The Black Death Essay -- History European Plague Plagues Essays

The Black Death   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is impossible to discuss Europe’s history without mentioning the Plague of 1348, also known as the Black Death. The Black Death reached Italian shores in the spring of 1348. The presence of such a plague was enormously devastating making its mark in unprecedented numbers in recorded history. According to records, it is estimated to have killed a third of Europe’s population. The Black Death was caused by bacteria named Yersinia Pestis. This germ was transferred from rats to fleas and then to humans. This disease spread quickly due to the infestation of rats. Also, sanitary conditions were very poor which did not help the problem at all. When a human was infected, the bacteria moved from the bloodstream traveling to the lymph nodes. The plague occurred in three forms, however, the most commonly seen form was the bubonic plague. The bubonic plague refers to the painful swelling of the lymph nodes also known as buboes. Victims were subject to bodily aches, headaches, vo miting, and nausea. Plague victims underwent severe damage to skin leading to bleeding under the skin which transformed to dark blotches, hence the term â€Å"black† death. The forming of these dark blotches was a sign of sure death within four to seven days. The consequences of this plague were tragic. The consequences included depopulation, economics and religious effects, and social change. The great population loss only served to worsen the economy. This massive plague also caused many people to lose faith in their religion, weakening the power of the church. After 1350, European culture in general turned extremely melancholic. The general mood was a depressing one. Once vivacious art was now dark with representation of death. It is easy to see how overcoming this era could force man to believe he is Great, maybe even invincible. It could also force humans to believe they have a lot to be grateful for and this quality of mind allowed them to take advantage of everything that is useful. Man is now at the center of the Universe and all men should seek for an ideal life. We call this rebirth era the Renaissance. Could something so morbid give way to something as beautiful as the Renaissance? Perhaps we owe a substantial portion of the Re naissance to the Black Death. The Renaissance is everything the Black Death wasn’t, as its survivors felt compelled to thrive in... ...Black Death passed, new advancements in architecture also became present. Small towns grew to prospering cities. This is clear evidence of Renaissance culture. Many Renaissance scholars perfected the art of educating. Many factors that emerged from the plague, consequently, paved the way for the Renaissance to emerge. The constant reforms in religion, art, medicine and science provided the basis for the Renaissance. Major Renaissance figures such as Boccaccio devoted many of their writings to the Black Death. The Renaissance was given its sense of renewal and rebirth after experiencing something as horrid as the Black Death. The Black Death allowed people of the Renaissance to realize all they were grateful for. The Black Death was the inspiration for the newly educated people to prosper in arts and new ideas about their world. Bibliography : Books and Journal Articles M.W. Dols, The Black Death in the Middle East (Princeton, 1970); American Historical Review, June 2002 v107 i3 p703(36) Bondanella . Musa, The Italian Renaissance Reader,First Printing,1987 U.S. News & World Report, April 29, 2002 p63 Monkeyshines on Health and Science: Biology, Jan 2002 p8(1)

Effect Of Postimpressionists On The Next Generation Essay -- essays re

Postimpressionism Postimpressionism was a movement in late-19th-century French painting that emphasized the artist's personal response to a subject. Postimpressionism takes its name from an art movement that immediately preceded it: Impressionism. But whereas impressionist painters concentrated on the depiction of a subject's immediate appearance, postimpressionists focused on emotional or spiritual meanings that the subject might convey. Although impressionist artists interpreted what they saw, their approach nevertheless remained rooted in observation of the natural world. Postimpressionists conveyed their personal responses to the world around them through the use of strong, unnatural colors and exaggeration or slight distortion of forms. Postimpressionism can be said to have begun in 1886, the year that French painter Georges Seurat exhibited Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886), and to have ended in 1906, the year French painter Paul CÃ ©zanne died. British art critic Roger Fry, however, coined the term postimpressionism, in 1910 when he organized an exhibition of French paintings at the Grafton Galleries in London. Fry is said to have been dissuaded from using the word expressionist to describe the work of CÃ ©zanne, Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, and others, and to have finally declared: "Oh, let's just call them post-impressionists; at any rate, they came after the impressionists." The term was firmly established when Fry held a second show of postimpressionist art at the Grafton Galleries in 1912. The Postimpressionists The painters most closely associated with postimpressionism all took part in Fry's first exhibition: CÃ ©zanne, Seurat, Gauguin, Matisse, and van Gogh. Although their styles differed greatly from one another, these artists shared an ability to communicate concepts, emotions, or personal sensation through their art. Unlike other postimpressionists, Paul CÃ ©zanne did not create symbolic equivalents between elements of his paintings and particular emotions or concepts. Instead, CÃ ©zanne, who began his career as an impressionist, felt that he could communicate the intensity of his personal sensation through his painted observations of nature. He repeatedly turned to traditional artistic subjects, such as landscapes, still lifes, and nude bathers. However, his r... ...m, used more decorative shapes, stencilling, collage, and brighter colors. It was then that artists such as Picasso and Braque started to use pieces of cut-up newspaper in their paintings. An early 20th-century school of painting and sculpture in which the subject matter is portrayed by geometric forms without realistic detail, stressing abstract form at the expense of other pictorial elements largely by use of intersecting often transparent cubes and cones. CÃ ©zanne influenced cubism, the highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century that was created principally by Picasso and Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914. The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and chiaroscuro and refuting time-honoured theories of art as the imitation of nature. Cubist painters were not bound to copying form, texture, colour, and space; instead, they presented a new reality in paintings that depicted radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously. this has been collected from various resources on the net ... ibiblio.org, among others

