The Philosophies of Plato Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Philosophies of Plato - Essay Example Plato was believed to have been born approximately 427 B.C., making his ideas, concepts, and theories well over 2,000 years old. Plato lived and died in Greece in approximately 348 B.C. making him about 80 years old. However, with little historical accounts of these dates, they are approximations but it is also believed that he was born unto a very political family that was also wealthy and it was his father who ensured that Plato received the top education by distinguished teachers during this era. It is during those approximate 80 years, mostly in Athens, where he developed many ancient philosophical concepts which contributed to Western philosophy and his teachings were often considered Platonism (Vaughn). With Socrates as Plato’s teacher, as well as another of Socrates’ famous students, Aristotle, they laid the groundwork for developing higher thinking in the foundations of Western science and philosophy in the Western world. Plato even founded an Academy in Athens which was considered to be one of the first of its kind to teach higher learning topics that included numerous topics and it was years later that his nephew (his sister’s son) would be the successor of being the head of the Academy. Some of these topics that were part of Plato’s dialogue, writings, and teachings were based not only on philosophy but also ethics, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and even religion. Many of the themes behind his work included the theory of forms, innate knowledge, the five regimes and Platonic love.

Birth Order and Empirical Studies Indicating Significant Essay

Birth Order and Empirical Studies Indicating Significant Birth-order-related - Essay Example There are strong stereotypes that people try to attach to the birth order of siblings and most of these are considered to be quite accurate in many respects. However, it must be cautioned that this is not an exact science. There are many variables that can affect an individual, from inherited genes to the family environment, school and the workplace, eventually. Sibling science, as it is sometimes referred to, is just beginning to catch the serious attention of scientists from being considered a fringe science before. The present trend should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. For all its scientific research work so far, all that can be said is there are as yet no definitive answers to whether birth order really is a strong factor that influences individuals' core personality development. There is a comment that sibling science is much like reading a horoscope; one can impute anything to it (Kluger, 2007, p. 1). With this in mind, this paper nevertheless still explores som e of the more interesting findings so far but the reader is advised to keep an open mind about this topic. Discussion There is not much doubt that people exhibit certain predictable personality attributes or characteristics based on their birth order. For example, first-borns are generally considered to be assertive of their social status, implied authority over their younger siblings, with strong motivation to succeed and has generally a higher IQ and EQ. Personality of First-borns – according to the journal article compiled by Eckstein, the scientific evidence so far points to a significant correlation between birth order and the people personality which they observed in their study subjects. Two researchers found a total of 26 different personality characteristics to an oldest child, with about six of these attributes quite recurrent or re-appearing and these are: the highest achieving, highest IQ, greatest academic success, highest motivation, over-represented among learned groups and lastly, also the most affiliative under stress (ibid., pp. 482-483). Personality of Middle Children – most researchers on sibling science found out at least six common personality characteristics with three attributes frequently most appearing which are: fewest â€Å"acting out† problems, sociable and greatest feeling of not belonging to any group of people (ibid.); there is also a matrix on birth order (Isaacson & Radish, 2002, p p. 27-28). Personality of Youngest Child – two researchers had likewise attributed a total of 14 different characteristics to the youngest child, with three attributes appearing most frequently. These three are the following: the most number of psychiatric disorders, more empathetic and also exhibits a greater tendency towards becoming an alcoholic. Single Children – researchers were able to correlate at least about 13 characteristics that are attributable exclusively to being a single child. Out of these 13 personal attributes, about 4 of them are very prominent, which are the following: the most need and driven for an achievement, generally higher achievers compared to their siblings except for the first-borns, most likely to go to and finish college but has the most potential for behavioral problems. Single children are often of the same personality chara

