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Traditional Chinese Thoughts
Traditional Chinese Thoughts
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc381192110 h 1What Confucianism and moism entail PAGEREF _Toc381192111 h 1Comparison between Confucianism and Moism PAGEREF _Toc381192112 h 3Similarities PAGEREF _Toc381192113 h 3Differences PAGEREF _Toc381192114 h 5
IntroductionHuman nature has been a subject of debate amongst various classical Chinese philosophers. The philosophers expressed their different understanding of the human nature. The paper will focus on two Chinese philosophers Confucius and mozi. Both philosophers came up with a different interpretation of human nature. It will look at the differences and similarities between the understandings of human nature by these two philosophers.it will also link these two philosophies with other Chinese philosophers such as Mencius, Xun Zi (Hsun Tzu), Lao Zi (Lao Tsu) and Zhuang Zi.
What Confucianism and moism entailConfucianism and moism were among the most influential schools of thought during the states period of war. Confucianism is philosophical and ethical system of development that was developed from teachings of Confucius a Chinese philosopher. This was the cornerstone of the entire Chinese culture. it came up as an ethical-sociopolitical teaching during the periods of spring and autumn.it later developed cosmological and metaphysical elements during the Han Dynasty. After legalism in china was officially abandoned after Qin dynasty, this became the state official considered official of Han. After the Han period, Chinese emperors mixed Confucianism and legalism to apply as the ruling doctrines. Confucian values were used to cover up the legalist ideas which were harsh underlying the imperial system. Confucianism core was humanism; spiritual concern focus was the world and family as opposed to afterlife’s and gods. Broadly speaking, Confucianism is not meant to exalt faithfulness to higher law or divine (TravelchinaGuide ,2013).
The stance is based on the belief that humans can be taught, can improve, and can perfect themselves through communal and personal endeavors particularly self-creation and self-cultivation. The basic concepts and practices when it comes to ethics in Confucianism include li, yi and ren.li is a system that entails propriety and norms that stipulate how an individual is supposed to act properly in their daily lives. yi entails keeping up righteousness and moral disposition in such a way that one does good .Ren entails the obligation towards altruism and humanness when it comes to other people. Confucianism strongly advocates for giving up one’s life whenever it is necessary, either actively or passively so that the cardinal moral values can be upheld. Historically Confucianism influenced various cultures and countries such as China, Hong-Kong, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan .today, the influence of Confucianism has greatly reduced and only a small number of people can broadly accept to be identified as Confucians. instead, people view the ethics involved in Confucianism as a guideline termed as complimentary for beliefs and ideologies such as Marxism, Islam, Christianity, democracy and so on (Wheeler, 2013).
Moism was a Chinese philosophy that was developed by Mozi a Chinese philosopher.it came about almost the same time as Confucianism, legalism, and Taoism.it was among the main philosophical schools during the period of spring and autumn. It was a major rival to Confucianism and it was not adopted by any dynasty that came into power.it observes that learning of the world is achieved through adversity .Therefore when one reflects on their successes and failures they are able to attain self-knowledge and not merely conforming with the ritual.it just disappeared as a school of thought that was separate from the others. The unification of China saw moism completely dies out even though it had greatly influenced the warring states period. The greatest contribution of moism to the Chinese philosophy was the belief that there were important standards by which judgment of doctrines should and could be judged. Throughout moism, appeal is made to method of three standards which are the basis of moism, origin of moism and the application of moism by the people. The ideas of moism still had an influence on contemporaries and the emphasis was standards and methodology when it comes to arguments and reasoning.it had an influence that was profound on thinkers who had brought out other schools of thought (cultural-china.com, 2010).
Comparison between Confucianism and MoismSimilaritiesBoth had the recommendation that there was need for a social hierarchy which was based on the relationships that existed between superiors and their subordinates’ .such structures which were advocated really needed a government that was bureaucratic. Moism advocated for organization whereby there would be the existence of a political organization which was highly structured. This was such that the ideas that were preached would be fully realized. The political structure comprised of an intertwined network of local units where there were leaders presiding over them. There were also subordinates under these local units. This means that in the organizations there was a form of hierarchy that existed. On the other hand in Confucianism social harmony was a great goal which entailed that an individual should know how they are placed in the social order and ensures that they play this part very well. For instance Duke Jing of Qi had posed a question on governance which he meant which was the most proper form of administration that would bring harmony in the society. The reply that he got from Confucius was that a government is in existence when there is a prince who acts as a prince, a minister acting as a minister and when there is a father acting as a father and a son acting as a son (Wheeler, 2013). Specific duties come about from a particular situation as it relates to another. When it comes to an individual basis there are different relationships between different people according to how they relate to each other. For instance a junior relates differently towards his elders and parents at the same time a senior relates differently to his siblings who are younger, students and other people.in Confucianism, juniors are considered to owe reverence to their seniors, and at the same time seniors are supposed to be concerned and benevolent to their juniors. Therefore particular duties were accorded to each of the seniors and juniors (Piblius, 2007).
