Midterm 1 Sample Multiple Choice Questions Essay - 1260 Words

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS: Midterm exam Total Value: 25 Marks Date: September 30th, 2009 Instructor: Benito Aloe Time: 40 minutes Name: _____________________Signature: ___________________ID No:________ Course materials permitted: None. Concordia Academic Code of Conduct will be strictly enforced. unless otherwise indicated. Choose the most appropriate, accurate or correct answer. Answers on questionnaire will not be corrected. At the end of the exam return the questionnaire and answer sheet. DO NOT WRITE ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE. ONE POINT PER QUESTION 1. Which of the following best describes the justification for â€Å"Affirmative Action†? a) Women and visible minorities are victims of systemic†¦show more content†¦Which of the following best describes the Charter remedy for punitive damages for infringement of your rights or freedoms? a) You are entitled to insist on criminal charges and the person will be fined; b) You are entitled to insist on criminal charges and the person will be fined in the case of intentional discrimination; c) You may receive additional damages if you can show pain and suffering; d) You may receive additional damages to set an example and deter further infringement; e) You may receive additional damages only in the case of intentional discrimination to set an example and deter further infringement; 7. Which of the following statements is true of the relationship between law and ethics? a) Ethics do not apply to business unless the business adopts them as policy; b) Laws cannot be adopted unless they are first accepted as rules of ethics; c) What is unethical is necessarily illegal; d) What is unethical is not necessarily illegal; e) Only (a) and (d); 8. Which of the following best describes the term â€Å"Affirmative Action†? a) Women and visible minorities areShow MoreRelatedEssay on Proj410 Midterm Exam Study Guide1287 Words   |  6 PagesPROJ410 Midterm Exam Study Guide YOU MAY WANT TO PRINT THIS GUIDE. 1. The Midterm Exam is open book, open notes. The maximum time that you can spend in the exam is two hours. If you have not clicked the Submit for Grade button by then, you will be automatically exited from the exam. In the Midterm Exam environment, the Windows clipboard is disabled, and so you still will not be able to copy exam questions or answers to or from other applications. 2. You should click the Save Answers button inRead MoreDante1739 Words   |  7 PagesQUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR BUSINESS (FALL 2013) SAMPLE TEST MIDTERM EXAMINATION PART 01: MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (20 POINTS) 1. (1 pt) Given the following two-person game, which strategy can be eliminated by use of dominance? Y1 Y2 13 0 X2 6 8 X3 12 14 a. X2 c. Y2 b. Y1 e. X1 d. X3 The following payoff table is using for next 6 questions. 2. (1 pt) What decision would an optimist make? a. Alternative 1 c. State of Nature A b. Alternative 2 Read MoreEssay about Acct-212 Midterm Study Guide1080 Words   |  5 PagesACCT212 - Financial Accounting Midterm Exam Study Guide YOU MAY WANT TO PRINT THIS GUIDE. 1. The Midterm Exam is open book, open notes. The maximum time you can spend in the exam is 3 hours, 30 minutes. If you have not clicked the Submit For Grade button by then, you will be automatically exited from the exam. In the Midterm Exam environment, the Windows clipboard is disabled, so you will not be able to copy exam questions or answers to or from other applications. 2. You should click the SaveRead MoreStatistics: Normal Distribution and Confidence Interval1734 Words   |  7 PagesStudy Set for Midterm II, Chapters 7 8 ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper. 1) The average score of all pro golfers for a particular course has a mean of 70 and a standard deviation of 3.0. Suppose 36 golfers played the course today. Find the probability that the average score of the 36 golfers exceeded 71. 2) At a computer manufacturing company, the actual size of computer chips is normally distributed with a mean of 1 centimeterRead MoreStatistics for Business1069 Words   |  5 Pages Statistics for Business, Stat 130 Midterm exam November 15, 2011 Form B Name: | I.D. Number: | Instructions: * Write your name and student ID. * You have one hour and thirty minutes to complete the exam. * You may use a formula sheet and a calculator. No other outside materials are allowed. * There are seven problems in the exam. * Total score of points is 20. Problem 1:(5 points) Multiple-choice questions: Question 1: If A and B are mutually exclusive eventsRead MorePdf, Docx2508 Words   |  11 PagesStatistical Problems 1. A pharmaceutical Co. wants to know if a new drug is superior to already existing drugs, or possible side effects. 2. How fuel efficient a certain car model is? 3. Is there any relationship between your GPA and employment opportunities? 4. If you answer all questions on a (T, F) (or multiple choice) examination completely randomly, what are your chances of passing? 5. What is the effect of package designs on sales? 6. