Friday, January 24, 2020

Kants and Aristotles Ethics Essay -- Philosophy, Philosophers

To be good is good but it has to be done for the right reason. Aristotle and Kant are two famous philosophers who have different ethical theories. The theory’s of virtue and duties rest not only on laws and obligations but from what comes from the inside. Morality comes from inner strength, character and how we live our life to the best end. Aristole 384-322 b.c.e. Aristotle conceptualized the branches of philosophy and contributed to the theories in logic, metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy (book 237). Aristotle’s teleological ethics: the reason for being. Aristotle focused on the peoples actions whether good or bad, as well as their character, not there right or wrong actions. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) branches of philosophy included contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. Kant's deontological ethics, a duty based ethics. His focus is on rational will and a conception of self-governing reason, and not what kind of person one should be (Betzler 7). The bases of Aristotle’s and Kant’s theories are different. Aristotle believes when you do something it comes from the virtues you have, while Kant believes there is always a reason behind actions. However, both agree â€Å"that time and practice is required to develop virtues† (betzler 50). Another thing they have in common is that both of them focused on peoples actions and why people performed those actions. Whether, it is happiness or good will we are all completing an action to the end; in order to have a good life. Aristotle’s Strength is his belief in moderation (Book480). Aristotle believes the ultimate goal in life is to be happy and people will do what makes them happy. He defined the highest good as â€Å"eudaimonia† (Chaffee 477). To a... ...n different ways to achieve an end. However, I believe that Kant’s theory is most likely correct because it includes everyone and not just what makes an individual happy. Although, Kant’s views are a bit extreme when it comes to rules, we all have to have rules to live by we cannot just go out and do what makes us happy. I do like the â€Å"Golden Rule† better mainly because that is what my great-grandmother us to tell me all the time and it is a good rule to live by. â€Æ' Works Cited Betzler, Monika. Kant's Ethics of Virtue. Berlin, DEU: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. Broadie, Sarah. Ethics with Aristotle. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 1993. Chaffee, John. The Philosopher's Way Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009. Kupperman, Joel. Ethics and Qualities of Life. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

