Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Had An Interesting Ethical System For Reason

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) had an interesting ethical system for reasoning. It is based on a belief that the reason is the final authority for morality. In Kant's eyes reason is directly correlated with morals and ideals. Actions of any sort, he believed, must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for appropriateness or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral. A moral act is an act done for the right reasons. Kant would argue that to make a promise for the wrong reason is not moral you might as well not make the promise. You must have a duty code inside of you or it will not come through in your actions otherwise. Our reasoning ability will always allow us to know what our duty is. Kant described two types of common commands given by reason: the hypothetical imperative, which dictates a given course of action to reach a specific end; and the categorical imperative, which dictates a course of action that must be followed because of its rightness and necessity. The categorical imperative is the basis of morality and was stated by Kant in these words: Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will and general natural law. Therefore, before proceeding to act, you must decide what rule you would be following if you were to act, whether you are willing for that rule to be followed by everyone all over. If you are willing to universalize the act, it must be moral; if you are not, then the act is morally impermissible. Kant believes that moral rules have no exceptions. Therefore, it is wrong to kill in all situations, even those of self-defense. This belief comes from the Universal Law theory. Since we would never want murder to become a universal law, then it must be not moral in all situations. Kant believes killing could never be universal, therefore it is wrong in each and every situation. There are never any extenuating circumstances, such as self-defense. The act is either wrong or right, based on his universality law. For example, giving money to a beggar just to get him to leave you alone would be judged not moral by Kant because it was done for the wrong reason. With Kant's belief in mind; if the consequence of immoral behavior were dealt with in a legal structure, people would be prosecuted for EVERYTHING since there are no extenuating circumstances. Kant's categorical imperative is a tri-dynamic statement of philosophical thought:(1) So act that the maxim of your will could always hold at the same time as a principle establishing universal law.(2) Act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.'(3) Act according to the maxims if a universally legislative member of a merely potential kingdom of ends. In other words, Kant argues that particular action requires conscious thought of the rule governing the action. Whether if everyone should follow that rule, and if the rule is acceptable for universal action, it should be adopted. If the rule is unacceptable, then it should be rejected. In order to understand whether or not an action follows Kant's categorical imperative, w e must prescribe those norms that we wish to be universal laws. These norms are created through value judgments based on issues of justice between persons or groups (nations, etc.) of persons. Kant's theories discuss the ethical questions that determine impartial consideration of conflicting interest in issues of justice. Kant also states that because we must believe that all things develop to their fullest capacity, then we can theorize in summary, through cognitive processes we can create communities, based on moral (ethical) action towards every person, thereby creating universal ethics throughout the community or republic. With that in mind, it appears that Kant makes statements that assume all people within like republics can achieve a level of cognition equal to one another, for without that equanimity of cognition and judgment, then the conflict issues cannot be rationalized through creation of universal law. The statement that all people can achieve a similar level of cognition

Split Brain essays

Split Brain essays Our brain weighs about three pounds and is divided into two similar looking, but different hemispheres, the right and the left. Both are connected to a large bundle of nerves, called corpus collosom. In some people with sever seizer disorders such as epilepsy, it was found that if this bundle of nerves were severed their seizers would stop or at least be under better control. From this surgical procedure, it was discovered that the two hemispheres had different methods of processing information, as well as controlling parts of the body. The left controls the right and the right controls the left. We rely on both hemispheres to process different information; we tend to naturally have one hemisphere that is more dominate than the other. While the brain is an organ that can be seen and held the mind is quite another matter. The mind remains unseen and physically immeasurable, yet appears to be part of us that controls everything. Roger Sperry pioneered this surgical procedure called commissurotomy. The commissurtomy surgically separates the hemispheres, making the transfer of information between them impossible. The patient is then left with two independently functioning hemispheres. Researchers found that when the brain was surgically separated, each hemisphere continued to have individual and private experiences, sensations, thoughts, and perceptions (wood and wood 64). Several experiments were done to test the perception in the split-brain patient for example; words flashed to the right field of vision of patients could be said and written with the right hand. In contrast, patients couldn't say or write words flashed to their left field of vision. Although standard experiments revealed that right hemisphere is nonverbal, it is far from incompetent. Even though the right hemisphere could not communicate to observers what stimuli it had been presented with, it did show some verbal comprehension. Although the patien ...

