Voltaire s Candide The Enlightenment And The...

Inspired by the bold ideas that coincided with the French enlightenment, writer Franà §ois-Marie Arouet, more popularly known as Voltaire, wrote Candide, published in January of 1789 in Paris, France by Sirà ¨ne. Voltaire became known as the â€Å"fountainhead of the Enlightenment and the intellectual spearhead of the French Revolution†Ã‚ ² with his bold ideas that challenged society’s way of thinking. This satire was written during the Enlightenment period and demonstrated Voltaire’s criticisms toward the church, society and a multitude of other subjects. This book was chosen for the class because it exhibits the point of view of a famous philosopher during the Enlightenment period whose ideas were beneficial and relevant to the time period being studied. Candide contains many criticisms throughout the book and introduces the philosophical details of the Enlightenment period. This book ties in with what we are learning in class and served as a source of o utside information and context for this specific era of history. Candide displays how a productive, fruitful era can also corrupt a nation and produce peril and hardship throughout the people, Candide served as a way for Voltaire to voice his philosophies and opinions to the public. Candide cannot be in love with Cunà ©gonde because of his lower class. Not only did Voltaire wish to inform readers, he also wanted to persuade them into following his teachings and beliefs. This book was intended for an audience willing to listen

Underestimating Our Influence Over Others Unethical...

The question that editorial boards always ask is: are popular articles doing justice to the scientific article they are representing or do they poorly represent scientific research? The scientific article, â€Å"Underestimating Our Influence Over Others Unethical Behavior and Decisions† written by Vanessa K. Bohns, Mahdi Roghanizad, and Amy Xu was posted on the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The popular article, â€Å"Its easier than you think to get people to commit bad deeds† by blogger Christian Jarrett, was recently blogged in response to the scientific article. He effectively showcases Bohns research and findings to a different audience than those attracted to the scientific articles. Examining the blog, it is demonstrated that†¦show more content†¦In all, 91 per cent of the participants overestimated how many people theyd need to approach† (Jarrett 1). The numbers provided here are much easier to understand because of the diction that J arrett used. He successfully conveys the same findings from Bohns’ article in terms for the general public to be able to understand. Jarrett decided to use words and the important numbers, which are easier for non-scientists to understand. Jarrett knows his audience and molds his blog to their needs and understandability. Aside with keeping your audience in mind, other important factors include word count. In the blog world, there is an unspoken rule of keeping the word count low when compared to newspaper articles that have extensive words. Many believe because of the low word count, blogs cannot successfully showcase their ideas. However, websites, such as CopyPress, is created for the misfits of the blog world to band together and defy these norms; by showcasing their ideas properly and challenging the word limit. Those that are hired to write for this online company are certified writers, meaning they must be experience with a degree in English. Even though CopyPress stated that a blog post should be no longer than 500 words, they challenge bloggers to reach the 2,000 words maximum or at least to write more than the word limit. Jarrett’s blog is a little over 800 words, challenging the word limited just as CopyPress

