Animal Rights :: Essays Papers

Animal Rights As Doctor Zola-Morgan stated in a speech to animal right activists, "I've seen the impact of the animal rights movement. I believe this is an attack on science of the worst kind. If we allow it to prevail it will take us back to the dark ages." Too much of the public has come to think of medical researchers as "tormenters rather than healers." The good is overlooked and the bad is exploited. Although many people think that animal research is morally wrong, animal research should continue because it is critical to continued progress in human health and alternatives to research animals are not available. Animal rights activists feel that animal research is immoral. They do not see where we as human beings see or feel that we are the dominant species. They often assert that research with animals causes severe pain and that many research animals are abused. The activists do not feel the need to put the animals through such pain. Many of the experiments are replicated also which causes an unneeded demand for animals to perform experiments. Experiments which have already been proven are still being experimented with. However, animal research is an integral part of today's society when thinking of how much progress we have gained in human health with the use of animal experimentation. To date some forty-one Nobel prizes have been awarded to scientists whose achievements depended on laboratory animals. Vaccines against polio, diphtheria, mumps, measles, rubella, and smallpox would not have been possible without such experiments. There also would not be such important techniques such as open heart surgery, brain surgery, coronary bypass, microsurgery to re-attached limbs, organ transplants, and correction of congenital heart defects. The list goes on about the medical advances that required animal research. Insulin to control diabetes and medications important in the management of asthma, epilepsy, arthritis, ulcers, and hypertensions are a few more to add to the list. To take animal research away would also be to halt our society's advancement of more procedures and more medicines to enhance the better living of humans. In addition, there are no alternatives to animal experimentation that can give the same results that it can. In certain research investigations, cell, tissue, organ cultures, and computer models can be used at least in the preliminary phases of the investigation.

Contemporary Art Movement Discussion

Art movements possess varying definitions that are given by art critics, historians and even artists. They emerge from Classical period and then followed by escapes or transitions from the traditions or a mixture of two movements that eventually give birth to another movement of a period. Contemporary art which is personally defined as â€Å"art of the present,† encompasses a number of artistic movements; one of which is performance art, a contemporary art movement that focuses on the acts of the artists who utilize their body to demonstrate a certain work or piece of art.Art pieces that are created during the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries belong in the realm of contemporary art. These are the objects of outgrowth and rejection of modern art. When abstract expressionism’s power and drive shrinks, nouveau art movements and styles arise during 1960s and 1970s to summon and to displace the modernism in visual arts and other media (Contemporary Art, 2008). The d efinition of the term â€Å"contemporary art† varies from art critics to art historians because confusion lies amid the two concepts: â€Å"modern† and â€Å"contemporary,† due to the reason that contemporary art follows modern art.Therefore, no one seems to agree with regards to the exact meaning of the term because there has been no particular agreement on when â€Å"modern art† has ended (What is Contemporary Art? 2008). However, other descriptions regard it as a term that generally refers to the art crafted on the second half of the twentieth century (Harry Carlton School, 2009). On the other hand, three simple definitions cover the concept â€Å"contemporary art. † And these include the following characterization: First, contemporary art is the art created after 1945.It is the meaning that is adhered by most museums; on the contrary, historians affirm it as outdated. Second, contemporary art is art produced in our era or lifetimes. It is the d efinition used by general art historians; however, it is too vague for the functions and purposes. Third, contemporary art is art produced since the 1960s. It is the description that is commonly utilized by art historians and critics but disagreement materializes as to the accurate cut-off date (What is Contemporary Art? 2008). Contemporary art is comprised by a myriad of schools, styles and movements that come to the front during the mid-1960s until present.These are conceptualism, performance, installation, video art, minimalism, photo-realism, earthworks, supports-surfaces, contemporary realism, new subjectivity, London School, graffiti art, transavanguardia, neo-expressionism, Britart: young British artists, neo-pop, stuckism and new Leipzig School (What is Contemporary Art? 2008). Performance Art The concept â€Å"performance art† has commenced in the year 1960s in the United States. It is originally utilized to define and describe any live artistic incident that include s poets, musicians, artists