Monday, January 27, 2020

Aristotle In Virtue Ethics

Aristotle In Virtue Ethics Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, scientist as well as logician who lived between 384 and 322 BC. Aristotle is highly regarded as one of the famous thinkers in various fields such as political theory. He is an ancient thinker who was an effective contributor together with his teacher Plato. His desire and contribution started at an early age, at the time he was in school in Platos academy in Athens. He has moved places in search of philosophical and biological knowledge. He moved to places such as Asia and Lesbos. His life was known to have the greatest influence to his political thought. Through his travelling, he had various experiences in different kinds of political systems and hence gained a lot in the field of politics. Not only in history he also made an effective contribution to other areas such geography whereby he concluded that the earth was round instead of the earlier believe that it was flat. Aristotle contribution has been of great positive effect to mans life and eve n in todays community there are still his findings which are applicable. One of the many areas that Aristotle contributed and his contribution was noted is the topic on virtue ethics? Briefly virtue ethics is concerned with traits of characters that are found to be essential for human flourishing. Virtue ethics emphasizes the role played an individuals character and also the virtues that determine his behavior. It forms the basis to normative ethics which the opposite of deontology. According to Aristotle, happiness is referred is an activity, hence referring it a way of life and it is depicted on how we act and not how or whom we are. The general concept behind virtue ethics is that it looks into what the individual should choose to be rather than depending on the external factors to change a person. People have the power to choose what they ought to be rather than depend solely such as culture. Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It looks more into the moral character rather than duties and rules (deontology) or rather one that deals with consequences of actions simplified as consequentialism. According to Aristotle, virtue means excellence happiness whereby people can only be happy when they have fulfilled their basic function or purpose. People need to act well and practice reasoning. Aristotle divided virtue into intellectual and the moral virtues. According to Aristotle the highest target of all people is directed by happiness which he defined as continuous contemplation of the internal and external truth. This happiness is attained trough virtuous life as well as development of wisdom and reason. An individual needs sufficient external goods to ensure opportunity for virtuous action. Virtuous acts need mindful choice and moral reason or inspiration. However, moral virtue cannot be achieved abstractly but rather requires moral action in any social environment. Both ethics and politic are close to each other as Aristotle refers to politics like a science of making the society in which people can have the good life as they develop their full potential. Despite the work of Aristotle, he tries hard to convince us what is virtuous. This has differed from the teaching from the modern moral philosophers. This is because he put very little effort on the moral development of individuals. For one to be a good person he needs to practice so as to gain the good habit and the virtue is a good state of soul that is acquired through habit of an individual. In the ancient world, virtue ethics were a particularly dominant form of ethics. However, the trend has changed in the recent times the issue on virtue ethics has been largely forgotten as people has favored other approach to morality such as the utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Despite the new found an approach, the basis of these has been the Aristotle virtue ethics. Over the past fifty years, there has been the return of the Aristotelian moral psychology. This was marked by a published document made in 1958 by Elizabeth Anscombe known as modern Moral Philosophy. The document excoriated Kantianism and the utilitarian versions and recommended the return to Aristotelian moral psychology. The change has seen virtue ethics be considered one of the key forms of ethical theory. Virtue ethics has been found to encourage people to be more virtuous such that we do not need an ethical theory for us to make decisions. The ethics puts more effort on the character. It also emphasizes on pleasure and the emotion. Hence it becomes good for people to enjoy acting in a virtuous manner. In additional, Aristotle talked of moral educational as a development process which is essential in each and every persons life. With the application of the virtue ethics, people avoid the use other complicated formulas trying to find out what they ought to do and hence they focus on the kind of person they need to be. In addition, it helps to distinguish between good people from the legalists. Following the law does not make one a good person. Virtue ethics is no longer the dominating theory as it now faces challenges. Despite being a highly prominent theory in peoples lives, virtue ethics has encountered some short comings. One of them is that virtue ethics offers no solution to certain specific moral dilemmas. Another shortcoming of Aristotles view is that it does not recognize that people are different. Not all people have equal opportunity in terms of developing morally hence people should not be judged the same. Despite the explanation of the virtuous people, there are people virtuous but live miserably unlike others who are not virtuous and live happily. On the other hand, virtue ethics appears to praise some virtues which on normal cases might be regarded as immoral. For example, soldiers in war may courageous, but that does not mean they are morally good. Finally, it is hard to tell when someone virtuous has bad motives. Virtuous ethics seems not to accommodate basic concepts such as an obligation and rights. Hence the theory of ethics seems inadequate to deal with complicated issues such as what makes an action right or wrong. It is easier to understand the virtue ethics by trying to differentiate the Aristotle approach and the Kantian, consequentially or the utilitarian approaches to the moral philosophy. From the case of Kantian, ethics are responsible in ruling as well as the fundamental principals playing a crucial role. Foundational role and consequentialism treats the moral assessment of actions as a function of what can be said about the consequences of those actions. Most of the modern virtue ethics takes inspiration from the Aristotle work in the same topic. The modern ones have also emphasized on cultivation of virtues for they define them as natural and rational way of being as well as flourishing in the society. Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that work of Aristotle has greatly contributed to the modern philosophy and their way of thinking and also evaluating things. One of the reasons that have made the virtue ethics become popular as well as making very important contribution to our lives is that they really emphasize the key role played by motives in moral questions. The contribution also helps people understand the issue of morality. People were also aware that for one to act from virtue is also to act from some particular motivation. This means that the correct moral decisions need the correct motives behind them. Encouragement of the correct motivations is a vital component of the moral education to the young people. People is taught that they should have targets and desire for good outcomes as well as an accomplishment of given goals by our actions. Another reason why virtue theories are attractive is that the other theories on moral have a common problem in dealing with complicated moral issues such as what action should be taken or rather what moral duties should be emphasized. One of the key point that is emphasized by the virtue theory is that once people are successful in creating the people wanted, then arriving to the correct moral decision comes naturally.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Lisa Harvey-Smith on the Ska Mega-Telescope

