The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains

The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains Maxine Hong Kingston’s work has long fascinated critics for its investigation of speech, language and storytelling as a means of unlocking some of the deepest secrets of the Chinese culture, a culture that observes very clear behavioral distinctions between genders.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Kingston belongs to a culture wherein women â€Å"use story as a means to understanding and survival,† whereas for the most part the men of the Chinese culture â€Å"tend toward silence† (Pinkser n.p.). In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains, from her non-fiction work China Men, the author explores the theme of enforced silence and its consequences in numerous facets. The story details not only what happens from the standpoint of political oppression, but also how the theme of enforced silence plays itself out in families, often in an intergenerational manner. Critic Sanford Pinsker understands that the enforced silence, especially that which is staunchly observed among Chinese men, â€Å"forces Kingston to invent multiple versions of what may have happened in her fathers past† (Pinkser n.p.). The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains exists as an epic family history, and follows the world travels of a number of generations of Chinese men. Kingston recounts the journeys of her â€Å"family of male sojourners across America and away from womenfolk and children in China. This dispersed arrangement of family members was the predominant form the traditional Chinese extended patrilineal family system took during the peak years of emigration† (Pinkser n.p.). Although these generations of men traveled the world and witnessed many wonders, their culture of enforced silence bid them not to share most if not all of the details of their exper iences. In Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains therefore, we see the impact of this silence as family members attempt to make sense of their heritage with only anecdotal and speculative information available to them, often delivered from third and fourth hand sources, not from the grandfathers themselves.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of the reader’s first experiences of the theme of enforced silence occurs when Kingston discusses the third wife of her maternal grandfather (Kingston 85). The woman in question is not given a name, nor does Kingston reveal the grandmother’s origin, explaining only that â€Å"my maternal grandfather had brought a third wife back from his third trip West, Bali or Hawaii or South America or Africa† (Kingston 85). The impact of the silence – in this case, the suppression of detail about this element of the family – reveals itself in the fate of the grandmother. Kingston claims that â€Å"I am glad to see the black grandmother ended up with a son and grandson who are articulate. When she came to China she â€Å"jabbered like a monkey,† but no one answered her. Who knows what she was saying anyway? She fell mute† (Kingston 85). In this passage from the text we glimpse the consequence of enforced silence on the grandmother – her family essentially ignores her, until she stops attempting to communicate with anyone at all (Kingston 85). In this example, though Kingston does not overtly state it, the enforced silence destroyed a member of her family (Kingston 85). The above example also brings up the idea of enforced silence in the area of interracial marriages. Despite the fact that interracial marriages clearly happened between the grandfathers who traveled the world and the women of other races and cultures that they met a nd fell in love and married there, all details of these unions are kept silent and buried in the culture, and even within the families where they occur, as evidenced by the lack of information that Kingston seems to know about this relative. Critic Linda Ching Sledge has spoken of the issue of interracial marriages and its treatment in Kingston’s work and in the Chinese culture at large. In Sledge’s words, Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains draws an accurate portrait of â€Å"the thorny issue of miscegenation† in the Chinese culture (Sledge 19). According to Sledge, â€Å"it is well known that intermarriage was strictly forbidden to Chinese by Confucian teachings, for it went against the classical notion established in the Li Chi that marriage was a religious duty between consenting families to secure the services in the ancestral temple for the predecessors and to secure the continuance of the family line for posterity.† (Sledge 19). The enforced silence in regards to the black grandmother in this case has deep cultural roots in the ancient teachings of Chinese philosophy, economic practices and social customs, although the appearance of the black grandmother herself speaks volumes about the â€Å"long ignored problems of sojourner history- loneliness, homesickness, sexual frustration- without cultural bias† (Sledge 19). Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the fact that silence was culturally bred, clearly once the sojourners left China, their natural desires trumped their cultural taboos. In Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains, we see the impact of enforced silence in the way that the black grandmother is treated, but not in the action of the grandfather himself, who took her as his wife. In Sledge†™s opinion, the reader comes â€Å"to understand and accept the emotional needs motivating these men to enter relationships which violated so profoundly cherished family and religious attitudes because we view such relationships from a sojourners (Bak Sook Goong) own point of view† (Sledge 19). We also see the practice of enforced silence applied in the political arena in Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains. In this case the enforced silence relates to keeping quiet and not drawing attention to oneself and one’s family, for fear of rousing the interest and ire of the Communist party. Interestingly, this fear transcends physical borders in The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains, and the family remains cognizant of the long arm of the Communist Party – real or perceived – even though they live in the United States. We find an example of this in the text wherein Kingston discusses the enforced silence as an obsta cle to her trip to China. â€Å"I’d like to go to China if I can get a visa and – more difficult – permission from my family, who are afraid that applying for a visa would call attention to us: the relatives in China would get in trouble for having American capitalist connections, and we Americans would be put in relocation camps during the next witch hunt for Communists† (Kingston 87). In Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains, the author also illustrates a contrasting perspective on enforced silence, one that provides an important insight as to how the Chinese sojourners were able to move beyond the constrictive silence of their culture, travel the world and enjoy a fuller experience of life. Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains attributes this phenomenon to the influence of nature. In her mind, certain parts of China transcend the enforced silence of their culture through the example provide d by the natural world – nature itself is dynamic, ever changing, and certainly rarely silent. Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the following example, the reader witnesses the impact of enforced silence slowly eroded by the natural curiosity displayed by the ocean. â€Å"†Ocean people are different from land people. The ocean never stops saying and asking into ears, which don’t sleep like eyes. Those who live by the sea examine the driftwood and glass balls that float from foreign ships†¦Sometimes ocean people are given to understand the newness and oldness of the world; then all morning they try to keep that boundless joy like a little sun inside their chests. The ocean also makes its people know immensity. They wonder what continents contain the ocean on its other side, what people live there† (Kingston 90). Here Kingston’s The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains gives the reader a glimpse of how the enforced silence of the Chinese men can be broken – through curiosity, through an understanding that there exists a large world out there, one that offers different experiences, different people, and one that perhaps does not suppress verbal expression to the same extent that the Chinese culture does. In this passage Kingston offers the reader one of the main clues as to how the Chinese men who grew up in a system of enforced silence were able to move beyond it and expand their horizons to the wider world. Kingston, Maxine Hong. â€Å"The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains.† China Men. New York: Random House, 1977. Print. Pinsker, Sanford. Maxine Hong Kingston: Overview. Contemporary Novelists. Susan Windisch Brown. 6th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Web. Sledge, Linda Ching. Maxine Kingstons China Men: The Family Historian as Epic Poet. MELUS 7.4 (Winter 1980): 3-22. Web.

Chaucer And The Canterbury Tales English Literature Essay

Chaucer And The Canterbury Tales English Literature Essay In reading Geoffrey Chaucer’s most dramatic gallery of portraits in The General Prologue of his most renowned work, The Canterbury Tales, one understands why he is deemed the Father of the English Literary Canon. Chaucer, unlike no one of his time, set out to tell fresh and amusing tales simply to entertain fourteenth century England. The Canterbury Tales tells the tale of twenty-nine pilgrims who meet by chance at the Tabard Inn in Southwark right outside of London. These diverse, yet colorful pilgrims are on their way to visit the shrine of the martyr St. Thomas Becket at the Canterbury cathedral. At the urging of the innkeeper, then turned host they each agree to tell two tales each, one going to Canterbury and one returning. The Canterbury Tales is arranged like a framework, and are meant to the reveal the life of fourteenth century England through the embellished, but classic characters as well as glimpse into Chaucer’s own personal history. Chaucer was born in 13 40 a son of a wealthy London merchant. Like most well to do young boys, he became a page in a noble household. In Chaucer’s case, he became page to the Countess of Ulster, daughter-in-law