Rawls's Theory of Distributive Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rawls's Theory of Distributive Justice - Essay Example Rawls’s theory has an historical root from social contract tradition that is associated with Thomas John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Traditional social contract theory addresses a state of nature that describes the content of a social contract which is an agreement to enter civil society. Distributive justice deals with the questions of distribution of liberties, wealth, and income (Rawls, 2003) According to Rawls there are two principles that are supposed to govern the basic makeup of a just society are the parties to the original position: an imaginary circumstance which specially constructed by a rational individual. The principles are (a) the principle of equal liberty and social justice where each individual has equal claim to adequate basic rights and liberties. In this system there are equal political liberties with guaranteed fair share. (b) The difference principle: there are social and economic inequalities that are attached to positions which are open to all un der conditions of equal opportunity, and they are to benefit even the least advantaged member in the society (Rawls, 2003). According to this principle, an inequality can benefit the person who gets the smaller share. Inequalities can form incentives which increase the size to shared, so that the smaller piece may be larger in absolute terms. The difference principle deals with strict equality under circumstances where differences in income and other rewards do not affect the incentives of an individual. On the other hand, in the real world currently, greater rewards bring forth greater productive effort, thus increasing the total wealth of the economy and therefore the wealth of the least advantaged (Rawls, 2003). Rawls argues that if the skilled and motivated increase their rewards then the poor will benefit than they would have been through equal allocation of income. He also realizes that redistribution cannot go as far as his moral preference for equality without making everyon e worse off. He argues for inheritance taxes because unregulated transfer of wealth through generation would end up in the accumulation of wealth in given section of society. According to Rawls, individuals who are not lucky enough to have wealthy parents do not have worse starting points than those who were so fortunate. He contends that society should tax the wealthy with the undeserved inherited gain of children of rich persons (Gerald, 1999). According to Rawls such a system of justice will limit the unfair resources and encourage the redistribution which will favor the disadvantaged. For Rawls it is unfair to leave the disadvantaged in no better position than before, even if the inequality does not harm them. In this way he emphasized the distribution type of justice which favored equal distribution of basic commodities like income and wealth. Practically, it implies that in difference principle, the society must distribute wealth up to the extent that the wealth of the most di sadvantaged is improved. In essence the society must tax and reallocate wealth of wealthy individual to the point where their incentive to generate more just fade away. Rawls describes his theory as political because it does not depend on assumptions that are usually unclear to rational citizens in a pluralistic society. He argues that justice require equality as it complies where everyone has fair equal rights and liberties. To Rawls disagreements are resolved on the basis of prior agreement

