Free Essays on Hedonism

, the ultimate goal of life is to obtain pleasure or happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Humans spend their entire lives following this philosophy whether they realize it or not. This philosophy is called Hedonism and philosophers have split it into two branches; one being ethical hedonism and the other psychological hedonism. Ethical Hedonism is the view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness. It is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (342-270 BCE.) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. In Epicurus’ A Letter to Menoeceus, one of his only surviving fragments, Epicurus gives advice on how to decrease life’s pains and describes the nature of human pleasure. â€Å"We recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good.† (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus). Epicureans believe that every pain is bad and should be avoided, whereas every pleasure is grand and should be sought after. Therefore, when making choices, man should strive to attain the most pleasure possible, to seek ataraxia (peace of mind, or intellectual pleasure). Psychological Hedonism is the view that humans are psychologically constructed in such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure. With Psychological Hedonism there exist three sub-sections of it: â€Å"Goal is Pleasure†, stating that a person will only do something if they believe it will either cause them pleasure or avoid pain. â€Å"Motivation by Pleasant Thoughts†, where a person would choose to do A rather then B if and only i... Free Essays on Hedonism Free Essays on Hedonism Through out a person’s life, they will make billions of decision that affect them. But why do they make the decisions they do? I believe every decision made is in the pursuit of pleasure, or the avoidance of pain. In other words, the ultimate goal of life is to obtain pleasure or happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Humans spend their entire lives following this philosophy whether they realize it or not. This philosophy is called Hedonism and philosophers have split it into two branches; one being ethical hedonism and the other psychological hedonism. Ethical Hedonism is the view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness. It is most associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (342-270 BCE.) who taught that our life's goal should be to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. In Epicurus’ A Letter to Menoeceus, one of his only surviving fragments, Epicurus gives advice on how to decrease life’s pains and describes the nature of human pleasure. â€Å"We recognize pleasure as the first good innate in us, and from pleasure we begin every act of choice and avoidance, and to pleasure we return again, using the feeling as the standard by which we judge every good.† (Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus). Epicureans believe that every pain is bad and should be avoided, whereas every pleasure is grand and should be sought after. Therefore, when making choices, man should strive to attain the most pleasure possible, to seek ataraxia (peace of mind, or intellectual pleasure). Psychological Hedonism is the view that humans are psychologically constructed in such a way that we exclusively desire pleasure. With Psychological Hedonism there exist three sub-sections of it: â€Å"Goal is Pleasure†, stating that a person will only do something if they believe it will either cause them pleasure or avoid pain. â€Å"Motivation by Pleasant Thoughts†, where a person would choose to do A rather then B if and only i...

Lyda Newman Invents Vented Hair Brush

Lyda Newman Invents Vented Hair Brush African-American inventor Lyda D. Newman patented a new and improved hairbrush in 1898  while living in New York. A hairdresser by trade, Newman designed a brush that was easy to keep clean, durable, easy to make and provided ventilation during brushing by having recessed air chambers. In addition to her novel invention, she was a womens rights activist.   Hairbrush Improvement Patent Newman received patent #614,335 on Nov. 15, 1898. Her hairbrush design included several features for efficiency and hygiene. It had evenly spaced rows of bristles, with open slots to guide debris away from the hair into a recessed compartment and a back that could be opened at the touch of a button for cleaning out the compartment. Women's Rights Activist In 1915, Newman was mentioned in local newspapers for her suffrage work. She was one of the organizers of an African-American branch of the Woman Suffrage Party, which was fighting to give women the legal right to vote. Working on behalf of her fellow African-American women in New York, Newman canvassed her neighborhood to raise awareness of the cause and organized suffrage meetings in her voting district. Prominent white suffragists of the Woman Suffrage Party worked with Newmans group, hoping to bring voting rights to all of New Yorks female residents. Her Life Newman was born in Ohio around 1885. Government censuses of 1920 and 1925 confirm that Newman, then in her 30s, was living in an apartment building on Manhattans West Side and was working as a familys hairdresser. Newman lived much of her adult life in New York City. Not much else is known about her private life. Hairbrush History Newman did not invent the hairbrush, but she did revolutionize its design to resemble the brushes in use more today. The history of the first hairbrush begins with the comb. Found by archaeologists at Paleolithic dig sites around the world, combs date back to the origins of human-made tools. Carved from bone, wood, and shells, they were initially used to groom hair and keep it free of pests, such as lice. As the comb developed, however, it became a decorative hair ornament used to display wealth and power in countries including China and Egypt.   From ancient Egypt to Bourbon France, elaborate hairstyles were in vogue, which required brushes to style them. The hairstyles included ornate headdresses and wigs that were used as displays of wealth and social status. Because of their primary use as a styling tool, hairbrushes were an indulgence reserved exclusively for the wealthy. As late as the 1880s, each brush was unique and carefully handcrafted- a task that included carving or forging a handle from wood or metal as well as hand-stitching each individual bristle. Because of this detailed work, brushes were usually bought and gifted only on special occasions, such as weddings or christenings, and cherished for life. As brushes became more popular, brush makers developed a streamlined manufacturing process to keep up with demand.

CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CASE STUDY - Essay Example m to 199 ?m). Between 1999 and 2000, the profits before tax decreased slightly from 421 ?m to 360 ?m although there has been no change in the same. But the profits before tax payments has decreased considerably for the company between 2000 and 2001, from a profit of 360 ?m to a loss of 534 ?m. Further, during the same five year period, the company’s investment in infrastructure almost doubled from 4,625 ?m to 8,841 ?m, its credit value increased almost 3 times from 420 ?m to 1,356 ?m but its provisions almost halved and its debt increasing by almost 7 times from 522 ?m to 3,480 ?m in the same period. These values and trends indeed represent a complex economy as it can be seen that in addition to the company’s sliding profitability at the end of the five year period, the regulatory constraints too seem to have taken a toll on its profitability, in turn affecting its provisions and its capability to invest in future by banking on its capital market. Lack of effective stra tegies to tackle the changing market environment in terms of capital, infrastructure, innovation, operations, etc. have also affected the company’s profitability in the long run. ... In 2001 the company made a loss but the dividend was paid. Why should the company feel it necessary to make such a payment? The company has maintained a dividend payment of 26.9 p through 2001 from 2000 although it made a loss of 534 ?m during the same period. First, the decision of the board to pay the dividend was to keep both its stakeholders and shareholders happy as this could help the company become more competitive in the market place while still attracting capital in spite of its poor performance in the recently concluded year. Also, considering it to be the end of the first five year control period, the company needs to cater to the interests of its shareholders as much as there is a need to attract passengers and freight to sustain in the long run. And with the company running short on investment and poor performance leading to more regulatory constraints and lesser competitiveness, the company runs the risk of alienating its investors in the second five year control period . Also, the company needs to attract more capital to be able to improve its assets, performance, and rail network maintenance, foster innovation and competitiveness among its franchisees and sustain the positive trend in the passenger and freight incomes. Giving a dividend of 26.9 p is also necessary to project a positive impression and a sense of control among its shareholders as well as its other stakeholders particularly after the fatal accidents in 1997, 1999 and 2000. In spite of the under investment, poor performance and the lack of effective strategies, the company still required to pull on into the next control period as the agreed government grants and the ?2 billionn facility loan availability give it scope to adjust its debt record and improve its

Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender Essay

Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender - Essay Example 14). They aim at explaining the reason behind large numbers of unemployed and underemployed blacks relative to whites and the wage gaps between blacks and whites and between genders. This paper discusses the salient differences between these two models; the neoclassical economics theory and the political economy models of the labor market. It includes a discussion on the importance of the differences in the realm of race and gender while highlighting the critiques of neoclassical presumption by political economists. In neoclassical economics, discrimination is analyzed in simplicity using the same implements used to understand market behavior. Discriminators here are either maximizing their welfare or minimizing any apparent risk (Albelda et al. 36).Under this model, discrimination in the labor market is not a long-term phenomenal. Discrimination in the labor markets takes the form of higher wages for white workers relative to black workers equipped with similar skills and carrying out similar productive jobs under similar working conditions; job segregation of blacks into lesser-paying jobs; and high unemployment rates for blacks relative to whites (Albelda et al. 60). The wide persistence of discrimination is attributed to low competition among firms and workers and incomplete information in the labor market. Employers taste leads to higher costs as it hampers competition among workers. The discriminating firms directly cover these higher costs by paying higher wages for labor power. According to neoclassical economics, this approach of discrimination is efficient in allocation of scarce resources in the labor markets by the discriminating firms (Albelda et al. 65). Neoclassical economic models assume that competition combined with employers’ diversity in tastes eradicates labor market discrimination. A competitive market will increase