of King Edward III. This is where Chaucer would have been educated in the values of the aristocratic culture of the time, including its literary tastes which were probably based on French models. While participating in the king’s military expedition against the French, he was captured and ransomed by the king. He became a squire in the king’s household, which required him to take diplomatic voyages abroad. These journeys brought him to Italy. Italy would have a strong influence on his later literary work as he was strongly influenced by Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. He became Controller of the Customs of Hides, Skins and Wools in the port of London, which meant that he was a government official who worked with cloth importers. Chaucer’s experience overseeing imported c loths might be why he could describe his characters so precisely and vividly. After his return to London, he held numerous positions in government, including being a member of Parliament. So, we can see through looking at Chaucer’s history that he gained inspiration for his characters in The Canterbury Tales through his life and work experiences. Chaucer’s intense realism of his characters was virtually unknown to readers in the fourteenth century. He was able to bring people from many walks of life together in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales. The pilgrims represent a diverse cross section of fourteenth century English society, a portrait of the nation as a whole. Medieval social theory divided society into three broad classes, called â€Å"estates.† There was the military estate who ruled the clergy, who prayed, and the laity estate who worked. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is an estate satire, which means that it was a critical commentary on the members of each estate. The Knight and Squire represent the military estate. The clergy estate is represented by the Prioress, her Secretary Nun, Priest, the Monk, the Friar, and the Parson. The other characters, such as the Merchant and Skipper are members of the laity. Chaucer’s descriptions of the various characters and their social roles reveal the influence of the medieval genre of estates satire.

Critical Thinking English- A New Earth Chapters One to Ten Essay

Critical Thinking English- A New Earth Chapters One to Ten - Essay Example These emotions are therefore borne out of our reaction to things, and thus, these emotions can be evil. Nevertheless, from Tolle’s book and from this class, one learns that nonreaction is the more spiritual way and that it can be learned only through the view that change is inevitable. From Chapter 3, I particularly like: â€Å"Nonreaction is not weakness but strength. Another word for nonreaction is forgiveness. To forgive is to overlook, or rather to look through†¦the ego to the sanity that is in every human being as his or her essence† (Tolle 41). Oftentimes, when I react to my boyfriend’s comments or to how he behaves, I would normally react with tantrums. However, after that, I somehow realize that I have acted in a stupid way or that something was not right and that no matter how valid the emotion was, it did not seem to be helping the relationship. Afterwards, I would also feel selfish and thus apologize to my boyfriend for my reaction no matter how m uch I did not want to apologize. Before I became a part of this class and before I read Tolle, I thought long and hard about how to appropriately react to the many different hurts that I expect I would get from my boyfriend or from the relationship itself. Little did I know that the flaw was not in the method of reacting to the hurt or to the situation but it is in the whole concept of reaction itself. I believe people, especially I, would normally react to situations because they do not understand the spiritual principle about nonreaction. True strength, according to Tolle, is not reaction but nonreaction. Moreover, nonreaction happens in us when we see only the ego of another person and not his essence. When we begin to see the essence, we forgive almost automatically and we lose the natural tendency to react. In my case, I particularly like the quote from Tolle not because I follow it but because this is something I still have to go through. Ever since we were young, we were alwa ys told to react, and everything that we have learned is based on the idea of human emotion – that certain things can trigger specific emotions in a human being. Somehow, this concept indirectly also teaches us that we are at the mercy of our emotions, and that we cannot do anything except react. Our society has also taught us to react to political matters as well as anything else that happens in the world of fashion, in the news, and even in science and technology, where our emotions do not actually matter or where our emotions would somehow make us feel justified, recognized and vindicated. Our religions have also taught us the same feeling of being vindicated when we have proven others wrong and ourselves morally right and upright. This is true in my case. I feel the vindication whenever I shout at my boyfriend after he does something I did not particularly like. It is the time that I feel I am right, and I feel I am superior and lofty, and most of all – right. Neve rtheless, as long as we rely on our emotions to vindicate us, we will forever react to things around us and we will forever be subject to sorrow and suffering. The key therefore is change. If we are to experience strength from nonreaction, then we have to free ourselves from our emotions, and therefore we have to change. From Chapter 8, the line that appeals to me is: â€Å"Once you see and accept the transience of all things and the inevitability of change, you can enjoy the

