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“Trying Out One’s New Sword” by Mary Midgley
Reading Summary
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“Trying Out One’s New Sword” by Mary Midgley
According to the writer, each individual normally has a hard time trying to understand culture strange to us. We perceive changes and hear constantly of alien customs. When dealing with this difficulty, it is essential to deny that we can ever comprehend any culture apart from our personal enough to make judgments about it. Those who endorse this assert that the universe is sharply into different societies, sealed units each with its system of thought. The writer calls that perspective isolationism and people only take it because they think it is a respectful attitude to other cultures. In reality, it is not respectful because no one can respect what is completely unintelligible to them.
We need to ask if the isolation barrier works and if individuals in other cultures are equally unable to criticize us. We normally believe that outsiders can deliver perfectly good indictments. Comprehending has degrees. Intelligent outsiders can progress in it and several ways will be an advantage over the locals. Midgley maintains that not only is moral isolationism incorrect but also it is reasonably incoherent (Wolff, 2017). Her instance of “trying out one’s new sword” is envisioned to demonstrate how hard it is for us to comprehend a tradition of a different culture using our personal culture’s ethical framework.
Her opinion appears to be that the moral protectionist deliberate that we can’t judge cultures except we can understand them (Alvaro, 2020). She then reasons that ethical isolationism results in a general injunction on moral reasoning which is an unpalatable conclusion. She articulates that judging someone’s particular culture needs the aptitude to judge other cultures, as a frame of reference.
Finally, she pronounces that the postulation on the sector of ethical isolationism that cultures are in out-of-the-way foams from each other is factually incorrect. Cultures intermix at most times and now more than ever. This melding reduces the tenability of moral isolationism by creating different, secluded cultures less present than ever before. But if out-of-the-way cultures do not exist, then neither can seclude ethical societies, and ethical isolationism turns out to be irrelevant.
Reference
Alvaro, C. (2020). The Incoherence of Moral Relativism. Cultural International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, 17(1), 19-38.
Wolff, J. (2017). Readings in Moral Philosophy. WW Norton & Company.
“There are no facts; only interpretations” is a famous quote by Friedrich Nietzsche.
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“There are no facts; only interpretations” is a famous quote by Friedrich Nietzsche. Based on the statement, facts do not count in a text, but the understanding relies on a person’s interpretations. Poor interpretations may lead to less understanding of the text, and thus for a person to get better insight; they are required to have a better interpretation of the text. Various ways can be used to interpret a text and thus aid in understanding. Some of the most commonly used ways of understanding text include the use of topic knowledge, and the other one is the use of general world knowledge.
Topic knowledge refers to the use of the provided headline in the film or other text to get a better understanding of the film, and thus, it is the understanding that results from the topic under study. For a person to be able to understand even the slightest detail from the text, they must have some familiarity with the topic, either partially of complete exposure. Topic knowledge, therefore, relates to a particular context that a person wants to engage. In a film, to get a better understanding, it is important that one starts from the introduction to make sure that they have captured the introduction details that include the cast and as well the topic or headline. It is through this headline that the viewer will be able to narrow their mind into that particular topic, which will help in the understanding of the text as it will be much easier to interpret.
General world knowledge is the other way that a person can use to get a better understanding of the text. It refers to the experience that a person has and thus brings along to any learning situation. General knowledge provides the background which acts as a hook to hang new information. Through the use of general knowledge, an individual is able to bring or infer meaning to something that was previously vague and did not have any sense of familiarity to them. In a text such a film, a person can understand the content through inferring the meaning from a previously acquired knowledge that helps them have a better interpretation and the consequent understanding of the text. General knowledge is therefore essential in determining how well a person can understand the text through application of the past experiences in the same field.
The two methods of understanding a text differ in various ways despite having the common objective of coming out with a reliable meaning from the text. Topic knowledge can be learned from the text being studied. For example, while watching move, it must have some introductions where the heading will be presented. Basing from the header, the rest of the film body is based on the topic and therefore, to have a better understanding, one has to get the topic first. Failure to understand the topic will lead to a poor understanding of the film due to loose interpretation that results from poor connections between the text body and header.
