Economic man vs islamic man

Economic man vs islamic man Economic Man Vs Islamic Man Abstract Modem economics presents a concept of economic man on the other hand Islam gives the idea of an Islamic man. The former is based on a materialistic approach in which the basic objective of life remains just to get maximum satisfaction and maximum profit or any other form of utility. Man lives only for these objective, which is completely less human level. On the other hand latter is based on believe of Allah and high moral values and present a much better way of life as compare to the former. 1. Introduction The term economic man was first used by Joseph Pseky1. Although it is a new concept in economics, but it is often associated with ideas of 18th century thinkers like Adam Smith and David Recordo etc. No doubt this concept in the raw form can easily be found in the writings of these thinkers, for example in the following quotation of Adam Smith, reflection of this modern concept can easily be found. He writes â€Å"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest†2. It means that in a more or less form it was exist, but recently it has taken a concrete form. This concept was developing to show the rational behavior of individual decision making units i.e. a consumer, a firm and an industry. On the same line the concept of an Islamic man can also be drawn from the teachings of Islam. At many places in Quran and Hadith characteristics of momineen are given, with the help of these qualitie s a concept of Islamic man can be derived. The basic objective of this paper is to analyze and compare these two concepts. For this purpose first the characteristics of an economic and Islamic man are discussed and then a comparison is made between these two. 2. An Economics Man The concept of economic man is one of the basic notions of modern economics. It is assumed that each individual in a capitalistic society, whether he / she are a consumer, investor, worker or businessman is motivated by economic forces, hence will always act to obtain the maximum satisfaction for the least sacrifice or cost. This maximum satisfaction take different forms e.g. it may be maximum profit for a businessman, leisure hours for a worker and maximum utility from the consumption of goods for a consumer etc. A consumer, a firm and an industry are the basic individual decision making units in a capitalist economy. Under this concept it is assumed that behavior of these units will be rational. Rational behavior means that, each of this unit wants to maximize his advantage. In the other words, when a consumer decides to purchase something he / she will spent all available resources in such a way that he / she will get maximum satisfaction from these items. If he / she dose the same then their behavior will be rational, and consumer will said to be in equilibrium position. In the other words achievement of maximum satisfaction is the primary goal of a consumer or economic man. In the same way when a firm decides to produce something in response of demand from consumers, then main objective of the firm will be to get maximum profit. For this purpose firm will made all efforts to maximize the difference between cost and selling price, so that she can get maximum profit. It will be rational beh avior of firm / man. The same situation is with industry, which is the collective name of all firms. In the same line a worker wants to maximize his / her leisure and so on. In this whole process there is no concept of God or moral values or the Day of Judgment or benefits of the others. The whole story is just based on me and my interest only, and no room is left for any moral values. Due to this situation an economic man is selfà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬centered and self interested personality and never thinks beyond his self interest3. The approach of economic man is completely materialistic and he / she is always busy in calculation of his / her profit / loss in monetary terms. To get maximum advantage of this worldly life, becomes his / her ultimate aim and do not have any concept of life after this life. This type of thinking naturally restricted his / her life just for today and there is no concept of long term benefits. 3. An Islamic Man The characteristics of an Islamic man can be derived from the qualities of momineen given in Quran and Hadith. At least in Quran more then sixty qualities are given in this regard. The term amale saleha is used for those activities which are required by Quran and Hadith from momineen. An amle saleh is any activity which results on the benefits of others or it creates equilibrium in the society or results on elimination of disequilibrium (Fasad) in the society. Since the limited scope of a paper cannot considerate the narration of all these characteristics, hence only the main qualities of momineen are discussed in following lines. 3.1 Iman (Believe) The first and the most important demand of Islam from momineen is that, they should have believe on Allah, His books, His prophets, angles and the Day of Judgment. It is not the righteousness that ye turn your faces to the east and the west; but the righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angles and the scripture and the prophets. (2:1 77) This believes create a significant change in his behavior and character, and changed the whole concept of life, and expands the scope of life. Man with iman lives with high moral values. Concept of life hereafter and accountability keeps him away from all bad activities. The activities which are harmful not for the society but also for that person who performs them. 3.2 Consent of Allah According to Quran, the basic objective of the life of momineen is to get the consent of Allah. Thou (0 Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship),seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. (48:29) For this purpose they follow all the orders of Quran and Hadith. 3.3 Fear of the Day of Judgment Another quality of momineen counted in Quran and Hadith is that, momineen keep hard believe on the Day of Judgment and accountability of that Day. This concept put them further away from each and every type of tyranny. 3.4 Living for the Others According to Quran momineen live for the others. They are always ready to sacrifice their current benefits for the betterment of others. Even they are personally needy people but in this condition also they sacrifice for the others. And find in their breasts no need for that which hath been given them but prefer (the refugees)above themselves though poverty become their lot. (59:9) 3.5 No Concept of Reward Quran said, the momineen never have any desire of reward or thanks, they all do it only for the consent of Allah. (Saying) we feed you for the sake of Allah only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you (76:9,) No materialistic reward is required by them. 3.5 Prohibition of Riba (Interest) Since riba (Interest) is strictly prohibited by Quran Hadith and momineen completely avoid the same, and do not involve in any such type of activity. 3.6 Infaq (Donation) One of the most important quality of momineen is that, they donate all of their income in the way of Allah which is beyond their requirements. And they ask thee what they ought to spend say: that which is beyond your requirement. (2:219) 3.7 Concept of Halal Haram Quran Hadith have restricted momineen from particular type of activities which are termed as haram. Momineen strictly avoid themselves from these actions. 3.8 Care of Poor People of Society In accordance with the orders of Quran Hadith momineen take care of poor people of society. And feed with food the needy wretch the orphan and the prisoner, for consent of Allah. (76:8). These are just a few characteristics of momineen described in Quran and Hadith which are specially mentioned because these are the base of comparison between these two concepts. 4. Comparison Between Economic Man Islamic Man In the light of above discussion it can be said that there is a wide difference between these two concepts. The main points in this regard are as follows. 4.1 Limited Wide Concept The concept of economic man is quite limited, which restricts the man just up-to this materialistic world, whereas an Islamic man has a quite wide horizon. He does not see the life just for this world but hereafter also, which will be a real and long lasting life. 4.2 Animal Human Level Economic man concept presents a just animal level of life, which is restricted to maximum satisfaction, profit or leisure etc., without any moral values. On the other hand Islamic man is a better concept which is based on high moral values and represents a human level of life. 4.3 Selfish and Opulent Way of Life Self benefit is the limit of economic man thinking, he cannot go beyond this boundary. On the other hand the objective of life of an Islamic man is to serve the others for the consent of Allah. 4.4 An Open Restrict Way of Life The economic man is completely free to do anything under the rules of state. No other bindings can be imposed on him. But an Islamic man is under the Devine rules as well as the regulations of state. 4.5 Preference of Today or Tomorrow The former man just believes on benefits of today and he is not ready to sacrifice his today for tomorrow. On the contrast Islamic man is always prefer the advantages of tomorrow by giving up the benefits of today. This is the reason that, a Muslim can easily sacrifice his life in Jehad (Fight in the way of Allah) whereas it is quite difficult for a Non-Muslim. Conclusion On the basis of above discussion it can be said that, the concept of Islamic man is much more superior then economic man. The latter is just a materialistic approach and completely barefoot from moral values. Negation of moral values put the human being on just animal level. This is the reason that, an economic man lives on animal level and just alive to get maximum satisfaction or profit or other advantages. No doubt he gets all these things in this world but in the life hereafter his share will be nil. On the other hand an Islamic man lives with the believe on Allah and high moral values. He lives on human level, he also gets the advantages of this life but with that, he will be in a much better position in the second life.

