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Example research essay topic: Point Of View Decision Making - 1,449 words

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Collapse Essay Why did history take such different evolutionary courses for peoples of different continents? This problem has fascinated me for a long time, but it's now ripe for a new synthesis because of recent advances in many fields seemingly remote from history, including molecular biology, plant and animal genetics and biogeography, archaeology, and linguistics (Jared Diamond Lawrence) Introduction The theme of development of our society is often related to the themes of human decision making and at the same time concept of decision making is often related to success and failure which seem to be mutually contradictory. However, such idea is not correct. From this point of view, the nature is the beginning of all the things.

Human decision making has influence on development of society. Yet, the reality that determines all existing in the world influences success and collapse of human decisions. Both ideas are interrelated because they suppose existence of different factors, explaining why different societies managed to dominate or collapse. I realize that my survey is brief and incomplete.

However, despite it is being selective, I have pursued a goal of backing up my opinion that mankind had been preoccupied with concept of human decision making, influencing success and collapse of society since the ancient time. To do that, I have given an idea of literature, based on Collapse written by Jared Diamond Lawrence. The book provides a reader with examples of how sometimes making decisions can either be granted success or failures for the whole civilizations. However, it imposes a question on the reader / viewer and suggests to use own judgment based on beliefs and values. Now lets go on to the immediate exploration of this work. Jared Diamonds Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamonds use of language is quite powerful.

Although some might get lost in his numerous metaphors, others find the classical complexity astounding. Diamonds thoughts are not constrained allowing him to express emotions freely, although a little rough sometimes. The book is interesting for its artistic multi pronged narration. Documental narrations, which creates element of reliability in combination with unlimited fantasies, publicists and philosophical reflections, deep psychoanalysis, social conditionality, realistic retrospective narration all this creates compound genre and stylistic unity. Jared Diamond examines different factors influencing the history of successes and failures.

Five key-factors, according to him, are as follows: Actions inimical to the maintenance of friendly relations between the countries (hostile attitude of neighbors); Trade partners; Climate changes; Environmental problems; The way society react to these environmental problems (namely, human decision making) Jared Diamond considers the fifth factor to be the most important. He mentions the stories of the modern-day Rwandans, the Anasazi, the Easter Islanders and the Mayans trying to examine the way mankind makes certain decision regarding the destiny of future civilizations. The mankind looks for a way to find ways of decision making as well as sufficient logical findings to support its interpretation of values and choice between good and evil, and it appears to be difficult to balance the two. Jared Diamond supposes that civilizations can choose whether they decide to succeed or collapse. One of the issues in his book is related to the history of the Greenland settlements.

Jared Diamond describes the Norse as a representation of well-structured northern-European civic model. The settlers treated Greenland as if it had the same climate and environmental conditions as Norway. The settlers reversed to the process of Deforestization, so ordinary to Norway lands. At the same time, ecosystem of Greenland wasnt able to withstand such drastic changes. The settlers deforested woods for fuel and for building of houses. Due to peculiarities of Greenland's climate, the plants and trees grew very slowly.

The sequence of soil erosion in Greenland begins with cutting or burning the cover of trees and shrubs, which are more effective at holding soil than is grass. With the trees and shrubs gone, livestock, especially sheep and goats, graze down the grass, which regenerates only slowly in Greenland's climate. Once the grass cover is broken and the soil is exposed, soil is carried away especially by the strong winds, and also by pounding from occasionally heavy rains, to the point where the topsoil can be removed for a distance of miles from an entire valley (Diamond 211 - 248) Such indiscreet decision of settlers had grave consequences. Everything in the ecosystem was interrelated. The succession of events turned out to be closed circuit, where the consequences were linked to each other. Jared Diamond compares two societies at the same period of time, examining their positions and actions which resulted in success or collapse.

For example, the Greenland Norse should take into account the peculiarities of Greenland climate. The Norse didnt have to be starved to death. The settlers should have focus attention on alternative sources of food and fuel supply. They shouldnt have to be dependent on the livestock such as cows, etc.

The livestock used enormous supplies of agricultural resources, whereas Greenland's climate wasnt able to provide the settlers with enough supply of grass and hay. Other notorious fact is that the Norse didnt eat fish. Diamond writes: Every archaeologist who comes to excavate in Greenland... starts out with his or her own idea about where all those missing fish bones might be hiding (Diamond 211 - 248).

He sets up the only possible hypothesis that the Norse didnt consume fish due to some cultural taboo. At the same time, eating fish could save their lives. It could reduce necessity in the livestock and, correspondingly, the necessity in huge agricultural resources. They would have needed less pastureland. Fish taboo also was one of the gaps resulted in collapse.

Comparing the social policy of the Norse and the Inuit, Jared Diamond notices that the Norse could have copied the practice of the Inuit in order to survive. At the same time, the Norse didnt want to refuse from the livestock, because the caws were a symbol of high social status. The Greenland Norse displayed contempt for the Inuit because they considered the Inuit skraelings. The Greenland Norse preferred the traditional European agricultural model which wasnt successful in conditions of Greenland's climate. Due to poor condition of woods, the Norse had to send ships to Labrador in order to gather lumber.

Instead of these reasonable actions, they preferred hunting the walrus. No wonder, the Greenland Norse were doomed to collapse. Diamond considers: The Norse were undone by the same social glue that had enabled them to master Greenland's difficulties. The values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs over adversity (Diamond 211 - 248). Although numerous archeologists and historians consider the Ice Age to be the main reason for the Norse's disappearance, Jared Diamond blames the Norse for their incompatibility to make correct decision at time. He focuses attention on incompatibility to forecast future succession of events and considers it one of the main reasons for collapse.

Diamond writes about the Easter Islanders who also deforested their woods until all the trees were chopped off. I have often asked myself, What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it? (Diamond 248 - 277) Human decision making is influenced by attempts to find interpretation of moral values, social conventionalities and human nature. The theme of incompatibility of human nature with the conventionalities of society is closely related to contraposition between success and collapse as a result of making decisions. Diamond considers that societies, as often as not, arent murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death (Diamond 487). The author hardly tries to draw a linking line between the human decision making and the sub-themes discussed in the book.

Jared Diamond does not point out definite pitfalls of society; the book lacks on explanations, but abounds on questions. And that is quite good for us, readers, as it makes ones mind work and produces ones point of view. I consider, we need to realize our responsibility for decision making in twentieth-century social life as a natural condition of social development. The book also focuses on fundamental changes in views of making important decisions which result in drastic changes in society. Jared Diamond contributed much to research and development of ethical and social problems, even though he viewed social ideology quite differently, which concerned the very concept, as well as the means of attaining principles of human decision making.

Bibliography Diamond, Jared. (2005). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Viking Books.


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Research essay sample on Point Of View Decision Making

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