Voltaire and the Spread of Knowledge during the Enlightenment. The Essay

Voltaire and the Spread of Knowledge during the Enlightenment. The French Revolution - Essay Example The human being could look at nature and rather than only seeing God, see how things in nature worked through discovery. This shift is significant as up until this period people had been defined by looking at the world and determining God and His intentions towards human beings rather than looking at it and seeing how human kind could understand how nature worked. This shift in cultural belief systems provided for the development of science and philosophy as a primary means of understanding nature over myth. One of the contributing factors to the development of the Enlightenment philosophies was the emergence of cafe’s. According to Noble et al the development of the cultural establishment known as the cafe was to the 18th century what the internet is to modern 21st century information exchange. Profound changes in thinking in relationship to rationality were exchanged between those who attended the cafe houses in order to discuss politics and associated social topics (507). F rancois-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire as he was known, was one of the more well known writers of the Enlightenment who frequented cafe’s. According to Weinberg and Bealer, Voltaire was known to have a caffeine addiction and be an avid coffee drinker who frequented cafe’s and engaged in meaningful discussions about academics and philosophy (43). Voltaire’s contributions to philosophy were numerous, but one of his greatest contributions was in spreading the work of Isaac Newton. Simosan writes about Voltaire as his writing was influential in bringing the knowledge of mathematics into the public sphere. His fascination with the work of Sir Isaac Newton also included a fascination for mathematics and Voltaire was responsible for translating Newton’s Principia into French from its original Latin. In translating the work into a vernacular, Voltaire had put into practice the idea that knowledge should be accessible. One of his novels used the backdrop of Newton†™s discoveries in science as a way in which to combine mathematics and fiction. The book Micromegas is a work of science fiction in which an expedition is led to Lapland in order to â€Å"measure the length of a degree of arc along a line of latitude† in order to explore the theory that the Earth flattened at the poles and bulged at the equator as had been suggested by Newton. Although the work included aliens that came and encountered the scientists, this also contributed to the public knowledge about mathematics (Simosan and Voltare 2). The influence of Voltaire in spreading the knowledge of higher level thinkers such as Newton changed an element of the nature of knowledge. Voltaire influenced his immediate society in the short term by contributing to the shifting thought and in the long term by recording and spreading knowledge as a public commodity. Newton wrote in Latin which was considered an academic language, but Voltaire took that knowledge and translated it for th e common reader. Education had not advanced to the point that literacy was high, but in translating an academic book into a vernacular language Voltaire changed the influence that Newton could have over culture. Newton’s work was not the only way in which he expanded theory about social life and knowledge. He also engaged his own nation, France, with the progressive ideas that were part of the political and economic system in Britain (Noble 507). Voltaire was influenced by his experiences in travel, especially during his exile into Britain. Just as the cafe’s had allowed for the exchange of knowledge, Voltaire’s travel allowed him to expand his ideas about society and its traditions. Voltaire believed British society to be more rational than his own country of

Management Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Final Project - Essay Example The project showed the new shopping cart concepts that embedded the issues including shopping behavior, maneuverability, cost maintenance, and child safety. These concepts aimed at improving the management skills where both the business and the customers were the centers of interest (Kelly, 1999). As the business was reducing the loss of its fixed assets (the cart trolleys), the customer values and interest were also considered whereby despite the crewed developing in the shaping both the cost and customer safety were never compromised. Moreover, the show concentrated on the design process of the IDEO that reflected multidisciplinary team brainstormed, prototyped, and research the gathered the feedback from those who used the design. These applications deployed by the design indicated that good managerial skills that included teamwork as well as the incorporating the end users in the development and improvement of services and products (Kelly, 1999). Teamwork allows acquiring extensi ve knowledge and skills in design products and services that will meet the end users’ desire. Moreover, teamwork allows extensive innovation thereby increasing the production and sale of the intended service or product in the market line. Seeking for the views of customers within the intended product and service line is also an effective business management skill since it allows the business to design products and services that will meet the needs and wants of customers (Kelly, 1999). Notably, meeting the needs of customers within every product and service line often improves sales and profitability in the same sense (Kelly, 1999). Moreover, seeking and using feedback from the targeted customers is essential in that it is a means of improvement of services and products especially in areas that customers feel unsatisfied. It should be noted that the current business management skills are customer centered; the production of goods and services are to meet the needs of the custo mer. In this sense, the application of this design in businesses will improve businesses applying the same since they will be having an extended and elaborate market (Kelly, 1999). Additionally, every proper business management skill usually values the safety of its customer in line with production and service delivery and the IDEO’s design have ensured that child safety is a factor in their production and service delivery in the cart shopping. Another essential management skill demonstrated in case video clip, the continual improvement. Every business must give room for product and or service improvement. In the case of IDEO’s shopping cart design, the continual improvement is demonstrated where it is vivid that the design lacks some steel frame bottom and side to detect theft. However, it substituted plastic baskets thereby increasing shoppers’ flexibility and helped in protecting goods as well as providing a means of promoting the brand awareness (Kelly, 1999 ). The design also incorporated the auxiliary services that usually aim at maintaining customers to the services and products offered or acting as a means of customer attracting other customers to such news services and products. The dual child seat with a swing up tray provides a play surface and a secure spot for placing a bunch of carnations or cup of coffee. Additionally, seeking for the addition information through secondary research enable the IDEO shopping cart des