History of Cloning and the Future Prospect of Cloning Humans
In the first article, the author describes cloning as the process of creating a cell, tissue line or even a complete organism from a single cell. He says that the concept of cloning was introduced in 1903 and plants were the first living organisms to be cloned. He gives examples such as trees sending up runners, worms dividing into smaller worms and says that all these are clones. He then explains the various threads and experiments used over the years and how they have contributed to the field of cloning.
The author states that the first research thread leading to experimental cloning involved laboratory stimulation of development through artificial fertilization. This was proven when artificial parthenogenesis of sea urchin eggs showed that fertilization was not necessary to make larval urchins. Transplantation was the second experimental manipulation of development. Nuclear transplantation was used to produce a clone from embryonic or adult cells. The third line of development was cell line and gene cloning. In this process, the scientists recombine the genetic material. Using nuclear transplantation, the first frog was cloned. After nuclear transplantation came recombinant DNA. This revolutionized the field of genetics presenting new techniques for cloning. Recombinant DNA showed that pieces of DNA could be transplanted from animals into bacteria. And after all this came the major breakthrough in the field of genetics and cloning. That was the cloning of the first sheep, Dolly.
Dolly was a result of reproductive technology. It is a fact that living wombs are required as incubators and they are available because of advances in reproductive technologies and agriculture. Implantation techniques were not new in Dolly, but this step is essential for the process to work. Ian Wilmut and his team used these various established research threads to produce Dolly. There was one detail new in Dolly in a technical fact. That the nucleus came from an adult somatic rather than embryonic cell was not sufficiently radical scientifically that it should have evoked such strong reactions.
The production of Dolly has raised mixed reactions all over the world.
To me, the other two major theories applied to the problems of witchcraft seem much to politicized to be considered as historical. As Sharpe states, addressing the gender issue first, “The crucial development here was the rise of the Women’s Movement in the United States and Europe”(9). He continues to say that these women “sought to construct a history of oppression which would help inform their consciousness in their ongoing struggle”(10). This theory absolutely reeks of ulterior motives. Though it cannot be denied that approximately eighty percent of the witches executed during these times were women, it seems odd that no scholars felt inclined to point this out as relevant until the 1970s when it fit into the “construction of a history.” History should not be constructed in order to suit the needs of the present, nor the future. Ac...
Witchcraft was relentlessly thought as the work of the devil with only sinful and immoral intentions. Julio Caro Baroja explains in his book on Basque witchcraft that women who were out casted from society and unable to fulfill their womanly duties became witches as a way to compensate for her failed life. They were thought to be a threat to society as they dwindled in evil magic. This misunderstanding may have originated from the literary works of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in their published book, “Malleus Maleficarum”. Accusations of being adulterous, liars and dealing with the devil materialized because of the...
...en accused on the premise of being heretics or using healing magic (cite, cite). Furthermore, women who were brought to court on allegations of witchcraft in Europe in the early modern times are often of low social-economic status, in contrast to men who are oftentimes of superior social-economic status. This is because men are often victimized in order to bring about financial gain through the confiscation of their property. Witchcraft in early modern Europe can definitely be regarded as sex-related, but was by no means sex-specific (Larner, 2002).
For 75 years following reconstruction the United States made little advancement towards racial equality. Many parts of the nation enacted Jim Crowe laws making separation of the races not just a matter of practice but a matter of law. The laws were implemented with the explicit purpose of keeping black American’s from being able to enjoy the rights and freedoms their white counterparts took for granted. Despite the efforts of so many nameless forgotten heroes, the fate of African Americans seemed to be in the hands of a racist society bent on keeping them down; however that all began to change following World War II. Thousands of African American men returned from Europe with a renewed purpose and determined to break the proverbial chains segregation had keep them in since the end of the American Civil War. With a piece of Civil Rights legislation in 1957, the federal government took its first step towards breaking the bonds that had held too many citizens down for far too long. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was a watered down version of the law initially proposed but what has been perceived as a small step towards correcting the mistakes of the past was actually a giant leap forward for a nation still stuck in the muck of racial division. What some historians have dismissed as an insignificant and weak act was perhaps the most important law passed during the nation’s civil rights movement, because it was the first and that cannot be underestimated.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
Associations were made between witchcraft and mental weakness, a person had to be mentally weak to become to the devil or willing to let him in. Both of these ideas were more closely enforced with women, continuously seen throughout the Malleus Maleficaium, which was hinged on the idea of female mental frailty, they were presented as a more popular contender for an allegiance with the devil as their weakness made them easier to approach. As an immensely influential text during the early modern period Malleus Maleficaium can be seen to provide a general idea of society’s view on witches. Malleus Maleficaium provides three reasons as to why women are more susceptible to the devil; their female traits make them ‘naturally more impressionable’ and convert other women in the neighbourhood. The description of women as the ‘fragile female sex’ shows the link between women and vulnerability, whilst both men and women could be seen to be weak, it was primarily a female fault. The idea of women’s susceptibility to sin and her need for guidance was reinforced by society. Tales of women’s wrongs were passed down, beginning with Eve’s original sin, women inherited a unstable nature that could easily fall prey. Pierre de Lancre, a French magistrate during the witch hunts, explained the larger number of female witches by referring to the primarily female names for witches which had been used throughout history, such as fate and nimphe. Similarly the Bible contains many negative examples of female witches such as the Witch of Endor, enforcing the idea of women’s need for guidance to remain on the right path, the idea of the deceptive women was established throughout history and society’s ideas on women made them more likely candidates for witchcraft. The mythology surrounding witchcraft could be
Karlsen, Carol. "Witchcraft: Prejudice and Intolerance Targeted Gender During the Witch Hunts: Effects on Early Mode." setonhill.edu. n.p., 1998. Web. 18 February. .
