John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Sport :: Philosophy Philosophical Sports Essays

John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Sport ABSTRACT: While his own preference may have been for an engaging book over an exciting ballgame, John Stuart Mill’s distinction in Utilitarianism between higher and lower pleasures offers a useful framework for thinking about contemporary sport. This first became apparent while teaching Utilitarianism to undergraduates, whose interest is often piqued by using Mill’s distinction to rank popular sports such as baseball, football and basketball. This paper explores more seriously the relevance of Mill’s distinction for thinking about sport, focusing specifically on his claims about intellectual complexity and aesthetic value. It finds that while the distinction of higher and lower pleasures does support a hierarchy among sports, it remains problematic to assert that any sport could in fact constitute a genuine higher pleasure. Mill originally offered the distinction between higher and lower pleasures as a way of defending utilitarianism against critics who found it degrading. Because utilitarianism defines moral rightness solely as the net production of pleasure over pain, critics charged that it portrayed human happiness as no different from the contentment of well-fed barnyard animals. To these critics, any moral theory that cast human life as having no end higher than the pursuit of pleasure was surely "a doctrine worthy only of swine".(1) Mill countered that it was actually the critics of utilitarianism who degraded humanity, for they tacitly assumed that humans were capable of nothing more than animalistic pleasures. Mill maintained happiness is indeed a function of pleasure, although humans are capable of higher forms of pleasure than the other animals. Mill writes Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites, and when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness which does not include their gratification.(2) True human happiness thus requires at least some exposure to activities that gratify the higher faculties of the human mind. And though the pleasure of such activity requires greater effort and even some pain to realize, Mill considered it intrinsically superior to the relatively passive and animalistic pleasures obtained from satisfying one's hunger, thirst, or sexual desire. Thus, unlike Bentham, who thought that the pleasure obtained from reading one good poem could be equaled through playing many games of pushpin, Mill's distinction is qualitative: a higher pleasure can never be duplicated through the simple aggregation of lower pleasures. Mill posited three distinct sources of higher pleasure: (1) acts involving intellectual complexity (2) acts engaging the aesthetic imagination; and (3) acts engaging the moral sentiments.

Causes of WW1 Essay

If Franz Ferdinand hadn’t been killed, World War One would not have happened’ This essay will be discussing the question ‘If Franz Ferdinand hadn’t been killed, World War One would not have happened’. History points out many causes of the First World War, history sources both primary and secondary are split on the idea that the killing of Franz Ferdinand was the most important cause. In, this essay therefore the causes of the First World War will be looked at and a conclusion will be drawn up whether in essence the killing of Franz Ferdinand started the war. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the presumed heir to the Austrian and Hungarian crowns, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian patriot. The leaders of Austria-Hungary were sure the Serbian government and ultimately the Russians were responsible. Austria-Hungary prepared for war, and this time the Germans were willing to support them. On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. What made this war perhaps an international war were the alliances made prior to it. The Triple Alliance of 1882, the most famous of the triple alliances, was by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The terms for this alliance were laid in 1879, when the German chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck negotiated a secret defensive pact with Austria-Hungary, in case of war. A counter force was organized Triple Entente, this was alliance that developed between Britain, France, and Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was designed to counter the military coalition known as the Triple Alliance. The French government approached Russia, and in the late 1880s a Franco-Russian military pact was concluded in January 1894, and in 1895 the conclusion of an alliance was publicly acknowledged. However a few years into the war Italy swapped sides and became part of the Triple Entente. These two alliances may not seem to be relevant to war, however looking from sources from primary sources from inside Germany, it is clear to see the formation of the Triple Entente angered the Germans. As far back history records people have gone to war for money, power and land and here it is no different. Here, the Triple Alliance thought it was an excellent excuse to go to war, beat the Triple Entente, and seize control of their military and land. This could be categorized under the broad category of imperialism (the belief of building and expanding an empire).However a interesting comparison can be made to a controversial theory about the 9/11 bombings. This theory surfaced in History journal ‘Modern History’, says that a secret organization in Austria paid Princip, to kill Ferdinand and under this pretence, blame Serbia and go to war with them. This theory hasn’t been accepted much, however as the journal very rightly says ‘History uncovers more and more, until what is that to be truths turn into gross misconceptions.’ Overall after looking at the causes of the First World War, a conclusion can be drawn up that because of the growing enmity between Serbia and the Austro-Hungary empire, a war would have happened, and the killing of Franz Ferdinand was a mere excuse or a pretence to go to war, the question still remains whether this would have been a World War. The answer would be yes, if Franz Ferdinand had not died and there had been a war but a little later on, other countries would have still got involved, because of the alliances formed earlier on. However, famous history magazine, ‘History and theory’ said in a few years ago in a publication, that if Franz Ferdinand had not been killed the war would have started, but because the Triple Entente was a very wooly and loose alliance, England and potentially France would not have got involved. What is certain however that there would have been a war, the scale of which remains to be seen. Alas, World War I in all of its horror was a matter of choice, not fate.