Philosophy of Man Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Man Essay

British Colonialism and its Linguistic Consequences

British Colonialism and its Linguistic Consequences Background Colonization (and more recently globalization) certainly accounts for the drastic changes in the linguistic landscapes of the world over the centuries. Conceptualized as as the directing control of politics, society and people by foreign states, colonization has imposed to the colonized several harmful challenges. The compulsory necessity of engaging with a language ascribed to oppression, exploitation and slavery stands out, though. Moreover, colonialism, in many territories meant also an imposed mosaic of different ethnic groups and human types that prior to European penetration, had different political, cultural and social structures which were randomly obliged to coexist in that space. Such impositions regarding language and life styles reflected and altered the identity of the colonized people and, according to TÃ ¼rkmen (2003), played an important role essential to colonialism to be successful: Identity is one of the indispensable components of colonialism, if we consider colonialism as a body; identity constitutes its spirit while the economic exploitation is its corporal body. The colonizer coming to the virgin lands with the feeling of colonial desire and obsession to have cheap profit in his heart finds himself ready to defame the inhabitants, regard them as the other. And he starts his policy by deterritorializing and reterritorializing (p.189). In that sense, people were forced to be what they are not. This is evident by the fact that the colonizers used to call the colonies new lands, as if they were virgin lands, uninhabited before their arrival. TÃ ¼rkmen (2003) stresses that the colonizers did not perceive their actions over the colonies as reconstruction because they did not consider the institutions and cultures established in the colonies as valuable. The colonizers also imposed their culture and language as a way to legitimize their power: In the colony what is asymmetrical, rather than merely different proves to be pathological. In order to legitimize their maltreatment, the colonizer tries to project the other not only different but also dangerous, primitive, aggressive, lazy, etc. The aim is making people feel that colonialism is not an unfair perpetration, rather, it is a necessary drive, for, and these people do not deserve these lands by virtue of their notorious traits. Also, the drive, after all, will promote their life standards. This is for their interest. (Robert Young in Colonialism and Desiring machine as cited in TÃ ¼rkmen (2003), p.190) As shown, the colonized is forced to internalize a new identity through the reinforcement of stereotypes by the colonizer, which is easily understandable if one thinks that the colonized finds him/herself in a circumstance they have never experienced before, after having been obliged to abandon all what constitutes his/her world. The colonized then has no option other than emulate the colonizer as a sole model in front of him. However, his attempt is rejected by the colonizer. Motivated by his urge for exploitation, he makes sure to set hard limits to the difference, as to them the difference is what feeds the colonial system, what legitimize and postulates it (TÃ ¼rkmen, 2003). So the colonized loses his former identity but he is also not supported in building a new one. As TÃ ¼rkmen (2003) puts, it, he will neither be like the colonizer nor himself. Thus, he lives in a complete oblivion. All at once, he is casted out from his history, memory and citizenship. Nonetheless, through colonialism identity is not totally lost, but set in the unknown ground temporally placed between prior and after the colonizers came. Identity and language Identity and the cognate terms in other languages have a long history as technical terms in Western philosophy from the ancient Greeks through contemporary analytical philosophy. They have been used to address the perennial philosophical problems of permanence amidst manifest change, and of unity amidst diversity. Wide spread vernacular and social-analytical use of identity and its cognates, however, is of much more recent vintage and more localized provenance. The introduction of identity into social analysis and its initial diffusion into social sciences and public discourse occurred in the United States in the 1960s (with some anticipation in the second half of the 1950s). The most important and best-know trajectory involved the appropriation and popularization of Erik Erikson (who was responsible, among other things, for coining the term identity crisis). But there were other paths of diffusion as well. The notion of identification was pried from its original, specifically psychoanalytic context (where the term had been initially introduced by Freud) and linked to ethnicity on the one hand and to sociological role theory and reference group theory. The term identity proved highly resonant in the 1960s diffusing quickly across disciplinary and national boundaries, establishing itself in the journalistic as well as the academic lexicon, and permeating the language of social and political analysis. (Davis, 2004, p.61) Stuart Hall, one of the well-known scholars specialized on identity, points that identity is dynamic, not stable and is in constant flux: Perhaps instead of thinking as identity as an already accomplished historical fact, which the new cinematic discourses represent, we should think, instead, of identity as a production, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation (ibid 210), (Davis, 2004, p.184). Therefore, cultural identity can be considered as a historically located set of experiences that need to be recovered in order to fulfill the desire to become one nation or one people, hence, happens to the language. As it expresses beyond what its words signifies, language also reveals the way individuals situate themselves in relationship to others, the way they group themselves, the powers they claim for themselves and the powers they stipulate to others (Sterling, xxx). People use language to indicate social allegiances, that is, which groups they are members of and which groups they are not. In addition, they use language to create and maintain role relationships between individuals and between groups in such a manner that the linguistic varieties used by a community form a system that corresponds to the structure of the society. Therefore, a speaker uses language not only to express but to create a representation of him/herself in relation to others with whom s/he is interacting. The issue of respect is an aspect of the broader relationship between power and language. Power is the degree to which one interlocutor is able to control the behavior of the other. S/he then uses the language of intimacy and familiarity as they used it in greetings, communicating about family, and leave-takings. In talking about their jobs and other external acquaintances, they use the colonizers language, which possibly signs distance. Sterling (xxx) also argues that within a society or a culture, speech patterns become tools that speakers manipulate to group themselves and categorize others with whom they are interacting: Because of the relationship between language use and group membership, language can inspire deep group loyalties. It can serve as a symbol of unification on several levels. On the national level, language loyalty can serve an important political function. Many people in the United States are threatened by the use of languages other than English. To speak a language other than English is thought to be un-American. This is because English is promoted as the one and only possible language of a unified and healthy nation. On a local level, language is a symbol of loyalty to a community. (Sterling, xxx, p.xx). For the community as a whole, socialization through language learning creates conformity to social norms and transmits the culture of the community. As s/he learns language, a child learns the social structure of the culture, learning the appropriate linguistic form for each kind of person. This is part of communicative competence. Communicative competence is not only knowing how to speak the specific language(s) used in the speech community but also knowing how to use language appropriately in any given social situation in the community. And the ability to know that is closely related to the identity that one holds. Speech patterns become tools that speakers manipulate to group themselves and categorize others with whom they are interacting and that is only shared with those sharing a certain identity, whether in a community or a culture.

