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Significance Of Kantian Imperatives To Assess Moral Acts Philosophy

Significance Of Kantian Imperatives To Assess Moral Acts Philosophy – Immanuel Kant Essay

In Section II of Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant explains the capacity of will as practical reason–the ability to cause actions according to principles the agent represents to himself. For rational beings with the kind of will we have–one which does not automatically will in accord with reason–principles thought of as applying to the will objectively as a matter of rationality are represented in the form of imperatives. Kant draws a distinction between two kinds of imperatives: hypothetical and categorical. This paper is intended to identify the basic frameworks within which Kantian understandings of morality could be positioned and figured out logically. It also, somewhat critically, attempts to see how Kant envisages universalisable nature of moral acts and how this could be applied to definite situations. For instance there is a clear relation between reason or wills and moral and/or amoral acts and the naturKante of this relation, whether the former contradicts the latter in any manner, determines the universalisability of that given reason and the substantiating maxim. The paper also attempts to see specific instances that could take place in the contemporary time periods in order to make an evaluation of the same in the light of the Kantian perspectives of morality.

The main area of emphasis in this paper is categorical imperative. This paper is divided into four sections including this introduction. In the second section a discussion of hypothetical and categorical imperatives is undertaken in the light of some critical perspectives available. The third section discusses the formula of universal law under the maxim “Act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”. The fourth section undertakes discussion of a specific instance and the fifth section includes my concluding remarks.

Hypothetical and Categorical imperatives – Philosophy on Kant

According to Kant the fundamental principle of morality is an imperative or a command that provides definite direction regarding courses of action to be pursued. According to him:

. . . all imperatives command either hypothetically or categorically. The former present the practical necessity of a possible action as a means to achieving something else which one desires (or which one may possibly desire). The categorical imperative would be one which presented an action as of itself objectively necessary, without regard to any other end. (Kant 1989).

According to this definition the ends of an action determines whether the imperative is hypothetical or categorical. Thus a hypothetical imperative implies an instrumental relation between the means and the ends as is reflected in saying that ‘study well if you want to pass the examination’. Here the action that is, study, is related with the goal of passing in the examination in a conditional sense. On other hand if the action, rather than serving as a means to achieve some other ends, implies an end in itself the imperative is categorical and is a law of morality. That is, Kant, beyond any ambiguity makes the distinction between moral acts and hypothetical imperatives; that, moral acts cannot be seen as instruments to establish relationship with some other material desires or ambitions all of which are “selfish”. It is often noticed that Kant contrasts actions that respects moral laws with actions with some ulterior motive. In the Metaphysics of Morals he clearly states that selfish motives and other similar ends cannot be the starting point for. When human beings act on the basis of some ‘material maxim’ their actions are oriented more towards pleasure and happiness than towards fulfilling the moral laws (Kant 1909 (1788)).

The concept of categorical imperative has emerged as part of the Kantian project to provide a new formulation of morality rather than to create a new one. With regard to hypothetical imperative the only restraint on the will is rather simple and remains in the application of Kant’s ethics of principle “whoever wills the end, wills also the means in his power that are indispensably necessary thereto” (Kant 1989).

The significance of categorical imperative remains in the fact that it provides a criterion by which it is possible for any human being to distinguish with some amount of certainty the moral actions from actions that are amoral. While comparing with hypothetical imperative categorical imperative provides certain difficulties to the extent that it does not depend on any antecedent condition or of any successive end. This necessity unconditionally connects the will with the law. In order to resolve this difficulty Kant suggests considering the conception of a universal lawcategorical imperative does not involve any sort of conditions or formulas in it.

Apart from the law, the categorical imperative’s only demand is that its maxims should follow and conform to the universal law of morality. Since law contains no conditions to restrict it, in effect, the maxim of the action should conform to a universal law. In other words, the categorical imperative demands that a maxim of one’s action should be universal law. In order to clarify these claims Kant provides four examples of maxims-duties (suicide, false promising, noncultivation of one’s natural talents, and indifference to the misfortune of others- (Kant 1989) and shows how a maxim can be raised to the status of a universal law (ref). I shall discuss this point with a little elaboration in the next sections.

Philippa Foot (2007) challenges such clear cut distinctions made between moral acts and imperatives that are hypothetical. She does so by drawing from the general character of imperatives that assumes that certain acts ‘should be’, ‘ought to be’, or ‘must be’ done, or, in other words, statements with such injunctions. For Kant even an assertion that ‘it would be good to do or refrain from doing’ is an imperative as it has the power of a command of reason (154). Nevertheless even when imperatives are categorical, Foot argues, one may think about the rationality of such actions leaving sufficient space to reserve his decision to or not to follow them. To this is added the important fact that “moral judgments have no better claim to categorical imperatives than do statements about matters of etiquette” (156-157). Although Foot indeed does some reservations for her own critical perspectives regarding Kantian notion of moral acts and imperatives she, nonetheless, concludes that “Kant, in fact, was a psychological hedonist in respect of all actions except those done for the sake of the moral law, and this faulty theory of human nature was one of things that preventing him from seeing that moral virtue might be compatible with the rejection of categorical imperative” (157). She suggests that, though unintentionally, such a view of moral acts could be totally destructive of morality as “no one could ever act morally unless he accepted such considerations as in themselves sufficient reason for action” (157-158).

However Foot’s critique is not without its own loopholes. Take for instance, “answer an invitation in the third person in the third person’ is an imperative of etiquette, and it is not conditional” is an example that Foot deploys to show the difficulty in separating between imperatives concerning matters of morality and etiquette (156). This maxim does not apply to one only on the condition that one has some end that is served by being polite. But from a Kantian perspective this again is not categorical since it does not apply to us simply because we are rational enough to understand and act on it, or simply because we possess a rational will. Imperatives of etiquette apply to us because according to the prevailing customs our being, our presence and our personality are measured and appraised by standards of politeness, whether we accept those standards or not. Hence that provides sufficient condition why an imperative of etiquette should be followed and why such an imperative could not be considered as categorical in a Kantian sense.

