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A Comparative Analysis of the Philosophical Views on the Existence of God and Evil.

The concept of evil and morality has been one of the most pivotal in the history of humanity. Evil is a moral concept covering all forms of pain, misfortunes and suffering. Morality, on the other hand, is a binary system of determining good and evil. Evil and morality traverse through philosophy, religion, governance, culture and to some extent science. Wars have been fought over differences in schools of thought concerning evil. For religion, the concept is even more crucial. Many traditional religions believe in an omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly moral deity. This being said, the concept of evil has always threatened the collapse of religions that believe in such a god. Epicurious raised the “unanswered” question that questioned the concurrent existence of such a god and evil within the same reality ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1017/S0034412509990369″,”ISSN”:”00344125″,”abstract”:”This paper develops a challenge to theism. The challenge is to explain why the hypothesis that there exists an omnipotent, omniscient and all-good god should be considered significantly more reasonable than the hypothesis that there exists an omnipotent, omniscient and all-evil god. Theists typically dismiss the evil-god hypothesis out of hand because of the problem of good – there is surely too much good in the world for it to be the creation of such a being. But then why doesn’t the problem of evil provide equally good grounds for dismissing belief in a good god? I develop this evil-god challenge in detail, anticipate several replies, and correct errors made in earlier discussions of the problem of good. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Law”,”given”:”Stephen”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Religious Studies”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2010″,”9″]]},”page”:”353-373″,”publisher”:”Cambridge University Press”,”title”:”The evil-god challenge”,”type”:”article”,”volume”:”46″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5a27d49a-7deb-34cf-aa56-5ef99c03fefc”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Law)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Law)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Law)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Law). Many arguments have been raised throughout the years to explain or to dispute the existence of god. In this brief review, the beliefs of Hume, Kant, James and Augustine are discussed in contrast and comparison to one another.

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher in the 1700s. In his writings, Dialogues, Humes considered Epicrious’s question and raises many views concerning it. He argues not from the view of an atheist but as a sceptic. He considers all the unnecessary forms of evil within our reality in the juxtaposition of a provident God. He challenges the view held by some that perhaps what we consider as evil is just apparent evil or “evil” whose eventuality will lead to good. Hume reasons out that the human’s view of morality and evil is determined by how his mind perceives reality and not by any philosophical arguments. Therefore, such a philosophical belief, that evil does not exist, cannot be a fathomable reality for an individual. Hume questions the provident God he believes in. He wonders why such a God would not provide fully for his creation despite his infinite ability to do so. Hume does not see the presence of evil as evidence for the absence of a god. Instead, he sees that we not only have no reason to argue for his existence but we also have none to dispute it. Overall, Hume believes that unnecessary evil exists concurrently with God. He also believes that God exists, is all-powerful, can end and prevent evil but chooses not to ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1017/S0031819114000229″,”ISSN”:”1469817X”,”abstract”:”The problem of evil for theists was how to reconcile suffering with a benevolent God. Hume solved the problem of evil by claiming that the divine was amoral but not by denying God’s existence which he needed in order to advocate his favoured notion of a general providence. Indeed, Hume’s treatment of the problem of evil showed that his quarrel in the Natural History of Religion 1and the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 2 Section XI, was with a particular providence rather than the possibility of a divine orderer. The fundamental problem of evil for Hume, was evil’s potential to drive people to the notion of a particular providence with its attendant damaging passions. In considering his alternative of the general providence Hume is shown to be closer to theism than has often been thought.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Tarrant”,”given”:”James”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Philosophy”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”4″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2014″,”10″,”17″]]},”page”:”603-620″,”publisher”:”Cambridge University Press”,”title”:”Hume’s fundamental problem of evil”,”type”:”article”,”volume”:”89″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=52e8a7e3-456e-35f0-9676-c18e2e016808″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Tarrant)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Tarrant)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Tarrant)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Tarrant).

On the other hand, Kant (an 18th-century metaphysical philosopher) offers a non-theistic view of evil. He claims that humans have free will and can be inclined to do either good or evil. He views evil as a “stain” in the human will and classifies it in degrees of severity. He starts with those who are not necessarily corrupted by evil but are too weak to do what is morally right. He then goes on to describe the impure who do good but fueled by impure intentions and ends with those that have a fully evil will. He explains that this last category of individuals converts what is morally right to self-serving interests. Kant’s views have been disputed by many philosophers because his view does not necessarily explain natural evils nor heinous morally wrong acts ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1080/09608788.2012.718860″,”ISSN”:”09608788″,”abstract”:”Kant proclaimed that all theodicies must fail in On the Miscarriage of All Philosophical Trials in Theodicy, but it is mysterious why he did so since he had developed a theodicy of his own during the critical period. In this paper, I offer an explanation of why Kant thought theodicies necessarily fail. In his theodicy, as well as in some of his works in ethics, Kant explained moral evil as resulting from unavoidable limitations in human beings. God could not create finite beings without such limitations and so could not have created humans that were not prone to committing immoral acts. However, the work of Carl Christian Eberhard Schmid showed Kant that given his own beliefs about freedom and the nature of responsibility one could not account for moral evil in this way without tacitly denying that human beings were responsible for their actions. This result is significant not only because it explains an otherwise puzzling shift in Kant’s philosophy of religion, but also because it shows that the theodicy essay provides powerful evidence that Kant’s thinking about moral evil and freedom underwent fundamental shifts between early works such as the Groundwork and later works like the Religion within the Limits of Mere Reason. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Duncan”,”given”:”Sam”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”British Journal for the History of Philosophy”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”5″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2012″,”9″,”1″]]},”page”:”973-991″,”publisher”:” Routledge “,”title”:”Moral evil, freedom and the goodness of god: Why kant abandoned theodicy”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”20″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=be59283e-30f1-3fcd-87d8-ef6c845aad52″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Duncan)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Duncan)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Duncan)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Duncan). 

Augustine, a Christian philosopher, confesses his struggle with the origin of evil in his writings (Confessions). He goes through a journey of trying to balance out the paradox of the existence of God and evil all at once. Early on he reconciled the two by shedding his belief in God’s omnipotence. If God is not omnipotent, then he cannot stop evil. He then rejects this notion and comes to view evil not as a created entity on its own but distorted good. He further rationalizes this though by explaining that all that is created by God is inherently good, but at varying levels. Therefore, when morally evil acts occur, it is because of a corruption of the inherent good in a person and not an evil caused or allowed by God. He believes that the choice to do evil is based on the free will which God gave to humans ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1017/S0034412513000401″,”ISSN”:”00344125″,”abstract”:”The question of why humanity first chose to sin is an extension to the problem of evil to which the free-will defence does not easily apply. In De libero arbitrio and elsewhere Augustine argues that as an instance of evil, the fall is necessarily inexplicable. In this article, I identify the problems with this response and attempt to construct an alternative based on Peter van Inwagen’s free will ‘mysterianism’. I will argue that the origin of evil is inexplicable not because it is an instance of evil, but because it is an instance of free will. © 2013 Cambridge University Press.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Willows”,”given”:”Adam M.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Religious Studies”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2014″]]},”page”:”255-269″,”publisher”:”Cambridge University Press”,”title”:”Augustine, the origin of evil, and the mystery of free will”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”50″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=0d814966-edd1-3e13-92ed-32bd1116caa0″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Willows)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Willows)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Willows)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Willows).