Why Has The Cost Of Navy Ships Risen? :: Military Government Spending

Why Has the Cost of Navy Ships Risen? Introduction Over the past four decades the cost of navy ships has exceeded the rate of inflation. Although navy increases the budget from $10 billion to $12 billion, they will achieve a fleet of 260 ships by the year 2035 rather than the 290 it now has. In this document the reason and the sources of the increase are investigated. The problem is also considered from the industry 's point of view. Some options for the Navy to reduce ship costs are found. In this document cost increase of four types of ships- nuclear attack submarines, guided missile destroyers, amphibious ships and nuclear aircraft carriers is noted. Generally we consider these four ships as a whole. Cost escalation of naval ships Ship class Cost in 1967 million $ Cost in 2005 million $ Cost Increase % Nuclear Attack Submarines $484 $2,427 401 Guided Missile Destroyers $515 $1,148 123 Amphibious Ships $229 $1,125 391 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers $3,036 $6,065 100 To organize analysis we divide sources of cost escalation factors into two groups.(economy driven and customer driven factors) Economy driven factors: Largely outside of the control of government such as worker wages and indirect labor cost, and material equipment cost. Customer driven factors are factors that the customer directly influences. Customer driven factors include elements the government wants on a ship. The most important problem from shipbuilders f perspective is their main customer government fs fluctuating demands. The growth of ship costs Since 1950 Naval ships costs have escalated at rate between 7-11 percent. However inflation over this period ranged from 4-5 percent. To observe the inflation we can look at CPI (consumer price index) CPI is the best known measure of changes in consumer prices. This index measures price changes to a sample of typical consumer goods. Annual growth rate of some CPI components CPI Component Annual Growth Rate (%) Private transportation 2.4 Food and beverage 4.2 Gasoline 4.9 Medical Care 6.6 College Tuition 8.0 Cost escalation rates for Force ships Ship Type Annual Growth Rate Amphibious ships 10.8 Surface combatants 10.7 Attach submarines 9.8 Nuclear Aircraft carriers 7.4 Cost escalation rate can be measured by (cost2/cost1)-1 Generally we examine the annual growth rate = (year2-year1) Ãƒ £cost2/cost1-1 We divide sources of cost escalation factors into two groups. Economy driven factors: Largely outside of the control of government. Economy driven factors may include worker wages and benefit costs, labor productivity, indirect labor cost, and material equipment cost. These factors affect all shipbuilding programs uniformly. Labor constitutes between 32 and 51 percent of the construction costs for the ships we analyzed. Equipment cost range from 35 to 57 percent of construction costs for the ships we analyzed, material cost range from 11 to 17 percent.

