Utilitarianism is not so much a political philosophy, as a political Essay

Utilitarianism is not so much a political philosophy, as a political technique. Discuss - Essay Example However, the structure of the notion does not necessarily appear in this manner depending on the claim but the context is definitely similar. In multiple occasions, leaders apply utilitarianism in political initiatives making it appear as a political philosophy in most of these cases, depending on the particular initiatives and the dissimilar outcomes. Moreover, sometimes it is due to the manner that these leaders relate utilitarianism to achieve their goals. Generally, in every basis, utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, which means that the evaluation of an action is relative to its consequences, whether in politics, religion or science. In most situations relative to politics, utilitarianism comes out as egoism especially since the consequences are of more significance than the actions. However, this notion also applies in distinguishing utilitarianism from egoism; typically, the scope and relevance of the consequences. Utilitarianism principles focus on maximizing the overall good, a core reason why it applies in politics; however, the best way to exploit this is considering both individual good and that of o thers (Mill 2002, 64). Multiple philosophers made vast contributions to utilitarianism; however, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill stand out because of their arguments’ context in an effort to make people understand utilitarianism as a form of ethics theory (Crisp 1997, 15&Bentham 1990, 8). They were hedonists about value through the identification of good with pleasure; moreover, they encouraged people to maximize the good by bringing about the greatest amount of good for the biggest number of people possible. An initiative that citizens expect from politicians; moreover, it should be the general basis of most political proprietors. Conversely, in a political philosophy stand point, distinguishing utilitarianism also takes place through independence

Louisiana Historical Sites Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Louisiana Historical Sites - Article Example Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the Centenary State Historic Site holds some of the buildings of the College of Louisiana, which opened in 1826 at Jackson. Though it was not a successful college, with only 24 men graduating from it, however, during the Civil War the buildings of the college were used by both factions. The Union soldiers used it as their area headquarters, whereas the Confederate troops used it as a hospital. This site is historically significant because it gives a glimpse into education in the 19th century, as well as the early history of Jackson and its foundation, and, finally, into the medicine practiced during the Civil War. Established as a military outpost, Fort Jesup, or Cantonment Jesup as it was originally called, operated from 1822 to 1846. The Fort was placed at the Neutral Strip, which was created because of a dispute between Spain and the United States arising out of the Louisiana Purchase – the land in contention was proclaimed a Neutral Strip with no interference or presence of the armed forces of either country. However, Texas was won over by the United States, the fort was rendered unnecessary. Even though only a kitchen remains of the original structure, however, the reconstructed site renders insight into what life was like at the outposts. As the soldiers there were involved with the American settlers, the visitors can also learn much about how the lands were surveyed, roads built and treaties negotiated during those days. The Locust Grove State Historic Site consists of a cemetery which was owned by the sister of Jefferson Davis, Anna E. Davis Smith, and her family. Some semi-famous people from history are buried here. The daughter of General Zachary Taylor, who was the first commander of Fort Jesup, is also buried here, as is General Eleazer Wheelock Ripley who served in the war of 1812. The visitors to the site can learn about the cemeteries of 19th

Fashion and beauty products Essay Example for Free

Fashion and beauty products Essay Dulce et Decorum Est is a poem written by the British poet and World War I soldier, Wilfred Owen. During the war, conditions on the trenches varied from bad to worse day by day, and in the end, approximately one third of the Allied casualties managed to survive on the trenches. The soldiers suffered from rat infestation, unbearable stenches, tedious daily routines, insects, trench fever and several other diseases. In this poem, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in the First World War, portrays the war from a soldier’s perspective, while displaying an extremely traumatic and negative image of the war, as the conditions were brutal. The main idea of this poem is to expose the truth about the