Liability of Employers and Occupiers Case Study

Liability of Employers and Occupiers - Case Study Example To see how the law of tort applies and operates, this essay takes up three test cases brought against Sports Ltd., which owns and operates a sports and physical fitness complex. All three cases suggest that Sports Ltd. caused them harm by violating the tort of negligence, the biggest category of tort because it endangers many besides the chance victim and is considered both a public and private wrong. At first glance, Sports Ltd. may be guilty of negligence because management knew that its central heating system in the boiler room that scalded Sally in a bad way was defective and potentially dangerous but the establishment did nothing about it except warn its employees about the risk. This is the essence of the Occupier's Liability Act (OLA) in UK, a statutory tort that applies to health and safety regulations across the workplace (Honore, 1995). OLA provides that "any person such as a shop owner who admits people into his premises owes a minimum duty of care to protect these people's safety (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2003)." A closer look at this particular case, however, will show that Sally shares the blame for the accident that happened to her. The college girl gained entry to the sports complex through the backdoor, which leads into the boiler room, to avoid paying for a ticket at the regular entrance. In Yuen Kun Yeu v Attorney General of Hong Kong (1988), Rowling v Takaro Properties Ltd. (1985), and Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (1989), liability for the tort of negligence can only occur when the supposed damage can be reasonably foreseen. In other words, the defendant failed to do what a reasonable person would do in the situation presented (Green, 1960). On the scalding sustained by Sally, Sports Ltd. can defend itself against a tort claim by pointing out that its management could not have foreseen such an accident to happen to any guest. The establishment can invoke the principles of volenti non fit injuria (a willing victim cannot claim for damage), contributory negligence, and ex turpi cause non oritur (no right of action arises from a despicable cause), the three standard defenses against a tort claim (Fletcher, 1972). From the evidence, Sally is culpable on all three counts because she consented to the risk of damage by using an entrance that is off-limits to th e public, which action amounts to contributory negligence and "despicable" cause. The action is despicable in the sense that it is wrong and deprives Sports Ltd. of revenue generated from ticket sales. Case 2 - Ashraf In the case of Ashraf, Sports Ltd. can use the same line of defense. Like Sally, Ashraf virtually consented to the risk of damage to his person by insisting on using the corridor on his way to the gym notwithstanding a sign put up by the cleaning woman Maria that says: "Cleaning in Progress: Use Alternative Route." Ashraf as an exclusive member of the exercise club knew a side entrance that could be used as alternative route but he was in a hurry so he risked the corridor and was thus culpable of contributory negligence. The tort law, according to Hocking & Smith (1996), is all about dissecting all possibilities in a case to

The Cause Essay -- essays papers

The Cause Violent crimes occur for many different reasons. Students who rampaged through the high schools throughout the United States have all said to have one thing in common; their peers did not respect the attackers. These students say they have felt bullied, or not belonging or not fitting in to what the â€Å"popular† standards are. So why resort to anger? Many said it feels it gives them the respect that they were deprived of and what they felt they deserved. These students make national and world news headlines, and they feel they have power and control when resorting to violence. Other reasons include drugs and gangs, which are at the top of the list followed by disagreements. CAUSES OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE Types of Gun Violence. Intentional shooting 65% Accident 13% Hostage taking 8% Suicide 8% Undetermined 6% (Reynolds, 1993) Percentages of Gun-Related Incidents on School Property Drugs/Gangs 18% Long-standing Disagreements 15% Playing With or Cleaning Guns 13% Romantic Disagreements 12% Fights Over Material Possessions 10% Depression 9% Vendetta Against Society 6% Racial Incident 5% Name Calling 4% Vendetta Against School Employee 4% Undetermined 4% (Reynolds, 1993) Beyond all others, intentional shootings are at the top of the list for motives of violence in schools. Students deliberately go into schools with a weapon with the intent to use the weapon. The number one reason for this is drugs and gangs followed by long-standing disagreements. These disagreements include the students who were belittled by their peers in school. Most of the accidental shootings include elementary aged students bringing a ... .... 