Teaching The Confessions of St. Augustine Essay -- The Confessions of

Teaching The Confessions of St. Augustine ABSTRACT: Augustine's passionate and immensely personal account of his conversion has enthralled readers for centuries. Unfortunately, the passion and personal nature of the writing can stand as a barrier to comprehension, especially when the text is taught at the undergraduate level. Add to this the fact that the work has the character of one long and substained prayer to God, contains many passages that are tediously introspective, and refers to a time and place that are foreign to today's undergraduates, the task of helping students to understand and appreciate the work is daunting, to say the least. Augustine's very passionate and immensely personal account of his conversion has enthralled readers for centuries. Unfortunately, it is also the very passionate and personal nature of the writing that can stand as a barrier to comprehension, especially when the text is taught at the undergraduate level. Add to this the fact that the work has the character of one long, sustained prayer addressed to God, it contains many passages that are tediously introspective, it refers to a time and place that are foreign to today's undergraduates, and the task of helping students to understand and appreciate the work is, to say the least, daunting. But the Confessions, like all great literary masterpieces, is ultimately accessible, although special effort may have to be made to make it so for the student. One method of approaching the text that has been very helpful for my students has been to explore the text in terms of theme and pattern. It is this method about which I will speak in this paper. I shall speak first of theme, and return later to pattern. There is no doubt in Augustine's m... ...on, and the individuals who at every stage helped him to overcome those obstacles. I have further suggested that one theme that comes readily to the fore when the first eight books of the Confessions are analyzed in this way is Augustine's belief that God's work is accomplished in our lives through the agency of others. This approach is used with a primarily undergraduate audience in mind, thus many of Augustine's more subtle psychological and theological teachings from these books are not given emphasis. However, this approach does provide students with a way into the text that is intelligible and manageable. It can only be hoped that in subsequent readings, our students will be able to appreciate some of the other riches that await them therein. Bibliography Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine. Trans. John K. Ryan. Garden City: Image-Doubleday, 1960.

The Sole Remaining Supplier

Although the liability of a malfunctioned transistor is on he manufacturer, Justifying the manufacturer's acts of deception would be utilitarianism because of Its moral reasoning. In this paper, I shall discuss the general utilitarian issues of the case. In addition, I will apply the different steps of the utility Test and I shall apply this comparative approach to the study of the Common-Good Test.Although my judgments are implicitly concerned with generalizing the ethical issues of the case, I shall criticize the utilitarianism; the view that the best decision is the one that maximizes the expected utility over those who are affected Baron 1990). In addition, the paper shall inform as well as to which approach, the utility Test, or the Common-Good Test best evaluates the case. Introduction utilitarianism is foreseen as unjust because it leads to conclusions that permit those who are fortunate to hurt people with less fortunate situations.For example, in The Case of the Sole Remaini ng Supplier, if the company decides to continue it sells of transistors without the proper engineering testing It is benefiting financially at the cost of the pacemaker patients and their families who rely on such technology for survival. If utilitarianism Is the normative theory. Hen my Judgments correct or not could fail to bring sense to any present or future consequence.However, this sort of knowledge will allow the reader to understand the situation of the case. Utilitarian Issues There were many ethical issues involving the selling of transistor supplies to the pacemaker company. If the company continues to supply the transistors then It Is possible that It could suffer a future financial loss. If a lawsuit were to occur, the company would not only lose financial profits but also its shareholders and employees would suffer from the consequence as well.By stopping the selling of the transistors to the pacemaker company, it would put them out of business; however, the supplier n eeds to evaluate the number of deaths that have occurred because of the different malfunctions of the transistors. On contrast, if the company remains as the sole supplier of the units and decides to stop Its manufacturing, heart patients In need of a pacemaker would die.In addition, the pacemaker technology would be put at a halt and improvements would never be found; therefore, future heart pacemaker patients would not benefit from any innovative breakthroughs. Utility Test The consequences of a heart patient dying because