Monday, September 30, 2019

How far were the forces opposed to civil rights responsible for the failures of the civil rights movement in the 1960s?

Historians argue how far the forces opposed to the civil rights were responsible for the failures of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The CRM was a social movement attacking racial and social discrimination against Black Americans in the southern and northern states. By 1960 the southern states was desegregated. The problems faced in the south were different to those of the north. The southern states suffered from legal inequality â€Å"separate but equal† whereas the North suffered from social inequality, unemployment and sanitation/ ghettoisation making it hard to find a blame for the situation, as the discrimination was not obvious.This caused an outburst of radical civil rights groups to emerge such as Black power and the Black panthers. Some argue that it was the forces that opposed the movement such as the local police/ white backlash that caused the failures as it was noticeable like the police being unfair. Others argue that it was the civil rights groups themse lves that led to the failures of the movement in the 1960s. Some argue that it was the government that led the movement to fail.By 1960 the movement had achieved so much in the south; desegregation in all public places and the Voting Rights Act had been passed, 1962. The movement could not go further as so much had been achieved with the help of the government. For the movement to request for more would have been pushing the boundaries. The problems in the north were intangleable and deeply rooted; only the government could have solved it by pumping money into the economy. The government resisted regardless that â€Å"1 in 10 Americans had an income under $5000 a year for blacks this was 1 in 3† .This led to the failures of the movement as the government didn’t fund the movement allowing it to not progress. On the other hand, it could be said the failures of the movement was down to the state government not the federal government due to the white resistance that they a llowed. â€Å"Four well dressed students sat in â€Å"white only† area in Woolworths refusing to leave unit served, 2nd day 23 students, 4th day 400 students†.Although they were not acting in a violent manor and were protesting peacefully the â€Å"police frequently arrested the protesters  for breaking the law but ignored the white people who attacked them†. This supports the idea of the local police allowing the movement to fail because they treated the campaigners unfairly, arresting them while protesting peacefully. The Vietnam War is another factor that led to the failures of the CRM. Johnson planned a ‘great society scheme’ to speed up desegregation schools education act 1965. â€Å"However the escalation of the Vietnam War made this impossible†. USA became increasingly involved in Vietnam taking Johnson’s concentration of the CRM.This led to the failure of the campaign because the movement was only successful when king was wor king with Johnson. However Johnson now had more important issues to deal with; king made matters worse when he spoke out against the war. At the start he was reluctant to do so, but felt compelled as it went against what he believed in. In 1967 King found it ironic that â€Å"when it came to the recruitment paper and firing line black soldiers were suddenly equal â€Å". This contributed to the failures of the movement as it lost the support of the federal government.In addition the war took time and money that was meant to help improve the northern states; â€Å"0. 5 million was spent on killing a Vietnamese solider but only $35 was to help each poor person† . This meant that there was no money for the FG to fund the CRM as it was being spent on the war; resulting in the CRG to protest against the war as they didn’t see the need of supporting it when the government wasn’t supporting them. This led Johnson to oppose the movement because they were protesting ag ainst decisions that he had made. In 1961 the freedom ride took place.It involved, CRA taking the bus from New Orleans from Washington DC to test the integrated state law they were â€Å"attacked by white mobs who included members of the KKK, the young riders were stoned and beaten with clubs, bicycle chains and baseball bats† . This highlights the evidence of opposed forces causing CRM to fail as the white public brutality attacked them. In 1963 the Birmingham campaign took place bull Connor police chief â€Å"set dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators, 1300 children were arrested in two days. The lack of strong leadership was also led to the failures of the movement.MLK was not successful with his campaigns in the north as he was with the south. He was from the south and educated therefore the people of the north could not see him as a leader to represent their voice and opinions as he hadn’t experienced what they had. â€Å"people would say white rioting ‘ MLK would be ashamed of you’ and they would reply MLK who? † this led to the failure of the movement as MLK was not looked up to as a leader his existence in the north was not important allowing the movement to fail as there was no clear leadership due to lack of support.MLK had lack of authority such as Los angles because of his tactics. MLK believed in ‘non-violence’ due to his Christian background whereas the majority of the north wanted to use violence. This led the movement to fail as there was disagreement with the way things should be done. Kings expectations of solving the problems in the north were ambitious this was highlighted in the outcome of Chicago freedom movement rally in 1966; â€Å"only 30 000 people attended rather than the 10,000 king had expected† .This showed the broken unity of the CRM movement as for it to have been a success the cites needed to get together like they did in the south. Malcolm X, another leader that strongly influences the movement was completely against kings ideologies. He was from the north, uneducated and had been to prison unlike king and therefore represented most of the black men in the north. He was against integration and argued that it would create a new form of slavery. â€Å"He described that the march of Washington was nothing but a circus with clowns and all organised by a bunch of uncle toms.†This led the movement to fail as there was no unity and support between the leaders. X believed that MLK strategies of ‘non-violence’ re-emphasised the stereotype of the weak and the defeat less black person. This led to the movement failing as there was a clash of belief and ideas in the way the CRM should go about solving the problems in the north. Others argue that it was the emergence of the radical groups such as Black power and the Black panthers that hindered the movement through their actions. The black power was a radical group and became known in 1966 th ey believed in self defence.For some black power meant no integration and for others it mean and advancement in society for black people. The black panthers was founded 1966, it was an all black group and its aim was a revolutionary transformation of America. They used X as their role model. They wanted to improve the conditions of the northern ghetto and black liberation. They came up with a camping called ‘patrol the pigs’ â€Å"to keep the police under surveillance and protect the African Americans from the abuse of the police power†. While officers would be arresting There were other factors that generally led to the CRM to fail.The groups were becoming radical and the violent -ness scared the American public. This caused the movement to fail as they didn’t want to support their violent movement and for the movement to have been a success the groups needed the support of the white Americans to a large extent. The explosion of â€Å"violence out in 196 5-1968 of long hot summers of rioting† due to a black man being arrested for drunk driving and then brutality attacked by the police resulted in this rampaged through the streets.By 1965 there was $40 worth damage by 1967 the total damage was $714.8million this led the movement failing greatly as it made the government oppose them largely as they can caused harm and damaged to the environment that the government now had to pay for. virtuous Overall the forces opposed to the civil rights movement were only responsible for the failures for the movement to a small extent in the 1960s. Some historians argue that if there wasn’t a white resistant there would have been no movement therefore the reluctance of the police and the federal government was needed to a certain extent to be able to highlight the problems suffered by the north.The failure of the civil rights movement was caused by the Civil rights movement groups themselves. They lacked strong leadership as MLK was not eh right leader to lead the northern states to freedom and Malcolm X was assonated. Furthermore they had a lot of disagreements within themselves and lost American support from due to their violent reactions, summer riots and the removal of the whites from the groups causing them to lose funding that they needed. Therefore the failure of the movement was caused by the violent radical movement that the groups had created themselves.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

As You Like It Act Two Scene 1

Q. Comment on Act 2, Scene 1. Ans: this passage is an extract from Shakespeare play â€Å"as you like it† and this scene takes place in the Forest of Arden. The scene begins with the entrance of the exiled duke and lord Amiens who are dressed foresters. The change in clothing immediately signals to the audience a change in environment and is also a direct contrast to the previous act in which everyone is dressed as courtiers. The duke begins to talk about pastoral life which is a major theme in the play.He describes the advantages of forest life to be far greater then court life and the audience gets the feeling that life is far more easy going and relaxed in the country as opposed to the busy, eventful life they led in the court. The duke says ‘hath not old custom made this life more sweet. ’ But despite the romanticized nature of the duke’s description of forest life, it also has realistic references such as the ‘winter wind’ and the ‘p oisonous toad’.This passage also gives an insight into the duke’s character. The duke is able to look at the benefits of forest life after having lived in court and having been so unjustly exiled from it. This shows great patience, wisdom, and resilience on his part. His sensitivity towards those around him is highlighted when he says it distresses him that they hunt venison it its own land. The first lord then goes on to introduce Jacques despite his absence on stage.He recalls Jacques’s exaggerated and dramatic response to the dying deer and how he begins to moralize the abandonment of the deer by its herd. This over-dramatic nature of pastoral life is used as comic relief to balance out the drama that took place in court life, and to an extent its innocence which is shown by the fact that the great tragedies taking place in the forest is dying venison. This in turn highlights the more evil and tragic nature of court life where you have scheming and murderous brothers.On a larger scale, this scene also presents a contrast between the two brother duke Frederick, and duke senior. In act 1 duke Frederick is shown as a self-involved, paranoid, and power-obsessed character who lacks the generosity, forgiveness, and wisdom that his elder brother, duke senior possess. This scene in general provides an insight into duke senior’s character and presents a contrast between pastoral and court life while providing the audience with a break from the courts vices.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

