Lightweight Aggregate for Concrete Blocks

Lightweight Aggregate for Concrete Blocks 3R Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Almost everyone has heard those three words but the environment that we live are getting more polluted each day. In Malaysia, there is as annual production of over 4 million tonnes of waste Oil Palm Shell (OPS). Exploit this waste material not only maximises the use of oil palm, but also helps preserve natural resources and maintain ecological balance. Certain workmanship factors can be appreciable effects on the strength of block work such as incorrect adjustment of suction rate in block, bond between the units of block and deviation from vertical plane or alignment. Therefore, interlocking design is one of the better solutions for concrete blocks to solve this kind of workmanship installation problem. Interlocking lightweight concrete block can reduce building dead weight effectively and reduces transportation costs and foundation load requirements. Furthermore, interlocking lightweight concrete block is save time to installation for construction and allows many homeowners easy to do the work themselves. Interlocking lightweight concrete block provide better joint between units of block because they are self aligning and this is greatly increases the speed of construction. This is kill three birds is one stone for time, cost, and quality. So the selection of size, shape, body and surface appearance of Interlocking block is a great decision for prevent all those all common defect. AIM To apply waste material Oil Palm Shell (OPS) and Styrofoam as lightweight aggregate at Interlocking lightweight concrete blocks. OBJECTIVE To study compressive strength and density of lightweight concrete To study Oil Palm Shell (OPS) and Styrofoam as lightweight aggregate. To study the factors affect the strength of block. To produce the prototype of Interlocking lightweight blocks. SCOPE OF STUDY The scope of study for this dissertation is concerned about design of interlocking lightweight blocks by using lightweight material. The material using is Oil Palm Shell (OPS) and Styrofoam as lightweight aggregate. This research will cover on the performance (strength and density), design, and production a prototype of interlocking lightweight concrete blocks. BACKGROUND Interlocking lightweight blocks is one of the building walls used as barrier to control mass, energy, and particulate flow both within and across the system.. The shape of the Interlocking blocks is tongues on the top surface of the block and grooves at the bottom surface of the block. The function of tongues and grooves is to restrain horizontal movement when laying the interlocking block at the top of another without the use of mortar joints to provide better bond between units of block and make the wall strong enough to carry loads. Besides, interlocking block is a great invention for construction industry to save time and easy labour installed the wall either stacked or running bond configuration. For the cost issue, interlocking block is economical than conventional block due to no need to high-wages skilled masons and less mortar to use. Therefore the building costs are lower than for standard masonry construction. Lightweight concrete can be defined as a type of the concrete which is lighter than conventional concrete density in the range of 140 to 150ib/ft3 (2240to 2400 kg/mm3). Lightweight concrete can be categories into three types which is no-fine concrete, aerated/foamed concrete and lightweight aggregate concrete. The main specialties of lightweight concrete are its to lower density, basic strength (no load bearing wall) and thermal conduction. Its advantages of the lightweight concrete are reduced dead load of the building, speed up construction productivity and handling cost. This is research is based on the performance of the lightweight aggregate concrete. Therefore, the lightweight aggregate concerned to use is wastes and recycled material due to issue on environmental preservation and sustainability. Styrofoam and Oil Palm Shell (OPS) is the great selection in this researched. In Malaysia, there is an annual production of over 4 million tonnes of waste Oil Palm Shell (OPS). Oil Pal m Shell (OPS) aggregate has a unit weight of 500-600 kg/m3and this is approximately 60% lighter compared to the conventional crushed stone aggregates Currently, there is also an increasing demand for low-cost houses in Malaysia and therefore Oil Palm Shell (OPS) can be used as an alternative to the conventional aggregates in fulfil this demand (D.C.L.TEO, 2006). The behaviour of Oil Palm Shell (OPS) concrete in a marine environment was also previously studied. PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY HOW TO GET INFORMATION The information is categories to two categories which is primary data and secondary data. The information provides the very useful knowledge, experience and briefs our minds to achieve the aim and objective easily and success. Primary sources -Experiment For getting more information, the experiments play the very importance and indispensable roles. Experiment can provide the accurate information and helpful for experiment to get the confirmation of the data. In order to get the correct data for experiment bring to successful, the standard of experiment method must be follow during the experiments. British standard is one of the useful standards to provide wide range information and also for international levels. The experiment of the concrete testing will prepare and doing at the Laboratory in Tunku Abdul Rahman College. Secondary sources -Literature review Literature review is a secondary data source in the stage which is the information that has been gathered by researchers and recorded in books, articles, and other publications. Basically, this stage is concern to review all the getting information related to the lightweight concrete and interlocking sandwich block. For the relevant information, the source can get from conducted the reference book, newspaper, journal and website. Analysis and summarized the information after collect all the related data from research. Therefore, the data provide clear direction for achieve the objective and knowledgeable in this study. WHERE TO GET INFORMATION Besides get the information from the website, article books, journals, and newspaper the experiment result also is one of the rely sources. The experiment can provide the experiment results, hypothesis of the objective and conclude answer for the study during the laboratory experiments testing. Lastly, get the actual life experience from supervisor by conducted the interview and go though the site visit. WHAT TO GET INFORMATION The information can get is primary data when doing the experiment, and secondary data from website, article books, journals, and newspaper and etc. All the data will use for summarized and analysis for the purpose of achieve the objective of study. LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION OF LITERLOCKING BLOCKS WHAT IS AN INTERLOCKING CONCRETE BLOCK? According to the (Sukri 2009) defined that interlocking hollow core concrete block that widely called interlocking block have tongues on the top surface of the block and grooves at the bottom surface of the block. The function of that tongue and groove is to restrain horizontal movement when laying the interlocking block on top of one another without the use of mortar joints to make the wall strong enough to carry loads from the upper floor or slab similar to the conventional load bearing walls. The design of interlocking concrete block is the tongues on the top surface of the block and grooves at the bottom surface of the block, is that they offer keys, which interlock with another blocks. Therefore, interlocking block provides better jointing and enough strength to support the load bearing walls. The interlocking design techniques are very effective to solve the workmanship problem to ensure the installation of block works is under better quality. Besides, interlocking blocks are d ifferent from the conventional blocks since they no need use mortar to jointing. Because of these characteristics, this is save time and no need hire high-skill workers when doing the block work. OIL PALM SHELL CONCRETE (OPSC) What is oil palm shell concrete? These mean the concrete using oil palm shell as lightweight aggregate. (Abdullah 1984) was the first one to use Oil Palm Shell (OPS) as lightweight aggregate (LWA) in Malaysia and proved that complete replacement of normal weight aggregate (NWA) with Oil Palm Shell (OPS) is a possibility. Its state the oil palm shell as lightweight aggregate