Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah

Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah Pengenalan Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah yang berasaskan ajaran Buddha ÅšÄ kyamuni (SiddhÄ rtha Gautama) yang mungkin lahir pada kurun ke-5 sebelum masihi. Agama Buddha menyebar ke benua India dalam 5 kurun selepas Baginda meninggal dunia. Dalam proses perkembangan agama Buddha, agama ini praktis telah menyentuh hampir seluruh benua Asia. Agama Buddha terus menarik orang ramai menganutnya di seluruh dunia dan mempunyai lebih kurang 350 juta penganut. Agama Buddha dikenali sebagai salah satu agama yang paling besar di dunia. Dalam dua ribu tahun yang seterusnya, agama Buddha telah menyebar ke tengah, tenggara dan timur Asia. Kini, agama Buddha telah dipaparkan sebagai tiga aliran utama, iaitu Theravada, Mahayana, dan Vajrayana (Bajrayana). Latar Belakang dan Kehidupan Buddha Menurut tradisi Buddha, tokoh historis Buddha Siddharta Gautama dilahirkan dari suku Sakya pada awal masa Magadha (546-324 SM), di sebuah kota, selatan pergunungan Himalaya yang bernama Lumbini. Sekarang kota ini terletak di Nepal sebelah selatan. Ia juga dikenal dengan nama Sakyamuni. Setelah kehidupan awalnya yang penuh kemewahan di bawah perlindungan ayahnya, raja Kapilavastu (kemudian hari digabungkan pada kerajaan Magadha), Siddharta melihat kenyataan kehidupan sehari-hari dan membuat kesimpulan bahawa kehidupan nyata, pada hakikatnya adalah kesengsaraan yang tak dapat dihindari. Siddharta kemudian meninggalkan kehidupan mewahnya yang tak ada ertinya lalu menjadi seorang pertapa. Kemudian Baginda berpendapat bahawa bertapa juga tak ada ertinya, dan lalu mencari jalan tengah (majhima patipada ). Jalan tengah ini merupakan sebuah kompromis antara kehidupan berfoya-foya yang terlalu memuaskan hawa nafsu dan kehidupan bertapa yang terlalu menyeksa diri. Di bawah sebuah pohon bodhi, Baginda berkaul tidak akan pernah meninggalkan posisinya sehingga menemui Kebenaran. Pada usia 35 tahun, Baginda mencapai Pencerahan. Pada saat itu Baginda dikenal sebagai Gautama Buddha, atau Buddha(secara harafiah: orang yang telah mencapai Penerangan Sempurna). Untuk 45 tahun selanjutnya, Gautama Buddha telah menyebarkan ajarannya tanpa berhenti di merata-rata tempat. Sejarah Buddhisme di Malaysia Sejarah Buddhisme di Malaysia boleh dibahagikan kepada 2 peringkat: 1. PERINGKAT AWAL: Pada awal kurun Masihi, seperti yang disebutkan oleh Dr. Coedes dalam bukunya, Indianized States of South East Asia, Warisan kebudayaan Orang India di Asia Tenggara dapat dibuktikan daripada corak kebudayaan yang terdapat di Semenanjung dan Tanah Besar Asia Tenggara; Bahasa Sanskrit telah menjadi ansur bahasa tempatan; dan unsur-unsur tradisi orang India masih terdapat di negara-negara yang bertukar kepada Islam. Tetapi Prof. D.G.E. Hall, dalam bukunya A History of South East Asia, percaya bahawa kebanyakan tradisi India telah mengubahsuai apabila bertentangan dengan tradisi tempatan, misalnya sistem kasta tidak pernah dipraktikkan di sini. Akan tetapi fakta ini tidak boleh dihapuskan iaitu aktiviti perdagangan dan perniagaan telah menarik ramai pedagang India datang berdagang di Asia Tenggara. Pedagang-pedagang ini membawa bersama kebudayaan, ugama serta kesenian mereka ke rantau ini. Banyak barangan yang digali dari tanah oleh ahli arkeologi membuktikan bahawa bahagian utara Tanah Melayu, iaitu Negeri Kedah, pernah dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan awal Buddhisme. Pada pertengahan kurun ke 3 sebelum masihi, selepas Kausil Buddhis Ketiga, Maharaja Asoka telah menghantar dua orang Bhiksu, iaitu Ven. Sona dan Ven. Uttara datang ke rantau ini untuk menyebarkan agama Buddha. Pada kurun yang ke 5, Buddhisme telah berkembang dengan baik di Semenanjung Melayu. Exkavasi arkeologi bukan hanya terhad di Kedah sahaja, tetapi didapati di Kuala Selinsing, Tanjung Rambutan, Lembah Kinta, Bidor dan Sungai Siput di Perak, di Perlis dan juga di Pahang. Langkasuka merupakan sebuah negara Buddhis yang pertama, ia ditubuhkan pada kurun masihi ke 2 dan berpusat di Banjaran Gunung Jelai, kemudian ia mengembangkan kuasanya ke bahagian Selatan Negeri Thai. Pada kurun ke 7, Buddhisme Mahayana telah menjadi sistem Buddhisme yang lebih diterima oleh rakyat Semenanjung Tanah Melayu. Pada masa itu, Tanah Melayu berada di bawah kuasa Srivijaya, sebuah empayar Buddhis yang berpusat di Pulau Jawa. Agama Hindu telah mengalami kebangkitan semula di India pada kurun ke 10, maka Agama Buddha kehilangan sokongan yang diberi oleh istana serta golongan bangsawan. Kejatuhan pengaruhnya di India telah mempengaruhi kekuasaannya di Asia Tenggara. Pada akhir abad ke 12, empayar Srivijaya mengalami kejatuhan, begitu juga halnya dengan pengaruh Buddhisme. Pada awal kurun ke 10, Parameswara mendirikan Empayar Melaka. Apabila Parameswara dan Raja-Raja lain menganuti Agama Islam, agama tersebut telah menjadi agama utama di rantau ini. Sehingga abad ke 15, Islam telah berjaya mengambil alih kedudukan Buddhisme sebagai agama yang utama diterima oleh istana dan rakyat biasa, lantas Buddhisme di Tanah Melayu pada masa itu mengalami kemerosotan. Walaupun begitu, masih terdapat banyak peninggalan kebudayaan Buddhisme di Kedah, Perlis dan Kelantan akibat pengaruh Negeri Thai. Unsur-unsur Buddhisme masih terbukti dalam drama Menora dan wayang kulit. 2. PERINGKAT KOMTEMPORARI: Penghijrahan beramai-ramai orang China ke Tanah Melayu pada abad ke 17 merupakan arus ombak yang kedua. Pada masa itu, Buddhisme hanya merupakah upacara amalan yang penuh dengan kepercayaan dan kebudayaan Cina. Hanya pada tahun 1950, barulah terdapat penganut Buddha yang cuba meningkatkan status dan kedudukan Buddhisme. Dengan tertubuhnya banyak organisasi buddhis, termasuk YBAM (Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia) dan MBA (Malaysian Buddhist Association), maka wujudlah satu suasana yang baru yang menyatupadukan para Buddhis. Satu perkembangan lain yang penting ialah terdapatnya pengaliran masuk bentuk-bentuk Buddhisme yang dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan-kebudayaan Thai, Sri Langka, Burma, Jepun dan Tibet. Ini telah membentuk Buddhisme di Malaysia yang pelbagai rupa bentuk. Kesimpulan Buddha adalah benar sama rata kepada semua. Setiap lapisan masyarakat tidak kira kaya atau miskin, semuanya dianggap sama rata dalam