utilitarianism Essays (505 words) - Utilitarianism,

Utilitarianism is a combination of consequentialism and ethical hedonism. It states that an action is good or bad on the basis of its consequences. It also states that the only thing intrinsically good is happiness and the only thing intrinsically bad is unhappiness. Therefore, an action is good if it brings about a net balance of happiness which a rational human being would be satisfied and an action is bad if it brings about a net balance of unhappiness. A utilitarian might approach; for example, the support of euthanasia could come from sever different views. On one hand, pain minimizes happiness and is therefore not good. Euthanasia is a way to terminate pain especially in situations where it is terminal. In this sense euthanasia would be supported because it eliminates unnecessary pain which causes unhappiness. Many use this argument when referring to the idea of a person?s well-being. There are objections made on utilitarianism grounds. One objection is the slippery slope argument. This states that while euthanasia may be good for a terminally ill person, it may have may have for reaching consequences which are bad. Possible consequences could include: a lack of respect for human life and doctors and nurses committing involuntary euthanasia. The idea that people are autonomous and have control over their life and death is another way utilitarian?s support euthanasia. If a person chooses to die and this will lead to happiness than euthanasia is the right action. Utilitarianism requires the maximization of overall happiness maximization refers to the theory of right and indicates that the more happiness is the better. The ?overall? indicates that the total happiness is what is relevant. The effects of an action on the happiness of all people have to be taken into consideration (pg.13). An example of maximum happiness, ?We are looking in the overall happiness, there are three people who decide to go out and their choices were a baseball game, going to the beach and going to a theater to watch a movie. Going to watch the baseball game would interest one and his happiness will be satisfied with his choice but the other two wouldn?t be satisfied. In this case we are looking for maximized happiness for all, and by asking each one of these three people what they would prefer to do, they would not like any of these choices and what they would finally agree on so we get the maximum overall satisfaction for the three. According to John Stuart Mill he developed the theory and the basic principle of utilitarianism which is: actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number. What is unclear is what constitutes ?the greatest good?. For Bentham, it was simply ?the tendency to augment or diminish happiness or pleasure, ?without distinctions to be made between pleasures or persons. All measures are strictly quantitative. For Mill, not all pleasure is equal. He defined ?the good? in terms of well-being

Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj... Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj...

Social Media and Marketing mix Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Media and Marketing mix - Assignment Example Some argue that social media marketing is a replica of the word of mouth marketing since people like the contents and share the information with friends thus increasing visits to the social network site. The change brought about by social media in marketing has seen the success of companies like Netflix whose presence is not only felt in the UK but also worldwide. For business entities to consider social media as an effective marketing tool, they must understand what the concept entails. Gordon (2014) suggests that the definition of social media is never complete without reference to Web 2.0 that has been defined as the new way through which people use the World Wide Web as place that continually alters contents to allow sharing in a collaborative way. The Web 2.0 came about or evolved from simple tasks of retrieving information to more complex functions like interoperability, interactivity, and collaboration. By definition, social media a collective term for internet based applications whose basis come from technological and ideological foundations of the Web 2.0 to allow creation as well as exchange user content (Brennan, & Croft, 2012). According to Brennan, & Croft (2012) social media are basically software tools that make it possible to create user specific content which they can share. For a website to meet specifications of a social network, it must have content, user profiles, method for connecting users and posting comments and also provisions for joining virtual groups of common interests like politics, fashion, or religion (Gordon, 2014). Also, there is always confusion between the terms social media and social media networks though the latter allows users to unite through generation of personal or private information profiles where the users can invite their friends to access the profiles (Sashi, 2012). Therefore, a more discreet definition of social media is that; social media is an environment where social networking occurs and

The Nursing profession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Nursing profession - Essay Example The care should not be confined to the physical aliment but also the psychological and spiritual needs. Thus, patient care should have a patient centered approach considering the patients as still active dignified individuals, who can plan, manage and create some meaning out of their end life situation. Understanding of these facts helps in better nursing care. The patients seem to know better (than the past) about health care and they demand more knowledge on their end of life options today. Most of the patients want to discuss their treatment options and have a Right to refuse as per existing laws in UK. Problems pertaining to 'End-of -life' care and care for the aged are on the rise especially when concepts of euthanasia and physician assisted death are trying to find legitimate positions in the society. The present case study is that of an eighty-year-old Mr.X in a care home in London. He is dependant on the staff for most of his daily activities. He has complaints of constant pa in and it has been becoming increasingly difficult to move this man as his bones have become very contracted although he is being made to sit on his chair as often as possible. He is also encouraged to eat with the other residents in the dinning room in spite of his spine becoming so twisted that eating at the table is difficult. Patient X is a Retired School Master, widowed with 7 children all off whom visit him on a regular basis and although he is confused at times his Religion and faith are very important to him and still attends Mass every day in the care home. He has a medical history of Myocardial infarction, chronic heart failure, pacemaker, Paget's disease, depression and Type 2 diabetes. He is a classic example of an aged individual with multiple complications. Any further development in these complications will result in the patient being shifted to Intensive care with the possible outcome of death. Thus, it is an excellent case of a patient where managing patient care is vital rather than just assessment and interventions. The Nurse care for the case study should be based on Roper Logan and Tierney model of nursing (1980) which is a care model based on activities of daily living. Unlike Virginia Henderson (1966) model, which recognizes 14 activities, Roper model recognizes only 12 activities. This includes, maintaining a safe environment, communication, breathing, eating/drinking, elimination, washing/dressing, thermoregulation, mobility, work/play, sexual expressions, sleep and dying. Three problems in nurse care for Mr.X: 1.Chronic pain: Chronic pain of the bones is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience in the patients with Paget's disease and Mr.X has been diagnosed with Paget's disease. Pain management in patients with Paget's disease helps in the improvement of quality of the patient care. Understanding pain needs specific communication skills based on perception. This is true because many of the terminally ill patients may not be able to verbally communicate their pain. Chronic pain is a pain, which lasts for more than six months. Chronic pain is further classified based on its etiology as 'non-malignant' and 'malignant pain'. Non - malignant is non-cancer related pain and malignant pain is cancer related. Chronic pain depresses, debilates and affects the quality of life (Cole, 2002) .A study by Green et.al (2002) on chronic pain management has revealed a need for further educational insights of physicians. A recent study

