INTR 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Reductionism, Kenneth Waltz

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carminemallard702

12 Oct 2016

School

University of Calgary

Department

International Relations

Course

INTR 301

Professor

Mark Baron

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Document Summary

Levels of analysis and ir theory: description vs explanation (we seek to explain not to describe, description retelling or recounting events, or identifying defining characteristics, explanation ask why questions and to answer those why questions. We want to explain why something unfolded the way that it did, or to explain something for what it is. We seek to explain cause (what caused something to happen a certain way. ) When we engage in this active explanation we are seeking to provide arguments that substantiate why the explanations that we make are better than the explanations others make. There are currently millions of displaced people in the world. 2016, millions of those people have sought refuge, predominantly in europe. Some countries have taken many, some countries have taken a few, some countries have taken only certain ki(cid:374)ds of refugees, a(cid:374)d so(cid:373)e cou(cid:374)tries do(cid:374)"t take a(cid:374)y at all. O(cid:373)e that accepted at o(cid:374)e poi(cid:374)t have stopped accepting people at all.

Related Questions

Economics is nothing more than the study of scarcity and choice. It's called the Economizing Problem.

Economics is also the study of human action---why people make the choices they do.

We have finite (limited) resources and infinite (unlimited) demand for goods and services. We must, therefore, use rational decisions as to how to allocate these resources so that we can produce the goods and services that satisfy as many needs and wants as possible.

Needs are those things that make life possible---food, clothing, shelter, etc. Wants are the things that make life easier---glass in windows, carpet on the floor, a refrigerator to keep your beer cold, etc.

The resources we are trying to use wisely are not confined to money. We are talking about talent, ability, drive, ambition, etc. We can't all be brain surgeons. Nor would most of us want to be. We have different needs and wants that drive our ambitions. I have 5 grandchildren. The oldest two are twins---a boy and a girl. My granddaughter graduated from Idaho University with a bachelor's and a master's degree in accounting in 5 years. She passed the CPA exam on the first try. She now lives in Panama and works for BMW. She speaks, reads, and writes 4 languages, including English. Her brother finally graduated from the University of Arkansas in May 2016 after 8 years! Why did it happen this way?? They were raised the same way by the same parents. Why was my granddaughter drove to succeed and my grandson so listless?

Then there is subjective valuation and opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is nothing more than what you have to give up to do something else. Some of you might have to roll out of the bar or the party a little before you wanted to leave just to be able to attend my class. You might also have to give up some precious sleep. In any event, you had to give up something to attend my class. That's the opportunity cost. Remember, everything you do has a price (opportunity cost) that must be paid according to Harry Browne who wrote, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.) To do one thing you must give up the opportunity to do something else.

When people decide to buy a product or service they must decide if it will satisfy a need or want at a price they are willing to pay. The number one reason that people buy the products or services they do is called Personal Tastes or Preferences (Subjective valuation). Everyone has a different price they are willing to pay for the same product or service. Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. That's a subjective valuation. Each of us has a different intensity of demand for the same products. Things you want I may not care for at all, and the opposite may also be true. This is why there is such a variety of goods and services offered on the market.

Subjective valuation is also fluid. As your income goes either up or down it changes your valuation of products and services. Have you ever wanted something so bad you would do almost anything to get it---an i phone or I pad?---but once you get the money you think, "do I really want this?' and you don't buy it. This is common. If it were not for a subjective valuation we would all be wearing the same style and color clothes and living in similar houses, etc. Wouldn't that be a wonderful world! I'd find the tallest building in downtown Orlando and see if I could fly! It is not the similarity in people that interests me. It's the differences. It's my desire not to be like everyone else that has driven my life. Don't strive to be someone else. Strive to find and be yourself. God save me from a terminal case of conventional wisdom!

There are 5 embedded questions.

Give me an example of subjective valuation.

salmoneel837

Read the following passage focusing your attention on the scientific procedures and scientific abilities illustrated in it. Think about what types of experiments (observation, testing or application) are described. Identify the hypothesis, predictions, outcomes of experiments and assumptions that appear in the passage. The standard explanation of how humans originally acquired AIDS is that HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) originally was transmitted to humans from monkeys or apes carrying SIV, simian immunodeficiency virus. How could the transmission have occurred? Several similar hypotheses involve an African hunter coming in contact with monkey blood. For example this could have occurred when a hunter butchering a monkey, got some of its blood in a cut, or when a human ate undercooked monkey meat, or when a monkey bit a human. Depending on one's assessment of the genetic diversity of HIV over time, this transmission might have occurred only a few decades ago or, alternatively, hundreds or thousands of years ago. If the latter is correct then AIDS could have been restricted to remote African villages until recent decades when trade and international travel led to the current pandemic. There are however other alternative explanations for the spread of AIDS. One of them is that AIDS arose from contaminated polio vaccines used in Africa from 1957-59. Why is this a plausible explanation? Polio vaccines are cultured on apesâ kidneys, so contamination of a batch of vaccine by an SIV is a possibility. There is a precedent: in the 1950s and early 1960s millions of doses of polio vaccine were contaminated by another simian virus, SV-40. The vaccine alleged to be the origin of AIDS was given to hundreds of thousands of people in central and west Africa from 1957-1959. These locations later had some of the world's highest levels of HIV infection. The timing is also right, since the earliest known cases of AIDS date from the 1960s; the earliest HIV-positive blood sample was collected in Kinshasa in 1959. At the time, there was no way of testing for the presence of SIVs, which were only discovered in the 1980s. Another factor adds plausibility to the theory: the vaccine was given to many infants less than a month old, in an extra high dose. Since the immune systems of infants are not fully developed, this is an excellent way to help a virus jump the species barrier. Some scientists argue that the above explanation is not necessarily correct but that it is worth taking seriously. There are a number of ways to test it. One is to analyze stocks of polio vaccine; if the explanation is correct, then it is probable that some of the vaccines will carry SIV. Another is to scrutinize records of early polio vaccination campaigns in Africa. If it is true that the immunodeficiency virus passed to humans by way of those vaccines, the areas where the campaigns took place would be the same as those where the initial sprouts of the disease occurred and where the larger number of cases occurred during the early stages of the pandemic. Another is to analyze blood samples in Africa from the 1950s and earlier (pre polio vaccination): if the immunodeficiency virus was transmitted via the polio vaccine, HIV should not be found. Adapted from âPolitical refutation of a scientific theory: the case of polio vaccines and the origin of AIDSâ. Brian Martin, published in Health Care Analysis, Vol. 6, 1998, pp. 175-179. Now reread the passage and answer the following questions.

