The role of education within society especially in regard to the Essay

The role of education within society especially in regard to the interests of pupils and the social life - Essay Example The ability of children to respond to the challenges of school environment has been found to be differentiated in accordance with the conditions of the particular environment, as depended on the rules of education applied in the specific area, the support provided by teachers but also the personal perceptions and mode of behaviour, as being influenced by the family. Current paper focuses on the examination of the relationship between education and the interests of pupils; the potential relationship between education and social life is also reviewed, at the level that education is a critical part of each social framework. It is revealed that education can have a different role in different social conditions, meaning the social ethics and culture. Moreover, education is likely to be affected by the structure and the rules of each educational site, a fact that indicates the potential autonomy of educational institutes as of their priorities and principles. Also, it is verified that the interests of pupils are likely to be differently promoted in each school not only because of the existence of different social rules and ethics but also because of other factors, such as the infrastructure of each school (Heywood 2000), the perceptions of teachers (Chandra and Sharma), the local culture (Leclercq 2003) and the trends in local community (Nasr 1994), which may intervene more or less in the development of rules and principles of education.... In fact, education has been proved as being able to influence not just the life of individuals but also the life of the society. From this point of view, particular emphasis has been given on the identification of the criteria under which education can affect the life of humans but also the characteristics of societies within specific political conditions. Of particular importance seems to be the use of education as a means for achieving personal targets, meaning the development of specific skills and competencies but also the acquisition of valuable knowledge. In accordance with Noddings (2011) the first elements of the philosophy of education can be identified in the views of Plato. It is explained that Plato aimed to answer the following question, which is critical for the philosophy of education: ‘who should be educated and how’ (Noddings 2011, p.14). The analysis of Plato on education is based on the following principle:’ the human talents are analyzed along with the society’s needs so that to identify the role of education within a particular society’ (Noddings 2011, p.14). The above view on education is characterized as rather Utopian, taking into consideration the continuous changes on social needs and beliefs. On the other hand, John Dewey set more realistic criteria for deciding the structure and the priorities of education within modern societies. In accordance with the above theorist the actual role of education in the development of social and private life can be identified through the following method: the study of ‘the consequences of our choices’ (Noddings 2011, p.14). At the next level, Bailey (2010) noted that the potential effects of education on social life and on pupils

Blogs for innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Blogs for innovation - Essay Example During their arrival, Orchha was gradually emerging as a tourist attraction. Due to poverty and lack of knowledge in the region, it prevented the growth of tourism (Sisodia, 2013). As a result, Asha came up with a Village Home Stay program intended for Orchha village. The aim of the program was to exploit tourism opportunities in the region in order to enhance local economic development, education, cultural exchanges between locals and visitors as well as environmental protection. It had also to offer the people of Orchha with superior work opportunities, which would positively influence the individual life of the residents. In 2007, Asha founded Friends of Orchha with the aid of a few friends from Europe to enhance tourism that is socially responsible and one that would offer an opportunity for cultural exchanges and a source of income for the needy families (Sisodia, 2013). Friends of Orchha provided help to the poor families to build and renovate their courtyards that would be hired to visitors. The families were engaged to participate voluntarily in the construction of three homestays. At that particular moment, the families were unable to carry on their main activity, which was farming that was brought to a halt by drought from 2003 to 2007 (Sisodia, 2013). Therefore, they had no capital to invest, and the organization had to set up a revolving fund, which helped to build the first three home stays. Participating families provided labor in building the sanitary block and rooms. In 2009, the first room was rented out and since then the home stay has hosted more than 500 visitors from different countries. The exploiting of the tourism opportunities improved the economic conditions of the residents as well as their live style (Sisodia, 2013). With this regard, I agree with the case as it attempts to point out issues in operating gainful employment amongst a large rural population in India. It addresses that the inability to dialogue in spoken

Iphone vs android Essay Example for Free

Iphone vs android Essay Over the years technology has been improving in terms of entertainment, social media, and communication. Today, smart phones are a verification of this improving technology, but how do we decide which one is the better device? IPhone and Android are the latest most powerful operating systems out on the market. There are advantages and disadvantages to both cellular devices, and the ongoing competition will improve the smartphones for years to come. Affordability and durability are the two key factors when it comes to purchasing a smart phone. Apple and Google have gone head to head on competing for the best products. Most people assume that the expensive device has better durability and can be used longer. Price wise the Android phones ranges anywhere from one hundred to three hundred dollars. In contrast, the iPhone price range is between two hundred to six hundred dollars. Most Android users report that they have dropped their phone multiple times and have not had major damage to their phone. On the other hand, iPhone users