Chinese Philosophies Essay Essay Example for Free

Chinese Philosophies Essay Essay From 1027-221 BCE, the Zhou era, Chinese philosophers â€Å"offered insights into how humans should behave in regard to their families, the state, and nature. † Different philosophers tried to achieve a similar goal of having a well-ordered Chinese society, but they all had vastly different methods of achieving this goal. There were three different schools of Chinese thought that all tried to achieve the goal of having a peaceful society that lived in harmony. All of these ideas were exceptionally diverse and they all varied in different ideas. â€Å"Daoism emphasized harmony with nature; Confucianism emphasized the harmony of relationships; and Legalism emphasized the harmony of a well-regulated state. † The Three Schools of Chinese thought, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism had major impact on Chinese History both politically and socially for they each promoted a different approach to achieve a well-ordered society. Confucianism is a philosophy that pushed for a well-ordered society by emphasizing human relationships, a righteous leader, and a good education. The discoverer of this idea was Confucius, a philosopher and teacher. He grew up in the period of Eastern Zhou, the age of a hundred schools. His goal was to transform the Chinese society into a state of coherence and righteous. He planned this goal was to be achieved by something called filial piety, devotion and service to parents, ancestors, and superiors. He found filial piety important because he believed it would make the people act moral. Another way he planned to achieve this goal was having a wise and moral leader that was able to set good examples for his people. The Analects state that Confucius said â€Å"If you preside over them with dignity, they will be reverent; if you are filial and loving, they will be loyal; if you promote the good and instruct the incapable, they will be mutually encouraging. † This proves that he believed the ruler should often set a good example for his people in order for them to be moral and show goodness. Another factor that played a huge role in Confucianism was the human relationships. The emphasized relationships were ruler-people; parent-child; husband-wife; elder sibling- younger sibling and friend to friend. These relationships were crucially important because Confucius believed each person had obligations to fulfill and a certain stance in society. And to fulfill those duties each person was expected to behave. Also the goodness of the people was expected to start at the home. He said, â€Å" Only when the roots are well planted will the Way grow â€Å" This reveals that the longer moral ways have appeared the more moral the person is likely to be. But if you juxtaposed the other two philosophies compared to Confucianism you would realize that are extremely different. In the contrary one of the other philosophies, Legalism, is much different than Confucianism and is a lot harsher. Legalism also had the goal of well-ordered society but had different idea of achieving this common goal. The dynasties that used the idea of Legalism were the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty used Legalism to the full extent while the Han Dynasty infused Confucianism and Legalism together. Han Feizi, the prince of the Han dynasty, through his writings outlined how to maintain a stable society through laws, punishments and other factors. He believed that one way to reach a well-ordered society was to have a strict and strong ruler. Quoted from The Writings Of Master Han Fei, Fei said, â€Å" If conformers to law are strong, the country is strong; if conformers to law are weak, the country is weak †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . From this you can conclude that Han Fei truly believed that a harsh ruler was the key to a successful society. Another aspects that contributed to the success of the community were to have enforced laws. As stated from The Writings of Master Han Fei â€Å" To govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong. † This reveals that Han Fei also thought that through praising the good people and punishing the bad the society would be â€Å"well-ordered†. Which also shows that Han Fei believed in harsh punishments to tame the people of his country. A final belief of Legalism was a strong base of realism opposed to idealism. Realism was encouraged because Fei thought â€Å" †¦a strong dose of realism was needed to bring his present-day world out of the chaos that beset it† In other words means idealism was not a strict enough way to achieve a well-ordered society. But the idea of Daoism would strongly disagree with the previous concepts. Daoism, also known as â€Å" The Way That Is and Is Not â€Å", enormously differs from the other two philosophies. Daoism was used in the time period of the Eastern Zhou. The originator of this philosophy was Laozi, an â€Å"old master†, who was supposedly immortal. Laozi was against Confucianism and its concepts and perceived things from a diverse view. The goal of Daoism was to maintain a common goal of a well-ordered society. But he planned to attain this goal by following The Law of The Dao is it’s being what it is. Which simply means things are the way they are and you should not interfere. He wanted the people to follow their Dao, their destiny, something you’re naturally good at that doesn’t take any effort. And he believed by just doing that the society would be in harmony with nature. An additional way to achieve his goal was to have hands off government and ruler that were not strict or influential to the society. This is proven in The Dao Dejing; it says, â€Å" I will do nothing, and the people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In other words Laozi expected the ruler to let the people govern themselves and learn from their own mistakes as opposed to having laws to obey. Which also relates to a concept that is well known to most Daosist called Nonaction. In summary in Daoism to achieve the goal of having a well-ordered society you must follow your dao and be in harmony with nature. In conclusion The Three Schools of Chinese thought, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism had major impact on Chinese History both politically and socially for they each promoted a different approach to achieve a well-ordered society. They also still have an impact on today’s modern society. Each one of these philosophies have some how branched off to religions or philosophes that are still encouraged today. For example Daoism also helped mold the religion of Buddhism. Legalism appears in several of countries around the world where the rulers of a society give there people strict laws with cruel punishments. And for Confucianism Chinese society’s still focus on having relationships with people closest to them. Therefore it was extremely important that these philosophies were studied and discovered.

