Al-Ghazâlî, Causality, and Knowledge Essay -- Arabic Philosophy Philos

Al-Ghazà ¢là ®, Causality, and Knowledge ABSTRACT: Few passages in Arabic philosophy have attracted as much attention as al-Ghazà ¢là ®'s discussion of causality in the seventeenth discussion of Tahà ¢fut al-Falsafa, along with the response of Ibn Rushd (Averroà «s) in his Tahà ¢fut al-Tahà ¢fut. A question often asked is to what extent al-Ghazà ¢là ® can be called an occasionalist; that is, whether he follows other Kalà ¢m thinkers in restricting causal agency to God alone. What has not been thoroughly addressed in previous studies is a question which al-Ghazà ¢là ® and Ibn Rushd both see as decisive in the seventeenth discussion: what theory of causality is sufficient to explain human knowledge? In this paper I show that al-Ghazà ¢là ®'s and Ibn Rushd's theories of causality are closely related to their epistemologies. The difference between the two thinkers can be briefly summerized as follows. For Ibn Rushd, the paradigm of human knowledge is demonstrative science; for al-Ghazà ¢là ®, in contrast, the par adigm of human knowledge is (or at least includes) revelation. Yet both remain committed to the possibility of Aristotelian science and its underlying principles. Thus, I suggest that al-Ghazà ¢là ®'s stance in the seventeenth discussion sheds light on his critique of philosophy in the Tahà ¢fut: namely, philosophy is not inherently incoherent, but simply limited in scope. I also briefly compare this position to that of Thomas Aquinas, in order to place the view in a more familiar context. Few passages in Arabic philosophy have attracted as much attention as al-Ghazà ¢là ®'s discussion of causality in the seventeenth discussion of Tahà ¢fut al-Falà ¢sifa, along with the response of Ibn Rushd (Averroà «s) in his Tahà ¢fut al-Tahà ¢fut. A question which has been addressed ... ...onalist reading of al-Ghazà ¢là ®, translates the same as 'sheer vilification,' referring to the philosophers. Marmura's is clearly the better translation (tashnà ®' being the verbal noun of 'to vilify'), indicating that al-Ghazà ¢là ® is in fact referring back to the criticism made by the philosophers. The passage is at Tahà ¢fut, p. 296. See also Riker, p. 319. (12) Tahà ¢fut, p. 300, p. 258. English translation p. 330, p. 278. (13) Tahà ¢fut, p. 296. English translation, p. 325. (14) Tahà ¢fut, pp. 295-6. English translation, p. 324. (15) Tahà ¢fut, p. 294. English translation, p. 322. (16) Qurà ¢n 35.43, cited at Tahà ¢fut, p. 292. English translation, p. 320. See also Tahà ¢fut, p. 302, English translation, p. 333. (17) Tahà ¢fut, p. 296. English translation, p. 325. (18) Tahà ¢fut, p. 298. English translation, p. 327. (19) Tahà ¢fut, p. 84. English translation, p. 70.

The Philosophy of Medicine :: Epistemology

The Philosophy of Medicine Philosophy of Medicine? In Arthur Caplan's 1992 paper entitled "Does The Philosophy of Medicine Exist?" he argues that if a philosophy of medicine existed it would be concerned with epistemological or metaphysical questions. Caplan states "The goal of the philosophy of medicine is epistemological" (71). Caplan adds "the goal of the inquiry is to understand what those in medicine think they know and why they think they know it" (71). In conversation with Professor Caplan he has recently stated that he still holds the conclusion of his paper: namely, that a philosophy of medicine does not currently exist.[1] It will be my general aim to look at the discussion that takes place in some of the analysis of the medical field with a focus on epistemology. Specifically it will be my intention to distinguish in some of the topical literature if the questions raised are rightly epistemological yet or in need of some clarification. I accept Professor Caplan's stipulative definition that states that a field "must be well-integrated with other cognate inquiries and disciplines, have an established canon of key books, textbooks, anthologies and articles, and a set of distinctive and defining problems" (67). Epistemology meets all of these requirements. In attempts to assist medicine, authors from various quarters have offered analyses but confused what is and is not rightly epistemology. This confusion in turn blurs the distinction between philosophy in medicine and philosophy of medicine.[2] The resulting cloudiness may be an obstacle in the way of the development of the philosophy of medicine. I believe the importance of merely recognizing whether we are asking questions about the thinkers or about that which may not be the thinker is a particularly relevant foundation to philosophy of medicine. In line with an element of Professor Caplan's definition of the philosophy of medicine (69), I will attempt to explicate the key concepts in philosophy in medicine of 'uncertainty' and 'underdetermination.' Epistemology Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with theories of knowledge. Its study focuses around the nature, scope, and basis of knowledge, and the reliability of claims to knowledge. Epistemology must often take up debates over where and how knowledge is obtained, and the role of reason.[3] The tools of epistemologists consist of, but are not limited to, truth-bearers, truth-makers, truth-conditions, sentences, propositions, beliefs, criteria, justification, foundations, certainty, determination, coherence, usefulness,and correspondence. All these terms carry different weight and notions within individual epistemological theories, and need not be fully unpacked to serve their purpose in this investigation.

