Plato and Aristotle Essay

Plato and Aristotle were two philosophers who made an impact on philosophy as we know it as today. Plato is thought of as the first political philosopher and Aristotle as the first metaphysical philosopher. They were both great intellectuals in regards to being the first of the great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to better life by improving the societies in which they were part of during their lives. The views of Plato and Aristotle look different but they do have some similarities to them. Plato is mostly known for his Theory of Forms and Aristotle is known for his thoughts in universals. Even though they both thought a bit differently they did agree in a few things. Plato and Aristotle not only had an impact on society in the past but today’s society as well. Plato was a teacher to Aristotle and lived during the Peloponnesian War, which lead to the end of the Athenian democracy. He had eyewitness account of Socrates, his mentor, trial and execution. Unhappy with the political corruption that plagued the Athenian democratic government, he removed himself from politics. He strongly felt that neither a moral individual nor a state could be established in a democratic environment. Plato felt that the common man was not intelligent enough to deal with concepts that influence the state such as economics, policies and other relative matters. He thought of philosophers as being the most intelligent among men. He viewed political incumbents in the Athens government basically as bought individuals in office for the good of themselves and not society as a whole. Another danger was that extreme liberties given to the people in the democratic society could potentially lead an anarchy. Aristotle was a student of Plato’s and teacher of Alexander the Great. He created his own school in Athens. He thought of metaphysics to be the first philosophy, which was a large interest to him. Aristotle’s stated that forms were universal. According to Aristotle, notion of Essential properties makes something what it is, and accidental properties are the differences of that item. Aristotle believed the state and the individual are similar and democracy would be the better government. In Book VII of The Republic by Plato, Socrates describes the Allegory of the Cave. It is a metaphor to illustrate the effects of education on the human soul. It can also be understood as what is real and what is believed to be real in life. Even though Plato had his ideal city, the forms was really what people could connect with. There is so much one can take from his thoughts on the forms that could be applied to society today. Plato starts out comparing people that are uneducated to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their head. All they can see is the wall of the cave in front of them. A fire behind them burns bright. Between the fire and the prisoners, there is an area for puppeteers to move around and hold up the puppets to cast shadows on the wall that is in front of the prisoners. This is what the prisoners see every single day. This is all they know; shadows, echoes, the smell of the fire, and darkness. They believe that that shadows are reality. One of the prisoners is allowed to go outside of the cave. Once they reach the outside of the cave, they are blinded by the light because they have not seen such. Once their eyes start to adjust, they start seeing shapes and objects around them. They see that the sun is what creates light and that the tall objects with leaves are trees. They are colorful with moving parts. They go back outside to tell the prisoners, but they are not believed. Those still inside of the cave thinks the person just came in from the outside ill because that is not what they see in the cave, they did not see the outside for themselves, so therefore, it does not exist. So now the person that just came in from the bright sun light cannot see very well in the darkness of the cave, their eyes have not adjusted to the darkness, and people think they are crazy. This is where this view fails for Aristotle because it is not realistic. Aristotle rejects Plato’s Theory of Forms, and makes the way for his realistic approach, which underlines observation first and abstract reasoning second. Being a student of Plato’s, I believe he was indebted to justify at lengths why he disagrees with doctrines of his teacher. He provided detailed arguments against many of Plato’s doctrines, a lot of his major works, focusing in particular on the Theory of Forms. In Aristotle’s critique he thinks this theory is essentially an assertion of the superiority of universals over particulars. Plato argues that particular instances of beauty or justice exists only because they participate in the universal Form of Beauty. Say a there are two objects, one is colorless and the other one is red. The colorless one goes where the red on is located. Since the colorless object and the red object are participating, they are both red objects. They have a certain nurture and nature. However, Aristotle argues that universal concepts of beauty and justice derive from the instances of beauty and justice in this world. We only arrive at an idea of beauty by observing particular instances of beauty. This universal quality of beauty has no existence beyond this idea that we build from particular instances. He is staying that the particulars come first and the universals come after and therefor, Aristotle places emphasis on the importance of observing the details of this world. Which