Were the Witch-Hunts in Pre-modern Europe Misogynistic? The “YES” article by, Anne Llewellyn Barstow, “On Studying Witchcraft as Woman’s History” and the “NO” article by, Robin Briggs, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community,” will be compared, and summarized.
..., inefficient, traditional techniques. So despite the introduction of these Civil Rights Acts’, there was little improvement in black living standards.
When someone thinks of a witch, usually he or she thinks about Halloween or the movie The Wizard of Oz. However, during the 16th and 17th century, witches were feared by many. The accusations of witches during this time is the highest reported, more than 500,000 people were tried and more than 100,000 were executed. Many people of the modern era know and believe that witches are not real. This was not the case in the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century. Individuals were prosecuted as witches because people wanted money and to clean up their community, they were women, and the communities needed a scapegoat for their misfortune.
There have been various explanations by different historians for why the majority of Witches accused were woman. One of the first models concerning Witchcraft and gender to be produced was the ‘Witch-cult‘ idea. This theory was devised by Margaret Murray in the early 20th century and revolved around the idea of Witchcraft being an actual pre-Christian religion. This pagan woman-based religion centred around ‘The Horned God’ who from the Christian point of view was Satan. Murray writes that the ‘God of the old religion becomes the Devil of the new.’ This religion concerned woman in that it was being supressed by the Christian Church which was a male dominated organisation with an exclusively male hierarchy. In effect the whole Witch-hunt affair was a persecution of woman by men, both being polar opposites even in religion. Murray’s thesis proved very popular with radical feminists from the 1960s onwards, providing the feminist movement with a sort of rallying point, further exaggerating the sex specific elements in the Murray model. Murray’s thesis however, was attacked from day one and continues to be discredited to this day due to the lack of evidence in support of it and th...
John Stuart Mill discusses the conception of liberty in many ways. I’d like to focus of his ideas of the harm principle and a touch a little on his thoughts about the freedom of action. The harm principle and freedom on action are just two subtopics of Mill’s extensive thoughts about the conception on liberty. Not only do I plan to discuss and explain each of these parts on the conception of liberty, but I also plan to discuss my thoughts and feelings. I have a few disagreements with Mill on the harm principle; they will be stated and explained. My thoughts and feelings on Mill vary but I’d like to share my negative opinion towards the principle and hope to put it in a different perspective.
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.
Tennessee Williams’ play, “The Glass Menagerie”, depicts the life of an odd yet intriguing character: Laura. Because she is affected by a slight disability in her leg, she lacks the confidence as well as the desire to socialize with people outside her family. Refusing to be constrained to reality, she often escapes to her own world, which consists of her records and collection of glass animals. This glass menagerie holds a great deal of significance throughout the play (as the title implies) and is representative of several different aspects of Laura’s personality. Because the glass menagerie symbolizes more than one feature, its imagery can be considered both consistent and fluctuating.
“I Shall Paint My Nails Red” by Carole Satyamurti, writes about how red nails show a bold statement about a simple woman. The color red is interpreted in poetry as a figure of speech for passion, anger and strong emotions. Satyamurti is suggesting that women who paint their nails red are trying to seek attention from the world. She uses different relationships to the women: her daughter, her lover, and the society and tell how they would react to red nails. The first word in every line starts with “Because”, why would she repeat this word ten times? She might be trying to give a good enough reason why she is painting her nails red maybe because she is a woman.