Friday, December 27, 2019

Essay about The Lottery - 534 Words

Shirley Jacksons, The Lottery, has raised questions in the back of every readers mind towards the destructive yet blind rituals of mankind. A reflection of ourselves is what we see when looking through the pond of Jacksons mind. The Lottery clearly expressed Jacksons feelings concerning traditional rituals through her story, opened the eyes of its readers to properly classify and question some of todays traditions as cruel, and allowed room to foretell the outcome of these unusual traditions. Jacksons feelings towards the misuse of tradition as an excuse to cause harm have triggered her creativity for the creation of The Lottery. Jackson obviously saw examples of this misuse of tradition and ingeniously placed it into an†¦show more content†¦Hazing is a ritual performed in high schools, gangs, colleges, and even your own best friend can be in on it. Perhaps just as barbaric as the stoning, no good at all results from hazing. The running of the bulls, in Italy, may also be co mpared to The Lottery. Many deaths have been cause by the bulls running ramped through the streets, yet this tradition is not about to be abolished due to the endless support of participators along with media and tourists. What does it take to end these cruel and misunderstood traditions and evolve into a more civilized society where we can see what kind of harm they cause? In the story, the townspeople were against abolishing the tradition of stoning and if our society feels the same, there will never be a chance for our civilization to grow together. What ever happened to the townspeople in this story? Could they have finally given in and abolished the lottery for the next year? Perhaps they never did abolish the lottery and eventually destroyed each other on a wide-scale basis. Any way you chose to compare the situations, our future depends heavily upon the allowance of evolution through our present standpoints and how we select to alter it. Human nature will prevail no matter wh at our society wants to alter; however, who is to say that human nature is a violent one without compassion for fellow spirit? ShirleyShow MoreRelatedThe Lottery1112 Words   |  5 PagesPAPER INTERDICIPLINARY LITERATURE â€Å"THE LOTTERY† [pic] Compiled by : Nida Agniya Septiara (F1F010038) Laeli Fadilah (F1F010052) Lisa Ayu Christiana Putri (F1F010022) Yunita Marangin Lumbantoruan (F1F010084) JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT ENGLISH LITERATURE 2013 INTRODUCTION Read More The Lottery Essay811 Words   |  4 Pagesword lottery, you probably think of winning a large sum of money before being stoned to death. quot; The Lotteryquot; by Shirley Jackson brings this horrible idea to life. While the overall mood of the story depicts a typical day in a small rural town, through great use of imagery and irony, one is set up for an unusual ending. Shirley Jackson uses the element of surprise. The way of the story ends is unlike anyone could predict. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The main object of The Lottery is theRead MoreThe Lottery Essay617 Words   |  3 PagesJacksons most famous short story, quot;The Lotteryquot;. Her insights and observations about man and society are disturbing; and in the case of quot;The Lottery,quot; they are shocking. quot;The themes themselves are not new, evil cloaked in seeming good, prejudice and hypocrisy, loneliness and frustration, psychological studies of minds that have slipped the bonds of realityquot; (Friedman). Literary critic, Elizabeth Janeway wrote that, quot; The Lottery makes its effect without having to stateRead MoreSummary of The Lottery872 Words   |  4 PagesThe short story that this paper will look at is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It was first published in The New Yorker on 26 June 1948. It is one of the