Abstract This paper reviews a debate in which the proposition awards in medical liability lawsuits should be limited was debated. A general overview of the debate is provided. Main points are identified and discussed. The paper concludes with remarks on which side (pro or con) had the stronger arguments and a judgment of who ultimately won the debate is stated.
From the Paper "Medical malpractice is a vast legal issue that affects many different populations: consumers/patients, healthcare professionals, the pharmaceutical industry, legal professionals and insurance companies. This paper will provide a review of the debate holding to the proposition: Awards in medical liability lawsuits should be limited. Starting with a high level overview of the debate, main points will be presented along with this writer's view of which side presented a stronger case and which side this writer believes won the debate. Overview of debate. Malpractice insurance rates are driving physicians and many nurse practitioners out of business. Malpractice insurance costs are just too high to allow physicians to maintain a private practice in states that do not provide for a max-cap on liability awards. Currently 27 states do and the cost of their malpractice insurance is substantially less; for example $8,000 for the same ..."
Abstract This paper summarizes the debate between the Federalists and Anti-federalists of the constitutional congress. It suggests some ongoing problems in American public life which demonstrate the main issues which drove that debate, far from being resolved during the constitution's ratification, continue to resonate in current events. This paper discusses the Ratification Debate and the major issues which drove the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-federalists: Distribution of power, protection of rights, limitations of institutions and the ongoing Relevance.
From the Paper "In the last few days of September in 1787, the Confederation Congress met to debate and construct a new Constitution of the United States. The document they wrote and sent for ratification to the thirteen states that made up the newly-formed country was intended to replace the Articles of Confederation that had ordered the nation since its inception. The nation was reaching a crisis point, as the experiment had been going poorly. Surprisingly, perhaps, the problem was not one of the many possible economic problems that new nations are likely to experience when reconstructing after a long and difficult war. As Gordon Wood (1969) argues, the general economy was running well and people felt comfortable and even prosperous (p. 395). Rather, the concerns that brought the nation's leading politicians together were primarily political. "
Abstract The paper relates that a debate team is an example of a cooperative learning group. This paper describes, analyzes and evaluates the writer's contribution to the debate planning, preparation and presentation process. This contribution is examined in relation to three theoretical frameworks. Situational leadership is highly relevant for enabling a balance between task behavior and relational behavior. Chaos theory is especially useful since it emphasizes the learning process and feedback. Change theory permits the change process to be understood. The writer discusses that he/she experienced both learning and change through the debate.
Abstract This paper delves into the legal, ethical and religious aspects surrounding abortion, while also focusing on the feminist view of this hotly-debate topic. The writer of this paper traces the roots of the abortion debate back to Susan B. Anthony. Anthony opposed abortion because the medical procedure, in her time, was unsafe and endangered a woman's health and life. This paper examines how feminists today defend the development of safe and effective birth control as a means to prevent abortion. This paper also looks at the views of various feminist organizations such as Feminists for Life and Feminists Against Abortion. This paper discusses the media's impact in the evolution of the "Pro-Choice" and "Pro-Life" movements. This paper also discusses how the laws regarding legal abortions have changed over the past 40 years. In 1965, all 50 states banned the procedure, with some exceptions. In 1973, The Supreme Court reversed the situation in the case of Roe vs. Wade, declaring most existing state abortion laws unconstitutional. The writer of this paper explores the issue of abortion in various religions, including Judaism and the different Christian sects. While those of the Catholic faith do not believe that abortion is an acceptable solution to undesired pregnancies, they do accept that there may be situations when an abortion must be considered. This paper also touches on the ethical side, where many believe that abortions should only be considered when the life of the mother is at stake. However, shades of grey enter into the picture when other reasons are offered as well, as detailed in this paper.
From the Paper "Although those of the Catholic faith do not believe that abortion is an acceptable solution to undesired pregnancies, they do accept that there may be situations when an abortion takes place as the outcome of trying to deal with another medical issue. For example, the Church would allow "the doctrine of double effect" if the mother requires a life-saving operation that may possibly end the pregnancy, since it is the first priority to save the woman's life rather than end the pregnancy.
Many Protestant denominations including the Anglicans, Methodists and Quakers have been disinclined to be as strict as the Catholic Church. Frequently, they accept that there are certain occasions when abortion is an unavoidable result of deciding between the "lesser of two evils."
To further complicate the issue, explains Ellingson, there is even disagreement among the Catholics and among the Protestants. "It is not just a Catholic and Protestant Debate."
Abstract This paper is an overview of sixteen common fallacies used in debate. The paper provides two examples of each in the hopes that students can better discern these fallacies when they emerge in debate and/or in academic literature. As a useful point, these examples can also be used to highlight the partisanship of leading politicians eager to spread their own agenda.
