Human Development Essay Example for Free

Human Development Essay Taking a look at the Human Development Index map of Africa, which can be seen on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index) on the web; it shows that many of Africas countries are very underdeveloped.7 One of the obvious reasons for why countries is Africa are underachieving is because of how poor is the strength of their economy compared to others. As it is well known, Africa is very rich in mineral resources as many other states rely upon their, possessing most of the known minerals types of the world. Africas economy is more reliant on agriculture than that of any other continent, with around 60% of Africans working in the agricultural sector. Secondly, the economic development of virtually all African nations has been hindered by inadequate transportation systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. Road networks tend to link the interior of a country to the coast; few road systems link adjacent countries.9 To show how poor and how bad economy crisis is in Africa, one ought to take a look at their food crisis and the growing volume of food imports. Whereas Africa imported an average volume of 1.96 million metric tons of agricultural products in the years 1961-63, by 1980-82 this figure had risen to 11.2 million metric tons at an annual value of over $6.8 billion (over one-seventh of the total value of Africas imports in 1982).Owing to foreign exchange constraints, most African countries have had to rely increasingly on food aid to meet their imported food requirements.10 The commercial sectors of most African states rely heavily on one or a few export commodities. The bulk of trade occurs with industrialized nations, which require raw materials and sell industrial and consumer goods. Trade between African states is limited by the competitive, rather than complementary, nature of their products and by trade barriers, such as tariffs, and the diversity of currencies. Looking at the economy of Europe, a sharp contrast in strength and influence can visibly be seen. Europe has long been a world leader in economic activities. As the birthplace of modern science and of the Industrial Revolution, Europe acquired technological superiority over the rest of the world, which gave it unquestioned dominance in the 19th Century. An important impetus for growth since the mid-20th Century has been the formation of supranational organisations such as the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Unlike Africa, Europe has highly developed transport systems, which are densest in the central part of the continent. Many countries in Europe use well maintained transportation systems to transport important goods such as water transport which plays a major role in the European economy. Almost all European countries maintain national airlines, and several, such as Air France, British Airways, Swissair, Germany, and Netherlands are major worldwide carriers.13 Looking at both economies and trade, it is unquestionably obvious that Europe conducts substantial international trade compared to Africa. For Europe, much of its trade is intra-continental, especially among members of the European Union, but also engages in large-scale trade with countries of other continents. Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands are among the worlds greatest trading nations. A large portion of European inter-continental trade involves the exporting of manufactured goods and the importing o f raw materials. Europes agricultural sector is generally highly developed, especially in Western Europe. The agricultural sector in Europe is helped by the Common Agricultural Policy, which provides farmers with a minimal price for their products and subsidized their exports, which increases competitiveness for their products. This policy is highly controversial as it hampers free trade worldwide (protectionism sparks protectionism from other countries and trade blocs: the concept of trade wars) and is violating the concept of fair trade.15 Africas economy is more reliant on primary products (i.e, agricultural and mineral) than that of any other continent, with around 60% of Africans working in the agricultural sector. About three fifths of African farmers are subsistence farmers tilling small pots of land to feed their families, with only a minimal surplus that can be sold for other goods.16 However, there are significant number of large farms that grow cash crop such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, and rubber; these farms, normally operated by large corporations, cover tens of square kilometres and employ large number of labourers. Africas geography is unsuited to trade and thus hampers its economy. The centre of the continent, at least on the western side, is an almost impenetrable rainforest that greatly impedes the transit of people of goods. Some of the wealthiest parts of South Africa are blocked from the rest of Africa by the Kalahari Desert, while the Sahara creates an obvious barrier to trade. While Africa has a number of great river systems such as those of the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi, it