Constitutional Father Essays - French First Republic,

Constitutional Father Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, better known as Abbe Sieyes, is considered by some scholars, the leader of the early Revolution in France; however, others consider him a selfish, jealous man. No matter what one believes, there are some indisputable facts about Abbe Sieyes. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes was born on May 3rd, 1748 in Frejus. His father was a postmaster and collector of king's dues, while his mother was connected to the lower ranks of nobility. Sieyes' parents gave him the best education they could afford, first at home under a tutor, then in the Jesuits' College at Frejus. Most graduates of the college attended military academies and Sieyes expected the same, but was forced into a different occupation. Emmanuel's parents pushed him into Holy Orders in the hope that he would support the family, especially his two brothers. The Bishop of Frejus was a family friend and helped Emmanuel's parents send him to Paris to study at the Seminary of St. Sulpice. His studies lasted for ten years and he was ordained a priest in 1773. Two years after his ordination, Abbe Sieyes became secretary to the Bishop of Treguier. His advancement in the priesthood was hindered of course, because he came from a middle-class family that lacked nobility. Then in 1784, he became vicar general and chancellor to the Bishop of Chartres. Abbe Sieyes then became a member of the Provincial Assembly of Orleans in 1787. When the Estates General was called in late 1788, Abbe Sieyes wrote his most famous pamphlet, Qu'est-ce que le Tiers Etat? "What is the Third Estate?" With its publishing in January 1789, Sieyes became a prominent figure at the Estates General. On June 12, 1789, Sieyes brought about the vote to allow the privileged to join the Third. Then on June 17, he brought about the vote that transformed the Third into the National Assembly. One year later, Sieyes was voted president of the Assembly and of the Jacobian Club. During the next three years, Sieyes simply survived the Terror. Later in his career he was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, a member of the Council of Five Hundred, and received membership to the Directory, but denounced it, and finally was named a Consul in 1799. Sieyes left Paris for the Restoration and returned after the revolution of 1830. He lived six more years and died on June 20, 1836. That was Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes' life, but scholars have written various interpretations of it and its impact (Clapham 4 - 10). The first scholarly interpretation I examined was that of John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton. Acton wrote Lectures on the French Revolution. Acton states that, "Sieyes was essentially a revolutionist, because he held that political oppression can never be right, and that resistance to oppression can never be wrong...he (Sieyes) sacrificed equality by refusing the vote to those who paid no taxes"(Acton 161). Acton treats Sieyes as an important figure to the Revolution, especially in its early stages. He makes Sieyes out to be a student of the Locke. He also states that Sieyes controlled France twice, by sheer political power. This political power did not derive from public opinion, but from Sieyes' political thoughts. To Acton, Sieyes was a political thinker, the best of his time, but he lacked the pulse of the people and therefore was a poor politician. The next interpretation I examined was that of J. M. Thompson. Thompson sees Sieyes as a philosopher with one major flaw. In Leaders of the French Revolution, Thompson states, "In both those acts (the creation of the National Assembly and the Constitution of Brumaire) Sieyes did well by his country, and did so because he was human enough to forget, for the moment, he was a philosopher"(Thompson 15). Thompson interprets this ignorance as Sieyes' major weakness. He thinks Sieyes could not philosophically detach himself from a situation. Thompson also thinks Sieyes was unfit for the priesthood and was closer to the philosophes' movements. Overall, Thompson believes that Sieyes is responsible for the National Assembly, the National Guard, and the Departmental System and in effect a great political thinker. The third interpretation I read was that of Henri Beraud. In Beraud's book, Twelve Portraits of the French Revolution, he sees Sieyes as a secondary figure to the revolution, "a man who internally struggled with respect for monarchy and the love of liberty"(Beraud 299). Beraud's interpretation of Abbe Sieyes differs form the first two because he sees Sieyes political thoughts as part of his problem. To Beraud, Sieyes was concerning himself more