Personality Determinants Essay Example for Free

Personality Determinants Essay Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical structure, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are characteristics that are generally considered to be either completely or substantially influenced by who your parents were, that is by their biological, physiological and inherent psychological makeup. The environmental factors that exert pressures on our personality formation are the culture in which we are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and social groups, and other influences that we experience. The environment to which we are exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities A third factor, the situation, influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality. An individual’s personality although generally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. The varying demand of different situation calls forth different aspects of one’s personality. We should not therefore look upon personality patterns in isolation. Subconscious Programming Most of us sometimes get programmed / conditioned by a wrong messages that â€Å" do not do that†, â€Å"don’t take the risk†, â€Å"you cannot do that† you are not good in †¦and so on†¦.. You can imagine the bad effect such message can have on any person. Our Conscious Mind is like a watch man. And the Subconscious Mind is a store of all the previously programmed or conditioned information / knowledge/ believes. Now programming personality means putting positive believes/ information into the store without the knowledge of the watchman (conscious mind). Suppose you tell yourself that â€Å"you are good at Public Speaking†. And the store has stored based on peoples comments and experience that â€Å"you are poor in communication† â€Å"you cannot speak well in public†, â€Å"you don’t have an impressive body language† †¦.. The watch man sees your sentence and compares it with the knowledge in its store and says â€Å"this information is wrong†. The watchman throws the new information away. He does not allow the new positive information into the store. This is the fundamental difficulty in changing personality behavior of a person. Now the question is how and when we could program our mind for positive personality trait without the obstruction of watchman†¦ The answer is we can program our mind for positive personality traits during the Twilight period just before sleeping and just before waking up. This is the time when the conscious mind is active enough to generate the positive traits for entering into store but inactive to judge/compare and will not obstruct to the positive traits to enter into the subconscious store house. Reinforced Programming / Conscious Programming Autosuggestion and Repetition of the positive traits despite negative response from comparison with the store house also gives success in programming for personality traits. Auto-suggestion is a statement made in the present tense, of the kind of person you want to be. Auto-suggestion are like a commercial about â€Å"Super You†, or â€Å"Future Super You† for yourself what you want to be or achieve. They influence both your conscious and subconscious mind in the long run shaping your personality and attitude. Auto-suggestions are the conscious way to programme the subconscious mind for positive traits. It is the effective method of voluntary development of positive traits and attitudes. Auto-suggestion should be mixed with emotions. All such reinforced / conscious programming which have been emotionalized (giving feeling) and mixed with applied faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into physical or real equivalent. Auto-suggestive thoughts which are mixed with any of the feeling of emotions constitute a â€Å"psycho-magnetic† force which attracts other similar or related thoughts. Our subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance if you the seeds of more desirable crops are not sown therein. Auto-suggestion is the agency of control through which an individual can voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of creative/ positive nature or by neglect permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into the rich garden of mind. So Caution should be taken while programming your mind for positive traits only. Defensive Approach One of this type of approach is protest or deny the negative traits at it’s very beginning of the entering in the subconscious store. And the second is to consciously avoid this type of environment or situation. In real life situation it is very difficult because it may lead to confrontation and argument or Inaction. Another problem in this is that most of us have some negative traits previously in our store house due to our past experience and conditioning. Imaginary Anchoring or Invisible Counseling Committee While watching a picture we anchor the Hero, placing ourselves in place of hero. Similarly we can anchor Great men in imagination and let them shape our personality. Another is the Invisible Counseling Committee comprising of great personalities of your choice. We can counsel from these great minds at times or situation. What decision or action he would have been taken in my situation.. Winston Churchill the war time British Prime Minister was following this principle. He had his Imaginary Counseling Committee by the side of his Chamber. Many great decisions he used to take by following these principles. Physical Action / Body Language Approach In general it is the positive practice or experiencing desired traits whether the desired perfection achieved or not. It is generally said that our personality traits control our body language. But it is a fact that the reverse is also true. This meanswe can change our negative traits towards positive traits by consciously practicing the body language for positive traits. Domino-effect. Direct exposure to good personalities or environment Here the direct environment is the driving force in shaping the personalities. When one constantly remains in direct contact with great personalities will enriches his own to be the one. Similarly the organization culture and structure also many times influences ones personality. Sometimes it is the guiding principle for job satisfaction / recruitment.