A Performance Constraints of Thai Economy

It may be useful to put the discussion of performance constraints of the Thai economy briefly in perspective. Over the past 2 decades, the Thai economy has been one of the best performing economies in the world, characterized by sustained high growth rates, averaging 10. 3% 1985-90, and 8% in the years prior to the crisis (1990-96). This growth was accompanied by a dramatic decline in the incidence of absolute poverty, from 57% in 1962 to 14% in 1992, with per capita income increasing from $700 per annum in the late 1960s, to $2,700 in 1996. At the same time, rapid growth was accompanied by environmental degradation, resource depletion, and an increasingly unequal distribution of income and wealth. However, on balance a remarkable record of development. During this period of rapid growth and economic transformation, Thailand became increasingly integrated into the world economy through trade and investment flows, and production linkages. As the economy expanded rapidly and became more complex in structure, it posed more and new types of strains and challenges to economic management or â€Å"governance† systems at both the macro (i. . public policy) and micro (enterprise) levels. As the relative role of the private sector increased in the economy, the importance of enterprise management and performance correspondingly increased. Looking more deeply at Thailand†s performance, manufactured exports grew by about 23% per year between 1980 and 1995, almost doubling during 1992-1995. However, in 1996 export growth fell practically to 0 per cent, with labor-intensive exports usually identified as the main culprit. Certain factors are generally cited as responsible for this abrupt and dramatic decline: External factors cited included the emergence of new competitors, with the coming on stream of new production facilities in lower income/lower wage countries such as China, Indochina, Philippines, further complicated by the30% devaluation of the Chinese yen in 1994;  · Domestic factors cited generally relate to rising wage rates and overvalued exchange rates. Domestic wage rates during 1991-95 rose about 11%, on average or about 5% increase in real wages per year, cited as the key factor in the slowdown in growth of labor intensive exports. The real effective exchange rate of the baht is estimated to have appreciated by about 15% during 1995-97, primarily because of the linkage to the US$, which appreciated against the yen. While the above factors suggest that Thailand was losing its edge in low cost, labor intensive exports, these are at best partial explanations for the overall decline in export performance. The impact of rising wages should not have come this suddenly and pervasively, given that wages were rising for some time, with no significant impact on xport performance. For example, textiles, gems and jewelry, which are not particularly labor intensive declined significantly in the 1996 crunch, as did many technology intensive products. 5 Similarly, the timing and size of the real exchange rate appreciation is not sufficient to explain the sudden, dramatic drop in export performance. If the â€Å"usual suspects† are not sufficient to explain the export slowdown, then could this be primarily a â€Å"cyclical† downturn, e. g. the result of short-term, mainly external, adverse factors? There is some support for this being a factor. There was a global slowdown in world trade in 1996, with the growth rate of world manufactured exports dropping from 8. 6% p. a. during 1990-95, to 2. 1% in 1996 6 . All countries in Asia were hit, with Korea and Thailand the worst affected. If the basic problem of export performance could be seen as cyclical, then in terms of the main focus of this paper, the management of the economic crisis perhaps can indeed focus on the financial sector. That is, the â€Å"real sector† will realign itself, as the financial crisis begins to be resolved, and the â€Å"cycles† will at some point, begin their upswing though the global economic outlook looks less than optimistic at this time. Although cyclical demand factors seem to be relevant, they are only partly helpful in understanding the performance of the Thai (real) economy prior to the crisis. There seems to be more to the story. For example, industry-specific factors may have also been at work: a rapid rise in US sourcing of garments from Western Hemisphere producers such as Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, led to a relative loss of US market share by Asian exporters, including Thailand, among others. It is not clear whether this shift in sourcing is a â€Å"cyclical† factor, or a â€Å"structural† shift in the basis of competitive advantage (e. g. relating to NAFTA; relating to the increasing role of time or order cycle as a competitive actor, an issue touched on in section III). A fundamental question that emerges from the perspective of the present economic crisis relates to the performance of the corporate sector prior to the crisis, a performance which was then further aggravated by the financial devastation of corporates by the crisis. In particular, were there clear signs of deterioration in performance, especially at the micro (enterprise) level prior to mid-1997, masked by rapid (export) growth? If yes, then resolving the present crisis in terms of restoring the Thai economy†s performance is likely to require a focus on the â€Å"real sector† simultaneously with addressing the problems of the financial sector. This is likely to be especially important for Thailand†s economic renewal and sustainable growth, given expectations of a global economic environment over the medium term characterized by slow growth and increasing competition for both markets and capital.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

To What Extent Was Pitts Repressive Policy the Main...

To what extent was Pitt’s repressive policy the main reason for his success in resisting the radical challenge to 1801? The growing threat of revolution by English radicals being influenced by Irish rebels and the French Revolution was the main thing William Pitt the younger was faced with during his time as Prime Minister. To deal with this, he reinforced a repressive policy of tough legislation strengthened through propaganda.It was not only these actions taken that managed to quell the revolutionaries from revolting. Other than the actions taken by Pitt, there was discordance between the radicals,also the loyalist reaction sparked by the war in France; these are only a few reasons amongst many. It was the contribution of factors that†¦show more content†¦This response to the war helped Pitt, as he was trying to prevent revolution from happening in Britain. There was a loyalist riot in 1794 in Manchester where chants about church and kings were to be heard, subsequently ‘Church and King’ clubs formed. The loyalists advertised their cause through pamphlets that supported the kin g. Suppport for the king spread, the government were extremely happy with the outcome, they even allowed and encourages a loyalist militia to form and by 1800 there were 100,000 members. This show of support for the king that followed the war with France was a strong opponent against the radicals. Problems within the radicals caused a divide in their goals and the path they thought was necessary to take to reach them. This could be seen when looking at some of the radical groups. Disunity in cause could be seen by looking at two figures that were part of the radical movement; Tom Paine focused solely on men’s rights, whilst Mary Wollstonecraft focused on rights for women. The London Corresponding Society believed in achieving their goals peacefully, however the Society for Constitutional Information’s leader (John Jebb) believed that ‘public agitation’ was the most effective way of reaching their goals. This lack of unity of cause and ways of achieving their aims considerably weakened the radical movement. Another factor that