to substitute normal weight aggregate is possible and success techniques to make the lightweight concrete by mixing of the cement, sand, oil palm shell, and water. According to (U. Johnson Alengaram 2010) noted for conducted further study on the using oil palm shell and found out that similar to normal weight concrete (NWC), water to cement (w/c) ratio affects the mechanical properties of palm kernel shell-aggregate concrete. The 28-day compressive strength of Oil Palm Shell (OPS) concrete varied between 5 and 25 MPa based on mix design. Based on the researched, the water cement ratio is one of the importances ke y point to mix the oil palm shell concrete because of the water ratio will direct affect the strength of the concrete with mechanical properties. Commonly, the water to be use is 0.40 to 0.60 water/cement ratio but only 0.23 of the water is required for hydration and the extra water is for full hydration and compaction of the concrete. STYROFOAM CONCRETE For the Styrofoam concrete, (M. H. Ahmad 2008) noted that From the point been mentioned above we have to look for a possible lightweight concrete which is less water adsorption and hence less cement content and therefore enhance its matrix characteristic. The potential lightweight aggregates to be used as concrete component is Styrofoam. Styrofoam has hydrophobic characteristics, non-absorbent, good insulation properties and closed cellular aggregates may have the potential to be developed as good commercial lightweight aggregates and Styrofoam concrete produced density in the range of 1297-1387 kg/m3. Commonly, the lightweight concrete requirements are including lightweight, strength, sound insulation, heat insulation, and water resistance. Based on that, Styrofoam is one of the better materials for lightweight concrete because of lightweight, and strength strong enough. Furthermore, due to Styrofoam is a hydrophobic characteristic, the water cement ratio is the main factor need to take more consideration when doing the concrete. Lastly, the Styrofoam concrete is light weight about 45% savings in total dead load of a structural member compared to conventional concrete. Therefore, this is save the cost of foundation required more special or strong technique to support the load of the building. PROPERTIES OF THE INTERLOCKING CONCRETE BLOCK REQUIREMENT OF THE INTERLOCKING CONCRETE BLOCK The interlocking concrete blocks have to provide the following functions (John Straube 2006): Support The blocks as the external or internal walls need to enough strong to support the static load (dead load) or dynamic load (live load) of the load bearing or non-load bearing walls. These loads have to be properly supported, resisted, and transferred to the building foundation. Control Interlocking blocks must be able to control mass, energy, and particulate flows both within and across the system. These include water, wind, air, smoke, odour, heat, light, noise, fire, blast, thief, birds, and insects. Finish (aesthetics) The finish function at the both of interior and exterior is the aesthetics of the finish surface, the visual, textural, and other aspect the designer wishes to convey with the visible element of the system. Distribution of service This function is related to the distribution of service through a building, both within a single element, and also multiple elements. Services like pipes, cables may run through envelope element as to provide services to the area close by. TYPES OF CONCRETE BLOCK Nowadays, concrete block have create varies designs and difference strength since they are varies types, so according (Michael Gage and Tom Krikbride 1980) notes that, with continues improvement in quality and design of concrete blocks and their wider range of applications, BS 2028:1953 and BS 1364:1947 have been repeatedly revised and amended. Now, the two standards have been incorporated in one edition BS 2028, 1364:1968 Precast Concrete Blocks. This is publication gives new defined for the block and specifies new strength categories and test procedures. The distinction between type A, B and C concrete block, is based on the block density which is calculate by weight of the block by the overall volume (include holes and cavities). See table 1. CONCRETE BLOCK TYPE A For the type A concrete block, generally is used in the building including use below ground level damp-proof course. The concrete block must be of dense concrete or one of the denser lightweight aggregates. CONCRETE BLOCK TYPE B For the type B concrete block, generally is used in the building including use below ground level damp-proof course in internal walls, and the inner leaf of external cavity walls. The concrete block must be of dense concrete or one of the denser lightweight aggregates. Normally, should be solid hollow or cellular block made with dense aggregate and average compressive strength not less than 7.0 N/mm2. CONCRETE BLOCK TYPE C For the type c concrete block, generally is used in the building which is non load bearing walls such as the partitions and panels in framed construction. The purpose just for building insulation, finish (aesthetics) and service (privacy) but no for supporting the building load. FACTORS AFFECT THE STRENGTH OF BLOCK The common defects arising from the production process which will affect the strength of the concrete block such as the defects of size, defects of shape, defects of body, and defects of appearance. DEFECT OF SIZE For the defects of the size, generally defects are oversized and undersized of concrete block caused by pool material preparation, and faulty mould. The wall will uneven due to the blocks size is not uniform to do the structure bond. This will affect structure load cannot transfer properly of the wall. DEFECT OF SHAPE Defect of shape, is the shape which is difference with the actual accurate shape to propose. Normally causes the misshapen of block are the poor preparation of the mould, faults of stacking, rough handling and uneven drying. DEFECT OF BODY Common defect of the body is faults in the raw material body can make the defect happen such as cracking, bloating and laminations. This kind of defect will make the block breaking easily with the gap on the surface. DEFECT OF APPEARANCE The defect of the appearance is the surfaces of the block have a bubble or the honey comb shape. Honey comb is a void on the exterior of a concrete face. When the concrete is not vibrated properly during installation, honeycomb will form. This is a serious flaw, since reducing the strength of block. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF INTERLOCKING LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE BLOCK ADVANTAGES OF INTERLOCKING LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE BLOCK According to researched (Msesut Asik 2006) noted that, lightweight concrete lower dead load: Saving in the structural can be achieved due to the reduced dead load, particularly for longer span bridges. Lightweight concrete is light in weight than convention concrete weight; therefore reduced the dead load of the concrete for the building for supporting and transfer the load. (Msesut Asik 2006) noted that, these savings can also be reflected in the cost of foundations (particularly where pilings are required), and in formwork and false-work requirements. The lighter weight also results in savings in the handling and transportation of materials, and pre-cast elements, etc. The lighter weight can permit the use of longer spans with a consequent reduction in the number of supports required. Lightweight concrete usually will be using the recycle material as lightweight aggregate to replace the normal weight aggregate since which to save the cost of the material and environment. Besides, the concrete blocks are lightweight and precast, therefore they is results in savings in the handling and transportation of materials, and pre-cast elements. According to the interlocking lightweight concrete block advantages (Bankole-Ojo 2008) noted that, hollow interlocking lightweight concrete block, compared to hollow concrete blocks, is that they offer keys, which interlock in the other blocks. Thus these walls offer more resistance to shear and buildings would be even stronger. The interlocking block provides the shapes of tongues on the top surface of the block and grooves at the bottom surface of the block. The advantage of this technique is provides the better jointing with another block with accurate horizontal alignment when doing block work. Without the need for high-waged skilled masons (except for the base course), by saving cement (less mortar) and with the speed of construction, the building costs are lower than