and filmmakers.It is also referred as â€Å"Happenings,† â€Å"Events,† and â€Å"Fluxus concerts† (Esaak, 2009). The history of Performance art can be traced back to the Futurists and Dadaists who often promote their arts during the year 1910 with hilarious and shocking events. However, it is during the year 1950s when a French artist known as Yves Klein includes dragging naked women with whom he spreads and smears with paint across canvas on the floor of an art gallery. It is an accompaniment to one of his minimalist musical compositions. It is not until 1960s when performance art is acknowledged and recognized as a branch or art.Nevertheless, the term â€Å"performance art† is first used in 1970 (Performance Art, 2009). Performance art is a form of art that is concerned and focused with direct audience communication by the artists that can last from a few minutes to several days. There are cases when it is considered as a fo rm of getting out to the institutional dominance of commercial galleries and aesthetic priorities of Modernism (Pookie and Newall, 2007, p. 225). It is the category when artists break away with utilizing only one traditional medium.Performance artists, most of the time, are exploring and seeking several artistic disciplines and creating works of art that may traverse traditional media borders such as works that comprise the aspects of theater, music and visual arts. There are also artists who are enthused in incorporating in their performance activities of everyday life and presenting it in an artistic manner (Byrd, 1998). Women in Performance Art During the advent of Performance Art, women have found their place and fame in the art world. Some of the women through the period have been known in the said branch of art.Among them are Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk and Linda Montano. Laurie Anderson is probably the most renowned performance artist. It is in 1970 when she emerges. Her w orks explore and illustrate the relationship between people and technology. Her masterpieces are usually comprised of spoken text, music, projected slides and videos. She has been known for employing an array of synthesizers to create sonic soundscape and a vocoder to change the sound of her voice when telling stories of her life in the late 20th century wherein laptops and ghosts exist side by side (Byrd, 1998).On the other hand, Meredith Monk is another artist who crafts interdisciplinary theater pieces. She is a composer who deals with inventive and pioneering vocal techniques. Her works are mixtures of free elements and images that are not related to one another. However, it is the combination of those unrelated elements that make her works unique (Byrd, 1998). Linda Montano, on the contrary, is the artist who explores the nexus between art and life. Rituals for her can change one’s perception of life.During those times of her artistic development, she manages to perform life ceremonies that transpire for several years. One of her renowned work is the one in which she spends an entire year tied to another artist known as Teching Hsieh. They have been united and joined by a seven-foot length rope. They did not touch each other for the whole year (Byrd, 1998). Those are just a number of performance arts that have been executed by female artists. There are other performances and pieces that make use of their bodies as a medium on demonstrating a work of art.They reveal issues such as feminism and role of women in society. Performance arts are often open-ended and can happen anywhere. They are usually presented in a live audience and only performed once. Its theme is usually in accordance to the artist’s viewpoints with regards to the link and relationship between art and life, art and technology, people and art or anything that the artist desires to illustrate. Performance art has given way to the feminist agenda during the year 1970s. It is an individual, instantaneous and greatly effective means of communication.Women’s objective when executing and performing a piece is to create an alternative vision for women and their power and status in the world (Gaulke, n. d. ). Their pieces tend to problematize female subjectivity, evaluate personal history, and alter the position of women in society because women are usually excluded from the art world. Women artists, thus, work on different media; performance art and video art are most likely appealing because the new media has no past accounts on eliminating and rejecting women (qtd. Troy, n. d. ).Feminist performance art in the year 1970s encompasses diverse functions and purposes. Women artists never endeavor and attempt to craft a single philosophical system in their works (Gaulke, n. d. ). Their works of art are usually a mixture of different philosophies with regards to the upliftment of women’s status and role in the society, as well as its identity and belo ngingness in the art world. The Performance art is also an essential movement during those eras because it summons the Formalism movement (Troy, n. d. ), where artworks are confined to canvases, paints and plasters.Performance art serves an exploration to the faction between art and life. Artists have made ways to explore and discover the dynamics between artist and spectators in order to comprehend art as social and experiential (Troy, n. d. ). Analysis and Conclusion Performance art belongs in the realm of contemporary art because