The eNotes Blog Your New Textbook, Brought to You by BillGates

Your New Textbook, Brought to You by BillGates Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold have filed a new patent that could change the way we read textbooks, and possibly the way we learn, forever. Bored of reading the same textbooks, the same old way? Well, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold, the duo behind an invention that can actually slow hurricanes, are looking to change that. In 2012 they filed a patent for a device that will have the capability to automatically create a customized video snippet from any random selection of text, according to GeekWire. That means that as you read a textbook on, say, a tablet or your phone, that device could generate a video based on the content of the textbookturning a boring old piece of text into essentially a short film. This new patent, titled Autogenerating Video from Text, would certainly be a game changer in the educational community. While interactive instruction has been on the scene for some time, never before has any technology been able to show a human sort of understanding of the text at hand, let alone an understanding of how best to teach it to a student. In one of the scenarios the patent poses, a student could theoretically snap a picture of a textbook page and watch a video rendering of the facts therein; as opposed to (or perhaps we should say in addition to) reading paragraphs of names and dates, the student could watch a video of soldiers running across a battlefield. In yet another possible application outlined by the patent, the app/devices personalization features could really make the information hit home: Someone reading Shakespeare could scan a section of text to create a video depicting one of the scenes - and the system could be set to â€Å"insert family members into the video clip instead of the typical characters.† Because it wouldnt be at all creepy to see your family members tragic roles. My advice: stay away from Oedipus Rex, kids. If the idea does indeed come to fruition, the capability to generate video and images from texts could greatly aid the visual learners among us, or maybe just better engage students with shorter attention spans. Its likely that this technology is a long way off, but with the rapid changes technology constantly brings to the field of education, I wouldnt discount it as a possibility. The question is, what do you think of this new way to read texts? Foul or fair? For their part, the geeks seem none too impressed:

Tort Liabilities Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Tort Liabilities - Case Study Example Negligence is an example of unintentional torts. Most contemporary tort theory focuses on the legal consequences of accidents, where the relevant forms of liability are negligence and strict liability. (Theories of Tort, 2003). Wikipedia (last modified 2006) defines tort as, "In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong other than a breach of contract, for which the law provides a remedy. The origins of the modern law of torts lie in the old remedies of trespass and trespass on the case. The term itself comes from Law French and means, literally, "a wrong". In the French language, the phrase avoir tort translates to "to be wrong". The equivalent body of law in civil law legal systems is delict. A tort is a breach of a non-contractual duty potentially owed to the entire world, imposed by law. The majority of legal claims are brought in tort." An individual's concern for his/her security of physical (bodily) status, the security of his/her financial assets and resources, tangible property, or reputation is protected by the laws of tort. If one of these interests are compromised or interfered with, compensation must be made. The restoration of the victim, or the individual who has been harmed, to his/her status before the action of the tort is the goal of the law of torts. Wex (2005) states that, "In most countries, torts are typically divided into three broad categories: intentional torts, negligence and nuisance. Additional categories or subcategories are recognized in some countries. Some torts are strict liability torts, in that the plaintiff may recover by showing only that the wrong took place, and that the defendant committed the wrong - there is no need to show the defendant's state of mind or that the defendant breached a duty of due care." The main idea of tort law is not that an individually behaved badly, or wrongfully, but that a wrong was actually committed. Under tort laws, victims can spread some of the costs to others in the form of insurance. Therefore, insurance and tort laws are, in a sense, interrelated. In this day and age, lawsuits and judgements are highly possiblea and most individuals realize that they can find themselves involved in one, whether as a victim or as the accused, or guilty, party. Coleman explains the difference between fault and strict liability in tort law: Just as harm without wrong is no tort, wrongs without harms are typically not torts either. Suppose for a moment that every motorist has a duty to exercise reasonable care in driving his or her car, and that the intended beneficiaries of the duty include all the pedestrians and other drivers who Tort Liabilities 4 might be put at risk by one's failure to drive with adequate care. Now imagine two people who drive recklessly and in so doing breach the duty we suppose they have, but that one motorist causes damage whereas the other escapes injuring anyone. By hypothesis, both have breached a duty to those whose security is put at risk, and in doing so both have committed wrongs. Only one driver harms someone as a result of the wrongs he commits and thus only he subjects himself to tort liability. So torts require both wrong and, in most cases, harm. A notable exception to the harm requirement is the case in which