Historical film analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Historical film analysis - Essay Example Human activity is one of the major external causes of climate change. The rising levels of aerosols and the polluted air released from manufacturing activities of cement and other environmental harmful products are among the top causes of climate change. Animal farming and deforestation activities affect climate because the surface is left exposed to extreme radiation. Other factors are poor land use, and depletion of the ozone layer. The earth’s orbit also has some variations which cause changes in the climate conditions. These changes affect the distribution of sunlight to the earth’s surface. Industrial activities carried out by modern technology and developments have led to increase in the level of carbon dioxide over the years. The earth’s temperature has been increased by man-made green houses through releasing gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. The green houses also release water vapor, which contributes to the green house effect by increasing the warmth of the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide gas is a product of soil cultivation in the greenhouses, and is also another cause of climate change because it contributes to the green house effect. Volcanic reactions are part of the external causes of climate change. These release gases and other harmful substances into the atmosphere. After a volcanic reaction has occurred, the earth’s surface is blocked from getting the sun’s radiation because of the cooling that takes place for several years. One of the eruptions that caused climate change is the eruption of Novarupta which was the largest eruption in 1912, followed by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo which was the second largest eruption in the 20th century. The carbon cycle involves volcanoes because they release large amounts of carbon dioxide from the earth’s crust and other carbon dioxide sources. Variation in the solar energy is another cause of climate change. Changes or variations in the solar output lead to the

Leadership and Organizational Behavior Assignment

Leadership and Organizational Behavior - Assignment Example As such, national labor policies are often translated in corporate policies that regulate human capital with sensitivity to these personal and professional goals of each worker. Business managers must make it as a corporate policy to uphold diversity to recognize the different capacities, competences and skills of these employees. Through that, management can systematize performance to attune these all to corporate goals and objectives. If all workers are nurtured by management to be goal-oriented and to be proficient in their tasks, albeit personal and motivational differences, it is perceived that the corporation would likely earn high achievement level (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010). This is possible if the company was able to harness the participation of the employees in decision-making and in sharing them incentives as reward for great performance. It’s also helpful for the company if its sensitive to business ethics. This calls for management leadership that can help provid e direction to workers on what is relevant; regulate to boost their efforts and motivation; offering reward to the nature of persistence illustrated by employees; and ability to formulate strategic business plans that is contributory to the goals of the company. AllState Insurance Company, for instance, demonstrated their competence to understand and maximize diversity as how they made it as a policy to maximize it for corporate competitiveness (p. 215). This strategy is helpful for organizational internal development and for external relations with its diverse customers. AllState Company with 36,000 employees, have undertaken the following steps to cultivate competitive advantage using diversity: a. Succession Programming – the company accommodated employees with diverse motivation for professional development and enthusiasm for opportunities. As such, they employed women employees and those which came from other nations, including those who came from ethic communities but w ith high educational attainment. b. Development—All employees of AllState underwent career development training o improve their skills and competence. They can opt for more education or through mentoring, coaching or training (p. 215). c. Measurement- The company also enforce Diversity Index assessment which contain quarterly Leadership Measurement System (QLMS) to ascertain their quality service to their diverse customers; to determine their ethical behaviors at work albeit diverse personalities; and about how they gravitate in the workplace with mutual trust among co-employees and managers (p. 216); d. Accountability and Reward—AllState used the Diversity Index as one of the bases to determine compensation to encourage employees to maintain commitment and their responsibilities to contribute to corporate goals (p. 216). It also affords benefits to proficient workers and incentives through free services (p. 216). 2. Discuss how organizational policies and procedures c an impact organizational ethics. Organizational policies and procedures are essential in the upholding and promotion of organizational ethics of a corporation. Policies are internal regulations made by the company in consonance to corporate codes and labor laws that are imperative in strategically directing the goals and performance