Edmee Ferrer Essay Example for Free

Edmee Ferrer Essay Professor Anderson Listening to the Women’s Rights was very moving and it really touched me and I learned a lot about what women had to go through and are still going through. I learned about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and what an amazing and powerful woman she was. Stanton was born in November. 12, 1815 and died in October. 26, 1902. She was an American Social Activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early Women’s Rights Movement. Besides focusing on Women’s Rights she also addressed issues pertaining to voting rights, women’s parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family and birth control. She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th century temperance movement. In 1920 women gained the right to vote, right of citizens of United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or any state on account of sex. In the 1940’s and the 1950’s men had to go out to war so it left women to depend on themselves and started working to provide for their family. I also learned about the first-wave feminism and the second-wave feminism. The first-wave feminism focused more on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to gender equality, voting rights, and property rights. The second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues like sexuality, family, the work place, reproductive rights, and official legal inequalities. The second-wave feminism also focused on domestic violence and marital rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered women’s shelter, also changes in custody and divorce law. I can say that I am very proud to be a woman, we have had to go through many challenges, having to be slaves of our life as wife’s and mother’s and home makers. Being sex slaves to our husbands, looked down at or feel less than a man. Not able to work or feel independent. We women are powerful and strong and capable of changing the world forever, capable of showing how we can be as amazing as any man can. Women now have as many rights as any man have. An example of these rights are: the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to fair wages or equal pay, to own property, to education, to serve in the military, ent er into legal contracts, and to have marital and parental rights.

Police Pursuits Essay -- Law Enforcement

There are virtually an unlimited amount of aspects about police work that places them in harm’s way every day. Some of which officers are trained to mitigate and exercise some form of control over while others are mostly out of police control. Vehicle pursuit is one instance where police have little control over and thus must adopt a mostly reactionary response rather than a proactive approach. Police officer training and preparation for such pursuits are conducted during their initial phases of training and some receive advanced Emergency Vehicle Operational and Control (EVOC) training that they will bring back to their respective agencies to provide training for the rest of their fellow officers. This is only in response to an increasingly dangerous and costly increase to the amount of police vehicle pursuits over approximately the last decade. But why are criminals increasingly running from police? Since the inception of police as a profession, the ‘bad guys’ have always tried to escape justice form the ‘good guys’ in an attempt to continue their lawless and criminal activity. However as times have changed from horseback chases in rural country landscapes to heavy and speeding vehicles in urban settings, the danger to innocent life has increased exponentially. Some has argued that a ‘contempt of cop’ attitude adopted by police in where the officer attempting to make the stop is offended or slighted and therefore acts aggressively to make an apprehension. A possible reason for this is the adrenalin rush rendering officers to adopt an aggressive and overly focused mindset causing them to experience myopia and auditory lockout (Schultz, Hudak, Alpert, 2009) Others claim that an increased lack of authority and an increase in se... .... Until courts and the public start shifting the volume of blame towards the suspect who failed to stop for police, suspects will continue to put us, the law abiding public, at risk. Works Cited Alpert, G. & Smith, W. (2008). Police Pursuits After Scott v. Harris: Far from Ideal. Police Foundation:. Ideas in American Policing. June, 2008. Hill, J. (July 2002) High-Speed Police Pursuits: Dangers, Dynamics, and Risk Reduction. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. July 2002. Oyez. (n.d.) Scott v. Harris. Retrieved on April 03, 2012 from http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000- 2009/2006/2006_05_1631 Schultz, D., Hudak, E., Alpert, G. (2009) Emergency Driving and Pursuits: The Officer’s Perspective. FBI Law Enforcement Bulliten. April 2009. Scott v. Harris. 550 U.S.___(2007). Retrieved on April 02, 2012 from http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1631.pdf

