Zara Questions Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Zara Questions - Case Study Example Then, both internal as well as external production flowed into Zara’s central distribution center. From there, the products were shipped to strategically located and attractive stores twice a week, which in a way eliminates the need for warehouses. This way Zara is able to design and reach the finished goods in stores within 4 to 5 weeks, and just 2 weeks for the restocking of existing products. 2. The major competitors of Zara as described in the case study are The Gap, Hennes & Mauritz, and Benetton. The Gap is the U.S. based retailer of casual clothes particularly selling T-shirts and jeans. Its store operations are mainly U.S. centric but its production is internationalized, with 90 percent of their finished products being outsourced from outside the U.S. Hennes and Mauritz is the Sweden based retailer of casual clothes and is regarded as the closest competitor to Zara. H&M has strongly internationalized its operations because of which it generates more than half of its sales from foreign stores. Benetton is the Italy based retailer who mainly manufactured and sold brightly colored knitwear. It outsourced most of its production to subcontractors. The competitors who are not described in the case study include Uniqlo and Primark. Uniqlo is the Japanese retailer of casual wears. It manufactures its products in-house and also sources from its supply units in China and Thai land. Primark is an international food and cloth retailing group, with stores in a number of European countries. It sources its finished products from India, Bangladesh, and others. 3. The major strength of Zara is that it has a broader and optimal vertical scope when compared with its competitors. That is, while Zara owns and operates its production as well as its stores, its competitors due to their narrower vertical scope maximally outsourced their production and even licensed their stores. For example, both The Gap and H&M have outsourced all of their production to Asian countries

The Great Gatsby Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

The Great Gatsby - Essay Example He has moved from the Midwest, where his family is wealthy and prominent, to become a bond salesman in New York. He is the quintessential lone representative of a bucolic bourgeois patriarchy, â€Å"making his name† in an urban area. This is not to say that Nick is alone on West Egg- his second cousin, Daisy, lives nearby with her overbearing, snobbish husband, Tom. Tom, who went to Yale and has all the trappings of class, displays a vulgar sort of vacuity that is actually rather disturbing. Nick visits the couple and assays in his laid-back narrative the tense and precarious situation of the household: the hulking Tom is immersed in half-baked racist theories, and Daisy seems to float around in an ephemeral haze of blasà © affectation which briefly disperses to reveal a still center of affected innocence. Nick meets Jordan Baker, a sophisticated and attractive golf champion who is visiting the Buchanan household, and the two begin what evolves into a casual romance. There is nothing obsessive about their offhanded relationship. farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens† (Fitzgerald 27). Though many critics posit that Myrtle Wilson is a positive, down-to-earth character just because of the colors of her clothing, one could also believe that Fitzgerald intends to characterize her in terms of her class. Counterpoised against the monied world of the Buchanans and the distantly wry, self-deprecating objectivity of Carraway’s detached affluence, Myrtle seems to be a rather simplified representative of a middle-class agog with the glamour of the wealthy elite. This behavior is irritating to Tom, who in a fit of rage behaves awfully and betrays his base nature, breaking Myrtle’s Nose when she presses the issue of Daisy’s cognizance. The pathetic, servile figure of George, Myrtle’s Daisy to visit him (Nick) while Gatsby â€Å"stops by.† After the two are finally together, the complicated

Sustainable tourism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Sustainable tourism - Assignment Example Cost savings linked with tourism industry are management of resource, energy, waste and water. Resource management enables customer service and comfort. The benefit of recognition and cost savings is closely knitted with the concept of sustainable organization. In past few decades there has been increasing awareness regarding social or environmental impacts caused by hotel operation and development. Sustainability issues are greatly driven by wide array of factors like desire of operator or owner to decrease operational costs, alter attitude of investors towards environmental conditions and regulatory forces imposed on facility development. The sustainability aspect aims at balancing social, environmental and financial factors in order to undertake appropriate decision making process over an extended period of time. In this study tourism industry of Australia would be clearly portrayed. Sydney is regarded as the largest city of Australia. This location comprises of vibrant national p arks and pristine beaches. Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel based in Sydney is a preferred tourist destination. This hotel offers 26 luxurious suites along with 336 stylish rooms. Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel offers superior quality accommodation and award winning restaurants. There are other features which add value to this hotel operation. This study would outline this operation, its sustainability issues and recommended ways to eradicate such issues. Tourism industry can be sustainable only when it takes into account social, environmental and economic factors. The Australian hotel industry is one of the major economic drivers at national, local and state level. There are almost 30,000 individuals who are provided jobs by hotel industry of Australia. In economic context, Australian hotel industry generates $14 billion. The hotel industry can efficiently contribute towards national economic development. Long term strategy

