Monday, December 23, 2019

Socrates Vs Socrates - 1704 Words

Socrates and Aristotle would think that philosophy was for the greater good and expanding the minds of those around them. Socrates in particular would regard philosophy as conversational and weeding out those who ‘know’ and those who do not. Aristotle would use philosophy to try to reach the conclusion on what happiness is. These great thinkers believed absolute contemplation was the greatest pleasure human beings could reach, so for them philosophy was reaching a type of Nirvana. Take the Apology as an example of what Socrates thought about philosophy. When charged with atheism and corrupting the youth he defends himself by claiming he is an ignorant man. Socrates is on a search for the wisest man after being told by an oracle that it is†¦show more content†¦Sadly, we know of Socrates’ fate and with him trying to change Athens for the better it backfires on him. But, Socrates leaves those who attended his trial his with some final words that speak to who he is and how he felt about what he was doing regarding his philosophy. â€Å"If, I say, now, when, as I conceive and imagine, God orders me to fulfil the philosophers mission of searching into myself and other men, I were to desert my post through fear of death, or any other fear; that would indeed be strange, and I might justly be arraigned in court for denying the existence of the gods, if I disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death: then I should be fancying that I was wise when I was not wise. For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good† (Apology, Plato). As I stated in my introduction Socrates and Aristotle believed that contemplative thought was the highest form of human life. That this concept of thinking and attempting to answer life’s hardest question s was the best thing to occur to any human being. When looking at their point of view of what is the highest kind of pleasure a human can achieve it begs the question if that isShow MoreRelatedAristophanes Vs Socrates1472 Words   |  6 Pages ARISTOPHANES VERSES PLATO’S VIEW OF SOCRATES Student’s Name Course Name Date Introduction The historical story of Socrates depicts why he was able to attract critics and followers from different geographical locations. A more profound assessment of his biography reveals how his arrogance put him on the wrong side of the law on many occasions throughout his life. It is essential to note that the significance of Socrates contribution to the society cannot be sidelined based on theRead MoreSocrates vs Protagoras1705 Words   |  7 PagesPhilosophy Socrates a sophist? Or just sophisticated? 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Many agree and many disagree but they all agree that we should have a ruling force of some kind but what and how much has been very controversial. Niccolo Machiavelli and Socrates were two very important and revolutionary political philosophers for their time. Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince and the Discourses† outlines Machiavelli’s idealRead MoreSocrates Vs Crito1522 Words   |  7 Pagesstate, i.e. punishment in reaction to unjust acts, will be advocated for. To this end, I will argue that Socrates could be justified in escaping because doing so could have punished the Laws of Athens, which would have helped the Laws maintain their virtue. This argument exists in two parts. First, I will use the three Laws speeches from the Crito in attempt to show that it is just for Socrates to punish the Laws. Next, I will use the same three speeches as well as the original verdict g iven in theRead MoreAthens vs Socrates1521 Words   |  7 Pagesenthusiastic in carrying out policies that pass in the assembly. Pericles, an Athenian statesman, makes it clear when he says that each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the state as well (p.147 Thucydides). Socrates, a Greek philosopher, is a firm believer in examining ones actions in life and ensuring that a morally righteous life is being led. He argues that the ordinary Athenian citizen is not concerned with being a righteous person, but rather with maintaining

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Michael Collins’ Free Essays

