An Examination of Spinoza’s Moral Philosophy

Spinoza's moral philosopher represents his most concerted attempt to come to terms with the great philosophical questions of the existence and identity of God, the nature and origin of the human mind concerning God, the origin and nature of emotions, the power of emotions as they restrict freedom of choice. His ethics is derived from his metaphysics and psychology. His belief that everything emanates from a perfect and infinite God made him conclude that evil does not exist. Further, he argues that anything that happens could have happened otherwise since it emanated from the unchangeable laws of nature. The surest part of happiness according to Spinoza is the study of philosophy and meditation. Arising from the foregoing, this discourse views Spinoza's doctrine as running contrary to human nature. For maintaining that everything is fated and determined including human disposition implies that all human actions can, therefore, be said to be amoral. The corollary of the above is that institutions such as law court, police, prisons, and judiciary, Christianity and Islam are superfluous, irrational and serving no purpose. Consequently, his postulates smack of a moral lacun

Class and Classless Communism: A Moral Critique

In an attempt to place society on a sound moral foundation, Plato advocated class communism. Marx in an effort to put to rest the injustice, inadequacies and inequalities engendered by class distinction among men, postulated a classless communism. Although the practicability of communism has made many to dismiss it as utopian, this paper undertook to re-examine the implications of these two types of communism from a moral perspective. It concludes that whether class or classless communism, a significant moral injustice is inescapable in an attempt to implement either of them in the community of men. Keywords: Communism, Theory, Practice, Class, Classless, Society, Abstraction

Role of Some Metal Ions on Steady-state Kinetics of Engineered Wild-type and Manganese (II) Binding Site Mutants of Recombinant Phlebia radiata Manganese Peroxidase 3 (rPr-MnP3)

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Are quasars accreting at super-Eddington rates?

In a previous paper, Collin & Hur\'e (2001), using a sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) where the mass has been determined by reverberation studies (Kaspi et al. 2000), have shown that if the optical luminosity is emitted by a steady accretion disc, about half of the objects are accreting close to or higher than the Eddington rate. We conclude here that this result is unavoidable, unless the masses are strongly underestimated by reverberation studies, which does not seem to be the case. There are three issues to the problem: 1. Accretion proceeds at Eddington or super-Eddington rates through thick discs. Several consequences follow: an anti-correlation between the line widths of the lines and the Eddington ratios, and a decrease of the Eddington ratio with an increasing black hole mass. Extrapolated to all quasars, these results imply that the amount of mass locked in massive black holes should be larger than presently thought. 2. The optical luminosity is not produced directly by the gravitational release of energy, and super-Eddington rates are not required. The optical luminosity has to be emitted by a dense and thick medium located at large distances from the center (10$^3$ to $10^4$ gravitational radii). It can be due to reprocessing of the X-ray photons from the central source in a geometrically thin warped disc, or in dense "blobs" forming a geometrically thick system, which can be a part of the accretion flow or the basis of an outflow. 3. Accretion discs are completely "non standard". Presently neither the predictions of models nor the observed spectral distributions are sufficient to help choosing between these solutions.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, accepted in A&

Value of the visual prostate symptom score in evaluation of symptomatic benign prostatic enlargement: prospective study in a Nigerian population

Background: To evaluate the correlation of Visual Prostate Symptom Score (VPSS) with International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Maximum Urinary Flow (Qmax). To investigate the effect of educational level on the ability to independently complete the VPSS versus the IPSS and time taken to do so.Methods: Bio data was taken from men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to Benign Prostatic Enlargement (BPE) who presented at the Urology clinic of Jos University Teaching Hospital. They were administered the IPSS questionnaire and VPSS pictogram, which they completed with or without physician assistance and the time taken to do so was noted. They subsequently had uroflowmetry done on same visit and the data was recorded in a structured proforma. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS(R) version 20. Correlation test was done for VPSS, IPSS and Qmax while the paired t-test was used for the average time spent in completing both questionnaires. A p-value <0.05 was considered as significant.Results: Eighty-five men (aged 42 to 94 years) were enrolled in the study. The VPSS correlated significantly with the IPSS in terms of total score (r = +0.684, p<0.001) and QoL (r = +0.570, p<0.001), as well as with the Qmax (r = -0.222, p = 0.041). A greater proportion (21.2%) of men with limited education could complete the VPSS without physician assistance as compared to the IPSS (6.0%) and the average time taken to complete the VPSS (170.51 seconds) was significantly shorter than the time taken to complete the IPSS (406.42 seconds).Conclusions: The VPSS correlates significantly with the IPSS and Qmax. It can be completed without physician assistance by a greater proportion of men with limited education within a shorter time period

Morality and Education in a Refutation of Postmodernist Idea

Abstract Postmodernism, whose tenets are similar to the concerns and skepticism raised by the earliest ancient Greek philosophers regarding the relativity of truth and the repudiation of absolute knowledge and grand standing, permeates every strata of human life and discipline in this millennium. This paper examined the notions, assumptions and presuppositions of the postmodernists claim with a view to refuting her stand using morality and education as a basis for justifying the objectivity of truth and reality. The methods employed in this work are criticism, analysis and speculation, such as is common in philosophical inquiry

