Ethics and Virtue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics and Virtue - Essay Example And this is considered to be more important than the manners and behaviors. Socrates was one of the first Greek philosophers and he did a great work for mankind. According to him people should be well aware of the facts of life, hence they should attain self-knowledge, and after attaining self-knowledge, it will be easier and natural for them to do what is good and to avoid doing the wrong deeds. As he said that evil or ghastly actions are the result of ignorance and unawareness, even if a criminal or a sinner is really aware of the results of his actions and deeds, he would never ever do anything bad. And a person, who is aware of good and bad, tries to do the good things and always tries to stop doing the wrong and bad things. And Socrates associated knowledge with virtue, and virtue is directly associated with pleasure and happiness, a man, who truly knows the difference between right and wrong and is familiar with virtue will never do anything bad, and will always try to do good things which will make him happy and will add pleasure in his life (Sahakia n, Ideas of the Great Philosophers. pp 32-33). Aristotle was a famous philosopher, and according to him, ethical system is "self-realizationism". He gave an idea that when a person acts according to his nature and his true self, then he will do well and will be happy with doing it. He said that unhappiness and frustration develops the unrealized potential or prospective of a person, and it further leads to the failure of achieving goals in life, which increases the frustration inside the man. He emphasized on the idea that every person acts in accordance with his or her nature and it is the only way to live a happy life, all the facilities of life and also the moral values are dependent on this. So the self-realization is more necessary and helps in other aspects of life. Like Socrates, he also emphasized on the self-awareness, which will make the person realize his true self and will help him in making decisions. And he said that man should not only live, but should live well with behaviors, which are directed by the moderate v irtue, and the concept of virtue is same as given by the Socrates. "Virtue denotes doing the right thing, to the right person, at the right time, to the proper extent, in the correct fashion, for the right reason." (Sahakian, Ideas of the Great Philosophers. pp 32-33). Describing ethics in people behavior is not so difficult, because it is the way that people behave. People usually say that they think of the things, which are bad, and they know this properly. Despite knowing that the act is wrong, they will keep on doing it and will never realize that they are doing the same thing, which they think is wrong. For example, almost all the people agree that stealing is wrong and many people agree that it is a crime, but they still download hundreds of songs, in the format of .mp3, audio or even different images from the web, which is not legal

Michael Porter's 5 Forces for Target Research Paper

Michael Porter's 5 Forces for Target - Research Paper Example As Labrador states, â€Å"the lower the barriers are, the easier it will be for competitors to come in†. Future competitors of Target include both local and international retailing companies. Therefore, to remain on the top positions in the country, the company continuously monitors its business strategy of providing best quality products to customers in the lowest prices. The bargaining power of suppliers is neither very strong nor very weak. Although Target provides good support to suppliers’ businesses, suppliers have been able to retain the power to control products’ prices because of increased competition between the discount stores operating in the United States. Along with increased competition, lowering of import barriers and low cost international labor are some of those factors, which have directly affected the bargaining power of suppliers. â€Å"The ability of consumers to buy substitute goods leads to the buyer power force† (Vitez). Buyers have a strong bargaining power in the United States. Although Target is operating a number of discount stores all over the United States, but the ever increasing number of other discount companies has strengthened the bargaining power of buyers. Customers can move to some other store if they find that store offering low prices as compared to Target. Target needs to keep the prices low and competitive in order to maintain its market share. Target has low threat of substitute products. The reason is that discount stores of Target and all other companies offer low prices to the customers as compared to general stores. Customers always want to buy products from the stores, which offer low prices. Although used products’ stores also offer low prices, but customers prefer to buy new products with the same prices that used products’ stores offer. Therefore, Target is far away from the threat of

Economic Growth Essay

Economic Growth Essay 1.Executive Summary Economic growth is what every economy tries to achieve for the good of everyone as a whole. Developing, producing more, increased wages, higher levels of education, better and better technologies is what we strive for. But doing all that, does that mean that we are living a better life? Or is it just the ideal of doing better, not really the result that keeps us following the dream of a perfect world. The effects of economic growth are full of positives points such as boost in infrastructures, urban development, higher education, globalisation, creates employment, higher wages for workers, better living standards for the population, and the list can go on and on. But aren’t there any externalities to all of this? There are some of the negative externalities of growing above what the economy can take, reaching the limits where growing is counter-productive. Some of those disadvantages of growth are outlined