Essays on Civic Virtue

Part One

Phillis Wheatley was an eighteenth century poet born in West Africa and was enslaved on American soil in 1761. Despite her slave status, Wheatley had received an unprecedented education on classicism, Christianity, and literature. Wheatley wrote two significant letters, the first was to her fellow servant friend from the Tanner’s estate in 1772. The letter had discussed her enthusiasm for Christianity and her positive view towards her African heritage. The following letter in 1774 was directed to Rev. Occom in appreciation for the reverend’s argument against treatment towards African people. Her writing often included Biblical references as ...

The civic virtues that are being discussed in the provided excerpts can be divided into three broad categories, namely, obtaining and maintenance of civic knowledge and putting one’s civic knowledge to use through public participation; being self-assertive when necessary, and self-restraint. Taken together, the passages suggest that to the Framers, the model citizen would be one that understands the issues of importance in the community and nation, is actively engaged in public life, and who know when to zealously advocate his point of view or concede depending upon the specific circumstances. Three examples are illustrative of this point. ...

1. The Social Miracle T. R. Reid moved to Tokyo, Japan, with his family – composed of his wife and their two daughters – where he lived for five years, as an expatriate employee for the Washington Post. He posits that some Asian nations (such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore ) have built modern societies within the safest environment, providing the best education for the children, and with probably the most stable families on Earth. In Reid’s opinion, this accomplishment is due to the widespread acceptance by Far East countries of the ethical values of Chinese philosopher Confucius. He pointed ...

Aristotle and Machiavelli have been described as political scientists. The two men have differences in terms of philosophies in relation to the vision they had on the political system. Each man was a product of his own time. Aristotle rose from Greece in the Golden Age while Machiavelli sprouts from Medieval Europe. Their cases gave advice and ideas hold weight in modern political aspects considering their philosophies and outlooks which differ. According to Aristotle, he perceived that the main goal of politics was to deliver a “good life” to the society. Machiavelli’s goal shared the view that the goal ...

Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCBs) refers to the constructive and positive behaviours of an organisation’s employees that are meant to support the other co-workers and reap benefits for the company. Boiral in his article reveals that environmental issues are complex and when coupled with the human aspects they need to be considered in order to decentralize and engage OCBs. He identifies various behaviours like promoting social legitimacy, eco-efficiency, civic virtue and obeying organisation’s rules and regulations. The Diageo group of companies is a global producer and distributor of premium drinks and has engaged its employees in OCBs. The company ...

In the film version of Troy, as in the original Iliad, several characters are motivated mainly by their passions and lusts far more than reason and ethics, and as a result bring considerable death, destruction and suffering to all concerned. Both Plato and Aristotle would have been highly critical of this lack of ethics, and actions that they would have regarded as coming from the basest motives of lust, anger, revenge and other passions. Paris, the young prince of Troy, becomes infatuated with Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and runs off with her. This destroys the peace ...

DIFFERENCE IN JOB SATISFACTION AND WORK LIFE BALANCE BETWEEN GEN X AND GEN Y

Introduction The report is on the difference in job satisfaction and work life balance between Gen X and Gen Y. The differences in the generations have been researched and studied in regard to the workplace. The studies have found some differences in the generations, in the work value. For example, the work ethic and work centrality declined progressively from the Generation X to Generation Y. The studies indicate and confirm the existence of generational differences in the context of work. However, there are no confirmations on the relationships between the diverse work attitudes in respect to generation. The ...

Civility and Civic Virtue in Contemporary America

This week’s reading was based on several aspects of civility and the civil virtues that should be portrayed by American citizens living in these current times of contemporary America. The week’s reading was derived from Michael Walzer’s views on civility and civic virtue. Walzer tries to explain some of the characteristics portrayed by his fellow American’s which are related to civility and civil virtues. He examines these characteristics, criticizes them and gives probable ways in which Americans can practice a better civil culture.

In my view, I do agree with a big part of Walzer’s arguments. ...

Introduction

Republicanism refers to the theory of the people who believe to be governing a republic. It is an ideology that believes that the head of state must be elected and cannot just be hereditary come what may despite this common ideology, there are two types of republicanism, which come forth due to some divided opinion on the on what should come first between the political participation of the people and the protection of the citizens objections and aims. These two types of republicanism are the protective republicanism which sometimes is also called the instrumental republicanism and the developmental republicanism. The ...