leads me to understand his thoughts on happiness a little more. With putting the weight on observing happiness can measured by a person’s life. Aristotle lays out in Book X in the Nicomachean Ethic’s, the continuation of his thoughts on pleasure, happiness and the end of life, and ethics and politics. His view on happiness and the end of human life really made me question his way of thinking. Aristotle suggests that happiness is the final end of life because nothing is greater than happiness or the good life and it goes against his universal theory. Aristotle proposes that happiness, or the good life, is taken to be a most final end. â€Å"We said, then, that happiness is not a characteristic, for in that case it could be present even to someone asleep thought his life, living the life of plants, and to someone undergoing the greatest misfortunes. †(Nicomachean Ethics, 1176a-1176b). The good life for humans is the life of choosing to life the life according to the virtues. â€Å"For we choose everything, so to speak, for the sake of something else-except happiness, for it is the end. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1176b). Also, it seems that only humans can be happy because the happiness is an important nature of every individual human and it is unique to humans in that the function of humans is what distinguishes them from other kinds of things. Happiness is a self-sufficient activity desirable for its own sake. One seeks nothing from happiness beyond the actual experience or performance of it as an activity. Activities that are desirable in themselves are activities in conformity with virtue and indicates that the greatest happiness must be activity in conformity with the highest virtue. It is wrong to confuse happiness with various kinds of amusements involving bodily pleasures, as many people do. Such amusements are neither virtuous nor ends in themselves, but are merely relaxing diversions in which one occasionally engages for the sake of future activity. The greatest happiness is activity in conformity with the highest virtue is excellence. Intelligence is man’s highest possession and the objects of intelligence are the highest objects within his grasp. It is clear that the life of contemplation and theoretical wisdom must be the greatest of human virtues and the highest form of happiness. The objects of the contemplative life are the unchangeable and eternal verities that underlie and govern the universe. From contemplation of these truths the soul derives a feeling of purity and stability. â€Å"Further, this active is most continuous, for we are more able to contemplate continuously than we are to do anything else whatever. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1177a). Also, the wise person is able to contemplate by himself, the wiser he is the more adept he will be doing so. Contemplative happiness is not dependent on other men. It is the form of life in which human beings come most nearly to being divine, the life that harmonizes with intellect, and that life seems to be the happiest, according to Aristotle. There is another kind of happiness, based on moral virtue and practical wisdom, which is concerned with feelings that spring from man’s bodily nature. It can be defined as the harmonious coordination of all parts of man’s complete being. This kind of happiness is not as exalted as the contemplative, but it helps prepare us for the higher happiness and, since man is not all mind and reason, gives us something to fall back upon when we are unable to remain continuously at the higher level. â€Å"For if there is a certain care for human things on the part of gods, as in fact there is held to be, it would be also reasonable for gods to delight in what is best and most akin to them – this would be the intellect – and to benefit in return those who cherish this above all and honor it, on the grounds that these latter are caring for what is dear to gods as well as acting correctly and nobly. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1179a). This person is the happiest and a wise person would be extremely happy. I believe this idea has some hints of Plato’s forms. The one person who went outside of the cave and saw it all was brought down by all the people in the cave that didn’t see the outside. Aristotle states that you cannot be happy with a lot of friends because they are not true friends. I believe those excess friendships would be a similar situation in the cave. They would not bring your happiness, only suffering. Aristotle and Plato have similarities in their city states as well. Plato gives a place to women, but Aristotle does not seem to care for women. When reading Plato, the texts are in Socrates’s voice. It makes it hard to connect what he is saying, especially in the Republic since it is a play. Also, one cannot tell if Socrates, Plato, is being serious or straightforward or if it’s Socrates’s thoughts or Plato’s. In Nicomachean Ethics, the text is Aristotle’s lecture notes and he is the author of them. While reading, it seems that Plato comes out and gives his opinion on matters, but Aristotle presents them, but does not come out and say what his thoughts are. Plato and Aristotle were two philosophers who made a huge impact on philosophy. They were both great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to better life by improving the societies in which they were part of during their lives. Although they are thought to have completely different views, when laid out, their views have some similarities.

