Descartes s Philosophy On The Mind And Consciousness...

In modern philosophy, reality is viewed in a twofold manner: the immaterial mind on the one hand and the extended body on the other. Also, we think of reality and divided between the â€Å"I† subject and an external world of objects. This line of thinking is attributed to Rene Descartes, widely credited as the father of modern philosophy. Descartes was a proponent of metaphysical dualism. He believed that the mind and the body are distinct substances. To Descartes, we can reach certain knowledge about the mind and consciousness through introspection. He reasons that we cannot doubt our existence as ‘thinking things’ because the fact that we think is undeniable. However, we tend to be fooled by our sensory experience of the world around us, so it is possible to put the world outside of our minds into doubt. To Descartes, philosophy is about attaining certain knowledge. We look upon the world as knowing subjects. Descartes believed that we cannot properly philosophi ze without first establishing certain principles to guide our investigation. We must doubt everything that can be doubted, and only when we reach a position that cannot be doubted can we begin our quest to understand reality. Since we begin with the thinking thing, the Cogito, the mind has ontological precedence over the body. From Descartes onwards, the ultimate questions of philosophy were viewed as being epistemic in nature. The big questions in philosophy were about the relationship of the thinking subject to theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Consciousness As Determined Th1030 Words   |  5 Pages Consciousness is understood in a variety of ways. In one belief, a person is conscious when awake, but unconscious when sleeping or comatose. Yet people also do things requiring perception and thought unconsciously even when they are awake. A person can be conscious of their physical surroundings, pain and even a wish or fantasy. 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The mind is that which is responsible forRead MoreDifferences Between Marx And Feuerbach s Conceptions Of The Relationship Between Philosophy And Religion1718 Words   |  7 Pagesconsidering the differences between Marx’s and Feuerbach’s conceptions of the relationship between philosophy and religion, as well as the implications this has for their thoughts on religion, which brief discussion on the criticisms one could pose to these thinkers for their theories. What is important to note before we begin is that both of these thinkers are reacting to the Enlightenment era of Philosophy which is the idea of a rational and scientific approach to religion and the self. Kant definedRead MorePhilosophy of the Mind2347 Words   |  10 Pages    The   Philosophy   of   Mind       Introduction The philosophy of body and mind has been a highly debated topic since its launch in the 17th centaury by Rene Descartes. 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However, the roots of psychology are grounded in philosophy, with psychology s beginning coming from philosophers as Socrates, Plato, and Rene Descartes, and began with questions about human nature. The Philosophical Roots The beginnings of psychology come from different philosophers, such as Socrates and Plato. In all actuality, Socrates himself

Successful Student Free Essays

The enrolled in college The Developmental Writing class refreshed some of the skills I had learned in English class such as Journal writing, vocabulary enrichment, critical thinking, paragraph patterns, and short essays. The course also proved useful in improving my sentence composition and study habits The Learning Strategies course dealt with several aspects of improving my skills as a student. The first thing the course taught was that Success does not happen by luck or chance, it is the result of hard work, honest self-assessment, setting goals, and planning for the future. We will write a custom essay sample on Successful Student or any similar topic only for you Order Now Interpersonal skills must be developed by learning to cooperate with teachers, and students through understanding and acceptance. I must try to be an active learner who takes initiative to seek help, be involved by asking questions when I am unsure f the answers. The best students are self-motivated, and know what their goals are, and the surest way to reach them Discovering your learning style and putting it to use is very important, we all learn in different ways if you take the time to figure out which way works best for you your retention will be much better. After finding my particular style I am able know how to get the most from learning in a way that is the easiest and most comfortable for me. There may not be a single best way to learn, sometimes it takes a combination of different ways to allow me learn best. The class also taught me the meaning of the term Locus of Control which refers to the source of motivation. It can be either internal or external. Internal is taking responsibility for my actions, and results external means others control my motivations, and I see little connection between my actions, and their results. I found out how important the ability to use critical and creative thinking is in order to be successful in my studies. Critical thinking is the ability to use logical, conscious, and purposeful reasoning. It includes the process of self-reflection where I can examine my actions, and there uniqueness. Creative thinking has some of the same qualities, but also adds inventive and original thoughts as well. It helps me apply what I have learned in new ways. My definition of a successful student is a student who continues to do the best that he can, and always tries to improve as much as he can. I will endeavor to put all of the skills I have learned, and continue to learn here at Roan State to the best use that my ability allows. If I can manage to do so I will be more successful both as a student and later on as a graduate of Roan State So much has changed in the past months being here it is sometimes very difficult to keep it in prospective. My classes and the instructors I have been exposed to continue to reshape my way of thinking. The more I attend College the more I realize how much I had, and still have to learn. As I continue my education my ability as a student continues to improve while learning to tie the information presented to me together. I can see now why I was always told that an education is such a valuable thing to have, and not to be taken for granted. My only regret at this point of my experience is that I did not have this opportunity sooner in life. How to cite Successful Student, Papers

