Donne’s Poem Death Be Not Proud :: Death Be Not Proud Essays

Donne’s Poem Death Be Not Proud In the poem "Death Be Not Proud," written by John Donne death is personified. The personification of death creates a feeling that death is less powerful than we think. Donne creates and image of death that is not mysterious, not in control, and a slave of low status. He does this by undermining the idea of death as bound to the rules of "fate, chance, kings, and desperate men." He insists that death is no more powerful than any mortal is. Suggesting that death is not mysterious is the word slave. Directed to death, "thou art slave" forms an unthreatening stance of death because slaves are not threatening. This is due to the connections that go with the word slave. A slave is bound in submission to a master therefore having no say in what he or she can do. Death, in being personified into a slave that has many masters, is more extremely bound. This lack of freedom that death has in choosing its victims takes away any reason to be fearful of it. Power comes from being able to control something. Here death is the one being controlled by other outside forces that have power over how and when death can do its work. Death casts fear into mortals because it is unknown as to what happens in the afterworld. This poem creates a sense that we know who death is. For example we can see how death is a poor beggar on the street. This would make death a non-threatening person. He is a low class citizen that is just waiting for an opportunity to feast when his master allows. Donne produces this low-life death figure by associating him with "poison, war, and sickness." These are all things that less fortunate mortals deal with on a daily basis. These are dreadful things that are not good. Death personified is subject to these horrible circumstances therefore is very low in stature. If death can only reap his vengeance with such low standards governing him, then death is as low as what he works for. Death becomes less mysterious and something which we are not afraid of.

Internet Taxation and the Expansion of E-Commerce Essay example -- Tax

Internet Taxation and the Expansion of E-Commerce Internet taxation is an issue concerning different aspects of the Internet and its taxing. The taxes include: (1) taxes imposed upon Internet access fees, (2) sales taxes charged to online businesses selling to other businesses, and (3) sales taxes charged to consumers buying from a business. This is a very important issue as Internet sales continue to increase and as more business is conducted over the Internet. Because of this, revenue is not being pumped into state and local economies as much for lack of purchasing at local stores, and economies’ revenues are suffering as a result. Taxes could be imposed on Internet purchases, but this would in turn affect those businesses who conduct their business online, either business-to-business or business-to-consumer, and those consumers who shop online. Internet Taxation: What it is and Why it is Important As already stated, Internet taxation is the imposition of taxes on Internet access fees and taxes that could be added to goods, services, properties, and information purchased over the Internet. In 1998, Congress passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act which established an Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce. This Commission was set up to study federal, state and local, and international taxation and tariff issues concerning purchases over the Internet, and everything else along with electronic commerce. Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is â€Å"any transaction conducted over the Internet or through Internet access, comprising the sale, lease, license, offer, or delivery of property, goods, services, or information, whether or not for consideration, and includes the provision of Internet access.† (The Internet Tax... ...mmission on Electronic Commerce, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.ecommercecommission.org/ITFA.htm Lassman, Kent 2001, The Internet Tax Freedom Act: Congress Could Put an End to Tax Confusion, The Federalist Society, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.fed-soc.org/Publications/practicegroupnewsletters/telecommunications/tc020102.htm Maguire, Steven Dec. 12, 2000, RL30431: Internet Transactions and the Sales Tax, Congress, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/ Science/st-65.cfm?&CFID=19433234&CFTOKEN=43272686#_1_3 Nellen, Annette Sept. 26, 2001, Overview to E-Commerce Taxation Issues, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/ facstaff/nellen_a/ECTaxUpdate9-01.doc Taxes-Background on Internet Taxation, January 2001, Association of American Universities, Mar. 8, 2005, http://www.aau.edu/sheets/InternetTax.html

