Essay: Culture of Justifying

Tomoya Hagiwara
Sylvan Payne
ARW Section AC
12 November, 2007

Culture of Justifying

A term of culture is used in many senses in many places. It can be used in a situation that people would like to explain to their friends who are not from their country that what they do is common behavior in their country, which was not common behavior in their friends’ country. Also, it can be substituted for or equal to moral. When people do things in a way, which is neither legal nor illegal, but is not good, they justify their behavior because they know they have to be moral persons. Justification of moral wrongs is universal, but differs from culture to culture.
It is important to first define culture. Kroeber et al. stated that Tylor first defined the word “culture” as a modern meaning in 1871. Tylor said in his book Primitive Culture that “Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
It is a common misconception that culture can be substituted for or equaled to custom. However, especially in sociology, culture is used in many more places. One example is in morals. Morals are standards of behavior (Oxford Dictionary of English). As stated above, people’s behavior is sometimes in a morally gray area although they know they have to be moral persons. They justify their behavior in order to bridge the gap between their own moral standard and their sub-moral behavior.
One example of justifying behavior is seen in a problem of illegal downloads. It is the problem that music titles, movie titles, comics, and so on (we call them illegal files) are downloaded illegally for free through web sites or P2P (peer to peer) software application such as Winny, WinMX or Share. It is not clear why people use them and download illegal files. Everybody, including those people above who download illegal files, knows that it is illegal to download such files for free and that they have to obey the law.
However, we sometimes stretch the law in our favor selfishly to justify our behavior. Actually, some web pages say that uploading illegal files is illegal but only downloading them is not illegal in Japan. Using this interpretation, we can download them legally although downloading illegal files is not good from a moral point of view. That is how downloaders justify their action. Actually, in some countries such as Holland, it is legal to share and download music files for private use, (p2pnet.net). Hence, they justify their action, using it as a reason that downloading music files is legal in some other countries.
We can also justify using our own interpretation or experience. In the problem, we can use this that regular price is very expensive. Although we want to buy regular product, we do not want to pay lots of money. For example, if we buy an album CD in Japan, we pay about 3,600 yen. In contrast, if in America, we pay about 1,500 yen. Obviously, this is a very big difference. Illegal downloaders use this excuse to justify their action, claiming that the high price is somehow unfair.
This problem that illegal files are downloaded for free through web sites or P2P software applications is a very serious problem not only in Japan but also other countries. In Europe, stated by Jupiter Research, 43% of European between 15 and 24 years old who use the Internet to consume music would rather copy illegal files than buy CDs. In addition, 46% consider that the CD is becoming continuously more irrelevant. This indicates that they do not need any CDs, so that they download music files individually.
Another example of a country in which file sharing is controversial is Canada. In Canada, according to Pollara, people between 12 and 24 years old amount to 78% of illegal music downloading in the country, even though they are only 21% of the population (Canadian Press). The research shows that most of the young people above strongly agree that “artists are too rich already so downloading won't hurt them.” In addition to this, the fundamental cause of “if it's there, it's free” thinking is also their justification.
In conclusion, iustification of moral wrongs is seen in a number of countries, but differs from culture to culture. People always justify their behavior so as to bridge the gap between their own moral standard and their sub-moral behavior.



Work Cited
A. L, Kroeber, and Clyde Kluckhohn. Culture. New York: A Division of Random House, 1963.
“European music industry faces a demographic time bomb warns Jupiterreserch” Jupitermedia 28 Oct. 2007.
Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford UP, 2003.
Pedwell, Terry. “What's with them young whippersnappers?” Canadian Press 29 Sep. 29. 2005. 28 Oct. 2007.
Tylor, Edward B. The Origins of Culture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.
“Weedshare and DRM” p2pnet.net 10 Nov. 2007 .

ARP: Why do people use Winny?

Tomoya Hagiwara
Sylvan Payne
ARW Section AC
October 26th, 2007

Why do people use Winny?

Summary
Kroeber et al. stated that Tylor first defined the word “culture” as a modern meaning in 1871. Tylor said in his book Primitive Culture that “Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” And this definition has been cited a number of times. Therefore it is well-known and famous definition in sociology.