Beloved - Toni Morrison :: essays research papers

Confidence and violence: relationship between women in â€Å"Beloved† The story told in â€Å"Beloved† contains a process of memorialization and change. In this process, the relationship between women is very important. Some relations are dominated by violence and hate, others are full of confidence and love. In those relationships rememory and storytelling are important factors, because the women get to know each other better by telling stories about the past. They get to know much more about each other, through which their relationship dà ³es change. When Sethe arrives at 124 Bluestone Road, Baby Suggs doesn’t know her at all. She only knows Sethe ‘s her daughter-in-law, the woman who married her son Halle and who gave him four children. And yet she helps Sethe immediately. At 124 Bluestone Road, Baby Suggs creates a space, which provides warmth and certainty for Sethe and her children, just as 124 is for the whole community. â€Å"124 was †¦ night long.† (p.86) I think it really adorns Baby Suggs that she was such a warm person, especially to Sethe and her children. In fact she opens her house and her heart to the whole community. When Beloved arrives at 124, she immediately takes part of the family life. Sethe dà ³es really like it to have another daughter living with them and she’s flattered by Beloved’s open devotion. â€Å"Sethe was†¦his teacher.† (p. 50) Denver in the beginning also likes Beloved’s presence. The three become a real â€Å"family†: they ice skate, drink cocoa, dress up in bright colors and ribbons. Their relationship is mostly positive. But as soon as Sethe understands who Beloved is, Beloved's claim on her is total. Sethe no longer goes to work; she attends to Beloved's wishes. Denver - who once was the most important person in Sethe’s life - tries to make claims on both Beloved as a sister and Sethe as a mother, but she is gradually shut out of the relationship. Sethe doesn’t want to tell much about her past to Denver, but to Beloved she tells nearly everything. â€Å"It became†¦incomplete reveries.† (p. 58) Ultimately Denver and Sethe are bound to Beloved. The three are fixed on story-telling, although it hurts Sethe, she keeps telling nearly everything about her past to Beloved. One day, they go to the Clearing, a space in the wood that was "wide-open" and blessed, where it was â€Å"possible to love†. Sethe comes to this place to figure out what to do with her past.

Investment Management Essay

Both hedge funds and mutual funds are â€Å"pooled† instruments, but there are more differences than similarities between them. Three kinds of differences are going to introduce in the following part which are strategy, risk and reward. Strategy: The hedge funds managers have fewer limits to deal with, they can sell short, use derivatives and use leverage, and otherwise, they can also change the strategy significantly if they think it is appropriate. The mutual fund managers cannot be as flexible as hedge fund managers. In case they changes the strategy of the fund, the may be accused of â€Å"style drift†. Risk: As hedge funds are managed much more aggressive than the mutual fund, they can take speculative positions in derivative securities and have the ability to short sell stocks. This will obviously increase the leverage and the risk of the fund. Mutual funds are the opposite of the hedge funds, taking highly leveraged positions is not allowed and managers should take solid strategy to make the funds safe. Reward: Hedge funds take an aggressive strategy which has high risks to seek absolute returns (it means they want to produce positive return no matter what the market performance is). Mutual funds are managed relative to an index benchmark which means their return is steady because they are judged on their variance from that benchmark. 3. Arbitrage opportunity 3. 1 According to the case study, during the IPO of Ubid, there is only 20% equity offer to public, and remaining 80% will distribute to CC’s shareholders after 6 months. The arbitrage opportunity is appear because if we own CC’s share that we will receive Ubid’s share after six months. In that reason, we should form a portfolio which combines long position of CC and short position of Ubid. In Dec 9, there was 10,238,703 CC’s share outstanding and 9,146,883 Ubid’s share outstanding. However the 80% of Ubid’s share will distributed to CC’s shareholders after 6 month of IPO. In that reason, we can assume that 80% of Ubid’s share is subjected to CC’s share. (10,238,703? 80%)/9,146,883=0. 715 If we have long position on 1 share of CC, we should take 0. 715 short position of Ubid’s share. 3. 2 Based on the output in section 3. 1, the arbitrage opportunity has arise when we have 1 long position on CC’s share and 0. 15 short position on Ubid’s share. Therefore we need short sell the Ubid’s share and buy CC’s share. Assume that we buy 1 share of CC and short sell 0. 715 share of Ubid. After 6 months later. In addition, after 6 months, the 80% Ubid’s share will distribute to CC’s shareholders, therefore, after 6 months we have 1 share of CC will receive 0. 715 share of Ubid. Subject to 1 s hare of CC, we have 0. 715 share short position of Ubid. In that reason we will have a portfolio that combine 1 long position of CC and 0. 715 short position of Ubid. The total payoff of portfolio is sum of payoff in both position is: Price of CC after six month – price of CC + 0. 715? price of Ubid. As we mention before, our return is the total payoff of portfolio. According to the equation of payoff of portfolio, even the price of CC is drop to Zero, we also will generate positive return which is price difference between Ubid and CC, and this is our minimum return Price difference of Ubid and CC is 0. 715? 35. 6875-22. 75=2. 767 and the initial margin is 50% for long and short position, therefore the capital required is 50%? 2. 75+50%? 35. 6875=29. 22. The minimum rate of return is 4. Risks in arbitrage The arbitrage means that investors find temporary risk-free profit from misprice at inefficient market. Therefore, arbitrageurs will face risk lower than other investors. However, some of risks can limit arbitrageur to seek risk free profit. Firstly, arbitrageurs need to bear the fundamental risk. Although arbitrageurs can eliminate unsyst ematic (firm-specific) risk by portfolio diversification, they cannot mitigate systematic risk which arises from market contracture. This lead to some of bad news or policies can cause negative effects on fundament value and arbitrageurs’ profits. Thus, the fundamental risk can limit arbitrageurs to invest in inefficient market. Secondly, noise trader risk will limit arbitrage. High percentages of noise traders who make irrational investment of decision in market will lead price and risk level to be different with expected level for arbitrageurs, and cause misprice to be reduced. Thus the profit of arbitrage will be limit by noise trader risk. Finally, arbitrageurs will also face high implement cost. Implement cost includes commission, bid-ask spread, price impact, short sell cost and identification cost. High cost will cause arbitrageur loss interest on seeking misprice in inefficient market.