Kant and Categorical Imperatives Essay

In order to evaluate one’s actions whether they are moral or not, we use many moral dilemmas. One of them is Kant’s categorical imperative. This essay presents Kant’s project of categorical imperative. Then, I will explain that rulers should appeal to Kant’s categorical imperative when making foreign policy decision. In order to support my point of view, I will give importance to the reasons of why rulers appeal to categorical imperative when making foreign policy, so I have two reasons for this. One of them is that states depend on each other in economically and politically. Thus, in order to provide this stability which means that continue to stay among other states, states should act through the principles of categorical imperative which are universally valid, good intention and never using people or other states as means to end. The second reason is that if rulers appeal to categorical imperative when making foreign policy decisions, the world can be more peaceful. Since, wars and conflicts which are caused by bad intention, using other people or states as means for gaining advantages which are not universally valid can be hindered by categorical imperatives. Finally, I will conclude that the Kant’s categorical imperatives are still valid and necessary when rulers are making foreign policy decisions. If we explain briefly Kant’s categorical imperative, there are basically three principles that represent it. These are universal law, ends as a means and the importance of intention in conducting of human behaviour. Firstly, according to Kant, one’s action should be universally valid. Universal validity means that people should think behaviours and they need to judge their own behaviours or actions are morally acceptable or not. When you think of your behaviour, if you decide that everyone acts in the same way with me, then the action become universal and moral. The second principle of categorical imperative is that people must respect others and never use them for achieving some goals. Lastly, the third but the most important criterion of categorical imperative is maxim, which means intention. Moral value is determined by the intention of people, which is called general maxim. If your intention is good, then your action is moral. The consequences of your action are not important, the most important thing is your intention. For this reason, being moral in your actions depends on the universal validity. However, it does not matter that how your actions conclude on others whether they are good or bad. In order to explain the first reason of why rulers should appeal to categorical imperative when making foreign policy decisions, we can think about the growing trade between the states. States become more interdependent when trades among various states expand. Interdependence is not only important economically but also politically because all economic or business activity depends on political positions of the states. When states trade between each other, they become mutually dependent on each other’s political advantages. Also, world markets are influenced by politics and state’s power in the world markets depends on its foreign policy. So, states should establish good relations with other states. For this reason, when making foreign policy decisions, ruler should appeal to categorical imperative. Firstly, rulers’ actions must be universally valid. If state’s foreign decisions are internally valid, then state cannot benefit from this politically and economically. For example, if the state decide to change the price of its export goods up without approval of other states, then states could not sell its goods whose price increase, because other states want to buy the same goods from another country whose price is cheaper. Second point is that if state’s intention is bad and this kind of intention is understood by other states, this state is reproached by other states, which have a relation with this state. As a result of this, the state that is reproached becomes alone in the world market and world policy without any advantage both politically and economically. Because of that, states should have a good intention when they have relations with other states. The second reason is that principles of categorical imperative can provide peace and order if rulers appeal to them when making foreign policy decisions. Since, states start to think universally while acting toward other states instead of being self-interested. Moreover, acting with good intentions and not using people or other states as means provide justice and order in the world. Since, each state wants to be powerful and they try to get more power than other states. It means that in order to reach their aims, they simply can use other foreign policy actors as tools. In other words, they can use other states as a means to their ends. As a result of this kind of action, war between states is inevitable. It is because when one state can act in that way toward others then, other states also act in similar way. For this reason, their interests can be probably conflicted and chaos in world politics can arise. However, if states take into account the principles of categorical imperative, there will be probably no conflict or chaos in the world politics. In conclusion, when the principles of categorical imperative are concerned, we easily realise that they depend on each other and they help us to evaluate the actions, which are moral. These principles of categorical imperative have the same goal that is being moral. For to be moral, the actions should be universal and should not have the aim of using others in order to gain advantages. If rulers conduct through the principles of categorical imperative then, it is obvious that the world would be more peaceful and fair. However, these obligations are not put into practise in today’s world politics. But, it is enough to know that categorical imperative is still valid and is necessary to apply to today’s conditions of foreign policy.

