The Aesthetical Philosophies of St Thomas Aquinas Essay Example for Free

The Aesthetical Philosophies of St Thomas Aquinas Essay Thomist philosophy as the only true Christian philosophy3 , regarded to the best of its kind. As we delved into the study of the aesthetics of Tomas Aquinas, the interesting thing about it that there seemed to be no singular book written about the topic among his great body of philosophical oeuvre. It also have been said that he seemed to be not written a clear, specific aesthetic theory4 . Yet his appreciation of beauty and aesthetics and his artistic personality are spread throughout and very much evident in his works. Now lays a problem for me, our contemporary era in the 21st century has no relevant comparison to the medieval times. Our contemporary times with the technological advancements and societal developments and upheavals present little resemblance to the conditions of the Middle Ages. To my mind the world we are living in, i. e. my life and my way of thinking, is anything but medieval. Studying the philosophies of St. Thomas, made me think if there is any significance of his aesthetic principles to my artistic future. Now comes the question: do the aesthetic principles of St. Thomas still be applicable to our fickle fast-faced times of â€Å"anything-is-possible† and â€Å"art-isover†5 mentality? In these era of mobile phones, Internet, iPodâ„ ¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s, iPadâ„ ¢s and Digital Cameras, where beauty is a sinuous shape and titanium casings to to die-for, do integritas, proportio, and claritas6 still ring true to the contemporary artists like Vik Muniz7 , designers at Apple ®, or to the recent OSCARâ„ ¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s best picture movie director of â€Å"The King’s Speech†, are they even applicable to other arts such as performance art like dance? What got me interested in this particular topic is stating the obvious: I am curious if St. Thomas aesthetics and appreciation of beauty is still relevant to me? With a 700 years between us, can his teaching still have any impact to me? A newbie artist / graduate student. 3 4 5 Ralph McInerny, Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings (London: Penguin Books, 1998) p. xxvii Umberto Eco, The Aesthetic of Thomas Aquinas (Milan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, 1970) p. 19 Arthur Danto, The End of Art in the Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (New York: Columbia Uni- versity Press, 1986) pp 85 6 7 Thomas Aquinas, â€Å"Summa Theologica† Q39, Ar 8. Vik Muniz is a Brazilian Artist who is famous for bringing multi-media artform to the wide acceptance of the public. See his TED video presentation of his life, work and artistic philosophy: http://blog. ted. com/2007/04/20/vik_muniz_on_te/ Majella Salceda-Tresvalles †¢ [emailprotected] com †¢ UST Graduate School 4 Tomasso D’Aquino His education and professional life Thomas from the land Aquino was born in the thirteenth century Italy, in 1225, at a time of resurgence in the appreciation of the classical literature, philosophical writings and concepts. He was born to an aristocratic class, and having been well provided for, had been educated at the nearby monastery of Monte Cassino. He was exposed very early in his life to musical education thanks to the resources of his landed family. Having been honed early in rhetoric, grammar, dialectic in his trivium years and later, quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy8 , the appreciation of the finer arts of music, poetry and literature came very natural. Through his education that his aesthetic sense was developed. His early grasp of musical harmony shows in his liturgical musical compositions later in his professional life. His solid background in rhetoric is well evident in his voluminous writings of the Summas, Commentaries, Letters, etc. All these presents us, modern people, a deep artistic appreciation of the many creative talents of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas wrote on his appreciation of beauty of the arts was coming from the breath of his education and experience and not merely coming from detached point of view of an observer or mere intellectual. Before becoming a friar himself he had already a highly-developed sense of artistic talent and aesthetics. Much was said about how Tomas became a Dominican, a mendicant order of friars, much to the consternation of his wealthy family who had designs for him to become a landlord himself or become an Abbot of the nearby Benedictine Abbey, Monte Cassino, much like his uncle the Abbot Sinibald. But Tomas had other plans. He became a Dominican, this ambition was instrumental to his success as the leading thinkers of all history. It was with the Dominicans that 8 Ralph McInerny, editor, Thomas Aquinas Selected Writings, (London: Penguin Books, 1998) pp. x Majella Salceda-Tresvalles †¢ [emailprotected] com †¢ UST Graduate School 5 his in-depth intellect was nurtured and encouraged and given credence. It was a match simply planned in heaven! Tomas became a protege of Albertus Magnus, a giant among the intellectuals in the Dominican order. But earlier on, in his education at the University of Naples Tomas was introduced by one of his teachers, Master Lawrence, a Transylvanian, of to the great writings of Aristotle9. It also have to be noted that the classical philosophies at that time had a resurgence by way of Alexandria. The islamic scientists and scholars have been known to have and propagated the ideas championed by Plato, Aristotle 10, Plotinus, Boethius and many more. St. Albert the Great nurtured Tomas’ talent and intelligence to maturity. To cite a few of his compositions, â€Å"The Office and Mass of Corpus Christi† is surely the most admirable liturgical service ever composed, the â€Å"Adoro Te† touches deep emotion and has been considered as a great poetry. Tomas was not only exact in his theology but also a master of prosody11 . Tomas became a bright young teacher himself after being conferred a master at the University of Paris. He was under the tutelage of his