Compare the strategies and goals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the Civil Rights Movements Essay

In the history of the American civil rights movement, two seminal figures emerge: that of the peaceful and nonviolent Martin Luther King, Jr., and the revolutionary and radical Malcolm X. From these two contrasting images, America did not know how exactly to classify the movement. On one hand, Malcolm X preached independence and a â€Å"by any means necessary† approach to achieving equality in America. And on the other, King preached a nonviolent, disobedient philosophy similar to that of Gandhi in the achievement of Indian independence earlier in the century. While most students are familiar with King as a civil rights leader, most are equally uninformed about the impact of Malcolm X in the African-American struggle for equality and freedom. And while there is much to learn from the two contrasting philosophies and approaches to change of each man, there are common threads that unite them: namely, a combined religiosity with political leadership that morphed into a demand for social and economic equality. Despite their differences, King and Malcolm X represented the same cause, and with the achievement of the movement, left a similar legacy to generations of Americans seeking change in their own time. However, from a comparative perspective, one cannot imagine a civil rights movement without the tactics King favored, or a successful movement characterized by the kind of violence and hatred advocated by Malcolm X. When one is asked to think of a comparison between two alternatives and which of the alternatives is â€Å"better†, one ought to imagine which alternative would produce the better outcome. A better outcome in any struggle for political change is one not characterized by widespread violence. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s childhood and young adulthood were exemplified by his work within the system, achieving prosperity through education and thinking, not through the violent struggle for existence like in the case of Malcolm X. In King’s â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech, he invites the listener to imagine a future in which Black children have an equal opportunity at achieving prosperity through education and hard word: an example of an equal chance not available at that time. Achieving this required nonviolent means consistent with the principles King adopted through his time studying Gandhi and civil disobedience. King called on people to be disobedient for the c ause of racial equality, whereas Malcolm X called on people to be violently forceful'†in opposition to any kind of representation of white power'†for the cause of Black power. Unlike  King, Malcolm X’s message did not convey a message of equality, but of hateful lashing out against an institution with the power to crush violent opposition. Like Gandhi, King insightfully recognized the efficacy of disobeying the system as a means of changing it. Violently attacking the system would only invite violent attacks back, and would, in the end, make the problem worse for Blacks. While Black militancy is understandable given Malcolm X’s history and his perception of the problem afflicting Blacks at the time, the better means of achieving Black rights was through nonviolence: specifically, boycotts, demonstrations, and marches. Dr. King welcomed participation from all people, including whites and other minorities, unlike Malcolm X. In historical reflections on the civil rights movement, it took both Blacks and whites (working within the white power structure) to achieve the desired outcome. For instance, white New Yorkers Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were killed by Klansmen in Mississippi decided to investigate the burning of a Black church. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white mother from Michigan, was killed by Alabaman Klansmen in 1965 when she tried to help Blacks in the South (Maxwell). Thousands of whites worked for Black freedom: an ideological shift supported and encouraged by the kinds of tactics Dr. King advocated. The same cannot be said of Ma lcolm X, who famously remarked that white people were â€Å"a race of devils† (Lomax 57). What white person would be encouraged to work for civil rights given such an antagonistic remark? Although Black militancy was important in the context of the entire civil rights movement, the retaliatory tenor of Malcolm X’s message was sure to cause opposition from the establishment. The message was also profoundly collectivistic and an antithesis of the American value of individualism (McTaggart). His call for Blacks to come together created a movement for Black socialism in a kind of voluntary segregation. In a way, this defeated the purpose of the civil rights movement, and, absent of the efforts of other, less oppositional leaders, would have probably worsened the problem facing Blacks in America. Forcing the Black community to remain segregated from whites as a whole could have continued the sentiment among racist Americans that Black people are not equal to white people. Dr. King, in  contrast, unswervingly advocated for a social conscience in America: drawing attention to the inequalities he witnessed in a number of areas of society. Rather than assuming these i nequalities existed and not drawing public attention to them, Dr. King made it his role in the movement to challenge social assumptions about the place of Black people in America. Despite Malcolm X’s enormous influence on the movement, his message was not one of equality, but of retaliation for inequality. Although both Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were transformational leaders who were instrumental in raising public awareness of a problem of inequality, only King’s methods could have been successful in bringing about the desired outcome of the movement. Applied to the movement as a whole, Malcolm X’s philosophy of violent retaliation would have exacerbated the problem Blacks faced at the time, forcing the white establishment to increase oppression and segregation of the Black community. Because King’s techniques were successful in challenging the establishment, Blacks achieved a number of civil rights not previously available to them. The kind of transformation leader King represents is a rare symbol, and the inspiration he provided to Black people for change still inspires people to strive for equality and freedom. Works Cited Lomax, Louis E. When the Word is Given†¦: A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and the Black Muslim World. New York: Greenwood Press, 1979. Maxwell, Bill. White friends of civil rights. 20 January 2008. 27 April 2010 . McTaggart, Ursula. The Oratory of Malcolm X. February 2006. April 2010 .

Negative Business Letter Essay

Toy Travels Ltd. June 17, 2009 Mrs. Vic King 800 University Drive Romeoville, IL 60446 Dear Mrs. Vic, Toy Travels has been in business now for decades, it’s dedicated to customer satisfaction for over a decade now, achieving this goal by giving its customers excellent opportunities to travel at extremely low costs. We hope that you and your family enjoyed your week long trip with lots of fun in our nice weather down here in Chicago. It was greatly appreciated that your family tour down here and at the same time interested in our services. However I express regret that our company was unable to accept your application due to the fact that you do not hold any sort of good credit. Our report depict that you have couples of unpaid credit on your account. All you need to do is develop a good line of credit over about a year’s time,and our creditors will surely approve you. At Toy Travels, parts of our excellent services are to provide you with a chance to meet with Truth Mortgage, the company that handles most of our mortgage cases. This would get you started in a smart and easy plan to build up your credit. Please make possible effort to contact us using the provide telephone number above if help is needed. We will be anxiously waiting to hear from you Mrs. Vic because we at Toy Travels will keep our words in providing the best customer service you can ever receive elsewhere. Thank you for your time and patience. Sincerely, Toye Oduola, CEO Toy Travels Ltd

Written Performance Concept

Written Performance Concept Play: Translations As a director, I want to emphasise the concept of a forbidden romance which is the essential theme of the play. So in my duologue, it was important to remember my directorial intentions throughout in order for the audience to understand the complexity of the situation. ‘Translations’ was written by the Irish playwright Brian Friel in 1980, however, it is set in the 19th century in it fictional town on Baile Beag.Brian Friel stated that ‘Translations’ is â€Å"a play about language and only about language† but it deals with a wide range of issues, stretching from language and communication to cultural imperialism. He based it in Ireland due to the fluidity of the Irish language and to make it harder for literal translation, as David Grant explains â€Å"The very nature of translation is so delicate, so unpredictable, that the only practical solution was to explore ideas in practice on the rehearsal room f loor. Historical elements relevant to inform my embodiment of role would be the English’s role in taking over Ireland in the 1930’s, as most Irish were reduced to near poverty whereas the English had masses of wealth. Also, they planned to take everything of Irish importance away, such as lessons in school only being taught in English when over half of the population spoke Gaelic. To demonstrate the fact we are in a field, not many props are used except a bale of hay we use for me to sit on and state â€Å"the grass must be wet, my feet are soaking. We decided to set it in a field as it has to be somewhere away from civilisation where no one will catch them. We are also using and Irish folk music track at the start to set the scene for the audience and give them a sense that they are in agricultural Ireland. In order to further shape and influence my character, I undertook some drama exercises to develop a deeper understanding of my character. An example would be non- verbal communication exercises where we would run through the scene once; they go through it only with the use of facial expression, proxemics and gestures.This helped me develop a joyful, but at times confused and frustrated facial expressions, for example on the line â€Å"What-What? † after Yolland states â€Å"Yes, I know your Marie, of course I know your Marie, I mean I have been watching you night and day for the past†¦Ã¢â‚¬  even though I don’t understand what he is saying, I should be able to recognize he is complimenting or saying something beautiful though facial expressions and gestures.Also to be more aware of my proxemics and levels so I don’t look superior or upright in any way and my gestures to be soft and calming, not rigid and stiff. Hot seating also helped me as we got an in depth analysis of my character and a deeper understanding of what their objectives may be is several different parts of the play. An example of this would be to ask Marie the question â€Å"How did you feel when you met George for the first time? † This helped me with my tone and voice to my subtle, sweet and lyrical.We also have to portray the hesitance between Yolland and Marie as there love isn’t only frowned upon in society because there statuses in society are at two totally different ends of the spectrum, but the love triangle between Manus, Yolland and Marie is a very problematic one. This further adds pressure to the situation and I need to be able to portray this awkwardness and lack of understanding for the audience to be able to fully connect with us as people. I also want the audience to feel empathy for our circumstances.

One page background of the company Novartis ( include all the details Assignment

One page background of the company Novartis ( include all the details ) - Assignment Example its creation, Novartis as well as its parent companies have created and introduced a range of innovative medicines and products for consumers in general and patients in particular all over the world. The global headquarters of Novartis are located in Basel, Switzerland and the number of countries this company operates in is 140 (â€Å"About Novartis†). The businesses of Novartis are categorized into six different divisions of operation, namely Alcon, Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz, Corporate, Consumer, and Vaccines and Diagnostics. Alcon is for eye care whereas Sandoz is for generics. Consumer has two further divisions, namely Animal Health and Over-the-Counter. Novartis functions directly as well as through a number of subsidiaries in different countries across the globe, all of which lie in one of its divisions which are categorized by Novartis as fulfilling at least one of these functions; sales, holding or finance, research, and production. The mission of Novartis is cure and care. The company’s goal is to discover, formulate and introduce innovative products in the market successfully so that diseases can be prevented and cured, suffering of humanity can be eased, and the quality of life can be enhanced. In addition to that, Novartis also offers a shareholder return which shows wonderful performance and benefits the shareholders. Novartis also prepares drugs for the health and safety of animals, including pets as well as farming animals. â€Å"For pets, our products are effective aids to prevent internal and external parasites and treat ailments such as arthritic pain and kidney, heart and allergic diseases† (â€Å"Novartis Animal Health†). An in-depth analysis of the way Novartis sorts out data reveals the fact that the survival and success of Novartis can partly be attributed to the intelligent way in which the company sorts out data. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry lodged a complaint against Novartis Pharma K.K. complaining that the company’s

Accuracy and Precision. Importance of Scientific Measurements in Essay

Accuracy and Precision. Importance of Scientific Measurements in Ranges - Essay Example Lastly; it can as well be defined as the degree of the proximity of the values under measurement. Precision on the other hand shows how close the two or more values under measurements are. The two terms are different in that one may be accurate but imprecise on the other hand one can as well be precise but not accurate. Measurements versus Accuracy The fact that accuracy and precision are two independent entities makes a value termed as precise to be either true or false depending on the accuracy of the measurement scale. Therefore it is false to that a measurement of high precision must exhibit high accuracy. Statistical Error and Systematic Error Statics error is that which arises as a result of biasness that is caused by the random fluctuations in statics which can be controlled or reduced by accuracy. On the other hand, systematic error is the error that results from the introduction of the biasness that results to systematic which is difficult to be eliminated. Two errors differ in the following way; first, while systematic errors arise because of the random fluctuations the statistical results from the experienced biasness. Systematic error is due to the introduced bias while the statistical is due to the random fluctuation. The elimination of systematic error is impossible while the latter is possible. Lastly, systematic error arises from the system while the statistics error is from the statics.

