Utilitarians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Utilitarians - Essay Example This can be described in the expression that the ends justify the means. For that matter, the measure of utility is with respect to the level of satisfaction related to the end result. It is phrased as the greatest good for the majority but it focuses only on the end result unlike other philosophies wherein there are other basis e.g. virtues. For that matter, it is often considered as a reductionist view of ethics, focusing on a single attribute or a narrow point of view (Goodin, 1995; Mill, 2004). The application of utilitarianism in different cases can be considered to result differently from other philosophies. In Heinz Dilemma, due to the fact that the satisfaction achieved through the end result can be the focus of the principle, the action done by Heinz is justifiable. Due to the fact that he has done the act of robbery, he was able to get money to help his wife. The act of achieving is not important in utilitarianism. Ethics that are related to virtuous acts are not covered. In terms of the application of the philosophy in the Prisoners’ Dilemma, the most common action that will be undertaken is to point the fault to another. This is due to the fact that the chance to lessen the punishment can be a lure. In testifying against the other, a prisoner can have 5 years, 6 months or even have freedom. While if virtue or morality is in action a prisoner can risk a 10 year punishment (Goodin, 1995; Mill, 2004). The utilitarian’s view is in contrary to the Kant’s principle of duty since the main focus of Kant’s principle is to achieve a goal through actions and means that are in accordance to the duty to moral principles and guidelines. One of the views of the said duty by Kant is the duty to respect one’s neighbors as he would to himself/herself (Timmons, 2002). Based on the study of the concept and application of the principles of utilitarianism, it can be considered

International Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

International Financial management - Essay Example The report is divided into four broad sections, which include a brief overview of Leighton Holdings and its comparison with global competitors, commentary on the operating and financial issues of the company in light of selected ratios, an evaluation of currency management and overall performance of the company and recommendations for potential investors on the basis of analysis and evaluations carried out in this report. Leighton Holdings Limited, being amongst the largest international contractors around the world, was established in the year 1949 and is headquartered in Sydney. The company was listed on Australian Stock Exchange (ASE) in 1962 (Leighton Holdings, 2013; Yahoo Finance, 2013). The current business profile of Leighton Holdings Limited shows numerous operations, which include construction, development and maintenance of infrastructural facilities, mining, resource provision and real estate services (Leighton Holdings, 2013). In addition, the company also undertakes projects related to construction of road, railway networks, cleaning up of contaminated areas, disposal of waste, and other related services. Apart from the domestic Australian market, the operations of the company are also spread internationally, which include regions 20 countries in the Asian region, Middle Eastern region, southern parts of Africa and the neighbouring country New Zealand. In this table, it can be seen that Leighton Holdings Limited can be regarded as amongst leading international contractors. The ranking of Leighton Holdings Limited in relation to earnings per share ratio and long term growth rate of the company, is the best amongst the ratios listed in the table. However, the gap between performance indicators of Leighton Holdings Limited and industry leader is considerable in almost all of the indicators shown above. For the

The constitutional jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice is a Essay

The constitutional jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice is a paradigm of judicial Activism. Discuss in relation to Art. 234 EC - Essay Example , the judicial activism of the European Court of Justice has been one of the most intriguing aspects of the evolving legal and judicial framework in Europe, because it â€Å"appoints the European Court as meeting place between the legal order of the Community and those of its member states.†3 It has in fact, represented the driving force of European integration through the fashioning of a constitutional framework for a federal type of structure within the European Union.4 The legislative process within the European Union has often been characterized by inertia, as a result of which the ECJ has had to exercise judicial creativity, to address the gap between voter wishes and political decisions which is not well defined in the European Community as it is in a democracy.5 In the context of Article 234 of the EC Treaty that places the European Court of Justice in the role of interpreter of the aims and objectives of the Treaty, creative European jurisprudence has often required that the ECJ not send away an individual litigant or a national Judge without an answer, in order to avoid denial of justice. As a result, this has often required creative judicial interpretation that has caused it to be accused of judicial activism.6 The Court has adopted the teleological method in its approach to judicial interpretation, wherein a rule is interpreted by taking into account the purpose of the rule and the aim and objective it seeks to accomplish, as stated in the case of CIFLIT, â€Å"every provision of Community law must be placed in its context and interpreted in the light of the provisions of E.C. law as a whole, regard being had to the objectives thereof and to its state of evolution at the date on which the provision in question is to be applied.†7 The factor that will determine when judicial activity strays into the field of judicial activism is determined by the extent to which the judicial function strays into the political realm. The European Court of Justice has