Lastly, the 19th-century pragmatic philosopher William James. From his writings, James did not believe in an omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly moral God. He instead viewed God as a being in the metaphysical realm whose knowledge has bounds and leaves humans to dictate their actions without the foreknowledge of what they might choose. Concerning evil and morality, James, unlike the three other philosophers, abandons the binary confines of good and evil. He proposes a pragmatic school of thought concerning morality. He sees morality as an intuition built through experiences in life. The societal norms within which one is raised determine their inner sense of right and wrong. Good and evil. A pragmatic society does not set morally right and wrong laws but rather considers the additive value of a series of moral action and chooses those which offer the least friction ADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1017/S0025727300005457″,”ISSN”:”09505571″,”abstract”:”William James is often described as one of America’s foremost philosophers and the founder of American psychology. During the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century he published several key texts on a broad range of topics, including the psychology of religion, ethics, epistemology and metaphysics. Many are still in current use, and contemporary philosophers continue to pore over them. Biographers, meanwhile, happily speculate on everything from James’s parental relationships to the state of his marriage. However, there has been relatively little detailed exploration of how James’s published writings and his private life may have intersected. This article explores one such intersection: that between James’s protracted experience of ill health and the elaboration of the notion of evil in his writings. Any perusal, however perfunctory, of the thousands of letters written by James that are still in existence, cannot fail to miss his repeated references to his health, or lack of it. He certainly was not one to suffer in silence, and it is clear that, for much of his life from his early adulthood onward, he considered himself a confirmed invalid. His references to his health cover a variety of different ailments. In the 1860s, when James was in his twenties, he was plagued by everything from a bad back, to melancholy and constipation. These symptoms have not escaped the attention of his biographers; most, however, have brought to them Freudian-inspired schema. Daniel Bjork, for example, suggests that James’s ongoing problems with back pain had something to do with the unfulfilled sexual urges of a young man. He reminds us that once James was married, few such back complaints continued. 1 Similarly, Howard Feinstein ‘explains’ James’s constipation with reference to psychoanalytic theory, calling attention to the same condition suffered by his brother Henry, the novelist. According to Feinstein, the two brothers found it difficult to sever their suffocatingly close fraternal bond-an event that was reminiscent of their original ‘separation crisis’ from their parents. That ordeal, moreover, is held to be inherently linked to the brothers’ acquisition of sphincter control for the first time. Thus we should not be surprised that a later fraternal separation crisis was accompanied by a symbolic re-enactment of this bowel control process which manifested itself as constipation, concludes Feinstein. 2″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Sutton”,”given”:”Emma K.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Medical History”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”3″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2011″]]},”page”:”389-392″,”publisher”:”Cambridge University Press”,”title”:”When misery and metaphysics collide: William James on ‘the problem of evil'”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”55″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=49082bdb-24c4-3cbf-89d4-33e9b7b4f2ba”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Sutton)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Sutton)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Sutton)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Sutton).

In my subjective opinion, God, to be a sovereign creator and one in control of the physical world has to be all-powerful, all-knowing and good in every sense. The existence of evil in such a reality is best explained by Augustine’s school of thought since it allows the existence of such a God in this harsh reality. The only shortcoming would be that Augustine’s rationale does not explain the reasons for the existence of natural evil under the reign of such a God. Objectively, James’ beliefs have a much better fit within our reality. Since God is not all-powerful, evil, a separate force within the metaphysical realm can exist and cause sheer unnecessary harm within the world.

Works Cited

ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Duncan, Sam. “Moral Evil, Freedom and the Goodness of God: Why Kant Abandoned Theodicy.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 20, no. 5, Routledge , Sept. 2012, pp. 973–91, doi:10.1080/09608788.2012.718860.

Law, Stephen. “The Evil-God Challenge.” Religious Studies, vol. 46, no. 3, Cambridge University Press, Sept. 2010, pp. 353–73, doi:10.1017/S0034412509990369.

Sutton, Emma K. “When Misery and Metaphysics Collide: William James on ‘the Problem of Evil.’” Medical History, vol. 55, no. 3, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 389–92, doi:10.1017/S0025727300005457.

Tarrant, James. “Hume’s Fundamental Problem of Evil.” Philosophy, vol. 89, no. 4, Cambridge University Press, 17 Oct. 2014, pp. 603–20, doi:10.1017/S0031819114000229.

Willows, Adam M. “Augustine, the Origin of Evil, and the Mystery of Free Will.” Religious Studies, vol. 50, no. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 255–69, doi:10.1017/S0034412513000401.

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Autobiographical Elements in the Beautiful and the Damned

It is widely thought that all fiction that is great is autobiographical since writers compose more effectively when they are writing about the things that they are familiar with, or have experienced. More than the other fictional writers, Fitzgerald drew upon and borrowed most of his own experiences and feelings to compose his short stories and novels. In some of his best works, fictional elements make it possible for him to provide moral order and artistic form that life rarely gives; autobiographical elements invest in much of his work with a high quality, which most critics consider the most notable mark of his greatest works. Repeatedly the author emphasizes that his fiction originates from his experiences and feelings (Goldhurst 240- 540). This paper will take a biographical approach to analyze one of the works of this author, the Beautiful and the Damned, using the real life stories and experiences of the author and his life to analyze the life and experiences of the characters in the novel.

Some of the greatest autobiographical elements in notable in the author’s second novel, the Beautiful and the Damned, lie in his representation and portrayal of his marriage both strained and defined by the endless parties in the environs around New York City. Although more than once the author has pointed out that her mother was, actually, a better and admirable person than the major female character in the novel, Gloria Gilbert Patch, Zelda and her mother Gloria clearly share a character in being irresponsible, reckless, and selfish in their behavior. The other major character in the novel, Anthony Patch reflects the growing concern of the author in the 1920s that he was being pulled into a life of indulgence, just as some scholars like Richard Caramel illustrate the fear Fitzgerald had that he was putting in a bad light his reputation as a serious artist by producing and composing work that was apparently unimportant and popular. The cynical friend of the Patches, Mary Noble, who snubs Anthony later in the story, was probably based on a fried of the author known as George Jean Nathan, who was an influential magazine editor, as well as, a drama critic (Bruccoli and Baughman 343- 567).