state that the front screen display can be shattered easily because of the front screen glass like display, and replacing the screen can often cost more than the phone itself. There is a wider range of android phones as they are made by a variety of manufactures. Android gives you the flexibility to choose from many different colors, sizes or distinct features. The iPhone is restricted and limited to one model each year, but recently Apple has now developed two phones with different colors to match your personal preference. Nonetheless, Apple phones have the same features. While these phones are more powerful and fun than any other smartphone, that fun comes with a price. Any smartphone user will recharge their phone almost  every couple of hours. The cellular data network on each phone drains the battery the most, because we use it daily either for social networks or important information for homework. A smartphone without applications is nothing but an ordinary dull phone. The applications are the hub of the operating system. Both the iPhone and Android have app stores which are the Apple App store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android. According to recent news, each store now has about 700,000 apps. Many of the apps are free for both stores, but Apple on the other hand has a reputation for being pricey. Its also worth noting that Android is still the second option for big companies developing applications. Many applications exist for both devices. It’s logical that the main focus is on releasing and updating the paid applications before the free ones. Each operating system has voice activated assistants which is an app on the android called S-Voice app and the well-known Siri for the iPhone. Siri is admired and amazingly beneficial to all the iPhone users. The voice activated assistants on each device, is an automated assistant that responds when one speaks to it, as if you were speaking to a person. There is also a free Android app called Robin, which pursues to rival Siri. Both of these devices contain a guided navigation system which help in getting around the local area. Apple Maps which is an app for the iPhone and Google Maps for Android. Google Maps allows the use of Googles Street View; Apple Maps does not. When using the GPS on the iPhone there have been complaints on how the GPS guides them to an unusual location rather than the original destination. The GPS for Android users is accurate and more reliable to use especially when going on road trips. Web Browser on Apple Safari for the iPhone and Google Chrome are both fine choices which work well on a mobile screen and offer touch screen capabilities, zooming in for instance is an example. In comparison the two phones have incredibly fast internet and it is basically like having a computer in your pocket at all times. Adobe Flash is available on the Android, and it aids in website where a user interface is needed and here is where Android has the advantage. A function that many people can’t seem to live without is the ability to text message. Both of these phones contain the ability to text, not just with one’s fingers but by just by talking to the phone’s speaker. This function is beneficial, because instead of a phone call that might take up your time, you can just send a message within  seconds. IPhone and Android phones are currently the latest, in demand phones. Some people wonder what the difference between the two is, or if they are just the same. Technology changes every day and there’s always new and different phones on the market. Ultimately it’s the user’s preference on which device they would like to purchase.

The Competitive Advantages Of Effective Knowledge Management Commerce Essay

The Competitive Advantages Of Effective Knowledge Management Commerce Essay Today, the future and the value of a company depends on provide the new product and service quickly and timely in order to meet the needs that always change in the market. Thus, I believe that knowledge is the more importance factor than land or capitals to create a competitive advantage for enterprises. And now, this essay will discuss more about the value of managing knowledge and some competitive advantages that can be created through knowledge management in the company. Then, I would like to discuss about the In addition, this essay is also talk about the leadership and managerial skills in the organization by implementing successfully KM. DISCUSSION ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: Data, Information, Knowledge: Nowadays, we are living in an age of information that we can find easy through television, internet, magazines etc. But not all information is reliable. Transforming information into knowledge within the organization is an advantage. However, not all managers have able to do it. Thus, the first thing I want to discuss about the difference between data, information and knowledge in order to transform raw data into meaningful information. Data is the raw material. It can be a set of discrete facts and exist in any form such as number, symbols, imaging etc. Data represents unorganized and unprocessed facts. Data is transformed into information by adding value through context, sorting, calculating, analysis and evaluation. Information can be considered as a processed data. Data and information are everywhere but knowledge is hard to get. You need information in order to get knowledge. However, knowledge is not information. Information is only becomes knowledge when you have able to realize and understand specific purpose of it. Knowledge is usually come from learning, thinking or taking experiences in a particular area. Knowledge has two types: Explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the visible knowledge. You can find them easily through book, documents, reports, films, magazines, etc. The explicit knowledge is easily transferable. In contrast, tacit knowledge is the knowledge that put in your mind. Simply, tacit knowledge is the personal experience, skills and hard to transferable. For example: Each pastry cook can made Tiramisu cake with different flavors, although all of them use with the same Tiramisu Cake recipe. Some cake are delicious, some cake are bad. Because skilled pastry cook has not shown own experiences in recipe. May be, they can add some special ingredients to make their cakes with good flavorful. This is the tacit knowledge. They did not share their experiences as well as knowledge for everyone. I think this is the importance