40. Vernberg, E. & Twemlow, S. (2000). Profiling violent youth: comments & observations. Children’s services, (3), p. 171+. Retrieved October 4, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. (Sept/Oct 2001). Alternative perspectives on school violence. Humanist, (6), p. 36+. Retrieved October 4, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. (1999) School protective services. Retrieved November 7, 2001, from http://www.schoolprotectiveservices.com (2001, May 30) School safety lessons learned: urban districts report progress. Sept 12, 2001, from http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=38security.h20 (2000). Violence. World Book Encyclopedia. (Vol. 25). Chicago, World Book, Inc. Walsh, M. (2001, May 23) Court distinguishes between threats, free speech. Retrieved Sept. 12, 2001, from http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=37speech.h20 The Cause Essay -- essays papers The Cause Violent crimes occur for many different reasons. Students who rampaged through the high schools throughout the United States have all said to have one thing in common; their peers did not respect the attackers. These students say they have felt bullied, or not belonging or not fitting in to what the â€Å"popular† standards are. So why resort to anger? Many said it feels it gives them the respect that they were deprived of and what they felt they deserved. These students make national and world news headlines, and they feel they have power and control when resorting to violence. Other reasons include drugs and gangs, which are at the top of the list followed by disagreements. CAUSES OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE Types of Gun Violence. Intentional shooting 65% Accident 13% Hostage taking 8% Suicide 8% Undetermined 6% (Reynolds, 1993) Percentages of Gun-Related Incidents on School Property Drugs/Gangs 18% Long-standing Disagreements 15% Playing With or Cleaning Guns 13% Romantic Disagreements 12% Fights Over Material Possessions 10% Depression 9% Vendetta Against Society 6% Racial Incident 5% Name Calling 4% Vendetta Against School Employee 4% Undetermined 4% (Reynolds, 1993) Beyond all others, intentional shootings are at the top of the list for motives of violence in schools. Students deliberately go into schools with a weapon with the intent to use the weapon. The number one reason for this is drugs and gangs followed by long-standing disagreements. These disagreements include the students who were belittled by their peers in school. Most of the accidental shootings include elementary aged students bringing a ... .... 40. Vernberg, E. & Twemlow, S. (2000). Profiling violent youth: comments & observations. Children’s services, (3), p. 171+. Retrieved October 4, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. (Sept/Oct 2001). Alternative perspectives on school violence. Humanist, (6), p. 36+. Retrieved October 4, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. (1999) School protective services. Retrieved November 7, 2001, from http://www.schoolprotectiveservices.com (2001, May 30) School safety lessons learned: urban districts report progress. Sept 12, 2001, from http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=38security.h20 (2000). Violence. World Book Encyclopedia. (Vol. 25). Chicago, World Book, Inc. Walsh, M. (2001, May 23) Court distinguishes between threats, free speech. Retrieved Sept. 12, 2001, from http://www.edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=37speech.h20

Piaget Theory of Children Cognitive Development Essay

Much of the research since the late 1950s on the development of role taking and moral judgments has its roots in the research conducted by Piaget in the 1920s. One thrust of Piaget’s theorizing in his earliest writings dealt with the proposition that children progress from an egocentric to a perspectivistic state. He proposed that children younger than 6 or 7 years of age do not clearly differentiate between self and others or between thoughts (the psychological) and external events. A consequence of the failure to differentiate the self from others is that the child is unable to take the perspective of another person. For instance, in communicating with others the child is unable to take into account the requirements of the listener. A consequence of the failure to differentiate thoughts from external events is that the child attributes an objective reality to internal mental events such as dreams. A major developmental transition was posited to occur when the child shifts from an egocentric state to one in which the self is differentiated from others and there is the ability to take another’s perspective. (Angela M. O’Donnell, Alison King, 1999) However, the most extensive research in a social domain undertaken by Piaget during this early period dealt with children’s moral judgments. Those were also the only studies on moral development to be done by Piaget. Three specific aspects of Piaget’s moral development theory had a substantial influence on later research. One was