Between May 1924 and October 1922, Fitzgerald and his wife rented a residential house in Long Island in a place called Great Neck, where they met and invited, and got invited to parties by numerous, rich people, many of whom worked in the show business. The author later met and became a close friend called Ring Lardner, who was also a writer in Long Island during one of these parties. Gloria and Anthony are the essence and the life of the Jazz Age life and glamour, just like the real couple, Zelda and Fitzgerald. A magnetic and brilliant couple, they throw themselves at life with an extraordinary energy that is exciting. New York is their playground and they drink, and dance for days on end. Their marriage is also passionate, they are alive, rich, young and lovely and they hope and expect to inherit the earth. However, as their wealth deteriorates, their marriage becomes difficult, and reality forces them to grow up (Bruccoli and Baughman 343- 567).

Only a few authors are able to transform autobiographical materials successfully into their novels or into any other form of literary art. The Beautiful and the Damned transforms the now widely known and familiar real stories of Scott and his wife Zelda’s marriage, their drunken nights, scandalous, public behavior, days darkened by debts and lack of money, into a captivating and exciting piece of fictional work. Anthony Patch, who is one of those people blessed with weaknesses and taste of an artist but with no inspiration for creativity, marries the flirtatious and beautiful Gloria. As they expect to inherit some money from the family of Anthony, they adopt a life style that surpasses their means. In recounting their decline, physically, morally, and financially, and showing a grim and twisted end to the story, the author created a poignant and satirical portrait of the era he and his work only could define (Goldhurst 240- 540).

These events narrated in the book clearly reflect the lives of the real life Zelda and Fitzgerald. When the author at some point moved to New York where he married Zelda. During this time, several sources have quoted the author saying that he recalls riding a cab up the fifth Avenue, rich, young, in love, and famous. He and his wife lived tragically, luxuriously and dissolutely just like the characters he uses in the novel. Just like the characters in the novel, the real characters in life lived extravagantly and soon they collected, huge debts and their downfall started here. It is clear from his autobiography that the author felt that his wife was wrong for him she flirted with men, was reckless, a spender and loved parties and drinking, and it is clear that Fitzgerald based the Character Gloria on his extravagant wife and the life she lived (Elias 245- 66).

In addition to the above, one can liken or compare Anthony’s drinking problems that increase towards the end of the novel probably because of troubles with money and his wife, with those of the real Fitzgerald, whose drinking problems also escalated in real life between the years of 1935 and 1937, as a result, of his huge debts and his wife’s sickness. The author also talks of a number of influential friends in the novel, most of who are in the show business. These include such people as Maury Noble, Anthony’s best friend, Richard Cramel, a novelist, Joseph Bloeckman who works in the show business, and Jewess Rachael. These characters are obviously based on the real life friends of Fitzgerald whom they used to party and drink with in their drunken nights, in New York (Elias 245- 66).

The author’s attitude towards the two characters Anthony and Gloria is in consisted, and probably is because of the autobiographical nature of most of the material he uses in the novel. Like the Patches, the life of Fitzgerald of drinking and parties are clear, and both the couples struggle with issues of money. The author judged himself through the depictions of both Dick Carmel and Anthony, and he bases part of the character of Gloria on Zelda. The connections are extremely deep- rooted between these two couples, and that is why most critics and commentators have argued that the novel is basically based on the real life stories of the writer Fitzgerald Scott and his wife. The novel explores many of the similar themes that he would later use in his other work, like the Great Gatsby. The novel deals with the complexities and the mysteries of marriage that the two faced in real life (Elias 245- 66).

Comparison of the real life Fitzgerald’s and the Patches

Fitzgerald’s Patches

Lived in new York where they lead an extravagant life They also lived in new York and led an extravagant life

Loved drinking and partying They also loved the night life

They ran into huge debt They also had a lot of debt

Fitzgerald later became an alcoholic Anthony also became dependent on alcohol

Work cited

Bruccoli, M. and Baughman, J. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters. New York: Scribners, 1994. Print.

Elias, Amy. ‘The Composition and Revision of Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and the Damned’. Princeton University Library Chronicle 51 (1990): 245-66. Print.

Goldhurst, William. ‘H. L. Mencken. ‘In E. Scott Fitzgerald and His Contemporaries. New York: World, 1963. Print.

Article 1a Assignment – PSYC 4033

Dr. McDonald – Spring 2022

Article 1a—date due: Feb 8

Your name: ________________________________________________

AUTHORS OF ARTICLE: Foster, N. L., Mueller, M. L., Was, C., Rawson, K. A., & Dunlosky, J. 

Instructions: Please use this and only this sheet to answer the questions regarding your assigned article; in other words, be succinct. Incomplete sentences are acceptable as long as they get the message across. Use the space allotted and no more! USE YOUR OWN WORDS – NO PLAGIARISM AND NO QUOTING!!! Most importantly, put answers in everyday language.

Motivation for the study: The main motivation for the study is that interleaving is beneficial and it assists in improving math learning. Interleaving involves mixing two or more tasks that are difficult in order to improve learning. This is especially true with math, as children often struggle with this subject and the learning of mathematical concepts often relies on memorization. Interleaved practice can help children learn concepts such as multiplication, fractions and decimals, addition, subtraction and more at an earlier age than traditional practice alone. Thus, it is essential to assess why interleaving enhance performance.

Hypotheses/Predictions: Interleaving enhances effective learning of a particular problem since that problem type instances tend to be practiced in close proximity to different problem types instances from a similar domain.

Another prediction is that math problems distribution practice by way of interleaved practice schedule tend to greatly improve the relationship between the problem and the strategy.

Independent Variable(s) EXP’T 1 only – only list ones used; there may or may not be extra lines In addition, clearly circle between or within subjects for each IV

1._______ interleaving practice _____________________________ Between Sub/Within Sub

2._discriminative contrast ___________________________________ Between Sub/Within Sub

3. distributed practice _________________________________________ Between Sub/Within Sub

Control Variable(s) EXP’T 1 only —list two

1._ Participants

2._ materials

Dependent Variable(s) EXP’T 1 only—only list ones used; there may or may not be extra lines

1._Blocked

2._Interleaved

3._Remote interleaved

Results – a) interpret Figure 3 on page 1094. What does it show? Does it match the predictions? b) interpret Fig 4 on page 1095. What does it show? Does it match the predictions?

a)_ The results for the experimental group are shown in the table below

comparing mean retrieval ability across trials:

1- Correctly retrieved formula from CTC weather, then had error during test 2; 2- Correctly retrieved formula from CTC weather and had no errors during test 3; 3- Incorrectly retrieved formulae from CTC weather; 4- Retrieval ability was different across trials.