This also leads our discussion to the question of reason and rationality as embedded within the complexities of moral, amoral and practical judgments, acts and, above all, imperatives. According to Korsgaard the ‘Will’ that Kant specifies is the practical reason and “since everyone must arrive at the same conclusions in matters of duty, it cannot be the case that what you are able to will is a matter of personal taste or relative to your individual desires” (Korsgaard 2007). For Kant it is the will that undergoes the moral and prudential evaluation of rational requirements than the acts that express the wills. Hence there is a direct equation between the wills or reason and the kind of imperative that commands its direction and functioning. Thus, in the context of categorical imperative, one has to assume that Kant’s presumption about reason and rationality has more to do with a metaphysical sense of reason in the absence of which one will end up with the conclusion that categorical imperative implies a failure of rationality which can never be the case. It is not the failure of rationality to not to opt for the means for the willed ends. As a matter of choice it then deliberately forsakes, or at least does not count on, the ulterior objects of life for some metaphysical principles that we term as moral laws and morality. In his Ground work for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant admits the difficulty “to identify with complete certainty a single case in which the maxim of an action . . . rested solely on moral grounds and on the person’s thought of his duty” (Kant 1989: 14). He repeats his caveat against coming under the trap of believing that we were guided by our sense of duty rather than a secret impulse of self-love masquerading as the idea of duty since we would like “to give ourselves credit for having a more high-minded motive than we actually have” (15).

The Formula of Universal Law

The first formulation of categorical imperative is “Act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”. Implicit in this formulation is the 1) a priori character of categorical imperative, 2) the test of prudence of reason and the wills, and 3) the rational nature of morality. I shall explain these three underlying notions briefly. The a priori nature of the categorical imperative is derived because Kant believes that morality must be based on such a universal law that precedes any simplified or even complex system of logic so that it becomes applicable to everyone regardless of inclination. The testability guarantees that the maxim one is acting upon is a maxim that anyone would have good reason to act on and one has a rational basis for this belief since the maxim could be universalized. This is precisely where the third implicit understanding is derived from that morality, for Kant, is rational so that one can freely give in without concerning too much about its consequences.

According to Korsgaard (2007) Universal Law test helps one to find out if one can will his maxim as a universal law of nature without contradiction. The contradiction he points out can arise in conception and in willing (541-542). She gives three possibilities for a contradiction to arise in this context.

The Logical Contradiction Interpretation arises when the action we are contemplating is the wrong action. Here the universal law is logically impossible and cannot be conceived at all. For Kant it is irrational to perform an action if the maxim behind it contradicts itself once made into a universal law. For instance it would be impossible to make a lying promise to borrow money in a universe where everyone acted on a maxim to make a lying promise to borrow money. The Teleological Contradiction Interpretationarise when we conceive of nature as a teleological system; as a system where organs, instincts or action-types have an end specific to them that is essential to their proper natural functioning. If the maxim contradicts ends of an action-type, organ or instinct, then it forbids the wrong action. The practical contradiction interpretation arises when the maxim describes an action that would be wrong if the universalization of the maxim results in a practical contradiction such that it defeats the purpose of the maxim (Korsgaard 2007: 544).

To provide an example let us consider a merchant who decides to cheat his customers. The maxim under consideration for him, while he makes his choice, is to ‘deceive your customer to make easy profits’. Now as we all know that the merchant is following a wrong principle as it wrong to deceive your customer. Therefore we can assume that an effort to find an apriori principle to justify his inclination is blocked from the beginning. But where does the block emerge from needs be explained apart from finding a replacement that could be universalized for the maxim already in possession. In this context we can clearly see that the person stands amidst the complexity of finding a maxim that could contradict his own inclinations. In other words, in order to overcome the block he needs to replace his maxim with something like ‘it is one’s duty to not to deceive one’s customer’. This in fact provides him a good enough reason to not to engage in practices that goes against his inclinations. Nevertheless the will still remains at a crossroad between principle and inclination in the sense that the former indicates how to reason about the latter. Thus it is not the inclination that provides him sufficient reason to be followed but, on the contrary, it is the principle or maxim that provides him sufficient reason to be followed. In other words his lack of any reason to follow his inclination is sufficient reason not to follow them. “The only reason there can be for the agent to go against all of his inclinations is his very lack of a principle endorsing them as good enough reason to go along” (Kant 1989: 68).

The above example is intended to show how Kant assumes amoral acts and the maxims to follow them cannot become universal laws and thus only moral acts has universal substantiation. That categorical imperative which is unconditional and a priori should also possess the quality of universalisablity. This universalisability of the maxim of categorical imperative, as the example shows, does distinguish immoral actions from the moral ones and proves the difficulty to universalize the reason that may accompany immoral actions.

Now let us consider a problem with determining morality with categorical imperative illustrated by the following example. Imagine that Erick stands to inherit millions of dollars when his grandmother dies, and he will get the money so long as he does nothing immoral. Erick strangles his grandmother, acting on the maxim “Use your own hands to make money.” Now in this instance although the act has the quality of being looked at as immoral on the first onset given the maxim behind it, that is make money with your own hands, it sounds logical and possesses the qualities of categorical imperative. Korsgaard in her article (2007) suggests that if a person formulated a maxim that said ‘if my baby cries constantly at night I will kill it in order to get some sleep’ there would be no logical contradiction involved in universalizing this maxim. She concludes that though “such an action is clearly immoral . . . the logical contradiction interpretation isn’t the best way to interpret the universalization test”.

Now let us see the instance in its full details. Although our initial analysis of the given instance in the light of Korsgaard’s comments sounds logical given the interpretations of categorical imperative and its universal character there seems to be some primary difficulties in arriving at such an easy conclusion. For example, if we go back to the basic definition of categorical imperative as it is given by Kant then we find the primary condition for an imperative to be categorical is its unconditional nature. That it should not be motivated by, nor oriented towards, any ulterior objects in life. Since all material wishes, even those that could be termed as good ones, is related with one’s love for him/her self categorical imperative could be viewed only on the basis of its disorientation with anything that is intended to bring pleasure or happiness in life.

This provides us with another twist to analyze the given instance which is still substantiated by a maxim that could be made a universal law. The difficulty here emerges from the fact that, at least in this instance, we have separated the universal nature of categorical imperative from that of its basic definition. That Korsgaard, just as many others in this context, seems to have arrived at on his conclusion not by looking upon the whole nature of categorical imperative but with reference to the qualities enumerated by Kant himself. In other words an instance cannot be analyzed solely on the basis of the test of universalisability when that instance does not even pass the initial test of what imperative is implicit in that particular instance or act.

In this case although Erick’s action has the backup of the maxim ‘make money with your own hands’ which in turn sounds justified and universal on even moral grounds, the fact that that maxim exhibits a conditional formula connecting definite means with definite ends does not qualify it as categorical imperative and thus cannot be qualified as a moral act according to Kantian perspective. This is applicable to even the example that Korsgaard has given in his article which relates the means that is, killing his baby with the ends, that is, getting good sleep. The imperative in both these instances is hypothetical rather than categorical.