British Petroleum and The Delay of Maintenance Case Analysis

British Petroleum, now known as simply BP, is a multinational oil and gas company that is headquartered in London, England. On March 23, 2005, a series of massive explosions devastated one of the largest British Petroleum refineries located in Texas City. The blast rattled windows in downtown Galveston, 20 miles away and was even felt in Houston, 35 miles distant. Reports indicated that 15 people had been killed and well over 150 were injured, many of those seriously burned.A BP spokesperson addressed the media by explaining how the explosion had occurred while an â€Å"isomerization unit of the plant was being brought back on stream to full production after having been shut down for annual inspection and repair† (Hosmer, 49). As the families of those killed in the explosion mourned their losses, BP pledged to a â€Å"long and intensive investigation to determine the cause of the explosion† (Hosmer, 49). These promises were cut short when accounts of prior problems at B P refineries began to present themselves.Reports revealed that a year ago from the day of the most recent explosion, a blast occurred at the same processing unit of the Texas refinery. No deaths or injuries resulted, but a U. S Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation indicated violations of 14 standard operating procedures. Furthermore, merely a week prior to the Texas City explosion, BP was reported to have settled a large lawsuit claiming that their company had failed to; properly maintain huge storage tanks and improperly falsify the maintenance records of those very storage tanks.A far more condemning report in the September of 2005 found hundreds of safety violations related to a venting system at the isomerization unit, seen to not have been working properly. As a result, the OSHA imposed a probationary period, in which, BP had to request permission from the agency to start up old isomerization units, report all accidents and injuries, and hire outsi de professionals to review all refinery safety programs and procedures. BP began accepting wider responsibilities and planned to spend more than $1 billion on improving maintenance procedures.However, the company began to lose its credibility as yet another study revealed that the same isomerization tower that had leaked flammable gases to cause the deadly March 23 explosion, had leaked those same gases not once before, but eight times (Hosmer, 59). Two separate accounts of whistleblowing helped the OSHA conclude that BP’s lack of maintenance and worker training was a result of their continual demands to reduce fixed costs, which of course, the senior officials of BP denied.Stakeholder Analysis In a case that involves such environmental destruction, fines, lawsuits and more importantly, the loss of human life; a wide variety of stakeholders are affected. The first primary social stakeholder is of course the central company to the case itself- British Petroleum, consisting of all its officials and executive members. To commence, since BP is the party being sued for the massive explosion at the Texas City refinery, it has a tremendous amount of stake in the case.BP possesses a high interest in this situation, as it is their reputation and profits that evaporate with all of the proceeding lawsuits and investigations. In the same way, they possess high power because they have the full authority and financing to regularly maintain their production facilities and sufficiently train their staff. Referring to the typology of stakeholder attributes, it is clear that BP has high power, high legitimacy, high urgency and a close proximity in this case.As mentioned earlier, BP attains a great deal of power because their decisions are the root cause of the problem. The fact that BP is the defendant in all its major lawsuits, and has so much at stake gives it high legitimacy. Not only that, but the situation for BP is very urgent as the majority of their facility is d amaged and unable to produce any profits for the company. BP definitely possesses close proximity to the case, with their facility and management all situated at the explosion.All of these characteristics prove BP as a definitive stakeholder that can be harmed through the bad publicity; countless lawsuits, fines and investigations; damage to multi-billion dollar refinery; and loss of profits. The only possible benefit for BP in this pool of harms is that this explosion gives them an opportunity to rebuild the refinery with new, safer technology that abides standard operating procedures. BP claims that the massive explosion is a result of highly complicated chemical processes and even places blame on its employees for â€Å"operational mistakes†.The government agency OSHA thinks otherwise, and imposes their legal right to a probationary period on BP and its operations. BP thinks they are in no wrong, but they are denied the right to appeal for a shorter probationary period as the delay of proper maintenance is confirmed as the cause of the destruction (â€Å"csb. gov†). Moving on, another primary social stakeholder affected by the explosion of the Texas City BP refinery, is the employees and managers of the facility itself. Many employees working in the facility have lost their lives and suffered life-threatening injuries.For this reason, their interest in the situation is very high as their health and well-being is placed in jeopardy. In addition, due to the explosion, these workers are unable to earn wages to support their families. These employees have very limited power because they have no control over the decisions made by BP to properly maintain their facilities. Consequently, the employees and managers of the BP refinery have low power, high legitimacy, high urgency and a very close proximity to the case.To further explain, their measure of low power is the result of their position on the BP ladder. They simply carry out the orders enforce d by BP officials such as cutting â€Å"costs by 25 percent† (Hosmer, 53), without paying much attention to the consequences. They also possess high legitimacy with their life and loss of employment at stake. Their urgency is high as they are unable to earn wages and must resort to external sources of income to provide for their loved ones. Also, those injured in the incident must seek medical attention very urgently.Lastly, the employees clearly have close proximity as they work and reside in the vicinity of the facility that has been damaged with the blast. This combination of attributes deems the managers and employees a dependent stakeholder, which is reliant on the BP officials to carry out their will. These members of the case have virtually no benefit from the explosion. Due to the dangerous working conditions and BP’s high expenditures on the explosion, they are harmed with a possible risk of injury or death and potential job loss.Prior to the accident, these s takeholders were denied the legal right to an adequate training regime, which may have been a factor in the blast as stated in an interim report issued by BP (Hosmer, 50). The workers of BP were also denied their legal right to a union, further addressing their lack of power and independency in the case. Finally, a third stakeholder affected by the massive blast of the BP refinery is the U. S Government, but more specifically, the federal agency OSHA (Occupation Safety and Health Administration).Unlike the others, this secondary social stakeholder has a public or special interest stake in the case that is more indirect. The OSHA has a tremendous amount of power and interest given that it is in their authority to ensure BP’s business practices align with the standard operating procedures and provide safe work environments for the citizens of their nation. This secondary stakeholder can also be classified as a definitive stakeholder due to its high power, high legitimacy, high urgency and close proximity to the case.To elaborate, the OSHA has issued lawsuits, fines, investigations and even a probationary period on the practices of BP and will continue to do so until the proper production requirements are met, giving them tremendous power. They possess high legitimacy and high urgency as it is in their right to prevent any future incidents that could lead to the loss of human life and mass environmental damage, in the shortest possible time period. Clearly the U. S government, with all its branched locations, has close proximity to the accident and all key stakeholders involved in the case. Though the OSHA may benefit from showing positive involvement (i.e. investigation reports, fines etc. ) in the eyes of the public, the incident may actually decrease other countries’ investing interests. As touched upon earlier, the government has exercised their legal right to issue fines, suspensions and in-depth investigations. Through this extensive process a nd help from the media, the OSHA has been able to bring the amoral actions of the BP Company to the public’s eye, concluding that; regular maintenance of the production facility would have been enough to prevent the immense explosion. Define the Complete Moral Problem State the moral problem in a â€Å"complete† question form.Is it ethically permissible for the BP Company to ignore and delay the maintenance requirements of their Texas City refinery given that: 1) the massive explosion caused 15 deaths and over 150 life-threatening injuries; 2) the employees, managers, local communities and environment are placed in a volatile situation; 3) it is one of the largest refineries located in the United States; 4) BP settled a large lawsuit claiming that it had (1) failed to properly maintain huge storage tanks and (2) improperly falsify the maintenance records for those storage tanks† a week prior to the explosion (Hosmer, 50); 5) the same isomerization tower that leak ed the flammable gases to cause the March 23 explosion, had leaked those same gases eight times before; 6) a blast had occurred at the same gas processing unit of Texas City refinery a year prior to the March 23 explosion; 7) they were charged millions of dollars by the OSHA after finding hundreds of alleged safety violations in their facility; 8) they falsely pledged to a â€Å"long and intensive investigation to determine the cause of the explosion† (Hosmer, 49); 9) they were trying to cut costs by 25 percent after realizing an after-tax profit of $15. 7 billion? Characterize the Moral Problem Why is this a moral problem? According to Hosmer, a moral problem is a situation â€Å"in which the firm’s financial performance and social performance are in conflict† (Hosmer, 55). To further elaborate, a moral problem can present itself when a company disregards the needs and rights of its stakeholders in the pursuit of profit and financial reward. These are the situa tions when some individuals or groups to whom the organization has some form of obligation, such as employees and customers, are going to be harmed while others will be benefitted.In considering the issue involving the explosion of the Texas City refinery, it is clear to see that BP disregards the rights of its employees, managers and local communities by continually operating â€Å"rusty, unsafe and unmaintained systems† (Wolf), in order to cut costs and reap a greater financial reward. We can clearly see the direct relationship between the parties that have been harmed and denied their rights, as compared to those that are benefitted and profit from this decision, ultimately creating a conflict between financial and social performance. Thus, this issue is a moral issue. Define the kind of moral issue involved in the problem. To specify, the kind of moral issue present in the case is both a violation of justice and rights.In terms of justice, the OSHA, a branch of the U. S g overnment confirms that BP is in violation of fourteen standard operating procedures and hundreds of other safety violations. Moreover, a week prior to the explosion, BP settled a large California lawsuit as it claimed that it had failed to properly maintain storage tanks and improperly falsified the maintenance record for those storage tanks. With their decision to ignore maintenance, BP is breaking the federal law in order to increase profit and others are being harmed for it. Two cases of whistleblowing revealed that BP managers were ordered by senior officials to â€Å"cut costs by 25 percent† (Hosmer, 53).This is simply unfair for parties with close proximity to the case, such as the refinery staff, as they are unable to maintain a facility, which they know for certain, is dangerous â€Å"with its interrelated valves, controls, tanks, flares and alarms- found to not have been working properly† (Hosmer, 50). In terms of it being a rights issue, BP has violated seve ral positive legal rights and laws. For example, BP initially places blame of the Texas City explosion on its workers for â€Å"operational and supervisory mistakes† (Hosmer, 50). By making this claim, BP is violating the positive legal right to adequate employee training. Furthermore, these very individuals working inside the BP refinery are denied the positive legal right to a safe working environment. The massive blast is, as determined a result of BP’s ignorance of necessary repairs.Thus, BP is responsible for violating their employees’ positive legal right to work and provide for their families as well. Therefore, rights and justice are presented in this case. Due to the rights violated and lack of justice, this is definitely a moral problem. Determine the Economic Outcomes The concept of Pareto Optimality is key for determining the economic outcomes. Pareto Optimality refers â€Å"to a condition in which the scare resources of society are being used so ef ficiently by the producing firms, and the goods and services are being distributed so effectively by the competitive markets, that it would be impossible to make any single person better off without harming some other person† (Hosmer, 27).In order to achieve Pareto Optimality; all markets must be competitive; all customers and suppliers must be informed; and all costs must be included. In the case of BP’s Texas City refinery, the condition that states all internal and external costs must be included is violated. BP fails to recognize the costs necessary to maintain their facility, which results in the massive March 23 explosion. For example, when it was discovered that the same isomerization tower that leaked the flammable gases to cause the March 23 explosion, had leaked those same gases eight times before, all costs to repair the facility were ignored and operations were continued as normal.In addition, BP fails to include; the costs associated with the loss of employ ee wages caused by the destruction of the refinery; and the costs of tarnishing the health reputation of local communities. While BP does recognize the costs to mitigate their environmental impact and compensate for all victims, such expenditures only represent a small fraction of the total social and environmental damage caused by their operations. Also, all customers and suppliers are not informed of BP’s practices, thus, they are in violation of another Pareto Optimality condition. Hosmer explains that all parties â€Å"must be knowledgeable about the features of the products and standards of the company† (Hosmer, 8).BP does not disclose all information regarding their products and standards, in fact, generates corrupt documents in the process. This was evident when BP attempted to conceal a large California lawsuit, in which â€Å"they pleaded guilty to not properly maintaining, and falsifying the maintenance reports of huge storage tanks† (â€Å"dol. gov. com†). Without all necessary information, parties cannot make rational choices and express true preferences. In this situation, we cannot take the action that will generate the greatest profit for the company because this will definitely not generate the greatest benefit for society since all costs are not included and all information is not available.This moral problem cannot be solved economically or by applying Pareto Optimality because human-well being is still being jeopardized for a marginal profit to BP, even when an after-tax profit of $15. 