Both philosophies regard education as being of great importance. The basis of Confucianism was the seeking of knowledge and studying in order to become better people. Even though Confucius held claims that he did not invent anything, and he was only a transmitter of ancient knowledge. He came up with many new ideas such as the introduction of an imperial examination system to be used within China. This system gave a chance to anyone who had good results from their examination the chance to become a government officer. This position was one that brought honor and wealth to an entire family. He also came up with a number of principles that concerned studying. He said” studying without thinking leads to confusion”. Quality education seen today was nothing new according to Confucius. Mozi gave a description of various aspects of a variety of field which can be linked to physical science at the same time providing a considerable amount of information on mathematics.it also gave a definition of the geometric point which stated that there the separation of a line into two parts. The understanding of mathematics and physical science led to preeminence o f siege engineers who combined these with their artisans’ skills.
DifferencesMoism believed that free will existed and hence viewed heavens displeasure as being an effect of unjust rule. On the other hand Confucianism believed that there was some sort of fatalism or predestination which had the view that heaven’s displeasure is an indication of unjust rule. This thought gave rise to astrological knowledge as well as keeping a calendar that was accurate to be very important when it comes to the confusion emperor. Moism was also more utilitarian and things often thought to be useful such as music, theoretic philosophies and rites were considered to have no worth. On the other hand in Confucianism there was a belief of the existence of an ethical system which was strengthened by rites, rectification of names, music and so on. These were thought to be things that formed a backbone of righteousness and prosperity within the society. In moism anything that was not benefiting to a majority of the people was condemned hence offensive warfare was condemned. In Confucianism there was belief in helping one another, those within the family were considered first followed by those who were outside the family. In Confucianism there was no such distinction between defensive and offensive warfare made (Piblius, 2007).
In moism there was the emphasis of practical education for instance learning a particular trade or skill in contrast Confucianism valued fine arts and literary education. The differences are same to trade or technology schools and a college for liberal arts. Contrary to the teachings of Confucianism the moral teaching in moism put emphasis on authenticity and self-reflection as opposed to obedience being the main ritual. Mozi had replaced what he had considered to be long over-attachment of Chinese to the clan and family under the concept of universal love of caring that was impartial. This is different from the Confucianism whereby it was argued that it was not only natural but correct for people to show care and concern to others but in different extents or degrees.in contrast Mozi argued that people should always care for others equally.
Linking the thoughts of different philosophersThe ancient Chinese sacrificial practice was very common whereby the historical dynasties had carried out human sacrifices quite extensively. However there was the disappearance of this ritual during the periods of spring and autumn as well as the warring periods. Though it was practiced privately this ritual of sacrificing humans was replaced at the state level by clay puppets. The reason why this ritual was discontinued was not known. All these philosophers ignored the blood letting ritual but instead put emphasis on ritual morality to form the foundation of ritual state. Xunzi came up with a funeral ritual which was an ancestral right which required blood sacrifice in the ancient time. This according to him was to form the basis for good citizenship and morality when it came to rituals (Plutschow, 2002).
All the philosophers debated on the shift from a sacrificial towards a moral ritual. Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi were all against the human sacrifice ritual. However though they all shared the same thoughts they deviated from each other when it came to the opinions of the principles that governed statehood and good citizenship. Another reason for the deviation was due to the fact that these philosophers had come to a realization of the moral potential that is created in humans through rituals. This include respect, reverence, frugality, loyalty ,love without mentioning the potential that rituals have when it comes to the debates on political and social issues ( Plutschow, 2002).
All these philosophers also agreed on another premise .they all were in agreement that the moral virtue whether it was acquired through education it was innate it should be cultured under the guidance of the state. Morality and state were dependent upon each other and neither could exist without the other. Another common thing among these philosophers was their debate on statecraft. They asked themselves basic questions on how the state should be organized and the relationship that should exist between those who are being ruled and their rulers. Therefore it is seen that these philosophers held similar views on certain issues.
