McDonald's Strategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

McDonald's Strategic Choices - Essay Example This will make their comparisons and differences, clearly distinguished. McDonalds's is specialized in; beef, chicken, bread, potatoes, and milk. These are the main products in their ingredients. The firm has rapidly grown and a study on their strategies and policies places it in even a better position of further development. In fact the number of restraunts has drastically increased since its establishment. As a result, the company has built a strong goodwill and public image. Wal-Mart on the other hand has its effect felt globally. The firm has also followed suite by setting up numerous shops in different parts the world and partnering with other major companies. While McDonald's expansion is doing wonderful, Wal-Mart has had its share of disappointments in trying to sell overseas, their business in Britain and Germany was tragic and led to loses. But this in turn, has not changed the position that Wal-Mart is still the World's biggest employer. Wal-Mart expansion is also seen in local hubs unlike other corporates who target mainly the major towns and cities. (Fadtastic It should also be noted that both companies have had their hard times due to small mistakes in their different restaurants, shops and branches spread all over America, Europe and Asia. Claims launched against them being low pays, exploitation, services among others. They in turn practiced the right measures to clear the messes settling the rows. To cite examples that almost ruin their business, there was a time when the Hindu community allegedly claimed that McDonald's French fries had beef flavoring and as a result called on its community to sabotage their products. If it were not for their hardworking strategy team's speed they would have lost it. The team in turn sincerely apologized and later on paid to settle Hindus, anything to win their trust and loyalty back. Wal-Mart though has not yet managed to professionally convince its consumers completely. In fact, communities recently demonstrated over their going, 'greed policy' terming it as green/brain washing over their employee' s package offer that is, low pays and limited health care benefits. Critics say that they are rational in their business activities, workers. It demands that we look at the organization's structures as the first strategy. McDonald's management runs the business under departments with each one handling a different responsibility from the other. The Operations dealing with the equipments, Development taking care of property and structural aspects, Finance in supplies and monetary control, Marketing carrying out sales, promotions while Human Resources caters for customer care, personnel, hygiene and safety. This arrangement has enabled services and products to follow chain easily and as a result, improved on efficiency and customer confidence with are key to boosting loyalty, hence maximizing on their profits.If the consequent choice of strategy is followed, McDonald's can take their desired direction. The firm's vision for growth is in shape though competitors are always trying best to topple them. Basic secrets and traditions that still place them at the top continue to be followed with improvements coming in handy too. He alth is given the number one priority with extreme measures put to ensure that workers and the business premise are

The Role of a Modern Industrial Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Role of a Modern Industrial Manager - Essay Example Therefore, understanding the role of industrial manager would be highly beneficial and could dictate the success of an organisation. To have a clear understanding of management and the role of an effective manager, one must first take a look at history. As early as 3000 BC, there has been evidence of formal management where business transactions were recorded through written documents (Pindur, Rogers and Kim 1995). As the years went on, people realised the importance of management and started laying down theories and principles reflecting it. The years progressed and different concepts and techniques were born. Leaders learned the value of delegation of authority (Smith 1776). Specialization in tasks was learned to be effective in the work force. These, along with many others, became managerial techniques. The 19th century gave birth to what is known as classical management (Pindur, Rogers and Kim 1995). Aiming to provide a scientific foundation for the management of organisations, this school of thought soon became the most popular among those who study management. The Industrial Revolution had a hand in its development. When workers were transferred o factories, replacing small home-based shops, a need to efficiently manage the work force arose (Pindur et al 1995). Classical management was both scientific and administrative. It believes that through scientific management, productivity may be improved (Taylor 1911). It was said that successful industrial managers are born and not made. Nevertheless, systematic or scientific management when executed properly will show us that, the foundation of good management rests upon theory and principles and not merely genetic inheritance or nature (Taylor 1911). Another point of classical management is to discredit the old notion that the interests of employers and of employees are conflicting. Scientific management reiterates that these two are actually the same (Taylor 1911).