Are citizen journalists and bloggers real journalists What does it Essay

Are citizen journalists and bloggers real journalists What does it mean to be a real journalist - Essay Example Due to introduction of technologies that are digital in nature, individuals have unrestricted access to various tools of production and distribution. Citizen journalism is a field that consists of reviews regarding a particular motion picture that are generated by individuals and then submitted all over the internet and it even comprises of news that are based on wikis (Poynter 414). Currently a conflict between traditional journalism and citizen based journalism has been taking place, though this conflict can result in an evolution of journalism through the internet. The profession of journalism has not experienced tremendous amount of alterations, but it has experienced certain kind of expansion. Traditionally, journalism used to be conducted in a linear manner, nowadays; journalism has become more connected and networked (Peters 95). Karp states that journalism in traditional era used to be conducted by a few individuals, today it is conducted by a huge number of people (Coombs, 2013). Under certain situations, there is hardly any difference between both traditional and citizen journalism, an in-depth analysis reveals that there are several aspects that differentiate between traditional and citizen journalism (Siapera 108). One of the underlining difference between two forms of journalism is that, professional journalist are paid for all the work they perform, while the citizen journalist might be doing their form of journalism as a hobby or they may get paid in accordance to the number of visitors or the number of viewers they have attracted (Anderson 124). When academic journalist are conducting research, they use the views and opinions of the common population (citizens) in order to create and prove that their findings are objective in nature and they were not biased towards the subject matter or the issue (Herbst 122). Blogging is even considered as a professional or valid type of journalism as in this

Negative Message Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Negative Message - Assignment Example You can, for example, log off the machine and let it rest for a while to avoid such overheating. Further, identifying a complication in one of your computers does not meet terms of return policies for all computers purchased with us. If the computer with the complication met our return policy terms then we would act on the specific computer only. In addition, our return policy provides for replacement of computers that fail to work within six months of purchase but overheating does not amount to failure to work and refund is not part of our return policy. I therefore wish to note that the realized overheating, together with our return policy, does not justify your claim. We shall therefore not be able to accept the computers or offer refund. The company however affirms its efforts to ensure quality products and to take responsibility for products that fail to function. Thanks for understanding and we look forward to further business encounters with

Parental Involvement in Preventing Bullying Behavior Essay

Parental Involvement in Preventing Bullying Behavior - Essay Example Some victims of bullying hold immature perspectives that leaders or parents are not in a position to solve the problems. This approach shows a misguided judgment as parents play a significant role in developing personality and building an individual’s general behavior. Proper parenting originates from effective interactions among family members (Berger, 2008). Parents play the protective role to a child that translates to decreased bullying engagements. Parents also act as the counselors through practical sharing of personal problems. Identifying bullying cases enables proper disciplinary action, use of other effective guiding and counseling approaches. Parents seek other alternatives to solving bullying in any given situations. Bully signs include intimidating other kids within the neighborhood, aggressive attitudes to adults and some antisocial behaviors (Berger, 2008). Some individuals depict suggestive behavior to indicate signs of victimization. Such behaviors include torn clothes, isolation cases, using illogical routines in the neighborhood. Parents provide the moral support on how to cope with cases of bullying at any given incidence. As such, the lessons focus on being assertive without aggression where the said individual is provoked. Parents also supervise children behavior from school participation and home activities (Berger, 2008). This occurs when the parents talk to the children upon notice of behavior change. Sometime the parents participate in school events to evaluate individual progress or child performance. As role models, parents provide practical examples on how to react to different situations in life (Berger, 2008). Parents ensure that children obtain intervention from relevant sources. The parents also offer approaches to reporting cases of bullying by building confidence. Parent involvement in a child’s behavior shows the direct relation to either encouraging or

Compare and Contrast Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Compare and Contrast Research Methods - Essay Example Panel survey is referred to as a longitudinal study because under this study data is not collected over a single point in time but over a stretched period (Marsden & Wright, 2010). Panel survey is unique form of study considering the fact that it utilizes the same sample population over a period. This means that time is an important factor when analyzing panel survey because it is the major distinctive factor from other forms of research methods and approaches. Nichols (2009) elucidates the sample population, which the respondent visit regularly for the purpose collecting data is usually referred to as Panel. It is not worth that unlike other form of surveys panel survey often involves a small sample to lessen the burden of follow-ups. The focus of panel survey is usually people with unifying attribute in a particular period (Amico, 2009). This may include people living condition, students of a particular class or individuals born in the same era. Panel survey has been associated wit h a wide range of advantages beginning with the fact that it involves regularly repeated interviews thus providing accurately fresh data over time. Another major advantage is the fact that Panel survey does not only focus on the simple association between variables but also offers a deep insight to causality. Panel survey is certainly one of the few research methods that can be used to track process and events (Lynn, 2009). For instance, panel survey can be used to track poverty dynamics of particular households over time. The same case can apply to tracking exposures to unemployment over time in the society. Panel surveys are broad and detailed taking into consideration that they engage regular follow-ups, which gives the researcher a perfect opportunity for gathering detailed information about the subjects, compared to cross sectional research methods. Despite the widely traded advantages of panel survey, it is noteworthy that this form of research method also comes with a wide ra nge of short backs. The fact that this form of research method involves follows makes it one of the most expensive methods of gathering data inform of time consumption and cost (Yang, Zhao, & Dhar, 2010). Follow up rate is also another major challenge that researcher have to experience during panel surveys considering that they are difficult to sustain owing to the duration of time involved. There is less representation in panel survey compared to traditional sample survey techniques. Because of the cost involved, most researchers are often influenced into using a small sample size when carrying out Panel survey. This is quite disadvantageous owing to the fact that the surveyor may not get the exact representation of the population. Attrition of panel members is another challenge that pane survey tend to face (Lee, 2007). It is common knowledge that panel survey normally involves gathering data from same participants over a period and such conduct may be weary to the participants an d as such drop out of the study. Finally, panel survey can be difficult to conduct considering the complexes of making follow-ups over time. Focus group Focus group just like other significant research methods such as Questionnaire-Based surveys, Case Studies, Experimental Methods, Textual analysis has a wide range of similarities as well as dissimilarities associated

Cyber Bullying Essay Essay Example for Free

Cyber Bullying Essay Essay Bullying. It is something everyone has heard of, witnessed or experienced. When the word â€Å"bullying† is heard, many people think of the classic school kid being picked on at lunch, in a physical and/or verbal manner. Although verbal and physical bullying still occur, there is a form of bullying that has grown to be quite prominent, due to the vast use of technology in this generation. This form of bullying is known as; cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a deliberately harmful, aggressive, and repetitive form of bullying through the Internet and related technology. Cyber bullying is just as harmful as physical or verbal bullying, and should be taken just as seriously. Cyber bullying negatively impacts children in many ways. The most prominent effects of cyber bullying are the toll it can take psychologically, and emotionally on the people involved. These effects are exacerbated by the current popularity of social media. The psychological effects of cyber bullying are obvious, and in some way more severe than physical bullying. The psychological effect of cyber bullying can be more severe because there is often no escape from one’s tormentors. Unlike the typical bullying thats takes place at school or on the bus, cyber bullying follows students around 24/7. With technology like smartphones, the repetitive harassment is nearly impossible to escape. In many cases of cyber bullying, it begins with one bully but ends with many. The internet is open to everyone. Once something is out there, for example a picture, it can be sent to phones everywhere and is essentially on the Internet forever. With one click of a button, information can instantly spread like wildfire. It is psychologically damaging to know that even if that picture, those words, that rumor, are deleted, it is never actually gone. Although cyber bullying isn’t necessarily as public as a punch at school would be, it can often be easily hidden by the victim. If there are no bruises or bumps, it is hard for any family or friend to see what the targeted person may be suffering with inside. Fifty-two percent of cyberbully victims never tell anyone about what is going on. Isolation, is often where internalizing problems leads. Cyber bullying becomes a battle not only with the bullies, but also a battle with oneself. Social media has become the main way of communication. Many people have at least one of these sites available to them: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr. It is no secret that there are bullies who target certain, or any people online. Thirty-percent of online  teens say they have been targets of menacing and/or hurtful online activities; and 88 percent of online teens say they have witnessed someone being mean or cruel to someone else on a social network. Most bullies have the power online; there is really no way to be stopped through a computer screen. Especially with the â€Å"anonymous† option, harassing the target can be the easiest thing to do, because the power the bully feels; being unknown, and knowing there is little chance of any consequences. Eighty percent of teens use their cell phones regularly making it the most common form of technology used. Many teens are willing to take the risk of being cyber bullied, not because they don’t think it is serious, but because social media affects one’s social status. In a world where almost every teen has some sort of social media, it can be hard to feel â€Å"normal† or involved if you don’t have one too. As a result of most o f this generation communicating online, cyber bullying has become more popular and dangerous. Much like physical bullying, cyber bullying has a huge emotional burden. Being a victim of cyber bullying often leads to depression. Since in most cases, teenagers cannot escape the relentless harassment, it can lead to feeling hopeless and isolated. When hundreds of people, some you may or may not know, begin harassing you, it can feel like the entire world is against you. Being harassed constantly can slowly eat away at the victim. Self esteem is what gets damaged most. Being degraded, made fun of, or accused of actions that never happened can lead to the victim eventually believing the rumors. Lastly, an emotional struggle triggered by cyber bullying is anxiety. It becomes a constant fear, every time you use your social media, you wonder what may be waiting for you. The worst part about cyber bullying is it follows you everywhere; at home, at school, etc. While cyber bullying can affect a person at any time or place, it often comes to head at school. If there are rumors, or a private picture circulating for everyone at school to see, simply attending school can provoke anxiety. In many cases, victims of cyber bullying have such bad anxiety about facing schoolmates in this situation, that they stop going to school. It is time that we as as a society treat cyber bullying just as we would physical bullying. It may not leave a scar or bruise visibly on one’s body, but it leaves an emotional wound that may never completely heal. Cyber bullying can take place anytime, anywhere, and creates psychological and emotional burdens for the victim.  Since technology is becoming more and more evident in this generation and will only become more prevelant in the future, this would be the time to act.

