John Locke Essays (1296 words) - Philosophy, Epistemology

John Locke John Locke (1632-1704) was born in Wrington, England to Puritan parents who fostered his education in theology and politics. He attended the Westminster school, and then entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he received a scholarship. Locke studied classical languages, metaphysics, logic, and rhetoric there. He developed friendships with Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, both of whom influenced his views. In 1690, he wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, this is considered his greatest work. The essay tries to set limits on human understanding. Locke attempts to answer two questions. The first question is where we get our ideas from. The second question is whether we can rely on what our senses tell us. The Essay also classifies knowledge into three degrees. These are the intuitive, demonstrative, and the sensitive. Finally, the Essay divides the ways ideas can be related into four categories: identity or diversity, relation, coexistence, and finally real existence. Part of Locke's theory is that women are equal to men, this will be discussed in the second part of my paper. To understand why Locke wanted to explain where we get our ideas from, it is important to understand what sect of philosophy he was a part of. Locke belonged to an eighteenth century group of British philosophers which included George Berkeley and David Hume. These three philosophers shared a view called empiricism. Empiricism is the belief that all knowledge and ideas come from the senses. Thus, a new born baby is a blank slate until its first sensory experience with the world. Aristotle was the originator of the empiricist way of thinking. Empiricism directly conflicts with Plato, and the rationalist way of thinking which states that humans are born with a set of innate ideas about the world. As Locke explains in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, humans gain all ideas and knowledge by interacting with the external world with their senses, and by reflecting their new gained knowledge. By senses, Locke is referring to the five senses: sight, sound, taste, feeling, and hearing. Locke's definition of reflection is the way the mind actively processes the information given to it by sensation. In reflection, the mind continues to analyze what it has sensed. This analization includes trusting, not trusting, or rationalizing the sensory experience and thereby parlaying even more knowledge and ideas out of the experience. Locke believed that simple sensations of something eventually led to a complex idea of that thing. He thought that we could only perceive simple parts of the whole which would eventually lead up to the entire thing. Locke writes, Combining several simple ideas into one compound one; and thus all complex ideas are made. An example of this could be a child's first experience with a chocolate chip cookie. The child sees that the cookie is round, she notices the brown color, and the dark chocolate spots that make up the chips. The child is really not capable of understanding a cookie yet, though. In another experience with the cookie, the child reflects upon her past experience and builds upon it. This time, she feels the rough texture, and tastes the sweet confection. Only after the child experiences all the sum of the cookies parts is she able to own the idea of cookie. One aspect of knowledge that Locke was concerned with is what can be called false knowledge. This is knowledge that can not be traced back to simple sensations. Even the words God and eternity are being misused and misconcepted because nobody has experienced these things. Locke does not totally disbelieve that there is a God and eternity though, because he later reasons in the Essay that, Nothing cannot produce a Being; therefore Something must have existed from Eternity. The second question Locke attempts to tackle is whether we can rely on what our senses tell us, or is the world the way we perceive it. To help answer this question he divided sensations into primary and secondary qualities. Primary qualities are described as those that do not change when the substance is divided. This includes solidity, extension, figure, and mobility. Secondary qualities are those that are subject to change in a substance, such as colors, sounds, and tastes. Thus, all people see primary qualities in the same way, but not everyone views the secondary qualities in the same way. For example, although two children see the same round cookie, one might think that it tastes good and the other may despise the taste of it. It is through these qualities that Locke attempted to judge whether we can rely on our senses to correctly perceive the world. After Locke established how ideas are formed,

Spartan Education Essays - Sparta, Ancient Greece, Helots

Spartan Education Essays - Sparta, Ancient Greece, Helots Spartan Education When examining any society, one of the most important aspects of its civilization to identify is the education of the youth. Children yearn to please their instructors. Therefore, when all children throughout a society are taught a certain way to live and think, when they grow up, the society itself models these values instilled upon the children. Naturally, when using this ideal to study the history of the Ancient Greeks, focus falls upon its two major city-states, Athens and Sparta. As in almost every aspect of comparison, the difference between the education of the warlike Spartans compared to the education of the philosophical Athenians is like comparing black to white. The main focus of a Spartan education was not to focus on literacy. Instead, as a result of the system of helotry practiced in Sparta, fitness, obedience, and courage had to be taught in order for the Spartans to retain the militaristic supremacy that they had over the rest of the Peloponnesus. In contrast, an Ath enian education was devoted to the three basic categories of literacy, music, and physical education in hopes of creating intelligent, well-rounded citizens who could responsibly participate in the Assembly. For purposes of comparison, the education of both societies can be broken down into three distinct periods of age in which certain traits were taught and which certain schools were attended. When education was complete, the society had successfully refined another child into its strict system of beliefs and principles. In the eighth century B.C., Sparta was in need of more fertile land to support an ever-growing population that demanded food. Consequently, Sparta was forced to do what any ancient civilization did when in need of