mata Buddha. Agama Buddha tidak mengabaikan agama lain atau mengutuk agama lain sebagai agama jahat. Dalam ajaran agama Buddha, kenyataan dan ilmu yang diajar bukannya perintah yang mestinya dituruti. Sesiapa yang tidak faham boleh mengemukakan soalannya dan soalan ini akan dijelaskan sehingga mencapai kefahamannya. Buddha pernah berkata: Keraguan yang besar akan mendapat lebih banyak pengajaran, keraguan yang sedikit akan mendapat pengajaran yang sedikit, manakala jika tiada keraguan, maka tiada pengajaran yang boleh dicapai. Rujukan http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agama_Buddha http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejarah_agama_Buddha http://wapedia.mobi/id/Buddhisme http://www.slideshare.net/katherine0111/agama-buddha-2047661 http://dhamma-bm.tripod.com/am/sejarah.htm http://wapedia.mobi/id/Sejarah_agama_Buddha?t=4. .http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:fe_ATowMUWAJ:images.fazaly.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/So-PAQoKCJEAAAyqlHw1/zTugas%2520Sejarah.docfzl.doc%3Fnmid%3D277222991+sejarah+agama+buddhacd=200hl=enct=clnkgl=my

View Of Politicians Police And Criminal Nexus Criminology Essay

View Of Politicians Police And Criminal Nexus Criminology Essay The various crime syndicates/mafia organizations have developed significant muscle and money power and have established linkages The existing criminal justice system, which was essentially designed to deal with the individual crimes, is unable to deal with government functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity. The tragedy is not that the evils afflicting society and the emerging system are not known, but the indifference of the leaders across the spectrum to the damage they are doing to the political system is abysmal. Enjoyment of power is wrecking the system from within. There is a need to nip the budding criminal in early stages which will be helpful in ending nexus considerably. INTRODUCTION The rule of law is a hallmark of democracy. To put it simply, it means order and stability in the society.  [1]  Politicians need money and muscle power to maintain their positions of power and authority. Criminals thrive on wrongdoings and need some help to keep the police personnel out of their way. Police is dependent upon the politicians for promotions and smooth service in business. So there exists a mutual benefit relationship between police, politicians and criminals. Once the politician reaches a particular stature and develops a clout, he dictates terms to Police and Bureaucracy much to the delight of the criminal elements. The bonds become stronger and either finds it difficult to survive without the help of the other and the point of no return is reached.  [2]   POLITICAL POLICE AND CRIMINAL NEXUS The police are a foundation of rule of law and play an essential role in establishing it. They maintain the law and order in the society and protect the right and freedoms of the citizens. The rule of law presumes that police should serve the citizen and remain free from the influence of political establishment  [3]  . Police has varied duties from serving the people to protecting the state. The local in India, are corrupt by and large and the reality is often disputed. Most police officers associate themselves with criminals in their locality as the police are often involved in the same crimes and/or in many cases seek to claim a share of the money collected by the criminals.  [4]  The police provide assistance to the criminals by refusing to register a case against them. Police are considered to be criminals in uniform who work according to the wishes of the political parties in power at the expense of state funds. Most police officers associate themselves with criminals in their locality as the police are often involved in the same crimes and/or in many cases seek to claim a share of the money collected by the criminals. The police assist the criminals by ei ther refusing to take any action against them or, if under pressure, by registering cases but failing to properly investigate them. Some policemen have not got over their old colonial mentality and are persisting in barbaric acts in a free country which claims to be run by democratic constitution and rule of law. The nexus between criminal gangs, police, bureaucracy and politicians has come out clearly in various parts of the country.  [5]  The history of police and criminal nexus is very old. Report on the nexus between the Bombay City Police and the Bombay under-world was prepared by CBI in 1986 which shows that police and criminal nexus is not new. An organized crime syndicate or mafia generally commences its activities by indulging in petty crime at the local level, mostly relating to illicit distillation/gambling/organized satta and prostitution in the larger towns. In port towns, their activities involve smuggling and sale of imported goods and progressively graduate to narcotics and drug trafficking. In the bigger cities, the main source of income relates to real estate forcibly occupying lands/buildings, procuring such properties at cheap rates by forcing out the existing occupants/tenants etc. Even in the smaller towns and rural areas, muscle-men have become the order of the day . Hired assassins have become a part of these organizations. The various crime syndicates organizations have developed significant muscle and money power and have established linkages with government functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity. The existing criminal justice system, which was essentially designed to deal with the individual crimes, is unable to deal with the activities of the Mafia; the provisions of law in regard economic offences are weak; there are insurmountable legal difficulties in attaching/confiscation of the property acquired through Mafia activities. In certain States, like Bihar, Haryana and UP, these gangs enjoy the patronage of local level politicians, cutting across party lines and the protection of governmental functionaries. Some political leaders become the leaders of these gangs and, over the years, get themselves elected to local bodies, State Assemblies and the national Parliament. Consequently, such elements have acquired considerable political clout seriously jeopardizing the smooth functioning of the administration and the