Rationalism Essay

Rationalism vs. Empiricism First published Thu Aug 19, 2004; substantive revision Thu Mar 21, 2013 The dispute between rationalism and empiricism concerns the extent to which we are dependent upon sense experience in our effort to gain knowledge. Rationalists claim that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience. Empiricists claim that sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge. Rationalists generally develop their view in two ways. First, they argue that there are cases where the content of our concepts or knowledge outstrips the information that sense experience can provide. Second, they construct accounts of how reason in some form or other provides that additional information about the world. Empiricists present complementary lines of thought. First, they develop accounts of how experience provides the information that rationalists cite, insofar as we have it in the first place. (Empiricists will at times opt fo r skepticism as an alternative to rationalism: if experience cannot provide the concepts or knowledge the rationalists cite, then we don’t have them.) Second, empiricists attack the rationalists’ accounts of how reason is a source of concepts or knowledge. 1. Introduction The dispute between rationalism and empiricism takes place within epistemology, the branch of philosophy devoted to studying the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. The defining questions of epistemology include the following. 1. What is the nature of propositional knowledge, knowledge that a particular proposition about the world is true? To know a proposition, we must believe it and it must be true, but something more is required, something that distinguishes knowledge from a lucky guess. Let’s call this additional element ‘warrant’. A good deal of philosophical work has been invested in trying to determine the nature of warrant. 2. How can we gain knowledge? We can form true beliefs just by making lucky guesses. How to gain warranted beliefs is less clear. Moreover, to know the world, we must think about it, and it is unclear how we gain the concepts we use in thought or what assurance, if any, we have that the ways in which we divide up the world using our concepts correspond to divisions that actually exist. 3. What are the limits of our knowledge? Some aspects of the world may be within the limits of our thought but beyond the limits of our knowledge; faced with competing descriptions of them, we cannot know which description is true. Some aspects of the world may even be beyond the limits of our thought, so that we cannot form intelligible descriptions of them, let alone know that a particular description is true. The disagreement between rationalists and empiricists primarily concerns the second question, regarding the sources of our concepts and knowledge. In some instances, their disagreement on this topic leads them to give conflicting responses to the other questions as well. They may disagree over the nature of warrant or about the limits of our thought and knowledge. Our focus here will be on the competing rationalist and empiricist responses to the second question. 1.1 Rationalism To be a rationalist is to adopt at least one of three claims. The Intuition/Deduction thesis concerns how we become warranted in believing propositions in a particular subject area. The Intuition/Deduction Thesis: Some propositions in a particular subject area, S, are knowable by us by intuition alone; still others are knowable by being deduced from intuited propositions. Intuition is a form of rational insight. Intellectually grasping a proposition, we just â€Å"see† it to be true in such a way as to form a true, warranted belief in it. (As discussed in Section 2 below, the nature of this intellectual â€Å"seeing† needs explanation.) Deduction is a process in which we derive conclusions from intuited premises through valid arguments, ones in which the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. We intuit, for example, that the number three is prime and that it is greater than two. We then deduce from this knowledge that there is a prime number greater than two. Intuition and deduction thus provide us with knowledge a priori, which is to say knowledge gained independently of sense experience. We can generate different versions of the Intuition/Deduction thesis by substituting different subject areas for the variable ‘S’. Some rationalists take mathematics to be knowable by intuition and deduction. Some place ethical truths in this category. Some include metaphysical claims, such as  that God exists, we have free will, and our mind and body are distinct substances. The more propositions rationalists include within the range of intuition and deduction, and the more controversial the truth of those propositions or the claims to know them, the more radical their rationalism. Rationalists also vary the strength of their view by adjusting their understanding of warrant. Some take warranted beliefs to be beyond even the slightest doubt and claim that intuition and deduction provide beliefs of this high epistemic status. Others interpret warrant more conservatively, say as belief beyond a reasonable doubt, and claim that intuition and deduction provide beliefs of that caliber. Still another dimension of rationalism depends on how its proponents understand the connection between intuition, on the one hand, and truth, on the other. Some take intuition to be infallible, claiming that whatever we intuit must be true. Others allow for the possibility of false intuited propositions. The second thesis associated with rationalism is the Innate Knowledge thesi s. The Innate Knowledge Thesis: We have knowledge of some truths in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature. Like the Intuition/Deduction thesis, the Innate Knowledge thesis asserts the existence of knowledge gained a priori, independently of experience. The difference between them rests in the accompanying understanding of how this a priori knowledge is gained. The Intuition/Deduction thesis cites intuition and subsequent deductive reasoning. The Innate Knowledge thesis offers our rational nature. Our innate knowledge is not learned through either sense experience or intuition and deduction. It is just part of our nature. Experiences may trigger a process by which we bring this knowledge to consciousness, but the experiences do not provide us with the knowledge itself. It has in some way been with us all along. According to some rationalists, we gained the knowledge in an earlier existence. According to others, God provided us with it at creation. Still others say it is part of our nature through natural selection. We get different versions of the Innate Knowledge thesis by substituting different subject areas for the variable ‘S’. Once again, the more subjects included within the range of the thesis or the more controversial the claim to have knowledge in them, the more radical the form of rationalism. Stronger and weaker understandings of warrant yield stronger and weaker versions of the thesis as well. The third important thesis of  rationalism is the Innate Concept thesis. The Innate Concept Thesis: We have some of the concepts we employ in a particular subject area, S, as part of our rational nature. According to the Innate Concept thesis, some of our concepts are not gained from experience. They are part of our rational nature in such a way that, while sense experiences may trigger a process by which they are brought to consciousness, experience does not provide the concepts or determine the information they contain. Some claim that the Innate Concept thesis is entailed by the Innate Knowledge Thesis; a particular instance of knowledge can only be innate if the concepts that are contained in the known proposition are also innate. This is Locke’s position (1690, Book I, Chapter IV, Section 1, p. 91). Others, such as Carruthers, argue against this connection (1992, pp. 53–54). The content and strength of the Innate Concept thesis varies with the concepts claimed to be innate. The more a concept seems removed from experience and the mental operations we can perform on experience the more plausibly it may be claimed to be innate. Since we do not experience perfect tria ngles but do experience pains, our concept of the former is a more promising candidate for being innate than our concept of the latter. The Intuition/Deduction thesis, the Innate Knowledge thesis, and the Innate Concept thesis are essential to rationalism: to be a rationalist is to adopt at least one of them. Two other closely related theses are generally adopted by rationalists, although one can certainly be a rationalist without adopting either of them. The first is that experience cannot provide what we gain from reason. The Indispensability of Reason Thesis: The knowledge we gain in subject area, S, by intuition and deduction, as well as the ideas and instances of knowledge in S that are innate to us, could not have been gained by us through sense experience. The second is that reason is superior to experience as a source of knowledge. The Superiority of Reason Thesis: The knowledge we gain in subject area S by intuition and deduction or have innately is superior to any knowledg e gained by sense experience. How reason is superior needs explanation, and rationalists have offered different accounts. One view, generally associated with Descartes (1628, Rules II and III, pp.1–4), is that what we know a priori is certain, beyond even the slightest doubt, while what we believe, or even know, on the basis of sense experience is at least somewhat uncertain. Another view, generally associated with Plato  (Republic 479e-484c), locates the superiority of a priori knowledge in the objects known. What we know by reason alone, a Platonic form, say, is superior in an important metaphysical way, e.g. unchanging, eternal, perfect, a higher degree of being, to what we are aware of through sense experience. Most forms of rationalism involve notable commitments to other philosophical positions. One is a commitment to the denial of scepticism for at least some area of knowledge. If we claim to know some truths by intuition or deduction or to have some innate knowledge, we obviously reject scepticis m with regard to those truths. Rationalism in the form of the Intuition/Deduction thesis is also committed to epistemic foundationalism, the view that we know some truths without basing our belief in them on any others and that we then use this foundational knowledge to know more truths. 1.2 Empiricism Empiricists endorse the following claim for some subject area. The Empiricism Thesis: We have no source of knowledge in S or for the concepts we use in S other than sense experience. Empiricism about a particular subject rejects the corresponding version of the Intuition/Deduction thesis and Innate Knowledge thesis. Insofar as we have knowledge in the subject, our knowledge is a posteriori, dependent upon sense experience. Empiricists also deny the implication of the corresponding Innate Concept thesis that we have innate ideas in the subject area. Sense experience is our only source of ideas. They reject the corresponding version of the Superiority of Reason thesis. Since reason alone does not give us any knowledge, it certainly does not give us superior knowledge. Empiricists generally reject the Indispensability of Reason thesis, though they need not. The Empiricism thesis does not entail that we have empirical knowledge. It entails that knowledge can only be gained, if at all, by experience. Empiricists may assert, as some do for some subjects, that the rationalists are correct to claim that experience cannot give us knowledge. The conclusion they draw from this rationalist lesson is that we do not know at all. I have stated the basic claims of rationalism and empiricism so that each is relative to a particular subject area. Rationalism and empiricism, so relativized, need not conflict. We can be rationalists in mathematics or a particular area of mathematics and empiricists in all or some of the physical sciences. Rationalism and empiricism only conflict when formulated to cover the same subject. Then the debate, Rationalism vs. Empiricism, is joined. The fact that philosophers can be both rationalists and empiricists has implications for the classification schemes often employed in the history of philosophy, especially the one traditionally used to describe the Early Modern Period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries leading up to Kant. It is standard practice to group the major philosophers of this period as either rationalists or empiricists and to suggest that those under one heading share a common agenda in opposition to those under the other. Thus, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are the Continental Rationalists in opposition to Locke, Berkeley and Hume, the British Empiricists. We should adopt such general classification schemes with caution. The views of the individual philosophers are more subtle and complex than the simple-minded classification suggests. (See Loeb (1981) and Ke nny (1986) for important discussions of this point.) Locke rejects rationalism in the form of any version of the Innate Knowledge or Innate Concept theses, but he nonetheless adopts the Intuition/Deduction thesis with regard to our knowledge of God’s existence. Descartes and Locke have remarkably similar views on the nature of our ideas, even though Descartes takes many to be innate, while Locke ties them all to experience. The rationalist/empiricist classification also encourages us to expect the philosophers on each side of the divide to have common research programs in areas beyond epistemology. Thus, Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are mistakenly seen as applying a reason-centered epistemology to a common metaphysical agenda, with each trying to improve on the efforts of the one before, while Locke, Berkeley and Hume are mistakenly seen as gradually rejecting those metaphysical claims, with each consciously trying to improve on the efforts of his predecessors. It is also important to note that the Rationalist/Empiricist distinction is not exhaustive of the possible sources of knowledge. One might claim, for example, that we can gain knowledge in a particular area by a form of Divine revelation or insight that is a product of neither reason nor sense experience. In short, when used carelessly, the labels ‘rationalist’ and ‘empiricist,’ as well as the slogan that is the title of this essay, ‘Rationalism vs. Empiricism,’ can retard rather than advance our understanding. Nonetheless, an important debate properly described as ‘Rationalism vs. Empiricism’ is joined whenever  the claims for each view are formulated to cover the same subject. What is perhaps the most interesting form of the debate occurs when we take the relevant subject to be truths about the external world, the world beyond our own minds. A full-fledged rationalist with regard to our knowledge of the external world holds that some external world truths can and must be known a priori, that some of the ideas required for that knowledge are and must be innate, and that this knowledge is superior to any that experience could ever provide. The full-fledged empiricist about our knowledge of the external world replies that, when it comes to the nature of the world beyond our own minds, experience is our sole source of information. Reason might inform us of the relations among our ideas, but those ideas themselves can only be gained, and any truths about the external reality they represent can only be known, on the basis of sense experience. This debate concerning our knowledge of the external world will generally be our main focus in what follows. Historically, the rationalist/empiricist dispute in epistemology has extended into the area of metaphysics, where philosophers are concerned with the basic nature of reality, including the existence of God and such aspects of our nature as freewill and the relation between the mind and body. Major rationalists (e.g., Descartes 1641) have presented metaphysical theories, which they have claimed to know by reason alone. Major empiricists (e.g. Hume 1739–40) have rejected the theories as either speculation, beyond what we can learn from experience, or nonsensical attempts to describe aspects of the world beyond the concepts experience can provide. The debate raises the issue of metaphysics as an area of knowledge. Kant puts the driving assumption clearly: The very concept of metaphysics ensures that the sources of metaphysics can’t be empirical. If something could be known through the senses, that would automatically show that it doesn’t belong to metaphysics; thatà ¢â‚¬â„¢s an upshot of the meaning of the word ‘metaphysics.’ Its basic principles can never be taken from experience, nor can its basic concepts; for it is not to be physical but metaphysical knowledge, so it must be beyond experience. [1783, Preamble, I, p. 7] The possibility then of metaphysics so understood, as an area of human knowledge, hinges on how we resolve the rationalist/empiricist debate. The debate also extends into ethics. Some moral objectivists (e.g., Ross 1930) take us to know some fundamental objective moral truths by intuition, while some moral skeptics,  who reject such knowledge, (e.g., Mackie 1977) find the appeal to a faculty of moral intuition utterly implausible. More recently, the rationalist/empiricist debate has extended to discussions (e.g., Bealer 1999, and Alexander & Weinberg 2007) of the very nature of philosophical inquiry: to what extent are philosophical questions to be answered by appeals to reason or experience? 2. The Intuition/Deduction Thesis The Intuition/Deduction thesis claims that we can know some propositions by intuition and still more by deduction. Many empiricists (e.g., Hume 1748) have been willing to accept the thesis so long as it is restricted to propositions solely about the relations among our own concepts. We can, they agree, know by intuition that our concept of God includes our concept of omniscience. Just by examining the concepts, we can intellectually grasp that the one includes the other. The debate between rationalists and empiricists is joined when the former assert, and the latter deny, the Intuition/Deduction Thesis with regard to propositions that contain substantive information about the external world. Rationalists, such as Descartes, have claimed that we can know by intuition and deduction that God exists and created the world, that our mind and body are distinct substances, and that the angles of a triangle equal two right angles, where all of these claims are truths about an external reality independent of our thought. Such substantive versions of the Intuition/Deduction thesis are our concern in this section. One defense of the Intuition/Deduction thesis assumes that we know some substantive external world truths, adds an analysis of what knowledge requires, and concludes that our knowledge must result from intuition and deduction. Descartes claims that knowledge requires certainty and that certainty about the external world is beyond what empirical evidence can provide. We can never be sure our sensory impressions are not part of a dream or a massive, demon orchestrated, deception. Only intuition and deduction can provide the certainty needed for knowledge, and, given that we have some substantive knowledge of the external world, the Intuition/Deduction thesis is true. As Descartes tells us, â€Å"all knowledge is certain and evident cognition† (1628, Rule II, p. 1) and when we â€Å"review all the actions of the intellect by means of which we are able to arrive at a knowledge of things with no fear of being mistaken,†Ã‚  we â€Å"recognize only two: intuition and deduction† (1628, Rule III, p. 3). This line of argument is one of the least compelling in the rationalist arsenal. First, the assumption that knowledge requires certainty comes at a heavy cost, as it rules out so much of what we commonly take ourselves to know. Second, as many contemporary rationalists accept, intuition is not always a source of certain knowledge. The possibility of a deceiver gives us a reason to doubt our intuitions as well as our empirical beliefs. For all we know, a deceiver might cause us to intuit false propositions, just as one might cause us to have perceptions of nonexistent objects. Descartes’s classic way of meeting this challenge in the Meditations is to argue that we can know with certainty that no such deceiver interferes with our intuitions and deductions. They are infallible, as God guarantees their truth. The problem, known as the Cartesian Circle, is that Descartes’s account of how we gain this knowledge begs the question, by attempting to deduce the conclusion that all our intuitions are true from intuited premises. Moreover, his account does not touch a remaining problem that he himself notes (1628, Rule VII, p. 7): Deductions of any appreciable length rely on our fallible memory. A more plausible argument for the Intuition/Deduction thesis again assumes that we know some particular, external world truths, and then appeals to the nature of what we know, rather than to the nature of knowledge itsel f, to argue that our knowledge must result from intuition and deduction. Leibniz (1704) tells us the following. The senses, although they are necessary for all our actual knowledge, are not sufficient to give us the whole of it, since the senses never give anything but instances, that is to say particular or individual truths. Now all the instances which confirm a general truth, however numerous they may be, are not sufficient to establish the universal necessity of this same truth, for it does not follow that what happened before will happen in the same way again. †¦ From which it appears that necessary truths, such as we find in pure mathematics, and particularly in arithmetic and geometry, must have principles whose proof does not depend on instances, nor consequently on the testimony of the senses, although without the senses it would never have occurred to us to think of them†¦ (1704, Preface, pp. 150–151) Leibniz goes on to describe our mathematical knowledge as â€Å"innate,† and his argument may be directed to support the Innate Knowledge Thesis rather than the Intuition/Deduction  Thesis. For our purposes here, we can relate it to the latter, however: We have substantive knowledge about the external world in mathematics, and what we know in that area, we know to be necessarily true. Experience cannot warrant beliefs about what is necessarily the case. Hence, experience cannot be the source of our knowledge. The best explanation of our knowledge is that we gain it by intuition and deduction. Leibniz mentions logic, metaphysics and morals as other areas in which our knowledge similarly outstrips what experience can provide. Judgments in logic and metaphysics involve forms of necessity beyond what experience can support. Judgments in morals involve a form of obligation or value that lies beyond experience, which only informs us about what is the case rather than about what ought to be. The strength of this argument varies with its examples of purported knowledge. Insofar as we focus on controversial claims in metaphysics, e.g. that God exists, that our mind is a distinct substance from our body, the initial premise that we know the claims is less than compelling. Taken with regard to other areas, however, the argument clearly has legs. We know a great deal of mathematics, and what we know, we know to be necessarily true. None of our experiences warrants a belief in such necessity, and we do not seem to base our knowledge on any experiences. The warrant that provides us with knowledge arises from an intellectual grasp of the propositions which is clearly part of our learning. Similarly, we seem to have such moral knowledge as that, all other things being equal, it is wrong to break a promise and that pleasure is intrinsically good. No empirical lesson about how things are can warrant such knowledge of how they ought to be. This argument for the Intuition/Deduction Thesis raises additional questions which rationalists must answer. Insofar as they maintain that our knowledge of necessary truths in mathematics or elsewhere by intuition and deduction is substantive knowledge of the external world, they owe us an account of this form of necessity. Many empiricists stand ready to argue that â€Å"necessity resides in the way we talk about things, not in the things we talk about† (Quine 1966, p. 174). Similarly, if rationalists claim that our knowledge in morals is knowledge of an objective form of obligation, they owe u s an account of how objective values are part of a world of apparently valueless facts. Perhaps most of all, rationalist defenders of the Intuition/Deduction thesis owe us an account of what intuition is and how it  provides warranted true beliefs about the external world. What is it to intuit a proposition and how does that act of intuition support a warranted belief? Their argument presents intuition and deduction as an explanation of assumed knowledge that can’t—they say—be explained by experience, but such an explanation by intuition and deduction requires that we have a clear understanding of intuition and how it supports warranted beliefs. Metaphorical characterizations of intuition as intellectual â€Å"grasping† or â€Å"seeing† are not enough, and if intuition is some form of intellectual â€Å"grasping,† it appears that all that is grasped is relations among our concepts, rather than facts about the external world. Moreover, any intellectual faculty, whether it be sense perception or intuition, provides us with warranted beliefs only if it is generally reliable. The reliability of sense perception stems from the causal connection between how external objects are and how we experience them. What accoun ts for the reliability of our intuitions regarding the external world? Is our intuition of a particular true proposition the outcome of some causal interaction between ourselves and some aspect of the world? What aspect? What is the nature of this causal interaction? That the number three is prime does not appear to cause anything, let alone our intuition that it is prime. These issues are made all the more pressing by the classic empiricist response to the argument. The reply is generally credited to Hume and begins with a division of all true propositions into two categories. All the objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, â€Å"Relations of Ideas,† and â€Å"Matters of Fact.† Of the first are the sciences of Geometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic, and, in short, every affirmation which is either intuitively or demonstratively certain. That the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the square of the two sides is a proposition which expresses a relation between these figures. That three times five is equal to half of thirty expresses a relation between these numbers. Propositions of this kind are discoverable by the mere operation of thought, without dependence on what is anywhere existent in the universe. Though there never were a circle or triangle in nature, the truths demonstrated by Euclid would forever retain their certainty and evidence. Matters of fact, which are the second objects of human reason, are not ascertained in the same manner, nor is our evidence of their truth, however great, of a like nature with the  foregoing. The contrary of every matter of fact is still possible, because it can never imply a contradiction and is conceived by the mind with the same facility and distinctness as if ever so conformable to reality. (Hume 1748, Section IV, Part 1, p. 40) Intuition and deduction can provide us with knowledge of necessary truths such as those found in mathematics and logic, but such knowledge is not substantive knowledge of the external world. It is only knowledge of the relations of our own ideas. If the rationalist shifts the argument so it appeals to knowledge in morals, Hume’s reply is to offer an analysis of our moral concepts by which such knowledge is empirically gained knowledge of matters of fact. Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment. Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt more properly than perceived. Or if we reason concerning it and endeavor to fix the standard, we regard a new fact, to wit, the general taste of man kind, or some other fact which may be the object of reasoning and inquiry. (Hume 1748, Section XII, Part 3, p. 173) If the rationalist appeals to our knowledge in metaphysics to support the argument, Hume denies that we have such knowledge. If we take in our hand any volume–of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance–let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion. (Hume 1748, Section XII, Part 3, p. 173) An updated version of this general empiricist reply, with an increased emphasis on language and the nature of meaning, is given in the twentieth-century by A. J. Ayer’s version of logical positivism. Adopting positivism’s verification theory of meaning, Ayer assigns every cognitively meaningful sentence to one of two categories: either it is a tautology, and so true solely by virtue of the meaning of its terms and provides no substantive information about the world, or it is open to empirical verification. There is, then, no room for knowledge about the external world by intuition or deduction. There can be no a priori knowledge of reality. For †¦ the truths of pure reason, the propositions which we know to be valid independently of all experience, are so only in virtue of their lack of factual content †¦ [By contrast] empirical propositions are one and all hypotheses which may be confirmed or discredited in actual sense experience. [Ayer 1952, pp. 86; 93–94] The  rationalists’ argument for the Intuition/Deduction Thesis goes wrong at the start, according to empiricists, by assuming that we can have substantive knowledge of the external world that outstrips what experience can warrant. We cannot. This empiricist reply faces challenges of its own. Our knowledge of mathematics seems to be about something more than our own concepts. Our knowledge of moral judgments seems to concern not just how we feel or act but how we ought to behave. The general principles that provide a basis for the empiricist view, e.g. Hume’s overall account of our ideas, the Verification Principle of Meaning, are problematic in their own right. In various formulations, the Verification Principle fails its own test for having cognitive meaning. A careful analysis of Hume’s Inquiry, relative to its own principles, may require us to consign large sections of it to the flames. In all, rationalists have a strong argument for the Intuition/Deduction thesis relative to our substantive knowledge of the external world, but its success rests on how well they can answer questions about the nature and epistemic force of intuition made all the more pre ssing by the classic empiricist reply. 