Evaluation for Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Essay

Eating out is a treat for me. I occasionally call up some family and/or friends and treat myself to a nice dinner. There are many restaurants in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina to choose from, but there is one in particular where I love to spend my hard earned money. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill located at Northlake Mall Dr. has become my new favorite place to dine for dinner on the weekends. Firebirds have the three qualities I look for when I visit a restaurant for the first time: great ambiance, excellent service and good food.The atmosphere of a restaurant sets the mood for any dining experience. Owner Dennis Thompson created a well-defined gap between casual and fine dining. The aura of Firebirds is meant to imitate that of a ski lodge in Aspen. Warm lighting, complimented by fire colored chandeliers, gives this restaurant a nice tone for an engaging conversation with your significant other or some good laughs with some friends or family. Firebirds, also has a separate lounge area for those who just want to go straight to happy hour after work. I call this area, â€Å"the kick back and let your hair down section†. The beautiful stone fireplace, the wall of 500 bottles of wine, and the beautiful bold color seating sets the mood for a great evening out with coworkers after work or a place to have a drink and appetizer after shopping in the mall. Valet, Hostesses and Servers are all apart of Firebirds seamless service. The Valet does a great job with promptly parking and retrieving my car. Hostesses are always in place as you walk in so that you won’t have that confused look wondering if you seat yourself or wait for assistance. The servers are very professional and polite. They are able to answer questions about menu items while waiting patiently for you to complete your order. I love the fact that they are prompt with getting your appetizers out to you well before my entrà ©e. They were also attentive to refilling my glass when it was getting low. Entrà ©es are prepared nicely and cooked to your liking. If you’re not satisfied the servers have no problem with taking it back immediately for correction. The cook and the manager come to your table and make sure your meal is superb.Based on the name, one might assume that Firebirds is a steakhouse concept, but steaks are only half of the menu. Firebirds menu have a good level of diversity. You can get anything from a big juicy burger to a lobster dinner. This upscale restaurant can be a little pricey compared to other bar and grill places, but it’s worth it. To start, I love to get the lobster queso dip and chips and their famous onion rings for my appetizers. Firebirds steaks are pretty good, but I prefer the salmon with light seasoning. My most favorite meal at Firebirds is a salad, yes a salad. The Strawberry and Shrimp salad is simply delicious, besides the obvious it has spiced pecans, goat cheese crumbs and jicama tossed in a homemade vinaigrette dressing. This salad packs a lot of flavor and is quite fulfilling. I may call up my girls on Friday and pay Firebirds a visit.Every dining experience I’ve had with Firebirds has been persistent. The complimentary valet parking is greatly appreciated especially since the restaurant is connected to North Lake Mall. The atmosphere in Firebirds is inviting, the service is great and the food is delicious. What more do you need in a restaurant? Perhaps live entertainment on Friday evenings wouldn’t be such a bad idea though.

Implementing electronic document and record management systems. Samsung company Essay