Therapeutic polysacchraides Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Therapeutic polysacchraides - Essay Example Apart from the fact that carbohydrates are energy bundles in the form of glucose, recent studies have identified several therapeutic benefits especially among the higher polysaccharides. This paper presents an overview of carbohydrate chemistry, chemical structures of different types of carbohydrates, benefits and some of the major functions. Therapeutic functions of polysaccharides are also a brief subject that is described in this paper. Simple sugars or the monosaccharides are the basic carbohydrates. These simple sugars combine to form disaccharides (2 simple sugars), oligosaccharides (2-10 simple sugars) and polysaccharides (more than ten simple sugars). All carbohydrates are either simple sugars or monosaccharides that join with each other to form more complex carbohydrates. Monosaccharides and Classification Monosaccharides are classified based on three categories. First classification is based of the number of carbon atoms present in the compound. Table 1: Monosaccharide clas sifications based on the number of carbons No. of Carbon Classification Example 3 Triose Dihydroxyacetone 4 Tetrose Erythrose 5 Pentose Ribose 6 Hexose Fructose 7 Heptose Sedoheptulose Monosaccharides are also classified based on the location of the carbonyl group and also based on the chirality of the carbohydrate (Zamora, 2011). Disaccharides These are sugars that contain two simple sugars. Some of the common disaccharides are sucrose, maltose and lactose. Sucrose Lactose Maltose The sugar that we use on a day-to-day basis is Sucrose and is made from sugarcane or sugar beets. It is also one of the main ingredients in turbinado sugar, brown sugar, and confectioner's sugar. Lactose is a combination of one molecule each of galactose and glucose. It is a main ingredient in milk. The result of consuming milk and other dairy products in the absence of lactase enzyme which is necessary for the absorption and digestion of lactose is that the undigested lactose moves into the large intesti ne and is acted up on by bacteria leading to gas formation and further diarrhoea (The Chemistry of Carbohydrates Found in Food, n.d.). In some people due to the lack of the enzyme lactase, a condition known as lactose intolerance occur and these people are allergic to milk and milk products. Maltose consists of two ?-D-glucose molecules with the alpha bond at carbon  1 of one molecule attached to the oxygen at carbon  4 of the second molecule. It is also possible that ?-D-glucose molecules connected through carbon number one in a 1?>1 linkage resulting in Trehalose on the other hand Cellobiose which is a tasteless disaccharide consisting of two ?-D-glucose molecules that have a 1?>4 linkage as in cellulose (Zamora, 2011). Oligosaccharides When two to the molecules of simple sugar combine, it forms oligosaccharide. Raffinose or melitose is one of the common oligosaccharide naturally found in legumes and cruciferous vegetables such as beans, peas, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and br occoli. It consists of galactose connected to sucrose via a 1?>6 glycosidic linkage. Raffinose The digestion of raffinose by human system is not possible and as a result, there can be problems such as gas trouble and bloating (Zamora, 2011). Polysaccharides Most of the vegetarian diet consist of polysaccharides and these are large group of complex carbohydrates with undetermined numbers of sugar molecules. In general most of the polysaccharides are insoluble in water but in the