for standard masonry construction. The interlocking concrete blocks are no need skill worker to installation because the interlocking design technique provides general worker easy and convenience to install the block works with better alignment and jointing. Additional costs are saved by building load bearing walls, instead of infill walls between structural frameworks. DISADVANTAGES OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE BLOCK According to researched (Msesut Asik 2006) noted that, the disadvantages is Reduce resistance to locally concentrated loads as they occur at pre-stressing anchorages or bearings, hence increased confining reinforcement is required, lightweight concrete is more brittle because of high strength cement paste. The lightweight concrete need to provide more reinforcement to solve the concrete strength problem because the concrete weaker when load is concentrated. The lightweight concrete is using the high strength cement paste. Therefore this is brittle easily. The interlocking concrete blocks are no need skill worker to installation because the interlocking design technique provides general worker easy and convenience to install the block works. But still need to provide certain amount of training is required to ensure that the walls are properly aligned and no gaps are left. Because the technique is still considered new to worker compare to conventional block works. Besides, interlocking block is better in jointing and alignment but the joints are not entirely resistant to wind and rain penetration, therefore, plastering the interior wall surfaces is usually necessary. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION The research methodology that will conduct for my project dissertation is laboratory experiment material testing and application. The project dissertation is carried out at the Tunku Abdul Rahman College laboratory. OIL PALM SHELL CONCRTE Oil palm shell concrete is mixing of cement, sand, aggregates and water. But the aggregate to be use is oil palm shell to substitute normal weight aggregate. Based on (Abdullah 1984) was the first one to use Oil Palm Shell (OPS) as lightweight aggregate (LWA) in Malaysia and proved that complete replacement of normal weight aggregate (NWA) with Oil Palm Shell (OPS) is a possibility. The oil palm shell as lightweight concrete is possible and successfully to proven that can use for the building envelop. In Malaysia, there is an annual production of over 4 million tonnes of waste Oil Palm Shell (OPS). Therefore oil palm shell is very common material that can be easy get from everywhere, huge amount and cheaper. For this project dissertation, that will to do the comparison of strength and density between oil palm shell lightweight concrete (OPSLC) and normal weight concrete (NWC). PROCEDURE TO CAST OIL PALM SHELL CONCRTE The constituents of oil palm shell concrete to be use include Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), oil palm shell, sand and water. Usually the oil palm shell surface is still coating with some oil, therefore pre-treatment to remove the surface oil is necessary. The methods to be use include natural weathering, boiling in water, washing with detergent. After removed the oil palm shell surface oil, the selected aggregate size will be done by sieve analysis. For the recommended from researched, the size of aggregate which passing through the 12.5mm sieve and retained on the 4.75mm sieve was used. For the experiment, oil palm shell concrete mixing ratio will be proposed such as 1:1:2, 1:1:3 and 1:1:4 (cement: sand: ops aggregate). STYROFOAM CONCRETE Styrofoam concrete is mixing of cement, sand, styrofoam s and water. The Styrofoam will be use to substitute normal weight aggregate. Based on, (M. H. Ahmad 2008) noted that, he said the styrofoam is hydrophobic characteristics, non-absorbent, good insulation properties and closed cellular aggregates may have the potential to be developed as good commercial lightweight aggregates. But the problem of mixing Styrofoam concrete is water/cement ratio because of styrofoam is hydrophobic characteristics, and non-absorbent. Therefore the water cement ratio to be use is less than conventional concrete mixing method. Due to these characteristic, Styrofoam is very difficult to mix with cement and sand. Therefore, from the researched find out the additional of the adhesive material can increase the plasticiser of the concrete and solve this kind of the problem. PROCEDUCE TO CAST STYROFOAM CONCRETE The constituents of Styrofoam concrete to be use include Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Styrofoam, sand and water. The size of the Styrofoam to use is approximate 3mm to 5mm which is Styrofoam beads. Due to Styrofoam is a hydrophobic characteristic since they are no absorber of water, therefore the water/cement ratio is less than conventional concrete required. Besides, the compaction of the Styrofoam concrete for experiment cube is by using vibration machines or hand compaction. The compaction of the Styrofoam concrete cannot by using tamping rod because of the Styrofoam will damage the Styrofoam components. From the researched, the recommend water cement ratio to be for Styrofoam concrete is 400 to 500ml. DENSITY Lightweight concrete is a concrete which is light by using the lightweight materials to replace the conventional materials. Therefore, the density of the lightweight concrete is depended on the material to be use. The different type of the lightweight materials will determine the different densities. Lastly, the density of the lightweight materials is importance to the concrete because the density of the concrete will affect the strength of the concrete. Referred to the Neville (1995), commonly the density lightweight aggregate material is range between 300 to 1850 kg/m3. The calculation the density is based on weight and size of the concrete. The method and formula to determine the density of the lightweight concrete will show in the appendix 1. COMPRESSION STRENGTH Compressive strength is one if the primary properties to ensure the strength of the concrete. They are many ways to test the compressive strength of the concrete which include destructive and non destructive tests. From the project dissertation, the method to be use for the lightweight aggregate concrete is destructive test which is cube test. The reason of choosing this method is accuracy, easy and convenient due to the size of cube is small. Furthermore, it is used as the standard method of measure compressive strength for the quality control purposes (Neville, 1994). The procedure of compressive strength test will show in the appendix 2. MAKING OF PROTOTYPE-INTERLOCKING BLOCK For this stage, the oil palm shell concrete and Styrofoam concrete as the lightweight aggregate concrete to produce interlocking blocks. The type of concrete block design is hollow concrete block which is has one or more large cavities which pass through the block. The purpose of hollow concrete block is to reduce the weight of the concrete block and provide a hole at the middle for allow reinforcement steel bar pass through it.

Drugs And Welfare Essay -- essays research papers

A current issue that is going on today is welfare recipients that are drug abusers. Welfare is supposed to meet the basic needs. Drugs seem far from one of the basic human needs to me. If the recipient gets all the benefits from the programs they will more than likely turn around and sell their food stamps for their fix rather than go to the store and get their family some food. Drugs also go hand and hand with family problems, violence, and crime. It is estimated that between 50% and 80% of Family-Based Services involve drug and alcohol abuse. So why not drug test the recipients before a person can get qualified for services? Drug abuse, of course, is not new to any culture. Drugs have been a part of American culture, their popularity increased in the 1950s, when writers and social figures started popularizing them. In the 1960s, drug use took on a whole new meaning. It became a way of rebelling, particularly among college students who were disenchanted with America's values and the war in Vietnam, which they viewed as a senseless conflict. The popularity that drugs achieved in these days two decades paved the way for their dangerous and widespread use in the 1980s. The 1980s saw the drug industry grow bigger and more deadly - both for users and for dealers. The emergence of new and relatively cheap drugs has also helped encourage drug use, especially among the urban poor. One way of cutting down on the number of drug abusers on the welfare system is to do a mandatory drug ...