The Key Features of Public and Private Sector Organisations Free Essay Example, 2000 words

It is essential to note that accounting is not only a way to portray the financial performance of a company, but it entails guiding any decision making involving every single aspect in the company. There are two main types of organisations in the market today. These are the public and private sectors. The public sector involves organisations owned and operated by the government or their agents and are mostly set up not for profit, but to offer essential services to the public, though profit still reminds one of the objectives of such organisations. Public sectors will major in owning, producing, providing, allocating and delivering goods and services for the government or the public, on either local or international levels, with service provision being more important than making profits. The managers are government appointees, making public companies political institutions. Private organisations. These are organisations set up, owned, financed, and operated by business people with t he single aims of harnessing opportunities to make a profit. The government in private companies only plays a regulatory role through its legal framework but does not involve in any decision making in such organisations. We will write a custom essay sample on The Key Features of Public and Private Sector Organisations or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Examples are schools or healthcare faculties. Organisational hierarchy. Both public and private organisations have different staff occupying different levels of the decision-making process, though in the private sector such hierarchies may have different tag names.

A Slave’S Awakening . . . Yifan Lin. . . . History 1301.

A Slave’s Awakening Yifan Lin History 1301 Nicholas Cox May 4th ,2017 Fredrick Douglas, a black slave, wrote the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave. The autobiography not only reveals the cruel nature of slavery but also discusses the issue of how slavery was maintained for such long time. Douglas enlightened us about the idea of that: knowledge is power, knowledge changes fate, and â€Å"it is the only access to freedom†. Frederick Douglas from (1817-1895), was one of the most prominent black leaders in the US history. He was known as a leader of the abolitionist movement. He lived life was hard and trying, was born in the south of Maryland, and for twenty years he was a slave. In 1838, he fled to the†¦show more content†¦The awakening of self-consciousness begins with the tragic realization of slavery from Douglas. In the autobiography, Douglas recalled the first whipping scene, that was the first time in his life he had ever seen such act. The women who was beaten was his aunt Hester. She was found dating a black male slave in another plantation. The whipping greatly shook little Douglas, because it was cruel and unthinkable. Before that, he was living out of the plantation with his grandmother and other slave children. He had no chance to experience the violence of the plantation, and he did not know that the violence was the main content of plantation. He was listening to his aunt constan tly begging, watching the slave owner hung her up, constantly whipping her† The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest .† That was the first time in his life he realized what they must have beard to be another person’s slave. Although he will see many such atrocities later, this time seems to give him the deepest impression, as this is the beginning of his own body becoming a slavery body. Slave masters thought that it is possible to turn a human into a tool, or a property with no capability to think. However, the truth is that this absolute obedient could only happen to a dead man, since he/she is no longer alive. This could never have happened to a man who is alive, even if he is a slave Although

Designing A User Friendly Android â„¢ Application - 1600 Words

Table of contents 1. Project summary 2 1.1 Aim of the project 2 1.2 Risk table 2 2. Risk 1 – Unable to create a database design/structure 3 3. Risk 2 – Unable to show videos or pictures within the application 4 1. Project summary 1.1 Aim of the project The aim of the project is to develop a user-friendly Androidâ„ ¢ application which is able to track the users’ workout, gives feedback in form of statistics and shows a log of previously completed workouts. With additional compatibility for previous versions, the application will be created on the latest version of the Androidâ„ ¢ Package Index. Developed will the application be in JAVA which is the primary language used to program Androidâ„ ¢ applications. 1.2 Risk table†¦show more content†¦For every technology which is used within the application a prototype is going to be built to become familiar using the technology. Since the prototypes are only used to work with the technology and to test some situations, these prototypes do not have a user-friendly and well-designed interface implemented. At the end of each section, the impact on the methodology, specification and planning is discussed. Additionally the time which was needed to lower the probability of the risk is going to be compared to the estimated time which was declared in the Project Definition Report. The source code for every application with additional explanations is available within the appendices. 2. Risk 1 – Unable to create a database design/structure The implementation of a database is one of the most important features for the application because many features depend on the values which are stored in the database or depend on storing values within the database. This is why the impact of the risk on the success of the application is declared as high. Becoming familiar using the SQLite API for Androidâ„ ¢ is the purpose of the sample application which was created to lower the probability of the risk. Using methods to insert data into the database and to get all information out of the database was the purpose of the sample application. The sample application which was created stores a name and a number for each person within a database. Users of the application have the