war. In order to do this, Owen chooses to speak of an incident which occurred in war that shocked him. By doing this, it not only presents a theme of catastrophe, death, trauma and war, but it leads the people to react exactly as Owen aimed; if what went on in war was seen, then no one would dare to force anyone to join. Originally, this poem was addressed to Jessie Pope, a propagandist that especially encouraged men through her poems to enlist in the war. Some of her poems such as â€Å"Who’s for the game? † might have enraged Owen to write such a poem. In this text, I will analyse various aspects of the poem Dulce et Decorum Est, while presenting my opinion and justifications. This 28 line poem, written in iambic pentameter, begins by giving an impression of the soldiers, displaying both their physical and mental characteristics, while presenting the general atmosphere in the battle. The impression that is given of the soldiers is weary, vagrant-like, and exhausted as they march â€Å"through sludge† and are slowing down as they become â€Å"blood shod†, â€Å"all lame, all blind† and â€Å"drunk with fatigue† as they are struggling to march away from the scene of combat. The poet ends the first stanza by stating that the soldiers were not even able to hear the faint sound â€Å"of gas-shells dropping softly behind†. All of these descriptions show how much the soldiers suffered, and they were put in such a condition that they were like the â€Å"living-dead†. The second stanza speaks of a soldier dying. The transition from the first to second stanza is emphasised by the exclamation marks: â€Å"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! † The poet speaks so gently of the gas shells in first stanza as they were â€Å"dropping softly†, and suddenly, they have grown dangerous enough for the soldiers to panic. As the soldiers are alarmed, everything is done in a rush, and they all put their gas masks on except one. This soldier begins â€Å"yelling out and stumbling†¦ And floundering like a man in fire or lime†. This statement emphasises the panic, instability and lack of control of the soldier as he falls back. In addition, this statement is continued by presenting a disgusting image of the soldier â€Å"guttering, choking, drowning†. The word â€Å"guttering† accentuates the chocking sounds of a man’s throat. The phrases which evoke the shock that Owen felt are: â€Å"Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. † This statement has great effect in this poem as the present an image of a man dying, while there are hundreds of men surrounding him, merely watching him die, and not bothering to do anything to help. This image brings shock and horror onto the reader’s mind, and the word â€Å"drowning† achieves to emphasise this thought. Judging by the description of the man’s death, it was very painful for the narrator to see him die: â€Å"in all my dreams before my helpless sight†. This statement can also be seen as the moment in which Owen was forced to repeat one of the most dreadful events during war, while thinking about his past painful memories and thoughts, as though compelling him to live through those moments again. In the last stanza, the poem develops by stating that if the readers were able to observe the â€Å"[writhing] white eyes†, the â€Å"vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues† and hear the â€Å"blood come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs†, then sending men to war would be forbidden. He finishes by challenging the reader by saying that if they had been present in the actual time of the war, then they would not dare repeat â€Å"the old Lie: Dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori. † – Which means it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is an honour to defend your nation, even if it means dying for it. In conclusion, it can be said that throughout the entire poem, Wilfred Owen exposes a grotesque, but realistic view of what occurred in the war. He achieves this by describing one of the most shocking images and moments that occurred while he was a soldier in the war the death of a man. In the end, he completes his point by challenging the readers that if they knew what truly goes on in war, they would never tell their children, with such idealistic enthusiasm, the â€Å"Old lie†. As my personal opinion, I feel that Wilfred Owen’s poem is contrasted against Jessie Popes poem â€Å"Who’s for the game? † as they are both presenting opposite points. However, I think that Dulce et Decorum Est manages to achieve its aim more successfully as it shows a direct, brutal and honest view of the war, and speaks of a true incident, rather than throwing rhetorical questions and including misleading images of the war. Overall, Wilfred Owen was very successful in transmitting his main message to the readers: if anyone had seen the horrors of what went on during war, then they would not dare challenge others to join; in fact, it would be prohibited.