Three New Experiences of mine Essay Example for Free

Three New Experiences of mine Essay Of late, I am passing through a rough phase of life. My mother has been detected with a deadly symptom of Chronic Renal Failure. Naturally, she is undergoing peritoneal dialysis which needs be done four times a day by me. I am a Reader in English in a Government College. The College I am presently working in is at a stone’s throw from my residence. My boss is also of a pleasant disposition. Hence, I can scoop a little time from my busy schedule to hop in my residence to do the necessary exchanges after every six hours. I am fortunate, no doubt, as my boss is sympathetic towards me. Yet, the boring monotonous job sometimes tells on my health as well as temperament. I do not curse my fate but try to accept the reality as it is. Reality too bites, it is true!!   I had fallen in love with a male colleague of mine in the workplace. Rather, he had shown amorous advances and I tried to dissuade him as any puritan would. It was only because he was married. But nowadays, these hardly matter. Yet, one day when I was typing an article I was supposed to send to a local newspaper in the library , he sneaked into my cubicle, came close to me, breathed on my neck and kept waiting for my response. I looked back, asked him to behave properly. He seemed to be hurt and after that he kept avoiding me, even my shadows. Another colleague of mine who knew about his crush on me commented that day, â€Å"Wife is old wine, a paramour is an expensive variety of Cognac.† I kept mum. How could I make him understand that I was more preoccupied with my mother’s poor health than such a trivial matter to ponder over?! I didn’t find any time to get married till date even! Who’d feel for me?    I was about to deliver a speech on Orhan Pamuk , last year’s Nobel laureate , in an International Seminar , being held at a place which lay at about 700 kms. From my work-place. I booked a ticket on a Super-fast train at least three weeks ahead and left it in one corner of my reticule. It was a First Class Reservation ticket as I had to stay in the train for one night. Last afternoon , my cell-phone beeped while I was busy reading Bakhtin’s Dialogism in the library.   A singsong voice from the other end cooed, â€Å"Have you reported your arrival Professor? Your accommodation is ready in the Diamond block. Your paper entitled â€Å"Orhan Pamuk: Intrepid Ventures in fiction† has been scheduled in the post-lunch session. Please report immediately.† I was perplexed at first. Then said â€Å"Sorry?† Then each detail became crystal clear to me.    Oh Gosh! I was to attend the Seminar by catching the Superfast Express the previous evening. I rummaged into my reticule and found the expensive ticket with the accommodation details. I went downstairs to reach the Station and get a full refund for the ticket, but to my utter dismay only 10% of the fabulous sum had been refunded! I talked to the Seminar Convener over the phone and apologized. The nurse I was about to appoint came in the evening for doing my mother’s dialysis and was crestfallen to find me !    The first experience is not planned. The second one is somewhat planned. Only the third one has a bit of both.   The aforesaid experiences taught me to take life as it is and breathe a little concentration and agility into it. As I have to render a life-saving service to my mother , I must learn to prioritize my schedule. I have to keep my duties at home and at my workplace on an even keel. Falling in love is fine. But, no unwanted escapades are welcome for me now. I must rectify my forgetful nature. The third experience has made me learn it . That’s it.

Movie Analysis Of Monsters

Movie Analysis Of Monsters Monsters (2010) is a modern-day fictional monster film which, as with many films in the horror/monster genre, acts as a social commentary, touching upon contemporary geopolitical issues and public anxieties (Carroll, 1981). Bordwell and Thompson (2003) describes a horror film as being recognizable by its intended emotional effect on the audience, and this film successfully does this, although more subtly than other films in the genre. The diegesis of the film, based in Mexico, is a world in which the monsters of the title are huge squid-like aliens which, for the past 6 years, have inhabited a large area of Mexico which has now been quarantined as an infected zone, with a huge wall being constructed on the Mexico-USA border to keep the aliens out. The film follows a photographer (Kaulder) and his bosses daughter (Sam) as he reluctantly attempts to escort her safely back to her father in the USA after a rogue alien attack left her injured; and the romance that blossoms between the two throughout their ordeal. I will show how this film uses these aliens with dramatic, symbolic effect to also act as an allegorical narrative for current societal issues; offering a semiotic analysis of these underlying themes and signifiers within the film. The direct analysis will be of the aliens themselves, yet the interaction and reaction of humans with the aliens also carries other meanings, and will be considered. Prior to the opening credits of the film a brief textual narrative explains that alien life was introduced to earth as a result of a failed NASA mission, resulting in the area being quarantined as an infected zone, with the military still struggling to contain these creatures. The treatment of these creatures is allegorical to that of illegal immigrants and refugees which are effectively quarantined by western governments, showing how these aliens can be considered a signifying symbol of a societal concern about immigration. This bears resemblance to allegories used in the 2009 film District 9, another example of a film where aliens are quarantined, however in this instance, the representative discourse is that of apartheid in South Africa. In the opening sequence of the film (post-credits) a series of following shots introduces Kaulder, the