3. The Innate Knowledge Thesis The Innate Knowledge thesis joins the Intuition/Deduction thesis in asserting that we have a priori knowledge, but it does not offer intuition and deduction as the source of that knowledge. It takes our a priori knowledge to be part of our rational nature. Experience may trigger our awareness of this knowledge, but it does not provide us with it. The knowledge is already there. Plato presents an early version of the Innate Knowledge thesis in the Meno as the doctrine of knowledge by recollection. The doctrine is motivated in part by a paradox that arises when we attempt to explain the nature of inquiry. How do we gain knowledge of a theorem in geometry? We inquire into the matter. Yet, knowledge by inquiry seems impossible (Meno, 80d-e). We either already know the theorem at the start of our investigation or we do not. If we already have the knowledge, there is no place for inquiry. If we lack the knowledge, we don’t know what we are seeking and cannot recognize it when we fin d it. Either way we cannot gain knowledge of the theorem by inquiry. Yet, we do know some theorems. The doctrine of knowledge by recollection offers a solution. When we inquire into the truth of a theorem, we both do and do not already know it. We have knowledge in the form of a  memory gained from our soul’s knowledge of the theorem prior to its union with our body. We lack knowledge in that, in our soul’s unification with the body, it has forgotten the knowledge and now needs to recollect it. In learning the theorem, we are, in effect, recalling what we already know. Plato famously illustrates the doctrine with an exchange between Socrates and a young slave, in which Socrates guides the slave from ignorance to mathematical knowledge. The slave’s experiences, in the form of Socrates’ questions and illustrations, are the occasion for his recollection of what he learned previously. Plato’s metaphysics provides additional support for the Innate Knowledge Thesis. Since our knowledge is of abstract, eternal Forms which clearly lie beyond our sensory experience, it is a priori. Contemporary supporters of Plato’s position are scarce. The initial paradox, which Plato describes as a â€Å"trick argument† (Meno, 80e), rings sophistical. The metaphysical assumptions in the solution need justification. The solution does not answer the basic question: Just how did the slave’s soul learn the theorem? The Intuition/Deduction thesis offers an equally, if not more, plausible account of how the slave gains knowledge a priori. Nonetheless, Plato’s position illustrates the kind of reasoning that has caused many philosophers to adopt some form of the Innate Knowledge thesis. We are confident that we know certain propositions about the external world, but there seems to be no adequate explanation of how we gained this knowledge short of saying th at it is innate. Its content is beyond what we directly gain in experience, as well as what we can gain by performing mental operations on what experience provides. It does not seem to be based on an intuition or deduction. That it is innate in us appears to be the best explanation. Noam Chomsky argues along similar lines in presenting what he describes as a â€Å"rationalist conception of the nature of language† (1975, 129). Chomsky argues that the experiences available to language learners are far too sparse to account for their knowledge of their language. To explain language acquisition, we must assume that learners have an innate knowledge of a universal grammar capturing the common deep structure of natural languages. It is important to note that Chomsky’s language learners do not know particular propositions describing a universal grammar. They have a set of innate capacities or dispositions which enable and determine their language development. Chomsky gives us a theory of innate learning  capacities or structures rather than a theory of innate knowledge. His view does not support the Innate Knowledge thesis as rationalists have traditionally understood it. As one commentator puts it, â€Å"Chomsky’s principles †¦ are innate neither in the sense that we are explicitly aware of them, nor in the sense that we have a disposition to recognize their truth as obvious under appropriate circumstances. And hence it is by no means clear that Chomsky is correct in seeing his theory as following the traditional rationalist account of the acquisition of knowledge† (Cottingham 1984, p. 124). Peter Carruthers (1992) argues that we have innate knowledge of the principles of folk-psychology. Folk-psychology is a network of common-sense generalizations that hold independently of context or culture and concern the r elationships of mental states to one another, to the environment and states of the body and to behavior (1992, p.115). It includes such beliefs as that pains tend to be caused by injury, that pains tend to prevent us from concentrating on tasks, and that perceptions are generally caused by the appropriate state of the environment. Carruthers notes the complexity of folk-psychology, along with its success in explaining our behavior and the fact that its explanations appeal to such unobservables as beliefs, desires, feelings and thoughts. He argues that the complexity, universality, and depth of folk-psychological principles outstrips what experience can provide, especially to young children who by their fifth year already know a great many of them. This knowledge is also not the result of intuition or deduction; folk-psychological generalizations are not seen to be true in an act of intellectual insight. Carruthers concludes, â€Å"[The problem] concerning the child’s acquisition of psychological generalizations cannot be solved, unless we suppose that much of folk-psychology is already innate , triggered locally by the child’s experience of itself and others, rather than learned† (1992, p. 121). Empiricists, and some rationalists, attack the Innate Knowledge thesis in two main ways. First, they offer accounts of how sense experience or intuition and deduction provide the knowledge that is claimed to be innate. Second, they directly criticize the Innate Knowledge thesis itself. The classic statement of this second line of attack is presented in Locke 1690. Locke raises the issue of just what innate knowledge is. Particular instances of knowledge are supposed to be in our minds as part of our  rational make-up, but how are they â€Å"in our minds†? If the implication is that we all consciously have this knowledge, it is plainly false. Propositions often given as examples of innate knowledge, even such plausible candidates as the principle that the same thing cannot both be and not be, are not consciously accepted by children and those with severe cognitive limitations. If the point of calling such principles â€Å"innate† is not to imply that they are or have been consciously accepted by all rational beings, then it is hard to see what the point is. â€Å"No proposition can be said to be in the mind, which it never yet knew, which it never yet was conscious of† (1690, Book I, Chapter II, Section 5, p. 61). Proponents of innate knowledg e might respond that some knowledge is innate in that we have the capacity to have it. That claim, while true, is of little interest, however. â€Å"If the capacity of knowing, be the natural impression contended for, all the truths a man ever comes to know, will, by this account, be every one of them, innate; and this great point will amount to no more, but only an improper way of speaking; which whilst it pretends to assert the contrary, says nothing different from those, who deny innate principles. For nobody, I think, ever denied, that the mind was capable of knowing several truths† (1690, Book I, Chapter II, Section 5, p. 61). Locke thus challenges defenders of the Innate Knowledge thesis to present an account of innate knowledge that allows their position to be both true and interesting. A narrow interpretation of innateness faces counterexamples of rational individuals who do not meet its conditions. A generous interpretation implies that all our knowledge, even that clearly provided by experience, is innate. Defenders of innate knowledge take up Locke’s challenge. Leibniz responds (1704) by appealing to an account of innateness in terms of natural potential to avoid Locke’s dilemma. Consider Peter Carruthers’ similar reply. We have noted that while one form of nativism claims (somewhat implausibly) that knowledge is innate in the sense of being present as such (or at least in propositional form) from birth, it might also be maintained that knowle dge is innate in the sense of being innately determined to make its appearance at some stage in childhood. This latter thesis is surely the most plausible version of nativism. (1992, p. 51) Carruthers claims that our innate knowledge is determined through evolutionary selection (p. 111). Evolution has resulted in our being determined to know certain things (e.g.  principles of folk-psychology) at particular stages of our life, as part of our natural development. Experiences provide the occasion for our consciously believing the known propositions but not the basis for our knowledge of them (p. 52). Carruthers thus has a ready reply to Locke’s counterexamples of children and cognitively limited persons who do not believe propositions claimed to be instances of innate knowledge. The former have not yet reached the proper stage of development; the latter are persons in whom natural development has broken down (pp. 49–50). A serious problem for the Innate Knowledge thesis remains, however. We know a proposition only if it is true, we believe it and our belief is warranted. Rationalists who assert the existence of innate knowledge are not just claiming that, as a matter of human evolution, God’s design or some other factor, at a particular point in our development, certain sorts of experiences trigger our belief in particular propositions in a way that does not involve our learning them from the experiences. Their claim is ev en bolder: In at least some of these cases, our empirically triggered, but not empirically warranted, belief is nonetheless warranted and so known. How can these beliefs be warranted if they do not gain their warrant from the experiences that cause us to have them or from intuition and deduction? Some rationalists think that a reliabilist account of warrant provides the answer. According to Reliabilism, beliefs are warranted if they are formed by a process that generally produces true beliefs rather than false ones. The true beliefs that constitute our innate knowledge are warranted, then, because they are formed as the result of a reliable belief-forming process. Carruthers maintains that â€Å"Innate beliefs will count as known provided that the process through which they come to be innate is a reliable one (provided, that is, that the process tends to generate beliefs that are true)† (1992, p. 77). He argues that natural selection results in the formation of some beliefs and is a truth-reliable process. An appeal to Reliabilism, or a similar causal theory of warrant, may well be the best way for rationalists to develop the Innate Knowledge thesis. They have a difficult row to hoe, however. First, such accounts of warrant are themselves quite controversial. Second, rationalists must give an account of innate knowledge that maintains and explains the distinction between innate knowledge and a posteriori knowledge, and it is not clear that they will be  able to do so within such an account of warrant. Suppose for the sake of argument that we have innate knowledge of some proposition, P. What makes our knowledge that P innate? To sharpen the question, what difference between our knowledge that P and a clear case of a posteriori knowledge, say our knowledge that something is red based on our current visual experience of a red table, makes the former innate and the latter not innate? In each case, we have a true, warranted belief. In each case, presumably, our belief gains its warrant from the fact that it meets a particular causal condition, e.g., it is produced by a reliable process. In each case, the causal process is one in which an experience causes us to believe the proposition at hand (that P; that something is red), for, as defenders of innate knowledge admit, our belief that P is â€Å"triggered† by an experience, as is our belief that something is red. The insight behind the Innate Knowledge thesis seems to be that the difference between our innate and a posteriori knowledge lies in the relation between our experience and our belief in each case. The e xperience that causes our belief that P does not â€Å"contain† the information that P, while our visual experience of a red table does â€Å"contain† the information that something is red. Yet, exactly what is the nature of this containment relation between our experiences, on the one hand, and what we believe, on the other, that is missing in the one case but present in the other? The nature of the experience-belief relation seems quite similar in each. The causal relation between the experience that triggers our belief that P and our belief that P is contingent, as is the fact that the belief-forming process is reliable. The same is true of our experience of a red table and our belief that something is red. The causal relation between the experience and our belief is again contingent. We might have been so constructed that the experience we describe as â€Å"being appeared to redly† caused us to believe, not that something is red, but that something is hot. The process that takes us from the experince to our belief is also only contingently reliable. Moreover, if our experience of a red table â€Å"contains† the information that something is red, then that fact, not the existence of a reliable belief-forming process between the two, should be the reason why the experience warrants our belief. By appealing to Reliablism, or some other causal theory of warrant, rationalists may obtain a way to explain how innate knowledge can be warranted. They still need to show how their explanation supports an account of the difference between innate knowledge and a posteriori knowledge. 