Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics - Research Paper Example To strengthen virtue, this has to be exercised and observed at all times. In the same manner that nature nurtures the body that is rightfully nourished and trained, virtue is also strengthened by perpetual observation. This virtue or moral disposition is determined on how pain or pleasure influences an individual’s behavior. If a man is susceptible to pleasure, he is licentious. But if he is able to restrain himself and abstains from indulging in physical pleasure naturally without distressing himself, then that said man is virtuous. The ability to restraint oneself from excessive physical pleasure is necessary because it is the temptation of pleasure and its excesses that makes and induces us to behave badly. For us to endure and become virtuous, training is necessary for an individual to feel and experience joy and grief at the right time which is a requirement in the observance of the golden mean. This training has to begin in infancy for us to be educated on becoming virtu ous because joy and grief are the basic motivations that dictates our actions. If our sense of joy and grief are misplaced; that is, feeling joy and grief at the wrong time and place, it would inhibit us from becoming virtuous. We would tend to be shunning the wrong pains and we would be seeking the wrong virtues that would lead us to become licentious. Early training would predispose us to act according to the right virtues and would avoid vice. This sense of virtue which had been nurtured since infancy would also dictate on how we make choices. The good man, who had been trained since infancy to be feel joy and grief at the right time and place is likely to be right in his choices. In the same vein, the bad man will likely to decide wrong when given a choice especially when it involves pleasures. Pain and pleasure regulate our conduct and the virtuous man is he who effectively regulates his sense of pleasure and pain. And the real virtuous man is he who exercises virtue by choice and not just performs them because it is expedient. Rather, the real virtuous man effectively conducts himself and makes those choices for the sake of doing it amid difficulty and he knows what he is doing. Knowing the choices that one is making that is virtuous is different from an incidental virtuous man who only acts virtuous when it serves a particular purpose or without difficulty. The real virtuous man chooses it from a fix and steady purpose whatever the circumstance or qualification. The doctrine of the golden mean According to Aristotle, the acquisition of virtue is a result of the right habit which was nurtured by education and choice. This virtue which has been nurtured by early training and conscientious choice can be destroyed either by excesses or deficiency and it is important that the individual should hit the mean condition of virtue to remain virtuous. This â€Å"golden mean† according to Aristotle is an approximation of in-betweens between two extremes that is neither excessive nor deficient. It is to feel fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity and pleasure that is neither too much nor too little because both polarized directions are wrong. What is desired is to have â€Å"feelings at the right times on the right grounds towards the right people for the right motive and in the right way is to feel them to an intermediate, that is to the best, degree; and this is the mark of virtue. Such, there are three dispositions of virtue which are excessive, deficient and the

Final Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Final - Assignment Example tury liberal rights custom, in the feeling of being outlined fundamentally to ensure natives from state activity which encroaches upon singular freedom and self-governance. The assert that the right to " life, freedom and security of the individual" under area 7 assurances the right to deny unwanted health awareness medication is predictable with this origination of the Charter.2 Since its establishment, inquiries have likewise been raised regarding whether the Charter not just keeps the state from meddling with unique flexibilities, yet obliges governments to take positive measures to guarantee that Canadians can to be sure delight in the full profit of essential human rights. From this point of view, the issue whether the Charter assurances access to human services benefits as a component of the right to life, freedom and security of the individual under area 7, or of the right to equivalent insurance and equivalent profit of the law under segment 15(1) of the Charter, is a matter of much more amazing investment (Jacob, 2007). The medicinal calling has as far back as anyone can remember subscribed to a collection of moral explanations created principally for the profit of the patient. As a part of this calling, a doctor must distinguish obligation to patients as a matter of first importance, and to social order, to other wellbeing experts, and to self. The accompanying Principles embraced by the American Medical Association are not laws, however measures of behavior which characterize the essentials of fair conduct for the whole association and its administration. A regular skeleton utilized as a part of the examination of therapeutic morals is the "four standards" methodology hypothesized by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in their reading material Principles of biomedical morals. It distinguishes four fundamental good standards, which are to be judged and weighed against one another, with consideration provided for the extent of their requisition. The four