References
Plutschow, H. (2002). Xunzi and the Ancient Chinese Philosophical Debate on Human Nature .Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0801/xunzi.htmCultural-china.com. (2010). Mohism (Philosophy of Mozi). Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://history.cultural-china.com/en/49H6943H12322.htmlBrindley, E. (2011). Individualism in Classical Chinese Thought. Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://www.iep.utm.edu/ind-chin/Piblius. (2007). Comparing Mohism and Confucianism. . Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/16546-comparing-mohism-and-confucianism/Wheeler, L. (2013). Confucius and Confucianism. Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/chinese_confucius.htmlTravelchinaGuide. (2013). Confucianism. Retrieved May 23, 2013 from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/religion/confucianism/
Trading Fairly and Making a Profit by Equal Exchange
Trading Fairly and Making a Profit
Student’s Name
Institution
Equal Exchange: Trading Fairly and Making a Profit.
Beverage and products industry is a field of business in which many investors have ventured into across the world. Due to the congestion of industries in the field of production, there is a cut throat competition that every company faces. On the other hand, fare trade must be practiced to ensure that all the persons involved in trading get what they deserve. That would include farmers to manufacturers and to consumers as well. The competitive pressures facing the fare trade food and beverage products industry are enormous and quite a number of them are discussed in this paper. Globally, most countries that are still developing have in the past had influenced systems of agricultural marketing via policy of macro-economic that entails overvaluation of exchange rates that are all-encompassing. In addition, such countries exercise subsidies allocation, tax collection, marketing services provision and regulation of administration. State involvement level in trade has always been emphasized in major commodities that are exported as this has always been viewed as the main source of revenue collection (Lyon & morgan, 2010). It also ensures that input supply and credit to small producers prevails as well as provision of stabilization of market prices. Some nations have dismantled cooperatives that were independent thus state monopoly systems arose as key marketing functions were disrupted.
A five force analyses vary in different industries since not all industries produce similar products. The competitive force that is strongest determines the amount of profit an organization would yield and thus it becomes the most vital force in the formulation of strategies. However, the most significant force is always not noticeable. As a result, Equal exchange in the market chain is not guaranteed due to competition arising from the upcoming industries. Bargaining power of suppliers can enable some industries purchase raw materials at low prices hence being able to sell their products at affordable rates to consumers. Also, bargaining power of buyers can result in a company selling its products cheaply thereby making low or no profit at all. Entrance of a new industry into the market or production of substitute products of a company’s would result in low level of sales thus reduced profits. Rivalry among competitors that already exist is equally unhealthy to equal exchange as some companies would prefer doing business without making any profits so as to push their rivals from the market. On the other hand, industries are forced to raise their innovation standards. The weak force might be as a result of the location of the industry but specifically there is none that can be pinned down as being weak.
An importer of farm produce with developed interest in building trade partnerships that are long term and mutual relations with all dealers is what makes up Equal Exchange. Since investors worldwide have ventured into food production business, there exists a stiff competition offered by the rivals that puts Equal Exchange on toss. Equal Exchange’s competitive resources and capabilities include tangible and intangible resources. Tangible resources entail resources of finance. Equal exchange developed to earn profit to cooperatives of workers has had outside and inside shareholders. The most preferred financing source has been shares of Class B to outside investors. Shares of Class A formed part of smaller capital flow of stock which were sold only to employees of Equal Exchange. Additionally, Equal Exchange and Eastern Bank partnered and provided Equal Exchange Deposit Certificate which became alternative to conventional Deposit Certificates. There were also resources of the organization in which Equal Exchange formed 100% of cooperative owned by workers whereby the cooperatives made their own decisions.
Intangible resources include reputation and image of the company as well as direct farmer’s association with the company. Equal Exchange gives information about the product’s origin and how money is spent. They also import products directly from the cooperatives of farmers. Equal Exchange has partnerships with organizations of fair trades that create awareness to the public on their brands (Fridell, 2007). Competitive important capability of Equal Exchange includes the provision of foods that are organic with communal commitments. The supply chain of Equal Exchange is shorter as compared to competitors that are conventional and the supply chain is effectively managed. Quality of products is controlled by contracts signed with farmers in which there are agreements to produce products of high quality at fare prices. Through the stated discussions, it is discovered that the competitive power that is greatest is provision of organic food and commitments to the community. Equal Exchange purchases directly from cooperative representing small scale producers thus the cooperatives activities are internalized. Moreover, profits that were taken by middlemen end up in the pockets of the farmers.