What is Psychopathy?

Psychopathy is a problem for society as a whole, seeing that it could easily lead individuals that are suffering from this personality disorder to violent and criminal acts. The bases of psychopathy are known to be biological, sociological, and psychological. Whereas amygdala dysfunction is thought to be responsible for psychopathy, an individual’s frustration with his or her low socioeconomic status may also lead him or her to commit acts of crime revealing psychopathic features in the process. Psychologists believe that low IQ may similarly be responsible for psychopathic behavior. Additionally, they have extensively studied personality traits, such as those on the Big Five personality dimensions, to understand psychopathic traits in particular. Apart from the above, this paper also discusses therapeutic interventions with respect to psychopathy. Introduction In children as well as adults, psychopathy is defined on the basis of three dimensions: (1) an â€Å"arrogant deceitful interpersonal style†¦including glibness or superficial charm, self-centeredness or a grandiose sense of self-worth, lying, conning, manipulation, and deceitfulness; (2) deficient affective experience†¦including low remorse, low guilt, a weak conscience, callousness, low empathy, shallow affect, and a failure to accept responsibility for actions (denials, excuses, etc. ; and (3) an impulsive or irresponsible behavioral style†¦including boredom, excitement-seeking, a lack of long-term goals, impulsiveness, failing to think before acting, and a parasitic lifestyle (debts, unsatisfactory work habits, etc. )† (Cooke & Michie, 2001). No wonder, psychopathy is rigorously investigated with reference to criminal behavior. Psychologists are also very interested in learning about the roots of psychopathy in children. These studies are based on the premise that it is impossible to try to solve a problem without a thorough understanding of its roots. Psychopathy in Literature Blair (2001) explains that the roots of psychopathy may very well lie in amygdala dysfunction. The amygdala is related to the emotional response, in particular, the flight or fight response to threats. With impairment in this essential area of the human brain, the individual is unable to make appropriate emotional responses to threats. The emotional dysfunction in the person suffering from psychopathy is enough to serve as evidence that the parts of the brain connected with emotions are impaired in the case of those suffering from psychopathy (Blair). Moreover, Blair connects the conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder with psychopathy to describe that there are similarities between the problems. The author adds to our previous definition of psychopathy by stating that those that are suffering from this particular disorder reveal â€Å"emotional shallowness† in addition to antisocial behaviors that are often marked by aggression and taking of offence (Blair). Antisocial behavior is often related to the Intelligence Quotient as well as the socioeconomic status of the person that displays it. Thus, psychopathy may similarly be connected with the IQ and socioeconomic status of those that suffer from it. In particular, those who are less intelligent and who also suffer from lacks due to their present socioeconomic status, may express their emotional frustrations through antisocial behavior, thereby getting very close to the definition of psychopathy (Blair). Rutter (2005) argues that although antisocial behavior is not exactly the same as psychopathy, the importance of investigating the latter lies in the evidence that those that are classified as â€Å"psychopathic offenders† tend to begin their â€Å"criminal careers† at an early age. Besides, these individuals â€Å"are more likely to become persistent offenders than the criminals without psychopathy features† (Rutter). What is more, psychopathic offenders or criminals are often known to be violent and to resist therapeutic intervention. The author also mentions new instruments that have been developed to measure the traits of psychopathy in children as well as adults. These instruments include the â€Å"Antisocial Process Screening Device† (Rutter). Also according to Rutter, child psychiatrists and child psychologists have shown reluctance in diagnosing psychopathy in children and adolescents, based on the belief that the diagnosis might inevitably lead young individuals to bad outcomes in the days to come. On the other hand, it is thought that adults that are suffering from the personality disorder we understand as psychopathy, may have had the problem traits even in childhood. Hence, it is also believed to be easier to start therapeutic programs in childhood so as to help the young in avoiding bad outcomes in future (Rutter). Salekin & Frick (2005) state