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Question 1. What is StatisticsRead MoreEco 578 Midterm Examination Questions and Answers1853 Words   |  8 Pages578 Midterm Examination Questions and Answers Follow Below Link to Download Tutorial https://homeworklance.com/downloads/eco-578-midterm-examination-questions-and-answers/ For More Information Visit Our Website ( https://homeworklance.com/ ) Email us At: Support@homeworklance.com or lancehomework@gmail.com Midterm Exam †¢ There are 4 parts: Part A: Answer the following questions (1-8) Part B: True/ False (9-28) Part C: Select the correct answer for the following questions (29-38) Read MoreJst Any1257 Words   |  6 PagesCOM 110 Introduction to Business Information systems Prof. Mohamed Watfa AUTUMN SESSION 2010 SAMPLE MIDTERM EXAMINATION Time Allowed: 1.5 Hours Total Number of Questions: 25 Total Number of Pages (incl. this page): 9 DIRECTIONS TO CANDIDATES 1. 2. Total marks: 100 Answer ALL questions from parts 1 and 2. Part 1 contains 20 questions for a total of 20 points. Part 2 contains 4 essay questions for a total of 60 points. Part 3 contains a short case study and is worth 20 points. This exam isRead MoreEssay on Ms6000 Midterm898 Words   |  4 PagesView Attempt 1 of 1 Title: Started: Submitted: Time spent: Midterm Exam March 14, 2011 1:11 PM March 14, 2011 3:40 PM 02:28:35 Total score adjusted by 0.0 Maximum possible score: 100 Total score: 99/100 = 99% Done 1-5 True/False Questions 1. MT T/F Q1 The break-even point is the volume that equates total revenue with total cost and profit is zero. Student Response True Score: 2/2 Value 100% Correct Answer True 2. MT T/F Q2 Random variations component in a regression model are movementsRead MoreMissing Home so Much1011 Words   |  5 Pages Office Room Number: AT 38 Home Telephone: 03-531-8555 Fax: 03-531-1668 Email: john06@mail.knu.edu.tw Office Hours: Tuesday 10:00 -- 1:00 p.m. Wednesday: 11:00 -- 12:00 noon Thursday: 11:00 -- 4:00 p.m. By Appointment! Course Description This course is an English language proficiency test course designed for

Moral Responsibility and Harry Frankfurt - 1286 Words

The incompatibilists argue that one is morally responsible for what she has done given that she could have done otherwise. Further, they think that if determinism is true then one could not have done otherwise, so if determinism is true, one is not morally responsible for things she has done. In debates surrounding the issue of free will, philosophers have focused on discussing whether determinism is true or false. Harry Frankfurt thinks even though the requirement of alternative possibilities in order to be held morally responsible for our actions seems intuitively plausible, it is a questionable premise in the argument provided by incompatibilists. Frankfurt calls the premise that â€Å"a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise† the principle of alternative possibilities or PAP (Frankfurt, 829). He argues that PAP is false and a person can be held morally responsible even if she could not have done otherwise. Frankfurt presents counterexamples to PAP to prove its falsity. He tells us to assume that there is a universal controller that wants to ensure certain outcomes. The controller makes it impossible for an agent to act otherwise, which causes her to act exactly as the controller wishes. Frankfurt argues that in such a case it is true that agent is not responsible for her action and that she could not have done otherwise, but he thinks that the agent’s lack of responsibility does not follow from her inability to do otherwise.Show MoreRelatedThe Principle Of Alternate Possibilities1210 Words   |  5 Pagesalternate possibility, to do so. But, is this really the case? Is it truly the case that you need to be making a choice between two genuine alternatives in order to be responsible for your actions? Harry Frankfurt famously argued that alternate possibilities are not necessary for moral responsibility, and therefore that PAP is false. Consider a case in which one subject, Jones, wishes to vote Democratic in a forthcoming election. Now suppose that another subject, Black, wants very badly for JonesRead MoreDavid Hume : Free Will And Determinism1261 Words   |  6 Pagesincorrect. Alike Hume, 20th century author Harry G. Frankfurt concludes in his essay â€Å"Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility† that the two major concepts are compatible. These two authors are among the most famous of Compatibilists (hence the fact that they believe free will and determinism are compatible ideas) in philosophical history. The question that then arises in the realm of compatibilism particularly, is one dealing with moral responsibility: If our paths in life are not totally pre-determinedRead MoreThe Metaphysical Issue Of Free Will1368 Words   |  6 PagesIf we are not free to choose these actions, then are we responsible for them? The importance of free will then is made more salient when the concept of moral responsibility is introduced. These moral obligations can reflect on how we blame, praise or judge certain courses of action. Harry Frankfurt debates the issue concerning moral responsibility without the presence of free will. However, his hypothetical demonstration cannot exist, therefore his account does not adequately address the problem withRead MoreHarry Frankfurt s Arguments For The Compatibilism Of Determinism And Freedom Of Will1578 Words   |  7 PagesIn this paper, I will consider Harry Frankfurt s arguments for the compatibilism of determinism and freedom of will, as presented in Freedom of Will and the Concept of Person and some problems that arise with his reasoning. I will claim that those