in this report, such as health problems arising, environmental issues, education issues as well, and how standard of living doesn’t always mean better is getting more. 2.Introduction â€Å"A useful metaphor for production in an economy comes from the kitchen. To create valuable final products, we mix inexpensive ingredients together according to a recipe. The cooking one can do is limited by the supply of ingredients, and most cooking in the economy produces undesirable side effects. If economic growth could be achieved only by doing more and more of the same kind of cooking, we could eventually run out of raw materials and suffer from unacceptable levels of pollution and nuisance. Human history teaches us, however, that economic growth springs from better recipes, not just from more cooking. New recipes generally produce fewer unpleasant effects and generate more economic value per unit of raw material.† (Henderson, D. 2007) This little introduction is a way to say that the more diversified an economy is the fewer side effects it will have to bare. A more sustainable and spread out use of the resources available in the economy. Back in the days countries tend to produce only the essentials for ‘survival’, most part of the economies were set to produce things like food, clothing, and houses. But nowadays, only small parts of economies are used to produce the so called essentials. The reason behind this change is the industrial revolution in the â€Å"late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe and North America and eventually the World, a process that continues as industrialisation. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human social history, comparable to the invention of farming or the rise of the first city states; almost every aspect of daily life and human society was eventually influenced in some way.† (Wikipedia.com, 22 April 2008) The growth has been so fast that some economies are almost reaching a stall, reaching the maximum. â€Å"On the one hand if we look at specific examples of natural resources (fresh water, ocean fisheries, atmosphere, ecosystem), there is strong evidence that the rates at which we are currently utilizing them are unsustainable.† (Dasgupta, P. 2008) But a major factor can prevent this to happen but it doesn’t mean it’s a good thing; this factor is ecological damages caused by growth. Global warming is one of those constraints that in sooner rather than later will effect on our everyday life and on how we should be monitoring growth. Damages to our environment is not the only problem caused by economic growth, one of the other concerns of every society is whether or not we have reached the limits of human needs as well. What more could we possibly need? Do we have to keep improving on technology; is it for our basic needs or just for pure luxury? People earn more today but doesn’t that mean that we should be better off than 40-50 years ago? Spending on education has become insanely high but are our children learning more today? Husbands and wives both are working full time jobs now to run their families, but 40-50 years ago when usually only the husband was working, weren’t families having a good life? Is growth helping or hurting society as a whole, and thus answering the question is economic growth becoming counter-productive? 3.Economic Growth and Unemployment Economic growth is believed by people to be a good thing because of the jobs it creates and how it helps increase per capita Gross Domestic Product and consumption of society as a whole. But studies in the United States showed, by using the â€Å"Daly-Cobb Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (taking Gross National Product – environmental costs- extra spending on healthcare, education, commuting and urbanization needed to support growth) concluded that economic wellbeing in the US increased substantially during the 50’s and 60’s, but levelled off at the end of the 70’s and has been in decline since the 80’s.† (Siegel, C. 2006) And also according to ‘Okun’s Law’, for every one percent by which the actual unemployment rate exceeds the normal unemployment rate, real Gross Domestic Product is reduced by 2-3%. The Law outlines the negative relationship between the GDP growth and unemployment. Growth doesn’t always bring along what people usually expect: more work. The ideal growth in order to stop unemployment from rising is a 3% annual growth. (Siegel, C. 2006) So growth as well can be considered counter-productive, in terms of employment for an economy, if it is not properly managed. Unemployment rate won’t just stop because the economy created more jobs and making more money, as outlined by ‘Okun’s Law’. And the economy should have an ideal annual growth of 3% to maintain efficiency. 4.Economic Growth and Standard of Living â€Å"Economic development is sustainable if, relative to its population, a society’s productive base does not shrink.† (Dasgupta, P. 2008) The more you earn in terms of wages, the more you tend to buy. Wages are higher, so consumption tends to be higher as well. Going from bare essentials population tend to buy luxuries than they think they deserve for all the effort they put in at work. This is when the economy becomes more productive, when they are enjoying prosperity. However, ‘prosperity in an economy is not static, over time countries tend to become more or less prosperous. An economic boom may bring a temporary prosperous environment to a country and much greater wealth (in terms of higher wages, products quality, quantity, etc†¦) to its population. Same if there is a depression, the hard work done to improve standard of living may be brushed away’. (Sparknotes.com). A major enhancement of living standards is technology, the better the technology the more growth a country can experience. Technology is directly related to economic growth. To produce more we need more equipment, better quality, which can produce more at lower costs and in smaller time span. Also when a