SHADOWS ON THE SUN THE IMPERFECTIONS OF PLATONIC POLITICAL THEORY - Literature Essay Samples

SHADOWS ON THE SUN: THE IMPERFECTIONS OF PLATONIC POLITICAL THEORYby, Michael JinDecember 5, 2004Plato and Aristotle both reject the moral relativism of the sophists and address the question of how man can achieve absolute virtue. In The Republic, Plato constructs an existence proof, a kallipolis that produces philosopher-kings who grasp the eternal Good and rule benevolently. Aristotle discusses the kallipolis at length in The Politics, but much of his criticism concerns implementation. Still, Aristotle makes at least one worthy criticism of the theory, charging Plato with inappropriately misusing holism in assessing the happiness of the state. But Aristotle likewise fails to solve the underlying problem of ensuring complete happiness for all individuals; he ultimately constructs a political theory fundamentally similar to that of Plato.Plato postulates a tripartite soul with appetitive, spirited, and rational parts, corresponding to the producers, guardians, and rulers in the kalli polis (The Republic 435c-441c). Such a construction poses an apparent internal inconsistency. The guardian class, for instance, may represent only the spirited part, but individual guardians still possess all three soul parts. The inconsistency disappears if the kallipolis solely serves as a macrocosm of the soul, since a soul part only has that soul part. But a kallipolis qua polis needs to resolve the issue of how a spirited class can be composed of members that also possess desires and rationality.Plato defends his conception of the three classes by appealing to the idea of specialization of labor. He asks, [D]oes one person do a better job if he practices many crafts orsince hes one person himselfif he practices one? (370b). He adopts this economic principle for his kallipolis, assigning each inhabitant that function he is most naturally suited for (423d). In other words, Plato asserts that the producers should accept toil and pursue physical desires without need of significant mental edification, while the most rational souls should live an ascetic life. Under this framework, it makes sense that Plato denies money, property, and even travel to the guardians (419). For guardians to achieve maximum bravery and glory as required by their spirited souls, they must specialize and avoid distractions.But implied in the idea of specialization of labor is that certain activities are practiced at the expense of others. If Plato selects and cultivates the soul part that will provide maximum benefit to the kallipolis, Adeimantus can argue that Plato practices relative suppression of the other two parts, if they exist. Guardians, for instance, must be weaned from the appetitive desires (419). Adeimantus worries that such inhibition causes unhappiness. After all, Plato discourages the guardians from deriving ordinary pleasures like ownership (416-17). Adeimantus essentially points out that human nature, as defined by Plato himself, contains innate needs for things. He questions Platos implicit assumption that a proper environment, expressed by societal laws, can overcome such innate inclinations and change these desires towards better, higher objectives.If Plato were to label the kallipolis as theoretical and not subject to pragmatic concerns, the issue of how tripartite souls give rise to city segments behaving according to only one soul part would disappear. Guardians, under the influence of law, would let go of physical desires, a change that would allow them to achieve the greatest degree of happiness possible. But Plato expresses his own practical concerns when he states, Well say that it wouldnt be surprising if these people were happiest just as they are, but that in establishing our city, we arent aiming to make any one group outstandingly happy but to make the whole city so, as far as possible (420b). Plato concedes that guardians sacrifice at least a component of their happiness, since they are happiest in their original condition outsi de the kallipolis. He admits that the appetitive component of the soul cannot be excised without impacting happiness. But his reference to the happiness of the whole city seems vague. Plato means either that some holistic happiness exists even if no city part is happy, or that the decreased happiness of the guardians increases the happiness of the other classes and thus elevates the happiness of the entire city.Here Aristotle makes his major theoretical assault by interpreting Plato to have wrongly postulated a holistic happiness. Aristotle responds,Again, though he denies to the Guardians even happiness, he maintains that it is the duty of a lawgiver to make the whole city happy. But it is impossible for the whole to be happy, unless the majority, if not actually all, or at any rate some, parts possess happiness. For happiness is a very different thing from evenness: two odd numbers added together make an even number, but two unhappy sections cannot add up to a happy state. And if the Guardians are not happy, who will be? Certainly not the skilled workers and the general run of the mechanics (The Politics 1264b15).Aristotle here makes two points, which can be independently verified for fairness of treatment with regard to what Plato states. His first point contends that because happiness is an intrinsic quality, aggregating different souls of varying discontent cannot produce happiness. This point seems reasonable, but it only partly clashes with what Plato claims. Perhaps Aristotle was responding negatively to Plato for making the following analogy:Suppose, then, that someone came up to us while we were painting a statue and objected that, because we had painted the eyes (which are the most beautiful part) black rather than purple, we had not applied the most beautiful colors to the most beautiful parts of the statue. Wed think it reasonable to offer the following defense: You mustnt expect us to paint the eyes so beautifully that they no longer appear to be eyes at all, and the same with the other parts. Rather you must look to see whether by dealing with each part appropriately, we are