Races Link between Complexion, Language Proficiency Essay

Races Link between Complexion, Language Proficiency - Essay Example In its most common form, race, as a concept, is described by referring to the biological characteristics of a specific social group: for example, reference can be made to ‘skin color, eye shape or hair texture’ (Kubota and Lin 2008, p.2). However, the dependency of race on the above criteria is not quite strong. In fact, through scientific research similarities have been identified among people in regard to their biological characteristics; these similarities are often at high level leading certain scientists to support the view that ‘races do not exist’ (Kubota and Lin 2008, p.2). Still, it seems that genes of populations are not identical. This fact has led to the assumption that the concept of race could be explained more effectively by referring to the ‘genetic characteristics of populations’ (Kubota and Lin 2008, p.2). Moreover, other approaches for explaining the uniqueness of race cannot be rejected; reference can be made, for example, to the cultural and social traditions of populations or to the explanations developed by different groups of populations in regard to critical social problems (Kubota and Lin 2008). Language has been also found to be an important criterion for justifying the categorization of people in races (Cole and Graham 2012). In addition, race is commonly used for describing the genetic characteristics of large group of populations, such as nations (Daniels 2013); in this context, race can be considered as related to other concepts, such as nationality (Daniels 2013). In other words, race is a concept that can be interpreted using different criteria. In this way, the specific concept could lead to severe social conflicts, a view promoted mostly in the context of the neo-Marxism (Kubota and Lin 2008). For avoiding such risk the use of other, similar, concepts, such as racialization and racism is suggested especially when having to develop

Philosophy ( Against Bioethics) by jonathan baron Essay

Philosophy ( Against Bioethics) by jonathan baron - Essay Example This essay will explore the meaning of QALY in bioethics. A QALY is an initial of the terms quality-adjusted life year. It refers to a measure of health outcome values and includes quality and quantity of life lived. QALYs measure an individual’s expected life years in both healthy and unhealthy conditions. To determine the value of QALY, one multiplies the utility value associated with a state of health by the number of years the individual lives in that state. The calculations involved in finding out how QALYs are measured are as explained below. QALYs were first introduced by the researchers and decision analysts in the United States of America. Quality-adjusted life year is used in assessing the monetary value of a medical intervention. This model is based on the life period that would be added in the intervention. Yearly, if an individual is in perfect health, they earn a value of 1.0 up to 0.0 for death. However, in cases where the patient incurs some unhealthy conditions that may be long lasting, then a value of between 0(years) and 1(year) is assigned to account for the unhealthy condition. Some of the conditions may even include blindness and physical challenges to the body which may even lead to individuals using wheel-chairs. Baron argues that applied bioethics lacks the element of a coherent theory, and for this fact; it is largely based on judgments that are intuitive. He continually proposes the fact that bioethics could have a coherent theory based on decision analysis and utilitarianism. The utilitarianism factor defines the best option as the one that gives the best output. Such a theory makes bioethics yield the best results in relation to the people involved. Furthermore, Baron argues that the recent practices involved in bioethics should be avoided. He also notes that with the combination of utilitarianism and decision analysis, bioethics can achieve most out of it by