Samsung is a multinational conglomerate company located in Samsung town, South Korea. I work in the sales and marketing department where I manage six staff members. I am also in charge of human, finance and physical resources management which help me to achieve the objectives. Management requires constant development and planning. Other resources usually used by managers to achieve their objectives include; physical resources such as equipment, computers, tools, land, vehicles and buildings. Human resources include; personal and partner skills, team morale, workers experience, workers loyalty, employee’s skills and competence, as well as team work morals. Financial resources required include capacity to raise money, cash, current credit availability, cash equivalents and credit lines with financial institutions (Liao, 2009). In order to identify the type and quantity of resources required in Samsung, the company analyses the business plans and carefully breakdown its objectives in the resources required to achieve them. Samsung plans to attain $400 billion in sales by 2020 thus the company may need human resources of sales person with extensive sales experience, high work ethnic and customer contact details. The company requires physical resources such as computer, vehicle, and mobile phone. Finally, the company might require $X cash to finance the selling expenses and the wages until break-even point is achieved. Listing and summarizing the resources required to achieve every objective is vital since it will enable the company to have all the required resources. Samsung new strategy and vision include finding new markets for their high-tech electronic goods. Samsung also strive to secure a competitive advantage in businesses such as mobile hand set, memory chips, and LCD panels. Samsung also Endeavour to follow a market driven system by studying consumer preferences. Samsung lays more efforts in finding the required resources to achieve their objectives. This will ensure the company becomes one of the ten summit companies in the world in stipulations of annual sales (BarceloÃÅ', 2007). Task 2 Resource Time frame Quantity Cost/budget Human resource Worker’s knowledge Worker’s experience & proficiency Team drive Panel morals Employee reliability Private & cohort skills 12 months Samsung Electronics’ overall global employment level stands at 161,700, which is broken down into 84,464 workers in Korea (80,084 regular employees, 900 contract workers, 3,356 internship employees and 124 in other categories) and 77,236 in foreign countries(65,746 regular laborers;2,008 contract employees, 4,483 intern employees and 4,999 short-term workers) $x cash Physical resources Tools Vehicles Equipment Land Buildings Computers 12 months Appropriate number of physical resources. $y cash             The objectives should be smart. This implies that they are specific, measurable, acceptable, and realistic and can be achieved within a given time frame. Targets are very crucial in a business since every stakeholder of the company knows what they should achieve and when they need to achieve the objective. Planning involves determining the number and competence of the employees to be hired in different departments. The manager then allocates responsibilities to the workers depending on their skills and experience. Team morale and team morals are other crucial factors to consider. The company should change rapidly owing to the fact that the world is experiencing drift changes. In order to achieve the objectives the manager should acknowledge the need for constant revision and integration of the existing skills. Managers should know how to motivate their employees as well as building an appropriate team (Autry & Goldsby, 2013). The manager should also allocate the resources equally and in a transparent manner. The objective should align with the company strategy as well as ensuring that the company maintains competitive advantage. The manager should choose an appropriate set of human and physical resources since they are very vital in planning process aimed at achieving the company objective. Employees who are experienced and competent will work appropriately such that they will not incur extra cost apart from their wages. This will ensure that the company reduces their expenses. On the other hand, appropriate allocation of physical resources such as machine, adequate and strategically placed working areas, tools and equipment will ensure that workers have adequate equipments which will lead to an increase in productivity. Samsung Company will be able to achieve its objective by reducing costs while increasing its sales and annual revenue (Liao, 2009). Experienced and competent employees have good customer relations which will ensure that the company will retain the existing customers as well as attract more customers. Skilled and highly motivated employees will lead to production of superior products which will attract more customers. Proper allocation of physical resources will ensure that the company has excellent customer service, and increased customer loyalty. Samsung does not involve their employees in long working hours since they believe in innovation instead of command or control. They believe that their employees are competent and thus by employing the required resources, they will be able to produce high-tech digital products. The managers also believe in constant development and investment which will enable them to achieve their objectives. The associated costs to human resources is the wages to the employees while costs incurred in physical resources is the cost of tools and equipments, as well as the cost of building and maintenance of the company (BarceloÃÅ', 2007). Task 3             The company hires employees from all over the world. The hiring process is transparent and provides equal chances to experienced and highly skilled workers. Samsung plans to invest more in human resources since its digital and innovative management depends on its highly trained employees. The