Homelessness as a social problem Essay

Homelessness is a social problem and is the condition of people who lack regular housing. Homeless people are often considered to have little necessities such as food, shelter, money or medical help. They would usually spend their night uncomfortably on the streets or temporarily in a hostel. Some people may reside in their friends house on a sofa or on their floor with a blanket. Some of the factors why people become homeless are due to domestic violence, relationship breakdown, fleeing persecution from another country, drugs and alcohol misuse,family disputes and mental health problems. Another common reason why people are homeless is that they cannot keep a steady job, therefore they cannot pay for their rent or they cannot pay their bills so resort to being homeless. Some people receive little income from their jobs which is not enough for them to pay all the bills or buy enough food or get themselves any clothes. Homeless people would turn to begging on the streets to provide so me money for themselves and purchase the little food they can get with the money. Birmingham last year is said to have had the highest number of people homeless in the country with figures reaching to 925 households.Homelessness can be caused by physical or sexual abuse from their families and so they may choose to run away and seek refuge on the streets. For homeless people, there are the good days and the bad days.The good days include the homeless getting reasonable amount of money in which they may receive 10 pounds by panhandling an hour. The bad days involve inflation or recession in which case they would receive very little and undergo starvation for the night. Some Homeless people may find other ways overcoming the problem of homelessness; one of which is going to prison. This way they will receive accommodation and enough food for them to eat which prevents them from starving.