4. The Innate Concept Thesis According to the Innate Concept thesis, some of our concepts have not been gained from experience. They are instead part of our rational make-up, and experience simply triggers a process by which we consciously grasp them. The main concern motivating the rationalist should be familiar by now: the content of some concepts seems to outstrip anything we could have gained from experience. An example of this reasoning is presented by Descartes in the Meditations. Descartes classifies our ideas as adventitious, invented by us, and innate. Adventitious ideas, such as a sensation of heat, are gained directly through sense experience. Ideas invented by us, such as our idea of a hippogriff, are created by us from other ideas we possess. Innate ideas, such as our ideas of God, of extended matter, of substance and of a perfect triangle, are placed in our minds by God at creation. Consider Descartes’s argument that our concept of God, as an infinitely perfect being, is innate. Our concept of God is not directly gained in experience, as particular tastes, sensations and mental images might be. Its content is beyond what we could ever construct by applying available mental operations to what experience directly provides. From experience, we can gain the concept of a being with finite amounts of various perfections, one, for example, that is finitely knowledgeable, powerful and good. We cannot however move from these empirical concepts to the concept of a being of infinite perfection. (â€Å"I must not think that, just as my conceptions of rest and darkness are arrived at by negating movement and light, so my perception of the infinite is arrived at not by means of a true idea but by merely negating the finite,† Third Meditation, p. 94.) Descartes supplements this argument by another. Not only is the content of our concept of God beyond what experience can provide, the concept is a prerequisite for our employment of the concept of finite perfection gained from experience. (â€Å"My perception of the infinite, that is God, is in some way prior to my perception of the finite, that is myself. For how could I understand that I doubted or desired–that is lacked something–and that I wa s not wholly perfect, unless there were in me some idea of a more perfect being which enabled me to recognize my own defects by comparison,† Third Meditation, p. 94). An empiricist response to this  general line of argument is given by Locke (1690, Book I, Chapter IV, Sections 1–25, pp. 91–107). First, there is the problem of explaining what it is for someone to have an innate concept. If having an innate concept entails consciously entertaining it at present or in the past, then Descartes’s position is open to obvious counterexamples. Young children and people from other cultures do not consciously entertain the concept of God and have not done so. Second, there is the objection that we have no need to appeal to innate concepts in the first place. Contrary to Descartes’ argument, we can explain how experience provides all our ideas, including those the rationalists take to be innate, and with just the content that the rationalists attribute to them. Leibniz (1704) offers a rationalist reply to the first concern. Where Locke puts forth the image of the mind as a blank tablet on which experience writes, Leibniz offers us the image of a block of marble, the veins of which determine what sculpted figures it will accept. This is why I have taken as an illustration a block of veined marble, rather than a wholly uniform block or blank tablets, that is to say what is called tabula rasa in the language of the philosophers. For if the soul were like those blank tablets, truths would be in us in the same way as the figure of Hercules is in a block of marble, when the marble is completely indifferent whether it receives this or some other figure. But if there were veins in the stone which marked out the figure of Hercules rather than other figures, this stone would be more determined thereto, and Hercules would be as it were in some manner innate in it, although labour would be needed to uncover the veins, and to clear them by polishing, and by cutting away what prevents them from appearing. It is in this way that ideas and truths are innate in us, like natural inclinations and dispositions, natural habits or potentialities, and not like activities, although these potentialities are always accompanied by some activities which correspond to them, though they are often imperceptible. (1704, Preface, p. 153) Leibniz’s metaphor contains an insight that Locke misses. The mind plays a role in determining the nature of its contents. This point does not, however, require the adoption of the Innate Concept thesis. Rationalists have responded to the second part of the empiricist attack on the Innate Concept thesis–the empricists’ claim that the thesis is without basis, as all our ideas can be explained as derived from experience–by focusing on difficulties in the empiricists’  attempts to give such an explanation. The difficulties are illustrated by Locke’s account. According to Locke, experience consists in external sensation and inner reflection. All our ideas are either simple or complex, with the former being received by us passively in sensation or reflection and the latter being built by the mind from simple materials through various mental operations. Right at the start, the account of how simple ideas are gained is open to an obvious counterexample acknowledged, but then set aside, by Hume in presenting his own empiricist theory. Consider the mental image of a particular shade of blue. If Locke is right, the idea is a simple one and should be passive ly received by the mind through experience. Hume points out otherwise. Suppose therefore a person to have enjoyed his sight for thirty years and to have become perfectly acquainted with colors of all kinds, except one particular shade of blue, for instance, which it never has been his fortune to meet with; let all the different shades of that color, except that single one, be placed before him, descending gradually from the deepest to the lightest, it is plain that he will perceive a blank where that shade is wanting and will be sensible that there is a greater distance in that place between the contiguous colors than in any other. Now I ask whether it be possible for him, from his own imagination, to supply this deficiency and raise up to himself the idea of that particular shade, though it had never been conveyed to him by his senses? I believe there are but few will be of the opinion that he can†¦ (1748, Section II, pp. 29–30) Even when it comes to such simple ideas as the image of a particular shade of blue, th e mind is more than a blank slate on which experience writes. Consider too our concept of a particular color, say red. Critics of Locke’s account have pointed out the weaknesses in his explanation of how we gain such a concept by the mental operation of abstraction on individual cases. For one thing, it makes the incorrect assumption that various instances of a particular concept share a common feature. Carruthers puts the objection as follows. In fact problems arise for empiricists even in connection with the very simplest concepts, such as those of colour. For it is false that all instances of a given colour share some common feature. In which case we cannot acquire the concept of that colour by abstracting the common feature of our experience. Thus consider the concept red. Do all shades of red have something in common? If so, what? It is surely false that individual shades  of red consist, as it were, of two distinguishable elements a general redness together with a particular shade. Rather, redness consists in a continuous range of shades, each of which is only just distinguishable from its neighbors. Acquiring the concept red is a matter of learning the extent of the range. (1992, p. 59) For another thing, Locke’s account of concept acquisition from particular experiences seems circular. As it stands, however, Locke’s account of concept acquisition appears viciously circular. For noticing or attending to a common feature of various things presupposes that you already possess the concept of the feature in question. (Carruthers 1992, p. 55) Consider in this regard Locke’s account of how we gain our concept of causation. In the notice that our senses take of the constant vicissitude of things, we cannot but observe, that several particulars, both qualities and substances; begin to exist; and that they receive this their existence from the due application and operation of some other being. From this observation, we get our ideas of cause and effect. (1690, Book II, Chapter 26, Section 1, pp. 292–293) We get our concept of causation from our observation that some things receive their existence from the application and operation of some other things. Yet, we cannot make this observation unless we already have the concept of causation. Locke’s account of how we gain our idea of power displays a similar circularity. The mind being every day informed, by the senses, of the alteration of those simple ideas, it observes in things without; and taking notice how one comes to an end, and ceases to be, and another begins to exist which was not before; reflecting also on what passes within itself, and observing a constant change of its ideas, sometimes by the impression of outward objects on the senses, and sometimes by the determination of its own choice; and concluding from what it has so constantly observed to have been, that the like changes will for the future b e made in the same things, by like agents, and by the like ways, considers in one thing the possibility of having any of its simple ideas changed, and in another the possibility of making that change; and so comes by that idea which we call power. (1690, Chapter XXI, Section 1, pp. 219–220) We come by the idea of power though considering the possibility of changes in our ideas made by experiences and our own choices. Yet, to consider this possibility—of some things making a change in others—we must already have a concept of power. One way to meet at least some of these  challenges to an empiricist account of the origin of our concepts is to revise our understanding of the content of our concepts so as to bring them more in line with what experience will clearly provide. Hume famously takes this approach. Beginning in a way reminiscent of Locke, he distinguishes between two forms of mental contents or â€Å"perceptions,† as he calls them: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the contents of our current experiences: our sensations, feelings, emotions, desires, and so on. Ideas are mental contents derived from impressions. Simple ideas are copies of impressions; complex ideas are derived from impressions by â€Å"compounding, transposing, augmenting or diminishing† them. Given that all our ideas are thus gained from experience, Hume offers us the following method for determining the content of any idea and thereby the meaning of any term taken to express it. When we entertain, therefore, any suspicion that a philosophical term is employed without any meaning or idea (as is but too frequent), we need but inquire from what impression is that supposed idea derived? And if it be impossible to assign any, this will confirm our suspicion. (1690, Section II, p. 30) Using this test, Hume draws out one of the most important implications of the empiricists’ denial of the Innate Concept thesis. If experience is indeed the source of all ideas, then our experiences also determine the content of our ideas. Our ideas of causation, of substance, of right and wrong have their content determined by the experiences that provide them. Those experiences, Hume argues, are unable to support the content that many rationalists and some empiricists, such as Locke, attribute to the corresponding ideas. Our inability to explain how some concepts, with the contents the rationalists attribute to them, are gained from experience should not lead us to adopt the Innate Concept thesis. It should lead us to accept a more limited view of the contents for those concepts, and thereby a more limited view of our ability to describe and understand the world. Consider, for example, our idea of causation. Descartes takes it to be innate. Locke offers an apparently circular account of how it is gained from experience. Hume’s empiricist account severely limits its content. Our idea of causation is derived from a feeling of expectation rooted in our experiences of the constant conjunction of similar causes and effects. It appears, then, that this idea of a necessary connection among events arises from a number of similar instances which  occur, of the constant conjunction of these events; nor can that idea ever be suggested by any one of these instances surveyed in all possible lights and positions. But there is nothing in a number of instances, different from every single instance, which is supposed to be exactly similar, except only that after a repetition of similar instances the mind is carried by habit, upon the appearance of one event, to expect its usual attendant and to believe that it will exist. This connection, therefore, which we feel in the mind, this customary tran sition of the imagination from one object to its usual attendant, is the sentiment or impression from which we form the idea of power or necessary connection. (1748, Section VII, Part 2, p. 86) The source of our idea in experience determines its content. Suitably to this experience, therefore, we may define a cause to be an object followed by another, and where all the objects, similar to the first are followed by objects similar to the second†¦ We may, therefore, suitably to this experience, form another definition of cause and call it an object followed by another, and whose appearance always conveys the thought of the other. (1748, Section VII, Part 2, p. 87) Our claims, and any knowledge we may have, about causal connections in the world turn out, given the limited content of our empirically based concept of causation, to be claims and knowledge about the constant conjunction of events and our own feelings of expectation. Thus, the initial disagreement between rationalists and empiricists about the source of our ideas leads to one about their content and thereby the content of our descriptions and knowledge of the world. Like philosophical debates generally, the rationalist/empiricist debate ultimately concerns our position in the world, in this case our position as rational inquirers. To what extent do our faculties of reason and experience support our attempts to know and understand our situation.