Meaning of Good Taste in Fashion

Meaning of Good Taste in Fashion Generally speaking, taste is an abstract and subtle word. What is taste? The word taste literally means people`s degustation on everything include food, art, life and so on (Aronson, 1946). However, such a degustation is not finished by tongue, but by heart and mind. For example, when observing a tree without leafs in autumn, someone may feel the bleak and chilly sense instead of only one bare tree. People`s tastes are different. Someone have good tastes while the others have bad tastes. The different attitudes and feelings on life, art and culture embody the grade of individual taste. This essay will analyze the taste from the perspective of fashion. What good tastes mean and how to evaluate taste will be discussed in this essay. In addition, how some tastes are constructed as socially legitimate will discussed. Education plays an important role in the process of constructing social legitimate tastes in fashion. This essay will discuss the effect of good tastes in fashion. What does it mean to have good taste? As mentioned above, taste is people`s feeling on the external things. Its abstract meaning is the quality, interest, culture and sentiment. For example, when drinking tea, someone swallow it quickly. He even does not know the flavor of the tea, lets alone the taste. However, some others may be seated in their study room with sunshine and beautiful plants and taste the tea with the beautiful classic music (Frank, 1923). He could taste the life from the tea. This is the abstract taste. Taste has different grade. With good taste, people`s lives are graceful and exquisite, full of aspirations and pleasure (Burke, 1987). With bad taste, people`s lives are full of depression and nonsense. What`s more, they usually consider themselves always right, which really make fun of themselves. Taste is the understanding and appreciating ability of people. To have a good taste means one has a comprehensive and correct understanding about things around him. Sometimes people mistake famous brand for good taste. For example, someone with luxurious coats, expensive watch and cars usually regards himself with good tastes. However, if he does not know well about these commodities or use these items improperly, he does not have good tastes in fact. Without a comprehensive and correct understanding of things, all these expensive things just show one`s ignorance. Some other ones regard good taste as one extremely abstract thing. They usually attribute all the unaccountable things to taste. Sometimes they believe taste is something which only could be experienced by heart and mind, while cannot be put into word clearly. However, tastes are not extremely abstract in fact. It could be described clearly daily behavior. It is based on the understanding of concrete things. If one knows well about some famous brand, his purchase of commodity in that brand is the pursuit of good taste. For example, businessmen`s purchase of business suit is the pursuit of taste, because they know the background knowledge of the suit and know the suit is fit for their statuses. In fact, different tastes classified the whole society to some extent. The tastes determined the difference social position and class of people. people`s social position could change, which is caused by the change of one`s tastes. People could improve their social classes by improve their tastes. The author believes only money and authority cannot change one`s social class, even they could make people feel false pride. Improving tastes is the necessary procedure of improving social position (Kaufmann,2002). Why do people usually believe wealthy people have good tastes? The reason is wealthy people have more chances to learn and understand things around them than the poor. Therefore, they usually have better tastes than the poor. That`s why many nobles are called as gentlemen in history. However, the wealth really does not mean good tastes. The effect of wealth is helping people learn more in order to have good tastes. How some tastes are constructed as socially legitimate in fashion? What is the criterions of people`s social class? In modern times, it is hard to answer this question, with the improvement of people`s living condition and social concept. Nowadays the criterions are usually not your occupation, house, manner or money. It is recognized that a series of tiny traits of one`s behaviors reflects which class he is in. And such a tiny traits of one`s behaviors could be summarized in a word taste. Some tastes are called as good tastes by most people, while some tastes are called as bad tastes. The good tastes are usually regarded as socially legitimate. How are these tastes set as socially legitimate in fashion? The answer is education, which means cultivating and training. Taste is a kind of culture to some extent. Compared with police and economy, the relationship between culture and education is closer. The basic mission of education is to inherit culture. In the process of history, peoples form and accumulate their own custom, which embodies the value, ethics, behavior model and habits of the people. These value ethics or behavior model could be describe as fashion of that time. The custom permeates in the daily life in every aspect, which restricts the social development with a strong invisible force. Education, as the inheriting carrier of culture, plays an important role in the construction of main stream taste of fashion. How does education construct the main stream tastes of fashion of one society? There are some main approaches as following. Firstly, education selects tastes through selecting cultivating objectives, such as values and cultures. The objective of education is cultivating human resources which are needed by the society. In order to producing human resources needed by society, educators should select proper world value and moral outlook which are fit for the development of society as contents of education. Therefore, it could be said that the source of good tastes is from the social value and moral outlook of the society. In addition, physical training is another carrier of taste and culture. The selection of way of exercising is also the selection of culture. Different countries and peoples have different traditional sports, which also embodies the mainstream value or tastes of the society. Lastly, in the education of art and beauty, not only aethestic standard but also the knowledge and technique of art, is the process of selection of cultures and tastes (Howard,1956, Karl,1934, Lawrence, 1917). Therefore, it seems the objective of education is to teach the technique and knowledge social needed, but the essence of education is the selection of culture and tastes. In the process of education, the main stream tastes are constructed and set as socially legitimate. Secondly, education selects tastes through selecting courses and teaching materials. After selecting proper culture and tastes, education transforms the abstract culture and tastes into concrete courses and teaching materials, which is the carrier of culture and tastes. The designing and selecting of courses should be based on the main stream culture or tastes. That means the courses and teaching materials should have temporal spirit, reflecting the trend of main stream culture. Firstly, in history, the courses and teaching materials are always changing with culture of that day. In middle ages, the main courses of college include grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, music, theology, law and so on. In all these courses, theology took the most important role, which reflects the social main stream culture and the developing level of western cultural development of that time. With the development of science and technique, the importance of science had been acknowledged in the form of technology revolution. After 19th century, the course of science and technique replace the key role of theology in education. In 1950s, the monopoly of science and technique was broken, because people found the balance between the humanities and science was very important. And then, more and more courses of humanities were designed. Secondly, in different countries of the same age, the different emphasis embodies the value variance of different culture. It is very obvious in the courses of humanities. These courses usually embody thick values and mainstream tastes of their societies. For example, in Germany, philosophy takes the most important role in universities for German respect to rationality. Practical courses are welcomed in American universities for America focuses no techniques. And humanities are popular in some old universities of Britain for the respect for humanism and classicisms in England. Thirdly, teachers play a key role in the education of main stream tastes and culture. In the process of constructing main stream tastes and cultures, the role of teachers is embodied in three aspects. First of all, teacher is the participant of selecting main stream tastes and culture. Teachers have great liberty in the selection of contents and method of education. When the teacher is the proposer of mainstream culture and value, the function of selecting and cultivating main stream tastes of education could be realized. Secondly, teacher is the carrier of the established culture and tastes. The moral ideas, knowledge structure, life style and teaching style of teacher directly influence the effectiveness of education. Only when teacher master and approve the main stream cultures or tastes, the main stream tastes could be constructed. Therefore, to some extent, the selection of teacher is the selection of main stream tastes. Fourthly, the atmosphere of campus could help selecting tastes. Compared with common social environment, the atmosphere of campus has many unique characters. The atmosphere of campus is the condensate of the knowledge and values of teachers and students of many generations. It reflects the requirements of social development and campus culture and value. It is both the method and consequence of culture selection. And its influence is usually invisible but huge. Concretely, the establishment of school spirit, style of study, and regulations is the process of selecting main stream values. The atmosphere plays an invisible role and remedies the defects of education in class. In a word, education plays an important role in the construction of some tastes of fashion as socially legitimate through the selection of mainstream culture, courses, teachers and campus atmosphere. The effect of some tastes as socially legitimate in fashion This section will discuss the effect of social mainstream tastes from the perspective of fashion. As we all know, without good taste, people cannot be fashionable. If one pretend to have good taste, he is just making fun of himself. What is fashion? Disney, Madonna, Jackson, Hip Hop, Harry Potter, all these popular things are fashion. Each of us hopes to accept the attention and admiration of others, live a high-quality life, have graceful behaviors and become the focus of people`s eyes. Fashion could help people reach these goals. How do we join in these fashions? The answer is good taste. If someone wants to follow or guide the trend of fashion, he has to own the better feeling of beauty good taste. Nowadays, people have many ways to know what is fashionable. However, to be fashionable is not so easy as to know fashionable things. Many details could destroy the pretending fashion of one without good taste. Once upon a time, there was a couple who suddenly became wealthy. They were not satisfied that others regarded them vulgar. One day, they took part in a culture salon and dre ssed bejeweled clothes to show their wealth, which is not fit for the graceful art atmosphere. Therefore, fashion does not mean the rich matters, but means the fit things. Vulgar people cannot buy fashion even he is very rich. Fashion is the product of good taste, not money (Blumer,1969). According to the famous star of America Sarah Jessica Parker, the taste determines what kind of people you are, including your social position and social image. Good taste exerts great influence on people`s different aspects of life, such as selecting a book, CD, occupation and partner (Eysenck ,1983). Fashion is subjective and taste is objective. The slogan of Chanel is: fashion is fickle, while style lasts forever. Chanel used her taste to guide fashion. In her lives, she forecasted and mastered the changing trend of fashion twice. Therefore, good taste could produce fashion. According to Fielding, the graceful taste is always accompanying the outstanding mind. Therefore, good taste origins from internal mind. In Hollywood, famous stars pay special attention on their dressing in public. However, their differences are very obvious. Some stars, like Nicole Kidman, know well what dressing means and which dressing is fit for them. This is the first class. Those usually consult for their stylists obviously do not have their own decisions on what is fit for them. This class is inferior to the first class. Britney Spears belongs to the third class. Even she dresses the same clothes with the second class, the way of collocation usually makes her embarrass. She has a professional team of image designer. However, as we found, she usually was classified as the ones who were dressed worst. Therefore, good taste comes from internal mind, from the understanding of fashion and self. Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, one of the greatest experts in the field of fashion of France, had explained fashion in her book A Guide to Elegance as following: there are two kinds of fashions. One is genius fashion while the other is transitory fashion. If you could not dress skirt, just drop it. There will be one kind of coat which is not only fashionable but also fit for you. Therefore, you could dress the skirts when they are fit for you. The attitude of Dariaux is just dressing what fit for you, because you should present your individual style instead of clothes. The fashionable clothes is used to help you to present your style. If they do not help, just drop them and find out proper ones. Therefore, good taste is the base of fashion. Fashion is appearance while taste is the temperament (Bourdieu, 1984). Clothes, watches, bags, shoes and red wines are all worldly possessions. Taste means the genius understanding and test of these matters, which is from bildung of internal mind. How to have good tastes As mentioned above, education is very important in the cultivation of good tastes. Therefore, learning is very important if someone wants to improve his tastes and then improve his social class. What should people learn if they want to improve their tastes. The answer is the genius understanding of around things and the way of understanding things. Both the method and consequences of understanding are important. Sometimes the ideas of the majority are not always right. Therefore, people should learn how to understand things dialectically and critically in order to avoid becoming vulgar in the misguiding of the masses. Independent thinking is the necessary way of having good tastes. Conclusion In a word, taste means people`s degustation on everything around himself, include food, art, life and so on. Someone have good tastes while the others have bad tastes. The different attitudes and feelings on life, art and culture embody the grade of individual taste. To have a good taste means one has a comprehensive and correct understanding about things around him. Tastes are not extremely abstract in fact. It could be described clearly daily behavior. Different tastes classified the whole society to some extent. The tastes determined the difference social position and class of people. Improving tastes is the necessary procedure of improving social position. Wealth really does not mean good tastes, but it could help one to have good tastes, for wealthy people have more chances to learn and understand things around them than the poor. Education, which means cultivating and training, is the main way of constructing socially legitimate tastes. Education selects tastes through selectin g cultivating objectives, courses, teachers and campus atmosphere. Without good taste, people cannot be fashionable. Good taste comes from internal mind, from the understanding of fashion and self. And Good taste could produce and guide fashion. Both the method and consequences of understanding are important to improve tastes. Independent thinking is the necessary way of having good tastes and avoiding becoming vulgar in the misguiding of the masses. In summary, taste is something both abstract and concrete, because it means both the understanding and the ways of understanding of around things. Having a good taste could help people have a good social position and forecast or guide fashion.

Japans Economic Development :: essays research papers fc

JAPAN'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT In the following paper I will be examining the process of economic development in Japan. I begin with their history in the Meiji period and how that effected their great success in the postwar development. Then I will go through the different economic stages of economic development in postwar Japan. I will examine the high periods and low period in Japan economics, and the factors behind these shifts in development. Last I will give a conclusion and where I believe Japan economy will be in the future. To understand Japan economic boom after the war you must also look at there history. Without the creation of the industrial economy during the Meiji Japan this economic growth after postwar could have not happened. To look even closer lets examine the period before called the Tokugawa period, from 1630's until the 1860's. Smith explains that "during this period Japanese economy experienced unparalleled growth and structural change" (Smith, Page 4). The system was set up on rules and obligations on all sections of society. These systems of control helped rapid urbanization. Education is also a factor in the economic development in Tokugawa period. Tokugawa Japan abapted Confucianism belief system from there neighbors China. This became important because "one of the distinctive traits of Confucianism was reverence for education and learning" (Smith, Page 5). This spread of education was dramatic. Not Macdonnell, 2 Only did the knowledge seep the upper class (such as the samurai and merchants) but in order to expand business it filtrates down to the peasants and artisans also. During this period up to forty percent of boys and ten percent of girls were educated by the 1850's. These are great numbers compared to other societies. The Tokugawa period in turn developed an economy familiar to bureaucratic direction and directed by the well-educated people stated Dennis Smith. In 1869 the Tokugawa shogunta was bought down and Meiji restoration began. Japan was under great change. Meiji Japan began to industrialize. This was due to the western countries that have already industrialized. It was through private investment and enterprise that Japan began this process. The backbone of industrialization was the zaibatsu. Zaibatsu were industrial and financial conglomerates. They were given government support including benefits from government subsidies and sell-off of government factories. The first of these zaibatsu were Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda. Growth of industrialization began slowly. In the beginning they still depended largely on United States and Europe for most specialized and worldly machinery and manufactured goods.