Reducing Uncertainty in Communications Essay

This paper aims to present basic discussion of Charles Berger’s Uncertainty Theory. The Uncertainty Reduction Theory basically states that strangers, in order to communicate with each other to accomplish a purpose, strive to reduce the uncertainty that they feel with each other. It begins with the motivation for the study of the theory. Afterwards, a brief discussion of the theory and presentation of some of its axioms follow. Then, a clear example shall be given to illustrate to the readers a clear application of this theory. Finally, major implications of the theory as far as communications is concerned shall be formulated. Introduction â€Å"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know. † — Donald Rumsfeld Imagine yourself in the following scenarios. On the first day of class, a gorgeous girl sits beside you and greets you. This made your heart beats very fast. Boy, you are in love at first sight! Is there a chance or not? That’s the question. Imagine that you are an insurance salesperson. You usually sell well beyond the weekly quota but not quite this week. You need to need to close five more insurance policies. Then, you see a group of church-goers and plan to approach them. As you are about to say hi, they started to glance at you with negative looks. You become tongue-tied and do not know what to do. Imagine that you are given an errand by your law office. You are tasked to meet with the secretary of Bill Gates in order to formulate ways of winning in the new anti-trust case against Microsoft? This is the first time that you will meet a proxy of a very powerful individual. What will you do to eliminate the butterflies in your stomach? The above situations involve uncertainty, and how we manage uncertainty determines how we are going to be successful in our transactions. In many communication settings like the above, we could use the Uncertainty Reduction Theory to understand them and make inferences on the best course of action. It states that as people begin to interact, they strive to reduce the level uncertainty that they feel towards each other. The theory features seven axioms and twenty-one theorems derived from these axioms (Berger and Calabrese 1975). This paper will explore this theory in detail, discuss specific ways of applying it, and identify its major implications. Uncertainty Reduction Theory As mentioned above, strangers try to reduce the uncertainty between them. The uncertainty involved here are of two types: cognitive and behavioral. For cognitive uncertainty, strangers try to reduce the gap in their knowledge of how the other person thinks, particularly in the realm of beliefs and attitudes. For behavioral uncertainty, strangers try to predict how the other person will act based on how he or she perceives the other at present (Garlough nd). The theory assumes the following: †¢ People experience uncertainty in interpersonal settings †¢ Uncertainty generates cognitive stress. †¢ When strangers first meet their primary concern is to reduce uncertainty or increase predictability. †¢ Interpersonal communication occurs through stages. †¢ Interpersonal communication is the primary means of uncertainty reduction. †¢ The quality and nature of information people share changes through time. †¢ Can predict this type of behavior in a law-like fashion (Garlough nd) The above assumptions form the basis of the axioms and theorems of the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. For the purposes of this paper, only three key axioms shall be discussed: †¢ Axiom 1: As the amount of verbal communication between strangers increases, the levels of uncertainty decrease. As the uncertainty is further decreased, the amount of verbal communication increases †¢ Axiom 3: High levels of uncertainty cause increases in information-seeking behavior. When uncertainty levels decline, information-seeking behavior decreases. †¢ Axiom 6: Similarities between people reduce uncertainty. Dissimilarities create uncertainty. (Garlough nd) In other words, uncertainty and verbal communication is inversely proportional. Expect that two strangers talking as if they were old friends have already reduced their uncertainty levels significantly. This is Axiom 1. Axiom 3 is similar with Axiom 1. Information-seeking behavior is inversely proportional to the level of uncertainty felt. This is self-evident and appeals to intuition and common sense. Axiom 6 appears to be debatable. While it may or may not be the case that similarity or something held in common by strangers will facilitate communication, strangers meeting for the first time should look for more ways that they are the same rather than different. Case in point: A study by Goodboy and Myers indicates that students feel better if they could communicate well with an instructor and vice versa. And as such, they recommend that both students and instructors find ways to reduce the uncertainty that they feel towards each other. In particular, the instructor should be consistent in class and grading policies. This way, students could better perform in class. Application Beginning speech communication students must have heard that people do fear death the most. They fear public speaking (Rolls 1998)! Now, this forces us to question. Is there any way that the Uncertainty Reduction Theory could help reduce if not eliminate stage fright? Yes, there is. Stage fright may not be totally eliminated. As