Active Intellect in Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Active Intellect in Aristotle Essay All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. This is the foundation of human knowledge Aristotle presents us with in Book Alpha of the Metaphysics. The next question which we must naturally ask ourselves is, How? How is it that we can have any knowledge at all? We by our very nature desire to know and we love the senses in themselves but what is the relationship between the two and by what faculty are we able to call anything knowledge once sense perception has occurred? Aristotle sets up as his faculty for knowledge both the active and the passive intellects. We begin to have knowledge through sense experience. We cannot know without sense experienceand it is from sense experience that all knowledge is therefore generated. Knowledge for Aristotle is a knowledge of universals, that is, a knowledge of Essences. Thought is thus the faculty by which we come to comprehend universals. And since material objects are a composite unity of essence and existence, it naturally follows that we grasp the universal through our encounter with the particular. What follows is a series of events which leads to knowledge. The passive intellect receives the image from the sense data and it is stamped upon the passive intellect from the material impression. From this stamp the active intellect is to draw out of it and somehow make a universal concept from this particular experience. But there is something more at work here. There is something in the mind ( more specifically in the soul) that somehow comprehends and makes universals intelligible. Various theories have been postulated concerning this but we shall concentrate on Aristotle and leave the other philosophies for now. What is at work in man is a divine reason immanent in mans soul. Somehow man is connected to and shares in divine reason. A distinction must be made here. We are not saying that the human souls capacity to grasp universals is in some way a maker or shares in the pure act of God, but that without this divine reason at work in the souls of men no understanding of universals could take place at all. The mind works on the material given to it, that is its potential, and from this material it moves to actuality. An example of this is the man who is without music becoming musical. His potential to be musical always existed in him but it wasnt until he studied the particulars of music that he became a musical  man. Aristotle refers in his Meteorology (1072, b14) that we can live a life like that of a God, a time of reason being broken down where we become aware of the oneness with the principles, whose knowledge is always actual and always complete. The active intellect does not in any way act strictly on material that was already there but undisclosed, it does act on material given to it in sense experience and illuminated by mans reason and divine reason as well. We share in the reason of God Aristotle believed. The philosopher God is a God of pure act, in other words Thought thinking Thought. This is the goal of man, to achieve a similar state of being in contemplation and reflection. And it is only through the active intellect that man is able to come to universals. The active intellect acts on the passive intellect the way an artist acts on stone to create an image. The artist impresses the form of a knowable object into the stone and the active intellect impresses a knowable object onto the passive intellect. We must not make the mistake here of understanding the active intellect as a medium between the passive intellect and the object to be known. Knowledge for Aristotle is a direct and not mediated relationship. The relationship of active to passive intellect is that of illumination shared in divine reason whereby man is able to see the universal in the particular and understand or grasp the idea of universal. This I liken to the statue made by the artist. By sharing in divine reason and the reason in his own soul (which I understand to be an imperfect representation of Gods) the artist is able to take a universal image in his soul and craft a particular. This particular statue thus becomes a representation of the universals we can synthesize through sense experience. Aquinas furthered this theory of the active intellect not as a maker but as an abstraction. This abstraction is taking the impressed species and expressing it through the faculty of the active or agent intellect. The material image is given in sense experience and then expressed as a universal to the mind by the very nature of the active intellect which is abstraction. This abstraction is how for Aquinas that we come to know universals. Gods pure act is translated here to fallen man by which he can begin his ascent to a higher existence. The active intellect in Aristotle is not a reason which creates out of nothing. It works on a material given to it, which it promotes from potentiality into actuality. The one reason is analogous to matter because it becomes all things; the other is analogous to the efficient cause because it makes all things. The first statement points to the act of apprehending, the second to that of art. Art makes its objects by making the material become them. And if the analogy is meant to be an exact one the role of the active intellect must therefore be to make the passive intellect its object so this apprehension can occur. What is potentially comes to be actually. This implies that there is something similar to Platos world of Forms insofar as man is cut off to a pre-existing knowledge and with which we are not in communication. Where Plato called it the re-collection of forgotten forms I believe Aristotle to call it divine reason actuating itself in human reason. Because all men by nature to desire to know, and by knowing we share in the being of God.