making the whole statue beautiful. (420c-d)Aristotle has a valid criticism of Plato insofar as the latter means that happiness of a city can be closely compared to the beauty of a statue. To be beautiful, the statue must be appreciated by the eye of a beholder. Purple eyes would ruin the effect; holistically viewing the statue makes sense. But happiness of cities must be judged by different criteria than that applied at art galleries. Whereas beauty may be an external state to be seen, happiness is an internal state to be experienced. As Aristotle suggests, happiness cannot be compared to evenness, which can result from odd numbers. Rather, happiness of the city is equal to the sum of the happiness of its parts. Plato, however, proceeds to defend the idea that having one section of the populace too happy would ruin the happiness of other sections. Aris totle, perhaps addressing this further Platonic idea, makes the second point: if the guardians are not happy, then the producers cannot be happy either. His assertion appears tangential and unsupported. In any case, he misses the real Platonic argument: You mustnt force us to give our guardians the kind of happiness that would make them something other than guardiansyou surely see that theyll destroy the city utterly, just as they alone have the opportunity to govern it well and make it happy (420d-1a). Implicitly, Plato argues that guardians who regularly indulge in appetitive aims would not be guardians anymore, but among the common producers. He has a strict sense of what a guardian can permissibly do while remaining effective. Furthermore, Plato states that it is not so much a question of whether other classes will be happy if guardians are less than perfectly happy, as Aristotle charges, but of whether the city can exist at all if normal pleasures corrupt the guardians. Plato s eems to envision an extremely slippery slope, with guardians as shepherds and normal people as sheep. If the shepherds were to lower their vigilance and enjoy materialistic pleasures, the sheep would certainly be taken by the wolves of anarchy. Aristotle does not directly refute Plato on whether such a complete deterioration would occur. But in supporting the kallipolis against objections on happiness, Plato takes the rather rigid position that even small deviances would destroy the city, and thus less than complete happiness should be tolerated, since a stable city is happier than total chaos. Thus, the result emerges that the happiest city cannot contain maximally happy individual. Though Aristotle does not treat Plato fairly, his critique points out individual souls cannot benefit from a mysterious holistic happiness. Without that condition, Plato must resort to his argument that he sacrifices some individual happiness for utilitarian reasons of preserving the state. Aristotle re cognizes that unhappiness results from suppression of soul parts. He criticizes practices like sharing of women among guardians because he does object to pleasure to the same degree (1262a32). He does not see the Platonic slippery slope. But Aristotle, in the same breath, argues that a community of wives and children may be suitable for the agricultural class (1262a40). He argues that if producers have less affections, they will more likely to obey their rulers. Aristotle here uses the same logic as Plato: he sacrifices the lower forms of fulfillment for the interests of stability. In other words, he values lack of revolt more than individual happiness=2E Aristotle ultimately rejects communal sharing of wives and children for inclusion in his political theory; he observes that ownership and pleasure strengthen interpersonal bonds that bind the state (1262b3). Unlike Plato, he believes the maximally stable and good state can be achieved with less extreme measures. In addition to acce pting a role for appetitive desires for citizens, Aristotle provides more room for them to realize their highest faculty, reason=2E He recognizes that the virtues of a good citizen and a good man are not the same, for the former possesses only correct opinions and obedience, while the latter has practical wisdom (1277b16). Aristotle emphasizes the role of rule, or employing practical wisdom, for human virtue and he extends the ability widely for certain constitutions, especially in the polity. Plato, on the other hand, sees rule as more of a necessity, not something fine (540b). As such, Aristotle pays more attention to human nature and sees cases when it may be beneficial to promote expression of higher faculties for more people. But it can be argued that Aristotle differs only quantitatively with his vision of man and the state, but not qualitatively. Aristotle does not recognize the full capacity to reason and rule in everyone, especially slaves (1255b4). Like Plato, Aristotle ha s an essentially elitist worldview, in that he believes most men should not rule (1277b33). First, most men need to toil for the prosperity and stability of the state and, as such, have no time to nurture higher virtues (1278a13). Second, if a god among men exists (1284a3), simply gifted men should not rule even if they could, because such rule would be less likely to produce a state that promotes living well (1280b29). For these two reasons, Aristotle would support a kingship over constitutions that distribute rule more widely among the more mediocre. But he still recognizes the essential compromise: Is then the fifth alternative better, that one man, the most worthy, should rule? But this is yet more oligarchical, because it leaves still larger numbers without honour (1281a28). In other words, Aristotle has not discovered a state that allows everyone to express all natural capacities while still promoting maximum stability and optimum rule.Despite this failure, Aristotle does a mo re practical version of governance, including the polity as more realistic alternative to the kingship or aristocracy. Applying a standard of implementability, Aristotles polity falls short. However, political theory arises from the constraints of reality and the difficulties of human nature. By such a standard, Aristotle often succeeds, even triumphs.