problems do not come from any propositions central to Frankfurt s argument, but rather from his neglect of the issue of the relationship between freedom of will and moral responsibility. I will argue, that Frankfurt makes an invalid implicit assumptionRead MoreThe Case Of The Unwilling Addict1479 Words   |  6 PagesDesires and Moral Responsibility We have certain notions of what free-will is. But before we can discuss the notion of free-will, we need to establish the meaning of this term. Having free-will refers to one’s choices or desires (O’Connor, â€Å"Free Will†). A person who is able to act according to the determinations of their will (i.e., choices or desires) is free (Russell, â€Å"Hume on Free Will†). But is it always fair to blame people for performing morally wrong actions when they act on the basis of theirRead MoreThe Importance Of Moral Responsibility For Something We Do1427 Words   |  6 Pagesthis essay I will argue that moral responsibility for something we do does require that we have alternate possibilities in some sense. I will explore the criticisms of this from Frankfurt, with the suggestion that Frankfurt cases are not as damaging as they seem. Finally, I will attempt to show that it is philosophically safer to adopt Otsuka’s slight revision of alternate possibiliti es. It has long been taken for granted that for an agent to have moral responsibility for an action, they must haveRead MoreFree Will And Determinism Vs. Determinism1074 Words   |  5 PagesFree Will and Determinism For something to occur in this world, there must be the course and the reason for the occurrence, and which will then affect other future consequences. The theory of determinism states that all events whether moral choices or vices are predetermined by other existing courses. In the same connection, the free will of humans is connected to determinism since humans do things the best way, or they cannot act otherwise. According to Saul McLeod, â€Å"the determinist approach proposesRead MoreFrankfurt : The Principle Of Alternative Possibilities ( Pap )3419 Words   |  14 PagesZhiyuan Li Philosophy 3000 Frankfurt Without Counter-Examples: An Alternative Possibility Harry Frankfurt (1969) argues that the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP): (PAP) a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise (829) is false, because there are cases where a person is morally responsible for what she has done even if she could not have done otherwise (835-6). Call such cases Frankfurt-style cases. A lot of literature thereafter has beenRead MoreCausal Determinism Threatens This Principal904 Words   |  4 PagesAdditionally, the concept of free will often extends itself to the concept of moral responsibility. The moralist would like the concept of free will to be a truth, because he or she believes that if individuals act freely, they can be held responsible for their actions. This is the concept behind the principle of alternative possibilities. In his essay, Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility, Harry G. Frankfurt defines the principle of alternative possibilities as, â€Å"†¦[when] a person is morallyRead MoreCausal Ditermism in the Movie Groundhog Day1964 Words   |  8 Pagesmorally responsible for his actions? According to compatibilists Harry Frankfurt, Susan Wolf, and John Martin Fischer in certain events where one â€Å"could not do otherwise† one could still have free will and moral responsibility over their actions. With the example of Phil Connors and the ideas of compatibilists Harry Frankfurt, Susan Wolf, and John Martin Fischer show that determinism is compatible with free will and moral responsibility. While determinists’ view that everything that happens is causally

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 18-20 Free Essays

string(56) " they moved into the shadows just as Fache rushed past\." CHAPTER 18 Fache sprinted down the Grand Gallery as Collet’s radio blared over the distant sound of the alarm. â€Å"He jumped!† Collet was yelling. â€Å"I’m showing the signal out on Place du Carrousel! Outside the bathroom window! And it’s not moving at all! Jesus, I think Langdon has just committed suicide!† Fache heard the words, but they made no sense. We will write a custom essay sample on The Da Vinci Code Chapter 18-20 or any similar topic only for you Order Now He kept running. The hallway seemed never-ending. As he sprinted past Sauniere’s body, he set his sights on the partitions at the far end of the Denon Wing. The alarm was getting louder now. â€Å"Wait!† Collet’s voice blared again over the radio. â€Å"He’s moving! My God, he’s alive. Langdon’s moving!† Fache kept running, cursing the length of the hallway with every step. â€Å"Langdon’s moving faster!† Collet was still yelling on the radio. â€Å"He’s running down Carrousel. Wait†¦ he’s picking up speed. He’s moving too fast!† Arriving at the partitions, Fache snaked his way through them, saw the rest room door, and ran for it. The walkie-talkie was barely audible now over the alarm. â€Å"He must be in a car! I think he’s in a car! I can’t – â€Å" Collet’s words were swallowed by the alarm as Fache finally burst into the men’s room with his gun drawn. Wincing against the piercing shrill, he scanned the area. The stalls were empty. The bathroom deserted. Fache’s eyes moved immediately to the shattered window at the far end of the room. He ran to the opening and looked over the edge. Langdon was nowhere to be seen. Fache could not imagine anyone risking a stunt like this. Certainly if he had dropped that far, he would be badly injured. The alarm cut off finally, and Collet’s voice became audible again over the walkie-talkie. â€Å"†¦ moving south†¦ faster†¦ crossing the Seine on Pont du Carrousel!