is not nearly as well-linked rivers as are other areas such as Europe. Moreover, many of the rivers are blocked by rapids and cataracts that require vast development projects if they are to be bypassed. The wetness of the roads and tracks makes transport difficult and hazardous. In addition Africa is cut off from the sea to a greater extent than any other continent. To enforce even more problems to Africa; there is an increasing amount of desertification occurring in Africa where the deserts, especially the Sahara are becoming larger, enveloping area around them, leaving less space for land. This process is partly due to the deforestation of areas of forest; with no roots to hold soil in place, it blows away leaving an infertile desert. Europe has a well developed financial sector. Many European cities are financial centres with the City of London being the largest.19 The European financial sector is helped by the introduction of the euro as common currency. This has made it easier for European households and firms to invest in companies and deposit on banks in other European countries as exchange rate fluctuations are now non-existent in Europe. As mentioned above, Europes economy is superior to that of Africa, so what can Africa do to improve its economy or perhaps what can it take from the Europe economy as a model. Professor J A. van Ginkel held a conference on the Knowledge and Development in Africa; here he talked about ways to improve Africas economy however not only by getting the economic policies right.20 Prof van Ginkel mentions that there is now substantial evidence that institutional weakness in many African countries is a critical obstacle to economic performance.21 From the surveys he conducted on the obstacles to business in Africa it highlights the damage caused by: the unpredictability of changes in laws and policies, the unreliability of law enforcement, and the impact of corrupt bureaucracies.22 Unless governments eliminate these kinds of obstacles then it is unlikely that the economy whether it is just locally in certain parts of Africa or on a national front will flourish. An aspect of the Europe model that Africa can learn from is the aspect of knowledge. No commodity is more expensive than knowledge. An Africa without a sustainable, strong knowledge sector of its own will always remain in a dangerously dependent position. Research and training institutions on the continent can make a critical contribution in at least three ways: by making the most of existing indigenous knowledge; by accessing the vast reservoir of existing global knowledge, as well as the ongoing advances in understanding, and adapting them to suit specific local conditions; and by helping to find innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.23 In terms of human resources, it was highlighted in the Seminars of Anticipation that African developments suffers from a tragic paradox: on the one hand, elites trained in Western world are too many (and most of them stay in the US or in the EU because they cannot find well-paid qualified positions in Africa, or because their skills do not correspond to African needs); while on the other hand the well-trained intermediate executives required to manage a modern economy are cruelly missing in Africa (higher technical experts, management executives, civil administrators). To conclude, this essay has looked the economies of both Europe and Africa and compared and contrast both of them. It has also provided information about both economies in terms of trade and finance. A brief history was provided which looked at the relationship between Europe and Africa and to the days of colonisation. Reasons as to why both regions are on different levels economically were provided to show how dominant and rich Europe was and how poor and underdeveloped Africa was. The Africa food crisis was mentioned to give an account of how poor Africa was against other regions. In addition ways that Africa can improve their economy thus bringing it more power and strength so that it can compete with other regions was provided, for example making sure Africa had the aqeduate education so that it learn. Many Africans move to the west so that they can have higher education which is not available in Africa and tend to stay there once they have completed their studies. This is detrimental to Africas development and thus a solution to the problem would be to support the creation of a complete curriculum. This would lead to a massive contribution to the development of vocational and technical education in Africa thus improving Africas economy. So as it can seen, the economies for both Europe and Africa are at this present time in contrast to each other but there is hope for Africa to become more dominant and influential in world affairs if the correct adjustments and policies are introduced to improve them. References Fawcett, L., Hurrell, A., Regionalism in World Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, pg 43Â  Ravenhill. J, Africa in economic crisis, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1986, pg 9Â  www.ciaonet.org/isa/rajo