Discussion
It is a common misconception that culture can be substituted for or equaled to custom. However, especially in sociology, culture is used in many more places. One example is morals. Morals are standards of behavior (Oxford Dictionary of English). We sometimes do things not in a legal or illegal way, but in not good way although we know we have to be moral persons. The reason why we sometimes can’t be moral persons is that own ways of thinking have certain reasons. For example, there is a problem that music titles, movie titles, comics, and so on (we call them illegal files) are downloaded illegally for free through web sites or P2P (peer to peer) software application such as Winny, WinMX or Share. It is not clear why people use them and download illegal files. Everybody, including those people above who download illegal files, knows that it is illegal to download such files for free and that we have to obey the law. However, we sometimes stretch the law in our favor selfishly because we have own ways of thinking. Actually, some web pages say that uploading illegal files is illegal but only downloading them is not illegal. Like this, we can download them legally although downloading illegal files is not good from a moral point of view. There is another reason, which is much stronger reason. That is, to be briefly, regular price is very expensive. Although we want to buy regular product, we don’t want to pay lots of money. For example, if we buy an album CD in Japan, we pay about 3,600 yen. In contrast, if in America, we pay about 1,500 yen. Obviously, this is very big difference. If we can get an album CD for about 1,000 yen, we would rather buy it than download it illegally. To sum up, we often justify some stealing. In the problem that illegal files are downloaded, we justified downloading illegal files using with two good reasons, which may just sound good reasons. To solve the problem, sellers have to cooperate with us consumer and to have conferences.

Work Cited
Tylor, Edward B. The Origins of Culture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.
A. L, Kroeber, and Clyde Kluckhohn. Culture. New York: A Division of Random House, 1963.
Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press, 2003

Meiland essay: Final draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
14 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Final draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she suggests that your future job probably does not exit yet. He/she also suggests that half of knowledge that students study in the first year in college will have gone out of date by your third year. Therefore college education seems to be fairly useless. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact although until high school, they are not told to pay special attention to the fact. Let me give an example of importance that they have to study how deal with the fact. If they undoubtedly believe something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (Meiland 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility of false in all what we call “fact” and that we must have evidence to believe it.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that a college education seems to be fairly useless is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Here is a famous incident that “Aruaru-daiziten”, the TV program, broadcasted untrue information. One of what they broadcasted untruly is that “it is good for our health to eat natto for every meals.” After this broadcasting day, there are no nattos in every supermarket because they watched the program and believe the content. But later the content was found out to be false. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students and has to be learned in college education.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because according to the slideshows, many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where they study latest technology or knowledge. And there are many fats that they have to memorize as Meiland says “The method of study most commonly used in memorization.” (6) Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

(655Words)

Work Cited

Fisch, Karl. Shift Happens
Meiland, Jack W. College Thinking: How to Get the Best Out of College. New York: New American Library, 1981. (The ELP Reader, 2007. 3-23).

Meiland essay: second draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
8 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: second draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she says that your job probably doesn’t exit. He/she also says that half of knowledge that students study in college will be useless in two years. Therefore college education seems to be fairly useless. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact although until high school, they are not told to pay special attention to the fact. Let me give an example of importance that they have to study how dealing with the fact. If they believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (THE ELP READER line 5, page 8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because according to the slideshows, many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where they study latest technology or knowledge. And there are many fats that they have to memorize as Meiland says “The method of study most commonly used in memorization.” (THE ELP READER line 37, page 6) Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

Meiland essay first draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
6 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay first draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she says that your job probably doesn’t exit. He/she also says that half of knowledge that students study in college will be useless in two years. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact. Let me give an example. If they believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (THE ELP READER line 5, page 8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where we study latest technology or knowledge. Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

(511Words)

*I know this is short. I’m so sorry but I’ll develop and write more about 200 words by June 11th.

Meiland essay: Paragraph 3

Hagiwara 1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
3 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Paragraph 3

Of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” in some part. Because many parts of what we learn in college would be out of date. I think college is the place where we study latest technology or knowledge. Therefore if what we learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.

Meiland essay: Paragraph 2

Hagiwara 1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
1 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Paragraph 2

And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. In college, we also study the way we should deal with the fact. Let me give an example. If we believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief we believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore we learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.

Meiland essay: Paragraph 1

Hagiwara 1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
30 May, 2007

Meiland essay: Paragraph 1

I disagree with this idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” because in college we study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And according to Meiland, he suggests that the college student must do critical examination and evaluation. This is absolutely the same as my opinion. Therefore I believe what we will learn in college can't be useless.