† Fache turned to his left. The only vehicle on Pont du Carrousel was an enormous twin-bed Trailor delivery truck moving southward away from the Louvre. The truck’s open-air bed was covered with a vinyl tarp, roughly resembling a giant hammock. Fache felt a shiver of apprehension. That truck, only moments ago, had probably been stopped at a red light directly beneath the rest room window. An insane risk, Fache told himself. Langdon had no way of knowing what the truck was carrying beneath that tarp. What if the truck were carrying steel? Or cement? Or even garbage? A forty-foot leap? It was madness. â€Å"The dot is turning!† Collet called. â€Å"He’s turning right on Pont des Saints-Peres!† Sure enough, the Trailor truck that had crossed the bridge was slowing down and making a right turn onto Pont des Saints-Peres. So be it, Fache thought. Amazed, he watched the truck disappear around the corner. Collet was already radioing the agents outside, pulling them off the Louvre perimeter and sending them to their patrol cars in pursuit, all the while broadcasting the truck’s changing location like some kind of bizarre play-by-play. It’s over, Fache knew. His men would have the truck surrounded within minutes. Langdon was not going anywhere. Stowing his weapon, Fache exited the rest room and radioed Collet. â€Å"Bring my car around. I want to be there when we make the arrest.† As Fache jogged back down the length of the Grand Gallery, he wondered if Langdon had even survived the fall. Not that it mattered. Langdon ran. Guilty as charged. Only fifteen yards from the rest room, Langdon and Sophie stood in the darkness of the Grand Gallery, their backs pressed to one of the large partitions that hid the bathrooms from the gallery. They had barely managed to hide themselves before Fache had darted past them, gun drawn, and disappeared into the bathroom. The last sixty seconds had been a blur. Langdon had been standing inside the men’s room refusing to run from a crime he didn’t commit, when Sophie began eyeing the plate-glass window and examining the alarm mesh running through it. Then she peered downward into the street, as if measuring the drop. â€Å"With a little aim, you can get out of here,† she said. Aim? Uneasy, he peered out the rest room window. Up the street, an enormous twin-bed eighteen-wheeler was headed for the stoplight beneath the window. Stretched across the truck’s massive cargo bay was a blue vinyl tarp, loosely covering the truck’s load. Langdon hoped Sophie was not thinking what she seemed to be thinking. â€Å"Sophie, there’s no way I’m jump – â€Å"Take out the tracking dot.† Bewildered, Langdon fumbled in his pocket until he found the tiny metallic disk. Sophie took it from him and strode immediately to the sink. She grabbed a thick bar of soap, placed the tracking dot on top of it, and used her thumb to push the disk down hard into the bar. As the disk sank into the soft surface, she pinched the hole closed, firmly embedding the device in the bar. Handing the bar to Langdon, Sophie retrieved a heavy, cylindrical trash can from under the sinks. Before Langdon could protest, Sophie ran at the window, holding the can before her like a battering ram. Driving the bottom of the trash can into the center of the window, she shattered the glass. Alarms erupted overhead at earsplitting decibel levels. â€Å"Give me the soap!† Sophie yelled, barely audible over the alarm. Langdon thrust the bar into her hand. Palming the soap, she peered out the shattered window at the eighteen-wheeler idling below. The target was plenty big – an expansive, stationary tarp – and it was less than ten feet from the side of the building. As the traffic lights prepared to change, Sophie took a deep breath and lobbed the bar of soap out into the night. The soap plummeted downward toward the truck, landing on the edge of the tarp, and sliding downward into the cargo bay just as the traffic light turned green. â€Å"Congratulations,† Sophie said, dragging him toward the door. â€Å"You just escaped from the Louvre.† Fleeing the men’s room, they moved into the shadows just as Fache rushed past. You read "The Da Vinci Code Chapter 18-20" in category "Essay examples" Now, with the fire alarm silenced, Langdon could hear the sounds of DCPJ sirens tearing away from the Louvre. A police exodus.Fache had hurried off as well, leaving the Grand Gallery deserted. â€Å"There’s an emergency stairwell about fifty meters back into the Grand Gallery,† Sophie said. â€Å"Now that the guards are leaving the perimeter, we can get out of here.