Socrates Essay -- essays research papers

Socrates believes that the everyday world is an illusion compared to the world of knowledge. People are often too distracted by money and materialistic things to appreciate truth and reality. Socrates says, â€Å"the capacity for knowledge is innate in each man’s mind.† This exemplifies the point that man has the ability to look into the world of truth, but when one is caught up in superficiality then truth does not receive the attention and glory that it should. This is why Socrates feels that the arts, such as poetry, should be censored; it would help decrease the digression of society’s intellect. In today’s world television and movies are complications that only hinder the thought processes in society.When people are consumed in the shallow world, they see reality as mere shadows compared to truth. Many times, violent images seen in movies will remain in a person’s mind. This obsession with violence and action takes away from concentration on â€Å"the good† and does not benefit society. â€Å"The bad† does not change when one is exposed to it, â€Å"the bad† changes the person. So, by limiting this exposure to violence one can focus on finding â€Å"the good.† â€Å"The good†, according to Socrates is â€Å"the source not only of the intelligibility of the objects of knowledge, but also of their being and reality.† When the mind is preoccupied with the desultory world, it does not see truth; that which is important and real. Television today is geared towards brainless viewing. MTV shows display fast images that do not require any thinking, but only keep the eye entertained. This is a form of â€Å"eye candy† which is society’s form of entertainment, rather than looking for the meaning of life and the good in the world. Viewers are sucked into this and no longer care about anything other than instant pleasure. Not all pleasure is considered good, and this type of instant pleasure is not. Pleasure should not be taken to the extreme, because it will then be unhealthy for the mind and the body. Socrates explains that the mind, body, and soul must all be in unison in order to be healthy, then happiness will ensue. Moderation is a key element to contentment and should be practiced in today’s society. Many people search for happiness by engulfing themselves in life’s highest pleasures, others look for contentment by over-working themselves to try and be the richest. However, these extremes w... ...tural, which is found in everyday occurrences. Society is changing everyday and movies are becoming more and more violent, as well as the crimes that occur today. The outlook on happiness is transforming to an extreme emphasis on money, and instant pleasure is becoming the one importance in life. Values are being demoralized and negative influences are being idolized. This is all done by the arts, because it is the one thing that is never definite or exact. Other aspects of life are definite, such as mathematical solutions and so forth. However, the arts are never definite because they come from the creative aspect of man. It is not absolute and can be interpreted in many different ways. However, by exposing society to the good in life, or assisting in exhibiting the real and unmasking true reality, the arts will display this and censorship will no longer be needed. It can only happen in a perfect society because man’s thoughts cannot be controlled, and although man is a product of society, there will always be exceptions to the rule. So, censorship will always be needed in today’s world because true reality can only be seen with a lucid mind and unison with the body and soul.