the characterization of moral development as a process of differentiating moral from nonmoral judgments. The second was the proposed interrelations between â€Å"general† cognitive orientations and moral judgments. And the third was the proposed relations between changes in perspective-taking abilities and changes in moral judgments. (Jacques Montangero, Danielle Maurice-Naville, Angela Cornu-Wells, 1997). Piaget proposed that children progress through two moral judgment levels (following an early premoral phase), the first being labeled heteronomous (generally corresponding to ages 3 to 8 years) and the second labeled autonomous. In the heteronomous level, the child has unilateral respect for adults (regarded as authority) and morality is, therefore, based on conformity. The right or good is seen by the child as adherence to externally determined and fixed rules and commands. The young child’s morality of conformity and unilateral respect becomes transformed into a morality of cooperation and mutual respect. The basis for the autonomous level is the emergence of concepts of reciprocity and equality. At this level, rules are viewed as products of mutual agreement, serving the aims of cooperation, and thus are regarded as changeable. (Gwen Bredendieck Fischer, 1999). In formulating the levels of heteronomy and autonomy, Piaget studied children’s judgments about several specific issues, including rules, punishment, intentionality, lying, stealing, and distributive justice. A brief description of the levels can be provided by considering some of the studies of children’s thinking about rules and about intentionality in situations involving property damage, deceit, and theft. The definitions of the moral levels were derived, in part, from the way Piaget had framed children’s general cognitive capacities. Two presumed characteristics regarding the increasing differentiations that occur with development were relevant. One proposed characteristic was the child’s egocentricism, the failure to clearly distinguish the self’s perspective from that of others. A second relevant feature was the young child’s failure to differentiate the physical world from social and mental phenomena; young children confuse the subjective and objective aspects of their experience. (Richard I. Evans, Eleanor Duckworth, 1973) According to Piaget, one concrete manifestation of young children’s inability to differentiate perspectives and to differentiate the physical from the social is their attitudes toward social rules. It was proposed that children at the heteronomous level view all social rules as absolute. The inability to take the perspective of others leads the child to assume that everyone adheres to the same rules. There is a failure to comprehend the possibility that rules may be relative to the social context or to an individual’s perspective. In turn, there is an inability to clearly distinguish physical from social phenomena that leads to a confusion of social regularities with physical regularities, such that social rules are seen as fixed in much the same way as are physical regularities. For instance, Piaget maintained that children regard rules of games as unchangeable; they believe it would be wrong to modify the rules of a game even if they were changed by general consensus. (Harry Morgan, 1997) Another manifestation of the young child’s cognitive confusions is that judgments of right and wrong are based on the material consequences of actions, rather than the actor’s intentions or motives. Piaget examined the relative importance that children attribute to intentions and consequences in situations involving material damage, lying, and stealing. Younger children, it was found, attribute greater importance, in judging culpability, to amount of damage (e. g. , breaking the 15 cups accidentally is worse than breaking one cup intentionally), whereas older children attribute more importance to the intentions of the actor. Similarly, younger children assess the wrongness of lying or stealing, not by the motives of the actor, but by their quantitative deviation from the truth or the amount stolen. In judgments about theft, for instance, children judging by consequences would say that stealing a larger amount to give to a very poor friend is worse than stealing a lesser amount for oneself. (R. Clarke Fowler, 1998). In contrast with the heteronomous level, at the autonomous level respect is no longer unilateral, rules are not viewed as absolute or fixed, and judgments are based on intentions. Piaget proposed that these changes are stimulated by the increasing interactions with peers (such as in school) and the decreasing orientation to relations with adult authority that usually occurs during late childhood. Relations with authorities (parents, teachers, etc. ), he maintained, are likely to lead to conformity and an attitude of unilateral respect on the part of the young child. That is, the child feels that the authorities are superior and that their dictates are right by virtue of their superior status. In order for the shift from a heteronomous to an autonomous orientation to occur the child must more clearly differentiate the self from others and, thereby, be able to take the perspective of others. Relations with adult authorities