Edible Cutlery Essay Example for Free

Edible Cutlery Essay In the eco-friendly world, it will no longer be enough to eat your meal before getting dessert; you will have to eat your plate before you get dessert. In fact, your plate may even be dessert. In a brilliant moment of inspiration, Universite de Montreal industrial design professor Diane Bisson saw a vision of a world in which food product waste was drastically reduced and even recycling, as we know it, would carry a lesser burden. Edible plates and containers. The perfect and thorough recycling method. Ms. Bisson stewed her ideas for 10 years until she finally applied and won a research grant allowing her to work with dieticians and chefs to create recipes for plates made without without preservatives, artificial colours or sugar. Their creations are beautiful, spanning all the colours of the spectrum with carved designs of varying thicknesses. Recipes are primarily vegetable-based, so the plates and containers are nutritious. Two hundred of her 400 edible prototypes were prepared for Ms. Bissons new book launch at commissaries design gallery in Montreal. They were very tasty, according to gallery owner Pierre Laramee. The book, Edible: The Food as Material will be available in late January. Ill let you know in the comment section below where its being sold. It will have many recipes for edible containers that you can prepare at home. Many of the edible plates made for the book launch were made to blend with the foods they hold, both visually and taste-wise, like a carob plate made to serve sweets. Others included beets or poppy seeds as a base. Her ambition is really to try out as many shapes and as many gastronomic food combinations as possible so that we can get into many different markets. She could see a lot of different venues. Just a few of those venues would be shopping mall food stands, hospitals, and catered food services. Next project for Ms. Bisson is to work with a caterer to come up with a five course meal with accompanying edible plates and cutlery. Also, she will have to figure out how to preserve her edible plates without common preservatives, as her current container prototypes are drying up after awhile. Edible plates, containers, cutlery. Think of how they could tastefully change our world. However, the problem with edible plates, and indeed any edible containers, is that in order to be hygienic, they need to be protected by some other packaging that is NOT meant to be eated. Hence, what we need is re-usable packaging. A sealed container protecting the sterile contents inside, from the contaminating world outside, which can be reused many times. An Indian entrepreneur manufactures delicious edible cutlery forks, knives and spoons that can all be eaten up post-meal Even as global warming turns up the heat on the world stage, entrepreneur Narayana Peesapaty, 44, may have found the perfect answer to the mountains of disposable plastic cutlery choking the world: he makes them edible. In other words, after people have eaten their curry and rice, they can now chew and swallow the spoon. The Hyderabad-based entrepreneurs company B. K.  Environmental Innovations Private Limited manufactures eco-friendly forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks in delicious flavours of vanilla, strawberry and pineapple. And all can be gobbled up after the meal. The outfit is part of the New Ventures Global initiative to encourage environment-friendly business ideas in developing countries. Peesapaty, a former scientist at the Institute for International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), is already supplying his product to a raft of hotels, sweet shops and organised retailers in the city. Samples have also been sent to corporate caterers, schools and housewives. It took the scientist another two years to give commercial shape to his idea. I began by checking out the suitability of various cereal flours wheat, rice and sorghum (jowar) as base for edible cutlery, he says. Finally, he zeroed in on sorghum. Jowar has traditionally been an important source of nutrients such as folic acid and fiber, yet the domestic consumption of this crop has recently decreased and been replaced by starch-laden rice. B. K. Innovations is thus helping to revitalize the popularity of jowar with consumers, especially since those with diabetes have shown an interest in consuming edible cutlery as a nutritious snack. Vegetable pulp spinach, beetroot and carrot were used to add colour and nutritive value to the cutlery. Spinach gave it a green shade, beetroot red and carrots brought out a yellow hue. In 2006, the entrepreneur applied for a process patent for producing edible cutlery. The entrepreneurs entire production line comprising blenders, slicers, dyes and an oven had to be designed and calibrated to ensure that the spoons retained their hardness while not losing out on their taste and nutritive value. BK offers spoons in three flavours and has also expanded its production to edible sandwich wrappers and edible chopsticks. Large-scale domestic buyers have already shown initial interest, and BK Environmental Innovations hopes to eventually enter the international market. Requests from international sellers have come from various countries including Singapore, New Zealand, and Canada. With Japan and China’s growing demand for chopsticks and the decreasing availability of resources, an environmental movement has grown to search for better options. Narayana expects edible chopstick to be a popular alternative to disposable chopsticks. Peesapaty feels there’s a great future ahead for his edible chopsticks which will give stiff competition to the disposable ones. In fact, he aims to corner a portion of the global disposable chopsticks market, which sees sales of around 24 billion units per annum in Japan and 35 billion units in China. However, the innovators path has not been without challenges. When he wasn’t getting investors for his dream project, Peesapaty says he had to sell his flat for Rs 35 lakh (about US$ 100,000) three years ago. He then moved to a rented house with his wife and young daughter. In other words, of the Rs 50 lakh Peesapaty has invested in the venture so far, 70% of the funds have come from his own pocket.