The Difficulties of Implementing the Good Friday Agreement Essay

The Difficulties of Implementing the Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement was voted on by a relatively large turnout of 68.8% in 1998 and was rejected by a significant 29% of people in Northern Ireland. For the past six years it has proved to be difficult to implement and there are a number of reasons for this. The emphasis on issues raised in the agreement has changed over the years and some are proving to be more difficult to implement than others. A major area within the Good Friday Agreement is the setting up of an Assembly. Hard line Unionists such as the DUP refuse to accept the Assembly. They refuse to sit at a table with Sinn FÃ ©in in cross party talks while they argue that Sinn FÃ ©in still have links with the IRA. The DUP's mindset has been created by fifty two years of unionist rule. They do not wish to accept principles contained within the agreement which they feel they have already rejected in the 1974 power sharing executive. The DUP are now offering a full re-negotiation of the agreement and their slogan for the last elections was, 'It's time for a new deal.' There are deep divisions within the official unionist party. There is continual disagreement over how many concessions can be made to nationalists. David Trimble the party leader has remained committed to the agreement despite bitter criticism from fellow unionists and himself also feeling uneasy over some elements of it. He has faced leadership challenges and recent defections to the DUP by Geoffrey Donaldson, Arlene Foster and Norah Beare have reduced the number of seats held by the UUP. David Trimble must have ... ...ng to have it raised again. The flying of paramilitary flags particularly around the marching season upsets and provokes nationalists who feel threatened by such and obvious display of paramilitary strength. The agreement could now be said to be more difficult to implement than before due to the recent election results. The middle ground lost out while extremists at the opposite end of the political spectrum gained votes. The DUP have a majority of 33 seats and Sinn FÃ ©in has 27. This perhaps suggests that more moderate voters have become disillusioned and no longer believe in the capabilities of their politicians to do their job. There could be a feeling of apathy towards the peace process. However this does not mean that peace is not obtainable in Northern Irelandand with hard work and co-operation it is achievable.