Ambitions

Bamboo is about a system of corruption and oppression brought about by the triangle of power that we are now living In. In the Philippines, the effects of this â€Å"triangle† can be vividly seen throughout the country; murders, stolen funds, mistaken identities and poverty-stricken people because of corruption.The song gives a clearer sound to what the country Is crying for and why the people of this country are suffering and being punished with Injustice every day. People are blinded with the notion that racism Is the enemy and color and birthplace Is the enter for Injustice but we are gravely mistaken because as long as there Is poverty to be seen, and Justice to be given only to the rich and powerful, nothing good will come to our country and to our people.I am growing up In a country with officials that are like wolves where they stalk on the easiest prey at the blink of an eye, it would surprise me if one of them would do something out of pure charity, â€Å"being truly generous† is starting to be extinct, with the way our system is progressing. The true nature of this â€Å"triangle† is that it all favors to who is on top and respectively, it all saviors to who is at the bottom and because of this; we are continually being pulled down by our own wrongdoings.A country that lives with two faces, a face which does everything to help the people, and a face that works in the dark to pull strings in self- favor. I have seen how this triangle works and I can personally say that as time passes, the gap between the top and bottom is starting to distance further, which can mean only one thing; the prosperity of the people and the economy is determined by the battle between the two faces of a nation that thrive in a triangle of power.