Career Opportunities in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Career Opportunities in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Introduction Given the continued volatility within the UK job market, the opportunities for a university graduate continue to evolve. Ultimately, the nature of the marketplace will continue to rise to meet social and economic challenges, thereby mandating that participants are aptly suited for the responsibilities of the future. Lau and Schaffer (1999) recognised that success in a career of choice offers personal needs fulfilment through long term evolution of workplace achievements and accomplishments, ultimately culminating in power acquisition for the properly situated professional. My long term objectives is to frame my career around such variables, supporting my professional goals and principles while at the same time ensuring that substantial growth and opportunity evolve through my career choice. The following five positions represent key industries within the current UK market, each challenging the participant to invoke a broad skill set to enhance their long term career objectives. Hotel Manager Given the variability within the hotel industry and the season-specific integration of tourism into an operating scheme, the potential for gaining logistical experience and expanding my management skill set within this environment is exemplary. The completion of my degree is an essential part of job acquisition within the hotel industry, and although the management position might not immediately avail itself to me, the long term goal of achieving this notorious job title will present motivational encouragement and strategy in my daily operations. As recognised by MacCannell (2002), the prevalence of tourist egoism in the hotel environment is one which challenges staff to bolster and support such powerful internal demand structures, aligning with tourist expectations to prospect for repeat business. As a hotel manager, my duties would include a coordination of all staff members affiliated with our guests, and therefore, exemplary service levels would need to be evolved from my directi on. The potential for substantial tourism growth considering the coming 2012 Olympic games offers opportunity for positioning within an expanding industry, one which would support my long term career objectives. Aligning my skills with an industry with such broad opportunities would also ensure that as alternate positions across the globe arise that I would be uniquely suited for that market by virtue of experience. Tourism Officer Perhaps the most widely sought opportunity for graduates and professionals of these five, this position entails an integration of a wide number of skill sets and strategic methods. Within the community, the tourism officer plays an essential role in guiding the expansion of tourist commerce and supporting local businesses and facilities through attractive event and festivals. In a recent study Desforges (2001) noted that financial reward is an extremely important variable within tourist endeavours, oftentimes relying on strategic politics to evolve into a socially beneficial medium. Optioning the personnel management abilities which I have learned over my brief, but well experienced positions in the UK work force, the officer position would require staff management, budget alignment, and full spectrum training programmes. This challenging, yet rewarding occupation would integrate my written abilities, planning foresight, and organisational skills to prepare and guide the tourist prog rammes of a particular local authority. The highly competitive nature of this position challenges me to fully develop my expectations and long term strategy prior to offering my CV for review. Ultimately, I believe that my creativity, local knowledge and interest, and resourcefulness will be assets in acquiring such a position. Over the course of the coming months at the university, it would be wise to participate in community events and begin to source industry relationships in order to ensure that opportunities arise upon graduation. Outdoor Pursuits Manager Perhaps the most interesting and personally rewarding position within this grouping is the one which would take me into the outdoors and fulfil my passion for adventurous activity. Requiring technical skill sets including budgeting, people management, and leadership, my commitment to these duties would be more than just job specific. In fact, assuming such a role, the physical challenges alone would encourage me to devise new methods of exercise and diet in order to maintain appropriate energy and stamina. Public speaking would become an inherent participle in this role, challenging me to step outside of my comfort zone and encourage participation through vocal support and direction. Forsyth (1997) recognised that sustainable tourism and environmental responsibility are essential factors in the new realm of eco-tourism. Through my role in outdoor pursuits, whether team building for groups or comporting a family reunion on a sightseeing hike, the need for environmental awareness and e ducation would be a skill set that must be further developed. While there is limited opportunity within this position to surmount a corporate ladder, the potential for entrepreneurism in the long term would enable me to pursue an objective of business ownership and coordination. Travel Agency Manager Perhaps one of the more intriguing positions listed here, this opportunity would rely on my knowledge of both the UK travel sector but international destinations as well. Ensuring that my breadth of venue understanding was at par with industry standards, familiarisation visits to new destinations would assist in developing my knowledge set. This job would incorporate a broad range of my skills including organisation, sales abilities, and management of a sales team. As targets become an increasingly important qualifier within this industry, recognising the methods behind sales and tourism opportunities will continue to enable my management of a team of sales professionals. Destination sourcing offers a unique perspective of consumer motivations and would continue to enable my utilisation of personal interests and professional resources over the long term scope of my career. Recognised by Gille and Riain (2002) the nature of globalisation entails a reorganisation of self and community, expanding horizons and encouraging international participation. In this role, it would be my responsibility to ensure that these connections are deeply entwined in the personal objectives of my clientele. Public Relations Account Executive The final career opportunity, and perhaps divergent from the others in terms of sector, the role of P.R. account executive would offer substantial opportunity to utilize my personality, range of communication skills, and intense drive for success to develop and support public relations campaigns. In this role, business to business sales and networking would become extremely important facets of my daily routine, encouraging a working understanding of purchasing motivations and the key challenges which face each industry in our society. Managing events and press conferences in addition to location coordination for photo shoots or media programmes would also integrate my organisational skill set as well as enhance my understanding of the workings of public scenarios. Hiring staff and event for these events would also challenge my human resource skill set and enable an organisational perspective which could translate into further career evolutions. Buck et al. (2003) challenge that the e mployment philosophy of a firm or corporation is â€Å"embedded within its organisational blueprint† thereby entailing a focus on strategy, media expectations, and client perspective when aligning staff with PR activities (p. 532). The public focus of this position is an exciting offering which would continue to involve my evolution as both speaker and participant within the scope of media relations and operations. This position would be both challenging and rewarding as the broad spectrum of daily operations would enable my participation in highly social and publicly visible events. Conclusion Each of these opportunities presents a substantially different perspective of how my post-university career could evolve. The nature of the UK job market is constant evolution; therefore, over the coming several months, there are many new positions which may develop and with them, the opportunity to enter at the cutting edge of industry. Regardless of destination, my path must be one which is both personally and professionally rewarding. From this expectation, I will carefully make my decision according to the merits of each position and their support of my goals. As long term career development is also an essential part of the reward spectrum, I must align myself with a strong industry in which I can continue to develop my professional skills. Networking and social development will further assist in identifying key participants who can offer sustainable choices in future career developments. While all five of these positions offer well suited principles for my inherent skill set, se veral such as hotel manager and travel agency manager and PR account executive are substantially more attractive due to their public focus and wide sphere of influence. While my future may remain uncertain, the opportunities afforded by my university graduation are not, and I look forward to their realisation over the coming year. References Buck, T; Filatotchev, I; Demina, N; Wright, M. (2003) â€Å"Insider Ownership, Human Resource Strategies and Performance in a Transition Economy.† Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 530-549 Desforges, Luke. (2001) â€Å"Tourism Consumption and the Imagination of Money.† Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 353-364. Gille, Z; Riain, S.O. (2002) â€Å"Global Ethnography.† Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 28, pp. 271-295. Lau, V; Shaffer, M. (1999) â€Å"Career Success and the Effects of Personality.† Career Development International, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 225-231. MacCannell, D. (2002) â€Å"The Ego Factor in Tourism.† The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, June.

