Medical Ethics Essay

Medical interventions always possess two possible outcomes in every situation or case. The principle of double effect is the actual ethics that governs the conditions of alternatives. The main concept that it utilizes is the thought that persons are faced with decision that cannot be avoided and, in the circumstances, the decision will cause both desirable and undesirable effects. Considering the value ethics involved in every intervention implemented, the risk factors should always be considered. Essentially speaking, the principle of double effect involves the critical assessment of the situation considering the fact that the choices being made greatly impact a life of an individual. In an ethical controversy of maternal-fetal conditions wherein the mother is suffering from a case of complications that lead to the severe necessity of evacuating the conception product. The case possesses no other alternatives, and has greatly compromised both life conditions of the mother and the fetus. Moreover, if medical intervention is not implemented as soon as possible both lives shall be endangered severely. In some part of logical implication, some might categorize such action as direct attempt of killing; essentially since, either of the mother’s life or the fetal life needs to be sacrificed in order to save one. In such case of saving life through resuscitation, if the significant relatives or others imposed the negation of such life saving treatment for the patient provided with the considerations of higher good than evil, it is not considered anymore as actions of euthanasia nor direct killing. The medical provider is not anymore liable if incase the patient suffered from any untoward conditions that requires resuscitation, however in the end resulted to death, as it is already a directed will of the patient and the support groups. The principle of total effect protects no singular parts or single levels of life. In fact, it does even consider the whole or total person as a whole. The whole or total person is what is sacred and has rights. To promote parts or lower levels independently of the person’s totality would violate just the quality of life considerations. The medical provider should consider the treatment interventions not only for the benefit of a single part, but rather every aspect of the whole body, such as the effect of the therapy or medical intervention on other parts of the body. Psychotherapy involves the utmost obligation to facilitate the psychological health and well-being of the society. As far as medico-ethics is concerned, psychiatrists possess such responsibility of conjuring psychological health to the people. Such principle involves the concept of the divine as well as the societal requirement of psychological health linked together with the guidelines of psychotherapeutical interventions. Such principle considers man as a psychic unit and total aspect of a person as a whole. Considering the fact that man functions as a whole, psychiatric therapy should revolve in every aspect of a person not only on particularities of disease, disorder, or signs and symptoms but rather as a whole unified being. However, still in response to this perspective, the concept of the individual should still deal in the specifics and objective details of an individual. The guide protocols of this principle are the fact that man is a unified unit of the community that requires social interactions, and morality considerations over the psychological interventions. Rights to Health Care The general principle of health care greatly considers that every individual possesses the right to have unconditional, indiscriminate, and with no considerations on an individual’s society. The rights of health care, by law, divine protocols and natural necessities, should be ethically available for every individual. As for the ever conjuring issues in terms of impairment of the delivery of health care, it is both the responsibility of the patient and the health care provider to facilitate maximum health care potential. The health seeking behavior is expected for the patients requiring health care needs as their responsibility, while health care information dissemination, motivation and encouragement are the ethical duties of the health care providers. With the advent of managerial, profit-oriented and progressive modernization, the principle of the health care basic right is arguably being violated in some sense. As the fact states, at least 35 million Americans cannot afford proper health care delivery system for them due to either expensive medical insurance requirements or poverty. As for the both interacting requirement, most of the public, especially those living in or below poverty line, undeniably obtains their medical care from governmental provisions, which are not always sufficient to consider every individual’s health care needs. In fact, Medicaid insurance, which is a public insurance firm that caters mostly for the financially incapacitated individuals, is extensively and progressively increasing. However, the worst case of such Medicaid provision is that sickness status possesses a marginal requirement to consider a person a candidate for health care treatment. In such case, the health care status of these individuals worsens before they can even attain their due medical interventions. Another controversy is the rising patients of Medicare insurance, which is a public governmental firm that caters to elderly health care welfare. Due to the increasing number of those that cannot afford geriatric care necessities, the last option for these elders is to obtain the care that the government hospitals provide. However, there are cases wherein these elderly incapacitated individuals are being eagerly discharged by the hospital. Adding on to the situation is the increasing profit-oriented hospital firms, which perceives delivery of care as business-money-earning sources. Such condition is beginning to coincide and dominate the health care market, which if not regulated, may even caused further decline of health care obtainment by the public due to financial incongruencies. Considering that the incidence of poverty in the public is increasing, incapabilities of health care insurance to support the appropriate and adequate requirements of their beneficiaries, and the increasing incidence of profit oriented hospitals, greatly contributes to the health care scarcity and health care status of the society. Essentially speaking, such condition possesses the possibility of aggravating the morbidity and mortality ratings in the society. Such case is considered indeed as violations of the ethical principle of right of health care. On the contrary, such protocols are necessary in order to keep the hospital and medical insurance organizations surviving. Although, the evident consequence of such scenario is the increasing individuals suffering from health care impairments. As far as the ethical principle, rights of health care, is concerned, such occurring scenario violates the fundamental ethics of health care. Suffering Even with subjective evidences or manifestations, the concept of suffering seems central for the most fundamental concerns of bioethics. Suffering is in part constituted by the experience of a profound evil, as the Old Testament denotes, or threat to our sense of self and identity that we are unable to control. IT is the experience of the inexplicably arbitrary and typically destructive. Suffering is not of course an end of religious experience but a problem demanding interpretation. Religions traditions have historically tried to give meaning to suffering by placing the experience in a context of broader questions about ultimate purpose in life, and even human destiny beyond life. Suffering is knowledge of evil but is not evil in itself. Frequently its existence serves as a helpful spiritual or physical warning that something is amiss. Physical pain is often first sign of a serious illness; it informs us that something has gone wrong and that we need medical assistance. Of course, sometimes we become aware of evil but are unable to do anything about the situation. The evil is not in our knowledge of a certain state of affairs but in the state of affairs themselves. While we experience our knowledge of these evils as suffering, the knowledge itself remains a basic good. As salvation denotes liberation from evil, Christ liberates man from sin by means of His cross, that is, by means of suffering. The work of salvation is a labor of suffering. Every person is called to participate personally in that suffering through which our redemption has been accomplished and through which all suffering was redeemed. Suffering, symbolizes by the Cross, is the one universal door through which all must pass to enter the kingdom of God. While on the human level suffering is an â€Å"emptying,† on the divine level it is a glorifying or a â€Å"filling up† and an invitation to manifest the moral greatness of man. The glory of suffering cannot be seen in the martyrs, but also in those who, while not believing in Christ, suffer and give their lives for the truth. As for a Christian perspective, suffering is an opportunity for everyone to experience the power of God and share in the work of redemption. In the midst of each individual’s suffering, Christ is present to share that person’s suffering-just as He invites each of us to share His sufferings. This inter-participation of suffering unites our sufferings and Christ’s sufferings, as well as uniting us with Christ personally. In terms of the medical ethics application, suffering is for both patient and the health care provider to share; however, one must not join each one and extend the same negative feelings but rather, facilitate as the motivator and alleviator of sufferings. The greatest part of relieving the patient from the occurring suffering is on the part of the health care provider, as they are the ones who are responsible for the alleviation of such condition. The suffering of undergoing the case of alleviation and the suffering of alleviating the patient itself are the two considered faces of suffering, which has to be considered in every ethical case action. In is indeed necessary to think that the difficulties imposed by the situation is carried by both interacting parties and not one alone.

Movie: The Party’s Over

Political party is a way where people of the same interest or ideas are joined together to expressed their ideas.   Conflicts between humans in terms of their views and opinions about certain topics and issues are normal.   Thus, it is where they balance each opinion and come up with the decision everyone agreed upon after the discussion. However, this may sometimes not work perfectly enough for the public and is signaled through the formation of the third parties like in United States.   This means that the two major parties have become unresponsive to the needs of the public (Wahler 1996). Today, the two major political parties of the United States are Democratic Party which evolved in 1782 from Thomas Jefferson party, and Republican Party established in 1850s by Abraham Lincoln and others who opposed the expansion of slavery (Consulate General of the United States). There are already a number of minor or third parties in United States that have evolved through time.   Green Party, Constitution Party, Independence Party, New Party, Reform Party and Labor Party are just to name some (Gunzburger 2007). The movie The Party’s Over is a documentary about the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election which follows the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as he took an inside look at the 2000 Democratic and Republican Convention for Al Gore and George Bush. The movie draws attention for the problems of our government system especially during the 2000 United States election. Hoffman gathered views and personal opinions from a very wide range of people in society.   His interviewees are ranged from musicians like Ben Harper, to Bill Maher a political comedian, to Democrat representatives like Harol Ford Jr., to rally organizers, to a homeless woman (Lebowski 2007). Bill Maher said that American politics is run by â€Å"a system of open bribery† and the public’s voices are not heard by the government which led to a largely apathetic voting public.   Tim Robbins expanded the idea by saying that it is not mere apathy which stops many people from voting, the people are protesting against the government that’s why they do not vote (Lebowski 2007). Democrat representative Harold Ford Jr. said that the fact is that our government is a service.   And no matter how frequently poor the service is, you have no choice but to â€Å"avail† it.   It’s like you have to pay taxes even if the government is too bad for you, or else you will be jailed and tried (Lebowski 2007). On the other hand, Noam Chomsky explained that the theory is that people’s role in democracy is not just as participants but as spectators as well. She further said that during the election period, we are given two candidates to choose from, a democrat and a republican, who are actually and essentially one in the same.   Both of these parties’ candidates have the same goals and want the same outcomes for the government. But then they tend to disagree with each other violently and publicly. As a result, it doesn’t really matter to us which of the parties we elect.   And we are stuck in choosing from Democracy and Republican parties that we barely look at the third parties and independent candidates.   We are focused on our differences instead of our similarities (Lebowski 2007). Minor parties or what we call third parties often call attention to an issue that is of interest to the voters but that has been neglected by government like consumerism and environment as what Ralph Nader focused (Consulate General of the United States). The movie leaves the audience a fair question of whether the Democratic and Republican parties are different or not.   Also, it wonders on how much one’s priority is put and should put over the politics. It also seeks to get and feel the public pulse about the American politics.   And since it seeks to reach out the larger audience, it promotes the awareness of people on politics and made them have a discussion about it among themselves (Curry 2003). Works Cited Curry, Warren. â€Å"The Party’s Over.† 21 October 2003. CinemaSpeak.Com. 3 November 2007 . Gunzburger, Ron. â€Å"Directory of U.S. Political Parties.† 2007. Politics1.com. 11 November 2007 < http://politics1.com/parties.htm>. Lebowski, Jeff. â€Å"You have to insist you're right even if you know you're wrong.† 4 October 2007.   Spout LLC. 11 November 2007. â€Å"U.S. Government.† Consulate General of the United States. 3 November 2007 < http://krakow.usconsulate.gov/parties.html>. Wahler, Brenda. â€Å"Poli Sci 101: The Role of Parties.† January 1996. Montana State University.   11 November 2007 < http://home.mcn.net/~montanabw/polisci101.html>.               