Comparing Brave New World to Modern Day

Comparing Brave New World to Modern Day Prediction to future technological warfare in Brave New World When thinking about the greater good and scientific advancement, most people believe that they are always beneficial to society but brave new world gives us the negative perspective of technology advancements. In the novel, brave new world written by Aldous Huxley, warns it readers about technological disadvantages and harms. Particular these disadvantages are evident in the field of biology and technology. Firstly, scientific advancement of which Aldous Huxley warns us is about biological technology used. The huge production of humans is achieved and made through process of bokanovsky process. The Director said , But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, and will divide [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] every embryo into a full-sized adult (Huxley pg.3-4). Humans are being genetically modified and engineered in the experimental laboratories rather naturally. In the real world scenario, it is seen that cloning is a huge scientific advancement that has been made and is still being developed but is considered unethical when living things are brought into the matter of especially human cloning. This idea is also evident the book of thousand splendid suns where the Taliban controls , brain washes and teach lies , deny other religions , restrict from having freedom of thought from the people of Afghanistan also where weapons are a form of power such as guns and drones. Moreover, connecting to pre sent world we can see that embryonic stem cell research is a real thing where an egg cell is fertilized by a sperm to create a human embryo or basically create life. Keeping in mind this process can be seen unethical by some people as they have different values and beliefs. Just like the bokanovsky process this process is also is messing with an embryo and altering gods work. In Brave new World person intelligence is dependent on the amount of alcohol injected into their individual embryos before the process of life starts. Mr. Foster says that, We can make a new one with the greatest ease-as many as we like (Huxley pg.128). Epsilons have a heavy amount of alcohol injected in the decanting process whereas alphas and betas do not go through that process because Epsilons being a lower class society. Todays science is capable of modifying a person DNA but is not able to fully develop a human being by its own yet cloning of animals has been done in our world. For example, Dolly the shee p is a cloned animal who lived a normal live which offered hoped to scientists to use cloned cells in medicine also it was seen that cloned animals age quicker than normal offspring. But this first cloning done my humanity was a big step towards the future and biological advancement. By making a world where human beings are massively produced biologically, Brave new World illustrated those advancements in the aspects of biology, which display it being dangerous despite the wellbeing and betterment of the human race. According to Huxley, advancements in technology can also be a threat to mankind and the society. Among technological advances, one danger is the growth of pharmacology or the in taking of drugs by people and its side effects. The director says that, One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy sentiments (Huxley pg.46). Soma helps the users into a dream world, providing them with total relief from fear and providing them with happiness. This relates to the character Abigail William, from the crucible where she is acting as soma to the society. Abby manipulates people to get what she wants; her intentions are solely to benefit herself. She does not care about the consequences of her actions as well as she is able to manipulate the town to hurt the people she does not like. Just like the soma which is acting as positive thing for the people of brave new world but in reality a negative one, we can see how medical advancements such as x-ray devices, MRI machines and medical drugs help a person restore his/ her health and making the average human life expectancy much better as years are passing. Technology effects entertainment by altering all the games to be played by humans. Mustafa Mond says that, All conditioning aims at making people like their inescapable social destiny(Huxley pg. 13). Game make less organization, making a person bound to a superficial entertainment as it defies the ideology to be creative. This relates to a thousand splendid suns because men in the book do not care what happens to a women, so do the people of brave new world not care about connecting on an emotional level with each other, everybody serves their purpose within society and each person is there for anybody to use (even sexually) which is similar to a thousand splendid suns where the wife only role is to serve their husbands purpose and fulfill their needs just like Laila providing Rasheed with an heir. This can also relate to our present teenagers gaming mindset where advancement in ga ming technology have caused massive violence and hatred among teens making them do crime. For example Grand theft Auto is a game about stealing, shooting and hurting random people. Due to his game one of the incident that occurred in United States was the one teenager who shot two police men and was prisoned due to his crime. Similar to biological disadvantages, technology can be a dangerous factor towards the society if used inappropriately and without the regarded for the well-being of the human race. Society must ensure that technology and scientific advancements is changing to suit human needs but rather changing human race to suit science. Moreover the world one day without individual free will and sense would make it impossible to overcome these factors. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous, Margaret Atwood, and David Bradshaw. Brave New World. London: Vintage ,  2007. Print.

