Hobbes vs. Rousseau: Contrasting Views on the Social Contract
Hobbes’s Social Contract Theory
Hobbes represents a compromise between two factions: rejecting the divine right of kings while also rejecting the early democratic view of shared power between Parliament and the king. He argues that political authority stems from the self-interests of equal individuals, with no inherent right to rule. However, he maintains that the monarch, or Sovereign, must have absolute authority for societal survival.
Hobbes’s political theories include:
- The theory of human motivation
Effective Team Meetings: A Comprehensive Guide
A Session
A session is a meeting between members of a team to exchange information, reach consensus on decisions, and plan certain actions. It is a technique to activate, develop, and work as a group to achieve your objectives. Meetings facilitate relationships between people, allowing objectives to be reached more easily. For this purpose, any meeting should be well-meaning and planned in advance.
Types of Meetings
- Briefings: The goal is to disseminate information to subordinates (downward information)
The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha: Early Editions and Lost Publication
The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha: Early Editions and a Lost Publication
First Edition (1605)
The first part of The Ingenious Knight of La Mancha was printed in Madrid, home of Juan de la Cuesta, in late 1604. It went on sale in January 1605 with numerous errors due to the speed imposed by the publishing contract. This edition was reprinted in the same year and in the same shop, resulting in two slightly different editions of 1605.
Lost Publication
It is suspected that there was an earlier, shorter
Read MoreA Comprehensive Argument for Same-Sex Marriage
Consequentialism (Lecture 1)
Introduction to Normative Ethics
Normative ethics is the study of what is morally right or wrong, as opposed to factual or functional rightness or wrongness. Normative theories include consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics.
Consequentialism
Consequentialism defines the rightness or wrongness of an act based on the consequences that flow from it.
Consequentialism (Utilitarianism)
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill were key proponents of classical utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism
Read MoreDescartes and Spinoza: A Philosophical Comparison
Descartes
The method
New conception of truth, there is the truth as adequacy, or the truth as authority. The new truth is the truth as certainty, as something indubitable truth, something that can not be doubted. For Descartes the certainty is linked to the clarity and distinction. One truth is clear, if present, is not transcendent, I have before. A truth is different if defined, if I can differentiate from others.
Descartes realizes that there are many truths we believe to be true, but soon discovered
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Lecture 1: Maori Culture and Resource Management
- Maori Culture: Deep connection to the natural world, kaitiakitanga (guardianship)
- Historical Timeline:
- Settlement from Polynesia (1200-1300 AD)
- Captain James Cook’s arrival (1769), followed by missionaries from England (late 1700s-early 1800s)
- Significant Events:
- Declaration of Independence (1835), signed by Ngāpuhi chiefs
- Treaty of Waitangi (1840), discrepancies in translation regarding sovereignty
- British colonization: conflicts, land confiscations, decline