Educational Program on Tobacco Abuse and Addiction Essay

Tobacco is a farming produce that is used for smoking through the form of a cigarette. It normally contains nicotine as well as harmane. Tobacco causes so many diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and lung diseases. Generally tobacco is smoked, sucked, chewed and snuffed. They contain a very high addictive psychoactive ingredient called nicotine. Tobacco is even worse compared to other drugs. Nicotine is also a very addictive substance clearly known by man and it is very strong and acts very fast. Nicotine is a drug which has many different effects within the body and it stimulates one’s system, even if it makes one feel more relaxed. Nicotine also affects the chemicals in the brain and immediately after the puff one begins to feel high for a second and that is the reason why so many smokers look at smoking as stress relief since they are under pressure. Nevertheless, the program is designed purposely to motivate and educate teenagers and young adults between ages 23-30 the major effects one experiences after tobacco abuse. The program will address the effects of tobacco abuse and it is aimed at increasing the adult’s knowledge of the major effects of tobacco use. The adults between 23 years and 30 years will experience so many activities that will permit them to keep away from using tobacco. During the presentation, all the aforementioned adults will be able to know the effects of nicotine and alcohol cancer being one of them. On the other hand, nicotine tends to cause short-term chances of high blood pressure, heart rate, as well as the flow of the blood right from the heart. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen that the blood carries. The long term effects of smoking causes persistent lung disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, with cancer of the larynx, lungs, mouth, esophagus and bladder. It goes ahead and forms cancer, cervix and the kidneys. The educational program is going to address all this effects of tobacco such that all the adults will be aware and stop taking tobacco.

Butcher Boys by Jane Alexander Essay

Butcher Boys is a work of art created by Jane Alexander in 1985-86. Jane Alexander is a caucasian female who was born in Johannesburg South Africa in 1959, and grew up in South Africa during the tumultuous political and cultural atmosphere of apartheid and the fight for civil rights. This location, or more specifically the cultural, social and political aspects of this location, affected Alexander’s work, Butcher Boys. The artist states, â€Å"my work has been a response to the social environment I find myself in. Apartheid happened to be the important political condition at a certain time, and it still impacts my perception of social environments now, here or abroad†. (Dent). Alexander still resides in South Africa and currently teaches at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in Cape Town (Bick 30). Butcher Boys is a work consisting of three plaster-cast, life-size naked figures that embody both human and inhuman characteristics. The human characteristics include arms, legs, hands, feet and torsos that are combined with monster like heads with decaying horns, dark eyes, cleaved backs, sutured chests, ear holes and lacking mouths. The genitalia of the figures appear to be covered by codpieces. The three figures are seated on a bench in a mundane position that could be seen in a â€Å"doctor’s office waiting room† or similar to â€Å"athletes on the bench.† (Klassmeyer). This exhibit is not separated from the audience by rails or boundaries, but is on an equal level to viewers, and therefore viewers are able to see the art piece from all angles. The artist used oil paints to create the darkness of the defects of the figures making them seem more realistic. This artwork was created by Alexander while she was completing a masters degree at the University  of Witwatersrand. She may have chosen the media of plaster to create these figures due to the message she intended to portray. The possible message, which will be discussed in detail later, is controversial and addresses the  large topic of apartheid. Perhaps the artist wanted to make a life-sized exhibit to make an impression and better communicate this important message. This exhibit is not just large but the humanoid figures are created to scale of the human form which makes the message more intimate and relatable to the general audience. Another reason why Alexander may have chosen plaster for this art piece, is that plaster is inexpensive and easily accessible. For a student, and I speak from experience, these are important considerations when choosing a medium to utilize. Therefore, plaster allowed Alexander to make the statement she intended within her constraints as a stude nt. In A History of Art in Africa, Suzanne Blier describes various categories that can applied to African art. Several of these categories apply to Jane Alexander’s piece Butcher Boys. Alexander utilizes innovation of form by adding innovations to the human figure to communicate her message. This symbolizes the inhuman characteristics of the culture of apartheid. This technique of creating human forms with inhuman additions has a realistic and yet surreal effect on the viewer. Visual abstraction is shown in this artwork by the deviation of the figures from the classic human form. Although the figures are in a very unremarkable position, they have cleaved backs, horns, ear holes and other inhuman attributes. Without the addition of these abstract characteristics, these figures would appear to be ordinary humans, and the thought provoking connotations of the piece would be lost. The figures in the art piece are human like and represent human society. This shows humanism/ anthropomorphism. There are also three figures arranged together in this piece making this display an ensemble. The meaning of Butcher Boys is very intellectually complex, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Therefore the piece shows a multiplicity of meaning. The various interpretations of this piece will be discussed at a later point in this essay. The categories that do not apply to Alexander’s piece include parallel  asymmetries and performance. The cultural, political, and social circumstances that existed in South Africa during the life of Jane Alexander greatly impacted her art, and specifically the piece Butcher Boys. To appreciate the meaning of this piece  it is necessary to understand the history of South Africa, the origin of the artist. Similar to other African countries, South Africa was colonized by Europeans including Dutch and later British immigrants. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the mid 1800s brought an increase in attention to South Africa and therefore, an increase in immigration from European countries. The Zulu, an empire of the indigenous African population, was defeated by the British and the Dutch in 1879. These white immigrants over time established control of the indigenous populations by creating several laws and limitations. The Native’s Land Act of 1913 assigned 87% of the land in South Africa to the white population and 13% to blacks. The Mines and Works Act of 1911 assigned menial and manual labor to blacks and skilled labor to whites. During this time the indigenous population was denied many rights including the right to vote. In 1948, apartheid, a policy of racial segregation, was put into place by the ruling white population. This significantly increased the racial issues in South Africa. In the 1960s and 1970s South Africa encountered upheaval including several strikes and uprisings which result ed in many deaths. After this time South Africa experienced a continuous struggle between the black and white populations as the indigenous people fought for their civil rights, similar to what was experienced in the United States during this time. During this time of racial turbulence, Jane Alexander created the piece Butcher Boys in 1985-86. This cultural, social and political framework had a distinct impact that is communicated in the meaning of this piece. As an artist, Jane Alexander is generally silent as to her intended meaning of her pieces ArtThrob). Therefore, the meaning of Butcher Boys is open to interpretation and there are a variety of perceptions of this piece. One possible intention of this piece is to create emotions within the viewers related to the horrors that took place during the apartheid era in South Africa. The figures in the artwork may represent the  perpetrators of apartheid. The casualness of the appearance of the models in relation to the inhuman characteristics of each may communicate the good and evil within the white population involved in these atrocities. This may show the revulsion that Alexander felt toward the white population while living in South Africa during apartheid. In contrast, these figures can also be  perceived as representations of the black population. They show â€Å"dehumanized victims of apartheid’s crimes against humanity† (Bick 33) by the additions of horns, cleaved backs, and other inhuman attributes on the otherwise normal human form. It can be argued that the evil vs good theme displayed in this artwork portray the good and evil present in all of us. These sculptures have no genitalia or specific skin color and are therefore representations of humanity in general, and all viewers can relate the forms to themselves. This interpretation is intensified because the figures are life-sized and are not separated from the audience allowing them to become more intimate with the art piece. The human features of the sculptures cause viewers to relate personally to the figures, and ponder if the inhuman att ributes represent the evil inside themselves. Another interesting issue regarding the perception of Jane Alexander’s Butcher Boys occurred in February 2012. At this time, the South African band Die Antwoord’s lead singer Ninja dressed as a character resembling a figure in Butcher Boys in a teaser trailer for their album Tension. Die Antwoord speaks to the post-apartheid generation of the white population who is now experiencing a changing identity as the political and social entities in South Africa stabilize after a tumultuous past. Die Antwoord participates in â€Å"selecting, editing, and borrowing from available cultural resources to construct and perform a new white identity† (English). Jane Alexander communicated with the band after this release objecting to the band’s appropriation of the imagery of her piece. The band immediately removed the video and the lead singer responded that they used the imagery because Butcher Boys was one of the few South African art pieces that they were proud of. R eactions to this occurrence in South Africa have been mixed. Butcher Boys by Jane Alexander was chosen for this essay because it was previously introduced to the class and the image was found to be both visually and conceptually stimulating. After reading the article Horror Histories: Apartheid and the Abject Body in the Work of Jane Alexander, the historical significance of this piece made it even more intriguing. Butcher Boys became even more compelling after research showed that this specific art work, as well as its history, impacted the band Die Antwoord, which is a  band I appreciate. This piece is relatable to me personally because it shares many qualities of my own work which utilize the human form with alterations. I find the work of Jane Alexander to be inspirational and will draw from this experience in my future endeavors as an artist. Bibliography Being Human. Durham University. N.p., 3 Mar. 2009. Web. . Bick, Tenley. â€Å"Horror Histories: Apartheid and the Abject Body in the Work of Jane Alexander.† African Arts (2010): 30-41. Print. Dent, Lisa. â€Å"Global Context: Q+A with Jane Alexander.† Art in America. Cynthia Zabel, 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . English, Chris. â€Å"Die Antwoord and Appropriation.† YouTube. YouTube, 06Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . â€Å"Jane Alexander.† ArtThrob. N.p., July 1999. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . â€Å"Jane Alexander | South African History Online.† South African History. N.p.,15 Apr. 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . Jimenez, Dan’etta. â€Å"Jane Alexander: Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope).† (2013): n. pag. Rpt. in Museum of African Art New York. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Klassmeyer, Kelly. â€Å"Jane Alexander and the Dangers of Success.† Houston Press. N.p., 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . Visonà  , Monica Blackmun. A History of Art in Africa. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.

