Political Philosophy and Brief Critical Evaluation Essay

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The duties of the police are: enforcing the law, investigating crimes, and apprehending the offenders. They are also responsible for crime prevention and reduction, maintaining order in the public, and ensuring that their communities are kept safe. They are often called upon to assist in emergency situations as well as provide community service. Once the division of police has done its part, everything is turned over to the court system. The court system is now responsible for overseeing the trials and keeping them fair and impartial. The criminal cases are decided in the courts and are given due process. The ultimate responsibility of the court is to determine whether the accused is innocent or guilty of the accusations imposed. Once that verdict has been determined, the court must uphold the law with fairness while protecting the rights of the accused. The division of corrections is responsible for carrying out the sentences that are handed down by the courts. Inside of the correction facilities, the offenders must be provided with a safe and humane environment. This division must provide rehabilitation and reformation so that the convicted can be reintegrated back into society. While in corrections’ custody, the human and legal rights of the convicted must always be respected. The criminal justice process is as follows: Investigation and arrest, pretrial activities, trial, sentencing and corrections. During the investigation and arrest, a warrant is issued by a judicial officer and the local authorities conduct the arrest and booking into the jail. Next comes the pretrial activities, which includes the first appearance, preliminary hearing, indictment

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Impact of customer motivation on profitability of financial institution in Oman - Essay Example Without these people this work would not have come to a smooth completion. May the Almighty Allah bless you all and protect you. Research findings have potent that customer motivation is an essential ingredient in the performance of a financial institution all over the world. It has been shown by business research that well satisfied customer’s guarantees at least 2% increment in business profitability by the end of every trading year. Customer satisfaction reduces the cost of business operations on advertizing by over 5% every year according to research findings. This is because a satisfied customer is an advertisement to a business by itself. This research study is aimed at finding the motivational tools used by financial institutions in Oman in achieving their financial objectives. The objective of this study is to evaluate customer motivation techniques in Oman banks and other financial institutions. It focuses on the influences of these motivations to the achievement of these institutions goals and objectives. Business experts have agreed to the fact that businesses that invest in customer motivat ion more often than not makes high profits than those that do not. Over a long time financial institutions have adopted the idea of treating customers as assets. This has therefore necessitated the need to measure the value of the customer and the value customer by financial institutions. This also has provided several institutions with the need to identify opportunities for the growth of the customer value and the return of investment on customer base and loyalty to an institution. Such findings often are seen as the basis of employee actions in the creation of the values that attracted and increased the customer base in an institution. The achievement of such objective requires the development of appropriate incentive

Toys R Us Company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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Study Guide Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Inclusion and Fairness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

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Please reword the answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Herbert hoover Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Quantitative Case Study in Public Relation Campaign

Quantitative in Public Relation Campaign - Case Study Example In the same year, 12.8 per 100000 women died from breast cancer. Breast cancer when detected at an early stage can be treated. But when it is detected at a later stage, it cannot. Amputation is what will be done and if the cancer is systemic, then death will follow (Abdel-Fattah, Zaki, Bassili, el-Shazly & Tognoni, 2000). Due to these effects, it is important to begin promoting awareness for women and young girls to occasionally be undergoing breast cancer screening. The campaign purports to employ situational theory in assessing the level of awareness on breast cancer self examination technique (J. J. Scheurich et al. 2004). It is believed that breast cancer can be detected at personal level. The campaign main objectives is to promote the awareness to young girls and encourage them to be practicing breast cancer self examination (Abdel-Fattah et al, 2000). The study is focused on using the situational theory of public (STPs) to find out the level of knowledge about breast cancer among young girls (Abdel-Fattah et al, 2000). There is need to describe the level and extent in which breast cancer self examination is practiced by young girls of the target sample. Finally describe the perception of the young women concerning the causes, control and fatality of breast cancer (Abdelhadi, 2006). The memorable brand to be used in the entire campaign is a pink ribbon which is international symbol of breast cancer awareness (Abdelhadi, 2006). Participants and respondents will wear the ribbon as a sign of sending the message of awareness and to commit. Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer affecting women in developed and developing countries. Over the years, the disease has always been connected to manifest more on older women. Cancer has bee rated to have ousted HIV/AIDs and is now number one killer disease in the

Thirteen Colonies and New England Essay Example for Free

Thirteen Colonies and New England Essay The Literature of Early America p. 1-5 1. The first Europeans to establish settlements on this continent did not call it America until the 18th century. What did these early settlers call it? The New World 2. The colonies that became the United States were for the most part inhabited by individuals from which European country? England 3. How much is known of the perspectives of the native inhabitants of this continent before the European arrival? Why? With the help of archaeologist, ethnographical, and oral materials much has been learned 4. What was the so-called Columbian Exchange, and what were the results? The passing of biological matter between Native Americans and Europeans. The result is illness and death reduced to less than 10% of the original number 5. Although Leif Ericson first saw North America as early as 1000, and Columbus, of course, arrived in 1492, when did French and English colonization really begin to take hold? Early 1600s 6. After the Native American oral tradition, which writing could probably be considered the first American literature? American Literature 7. What three things set the stage for the seventeenth-century expansion of English colonization that would ultimately lead to the first United States? 1)The Reformation 2)English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 3)emerging capitalist economies 8. Unlike the Spanish explorers who were financially supported by royalty, how were the English settlers supported? How did this affect the future of the colonies? English settlers were supported by banks joint-stock companies. It moved it away from the old hierarchies of church crown 9. What were the three general cultural/economic groups established in these early British colonies? Southern Colonies, Middle Colonies, New England 10. Which area was initially the most difficult to settle and why? Southern Colony-malaria and starvation were rampant in the early 17th century 11. Which crop ultimately proved quite profitable to the southern colony in Virginia? tobacco 12. After the native populations had been decimated by disease and the brutality of enslavement, how did the English settlers respond to the demand for labor? Indentured servants 13. Which of the British settlements was the most ethnically and religiously diverse? Middle Colonies 14. Who were the first group of Europeans in America to denounce slavery? The Quakers 15. Which group established the first permanent colony in New England? What was it called, and when was it established? Pilgrim settlement of Plymouth 1620 16. Which much larger Puritan settlement was established in New England ten years later? Puritan â€Å"Great Migration† 1630 17. What was the name of the first permanent English