safety of life and property of the common man, causing a sense of despair and alienation among the people. The big smuggling Syndicates, having international linkage s, have spread into and infected the various economic and financial activities, including Havana transactions, circulation of black money and operations of a vicious parallel economy causing serious damage to the economic fibre of the country. These syndicates have acquired substantial financial and muscle power and social respectability and have successfully corrupted the government machinery at all levels and wield enough influence to make the task of Investigating and Prosecuting agencies extremely difficult; even the members of the Judicial system have not escaped the embrace of the Mafia. Certain elements of the Mafia have shifted to narcotics, drugs and weapon smuggling and established narco-terrorism networks, specially in the States of JK, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The Bombay bomb blast case and the communal, riots in Surat and Ahmedabad have demonstrated how the Indian underworld has been exploited by the Pak ISI and the latters network in UAE to cause sabotage, subv ersion and communal tension in various parts of the country. The investigations into the Bombay bomb blast cases have revealed extensive linkages of the underworld in the various governmental agencies, political circles, business sector and the film world. It is evident that the muscle power of the crime Syndicates is sustained by their enormous financial power which, in turn, is, secured by the Mafia elements by committing economic offences with impunity. the various economic intelligence/investigative/enforcement agencies under Secretary (Revenue) operates are Central Board of Excise Customs (CBEC) it is responsible for the prevention of smuggling, In this and other tasks, it is assisted by the by the Director General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI) and the Directorate General of Anti-Evasion (DGAE). The DGRI deals with the evasion of customs duties; the DGAE with Excise duty evasion. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) The CEIB is res ponsible for coordinating and strengthening the intelligence gathering activities and the investigative and enforcement actions of the various agencies responsible for investigation into economic offences and the enforcement of economic laws. Its main tasks are Identification of major sources generating black money; directing and developing intelligence about such sources; planning and coordinating action and operations against such sources. Enforcement Directorate This Directorate is concerned with the enforcement of the investigation and penal provision of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act; collection of intelligence relating to foreign exchange offences; enquiries into suspected violations of the provisions of FERA, etc. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) The NCB is responsible for the administration of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. It is responsible for coordination with different Central and State Government Departments/Ministries and the various Central and State law enforcement agencies for the implementation of the NDPS Act. These are the main agencies to tackle the crimes related to the tax and narcotic substances but the functioning of these agencies is hampered by the pressure which is result police political and criminal nexus The linkages developed by crime Syndicates get generally confirmed when pressure is mounted on the concerned agencies not to take action against the offenders or to go slow in the cases against them. Such pressures are mounted either immediately after a raid is conducted or at the time when prosecution is about to be initiated. Pressures are also exerted whenever corrupt and undesirable officers are shifted from sensitive assignments (Preventive Customs Divisions at the Airports, sensitive Collect orates in the Central Excise etc.) In the narcotics arena, which includes cultivation of opium, manufacture of alkaloids, prevention of narcotics, smuggling etc. the financial stakes are astronomically high. Consequently, the level of corruption is of a very high order in this area of functioning and enormous pressures are brought to bear even when subordinate officials are posted away especially when the shift of an officer adversely affects the interests of those who are making easy money. Narcotics trade has a world-wide network of smugglers who also have close links with terrorists. Terrorists indulge in narcotics trade to amass huge funds, in various foreign currencies, from which they source their procurement of weapons etc. the consequences of the this nexus between criminal and politicians is very harmful and to deal with the consequences we have to empower these agencies with the more effective power and machinery. The tragedy is not that the evils afflicting society and the emerging system are not known, but the indifference of the leaders across the spectrum to the damage they are doing to the political system is abysmal. Enjoyment of power is wrecking the system from within. It is matter for most serious concern that an increasing number of police officers are serving jail terms or facing trials for serious offences There is an emergence of the politico-bureaucratic-criminal nexus which has assumed command in several parts of the country. It is indeed a matter for utmost concern that many functionaries, who are elements of the criminal nexus, may also be occupying sensitive positions in the security management apparatus. According to a recent study the present Lok Sabha has the unique distinction of having as many as 125 members with criminal background.  [6]  There are serious charges of rape, murder, kidnapping and extortion pending against many of the honorable members. They have not been convicted yet and there is no chance for it in the near future. Cases against them have been pending since ages and can never be disposed off. Saner elements in civil society and concerned citizens are beginning to be worried at the spectre of full-fledged criminalisation of politics and politicisation of criminals to use the formulation of one of our Prime Ministers.  [7]  If the present trend of criminalization among the elected representatives continues, the doomsday of rule of law in India would soon arrive. The present day politicians have proved late Churchill right when he said that scoundrels would rule India. Rather the situation today is far worse. The language of politics has changed over the years. Celebrations over, the politicians will now be back at the games they play in the pursuit of power and all that goes with it.  [8]  Politicians are busy , they cannot spare time for the people and are engrossed in the chase for power. They do not have a moment to ponder over what they have done to the Constitution. In fact, politicians of all sorts have hijacked the democratic system to run it for their own convenience and not for serving the people. If any organ of the State chooses to block their way, they try to bend it to their will by means fair and foul.  [9]  In the past two decades and more there has been a growing increase in complaints of corruption, particularly at the levels which hurt the common man the most. Consequently, people have lost trust in the commitment and capacity of the governments, at the Centre and in the States, to promote their welfare.  [10]   Elections involving money and muscle power have failed to produce desirable results. The communalisation and criminalisation of politics, endemic corruption and ineffectiveness of the governmental machinery have tarnished the image of governance and severely eroded its effectiveness.  [11]  White collar criminality is fairly prevalent in Politics. The standards of conduct are high among politicians as they are in commercial life. White-collar crimes violate trust and create disgust, which lowers social morale and produces social disorganization on a large scale. Other crimes produce relatively little effect on social institutions or social organization.  [12]  Some people believe that there are still innocent and honest politicians in the country, but nothing is being done by these honest people to control the pervasive corruption in the country. The politicians are busy playing blame games. There is hesitation to call a spade a spade. The rule of law is a legal maxim that states no person is immune to law. it means that law is equal for every man and no one is above the law is supreme this is purely a concept of democracy where peoples will are supreme and laws are made to meet the expectations of the public. India is the democratic country and rule of law is the hallmark of it we have a vast machinery to protect the rule of the law in our country we have CBI, IB and other investigating agencies they are there to protect the rule of law but because of the police political and criminal nexus the functioning of these agencies are affected very much because agencies like CBI, CID and other investigating agencies start their investigation on the recommendation of state government or central government or SC or HC state governments which are dominated by the MLAS who have their glorious criminal records generally not preferred to give investigation charge to CBI and they preferred to give the matter to CID which is a p uppet at the hands of state government which has made them useless. The functioning of these agencies are dominated by the political masters who hamper it at every level for the primary information of the crime as well as information of the local activity. These agencies are dependent upon the police which corrupt in the present time. they are the criminals in uniform who provide every facility to criminals and help them at every level from the time of registration of the complaint inside the police stations, prisons and even the courts. Sometimes they are involved in escape of criminals from the lockup As the Supreme Court rightly observed that if the protector becomes the predator, the civilized society would cease to exist. This phrase can be to describe the current scenario of India. CONCLUSION At present, there is no mechanism which is specifically designated to collect and collate intelligence pertaining to the linkages developed by criminals with the governmental set up. Nonetheless, the  various intelligence agencies collect, in the  normal course of their functioning, information about the nexus between  the bureaucracy and politicians with the Mafia gangs, smugglers and the  underworld. These agencies use such available inputs only within the  narrow confines of their work charter and choose not to take undue  cognisance and follow-up action, leave alone sharing with any other  agencies. Thus, all these agencies function within their own cocoons,  with the result that a plethora of information fails to get specific and  purposeful attention needed for the exposure of the linkages. It is,  therefore, necessary to immediately have an institutionalized system  which while giving total freedom to the various agencies to pursue their  charter of wor k, would simultaneously cast on them the onus of sharing  such inputs to a nodal outfit whose job will be to process this information  for attention of a single designated authority. This will enable the  nodal Group to provide useful leads to the various agencies and, over  time, a progressive database will get generated to facilitate periodic  reviews and analysis which could then be passed to a designated body Fighting the nexus between the politicians and criminal elements should become a National agenda transcending party politics. Conscious efforts should be made by all parties to prevent infiltration of criminal elements in their ranks. They should lend their support to amend the Representation of Peoples Act to deny opportunities to people with criminal records of moral turpitude and violence, to contest the elections. They should also lend support to pass legislation to deal firmly with organized crime. . There is need for a special legislation like other countri es to deal with this menace. We need special courts and suitable modifications in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Acts to make justice swifter. A stitch in time saves nine. The inability of the criminal justice system to deal firmly with infractions like gambling, prostitution, drugs lead to development of organized crime. Yesterdays petty criminals are todays dons. Hence, there is a need to nip the budding criminal in early stages which will be helpful in ending nexus considerably.

