The Proven Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln - Free Essay Example

The Lincoln prize winning book by Doris Kearns Goodwin Team of Rivals aims to prove the secondary title of the book. The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Goodwin in her introduction opens the book showcasing the soon to be comrades who at the present time were rivals for the nomination for president in the brand new Republican party in the the election of 1860. Goodwin states that out of these team of rivals and future cabinet members in the Lincoln administration Lincoln would emerge the undisputed captain of the most unusual cabinet. Goodwin, also dispels the myth that Lincoln had battles with depression. I had assumed that Lincoln suffered chronic depression. On the contrary even during the worst days of the war, he retained his ability to function at a very high level. However, while Goodwin explores and dispels multiple myths in the introduction she establishes her thesis This, then, is a story of Lincolns political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enable him to form a friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes. Goodwin proves her case throughout the 754 page book and this is shown in three time periods of Lincolns life Lincoln his strategy during the Republican Convention in Chicago, his campaign for president including the forming of his cabinet, and bot h his foreign and domestic relations during his presidency. Goodwin weaves a thread of 249 pages of introduction to the cabinet members of the Lincoln administration who in 1860 were vying for the chance to be president. New York Senator William H. Seward, Ohio governor Salmon P. Chase, and from Missouri Edward Bates who was a statesman and a judge. Goodwin establishes a lengthy case that these other gentlemen were made ready for the office of president in those 249 pages. But one fact is laid hidden in those pages about Lincoln and his way with people to make them smile, forget, and laugh. When Lincoln was a travelling attorney in Illinois travelling the circuit trying cases. When the day of trying cases was over No sooner had everyone settled in than the call would come for Lincoln to take center stage. He would start weave stories for the onlookers in attendance they were in full laugh till near daylight. This characteristic would prove critical and win the nomination for Lincoln during the Republican convention in Chicago in 1860. Lincoln knew that the way to winning the nomination was to play it cool and keep a leveled head. He told those who were working to get him the nomination leave the delegates in the mood to come to us, if they shall be compelled to give up their first love. The other three nominees Bates, Seward, and Chase may have been better suited by others for the office of President. Each one had offended someone or not had enough votes to win the nomination from the Republicans for President. Only one man had thought through the long game of the convention and the subsequent path to nomination Abraham Lincoln the Republican nominee for president in 1860. Once the events at the Republican convention had occurred, Lincoln set about organizing his campaign to become the sixteenth president of the United States. A task which he knew was one that he could not accomplish on his own. He would need to the help of his former rivals Chase, Bates and especially Seward who would later become his right hand man Goodwin would observe. During, the formation of his presidential campaign surrogates Lincoln would experience a foreshadowing of a political thorn in his side from the future Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase. Lincoln displayed his political prowess by not replying to letter from Chase asking him to feel sorry him for his home state did not vote for him at the convention. While Lincoln worked to enlist the cooperation of all his rivals he knew that the active support of William Henry Seward would be pivotal to the his campaign. Not only did Lincoln need his rivals for his political for his presidential campaign but also his cabinet. Goodwin displays Lincolns genius when he was asked why he fought to get his rivals in his cabinet. We needed the strongest men of the (Republican) in the Cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services. The diplomatic skills of Lincoln were on full display Goodwin states during the his presidency by his treatment of generals, his dealing with loss, and his political prowess to end slavery. Before Lincolns first inaugural address, Seward looked it over and found it to be lacking in tact. Sewards revisions are evident in nearly every paragraph. He qualified some (statements) removed rough edges in others. Lincoln received his first lesson in diplomacy from his Secretary of State before his inauguration. Lincoln would quickly return the favor before Seward would send an incidary letter to the British in fear that they would back the Confederate States of America. The incidary letter had the potential to open the Civil War on two fronts. The quickly learned art of foreign relations of Lincoln avoided a war with France and Britain. Lincolns unseen hand had shaped critical policy. Only three months earlier the frontier lawyer had confessed to Seward that he knew little of foreign affairs. When dealing with his Generals was able to aptly manage the job of being both a diplomat and a Commander-in-Chief. During an interaction with General Butler, Lincoln requested, When you see me doing anything that for the good of the country ought not be done, come and tell me so and why you think so. The statement made to Butler was indicative of how he handled his Presidency. While Goodwin points out in the book that Lincoln was not without flaws for not firing the head of the War Department Simon Cameron until a year after his installation and place Edwin Stanton. A lawyer who humiliated him (Lincoln) in Cincinnati six years earlier. Despite the remarks Stanton made about Lincoln he was able to get past them for the good of the nation. After nearly a year of disappointment with Cameron, Lincoln had found in Stanton the leader the War Department needed. According to Goodwin the lethal threat to his administration did not come from the Civil War but from within his cabinet. Salmon