Wedge problems were selected based on a previously described study that showed that students with dyscalculia (or other numerical difficulties) have trouble with problems in which there is an addition operation involving two or more numbers such as adding 8 to 12.

b)_ A one-way ANOVA on final performance of wedge problems indicated a significant effect of group. Two potential outcomes were measured: a performance on a series of wedge problems and a group identification. Participants were part of one of two groups: those with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and those without OCD. While the OCD group, as predicted, tended to perform better than the control group on the final set of problems they both attempted, this is not surprising as such individuals are often perfectionists and naturally find it more difficult to “let go” or move on from their work.

Relation to class material – use pages 119-126 in the Baddeley et al. textbook to find a study that relates directly to this one. Give the name of the authors of that study and a brief description of their findings. Describe similarities and differences between that study and the one you just read in terms of materials, experimental design and results. How do these two studies relate to a general topic from the class?

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Autoimmune Disorder

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Autoimmune Disorder

Autoimmune disorders are diseases that occur as a result of the immune system attacking as well as destroying health tissue body. The immune system is an important part of the body as it helps the body fight against invasion from invasion and diseases. For a normal human who is health, the immune system is often able to differentiate between its cells as well as the cells that may be a threat to the body, however for most autoimmune disorders the immune system is not able to recognize the health cells in the body and those that it should fight. This therefore leads to the body producing antibodies that fight normal tissues and cells. This paper will explore the various types of autoimmune disorders and their causes.

There are 80 different types of autoimmune diseases that do exists. According to research. There are several factors that may result in the autoimmune diseases including gender, genetic as well as racial component. According to the National Institute of Health 24 million Americans suffer from at least one autoimmune disease (WebMD In response to unknown trigger, antibodies are often produced in the body attacking its own tissue. Some of the autoimmune disorders that exists includes rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Vascullitis, and Addison Disease. Race and ethnicity has often been stated to be among the reasons for occurrence of some autoimmune disorders. For example, lupus tens to affect more African Americans as well as ethnicity when they are compared to the Caucasians. Multiple sclerosis and Addison have strong genetic links,

Rheumatoid arthritis is a form of autoimmune diseases as a result of inflammation of the joint. At times when the disease is so severe, it may end up affecting how the joints function or look. When RA occurs in the fingers, it may result in deformities in joints of the fingers making movements of the hand quite difficult. When the antibodies start attacking its own tissue, the inflammation of the joint they begin to get inflamed. People between ages 30 to 50 but it may also affect the children a condition referred to as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The common joints that are affected includes feet, ankles, knees, wrist, hands. Common sign and symptoms includes stiffness likely to occur during morning hours, joints get to swell, pain that may get worse with joint movement and tiredness.

Psoriasis is another form of autoimmune disorder where the skin tends to get inflamed, raised and may turn red on arrears such as knees, lower back, elbows and knees. Just like most autoimmune disorders, the cause of psoriasis is unknown, there has been research that has been linked with abnormally fast growing skin cells. When the skin cell multiply quickly that is between 3 to four days, it also tends to shed quite quickly. There are three forms of psoriasis including plaque psoriasis, guttate psoriasis and pustular psoriasis. Common sign and symptom associated with psoriasis includes red patches on skin and raised skin especially if its plaque psoriasis, sore throat may precede guttate psoriasis. In pustular psoriasis, it may include small pustules which are blister with pus on the body.

Multiple sclerosis is also considered an autoimmune disease as the body seems to attack its health cells. It affects the central nervous system specifically the spinal cord and brain. The immune system gets to attack the myelin sheath which is the protective sheath covering nerve fibers responsible for communication. When these sheath are destroyed, it results in communication problems. Progression of the disease leads to eventual damage of the nerves. The signs and symptoms is likely to vary from person to person as well as severity of the nerve damage. People that may be affected with severe MS, may be unable to walk while other experience prolonged periods of remission. Other symptoms include the numbness of legs or limbs, tremors, visual problems including partial or complete loss of sight or blurred vision, slurred speech, tingling or pain and fatigue.

Autoimmune Addison disease is a chronic disease that results when the adrenal glands do not produce sufficient or fail to produce the hormones cortisol and aldosterone and for this reason, the disease is at times termed as chronic adrenal insufficiency or hypocortisolisms. The disease symptoms vary from one person to another. Visual development of the disease is elaborate over time and is often non-specific at first (Napier, 2012). It affects a number of individuals It affects a number of individuals worldwide and it affects both men and women worldwide. It is illustrated by uncontrolled weight loss, severs muscle weakness fatigue and low blood pressure, and in other cases the skin may darken. In most cases, Addison’s disease is caused by severe destruction on the adrenal cortex the outer part of the adrenal gland. The damage is often caused by the immune system. The Immune system might attack the adrenal gland causing severe damage to the adrenal cortex.

90% of the damage caused to the endocrine organ renders the organ ineffective meaning it will not have the capability to produce sufficient steroids hormones, cortisol and aldosterone and once the levels of the three core hormones reduce, the symptoms of Addison’s manifest. Due to the underproduction of the cortisol hormone and aldosterone, Addison’s disease is otherwise known as chronic adrenal insufficiency or hypocortisolism. Some of the main functions of the cortical hormone include maintaining of blood pressure and the important cardiovascular functions, it also plays a critical role in aiding and balancing the work of insulin in ensuring the sugars are broken down to energy as well as ensuring the immune system inflammatory response is regulating. The hormone is also associated with the regulation of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat metabolism. Addison disease is also termed as autoimmune disease because it results from a malfunctioning immune system that produce cells to destroy other glands. The results are the destruction and disruption of other several hormones and hence affecting several other body systems. Research demonstrates that the condition has a vivid and strong genetic connection and the characteristic make it possible for the disease to be hereditary.

Gullain Barre Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder whereby the immune system attacks the nerves causing tingling and weakness in the extremities. The sensation may quickly spread with the severity depending on how bad the nerves are affected. The causes of Gullain Barre are unknown but in most cases it is preceded by an infection such as stomach flu of a respiratory infection. Common signs and symptoms include feeling of pricking sensation on toes, fingers or ankles, one may also experience weakness in their leg increase hear rate, severe pain that may be cramp like and difficulty in breathing. The condition worsens rapidly thus one needs to get medical attention as soon as possible (Mayo Clinic).

Different autoimmune disorders are treated differently but most cannot be cured the aim of the treatment is to always control the immune response thus minimizing inflammation and the symptoms. Common drugs used in the treatment of autoimmune disorders include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as well as immune suppressing drugs. Most of these treatment relieve symptoms such as pain, fatigue, skin rashes and welling. Researchers are conducting more clinical research and drug trials to try and look for permanent cures for most of these autoimmune disease.