Unjust Classification of Literature :: essays research papers

The Unjust Classification of Literature   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The content of literature has been criticized and classified throughout history. Occasionally, stories become known as immoral literature in the eyes of society. This can be damaging both to sales of the book and the reputation of the author. Kate Chopin wrote two stories that are examples of literature deemed immoral by society. â€Å"The storm† and â€Å"The Story of an Hour† were written and the end of the nineteenth century. A time without many liberal opinions towards literature, as well as civil rights. Often critics judge a piece of literature only on the literal meaning of the phrases inside, while ignoring the actual message from the author. Chopin’s two stories were criticized for the impression she gave of woman’s attitudes towards their husbands and marriage. Although her stories seem to contain women that do not respect marriage, the women actually have total love and respect for their husbands The misinterpretation of stor ies leads to the unjust classification of literature as immoral.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The story of an Hour† and â€Å"The Storm† have different plots, but both convey a similar message from Chopin. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† was written about a wife ,Mrs. Mallard, who receives the sad news of her husbands death. She is flushed with conflicting emotions of sadness from the death, but also joy for the freedom from marriage that his death brings. A twist in the story takes place when she is confronted with her still living husband and she dies from the shock. Chopin wrote of a woman so caught up in married life, she forgot all of the liberties that she had sacrificed for the marriage. â€Å"The storm† tells of another wife, Calixta, living what was a normal life for a woman in the late nineteenth century. While her husband and son are kept inside a store by a passing storm, Calixta is greeted unexpectedly by an old boyfriend, Alcee. Spending time with Alcee releases feelings from Calixta that had been building up thr oughout her marriage. Calixta and Alcee give in to temptation, but never lose their sight of love for their families. Both stories suggest women in marriages sometimes feel imprisoned by the relationship and seek an outlet for their emotions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marriage is a sacred bond and should always be honored. Infidelity is the worst act that can be perpetrated on a significant other. The wife, Calixta, betrayed her family and the church by cheating on them.

Reasoning Behind U.S. Decision to Enter the Korean War Essay

Introduction What determined the United States to enter the one of the costliest wars in the twentieth-century is a good topic for foreign policy study. There are several possible explanations as to why the United States participated in the war. The most important explanation is that the western world would be in a greater threat if North Korea won the war. Communist was considered as expansionism by the White House; hence, occupying South Korea might be a move of Communists to expand the Communist territory in the world. To prevent this, the United States needed to deter this possible threat. Another one is the United States is afraid of communist expansion. If North Korea won the war, it might cause countries swinging between Communist and Democratic to become Communist. Moreover, the domestic political situation for the Truman administration at that time was crucial in analyzing why the United States entered the war. These are the most important factors motivating America to enter the war. Des pite the profits of the entry in the war, there were some reasons preventing the United States involved in the war. Because North Korea’s invasion was likely backed by the USSR, if the United States failed to handle the situation properly, a World War III might happen; this would lead to huge loss of U.S. personal and substantial financial costs. Other than that, because China borders North Korea and China was another major Communist country, the United States intervention could lead to war with China. In this paper, I would first analyze each major reason individually for entering the war or not intervening. After that, I would put the picture together to explain why the United States eventually chose to participate in the war. Reasons the United States entered the Korean War Fear of Communist Expansion The most important factor that influenced U.S. entry into the Korean War was the USSR’s and other Communist countries’ ambitions to expand. After WWII, the White House had started to consider the Soviet Union as imperialist. The report â€Å"the Truth of Korea† implied that the United States was a free nation and the Soviet Union was intended to build a Soviet empire around the world. By considering the Soviet Union as imperialist, the United States was afraid that if the United States stood aside in the Korean War, Communist countries would take further actions to expand. For instances, China would attack Taiwan, IndoChina would overthrow France and become Communist countries, and the Soviet Union would even build communist regimes in Middle East or West Europe. The worries were likely to become reality unless U.S. intervened. After WWII, the Soviet Union