Chase proved to be a cruel thorn in the side of Lincoln since Chase who constantly was working to usurp the president in his own administration. While the Diplomat-In-Chief was aware of Chases presidential desires he knew he needed him for the Secretary of Treasury. In two months since congress adjourned, Chase had sold more than $45 million in bonds and the demand for the bonds was steadily increasing. However, Chases prowess in treasury could not overpower his desire to be president. When Chase submitted his resignation for a third time as an act of symbolism hoping Lincoln would refuse it. Lincoln accepted, and Goodwin points out Chases flaws He thinks he has become indispensable to the country He also thinks that he ought to be president. The Lincoln administration and life can be summed up by a conversation Lincoln had with a colleague Joshua Speed after the Executive Order of Emancipation Proclamation. During the conversation, the two discussed a dark depressing period in Lincolns life just some 20 years prior and his thoughts of suicide and why he didnt. He had done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived. Goodwin proves towards the end of her book after Lincolns death as a result of an assassination by John Wilkes Booth Lincolns place in history. The deathless name he sought from the start had from the start had grown far beyond Sangamon County and Illinois, reached across truly United States, until his legacy as Staton had surmised at the moment of his death, belonged not only to America but to the ages-to be revered and sung throughout all time. Despite Lincolns lack of foreign and domestic policy experience, and military strategy and interaction with Generals. Goodwin proves Lincoln was a po litical genius who adapted to situations and brought rivals together who in return would hold a fractured Union together.

Frederick Douglass Essay - 559 Words

Frederick Douglass Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey on Marylands Eastern Shore in 1818, he was the son of a slave woman and, her white master. Upon his escape from slavery at age 20, he adopted the name of the hero of Sir Walter Scotts The Lady of the Lake. Douglass immortalized his years as a slave in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). This and two other autobiographies, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881), mark his greatest contributions to American culture. Written as antislavery propaganda and personal revelation, they are regarded as the finest examples of the slave narrative tradition and as classics of American autobiography.†¦show more content†¦Moreover, for understanding prejudice, there are few better starting points than his timeless definition of racism as a diseased imagination. Douglass welcomed the Civil War in 1861 as a moral crusade against slavery. During the war he labored as a propagandist of the Union cause and emancipation, a recruiter of black troops, and, on two occasions, an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln. He viewed the Union victory as an apocalyptic rebirth of America as a nation rooted in a rewritten Constitution and the ideal of racial equality. Some of his hopes were dashed during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, but he continued to travel widely and lecture on racial issues, national politics, and womens rights. In the 1870s Douglass moved to Washington, D.C., where he edited a newspaper and became president of the ill-fated Freedmans Bank. As a stalwart Republican, Douglass was appointed marshal (1877-1881) and recorder of deeds (1881-1886) for the District of Columbia, and chargà © daffaires for Santo Domingo and minister to Haiti (1889-1891). Brilliant, heroic, and complex, Douglass became a symbol of his age and a unique voice for humanism and social justice. His life and thought will always speak profoundly to the meaning ofShow MoreRelatedTrickery in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass1880 Words   |  8 Pagesthus they do not survive. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, Douglass harnesses the ability to conform to the world of trickery and conveys his journey to freedom. Through his appeal to pathos, use of dramatic asides, and application of anecdotes, Douglass expresses the necessity of slaves to play the game of trickery to survive in the world of tricksters. Effectively establishing an appeal to pathos, Douglass emphasize his raw emotions to the reader, allowing theRead MoreFrederick Douglass Essay817 Words   |  4 PagesAfrican-American man Frederick Douglass wrote his famous speech, â€Å"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro†, America was in a time of great distress. It was the year 1852, and the view of abolitionists was quickly spreading. It was the time of both provocative literatures such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as well as important resolutions, such as the Dredd Scott decision, showing the contrast between views at the time, both positive and negative towards slavery. Frederick Douglass was a freed African-AmericanRead MoreFrederick Douglass : A Man949 Words   |  4 PagesDaniel Lee 12/6/15 Frederick Douglass Essay How did Frederick Douglass move from being a slave to a man? In Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, â€Å"Frederick Douglass,† Frederick Douglass, a black man born into slavery, went from being a slave to a man. His actions proved he was a man. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Like many slaves, Frederick Douglass didn’t know his exact age or birthday, but he knew an estimate of his age. â€Å"I come to this, fromRead More Frederick Douglass Essays505 Words   |  3 Pages The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an account of Frederick Douglass’ life written in a very detached and objective tone. You might find this tone normal for a historical account of the events of someone’s life if not for the fact that the narrative was written by Frederick Douglass himself. In light of the fact that Douglass wrote his autobiography as a treatise in support of the abolishment of slavery, the removed tone was an effective tone. It gave force to hisRead MoreFrederick Douglass Essay691 Words   |  3 PagesFrederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was one of the most important black leaders of the Antislavery movement. He was born in 1817 in Talbot County, MD. He was the son of Harriet Bailey and an unknown white man. His mother was a slave so therefore he was born a slave. He lived with his grandparents until the age of eight, so he never knew his mother well. When he turned eight, he was sent to Aunt Kathy, a woman who took care of slave children on the plantation of Colonel Edward Lloyd. WhenRead MoreFrederick Douglass And Slavery.1438 Words   |  6 PagesFrederick Douglass and Slavery Frederick Douglass the most successful abolitionist who changed America’s views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick Douglass had many achievements throughout his life. His Life as a slave had a great impact on his writings. His great oratory skills left the largest impact on Civil War time period literature. All in all he was the best black speaker and writer ever. Douglass was born a slave in 1817, in Maryland. He educatedRead MoreEssay on Frederick Douglass658 Words   |  3 Pages Frederick Douglass nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Frederick Douglass was a man who was active until the day he died. Frederick Attended Anti-Slavery meetings and also attended meetings for Women?s rights. He believed everyone was equal it didnt matter if one was white, black, or green it also didnt matter what sex you were he believed everybody was equal. He achieved many things during his hard but great life. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Born on a plantation in Tuckahoe, near Easton, in TalbotRead MoreThe Slave By Frederick Douglass972 Words   |  4 Pagesthousands of years later. In â€Å"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?† Frederick Douglass, a former slave, addresses an audience of white abolitionists on July 5th of 1852. He focuses on the disparity between the American values celebrated on the Independence Day and the issue of slavery. To do so, Douglass raises the question of to whom those values apply and explains why and how it should be different. Analyzing Douglass’ effort, we see that he is using arguments that trace back to the ancientRead MoreThe Narrative Of Frederick Douglass1835 Words   |  8 PagesIn Frederick Douglass article Figuring out how to Read and Write he clarifies the imperative part instruction plays in a man s life, and the things that you can achieve by figuring out how to peruse and compose. Figuring out how to make a contention did offer Douglass some assistance with obtaining his flexibility, as well as offered different slaves some assistance with getting their opportunity and annul subjugation. We can say that Douglass was fortunate he was taught by his paramour andRead More Frederick Douglass Essay1311 Words   |  6 PagesIn Frederick Douglass autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, he writes about the inhumanity and brutality of slavery, with the intention of informing white, American colonists. Douglass is thought to be one of the greatest leaders of the abolition, which radically and dramatically changed the American way of life, thus revolutionizing America. Douglass changed America, and accomplished this through writing simply and to the point about the reality of slavery

The Influence of Accessibility A Comparison of the Views...

The Influence of Accessibility A comparison between Lao Tzu and Confucius, as well as that between the respective philosophies each of these individuals is believed to have propounded, is fairly natural and, in certain respects, fairly inevitable. Both scholars were believed to have existed during the same time period, from approximately the seventh through the fourth centuries B.C.E. (although it should be noted that there is an overwhelming body of evidence that indicates that Lao Tzu may not have been an actual person, whereas there is little dispute regarding Confucius tenure on earth as being between 551-479 B.C.E.). Furthermore, the philosophy attributed to each of these individuals has had a profound effect upon the Chinese culture which they were both a part of and helped to propagate; today the effects of that culture and their philosophical maunderings have even had a significant impact upon areas of Western thought. Indubitably, each respective scholar and the line of thinking advocated by him was conce rned with establishing a harmony and order with oneself, society, and the external universe. However, the philosophers differed dramatically in the approach they took to achieving these goals. Confucius took a much more systematic, pragmatic approach to achieving this end, as much of his work directly applies to mankind and its relationship with one another; Lao Tzu was much more mystic and abstract in his approach. Due to various political and moralist

Interview With A Nurse Essay Example For Students

Interview With A Nurse Essay I had the opportunity to interview nurse Vangie Quintanilla who currently works at Providence Hospital in El Paso, Texas. Vangie has been a registered nurse (RN) for 24 years. She obtained her BSN degree from the University of Texas in El Paso and has now been a certified nurse of the operating room (CNOR) for the past 22 years. She has worked in the operating room for 24 years with roles such as Assistant Director, Educator, and Preceptor and Circulator. Currently, she is working both as a circulator for Providence Hospital and as an office nurse a plastic surgeons office. Her role at the office is OSHA manager, Laser Technician and Nurse Injector (botox and fillers). Vangie also ensures that the office maintains OSHA standards. Her current job responsibilities as an RN are to attend to patient care, whenever a patient is in need of anything she will attend to those needs. She also observes patients behavior while they are at the hospital. Another important responsibility she has is supervising licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and certified nurse assistants (CNAs). She mentors them and helps them become a better and more advanced nurse and also answers any questions that they have. I also asked Vangie how she perceives nursing now than from when she graduated nursing school. I was sort of unpleased to hear her response. Vangie explained to me how now a days she believes that people pursue nursing to â€Å"get a good