A Study on the Worlds Educational System

A Study on the Worlds Educational System A number of similarities as well as differences exist between the K-12 education system in the United States and the 8-4-4 system in Kenya. The similarities are such as the age at which children enter into school. In both countries children enter school approximately at the age of five or six. Also, the initial grade of commencing education is termed as kindergarten in both countries. In addition, one has to spend twelve years both in primary and high school education level before qualifying for tertiary education which may be in the universities or colleges despite the difference in the grading system within the twelve years. Another similarity between both systems is that one can access the K-12 or 8-4-4 education from both private institutions as well as public institutions. Moreover both systems enjoy funding from the state governments as well as federal and local government but those attending private institutions are self- sponsored that is they have the responsibility of payi ng their tuition fees to the institutions. Also in both systems one has to perform at a certain set average standard at the examinations provided in each level in order to qualify for the next level. In both systems students traditionally proceed from one level to the subsequent one as a â€Å"class† upon the completion of each academic year. In both countries it is compulsory to enroll in to the education systems after attaining the minimum required age and the parents or guardians who fail to abide by this law risk been prosecuted in accordance to the laws of the countries. However these laws are much more strict and effective in the United States as compared to Kenya where laxity has been observed in the enforcement of the compulsory education laws leading to a very dismal enrolment of children in schools especially in the parts of the country inhabited by the pastoralists’ communities. Nevertheless, in both countries there is no a compulsory level of the education system which one should go up to before leaving the education system. One is free to undertake his or her studies up to primary level, high school level or even college or university level in accordance to his intellectual capabilities as well as financial strength. In both countries student loans and scholarships are provided in the university level to enable students meet their tuition costs as well as other related costs such as those incurred while undertaking research projects (Brint in the primary and high school level the school year usually starts immediately after the customary summer recess that is in August and sometimes in September while in Kenya the school year commences in January immediately after the New Year festivities. In the U.S, students have only six hours of schooling per day while in Kenya students spend almost ten hours in school on a daily basis. In the 8-4-4 system, students in primary and high school level break for holidays three times per year while i n the K-12 system students have only one long holiday which is slated during the summer season. Another difference between the systems is that in the K-12 system, primary education takes only five years while in the 8-4-4 system it takes eight years. In the K-12 system; upon graduating from primary school, one proceeds to middle school before proceeding to high school while in the 8-4-4 system one directly joins high school upon completing primary education. In the U.S each state governs the public education unlike in Kenya where the public education system is governed by the central government. In Kenya, one is free to obtain admission to any public school of his or her choice within the country while in the U.S the right of entry to a certain public school is mostly granted on the residential basis. Also the grading scale used in the 8-4-4 system is quite different from the one applied in the K-12 system. The rate of enrollment into the K-12 system is quite high as compared to the 8-4-4 system. Besides, teacher employed in the primary level in the K-12 system are graduates of early childhood development degree program while in the 8-4-4 system majority of primary school teachers possess only a certificate from a teachers training college (Herbst, 1996)

Define Battle of COP Keating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Define Battle of COP Keating - Essay Example The battle of COP Keating occurred in October 3rd 2009 in Kamdesh, Nuristan province of eastern Afghanistan (35Ëš24ââ€" ¡36ââ€" ¡N 71Ëš20ââ€" ¡29ââ€" ¡E / 35.41ËšN71.34139ËšE) and according to Executive summary: AR 15-6 investigation re: complex attack on COP Keating--3 Oct 09 saw to a 12-hour close contact battle pitting Taliban insurgents against American military, two Latvian trainers and Afghan coalition forces that nearly became a hand to hand combat. At the time of the attack, the COP was home to approximately 60 cavalrymen from Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division and a couple stationed Afghanistan coalition officers. Commanders and leaders during the battle included Curtis Scaparrotti, Randy George, Dost Muhammed, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Ghulan Faroq (Sanders, 122). At the end of the battle, 8 United States troops had died and a further 22 were left wounded. In addition, eight Afghan soldiers were wounded, together with two Afghan private security guards. A body count by the military confirmed that about 150 to 200 Taliban insurgents died in the firefight that lasted through the day. The United States troops who lost their lives in the battle were Justin T. Gallegos (Tucson, Arizona), Christopher Griffin (Kincheloe, Michigan), Kevin C. Thomson (Reno, Nevada), Michael P. Scusa (Villas, New Jersey), Vernon W. Martin (Savannah, Georgia), Stephan L. Mase (Lovettsville, Virginia), Joshua J. Kirk (South Portland, Maine) and Joshua M. Hardt (Applegate, California). Another 10 Afghan soldiers and 4 Taliban fighters died in the period of October 5th and 6th when Coalition troops carried out operations to determine, locate and destroy the militia behind the October 3rd attack on the COP Keating. The PRT Kamdesh, newly named Camp Keating after death of First Lieutenant Ben Keating who died while transporting an armored supply track to the Naray FOB, was initially intended to be a provincial reconstruction team base (PRT); a strategic location from where supply of weaponry from the Pakistan to the Anti Coalition Militia (ACM) would be minimized and halted. However, the camp proved very difficult to defend in case of attack, as was rampant in the area. Several factors contributed significantly to the area’s threatening insecurity and unsuitability for a military camp in an area as hostile as the Camp Keating. These eventually saw to reason and subsequent planning by the US military to evacuate the area to more populated areas of Afghanistan in order to provide more security and protection to the local civilians. The Combat Outpost (COP) Keating is situated in a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains and a river meandering its way on one side. It would appear like a bowl, greatly reducing any chances of successful defense upon attack. The area is also characterized by rough terrain with sharp rocks and transport via the road was prone to attack by insurgents. The road contractors of Afghanistan had also failed to maintain the road in the area which regrettably led to the death of Lieutenant Ben Keating who had a fatal accident while on trans portation duty along the road. This together with the unsuitability of the area for any aircraft landing made any air response and aid during attacks minimal if not late. It is documented that a military chopper had earlier crushed into the terrain while attempting to land in the area killing all its passengers. A landing pad was

Rocks and Minerals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Rocks and Minerals - Essay Example Crushed basalt is commonly used as aggregate in highway construction and railroad ballast. Basalt can also be found in asphalt. It is also used as floor tiles and stone monument. An evidence of basalt in mars is also noted as well as basaltic rocks in the moon. Basalt appearance is uniform but can be viewed under electron microscope to reveal its component silicate mineral. Dolerite is a type of basaltic rock. It is a fine grained igneous rock commonly called diabese. Dolerite is a medium grained igneous rocks commonly found in dikes and sills. It is composed mainly of plagioclase crystals, feldspar and clinopyroxene with augite and ilmenite as minor minerals. Unlike the common basalt, dolerite crystals can be viewed under a hand lens. This is an indication that dolerite was cooled slowly than basalt. Dolerite is noted for its resistance in weathering and therefore most commonly used to build roads and monumental stones. The Tasmanian peninsula in Tasmania, Australia has the world’s largest areas of dolerite. Most of the copper ore minerals are created by weathering and is mined as mineral chalcopyrite (CuFeS2). Chalcopyrite is the most abundant mineral ore of copper. When chalcopyrite is extracted for copper, it contains 34.5% by mass copper. Other copper mineral ores can be chalcocite Cu2S, covelite (CuS), bornite (2Cu2S*CuS*FeS), malachite (CuCO3†¢Cu(OH)2), and cuprite (Cu2O). Copper mineral ores is mined for copper. Vast mountain areas are quarried for chalcopyrite, malachite and cuprite. Conglomerate is a large chunk of rock that has different minerals or rock types embedded to it. This is a type of sedimentary rock that is commonly found I beaches, rivers, and glaciers. Pebbles and small rocks are the major components of a conglomerate rock. Quartz is the most common mineral of pebble so is conglomerate. Iron oxide, calcium carbonate and silica are also tied together with all the components. Conglomerates doesn’t have

Otis-Lennon School Ability Test Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 33

Otis-Lennon School Ability Test - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Roger has always managed to achieve an above average grade in Physical Education and Shop and even achieved a C grade in both subjects when he failed all other subjects in the first year of the 8th grade. In his second year of 8th grade, Roger achieved a B in both subjects which are quite an achievement considering he only barely passed all other subjects. Roger has demonstrated a progressive improvement in his Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) going from below average to average by the 9th grade. The OSLAT is very important for teachers because it informs of each student’s potential. On the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), a test used to measure academic achievement and to predict the student’s performance in college, Roger scored an 8.3 in his last two sittings which demonstrates an improvement over the previous year where he scored a 7.5. What can be discerned from these achievements is that Roger has an innate ability to improve as he was able to successfully repeat the 8th grade and was able to improve on his SAT scores with each retake in successive years. His interests in sports and mechanical aptitude are reflected in his consistency in better than average achievement in physical education and shop in school and the fact that he achieved his highest score in Mechanical on the Differential Aptitude Test. In planning his sophomore program Roger is advised to focus on those subjects that he has a greater chance of succeeding in and using in the future. For example, Roger has always done well in physical education and shop. He might want to focus on those areas in his sophomore year as he appears to do well in those subjects. He is interested in sport and appears to have a natural ability in the shop. Since he demonstrates a greater ability in Mechanical and has an opportunity to pursue a career in mechanics having inherited his grandfather’s tools, Roger might want to take every opportunity available t o him to pursue this subject in his sophomore year as well.