7 billion is realized. Consider the Legal Requirements The law in a democratic society is the minimum collective standard that we hold people accountable to. In this case, the laws that must be obeyed by BP and its operations are the United States government regulations imposed on petroleum industries. In the time leading up to and following the devastative explosion, BP has failed to comply with a significant number of legal requir ements. In 2004, BP was cited for 14 alleged violations of standard operating procedures at their Texas City refinery.In September 2005, seven months after the explosion central to this case, the OSHA found hundreds of safety violations that it called â€Å"egregious and willful† (Hosmer, 50). Not only was BP in violation of their legal operational rights, they also denied their staff the legal right to a safe work environment. However, since the outbreak of BP’s actions, the U. S government has been active in ensuring that all legal requirements are met. Following the September 2005 report, the OSHA levied a record size fine of $21. 4 million on BP. Also imposed, was a three-year probationary period in which BP â€Å"had to request permission from the agency before starting up old refinery units and report all accidents and injuries, regardless of cause, to the agency on a regular basis† (Hosmer, 51).Now, although the OSHA was able to bring some positive change , there are still problems with the law relevant to the case. Initially, the aforementioned government agency lacked adequate information to impose the necessary regulations upon BP that would force them to maintain their facilities properly. Due to the fact that BP was falsifying their maintenance reports and managing to stay clear of the media, it was not until a series of in-depth investigations after the Texas City incident that the OSHA was able to reveal the company’s maintenance fraud. The legal information observed in this case tends to lag behind the necessary regulations and moral standards of society, proving that the law is flawed by lengthy delays.Due to the missing adequate information and lengthy delays, simply obeying the law will not solve the moral problem. The government takes action after investigating the cause, which is not up to par with society’s needs especially when human well being is being jeopardized. Even with federal regulations in place, in 2006, BP caused â€Å"the largest oil spill on the North Slope of Alaska† because their major pipeline â€Å"was found to have been poorly maintained, to be badly rusted, and to require total replacement† (Hosmer, 52). BP is operating against the law, even though they possess adequate information on their social and environmental consequences. The government regulations such as the $21.4 million fine as observed in the case, are â€Å"much more a minor matter for BP, [who] had reported an after-tax profit of $15. 7 billion† (Hosmer, 50). Thus, the law cannot be used to solve this moral problem as BP is both lawful and immoral. Evaluate the Ethical Duties In order to propose a solution to a moral dilemma as such, it is crucial to analyze the ethical duties of BP and the various ethical theories that apply. First, the principle of Personal Virtues comes in to play. It implies that one should â€Å"never take any decision or action that is not open, honest and truthful, and one that you would feel proud to see widely reported† (Hosmer, 99). It is clear that BP’s actions have directly violated this principle.Their decision to knowingly delay the maintenance of their problematic facility without informing many key stakeholders is definitely not open. BP also settled a lawsuit in which they â€Å"falsified the maintenance records for storage tanks† (Hosmer, 50), which is neither honest nor truthful. The key stakeholders in the case, such as the management of the refinery have not been open, honest and truthful, thus, cannot be proud of their decisions. This is seen in a two cases of whistleblowing where a manager of the Texas City refinery â€Å"claimed that he had been ordered to cut costs by 25 percent in early 2005† and another BP executive â€Å"had been directed to keep his maintenance expenditures low† (Hosmer, 53).Since both of these members of the BP Company were â€Å"laid off† following the press release, it is clear that BP did not want the leaked information widely reported. Therefore, BP violates the principle of Personal Virtues. Moving on, the theory of Utilitarian Benefits is one that takes an instrumental approach, assigning costs and benefits to an outcome. It states that one should â€Å"never take any decision or action that does not generate greater benefits than harms for the society of which you are a part† (Hosmer, 99). Based on the classical version of theory, from which, actions are judged solely in terms of their consequences, BP is in serious violation. Their decision to ignore maintenance requirements and operate under dangerouscircumstances leads to a massive blast that has virtually no benefits for the society, other than the fact that BP is provided with an opportunity to rebuild a safer, more secure facility. This benefit is very minute so we can assign it a 4 out of 10. Diametrically, the aforementioned decision creates numerous harms to society such as; 15 deaths and over 170 injuries; major environmental damage; loss of jobs and much more. Being of such importance, it is only fitting that we assign these outcomes with higher values such as 10,8 and 7 out of 10, respectively. Adding up the scores for the benefits and harms, we clearly see that the harms outweigh the benefits, thus, there is overwhelming evidence to infer the Utilitarian Benefits principle is violated.Furthermore, the principle of Universal Duties implies that you should â€Å"never take any decision or action that you would not be wiling to see others, faced with the same or a closely similar situation, be free and even encourage to take† (Hosmer, 99). In the case of BP, their actions directly defy the categorical imperative of the Universalizability Principle, which implies that you should act only according to the maxim you are willing to universalize. If BP universalized their behaviour of ignoring maintenance requirements in oil refiner ies or their disregard to employee safety and well-being, several catastrophic industrial incidents could occur causing deaths, injuries, environmental damage and an overall decrease in the quality of life.In fact, universalizing this behaviour would be self-defeating as the lack of clean water and resources would hinder the growth of petroleum industries. Looking at the Respect version of the categorical imperative, it is clear that BP is once again in violation. The principle explains how one should use humans â€Å"always as an end and never as a means only† (Hosmer, 96). The BP Company uses their employees as merely a means to an end by ordering them to carry out duties within the refinery. Given the numerous risks present in the workplace, the workers are treated as objects with very little care and value, useful only in achieving the company’s aim. BP does not abide with the both aspects of the categorical imperative; therefore, it violates the Universal Duties p rinciple.Another ethical duty worth evaluation is the principle of Distributive Justice. This theory mentions that moral standards are based on the primacy of a single value, justice, and that â€Å"everyone should act to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits and burdens†, because this promotes individual self respect, essential for cooperation (Hosmer, 100). This theory, unlike the others, is hypothetical and teleological. If we were to conduct a thought experiment, whereby we imagine ourselves in the original position behind the veil of ignorance, it is clear that BP’s actions violate the Difference principle. Behind the veil of ignorance, we are unaware of our socioeconomic status.However, we are in the original position, which means we are interested in ourselves and those that who we care about to succeed; thus, we would want benefits and burdens to be distributed equitably, as we do not know which party we belong to. The least advantaged members of the society include the workers of the BP refinery since they earn low labour wages, taking orders from BP managers and senior officials. With BP’s decision to ignore the gas leaks, rusty pipelines and delay future maintenance of their refinery, high proximity employees are placed in a very volatile situation. They can very possibly encounter life-threatening injuries or death.BP’s actions fail to benefit the least advantaged members of society, which is unfair. Consequently, BP is not acting in their right moral duty. Moreover, the decision to delay maintenance destroys the BP refinery and does not provide the workers with increased employment (or any employment for that matter). Due to the facts outlined, the social and economic inequalities created through BP’s amoral actions are not justified. By means of a though experiment, it is evident that an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens is one that benefits the least advantaged members of society. The fi nal ethical duty is Contributive Liberty or Libertarianism.In the same way, it explains that moral standards are based on the primacy of a single value, which is liberty, and that â€Å"everyone should act to ensure greater freedom of choice† as this promotes market exchange, essential for social productivity (Hosmer, 100). Applying this theory, it becomes clear that BP’s actions are in violation with this principle. A few stakeholders, such as employees have their negative rights violated with the explosion, as they are unable to work and earn wages in a dangerous facility lacking maintenance repairs. More importantly, they are not ensured greater freedom of choice because even though they can see the flaws located in the refinery, they must proceed with the instructions from management. In the same way, the management is also denied a freedom to maintain the facility as they are ordered to â€Å"cut costs by 25 percent† or otherwise, risk losing their position s.By suppressing the freedom of these two stakeholders, BP is liable for the massive blast which shuts down the supply of BP petroleum and gas products; ultimately, obstructing efficient market exchange and violating the principle of Contributive Liberty. Propose and Defend a Solution After determining the economic outcomes, considering the legal requirements and evaluating the ethical duties, it is appropriate to make my recommendation. My proposed solution to BP’s moral problem is to make its most disadvantaged stakeholders better off and implement an ‘Employee Workplace Evaluation Program’ as a part of BP’s regular operations. It is important to note that this case has already been â€Å"solved† legally through BP being sued, fined and placed on a probationary period, however, it does not help the moral situation as the law cannot solve anything morally.BP is already mitigating its environmental impact through financial compensation, but my solut ion involves them to start by personally apologizing to each and every family they have harmed through the explosion of the refinery. Next, BP needs to work with local communities to provide long-term health care, food and other services to those families that have either lost or suffered an injury to an earning loved one. In my opinion, this is the least a multi-billion dollar oil corporation can do to begin righting its amoral actions. The second step in my solution entails BP implementing an Employee Workplace Evaluation Program or EWEP, with overview from government authorities (OSHA).This will give the workers inside BP facilities an opportunity to report on various aspects of their job such as; the safety of the equipment; specific work instructions from their boss; any hazardous occurrences (regardless of magnitude); all of which, are relevant to the cause of the March 23 explosion. With the use of an EWEP, all information is openly available, honest and truthful from the emp loyee’s perspective, thus conforming to principle of Personal Virtues. The solution also holds true for Utilitarian Benefits as the benefits of helping families recover from devastation and ensuring the future safety of employees, greatly outweighs the harms. Finally, by providing employees with the freedom of speech, BP will be able to align with the principle of Contributive Liberty and create more secure and productive work environments.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Descriptivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Descriptivism - Essay Example Seriously, this is just too much and makes communication in any language unenjoyably at all. However, descriptivism is making this better by allowing users of the language to apply it in a context that fits them. For instance, courts, restaurants, interviews, and parties among others settings have a different way of communicating information, expressing feeling, or giving advice. Therefore, descriptivism conforms to the reality of changing times, generations, and endorse the fact that understanding each other using whichever language is the most important thing. The issue of native and nonnatives is a discriminative in nature in the world where globalization is taking root. The reality of globalization is making interaction between people from different regions of the world unavoidable. During interactions between people either for political, social, and economic purposes; the only way to achieve the objective of such cause is via use of a language comprehend by parties involved. Whi le this happens, the parties involved use either an exotic language or one that is native to one of them, or both. In this light, the most important thing is the sympathetic of each other using whichever appropriate language (Kachru Yamuna, and Cecil 703). Remarkably, descriptivism facilitates this since it does not bar nonnatives of a language from the benefits of globalization. Descriptivism dismisses the need to learn a language using formal setting such as classroom or by reading publication on the grammar of the language (Kachru Yamuna, and Cecil 711).