pay† and that their hearts are not in it to help the community and that it shows via their work. She also explained to me that since there is a shortage, nurses now have the ability to fast track trough their education or attend education facilities that do not require the rigors of an actual nursing education. Due to this, the students do not benefit and their patients suffer from it. She did not imply that everyone who is pursuing a nursing career now that they are only in it for the â€Å"good pay† but that’s just what is commonly Running head: NURSE INTERVIEW 3 known now a days. As to where when she graduated nursing school, nursing was viewed as a very high demanding job and many people wanted the easy way out of college and did not want to work for their degrees. They did not have all of these alternative education facilities as we do now. â€Å"The most obvious barrier to nursing’s achievement of professional status is the variability of educational background of its practitioners† (Chitty-Black, 2011, pg. 106). I also asked Vangie how she integrates HIPAA rules to maintain patient confidentiality, she couldn’t stress enough over how important HIPAA is. She believes that HIPAA is a must in all aspects of healthcare. She then told me about a past experience when a patient’s friend who was not in that patients direct patient care was asking her questions and she could not give any information regarding the individual. She also told me that that you should never, in any circumstances, discuss information regarding any patient to any random individual. From interviewing Nurse Vangie Quintanilla, I learned so much about the nursing field and about the branches that reach out of the nursing field and all of the different opportunities that this field offers. I also observed how she portrayed being confident during the interview and could tell that she had a love for the nursing field and also had love for her career that she worked so hard for. You could just tell by tone in her voice when she answered my questions. She also encouraged me to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse and that I could always advance in any kind of nursing if I put my heart and effort into it. After interviewing her, I automatically gained respect for not only her but also all of the other nurses that take their job seriously and are passionate about their career.

Stalins Expansion in Eastern Europe and the Potsdam free essay sample

In 1 945, Stalin using his salami tactics and slice by slice started spreading communism in eastern Europe as he wanted a friendly buffer of states for retention as in 1914 and 1941 he was attacked by Germany and his allies were very delayed in opening up a second front therefore meaning by the time they did USSR had lost millions of soldiers. He appointed communist leaders to take over, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Romania, East Germany and Poland, this was Stalin soviet sphere of influence. This is important because the USA wrongly perceived this as a world revolution therefore increasing the Cold War hostility to rise. USA strongly believed in democracy and the right to choose your own overspent, so they were very opposed to Stalin soviet expansion as the countries been turned communist did not choose this. Bulgaria, were very opposed to communism but in 1944 there was an election and the communists executed leaders of other parties. We will write a custom essay sample on Stalins Expansion in Eastern Europe and the Potsdam or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He did similar things with the rest of the countries, stamping out the opposition in Hungary and even forcing the Romania king to abdicate.This is important because Stalin soviet expansion led to a number of chain events as both superpowers disagreed greatly on catheters governments. Britains announcement that it could no longer fund the civil war in Greece ND Turkey forced the USA to activity contain communism instead of just threatening it, this idea of containment was enforced by the USA Truman Doctrine speech announcing it would offer advice and financial support to any country within or outside its borders to fight communism and wishing to develop capitalism.This is important because this increased Stalin suspicions and also he believed this was a declaration Of war. However, the Potsdam conference in July 1 945 played a big part in increasing tension. There they disagreed on many points. By this time the leaders of USA ND Britain had changed. Clement Attlee taking over the position for the USA and Harry Truman taking over from Winston Churchill. This is important because with new leaders, comes new personalities and Truman was very much more anti-communist.The difference in personalities made it very hard to agree on decisions which was the reason for the conference. The USSR suffered the most damage in the war, losing 20 million Russians meaning he wanted high reparations from Germany, however Truman wanting to learn from the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations past mistakes led to disagreement . This is important because Trumann resistant would only of caused Stalin to be angered more and would further increase Stalin hatred of Truman. However they did agree in the end that Stalin deserved reparations.Tensions were very high at Potsdam, as by that time there was an extreme unbalance of power as the USA atom bomb had successfully been tested, further increasing rivalry. This is important because this would lead to an arms race as the USSR would be racing to build its own atom bomb to restore balance. At the Yalta conference it was agreed that Poland would be liberated from occupation by the Germany army and free elections would take place however Stalin broke this agreement therefore because of that an element of mistrust would surround the three leaders.There was also an disagreement over a soviet policy in eastern Europe as Truman wanted to avoid this but as it was agreed at Yalta he was forced to accept this. In conclusion I believe Stalin soviet expansion affected the Co ld war more as its expansion was perceived as a world takeover when really Stalin only wanted socialism in one country. This misunderstanding led to a chain reaction and more hatred between the two superpowers.