Identify one problematic aspect of Human Resource Management that Essay

Identify one problematic aspect of Human Resource Management that related to your organization - Essay Example On their way to becoming a part of the team, there can be many conflicts, disagreements, and unfortunate events. One major hurdle in achieving harmony among the members is the diversity that they have. The diversity involves age, education, religion, ethnic background, gender, pay scale, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation etc. Like any modern organization, oil & gas companies also seek diversity in their workforce in order to bring a variety of skills. Diversity in a workplace inevitably entails some problems. The biggest problem is created because of prejudices and lack of acceptance. The world consists of many cultures which are very different from each other. People have developed types and they identify other people using stereotypes. People are classified as Americans, Asians, Africans, Indians, Mexicans etc., and these classifications are so diverse that it is almost impossible to number them. Also, there are classes within classes. For instance, there are diff erent types of Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and Jews etc. People are also discriminated against if they are homosexuals. Further, when people come from diverse cultures, they are bound to have different lifestyles. Little appreciation is shown in today’s world for each other’s lifestyle. ... When people are from different cultures, they might speak different languages. With English having become an International language, this problem is solved to a great degree. However, there is also a non-verbal communication and certain gestures are only understandable by a certain culture. They have different values, beliefs, behaviors and assumptions about the world (Alexander, 1988). The more the people are different from each other, the harder it is for them to communicate. In oil & gas companies in The Middle East, recruitments are made from almost all over the globe. The personnel consist of people from the Far East and the sub-continent to workers from Europe and the US. In a professional organization, people learn to respect each other and they try their best to get along. However, there are certain values that are not commonly believed. For instance, the workers from the West have the habit of having platonic relationships with women. In their society, it is very common that a man and a woman are friends. However, platonic relations are very uncommon in Muslim cultures. The Arabs and other Muslims frown upon the platonic relations that the others have. Following the lead of the West, some Muslims may also have platonic relations but they are then questioned by their own communities. Therefore, a web of sophisticated problems is weaved. Drinking wine or alcohol is also prohibited for the Muslims in their religion. They stay away from alcohol but the non-Muslims do not do the same. While sitting in a mixed gathering, it often happens that a non-Muslim unknowingly offers a drink to a Muslim but the offer is rejected in a very emotional manner. This can lead to a verbal or a physical altercation. Even if it does not, it gives

Inclusion of the Physically Disabled in Mainstream Schools Essay

Inclusion of the Physically Disabled in Mainstream Schools - Essay Example Significant attempts to transform mainstream/state schools and make them more inclusive to the physically disabled students have been made in UK. However, a lot requires to be done to make the mainstream schools completely accommodating to the disabled students. This paper focuses on the measures that mainstream schools in United Kingdom have taken to be more inclusive and meet the needs of the physically disabled. Additionally, the paper will focus on how successful or unsuccessful these measures have been in different institutions and whether the success depends on the resources that the schools have to their disposal. In the recent past, the UK government has dedicated itself to ensuring that all children get equal access to quality education irrespective of their diversity. However, the governments’ objective has not been fully successful. Physically disabled children are one of the groups of people that have been discriminated against in most societies. Investigations the UK education department show that most mainstream schools lacked devices to support disabled student particularly before introduction of the inclusion program. According to the medical model, most people view disability to be identical to disability or as a problem. However, other theories have been developed to counteract this notion. These theories include the post-social, affirmative, and the social models. These theories posit that impairment is not synonymous to disability. They argue that case of disability found amongst the physically challenged persons result since disabled are often not provided with the appropriate environment to reveal they potential. This can be demonstrated by simple aspects such as lack of elevators in most state school, which makes it almost impossible for children using wheelchairs to attend such schools. These contemporary models have greatly contributed to the changes in mainstream school in London to make them more accommodative for the disabled students. Accommodation of the disabled in mainstream schools is in line with the social model, which argues that segregating of the impaired people is irreverent and a sign of oppression. Most efforts made have been to improve the schools and accommodate individuals with impairments such as blindness, deafness, or other impairments that make it impossible for individuals to use the same facilities with normal individuals. Post-social modelists argue that segregation make the persons with impairments pity themselves. The social and post-social models are among the models that have greatly influence the development of inclusion programs in UK (Clough and Corbett 5-11). In ensuring that the physically disabled access quality education, the learning environment must be altered. This is more important in cases where the disability requires the students to make use of supportive devices such as wheelchairs (Department for Education and Skills Web; Norwich 16-28). Importance of the Inclus ion Program Ensuring that persons with disability are not excluded from mainstream education has been the most significant move in guaranteeing equal opportunities for all. There are a several reasons why inclusion of the physically disabled in the mainstream schools is important in UK. One of the reasons is because education is considered crucial in