a matter of fact, a sufficient amount of it may be necessary for optimal speech performance. But it is the responsibility of the public speaker to manage speech anxiety in order to perform well and not be defeated by those butterflies in the stomach. It should be noted that the length, duration, and intensity of stage fright varies. This depends on the type and difficulty of a speech act (Witt and Behnke 2006). Here’s where the Uncertainty Reduction Theory will come. The level of uncertainty that a public speaker will feel on the podium will depend on how well (or how less) he or she knows his audience. If the speaker at an earlier point refused to follow the basic rule of doing your audience, he or she would find it hard to utter words that make sense. In return, the audience may feel uncertain if the speaker really knows what he or she is saying. Thus, credible information from the speaker is directly proportional to a good response from the audience and inversely proportional to a sense of cynicism. On the part of the speaker, a sense of knowing that your audience is receptive is directly proportional to the confidence that he or she can muster. Therefore, Axiom 1 holds as far as public speaking is concerned. For Axiom 3, a confident speaker without or with little uncertainty, would not care if the audience likes him or not. He will proceed with his talk as smoothly as he can. In contrast, even if he or she tries not to, a very uncertain speaker will notice every real or imagined little signs of disapproval. In a similar way, Axiom 34 holds for public speaking. Similarities, to paraphrase Axiom 6, facilitate communication. By having things in common, a speaker can empathize well with the audience and their needs; this makes him feel certain that he or she can with their heart. On the part of the audience, they obviously would prefer a speaker that could identify with them. But if nothing in common is immediately identifiable, Axiom 6 can guarantee a would-be speaker that he or she can gain rapport by finding or inventing something in common with the audience. Implications The Uncertainty Reduction Theory is a good framework for communication. This is especially true for shy persons. The way I see it, if it can be shown that good communication can only occur if some conditions are adequately fulfilled, i. e. the axioms and theorems of the Uncertainty Reduction Theory, then anyone experienced or not can learn how to communicate with other people more effectively. As shown in the previous section, the Uncertainty Reduction Theory can be used to analyze communication phenomena such as public speaking and stage fright. Therefore, if a particular problem could be accounted for, then a solution could be put in place. It follows that problems in public speaking could be lessened if public speakers in training would study communication theories such as the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. In more concrete terms, a communicator must be on top of the situation. He or she must take serious steps in reducing the feeling of uncertainty that the speaker and the audience feel toward each other. To accomplish this, a â€Å"spontaneous† or â€Å"extemporaneous† speech must be patterned to a well-formed formula of a speech that will surely reduce such uncertainty. Research in this aspect is an open field. Finally, by stating the Uncertainty Reduction Theory, in terms of axioms and theorems as in the language game of Mathematics, the authors of this theory have effectively placed communication as an almost exact science. Currently, communication is part of the social sciences but by improving its rigors and system of thought, it can compete side by side with science. This is a significant contribution of the Uncertainty Reduction Theory. Conclusion By understanding and applying the Uncertainty Reduction Theory, significant improvements in the quality of communication among individuals can be expected. Therefore, this theory must be taught to every student who will tread the halls of any respectable university. References Berger, C. R. , Calabrese, R. J. (1975). Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond:toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication [Abstract]. Human Communication Research, Vol. 1(1): 99-112. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ123999) Retrieved November 17, 2008, from ERIC. Garlough, Christine. (nd). Uncertainty Reduction Theory [PowerPoint Presentation of Lecture]. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from http://www. commarts. wisc. edu/Fac/Garlough/Lectures/UncertaintyReductionTheory. ppt. Goodboy, Alan K. , Myers, Scott A. (2007). Student Communication Satisfaction, Similarity, and Liking as a Function of Attributional Confidence. Ohio Communication Journal, 45, 1-12. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from EBSCOhost Research Databases (Communication & Mass Media Complete). Rolls, Judith A. (1998). Facing the Fears Associated with Professional Speaking. Business Communication Quarterly, 61(2), 103-106. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from EBSCOhost Research Databases (Communication & Mass Media Complete). Witt, Paul L. , Behnke, Ralph. (2006). Anticipatory Speech Anxiety as a Function of Public Speaking Assignment Type. Communication Education, 55(2), 167-177. Retrieved November 17, 2008, from EBSCOhost Research Databases (Communication & Mass Media Complete).