settlement in North America? Where was it located and when was it established? Est Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 Captain John Smith 18. What is the name of the English sea captain who wrote what is described as the first distinctly American writing in English? Captain John Smith 19. In what way did Smiths descriptions help lure the Pilgrims and the Puritans to this new land? He described as Paradise. His vision of a new abundant world, along with his mapping 20. Smith also created maps of which area? New England Coast 21. Why did literature develop more slowly in the South? Towns were few, farms were separated, urban audience for books and newspaper were scant 22. Which two movements greatly influenced the Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay? Renaissance and Reformation 23. Why is the Renaissance generally regarded as the beginning of modern civilization? It was the advancement of government, philosophy, and science 24. In what sense did firearms and books break down the social and political hierarchy? Books taught people to think for themselves, guns gave them the power to destroy body armor 25. In what sense does the work of Copernicus reflect the Renaissances break with tradition and authority? It questioned the pagan believes 26. A new spirit of scientific inquiry was inspired by the invention of which two scientific instruments? Gun power and printing press 27. During the Reformation, what aspects of the Church did the religious reformers criticize? The authority of its spiritual leader, the pope and priest 28. How did Protestants earn that name? because of the protest against church doctrines, and the power of priest, and commands of bishops popes ________________________________________ John Smiths Biography p. 41-42 1. Why do you suppose the first permanent English colony was called Jamestown? Because King James I granted a royal charter to plant colonies in England’s North America Territories 2. Why was the settlement at Jamestown, initially, disastrous? Jamestown was swampy, lacked steadfast leaders, didn’t build houses, plant crops, find gold. More than half died the 1st winter 3. What role did Smith assume? A leader, President 4. In Smiths A Description of New England, published in 1616, he mapped the coast of New England. However, his trip to New England in 1614 wasnt for that purpose. Why did he go? To search for jar gold called Jars 5. Which group of settlers purchased Smiths maps of New England? Pilgrims 6. What was the first English book written in America? A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia 7. In Smiths most influential book The General History of Virginia (1624), how did he describe the New World? Riches and wilderness delights, place of freedom, joy, and abundance 8. Who named the area New England? Smith 9. Why do some question Smiths romantic account of his rescue by the Indian princess Pocahontas? Because it was written seven years after Pocahontas’ death. He could have been adopted and not known 10. The Smith/Pocahontas tale is one of the earliest examples of what particular narrative form in early American literature? fable ________________________________________ John Smith from A Description of New England (1616) p. 55-63 1. Although this work was published in 1616, it was based on Smiths return trip to New England in what year? 1614 2. Why was his trip a financial failure? Looking for gold and copper and it wasn’t fish season 3. Why did Smith find it difficult to trade fish and furs in the area? Because Sir Francis Popham traded a lot and he got most of it 4. What characteristics does Smith say one must have to conquer this land and make it thrive? Ability to work 5. What do you think the following quote suggests to those reading his account back in England? only here and there we touched or have seen a little [of] the edges of those large dominions which do stretch themselves into the main[land], God knows how many thousand miles there is a lot more land to discover, don’t limit yourself 6. He describes the coast as being overgrown with [what] and an incredible abundance of [what]? Good timber, most sorts of fish, fowl, and good fruits 7. As he discusses the abundance of fish, what European comparison does he make to elevate this lowly staple to something that can, in fact, build countries? Which group (who settled here later in 1620) might this have appealed to? Hollanders 8. What does Smith use to lure people from England to the New World (see middle paragraph on page 58)? Men can be master of their own fate/no landlords 9. Smith mentions the fertile ground, but he also says that, if need be, one can trade with the natives for goods like corn. What does he say (and what tone does he use) about those savages who may be uncooperative? With 30 or 40 men sufficient to bring in line/disdain 10. Notice the way Smith begins each of the paragraphs on page 60: Of mines of gold Of woods The waters The herbs and fruits Oak Eagles Whales Moose What is he doing to try to lure the English to this new land? Painting a picture of abudance 11. What kind of individuals do you think Smith is targeting when he says, Who can desire more content, that has small means or but only his merit to advance his fortune, than to tread and plant that ground he has purchased by the hazard of his life? The Common Man 12. What do you think of Smiths reference to the holy quest some might take by making the journey to the New World? : If he have any grain of faith or zeal in religion, what can he do less hurtful to any or more agreeable to God than to seek to convert those poor savages to know Christ and humanity? Crusaders 13. What emotions do you think Smith is tapping into when he says the following? : What so truly suits with honor and honesty as the discovering things unknown, erecting towns, peopling countries, informing the ignorant, reforming things unjust, teaching virtue, and gain to our native mother-country a kingdom to attend her, find employment for those that are idle because they know not what to do? 14. On page 62, what does Smith say might be his role in helping these newcomers adjust to this new land? Do you see this as self-serving or sacrificial on Smiths part? If he lied they can fault him/ self-serving 15. Smith has spoken of the rewards that will come from hard work. What does he say about the pleasures to be enjoyed in this new land? Hunting or hawking is great

Doctor Faustus And The Lutheran Aesthetic Religion Essay

Doctor Faustus And The Lutheran Aesthetic Religion Essay (187) In Renaissance Tragedy there is always generally a concluding death-scene, the blooding ending a certainty to happen. The 16th century was a time of growing scepticism about the Christian afterlife and an urgent need for present self-realization. Finding a brave death would satisfy a lasting fame and tragedy offering comfort to a secular world. (188) Doctor Faustus is one of the tragedies of the time with such secular tendencies, the doctor rejecting the Heaven connects it to Luthers renewal of the mystery in afterlife, making death the more inscrutable in its cycles of despair and faith which is inherent in Christian experience. There is a set of formal technique stressing such affinity between the two with the plays ambivalence towards Calvinistic predestination and Faustus recurrent mood-swings as a Lutheran response to inaccessibility of death. Lutherans scepticism regards the possibility of containing philosophical speculation on afterlife in stable pieces of doctrine which for Faustus and Luther ends up in a restless ecstasy of mind. (189) The Calvinist background makes Faustus choice compelled in fear of Gods punishment and yet being unable to repent and the inevitable otherness of the deity and the predestination of human action. Faustus has studied in Wittenberg where both Luther and Calvin taught and his tragic force stems from the destruction of an individual will by the arbitrary power of the Calvinist God. (190) Presently the general view takes Faustus motivation in a balance perspective of both voluntarist and determinist readings. The actual restlessness within the play dangles between the extremes. Faustus is a sceptic; his mind proceeds by the dialectic of doubt and desire to fill the void in his understanding through new dogmatic position while he establishes a balance between competing doctrines. His dissatisfaction with stasis is hardly adequate for his agonized unrepenance in Gods face of wrath. (191) II. The opening scene shows Faustus struggling to know what it cannot. All kinds of knowledge are tossed aside as woefully unsatisfying when he rejects such systems of knowledge. He is acting on a decision he has long considered. His mood abruptly shifts on theology and its central teaching: We must die an everlasting death followed by a sudden feeling of discouragement. The inevitability of death is not banished with confidence and thats why he turns to magic. At first its only his interest in black arts