Week 5 â€Finances Essay Example for Free

Week 5 –Finances Essay Debate on profit maximization ethics and corporate social responsibility: Traditionally, the duty of company’s management is to improve the financial welfare of the shareholders of the company by maximum of profits provided it is under the law. This is the canonical law and economics account (Elhauge: 2004) Companies are therefore liable for any act(s) that causes more that usual harm under an independent law. However if the operations do not cause any undesired effect, then, it is socially acceptable that the company maximizes profits. The management of companies is therefore required to consider the interests of other stakeholders in their daily operations. This is as a result of the law that was enacted at the height of corporate takeovers during the 1980s. This law could however be construed to mean that the management of corporations only consider the interests of others only if doing so enhances the company’s profits. Shareholders and management have no legal duty to maximize profit although they have a legal discretion to forego on profits in the public interest. (Elhauge: 2004) According to Manuel Costello Branco and Lucia Lima Rodriquez companies only engage in corporate social responsibility if they are set to gain from such an undertaking. (Brancho Rodriguez: 2007) Corporate social responsibility may include environmental protection, human resource management, health and safety at work, relation with community and with suppliers and customers. (Branco Rodriguez: 2007) CSR boarders on ethics and management should therefore consider the impacts of their activities on the various stakeholders. It is also considered to be a competition strategy which can give a company competitive advantage. (Branco Rodriguez: 2007) This debate on CSR is on shareholders-stakeholders point of view where shareholders view is that management should maximize their wealth while the stakeholders view is towards all stakeholders (Friedman 1998, Jensen 2001) The classical view of business encompasses purely economic basis and constrained profit making views. This is the shareholders view. The stakeholders view on the other hand is of socially aware business where corporations are sensitive to needs if other stakeholders (Lantos: 2001) Companies should therefore, not ignore the interests of other stakeholders if doing so could impact negatively on the company’s intention of maximizing shareholders wealth. (Stern berg 1997, Jensen 2001) Ethics basically is what constitutes right or wrong behavior in business in terms of operations and situations happening in companies. In the daily operations of companies many unethical actions and decisions are made. Corporate citizenship concept is propagated by the society where businesses promote goals that they view as important while at the same time solving social problems thus rejecting the idea of profit maximization and law compliance. The results of an activity rather than the activity itself are what determine whether an action is ethical or not. Clarkson further elaborates that an actions is morally right if it generates the greatest amount of good to many people. (Utilitarian theory) (Clarkson: 1995) It is evident therefore that the concept of ethics is controversial in the sense that there are conflicting positions as to what constitutes what is morally right or wrong as shown by Kantian ethics and Utilitarian ethics. (Hymson 2007) In business ethics, because of competition, actions of one company e.g. adoption of lower prices leads to the other companies adopting the same pricing strategy and hence business ethics tend to be uniform (Hymson 2007) Monopolistic businesses where there is no competition can elect to apply personal ethics. But the cost of following personal ethics is borne by the employees. Hence argument gives credence to the idea that businesses only social responsibility is t maximize profits (Friedman: 1998). Outside business ethics, CSR is usually all about making profits. Government regulations The government should take charge and ensure that companies do not undertake business practice that cause undesirable effects on the community and therefore it should pass laws and regulations that guide corporations in the business practice (Reich 2007). The stiff competition that many corporations in the world today face makes them focus more on ways of making more profits and therefore the need of government regulations to protect the environment, consumers and even the employees. Robert Reich further alludes to the fact that corporations cannot be moral or immoral and can only be responsible if publicly held by their shareholders. The shareholders interest is to maximize their profits and therefore companies should do public good in their quest to maximize their profits (Reich 2007) Reasons for government regulations An example of company that could justify the government regulations is Wal-Mart. This corporation on one hand spends money on CSR projects but on the other it is against employees union, pays low wages with minimum benefits. The company also is against living wage initiatives. Wal-Mart has also been accused of forcing employees to perform overtime duties, sex and race discrimination and a whole lot of other things. The World com and Enron scandals are other examples that call for government regulations on