Li Bai. Poetry and the Tang Dynasty Research Paper

Li Bai. Poetry and the Tang Dynasty - Research Paper Example The birth of Li was at the point when poetry had the court sponsorship and was a mandatory element of every administrative and public education. At the time of his demise, the whole country was restless and under the turmoil of civil rebellion which had gravely effected the prosperity of a blooming nation and the tone of Li’s poetry. The poetry of Li Bai during the Tang Dynasty is the clear depiction of art, love, romance, loss, might, failure and gratitude. The rise and the fall of the Tang dynasty is an epic story of love, hatred, betrayal, rise and fall of one of the greatest civilizations of the world. The Tang dynasty was established by the Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, who was the victor of the civil war that ended in 617AD and claimed himself by the name of Emperor Gao-Zu. When he became the emperor of China, he not only reunited China but also ruled it efficiently from 617AD to 626AD2. The emperor was then disposed by his son Li Shimin in 626 which resulted in the blood feud among the sons to become the inheritor of the rule and eventually the winner was Li who became the next ruler known as the Emperor Taizong. The rule of the Emperor Taizong is one of the golden ages in the Tang dynasty who helped promote the art and literature across the country3. Through his reformist administration, and love for art and literature, he is still known as one of the greatest rulers of this great civilization. After his death in 649AD, his son Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne who proved to be a very weak ruler. The rule of the Emperor Gaozong was from 649 to 683 making it more than 34 year but the prime ruler during this era was Empress Wu Zetian. Empress Wu was the concubine of the emperor who used her influence and charm over the emperor and got the wife the emperor murdered and promoted herself as the empress4. The rule of Empress Wu is one of the cruelest eras in the history. She sent to exile and got murdered everyone in the entire country who she thought could be a hurdle in her rule as Lewis states: "Through the examination and her own personal choices, Empress Wu promoted several poets of humble birth who themselves became patrons of others from local elites or even poor families."5 However, with old age, the empress was not able to keep herself in control and was disposed in the favor of Emperor Zhongzong in 705AD. Emperor Zhongzong did not love for ling to rule and with his death in 710AD, the throne was taken control of by his spouse Empress Wei. The empress tried to rule like empress Wu but did not last long and was eventually disposed in 712AD and Emperor Xuanzong was placed on the throne. The rule of Emperor Xuanzong is the longest in the Tang dynasty, which lasted from 712AD to 756 AD making it just about 44 years. Emperor Xuanzong was an efficient ruler in the beginning of his career but later he was greatly influenced by the Taoist spirituality which shoed his weak administrative capability and giving rise to many insurgencies across the rule. Of the major insurgency was the An Lushan Rebellion, which also affected the later years Li Bai’s poetry. Not only this, the weakness of Emperor Xuanzong’s rule resulted in the rise of Islamic influence along the Central Asia who became the major influence holders of the silk route. After the Emperor Xuanzong fled the throne during the rebellion, Suzong became the next ruler of China. The

Sonny's Blues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sonny's Blues - Essay Example On the other hand, Sonny’s brother is an upright math teacher and a family man. Though, he always steers clear of trouble but feels trapped in Harlem and yet, chooses to remain passive about it. Sonny’s character depicts restlessness and even though Sonny’s brother too experiences that restlessness they both have different ways of exhibiting them and coping with such feelings. 2. What are the conflicts in the story (internal and external)? The entire story depicts various conflicts both the narrator and the protagonist face and eventually pave their paths in life. The conflicts that sonny and the narrator are constantly battling with are the feeling of being trapped in Harlem and their estranged relationship with each other. They both understand the problems they have faced throughout their lives, but due to the fact that none of them truly took the time to share and divulge their feelings to one another, none of them could truly understand each other. Moreover, Sonny’s older brother had taken up the responsibility of looking after his brother after his mother died but due to the way he turned out, the narrator was always suffering from this guilt.

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem among many young people Essay

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem among many young people - Essay Example Statistics show that almost 64% of the high school students say that they have been drunk at least once. Among youth between the ages 12 to 17, 77% (Spear, pp. 71-81) say that they have had at least one serious problem related to drinking in the past year. The teenagers who engage in this problem suffer in various aspects of their life. Teenagers having drinking problems suffer in their education. They tend to skip school and their classes and their performance level starts going down as the problem increases. This is because their attention span towards anything goes down and hence their performance decreases. Another problem that arises is that of drunk driving and the number of accidents and deaths caused by it. Statistics show that underage drinking and alcohol use is more likely to kill youngsters compared to illegal drugs. Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths of youth between the ages of 15 and 20. The rate of these accidents is much more for teenager s between ages of 16 to 20 rather than 20 years and above (Spear, pp. 71-81). Another problem is that of suicide. After depression and stress, alcohol abuse is the third factor causing young people to commit suicide for children between 14 and 25. Sexual assaults and rapes are also becoming increasingly common as an effect of alcohol abuse.

Create a Situation Analysis of a Company I Want to Work for Essay

Create a Situation Analysis of a Company I Want to Work for - Essay Example To make their customers satisfied Humana differentiates its product by conducting ethnographic research. Humana provides various programs for their customers and takes complete advantage of the customers’ understanding. In the insurance market, Humana has a number of strong competitors such as Atena and Signa. As the health industry market is in growth stage, Humana tries innovation of new products which is the biggest strength of the company. The good business practices and strategies have made Humana one of the biggest players in the healthcare industry. Situation Analysis of Humana About Humana Humana is one of the top health care providing companies of the US. Unlike other companies, Humana considers it as a challenge to meet consumer expectations of reliability and personalization. Humana deals with health insurance products and health plans. Humana’s products and services are all customer centric. The customers always hope that the company understands their needs. Humana’s ‘customer service representatives’ have the capability to understand the enquiries of the customers and can provide appropriate solutions to them. Humana’s service model is designed in such a way that it can identify the specific needs of the customers. The reason is that the insurer needs to appeal exclusively to individual customers. The uniqueness in product and service appears when customers have good interaction with the company and they can experience something innovative which cannot be found in other company. The differentiation makes the customers feel that the company understands them and their problems. Through providing innovative and exclusive perspectives on health and benefits to customers, Humana has succeeded to accomplish its objectives. To successfully manage the healthcare, develop budget plan, and maintain health expenses, Humana conduct ethnographic research. Humana seeks to provide its employees the appropriate information which is needed for making the above decisions. The career in Humana is based on four principles which are consolidation, personalization, distillation and actionability. To provide good product Humana positions a prototype before introducing the end product in the market (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, â€Å"Insurance and Technology†). Understanding the Customer Humana provides flexibility, appropriate pricing and superior value for their customers. The managers and agents are the essential part for the success of Humana. Humana respects their job which they perform for the customers and continuously tries to make it simple for the customers to engage with the company. With regard to heath insurance product, Humana recognizes the needs of customers and develops customer centric plans. Its services include commercial products; self funded services and individual products. Humana conducts various programs for customers such as specialty benefit, supplemental and behavior al health program, professional life plan and wellness programs. Humana follows user centric strategy. It tries to maximize the customers’ experience by observing their actions not just their requirements. The end–user involvement is quite vital because it can provide in-depth

Marketing strategy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing strategy - Research Paper Example etting out a working marketing strategy which mainly focuses on customer satisfaction and customer awareness by selling, expanding or creating a new market line, branding, building awareness of new products and services and customer appreciation campaign. By focusing on the marketing strategies, the company will have created an elaborate distribution plan that enhances customer relations thus creating a competitive advantage over their competitors and an opportunity to investigate the competitor’s capabilities by assessing their reactions to their marketing strategy by differentiating itself. The main goals of this research are to study and assess the impact of Wal-Mart’s marketing strategies on the market shares of the USA as a leading retailer and to investigate the main role marketing strategies play in the enhancement and growth of Wal-Mart and how their strategies have aided them in staying different from its competitors. Wal-Mart is currently the largest retail store chain in the world and its profit margins have been increasing yearly thus enabling it to remain the most profitable retail store in the United States. Wal-Mart was founded in the late 1940s by Walton and has been dealing with all major products which are categorized into fourteen general categories, that is music and books, apparel and jewelry, electronics, furniture and home dà ©cor, outdoor living, groceries, health and beauty, movie, photo, medicines, baby care, sports and fitness, toys and video games. The retail store has received reputable fame due to its marketing strategies and profit gains over the years making it the most researched on retail store worldwide. This research is beneficial in the analysis of marketing strategies that Wal-Mart uses to remain atop the retail market as it demonstrated the benefits of marketing strategies in aiding companies reach their objectives. In today’s market, customers are increasingly demanding for satisfaction in terms of what they want,

Street Art is a style and an influence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Street Art is a style and an influence - Essay Example The definition of street art, whether discussing the spray painted graffiti of Banksy or the chalk sidewalk drawings of Beever, changes depending upon who is providing the definition. Although often referred to as art, its artistic merits are frequently ignored or deemed unimportant, as is exemplified in the definition provided by the Dublin City Council in which only one of the five listed characteristics even mentions its artistic qualities: â€Å"Graffiti is illegal and an anti-social activity that creates a negative impression of an area and contributes to people’s fear of crime; †¦ is the most common type of property vandalism; †¦ is often the first element in a spiral of decline; †¦ Its artistic merits are irrelevant. It represents one group of people imposing themselves on everyone else and as such is a form of pollution, like people playing loud music †¦ is also a green issue as it is an attack on the environment.† Because chalk art washes aw ay with a good rain, this is not often considered to be as great a nuisance as the spray-paint-wielding wall painters and is thus not addressed in such specific terms by government agencies. Attempting to present a more objective view, Stowers (2005) says simply â€Å"Graffiti is art†, but then follows this with an argument against the establishment definitions with â€Å"The reasons, including aesthetic criteria, as to why it is an art form far outweigh the criticism of illegality, incoherence, and nonstandard presentation.† While both the work of Banksy in spray pain.