Scientific Method Applied to Forensic Science Paper Essay

Scientific Method Applied to Forensic Science Paper - Essay Example The scientific method is applied to forensic science to help forensic scientists gather needed evidence to come to a conclusion about a criminal event. Though it follows the same basic ideas and techniques as the original tried and true scientific method, forensic science has their own tweaked version of the method, which is as follows: observation and description of a phenomenon, or a group of phenomenon; formulation of a hypothesis, or hypotheses, to explain the phenomenon; use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomenon, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations; â€Å"performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experiments (James, 2009)†. These methods aid forensic scientists in the solving and understanding of the events of criminal investigations. The first step in the forensic scientific method is to observe and describe phenomenon or a group of such. The forensic scientist needs to be able to understand what they are seeing when they are viewing the crime scene and the evidence that they inspect. â€Å"If they describe it wrong or relay the information incorrectly, they will botch the experiment, thus botching the investigation and lessening the chances of solving the crime accurately (Braswell, 2007)†. They have to focus on the entire crime scene, taking in every bit of information that they can and making note and taking pictures of the totality of the scene. The recording of what they find allows them to look back at everything later, giving them the chance to find new evidence that they overlooked during the initial inspection. They have to look at the scene as a whole, breaking the scene up into smaller sections to further their collection of evidence and comprehension of the crime scene. With closer inspection, they can begin to understand what did take place, so all

What roles did faith and reason play in the intellectual life of the Research Paper

What roles did faith and reason play in the intellectual life of the Middle Ages - Research Paper Example With this, the paper will explore the concept between faith and reason and how they contributed to the development of knowledge has been studied. With outcomes gathered from the said exploration, this paper came with the conclusion that not only did faith and reason function as a harmonious duo during the medieval era, both also needed each other in the first place to prosper and contribute to the intellectual life modern society is enjoying today. The Middle Ages is a timeline collection of many developments. Specifically, it was both a dark and colorful combination of social reconstruction, formed conflicts in the foreign landscape and the revolution and optimization of many different aspects in the society (â€Å"British History: Middle Ages†). Nevertheless, despite the bombardment of many occurrences, one important point of study regarding this period in history is the status of the time’s intellectual life. The construct that makes this a worthy object of attention lies in two molding factors—faith and reason. These two is said to have governed the intellectual presence of the middle ages. The main purpose of this paper then seeks to uncover what roles did faith and reason play in the medieval times that produced the level of intellectual outcome that defined the Middle Ages. Faith and the Medieval Times The discussion of the middle ages, as a point in history, is oftentimes associated with the prosperity of the Christian faith and its consequent contribution in the development of today’s theological thinking. Given that this particular faith is not shared by all of members of today’s population, the interpretation of the Middle Ages in relation to faith differs across academics, critics, historians, and the like. This difference can be considered as a problematic factor in the study of that point in history. The phenomenons where interpretive analysis of the medieval times has differed in extremes have been properly ackn owledged with a term. As per the work of Van Engen, the Christian Middle Ages could be considered as a â€Å"historiographical problem† (519). For others like Gilson, and similarly with that of Brown, focus of the work on the specific point in time has been devoted to attributing the full development of Christianity and the total characteristic of the faith during the middle ages. The bottom-line with this particular focus is that Christianity has played a major role during that time--affecting many aspects of societal life. Listening to Reason in the Middle Ages On a similar stance, reason during the Middle Ages has also been given an equal amount of attention by scholars and academics alike. The work of Alexander Murray has vastly tackled how reason affected the society during the given period. More importantly, the particular work has contrasted itself to be another definition of the medieval ages. Whereas the period was prominently known to be an era of faith due to its c entralization of Christianity, Murray has also given emphasis that reason also governed the said stage (page number). The work of Edward Grant has supported the previous author’s contention as he set his focus on the reason-oriented developments of the Middle Ages (1). In so doing, Grant have detailed that it was during the Middle Ages that the pillars of today’s politics and government have taken the form. Particularly, the emergence of â€Å"the nation state, parliaments, [and] democracy† (1) during the time could be viewed as the source of development for the governance of present day nations. Moreover, it was also during the same stage that foundations of commerce and banking have been established. However, if these achievements be tallied, the