References

Autoimmune Diseases: What Are They? Who Gets Them? (2018, August 14). Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/autoimmune-diseasesGuillain-Barré syndrome. (2020, January 15). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/guillain-barre-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20362793Napier, C., & Pearce, S. H. S. (2012, December). Autoimmune Addison’s disease. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23177474

The test results show that my primary leadership style is task focused and my secondary leadership style is intellectual. The scores from the quiz are as follows:

a. task – 6

b. Social – 5

c. Intellectual – 6

d. participative – 5.7

To an extent I agree with the results that have come up after answering the quiz. I really value speed, action, efficiency as well as consistency. However, I still know that sometimes I also act impatiently or rather as if in a hurry. Sometimes I am also too impatient about getting the results. Still I know that I am good at decision making.

Secondly, I am also quite thorough and accurate about whatever I do and that helps me make my long term plans. It is therefore, that people consider me objective, logical as well as committed. However, there is also a bit of rigidness in me and slight reluctance to other’s input. But, generally due to single minded focus on task I am able to achieve great results from whatever I do.

I find that my leadership style can be greatly helpful in the field of public administration where things like efficiency, consistency and commitment are greatly valued. In the field of public administration mostly come across situations where ‘shared leadership’ applies’. Seeing the growing challenges in public leadership it needs a person to remain committed to his task as well as be good at decision making. It needs participative decision making where I can deliver with my accurate and thorough actions and decisions.

In this field it also needs consistency apart from efficiency since the challenges are relatively bigger which will need to be addressed quite fast. To address the challenges one needs to have single minded focus on his task as well as remain consistent with whatever he is doing. Yet, I know that most importantly I will have to consider the factor of shred leadership and how I can deliver while including others in my decisions and actions.

There are some key points which I will need to include for my leadership growth so that I can deliver consistently as well as prove effective in my sphere. My leadership style is primarily task focused and secondly intellectual.

The two concepts that I can apply in this regard are as follows:

a. Foster development of others: The main idea behind this concept is to engage and include others. The first step in this regard is to learn with others and also to encourage learning while working. Apart from this it is also important to reward and recognize the work and efforts of others.

b. build effective teams: The idea behind this concept is to find ways for using people’s strengths for team projects and to encourage participation in this way. Secondly, it needs to create collaborative opportunities for learning and to build trust.

It encourages participation as well as collaboration.

Reference:

Topic: Leadership and Power (n.d.). In PLS 308 – Public Administration. Retrieved June 20, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://people.uncw.edu/imperialm/UNCW/PLS_308/PLS_308_Lecture%20Notes_Leadership.pdf” http://people.uncw.edu/imperialm/UNCW/PLS_308/PLS_308_Lecture%20Notes_Leadership.pdf

Lead SeLf: Key ConCeptS and IdeaS (n.d.). In LEADS. Retrieved June 20, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://www.cchl-ccls.ca/assets/LEADS/LEADS_KeyPoints_EN.pdf” http://www.cchl-ccls.ca/assets/LEADS/LEADS_KeyPoints_EN.pdf

Grant Proposal

Name

Institution

Year

Cover Letter

Lending Hand Children Welfare

November 5, 2020

Lending Hand Director

Dear Sir/Madam,

Having established our charity organization at the local level, we hereby welcome you to our annual meeting and seminar to be held on 20th November 2020. Over the past ten years, the thought of establishing a reliable and credible avenue for the street children in the community continues to increase. We as the Lending Hand charity group seeks to address the issue of homelessness for the street children in our locality. The issue of homelessness among street children has been growing thus putting more risk to the community.

The upcoming seminar is aimed at launching out our agenda and welcoming people to this charitable course in a bid to raise funds to help get the street children out of this menace. Our team has already laid down the right mechanisms in collaboration with the local authorities that will add to the efforts already being made by the community. More to this is the honest and passionate efforts we are putting to help provide for the vulnerable street children.

We seek your support in any way that can help see this dream become a reality. At Lending Hand, we are happy to welcome you to our meeting and seminar that will be aimed at pulling more people and efforts to this agenda. We will forever be grateful for the efforts you out in making this come true as well go ahead in helping the vulnerable street children.

Regards,

Lending Hand

Summary

Lendignt Hand is a charitable children welfare program tat seeks tro address the iossues fgacign the street children in Texas. The welfare will;l be run uder the local welfare group that already operates in the community. Based on the project scope, the implementation of the objectives will be done in a systematic manner. The first step in project implementation will be to carry out data mapping that will include gathering, and analyzing the issue. The data to be gathered will help in laying out the right image of the data scope.

Introduction

This project is based on opening up the society to an existing social issue that is paramount to the development and safety of the people. The project will be built around existing figures, data, and observable issues that are core to the society. To build a very convincing case, the project will create a clear picture on the nature, value and sensitivity of the issue at hand. Therefore, the topic chosen for this project is the street children welfare that has already proven to be a major issue in many urban areas. Still, the project will try to decode existing myths on the issue of street families and children thus show how and why the matter needs to be addressed. By doing so, the project will deeply address the matter and seek to narrate an issue that has for years faced neglect. It is true that street children are prone to all sports of suffering as they are vulnerable out there in the cold.

Surprisingly, some of the street children are innocently neglected by their parents who have totally failed to own up the responsibility of taking care of the young ones. Moreover, the issue of family bonds and domestic violence has pushed many to the streets where they suffer more. It is clear that solutions are at the reach of the society but there lacks the total will to face the challenge and look for solutions (Kirst-Ashman, 2015). developing and testing theories requires a lot of research, and with that research, comes huge investments. While research is an important part of academia, it can also be very costly. Fortunately, a whole slew of research grants, scholarships, and fellowships exist – all that’s left is to do the grant research. The research will therefore try to lay down an issue of street children by exposing how the problem is a hindrance to social and economic stability of the area. Further, the project will create an outline for funding that will seek to get support in a welfare that is built around volunteering in support of the street children.

Problem Statement

Over the years, the value of human life has been ignored with many people going through harsh times across the world. The issue of homelessness and street children has become rampant and this is greatly leading to economic and social chaos (Berg-Weger, 2016). Over the past ten years, the number of homeless children in the streets had doubled and this pronounces a very serious situation. To make matters worse, adverse poverty and high cost of living is adding to the pressure leading to family breakups (Nilsson et al., 2016). More homeless children are ending up in the streets with no one to look after them or feed them. Consequently, a very sad image in the urban areas is being painted raising alarm on the state of the social welfare (Grignoli & Serban, 2018). As of January 2019, Texas had an estimated 25,848 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Of that Total, 1,919 were family households, 1,806 were Veterans, 1,355 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 3,511 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. With the government and local authorities already stretched to the limit in caring for these street children, it is the high time volunteers and private agencies come in to lend a helping hand. It has bene noted that between 2017 and mid-2019, all states in the U.S recorded more than 10,000 street families or children. On average, this translates to a 5.5% increase over the past five years with the situation expected to worsen in the coming decade. Perhaps, the earlier the solution is sought, the better in terms of cost and time conveniences. After years of neglect, children welfare and street families has started to pain t a very grim picture of the decaying social welfare of the society (Kirst-Ashman, 2015).