† Langdon decided not to say another word all evening. Sophie Neveu was clearly a hell of a lot smarter than he was. CHAPTER 19 The Church of Saint-Sulpice, it is said, has the most eccentric history of any building in Paris. Built over the ruins of an ancient temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, the church possesses an architectural footprint matching that of Notre Dame to within inches. The sanctuary has played host to the baptisms of the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire, as well as the marriage of Victor Hugo. The attached seminary has a well-documented history of unorthodoxy and was once the clandestine meeting hall for numerous secret societies. Tonight, the cavernous nave of Saint-Sulpice was as silent as a tomb, the only hint of life the faint smell of incense from mass earlier that evening. Silas sensed an uneasiness in Sister Sandrine’s demeanor as she led him into the sanctuary. He was not surprised by this. Silas was accustomed to people being uncomfortable with his appearance. â€Å"You’re an American,† she said. â€Å"French by birth,† Silas responded. â€Å"I had my calling in Spain, and I now study in the United States.† Sister Sandrine nodded. She was a small woman with quiet eyes. â€Å"And you have never seen Saint- Sulpice?† â€Å"I realize this is almost a sin in itself.† â€Å"She is more beautiful by day.† â€Å"I am certain. Nonetheless, I am grateful that you would provide me this opportunity tonight.† â€Å"The abbe requested it. You obviously have powerful friends.† You have no idea, Silas thought. As he followed Sister Sandrine down the main aisle, Silas was surprised by the austerity of the sanctuary. Unlike Notre Dame with its colorful frescoes, gilded altar-work, and warm wood, Saint- Sulpice was stark and cold, conveying an almost barren quality reminiscent of the ascetic cathedrals of Spain. The lack of decor made the interior look even more expansive, and as Silasgazed up into the soaring ribbed vault of the ceiling, he imagined he was standing beneath the hull of an enormous overturned ship. A fitting image, he thought. The brotherhood’s ship was about to be capsized forever. Feeling eager to get to work, Silas wished Sister Sandrine would leave him. She was a small woman whom Silas could incapacitate easily, but he had vowed not to use force unless absolutely necessary. She is a woman of the cloth, and it is not her fault the brotherhood chose her church as a hiding place for their keystone.She should not be punished for the sins of others. â€Å"I am embarrassed, Sister, that you were awoken on my behalf.† â€Å"Not at all. You are in Paris a short time. You should not miss Saint-Sulpice. Are your interests in the church more architectural or historical?† â€Å"Actually, Sister, my interests are spiritual.† She gave a pleasant laugh. â€Å"That goes without saying. I simply wondered where to begin your tour.† Silas felt his eyes focus on the altar. â€Å"A tour is unnecessary. You have been more than kind. I can show myself around.† â€Å"It is no trouble,† she said. â€Å"After all, I am awake.† Silas stopped walking. They had reached the front pew now, and the altar was only fifteen yards away. He turned his massive body fully toward the small woman, and he could sense her recoil as she gazed up into his red eyes. â€Å"If it does not seem too rude, Sister, I am not accustomed to simply walking into a house of God and taking a tour. Would you mind if I took some time alone to pray before I look around?† Sister Sandrine hesitated. â€Å"Oh, of course. I shall wait in the rear of the church for you.† Silas put a soft but heavy hand on her shoulder and peered down. â€Å"Sister, I feel guilty already for having awoken you. To ask you to stay awake is too much. Please, you should return to bed. I can enjoy your sanctuary and then let myself out.† She looked uneasy. â€Å"Are you sure you won’t feel abandoned?† â€Å"Not at all. Prayer is a solitary joy.† â€Å"As you wish.† Silas took his hand from her shoulder. â€Å"Sleep well, Sister. May the peace of the Lord be with you.† â€Å"And also with you.† Sister Sandrine headed for the stairs. â€Å"Please be sure the door closes tightly on your way out.† â€Å"I will be sure of it.† Silas watched her climb out of sight. Then he turned and knelt in the front pew, feeling the cilice cut into his leg. Dear God, I offer up to you this work I do today†¦ . Crouching in the shadows of the choir balcony high above the altar, Sister Sandrine peered silently through the balustrade at the cloaked monk kneeling alone. The sudden dread in her soul made it hard to stay still. For a fleeting instant, she wondered if this mysterious visitor could be the enemy they had warned her about, and if tonight she would have to carry out the orders she had been holding all these years. She decided to stay there in the darkness and watch his every move. CHAPTER 20 Emerging from the shadows, Langdon and Sophie moved stealthily up the deserted Grand Gallery corridor toward the emergency exit stairwell. As he moved, Langdon felt like he was trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle in the dark. The newest aspect of this mystery was a deeply troubling one: The captain of the Judicial Police is trying to frame me for murder â€Å"Do you think,† he whispered,† that maybe Fache wrote that message on the floor?† Sophie didn’t even turn. â€Å"Impossible.† Langdon wasn’t so sure. â€Å"He seems pretty intent on making me look guilty. Maybe he thought writing my name on the floor would help his case?† â€Å"The Fibonacci sequence? The P. S. ? All the Da Vinci and goddess symbolism? That had to be my grandfather.† Langdon knew she was right. The symbolism of the clues meshed too perfectly – the pentacle, TheVitruvian Man, Da Vinci, the goddess, and even the Fibonacci sequence. A coherent symbolic set, as iconographers would call it. All inextricably tied. â€Å"And his phone call to me this afternoon,† Sophie added. â€Å"He said he had to tell me something. I’m certain his message at the Louvre was his final effort to tell me something important, something he thought you could help me understand.