aspect in the organization. The managers must look for ways to employees can share tacit knowledge together in a particular sector. Tha ts also the objective of knowledge management. Knowledge management: Knowledge Management (KM) can be defined as the logical process that helps people to use knowledge effectively and efficiently. Knowledge management is the process the company uses to measure the value of the intellectual value of each employee in the company. Moreover, it is the process used to evaluate and track key metrics associated with the organization of intellectual property can be used to create better services, products and value to shareholders of the corporation. There are many different knowledge management life cycles. They are made by Wiig (Wiig Knoeldge management cycle 1993), Zack (Zack Knowledge Management Cycle 1996), Nickols (Nickols Knowledge Management Cycle 1999), McElroy (McElroy Knowledge Management Cycle 1999), Rollet (Rollet Knowledge Management Cycle 2003), Bukowitz Williams (BW Knowledge management cycle 20003). Actually, they have some common steps and meaning. However, each cycle has its own characteristic. Look at the table below for comparison. Nickols (1999) Wigg (1993) McElroy (1999) Rollet (2003) Bukowitz Williams (2003) Zack (1996) Acquisition Creation Individual and group learning Planning Get Acquisition Organization Sourcing Knowledge claim validation Creation Use Refinement Specialization Complication Information acquisition Integrating Learn Distribution Store/ access Transformation Knowledge validation Organizing Contribute Presentation Retrieve Dissemination Knowledge Integration Transferring Assess Distribution Application Maintaining Build/ sustain Conservation Value realization Assessing Divest Source: Adapted from Kimiz Dalkir, Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice (Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth, 2005), pp. 27. Competitive advantages: Although there are many different perspectives on knowledge management, however the general objective of knowledge management is look for ways to employees share and learn knowledge as well as experiences together. Thats not only help employees improve the expertise knowledge, but also the knowledge management can create the competitive advantages and enhance value for enterprises. As you know, human resource is the valuable asset in organization. If the organization can use this resource effectively, organization will become very strong. Knowledge management can give all the employees in organization many opportunities to show ideas and innovation. Therefore, organization can have more opportunities and advantages than competitors. The employees can share expertise knowledge, experiences or passion together. Thats also make all of the employees in organization more closer and understand  each other  better In addition, transforming from tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge is not only help improve expertise knowledge of employees, but also help the organization have enough capable of responding promptly to the change in personnel. And now, I would like to give you a reality example as well as an incident by not applying knowledge management in organization.   It occurred in my familys restaurant in three years ago. When my manager intends to open a restaurant of his own, he has left the restaurant. The important thing, he has taken away all the experience, the trade secret and a lot of good employees and the relationships. Then he became a competitor with my restaurant. During that period, my restaurant encountered a lot of trouble and business performance decreased seriously. Another example, at Tam Viet Group in 2007, a vice president has left the company and he established an own company to direct competitive with the Tam Viet. By applying knowledge management, all these knowle dge such as customer relationships, unfinished projects, etc. were acquired and stored by all other employees. Therefore, Tam Vietnamese were not affected. Additionally, Knowledge management can also give to the enterprise with high adaptability in the rapidly changing marketplace. The competitors are always updates their products and services better to meet the demand of customer. Therefore, most of the successful enterprises are always catch information and transfer them rapidly. By applying the knowledge management, the enterprises can easily compete with other competitors. The organization can launch new products with the higher quality than competitors at the same cost. The employees can save time through making decision or solving the problems quickly and exactly. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ON SUPPORTING MANAGERIAL PRACTICES: Similar to those competitive advantages that I mentioned above, knowledge management can help manager so much in practices. Firstly, the employees have a freely environment to performance themselves. The employees can share and learn knowledge, experiences, idea together. Therefore, the manager can collects and exploits tacit knowledge or innovation in order to enhance competitor advantage for the organization. Additionally, KM can help manager make decision timely and exactly by capturing,  analyzing  and  conversing  of information logically. In addition, the manager will have enough response to device with changing of the marketplace as well as the human resources. Leadership and managerial skills: A manager needs to have a good leadership to change products, systems and people efficiency. A good leader must have capacity to accelerate the process to decide a matter and to make process work effectively and quickly. It is a difficult problem. A good manager should have more diverse skills in order to have enough capable of handling all of problems in the organization. The first skill is the information technology (IT) skill. I think this is the key For example: in my first internship at ACB bank, I can get information of customer trading history via CIC.org.vn website. You will save more time for get information of customer. Thats progress of technology. Thats also the reason the manager should have a good IT skill to support the management easier and faster. In the high technology age, a good manager should know to take advantage of technology to support for the management and sharing knowledge in the organization. If so, companies will have more competitive advantages than competitors. In addition, a manager should also build a trust and respect relationship with