which is to resolve his death anxiety allowing him to behave with cynical abandon. Yet the continuing obsession with death manifests in his talks with Mephistopheles the debates leaving him unwilling to accept the replies he is given. He tacitly admits the existence of Hell insisting to find a fixed location and final determination however to no avail. He finds Hell both present and removed, present in the existence of devils and absent in him not yet dead. (192) Faustus can apprehend but not comprehend what hes confronted with, so he resolves it using his intellectual denial. He is continually encounters Hell by devils and becomes hopeless in such endless revolution, so he decides to be rid of the awareness of hell even though escaping the thought is impossible. He breaks the cycle starting to think about a wife, an earthly object. His scepticism manifests itself in the restless struggle which is rooted in his uncertainty about the supernatural that cannot be comprehended through his earthly vantage. Its a perspective ever beyond his own and also to some extent within Christian theology from Augustine to Calvin and when the basic elements of the afterlife is beyond ones grasp, repentance becomes almost impossible. (193) III. Such was Luthers teaching: confrontation with mortality as a fundamental source of religious experience and his anxieties about death were the basis for his entire theology. According to Heidelberg we by nature love our will more than the will of God. We even hate him and Luther supposes that our nature pushes us to avoid the otherness of death, yet our relation to God demands that we embrace it. We can never be freed from what we are. We are always left wrestling with our imagination. Luthers scepticism about coherence of human perspective is confusing and his belief in God seems dubious. (194) Generally the basis for the ideas of inwardness, plainness, and self-sufficiency are associated with Protestant thought. (195) Eucharist to him is real bread and real wine, where Christs flesh and blood are present while the formers remain still present. He insisted on the real presence of the Godhead as the meeting of two different perspectives: the object of faith, and faith in itself. The first is outside the heart, presented to our eyes, in the blood and wine; and the second in internal not externalized. (196) Luthers theology perceives an epistemological than an ontological difference between the earthly and the divine arguing that the single substance of the Eucharist is at once Christ and bread. The communion is therefore uncertain and destabilising and Luthers ecstasy cannot last permanently for the claim of an unencountered future. To him too much faith is the sign of sinful pride, a comfort which terrifies conscience and the despairing rejection of the divine will struggling with renewed efforts at faith. (197) Eucharist produces a state of incomplete satisfaction as an endless struggle to resolve a feeling of double vision, a mode of representation generating a specific psychological condition. In Luther, it is said that even in our destruction God is present with us, and in our death Christ our King liveth. (198) Luther speaking about death comes to life and comments on the horror of being trampled by death, the cycle of hope and despair Faustus is caught in. His views were not accepted by the Calvinist and the Anglican Church, yet his views on death were circulating in England. (199) Marlowe spent 3 years studying Protestant theology at Cambridge, and Faustus struggled with this uncertainty. His supernatural perspectives generate an awareness of a denied satisfaction attempting to deny the existence of this greater perspective. His final soliloquy is in the same dialectic pattern longing for the perpetual day and meanwhile his soul to be dissolved in elements, desiring to make the afterlife and extension of his earthly perspective and also escaping it entirely. There are baffling reasons for Faustus to keep to his pact. He asks for a description of hell while the answer he receives is dissatisfying. So he shifts the subject to having a wife substituting his questions with a feminized spirit. Mephistopheles explanation of astrology is freshmens supposition and the book of spells seem incomplete to him and he takes a tour to Rome instead of Hell. (200) Faustus denied satisfactions for his earthly boundaries are offered to him through Lutheran readings. Anyhow he knows that everlasting death awaits him and is confronted with the unchangeability of death and thus starts his pattern of avoidance the fact. The pact promises escape from this helpless awareness offering mortality by forging his damnation. Faustus abolishes the perspective existing beyond his own turning godly power to his own or rendering God irrelevant by determining his exact condition of death. In misery loves company Faustus pays more attention to company than misery feeling tormented by his condition. (201) Misery is nothing new to him, but he seeks company and the fellowship with the devil bridges the gap in awareness with which he is burdened. But he sees that the view beyond his is not different than his own vantage-point for devils condition is available to those humans who are in hell. No matter what the perspective the result would be an escape from the feeling of being caught on one side of the double perspective. Faustus is ironically caught in his own perspective for what the devil shows him is the re-exposition of his own view and there is no frame to validate the demons responses. So he keeps twisted back and forth between doubt and certainty with sudden cry of terror without being afraid of dying. (202) He has incessant change of voice referring to himself in first person and his meditations are dialogic dramatized in actual shifts of voice between confidence and doubt. V. Sense of doubleness finally takes Faustus to the extreme of avoidance distracting his mind from revolutions to magical tricks played on the Pope, a pompous knight, and a horse-dealer. These pranks show the adolescent turns in the doctor. (203) His serious and satiric behaviours are both other attempts at avoidance. Unable to get satisfied intellectually he is reduced to practicing magic and mindless games to escape the revolutions of his thoughts. He feels trapped in the double perspective and thus tries to leave it off asking for a wife. Hell is characterized to him as a place for permanent dispute while he is aware of the limits of his understanding and thats why he turns back to earthly diversions to find peace in earthly companionship which is doomed all the same. (204) Bell, Book, and Candle as a parody of Catholicism is also one of Faustus own condition of being caught in endless loop of his thoughts. His interactions with the devils re-enacts the pattern of avoidance that Luther call the fundamental condition of mortality. The pact is an emblem of human state either coming from studies of divinity or concourse with devils. We are left with the knowledge that there exist a knowledge beyond our own, and the more we struggle to establish a satisfactory relation, the more avoid the inevitable limits of our human condition. Thats why Faustus never abandons his pact: to rid himself of it would be meaningless unless freed from humanity. VI. Faustus needs to see past his humanness to find peace of mind always in the beyond. (205) Marlowe fuses two distinct methods of representation, psychological depictions of hell and human suffering, and painted devils making threats of physical torture. Renaissance concern for subtleties of human experiences juxtaposed with medieval emphasis on the stratified order of values. This is an intentional parody which is less sophisticated than Faustus agonized description of his mental strife. At the end of Act II, Lucifer tries to quiet Faustus metaphysical doubts providing Seven Deadly Sins. Faustus finds something satisfying in this allegory of hell more than the psychological description of hell. (206) Luther was traditionally an opponent of allegory believing that the true meaning of the scripture was lying in its literal sense, and his rejection was help both by the Catholic Church and Reform Protestants. The question regards the betterment of one particular allegory to another. Luther lashed out the Catholic church for ignoring the grammatical sense of the Eucharist. (207) Luther insisted upon the literal sense. For him there was never real distinction between the word of God and its earthly sign, they are simply two different ways of looking at the same thing. There is no way of moving from sign to signified and the dual function of the sign is to bring the observer into the real presence of God while at the same time manifesting the infinite gulf of perception that exists between God and mankind. Faustus need to escape unknowing is answered by hell depicted as the collection of earthly forms, knowing that afterlife can be understood in earthly terms and momentarily relieving him