Introducing Halal Meat Based On Blue Ocean Strategy Business Essay - Free Essay Example

This reports sets out the detail explanation over blue ocean strategy, highlighting the key main areas to be the market nicher. In order to be successful companies have to think beyond competition with their competitors. The report highlights the rule of game need to be set to redesign its current market strategies to the dynamic blue ocean. The report will show elements which when employed helps and organization to shift from its current strategy and create its own Blue Ocean. It will provide an insight of dynamics market, showing a comparison between red ocean strategy and Blue Ocean strategy. An analysis between both the theories will ascertain the success or failure of business in this corporate world. By injecting the idea of Halal meat, a slaughtering method in which meat has been proved hygienic, in countries where the consumption of Kocher meat is high. The idea has several benefits: cost, health and well being with customers value addition. Blue ocean strategy is the source of highly profitable growth where Companies challenge an industries conventional wisdom and achieve the long term monetary benefits. Although there is less walk in customers initially but based on the concept and mantra laid down in Blue Ocean strategy this can led to success. Its benefits, along with conclusion and disadvantages of Blue and Red Ocean Strategy will be discussed in detail. Blue Ocean strategies are progressively being used by groups all across the world. This is because of the long term profits that have been recognized to drift towards the organization. Key Area of Research The main source of research is based on the book well written by Mr. W. Chan Kim and Renà ©e Mauborgne Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and make the Competition Irrelevant. Author have focused on the real life practices of the corporate world and explained how those companies have developed their own Blue Ocean. Other source of research includes lectures, journals, reference books and publication in cover papers. A survey has also been conducted to support the idea where around 100 people with different buying habit were questioned and public opinion over the use of Halal products as replacement of Kocher meat was asked. For assistance volunteers has designed a questionnaire for people considering the topic in context to determine whether the innovative idea would be an acceptable, healthier and hygienic solution without aggrieving religious susceptibilities of people to which most of people agreed to give their response to consumer panel. Findings based on above survey and questionnaire envisages the fact that not only Muslims prefer halal food even Jews prefer it over Kocher after informing them about its benefits and similarities exist in the concept of slaughtering referring with Hebrew Bible. The Halal meat will eliminate health issues, hygienic and will be the respectful humane way of killing an animal to consume its meat. Moreover Halal meat has requisite to raise animal reared on grasses instead of junk supplements. The blue ocean strategy proved to be of great insight as it resolved many societal and religious issues of people, its structure and of its enactment. Critical Discussion of Strategic Models According to well known authors and lecturers the best way to have an edge over your competition is to stop attempting to beat the competition. As per Mr. W. Chan Kim and Renà ©e Mauborgne , whole market is based on these two strategies i.e. Blue ocean strategy and Red ocean strategy. Red ocean strategy is becoming bloody day by day and companies management need to be more accustomed with Blue ocean strategy than current customs manager is used to. Red ocean strategy is representation of products which are in existence where as blue ocean strategy represent products or services which does not exist. Approach that creates value in product is hidden in complementary product and services. The success is to define and describe the solution customer think while selecting a product or service. Best and simple way is to think what a customer would think while buying product and his reaction after using that commodity. In red ocean strategy the ambits and limits are clearly defined and co mpanies accept it willingly. Based on Blue ocean strategy the companies should never outsource things in which they have core competencies. An artist will not let his idea to be painted with other artist. Same as the putting the feet in every shoe vis-a-vis story of strategy maker. To increase the quantum of Blue Ocean, Companies shave to do revers engineering. Instead of focusing over their prospective customer, they need to look at non customer. Companies who approached for product differentiation need to build on powerful commodities in what buyer value. Red ocean strategy following companies uses conventional approach to beat competition by developing position with in existing market. Contrarily operating in Blue ocean strategy do not fight over petty issues, they look beyond cat fights over profits. In other words, instead of focusing or introducing a product or service which eliminate the chances of moving toward supplementary items of competitors. Mr. W. Chan Kim and Renà ©e Mauborgne have termed Blue ocean strategy as value innovation. Value without innovation focuses only on creating value on incremental basis. This means that change can lead to upward trend but a slow pace, based on which survival is big issue. Simultaneously innovation without value seems to be technological change or pathetic concept or customers are unwillingly to adopt or accept innovation. Thereafter