Right Before My Very Eyes :: Vision Brain Seeing essays

Right Before My Very Eyes "I'll believe it when I see it:" is one of many common catch phrases included in our every day vernacular. A person who declares this is asserting that they will not be fooled by another's assumptions or perceptions of the world. This understanding raises a great sense of security within us, concerning the things that we do see, and inversely, an unavoidable sense of insecurity in those beliefs that are not supported by vision. Do you believe in Ghosts? Angels? Out of body experiences? Would you believe if you could see them? Maybe not. But it is possible to offer those who are withholding there stamp of approval on things that exist but cannot be seen, a better summary of evidence, which could make the inability to see something an invalid criteria for belief. Could a summary of evidence be compiled that would support this: Our vision is incomplete, incorrect, and can even be as misleading as to create something within the brain that does not exist at all, shedding light on a b rain that is more of a visionary, and less of a reporter. Human beings rarely contemplate the significance of their own blind spot, a place where processes of neurons join together and form the optic nerve; it is here that the brain receives no input from the eye about this particular part of the world. What I discovered while entertaining myself with a simple eye exam aimed at divulging the capabilities of the brain in the face of the eyes blind spots was fundamental in my exploration of the trust we place in vision, and so I will explain it briefly. Our brain can ignore a dot that exists on the page and "fill" the spot with the color of its surroundings, no matter what the color. However, it is not that our brain cannot conceive of an image or of a shape to fill this place. Continuing with the experiment leads you to find that the brain will continue the line that is obstructed with the black dot, covering the sides of the dot in the surrounding color, and transforming the image before you into a line within your brain. A line that i s absolutely not there. This reveals more than just a weakness in the eye, but an ability of the brain! (1)

British Castles :: essays research papers

BRITISH CASTLES   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Great Britain’s castles exemplify artistic characteristics and were essential elements in the lives of kings, lords, nobles, and chieftains. The word castle means a building or group of buildings usually intended as a residence of a king, lord, noble, or chieftain. There are many different types of castles, and the features about them are simply amazing. Warfare was also an important issue involving castles. They had to have some means of protection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The castles reached their fullest development in the medieval period, even though fortified building had been around much earlier. The castles created a feudal system, which gave them their greatest importance. The feudal system was divided into three classes: the knights and nobles, clergy, and peasants. The knights and nobles’ job was to defend society, the clergy was to pray, while the peasants had the duty to till the soil and support other classes (Collier’s Encyclopedia 532). The origin of has been traced back to the late Roman times when men placed themselves under a man stronger and wealthier than themselves (Rowling 31). The knights lived in castles built upon hilltops or in the bend of rivers. There they received vessels, held meeting: and upon occasion, defended themselves from rivals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many different general styles of castles in Britain. One of the styles is a motte and bailey, which was one of the first types of castles built. The castle was made of a motte, which was a large man-made mound of earth. The top of the mound was surrounded by wooden palisades, which were like logs. Within those logs was a wooden keep. This was used as a lookout tower and a last refuge or keep (Farndon 7). The only way to get into the motte was across a sloping bridge, placed on high pillars. The bailey was next to the motte, and wooden palisades also surrounded it. A ditch of water protected the bailey. The motte and bailey were connected by a flying bridge that could be torn down if the bailey was not needed anymore. Since the motte and bailey were made of wood and earth none of the castles have survived completely today (Remfry 1). Norman’s were few so they must have had to force people to help build it (Farndon 6). By the eleventh century the mot te and bailey form of castle was widely spread (Alistair 3).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of castle is a shell keep.

Juvenile Justice Essay

Should teenagers accused of violent crimes be tried and sentenced as adults? Why or Why not? Adolescence and the death penalty, two words more commonly seen together as of late. With growing number of young adult being tried and sentenced as adults for violent crimes the question rises why did they commit does age matter to the jury when they are put on trial? According to Paul Thompson, author of the article, â€Å"Startling Finds on Teenage Brains†. In the article Thompson notes a massive loss of brain tissue during the teenage years. While research on brain _ tissue loss can help us to understand teens better it cannot be used to excuse their violent or homicidal behavior. But it can be used as evidence that teenagers are not yet adults and the legal system shouldn’t treat them as such However this research can not excuse teens of violent crimes, it does show that they are not yet adults and should not be treated as such (Thompson) â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Juvenile being tried as adults are not competent enough to stand trial,† quoted from Laurence Steinberg taken from the article, â€Å"Many Kids called Unfit for adult trial,† by Greg Krikorian According to a Sacramento to Bee article written in 2003 youth are â€Å"emotionally or intellectually unable to contribute to their own defense† It may common knowledge that a toddler doesn’t understand complex situations like an adult would, but the truth is around half of the kids in the age range of 14 to 15 don’t either. A study show that when compared with young adults children ages eleven to thirteen were more than three times are likely to be found â€Å"Seriously impaired† in understanding the judicial process and aiding their own defense. But so we as teenage s know right from wrong? As teen we are prone to do things that are frowned upon by adults. We are in the stages of life when we are most susceptible to peer _ pressure. And when more adults were faced with this question of whether or not adolescents should be tried as adults they said they didn’t fell that they had the â€Å"POWER† or right to judge whether someone should die or not. Kent scheidegger legal director of the conservative criminal justice legal foundation said that vast majority of teenagers even young ones know enough to be tried in adult court â€Å" The notion that teenagers are not capable of understanding what is going on I find not credible in the case of â€Å"mentally normal teenagers.† 1. What was most difficulty about this assignment? The most difficult was to truth what the study that the article gave you. 2. What was easiest Easiest about the assignment was the thesis statement 3. What I learn on completing this assignment was that there a lot or evidence and study that people when through to see if teenage and be trial as adults and what the brains tissue in a teenage body. 4. The strengths of my argument were the evidence that I use in the article and quote on what other people say about the argument. 5. My weaknesses in my argument would be the end of the essay. 6. What I learn for this assignment that they a lot of teenage that do stupid things and the crimes that they do and why do they do. This whole assignment was should you trial teenage as adults.

What Being American Meant In 1780

In 1780, the notion of being American meant different things depending on one’s identity. To Thomas Jefferson, among the architects of the new nation, it meant deserving one’s liberty, and he believed that certain people were ill-suited for what he considered the demands of an enlightened society.In particular, he believed blacks and whites could never coexist because of slavery’s legacy, citing: â€Å"Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by whites [and] ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained† (Binder, 1968, p.  55-56). In addition, he considered them intellectually inferior.He considered America an improvement over other nations, and while he felt ambivalent about slavery and sympathetic toward blacks, he did not envision a multiracial America. For poet Phyllis Wheatley, an African-American who spent years in slavery and lived in poverty, being an American meant barriers and contradictions based on race. Wheatley, w hose poetry Jefferson thought â€Å"below the dignity of criticism† (Robinson, 1982, pp.42-43), was well aware of America’s racial contradictions (a nominally free nation which still embraced slavery) but nonetheless asked white America for tolerance and acceptance. In â€Å"On being Brought from Africa to America,† the narrator is optimistic about America and grateful for being part if it – â€Å"’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land† – but also admits, â€Å"Some view our sable race with scornful eye, /’There colour is a diabolic die’† (Robinson, 1975, p. 60). However, her closing appeal is not for liberty and full equality, but simply a reminder that blacks can at least be equal as Christians, in God’s eyes.To Jefferson, part of America’s elite, being American meant freedom for those who met his standards, while Wheatley, aware of America’s racial situation, makes an appeal for at least spiritual equality. Being American meant being free – though race was used as a means of denying freedom to all. REFERENCES Binder, F. M. (1968). The Color Problem in Early National America. Paris: Mouton. Robinson, W. H. (1975). Phyllis Wheatley in the Black American Beginnings. Detroit: Broadside Press. Robinson, W. H. (1982). Critical Essays of Phyllis Wheatley. Boston: G. K. Hall and Company

