Analysis of Socrates' Passage in Apology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Socrates' Passage in Apology - Essay Example In Apology, he quoted: For if you kill me you will not easily find another like me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by the god; and the state is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life (Plato, in McIntyre 20). In this statement, Socrates compares himself to a gadfly – a biting, noisy insect commonly found buzzing around and refers to the state as the horses. What Socrates meant by this is that his frequent questioning (or â€Å"biting†) is intended to wake the state up. For him, the people during that era were in an idle stage because they are just accepting the things that have been set for them by the previous generations, by the government, the rich and powerful, or by the church. Socrates does not want that. Socrates would like the people to wake up, ask questions that challenge their minds, like – Where are we from? Is th ere really a god? Why do we live? He wanted to bring the people to reality by taking them out of their ignorance. I think what Socrates feels is that ignorance is like a chain that restrains the people and the first way to make them free is to recognize that they still do not know everything. For Socrates, the â€Å"horses† (referred in his statement as the state) only looks at him as a â€Å"gadfly† or a nuisance. ... Socrates sees himself as a catalyst whose purpose is to formulate questions to irritate a person’s minds. Socrates understands that this is the foundation of progress and change. He asked questions and attempted to find answers for them; questions that lead to another questions; questions that probably made the citizens annoyed of him; questions that reduced the nobles and the most powerful into blubbering idiots (Ober â€Å"Socrates† 11). Socrates said further: I daresay that you may feel irritated at being suddenly awakened when you are caught napping†¦ then you would sleep on for the remainder of your lives unless God in his care of you gives you another gadfly. This statement means that Socrates also served as a critique to those who are in power and pointed out their mistakes. Of course when someone does that to people with power, they will go mad at you, hence he was condemned to prison. However, he reminded the people that if they do not want him to point ou t their mistakes, then they will never realize that there is something wrong with the system. And therefore, we will not be able to adjust the world into something more that is more just and something more human. For me, Socrates is truly God’s precious gift. It is difficult to find someone with a mind as inquisitive as he is and someone who is willing to swim against the current, someone who willingly labeled himself as a gadfly in order to bring about change. By becoming a gadfly, Socrates opened a trend to the philosophers of the new generations. More and more people are acting like gadflies themselves. People are nowadays asking more questions and finding ways on how the humanity can improve. The journalists and the mass media for example are

Case analysis for business negotiation Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis for business negotiation - Case Study Example Moreover, this was likely due to the high labor costs in France as well as the increasing inputs of the production process. With this baseline of understanding established, the CEO then went on to elaborate upon how labor costs and inputs within Slovakia are measurably cheaper than in France (approximately 30% on the whole). In such a way, such an approach would definitively save money in the long run. Finally, anecdotal evidence is given with regards to the fact that other large firm such as Peugeot and Sony had recently relocated their operations from France to Slovakia and had experience and measurable increase in overall growth and profitability as a result. 2. How did this CEO communicate to the media the closing of the plant and its relocation to Slovakia from becoming a national issue? One of the first reasons that any level of media hype is generated is with regards to the level and extent to which leaks of the information reveal a sensational story that the media cannot resi st. In such a way, the strategy of closure within this particular case was handled with the utmost care. This was facilitated I insisting that all individuals who were cognizant of these changes sign a nondisclosure agreement and remain very tightlipped within the firm as well as without with regards to the facts that closure was soon it likely to take place. In this way, once the information was released, the firm had fully anticipated the response and was able to manage the story in a way that did not create a sensation or make stakeholders feel as if they had been kept in the dark with regards to such a decision. 3: What were the negotiating strategies used to reach the agreement? With regards to the negotiating strategies used to reach the agreement of plant closure, these were necessarily concentric around cooperation, analysis of the situation from multifaceted viewpoint, and general secrecy. Although the first to have been briefly enumerated upon, the general secrecy might ne cessarily be viewed as a negative aspect. However, the negative externalities of not keeping a closely guarded secret with regards to the means by which the plant would close might necessarily harm each and every stakeholder within the entire process. By making the information known prior to a formal strategy being elaborated upon, the situation would necessarily unfold in and out of hand manner without the CEO or top management being able to be directed in any way shape or form. From the firm’s perspective, such an eventuality would mean in much higher cost with regards to the payments that they would be due to the labor unions. 4: What are the pitfalls to be avoided when negotiating with the labor union representatives? By engaging early with the labor unions, the firm was able to experience a â‚ ¬1 million savings by reducing costs that would otherwise have been associated with payoffs to the union that were required. This was able to be effected simply by assuring them that all employees 55 years or older would be a able to draw an early pension from the plant shuttering. In this way a cooperation strategy was employed. Furthermore a bond of trust between the firm and the union representatives was established prior to the shuttering of plant. This was leveraged when the bad news was delivered to the union as a means of creating a situation in which the union