Conclusion

The above arguments show the difficulties and also the possibilities that a Kantian analysis of morality implies. Despite the fallacies often attributed to categorical imperative and the difficulties it presents, the categorical imperative still stands relevant to arrive at conclusions in matters concerning morality. The fact that its explanations, as given by Kant himself, have all possibilities to contradict with each other does not dilute its strength in any sense. The problem, as we already saw in our last example, is more with interpretations of Kant’s own formulations. That any instance cannot be looked at solely from the perspective of any one of the qualities of categorical imperative, rather it should be thoroughly analyzed, weighed, and measured against the fuller complexities, remains a tough exercise even today. But if one were to undertake the task then it is an unquestionable fact that Kantian perspectives, especially that of categorical imperative, still provides a highly potential tool to make judgments with regard to matters of morality.

Read more: ON A SUPPOSED RIGHT TO LIE BECAUSE OF PHILANTHROPIC CONCERNS by Immanuel Kant

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Cultural Difference Between the US And China

Nowadays, it is hardly to pick up a newspaper and read without some articles which related to expansion of business to China. Nike was known as Blue Ribbon Sports which founded at the year of 1964. After that, a name Nike is used to replace the Blue Ribbon Sports at the year of 1978, because it represents Greek goddess of Victory. However, all of the Nike brand footwear and apparel are produced outside of United States. The main headquarter of Nike Incorporation is located at Beaverton, Oregon. The footwear and apparel are manufactured in China since it is the low-cost country source. China is preferred which due to some reasons as shown in following paragraphjdfjdfjdf.

First and foremost, China has a huge market base for investing. As according to the International Monetary Fund’s research, the China’s total population had rose from 1.29 billion to 1.36 billion at the years of 2003 and 2013 respectively. Thus, it shows that this is an advantage to manufacture Nike’s footwear and apparel at China without worry no customer will purchase it. Company will not make a loss if even only target on part of the population, and target based on the demographic which includes, age, gender, family, occupation, and races. The International Journal of Business and Management has been stated, main target markets of Nike are young people around 20 to 30 years old and middle-age people which in the range of 30 to 50 years old. Furthermore, young people can be classified low and middle income social class, whereas the middle-age people which comes from middle and high income social class. In China, Nike Incorporation is able to target high percentage population of young and middle-age people meaning success rate is higher than other country. Its success rate is proved by the 2010 census which has the fact about nearly 750 million people which is equal to two-thirds of China’s population is under age of 35. Their spending are much higher compare with other segmentation.

Moreover, manufacturing in China can enjoy cost benefit as compared to United States. This is due to Nike Incorporation having a comparative advantage which related to labor cost of China is more affordable than the labor cost in United States and Asia countries and can produced more quality product with the well- developed infrastructure. Let’s think on the side of Nike, the productivity and quality are almost the same however only require to pay a lower amount of wages. In addition, this money can be used for other purpose such as advertisement or Corporate Social Responsibility which help to build positive reputation for company. Since the factory located near to target customer, thus Nike Incorporation able to deliver the footwear or apparel on time, as a result, needs of target customers are satisfied quickly which in turn of increasing the loyalty from them. However, if the situation is like that, the customers need to wait a longer period for the merchandise, they will tend to switch to other competitor such as Reebok or Adidas, it is such a huge loss to Nike Incorporation, thus it can be in termed of cost benefit. Target on existing is much cheaper than target on a new segmentation.

Furthermore, economy condition of China is superior; it undergoes the rapid growth, and now is ranked as the world’s third largest economy. It still can undergo with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 9 percent when there is a world financial crisis in the year of 2008. In last year, there are around 8 percent of GDP. This reduced the worry and chance of getting loss because the consumers still want to purchase shoes even in recession period. The most important point is use a suitable marketing strategy and advertisement.

Last but not least, geographical location of the factory in China is much more strategic. Reduction of lead time since lot of component can get over there without export from United States to China. Or else, can have a good bargain from the supplier. Besides that, product can be marketed more rapidly than the competitor in order to gain the market share.

ANALYSIS OF GAINS AND SHORTCOMINGS

Entering into a foreign market is like discovering new territory for business owners. Foreign countries have different laws, economies, business strategies and currency. Cultural differences can also significantly influence a company’s success. So, analyze the relevant gains and shortcomings of entering into foreign countryis essential for any entrepreneur intent to expand into foreign markets. There are several great advantages of China.First, economy condition of China is superior which has a more developed and balanced industry than many developing countries, a result of China’s much faster growth rate in manufacturing since the 1950s. In 1980, when India and China were more or less equal in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, China already enjoyed a powerful advantage in manufacturing. (Au Loong-Yu, 2007) As economy condition of China is stable and the GDP is growing, it enables the foreign company, Nike who entering into China market growing as well. China has a great economic growth rate is due to the availability of natural resources allows Nike who operate their business in China to produce their product efficiently and effectively.

bvhjjjnmnmSecondly, it cannot be denied that China is a huge country with a population of 1.3 billion (Jeffery, H. 2008) which greatly magnifies the advantages of effective growth and sophisticated manufacturing in China. It produces the benefit of economy of scale. The 2009 China Business Report released by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai shows that U.S. enterprises view China as their major investment destination country due to its huge domestic market. (People’s Daily Online, 2010) Once again, huge domestic market in china also boasts billions of potential consumers for everything from pharmaceuticals to footwear, cars, and clothing. In short, Nike can develop huge and lucrative customer base by entering to China market since China has huge population. Furthermore, this can potentially boosts Nike’s sales and revenue, gains a larger profit margin, and allows Nike to realize economies of scale. This can prove from a research with shows that during the 2011 fiscal year, Nike Greater China’s earnings before interest and tax were USD777 million, a year-on-year increase of 22%. (ChinaRetailNews.com, 2011)

Thirdly, it is cost effective to entering into China market. Since China’s population is more than 1.3 billion and the country boasts to have larger human resources than any other countries. As a result, China’s low product and labour costs are well known. Today, when a manufacturing industry needs labour-intensive, value-added services, Chinese suppliers and logistics service providers are capable of responding. Since Chinese labour costs a fraction of US labour, it is extremely cost effective for Nike to manufacturing its products at China rather than at its origin country. As the population increases, China will have the greatest number of professionals which enable Nike to hire Chinese professionals with lower wages as compare with US professionals because the average wage rate in China is only 2.1% that of the United States. (RIETI, 2002) Decreasing overhead through manufacturing in China is a valuable resource for Nike. Cutting costs by employing workers at a reduced rate or paying less for plant operation allows Nike to invest the additional profits into other areas of the business such as advertising to build brand awareness, thereby increasing the potential for company growth. Besides, Nike is able to more efficiently produce its product and reduce costs due to manufacturing its product in China. The average hourly manufacturing compensation for China in 2004 was about 3 percent of the average hourly compensation costs of $22.87 for production workers in the United States for the same year. (Erin Lett and Judith Banister, 2006.) This enables Nike to price its brand at a competitive rate with other companies that sell a similar product.