employees. Listening skill is also important. As a manager, you should build an open structure. I mean that you should gap of discrimination between superiors and subordinates. The subordinate can easily meet and express freely their opinions to you. Listening will help you clearly understand about your staffs in order to make decisions fairer and more accurate. Lets change the last skill that I want to discuss is the communication skill. In my opinion, communication is the most difficult and complicates skill of the manager. According to John Quincy Adams If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. Its a great statement. A manager has to know create motivation for employees in order to they have enthusiasm and try their best to work. The motivation is not only based on the high salary, but also based on the workplace. A manager can adapts communities of practice (COP) program in the company. COP is considered as a group of people hold together by sharing the knowledge, experiences, ideas or something like that. COP program can provide a place for employees in particular areas or require employees work in team to share methods or tacit knowledge and mutual support. Thus, the employees can improve their knowledge; learn more about the experiences and more closer. Besides that, manager s hould also consider one of the challenges of communication, the different cultures. Especially is the multinational company. this is a new step to the understanding by employing individuals from various backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles. Perceptual, Cultural and language barriers are a challenge to be overcome when a company work in the global orientated environment. It affects team spirit, work efficiency, directly affect the business situation of the company. Moreover, it is the cause of lack of teamwork, morale low. The different culture can affect a company and its success in variety of ways. CONCLUTION: In conclusion, the knowledge management is a new way to develop your company in the future. From the very beginning, the essay discussed some basic concept of the knowledge management for you. As you can see the next part talked about the competitive advantages that the company can take from KM. There are so many, for example: using human resource effectively, transferring from tacit knowledge to deficit knowledge, etc. Moreover, the knowledge management will help the managers in many ways. And, of course, the managers have to learn and develop his/her skills to managing knowledge. There are some basic skills that a manager should have are listening skills, IT skills, etc. In the knowledge economy, knowledge management has more impacts on organizations. Applying knowledge management is considered as a key for success organization. The strong organization always has a good knowledge management. Rà µ rà  ng trong nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n kinh tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ hià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i hÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºng tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c, vai trà ² cà ¡Ã‚ »a quà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £n là ½ tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ © là   và ´ cà ¹ng quan trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng. Nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u khà ´ng à ½ thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c Ä‘ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ u nà  y mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t cà ¡ch Ä‘Ã ºng Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯n, nguy cÆ ¡ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢n thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c rà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ xà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £y ra và   mang là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ng thià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i khà ³ cà ³ thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ tà ­nh toà ¡n hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t. Tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c cÃ…Â ©ng nhÆ ° nguà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"n nhà ¢n là ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±c là   yà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng cà ²n cho sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ± tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"n tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i cà ¡Ã‚ »a mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c. Tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t nhià ªn, Ãƒâ€žÃ¢â‚¬Ë œÃƒ ¢y là   mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t khà ¡i nià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡m cà ²n mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi nhÆ °ng mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c cà ¡Ã‚ ºn phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i chà ¡Ã‚ » Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢ng nghià ªn cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©u và   và ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­n dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥ng sà ¡ng tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡o. Quà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £n là ½ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœt tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c là   hià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™u rà µ Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £n thà ¢n, bià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c Ä‘ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™m mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh và   Ä‘ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™m yà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u cà ¡Ã‚ »a mà ¬nh Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « Ä‘Ã ³ Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  ra nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ng bià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n phà ¡p gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·t hà ¡i thà  nh cà ´ng trong nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n kinh tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ tri thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c.