Between the white knuckle intensity, the bombastic array of explosions, the sinister factionalism and the multitude of conspiratorial machinations, director Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins comes off like political history re-imagined in the vein of the gangster film. As an ambitious attempt to chronicle the life and times of one of the most important figures in Ireland’s violent struggles for independence from the British Empire, it is intelligently well-made. But it is also problematic, because it makes an obscure political struggle even more obscure by trivializing it in the way that much of historical cinema has trivialized history: emphasizing the emotional highs and lows of its protagonists at the expense of the events it uses as its foundation. We will write a custom essay sample on Michael Collins’ or any similar topic only for you Order Now Considering that Michael Collins’ epochal content is fundamentally tied to present day conflicts, namely the seemingly endless one in Northern Ireland, this is rather troubling. Collins is credited with inventing guerilla warfare, and bringing world attention to the Irish cause by forcing the English to cede authority in certain parts of his native soil and initiating a movement for an independent Irish republic. Having seen many historical dramas before, I immediately assumed that Jordan was going to spend the entire length of the film demonstrating Collins’ greatness. I was pleasantly surprised to see that while Jordan does question some of Collins’ character attributes and decisions, he fashions a historical account that somehow absolves Collins of the present state of Ireland. Jordan presents Collins, played with hearty vigor by Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson, glowing from the residual acclaim of Schindler’s List, as a patriot whose dedication to the annihilation of British rule in Ireland was compromised by the people around him. The film opens with a terrible bombardment by the English upon Irish freedom fighters, which establishes the unforgiving demand of obedience that the English crown maintained without any pretense of subtlety. Some years later, one of them named Collins is released from jail, whereupon he proceeds to give impassioned speeches as the self-dubbed Minister of Mayhem. Collins argues that the disastrous defeat in 1916 proves that a straightforward battle against the occupying British presence is an invitation to defeat. He proposes that they plant bombs to deliver unobstructed carnage to those who would oppose Irish independence. The film plays this up as an action of last resort in which Collins and his men have been forced to use violence because of the unyielding nature of the anti-independents. Yet despite to airing this sentiment frequently to his best friend/confidant/rival Harry Boland (as played by Aidan Quinn), Collins has no qualms about using the intelligence offered by a sympathetic copper played by the downtrodden hangdog face of The Crying Game’s Stephen Rea. The escalating acts of violence put the British in the uncomfortable position of acceding to negotiations, and former Republic president Eamon de Valera, as portrayed with vague menace by versatile character actor Alan Rickman, delegates Collins as a representative on his behalf. Collins recognizes his own shortcomings as a politico: the best he could negotiate was self-governance for South Ireland with allegiance to the Crown still in place. It is this halfway point of reconciliation between Ireland and the Crown that Collins argues is the best attainable agreement of the time. De Valera proceeds to disassociate himself from Collins, while Collins has a falling out with Boland, and the upset leads to civil war. Eventually, Collins dies at the hands of an assassin, which Jordan implies to have been approved by De Valera. Jordan’s Collins ultimately comes off as a violent underdog who repackages himself as a liaison between his countrymen and the occupying forces, trading in the downtrodden charisma of a scruffy brown coat with the sharp glamour of a well pressed uniform, not unlike a German officer who approves of Hitler because of the blessings in his life under Nazism. This isn’t to say that Collins was some kind of fascist, but that his frequently celebrated talents for political expedience still fall short under the lens of critical examination. After all, his agitator’s approach to moving the Irish cause forward still hasn’t brought peace today. In the meantime, conventional history writes De Valera off as a duplicitous sell out, and Jordan doesn’t attempt to challenge that view, choosing instead to portray Collins as a heroic patriot. This strikes me as strange, since Collins is the man who initiated violence and then insisted that violence must stop, leaving us with a rather ambiguous and maybe ambivalent definition of what heroism and patriotism is. Â   Â   How to cite Michael Collins’, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Taxation Calculation Income Tax Assessment Act