From the Paper "Ad Hominem: personal attacks of any kind are ad hominem attacks. Two examples would be Al Franken's loud denunciations of Bill O'Reilly and others while another would be someone dismissing George W. Bush's policies because he is (allegedly) "stupid". Ad Populum: Two examples of ad populum fallacies would be recent gall-up polls showing weak support for the war in Iraq and/or an argument that insists that "most people" do not want gay marriage or an end to abortion."
Abstract This paper reviews a 2003 meta analysis on studies focusing on the effects of presidential debate viewing. It discusses the issue that effect the outcome of elections. It also notes the importance of voters learning more about the candidates.
From the Paper "The issue being studied is whether presidential debates have an effect on the outcome of the elections by affecting the viewers' voting decisions. This question is crucially important for a variety of reasons as the authors point out. First and foremost of ..."
Tags: president, debates, meta analysis, significance, candiates, election
Abstract This five page undergraduate paper examines the central questions posed in Chapter Nine of Discovering America's Past, which all pertain to slavery and territorial expansion. The writer notes that the Wilmot Proviso Debate was just one of many battles fought in Congress in the decades before the Civil War over the primary question of whether slavery should be allowed in new territories. The writer further points out that this was the most crucial issue, for new territories ultimately became new states and subsequently sent senators and representatives to Congress.
From the Paper "Whenever a new state was admitted into the Union, the balance of power in Congress between slave states and free states was altered depending upon whether the new state permitted slavery or not."
Abstract Standard English is described as "by far the most important dialect in the English-speaking world from a social, intellectual and cultural point of view" (Trudgill 1999;123). This suggests that the debate about Standard English is a multi-stranded one. This paper demonstrates how it can be divided into: a linguistic debate, which shows the rise of standard English as a direct result of certain historical event; a socio-cultural debate, which demonstrates the way that society often shapes its attitudes on stereotypes and assumptions about attributes of a speaker and their linguistic variety and a political debate, which shows the area of language attitudes as one with which presuppositions about social class have a significant relationship.
From the Paper ""Standard English refers to the 'structure of the language, i.e. its grammar and vocabulary', but it may be 'spoken in any accent' (Perera, 1994 cited by Brindley, 1996). Since the 1950's there has been a decline in the teaching of grammar in schools. Some educationalists have interpreted criticism on prescriptive grammar as criticism of grammar teaching in general. It has been found that English students are now entering universities with little knowledge of basic grammatical terminology (Milroy and Milroy, 1991). Honey (1983) says that English language teaching is in decline and blames the discipline of linguistics for this."
Abstract This paper explains that televised debates, which are essential in every major political race, are more than the traditional campaign advertising on which most strategies relied in the past. The author points out that the Kennedy-Nixon televised debates in 1960, which were the first major use of this media, justified the preference for televised debates as tools in political campaigns. The paper relates the advantages and disadvantages of televised debates
From the Paper "The direct contact between the audience and the candidates created during such debates also draws the attention on the actual human perspective of the candidate. Indeed, candidates are the representatives of the society they come from, still they are humans, and the personal perspective of his character tends to draw the attention of most viewers during election time. It may be that during Abraham Lincoln's campaigning days, character traits were more or less placed aside and the impact of the message he delivered was not influenced by his personality."
This essay discusses the ethical dilemna that the abortion issue presents using the arguments of three philosophers, Judith Jarvis-Thompson, Mary Anne Warren and Don Marquis to analytically discuss and debate each of their individual positions.
Abstract Examined here is the seemingly intractable debate that has garnered much debate and philosophical discourse. Is abortion unethical? If so, on what grounds? Does a fetus have an unquestionable right to life? The arguments of three philosphers, Thompson, Warren, and Marquis attempt to construe argument devoid of appeal to religious sources. Actual logical arguments are put forth and then dissected by the author. Instruction of Informal fallacies also included, as well as topics such as debate through analogies, Criteria of Personhood, and Potentiality theories: FLO theory.
From the Paper "First let us begin with an argument derived from the article by Judith Jarvis-Thompson entitled, ?A Defense of Abortion.? She starts of with explaining the common pro-life argument, which relies heavily on the premise that a fetus is a human being and a person at the moment of conception. While examining the continuous expectancy that the fetus constantly develops into a child, she from this judges that to draw a line of personhood from this point or another is to exemplify the argument with an arbitrary carelessness. She makes no attempt to refute a fetus as a person or otherwise. To do so she deems as participation in a ?slippery-slope argument.? Thompson acknowledges that the fetus is a human well before it's birth, for it would be biologically unsound to state otherwise. Based on her take of the anti-abortionist's argument an acorn (a potential oak tree) would be viewed in the same way as an Oak tree is, even though that this is an incorrect and rather crude observation. From this basis, she says on cannot make a good examination until a better counter-argument is examined and then she says we will have more sufficient grounds on which to reject it or not."