Toyota Production System and 5s Essay Example

Toyota Production System and 5s Essay Introduction Brief outline of the organization Implementation of 5S with respect of TQM and complement ISO Organizational culture and change undertaken in implementing 5S Content Define 5S Importance of 5S in the organization Culture that supports the 5S in the organization Methodology of 5S implementation How it can complement TQM and ISO certification Recommend organizational change that can to be undertaken to further improve quality Conclusion Outlook of 5S for the organization Evaluate the organizational culture and change in implementing quality. Management prospective on 5S in regards to quality. An example of 5S by Toyota Definition of 5S 5S, the brainchild of Hiroyuki Hirano from Japan, is widely considered as being the basis for Lean Manufacturing as it is concerned with stability and standardization to bring about improved safety, quality, delivery performance and cost control. Why a basis for Lean? Lean Manufacturing is a methodology derived from the Toyota Production System TPS) which originated in post World War II Japan. It came about when Kiichiro Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno amongst others explored means of making a high variety of quality cars at minimal cost, given the lack of capital expenditure available at the time. The fundamental principle of TPS is to increase productivity and generate product flow through the value stream by a disciplined and focused effort on eliminating waste. The foundation for TPS is stability, i. e. minimal process variation, this being achieved by standardization of work practices. What is Waste? We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Production System and 5s specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Production System and 5s specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota Production System and 5s specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Waste (Muda) in lean terms is described perfectly by Wikipedia as being any expenditure of resources for means other than the creation of value for the presumed customer. Waste can include anything from excessive motion and transport of materials to defects, over-production and inventory. Most literature now describes the 8 wastes, although Toyota have classified many more. What are the 5Ss? 5S is a systematic approach to workplace organization. The 5Ss are: 1. Sort (Seiri) sort out what is needed and get rid of what isnt 2. Set (Seiton) a place for everything and everything in its place 3. Shine (Seiso) clean and maintain so always looks like the photo 4. Standardize (Seiketsu) make it the standard and instill discipline 5. Sustain (Shitsuke) audit the system and improve it (start again) It should be mentioned for accuracy that Toyota uses 4S. Sustainability, the fifth S, is already encompassed within the TPS continuous improvement culture. Beside the improvements on safety, quality, delivery and cost mentioned above, there are also additional behavioral benefits associated with 5S, such as increased pride and sense of ownership in the workplace, increased discipline and higher employee motivation. Where does 5S succeed? Hirano is reported to have said that good workplaces begin with 5S and bad workplaces fall apart beginning with 5S. So why is this? 5S only works when there is top-down commitment from senior management to operator level. Without this any 5S program is doomed from the outset. Also there needs to be an infrastructure in place for sustainability and continuous improvement (time and resources, ideas scheme etc. ) otherwise the best youll achieve is 4S before the system stagnates. 5S will not work if it is not correctly understood. It is not simply a tidying up exercise and if it is believed as such then the program will only succeed to the second S before eventually being considered a failure. It works when management understand 5S as being fundamental to good performance rather than secondary to it. 5S succeeds in environments where there is discipline and self regulations in place to ensure standards are kept, this being owned by the workforce itself. Standards are typically maintained through a simple daily auditing system of different areas, or zones, with a person or small team being responsible for each. Even with all this in place, long term sustainability will only be possible if the system is continually measured and improved and if members of senior management carry out periodic inspections of each area. One common error by senior management is never being visible on the factory floor. How to Implement 5S 1. Sort The first step, Sort, begins with selecting a dedicated area for focus (could be an office environment, not only a factory floor) and assigning red tags to items that are either no longer needed or their usefulness is unknown. A quarantine area needs to be assigned for all red tagged items if they cannot be thrown away immediately, or if there is a lot of uncertainty as to whether items are still required. This both frees up space in the workplace and provides time to decide whether to keep or discard the items in question. Theres a tendency at this stage for magpies to want to hang onto stuff that hasnt been used for a long time. Critical reflection is required to ensure that emotional ties do not get in the way of logic. 2. Set The second step, Set, involves finding a place for everything that is left over after Sort, keeping in mind work place effectiveness, safety and ergonomics. The following questions should be answered: †¢Where should the item be located? Ease of access is required. Keep passageways clear and avoid cables and piping on floor. †¢How large and heavy is the object? Avoid reaching, bending and lifting where possible. †¢How frequently is the item used? Organize by frequency of use and keep frequently used items close to hand. Set involves providing means for organizing items such as shadow boards, shelves, cabinets and containers. It also involves implementation of visual management to highlight to anyone whether a normal or abnormal state exists. The simplest of examples is a petrol gauge in a car. Green signals good, red signals bad. Another would be floor markings and labels indicating where an item should be found if not being used. 3. Shine The third step, Shine, requires items and the workplace to be cleaned and in a good state of repair. It is also about inspecting, as during inspection you will tend to find risks to safety and quality, for example due to damaged tools or faulty equipment. Shine does not just apply to material objects, but also people. Ensuring good condition of the correct clothing and that the correct PPE is being worn is equally important. For example gloves, hard hats, safety glasses and steel toe caps. 4. Standardize The forth step, Standardize, is about putting in place procedures and ensuring that a workplace is always how it should be. It provides visual management aids and daily checks in order to easily recognize whether the standard developed in the first three steps is being maintained. Visual management display boards in the work areas, creation of an address system and labelling of all equipment are key parts of this step. 5. Sustain The final step, Sustain is essentially about involving and motivating all members of the organization in assuring that the standards are applied and improved through employee empowerment and autonomy. Lean Manufacturing is as much about engaging and empowering the full intellectual capacity of the organization as it is about tools and methods. The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) or Demin Cycleis the methodology adopted by most lean organizations for continuous improvement activity. Sustain not only involves daily auditing of the workplace by those that work in it, but also periodic inspections by all management levels. For example by local managers on a weekly basis to ensure all check sheets are signed off, and by the senior managers on a monthly basis. Many companies have recognition or reward schemes in place to encourage healthy competition between work areas or between factories within the same organization. This also serves to help generate and turn improvement ideas into action.