Employer Associations & Modern Awards Essay Example for Free

Employer Associations Modern Awards Essay There have been substantial changes to modern awards over the years that employer associations have historically and are currently advocating. In this regard, issues such as penalty rates and flexibility stemming from employer association submissions have been researched and examined by (Sheldon Thornthwaite 2013) portraying evidence that employer associations relatively prefer cost cutting and enhanced managerial prerogative as oppose to productivity. Entailed within this essay the key concepts such as penalty rates, managerial prerogative, flexibility and productivity will be discussed with particular focus the modern award reviews combined with an overview of Sheldon and Thornthwaite’s argument in summary and concurrence. According to (Boxall Purcell, 2011) management goals are predominantly associated with cost efficiency, controllable flexibility, legitimacy and managerial power. It is these goals that evidently become the concern of relevant employer associations, as such they take on the role of combining, allocating and utilising resources in order to achieve organisational objectives. There have however been significant changes over the years regarding employer association involvement particularly seen over the course of the 1980’s. Employer associations aim to influence and negotiate with the Government of the day as well as tribunals in an effort to ensure that the mutual concerns of organisations are being met. (Sheldon Thornthwaite, 2013) discuss key system issues with regard to employer associations mainly focusing on restricting union’s right of entry, penalty rates and other provisions incorporating aspects of substantive and procedural rules. Modern Award reviews primarily began in 2012, it is during this time that leading associations took the opportunity to not only push for more workable provisions but also to campaign for more substantial changes within various awards. Employer associations accounted for a large number of submissions to the tribunal on a broad range of issued in particular penalty rates, public holidays and flexibility. In the technical sense, penalty rates are a form of tangible benefit within the financial context which generally refers to those payments made to workers outside normal working hours. Regulator motivations for including penalty rates in modern awards as stated by (Sloane, 2014) are twofold: firstly, to compensate workers for work performed during what was historically known as ‘unsociable hours’ and secondly, to dissuade employers from operating within those hours. However,  as advocated by (Sheldon Thornthwaite, 2013) the modern award reviews have ‘provided a forum for employers and their associations to escalate their campaign to the significance of penalty rates in industries operating during the traditionally ‘unsociable hours’, which is evidence that employer associations prefer to enhance managerial prerogative over productivity which is predominantly concerned with the cost of resources. The push for the examination of provisions regarding penalty rates has mostly been seen to affect the tourism and retail industries. Flexibility is made up of numerous components however, within in the context of the workplace involves thinking creatively about how working lives can be better structured to match individual and business needs (Job Access, 2012). Following the review of penalty rate provisions, amendments to the flexibility clause were sought after with particular attention paid to the manufacturing industry. Greater flexibility was requested in the taking and cashing out of annual leave in a further attempt to enhance cost cutting initiatives through control measures which ultimately leads to the underlying concept of elevated managerial prerogative. Managerial prerogative may be defined as management’s unqualified authority to exercise its discretion in certain areas under the belief that they have exclusive rights to make decisions and therefore resist any interference with that control (Storey, 1983). Sheldon Thornthwaite make reference to managerial prerogative in the defensive context through aggressive industrial action which has historically been used as a means of strengthening managerial prerogative. The 2011 Qantas lockout serves as one of the most significant demonstrations of managerial prerogative through the organisations decision to engage in a lockout. As part of a wider push to entrench managerial prerogative employers were also seen to be engaging in aggressive bargaining strategies in order to escalate disputes with the intention of gaining access to arbitration which has an adverse affect on productivity. (Stewart, 2005) promotes the fact that there needs to be greater emphasis on productivity which forges greater efficiency and high trust work systems founded on flexible and fair employment. Productivity is the economic factor stemming from the adequate use of resources; productivity is essentially the measure of achievement through the amount of output that is achieved as result of the input predominantly referring to land, labour and capital as the key resources. Between penalty rates and productivity there is no association they are separated by the contexts of which they are defined. (AI Group, 2012) identify key problem areas within the Fair Work Act Review and state that it is ‘hampering productivity growth, workplace flexibility and competitiveness’ thus meaning that penalty rates do not influence productivity levels. (Sheldon Thornthwaite, 2013) do make it apparent that employer association’s main concerns do in fact favour cost cutting and managerial prerogative rather than focusing on the importance of productivity enhancement. (Sheldon Thornthwaite, 2013) further explored critiques from employer associations whose predominant concern was based on the fact that managerial prerogative was reduced through the increasing weakness of employer’ freedom to contract. (DEEWR, 2012) Released a report referring to more productive and equitable workplaces which disappointed employer associations thus further confirming productivity enhancement to be of no concern. It is clearly demonstrated that employer associations’ main concerns were that of cost cutting and managerial prerogative it is however, the amalgamation of all the relevant key concepts discussed that essentially equip organisations with a competitive advantage. The core concepts behind the submissions made by employer associations clearly obscure the importance of larger issues which further represents that employer associations prioritise the ease of managements working lives over that of the worker. Bibliography Australian Industry (AI) Group (2012), Applications to Vary a Modern Award – 2012 Review, Stephen Smith, Director – National Workplace Relations. Boxall, P and Purcell, J (2011), The Goals of Human Resource Management, Strategy and Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 1-36. Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (2012), Towards More Productive and Equitable Workplaces: An Evaluation of the Fair Work Legislation, Australian Government. Job Access, Flexibility in the Workplace, Australian Government, Accessed 1st May 2014 Sheldon, P and Thornthwaite, L. (2013), Employer and Employer Association Matters in 2012, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 55: No. 3, pp. 386-402. Sloane, J (2014), Pay Penalty Rates, but not Through Awards System, The Australian. Stewart, A (2005), A Simple Plan for Workplace Regulation, Industrial Law News, Issue 7. Storey, J (1983). Managerial Prerogative and the Question of Control, Routledge Kegan Paul Publishing, London.