great mentor, Albertus Magnus and eventually out-shined his master. A contemporary of Tomas was Giovanni Di Fidanza, who later became Bonaventure, a Franciscan who later became a saint himself. The two had a mutual respect for each other but that relationship was later tested by a religious controversy, which we will not be discussing, as the scope of this paper is limited. The two former classmates went on their separate directions, Thomas became a renowned teacher and philosopher, had two stints as regent master of the Parisian Dominican house and Bonaventure, a noted Theologian, eventually became the Minister General of the order of Franciscans. Both led parallel lives and both died in the same year, 1274, a mere four months of each other. Bonaventure was eventually declared a â€Å"Doctor Seraphicus† and we know Tomas is â€Å"Doctor Angelicus† and the â€Å"Doctor Universalis†. St. Thomas died early without finishing his greatest work, the third part of Summa Theologica, about Christ. Around six months prior to his untimely 9 Peter Strather, Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes An Audiobook (Blackstone: London, N. d. ) Ibid. David Knowles, â€Å"The Evolution of the Medieval Thought† 2nd ed. (Longman Group: Essex, England, 10 11 1988), p235 Majella Salceda-Tresvalles †¢ [emailprotected] com †¢ UST Graduate School 6 death, he had another vision of God that changed his point-of-view. Apparently he had conversation with God while saying a mass, this vision had shown him the magnificence and grandeur of God. After which, he ‘hanged his writing instruments’, so to speak. His reasoning was that all his writings were mere ‘straw’ compared to the majesty of God. Tomas was canonized a saint some fifty years after his death, but not without controversy within the theological community, largely brought by the Franciscans 12 and other theologian opposed to his theoglogy. But Pope Leo XIII, an ardent Thomist scholar, prevailed in 1879, citing in his encyclical Aeterni Patris that the theology of Thomas is philosophia perenis, whose philosophies are to be taught in all the religious schools from there on after. Thus, the prophesy of Albertus Magnus came true, that the ‘dumb ox’s bellowing will be heard to the ends of the earth’, and it is still being heard as of this day, loud and clear. 12 â€Å"St. Thomas Aquinas†, New Advent website, 7 Majella Salceda-Tresvalles †¢ [emailprotected] com †¢ UST Graduate School Medieval Concept of Beauty and Art Gothic Cathedral in Lyon, France (Photo Credit: Majella Salceda-Tresvalles, 2008) Let us start by understanding the concept of beauty and art during the medieval times, the appreciation of beauty is very much different from appreciation of arts. Way back in the classical times in Greece, Arts, or Ars, as it was known then, as techne (‘ ’, meaning craft)13 were related to craftmaking only, unlike what we know of art today. The artist then was a craftsman that churns the requirements of the religious to come up with tall churches, golden vestments and bejeweled chalices. The monarchs and landed too are among the privileged few that can afford to have beautiful things to adorn their palaces and splendid residences. Medieval thought, like the classical thought, did not considered that art necessarily had to do with the production of beautiful things or stimulation of aesthetic pleasure. As â€Å"Ars† (art) signified a technique for constructing objects. If some of these objects appeared to be beautiful, this was a side issue. However this â€Å"side issue† is central to modern philosophy, to which the artistic experience is always somehow connected with aesthetic experience. 14 13 14 Steve Shipps, (Re)Thinking ‘Art’: A Guide for Beginners (USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2008) pp. 4 Eco, Aesthetic of Thomas Aquinas, pp. 3 Majella Salceda-Tresvalles †¢ [emailprotected] com †¢ UST Graduate School 8 A survey of the history of medieval aesthetics provides ample evidence of the two of the elements in medieval culture: (1) philosophical reflection on beauty; (2) a concrete and conscious awareness of the beauty of things and the aesthetic reality of art. Some historian assert that the two are in fact independent of each other, the metaphysical reflection on beauty was something quite separate from the everyday, concrete aesthetic sensibility at that time. In the medieval times, the appreciation of beauty in the everyday living was grounded on the ordinary taste. It cannot be denied that the medievals had aesthetic sense, yet it must be noted too that during those times, they lack in the proper artistic semantics unlike what we have in our â€Å"advanced† era of the 21st century. But not knowing the terminologies does not mean that they did not admire what beauty was. One only has to survey the designs of medieval cathedrals, musical compositions, commissions to produce various metal functional implements, to agree that truly there was medieval aesthetics. The integration of the temporal pleasures to the theological beauty was very much evident in the Middle Ages, i. e. temporal pleasures admiration of the beauty of a church, theological beauty- church architectural design served to â€Å"give praise† to the divinity of God. If art could simultaneously instruct and delight (prodesse et delectare) this was because the medieval sensibility like the whole medieval culture as a whole, was an â€Å"integrated† sensibility. 16 This integration was used to the fore by the church, choosing the art in churches to simultaneously instruct and enhance worship. The Catholic Church was the biggest benefactor or client for the artisans, art was used for religious, court and political purposes only. Whether one favors that the only appreciation of beauty was limited to theological aspects or only of this earth, or both, the apparent system of aesthetic sensibility, i. e. its limitations in semantics should be taken into account within the cultural framework of the medievals at the time. Lets face it, the wheels of history was moving slowly during that time, and inventing new words and discovering new things took time.