The Constraints of Poverty Essay -- Essays on Poverty

The constraints of poverty can cause a cycle of poor mental and physical heath (Dittmann, 2003). Poverty causes many problems for the people facing it up front everyday. Not only do they go without many necessities, they also face a tremendous amount of stress all the time. The amount of stress combined with the lack of necessities produces extreme health problems. Poor people have to deal with an unhealthy living environment that creates serious mental and physical health problems. Economic status definitely effects health in many ways. Most people in poverty don't exactly live in the best areas. Actually, many of them reside in some of the worst places imaginable. Imagine being so afraid to walk out of your front door because you could get robbed of your last ten dollars or shot by a gang of drug dealers. This is a nightmare that many poor people have to call life. Violence is only a small part of the stress that people in poverty deal with. They also have to live in crowded public apartments, also known as ghettos. These people live day to day facing the cold reality that they will probably never move up in the social ladder or even out of the dreadful ghetto. Another problem is the location of the public housing. Since the public apartments are government funded they are located on the cheapest real estate available. The cheapest real estate is usually near a major interstate or an industrial area with many factories. The pollution produced by th e roadways and factories saturates the communities in poverty, in return creating many breathing problems for the residents. Numerous physical health problems are produced from low socioeconomic status. The negative consequences of poor nutrition and poor heal... ... Works Cited Dittmann, M. (2003). The social class factor. Monitor on Psychology, 34, Article 9. Retrieved November 13, 2004, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct03/socialclass.html. HÃ ©bert, R. (2003). In sickness or in wealth. Observer, 16, Article 11. Retrieved November 13, 2004, from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1420. McLeod, J. & Shanahan, M. (1996). Trajectories of poverty and children's mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37, 207-220. Myers, J. & Gill, C. (2004). Poor, rural and female: understudied, under-counseled, more at-risk. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 26, 225-242.

Japan History :: Japanese Culture, Shinto

Shinto Shinto is the aboriginal spirituality followed by the Japanese people. In the 8th century, Shinto practices were for the first time, archived in codified records of history of the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. Shinto today is a term that is related to community shrines matched with various human ceremonies like historical memorials, marriage, harvest festivals and worship. People who practice Shinto express their varied values with a standard way of communication and activities, implementing similar ancient dress code and rituals. There are two main Buddhism branches in existence and Mahayana is one of them. The term Mahayana means great vehicle. The origin of Mahayana Buddhism is India (Mason & Caiger 98). Out of the two major Buddhism traditions in existence today, Mahayana is the largest. The Mahayana traditions teach that the tradition is a path of quest, for absolute enlightenment for the benefit of all mortal beings. Mahayana is also referred to as Bodhisattvayana (Mason & Caiger 98). The history of Mahayana shows the spread of the tradition from India to other Asian countries. Mahayana Buddhism traditions exist even today. The Heian period is a historical time in Japanese history, happened between the years 794 to 1185. During this period, Buddhism, Taioism and other Chinese traditions were at peak (Morton & Olenik 23). The Heian period was named after the capital Heian-kvo, the modern Kyoto City. It was also the peak of the Japanese imperial court. The period is noted for its literature, art and poetry (Morton & Olenik 23). During this period, the Imperial house had the power although the real power was held by the noble Fujiwara clan who had intermarried with the Japanese emperor. In Japanese, the term Heian means peace and tranquility. The establishment of Kamakura shogunate in Japan happened after the then ruling Taira clan was defeated in Genpei war. Kamakura shogunate was headed by shoguns (Mason & Caiger 158). The shoguns were hereditary military dictators of Japan. The shogunate was based in kamakura, and controlled the entire nation. Court Life in Heian Japan The Heian period saw the Fujiwara clan hold the real power. The Fujiwala clan was noble and so, they had great influence on politics and culture in Japan (Mason & Caiger 249). The noble families’ life was focused on manners and beauty guided by a powerful civil code called miyabi. At the Kyoto court, etiquette, appearance and self-discipline were stressed (Mason & Caiger 106).