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Analysis of Several Law Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Several Law Questions - Coursework Example This consideration applies to the accused, victims, or witnesses of a case. The identification of young persons in court is therefore restricted to police requests or court order requiring a youth to be identified by the media. b. Similarly, adult courts reorganize the need to restrict identification of young people in court. Like in youth court, the media is allowed to cover cases involving the youth if and only if the case is of national interest or if the media has received a court or police order requesting the coverage of the case. 3. According to the given information, the company does not have a valid case. Although the intended publication of the information might turn out to be disastrous to the company, there is no possibility of a court’s injunction. Although this is a complicated case, the case can be handled easily with the right application of media laws. Firstly, the case is of public concern since the workers are members of the public. According to the constitution, the public has the right to information. A matter of public concern such as the cut of employment positions will be important news to the public. Based on this argument I will be able to raise a defense against my accusations. 4. a. The press complaint commissions will consider certain arguments in adjudicating claims of intrusion of privacy (Parkard, 2007). In the given scenario, the commission will consider arguments related to the security of the couple. 6. a. According to the copyright law, the newspaper has a case to answer for subsequent usage of the photographs without the photographer’s permission (JISC, 2006). This is because the newspaper had only been given the rights to publish the pictures  once.

Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Essay Example The Awakening tells the saga of Edna Pontellier, a married woman and mother of two, who lives in the 18th century Victorian era. During that time, the world in itself was patriarchal and suppressed the species of women altogether, thus not providing women with the chance to neither express themselves, nor even think about their needs and wants. Edna faced similar situation in her life, as she had to conform to the society’s envisioned role for her, and take care of her family rather than acknowledging her needs and desires. However, throughout the book, Edna’s character undergoes significant change and she develops into something more than a mere puppet of the society. Though Edna stops conforming to the general role of women cast by the society, and although she engages in a lot of rebellion, in the end she commits suicide, and it is left for the reader to think of this act as either representative of cowardice or her last rebellion. Edna’s character transforms when she finds herself vacationing with her family in Grand Isle, where she meets different people, each of whom have something new to teach her. Thus, in the process she learns three new languages, namely, verbal, artistic and sexual languages. She learns about the verbal language, that is, expressing herself through words from the Creon women of the place. They make her understand that she need not be frightened to acknowledge her needs and desires as well as to express them. They teach her to be more expressive and in sync with her inner feelings, this develops her character in the sense that she can name, define and further understand every single one of her emotions. In terms of the artistic language, Edna perfectly understands and acknowledges what Mademoiselle Reisz is trying to teach her. She stops associating the latter’s piano playing with mere solitary images that her mind invokes in accordance with the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Field of business and accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Field of business and accounting - Essay Example Even presently, I will not pay for any product that I consider unnecessary although those products are the popular items amongst youngsters. My friends always persuade me to buy an Ipod, but this item for me is considered an unnecessary purchase because I will not use it that often; I can play music whenever I want to, such as at home and in car. Gradually, I have developed an interest of trade and hence saving money. For me, learning is a process of attaining knowledge, value and skill; not only through study but also through working experience. As a result, when I started to see that I had an interest in the business field that was the time when I decided to work for my uncle’s company for a few months before I thought of pursuing my career in the United States. Although I worked as  the receptionist there, I learned that in order to accomplish a job, the same required diverse skills as well as knowledge from different individuals and more than that communication forms up as an important skill in the field of business nonetheless. In the year 2005, I started working in my father’s company as an accounting assistant. My job was to make a simple statement of different accounts, create wire and transfer money to those companies that we dealt with because I was one of the authorities in my fathers company. Other than that, I started to learn how to use information systems to track financial performance. Since working as an accountant assistant consumes a lot of time.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Marketing Essentials Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Essentials - Assignment Example Subsequent to that, the Company developed and published ‘Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment’ in the year of 1888. In the same year, the Company successfully innovated and launched the first commercial first aid kits. The Maternity kits were launched for the purpose of making childbirth safer in the year of 1894. Johnson & Johnson has strong credos that are inbuilt into the company’s business ideology. The first responsibility is to the nurses, patients, nurses, to fathers and mothers who use the company services and products. In addition to that, the Company maintains following standards: High Quality, Prompt service delivery, Equal opportunity for the suppliers, Individual attention to employees, Adequate and fair compensation and working conditions, Equal employment opportunities. Johnson & Johnson has no established mission or vision statement. However, the credos and values are considered to be serving the role of mission and vision statement for the company. Chapter 2 Analysis of company situation Source: (Johnson & Johnson annual report 2011). Johnson & Johnson performed well in the year of 2011. It produced adjusted earnings for the 28th consecutive year (Annual Report, 2011). In the year, the company’s aggregate sales were $ 65.0 billion adding an increase of 5.6 percent into the sales. Operationally, sales grew by 2.8 percent, representing the growing demand and strength of new products particularly in the pharmaceuticals business segment, science-based continuous innovations in the consumer business, steady and constant growth in the MD&D franchise and strong growth was recorded in the emerging markets (Annual Report, 2011). Up to 70 percent of sales were generated by products having No.1 or No.2 global market share positions. And approximately 25 percent of sales were generated through the products introduced in the past five years (Annual Report, 2011). Also, the company invested $ 7.5 billion in advanced robust pipelines and Research & Development across three of the main business segments. Due to this substantial investments in the R&D projects, the company generated considerable free cash flow of nearly & 11.4 billion. The consequent effect appeared in the shape of AAA credit ratings and consecutively increasing the dividend to shareholders for the last 49 years. Source: (Johnson & Johnson Annual Report, 2011). Chapter 3 Market situation The United States of America remains the biggest market for the personal care and health care products. The market situation in the United States indicates that there are more than 800 companies serving in the personal care and health industry and their collective annual revenues has been estimated around $ 38 billion (Hoovers, 2012). The major companies include Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder and Procter & Gamble. The research indicates that this industry is heavily concentrated and 85 percent of industry revenue is contributed by the 50 largest firms i n the personal care products (Hoovers, 2012). Top 5 Companies Source: Hoovers D&B Company The above graph highlights 5 leading companies in the personal and health care p

Monday, September 23, 2019

Law Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Law Questions - Assignment Example Law Questions On realization that Fred had a criminal record, the police officers should obtain a search warrant to search Fred’s room and before Fred is charged with possession of cocaine. The rule of law demands that plausible cause exists if the circumstances and facts of the case would cause a person to believe and consider that a felony had been committed or was going to be committed. Yes, the drugs are admissible in Court against Mike because the report evaluation of the controlled substances such as Marijuana that was found in Mike house is admissible in the court because it acts as a prima facie evidence of the quantity, nature, and identity of the issue evaluated. In this case, the police officers do not require the utilization of laboratory tests or reports because Mike and Larry were found in possession of the drugs. Admissibility will also apply to Larry because he was found in possession of Marijuana in his trunk. The police officers had the right to search Mike’s house since they had a valid search warrant. Police officers were investigating a car crime had particular details regarding the car that had committed the crime. When the details matched with the defendant’s behaviors, police discovered the car had similar characteristics as the one they had. The police had the right to use the information they had and match it with what they saw. The police officers need to use the totality of circumstances method to get a credible or probable cause.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Hartwick College Essay Example for Free

Hartwick College Essay In this extract, we are shown insight into what Pips character has become, by reacquainting him with the convict Magwitch. In this second visit, we can see the contrast between Pips first encounter, and this more shocking scene how Pips persona has changed from an innocent youth, to a selfish, egocentric gentleman. Also, we are given the startling revelation of Pips true benefactor, in a cumulative peak of excitement enriched with Dickens unique writing style. Throughout the text, Pips manner towards others, his way of thinking and even his narrative voice transform to create two reasonably different characters. The extract pictures him as a selfish, pompous young man who shows great ingratitude towards Magwitch asking inhospitably enough whether he would like to come in and pushing away a plea for affection, from one who has worked hard all his life merely to provide Pip with a great wealth, and an undemanding lifestyle. When Magwitch returns to greet his beneficiary, he is treated with less than minor courtesy. Pips younger character however appears far more innocent, showing respect and even compassion towards a convict, who threatens and oppresses him, glad that his stolen food is enjoyed by a complete stranger. This highlights a stark contrast between the Pip displayed in the extract, and Pips younger self. Indeed Dickens seems to point out the irony of such a title at the point in time when society considers him gentleman he is anything but gentle instead he appears malicious and critical of his former friend Joe whose visit he awaits with mortification. The wealthy gentleman is now a moral shadow of the impoverished yet guiltless Pip we are introduced to at the beginning of the story. His simultaneous ascent to aristocracy and fall into selfish spendthrift, leading to his subsequent redemption, are reminiscent of the education novel popular at the time. These tales of apprenticeship were often of mistreated orphans who managed to become wealthy and successful. The stories featured the many obstacles that the hero/heroine would have to overcome, and their popularity peaked around Dickens time. Typically, they explore the youth and young adulthood of a sensitive protagonist who is in search of the meaning of life and the nature of the world (David Cody, Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College.) They tended to contain autobiographical elements, and were sometimes influenced by contemporary social and industrial transformations. There are also some other genres on which the story touches upon, namely the sensation novel the numerable plot twists and shocking revelations form a large part of the structure in this extract we see the startling disclosure of Pips true benefactor, which most contemporaneous readers would perhaps not have guessed. Indeed, these climatic scenes are pivotal to the books success as a serialisation, as well as a novel. To maintain interest in a book that is staged in weekly instalments, Dickens uses a variety of sub-plots to keep the reader engrossed. This eccentric writing style gives the text a unique quality, and the overall effect on the reader is one of shock and intrigue. The rendezvous with the convict in the graveyard, and his death, Miss Havishams fire, and the showdown with Orlick are among the most memorable climaxs we experience as well as Pips second meeting with Magwitch. In this passage, we can see how the writer cultivates tension and makes the most of Magwitchs secret. When extract reaches a pinnacle of excitement, many sentences become long and drawn out, and sentence complexity increases, leaving the shorter, snappier why, Wemmick and would it be J? to further promote interest in the plot, and give a tense, nervous atmosphere. As the scene draws to its zenith, as Pips heart (beats) like a heavy hammer of disordered action, we see powerful metaphors, and repetition of prominent, emotive language (dangers, disgraces, consequences) to give a sense of anxiety and intensify the scene. Language is also used here to alienate the convict from Pip himself. The rich, throaty slang of Magwitchs arterwards, speclated and warmint contrasts against Pips more noble speeches of how he cannot wish to renew that chance intercourse and inquires of the messenger since he undertook that trust. The way Dickens estranges Magwitch from Pip is significant: it symbolizes the delusional notion that Pip is a gentleman, and that he is superior to the convict. Pip believes himself to be changed since that first chance meeting in the graveyard, and thinks that he is now above Magwitch, who is after all a criminal. The irony experienced by the reader is that Pips great wealth and upper class lifestyle is solely attributable to Magwitch himself, and this too is the source of the shock Pip describes. The way Dickens depicts Pips feelings is extremely powerful, as we see Pip suffocating merely from the shock of this news, news that his almost successful attempt to become a gentleman was funded by the dark relic of his youth, whos felonious past appears further from gentry as is possible. This is of course, not the first time we see Pips character interrupted by members of his childhood there was his meeting with Mr Pocket on his arrival to London, and more important, Joes visit to Pip in his London flat. This meeting, like the one with Magwitch we see in the extract, stresses the change we have seen in Pips character by comparing his manner towards someone he knew as a boy, and how he acts towards them now. Upon his visit, Joe is not treated with hostility as such, but Pip denotes that he certainly would have paid money to keep him from coming. As a boy, Pip always stayed friends with Joe despite his obvious stupidity and clumsiness, yet now he wishes more than anything to avoid him. Pips dismissal of Joe in this way turns the reader against him slightly up until now we have supported Pip as the good guy. Pips corruption from an innocent youngster to a snide gentleman, and then back into a more honourable businessman. This cycle of purity, corruption and redemption is an ongoing theme in Great Expectations, and makes subtle references to Christian beliefs of how the life of greed and sin that Pip lived in London, on the wealth of a convict, lead to a corroded innocence that was only liberated through his consequent illness and then his new beginning with Estella. The other theme that appears in the novel, is that of justice and the just punishment of crime. We first see this in the appearance of a convict (though this method of punishment was stopped in 1868 several years after the novel was written) and Dickens portrayal of him as an honest man, who admits to the theft of some broken wittles and a dram of liquor to save Pip from his sister, Mrs Joe. And again, Mrs Joe herself ties in to the punishment theme, her harsh disciplining of her husband and brother again lets us sympathise with those who are chastised, and not the chastisers. Later in the book, we see another example of this when Magwitch is caught. And more subtle instances of punishment such as Mrs Havisham burning for her corruption of Estella (corruption almost being a theme in itself) are also present in the text, giving us a thorough impression of how those who commit crime will always be brought to justice. The time setting of the novel allows Dickens to include these ideas of corporal punishment, convicts and public hangings. To a modern reader, these archaic, brutal methods of upholding the law appear old-fashioned. However, readers of the time would most probably have experienced these events fist-hand, in one way or another. Moral preachings of more passive action towards prisoners and criminals would be relatively new to them, whereas nowadays such views are accepted as standard. The feelings created by the views Dickens has on delinquency, and its retribution, are therefore significantly different between readers of-the-time and present day students. As a modern audience, we also feel compelled, excited, and fascinated by the books intricate plotlines, particularly in this extract. To inspire such strong emotions, Dickens uses many lingual and structural functions, the aforementioned effectiveness of metaphors and imagery to name one. He also writes in the 1st person, which is pivotal to the feelings the book creates: the story is far more personal and involving. Dickens also entwines his plots and subplots very carefully to create a prominent air of tension. As he builds up to the climax of one plot twist, he continues to insert little mini-dramas that leave us waiting for the main storyline to continue. He does this quite often in the novel, and it makes the reading most tense and far less predictable. To a less observant reader, Magwitchs return would be a complete surprise this is where the majority of this extracts attraction lies. Overall, this extract is in fact one of the most outstanding scenes in the book. The build up of excitement before the final revelation of Pip your him! is done with a variety of complex, literary devices, and the twist in the plot and return of a familiar character add to its success. It calls attention to Pips new assumed role, as a self-centred ungrateful gentleman, and is characteristic of Dickens writing style.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Research Into Youth Gang Culture Criminology Essay