most famous short stories in the history of United States literature history. This paper is a summary of the story from my point of view. The Lottery is a work of fiction that demonstrates rebellion and conformity while insinuating that a lottery is part of a ritualistic ceremony. The author was born in 1919. She struggled with depression throughoutRead MoreThe Lottery Essay938 Words   |  4 Pagesthe lottery, but not its exact purpose. Do the townspeople know? Is this omission significant? Intentional? No, the townspeople do not know the lottery’s exact purpose. This omission is not significant because it seems there is no point in the lottery and why these people are operating such horrid acts. It is more intentional; the townspeople are playing it safe thinking they are keeping a tradition, yet no one seems brave enough to ask why? 3. Why is much of the history of the lottery andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Lottery 1036 Words   |  5 PagesSince reading The Lottery by Shirely Jackson, I’ve been thinking more about culture, traditions, and perspective. Not just that, but how it can sometimes take adopting an unbiased, non judgmental, or outside perspective in order to see things for what they really are. The way that the narrator in this story adopts such a position allows for a clearer view of the events of the story. In The Lottery, the narrator speaks to us in a non participant and objective manner. We hear and see events unfoldRead MoreLottery Is Good or Not1635 Words   |  7 PagesIs lottery a good idea? These days, a lot of people play lottery and spend a certain amount of money on it while few of them earn back what they spend. Someone says lottery is a kind of tax collected by the government on peoples’ luck and desire to be rich. In another aspect, lottery is also gambling, and it could make people to be a millionaire in a night if the person is lucky enough, however, it has a negative effect that it causes inequality, crimes and so on. So lottery is not a positive ideaRead MoreThe Day Of The Lottery1397 Words   |  6 Pagesin a small town are gathering on a warm, beautiful summer day in the square for the lottery. The children, who have just finished school, are playing while waiting on their parents to meet them in the square and are gathering up rocks into a pile off to the side. Everyone enters the square and the parents call their children over to stand with the family. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves, the men who conduct the lottery, arrive in the square with the black box. The box is falling apart and Mr. SummersRead More The Lottery Essay946 Words   |  4 Pages The Message Sent in â€Å"The Lottery† nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The shock value of Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery† is not only widely known, but also widely felt. Her writing style effectively allows the reader to pass a judgment on themselves and the society in which they live. In â€Å"The Lottery† Jackson is making a comparison to human nature. It is prominent in all human civilizations to take a chance as a source of entertainment and as this chance is taken, something is both won and lost. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;AsRead MoreThe Lottery. The Lottery Has Three Adaptations And Those1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe Lottery The Lottery has three adaptations and those would include the Novel, Film, and Graphic Novel. Out of all three each have a somewhat similar setting and character build but also have a little tweak to each one. Now of course when first reading it I thought the setting was more in the old days but soon I found out it was done in a modern time. Each character has a specific role and they do share a story but out of all the adaptations the graphic novel describes them the best. Of course

