Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Philosophy and ethics

Mastering OPCVL for Historical Document Analysis

Origin, Purpose, Content, Value, Limitation

OPCVL (Origin, Purpose, Content, Value, Limitation) is a technique for analyzing historical documents. It is used extensively in the International Baccalaureate curriculum and testing materials, and is incredibly helpful in teaching students to be critical observers and analytical thinkers.

Origin

Is this a primary or secondary source? What leads you to characterize it as one or the other?

• Who is the author?
• When and where was it created or published? Who published it?
• Is there anything we know about the author that is pertinent to our evaluation?

Purpose

• Why does this document exist?
• Why did the author create this piece of work? Consider intent, audience, and

The Roots of Political Participation

The ancient Greeks exemplified participation in democratic political life. Historically, concepts of power were often tied to religious institutions, where thought was submitted solely to God and His works. However, the arrival of the Renaissance and the Classical Age marked a significant break, giving birth to the first formal socio-political theories driven by the human need to relate to society.

Philosophy and the Organization of Society

Philosophy and politics have intersected for centuries, offering critical reflection on the organization of human society. Following the fall of Athenian democracy, Plato was deeply affected by political turmoil. He sought to define an ideal city—a society free from disorder... Continue reading "Political Philosophy: From Ancient Greece to the Enlightenment" »

Dividends

• Unless a dividend is declared by the board of directors of a corporation, it is not a liability of the corporation (A corporation cannot default on an undeclared dividend)
• The payment of dividends by the corporation is not a business expense. (Therefore, they are not tax-deductible)
• Dividends received by individual shareholders are, for the most part, considered ordinary income by the IRS and are fully taxable (There is an intra-corporate dividend exclusion)

Preferred Stock

Preferred stock represents equity of a corporation, but is different from common stock because it has preference over common in the payments of dividends and in the assets of the corporation in the event of bankruptcy. They have a stated liquidating value (usually $... Continue reading "Understanding Dividends, Preferred Stock, Debt, and Equity in Corporate Finance" »

Alternative Models of Behavior

_(1.2)

Money Matters

• Reductionist and simplistic model: “Everything and everyone has a price” – the “economic model” is richer and more subtle than this.
• The only component of a job is monetary compensation.
• Therefore, anyone can get anybody to do anything for sufficiently high compensation; the economic model cannot guarantee that! (Easy job life and poor results)

Happy-Is-Productive

• Employee satisfaction and happiness is not a means in itself but rather instrumental to firms’ goals.
• It is the view of managers who believe that “happy employees are more productive”.
• In this way of thinking, employees exert higher effort and dedication in the job not when they are better paid, but when they feel better treated.

• Even in this place where there is no competition for power (the king is absolute) nor for goods (they are common), there is still a place for malice (cf. XII.35).
• Rasselas's encounter with the aeronautical engineer (VI) provides a pattern that is repeated throughout the narrative.
• The engineer's project would have seemed futile to Johnson's contemporaries: The attempt at human flight, though rational, is doomed to failure; the engineer's fall into the lake is typical of all human aspirations.
• The story of Imlac also prefigures the rest of the narrative: Though his father aspires only to the increase of wealth, Imlac recognizes that his own desire for the increase of knowledge does not bring him happiness.
• The possession of knowledge cannot prevent

Authoritarian

Expecting others to obey rules completely.

Demanding

Needing a lot of your time and energy.

Consensual

Involving the agreement of most people in a group; democratic.

Coaching

Giving training or advice for a specific job or task.

Mentoring

Advising and helping someone more generally over a longer time period.

Empowerment

Giving control over decisions to other people.

Liaison

Exchange of information between people so that they work well together.

Hierarchical

Where people and jobs are divided into many levels of importance.

Proactive

Taking action before it's needed, rather than waiting until problems develop.

Qualities

Part of your character and personality, often present at birth or developed early in life. Hard to change.

Skills

Can be developed... Continue reading "Essential Business & Management Terminology" »

Irritants to Employers

• Shift in worker loyalty
• Reduction of management's right to discipline
• Belligerence of labor leaders
• Intra-union and inter-union rivalries
• Harassment by the union
• Abuses by some employees

Why Employees Join Unions

1. Employer's unfair treatment of employees
2. Discontent with salary
3. Worker realization that collective action is more effective
4. Unions can wield power over management
5. Management's failure to provide legal entitlements
6. Worker desire to render social services to fellow workers
7. Better economic and working conditions
8. Feeling of job security
9. Lack of management recognition of job value
10. Desire to seek solutions to common problems

Consequences of Conflict

• Issues are recognized
• Risk to group cohesion and performance
• Poor performance
• Constructive

External Sensible Knowledge

The Object of the Senses

• Formal Object:
  • Per se (Direct): That which can be perceived by the sense.
    • Proper: Can only be perceived by one specific sense.
    • Common: Can be perceived by multiple senses.
  • Per accidens (Indirect): That which the sense does not perceive by itself, but is added by the soul to the direct object. Our senses are never wrong; this is confirmed by experience.

The Nature of the Senses

Senses are potencies or powers. They require stimulation to transition from potency to act. Senses react to the action of an object; they are passive, meaning they will not react without external activity.

1. It is a capability.
2. It is a passive potency.
3. It is neither purely material nor spiritual; senses are bodies informed by an

Common English Root Words

• Aqua - means water. Aquamarine
• Arbor - means tree. Arboreal
• Audio - means sound or hearing. Audible
• Bell - means war. Bellicism
• Com - means together. Community
• Con - means with. Connect
• Dict - means say. Dictation
• Geo - means earth. Geography
• Graph - means write. Graphics
• Hydra - means water. Hydrofoil
• Man - means hand. Manual
• Min - means small. Minimal
• Nov - means new. Novice
• Path - means feeling or suffering. Pathetic and Apathy
• Sol - means sun. Solar
• Therm - means heat. Thermometer
• Vac - means empty. Vacuum
• Vent - means opening to let air in. Ventilate
• Vit - means life. Vitamin

Other notable root words include liter, glyph, cap, morph, crypt, plan, ego, scent, and zoo. For example, zoo is derived from the Greek word for animal, which... Continue reading "Mastering English Vocabulary Through Common Root Words" »