Antitrust Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Antitrust Practices - Essay Example This is what F.T.C termed as â€Å"prefrencing†. The pecuniary cost and the non pecuniary cost that was associated with this case we are concerned about the effect on innovation,consumer and investment (Hylton, (2003). It took the commission about a yard to come to the conclusion after carrying out a myriad of investigations that were brought forward by google competitors. The antitrust experts said they would likely push for more sweeping obligations on Google corporate demeanor in the future so that it will not use its powerful position in internet o foster unfair advantage in other business thus giving stifle competition. The cost at which the government may try to enforce the principle of oligopoly in fields as fast moving as internet search, smart phones and online commerce will be quite challenging. The F.T. C was adjudicating for the broad principle so that there would be an agreement not to discriminate in favor its products and services over smaller competitors. The case with google is similar to that of Microsoft. It drew complaints from antitrust regulators and rivaling companies as it expanded its business beyond its dominant product and search advertising. Google is known to have bellicosely gained from its partnership with other fields that include Smartphone software and online commerce. As Google expands its empire, it takes on new competitors and brings formidable forces this making its rivals to suffer. However, Google has taken a stand that is improving its products and services in order to benefit the customers and the economy (Posner, 2001). The Antitrust laws help to serve as the ultimate protector from the competitive process under the free market economy. With this process, it will promote competitive prices and customer choice so that the whole society will benefit from all the possible allocation of resources. The antitrust laws help to ensure open and free markets and prevents conducts that

Meaning of Life and Socrates Essay Example for Free

Meaning of Life and Socrates Essay Socrates was considered by many to be the wisest man in ancient Greece. While he was eventually condemned for his wisdom, his spoken words are still listened to and followed today. When, during his trial, Socrates stated that, the unexamined life is not worth living (Plato 45), people began to question his theory. They began to wonder what Socrates meant with his statement, why he would feel that a life would not be worth living. To them, life was above all else, and choosing to give up life would be out of the picture. They did not understand how one would choose not to live life just because he would be unable to examine it. Socrates felt that if he was unable to examine life, he would not be really living. To Socrates, living meant being able to question the world around him. Examining life gives one freedom. Once one examines himself and understands who he is, he can take control of his life. Socrates believed that the ability to ask, to examine, and to understand would make a life whole. He believed that the purpose of life was to grow, both physically and spiritually. Being able to explore and understand would lead to a deeper understanding of the world around us as well as a deeper understanding of ourselves. (Plato 46) Socrates felt that, above all, one should be a good citizen and always do the right thing (Plato 18). However, many in his time did not worry about doing what was correct. Socrates realized this, and understood that they did not care to look into their actions and beliefs. Their first thoughts were on the goals that they had, such as money and pleasure, rather than the thought of whether or not the goals they held were actually what should have been considered important and right (Plato 26). Socrates knew that, unless they took the time to question their lifestyles, they would never do the right thing. By living a life that was being examined, the citizens would be living a life that was, for the most part, also right. Socrates Personally, I have found great value in examining the wisdom of many acts in my life, yet there are many types of people in this world, and if some do not ponder the wisdom of their actions much at all, must we (or particularly they) conclude their life is less worth living? It seems awfully condescending. The people who don’t examine their lives much probably aren’t examining Socrates statement. If they did, they might object to the interpretation with which it is adopted by philosophers. The live in which I let other people tell me what the questions of life are, the life in which I let other people give me their answers without my thinking through to my own answers, is the unexamined life. Socrates is saying that the life in which I ask my own questions and answer them for myself in a reasonable manner is a more valuable life than the unexamined life. The examined life is so much better than an unexamined life