Relevance of Philosophy Essays

Relevance of Philosophy Essays Relevance of Philosophy Essay Relevance of Philosophy Essay In this essay the challenge is to shown the relevance of philosophy to 21st century manufacturing. As philosophy is not a new concept there is a wide and defervesce range of ideas (on everything that existed and does not yet exist). The people who study philosophy and deal with such matters must have at one stage put forward some thoughts on manufacturing and even engineering in general. Philosophy comes from the Greek for love of wisdom, giving us two important starting points: love (or passion) and wisdom (knowledge, understanding). Philosophy sometimes seems to be pursued without passion as if it were a technical subject like mathematics. Philosophy must come from some passion for the ultimate goal to be achieved: a reliable, accurate understanding ourselves and our world. Many think philosophy an idle, academic pursuit, never amounting to anything of practical value. The works of ancient Greek philosophers, ask the same questions which philosophers ask today. Doesnt this mean that philosophy never gets anywhere and never accomplishes anything? Philosophy is relevant as it makes us think about where we have come from, where we are at present and where we are going to in the future. The study of philosophy is usually conducted in one of two different ways: the systematic/ topical method and the historical/ biographical method. Both of these have their strengths and weaknesses and it is often easier to avoid focusing on one to the exclusions of the other, at least whenever possible. There are many different areas of philosophy which have relevance to manufacturing and will have relevance in the future. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental  nature of existence, of man, and of mans relationship to existence. Some areas of study in philosophy are logic, ethics and epistemology (knowledge, ways of knowing) to name but a few important that are relevant to manufacturing. In this essay I hope to discover the link and the importance of philosophy in relation to manufacturing in the 21st century. Main body The main areas in which manufacturing are influenced by philosophy is ethics, logic and epistemology. Logic  is the study of  reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy,  mathematics engineering, and  computer science. Logic examines general forms which  arguments  may take which forms are valid, and which are fallacies. It is a type of  critical thinking. The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: met ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics Knowledge is about how things work and why they work and that’s what engineering and the sciences set out to do. Manufacturing is a by product of knowledge. These areas can be viewed from many philosophical points. And the different areas which have relevance to manufacturing can be put into three main branches and several sub branches. These main three are Epistemology, Logic and Ethics and some sub branches of the three main relevant branches to manufacturing, economic, technological mathematic, social and rational argument. The relevance of philosophy to manufacturing goes back long before the industrial revolution and even further back then the roman’s but to the first philosopher Pythagoras. These topics will be discussed in more detail later. Ethics or moral philosophy This is the branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality that is, about concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice and virtue. Anyone who has read Aristotle’s Ethics and has read modern moral philosophy must realise the great contrasts between them. The concepts which are prominent among the moderns seem to be lacking, far in the background, in Aristotle. Most noticeably, the term ‘moral’ itself, which we have by direct inheritance from Aristotle, just doesn’t seem to fit in its modern sense into an account of Aristotelian ethics. Aristotle distinguishes virtues as moral and intellectual. This area of philosophy is a broad area of study and is very relevant to everybody in normal day life. We take for granted the morals we live by and the morals of others, this too can be true for ethical practices that take place in manufacturing. Ethics are used by every company and business as bases for running their organisation such as fair trade, quality of product and quality of working environment. Some examples of ethics that show how important it is to consumers that companies have morals include: Fair Trade In the case of fair trade ethics has changed the way trade is done and the way people are treated in the process. In the past number of years important social changes have occurred with ethics an example of simple ethic in fair trade would be the production of coffee beans. Companies in recent years have begun to buy fairly bought produce where the producers benefit. As most of the producers are poor farmers. But because of the moral changes that have taken place in the past twenty years things have improved before the change in attitude the companies bought the product at low prices for big plantation owners and the poor suffered because of it. Quality of Product The role of ethics in quality of product we can take a very recent example and it is very much manufacturing example that of Toyota with the stricken of the accelerator pedal. The company is calling back thousands of cars for repair; this will cost a lot of money. And why its being done well the company has a moral obligation to produce a product fit for use. The ethics behind leaving defective products in us by consumers it could cause many incidences and maybe fatalities. The ethics that Toyota will abide by. Will cost the company a lot of money but may save the company on the long run. Companies who didn’t solve their problems. i. e. the car company Lancia who had a rust problem, which crippled the company in the end. And Toyota could fall a similar fate and begun bankrupt if not carful. It can be said that it is not ethics that is making Toyota recall all