John Proctor †The Crucible Essay

   Supporting this claim further are several lines from Miller’s pre-introductory notes; â€Å"His [Putnam’s] vindictive nature was demonstrated long before witchcraft began. † Not only does this reinforce our trust within the character of John Proctor, it always creates a likeness within him in the mind of the audience. Miller strives to achieve this more-so through Proctor’s defense of his absent wife to Abigail who aims to smite her; â€Å"You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth! † This is due to the fact loyalty is an undisputable likeable trait. The moment our emotions towards John Proctor are challenged lay upon his treating of his housemaid upon the warrant of his wife to be arrested. Proctor handles her violently, though it is somewhat partially excused due to its honest aim: to free his wife. Thus, the challenging of our sympathetic yet simultaneously self-righteous attitude to Proctor, only succeeds in strengthening it, through the apparent pardoning of his actions for their good intentions. It becomes apparent the good moral of John Proctor, within his decision to risk the definite pardon of his wife in order to aim to release his fellow innocent towns folk during the court scene of the play; â€Å"I – I think I cannot. † Ironically, this portrays Proctor as one of the only Puritan’s of the play, as he strives to surpass his own greed, in strive to clear his conscience and do what is best for the village. His true Puritan values are also apparent earlier in the play when he suggests his uttermost disgust at Reverend Parris’ indulgence of â€Å"golden candlesticks. † Likewise, Proctors morality influences his decision to inform the court of his lechery with Abigail Williams. For this reason, Proctor rises even further in our levels of admiration. â€Å"I have known her, sir I have known her. † This line signifies Proctors fulfillment of complete morality, as he confesses his sins in hope to release innocent victims. Proctor becomes somewhat heroic at this point, as lechery is a highly punishable crime at these times. The final bout in which Proctor reaches our highest admiration comes at the end of the play, when he decides he would rather face hanging, than lying in the face of God. This selfless deed is what separates Proctor from the rest of the townspeople. His morality proves unrivalled, after several hints at its strength earlier in the play, such as his earlier converses with his wife upon his affair with Abigail, in which he becomes irritable at his wives judgment, despite her making almost no mention of it. This hints that Proctor has simply not forgiven himself for this deed, and rather than face the fact would rather put its blame upon someone else. Despite this, his character becomes arguably a martyr towards the deformation and destruction of the witch trials, as they seemingly dissolve after his death proves example to many others. Perhaps Miller may be comparing himself to the admirable character of Proctor. Through their both almost unjustified prejudice, Proctor for his lack of faith in the Puritan system, and Miller for his satirical outlook on capitalism. For this reason, perhaps Miller is justifying his actions to not confide the American Federal government at a later date, throughout his comparison of it to something quite revolutionary (the desolation of persecution. )

hepatitis C essays

hepatitis C essays Hepatitis C is a liver disease that is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The virus enters the liver cells, uses the cell's inner genetic machinery to make copies of itself, which then infect more cells. In about 15% of cases, hepatitis C infection is cleared spontaneously by the body and there are no long-term consequences. Unfortunately, in the majority 85%, of cases the infection becomes chronic and slowly damages the liver over many years. Over time, this liver damage can lead to scarring of the liver, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer. Hepatitis C is spread through exposure to HCV-infected blood this may occur through IV drug use, a transfusion with HCV infected blood, contaminated hemodialysis equipment, unprotected sex, needlestick injuries, and contaminated tattooing or body piercing equipment. People with hepatitis C infection usually do not have characteristic disease symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they may be vague and include tiredness, stomach pain, and rash. Because HCV infection often has no symptoms, many people do not know they have hepatitis C and may be infecting others. The only way to know whether you have hepatitis C is to get a blood test for hepatitis C. It is estimated that about 4 million people in the United States are infected with hepatitis C, which is about 2% of the population. This makes hepatitis C much more common than HIV infection. About 2.7 million Americans had chronic hepatitis C infection in the early 1990s, which means they could not clear the virus on their own. This number is expected to increase to 10.8 million in the next 10 to 12 years. Each year, there are about 35,000 cases of acute hepatitis C. Chronic hepatitis C infection is more common in certain groups, such as the homeless, Vietnam War veterans, the prison population, and hemophiliacs. The incidence is high in these groups because they are more likely to have the hepatitis C risk factors. The hig...