Case study Human Social Behavior

Case study Human Social Behavior Introduction- This article is about the human behavior and the various factors which affects the human behavior. One of the factors that have a great impact on the behavior of human is the social environment and here all types of sociological effects are discussed. Various individual environmental factors and their impact on behavior are also discussed here. Inheritances also affects the human behavior and in this article two types of inheritances are discussed and that are cultural and the genetic inheritances. Nature and nurture both has impacts on the development of humans and nurture has some of the effects on behavior of humans. In the end of the article there is a detail discussion about the evolutionary thinking and the factors like psychological and the biological which changes the human behavior Body 1-7 Behavior of the human being decides the overall personality and this behavior of human are influenced by many factors like cultural, economic, and sociological. Human behavior is influenced by the most discussed effect that is the sociological effect. The most complex society of any creature on earth is of humans and it means self-preservation beyond the level of persona; physical survival is extended by us. Humans live in a very typical society in which there is bonding between the groups for the purpose of mutual and protection. Families, friendships, associations etc are included in these groups. Due to the formation of society and humans social links increases the bond between different people which is a human behavior. One of the bad behavior that every human being have is of greed and this behavior of human finishes them completely but due to society and links with different families and groups decreases the human greed of money or anything else. Due to increase of population a nd the urbanization, the people have started neglecting the social relationship and everyone is giving importance to the money rather than social relationship and behavior. Because of this, the rate of crime and deviant behavior of humans are found in cities. All these sociological effects have impacts on the behavior of the human beings and the social environment plays an important role in the development of the child which includes the attainment of full genetic and human potential. (Conklin, 2004) The biological and the psychological changes occurring in the human beings are basically during time period from birth and the end of adolescence. Genetic factors are the factors which are related to the genes of the child and also refer to the changes that occur at every point in growth. Social environment plays a very important role in the development of child and a new born baby do not experience any fear to contact with any specific people but after the time period of 8-12 months there is a change in them and they start to prefer the people who are familiar and also start showing the feelings like anxiety and distress when they are separated from their family members. Social environment helps the child to understand the social rules in the period of preschool and adulthood. The time period of middle childhood have the characteristics of friendship with age mates and also the beginning of romantic love. Another social effect on the child development is of bonding between the diffe rent groups of people and the idea of maintaining social relations develops in the child which helps him/her lifelong. There are various processes which are controlled genetically and they are known as maturation. Maturation is related to the mental and the physical development of the child and a child is said to be matured when he/she becomes capable of taking their own decisions and are well aware of the things which are good or bad for them. According to the some doctors and live examples it is seen that usually maturity comes at the age of 18 and the main thing to consider here is that is maturity comes from the social environment. All the social factors like relationship in society, working in society etc, helps in the attainment of complete genetic and the potential of human. But along with social environment there are factors which are known as individual environmental that affect the social behavior of human. There are various individual environmental factors that affect the human social behavior but the two most important environmental factors are physical environment and family environment factors. Physical environment: For child the physical environment includes the school environment and this environment includes the size of school and the size of classroom. The children who are more popular and rich normally enjoy high status and the popular children have the well developed role-taking skills. There are some people who are anxious and low in self esteem withdraw their contacts and which results in the bad impact on social relations. For example the children in school or college who are very aggressive prefer the normal children as their friend. (Steen, 2001) Family environment: The most important environmental factor and the socializing institution is family. With the birth of the child the parents starts taking care of his physical circumstance well being and not only the well being but also bring them up, educate them and this prepares them to contribute to the society. Parents have also influence on the aggression of their child and control on the aggression by parents helps the society to grow very much. So these two individual environmental factors affect the human social behavior. Inheritances also play important role like the cultural inheritance have more effects in comparison to the genetic inheritance and such cultural transmittance affects the development and behavior of human beings. There are two types of inheritances and they are cultural inheritance and the other one is genetic inheritance. The storage and communication of information, imitation and teaching refers to the cultural inheritance. The cultural inheritance is transmitted by brains where as the inheritance based on the genetic is known as genetic inheritance and these are not transmitted by brains and by genes. The genes involved in the cultural inheritance prepare the structure of brain where as in genetic inheritance all the things depends on genes. The latest stage which involves in the evolution of heredity is considered as cultural inheritance. There is a complete mechanism for the genetic inheritance and this mechanism give rise to the cultural inheritance. So cultural inheritance is better more important than the genetic because genetic behavior is permanent and there is no work of brain in this but in cultural every work is solved by brains which are transmitted by brain and this is not perm anent. The cultural transmittance affects the development as it helps in setting the mind and it gives the comparison between the good and worse. The behavior of human being like greed is also removed by cultural transmittance because this type of behavior of any person is not accepted by the culture and which results in the perfect growth and development of the human beings. But the most important factor which influences the growth and development of individual is the family environment. Discussions about the nurture and nature are also necessary for the human behavior. (Lerner, 2002) Both nature and nurture have great effects on the development of humans but here are some of the effects of nurture. Affect of nurture on the development of the individual means the factors which are environmental present around the individual which includes growing of the person and development on many levels. There are many factors included in the nurture and they are effect of family, schools, culture, media, society etc. Nurture has great effects on the development of a child and mostly on the students. The most important factor that affects greatly is the family atmosphere and the influence of family can make an individual perfect but the bad family atmosphere can ruin the life of the individual also. Most of the influences of the families are on career development of an individual which is more than the influence of school, work etc. For the college students like us who are given the great responsibility of decision making at the time of growing up and must be able to choose ea sily and get the job very easily. Members of the family help in making the atmosphere healthy by making it helpful and socially fit. It is because of family that that helps individuals to make social relations and helps in increasing their feelings towards everyone. As the technological resources are more with families as compared to students, family is considered for the support of the individual in career. (McCall, 2009) According to my survey majority is in favor of the change seen in the behavior while personally experiencing the world outside. It is the view of the most of the persons who interacted with the other people that this experience changed their attitude. Mostly the human behavior is affected by the nature of the human and a drastic change is seen in the ancient and the modern human behavior. The most important thing to know about human is nature and its influences on growth and functioning. Nature of an individual is the only thing which can give the idea that what kind of person heshe is. For example, if a person has honest and friendly nature then heshe will get every possible help during their bad time from their friends and family members. On the other hand if the person has a greedy or selfish nature then no one will like to help him and no one will like him as a friend. Person with good nature behaves in different manner and person with bad nature behaves in other manner. (Wormer, 2010) There are large number of differences between the ancient and the modern behaviors of humans. The modern human behavior is found in the type of language, religion, art, music, cooking etc. Due to the advancement in every field whether it is cultural, economic, political etc, the human behavior has also changed a lot. The people in the ancient times had so much social relations and they worked together in such a way that they had no selfishness and no greed of money. People in ancient times didnt even think of harming the others but the modern people dont even think about others and just think about themselves and how to make more and more money. According to the recent survey it was found that the modern people have 50% less social relations than ancient people. Modern people are harsh towards each other and they dont even think before giving harm to anyone. From all these points we can conclude that the behavior of modern people has changed a lot in comparison to ancient people. Alo ng with the nature evolutionary thinking also affects the behavior of humans and some other factors like socio-biological factors and psychological factors also contributes to it. Evolutionary thinking is the thinking which is based on the change in the inherited traits of the population of human beings through the successive generations and this change is the result of interaction between the processes that brings variations in the population. One of the greatest strength of this type of thinking is that it always helps in answering why question style in a fashion which can be scientific and non-metaphysical. Evolutionary thinking has great effects on the behavior of humans and it makes the person to take the decisions with great knowledge and matures that individual. Reflection of evolutionary thinking about health is the concept of natural healing. In this the psychological are also discussed and these factors are those factors that develops as the defense mechanisms and these factors are created when there are changes in the family environment of an individual and that includes restrictive, abusive and creating feelings of fear in the individuals. These fa ctors have a great impact on the behavior of human like the individual who faces all these problems become lonely and makes their behavior of cheating anyone etc. Socio-biological factors are the factors that mean the biological behavior for all social behavior. These factors are the biological or generic factors and they are operative in mate selection. This factor changes the behavior of human and makes their behavior common and mature. These are the relation between the evolutionary thinking and its effect on human behavior. (Hume, 2010) Result of Questionnaire- 1= Strongly Agree, 2= Agree, 3= Neutral, 4= Disagree, 5= Strongly Disagree. Questionnaire Results: 1 2 3 4 5 1. There is a change seen in your behavior while personally experiencing the world outside. 6 11 5 3 2. You gain skills or abilities while interacting with other people on your way. 10 11 1 3 3. Has this experience changed or affected your attitude. 10 10 4 1 4. There is improvement in your ambitions and knowledge. 11 9 3 1 1 5. There is any leadership qualities observed through your past experience. 4 9 11 1 6. There has been personality development in your behavior through experience. 7 13 3 1 1 7. There is any distraction seen in the focus and the concentration on work. 1 12 9 2 1 8. There has been adoption of ideas of different things that motivate you. 6 10 6 3 9. There is any goal set to achieve your target. 8 12 3 2 10. There is some learning attitude developed in you to understand the things better through your past experiences. 8 13 4 Conclusion- So as to conclude with the whole article we have created many of the bodies in order to throw light on the issue of the human social behavior which has influenced many of the social issues which are discussed. There is much importance of the social environment which is created in the development of the child which includes the achievement of the genetic and human potential. The Human behavior is changing with the increasing factors in the world where environmental factors of an individual also affect the behavior of a human being. There are discussions carried out to make the full description of the human social behavior and challenges which are faced by the company due to various kinds of human social behavior. We have defined the Human social behavior as the population which behaves influenced by the emotions, cultures, ethics, rapport and hypnosis which falls within a range of some behavior and some outside acceptable limits. There are various human natures provided which has adverse effect on the human behavior and many of the theories are mentioned in order to prove and justify the human behavior as changed. There is change in thinking which has been found in many of the humans that has greatly affected the human social behavior and attitude towards the other people and the other factors such as socio-biological; psychological factors also come into affect at the same time.