An Organizational Culture. How Does It Affect The Decision And Essay

An Organizational Culture. How Does It Affect The Decision And Outcomes Of The Organization Can Organizational Culture Be Changed - Essay Example There is also no single definition of culture and it only involves assumptions, adaptations, perceptions, and learning that use symbols, language, ideologies, rituals, and myths in creating its beliefs, values and expectations. In a business setting, organizational culture is the shared philosophies, ideologies, values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, attitude, and norms that knit the organization together. All of these interrelated psychological qualities reveal a group agreement, implicit or explicit, on how to approach decisions and problems or how things are done in a specific organization. It manifests in behavioral norms, hidden assumptions, and human nature, each occurring at a different level of depth within the organization. Studies have showed that organizational cultures are influenced by national cultures. Organizational culture differs not only from one business or industry to another but also from one country to another. In fact, industry and business culture are im mensely influenced by national cultures. The dimensions of cultures between countries were categorized by Hofstede. Hoftstede formulated a cultural assessment tool whereby dimensions of one’s cultural strength can be assessed by assigning a scale ranging from 0 to 100 in the five cultural dimensions. This tool of Hofstede is a popular tool among managers who would like to understand another culture apart from their own. The five cultural dimensions of Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-Term Orientation; Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture in details are; Small vs. large power distance – This refers to how a society handles inequalities and the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. Individualism vs. collectivism  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Behavior towards community. The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups or are expected to look after themselves and self-actualize. Masculinity vs. femininity)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Behavior and roles distributed according to gender. (This dimension is often renamed by users of Hofstede’s work to Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life because one of the notable findings in the IBM studies revealed that in ‘masculine’ cultures, people (whether male or female) value competitiveness, assertiveness, ambition, and the accumulation of wealth and material possessions whereas in ‘feminine’ cultures, people (again whether male or female) value relationships and quality of life. Weak vs. strong uncertainty avoidance – This refers to the level of need for structure. Cultures with low uncertainty avoidance tend to accept risk and change and prefer implicit or flexible rules and guidelines. Long vs. short term orientation – How much society values long-standing, as opposed to short term, traditions and values. Cultures with high long-te rm orientation place strong importance on family, discipline and social obligations These varying organizational cultures affect the decision and outcomes of the organization in manner that it dictates or sets the phase on how things should be done in an organization and how should manager approach the workforce considering the prevailing culture. A positive culture is often cultivated by management to be able to increase the productivity of the organization while keeping the people happy which reinforces further the positive and cohesive organizational culture. A positive organizational culture benefits the business enterprise because of its higher productivity outcome. When organizational culture is positive, people are motivated and get things done faster not to mention that

Personal Development Plan Essay Example for Free

Personal Development Plan Essay Personal Development Planning Made Easy! A guide to recording experience and learning from it What is Personal Development Planning? Studying at university is not just about learning a lot of things that are fascinating in themselves but — at least in the case of most Arts subjects — rather disconnected from ‘the real world’. At the same time as you develop your knowledge of your subject and the skills required to perform well in it, you’re actually developing a whole range of skills and intellectual abilities that can be transferred to other areas of life, including your future employment. Arts subjects don’t generally equip you for a specific job; they actually equip you to undertake almost any job that doesn’t required specialised scientific training. Moreover, university life is intended to present you with all kinds of chances to develop yourself as an individual with a range of interests and experiences, and not just as someone reading books, writing essays and taking exams. An Arts graduate should be versatile, imaginative, critical, flexible, incisive, confident and articulate, and so ready for any challenge or task — if only you can recognise these abilities in yourself. This is where Personal Development Planning (PDP) comes in. With an ever-increasing number of well-qualified graduates entering the labour market each year, it is crucial to your success after completing your studies that you know exactly what skills you have to offer — academic, work-related and personal — when you start applying for jobs, and that you can provide solid evidence of those skills. Your studies will have helped you develop crucial transferable skills and personal atributes, and so will many of your extra-curricular activities; you just have to be able to articulate these to prospective employers. PDP helps you to keep track of what you’ve learned, how you learned it, and what you might do with that learning later on; it can also help you to plan for the future and to identify what skills or attributes you may need to develop in order to achieve your goals. Getting involved with PDP should help you to: †¢Consider what you really want to do †¢Make the right academic, personal and professional decisions †¢Set personal goals and targets †¢Identify programmes and extra-curricular opportunities and training to help you develop your skills †¢Plan ahead to achieve your goals Evaluate your own progress †¢Record different kinds of achievement Personal Development Planning is one part of your university ‘progress file’. This is not an actual document but a combination of any personal development planning activities that you engage in and record, as well as the formal academic transcript of your marks that your university provides you wit h at the end of your studies. It offers a detailed, rounded account of everything that you have achieved at university. In recent years, universities have become more aware that their students need to be highly employable, and that means not just graduating with a good degree but being able to demonstrate a whole range of skills and abilities that will help you to gain and maintain the employment you want. Getting used to setting targets for yourself and evaluating your progress now will stand you in good stead for success in your future working life, and one of the key aims of an Arts education at Bristol is to help you realise that learning is a truly life-long activity, not something that stops when you leave university. We want, therefore, to encourage you to reflect regularly on your performance; we aim to provide useful guidance on how to go about this, for example through this guide, and to provide regular opportunities for reflection and discussion, above all through the personal tutor system. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility for your own personal development, but we’ll do our best to help and support this process. Do I need Personal Development Planning? Try this self-evaluation exercise. For each of the following statements, rate your responses: strongly agree = 0; agree = 1; sort of agree = 2; disagree = 3; strongly disagree = 4. 1. I am certain that I can keep myself motivated towards achieving my degree for the next few years 2. I am very clear what my goals are for the next five years 3. I am confident that I have planned sufficiently to enable me to achieve my goals 4. I am very clear how my degree fits into my life plans 5. I am clear which skills employers are looking for 6.