Pre-Socratic Philosophers Essay

â€Å"Pre-Socratic† is the expression commonly used to describe those Greek thinkers who lived and wrote between 600 and 400 B.C. It was the Pre-Socratics who attempted to find universal principles which would explain the natural world from its origins to man’s place in it. Although Socrates died in 399 B.C., the term â€Å"Pre-Socratic† indicates not so much a chronological limit, but rather an outlook or range of interests, an outlook attacked by both Protagoras (a Sophist) and Socrates, because natural philosophy was worthless when compared with the search for the â€Å"good life.†To give the Pre-Socratic thinkers their full due would require an article of encyclopedic scope. Given that, I have decided to list a number of sites on individual Pre-Socratic thinkers.Anaximander1. Life and SourcesThe history of written Greek philosophy starts with Anaximander of Miletus in Asia Minor, a fellow-citizen of Thales. He was the first who dared to write a treatise in prose, which has been called traditionally On Nature. This book has been lost, although it probably was available in the library of the Lyceum at the times of Aristotle and his successor Theophrastus. It is said that Apollodorus, in the second century BCE, stumbled upon a copy of it, perhaps in the famous library of Alexandria. Recently, evidence has appeared that it was part of the collection of the library of Taormina in Sicily, where a fragment of a catalogue has been found, on which Anaximander’s name can be read. Only one fragment of the book has come down to us, quoted by Simplicius (after Theophrastus), in the sixth century AD. It is perhaps the most famous and most discussed phrase in the history of philosophy.We also know very little of Anaximander’s life. He is said to have led a mission that founded a colony called Apollonia on the coast of the Black Sea. He also probably introduced the gnomon (a perpendicular sun-dial) into Greece and erected one in Sparta. So he seems to have been a much-traveled man, which is not astonishing, as the Milesians were known to be audacious sailors. It is also reported that he displayed solemn manners and wore pompous garments. Most of the information on Anaximander comes from Aristotle and his pupil Theophrastus, whose book on the history of philosophy was used, excerpted, and quoted by many other authors, the so-called doxographers, before it was lost. Sometimes, in these texts words or expressions appear that can with some certainty be ascribed  to Anaximander himself. Relatively many testimonies, approximately one third of them, have to do with astronomical and cosmological questions. Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz have edited the doxography (A) and the existing texts (B) of the Presocratic philosophers in Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Berlin 1951-19526. (A quotation like â€Å"DK 12A17†³ means: â€Å"Diels/Kranz, Anaximander, doxographical report no.17†³).| 2. The â€Å"Boundless† as Principle According to Aristotle and Theophrastus, the first Greek philosophers were looking for the â€Å"origin† or â€Å"principle† (the Greek word â€Å"archà ªÃ¢â‚¬  has both meanings) of all things. Anaximander is said to have identified it with â€Å"the Boundless† or â€Å"the Unlimited† (Greek: â€Å"apeiron,† that is, â€Å"that which has no boundaries†). Already in ancient times, it is complained that Anaximander did not explain what he meant by â€Å"the Boundless.† More recently, authors have disputed whether the Boundless should be interpreted as spatially or temporarily without limits, or perhaps as that which has no qualifications, or as that which is inexhaustible. Some scholars have even defended the meaning â€Å"that which is not experienced,† by relating the Greek word â€Å"apeiron† not to â€Å"peras† (â€Å"boundary,† â€Å"limit†), but to â€Å"perao† (â€Å"to experience,â⠂¬  â€Å"to apperceive†). The suggestion, however, is almost irresistible that Greek philosophy, by making the Boundless into the principle of all things, has started on a high level of abstraction. On the other hand, some have pointed out that this use of â€Å"apeiron† is atypical for Greek thought, which was occupied with limit, symmetry and harmony. The Pythagoreans placed the boundless (the â€Å"apeiron†) on the list of negative things, and for Aristotle, too, perfection became aligned with limit (Greek: â€Å"peras†), and thus â€Å"apeiron† with imperfection. Therefore, some authors suspect eastern (Iranian) influence on Anaximander’s ideas. Anaximenes (d. 528 BCE) According to the surviving sources on his life, Anaximenes flourished in the mid 6th century BCE and died around 528. He is the third philosopher of the Milesian School of philosophy, so named because like Thales and Anaximander, Anaximenes was an inhabitant of Miletus, in Ionia (ancient Greece). Theophrastus notes that Anaximenes was an associate, and possibly a student, of Anaximander’s. Anaximenes is best known for his doctrine that air is the source of all things. In this way, he differed with his predecessors like Thales, who held that water is the source of all things, and Anaximander, who thought that all things came from an unspecified boundless stuff. 2. Doctrine of Change Given his doctrine that all things are composed of air, Anaximenes suggested an interesting qualitative account of natural change: [Air] differs in essence in accordance with its rarity or density. When it is thinned it becomes fire, while when it is condensed it becomes wind, then cloud, when still more condensed it becomes water, then earth, then stones. Everything else comes from these. (DK13A5) Influence on later Philosophy Anaximenes’ theory of successive change of matter by rarefaction and condensation was influential in later theories. It is developed by Heraclitus (DK22B31), and criticized by Parmenides (DK28B8.23-24, 47-48). Anaximenes’ general theory of how the materials of the world arise is adopted by Anaxagoras(DK59B16), even though the latter has a very different theory of matter. Both Melissus (DK30B8.3) and Plato (Timaeus 49b-c) see Anaximenes’ theory as providing a common-sense explanation of change. Diogenes of Apollonia makes air the basis of his explicitly monistic theory. The Hippocratic treatise On Breaths uses air as the central concept in a theory of diseases. By providing cosmological accounts with a theory of change, Anaximenes separated them from the realm of mere speculation and made them, at least in conception, scientific theories capable of testing. Thales of Miletus (c. 620 BCE – c. 546 BCE) The ancient Greek philosopher Thales was born in Miletus in Greek Ionia. Aristotle, the major source for Thales’s philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy. Thales was interested in almost everything, investigating almost all areas of knowledge, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, engineering, geography, and politics. He  proposed theories to explain many of the events of nature, the primary substance, the support of the earth, and the cause of change. Thales was much involved in the problems of astronomy and provided a number of explanations of cosmological events which traditionally involved supernatural entities. His questioning approach to the understanding of heavenly phenomena was the beginning of Greek astronomy. Thales’ hypotheses were new and bold, and in freeing phenomena from godly intervention, he paved the way towards scientific endeavor. He founded the Milesian school of natural philosophy, developed the scientific method, and initiated the first western enlightenment. A number of anecdotes is closely connected to Thales’ investigations of the cosmos. When considered in association with his hypotheses they take on added meaning and are most enlightening. Thales was highly esteemed in ancient times, and a letter cited by Diogenes Laertius, and purporting to be from Anaximenes to Pythagoras, advised that all our discourse should begin with a reference to Thales (D.L. II.4). 1. The Writings of Thales Doubts have always existed about whether Thales wrote anything, but a number of ancient reports credit him with writings. Simplicius (Diels, Dox. p. 475) specifically attributed to Thales authorship of the so-called Nautical Star-guide. Diogenes Laertius raised doubts about authenticity, but wrote that ‘according to others [Thales] wrote nothing but two treatises, one On the Solstice and one On the Equinox‘ (D.L. I.23). Lobon of Argus asserted that the writings of Thales amounted to two hundred lines (D.L. I.34), and Plutarch associated Thales with opinions and accounts expressed in verse (Plutarch, De Pyth. or. 18. 