Research Into Youth Gang Culture Criminology Essay A] Conduct your own research into youth gang culture. This research analyse the myths realities surrounding the highly problematic of youth gang in the UK. There is little research into the gang problem in the UK which has led to the large amount of research from the USA being involved to the UK. Key areas in this research were the analysis of different theories of youth gangs, the use of different subcultural concept in order to explain the emergence of youth gangs the impact of the press in changing public perception and government reaction, as the effect this has on official statistic. Hallsworth Young [2008] stated the gangs was for the first time clearly linked to the problem of urban violence and use of weapon in the UK suggested a Home Office report 2008, published following the rise in gang related incidents, which were the focus of much media attention. The Centre for Social Justice [2009] went on the state that media coverage has at times been suggestive of an expansion in gang related youth violence, extraordinary headlined television documentaries relating to gang violence death as well the involvement of girl gangs in the UK. Indicated that the issue is similar to that in the USA where the common perception is that this group are armed, dangerous ready to kill [Hallworst Young 2008]. Every time a youth is killed as a result of street violence, particularly when it involves knives or guns, questions are sent through the press as to whether the incident was linked to gangs [Hallsworth Young 2008]. However, it is stated that much of the press report in the UK are not backed by practical evidence of a large scale issues. The issue with defining gangs, the use of word gang can lead to events which can not be gang related defined as such [Marshall 2005]. The Greater Vancouver Gang study identified group who were recorded by the police as a gang even though they did not consider themselves this way [Gordon 2000]. Bullock Tilley [2002] stated that almost all who belong to informal group might be deemed to be gang member even if they are not criminal, despite previous studies such as Willmotts [1966] survey in East London showing that it is usual for youths of eighteen to go around in small group [Farrington West 1977]. Hallsowrth Young [2008] stated that there is a small consensus on what groups are gang and this stay the subject of on going debate. They explained that were 3 level of delinquent collective [Marshall 2005] Peer group are the most common, implicated in petty but unorganised crime. Gangs who are more likely to use deadly violence protect their territory than other street groups [Sanders 1994 cited in Bennett Holloway 2004]. Organised Criminal group who operate black markets, where specific view crime their regular occupation [Marshall 2005] and where youths can operate as part of the adult organised groups [Stelfox 1998]. Peter Stelfox found it difficult to find a generally agreed theory of a gang which was applicable to the UK issues [Pitts 2007]. He stated on a broad theory to suit the aims of his research , showing that a gang criminal purpose, but uses violence the threat fear of violence to further a criminal purpose , but excluding football hooligans terrorist [Stelfox 1998]. This theory Stelfox found a national total of 72 gangs in the UK. Those using alternative theories for example the Metropolitan Police [2006 cited in Pitts 2007] recorded169 youth gangs in London and Hallsworth Youngs [2008] discovered state that gang membership in the UK is no more than 37% of the youthful population. The problem that will arise when trying to identify youth gang using different theories The majority of young people are law-abiding citizens who a valuable contribution to community. Young people are disproportionately more likely to be the victim of violence to scary about the impact in their live. British Crime Survey evaluate that young men from 16 to 24, for example are more than four times more likely to become the victim of violent crime than general population and there were over 500,000 violent incident against 10 to 15 years olds in 2010/11 A young persons risk of being a victim of violence is heavily determined by their age, sex class. Family elements like parental neglect or violence are important, but so too are broader community elements like local attitudes to the illegal economy or high crime rates. What elements lead young people to commit serious violence are: Early childhood neglect abuse Ill health in the family Parental violence drug addiction School exclusion early conduct disorders Violent victimisation repeated hospital visit Early involvement in local gangs Gang Membership also drives serious violence. Data on gangs is not systematically recorded in the UK, evidence suggest that gang membership is relatively rare. Youth surveys have found that 2 to 7% of youth people aged between 10 19 years report being a member of a gang. Gang played a small, but significant role in the riots earlier this year. Across the 10 Forces where the disorder was most prevalent a total of 417 arrestees during the event of the disorder were reported to be members of gangs 13% of the total. _____________________________

Friday, September 20, 2019

Vietman War :: essays research papers

From the 1880s until World War II (1939-1945), France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina. (Indochina also included Cambodia and Laos, and was ruled by the emperor Bao Dai). During this time, the nations of Indochina fought for their sovereignty. In 1940, the Japanese troops invaded and occupied French Indochina, (causing the United States to step in and demand Japan to leave). In December of that year, Vietnamese nationalists established the League for the Independence of Vietnam, (or Viet Minh), â€Å"using the turmoil of the war as an opportunity for resistance to French colonial rule† (Nixon, 24). When Japan would not cooperate, the U.S. and Viet Minh formed an alliance against them. The U.S. sent in militia, and the Viet Minh began guerrilla warfare. The Viet Minh troops rescued downed U.S. pilots, located Japanese prison camps, helped U.S. prisoners to escape, and provided valuable intelligence to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Ce ntral Intelligence Agency (CIA). Ho Chi Minh, the principal leader of the Viet Minh, was even made a special OSS agent. Eventually, the Japanese signed their formal surrender (on September 2, 1945), and Ho Chi Minh used the occasion to declare the independence of Vietnam, which he called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). However, although Emperor Bao Dai resigned the throne, the French refused to acknowledge Vietnam’s independence, and later that year drove the Viet Minh into the north of the country. Ho Chi Minh wrote over eight letters to Truman (while he was president) asking him for the U.S support. However, after the Cold War, the United States and Truman feared support of communism in any form. The United States and Truman therefore condemned Ho Chi Minh as an agent of international Communism and offered to assist the French in recapturing Vietnam. â€Å"In 1946 United States warships ferried elite French troops to Vietnam where they quickly regained control of the major cities, including Hanoi, Haiphong, Hue, and Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), while the Viet Minh controlled the countryside† (Ebert 38). (Although the Viet Minh had only 2000 troops at first, the recruiting increased after the arrival of French troops, and by the late 1940s, the Viet Minh had hundreds of thousands of soldiers). In 1949 the French set up a government to rival Ho Chi Minh’s, installing Bao Dai as head of state. In May 1954 the Viet Minh mounted a massive assault on the French fortress at Dien Bien, in Northwestern Vietnam.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

What is a hero? A hero is someone who does a service to ones community even when staring death in the eyes. A hero is someone who willingly even when face to face with adversity does not quit. A hero can vary from the policemen who keep the streets safe to a preserver of the peace and prosperity to a political leader who helps secure the endowment of democracy to our his country and their posterity. Of all these type of heroes, I tend to believe that the heroes who preserve both peace and prosperity while helping end a deficiency of the human race such as racism is more inspiring, which is why, for my hero I chose Mohondas Karachamand Gandhi who is best known as Mahatma (good soul) Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi helped uproot the tree of racism and even after being arrested multiple times, he, through both thick and thin, did not give up until his work was finished to a sufficient amount. Mahatma Gandhi may have been a lawyer, an humanitarian, a civil rights activist, legal advisor, and a na tionalist leader, but he was most of all, a hero Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2,1869 at Porbandar, Gujarat to a very respected family. His father was the chief minister of Porbandar. A few years after Mahatma Gandhi was born, his father had died leaving Gandhi depressed. After a few years, he slowly got on with his life and in the year of 1888, had set sail for England so he could finish his degree in law at the Inner Temple, one of the four law schools in England. He was called to bar in 1891 and even enrolled in the high court of London, yet later that very year he returned to India. In India, after a year of very unsuccessful law practice, he decided to accept an offer from an Indian business man,Dada Abdulla, in which Gandhi would traveled ... ...for his plans to liberate India. In 1942 Gandhi issued a last call for independence by eloquently, in a speech, asking every Indian to lay down there life if it need be to earn India freedom from Britain. In response, Britain arrested both Gandhi and nearly the entire Congress and held them locked up until the conclusion of the war. India soon became a separate country and Gandhi was released. Gandhi is considered a hero because even after he was unjustly arrested multiple times, he persevered and made a difference Gandhi is considered a hero not only because he helped uproot racism, he cared for all classes in society, and because he perseveres through thick and thin, but more of because he made a changed the world forever. Without Gandhi and his techniques, the world would be full of discrimination and racism. If there was one word to describe Gandhi, it is heroic

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Essay --

Colin Stremlau Arntz English 9th 3rd period December 17, 2013 Abortion – Why It’s Wrong â€Å"The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing in between.† -Mother Teresa Have you ever realized how precious life is? Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were never born? Some babies don't get to experience life because of abortion. Abortion isn't an ethical way for abandoning a baby nor is it fair to our community, its killing innocent people. Several babies have died from abortion and more will continue to do so because people support the pro-choice movement. Pro-choice isn't ethical because it's against religion, morality, and can be emotionally damaging. Abortion doesn't benefit the baby or the woman. Some people believe that life starts after birth, but it doesn't. All unborn babies are people; we must realize this and stop murdering defenseless babies. Abortion is a selfish act and it occurs very often. There are other solutions and it's ver...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Ethical Issues with the Software Piracy Issue

Computer ethics deals with moral responsibility of what is wrong and right. Based on ? Importance of Computer Ethics and Software Piracy? article, software piracy is copying, distributing, and using software or games without paying. Software Piracy is a form of ethical issue that is hard to solve in society, especially among students of Faculty of Computer Science University of Indonesia. Based on writer observation in campus, students are still using pirated software, including using, duplicating, and distributing it to their friends.This attitude of course violates developer’s intellectual property. The article also mentions about intellectual property and penalties for those who violate computer ethics laws. Intellectual property is including images, patents, procedures, videos, audios, and drawings. For those who violate someone’s intellectual property will be given penalties—paying hefty fines to extensive prison time. But even so, it seems the penalties are still blurring for students. Nowadays, information technology has widely grow and used by human.Computer technology, both hardware and software has been widely approved as an intellectual property. The fast growth of technology innovation, especially software, is open for public and can be easily accessed by public via internet. It is the same for software piracy. Serial key, hack-version, and more other ways are easily accessible and widely available. Based on ? Ethical Issues in Software Piracy? article, someone should have a moral responsibility in using software. So, from internal-self of user should be aware of someone’s intellectual property.W. D. Ross stated ? The Right and the Good? as our guideline to prove our moral responsibility toward software and/or its developer. Software piracy would cause loss of revenue for the developer. Thus, it will decrease developer’s motivation in designing new software. Impacts of software piracy explained above are mostly occ urred because of human and economic factor. Based on the article, software piracy occurred mostly in developing-countries; because of their low economics (from GDP per capita), they find it harder to purchase software.Indonesia is one of developing-countries, so it can be concluded roughly that Indonesian people hard to pay for software. In smaller scale, Indonesian social levels have a representative number of users in technology. Social level is about divided in three level; low, medium, and high class. In Faculty of Computers and Society, students also varied in social level or economic level. Some students have Iphone, Windows Phone, or tablets, but some don’t. In general, there is no difference among those levels. Every student is using technology. But in majority, students didn’t put much attention toward software piracy issues.Those who have laptops may prefer using unlicensed operating system than using open source operating system. It is a form of software pir acy—using without paying. In addition, current status of our community is still far from the word ? ethical?. We have not appreciating others’ property as well as we did to ourselves yet. The rule in ? Kode Etik Mahasiswa Fasilkom? , point two stated ? †¦including appreciates intellectual property?. Students of Faculty of Computer Science already know about this rule. In fact, it’s not the same as in the implementation, ignorance being a common habit.Ignorance regarding unlicensed software caused software piracy. Majority tend to have neither attention nor self-control in using unlicensed software. Some may didn’t know that it is unethical. But some maybe already know that what he/she doing is wrong, but even so he/she is still doing it just because everybody—community—is doing it. Our community is affecting us. A student may be an example for his/her friends or his/her community. He/she may use unlicensed software that is followed by o thers. This ignorance habit can damage our own personal ethical which embedded in our heart.Furthermore, we start believing that our wrong-doing is right. In analyzing software piracy, writer think students should have an awareness and moral responsibility. A developer of software may not know that his/her intellectual property was just being used irresponsibly. Student of Faculty of Computer Science should have known how hard it is to make software. They should have aware how long time needed, how many resources sacrificed by the developer to develop software. In student’s point of view, they need it but they don’t want to give more when people are not giving anything.For example, an antivirus should be bought for some prices, but some students found that there is a forever-renew-trial of the antivirus, so that they don’t have to pay. Along with economic principle, ? with less effort, can gain more? , we don’t want to sacrifice more than others. It becam e a serious problem. As a conclusion, how to overcome this issue? It is a professional standard, based on the article; Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) stated that any person who wants to join the ACM should accept ? Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct? which covers the ethical issues surrounding oftware piracy. Writer think we can do as ACM do. Article entitled ? The Rules? also stated that computer artifact—both software and hardware—has rules for both its developer and user, so that they will have morally ethical in developing or using software. It has seven rules which allow and avoid both developer and user to do something about the computer artifact. These rules should be well-applied as a solution for software piracy issue. In the top of those solutions, human factor is the main factor that we should pay more attention. References: 1. K. W.Miller, Moral Responsibility for Computing Artifacts: ? The Rules?. Illinois: IEEE, 2011. 2. Unknown. (2011). K ode Etik Mahasiswa Fakultas Ilmu Komputer Universitas Indonesia [Online]. Available: http://scele. cs. ui. ac. id/file. php/1434/Kode_Etik_Mhsw_Fasilkom. pdf 3. Thurlow, Max. Ethical Issue in Software Piracy [Online]. Available: http://www. ehow. com/list_6669954_ethical-issues-software-piracy. html 4. Boone, Kevin, Importance of Computer Ethics and Software Piracy [Online]. Available: http://www. ehow. com/facts_5766300_importance-computer-ethics-software-piracy. html