who impose external rules upon the child are likely to reinforce a heteronomous orientation, whereas relations with peers are more likely to stimulate attempts to take the perspectives of others. Therefore, through increasing interactions with those he or she can relate to on an equal footing, the child is stimulated to view his or her own perspective as one among many different perspectives. In the process, mutual respect replaces unilateral respect for authority and the bases of a sense of justice — reciprocity, equality, and cooperation — emerge. Rules are then regarded as social constructions, based on agreement, that serve functions shared by the participants of social interactions. The increasing awareness of others’ perspectives and subjective intentions leads to judgments that are based on intentionality rather than consequences. (John H. Flavell, 1963) In addition to the connections to general cognitive capacities, Piaget’s characterization of moral judgments was a global one in that development was defined as entailing a progressive differentiation of principles of justice (ought) from the habitual, customary, and conventional (is). In essence, the claim was that concepts of justice do not emerge until the autonomous stage. Thus, the heteronomous morality of constraint and unilateral respect is a morality of custom, convention and tradition, while autonomous morality of mutual respect and cooperation prevails over custom and convention. Prior to the development of concepts of justice, therefore, the child must progress through the â€Å"simpler,† conformity-based conventional orientation. In sum, Piaget proposed a model of development as the differentiation of domains of knowledge. Only at more advanced stages are moral judgments and knowledge of the social order (or even morality and physical law) distinguished. It is precisely on this basis that Piaget thought it was methodologically valid to examine children’s concepts of rules of marble games as a means to understanding their moral reasoning. (Christopher M. Kribs-Zaleta, D’Lynn Badshaw, 2003) Piaget’s professional career has been devoted to exploring the possibilities of a psychological theory of relativity. In this approach neither the subject, who knows, nor the object, which is known, have absolute status. Each is conditioned on the other within a continually changing framework. Change occurs through interchanges of actions and reactions. Actions of the subject are like probes equivalent to statements by which the subject says: â€Å"I think you, the object, are such and such. † When acted upon, objects act back, revealing who and what they are. Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Sharon J. Derry, 1998) Piaget’s contribution to the study of knowledge has been to escape the philosophic traps of subjectivity and objectivity. The former makes knowledge a self satisfying concoction where, for the sake of consistency, the subject creates concepts of objects and reality. This position tends toward error through failure to come to grips with the facts of reality. It puts the subject in control of deciding what reality is and, in the extreme, allows distortion for the sake of maintaining the subject’s version of how things ought to be. Objectivity errs at the other end and, in its extreme, denies self-initiated definition, making the subject only a valid recorder of reality. Distortion can occur either through exposure to odd circumstances or through breakdowns in the subject’s recording devices. The position of relativity seeks solution to both problems. Its clearest expression is found when both subject and object are given defining powers in their interactions. There is double agency, with the object telling what it is just as forcibly as the subject reveals itself through its actions. (Hans G. Furth, 1987) With interactions as the basic reality, the context of knowledge is dynamic. It is also the means to knowledge insofar as subject and object are able to extract orderly relations from their interactions. These relations among actions and reactions color definitions of both agents. They are the medium for knowing and provide the terms by which subject and object attain their forms. This is why, for example, Piaget argues that space, number, and the like, remain open to redefinition throughout development. Numbers are not things to be grasped but are products from relations abstracted from subject-object interactions. True relations become expressed through numbering operations, which coordinate actions of the subject as well as reactions of objects. It appears that Piaget’s approach is unique among contemporary psychological theories by its treatment of relations as the topic of knowledge. Relations are primary, with subject and object being their products. For other theorists, these terms are reversed; subject and object are posited and relations come secondarily. In Piaget’s scheme, neither subject nor object ever gets to know one another with certainty. Together they can work only toward relations that are reliable. Validity is always a relative matter, depending on current relations, which remain open to further redefinition. (Arthur J. Baroody, Alexis Benson, 2001) This point no doubt has stymied most attempts to bring