that young individuals with psychopathic characteristics may be suffering from a particular set of cognitive as well as affective deficits. Knowledge of the â€Å"specific causal pathway† of psychopathy in children and adolescents could prove to be consequential in the design of â€Å"individualized interventions† for such youths (Salekin & Frick). After all, the most important reason why psychologists would like to understand more about psychopathic traits in youths is that these traits help to â€Å"predict future antisocial, criminal, and violent behavior† (Salekin & Frick). Psychologists are also aware that children with psychopathic traits exhibit the â€Å"highest rates of conduct problems, self-reported delinquency, and police contacts† (Salekin & Frick). Salekin, Rogers, & Machin (2001) conducted a study on youths with psychopathic traits. This research was conducted through a survey that was sent out to more than five hundred clinical psychologists, asking them to describe psychopathic traits in youths; gender differences between youths with psychopathic traits; and also the kinds of interventions that psychologists had used with such youths. The results of the study revealed that children with psychopathic features tend to share these features with adults that are also suffering from psychopathy. The mean age of the youngster with psychopathic traits is a little over fourteen years. The average youth with psychopathic features has an 8th grade level education. Moreover, there are more boys than girls showing psychopathic traits. Although the boys with psychopathic characteristics are more aggressive, and often violent; girls with psychopathic features tend to be less aggressive. Such girls reveal their psychopathic traits through antisocial behavior as well as hostility (Salekin, Rogers, & Machin). The study further revealed the prevailing belief of clinical psychologists that it is quite difficult for them to treat psychopathy. Therapeutic interventions are also believed to work more effectively for youths as compared to adults. This is because the personality of children is often thought to be more fluid than the personality of adults. Hence, clinical psychologists reported that they had seen â€Å"moderate-to-marked gains† of psychotherapy in children and adolescents treated for psychopathy (Salekin, Rogers, & Machin). Girls in general were seen to benefit more from psychotherapy than boys. Clinical psychologists found a marked reduction in violence, delinquency, in addition to verbal aggression, even after one year of psychotherapeutic treatment for children and adolescents suffering from psychopathy. Even so, the psychologists reported that antisocial behaviors are sometimes hidden in the natures of the youths and â€Å"outside the purview of psychotherapists† (Salekin, Rogers, & Machin). Hence, this study called for further research to augment our understanding of psychotherapeutic treatment for youths with psychopathic features. Farrington (2005) points out that even though psychotherapeutic treatment for psychopathy should begin early, and should be extensive, there are various problems that make therapeutic intervention difficult. First, â€Å"psychopathy is extremely persistent throughout life,† and so, even though clinical psychologists have observed improvements in youths with psychopathic features after psychotherapy, the problem traits of such youths may not entirely go away (Farrington). Second, psychopathy is also believed to have a biological cause, i. e. amygdala dysfunction, and biological causes cannot be reversed through psychological interventions. Furthermore, psychopaths are manipulative individuals, and they are often able to lie to and deceive psychotherapists so as to become â€Å"treatment-resistant† (Farrington). Farrington also mentions the Big Five personality dimensions that psychologists have often used in an attempt to understand the problem traits of individuals suffering from psychopathy, before they can devise better therapeutic models to help them. The five personality dimensions are: â€Å"Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness† (Farrington). Out of these five dimensions, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism are most relevant to studies on psychopathy. The author describes how individuals with psychopathic characteristics are expected to fare on the Big Five personality dimensions: Agreeableness includes straightforwardness (with deceitfulness at the negative end), altruism (v. exploitativeness), modesty (v. arrogance), and tendermindedness (v. callousness). Conscientiousness includes dutifulness (with poor dependability at the negative end), achievement striving (v. aimlessness), self-discipline (v. hedonism), and deliberation (v. arelessness). Neuroticism includes impulsiveness and angry