Essay --

In the arriving court , the judge exemplifies a lot of challenges , as a quality aspect of the court. According to research a judge is an officer who has been elected to bring justice and reap the law throughout the court of justice (). As a judge, common requirements are measured in order to pursue the job qualification. Therefore , the U.S. Bureau of Labor stated that , â€Å" a judge must attend undergraduate school , which a study of choice is not mandatory. Judges must hold a prior legal practice and hold a Juris Doctor degree. While obtaining the degree , one must complete a series of legal classes at law school approved by the ABA (). After , successfully completing the level of achievement an aspiring must pass a bar exam to move to the next level. After successfully passing the bar exam ,one is appointed as an attorney in till obtaining judgeship. Having a strong board behind you for support can boost one's promotion opportunities into being elected for the judge position. Next , on the personnel staff is the District Attorney best known as the D.A.. A district attorney is a prosecuting officer who shows presentation throughout the state in specific trails (). Duties vary for a DA , duties like educating the public and the enforcement of law about how crime prevention can be stopped. District attorneys have a load of employees working hard their wings. According to significant sites , a DA must hold a legal education and a state licensure. Before , the acquirement of DA requires , a high school diploma and a undergraduate degree of four years is required (). Yet , a Juris doctor from a ABA school is required . As the list of personnel continues on ,the next listed job is the hearing officers. Hearing officers make change over ... ... information giving to him/her (1). Moreover , one must not currently have any felony charges nor been convicted of a felony. The only way that one will not have to complete any form of jury duty is if one is in the armed forces being active duty or working for any professional departments. Juror's really play an important part of the court personnel when making verdicts for the courts. Being on a Juror committee can really be stressful if the case is very popular. If the case is local the juror shouldn't have to stay no longer than a week in till the case is closed. Juror's are not to talk about the case in open conversations with peers beside in the court room , while making serious decisions . The juror's have their own claimed section in the court room where the judge has a close distance between them. The next presented personnel in the courts is the defendant

The True Tragedy of AIDS :: AIDS

The True Tragedy of AIDS Â   When I was in South Africa, I spent some time in a township called Crossroads, which essentially began as a squatter camp for immigrants looking for work near Cape Town. In the late 80s and early 90s, to make room for an alleged development project, the apartheid government tried to relocate the settlers. Whatever the reasons, entire sections of the settlement were razed. Many people did not want to move and, consequently, their resistance was met with arson and both random and targeted violence; many of the victims were women and young children. The settlers' sense of security, albeit loosely bound with wood and corrugated iron, was destroyed. In 1994, as democracy came to South Africa, the settlers who remained began to rebuild their community out of the wreckage of apartheid, only to be confronted by a powerful new enemy: AIDS. Â   For me, Crossroads became an example of the conflicting reality in South Africa today - destruction and resilience, hope and continual struggle. Â   Crossroads is now home to Beautiful Gate, a home for dozens of children living with HIV/AIDS whose parents are either unable to take care of them or have already died. Converted from what was once a place for troubled youth, Beautiful Gate is surrounded by an imposing fence; I thought this was unusual to have around a place for sick children. On the windows are metal bars, which I originally thought were there to protect the children from violence caused by the stigma surrounding AIDS. I was wrong. In fact, the bars are there because people had tried to steal food...because in Crossroads only half of the people can find work and they are desperate to support themselves. Some of us were able to visit Beautiful Gate a couple times, and I remember talking to Francis Herbert, the social worker there. I asked her why she continued to work there. How could she continue to work when essentially no one was listening, when the government was faced with so many problems it couldn't pay attention, when she knew that for every child that stays at Beautiful Gate, dozens, actually thousands, more have no place to go. Why? Francis looked at me with a puzzled face. She does what she does because it has to be done. I see now how obvious that answer was. And I realize now that Francis and others working in similar conditions will keep hitting a brick wall unless people like myself use our knowledge of the severity of AIDS to mobilize international support.