Social Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social Justice - Essay Example A review of these arguments in favour of and against death penalty shows that death penalty is, indeed, an efficacious mean of punishing criminals guilty of serious and heinous crimes. This paper, therefore, evaluates the debates in favour of and against capital punishment and presents a coherent and logical debate in favour of death punishment. In the presentation of the arguments in favour of death penalty, Stephen Toulmin’s model of argumentation is applied (Stephen Toulmin, online). The application of the Toulmin’s model of argumentation helps in presenting the arguments in a coherent and logical manner. There are three main arguments in support of death penalty as an effective mean of punishing the offenders who are guilty of crimes of high magnitude. The first argument is based on the claim that death penalty deters crime. Death penalty as a deterrent mean to further commission of crime is one of the main reasons why death penalty is practiced in many jurisdiction s. As a mean of punishing the criminals for their offences, death penalty deters further commission of crime in two ways. ... SA in an attempt to find out whether, really, capital punishments lead to reduction in crime rate, it was found that, there is, indeed, a strong correlation between death penalty and the rate of crimes, especially crimes of high magnitude like murder ( Arguments for and against Death Penalty, online). The study showed a significant reduction in crime, in places where death penalty is practiced as compared to other places where different means of punishing such criminals is practiced. But, apart from the studies that tend to support the view that death penalty can lead to reduction in crime, it is also, a matter of common sense that, when the people who are committing crimes are abolished or killed, then the rate of crimes will significantly reduce because they will not have another opportunity to commit the crimes. The second reason why death penalty leads to reduction in crime is due to the fact that by killing the offenders of serious crimes, other people with the intent to kill wi ll be afraid of doing so for fear of the consequences that would befall them(Goel, 2008). People, naturally, fear severe punishments, especially death, and so, when the law prescribes death penalty for serious crimes, then many people, utterly out of fear for the death, will refrain from committing such crimes. Although there are some studies contradicting this fact, arguing that death penalty does not deter criminals from committing crimes( Arguments for and Against Death Penalty, online) there are contrary studies supporting the view that death penalty instils fear among the criminals and, therefore, prevents them from committing crimes. But it is a fact that some people commit crimes due to psychological problems and for these kinds of people, death penalty cannot prevent them from

The City of Corinth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The City of Corinth - Essay Example In the 1st century, the public marketplace of Corinth (agora, forum) was bigger than any that was in Rome. By 50 A.D. Corinth was visited by Paul. The city was the most modern, beautiful, and industrious city in Greece.According to Acts 18:4, the city was a Jewish synagogue. Crispus who was the ruler of the synagogue was baptized by Paul himself (1 Cor. 1:14). Apparently Timothy and Silas the remaining converts at Corinth. In the city of Corinth, one could find the cults of the gods of Rome, Egypt, and Rome (Bergant, et al 78). The Temple of Aphrodite, goddess of love, was standing at the top of Acrocorinth; by Paul’s time, it had fallen into ruins. This was a city that was catering for traveling salesmen and sailors who spent their money gladly there. â€Å"Corinth† became a phrase for immorality which was often mentioned by Paul. Corinth eventually became not just a synonym for luxury and wealth, debauchery and wealth, but even for faith. Also famous in Corinth was th e Posedon temple, ruler of the sea (the commercial life of Corinth depended on it) and the earthquakes maker (a common peril in the area).   In the city, as commonly found in different parts of ancient Greece, there existed a shrine devoted to Asklepios, the healing god, and Hygieia his daughter. On the hill that was overlooking the main forum of the Roman city, stood the Apollo’s temple, which was serving as a reminder of the ancient splendor of Corinth.  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Cleopatra Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cleopatra - Essay Example In the third year of their reign Ptolemy, encouraged by his advisers, assumed sole control of the government and drove Cleopatra into exile. She was determined to regain her throne. She promptly gathered an army in Syria but was unable to assert her claim until the arrival at Alexandria of Julius Caesar, who became her lover and espoused her cause. He was for a time hard pressed by the Egyptians but ultimately triumphed, and in 47 bc Ptolemy XIII was killed. And that time, Caesar proclaimed Cleopatra Queen of Egypt. Cleopatra is described as a beautiful, sensuous, intelligent, and desirous of bringing her beloved Egypt into the forefront of world power and politics. She started out as a famous queen of a wealthy nation in time of ancient history and her fame grew from there. During her reign, "Cleopatra promoted herself relentlessly, making public displays of her power, her image as pharaoh and goddess, and her links with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony." She is considered extraordinary and most influential woman in the world history. Not all government has been run by men. According to website "Cleopatra is a woman who both combines, political wit and foresight, as well as a strong personal will combined with rigorous self-confidence." She has wielded power, revealed her feats during her times. To an imperious will, boldness and boundless ambition, Cleopatra added great intellectual power and physical seductiveness with which she twice nearly succeeded in becoming queen of the known world. In her both complex relationships with the two most powerful men, first is Julius Caesar, and several years after Caesar's death Is Mark Antony, she see to it that she had join forces with them to assure her place for Egypt in the shaping of the empire. In her relationships with the two great generals, Cleopatra used her body as well as her mind to achieve political ends. Her standards of conduct differed widely from Roman custom and law. But it was for her determination, and intelligence that she was feared at Rome, and Cleopatra deserves to be remembered as a nearly successful contender for control of the Hellenistic world. III. CLEOPATRA and JULIUS CAESAR Julius Caesar is the Roman general and a good leader who ruled the Roman Republic as a dictator. Cleopatra was restored to the throne by the Roman armies of Julius Caesar. She uses Julius Caesar to exercise his power over Egypt and proclaim her as a queen. Legend has it that Cleopatra had herself delivered to Caesar rolled up in a carpet. Whatever the truth, he fell in love with her, and she had a son, Caesarion, by him. Caesar invited Cleopatra and Caesarion to Rome, where she stayed until 44 BC, when Caesar was assassinated. IV. CLEOPATRA and MARK ANTONY Mark Antony is the Roman general went to Cleopatra for her support in his bid for power in Rome. He too fell in love with her. They later married and had three children. Mark Anthony and Cleopatra were ambitious and strove to take over the eastern Roman Empire. But their armies were defeated at the Battle of Actium, off Greece, by the forces of Octavian. As Octavian chased Cleopatra and Mark Antony to Alexandria, Cleopatra spread rumours that she was dead. In despair, Mark Antony stabbed himself. He died in her arms. Cleopatra committed suicide also. V. OCTAVIAN The war between Queen Cleopatra (assisted by Mark Antony) and Octavian was last and probably most important of

I Believe that Everone Needs Some Breathing Space Essay

I Believe that Everone Needs Some Breathing Space - Essay Example This world belonged to me alone where I did not want anyone else to be. I helped me get out of the real world stress. I used to construct my world by writing down substantial events that I felt strongly about and, thus, I used to capture everything I felt about in my words. I have always felt that no matter how much we want to be with people, there still exists a distinct part of ours that wants its secrecy - a part that wants to remain as our secret part of life with ourselves. I remember whenever I used to come home from school, my mother was always curious about how my day passed. She would just not be satisfied by monosyllabic replies. She always wanted the entire day’s details. It was her insistence on sharing my day's routine with her that made me feel like I mattered a lot to her and that she always wanted to make sure that I was not facing any problems. However, I soon realized that even though I tried to tell her everything about how my day passed, there still were so me substantial details that I just wanted to leave out in my conversation with her. Having said that there are certain details of my life which I do not want to share with anyone else, it only stands to reason that those details are either too personal, embarrassing or painful, which is why I would rather keep them to myself than reveal them to anyone else. Back in A’ Levels I was elected as the House Captain and had the responsibility of leading my house of around 250 people to victory. During the time of elections, some of my very good friends turned against me and the stress I faced was unbearable. I use to come home after hours of football practice and endless days of fights about which I never felt like talking to anyone at all. Even though I knew my parents, siblings and some friends only wanted to make sure that I was all right I just wanted to lock myself up and sort out my problems myself. Many people tell me that that is just the way I am and it does not mean that e very person on earth has certain things which he wants to keep to himself. I understand that there are people who find solace in confiding in people, yet something deep inside tells me that everybody wants some alone time, some details which they want to keep to themselves. Some time back I broke up with my best friend. We had been friends for over four years and shared quite a lot of things with each other. With the passage of time, however, we grew distant and to the best of my knowledge, the reason was that both of us became too demanding. I wanted her to tell me if something was bothering her, to share everything with me and that probably just started suffocating her. In an attempt to strengthen our friendship, I lost her completely and that is when I realized that may be I just pushed her beyond her limits. I feel that we all feel the need to belong to someone, but the belongingness should not turn into suffocation and this is what reinstates my belief that everyone wants some personal space. My sister broke up with her boyfriend and when I asked her for a reason she said that he was getting way too possessive. That was surprising for me since I thought my sister was the sort of person who would cherish a relationship in which her boyfriend would be possessive about her, but it turned out otherwise. It has been

The political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay Example for Free