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The Beveridge report Fabian Society formed in 1884, lead by the Sidney and Beatrice Webb who had strong views on the moral values of social (or socialist) provision and had thinking based on poor laws and the relief of distress, were the first to produce a report based on Majority and Minority of welfare. This report failed as all the members, the right-wing critics of state welfare, could not agree about the fact that the state should be the provider for welfare services. The Beveridge Report is a report that led to the establishment of a welfare system by the state of social security and the National Health Service (NHS) after the end of the war. Sir William Beveridge a highly regarded liberal economist, was the author of the report which was known as Social Insurance and Allied Services, that got published by the coalition government and which was presented to the British parliament on 1st December 1942. It contained a summary of principles that were based on social surveys carried out between wars, that were necessary to banish poverty and want from Britain, by aiming to provide a comprehensive system of social insurance ‘from cradle to grave’. 'Now, when the war is abolishing landmarks of every kind, is the opportunity for using experience in a clear field. A revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.' It covered topics of poverty, old age, low birth rates, unemployment, disability and retirement, that were based around Five areas of society also known as the FIVE EVIL GIANTS, that prevented Britain from becoming a modern society after post war, which were: o Want – Poverty or need of financial support & health care National Insurance and Assistance schemes were needed to ... ...ew towns had to be built ie milton keynes o 1949 Access to the countryside Acts Opened up a series of public footpaths, moslty aimed to keep population health o Housing Acts 1946/1949 ï‚ § Although Labour’s building programme compares poorly to previous governments, people are not too critical of them over this considering the level of house destruction during the War along with the lack of building materials, increase in marriage and â€Å"baby boom† after the War. Advantages Dis-advantages Local authorities given financial assistance and access to building materials (which were in low supply at the end of the War) to build 1.25 million new permanent homes Disadvantages: No where near enough new homes were built and many people remained in â€Å"prefab† homes, army barracks and even train carriages by the end of 1951. o New Towns Act (1946) Advantages Dis-advantages

Overcrowding in American Jails and Prisons: An Overview of the Issue and Possible Solutions Essay

