Philosophy - knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy - knowledge - Essay Example The primary question is regarding the acquisition of knowledge: Is knowledge something that one acquires, or something that one merely recollects Socrates (Plato, "Meno" 365-372) lays down the argument that it is the latter. He does that by asking simple questions alone, which lead to a person's discovery of the solution completely by himself. The fact that Socrates does not inform the person about the correct answer to a question shows that knowledge is not acquired, but rather recollected. We can argue, however, that it is not the knowledge of things that is inherent in any human being, but the faculty of identification (in this case, deductive logic) which is inherent. This term, "faculty of identification" is nothing but the perceptive system used to analyze knowledge. One uses the sense organs to understand the knowledge of "taste", and one uses logic to understand the knowledge of a geometric proof. This is another key point in determining the limitations of knowledge. Let us t ake a simple example to illustrate. The knowledge of the presence of a tiger nearby, by observing its fresh footprints, is vital to a forest dweller. Here one can observe the knowledge acquisition process stepwise. Firstly, the sense perceptions are translated based on previous sensory experience and registered as the knowledge of the footprints. ... ledge of the tiger being near the person exist within the person before If it did exist within the person himself, it should not depend uniquely on his presence there. There must be a way possible for him to just reach down within himself, so to speak, and draw out the knowledge, while doing something totally unrelated. This is not possible with the faculties of identification which we have allowed him to have: sense perception and logic of the simplest correlative kind. This example of a physical event, when extended to the mental realm, holds just as true. Knowledge depends on the questions asked, explicitly or implicitly. The second crucial fact is the dependence of knowledge on the faculty of identification. If in the same example, our friend, the forest dweller had no capacity for inductive logic, though possessing sharp senses, or if he was blind in the first place, the knowledge of the tiger's presence does not come into existence. In other words, knowledge is not something that belongs inherently in the circumstance, but also on the individual experiencing the circumstance. This is brought out clearly in Socrates' allegory of the cave (Plato, "Republic" 370-375). In it, the individual who has seen the world outside the cave and then looks at the events occurring inside, obtains knowledge of a different kind than those who have always lived in that cave. The events are the same, but the faculties of identification are totally different. To put it in a nutshell, knowledge is created by the active application of a faculty of identification upon a passive circumstance. When we analyze the question of knowledge being true belief with this background, we can understand its limitations better. The idea that justified true belief is responsible for knowledge is

Best Buy Company Incorporation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Best Buy Company Incorporation - Assignment Example As a global company, it operates in Mexico, Canada, China, United States, and Puerto Rico. Best Buy is a public company traded on NYSE: BBY(S&P 500 Component). SWOT Analysis Strengths: No. One Electronic Retailer The company is the largest Consumer Electronic Retailer in the US holds a market share of about 20% (2011) and it’s ranked in position five on the Interbrand's Best Retail Brands 2012. Knowledgeable personnel In order to maintain its competitive streak in the market, the company recruits, trains, and retain qualified personnel. Their end-end type of customer service differentiates Best Buy from online retailers and discount electronics retailers. Smart Acquisitions In FY03 Best Buy Co. Inc. acquired Greek Squad Inc. This was specifically done in order to enhance support for customer services. The Greek Squad service is now found in all the US branded the Best Buy stores. Additionally, in FY12 Best Buy acquired mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. a company providing data cent er and cloud services. Weaknesses: Physical stores The cost of personnel and overhead associated with the physical stores poses a challenge when comparing Best Buy with other online retailers. Customers in most cases use the physical store as â€Å"showroom† and then make the purchases of the products from the other online retailers at a lower cost. Reorganization Diluting Customer Experience The company has over the years undergone various restructuring activities in an effort to smoothen their in-store models of business.