Virtue Ethics Notes

Virtue Ethics Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived between 384 and 322 BCE. He was deeply interested in the idea of cause and purpose. On the Foundation Paper, you will have explored the ideas of the Four Causes and the Prime Mover. Both of these theories look at the idea of how things are caused and how they move towards their purpose. In ethics, any theory that looks at how we become better people over time, or that looks at how we move towards our purpose is called a teleological theory, from the Greek word telos meaning goal or purpose.Virtue ethics is teleological because it argues that we should practice being good, or virtuous people over time. Virtue ethics is therefore not deontological (like Kant’s ethics) and it is also not normative. It is known as aretaic ethics from the Greek word arete meaning excellence or virtue. Virtue ethics is not concerned with what we ought to do, but with what kind of person we should try to become. Aristotle argued that every act ion we perform is directed towards some purpose, that it tries to achieve something. He then argued that there are superior and subordinate aims.Subordinate aims are what we have to achieve first, before we achieve superior aims, for example, if you are hungry (which might be a superior aim) you need to make a sandwich to achieve that aim. Making the sandwich becomes a subordinate aim. The aim of life Aristotle argued that the superior aim of human life is to achieve something called eudaemonia. Eudaemonia is a Greek word that roughly translates to mean ‘happiness’ or ‘flourishing’. Aristotle argued that this is the aim that should govern our lives: the pursuit of happiness or pleasure.Eudaemonia is achieved when we become virtuous and Aristotle argued that this is a process that we grow towards by practising virtues. It is much like learning to play a musical instrument: the more you practise, the better you get. Some of you will have come across the word daemon before in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman. All the characters in the books have daemons and Pullman says of them: ‘the daemon is that part of you that helps you grow towards wisdom. ’ Lyra, the central character in the trilogy has a daemon called Pantalaimon who is instrumental in helping her deal with situations wisely as the story progresses. [Pleasure] is also thought to be most important for the forming of a virtuous character to like and dislike the right things because pleasure and pain permeate the whole of life and have a powerful influence upon virtue and the happy life, since people choose what is pleasant and avoid what is painful. ’[1] Aristotle did realise however, that one person’s view of happiness might be very different from another person’s view of happiness. He distinguished between three types of pleasure/happiness: 1. Pleasure seekers: these are people who are driven by their basic desires and simply live from one pleasurable experience to the next: e. . eating good food, sleeping, drinking and having sex. 2. Seekers of honour: Aristotle saw politicians as seekers of honour. These are people who try to find solutions to important problems and get a sense of honour from doing that. 3. Those who love contemplation: these are philosophers and thinkers. Aristotle believed that the lowest forms of happiness are those found by the pleasure seekers. He wrote: ‘The utter servility of the masses comes out in their preference for a bovine [animalistic] existence. ’[2] For Aristotle, the distinguishing feature of humans is their ability to reason, which they get from their soul.In plants, the anima or soul produces the search for nourishment and food, and in animals, the anima produces the ability to move. Humans have these two characteristics, but also the ability to reason. Aristotle called humans ‘rational animals’. It is for this reason that he beli eved we should strive to achieve something better with our lives than simply living from pleasure to pleasure. Happiness for Aristotle is an activity of the soul, i. e. the correct and full use of the soul can help us to discover happiness. Aristotle divided the soul up into two parts, the rational part and the irrational part.Both parts of the soul are then divided in two. The rational part contains the calculative and scientific parts. The scientific part of the soul holds types of knowledge that are factual and not up for debate: in other words, a priori knowledge. The calculative part does what it says; it calculates. It weighs up knowledge and helps us to arrive at decisions. The irrational part of the soul contains the desiderative part and the vegetative part. The vegetative part of the soul is concerned with basic needs that keep us alive and is effectively our survival instinct.The desiderative part helps us to distinguish between needs and wants. For Aristotle, a correctly functioning soul uses all of the parts well and properly. Vardy and Grosch use the example of a fruitcake to demonstrate this. If the vegetative part recognises that I am hungry, it tells me to eat. The desiderative part may desire cake to alleviate the hunger: something I want, but don’t necessarily need. The scientific part of my soul knows that fruit is better for me than cake and the calculative part, weighing up the evidence, comes up with the suggestion of fruitcake. Thus all the parts of my soul have been used in the decision.This is very important, as only a soul that functions correctly can find happiness, or eudaemonia. The Virtues Now that we have seen the basic ideas that Aristotle had about humans and how they function, we can look at the virtues. Aristotle believed that the correct way to live, was to follow something called the doctrine of the mean, the middle way or temperance. Aristotle realised that human behaviour is made up of extremes which he called vic es of excess and vices of deficiency. Aristotle argued that the best course of action falls between the two and that this is the virtue.For example, if courage is the virtue, then cowardice is the vice of deficiency and foolhardiness is the vice of excess. Aristotle believed that there are two types of virtue: intellectual virtues and moral virtues. The intellectual virtues are learned through instruction i. e. they are taught. The moral virtues are developed through habit. The intellectual virtues are developed in the rational part of the soul and the moral virtues are developed in the irrational part of the soul. There are 9 intellectual virtues, as follows: †¢ Art or technical skill (techne) †¢ Scientific knowledge (episteme) Prudence or practical wisdom (phronesis) †¢ Intelligence or intuition (nous) †¢ Wisdom (sophia) †¢ Resourcefulness or good deliberation (eubolia) †¢ Understanding (sunesis) †¢ Judgement (gnome) †¢ Cleverness (deinotes) The 12 moral virtues, with their corresponding vices are set out in the table below. |Vice of deficiency |Virtue |Vice of excess | |Cowardice |Courage |Rashness | |Insensibility Temperance |Intemperance | |Illiberality |Liberality |Prodigality | |Pettiness |Munificence |Vulgarity | |Humble-mindedness |High-mindedness |Vaingloriousness | |Want of ambition |Right ambition |Over-ambition | |Spiritlessness |Good temper |Irascibility | |Surliness |Friendliness/civility |Obsequiousness | |Sarcasm |Sincerity |Boastfulness | |Boorishness |Wittiness |Buffoonery | |Shamelessness |Modesty |Bashfulness | |Callousness |Just resentment |Spitefulness | Aristotle recognised that not all people will attain to the virtues, but he did argue that a balance between the intellectual and moral virtues was essential. Practising the moral virtues alone, might result in conformity and being an automaton. Aristotle urged us to think about the life we lead too. He believed that the virtues were essential to a harmonious society.Aristotle believed that the overall well being of the group is much more important than the well being of individuals alone and argued that it is through encouraging the practise of the virtues that society will be a harmonious place. It is friendship that is the main aim of the moral life, for without friendship, justice is meaningless. Aristotle was not a deep believer in the after-life. Aristotle was a man who valued empirical (sense) evidence above all else and believed that if anything lived on, it would be our memories. Because of this, the point of being virtuous is not to achieve unity with God, or win a place in heaven, it is good because it is the right way to live.Modern virtue ethics In 1958, Elizabeth Anscombe wrote an essay entitled ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’. In this essay, she argued that deontological ethics had become outdated. The existence of God had a considerable shadow cast over it and she argued that the religious basis to ethi