company should also invest more in training programs. The company should also allocate more funds to equipments, training and education programs. Hiring qualified personnel will ensure production of high quality products as well as growth of technology innovation. This will enable the company to retain its competitive advantage. Samsung usually purchase its equipments abroad. New equipment calls for highly skilled employees to operate the machines. Physical resources include tangible resources; they include the manufacturing plant equipments, land, and equipments. Samsung is based in China with almost 78 other branches in other countries. Samsung is the leading company in technology and they are famous as producers of high-tech digital products. Production resources include information technology resources and production resources. The company should invest more in physical products since they help in manufacturing of the products. The company should invest more in educating and training the employees which enables to have reliable supply of human resources. To ensure constant supply of the physical resources, the company should ensure that the company has competent and high skilled workers who are able to develop software and other integrated products that will attract customers. The company should also provide adequate plant equipments as well as adequate land to build more joint companies (Bowersox & Cooper, 2007). Task 4             Supply management is more than acquiring goods and services at an appropriate price. It involves recognizing possible disruptions to the supply chain and taking necessary approach to alleviate them. There are several steps that the company applies to develop a plan for dealing with potential supply disruptions. The company identifies the life cycle of every service and product that the company manufactures. Samsung Company chairman is famous for his forecasting and deciding power. This is very crucial to the company since it enable it access the financial impact that can be caused by supply disruption (Autry & Goldsby, 2013). Supply risk is an external risk which is the disturbances to the flow of product within the company supply chain. The company is very keen on the supplier base. The company is able to identify every raw material needed, recognize the strategic suppliers to the company and recognize strategic raw materials. The company is also more focused to vulnerability where the company identifies the probable risks to take place, their cause and the possible remedies. The company also recognizes the probable implications of the supply disruptions by good understanding of the vulnerable risks. Mitigation is whereby the company set targets and goals and how to accomplish them. For example, if there is supply disruption of material A, purchase orders will be placed with alternative supply source within 24 hours to ensure there is no disruption of supply of material A (Autry & Goldsby, 2013). The company also uses cost and benefit analysis to assess risk and uncertainty. This helps the company to measure the value at risk. The company thus implements appropriate actions and measures to combat the supply disruptions at all levels in the company. Appropriate handling of the supply disruptions has enabled the growth of Samsung Company. Task 5             The company understanding of risk and uncertainty helps them in decision making regarding record management. The company is able to make informed choices regarding security and privacy policies that they use in the company. Regardless of the format, human and physical resources are subject to the risk of inappropriate access. The company records both human and physical resources in paper and electronic records. Human resources and physical resources records are very risky and should be subject to inappropriate access to avoid alterations and other modifications. Paper records of human and physical resources are susceptible to intentional and accidental inappropriate access and thus they should be secured by isolating records into separate protected storage locations, recording sign in and sign out programs, and restricting physical access to storage areas. Electronic records of human and physical resources can also be risky but the company has come up with necessary measures to combat the inappropriate of electronic records. The company develops measured to prevent hacker bypass access and control of user credentials. The paper records deteriorate slowly necessitating regular creation of new copies. Electronic records on the other hand can degrade disastrously calling for appropriate computing technologies. The loss of information might be very costly since sometimes it might be impossible to retrieve the lost data (Adam, 2008). The risk of losing human resources data and physical data makes the company very cautious when it comes to the issue of handling paper and electronic records. The company keeps updating the records of human and physical resources which will enable future use of the data to enable the company achieve its objectives. Human and physical records are very crucial since they will be used to Plan Company’s future of expansion. However, the company should be aware of the vulnerable risks that can occur and thus come up with appropriate reforms for sustainability. References Adam, A. (2008). Implementing electronic document and record management systems. Boca Raton: Auerbach Publications. Autry, C. W., & Goldsby, T. J. (2013). Global macrotrends and their impact on supply chain management: Strategies for gaining competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: FT Press. BarceloÃÅ' , D. (2007). Sustainable management of sediment resources. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Bowersox, D. J., Closs, D. J., & Cooper, M. B. (2007). Supply chain logistics management (2nd ed.). Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Liao, H. (2009). Research in personnel and human resources management. Bingley: Emerald/Jai. Source document