Oral Communication in Business Essay

Business communication is done through various avenues including the written word (via Email, letters and reports), the face to face meeting and telephone conversations. It is particularly important when using speech to communicate with others, whether client or employee, that what you say is what you mean, both in tone of voice and words chosen. The most obvious reason to use the spoken word is to give information to another. How effectively this is done depends on imparting pertinent key points to the listener and giving him or her a clear idea of what the expected result should be. The client wants to know the status of his order and the employee wants to know the deadline to fill it. Oral communication can also be used to persuade or motive others to accomplish a specific task. By showing confidence through your tone of voice and using open-ended statements and questions, your listener is exhorted to action. This is particularly effective when speaking with employees regarding a change in the organization. Make sure they are aware of the benefits and ask them to relate how this will help them in their jobs. The way oral communication is approached can mean the difference between boring your listener to tears or actively engaging their thought processes. Failure to communicate well can be seen as inability to communicate well (Gabbin, 1996). Keeping your listeners entertained is one way to keep them listening. You do not have to memorize a joke of the day, but simply avoid droning on about numbers or statistics or other â€Å"dry† subjects. A company that holds annual employee rallies to boost morale should incorporate both the entertainment and motivation aspects of speech. Reviewing the company’s fiscal state of affairs and thanking employees for their contribution while causing them to think of further ways to improve the future bottom line would create an atmosphere of trust and good will. Motivate, entertain, and leave them looking forward to the next rally!

Using Animals in Research is Not Justified essays

Using Animals in Research is Not Justified essays According to Baldwin Elizabeths report the population of chimpanzees has drastically come down from 2,000,000 to 150,000 chimpanzees. On the similar lines, number of rabbits has declined from 3,000,000,000 to mere 1,500,000. Today, millions of animals are used in research, because of which not only chimpanzees and rabbits population are dropping down, but also other animals like dogs, mice, sharks, pigs, etceteras population are dropping down. In the United States, in many cases of Scientific Research, animals are used to test out specific products that are yet to become consumer products; usually the testing is for other medical purposes. There is a recurring argument of whether or not using animals in research is justified. Many people, usually scientists believe that animal testing is justified. However, I beg to differ because humans and animals are too different to make animal research any useful for humans, animal testing is cruel and unjustified, and animals too have moral rights. The reason for first argument has been rightly explained by Kowalski Kathiann, according to whose article, thousands of chimpanzees bred in the 1980s for AIDS research because 98 percent of chimpanzees have same DNA that humans have. However, researchers discovered that, unlike humans, chimpanzees do not develop AIDS, when they are infected with the HIV virus. Even animals whose DNA is similar to humans are not reliable test subjects because they may not react the same way. Similarly, the injectable contraceptive Depro-Provera was banned in the U.S over 20 years ago on the basis that it caused cancer in dogs and baboons, but recently that ban has been lifted because it was discovered that Depro-Provera did not cause cancer in humans. I, like most people, am also against practices of using animals to determine if cosmetic products are harmful. The negative publicity and consumer pressure surrounding these p...