The political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay In this paper, I will examine the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. I will investigate both mens ideas individually and offer my own views on their theories. I will conclude the paper by comparing and contrasting the notions introduced in their respective writings. Thomas Hobbes was born in Wiltshire, England in 1588. He lived in one of the most unsettled periods in English history. Following a rebellion against King Charles, there resulted a civil war, which began in 1642. As a consequence of this political instability, Hobbes was forced into exile in November of 1640. He remained abroad living on the continent for approximately eleven years. During this period he worked and conversed with many of the great philosophers of his time. It was while in Paris in 1640 that Hobbes finally matured the plan for his own philosophical work. It was to consist of three treatises, dealing respectively with matter or body, with human nature, and with society. It was his intention, he says, to have dealt with these issues in this order, but his country was in turmoil with concerns regarding the rights of dominion, and the obedience due from the sovereigns subjects. As a result of this, Hobbes began instead with his examination of society. When stable government seemed to have been re-established by the Commonwealth, he had his ideas published in London. The same year, 1651, saw the publication of his greatest work, Leviathan, and his own return to England, which now promised a safer shelter to the philosopher than France, where he feared the clergy and was no longer in favour with the remnant of the exiled English court. The last twenty-eight years of Hobbes long life were spent in England. Hobbes philosophy can be described as materialistic, and mechanicalistic. He believed everything is matter. One cannot differentiate between matter, life and mind. To describe social reality, Hobbes would argue, is like describing physics or biology. It is concerned with matter in motion. He argued that all human life and all human thought are to be understood quite simply as matter in motion. In this regard Galileo heavily influenced his thinking. Hobbes identified two distinguishable types of motion. These he defined as  vital motion and voluntary motion. I will not indulged heavily into these notions, except to say, that Hobbes believed that the ultimate goal in all human motion is toward self-preservation. Basically what he is saying is that all motion is a result of fear of death. Although reason plays a significant role according to Hobbes, it is largely a regulatory instrument to these basic motions (1). Hobbes philosophical ideas are largely portrayed in his text, Leviathan. In this piece, he discloses the fact that he feels the evils of absolute power is still better than living in a society without that ultimate overseer. Perhaps as a result of the turbulent time in which he lived, Hobbes had an almost chronic fear of living within a chaotic society. It was his belief that a society without an absolute leader would be, or eventually become a chaotic one. Hobbes gives us a psychological explanation for why he believes this to be so. In his opinion, all people are by nature selfish and egoistic. As all men are selfish, and wish only to satisfy their own needs, competition for resources inevitably occurs. Resources are not infinite in amount, but are limited in their availability. As a result, Hobbes argues that conflict between men over these resources is unavoidable. Hobbes refers to people living in this state of nature as natural man (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 11). In his brief introduction to the Leviathan, Hobbes describes the State as an organism analogous to a large person. He shows how each part of the state parallels the function of the parts of the human body. He notes that the first part of his project is to describe human nature, in so far as humans are the creators of the state. To this end, he advises that we look into ourselves to see the nature of humanity in general. Hobbes argues that, in the absence of social condition, every action we perform, no matter how charitable or benevolent, is done for reasons, which are ultimately self-serving. For example, when I donate to charity, I am actually taking delight in demonstrating my powers, in its most extreme form; this view of human nature has since been termed Psychological Egoism. Hobbes believes that any account of human action, including morality, must be consistent with the fact that we are all self-serving. Hobbes speculates how selfish people would behave in a state of nature, prior to the formation of any government. He begins noting that humans are essentially equal, both mentally and physically, in so far as even the weakest person has the strength to kill the strongest. Given our equal standing, Hobbes continues by noting how situations in nature make us naturally prone to quarrel. There are three natural causes of disagreement among people: competition for limited supplies of material possessions, distrust of one another, and glory in so far as people remain hostile to preserve their powerful reputation. Given the natural causes of conflict, Hobbes concludes that the natural condition of humans is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 13). Under such conditions, 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 which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes continues offering proofs that the state of nature would be as brutal as he describes. We see signs of this in the mistrust we show of others in our daily lives. In countries, which have yet to be civilized, people are barbaric to each other. Finally, in the absence of international law, strong countries prey on the vulnerability of weak countries. Humans have three motivations for ending this state of war: the fear of death, the desire to have an adequate living, and the hope to attain this through ones labour. Nevertheless, until the state of war ends, each person has a right to everything, including another persons life (Ibid). In articulating the peace-securing process, Hobbes draws on the language of the natural law tradition of morality, which was then championed by Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). According to Grotius, all particular moral principles derive from immutable principles of reason. Since these  moral mandates are fixed in nature, they are thus called laws of nature. By using the terminology of the natural law theory, Hobbes is suggesting that, from human self-interest and social agreement alone, one can derive the same kinds of laws, which Grotius believes are immutably fixed in nature (2). Throughout his discussion of morality, Hobbes continually re-defines traditional moral terms, such as right, liberty, contract and justice, in ways which reflects his account of self-interest and social agreement (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 14). For Grotius and other natural law theorists, a law of nature is an unchangeable truth, which establishes proper conduct. Hobbes defines a law of nature as follows: A Law of Nature (lex naturalis) is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may be best preserved. Hobbes continues by listing specific laws of nature all of which aim at preserving a persons life. Hobbess first three Laws of Nature are the most important since they establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. Given our desire to get out of the state of nature, and thereby preserve our lives, Hobbes concludes that we should seek peace. This becomes his first law of nature (Ibid). That every man ought to endeavour peace as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use all helps and advantages of war; the first branch of which rule contains the first fundamental Law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it. The second law of nature advocates the position that man in this state is entitled to defend himself (Ibid). The mutual transferring of these rights is called a covenant and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation and duty. For example, I agree to give up my right to steal from you, if you give up your right to steal from me. We have then transferred these rights to each other and thereby become obligated to not steal from each other. From selfish reasons alone, we are both motivated to mutually transfer these and other rights, since this will end the dreaded state of war between us. Hobbes continues by discussing the  validity of certain contracts. For example, contracts made in the state of nature are not generally binding, for, if I fear that you will violate your part of the bargain, then no true agreement can be reached. No contracts can be made with animals since animals cannot understand an agreement. Most significantly, I cannot contract to give up my right to self-defence since self-defence is my sole motive for entering into any contract (Ibid). Hobbes derives his laws of nature deductively, modelled after the type of reasoning used in geometry. That is, from a set of general principles, more specific principles are logically derived. Hobbess general principles are: that people pursue only their own self-interest, the equality of people, the causes of quarrel, the natural condition of war, and the motivations for peace. From these he derives the above two laws, along with at least 13 others. Simply making contracts will not in and of itself secure peace. We also need to keep the contracts we make, and this is Hobbes third law of nature. Hobbes notes a fundamental problem underlying all covenants: as selfish people, each of us will have an incentive to violate a contract when it serves our best interests. For example, it is in the mutual best interest of Murphy and I to agree to not steal from each other. However, it is also in my best interests to break this contract and steal from Murphy if I can get away with it and what complicates matters more, Murphy is also aware of this fact. Thus, it seems that no covenant can ever get off the ground. This difficulty is overcome by giving unlimited power to a political sovereign who will punish us if we violate our covenants. Again, it is from purely selfish reasons that I agree to set up a policing power, which will potentially punish me if I deviate from the agreement (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 15). As noted, Hobbes first three Laws of Nature establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. The remaining laws give content to the earlier ones by describing more precisely the kinds of covenants, which will preserve peace. For example, the fourth law is to show gratitude toward those who comply with covenants. Otherwise people will regret that they complied when someone is ungrateful. Similarly, the fifth law is that we should be accommodating to the interests of society. For, if we quarrel over every minor issue, then this will interrupt the peace process. Briefly,  here are the remaining laws: cautious pardoning of those who commit past offences; the purpose of punishment is to correct the offender not an eye for an eye retribution; avoid direct or indirect signs of hatred or contempt of another; avoid pride; retain only those rights which you would acknowledge in others; be equitable; share in common that which cannot be divided, such as rivers; items which cannot be divided or enjoyed in common should be assigned by lot; mediators of peace should have safe conduct; resolve disputes through an arbitrator. Hobbes explains that there are other possible laws, which are less important such as those against drunkenness, which tends to the destruction of particular people. At the close of Chapter 15, Hobbes states that morality consists entirely of these Laws of Nature, which are arrived at through social contract. Contrary to Aristotles account of virtue ethics, Hobbes adds that moral virtues are relevant to ethical theory only in so far as they promote peace. Outside of this function, virtues have no moral significance. Hobbes continues in Chapter 17 by arguing that in order to ensure covenants and peace, power must be given to one person or one assembly. We do this by saying, implicitly, I authorise and give up my right of governing myself, to this person or to this assembly of people, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. His definition of a commonwealth, then, is this: One person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual covenants one with another, have made themselves every one the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all, as he shall think expedient, for their peace and common defence This person is called a sovereign. He continues that there are two ways of establishing a commonwealth: through acquisition, or through institution. In Chapter18 Hobbes lists the rights of rights of sovereigns. They are, subjects owe him sole loyalty, subjects cannot be freed from their obligation, dissenters must consent with the majority in declaring a sovereign, sovereign cannot be unjust or injure any subject, the sovereign cannot be put to death, the sovereign has the right to censor doctrines repugnant to peace, legislative power of prescribing rules, judicial power of deciding all controversies, make war and peace with other nations, choose  counsellors, power of reward and punishment, power of all civil appointments, including the militia. In Chapter 19 he discusses the kinds of governments that can be instituted. The three main forms are monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. He argues that monarchy is best for several reasons. Monarchs interests are the same as the peoples. He will receive better counsel since he can select experts and get advice in private. His policies will be more consistent. Finally, there is less chance of a civil war since the monarch cannot disagree with himself. His overriding belief here is that the sovereign, most likely a king, will only have the best interests of his subjects at heart, as he, Hobbes argues, is only as wealthy as his country. Rather inconsistently when you consider his theory overall, Hobbes also grants certain rights, or liberties to the subjects living within his monarchist society. These liberties, as you might expect, are established to ensure the right of the subject to self-preservation. Therefore, if the sovereign unnecessarily places the life of the subject in peril, either directly or indirectly, the covenant has in effect been broken, or the subject is free to disembark from the agreement. The subject is expected to defend his country from attack, should that occur, despite the danger it may entail for his life. However, he is not obliged, for instance to testify against himself in court, as that would quite obviously be counter to his desire for self-preservation. This concept was incorporated in the United States Constitution in the form of the Fifth Amendment, and many upstanding members of society have enjoyed its benefits since, including Al Capone, Jimmy Hoffa, and most recently Junior Soprano! Another idea introduced by Hobbes which was embraced by the United States legal system, as well as our own, was his belief that the subject had the right to sue the sovereign if his needs were not met. Hobbes theory has often been criticised quite severely and I believe rightly so. His individualistic perspective suggests that our self-preservation is the dominant motivation in our lives. Society exists, if we are to believe Hobbes theory, simply as a method of ensuring our self-interest, or at least maximising it. His theory is built on the premise of mutual trust, yet  the society would collapse without the threat of sanctions imposed by the sovereign. So, in fact it is not trust that is the raft that keeps society afloat, rather it is obviously fear. The most disturbing