that Socrates is willing to die for that value. Through out generations, mankind has been asking themselves what is the purpose of life. And obviously, it would not easy for one alone to answer or explain what the meaning of life is. Nevertheless, ones life is monotonous if it is meaningless, and it is not monotonous if it has a purpose, a target to go. Thus, the question here is how one knows that his life is worth living or not? Socrates, the father of ancient philosophy, once stated, An unexamined life is not worth living. In order to make one life becomes worth to live, this famous statement strongly addresses that one must exanimate himself first and then others in the society to find the meaning and happiness of life. After reading Platos account of Socrates defense, the Apology, I was completely blown away by the power of Socrates words and ideas. The reading left me thinking about how I felt regarding what he had said about virtue, truth and the quest for both. In class, we discussed Socrates search for virtue and we touched on the topic of this paper: the reasons Socrates believed that the unexamined life is not worth living for man. It is my opinion that he is correct in that view and in this paper I intend to show you why. Like many philosophers alive in his time, it was Socrates belief that virtue could only be attained through examination. Only through exploration can you really understand what virtue is, and begin to act virtuously. Understanding, as well as sharing, this information was very important goal to Socrates. The significance of examining and understanding our lives is far greater than one might think. Understanding and comprehending the behavior of friends, as well as of ourselves, enables us to have empathy and compassion for them. And, allows us not to stand in judgment, which, in turn, allows us to live the moral, noble lives that Socrates spoke of. As one analyzes the â€Å"Apology† by Plato, one is able to analyze and contrast and most people would agree with Socrates when he claims that â€Å"†¦the unexamined life is not worth living†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . From a more personal standpoint I would completely agree with Socrates point of view, due to the fact most of us in society have chosen to live the â€Å"unexamined life† for centuries and as a result we live in a society where one has to live segregated from our freewill as human beings as well as a society that is restrained by rules and other types of social â€Å"walls†. When one reads and is able to contrast Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† it clearly shows a great and perhaps the most clear example of the point that Socrates was attempting to make to the jury, in the â€Å"Apology†. For example in Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†, Plato makes the reader visualize a cave where there are a great number of prisoners who are restrained and are faced staring at the wall where all they can see is shadow movements that are projected from a fire that is placed right behind these prisoners, and this fire is displaying false images from what appears to be images of the outside world. As the story proceeds, one of the prisoners manages to pe the cave and he walks outside into the real world and is able to see a completely different view of the real world and this prisoner is able to see a completely different image of the outside world, different from the images that the shadows inside the cave were exposing to the prisoners. What Socrates is implying is that if one decides not to discover thyself and attempts to focus more on material interest and the acquisition of personal power, one is capable of abusing this power to an extent where it may result in havoc and possibly the destruction of those who occupy the state, either emotionally or physically and all as a result of decisions that were not taken into consideration before being applied. What I was able to grasp from this quote that Socrates phrased is that one has the wisdom to accomplish anything in ones personal life, but one should able to find our soul and locate the wisdom that one contains inside the mind before one attempts to reach personal obstacles in life. the greatest good of all man is daily to converse about virtue. When the time for the exam came along I decided not cheat in the exam simply because I was going to have to live with a guilty conscious for quite sometime and although cheating on the exam appeared tempting at the time I still needed some time to myself and ponder about the decision that I had to make that was probably going to damage my personal morality as an individual. The part of the phrase that really caught my attention is when Socrates says . What Socrates is trying to make us see is that the more one speaks about virtue the more a person is able to learn about the virtues of ones personal life, or in other words we are able to acquire more knowledge of the human mind and its capabilities. I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself; but where I could do the greatest good privately to everyone of you , thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself , and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions. In my third semester in Santa Monica College I was taking a math class and during the first month of the semester I had already taken two exams and had failed on both, as a result before the day of the third exam arrived I was feeling somewhat nervous due to the fact that I was not prepared to take this exam. So as the moment was arriving for this exam, I began