Plato and Justice with Today’s Perception Essay

Plato’s Justice for individuals and states, and the rule of law. In the Republic, Plato posits that justice is preferable to injustice. Thrasymachus claims that injustice without recourse or consequence is the most rewarding experience. Glaucon adds the analogy of the ring of Gyges, and Adeimantus describes how appearance is often more important than reality. Plato is then faced with the rebuttal of their arguments. To illuminate his logic, he utilizes several interrelated geometrical models that tie the virtue of the soul and the functions of individuals, classes, and states together. Through these models he illustrates the organic conservative argument whereby the individual is the microcosm of the soul, and the state is a macrocosm of the soul. Plato asserts that if justice is good for the state, and the individual is analogous to the state, then justice is good for the individual. Given that justice on the state level was a widely accepted concept in Athens, it was more efficient for Plato to utilize this particular syllogism to prove his point to Thrasymachus. Plato ?s argument is only valid if he can prove that justice is good for the society or state, and that the organic conservative argument is true. In type The Philosopher Kings hold the highest virtue in wisdom. To become wise they must gain knowledge of the ultimate good through the Forms. The Forms are objects of knowledge, which sit atop a geometric progression which must be traversed in a linear fashion. The first level of knowledge contains images, shadows, pictures, desires, and emotions. Belief exists in the visible realm, where perception of objects provides the basis for belief. Contemplation of simple mathematical Forms yields linear reasoning. The final stage is the comprehension of the Forms and the capacity within human nature to comprehend the true nature of reality. Here the philosopher kings become aquianted with the concepts of equality, beauty, truth, and the Form of the ultimate good. These rulers must apply their knowledge in best method of governing possible. In particular, they must promote utmost efficiency of every participating individual in the state, as well as maintaining justice. Plato best describes his argument here: As in a well-organized state, the justice of an individual human being emerges only from the interrelationship among its separate components (Republic 443d). The application of Plato?  ¦s model of government in the early Middle Ages was certainly lacking, The working of the separate components of the Christian state was far from fluid. The divine line of rulers rarely had any knowledge of the Form of the Good like Plato is philosopher kings. Knowledge of the Form of the Good is essential to the application of Plato’s republic. Thus the logical progression towards a rule of law method only leaves one asking why it took so long to make that change. Certainly the kings and the papacy were aware of the inflexibility of a Romanesque and Platonic rule of law, but this was still a vast improvement over the biases and inefficiencies of the early statesman like kings. I would argue that a tyrannical model of government offers the best true description of what was practiced by early Christian medieval governments in Europe. In early medieval politics, the republic method of rule by statesman was the preferred Form of governance. The royal families constituted the effectual guardian class. The power to rule was based on a perceived line of divinity, which often received validation from the Catholic Church and the Papacy. Pagan undertones and social structures in Germanic communities also contributed to an environment of superstition and strict adherence to the ideal of Christianity, particularly the divine lineage and rights to rule. This is evidenced in the reluctance in medieval times to look for a king outside of the divine line even when the line offered no suitable rule It has been objected that hypothetical agreements cannot bind people; only actual contracts or agreements can impose obligations and commitments (Dworkin, 1977, 150ff). In response, Rawls says that the OP is to be used â€Å"to help us work out what we now think† (CP, 402); â€Å"it incorporates conditions†¦we do in fact accept,† (TJ 587/514) and is a kind of â€Å"thought experiment. for the purpose of public- and self-clarification† (JF, 17). Hypothetical agreement in the original position does not then bind anyone to duties or commitments he/she does not already have. Its point rather is to explicate the requirements of moral concepts of justice and enable us to draw the consequences of considered certain moral convictions that we all presumably share. Whether we in turn consciously accept or agree to these consequences and the principles and duties they implicate once brought to our awareness is irrelevant to their justification. For surely it can matter little to the justification of moral principles whether or not existing people actually do accept or agree to them. The point rather of conjecturing the outcome of a hypothetical agreement is that, assuming that the premises underlying the original position correctly represent our most deeply held considered moral convictions, then we are committed to endorsing the resulting principles and duties whether or not we actually accept or agree to them. Not to do so implies a failure to live up to the consequences of our own moral convictions about justice. For example, suppose principles of justice were to impose a duty to practice impartial benevolence among all people, and thus a duty to show no greater concern for the welfare of ourselves and loved ones than we do towards billions of others. This principle demands too much of human nature and would not be feasible—people simply would reject its onerous demands. But Rawls’s stability requirement implies more than just ‘ought implies can. ’ It says that principles of justice and the scheme of social cooperation they describe should evince â€Å"stability for the right reasons† (PL, xliii; CP, 589). Recall here the higher-order interests of the parties in the exercise and development of their capacities for justice. A just society should be able to endure not simply as a modus vivendi, by coercive enforcement of its provisions and its promoting the majority of peoples’ interests. Stability â€Å"for the right reasons† requires that people support society for moral reasons of justice; society’s basic principles must respond to reasonable persons’ capacities for justice and engage their sense of justice. Rawls regards our moral capacities for justice as an integral part of our nature as sociable beings. He believes that one role of a conception of justice is to accommodate human capacities for sociability, the capacities for justice that enable us to be cooperative social beings. So not only should a conception of justice advance human interests, but it should also answer to our moral psychology by enabling us to knowingly and willingly exercise our moral capacities and sensibilities, which are among the moral powers to be reasonable. This is one way that Rawls’s conception of justice is â€Å"ideal-based† (CP 400-401 n. ): it is based in an ideal of human beings as free and equal moral persons and an ideal of their social relations as acceptable and justifiable to them (the ideal of a well-ordered society). This relates to the second ground for the stability condition, which can only be mentioned here: it is that principles of justice should be compatible with, and even conducive to, the human good. It speaks strongly in favor of a conception of justice that it is compatible with and promotes the human good. First, if a conception of justice requires of many reasonable people that they give up their pursuit of the particular interests that constitute their conception of the good (as Rawls argues against utilitarianism), this conception could not gain their support and would not be stable over long periods of time. Moreover, assuming that the exercise and development of the moral powers are fundamental interests of citizens, a conception of justice should enable citizens to adequately exercise and fully develop these capacities. It must then engage their sense of justice, and (ideally for Rawls) they should be able to find that acting on and from principles of justice is worth doing for its own sake.. For Rawls, it speaks strongly in favor of a conception of justice if acting for the sake of its principles is experienced by citizens as an activity that is good in itself. For then justice and exercise of the sense of justice are for those persons intrinsic goods and a precondition for their living a good life..