from the doubleness. But according to Luther such moments of forced resolution are not truly satisfying. Although Faustus turns to allegory, he remains aware that it doesnt actually bridge the gap. In the allegorical pageant, the certainty quickly turns to doubt, an inscrutability not dislodging his desire to know. The clarity of understanding is quickly rejected as bei ng naive and Faustus struggle leads him to an isolating despair, the cycle of faith and doubt, alternating between allegorical clarity and psychological complexity never to resolve. We are not even sure in the end the doctor will be back with another performance. VII. Dryden suggested that death can sometimes be the stuff of comedy, yet remaining a source of tragic experience all the same. (209) In Faustus there is a sense of doubt and anxiety on death as an incomprehensible phenomenon that logic is not able to soothe. Faustus struggles endlessly against his unknowing, the struggle which indicates nothing but the incompleteness that makes human existence tragic. Theology of Marlowes The Jew of Malta (214) After Faustus, this play is the most ironic one of his works. Jewishness is seen as a moral condition, and Jewish choice was the rejection of Christ, rejecting the treasure in Heaven for the one on the earth. Jesus tells the Jews you are of your father the Devil introducing them as the Antichrist. (215) Yet, the modern anti-Semitism of today cannot be applied to the times of Elizabeth and the image of the Jew at the time was more of a theological necessity than a living person based on his historical image in the Old Testament. According to Medieval law, sexual relations between a Christian and a Jew were met with the penalty of death by fire. The reason is taken as the denial of Christianity rather than racial issues. Shakespeares Shylock and Marlowes Barabas were more of a Medieval image as a word of general abuse bequeathed to the renaissance. Elizabethan England was a country bare of racial Jews and the whole frame rejected racial thinking. (216) The Anglican service was praying for all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics. According to Hunter, the Jew who falls into the cauldron is the very one in the first Act with no reduction of the authors sympathetic identification with plenty of ironic counter-currents. The structure of the concepts in the play are theological not racial, and the name as a type was fixed unless he ceased to be a Jew. In the beginning Barabas congratulates himself on his Jewish prosperity and Abrams happiness. Yet this is not so in Christianity and Abraham and other old patriarchs of the Old Testament cannot belong to the Jewish one and Jewish invocation of them is merely subversive and alien. There have been numerous treatises trying to remove the Old Testament from the Jews. (217) According to Luther the Jews application of Abrahams blessings are only carnal injuring the Scripture. They may be the children after the flesh, but Christians are the children of the promise, as Isaac was, of grace and faith. Barabas later on does such self-congratulation when he leads Don Lodowick to his doom. (218) It was believed that the promise was the very thing the Gentiles were given. So Barabas self-congratulation seems as the same original choice and his orthodoxy in saying the blessings promised to the Jews is no less that Faustus joy in the paradise of the Seven Deadly Sins. An ironic contrast is made between the figure of Barabas and Job Marlowe citing from the Geneva version of the actual book of Job. (219) The reference to him is central to the whole conception of Barabas. He is an Anti-Job characterized by his choice of revenge and impatience. This way he is also an Antichrist for Job was the greatest of the types of Christ found in the Old Testament, his descent into poverty mirroring Christs into flesh. Barabas career is a parody to Jobs, both beginning in prosperity and then losing their possessions both accused of justifying their deeds, both restoring their prosperity. Their frame of mind is different though. Barabas self-justification is from monstrous egotism and Jobs is out of awareness that God is unanswerably just. Yet the latters voice acquire in the mouth of a revenger the pattern of all patience. The effort of Christian appropriation of Job was to distinguish between the action of a man whose vision of the world was coloured by the awareness of the Redeemer living and the superficially similar action of the man whose vision was limited to this world. (220) Jewish observances are justifications of the mere flesh for their Religion represented earthly wealth, dignity, and prosperity as highly valuable. Barabas is a Jewish Job and the loss of his wealth is a physical disaster, not a spiritual trial. The parody of Jobs spiritual Odyssey and Barabas view to treasure are different from what is recommended in Christianity. Barabas cannot serve both God and riches and the actions the Job denies are those in which Barabas rejoices as an Anti-Job. (221) Judas in Herberts represents such Jewish choice preferring thirty pieces of silver to serving his Lord delighting in avarice. The Jewish usurer was a known contemporary figure in Marlowes days even if absent from England and his wealth represented a kind of spiritual hunger for the infinite. The line of infinite riches in a little room contains in itself the material by which we distance and judge Barabas passion for treasure. In Miss Helen Gardners line also there is the notion of Immensity cloistered in thy dear wombe. (222) There is similarity between the two; Marlowes line draws the persistent image of Christ in the Virgins womb and (223) Such wordings are repeatedly mentioned yet in different words from one text to another. In one same tradition the image expresses the paradox of infinitude in little space stretching before and after Marlowe. In another one Christs power is represented as infinite richness. The Virgins womb is litel space and yet also infinitely rich in monetary sense. The comparison of Christ to jewels, gold, and silver are obviously shown in varied texts. (224) There is a natural transition of Wisdom to the Virgin where she is infinitely rich by possessing Christ, her womb functioning as a purse, mint, or an alms-box. The money is coined in the image of God, being defaced in the womb of the Virgin, the vessel enjoying humility. (225) Thus the double paradox of Marlowes line is already present in a religious tradition, Christianity being opposed to the flesh. The treasure/Christ is there for the use of others and again the contrast between the sterile treasure hoarded by man and the liberal treasure disbursed by God is shown: to ransome great kings from captivity (64-67). But the only king Barabas ransoms is himself while his house is captured and converted into a nunnery, Abigail entering it as a novice to dig up the treasure hidden. The contrasting values are played off: the fruits of the spirit and those of commerce, one against the other. The pun on benefit in the Aside (574-76) is interpreted as benefit to mean: as muchas Hope is hid (577). (226) When Barabs teases the Governors son to his death he talks of the nuns and friars as still doing it reape some fruit; in fulnesse of perfection (833-48). The variety of innuendos suggest the lechery of the nuns and friars with the fruit of bastardy playing on the idea of profit, spiritual, and financial. The austere life of Abigail leads to profit, by repaying the debt to God for her sinful past. Behind is the theory of monastic deprivation to appease Gods wrath by giving vicarious satisfaction. The nunnery in Barabas house is still a place of profit and Marlowes play on thesaurus is justified by the monetary and financial imagery of the churchs power. (227) The vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience which the nuns have taken are works of supererogation (duty done more than expected) and the profit they produce is part of Marlowes treasure though not the kind Barabas is interested in. The doctrine of a surplusage of merits is what lies behind the practice of selling Indulgences specifically talked about in thirty-nine articles as abhorrent to the Anglican Church, one of the most noxious (poisonous) of Roman belief. The final twist of the ironic point is in Barabas instruction to his daughter (585-98). (228) The resurrection is not a spiritual one; the profit is judged after the flesh. In (663-69) there is no wooden enactment of predetermined attitude, but a continuous fluctuation of sympathy backwards and forwards round the figure of Barabas while his religious status is never in doubt who fatally mistakes the nature of value functioning as the medieval emissaries of Hell, taking us with him in his scorn of the other characters in the play. The Jew is admired in a way different from Faustus. He is place among Christians with the profession of policy, nuns of dubious chastity, and friars with timid carnality; the Christianity itself is