cynical male protagonist of the film. The scene is set as he examines a collapsed building in a warzone and attempts to gather information from the rescue workers at the scene. Do you know where they take the injured? asks Kaulder, but has difficulty explaining his situation due to the language barrier. This image of the warzone is elaborated throughout the film, with the mis-en-scene including tanks, weapons and general destruction. This representation is a metonymic sign, an iconic resemblance alluding to areas of real present civilian conflict zones such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, portraying the destruction of the lives of the people who live there and the difficulties faced by those who have loved ones entangled in conflict, either as a military or civilian presence. Although we are aware that this destruction was in fact caused by conflict between military and the aliens , the way the scene has been composed and edited shows clear visual similarities to images portrayed in the media of destruction in contemporary warzones (these can be seen in figures 1 and 2, particularly note similarities of colour and content) Fig 1: An over the shoulder shot of a rescue worker with the rubble from a destroyed building and a military tank in the background taken from the opening sequence of the film Monsters (2010) which helps build the mis-en-scene. (Monsters, 2010) Fig 2: A similar image of a destroyed building, to that in Fig 1. Photograph taken from a real life conflict zone in Helmand province, Afghanistan (2009) shows a US Marine patrolling this site of destruction. (Getty images, 2009) Later on in the film we are shown a series of close-up shots of Sam and Kaulder in the back of a taxi, juxtaposed with point of view shots showing their views of further destruction and military occupation in what seems to be a primarily civilian area. Whilst Kaulder is keen to document this by taking photos, Sam seems disturbed by what she sees, asking the taxi driver Do you feel safe living here? his response being Where would we go? My work, my family is all here. This symbolises the real life hardship that civilians in conflict zones have to face; they have no resources to migrate from the area, and even if they could, they abandon their homes, families and livelihoods. Fig 3. A cut in shot used to emphasise the graffiti in the background which, translated into English, reads STOP THE ATTACKS, a cry from the civilian population to the US dominated military that are destroying their cities and killing their children in attempts to destroy the aliens. (Monsters, 2010) In a later sequence, a series of cutaway shots depict thousands of candles lit in memorial to the numerous dead in a city near the quarantined infected zone which experiences huge losses due to the conflict. Cut in shots are then used to focus on graffiti on the walls of surrounding buildings. One of these (fig 3) reads Detener los ataques 500 dead which translates to stop the attacks; another proclaims Que son los monstruos no bombing! which asks who are the monsters? This is a key, symbolic scene in the movie as it implies that in fact the civilian population feel the root of the problem is not the aliens but the heavy handed US military opposition dropping bombs and gas in an attempt to eliminate the aliens which are not particularly aggressive until provoked. Signified meanings of the graffiti messages are referents of the way in which western militaries act when entering civilian zones, such as the recent US occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here, the US military conduct routine violence in the name of the war on terror, yet they bomb and destroy the lives of innocent people in these civilian areas in the process. This idea is emphasized in the final shot of this sequence where a passing US military helicopter blows out candles at the candlelit vigil, alluding to the civilian lives blown out by the same military. Kaulder and Sam continue their journey through the infected zone towards the safety of the US eventually reaching the huge wall constructed on the border between the USA and Mexico to keep the aliens out (Fig 4). Fig 5: A photo of a section of the existing USA-Mexico border barrier which is under construction by the US government in response to illegal immigration from the south. It construction has been met with much criticism from both sides of the border (Ignelzi, 2007) Fig 4: A shot from the film Monsters (2010) of the huge wall which has been constructed by the US government on the border between the USA and Mexico to prevent alien invasion from the south. Although on a far larger scale, this bears some resemblance to the barrier which currently exists, constructed to combat illegal immigration (Fig 5). Its different looking at America from the outside Kaulder. (Monsters, 2010) Although the wall bears resemblance to the existing barrier constructed on the USA-Mexico border, a deeper interpretation is that the wall is a more abstract metaphor for the barrier that governments construct via the media to hide the truths about their militaries involvement in armed conflicts. The public are constantly shown images of heroism by US troops, and death and destruction caused by the opposition, yet images depicting the death and destruction inflicted on the civilian populations by US military action are rarely publicised. In the film, American citizens are physically divided from the carnage occurring on the other side of the wall, unaware of the destruction being caused by their own military presence and the opposition those who live in the conflict zone have to the US military presence. Kaulder supports this idea when he says, whilst looking at the wall when you get home its so easy to forget all this, I mean tomorrow well be back to our separate lives, in our, like , perfect suburban homes, describing how protected and separated those in the USA are to what is happening in the conflict zone. This narrative symbolises the current ignorance of unnecessary civilian deaths in Afghanistan caused by US military actions. This discourse contradicts the view presented by conventional war films which will typically glorify US interventions and present the production and reproduction of discourses of American national identity (Carter, McCormack. 