The Apology Of Socrates--Themes Death Sophists Ignorance Essays

The Apology Of Socrates--Themes Death Sophists Ignorance The Apology of Socrates In Athens between 429?347 B.C. a trail took place against Socrates where Plato made a speech in front of a council of 500 members. Plato wrote the Apology because Socrates was sentenced to death for dissuasion against state religion and corrupting young people. In the beginning, it seems like he is trying to split his accusers into two groups (old and new) to show that he has been accused many years of his life and the new accusers should be the only ones looked at because the old accusers did not appear in court. He was also allowed to cross-examine his accusers and make his own defense (Mack 502). Usually, at that time in Athens, the accusers say what they wanted the sentence to be and if it was death, it was natural for the accused to ask to be banished. However, he refused to disobey laws and already said that he did not want to live in another foreign country (Mack 499). Socrates focused mainly on themes of interest are ignorance, death and sophistry. Sophists were traveling teachers that sold their services to rich parents and promised to teach their kids important things that would help them advance in life. They are defined as ?men of wisdom? and that is exactly what Socrates tried to distinguish himself from (Allen 39-40). It seems that sophists can make humans great because there was an example given by Socrates that said ?if your two sons were colts and calves, we could get an overseer for them and hire them and he would be either a horse-trainer or a farmer (Allen 40).? Socrates denies the knowledge of having human excellence and claims to only have a certain type of wisdom and he never did charge for his services. So overall, Socrates identifies himself as an anti-sophist, although some of his techniques are suggestive of otherwise. The second most stressed theme would be the term ignorance. Socrates frequently confesses that he is ignorant (Allen 40-42). Socrates says that he only has ?human wisdom? and he claims that he knows that he is not wise: ?I know that I am not wise at all; what then does God mean by saying I am wisest In the oracle's saying, ?no one is wiser than Socrates (Allen 40-44).? Socrates knows that he is not wise and doubts what the oracle says and sets out to test it. He sets out to find someone that is wiser than he is. First, he went looking among the politicians and philosophers and then he found out that poets were the worst interpreters of their own writing and therefore was not wiser than he was (Allen 41-42). He finds someone who is wise and he thinks that the person is wise also but it turns out that the man was not wise at all and by unrevealing that he is not lead to a bad reputation and hatred of Socrates. Then he says that he is much wiser than the man is because he does not prete nd to possess much knowledge so in other words his wisdom lies in acknowledging his own ignorance. Socrates sums his theory up by saying that the oracle was right and that human wisdom is worth ?little or nothing (Allen 43).? The oracle intended to apply, not to Socrates, but to all men who knew that their wisdom is worth nothing (Allen 43). The third most stressed theme is death. This began with Meletus (second class of accusers) saying that Socrates is an atheist and he was corrupting the youth: ?I mean that. You acknowledge no gods at all (Allen 47).? Meletus goes on how that Socrates is an atheist and says, ?not when he says the Sun is a stone and the Moon earth? which means Meletus has confounded Socrates with Anaxagoras, which said these things (Allen 47). Therefore, Socrates put Meletus down and said no one should believe him and that Meletus probably cannot even believe in himself: ?You cannot be believed, Meletus?even, I think, by yourself? (Allen 47). Someone asked Socrates ?Are you ashamed that now you may be put to death? and he had a reply

Battle of Verdun in World War I

Battle of Verdun in World War I The Battle of Verdun was fought during World War I (1914-1918) and lasted from February 21, 1916 until December 18, 1916. The longest and largest battle fought on the Western Front during the conflict, Verdun saw German forces attempt to gain the high ground around the city while drawing the French reserves into a battle of annihilation. Striking on February 21, the Germans made early gains until increasing French resistance and the arrival of reinforcements turned the battle into a grinding, bloody affair. Fighting continued through the summer and saw the French commence counterattacks in August. This was followed by a major counteroffensive on October which ultimately reclaimed much of the ground lost earlier in the year to the Germans. Ending in December, the Battle of Verdun soon became an iconic symbol of French resolve to defend their country. Background By 1915, the Western Front had become a stalemate as both sides engaged in trench warfare. Unable to achieve a decisive breakthrough, offensives simply resulted in heavy casualties with little gain. Seeking to shatter the Anglo-French lines, the German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn began planning a massive assault on the French city of Verdun. A fortress