Kant on Time as A Priori Essay Example for Free

Kant on Time as A Priori Essay Immanuel Kant presented a series of arguments regarding the nature of time. He sought to prove that time is innate in the sensibility of all human beings and that it is independent of the material world and argued that time belongs to experience as an a priori form of intuition (Kant, 74). In his Critique of Pure Reason, he claimed that time is a priori instead of being a permeating feature of mind-independent reality. He also argued that the nature of time as an element of the universe is sensible instead of conceptual which the mind   compels upon experience (75). He arrived at the conclusion that time could not independently exist or be associated to other objects as a verifiable entity. He claimed time to be the form of inner sense and maintained that time is â€Å"It is the immediate condition of inner appearances (of our souls), and thereby the mediate condition of outer appearances.†Ã‚   (77).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first of Kants arguments regarding time as an a priori form of sensibility states that it is a necessity for our understanding of   simultaneity and succession to be preconceived since they are generated in our minds prior to our experience of simultaneous but successive moments in time (75). Kant claims: â€Å"Time is not an empirical concept that has been derived from any experience. For neither coexistence nor succession would ever come within our perception,   if the representation of time were not presupposed as underlying them a priori. Only on the presupposition of time can we represent to ourselves a number of things as existing at one and the same time (simultaneously) or at different times (successively).†Ã‚   (74) By stating that â€Å"Only under its presuppositions can one represent that several things exist at one and the same time   or in different times,† (74) Kant, in essence, is implying that concepts can not made on the basis of perception unless we have a preconceived notion of such concept. For example, our notion of a â€Å"dog† could not be a concept which is based on our experience since our mind would not be able to perceive it we did not have an idea of a â€Å"dog† which was based on a preconceived notion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, even with Gardners explanation, Kants argument is still unpersuasive. It fails to offer us sufficient reasons to agree that a preconceived notion of time is a necessary prerequisite of the perception of time. This argument is not compelling enough to weaken how time is viewed in the common sense because it begs a faulty conclusion that if this was so, our notion of color should also be a priori. Consequently, with this argument, the logical assumption about time would be that â€Å"because the notion of time is conjured simultaneously with representing the world of material objects, it cannot be based on perception of material objects. The basic view of the nature of time actually remains definite as the properties of time, which exists in and all the objects of the universe, are perceived through our experiences.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kants second argument tries to prove that time is an a priori form of intuition by arguing that it is possible to consider time without any appearances of any material object but it is not possible to consider any material object without the appearance of time. Kant argues: â€Å"Time is a necessary representation that underlies all intuitions. We cannot, in respect of appearances in general,remove time itself, though we can quite well think time as void of appearances. Time is, therefore, given a priori. In it alone is actuality of appearances possible at all. Appearances may, one and all, vanish; but time (as the universal condition of their possibility) cannot itself be removed..† (74-75) However, if we take this argument into consideration, it would then be logically imperative to conclude that space embodies the of outer sense or time embodies the inner appearance however this conclusion, albeit sound based on the provisions of the Kants argument, actually contradicts the text itself .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, Kants arguments fail to mitigate the strong points of the common sense view of time which is, that time is a pervasive feature of the world. His arguments do not offer conclusive ideas. Although he tries to provide empirical evidences to his arguments by referencing his claims with the realities of experience, his arguments imply assumptions that when interpreted do not necessarily hold true. His theory requires a vital premise, that our notions of time and space are a priori, and it requires it to be granted in the onset however he offers no compelling argument. This vital premise caused the undoing of his entire theory. Works Cited Kant, Immanuel. The Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. Kemp-Smith, Norman. Palgrave Macmillan, 1995.