There are no capabilities or resources that can pass all the four tests VRIN for merits that are competitive. The most considered power that is competitive is the ability to provide communal commitments and foods that are organic.
Recommendation
I would recommend to the board of directors to establish a system of policy based governance for the company. The board as a group would define rules and how it will be implemented. The rules and regulations established by the board of directors should be based on policies that would help raise the standard of performance and increase productivity. As a matter of fact, such rules would aid in guiding the actions of the board of directors, managers and the rest of the employees. The rules should not be defined rigidly but should cover a wide range of perspectives as this would give the managers and employees a leeway to achieve the company’s objectives and goals.
The already established partnerships that the Equal Exchange has with the Eastern Bank should be continued to offer the certificates of deposits that are sources of finance to the company. Provisions of organic foods and management of supply chains also enhances smooth running of business and thus the board of directors should ensure that the policy never dies. The purchase of products from small farmers’ cooperatives should always be encouraged by board of directors to reduce the middlemen that reduce the profits the farmers. This would help encourage farmers work even harder.
References
Fridell, G. (2007). Fair trade coffee: The prospects and pitfalls of market-driven social justice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Lyon, S., & Moberg, M. (2010). Fair trade and social justice: Global ethnographies. New York: New York University Press.
Trading Activity
Trading Activity
Trading activity is any business that is carried out with an aim of making profits although the possibilities of making losses are also much possible. Different trading activities require diverse factors for its implementation and operations to be a reality. That is, the market, security, capital, legal requirements, economic status of the country, infrastructure, religion and cultural beliefs and political stability (Altman, 2006). Consequently and from the later revelations, a business person can therefore come up with various trading activities depending on the favors provided by the factors. Some of these activities may include software Developing Business, oil mining, and the Assembly of motor cars. These are trading activities that might result into reasonable amount of gains.
Venturing Into Software Development Business
Software is a group of computer programs and related information that directs a computer on its functionality. That is, things to do, when to do them, and the manner to execute them. Software development is a process of creating a program or a number of programs that can achieve the work of effectively instructing the computer. It involves skilled labor, capital and other inputs to develop the software to an output. Recently, software developing industry has been one of the most rapidly growing business activities globally. This is as a result of increased insecurity, inaccessibility of some services and unaccountability in big organizations and in governments (William, 2000). The software’s technology will also reduce the cost incurred in labor as it may do a piece of work that would have been done by several laborers at a given span of time, when working with technology accuracy is realized more compared with working manually and it also gives a good reference as it stores information and with easy retrieval.
For a software to be developed a company requires an influx of finance, just like many profitable business it is usually difficult to acquire the initial capital. Consequently and owing to such inadequacies, there comes the need of seeking monetary support from other financial institutions and stable individuals. In order to achieve these there some monetary policies required in the process and they include provision of loans, contributions from relatives among others, business wise this is called trading on margin where margin account is considered in keeping this account and not cash account.
To venture into a business one has to be curtained of the safety of the investment. Therefore, the business has to stand and convince in order to raise the capital required. The third party, in this case, the financial providers of the business would need to have trust and belief on the business (William, 2000). Software development as a business will win trust of the investors since its importance is outstanding on only in technology but in other sectors like medical service and telecommunications that are vital for the survival of any economy in the world. It is evident that the world has been experiencing considerable growth but the most notable is technology. It has been experiencing robust growth with its effects felt in almost all sectors (Church land, Patricia and Sejnowski, 2001). Henceforth, the security on improvement adjustment and much more betterment of software is expected. It is easy to have the belief that software development is a necessity in the world of business because of its capability to curb insecurity of documents. What’s more, it brings about accountability and accessibility. Furthermore, entrepreneurs will also require to be assured of the business future continuity and growth for them to venture into it. Hence, as growth and change engulf the sector, the need for the installation of newer technology continues to soar. Lately, software developing trade has been rapid with its market expounding, it is not only companies that need this software but also schools and hospitals (Church land, Patricia and Sejnowski, 2001).
Any business venturing into the sector of software has the ability of enjoying immense competitive advantage though strong competitors in the market and wrong governance might hamper such advantages (Altman, 2006). Comparing the use of computers and manual work it is always evident that computer will simplify work to considerable levels. In addition to such factors, it is economical in terms of space, material used and operation cost as compared to the use of laborers as a single computer can stand for a good number of workers. Furthermore, computers have the capability of working round the clock an added advantage when compared to human beings. Consequently, investors can rest easy having the knowledge that the future of such ventures is bright and that its failure can only be attributed to other factors other than the business itself.