town on the Meuse River, Verdun protected the plains of Champagne and the approaches to Paris. Surrounded by rings of forts and batteries, Verduns defenses had been weakened in 1915, as artillery was shifted to other sections of the line (Map). Despite its reputation as a fortress, Verdun was selected as it was located in a salient in German lines and could only be supplied by a single road, the Voie Sacrà ©e, from a railhead located at Bar-le-Duc. Conversely, the Germans would be able to attack the city from three sides while enjoying a much stronger logistical network. With these advantages in hand, von Falkenhayn believed that Verdun would only be able to hold out for a few weeks. Shifting forces to the Verdun area, the Germans planned to launch the offensive on February 12, 1916 (Map). The Late Offensive Due to poor weather, the attack was postponed until February 21. This delay, coupled with accurate intelligence reports, allowed the French to shift two divisions of the XXXth Corps to the Verdun area prior to the German assault. At 7:15 AM on February 21, the Germans commenced a ten-hour bombardment of the French lines around the city. Attacking with three army corps, the Germans moved forward utilizing storm troopers and flamethrowers. Staggered by the weight of the German attack, the French were forced to fall back three miles on the first day of fighting. On the 24th, troops of XXX Corps were compelled to abandon their second line of defense but were buoyed by the arrival of the French XX Corps. That night the decision was made to shift General Philippe Petains Second Army to the Verdun sector. Bad news for the French continued the next day as Fort Douaumont, northeast of the city, was lost to German troops. Taking command at Verdun, Petain reinforced the citys fortifications and laid out new defensive lines. On the final day of the month, French resistance near the village of Douaumont slowed the enemy advance, allowing the citys garrison to be reinforced. Changing Strategies Pushing forward, the Germans began to lose the protection of their own artillery, while coming under fire from French guns on the west bank of the Meuse. Pounding German columns, French artillery badly bled the Germans at Douaumont and ultimately forced them to abandon the frontal assault on Verdun. Changing strategies, the Germans began assaults on the flanks of the city in March. On the west bank of the Meuse, their advance focused on the hills of Le Mort Homme and Cote (Hill) 304. In a series of brutal battles, they succeeded in capturing both. This accomplished, they began assaults east of the city. Focusing their attention on Fort Vaux, the Germans shelled the French fortification around the clock. Storming forward, German troops captured the forts superstructure, but a savage battle continued in its underground tunnels until early June. As the fighting raged, Petain was promoted to lead the Centre Army Group on May 1, while General Robert Nivelle was given command of the front at Verdun. Having secured Fort Vaux, the Germans pushed southwest against Fort Souville. On June 22, they shelled the area with poison diphosgene gas shells before launching a massive assault the next day. French General Philippe PetainGeneral Robert Nivelle30,000 men (Feb. 21, 1916) Germans Erich von FalkenhaynCrown Prince Wilhelm150,000 men (Feb. 21, 1916) Casualties Germany - 336,000-434,000France - 377,000 (161,000 killed, 216,000 wounded) French Moving Ahead Over several days of fighting, the Germans initially had success but met increasing French resistance. While some German troops reached the top of Fort Souville on July 12, they were forced to withdraw by French artillery. The battles around Souville marked farthest German advance during the campaign. With the opening of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, some German troops were withdrawn from Verdun to meet the new threat. With the tide stemmed, Nivelle began planning a counter-offensive for the sector. For his failure, von Falkenhayn was replaced by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg in August. On October 24, Nivelle began attacking the German lines around the city. Making heavy use of artillery, his infantry was able to push the Germans back on the east bank of the river. Forts Douaumont and Vaux were recaptured on October 24 and November 2, respectively, and by December, the Germans had been nearly forced back to their original lines. The hills on the west bank of the Meuse were retaken in a localized offensive in August 1917. Aftermath The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War I. A brutal battle of attrition, Verdun cost the French an estimated 161,000 dead, 101,000 missing, and 216,000 wounded. German losses were approximately 142,000 killed and 187,000 wounded. After the war, von Falkenhayn claimed that his intention at Verdun was not to win a decisive battle  but rather to bleed the French white by forcing them to make a stand at a place from which they could not retreat. Recent scholarship has discredited these statements as von Falkenhayn attempting to justify the campaigns failure. The Battle of Verdun has assumed an iconic place in French military history as a symbol of the nations determination to defend its soil at all costs.