Cezanne, Lowry and Landscapes Essay -- Visual Arts Paintings Art

Cezanne, Lowry and Landscapes Cezanne Paul Cezanne, who was the son of a wealthy banker, became a painter in the 1860s in Paris when he quit his studies of Law. By 1874 he was painting landscapes in the Impressionist manner and had some of his work included in their first exhibition held during that very same year. He painted in the Impressionistic manner, but sheared off in a different direction to the main body of Impressionist painters. The main body of Impressionist painters were concerned with the 'fleeting effects of light and colour', and in order to capture the surface impression of that moment 'they had to work fluently and quickly'. 's analysis was far more prolonged and pains-taking; He spent so long analysing his subjects that some of his work was never finished. began to be more concerned with the use of colour in modelling objects and landscape and as a way of expressing their underlying form. The basic ideas of Cubism have been claimed to be present in his philosophy. His theory was that the painter could always find the cone, the sphere and the cylinder in Nature, and that all natural shapes were composed of these shapes at their most basic form. inherited sufficient wealth to live in rich seclusion in Provence near Aix. He needed this solitude or he found it difficult getting on with others: being naturally ill at ease, neurotically sensitive and suffering from outbursts of temper. His great contribution to art was to make Impressionism solid: to restore the careful analysis of form and structure that pervaded the old masters but to combine this with an intensity of colour and harmony, full of personal expression. In his landscapes he showed a deep feeling for the force of nature in each sweeping line and chopping stroke of the brush, in the intense orange earth against the clear Provence skies. Always dissatisfied with his efforts, struggled unceasingly to reveal the truths of nature. He made many landscape paintings of the area where he lived and through them he achieved great success even in his old age. Many of these landscapes like "Route-Tournante" pulse and glow with his free and painstaking analysis. Part of the vitality of this picture lies in the loose and patchy technique The effect is particularly striking in the subtle greens of the trees and the subtle earth tones. Part of the interest ... ...riel Decamps, Charles-Emile Jacque, and other minor landscape and animal painters - e.g Brascassat/Rosa Bonheur. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the school became more and more famous - the number of painters in the "school" also increased. Barbizon was the name of the area in France where members of this school settled down to paint. Jean-Francois Millet, together with Theodore Rousseau, became the centre - the nucleus of the Barbizon community, and the reference point for all the other Barbizonners - the other members of the Barbizon school. Millet settled down in Barbizon in 1849. has often been described as the initiator of the Impressionist movement, and indeed he did develop many of the ideas that we saw in the movement as it developed. It could be said that Lowry painted landscape in an Impressionist fashion as well, as his pictures are painted in such a way as to make the viewer aware of the message behind the picture rather than the actual picture which has been depicted using brushstrokes from a man of incredible painting skill. A painting by has been included with this essay, along with a reproduction of one of Lowry's pictures.

Romeo And Juliet: Overview :: essays research papers

Romeo and Juliet: Overview "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star crossed lovers take their life." Romeo and Juliet's death was a result of many misfortunes, but they were mostly victims of the society in which they live, malignant fate, and there own passions. Romeo and Juliet are members of two families that are each others two biggest enemies, there both rich families and with that comes expectations that you are expected to live up to. If something was done incorrectly or a wrongful action was taken, the consequences for that action might be different from a person who was not as rich, because people look up to the Capulet's and the Montague's and will more likely follow them, and want to be like them more then a poorer person. Therefore Romeo and Juliet are influenced by this and marriage with a member of the enemy could result in being looked down upon in your family, cause even more anarchy between the two families or possibly banishment from your house. They are victims of this because if their families did know of this marriage, they would have had no reason to cover up or hide anything, and there would have possibly been peace between the two families. Evil fate played a major role in the lives of Romeo and Juliet because of all the things that could have happened differently, the events that transpired just didn't flow in their direction. A few of the malignant fate situations were the servant asking Romeo to read the invitation list and inviting them to the party where the star-crossed lovers meet and fall in love, they are discovered by Tybalt and he is furious, he consults Lord Capulet, but he says let them stay. Later, Tybalt decides to take matters into his own hands and picks a fight with Romeo, but Romeo backs down and Mercutio steps up to fight Tybalt. They fight and Tybalt kills Mercutio, this results in Romeo losing his temper. Avenging Mercutio, Romeo slays Tybalt and is banished from Verona, he hides in Mantua and receives word that Juliet is dead. In turn another act of fate transpires, where Friar John cannot deliver the letter from Friar Lawrence to Romeo which says that Juliet is not really dead. So Romeo thinks Juliet is really dead and returns to Verona to kill himself. He succeeds and Juliet wakes up and finds her lover dead beside her and she kills herself as well. So fate plays a major role in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