2006) as it is a monster film so has a totally different agenda. Eventually, Sam and Kaulder make it through the border back to the USA in a town which has now been unexplainably evacuated, but are picked up by a US military convoy. Here I have examined geopolitical issues, using semiotic analysis, expressed as symbols and features in the film Monsters, and how these have been visually constructed and represented. In this film, the monsters could be metaphors for the fear of immigration, and the way these people are treated by those in the developed world and terrorism, looking at the lives of civilians living in conflict zones whose day to life is disrupted by warfare and military occupation caused by terrorism. It also questions, who are the terrorists? These anxieties are two key referents, visualised by the aliens. Throughout I have considered the conventional use of the aliens as symbols of these fears, a typical discourse used in films of the monster genre. I have looked at visual similarities between examples used in the film and reality, presenting images from the film and secondary sources where useful, particularly looking at how those people living in and around the infected area resemble those livin g in areas currently occupied by a military presence. Word count: 1641

Curry Chicken and Yellow Rice :: Recipe Food India Indian

Curry Chicken and Yellow Rice When I was in high school, I= had many friends whose parents cooked meals containing the ingredient, curry†¦curry goat, curry desserts, curry stew, curry chicken. One of my friends would invite me = to her home and, almost every time I was there, I could bet on curry being part of= the meal that would be served for the night.&n= bsp; Though I am Hispanic, I decided to make curry chicken for this proje= ct due to the simple fact that I always wanted to know what it was exactly, but had never asked†¦was it a sauce, a powder, or just spices mixed togeth= er? Where did it originate from? I wanted to find this out for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love my culture’s food, but I want= ed to do something different, learn about another culture other than my own. The word cu= rry, comes from the English word â€Å"kari†, which means sauce. Even so, being that it is an ingre= dient mainly used in India, it does not come as a powder (which is provided to us= in American supermarkets, what I used for my recipe), but rather is achieved by combining a variety of spices, for example, cardamom, poppy seed, nutmeg, coriander, and ginger. By mix= ing these spices, along with approximately 20 others, a â€Å"masalas† or combination is made, which varies from one area of India to the next, depending = on the cook. By making this concocti= on of spices, a bright yellow-green and thick sauce is made. It became available to us as a pow= der by way of the British; colonists residing in I= ndia came up with the idea of curry in powder form so as to more conveniently ma= ke Indian-flavored dishes in England. Unfortunately, when made into a po= wder, the flavor is not as enhanced. In addition, the original masalas of spices used i n India contain antioxidants wh= ich help protect our cells, allowing them to better fight off heart conditions = and several forms of cancer. Bloo= d flow is also improved, which prevents clotting and diminishes strokes. Aside from curry= , the rice which accompanies the curry chicken in my recipe, also has great histo= rical/cultural/economical value. Curry Chicken and Yellow Rice :: Recipe Food India Indian Curry Chicken and Yellow Rice When I was in high school, I= had many friends whose parents cooked meals containing the ingredient, curry†¦curry goat, curry desserts, curry stew, curry chicken. One of my friends would invite me = to her home and, almost every time I was there, I could bet on curry being part of= the meal that would be served for the night.&n= bsp; Though I am Hispanic, I decided to make curry chicken for this proje= ct due to the simple fact that I always wanted to know what it was exactly, but had never asked†¦was it a sauce, a powder, or just spices mixed togeth= er? Where did it originate from? I wanted to find this out for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love my culture’s food, but I want= ed to do something different, learn about another culture other than my own. The word cu= rry, comes from the English word â€Å"kari†, which means sauce. Even so, being that it is an ingre= dient mainly used in India, it does not come as a powder (which is provided to us= in American supermarkets, what I used for my recipe), but rather is achieved by combining a variety of spices, for example, cardamom, poppy seed, nutmeg, coriander, and ginger. By mix= ing these spices, along with approximately 20 others, a â€Å"masalas† or combination is made, which varies from one area of India to the next, depending = on the cook. By making this concocti= on of spices, a bright yellow-green and thick sauce is made. It became available to us as a pow= der by way of the British; colonists residing in I= ndia came up with the idea of curry in powder form so as to more conveniently ma= ke Indian-flavored dishes in England. Unfortunately, when made into a po= wder, the flavor is not as enhanced. In addition, the original masalas of spices used i n India contain antioxidants wh= ich help protect our cells, allowing them to better fight off heart conditions = and several forms of cancer. Bloo= d flow is also improved, which prevents clotting and diminishes strokes. Aside from curry= , the rice which accompanies the curry chicken in my recipe, also has great histo= rical/cultural/economical value.