Smith and Marx Document Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Smith and Marx Document Analysis - Essay Example The Wealth of Nations (1776) composed by Adam Smith is a historical text which advances the idea of capitalism. Capitalism sets the foundation for America’s government and economy. Adam Smith’s view is to encourage a liberalization of the world market with no barriers to trade. Smith lives and writes The Enlightenment period of world history during which the light of reason shines. Revolutions are being kindled; old social orders are being done away and free-thinkers emerge with new perspectives. Regimes such as aristocracy, monarchy and feudalism begin to experience the action of undermining and another group is surging into power, the nouveau-riches – a people who earn fortunes from industry. Absolute control is no longer pleasing to the enlightened ear. Instead, independence obtains wide currency. According to the Communist Manifesto, the essence of history comprises of class struggle. Marx and Engels commence with the statement that "the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles." The Marxist document launches into a narrative explaining that from the dawn of Greco-Roman civilization to the time of the manifesto’s publication, history has its roots deep in the conflict of dual ideologies. One dominant camp, â€Å"the oppressor,† seeks to retain a monopoly on wealth and power; whereas the recessive consisting of â€Å"the oppressed† serves to fulfill the interests of the powerful. The divergence of ideas engenders both overt and subtle war between ruling and servant classes. Again,  Marx  and Engels reiterate that â€Å"the history of all past society has consisted in the development of class antagonisms† (The Communist Manifesto). The pyramidal structure or gradation of society remains as a threat to harmony among social classes. From antiquity to modernity, the dichotomous conflict with respect to class

Inherited and Environmental Influences on Development Essay

Inherited and Environmental Influences on Development - Essay Example According to the findings, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1979) explains that the behavior and development of an individual is an interplay of the individual’s biological and personality factors, his environment and the society and culture he was born into. Bronfenbrenner also claims that effects of interactions between the individual and his environment are two-directional or characterized by reciprocity. This means that while a child’s development is influenced and molded by his family, school and peers, he likewise influences and molds the behavior of others. The growing child moves through five systems that inter-relate and affect his development. The most basic of which is the microsystem, where direct contacts between the child and his immediate surroundings result in behaviors such as dependence or independence and cooperation or competition. An example of this is the home base of the child and his relationship with his family. The pure culture of the society this family lives in greatly influences how this family lives and how the child imbibes the culture as he expresses it in his developing personality. The mesosystem comprises the linkages and processes that take place between two or more settings with the child in common. A perfect example is how learning in school is supported by follow up lessons in the home. The third level comprising linkages and processes taking place between two or more settings is the exosystem. This includes at least one setting that does not directly involve the child but still influences the processes within the immediate setting of the child. An example is the parent’s occupation. The workplace of this parent does not contain the child, but processes at work may affect his development such as the hours spent there by the parent may affect the parent-child bond. The fourth system is the macrosystem which includes the customs, values, and laws considered important in the child’s culture and u pbringing. A child from another culture may celebrate special customs and traditions from his culture apart from the special occasions celebrated in his host country. Lastly, the chronosystem in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological model refers to the time that transpires as the child relates in his various environments. An example is a change that happens to the child while he grows up moving from one system to another, like the westernization of the values of a child originally from an Asian culture. This ecological model implies that the interplay and quality of the various systems and environments of the child will play different roles in influencing his development. Likewise, whatever comes out of that development will affect the various environments the child belongs to. For instance, the free expression of his culture may lead to environments being more accepting of it.