John F. Kennedy :: essays research papers fc

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Kennedy was the son of Joseph P. Kennedy a formerambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy was much like his father, possesing a delightful sense of humor, a strong family loyalty, a concern for the state of the nation, endless vitality and a constant air of confidence no matter how dire the situation (Kennedy, Sorensen, Harper & Row, New York 1965, Page 18). Growing up in a priviliged household and graduating with honors from Harvard. He served as an assistant to his father (1938), naval officer (1941-1945), journalist (1941 and 1945) and Congressman (1947-1953), he had traveled to every major continent and talked with the presidents and prime ministers, of some thirty-seven countries. In 1952 he was elected to the United States Senate and in 1953 he married Jaqueline Bouvier. However one year later a spinal operation brought him to the edge of death's door, causing him to deeply reflect on his character (Sorensen 28). After his dangerous operation he researched and wrote a book, about democracy. The next year narrowly missing the Vice Presidential nomination of his party, Kennedy emerged as a national figure in large demand. "John Kennedy was not one of the Senate's great leaders" (Sorensen 43). Very few laws of great importance bear his name. Even after his initial â€Å" traditionally' inactive freshman year in the Senate, his chances for major contributions to the Senate excluding his stances on fair labor reform and against rackets, were constantly diminished of his Presidential campaign. His voting record reflects his open minded views, and strengthed beliefs. He was well liked and respected by many Senators. Kennedy was regarded for his eagerness and cool logic in debate situations His only real â€Å"enemy† was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin (Sorensen 45).McCarthy's rough and wide-ranging hunts for Red, "pinks" and headlines had stomped on the freedoms of people who had not committed a crime, and Kennedy was too rational and reasonable a man to remain indiferent to the extremism known as Mcarthyism. Kennedy often was a thorn in McCarthy's side obstructing many of McCarthy's personal choices for various offices and by serving on certain committies of which McCarthy was chairman, such as the Government Operations Committee (Sorensen 46). Kennedy's political philosophy revoloved around the idea that one could not allow the pressures of party responisbility to cloud ones personal responsibility. Meaning after all was said and done that the decision falls upon yourself to make the choice regardless of what your party platform was. Of course the platfrom had significant merit, nevertheless it still came down to