Statutory Interpretation In Australia essays

Statutory Interpretation In Australia essays Statutory interpretation is where judges interpret the meanings of words in a statute to determine and classify if and how it will apply in similar or different cases. This statutory interpretation or judicial interpretation can be created and applied as judicial precedents for other cases. Judges are making laws when determining the words in an Act. Statutes need interpreting for a number of different reasons. Parliaments language in acts of parliament can be ambiguous and unclear. Many words in an act may need definitions and classifications. The interpretation of the statute helps to clarify the intention and words of the statute. An example of this is the SA Road Traffic Act in the case of R v McGuinness, which needed to be interpreted so that the word driving was clearly defined to clearly understand what the term driving involved. With changes in time and circumstance there is a change in societys values and attitudes and therefore their must be a change in the way statutes are interpreted. An example regarding the legislation on telephonic devices, is the wording other like services meant to include fax or digital photographs? This must be decided by statutory interpretation. Many meaning of words has changed from there past meanings and statutory interpretation is needed to explain exactly what the words mean and what the Act is intended for. It is also needed for ambiguities, when different words and meanings are used in Acts and Regulations were disputes are created. The complexity of the law in areas such as taxation law can be very complicated and cause disputes regarding the meaning of the legislation, statutory interpretation is required to solve this problem. It is needed to decide how words of an Act apply to a particular case. Parliamentary aids or guidance along with common law guidance is used when deciding the meaning of statutes and regulations. Pa...

How to Teach the Past Continuous to ESL Students

How to Teach the Past Continuous to ESL Students The main concept to relay when teaching the past continuous is the idea that the past continuous expresses an interrupted action. In other words, the past continuous speaks about what was going on when something important happened. The past continuous can be used by itself to express what happened at a precise moment in the past. However, the most common use is together with the past simple  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹(when something happened). You might want to consider teaching the past simple together with the past continuous for intermediate level classes, as the past simple will be review for students. Introduction Start by speaking about what was interrupted. Describe an important past event and then fill in the details as a painter would fill in background details by using the past continuous form. This immediately illustrates the idea that the past continuous is used to set the context of what was happening at that moment in time. Id like to tell you about the day I met my wife. I was walking through the park, the birds were singing and it was raining just a little bit when I saw her! She was sitting on the bench and reading a book at that moment. Ill never be the same. This example is exaggerated for a reason. It boldly conveys the point. Continue introducing the past continuous by asking students simple questions in the past simple about events. Follow up these questions with a question asking what was happening when the event occurred. When did you leave home this morning - At nine oclock.What was your sister doing when you left home?Where did you meet your girlfriend? - At school.What were you doing when you met her? The next step in teaching the past continuous is to include simultaneous actions using while. Explain that while is used when two actions happen at the same time in the past. Its a good idea to point out the difference between while and during, to help avoid confusion. Practice Explaining the Past Continuous on the Board Use a past continuous timeline to illustrate interrupted action. Contrasting this timeline with the past continuous for something happening at a specific point in the past may help illustrate the difference between the two uses. Make sure that students understand the use of time clauses with when and while to help them use the past continuous in context. Comprehension Activities Comprehension activities such as using photos in magazines will help with the past continuous. In this case, make it clear to students that they are to describe the event in the past. You can model this by using a photo in a magazine to describe such an event. Dialogues beginning with What were you doing? will help students practice. A creative writing exercise on the past continuous will also help students build their ability to integrate the past continuous into more advanced structures. Challenges The single greatest challenge to learning the past continuous is deciding which action is the main event: in other words, which event interrupted the action in progress in the past moment in time? Other challenges can include the use of the past continuous to express an activity that happened over a period of time. Its crucial for students to understand that the past continuous describes a particular moment in time, and not a completed event. Here are examples of this type of issue: I was studying science yesterday.She was cooking dinner last night. In other words, the past continuous needs the context of another event when stopped the action in progress at the time.