Today, more children are ending up on the street at a very young age. The problem here lies in the black of cohesive social laws that can prevent the neglect of children by their parents. Secondly, the local and national efforts coordination and funding of the children welfare agencies has not been effective on the ground. To crack the issue, personal responsibility of every individual and leader needs to be sought. Some of the neglected children who end up in the streets barely understand the issue and thus end up suffering more (Kirst-Ashman, 2015). If the issue is nit addressed, the future will even throw more problems to the society mainly on matters of social pressure and crime.  

Aim

This research seeks to investigate the problem of street children in Texas by looking at the numbers and how the issue can be addressed for a better social and economic development of the state.

Objectives

To provide the required perspective on the issue of street or homeless children in Texas.

To gather ample information and data regarding the issue of street children by conducting preliminary view of the data and cases in the streets.

To help raise funds for the support and welfare elevation of the existing groups trying to help the street children get by on the streets.

To help map out and show what and how the cases of homeless children in Texas appears thus lay better plans on addressing the issue.

Project Description

The project will be conducted in two phases where the mapping of the issue and implementation of the proposed ideas will take place. The approach will be essential in crating a map that will guide through the process. For the sake of time and resources convinces, the project will be undertaken in line with the laid down objectives (Berg-Weger, 2016). Based on the project scope, the implementation of the objectives will be done in a systematic manner. The first step in project implementation will be to carry out data mapping that will include gathering, and analyzing the issue (Nilsson et al., 2016). The data to be gathered will help in laying out the right image of the data scope. To add on this, the project will develop an implementation map that will include addressing the issue at hand. Once the data is gathered, a detailed report will be prepared that will help outline the issue spread.

The project will first look at the existing infrastructure and support resources for the street children in Texas. Once the support assets are identified, the project will then look at what and how the laid down avenues for an inclusive solution to the issue. More emphasis will be given to the nature and intensity of the matter that will help integrate a compound solution to the issue of street children (Grignoli & Serban, 2018). The project will further break down the related problems of crime by the street children. The data gathered will therefore be compound and cover a wide array of areas that relate to the issue of homelessness among children in Texas.

Moreover, the project will explore and offer solution to the issue by first creating the right outlook. To achieve this, the project will address the matters of resource shortage among the street children agencies and welfare groups in the region. The approach will help digest the issue by laying the right outlook on the intensity of the matter. More efforts will be given to the information gathering where different sources of data will be used. The main source of this information will come from the database on Texas social welfare and government data. The reliability of this type of information will be of great importance to ensure that the steps taken in the project are viable.

Evaluation

An evaluation plan is an integral part of a grant proposal that provides information to improve a project during development and implementation. When writing a proposal for larger center grant, using a professional external evaluator is recommended (Kirst-Ashman, 2015). The evaluation for this project will be paramount in guaranteeing a credible and open project. Doubling on this, the evaluation will seek to present reliable and affirmed information that will be analyzed for clarity and transparency. For the purpose of evaluation and validation, the information presented in the project will underline key aspects of the issue to be addressed (Nilsson et al., 2016).

First, the evaluation part will point to how and where the resources being sought will be directed. The project will solely be built around social welfare approach where credible efforts will be put to help address the issue of homelessness among children in Texas. Therefore, the key aspect of this drive is to induce the right mechanism to create a reliable and tangible project flow that will be open, transparent, and valid. In order to build the right portfolio, the project will be conducted in line with the identified needs that are in line with social needs of the street children.

The aim of this project will be to underline the issue of homelessness in Texas and how the street children pose a social and economic challenge to the area. To help address this issue, the project seeks to show how the efforts of volunteers and enough funding can help reduce this issue. Moreover, the project will be based on showing the value for an integrated approach to the right solution module that will help solve the problem. The funding being sought in this project will go far in helping the street children overcome the problems they face on the streets. Part of the funds will be directed in creating enhancement programs for the street children that will equip them with the right skills in life. Further, the funds will be directed to building a tangible solution-based approach like in providing shelter to the street children (Nilsson et al., 2016). Based on the project scope, the implementation of the objectives will be done in a systematic manner.

The first step in project implementation will be to carry out data mapping that will include gathering, and analyzing the issue. More efforts will be put in increasing the reliability of the project by providing credible outline for the funding and how the resources will be utilized (Grignoli & Serban, 2018). More efforts will be directed towards building the right outlook into the project outcomes and solution enhancement. In line with the project needs, there will be greater emphasis on how and where the project needs will go first. Priority here will be essential in creating the right outlook on how and where the project needs to flow. The resource utilization for the project will therefore be base don the needs and urgency of the issue to be addressed. In particular, the openness and credibility of the figures presented should therefore be guiding light in this project.

Future funding

The running of thus project will require funding that will help run and maintain its operations. To ensure that the project benefits the targeted people, there needs to be proper planning on sourcing of funds and utilization. Priority will be given to volunteers who wish to join this voluntary course that will be of great importance to the needy children on the streets of Texas. The underlying value of the project cannot be realized without the right funding that has to look into the future needs of expansion. The aim here is to start small and grow the project that will align with the upcoming needs of the locality as well as the projected growth. To start with, the project will outsource funds from well-wishers who would like to be part of the community uplifting program. The first step will therefore be to publicize the project to make sure that the members of the community understand its operation and value to the locality.

The project will also be marketed to private agencies and organization who will be expected to play a key role. Additionally, the operation of the project will depend on the local authority as another vital source of funding that will help take this project far. By combining these efforts, the operation of the project and its funding is expected to take huge steps in the right direction and thus help achieve huge benefits. One major source of funding will be charity where the project will be run as an open program to anyone who wishes to support. Online platform and social media will be used to sell the idea and request well wishers to collaborate in the program. To add on this, the online community will be engaged in creating the right outlook on how and where her project is headed for further insights.

Future funding will also come from the local authorities who have already laid down procedures to address the issue of street children. By collaborating with the local agencies and authorities, there will be an increased exposure of the program and thus more funding. The local authorities understand the urgency and needs of the local street families and thus they will be essential in funding. The platform will also increase the possibility of a diverse and open funding thus add to the accountability and reliability of the project. Funding can sometimes pose a challenge if not well coordinated. To address this matter, the project will be hinged on the right avenues that can help bring in more people to support its agenda. The best way to endure proper and adequate future funding is to show how the project will benefit the community.