The Impact of Non-Financial Resources Essays

The Impact of Non-Financial Resources Essays The Impact of Non-Financial Resources Essay The Impact of Non-Financial Resources Essay The Impact of Non-Financial Resources In this assignment I will provide information for the Human Resources Director of Babcock Plc, about how my chosen business uses physical, technological and human resources. I have chosen to research about Marks and Spencer’s, which is a private limited company and sells high quality clothing, home products and food. They operate internationally, but mostly concentrating on UK. Managing the human, physical and technological resources are very important for Marks and Spencer’s because, they help the company operate efficiently, and productively. Managing these resources well helps them with the day to day running of the business. Physical Resources Physical resources are the resources that are available for the day to day running of the business, and they’re made by humans. For example they can be in the form of buildings, or machinery. Buildings and locations are very important for the company, so they will attract more customers and the buildings will be functional for their shops. Marks and Spencer’s have successfully managed their buildings and locations because, most of their shops are located in the high street which has a high footfall and is easily accessible. This increases the number of customers, which means there are more sales for their business. Also their buildings stand out and their shops are spacious and functional. Another thing is that they have shops located in more than 41 countries, which means the sales increase because there are more customers in different countries. Secondly, shelving is also important for Marks and Spencer’s to function, and to make their products easily accessible to customers, and stand out. In their stores the shelving is well located, and spread out in different segments. This makes the customers find the product they’re looking for, easy to find. Also it makes the customers have a good experience with Marks and Spencer’s and reduces the time to look for the products. Another thing that the company does is that they put direction signs, which tell the customers where everything is and makes shopping around the store easier. Additionally all Marks and Spencer’s stores are laid out the same way, so wherever customers shop, they will know their way around the store. By doing this, it helps to improve shopping experience for the customers, and retain heir existing customers which will increase their sales and improve their profit. Lastly, another physical resource that Marks and Spencer’s use is the CCTV cameras. These are important for the business because they keep the business secure and decrease the chances of people stealing so they have less chances of loosing profit. Marks and Spencer’s have security cameras all a round their stores, which also keep record of number of the customers that they get. This is useful because they can prevent people from stealing so, less stealers will come into the shop. Therefore the business keeps safe, saves money and doesn’t lose out profit. Human Resources Human resources are the people that work for the organisation, and are essential for the business. Without human resources the business would be impossible to operate. Marks and Spencer’s use human resources to recruit new staff when the business can’t keep up with the demand. They make sure the recruitment process goes well and that they recruit the right person for the job. This helps to avoid recruiting the wrong person, and wasting money on training them. This saves money and time on training new staff. Marks and Spencer’s have managed their human resources well because, they keep mostly the same staff, which is good for the business because they know about the job and there’s less risk for mistake. Also they are more trustworthy because, they work for a long time for the company, and know more about the job than a newly recruited person. Marks and Spencer’s provide different incentives for the right staff, so they will be more likely to work harder and provide a higher quality work. This helps the business to run more smoothly and avoids mistakes being made. Also more customers will be coming to the shop if the staff is kind and helpful to them, which will increase the sales and therefore profit. The human resources department monitors performance of the employees and makes sure they are well trained for their job. They provide training for the staff, for each sector they work in, which will help them to do their job more easily and successfully. If an employee doesn’t do their job right, they could fire them and recruit another person to fill their space. Also they make sure that they fill up work for people on holiday or sick. This is to make sure that the work that needs to be done is not affected by people being on holiday etc. Another thing that human resources in Marks and Spencer’s do, is that they make sure there is the required number of staff on each shop floor to keep the business run smoothly and provide the right customer service. This has been successful because there is always available staff to help on the shop floor, which means the customer service is improved therefore sales increase because customers keep coming back to the store and this increases profit. Technological Resources Technological resources are the resources that help the business to function more efficiently and quickly. However these are not as important for the business as the human resources. Marks and Spencer’s used BizTalk which is a server that helps the business to manage business processes more productively. They have changed the way that information about sales was delivered to the central systems. Now, rather than collecting sales information and then transferring it to the