of three essential reasons. First, it gives birth to a new media in creating works of art. One of those media is the body by which artists, especially women, utilize in order to demonstrate a blend of philosophies on the role of women in society.Another media is the use of technology and the incorporation other traditional media such as paints and canvas while performing and executing a piece. Second, performance art bestows an opportunity for women to a rticulate and fight for their rights. That a woman needs not be oppressed in society. While men are superior in the traditional arts and Modernism, women have grabbed the opportunity to find ways on how to express themselves and how to struggle for their status in society. Their creations offer new perspectives on how to look at women and how to value them.They reveal and delineate their struggles and efforts in the form of performance art so that their voice, angst and activism will be heard. Third, performance art provides a space for the women to be recognized in the art world. Because women are oppressed, their talents, skills and abilities are not acknowledged. However, because of the advent of performance art, women have found ways on how to present their endowments. Performance art is not just confined to well-known female artists.There are also a number of men who execute pieces of art in order to present and to articulate their point of views in life. Performance art has gi ven chances to ordinary people who desire to expose their artistic inclinations. Those art pieces that have been showed have helped and aided them in their artistic developments. A myriad of artists especially poets, musicians and theater artists explore, try and manage to achieve a performance art. They may be controversial, shocking, hilarious, still, for them, it is a way of communicating with the audience with regards to their outlook in life and art.

Personal Values Development Paper - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1550 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/15 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Personal Values Development Paper PHL/323 Melinda Cunningham July 12, 2010 The purpose of this paper is to examine my personal values, and the ground rules as they relate to the development of my ethics. Throughout the paper, I will define what my values are, the sources (e. g. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Personal Values Development Paper" essay for you Create order , people, institutions, events) that helped me to shape my values, the criteria and decision-making factors I use to revise them. I will also touch on how the values I use daily impact my performance in my workplace. I never thought about my personal values, how I developed them, when I developed them, and in which I learned them, until now. I would think that people start to develop and learn personal values at an early age. At birth, we have no concept of what personal values are, so as we begin to grow up and understand the difference between right and wrong; we learn these values from our parents, peers, and the community. My personal definition of values is a high standard, trait, or quality that is the driving force behind our priorities, and our decision-making process. Values determine our actions, how we handle situations, and are the belief system in which every person lives by. We tend to develop our values based on events that have happened in our lives, and from outside influences, like our parents and family, religious affiliations, friends, peers, different reading material, and educational resources. I am constantly learning how to identify and develop clear, concise and meaningful values, beliefs, and priorities every day, so that I can instill the same values that I learn into my son. As I examine my personal value system, how and when I developed these values, my earliest memory is my childhood. I can remember my grandmother and mother sharing little â€Å"tidbits† of information with me and my sisters about the lessons of life and how to survive in this crude world. These â€Å"life lessons† touched on a variety of subjects like, the importance of a strong value system based on trust, honesty, integrity, respect for others, a belief that God can do all things, and the importance of family love. As an adult with a child of my own, I can appreciate that sound advice that I received as a child and young adult. This wisdom and advice has molded me into the person who I am today and as an adult I like to surround myself around people who have the same values as I. My values guide me to be the best person who I can be and I take my values to heart and try to implement them in every detail of my life, no matter how small. I know that when I follow these values, accomplishments, and success are sure to follow. I aspire to make every effort to implement the values I subscribe to because they are meaningful to me. The first personal value that I live by is trust. Trusting someone can be an emotionally draining act because it makes us vulnerable to other people. When we trust other people, we expose ourselves to the possibility of being taken advantage of. During my teenage years, whenever I wanted to go out with my friends, my parents will always say to me â€Å"we trust you, so do not disappoint us. † As a teenager, the last thing that I wanted to do was disappoint my parents. Although my son is only 9, I am trying to instill this value in him because being able to trust people is a very important aspect of life. I have a strong faith in God and accepting Gods will in my life, enable me to release any feelings of distrust that I may have against someone. When I trust in God and let God lead my life, it lightens my load because I know that he is in control. Honest and integrity is also an important value in my life. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (n. d. ), Honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal deceive in any way. Without honesty, we really have nothing. Honesty is simple, but is not always easy. It is the negative side of honesty that often prevents us from trusting people because there is often rejection, hurt feelings, jealousy, and animosity. What inspires me to be honest is my belief that people will be honest with me. When I face a situation, I give the real facts, as I see it. Honesty is a test because it sometimes involves telling another person the truth about his or her faults, and also helps me to face up to my own truths. I believe that every act of honesty is always rewarded. On the other hand, there is integrity. Integrity supports my values, morals, and ethics. Integrity goes hand-in-hand with honesty because integrity is what compels us to do the right thing all the time, regardless of the situation. Working in a hospital, integrity keeps me free of any malpractices because I treat others with humanism. I find that in today’s society, many people do not possess a characteristic of integrity. If people practice integrity, the world would definitely be a better place. This is the very reason why my parents taught me that people will only respect those who have sound beliefs and values. Integrity is a good character trait to possess, but unfortunately, not too many people do. We live in a time when respect for others is lacking. In today’s society, I find that the youth show no deference to the aged, or those in authority. As a Christian, it is my duty to give honor to whom honor is due, and it is also my responsibility and obligation to train my child to render this same respect. The church is the one institution that helps to shape my values and teaches me the importance of setting values for myself. The Bible speaks of the respect that children should have for his or her parents because of the sacrifices that parents have endured for their children. Growing up I was taught to honor God because failure to do so, disrespected the kingdom of God. I know that when I do as God commands and show respect to others, this will bring me success in life. In my adult years, one of the most difficulty lessons to learn in life is that we are oftentimes disappointed by those whom we have come to respect. The last and final value that I hold true to my heart is my love for family. Family is very important to me and when I think of family, I think of love. Love is very strong in my family and it is that unconditional love that my family shows me; I am most appreciative of. I have a strong family support system despite all my wrongdoings. I have the type of family members who make sacrifices for each other unselfishly, and this unselfish act is a display of love and respect. I know that my parents had to make sacrifice after sacrifice, so that me and my siblings would have the necessities we needed. My family bond carries a great deal of love; and that bond is the driving force behind what we do for our family members, which we would not even consider doing for anyone else. As an adult, with a child of my own, I find myself making some of the same sacrifices for my child. I use these values as criteria for making decisions in everyday life and in every situation that I face. Life brings about many experiences that can force us to revise or rethink our values because of the dilemmas that will test our values, faith, and beliefs. The values that I follow are what drive me to do what is ethically right. On a personal level and in the workplace, I have to constantly to do what is right in a particular situation so that it is consistent with my personal and organization’s value system. I have developed certain ethics and ground rules as the foundation for my ethical behavior. Rules like respecting autonomy and allowing people the privacy that he or she deserves during a hospital stay. I do no harm to others; I do things to benefit others, I am fair, and treat people equal; keeping my promises, being loyal, and always telling the truth. My organization has a Code of Ethics that as an employee, I must follow and my leaders are responsible for knowing these rules, so that he or she can share them when appropriate. Conclusion Personal values develop in many ways. We all have values that determine our decisions and guide our lives. As an individual, I have the responsibility of acting with self-respect. I value my friendships and family and do not mind making sacrifices for the good of others. I value goodness too much to do something that I know is wrong and I dedicate my entire life to pursue the values that I believe in, and I hope in the end, my son will embrace the values and move forward in society with great success. References Honesty. (n. d. ). In Merriam-Webster dictionary online. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from https://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/honesty