hostility, although it also includes self-consciousness (with glibness and shamelessness at the negative end) and vulnerability (with fearlessness at the negative end). Conclusion Indeed, with better understanding of the personality traits of individuals suffering from psychopathy – a problem with biological, sociolo gical, and psychological roots – psychologists are in a better position to help them. Yet, it is bad news for psychotherapists that psychopathy may have a biological cause that they would not be able to work their way around. Moreover, psychopaths are often able to escape treatment by conning and lying during psychotherapeutic interventions. Nevertheless, even the knowledge that psychopaths are able to do this is essential in devising new treatments for them. Our literature review has revealed the importance of understanding psychopathy especially in children and adolescents. Psychologists believe that early intervention is crucial in psychopathy, and youths that are suffering from this personality disorder should be treated extensively. This is because personalities are understood to be more fluid in youth. By helping children and adolescents to change their problem traits, psychologists may be able to save them from negative outcomes in the future. All the same, psychologists have reported that the problem traits of children and adolescents with psychopathic features may never entirely go away. Children and adolescents with psychopathic traits may easily turn out to be criminals in = future. Hence, it is even more important to understand the problem of psychopathy now before better treatments may be developed for the problem in question.

Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah - Essay Example The aim of this paper is to answer the following questions: what key personal and public events shaped Barghouti's account To what extent in Barghouti's personal life affect his memory of public events Can historians use memoirs like Barghouti's to understand the past In addition to that, my personal opinion about possible chances of resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians will be reflected. 2. The book begins from the scene when Barghouti returns to his homeland crossing the Jordan River bridge and reminding his first crossing it thirty years ago when he had to leave for Amman: "Here I am crossing the Jordan River I walk westward in a normal manner - or rather, a manner that appears normal. Behind me the world, ahead of me my world (Barghouti, p.1)". Such historical event as Israel victory in Six-Day War influenced the author's life very much: he had to leave his native country and go abroad. He lived in exile for thirty years, so his book I Saw Ramallah is very self-reflective and shows Barghouti's pain and despair from his inability to return to Ramallah again. By 1967 he had graduated the Cairo University - it shaped his account as a famous poet and writer. In addition to that, he married Radwa Ashour and got back to Cairo again to teach English to law students. His return to Cairo played a significant role in Barghouti's life - he began working at the Palestine Rad io Station as an anchor man and political commentator. But Sadat's presidency influenced his career: the station had been closed, and Barghouti worked at the radio station in Beirut during the civil war - this war became another event which affected the life of the author. Then, the political situation changed, and after Sadat's visit to Israel Barghouti was departed from Cairo, as well as other Palestinians. So, foreign policy events influenced personal and professional life of Mourid Barghouti, and such troubles, misfortunes and disadvantages are clearly reflected in his book I Saw Ramallah. Barghouti's personal and professional life affected his memory of public events. He was not fond of politics, but political events of that time influenced and affected him, and this affection is reflected in his book. He perceived the world political events through wide scale of his own experience. Israeli-Palestinian conflict deprived him of his native country; political regime of Egyptian president Sadat affected his professional activity. He had lost himself - after he left Palestine in 1967 he had no place to feel comfortable, he felt as an exile. Barghouti was arrested in 1977 in Egypt, and he was deported to Hungary where he lived for 17 years separated from his family: his wife and son who was five months old when Barghouti was deported. These and other difficult circumstances of his personal life affected his memory of public events - he described these events from the point of view of his personal experience, that's why the world events seem to be so naturalistic and full of sadness and sincerity: "Israel allows in hundreds of elderly people and

