The Similarities Between Marx and Aurelius Essay

The Similarities Between Marx and Aurelius - Essay Example It will be shown how they agreed and the differences they shared. Karl Marx's Estranged Labour confirms that man is defined by the work he produces. His whole identity is intertwined with the right to work. Man is a product of his environment. He identifies himself with the "fruit of the efforts". Aurelius's environment is the Universe, Nature and Divine Providence. He considers it more important the work one does upon his intelligence and his existence in the present. To explain Marx's economic principle, if the man is a product of his material wealth in which his work is for someone else, the more he works, the poorer he becomes. "The alienation of labor occurs because labor is not essential to his being. He does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind" (74) If he is poor, he becomes alienated to what he is doing and his self-identity is destroyed. If h e has a low concept of himself. He will become estranged to others and his society. Marx says as we work for others, we become slaves to the material wealth we produce. Material wealth will determine our level of happiness. How can one think highly of himself if he is poor and hates what he is doing? An earlier philosopher, John Locke said that "work was one of the unalienable rights of man". Aurelius said that work should have a purpose. Aurelius defines the man by his introspection and lack of material wealth. Aurelius shows man what needs to be done in order to be happy. Marx's implicitly says that our happiness is defined by the projection of our self-identity. Aurelius says we only can find freedom when we no longer depend on material wealth. Karl Marx "work is essential so that an individual does not become estranged or alienated from himself and other workers." Self-conception is defined by the fruits of one's efforts. Work or labor on physical matter enables an individual to meet his basic needs and see himself in terms of society. If we agree that self-conception is defined by the effort one puts into the work, both Marx and Aurelius agree to the meaning of happiness. Aurelius would say that Necessity is the need to work. The ability to create from the soul forms one's personal identity and thus enables personal survival and the desire to survive. These three concepts are the basis of humanity. Aurelius would agree at his level, as change keeps the universe going. "The transformation of nature into objects is one of the fundamental aspects of human condition. Two different philosophers agree that the universe has to have constant creation and change otherwise there is decay and death. Aurelius used different language to say that we are all from one universe and must work together to find a common ground. It is not natural to stand in each other's way. He would have agreed with Marx that it would not have been natural to have an unhappy worker. Aureliu s didn't want the man to become distracted by the material aspects of life. He did not really explain if the necessities of life were part of the material aspects. One would have to assume that he meant material wealth. The basic daily needs of man were met. Once again Aurelius and Marx mentioned that people should not have to suffer from others, whether they were good or bad if they did not work harmoniously together.

Gmo Soybeans Essay Example for Free

Gmo Soybeans Essay There GMOs in almost everything that we eat. GMO stands for genetically modified organism. â€Å"Genetic modification occurs when genes from one organism are transferred to another in ways that do not occur without human intervention. The result is a GMO, or a genetically modified organism. † (Farrell 1) Soybeans are one of the largest GMO crops being produced. With the modification of the soybean by Monsanto, it is now possible for the crop to survive when herbicides are sprayed over it. The herbicide that the soybeans are resistant to is Roundup, so farmers do not have to worry about their soybeans dying to the herbicide. I believe that the negative effects of modified soybeans so not outweigh the benefits because genetically modified soybeans so not increase the production but increase the businesses’ profit, and there are health problems that can arise. Having GM soybeans does not mean that more would be produced; it only means that businesses would raise their profits. Many European countries do not buy any GMO products from the U. S. because they are afraid of any problems that may arise in the future, so I believe that since other countries are not buying any GM food, they do not want to change back into growing food naturally with no modifications or pesticides, because they want to make a bigger profit. They prevent any change that could stop them from making more profit. They do not care if they are damaging the environment; they only care about making more money. For example, people use Roundup (an herbicide) to kill weeds in their backyards or on the sidewalk. Farmers use the same product on the food that we want; they use it to kill the weeds that are growing around the soybeans. To prevent the soybeans from also dying, they have been modified to withstand the weed killer. Scientists have modified it by adding three different genes to the plant: a gene from bacterium, from a virus, and from a petunia. (McMillen )When combine with the original gene, it looks the same but it is now resistant to the Roundup herbicide. Even with soybeans modified, farmers do not benefit from it. The modification has not helped the production go up, the only thing that has gone up is the price. â€Å"[Costs] about $6 an acre to plant the usual seeds, companies charge over $40 per acre for the genetically modified seeds [and the companies gain $34 per acre of seeds sold]. (McMillen 1) Because the seeds are seeds are patented, (which means that the one who invented it, is the only one who has the right to use or sell the product to anyone,) farmers cannot save any eeds from the ones that they have grown. Therefore; each year they have to buy more from the same business. If the farmers save the seeds, they will be fined or even taken to jail. Genetically modified soybeans can also cause health problems. Soy beans can cause food allergies. Since we don’t really know if the bacteria gene in the soybeans will cause a reaction, scientists have compared the proteins in the soy with other proteins that are known to c ause allergies. If the GM protein has sequences that cause allergies, then according to the World Health Association, the GM crop should not be sold or there should be more testing done on it. However, there are sections of proteins produced in GM soybeans that are identical to allergens, but there was no more testing done to it. (Smith 1) If there are proteins in the soy that are causing allergies, â€Å"then the situation may be made much worse by something called horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Thats when genes spontaneously transfer from one species DNA to another. † (Smith 1) Plants should naturally have barriers that keeps genes from transferring to other species, but since there are foreign genes in the soy, it is losing its ability to stop this from happening. Even though it is most common in bacteria and rare in plants and mammals, genes transfer from one species to another, and a study found that parts of the genes from the soy were found in the DNA of human gut bacteria. So even after we stop eating GM soy, we could still be exposed to this transfer of genes because it will still be produced in our intestines. (Smith 1)I believe that there should be more testing because we do not know if there are any other risks involved with eating GM soybeans. Genetically modified soybeans are not beneficial because there is no gain in product only the gain in profit of businesses, and it also causes allergies. With soybeans being resistant to weed killers, weeds are becoming resistant to Roundup, so farmers actually have to use more money to buy more herbicides because they may not be working well anymore. Also it costs more to buy GM soy that soy that has not been tampered with. Not only do businesses profit, but we the consumers can suffer from the product. There are proteins in the soy gene that are identical to genes that cause allergies. We the consumers should be able to decide what we want eat, and also decide how we want the food to be produced.