402 E). Hesychius, recorded that ‘[Thales] wrote on celestial matters in epic verse, on the equinox, and much else’ (DK, 11A2). Callimachus credited Thales with the sage advice that navigators should navigate by Ursa Minor (D.L. I.23), advice which may have been in writing. Diogenes mentions a poet, Choerilus, who declared that ‘[Thales] was the first to maintain the immortality of the soul’ (D.L. I.24), and in De Anima, Aristotle’s words ‘from what is recorded about [Thales]‘, indicate that Aristotle was working from a written source. Diogenes recorded that  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ[Thales] seems by some accounts to have been the first to study astronomy, the first to predict eclipses of the sun and to fix the solstices; so Eudemus in his History of Astronomy. It was this which gained for him the admiration of Xenophanes and Herodotus and the notice of Heraclitus and Democritus’ (D.L. I.23). Eudemus who wrote a History of Astronomy, and also on geometry and theology, must be considered as a possible source for the hypotheses of Thales. The information provided by Diogenes is the sort of material which he would have included in his History of Astronomy, and it is possible that the titles On the Solstice, and On the Equinox were a vailable to Eudemus. Xenophanes, Herodotus, Heraclitus and Democritus were familiar with the work of Thales, and may have had a work by Thales available to them. A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole. The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun’s path (as seen from Earth) comes to a stop before reversing direction. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In many cultures the solstices mark either the beginning or the midpoint of winter and summer. The term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the date (day) when this occurs. The day of the solstice is either the â€Å"longest day of the year† (in summer) or the â€Å"shortest day of the year† (in winter) for any place on Earth, because the length of time between sunrise and sunset on that day is the yearly maximum or minimum for that place. Proclus recorded that Thales was followed by a great wealth of geometers, most of whom remain as honoured names. They commence with Mamercus, who was a pupil of Thales, and include Hippias of Elis, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Eudoxus of Cnidus, Philippus of Mende, Euclid, and Eudemus, a friend of Aristotle, who wrote histories of arithmetic, of astronomy, and of geometry, and many lesser known names. It is possible that writings of Thales were available to some of these men. Any records which Thales may have kept would have been an advantage in his own work. This is especially true of mathematics, of the dates and times determined when fixing the solstices, the positions of stars, and in  financial transactions. It is difficult to believe that Thales would not have written down the information he had gathered in his travels, particularly the geometry he investigated in Egypt and his measuring of the height of the pyramid, his hypotheses about nature, and the cause of change. Proclus acknowledged Thales as the discoverer of a number of specific theorems (A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements 65. 8-9; 250. 16-17). This suggests that Eudemus, Proclus’s source had before him the written records of Thales’s discoveries. How did Thales ‘prove’ his theorems if not in written words and sketches? The works On the Solstice, On the Equinox, which were attributed to Thales (D.L. I.23), and the ‘Nautical Star guide, to which Simplicius referred, may have been sources for the History of Astronomy of Eudemus (D.L. I.23). Pythagoras (c.570—c.495 BCE) The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Pythagoras must have been one of the world’s greatest persons, but he wrote nothing, and it is hard to say how much of the doctrine we know as Pythagorean is due to the founder of the society and how much is later development. It is also hard to say how much of what we are told about the life of Pythagoras is trustworthy; for a mass of legend gathered around his name at an early date. Sometimes he is represented as a man of science, and sometimes as a preacher of mystic doctrines, and we might be tempted to regard one or other of those characters as alone historical. The truth is that there is no need to reject either of the traditional views. The union of mathematical genius and mysticism is common enough. Originally from Samos, Pythagoras founded at Kroton (in southern Italy) a society which was at once a religious community and a scientific school. Such a body was bound to excite jealousy and mistrust, and we hear of many struggles. Pythagoras himself had to flee from Kroton to Metapontion, where he died. It is stated that he was a disciple of Anaximander, his astronomy was the natural development of Anaximander’s. Also, the way in which the Pythagorean geometry developed also bears witness to its descent from that of Miletos. The great problem at this date was the duplication of the square, a problem which gave rise to the theorem of the square on the hypotenuse, commonly  known still as the Pythagorean proposition (Euclid, I. 47). If we were right in assuming that Thales worked with the old 3:4:5 triangle, the connection is obvious. Pythagoras argued that there are three kinds of men, just as there are three classes of strangers who come to the Olympic Games. The lowest consists of those who come to buy and sell, and next above them are those who come to compete. Best of all are those who simply come to look on. Men may be classified accordingly as lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. That seems to imply the doctrine of the tripartite soul, which is also attributed to the early Pythagoreans on good authority, though it is common now to ascribe it to Plato. There are, however, clear references to it before his time, and it agrees much better with the general outlook of the Pythagoreans. The comparison of human life to a gathering like the Games was often repeated in later days. Pythagoras also taught the doctrine of Rebirth or transmigration, which we may have learned from the contemporary Orphics. Xenophanes made fun of him for pretending to recognize the voice of a departed friend in the howls of a beaten dog. Empedocles seems to be referring to him when he speaks of a man who could remember what happened ten or twenty generations before. It was on this that the doctrine of Recollection, which plays so great a part in Plato, was based. The things we perceive with the senses, Plato argues, remind us of things we knew when the soul was out of the body and could perceive reality directly. There is more difficulty about the cosmology of Pythagoras. Hardly any school ever professed such reverence for its founder’s authority as the Pythagoreans. ‘The Master said so’ was their watchword. On the other hand, few schools have shown so much capacity for progress and for adapting themselves to new conditions. Pythagoras started from the cosmical system of Anaximenes. Aristotle tells us that the Pythagoreans represented the world as inhaling ‘air’ form the boundless mass outside it, and this ‘air’ is identified with ‘the unlimited’. When, however, we come to the process by which things are developed out of the ‘unlimited’, we observe a great change. We hear nothing more of ‘separating out’ or even of rarefaction and condensation. Instead of that we have the theory that what gives form to the  Unlimited is the Limit. That is the great contribution of Pythagoras to philosophy, and we must try to understand it. Now the function of the Limit is usually illustrated from the arts of music and medicine, and we have seen how important these two arts were for Pythagoreans, so it is natural to infer that the key to its meaning is to be found in them. It may be taken as certain that Pythagoras himself discovered the numerical ratios which determine the concordant intervals of the musical scale. Similar to musical intervals, in medicine there are opposites, such as the hot and the cold, the wet and the dry, and it is the business of the physician to produce a proper ‘blend’ of these in the human body. In a well-known passage of Plato’s Phaedo (86 b) we are told by Simmias that the Pythagoreans held the body to be strung like an instrument to a certain pitch, hot and cold, wet and dry taking the place of high and low in music. Musical tuning and health are alike means arising from the application of Limit to the Unlimited. It was natural for Pythagoras to look for something of the same kind in the world at large. Briefly stated, the doctrine of Pythagoras was that all things are numbers. In certain fundamental cases, the early Pythagoreans represented numbers and explained their properties by means of dots arrang ed in certain ‘figures’ or patterns. Zeno’s Paradoxes In the fifth century B.C.E., Zeno of Elea offered arguments that led to conclusions contradicting what we all know from our physical experience–that runners run, that arrows fly, and that there are many different things in the world. The arguments were paradoxes for the ancient Greek philosophers. Because most of the