Deontological Ethics and Emanuel Kant Essay

Describe Kant’s theory of Duty as the basis of morality (33 marks). Emanuel Kant was a German Philosopher who lived in the late 18th century and was arguably one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He came up with a guide to morals in direct opposition to teontological or consequential theories. Many people use his ethics as a guide to living a moral life, but what exactly is Kant’s ethics? How did he believe we should face moral problems and how can we apply it in our every day lives? Instead of situation based theories his theory was deontological ethics. This is a very absolute and objective form of ethics, which has been worked out using a rational thinking process. Kant believed that an ethical theory should be universalisable to be morally correct. This means it must be able to be applied to everyone all over the world regardless of situations or circumstances. Kant believed for this to be possible it must contain something that was ‘unconditionally and universally good’. This must me something that is ‘intrinsically good’ which is good in itself, the highest good ‘without qualification’. This thing that determines the moral worth of our actions cannot be instrumentally good, something that only becomes good pending the results of the action or like some things such as happiness, which are possible of making a situation morally worse. Kant believed that there was only one thing that is the right thing for us to do in any situation to make us morally correct. He said that ‘a morally good man is a man of good will’. Kant said that it was ‘impossible to conceive anything in the world as good without qualification, except good will’. For something to be of good will, it is not dependent on the goodness of what it effects or accomplishes. If it were, then it could not be considered to be of unconditional value and intrinsic goodness for it would become a ‘means to an end not an end in itself’. This leads us to therefore conclude that the consequences of any moral action are irrelevant. Kant describes the most important thing as being ‘not what the act accomplishes but the motive behind the act’ (Moral Problems – M Palmer). However we may ask what exactly is the right motive to have? Kant simply states that ‘ a good wills only motive is to act for the sake of duty’. For an act to be universally, intrinsically good in itself, it must not be done because of its consequences, nor from self-interest, fear or as a means to an end, rather only because it is our soul duty to do it. We should always act for duties sake simply because it is the right thing to do. We need to be very clear as to what this specifically entails. Kant is saying that we can not do a moral act because of self-interest. This is understandable because if we are doing it merely because we get something good out of it i.e. a reward or a good name then we are not doing it because we simply know it is the right thing to do. However we also need to be aware that this also includes the idea that we can not do a moral act because it comes naturally to us. We cannot do it because we derive pleasure or enjoyment from doing something we know is right or because we will feel good about ourselves if we help other people. This is because we are doing it indirectly for self-pleasure and this again is wrong, it does not include the presence of good will. Even if duty does coincides with what we naturally do, it does not make the act intrinsically good because we are doing it for another reason besides doing it because we know it is our duty to do so. The fact that we happen to be doing what duty prescribes is just luck. It is wrong because the moment anything that duty says we should do becomes something we no longer enjoy, we won’t do it. We cannot be for example honest as long as it pleases us to do so. Kant therefore concludes that ‘this will fails to be good will, just as if they had acted from self-interest. So far Kant has told us that a morally good person is a ‘man of good will’ and that a man of good will is one that follows where his duty lies. This is done for the very reason that it is the right thing to do and we have a responsibility to do it. It does not come from self-interest, calculating consequences, looking at specific circumstances or from pleasure out of doing something for someone else. However we still need to know ‘where our duty lies’ and what it is exactly that we are supposed to do to become man of good will who does what duty foretells him to do. We can be sure however that because it is a deontological argument, that we have an absolute principle to follow that does not look at consequences of particular actions or changes in certain situations. It is absolute and definite and we can be sure that there are no exceptions to the rule. We also know that it has to be universably applicable ‘to everyone irrespective of their situation’ (M Palmer – Moral Problems). It therefore must contain something that all humans have in common so we can all know where our duty lies in different situations and Kant believed that this was Reason or rationality. He said that humans are rational beings, we are all capable of resolving problems using reason. We all have an innate intellectual power that we are born with which we can use to work out rationally where our duty lies. Kant believed that it was unacceptable to look at consequences of a particular action and then decide if we should do it or not because there is not enough evidence for us to make a proper decision from. Rather we need to look at the actual experience of moral obligation and this is the feeling of what we think we ‘ought to do’. Following what our duty prescribes involves the idea that what we feel we ‘ought’ to do is what is right. We should