† Langdon frowned. O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! He wished he could comprehend the message, both for Sophie’s well-being and for his own. Things had definitely gotten worse since he first laid eyes on the cryptic words. His fake leap out the bathroom window was not going to help Langdon’s popularity with Fache one bit. Somehow he doubted the captain of the French police would see the humor in chasing down and arresting a bar of soap. â€Å"The doorway isn’t much farther,† Sophie said.† Do you think there’s a possibility that the numbers in your grandfather’s message hold the key to understanding the other lines?† Langdon had once worked on a series of Baconian manuscripts that contained epigraphical ciphers in which certain lines of code were clues as to how to decipher the other lines. â€Å"I’ve been thinking about the numbers all night. Sums, quotients, products. I don’t see anything. Mathematically, they’re arranged at random. Cryptographic gibberish.† â€Å"And yet they’re all part of the Fibonacci sequence. That can’t be coincidence.† â€Å"It’s not. Using Fibonacci numbers was my grandfather’s way of waving another flag at me – like writing the message in English, or arranging himself like my favorite piece of art, or drawing a pentacle on himself. All of it was to catch my attention.† â€Å"The pentacle has meaning to you?† â€Å"Yes. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but the pentacle was a special symbol between my grandfather and me when I was growing up. We used to play Tarot cards for fun, and my indicator card always turned out to be from the suit of pentacles. I’m sure he stacked the deck, but pentacles got to be our little joke.† Langdon felt a chill. They played Tarot? The medieval Italian card game was so replete with hidden heretical symbolism that Langdon had dedicated an entire chapter in his new manuscript to the Tarot. The game’s twenty-two cards bore names like The Female Pope, The Empress, and The Star.Originally, Tarot had been devised as a secret means to pass along ideologies banned by the Church. Now, Tarot’s mystical qualities were passed on by modern fortune-tellers. The Tarot indicator suit for feminine divinity is pentacles, Langdon thought, realizing that if Sauniere had been stacking his granddaughter’s deck for fun, pentacles was an apropos inside joke. They arrived at the emergency stairwell, and Sophie carefully pulled open the door. No alarm sounded. Only the doors to the outside were wired. Sophie led Langdon down a tight set of switchback stairs toward the ground level, picking up speed as they went. â€Å"Your grandfather,† Langdon said, hurrying behind her,† when he told you about the pentacle, did he mention goddess worship or any resentment of the Catholic Church?† Sophie shook her head. â€Å"I was more interested in the mathematics of it – the Divine Proportion, PHI, Fibonacci sequences, that sort of thing.† Langdon was surprised. â€Å"Your grandfather taught you about the number PHI?† â€Å"Of course. The Divine Proportion.† Her expression turned sheepish. â€Å"In fact, he used to joke that I was half divine†¦ you know, because of the letters in my name.† Langdon considered it a moment and then groaned. s-o-PHI-e. Still descending, Langdon refocused on PHI.He was starting to realize that Sauniere’s clues were even more consistent than he had first imagined. Da Vinci†¦ Fibonacci numbers†¦ the pentacle. Incredibly, all of these things were connected by a single concept so fundamental to art history that Langdon often spent several class periods on the topic. PHI. He felt himself suddenly reeling back to Harvard, standing in front of his† Symbolism in Art† class, writing his favorite number on the chalkboard. 1. 618 Langdon turned to face his sea of eager students. â€Å"Who can tell me what this number is?† A long-legged math major in back raised his hand. â€Å"That’s the number PHI.† He pronounced it fee. â€Å"Nice job, Stettner,† Langdon said. â€Å"Everyone, meet PHI.† â€Å"Not to be confused with PI,† Stettner added, grinning. â€Å"As we mathematicians like to say: PHI is one H of a lot cooler than PI!† Langdon laughed, but nobody else seemed to get the joke. Stettner slumped.† This number PHI,† Langdon continued,† one-point-six-one-eight, is a very important number in art. Who can tell me why?† Stettner tried to redeem himself. â€Å"Because it’s so pretty?† Everyone laughed.† Actually,† Langdon said,† Stettner’s right again. PHI is generally considered the most beautiful number in the universe.† The laughter abruptly stopped, and Stettner gloated. As Langdon loaded his slide projector, he explained that the number PHI was derived from the Fibonacci sequence – a progression famous not only because the sum of adjacent terms equaled the next term, but because the quotients of adjacent terms possessed the astonishing property of approaching the number 1. 618 – PHI! Despite PHI’s seemingly mystical mathematical origins, Langdon explained, the truly mind-boggling aspect of PHI was its role as a fundamental building block in nature. Plants, animals, and even human beings all possessed dimensional properties that adhered with eerie exactitude to the ratio of PHI to 1. â€Å"PHI’s ubiquity in nature,† Langdon said, killing the lights,† clearly exceeds coincidence, and so the ancients assumed the number PHI must have been preordained by the Creator of the universe. Early scientists heralded one-point-six-one-eight as the Divine Proportion.