Abstract The following paper argues that it is preferable to be a lover rather than a rapist in debate. The writer also maintains that it is unwise to be a seducer to the extent that seducer invariably means dissembling and obfuscation. As the writer sees it, one should be an empathetic and thoughtful debater and also willing to see the humanity in all people with whom one comes into contact - however disagreeable that person and his or her perspectives may be. In the end, while the writer feels that we may all, on occasion, argue unilaterally, and should all be well-versed in all forms of debate, the writer maintains that arguing as a lover is the most important thing of all.
From the Paper "In my own life, I have occasionally been a "rapist" when debating a point - at least as Brockriede defines aggressive, argumentative debate. However, I bristle at the charge even as I make it against myself. For one thing, to be impassioned about a point of view does not necessarily make one a "rapist" in any sense. Further, if one overwhelms an adversary in debate through strong logic, sharp analysis, clever argumentation, and a shower of statistics, the idea that such constitutes "rape" seems absurd; simply put, to believe in something sufficiently that one is passionate about it in debate (to the point that one even calls into question the veracity and legitimacy of a differing perspective) is simply to be an arguer of conviction - not necessarily an arguer consumed with the thought of intellectually "raping" an opponent."
Abstract This paper examines Locke's writing which is a revolutionary work on the structure and purpose of political authority. One of the greatest debates of the 16th and 17th centuries was over the nature of political authority. This paper examines "Second Treatise of Government" as it relates to this debate and looks at Locke's philosophical opinions in the same context.
From the Paper "One of the core principles in democratic thought is the belief that all men are created free and equal. Locke noted, "there being nothing more evident, than that the creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection" (Chapter 2, Sect.4)."
This paper is an imaginary debate, pro and con, to discuss the proposal by some African-Americans that they are owed reparations from the U.S. government for centuries of slavery imposed on their ancestors in the U.S..
Abstract This paper is an imaginary debate regarding the Congressional Slave Reparations Bill, HR 40 IH 107th Congress, 1st Session, H.R. 40, introduced on January 3, 2001 to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States between 1619 and 1865. For example the imaginary person in favor of reparations argues that it is the way we (the African-Americans) are treated in modern America that continues the slave mentality and has forced so many of them to become criminals or to drop out of society. On the other hand, the imaginary person in against reparations argues that frustration is the basis for our current troubled society; and, even if there is some polarized relationship between whites and blacks, this idea of a Slavery Reparations Bill makes that gulf even wider and deeper. The paper continues in this manner giving a statement pro and a statement against as if it were a debate.
From the Paper "PRO4: Of course it is. African-Americans DESERVE Compensation for past and present injustice. You don"t see whites dragged down for miles on a Texas road! Blacks are the majority of prisoners on death row. Rodney King wouldn"t have been beaten by the cops if he were white. SAT tests to get into colleges are still skewed toward white middle class students.
CON4: So, you"re using today's prejudices to squeeze money out of the government" Where are all the upper- and middle class black professionals who run away from the inner cities as soon as they have good paying jobs? Why aren"t they spearheading this Reparations drive" But, more to the point - what about Native Americans and the Chinese brought over to build the railroads as slave labor? Why limit compensation for slavery to African-Americans?
PRO5: Because we were the only ones dragged from out homelands and shipped over to America. That's a historical fact."
Abstract Quite a bit of fuss has been made about the great British industrial retardation debate. To this day, we are not precisely sure what the most important issues of this debate are. Some commentators claim that Britain simply entered a stage of slower natural growth after 1870. This paper will look at the so-called period of industrial retardation in Britain that began circa 1870. The primary objective is to evaluate what exactly happened and whether or not it is worthy of its title. Was industrial retardation characteristic of the whole period, or was it sporadic and limited to certain years? This is but one of many questions that will guide the paper towards its conclusion.
Abstract Summary: The repressed/false memory debate is marked by sharp polarities of what Loftus terms firm believers and skeptics who "point to the reconstructive nature of memory and ask for evidence and corroboration". The debate is far from theoretical since individual's reputations and futures are at stake. While the claims and arguments on both sides of the controversy will be discussed, the purpose here is to explore the nature of memory, repression and dissociation to determine if therapists can distinguish between true and false memories of childhood trauma.