The Nature Versus Nurture Debate Sociology Essay

The Nature Versus Nurture Debate Sociology Essay Throughout the history of human existence, there have always been questions that have plagued man for centuries. Some of these questions are what is the meaning of life and which came first, the chicken or the egg. Within the past 400 years a new question has surfaced which takes our minds to much further levels. The question asked is whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on the growing development of people. It is a fact that a combination of nature and nurture play important roles in how humans behave socially. However, I believe that nature has a more domineering role in the development of how people behave in society with regards to sexual orientation, crimes and violence and mental disorders. Height, hair color, eye color and sex are just a few examples of ways our DNA has shaped us. But could it be possible that our DNA also affects the way we behave in society. It is possible that genetics affect us is more ways that we may have imagined. Dr. Peter B. Neubaur believes that shyness, eating disorders, obsessive behavior and psychological illness can all be traced back to our genetics.  Sexual orientation  is also believed to be derived from genes in our body which determine what sexual preference we prefer. Violence and other types of crimes can be linked back throughout a persons lineage to witness that other family members have been committed similar crimes without ever meeting one and other. Throughout our lives we have all been influenced by our environment and other outside forces. Our environment may change the way we think, act and behave in life. Since we are all products of our environment, it comes to no surprise that we, as humans, tend to behave in a society the same way others around us behave but at the same time we strive to find who we really are (Schaefer 73). Since birth, humans have always analyzed the world around them. With each day that passes, humans take in more and more information from the outside world. The information which humans obtain through their environment subconsciously influences the decisions people make throughout their daily life (Neubauer 16). On the other hand, our genetics also play a vital role in determining what type of person we are and what will we become.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The sexual orientation of a person has been a critical debate over the past several centuries. For several decades many people believed that nurture had a more profound impact on the sexuality of humans than did nature. Even the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that sexual orientation was derived from nurture. Freud developed a theory which explains that at birth till the age of four every child is bisexual. When the child reaches the age of around four, he/she begins to learn to withhold their feeling for members of the same sex and start expressing those sexual feeling to members of the opposite sex. Freud proposed the idea that male homosexuality originates when this crucial developmental stage is hindered by some outside force also known as nurture. According to Freud, this can occur when either a chided is raised in a fatherless household or with an overbearing mother figure. However, when this idea was actually tested, it did not fall through as ma ny would expect it would (Steen 185). Since many years after Freuds passing, it has become apparent that nature holds a strong role in the development of sexual orientation of humans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If nurture isnt the cause for sexual orientation then nature must be. According to Grant Steen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, a large study was recently conducted which gathered gay males who have either identical or  fraternal twins  or adopted brothers. The goal of the study would be to see if genetics played a role in twins. At the end of the survey more than half of the  identical twins  of gay men were also found to be homosexuals. At the same time only about 22% of the fraternal twins were found to be gay and only 11% of the adopted brothers were gay. What these statistics show is that DNA plays a very important role in determining sexual orientation. Nature seems to have such a large impact on the sexual orientation of individuals that I feel that nurture has almost little or no effect on whether a person is homosexual or not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If homosexuality is genetic then there should be a dramatic occurrence of homosexuality with families who have many homosexual relatives than to families in the general public who do not have homosexual relatives. Another survey was conducted in which 114 openly homosexual men were asked questions about the sexual orientation of their relatives. The study showed that homosexuality is indeed strongly clustered in some families; among the brothers of men in this study, the incidence of homosexuality was nearly seven-fold higher than in the population at large (Steen 197).  Homosexuality  can be considered hereditary because families with one gay relative are more likely to have others somewhere in their family lineage. Some skeptics may begin to raise the question that if homosexuality is genetic then there should be a gay gene in our DNA. After many studies, scientists have found that there is at least one gene which is responsible for homosexuality. Though this is not conclusive evidence because scientists still havent unlocked all of the DNA strands, scientists figure that with time and the advancement of technology we one day might be able to actually pin point this gay gene in DNA (Plomin 337).