In the Political aspect, China is not a free-market economy in which the allocation for resources is determined only by their supply and the demand for them. Adversely, China has an authoritarian communist government which is a risk associated with doing business in China. While China is a quickly emerging economy it still is a Communist nation. China employ some of the same terms and strategies as capitalist markets, political control is everywhere.A concern for many businesses is corruption of Chinese officials and lack of legal security in Chinese courts.The shortcoming for Nike to entering into China market is there are many restriction place on them and they only have very little freedom when operate their business in China. Cultural differences are another risk for Nike to entering into China market since the culture of US people with China has a huge different. In addition, most of the foreigners are not exposed to the Chinese culture, thus they do not know what are the preferences and needs of the Chinese consumers. In addition, China encompasses a wide range of cultures, climates and peoples, so Nike will encounter a wide range of development and industrial strengths. The way of doing things can be varying even within this single country. Nike may face the difficulties in satisfying the needs of their wide-range customers in every segment due to the customers in each region will have its own specific needs that will not always overlap with other parts of the country. For example, there is a huge cultural difference between China’s northern and southern regions. Northern Chinese are vigorous and unrestrained; impetuous and straightforward. In comparison with northern Chinese, the southerners are gentle and delicate; patient; reserved. (Renita Lin, 2011)

Another risk may facing by Nike to entering into China is Chinese consumers have a strong sense of national and local pride. The Chinese consumers have a very strong national pride and they like to be associated with their nationality and country. They often prefer to deal with local, Chinese-ru

n companies rather than western enterprises. Hence, the Chinese consumers are very supportive of their local products and they may refuse to buy foreign products. Hence, Nike may face difficulties in this manner and may have a hard time trying to market their products to the Chinese consumers because their products may seem too unfamiliar and foreign. For example, China people may loyal to Warrior which is a brand of athletic shoes from china, founded in Shanghai. Warrior brand athletic shoes is the pride of China, because he Warrior trademark was identified as the most famous trademark of Shanghai city and in 1999 it was recognized as a well-known trademark throughout China. “Warrior” footwear products have won the national silver medal of quality many times. (Lianzhi Ma, 2013) Warrior brand is today one of the People’s Republic of China’s most recognisable creations. (warriorshoes.com) In short, Chinese consumer may support and prefer Warrior shoes rather than Nike shoes.

China facing a serious issue of failed to sufficiently enforce intellectual property laws. Therefore, another risk facing by Nike of doing business in China is the likelihood of facing patent violations and piracy. Idea theft is serious issues in China, and it extends far beyond DVDs and software. Not only is this a problem for companies engaged in buying and selling goods, but it can impact manufacturers who may unwittingly use counterfeit materials. However, one concern for many companies considering entry into the China market is imitation. If you’re selling a good product with well-known brands, someone in China will imitate it. So, it is useless for Nike to spent tens of millions of dollar building their brand in China, because there is a high probability for them to regularly see imitation of their products appearing throughout the country. Nike may faces the problem that others China producers will imitate their products and sell those counterfeit Nike products in much cheaper price in the market. This will cause Nike loss of market share, a drop in sales and perhaps destroys the reputation of Nike in consumer’s mind. For example, Nike brand may become a cheap brand in the eyes of a consumer who buys a shoddy counterfeit without any awareness that it is fake brand.

http://gbtimes.com/focus/business/warrior-sports-shoes-retro-style-just-wont-go-out-fashion

http://www.warriorshoes.com.au/history/

RECOMMEND RELEVANT STRATEGIES

We found that there are some risks to go in china market, so we also recommended some point to increase the ease to go in china market. According to the analysis the risk may face by the Nike when they entering to the China is Chinese customers have a strong sense of national and local pride. In order to make the Chinese customers feel more reliable on the Nike product is through the corporate social responsibility. Recently, all of the societies are very concerning about the corporate social responsibility from the companies towards the society. Nike has start doing the corporate social responsibility since year 2000 but the amount of corporate social responsibility done by Nike incorporation is not enough to make society aware of their contribution. Corporation social responsibility is type of activity that the company contributing their effort to the environment, society and people. For example, provide scholarship for student, charity programs and plantation activities in the city. It will improve reputation of the company, generate more sales and increase consumers’ awareness towards the environment. As we know that Chinese consumers at China have a strong sense of national and local pride. So Nike incorporation can contribute more effort in China to let the consumers aware of their brand are putting some much effort to the society and to reduce the distance between Nike with the market and also reduce the local pride toward Nike. If the consumers know Nike incorporation is contributing so much to theirs society, they sure willing to try Nike’s product. Consumers are smart, will know Nike incorporation have good image in the market, they will contribute their profit to the people and society. In addition, Nike incorporation also has the manufacturing factory over China. Most of the Asia’s footwear, apparel and equipment are producing at the China manufacturer side. The products are label made in China, it will make the consumers feel more reliable on the products which are from their own country.

Secondly, the cultural difference between US and China is the risk for Nike to entering into China market. Nike incorporation can find out the uniqueness of the China culture and needs. China is a potential market for Nike incorporation it is because China has a huge number of populations in the world. China’s background is totally different with western country. So the easier and safety way to understand more about the China preferences and needs is hire local people as their consultant. Consultant will directly let us know about the taste of the local people. They also will provide information for company about the culture differences between western country and China. This will also reduce the strong local pride inside the customer mind, because as you do more research and understand the cultural of them, they will feel the relationship between the company was more closer to them. This way will help company save cost and time to understand the needs of the local people. Then Nike just can design the products which can suit for their taste. For example, Nike can introduce or emphasize on red series colour of Nike’s product before Chinese New Year Festival. As we know that, red colour symbolize for Chinese is good luck. Nike incorporation also can add the characteristics of Chinese as part of design. This type of design not only can attract young teenagers, adult also will like it. Chinese is the race always takes care of their religious and traditional. In order to understand more about the culture references, Nike also can through conduct survey or questionnaires in the public places. From the survey we can know the favorites style of different level customers and what the consumers desire to have on their sportswear and equipment. The analyses of the survey will make the Nike product closer to their culture.