CSR and business ethics. The list is endless, Adelphi, Tyco, Computer associates. All these cases touch on the subject of business ethics. Business ethics violations can also lead to illegalities as exemplified by the Enron and World com cases (Hymson 2007) References Hymson, E.B (2007) Law: The force that harmonizes business ethics with profit maximization. Retrieved on 4/3/2008 from http://www.salsb.org/slj/vol-xv/14hymson.pdf Elhauge, E. (2004) Sacrificing corporate profits in the public interest. Retrieved on 4/3/08 from http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/olin_center/corporate_governance/papers/04.Elhauge.sacrificing-corporate-profits.pdf. Branco, M.C and Rodriguez L. L (2007). Positioning stakeholders’ theory within the debate on corporate social responsibility (Vol 12. No. 1). Retrieved on 4/3/2008 from http://www.salsb.org/slj/vol-xv/14hymson.pdf Friedman. (1998), â€Å"The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits†, in Pincus, L.B. (Ed.), Perspectives in business ethics, McGraw-Hill, Singapore Jensen, M.C. (2001) â€Å"Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function†, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol.14 No.3 Sternberg. (1997) â€Å"The Defects of Stakeholder Theory†, Corporate Governance, Vol 5 No.1. Lantos, G.P. (2001) â€Å"The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol.18 No.7 Clarkson, M.B.E. (1995) â€Å"A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance†, Academy of Management Review, Vol.20 No.1 Robert Reich, R (2007). Super capitalism. The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life.

Theories of International Microeconomics

Theories of International Microeconomics 1. Introduction Economic theory can be considered as a system of ideas that contains a set of models designed to explain economic outcomes and make predictions for future events. The choice of the model will depend principally on the explanatory value and the certainty of the model in explaining current situations and predicting future outcomes. International trade is the difference between production and consumption. The theory of international trade has heavily been influenced by the works of classical economists. According to David Ricardo, trade occurs between countries because of differences in technology. For Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin, trade arises mainly due to differences in factor endowments and factor intensities of respective countries. 2. Ricardian Model The Ricardian Model was developed in 1817 by David Ricardo (1817) with two goods, two countries and a single input as components of the model. This model assumes differences in technology between countries as basis of trade. Ricardo stated that both countries could benefit from trade on the condition that labor input of countries should be different, irrespective of the fact that one country might has an absolute advantage in the production of both goods. Being a one factor model, the Ricardian Model is not the appropriate model to study the effects of technology on trade patterns because of its simplicity. 3. The Heckscher Ohlin Model The Heckscher Ohlin (HO) theory holds two assumptions; countries have different factor endowments and factor intensities as sources of differences in opportunity costs of production. Trade is restricted between 2 countries, 2 factors of production and 2 goods traded. This model generates 4 predictions: (a) The Heckscher – Ohlin theorem, whereby the capital abundant country will export the capital intensive good, (b) The Factor Price Equalization Theorem, with production of different goods, international trade will equalize factor prices, (c) The Stopler-Samuelson Theorem, with production of different goods, an increase in the price of a labor intensive good will reduce the real and relative return to capital and will increase the real and relative return of the labor intensive good, (d) The Rybczynski Theorem, with production of different goods, a rise in the endowment of labor, will lead to a more than proportionate increase in the output of the labor intensive good and a fa ll in the capital intensive good. 3. 1 The Heckscher – Ohlin Theorem The Heckscher – Ohlin theorem implies that a country will export those goods that are produced through intensive use of factors of production found locally in an abundant amount. In a 2 2 2 model, countries produce the same pair of commodities, engage in free trade in a competitive environment with countries benefitting from constant returns to scale in accordance with technology. The supply of factors of production is perfectly inelastic in both countries. These conditions are present when there is relative factor abundance. A second situation can arise where autarkic factor prices are present in both countries. Demand and supply conditions dictate autarkic factor prices. Despite a country being relatively abundant in labor, it may nonetheless impose autarkic wage rate if domestic preferences pattern strongly favors the labor intensive produced good relative to the foreign produced good. The trade pattern will reflect the factor price comparison between countries. 