Socrates - A Great Teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Socrates - A Great Teacher - Essay Example Therefore, the society in which Socrates lived was the perfect place for his kind of philosophy, which was centred on the idea of teaching about the power of humanity and human law and justice rather than the wrath or benevolence of the Gods. I feel that I can learn from this because even though I am a person who has religion, I think it is important to focus on humanity as well as God. Socrates believed in superhuman power but equated it directly with humanity. The philosopher recognized that his actions were in some way controlled by the moral hesitation that preceded them or the moral retribution that followed them if they were negative. He thought that the voice inside of him that caused him to stop and reflect before performing a certain action was divine, and I think that this is a good lesson to learn and apply in everyday life, by following my conscience. Socrates saw the human conscience as a gift from the gods and therefore continued an expanding humanist tradition in his s ociety by relegating more and more power to humanity as being inspired by the Gods, rather than being directly and explicitly controlled, monitored, punished, and rewarded by them. I think that I can learn from Socrates’ humanism, because he can teach people to be good, and he seems to have good expectations for society. I want to learn this kind of optimism and apply it to my own life. More and more throughout his life, Socrates began to see that goodness was not a reflection of divine destiny or a means to personal advancement, but was inspired by a sense of universal justice. To Socrates, being just to all meant goodness. This reflects the sense of fairness or balance that was a central feature in Socrates’ philosophy, which can be compared to some of the Stoics’ argumentative and unbalanced polemical perspectives previously. I agree that fairness and justice are important things. Most important, Socrates is a great teacher, because he teaches his students  to question.

The Importance, Benefits and Issues of Budgeting

The Importance, Benefits and Issues of Budgeting Introduction This report is aimed to evaluate the importance of budgeting, analysis the benefits and problems that brought by budgeting and also discusses the behavioral aspects of budgeting. A budget is a comprehensive, formal, coordinated, detailed, quantitative plan that estimates the probable expenditures for acquiring and using financial and other resource for an organization over a specific time period (Margaret, George, 2011). Budgeting describes the overall process from preparing budget, using budgets during the business operation, and later performance evaluation. It provides us the valuable tools for planning and control of finances and affects nearly every type of organization-from governments and large corporations to small businesses-as well as families and individuals. A small business generally engages in budgeting to determine the most efficient and effective strategies for making money and expanding its asset base. Budgeting can help a company use its limited financial and human resources in a manner which best exploit existing business opportunities such production expansion and acquisition that might otherwise miss. A good and through understanding of how budgeting works is a must for ambitious business executive if he or she wants to run the business with flying colors. What is more, budgeting give access to business owners who intend to assess the managers performance during a specific time assigned. It is of great importance because the managers compensation is quite often tied with his or her performance during the time in charge. There are different kinds of budgets fall into various categories. The financial budget (Genrad, et al., 2002) includes the capital expenditure budget, which presents a companys plans for financing its operating and capital investment activities. The capital expenditure budget relates to purchases of plant, property, or equipment with a useful life of more than one year. On the other hand, the cash budget, the budgeted balance sheet, and the budgeted statement of cash flows deal with activities expected to end within the 12-month budget period. Last but not the least, companies sales departments are often responsible of making sales budget based mainly on their products selling experience last year and future economic conditions. The budget is developed within the framework of a sales forecast that shows potential sales for the industry and the companys expected sales. Benefits of Budgets With careful planning and good execution, a company can reap the benefits of having budgets in many ways, including: Communication of corporate goals Modern corporations consist of departments of different important functions. It is quite hard for the chief executive officer to convey the corporate goals to each employee very well. But on the other hand, in order for corporation to reach its best performance, it is indispensable for employees in different positions within a corporation to understand the corporate goals. The process of preparing budgets actually constructively bridges this communication gap because it engages everyone from managers to front-line staff. Quite often in practice, an CEO will hold a budgets discussion meeting that managers of various departments will come and discuss the companys whole budgets and make adjustments according to next years goal. In this way, budgeting comes a communication tool because the different departments get the chance to take part in future planning and discuss the priorities for where the money and resources should be most suitably spent and allocated. More importantly, the act of making estimates about future economic conditions and about the companys