The Narrator as Literary Device in “Luck,” by Mark Twain

Mark Twain uses the narrator as a literary device in his short story, â€Å"Luck.†Ã‚   The author first uses his own voice to give the story an air of authenticity.   He then changes narrators, building on the original air of authenticity to create a second authentic narrator.   By using the literary device of a first person point of view for both narrators, Twain is able to manipulate not only the actions that take place in the story, but he is also able to manipulate the reader’s understanding of, and his or her opinion of, the characters and events in the story. The narrator that an author chooses creates the perspective of the story.   The narrator is rarely synonymous with the author; however, it is not an unheard of occurrence for the two to be identical.   Twain is briefly the narrator of this story, given that he manipulates the readers’ perspective by declaring this story to be a true one and not â€Å"a fancy sketch† (Twain page). He increases this authenticity by signing his initials to the statement, thereby injecting himself into the action of the story.   Because this practice is not a common one in fictional stories, although it was more common at the time that this story was written than it is now, Twain’s â€Å"appearance† in his own fictional work gives it a suggestion of being a work of nonfiction. The first person narrator that Twain chooses to tell the majority of the story is ostensibly a unnamed clergyman, formerly a â€Å"cornet† (second lieutenant) in the British army under a lieutenant-general the first narrator gives the pseudonym â€Å"Scoresby.†Ã‚   Simply by setting the fiction of the need for a pseudonym for the lieutenant general, Twain has created the suggestion of literal truth for the story about to follow.   The second narrator, however, is an unreliable one. By stating that Scoresby’s success comes solely from luck, it is clearly apparent that the clergyman’s opinion would differ from that of the lieutenant general.   There is some question as to why these opinions would differ, at least from the clergyman’s perspective.   While it should come as no surprise that Scoresby would certainly prefer to characterize his success as deriving from skill, the clergyman could have one of three reasons for having a different opinion.   All of these reasons extend from his knowledge of how Scoresby came to be a member of the military.   First, it is possible that Scoresby is truly an inept, but lucky, man. The reader is left to reason for him or herself whether Scoresby could possibly be that fortunate.   Twain relies on the knowledge that many people have had surprising luck in their lives, or know of people who have had such luck.   By failing to mention names of actual battles and by failing to provide the â€Å"real† name of the lieutenant general in question, the series of events might seem plausible. Second, clergyman might be operating from a feeling of guilt that he allowed Scoresby to cheat his way into the military without speaking up about his role in that cheat.   His guilty feelings might color his perspective on Scoresby’s actual successes.   After all, having gotten into a military school, it seems logical that Scoresby might have learned some practical knowledge and skills no matter how he came to be enrolled. The narrator appears to be unwilling to acknowledge this fact, however.   Finally, the clergyman might be operating from the desire to have his name attached to that of a successful man.   By crediting himself for getting Scoresby into the school while at the same time denigrating the lieutenant general’s own skills and knowledge, the clergyman makes himself more important in his own military role–at least in his own eyes. Twain uses the role of the narrator as a literary device for controlling the reader’s perspective of the subject of the story.   By injecting a first person narrator into the action of the story, Twain creates a situation whereby the reader’s perception is easily manipulated.   Ultimately, however, the reader is left to decide on the authenticity of the story, due to the unreliability of the narrator.   Ã‚  In the end, the reader must decide on the actual role of both the narrator and of the possible role of luck over the course of Lieutenant-General Scoresby’s career. Work Cited Twain, Mark.   â€Å"Luck.†   Publication.   City: Publishing House, date.