Thursday, December 19, 2019

The Fourth Amendment, And California V. Greenwood

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution states that people have the right â€Å"to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,† but the issue at hand here is whether this also applies to the searches of open fields and of objects in plain view and whether the fourth amendment provides protection over these as well. In order to reaffirm the courts’ decision on this matter I will be relating their decisions in the cases of Oliver v. United States (1984), and California v. Greenwood (1988) which deal directly with the question of whether a person can have reasonable expectations of privacy as provided for in the fourth amendment with regards to objects in an open field or in plain view. The differentiation between open fields and private property must be made before one can proceed to form an opinion regarding the constitutionality of a warrantless search of an open field. Oliver v. United States is a case in which police officers, acting on reports from neighbors that a patch of marijuana was being cultivated on the Oliver farm, entered on to private property ignoring â€Å"No Trespassing† signs, and on to a secluded open portion of the Oliver property without a warrant, discovered the marijuana patch and then arrested Oliver without an arrest warrant. The Maine Judicial Court held that â€Å"No Trespassing† signs posted around the Oliver property â€Å"evinced a reasonable expectation of privacy,† and therefore the court held thatShow MoreRelatedFourth Amendment : Search And Seizure963 Words   |  4 PagesFourth Amendment: Search and Seizure The Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure was passed by Congress on September 25, 1789 and ratified December 15, 1791. The Fourth Amendment provides, [t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the personsRead MoreThe Case Of Kyllo V. United States951 Words   |  4 PagesIn the case of Kyllo v. United States, I believe that the federal government did not exceed boundaries set by the Fourth Amendment. Conducting basic surveillance of the home with a basic thermal imager, Kyllo’s illegal activities were inferred using common patterns associated with indoor marijuana growth, and this information was used to obtain a search warrant. Although agents used extrasensory technology to view the normally invisible heat radiating from the home, their actions did not infringeRead Morevirginia v morre Essay1248 Words   |  5 PagesVirginia v. Moore 272 Va. 717 Facts: The day was February 20,2003, in the city of Portsmouth where two Portsmouth police officers had pulled a vehicle over who was driven by David Lee Moore. While listening to police radio they had heard that the man they pulled over who went by the nickname â€Å"chubs† was driving on a suspended license. The officer’s soon determined that chubbs was indeed driving on a suspended license. The officers who made the stop arrested chubbs for the misdemeanor of drivingRead MoreThe Rights Of The United States1199 Words   |  5 PagesUnited States Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is essentially the points of the Declaration of Independence our founding fathers wanted to stress as the most important. Although all amendments are important it’s hard to have these rights without one in particular: The fourth amendment, the right to privacy. The amendment was created in order to prevent the government from abusing their powers or to protect against arbitrary police powers. During the early birth of the United States in 1761 a lawyerRead More 4th Amendment Essay examples1107 Words   |  5 Pages4th Amendment In the late 1700s the 4th Amendment was written because of strong objections to the Writs of Assistance or general warrants. The Writs Assistance gave officials the right to enter any home and seize belongings without a reasonable cause. (Grolier Encyclopedia) The 4th amendment was ratified in the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1771. This amendment protects the peoples right to privacy and security. (Encarta Online) The Fourth Amendment states, The right of the people toRead MoreThe Amendment Of The Declaration Of Independence Essay1067 Words   |  5 Pagesnot infringe upon. In other words, it was written to protect Americans from abuse of power by different areas of their government. Each amendment says what the government is capable of doing or limits its powers by providing certain rules they must abide by. Each of these amendments plays an important role in today’s society. For instance, the fourth amendment is mainly about privacy, and has been implemented to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures by State, or Federal law enforcementRead MoreCase Analysis : Mary Sullivan s Body1278 Words   |  6 Pagesfamilial searching as it has not yet been supported by Congress due to 4th Amendment privacy rights. The argument that the relatives of individuals with database profiles will constantly be at risk for investigation, thereby placing their under indirect watch and weake n people’s privacy rights. In California v. Greenwood, the Supreme Court held that evidence acquired from discarded property is not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Both Mary Sullivan family and Desalvo family never believed Albert DeSalvoRead MoreStabilisation in Investment Contracts and Changes of Rules in Host Countries: Tools for Oil Gas Investors34943 Words   |  140 Pages......................59 4.4.2 Occidental v Ecuador...........................................................................................................60 4.4.3 Feldman ...............................................................................................................................63 4.4.4 EnCana v Ecuador ...............................................................................................................64 4.4.5 CMS v Argentina.................................Read MoreContemporary Issues in Management Accounting211377 Words   |  846 PagesModernizing government: the calculating self, hybridization, and performance measurement Liisa Kurunmaki and Peter Miller  ¨ 10. Analytics of costing system design Eva Labro 11. Understanding management control systems and strategy Kim Langfield-Smith v vii xi 1 20 42 69 92 117 146 166 198 217 243 x CONTENTS 12. Management accounting, operations, and network relations: debating the lateral dimension Jan Mouritsen and Allan Hansen 13. Trends in budgetary control and responsibilityRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesshould, he claims, return to its roots of a true customer focus. A broadly similar line of argument has been pursued by Christopher et al. (1991), who highlight the fundamental importance of marketing relationships rather than one-off transactions. The fourth, final and most radical position is that of reappraisal, which, according to Brown (1995, p. 45), gives acknowledgement to: successful in its present form. Despite the latter-day ‘triumph’ of marketing, the failure rate of new products is as high

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

How does lack of information technology affect quality of Healthcare free essay sample