consolidated their power by setting up puppet communist governments in all countries they had liberated, except Yugoslavia. Both force and politics were used to keep East European countries following commands from Moscow. Based on these behaviors of the USSR on other countries, it was reasonable that the United States labeled the Soviet Union as imperialism. Facing a country with desires to control other countries, punishment was a better choice than appeasement according to the deterrence model. If the United States entered the war and secured independence of South Korea, Communist power would be contained. Consequently, when Communist countries were making decisions of territorial expansion, they had to consider the cost and consequence of a war with the United States. Therefore, the intervention could contain Communist power and prevent potential wars from happening. Fear of Bandwagoning The second important reason U.S. entered the Korean War was fear of bandwagoning. It was less important than fear of Communist expansion is because bandwagoning would not directly harm U.S. interests, but would impair the global political leadership of the United States. In the setting of post-World War II, the world was separated as two major political spheres, one Soviet-led and the other U.S.-led. The Korean Peninsula was one of the several places two the major political powers conflicting each other. Other than that, the political landscape in East Asia was towards Communist. In China, the Communist party led by Mao Zedong just won the civil war against Jiang Jieshi’s government supported by the United States. Countries like Vietnam and Laos inclined to join the family of Communist at that time, abd overthrow French colonists. Therefore, if Communist North Korea unified the Korean Peninsula, it would make countries like Vietnam and Laos align with the USSR without hesitati on. The United States was not willing to let that happen. According to historical documents, when the war just started, Truman and his advisors believed that to falter would forfeit world leadership because of bandwagoning and Communist expansion. Moreover, in official reports about Korea situation, concerns about Democratic power weakened if South Korea fell were raised often. In 1948’s report â€Å"Prospects for Survival of the Republic of Korea,† the result of South Korea lost to North Korea would constitute a severe blow to the prestige and influence of the United States. As a result, the defeat of South Korea would encourage more countries to align with the Soviet Union. The report was before the war, the United States already considered the bandwagoning a severe threat to UN’s influence in the world. From this perspective, in order to maintain the democratic as a stronger power in the world, the United States had strong interests in entering the Korean War. Consolidation for the Truman Administration The domestic political situation for the Truman Administration was not positive before the Korean War. In 1949, the Communists in China won the civil war against the Nationalists backed by the United States. It was painful that White House lost an important country, China, to Communism because the United States had invested tons of resources in the country, but in the end, the United States did not have the expected return. It stirred a debate of â€Å"Who lost China† in the United States. The public was more in favor of McCarthy’s opinion. McCarthyism indicated that losing China to communism was the government’s fault. Based on his analysis of the civil war in China, he believed â€Å"China hands† — China specialists at White House — plotted Jiang’s defeat, who was the top leader of the Nationalist. Therefore, at the time before the Korean War, the Truman Administration had a lot of pressure from the public due to losing China. If Sou th Korea was defeated by North Korea, the public would strengthen their belief that losing China was a government’s blunder. Hence, losing South Korea would be catastrophic to Truman’s presidency. From the view of domestic political situation, the United States entered the Korean War because the Truman Administration needed to prove its ability in protecting democratic power before losing all trust in the public. This point was less strong than the above two was because it was hard to collect evidence to support the point. Factors preventing the United States from entering the war War with China Entering the Korean War was likely to start a war with China, one of the greatest powers in the world. From the perspective of geography, the Korean Peninsula adjoins China. If a foreign military power of the United States was close to the border of China, China would feel threatened. The worry was validated after the United States joined in the war. On June 27th, 1950, after the Seventh Fleet of the United States was sent to neutralize Formosa, Mao, the chairman of China at that time vowed â€Å"Year after year unsure of when the enemy will attack us. We must repair the house before it rains.