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Scientific English. Учебно-методическое пособие для подготовки аспирантов к сдаче кандидатского минимума по иностранному языку

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Thus, Kant derived the fundamental principles of human thought and action from human sensibility, understanding, and reason, all as sources of our autonomy; he balanced the contributions of these principles against the in eliminable inputs of external sensation and internal inclination beyond our own control; and he strove both to demarcate these principles from each other and yet to integrate them into a single system with human autonomy as both its foundation and its ultimate value and goal. These were the tasks of Kant's three great critiques. In the Critique of Pure Reason, the essential forms of space, time and conceptual thought arise in the nature of human sensibility and understanding and ground the indispensable principles of human experience. He then argued that reason, in the narrow sense manifest in logical inference, plays a key role in systematizing human experience, but that it is a mistake to think that reason offers metaphysical insight into the existence and nature of the human soul, an independent world, and God. In the Critique of Practical Reason and Groundwork, however, he argued that reason as the source of the ideal of systematicity is the source of the fundamental law of morality and our consciousness of our own freedom, which is the source of all value, and that we can postulate the truth of the fundamental dogmas of Christianity, our own immortality and the existence of God, as practical presuppositions of our moral conduct but not as theoretical truths of metaphysics. In the Critique of Judgment, Kant argued that the unanimity of taste and the systematic organization of both individual organisms and nature as a whole could be postulated, again not as metaphysical dogmas but rather as regulative ideals of our aesthetic and scientific pursuits; he then went on to argue that it is through these ideals that we can tie together the realms of nature and freedom, because aesthetic experience offers us a palpable image of our moral freedom, and a scientific conception of the world as a system of interrelated beings makes sense only as an image of the world as the sphere of our own moral efforts. In many of his last writings, from Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793) to his final manuscripts, the
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Opus postumum, Kant refined and radicalized his view that our religious conceptions can be understood only as analogies for the nature of human reason itself (3416).
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Rousseau and Locke: The General Will
Rousseau uses the concept of General Will as a means by which a group of people enter into a social contract. The General Will is constructed by the people who in turn obey it as citizens. The separate wills, rights and desires of each member of a society brought together as a single unit is the General Will. In the derivation of the General Will, Rousseau emphasizes that every man is free.
Therefore, every subject is equal and has no more power or influence on the General Will than any other citizen in the society. This social contract provides an environment where its citizens experience natural freedom. Ultimately, insuring the natural freedom of a society is the goal of a government.
In Rousseau's explanation of freedom, there is a division between two types of freedom. They are personal freedom and social freedom. Personal freedom comes from humans' basic instincts and natural selfishness. An individual acts only if he benefits. Rousseau also called this freedom a state of nature. The second freedom, social freedom, is achieved when an individual obeys the desires of the General Will.
All people are born free, but the natural freedom is not achieved until these people enter into a social contract. It is at this next point where Locke and Rousseau differ. According to Rousseau, natural freedom is acquired by allowing the General Will to be the ruling factor of a government. In order to enter into Rousseau's social contract, personal freedom must be alienated. By disregarding the state of nature, the powers of each individual is directed towards a common interest. Rousseau notes that social freedom is superior to a state of nature, and that in a state of nature people are not completely free
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because they are ruled by their desires instead of by reason. The General Will is rational and should then be the ruling body. Locke differs by stating natural freedom is obtained when the natural law is obeyed. Locke does not need people to alienate their personal freedom, he just wants it to be entrusted to the natural law.
The natural law preserves the freedoms of each individual in order to preserve all of mankind. If the natural laws are carried out against their wills, the people have the obligation and the right to alter the natural law. For both Rousseau and Locke, this acquisition of natural freedom is called natural subjugation. The term natural subjugation comes from the fact that this is a willing act to pledge membership through a social contract and not to the ideals of an individual or minority.