Is CSR a myth a study of the sourcing strategies of the UK food Essay

Is CSR a myth a study of the sourcing strategies of the UK food retailers - Essay Example The study suggests that future marketing opportunities is in providing the consumers with products that deliver value and these should contain ethical social values. This is because the UK consumer is still ethically consciousness and is willing to pay the price for it. However, the retailers are quick to charge a premium while also passing on the burden of cost-effective sourcing to the suppliers. The retailers need to understand that to retain loyal customers they would need to take care of the concerns of the consumers. Some retailers have gone to the extent of selling most of the products in the region where it is produced. This enhances customer relationship and is also cost effective as the supply chains are shorter. Moreover chances of contamination increase in larger supply chains. Overall, the UK food retailers discharge their CSR only to a limited extent. They also adhere to the fair-trade norms to the extent that they have to fulfill the government regulations imposed upon them. They need to attend to the concerns of all the stakeholders and have to ensure that their sourcing is cost effective. Volume purchases at the international level fetches them this benefit. However, not all retailers follow this strategy and some have actually integrated CSR into their strategy not because of the benefits that it gives but because they recognize that they must give back something to the society.

Luftwaffe's Failure to Win the Battle of Britain Essay

Luftwaffe's Failure to Win the Battle of Britain - Essay Example Britain planned for German invasion called operation sea lion and this plan was to establish German air superiority over southern England and the English Channel, and aimed at attacking RAF and anything attached to it (Turner, 2010, p.38) resulting to the first world’s strategic bombing campaign and battle in the air, the battle of Britain. During the opening phase of the battle of Britain, the German planned to gain air superiority and this resulted to an attack by the Luftwaffe on the RAF fighter airfields named Eagle Day (Wyatt, 1940). Luftwaffe decided to attack British domestic shipping in the English Channel to draw out the RAF and suppress their fighting strength and even though the Germans made daily strikes against ship convoys, after sometime, Luftwaffe lost about 248 fighters and bombers to RAF’s 148 fighters lost and this encouraged RAF to fight on and win the battle (Wyatt, 1940). This essay presents an account for the for the Luftwaffe’s failure to win the battle of Britain. Â   About twenty years ago, Europe lay at Hitler’s feet and Britain faced its darkest hour as it was outnumbered and friendless as the German force continued its advance and this made them to see their defeat as being inevitable and their victory became legendary. RAF focused on shooting down all German planes from northern as well as eastern France (Clayton & Craig, 2011, p.18). RAF had the high-performance Hawker Hurricane and Super marine Spitfire fighters whereas the Luftwaffe's principal fighter planes were the Messerschmitt Bf109, the Messerschmitt Bf110, and numerous bombers Wyatt, 1940). The Luftwaffe failed to win the battle because they failed to destroy the air defences of Britain to enable them launch an invasion- Operation Sea Lion, and they as well failed to bomb Britain into surrender since RAF had a well-established and effective spitfire and hurricanes controlled by advanced radar system and this prevented Luftwaffe from emerging v ictorious. Luftwaffe focused on using air campaign to threaten Britain and this campaign was aimed weakening RAF in order to make Britain vulnerable to attack from the air, and to fulfil the basic precondition of invasion by establishing air superiority over the invasion of the South East England (Bungay, 2010, p.27). At the beginning of the battle, Luftwaffe focused on attacking shipping in the English Channel as well as coastal towns but later on, Goering changed his focus to completely destroy RAF, by attacking airfields and their radar bases. When the battle commenced RAF had less than 500 aircraft that were not capable of reaching German territory and therefore, the British preparations was based on avoiding defeat and conquest (Overy,2010, p.6-7). Many factors can explain the Luftwaffe’s failure to win the battle of Britain and many scholars have contributed largely in providing an explanation of the air battle and how the air campaign was developed. Firstly, German pla nes were constructed and designed for short distance tactical tricks and local air superiority, they lacked heavy bombers (Wyatt, 1940), and they lacked quality fighters with the fuel endurance to act as escorts to the bombers they had. Germany lacked long-range bombers and was not able to field its first strategic bomber during the battle (Correll, 2008). On the contrary, Britain had a much more experienced and better equipped fighting force and generally, RAF was strong and massively outnumbered German forces. Accordingly, more and better British fighters were available and ready to help RAF during the battle