central systems overnight, they transfer sales to the central systems, at the time they happen. Also they use this to link their web sales into their existing back-end systems. This helps the business to run more efficiently and productively. Without using this, the information about sales would take longer to collect, and the business would run as quickly and smoothly as it does now. Marks and Spencer’s use automated stock control to optimise stock management. They improve product availability by using this, because it keeps record of how much stock is in the warehouse, so the company knows when to reorder stock. This avoids running out of stock. Also by using automated stock control, the company can order their products in a good time from suppliers, which improves the relationships with them, and they are less likely to run out of stock. This meansthat they will always have their products available for their customers, which increases sales and profit. Every business needs to manage their resources effectively, and control their budget costs for the business to perform well. If the business doesn’t control their budget costs, they could invest more money in their business than they would get back. Also they could run out of money to buy their products , or to pay their employees, so they need to control the budget costs to avoid those mistakes. A business needs to control their physical, human and technological resources, so that their business will operate more productively and efficiently, at the same time reducing the costs of the business. This will make sure that they reduce spending money on things that are not needed, and therefore increase the profit. For example Marks and Spencer’s manage their physical resources well by having their buildings in a good location, with a high foot fall. This is good for the business because there is more customers coming into the stores, which means there will be more sales, and therefore more profit. However locating a store in a good location, could be hard and expensive, because places with a high foot fall and easy access to customers, are often sought after. Another good way of managing resources are having CCTV cameras around the stores because, these improve the security of the business, therefore more customers will want to shop in the store. Also if more customers shop there, the sales increase and business makes more profit. Another way that CCTV cameras help to improve performance of the business is that they keep the stealers away from the business. This means that less people will steal in their shops, so they will lose less money and therefore it increases the profit. However having CCTV cameras around all the stores is very expensive, but for a big international company like Marks and Spencer’s it is a good way to invest their money in. This is because by having them it will increase the profit if their company. Marks and Spencer’s also manage their human resources effectively, because they don’t hire not needed staff, to reduce their costs, and keep the number of staff in their stores to minimum. This reduces the costs that they have to pay their employees, and therefore increases profit. However sometimes, recruiting new staff can bring new ideas for the business and can improve the performance of it, so Marks and Spencer’s should sometimes recruit new staff. Also the Human Resources Department makes sure that people that don’t do their job well are fired and they replace them with new employees. This makes sure the company has the required number of staff at all times, and that they can do their jobs easily and smoothly. Another good thing is that without the human resources department the business might not have enough employees, and therefore they would not be able to provide the right service for the customers. Consequently, the sales would decrease and there will be less profit. To improve the performance of the business, the human resources department needs to make sure that the employees work as hard as they can and produce high quality work. If they don’t, they need to give them incentives so they will work harder. However to make the incentives effective they need to know the employees, so the employees will benefit from the incentives. For example, they cannot gives a voucher for a free kids meal, for an employee that doesn’t have children. If the company gives bad incentives they would lose money because, the employees would be unlikely to work harder if they receive incentive that is not useful for them. Marks and Spencer’s use automated stock control which is a good way of improving performance of the business because; it helps to avoid human error. This helps to make sure that the company keeps the record of their stock, and they know when they need to reorder it. This is a good thing for the Page 4 company as they can easily make sure that they have their stock available at all times, so operating of the business becomes easier. If they didn’t have the automated stock control it would be hard to control their stock in the warehouse, and they could run out of their stock. Also without the automated stock control, the business wouldn’t be able to order their stock in a good time, so the company would be unable to run smoothly. Overall, it is very important for the business to manage their resources well, so the performance of the business will be improved. If they manage their resources in a good way, they will reduce their costs and increase the profit. Also they need to control their budget costs so they will not run out of money, and will be able to pay for the costs to run their business efficiently. Bibliography * Lecture notes * Marks and Spencer’s website, 4th/11/11 , About Us http://corporate. marksandspencer. com/aboutus * What is BizTalk, 7th /11/11, microsoft. com/biztalk/en/us/overview. aspx * PowerPoint presentations, 4th . 11. 2011

No Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

No Topic - Essay Example By faithfully following these nine stages, one can develop into a critical thinker and become fully equipped with skills that are demanded for the work environment. It provides an in-depth examination of the stages that one has to attain in the quest of becoming a critical thinker. Understanding these various stages is a major step towards critical thinking. A person becomes aware of the stage they are in, what the next stage is and most importantly, they are able to gauge their progression in becoming a critical thinker. The main benefit drawn from these stages is that one is able to solve problems and make decisions, which are backed by research and information. The two strategies that would be employed are; the use of wasted time and reshaping your character (Critical Thinking Community, 2013). These two strategies will be important in growing both my career and personal life. There is a lot of time that is used unproductively. The use of wasted time strategy will help in putting into good use the time allocated for work. Furthermore, it can be used to enhance the development of my career. For example, it would helpful to further my career by taking extra lessons than to go and watch movies all weekend. Reshaping your character is the second strategy that would greatly help in my personal life. For example, it would help in developing my personal traits such as courage, dependability, and humility. As such, the strategy would be useful in developing a solid character (Critical Thinking Community,

African American history assessing the antebellum slavery Essay

African American history assessing the antebellum slavery - Essay Example The aristocrats were very wealthy and owned vast pieces of land which were developed by the slaves. One factor that had an effect on slave institution was need for labor to work in the white farms. Slave trade was viewed by slave masters as necessary evil because there was sparse population and therefore they needed labor to work in their farms. In order to get this labor they had to force the blacks to work in their farms. The effect of this on the slaves is that they were forced to leave their homes to go and provide the required labor. The greatest oppressor of antebellum slaves was lack of education. There were also limited opportunities to professionals. They were denied education because the masters wanted to ensure that accumulation of property was easy. Lack of education was also contributed to by the fact that the slaves no property that could help them subsidize for a good education. As per the nature of work done, slavery involved involuntary servitude. It involved securin g labor services by means of force and treating the slaves so acquired as property. Work was assigned according to one’s physical capability where a day’s hours of work ranged from 15-16 hours. Moreover work was not assigned according to sex differentiation. Therefore even pregnant women could find themselves doing hard tasks like hoeing. An accident of birth is what determined the status of the slaves. Human nature coupled with inequality in power is the greatest factor that influenced slavery. The slavery had negative effects on the slaves. Effect of the slave trade on slaves was that they were subjected to very little or no privacy at all. They were put in various concentration camps in very large numbers. As a result there was a lot of overcrowding such that there could be no longer private life for the slaves. There was also a lot of work for the slaves. Due to this they had no free time for them. They were always expected to be working all the time. There was als o no time for the family. This was mainly due to the amount of work that they were expected to do. Secondly, due to the manner in which different tasks were allocated to different slaves, it meant that there was little time for the family. They were not able to see each other occasionally. Their children were usually sold or given away by the slave masters therefore they could not be closely knit together as a family. Furthermore, the slaves were not allowed to marry. This was because the slave masters thought that if the slaves were allowed to form families, they could have other responsibilities and thus they could not be able to work as they were expected to. To avoid this, they prohibited them from marrying. Another negative effect of the slavery is that they were subjected to very many rapes. They were raped by other slaves as well as by the slave masters. Profitability of slave trade To the holding master Slave trade though considered as a vice, it brought with it a number of considerable benefits. There were different benefits that accrued to different people. Since this was controlled workforce, coupled with economies of scale, ensured that there was free labor. The greatest beneficiary of this system was the white master. The system ensured that they produced more than they could have if they worked on their own. Benefit of slavery to the slave masters was that they were able to amass great wealth owing to the fact that slaves made doing of work in the firms easier. To the slaves The benefits that accrued to the slaves were that they were able to access better housing, better food and better clothing. There was also increased freedom of movement as well as more

Origins, Development And History Of Classical Sonata Genre Essay

Origins, Development And History Of Classical Sonata Genre - Essay Example This genre of music has experienced contributions made by some of the best musicians that have ever existed. These musicians are said to be the founding fathers of the music that we experience in the 21st century. The first contributor of sonata is believed to be Arcangelo Corelli who developed two forms of Sonata including the ones that were deemed as suitable to be played within church area and the second form was considered appropriate to be used in courts in which a dance usually followed a particular prologue and these musical displays were made following the similar key (Bbc.co.uk 1). The sonata that was played in churches usually comprised of playing of one or two violins which usually started at a slower tone. After the slow tone, the tone used to be increased a bit and towards the end the pitch of the tone used to be quite lively to match the tunes of dance. In the beginning the pitch of the tones was not quite clearly to differentiate between different tones but with the us e of violin the tones became quite clear. On the other hand the sonata that was considered as appropriate for the church used to be completely based on dance based tunes. Later on a mix of both kinds of sonatas used to be experienced. Major percentage of the sonatas was contributed by Sebastian Bach but his focus was less on this form of music as compared to the others (Geck 585).