Monday, September 16, 2019

Russell-Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge

Pg1Pg1 KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE I53 Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description Bertrand Russell Russell, Bertrand (1917). Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1910-1911. Reprinted in his his Mysticism and Logic (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. : 1917). Reprinted Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books, 1951, pp. 152-167. Pagination here matches the latter. ) THE object of the following paper is to consider what it is that we know in cases where we know propositions about ‘the so-and-so' without knowing who or what the so-and-so is.For example, I know that the candidate who gets most votes will be elected, though I do not know who is the candidate who will get most votes. The problem I wish to consider is: What do we know in these cases, where the subject is merely described ? I have considered this problem elsewhere1 from a purely logical point of view; but in what follows I wish to consider the questio n in relation to theory of knowledge as well as in relation to logic, and in view of the above-mentioned logical discussions, I shall in this paper make the logical portion as brief as possible.In order to make clear the antithesis between ‘acquaintance' and ‘description', I shall first of all try to explain what I mean by ‘acquain- tance'. I say that I am acquainted with an object when I have a direct cognitive relation to that object, i. e. when I am directly aware of the object itself. When I speak of a cognitive relation here, I do not mean the sort of relation which constitutes judgment, but the sort which constitutes presentation. In fact, I think the relation of subject and object which I call acquaintance is simply the converse of the relation of object and subject which constitutes presentation.That is, to say that S has acquaintance with O is essentially the same thing as to say that O is presented to S. But the associations and natural extensions of the word acquaintance are different from those of the word presentation. To begin with, as in most cognitive words, it is natural to say that I am acquainted with an object even at moments when it is not actually before my mind, provided it has been before my mind, and will be again whenever occasion arises. This is the same sense in which I am said to know that 2+2=4 even when I am thinking of something else. In the second place, the word See references later. acquaintance is designed to emphasize, more than the word presen- tation, the relational character of the fact with which we are concerned. There is, to my mind, a danger that, in speaking of presentation, we may so emphasize the object as to lose sight of the subject. The result of this is either to lead to the view that there is no subject, whence we arrive at materialism; or to lead to the view that what is presented is part of the subject, whence we arrive at idealism, and should arrive at solipsism but for the most desperate contortions.Now I wish to preserve the dualism of subject and object in my terminology, because this dualism seems to me a fundamental fact concerning cognition. Hence I prefer the word acquaintance, because it emphasizes the need of a subject which is acquainted. When we ask what are the kinds of objects with which we are acquainted, the first and most obvious example is sense-data. When I see a colour or hear a noise, I have direct acquaintance with the colour or the noise. The sense-datum with which I am acquainted in these cases is generally, if not always, complex.This is particularly obvious in the case of sight. I do not mean, of course, merely that the supposed physical object is complex, but that the direct sensible object is complex and contains parts with spatial relations. Whether it is possible to be aware of a complex without being aware of its constituents is not an easy question, but on the whole it would seem that there is no reason why it should not be possible. T his question arises in an acute form in connection with self-consciousness, which we must now briefly consider.In introspection, we seem to be immediately aware of varying complexes, consisting of objects in various cognitive and conative relations to ourselves. When I see the sun, it often happens that I am aware of my seeing the sun, in addition to being aware of the sun; and when I desire food, it often happens that I am aware of my desire for food. But it is hard to discover any state of mind in which I am aware of myself alone, as opposed to a complex of which I am a constituent. The question of the nature of self-consciousness is too large, and too slightly connected with our subject, to be argued at length here.It is difficult, but probably not impossible, to account for plain facts if we assume that we do not have acquaintance with ourselves. It is plain that we are not only acquainted with the complex ‘Self-acquainted-with-A', but we also know the proposition ‘I am acquainted with A'. Now here the complex has been analysed, and if ‘I' does not stand for something which is a direct object of acquaintance, we shall have to suppose that ‘I' is something known by description. If we wished to maintain the view that there is noPg2Pg2 154 MYSTICISM AND LOGIC acquaintance with Self, we might argue as follows: We are acquainted with acquaintance, and we know that it is a relation. Also we are acquainted with a complex in which we perceive that acquaintance is the relating relation. Hence we know that this complex must have a constituent which is that which is acquainted, i. e. must have a subject- term as well as an object-term. This subject-term we define as ‘I'. Thus ‘I' means ‘the subject-term in awarenesses of which / am aware'.But as a definition this cannot be regarded as a happy effort. It would seem necessary, therefore, either to suppose that I am acquainted with myself, and that ‘I', therefore, requires no definition, being merely the proper name of a certain object, or to find some other analysis of self- consciousness. Thus self-consciousness cannot be regarded as throwing light on the question whether we can know a complex without knowing its constituents. This question, however, is not important for our present purposes, and I hall therefore not discuss it further. The awarenesses we have considered so far have all been aware- nesses of particular existents, and might all in a large sense be called sense-data. For, from the point of view of theory of knowledge, introspective knowledge is exactly on a level with knowledge derived from sight or hearing. But, in addition to awareness of the above kind of objects, which may be called awareness of particulars, we have also (though not quite in the same sense) what may be called awareness of universals.Awareness of universals is called conceiving, and a uni- versal of which we are aware is called a concept. Not only are we aware of particular yellows, but if we have seen a sufficient number of yellows and have sufficient intelligence, we are aware of the universal yellow; this universal is the subject in such judgments as ‘yellow differs from blue' or ‘yellow resembles blue less than green does'. And the universal yellow is the predicate in such judgments as ‘this is yellow', where ‘this' is a particular sense-datum.And universal relations, too, are objects of awarenesses; up and down, before and after, resemblance, desire, awareness itself, and so on, would seem to be all of them objects of which we can be aware. In regard to relations, it might be urged that we are never aware of the universal relation itself, but only of complexes in which it is a constituent. For example, it may be said that we do not know directly such a relation as before, though we understand such a proposition as ‘this is before that', and may be directly aware of such a complex as ‘this being before that'.This view, however, is difficult to reconcile with the fact that we often know propositions in which KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE I55 the relation is the subject, or in which the relata are not definite given objects, but ‘anything'. For example, we know that if one thing is before another, and the other before a third, then the first is before the third; and here the things concerned are not definite things, but ‘anything'. It is hard to see how we could know such a fact about ‘before' unless we were acquainted with ‘before', and not merely with actual particular cases of ne given object being before another given object. And more directly: A judgment such as ‘this is before that', where this judgment is derived from awareness of a complex, constitutes an analysis, and we should not understand the analysis if we were not acquainted with the meaning of the terms employed. Thus we must suppose that we are acquainted with the meaning of ‘before' , and not merely with instances of it. There are thus at least two sorts of objects of which we are aware, namely, particulars and universals.Among particulars I include all existents, and all complexes of which one or more constituents are existents, such as this-before-that, this-above-that, the-yellowness-of- this. Among universals I include all objects of which no particular is a constituent. Thus the disjunction ‘universal-particular' includes all objects. We might also call it the disjunction ‘abstract concrete'. It is not quite parallel with the opposition ‘concept-percept', because things remembered or imagined belong with particulars, but can hardly be called percepts. On the other hand, universals with which we are acquainted may be identified with concepts. ) It will be seen that among the objects with which we are acquainted are not included physical objects (as opposed to sense-data), nor other people's minds. These things are known to us by what I cal l ‘knowledge by description', which we must now consider. By a ‘description' I mean any phrase of the form ‘a so-and-so' or ‘the so-and-do'. A phrase of the form ‘a so-and-so' I shall call an ‘ambiguous' description; a phrase of the form ‘the so-and-do' (in the singular) I shall call a ‘definite' description.Thus ‘a man' is an ambiguous description, and ‘the man with the iron mask' is a definite description. There are various problems connected with ambiguous descriptions, but I pass them by, since they do not directly concern the matter I wish to discuss. What I wish to discuss is the nature of our knowledge concerning objects in cases where we know that there is an object answering to a definite description, though we are not acquainted with any such object. This is a matter which is concerned exclusively with definite descriptions.I shall, therefore, in the sequel, speak simply of ‘descriptions' when I mean Pg3Pg3 I56MYSTICISM AND LOGIC ‘definite descriptions'. Thus a description will mean any phrase of the form ‘the so-and-so' in the singular. I shall say that an object is ‘known by description' when we know that it is ‘the so-and-so', i. e. when we know that there is one object, and no more, having a certain property; and it will generally be implied that we do not have knowledge of the same object by acquaintance.We know that the man with the iron mask existed, and many propositions are known about him; but we do not know who he was. We know that the candidate who gets most votes will be elected, and in this case we are very likely also acquainted (in the only sense in which one can be acquainted with someone else) with the man who is, in fact, the candidate who will get most votes, but we do not know which of the candidates he is, i. e. we do not know any proposition of the form ‘A is the candidate who will get most votes' where A is one of the candidates by name.We shall say that we have â€Å"merely descriptive knowledge' of the so-and-so when, although we know that the so-and-so exists, and although we may possibly be acquainted with the object which is, in fact, the so-and-so, yet we do not know any proposition ‘a is the so- and-so', where a is something with which we are acquainted. When we say ‘the so-and-so exists', we mean that there is just one object which is the so-and-so. The proposition ‘a is the so-and-so' means that a has the property so-and-so, and nothing else has. Sir Joseph Larmor is the Unionist candidate' means ‘Sir Joseph Larmor is a Unionist candidate, and no one else is. ‘ ‘The Unionist candidate exists' means ‘someone is a Unionist candidate, and no one else is. ‘ Thus, when we are acquainted with an object which we know to be the so- and-so, we know that the so-and-so exists, but we may know that the so-and-so exists when we are not acquainted with any object whi ch we know to be the so-and-so, and even when we are not acquainted with any object which, in fact, is the so-and-so. Common words, even proper names, are usually really descriptions.That is to say, the thought in the mind of a person using a proper name correctly can generally only be expressed explicitly if we replace the proper name by a description. Moreover, the description required to express the thought will vary for different people, or for the same person at different times. The only thing constant (so long as the name is rightly used) is the object to which the name applies. But so long as this remains constant, the particular description involved usually makes no difference to the truth or falsehood of the proposition in which the name appears.Let us take some illustrations. Suppose some statement made KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE I57 about Bismarck. Assuming that there is such a thing as direct acquaintance with oneself, Bismarck himself might have used his name directly to designate the particular person with whom he was acquainted. In this case, if he made a judgment about himself, he himself might be a constituent of the judgment. Here the proper name has the direct use which it always wishes to have, as simply standing for a certain object, and not for a description of the object.But if a person who knew Bismarck made a judgment about him, the case is different. What this person was acquainted with were certain sense-data which he connected (rightly, we will suppose) with Bismarck's body. His body as a physical object, and still more his mind, were only known as the body and the mind connected with these sense-data. That is, they were known by description. It is, of course, very much a matter of chance which characteristics