of the selling of a transistor are high according to the case; however, based on Thomas Shanks, (1996) heart patients In need of a pacemaker Implant for survival can be saved only by supplying the transistors but the company that manufactures the transistors are concerned saved.Although the pacemaker technology was in its infancy, malfunctions continued to be of concern to the manufacturers because of the legal actions that could occur; therefore, the utilitaria n question would be determined on the following question: How many deaths will occur because of the malfunctions with the transistors? The answer could be that in cases such as, The Case of the Sole Remaining Supplier the patient in need of an implant, the supplier, the manufacturer, and the stakeholder should sacrifice the chances of a malfunction although all of the patients involved have a right not to sacrifice in any way.However, a right is a social rule that saves people certain worries and protective behavior. If a heart patient in need of an implant is sacrificed, all human beings would have to take precautions against companies such as this one for the benefit of there. In addition, all individuals regardless of medical reasons would worry about situations like this because at the end, implanting a pacemaker at their risk for the benefit of others would worry everyone. For this principle, the sacrifice may not be Justified in utilitarian terms.Outcomes or Utility Rights can always be outweighed; therefore, rights are never absolute. An individual's Judgments are prone to error. We suspect of those who take a situation upon themselves to violate someone else's rights for their own good or someone else's good. Rights are worth enforcing because they serve as a utilitarian purpose. In a utilitarian analysis, practices put forward as rights might not be Justifiable in terms of their consequences because they are for their own goal achievement rather than for everyone.In short terms, heart patients in need of a pacemaker would not be the only ones suffering from such consequences because all individuals have equal standing rights as a person regardless of medical reasons or not. Applying the Utility Test Making the correct decision to produce the best outcome for everyone requires a revision of the current engineering testing. The following considerations will examine the company's goods while minimizing the harm to heart patients. Without the manufacturer of the transistors, the company will go out of business, the employees lose their Jobs, and shareholders lose their money. The supplier company runs the risk of legal action, which would result in the possible employee layoffs and shareholders experience a potential financial loss. Pacemaker patients face death because manufacturer would stop selling transistors for the creation of pacemakers. However, if the transistors continue to be manufactured pacemaker patients continue to face a possible death because of malfunctions. 0 Future icemaker patients although not the primary stakeholders, could benefit from the implants because of the ongoing advances and improvements that the company does to improve their units.The following possible options could be taken into consideration by the supply company. 0 Stop selling transistors to the buying company. Although the supplier losses profit earned from the sales of the transistors, it would avoid any future legal actions and avoid Jeopard izing the company. In addition, the rights of the supplier's employees and stakeholders would be preserved. Employees will continue to have a Job and earn a living, which it would to be possible if layoffs occurred after the financial lawsuits. On contrast, the company in business and earning profits. Future patients could benefit from new and improved pacemaker technology. It also preserves the right of their employees and shareholders to continue earning a living and making profit. It also preserves the rights of the patients by providing a choice. The patient will make the decision of risking a malfunction without someone else's decision. Drawing a Conclusion The ethical decision would be to continue to supply the transistors in order for the majority of people to benefit.If the manufacturing company stopped producing the pacemakers, the patient's basic right would be lost; therefore, their freedom to life would be lost as well. An individual's should outweigh any financial gain or loss too company and although the pacemaker technology was a new innovative alternative, consideration should be given to how it would make a difference in the future. Employees would keep their right to earn a living, while the company's shareholders keep the right to increase their wealth. This decision is the only possible way that would serve the majority of the people.Common Good Test As the Pacemaker technology was serving as the common good, by protecting people's rights to a new and promising medical technology, the supplier of the transistors and the manufacturing company compared the penalty Judgments in question. They would make safer product vs.. The question of not making the product. For example, the company knew that the transistors malfunctioned but was reconsidering the selling