ability to respond to them, forces managers to synthesize the external economic environment with their internal goals and objectives. This whole communication process is extremely crucial given the consideration of the complexity of business in recent years. Warning of potential problems Keeping budgets and constantly comparing it with the running of the real operating acts as an early warning system of potential problems which the management people in charge can make changes before things get out of control which make the company suffer greatly in terms of money and resources. In this way, when a flag is raised, managers in charge can revise their immediate plans such as to change a product mix, revamp an advertising campaign, or borrow money to cover cash shortfalls. Coordination of different segments Having the different departments within the corporation to create budgeting together is the key to resolving the differences and conflicts between various departments when involves in money and resources handling. Often in practice, the chief executive officer asks departments of various functions to make their own department budgets first according to each departments needs and its specific goal next year. Throughout this process, each department correlates each segments goals with corporate objectives. Preparation of a budget assumes the inclusion and coordination of the activities of the various segments within a business. The budgeting process demonstrates to managers the inter-connectedness of their activities and offers them directions to follow. Evaluation of actual performance The budget provides definite objectives for evaluating performance at each level of responsibility assigned (Jan, et al., 2008). Managers in charge are able to have access to do quick and easy performance evaluations with previous established criteria. With the economic conditions rapidly changing, managers may increase activities in one area where results are well beyond their exceptions. In situation like this, budgeting maximizes the objectivity to a great extent and offers a helpful hand for managers in making sound judgments with some indicators to compare. In other situations, managers may need to refer some measurement to reorganize activities whose outcomes demonstrate a consistent pattern of inefficiency, so that they can make timely adjustments to minimize the loss that otherwise might incur. Problems of Budgets As one of the most important steps in running a successful business, there is also some problems that involves with the budgets, including: Overstating projections Companies with strong ambitious of achieving success usually tend to think that their business will do a huge amount of business in a short amount of time which sometimes could be not very realistic in practice. So in this case, they often inflate the budgeted sales figure with possibly wrong sales forecasts. The overstating sales projections resulted from over optimistic future sales predictions most of the time will lead to other financial budgets such as cash flow budget, income statement budget, and balance sheet budget not reflecting the reality. Lack of fairness in funds allocation When asked to their own budget, different departments often have a tendency to ask more than they need to provide buffer in case unforeseen things that might happen in the future, so that they will not be under budget. This tendency prevent the funds to be allocated to the companys best interest and distorts the real needs and makes the next year funds allocation somehow lack of the fairness it should have, especially for corporations which is at the growing stage when the funds is extremely precious and limited. What is worse, when it comes to the using the budgets, the majority of departments will tend to squeeze the use of the budget at the beginning of the period to save for the later use, while try everything they can to use up the rest of the budget by the end of the period. This lack of consistency in usage actually further wastes the companys resources and money, which is likely lead to inconsistency of the goods and services that the company provides. Lack of operation flexibility While sticking to the budgets provides a roadmap for the running of operation, it can hinder creativity and flexibility of the companys development (Eugene, Michael, 2010). This situation arise often enough the managers cautiously and strictly enforce the operation in accordance with the budgets and give up some opportunity that might open doors to developing innovative products and exploring new markets. This is particularly true for those giant corporations where the managers are more willing to play it safe than taste a new flavor and usually lead them to only look at an annual plan therefore may fail to take a longer term view into account. Behavioral aspects of Budgeting Budgetary control relies greatly on the individuals of a corporation. The human aspect in the budgetary system can be very complicated since the budgetary process involves relationships between different people within the corporation which includes the chief executive officer, managers and staff. Some times budgets affect peoples behaviors and vice versa. Thus the behavioral aspects of budgeting are of vital significance and consist of many different areas that high attention must be paid. First and foremost, we need to know the Factors affecting behavior of budgeting, including: Budgets perceived by employees as being too difficult In situations that lack full participation of all levels in preparing for the budgets, the employees will perceive the budgets as being too difficult to follow. In addition, the punishment that comes along from failing to meet what this budgeted has a tendency to encourage staffs attempts to beat the system. This greatly affects the employees enthusiasm for the job