American International Group, or AIG Free Essays

Ann-Katrin Kohnle Organizational Behavior AIG American International Group, or AIG, started out as a company that represented American insurance companies in Shanghai. The company moved on to become a reinsurance company in the United States that would hekp insurance companies disperse their liabilites and therefore aid those companies to grow faster. In 1968, Maurice Greenberg took over as CEO and AIG grew and expanded into countries around the world. We will write a custom essay sample on American International Group, or AIG or any similar topic only for you Order Now Today, AIG does not only provide reinsurance services anymore but also financial services. Maurice Greenberg was born in 1925, is a war veteran and graduated from New York law school. He had a very autocratic approach to leading AIG. His goal was to expand AIG and many political key figures asked him for advice. Because he gave advice to influential people and lobbied effectively, he was often given the benefit of the odubt when questionable practices within AIG became known. In the early 2000s there were several investigations into AIG aimed at clarifying questionable insurance practices and schemes used ot boost AIG’s revenue. As a result, Greenberg was asked to step down as the CEO in 2005 and he is currently the CEO of C. V. Starr Co Inc. Greenberg was succeeded by Martin Sullivan, Robert Willumstad, and Edward Liddy, who is the current CEO of AIG. Leading up to the bailout of AIG in 2008, the company was involved in riskier and riskier transactions. AIG used credit default swaps that allowed other companies to transfer their risk to AIG in case their securities defaulted. However, AIG did not have enough money to actually pay all these companies once the recession hit. As a result, the federal government agreed to bail out AIG to save it from sure bankruptcy. Not all of AIG was to blame for its downfall, however. One department of the company, AIG Financial Products, dealt with hedge funds and very risky transactions that earned AIG billions of dollars but that also brought down the whole company in the end. Even though it seems as though employees of AIG knew about the potential threat the Financial Products section posed to the entire company, nothing was ever done to impose stricter regulations on the department. On the contrary, big money and benefit incentives were given to the employees who brought in the most money. However, the transactions that brought in the most money most often also were the transactions that were the riskiest resulting in a very high risk portfolio. After the bubble exploded because AIG could not pay the institutions they had promised money to, the government bailed them out mainly because if AIG would have gone down, many other national and international companies that depended on AIG to do well would have failed as well. Until today, Greenberg who was CEO of the company the longest, maintains his innocence and states that he always acted in the best interest of the company and no unethical behavior was going on. The big question, however, is if the bailout was necessary or justified. Should a company that has gambled away individuals’ and businesses’ money be rewarded for failing or should they have taken the fall and endured the consequences? How to cite American International Group, or AIG, Papers

Huckleberry Finn Symbolism free essay sample

Laws and Freedom In the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn is a free spirit who longs for adventure and nothing more than to escape from societys rules. Having grown up with no motherly fgure by his side and a drunkard father, Huckleberry Finn separates himself from society at an early age and learns to rely solely on himself. As a result from his alienation from society, hes a free spirit with an uncivilized behavior that society constantly tries to reform to standards. The only place where Huck finds tranquility is on the peaceful Mississippi River with the unaway slave, Jim. Together, they build their own sanctuary on the raft away from the shore as they form a friendship that society would never accept between a slave owner and a slave. The shore is where Huck believes societys rules await him and the river is where all opportunities are possible. We will write a custom essay sample on Huckleberry Finn Symbolism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The conflict that exists between Huckleberry Finn and society stems from the way civilization sets standards in which a person must adhere to in order to fit in. However Huck has no interest in conforming to these traditionalistic views; he does not wish to be proper. Huck proceeds to act in an uncivilized fashion in which Miss Watson believes she must tame and reform. He shows much disinterest in Miss Watsons passion to civilize him as he says, The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me I got into my old rags and my sugar hogshead again. He then makes up his own rules as his adventure continues to deal with the prejudices and racism of the society on shore. Rules that he believes are what defines him as a person and as a result changes his perspective on the way he perceives moral values. For example, he ponders over a hurt Jim when he had teased about the fog and says, It was fifteen minutes before I gone humble myself to a nigger, but I done it, and I wasnt sorry for it afterwards. (115). Despite Jim being a slave, Huck Finn starts to appreciate him as a person and an equal. This feeling of appreciation is one he would have never felt on shore because of societys restrictions. As opposed to the restriction that Huck feels on shore, he feels the exact opposite as he sails down the tranquil Mississippi River. He sails the river with Jim, a runaway lave escaping from the harsh society where his only place is to serve his white superiors. However for both Huck and Jim, despite their social hierarchy difference on shore, enjoys the same freedom rafting along the Mississippi River. He feels its lovely to live on a raft (1 15). A feeling of peace settles throughout their whole voyage, but as they anchor on shore, we are at once reminded of the deceit, cruelty, and greed that plagues society. As Huck and Jim travels on shore with the Dauphin and the Duke, Huck immediately recognizes the two as conmen that have invaded their peace. When Huck and Jim were able to abandon the Duke and Dauphin and resume their adventure downstream, he expressed how it felt so good to be free again (197). However to Hucks dismay, the Duke and Dauphin returned on a different raft to which Huck replies by wilt[ing] right down onto the planks (198). The Duke and Dauphin represent the aspects of society in its entirety and despite the tact that Huck and Jim were tar away trom the snore and its contormities, socie standards were always following close behind. Society is constantly trying to reform Huck and Jim even when they are out of reach.