Certainty in Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy Essay -- Philo

Certainty in Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy Renà © Descartes was the first philosopher to raise the question of how we can claim to know anything about the world with certainty. The idea is not that these doubts are probable, but that their possibility can never be entirely ruled out. If we can never be certain, how can we claim to know anything? The First Meditation of Meditations on First Philosophy, subtitled "What can be called into doubt," opens with the Meditator reflecting on the number of falsehoods he has believed during his life and on the subsequent ability of the body to deceive him. Seated alone by the fire, he resolves to demolish former opinions and rebuild his knowledge on more certain grounds. The Meditator reasons that he need only find some reason to doubt his present opinions in order to prompt him to seek sturdier foundations for his knowledge. Rather than doubt every one of his opinions individually, he reasons that he might cast them all into doubt if he can doubt the foundations and basic principles upon which his opinions are founded. ... Certainty in Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy Essay -- Philo Certainty in Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy Renà © Descartes was the first philosopher to raise the question of how we can claim to know anything about the world with certainty. The idea is not that these doubts are probable, but that their possibility can never be entirely ruled out. If we can never be certain, how can we claim to know anything? The First Meditation of Meditations on First Philosophy, subtitled "What can be called into doubt," opens with the Meditator reflecting on the number of falsehoods he has believed during his life and on the subsequent ability of the body to deceive him. Seated alone by the fire, he resolves to demolish former opinions and rebuild his knowledge on more certain grounds. The Meditator reasons that he need only find some reason to doubt his present opinions in order to prompt him to seek sturdier foundations for his knowledge. Rather than doubt every one of his opinions individually, he reasons that he might cast them all into doubt if he can doubt the foundations and basic principles upon which his opinions are founded. ...

Principle of marketing extra credit case study Essay

In stark contrast to British Airways, Aeroflot-Russian Airlines is new to the skies of international commercial airlines. Aeroflot’s 114 planes transported 3.8 million passengers in 1996 compared to British Airlines’ 25.35 million passengers. Aeroflot’s figures are down considerably from 1991, the year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when its 5,400 planes carried 138 million passengers. Since 1991 the airline has had trouble adjusting from a monopoly to a competitive marketplace as the rival private Russian airline, Transaero, built passenger loyalty by stressing good service and on-time flights. Aeroflot’s attempt to become a world class airline has been hampered by a poor safety record, bad food, surly service, dilapidated cabins and frequently cancelled or late flights. At less than 60%, Aeroflot’s load factor (the percentage of seats on each flight occupied by paying customers), is the lowest in the international airline industry. In order to expand its business in this highly competitive industry Aeroflot has copied many of the strategies the leading airlines. In January 1997, the airline announced a marketing alliance with Continental Airlines to allow Continental flights from Newark, NJ to Moscow’s Sheremetyeva International Airport. Aeroflot has renovated its training academy to include a curriculum that focuses on image and marketing, and includes the slogan, â€Å"the customer is always right.† The airline launched Telephone Confidential, a customer complaint line, and in an effort to modernise its fleet ordered 10 Boeing 737s. Marketing has been a big part of Aeroflot’s fight to gain back passengers. The image the airline has selected for itself in its first multimedia advertising campaign attempts to convince sceptical consumers that the airline has solved its safety and service problems. The campaign uses magazine, billboard and TV commercials, and features a flying elephant with  a slogan that translates into â€Å"light on its feet.† The not so subtle message means that if elephants can fly, so can Aeroflot. Aeroflot’s web page (http://www.aeroflot.org), exhibits a decidedly western influence. The home page has links to pages that describe its airplane fleet, a graphic presentation and description of Moscow’s Sheremetyeva airport, flight schedule, news, information, cargo, routeway, charter, and travel office. Judging from the neat, professional appearance of the Web page, Aeroflot’s competitors need to be prepared for a dogfight to keep this airline from cutting into their business. Questions: 1. What are the advertising objectives for Aeroflot’s Flying Elephant campaign? 2. How could Aeroflot’s build brand recognition in Vietnam? Explain the process with supporting details. 3. Explain how Aeroflot could position their services for maximum competitive advantage in the airline industry in South East Asia. Sources: http://www.aeroflot.org; Alessandra Stanley, â€Å"Hod the Jokes, Please: Aeroflot Buffs Its Image,† The New York Times, June 29, 1997, p. F1; Al Frank, â€Å"Continental Signs with Aeroflot for Daily Moscow Flights,† Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, January 15, 1997; â€Å"On a Wing and a Prayer: Aviation in Russia,† The Economist, October 5, 1996, p. 103; Victoria Pope, â€Å"The Gray Chicken is Definitely Out, Aeroflot Tries to Learn Service with a Smile,† U. S. News and World Report, October 28, 1996, p. 45.

Essay on The History of Catholicism an How Its Depicted

The History of Catholicism an How Its Depicted The series of events which form the history of Catholicism in the mid sixteenth century are most often depicted as follows. A violent shock causes the very foundations of Christendom to tremble, and whole sections of the Churchs ancient edifice are swallowed up in heresy. Her rulers then drag themselves from their lethal indifference; they determine to oppose the Protestant menace, and at last take steps that should have been taken long ago. Such is the pattern implied by the word `counter-reformation. The term, however, though common, is misleading: it cannot rightly be applied, logically or chronologically, to that sudden awakening as of a startled giant, that†¦show more content†¦But the impetus which enabled herto join battle with her enemies was generated long before the Lutheran assault, and can in no way be considered a result of the upheaval caused by that event. A general view of the history of the Church makes it clear that the sixteenth-century Catholic reform is not essentially different from other reforms, which have applied an irresistible law and thus serve as mile-stones on the road of time. The work of Cluny in the eleventh century, the achievements of St. Norbert, St. Bernard and others in the twelfth, the heroic undertakings of St. Francis and St. Dominic in the thirteenth -- all these monumental and unending labours are of the same spirit and the same significance as those accomplished by the Popes and the Fathers of Trent, and by the religious founders of that period. Here indeed we have one of the most permanent features of Christianity, one of the most certain evidences of its divine origin and of the reality of those promises which it claims to have received. For ever dragged downward by the weight of original sin, the baptized soul repeatedly falls back into darkness. Nevertheless, with equal regularity, there spr ings from her very depths, where primeval defilement cannot altogether mask, much less destroy, the supernatural resemblance, a force that impels her once more upward to light and life: a force whose name is Grace... Whereas Protestantism marks a complete break inShow MoreRelatedEssay about Analysis of Max Webers Theory of Capitalism747 Words   |  3 Pageshis work on the thesis ‘that the chances of overcoming traditionalism are greatest on account of the religious upbringing’, thus ‘it is worthwhile to ask how this connection of adaptability to capitalism with religious factors occurred in the early days of capitalism(1).’ This break with tradition could be attributed to the ‘calling’ as depicted in the Protestant faith. Weber believes Protestants saw the ‘calling’ as finally sanctifying the earning of a profit and as a sign of salvation. 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