3.2 The Factor Price Equalization Theorem This theorem assumes a situation where there are 2 countries in free trade; they have different factor endowments but have the same level of technologies. If both countries are diversified and Factor Intensity Reversal (FIR) does not occur, factor price equalization will happen in these countries. For Heckscher, identical production techniques were prerequisite for the equalization of factor prices. Different factor prices can be a sufficient cause for international trade to happen. However, Heckscher did not account for the number of factors and international markets. The initial model was a 3 2 classical model with 3 factors such as land, labor and capital, and two goods: textile and machinery. 3.3 The Stopler-Samuelson Theorem The Stopler-Samuelson Theorem was developed as a 2 2 model, with two traded goods and two non – traded factors. It sets forth that an increase in the relative price of a good will lead to an increase of real return of that factor used intensively in producing that good and will reduce real return to the second factor. Four possible interpretations arise from this theorem: (a) winners and losers corollary; If a relative price change occurs, there will be a minimum of one loser ans one winner (b) Factor – industry detachment corollary; external price changes will have an impact on the return to a factor irrespective of which industry the factor is employed (c) scarce factor corollary 1; trade barriers will help a scarce factor; an abundant factor is hurt (d) scarce factor corollary 2; depending on the scarcity of the factors, trade barriers will help. 3.4 The Rybczynski Theorem The two – factor two good Rybczynski Theorem posits that if there is an increase in factor endowment of an industry that uses that factor fully, an increase in output is likely to occur compared to a decrease in output in the other industry. There are 4 levels of interpretation that can be observed from the Rybczynski Theorem: (a) a minimum of one Rybczynski derivative will be negative, (b) a homothetic relationship exists between output and factor supplies, (c) the relationship will be a linear one, (d) the total amount of current factor supplies is important. 4. International Trade: The Evidence International microeconomics seems little affected by empirical evidence. Despite trade flows being measured with the greatest accuracy, the data obtained has not been really reliable and to certain extent inaccessible. Empirical studies based on this data can hardly be reviewed or taken seriously as a proper revaluation of the theories proposed by classical economists. Attempts to bridge the gap between the trade patterns and the theoretical assumptions made by the various classical and neo classical models have been made and several problems arose. The first problem that rises is that international trade is arbitrage. This is principally due to price discrepancies governing the international markets. Autarkic prices differences have not been observed and these discrepancies are hypothetical in nature. There is no solid evidence as international trade gets rid of these discrepancies. Another difficulty linked to this is causality. Whatever the consequence, the human mind has always hoped that a single cause must be behind its initial inception. The Ricardian Model and the Heckscher Ohlin model are unicausal. Everything has a single root. For arbitrage in international trade, autarkic prices discrepancies cannot be the only explanation as to why there is arbitrage in the first place. Changes in factor endowments, tastes and preferences or difference s in technologies can form part of the supplementary explanations. In the last 4 decades, there have been 3 types of empirical studies on international trade. These are tests of the Ricardian and HO models, studies trying to find a link between bilateral trade, national incomes and geographical distances between trading countries, and finally, a number of informal accounts yet to be tested and accounted for. MacDougall (1951, 1952) carried out a study using 1939’s data for a UK-US comparison to find whether exports of good of different countries were correlated in pairs with third markets as the Ricardian model presumed. Results were positively and significant. Later empirical studies provided additional support to these results (MacDougall et al., 1962, Stern, 1962; Balassa, 1963) The assumption that consumers have homothetic preferences has been empirically refuted. Following studies carried out by Prebisch (1950) and Singer (1950), results have showed that the terms of trade for poor countries has been deteriorating continuously. As world economy experiences economic growth, the relative demand shifts from the South to the industrialized North, a region that specializes in goods with higher income elasticity. The South benefits little from improvement in production in exports sectors, principally because the extra purchasing power generated by lower southern commodities will be spent on purchase of northern commodities. Studies carried out by scholars affected significantly the reliability of the HO theorem. Patterns of trade were examined between US, West Germany, Japan and Canada with the rest of the world. Results obtained were not in consensus with the HO theorem whereas results of East Germany and India showed support (Bharadwaj, 1962; Leontief, 1953, 1956; Roskamp, 1961; Stolper and Roskamp, 1961; Tatemoto and Ichimura, 1959; and Wahl, 1961). Another study carried out by Clifton, Jr and Marxsen (1984) obtained relatively the same results. They used a multi-commodity, two-country, and two factor model to test for trade based on profit and wages instead of using capital and labor as factors of production. Results obtained show trade patterns for the year 1968 of Australia, Ireland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and