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Vision Of Contemporary England In Dombey And Son
''Dombey and Son'' (1846–1848) by Charles Dickens was published during profound economic and social upheaval, political instability, and changes affecting every layer of society. The novel is not an exhaustive document on the condition of England, nor even of London, which plays a role within it; nor does it present itself as a “social” novel in the same way as ''Hard Times (novel), Hard Times''. However, while Dickens does perceive the forces at play—the emergence of new values, the dangers of a relentless pursuit of money, this Mammon of the modern age—his response remains deeply artistic. It is difficult to separate what he condemns from what he admires: on one hand, the society represented by Dombey is lifeless; on the other, Solomon Gills’s shop, “The Wooden Midshipman,” a quasi-pastoral haven of peace and innocent happiness, is economically outdated and only saved from bankruptcy through the providential intervention of the very investments that are being cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at age 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father John Dickens, John was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years, he returned to school before beginning his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles; lectured and performed Penny reading, readings extensively; was a tireless letter writer; and campaigned vigor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Status
Social status is the relative level of social value a person is considered to possess. Such social value includes respect, honour, honor, assumed competence, and deference. On one hand, social scientists view status as a "reward" for group members who treat others well and take initiative. This is one explanation for its apparent cross-cultural universality. On the other hand, while people with higher status experience a litany of benefits—such as greater health, admiration, resources, influence, and freedom—those with lower status experience poorer outcomes across all of those metrics. Importantly, status is based in widely shared ''beliefs'' about who members of a society judge as more competent or moral. While such beliefs can stem from an impressive performance or success, they can also arise from possessing characteristics a society has deemed meaningful like a person's race or occupation. In this way, status reflects how a society judges a person's relative social worth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reification (fallacy)
Reification (also known as concretism, hypostatization, or the fallacy of misplaced concreteness) is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction (abstract belief or hypothetical wikt:construct, construct) is treated as if it were a concrete real event or physical entity. In other words, it is the error of treating something that is not concrete, such as an idea, as a concrete thing. A common case of reification is the confusion of a model with reality: "the map is not the territory". Reification is part of normal usage of natural language, as well as of literature, where a reified abstraction is intended as a figure of speech, and actually understood as such. But the use of reification in logical reasoning or rhetoric is misleading and usually regarded as a fallacy. A potential consequence of reification is exemplified by Goodhart's law, where changes in the measurement of a phenomenon are mistaken for changes to the phenomenon itself. Etymology The term "reification" originate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Alienation
Social alienation is a person's feeling of disconnection from a group whether friends, family, or wider society with which the individual has an affiliation. Such alienation has been described as "a condition in social relationships reflected by (1) a low degree of integration or common values and (2) a high degree of distance or isolation (3a) between individuals, or (3b) between an individual and a group of people in a community or work environment numeration added. It is a sociological concept developed by several classical and contemporary theorists. The concept has many discipline-specific uses and can refer both to a personal psychological state ( subjectively) and to a type of social relationship (objectively). History The term ''alienation'' has been used over the ages with varied and sometimes contradictory meanings. In ancient history it could mean a metaphysical sense of achieving a higher state of contemplation, ecstasy or union—becoming alienated from a li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philanthropy
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material gain; and with government endeavors that are public initiatives for public good, such as those that focus on the provision of public services. A person who practices philanthropy is a philanthropist. Etymology The word ''philanthropy'' comes , from 'to love, be fond of' and 'humankind, mankind'. In , Plutarch used the Greek concept of to describe superior human beings. During the Middle Ages, was superseded in Europe by the Cardinal virtues, Christian virtue of ''Charity (Christian virtue), charity'' (Latin: ) in the sense of selfless love, valued for Salvation in Christianity, salvation and escape from purgatory. Thomas Aquinas held that "the habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charity (practice)
Charity is the Volunteering, voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a Humanitarianism, humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various Philosophy, philosophies about charity exist, with frequent associations with religion. Etymology The word ''charity'' originated in late Old English to mean a "Christianity, Christian love for one's fellows", and until at least the beginning of the 20th century, this meaning remained synonymous with charity. Apart from this original meaning, ''charity'' is etymologically linked to Christianity, with the word originally entering the English language through the Old French word , which derived from the Latin , a word commonly used in the Vulgate New Testament to translate the Greek word (), a distinct form of Love (religious views)#Christian, love. Over time, the meaning of ''charity'' has evolved from "Christian love" to "providing for those in need; generosity and giving" (cf. ''offertory''), a transiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the greatest good for the greatest number. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different characterizations, the basic idea that underpins them all is, in some sense, to maximize utility, which is often defined in terms of well-being or related concepts. For instance, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described ''utility'' as the capacity of actions or objects to produce benefits, such as pleasure, happiness, and good, or to prevent harm, such as pain and unhappiness, to those affected. Utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, which states that the consequences of any action are the only standard of right and wrong. Unlike other forms of consequentialism, such as egoism and altruism, egalitarian util ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selfishness
Selfishness is being concerned excessively or exclusively for oneself or one's own advantage, pleasure, or welfare, regardless of others. Selfishness is the opposite of ''altruism'' or selflessness, and has also been contrasted (as by C. S. Lewis) with '' self-centeredness''. Divergent views The implications of selfishness have inspired divergent views within religious, philosophical, psychological, economic, and evolutionary contexts. Some early examples of "selfist" thinking are the egoistic philosophies of Yangism in ancient China and of Cyrenaic hedonism in ancient Greece. Yangists followed the teachings of Yang Zhu and might have been influenced by Taoism. Cyrenaics, founded by Aristippus of Cyrene, were skeptics and materialists (but perhaps nominally Greek pagans). Thomas Hobbes, who could also be viewed as ''selfist'', was a materialist but also advocated loyalty to a strong government and state church. The views of Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner provide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surname
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times most surnames are hereditary, although in most countries a person has a right to name change, change their name. Depending on culture, the surname may be placed either at the start of a person's name, or at the end. The number of surnames given to an individual also varies: in most cases it is just one, but in Portuguese-speaking countries and many Spanish-speaking countries, two surnames (one inherited from the mother and another from the father) are used for legal purposes. Depending on culture, not all members of a family unit are required to have identical surnames. In some countries, surnames are modified depending on gender and family membership status of a person. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Worship Of Mammon
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synecdoche
Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term is derived . Common English synecdoches include ''suits'' for ''businessmen'', ''wheels'' for ''automobile'', and ''boots'' for ''soldiers''. Definition Synecdoche is a rhetorical Trope (literature), trope and a kind of metonymy—a figure of speech using a term to denote one thing to refer to a related thing.Glossary of Rhetorical Terms University of Kentucky Synecdoche (and thus metonymy) is distinct from metaphor,Figurative Language- language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etiology
Etiology (; alternatively spelled aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word ''()'', meaning "giving a reason for" (). More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origins, or reasons behind the way that things are, or the way they function, or it can refer to the causes themselves. The word is commonly used in medicine (pertaining to causes of disease or illness) and in philosophy, but also in physics, biology, psychology, political science, geography, cosmology, spatial analysis and theology in reference to the causes or origins of various phenomena. In the past, when many physical phenomena were not well understood or when histories were not recorded, myths often arose to provide etiologies. Thus, an etiological myth, or origin myth, is a myth that has arisen, been told over time or written to explain the origins of various social or natural phenomena. For example, Virgil's ''Aeneid'' is a national myth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