Both Locke and Rousseau agree that the only way for a social contract to insure the rights of the General Will is for complete involvement. Rousseau insists those who do not join the pact are ignorant to the advantages of a social contract. These madmen must be forced to see the light of the social contract and thus forced to be free. In a more harsh view, Locke views the failure to join the social contract an attack on the preservation of mankind and this violator should be punished. This is because those who violate the natural law, violate the preservation of mankind.
Rousseau and Locke's theories on the General Will, natural subjugation, natural freedom, and government are the basis of ruling bodies today. Even the United States of America uses the intentions of Rousseau and Locke in the Constitution and its following amendments. However, the ideas of Rousseau and Locke are too idealistic. For example, Rousseau believes in order to fully express the General Will, there must be a complete democracy with no representation. In a country of our size, both geographically and in the degree of population, this is physically impossible. Our country run without representation would be completely ineffective in legislative and executive abilities. Just think
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what would happen if every citizen of America voted on every law proposed by every American citizen. Obviously, this would be absurd. But according to Rousseau, representation eliminates the purity of the General Will. The accuracy of the General Will varies with the degree of representation. The government of America and other countries use this fact and try to find an equilibrium between the largest amount of representatives and the ability to legislate in order to gain an accurate insight on the General Will.
Rousseau and Locke were pioneers in analyzing the modern systems of government. From their conclusions, most of the laws and regulations of America and countries undergoing revolutions (e.g. ex-USSR) are based. Their contributions to the world past, present, and most probably in the future are immeasurable (4600).
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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Obama administration is recommending new capital and liquidity requirements for major financial firms engaged in proprietary trading, not just those institutions that own commercial banks, the White House said Wednesday.
WSJ columnist says there's a difference between entrepreneurs who make a fortune in the free market, and those who gather wealth by manipulating politics.
The new requirements are part of more details the White House sent to Capitol Hill Wednesday about a proposal it introduced in January - dubbed the "Volcker rule" after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who chairs Obama's economic-advisory panel and was a key backer of the measures.
According to the detailed proposal, institutions that engage in proprietary trading for their own account of stocks, bonds, options, commodities or derivatives would be subject to additional capital and leverage limits, and also need to disclose more information about their activities to the public.
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"These firms will be under tough, consolidated supervision, more stringent capital and liquidity requirements, and be required to provide more information to the market about their risks," the White House said in a summary of the proposal.
The proposed Volcker rule seeks to limit how big a firm can grow through acquisitions, along with the trading activities of the nation's largest financial institutions. It would prohibit institutions that own commercial banks from owning or sponsoring hedge funds and buyout shops. It also prohibits financial firms that own commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading for their own accounts. Institutions that own commercial banks could still engage in proprietary trading for their customers.
Some large financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS
167.18, +3.57, +2.18%) may have considered divesting their commercial­banking units, if Congress had followed the proposal as it originally was introduced in January. That proposal would have required some big banks to divest proprietary-trading banking units if they wanted to continue to operate commercial banks. Based on this expanded proposal, financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs would be subject to additional capital restrictions with or without commercial-banking units.
The Treasury proposal defines proprietary trading as purchasing, selling, or acquiring and disposing of stocks, bonds, options, commodities, derivatives or other financial instruments for the institution's own trading book, and not on behalf of a customer.
The White House also proposes creating a nationwide cap on certain risky investments that would be based, in part, on a 10% cap on nationwide deposits that was put in place in 1994. Congress prohibits banks from acquiring institutions that would result in the acquiring bank holding more than 10% of U.S. bank deposits.
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The new proposal seeks to prohibit a financial firm from acquiring another bank if the combined corporation's total assets exceed 10% of the total liabilities of all financial companies at the end of the prior year.
Based on this expanded proposal, firms such as Goldman Sachs would be subject to additional capital restrictions with or without commercial-banking units.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., received the additional details of the proposal Wednesday and is considering them, according to a Senate Banking Committee spokeswoman.
The Senate Banking Committee is considering whether to add the elements of the proposal to broad bank regulation under consideration on Capitol Hill. Most Democrats and Republican senators on the panel have generally been averse about including the measure in broad bank-reform legislation they have been squabbling over in recent months.