How does lack of information technology affect quality of Healthcare? Abstract As per Institute of Medicine, â€Å"healthcare quality† is defined as the extent to which health services provided to individuals and patient populations improve desired health outcomes. The quality of care which is offered by the US Health Care lags much behind its competitors at the international level, on all measurable parameters. One such field is the failure to use proper Information Technology to support the quality of care. Despite the huge amount of money being spent on healthcare by the US government, the quality of care that is delivered is poor. Several loop holes exist in making proper utilization of information technology in health care which are discussed below. There could be changes made in each aspect of quality of care to overcome such defects and make health care more accessible, affordable and convenient for everyone. For example, electronic medical records (EMR/EHR) are one of the basics in Health Information Technology. Their advantages have been highlighted in this paper. Though the nation spends a huge chunk of its GDP on healthcare, it is still not able to successfully implement the EMRs throughout the nation, in the health care system. Implementing these records in the system will affect the quality of health care delivery enormously. This paper attempts to explain few methods to implement this system for improving health care systems. Overall this entire article speaks about how the lack of information technology affects different sectors in quality of care, existing strategies in market and the goals to improve the health care. Introduction Institute of Medicines Committee on Quality Health Care in America states â€Å"Information technology must play a central role in the redesign of the health care system if a substantial improvement in quality is to be achieved over the coming decade. † But, The Institute of Medicines report on medical errors reports dangers inherent in the U. S. medical care system that might cause up to 98,000 deaths in hospitals and cost approximately $38 billion per year. U. S lags behind other countries at the international level in the usage of EMR. This is because of the failure of the primary care physicians to use EMR. The reasons for this could be due to the high costs which estimates of costs of $28 billion per year during a 10 year deployment and more 16$ billion per year after adopting the interoperable EMR systems in U. S health care. The complexities in health delivery systems pose challenges to achieve interoperability. There should be proper coordination among the health care providers like physicians, specialists and technicians to use the EMR systems effectively without any confusion. Comprehensive staff training is needed. Extensive staff training programmes and coordination and planning to train staff from all sections across the hospital are required during implementation of EMR system. As explained in the article, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U. S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2010 Update (http://www. commonwealthfund. org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2010/Jun/Mirror-Mirror-Update. aspx? page=all), the high quality care is defined in the commissions National Scorecard as care that is effective, safe, coordinated, patient-centered. Quality of care can be studied under three aspects; safe care, coordinated care and effective care. Below listed are some of the points about how does the lack of proper usage of information technology affect the three sections. Also, the existing strategies are mentioned and focus on how we can improve these strategies by using some new policies to achieve improvements in the health care quality is explained in detail. How does lack of proper information technology usage affect safe care? Safe care: Institute of Medicine describes safe care as â€Å"avoiding the injuries to the patients from the care that is intended to help them. † The safe care can be explained in simple terms as avoiding unnecessary harm to the patients due to the services which are used to improve the health. Mostly it includes the improper drug dosages, physician induced errors/iatrogenesis, improper drug titrations. Information technologies used in health care systems often are poorly coordinated among the health care providers that lead to error. The sources for these errors include lack of proper experience of prescriber and staff in usage of technology. Shortcut or default selections can override non-standard medication regimens for elderly or underweight patients, resulting in toxic doses. Irrelevant or frequent warnings of the system that can interrupt work flow of physicians. One such error due to improper IT is Technological Iatrogenesis/ e-iatrogenesis: Technological iatrogenes is describes the new category of adverse events that result from technological innovation creating system and microsystem disturbances. Technology induced errors are significant and increasingly more evident in care delivery systems. This idiosyncratic and potentially serious problems associated with HIT implementation has recently become a concern for healthcare and information technology professionals. Healthcare systems are complex and adaptive, i. e. ; there are many networks and connections working simultaneously to produce certain outcomes. When these systems are under the increased stresses caused by the diffusion of new technology, unfamiliar and new process errors often result. If not recognized, over time these new errors can collectively lead to catastrophic system failures. How does the lack of proper information technology usage affect coordinated care? Coordinated care is the patient care which is provided throughout the treatment course may it be inpatient or out patient. As per the Commissions first National Scorecard report, coordinated care can be defined as â€Å"coordination of patient care throughout the course of treatment and across various sites of care helps to ensure appropriate follow-up treatment, minimize the risk of error, and prevent complication. † This type of care is typically complex and coordinated. Information is often not available to those who need it when it is needed, and as a result patients often do not get care they need, or alternatively do get care they do not need. Many lab tests are performed at outside laboratories, and because of this lack of integration, such results are generally unavailable via the information system, for example the unusual tests like electroencephalograms. When the images of a variety of types including radiographs and electrocardiograms can now readily be displayed, such images are typically not yet accessible to providers. More important, most hospital systems provide little or no clinical decision support to providers. Clinically decision support takes many forms that include passive display of information such as the last digoxin level and potassium in a patient receiving digoxin. Reminders for example, that a mammogram is due; alerts such as, the haematocrit is falling rapidly or that the patient has an allergy to the prescribed drug and, guidelines and suggestions about orders in a patient with