The Changing Mattress Industry in America Essay -- Business Industry A

The Changing Mattress Industry in America Changes in the global environment in conjunction with the deepest and most prolonged economic downturn since the Great Depression have started what I believe is a sea change in the domestic mattress industry. Factors such as declining new home sales, tightening of consumer credit, the consumer confidence index still well below pre-recessionary levels (Wang, 2010) and unemployment hovering near 10% have all contributed to the end of conspicuous consumption for big-ticket items like mattresses and foundations (‘mattresses’). Mattress manufacturers will need to lower material and manufacturing costs, develop products that differentiate them from their competitors, or develop new channels of distribution in order to remain viable in rapidly changing global and task environments. Domestic production of mattresses in 2010 will be slightly below $6 billion, and almost 16% less than the peak mattress production of 2007. (International Sleep Products Association, 2010). Many consumers have lost confidence in the economic state of the country and therefore have begun to believe that, as Newt Gingrich said recently, "if you can’t afford to buy a house, don’t buy it." (Gingrich, 2010). The economic downturn has signaled the end of conspicuous consumption, defined as â€Å"the act or practice of spending money on expensive things that are not necessary in order to impress other people†. (Merrian-Webster's Leaner's Dictionary, 2010). Identify functional and dysfunctional control systems within your own organization I am currently a Senior Vice-President of Sales for King Koil Licensing Company (KKLC). KKLC is a company who licenses mattress-manufacturing facilities, called licensees, both domestically a... ...ll Irwin. King Koil Licensing Company. (2010, December). YOUR identity, YOUR comfort, YOUR sleep . Retrieved December 28, 2010, from comfortsolutions.com: YOUR identity, YOUR comfort, YOUR sleep Merrian-Webster's Leaner's Dictionary. (2010, December). Retrieved December 26, 2101, from Merrian-Webster's Leaner's Dictionary: http://east.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspicuous%20consumption Michael J. Breus, P. (2006, March 15). Sleep Disorders Guide. Retrieved December 27, 2010, from WebMd.com: http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/important-sleep-habits?page=2 Perry, D. (2010, June 21). Top Bedding Producers. Furniture Today , pp. 12-13. Wang, H. (2010, July 27). The Consumer Confidence Index hit an all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009. Retrieved December 25, 2010, from Sparxoo: http://sparxoo.com/market-stats/consumer-confidence-index-february-2009/

A strategy for lessening US dependence on foreign oil Essay

One of the important problems faced by the United States of America, which is causing serious threat to its economy, is its growing dependence on imported oil. This oil forms more than 97% of the fuels used in America. Majority of Americans believe that this dependence is to be reduced. This is mainly because it is affecting national security by wasting billions of dollars in Persian Gulf. It is causing pollution and contributing a lot to global warming. An important strategy to cut this oil dependence is to switch over to Plug-in Hybrid Electric vehicles (Sandalow 8). The technology is quite feasible and at present there are vehicles that run on electric power on the roads of America. Electricity is cheap and is available in surplus in America. So this surplus energy could be effectively utilized by producing vehicles that run on this power. The problems with electric vehicle are that the battery is too heavy and it has to be recharged more than once in a long run. But now there are hybrid vehicles that can automatically switch over to gasoline, when the electric charge is reduced. Lithium and nickel could be used in the manufacture of such engines, which will reduce its weight to a great extent. It requires $5000 to $6000 to convert a vehicle to electric one. Government can provide this amount as tax benefits or subsidy to the users and can encourage them to do so. The cost from the part of the government will be high initially, but when compared to the savings it is going to make by reduction in oil consumption, these initial costs are too less. Such vehicles travel 3 to 4 miles in one KwH. This means that it is same as getting gasoline for 75 cents per gallon. Above all such vehicle causes no pollution at all and will make America, a paradise on earth. It is believed that by 2025 one third of the vehicles in America will be hybrids, that is 45 billion gallons on oil can be replaced. Thus it could be seen that America’s dependence on oil could be reduced very easily by switching over to hybrid electric vehicles. In this way a considerable amount of money could be saved and at the same time the earth could be protected from global warming. Work cited Sandalow, David. â€Å"Ending Oil Dependence :Protecting National Security, the Environment and the Economy† http://abcnews. go. com/images/Politics/PB_Energy_Sandalow. pdf. 2008 (accessed on 29 November 2008)