not attacked and neither is Jewishness approved. In Marlowes time Malta was being menaced by Turkish attacks, and such struggle was not between nations, but between faiths, God and the devil. Such prayers were commonly said in England in 1565. (229) Marlowe was referring to cut and dried moral issues by choosing Malta as the setting of his play. The Knights of Malta were no ordinary soldiers, but monastic ones vowed to poverty, chastity, and obedience. He chose his men to raise expectations of rectitude while his view of man was that of a fallen condition. The Christians are shown in a variety of cynical variations and inversions and the idealistic rhetoric of honour and piety is only a window-dressing with the reality of greed that the wind that bloweth all the world besides, / Desire of gold (1422). The international relations are based on money or illusion and Malta buys its peace from the Turks while the occation of the Turks coming to the island is to sell Grecians, Turks, and Africk Moores. The only tangible sign of honour in Del Boscos words is: Ile write unto his Majesty for ayd, (745) which is never materialized and finally scoffed at by Calymath. (230)Everyone has its price and Barabas presumes that it is a trade to purchase townes / By treachery, sellem by deceit (2330). The difference between a monarch and a thief is only a matter of degrees. Such a world is devoted to greed and Barabas in his self-interest is perfectly adapted to his environment while still standing aside others. Their conflict is a tiresome interruption in the real life of profit-making so that they would spare me, my daughter, and my wealth (189-92). At a personal he is in conflict with Christians and thus makes a common cause with Ithamore as an individual Turk: both villaines, / Both circumcised, we both hate Christians (978-80). His hatred to Christians is merely a reduplication of the Turkish hostility. In Act V it is more profitable to sell the Turks than the Christians for the latter is currently living the Authority (2139-41). The Turks and Christians both are inconsistent in their self-interest; but Barabas allows neither race, blood, faith, nor grandeur stand in his consistent monomania. (231) He is free from idealism or dependence upon others and the degree of admiration and sympathy shown in borne to better chance, / And framd of finer mold then common men (452) is a counterpoint over religious condemnation. The fate of Malta is a mere transaction but does not obliterate the importance of the orthodox view, that self-interest is self-destroying, and Barabas lines are a rhetorical progression of ever-narrowing range (189-192). The lines show a preference for private security in a Jewish alien. But there is not a whole progression where the daughter first is assimilated to gold and later is destroyed. Abigail is fraught with ironic overtones. In the Helen speech of Faustus the image of Semele as here Agamemnon was responsible for the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. (232) Barabas looks to the future in terms of gold (the barren breed of metal) (701-4) and the purchase of Ithamore in the slave-market is set against the sale of diamond Abigail to Lodowick (899) with cross-reference to real finance (983-1011). Abigail is both seen as gold and human investment and is drawn from circulation when necessary substituted by Ithamore. (1312-1344). (233) The trinity of me, my daughter, and my wealth is reduced to me and my wealth. Ithamore is also a tool and the descent from Abigail to Ithamore is through the ever-diminishing circles of personal freedom into depths of pettier criminality where the cut-purse and courtesan natural inhabitants. Such structure of decline takes place in Faustus, too. Both heroes begin with splendid assertions of individual will and in Act II and IV are carried to low-life clowning and frustrations. Yet Faustus ends splendidly while the Jews fate is not redeemed by a denouement and his psychological conditions are not discussed. Barabas temporarily defeats his enemies by pretending to die. Yet the Antichrist is not easily excluded. He returns through the towns sewers as a coup de theatre (a sudden event), a reminder of medieval pageants inheriting moral as well as physical structures, with the Heaven high up and the Hell underneath in the pit or the cauldron. (234) On such occasions as those of Barabas the cauldron could represent the traditional image of hell which was derived from the final chapters of Job where Behemoth and Leviathan both were pictured in details as hell-mouth of fearful monsters., a boiling cauldron was imagined in the open jaws of the monster. (235) Sometimes the cauldron represents hell itself, and sometimes it is a part of the setting. Definitely in Barabas end there are inevitable moral concerns with the final victory of Christians in Malta. Yet, Marlowe avoids the collateral Second Coming of Christ and the survival of the Christians has no moral justification. In fact Marlowe has damned the Jew as a means of tormenting and exposing those who pride themselves on their Christianity. The arguments of the Governor are like those of Peter the Venerable urging the Jews to be forced to contribute to the cost of the Second Crusade. (236) At the time all wars against the Turkish infidels were seen as Crusades and the situation of Malta was the extension of the one that Peter Venerable was writing about. Marlowe implies that Barabas is against the Christ, yet his trial is conducted by figures that approximate to Pilate and Chief Priest (331). Profession in the play means religious faith. (237) Barabas makes the Christian point that righteousness is not a tribal or racial possession, but an individual covenant (346-350). Therefore he has the right to live and prosper in this world and in terms of the Old Testament he seems to be justified. His extension of legal status in Malta to a religiously legality under the terms of the Jewish law, yet, does not fit in, with his claim to a personal covenant. (238) The righteousness in Barabas speech is a distinct and antithetical concept to that of the New Testament and a Christian audience is expected to reject Barabas defence. In (351-355) profession means Jewish faith and for the Jew to claim individual covenant is a contradiction in terms. Barabas as the figure of Job attempts at futile self-justification and as an Anti-Job figure resorts to Machiavellian cunning (507). The last two line of the Governor (356) show that more than doctrinal correctness is involved. (239) Marlowe in saying all they that love not Tobacco and Boie were fooles? And to what? Such a statement is effective because of its power to upset our preconception, but it does not lead to anywhere. Marlowe identified himself with the rebels: Tamburlaine, Barabas, Faustus, and Edward II, but that such identification blinded him to the immutable laws of God, society is improbable. His Cambridge background and social contacts suggest his contact with Calvinism and the strongest emotional effects in the writings of the reformers usually come from their sense of Gods infinite transcendence, and mans infinite debasement (Tamburlaine, 2893-2911). The speaker is passionately involvement with the idea of Gods purity and transcendence and the betrayal of that purity in human nature. (240) He knew what it was like to worship transcendence, the power, and beauty beyond human comprehension. He was a God-haunted atheist being simultaneously fascinated and horrified by the self-sufficiency of the fallen world. We come to prefer the Jewish profession of Barabas to the hypocrisy of the Christians with Marlowe belabouring the Christians. The world of Marlowe is completely a fallen one and so is the world of Calvin. The Spirit and the Letter: Marlowes Tamburlaine and Elizabethan Religious Radicalism (125) Having conquered Babylon and outside the ruins of the city Tamburlaine asks about the Islamic holy books: Now CasaneThey shal be burnt (2 Tam. 5.1.173-76). He realized the futility of respecting anything but his own divinity. He taunts Mahomet in (2 Tam. 5.1.180-81) and identifies himself as the scourge of another higher God. (126) To him Spirit is bound by nothing unlike Mahomet whose sum of religion rests in the Koran (2 Tam. 5.1.191). He disdains religion codified in books and the letter of the law means nothing for he possesses a divine spirit throwing off his shepherds weeds to reveal the armour beneath persuading everyone he is not of flesh and blood subject to laws. Marlowe comments on issues of gnosis and inner enlightenment and the conflict between the spirit and the letter. Here the Koran is substituted for the Christian Scriptures and he is addressing Christian theology in transferring the defiant gesture to the distant world of Islam. In Tamburlaine the possession of a spiritual gnosis leads to a disregard for all laws where others are governed bodily by it. At the time the issues of election and predestination were hotly debated and there