Statistics Essays | Analysis of Data

Statistics Essays | Analysis of Data Consider and discuss the required approach to analysis of the data set provided. As part of this explore also how you would test the hypothesis below and explain the reasons for your decisions. Hypothesis 1: Male children are taller than female children. Null hypothesis; There is no difference in height between male children and female children. Hypothesis 2: Taller children are heavier. Null hypothesis: There is no relationship between how tall children are and how much they weigh. Analysis of data set The data set is a list of 30 childrens gender, age, height, the data weight, upper and lower limb lengths, eye colour, like of chocolate or not andIQ. There are two main things to consider before and the data. These are the types of data and the quality of the data as a sample. Types of data could be nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio.Nominal is also know as categorical. Coolican (1990) gives more details of all of these and his definitions have been used to decide the types of data in the data set. It is also helpful to distinguish between continuous numbers, which could be measured to any number of decimal places an discrete numbers such as integers which have finite jumps like 1,2 etc. Gender This variable can only distinguish between male or female.There is no order to this and so the data is nominal. Age This variable can take integer values. It could be measured to decimal places, but is generally only recorded as integer. It is ratio data because, for example, it would be meaningful to say that a 20 year old person is twice as old as a 10 year old. In this data set, the ages range from 120 months to 156months. This needs to be consistent with the population being tested. Height This variable can take values to decimal places if necessary. Again it is ratio data because, for example, it would be meaningful to say that a person who is 180 cm tall is 1.5 times as tall as someone 120cmtall. In this sample it is measured to the nearest cm. Weight Like height, this variable could take be measured to decimal places and is ratio data. In this sample it is measured to the nearest kg. Upper and lower limb lengths Again this variable is like height and weight and is ratio data. Eye colour This variable can take a limited number of values which are eye colours. The order is not meaningful. This data is therefore nominal(categorical). Like of chocolate or not As with eye colour, this variable can take a limited number of values which are the sample members preferences. In distinguishing merely between liking and disliking, the order is not meaningful. This data is therefore nominal (categorical). IQ IQ is a scale measurement found by testing each sample member. As such it is not a ratio scale because it would not be meaningful to say, for example, that someone with a score of 125 is 25% more intelligent than someone with a score of 100. There is another level of data mentioned by Cooligan into which none of the data set variables fit. That is Ordinal Data. This means that the data have an order or rank which makes sense. An example would be if 10students tried a test and you recorded who finished quickest, 2ndquickest etc, but not the actual time. The data is intended to be a sample from a population about which we can make inferences. For example in the hypothesis tests we want toknow whether they are indicative of population differences. The results can only be inferred on the population from which it is drawn it would not be valid otherwise. Details of sampling methods were found in Bland (2000). To accomplish the required objectives, the sample has to be representative of the defined population. It would also be more accurate if the sample is stratified by known factors like gender and age. This means that, for example, the proportion of males in the sample is the same as the proportion in the population. Sample size is another consideration. In this case it is 30.Whether this is adequate for the hypotheses being tested is examined below. Hypothesis 1: Male children are taller than female children. Swift (2001) gives a very readable account of the hypothesis testing process and the structure of the test. The first step is to set up the hypotheses: The Null hypothesis is that there is no difference in height between male children and female children. If the alternative was as Coolican describes it as we do not predict in which direction the results will go then it would have been a two-tailed test. In this case the alternative is that males are taller it is therefore a specific direction and so a one-tailed test is required. To test the hypothesis we need to set up a test statistic and then either match it against a pre-determined critical value or calculate the probability of achieving the sample value based on the assumption that the null hypothesis is true. The most commonly used significance level is 0.05. Accordingto Swift (2001) the significance level must be decided before the data is known. This is to stop researchers adjusting the significance level to get the result that they want rather than accepting or rejecting objectively. If the test statistic probability is less than 0.05 we would reject the null hypothesis that there is no difference between males and females in favour of males being heavier on the one sided basis. However it is possible for the test statistic to be in the rejection zone when in fact the null hypothesis is true. This is called a TypeI error. It is also possible for the test statistic to be in the acceptance zone when the alternative hypothesis is true (in other words the null hypothesis is false). This is called a Type II error. Power is 1 -probability of a Type II error and is therefore the probability of correctly rejecting a false null hypothesis. Whereas the Type I error is set at the desired level, the Type II error depends on the actual value of the alternative hypothesis. Coolican (1990) sets out the possible outcomes in the following table:

Smokng in Bars :: essays research papers fc

Smoking in Bars   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within the last several years, health issues toward smoking have become a very popular issue. All over the nation, college students are having to deal with secondhand smoke any time they want to go out and socialize with their friends in a bar. Secondhand smoke can be very detrimental to anybody that it encounters. It is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer and coronary heart disease in nonsmoking adults (TIPS). For years communities have been working to get smoking out of their workplaces, restaurants, and now they are pushing to ban smoking from bars. If you are a non-smoker, this is a very positive movement. It is never very much fun when you go into a bar to hang out with some friends and the whole place is covered with smoke. The whole next day, on top of maybe having a slight hangover, you will probably be coughing up a lung. Where is the fun in that? This law has already been passed in many places all over the United States. Only a select few are against what is trying to be done. When these laws were being debated at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, some bar and restaurant owners showed up to voice their opinions. They called it extremist, draconian and overly broad, saying it would cause the loss of jobs and the loss of city liquor taxes. They also said the law would set an uneven playing field because it allows smoking at restaurants with outdoor patios (Cooper). Of course, you might upset a few customers, but are people going to quit coming? Troja, a manager at Johnny’s Tavern in Lawrence, does not foresee the ordinance chasing customers away. â€Å"When it comes down to it,† he said, â€Å"they’re not going to stop going to their favorite tavern just because they can’t smoke there† (Cooper, par.7). An estimated 1,700 cities across the country restrict smoking, but only 74 have smoking bans that, like in Lawrence, include the workplace as well as restaurants and bars. (Cooper) This is great. Why can’t more people follow suit? An estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 35,000 heart disease deaths occur annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke (TIPS). College students do not realize that they are putting themselves at risk every time they step foot into these bars.