these cars but money. That unfortunately that is a pessimistic view and one would hope that Toyota is doing it for the right reasons over the value of reputation and money. Quality of Working Environment Quality of working environment is the final scenario. There have been many changes in the way people work and the place in which they work in as most working environment can be very dangerous places. Since the start of the industrial revolution high fatalities have occured due to machines with little or no safety aspects, have been recorded and it was due to companies disregarding safety of workers to make high profits. It may not be as big an issue today in the western world but to poorer more undeveloped countries where workers are still being neglected-ethics will play a role to improve he working environment and show manufacturing in a better light, now and in the future. Ethics is the bases of why good judgment is made so as to maintain and improve society. In a manufacturing sense morals can be a corner stone in changing work practices in industry. It can be a tool for progress in the future. The moral obligation to all is to be just and right, the phrase â€Å"Do no harm† can be an important to manufacturing and life in ge neral. Thomas Hobbes had stresses the importance of peace and security. With ethics in mind he said; there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society† And then follows the description of life under such conditions made so by repeated quotation that I refrain from quoting it still again. Where morals prevail peace can be seen. Peace and security, however, including secure property rights and the attendant opportunities to create and accumulate wealth, permit â€Å"commodious living†, which is Hobbes’s term for economic development. In the three examples it can be seen where ethics has played a part in changing the mind set of people and companies in the past few decades. It may not be ethics which was the catalyst for these changes but it is the way things are changing for the better. Hobbes had a point even if it was a bit extreme; there is room for good if people give it a chance and do the right thing. Logic Logic is the study of reasoning. And reasoning typically focuses on what makes reasoning efficient or inefficient, appropriate or inappropriate. Logic is the corner stone of science and mathematics which in turn play a vital role in engineering. It is one of the oldest areas of philosophy going back to Aristotle. Along with Aristotle some key figures in the study of logic were Bertrand Russell, Charles Sanders Peirce and Immanuel Kant. These men made many points on the area of logic As like ethics, logic is a wide area of study. This is important to us in our every day existence. Logic is what we use to solve from our most basic problems to the kind of problems that change the world socially, economically, technologically and mathematically to name but a few ways. Logic can be broken down into two parts inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is where a set of facts are given and from those facts a conclusion can be got from it an example of this in is a jigsaw puzzle all the parts are there but the pieces must be put together to see the full picture. On the other hand deductive reasoning is quiet different while inductive reasoning all the pieces are to be seen at once deductive reasoning gets it answer on a logical sequence of events, example of deductive reasoning is where a problem is set out but there is only one piece of information to work on and from that another piece of information is discovered until a logical sequence is established and an answer is reached like a detective solves a crime. Logic is the tool to solve any problem or argument which may arise by using the types of reasoning. And with this in mind logic will play a part in the future of manufacturing because without the use of logic the problems of the future won’t be solved and manufacturing will not progress. Epistemology Philosophy is largely based on known knowledge and epistemology is a study of knowledge. Descartes defines knowledge in terms of doubt. While distinguishing rigorous knowledge and lesser grades of conviction, Descartes writes: â€Å"I distinguish the two as follows: there is conviction when there remains some reason which might lead us to doubt, but knowledge is conviction based on a reason so strong that it can never be shaken by any stronger reason. † [Stanford, 2010] According to Bertrand Russell in regards to Epistemology, he says â€Å"we could be familiar with objects in two ways: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. He also thought that we could only be acquainted with our own sense data and that everything else we had to know through reasoning. It set out to answer â€Å"what distinguishes true (adequate)  knowledge  from false (inadequate) knowledge? This question translates into issues of scientific methodology: how can one develop theories or models that are better than competing theories. There is many areas which knowledge can be broken down into these main areas are Ratio nalism, Scepticism Rational Knowledge Rationalism Mathematics and geometry are examples of abstract truths which are known with certainty, even though the physical illustrations of these truths may vary. An early example was the Greek philosopher Plato who stated that ideas have an existence independent of human minds. These independently-existing ideas are the only reality in the universe since they are absolute and unchanging. Valid knowledge comes then when the mind grasps these ideas. Another famous philosopher was the Frenchman Rene Descartes who went through a period of scepticism in his life and then came to the conclusion that only ideas which were clear and distinct to the mind represented valid knowledge â€Å"Objections to Rationalism: . There is no agreement among philosophers or cultures about so-called self-evident ideas. Supposedly self-evident ideas have often been rejected at later times in history. 