Thirdly, Nike incorporation can also have a product line extension strategy to extend their product to be more variety. A product line extension strategy can help Nike incorporation to boosts their profit through the sale of different product and it also can reduce the risk in one of the product had failed there are numerous other products to compensate for the loss. Nike can doing this to increase the target markets and any other segment that Nike had not targeted and also provide many other choices to satisfy the needs of wide-range customer in every segment that the customer will have their own specific needs. Nike incorporation mostly designs footwear for athletic purpose. In my opinion, a large percentage of sales that Nike incorporation may gain are from the sales of footwear, apparel, accessories for casual and leisure purposes. So, Nike incorporation can increase their product in a variety of way. Nike incorporation must clearly understand and analyze on some aspect, which are the needs, physiology, design preference and trend of choices of all target market. Secondly, Nike incorporation may also extend their products and also have more choices for their target markets by offering a variety of products like Nike racket, all kinds of balls, watches, eyewear, and so on. Nike incorporation may also provide every type of sports equipment such as soccer, football, basketball, tennis, golf, all kinds of sport to the market. Nike incorporation may also have their products through children’s clothing, school supplies, electronic media devices, and other items that under NIKE brand name. The more Products in the market, can lend to the higher choices to the customers, higher satisfaction and expectation to a customer, higher recognize of the brand name of the company to a customer, higher market share in the market, as long as maximize the company’s profit.

On the other hand, from the analysis we get to know Nike facing difficulties in satisfying the needs of their wide range customers. So, Nike incorporation can expand the customize product to be more variety and services to more areas. Nike’s customize product services is which the interest customers can create their own preferences and colour on their own footwear, apparel or equipment. We seldom can get this type service in the market. Nike’s customize product only available at US, Japan, Europe and China only and the customize product factory is located at US. They may be can locate their customize product manufacturing plant at China. It can help the China’s customers save the shipping cost and they are able get theirs products in a shorter time. They may expand the delivery services products area so more of the interest customers can make their order through online. If the customize product manufacturing locate in China is not only beneficial to the China’s customers even Asia customers also can gain the advantage same with the China’s customers. Asia seldom get this type of customize sportswear services yet. This unique idea can help Nike’s incorporation generate more profit and attract more teenagers who like to seek for unique clothing and footwear to try on their products. Even though Nike is providing chances to customers can customize their shoe which is different from others. But, they only provide limited selection of the pattern, design and colour for customers. So, customers may be can’t really enjoy to play with the style of what they want they shoe to be. Nike incorporation can improve their customize services system to be more advance to help customers own theirs desire products. They can provide different type of surface quality of shoe which can satisfy different needs of customers. Nike incorporation also can design variety shape of the shoulder bag since main target market of Nike incorporation are the young teenagers. Even the height of the shoe also can let the customers to choose it.

tdgfhgjkLast but not least, to reduce the patent violation and piracy, Nike incorporation can also have some method to reduce such as a well-planned inventory management strategy. Inventory control is the supervision of supply, storage and accessibility of item in order to ensure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply and also ensure the accuracy of sending goods to the sellers. A well-planned inventory management can reduce the chance of imitation from other and clearly identified the authority of sellers selling their products and also increase the credibility to the customers. As a seller, it is your job to ensure that the products that require by customer are in the stock and also not a counterfeit product, if not, you will lose your loyalty customer and it will definitely affect the sales of your company. So Nike can also add product identification inside every product that they made. Nike should make a symbol or anything in their products that only unique to Nike incorporation. Nike must also ensure that their products are only selling in their own retail shop but not all shop lot in the street. Nike should also manage product waste and also damaged inventory because counterfeiters will always get from scrap yards, waste repositories or reclamation centers. With implement these strategies to reduce the violation and piracy, it can let the customers easy define of every product, increase the credibility from the customers, increase the satisfaction from the customer, increase the trust to the company and also maximize company profits.

CONCLUSION

After we have done all the analysis, we know that Nike may face many challenges while expand their business to China such as political, environmental, economic, social and technological forces. There are gains and shortcomings in expand their business to China. However, we still suggest that Nike should enter into China because we found that there are many advantages for Nike expand to China.

As a final point, Nike should improve on their strategies as different country has different culture. Nike should also put more effort to China market since there have huge population and high growth rate. In order to get more market share in future, Nike should improve with more varieties to suit global cons

umers’ unlimited needs and wants. Moreover, different country may have different needs and wants, therefore Nike must have a full research on its target market needs and wants before enter into China.

From this overall research we done, we are confident that Nike will be successful in entering into low-cost country such as China by using those strategies that we suggested.

In a nutshell, using an appropriate expansion strategy is very important for Nike enters into low-cost countries and it cannot be ignored.

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TEN THINGS STUDENTS SHOULD NEVER POST IN FACEBOOK

In this modern era, most of the people are popular with the word ‘Facebook’ whereby they using it in their daily lives. Facebook is also known as free social networking which allows the users to create their own profile, upload videos and photos, send messages and keep in touch with friends and family. Not only that, there are some prons and cons of using this facebookgfdfdf.

But these days, social media comes with great responsibility, whether you’re just starting high school or finishing up college. There are ten things students should never post in facebook, which is posting your personal details in facebook is the first main point that students should never do. If you are posting this information in facebook , then you are definitely under security risk. For an example, you have address in your profile and updating a status like you are going out for a vacation with family, will turn to be feast for thieves.

Racial jokes also one of the important point that students should never post in facebook and beware of it. The students might having the thought that the racially charged jokes are hilarious. But they should remember that everyone in your list will not feel in the same way. Moreover, never rely on privacy settings fully, although most major social networking update you with privacy improvement , the changes are too frequent too follow and get complicated.

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Furthermore, posting all your nudes pictures might take you under the risk. It is because people might misuse your pictures to create a fake profile or blog. No matter how you love your body the world does not need to see it, and you have to take the full responsibilities of your privacy. On the other hand, students should not post about their life drama or relationship drama on the facebook. If you are in a complicated relationship or breakup in your relationship, you should keep it secretly to yourself rather than telling the whole world about your relationship. It is because can help to protect you from unnecessary problems and incriminating drama.

5-things-you-should-neverCredit card or financial information is the most important point that I have pinned point. For an example, people post the pictures of their credit card or revealing your birth of date also have the chance for the hackers to access to your financial information. Besides that, gossip about friends , family, and your teachers by updating the status in the facebook. This is not the right way to treat the people whom you don’t like, because it is a such a insulting for them. For an example, using all kinds of vulgar words indirectly by updating the status of them on the facebook.