Against the Odds, and Against the Common Good Essay

In her essay, â€Å"Against the Odds, and Against the Common Good,† Gloria Jimenez evaluates the debate for state-run lotteries and surmises that state representatives, having citizens’ welfare in mind, should not pass bills urging them to gamble. In today’s society, state-run lotteries are common establishments considering the majority of our country has one. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia all have lotteries justified as necessary state funds beneficial to the common good. But with state lotteries no one wins—not schools, not the government and not the American public. (1) The lottery system does not contribute notable funds to the state or schools (2) it is a regressive form of taxation (3) it creates limited jobs (4) it is harmful to American values and society (5)but they claim to be fair and honest. Overall, lotteries are neither practical nor fair, and they are harmful to the common good. First, let me point out that lotteries do not achieve their first goal of contributing notable funds to the state or schools. The most valid defense for lotteries is that they will increase Educational funding, when, in fact, contributes very little. In her research, Jimenez briefly explains her findings and deducts â€Å"the lotteries have been paying out roughly 4 percent to the businesses while taking in almost $20 billion in 2002.† (New York Times, May 18, 2003, sec. 4, p. 1). If states raised income tax by a fraction of a percent, they could generate just as much revenue as state lotteries. That is how insignificant they are. As well as being an ineffective money raising scheme, the lottery is also a regressive form of taxation. The attraction of the lottery is to strike it rich instantaneously and never have to work again. The message is most evident to the poor, undereducated, and compulsive gamblers. As a result, these citizens participate in the lottery spending an average of three times as much of their income on lottery tickets than the wealthy would. This is, in effect, due to false and misleading advertising aimed specifically at this market. Furthermore, the only new jobs that are created unless, by chance a new casino goes in, are the vacancies for advertising executives and accounting clerks. The positions for clerks that actually sell the tickets do not need filling because they are previously filled at convenience and grocery stores. In addition, state run lotteries are unwholesome and dangerous for the common good. They send out a message that opposes the ethics of hard work, sacrifice, and integrity—everything Americans believe in. The lottery is deceptive and encourages people to believe that they will win something for nothing. Still, government allows lotteries and actually promotes them, encouraging citizens to participate. One of the greatest problems associated with the lottery is that it can lead to addiction. So although people are buying the tickets of their own free will and free will to participate is one of the pro’s of the lottery. Exactly how much free will really is there when all of the manipulation is being done by the ad executives targeting prime citizens, the government strong-arming the constituents into their lottery schemes, and the gambling addicts cannot really help themselves? Government has no business enticing people to gamble their hard earned money for an against the odds chance of winning a big cash prize. It is irresponsible, immoral and far from fair and honest. Works Cited Jimenez, Gloria. â€Å"Against the Odds, and Against the Common Good.† Pg. 112-114. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing. Barnett & Bedau. New York. Bedford/St. Martin.2008. Print