2. Self-evident ideas provide no knowledge about the world. Though sense experience may not be certain, it provides us with information which is as reliable as we need. The fact that a belief is not absolutely certain should not disqualify it for knowledge. Why not say t hat something is  known  as long as there is no good reason to doubt it? Of course, that might mean that occasionally we would have to admit that what we thought we knew was something that we really didnt know. So what? † [tamu, 2010] Scepticism This is the view that questions whether valid or reliable knowledge is ever attainable by a human being. Some sceptics stated that nothing can be known. Other sceptics stated that they did not know whether knowledge was possible; they suspended judgment on the issue. Some of the common examples used by sceptics are the illusions and deceptions of our senses. Others point to the complexity of any experience and ask how you can know what is the essence or real nature of the things you are experiencing. Empiricism This is the view that valid knowledge comes only through the five senses. Aristotle held the view that whatever was in the mind was first in the senses. Rene Descartes  (1596-1650) He claims, unless we know first whether our belief itself is justified. To determine whether our beliefs are justified, we have to be able to trace them back to a statement, belief, or proposition that cannot be doubted. Such a proposition could provide the firm foundation on which all subsequent beliefs could be grounded; it would guarantee that all subsequent claims based on it would be true. In order to identify an ultimate principle of truth on which all other knowledge can be based, Descartes develops a method that suspends our confidence in what we have been taught, what our senses tell us, what we think is obviousin short, in regard to everything we know. In order to determine whether there is anything we can know with certainty, he says that we first have to doubt everything we know. Such a radical doubt might not seem reasonable, and Descartes certainly does not mean that we  really  should doubt everything. What he suggests is that, in order to see if there is some belief that cannot be doubted, we should temporarily pretend that everything we know is questionable. Since sense experience is sometimes deceiving, it is obvious to Descartes that  a posteriori  claims (e. g. , that this milk tastes sour or that suit is dark blue) cannot be the basis for claims of knowledge. We do not know that what we experience through our senses is true; at least, we are not certain of it. So the best thing to do is to doubt our senses. Likewise, we cannot be sure that we really have bodies or that our experience of the world in general can be trusted; after all, we might be dreaming the whole thing. Next, we cannot even be sure that mathematical propositions such as 2+3=5 or that triangles always have three sides are true because some evil power might be deceiving us to think such things, when it is possible that even propositions that seem evident to us as true might themselves be really false. But even if an evil genie deceives us about all other beliefs, there is one belief that we cannot be mistaken about, and that is that we are thinking. Even to doubt this is to affirm it. Thinking proves that we exist (at least as minds or thinking things, regardless of whether we have bodies). The body is not an essential part of the self because we can doubt its existence in a way that we cannot doubt the existence of the mind. We have a great inclination to believe that there are physical objects that are external to the mind. But since only those objects known in terms of mathematical propertiesnot those imagined by use of the sensescan be known clearly and distinctly, the only knowledge we can have of such objects is in terms of mathematical, quantifiable physics. The only real knowledge we can have, then, is of things understood as functions of laws of physics. The objects we  see  are not the objects we  know, because what we know is intelligible only in terms of the clarity and precision of the formulae of physics. Information provided by the senses cannot therefore be the basis of knowledge. [tamu, 2010] Kant Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher who attempted to combine rationalism and empiricism. It is called the form and matter epistemology. A statue can have a form such as Abraham Lincoln and a matter such as marble; you need both a form and a matter to have a statue. So in knowledge you need a form, which are categories of the mind,  and matter which are the data of sensatio ns. You need both of these to have knowledge. It is similar to wearing rose-colored glasses. You have visual sensations and they are coloured by the glasses. Of course with the mind you cannot take of your glasses. Knowledge is an incredibility powerful tool which has created great nations and pushed the boundaries of science and technology to new areas. The quotation from Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) said that â€Å"knowledge is power† and that has always been the case since the dawn of civilisation, knowledge has been a part of every major advancement. Knowledge has a big part to play in manufacturing, it is an integral part of all advancement without the constant need for knowledge through research and other means it would be impossible to make major achievement. The different areas which have been discussed can be seen as different way we can go about solving difficult situation and problems. Manufacturing will need to conform to these different methods of thinking in the future. Conclusion Philosophy can be shown to have many areas some of which have been covered throughout this essay. The areas which have been covered are relevant to manufacturing in ways that show philosophy as a key component to running a lucrative and sustainable operating line. Philosophy has a lot of points to make; its relevance to manufacturing can be used as a tool for advancement in the future in areas such as Ethics * Companies treatment of small producers * Quality of products produced for consumers * The working environment Ethics has a