The National Origins Act of 1924

The National Origins Act of 1924 was a law that restricted the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. by establishing a system of national quotas that blatantly discriminated against immigrants. The Immigrants that was restricted were from southern and eastern Europe and which then virtually excluded Asians. The policy stayed in effect until the 1960s. The National Origins Act established a system of immigration, which required immigrants to have a visa issued by an American consular officer abroad before immigrating to the United States. It completely changed the patterns of immigration throughout the twentieth century. This measure sharply reduced immigration to America, and especially targeted those from southern and eastern Europe. Which it did not affect America per say, really affected people from Europe who wanted to migrate to the United States. The 1965 Immigration Act is the foundation of America's current legal immigration system. It abolished the Immigration Act of 1924 that had been in place in the United States since 1924. Overriding past quota systems that heavily favored Europeans. It was the act declared that no person shall receive any preference or priority or be discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person's race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of their residence. The Act based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the United States. They are coming from a range of countries and cultures and are transforming cities, suburbs, and rural areas and are affecting schools, religions, politics, and health care. A higher proportion now already have professional skills and college degrees. Part 2: Labor Immigrants Labor Immigrants are immigrants that come to the United States undocumented, not all of them are undocumented but many come to America undocumented. Many of them are EWI's, visa abusers, and some come over as temporary workers. Some who are undocumented, they may have regularized status. Labor Immigrants often come to America from poorer countries. Immigrants come through family reunification or as refugees. They are drawn by the lure of higher wages in the United States from their country. Often in other foreign countries, they're pay scales do not compare as the United States pay scale. That's why often foreigners come  over to America to work in order to provide for their families due to better pay. Labor Immigrants occupation consists of agriculture, construction, garment and   omestic. Compared to both the native and overall foreign-born worker population, Mexican and Central American workers are less likely to be employed in professional and related industries. They are more likely to be employed in the construction and non-durable goods manufacturing industries. Often times, labor immigrants live in small apartments complex's or in small homes which a Lot of immigrants will live together and help to pay rent. Typically, Immigrants will live in cities or nearby than versus living out in rural areas. Many do receive some aid in housing by the federal government because they are given visa's to work in America. The biggest problem many show is speaking English, because they haven't learned English. So a few speak enough English to get by or often I seen many of times, is that they have a friend that speaks English pretty decent and then tells them what to do in their language in order to complete task. Part 2 continued: Professional Immigrants Professional Immigrants are highly trained individuals who move to fill an economic niche in a middle-class profession often marked by shortages in the receiving country. The United States Immigration policy encourages this type of immigration. Therefore, most in this category come illegally in the United States. Many immigrants find too few professional  opportunities in their home countries so that's why they come to America to work. Most of the professional immigrants have college degrees or either some-sort of degree in a trade to obtain knowledge or in order to work for companies. They are very hard workers in this field.  Often enter at the bottom of their fields in the United States which refers to brain drain. You see many professional immigrants working in construction such as working on building new omes. Many of these immigrants go to school to learn that type of trade or even companies will hire them and train them as they progress. I will hear when some companies will even pay for their schooling in order to move them up in ranks. Often professional immigrants live in small apartments complex's or in small homes which a Lot of immigrants will live together and help to pay rent. They will also live with their  families in a house while the husband goes to work and the wife stays home and takes care of their children if they have any. Typically, Immigrants will live in cities or nearby than versus living out in rural areas. Yet again, the biggest problem many show is speaking English, because they haven't learned English. So a few speak enough English to get by or often I seen many of times, is that they have a friend that speaks English pretty decent and then tells them what to do in their language in order to complete task. Part 3: I chose the documentary film, In â€Å"Dollars and Dreams: West Africans in New York†, the immigrants all start in the same place but they all ended up going in many different directions. From dishwashers, to house builders, to construction workers, and to entrepreneurs making millions. The location of New York fulfilled the expectations of some immigrants because of many different jobs, but some did not feel that way. The America dream is hard to achieve and a lot of hard work to achieve what you want in life which several of these immigrants did. I definitely agree in hard work because I think you can achieve greatness through hard work. In the podcast â€Å"This America Life: Immigration† the narrator discusses how Mexican immigrants revolutionized/evolved the chicken industry in the south in the United States. More importantly in a small town in Albertville located in Alabama. Soon after, Mexican immigrants started to funnel in and take positions in the factory from other workers who had worked there for years. Therefore, it would cause conflict amongst workers inside the work place. One of the black workers said for the first time he had felt unified working with the white workers to fight against this issue. The other workers felt that Mexicans were taking their positions because they were harder workers and fearing being fired unlike the white people. This particular podcast did very well in showing both sides of the argument. This helped me to understand not only the views on what I heard about Mexicans taking America jobs, but also showed how the Mexicans revolutionized this industry to benefit themselves and as well as their families. I Totally agree with Mexicans/ foreigners being hard workers because my dad is real estate appraiser and I will go with him while he does his work. I would just sit in the truck sometimes and watch them work and they do work very hard and very long days versus a white worker. Lastly, I chose â€Å"Maeve in America: children of Immigrants, Listen to your Parents† explores case by case of examples how immigrants children share several similarities in how they were raised as a child by their parents. The children experienced parents who lacked to share culture and thus redistricted their children from developing. For example, an Indian parent did want their child to participate in going over friend's house in spending a night over a friend's house. Hearing these stories about how the immigrant parents helped me connect what I learned in class to what actually happens in today's society and what actually really goes on. It just made me sit back and think that I'm really grateful for what I have in my life and what I have learned so far.