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reporter  Jeff McMullen  of ABC interviewed  David Reimer  in May of 2000 who fell victim of a botched circumcision when he was only eight months old. The doctors at the time felt that David would be better off living the rest of his life as a girl. The doctors believed that the nurturing of a child and not nature would determine their psychological make-up. David explained to McMullen that throughout his entire childhood he felt out of place. It seemed that even though David grew up as a woman, inside he felt something was wrong. This interview strongly supports the idea that nature plays a vital role in determining sex. No matter how much of an effort was put in to surround Davids environment with feminine characteristics, it would not be strong enough to over come the resilient power of nature. From the time of conception, nature has already planed out many important factors which will effect our lives in so many ways. If nature does control our sexual preferences then it is possible that it could control many other facets of human existence. In the United States about twenty million crimes occur each year and most of the time the criminals are repeat offenders. One may begin to speculate whether society in the United States promotes crimes or are criminals born with the desire to commit these heinous crimes. According to Steen there is evidence from a large study of adopted children which shows that there is a tendency for children to reenact the criminal behavior of their biological parents. So even if a child was adopted and was raised in a house which had no  criminal activities, the child would be more likely to commit the same crimes as their biological parents which they have never met. This obviously disproves the notion that people are taught and raised to commit crimes. The East Coast sniper John Lee Malvo would hide in remote places all along the east coast and would shoot and kill people when the opportunity arose. Doctor Patricia Haensly believes that the DNA of John Lee Malvo differed from most peoples DNA. She came to the conclusion that most criminals are born with the genes that allow them to not think about the actions that they are coming are immoral. This is a very true statement because most people commit some type of crime, granted not murder but more along the lines of littering, but we tell ourselves that its not a problem and forget about it moments later. Murderers may feel the same way about killing as some people feel about littering. Nature also has a strong impact on domestic violence. In the United States over 18% of all homicides involved family members killing each other (Steen 228). This can lead to the deduction that just as the households which have one gay member are more likely to have other homosexually oriented family m embers; households which have one member who commits violent acts are more likely to have other family members who commit similar acts of violence. Sometimes nature cannot explain all the crimes committed in the United States. Some may feel that simply living in such an environment places young people at special risk of falling victim to aggressive behavior (Ferguson 81). For example, if a person is constantly surrounded by crimes and violence, then that person is more likely to commit the same crimes. However it may just be that people who live in bad areas would still commit those same crimes even if they resided in a low crime environment. Never-the-less your environment should not allow youre to commit the same crimes no matter how much crime is going on. If a person keeps committing crimes in a bad neighborhood then it is most likely that the DNA of that person convinces them that it is all right to commit murders. This explains why many people in jails in the United States are repeat offenders. One may begin to wonder if there is more to these criminals than what is on the surface Many mental disorders have been scientifically proven to be heritable. Manic-depression is a trait which is inheritable through family lineage. Many separate studies have arrived at the conclusion that identical twins are more likely to acquire manic-depression than do fraternal twins. In fact four out of every five twins tend to share the same types of mental disorders (Steen 141). One study found that risks of clinical depression are much higher in certain families than in others. Close relatives of those who are depressed are three times more likely to suffer from depression than people who dont have depression in their family history (Steen 147). This further secures the fact that nature plays such a crucial role over nurture in our lives and within our own families. There are some mental diseases such as  schizophrenia  which adults may suffer from which some people believed is cause from various problems in a persons childhood. This leads many so speculate that the roots of schizophrenia extend far back into childhood. Within the past ten years a discovery was made which scientists were able to link a gene on our chromosome to schizophrenia. This schizophrenic gene would be a dominant gene which means that if any person had this gene in their DNA then it is likely that he/she would suffer from schizophrenia. Even though more research needs to be done on the schizophrenic gene, it still provides us information which could one day lead to the solving of schizophrenia and many other devastating diseases (Steen 151). It has become clear that nature and nurture both play very important roles in how humans behave in a society. I feel that nature plays the more domineering role in the foundation of human existence. All though every day we are bombarded with outside forces, it is our internal make up that determines how we would react to our environment. Our environment only adds to what nature has given to us. If we use it in the correct ways then it will be beneficial to society and our selves. However, once the environment starts to turn to the ways of violence and crimes we can only assume that it will only have negative effects from any point you look at it.