Aristotle & Mill on Capital Punishment

Aristotle & Mill’s Opinion on Capital Punishment Brianna Lelli Hugh Miller Paper #2 Topic #4 October 17th 2011 Capital Punishment is a moral controversy in today’s society. It is the judicial execution of criminals judged guilty of capital offenses by the state, or in other words, the death penalty. The first established death penalty laws can date back to the Eighteenth Century B. C. and the ethical debates towards this issue have existed just as long. There is a constant pro-con debate about this issue, and philosophers like Aristotle and Mill have their own take on this controversy as well.Aristotle is against capital punishment, while Mill believes it is morally permissible. Let me start off with Aristotle. In the Nicomachean Ethics book there isn’t a chapter dedicated to his position on capital punishment, but as a whole, we get an idea of his position against it. For example when he says, â€Å"every state of soul is naturally related to and about whatever naturally makes it better or worse; and pleasures and pains make people base, from pursuing and avoiding the wrong ones, at the wrong time, in the wrong ways, or whatever other distinctions of that sort are needed in an account.These bad effects of pleasure and pain are the reason why people actually define the virtues as ways of being unaffected and undisturbed by pleasures and pains. †(Book 2, 3. 11) Aristotle knows it’s in people’s nature to know right from wrong, and people strive to be virtuous because that is the highest good. Virtuous actions are what people strive for, however they sometimes do the opposite. These actions are called â€Å"vices† which can basically fall into the same category as â€Å"capital crimes† or â€Å"capital offenses† which are the crimes that can be penalized by death.Aristotle believes that no matter how terrible a person acts, they have the potential to overcome it and become virtuous. Everybody has the c apacity to do well and achieve happiness according to Aristotle. People achieve this happiness through their actions and decisions, and we make these decisions by reasoning. Aristotle’s beliefs about human character are almost down to a science. Everything we do has a reason why, and every living being has the capacity to reason. Some people reason to be virtuous but others are vicious and commit crimes such as rape, murder, and treason, ect.Aristotle believes in punishing these heinous crimes, but more importantly, reforming those who commit these offenses through corrective treatments. He believes that since everybody has the capacity to be virtuous, that everybody has the capacity to reason and reform from mistakes. Aristotle would hate to see a person with such potential in life be sentenced to death just because of a bad mistake. He believes the one who did the crime still has a value in society and does not deserve to die.In accordance to Aristotle’s ethics, it w ould never be morally permissible to kill somebody who still has potential to be virtuous, no matter what circumstance. Aristotle believes vicious acts should be punished with fair and equal penalties. He has a whole theory on justice, which is where we get the basis of his ideas towards capital punishment. In his opinion, the death penalty can never be thought of as morally permissible because it is immoral, unconstitutional, and irrevocable. John Stuart Mill, on the other hand, does not share this belief.He is in support of the death penalty for multiple reasons. A major topic Mill focuses on is human nature. He believes all humans know the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong, but he thinks it’s in human’s nature to want to sin and break the law. People want to break the law just because it’s there. That is part of being a human. Sinning is the wrong thing to do, while the right thing to do is whatever produces the most good. Whether people chose to sin or strive for ultimate ends of pleasure, they will be rewarded or punished for their decisions.In Mill’s Utilitarianism, he says â€Å"With many, the test of justice in penal infliction is that the punishment should be proportioned to the offence; meaning that it should be exactly measured by the moral guilt of the culprit (whatever be their standard for measuring moral guilt): the consideration, what amount of punishment is necessary to deter from the offence, having nothing to do with the question of justice, in their estimation. † (IV, 49) Which basically means that the punishment must fit the crime.Mill has an â€Å"eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth† standpoint. If a person commits a terrible crime, they are nowhere near reaching a desirable end, nor do they have capacity to be virtuous, as Aristotle would say. If somebody is guilty of murder, then life in jail is too mild of a punishment for the crime he committed. It goes the othe r way around too. If somebody is guilty of theft, then life in jail may be too hard of a punishment for that particular crime. Mill believes the only efficient punishment is one that is exactly equal to the crime.He doesn’t think a murderer should be allowed to live on with the potential to murder again. Another thing Mill focuses on is general responses among a society. He believes the only way to find desirable pleasure is to ask people and get a general response. So if you asked the family of a murder victim what they would like to see happen to the murderer, a probable general response would be to have him sentenced to death as well, and that is exactly what should happen. We know that Aristotle would oppose capital punishment and Mill is in support of it.Neither Aristotle nor Mill is right or wrong, both their idea’s are just opinions of what is morally permissible. The thing about â€Å"morals† is that they can mean something different to everybody. They a ren’t a part of human nature; morals are brought up through experience and surroundings. Aristotle and Mill lived in very different times. Perhaps Mill had a personal experience where he dealt with proper punishment, which could have shaped what he felt was fair or moral. The same can be said for Aristotle. Even today, the debate about capital punishment exists.Many factors go into people’s side of the argument they’re on. Almost any argument can be shifted to support each side of the capital punishment debate. So you have to consider what was important in society during Aristotle’s lifetime around 330 B. C. and Mill’s lifetime in the late 1800’s. It’d be quite shocking if the two philosophers shared beliefs on this side since they are from two completely different worlds. Another thing to consider is the definition of â€Å"morally permissible†, because permissible doesn’t always mean right.For instance, just because Mi ll believes it’s morally permissible to have capital punishment, that doesn’t necessarily mean he would kill every person he felt did something vicious. Neither Aristotle nor Mill is right or wrong, they just based their morals on their experiences. Aristotle’s main concern is virtue, and if a person has capacity to be virtuous, their life should never be ended no matter the circumstance, whether they’re ill, old, handicapped, or even vicious. Mill has the eye for an eye stand point and feels all punishment should fit the crime equally.In today’s society we see a little bit of both Aristotle and Mill’s theories when it comes to capital punishment. It is not typically our method of punishment in our time, however it does exist if the crime is serious enough. Personally, I agree with Mill more on this issue, just because I think it’s fair to get appropriate punishment, but like I said, it all comes down to the morals of the individual. What happens in the world around us shapes our values and morals. Opinions are never wrong, and neither are morals.