SLP 2 Writing about Issues and using Third person Essay

SLP 2 Writing about Issues and using Third person - Essay Example oning them this way, but there was something so magnetizing about Aunt Hilda and her yellow house, something that makes her the second mother of all children of whoever leaves their children there. She has a canary yellow, two-story house, with a large tree house at her expansive, meadow-like backyard, which goes right to the woods. All I know is that for many children, her house is a palace stripped from an adventure book. Aunt Hilda’s house smelled like the perfect parent’s house, where something good was always cooking. She is a great and efficient cook, so her house smelled like different food at different times of the day. In the morning, it smelled like eggs, cereal, pancakes, and maple syrup. Sometimes, at my children’s special request, brown-sugared cinnamon bread rolls dominated the atmosphere. At noon, it smelled like baked chicken, or fried beef, or anything else simmering in her kitchen. In the mid-afternoon, it often smelled like chocolate chip cookies and fresh milk. She gets a large bottle of fresh cow milk everyday from a nearby farm. By supper, scents of salad, olive oil, and roasted chicken filled my nostrils. I asked Aunt Hilda how she manages to cook and to keep her house in order all the time. She said: â€Å"Well, it’s all about time management. I tell the kids what not to do and to do, or else I won’t have time to cook their favorite stuff and they obey me like good pups.† Then she laughed. She laughs so heartily, so from the heart. I always love her more when I hear her laugh. Breakfast is often chaotic for other families, but not at Aunt Hilda’s. She wakes up at four A.M. to clean up the house and to prepare breakfast. She sleeps by 10 PM. My husband and I eat there during breakfast. I make sure to give Aunt Hilda money every week for food, since she feeds my children most of the time, or I do the grocery for her. She has a large pension, so she did not have to work. She also has a simple life, and she does not to spend on

Letter and Memo Paper Pre-Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter and Memo Paper Pre-Assignment - Essay Example nvironment had remained relatively pristine due to the vigilance of the people against the development and use of energy sources that are polluting to the environment and contributory to climate change. I have been in the energy industry for most of my professional life and surprised to see how Americans are becoming more and more dependent on fossil fuels when â€Å"Peak Oil† had been upon us long ago. Instead, the state government of Colorado should pursue clean energy alternatives like wind and solar power. The Colorado Green Wind Farm (at Lamar, Prowers, Colorado) is a good example to reduce reliance on costly imported oil (Makhijani 31). Colorado is among the top 20 states with high potential for wind energy (at no. 11 with 481 billion kw-hours annually), an enough supply to meet all the states electricity requirements were it not for factors like intermittency and geographic location considerations. However, we need not wait for flooding like what happened in some countries (like the Philippines mentioned above) to wake us up that the effects of global warming are upon us like what Al Gore cited in his â€Å"Inconvenient Truth† movie. However, what is markedly absent from the energy debate is environmental optimism (Easterbrook, Sept. 2006) and Mike Keefes cartoon clichà © update (Denver Post, September 29, 2009) could become reality soon. The readers of the Denver Post are not only the people of Colorado but include those of some neighboring states like Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Oklahoma. There are even some readers from as far away as Texas, Kansas, the two Dakotas and Idaho. With a mean elevation of 6,800 feet (2,073 meters), the state of Colorado seems to be so far away from concerns like massive flooding generated by climate change from global warming effects. Furthermore, the people of this region in the United States take pride in their pristine environment and they mostly want to preserve it that way for generations to come. A way to do