a suspected myocardial infarction. Asking the providers to deliver todays complex care without such assistance is like asking a commercial pilot to fly with no instruments, given the vast array of information and knowledge that providers must handle. One more situation where clinical decision support fails is improper delivery of information in todays subsystems of health care providers. For example, the laboratory and pharmacy systems, they do not have good interfaces and thus cannot readily communicate with each other when required. This lack of communication makes extracting important information and providing clinical decision support vastly more difficult. Furthermore, the inpatient and outpatient systems in most healthcare systems are disconnected. Rarely providers have access outpatient medical information from the inpatient setting, or vice versa. This information is absolutely pivotal in providing safe, efficient medical care; after all, a patients allergies are the same both inside and outside the hospital. Covering for another physicians patient panel is vastly easier, safer and more efficient when their medical record; especially their problems, medications, and test results can be instantly accessed. Transfers from acute care to long-term care or home-care are also problematic; often little information is transferred with the patient. In general, outpatient care is much more fragmented than inpatient care, and would likely benefit even more from computerization and communication of information than inpatient care. The lack of electronic information also limits quality reporting. Most organizations report externally for both inpatients and outpatients using only claims data, as required by state and federal agencies. How does the lack of proper information technology usage affect effective care? Effective care is appropriate care given for preventing the chronic illness or treating a given condition. The Commission’s National Scorecard defines effective care as â€Å"services that are effective and appropriate for preventing or treating a given condition and controlling chronic illness†. Preventive care and chronic care lags behind because of inadequate availability and usage of information technology in the primary care. Source for such errors can be due to the lack of computerization of reminders and prevention guidelines in the health care systems, information system changes in the prevention and chronic care aspects. The patient oriented intervention programmes of educational or supportive nature are poorly coordinated. There is lack of proper computerized tracking and reminder system usage in the preventive services for geriatrics. Looking at the three sections in the quality of health care, the health care services are affected because of improper usage of information technology. One such example is the electronic health records (EMR). By definition EMR is the digital version of patient medical record in a physician office. Electronic health record (EHR) is the electronic record of patient’s health details beyond the physician office. These two are often used interchangeably. Usage of EMR in the health care systems is not widespread even though the amount of money spent on health care is huge. How can EMR affect the quality of care? Before that, let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of EMR. Pros and cons of using EMR: Electronic Medical Records are becoming widespread with the HITECH act which is passed in February of 2009. But most of primary care physicians still have not adopted the electronic health record systems in their practice. The benefits of electronic medical records, however, outweigh their disadvantages and it will be inevitable in the future that all practicing physicians have an electronic medical record for their patients. Advantages of EMR: Reduction in medical errors by digitizing patient records, physicians, nurses, and other care providers can freely access information. Nurses and doctors do not need to track down folders or worry about losing notes. Everything is documented in the Electronic Medical Records software. Decrease in the repeat procedures like laboratory test or blood report. A big reason for why patients pay for repeat procedures is because health care providers do not communicate information between different locations. Physicians order the same procedures because the information isn’t available for them to look at or too difficult to obtain. Finally it lowers the overall cost of health care. A decrease in repeat procedures decreases the cost of healthcare overall. Insurance companies need not pay for these procedures and thus it can help cover the other services. Disadvantages of EMR: The existing electronic medical records are clumsy, unsecure, and expensive. Many of the proprietary systems are to use with poor user interfaces and with too many features. With the less expensive software solutions, there is a risk of unsecure information being passed. Because these EMR systems are expensive, physicians charge their patients more. The practitioners aren’t incentivized to use. Many doctors don’t feel the need to convert to digitize patient records. The government incentives are designed to give a reimbursement to doctors who already have a system in place. Many physicians are stuck in their old ways. Most of the physicians are slow adopters of technology. Private practice has their own ways of doing things and is resistant to change. Overall, in the health care systems EMRs are inevitable. EMRs represent benefit to patients who care enough to take their healthcare into their own hands. Patients can create personal health records to track their own health progress which parallels patient records that are held by your doctor. With the usage of EMR systems in health care the patients would definitely benefit as the overall cost of treatment reduces, there could be more easy access to older records, and avoid unnecessary charges. So as we could make it clear, that information technology has more made the health care systems more favourable, we will have a look at the technologies which are existing in the market for making IT usage easier, as well how we can make IT more reachable with new policies and strategies. Already existing Strategies in the Market focusing on the IT usage in quality of care: Clinical Informatics to Promote Patient Safety (CLIP) AHRQs FY 2001 included $50 million for initiatives to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. Small Business Innovative Research Program (SBIR) AHRQ devotes 2. 5 percent of its extramural research budget to support SBIR to help small businesses develop innovative technology that will lead to improvements in health care quality in the United States. The Integrated Delivery System Research Network (IDSRN) was developed to capitalize on the research capacity of large integrated delivery systems in the United States. In FY 2001, sixteen IDSRN projects were funded, and 7 of these projects specifically targeted to the use of IT in health care. Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) Translating Research into Practice (TRIP-I) program 1999; generate new knowledge about facilitating the use of rigorously derived evidence to