Reasons For Strategic Decision At Thai Airways

Reasons For Strategic Decision At Thai Airways An inspired and carefully considered business strategy can be used to guide a company to achieve greater profitability and success, as it is known that strategy can be viewed as plan, ploy, pattern, position and perspective (Kourdi 2009, p3). To those companies that rely on low price to attract customers, such as budget airlines, business strategy plays a significant role in their business. However, business strategy should be based on the understandings about competition and threats in the industry, micro and macro environment factors that affect the success of their business, and strengths and competitive advantages of the company. Only can business strategy that is based on these understandings be used to achieve success of business Question 1: Reasons for Launching a Low-cost Airline with Thai Airways Tiger Airways is going to launch a low-cost airline with Thai Airways, which will target domestic and international destinations within five hours flying times distance on the basis of Bangkok (Creedy 2001). There are many reasons that Tiger Airway launched this airline jointly with Thai Airways, and the following five reasons are the most important ones: To compete effectively. It can be seen from the case that, by joint venture, it is easier for Tiger Airways to grow its business in Thailand, and will compete effectively in this region with Jetstar and AirAsia (Creedy 2001). Additional network advantages. By joint venture, it will build better network relationship with Thai Airways and may have advantages to deal with future spread risk and competition, as Thai Airways becomes a partner rather than a competitor (Creedy 2001). Additional cost advantage. By possessing 49% of the joint venture, and other 51% owned by Thai Airways, Tiger Airlways has chance to use the advantage of Thai Airways to maintain and even strength its low cost advantage (Creedy 2001). To reduce risk. By additional network and cost advantages brought from this deal, Tiger Airways is capable to face further spread risk. Pan-regional strategy. This joint venture is an important step forward in Tigers pan-regional strategy. It is noted by CEO of Tiger Airways, Tony Davis, that Bangkok is one key South East Asian gateway within striking distance of both India and China (Creedy 2001). By additional network advantage from joint venture with Thai Airways, it becomes easier for Tiger Airways to implement this strategy. Reasons for Strategic Decision Tiger Airways decision of launching a new airline jointly with Thai Airways can be considered as a strategic decision. Reasons are stated as follows: This decision affected the long-term direction of Tiger Airways. As mentioned above, this decision was an important step forward for its pan-regional strategy (Creedy 2001). This decision helped achieve advantage for Tiger Airways. Additional network advantage with Thai Airways and cost advantages were achieved by this joint venture decision. This decision expanded the activities scope of Tiger Airways to low-cost flight to Bangkok/ Thailand, and might expand to India and China as well This decision had major resource implication. It is mentioned in the case that by 2015, 68 flights would be allocated to this low-cost airline (Creedy 2001). This decision created new opportunity for Tiger Airways. By this decision, Tiger Airways became more competitive with Jetstar and AirAsia, which created new opportunity for the growth of Tiger Airways (Creedy 2001). This decision affected operational decisions of Tiger Airways. Investment in this new airline needs to be taken into consideration by Tiger Airways. Obviously, this decision can be viewed as a plan, a ploy, a pattern, a position, a perspective. Therefore, it is a strategic decision. Macro Environment Analysis PESTEL model is a good technique that can be utilized to analyze macro environment factors that affect the industries, as well as low-cost airline industry. It contains six factors which are Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors (Robinson 2009, p75). Political: Government instability is a major factor to the low-cost airline industry. For example, the affairs of Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra and his Red-Shirt, led to a fatal drop in tourism industry, which may decrease the customer amount of low-cost airline industry (BBC 2010). Economical: Economy recession and financial crisis affected the profitability of low-cost airline industry players. A survey carried by Airline Business indicated that although revenue didnt show decline, profitability was affected by the financial crisis. Many players encountered a loss in 2008 compared to 2007 (Dunn 2009). Social: The attitude of income distribution and balancing work and leisure are factors that cant be neglected. People who are willing to distribute their money on travelling and their free time of leisure will increase the customer amount of the industry. Technological: Technology that makes standing seats for airlines available influence this low-cost airline industry seriously. The availability of standing seats for airlines will cut down the cost of industry will make it more attractive (BBC UK, 2010). Legal and Environmental: Employment laws, competition law, threat of natural causes, carbon dioxide emission are other factors of the low-cost airline industry. Question 2: Corporate Strategy, Business Level Strategy and Operational Strategy Corporate Level Strategy According to the definition from Collis and Montgomery (2005, p8), corporate level strategy can be defined as the way that a company uses to create value through configuration and coordination of its multimarket activities. There are three main emphases of this definition, value creation, configuration and multimarket activities. It is indicated in Appendix 1 that the corporate strategy of Tiger Airways is that: To create a portfolio of profitable routes throughout Asia and Australasia by establishing airlines in market where low-fare, low cost business model has exceptional potential for sustainable profitability with ancillary services such as luggage upsize, seat selector and sports equipment check-in. Business Level Strategy One model developed by Bowman called The Strategy Clock can be used to get good understanding about business level strategy, which relates competitive advantage to cost advantage and differentiation advantage. These successful strategies can be illustrated as following levels: Low price/ low added value, Low price, Hybrid, differentiation without price premium and Focused differentiation (Angwin et al 2007, p121) All these different strategy are classified based on two factors, price and value. It can be seen from Appendix 1 that the price of Tiger Airways is low because the company implement cost leadership strategy. Besides, compare to other airlines, the value added by Tiger Airways is limited. Luggage is limited to a certain size; seat selection will be charged. Only is purchased food or drink is allowed compare to free food and drink in SIA. Thus, the activities are low value-added. Therefore, based on these two factors, the business level strategy is Low price/Low added value. Operational Strategy According to the definition of Lowson (2002, p57) that operational strategy can be viewed widely as a value delivery strategy. It is all about decisions which helps create and deliver product/service, value to customers through companies core competencies. Therefore, the main operational strategy of Tiger Airways is to maintain and enhance the core competencies of low fare/ low cost. Many decisions have been made based on this strategy: Joint venture with Thai Airways to launch new airline. Install advanced 3-D weather radar to increase efficiency (Tiger Airways.com 2010) Minimize service that charges customers on customers behalf. Question 3: Porters Five Forces Analysis Porters five forces model is one of the most well-known models in business literature that produce the competitive situation in any industry (Beamish Williams 2008 pp76-77). The five forces and their relations are indentified as follows: Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Intensity of rivalry Source: Caneval Ventures. Models on the dynamics of innovation. http://www.caneval.com/vision/innovation/innovation2.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants of the low-cost airline industry is very fierce (4 out of 5). Although the investment of setting up new airline companies is huge to those organizations which are not in the airline industry, it is feasible to other organizations which are already in airline industry to establish new companies which serve the low-cost airline industry. The establishment of Tiger Airways can be an example to support this point. Tiger Airways is partially by SIA, which is the leading airline service provider all over the world. Threat of substitutes Long distance coaches, trains, passenger ships, network and other airline service providers (such as SIA) are the main substitutes of the low-cost airline industry. It can be seen from Appendix 2 that, although the low-cost airline industry is a booming industry with high growth rate, Network airline service providers are still the main provider in the airline industry. And Long distance coaches and trains play much more significant role in transportation in countries such as China because of the poor development of air transport. Therefore, this threat is very high (3 out of 5). Bargaining power of buyers In low-cost airline industry, though customers are easy to find substitutes but these substitutes may cause higher price or take more time to reach their destinations. Therefore, the bargaining power of buyers is not so strong (2 out of 5). For example, it is clearly seen from Appendix 3 that SIA return ticket for travelling between Singapore and Hong Kong is around 100SGD expensive than that of Tiger Airways. Bargaining power of suppliers Obviously, the main supply of low-cost airline industry should be the aircrafts, and Boeing and Air Bus are the two suppliers of aircrafts to low-cost airline industry. It means that these two companies are in the position of monopoly. Therefore, their bargaining power is extraordinary strong (5 out of 5). Intensity of rivalry The intensity of rivalry of low-cost airline industry is not so fierce (2 out of 5). Although the core competency of low-cost airline players is low fare/low cost, they have regional characteristic, which means only few airline players are recognized by customers in a certain areas. For instance, in South East Asia, Tiger Airways and AirAsia are the two recognized players by customers. In conclusion of the analysis of Porters five forces model, the outcome can be summarized as the following picture. Low-cost airline industry is an attractive industry, as buyers dont have strong bargaining power, which means this market is a seller market; low threats of substitutes means low-cost airline is a good choice among the products or services. Besides, although bargaining power of suppliers is extraordinary high, every player in the industry will face this problem, and because of a booming industry with high growth rate, low-cost airline industry is an attractive industry. Question 4: Value Chain Analysis Porters value chain model is a typical value chain model, which state nine kinds of business activities (Wang 2007, p81). And these business activities are classified into assistant and basic activities, which can stated as below: Wang Weijun (2007). Integration and innovation orient to e-society. New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC. p81. However, this model aims at manufacture companies. Tiger Airways is in the industry of low-cost airlines, which is a service industry, therefore, the model needs to be modified based on the assumptions as follows: All the purchases are for infrastructure development purpose. Service is produced once purchase happens. Therefore, it can be seen from the case and other information from website and Tiger Airways 2010 annual reports that the value added activities are presented as follows: In the case, it is said that by 2015, 8 flights would be allocated to the new launched low-cost airline; this is the value-added activity which develops the infrastructure of Tiger Airways (Creedy 2001). In the annual report, it is stated that all new directors to the Board are briefed by Management on the Groups business activities, strategic directions, and will be sent for external training and development programmes. This is the value-added activities on manpower resource management (Annual report 2010). By this, Tiger Airways is able to make out better corporate, business level and operational strategies for the long-term development of the company and sustain the cost advantage as well. According to the media release of Tiger Airways, in 2010, by partnering with Honeywell, the company installed advanced 3-D weather radar enhance safety and passenger comfort. This can be viewed as a value-added activity based on technology development (Tiger Airways.com 2010). The annual reported stated that by renewing contracts with airports, ground services, providers and other suppliers, and purchased two aircrafts from Airbus (own rather than lease), enabled Tiger Airways to further reduce operating cost and in tune increase value to customers (Annual report 2010). According to the website, extra service is provided such as luggage upsize, seat selection and as well as related service, for example, hotels, insurance and car hire to enhance the types of service that customer can enjoy through Tiger Airways. There are many other business activities done by Tiger Airways, which enrich the value of service provided by Tiger Airways and gain wide recognition among customers, this is the exact reason helps Tiger Airways be one of the leaders in South East Asia to provide low-cost airline service. Question 5: Common Cost-cutting Strategies According to many literatures, there are many different kinds of cost-cutting strategies, for instance, rationalization, standardization, central processing of transactions, technology application and cost management strategy (OBrien Datta 1989, p165). Therefore, related to low cost carriers, the common cost-cutting strategies can be presented as follows: Rationalization. To low cost carriers, non-value-added activities are removed and only do those value-added activities remain. For example, there is one rule in Tiger Airways that only is purchased food or drink is allowed. Standardization. Another strategy is to standardize the service of low cost carriers. It can be seen for Appendix 4 that the service of Tiger Airways is standardized, as extra services will be charged by a certain price. Central processing of transactions. Crucial processes are identified by low cost carriers that need to be focus on to provide the basic service to their customers. Technology application. New technology can be applied to reduce operational cost and even reduce the proportion of risk. As mentioned above, the 3-D weather radar is applied by Tiger Airways to increase the accuracy of weather prediction to reduce unnecessary loss by reason of bad weather (Tiger Airways.com 2010). Cost management strategy. This strategy is used by low cost carriers to understanding the factors that affected the cost such as fuel, labour, distribution, inventory management, purchasing, and foreign exchange (IATA Training Portfolio). Take Tiger Airways as an example, the two main business regions are South East Asia and Australia. Therefore, the foreign exchange rate between AUS Dollar and SGD is a factor that cannot be neglected Another evidence stated in Tiger Airways 2010 annual report that by renewing contracts with airports, ground services, providers and other suppliers, and purchased two aircrafts from Airbus (own rather than lease), enabled Tiger Airways to further reduce operating cost. Three Future Strategies The strategies will be given according to Ansoffs product/market matrix. Source: Berger Roland., Kotler Philip., Bickhoff (2010). The Quintessence of Strategic Management. London: Springer Heigelberg. p36. Market Penetration. To Tiger Airways, it should use activities such as advertising, sales promotion to increase seat occupancy rate, which in turn will reduce the operating cost, this is the way to build strong core competencies. Market Development. It is evident in the case that market development is a suitable strategy for Tiger Airways to reduce operating cost and company development (Creedy 2001). By adding new airlines through joint ventures with other airline companies, it will give Tiger Airways have chance to benefit from advantages of other airline companies. Diversification. There are two main types of diversifications, related and unrelated diversification. Thus, To Tiger Airways, the company may use related diversification strategy to expand its business, such as to international express business. Through this strategy, the company can reduce the operating cost. References: Angwin Duncan., Cummings Stephen., Smith Chris (2007). The strategy pathfinder: core concepts and micro-cases. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. pp121-122. Annual report (2010). Chairmans statement. http://www.tigerairways.com/news/Annual_Report_2010.pdf [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] BBC (2010). Thailand red-shirts set out new conditions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8671991.stm [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] BBC UK (2010). Are standing seats a standing joke? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8779388.stm [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Beamish Karen., Williams John (2008). Analysis and Evaluation. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd. pp76-77 Berger Roland., Kotler Philip., Bickhoff (2010). The Quintessence of Strategic Management. London: Springer Heigelberg. p36 Caneval Ventures. Models on the dynamics of innovation. http://www.caneval.com/vision/innovation/innovation2.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Collis J. David., Montgomery A. Cynthia (2005). Corporate strategy: a resource-based approach. New York: McGraw-Hill. P8. Creedy, S. (2001), Tiger Airways to start Thai low-cost airline, The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/tiger-tostart-thai-low-cost-airline/story-e6frg8zx-1225900253006 [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Dunn Graham (2009). Low-cost carriers: Ready for battle. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/04/21/325429/low-cost-carriers-ready-for-battle.html [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] IATA Training Portfolio. Cost Reduction Strategies. http://www.iata.org/training/courses/Pages/talf02.aspx [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Kourdi Jeremy (2009). Business Strategy: A Guide to Taking Your Business Forward. 2nd ed. London: Profile Books Ltd. p3. Lowson H. Robert (2002). Strategic operations management: the new competitive advantage. 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge. p57 OBrien Richard., Datta Tapan (1989). International economics and financial markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p165. Robinson Peter (2009). Operations Management in the Travel Industry. Oxford: CAB International. p75. Tiger Airways.com (2010). Tiger Airways to install advanced 3-D weather radar; first low-cost airline in Asia to use latest technology on A320s. http://www.tigerairways.com/news/20100616.pdf [Last accessed: Dec. 7th 2010] Wang Weijun (2007). Integration and innovation orient to e-society. New York: Springer Science+ Business Media, LLC. p57. Appendix 1: http://www.tigerairways.com/sg/en/about_us.php Appendix 2: Figure 1: Airline Market Share by Type of Carrier Note: All others is primarily regional jet carriers but may include a small percentage of scheduled charter carriers. Source: M.R. Dayton, Trends and Demand in Aviation Markets, presentation at the ATCA/FAA/Nav Canada Technical Symposium, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation, 2004. Appendix 3: Tiger Airways price: http://booking.tigerairways.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi SIA price: http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/zh_CN/Pricing/FlightCalendar.jsp