† â€Å"Hold on,† said a young woman in the front row. â€Å"I’m a bio major and I’ve never seen this Divine Proportion in nature.† â€Å"No?† Langdon grinned. â€Å"Ever study the relationship between females and males in a honeybee community?† â€Å"Sure. The female bees always outnumber the male bees.† â€Å"Correct. And did you know that if you divide the number of female bees by the number of male bees in any beehive in the world, you always get the same number?† â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Yup. PHI.† The girl gaped. â€Å"NO WAY!† â€Å"Way!† Langdon fired back, smiling as he projected a slide of a spiral seashell. â€Å"Recognize this?† â€Å"It’s a nautilus,† the bio major said. â€Å"A cephalopod mollusk that pumps gas into its chambered shell to adjust its buoyancy.† â€Å"Correct. And can you guess what the ratio is of each spiral’s diameter to the next?† The girl looked uncertain as she eyed the concentric arcs of the nautilus spiral. Langdon nodded. â€Å"PHI. The Divine Proportion. One-point-six-one-eight to one.† The girl looked amazed. Langdon advanced to the next slide – a close-up of a sunflower’s seed head. â€Å"Sunflower seeds grow in opposing spirals. Can you guess the ratio of each rotation’s diameter to the next?† â€Å"PHI?† everyone said.† Bingo.† Langdon began racing through slides now – spiraled pinecone petals, leaf arrangement on plant stalks, insect segmentation – all displaying astonishing obedience to the Divine Proportion. â€Å"This is amazing!† someone cried out. â€Å"Yeah,† someone else said,† but what does it have to do with art?† â€Å"Aha!† Langdon said. â€Å"Glad you asked.† He pulled up another slide – a pale yellow parchment displaying Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous male nude – The Vitruvian Man – named for Marcus Vitruvius, the brilliant Roman architect who praised the Divine Proportion in his text De Architectura. â€Å"Nobody understood better than Da Vinci the divine structure of the human body. Da Vinci actually exhumed corpses to measure the exact proportions of human bone structure. He was the first to show that the human body is literally made of building blocks whose proportional ratios always equal PHI.† Everyone in class gave him a dubious look. â€Å"Don’t believe me?† Langdon challenged. â€Å"Next time you’re in the shower, take a tape measure.† A couple of football players snickered. â€Å"Not just you insecure jocks,† Langdon prompted. â€Å"All of you. Guys and girls. Try it. Measure the distance from the tip of your head to the floor. Then divide that by the distance from your bellybutton to the floor. Guess what number you get.† â€Å"Not PHI!† one of the jocks blurted out in disbelief. â€Å"Yes, PHI,† Langdon replied. â€Å"One-point-six-one-eight. Want another example? Measure the distance from your shoulder to your fingertips, and then divide it by the distance from your elbow to your fingertips. PHI again. Another? Hip to floor divided by knee to floor. PHI again. Finger joints. Toes. Spinal divisions. PHI. PHI. PHI. My friends, each of you is a walking tribute to the Divine Proportion.† Even in the darkness, Langdon could see they were all astounded. He felt a familiar warmth inside. This is why he taught. â€Å"My friends, as you can see, the chaos of the world has an underlying order. When the ancients discovered PHI, they were certain they had stumbled across God’s building block for the world, and they worshipped Nature because of that. And one can understand why. God’s hand is evident in Nature, and even to this day there exist pagan, Mother Earth-revering religions. Many of us celebrate nature the way the pagans did, and don’t even know it. May Day is a perfect example, the celebration of spring†¦ the earth coming back to life to produce her bounty. The mysterious magic inherent in the Divine Proportion was written at the beginning of time. Man is simply playing by Nature’s rules, and because art is man’s attempt to imitate the beauty of the Creator’s hand, you can imagine we might be seeing a lot of instances of the Divine Proportion in art this semester.† Over the next half hour, Langdon showed them slides of artwork by Michelangelo, Albrecht Durer, Da Vinci, and many others, demonstrating each artist’s intentional and rigorous adherence to the Divine Proportion in the layout of his compositions. Langdon unveiled PHI in the architectural dimensions of the Greek Parthenon, the pyramids of Egypt, and even the United Nations Building in New York. PHI appeared in the organizational structures of Mozart’s sonatas, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as well as the works of Bartok, Debussy, and Schubert. The number PHI, Langdon told them, was even used by Stradivarius to calculate the exact placement of the f-holes in the construction of his famous violins. â€Å"In closing,† Langdon said, walking to the chalkboard,† we return to symbols† He drew five intersecting lines that formed a five-pointed star. â€Å"This symbol is one of the most powerful images you will see this term. Formally known as a pentagram – or pentacle, as the ancients called it – this symbol is considered both divine and magical by many cultures. Can anyone tell me why that might be?