role to play in changing these for the better and will have a maintaining a standard in future productions, especially in third world countries where companies have taken advantage of their workers yet do not pay a moral price. Logic The study of reasoning logic can be found at the core of engineering and manufacturing in general. It is a corner stone in which there are couple of ways of resolving a problem. The two main types are * Inductive * Deductive These two methods of solving apply to certain manufacturing dilemmas depending on the individual situation. A logical sequence of steps to gain the solution in which a process i. e. a production line is established by taking the correct logical sequence for the line to work effectively. Logic has a vital role in the way manufacturing process are carried out, without which there would be ciaos, void of efficiency, continuity and general order. Epistemology Epistemology is the study of knowledge and the ways of knowing. It schools of thought from which theories have sprung can be divided in the categories. * Rationalism The view of using absolute truth which is known with certainty is rationalism. Breaking knowledge down into its simplified core elements to revel the truth. * Scepticism This is seen where a theory is put forward and is then questioned. Many theorists maintain that some knowledge can never been known in its entirety or factually. It is questioning until a hypothesis or theory is validated to their satisfaction. * Empiricism Using the five senses to gain knowledge, most natural form of collection of information as we do it every day unknowingly. In the future the ideas and views of philosophy will have a significant part to play in manufacturing and engineering in general. As it has had an important role to play in the past. Manufacturing can be broken down into many different areas and this is due to philosophy and the thinking required by the different schools of thought in the related areas. As all area have a knock on effect on each other, i. e. logic can change the methodology significantly. We now realise the importance of philosophy in every day manufacturing although it might not appear obvious but under the surface of manufacturing processes is detrimental to efficient, cost effective, and ethic practices in the work place. References [Stanford, 2010] http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/ [tamu, 2010] http://philosophy. tamu. edu/~sdaniel/Notes/96class15. html

Development of a measurement model for balance management Research Paper

Development of a measurement model for balance management - Research Paper Example They play an imperative role in motivating the goals of a development-oriented nation (Aaker 2001, p. 56). Additionally, there should be an integration of the tools through critical assessment of both qualitative and quantitative parameters as observed below. There are lots of fundamental links of culture, leadership and strategy in regards to the development of measurement. In other words, the aforementioned tools of development have direct ramifications on the aspects of balanced management especially in spurring the expansion of the economy. For instance, culture is an imperative objective when drafting plans for development oriented projects because it has a direct influence on people (Niven 2005, p. 124). On that account, a balanced scorecard is performance management tool of strategy that is in the form of a report. It is a semi-structured with support derived from design methods and other automation tools. For that matter, it functions in the tracking of duties and activities by workers to enable managers have a control in the actions of the organization. In other words, there is also a link on the context of personal refinement on the areas of education, lifestyle, ideals and national aspirations for future improvement. Therefore, this management tool has been key especially in the annual survey of performance-oriented firms such as Bain & Companies. Therefore, in terms of impacting on the development of the organization, it is crucial to note a few observations. For instance, a balanced scorecard inculcates the mixture of differing presentations that are both non-financial and financial. It has a direct correlation with development in the context of reforming the minds of the employees in balancing their income sheets. This suggests that factors such as traditional material culture of a society come in handy when defining the goals of development and the measurement success (Jacobson & Shepard 2008, p.156). Additionally, there are also other elements o f intangibles such as customs, language, dress code and even acquisition of technology that impacts directly on the balance scorecard on the management of a country. In contrast, culture also influences the strategies of development when stipulating the goals of a community through its leadership. In other words, there is a variable uniformity in the context of informational data imparted upon firms in influencing leading inputs such as physical and human processes. On the other hand, there is also the factor of culture gap strategy that entails a policy approach that affects development in several ways. For example, culture gap strategy plays a key role in affecting the operations of development measurement in the context of finding alternative solutions. Additionally, it brings harmony between the sociological context of the corporate firms and the concern of attaining the goal of a balance management. In other words, it is a grand folly in integrating the culture gap strategy in a society and its leadership in relation to the strategies stipulated. On that case, there is also an imperative need to evaluate the issues of development choices such as the GDP of a work group and inter-generational conflicts that affect the economy (MacKinnon 2012, p. 209). This suggests that cultural change should compliment with the development strategies set by the given leadership of the management in focusing for the future. Alternatively, cultural strategic gaps of development must also take into