Persuasive Essay Men and Women are Equal -- essays research papers

Men and Women There is constantly cessation why women and men cohabitate, nurture, desire, and endure. Many shrug the similarities and differences to the side due to the complex nature that is involved in understanding the progression. Since the beginning of time, according to the bible, man was placed as the dominant sex, fending for the families well being. The woman has tended to the important jobs around the homestead as situations arose. Often in society, one will find himself in a battle depending on the views of the receiving recipients. Following is a dialogue explaining a safe and metro sexual view as a general whole. Based on scientific beliefs, one is to think we come from a less intelligent species through evolution. There is also the often believed but sadly never proven fact that we could have possibly derived from a higher power that designed our every millimeter. Also possible we started as a single celled organism by a higher power, but not monitored throughout growth into what we are now. Whichever the...

It Is Often Easier to Figth for Principles Than to Liv Up to Them

Adlai Stevenson once commented, â€Å"It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. † Based o your reading, observation, or experience, to what extent to you agree or disagree with Stevenson’s words? Please give examples that support your point of view. One man said, â€Å"I don’t agree with what you say, but I defend with my life your right to say it†, thus, expressing the importance of the right of free speech. Many principles, for example justice, democracy and equality, which nowadays are taken for granted in the developed world, are the outcome of a long struggle through the ages. However, it is often said that people are more eager to fight for what they believe is right and just, than to live by the rules they have fought for. In my opinion, this is a solid argument which can be proven by several examples. Throughout human history there have been many examples of rebellions, which begun urged by idealism but afterwards lost their way. The most recent are the ones who took place for the sake of communism. To be more precise, communist rebels declared equal rights and a society without social classes, principles that were left aside as soon as the revolution was over and the government was a communist one. Communist leaders then, justified extreme measures as the only way to establish and maintain their ideals against capitalistic foes, depriving human rights, which were the main incentive of the rebellion. Another clue is how most people differentiate their principles and priorities as they grow older. It is mostly youngsters, especially the literate ones, who demonstrate a rebellious spirit against any violation of their principles. However, as years go by and student life is replaced by career and family obligations, these principles begin to fade away. Life is full of dilemmas and only the strong ones put aside personal interest for the sake of principles and beliefs. When someone is fighting for an ideal, he is comforted by the thought that, despite the danger, he is doing the right thing. He is doing something for the common good and that makes him feel a part of a larger group of common believers. One the other hand, when the goal is achieved and his ethical defenses are down, it is difficult and inconvenient to live by lofty principles. Priorities change and principles are considered a luxury for those with no responsibilities.