Battle of Gettysburg :: essays research papers

What was supposed to last 90 days, now dragged on for more than two years. It was apparent, now more than ever, that little was being accomplished but the taking of hundreds of thousands of lives. The war between the Union and Confederacy had been in a sort of deadlock where each side could claim victories as easy as defeats. By this time the south had the upper hand â€Å"militarily wise,† just coming off a magnificent tactical victory at Chancellorsville in May. General Lee headed the Confederacy’s, Army of Northern Virginia, General Meade headed the Union’s Army of the Potomac. Both sides saw the need to win that one, crucial victory to turn the tide completely in their favor. They would get their chances at a small town in Pennsylvania. The battle was dubbed the Battle of Gettysburg for the town of Gettysburg, PA.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By June of 1863 General Lee asked President Davis to march his army north out of VA. Davis granted Lee permission. Lee, with 75,000 troops, made his way north, just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains into Maryland. Lee made haste in doing so. He wanted the advantage to set up a defensive position forcing the Union to attack him there. His troops went from town to town for food and supplies. On June 28th they crossed into Pennsylvania and toward Gettysburg. Upon arrival about a mile northwest of town, Colonel Buford’s cavalry unit met Lee’s III Corps headed by General Hood. Much to his disappointment his troops had began to fight without his acknowledgement. Meanwhile, the Army of the Potomac was hot on Lee’s heels but marched east of the Blue Ridge so as not to be detected. Meade with 100,000 men would arrive piece by piece in the next two days from the south of town.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The battle was inevitable and it began here in a little known farm town. Both sides knew that Antietam was just a prelude, a year earlier, to the carnage which was to come. General and soldier alike could see what was unraveling. These armies saw a similar scenario the first time Lee brought his army north.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many reasons can be attributed to why General Robert E. Lee wanted to lead his troops into hostile northern territory. He knew he would be vastly outnumbered and without support.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One reason was that for 2 years now Virginia was being destroyed do to battle and armies.

Humbert Humbert of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita Essay -- Essays Papers

Humbert Humbert of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita Humbert Humbert. A delusional, sick, middle aged man obsessed with a self created love for pre-pubescent girls he has namely dubbed nymphets. Right? Wrong, this is only the skin-deep image we are given of the main character in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Rather, He is a highly intelligent chess master who is constantly aware of his environment and is able to manipulate it with minute actions bringing him the results he desires. Humbert’s obsession for the opposite sex starts in chapters three and four when we are introduced to his first love - Annabel. As Humbert recalls his beloved nymphets, he talks of two kinds of visual memory pertaining to remembering a face. One that a person, with their eyes open, must recreate, piece by piece, taking little details of vivid moments in time and putting them all together. The other, an instant glimpse, as if a flash bulb goes off inside your head, and instinctively, an â€Å"objective, absolutely optical replica of a beloved face, a little ghost in natural colors† appears â€Å"on the dark innerside of your eyelids† (Nabokov 11). I would like to expand on the latter of the two ideologies, saying that this image, the more one thinks about it, the clarity soon fades. The reasoning for this being emotional attachment, one’s mind begins to wander about things that occurred in the past. Perhaps why he isn’t looking at the face in real li fe right then, instead of picturing it in his imagination. These emotional ties to that person may be for various reasons, but those aren’t important, it is the depth of them that bears the significance. He remembers Lolita’s face in the second of the two ways because of the extreme feelings he had built up for her throughout the time he was with her. Humbert recalls Annabel’s face with the first method simply because she was his first. Not because of any serious feelings for her; at least compared to the magnitude of those for Lolita. Writing from the confines of a jail cell, Humbert Humbert tells us this story of his sex-capade across the country with little Dolores Haze. He fills his pages with incredible detail, often wandering on certain subjects seeming unimportant, but written as if crucial to understanding his point. An example of this is Humbert’s recollection of the lake and its splendor, being more than just a place to swim and relax; but a... ...nsignificant souvenirs and pointless tours of monuments they encountered along the trip. He couldn’t risk being caught; it isn’t far fetched to imagine Lolita throwing a fit and spilling her guts to an official for the mere refusal of an ice cream cone Humbert wouldn’t buy her. So, in coming to a conclusion, I feel that Humbert Humbert isn’t crazy, or emotionally disturbed, but rather a bit vulnerable. His original fling with Annabel had such a strong impact on him, that from then on, he had a predetermination of what beauty in the opposite sex was - a nymphet. He has a strange fetish, which he allows to turn into obsession. Being immoral and illegal, his actions are condemned by all. Imagine all that he has taken away from a little girl’s growing up. He turned her into a personal prostitute, and forced her to become more mature than anyone her age. In the end, Humbert Humbert gets what is deserved and goes to jail; but not for reasons pertaining to his deeds with Lolita. His jealous murder of Clare Quilty finally sees him to his prison cell where he is sentenced to life. From there, the only way to embrace his obsession is through writing, and thus we are given the novel Lolita.