Functionalism on Computer Mouse Essay

The view, that the physical realization of a well-designed component is not, in some sense, its quintessence. Rather, what makes a functional component the kind it, is described in terms of its role in relating inputs to outputs and its relations to other functional components. If you see a machine that you’ve never seen before, you might ask: â€Å"What is that machine? What is its principle? What is it for? † In poising those questions, you are asking for an elucidation of the function that the machine serves. In many contexts, when we throw questions like â€Å"What is it? † what we ultimately are asking for is a version of what it does. As a theory of mind, functionalism is quite appealing. It is based in mathematical proof and provides a means of constructing analogies to guide our understanding of the mind. Ned Block (1980) classifies three senses of functionalism. The first is simple decompositional functionalism. ‘Functionalism’ in this way points to a research strategy that relies on the decomposition of a system into its components; the whole system is then explained in terms of these functional parts. Second, computation-representation functionalism is a unique case of decompositional functionalism which depends profoundly on the ‘computer-as-mind’ correlation. Psychological explanation under computation-representation functionalism is â€Å"akin to providing a computer program for the mind† (Block 1980, p. 171). So, these mental processes are viewed as being decomposable to a point where they can be conceived of as processes which are as simple as those of a digital computer. Last but not least, Block identifies metaphysical functionalism. This type of functionalism is a theory of mind that hypothesizes that mental states simply are efficient states. The metaphysical functionalist asserts that mental states are the forms of mental state they are because of the causal relations between inputs, outputs and other mental (i. e. functional) states of the system, as in the Turing machine. The physical realization of the set of functions which implement a mind are irrelevant to what makes something a mind – it’s the functional relations that count. Functionalism, briefly, is a theory which considers mental states to be causally related, both to behavior and to other mental states. The question of how a value can be added to a product keeps the manufacturers quite confused always. How its functions satisfy all the possible needs of all the customers from the product is a topic for research for the companies which emphasizes on the theory of functionalism. Things have been the principal topic of design discourse since the early nineteenth century. Debates developed around the integrity of materials, the refinements of form, and craft versus mass production, and the relation between form and function. To the degree that the discourse about things has dominated design thinking, insufficient attention has been paid to the relation things and experience of the users (Margolin 2002, p. 38). Every industrial product has some specific purposes. The design of the products must be conformed in the best possible way to the expectations that result from the function the product fulfills. It can be seen in the modern products that rigid functionalism of the past has been discredited. The range of people’s need is often greater than designers are eager, or something competent to accept. Whenever a product is designed a significant factor comes up and that is to omit the unimportant to carve out the important. The time is knocking on the door which compel us to discover our environment anew and return to the simple basic aspects, for example, to items that have unconstructed obvious-seeming functionalism in both the physical and the psychological sense. That’s why products should be well designed and as neutral and open as possible, leaving space for self-expression in using them (Rams 1989, p. 111). Good design can also be very little for various reasons. The design of a computer mouse also happened to be on the same line. This part of computer hardware connects to your computer to assist you manage cursor movement and pointing ability on the PC screen. A computer mouse makes navigation simple by allowing you to freely move your cursor around your screen. This allows you to perform functions of your computer with ease. Mouse is known for the ease they give point and click navigation. They are also identified for how good they work with all the different types of computers on the market today; the technology is so cross-system compatible that it become rare to see any problem when you decide to go from one type of mouse to another on your system. Computers are used by more and more people every day for use at home and at the office. Modern desktop computers offer users with user-input mechanisms that are well-matched for the applications that run on these computers. The use of a hand operated pointing device for use with a computer and its presentation has become almost universal. In computer science mouse is the jargon use to refer to a pointing device which usually slid along a flat surface to create x and y output signals as a result of said movement, the signals generally cause the cursor on the connected computer screen to move and allows the user to point to objects on the screen. A computer mouse is a handheld device that a user slides over a suitable surface causing the cursor on a computer screen to move in a direction determined by the motion of the device. The mouse is a hand-held device that functions on a flat surface which, in tandem with the necessary computer hardware and software, permits the user to manage movement of a cursor or pointer on the display. Computer mouse are often referred to as cursor positioning devices or cursor control devices, although mouse are used to perform many other functions, such as to open and drop documents, re-size and move windows, drag , menu items in a pull-down menu, select icons, text, launch applications and others. Computer mouse can be found in a various types of physical embodiments. Normally a mouse consist of a body that serves as a grip for the user’s hand and as a configuration for mounting a movement sensing system and two or more mouse buttons for the choice of computer functions. A computer mouse is ergonomically designed so that a user’s hand fits comfortably around the device. The computer mouse may be deemed as having a bottom surface which is in contact with a work surface such as a mouse pad when in use, and an upper surface which includes one or more pressure-sensitive switches for controlling computer operations when operated. Computer mouse are available with electro-mechanical, opto-mechanical, or optical movement sensing systems. Traditionally, a computer mouse is connected to a computer system by a cable for passing on signal/power there between. The bodily connection of the mouse to the host computer by the cable inopportunely limits free movement of the mouse and may result undesirable movement sometimes. Constant bending or twisting of the cable may effect further deterioration thereof so as to effect in detachment or inappropriate contact of connectors at reverse ends of the cable. Wireless computer mouse have been developed in the recent time to do away with the need for a cord, and to make it simpler for a user to move the mouse around without having to drag a cord. A cable less mouse that corresponds with a computer system through electromagnetic signals for data transmission solves the problem. The wireless computer mouse is commonly energized by battery and corresponds by means of infrared transmission or radio frequency transmission which possible the wireless operation. In general, proponents of various forms of functionalism make the claim that the physical realization of a given function is not, in some sense, its essence. Metaphysical functionalism identifies causal structures with mental states which are realizable by â€Å"a vast variety of physical systems† (Block 1980, p. 173). But once we have an implementable easiest function, there are no more queries as to what functions can be comprehended by that performance, dissimilarly in the case of a theoretical categorization. Put in different words, it is in no way clear that we have any reliable way of restraining the possible functions of a system without mention to an underlying physical mechanism which also applies in the case of Computer Mouse. A computer user manipulates a pointing device to change the position of a cursor or other object on a computer display, or to select objects on the display. The physical movement of the pointing device results in a similar movement of the cursor and/or object on the display. However no doubt, that the discoveries in the field of computing has changed our lives and effecting the discourse of history in many ways. Today the life has become so easy to lead with the help of these technological advancements and that has resulted from the extensive research in the field of functionalism. But the question remains that whether the idea of functionalism will be conquered by something else, whether a saturation period will strike in our life, or we will continue to witness the victory march of functionalism like this towards the path of future. Works Cited 1. Margolin, Victor. â€Å"The Experience of Products. † The Politics of the Artificial. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2002, pp-38-59 2. Rams, Dieter. â€Å"Omit the Unimportant. † Design Discourse, edited by Victor Margolin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989, pp-111-113 3. Block, N. â€Å"Introduction: what is functionalism? † Readings in philosophy of psychology. Ed. N. Block. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1980. 1: 171-184