TMA1 Revised Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TMA1 Revised - Essay Example s it, his transgression - of lending fire to the humans he is credited with having created - was punished by Zeus in the form of a notoriously cruel curse. Prometheus would be bound to a rock in the Caucasus and an eagle would eat his liver all day; whatever had been consumed during the day would regenerate overnight and the eagle would be back the next day, continuing this cycle of torture ad infinitum. Prometheus was finally freed from this curse by Zeus’s son, the hero Heracles, and was later allowed to regain his position as god, though still bound by a symbolic ring and a piece of the rock he was tied to as a reminder of his punishment (Grimal 1996). The poet Hesiod’s account of the Prometheus myth in his Theogony is considered one of its most authoritative versions. In his version, the story of Prometheus’s first notable deception of Zeus - the incident where Prometheus disguises the ox bones with fat and the flesh with the ox hide and fools Zeus into choosing the apparently valuable but actually worthless bones - is described in clearly partisan terms. Prometheus is referred to as â€Å"devious and wily† while Zeus is called â€Å"far-seeing† and his wisdom is repeatedly praised - â€Å"Zeus, whose wisdom is immortal†; â€Å"Zeus in his wisdom† and so on. (Morford and Lenardon 2003). We are also told in this version that Zeus â€Å"was not unaware of this [Prometheus’s] trick.† The illustration Atlas and Prometheus, from a 6th century BCE engraving on a Laconian cup, is also interesting in its suggestions (Morford and Lenardon 2003). Atlas is pictured as looking on helplessly, while his brother, Prometheus, is attacked by the eagle. Prometheus is seen tied to a column and Atlas with the weight of the skies on his shoulder. There is also a snake on the extreme left which appears to be attacking Atlas. The representation of both these tormented Titans in the same panel emphasizes the might and wrath of Zeus and may have been a common image among

Nursing Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nursing Research Paper - Essay Example A number of researches have been made for the past years focusing on assessment tool, healthcare delivery, and different treatment modalities. Others focused on special groups or populations such as the children, men or women, adults, and elderly. An example of topic made in nursing research is the urinary continence experienced among elderly. Despite advances made in the field of nursing regarding urinary incontinence, the risk of incidence among elderly is still increasing (Pringle-Specht, 2005, 58); thus, the author had thought of what might still possibly cause increase in incidence of urinary incontinence among elderly and how could the current quality of care provided be improved. In line with this, the paper will provide an overview of what the research will look like, as well as the goals for the activity undertaken. In addition, the paper will identify the problem, the significance of addressing the problem, and the search terms used in the review of literatures. Furthermore , the author will present the summary of the two selected research articles, the evidence of gaps between the literature and the research problem, the research question, approach and design, the research hypothesis, concepts or variables under investigation, the target and accessible population, the sampling procedure, the researchability and feasibility of the study, the challenges of conducting the research, and a conclusion. Goal The overall goal of the research activity is to identify whether the use of catheters and diapers as interventions increase the risk of urinary incontinence among elderly patients. The specific goals or purposes of the study are: (1) to identify other treatment modalities to prevent or control urinary incontinence among elderly patients; (2) to test the hypothesis concerning the relative risks of using diapers and catheters among urinary incontinent elderly patients; and (3) to use the findings to develop recommendations for possible changes in intervent ions for urinary incontinence. Problem Statement Use of urinary catheters and diapers while in the hospital increases the risk of urinary incontinence among elderly patients, and interventions to date found that diapers and catheters are often used as a first-line treatment for urinary incontinence (Schnelle & Smith, 2001, 754). Other treatment modalities are to be identified to reduce increasing risks of urinary incontinence among elderly. Significance of Addressing the Problem The study is significant to the geriatric patients as the risk of developing urinary incontinence due to catheters and diaper would be prevented. In addition, diminishing the use of diapers and catheters in elderly will boost their self-esteem and facilitate routine urination. The result of the study would benefit the nurses and the nursing profession because of addressing the changes that should be made in common nursing practice which is frequent use of catheters and diapers in geriatric patients as this m ay further contribute to urinary incontinence. Researchers from the related field would also benefit from the study for providing information about one of the causes of urinary incontinence among geriatric patients. Search Terms in Literature Databases from CINAHL, PubMed, Medline, NCBI, and Google Scholar were used in search of related