European Advertising vs. American Advertising

Research Paper ARS 230 The main aspect of advertising is to ‘get more bang for the buck’, to make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye and gain the viewer’s attention. Throughout the years, advertising has varied in many ways from catchy slogans to iconic logos. Some may say there is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, but what if one area is gaining the benefits slightly different than the others because of their boldness?American and European advertising are very different culturally as well as aesthetically. There has always been a cultural difference in the style of advertising between America and Europe, whether it is sexual content, trend or originality. A striking boldness seems to be a trending approach in Europe, while classic reason takes a hold of America. Researchers have said that one main difference between American and European advertisements is that European ads use emotional blackmailing while American ads reason for you.Both European and American advertising benefit in marketing, it is simply just a matter of effectiveness based on the audience. When comparing the two cultures of advertisement, American versus European, it is safe to say that no one approach is better, just simply different. It is compared as emotion versus product. America is focused on selling the product and comparing it to other competitors whereas Europe is more focused on the emotion and beauty of the actual advertisement. â€Å" A trend is at work that has gone much further in the United States than in Europe.The trend has been manifested in recent decades by a dramatic growth in the number of separate brands and brand variants, a proliferation that has had a deadening effect on American advertising,† (Jones). America is effective because of the number of brands that are produced and compared where Europe is more effective by staying loyal to their brands and elaborating on commercial advertising. Looking at an advertisement in Eu rope may catch your eye because of the boldness. Europe is well known for using sexual nudity to promote a product, simply because ‘sex sells’.Approaching advertising in a different light would be emotionally. In America, advertising can be described as hard selling. Hard selling is a campaign or advertisement that is direct, forceful and straight to the point. For example while watching an American seatbelt warning on Youtube, the commercial is simply based on the motto, â€Å"Click it or Ticket†, showing average people driving their cars and getting pulled over by officers and receiving a ticket and fine. The commercial is to the point and straight forward, showing almost no emotion.The approach that American marketing companies have used is effective by saying ‘If you don’t’ wear your seatbelt, then you will be forced by law to pay a fine’. Similarly compared to the American commercial is the European commercial’s motto, †Å"Heaven Can Wait†, is an emotional grasp on losing your life over not wearing your seatbelt. Although the two are trying to deliver the same idea, the European method seems to make a gentler or softer appeal to the viewer by incorporating emotion and reality into the grand scheme.The emotion, fear, is incorporated into this commercial and motivates the audience to action. We as viewers can see how both American and European advertising is very successful; it is hard not to view one as more effective. Another aspect of advertising that can differentiate the two cultures is the aesthetics of line and color. For instance, the simple crisp lines of the Nike logo, demonstrates an iconic swoosh and flat one dimensional color paired with the logo â€Å"Just do it,† that subconsciously stays in your mind and makes you feel like you can be an athlete yourself.This portrays a basic and simple, yet straight to the point kind of approach. In Europe you can see a trend of color blo cking and also an artist like logo. â€Å"The American advertisers use more words and headlines, when many European ones use more images and illustrations; they try to find images, which in the best way, without any words, will communicate ideas that stand behind them† (SYL). This can be described as verbal versus visual. There are many ways to compare the two continents when discussing advertising.Although no one culture is wrong, American advertising seems to feel more effective than European because you simply have more product. American and European advertising are both aesthetically visual and promotionally advertised. Weather the culture or continent, no product or company could be formally published without the beauty of advertisement.Bibliography University. , John Philip Jones; John Philip Jones Is A Professor At The Newhouse School Of Public Communications, Syracuse. â€Å"FORUM; Why European Ads Are More Amusing. † The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Oct. 990. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. <http://www. nytimes. com/1990/10/07/business/forum-why-european-ads-are-more-amusing. html>. Gonzalez, Mario V. â€Å"American vs. EuropeanA  Advertising. † Marketing WebCafA ©. WordPress, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. <http://marketingwebcafe. wordpress. com/2011/02/24/european-vs-american-advertising/>. â€Å"Comparison of American and European Advertising. † Comparison of American and European Advertising Style. SYL, 10 Oct. 2006. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http://www. syl. com/bc/comparisonofamericanandeuropeanadvertisingstyle. html>