of a man's appearance will come into a friend's mind when he thinks of him; thus the description actually in the friend's mind is accidental.The essential point is that he knows that the various descriptions all apply to the sa me entity, in spite of not being acquainted with the entity in question. When we, who did not know Bismarck, make a judgment about him, the description in our minds will probably be some more or less vague mass of historical knowledge—? far more, in most cases, than is required to identify him. But, for the sake of illustration, let us assume that we think of him as ‘the first Chancellor of the German Empire'. Here all the words are abstract except ‘German'.The word ‘German' will again have different meanings for different people. To some it will recall travels in Germany, to some the look of Germany on the map, and so on. But if we are to obtain a description which we know to be applicable, we shall be compelled, at some point, to bring in a reference to a particular with which we are acquainted. Such reference is involved in any mention of past, present, and future (as opposed to definite dates), or of here and there, or of what others have told us.Thus it would seem that, in some way or other, a description known to be applicable to a particular must involve some reference to a particular with which we are acquainted, if our knowledge about the thing described is not to be merely what follows logically from the description. For example, ‘the most long-lived of men' is a description which must apply to some man, but we can make no judgments concerning this man which involve knowledge about him beyond what the description gives.If, however, we say, ‘the first Chancellor of the German Empire was an astute diplomatist', we can only be assured Pg4Pg4 158MYSTICISM AND LOGIC of the truth of our judgment in virtue of something with which we are acquainted—? usually a testimony heard or read. Considered psychologically, apart from the information we convey to others, apart from the fact about the actual Bismarck, which gives importance to our judgment, the thought we really have contains the one or more particulars involve d, and otherwise consists wholly of concepts.All names of places—? London, England, Europe, the earth, the Solar System—? similarly involve, when used, descriptions which start from some one or more particulars with which we are acquainted. I suspect that even the Universe, as considered by metaphysics, involves such a connection with particulars. In logic, on the contrary, where we are concerned not merely with what does exist, but with whatever might or could exist or be, no reference to actual particulars is involved.It would seem that, when we make a statement about something only known by description, we often intend to make our statement, not in the form involving the description, but about the actual thing described. That is to say, when we say anything about Bismarck, we should like, if we could, to make the judgment which Bismarck alone can make, namely, the judgment of which he himself is a constituent. In this we are necessarily defeated, since the actual Bi smarck is unknown to us.But we know that there is an object B called Bismarck, and that B was an astute diplomatist. We can thus describe the proposition we should like to affirm, namely, ‘B was an astute diplomatist', where B is the object which was Bismarck. What enables us to communicate in spite of the varying descriptions we employ is that we know there is a true proposition concerning the actual Bismarck, and that, however we may vary the description (so long as the description is correct), the proposition described is still the same.This proposition, which is described and is known to be true, is what interests us; but we are not acquainted with the proposition itself, and do not know it, though we know it is true. It will be seen that there are various stages in the removal from acquaintance with particulars: there is Bismarck to people who knew him, Bismarck to those who only know of him through history, the man with the iron mask, the longest-lived of men. These are progressively further removed from acquaintance with particulars, and there is a similar hierarchy in the region of universals.Many universals, like many particulars, are only known to us by description. But here, as in the case of particulars, knowledge concerning what is known by description is ultimately reducible to knowledge concerning what is known by acquaintance. KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE 159 The fundamental epistemological principle in the analysis of propositions containing descriptions is this: Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted.From what has been said already, it will be plain why I advocate this principle, and how I propose to meet the case of propositions which at first sight contravene it. Let us begin with the reasons for supposing the principle true. The chief reason for supposing the principle true is that it seems scarcely possible to believe that we can make a judgment or entertain a supp osition without knowing what it is that we are judging or supposing about. If we make a judgment about (say) Julius Caesar, it is plain that the actual person who was Julius Caesar is not a constituent of the judgment.But before going further, it may be well to explain what I mean when I say that this or that is a constituent of a judgment, or of a proposition which we understand. To begin with judgments: a judgment, as an occurrence, I take to be a relation of a mind to several entities, namely, the entities which compose what is judged. If, e. g. I judge that A loves B, the judgment as an event consists in the existence, at a certain moment, of a specific four-term relation, called judging, between me and A and love and B.That is to say, at the time when I judge, there is a certain complex whose terms are myself and A and love and B, and whose relating relation is judging. My reasons for this view have been set forth elsewhere,1 and I shall not repeat them here. Assuming this view of judgment, the constituents of the judgment are simply the constituents of the complex which is the judgment- Thus, in the above case, the constituents are myself and A and love and B and judging. But myself and judging are constituents shared by all my judgments; thus the distinctive constituents of the particular judgment in question are A and love and B.Coming now to what is meant by ‘understanding a proposition', I should say that there is another relation possible between me and A and love and B, which is called my supposing that A loves B. 2 When we can suppose that A loves B, we ‘understand the proposition' A loves B. Thus we often understand a proposition in cases where we have not enough knowledge to make a judgment. 1 Philosophical Essays, ‘The Nature of Truth. ‘ I have been persuaded by Mr Wittgenstein that this theory is somewhat unduly simple, but the modification which I believe it to require does not affect the above argument [1917]. Cf. Mei nong, Ueber Annahmen, passim. I formerly supposed, contrary to Meinong's view, that the relationship of supposing might be merely that of presentation. In this view I now think I was mistaken, and Meinong is right. But my present view depends upon the theory that both in judgment and in assumption there is no single Objective, but the several constituents of the judgment or asaumption are in a many-term relation to the mind. Pg5Pg5 160MYSTICISM AND LOGIC Supposing, like judging, is a many-term relation, of which a mind is one term.The other terms of the relation are called the constituents of the proposition supposed. Thus the principle which I enunciated may be re-stated as follows: Whenever a relation of supposing or judging occurs, the terms to which the supposing or judging mind is related by the relation of supposing or judging must be terms with which the mind in question is acquainted. This is merely to say that we cannot make a judgment or a supposition without knowing what it is that we are making our judgment or supposition about.It seems to me that the truth of this principle is evident as soon as the principle is understood; I shall, therefore, in what follows, assume the principle, and use it as a guide in analysing judgments that contain descriptions. Returning now to Julius Caesar, I assume that it will be admitted that he himself is not a constituent of any judgment which I can make. But at this point it is necessary to examine the view that judgments are composed of something called ‘ideas', and that it is the ‘idea' of Julius Caesar that is a constituent of my judgment.I believe the plausibility of this view rests upon a failure to form a right theory of descriptions. We may mean by my ‘idea' of Julius Caesar the things that I know about him, e. g. that he conquered Gaul, was assassinated on the Ides of March, and is a plague to schoolboys. Now I am admitting, and indeed contending, that in order to discover what is actually in my mind when I judge about Julius Caesar, we must substitute for the proper name a description made up of some of the things I know about him. (A description which will often serve to express my thought is ‘the man whose name wasJulius Caesar. ‘ For whatever else I may have forgotten about him, it is plain that when I mention him I have not forgotten that that was his name. ) But although I think the theory that judgments consist of ideas may have been suggested in some such way, yet I think the theory itself is fundamentally mistaken. The view seems to be that there is some mental existent which may be called the ‘idea' of something outside the mind of the person who has the idea, and that, since judgment is a mental event, its constituents must be constituents of the mind of the person judging.But in this view ideas become a veil between us and outside things—? we never really, in knowledge, attain to the things we are supposed to be knowing about, but only to the ideas of those things. The relation of mind, idea, and object, on this view, is utterly obscure, and, so far as I can see, nothing discoverable by inspection warrants the intrusion of the idea between the mind and the object. I suspect that the view ii fostered by the dislike of relations, and that it is felt the mindKNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCEl6l could not know objects unless there were something ‘in' the mind which could be called the state of knowing the object. Such a view, however, leads at once to a vicious endless regress, since the relation of idea to object will have to be explained by supposing that the idea itself has an idea of the object, and so on ad infinitum. I therefore see no reason to believe that, when we are acquainted with an object, there is in us something which can be called the ‘idea' of the object.On the contrary, I hold that acquaintance is wholly a relation, not demanding any such constituent of the mind as is supposed by advocates of ‘ideas'. This is, of course, a large question, and one which would take us far from our subject if it were adequately discussed. I therefore content myself with the above indications, and with the corollary that, in judging, the actual objects concerning which we judge, rather than any supposed purely mental entities, are constituents of the complex which is the judgment.When, therefore, I say that we must substitute for ‘Julius Caesar' some description of Julius Caesar, in order to discover the meaning of a judgment nominally about him, I am not saying that we must substitute an idea. Suppose our description is ‘the man whose name was Julius Caesar'. Let our judgment be ‘Julius Caesar was assassinated'. Then it becomes ‘the man whose name was Julius Caesar was assassinated'. Here Julius Caesar is a noise or shape with which we are acquainted, and all the other constituents of the judgment (neglecting the tense in ‘was') are concepts with whic h we are acquainted.Thus our judgment is wholly reduced to constituents with which we are acquainted, but Julius Caesar himself has ceased to be a constituent of our judgment. This, however, requires a proviso, to be further explained shortly, namely, that ‘the man whose name was Julius Caesar' must not, as a whole, be a constituent of our judgment, that is to say, this phrase must not, as a whole, have a meaning which enters into the judgment. Any right analysis of the judgment, therefore, must break up this phrase, and not treat it as a subordinate complex which is part of the judgment.The judgment ‘the man whose name was Julius Caesar was assassinated' may be interpreted as meaning ‘one and only one man was called Julius Caesar, and that one was assassinated'. Here it is plain that there is no constituent corresponding to the phrase, ‘the man whose name was Julius Caesar'. Thus there is no reason to regard this phrase as expressing a constituent of the jud gment, and we have seen that this phrase must be broken up if we are to be acquainted with all the constituents of the judgment. This conclusion, which we have reached from considerations concerned with the theory of knowledge, is also forced uponPg6Pg6 162MYSTICISM AND LOGIC us by logical considerations, which must now be briefly reviewed. It is common to distinguish two aspects, meaning and denotation, in such phrases as ‘the author of Waverley'. The meaning will be a certain complex} consisting (at least) of authorship and Waverley with some relation] the denotation will be Scott. Similarly ‘feather-less bipeds' will have a complex meaning, containing as constituents the presence of two feet and the absence of feathers, while its denotation will be the class of men.Thus when we say ‘Scott is the author of Waverley' or ‘men are the same as featherless bipeds', we are asserting an identity of denotation, and this assertion is worth making because of the dive rsity of meaning. 