Academic Integrity In Engineering - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1375 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/15 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Integrity Essay Did you like this example? Citing honestly scares me. Every time I have had to write an academic paper, I have wondered if I am doing it correctly or if my writing will be mistaken as deliberately deceptive. I do not have to write a lot of papers in my professional career and citing has has never been a skill I needed to use often enough in high school or even undergraduate school to become proficient at it. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Academic Integrity In Engineering" essay for you Create order As such, when I have had to write, I have actively avoided referencing other works. To date, I have not once been accused of plagiarism and I have never received low enough marks on a paper to lead me to believe that I should have tried harder to reference other works when building my arguments. This could certainly be the one though. I do not think that my feelings toward citations are uncommon among engineers. Citing is just an unfamiliar skill for some, but that does not give anyone an excuse to write without giving proper credit to the original author. In my case, if I were to leave out a citation that should be there, that would still be a form of dishonesty because I would have withheld information that was expected to be there. However, if I were trying to pass the information off as my own original thought, that would be a deliberate deception and probably lying as well. (Charles E. Harris, Pritchard, Ray W. James, Englehardt, Rabbins, 2018). Both of these are forms of plagiarism by the standards of many publications regardless of the fact that one is done intentionally and one unknowingly (Stone, 2003). In high school, I never would have thought to cheat on assignments. I was fortunate then in the way that most of the topics we covered came easily to me. In my undergraduate years, there was significantly higher pressure to cheat. The material became increasingly harder every year, opportunities for misconduct were more plentiful, and there were scholarships I would have lost if I did not do well enough. I identified heavily with the reasons listed by Hardings report in one of the articles (Erwin, 2004). The extent of my own misconduct included looking up some homework problems online to get help on how to work them. I can rationalize that I often only needed help understanding how to solve the problems better, but the methods were still less than virtuous. I even (bitterly) remember one problem where I know I copied the answer exactly and I regret the attempt. 80% of the class had already dropped the course and I was very close to receiving a failing grade myself, something that had never happened to me at that point. I spent a disproportionate amount of my time working on that class and any opportunity to finish the homework more quickly was welcome. I searched for the problem online and found that the question was from a test for graduate level course at another university and I had absolutely no clue what was going on in the problem. The professor had become notorious for assigning homework problems beyond the scope of the textbook so this was not that surprising. Knowing I would never figure out what was going on in the problem without a significant amount of my time, I copied the answer exactly and moved on. When I got the homework back, the question was just marked as incorrect and I sometimes wonder if the professor knew that I must have copied it from somewhere else. I withdrew from the class shortly after because I did not want a failing grade to affect the scholarships that I relied on. I repeated the course with the same professor and received that failing grade and then later took the class with a different professor where I finally passed with high marks. I saw that problem and that class as unfair (and admittedly still do). Knowing that problem was from a test meant for graduate students gave me the right to ignore academic integrity. Or so I told myself at the time. Using answers found online is a lot like plagiarism in the way that someone passes off that information as their original thoughts. In a lot of instances, I really did learn from the solutions I used online and I never cheated during tests, but perhaps I robbed myself of certain learning opportunities as well and am a less prepared engineer because of it. I also knew of groups who met to exchanged answers on homework. Engineers have to collaborate on projects and that seems like a logical justification for collaborating. To an extent, I think that collaboration should be encouraged between students and it was in some classes. Personally, I cannot think of a single class or assignment where collaboration was explicitly forbidden. Selingo speaks to this form of cheating in his article, stating that it is probably the most common form of cheating that they encounter for this exact reason (Selingo, 2004). It is honestly confusing from our perspective which forms of collaboration are acceptable and which are not unless we are explicitly told. Finally, I once saw one of my capstone partners use his phone to look up answers during a test. I did not say anything about it to the professor (who happened to be gone that day while a TA proctored the test in his place). We were not particularly good friends, but I would have had to interact with this person frequently. I did not want to ruin that working relationship and so chose not to say anything. Having now read various codes of ethics, I wonder if I should have done something different back then. If a history of cheating in high school is a significant predictor of cheating in college, then perhaps more emphasis on academic integrity should be held at that level of schooling (Erwin, 2004). By that logic though, academic integrity would need to be emphasized at the elementary level, pre-school level, etc. as well. I do not think that this is honestly feasible as a solution to problems with academic integrity. Past action may be a good predictor of future behavior, but it does not give significant insight into how to curtail cheating in an academic setting or other societal settings for that matter. This viewpoint also does not take into account that people tend to behave differently as they mature and that varying circumstances can affect ones decision to cheat. The PACES group concluded that the Situation in which cheating occurs was one of the strongest predictors of the frequency of cheating (Erwin, 2004). So, can cheating be reduced by changing the academic environment? The University of Florida professor Schueller would go so far as to build specialized facilities where wireless internet would be unavailable during exams (Selingo, 2004). To me, this is the wrong direction as it would only stop some forms of cheating and it would be unreasonable for such a facility to be built on every university campus. The PACES group believes that changing teaching practices will have a significant effect on student academic integrity and from my own personal struggle with academic integrity, I would agree with that viewpoint (Erwin, 2004). Unfortunately, this approach is equally ambitious and unlikely to show promising results quickly. I think that the best way to curtail academic dishonesty is to put the necessary tools in the hands of the students themselves. There are strong points for having an open discussion within the classroom on what will and will not constitute as academically dishonest behavior for that class. By allowing students to be a part of the discussion, it puts the responsibility of their decisions more firmly in their own hands. It also forces them to become actively involved in making ethical decisions at an earlier stage of their lives. There are also strong points for setting firm boundaries and sticking to them, but I believe either method will work as long as there is sufficient communication between students and teachers. Additionally, the use of tools like plagiarism detectors has extended from educators on to the students as well (C.J. Neill, 2004). The free and open use of these tools allows students to police themselves and can help to avoid misunderstandings.