Are Enlightenment values universal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Are Enlightenment values universal - Essay Example For this ground, Enlightenment values have by far, to this point, been inevitably embedded on culture under several aspects of living. The post-Renaissance curiosity in an in-depth study of man and the world after the rebirth of learning and rigorous inquisitions herein designate emphasis on humanities and the quest for means to put knowledge to practical use. Such movement toward intellectual revolution, which was mostly regarded as secularistic by nature, causing progressive changes to humanity proceeded out of several factors. For one, increase in the number of academic institutions across the 18th century Europe and North America generated more intellectual people and scholars capable of questioning the prevailing ideologies of the time based upon prominent fields as science, politics, and religion. Enlightenment was also promoted via the extensive publication of printed texts either as periodicals or books where the bulk of information read prompted and encouraged the general pu blic to express various opinions or insights on the subject matter of worldwide interest. People of middle-class society augmented in number as well and favored being financial supporters of scientists, inventors, and humanism artists. Moreover, men became further inclined to adopt materialism in the form of industries, objects of scientific innovation, and ideas the trade for prosperity of which had been made feasible by the pioneering geniuses of the socio-political, economic, and scientific disciplines. These causes primarily developed the foundations of Enlightenment along with its associated values found through the process of rationalization. At this crucial stage, 18th-century life and beyond was bound to experience and appreciate a profound sense of critical and creative mode of thinking in seeking to be stimulated by the beauty of reason. Eventually, there emerged a growing individual advocacy for human freedom upon discovery of the universal impact of reasoning according t o the basic principles of Enlightenment as perceived in rationalism, naturalism, materialism, optimism, and humanitarianism. By considering reason and science in the systematic process of acquiring knowledge and solving problems of humanity within diverse culture, Enlightenment is claimed to free humanity from the darkness of ignorance. With this end came departure from the burden of false beliefs and the destructive influence of illogical prejudices and superstition on the argument that secular society where liberty, equality, and democracy exist with scholastic endeavor potentially transforms human condition in which the miserable state of poverty and sickness is addressed. Universal ethical norms proposed by the 18th-century intellectuals thereafter transcend the narrow confines of race, color, sex, religion, and ethnicity for instance and such would not have been possible in the absence of Enlightenment values which altogether illumined Europe and brought the Western World to th e heights of drastic progress and advanced rate of modern civilization (Igwe). On the basis of one of the seven core ideals, ‘all human beings possess the ability to be enlightened’. Therefore, ‘enlightenment is universal’

Market Report on Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market Report on Australia - Essay Example Vast resource endowment and strong export sector allows the economy to be one of the influential participants in international trade. After the occurrence of the global financial crisis, all financial activities within the economy are strictly supervised that eliminates any chance of unscrupulous financial transaction. However, there are risks associated with this economy due to the easy monetary and fiscal policy implementations. This paper presents a study on the economic prospects of Australia and their effects on the country’s financial market. 2. Economic prospects 2.1 Recent developments and the present situation Australia is the 13th largest economies in the world in terms of GDP measure. In the Asia Pacific region the country ranks third in terms of GDP after China and Japan. Australia boasts of having one of the most robust national political frameworks among the developed countries in the world. Over the last five decades, the country has developed strong economic in stitutions in the world and has a very competitive business sector operating internationally. Recently Australia has been recognised as a continent with a wide reserve of natural resources and it is currently enjoying the position of one of the largest supplier of natural resources and raw materials in the world, such as, coal and iron ore. Steady economic growth in the continent has been aided by this resource boom. Trade in such abundant resource sector accounts for approximately 9.6 per cent of the total economy of Australia. The remainder of the economy is comprised of the construction sector (7.7%), manufacturing sector (9.1%), and financial services sector (11.0%). This distribution depicts that the major sectors in the equity market in Australia are financial services sector with 32% share and natural resources sector with 31% share (Treasury, 2012). At present Australia enjoys a concrete positive international standing. The largest trade partners of the continent are the Uni ted States, Japan and China. Although China is still a developing economy, it is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and competes strongly with the other developed nations. The countries that make the largest amount of investment in Australia are the United Kingdom and the United States. These two countries are also the leading capital markets in the world. The financial services industry in Australian is well developed and highly-regarded due to its innovativeness. This stems from the fact that the country has one of the world’s most developed capital market. According to the data published by the World Economic Forum, Australia ranks 5th among the countries having most modern financial systems and advanced capital markets in the world. Currently Australia’s equity market has A$1.2 trillion market capitalization (on the basis of free-float market capitalization). On a daily basis, the average secondary trading extends upto A$5 billion in a normal day. Th e Australian dollar is one of the most traded currencies in the international market. This shows that the country’s foreign exchange market is quite strong and has high global turnover in this market. 2.2 Economic growth prospects The economy of Australia has experienced high and uninterrupted rate of economic growth over the period of the past ten years. This growth rate has been facilitated by a number of factors, such as, low level of inflation, low unemployment rate, significantly low public debt and most importantly stability in the