Philosophy - An Enquiry Concerning The Principles Of Morals Essays

Philosophy - An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals What is a moral? This is a question that has plagued philosophers for many years. Is it possible to have a set of universal morals? There are many questions that surround the mystery of morals. They seem to drive our every action. We base our decisions on what is right and what is wrong. But what is it that actually determines what is right and what is wrong? Is it our sense of reason? Is it our sense of sentiment? This is a question that David Hume spent much of his life pondering. What exactly is it that drives our actions? Yes, morals drive them, but what determines what our morals are? What is it that ultimately drives our actions; our feelings or our minds? Hume would say that it is our sentiment that ultimately drives our actions. According to Hume, reason is incapable of motivating an action. According to Hume, reason cannot fuel an action and therefore cannot motivate it. Hume feel that all actions are motivated by our sentiment. For example, on page 84 Appendix I, he gives the example of a criminal. "It resides in the mind of the person, who is ungrateful. He must, therefore, feel it, and be conscious of it." Here, it is evident that Hume is saying that unless the person, or criminal in this case, sincerely believes in what he wants to do, he will not be able to motivate the action. In other words, unless the sentiment is there, the action cannot be willed into being. Hence, the sentiment is the driving force behind the action. Hume does not however say that reason is incapable of determining wether an action is virtuous or vicious (moral or immoral), but instead he tries to say that the reason for the morality of an action does not dictate the execution or perversion of an act so far as determination of wether the action is executed or not. In simpler terms, reason has it's place in determining morality, but it is not in the motivation of an action. Motivation must come from the heart, or better yet, from within the person; from their beliefs. Reason merely allows the person to make moral distinctions. Without reason, there would be no morality. Without reason, one moral clause would not be differentiable from another. That is to say that below all morals, there must be some underlying truth because "Truth is disputable; not taste" (p.14). If truth were not disputable, there would be no way to prove that a truth was just that... a truth. To make an analogy to mathematics, truth is a function of reason, whereas taste is a function of sentiment. Sentiment is a function of the individual whereas reason is a function of the universe. The universe as a whole must follow reason, but the catch is that each individual's universe is slightly different in that each individual perceives his or her universe differently. "What each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment." (p.14) That is to say each person's individual universe has truths. These truths are based on reason. These truths/reasons are what help to determine the person's sentiment. However, it should be noted that because the reasons are NOT necessarily the person's sentiments, they do not motivate actions. One other reason why reason does not impel action is because reason is based on truths. Truths are never changing whereas sentiments are dynamic and are in a constant change of flux. At one moment, the criminal could feel sympathy for his victims and decide to spare a life, and the very next, the same criminal could become enraged at the pimple on a hostage's forehead and shoot him. Of course these are extreme cases, but the point is clear. Reason would dictate that only the first action would be moral. If reason drove actions, then moral behavior would prevail and there would be no immoral actions and hence there would be no crimes. This shows how sentiments can change as the individual's perception of the universe changes. Obviously, the driving force behind the criminal shooting the victim because of a skin blemish is

Enzyme-controlled reaction Essays

Enzyme-controlled reaction Essays Enzyme-controlled reaction Essay Enzyme-controlled reaction Essay Write an account of how any two factors affect the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction. How do these factors affect the chemical construction and belongingss of the enzyme. Many things can impact the rate of enzyme activity. The temperature of the enzyme. the pH of the solution. the concentration of the enzyme. substrate and the merchandise. Besides. another affector is the figure of competitory and non-competitive inhibitors. As I can non explicate them all. I have chosen to explicate the consequence of temperature and besides the consequence of inhibitors on enzyme activity. Temperature: As the temperature is increased the kinetic theory is applied. More energy is present and the molecules move fast. This increases the opportunity of hit between the enzymes and substrate and so increasing the rate of reaction. At these higher temperatures the active site of the enzyme is really reasonably flexible. The heat has broken a little figure of Hydrogen bonds which hold the site to its form. Harmonizing to the lock and cardinal theory the enzyme’s active site is specific to the substrate and so they fit together. The enzyme merely catalases a individual reaction. As the site is now flexible. there is an increased sum of induced tantrum and so the production of an enzyme-substrate composite is more likely. If the temperature is lower. the active site of the enzyme is much less flexible as there is the maximal figure of bonds present keeping it all together. At the optimal temperature shown on the curve. the conditions are perfect for this enzyme to work in. Different enzymes have different optimums. For illustration. human enzymes work at organic structure temperature whereas there are thermophilic/stable enzymes which are optimal at much higher temperatures such as 85C. Once the enzyme-substrate composite has been formed. the activation energy is lowered and the reaction is at its optimum. For mammalian enzymes. the rate of reaction doubles for every 10C alteration. Once the temperature goes beyond optimum. the rate of reaction lowers. At a certain point on this negative gradient. the enzyme becomes denatured. The third construction is changed and the enzyme becomes for good damaged. Inhibitors: There are two types of inhibitors to an enzyme. They are competitory and non-competitive. The competitory type are similar in form to that of the substrate and so fit into the active site of the enzyme. non responding. hence suppressing the production of an enzyme-substrate composite. An illustration of this is Malonate. It is similar in form to that of succinate and competes for the active site of succinate dehydrogenase which is involved in the krebs rhythm. Another illustration is that of Acetohydroxamic Acid which is similar in form to urea. It competes for the active site of urease. Fortunately. the effects are reversible. To antagonize the effects of an inhibitor without being able to take it itself one should increase the concentration of the substrate to increase the ratio of substrate to inhibitor. The nons of non-competitive inhibitors are really good known as they have been used to harm worlds or other lifeforms. These are things such as nitrile. heavy metals ( which are reversible as they are slackly bound to the enzyme ) and phosphate insect powders and nervus gasses ( which are irreversible and do decease ) . What do you understand by the undermentioned footings: I ) Enzyme-Substrate Complex two ) Enzyme Specificity three ) Prosthetic Group I ) I have mentioned this already in my earlier replies. This composite is what is produced when the substrate tantrums and binds to the active site of the enzyme. In this province. the conditions are favorable and the bonds are weak intending the merchandise can be easy formed. two ) I have besides mentioned this in my above replies. It merely means that the enzyme is specific to one substrate. The lock and cardinal theory explains this where the enzyme is the lock and the key. being the substrate. fits merely into that lock. The enzyme is wholly specific and lone catalases a individual reaction. three ) In the prosthetic group are non-protein molecules. They are covalently ( strongly ) bonded to the enzyme and must be at that place for the enzyme to work decently. If removed they will most likely cause the enzyme to denature. They are one type of an enzyme co-factor. Such illustrations of this are haemoglobin. chlorophyll and cytochromes.