Slave To Pain An Essay On Beloved free essay sample

Essay, Research Paper Slave to Trouble Sethe, now free from bondage has become a slave once more, but this clip alternatively of being a slave to a white maestro she is a, slave to her ain hurting. The beginnings of her hurting are legion, including the larceny of her milk, the murdering of her kid, Beloved, trying to kill the remainder of her kids, and two of her kids go forthing her because of it. When Sethe # 8217 ; s murdered kid, Beloved, returns, the hurting she feels from these beginnings intensifies and begins to adversely consequence her life. Beloved # 8217 ; s purposes put merely look to be to command, Sethe to do her a slave, but Sethe, in the terminal, is able to interrupt free of the bondage and hurting by allowing the hurting go. Beloved is the incarnation of Sethe # 8217 ; s hurting. Beloved is the symbol, if non the kid, whom she murdered, an event, which is closely tied to her worst hurting. We will write a custom essay sample on Slave To Pain An Essay On Beloved or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The action of killing Beloved occurred while she was seeking to kill all her, kids and it is the ground that two of her kids run from her because they fear for their lives. Beloved wants to devour Sethe, she wants to have Sethe, a relation non unlike that of a maestro and slave. # 8220 ; I am Beloved and she is mine, # 8221 ; ( Morrison 211 ) is one of the more eerie statements in the book. How Beloved traps Sethe is simple, for Sethe â€Å"the hereafter was a affair of maintaining the yesteryear at bay† ( Morrison 42 ) and when her yesteryear, Beloved, catches up with her the hereafter is gone and she is enslaved. What’s more, Beloved does non mean to let her slave to travel free, â€Å"I will non lose her again.† ( Morrison 214 ) When Beloved returns to the foliages it could be argued that she was either chased away by Sethe # 8217 ; s rejections and release from her bondage, or that the relationship between Beloved and Sethe has changed. The possible alteration in the relationship could be that Beloved is no longer the incarnation of Sethe # 8217 ; s hurting, but merely another portion of her yesteryear that she can eventually go forth buttocks, doing Beloved content to be merely in the deep recessed of Sethe # 8217 ; s concision. Either manner, Sethe has broken the bonds and can now populate in the present and look frontward to the hereafter with the past behind her. Sethe # 8217 ; s bondage to her hurting had her doomed to populate everlastingly in the past but with the allowing spell of her hurting ; she let herself be free. The larceny of her milk, slaying of her kid, and running off of two of her kids are now allowed to stay in the yesteryear where they belong. Sethe no longer needs to maintain the yesteryear at bay in order to go on in the hereafter.

The Protestant Reformation VS The Counter-Reformation Essays

The Protestant Reformation VS The Counter-Reformation ` The Reformation was a movement against the Catholic Church in the early 1500s. The Counter-Reformation was a movement by the Catholic Church to ignite the passion that was once contagious in Europe, but had seemed to die down. In 1483 some would say that the greatest reformer of all time was born. Martin Luther changed the world forever when he posted his 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany. His target audience was mostly the people that were fed up with the Catholic Churchs selling of indulgences. While the Catholic Church struggled with its own predicaments, they too fought back to regain their credibility. The Church attempted to get as many people back in the church as possible. Reputation, integrity, and the rights of people were at stake during the time of both reformations. When looking at the Reformation and the Counter Reformation, one must consider the implications of each. Each had to have taken place for a reason, had their target audience, and both had to have an outcome. The Christian world, and moreover the entire world, would change due to this time of transformation that lasted about one hundred years. The reason for the Reformation was the irresponsibility of the Catholic leaders and their lack of interest in keeping their doctrines. The immediate cause of the Reformation was Luther (Spitz 57). It started on October 31, 1517 when he posted his 95 Theses on the subject of indulgences. This sent a jolt through the very soul of Christendom. The theme of these Theses was the doctrine of indulgences, acknowledging a minor point of Catholic Theology, which Luther meant to expound in a routine academic disputation (Hillerbrand xiv). At the time, Luther had no intention of splitting Christianity into two sects. In fact, Luther had no intent of even leaving the Catholic Church. His only intention was to get the Catholic leaders to realize what they were doing. Many people rallied around Luther and convinced him that he could challenge the Catholic Church, and eventually Luther started to believe it. In 1519 Luther repudiated the infallibility of the Pope and replaced him with sola scriptur a, Scripture alone. He believed that a person didnt need a religious individual help them get to heaven; one just needed their faith. In 1520, Luther was excommunicated from the church for his, what some believed, outlandish remarks. The target audience for the movement in which Luther led was people who did not want anything to do with the Church. People who were in need of change and who yearned for different explanations in theology sought Luthers advice and followed him. Although he was out of the church, Luther had brought a lot of people with him. Most people felt it was time for a change. The outcome of the Reformation is still very much felt today. Christianity has more than 15 major sects just in the US, not counting the sub-sects of those. Luther encouraged a new wave of thinking around the world. The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation had many differences, but they also had their similarities. Both happened because certain individuals sought change. Contrary to popular belief, the Counter Reformation was taking place before the Reformation. In the first place, the name suggests that the Catholic movement came after the Protestant, whereas in truth the reform originally began in the Catholic Church and Luther was a Catholic Reformer before he became a Protestant. By becoming a Protestant Reformer, he did indeed hinder the progress of the Catholic Reformation, but he did not stop it. The name most likely came from the fact that Protestant historians had been using it, most likely for propagandist attention. The Papal office had been sending missionaries all over Europe long before the Reformation to help recharge the enthusiasm that Catholicism once had. Not until the Protestant Reformation, though, did the Church realize that it really had a problem. In 1537, the Council of Trent was summoned (3: 46). During the council, leaders strictly forbade the further selling of indulgences and held individual Bishops and Priests responsibl e for their own diocese. Also, during the Council, new missionary groups were created to help regain the popularity