† Stettner, the math major, raised his hand. â€Å"Because if you draw a pentagram, the lines automatically divide themselves into segments according to the Divine Proportion.† Langdon gave the kid a proud nod. â€Å"Nice job. Yes, the ratios of line segments in a pentacle allequal PHI, making this symbol the ultimate expression of the Divine Proportion. For this reason, the five-pointed star has always been the symbol for beauty and perfection associated with the goddess and the sacred feminine.† The girls in class beamed. â€Å"One note, folks. We’ve only touched on Da Vinci today, but we’ll be seeing a lot more of him this semester. Leonardo was a well-documented devotee of the ancient ways of the goddess. Tomorrow, I’ll show you his fresco The Last Supper, which is one of the most astonishing tributes to the sacred feminine you will ever see.† â€Å"You’re kidding, right?† somebody said. â€Å"I thought The Last Supper was about Jesus!† Langdon winked. â€Å"There are symbols hidden in places you would never imagine.† â€Å"Come on,† Sophie whispered. â€Å"What’s wrong? We’re almost there. Hurry!† Langdon glanced up, feeling himself return from faraway thoughts. He realized he was standing at a dead stop on the stairs, paralyzed by sudden revelation. O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! Sophie was looking back at him. It can’t be that simple, Langdon thought. But he knew of course that it was. There in the bowels of the Louvre†¦ with images of PHI and Da Vinci swirling through his mind, Robert Langdon suddenly and unexpectedly deciphered Sauniere’s code. â€Å"O, Draconian devil!† he said. â€Å"Oh, lame saint! It’s the simplest kind of code!† Sophie was stopped on the stairs below him, staring up in confusion. A code? She had been pondering the words all night and had not seen a code. Especially a simple one. â€Å"You said it yourself.† Langdon’s voice reverberated with excitement. â€Å"Fibonacci numbers only have meaning in their proper order. Otherwise they’re mathematical gibberish.† Sophie had no idea what he was talking about. The Fibonacci numbers? She was certain they had been intended as nothing more than a means to get the Cryptography Department involved tonight. They have another purpose? She plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled out the printout, studying her grandfather’s message again. 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! What about the numbers? â€Å"The scrambled Fibonacci sequence is a clue,† Langdon said, taking the printout. â€Å"The numbers area hint as to how to decipher the rest of the message. He wrote the sequence out of order to tell us to apply the same concept to the text. O, Draconian devil? Oh, lame saint? Those lines mean nothing. They are simply letters written out of order.† Sophie needed only an instant to process Langdon’s implication, and it seemed laughably simple. â€Å"You think this message is†¦ une anagramme?† She stared at him. â€Å"Like a word jumble from a newspaper?† Langdon could see the skepticism on Sophie’s face and certainly understood. Few people realized that anagrams, despite being a trite modern amusement, had a rich history of sacred symbolism. The mystical teachings of the Kabbala drew heavily on anagrams – rearranging the letters of Hebrew words to derive new meanings. French kings throughout the Renaissance were so convinced that anagrams held magic power that they appointed royal anagrammatists to help them make better decisions by analyzing words in important documents. The Romans actually referred to the study of anagrams as ars magna – â€Å"the great art.† Langdon looked up at Sophie, locking eyes with her now. â€Å"Your grandfather’s meaning was right in front of us all along, and he left us more than enough clues to see it.† Without another word, Langdon pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and rearranged the letters in each line. O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! was a perfect anagram of†¦ Leonardo Da Vinci! The Mona Lisa! How to cite The Da Vinci Code Chapter 18-20, Essay examples

The Satire of Gullivers Travels free essay sample

The paper discusses the ideas behind certain aspects of Jonathan Swifts satire, `Gullivers Travels. The paper discusses how in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels,` the religious war between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscuins is symbolic to the war between France and England, and more generally between the Protestants and the Catholics. The paper examines how the King of Brobdingnagia indirectly shows the reader how corrupt English and moreover European society and government were. It shows too how the relative sizes of the people that Gulliver visits is symbolic to the nature of each represented society. `In his satire, Gullivers Travels, Jonathan Swift exposes the vices of a candid society and a backwards government through the eyes of a similarly candid member of that same society. Traveling in a fictional world, Gulliver is exposed to many things, from a land of tiny people, to a land of an over-sized populace, and from floating islands, to a kingdom ruled by an elite society of horses. We will write a custom essay sample on The Satire of Gullivers Travels or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The world Swift creates is his own world, in a compilation of symbolic peoples, wars, lives, laws and the nature of the individuals in this creation.`