Proton Holdings Berhad Company Vision & Mission Critique Essay

The Critiques on Vision & Mission of Perusahaan Automobil Nasional (PROTON) Vision can be define as an inspire statement that consists of goal and objective that an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future course of action. It also becomes the driver statement that will lead the organization to achieve its objective and goals. Mission is a statement or a written declaration that consist of organization core purposes. Normally a mission statement remains unchanged over time. Mission statement serve as filters to separate what is important from what is not, a statement that clearly state which markets will be served and how for business organization and a statement that communicate a sense of future direction to the whole organization. Vision and Mission statement for an organization must be clear and understandable by all staff  in the organization. Mission statement is slightly different from Vision statement, although both statements carry same objective which lead and drive the company by act as a railway path in order for a company keep track on all course of action to achieve the organization objective and target. A mission is something to be accomplished whereas a vision is something to be pursued for that accomplishment. As mentioned earlier, it is important for a company to have its own Vision and Mission statement and it is import for both statements are logically achievable and understandable. A vision helps to lead the company to its main objective. A mission defines the organization purposes. Vision of PROTON is to be â€Å"A Leading Globally Mobility Solutions Provider†. Mission statement of PROTON is to â€Å"continuously create innovative processes, products & services that win people’s hearts & minds†. In my opinion, I do agree with the both Vision and Mission statements due to some reason and factors that will be briefly explain and critique on the next paragraph. The reason I agree with the Vision statement because of several factors that physically may be observe and analyze on the result that related to the statement. The word of â€Å"A Leading† describes the position of PROTON in the automotive industries in Malaysia. For past a few years back, PROTON did achieve on that level as a No 1 ranking car manufacturer and volume of sales in Malaysia Automotive industries. The ranking drop and become No 2 since year of Myvi launched by Perodua. The only reason PROTON drop in ranking due to several factors that makes the Brand name losing its customers confidence. Since PROTON share being bought by DRB-Hicom, this Vision statement has been impose and to lead the company to get back on the No 1 ranking not only in Malaysia Automotive Industries but ranking No 1 globally in term of mobility solution provider which will further explain on next paragraph. The word â€Å"Global† being used and presence since PROTON start to export car to United Kingdom and acquired LOTUS. For the financial year of 14/15, PROTON had exported almost 600 Units of various model of car (Proton Models) to almost 45% big automotive market around the globe. The emergence of Research & Development (RND) Division in Proton is also one of the main factors that the Vision statement has been setup as the Global Mobility Solutions Provider. With the ability to perform research and development on car engine, safety features and other related technology for developing a new car that meet the demand and current  requirement of global environmental act, PROTON set a target to be the leading Global Mobility solution provider which resulted to ensure PROTON excel in future. In order to perform this, a knowledge transfer and adoption of new technology being done by PROTON and it resulted from joint venture projects, exchange technology and others with various othe r automotive manufacturers around the world. The word of ‘Mobility† in the vision statement is referring to 6 main pillars of PROTON Business Structure. There are motor vehicles, technology provider, engineering services, manufacturing services, human capital development and supporting business. Motor vehicles manufacture refers to the development of passenger vehicles (Exora), Performance-niche (Preve, Suprima & Iriz), alternative propulsion (Saga EV, Exora EV, Preve EEV & Iriz EV-Prototype and has high intension to be develop and produce in future), commercial vehicles (All Model) and others (Prototype Engine). All this activity has shown a various results and this justify a positive feedback on the vision statement setup by PROTON. It also inline with the objective to be a leading global mobility solution provider where all the 6 pillars had to be works together, by having a good human capital development through a professional training and supporting business through increase number of sales volume and high thro ughput of Service revenue. Besides that, PROTON has various strategy implemented to ensure all this 6 pillar working together, by having a contract assembly, component manufacturing (Proton Parts Centre), Sales & Service, Financing, Insurance and other for PROTON to build and develop a good platform to achieve the level in leading global mobility solution provider. Besides that PROTON has the capacity to serve the concept of mobility solution provider because, under PROTON there is more than 1 brand that joint with PROTON such as LOTUS, MIYAZU, POTENZA and others. PROTON also has experienced adoption of different management, business operation for sales and service brand such as Mitsubishi and Honda. With all this, it shows that the Vision is achievable and logically states the ability of PROTON to be at that particular level in future. On the mission statement, it is verified that PROTON mission give and defines the organization as a whole. The word â€Å"Continuously Create† refers to the PROTON activity that continuous and constantly put an effort to deliver better solutions to target recipients which is the customers. A rapid development of new product technology and to rapidly close all issues  related to products failure become one of the major priority by PROTON. It is true that there is quite a lot of complaint on products but most of case solve within the time period set by the company. PROTON continuously develops an efficient and effective process in line with the needs and preference of the customer. For example, the appointment booking for service job done through phone call, reminder of service done by Customer Retention Executive, delivery of cars at the customer doors, and others. The words of â€Å"Innovative† give the definition of new or improved solutions that is beneficial to users or customer and environment. Customer always becomes the first priority to PROTON. In inventing a new te chnology and process, environmental issues and local act remain to be one of the factors to be looks into before any changes made. As at 2015, there is a zero cases Proton involvement in Environmental Issues in Malaysia. All environmental rules and regulation fully complied by PROTON. All PROTON Service equipment being certified with Jabatan Kesihatan dan Keselamatan Pekerja (JKKP) and follow the standard set by the government and local authority. â€Å"Process, Products and Services† refer to the Outcomes from the efforts and initiatives by PROTON. This can be seen by PROTON had impose rapidly training for all staff on the process operation, products knowledge and Service quality in order to ensure a good service provide to the customer. This also to ensure all service provided in line with the statement of â€Å"Win People’s Hearts & Minds† which desirable benefits by all stakeholders, especially to the customers and business partners. The main focus is to produce a quality services to all customers and to retain customer confidence on the service provided. This shows the commitment of PROTON to serve customer, stakeholders, employees and business partners by offering preferred and desired products and excellent services, delivering sustainable profit together with financial growth and sharing successes within the business process. As a conclusion, the Vision and Mission statement done by PROTON is clearly defines its objective and its target. It’s reflecting the management aspirations for PROTON perform in high performance with support of its capabilities and creates the competitive conditions. The mission statement clearly identifies PROTON products service, specifies the customer needs and strategy to fulfil it’s and shows PROTON identities. Furthermore, the Vision statement shows clearly the company future strategic core and direction  where PROTON should be in the future.