Claire Morgan :: English Literature

‘The Signalman’ and ‘The Black Cat’ Mystery Stories. In my opinion the most important thing to make a good mystery story is suspense. The writer should have the reader wanting to read on and asking questions right from the start. The description of the setting and characters are vital to the mystery. It gives the reader the emotions to really understand the atmosphere of the story. I don’t think the atmosphere needs to be really obscured but some bizarre features are needed to get an eerie and suspicious feeling. A twist in the end throws the reader’s prediction off course, and brings the mystery together. The clues should be laid out subtlety in the story so at the end the reader can see what they missed as they were reading. If questions are left unanswered at the end of the story it keeps the readers thinking so they can imagine what happens. A death makes the story more tragic and far fetched yet realistic making the person wearier of what is going on. Being written in the first person makes the story feel more personal and emotional so the reader feels like they are actually in the story. Dialogue also adds to this affect. Having the words of a person gives you a better idea of their personality. I have recently studied ‘The Signalman’ written by Charles Dickens and ‘The Black Cat’ by William Wintel. They were both written in the 19th century. ‘The Signalman’ is a mystery story about a man getting involved with a signalman. As he first calls down to the signalman, he becomes part of the nightmare. The writer plays the part of the detective as the story is written in the first person. He starts off as just a passer by, but notices the strange, lonely man. He decides to go down and speak with the signalman when he realises he will be here again. He soon becomes very involved with the problems of the signalman. After the man told the narrator about his sightings the narrator tries to find explanations of the delusions. However the next evening he returns to find out that he was wrong. At first, he thinks he is seeing the exact same ghost that the signalman claimed to have seen, but he soon realised that this was not. When he reached the bottom of the cutting he was confronted by the dead body of the signalman. As he watched while the evidence of the accident was gathered the words of the driver echoed through his head. He had heard these words before. The signalman had told him them the previous

Daimler Ag and Chrysler

1. In what ways did the cultures of the two companies differ? What do you think the terms ‘innovation' and ‘entrepreneurship' meant to Chrysler employees? What about to Daimler employees? In 1998 when German industrial giant Daimler-Benz AG merged with American automobile manufacturer, Chrysler Corporation, Daimler Chrysler came into existence. This merger didn't result for the big picture that was expected after this merge. It was thought that this merger would create a global economy not only between two of the world’s greatest economy but also capturing the market in various part of the world.Whereas, underneath this view there were many issues, which were involved in this merger of totally two different cultures. Daimler-Benz was an aggressive firm, which believed in hustling every possible way to make its company the number throughout the world. But, Chrysler was on the other hand an easy going and slow progress firm which believed in the production and flexib ility of operation. At DaimlerChrysler, differences in compensation systems and decision-making processes caused friction between senior management, while lower level employees fought over issues such as dress code, working hours and smoking on the job.Language also became an issue. While most managers on the Daimler side could speak some English, not all were able to do so with the fluency needed for effective working relationships. Also, only a few Chrysler managers had any knowledge of the German language. For Chrysler ‘innovation' means to Look forward for new changes, converting ideas into profit, Passion of designing, developing and building greatest cars and For Daimler ‘innovation' means more analytical, more long-term looking, more technology-minded. 2. Compare and contrast the two companies’ organizational structures.What challenges do you think these different structures created? Structure of Daimler| Structure of Chrysler| 1) The company had traditiona l intrusive bureaucratic structure | 1) It established a matrix management structure for the senior managers. | 2) There were issues between the middle and lower management levels. | 2) Many of the traditional vice presidents were replaced with people who not only had functional expertise but who were able to work together. | 3) Significant level of streamlining and restructuring was needed. 3) Each vice president under the new structure had to create Mutual dependencies among them. | Chrysler management had bulldozened its traditional functional organization structure. It created platform for the whole organization, assigning all functional to one of five teams,large,car,small car,minivan,truck or jeep. In significant changes at Daimler due to Lack of proper organization structure many employees left organization and many of the people working for century old company were unable to keep pace or keep track of changes going on around them. 3.What issues do you think the different lea dership styles of the three DaimlerChrysler leaders (Schrempp, Eaton, Stallkamp) created? SCHREMPP He believed in the creative side, to find an optimal solution, according to him, it's the arguments which count. However, for him â€Å"leadership means at some stage you have to summarize the arguments and make a decision. Decision is not a matter of committee, you have to take responsibility. Debate is not forever. Speed is a competitive factor. It's better to have 80% than to wait for 100%†. At some places I found him a strict leader which causes the lack of unity among employees.EATON Eaton historically is more willing to listen to the opinions of others and delegate authority, which should help create a culture of teamwork and consensus building at Chrysler. Empowering lower level managers to make more decisions removes the fear of being overridden by the CEO, and develops confidence. Emphasizing teamwork and empowering more people within the organization will help to shift the company's focus to designing and building the best automobiles in the world. STALLKAMP The number two American executive behind Eaton has played a key role in melding the German and U. S. perations since the combination of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. Stallkamp, who was president of the former Chrysler Corp. , was credited with pioneering a new system that involved suppliers earlier in the vehicle development process. The result was lower costs and improved relations. 4. Assess Stallkamp's power base as head of integration and president of Chrysler. What strategy did Stallkamp employ to achieve integration between Daimler and Chrysler? As a president Stallkamp did so well as: 1. He was self effacing and having the ability to generate consensus. 2. He put great efforts on quality improvement. . For him, Chrysler was a business and its reputation was very important and he believes in bringing the same ethnics into business as he has in his personal life. 4. He tried to obtain something new to increase sales. 5. He was always ready to accept challenges. 6. He focused on cost saving and improve marketing. Quality problems are rarely with one part of the corporation. The problem is usually the process. He gets design, engineering, procurement, sales and manufacturing working together to solve the problem. He identifies more with real-life customers; accelerate the response time whenever a problem occurs.He also meet with all the executive vice presidents, to make sure they are all on the same team and are working on common goals. 5. What would you have done differently? Why? What should Stallkamp do next? According to me, Stallkamp has done up to his maximum ability, but still he should also do following: 1. Put some more efforts to reduce the culture mismatch. 2. Connection between lower ; upper management should be improved, by enhancing organization structure. 3. Implementation of a system where individual can put his views. 4. Policy execution process i mprovement. 5. Put some efforts to improve the skills of existing employee.