were an increasing number of people seeking unmediated contact with God from religious authorities or doctrinal codes. Marlowes plays are a part of a larger cultural exploration of the significance of individual religious inspiration and the consequences of such inspiration for the body politic. (127) Marlowes plays indicate a sceptical attitude towards Gnostic transcendence. He offers a critical portrait of spiritual confidence gone mad and facilitates us with the perception of tensions in English Reformation thought. II. There is a Gnostic subtext in Marlowes plays as well as the presentation of anti-materialism. (128) As the opponents of the Gnostics, the early Church Fathers intended their work as a cautious displaying of heresy focusing their attention excessive, outlandish belief and practices. Gnosticism is a negative religio-philosophical movement escaping from the tragic farce of material existence, loathing the body and material register as a central feature like many ancient philosophies. But in Neoplatonic circles, the theory of divine emanations proclaimed earthly things to bear the reflection of the divine. In Gnostic thought the material world is not even the creation of the true God; rather its the work of an inferior god, himself the result of an error in the divine realm. (129) The one, unknowable God causes distinct divine beings to appear, each representing one of his attribute. The materials of creation stem from a tragic sense of loss, abandonment, and perplexity. For the Gnostics the creation of the world is a tragedy. Nothing valuable inheres in the qualities and characters of materiality. To exist on earth signifies the depth of ones removal from the perfection and tranquillity of the divine. The Gnostics can overcome the overwhelming alienation of life on earth through the attainment of gnosis, the recognition of ones true origin the essence of gnosis is knowing that the ones true self is divine and body and the world are impediments to ones transcendental ascent. (130) Gnostic thinkers believe that only a few individuals possess the pieces of divinity. People are divided into three categories: pneumatics (spirituals), psychics, and hylics, ones status being pr

Topic Shifting In A Dinner Conversation English Language Essay

Topic Shifting In A Dinner Conversation English Language Essay Conversation is a very important thing in peoples life, and cannot be separated from it. People communicate with others by using their language in order to share information, to get acquainted with each other and mostly to maintain a social relationship. In the conversation, not everyone is dealt the same hand, in terms of opportunities to speak and be addressed, and in terms of what each can hope to say as speaker and to hear as addressee. Turn taking is an intrinsic feature of conversation (Wilson, Wiemann Zimmerman 1984), it also is a basic form of organization in conversation, and a fundamental organization of social interaction. People use turn taking every day when they carry on conversations in every social context; when they talk, they take turns, wait for turns, compete for turns to share their feeling and their knowledge, to give information, to open them and also get the feedback from the other participants. Humans take turns in many different ways: self-election, alternating with another speaker, back channeling, and taking another turn if there is a pause or an interruption in the conversation. In any conversation, it is impossible for the participants talking about one topic only from beginning to the end. They will change or shift the topic from one to another which may be similar or different. Topic shifts in conversation often happen when speaker transitions break down (after a silence, e.g.), or after a story, the next speaker shift the topic, sometimes they shift back to the previous one, refocus on something (inappropriately) in the previous speakers talk, or disagree with the previous speaker, sometimes they do not, either of which can elicit a topic shift. (Maynard, Douglas W, 1980) Statement of the Problem In no matter what situation, formal or informal, when people talk naturally, their conversation is goal-oriented, and face-to-face dialogue. They use words, prosody, body language, manual gesture, gaze, facial expressions, and spatial attention via head and eye movements to take their turns, and wait for the turns. However, some people do not pay attention to how the conversation works, and how the conversation is organized, they will talk out of the turn, and cannot get a turn in edgewise. If people do not take the turn properly, or take the wrong turn, it will intrrupte the poeple who is in turn, and also the conversation can not go smoothly. People also will not talk about one topic but would rather relate it to other topics which can be subtopics or new topics, sometimes the other participants do not realize it and as a result they do not produce coherent utterances. The participants think that others still talk about the first topic while actually the topic has already shifted to a new one, which is different from the first one. Therefore, it is important for the participants to notice that shift of the topic in a conversation to keep the conversation flowing well. Objective of the Study This study is attempt to provide a description of what happens when more than one persons talk at once in conversation; how the simultaneous talk are organized in the practices; how the turn-taking and topic shifting relate to each other in the conversation. It also tries to explain how people take the turn in the conversation, why they shift the topic from one to a different one. Section 2: Literature Review 2.1 Conversation Analysis Schiffrin Deborah (1989) defined conversation analysis as a subfield of discourse analysis that considers spoken dialogue. Considers what the structure of the conversation might be; how meaning and actions are negotiated in conversation; role of context and social interaction in understanding conversation. According to Lee (1987), people have a variety of implicit and explicit goals when they engage in conversation, the conversation analysis are capable of reflecting them, discerning the distinctions of them, and some other details, such as the number of people present, their personalities and interests, the presence or absence of preexisting relations, and details of the physical surroundings, at least to some extent. Drew Heritage (1992) argued that how people use and modify conversational resources to get things done in organizational settings, which frequently involve problematic exchanges. Especially when the interactions of people occupy different institutional roles, the issue of conversational differentiation takes center stage. The interesting theoretical question is then seen to be how these roles get translated into differences, or asymmetries, in conversational entitlements and obligations, but if the people are in the same institutional role, it is vice verse. Local (1986) argued that conversation participants appear to exploit variable spoken language elements at all linguistic levels (prosodic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic in order to signal contextual presuppositions; and also to utilize resources at the nonverbal level (gestural, kinesic, and proxemic ). In fact, their chief function is to signal participants orientation to one another. Sometimes they are used primarily to contextualize the imminent completion of a turn at talk or a topic shift, but at other times they have the capacity to signal the social identities and attitudes of participants. 2.2 Turn Taking Sacks Schegloff (1974) devoted much of their effort to the analysis of turn taking in conversation. Turn taking is part of what they call members procedures of achieving orderly and meaningful communication. The ways in which conversation participants design and modify their utterances are naturally occurring statements made by themselves, and how they make sense of each others contributions. This tacit, organized reasoning procedure is critical for our understanding of how social relationships are developed and higher-level social orders achieved. The acquired this knowledge of conversational organization can then be applied to institutional organization in order to show how these institutions were talked into being. According to Duncan (1972), people attempt to get the turn by self-selection at a transition relevance place by using methods that are usually successful in face-to-face conversations, such as intake of breath, leaning forward and starting to speak. He suggested several cues that the speaker employs to indicate the end of a turn or invite the hearer to take a turn. These cues include falling pitch at the end of a sentence, the drawl of a syllable at the end of sentence, the termination of a gesture, specific phrases at the end of syntactic units, and changes in gaze direction, such as the speakers looking away from the hearer as an utterance begins and toward the hearer as the utterance ends. Goodwin (1981) elaborated on the role of gaze in turn-taking by considering the gaze of the hearer, and the coordination of the gaze of conversational participants. He claimed that the speakers look away at the beginning of turns occurs to avoid overloading information in the planning of an utterance. Gaze behavior has been used in the design of embodied conversational agents, but it may not occur on every occasion. The absence of turn taking organization would subvert the possibility of stable trajectories of action and responsive action through which goal-oriented projects can be launched and pursued through talk in interaction, whether to success or failure (Schegloff 1988). 