René Descartes (1596â€1650) Essay

Renà © Descartes is often credited with being the â€Å"Father of Modern Philosophy.† This title is justified due both to his break with the traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian philosophy prevalent at his time and to his development and promotion of the new, mechanistic sciences. His fundamental break with Scholastic philosophy was twofold. First, Descartes thought that the Scholastics’ method was prone to doubt given their reliance on sensation as the source for all knowledge. Second, he wanted to replace their final causal model of scientific explanation with the more modern, mechanistic model. Descartes attempted to address the former issue via his method of doubt. His basic strategy was to consider false any belief that falls prey to even the slightest doubt. This â€Å"hyperbolic doubt† then serves to clear the way for what Descartes considers to be an unprejudiced search for the truth. This clearing of his previously held beliefs then puts him at anepistem ological ground-zero. From here Descartes sets out to find something that lies beyond all doubt. He eventually discovers that â€Å"I exist† is impossible to doubt and is, therefore, absolutely certain. It is from this point that Descartes proceeds to demonstrate God’s existence and that God cannot be a deceiver. This, in turn, serves to fix the certainty of everything that is clearly and distinctly understood and provides the epistemological foundation Descartes set out to find. Once this conclusion is reached, Descartes can proceed to rebuild his system of previously dubious beliefs on this absolutely certain foundation. These beliefs, which are re-established with absolute certainty, include the existence of a world of bodies external to the mind, the dualistic distinction of the immaterial mind from the body, and his mechanistic model of physics based on the clear and distinct ideas of geometry. This points toward his second, major break with the Scholastic Aristotelian tradition in that Descartes intended to replace their system based on final causal explanations with his system based on mechanistic principles. Descartes also applied this mechanistic framework to the operation of plant, animal and human bodies, sensation and the passions. All of this eventually culminating in a moral sys tem based on the notion of â€Å"generosity.† The Modern Turn a. Against Scholasticism Descartes is often called the â€Å"Father of Modern Philosophy,† implying that he provided the seed for a new philosophy that broke away from the old in important ways. This â€Å"old† philosophy is Aristotle’s as it was appropriated and interpreted throughout the later medieval period. In fact, Aristotelianism was so entrenched in the intellectual institutions of Descartes’ time that commentators argued that evidence for its the truth could be found in the Bible. Accordingly, if someone were to try to refute some main Aristotelian tenet, then he could be accused of holding a position contrary to the word of God and be punished. However, by Descartes’ time, many had come out in some way against one Scholastic-Aristotelian thesis or other. So, when Descartes argued for the implementation of his modern system of philosophy, breaks with the Scholastic tradition were not unprecedented. Descartes broke with this tradition in at least two fundamental way s. The first was his rejection of substantial forms as explanatory principles in physics. A substantial form was thought to be an immaterial principle of material organization that resulted in a particular thing of a certain kind. The main principle of substantial forms was the final cause or purpose of being that kind of thing. For example, the bird called the swallow. The substantial form of â€Å"swallowness† unites with matter so as to organize it for the sake of being a swallow kind of thing. This also means that any dispositions or faculties the swallow has by virtue of being that kind of thing is ultimately explained by the goal or final cause of being a swallow. So, for instance, the goal of being a swallow is the cause of the swallow’s ability to fly. Hence, on this account, a swallow flies for the sake of being a swallow. Although this might be true, it does not say anything new or useful about swallows, and so it seemed to Descartes that Scholastic philosophy and science was incapable of discovering any new or useful knowledge. Descartes rejected the use of substantial forms and their concomitant final causes in physics precisely for this reason. Indeed, his essay Meteorology, that appeared alongside the Discourse on Method, was intended to show that clearer and more fruitful explana tions can be obtained without reference to substantial forms but only by way of deductions from the configuration and motion of parts. Hence, his point was to show that mechanistic principles are better suited for making progress in the physical  sciences. Another reason Descartes rejected substantial forms and final causes in physics was his belief that these notions were the result of the confusion of the idea of the body with that of the mind. In theSixth Replies, Descartes uses the Scholastic conception of gravity in a stone, to make his point. On this account, a characteristic goal of being a stone was a tendency to move toward the center of the earth. This explanation implies that the stone has knowledge of this goal, of the center of the earth and of how to get there. But how can a stone know anything, since it does not think? So, it is a mistake to ascribe mental properties like knowledge to entirely physical things. This mistake should be avoided by clearly distinguishing the idea of the mind from the idea of the body. Descartes considered himself to be the first to do this. His expulsion of the metaphysi cal principles of substantial forms and final causes helped clear the way for Descartes’ new metaphysical principles on which his modern, mechanistic physics was based. The second fundamental point of difference Descartes had with the Scholastics was his denial of the thesis that all knowledge must come from sensation. The Scholastics were devoted to the Aristotelian tenet that everyone is born with a clean slate, and that all material for intellectual understanding must be provided through sensation. Descartes, however, argued that since the senses sometimes deceive, they cannot be a reliable source for knowledge. Furthermore, the truth of propositions based on sensation is naturally probabilistic and the propositions, therefore, are doubtful premises when used in arguments. Descartes was deeply dissatisfied with such uncertain knowledge. He then replaced the uncertain premises derived from sensation with the absolute certainty of the clear and distinct ideas perceived by the mind alone, as will be explained below. b. Descartes’ Project In the preface to the French edition of the Principles of Philosophy, Descartes uses a tree as a metaphor for his holistic view of philosophy. â€Å"The roots are metaphysics, the trunk is physics, and the branches emerging from the trunk are all the other sciences, which may be reduced to three principal ones, namely medicine, mechanics and morals† (AT IXB 14: CSM I 186). Although Descartes does not expand much more on this image, a few other insights into his overall project can be discerned. First, notice that  metaphysics constitutes the roots securing the rest of the tree. For it is in Descartes’ metaphysics where an absolutely certain and secure epistemological foundation is discovered. This, in turn, grounds knowledge of the geometrical properties of bodies, which is the basis for his physics. Second, physics constitutes the trunk of the tree, which grows up directly from the roots and provides the basis for the rest of the sciences. Third, the sciences of medicine, mechanics and morals grow out of the trunk of physics, which implies that these other sciences are just applications of his mechanistic science to particular subject areas. Finally, the fruits of the philosophy tree are mainly found on these three branches, which are the sciences most useful and beneficial to humankind. However, an endeavor this grand cannot be conducted haphazardly but should be carried out in an orderly and systematic way. Hence, before even attempting to plant this tree, Descartes must first figure out a method for doing so. Method Aristotle and subsequent medieval dialecticians set out a fairly large, though limited, set of acceptable argument forms known as â€Å"syllogisms† composed of a general or major premise, a particular or minor premise and a conclusion. Although Descartes recognized that these syllogistic forms preserve truth from premises to conclusion such that if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true, he still found them faulty. First, these premises are supposed to be known when, in fact, they are merely believed, since they express only probabilities based on sensation. Accordingly, conclusions derived from merely probable premises can only be probable themselves, and, therefore, these probable syllogisms serve more to increase doubt rather than knowledge Moreover, the employment of this method by those steeped in the Scholastic tradition had led to such subtle conjectures and plausible arguments that counter-arguments were easily constructed, leading to profound confusio n. As a result, the Scholastic tradition had become such a confusing web of arguments, counter-arguments and subtle distinctions that the truth often got lost in the cracks. (Rules for the Direction of the Mind, AT X 364, 405-406 & 430: CSM I 11-12, 36 & 51-52). Descartes sought to avoid these difficulties through the clarity and absolute certainty of geometrical-style demonstration. In geometry, theorems are deduced from a set of self-evident axioms and universally agreed upon  definitions. Accordingly, direct apprehension of clear, simple and indubitable truths (or axioms) by intuition and deductions from those truths can lead to new and indubitable knowledge. Descartes found this promising for several reasons. First, the ideas of geometry are clear and distinct, and therefore they are easily understood unlike the confused and obscure ideas of sensation. Second, the propositions constituting geometrical demonstrations are not probabilistic conjectures but are absolutely certain so as to be immune from doubt. This has the additional advantage that any proposition derived from some one or combination of these absolutely certain truths will itself be absolutely certain. Hence, geometry’s rules of inference preserve absolutely certain truth from simple, indubitable and intuitively grasped axioms to their deductive consequences unlike the probable syllogisms of the Scholastics. The choice of geometrical method was obvious for Descartes given his previous success in applying this method to other disciplines like optics. Yet his application of this method to philosophy was not unproblematic due to a revival of ancient arguments for global or radical skepticism based on the doubtfulness of human reasoning. But Descartes wanted to show that truths both intuitively grasped and deduced are beyond this possibility of doubt. His tactic was to show that, despite the best skeptical arguments, there is at least one intuitive truth that is beyond all doubt and from which the rest of human knowledge can be deduced. This is precisely the project of Descartes’ seminal work, Meditations on First Philosophy. In the First Meditation, Descartes lays out several arguments for doubting all of his previously held beliefs. He first observes that the senses sometimes deceive, for example, objects at a distance appear to be quite small, and surely it is not prudent to trust someone (or something) that has deceived us even once. However, although this may apply to sensations derived under certain circumstances, doesn ’t it seem certain that â€Å"I am here, sitting by the fire, wearing a winter dressing gown, holding this piece of paper in my hands, and so on†? (AT VII 18: CSM II 13). Descartes’ point is that even though the senses deceive us some of the time, what basis for doubt exists for the immediate belief that, for example, you are reading this article? But maybe the belief of reading this article or of sitting by the fireplace is not based on true sensations at all but on the false sensations found in dreams. If such sensations are just  dreams, then it is not really the case that you are reading this article but in fact you are in bed asleep. Since there is no principled way of distinguishing waking life from dreams, any belief based on sensation has been shown to be doubtful. This includes not only the mundane beliefs about reading articles or sitting by the fire but even the beliefs of experimental science are doubtful, because the observations upon which they are based may not be true but mere dream images. Therefore, all beliefs based on sensation have been called into doubt, because it might all be a dream. This, however, does not pertain to mathematical beliefs, since they are not based on sensation but on reason. For even though one is dreaming, for example, that, 2 + 3 = 5, the certainty of this proposition is not called into doubt, because 2 + 3 = 5 whether the one believing it is awake or dreaming. Descartes continues to wonder about whether or not God could make him believe there is an earth, sky and other extended things when, in fact, these things do not exist at all. In fact, people sometimes make mistakes about things they think are most certain such as mathematical calculations. But maybe people are not mistaken just some of the time but all of the time such that believing that 2 + 3 = 5 is some kind of persistent and collective mistake, and so the sum of 2 + 3 is really something other than 5. However, such universal deception seems inconsistent with God’s supreme goodness. Indeed, even the occasional deception of mathematical miscalculation also seems inconsistent with God’s goodness, yet people do sometimes make mistakes. Then, in line with the skeptics, Descartes supposes, for the sake of his method, that God does not exist, but instead there is an evil demon with supreme power and cunning that puts all his efforts into deceiving him so that he is always mistaken about everything, including mathematics. In this way, Descartes called all of his previous beliefs into doubt through some of the best skeptical arguments of his day But he was still not satisfied and decided to go a step further by considering false any belief that falls prey to even the slightest doubt. So, by the end of the First Meditation, Descartes finds himself in a whirlpool of false beliefs. However, it is important to realize that these doubts and the supposed falsehood of all his beliefs are for the sake of his method: he does not really believe that he is dreaming or is being deceived by an evil demon; he recognizes that his doubt is merely hyperbolic. But the point of this  Ã¢â‚¬Å"methodological† or ‘hyperbolic† doubt is to clear the mind of preconceived opinions that might obscure the truth. The goal then is to find something that cannot be doubted even though an evil demon is deceiving him and even though he is dreaming. This first indubitable truth will then serve as an intuitively graspe d metaphysical â€Å"axiom† from which absolutely certain knowledge can be deduced. For more, see Cartesian skepticism. The Mind a. Cogito, ergo sum In the Second Meditation, Descartes tries to establish absolute certainty in his famous reasoning: Cogito, ergo sum or â€Å"I think, therefore I am.† These Meditations are conducted from the first person perspective, from Descartes.’ However, he expects his reader to meditate along with him to see how his conclusions were reached. This is especially important in the Second Meditation where the intuitively grasped truth of â€Å"I exist† occurs. So the discussion here of this truth will take place from the first person or â€Å"I† perspective. All sensory beliefs had been found doubtful in the previous meditation, and therefore all such beliefs are now considered false. This includes the belief that I have a body endowed with sense organs. But does the supposed falsehood of this belief mean that I do not exist? No, for if I convinced myself that my beliefs are false, then surely there must be an â€Å"I† that was convinced. Moreover, even if I am being deceived by an evil demon, I must exist in order to be deceived at all. So â€Å"I must finally conclude that the proposition, ‘I am,’ ‘I exist,’ is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind† (AT VII 25: CSM II 16-17). This just means that the mere fact that I am thinking, regardless of whether or not what I am thinking is true or false, implies that there must be something engaged in that activity, namely an â€Å"I.† Hence, â€Å"I exist† is an indubitable and, therefore, absolutely certain belief that serves as an axiom from which other, absolutely certain truths can be deduced. b. The Nature of the Mind and its Ideas The Second Meditation continues with Descartes asking, â€Å"What am I?