country is growing it tends to use more and more advanced material than it previously used to because of the greater productivity they will help them achieve in order to maintain the growth. Technology hence improves labour production. (That is how the inverse relationship between growth and unemployment rate is created; when economy is growing, unemployment tends to rise as well because now the economy needs fewer workers to perform same job) As far as health is concerned fast-foods and restaurants have become a common everyday routine for people. Cooking at home could be cheaper but why going cheaper when you can afford quicker and simpler, and when you can’t find the time to cook. Thus, to the ‘rescue’ are the restaurants and fast-foods, quicker and sometimes offer more variety as well. But the growth of fast foods and restaurants (but mainly fast-foods) consumption have somewhat caused a fall in health level of society as a whole. Not only food patterns caused this change in health condition but when we add to that the high consumption of cigarettes and the fact that besides work, eat, sleep people don’t have much time of their own, or just don’t want to find time (laziness) to do exercise, societies became less active physically and more obese. For that matter people seemed to think that spending more on health care would help them live longer and better. But now more and more people are realising that exercises and a healthy diet are the keys to a better life. The more spending we make on health care will somehow result in finding cures (hopefully sometimes sooner rather than later) for diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart problems, aids, etc†¦ but the concern about this is that they are maybe the reverse effect of economic growth. If we think about it (as mentioned above) people are less concerned about their health, what they could prevent now at the beginning is instead ‘postponed’ to later when the need to try and find a solution to fight a health problem is here. Example of that would be obesity- our children are eating more fast foods than it was a case decades ago, they also are doing less exercises. Education of ‘our future’ is important to counter the negative effects of economic growth. ‘A point has been reached where the amount spent on health care is much less important than exercise, diet and other individual actions to improve health’ (Siegel, C. 2006). 5.Economic Growth and Education Education plays an important role on the road to economic growth of an economy. It could vary from education of employees to new technologies to education of the children, the future generation. Literacy is important nowadays anywhere, because it helps communicate easily and if needs be in different languages. And also the sooner the children learn the easier it makes it for them to undertake subsequent learning â€Å"results, obtained after examining information on Dutch school children (in the Netherlands, parents can enroll their children in school from age four), find that increasing enrolment by one month increases the math and language test scores of children from a low socio-economic background or ethnic minorities by .06 standard deviation, while those non-disadvantaged student’s scores remained the same† (Bredt, J., Cycz, C. 2007) The education of the population as a whole is vital for an economy to be prosperous, so providing children with the ‘tools’ to build a better tomorrow is the key for further successes. But that’s the good part of growth, it helps us educate our population but economic growth can also be viewed as detrimental to education, when it comes to children. Growth has created more work for a larger pool of labour, including women and men, mothers and fathers, thus reducing the quality of a traditional family life by much. Parents nowadays have each a job (mainly full-time) resulting in less time devoted to growing children, who most of the times find themselves in day-cares. This lack of family presence affect the children â€Å"emotionally, some of them end up using drugs, become delinquent, suffer from anxiety, depression, and some end up being unsuccessful in school.† (Siegel, C. 2006). Another side effect of growth on education is that now children at school want more than just learning, they want to be entertained to learn. They want teachers to get them hooked on the subject, not just teach them, they don’t want to make that extra effort to learn how to solve a difficulty on their own. They think it is like television or internet, everything is laid in from of them and they just have to sit back and watch. This phenomenon is outlined in a research paper ‘The End of Economic Growth’ by Charles Siegel in 2006. 6.Economic Growth and the Environment For the relationship between growth and environment I am using the example of newly industrialized Eastern-Asian countries. Countries such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, for example, have been experiencing enormous growth over the past 20-30 years, lowering the population living under their poverty line by more than 50% and making good economic progresses. But the reverse of the medal is that this region is also among the most highly polluted part of the world with 9 cities in the world’s 15 most polluted cities. Other problems faced by those countries are soil degradation, erosion, coastlines and marine degradation, one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. In this region we can witness the damaging effects of rapid on the local environment. Environment was neglected because growth was viewed as the next essential step to evolution for the region, and now they are trying to â€Å"control pollution rates, make proper use of their forest s, take proper actions, such as tax and standards on further development, improving their methods and recycling.