50 Year of US Policy in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

50 Year of US Policy in the Middle East - Essay Example The biggest asset of Middle East is the amount of oil that is concentrated in the region, which has simultaneously also emerged as one of the biggest problems. Therefore the Western population is highly accustomed to the propaganda of the Middle Eastern regions, and this has also brought Islam in the middle. It was especially prominent during the European colonial times, which was also exacerbated by Edward Said in his famous book, â€Å"Orientalism†. The way it has been negatively stereotyped has provided tremendous justification for involvement and also in ensuring a certain level of stability for the interests of powers that are present in the region (Shah, 2). Another issue, which is also pivotal to Middle East, is racism and cultural stereotyping that has become very concentrated. There are certain war films that depict an Islamic or Arab group as bad, which clearly show the current conflicts etc. A bad guy is very often an Arab from one of the rogue states and because of the 9/11 attacks perpetrated against the United States and also the War on Terror; it’s very likely that this description will continue. Another huge problem is that to maintain their dominance and supremacy in the Middle Eastern, the West has also put a lot of power, money and influence in the hands of corrupt Arab leaders, and consequently collaborated in the overthrow of those people who were seen as a threat to their interests. Furthermore, it has contributed a great deal in keeping the populations at bay, for the wealth, power and militarization of the elite class. It is also said to be done for combating the phenomena of communism.

The importance of remaining respectful of others, and learned that Essay

The importance of remaining respectful of others, and learned that understanding the impact of diversity in the customer service environment is essential - Essay Example Thirdly, the foreign capital enjoyed by nations under a trading umbrella allows their entrepreneurs to import or export knowledge and technology so as to help boost productivity in their respective nations. Fourthly, financial globalization principles allows foreign entrepreneurs to undertake business in capital and banking markets hence help in boosting quality of financial services. On the contrary, financial globalization has its own drawbacks. For instance, as nations get into trade ties with global financial systems, unfavourable financial shocks in one nation may be absorbed by another in form of contagion effects which may easily drag a country’s stable economy to a catastrophe. â€Å"Globalization also poses complications on the operations of banks and other businesses as it complicates management of exterior resources and liabilities† (Cline, 2010). In an effort to manage the negative effects posed by financial globalization, governments all over the world have developed multifaceted networks with the sole purpose of averting negative financial effects posed by financial crises. The roles of such networks put forth by governments include: oversight, monetary regulation and lending. However, such interventions have rarely worked towards averting financial crises to the expectation of many

Classical Education Essay Example for Free

Classical Education Essay Some people hold the view that the classics are classics because they have stood the test of time. Therefore, they are to be treasured by people of all generations, ours being no exception. Others believe that the classics represent the wisdom of the past. As we are advancing towards the future, it is our responsibility to venture into the unknown and generate new understanding of man and nature. What is your view on this issue? Write an essay in 300 – 500 words in response to this question and give reasons to support your position. Classical education is ‘ communicates to the mind †¦ a high sense of honor, a disdain of death in a good cause, and a passionate devotion to the welfare of one’s country’ , which proposed by Oxford classicist Edward Copleston. Classics studies indeed have stood the test of time and represent the wisdom of the past which treasured by all generations. Therefore, it is our responsibility to venture into the unknown and generate new understanding of man and nature. Traditionally, the study of classics was the principal study of the humanities. It is connected to the study of languages, history, art, literature, philosophy, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean word, especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. For example, every European language today such as the Romance languages and Modern Greek was evolved and influenced by the classical language of the Ancient Mediterranean. Nevertheless, classical study now expanded to Northern Africa and Middle East. It has become our references in many different arenas and immensely contributed to our culture today which proves that classic studies have the ability to transform self’s understanding. According to Charles Augustin Sainte-Beure’s idea and belief, a true classic is an author who has enriched the human mind and revealed some eternal passion through his thought, observation, or invention. Therefore, it could be opposed by anyone since each and everyone have different thoughts and ideas influenced by their present lifestyles, culture or even discovery.