fact in regard to his theory, I believe, is Hobbes notion that society arises largely as a result of our selfish ways. He suggests that we are egoistic, as we as being are driven by our desires. It seems that he does not seriously consider the fact that our desires could incorporate any notions of legitimately, and unselfishly wanting to help others. This in my opinion is rather bizarre. There are other aspects to Hobbes theory that I find difficult to comprehend. His assertion that a monarchy offers us the best option for government is ludicrous to say the least, and his arguments to support this position are feeble at best. I will address just one of them here, to prove my point. In the course of his dialogue, Hobbes makes the claim that the best possible way to ensure that the constantly changing desires and needs of subjects are met, is to have a King or Queen as sovereign. When you consider some of the monarchies of our day, I will draw particular attention to the British monarchy, and how out of touch they are with their subjects, I think that it is fair to say that Hobbes opinions on this issue is almost laughable. Another aspect of Hobbes political philosophy that I find particularly disconcerting is his belief that conflict must never occur between subjects and their sovereign. Often, if not always, change only occurs as a result of conflict. Without conflict, we might never develop and advance significantly as societies. Revolutionary leader Thomas Jefferson said: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is natural manure (3). I believe that the threat of revolt is always necessary in order to keep leaders firmly in tune with the needs of their citizens. The final comment I will make on Hobbes work on this matter relates to the fact that I believe his theory is extremely defeatist in essence. Basically, Hobbes theory is built on the foundation that we desire peace so much that we should be willing to accept the evils of absolute power, or even dictatorship in order to maintain it. John Locke was born in Somerset, England in 1632. Like Hobbes, he lived in a period of great political instability. He was forced to flee England twice as a result of this situation, however, unlike Hobbes; he was not soared against mankind as a consequence. In his major political works, his Two Treatise on Civil Government, he attempts to justify the revolution of King William of Orange against the legitimate monarch, King James II. In the first of these two treatise, Lockes purpose is to attack the ideas of pro-royalist; Sir Robert Filmer, and specifically his theory put forward in his work; The Patriarch. In the Second Treatise on Civil Government, Locke puts forth his own ideas on the establishment of a democratic government. The focus of this piece shall be in the analysis of this work, as it displays Lockes own thoughts and believes. Locke developed the theoretical argument that became the basis for democracy, as we know it today within the western world. His ideas were to become the building blocks for the development of the constitution in both the United States of America and France. In fact, sections of his writings appear almost word for word in the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The influence of his ideas on todays world cannot be understated. In examining Lockes ideas, I also hope to demonstrate how distinctly different his thoughts often are from Hobbes. There are a few similarities between the two mens work however. For one, Locke, like his predecessor Hobbes, begins his work by giving what he believes is the historical description of how governments came into existence. In the same way as Hobbes, Locke commences by examining the relevance of the social contract to the establishment of government. Also corresponding to Hobbes he discusses the state of nature. However, Locke believes that the fundamental mistake in Hobbes theory is in his ideas introduced on this issue. Lockes state of nature is a largely peaceful one. Men live side-by-side, own property, possessions, and are free to do with these as they please. He rejects Hobbes notion that men are as a rule selfish, but rather thinks of a situation were many times people cooperate with each other, but unfortunately sometimes they are egoistic, but not always. For Locke, the law of nature that governs behaviour within this  state, is quite simple. People should not harm others in his life, health, liberty or possessions (Locke, Ch 2). Life within the state of nature for Locke is a life of perfect freedom. Its moral order is overseen by the law of nature, which is God-given, and exists independent of any constitution or society. Essential to this moral well being, are the natural rights of the people living within this state. These entitlements include that of life, liberty, property and also the authority to reprimand those who violate the natural law. It is difficult for individuals to do this alone, and so it is as a result of this factor, according to Locke that we were forced to vacate the state of nature, and establish societies. When a person breaks the law of nature, it is essential, he believes, to have the institutions in place to be able to punish the person, or persons in a fair and just manner. It is due to this fact that man originally voluntarily agreed to create society in order to have these institutions established (Ibid). These institutions that had to be erected had a number of goals, or objectives, which it needed to fulfill. Firstly, laws had to be created that reflected the needs of the population. In addition, these laws must become relatively fixed within the framework of that society, to the extent that those who would come under their influence would know them. Locke also felt that it was imperative to have at the core of these legal institutions impartial judges, who would have both knowledge of the law and authority to adjudicate in legal disputes. Finally, Locke rightly believed that all of this would be pointless unless the society had in place the resources to enforce these laws. If it did not, then quite simply the laws would not be followed (Ibid). Locke also discusses what he calls his state of war, which is very similar to Hobbes state of nature. In this state, there are no common judges or established institutions of law. Locke describes an environment where the fittest survive. This state of war can exist both inside a society and outside the bounds of it. It occurs when somebody, or some group, attempts to acquire resources solely as a result of their power. Opposition to such  tyrants, according to Locke, is not only justified, but he would even argue that at times it is completely necessary for the maintenance of the society. If an issue such as this is not addressed, life will simply revert back to the conditions experienced within the state of nature (Locke, Ch 3). The accounts I have already given of the consensual agreement among citizens to establish legal institutions to oversee the upholding of the law are the basic rudiments of democracy. Laws within such a democracy are created only after long deliberation, and are not invented on the spur of the moment. This is often the case under the rule of monarchies, according to Locke, were laws are created and destroyed at will to simply fulfil the wishes of the sovereign. Furthermore, laws within a democracy will be created by representatives of the people and so, Locke argues, should clearly reflect the wishes of the society with whom they represent. An interesting fact built into Lockes theory, is his belief that certain aspects of human behaviour should not come under the influence of governmental control. He referred to these as rights. This particular notion of Lockes was another aspect of his theory incorporated in many national constitutions. The most notable of these, is The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. The bill of rights grants those living in the United States certain undeniable rights, such as the right to free speech, the right to choose where one worships, and also the right to bare arms to mention a few. Also included within The Bill of Rights is the right to own private property. Again, this is another aspect of Lockes theory that he gave particular emphasis to within his work (Locke, Ch 5). Locke considered property to be much more than just material substance. He believed property to actually be part of oneself, as it is clearly the fruit of your own labour. Throughout his writings, property is used in a much broader sense than the dictionary definition of the word. It is usually referred to as meaning such things as life and liberty. Therefore, Locke argues that to attempt to take an individuals property from them, it is much more than simply theft. Instead, he maintains that it is an assault on you as a person. This particular opinion on property is very different from the  beliefs expressed by Hobbes. For him, property is a creation of society. Furthermore, he insists that no person can claim anything as his own within the state of nature. What you own is only yours for as long as you are strong enough to hold onto it. Lockes ideas were obviously in marked contrast to those put forward by Hobbes regarding property. Locke believed that we were all created equal in nature; therefore, society had no right to take from us what nature had given to us initially. This conception was advanced further and indeed incorporated into law. It is of course the NOTION that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. I deliberately highlighted the word NOTION, because I believe that is all it is, and the truth in reality is actually far from this (Ibid). The most democratic aspect of Lockes theory is incorporated in his ideas that when we departed from the state of nature, we voluntarily gave up some of our personnel rights to the government. Specifically, the right to punish those who transgress the law. This right is given to the executive who is appointed by the people and is therefore responsible to them. Lockes government is almost like a secretary for the mass population. Acting like a secretary, the government should simply do the jobs required by, or requested by the people. If the government does not fulfil the wishes of the population, Locke maintained, they should be removed from office. For Locke, power lies with the people. Revolution by the people is not to be ruled out if the government has to be removed for not fulfilling the wishes of its citizens (Locke, Ch 8). In order to prevent abuse of power by the government, or indeed any one area of it, Locke introduced the idea of dividing the government into three branches. Each branch has the capability to influence, and if necessary, restrain the other branch or branches of government. The different strands of government he established were the executive, legislature and federative. Again, these branches of government are remarkably similar to those used in the United States. The executive and legislature proposed by Locke are very similar to those used in the U.S. government. Lockes federative branch was intended to deal with foreign negotiations, and does not in fact exists in the U. S. government framework. The third element of government there is  called the judicial and deals with the legal applications of government. The overall goal of using three branches of government is nonetheless very similar in purpose; in that its aims are restrict power from becoming to great within any one branch (Locke, Ch 12). Locke was particularly concerned with the executive gaining too much power. As a result, it is the legislature who is granted the greatest power and influence within government. The legislature makes the laws and the executive is only charged with enforcing these laws. Therefore, the ability of the executive is severely restricted by the limitations of the laws sent down from the legislature. Another interesting aspect of Lockes desire to restrict the executive is his belief that they could be removed from their office by the legislature should they defy the rules of that office. Again, an idea very similar to this is found within the scheme of the United States government. Impeachment proceeding can be taking against any member of the civil government, if they are believed to have broken any rules of their office. In the history of the country, impeachment proceeding has been introduced against three presidents. These affairs, overseen by the House of Representatives determine whether there is sufficient evidence against the accused to warrant a trial before the Senate. None of the three presidents were ever convicted of the charges against them. President Andrew Jackson was taken to trial before the Senate, but failed to be convicted by one vote. President Richard Nixon resigned from his office before proceeding could really get under way, following the fallout from the Watergate Scandal. Most recently, President Bill Clinton survived a vote in the House of Representatives and so was not forced to undergo a legal trial before the Senate. I believe Lockes theory is a substantial improvement on that proposed by Hobbes. Locke correctly identifies the two major weaknesses I see in Hobbes theory. They are centred on his believes that man is innately selfish, or egoistic, and so is motivated solely by self-interest, and also his believe that man can live stably and securely under the sovereign leadership of a monarch. He fails to convince me on either of these points. Despite the fact that I see much to be praised about Lockes theory, I feel that there are  certain frailties that should be addressed, and I will conclude this essay by those that I feel are most significant. Essential too much of Lockes theory is his belief that living within the state of nature, we have certain rights, which he insists should be transferred to the societal or governmental level. Locke provides little evidence to offer support for the significance he places on these rights, and the evidence he does provide is certainly not totally convincing. Concerning opinion on social contract, Locke fails to identify his position on the double contract, and seems to tactfully dodge this difficult issue. Although certainly not nearly as individualist as Hobbes, Lockes theory does seem to lean in favour of the individual, rather than towards the genuine concerns of the group as a whole. One notion within his theory in particular seems to suggest this standpoint most clearly. His belief that we consent to joining society, definitely suggest to me that one is doing so for ones own good, and any thoughts of common good, are secondary at best. Finally, Lockes belief that government and society should be built on the premise that the majority rule, at first glimpse appears fair. This idea certainly was an enormous step forward from the ideas of those who came before him, going all the back to the ancients. However, often within democracies this notion is taking too literally and the majority rule only while considering their own interests and not those of the society as a whole. Minorities are treated like second-class citizens. Evidence of such behaviour can easily be found even within our own borders in Northern Ireland. Endnotes: 1. Gauthier, D. Hobbes, A Companion to the Philosophers. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 305. 2. Blackburn, S. Dictionary of Philosophy. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 163. 3. Darwin, B. (Ed.) The Oxford Library of Words Phrases. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 130. Note: All other quotations cited throughout this essay are taken from: 4. Hobbes, T. Leviathan, Classics of Moral Political Theory. (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1996, 2nd Ed.). 5. Locke, J. Two Treatises of Civil Government, Classics of Moral Political Theory. (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc., 1996, 2nd Ed.).