Teaching Practices Essay -- Education, Politics

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role that state standards play in the classroom. The topics that I will include in this paper will be an overview of the usage and role that state standards play in the teaching and learning of students and a summary of a discussion with my guiding practice teacher about standards and data from observing him. In addition, I will analysis how my guiding practice teacher uses standards to help instruct his students. Furthermore, through the lens of the reflective cycle, I will reflect on the intelligent action I plan to incorporate into my future classroom. Role That State Standards Play in the Teaching and Learning State standards impact the way that teachers’ instruct in the classroom in a control manner. The standards are state mandates for the topics that need to be cover in the class. The standards serve as an outline of topics for the teachers to teach to the students. They are uniform instruction of a subject that covers all public schools in the state. Additionally, the standards should provide a structure-learning environment in the classroom. Standards help teachers by providing an outline of instruction for the class. Falk (2000) suggest that â€Å"the capacity of standards to provide guidance toward and images of possibility of what quality work can be; the opportunity that standards present to initiate collective conversations and inquiry about shared values, purposes, goals, and expectations† (p.164). Standards help the teachers find a starting point for an instructional lesson. Standards also help to create uniform instruction across the district as well as the state. According to Ravitch (1991), â€Å"[curriculum] must teach the core democratic values that enable ... ...learning as the students need (p.234). While teaching my lesson, I must be present in the moment. I do not need to be thinking about the last class period, next period, or what needs to be done for tomorrow classes. I need to focus on the instruction that on the class that I am teaching to help them be successful. Another intelligent action, I would include in my classroom is feedback. I would include structure feedback in my lesson. At the end of instruction, I would ask the students what they have learn today in class. I would do this as a way to assess their learning and see what the students receive from the class lesson. Additionally, I would ask the students what could I have done better in class or what they believe did not work in class. This would help me plan future lessons to know what work with the class as well as what did not work with the class.

Linear Programming to Solve Coal Blending Problem

17th International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey- IMCET 2001,  © 2001, ISBN 975-395-417-4 Optimum Blending of Coal by Linear Programming for the Power Plant at Seyitomer Coal Mine K. Erarslan, H. Aykul, H. Akcakoca & N. Cetin Dumlup? nar University, Department of Mining Engineering, 43100, Kutahya, Turkey ABSTRACT: In this study, a linear programming model is developed to determine the optimum coal blend in terms of quality and quantity. Coal with various features is mined from different panels of Seyitomer Lignite Coal District and fed to a nearby power plant.The quality of the coal is extremely variable through the horizontal and vertical directions, which entails the precise planning of coal blending during the mining and stockpiling stages. Otherwise, a large penalty has to be paid to the power plant. In this study, the objective is to match the calorific values required by the power plant. The quality features and production capacities of coal from different panels are determined and are used in quality constraints. The power plant requires coal in two groups, which are of different qualities and quantities.Therefore, two linear programming models complementing each other are developed in order to determine the blending conditions that satisfy the needs of the plant. The models are introduced and solved m the LINDO package program. Reasonable solutions are obtained and optimal amounts of blending are handled. The model also allows the evaluation of coal panels of low quality. 1 INTRODUCTION' Linear Programming (LP) is one of the most widely used methods of operation research for decision problems.This method is a reasonable and reliable procedure for determining the optimum distribution of resources, optimal production, minimum cost, maximum profit, etc. , which comprise the objectives (Ozturk, 1997). In this method, decision parameters to make the objective optimal are linear or assumed to be linear (Taha, 1992, Hillier and Liebermann, 1995). The general form of the problem is formed by objective function and subjected constraints; (1) (2) where; Z= objective of the model Cj = coefficient of/* decision variable (1=1,2 Xj = / * decision variable N) oefficient of decision variable (i=l,2,.. ,m) b, = limited resource for iJ* constraint LP approximation is widely used in mining as well as in other industrial fields. Open pit limits, production scheduling, material flow in processing plants, blending, equipment