Absurdity And The Stranger Essays - Philosophy, Philosophy Of Life

Absurdity And The Stranger Absurdity is defined as that which is contrary to reason; clearly untrue, unreasonable or ridiculous. It is often a topic in existentialist writings relating to life. This subject is prevalent in Camus' The Stranger and ?The Myth of Sisyphus.? Camus depicts absurdity bringing about happiness or indifference in each of these literary works. In ?The Myth of Sisyphus,? it is made clear that Sisyphus is aware that his existence is absurd. He is sentenced to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a steep mountain only to let it roll back down when it reaches its peak. His tragedy lies in the fact that he is conscious of the extent of his own misery. He is the ultimate absurd; there is no death at the end of his struggle and he knows this. The last sentence in this essay is in itself absurd, after describing the dilemma that Sisyphus eternally faces, Camus exclaims, ?One must imagine Sisyphus happy.? This paradoxical statement is upheld because he does recognize the absurdity of the situation. He is left refusing to hope knowing that there is nothing to hope for, and to live solely with what is known. Sisyphus' redemption is seen in his ongoing struggle against the absurd. In The Stranger, Mersault does not realize his absurd situation until the end of the novel. It is illustrated however in his indifference toward life and lack of emotion throughout. In the beginning of the novel, Mersault is seen as a detached observer of life who is devoted to appreciating sensation. His physical wants and needs such as smoking, sleep and sex overpower his reason and feeling. He has neither a past nor a future; he lives eternally in the present. His indifference is realized almost immediately, after his mother's funeral he exclaims, ?It occurred to me? that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really nothing had changed.? The only guilt he felt was that he didn't feel anything when his mother died. The fact that Mersault's indifference led him outside the ?conventional? moral code, was what brought about his death sentence. He was convicted because he admitted that he felt no sadness over his mother dying, not because he killed a man. The only thing that concerned him was his upcoming execution, he had been apathetic about his stay in prison, it was the same as living in his apartment to him. The few hours before his death is when Mersault begins to ?live.? He realizes the change that is going to take place is permanent and final. There is no room for apathy or indifference. This is when he awakens to absurdity, death is just as meaningless as life. His lack of understanding of change was what had caused his indifference. He realized that everyone is ?privileged? with one unavoidable change in life, death. He never actually ?lives? until change in his life is imminent. Mersault's absurdity achieves happiness as well. He realizes that before he was imprisoned he was happy, he had a good job and a girlfriend and nothing really to complain about. Since he also realizes his absurdity and has a reason for his indifference, he is happy. Once he realizes that life or death will achieve the same thing in his situation, he's not concerned with whether he lives or dies. The idea of life being absurd thoroughly manipulates these works. Camus did not intend to say that those indifferent toward life or those destined to a living hell should be happy, but that everyone should be aware that life is absurd and their struggle against the absurdity brings about atonement. Philosophy Essays