to ponder about idea of cheating in order for the results to go my way. When the escaped prisoner decides to go into the cave and attempts to explain to the other prisoners about what is really occurring in the outside world, the other prisoners decide to gain up on the liberated prisoner, because they were not prepared to see reality for what it really is, so they decided to chose to somewhat live the life of a social slave and not the life of a person who lives a life of freedom nor freewill. Another quote that Socrates applies in this story is when he quotes . The same thing goes for the unexamined life, sometimes we as a human being attempt to achieve a certain level of success in life and sometimes at the expense of others and although we may acquire success, we will always live with the conscious of such guilt that later on in life it is going to comeback and hunt us. The unexamined life is not worth living. (Apology, p. 41) Socrates held him self up to this standard by allowing the courts to take his life because they would not allow him to continue his quest set forth by the Oracle. An unexamined life would be just coasting through and not making any decisions or asking any questions. Socrates could not see a point in living if you were unable to ask questions and challenge your way of thinking. An examined life would be trying to understand your purpose and the current state of things. By examining your life, therefor understanding yourself, you will not be subject to actions motivated by passion or instinct. Socrates demonstrated this when Crito arrived at his jail cell with news that he could help Socrates escape. This was an event where they had to act quickly, however Socrates said Let us examine the question together, my dear friend, and if you can make any objection while I am speaking, make it and I will listen to you, but if you have no objection to make, my dear Crito, then stop now from saying the same thing so often, that I must leave here against the will of the Athenians. I think it important to persuade you before I act, and not to act against your wishes. See whether the start of our enquiry is adequately stated, and try to answer what I ask you in the way you think best. (Crito, p. 51) Socrates examines the situation with Crito instead of acting hastily. This example displays how dedicated Socrates was to his way of thinking, and helps explain Socrates actions in court. Meletus was the catalyst of this case brought against Socrates. Meletuss affidavit said Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and he teaches these same things to others. (Apology, p. 25) Socrates says all these claims are false and challenges anyone in the court to speak up if they are true. Socrates was also accused of corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods the city believed in but believing in his own gods. Socrates attacked each of these accusations point by point. To disprove the accusation that he corrupts the young he says They say: That man Socrates is a pestilential fellow who corrupts the young. If one ask them what he does and what he teaches to corrupt them, they are silent, as they do not know. (Apology, p. 29) To disprove the statement that he does not believe in the gods the city believes in, he starts to question the jury. Socrates states Does any man, Meletus, believe in human activities who does not believe in humans? Or in flue-playing activities but not in flute-players? (Apology, p. 32) Socrates sets up these analogies so he can compare them to the statements that he does not believe in any gods. Socrates then applies this analogy to himself by saying. Then since I do believe in spirits, as you admit, if spirits are gods, this is what I mean when I say you speak in riddles and in jest, as you state that I do not believe in gods and then again that I do, since I do believe in spirits. (Apology, p. 32) Socrates in his defense is trying to prove that Meletuss charges are blown out of proportion and they are wasting the courts time. Socrates is posed with the question Are you not ashamed, Socrates, to have followed the kind of occupation that has led to your being now in danger of death? (Apology, p. 33) Socrates replies Whenever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace. (Apology, p. 33) Socrates is saying when you dedicate your life or you strongly believe in a belief or subject no matter what the danger, you should still stand behind your beliefs. By doing this, you live an examined life. In Socrates case, if he were to accept the punishment of never practicing philosophy he would be living an unexamined life because he could just set aside his beliefs and move on through life. Socrates explains his passion for philosophy by saying Gentlemen of the jury, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practise philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet. (Apology, p. 34) The way Socrates explains himself to the jury, I see a man who truly believes in what he preaches. He demonstrates that he has lived an examined life, and even with the threat of death and an opportunity to escape death, he sticks with what he truly believes is right. He questions everything and will not accept ignorance. However I feel that since Socrates was at the age of 70 his fear of death was dramatically reduced. I think if he were younger he would have taken the opportunity Crito presented to escape, so he could continue his quest. Now the hour to part has come. I go to die, you go to live. Which of us goes to the better lot is know to no one, except the god. (Apology, p. 44).

Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Information

Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Information The purpose of financial statements is to give financial statements information about the change in financial position, financial performance and financial position of the organization. These can provide data use in decision making such as investment, credit and economic decision making which are useful for various users. There are seven main groups of users which are public, investors, lenders, employees, customers, supplies, government and other agencies and the needs of information is different for each group, for instance, employee will interest on the profitability, retirement benefits and employment opportunities and so on. Financial statement is supposed to relevant, reliable, understandable and comparable. In addition, financial statement may include other information, for example, the uncertainties and risks that influence the organization. Evaluation of the relevance, reliability, comparability and understandability Relevance is about the information that has the ability to influence the economic decisions of users. There are two main points relate to the relevance which are predictive value and confirmatory value. Predictive value can help users to measure the past, present or future performance. Confirmatory value can help users to confirm their past evaluations. The annual reports include ten-year statistics which have the recent ten-year figures. It includes profit and loss account, balance sheet and passenger services figures and so on. It can help the shareholders to confirm the past evaluations, measure the past performance and compare the relevance information at the same time. The annual reports embody a part of operating network with future extensions. In this part, the report has stated all properties that they are developing, constructing, planning and the properties that owned, developed and managed by them. It can help us to predict the present and future performance and verify the past evaluations. In the annual reports, we can find the CEOs review of operations and outlook. This part is the MTRs CEO taking about the MTR past performance which is good and which is bad, it also mentions the next year development of the MTR. It gives us a clear mind about the MTR what will do during the next year and briefly review the previous year performance. Reliability is about the information that is a complete and true representation. There are five major issues involve in reliability, free from material error, a faithful representation, neutral, prudent and complete. MTR use one of the big 4 accounting company that is KPMG. KPMG is a large international company and has a lot of auditing experience and professional staff. Therefore, shareholder can have a great confidence on the financial statements. On the other hand, the audit report state that the KPMG give a true and fair view that means the MTR reports are properly prepared with accounting standards which means the reports are free from material, faithful representation, prudence and complete. Also, the accounting firm is an independent audit firm which can fulfill the point of neutral. As a shareholder, we can have a great confidence on that reports, because it is accuracy and do not have any creative account. MTR is a public organization and it is managed by government. It has been required a high transparency that disclosure all information to public, such as, company policies, therefore, their information must be faithful, neutral, prudent and complete which are required by law. So, their information has a high reliability. From the view of shareholders, we can trust on it. The MTR have an internal audit team which is responsible for the internal control, project review, fraud investigation, due diligence and management review and so forth. It can help the MTR to give us a report that is reliable, free from material error, faithful, neutral, prudent. As a shareholder, we can have great confidence on the annual reports. Comparability is about the similarities and differences can be discerned and evaluated. There are two key matters include in the comparability which are consistency and disclosure. Inside the annual reports, we can find many figures that can give us to compare. Such as the Ten-Year Statistics, it includes ten years data for us to realize. We can see that the earnings per share are increased steadily each year from $0.81 per share in 2000 to $1.69 per share in 2009. Also, the profit is increased rapidly from $7,758 on 2006 to $15,182 on 2007. In addition, in the CEOs Review of Operations and Outlook part, it compare a lot of data, for example, the Average weekday patronage for the Domestic Service in 2009 was 3.5 million, which represents an increase of 0.9% over 2008 and the total revenue from property rental, property management and other businesses in 2009 was HK$2,928 million, an increase of 8.0% over 2008. Moreover, the financial statements have provided two years figures for us to compare which is 2008 and 2009. For instance, the Loans, other obligations and bank overdrafts is decrease significantly from $31,289 in 2008 to $23,868 in 2009 which decline 23.7%. The dividend per share is increase from 0.48 in 2008 to 0.52 in 2009 which increase 8.3%. From the figure that we have analysis above, we can see that the MTR profit is increase each year and the loan decrease each year, therefore, it is a signal for us continue to keep the share or investment more. Understandability is about the significance of the information can be perceived. There are two important points contain in the understandability, users abilities and aggregation and classification. Inside the annual reports, it contains a glossary part. In the glossary, it explains a particular domain of knowledge that uncommon, specialized or newly introduced. For example, operating margin means operating profit from railway and related businesses before depreciation and amortization as a percentage of the turnover and ordinary shares means ordinary shares of HK$1.00 each in the capital of the company and so forth. As a shareholder, it helps a