1 I believe that the duality of meaning and denotation, though capable of a true interpretation, is misleading if taken as fundamental. The denotation, I believe, is not a constituent of the proposition, except in the case of proper names, i. e. of words which do not assign a property to an object, but merely and solely name it.And I should hold further that, in this sense, there are only two words which are strictly proper names of particulars, namely, T and ‘this. ‘2 One reason for not believing the denotation to be a constituent of the proposition is that we may know the proposition even when we are not acquainted with the denotation. The proposition ‘the author of Waverley is a novelist' was known to people who did not know that ‘the author of Waverley' denoted Scott. This reason has been already sufficiently emphasized.A second reason is that propositions concerning ‘the so-and-so' are possible even when ‘the so-and-so' has no denotation. Take, e. g. ‘the golden mountain does not exist' or ‘the round square is self- contradictory'. If we are to preserve the duality of meaning and denotation, we have to say, with Meinong, that there are such objects as the golden mountain and the round square, although these objects do not have being. We even have to admit that the existent round square is existent, but does not exist. 3 Meinong does not regard this as a contradition, but I fail to see that it is not one.Indeed, it seems to me evident that the judgment ‘there is no such object as the round square' does not presuppose that there is such an object. If this is admitted, however, we are led to the conclusion that, by parity of form, no judgment concerning ‘the so-and-so' actually involves the so-and-so as a constituent. 1 This view has been recently advocated by Miss E. E. C. Jones. ‘A New Law of Thought and its Implications,' Mind, January, 1911. * I should now exclude ‘ I' from proper names in the strict sense, and retain only ‘this' [1917]. †¢? Meinongj Ueber Annahmen, 2nd ed. , Leipzig, 1910, p. 141. KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE 163Miss Jones1 contends that there is no difficulty in admitting contradictory predicates concerning such an object as ‘the present King of France', on the ground that this object is in itself contradictory. Now it might, of course, be argued that this object, unlike the round square, is not self-contradictory, but merely non-existent. This, however, would not go to the root of the matter. The real objection to such an argument is that the law of contradiction ought not to be stated in the traditional form ‘A is not both B and not B', but in the form ‘no proposition is both true and false*.The traditional form only applies to certain propositions, namely, to those which attribute a predicate to a subject. When the law is stated of propositions, instead of being stated concerning subjects and pred icates it is at once evident that propositions about the present King of France or the round square can form no exception, but are just as incapable of being both true and false as other propositions. Miss Jones2 argues that ‘Scott is the author of Waverley' asserts identity of denotation between Scott and the author of Waverley.But there is some difficulty in choosing among alternative meanings of this contention. In the first place, it should be observed that the author of Waverley is not a mere name, like Scott. Scott is merely a noise or shape conventionally used to designate a certain person; it gives us no information about that person, and has nothing that can be called meaning as opposed to denotation. (I neglect the fact, considered above, that even proper names, as a rule, really stand for descriptions. But the author of Waverley is not merely conventionally a name for Scott; the element of mere convention belongs here to the separate words, the and author and of and Waverley. Given what these words stand for, the author of Waverley is no longer arbitrary. When it is said that Scott is the author of Waverley, we are not stating that these are two names for one man, as we should be if we said ‘Scott is Sir Walter'. A man's name is what he is called, but however much Scott had been called the author of Waverley, that would not have made im be the author; it was necessary for him actually to write Waverley, which was a fact having nothing to do with names. If, then, we are asserting identity of denotation, we must not mean by denotation the mere relation of a name to the thing named. In fact, it would be nearer to the truth to say that the meaning of ‘Scott' is the denotation of ‘the author of Waverley'. The relation of ‘Scott* to Scott is that ‘Scott' means Scott, just as the relation of ‘author' to the concept which is so called is that ‘author' means this concept. 1 Mind, July, 1910, p. 80. ‘ Mind , July, 1910. p. 379. Pg7Pg7 164MYSTICISM AND LOGIC Thus if we distinguish meaning and denotation in ‘the author of Waverley', we shall have to say that ‘Scott' has meaning but not denotation. Also when we say ‘Scott is the author of Waverley', the meaning of ‘the author of Waverley' is relevant to our assertion. For if the denotation alone were relevant, any other phrase with the same denotation would give the same proposition. Thus ‘Scott is the author of Marmion' would be the same proposition as ‘Scott is the author of Waverley'.But this is plainly not the case, since from the first we learn that Scott wrote Marmion and from the second we learn that he wrote Waverley, but the first tells us nothing about Waverley and the second nothing about Marmion. Hence the meaning of ‘the author of Waverley' as opposed to the denotation, is certainly relevant to ‘Scott is the author of Waverley'. We have thus agreed that ‘the author of Wav erley' is not a mere name, and that its meaning is relevant in propositions in which it occurs.Thus if we are to say, as Miss Jones does, that ‘Scott is the author of Waverley' asserts an identity of denotation, we must regard the denotation of ‘the author of Waverley' as the denotation of what is meant by ‘the author of Waverley'. Let us call the meaning of ‘the author of Waverley' M. Thus M is what ‘the author of Waverley' means. Then we are to suppose that ‘Scott is the author of Waverley' means ‘Scott is the denotation of M But here we are explaining our proposition by another of the same form, and thus we have made no progress towards a real explanation. The denotation of M,' like ‘the author of Waverley', has both meaning and denotation, on the theory we are examining. If we call its meaning M', our proposition becomes ‘Scott is the denotation of M†. But this leads at once to an endless regress. Thus the attempt to re gard our proposition as asserting identity of denotation breaks down, and it becomes imperative to find some other analysis. When this analysis has been completed, we shall be able to reinterpret the phrase ‘identity of denotation', which remains obscure so long as it is taken as fundamental.The first point to observe is that, in any proposition about ‘the author of Waverley', provided Scott is not explicitly mentioned, the denotation itself, i. e. Scott, does not occur, but only the concept of denotation, which will be represented by a variable. Suppose we say ‘the author of Waverley was the author of Marmion', we are certainly not saying that both were Scott—? we may have forgotten that there was such a person as Scott. We are saying that there is some man who was the author of Waverley and the author of Marmion.That Is to say, there is someone who wrote Waverley and Marmion, and no one else wrote them. Thus the identity is that of a variable, i. e. of KNO WLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE 165 an identifiable subject, ‘someone'. This is why we can understand propositions about ‘the author of Waverley', without knowing who he was. When we say ‘the author of Waverley was a poet', we mean ‘one and only one man wrote Waverley, and he was a poet'; when we say ‘the author of Waverley was Scott' we mean ‘one and only one man wrote Waverley, and he was Scott'. Here the identity is between a variable, i. . an indeterminate subject (‘he'), and Scott; ‘the author of Waverley' has been analysed away, and no longer appears as a constituent of the proposition. 1 The reason why it is imperative to analyse away the phrase, ‘the author of Waverley' may be stated as follows. It is plain that when we say ‘the author of Waverley is the author of Marmion', the is expresses identity. We have seen also that the common denotation, namely Scott, is not a constituent of this proposition, while the meanings (if a ny) of ‘the author of Waverley' and ‘the author of Marmion' are not identical.We have seen also that, in any sense in which the meaning of a word is a constituent of a proposition in whose verbal expression the word occurs, ‘Scott' means the actual man Scott, in the same sense (so far as concerns our present discussion) in which ‘author' means a certain universal. Thus, if ‘the author of Waverley' were a subordinate complex in the above proposition, its meaning would have to be what was said to be identical with the meaning of ‘the author of Marmion'.This is plainly not the case; and the only escape is to say that ‘the author of Waverley' does not, by itself, have a meaning, though phrases of which it is part do have a meaning. That is, in a right analysis of the above proposition, ‘the author of Waverley' must disappear. This is effected when the above proposition is analysed as meaning: ‘Some one wrote Waverley and no one else did, and that someone also wrote Marmion and no one else did. ‘ This may be more simply expressed by saying that the propositional function ‘x wrote Waverley and Marmion, and no one else did' is capable of truth, i. e. ome value of x makes it true, but no other value does. Thus the true subject of our judgment is a propositional function, i. e. a complex containing an undetermined constituent, and becoming a proposition as soon as this constituent is determined. We may now define the denotation of a phrase. If we know that the proposition ‘a is the so-and-so' is true, i. e. that a is so-and-so and nothing else is, we call a the denotation of the phrase ‘the so- 1 The theory which I am advocating is set forth fully, with the logical grounds in its favour, in Principia Mathematica, Vol. I, Introduction, Chap.Ill; also, less fully, in Mind, October, 1905. Pg8Pg8 166 MYSTICISM AND LOGIC and-so'. A very great many of the propositions we naturally make about Ã¢â‚¬Ë œthe so-and-so' will remain true or remain false if we substitute a for ‘the so-and-so', where a is the denotation of ‘the so-and-so'. Such propositions will also remain true or remain false if we substitute for ‘the so-and-so' any other phrase having the same denotation. Hence, as practical men, we become interested in the denotation more than in the description, since the denotation decides as to the truth or falsehood of so many statements in which the description occurs.Moreover, as we saw earlier in considering the relations of description and acquaintance, we often wish to reach the denotation, and are only hindered by lack of acquaintance: in such cases the description is merely the means we employ to get as near as possible to the denotation. Hence it naturally comes to be supposed that the denotation is part of the proposition in which the description occurs. But we have seen, both on logical and on epistemological grounds, that this is an error.The actual object (if any) which is the denotation is not (unless it is explicitly mentioned) a constituent of propositions in which descriptions occur; and this is the reason why, in order to understand such propositions, we need acquaintance with the constituents of the description, but do not need acquaintance with its denotation. The first result of analysis, when applied to propositions whose grammatical subject is ‘the so-and-so', is to substitute a variable as subject; i. e. we obtain a proposition of the form: ‘There is something which alone is so-and-so, and that something is such-and-such. The further analysis of propositions concerning ‘the so-and-so' is thus merged in the problem of the nature of the variable, i. e. of the meanings of some, any, and all. This is a difficult problem, concerning which I do not intend to say anything at present. To sum up our whole discussion: We began by distinguishing two sorts of knowledge of objects, namely, knowledge by acquain tance and knowledge by description. Of these it is only the former that brings the object itself before the mind. We have acquaintance with sense-data, with many universals, and possibly with ourselves, but not with physical objects or other minds.We have descriptive knowledge of an object when we know that it is the object having some property or properties with which we are acquainted; that is so say, when we know that the property or properties in question belong to one object and no more, we are said to have knowledge of that one object by description, whether or not we are acquainted with the object. Our knowledge of physical objects and of other minds is only knowledge by description, the descriptions involved being usually KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE167 such as involve sense-data.All propositions intelligible to us, whether or not they primarily concern things only known to us by description, are composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted, for a constituent wi th which we are not acquainted is unintelligible to us. A judgment, we found, is not composed of mental constituents called ‘ideas', but consists of an occurrence whose constituents are a mind1 and certain objects, particulars or universals. (One at least must be a universal. ) When a judgment is rightly analysed, the objects which are constituents of it must all be objects with which the mind which is a constituent of it is acquainted.This conclusion forces us to analyse descriptive phrases occurring in propositions, and to say that the objects denoted by such phrases are not constituents of judgments in which such phrases occur (unless these objects are explicitly mentioned). This leads us to the view (recommended also on purely logical grounds) that when we say ‘the author of Marmion was the author of Waverley', Scott himself is not a constituent of our judgement, and that the judgment cannot be explained by saying that it affirms identity of denotation with diversity of meaning. It also, plainly, does not assert identity of meaning.Such judgments, therefore, can only be analysed by breaking up the descriptive phrases, introducing a variable, and making prepositional functions the ultimate subjects. In fact, ‘the so-and-so is such-and-such' will mean that fx is so-and-so and nothing else is, and x is such-and-such' is capable of truth. The analysis of such judgments involves many fresh problems, but the discussion of these problems is not undertaken in the present paper. 11 use this phrase merely to denote the something psychological which enters into judgment, without intending to prejudge the question as to what this