all have a feeling of moral obligation; we all know the good and right thing to do so therefore we should do it. Therefore our duty becomes to obey our rational thinking which prescribes what the morally correct thing we ought to do is. However, we still have not established what the ‘supreme principle of morality is’. This one rule that we all must follow as a means to our rational thinking is something which Kant calls the categorical imperative. By imperative we mean something that tells us what actions would be good in the form of a command, usually using the words ‘I ought’. A categorical imperative therefore is an act that is solely good in itself or intrinsically good. The act is done because of the very ‘nature’ of the act itself and not to achieve something else as a means to it. It is done only ‘for its own sake’ and is free from ulterior beneficial motives. On the other hand we have hypothetical imperatives as an opposite. These acts are done because of a desire to achieve something else. For example if I exercise more I will become fitter. It tells us what acts are good as a means to something else. Palmer uses the example of telling the truth to illustrate the difference between the two. A categorical imperative would be ‘tell the truth’ because it is good in itself and always is the right thing to do. The hypothetical imperative would be ‘if you want to be trusted, tell the truth’ because we are gaining something for ourselves by doing the right thing i.e. we are trusted. Once we know the distinctive feature of the principle of morality, we can analyse it more deeply so we can specifically know exactly what it is that defines a moral act as being good. Kant said that a morally good act had intrinsic value. This is where something is good and valuable in itself. The very nature of them makes them valuable regardless of anything else. For example Kant believed that Humans were of intrinsic value and therefore should be treated as an ‘end in themselves’. The opposite to this is therefore is instrumental valuable which is when something is good only because of what it can achieve and therefore is treated as a ‘means to an end’. Kant said this is not how we should treat other human’s i.e. to use them to gain something for ourselves. He is saying that all humans should be treated equally and the same, we should treat everyone as we would treat ourselves. So for example, racism would always be wrong in the eyes of Kant. This links to the Christian idea of the Golden rule to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ which Jesus, the ultimate example of human goodness, instructed his people to follow. The final and key feature that Kant placed emphasis on when concerning the categorical imperative was the acts ability to be universalisable. A key quote he used was ‘ I ought never to act in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law’. By this he is implying a method we can use to see exactly what laws are good because they have ‘moral worth’. Kant stated that if the law can be applied to everyone in the world without being contradicted then it is good. For example we can universalise the maxim ‘do not murder’ to all of society regardless of any situation without there being contradictions. By contradiction, Kant means one of two things, Contradiction in the Will or Nature. If we cannot universalise an act because of either one of these contradictions then we must conclude that it is morally wrong. By contradiction in the law of nature, Kant is referring to rules that cannot be applied because they are ‘straightforwardly self contradictory’ – (M Palmer – Moral Problems). The maxim or rule can not be applied universally because it contradicts the laws of nature meaning it physically is impossible to do. For example the maxim ‘never speak until you are spoken to first’ is not possible to keep because if everyone applied it then no one would talk at all because we would always be waiting to be spoken to. From this we can see that following this maxim would not be the good thing to do. The Contradiction in the will is not when something contridicts itself, rather a maxim that the person involved ‘could not possibly want to see universalised’ (Palmer). We may find that if it was applied universally we could be in the situation where we would not want everyone to apply it because it would help us if they didn’t. For example the maxim ‘do not give money to the poor’ because we may find ourselves one day, through no fault of our own, poor and homeless and then we would want people to give money to us to help us survive. Kant gave one simple rule to following universalisabiltiy and this was ‘ Act only on a maxim through which you can at the same time will that it be a universal law’. With this he prescribed a formula which we can all follow to see if a maxim is universalisable. Before acting we have to ask what rule we would be following if we carried out this act and this is the maxim. Then we are to ask ourselves if it was possible and would we would be willing for it to be followed by everyone at all times in all places. If it cannot then it is a contradiction in either the law of nature or in the will. Then quite simply, if it can be universalised do it, if not then don’t. In conclusion we can see that to follow Kants deontological ethics we must ‘act solely in accordance to duty and for the sake of duty only’ (Palmer – Moral Problems). It has been a very popular theory, which many people follow, sometimes without being aware of it. However we do need to ask is it of practical use in out lives today? Can we honestly say that it is useful, practical and realistic when making moral decisions? In my next section I shall be looking at these questions in a little more depth to see if we can logically come up with an answer.