Whitmans Leaves of Grass: Democratic Themes Essay -- Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass:   Democratic Themes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer I Hear America Singing  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his Preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman states, â€Å"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem†.   Whitman was the ultimate Transcendentalist/ Romantic.   He united democratic themes and subject matter with free verse form.   In Leaves of Grass, Whitman celebrates unity of all life and people.   He embraces diversity of geography, culture, work, sexuality, and beliefs.   Whitman’s impact solidifies American dreams of independence, freedom, and fulfillment, and transforms them for larger spiritual meaning.   Whitman values hard work and being humble and non-egotistical.   His ideals are things such as good health, soul, and the love of nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Whitman expresses his celebration of working class democracy through the â€Å"varied carols† of men and women who take pride in their occupations in the poem â€Å"I Hear America Singing†.   For example, he writes:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   strong,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  &nbs... ... United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem,† I believe he meant that the diversity of geography, culture, beliefs and work all combine to create a wonderful country.   Whitman’s subject matter and style tie together to reflect his values of a working class democracy, humbleness and the enjoyment of life.   Whitman’s impact has solidified American dreams (of independence, freedom, and fulfillment) and transcends, transforms them for a larger spiritual meaning.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Philosophy of Benedict Spinoza Essay

If one were to make a list of iconoclastic and radical thinkers, Benedict Spinoza would rank high. His great and enduring work, Ethics, continues to have renewed impact, currently among environmentalists and ecologically minded thinkers. Spinoza wrote numerous philosophical, political, and religious criticism works. His efforts consistently express a mind set in favor of religious tolerance and in opposition to traditional religious orthodoxy. In his two major works, Tractatus Thologico-Politicus and Ethics present interpretations of spiritual concepts that continue to offend some religious believers and provide an avenue of belief for those who aver traditional religion. Born in Amsterdam on November 24, 1632 in a jewish community and died in The Hague on February 20, 1677 at the age of 44. Latinized his given name Baruch(blessed) using the form Benedictus. Spinoza lived an outwardly simple life as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. The family inheritance he gave to his sister. On 27 July 1656, the Talmud Torah congregation of Amsterdam issued a writ of cherem (Jew)/Herem(Hebrew), a kind of ban, shunning, ostracism, expulsion, or excommunication against the 23 year old Spinoza. Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important cosmopolitan centers where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. Some possibility of free thought and shelter from the crushing hand of ecclesiastical authority. Most significantly, he came into contact with so-called ‘free-thinking’ Protestants – dissenters from the dominant Calvinism – who maintained a lively interest in a wide range of theological issues, as well as in the latest developments in philosophy and science. In order to discuss their interests, these free-thinkers organized themselves into small groups, they called colleges, which met on a regular basis. Spinoza may have attended such meetings as early as the first half of the 1650? s, and it is most likely here that he received his first exposure to Cartesian thought. His intellectual horizons were expanding and he was experiencing a restlessness that drove him to look further afield. It was at this time that he placed himself under the tutelage of an ex-Jesuit, Latinist,a medical doctor, Franciscus Van den Enden, who was notorious for his allegedly irreligious cast of mind, a passionate advocate of democratic political ideals. Spinoza’s increasingly unorthodox views and, perhaps, laxity in his observance of the Jewish law strained his relations with the community. Tensions became so great that resulted in his excommunication . Most Important works a) Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrate (simply, Ethics) b)Tractatus Theologico-politicus c)Brief Treatise on God, Man and His Happiness d)Tractaus de intellectus emendation e)Cogitata metaphysica Philosophy A . Against dualism â€Å"God is the infinite, necessarily existing (that is, uncaused), unique substance of the universe. There is only one substance in the universe; it is God; and everything else that is, is in God. † Spinoza believed God exists and contends that â€Å"Deus sive Natura† (â€Å"God or Nature†) is a being of infinitely many attributes, is abstract and impersonal. As a youth he first subscribed to Descartes’s dualistic belief that body and mind are two separate substances, but later changed his view and asserted that they were not separate, the universal substance consists of both body and mind, that it is a single identity there being no difference between these aspects. He contended that everything that exists in Nature (i. e. , everything in the Universe) is one Reality (substance) and there is only one set of rules governing the whole of the reality which surrounds us and of which we are part. Spinoza believes that: 1)a God that does not rule over the universe by providence, but a God which itself is the deterministic system of which everything in nature is a part. 2)God would be the natural world and have no personality. 