The other avenue for future funding is to link up and establish a common agenda with NGOs within the area. One of the ways to sell out and reach many people is to utilize the existing Non-Governmental Organizations that operate under the local charity groups. For example, the local children welfare NGOs can help generate the tight outreach to the community as they have had adequate experience in the community. The children charity ground and programs will also help the project sell out to the community and the global community. To build on this, the project will try to align with the already identified needs of the community by launching friendly programs. For example, the project can begin with addressing the issue of food and shelter for the street children that will create the right avenue for growth. To broaden this, the project will outsource funds from the already established charity groups that have partnership with local agencies. More avenues for funding will come from the established entities that deal with children affairs and more so the street families and the homeless.

Budget

The budget for this welfare program will be allocated based on the activities to be done and the time of implementation. One of the key things in this area is the need to have a tangible and reliable budget outlook that can help in running the project. The budget will also be divided into three segments that will be guided by the period and the nature of tasks to be handled. The first segment will entail the project buildup that will cover the mapping and analysis of the matter. The tasks will take two months to complete and expected to demand 250 Dollars. The second stage will be the program establishment that will first go into catering for 100 street children. The basic provisions in this case will be shelter and food that will go for 750 Dollars for three months. This budget will be laid down in terms of the urgency of the task and its duration.

Once the budget is established, the allocation of the eight efforts will be done in line with the tasks urgency and demand. The total budget for this project for the first six months is expected to amount to 3000 Dollars.

References

Berg-Weger, M. (2016). Social work and social welfare: An invitation. Routledge.

Chavez, L., & Menjívar, C. (2017). Children without borders: A mapping of the literature on unaccompanied migrant children to the United States. Migraciones internacionales, 5(18), 71-111.

Grignoli, D., & Serban, I. (2018). Propulsive Welfare for the Risk Societies: A Project for Solidarity and Communication in the Social-Health System. Soc. & Soc. Work Rev., 2, 6.

Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2015). Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work & Social Welfare: Critical Thinking Perspectives. Nelson Education.

McConville, D., & Cordery, C. (2018). Charity performance reporting, regulatory approaches and standard-setting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 37(4), 300-314.

Nilsson, A., Erlandsson, A., & Västfjäll, D. (2016). The congruency between moral foundations and intentions to donate, self-reported donations, and actual donations to charity. Journal of Research in Personality, 65, 22-29.

Park, J. (2017). A Study on the Effective Ways of Charity Campaigns-focused on a Classification of Charity Case Studies. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society, 8(12), 227-234.

Petrovich, J. C., & Cronley, C. C. (2015). Deep in the heart of Texas: A phenomenological exploration of unsheltered homelessness. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(4), 315.

Santa Maria, D., Padhye, N., Yang, Y., Gallardo, K., Santos, G. M., Jung, J., & Businelle, M. (2018). Drug use patterns and predictors among homeless youth: results of an ecological momentary assessment. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 44(5), 551-560.

First Name last Name

Professor Villanasco

English 1302 1111

26 Aug.. 2029

Discussion

Many students, like us in our first year of college level classes, making a transition from high school to college have a difficult time adjusting to all the changes. In high school most students don’t have to manage their time because most time is managed for them. High school students attend school for at least eight hours a day so, that leaves them with about five to six hours left to decide what to do. “When I was in high school, I would be in school all day! On game days I wouldn’t make it home until 9 and on practice days at 6. I had no time for myself.” (Garcia). This led us to ask ourselves, how does time management affect college first year students academics? “Keeping up with assignments has always been something I struggle with and I was determined to do everything that I could, so I would get things on time. Personally, it was hard to do because I was just not going to school, but I also had a full-time job that required me to not have weekends off” (Hernandez). As we can see, students have other things to do besides just school work. Some have to deal with family, work, etc. which makes it difficult to be successful in college if students don’t figure out a way to manage their time properly. Many college students procrastinate which makes things more difficult. As one student said, “I started procrastinating more than I usually did. I created more stress than I could handle simply because I would wait to the last minute to do assignments I had weeks to do” (Gonzalez). As we saw from our own experiences, procrastination is one of the obstacles that affects many students’ time management.

When we were looking into the research that has been done before, we discovered other researchers also believed, time management was important. “Time management is a skill that is necessary and varies from person to person” (Quatar 83). This skill allows students to find a balance between everything that they have going on. Planning ahead and just knowing what they need to get done, setting time aside to do the work can go a long way. “Our results indicate that dispositional variables play an important role on managing work-school roles, which should be attended to give their importance in determining critical outcomes variables, including performance and satisfaction in both the work and school domains.” (McNall and Michael 408). Studies have also shown that students who manage their time, “tend to place items of most frequent use and the importance in plain view for convenience and reminding purposes” (Mizrachi and Bates 1603). This shows they know how to organize what needs to be done first by importance and prioritize better. Our hypothesis is that even though our college students don’t have the same freedoms as university students who are away from home, we do have some more freedom and many things interfere with us being successful. Work takes up a lot of our students’ time and believe it or not, family sees this new freedom and adds on to the new responsibilities we have. Since students don’t have to stay on campus as long, the families believe we students have more time to run more errands when students should be studying approximately 6 hours for every class they take in college.

(Name)

(Instructors’ name)

(Course)

(Date)

Marcus Aurelius Meditations

The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, wrote 12 books which were all in the form of meditations. The books were all written to his self, as he addressed all of them to himself. As he was a priest, an eager patriot, as well as, of logical mind all of these books reflected all that he was from spirituality, to patriotism, to philosophy and logic. This paper will, hence, look critically at his second book and look at how passage two relates with the themes of the whole of the book, the rest of the work and the historical context of the author.

In passage two of the second book, the author describes himself in three main words; a little breath, a little flesh, and a Reason to rule. He argues in this passage that when one is about to die, one should never be bothered about the flesh or the breath. He says the breath is nothing but a whiff of wind that is not the same as the original wind or air; as every time it is drawn in and out, becomes new. The Reason to rule, however, is given more importance. The author tells himself that he must concentrate to this third thing. He tells himself that now that he is older, he must never let the Reason to rule make him a slave, nor make him a puppet, which the reason controls by tagging at its strings. He also advises himself that now that he is old, he must stop to be angry at destiny by lamenting about tomorrow or grumbling about today.

This passage displays the same wisdom displayed by the other passages. The passage has numerous similarities with the other passages in the book. It displays that the author was indeed logical just like the other passages and the whole of the text too. The passage also displays wisdom. The author seems to have had a lot of wisdom from the way he writes these passages. For example he says in passage one that he and his brother where put in this world to work together, and that they are like the organs of the body without which, no one can function properly. His wisdom is further displayed in passage two where he argues that nothing is more important in a leader than having an appropriate reason to rule. The author displays his wisdom and leadership in each one of these passages.