Finance is one of the most important assets that the company requires. To this effect, managers ought to have a clear plan towards the way of financing the process and ensure smooth running of the organization and achievements of the company’s objectives (Harry, 2007). Before development such projects can commence, the management of such projects should have a plan for a budget for estimated cost and the actual cost to ensure that there neither either cash that has gone into a loss nor any misappropriation of the company funds intended for the purpose of developing and implementation of the projects (Altman, 2006). However, all is not green due to issue of uncertainty involved in both demand and supply of commodities. Accordingly, managers have to come up with methods to indentify such and policies that minimize such risks.
After all the production has taken place and the output is ready the business has to come up with a market price for their commodity (Elton, Goetzmann, Brown, and Goetzmann, 2009). To effectively achieve this, pricing policies are important. That is there is need for looking into the current pricing regimes of the commodity and while trying to maintain competitive advantage ensure that the cost of production is in consideration to avoid losses (Church land, Patricia and Sejnowski, 2001).. The business has to know all the expenses incurred in the course of production. That is, the labor involved, capital, assets depreciated or damaged, time used, demand and supply consolidate it with the expected profit and find the estimated value of the final product prices (William, 2000). Though initial introduction of commodities in most cases involves high pricing to cover the cost incurred during development, at times it turns out not a good move if there are strong older competitors in the market of consideration.
In software development there is no intensive labor involved since single person can up with every stage of the developed software. This therefore interprets that the price of the final product is not much being influenced by the labor if even though it plays a key role. When developing a system other software’s are used, computer and internet incur cost (Elton, Goetzmann, Brown, and Goetzmann, 2009). Computers can be affected and even infected by viruses from the internet causing loss that will need to be recovered in the returns of the developed system increasing the cost of the software.
Capital required in developing the software at each and every stage of development is high and most of this finance is borrowings from financial institution and other sources, so, their refunds will be immediate once the software will begging to trade in the market (Jameson, 2010). In addition to this, demand and supply will influence the pricing of the product it has always been seen that the price of the product is directly proportional to its demand. If the demand is high the price of the product are expected to be high too and its vice versa is true. For the supply, when the supply is low the prices increase and its vice versa is also true (Harry, 2007). However, uncertainty in both may result into unstable pricing regime that might have adverse effects on the profits that the company is to realize. Accordingly, there has to be better ways of dealing with such uncertainty that is evident when dealing with products.
Different business at initial stages and at maturity consumes time. Time can be in consumed in two major stages of production of an item. In the initial level till the final level where it becomes a product and secondly that time the product remains in the warehouse (stores) before it is bought from the business (Jameson, 2010). Though at times some commodities do depreciate when more time taken is taken during the storage, software development had not experienced such due to its demand in the market, but there is intensive time consumption as the software is developed from stage to stage henceforth it influences its price.
After doing every calculation on the capital consumed, after considering the market and demand for the product, the assessing the assets used and depreciation that had occurred on the assets and after considering factors such as legal procedures and political environment of the country the software develop can come up with the price of every product (Harry, 2007). The amount that the entrepreneur sets is an amount above that in order to enjoy the profit of the products.
Advantages of software development business
It is a technological business that enables in modern world operate faster and round the clock.
Compared to manual way of working machine can work for long hours.
It reduces the cost incurred to hire workers as one machine can perform work to be done by more than 100 people.
Does not require supervision for its work.
High standard of accuracy and a very presentable work.
Improves the economy of a country.
Disadvantages of software development business
Require high cost to install.
Cause unemployment thus poor living standard
In case of corruption on the file or virus attack the system functionality is distorted.
Need professionals to operate who may at times are not ready available.
References
William F. S. (2000). Investments. London: Prentice-Hall publishers.
Harry M. (2007). Trading in the software business. California: SAGE Publishers.
Altman, I. (2006). The Concept of Intelligence: A Philosophical Analysis. Sudbury: Cengage learning.
Church land, Patricia and Sejnowski, T. (2001) The Computational Brain. London: Oxford Publishers.
Elton, Goetzmann, Brown, and Goetzmann, W. N. (2009). The theory of investment analysis. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.
Jameson, P. L. (2010). Trading activities policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.