Operations management of the Tata Motors Group

Operations management of the Tata Motors Group The concept of operations management is related to the optimum utilization of the resources in the best possible way. In todays complex business environment it is very important to understand the importance of every management process. operations management is a very important factor for the maximum utilization of resources in any firm. Introduction Established under the parent company, Tata Group, in 1945, Tata Motors Limited has become Indias largest automobile company. It was the first Indian automobile company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Tata Motors began manufacturing commercial vehicles in 1954 with a 15-year collaboration agreement with Daimler Benz of Germany. This partnership has led Tata Motors to not only become Indias largest automobile company but also Indias largest commercial vehicle manufacturer; the worlds top five manufactures of medium and heavy trucks and the worlds second largest medium and heavy bus manufacturer. Having just entered the passenger vehicles market segment in 1991, Tata Motors now ranks second in Indias passenger vehicle market. Tata has enjoyed the prestige of having developed Tata Ace, Indias first indigenous light commercial vehicle; Tata Safari, Indias first sports utility vehicle; Tata Indica, Indias first indigenously manufactured passenger car; and the Nano, the worlds least expensive The company that has been taken for the purpose of demonstrating operation management and its effectiveness is Tata motors India Pvt. Ltd. The fact that tata motors came up with a small car in the Indian market and has been very succesfull it needs to be understood that what it is that instigated the success to such a boundry. Tata Motors is Indias largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of USD 20 billion in 2009-10. It is the leader in commercial vehicles and among the top three in passenger vehicles. Tata Motors has products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the worlds fourth largest truck manufacturer, the worlds second largest bus manufacturer, and employs 24,000 workers. Since first rolled out in 1954, Tata Motors has produced and sold over 4 million vehicles in India. Established in 1945, when the company began manufacturing locomotives, the company manufactured its first commercial vehicle in 1954 in a collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG, which ended in 1969. Tata Motors is a dual-listed company traded on both the Bombay Stock Exchange, as well as on the New York Stock Exchange. Tata Motors in 2005, was ranked among the top 10 corporations in India with an annual revenue exceeding INR 320 billion. In 2010, Tata Motors surpassed Reliance to win the coveted title of Indias most valuable brand in a annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times. Tata Motors has auto manufacturing and assembly plants in Jamshedpur, Pantnagar , Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Sanand,Dharwad and Pune in India, as well as in Argentina, South Africa and Thailand. Tata Motors aimed to increase its presence worldwide. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company of South Korea. The reasons behind the acquisition were: Companys global plans to reduce domestic exposure. The domestic commercial vehicle market is highly cyclical in nature and prone to fluctuations in the domestic economy. Tata Motors has a high domestic exposure of ~94% in the MHCV segment and ~84% in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment. Since the domestic commercial vehicle sales of the company are at the mercy of the structural economic factors, it is increasingly looking at the international markets. The company plans to diversify into various markets across the world in both MHCV as well as LCV segments. To expand the product portfolio Tata Motors recently introduced the 25MT GVW Tata Novus from Daewoos (South Korea) (TDCV) platform. Tata plans to leverage on the strong presence of TDCV in the heavy-tonnage range and introduce products in India at an appropriate time. This was mainly to cater to the international market and also to cater to the domestic market where a major improvement in the Road infrastructure was done through the National Highway Development Project. Tata remains Indias largest heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer and Tata Daewoo is the 2nd largest heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer in South Korea. Tata Motors has jointly worked with Tata Daewoo to develop trucks such as Novus and World Truck and buses namely, GloBus and StarBus. In January 2008, Tata Motors launched Tata Nano, the least expensive production car in the world at about 120,000 (US $3000).The city car was unveiled during the Auto Expo 2008 exhibition in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Tata has faced controversy over developing the Nano as some environmentalists are concerned that the launch of such a low-priced car could lead to mass motorization in India with adverse effects on pollution and global warming. Tata has set up a factory in Sanand, Gujarat and the first Nanos are to roll out summer 2009. Tata Nano Europa has been developed for sale in developed economies and is to hit markets in 2010 while the normal Nano should hit markets in South Africa, Kenya and countries in Asia and Africa by late 2009. A battery version is also planned. Tata Motors Limited is Indias largest automobile company, with revenues of 35,651.48 crore (US$7.74 billion) in 2007-08. It is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top three in passenger vehicles in India with products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. Tata vehicles are sold primarily in India, and over 4 million Tata vehicles have been produced domestically since the first Tata vehicle was assembled in 1954. The companys manufacturing base in India is spread across Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Dharwad (Karnataka). Following a strategic alliance with Fiat in 2005, Tata set up an industrial joint venture with Fiat Group Automobiles at Ranjangaon (Maharashtra) to produce both Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat powertrains. The company is establishing a new plant at Sanand (Gujarat). Tatas dealership, sales, service and spare parts network comprises over 3500 touch points. Ta ta Motors also distributes and markets Fiat branded cars in India. Current Situation The Tata Motors group is a passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in India. The motor group was established in 1945 as part of the larger Tata Group. They have long been known for their commercial vehicles and in the past ten years entered into the passenger car market. Currently, Tata Motors has a line of five passenger vehicles and a large line of commercial vehicles producing pickups, trucks, tractor trailers, tippers, and buses. Both product lines of the Tata Motors group have seen success, but much of this has been built upon the more deeply established commercial vehicle product line. Tata Motors commercial line has been established for several years in many market segments such as Europe, Africa, The Middle East, Australia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Tata Motors has expanded their business and market share around the world through a series of acquisitions. In 2004, they acquired Daewoo commercial vehicle Company in South Korea which was South Koreas second largest truck manufacturer. This acquisition gave Tata Motors a significant presence in the Korean market. They have also entered into joint ventures with companies such as Thonburi Automotive in 2006, which allowed them to manufacture and market pickup trucks in Thailand. Tata Motors have been making global headlines in the auto industry lately; the largest news being their acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Tata paid 2.3 billion dollars to Ford for the two brands that cost Ford 5.3 billion (Carty, USA Today). This is a major step for the company because it catapults them into the luxury car business which they are not known for at this time. Tata, like many new businesses it acquires, is allowing this new segment of the business to be run by previous management since they have more experience in the luxury automotive business. Tata will give us some space. They want us to run our business, be a premium British car company (Mike ODriscoll, managing director of Jaguar). This is yet another large acquisition for the Tata Motors group and could create great success for the company in the near future. Corporate Governance Since Tata Motors is a part of a large conglomerate company it needs to have a strong corporate governance to ensure that its employees act ethically and the business continues to run smoothly especially during the ever changing and dynamic global economy. Tata Groups corporate governance is founded upon a rich legacy of fair, ethical, and transparent governance practices (tatacarsworldwide.com). One of the more important parts of this is the transparency of the company people have a right to know what the company is doing not only to ensure ethical practices, but for the insurance of their many shareholders whom have a right to know the inner workings of the company Tata has created some models for employees to guide themselves through everyday business practices to ensure that the corporate governance is continuously being upheld. The Tata business excellence model is upheld by Tata quality management services. Quality management is an in-house group dedicated to helping the various Tata companies achieve their business objectives through specific processes. The two main processes that the quality management services employees focus on are business excellence and business ethics. These two objectives have helped build Tata into the strong, dynamic company it is today. These models are entrenched in the companys ethnical standards and Tata feels strongly about enforcing both throughout the company. Tata quality management services plays the role of supporter and facilitator in the journey that Tata enterprises undertake to reach the peaks of business eminence while, at the same time, adhering to the highest ethical standards (Tata.com). To further prove their commitment to quality and ethical practices Tata has introduced annual quality awards for those companies conducting business with the utmost quality. These awards are called the JRD quality value awards named after the late chairmen JRD Tata. These awards are presented annually on July 29th, the birthday of JRD Tata. Tata has committed to ensuring quality and ethical standards not only within Tata Motors, but throughout their many other branches and sectors of the Tata Group. They have done so by benchmarking quality standards through the Tata business excellence model as well as providing incentives for companies to strive to improve the quality of their service, by awarding JRD quality management awards. Financial Position Tata Motors have increased its earnings over the years through their various acquisitions and joint ventures with truck manufacturers in Southeast Asia. Gross profit in the year 2006 was 1,160.9 million and increased to 1,510.1 million in the year 2007. Earnings after taxes also increased significantly between 2006 and 2007 increasing from 336.6 million to 405.5 million in 2007. After a large drop in revenues from 2004 to 2005 when the company first went public on the NYSE it has been increasing revenues greatly annually, from 4,422.0 million in 2005 to 7,354.0 in 2007. Core Competencies Tata Motors is able to maintain, as well as increase, their market share by capitalizing on their core competencies. Tata Motors is active, competitive, and dynamic in all aspects of the automotive industry, which means that there must be many different activities going on in all areas of the company. As a result of the ever evolving automotive industry Tata Motors must always be changing and one way to stay at the forefront of the industry is to make continuous improvements in technology through research and development. One way that Tata Motors has done this is by producing one of the most efficient and low cost vehicles on the market. Acquisitions, mergers, and expansion is another core competency that Tata Motors has is embedded in their company structure and philosophy. Another core competency that Tata Motors holds is being located in the India. This location has allowed them to understand not only the Indian market but also the dynamics of emerging and developing markets. This market understanding and knowledge allows Tata Motors to manufacture their products at lower costs, sell them to emerging markets while making profits as well as take advantage of the strong labor base in India. PEST Analysis Political Since Tata Motors operates in multiple countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, it needs to pay close attention to the political climate but also laws and regulations in all the countries it operates in while also paying attention to regional governing bodies. Laws governing commerce, trade, growth, and investment are dependent on the local government as well as how successful local markets and economies will be due to regional, national and local influence. In accordance, Tatas headquarters in Mumbai, India, strictly controls and regulates operations in all dealerships and subsidiaries, in addition to knowing and abiding by all labor laws in the multiple countries where they have manufacturing plants it has to watch political change. Economic Operating in numerous countries across the world, Tata Motors functions with a global economic perspective while focusing on each individual market. Because Tata is in a rapid growth period, expanding or forming a joint venture in over five countries world-wide since 2004, a global approach enables Tata Motors to adapt and learn from the many different regions within the whole automotive industry. They have experience and resources from five continents across the globe, thus when any variable changes in the market they can gather information and resources from all over the world to address any issues. For instance, if the price of the aluminum required to make engine blocks goes up in Kenya, Tata has the option to get the aluminum from other suppliers in Europe or Asia who they would normally get from for production in Ukraine or Russia. Tata Motors also has to pay close attention to shifts in currency rates throughout the world. Currency fluctuations can equate to higher or lower de mands for Tata vehicles which in turn affect profitability. It can also mean a rise in costs or a drop in returns. But they also have to pay attention to not just the domestic currency, the rupee, but also to the dollar, euro, bhat, won, and pound, to just name a few. Just because the rupee is strong against the dollar does not mean it is strong against all the other currencies. Attention to currency is important because it influences where capital investment will develop and prosper. Social Undoubtedly, the beliefs, opinions, and general attitude of all the stakeholders in a company will affect how well a company performs. This includes every stakeholder from the CEO and President, down to the line workers who screw the door panel into place, from the investor to the customer, the culture and attitude of all these people will ultimately determine the future of a company and whether they will be profitable or not. For this reason, Tata Motors tends to use an integration and rarely separation technique with foreign companies they acquire. In 2004, Tata Motors acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, which was at the time Koreas second largest truck maker. Rather than using de-culturation or assimilating Daewoo, Tata took an integrated approach, and continued building and marketing Daewoos current models as well as introducing a few new models globally just as it had been done under Korean management. Technology Tata Motors and its parent company, the Tata Group, are ahead of the game in the technology field. The foundation of the companys growth is a deep understanding of economic stimuli and customer needs, and the ability to translate them into customer-desired offerings through leading edge RD (Tata). Employing 1,400 scientists and engineers, Tata Motors Research and Development team is ahead of the pack in Indias market and right with the rest of the field internationally. Among Tatas firsts are the first indigenously developed Light Commercial Vehicle, Indias first Sports Utility Vehicle and, in 1998, the Tata Indica, Indias first fully indigenous passenger car, as well as the increasingly famous Tata Nano, which is projected to be the worlds cheapest production car (Tata). In the automotive industry, it is becoming increasingly crucial for manufacturers to stay on top of the technology curve with new problems always rising such as escalating gas prices and pollution problems. Tata rec ognizes this and dedicates lots of resources and time into research and development to be even with or preferably ahead of other competitors, global trends, and changing economies. In all, an automobile manufacturer must change, adapt, and evolve to stay competitive in the automotive game, and this is exactly what Tata is doing with their rapid growth, and extensive research and development. SWOT Analysis Strengths Tata Motors excels when it comes to innovation through intensive research and development. Their ability to make the least expensive car on the market, the Nano which will retail for $2,500, is far beyond what any other car dealership has created. This innovation gives Tata Motors their main competitive advantage. Tata Motors makes everything from tractor-trailers to the worlds least expensive car. This product diversity grants them a competitive advantage over their competitors because they can satisfy more markets and customer needs. Another strength that Tata Motors possesses is high corporate responsibility. They donate a portion of their profits from stock increases towards a specific charity. This highlights Tata Motors overall desire for community improvement while also emphasizing Tata Motors high morals and values which is something money can not buy. Tata Motors is unique in a way in which when it buys a company. Tata Motors keeps the original management of that company int act. The company that Tata Motors purchases will look exactly the same in terms of management and organizational structure as if it was never purchased by Tata Motors. Weaknesses There are strings attached with every new invention and improvement on products. These strings are Tata Motors weaknesses and what other groups perceive as their weaknesses. One weakness that Tata Motors faces is its inability to meet safety standards. Although they have made the most inexpensive car out on the market, it has yet to pass all the safety standards which is a legal factor. Some consumers and pessimists inquire as to how Tata Motors can make such a cheap car and withstanding a car accident or not just falling apart after hitting something once. Pessimistic people also want to believe that car manufactures are already doing everything they can to keep costs low for the consumer, and if that is the case, then putting the cheapest car out on the market automatically questions if it is safe to drive.Tata Motors only have been making passenger cars for the approximately last ten years. This can be viewed as a weakness from a customer standpoint since a decade does not seem li ke a lot to consumers and therefore they will think that Tata Motors is inexperienced car manufacturing. Opportunities Tata Motors has already opened the doors for many new and innovative ideas, but not only for their company, but their competitors as well which could turn into a threat. One of the major opportunities that Tata Motor faces is that as of right now 90 percent of China and Indias adult population do not own cars, partly because cars are costly and require more expenses after purchased. So the market for a low-priced car is huge which benefits Tata Motors perfectly since they produce the lowest priced car on the market. This is a huge opportunity for Tata Motors because if they can get their feet into that market of people that do not have cars because they cannot afford them, then they will make large profits down the road. Chinas total car sales are estimated at over 8 million dollars annually and they were the worlds second largest car market in 2006. Chinas government forecasts that demand for cars will top 20 million by 2020. With Tata Motors in the market with the cheapest car, Chinas demand for cars will probably increase even more significantly which will in turn increase sales for Tata Motors. As of March 2008 Tata Motors finalized a deal with Ford Motor Company to acquire the British businesses, Jaguar Cars and Land Rover. This is a huge opportunity for Tata Motors since they will acquire the large knowledge base and technologies for producing and marketing luxury vehicles. This acquisition helps them dive into the more mature markets in Japan, Europe and the U.S. The knowledge transfer from these two companies will greatly improve Tata Motors ability to continue to grow and flourish in both developing and developed market segments. Threats The obvious threat to Tata Motors is intellectual property rights. Tata invented the cheapest car on the market and every automobile manufacturer wants to know how Tata did it. Headhunters are soon going to find out this valuable information and make it available to their own company. This is a huge threat to Tata Motors because at first they had low competition, but once other car manufactures find out how they invented such a low cost car, and then these companies too will jump on board and design their own line of low cost automobiles. On one hand this can be a threat, but on the other it may not affect Tata Motors at all because people will still want to purchase their product since they were the pioneers of all the excitement. Another main concern that Tata Motors faces is that cheap cars in India will have an adverse effect on pollution and global warming because most of the population will be able to afford the cars.