Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 21

Philosophy - Essay Example Ignoring the theft maybe the easiest response to the situation since I do not need to do anything but such response to the situation may not be the most appropriate. Telling the authorities about the incident may be a good thing to do on my part but it will result to having the man arrested and deprived of his freedom. On the other hand, approaching a perfect stranger and telling him that what he is doing is bad may result to some undesirable responses from the man and it could result to some unpleasant incidents. To decide which response is appropriate to promote the rule of law, let us look into the teachings of Immanuel Kant and Aristotle. Under the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, morality can be summed up as an ultimate commandment of imperative or reason from where the duties and obligations of people are derived (Kant, 1785). Kant believes that an imperative action or inaction is necessary to maintain peace and order. For Kant, there are two classifications of imperative action namely the hypothetical imperative and the categorical imperative. Kant defined a hypothetical imperative as a something that compels an action under given circumstances and the categorical imperative as an absolute requirement as an end and justification of an act (Kant, 1785). Kant believes that human free will is the source of all rational action and to treat the action as a subjective end is to deny the possibility of freedom. In applying the ideas of Kant in the case of the man at the grocery store; we can conclude that the act of taking the batteries without paying for them is wrong. Under the categorical imperative of Kant, some actions require absolute responses that serve both an end and justification for the enforcement of the law. Since in the eyes of the law, taking something without the knowledge and consent of its owner is absolutely wrong, the man’s can be categorically described as a wrongful act. According to Kant’s teachings,

Democratic and Prescriptive Instructional Strategies Research Paper

Democratic and Prescriptive Instructional Strategies - Research Paper Example According to the Alternative Educational Resource Organization, a democratic approach of education is one whereby students or learners have the autonomy in scheduling their daily actions and that there is no impartiality and undemocratic decision making among the students and teachers. (Bennett, 2001) A prescriptive approach is one whereby students are presented with the course outline of what they will learn and what they are expected to do. It involves student getting their learning results from what the teachers are saying and from the existing literature that is prescribed by the teacher or the instructor. In essence prescriptive approach is a strategy where the students rely heavily on what their teachers will say and the literature they are directed to use. The differences between the two approaches are the freedom given to the learners to make decisions. We find that in a prescriptive approach there is no excellent environment for learning because students are supposed to do what their tutors do without any alteration. Students are always forced to do activities that they are not comfortable with because there is no interaction between the teacher and the students hence the morale of the students is always low and tend to perform poorly in their course work. While in a democratic approach there is greater interaction among the students themselves and between the students and their teachers thus opening avenues of generating new knowledge and it is likely that students will be satisfied with the outcome. Another difference is that in democratic approach a lot of emphases is directed to the generation of new knowledge while in the prescriptive approach students are required to gain from the instructions of their teachers and from the ex isting literature or textbooks. An example of a democratic strategy is the use of debates and an example of a prescriptive approach is the use of lectures as ways of learning. (Fraser, 1996) This strategy involves dividing the students in class into a various grouping that will represent certain points of view on the identified issue which is always the most compromising subject. In the division of groups, they are those who support the argument, that is the proponents or those for, and those who oppose the issue referred to as those against or the critics. Students can involve themselves in the debates through character or even assuming different roles. An example of an issue to be subjected to debate may be, Does globalization leads to prosperity or impoverishment One group of the students will be expected to support the argument that globalization brings prosperity while the other group is expected to take a stance against globalization that it brings impoverishment. Debates can lead to a generation of new knowledge because by arguing it out a point, there is an opportunity of integrating ideas and hence conclusions arrived at being useful in the learning process.