The issue of overcrowding in American jails and prisons is not unheard of. It is frequently discussed amongst politicians and American citizens alike. This is a controversial issue considering the large number of different opinions many people have. Though the issue is certainly acknowledged, it is rare that a feasible solution is discussed. According to Vincent Tompkins, one of the many editors in American Decades, most Americans chose to not dwell on the growing crime problem during the 1950s. This was evident through the increase in prison population, which, by the end of the decade, was 22,492 men and women in federal penitentiaries, and 185,021 in state facilities. Tompkins and the rest of the editors compare the amount of prisoners to the size of a city like Tulsa, Oklahoma to put the issue during the 1950s into perspective. However, the amount of prisoners were not the only problem the prison system was faced with. In 1952 alone, there were twenty riots in various federal and state penitentiaries (Tompkins 242). David S. Clark, the editor of the Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives, describes overcrowded prisons as, â€Å"a breach of United Nations and other international standards that require that states treat prisoners with respect to their inherent dignity. † Clark calls attention to what follows overcrowding, including restricted living space, poor conditions of hygiene, poor sanitation arrangements, less time available for outdoor activities, etc. He claims the result of these conditions are an increase in violence, including suicide and self-injury (Clark 1177). According to â€Å"Equal Justice Initiative,† an organization that works toward ending mass incarceration, the U. S. incarcerates more of their citizens in comparison to any other country in the world. Jail and prison populations have increased from 200,000 to 2. 3 million in the past 40 years. This not only lead to unprecedented prison overcrowding, but also put a huge strain on state budgets. For instance, Alabama’s prisons were built with the intention of holding up to 14,000 prisoners, but instead hold double the amount—28,000. Alabama is one of many states who are faced with the crisis of overcrowding. The inmate to correctional officer ratio in Alabama is the highest in the country, which only illustrates how serious of an issue overcrowding is. Many Alabama prisoners are on â€Å"waiting lists† for solitary confinement. Due to unsafe prison conditions, â€Å"Equal Justice Initiative† reports a rise in lawsuits where courts have described overcrowding in both state and local facilities as â€Å"barbaric. † The conditions of some of these Alabamian prisons are extreme. Some prisoners are forced to sleep on concrete floors where the, â€Å"sardine-can appearance of cell units more nearly resemble the holding units of slave ships during the Middle Passage of the eighteenth century than anything in the twenty-first century. † Considering these unbelievable facts about prison conditions, the questions remains: how would one resolve the issue of overcrowding? Probably the most universally agreed upon idea is to incarcerate fewer drug offenders. Saki Knafo reports in the Huffington Post that 219,000 inmates in federal prison, which, in comparison to the 25,000 in 1980, is a dramatic increase. Knafo writes that half of those prisoners are drug offenders, and that if 20 percent fewer (non-violent) drug offenders were imprisoned, the federal government would save $1. 29 billion, and prisons would save 125,000 bed years—or a year’s worth of prison time for one person. Among similar lines, another possible solution would be to reduce the incarceration time drug offenders face. If given the opportunity to reduce one year off their prison time by participating in a drug rehabilitation program, Knafo reports the savings to be 880 bed years, and $9.1 million for the U. S. economy. This is supposedly in effect, though due to overcrowding, many prisoners awaiting their opportunity have less than a year of incarceration time when they are offered a place in the program. Expanding this program would not only provide prisoners with a more successful program—which would prevent many released convicts from repeating similar drug related crimes that caused their impri sonment initially—but would also create a number of jobs, which, statistically, would reduce crime rates. Another idea that could potentially reduce the overcrowding in prisons is to release some elderly prisoners from custody. Knafo claims that after the age of 55, released prisoners are â€Å"highly unlikely to commit new crimes, according to many studies. † Despite the lack of a threat those over the age of 55 are, 17,400 federal prisoners are older than 55. It is evident that there are numerous ways to lessen the amount of incarcerated prisoners, while still ensuring the safety of others on the street. Claiming the United States has an addiction to imprisonment when it comes to preventing crime is certainly arguable. Though many of these potential solutions can be considered controversial, it is difficult to deny that things could be done to lessen the overcrowding in prisons and jails. Some might say the U. S. overlooks many alternatives to incarceration. Though arguable, considering the facts and statistics, it certainly could be beneficial for the U. S. to broaden their punishment and rehabilitation methods when it comes to non-violent crimes. Considering alternatives to imprisonment could not only be profitable, but also advantageous.

How Lobbying And How Is It Regulated On The Federal Level

What is lobbying, and how is it regulated on the federal level? A lobbyist is someone who attempts to influence decisions made by bureaucrats in the government. Politicians and members of governing agencies are the main target of lobbyist. There are two common types of lobbying. Direct lobbying involves a lobbyist expressing their views to someone directly involved with legislation; whereas, grassroots lobbying conveys a view concerning a detailed lawmaking proposal to the community and encourages citizens to communicate this view to their legislators. Lobbying is a heavily regulated profession in the United States. The regulations obligate lobbyists to register with the House of Representatives and the Senate, report names and addresses†¦show more content†¦This directly correlates with the ideals of a participatory democracy which strives to produce opportunities for all citizens to make expressive contributions to the legislative process, and attempts to expand the access citizens have to those created opportunities. Lobbyists use the aforementioned technique to create grassroots movements. According to Paul Miller, a former president of the American League of Lobbyists, Social media makes it very easy to spread a campaign. You re not just meeting with reporters, you re sending them press releases, emailing them, tweeting them and doing a whole lot of different things with websites, Facebook, Twitter, you name it (Howard). When these movements are combined with the access lobbyists have to politicians, it can become a powerful part of the legislative process. 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