Penile Fractures in North Central Region of Nigeria

Background: Penile fracture is defined as a rupture of the tunica albuginea of the corpus cavernosum as a result of blunt trauma to an erect penis. Objectives: To study the aetiological factors, presentation, site of injury, treatment, as well as the treatment outcome of all patients that presented to us with penile fracture . Methodology: Data were obtained retrospectively from the patients’ clinical records from three centres: Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Urodiagnostic Specialist Centre and Federal Medical Centre, all in Makurdi, North Central Nigeria over a five year period (January 2012 to December, 2016). The bio-data, aetiological factors, time of presentation, site of injury, treatment given and outcome of treatment were analysed. Results: Six patients with median age of 39yrs were seen within the study period. Coitus with the woman on top was the precipitating factor in four patients. The time interval from injury to presentation ranged from 12 – 72hours. The classical presentation was noted in all patients. Five patients had surgical exploration. All injuries were in the mid shaft of the corpora cavernosa with the right side affected in three patients. Average hospital stay was 4 days. All patients had full erection at three months post exploration, however one patient reported penile deviation. Conclusion: The outcome of penile fracture following surgical repair was good.Keywords: Penis, Penile rupture, Trauma, Coitus, Penile reconstruction, Phallic injuries

Study of the haematological and biochemical values and gastrointestinal and haemoparasites in racing pigeons ( Columba livia check for this species in other resources ) in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to determine the blood chemistry, and naturally occurring haemo and gastrointestinal parasites of rearing pigeons ( Columba livia check for this species in other resources ) in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. The packed cell volume, white blood cell, red blood cell, mean cell volume, mean haemoglobin concentration and total bilirubin values of the female pigeons were significantly (p 0.05) between the two groups. Out of 150 pigeons examined for prevalence of parasites, 70 (46.7%) of them were infected with gastro-intestinal parasites, of which 30 (42.9%) were males and 40 (57.1%) females. Four gastrointestinal parasites were identified, with Trichomonas check for this species in other resources sp. returning the highest prevalence of 42.8%, followed by Eimeria check for this species in other resources sp. (28.6%), while coccidian oocysts and Ascaridia check for this species in other resources sp. each gave the prevalence rate of 14.3%. Results of haemoparasitological examination of thin blood smears revealed haematozoa of two genera: Haemoproteus check for this species in other resources sp. and Plasmodium check for this species in other resources sp. The haemo-parasitological examination revealed that Haemoproteus sp. was more common, with the prevalence of 30 (75.0%) for males and 70 (87.5%) for females. Plasmodium sp. gave prevalences of 10 (25.0%) for both, male and female. Fecal cultures recorded high growth of bacterial organisms, of which the prevalence for Proteus check for this species in other resources sp. was 130 (86.7%), while Enterococcus check for this species in other resources sp. was 20 (13.3%). Overall, 40.0% of the pigeons had bacterial infections. It is concluded that there was high prevalence of gastrointestinal and haemoparasites in rearing pigeons in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. However, these parasites did not cause any observable clinical effects in the serum biochemical and haematological parameters of the pigeons.El estudio se realizó para determinar la química sanguínea y los parásitos sanguíneos y gastrointestinales que se encuentran naturalmente en palomas ( Columba livia check for this species in other resources ) criadas en Owerri, Estado de Imo, Nigeria. Los valores de hematocritos, glóbulos blancos, volumen promedio de células, concentración promedio de hemoglobina y bilirrubina total de las palomas femeninas fueron significativamente (p 0,05) entre los dos grupos. De las 150 palomas examinadas para prevalencia de parásitos, 70 (46,7%) de ellas estaban infectadas con parásitos gastrointestinales, de los cuales 30 (42,9%) fueron masculinos y 40 (57,1%) femeninas. Se identificaron cuatro parásitos gastrointestinales, siendo Trichomonas check for this species in other resources sp. el de mayor prevalencia (42,8%), seguido por Eimeria check for this species in other resources sp. (28,6%), mientras oocistos de coccideos y Ascaridia check for this species in other resources sp. cada uno dio una prevalencia de 14,3%. Los resultados del examen hemo-parasitológico de frotis finos de sangre revelaron los hematozoarios de dos géneros: Haemoproteus check for this species in other resources sp. y Plasmodium check for this species in other resources sp. El examen hemo-parasitológico reveló que Haemoproteus sp. fue el más común, con una prevalencia de 30 (75,0% para los machos y 70 (87,5%) para las hembras. Plasmodium sp. dio prevalencias de 10 (25,0%) para ambos, machos y hembras. El cultivo de heces registró un alto crecimiento de organismos bacterianos, de los cuales la prevalencia de Proteus check for this species in other resources sp. fue de 130 (86,7%), mientras que Enterococcus check for this species in other resources sp. fue 20 (13,3%). El 40,0% de las palomas tuvo infecciones bacterianas. Hubo una alta prevalencia de parásitos gastrointestinales y sanguíneos en palomas criadas en Owerri, Estado de Imo, Nigeria. Sin embargo, estos parásitos no causan ningún efecto clínico observable en los parámetros séricos bioquímicos y hematológicos de las palomas