cs and morality (i. e. that God gives rules to humans to follow and they must follow them if they wish to get to heaven) could no longer be trusted. She also felt that ethics had moved away from a focus on a person’s character and had instead become obsessed with lots of rules and laws. Anscombe argued that it was time for a return of virtue ethics. Alasdair MacIntyreIn 1981, Alasdair MacIntyre (left) wrote a book called ‘After Virtue’ in which he argued that we should give serious consideration to Aristotle’s theory. In his book, he traced the history of virtue ethics and tried to establish a system of virtue ethics for the modern age. His basic complaint was that modern ethics put too much emphasis on reason and not enough stress on people, their characters and the contexts of their lives. MacIntyre noticed that as societies developed 2,500 years ago, so different virtues developed too. In the age of Homer (who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey), the follo wing virtues were paramount; †¢ Physical strength †¢ Courage †¢ Cunning †¢ Friendship These are known as the Homeric Virtues. As cities (the polis) developed, life slowly became more civilized.Aristotle developed his theory of virtues for the city of Athens and his virtues became known as the Athenian Virtues. They were (briefly) as follows: †¢ Courage †¢ Friendship †¢ Justice: retributive (getting what you deserve) and distributive (making sure that the goods of society are fairly distributed) †¢ Temperance †¢ Wisdom The emphasis on strength and cunning, needed in time of war, was gone. MacIntyre argued that the Athenian virtues of Aristotle were the most complete. For MacIntyre, the problems with ethics began during the Enlightenment, a period of time during the 17th and 18th Centuries when Science became more important for discovering truth.It was thought that a single, rational cause for morality could be discovered and thinkers such as Hume and Kant attempted to do this. MacIntyre realised that whilst the theorists in universities were trying to work morality out, society still needed virtuous people in everyday life; people who run jumble sales to raise money for the local hospital for example. MacIntyre argued that despite the theories of people like Kant and Hume, the virtues have lived on. What’s more, society depends for its very existence upon people who exhibit the virtues. MacIntyre argued that living a virtuous life depended upon getting into the habit of being moral and of striving towards being virtuous. He argued that this can give life an overall purpose and meaning.The virtues for MacIntyre, are any human quality which helps us to achieve the ‘goods’ in life. MacIntyre’s virtues are as follows: †¢ Courage: courage is very important as it helps us to face up to challenges that may come our way. †¢ Justice: this is a very important virtue. Justice is fairness and it is the art of giving someone what they deserve or merit. To be unjust is to be unfair. †¢ Temperance: this prevents us from acting rashly; losing our temper for example. †¢ Wisdom: this is not knowledge: it is the ability to know how to act in the right way in particular situations. †¢ Industriousness: hard work. †¢ Hope: being optimistic. †¢ Patience.Underneath the virtues must be the good will of the person. To be virtuous, one must desire to do virtuous things, rather than do them involuntarily. An act is not virtuous if it is not intended. MacIntyre also used the idea of internal and external goods, a version of which is seen in Natural Law. An internal good is specific to the activity itself; for example, giving money to charity results in helping others and developing a sense of satisfaction. An external good, is a good that is not specific to the act. For example, when giving to charity, your example may inspire others to do the same. MacIntyre al so warned that being virtuous does not prevent you from being open to vices.He gives the example of a great violinist who could be vicious, or a chess player who could be mean spirited. The vices would prevent these people from achieving maximum virtue. MacIntyre suggests that the three most important virtues are justice, courage and honesty. We can only achieve moral excellence through practising these three. They are core virtues that help to prevent organisations and institutions from becoming morally corrupt. It is largely through institutions that traditions, cultures and morality spread: if these institutions are corrupt, then vices become widespread. Philippa Foot Philippa Foot has also put together a modern version of virtue ethics.She has argued that the wise person directs their will to what is good and a good is something that is both intrinsically and extrinsically good (see MacIntyre above). The wise, or virtuous person also knows that there are particular ways of obtai ning certain goods and it is these ways of obtaining goods that are the virtues. She also argues that virtues and skills are different things. We may make a deliberate mistake with a skill, but not damage our character or reputation; for example, a teacher who deliberately misspells a word to draw their students attention to it. However, if you deliberately act in a non-virtuous way, your reputation and character will suffer. Foot also characterises virtues as ‘correctives’. She likens humans to planks of wood that are left out to season.Wood naturally warps and changes shape and it needs continuous straightening to make it straight. Virtues do the same for the human character: they continually straighten us out so that eventually we can, through habit, become virtuous. Evaluation of virtue ethics argued that justice and truthfulness are not a middle way, but are ethical absolutes that we have a duty to follow. Grotius argued that there are absolute moral laws that we h ave a duty to obey and that can be worked out by anyone of sufficient intelligence. ———————– [1] Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, X 1172a. [2] Ibid: I, 1095b. ———————– The five primary intellectual virtues The four secondary intellectual virtues

Frederick Douglass vs. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

MLK Jr and Frederick Douglass both have the same thoughts on how African Americans should be treated different. The main difference between there thoughts are how they feel about how African Americans get treated by white people. Frederick Douglass was a slave who escaped form slavery but while in it he was treated horrible. Since he was treated so bad his point of view and perspective on white people is that there all evil no matter whom they are. But from MLK’s perspective he just wants African Americans to have equal rights just like they should. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and has been around slavery all his life. During slavery the slaveholders never held back and never showed mercy when they punished slaves. Frederick Douglass was punished so much and to him slaveholders and white people are evil. So since Frederick Douglass has only really seen white people when there mad and when they harm him, that is why his point of view on them is so different then MLK’s. That is also why Frederick Douglass’s speech is different from MLK’s letter they both have two different perspectives on white people. Martin Luther King on the other hand is totally different. He really just wants peace for his people and the same rights. He believes that all humans are the same and created from the same person so why don’t African Americans have equal rights as everyone else. He knows the nicer white people and he also knows the white people who don’t care at all about what he wants. So unlike Frederick Douglass who didn’t know any nice white people MLK knew people who were on his side and the people who were totally out to get him. That is why MLK’s letter is different than Frederick Douglass’s speech. They both do have there similarities though. They both want the same for there people and that’s peace and to be equal. MLK enforced it a lot more than Frederick Douglass but in the end they both wanted the same thing for there people. They both suffered a lot from wanting equal rights but they made it. MLK got put into jail for awhile and was humiliated and Frederick Douglass was nearly beat to death everyday and was humiliated so much  everyday but in the end it was all worth it because now African Americans are equal and have there rights. In the end these two men got what they worked so hard for, there rights for there people and equality. They both had a goal and achieved it they never gave up no matter how hard it got or no matter how much trouble they got into they strived for there goal and achieved it. These two men are inspirations to most people because of what they have don’t to help there people and themselves.