of the product because they were concerned with the possible legal actions. If the company stopped selling the transistors, it would avoid any legal action.On contrast, society depends on new medical technologies; therefore, if they kept the possible malfunctions as a secret it would avoid any future effects. The two facts mean that the consequences of selling the transistors would justify the means because by selling the units an action is right if it creates the best outcome. However, this stipulation rules out any effects because if patients accepted an implant knowing of such malfunctions rather than denying the malfunctions the company is acting honest and its fulfilling its contractual obligation at the same time. Which ApproachThe Utility Test is the most informative method compared to the Common Good Test because it allows people to determine if the transistors design is defective; therefore, it makes the manufacturer liable for any injuries that their product causes. Conclusion Utilitarianism allows a company or an individual evaluate their decisions through a set of practical guidelines (Baron, 1985). In this paper, I have summarized the utilitarian approac h to the common good test and I have described several suggestions in which an individual's intuition often contradicts the utilitarian theory.People seem to think that penalties are inherently deserved and that they should be applied even when there is deterrence. In addition, it is believed that compensation should be greater when people get harmed by nature. In contrast to utilitarian, people are reluctant in harming people Just to help another person, and they become reluctant to initiate reforms when the benefits are unequally distributed although People differ in each case but according to the findings of Larkin, Anisette, & Morgan (1990), those who follow utilitarian are no different from those who do not follow utilitarian.

The Renminbi Challenge And The World Economy Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2091 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? There has been much talk of the Internationalisation of the RMB and the recent currency war between the US and China with the US exerting pressure on China to appreciate its currency. Whilst the Chinese leaders are unlikely to yield to US pressure, they recognise that there is a need to gradually appreciate the currency to counter the risk of inflation and adjusting the Balance of Payments without damaging and destabilising Chinas export industries. China has come a long way in the last 3 decades and has become a key player on the international stage. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Renminbi Challenge And The World Economy Finance Essay" essay for you Create order China is the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI), with inflows of $95 billion in 2009. It has overtaken Japan in the second quarter of 2010 as the worlds second largest economy and overtaken Germany as the worlds largest exporter. It holds the largest share of foreign exchange reserves (just under $2.5 trillion). However, it does not have a currency that reflects its prominent role and therefore recognises the need to move to a more flexible exchange rate regime and a fully convertible RMB. RMB is not fully convertible and is not a unit of account for exchange means in international transactions Despite its prominent role in the world economy, the RMB is not fully convertible, creating a mismatch on its international balance sheet between liabilities that are typically denominated in RMB. Chinas over-reliance on the Dollar can be associated with the risk of excessive exposure to liquidity shortage within the world economy and the consequent reduction of trade finance as experienced by the lesson learnt from 2007-2008 financial crisis. To use the RMB as a future means of payment in international trade transactions would reduce the impact of international financial market volatility on its economy. The Central Government will also face less pressure in the managing of its huge foreign exchange reserves. China has no past experience nor road map to pave a way to develop RMB as an international currency so its challenge is immense. China does not have a reserve currency with intrinsic value linking and convertibility to gold. The RMB can only be compared to the Dollar itsel f. China also faces another challenge if its currency is channelled into the hands of foreign holders. With its huge current account surplus, this is not going to be easy without further expanding the Dollar element on the asset side of the Central Banks balance sheet. Planning Currency Moves and paving the way to Internationalise the RMB RMB revalued its decade 8.28 exchange rate peg to USD on 21 July 2005 to 8.11 to reform the exchange rate regime to meet the needs of China and world financial markets and moved to a managed float. In July 2008, RMB was re-pegged to USD to help exporters cope with sliding demand triggered when the global financial crisis intensified. Striving to increase RMB flexibility, it abandoned the 23-month re-pegging to USD. The RMB has gradually appreciated to help curb inflation and assuage the demand of its trading partners. As