lot during reading the annual reports, because not every shareholder also has that much professional knowledge. The annual report contains many picture, table and chart. An annual report is very thick, because it contains large information about the MTR performance. From the view of shareholder, if the reports are full text, it is hard for us to read it all, because it has a lot of words to read and understand. When reading the annual reports, it is not hard to find pictures, tables and charts, it can help us more easily to realize the information, especially the tables and charts, it convert the figures into a understandability form so that the readers can catch the main point easily. It also includes a content page and classifies similar data to similar group. When we look at content pages, it not only states the title but also state the number page which makes the shareholders more convenience to find the information what they need. This annual reports have different language version which can take care of different users, although this MTR is a Hong Kong organization, as a shareholders, I may be a foreigner and I can not read any Chinese words. Therefore, different language version is important as well. It is easy to find that the MTR annual reports have been prepared by two versions which are Chinese and English. Which one of the four qualitative characteristics of financial information is the most important? In my opinion, the reliability is the most important qualitative characteristic. If the financial statements are not reliable, the shareholders will not have any confidence on the MTR reports, because they feel that the financial statement information of the MTR is not faithfulness and truthfulness. Hence, they will not have any interest to realize the MTR reports, so that the objective of financial statement is invalid. Even though the annual reports has higher quality of relevance, comparability and understandability, but without reliability which will cause the shareholders and potential investors run away. In the opposite side, if the financial statements have a higher degree of reliability, the shareholders will have more confidence on the annual reports, because higher degree of reliability means the annual repot have meet the requirements of free from material error, a faithful representation, neutral, prudent and complete. When the reports meet those requirements, it attracts the shareholders stay and attracts more investors. When seeing the MTR annual reports, we can know that their reports have a good reliability. The MTR employ an external accounting firm which is KPMG to audit their accounting information, it fulfill the point of neutral. The audit firm also give a true and fair view to the MTR which means their information are faithful, complete, prudent and free form material error. From the above discussion, we can see that reliability is the most important qualitative characteristics in the financial statement. Conclusion During analysis the MTR annual reports, I know that the four qualitative characteristics have a great influence to shareholders. It has a significant impact on the decision making, because it can help them to understand, realize and build up the confidence on the MTR reports. The four qualitative characteristics also affect the shareholders invest or not. In my opinion, the reliability is the most important qualitative characteristic, it represents faithfulness and truthfulness. Shareholder will depend on it to decide whether those accounting information can trust or not, thereby to planning the investment decision. Word Count: 1553 words

Human Nature as Viewed by Thomas Hobbes and David Hume Essay -- Philos

Human Nature as Viewed by Thomas Hobbes and David Hume Thomas Hobbes in Chapter 13 of Leviathan, and David Hume in Section 3 of An Enquiry Concerning the Princples of Morals, give views of human nature. Hobbes’ view captures survivalism as significant in our nature but cannot account for altruism. We cover Hobbes’ theory with a theory of Varied Levels of Survivalism, explaining a larger body of behavior with the foundation Hobbes gives. Hume gives a scenario which does not directly prove fruitful, but he does capture selfless behavior. We will give Hobbes’ view of human nature as he describes it in Chapter 13 of Leviathan. We will then give an argument for placing a clarifying layer above the Hobbesian view in order to account for acts of altruism. Hobbes views human nature as the war of each man against each man. For Hobbes, the essence of human nature can be found when we consider how man acts apart from any government or order. Hobbes describes the world as â€Å"a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man.† (Hobbes mp. 186) In such a world, there are â€Å"no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.† (Hobbes mp. 186) Hobbes believes that laws are what regulate us from acting in the same way now. He evidences that our nature is this way by citing that we continue to lock our doors for fear of theft or harm. Hobbes gives a good argument which is in line with what we know of survivalism, and evidences his claim well. Hobbes claims that man is never happy in having company, unless that company is utterly dominated. He says, â€Å"men have no pleasure, (but on the contrary a great dea... ...vivalist instinct that involves self-preservation. Hobbes, however, is unable to explain altruism, thus we developed the Varied Levels of Survivalism as a layer above his theory. This modification allows for varying motives based on circumstances, all based on survival. Hume takes note of this altruistic tendency but he gives a scenario that is either inapplicable or he does not filter survivalism from humanity. Utilizing Hobbes’ survivalism, Hume’s generosity when capable, and the Varied Levels of Survivalism, we arrive at a viable theory of human nature and explanation of human behavior. Works Cited Hobbes, Thomas. (2001, October 30) "Leviathan" (1651). Available at: http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_hobbes/leviathan.html Hume, David, 1772 (reprinted in 2004) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (New York, Barnes and Noble)