Fluency Journal: As A Leader through NS Retreat Trip

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
22 May, 2007

Fluency Journal: As A Leader through NS Retreat Trip

Today I’m going to talk about our retreat trip. We went to Gotenba in Shizuoka. I think some of the students will write about it. But I want to write about it. Therefore I’ll write it as a leader of NS retreat.
First I’d like to tell you why I wanted to be a leader. From elementary school, I’ve liked to be what we call a leader. I don’t know why I want to be a leader. But these days I feel that I’m happy to see my friends have fun and to hear that they have enjoyed something thanks to me after finishing it. Another reason why I want to be a leader may be that I want to be in busy. I mean I want to do something always. Of course I like sleeping and want to rest sometimes. But it is not me that do nothing. There might be other reasons but I can say this is me, this is tommy!!! Anyway, you understand I like to be a leader. Then I want to tell you how I became a retreat trip leader of NS. When we’re gathered in a room to decide rolls and a retreat leader of NS, there were two students who stand for a leader. The other candidate was a girl. I was surprised because I didn’t expect there would be other candidate. After all we decided by rock-paper-scissors. The winner was, as you know, me. That’s how I became a leader.
Second I wanted to talk about retreat trip. But I’m sorry I have many things to do today. Therefore I’ll write it next fluency journal. To be continued!!

286words

Fluency Journal: My Favorite Artist

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
15 May, 2007

Fluency Journal: My Favorite Artist

This is my first fluency journal. I have been thinking about what I’ll write as my first fluency journal. I came up with many topics. But today I decided to write about “My Favorite Artist.” I’ll tell you the reason why I chose this topic later.
My favorite artist is “Southern All Stars.” I love their songs. Especially I like Kuwata Keisuke, who is a member of Southern All Stars. They made great debut when they were students of Aoyama Gakuin University about thirty years ago. The name of their first single was, as you know, “Katteni-Sindobad”, which was a great hit. I think everyone has heard it before. Of course I was not born in those days. But I have all their single CDs because they sold their CDs again some years ago as a memorial of 25th anniversary and I bought, don’t be surprised, 44 CDs which were all of them. Furthermore I have bought many of their albums. I don’t know why I like them. But I can say that though they’re over fifty, we don’t feel they –especially Kuwata Keisuke- is old or out of date. I want them to make many more impressive songs forever.
Now you understand what Southern All Stars are great, impressive, and delightful artists. Then I’ll explain why I chose them as a topic of my first fluency journal. Kuwata has just started selling new single the name of which is “Ashita-hareru-kana” today in May 15th. The meaning of the title is “I wonder if it will be sunny tomorrow. “ I booked it on the internet shopping site on April. And today I got it. Now I’m writing this fluency journal as listening to it. As you can see, that’s why I decided to write about Kuwata Keisuke, the leader of Southern All Stars.

309words

ARP: Reaction to Meiland's "New Types of Intellectual Work" (corrections)

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
13 May, 2007

Reaction to Meiland’s “New Types of Intellectual Work”

Summary
According to Meiland, the difference between high school and college is that college work requires that student engage in a different kind of intellectual activity, in addition to the activity of understanding the material that is presented. The first type of intellectual activity in both high school and college is to understand the material. Second, once the material is understood, the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely “critical examination and evaluation.” In high school, materials are presented authoritative manner. But sometimes it which we are very sure can turn out to be false. In college, on the other hand, they’re treated as beliefs or conclusions that have been reached on the basis of investigations. It is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence. Material is presented in college as something to be believed. Therefore, college student have to engage in a different kind of intellectual activity: critical examination and evaluation.

Discussion
Meiland says college students have to engage in a different kind of intellectual activity, what is called “critical examination and evaluation.” I agree with his opinion. Up until high school, we are required to understand the meaning of what we learn and to memorize it. But after entering the university “ICU”, we have told in the course of “Introduction to Biology” to continue to have a question of which we don’t know the answer and to find the answer. I was really impressed to here that. I thought in university we would deal with just something more difficult than in high school and it was difference from high school. When I heard that, a certain example came to my mind. It is the example of Dr. Shirakawa, who discovered special plastic through which electricity can pass. It was believed that electricity can not pass through plastic until his discovery. But he changed the common knowledge. As we can see from this example, what we think fact can be changed into false. Let me show you another example. Isaac Newton, who I think is known to everyone. He is famous for discovering the gravity, which is said that he discovered it when seeing “an apple falling.” Nobody didn’t pay any attention to what things fall, because everyone except him though falling apple was “common sense.” But he thought it was doubtful. Then he searched and searched. Finally, he found the gravity. These examples may show that there is no “common sense” in fact. Therefore we have to do “critical examination and evaluation.”

Work Cited

Meiland, Jack W. College Thinking: How to Get the Best Out of College. New York: New American Library,1981. (The ELP Reader, 2007. 3-23).