according to author Companies can attain value innovative when they are able to link innovation with: Utility Price Cost Adoption Blue ocean strategy is new concept where Organization asks variety of questions from them to achieve niche market share where other organization have not started venture. Authors have defined a framework depending on four questions: Which factor should eliminate industry takes for granted? (Incase of Halal meat research health factor is taken for granted.) Which of industries below standard factor should be reduced? (In case of Halal meat the clotting in meat has been reduced as compared to Kocher meat) Which of industries above standard factor should be raised? (Here uniqueness and demand can be raise by obtaining certification from authorities) Factors to be introduce which are never offered before. (Punched meat in clean and hygienic manner in front of customer) Kim and Mauborgne discussed that high performance cannot be achieved using strategies based on traditional competency. To earn more profits opportunist or entrepreneurs need to develop blue oceans. The authors explains that many companies have traditional belief of competing with the others in the market fro survival and they are forced to do so, termed as structuralism. To remain in the market, business gurus of red ocean strategy focus on making profit through competition, usually by evaluating what opponents are doing and striving hard to do better. In these circumstances, having or attaining a bigger share of t he industry is seen as a game where utility is balanced in which the organization achieved an increment in the deficit of another organization. Due to which the equation of supply becomes the variable component explain strategy in competitive market. Where, associated cost are considered as trade-offs and a company selects a unique cost or unique position. This is because the total earning level of the targeted industry is also determined by essential factors, companies ultimately seek to obtain and redistribute capital other than creating wealth. They prefer Red Sea, where there is limited growth Blue Ocean Strategy, however, based on the view that the limits of the market and the structure of the industry can not be given and can be rebuilt from the acts and assumption of market players. This idea is termed as reconstruction by the authors. Assuming that the market structure and limits exist only in the minds of managers and professionals who hold this view do not let current m arket structures limit their thoughts and creativity. This, in reply, requires a shift in attention to demand from supply, to focus on innovation value from a focus on competition which a source to create new demand. This is achieved through surveys, experiment and research at a time of low cost and diversity. As the market norms relating to cost and equilibrium have been broken, what will be the rules of the game? Competition in that is irrelevant. New wealth can be generated by raising the demand Due to which companies can play non sum zero game, with more perks and returns. Implementing blue ocean strategy does not mean a company need huge fund to launch a new strategic model in market to attain profit in near future. However companies can purchase their route to the blue ocean through research and development. From bookish point of view, this is possible, but ignores some precautions of Blue Ocean Strategy. Development over innovation is warned because the new product can be thrown out of the market by providing product for which customer is not ready to pay for it. Moreover a dependeum pendulum needs to be established between cost and price. Therefore, investing much over research and development could find a Blue Ocean, but will not guarantee success. But chances of failure increases. Basic principle and the most significant of companies strategic requirement to be determined before investing money in its development. A company thinking to recreate a blue ocean should ensure that these number of compromises is less than the satisfaction of customer which must be maximum. Last but not the least, Blue Ocean bringing of new factors never been introduced ever. This will ensure that company seek to be different among the market people and have to move one step ahead of red ocean strategy. In the context to differentiation of market and letting costs down, the above two questions would help in driving the costs at minimum while the other increase value for buyer. If four factors use in conjunction the competition will be irrelevant. However in todays world, developing and maintaining a blue ocean market is complicated. This is due to enormous entrants in the market and cut throat competition based on which things become common and Blue Ocean turns in to red ocean strategy. Key findings and practical implications on the company Creating a new business environment based on blue ocean strategy always has inherent risk. Every concept or idea has risk which needs to be addressed at initial stage in order to capitalize over it as savior and get maximum benefits with idea. There are many questions which need to be answered before the execution of concept. Blue ocean strategy assists companies in responding those concerns: Ask is there a buyer utility available? Will it unlock exceptional utility? Is there a reason people will prefer over other commodity to buy? If these are absent, there is not any potential in market to start Blue Ocean. For the purpose of this assignment I have targeted the meat industry and meat lovers in UK. In course of survey I have came across different slaughtering houses and consumer buying meat. However they have one thing in common