On the other hand, general knowledge adds to the topic knowledge. Having a prior understanding of a topic or a more general understanding of the topic makes it easier to connect between the texts and apply to the real-life situations, making interpretation less complicated than having no previous knowledge which has the implication of fast understanding. The main difference, therefore, between general knowledge and topic knowledge in the context of interpretation and understanding is the range of information that a person has prior to exposure of the text. General world knowledge creates a pool of information that is easy to apply and interpret in the text, making it easy to understand.
HRMN-365-6381-Conflict-Management-in-OrganizationsWritten-Assignment-2-With-Directions
Written Assignment 2
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UMUC
6/21/2015
Written Assignment 2
Instructions
Instructions: You have been hired by the XYZ Company as a conflict-resolution consultant. The company has just taken on a global flavor through a merger with a foreign firm. In addition, they are experiencing an unusual number of employee grievances. HR has also noted an unusual number of interpersonal squabbles between co-workers, and a recent employee survey showed that many workers felt that there was inequitable treatment among the employees in their departments.
What are the underlying sources of this conflict?
What cultural or diversity issues may be contributing to the conflict?
What additional information would you want to have to thoroughly address these problems?
What method or system would you recommend to address these problems and why?
Introduction
The focus of this paper is on a situation in XYZ Company that has hired me as their conflict-resolution consultant. XYZ Company in this case has just been involved in a global flavor via a merger with a foreign firm. The company is also going through several employee grievances. The interpersonal squabbles and conflicts between co-workers according to the HR department have risen. The findings from a recent survey revealed that many employees felt that in their departments, the employees were being inequitably treated. The paper will therefore, address such areas as the underlying sources of conflict, the diversity or cultural issues that contribute to the conflict, the additional information needed so that these problems can be addressed and finally the system or method recommended for addressing these problems.
Underlying Sources of Conflict
One of the underlying sources of conflict in this situation is unpredictable policies. The fact that company XYZ has a merger with a foreign company means that several unpredictable policies are going to emerge. As far as this source of conflict is concerned, it is important to note that when policies and rules change at work and the company fails to communicate the change vividly to his team, conflict and confusion can occur. A merger with a foreign company comes with new things that will be done differently and with policy change. It is until people understand why the rules are present so that they can accept the change. Otherwise, there will be a conflict (Trueba, Jacobs & Kirton, 2014).
Another underlying source of conflict in this case is conflicting roles. The fact that the company is experiencing employee squabbles means that there could be some conflict roles in the company. With the merger, some employees may have to do a task that is beyond their normal responsibilities and roles. In case this causes them to step on another employee’s territory, then power and conflict struggles can occur. An employee may also feel that someone else should do a given task (Lee & Turner, 2014).
As far as the diversity or cultural issues that may cause the conflict are concerned, one of the issues is that the employees may have conflicting styles. In diversity, everyone does things differently, in accordance with his or her personality and individual needs. For example, there could be those employees who love the thrill of finishing things at the last minute. At the same time, there could be those employees who prefer the structure of strict deadlines to work. A clash in the working styles can cause a conflict. Conflicting cultures could also emerge following the merger of XYZ Company with a foreign company. In this case, all the employees see the world via their own cultural lens. This being the case, differences in the way employees perceive events can spark conflict, especially where the culture of some employees considers what is a norm for the other employee as culturally wrong (Trueba, Jacobs & Kirton, 2014).
Addressing the conflicts
In order to address the issue of conflicting roles, the management or the HR department has to explain why it assigned projects or task to each employee. Offering or providing this explanation will help in remedying the pressure. The management can also utilize team charter to crystallize the responsibilities and roles of the people and to focus on the objectives of the employees (Lee & Turner, 2014).
For the diversity or cultural issues, the best way of addressing them is by making an effort of eliminating the conflict through open communication with the team. The more information HR shares with its employees, the less likely it is for them to come up with different interpretations of events (Levy, Allen & Haber-Curran, 2015).
References:
Trueba, H. T., Jacobs, L., & Kirton, E. (2014). Cultural Conflict & Adaptation. Routledge.
Lee, D. J., & Turner, B. S. (Eds.). (2014). Conflicts about class: Debating inequality in late industrialism. Routledge.
Levy, S. M., Allen, S. J., & Haber-Curran, P. (2015). Emotionally intelligent leadership: A guide for students.