Piaget’s work into the mainstream of psychological theories. It is like the essential key without which notes may sound similar but actually render a different song. The stumbling block is evident, for example, in the many ways phenomena originally generated by Piaget’s position have undergone alteration when considered from the view of more familiar theories. Conservation provides the most telling illustration. Few, if any, of these alternative explanations deal with or care to deal with the phenomenon as a conservation of a subject-object relation. The more common explanation states that number or amount is conceived as constant through physical changes in the object. Within Piaget’s framework, the physical changes are said to remain constant; they are understood as but two versions of a single relation. The relation is between number- or amount-making actions, with their products made ostensible in the reactions of cubes, chips, or clay. Leslie Smith, Julie Dockrell, Peter Tomlinson, 1997) There is a tendency among contemporary theorists to credit Piaget with having shown that children are cognitively active and control rather than being controlled by external objects or other persons. This emphasis has clouded the fact that objects and persons are not benign, simply waiting for children to transform them into this or that concep tion. In order to put relations in clear relief, it is helpful to give these things their proper due in knowledge. It helps even to anthropomorphize their role. Objects are as active as children. They move, change shape, enlarge in size, fall off tables, roll, and otherwise respond when they are contacted. Each reaction is reciprocal to something children do. In the case of conservation, to use an example often cited by Piaget, the child who plays with pebbles in his or her back yard may come to understand number making operations because the stones react as they do to his or her manipulations. That which remains constant in making a row, then a circle, then a tower, and next two columns is only the relation among these actions from the child and the several reactions of the pebbles. (Leonora M. Cohen, Younghee M. Kim, 1999). It is now possible to outline the meaning of relations in the social domain where knowledge is based on interactions between the child and other persons. The following sketch highlights the general points of the theory. (a) Children enter the world as actors, seeking order and regularity. This search describes their inherent motivation for knowledge. b) Children look for order first in their own actions by attempting to find that which is repeatable and reliable in execution of actions. (c) Insofar as actions make contact with other things, or persons, effects of actions are not solely under the control of the child. These things react in reciprocity to the actions exerted upon them and together the action and reaction produce effects that differ from those that would result from either alone. (d) This fact of double agency naturally widens children’s focus from action to interaction. Because other agents act in reciprocity to children’s actions, children are forced to seek explanations for change and order in the interplay between actors. The foregoing points can be summarized as follows. Suppose the child intends that an action have a particular outcome or effect. The child then executes the act in accordance with this intention. Suppose also that the act engages another person who adds to the original act with a reaction. The coupling of these actions may have an effect that is different from the child’s intention or anticipation in performing the original act. It would be futile to seek order either in the child’s or the other person’s parts, alone. This is why for Piaget, the child is led to seek a solution in the coupling and arrives at the conclusion that the actions of persons are reciprocally related. This is also why Piaget contends that naive egocentrism ends most probably during the child’s first year. To maintain an egocentric posture, a child would have to deny the facts of reciprocity made evident through the thousands of interactions experienced in everyday dealings with other persons. Joy A. Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper, 2001) (e) Thereafter, the child’s search for order turns to identifying the forms of reciprocal relations that occur in interpersonal interactions. (f) Piaget suggests that there are two such forms. One is a direct and symmetrical reciprocity where one’s action is free to match or counter the other’s action. The second is a reciprocity of complement where one’s action must conform to the dictates set down by the other’s action. g) These two forms describe the basic relations in which people order themselves as actors with respect to other persons, who are also actors. They provide the epistemic unit from which self and other achieve definition. (h) For Piaget, development proceeds as these relations are structured and restructured. They give rise to social and moral conceptions that pertain to the self, other persons, possible relations among persons, and principles of societal functioning, both practical as well as ideal. (Gavin Nobes, Chris Pawson, 2003)

The Wildlife of Zion National Park