† After discarding the traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian concept of a human being as a rational animal due to the inherent difficulties of defining â€Å"rational† and â€Å"animal,† he finally concludes that he is a thinking thing, a mind: â€Å"A  thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling, and also imagines and has sense perceptions† (AT VII 28: CSM II 19). In the Principles, part I, sections 32 and 48, Descartes distinguishes intellectual perception and volition as what properly belongs to the nature of the mind alone while imagination and sensation are, in some sense, faculties of the mind insofar as it is united with a body. So imagination and sensation are faculties of the mind in a weaker sense than intellect and will, since they require a body in order to perform their functions. Finally, in the Sixth Meditation, Descartes claims that the mind or â€Å"I† is a non-extended thing. Now, since extension is the nature of body, is a necessary feature of body, it follows that the mind is by its nature not a body but an immaterial thing. Therefore, what I am is an immaterial thinking thing with the faculties of intellect and will. It is also important to notice that the mind is a substance and the modes of a thinking substance are its ideas. For Descartes a substance is a thing requiring nothing else in order to exist. Strictly speaking, this applies only to God whose existence is his essence, but the term â€Å"substance† can be applied to creatures in a qualified sense. Minds are substances in that they require nothing except God’s concurrence, in order to exist. But ideas are â€Å"modes† or â€Å"ways† of thinking, and, therefore, modes are not substances, since they must be the ideas of some mind or other. So, ideas require, in addition to God’s concurrence, some created thinking substance in order to exist (see Principles of Philosophy, part I, sections 51 & 52). Hence the mind is an immaterial thinking substance, while its ideas are its modes or ways of thinking. Descartes continues on to distinguish three kinds of ideas at the beginning of the Third Meditation, namely those that are fabricated, adventitious, or innate. Fabricated ideas are mere inventions of the mind. Accordingly, the mind can control them so that they can be examined and set aside at will and their internal content can be changed. Adventitious ideas are sensations produced by some material thing existing externally to the mind. But, unlike fabrications, adventitious ideas cannot be examined and set aside at will nor can their internal content be manipulated by the mind. For example, no matter how hard one tries, if someone is standing next to a fire, she cannot help but feel the heat as heat. She cannot set aside the sensory idea of heat by merely willing it as we can do with our idea of Santa Claus, for example. She also cannot change its internal content so as to feel something other than heat–say, cold. Finally, innate ideas are placed in the mind by God at creation. These ideas can be examined and set aside at will but their internal content cannot be manipulated. Geometrical ideas are paradigm examples of innate ideas. For example, the idea of a triangle can be examined and set aside at will, but its internal content cannot be manipulated so as to cease being the idea of a three-sided figure. Other examples of innate ideas would be metaphysical principles like â€Å"what is done cannot be undone,† the idea of the mind, and the idea of God. Descartes’ idea of God will be discussed momentarily, but let’s consider his claim that the mind is better known than the body. This is the main point of the wax example found in the Second Meditation. Here, Descartes pauses from his methodological doubt to examine a particular piece of wax fresh from the honeycomb: It has not yet quite lost the taste of the honey; it retains some of the scent of flowers from which it was gathered; its color shape and size are plain to see; it is hard, cold and can be handled without difficulty; if you rap it with your knuckle it makes a sound. (AT VII 30: CSM II 20) The point is that the senses perceive certain qualities of the wax like its hardness, smell, and so forth. But, as it is moved closer to the fire, all of these sensible qualities change. â€Å"Look: the residual taste is eliminated, the smell goes away, the color changes, the shape is lost, the size increases, it becomes liquid and hot† (AT VII 30: CSM II 20). Howeve r, despite these changes in what the senses perceive of the wax, it is still judged to be the same wax now as before. To warrant this judgment, something that does not change must have been perceived in the wax. This reasoning establishes at least three important points. First, all sensation involves some sort of judgment, which is a mental mode. Accordingly, every sensation is, in some sense, a mental mode, and â€Å"the more attributes [that is, modes] we discover in the same thing or substance, the clearer is our knowledge of that substance† (AT VIIIA 8: CSM I 196). Based on this principle, the mind is better known than the body, because it has ideas about both extended and mental things and not just of extended things, and so it has discovered more modes in itself than in bodily substances. Second, this is also supposed to show that what is unchangeable in the wax is its extension in length, breadth and depth, which is not perceivable by the senses but by the mind  alone. The shape and size of the wax are modes of this extension and can, therefore, change. But the extension constituting this wax remains the same and permits the judgment that the body with the modes existing in it after being moved by the fire is the same body as before even though all of its sensible qualities have changed. One final lesson is that Descartes is attempting to wean his reader from reliance on sense images as a source for, or an aid to, knowledge. Instead, people should become accustomed to thinking without images in order to clearly understand things not readily or accurately represented by them, for example, God and the mind. So, according to Descartes, immaterial, mental things are better known and, therefore, are better sources of knowledge than extended things. God a. The Causal Arguments At the beginning of the Third Meditation only â€Å"I exist† and â€Å"I am a thinking thing† are beyond doubt and are, therefore, absolutely certain. From these intuitively grasped, absolutely certain truths, Descartes now goes on to deduce the existence of something other than himself, namely God. Descartes begins by considering what is necessary for something to be the adequate cause of its effect. This will be called the â€Å"Causal Adequacy Principle† and is expressed as follows: â€Å"there must be at least as much reality in the efficient and total cause as in the effect of that cause,† which in turn implies that something cannot come from nothing (AT VII 40: CSM II 28). Here Descartes is espousing a causal theory that implies whatever is possessed by an effect must have been given to it by its cause. For example, when a pot of water is heated to a boil, it must have received that heat from some cause that had at least that much heat. Moreover, som ething that is not hot enough cannot cause water to boil, because it does not have the requisite reality to bring about that effect. In other words, something cannot give what it does not have. Descartes goes on to apply this principle to the cause of his ideas. This version of the Causal Adequacy Principle states that whatever is contained objectively in an idea must be contained either formally or eminently in the cause of that idea. Definitions of some key terms are now in order. First, the objective reality contained in an idea is just its representational content; in other words, it is the â€Å"object† of the idea or what that idea is about. The idea of the sun, for instance, contains  the reality of the sun in it objectively. Second, the formal reality contained in something is a reality actually contained in that thing. For example, the sun itself has the formal reality of extension since it is actually an extended thing or body. Finally, a reality is contained in something eminently when that reality is contained in it in a higher form such that (1) the thing does not possess that reality formally, but (2) it has the ability to cause that reality formally in something else. For example, God is not formally an extended thing but solely a thinking thing; however, he is eminently the extended universe in that it exists in him in a higher form, and accordingly he has the ability to cause its existence. The main point is that the Causal Adequacy Principle also pertains to the causes of ideas so that, for instance, the idea of the sun must be caused by something that contains the reality of the sun either actually (formally) or in some higher form (eminently). Once this principle is established, Descartes looks for an idea of which he could not be the cause. Based on this principle, he can be the cause of the objective reality of any idea that he has either formally or eminently. He is formally a finite substance, and so he can be the cause of any idea with the objective reality of a finite substance. Moreover, since finite substances require only God’s concurrence to exist and modes require a finite substance and God, finite substances are more real than modes. Accordingly, a finite substance is not formally but eminently a mode, and so he can be the cause of all his ideas of modes. But the idea of God is the idea of an infinite substance. Since a finite substance is less rea l than an infinite substance by virtue of the latter’s absolute independence, it follows that Descartes, a finite substance, cannot be the cause of his idea of an infinite substance. This is because a finite substance does not have enough reality to be the cause of this idea, for if a finite substance were the cause of this idea, then where would it have gotten the extra reality? But the idea must have come from something. So something that is actually an infinite substance, namely God, must be the cause of the idea of an infinite substance. Therefore, God exists as the only possible cause of this idea. Notice that in this argument Descartes makes a direct inference from having the idea of an infinite substance to the actual existence of God. He provides another argument that is cosmological in nature in response to a possible objection to this first  argument. This objection is that the cause of a finite substance with the idea of God could also be a finite substance with the idea of God. Yet what was the cause of that finite substance with the idea of God? Well, another finite substance with the idea of God. But what was the cause of that finite substance with the idea of God? Well, another finite substance . . . and so on to infinity. Eventually an ultimate cause of the idea of God must be reached in order to provide an adequate explanation of its existence in the first place and thereby stop the infinite regress. That ultimate cause must be God, because only he has enough reality to cause it. So, in the end, Descartes claims to have deduced God’s existence from the intuitions of his own existence as a finite substance with the idea of God and the Causal Adequacy Principle, which is â€Å"manifest by the natural light,† thereby indicating that it is supposed to be an absolutely certain intuition as well. b. The Ontological Argument The ontological argument is found in the Fifth Meditation and follows a more straightforwardly geometrical line of reasoning. Here Descartes argues that God’s existence is deducible from the idea of his nature just as the fact that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles is deducible from the idea of the nature of a triangle. The point is that this property is contained in the nature of a triangle, and so it is inseparable from that nature. Accordingly, the nature of a triangle without this property is unintelligible. Similarly, it is apparent that the idea of God is that of a supremely perfect being, that is, a being with all perfections to the highest degree. Moreover, actual existence is a perfection, at least insofar as most would agree that it is better to actually exist than not. Now, if the idea of God did not contain actual existence, then it would lack a perfection. Accordingly, it would no longer be the idea of a supremely perfect being but the idea of something with an imperfection, namely non-existence, and, therefore, it would no longer be the idea of God. Hence, the idea of a supremely perfect being or God without existence is unintelligible. This means that existence is contained in the essence of an infinite substance, and therefore God must exist by his very nature. Indeed, any attempt to conceive of God as not existing would be like trying to conceive of a mountain without a valley – it just cannot be done. 6. The Epistemological Foundation a. Absolute Certainty and the Cartesian Circle Recall that in the First Meditation Descartes supposed that an evil demon was deceiving him. So as long as this supposition remains in place, there is no hope of gaining any absolutely certain knowledge. But he was able to demonstrate God’s existence from intuitively grasped premises, thereby providing, a glimmer of hope of extricating himself from the evil demon scenario. The next step is to demonstrate that God cannot be a deceiver. At the beginning of the Fourth Meditation, Descartes claims that the will to deceive is â€Å"undoubtedly evidence of malice or weakness† so as to be an imperfection. But, since God has all perfections and no imperfections, it follows that God cannot be a deceiver. For to conceive of God with the will to deceive would be to conceive him to be both having no imperfections and having one imperfection, which is impossible; it would be like trying to conceive of a mountain without a valley. This conclusion, in addition to God’s existenc e, provides the absolutely certain foundation Descartes was seeking from the outset of the Meditations. It is absolutely certain because both conclusions (namely that God exists and that God cannot be a deceiver) have themselves been demonstrated from immediately grasped and absolutely certain intuitive truths. This means that God cannot be the cause of human error, since he did not create humans with a faculty for generating them, nor could God create some being, like an evil demon, who is bent on deception. Rather, humans are the cause of their own errors when they do not use their faculty of judgment correctly. Second, God’s non-deceiving nature also serves to guarantee the truth of all clear and distinct ideas. So God would be a deceiver, if there were a clear and distinct idea that was false, since the mind cannot help but believe them to be true. Hence, clear and distinct ideas must be true on pain of contradiction. This also implies that knowledge of God’s existence is required for having any absolutely certain knowledge. Accordingly, atheists, who are ignorant of God’s existence, cannot have absolutely certain knowledge of any kind, including scientific knowledge. But this veridical guarantee gives rise to a serious problem within the Meditations, stemming from the claim that all clear and distinct ideas are ultimately guaranteed by God’s existence, which is not established  until the Third Meditation. This means that those truths reached in the Second Meditation, such as â€Å"I exist† and â€Å"I am a thinking thing,† and those principles used in the Third Meditation to conclude that God exists, are not clearly and distinctly understood, and so they cannot be absolutely certain. Hence, since the premises of the argument for God’s existence are not absolutely certain, the conclusion that God exists cannot be certain either. This is what is known as the â€Å"Cartesian Circle,† because Descartes’ reasoning seems to go in a circle in that he needs God’s existence for the absolute certainty of the earlier truths and yet he needs the absolute certainty of these earlier truths to demonstrate God’s existence with absolute certainty. Descartes’ response to this concern is found in the Second Replies. There he argues that God’s veridical guarantee only pertains to the recollection of arguments and not the immediate awaRenà ©ss of an argument’s clarity and distinctness currently under consideration. Hence, those truths reached before the demonstration of God’s existence are clear and distinct when they are being attended to but cannot be relied upon as absolutely certain when those arguments are recalled later on. But once God’s existence has been demonstrated, the recollection of the clear and distinct perception of the premises is sufficient for absolutely certain and, therefore, perfect knowledge of its conclusion (see also the Fifth Meditation at AT VII 69-70: CSM II XXX).