Warehouse Management Essay Example for Free

Warehouse Management Essay Abstract: The study presented here considers arrangement and management policies to improve the order picking procedure in the existing company warehouse. The study was conducted in a timber goods production and trading company. The main objective was to reduce the overall picking time that is quite high due to the lack of proper management and the nature of the stored items. The first stage was to register the situation in the warehouse. The second stage involved the analysis of the obtained data, to identify promising modifications and quantify the benefits of adopting them. The proposed modifications were based on policies and methodologies suggested in the literature. After the company approved and implemented (some of) the proposed modifications, the final stage was to measure and analyse the achieved improvements. Keywords: warehousing, case study, facility layout, order picking time 1. INTRODUCTION Order picking (OP) appears as one of the most significant activities in a warehouse. The picking tasks may contribute by over 65% in the warehouse operating costs. In fact, the retrieval cost exceeds by far the storage cost of any given item (Coyle et al., 1996). The factors affecting the efficiency of OP typically include the product demand, the warehouse layout, the location of the items, the picking method in combination with the routing methods, the experience of the employees, and the extent of automation (Gattorna, 1997). Note that the high cost associated with the automation of the procedure forces the majority of companies to use manual operation, usually at the expense of efficiency and time. The case study is carried out in a timber goods production and trading company. We consider one of the existing warehouse facilities and we attempt to improve its performance. The performance measure is the total picking time, so our objective is to find ways to reduce it as much as it is practically possible and desirable. At the first stage involves the collection of time data, to target the improvement that may be accomplished from the transition from a totally disorderly situation to an organized and controlled warehouse environment. The second stage suggests, implements and studies alternative storage, picking and routing schemes, according to observations made during the first stage. During the third stage, a second series of time measurements is carried out to investigate the achieved benefits. 2. REVIEW OF WAREHOUSE POLICIES RELATED TO ORDER PICKING There is a variety of studies on methods, policies, principles and/or techniques developed to improve the overall OP procedure. The decisions usually concern policies for the picking of the product items, the routing of the pickers in the warehouse, and the storage schemes for the products in the warehouse. The research scope has been to investigate the effect of changes in these policies on the reduction of the overall OP costs and the increase of percent savings. Petersen and Gerald (2003) was the first to attempt a simultaneous evaluation of all the three policies, whereas the usual practice is to consider them separately. 2.1. Picking policies In terms of the picking policies, Ackerman (1990) divided OP into strict, batch and zone picking and proposed policies tailored to each case. In strict picking, a single order is assigned during a picking tour, leading to lower service times and higher customer satisfaction. The policy is ideal when the group of the picking products is quite small and easy to be found. Drawbacks of the policy include an increase in the overall transportation time and a cost penalty. Alternatively, the batch picking policy assigns to a picker more than one orders during a picking tour (Gibson and Sharp, 1992; De Coster et al., 1999; Petersen, 2000). The batch scheme may bring significant reduction on the total picking time, but introduces an additional cost for monitoring and separating the orders at a later stage. Zone picking assigns a picker to a designated picking zone, where the picker is responsible for those products that are in his/her zone of the warehouse. This scheme decreases the chances for destructions and mistakes, but a possible delay in a zone is a threshold for the entire picking procedure for a big order. Frazelle and Apple (1994) further divided zone picking into: sequential zone, batch zone and wave OP. Petersen (2000) suggested that in the sequential zone scheme the order integrity is maintained, in batch zone the orders are batched together and each picker collects the products within a zone, and in wave picking a group of orders is programmed in precise time period. 2.2. Routing policies Routing policies suggest the route for a picking tour and the picking sequence of the items on the pick list. The suggestions are based on decision-making technologies that range from simple heuristics to mathematical optimization procedures. Using mathematical programming tools Ratliff and Rosenthal (1983) found that optimal routing reduced the travel time, but the optimal routes were quite confusing routes and difficult to implement in practice. Hall (1993) and Petersen and Schmenner (1999) examined the efficiency of heuristic routing in minimizing the distance traveled by the picker. In practice, many warehouses use the traversal policy, where the picker must pass through the entire aisle and in order to collect the items. Petersen (1997) and Roodbergen and Koster (2001) examined the possibility of combined traversal and return routes to reduce further the travel distance. 2.3 Storage policies Storage policies remain the least investigated among the three policy categories. Random storage is the most widely used option, and Schwarz et al. (1978) examined its performance. Petersen and Aase (2003) claimed that random storage is by far the simplest option and requires less space compared to the more sophisticated storage policies. The simplest structured-storage schemes apply class-based and/or demandbased policies in the arrangement of the products. In class-based storage the products are classified, and items of each class are placed within the same area of the warehouse. In demand (or volume) –based storage the products are stored according to their demand (or their size) near the Pick-up / Drop-off point (P/D). Jarvis and Mc Dowell (1991) suggested that the optimal storage strategy is to place the items with great demand in the aisle, thus reduce the travel time. Gibson and Sharp (1992) and Gray et al. (1992) stated that locating high volume items near to the P/D point increased the picking efficiency. Petersen and Schmenner (1999) examined the volume-based storage policies and concluded that the method resulted to less time compared to other storage policies. Eynan and Rosenblatt (1994) claimed that the class-based storage required less data processing and yielded similar saving with volume-based storage. Tompkins and Smith (1998) suggested that the overall picking time could be reduced applying the Pareto principle on the storage arrangement. In a warehouse, a relatively small number of products constitutes the largest part of the stock and accounts for the largest part of the dispatches of the warehouse. Consequently, if high demand items are placed in near distance and grouped into classes, then picking time can be significantly reduced. The former is easy to apply by allocating a number of the front area piles to items of high demand or leftovers. In terms of more sophisticated storage options, Ven den Berg (1999) suggested a separation of the warehouse into a forward and a reserve area. The forward area was for order picking, while the reserve area was used for replenishing the forward area. The variety of different methods and techniques makes it difficult to identify the most appropriate policy to increase the overall performance of the picking activity. The decision on the appropriate principles and policies to be applied depends on the characteristics of the particular system, i.e. product and warehouse. By reducing the non-productive elements during OP, Gattorna (1997) presented a set of basic and general productivity improvement principles. 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDIED WAREHOUSE – INITIAL SITUATION The company considered here deals with wood production and trading, and uses 6 warehouses for the finished products. Each warehouse is further divided into individual sections where different categories of products are stored. Panels, i.e. sheets of compressed wood (chipboard) account for 80% of the total product sales of the company. The panels are covered with coloured melamine to imitate the appearance of various types of wood. The panel warehouse has over 6000 codes of stored products, distributed into 4 individual sections. The study considers one of these sections, where the number of codes is around 1000. The most frequent values for the size of the panels is 3.66Ãâ€"1.83m, and the thickness is between 6cm and 25cm. Instead of using shelves, the products are piled one on top of the other using small chocks between the packages. Great attention is paid to the alignment of the items in each pile, to avoid sheet warping. Warping can easily occur due to the small thickness of the packages and the large load they take. The studied warehouse section consists of three parts: two of them have 12 front piles each and the third part has 6 front piles (Figure 1). The piles are 7m high and the products are stored in up to 4 depths of pile levels. The main aisle is used by the clarks to gain access to the front piles. The aisle is wide enough to allow the clarks to remove the items of the front piles and to retrieve items stored in the deeper levels. Each part of the section contains different groups of products. Customer orders are collected by the Sales Department and sent to the Traffic Office on daily basis. The loading plans contain information on the ordered items and their quantities, the customer placing the order, and the requested mode of loading on the lorry. In the course of a day, the Traffic Office prepares over 25 order plans. The plans are usually collected and loaded at the same time. Initially, the warehouse suffered from many problems that mainly affected the search and retrieval times. The picking followed the strict OP policy. Each pair of pickers (an operator and an assistant) undertook a single order-plan at the time. Orders from other plans were collected once the pickers completed their current plan, even if this required revisiting the same areas of the warehouse. There was no automated or optimal routing system used here, and the choice of an efficient route remained on the experience of the picker. The grouping of the products in the section parts was based on the type of their surface (e.g. porous or smooth), regardless of the kind of wood. This was the only storage rule, and then the items were stored randomly in the section parts. Tracing a product was relying on the experience of the warehouse managers and the memory of the pickers. From the point of management the process depended on the experience of the personnel, while even a simple WMS version was certain to improve the situation. Once the location of an item was specified, the retrieval time was affected by the size/weight of the products, and the mode of storage. For instance, if the ordered product was located on the second, third or fourth depth of pile levels, many items had to be removed until the product was finally retrieved. Then, the removed items had to be placed back to their original locations. 