Article Credits: Steph Bucks

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Sexually Motivated Serial Killers

Sexually Motivated Serial Killers

Sexual serial killers are usually very charismatic and can easily persuade their victims to go with them no matter the situation. They usually start as sex offenders. These types of serial killers are usually married and have children. They have a history of sexual and physical abuse during their childhood. It is thought that sexual serial killers have “mommy issues,” since their father had left when they were young, leaving the mother in charge of the caring. It is unknown if sexual serial killers were obsessed with pornographic images, but they enjoy living out their sexual fantasies that lead to murder. They usually only commit their fantasies on women, mainly prostitutes (Pakhomou, 2004).

There are two types of sexual serial killers, organized and disorganized with both usually leave a signature (Knight, 2007). Organized sexual serial killers plan their kills, by choosing a particular victim. As if they are stalking their pray. Watching their soon victims closely, choosing a particular kill destination, and a place to leave the dead body; usually in areas they know well. The disorganized sexual killers do not take the time to plan everything. They usually choose their victims on a whim. They tend to kill in areas that may be unfamiliar to them.

Sexual serial killers live in a world of negative and positive. The negatives do outweigh the positives, but it is uncertain how much or if this is even true. Sexual serial killers grew up with constant trauma, and being born of prostitutes (Knight, 2007). These types of killers tend to hide their “weaknesses.” They hide behind a mask of psychopathic narcissism of severe aggression.

Sexual serial killers enjoy inflicting pain upon their victims, they enjoy watching their victims struggle and cry for help. These killers “get off” on the pain they inflict, but many times, just the act of the torture that sexually arouses the killer. In some cases, the killer starts by molesting, raping, and then murdering their victims. These killers usually have obvious underlying sexual conflicts. Most of the time the killing itself is sexually gratifying (Schlesinger, 2004).

According to Schlesinger (2004), many sexually motivated killings are hard to define. First, there is no general definition to sexual serial killing. Second, many murders are labeled as sexually motivated, but actually are not, vice versa. Third, many statistics of the actual number of sexual murders have not been kept. Fourth, many of these offenders’ records are not accurate since these killers refuse to cooperate when it comes to talking about their history.

To the naked eye sexual killings seem to be motiveless, but theorists believe that there was some sort of motive. In the research, many theorists stated the motive was a seeking or revenge. Since many of these serial killers were brutally dominated growing up, they sought out women who tend to look similar to their mothers and wanted the sense of dominating them. It is still uncertain if this is true for motivation since it is often incomplete and inaccurate. These killers tend to lie and manipulate the people who interview them (Schlesinger, 2004).

Impulsive and Ritualistic

According to Hazelwood and Warren (2000), sexual crimes can be committed against a person, object, or an animal. Most of the sexual serial killers chose to act out their violent sexual fantasies against children, the elderly, or victims around their own age. These people usually only commit homosexual crimes or heterosexual crimes, they usually do not mix between the genders. These killers tend to feel no remorse or guilt after their sexual killing. They develop fantasies that seem complex, once the fantasy in their head no longer turns them on; they tend to want to act out their aggressionsbrain-share.

The impulsive sexual serial killer is the most common, but seems to be the less successful. The opportunistic and angry offenders tend to have the situation unplanned and usually have little sexual fantasy behind their motives. The impulsive sexual serial killer is motivated by their sense of entitlement and that everything within his or her environment is for the taking. This form of sexual serial killer tends to collect pornographic videos of a theme of bondage or rape. They prefer acting out on their lovers or choosing prostitutes as their victims, until that no longer fulfills them. This sort just wants control over their victims, but it is uncertain if the impulsive sexual killer is involved with paraphilic behaviors (Hazelwood et al, 2000).

The ritualistic sexual serial killer is lest common, but has more success and more difficult to identify. They hold the same motivation as the impulsive killer, such as anger, power, and control. This form of sexual serial killer has paraphilic behaviors; they tend to be interested in sexual fantasies that involve some sort of control (bondage, voyeurism, and sadism). They tend to be socially withdrawn from society, and when they do speak with others, they have a form of awkwardness in the social interactions. Many tend to be very charming and gregarious, to make it easier to charm their way into their victim’s lives. Many of these forms of sexual killers are much-respected members in their communities (Hazelwood et al, 2000).

Many of these sexual serial killers prefer similar victims. Meaning they hold similar characteristics. They prefer younger victims between the ages of 18 to 22, thin, and usually with shorter hair. Many sexual serial killers preferred victims that no one would be missing. They would recreate the situations from their sexual fantasies, and keep their victims as sex slaves until they no longer wanted them, then they would kill their victims. Many of these killers have no prior criminal record, and if they do, it is usually for sexual offenses, such as child molestation (Hazelwood et al, 2000).

Relationship to Victims

In some cases, the offender’s relationship to the victim is asymmetrical; it can involve stalking and possible voyeurism. The offender usually does not know their victim personally, and the victim does not know the offender. There are cases where the offender and victim have a mild relationship, meaning they maybe neighbors, work friends, or even have chatted at a bar. Sexual serial killers tend to kill within their own race. Many prefer victims in the average age of twenty-five, with male victims being in their younger twenties and females in their mid-twenties (Pakhomou, 2004).

According to Pakhomou (2004), there are three categories to victim relationships with the offender. The first is the no established relationship, which is the most common. This is also referred to as the ‘stranger.’ The victim just met the offender for the first time, both are not aware of each other’s backgrounds. They also know nothing of each other’s current life situations. The victims are usually picked up in a bar situation.

The second is the rudimentary relationship. This is also known as the ‘acquaintance.’ The victim and the offender have only known one another for a few days, maybe a short time longer. They are aware of each other’s whereabouts. They may even know a little bit about each other’s history, weather it may be true or not. This makes it easier to locate the victim, when the time comes for the sexual killing.

The third is the established relationship, also known as ‘correlative.’ This is where the victim and the offender have known each other for more than a few months, maybe even years. The offender and victim know a great deal about each other’s backgrounds. The offenders know the details where they work and hang out on a regular basis. This makes it easier to perform the sexual killings, since the offenders know more details.

Many of these victims were solicited to have sex with the offenders and/or lured by an offer of drugs. They prefer to kill people they do not have feelings for or complete strangers. Sexual serial killers never kill the ones they are close to; they may get violent sexually on their loved sexual partner. Their partner may think it is just normal “kinky” sex and not expect any true harm. Usually after the killer does have sexual relations with their sexual partner, the killer will leave the house in search of a murder victim to perform their true sexual acts for murder (Pakhomou, 2004).