Religion and Morality Essay

(i)Examine the views of scholars concerning the idea that religion and morality are linked. In this essay I am going to be looking at all the different view points on why some people may think religion and morality are linked. I will talk about a few things that link them such as conscience, divine command ethics, Kant’s view and Aquinas’ view. Many people believe that morality is based upon religion and the rules written in the Bible and other holy books, although some say that religion is completely opposed to morality and it is wrong to mix the two. Some scholars believe there are three views on the relationship between religion and morality, one of them being that morality depends on religion. Religious leaders are expected to have extremely high standards of morality, R. B Braithwaite believes so, he states that ‘to be religious and to make religious claims is to be committed to a set of moral values’. Much religious language is the language of morality, and as we have seen religious believers have committed themselves to particular ways of behaving. Aquinas’ believed that if God exists morality exists and that God made humans only his image, ‘when we are good, we are reflecting God’s image’. He also believed that goodness on earth reflects on God’s morally good perfection, so because God made us based on his image, when we are good we are reflecting on his ‘perfect’ image. However Kant’s view is the opposite to this, he believed that if morality exists God must exist and that the highest of good is perfection, although no one is perfect, which means no one can be as good or great as God because he has this perfect image, and no one is perfect therefore cannot live up to those expectations. Kant’s argument was that for the existence of God based on the existence of morality: There must be a holy author of the world who makes possible the highest goods. Some people believe in Divine Command Ethics because they think that God’s authority is absolute and final, and that human reason has no authority. God tells us how to live, obedience is commanded. Disobedience to the word of God is a sin. He also thinks that the existence of God is necessary for the summum borum (which is the highest for of good) to be achieved, and that the summum borum is not achievable in this life, therefore the existence of God is necessary for the goal of morality to be realized. Another is that morality is independent of religion. Freud believed the conscience is a moral policeman. The internalized super-ego that controls and socializes human moral behavior. Capable of doing much damage to our mental health. Some people believe conscience has no supernatural origin, it is the product of how people are brought up. Parents and teachers, teach us right and wrong and we are effected by the environment we are brought up in. Everyone’s conscience is different depending on what they were taught and how they were raised and children, meaning they believe different things, and have different view points. Religion and morality is also linked by religious influences on moral matters. For example, a US abortion rights group have angered some conservative Christian groups by selling condom key rings that have a picture of Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel, with God handing Adam a condom. The president of the Christian group said ‘this does nothing to deal with the horrific promiscuity rate we have among teenagers. We believe the real approach particularly to the young people that this is targeted at is abstinence before marriage’. Another example is that CARE lobby for a reduction in the time limit for legal abortions, to 18 weeks, and against the growing swell of public opinion in favor of legalizing assisted suicide. Existentialists may argue without God morality is meaningless and ‘everything is permitted’. If this is true God is the guardian of morality. Without God moral chaos or anarchy would ensue. Some other reasons why people say that religion and morality are linked is that: Moral codes are derived from religion. Moral opinions are judged against religious teachings. Even secular society adopts or is influenced by religious moral teachings, for example, it seeks guidance from religious leaders in moral matters such as genetic engineering/abortion. In conclusion the strongest view to me is Social Conditioning, in which morality is independent of religion. I believe that peoples morality comes from the environment that they are brought up in, and the people around them such as parents and teachers. From a very young age we are taught what is right and wrong, and grow up respecting the law and people around us more than God. (ii)Comment on the view that religion and morality are not linked. Euthyphro’s Dilemma was that the problem of whether something is good because God commands it, or does God command that which is good. ‘Do that God’s love that which is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the God’s’ – Plato. Almost all Christians will say something is good because God says so, his commands must be obeyed. A Christian’s dilemma is that either good is a whim or good is something that dictates to God. So if a Christian interprets that it is God’s will to murder, they think they are justified because it is God’s choice. A. C Grayling believes that religious morality is irrelevant to modern society because what people value has changed. He thinks that modern morality includes a great concern for human rights, animal welfare and the environment, not because of God but because of the instrumental value to themselves. Nietzsche has a view that Christianity is a disease on humanity and that morality is also a disease that imposes limits on human freedom. ‘Belief in God encourages ‘slave morality†. He believes that feelings of guilt, shame and remorse are forced upon us from the churches, and that we are made to feel bad for fulfilling our desires. ‘If more people believed in God there would be less immorality’ – R. A Sharpe believed this to be a misconception. He believes this because some churches teach that God hates homosexuals, or that contraception is wrong. A secular ethicist could argue that people are more likely to be morally responsible if God does not exist. If there is no afterlife then we should behave in this life as there will be no reward or punishment at the end, life is short, treat people well. I believe religion and morality are separate, being strong in one doesn’t make you strong in the other. I myself know not to murder someone, not because of a fear of God or that the Bible told me not to, but because I have been brought up to know it is wrong and against the law, and I do not wish to end up in prison. Although I don’t think it is the fear of punishment, it’s just in my heart not to want to hurt someone, not just my conscience and upbringing teaching me not too. People who claim that religion is their morality are basically saying that without the fear of going to hell they would have no motivation to follow the morals. R. A Sharpe believed that ‘If more people believed in God there would be less immorality’ is a misconception because he doesn’t believe that all Christian’s have the right morals. Another argument would be what if the divine changes his mind.. If God said that murdering children was the right thing to do, would it be?