3)To see God or Nature as acting for the sake of ends—to find purpose in Nature—is to misconstrue Nature and â€Å"turn it upside down† by putting the effect (the end result) before the true cause. 4)Nor does God perform miracles, since there are no departures whatsoever from the necessary course of nature. The belief in miracles is due only to ignorance of the true causes of phenomena. If a stone has fallen from a room onto someone’s head and killed him, they will show, in the following way, that the stone fell in order to kill the man. For if it did not fall to that end, God willing it, how could so many circumstances have concurred by chance (for often many circumstances do concur at once)? Perhaps you will answer that it happened because the wind was blowing hard and the man was walking that way. But they will persist: why was the wind blowing hard at that time? why was the man walking that way at that time? If you answer again that the wind arose then because on the preceding day, while the weather was still calm, the sea began to toss, and that the man had been invited by a friend, they will press on—for there is no end to the questions which can be asked: but why was the sea tossing? why was the man invited at just that time? And so they will not stop asking for the causes of causes until you take refuge in the will of God, i.e. , the sanctuary of ignorance. (I, Appendix) B. Humane vision â€Å"Everything must necessarily happen the way that it does. Therefore, humans have no free will. They believe, however, that their will is free† Spinoza was a thoroughgoing determinist who held that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of necessity. For him, even human behaviour is fully determined, with freedom being our capacity to know we are determined and to understand why we act as we do. So freedom is not the possibility to say â€Å"no† to what happens to us but the possibility to say â€Å"yes† and fully understand why things should necessarily happen that way. This illusionary perception of freedom stems from our human consciousness, experience and our indifference to prior natural causes. Humans think they are free but they ? dream with their eyes open?. For Spinoza, our actions are guided entirely by natural impulses. This picture of Spinoza’s determinism is ever more illuminated through reading this famous quote in Ethics: ? the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. †¦ All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak. † Thus for Spinoza morality and ethical judgment like choice is predicated on an illusion. c. Politcal Philosophy â€Å"Every man may think what he likes,and say what he thinks. The real disturber of peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgement which they are unable to tyrannize over. † Spinoza’s reputation as a political thinker is eclipsed by his reputation as a rationalist metaphysician. Nevertheless, Spinoza was a penetrating political theorist whose writings have enduring significance. In his two political treatises,has it’s main purpose the defense of free expression, Spinoza advances a number of forceful and original arguments in defense of democratic governance, freedom of thought and expression, and the subordination of religion to the state. On the basis of his naturalistic metaphysics, Spinoza also offers trenchant criticisms of ordinary conceptions of right and duty. And his account of civil organization, grounded in psychological realism, stands as an important contribution to the development of constitutionalism and the rule of law. There is also textual evidence for the view that Spinoza does not reject other forms of government in favor of democracy. One of the central aims of A Political Treatise is precisely to demonstrate how different forms of governments can meet the fundamental political value of stability. For example, Spinoza explains that, historically, monarchies have enjoyed the most stability of any form of government (PT: VI:317), and that their potential instability results from the divergent interests between the sovereign and the citizens. In light of this, Spinoza advises the sovereign to act in his or her own interests which is to act in the interests of the citizens. In the case of aristocracy, instability is said to result from inequality of political power among the ruling aristocrats, the remedy for which consists of equalizing such power as far as possible. Spinoza’s considered thoughts on the stability of democracy were interrupted by his untimely death, but while he thought it most consistent with freedom, he nevertheless regarded it as the most unstable of all political forms. Indeed, Spinoza comments that democracies naturally evolve into aristocracies, and aristocracies naturally evolve into monarchies. At least on one understanding of â€Å"natural,† democracies may be interpreted as less natural than aristocracies and monarchies (PT: VIII: 351). To understand ends, sources, and justification of political authority, one does well to begin with the Conatus Principle and the associated psychological axioms employed by Spinoza. The source of problems for Spinoza’s political theory, specifically the moral notions of â€Å"contract,† â€Å"rights,† and â€Å"obligations† can also be traced to his view of human nature.