Boone and Yost :: essays research papers

1) Boone and Yost were supportive by establishing good relations with subordinates. They used the participative style where they allow the team to participate in decisions, both coaches were achievements-oriented where they sets challenging goals and seeks improvements in performance. Boone and Yost inspired the team to find solutions to the problems they are facing, because finding solutions is a motivating force for the team. They used these different styles each time they were facing a problem in the team to bring back the team together and let them focus on the relationship. 2) â€Å"Attitude reflects leadership, captain†. That shows that Julius is satisfied by the way his captain is thinking. Managerial leadership has influenced organizational activities in many ways. These influences include motivating subordinates, budgeting scarce resources, and serving as a source of communication. We are referring to the LPC contingency theory. "The first and perhaps most popular, situational theory to be advanced was the ‘Contingency Theory of Leadership Effectiveness' developed by Fred E. Fiedler" (Bedeian, Glueck 504). This theory explains that group performance is a result of interaction. (Online reviews) At the beginning, Practices get off to disastrous start, with white players accusing blacks of not playing up to their potential, and blacks accusing white players of failing. According to that, Coach Boone orders black and white youths to spend time together, interviewing one another. The captain’s attitude towards a team is very essential. It leads the players to reach their victory. 3) Coach Boone is devoid of warmth and humor. Coach Boone inspires the team to follow his mission. He has the experience and ability to work and motivate the team. He has always supported his team by encouraging them at all time in order to perform well and to head towards the victory. He tried to create equal opportunities between the players in order to maintain a team where everyone is respected. Boone shows to be as tough as any coach comes, and it's this characteristic that helps bring the blacks and the whites together on the team. Coach Boone was helpful in solving problems that occurred in his team. For example, he wanted the white and black players to communicate between one another. He was ecologically sensitive, a leader who knows the obstacles that are or will face the team. His vision focused on the team and its members at all times. Regardless that he is tough, his way of dealing with the players, gave them more confidence to themselves.

New technologies dismiss social relationships Essay examples -- Tech

In this fast-changing world, new technologies have become essential in societies and have an impact on everyone’s life. This process of â€Å"technologization† has grown exponentially since the nineties and the beginning of the Internet, which has significantly decreased boundaries of communication. Some expert agreed that new technologies would make communication and exchange easier, and thus give an incentive to communicate with other people. However, those change have caused communication to change and people have totally change their way to communicate. Ever since people have become increasingly dependent on those technologies because they only see their advantages and convenience for everyday life. New technologies dismiss social relations; due to the way people use them. This paper will argue that an excessive use of new technologies can damage people’s social interactions, which in term might cause numerous social issues. To support this argument, three reasons will be approached: the first part will explain how new technologies make people more selfish and individual by explaining online communication issues; second, people rely so much on new technologies that there has been an increase in technological addiction which turn people into technological aliens. To finish, advanced technologies change people’s behavior in their everyday life; here, the fact that virtual life comes over real life will be developing. This research will demonstrate how new technologies dismiss social relationships by comparing and analyzing different academic sources. In order to proceed, the word communication needs to be defined. According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, communication is the process by which people exchange... ...umà ©riques, Des Enfants Mutants ??" Sciences Humaines [France] Oct. 2013: 35-37. Print. Kelion, Leo. "Hannah Smith Death: Father Says Daughter Was Victim of Cyberbullies." BBC News. BBC, 08 June 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Kudler, Amanda. "Video Games Timeline." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2007. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Netburn, Deborah. "The Business and Culture of Our Digital Lives." N.p., July 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Soong, Jennifer. "When Technology Addiction Takes Over Your Life." WebMD. WebMD, June 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Tong, Krystel. "Social Networking Leads to Social Isolation." Prezi.com. Prezi.com, Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Turkle, Sherry. "Sherry Turkle: Connected, but Alone?" TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. Young, Kimberley. "Gà ©nà ©rations Numà ©riques, Des Enfants Mutants ?" Science Humaines [France] Oct. 2013: 52-55. Print.