Coursework 5 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

5 - Coursework Example The fourth proposition establishes that equity-holders are indifferent about the firm’s financial policy (Gitman, 2009). Given a fixed amount of total capital, the allocation of capital between debt and equity is irrelevant because the weighted average of the two costs of capital to the firm is the same for all possible combinations of the two. In the context of the modern theory of finance, it represents one of the first formal uses of a no arbitrage argument though the â€Å"law of one price† is longstanding. It structured the debate on why irrelevance fails around the Theorem’s assumptions: by neutral taxes; by no capital market frictions (i.e., no transaction costs, asset trade restrictions or bankruptcy costs); by symmetric access to credit markets (i.e., firms and investors can borrow or lend at the same rate); and by the firm financial policy reveals no information (Eiteman, 2007). Discuss the different ways in which a corporation can distribute cash to it s shareholders. Dividends and stock repurchases are the two major ways that corporations can distribute cash to their shareholders.

Types of Infant Temperament

Types of Infant Temperament 1.0 Introduction Temperament refers to a person’s characteristic modes of emotional and behavioral responding to environmental events. It is biologically based on heredity, neural and hormonal and it can affect our response to the environment. It’s also influenced over time by heredity from parents and experience. There are 3 types of temperament which is easy-going temperament, slow to warm up temperament and difficult temperament. Easy-going temperament babies are calm and relaxed; they are also seen as friendly and smiling happily. Slow to warm up temperament babies are shy and they take time to try new things as they do not like new situations. Difficult temperament babies are very emotional and get upset easily, they are unable to adapt to new environment and people. The 6 dimensions of individual differences in infant temperament as well as the influences of temperament are further discussed below. 2.0 Main body 2.1 Six Dimensions Basically there are 6 different types of traits for infant temperament including fearful distress, irritable distress, positive effect, activity level, attention span and rhythmicity. 2.1.1 Fearful Distress Fearful distress also means fearfulness and it refers to how they response when feel fear. The characteristic of fearful distress is wariness, distress and withdrawal in new situation. The positive example for babies is they won’t cry frequently when they feel scare but if is negative babies they will cry whenever they feel scare such as crying when parents leaving, when stranger get close to them or crying when receiving an injection. By the way, for positive thinking adult who are facing fearful distress they will try to overcome fearfulness and think it in positive way. Negative thinking adult who are facing fearful distress usually cannot sleep well at night because they always worrying. Some will get nervous, stomachache and get sweaty hands when facing fearful distress. 2.1.2 Irritable Distress Irritable distress also means anger. The characteristic of irritable distress is fussiness, crying and showing distress when they can’t get what they want. The positive irritable distress babies will not cry easily although they are angry but the negative irritable distress babies will cry and become fussiness when they can’t get what they want. The irritable distress for positive adult will keep calm, relax but negative irritable distress adult will easily get angry and become very impulse when something happened. 2.1.3 Positive Affect Positive affect refers to frequency of smiling, laughing, willingness to approach other and to cooperate with them. Example for positive affect of positive baby is they will smile to others and waving their hands, opposite that the babies will cry when strangers appear next to them. The example for adult is they went to a training camp happily to meet new friends and have fun together. Negative adults do not like any new activities and they are likely to avoid themselves from meeting new people. 2.1.4 Activity Level Activity Level is the amount of gross motor activity which by simple saying is how much an infant moves. For the example of high activity level baby is a baby kicking and moving often when changing their diapers and when they are sleeping. For low activity level baby is a baby does not moving when sleeping. The example for high activity level adult is they likes outdoors activities such as football, playing badminton or others sport games. For the low activity level adult is they like quiet environment, they will like indoor activities which is like reading, playing chess and drawing. 2.1.5 Attention Span Attention span simply means that how long a child spending time focuses on objects or events that they are interested to. The example for the baby of have short attention span is crying in a short period after their parents carry them or sometimes they just realize that keep crying is not the way and stop crying immediately but if is long attention span baby is they can crying lout and keep crying when they want parents to carry them although their parents is carrying. The example for short attention span adult is they cannot sit in the long time. They often get up while they are doing something and them easily to give up. For the long attention span adult they do things very carefully and can sit in a long time. 2.1.6 Rhythmicity Rhythmicity means that the regularity of bodily functions. Positive example for the rhythmicity baby is their eating and bowel movement time are regular, they will ask for food every few hours. Negative example is they will wake up easily and their bowel movement is different from every time. For positive rhythmicity adult, they go to sleep the same time on every night. Negative rhythmicity