the United States support the theorem while results of UK, Kenya and Israel do not. In his study to discover the sources of the success of the American industry for the years 1879, 1899, 1909, 1914, 1928, and 1940, Wright (1990) concluded that the capital to labor ratio was an important source of comparative advantage in the early years but it soon became a comparative disadvantage by 1940. Natural resources did not contribute to exports success in the 19th century but in the 20th century it impacted exports significantly. The reasons provided by the HO theorem that difference in capital and labor endowments are the primary reasons for trade is wrong and thus a need for further study in this area. The most important study of trade patterns through use of HO models was carried out by Leontief (1953). The results showed that in 1947, U.S imports were more capital intensive compared to labor than the ratio in U.S exports. This paradox exists if U.S is well endowed in capital. This paradox can be solved through 2 ways: (a) by creating demand or factor intensity reversals (FIRs), (b) the introduction of international technological differences. By introducing these solutions, the American labor intensive industries benefited from significant advantage in terms of costs arising due to factor endowments. Linnemann (1966) using data from more than 40 countries carried out a study to find a link between bilateral trade, national incomes and geographical distances between trading countries. He wanted to find answers relating to the bilateral trade volumes and trade size with different trading partners. Results illustrated that the volume of trade depends much on the geographical proximity of trading partners inclusive of transport costs. The importing country’s national income and the exporting country’s national income also had an impact on the size of tradable commodities. Minhas (1963) carried out a study to question the applicability of the FPE theorem due to the presence of Factor Intensity Reversals (FIRs). Minhas came to the conclusion that when elasticity of substitution differs between countries, FIRs are likely to occur. Through trade, equality of commodity prices will not guarantee a price equalization of factor prices in respective countries. Conclusion Trade occurs simply because of the price discrepancies that exist in the markets. Technological differences and factor endowments are the main reasons for these discrepancies. The numerous and complex literature on the Ricardian Model and Heckscher Ohlin Model have outlines various faults of these models but they nonetheless remain healthy. However, additional modifications need to be done. The models need to account for technological differences, multiple cones of diversification and home bias. References: Ronald Winthrop Jones. A, 1979, ‘International Trade: Essays in Theory’, Oxford North Holland Publishing Co, Amsterdam, New York Ronald Winthrop Jones. A and Kenen Peter B. (Eds.), 1984, Handbook of International Economics 3, North Holland Balassa, B. 1963, ‘An Empirical Demonstration of Classical Comparative Cost Theory’, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Aug, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 231-238 Mac Dougall, G. D. A, 1951, ‘British and American Exports: A Study Suggested by the Theory of Comparative Costs. Part I’, The Economic Journal, Dec, Vol. 61, No. 244, pp. 697-724 Mac Dougall, G. D. A, 1952, ‘British and American Exports: A Study Suggested by the Theory of Comparative Costs. Part II’, The Economic Journal, Aug, Vol. 62, No. 247, pp. 487-521 Feenstra Robert, C. 2002, ‘Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence’, University of California, Davis, and National Bureau of Economic Research, Aug. Prebisch, R. 1950, ‘The Economic Development of Latin America and Its Principal Problems’, New York: United Nations, Econ. Comm. Latin America Clifton, D. S, Jr and William B. Marxsen, 1984, ‘An Empirical Investigation of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem’, The Canadian Journal of Economics / Revue canadienne dEconomique, Feb, Vol. 17, No. 1,pp. 32-38 Matsuyama, K., 2000, ‘A Ricardian Model with a Continuum of Goods under Nonhomothetic Preferences: Demand Complementarities, Income Distribution, and Northà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ South Trade’, Journal of Political Economy, Dec, Vol. 108, No. 6, pp. 1093-1120 Redding Stephen J., 2006, ‘Empirical Approaches to International Trade’, Oct, London School of Economics and CEPR

The Road to Freedomâ€the Underground Railroad Essay -- Slavery South Pa

The Road to Freedom—the Underground Railroad Introduction "Many times I have suffered in the cold, in beating rains pouring in torrents from the watery clouds, in the midst of the impetuosity of the whirlwinds and wild tornadoes leading on my company—not to the field of...war...but to the land of impartial freedom, where the bloody lash was not buried in the quivering flesh of a slave...." (7,p.i). Such were the conditions of the Underground Railroad. It was a fictitous railroad but served the same purpose: to transport people from one place to another. This railroad, however, was not sanctioned by any government, in fact if it had been discovered many would have died. The Underground Railroad was a huge risk. If you used it, and were caught, you could die. For some that was better than being treated like pack animals or breeding animals by their southern owners. That was a risk they chose to take and conditions they must endure. The Underground railroad was a means by which slaves in the south could escape to the north and to freedom. The pioneers of the railroad went back to help their brothers and sisters in bondage. Many of them were leaders, or conductors that led others to freedom and risked theirs to do it again and again. National Standards This particular subject deals a lot with maps. Understanding the Underground Railroad means understanding maps and spatial organiation. The journeyers, themselves, had to know, distinctly, where north was or which way to follow the Ohio River. A reader will glean an understanding of the people that chose to journey on the railroad. They were fierce believers in freedom, willing to die for it. From this paper, readers will be able to define differe... ... 