Choose one topic from the ten topics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Choose one topic from the ten topics - Essay Example Neo-Confucianism The East Asian conception of human nature is primarily informed by Confucianism. Confucianism is described as a â€Å"humanistic religion† since Confucianism understands and perceives that the â€Å"Ultimate†, of the â€Å"imminent power, of the transcendent, of the world, life and death† are linked to and founded on exploring human nature together with human destiny (Yao, 2000, p. 46). In following Mencius, Neo-Confucian ideology adopted the notion that human nature is good as opposed to evil. However, Neo-Confucian philosophers modified this conception of human nature by distinguishing moral nature from physical nature (de Barry & Bloom, 1999). In this regard, the Neo-Confucian philosophy conceptualized the human moral nature as inherently good. This was because, the moral nature of mankind consisted of â€Å"li† and the physical nature of mankind consisted of â€Å"ch’i† indicating that physical nature could be good and/or bad (Lecture Notes). In this regard, the Confucian concept of li refers to that which is real. In terms of human nature, li refers to that which is passed onto man from Heaven and in this regard it is good. However, li had to be cultivated to ensure that man followed his moral nature (Yao, 2000). Therefore the concept of li provides the justification for law and order which is intended to cultivate man’s moral nature for maintaining order. The concept of ch’i provided even further justification for law and order in regulating the lives of the individual. Ch’i refers to material and vital forces which operate either in cohesion with li or inconsistently with li (Yao, 2000). In other words, man was naturally good, but physical forces could have a negative impact on man’s moral nature if the moral nature was no cultivated. Buddhists on the other hand, do not recognize that which they cannot â€Å"see, hear, speak, think, and move† and only those thin gs they can see, hear, think, speak, and move are regarded as nature (de Barry & Bloom, 1999, p. 714). From the Buddhist perspective, that which is heard, seen, spoken, though or moved, does not have to be clear in order to be qualified as nature. In this regard, nature may be confusing and this explains why Buddhists do not generally perceive â€Å"the many moral principles inherent in them† (de Barry & Bloom, 1999, p. 714). Classical Confucianism As for classical Confucianism, the original traditions of Confucianism were founded by Confucius and Mengzi and Mengzi’s theory of human nature served as the background for the classic Confucian concept of moral nature. Mengzi’s theory of human nature were among the most influential and provides the foundations for what is widely accepted as human nature. Mengzi’s theory of human nature provides a profound understanding of how law and order is maintained (de Barry & Bloom, 1999). Mengzi’s contributions w ere converted into the Four Books by Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, Xunzi developed a theory that was different from Mengzi’s. According to Xunzi, â€Å"human nature was evil and Heaven† was an â€Å"impersonal power or natural principle† (Yao, 2000, p. 71). Xunzi stressed â€Å"law (fa) and ritual/propriety (li)† as opposed to â€Å"

Reverberation Time and Absorption Coefficients Lab Report

Reverberation Time and Absorption Coefficients - Lab Report Example In any enclosed space the sound remains in air even after the source of sound is taken off. This 'hanging on' of the sound in a room is known as Reverberation and the time required for the sound to decay to one millionth of its initial value (or 60 dB) after the source has stopped, is termed as 'Reverberation Time'. The R/T of any room depends upon the shape and size of the room, sound frequency, and the amount of absorption offered by the boundary surfaces. This experiment aims to find out how the boundary wall formation and other parameters affect the R/T and absorption coefficients of a room and its significance in acoustic treatments. Step-4: Set the analyser to excite the room with a stationary broadband noise, which is suddenly stopped. This will provide relevant information to the analyser from which the reverberation time, in one-third octave bands can be calculated. The Octave bands could be centred at 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. From the above mentioned experiment it is quite evident that reverberation and absorption are inextricably linked with each other. Reverberation figures in a room with bare walls are more than a room fitted with absorbent surfaces. During the experiment it was also observed that the volume of sound increases due to the reverberation, which at times complements the audibility of the sound, but at the same time it has been observed that quality of sound suffers adversely when there is too much of reverberation. Prolongation of sound was observed with the reverberation. In fact if we can make use of reverberation in the most efficient manner, particularly during musical or theatre performances, it results in a soothing blending of one sound with the next, thus producing a very pleasant continuity in the flow of music. It is worthwhile here to mention that if the extent of prolongation increases it results in quality deterioration. It is also worth mentioning here that during entire lab experiment all positions of the microphones, the equipment, furniture and other