adult is they laying down on the bed but fall asleep in different time. 2.2 Influences on Temperament There are several kinds of influence on temperament which can be divided into two different stages; before and after preschool period. Before preschool usually just influence by their parents as their temperament are passed down to their children naturally while after preschool bring in more influences such as environment the children are in such as their surroundings, friends or people they meet. 2.2.1 Before Preschool Before preschool period, the main influence of temperament is the Hereditary Influence which by simply saying is the temperament passed down from the parents to their children genetically. Usually if the children are identical twins, there is a higher chance both of them having the same attitude and temperament. As for fraternal twins, the chances of having same personality and attitude are lower compared to identical twins. For normal siblings, they usually have different temperament and attitude from each other. If the parents have long attention span and high activity level then their kids will most likely to behave same likes the parents. Children’s IQ and EQ is actually all based on their parents as those are genetically passed down to them. 2.2.2 After Preschool After the children are 3 years old, parents usually send their children to attend preschool class offered by kindergarten. As children start to attend classes from kindergarten they start to meet other children and teachers. After preschool period, there are some other influences on temperament instead of just hereditary influence which is environment influence. Children start to concern about their surroundings especially other children and their teachers; they like to have fun together with the children they like. As a result, they will start to learn their attitude and temperament in order to become friends with them. If the friend is a bully then they also will learn from them becoming a bully because they want to hang out with their friend. Children also will learn their teacher’s attitude and temperament as they like the teacher to teach them and they respect older people so if their teacher themselves show their bad attitude in front of the children, they will also beha ving like the teacher because the person they respect also behaving like that. Conclusion In conclusion, temperament is a person’s characteristic modes of emotional and behavioral responding to environmental events. The 3 types of temperament which is easy-going temperament, slow to warm up temperament and difficult temperament along with the 2 main influences on it which is hereditary influences and environmental influences are discussed. The 6 dimensions of infant temperament which is fearful distress, irritable distress, positive distress, activity level, attention span and rhythmicity are also discussed. I take time to try new things and staying in new environment so I think that slow to warm up is my type of temperament. I wish to change myself to become an easy-going temperament person. Through this assignment I learned the 6 dimensions and the 3 types of temperament, through this information I also learned that how hereditary and environment can influence a children’s temperament.

The Brains of Violent Males Essay -- Compare Contrast Suicide Homicide

The Brains of Violent Males "It becomes increasingly evident that some of the destruction which curses the earth is self-destruction; the extraordinary propensity of the human being to join hands with external forces in an attack upon his own existence is one of the most remarkable of biological phenomena." -Karl Menninger (1). Violence is everywhere in our society- in movies, television programs, video games, and professional sports such as boxing and wrestling. In 2000, 28,663 deaths were related to firearms. 58% were reported as suicides and 39% were reported as homicides (2). The objective of this paper is to qualitatively evaluate and compare the brains of male murderers and male suicide victims. Even though more females attempt suicide, males are used for comparison because males are four times more likely to die from a suicide attempt (3). Male suicidal individuals have a higher success rate because they are more likely to kill themselves in a violent manner (i.e. using a gun). At first glance, most people would argue that homicide and suicide are opposite behaviors, yet the relationship may not be that straightforward. If it is assumed that the brain dictates behavior and that suicide and homicide are independent behaviors, one would expect that researchers would find differences between the brains of suicide victims and murderers. At the other extreme, suicide and homicide can be considered similar behaviors because in both cases an individual engages in killing someone, the only thing that differs is where the killing impulse is directed. Homicide is directed towards the external world, whereas suicide is aggression turned inward. When the cause of unhappiness can be attributed to an external s... ...robiology of suicide. http://www.afsp.org/research/articles/Mann/mann1.htm 8) Decision-making processes following damage to the prefrontal cortex, Article from Brain (2002). http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/125/3/624.pdf 9) "What's different about a Killer's Brain?" Whitley Strieber's web page http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2085 10) Why? The neuroscience of suicide: Physical clues to suicide , Scientific American article. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D8D31-6937-1E1B-8B3B809EC588EEDF 11) Paxil & murder/ suicide. A story about how the maker of Paxil held liable in murder/suicide. http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/media/ssri/Paxil_murder.htm 12) The mind of a killer. ABC news web page which contains pictures of normal brain and a murderer's brain http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/killer_brain021023.html