4. MEASUREMENTS AND PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS The time measurements were carried out twice. The first measurement (stage 1) presented the initial anarchous situation of the system (see Section 3). The second measurement (stage 3) showed the effect of the improvements suggested by the authors and adopted by the company. The picking procedure is divided into four phases, and the time measurements concern the: 1. the travel time required for the picker to reach the pick point, 2. the search time required for the products to be found, 3. the retrieval time required for the products to be retrieved, and 4. the return time required for the picker to transport the products to the order point. Each time measurement considered 15 order plans selected by the Traffic Office of the company in collaboration with the authors. The selected plans were representative and included a large number of products, so that the analysis of the obtained time schedules yields reasonable and reliable conclusions. The number of orders in the studied plans ranged from 5 to 17 per plan. To allow comparison between the picking times measured for items of different size, the results are presented as the measured time over the volume of the respective item, namely in minutes per cubic meter. 4.1. Stage 1: Results of the 1ST measurement series The results of the 1st measurement series are reported on Table 1. The time required to complete the picking cycle is 5.69 min/m3. In terms of the itemized times for travel, search, retrieval and return, we observe that finding and retrieving the products are the most time-consuming procedures. The search time is around 36% (2.05 min/m3) of the total OP time. The percentage is quite high and reveals the need for an automated system to control and monitor the placement of the stock. Tracing the products becomes an extremely difficult and demanding procedure relaying mainly on the experience of the operator and the assistant. Many years of work in this particular position and the ability to locate the items using visual contact are decisive factors. In many cases, finding an item quickly is merely a matter of coincidence or luck. Our results include cases where locating a stocked product took over 45 minutes of searching and the product eventually failed to reach the customer on time. Table 1: Final results obtained during the 1st and the 2nd measurements Phases Travel time Search time Retrieval time Return time Travel return times Total 1ST measurement before modifications t1 (minutes) % total 0.51 9.0 2.05 36.0 2.50 43.9 0.63 11.1 1.14 5.69 20.0 100. 2ST measurement after modifications t2 (minutes) % total 0.33 11.5 0.37 12.9 1.73 60.5 0.43 15.0 0.76 2.86 26.6 100. Relative time reduction (t1-t2) / t1 % 35.3 82.0 30.8 31.7 33.3 49.7 The retrieval time is around 44% (2.50 min/m3) of the total OP time. Most of this time is spent on removing products in the front levels until the desired item comes to surface. The multiple storage depths combined with the surface type-based storage makes retrieval the most time-consuming procedure. Note that the initial choice of storage policies was based upon empirical criteria since, without a systematic measurement and consideration of the real system. Typically, the travel and return times account for over half of the total OP time (Tompkins, 1998), and most of the research work in increasing the efficiency of OP has focussed on the assumption. This does not apply to the problem considered here, where the retrieval times are considerably higher due to the nature of the products. Supported by the results of Stage 1, the retrieval times can be reduced by rearranging the warehouse and applying storage principles as discussed in Section 2. 4.2. Stage 2: Proposed and implemented mo difications The scope here is to reduce the time spent to reach the picking area and the packaging point. Based on the analysis of the first measurements the following were suggested to the company. Introduction of a Warehouse Management System (WMS): The use of a WMS can facilitate and speed up the tracing of the products. This is expected to reduce significantly the search time that is over a third of the total OP time. Improvement of the picking policies: After introducing a WMS, it is advisable to change the method of OP from strict to zone picking. Application of optimal routing policies: In total, the travel and return time is only around 20% of the total OP time. A techno-economical feasibility study (in the form of an ABC analysis) can quantify how much of this can really be reduced by the choice of routing policies, and provide incentives to carry out the necessary modifications. Changing the location of fast moving products in the warehouse, to reduce the retrieval time for small orders. The number of the wood panels ordered is usually other than those contained in the panel lots. The initial policy was to leave the remaining items in their original locations until they were again in demand. The result was to have many broken lots of the same product stored randomly in various places and levels within the warehouse. The remainders of the product lots can be placed in easily accessible front piles assigned for this purpose. Extending the storage space to reduce the storage depths from four to two, to reduce the retrieval time. This however increases the fraction of the void over the total space in the warehouse, and creates a trade off between the time needed to access the products and the cost of extending the warehouse area. The company adopted some of the above suggestions, namely the installation of a simple WMS and a change in the location of its products, following an ABC analysis. The storage mode changed to demandbased, hence the fast moving products were placed closer to the section entrance to reduce the travel and return times. Also, two piles were allocated on each side section, where the remainders under 20 sheets would be placed (see the broken lot piles in Figure 1). The company did not switch to zone picking, because separating the items of the different order packs needs extra space. Also, the company could not consider our suggestion to reduce the storage depth levels, since this requ ired building an additional warehouse. 4.3. Stage 3: Results of the 2ND measurement series Once our suggestions were implemented, the second measurement series was conducted to evaluate the subsequent reductions on the total OP time. The results and the differences between the first and the second measurements are presented on the Table 1. The total time to complete the picking cycle is now 2.86 min/m3, thus a reduction of nearly 50% was achieved. More specifically, the search time is down by over 80% and is now nearly 13% (0.37 min/m3) of the total. This is because the item locations are registered and given to pickers along with the order plan. Further reductions could be achieved if the employed WMS specified the height along with the depth of the product location. The demand-based storage and the use of the two piles for the broken lots reduced the retrieval time by 30.8%, to 1.73 min/m3. There is also significant reduction (33.3% on average) in the travel time to and from the picking points, due to the new storage policies adopted. Despite the significant overall reduction on the OP time, the problem of item retrieval remains unresolved. In effect, the current retrieval time is 60% of the total OP time. Redu cing the storage depths is not considered presently, as it requires expansion of the warehousing establishments. 5. CONCLUSIONS This work presents a real case study to improve the performance of order picking in an existing company warehouse. The main objective is the reduction of the overall picking time. The work is divided into three stages. The first stage is to register the situation in the warehouse with regard to the required order picking times. The total time is divided into travel, search, retrieval and return time to allow a more detailed analysis of the situation. The analysis of the obtained data identifies promising modifications and quantifies the benefits of adopting them. In effect, the measurements indicated the need for more systematic management, storage and arrangement of the products in the warehouse, and more efficient routing. After the company approved and implemented (some of) the proposed modifications, the time measurements were repeated to see the benefits. Finally, a mean 50% reduction in the total picking times was achieved. There is still space for improvement, even given the reluctance of the company to carry out expensive modifications. Our future research considers the development of a simple warehouse simulation tool to apply different arrangement options and evaluate their performance, using the time data collected in this work. REFERENCES Ackerman, K. B., 1990. â€Å"Practical Handbook of Warehousing†, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY. Coyle, J.J., Bardi, E.J., Langley, C.J., 1996. â€Å"The Management of Business Logistics†, 6th ed., West Publishing, St Paul, MN. De Koster, M.B.M., Van der Poort, E.S., Wolters, M., 1999. â€Å"Efficient order batching methods in warehouses†, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 1479-1504. Eynan, A., Rosenblatt, M.J., 1994. â€Å"Establishing zones in single-command class-based rectangular AS/RS†, IIE Transactions, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 38-46. Frazelle, E.H., Apple, J.M., 1994. â€Å"Warehouse Operations†, in J.A. Tompkins and D.A. Harmelink (Eds), The Distribution Management Handbook, McGraw-Hill, NY, pp. 22.1-22.36. Gibson, D.R., Sharp, G.P., 1992. â€Å"Order batching procedures†, European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 58, pp. 57-67. Gray, A.E., Karmarkar, U.S., Seidmann, A., 1992. â€Å"Design and operation of an order-consolidation warehouse: Models and application†, European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 58, pp. 3-13. Hall, R.W., 1993. â€Å"Distance approximations for routing manual pickers in a warehouse†, IIE Transactions, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 76-87. Jarvis, J.M., McDowell, E.D., 1991. â€Å"Optimal product layout in an order picking warehouse†, IIE Transactions, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 93-102. Gattorna, J., 1997. Handbook of Logistics and Distribution management, 4th ed., Gower Publisher Company. Petersen, C.G., 1997. â€Å"An evaluation of order picking routing policies†, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1096-1111. Petersen, C.G., 2000. â€Å"An evaluation of order picking policies for mail order companies†, Production and Operations Management, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 319-335. Petersen, C.G., Aase, G., 2003. â€Å"A comparison of picking, storage and routing policies in manual order picking†, International Journal of Production Economics, in press. Petersen, C.G., Schmenner, R.W., 1998. â €Å"An evaluation of routing and volume-based storage policies in an order picking operation†, Decision Sciences, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 481-501. Ratliff, H.D., Rosenthal, A.S., 1983. â€Å"Order-picking in a rectangular warehouse: A solvable case of the traveling salesman problem†, Operations Research, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 507-521. Roodbergen, K.J., Koster, R., 2001. â€Å"Routing methods for warehouses with multiple cross aisles†, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1865-1883. Schwarz, L.B., Graves, S.C., Hausman, W.H., 1978. â€Å"Scheduling policies for automatic warehousing systems: simulation results†, AIIE Transactions, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 260-270. Tompkins, J.A., Smith, J.D., 1998. The Warehouse Management Handbook, 2nd ed., Tompkins Press, Raleigh. Van den Berg, J.P., Zijm, W.H.M., 1999. â€Å"Models for warehouse management: Classification and examples†, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 59, pp. 519-528.