My Relationship

Brittany English 101-B35 9/28/2012 A relationship between two people can have very different meanings. In some relationships such as two lovers, they can also be best friends because they share good communication. A relationship between a parent and child has a special bond because they share love, and affection for each other. However, there are times when a relationship can go bad because there is no understanding, lack of communication, and a feeling of distance in the relationship.Relationships in all parts of our lives contribute to our well-being. Through our relationships, we are sustained in our personal growth and development. Our relationships provide us with the support we need to grow and to handle challenges we can face. In relationships, people like, respect, and trust each other. These are paramount foundations to a healthy relationship. We can accept each other for who we are, including the ways people grow and change over time.For an example I’ve been with my boyfriend Michael for almost three years now and although we’ve gone a lot of problems he has always been there for me. I’ve been able to over a lot of things in my life with him by my side, he’s helped me build confidence and made me realize that everyone as an opinion that doesn’t mean I have to take to heart. I really have no idea what I would without him by my side.The toughest thing that we’ve had to overcome in our relationship is when I was pregnant earlier this year and my dad wasn’t very happy about it so he kicked me out. I moved in with Michael and things got really tough that we decided to part ways, so I moved in with my mother but he said he was going to do all that he could to make things right even if we weren’t together he was going to be there for our child and be the dad he never had, three months down the road we lost our child.After our loss I moved back in with my father and things went back to normal. Since then Michael and I got back together and so many things have changed with our relationship all the problems have seemed to disappear and we’ve become closer despite my parents not wanting me with him. He truly is the perfect guy for me. As for his looks go he’s crazy tall, 6’5† which makes me happy because I love a guy much taller than me being that I’m 5’6† myself. He has big brown eyes that when the light hits them they like look a dark green.He’s a little over weight but it something he’s working on. He has four tattoos, two on right shoulder and one on his left and on the left side of his chest my favorite out of them all would be the tree that has he has on his right shoulder, I don’t know why I just have a fascination with nature and trees. As for his personality He’s Kind, compassionate, and sympathetic. Has a great sense of humor and is loyal. He’s Strong enough to lean on when I need to but comfor table enough to cry if things get bad.He has an easy going temperament and not afraid to say sorry when he is wrong. He even goes out of his way to cheer me up when I am blue. He is completely trust worthy and I can’t talk to him about everything, he’s truly are amazing. He truly has showed me what love really is and I wouldn’t want it any other way For as long as I have been with him people have asked me â€Å"why are you with him†? During our difficult times I seriously had to sit and think about the reasons why I was with him, for the longest time I didn’t really see what we had in common.I mean we don’t have the same taste in music; I am rather organized where he is rather sloppy, we don’t like the same types of food, our childhood upbringing and family could not be any dis similar. So as I reviewed these different aspects of what I expect most people to have in common I started to realize that we didn’t have anything in co mmon, It wasn’t until I got so frustrated and angry that I actually confronted him telling him we had nothing in common, that he showed me a different way to look at it.He said with a smile on his face â€Å" of course we don’t have any of those things in common, but that’s not why I love you† after he said those words I realized I didn’t love him for any of those reasons either , but it was all the intangible things about him that I loved some much, and after I saw that, I realized we did in fact have some things in common that I never even thought about, like each of us has an appreciation for art, beauty, and nature.We both love animals and the ocean, but I don’t think I would have ever actually seen all the things we do have in common until I stretched my brain a little to look outside the normal view of what most of my peers have in common with their significant others, and it made me smile to think that even though we both together mig ht act like silly little children and laugh about the stupidest things most times, we really have a loving and mature relationship (most of the time).I would say the song that describes our relationship the best would be the perfect to by auburn. The song displays the true love between these two people and how they go hand and hand, that they wouldn’t be anything without one another. To me a romantic relationship is a commitment, compromise, acceptance, and love.You must commit yourself to work on improving the relationship, you must often compromise to come to an agreement on many issues, and you must accept the other person for who they are and not try to change them, as change can only come from within. You must love yourself before you can love someone else, and you must love the other person enough to put their needs before your own. Auburn. â€Å"Where the Perfect Two. † Perfect Two. Beluga Heights , 2011.