† Not a long time after the vow, Mao sent his army to the Korean Peninsula. Moreover, although China just ended its civil war and badly needed time to recover from the war, China was actively looking for a chance to consolidate its status in the world stage. In 1950, most countries in the world only recognized Republic of China led by Jiang and disputed the legitimacy of People’s Republic of China led by Mao. Therefore, Mao was eager to have a war with a strong world power to gain international recognition. The Korean War against the United States was a good opportunity for the communists to show the Mao’s China’s power to the world. For this reason, China was likely to enter the Korean War if U.S. intervened. Regarding the negative results of the war, people in the United States just gained peace; nobody would like to see a war between China and the United States. A war with China would lose many the United States soldiers, breakup thousands of American families and halt U.S. economy growth, hence lowering people’s living standards. Additionally, a war with China was also meaningless because at that time the United States did not want to defeat China, but defend South Korea. The war between China and the United States was predicable if the United States entered the Korean War. A war between China and the United states was undesirable for the reasons listed in this section. Therefore, a war with China was a big factor in not entering the Korean War. Start of World War III The entry into the Korean War might lead to World War III. A possible war with China might drag the Soviet Union into the war. If the Soviet Union entered the war against the United States, the Eastern Europe under control of the Soviet Union would also claim war against the United States. As a result, Western Europe would likely align with the United States to contain the Communist power in the world. People all around the world just tried to recover from the aftermath of World War II. If World War III happened right after World War II, the world would be in chaos again, creating another tragedy in human beings history. The big picture When the benefits outweigh the costs of a decision, one would put that decision into action. The three major benefits Unites States would have from entering the war were preventing domino effect of countries joining in Communist, constraining the ambitions of expansions/ invasions from Communist countries, and securing the domestic administration. The two major costs were an undesirable war with China and a possible start of World War III. It was hard to determine whether the benefits outweighed the costs. However, the listed costs were unavoidable if the United States did nothing in the Korean War. If the United States let South Korea fall, there would still be a war between Communist power and democratic power in the future. As analyzed in the section of fear of Communist expansion, Communist countries led by the Soviet Union inclined to expand their territories if their ambitions were not constrained. Therefore, appeasement to Communist countries was not going to stop them from behaving aggressively. Even though the United States would not participate in the Korean War, finally it was possible to be a day that the Soviet Union would eventually declare a war on the United States for further expansion. The costs would only become more significant than the costs of entering the war at that time. Hence, in order to prevent that from happening, the United States took the initiative to contain Communist power in the world. Additionally, human pride played a factor. Truman might recklessly enter the war in order to secure his status in White House. To him, protecting his reputation and his presidency might be much more important than starting World War III or fighting an undesired war with China. Hence, because of personal emotions, Truman would order the United States to enter the war. Conclusion There are three major reasons encouraging the United States to enter the Korean War. From the perspective of bandwagoning, defending South Korea could win credibility for democracy power and possibly win countries swaying between Communism and Democracy. In the view of the deterrence model, entering the war could constrain the ambition of imperialism of Communism countries. Considering the domestic political condition, intervention in the Korean Peninsula could make the public turn attention to the war instead of the administration’s failure in China and relieve the public pressure from the administration. On the other side, there were two important costs preventing the United States from entering the war. The first cost was an unnecessary war with China. The United States would not benefit directly from fighting against China and U.S. would consume numerous resources and human power in the war. The other cost was starting World War III. The Soviet Union could declare a war on Unites States if the condition in Korea got worse. U.S. decision to entry into the Korea War was made because of two logics. First, the costs were unavoidable if the United States just watched and did nothing in the war. Communist would continue to expand and finally encounter the United States for a war in the future. At that time, the cost would only exaggerate, not minimize. Second, Truman would more likely send U.S. troops to the war field. In order to secure his administration, he needed to turn the public attention away from China and prove his ability in foreign policy. The result of the war was peace between South Korea and North Korea. Judging from the result, U.S. entry into the war had a positive impact on the peninsula. However, whether the peace in the Korean Peninsula could be achieved through other ways at lower cost is worth further discussion.