5 Minimum GPA Scholarships in 2018 Enjoy the Benefits of Studying

If you’re a high school or college student, you’re likely familiar with the financial benefits of scholarships. Scholarships can allow students to go to school with little to no student debt. Of course, there are more great things about scholarships too. The financial help is only the beginning! In addition to having to pay less to get a solid education, you will see educational benefits. Students who have received scholarships usually stay in school. They are more focused on studying because they are less worried about money. This leads to better grades too. All too often, students become concerned about their financial situation because they don’t have scholarships. They might have to work multiple jobs in order to make it through school. This can cause a lot of stress and make students want to leave school entirely. Students who earn scholarships will be more recognized by their future employers. It looks better on a job application if you worked hard to get a scholarship. If you received a scholarship for your grades, it will show your future employer that you have a strong work ethic and that you’re motivated. Finally, since you won’t be concerned about money, you will have more time to enjoy yourself while you’re at college. You should be spending your time studying, but you will also have downtime to take advantage of on-campus organizations. This is also a good chance for you to get an internship and gain more real-world experience. If you happen to obtain a scholarship, you will have to meet a certain GPA requirement. This will vary by the scholarship. Make sure that you are aware of any GPA guidelines that have been set so that you don’t risk losing your scholarship. Maybe you don’t have an insanely high GPA. This can lead many students to avoid trying to get scholarships. They think that they can’t get scholarships with an average GPA. Luckily, there are plenty of scholarships available for students who aren’t complete geniuses. Getting any type of scholarship is going to be a little bit of a challenge, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Try your best to get one or more scholarships, which will help you to work through school. We’ve compiled a list of some of the lower GPA scholarships available for students in 2018. Cappex Easy College Money Scholarship (https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/scholarships/170791) If you want to apply for this scholarship, all you have to do is answer a simple question. It doesn’t even involve an entire essay. To make it even better, you don’t have to meet a GPA requirement in order to win it! Liasion’s Data Inspired Future Scholarship (https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/scholarships/169574-liaison-s-data-inspired-future-scholarship) This scholarship simply requires submitting a 30 to 60-second video. There is no GPA requirement in order to qualify for the scholarship. It’s simply a video about data in society. ScholarshipPoints $10,000 Scholarship (https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/scholarships/170683) Every three months, ScholarshipPoints gives away $10,000 to a lucky student. This is one of the easiest entries we’ve seen. All you have to do is create an account on the ScholarshipPoints website. It will just take you a couple of minutes to enter! Delete Cyberbullying Scholarship (https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/scholarships/158242) This scholarship is based on a single 500-word essay. It needs to be written about why cyberbullying should be deleted. There’s no GPA requirement, and you could get $1,000 from this scholarship! Student Transportation Video Contest (https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/scholarships/160968-student-transportation-video-contest) For this scholarship, you have to record a two to four-minute video about transportation. $500 is up for grabs, which may not seem like a lot. It will begin to pile up though. Even if you aren’t a straight-A student, you can still get your hands on scholarship money. Your GPA doesn’t have to be high in order for you to be awarded scholarships. A little bit of work can go a long way!