Karl Marx Notion Of Ideologies

Karl Marx Notion Of Ideologies This paper critically explores how Antonio Gramsci builds on Karl Marxs notion of ideology. It also compares Antonio Gramsci and Max Weber with regard to class, status and political party. The paper is organized on the major aspects and deficiencies of Marxist ideology which Gramsci builds on and as such, how Gramsci builds on Marxist ideology is based on: ideological basis, hegemony, historicism, class differences, historicism, materialistic theory of history and its concepts, Economic determinism, dialectic views, realism and modernism. The last sections of this paper focus on Gramsci and Weber with regard to class, status and political party. Antonio Gramsci work of the 19th century to a large extent was built on Marxist thinking about ideology and consciousness as it gave ideology (initially developed by Karl Marx ) a more active role in history and politics than in classical historical materialism. According to Gramsci, the proletariat is able to influence terms of its consciousness resulting in an extended struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat regarding how the existing social reality is represented. He continues to suggest that the bourgeoisie in general exercises hegemony over the terms of ideology through its control of the consciousness and its instruments. However, according to Gramsci, the proletariat is able to exert its influence through cultural institutions initially mentioned above thus introducing major changes in classical ideological theories by denial of the subordinate class which is compared to the passive tool of dominant ideology. Gramsci uses the concept of hegemony which was previously used by Marxists to indicate the political influences of the working class in a democratic revolution. He develops this concept into an acute analysis to explain the reason for the socialist revolution predicted by orthodox Marxism not having occurred by the early 20th century. By developing on the Marxists concept, he suggests that capitalism remained entrenched than ever and it maintained control ideologically through a hegemonic culture and through violence, political and economic coercion. Therefore according to Gramsci, when a culture develops in which Marxists owners of the means of production identified their own good with the good of the bourgeoisie, and facilitated the maintenance of the status quo which Marxists attribute to class differences. Gramscis further builds on Marxists ideology of class differences by suggesting that for any aspiring class to dominate in modernism it has to go beyond its own economic-corporate interests, to exert intellectual and moral leadership, and to make alliances and compromises with a variety of forces, which he refers to as a historic bloc which forms the determinant to a particular social order that produces and re-produces the hegemony of the dominant class. This is built on Marxist ideology on the materialistic theory of history concept of relations of production in which he points out that the non owners of the means of production in order to produce a means of livelihood facilitate the economic dominance of the dominating class further creating class differences in society (p.33). Like Karl Marx, Gramsci was an ardent proponent of historicism. Gramscis view like Marxs points out that all meaning derives from the relation between human practical activities of which part is historical and social processes which are objective. He further builds on Marxs ideology by asserting that Ideas cannot be understood outside their social and historical context, apart from their function and origin. According to Gramsci, the basis of organization of knowledge of the world is not primarily derived from peoples relationship to things but between the social relations between the users of such concepts therefore the issue of unchanging human nature does not occur. He suggests that philosophy and science dont portray independence of man in reality but are only reliable if they express the real development trends of a given historical situation. This is further elucidated by the fact of Gramsci belief that Marxism was truthful socio-pragmatically because by articulating the class consciousness of the proletariat, it highlighted the truth of tits times better than any other theory. While criticizing Marxist capitalist forces of production, Gramsci builds his argument by claiming that the revolution in Russia had made the idea of socialist revolution awaiting the full development of capitalist forces of production invalid and he suggests that the primacy of the forces of production according to Marxists was a misconception because both economic and cultural changes are expressions of the basic historical process and none has primacy over the other. Therefore according to Gramsci, Marxism is a philosophy of praxis, and it cant depnd on historical laws which are not seen as the agents of social change. Gramscis inspiration is derived from Marx, but he expresses disagreement with Marxs focus on economic importance. According to Marx, the economy was predetermined through history and is a determinant of the rest of society (economic determinism) Building on this, Gramsci saw that the depiction of the superstructure (civil society), focused only on the economy and did not mention cultural realm as an important factor and is therefore negligent that culture has the ability to effect change. While Marx withheld negative perception that ideology was a distortion of what people perceive as reality that is achieved through the ruling classs ability who make their interests appear to be the interests of everyone, Gramsci, on the other hand, perceives ideology positively, and acknowledges many groups in society despite those based in class which compete with each other and have different perspectives. He calls the winning of consent as hegemony which operates through sustained reproduction o f ideology over a period of time till the perspectives of dominant groups are perceived to be legitimate and incase of absence of consent, it is through coercion to enforce dominance. According to Gramsci, consent is achieved through civil society (family, church, education system, and media). Marxs ideological concept regarding ideology was epistemological as it pointed out that ideology opposed knowledge which was grounded ion science and reasoning. According to Gramsci, people have two theoretical consciousnesses: one which is implicit in activity and another which is superficially explicit or verbal which is uncritically absorbed from the past. A large number of Gramscis theoretical concerns are almost similar and therefore built on the general questions of ideology and Marxist aesthetics, particularly because they have been highlighted as a result of the work of George Lukà ¡cs, one of the major proponents in the realism/modernism debate who is also a major Marxist aesthetician. For example, Gramsci builds on the way which Lukà ¡cs aesthetically and culturally confronted the immediate advent of fascism (Holub Renate, p.3). According to Holub Renate (3), Gramsci builds on and exceeds many concerns of received Marxism when he relates realism and modernism problems to transformations in structural modern world, examines phenomena related to effect and production of industrialization due to culture, studies production of significance in linguistic and phenomenological framework which anticipates a cluster of structural linguistics and a kind of a phenomenological critical theory , carries out a critical practice which is suggestive in terms of contemporary critical theory in terms of differential pragmatics. Holub Renate, (p. 6) suggests that Gramsci builds on Marx ideology by rethinking and Reconsidering Marxist theory and strategy with reference from dialectic questions to ideological theories, culture and the state. He further suggests that the rethinking of formidable occurrences in history resulted to key notions (political and civil society, hegemony, counter-hegemony his idea of the intellectual/organic intellectual) being conceptualized and such notions were later associated with him. In Gramscis concept of the intellectual, as perceived by Holub Renate Gramsci conceptualizes directed reproduction and dissemination of an effective hegemony, and collaborates in the Marxist intellectuals theoretical project hence using this approach, Gramsci builds on Marxist ideology. Additionally, Holub Renate (11) refers to Marxis text as being representative, along with those of Korsch and Lukà ¡cs, of early western Marxism. Gramscis further builds on Marx ideology regarding his treatment of realism in the context of Marxist aesthetics. Though Gramsci does not share some theoretical assumptions with Lukacs, his texts evolve against a background or a structure of concerns which he has in common with Lukà ¡cs (12), who is an ardent Marxist aesthetician. Again, the way in which Gramscis work displays its theory is homologous to many pivotal twentieth-century Marxist ways of theorizing for example when he relates realism and modernism problems to structural al transformations of the modern life world. He also builds on Lukà ¡cs work of cultural-aesthetic confrontation of the immediate advent of fascism and according to Holub Renate (15) he replays the realist/modernist drama, enacted by Lukà ¡cs {a Marxist Aeathetecian} on the one hand and by supporters of modernism on the other hand à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ his mode of approaching the problems of modernism and modernity, his way of posing questions and problemati zing issues of technologization, is similar to Marxist approach and therefore he builds on the ideology of Marxism. Holub Renate views Gramscis analysis of modernisms cultural problems, reflections on an anticipatory sensibility to very complex socio-cultural transformations and flexibility in adjusting previous concepts (by Marxists and other sociologists) as a building block in his new experiments and inventions so as to grasp new political and social realities .according to Holub Renate in his writings about Gramsci ideology, he confesses that he finds it difficult to separate Gramsci from the Marxist crowd in order to exclusively identify him with the German critical theory of the 19th century possibly as his work is built on the Marxist perception. Holub Renate further suggests that Marxist intellectuals are interested in literary problems, but Gramsci refused to perceive literature as unrelated to social life and political activity. So when Gramsci re-examined the significance of literature and how it is related to politics i.e. the failed revolution on one hand and fascism on the other, he builds on basic premises of Marxist aesthetics which states problems of culture are not separable from the realm of politics and hence production and circulation of cultural goods e.g. literature are related to production and circulation of political, ethical and moral values and norms. Gramscis thoughts in most cases are homologous or built on the critical theories of modernism and therefore there are multiple relations between his thinking and various other forms of critical theory forms of critical theory an example being neo-Marxism, Marxist linguistics, Frankfurt School modernism and critical phenomenology. Gramscis analyses relations of power and function performed by intellectual activities in the course of these relations and he builds on this to formulate the intellectual theory with models such as the traditional intellectual: artist, philosopher and poet, structure of feeling, intellectual community à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The organic intellectual à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the critical specialistà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the universal intellectual. Therefore, these models incorporate instances of power and is therefore built on a Marxist account and idealism of social function and responsibilities of the individualas it outlines the non neutrality of knowledge and ideas and partiality of the producers and disseminators of knowledge therefore the political trigger of the intellectual that inscribes power and domination (i.e. social classes having owners and non owners of the means of production according to Karl marx). Therefore Gramsci by deriving the intellectual models was primarily focusing on a determinate body of knowledge which is depicted in Marx and Engels writings as well as in the anti-Marxist writings of philosophers of the twentieth century Italian cultural history e.g. Benedetto Croce. According to Holub Renate, he terms Gramcis work as as aesthetic fragments under the general heading of Marxism and literature, therefore depicting the notion that Gramscis work is a fragment of Marxism or is derived from Marxist ide ology. Gramsci builds on Marxist ideology by deploying his skills to attempt to amend Marxist theories where they are most deficient and vulnerable (39) e.g. by relating superstructure to Marxs infrastructure which changes the perception of Marxs forces of production and relations of production as being the major concepts of materialistic history of theory. Therefore Gramsci derives and build on Lukacs definitive Marxist aesthetics and ideology by organizing his work around a cultural and political critique in his philosophy of praxis. Gramsci builds on the deficiency of Marxist ideology in exploring the ways that the superstructure, its culture, politics and ideology are linked to the base, and by exploring the several ways which the state, culture and politics result in production of ideology, power and authority. His unrelenting interest in the realm of the superstructure unlike the base was just an attempt to build on Marxist ideology by attempting to correct Marxist theory in the areas which it looked very deficient. According to Holub Renate (42), he argues that Gramsci built on Marxist dialectic on superstructure as he was a student and proponent of the work of Antonio Labriola who was an Italian Marxist who opted for a Hegelian basis of interpreting Marx dialectic amidst the theoreticians of the second international. He further strengthens his argument that: Marxist aesthetics, particularly in the Lukà ¡csian version, tended to ignore new cultural formations when measuring art against a new set of aesthetics. Gramsci does both and more (48). Gramscis ideology had a different view of Marxist historical materialism which he saw as infantilism. According to him, political acts were an organisational matter which facilitated party, group and societal coherence. These parallels are eminent with Webers status groups, though Weber criticizes the economism of certain aspects of historical materialism which he highlighted in his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. On the other hand, Gramscis thoughts were anti-economist, but relied liberalism that claimed that the economy was a pure determinant of socio-political relations. His statement suggests that in certain ways, Gramcis perceptions are in agreement with Webers anti-positivism which gives the suggestion that both Weber and Gramcis works criticised both Marxist and liberal economism and positivism. The most pararrelism between Weber and Gramsci emanates from Weberian views on individual action. Regarding this concept, Weber perceives collectivities to be results of certain individual acts while Gramsci on the other hand perceives a collective will embodied in the party. According to Weber inexorable social forces were not a causative factor of conduct and Weber seems to disagree with Gramscis hegemony though Weber agrees that actors are sometimes unconscious with their actions. Weber perceives collectivities as being conceptual abstractions, but he is unable to account for structural inequalities, while Gramscis State and party can be perceived as ideal-type constructs according to his perspective of class of class action. Thus on several aspects, Gramsci accounts for deficiencies in Webers account on both bourgeois and proletarian classes unlike the individual. According to Weber class is heterogeneous in collective action and it is through status groups that the means for Gramcis hegemony are portrayed and the difference according to Weber is one of interpretation as was not convinced that values or ideology could result in a difference in realities of social structure at a bureaucratic stage. Gramcis ideology dominated and it is here that Gramsci and Weber agree. According to Gramscis philosophy of praxis, ideologies are arbitrary and must be combated for reasons of political struggle so as to make the governed to feel intellectually independent (Gramsci, 1988: 196). This is built on Webers argument of collectivities being results of the sum of individual actions. Gramsci continues to build on these ideas by defending ideology as being a social fact, hence he states that: To reinforce the conception of historical bloc in which precisely material forces are the content and ideologies are the form, though this distinction between form and content has purely indicative value, since the material forces would be inconceivable historically without form and the individual fancies without the material forces. (Gramsci, 1988: 200). Conclusion Gramsci explores factors which might play a role in arresting historical change as he (Gramsci) shifts his attention away from the material, economic and objective factor of Marx dialectic to the theoretical, subjective or supernatural factor and Holub Renate calls this shift as the beginning of western Marxism (50) because on the basis of Marxist paradigm contexts, Gramsci develops interest in understanding the complexity of the real of the super-structural while relating it to the economic basis There are crossovers in Weberian perception of legitimate domination and Gramscis imposed hegemony as they are both dependent on concept and Max Weber admits that the aspect of legitimacy has to be perceived in the same way as Gramscis hegemony. Does it mean that they shared a similar methodology? This question arises since they were both anti-economist and to some degree anti-positivistic. Critical analysis of their views makes one wonder whether Gramsci knew effects of Weberian status groups in civil society as he took the hegemonistic idea above the basis of economicism even though domination according to Gramsci was based on class.