consumer prices rose 4.4% MoM in Oct 2010, PBOC raised RMB rate 0.31% to 6.6242 on 11 Nov2010, the strongest increment since the peg was scrapped in July 2005. Beijing is relying on its market power to encourage foreign businesses, especially from its regional neighbouring countries, to use the RMB to settle its transactions with Chinese firms whilst building a RMB denominated asset offshore market in Hong Kong without prematurely opening the capital account and increasing the imbalance in its international balance sheet. Success will depend on a combination of well-designed, controlled policies and market forces with an objective for Shanghai to be developed as an international financial centre by 2020. Formation of the offshore RMB market Hong Kong is Chinas RMB offshore centre under the One Country, Two Systems which is needed to maintain the status quo on the capital account and to ensure that any possible negative impact of the experiment can be successfully walled off from the domestic market . Since 2004, daily permitted conversion of RMB 20,000 by HK residents has accumulated to approx RMB 80bn by the middle of this year, mainly made up of low yield deposits, remittances, exchange and credit card services driven largely by anticipated RMB appreciation. In May 2009, Chinas State Council granted approval to 2 foreign financial institutions registered in HK, namely HSBC and the Bank of East Asia, to issue RMB denominated bonds. In July 2010, offshore RMB market gained pace with the signing of the Supplementary Memorandum of Cooperation on the Expansion of the RMB Trade Settlement Scheme which enabled free circulation of the RMB outside the Mainland. In August 2010, China eased restrictions on foreign offshore Banks access to the interbank bond market to offer products with more favourable terms which attract even greater demand for the RMB offshore. Is the internationalization of the RMB feasible and realistic in the current environment? According to the HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li , the RMB is likely to evolve in 3 stages, namely gaining international acceptance in becoming a currency of trade (5-10 years), a currency of investment (10+ years) and ultimately a reserve currency (20+ years). Today, trade settlement in RMB has amounted to RMB 91.6 bn and is still growing rapidly despite current capital account and convertibility constraints. The issue is not whether the RMB will become an international trade currency but as to how fast this can be achieved with market consensus being that full convertibility of the RMB is just a matter of time and revaluation will be forthcoming in the interim. To become a reserve currency, the capital account also needs to be convertible. Further investment options need to be available for Investors to hedge their risk. Strategy of structural reforms and domestic consumption It is expected income distribution, healthcare, provision for public housing, other social services will be the main theme of Chinas 12th Five Year Plan. Following the last financial crisis, China is shifting from an export and fixed investment-led economy into consumption-oriented economy to remove the heavy reliance on export growth. Addressing huge income gap between wealthy urbanites and the poor farming communities is also on its agenda. Spending on Health Care will likely increase 7 fold between 2008-2018 with the constructing of 2,000 new county hospitals and other rural clinics. Other reforms will include building roads, new energy, equities and fixed assets. Central Government has promised to cut carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45% from the 2005 levels. 80% of external funding for the Chinese economy comes from bank loans, it raises the need for funding source diversification through the Capital Market in Corporate loans and equities. Mainland insu rance and securities companies could be the biggest beneficiaries of these reforms. China will seek to maintain stability on macro, fiscal policy and monetary policy. RMB exchange rate should also maintain relative stability so that domestic manufacturers and exporters can better predict and adjust to the market. Any significant move on the RMB could see foreign money pouring into the country which will cause inflation. If revaluation is large, domestic companies face a risk of being priced out of the market and impact export growth leading to higher unemployment and social unrest. Chinese leaders appear to have concluded that RMB revaluation is a contingency. Given that a more flexible currency mechanism is forthcoming, Beijing needs to prepare its countrys financial system for possible shock effects from exchange reform and make effective the State enterprise. Business Opportunities for Financial Institutions like Credit Suisse The earliest beneficiaries of the RMBs Internationalization will be the Banks, Insurers and Asset Managers with their products offerings. Credit Suisse has strong Investment Banking, Asset Management and Private Banking capabilities and has positioned itself in recent years to take advantage of the reforms and huge growth in China. There will be a growing market in the acquisitions by Chinese state-owned enterprises in the coming