† (Thomas, V., Belt, T. 1997). The developed countries have the same problems and we would tend to think that the developing countries would be more careful when growing, but the ‘temptation’ of getting big and quick just overrides the fulfilment of a healthy environment. The questions here that appeal to us would be; do the other developing nations care enough about the environment, and will they instead of growing big at a faster rate, just slowly (taking into considerations the environment) grow their economies, or will they make the same mistakes? And also there was another point brought forward by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician, in 2003 which defies economic growth and its effects on the environment. He argues that instead of â€Å"restricting growth, environment decline is best cured by accelerating it†. He pointed out that pollution i n industrialised countries have been cleaned up and air pollution in big cities are better than it was 30 years ago. In a way he is saying that reducing environmental damages is going against economic growth, and that countries will get used to it, and that it is greater at the early stages of industrialisation. Those arguments made by Lomborg in his book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, brought a lot of controversies from world’s leading environmental scientists. So, we can see that ideologies differ from people, and it can also be the case for countries seeking growth. They can accept that environmental damages are the price to pay for a better growth. (Hamilton, C. 2003) 7.Recommendations Economic growth is more enjoyable when it comes with fewer negatives sides as possible, and there are ways to fully benefit from a growth without really impacting on other parts of the country, or even on the population. Some examples would be: Spending less on health services but instead focuses on a healthier way of living, with exercises, healthy diets, proper management of time. People could choose to work fewer hours, giving the chance to raise employment in the economy. Resulting in unemployed population getting a part time job. The whole economy will be able to work more as well, more people to work. Because â€Å"the economy can only grow if people work more or better.† (Mitchell, D. 1996) More people working at fewer hours. By choosing to work less, families also allow themselves more time to spend with their children and giving them a better family life resulting in better educated future. Imposing tax on development, putting severe penalties on pollution that may arise can be another way to put a ‘brake’ to harmful development and a way to promote sustainable development of the economy 8.Conclusion Counter-productivity is the problem that will sooner or later hit every economy, to reduce the impacts it can have some measures need to be taken. Sustainability of the development, which is always bearing in mind that every action can cause a reaction, and efficient use of resources would be a beneficial for future generations. We don’t have the right to be individualistic. Before people didn’t really realize that they could run out of resources at some point, they thought it would be here indefinitely, and we have reached a point now where everything is becoming scarce. Now, we know that our actions will have some effects on future generation; we have this knowledge and need to make the most of it. Protection of the environment we live in, protection of our people, and sustainability of our development.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

Atticus once said You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them - Examine characters and relationships in to kill a mockingbird, in order to illustrate this maxim! TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Atticus once said "You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them" Examine characters and relationships in to kill a mockingbird, in order to illustrate this maxim! I think Atticus is trying to say that you never really know a man until you step in his shoes and do what he does. In the story there are different relationships where characters do this. I think the biggest relationship showing this is between brother and sister, Jem and Scout Finch. Through out the whole story they will be together doing things like playing with each other, helping each other and exploring things with each other etc. Even on the first page when they are talking to each other about the events leading up to Jem's broken elbow to the last page where Scout is watching over Jem who is in bed after his broken arm, they are always together even if it is Jem watching over Scout at school or Scout helping Jem think of plans. There are lots of examples in to kill a mockingbird where Jem and Scout are together. The first real time Jem and Scout are together is when they meet Charles Baker Harris and they start talking about reading. "How old are you" asked Jem, "Four-and-a-half?" "Going on seven" "Shoot no wonder, then" said Jem, jerking his thumb at me. "Scout yonder has been reading ever since she was born, and she aint even started to school yet" Here Jem is showing Scout off and showing how proud that his sister has not started school yet but she can read. When Charles B... ...ything. That night Mr Cunningham and his crew come wanting to hurt Tom but luckily for Tom, Atticus is there and Scout manages to talk to Mr Cunningham and get them to leave. When the trial comes Atticus tries his hardest to prove Tom is innocent. He tries different way's and one is when he tells Bob Ewell to write some thing which he does then Atticus asks which side of the face did Mayella get hit on. Atticus makes it so that he catches out Bob. Atticus then asks Tom to come up and asks him to pickup a glass fully knowing he can't. This shows signs that it was not Tom who committed the rape but someone else. Even though Atticus proves this the Jury still finds Tom guilty of rape obviously because he is black and Bob Ewell is white. I think these are the main relationships in to kill a mockingbird, but there are also more but which are no way near as big.