Lisa Harvey-Smith on the SKA Mega-Telescope – Multiple Choice Questions 1. With current scientific technology, it is concluded that __% of our known matter is Baryonic matter, __% is Dark Matter, while __% is Dark Energy. A. 33, 27, 40 B. 7, 23, 70 C. 4, 23, 73 D. 9, 25, 66 2. Also called the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, the Arecibo Observatory is the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope. It is located in ______. A. Mexico B. Iceland C. Jamaica D. Puerto Rico 3. The first picture ever made was an oval shaped depiction of the early universe, specifically the cosmic microwave background radiation.The intense blue, green, yellow and red hues depict ______. A. Fluctuations in temperature B. Infrared satellite data C. Sound waves D. Large concentrations of dark energy 4. The world’s first smart radio telescope received radio waves from the ______, then received the same signals bounced off the sea. This was helpful to create fine pinpoint pictu res of radio sources outside of our own galaxy. A. Horizon B. Mountains C. Atmosphere D. Glaciers 5. The world’s largest optical telescope is located on a mountain in the Canary Islands.Capable of making exquisitely detailed pictures of the sky, this particular telescope has a massive mirror ofjust over __ meters across. A. 6 B. 8 C. 10 D. 12 6. The Australian telescope compacting ray, composed of 6 radio telescopes took over ____ hours of observing and a 400 image mosaic to create a solid picture of the universe. A. 120 B. 1200 C. 12000 D. 120000 7. Within the early 1900’s, Albert Einstein concluded that space and time actually bends around certain objects with gravitational pull and mass. This can be visualized by the comparison of ______ . A. A puck hitting a net and the net bending to accommodate the force B.The stretch of rubber band and the snapping affect C. The return of a boomerang D. The bending of metal as it is heated 8. The Hubble Telescope is a small tele scope, but it is effective for developing clear images because there are no _____ distortions, in comparison to on-earth telescopes. A. Ultra-Violet B. Photon C. Bird and wildlife D. Atmospheric 9. Scientists won the Noble prize for discovering that the Universe is expanding at a rate much faster than previously anticipated. There are several names used to describe this expansion effect, but the most accepted is ______. A. Quintessence B. Vacuum Energy C.Cosmological Constant D. Dark Energy 10. There are several problems with developing new Radio Telescopes, one of these challenges is overcoming interference and finding a location without human activity. However, a place without human activity is also problematic because ___________. A. The location is too far for scientists and astronomers to commute B. There are no large power stations to generate the electricity required to operate telescopes C. With such a great distance from civilization, it will take a long time to transmit in formation D. Emergency teams will not be able to make it in time in the case of an emergency