arguments turn crucially on the notion that space and time are infinitely divisible—for example, that for any distance there is such a thing as half that distance, and so on—Zeno was the first person in history to show that the concept of infinity is problematical. In his Achilles Paradox, Achilles races to catch a slower runner–for example, a tortoise that is crawling away from him. The tortoise has a head start, so if Achilles hopes to overtake it, he must run at least to the place where the tortoise presently is, but by the time he arrives there, it will have crawled to a new place, so then Achilles must run to this new place, but the  tortoise meanwhile will have crawled on, and so forth. Achilles will never catch the tortoise, says Zeno. Therefore, good reasoning shows that fast runners never can catch slow ones. So much the worse for the claim that motion really occurs, Zeno says in defense of his mentor Parmenides who had argued that motion is an illusion. Although practically no scholars today would agree with Zeno’s conclusion, we can not escape the paradox by jumping up from our seat and chasing down a tortoise, nor by saying Achilles should run to some other target place ahead of where the tortoise is at the moment. What is required is an analysis of Zeno’s own argument that does not get us embroiled in new paradoxes nor impoverish our mathematics and science. This article explains his ten known paradoxes and considers the treatments that have been offered. Zeno assumed distances and durations can be divided into an actual infinity (what we now call a transfinite infinity) of indivisible parts, and he assumed these are too many for the runner to complete. Aristotle‘s treatment said Zeno should have assumed there are only potential infinities, and that neither places nor times divide into indivisible parts. His treatment became the generally accepted solution until the late 19th century. The current standard treatment says Zeno was right to conclude that a runner’s path contains an actual infinity of parts, but he was mistaken to assume this is too many. This treatment employs the apparatus of calculus which has proved its indispensability for the development of modern science. In the twentieth century it finally became clear that disallowing actual infinities, as Aristotle wanted, hampers the growth of set theory and ultimately of mathematics and physics. This standard treatment took hundreds of years to perfect and was due to the flexibility of intellectuals who were willing to replace old theories and their concepts with more fruitful ones, despite the damage done to common sense and our naive intuitions. The article ends by exploring newer treatments of the paradoxes—and related paradoxes such as Thomson’s Lamp Paradox—that were developed since the 1950s. Parmenides (b. 510 BCE) Parmenides was a Greek philosopher and poet, born of an illustrious family about BCE. 510, at Elea in Lower Italy, and is is the chief representative of the Eleatic philosophy. He was held in high esteem by his fellow-citizens for his excellent legislation, to which they ascribed the prosperity and wealth of the town. He was also admired for his exemplary life. A â€Å"Parmenidean life† was proverbial among the Greeks. He is commonly represented as a disciple of Xenophanes. Parmenides wrote after Heraclitus, and in conscious opposition to him, given the evident allusion to Hericlitus: â€Å"for whom it is and is not, the same and not the same, and all things travel in opposite directions† (fr. 6, 8). Little more is known of his biography than that he stopped at Athens on a journey in his sixty-fifth year, and there became acquainted with the youthful Socrates. That must have been in the middle of the fifth century BCE., or shortly after it. Parmenides broke with the older Ionic prose tradition by writing in hexameter verse. His didactic poem, called On Nature, survives in fragments, although the Proem (or introductory discourse) of the work has been preserved. Parmenides was a young man when he wrote it, for the goddess who reveals the truth to him addresses him as â€Å"youth.† The work is considered inartistic. Its Hesiodic style was appropriate for the cosmogony he describes in the second part, but is unsuited to the arid dialectic of the first. Parmenides was no born poet, and we must ask what led him to take this new departure. The example of Xenophanes’ poetic writings is not a complete explanation; for the poetry of Parmenides is as unlike that of Xenophanes as it well can be, and his style is more like Hesiod and the Orphics. In the Proem Parmenides describes his ascent to the home of the goddess who is supposed to speak the remainder of the verses; this is a reflexion of the conventional ascents i nto heaven which were almost as common as descents into hell in the apocalyptic literature of those days. The Proem opens with Parmenides representing himself as borne on a chariot and attended by the Sunmaidens who have quitted the Halls of Night to guide him on his journey. They pass along the highway till they come to the Gate of Night and Day, which is locked and barred. The key is in the keeping of Dike (Right), the Avenger, who is persuaded to unlock it by the Sunmaidens.  They pass in through the gate and are now, of course, in the realms of Day. The goal of the journey is the palace of a goddess who welcomes Parmenides and instructs him in the two ways, that of Truth and the deceptive way of Belief, in which is no truth at all. All this is described without inspiration and in a purely conventional manner, so it must be interpreted by the canons of the apocalyptic style. It is clearly meant to indicate that Parmenides had been converted, that he had passed from error (night) to truth (day), and the Two Ways must represent his former error and the truth which is now revealed to h im. There is reason to believe that the Way of Belief is an account of Pythagorean cosmology. In any case, it is surely impossible to regard it as anything else than a description of some error. The goddess says so in words that cannot be explained away. Further, this erroneous belief is not the ordinary man’s view of the world, but an elaborate system, which seems to be a natural development the Ionian cosmology on certain lines, and there is no other system but the Pythagorean that fulfils this requirement. To this it has been objected that Parmenides would not have taken the trouble to expound in detail a system he had altogether rejected, but that is to mistake the character of the apocalyptic convention. It is not Parmenides, but the goddess, that expounds the system, and it is for this reason that the beliefs described are said to be those of ‘mortals’. Now a description of the ascent of the soul would be quite incomplete without a picture of the region from which it had escaped. The goddess must reveal the two ways at the parting of which Parmenides stands, and bid him choose the better. The rise of mathematics in the Pythagorean school had revealed for the first time the power of thought. To the mathematician of all men it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be, and this is the principle from which Parmenides starts. It is impossible to think what is not, and it is impossible for what cannot be thought to be. The great question, Is it or is it not? is therefore equivalent to the question, Can it be thought or not? In any case, the work thus has two divisions. The first discusses the truth, and the second the world of illusion — that is, the world of the senses and the erroneous opinions of mankind founded upon them. In his opinion truth  lies in the perception that existence is, and error in the idea that non-existence also can be. Nothing can have real existence but what is conceivable; therefore to be imagined and to be able to exist are the same thing, and there is no development. The essence of what is conceivable is incapable of development, imperishable, immutable, unbounded, and indivisible. What is various and mutable, all development, is a delusive phantom. Perception is thought directed to the pure essence of being; the phenomenal world is a delusion, and the opinions formed concerning it can only be improbable. Parmenides goes on to consider in the light of this principle the consequences of saying that anything is. In the first place, it cannot have come into being. If it had, it must have arisen from nothing or from something. It cannot have arisen from nothing; for there is no nothing. It cannot have arisen from something; for here is nothing else than what is. Nor can anything else besides itself come into being; for there can be no empty space in which it could do so. Is it or is it not? If it is, then it is now, all at once. In this way Parmenides refutes all accounts of the origin of the world. Ex nihilo nihil fit. Further, if it is, it simply is, and it cannot be more or less. There is, therefore, as much of it in one place as in another. (That makes rarefaction and condensation impossible.) it is continuous and indivisible; for there is nothing but itself which could prevent its parts being in contact with one another. It is therefore full, a continuous indivisible plenum. (That is directed against the Pythagorean theory of a discontinuous reality.) Further, it is immovable. If it moved, it must move into empty space, and empty space is nothing, and there is no nothing. Also it is