Development of the American Experiences

Current society of America dates back to past development experiences. The American nationalities comprise of distinct tribes, states and ethnic groups who survived from diverse political, cultural and social backgrounds. New societies, culture and people mainly originate from migration in search for new opportunities and lives. American society in the United States traces back their origin to more than one migration experiences. Such emigrational experiences labeled America as nation of immigrations.Change is inevitable, development experiences have been influenced by changes in the society where immigrants sought for new destinations. Change occurred due to impact of immigrant culture to the natives. The change results from pursuit of freedom and acceptance in the American society. The article seeks to evaluate the development experiences in the American Society by discussing thinker Jr. Martin Luther King commentary on â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† The paper presents a new interpretation of American history by focusing on Jr.Martin Luther King, political thought as a commentary on principles and problems of free government. In addition, some respects on modification of the principles as advanced in the declaration of independence and embodied in the constitution are discussed in this paper. The pursuit of Negro towards freedom and justice is discussed based on Jr. Martin Luther King answers to criticisms of his activities. Martin Luther King, Jr. , â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† While Jr. Martin Luther King was confined in the Birmingham city jail, he came across statement calling his activities â€Å"unwise and untimely.† He sought to answer criticisms of his work and ideas since the men who criticized him were of genuine good will with sincere criticisms. He served as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that was established in every southern state with Atlanta, Georgia being headquarter. The organization had several affiliates who shared staff, educational and financial resources. The affiliates in Birmingham called the organization to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such sharing deemed necessary. These lead to Jr. Martin Luther King confined in Birmingham city jail because of injustices.The rise of injustices compelled Jr. Luther to fight for freedom beyond his home town by responding to the Macedonian call for aid. He was aware of the interrelationship of all communities and states, this lead to his concern about the injustices in Birmingham which threatened justice all over the state (Luther 1). The Negroes faced multifaceted problems from political, social and economic injustices. They faced segregation, racial discrimination, brutality, bloodshed and poverty. Such problems gave rise to freedom fighters in pursuit to achieve social freedom and justices.The Negro leaders were caught in an unavoidable network of mutuality which was tied to a single element of destiny. Importantly, what affects one directly affects all indirectly. He explored the demonstrations which took place in Birmingham, the city’s power structure of white left the Negro community with no alternative but to use demonstration to raise the issues which they faced. The nonviolent campaign comprised four basic steps namely: collection of the facts to determine existence of injustices, negotiation, self purification and direct action. All these steps were followed by black in Birmingham with aim of gaining justice.Racial injustices were dominant in the community; Birmingham was tremendously segregated city in the United States with brutal experiences. They experienced unjust treatment in the courts, high proportion of unsolved bombings of their homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other cities. The Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the white leaders of the city who consistently refused to engage in negotiation and understanding (Luther 1). After several failures of negotiations, Negro leaders got opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community.Certain promises were made during negotiation, which saw merchants removed stores which were racialism sign. Such promises led to suspension of demonstration by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and other leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Negroes become victims of broken promises where injustices were briefly removed, returned and others remained. Shadow of disappointment remained upon the Negro leadership who sought for direct action with aim of presenting their cases to local and national community. Self purification was used, nonviolent workshops were introduced.Direct action was scheduled for the Easter season since it was main shopping period of the year. The by-product of direct action was a strong economic-withdrawal which brought pressure on merchants for a change to occur. Direct action plan was postponed until mayoral election wa s over and later till the run off with aim of demonstrations not to cloud the issue at hand. The defeat of Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene â€Å"Bull† Connor resulted to more postponement of direct actions. The call of negotiation was indeed a purpose of direct action.Nonviolent direct action was used to create crisis and foster tension because community consistently refused to negotiate. The force was used to confront and dramatized the issue which could no longer be ignored. Luther is strongly opposed to violent tension, but he asserts that there is a constructive nonviolent tension which is effective for growth. It was very necessary to create a tension in the mind of individuals to enable them rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the free realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal.This suggests that the kind of tension is created in society to help individuals rise from dark depths of prejudice and racism to the greater heights of understanding and sense of belonging. The purpose of direct action was to create the crisis situation which opened door for negotiation (Luther 2). Despite Mr. Boutwell being a gentleman than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, who were interested in maintenance of status. One is forced to understand the Negro leadership legitimate and unavoidable impatience of breaking laws. Luther urged people to obey Supreme Court's decision of 1954 which outlawed segregation in the public schools.However, one can ask why to break some laws while obeying others? Luther suggested that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has a legal and moral responsibility to obey just laws and to disobey unjust law. Just law is a man made code that mutually respects the moral law and God natural law while an unjust law is a coded unharmonious moral rule. Just law uplifts personality while unjust law degrades personality. Segregation is unjust since it distorts the soul and damages the personality. Segregat or feels superior while the segregated are viewed as inferiors.Segregation is politically, economically, sociologically and morally wrong and sinful. Throughout the nation of Alabama, all sorts of segregation were used not to vote despite being majority in the population. Another form of segregation was that citizens were denied a privilege to have peaceful assembly and protest. Luther asserts that one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and willingly to accept the penalty (Luther 4). From Luther’s point of view, Negro's great stumbling block towards achievement of freedom is not white citizens but the white moderates.The white moderates are highly devoted to order rather than to justice. They preferred a negative peace with absence of tension to a positive peace with presence of justice. In addition, they agreed on Negro’s pursuit for justice and freedom but not methods of direct action. They blocked social progress and revolution. Federal courts affi rms that it is very wrong to advocate an individual to cease from efforts that enable one to gain basic constitutional rights because the pursuit may precipitate violence. Society must be involved in protecting the robbed and punishing the robber.It was hoped that the white moderates would reject the myth of timing concern in relation to struggle for freedom (Luther 5). It is apparent that Luther stood in middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One force was complacency, made up oppressed and drained Negroes who have adjusted to segregation. The other force comprised few middle-class Negroes who had academic and economic security. The forces were characterized by bitterness and hatred. Despite such forces, the Negro church way of nonviolence became an integral part of the struggle for freedom.The yearning for freedom eventually manifested itself among American Negroes which gave birth to freedom. With the conjunction of Africans, Asian, South Americans and the Caribbea n, the United States Negro moved to great urgency towards racial justice (Luther 6). However, some of white individuals from South grasped the meaning of social revolution and they committed themselves towards it. Despite their low quantity, their high quality outweighed quantity. Some such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs and Ann Braden have languished in jails for their pursuit of Negro social freedom (Luther 7).Conclusion From the evidence presented in the paper, it is concluded that developments of American experiences dates back to pursuit of political, social and economic freedom. Despite confinement of Jr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham jail, he answered all criticisms of his activities. Injustices such as segregation, brutality and racism compelled Luther to fight for freedom. Nonviolence demonstration which comprised of negotiation, self purification and direct action were used to raise issues of injustices.Direct action involved tension w hich helped society to wake up from racism to great heights of brotherhood. Laws are divided into two, just law which lifts up personality and unjust law which degrades personality. were segregated not to vote and privilege of peaceful assembly and protests were denied. The stumbling block of Negroes achievement of freedom was influenced by white moderates. Luther eventually won through the help of Negro church for struggle despite standing in the middle of Negro community opposition forces. Some whit individuals embraced social revolution though they languished in jails.Civil rights are not gained without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. It is known that through painful experience that freedom is not voluntarily given by the oppressor but it must be demanded by oppressed as the statement â€Å"Justice too long delayed is justice denied.† suggests. Time is neutral variable which can either be used destructively or constructively.