5. For each experiment, write an outcome that would disprove the hypothesis of AIDS passing from monkeys to humans through polio vaccines.

6. What outcomes of the experiments would fail to disprove the hypothesis of AIDS passing from monkeys to humans through polio vaccines?explain.

7.What outcomes would prove the hypothesis? Hint: This is not the same as question 6. Think about what would you need to do to 100% prove a hypothesis.

8. For what reasons do scientists need to conduct testing experiments?

ochrejackal75

QUESTION 26

Age 65 has come to be considered the onset of old age in the U.S. because:

	a.	This is when most older adults find their abilities diminishing
	b.	At age 65, physical appearance makes it evident that a person is old
	c.	This is the age identified in Social Security and Medicare at the time these were enacted
	d.	This is the age at which life expectancy diminishes most rapidly

1 points

QUESTION 27

The concept of "dependency ratios" has been criticized because:

		Individual differences in needs as well as differences in aging and activity choices make it difficult to ascertain which generation depends on which other generations.
		Very few older adults ever rely on younger individuals for support and assistance
		The most dependent generation may well be young adults
		It is common knowledge that older adults are dependent on younger individuals

1 points

QUESTION 28

Which of the following is the most accurate statement about the purpose of theory in understanding aging?

	a.	Theories attempt to explai what we observe in empirical research or practice
	b.	A goal is to consolidate practice around a simple set of principles
	c.	Theories resolve disputes about the nature of reality and definitions of aging
	d.	The most important purpose is to reduce apparently complex phenomena to a few basic factors

1 points

QUESTION 29

Explanations that focus on the situations and problems that accumulate during the life span and cannot be understood separate from developmental experiences are considered to reflect:

	a.	The aged
	b.	Aging
	c.	Age
	d.	The meaning of life

1 points

QUESTION 30

Early theories of aging, described later life as a:

	a.	Problem
	b.	normal, welcomed stage of life
	c.	rare and unique process
	d.	Too idiosyncratic for generalized description

1 points

QUESTION 31

Theories that explain aging as resulting from the accumulation of "insults" from the environment, which eventually reach a level incompatible with life are labeled:

	a.	Sociocultural theories
	b.	Selective optimization with compensation
	c.	Model of Human Occupation
	d.	Stochastic theories

1 points

QUESTION 32

Psychological theories of aging seek to explain

	a.	Reasons for the emergence of mental disorders in late life
	b.	Why older individuals are likely to be pessimistic
	c.	Relationships among older and younger individuals
	d.	The multiple changes in individual behavior in late life

1 points

QUESTION 33

It is now believed that neurological theories of aging that focus on decline in neurological functioning may be:

	a.	Too optimistic
	b.	Lacking in clarity
	c.	Too pessimistic
	d.	Too limited

1 points

QUESTION 34

In the theory of Selective Optimization with Compensation, "optimization" refers to the idea that:

	a.	People engage in behaviors that augment or enrich their general reserves and maximize their chosen life courses
	b.	People make efforts in middle age to accumulate needed resources to ensure successful aging
	c.	Changing biological and psychological factors that enhance the abilities of older adults in memory and problem solving
	d.	Political initiatives that reduce stigma associated with later life

1 points

QUESTION 35

Mrs. Adams, an 87 year-old widow, has begun to distance herself from some of her extended family members. At the same time, she spends increasing time with her adult children, grandchildren, and some of her close neighbors. This would be an example of:

	a.	The Model of Human Occupation
	b.	Evolutionary Theory
	c.	Cognition and Aging theories
	d.	Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

1 points

QUESTION 36

A theory of particular relevance to occupational and physical therapy is:

	a.	Theory of Free Radicals
	b.	Systems theory of motor control
	c.	Stochastic theories
	d.

1 points

QUESTION 37

Theory is important to therapeutic decisions as a way to:

	a.	Reduce the therapist's need to address individual differences
	b.	Guide decisions about evaluation and intervention
	c.	Minimize the idea of complexity in understanding older adults
	d.	Clearly identify the specific evaluation instruments to be used

INTR 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Reductionism, Kenneth Waltz

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