Question: Discuss about the Taxation Calculation for Income Tax Assessment Act. Answer: 1. The income Tax assessment Act 1997 provides that income tax is payable on assessable income. The assessable income is further classified into two categories ordinary income and statutory income. The section 6-5(1) of the ITAA 1997, provides that assessable income includes income from ordinary concepts. The income from ordinary concepts is not defined under the act but it is considered that amount which an ordinary people would consider as income (Woellner et al. 2016). There are three components of ordinary income: Income from personal exertion for example salary and wages etc; Income from carrying business for example farming, retail selling etc; Income from property for example interest, rent, dividends etc; The income from personal exertion is also known as personal service income. These incomes are mainly derived from the personal skill and effort of an individual. An income is classified as personal service income if more than 50% of the amount received in the contract is due to personal skill, labor and expertise. The income received by the financial professionals, medical practitioners, construct workers etc are example of personal service income. There are certain incomes which are not included in the personal service income they are selling or supplying goods, providing the right to use property, using an asset which is used for generating income etc. Therefore, the important part is to determine whether an income is a personal service income. In order to determine whether an income is a personal service income four tests must be applied. These four tests applied are results test, unrelated client test, the employment test and the business premises tests. The result test The result test is satisfied if an individual complies the following conditions for at least 75% of the personal service income: The payment is received after the completion of the work under the contract or arrangements; The individual provides the equipment or tools to execute the work; The individual is liable to rectify the defects or is required to pay the damages; The result test considers if the payment is received after achieving the specific outcome or result. If an individual does not satisfy the result test then it should be considered whether the 80% of the income is received from one source. The unrelated client In order to satisfy this test an individual is required to fulfill the following conditions: The income is received from two unrelated clients; The services are provided to the clients on an offer or advertisement made to the public at large; The employment Test In order to satisfy this test an individual is required to have the following: The 20% of the principle work is performed by the employee, partners or other contractors; If the above condition is not satisfied then the individual must have an apprentice for last half of the income year. The last test is the business premises test that is required for determining personal business income and not personal service income. In the given case, Hilary is a mountain climber and she has entered into an agreement with daily terror to write her story. The story was published and she received the payment from daily terror newspaper. She also sold the manuscript and several photographs to Mitchell library for $5000 and $2000 respectively. It is required to be ascertained whether three payment received by Hillary are income from personal exertion. For this purpose, the tests are applied to determine the nature of the income. The result test required that there should be a contract between the parties and the payment is to be received after the contract is completed. In this case, Hilary had an arrangement with daily terror to write her story without any assistance from ghostwriters. The result tests are satisfied therefore it can be concluded that the income received from Daily Terror is income from personal exertion. The other two incomes received from selling of photographs and manuscripts does not satisfy any tests therefore this two incomes are not income from personal exertion (Smith 2015). If she wrote the story for her personal satisfaction and then decides to sell it later then as there are no agreement between beforehand so the income will not be income from personal exertion. It is because the result test makes it mandatory there should be an agreement but there is no agreement in this case so the test is failed. The unrelated client test is also failed, as there is no advertisement is made in the public. On the basis of the analysis it can be concluded that if the store is written for her satisfactions and is sold later then it is not an income from personal exertion. 2. In Australia, Australian Taxation Office generally taxes an individual on income received, interest received, dividend received, capital gains and may others. The general rule is that if the gift is not covered within the taxable income then they are not taxed. There is no gift tax that is to be paid in Australia provided the gifts are made within the allowable amount. It is provided that maximum allowable amount is $30000.00 for five financial year and the amount should not exceed $10000.00 in any one year (Duff 2016). Various case studies related to gifts provide example of gifts that are not taxable: There is no gift tax on gift to son; There is no gift tax on gifts to sisters; There is no gift tax for bringing in large sum of money from parents for purchasing property; There is no gift tax for if the parent decides to sell the property and buy each son house; There is no gift for giving back money as gift to children All this examples of gifts are based on the case study of Hayes V FCT (1956), Scott V FCT (1974) and Smith V FCT (1988). Therefore, from the above case studies it can be seen that providing a large sum of money to son is not liable to tax if the rules laid down by the government are followed. The rules states that loan should be properly documented. The parents are required to create deed of trust documents and should record that with county in which the residence is located. The law also provides that the mortgage and promissory note should be executed between the parent and the child. This will provide as evidence that the funds provided are loan and not gift. The loan document should include the details of terms, interest rate and transferability of the property. It is to be noted that if the loans are forgiven by the parent and are not perused by them for collection then it will amount to gift. The children are then required to declare the loan as income and pay tax on it. The maximum amount that a parent can gift a child without incurring tax liability is $10000.00. In the given case parent has provided short-term loan to son for $40000.00 on the agreement that the loan will be repaid by the son at the end of five years amounting to $50000.00. There was no formal agreement between the parent and son about the loan further there are no securities for the sum lent. The son has repaid the loan and also an additional amount equal to 5% p.a on the amount borrowed. Based on the existing rules as loan document was not executed between the parents and child then this loan will amount to gift and it will be subjected to tax in excess of permissible amount. Therefore, it should be noted that loan provided to son in excess of the permissible limit would increase the assessable income of the parents. 3.(a) The Capital gain or capital loss of the individual can be calculated under two methods. These methods are indexation method and discount method among the two, which is more suitable for the taxpayer, is chosen. In the given case capital gains under indexation method are $ 561,458.33 and the capital gain under discounting method are $325,000.00. So an individual should opt for discount method for reducing tax. Statement showing computation of capital Gain Particulars Using Indexation method Using Discount method Sale Proceeds $ 800,000.00 $ 800,000.00 Less: Cost Base $ 238,541.67 $ 150,000.00 Capital Gain $ 561,458.33 $ 650,000.00 Discount(50%) $ - $ 325,000.00 Net Capital Gain $ 561,458.33 $ 325,000.00 Calculation of Indexation factor CPI for September 1990 68.7 CPI for September 1986 43.2 Indexation factor 1.590278 (b) Statement showing computation of capital Gain Particulars Using Indexation method Using Discount method Sale Proceeds $ 200,000.00 $ 200,000.00 Less: Cost Base $ 238,514.67 $ 150,000.00 Capital Gain $ (38,514.67) $ 50,000.00 Discount(50%) $ - $ 25,000.00 Net Capital Gain/(loss) $ (38,514.67) $ 25,000.00 If the sale proceed is $200,000.00 then individual should opt for indexation method as it will help to save tax. (c ) Statement showing computation of capital Gain Particulars Using Indexation method Using Discount method Sale Proceeds $ 800,000.00 $ 800,000.00 Less: Cost Base $ 238,541.67 $ 150,000.00 Capital Gain $ 561,458.33 $ 650,000.00 In discount method, a discount of 50% is applicable in case of individual but no such discount is available for company. Therefore, in this case the capital gain is less under indexation method than the discount method. Reference Duff, D.G., 2016. Alternatives to the Gift and Estate Tax.Boston College Law Review,57. Smith, J., 2015. Australian state income taxation: a historical perspective.Available at SSRN 2704627. Woellner, R., Barkoczy, S., Murphy, S., Evans, C. and Pinto, D., 2016.Australian Taxation Law 2016. Oxford University Press.