Loganivllle high school Essay

A person’s identity is simply who they are. Different aspects of life can shape the way you define your own identity. In their article, Kim Tsai and Andrew Fuligni explain that a person’s identity is shaped when they go off to college. Their beliefs gather that a four year college prepares students to seek their identity more so than a 2 year college. Another article, written by Silvia Santos, Anna Ortiz, Alejandro Morales, and Monica Rosales addresses identity. It correlates campus diversity with students’ ethnic identity. They ultimately argue that campus diversity allows a more powerful insight to one’s identity. While both articles look at the way colleges influence students to explore their identities, one article believes extracurricular influence it and the other believes it is the multi diversity of the college. Both group of authors would conclude from their findings that students enrolled at four year school will be more involved in searching for their identity. Both studies hint that a sense of belonging is related to a college student’s feel of their identity. For a large number of students, campus diversity was a positive and enriching experience that fostered a greater sense of  belonging and feelings of inclusion and acceptance (Santos, Morales, Ortiz and Rosales 107). Tsai and Fuligni write, â€Å"Interactions with students from various backgrounds at diverse colleges may also promote search of and belonging to one’s own ethnic group† (58). Both authors agree that a sense of belonging is always needed in establishing your own identity. The major difference between the group of authors is their belief on the effects of going to a diverse campus and being involved in extracurricular activities. Tsai an Fuligni believe that extracurricular activities drives the student to start looking into their identity, while Santos,  Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales believe that going to a diverse campus causes the students to seek their identity. Kim Tsai and Andrew Fuligni focus their research on the fact that being involved with extracurricular activities helps strengthen emotional wellness through engaging in ethnic identity (57). The authors explain by engaging in extracurricular activities students encounter different ethnic backgrounds that illuminate differences in their culture raising ethnic identity issues. (62). The authors believe that being involved with extracurricular activities is what ignites a  student into their ethnic search. This involvement in extracurricular activities depends mostly on whether or not the student goes to a 2 year or 4 year school. A 4 year school offers more extracurricular activities than a 2 year school will. Because of this, students at 4-year colleges were engaged in greater levels of ethnic search and exhibited marginally higher levels of ethnic belonging than did students at 2-year colleges (Tsai and Fuligni 62). On the other hand Santos, Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales focus their research on campus diversity. They write, â€Å"A diverse  campus environment encouraged a more mature and evolving sense of ethnic identity in some students† (108). A student feels more comfortable having similar ethnic identities surrounding them to further explore them with their peers (Santos, Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales 108). Santos, Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales tend to develop their study more around the race aspect of the college students. They write, â€Å"The interview sample was composed of 29% White, 26% Latino, 22% African American, and 23% Asian† (106). On the other hand Tsai and Fuligni focused their ideas on what type of college the students chose and where they would be living. Both group of authors made assumptions around these different factors that significantly affect the development of the students ethnic identity. Also, the authors used different methods of researching to find their answers. Tsai and Fuligni write, â€Å"In the 12th grade, students completed questionnaires during school that assessed various domains including identity, academic achievement, and wellbeing (59). Participants also provided their contact information, including their home address, phone number, email, and contact information of two people who would likely know their whereabouts. The students were asked a series of questions that corresponded with their ethnic identity. Then, two years later, there was a follow up with the same students on these questions to see how their experiences changed (59). Santos, Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales used a bit of a different approach. The authors used actual college students, and the experiment was only conducted one time. They write, â€Å"Semistructured interviews were used to provide a holistic picture of the