Location Choice

It is believed from movies that sexual serial killers tend to kill mostly in places unknown to them. This is far from the truth; many tend to commit crimes in the areas that are well known to them. There are two types of sexual serial killers when it comes to location: the outdoorsmen, who perform their crimes exclusively in the outdoors. There is also the indoorsmen, as one can guess, performs their crimes indoors. A few are both the outdoorsman and the indoorsman (Pakhomou, 2004).

According to Snook, Cullen, Mokros, and Harbort (2005) sexual serial killers prefer to select victims near their homes. On average, the victim was picked up about 2 miles from the offender’s home. The body usually recovered about 15 miles from the offender’s home. The offender’s would hardly exceed more than 13 miles from home to picking up a victim. They also would not exceed over 25 miles for the body drop off point. When the killings become more, the bodies seem to move closer to the offender’s home.

The majority of sexual serial killers are organized killers; they tend to use vehicles to pick up their victims and to drop off the bodies. The disorganized killers rarely use vehicles and drop off the bodies near their homes, maybe in their own house. Many offenders learn from their past criminal acts. Some tend to venture as far as they can from their homes so not to be recognized in their own neighborhoods. The younger offenders have concentrated locations to commit their crimes and tend to kill closer to home (Snook et al, 2005).

It is found that the more intelligent sexual serial killers will travel farther away from their homes to drop of the body than ones who had lower IQs. Many of the higher IQ offenders are more organized in their planning on where to commit the act and to dispose of the body. The older ones tend to leave the bodies much closer to their homes.

Examples of Sexual Serial Killers in History

serial_killersPeter Kurten, also known as the Vampire of Dusseldorf (1913-1929), started as a child sadist. He would strangle and rape his female child victims, then after he would cut their throats. He would be charged with nine murders and seven attempts. He was said he would kill and rape anything that would move. The defense counsel described him as “the king of sexual delinquents, uniting nearly all perversions in one person, killing everything he found” (Castleden, 2005).

Fritz Haarman, Vampire of Hanover (1919), would go out at night picking up homeless and jobless boys. He would feed then as if they were his personal pets, but then would sexually abuse them. He would only murder a few of them when they did not expect it, only after biting their necks. After murdering the boys, he would then butcher them and cook their flesh, making pies out of them. Haarman trusted one other person to help him in selecting the victims, Hans Gans. It took a long while before police would look at Haarman as a suspect in the killings, for he was a trustable informant for the police department. It is said that Haarman raped and killed between 30 and 40 young boys (Castleden, 2005).

Gilles de Rais (1420-1440), at the age of sixteen he started to commit sexual killings. His victims were mainly young boys, with a few female victims. He would sodomize these boys before he would decapitate them. Most of all he enjoyed watching his servants butchering the children’s bodies. He was charged with at least 800 sexual murders of children (Castleden, 2005).

Albert Fish (1930s) was one of the oldest sexual serial killers. In over a period of twenty some years it is estimated that Fish sexually molested over 400 children. Fish admitted he committed so many sexual murders that he could not remember how many he committed. He was known to be found, by his son, naked and beating himself with a board covered in nails. Doctors took x-rays of his body and found he had inserted needles into his body and left them there (Castleden, 2005).

John Wayne Gacy (1968-1978), better known as Pogo the Clown who thought he was four different people. He freely admitted to sexually molesting, raping, and murdering 33 boys and young men. He noticed a sexual attraction to young men after he married his first wife in 1968 and started to become an aggressive homosexual. After he would molest and rape these young men, he would strangle or stab them to death. He then would hide the bodies in a crawl space in his house using a strong chemical to decompose the bodies faster (Castleden, 2005).

Fred and Rose West (1967-1994) a husband and wife sexual killer team who started sexually assaulting young girls. In most of the cases, they were cleared of charges because key witnesses would not testify. The West’s would cut off the fingers and toes of most of their child victims, when it came to start killing their victims. Their first known victim was Fred’s own eight-year-old daughter from his first marriage; they would tie, gag, and rape her. After that, they would begin their killing after realizing their victims were telling about the gruesome details they would be put through. There were a possible thirteen sexually murdered victims (Castleden, 2005).

Conclusion

There are many similarities with sexual serial killers. Many serial killers have an average IQ, they grow up with some sort of abuse in the home, and they have mother issues. It is rare that sexual serial killers are older than middle age; they usually are aged between the mid-twenties to early thirties. Sexual serial killers start by molesting children before they start adding murder to the equation. It is more common for sexual serial killers to be organized, since they can go many years before they become caught, they take time to think about where to pick up the victim, and what to do with the body.

The impulsive sexual serial killer is the more common of killers, since they pick out victims that would never be missed or young children and need to act when the victim is available. They tend to invite them to their house with charming, persuasive manners. This does not make sense since to be impulsive one has to be disorganized. It is not clear how a killer can be organized and impulsive. One thing is for sure, sexual serial killers hide behind a mask of terror, to hide from their childhood pain and dis-acceptance from their society.

Many sexual serial killers tend to know their victims without their victims knowing who they are. It is more common for the offender and the victim to be complete strangers, with the offender just knowing certain details from stalking. They tend to kill victims who are either their own race or whatever race is available to them. If they know their victim, they tend to be just violent sexually with them in acts of bondage. They would usually never kill ones they care for; many of their lovers never knew they were committing such acts.

It is proven that sexual serial killers find their victims not far from their residence. A few will travel away from home in fear of being caught. Sexual serial killers will hide the bodies closer to home than they travel to retrieve them. The bodies are usually only at farthest a few miles away from where they reside, the closest kept in their own home. It is rare to be attacked by a serial killer, but one thing is for sure, they are madmen and madwomen who hide themselves in darkness, thinking killing will rid of their demons.

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English Literature Essay: Epic Of Gilgamesh Analysis

gjlgamesh 2 lipAncient history tells many stories – some created on fantasy and some based on truth. Ancient Mesopotamia has its own share of stories and many of these tales focus on a man named Gilgamesh. The “Epic of Gilgamesh,” tells this man’s life story. Throughout the tale, Gilgamesh struggles with the concept of his own mortality and refuses to believe that his life will come to an end. Being two-thirds god, he perceives himself as a god-like creature. Ultimately however, Gilgamesh gains wisdom on his journey to discover immortality and painfully realizes that his goal is unattainable. His grim outlook on life forces him to accept his worst fear – that someday he will die.