2.3 Topic Shifting Wardhaugh (1971) argued that a conversation usually covers a number of topics and involved shifts from one topic to another, and sometimes also a mix of topic. It means that in a conversation, the speakers do not only talk about one topic from the beginning to the end, but they tend to shift the topic to another one, which can be considered as the sub-topic of the previous topic or a new topic, it is different from the previous one. Similarly, Brown and Yule (1983) agreed that topic shift is the change of topic in a conversation, the speakers add another subject of discussion to the conversation to make the conversation more interesting and effective. McCarthy (1991) indicated that the topic shifting is very important in keeping the conversation going on and avoiding silence. Therefore, speakers tend to talk not only one topic but also relate to another topic which sometimes has relation with the previous and sometimes dose not, in order to make the conversation going on run smoothly. In addition, Stenstrom (1994) identified five kinds of topic shift which are differentiated in terms of their relation with the previous topic. They are topic shift, topic drift, topic digresses, and topic resume. And also she stated that pauses mark the topic shift. Section 3: Methodology and Data Collection 3.1 Participants The participants of this study consisted of seven persons, six females and one male, five are Chinese from China, two are Chinese in local, aged from 24 to 33. One is a reporter of a local Chinese newspaper, six of them are Master students, three of them are studying in the Faculty of Computor Science, while other three are studying in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, UM. They are from different religious backgroud, one is Christain, one is half Christain, one is Buddhism, one is free thinker, three are Muslin. All of them are singles. They knew each other long time ago, and are quite close friends. Dong was going to China, so Chun orgenized the simple dinner at her house, others were invited to the dinner as well as me. 3.2 Tools and Procedure In this study, the data was collected by tape-recording and obvervation during an informal and natural setting dinner conversation in the friends house, which lasted for one and a half hour. The conversation were transcribed into 18 short segments in terms of the pauses in the conversation. Each of the segments is between at least two persons from the beginning to the end of the dinner. The tape-recordings were conducted by a hidden mp3 in the natural occurred dinner conversation; the tape-recorder turned on mp3 and joined their conversation, and tried to get talking from every participant, and also observed the participants facial expressions, gestures, body language, gaze, nod and eye movements in the whole process, which the tape-recording cannot get. This made it possible to record the entire verbal interaction from start to finish. Signed consent was obtained from all the subjects. The tape-recording was transcribed based on the pauses, 18 segments of the turns in this study. Turns were assigned on the transcript when another may or did speak. Based on the definition of a turn the possibility for a single speaker to take several consecutive turns, in a series, or a row, exist. The transcript revealed that speakers took turns not only alternately but consecutively. Section 4: Data Analysis and Findings The data was analyzed in this chapter according to the research questions, and the time consequence. From the data we can see that people have different ways to take their turns and have different attentions to shift the topics. 4.1 People in the conversation took their turns in the different ways. 4.1.1 The current speaker always took their turns by self-selection. They selected the turn by looking at that person, or by asking that person a question.   Actually, if the current-speaker wishes to select the next-speaker, he or she will do so prior to the next transition-place, Dong: Li yan, I read an articleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Dong: Ma pin is very lust, my words are too bad. Dong: It is delicious. Dong: You are very sexy today. Dong: We have a new housemate, I: Everybody looks at me? Dong: I met the man today. Ma: This one is very delicious, Chun cui. Dong: Chun cui, I want wireless internet, how to equip do you know? Dong: Nobody spend more than 50 pounds on telephone in UK. Because.. Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Zhao: Arabian are very stupid, Dong: Enà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦my friendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.one of my friends said he . Dong: There is a very handsome guy in UM, Chun: She is the friend of my housemates, named Wan Jun, they are my friends. Dong: You guys should marry the local high class Dong: We are the transient guests of Malaysia. Wan: I knew from internet that Zhang xueyou will. From the data above, we can see all of the speakers took turns by addressing the person within the group, praising the clothes and food, telling the experience, introducing the newcomer, and asking the questions and so forth, to open a new turn. Because it is a special farewell dinner for Dong, who was going back to China, and also she is a more experienced person in this group, so she took the majority of the turns in order to keep the conversation smoothly and avoid the silence. 4.1.2 Several cues that the current speaker employs to indicate the end of a turn or invite the hearer to take a turn. The second speaker acquires their turns: First, a person takes the turn after being address, or face to face talking with current speaker, the second speakers receive the turns by being addressed or answering the questions. Dong: Ma pin is very lust, my words are too bad, ah? Ma: It is OK that is the fact. Dong: Why? I: Nothing, just hate him. Dong: You are more beautiful recently, yes, definitely. Li: Really? It is good. Zhao: Chun cui, can I take some away? Chun: Sure. Chun: Who? Dong: Our new housemate. Li: En, it is so delicious, how did you cook? Chun: It was Li Yan did. I: What did you say just now? What is higher that what? Dong: Salary is AD6000 (Australia Dollar), allowance is higher than salary. Dong: Chun cui, I want wireless internet, how to equip it, do you know ? Chun: I think you should go to the service center. Zhao: Who told you that? Dong: I am studying it, how come I dont know, who told me. Zhao: Where did you go yesterday? I: I taught Mandarin to Korean. Zhao: How many students do you teach? I: 6 now. Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Chun: I am going to give you on Thursday. Zhao: How about next Monday? In the evening? Chun: Ok, maybe I will go to main library to do my assignments, I will give you. Chun: Can you do it? Dong: Definitely, big business there, I should work for one year Chun: Do you have one year to do that? Dong: If I do PHD, I can do. The first three months will be difficult, but it will make money since the fifth month. Chun: But, is the location really very good? Second, a person speaks after someone else is addressed. That is to say, the current speaker does not select next speaker, the second speaker is self-selected. The second speakers seize the turns to show their agreement, their knowledge, to avoid the embarrassed and to indicate their curiosity. Third, a person speaks after someone speaks to the group, then he/ she takes the turn immediately. The second speakers claim the turn to comfort someone, to answer the questions, to show the humble, to express the agreements and disagreements, and to catch the information. Fourth, a person is already in possession and continues, no other participant selects him or herself as next speaker, current speaker continue speaking. The second speakers continue the turns to keep the conversation flowing and avoid the silence by shifting to a new topic. 