Another theme that is evident in this passage and the rest of the text is the theme of patriotism, loyalty and submission. The author indicates in the second passage that a ruler must not let hid reason to rule be for self – interests or personal gain. He indicates that one must accept his fate or destiny without grumbling. This theme is displayed in other parts of the book and the rest of his text. Spirituality is another theme that is subtly present in the passage. The author sees no reason why an individual should rule and lead people for some personal gain. In passage one; he indicates that people should never obstruct each other, and that they must work together as one. These are the teachings that are commonly found within most religious denominations, and the author displays them a lot in text.

The other thing that becomes evident in the passage is that the author valued self realization a lot. He wrote all these passages to himself to teach himself several things in spirituality, and philosophy. This is an indication that the author really wanted to find himself and improve himself to a better man, ruler, and patriot. These texts can be extremely beneficial for any individual who might want to grow positively.

Leadership and Management Discussion

Author’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Leadership and Management Discussion

The book On Grand Strategy is an excellent guide to the leadership art. Gaddis (2019) incorporates his knowledge of history to satisfyingly address the rigorous study of leadership. He draws on history and the associated classical lessons to offer insights into preparing future leaders for leadership responsibilities.

Based on his suggestions, leadership is the systematic and purposeful process of influencing, directing, guiding, and inspiring people’s behavior towards attaining desired goals in diverse uncertain situations. It entails using insufficient means and realistically limited information to select goals prudently, balance ambitions and aspirations against practical uncertainties and constraints, and leverage common sense to navigate cluttered, ambiguous, and changing environments to augment the probabilities of successful goal accomplishment. Gaddis (2019) further alludes that leadership involves demonstrating the capacity to align actions and goals across time, coordinate actions in dissimilar settings, and adapt plans to changing circumstances. This allows leaders to articulate goals, plans, and purposes effectively, seize new opportunities objectively and flexibly and realize their goals and plans amidst unpredictable events without forcing these opportunities and events to fit into preconceived schemes.

Conversely, management is the administrative and coordinative process for reaching desired goals by working with and via people and other organizational resources. Management entails demonstrating accountability, stewardship, and responsibility for organizational resources in the attainment of established goals. Management also involves applying principles associated with the functions of organizing, planning, controlling, directing, and coordinating to harness human, technological, informational, and other resources in organizational goal attainment, hence optimizing efficiency (Pal & Bansal, 2011). Based on these descriptions, leadership is inspiring people towards work while management is getting work done by and through people. Leadership focuses on the effectiveness of resources to attain quality while management focuses on resource utilization efficiency to optimize time.

The contrast between leadership and management has been debated extensively. Some people in the leadership verse management debate view one construct as a subset of the other. Those who support this notion sustain that doing wrong things right does not imply good leadership or good management, and likewise, doing right things wrong does not infer bad leadership or bad management. However, some believe that leadership is a subset of management because good managers must primarily have leadership skills such as directing and influencing people to propel them towards getting the work done. Others argue that management is a subset of leadership because an individual truly leads effectively and inspire others when management is combined with leadership elements of offering purpose, motivation, and positive character traits (McCarthy, 2016). The leadership description derived from the suggestions by Gaddis (2019) shows that he would view management as a subset of leadership. Irrespective of this debate, both management and leadership are different but critical to organizational success.

In practice, managers perform leadership roles and leaders perform management roles. Also, managers do not necessarily make excellent leaders, and similarly, leaders might fail to excel at management, implying that there are leaders who cannot manage and managers who cannot lead. Essentially, this means that great managers can be poor leaders, and great leaders can be poor managers depending on their skills deficiencies.

References

Gaddis, J. L. (2019). On grand strategy. New York, NY. Penguin Books.

McCarthy, B. (2016). Do we need leaders or managers?. Company Command: Building Combat-Ready Teams. United States Army.

Pal, K., & Bansal, H. (2011). Management concepts and organizational behaviour. Guru Jambheshwar University.

Leadership and Management Discussion

Author’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Leadership and Management Discussion

The book On Grand Strategy is an excellent guide to the leadership art. Gaddis (2019) incorporates his knowledge of history to satisfyingly address the rigorous study of leadership. He draws on history and the associated classical lessons to offer insights into preparing future leaders for leadership responsibilities.

Based on his suggestions, leadership is the systematic and purposeful process of influencing, directing, guiding, and inspiring people’s behavior towards attaining desired goals in diverse uncertain situations. It entails using insufficient means and realistically limited information to select goals prudently, balance ambitions and aspirations against practical uncertainties and constraints, and leverage common sense to navigate cluttered, ambiguous, and changing environments to augment the probabilities of successful goal accomplishment. Gaddis (2019) further alludes that leadership involves demonstrating the capacity to align actions and goals across time, coordinate actions in dissimilar settings, and adapt plans to changing circumstances. This allows leaders to articulate goals, plans, and purposes effectively, seize new opportunities objectively and flexibly and realize their goals and plans amidst unpredictable events without forcing these opportunities and events to fit into preconceived schemes.

Conversely, management is the administrative and coordinative process for reaching desired goals by working with and via people and other organizational resources. Management entails demonstrating accountability, stewardship, and responsibility for organizational resources in the attainment of established goals. Management also involves applying principles associated with the functions of organizing, planning, controlling, directing, and coordinating to harness human, technological, informational, and other resources in organizational goal attainment, hence optimizing efficiency (Pal & Bansal, 2011). Based on these descriptions, leadership is inspiring people towards work while management is getting work done by and through people. Leadership focuses on the effectiveness of resources to attain quality while management focuses on resource utilization efficiency to optimize time.

The contrast between leadership and management has been debated extensively. Some people in the leadership verse management debate view one construct as a subset of the other. Those who support this notion sustain that doing wrong things right does not imply good leadership or good management, and likewise, doing right things wrong does not infer bad leadership or bad management. However, some believe that leadership is a subset of management because good managers must primarily have leadership skills such as directing and influencing people to propel them towards getting the work done. Others argue that management is a subset of leadership because an individual truly leads effectively and inspire others when management is combined with leadership elements of offering purpose, motivation, and positive character traits (McCarthy, 2016). The leadership description derived from the suggestions by Gaddis (2019) shows that he would view management as a subset of leadership. Irrespective of this debate, both management and leadership are different but critical to organizational success.

In practice, managers perform leadership roles and leaders perform management roles. Also, managers do not necessarily make excellent leaders, and similarly, leaders might fail to excel at management, implying that there are leaders who cannot manage and managers who cannot lead. Essentially, this means that great managers can be poor leaders, and great leaders can be poor managers depending on their skills deficiencies.

References

Gaddis, J. L. (2019). On grand strategy. New York, NY. Penguin Books.

McCarthy, B. (2016). Do we need leaders or managers?. Company Command: Building Combat-Ready Teams. United States Army.

Pal, K., & Bansal, H. (2011). Management concepts and organizational behaviour. Guru Jambheshwar University.