selection, method selection, transportation, etc. , are its main applications (Chanda and Wilke, 1992, Dijilani and Dowd, 1994, Huang, 1993, Mann and Wilke, 1992, Meyer, 1969, Smith and You, 1995). However, investment, planning, or selection, in other words any actions requiring decision, can be optimized.Especially in open pit mines and underground mines feeding coal to power plants, the quality and quantity of coal is crucial because the burner blocks of power plants are designed according to specific features of co al. Inability to match coal quality and quantity to these specific features results in either penalty costs for the coal enterprise or a decrease in the power plant's efficiency. In addition, inconsistent coal features lead to wear in the power plant's burning units and all integrated components.In this respect, coal-producing enterprises try to match their coal features to power plants' specifications by blending and homogenizing coal extracted from different panels and levels. Satisfying the requirements of the plant is achieved by selective 719 = mining and/or blending. In this study, a relevant case is considered. Seyitomer coal enterprise in Kutahya, Turkey has problems of quality and quantity in supplying the nearby power plant. A well-planned and organized blending procedure and, accordingly, production plan is necessary.In this paper, the problem, is modeled in terms of linear programming and reasonable solutions are obtained. 2 SEYITOMER COAL ENTERPRISE AND ITS PROBLEM Seyi tomer Lignite Enterprise (SLE) is located 20 km. northwest of Kutahya city center. The basin is characterized as Late Miocene-early Pliocene. The lignite seams in Seyitomer basin consist of two horizontal levels (0-7 ° S), referred to as A and B seams, according to their depths. The seams are separated from each other by waste interbedded formations whose thickness vary from 10 to 50 m.These two seams may exhibit variation according to their occurrence in three sub-regions (Seyitomer, Aslanl? , Ayval? ), where the geological coal formation has been determined by drill holes. The thickness of the A seam, located at the top level of the basin, varies in the range of 5-25 m. {Sofrelec, 1967). The thickness of B seam varies in the range of 2-30 m. In the basin, these two seams are rarely observed together. The seam defined as A Is deposited only in the Seyitomer region and the coal occurrences in the Aslanl? nd Ayval? regions. The B seam consists of 3 different sublevels, referred to, from Uie top to the base of the seam, as B[, B2, Bj Their calorific values decrease towards to the seam base as the interbedded layers get thicker. The upper level coal seams B| and B2, which have a high calorific value and are produced in sorted size and quality (+100 mm), have supplied the market for public heating. The B3 coal, which is of low quality and contains fine coal (-100 mm) from the processing plant, is sold to the power plant.At the enterprise, production is performed by the open pit mining method. The overburden, whose thickness varies from 35 to 60 m. , is loosened by drilling and blasting. The stripping method is the excavator and truck and dragline method. The 1 electrical excavators have a 10-yd bucket volume and the dragline has a 70-yd bucket capacity. Production and transportation are also by excavatortruck and loader-truck meu? ods. It is impossible to process the coal with wet washing techniques.For this reason, only crushing, sieving and sorting can be appl ied to the coals of the region. There are three plants working for the power plant and three plants working for the market in the enterprise. The coal is dispatched to the market or the power plant according to its quality. 720 Recently, in terms of quality and quantity the demands of the plant have not been fulfilled and in order to overcome the problem selective mining has been used. Consequently, there is an increasing tendency to use ripping and bulldozers and loaders (Aykul, 2000). APPLICATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING IN SLE 3. 1 Definition of the Problem In Seyitomer Coal Mine, six different coal types produced from different panels and levels are treated. The terms for these coals, their average calorific values and annual quantity to be extracted according to Ideal planning are shown in Table 1. These coals need to be blended in accordance with the specifications required by the power plant's burning units. Seyitomer power plant has four burning units. The operating conditions of these units are shown in Table 2.The annual coal requirement of the power plant is 6,000,000 tons: the first three burning units (Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3), with the same requirements, need 4,500,000 tons, while the last burning unit (Unit 4) requires 1,500,000 tons. Table 1. Determined features of coal types according to ideal planning in SLE Coal Type Calorific Amount Value (ton/year) (kcal/kg) FineCoal(-lOO) (From Plants) 1675 2,000,000 Stock of Kizik 1750 800,000 Stock of Marl 1428 > 250,000 B| Level 2000 < 600,000 B; Level 1800 < 600,000 B, Level 1600 > 1,500,000 Table 2.Operating Conditions of Power Plant Power Plant Base Heat Content Grain Size (mm) Units (Kcal/kg) Unit 1 1750 ± 100 0-200 Unit2 1750+100 0-200 Umt3 1750 ± 100 0-200 Unit 4 1600  ± ! 