they are being sold to the public at large with out considering religious susceptibilities of residents. e.g. The idea move around the conc ept moving around ease of access of Halal food which is healthy and hygienic and does not affect religious susceptibilities of people scientifically proven. Following are the four areas explained earlier during the critical analysis of model: Utility: The question that organization need to know whether this innovation in marketwill generate utility and get buyers satisfaction. On conducting survey of 100 people belonging to different religious background 64 people like to have meat healthier and juicy, with mild redness on meat. People who were questioned with different background is as follows: S.No Religious Background No. of people Muslims 42 Christians 18 Jews 30 Other 10 The reason behind introducing this concept was Muslim usually prefers Halal meat and they have to travel a lot to purchase this. Meanwhile the concept of Slaughtering is more or less common in Hebrew Bible and Holy book of Muslims.Jews and others after being convinced on the usefulness of Halal food changed their perception and showed willingness to buy if introduced. Price Generally availability of meat without clotting and mild color meat require travel to remote areas, which significantly increase cost to travel. In order to achieve equilibrium people prefer that buy in bulk to reduce their fixed over heads. However their holding and storage cost increases. Cost Before moving to cost, the in-depth analysis of costing need to be done. Again comparing the cost of Halal food and other meat, the cost are relatively same. The per unit cost would be increase by hiring a person slaughtering animal contrarily the same per unit cost would be reduced by saving machine hour of slaughtering. Adoption Final question required to be answered is problem that will show upon implementation of this venture. The first and most important is to create the horizon that is benefited to customer and safe valuable time. This can be achieved by applying modern slaughtering method. Figure 1-1 an analysis of new business launches has been shown by researcher. The survey involved 108 companies, of which 86% have opted red ocean strategy; i.e. vertical integration to the existing demand. As explained, the revenue impact based on red ocean business startup is higher than organization generating sales than Blue Ocean strategy implementers. However, the effect of Red Ocean practicing companies on their gross profit; which of course any profit seeking organizations goal is, was less than those generated from Blue Ocean. Key conclusions student learned and success of group endeavors After considering both the options i.e. Red ocean strategy and Blue ocean strategy, it is much better than red ocean strategy, but it is hard to come across with the new one. Blue ocean strategy has its certain limitations which affect the ups and down of organization seek to earn profit through Blue ocean strategy. As we all know that strategy implementation is not a piece of cake. The organization need to be smart with high objectives to attain goals and striving hard to attain dominant position. If they fail to apply Blue Ocean strategy successfully this would turn in to red as the opponents will use up their ideas. Some more limitation like disclosure of sensitive information would make it common and leadership in certain commodity may be loosed. In that case companies usually get their patents registered with authorities, so no one misuse that and if they want to opt this idea, they will have to pay royalty to Company. Brand and negotiation are not considered relevant in bl ue ocean strategy, due to which key to success cannot be achieved. Blue ocean strategy is more a strategy and is tool to brand a concept successfully with highly improved ideas. As a group we conclude that organization exist in Red ocean strategy and all of them have capacity and skills to compete in existing market of Red ocean strategy. What they need is to learn Blue ocean strategy and get what they need to do is gear up their skills and make more profit by raising innovation. How individual contribution impacted the group Group project help us to develop group of skills that increasingly important in corporate world. The best part was structuring these group properly based on which the task were been completed smoothly, relevant to both group and individual including skills to: Break down job into pieces and part. Proper time management Crystallizing ideas through group discussion and explanation Debate over assumptions and methodology Developing skills of communication Group projects have helped us to develop our individual capacities to: Tackle problematic situations Delegate task and roles Diversified portfolio Making a pool of knowledge management Own things and held accountable for task performances Moral and social support Make person problem solving After group discussion key points were noted and conclusion was drawn considering all circumstances. Discussion and meeting were well organized and every one in the group was distributed notices and agenda before meeting specifying: Why are we meeting? What will be discussed? Action taken on points previously considered? Giving task for future on research topic and set deadlines. By following these steps, the group was moving on the right track and was allowed to give their inputs if required. Due to which quality material on concept of Blue ocean strategy and related research was prepared. This was achieved only by each members contribution to work and give as many ideas he can which were rated down according to their significance and usefulness.