finite and spherical; for it cannot be in one direction any more than in another, and the sphere is the only figure of which this can be said. What is, therefore a finite, spherical, motionless, continuous plenum, and there is nothing beyond it. Coming into being and ceasing to be are mere ‘names’, and so is motion, and still more color and the like. They are not even thoughts; for a thought must be a thought of something that is, and none of these can be. Such is the conclusion to which the view of the real as a single body inevitably leads, and there is no escape from it. The ‘matter’ of our physical text-books is just the real of Parmenides; and, unless we can find room for something else than matter, we are shut up into his account of reality. No subsequent system could afford to ignore this, but of course it was impossible to acquiesce permanently in a doctrine like that of Parmenides. It deprives the world we know of all claim to existence, and reduces it to something which is hardly even an illusion. If we are to give an intelligible account of the world, we must certainly introduce motion again somehow. That can never be taken for granted any more, as it was by the early cosmologists; we must attempt to explain it if we are to escape from the conclusions of Parmenides. Heraclitus (fl. c.500 BCE) A Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BCE, Heraclitus criticizes his predecessors and contemporaries for their failure to see the unity in experience. He claims to announce an everlasting Word (Logos) according to which all things are one, in some sense. Opposites are necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges. The world itself consists of a law-like interchange of elements, symbolized by fire. Thus the world is not to be identified with any particular substance, but rather with an ongoing process governed by a law of change. The underlying law of nature also manifests itself as a moral law for human beings. Heraclitus is the first Western philosopher to go beyond physical theory in search of metaphysical foundations and moral applications. Anaxagoras (c.500—428 BCE) Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was an important Presocratic natural philosopher and scientist who lived and taught in Athens for approximately thirty years. He gained notoriety for his materialistic views, particularly his contention that the sun was a fiery rock. This led to charges of impiety, and he was sentenced to death by the Athenian court. He avoided this penalty by leaving Athens, and he spent his remaining years in exile. While Anaxagoras proposed theories on a variety of subjects, he is most noted for two theories. First, he speculated that in the physical world everything contains a portion of everything else. His observation of how nutrition works in animals led him to conclude that in order for the food an animal eats to turn into bone,  hair, flesh, and so forth, it must already contain all of those constituents within it. The second theory of significance is Anaxagoras’ postulation of Mind (Nous) as the initiating and governing principle of the cosmos. Democritus ( 460—370 BCE) Democritus was born at Abdera, about 460 BCE, although according to some 490. His father was from a noble family and of great wealth, and contributed largely towards the entertainment of the army of Xerxes on his return to Asia. As a reward for this service the Persian monarch gave and other Abderites presents and left among them several Magi. Democritus, according to Diogenes Laertius, was instructed by these Magi in astronomy and theology. After the death of his father he traveled in search of wisdom, and devoted his inheritance to this purpose, amounting to one hundred talents. He is said to have visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Persia, and India. Whether, in the course of his travels, he visited Athens or studied under Anaxagoras is uncertain. During some part of his life he was instructed in Pythagoreanism, and was a disciple of Leucippus. After several years of traveling, Democritus returned to Abdera, with no means of subsistence. His brother Damosis, however, took him in. According to the law of Abdera, whoever wasted his patrimony would be deprived of the rites of burial. Democritus, hoping to avoid this disgrace, gave public lectures. Petronius relates that he was acquainted with the virtues of herbs, plants, and stones, and that he spent his life in making experiments upon natural bodies. He acquired fame with his knowledge of natural phenomena, and predicted changes in the weather. He used this ability to make people believe that he could predict future events. They not only viewed him as something more than mortal, but even proposed to put him in control of their public affairs. He preferred a contemplative to an active life, and therefore declined these public honors and passed the remainder of his days in solitude. Credit cannot be given to the tale that Democritus spent his leisure hours in chemical researches after the philosopher’s stone — the dream of a later age; or to the story of his conversation with Hippocrates concerning Democritus’s supposed madness, as based on spurious letters. Democritus has been commonly known as â€Å"The Laughing Philosopher,† and it is gravely related  by Seneca that he never appeared in public with out expressing his contempt of human follies while laughing. Accordingly, we find that among his fellow-citizens he had the name of â€Å"the mocker†. He died at more than a hundred years of age. It is said that from then on he spent his days and nights in caverns and sepulchers, and that, in order to master his intellectual faculties, he blinded himself with burning glass. This story, however, is discredited by the writers who mention it insofar as they say he wrote books and dissected animals, neither of which could be done we ll without eyes. Democritus expanded the atomic theory of Leucippus. He maintained the impossibility of dividing things ad infinitum. From the difficulty of assigning a beginning of time, he argued the eternity of existing nature, of void space, and of motion. He supposed the atoms, which are originally similar, to be impenetrable and have a density proportionate to their volume. All motions are the result of active and passive affection. He drew a distinction between primary motion and its secondary effects, that is, impulse and reaction. This is the basis of the law of necessity, by which all things in nature are ruled. The worlds which we see — with all their properties of immensity, resemblance, and dissimilitude — result from the endless multiplicity of falling atoms. The human soul consists of globular atoms of fire, which impart movement to the body. Maintaining his atomic theory throughout, Democritus introduced the hypothesis of images or idols (eidola), a kind of emanation from external objects, which make an impression on our senses, and from the influence of which he deduced sensation (aesthesis) and thought (noesis). He distinguished between a rude, imperfect, and therefore false perception and a true one. In the same manner, consistent with this theory, he accounted for the popular notions of Deity; partly through our incapacity to understand fully the phenomena of which we are witnesses, and partly from the impressions communicated by certain beings (eidola) of enormous stature and resembling the human figure which inhabit the air. We know these from dreams and the causes of divination. He carried his theory into practical philosophy also, laying down that happiness consisted in an even temperament. From this he deduced his moral principles and prudential maxims. It was from Democritus that  Epicurus borrowed the princi pal features of his philosophy. Empedocles (c.492—432 BCE) Empedocles (of Acagras in Sicily) was a philosopher and poet: one of the most important of the philosophers working before Socrates (the Presocratics), and a poet of outstanding ability and of great influence upon later poets such as Lucretius. His works On Nature and Purifications (whether they are two poems or only one – see below) exist in more than 150 fragments. He has been regarded variously as a materialist physicist, a shamanic magician, a mystical theologian, a healer, a democratic politician, a living god, and a fraud. To him is attributed the invention of the four-element theory of matter (earth, air, fire, and water), one of the earliest theories of particle physics, put forward seemingly to rescue the phenomenal world from the static monism of Parmenides. Empedocles’ world-view is of a cosmic cycle of eternal change, growth and decay, in which two personified cosmic forces, Love and Strife, engage in an eternal battle for supremacy. In psychology and ethics Empedocles was a follower of Pythagoras, hence a believer in the transmigration of souls, and hence also a vegetarian. He claims to be a daimà ´n, a divine or potentially divine being, who, having been banished from the immortals gods for ‘three times countless years’ for committing the sin of meat-eating and forced to suffer successive reincarnations in an purificatory journey through the different orders of nature and elements of the cosmos, has now achieved the most perfect of human states and will be reborn as an immortal. He also claims seemingly magical powers including the ability to revive the dead and to control the winds and rains.