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

This Paper Will Address The General Form Of The Argument For The Ident

This paper will address the general form of the argument for the identity of the person (mind) with the body (brain). This argument will be found unsound because it is both invalid and because the premises on which the argument is based are, in fact, false. This analysis will include a critical examination of Logical Behaviorism, a theory that supports this argument. The argument is based on two premises (P): P1: The mind is subject to understanding and control by science. P2: Only what is quantifiable and sense-perceptible is subject to control by science. Therefore, based on these two premises, the following two conclusions (C) can be reached: C1: The mind is quantifiable and sense-perceptible. C2: The mind is the same thing as the body (brain). The validity of an argument is found when, if the premises are true, then the conclusions would follow logically from those premises. According to the premises established in the argument, the first conclusion would naturally follow. The argument seems to be logical and the conclusions do indeed follow from the premises. In addition, the second conclusion can also be reached from the premises, but only with the assumption that the body is the part of the person which is quantifiable and sense-perceptible. Because this assumption is taken as truth, the second conclusion follows in the argument. Therefore, it would seem that the overall form of the argument is valid. That, however, is not the case because the argument is begging the question. Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which the conclusion is assumed before it has been proved. In this case, the first premise, by claiming that the mind is subject to control by science, is pre-supposing that the mind is only physical - it is the body, the brain, the neurons. That, however, is the first conclusion of the argument. Therefore, in order to achieve the first premise, one needs to have already established the first conclusion and vice-versa. This argument, therefore, is faulted by circular reasoning because one aspect cannot be discussed without the other. Neither the premise nor the conclusion can stand alone without the other. Therefore, the overall argument is shown to be invalid. Soundness, however, also requires that the premises of the argument be true. While the second premise is generally taken as truth since science is self-described as controlling and understanding its subjects, the first premise is untrue because it does not take into consideration aspects of the person and the mind which cannot be explained. These aspects, which are used to describe the mental, include qualia, content, and self-knowledge. Qualia, or raw feelings refers to sensations and feelings experienced by the person. For example, when a person says I feel sick to my stomach they are referring to the sensation of nausea that overtakes their body, a sensation of which they are mentally aware. Science can explain the chemicals released in the stomach and the traveling of neurons from the stomach to the brain signaling the upset stomach, but it can't fully account for or explain the feeling the individual is experiencing. That feeling causes doubt that makes it difficult to believe that the mind is subject to understanding and control by science. Content, or intentional direction, refers to the about-ness or of-ness of our thoughts and our mental states. This would imply that certain semantic properties, such as carrying beliefs, understanding symbols, and reflecting personal predicates such as honesty, are involved in thought processes (Fodor 37). For example, when an individual says, That shirt is a nice shade of red, he or she is not referring to the wavelengths of light being emitted from the fabric but rather to the final color that they see. Perhaps, that person associates the color with certain feelings or memories. Red may remind him or her of a recent trip to Japan, a favorite shirt, or a raggedy, old stuffed animal. The thought is of the color and about the memory, not the physical quality of being red. The third aspect, self-knowledge, refers to the self-awareness an individual has regarding the existence of his or her mind, the existence of something non-physical. This involves the concept of privileged access. Privileged access refers to an individual's ability to directly access his or