Industrial Grinders Case Essay

G’s large quantity of steel rings are on hand and the substantial inventory of special steel for their manufacture. And this steel as inventory can’t be sold. I. G had manufactured industrial machines for sale in numerous countries for nearly 70 years. It means it has market to sale rings no matter whether it is steel or plastic ring. These rings could be supplied for their own machines too. In general the plants were allowed considerable leeway in administering their own affairs. Bridgeman has right to make market strategy in time. During slack periods, company has a policy of employing excess labor on various make-work projects rather than laying the men off. At that time, the salary is at about 70% of regular wages. Low labor cost will decrease the cost of production. There are a lot of steel rings on hand and can’t be sold. The total book value of these inventories exceeded $93,000. Large inventory means less liquid cash. Maybe it influences operation in the future. Now I. G only has steel rings and these rings have higher cost than plastic rings. Also the lives of steel rings are shorter than plastic rings. I. G’s competitor Henri Poulenc has already started selling plastic rings at the same price as steel rings. And if I. G makes plastic rings, it can start selling only after 4 months so by then Henri Poulenc will take over more market shares. The competitiveness of I. G is very weak now. The ring innovation is an opportunity for I. G, but also a kind of threat. When instead of steel rings, plastic ring I. G starts using it gives I. G a chance to reform. It could cut down the cost and improve the quality of rings. If I. G switches from steel rings to plastic rings successfully, it could expand business and get more profits because of low cost, so it’s an opportunity. However, the competitor had plastic rings in advance than I. G, so it’s threaten for I. G. Competitor could use this advantage to get more business. It maybe threat to I. G’s operation and profits. In the early 1970, Japanese manufacturers had successfully entered the field with low priced spare parts. Other companies also had appeared with low quality and lower price machines. The competition would become more intense. More competitors share one market, so each supplier needs to improve competitiveness. It’s a new challenge. After analyzing internal and external situation of I. G, we can say that I. G has strong operational capacity. However, the core problem is what to be done about the steel inventory. I. G should start developing plastic rings as soon as possible and start using those. Because the core of competition is production, even though steel ring still has its value now, the plastic ring will substitute for it sooner or later. The strong competitor of I. G is Henri Poulenc. It has already introduced plastic rings. Only if I. G produces plastic ring in time it can compete with Henri Poulenc and stop them from grasping more market share. In addition, plastic ring has lower cost and longer life than steel ring. The Table A shows the cost of 100 plastic rings is $66. 60, but 100 steel rings cost $263. 88. Obviously, if they sale at the same price, 100 plastic rings will get $197. 25 more profit than steel rings. However, Anders Ericsson, the development engineer, estimated that the plastic rings could be produced by mid-September, so before mid-September, I. G has to sell steel rings on hand. Fortunately, Henri Poulenc was said to be selling the plastic ring at about the same price as the I. G steel ring, so I. G wouldn’t get strong shock from Henri Poulenc. Of course, Henri Poulenc will get higher profit, but only analyzing from the price, I. G and Henri Poulenc are in the same position, so it depends on demanders’ preference which kind of rings they like. And I. G could sell the steel rings in different markets, which are not covered, by plastic rings of Henri Poulenc. It avoids direct conflict. Steel inventory is a big weakness of I. G, so it’s a good time to consume a large amount of steel. Assuming the sales continued at the current rate of 690 rings per week before mid-September, it would consume 19400 steel rings. During the slack time, I. G could ask labors to convert the steel inventory into rings to satisfy the supply amount before mid-September, because at that time, the labor cost will be about 70% of regular wages so that decreases the cost to produce steel rings. Those steel rings only need to satisfy the supply amounts for 4 months using, because after mid-September, plastic ring will be used instead of steel. If there are more steel rings converted than demanded, I. G will pay for labour cost from their pocket. It will waste resources, time and money. So nothing definite can be said about the steel inventory.