years. Chinese Corporate, financial institutions and Government alike will require significant capital in the next 5 to 10 years and the sectors most likely to be in need of financing are financial services, infrastructure and natural resources. The last five years have seen spectacular IPOs in the Chinese market and this trend is likely to continue as long as the Chinese economic growth is maintained. Credit Suisse positions itself in China Credit Suisse is a market-leader in Investment Banking (including Corporate Banking), Asset Management and Private Banking and offers multi product suites, first class execution and distributions, trade settlements and capital market advisory services to our global clients. CS is increasing its business presence in China and has made numerous strategic market professional hires whilst additionally undertaking strategic joint ventures. Credit Suisse has entered into a joint venture in Aug 2010 with ICBC to form ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. It raised more than RMB 14 bn ($ 2.1 bn) in Chinas biggest bond fund ever called The ICBC Credit Suisse Double Profit Bond Fund. The fund invests in domestic Government debt, Corporate bonds, short term bills and RMB denominated Convertible Notes and is popular with investors sidestepping a weak stock market. Credit Suisse has also entered into a joint venture with Founder Securities Ltd, the first securities JV approved by the Ch inese regulators since new guidelines were put in place in December 2007. The JV was launched with less than 50 staff but has doubled its head count in less than one year with further plans for expansion, betting on a healthy pipeline to underwrite debt and equities offerings, IPOs and MAs in Chinas domestic market. For the nine months ending 30/9/10 Credit Suisse has been involved in 11 MAA deals with a total volume of US$10.443bn, a market share of 8.8% and an overall financial institutions ranking of 4th (Bloomberg). Credit Suisse Private Banking has increased its headcount hire of high calibre Private Bankers to take advantage of the rapidly rising number of affluent households. It is estimated that nearly 1 million Chinese households have financial assets exceeding US 1m. Chinas savings rate of appx 55% of GDP lacks competitive and efficient financial services for investments growth. China is the third-largest wealth generator in the world, with USD 16.5 trillion in total ho usehold wealth and is behind USs 54.6 trillion and Japans 21.0 trillion but could rise 111% to USD 35 trillion by 2015 overtaking Japan to become the second highest in the world if growth continues. Credit Suisse is looking to open new offices in China and will leverage further its dominance with good infrastructure and foundation to build up the Private Banking business, noting at the same time the challenges that come with it in terms of OECD tax treaty, cross-border restrictions and the hiring of experienced talent. As CEO, as much as there is huge growth opportunities for the Banks to increase our global presence in China to achieve bigger revenues for our shareholders, we must ensure that optimal service levels to our clients needs are maintained and to have a rigorous infrastructural, operational, capable resources and a strong regulatory frame-work to adapt to the cultural differences, regulatory policy changes in China and market forces. There is a need prepare ourselv es on some of the risk and challenges if the RMB revalues and the eventual Internationalisation of a fully convertible currency. Risks and Challenges should the RMB revalue or appreciate Foreign exchange risk management and mitigation will be key. A platform to better match payables and receivables minimizing FX risks and costs associated with potential currency mismatches and on Corporate Earnings from US to CHF should RMB devalues Ensuring first class regulatory risk management systems and highly qualified staff Agility in responding to local regulatory changes and market forces due to large revaluation impacting domestic companies and sectors that Credit Suisse has exposure to. Meet the regulatory minimum Capital adequacy and comply to new Basel III standards Significant revaluation impacting Chinas export growth resulting in high unemployment and social unrest. Competition for Foreign Banks particularly if they are constrained in their loan growth or find it difficult to obtain approval to open new branches. Cultural barriers and the challenges of attracting, training and retaining good calibre individuals given the increased competition for e xperienced professionals and the possibility that a number of local market professionals will inevitably be lured back to the Domestic Banks as local financial institutions become more competitive in terms of capabilities, career prospects and remuneration The Chinese market for Private Banking is still immature and strictly regulated. It will take much time and effort to educate various parties including clients. Associated costs involved in increasing the presence in China such as office accommodation, personnel, infrastructure etc and the uncertainty as to how soon such an operation will become profitable against a backdrop of fierce competition.