Some say that Canadian History is a history of failure, not Essay

Some say that Canadian History is a history of failure, not accomplishment. Do you agree with this opinion - Essay Example Again he asserts that Canada pretends to be a neat culturally woven nation forgetting that it had in its core a tattooed racism stimulus. Racism has been in the Canadian culture for generations. It is imperative that history is created by both real memories as well as carving a literature of incidences to make it liveable. In this light this argument, it can be inferred that the History of Canada is not all about truths (Francis, 1997). Thesis "Having no independence day, no history of independence war and having symbols that are fictitiously declared as national symbols; Canada has more geography to it, compared to its history" I ARGUMENT : There is no history of Canada engaging in a self-liberating war of its own; something that would anchor well as a founding historical perspective. 1. PROOF: Canada never fought for its independence like most countries that tended to dislodge their colonial rulers. EXPLAIN It has been put into ink like the Magna Carta. Unlike such countries, Canad a recognized itself as a country upon the declaration of the Balfour Report (1926), which declared it, as an autonomous community within the British Empire. 2. PROOF: During the First World War (1914-1918) the British declared war against Germany; the implications were that the Canadian military was forced to get involved to protect its territory as it was a subservient nation of the British. EXPLAIN Upon declaration of war against Germany, a rift was developed between the French speaking and English speaking citizens. The war was fought conspicuously by the Canadian Forces with a support from Canadians of British decent, reiterating that they had to defend their mother country. This was further supported by the quote â€Å"It is our duty to let Great Britain know and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain know that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart and that all Canadians are behind the Mother Country† (Various Publishers, 2011). This led to the battle of th e Vimy Ridge in 1917 where the Canadian Corps sought to fight against Germans. According to John Pierce (2012), although the Canadians had nothing to do with this war; yet the British depicted it as their own war to blind the Canadians of the reality of the nature of this war. CONCLUDING SENTENCE: The history of Canada reveals that no war can be labelled as the war of independence of Canada; although there is history of other wars being fought in the region, none of them qualifies as a war of independence. II: SECOND ARGUMENT: Canada is a country without an independence day. History reveals no single moment at which Canada gained its sovereignty. 1. PROOF: The name of the founder of the country is missing. EXPLAIN/ELABORATE/DESCRIBE: Canada has no founders to be celebrated; even the Quebec has its own day when it celebrates the national day (Thompson, 2013). It is therefore evident that there is no national-day or event that indicates the independence of Canada and in the same spiri t no achievement to celebrate (Hart, 2008). 2. PROOF: Canada amended its constitution in 1982 EXPLAIN/ELABORATE/DESCRIBE: Perhaps independence resulted when Canada eventually amended it constitution in the year 1982. Embassies were thereafter established and the Country virtually came into existence as a result of this report. It is also an argument that maturity was probably attained when Canada felt the loss of their young soldiers during the World war. The

Current issues in disabilities studies Activity1 Essay

Current issues in disabilities studies Activity1 - Essay Example Individuals are then able to give and receive the good things in life and live a more valuable personal lifestyle because of the government establishing a clear social role. The authors of this argue were attempting to define and analyze the effectiveness of a new inclusionary program at the University of Manchester for individuals with learning disabilities or deficiencies in a higher learning environment. Through the course of observations and analyzing partnerships of individuals with and without learning disabilities, the authors were able to successfully argue that these individuals should be included in the learning and teaching environments because they provide an alternative learning and teaching style to the classroom environment (Boxall, Carson & Docherty, 2004). Many students without learning disabilities are able to value their learning skills more when they are paired with students that have struggles. A teacher will be forced to accommodate the curriculum of the course sessions for both types of students, but the quality of learning will probably increase over time. The author of this article defined the existence and prevalence of disability in a social environment. There are many contradictory socio-political views that involve medicine, economics and political theory to explain how societies define disability. This defining process that is used within societies suggests how the society views disabilities and the ability for a society to be accepting or non-accepting towards individuals with disabilities (Osburn, 1998). Much of the strength for this article is in the beginning where the author states the striking statistics for the prevalence of disability across England, Europe and worldwide. This is clearly a very crucial topic to be discussed and it is evident that each society must work to develop a clear fundamental definition of disability in order to accept it as a part of society and not to be shunned by