The Philosophers

Socrates, a classical Greek philosopher based in Athens, is an enigmatic figure about whom we only know through the works of his students such as Xenophon and Plato and through the works of the philosophers who came long after his death. Despite the enigma that surrounds his life and his teachings, Socrates is today considered by many scholars to be one of the fathers of Western philosophy. Most of his thoughts and ideas that have been put down in writing have been done by his student, Plato, because there is no record of his thought ever being written down during his lifetime. Based on this, it is very difficult to distinguish between the thought that was of Socrates and what was Plato’s because it can be suspected that Plato may have put some of his ideas into the mouth of Socrates to make them seem more credible to his audience due to Socrates’ reputation.

The dialectic method of enquiry can be considered to be Socrates’ most lasting contribution to Western philosophy which tended mostly to be applied when dealing with moral matters such as what was good and just within the society. The dialectic method which Socrates used was first described by Plato when he stated that in order to solve a problem; this problem would be split into a series of questions the answers to which would eventually create a logical solution (McCall, C, 1935 – 1936) . The scientific method that is used today is heavily influenced by Socrates’ dialectic method of enquiry because a hypothesis for the solution of a problem is often the first stage in the scientific method. Socrates’ development and practicing of the dialectic method is what has earned him his place as one of the fathers of Western philosophy as well as the creator of the study of political philosophy, and moral philosophy.

Plato was a classical Greek philosopher who was based in Athens and was a student of Socrates, and is often considered to be the greatest of Socrates’ students. He was not only the founder of the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, the Academy of Athens, but his work has, throughout the ages since his time, been used to teach a wide range of subjects including philosophy and logic. Plato has made a lot of contributions to Western philosophy in matters ranging from political philosophy to those theories dealing with the metaphysical, and his theories and thoughts in these matters have occupied the minds of philosophers for the last two millennia.

Through his Dialogues, Plato advanced some of his ideas as well as those of his teacher Socrates and it is through them that we get to know of the teachings of the father of Western philosophy. Plato also had a great influence in the setting up of and the evolution of the modern government as it is manifested today through his famous political work, The Republic. It is the theories from this work that are today used as a framework for the definition of democracy and not only that, but most of the constitutions of the current states in the world today are based on the work of Plato (Colmo, C, 1781). It is therefore a fact that Plato’s influence can be felt all over the world, and most especially in the Western world, which is the main receptor and beneficiary of Plato’s work.

Aristotle was a student of Plato and a teacher of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, and his works covered almost every aspect that affects human life from government to biology. He is considered, along with Socrates and Plato to be among the founding fathers of Western philosophy. His views on the physical sciences greatly influenced the scholars of the middle ages and his views were paramount until they were later replaced by the views of Isaac Newton. His thoughts also influenced the study of ethics due to his belief that ethics did not exist just to be studied but they were also to be practiced in our day to day lives.

According to Busch, P (120) Aristotle’s influence on the realm of politics can also be seen today in some ideologies which accept the world the way it is and have no space for reason that is not based on experience. The thoughts and theories of Aristotle are still considered relevant today in a wide range of subjects other than ethics and politics, especially in the biological sciences where he made a great contribution in the area of the classification of different living organisms. It can be said that Aristotle was a well-rounded philosopher whose opinions on many subjects bordered on the genius not only during his time but they have lasted for over two millennia to the modern age, remaining relevant throughout most of that time. The Aristotelian thought is one of the greatest foundations upon which Western philosophy is based most especially because his work was well recorded, despite a lot of it having been lost over time.

Religious and Ethnic Divisions

The ethnic division in Northern Ireland has been an ongoing issue in that state for most of its modern history and it has only gotten to calm down in the past few years. The easing of the problem in Northern Ireland has mostly been solved through dialogue that has taken place between the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland was mostly based on religious beliefs, that is, the Catholic Irish in opposition to the Protestant Irish. These two respective groups have had support from some outside states, with the Catholics, being Irish nationalists fighting for a union with the Republic Ireland, and the Protestants fighting for remaining within the United Kingdom. These differences developed over time into serious divisions within the society with many people who had lived side by side all their lives turning against and at times killing each other (Wolff, S, 2001).

The situation in Northern Ireland can be comparable to that which is happening in Rwanda and it is our belief that the solutions which were applied in Ireland are also applicable to that in Rwanda. It is therefore the best thing for the people of Rwanda, whether Hutu or Tutsi, to settle their differences through dialogue because all other means of bringing a peaceful solution to the conflict are bound to fail (King, E, 2005). Dialogue should be made the most paramount means of conflict resolution and it should be encouraged within the society. Since the current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, came to power, peace has returned to the country through his government’s encouragement of dialogue and a return of friendship between the two major ethnic groups in the country.

The CVS Caremark Corporation

The CVS Caremark Corporation is a pharmaceutical company based in the United States and it was founded in nineteen sixty three by Stanley and Sidney Goldstein and Ralph Hoagland with the intention of selling health and beauty products. Within a year of its founding, this company had a chain of seventeen stores and when it was acquired by Melville’s in nineteen sixty nine, it had a total of forty stores. After this company was acquired by Melville’s, the driving force behind its growth was its new president, Franklin Rooney. Under Rooney, CVS saw tremendous growth due to the fact that after he took over the corporation, he concentrated more on the development of the pharmaceutical side of the business. By the time of his retirement in nineteen eighty five, Rooney had turned CVS into one of the most diversified retail chains in the United States through his knack for making brilliant acquisitions during his tenure.

Stanley Goldstein succeeded Rooney in nineteen eighty five and his major task was to continue the colossal work that his predecessor had left behind. Goldstein proved to be up to the task and under him; CVS continued its expansion with some structural renovation taking place in the corporation. Some of this renovation took place in nineteen eighty nine when the corporation created a profit sharing plan and an employee stock ownership plan whose intention was to distribute six percent of the corporation’s common stock among its employees as a way of motivating them.  Despite the recessive economy of the eighties, CVS continued to grow and rake in profits throughout the period (Eder, 1999).

Currently, the corporation has stores in forty five states within America and Puerto Rico and it sells prescription drugs and a wide assortment of other goods which include beauty products, cosmetics, photography services and convenience foods. It also has healthcare clinics located within CVS stores through which it provides healthcare services and in some places, they have centers that deal specifically with people affected by diabetes. The merger between CVS and Caremark a few years ago continued to ensure that the corporation’s continued growth went on uninterrupted (Pimlott, 2006).

It can be said that it is the strong leadership style of the company from its founding to the present that has spurred its extremely fast growth throughout the recent decades even when growth was not expected at all. The strong leadership has also enabled CVS to make ventures into the selling of merchandise which was not traditionally in its preserve through the acquisition of retail chains which dealt in products other than those which it was promoting at the time. These acquisitions have made sure that the diversification of this corporation continues and because of this diversification, it is likely to survive any form of a collapse in the sales of a particular product. This is due to the fact that it does not completely rely on a single product to make a profit and instead, it has a diverse range of them to ensure its survival in the very competitive market of the world today.

The company is headed by a Chief Executive Officer who is also the president of the corporation. Directly below him are the executive vice presidents each heading a specific department within the organization namely: Finances; Health Care Strategy and Management; Operations; Pharmacy Services; Legal; and Human Resources among others.