The Most Populated Countries in the World

The Most Populated Countries in the World The world is a populous place (7.6 billion people as of mid-2017) and ever-growing. Even as some regions of the world grow slowly or are even shrinking (the more developed economies), other regions of the world are growing quickly (the least-developed nations). Add in the fact that people live longer due to improvements in medicine and infrastructure (such as sanitation and water treatment), and Earth is expected to see an increase in population for decades to come. Its slower growth than in decades past but still going up. Key Takeaways: World Population Asia has three-quarters of the worlds population.Global population is increasing, though slower than in past decades.Africa will likely be the location of most of the worlds population growth for the rest of the century.The poorest countries are expected to grow the fastest, straining their governments to provide services. Population and Measures of Fertility One measure used to forecast population growth is based on the fertility of a nation or the size of families that people have. Replacement level fertility of a population is considered 2.1 children born to every woman in a country. If a nation has a 2.1 fertility rate, it is not growing at all, just replacing the people that it already has. In highly developed industrial economies, especially those where there are more aged and elderly people than young people, the fertility rate is near the replacement level or below. Part of the reason why developed economies have lower fertility is that women there have more opportunities to contribute to the economy and put off childbearing until later, after higher education and entry into the workforce. Women in developed economies also have fewer pregnancies during their teen years. The world overall fertility rate is 2.5; in the 1960s, it was around double that. In the 25 fastest-growing countries, the fertility rate is 4.7 to 7.2 births per woman, according to World Bank data. Percentage-wise, the world is growing about 1.1% per year or 83 million people. The United Nations projects the world will have 8.6 billion by 2030 and 11.2 billion in 2100, though the growth rate has been slowing for decades. Where Population Is Growing The most populous area of the world is Asia, as its home to three of the top four and half of the top 10 most populated nations (placing Russia in Europe). Sixty percent of the worlds people live in Asia, or about 4.5 billion. More than half of the expected population growth of 2.2 billion people by 2050 will be in Africa (1.3 billion), and Asia will likely be the No. 2 contributor to the world population growth. India is growing more quickly than China (which is projected to be relatively stable until 2030 and then fall slightly thereafter) and likely will take over the No. 1 spot on the list after 2024, when both countries are expected to have 1.44 billion people. Elsewhere on the planet, growth is forecast to be more modest, closer to 1% than 2%. Africas increase in population over the coming decades will be due to high fertility rates there. Nigeria is poised to take over the No. 3 location on the most populous countries list by 2030, as each woman there has 5.5 children in her family. Population growth is expected to be high in the least-developed nations of the world. Of the 47 least-developed countries, 33 are in Africa. The UN expects this large amount of growth in the poorest countries to strain these countries ability to care for the poor, fight hunger, expand education and health care, and provide other basic services. Where Population Is Shrinking   The UNs projections for 2050 show only one region actually decreasing in population, Europe, especially some countries in eastern Europe, where numbers could fall more than 15%. The United States population is projected to fall as well when based on UN fertility projections, but longer life expectancies and immigration keep the population on the rise slightly in forecasts, according to Pew Research. The UN noted in its 2017 report: The ten most populous countries with below replacement fertility are China, the United States of America, Brazil, the Russian Federation, Japan, Viet Nam, Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Thailand, and the United Kingdom (in order of population size).   Most Populous Countries These nations each have a population of more than 55 million and together represent about 75% of the worlds residents. The data are estimates from mid-2017: China: 1,410,000,000India: 1,339,000,000United States: 324,000,000Indonesia: 264,000,000Brazil: 209,000,000Pakistan: 197,000,000Nigeria: 191,000,000Bangladesh: 165,000,000Russia: 144,000,000Mexico: 129,000,000Japan: 127,000,000Ethiopia: 105,000,000Philippines: 105,000,000Egypt: 98,000,000Vietnam: 96,000,000Germany: 82,000,000Democratic  Republic of the Congo: 81,000,000Iran: 81,000,000Turkey: 81,000,000Thailand: 69,000,000United Kingdom: 62,000,000France: 65,000,000Italy: 59,000,000Tanzania: 57,000,000South Africa: 57,000,000 Source United Nations Population Division World Population Prospects

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE DISPUTES SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE UNDER WTO Dissertation

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE DISPUTES SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE UNDER WTO - Dissertation Example Criticism levied at the dispute settlement procedures under the WTO suggests that a need exists for trying to ensure speedy decisions, enhanced transparency, improvements in prospects for implementation and minimisation of costs associated with dispute settlement etc. Developing nations continue to lament about the previously mentioned inadequacies, but WTO Members have not met with much success in the form of a consensus to decide about how best to improve on dispute settlement under the WTO. Critics suggest that it is not possible to fix something that functions reasonably well and gradually all WTO Members have leaned towards presenting a greater trust in dispute settlement under the WTO. This dissertation presents a study to decide about the effectiveness of dispute settlement procedures under the WTO. Declaration I certify that, except where cited in the text, this work is the result of research carried out by the author of this study. ___________________________________________ __ Name and Signature of Author May 2011 This write - up is for a dissertation on Dispute Settlement Procedure for the World Trade Organisation. ... r WTO 24 2.3 Shortcomings of the Rules Based Approach in the Case of Dispute between United States of America and Antigua and Barbuda 27 2.4 WTO Panels and Panel Dynamics in the WTO Panel Review Stage 28 2.5 The WTO Appellate Body 36 2.6 DSB Review 37 2.7 Criticism and Concerns presented by Developing Nations 37 2.8 Retaliation as an Implementation Measure for WTO Rulings 47 2.9 Efforts directed towards improving the DSU and the WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures 49 2.10 Prospects for the Future 50 Chapter 3 Methodology 52 Chapter 4 Findings that Emerge from Research and Case Studies 58 4.1 The Sardines Case 66 4.2 The EC-Hormones Case 70 Chapter 5 Conclusions, Recommendations and Suggestions for Further Work 77 5.1 Limitations 65 5.2 Further Work 79 Bibliography/ References 81 List of Figures Figure 1: The WTO Dispute Settlement Process 8 (This page intentionally left blank) Chapter 1 – Introduction The Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), officially known as the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), is the procedure for settling trade disputes between member states that join the WTO. 1 The DSM, hailed as a victory of law over politics at the time of its introduction on January 1, 1995, has nevertheless received its share of criticism and critics cite a need for enhancing third party rights, the introduction of an interim review stage, with less developed nations calling for less expensive dispute settlement that offers them fair protection. 2 The more controversial set of proposals presented for enhancing the DSU include proposals to enhance the judicial nature of the WTO dispute settlement by creating a permanent Panel body and proposals for enhancing member control over dispute settlement procedures. 3 In addition, proposals