In Gilgamesh’s youth, he was a ruler and was, for the most part, praised by the inhabitants of the city of Uruk. At this time, death did not concern him. He lived as if he were invincible. Later in the epic, a powerful man named Enkidu shows up in Uruk and helps put Gilgamesh’s power into balance. Together Enkidu and Gilgamesh set out on adventures and achieve many feats; however, one cannot forget why Enkidu was created in the first place. Enkidu was sent to Gilgamesh because his power was overstepping its bounds and “Gilgamesh would not leave [young girls alone]” (“The Epic of Gilgamesh” 50). Although overall a popular ruler, Gilgamesh is at one point portrayed as a demanding ruler that disregards the wishes of his subjects and rapes women as he pleases. In this regard, does Gilgamesh deserve immortality in the first place? This deeper philosophical question must be addressed before one begins to understand why immortality is an impossibility for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh may have asked himself this question, which may have made him ponder his own worthiness of being immortal. These thoughts helped catalyze his fear that he would die just like the people he ruthlessly ruled over. In other words, the questionability of his morality might have driven his quest for eternal youth.

During one adventure, Enkidu and Gilgamesh go to the Cedar Forest and Humbaba, a monster tasked by the gods with guarding the forest, confronts them. After a long struggle, Humbaba begs for his life, but Gilgamesh, encouraged by Enkidu, kills him anyway. The gods find out and are angry at this defiance and ultimately kill Enkidu as punishment. After all, Humbaba was innocent and did not deserve to die. When Enkidu dies and “has turned to clay” in Gilgamesh’s arms, Gilgamesh, petrified that he will experience the same fate, “roam[s] open country for long distances; [as the] words of [his] friend Enkidu weigh upon [him]” (“The Epic” 104). When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh goes into a depression and cannot stop mourning the loss of his friend. He talks to Enkidu’s body as if it was still alive and refuses to bury him. Gilgamesh is depressed and fearful for his own life for several reasons. He has had very few close friends in the epic that we know of and when his best friend dies, Gilgamesh does not know what to do without Enkidu and becomes delusional about his situation. Gilgamesh becomes more aware of his mortality because Enkidu’s strength matched his own when he was killed. Gilgamesh resolves to conquer death.

Gilgamesh is determined to live forever, and he begins to track down a mortal named Utnapishtim who was granted eternal life. Gilgamesh overcomes many obstacles to reach this man, some of which no mortal had ventured through before. Finally, when he meets Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh explains his desire to be immortal and his fear of death. Utnapishtim challenges him to “not sleep for six days and seven nights” (“The Epic” 116). He is determined to complete this challenge and prove to Utnapishtim and himself that he deserves immortality, however “sleep breathes over him like a fog,” and he is unable to stay awake (“The Epic” 116). Eventually he is awoken and thinks he has only been asleep for a few minutes. He is still full of despair confident that death is fast approaching. His journey ends in failure, but also leads to an important epiphany. He discovers that it is better to die happily than live in fear but it is unclear if he actually embraces this revelation. Regardless, his journey makes him a wiser ruler.

Death itself invokes fear. We know it exists but not where it leads. The mystery of death, combined with the Mesopotamian outlook, leave fear and sadness to cultivate in the mind of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh says, “nobody sees the face of Death. Nobody hears the voice of Death” (“The Epic” 108). He goes on, nothing that “death [is a] picture [that] cannot be drawn” (“The Epic” 109). This form or force that is death cannot be explained. Gilgamesh believes that something that cannot be heard or seen but that can strike and kill at any moment is something to be feared. Death gives us no clues as to what happens after life. We can only speculate as to how this mysterious element operates. Ultimately, all we know is that the human body decomposes. This grim outlook, this hourglass of life constantly being depleted, leaves Gilgamesh feeling only empty and mournful.

Some argue that Gilgamesh has already achieved immortality. Although he is physically dead, his stories and journeys live on through the written word. His tale has been copied and translated into many texts and languages. In this sense, he has indeed gained everlasting life. He lives on not through his body but through ink and paper. However, when Gilgamesh sets out to find everlasting youth he is trying to escape a physical death so that he may exist on earth forever. Living metaphorically would not have been sufficient for Gilgamesh. Some of the legends portray Gilgamesh as a spiteful and violent ruler, yet Gilgamesh is no longer alive and cannot influence how his stories are interpreted. In this sense he has no control over his existence. Although we read about him today, he was ruler of the past, and is no longer alive in the present.

Gilgamesh prepares to leave Utnapishtim, still unsuccessful, afraid, and upset. However before he bids farewell, Utnapishtim reveals a secret of the gods. He informs Gilgamesh that there exists a thorny plant in the Apsu that restores youth. Upon hearing this Gilgamesh weighs himself down and dives into the sea to recover the plant. Even though Gilgamesh finds this plant, he does not consume it on the spot. He decides to wait and “give it to an elder to eat, and so try out the plant” (“The Epic” 119). However since it was never tested, one cannot be sure that the plant will do as it promises in the first place. When he discovers the plant is stolen, sadness takes over him as “tears flowed over his cheeks” (“The Epic” 119). Except for the death of Enkidu, this is the only time that Gilgamesh cries. Alone and afraid, Gilgamesh realizes that his last chance to find immortality has passed. However, there is no confirmation that the plant restores youth, so one cannot say with certainty that immortality exists in such a form. Although Gilgamesh was not able to try the plant himself, the snake which stole the plant may have experienced the plant’s effects. The night that the thorny plant was stolen by the snake; “it took it away, [and] it shed its scaly skin” (“The Epic” 119). This quote in the epic reveals an ambiguity. When the snake sheds its skin, it could be aging or getting younger. Because this is ambiguous, we cannot confirm that immortality existed in the form of a plant. Supposing the plant was actually effective, Gilgamesh would have logically dived back down to get more of the plant. This leaf of life is more symbolic and is utilized to show that immortality, like death, is not tangible. Gilgamesh is accustomed to fighting forces that he can see such as Humbaba, the Bull of Heaven, and other warriors. When he deals with immortality which has no physical form, Gilgamesh is disappointed and ultimately unprepared to fight the unknown.

Evidence clearly shows that Gilgamesh died a fearful man, vainly clutching the dream of immortality. When he saw powerful Enkidu die, he realized that he would see the same fate gilgamesh_vs_enkidu_by_kattelfodderand set out to change his destiny. However, does someone who slays an innocent beast and rapes innocent women really deserve to live forever? There is no proof in the epic that he admits his wrongdoings or that he feels any remorse. Regardless, he sets out to find Utnapishtim and prove to himself that he deserves to be young again. On all of his journeys, Gilgamesh can see himself aging, and he spends countless hours looking for something that does not exist. One can only wonder why Gilgamesh sought so strongly to be immortal when his life as a king, a judge, and an adventurer was ultimately successful.

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