Instead, a number of senators would prefer to make sure bank regulators have the authority to write rules based on the principles of the proposal, if they believe regulations are warranted. However, others argue that bank regulators already had the authority to write rules based on the Volcker proposal.
Most Senate Banking Committee members say that they would like to learn more about it - perhaps with additional hearings - before considering statutes prohibiting the practice.
"The Volcker rule may be something as a banking committee we want to dig deeper into and see if it makes sense," said Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb. "It may have some merit, but an absolute prohibition is something we have to be very careful about."
Ronald D. Orol is a Market Watch reporter, based in Washington (4500).
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Text 40
How wacky will this election year get?
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - How wacky will this election year get? It's looking like Scott Brown's upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate race in January was just the beginning of a roller-coaster ride.
With Tea Party conservatives on one end and Accountability Now - a new alliance of progressives - on the other end, the political polarization of recent years seems poised to reach new extremes.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. It seems to be what people want:
The Tea Party movement celebrated a victory this week with Texas Gov. Rick Perry's surprisingly easy win over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for his re-election. Perry, who has already served two terms as governor, was able to portray himself as an outsider by backing those who want Texas to secede from the union and joining the Tea Party early on. He branded Hutchison as a Washington insider and she went down in flames.
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter announced a primary challenge against embattled Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln. Trumpeted as the first candidate for Accountability Now, a political action committee backed by labor unions and progressive groups like MoveOn.org, Halter was able to raise millions in campaign pledges within hours of his announcement. Lincoln has the backing of the White House and the Democratic establishment, which is looking more like the kiss of death every day.
At the same time, the disarray in Washington has created the potential for any number of shenanigans and anomalies across the country:
In New York, would-be carpetbagger Harold Ford, a former congressman from Tennessee who now earns millions working for Merrill Lynch on Wall Street, explained in a tortured op-ed how he can preach revolution for the yearning masses but still cave in to the Democratic establishment and decline to
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challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the primary. His ability to claim simultaneously the high road of principle and follow the low road of compromise shows him to be an avid student of the Barack Obama school of political bait-and-switch.
In California, 71-year-old Jerry Brown, a Democrat who first became governor 35 years ago, announced his candidacy for another go at the state's top office. He can run again because his original two terms came before California imposed term limits. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is bound by term limits and will step down, leaving former eBay Inc. (EBAY 24.63, +0.85, +3.57%) Chief Executive Meg Whitman leading the field of potential Republican successors.
In Arizona, Tea Party groups declined to endorse Sen. John McCain or his Republican primary challengers - J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned talk-show host, and businessman Jim Deakin. The groups made a not-so-veiled invitation to the candidates to solicit the groups' support by kowtowing to their principles of limited government and opposition to immigration, abortion, gay rights, etc., etc. It may be difficult for the incumbent to win that contest and we as a nation may not have John McCain to kick around any more come November.
What does it all mean? A few conclusions suggest themselves:
Conclusion 1: People are mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more. Anyone currently holding office in Washington already has a strike against them.
Conclusion 2: Progressives are ready to abandon Obama and give up on his "centrist" approaches. That is what the Accountability Now movement is all about, though it has nowhere near the influence of the Tea Party movement in the Republican Party.
Conclusion 3: Races are wide open this year. California is fielding two of America's most prominent businesswomen - Whitman for governor, and former Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ 52.03, +0.52, +1.01%) Chief Executive Carly
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Fiorina as a Republican primary candidate for Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat - as well as the septuagenarian Brown. Ford's lack of nerve may have cost him his one shot at returning to politics in a year when anything is possible.
Conclusion 4: We're in for one wacky ride this election year (4081).
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Приложение 1
ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ
УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ
ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«АМУРСКИЙ ГУМАНИТАРНО-ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИЙ
ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
(ФГОУ ВПО «АмГПГУ»)
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аспиранта (соискателя), проходящего подготовку к кандидатскому
экзамену по иностранному (английскому) языку по научной специальности
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