Friday, January 10, 2020

Economic system Essay

In our present time , there are many speculation spoken by different people, regarding the implementation of the new Curriculum , K to 12. There are many question still hanging on ,Is it the solution to our poverty , underemployment and unemployment.? Does K to 12 curriculum basically enhance our students knowledge? Does this curriculum eliminates at lessen poverty in our country. Our DepEd Secretary, Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, starting whenhe became an Education Secretary, He is trying to change the traditional way of teaching, trying to resolve different problem, control and motivates the teachers, students , parents and government officials to cooperate in order to help our students to be competitive enough. In his Declaration of State of Philippine Education, he emphasize the trend and issues in Education System in: a. Philippine Education is under in Chronic Illness b. Regression in Access c. Bureaucratic Melee d. Appropriations allotted I n Education e. On the need of Reform f. The Join Forces of 3 Agencies in Government. The DOLE, TESDA, and CHED. g. The Idea of EFA 2015 and Millennium Development Goals, 1. The Philippine Education is under in chronic illness He said that our country is under the chronic illness , it is because the system in our country is suffering from different crisis, not only come from economic problem, but most probably in political system. In this country, Our governmentalways change our curriculum from time to time, for them we must faced the reality and we must adapt the changes but the  mere fact is , they don’t even support that particular in terms of facilities, tools, books and other school materials, that’s why our curriculum is only a Trial-Error set up. Inother aspects the reason why we still in the last in terms of Education it is because of corruption and political problems. 2. Regression in Access The main problem in our country is the lengthof Basic Education in Elementary and Secondary, this is only 10 years, unlike to other country which is 12 years. This is the reason why Filipino did not get the appropriate job on other country, 3. Bureaucratic Melee In this case, we can say that the cultural aspects of the society are the big problem. Despite of financial and economic crisis happen in our country, they questioned some people or other non –government organizations if school receive donations, For them it is a form of corruption ,but the reality is some government officials is the one who is the corrupt one. We must face the reality that government funds is not sufficient to support different schools that’s why we need support from other agencies. 4. Appropriations for Education Department of Budget and Management or DBM allocatesfund for a certain school whether it has autonomy or not. These budgets were divided depends on the numbers of enrollees per school. Government also allocates fund for the Teachers tools, equipments, lesson plan, and classrecords , salaries and bonuses and incentives. Education is free, according to the Deped Memorandum. They allocated fundsfor Education but the big problem is, the higher ranking person did not distributed that funds to different divisions, instead of they corrupt that funds. That’s why DepEdis number2 in Corruption 5. On the Need for Reform Our Educationsystem needs a reformation, in order to make our graduates be competitive enough. Reform will start on the top down to the lower ranking position. Reformation willlead us tothe better world, better society and better graduates. Reformation not only in Educational system but also in the society, most especially in our government presently. Reform in policies, avoid corruption, because new ideas, new curriculum, and helpus tobuild mind of a graduates professionally growth.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Taking a Look at Holocaust Revisionism - 1459 Words

The state of Missouri has a population of about 6 million people. Imagine a disaster that could completely wipe out all of those people. Believe it or not, there has been a catastrophe in history that killed a number of people equal to the population of Missouri. This event is known as the Holocaust. During this genocide, the Nazi party in Germany tried to eliminate the whole jewish population. In the process of doing so they killed some six million innocent people. The Nazi Party nearly wiped out the entire Jewish population, leaving very few to carry on with religion and personal accounts of living through the Holocaust. For generations the facts about the Holocaust have been taught so that nothing like this terrible event would ever happen again, but some people known as â€Å"revisionists† have tried to change, and even deny these facts to say that the Holocaust never happened. These people believe that the Holocaust was just the cruel effects of war instead of the worst g enocide in world history that it was. People know a lot about the Holocaust and the events that took place within the camps based on research and the personal accounts of the survivors, so for a revisionist to claim that the Holocaust simply didn’t happen is unbelievable. The Holocaust, which happened between the years of 1933- 1945, was a genocide that caused a lot of suffering. The term Holocaust itself has a deeper meaning than just the word, its origin is Greek and the words â€Å"holos† (whole) andShow MoreRelatedThe Themes and Motivations Behind George Orwells 19842682 Words   |  11 Pagesyou have read the story, The next logical question one must ask themselves is, do we understand why he wrote this wonderful piece of work? Please allow me the opportunity to enlighten you. In order to understand the why; I propose that we must look into the following: his life, the time period in which he lived and the body of work of the late, great Mr. George Orwell. Our esteemed author was born Eric Arthur Blair, on the 25th of June in 1903. He was born in India to Richard Walmesley