00 0-200 The blending requirements of the coal are as follows: i. Coal coming from the processing plants (fine coal), and that produced from the stock of Kizik, stock of marl, the B3 level, B2 level and B| level can supply Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3. it. Coal produced from the stock of Kizik, stock of marl and B3 level can supply Unit 4.Two different linear models were developed since there are two design specifications in the power plant. Therefore, first, the amount of coal of the B3 level and stock of K? z? k are determined fo. ‘ Unit 4 with the help of the first linear program, and then the rest of the determined amounts are used in the second linear program developed for Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3. After determining these conditions, the main aim is to obtain coal blends that have the maximum heating calorific value in the range of specifications (Kaya, 2000). . 2 Constitution 0/the Model The objective function for Unit 4 maximizing the first blend's calorific value, which has a maximum limitation by the constraints, is shown in Equation 1 : (3) Subjected to Equations 4 to 11: (4) (5) The restrictions are shown in Equations 13 to 21. 4,500,000 (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) Here, X2 : Amount of coal from stock of K? z? k, t. Xj : Amount of coal from stock of marl, t. Xe : Amount of coal from B3 level, t.The objective function for Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 maximizing the second blend's calorific value restricted by a subjected constraint is shown in Equation 12. (12) Amount of fine coal from processing plants, t. Amount of coal from stock of K? z? k, t. Amount of coal from B| level, t. Amount of coal from B2 level, t. Amount of coal from B3 level, t. 3. 3 Solutions of Models The LINDO package program is used to solve the models. The optimum quality and quantity results of the final tables for Unit 4 are shown In Table 3 (Kaya, 2000). Table 3 Final results of model for Urul 4 Coal Types Coal Amount Heal Content (ton/year) (kcal/kg) Stock of K? ? k 500. 000* 1750 (X2) Stock of marl (X,) 250,000* 1428 750. 000* 1600 B, Level (X,) 1,500. 000 Blend of Coals 1620 5* h *Optimam values ai 7†² iteration As it may be seen in Table 3, t he blend quality of the coal is found to be 1620 kcal/kg. This value is within the range of the specific design values of Unit 4. The final tables for Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3 are shown in Table 4. 721 Table 4. Final results of model for Unit 4 Coal Amount Heat Content Coal Types (ton/year) (kcal/kg) 2,000,000* 1675 Fine coal (Xi) Stock of K? z? k 300,000* 1750

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) - 1519 Words

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder It is common for individuals who have gone through a traumatic experience to feel many types of emotions, to include distress, fear, helplessness, guilt, shame or anger. The individual may begin to feel better after just a few days or weeks, but sometimes these feelings don’t go away. If the symptoms last for more than a month, they may be experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD and should seek professional help. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, once known as shell shock or battle fatigue syndrome is a serious condition that occurs when someone goes through something extremely stressful and traumatic. Some common traumas are military combat, natural disasters, significant accidents, or physical†¦show more content†¦If it does not go away by then, the individual may be categorized as a chronic sufferer of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recovery from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a gradual and ongoing process with symptoms that seldom disappear complet ely. Often the main focus of treatment is to assist the victim with learning coping strategies that can be enhanced through individual experience. There are four main categories used to diagnose individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. People with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder will relive, avoid, have negative moods, and have an increase in arousal. When people relive the traumatic event they will have flashbacks of things that occurred. Sometimes these happen as nightmares or hallucinations. Sometimes certain dates may make it worse. The person being effected with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder will avoid people and places. The isolation from friends and family can lead to feeling detached. They may even lose interest in things they once enjoyed. The victim may start having excessive emotions. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can make you feel like you can’t relate to others, have loss of sleep, and outbreaks in anger. Children do not react the same way to trauma as adults. They normally have extreme reactions. Children who are 6 years old and younger start wetting the bed after they’ve learned to use the