The Case of Online Learning

Students go to schools to learn. Through their reading on their textbooks, the inputs from the teacher, and their interactions with other kids, learning is facilitated, even enabled in traditional schools. The public school system is also built upon the notion that there is direct interaction between and among the teacher and the students for the impartation and facilitation of learning. With the growth of the Internet, several applications have been developed to cater to the needs of people who want to study on their own pace from the comforts of their home or wherever they want to study.As such, there are now a lot of online learning programs designed to facilitate the learning in online environments. As a testimony to the growth of online learning, there are now more than 3. 5 million students who are participating in various online learning platforms (National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, 2000). Some of these platforms serve to reinforce the interactions of teachers and stude nts in addition to classroom interactions. There are also companies that offer complete online degrees, thus deviating from the usual method of classroom learning.Institutions of higher learning in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world, are now offering online classes. According to a study of several academic leaders, it appears that students are satisfied with the results of online learning as much as with the traditional learning contexts. As it stands now, most of the institutions offering online learning are those that are for-profit. This is perhaps due to the high costs associated with maintaining the systems and personnel needed for the online learning classes. Perhaps when the costs of the system decrease, more institutions may offer online classes.It cannot be denied though that online learning programs are on the rise. Post-graduate degrees, particularly, are utilizing online learning programs (Nagy, 2005, p. 80). This paper seeks to look into the online lea rning phenomenon, the different issues arising from it and the way in online learning differs from traditional schools. Given the differences in approach, it would be necessary to analyze online learning and look at the areas where it works best and at the areas where it is not very effective. In comparison with traditional schools, there are marked differences in online learning settings.In the first place, students and teachers are no longer â€Å"physically present† to conduct the learning sessions and discuss about issues and concerns regarding different topics at hand. The level of discussion has been transferred from physical presence to virtual presence. Moreover, students and teachers alike can no longer see each other. Hence, they can no longer rely on visual and body clues whether they understood each other or not. The interaction tends to be limited to online interactions, which are largely driven by text and written communication.The Basics of Online Learning Onli ne learning is a high technology variation of distance learning through correspondence, which have been used by schools and educational institutions prior to the Internet’s widespread use and popularity. With online learning, there is a number of technology being used to facilitate the learning process. There are multi-media applications and presentation available through a CD-ROM or through a secure website, emails, blogs, wiki, chat, as well as podcasts and discussion boards among others being used for this purpose.Most of the time, these tools and equipment are used together to help maximize the learning process for the student. The usual approach in online learning is the establishment of a Virtual Learning Environment, which has a particular kind of user interface so that the student can navigate through the system more easily. A number of universities are now offering online college degrees in addition to the degrees being offered through the traditional programs that t hey have. Online certificate programs are also widely available.In addition to traditional schools and online classes, a lot of universities are also using the Internet to provide advice to students, counsel them, and make books and resources available to students wherever they may be (Salmon, 2000, p. 27). There is a trend towards blended learning, in which traditional classroom instruction and online learning are blended together. Through this approach, students are able to maximize their time during the class sessions and they also make use of multimedia to address different topics in their online classes.Usually, online learning boosts the student’s learning capabilities or help them do something specific. The multimedia content may have information only or in some cases, the multimedia applications also require the student to perform some activities or tasks related to the lessons being studied (Salmon, 2000, p. 31). Pedagogical Approaches used in Online Learning Online learning is similar to traditional schools in that it still has to use the pedagogical approaches although there are differences in the way that these approaches are applied to online learning.In the first place, the instructional design for online learning is also developed by an educator based on the curriculum being followed by the online course. The social constructivist pedagogy is also applied to online learning. Through the different technological tools available, the students and the teachers can collaborate together in different online activities. Through the use of forums, and other interactive tools such as blogs, the students and the teacher alike are able to create content for themselves and for the benefit of the whole class (Lambropoulos & Zaphiris, 2007, p.106). There is also a conversational model described by Salmon (2000, p. 24), which works best in online discussion forums occurring online. Through the online conversations and collaborations, online students can also develop the cognitive aspect of learning since the senses and the brain coordinates well in doing the online learning. Their learning process though is slightly modified because of the different situation in online learning. Yet, the emotions of students are also engaged in the process of learning online (Areskog, 1995, p. 37).The difficulty, however, is that detecting these emotions are not automatic and the teacher and students may have to rely on word clues as to the emotional state of a student. After all, nobody can see a person be affected emotionally through the texts being written in chat boxes. Truly, the realm of the physical is no longer present in online learning environments. The behavior of students in online learning environments is also a little more difficult to measure and gauge as they are not able to make a presentation in front of the whole class or catch the stare of the teacher.If a student is bored during an online class, the teacher has no clue whatsoev er except perhaps the lack of paragraphs and sentences being communicated by the student. Perhaps, the teacher or facilitator may be able to detect a bored and sleepy student if he makes an irrelevant remark. The context of online learning is also very different from traditional schools. At least, in traditional schools, students may be able to enjoy the full environment of the academe—the library, the laboratories, as well as interactions with different teachers and students.This is lacking in the online learning environment. True, the student may have additional learning opportunities online but the experience of being in an academe is still different. Although this is the case, online learning should enable a student to still interact with other people and help them embark on a joint pursuit of learning and discovery of knowledge. Likewise, the pressure emanating from other students is also important in the learning process.