Globalization of business operations and industries Essay

Globalization of business operations and industries has created a new challenge for organization penetrating in international markets. Several factors require management when firms focus on diversifying its product/service offering in international markets. Especially limiting the viewpoint to human resource requires managing the workplace diversity, employee selection mechanism, cultural differences, and managing the intercultural communication requires assessing the capabilities of organization to address these issues. International market business operations present the companies with acquiring new set of skills and transformation in human resource policy in order to perform the services with flexibility that doest not hinder in goals achievement. Workplace diversity management is the essential and important issue that needs to be address by an organization entering in international markets. Since diverse workforce consist of people belonging to different culture, races, having different ethnic background, a different way of learning; thus providing different ideas merging in organization. This enables organization to utilize and focus on enlarge business challenges in different business markets. Strategic HRM policy structure gives flexibility to organization for changing its focused principle in consideration of market needs; such as cultural dimensional factors identified by Hofstede on various dimensions helps identify the factors to be addressed by organization based on the market needs. Cultural differences have strong implications for organization expanding in international markets. Therefore, organization needs to give autonomy and flexibility to employees that will serve organizational purposes in international markets by leveraging the HRM policies. This can be done by regulating the rewards and compensation package structure for employees who will need to be relocating in different workplace locations due to their skills required to penetrate and serve in international markets. In relation to managing cultural differences, organization must define a comprehensive and decentralized decision making structure through defining the hierarchy management channel in its policy for international markets. Since few activities of firm remain limited in centralized location, so in order to comprehend the objective proper decision making style will enable accuracy and timeliness of activities. Decentralization of decision making structure will reduce the possible delay in decision making due to multi-level hierarchy structure of an organization and will also result in better assessment of any situation due to diverse workforce. Communication between departments and stakeholders is highly significant when concerning the international operations of an organization. Effectiveness of organizational culture for performing international operations is based on the communication style related to information processing, decision convey ability, surpassing the imperative information related to business decision making, and matters related to managing intercultural communication barrier. Ambiguous and unstructured problems require managing the barriers to improve the interdepartmental sharing of information for goals accomplishment. This issue can be addressed by initiating equal employment opportunity program for international business which would limit the selective culture growth of organization and encourage workplace diverse. Frame of reference affects the cross-cultural communication due to selective visionary capabilities of employees to foresee the potential growth possibilities. Therefore organization must initiate a formalized recruitment program focusing on viewing various individual dimensions in its SHRM policy structure to normalize the responses towards reducing frame of reference. Stereotypical response by employees increases the biasness that affects the communication at international level increasing the chances of intergroup conflict affecting the effective goals accomplishment of organization. In association to this, chances of misunderstanding increases when firm do not address discrimination issue in its HRM policy to manage international operations functionality. Impartiality of decisions thus contributes towards progressive growth pertaining to employee contribution. At international level, cognitive dissonance is also a big challenge for firms to manage as ambiguity in information sharing leads towards strong misunderstanding among departments which may be depicted in actions leading towards wrong objectives setting. Company must address the corporate culture issue and coordination mechanism in its HRM policy to reduce the impact of cognitive dissonance on organizational goals accomplishment. Sony Corporation has developed a communication structure identified in its HRM policy to increase the effectiveness of communication among its employees in regional offices and production sites located in China. Employees are given combined training sessions, and encouraged to participate in workshops which increases the communication among employees belonging to different cultures and understand their potential issues that may arise due to operations in international markets. Human resource ethical issue also has implication for firms either they operate locally or in international markets. Employee privacy, job safety, health standard, workplace environment and condition, legislation for employees’ rights protection are essential duties for senior management to address in strategic HR policy. This although may create certain challenges to address by management but provide job satisfaction to employees; policies amendment concerning addressing the ethical issues differ of country basis due to differing working demand and obligations by country law. However, an organization can standardize the procedure and policies giving protection to employees as its ethical responsibility. SHRM policy can emphasize on employee welfare concept that aimed at addressing the factors leading to increased employee living standard; consequently, employee involvement in work increases and firm’s penetration power in international markets also strengthen due to direct participation of employees in organizational objectives achievement.