and can knock down their creativity and initiative which might lead to financial and nonfinancial loss for the corporation. In order to deal with this kind of situation, the managers in charge should maintain supportive and cooperative relationships with staff of all levels since it can leads to increase productivity and satisfaction which in turn can raise the working morale of staff. What is more, managers should try their best to make communication open without obstruction, which is extremely critical because the good communication in budgeting can act as a good delivery of corporate goals. Targets that do not provide any challenge In sharp contrast to the previous situation discussed just now, non-scientific and not reasonable budgeting could also result in having targets that do not provide any challenge which leads to no breakthroughs and developments. This happens more often than not when managers only emphasize on the financial goals which is quite detrimental to the realization of important non-financial goals. In order to fix this problem, managers should use the historical data as an important reference and try their best to gain a better understanding of the directions that the future economic conditions. Moreover, it is also of crucial importance for managers to identify the employees ability objectively and truly engage the staff in participation genuinely. Due to a tendency for individuals to become ego involved in decisions which they have contributed, only in this way, can the budgeted goal be set in a way that reflect the real conditions and performs guidance. Insufficient flexibility There are times when strong-minded managers strictly hold on to budgets and overlook the real actual operation performance. Confronted with this kind of situation, what a company should do is to adopt variance analysis in practice. It is encouraged for businesses regularly conduct variance analysis because this allows them to notice if financial plans are inaccurate and therefore make timely adjustments. On the other hand, if businesses fail to analyse variances on a regular basis they will not be aware of their financial performance compared to what is budgeted. Favorable variance is when revenues are greater than budgeted or costs are less than budgeted. In contrary, adverse variance is when revenues are less than budgeted or costs are greater than budgeted. By calculating variances through looking at costs and revenues, managers can make wise remedies to cope with the situation and keep the company running on the right track. Conclusion Budgeting is a very crucial process that can bring numerous benefits to the companies if be used wisely and correctly. These benefits includes: Communication of corporate goals, Warning of potential problems, Coordination of different segments, and Evaluation of actual performance. All of them will increase the managements ability to more efficiently and effectively deploy resources, and to introduce modifications to the plan in a timely manner. However, there are also problems of that might incur when the budgeting is not proper done. These problems includes: Overstating projections, Lack of fairness in funds allocation, and Lack of operation flexibility. In order to truly embrace the benefits of budgeting, managers really should study the behavioral aspects of budgeting.

Guns in the home :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Statistics on the National Safe Kids Campaign Website reveals that â€Å"Americans possess nearly 200 million firearms, including 65 million handguns. Approximately one-third of families with children (representing more than 22 million children in 11 million homes) keep at least one gun in the home. Gun owners keep firearms in the home for hunting and recreation (60 percent) or for protection and crime prevention (40 percent)†. Although 40 percent seems to be on the minority, households with guns are at higher risk of homicide, and there are few beneficial effects of gun ownership; as a result, alternative methods for crime prevention and protection should be adopted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most startling examples of these risks usually involve children. Children are very curious and will stop at nothing to discover new ideas. When they play, it is normal for them to move about and find bits and pieces around the house. This innocent, normal behavior becomes dangerous when children start finding guns hidden or lying around. A typical story was told by the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization working together for nuclear disarmament, (PSR) when â€Å"three-year-old Billy Higgins sat in the corner of his parent’s bedroom, trembling and confused, a gun having just gone off in his hand. His 2 year old sister, Anne Marie, lay motionless on her back, a small hole in her chest. While playing with his sister, Billy had found his father’s loaded handgun in a bedroom drawer. The father, John Higgins, never dreamed his small children were capable of finding or using his gun. He was wrong. And his daughter died†. ( "Billy Higgins†) Obviously, John Higgins thought that he had his gun only accessible to himself, and even if his kids found it, they would not be able to shoot it. However, the National Safe Kids Campaign website shows that â€Å"Children as young as age 3 are strong enough to pull the trigger of many of the handguns available in the United States†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only are children at risk but also adults. A study by Arthur Kellerman shows that â€Å"the risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns.†(2) He implies that guns stored in the home are more often used to kill a familiar person than an intruder. Gun owners do not always know who they’re shooting when they pull the trigger, often the victim of this shooting is a family member.