meaning of ethnic identity for students attending multiethnic universities. The interview protocol consisted  of 13 questions and related probes that tapped into the following content areas: (a) ethnic identification, (b) personal meaning of ethnicity, (c) expressions of ethnicity, (d) influences of interethnic interactions on ethnicity, and (e) socio historical forces that have impinged on ethnic identity â€Å" (106). One can conclude that these questions focused more directly on diversity rather than college type and involved activities. Santos, Morals, Ortiz, and Rosales conclude that campus diversity is benign in helping a student sculpt their identity, while Tsai and Fuligni believe that involvement in extracurricular  activities ignites a students will to explore their ethnic identity. Both group of authors went about different ways to explore how college students interact and develop their identities. All of them would agree that 4 year schools provide more campus diversity than a 2 year school. Furthermore, Tsai and Fuligni believe that involvement in activities outside of school sparks their insight to their identities. On the other hand, Santos, Morales, Ortiz, and Rosales believe that students who go to a college with diversity are more inclined to develop their identity. No  matter their similarities or differences though, both group of authors gave the readers a strong understanding of why college students seek their identity. Works Cited Monica Rosales, et al. â€Å"The Relationship Between Campus Diversity, Students’ Ethnic Identity And College Adjustment: A Qualitative Study. † Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology 13. 2 (2007): 104-114. PsycARTICLES. Web. 13 Sept. 2012. Tsai, Kim M. , and Andrew J. Fuligni. â€Å"Change In Ethnic Identity Across The College Transition. † Developmental Psychology 48. 1 (2012): 56-64. PsycARTICLES. Web. 13 Sept. 2012.

Political Influence Essay

A person is fed information throughout their life from various outside influences; this is how one forms values, views and opinions. From this, one is able to shape their political views based on what they believe or have been taught to believe. There are many factors that come into play when these views are formed, such as historical events. Others while apparent have a latent effect, such as gender, race, socio-economic status etc. The way a person is brought up has a fairly large impact on political socialization. Children come to know their parents value systems and beliefs. The children are brought up around these beliefs and these beliefs are instilled upon them in both unconscious and conscious ways. This is the beginning. As a person is introduced to more situations and experiences their views are molded further but the foundations are always there. Most Americans do not look thorough the inner workings of our government and the general idea of politics. Instead they look at what politics has to offer for them. It is far easier to just look at politics based on your opinions rather than through the policies and procedures. With the innovations of modern technology and the mass media, people don’t have to look that hard for issues surrounding politics. All they have to do is turn on their T. V. or read the news on their favorite search engine web site. I think that this has had a negative effect on people’s political views. Instead of reading articles and forming opinions on their own, they are shown the sensationalized view of politics and a fairly biased/limited perspective. My own political views were formed the same way everyone else’s were. My parents taught me about the differences between democrats and republicans, what the president does and even about the legislative branch. These teachings were mainly based around their own views but always with quite a bit of objectivity. I grew up in a fairly free household; my parents encouraged individuality and self-reliance. This gave me the ability to learn and think about things on my own, being able figure out how I felt about them. Another interesting thing about my upbringing is that I grew up without a computer, so when I wanted to know what was going on I had to watch the news on T. V. The school that I went to was fairly progressive and the teacher that I had for Social Studies taught us a lot about both our local and federal governments, all of which have helped me from my political views. I am a very open-minded person and this carries over heavily into how I view politics. I tend to focus on the single issues at hand and not on which party is proposing them. I feel strongly on many issues, to include abortion, education, foreign/domestic policy, welfare and most recently civil unions; however I try to understand both sides; not to agree but to understand. I do feel that I could be far more educated in politics, but I believe I am off to a good start.