2. History and Geography of the Underground Railroad. 199?. http://www.niica.on.ca/csonan/UNDERGROUND.htm (April 14, 1998). 3. May, Ilana, Mark Beigel, and Lenny Hothchild. The Underground Railroad in Rochester, New York. http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/ugrr/home.html (April 14, 1998) 4. National Park Service Study: Taking the Train to Freedom. 1998. http://www.nps.gov/undergroundrr/contents.htm (April 14, 1998). 5. Quarles, Benjamin. Black Abolitionists. Oxford Universoty Press: New York, 1969. 6. Siebert, Wilbur H. The Underground Railroad. Arno Press and The New York Times: New York, 1968. 7. Smedley, R.C. History of the Underground Railroad. Arno Press and The New York Times: New York, 1969. 8. Weisberger, Bernard A. Abolitionism: Disrupter of the Democratic System or Agent of Progress? Rand McNally & Company: Chicago, 1963.

A Critical Discussion of Blaise Pascals The Wager Essay -- Pascal Go

A Critical Discussion of Blaise Pascal's The Wager   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the gambling world bets are made based on odds, the probability or likelihood that something would happen. In the court of law, cases are decided upon by the weight of evidence presented by the respective parties. The common link between these general scenarios is that decisions are made based on some outside evidential factor. The more probable something is likely to happen, or the more evidence presented in favor or opposed to something, the greater the tendency that a decision will coincide with that probability or evidence. This kind of logic has also been used when arguing about the existence of God. It has been argued that God’s existence is necessary based on the logic that it is neither contingent not impossible and therefore must exist; it has also been argued that the presence of evil in the world is evidence enough that God, or at least God as we make Him out to be, does not exist. The decisions that people a make about their personal relationship with the being that has been dubbed â€Å"God† is usually based on this kind of criteria. But what if someone were to make a decision concerning God’s existence without having any evidence to sway us, how would that someone choose? This problem is addressed by Blaise Pascal in his essay entitled The Wager. Pascal argues that the only rational choice to make about the existence of God with no evidence would be to believe that He does. The following pages of this essay will be a critical analysis and also critique of Pascal’s argument, for it is the argument of the author of this paper that a sincere decision would be impossible under these circumstances and without evidence we would not be able to make a rational choice concerning the issue of God’s existence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before the discussion is started let me first clarify some terminology is order to make my argument more clear. In my thesis statement I offered the premise that when given to the criteria put forth by Pascal that a sincere decision about belief in God would be impossible. By sincere decision I mean a decision that you can evaluate and reevaluate against anything that claims the opposite and still be able to hold to it. If you have a belief based on a decision that stems from no evidence then you have nothing to evaluate it by, so that belief cannot be sincere, it is merely a blind ch... ... of someone else. If you choose to change your actions, you will only change in a way that still lets you hold to your belief, a belief that has shown to be beneficial based on evidence not on some yet to be seen reward.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To close this paper and stop the what could be a continuous rant against Pascal, it is pretty obvious that the issue of God, his existence, and whether or not we should believe will forever be a perennial issue. Pascal, Aquinas, James, or even myself can write essays until we run out of paper and printer ink, but the only thing that would accomplish is further add to the already ample confusion and conflict on this issue. Although Pascal offers a very simple reason of why we should believe in God, it is all to simple. And while I offer nothing but criticisms for his argument, I cannot myself offer a more sound argument that would less susceptible to the same kinds of criticisms I just wrote concerning The Wager. Works Cited 1. Pascal, Blaise. â€Å"The Wager: Philosophy of Religion Selected Readings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oxford University Press, 1996: New York, New York. 2. Holy Bible. Book of James Chapter 1, Verse 12; First Corinthians Chapter 10   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Verse 13.