4.2 People in the conversation shifted many topics. The topics of the conversation shifted based on the pauses, that also is our definition of the turn. Sometimes one topic was in one turn, sometimes more that one topic in one turn. As a whole. The topic shifted from an article to girlfriend and boyfriend, nice clothes, new housemate, study and emigrant, weight losing, wireless internet, telephone bill, population, exam, assignment doing, business doing, handsome guy, life and study in Malaysia, the job of reporter, violence, marridge, religions, money making, study, famous singer and actresses and so forth. Since this was a dinner conversation, the food was inserted in the conversation from time to time.There are 18 pauses in the conversation, but the topics are 21. 4.2.1 Showing the knowledge Dong: Li yan, I read an article which was named The same gender group but not gay from the newspaper, it said the some girls rather drink, chat or read with girls than with some boys that they dont like. A girl said if you want to extricate yourself from this special group, you must pay more attention to whom you love than friends. Zhao: It is too many Chinese now, the treatment is not very good after emigration. Dong: Salary is AD6000 (Australia Dollar), allowance is higher that salary. Chun: Last time we used the wireless internet, why can not it be reached now? Dong: No signal, I think it is failed for trying. It starts from Block 5, and covers 500 meters. Sometimes it is strong, and sometimes it is very weak. Dong: Nobody spend more than 50 pounds on telephone in UK. Because.. Li: Because of that, Chinese tourists reduced from 500 thousand to 300 thousand. At the beginning, they said she was not from China, she was a local, but they said she was from China. I: No, I think no matter in which country, what race, religion just belong to ordinary people, people who has power or privilege in politics are so-so on religion. I: It happens in china, so does in Malaysia. This is human beings natural, religion is about after dying, but people prefer the present lives. Wan: No scholarship in mainland China, and no part time job is allowed. I: It is said that Malaysia Government did the investigation that the education system in mainland China and Russia are similar, they are too strict, but the students have more freedom in Taiwan and Hong Kong, that is why many people prefer to study in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The participants are from different ages, different education backgrounds, diferent religious backgrouds, so they have different living experience, different woking experience, different knowledge and differnt intereasting, they told something that they knew to others, while others did not know. 4.2.2 Sharing the knowledge and interesting Dong: A few days ago, I heard a little boy from China was killed here, but the police couldnt find the murder. His father was worried a lot, and has come here for four times. Wan: Yes, it was homicide, it was not commit suicide. But, the victim was there, the body was there, only no murder. So our report evaded serious matter and took up trifles. Wan: I knew from internet that Zhang xueyou will hold a music concert in Malaysia, I like him very much. Dong: Me too, his voice is really unique, I didnt watch his music concert in Shenyang (her hometown). He held just after I had come to Malaysia. I collected all his songs. He is my forever favorite. I am his faith fan. I: One of my friends is Zhao weis fan, Zhao weis pictures are in her study room, kitchen, and headphone. She also changes the pictures. Ma: Zhao wei is Ok, I hate Zhang ziyi. Li: Me too, I hate Zhang ziyi, I like Gong li. Since Zhang ziyi became famous, I like Gong li. All of the participants are Chinese, five are from mainland China, and two are local, they speak the same language, Mandarin Chinese, so their interestings are somehow the same. They joined in the conversation and shared their knowledge and interesting. Exchanging their experience Dong: Enà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦my friendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.one of my friends said he will open a computer shop to me at the gate of a shopping center. Dong: It is behind the shopping mall, four computer shops there, he has the braches in China, he wants to cooperate with me, the capital is from him, I do service and selling. Wan: It is hard to be a reporter, we rest one day in one week. If we dont have readers for our newspapers and magazines, we must be in trouble, and our works should be ratified by some leaders. Such as the case of the Chinese lady from China (the policemen forced her to take off the clothes), some reporter were punished, which give us a warning. Among this group of people, some are working now (full time or part time), some worked before, some did not work at all, and each job has its own characteristic. So they introduced their experience and job features. Indicating curent concerns Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Chun: I am going to give you on Thursday, Zhao: On Thursday? I will start memorizing. Chun: Why do you memorize them? They are useless. Zhao: I want to have a look. Chun: I will copy one set to you. I will bring them to office to copy. Zhao: How about next Monday? In the evening? Chun: Ok, maybe I will go to main library to do my assignments, I will give you. Zhao: Arabian are very stupid, my group members are Arabian, our project got a very low mark. I: Yes? Why dont you change? Dong: You guys should marry the local high class; otherwise you dont have happy life. Generally speaking, Chinese marry Malay is not only because of love, but the good policy from government as well. If you marry high class, you will have more chances. Six of participants were Master students, and the exam was coming, so they worried a lot about the exams. Especially Zhaolei, who is in his first semester, asked something about the exam that interrupted conversation vey often. Section 5: Conclusion and Implications This study primarily concentrates on issues of turn taking and topic shifting in the casual conversation. It demonstrates that conversations are organized by turn taking when more than one persons talk at once in conversation, and the verbal turns are token by shifting the topics in conversation.   The turn taking distributes turns among conversations, especially face-to-face communication, usually individuals have a unique pattern of turn taking that identifies them in the same way a fingerprint does. The current speakers always take their turns by self-selection and select the next speaker by looking at that person, or by asking that person a question. On the contrary, the second speakers acquire their turns by the current speakers indicating the end of a turn or inviting the hearer to take turn. They may address, or talk face to face with the speakers who are going to receive the turn. If the current speaker does not select next speaker, the second speakers self-select and seize the turns to show their agreement, their knowledge, and to indicate their curiosity. Moreover, the second speakers claim their turn after the current speaker speak to the group, not to him/herself. Besides, the current speakers will continue speaking if no other participant selects him or herself as the next speaker. In the conversation, topic shifting marks the meta-knowledge of speakers or hearers shared knowledge. The topics selected are interested for all participants, whose experiences also develop interest. Every participant contributed their special knowledge, ideas, information and interest at hand. They shift the topics with different motivations, sometimes once in a turn, sometimes more that once within a turn. They are all Chinese, even they are from two countries, they speak Mandarin Chinese, and they are all singles, they have many interests in common. They shared their knowledge and interests. And also among this group, people are from different ages, different education backgrounds, and diferent religious backgrouds, some are working now (full time or part time), some worked before, some did not work at all, so they have different living experience, different woking experience, different knowledge. So they indicated their current concerns, exchanged their experience and job feature s. Last but not least, when the pause came, and nothing was important, they just picked up the topic at hand to continue the conversation, such as weight losing or money making. The findings that truly reflect the data and the motivations of the participants, which is a more nature phenomena and the aims of the investigation. They not only provided an understanding of the conversation, but also demonstrated the degree to which the topics were interrelated. They gives some indication of the coherence of the conversation, which can be linked to other data sources in the study, and can provide a pathway from process to outcomes and outputs in the future studies. The finding of this study also would be valuable in giving a clear understanding on the characteristics of the turn taking and topic shiting, especially the topic continuing shift seemed to be a factor in the motivations to improve communication, and inspiring other researchers to make further research on this field