ARP2: Reaction to Meiland’s “Why Reasons Matter”

Tomoya1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
8 May, 2007

Reaction to Meiland’s “Why Reasons Matter”

Summary
According to Meiland, beliefs must have good reasons. There are five reasons. First, we hold that a belief which is supported by good reasons is more likely to be true than one which is not supported by good reasons. But we should not allow this justification of the search for good reasons to go unchallenged and unexamined. Second, because we base beliefs on good reasons, we can aid in avoiding frustrations of this sort and to help in achieving one’s goals. Third, basing beliefs on good reasons fits together well with our democratic way of life. This justification is what we might call a “social” justification. Fourth, if we know the grounds-the good reasons or justification-for our beliefs, we can defend our belief. Therefore we’re more likely to retain our true beliefs when we know why we ought to hold them. At last, it is as useless and as dangerous to hold beliefs that may be true but which you do not understand as it is to hold beliefs that are out-and-out false. By investigating reasons for our beliefs, we can understand them better. Therefore, college work is so concerned with the reasons for our beliefs.

Discussion
Meiland has said that beliefs must have good reasons. I want to discuss his last point: by investigating reasons for our beliefs, we can understand them better. I agree his opinion. There are two reasons. First, sometimes there are times when we don’t know whether we really understand about certain thing or not. In that case, I’m determined to examine my reasons for it. Because it means that I don’t understand fully about it to have obscure points. When I have no unclear points, I can say I understand. Therefore by investigating reasons for my beliefs, I believe that I can understand them better. Second, this is a little similar to the above thing I have just explained. By investigating reasons for our beliefs, sometimes we can find out new reasons for them. When investigating them, I may realize I don’t have much enough reasons for my beliefs. Then I will try to find out new and better reasons for them. If I can get a better reason or better reasons for them, I will be sure that I understand. But if not, it might mean that I don’t understand fully. Therefore I agree his point “by investigating reasons for our beliefs, we can understand them better.”

Work Cited

Meiland, Jack W. College Thinking: How to Get the Best Out of College. New York: New American Library, 1981. (The ELP Reader, 2007. 3-23).

ARP: Reaction to Meiland's "New Types of Intellectual Work"

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW section AC
30 April 2007
Reaction to Meiland’s “New Types of Intellectual Work”

Summary

According to Meiland, the good teacher not only presents some information, in the sense of “what is currently believed” but also spends much time talking about the basis on which this information is currently believed. And a large part of college work consists of discussing and examining the basis of current beliefs. The difference between high school and college is that college work requires that student engage in a different kind of intellectual activity, in addition to the activity of understanding the material that is presented. The first type of intellectual activity in both high school and college is understanding the material. Then once the material is understood, the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation. Therefore a main difference between high school and college is that new types of intellectual work are required at the college level. In high school, materials are presented authoritative manner. But something which we are very sure turns out to be false. In college, on the other hand, they’re treated as beliefs or conclusions that have been reached on the basis of investigations. It is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence. Material is presented in college as something to be believed. To make the long story short, there’s a big difference between high school and college; what is fact in high school is often theory in college.

Discussion

He says college student have to engage in a different kind of intellectual activity. I don't agree absolutely. Becase it depend on the case. Someone who enter the college just to proceed don't have to egage in a different kind of intellectual activity. Therefore only the kind of people who wants to become researcher, professer, and so on have to do that.

Work Cited
Meiland,Jack W. College Thinking:How to Get the Best Out of College.New York :New American Library,1981. ( The ELP Reader , 2007. 3-23).

Paragraph: My Most Meaningful Experience

What I learned in Australia

One meaningful experience that has educated me is a course of English in Australia when I was in the 10th grade. I studied English on a home-stay visit to Australia and went to school with host family. There in Australia, I learned the importance of English in communication, the difference of culture and their view of thinking. Now I’m going to tell you about these three things above more specific.
First, the students there was not only from Australia but also from many countries; New Zealand, France, China, Africa and so on. I was really impressed to know that they can communicate with each other despite of the difference of their mother tongue. It means with the English skill of speaking, I can communicate with many more people than I can now. Therefore I leaned the importance of English in communication.
Second, I felt their sunny personality. Especially the Japanese people is said to be shy. And I agree with this opinion (not in every aspect). On the other hand, they responded brightly when I talked to someone even who I don’t know about. From this scene we can understand that they are very friendly and sociable. Therefore I learned the difference of culture.
At last, as to their view of thinking, I can’t explain easily. It is difficult to put what I felt there in word. Somehow I felt the difference of view of thinking compared to mine. That is why I learned their view of thinking.

tommy