The Death of Communism - 828 Words

The Death of Communism The United States longest and bloodiest war was the Vietnam War, which was fought from 1959 until 1975.(Communist Manifesto 1) In this war 57,685 Americans were killed, and their were over 2 million Vietnamese deaths.(Communist Manifesto 3) One of the main causes of the war was a commonly held American belief called the Domino Theory. This theory stated that if the U.S. allowed one country to fall to communism, those around it would fall, and then those around it, eventually taking over the whole world. However, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 allows to approach communism in a new light. The Communist Manifesto has three sections. The first is an outline of the history of the bourgeois and the†¦show more content†¦It states that communist do not form a separate working class party, that they do not have interest separate from the working class as a whole, and they do not seek to mold the proletarian movement. Marx states that the distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolishment of property generally, but the abolishment of bourgeois property.(Marx 7) Marx is arguing that the capitalist societies of the time have done away with property for nine-tenths of the population already, and the only way to remove class distinctions is to abolish private property. The final section of the Communist Manifesto, Marx attacks various countries attempts at socialism and proclaims that communist disdain to conceal their aims.(Marx 8) He finishes with a call to arms: Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite!(Marx 9) The Communist Manifesto was written in a time when people were starting to realize all the injustices the industrial revolution and modern industry had created. However, this situation no longer exists. Gone, are the bourgeois and proletarians; a middle class has risen up; communism has begun to fall. Marx describes the rise of the bourgeois by saying the place of manufacture was taken by the giant, Modern Industry, the place of the industrial middle class, by the industrial millionaire, theShow MoreRelatedAn analysis of communism and religion in Gabriel Garcia Marquezs Chronicle of a Death Foretold1508 Words   |  7 PagesCapitalist Congregation: Marxist Commentary on Hegemonic Powers in _Chronicle of a Death Foretold_ In the twentieth century, South Americans faced a dilemma: to succumb to the capitalist ideals of the western world or to surrender to the communist beliefs of Marx and Engels. Through symbol-laden texts, writers communicated their beliefs concerning the two economic ideologies. 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