Core Beliefs of the Puritans Essay

Core Beliefs of the Puritans Have you ever rebelled against the house rules dictated by your parents? In the 1600’s, a group of religious citizens discontent with the Anglican Church of England, did exactly that- rebelled. The Puritans contended that King James had created a religion of political struggles and doctrines. Puritans, such as John Calvin and John Winthrop, wrote about the concept of escaping persecution from the Anglican Church and reforming religion, morals, and society. The Puritans fled to start anew and created colonies in North America, including Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. The driving forces of reform were numerous pieces of literature. The Puritan beliefs consisted mainly of five principles: Total Depravity, the Devil and sins, Predestination, God’s true law, and moral development, resulting in a government and religious-based way of life that has impacted present day America. Inevitably, religion being intertwined with society raises fears. Pertaining to the Puritans, fear led to the ultimate dissipation of the colonies. On of the main fears that the Puritan’s believed in was that the devil was behind every evil deed in the world. The puritans also believed that the devil and Satan surrounded Native Americans and nature. Steering away from the acts of the devil led to extreme measures. Scriptures, read as sermons by Puritan ministers, warned citizens about the dangers of life. The sermons were repeatedly given and fear was strategically woven in. The constant warnings were due to the belief that every person is born sinful, also known as Total Depravity. The notion of Total Depravity led to the belief of creating yourself benevolent. Spurred by the desire to rectify Total Deprivation, the Puritans created their core beliefs of religion. The Puritans believed in the study of God’s True Law, the Bible. According to the Puritans, the Bible and God paved a plan for living. In this God-centered system, church was the place where all problems and issues were raised and resolved. While citizens with property could speak at the meetings, restriction for only church authorities to vote was allowed. Total Depravity produced the ideology of Predestination. Predestination was the notion that God saves those that he wants. Puritans believed that God had control over who would be in heaven or hell and the Puritans had no control of knowing. Thus, Puritans thought that holy behavior led to salvation. The English Literatures of America reiterated, â€Å"Sanctification is evidence of salvation, but does not cause it† (434), meaning that belief in Jesus does not secure you from Gods predestination for you. The Puritans began making rules to follow to go to heaven. In order to ensure salvation, the Puritans believed that every citizen needed to follow strict rules that were religiously motivated. Moral development was a Puritan belief that started in childhood. To repel the devil, children were to be taught of the dangers of the world, and education was vital to purify society. Drama, erotic poetry, and religious music were banned in Puritan culture. Drama and erotic poetry generated mortality and music distracted Puritans from listening to the words of God. Other moral regulations included the requirement of going to church, reading the bible, and adhering to the covenant of unity and order that create a spiritual community. The strict following of God in society and government eventually led to the ultimate downfall of the Puritans. Although there were approximately 100,000 Puritans in 1700, Puritan efforts to create an exclusive religion caused the growth of other colonies created by challengers that banned from Puritanism. These new groups teamed the Puritans beliefs of Total Depravity, the devil and sins, God’s True Laws, and moral development â€Å"crazy† and it changed America’s though about the relationship between religion and government. The First Amendment states, â€Å"Federal government cannot establish an official religion or interfere with a persons right to practice a religion†. Otherwise known as separation of religion and government. However, Puritans did affect the present day beneficially by maintaining a stable economy, education, and moral characteristics, The desire to be considered â€Å"good†, believed by the Puritans, shaped the value of many citizens in the U.S. today.