Online Shopping Research

The research question â€Å"Does the online shopping affect to purchase decision of shoppers who retain visiting and buying clothes from the store or the market in London area? † 3. 1 evaluate techniques for use with quantitative data in the research proposal The quantitative data is sample and objective. The figure is showing in statistic such as the count of frequencies, rate of percentages or another statistic way of actual absence of behaviour.There are a number of approaches to collect quantitative data such as surveys, questionnaires (close-ended questions), clinical test. The quantitative data mostly is used with large sample. It is no need for the participant to put their name on the questionnaires which is help to gain more data than qualitative data collection method that required the personal detail (will be explain more in 3. 2) . The data analysis will be display in the bar chart, pie chart, graph or histogram.The researcher can be clearly to understand and compar e result in general. From the research question which is about the behaviour of shopper to make a purchase decision on buying cloth. The quantitative collection that would be the most appropriate to implement in this research should be the close-ended questionnaires because the survey and questionnaires can be complete namelessly, thus it allows to get a lots of data from great number of sample from the sample field either or the internet.The close-ended questionnaires are easy to analyse and compare because it can be done in term of rate of percentages or histogram. However, some of the participant might give the dishonestly responses cause of the biased result. This data collection method provide researcher to cover a wide range of the research question but only in the general view it cannot provide in-depth opinion of participant. The cost to process this data collection is inexpensive unless using conducting the survey via the telephone.It may take moderate of time required depe nds on the system that the researcher will conduct for example mail and telephone would be take more time that give the questionnaire papers in sample area. 3. 2 evaluate techniques for use with qualitative data in the research proposal The qualitative data is about â€Å"Why† which is help the researcher to find out more depth information and being clear perspective in the research question. The qualitative collection methods such as the surveys, open-ended questionnaires, interview, focus group etc.Most of this method requires a long period of time and money to support the conducting. According to the research question which is related on the shopper’s behaviour. Therefore the interview would be the ideal method to collect the data because it offer full stories and depth information which is given the flexibility to research for exploring topic in detail and varied perspective. Moreover the interview method gives a chance for interviewer to explain the question that interviewees not understand clearly and get the right information from interviewees.However in reality, The conducting of the interview data collection method is difficult to produce because It is required the highly skilled interviewer and honest who can control the scope of the answers related to the subject, unbias and create the comfortable atmosphere to interviewees, It is also need to prepare the closed area for the interview in term of protecting the interruption for environment. Moreover It is numberless of people to participate the interview because it need to ask the personal detail in case of following or re-collecting the data which is uncommonly to encourages people getting involve.Apart from the difficult of conducting, the interview is time consuming and expensive for this research. Although, it is hard to conduct the interview but there are another way to gain detailed information from participant by using the open-ended questionnaires. It is inexpensive method and t he researcher can conduct it together with the closed-ended questionnaires. From this way it increasing an opportunity to get more in-depth information and research can be provide the critical analysis.It might be difficult to interpret wording or phrases that participant be using and it is often that people not given the answer in the questionnaires which cause of the missing data. As stated by the research question, The possible sample area that can be collect the data would be chosen mainly in Camden lock market and online social website as facebook or alternatively student in the college. The methods that would be using in this research would be closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires in term of to cover the wide objective of topic and get some detail from the questionnaire.This both methods can be gathering data to each other. The researcher can be able to produce the questionnaire in one page and unneeded name, Thus participants would pleasant to do it. As the reason as pre sent before, The mixed questionnaires would be suitable to apply for the crowded market as Camden lock market that mostly of the people busy at shopping because it required less time for participants to complete and it is in expensive to conduct for research even though, it require moderate time. ReferencesRichard Gay,Alan Charlesworth, and Rita Esen, (2007) , â€Å" Online marketing – a customer-led approach† Oxford university press, Great clarendon street ,Oxford Sarah Quinton and Teresa Smallbone (2006) , â€Å"Postgraduate research in business – a critical guide† SAGE publications LTd. Saunders,Lewis and Thornhill (2007), â€Å"Research methods for business students (fourth editon)†, Pearson education limited. â€Å"Overview of Qualitative Methods and AnalyticTechnique† http://www. nsf. gov/pubs/1997/nsf97153/chap_3. htm â€Å" Evaluation method† http://socrates. berkeley. edu/~pbd/pdfs/Evaluation_Methods. pdf